Consumers are increasingly feeling the strain of the US-Israel war in Iran.
  • wuffah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 hours ago

    Trumps “justification” is that your economic suffering is necessary so that Iran does not obtain a deliverable nuclear capability, and that he “loves inflation” because it means this strategy is working, and that inflation will decrease when the war “ends”. This is narcissistic delusion:

    • “Economists have warned that, even with a swift resolution to the war, it could take until 2027 for the normal flow of goods through the Strait of Hormuz to be restored.”

    • By executive order, Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA, an effective and good faith treaty that facilitated IAEA inspection of Iranian nuclear facilities that the Iranian government agreed to and was following at the time.

    • Iran’s enrichment program has been set back or moderated through historically more effective means, with Iran further hastening development when pressed by force. There is no evidence that Iran’s enrichment program constitutes an imminent risk for war by executive order.

    • The neutering of Iran has been an aspiration of the US and Israel since the Iranian revolution, but full scale war with Iran has always been avoided due to Iran’s long known, strategic capabilities to prevent freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

    Narcissists insulate themselves from criticism by surrounding themselves with people who they can control and manipulate to their advantage, and Trump has appointed leaders solely based on this quality. War with Iran and Trump’s response today is not just some strategic blunder of a fallible commander-in-chief. It is the institutional insanity of a system so large, complex, and powerful that its organizational inertia cannot be sufficiently mitigated to prevent its own destruction by maliciously incompetent actors at the top. In other words, a train wreck.

    The Narcissist’s Prayer

    That didn’t happen. (Prices aren’t increasing)

    And if it did, it wasn’t that bad. (Inflation is temporary)

    And if it was, that’s not a big deal. (Inflation will go down after the war)

    And if it is, that’s not my fault. (Biden caused inflation)

    And if it was, I didn’t mean it. (We had to stop Iran)

    And if I did, you deserved it. (I love inflation)

  • stoly@lemmy.world
    0·
    10 hours ago

    He has forgotten that he used to attack people for this sort of thing. He’s also forgotten that inflation is bad.

    • volore@scribe.disroot.org
      0·
      9 hours ago

      I simultaneously feel bad for and envy professional comedians and comedy writers right now. On the one hand, he gives them such good material to work with (I’ve been so happy about the return of Jon Stewart this whole time); on the other, those poor fuckers over at the Onion have seemingly had a good chunk of their jobs taken from them by reality. Can you imagine getting paid to come up with ridiculous, amusing fake quotes from political figures for your fake articles or your standup routine or whatever, material that worked well and landed with your audience – and then one day you wake up and the actual president is doing your job better on the toilet at 3am on Twitter, than you can bright-eyed with a cup of coffee in you and an editor? That the actual headlines scrolling across the ticker on CNN are, somehow, now, more ridiculous than what you were writing up just mere months or years ago as outlandish satire.

      Like, that’s gotta sting on some level. And I feel like the quality of the Onion has slightly suffered as a result. They were at their best making fun of normal, pre-MAGA politicians, not someone who already does a terrific job making a fool of themselves, very publicly, all on their lonesome.