The Skinny: To Live and Lie in LA
Everything, Everywhere, Is Coming Up War: June 11th – 20th
War on “Terror” – LA Edition
Over the past week I repeatedly told anyone who would listen that the Trump regime was literally trying to invade and occupy Los Angeles, and now we’ve got the numbers to prove it. Today in deeply not at all fun President Trump facts: did you know the Swine Emperor has currently deployed more troops to LA than the US military officially maintains in Syria and Iraq, combined? No, I’m being completely serious here; check out this June 11th, 2025 article by Sharon Zhang writing for Truthout.
Trump Has Deployed More Troops in LA Than Syria and Iraq, Per US Counts
“President Donald Trump’s latest deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles means that there are now more troops carrying out Trump’s anti-protest crackdown in southern California than in both Iraq and Syria, regions where the U.S. has executed some of its most intense and inhumane military campaigns in recent decades, according to official counts.
Trump has dispatched roughly 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to respond to L.A.’s protests of his immigration raids, for a total of roughly 4,700 troops. Meanwhile, according to publicly reported Pentagon figures, the U.S. has roughly 2,000 troops deployed in Syria and 2,500 troops in Iraq, for a total of 4,500.”
As the article goes on to note, a Pentagon still operating under War on Terror logic while occupying Iraq and purportedly fighting terrorism in Syria, may well be undercounting the troop levels in those two countries; they’ve certainly done so in the past.
Regardless, if we consider the official deployment of military personnel to be a de facto statement of the regime’s policing priorities, that still means the Trumpenreich is arguing that unarmed domestic protesters inside very small pockets of the Los Angeles area are a greater threat than militarized terrorist militias in two countries US intervention has helped transform into semi-perpetual warzones. Please keep in mind that the LA protests are happening on livestream, and there are hundreds of eye witness accounts in the public discourse from Angelinos saying there is no widespread disorder for the troops to quell. There is not a man, woman, nor child in America who can’t verify for themselves that Trump is lying about a “rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” going on in Los Angeles, if they want to.
All of which of course leads us directly back to our ongoing discussion about what the Trumpenreich is trying to use its militarized invasion of LA to sanctify in practice, if not in US Law. Trump wants the power to permanently occupy American cities controlled by his political opposition, while engaging the military in both domestic policing and assisting the Gestapo in the regime’s ethnonationalist mass deportation project; including apparently providing detention facilities for caged migrants. Furthermore, as Zhang ominously notes, there are clear signs the regime is exploring how to scale up what they’re doing in Los Angeles, to a much larger project on a national scale.
“According to a report by ABC News, the Pentagon is considering a plan crafted by the Department of Homeland Security to deploy more than 20,000 additional National Guard troops to aid with Trump’s immigration raids.
This would cost $3.6 billion over the course of a year, and would represent roughly half of the number of troops deployed across the entirety of the Middle East. It would also be an escalation of the Trump administration’s use of the U.S.’s colossal military capacity to attack and subdue the American public.”
Folks, I’m just going to be real with you; you don’t martial up over twenty thousand troops from all across the country in advance, because ICE is going to raid a bunch of cities one by one to hunt down brown people Stephen Miller’s shriveled conscience cannot abide existing in his county. We’re definitely going to talk more about the ABC report the author mentions at a later point in time, but what you’re looking at here is the opening steps the regime would need to take if they intended to militarily occupy the parts of the United States that didn’t vote for Trump without meeting organized, violent resistance. Unless you sincerely think Democratic Governors are going to roll out their own militarized security forces, or there will be a widespread popular uprising against the regime, that sure looks a lot like the Swine Emperor turning the National Guard into his own personal Brownshirts.
Like a lot of the fascist bullshit the Klepto Kaiser is doing right now, it’s hard to tell if he’s going to go “all the way.” For example, while the regime currently has a small army deployed to LA, those troops are standing around a few federal buildings while LA area police forces violate the civil rights of protestors instead. It’s still fascism, but it’s not very efficient fascism yet. At some point however, the idea that Donald Trump is just accidentally stumbling in to all the steps he would need to enshrine a militarized fascist dictatorship under a perpetual state of quasi-martial law, strains credulity. If Trump gets away with transforming protests into an insurrection and soldiers into policemen in LA, you should bet on the idea that the nazis will soon be coming for a town near you in that very same way.
Manufacturing Consent and the Invasion of LA
Over the past week and change I’ve written a lot about the importance of keeping track of what the regime says surrounding the fascist shitshow that is the Trumpenreich invasion of LA. Speaking frankly, I think everyone living in a capitalist police state should keep close track of what their “leaders” say at all times, but in this case it’s especially important because the Trump regime has already established a pattern of using propaganda to create justification and opportunities for (typically appalling) actions. In talking about and justifying their fascist activities, including the invasion of LA, regime officials frequently reveal a great deal about their methods of operation and future intentions.
To go deeper into what I mean by this sort of tea leaf reading and how it pertains to the Trump regime’s statements about Los Angeles, let’s take a look at this June 10th Guardian article discussing a very similar issue with some help from New York University history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat:
“As a pretext to this action, the Trump administration had characterized the protests as a broader threat to the nation. On X, White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called LA “occupied territory”. “We’ve been saying for years this is a fight to save civilization. Anyone with eyes can see that now.”
Trump posted on Truth Social: “A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals. Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations – But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.”
FBI director, Kash Patel, wrote on X that LA was “under siege by marauding criminals”.
If I’m being honest this entire article is basically one huge “They Said It” post, so you’ll forgive me for centering Trumpenreich official’s comments over Ben-Ghiat’s analysis. If you read on however, she confirms that the regime’s language when talking about their operations in Los Angeles is designed to create an ‘existential sense of fear,” paint the city as a warzone, and justify putting soldiers in the streets to enforce Trump’s fascist rule. Ben-Ghiat also points to a statement made by Trump’s crusader fascist Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, that represents a perfect encapsulation of how this narrative building then translates to implied justification for very specific authoritarian regime actions.
“The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil,” Hegseth wrote. “A dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK.”
Ben-Ghiat said Hegseth employed “the classic authoritarian thing, of setting up an excuse, which is that the internal enemy, illegal criminal aliens, is working together with an external enemy, the cartels and foreign terrorists, and using that to go after a third party, of protesters, regular people, who came out to show solidarity”.
All of which brings us to the same gnawing question that defines so much of the second Trump era; are these guys fucking serious about going for the full Pinochet experience here? As I mentioned elsewhere, the fact is a fascist regime really only gets one shot at establishing a Fourth Reich dictatorship; if Trump and his minions go for all the marbles, but fail, everyone who doesn’t have SCOTUS-granted immunity from prosecution is probably fucked. Is Downmarket Mussolini willing to risk the tremendous power and privilege he has now to make himself the true master of all he surveys? I’m not sure anyone, even Trump’s unofficial minister of nazi shit Stephen Miller, actually knows the answer to that question.
What I can tell you however, is what I told you already in this very newsletter; at some point the idea that Trump is just accidentally falling into all the steps he’d need to take to install a permanent fascist dictatorship in America, ceases to hold water. This guy is either the world’s luckiest accidental authoritarian, or the Trump regime is planning to go the full nine yards and what we’re talking about now is a question of courage, not will. There is literally no reason to consolidate all power in the executive branch and create a private army under the president’s control unless you mean to use those things to rule as a tyrant. Take a look at what this article quotes Miller as saying, and then tell me you’re sure I’m wrong.
“Simply put, the government of the State of California aided, abetted and conspired to facilitate the invasion of the United States,” Stephen Miller wrote on X.”
Folks, it’s hard to say that the Trump regime is “preparing for war,” when they’ve clearly already started one. But almost everything the regime does and says, especially in regards to the Los Angeles protests, strongly implies we haven’t remotely hit rock bottom here. Trump is running out of shiny things to distract the public with and it’s increasingly becoming clear the Trumpenreich is building a dictatorship brick by brick; you don’t do that because you want to admire the shine on your Gestapo’s riot helmets. This is now a fascist dictatorship-in-progress.
Police Brutality and Intentionally Targeting Journalists
I hate to keep harping on the importance of collecting facts to remember about the ongoing fascist fuckery being inflicted on the people of Los Angeles in a discourse actively trying to reimagine these events in real time, but given the vast separation between the reality I can watch on livestream, and the story of the Invasion of LA being told on my TV screen, it’s clear that some repetition and focus is in order.
Today then, I’d like to talk about this June 10th article on Huffpost because I think it highlights three important points I’ve been writing about on this blog. First up: state security forces, particularly federal Trumpenreich immigration forces, are the ones committing violence and sewing disorder, not protestors. Second: the “nonlethal” weapons being deployed on nonviolent protestors in LA are still extremely dangerous, and represent an unacceptable application of force against people exercising their constitutionally-protected rights. And finally, the class sympathies of corporate media organizations are so powerfully encoded that they supersede even basic self-preservation for your average TV newscaster.
Dozens Of Journalists Targeted, Shot, Detained While Covering LA Protests, Press Org Says
“Shocking video and photos taken amid the ongoing immigration protests in Los Angeles show journalists and news crews being shot, detained and forced off public property by law enforcement, raising concerns of excessive force and First Amendment rights violations.
There have been more than 30 incidents of police violence against journalists as of Tuesday, including 20 injuries, at least five of which required emergency room or urgent care visits, said Adam Rose, the press rights chair with the Los Angeles Press Club, which released a statement Monday urging an end to the targeting of journalists whose work is constitutionally protected.”
When you’re reading this story please keep in mind that it was published on June 10th, and it is now June 13th; I’ve watched enough livestreams from LA to guarantee you the more than thirty incidents of police violence against journalists catalogued by the LA Press Club is now a drastic undercount as we roll through day seven of the fascist Trumpenreich invasion of Los Angeles. Furthermore, while everyone has seen the video clip of the Australian 9 News reporter being purposely shot in the back of the leg by a murderpig, incidents of deliberate calculated violence against journalists by various state security forces are by no means isolated, and have resulted in far more serious injuries than Tomasi suffered on camera. Crucially, these violent assaults on journalists by federal immigration officers and local police forces are not accidental; check out this quote from the LA Press Club’s letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“In some cases, federal officers appear to have deliberately targeted journalists who were doing nothing more than their job covering the news,” a letter addressed to Noem by the organizations states.”
Do you have any idea how confident a mainstream press organization has to be before they just straight up accuse the cops of purposely targeting journalists? Security forces, particularly Trump’s federal Gestapo, have been intentionally attacking journalists to prevent them from covering their widespread civil rights abuses and fascist piggery towards migrants and protestors; full stop. Which brings up some pretty obvious questions for both California officials and a Trump regime that just invaded Los Angeles under the guise of stopping violent insurrection and restoring order. Is purposely attacking reporters violence? Is is targeting journalists for simply documenting law enforcement activities disorder? Cause if it is, I think it’s safe to say the pigs are the one bringing those elements to the streets of LA.
Which brings us to ubiquitous use of nonlethal rounds by both federal and local law enforcement engaging in widespread civil rights violations on the streets of LA, and the intentional application of excessive force against journalists by security forces. For an example of what I’m talking about, check out this story from a veteran protest reporter shot through the leg with a “nonlethal” round by a cop aiming an area effect weapon directly at his midsection.
“Graphic photos shared with HuffPost show a gaping wound in Nick Stern’s right thigh that he said has left him unable to walk or move without assistance.
“Why this device was shot at human, kind of, waist high level, I do not know. The people around me at that time was doing nothing more than waving Mexican flags,” he told HuffPost.
Stern, who said he has three decades of experience photographing public protests, including in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the George Floyd protests in 2020, expressed concern that people may die from the excessive use of force that he witnessed and experienced firsthand.
“I never thought for one moment that I’d actually have to be fearful of law enforcement during a public protest but that seems to be where the danger to journalists comes from,” he said.”
Stern’s police brutality story is by no means an outlier, and the article provides evidence of more intentionally injured journalists like him. All of which might make you ask how media muppets can continue to blame violence on protestors and hump murderpigs on live TV, while their compatriots in the profession are being wounded in the streets by deliberate pig assaults? The answer is cold hard cash, and the class sympathies of people who own and run media corporations. The ruling classes are so committed to the police state that protects their material interests, that the media they control will jump through absurd hoops to conflate victim with victimizer; a few days ago I watched a CNN reporter claim protestors were throwing exploding foam objects at the press, while holding a nonlethal munition that I know came from the cops, because they’re the only ones who had those types of weapons at the protest.
To all the fascists, pearl clutchers, and cop-humping freaks in our discourse helping manufacture consent for police violence, civil rights violations, and ultimately the fascist Trumprenreich occupation of LA: please allow me to say that you’re damn right there is violence and disorder on (some of) the streets of LA. Now if all the murderpigs and soldiers committing that violence and causing that disorder would like to fuck off and let people exercise their constitutionally-protected rights, I’m sure labor class Angelinos can handle restoring order from here.
Gestapo Barbie Sends a Message
I realize we’ve talked an awful lot about the Trumpenreich invasion of Los Angeles this past week, but I want to stick with it for another hot minute because this story is more or less a microcosm of everything awful the Pork Reich is trying to accomplish as it transforms American into a dictatorship. To explore what I’m talking about, let’s take a look at the intentional fascist intimidation tactics employed by Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, or at least her security team, against the US Senator from California, Alex Padilla. This event received extensive coverage in the mainstream media, but I believe it’s important to take note of here for two reasons; one which was discussed in liberal media circles, and one that got far less coverage because our establishment is instinctively allergic to calling US cabinet officials “liars” even when everyone knows they’re lying.
The bullshit about this story is flying fast and furious, particularly in Trump-loyal right wing media, so let’s just get right into the weeds.
Sen. Alex Padilla Tackled to the Ground, Handcuffed at Noem Press Conference
“Video of the incident that circulated on social media showed Padilla attempting to ask Noem a question when multiple men began grabbing and shoving him.
“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla says, struggling to speak as he’s manhandled. He seemingly begins to make a comment about the “rotating” set of people supposedly convicted of crimes that the Trump administration is parading around in attempts to justify their brutal, sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.
As he’s speaking, the officers forcibly remove him from the room, with Padilla yelling “hands off.” Grabbing his arms, chest, and clothes, they shove the senator into a hallway, where they force him to the ground and handcuff him.”
First of all, this is outrageous, intentional, fascist political intimidation and Senator Warren is absolutely right when she says DHS Secretary Noem should resign. Not that Noem actually will resign because Trump purposely stacked his second regime with ascclown grifter nazis who don’t know the meaning of the word shame, and Kristi really fits that description; after all, this is the woman who bragged about murdering a puppy because she thought it would help her political career. The fact is however there are only a hundred United States Senators, and while Capital Hill may be a city within a city, it’s not a particularly large city. Every single person in that room, including Noem, her security detail, and the press corps, knew who Alex Padilla was the entire time. Furthermore, while Noam might have a TV star’s face thanks to her surgeon, she’s still a very poor actor and watching her during this widely-recorded moment makes it clear she’s fully aware of her security team laying hands Padilla even as she kept speaking. The assault, and it was an assault, by Noem’s security detail on a Democrat sitting US Senator representing the community the Trumpenreich is currently invading, was completely intentional; Noem, and through her Trump, meant to send a message.
As the article goes on to detail this fascist bullshit is firmly part of a larger Swine Emperor and GOP quest to criminalize their political opposition, specifically the Democratic Party. A quest the vast majority of the Republican Party is actively trying to accomplish through both word and deed. The regime is investigating Act Blue, a Dem-aligned fundraising organization, they’ve arrested both a Democrat Mayor, and a Democrat Congresswoman for attempting to conduct oversight on an ICE facility, recently federal agents burst into NY Democrat Jerry Nadler’s office, cuffed an employee, and accused his staff of harboring “criminals.” The Pork Reich is clearly working hard to get Americans used to seeing Democrat officials aligned against Trump, in handcuffs on the six o’clock news, and I suspect that’s not an accident.
Alright, so we can be reasonable sure that assaulting and cuffing a US Senator for having the nerve to ask the DHS Secretary a question about the invasion she’s helping conduct on a city he represents was intentional. How has Kristi Noem tried to justifiy this outrageous abuse of power? Would you be surprised to learn that she just fucking lie? Noem claimed that Senator Padilla “burst into the room,” “lunged at her,’ and “did not identify himself.” Let’s roll the tape:
“Just three seconds into the incident, Padilla could be seen standing, with his left hand raised slightly in a rhetorical gesture, trying to continue with his question, as a security officer placed his hands on the senator’s chest and back and began pushing him away from the front of the room.
There is no visual evidence in the clip to suggest that Padilla was moving in Noem’s direction when he started speaking, or was ever within 10-15ft (3-3.5 metres) of her.”
So actually, Padilla was already in the room, he never got within twelve feet of the DHS Secretary and certainly didn’t lunge, and he clearly identified himself at a press conference where he didn’t have to. I’m sorry for the Zapruder film treatment here, but I want to establish that Kristi Noem is unquestionably, and intentionally lying about something she knows is being recorded live, because that’s the most important thing about this incident.
The Department of Homeland Security Secretary knows she’s lying, she knows you know she’s lying, and she knows the camera knows she’s lying, but in true fascist fashion Kristi Noem is claiming the power to force you to accept that lie as valid; and corporate media minions who are busy pretending she isn’t trying to warp reality around her brazen falsehoods, and could just be stupid or mistaken, would make George Orwell weep.
The Swine Emperor Declares War on Dem Cities
Over the past ten days, both on my blog and on NIDC, I’ve been writing towards what I think is an obvious conclusion about what the Trumpenreich invasion of LA actually means; namely that President Trump has declared war on his ever-growing cohort of “enemies” and is now effectively operating the US government as his own personal weapon in that war. Furthermore, while the regime continues to (mostly) lose in court on the subject of whether or not they’re allowed to do all this fascist bullshit, the entire Trumpenreich state seems focused on accomplishing as much fascist repression as possible, while all those cases move through the appeals process. In other words, whether America is yet a dictatorship or not, the Trump regime is clearly operating as if the Swine Emperor is already a dictator.
Which is why it should certainly give you pause when the sitting President of the United States takes to his private social media site on Sunday night to release an unquestionably fascist argument for his intention to invade large, specifically-named, Democrat-run cities that happened to have large “No Kings” anti-Trump protests on Saturday. For more information, let’s turn to this June 16th article by Richard Luscombe, writing for The Guardian.
Trump promises expanded immigration crackdown after ‘No Kings’ protests
“Trump raised the specter of an expanded immigration crackdown in a lengthy Sunday night post to his Truth Social network, alleging without evidence that the cities had become the “core of the Democratic power center” by using “illegal aliens to expand their voter base”.
Non-citizens are not permitted to vote in US elections – and there is no widespread evidence of them ever having done so.
“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” he wrote.
“We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”
First of all, let me state that as foreboding as this article is, Luscombe is still kind of minimizing how outrageously fascist and threatening Trump’s post actually was. There are a lot of media outlets reporting the nazi bullshit Trump just said as if it were merely the President being petulant about crowd sizes; those people are doing you a grave disservice because this is the kind of shit fascists say before they depose elected officials who won’t obey Der Leader, or outright ban opposition parties in national politics. You can, and should, just read the President’s post , which I’ve transcribed faithfully below despite the many crimes against grammar the Kelpto Kaiser just committed.
“Our Nation’s ICE Officers have shown incredible strength, determination, and courage as they facilitate a very important mission, the largest Mass Deportation Operation of Illegal Aliens in History. Every day, the Brave Men and Women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment, and even threats from Radical Democrat Politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our Mandate to the American People. ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.
In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside. These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens. These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them. That is why they believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports — And that is why I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role. You don’t hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!
I want our Brave ICE Officers to know that REAL Americans are cheering you on every day. The American People want our Cities, Schools, and Communities to be SAFE and FREE from Illegal Alien Crime, Conflict, and Chaos. That’s why I have directed my entire Administration to put every resource possible behind this effort, and reverse the tide of Mass Destruction Migration that has turned once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia. Our Federal Government will continue to be focused on the REMIGRATION of Aliens to the places from where they came, and preventing the admission of ANYONE who undermines the domestic tranquility of the United States.
To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE! DJT”
I know we’re all playing it cool, but it’s okay to admit that it sure does sound like buddy has intentionally gone full Hitler, and that’s a problem. This isn’t Trump being Trump and I think you can tell because this is absolutely not the inane cracker ramblings we’re used to from late night Trump-posting. The president’s post simultaneously portrays his Democrat political opponents and anyone who resists his mass deportation agenda as enemies of the American state and justifies the invasion of three of the largest Democrat-run cities in the country; all while aligning his opposition with virtually every nazi-moral-panic “cancer” he claims is destroying (white Western) society. He justifies his order to make war on his opponents by falsely accusing Democrats of rigging elections through illegal migrant voting, then weaponizes popularized transphobia to accuse them of destroying inner cities, and finally he explicitly aligns liberals against every level of law enforcement and militarized authority in the country.
Of additional importance here is Trump’s very deliberate use of white nationalist ideology and phrasing. The president openly references “mass migration destruction,” and accuses Democrats of turning our “once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia.” Perhaps most alarmingly, Trump directly refers to “remigration” which is a euphemistic word used only in white nationalist and nazi circles to describe the forced ethnic cleansing of Pig Empire nations to establish white ethnostates. If you told me this post had come from the diaries of Joey Goebbels himself, the modern American signifiers is the only way I’d know you were lying.
This is, without a hint of hyperbole, a fascist declaration of war designed to signify to Trump loyalists that the regime has indeed moved into a phase of open conflict and attempted purges of its political enemies; including milquetoast liberal Democrat politicians and officials. Much like his objectively nazi speech to hand-picked reactionary soldiers at Fort Bragg, this isn’t just Trump rambling off the cuff, but rather the Swine Emperor revealing his new style of openly fascist rule; as singularly-empowered warlord, subjugating all who oppose him, with the instruments of state as his weapons. Whether Trump will ultimately be able to bend the American state to his will enough to conduct multiple invasions of Democrat-controlled cities, and engage in ideological purges of the regime’s enemies, remains an open question. But there is absolutely no doubt that he intends to, and is attempting to do so, as we speak.
JD Vance Tips Trump’s Hand on Iran
Unfortunately I am but one solitary analyst who specializes in writing about fascism and class war, so there’s a limit to how much blow by blow analysis I’m going to be able to provide here as the Trump regime openly moves the US into what certainly looks like a war with Iran that nobody but rich maggots can win. Given the sheer amount of bullshit and propaganda swirling around the discourse however, I feel obligated to point out key events indicating that Trump and the larger regime are already at war with Iran, and now they’re just manufacturing consent for a decision I am near-certain they’ve already made.
Take for example news that US Vice President JD Vance was on social media preaching faith in Trump’s “decision” about a war with Iran. There’s just one problem with Colonel Couchfucker’s logic here: legally-speaking going to war with Iran isn’t actually the president’s decision and an attack on Iran would at least in theory have to be approved by Congress.
JD Vance Falsely Claims Decision to Make War on Iran ‘Belongs to’ Trump
“In a lengthy post on the social media platform X, U.S. Vice President JD Vance urged Americans to “trust” President Donald Trump to make the right decision about potential war with Iran—but progressive observers noted that Vance’s 374-word exposition was based on an entirely false premise: that the president has the authority to unilaterally decide to take military action against a foreign country.
“If it involves military action, that decision belongs to Congress, which has not authorized war against Iran,” said Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and executive vice president at the Center for International Policy. “A former senator should know this.”
I think it’s pretty obvious that Vance is speaking primarily to the Swine Emperor’s winger base; after all, it wouldn’t do much good to ask American liberals who loathe both Trump and Vance more than ass cancer to put their “trust” in the Klepto Kaiser’s Solomon-esque wisdom in delicate matters of foreign policy. If we assume that he is in fact talking to the isolationist wing of the Trump cult here, the obvious implication is that Vance is trying to smooth over a decision he knows isn’t going to make the America First coalition happy, and I think we can all guess what that decision is – officially joining Israel’s attack on Iran.
Naturally, we all know that Trump can’t legally just walk us into a war with Iran, but have you seen any signs that this is stopping him from doing so yet? Vance’s argument that the decision to go to war with Iran is Trump’s and Trump’s alone, strongly reflects the fascist Trumpenreich regime’s views on executive branch power, and this government has a long pattern of signaling they believe Trump can do something outrageously illegal, doing it regardless of the law, and then fighting like hell in court about later. Well, in this scenario, “later” is going to be “after we’ve already attacked Iran” so being “right” about the law does opponents of this war no good. Furthermore, the Swine Emperor himself absolutely does not seem to give a fuck what the US Constitution says and is actively involving America in Israeli’s illegal assault on Iran regardless of what anyone says about it. Do you sincerely think that when he gives the order to fire up our B-2 bombers and drop bunker busters on Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow, the Air Force is gonna say “hold on Chief, I need to hear what Chuck Schumer has to say about this first?” Absolutely not.
Trump is threatening Iranian officials and speaking as if he’s already at war with Iran. Simultaneously, the Vice President is on social media telling the regime’s fascist base to have faith in their cult-of-personality nazi messiah’s judgement to make a decision that’s not even legally Trump’s to make. The US establishment and Western media can pretend all they want, but the reality is that Trump is dead fucking serious about this war and as far as the president is concerned, we’re already at war with Iran. And in the heart of the Pig Empire, with Trump cloaked in the the Imperial Presidency, it likely doesn’t even fucking matter what anyone else thinks.
Why The Gestapo Keeps Arresting Democrats
At this point, we’ve now watched so many elected Democrat officials arrested or detained by regime-loyal security forces for nonviolently opposing Trump’s fascist mass deportation project, that I could probably transform posts like this into a form letter. In case you hadn’t heard, immigration thugs arrested NYC Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander on Tuesday, and briefly attempted to charge him with obstruction and assaulting a federal agent.
Would you be surprised to learn that the Gestapo lied and Lander, a vaguely-progressive Democrat who was accompanying an undocumented New Yorker to and from the man’s court hearing, didn’t assault anyone, it’s unclear if he was even breaking a law, and the entire incident was captured on video? Well after the last three times the Gestapo or Trumenreich representatives lied about police state intimidation tactics caught on video when they slapped cuffs on Democrat Mayor Ras Baraka, Democrat Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, or Democrat US Senator Alex Padilla, you probably shouldn’t be.
‘This Is Fascism’: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander Arrested by ICE at an Immigration Court
“A video shared on Lander’s nongovernment X account shows him holding on to a man and asking multiple times for officials to furnish a warrant. “I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” Lander says in the video.
Lander is then separated from the man and pushed toward a wall and handcuffed. “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Lander says in the video. The video shows Lander then being escorted into an elevator.”
As I alluded to at the top of this post, Lander has been released from custody and the bullshit charges against him have been dropped. Apparently not even a crooked fascist Attorney General like Pam Bondi wants to argue that ICE agents manhandling a NYC Comptroller on film is actually assault against the Gestapo. It is however important to ask here if had what I can only describe as the assault and confinement of Brad Lander not been captured on film, would the regime have continued to insist he assaulted an ICE pig? Who knows, but given how flagrantly made-up the charge was in the first place, I’m not willing to bet against it.
Now, there are those who will argue that Lander isn’t legally in the right to have tried to warrant-check the Gestapo because the law allows ICE pigs to kidnap migrants in public places without one, and Trump’s unhinged DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has ended what was only a guideline to not consider courthouses a valid place to abduct brown people for (potentially) not having papers. This is unfortunately true, but there is a vast discrepancy between asking to see a judicial warrant because you don’t understand our recently-altered fascist immigration guidelines, and accusations that refusing to let go of someone the Gestapo wanted to kidnap, amounts to assaulting a federal officer. Furthermore, there is a difference between legally right, and morally right; I’d be willing to wager that not one person who has ever cast a vote for Brad Lander at any level of government cares that nazi games of Simon Says allow the Gestapo to do this; they almost certainly support Lander’s opposition to Trump’s mass deportation tactics, and the Comptroller’s willingness to put his body on the line to try and stop this nazi bullshit. Regardless of what Noem’s guidelines say, everyone who isn’t a literal fucking fascist knows that Brad Lander is not the criminal in this story.
So all’s well that ends well? Absolutely not. As I’ve discussed in the past, the fascist Trumpenreich regime is actively working to criminalize its political opposition, and acclimatize the American public to images of Democratic officials being led away in handcuffs for opposing the mighty God Emperor Trump or his fascist agenda. This isn’t about conviction rates, or whether or not any of these cases go to trial; although I should point out that the absurd assault charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver are still outstanding. This is about sending a message to both Democrat politicians opposing the fascist mass deportation program, and the American people, and that message is “do not cross the Swine Emperor, because anyone who does is definitely a criminal.”
A fascist dictatorship is not birthed from even a faux democracy like ours overnight. There is an installation process that involves acclimatizing the people to the logic and methodology of your authoritarian rule in advance, before you finally pull the string and shatter even the illusion of democracy. The Trump regime is clearly making a grand spectacle of slapping their Democrat opponents in handcuffs as part of that larger acclimatization process. And in that regard, they got what they wanted the moment the cuffs were slapped on Lander, even if everyone watching at home already knew the charges were bullshit.
All Signs Say Trump Wants War With Iran
There are of course no circumstances “where you have to hand it to the Nazis” but I must confess that if Trump’s stated goal is keeping everyone confused about what god awful shit he’s trying to pull off in the war touched off by Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran, consider me successfully baffled. For example, the White House announced today that we can expect Trump to decide whether or not to attack Iran in the next two weeks. What does that mean? I have absolutely no idea; the White House Press Secretary is not a reliable narrator and even in this statement the regime is implicitly arguing the President has the power to drag us into a war with Iran without consulting Congress. Would having to do so even matter in this situation? Somehow I doubt it, between the GOP majority and a whole lot of pro-genocide AIPAC-funded Blue Dog Democrats, I suspect the Swine Emperor would get his permission slip regardless – even after the fact.
So what’s more reliable than the intentionally deceptive ravings of a septuagenarian nazi, or his latest Mouth of Sauron, Karoline Leavitt? How about leaks from inside the government that the US military has already drawn up a plan of attack for an assault on Iran, the Klepto Kaiser has already approved it, and the only thing the American war machine is waiting on is the order to launch from Trump himself. An order which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has already stated the Pentagon would obey regardless of any actions taking by Congress.
Trump Reportedly Greenlights Plan for US Attack on Iran Without Congressional Approval
“President Donald Trump is set to meet with top advisers in the White House Situation Room Thursday morning in the wake of reports that he has privately approved plans for a U.S. attack on Iran, a development that comes after days of pressure from Israeli officials and Republican war hawks in Congress to intervene in the war that Israel launched last week.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Trump told senior aides that he “approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear program.”
“While Trump weighed his decision, the U.S. military continued to move forces to Europe and toward the Middle East, including tanker planes to refuel aircraft in flight, warships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, an aircraft carrier battle group, and advanced F-22 air-to-air fighters, which flew Wednesday to a base in Britain,” the Journal observed.
CBS News also reported that Trump “approved attack plans on Iran Tuesday night.”
In the interests of absolute transparency I should note that Donald Trump has directly denied the Wall Street Journal report this story is about in his typically charming way, but I see no particular reason to believe him at any time, let alone when he’s openly admitting he’s being cagey about a war with Iran to confuse his “enemies.” The Journal’s reporting seems far more consistent with the open movement of ships and materiel the American military is conducting, and it’s very clear the information was coming from inside Trump’s inner circle, or the Pentagon itself. This is almost certainly real, which regardless of what you or I may think Trump’s ultimate intentions are, means we’re a brainwormed sociopathic fascist’s snap phone call away from dragging ourselves into another MENA forever war, this time in Iran.
Finally, in terms of trying to read the tea leaves coming out of the White House because that’s literally all we can really do while Trump dangles the most powerful military apparatus on the planet on a string over our collective heads, don’t sleep on the company Trump is reportedly keeping these days.
“Politico reported Wednesday that “Trump, who criticized his predecessor for allowing new wars to break out on his watch, is increasingly listening to a small group of Iran hawks who have been pushing to go tougher on Tehran.”
“Trump has become more receptive to arguments by those advocating more military engagement, including Gen. Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla, who leads Central Command, as well as Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas,” the outlet noted.”
Please do keep in mind that while I detest the common style of “Trump-whispering” articles in the mainstream media about the Swine Emperor’s thoughts and motivations, they have produced a lot of evidence that Der Leader is not exactly a bold independent thinker and thus watching which minions are in close proximity to him at a given moment, can often help you predict some of Trump’s actions. I probably could think of a worse three people for Trump to be hanging around with right now for those of us who don’t want more US imperial violence and endless war, but it would be difficult.
Analysis isn’t prophecy, but a betting women would put her chips on war, given the available evidence.
– Nina Illingworth
Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic and analyst.
You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, and on Mastodon.
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