Wartime amidst the blossoms

So let me get this straight.

We’re into week three of an unplanned war, “excursion,” or whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it with Iran, without end, and instead of fortifying the homeland as much as possible against terrorism, addressing rising energy and quality of living costs, and quelling growing citizen concerns about personal safety, we have a president lying his fool -ss off about how much longer we’re going to be involved; a “Dept. of War” secretary more concerned about unflattering press photographs and CNN coverage than he is in honoring the precious lives of the brave U.S. military personnel whose lives were lost in service to their country; and an FBI director slap-happy thrilled about having UFC mixed martial arts fighters training FBI agents instead of being laser-focused on having FBI agents out trying to stop the next Jewish synagogue attack. 

Welcome to Springtime 2026 - the “Wartime Amidst the Blossoms” edition.

Mind you, we’ve had unpopular wars before. I’m old enough to have lived through Vietnam, the Gulf War and a few other skirmishes in-between. But at least in those conflicts, whether you were for or against it, you pretty much knew, right or wrong, we had our act together. We knew we had the best planning, the best execution, the best and most disciplined demeanor in how we carried out the mission.

Doesn’t mean things always went smoothly though. 

It was 58 years ago this week (March 16, 1968) when American soldiers massacred between 347 and 504 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the small hamlets of My Lai and My Khe. This wasn’t an unthinkable remote control Tomahawk missile murder of innocent Iranian children, but an on-the-ground, finger-on-the-trigger bloodlust slaughter of unarmed human beings young and old.

In both incidents, faulty information was blamed for the resulting tragedy.

At least in the case of My Lai, there was U.S. accountability, and the deserved court martial conviction of the officer-in-charge, U.S. Army Lt. William Calley.

Our rule of law stood firm then. Today, I fear, those over 100 Iranian children we recently killed at that girls' elementary school with our targeted bombing are out of luck. Neither Trump nor Hegespeth will ever be held accountable for their deaths.

Expect more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Of course the Iranians can’t match our military, and never could. Especially when their specialty is inspiring terror cells, like the kind we’re seeing across the country and world now. Violent incidents that can happen anywhere at any time, putting every citizen in danger.

Having Americans live in fear as payback for Trump’s so-called “excursion” in their country is what the Iranians have been planning for years. They’ve just been waiting for the right American president stupid enough to make their ultimate dream come true. Indeed the Iranians are now fighting a "survivalist" war against us and Israel on several fronts - with drones that keep sneaking through our defenses; closing the Strait of Hormuz forcing the price of global oil to rise; bombing oil facilities in surrounding Arab countries; terrorism which we've already gotten a taste of and a cyberwar targeting our systems here. They call this asymmetric warfare, and the Iranians are conducting a masterclass on how to embarrass America's  dunce-in-chief.

To be clear, I’m not talking about all Iranians, or all Iranian-Americans. But there are enough extremists, just like the extremists in this country, who believe war and killing is the only answer, which it isn’t.

And on top of that, the profoundly predictable impact of Trump’s war on the quality of life here and across the world is something that a more honest, more disciplined leadership could have better prepared us for.

When Americans see discipline in their leaders in times of struggle and crisis, it inspires us to be willing to suck it up and brace for more sacrifice. Not only because we have little choice, but also because our leadership has assured us that the cause is just and is in our national interest and civic duty (which is why the press keeps asking the question, “Why did we attack Iran in the first place?”).

But in Trump’s case, neither he nor his cast of unqualified characters in oversized shoes can keep their stories straight about why we’re in this mess that is costing our nation an estimated $891 million per day as we’re now deep into the third week, and instead of pulling back, reports are we’re sending in more ships, 5,000 more U.S. Marine and Naval personnel, more fighter jets and possibly ground troops into something we have no real idea why we’re involved in beyond Trump’s assurance that it’s important…to him. 

 Now Hegeseth has the gravy to say a war that was supposed to be over with on the first day, will now require $200 billion more?!!! Hey Democrats in Congress, you going for this?

Plus the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump and Hegeseth were warned against trying to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping because we don't have enough military force for the job without our allies, but they didn't listen. Now Trump is pissed other countries aren't helping out, saying they've failed a "loyalty test," and we really don't need them. 

Our allies are going to let this dumb smuck hang himself with this war, and rightfully so.

It is both alarming and comforting (if such an emotional dichotomy is possible) to hear what Joe Kent, the now former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, retired Green Beret and longtime devout MAGA supporter of Trump, said on X this week when he suddenly resigned his position:

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation. It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

Predictably, Trump’s FBI is ‘investigating Kent now for "leaking classified information," which I’m sure isn’t true. This guy was a loyalist to his grave before the war started. This is just Trump’s standard “punishment through  prosecution” process for anyone who points out how wrong he is. Sad!

And the Associated Press is reporting that Trump fired most of the Middle East experts on Iran from the State Dept., at a time when he needed all of the knowledge and expertise he could get. Boy, Marco sure is licking his master's hand on this one!

 The cost of ignorance here is almost as high as the price of gas, which is steadily going up! The NY Times editorial board calls it "a dangerous lack of strategy" for Trump obviously not figuring out how to end a war he started. And his lack of discipline, according to Times opinion columnist Michele Goldberg, shows that he refuses to treat his role as a wartime president with much reverence,"so others don't much feel the need to either."

     To add insult to injury, Trump is making the FCC threaten broadcast networks with revocation of their "licenses" unless they start reporting ONLY what he wants them to report about the war. Here's the problem - only broadcast stations have FCC licenses, NOT broadcast networks (unless he's threatening network-owned and operated stations). So he's just trying to scare newsrooms.

Trump is determined to hide the ball, no matter what our right-to-know is!

 Not to mention, he's allowing Vladimir Putin to give war intelligence on American strategy to Iran, which most likely led to US military personnel losing their lives, What kind of American president and honorable Commander-in-chief would do that?

So if I were to write that Trump, after seeing how easy it was to crush Venezuela, got suckered into thinking Iran would be the same walk in the park, I’d be wrong, wouldn’t I ?

And if I were also to write that just like Venezuela, Trump could not resist using American firepower to gain control of Iran’s massive oil reserves, I’d be crazy for citing that too, eh?

And finally, if I noted that Trump’s family is making money hand-over-fist from this war he started by investing in drones and drone components production, according to The Wall Street Journal, gee, I shouldn’t be trusted to write another word, should I?

And yet, my fellow Americans, from where I stand and what I see, all of the above is what it is - wartime amidst the blossoms. As the sweetness of Carolina Spring officially blesses us, it is mired not by a cause we can all get behind in the name of freedom (though we certainly support our troops, who are only doing what they’re ordered).

No, the traditional beauty of this sacred season that soon will bring us Easter and flowers and perpetual sunshine, is ruined by the corrupt lies, greed and pure evil of a criminal president so self-absorbed, he’ll wear that same dumb-ss “USA” baseball hat he golfs in to disrespect our war dead when their bodies are returned to American soil during what’s supposed to be a dignified transfer.

Our soldiers wear caps when they take the caskets of their fellow service members off the planes because their caps are part of their uniforms. So what's the excuse for why Trump keeps his baseball hat on while he salutes the bodies going past him?

Because he doesn’t see those deceased service people as members of our military, but of his military, so he can “salute” them however he pleases. As far as Trump is concerned, they died fighting for his interests, not ours. 

And according to the Daily Beast:

 Not content with wearing his own merchandise at a dignified transfer, President Donald Trump is now doubling down on the “shameful” insult by attempting to cash in on the controversial photo op. In a twisted turn of events, the 79-year-old has used an image of himself saluting the coffin of a soldier killed in his war on Iran to drum up cash for his own campaigning. Last week, Trump became the first president in history to wear a baseball hat while honoring returning service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. The move drew condemnation from across the political spectrum. 

This wretched crook isn't finished trying to cash-in on our government and the war that he started. Recently, Trump sent out a message to his donors offering them exclusive access to his private national security briefings, or in his words "unfiltered updates on the threats facing America." Smiling like a Cheshire Cat, Trump this week also said he'll "have the honor" of "taking" Cuba any way, and anytime he wants.

Pardon my French, but what in the holy #$&&% is going on here? Has this prime example of diminished capacity truly lost his mind? Just last week, Trump was asked on Trump-friendly Fox News when the war with Iran will indeed end?

His answer? “When I feel it in my bones.”

Heartless, feckless, senseless…are there any other condemning, damning adjectives available to accurately describe the rank bottomfeeder we currently have infesting our White House Oval Office? 

Have you folks had enough? Well next November, we, the American people, start the process of reclaiming our government, which does not belong to Trump, and reclaim the rule of law, which also does not belong to him.

Just make sure you prepare yourself now to take your country back from him and the MAGA zombies that still support him by voting the Republicans out in the midterms. Clearly Trump is afraid of our coming vote, and is  trying to get Congress to change election laws before the Fall. Apparently he can feel losing his power "in his bones” too!

Time to fix Trump’s tricks in ’26! Let’s make it happen!