Iran War

[GoCubsGo]

Yep again.

These aren't strategic big thinkers, it's all about how it plays on TV.

Remember, that's how Hegseth got hired.

The post WW2 US led world order is gone, probably never to return unless the US is victorious in WW 3 or some bullshit.

Also, the fallacy of the US being the only remaining superpower is shot to hell too. We could conquer Iran, but it would take minimally a Desert Storm boots on the ground type effort....then what happens?

[Whack9]

Yep again.

These aren't strategic big thinkers, it's all about how it plays on TV.

Remember, that's how Hegseth got hired.

The post WW2 US led world order is gone, probably never to return unless the US is victorious in WW 3 or some bullshit.

Also, the fallacy of the US being the only remaining superpower is shot to hell too. We could conquer Iran, but it would take minimally a Desert Storm boots on the ground type effort....then what happens?

Absolutely. Historians will look back at this era as the collapse of the American century and the end of American led world order. If we had to pick a concrete date for the beginning of the end, I'd personally choose Jan 6th, 2020. The events of the last few years have only nailed that coffin shut without question.

[GoCubsGo]

Absolutely. Historians will look back at this era as the collapse of the American century and the end of American led world order. If we had to pick a concrete date for the beginning of the end, I'd personally choose Jan 6th, 2020. The events of the last few years have only nailed that coffin shut without question.

I'd pick November 2016, when America lost it's collective mind and the fatal flaw of our broken electoral college reared it's ugly head.

[Whack9]

Absolutely. Historians will look back at this era as the collapse of the American century and the end of American led world order. If we had to pick a concrete date for the beginning of the end, I'd personally choose Jan 6th, 2020. The events of the last few years have only nailed that coffin shut without question.

I'd pick November 2016, when America lost it's collective mind and the fatal flaw of our broken electoral college reared it's ugly head.

Had the response to Jan 6 and Donald Trump not been so weak and ineffective, and had he lost in 2024, the 2016-2020 period in US history would've been possibly been seen as an abberation and maybe even given the country the resolve to strengthen our democracy. Of course this assumes that there isn't something fundamentally rotten with modern day American culture. After 2024 I don't think that's the case and believe there's something seriously wrong with many Americans.

[O Really]

Clearly there is something fundamentally rotten with modern day American culture when a Trump, with all his outrageous baggage and rhetoric can get elected a second time, and when so much of society was willing to turn mean, cruel, and discard all consideration of others.

[Vrede too]

I think America has always been mean, cruel, and in considerate. DonOLD just tapped into it.

Absolutely. Historians will look back at this era as the collapse of the American century and the end of American led world order. If we had to pick a concrete date for the beginning of the end, I'd personally choose Jan 6th, 2020. The events of the last few years have only nailed that coffin shut without question.

I think you mean Jan 6th, 2021.

I would pick June 16, 2015.
The Escalator Ride That Changed America
It seemed like a stunt when Donald Trump rode down to make his presidential announcement, and maybe it was. But nothing would be the same again. The full oral history of that moment, from people who were there.

Carter Wiseman, former architecture critic for New York: I was there when it was under construction, and he and Ivana took me on a tour. … He said, “Carter, you’ll understand this. This is quality marble from Italy.” … And I thought it looked as if it would work best in a whorehouse men’s room. It was so vulgar. … And I guess he knew something that we didn’t know. … We were all laughing, but he knew there were more people who loved that stuff.

Michael D’Antonio: The only thing he missed was a fog machine at the top of the escalator so that he could appear out of a mist.

To our point:

David Lloyd Marcus: I remember thinking of that escalator ride down as sort of like a metaphor for politics in this country, a metaphor for the downward plunge of the country. … Here’s this failed businessman and would-be TV star taking a ride down. Like, there he goes, there goes American politics with him, down, down, down …

Tony Schwartz: Certainly not a remotely credible way to launch a presidential campaign. How wrong I was. And in case you didn’t hear me say that: How wrong I was.