Yesterday, I wrote a piece partly about Trump’s threat to “end an entire civilization” if Iran didn’t agree to our terms and conditions. Right after I posted, a ceasefire was announced. Whether the ceasefire holds remains to be seen — I’m dubious, to say the least — but the fact that there was a ceasefire has led a lot of Trump supporters to engage in their very favorite pastime: pwning the libs.
The reaction to my post by MAGA types was basically “You failed the IQ test” in some form or other. Stupid libtard, go back to writing about TV shows if you don’t agree that everything Trump does is the bestest smartest thing ever.
The thinking goes like this: Trump wasn’t really going to nuke Iran. He was making a major threat in order to get what he wanted. It’s all part of this crazy three-dimensional chess that our president is apparently so skilled at, or maybe just a game of chicken. Threaten something horrible and massive and don’t blink, then hope the other side backs down.
There are several problems with this. For one thing, if you make threats like these and the other side doesn’t back down, you either follow through with them (nuclear war, genocide etc. in this case) or you reveal that you’re all bluster and hot air. Every parent knows this. If you tell your kids that they’re going to receive X consequence if they do Y thing, and then you don’t do it, they know that they can get away with anything. Don’t make threats you won’t carry out. The question remains, was Trump willing to carry out his threat or was it, indeed, just negotiation tactics?
The other big problem I have with this is that we, America, the people of the United States of America, should not be threatening genocide period. Ever. This is not okay. This is not the kind of negotiation tactics we should be engaging in, let alone whooping and hollering over with gleeful abandon. I don’t care if this was all just Trump’s way of getting what he wanted. It’s disgraceful and horrific and shameful and I’m ashamed that my government, my country, my president, would stoop to this vile threat, and embarrassed that so many of my countrymen would celebrate it.
But hey, you gotta pwn those libtards, right? They just don’t understand the crazy genius IQ of our commander-in-chief. Sure, he ran on “no more pointless wars” but really, when you think about it, Iran is a country in the middle east so why not? Why not bomb the hell out of them and threaten to end their civilization — a civilization, I should point out, that is thousands of years old, stretching back to the Persian Empire and beyond.
Of course I’d love to see regime change in Iran. The Iranian government is atrocious. In 2026 alone they massacred thousands of their own citizens who were engaging in peaceful protest. I don’t want theocracies to survive. I just also don’t think the US should be in the business of regime change. Even less aggressive foreign policy, such as economic isolation, sanctions etc., can have the opposite effect, often leading to more entrenched and radicalized governments and more impoverished and tyranized populaces. The more we prove that we’re “the Great Satan” the less likely we’ll be able to reach diplomatic common ground and peace.
The war is far from over, and even if it ends now, the global economic impact will reverberate for a very long time. I’ve seen commentary from Trump allies that amounts to “short-term pain = long-term gain” but this is nonsense. I’ve also seen Republicans telling people to just “drive less” to offset higher gas prices. Higher gas prices don’t just impact your driving, however. They lead to higher costs across the economy as supply chains and manufacturing costs are also impacted negatively. All for a senseless, unnecessary war of choice, done without congressional authorization, funded in the hundreds of billions. That’s a high cost to pay as Americans. The Iranian people — not the regime, the people — will pay a much higher one.
Oh yeah, and speaking of the ceasefire, it’s one of those things that requires all parties involved to play ball. Will Israel ever play ball with Netanyahu in charge? Why would he when he has Trump at his side?
Ron Paul@RonPaul
Just hours after a "shock" last minute reprieve from President Trump in the form of a two-week pause in the US/Iran/Israel war, Israel hit Lebanon with 100 bombs in 10 minutes, killing scores of civilians. According to the original agreement, Lebanon is part of the ceasefire.
Ron Paul @RonPaul
Can Trump Rein In Israel, Or Will Iran War Pause Go Up In Smoke?
8:30 PM · Apr 8, 2026 · 21.1K Views
53 Replies · 122 Reposts · 520 Likes
Bernie Sanders@BernieSanders
No great surprise. Netanyahu talked Trump into the disastrous war in Iran. We cannot allow Israel to continue shaping U.S. military and foreign policy. Next week I will be offering a resolution to stop U.S. military aid to Israel.
4:33 PM · Apr 8, 2026 · 655K Views
2.53K Replies · 9.9K Reposts · 36.5K Likes
Ultimately, even though the Iranian civilization has not been nuked, even though America has not carried out a genocide in Iran (yet!), we are still at war with a country we had no reason to attack. We are repeating the same mistakes of the Bush era, mistakes that Trump criticized relentlessly (and rightfully so) and we are playing fast and loose with blood and treasure. The problem with war, beyond the obvious, is the simple fact that we do not know what kind of unintended consequences this will have. Our meddling in Iran, propping up the wildly unpopular and anti-democratic Shah, led to the Iranian Revolution in the first place. Meddling and arrogance and disregard for human life. A toxic soup. We never learn.
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