By Butch Freedman
Petey Hegseth is probably responsible for the insipid naming: Operation Epic Fury. It fits his tough guy stance. A better naming would have been Epic Fail or Epic White Man’s Rage, maybe Master Race II. The whole thing is insane and infuriating. The U.S. is at war with Iran and nobody knows why, not even the president, or especially the demented prez. At his “news” conferences he’s sounding increasingly out of it, like an old drunk telling stories. Some on our side like to point out how trump made a point of declaring that he would be a president for peace and would not get us involved in any more foreign wars. But who in their right mind ever expected the truth from trump or even coherence.
Mister Piggy is right, though, about TDS (trump derangement syndrome.) I’m feeling it big time. But I don’t think it’s a disease, rather a perfectly normal reaction to what has become of our country under him and his stooges. To alter an older coining, “if you’re not deranged by all this, you’re not paying attention.’ Here are my symptoms (yours may vary.) I wake up in the morning with a vague feeling of sadness, sometimes early anger. It takes me a minute or two to realize the source, and when I do, I want to hide under the covers. Once awake and going about my business, I have this sense of a free-floating, non-specific anxiety. My gut feels twisted. Then when I can no longer resist, and scroll through the news feeds, I realize the source. There is NEVER any good news that emanates from the white house. It’s only increasing levels of insult, barbarism, and incompetence. I do what I can to relieve the stress and try to live a normal existence, but all day long, there lingers in the back of my brain the nagging thought that: our country is falling apart and there doesn’t seem any way to stop it. If that is not a sickness, then what is?
And so to Iran. I’ll leave the analysis to better minds than my own. Read Robert Reich or Thomas Friedman or listen to Rachel Maddow for deep insights. My reaction is more personal. I’m flabbergasted, and scared that the situation has become an existential threat to humanity. How has it gotten to this point? Why are trump and netanyahu controlling my world? They are both evil, un-well people. Yes, I know the Ayatollah was a bad, bad dude, who was responsible for the death of thousands of his own people. But the same could (and should) be said of trump and Bibi. We are essentially going to war and risking sacrificing American lives and billions of dollars in resources to help netanyahu stay in power and continue to wreak havoc on the Palestinians. And like so many millions of Americans, the same percentage of Israelis hate what their government is doing.
We need to be clear about this distinction. Trump is not America and netanyahu doesn’t speak for most Israelis and certainly not for most Jews. Both trump and netanyahu are only interested in staying out of jail for their many crimes. Let Israel take care of Bibi, let us vote the maniac trump out of office, and let Iran figure its own shit out. Damn, the whole thing makes me want to go back to bed and sleep till this is over or I am.
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