4 ms·
Nothing like a war to boost your popularity just before the elections
by yodsanklai 8mo ago
Nothing like a war to boost your popularity just before the elections
- AbstractH24 8mo agoOnly I’m not exactly sure what constituency will support this war. He wasn’t even smart enough to leave America open to attack, manufacture a pretext, and rally people around the flag like 9/11 Heck, there was even a better case in Korea & Vietnam. Even Venezuela. What’s the case this is America’s problem?
- happosai 8mo agoThe Jesus people love it when Americas army support Israel The racists love it when Muslims get killed
- PsylentKnight 8mo agoHaving grown up deep in the Bible belt, I can say that there's often a lot of overlap between the Jesus people and the various -ists Bigotry has been a big part of the Moral Majority's platform for decades for a reason - it works on that demographic I have an armchair theory about one possible contributing factor These are two of the most fundamental beliefs of evangelicals and they don't make much sense when you put them side-by-side: 1. God is the ultimate progenitor and prototype of love 2. God wants to torture a LOT of people forever, some of whom you may know personally and may be all appearances be decent people This creates a certain amount of cognitive dissonance Rather than reconsider those beliefs (which may result in your own everlasting torment), it's far easier to resolve that discomfort by dehumanizing non-Christians. Maybe they're actually really rotten people that deserve to be tortured
- ponector 8mo agoFunny how Iran is America's problem so much but Ukraine is not, despite signed security assurance to the Ukrainian people.
- bdangubic 8mo agoIsrael is in charge of America and they did noy sign any assurances with Ukraine
- yoyohello13 8mo agoThis is about Religion. Hegseth is the 'Holy warrior for God' type. If there is a pretense to kill Muslims Trump and him will take it.
- nsvd2 8mo agoIf a democracy is meaningfully created in Iran I will consider that a huge win for Trump and it would certainly make me more sympathetic to his party. To be clear, I don't think the chances of that happening are high.
- sharadov 8mo agoYeah right and democracy was created in Iraq and Afghanistan as well!
- butterbomb 8mo ago> Only I’m not exactly sure what constituency will support this war. The remaining neocons who have surprisingly managed to weasel their way back into influence.
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> Nothing like a war to boost your popularity just before the elections If he pulls off a regime change, even a Delcy-style swaparoo, he'll get it, and arguably not undeservedly. It will ultimately come down to Iran's capacity to inflict casualties on American forces.
- philk10 8mo agosomehow I dont think regime change is gonna happen before the midterms or even before 2028
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> I dont think regime change is gonna happen before the midterms I agree. But to be fair, I would have said the same thing about Venezuela a year ago. Maybe the term should be a regime slip.
- donkeybeer 8mo agoI think he meant another regime not the Iranians.
- techblueberry 8mo agoWe didn’t change the regime in Venezuela though right? Just decapitated it? No one’s thinking America cant succeed at the killing partz. It’s what comes after that people are worried about.
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> We didn’t change the regime in Venezuela though right? Practically speaking, we changed it. The foreign and energy policies we care about changed. The notion that you need to wholesale clean shop to qualify as regime change is misguided and counterproductive [1]. (On the other end of the spectrum, the fact that we kept the Japanese Emperor on his throne doesn't mean we didn't change the Japanese regime.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-Ba%27athification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-Ba%27athification
- ekianjo 8mo agoYou sure? Seems like a war for no reason is hardly going to get popular support.
- nickthegreek 8mo agoFrom a man who campaigned on No New Wars.
- awnird 8mo agoAmericans are bloodthirsty freaks. Killing people is always popular with Americans.
- andrewflnr 8mo agoYou're acting like people are rational. It's just about power. Appearing strong appeals to the apes inside the humans. And no one is more in touch with his inner ape than Trump.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- jmyeet 8mo agoMilitary action in Iran is deeply unpopular, being supported by just 27% of US adult citizens [1]. As an aside, Congress literally doesn't care what voters think [2]. The pearl-clutching about this from Congressional Democrats isn't about policy but process, with the likes of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries saying Congress should authorize this action, not that it shouldn't happen. I'm interested in what makes empires tick, what their basis of power is. Spain in the colonial era was propped up by looting silver from Central and South America, for example. The British Empire is what many (including me) like to call the "drug dealer empire". First tobacco then later opium. Any claims that we didn't know about the health risks of tobacco are complete BS (eg [3]). Circling back to your point, the US is what I like to call the "arms dealer empire". WW1 and WW2 massively enriched the United States. NATO is essentially a protection racket for Europe and the price is, you guessed it, buying arms from the United States. And the next Budget has proposed increasing "defense" spending from an already eye-popping $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion [4]. Where does that money go? Arms, weapons programs, defense contractors, the ultra-wealthy. War is good for business even though it's unpopular. [1]: https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54158-few-americans-support-usa-military-action-against-iran-majority-think-it-is-likely-february-20-23-2026-economist-yougov-poll https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54158-few-americans-suppor... [2]: https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba/ https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba/ [3]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15198996/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15198996/ [4]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-proposes-massive-increase-in-2027-defense-spending-to-1-5-trillion-to-build-dream-military https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-proposes-massive...
- sharadov 8mo agoWar is America's business and business is good.
- Bender 8mo agoNothing like a war to boost your popularity just before the elections Congress will not let him have a third term regardless of what he says or thinks.
- sph 8mo agoCongress seems to be quite toothless lately.
- Bender 8mo agoTrue but they will have a hard time ignoring the 22nd amendment of the US constitution and it would be an easy move to remove him from the election process which a majority of the states themselves could do without opposition.
- 13415 8mo agoThey might try the good old Putin trick, have a puppet elected on behalf of Trump and let Trump have another high-ranking position (e.g. Vice President) and hold the real power. Trump can still do most of campaigning, and there is also ample opportunity for election fraud.
- Svoka 8mo agoIn russia they had 2 terms limit as well. Putin found a quick work-around by basically running through Proxy. I can see JD being a figurehead with very public Trump support.
- yoyohello13 8mo ago> Congress will let him... Lol, 'let'. Whose going to stop him?
- Bender 8mo agoEach state can decide to not list him in the election process. Some red states for sure would but plenty would not including a few red and purple states.
- squidbeak 8mo agoNothing like a war to push Epstein out of the headlines.
- DANmode 8mo agoAlmost every lever has been pulled.
- malshe 8mo agoYou really think the elections will happen
- ActorNightly 8mo agoThe popularity aspect is irrelevant. Trump can literally do all the things that the epstein files accuse him of doing, right on camera in front of everyone, and Americans will still vote for him all because he isn't a "woke" black woman.
- DANmode 8mo agobecause it’s more comfortable than admitting the people who run the show are scumbags. because it’s more comfortable than admitting they were wrong.