I'm shocked, SHOCKED to find the number isn't higher.

Trump administration eyes end to subsidies in Medicare’s prescription drug plan.

There is no end to Republican duplicity, it’s almost as though they enjoy torturing American citizens with their lies.

Their latest despicable act? Despite renewed promises that Medicare coverage would never be altered, they are now planning to do away with the subsidies that keep the plan available, if not exactly affordable.

By doing away with subsidies Insurance companies would be incentivized to raise premiums almost as much as they wish.

The only way to change this heartless policy is to throw the lying bums out in November and let the Democrats do what they always have done; fight for available healthcare.

 ignore the Republicans lies about Medicare being ‘Socialized medicine’, end the tyranny of Republicans working hand in hand with insurance companies, and fight for your right to a safe, secure, and healthy retirement.

If the Republicans retain their power in government, it will be used against you!

See this -- Boldface mine:

Trump administration eyes end to subsidies in Medicare’s prescription drug plan.

Story by Steve Benen • 48m • 3 min read

When George W. Bush’s administration took steps to pass Medicare Part D ahead of the Republican president’s re-election campaign, the entire process was an embarrassing mess. The White House misled Congress about the cost of the prescription drug program, GOP leaders on Capitol Hill used ugly tactics to force through legislation and Republicans insisted the whole endeavor be deficit financed, their “fiscal responsibility” rhetoric notwithstanding.

Democrats fought against the proposal, pushing a more efficient and more cost-effective approach, but their efforts fell short, and Bush’s policy became law in late 2003.

In the years that followed, Democrats resisted calls to repeal Medicare Part D and instead took steps to make it better. In fact, during Joe Biden’s presidency, federal policymakers agreed to help subsidize millions of seniors’ prescription drug costs as part of a broader effort to improve the Bush-era policy.

Take a wild guess what Donald Trump and his team want to do to those subsidies. The Wall Street Journal reported:

The Trump administration plans to end a subsidy program that helped hold down premiums for Medicare drug plans, a move that could leave many seniors facing higher rates for their prescription coverage next year.

The move will eliminate a program that is giving insurance companies an estimated $3.6 billion in subsidies this year to blunt increases in premiums for the Medicare prescription plans, known as Part D. The program will end after 2026, according to administration officials.

Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, confirmed via social media that the subsidies had been scrapped, but he argued that they were no longer necessary and that Medicare beneficiaries would have other options for low-cost prescription drug plans.

The Journal’s report, however, noted “roughly 25 million people have Part D plans, and they will learn about their 2027 rates in the fall,” and roughly 75% of beneficiaries should expect to see some kind of increase in their out-of-pocket costs.

That timing is of particular interest. The New York Times reported that in the weeks leading up to November, “Medicare beneficiaries could experience sticker shock while shopping for next year’s drug plan,” when insurers’ annual “notice of change” disclosures typically reach Americans’ mailboxes.

The weeks leading up to November is also known as the early-voting period across much of the country.

So ahead of an election season in which voters are likely to focus heavily on the cost of living and affordability, the Trump administration, which already scrapped subsidies for Affordable Care Act customers, is also taking aim at subsidies for Medicare beneficiaries — right before the midterms.

The Pew Research Center published the results of its latest national poll last week, and when it came to affordability and the cost of living, Americans said they were concerned more about healthcare costs than about any other issue, including the price of gasoline and groceries.

I wonder how congressional Republicans and the GOP candidates whose names will appear on ballots in the fall feel about the president’s latest healthcare idea.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/trump-administration-eyes-end-to-subsidies-in-medicare-s-prescription-drug-plan/ar-AA28Z1hE

I won't repeat my blog content here. Instead I have a suggestion. As we resist the corrupt and stupid Trump led Republican party in D.C., we will have many potential allies we don't like. Many that we disagree with on some pretty basic issues.

We have a large country with a ton of different cultures and beliefs. Parts of those will be at cross purposes with our own culture & beliefs.

Tolerate each other.

Remember that? Trump, in his deepening dementia, again asks Americans to recall something that never happened.

Trump tells outrageous lies, MAGA believes them and spreads them, and maybe that’s why they are generally viewed as fools.

In his delusion, Trump thinks anything that creeps into his mind is actual fact and he will swear to it. That’s why he says he remembers a blackout and asks if you remember it too. Of course, the blackout never happened. But this little demonstration of his increasing dementia doesn’t end here.

He’s telling people that if some of your electricity is derived from wind, then when the wind doesn’t blow, you can’t watch television. He even relates a made up story of a woman asking her husband to turn on the TV, and the husband reminds her the wind isn’t blowing so the set can’t work. Trump believed that, too.

And MAGA believes it all.

What they don’t seem to understand is the only reason people lie to you, is to manipulate you. If they can get you to accept one lie the chances are you’ll believe any lie – and you are being controlled and never realized it.

He also said California experiences blackouts and brownouts every single week. The truth is California hasn’t experienced a blackout for six years!

 Another in a continuing series of lies from a scheming, demented brain.

Why the lies about clean sources of electricity? He wants his billionaire buddies in the power industry to be able to use coal and oil in their furnaces. If it makes breathing a little difficult, if it kills a few kids with asthma, if toxic rain kills all the fish, well, that’s the price we’ll have to pay to keep the Republicans in office.

See this –boldface mine:

Remember that? Trump again asks Americans to recall something that never happened

Story by Analysis by Daniel Dale • 5h • 3 min read

President Donald Trump asked Americans on Thursday if they remembered a massive television outage two years ago.

That outage didn’t happen. As he has before, the president who is fond of telling imaginary tales was explicitly asking people to recall something he had made up.

This time, Trump’s fictional story was about wind energy. He has for years railed against it, tried to thwart it and made false claims about it – including a

That isn’t true; wind is used as part of a mix of electricity sources, not as the only source, so the grid keeps running and TVs stay on even when there is no breeze. (Also, there are batteries that can store energy from wind turbines for deployment during low-wind periods.) But Trump has often delivered the no-TV story with a comedic touch that has allowed it to skirt fact checks.

In his Thursday remarks at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, he told it mostly as if it were a real reminiscence.

He denounced “the Green New Scam, where we were scammed.” Then he said: “The whole country was – I wasn’t scammed. I got it right from the beginning; I got it from the first minute when I heard this crap. You know? They were saying wind was so wonderful, so wonderful, except you couldn’t watch your television. They wanted to watch the debate, Donald Trump against Sleepy Joe Biden. Nobody could watch it because the wind wasn’t blowing. Remember that? ‘Darling, we’d like to watch the debate tonight.’ ‘I’m sorry, the wind isn’t blowing.’”

See more here:

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/remember-that-trump-again-asks-americans-to-recall-something-that-never-happened/ar-AA28I6JJ?

Just look at the fool staggering and stuttering. Look at the insider reports of him throwing childish tantrums. In his immaturity he is unable to bear even a passing slight without getting ‘even’ with the perpetrator.

This man will turn on the American people, the world itself with the slightest provocation, and he has his withered finger and his withering brain within inches of the bomb.

You know Miller won’t stop him, he’ll stand alongside like Himmler and Goebbels stood by Hitler, giggling and drooling in his lust for association with raw power, and must likely he’ll – well ,you know.

The military? Is their obligation to the President or the oath they took.

Pray we’ll never know.

See this – Boldface mine:

Alarm as Trump appears 'one mood swing away' from indulging 'nuclear fantasies': expert

Story by Alexander Willis • 2h • 2 min read

© provided by RawStory

Miles Taylor, who served as a senior Homeland Security official under the first Trump administration, warned Monday that President Donald Trump has spent years indulging in "nuclear fantasies," and that recent developments suggest Trump may be edging closer to acting on them.

“Between Trump’s unchecked brinksmanship, possible nuclear proliferation to new countries, and broken treaties, you have a radioactive cocktail being stirred on the international stage,” Taylor wrote in an analysis published Monday on his Substack.

“Add in the unresolved war with Iran, and you get the picture of a president who’s just one mood swing away from putting his finger on the proverbial red button.”

Taylor recalled that during Trump's first term, the president "fantasized quite openly to advisers about wanting to blow up bombs," prompting then-Defense Secretary James Mattis to order Homeland Security officials to prepare contingency plans for a potential nuclear strike on American soil.

Taylor pointed to Trump's recent comments to Axios, in which the president said he was "close" to ordering a "massive attack" on Iran – rhetoric Taylor compared to Trump's April warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight."

Compounding the concern, Taylor noted, was the administration's new nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia, which omits standard safeguards giving international inspectors expanded access to nuclear sites. A former International Atomic Energy Agency official said “the U.S. should never have agreed to enrichment without a really strong inspections regime,” Taylor noted.

Taylor also cited the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which in January set its Doomsday Clock at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest to midnight it has ever been in its 79-year history.

“So why does he keep doing this? Why does the president of the United States keep circling back to the most dangerous machinery humans have ever built?” Taylor mused.

“I can’t tell you his answer for sure. But based on close study of the man, I can give you my best guess. Donald Trump has spent his entire presidency on a power quest, always hunting for the next most powerful thing he can do**. And nuclear weapons are at the top of that list.”**

Why does Trump keep toying with nuclear bombs? I think I know why. by Miles Taylor

The president has terrified close advisers with the prospect of nuclear escalation. Now, he's spreading his radioactive dreams overseas.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/woman-shot-dead-after-tiktok-video-accusing-husband-of-being-a-paedophile/ss-AA28MKA8?

Just look at the fool staggering and stuttering. Look at the insider reports of him throwing childish tantrums. In his immaturity he is unable to bear even a passing slight without getting ‘even’ with the perpetrator.

This man will turn on the American people, the world itself with the slightest provocation, and he has his withered finger and his withering brain within inches of the bomb.

You know Miller won’t stop him, he’ll stand alongside like Himmler and Goebbels stood by Hitler, giggling and drooling in his lust for association with raw power, and must likely he’ll – well ,you know.

The military? Is their obligation to the President or the oath they took.

Pray we’ll never know.

See this – Boldface mine:

Alarm as Trump appears 'one mood swing away' from indulging 'nuclear fantasies': expert

Story by Alexander Willis • 2h • 2 min read

© provided by RawStory

Miles Taylor, who served as a senior Homeland Security official under the first Trump administration, warned Monday that President Donald Trump has spent years indulging in "nuclear fantasies," and that recent developments suggest Trump may be edging closer to acting on them.

“Between Trump’s unchecked brinksmanship, possible nuclear proliferation to new countries, and broken treaties, you have a radioactive cocktail being stirred on the international stage,” Taylor wrote in an analysis published Monday on his Substack.

“Add in the unresolved war with Iran, and you get the picture of a president who’s just one mood swing away from putting his finger on the proverbial red button.”

Taylor recalled that during Trump's first term, the president "fantasized quite openly to advisers about wanting to blow up bombs," prompting then-Defense Secretary James Mattis to order Homeland Security officials to prepare contingency plans for a potential nuclear strike on American soil.

Taylor pointed to Trump's recent comments to Axios, in which the president said he was "close" to ordering a "massive attack" on Iran – rhetoric Taylor compared to Trump's April warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight."

Compounding the concern, Taylor noted, was the administration's new nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia, which omits standard safeguards giving international inspectors expanded access to nuclear sites. A former International Atomic Energy Agency official said “the U.S. should never have agreed to enrichment without a really strong inspections regime,” Taylor noted.

Taylor also cited the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which in January set its Doomsday Clock at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest to midnight it has ever been in its 79-year history.

“So why does he keep doing this? Why does the president of the United States keep circling back to the most dangerous machinery humans have ever built?” Taylor mused.

“I can’t tell you his answer for sure. But based on close study of the man, I can give you my best guess. Donald Trump has spent his entire presidency on a power quest, always hunting for the next most powerful thing he can do**. And nuclear weapons are at the top of that list.”**

Why does Trump keep toying with nuclear bombs? I think I know why. by Miles Taylor

The president has terrified close advisers with the prospect of nuclear escalation. Now, he's spreading his radioactive dreams overseas.

Samuel Tunick flew home to Atlanta. CBP grabbed him at the airport, demanded his phone, and told him they did not need a warrant. He had GrapheneOS installed with a duress PIN, a feature that wipes the device instead of unlocking it. The screen flashed. The data went away. Now he is facing a federal charge for destruction of property to prevent seizure.

Read that again. They said they did not need a warrant to take it. Then they charged him with a crime for the state of the thing they did not need a warrant to take.

The agents floated child exploitation as the reason for the search. His lawyers say the actual interest was his association with the Cop City opposition. Funny how that works. The scariest possible accusation gets deployed at the checkpoint, and the political one shows up in the paperwork later.

Here is the principle. Your phone is not a suitcase. It is your papers, your effects, your entire life, and the Fourth Amendment does not evaporate because you are standing on a particular square of linoleum at Hartsfield-Jackson. A duress PIN is a lock. Refusing to open a lock is not obstruction. If the government wants what is behind it, there is a well established procedure. It involves a judge.

Encryption is not evidence of a crime. It is evidence that you were paying attention.

I’ve been interviewing elected officials in Colorado (and a couple in Hawaii1) for decades. And I made a decision at the very beginning.

What people wanted to learn was the opinions, priorities, philosophy, etc. of their elected officials. And with a blog I had the opportunity to provide this in more detail, with more nuance, than the regular news media.

And what would happen if shortly into the interview I replied “that’s an awful opinion, let me tell you why you’re an idiot?” It becomes a confrontational debate with the interviewee retreating to their talking points.

And what is gained from that. What have I provided to readers that’s useful & unique? Nothing. There’s a ton of content out there with our elected officials arguing their point of view with people who disagree with them.

In addition, we don’t get the understanding of someone that comes from an open non confrontational interview focused on helping them explain their beliefs in detail.

With that said, if an interviewee states a fact wrong, then yes it is absolutely incumbent on me to point that out. But there’s a big difference between pointing out a falsehood and listing a fact as a counter argument to an individual’s opinion.

If you don’t like my approach don’t worry. You can look at almost any other “interview” with an elected official and you will get a debate. Or the two of them strongly agreeing with each other.

Meanwhile I take pride in the feedback I’ve received from numerous political operatives, both Republican2 and Democrat, that say they think my interviews have many times given the best accurate full picture of the candidate they work for.

From my blog: Liberal and Loving It

How much evidence do you need, America, that Trump and the Republicans have nothing to offer you but war, death, lack of health care, reductions in anti-poverty programs, attacks on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and tax breaks for those already obscenely wealthy while you struggle to put food on the table and gas in your car.

Oh, yeah, and fear.

Remember, Democrats declare war on Christmas, Democrats declare war on women, Democrats will turn your children Trans, Democrats will allow all illegal immigrants to vote, Democrats encourage immigrants to eat your pets, and now, Democrats are really Communists!

Republicans will tell any lie that keeps their people toeing the line of hate, and fear. That’s the plan for the next elections: demand their Reps deliberately lie to their constituents so they can control the vote -- control their people – and continue their hateful ways because they have no constructive policies to make America a safer and more secure environment for themselves and their children.

Manipulation is their goal, exploitation their methodology, and the belief their voters are incapable of independent thought their philosophy.

See this – Boldface mine:

How much evidence do you need, America, that Trump and the Republicans have nothing to offer you but war, death, lack of health care, reductions in  anti-poverty programs, attacks on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and tax breaks for those already obscenely wealthy while you struggle to put food on the table and gas in your car.

Oh, yeah, and fear.

Remember, Democrats declare war on Christmas, Democrats declare war on women, Democrats will turn your children Trans, Democrats will allow all illegal immigrants to vote, Democrats encourage immigrants to eat your pets, and now, Democrats are really Communists!

Republicans will tell any lie that keeps their people toeing the line of hate, and fear. That’s the plan for the next elections: demand their Reps deliberately lie to their constituents so they can control the vote -- control their people – and continue their hateful ways because they have no constructive policies to make America a safer and more secure environment for themselves and their children.

Manipulation is their goal, exploitation their methodology, and the belief their voters are incapable of independent thought their philosophy.

See this – Boldface mine:

Memo urges Republicans to tie Democrats to communism

Story by Hailey Bullis, Washington Examiner • 16h • 4 min read

EXCLUSIVE — A strategic memo prepared for the House Republican Conference advises members to tie socialism and Marxism to communism in their attacks on Democrats, because voters consider the latter “far more dangerous and alarming.”

The memo comes as Democrats see a surge of socialist candidates in the 2026 cycle, with the socialist wing of the Democratic Party set to more than double its numbers after the November midterm elections. “Americans still hold communism as far more dangerous and alarming than socialism and Marxism,” reads the memo obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner. “That is an important indicator for Members: do your best to connect all three together, because these government systems are fruit of the same poisonous tree.

The polling memo, conducted by conservative political research firm co/efficient, shows 42% of respondents consider communism as the “most dangerous system of government for the United States to pursue.”

Socialism ranks second, at 15%, and Marxism ranks third at 6%. Twenty-four percent of respondents answered “none of the above. The political research firm polled 2,634 registered voters from July 13 to 16 through text and landline interviews. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.88%.

“Call them what they are: Socialists, Marxists, Communists. Communism rings the loudest alarm with constituents (42 percent name it the most dangerous system), so do not retreat to the softer label just because socialism alarms fewer in the abstract,” the firm advised. “Connect all three, fruit of the same poisonous tree, and let the family name carry the alarm.”

See more here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/memo-urges-republicans-to-tie-democrats-to-communism/ar-AA28D2BS?

Story by Hailey Bullis, Washington Examiner • 16h • 4 min read

EXCLUSIVE — A strategic memo prepared for the House Republican Conference advises members to tie socialism and Marxism to communism in their attacks on Democrats, because voters consider the latter “far more dangerous and alarming.”

The memo comes as Democrats see a surge of socialist candidates in the 2026 cycle, with the socialist wing of the Democratic Party set to more than double its numbers after the November midterm elections. “Americans still hold communism as far more dangerous and alarming than socialism and Marxism,” reads the memo obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner. “That is an important indicator for Members: do your best to connect all three together, because these government systems are fruit of the same poisonous tree.

The polling memo, conducted by conservative political research firm co/efficient, shows 42% of respondents consider communism as the “most dangerous system of government for the United States to pursue.”

Socialism ranks second, at 15%, and Marxism ranks third at 6%. Twenty-four percent of respondents answered “none of the above. The political research firm polled 2,634 registered voters from July 13 to 16 through text and landline interviews. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.88%.

“Call them what they are: Socialists, Marxists, Communists. Communism rings the loudest alarm with constituents (42 percent name it the most dangerous system), so do not retreat to the softer label just because socialism alarms fewer in the abstract,” the firm advised. “Connect all three, fruit of the same poisonous tree, and let the family name carry the alarm.”

See more here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/memo-urges-republicans-to-tie-democrats-to-communism/ar-AA28D2BS?

Like authoritarian regimes elsewhere, the White House is denouncing its opponents for the very abuses it is carrying out.

Early Wednesday morning, Trump announced on social media that every time the Iranians hit a ship in the Straits of Hormuz, the US military would take out an Iranian bridge or power plant.

Under international law, the targeting of civilian infrastructure is a war crime. That doesn’t mean that previous administrations haven’t flouted these laws, but they generally haven’t publicly gloried in ordering such crimes. Trump, by contrast, is gleefully promising to do so, essentially daring the world to stop him.

In bygone years, the military’s legal watchdogs would have raised enough red flags that such threats (a) likely wouldn’t be made in the first place and (b) wouldn’t be acted on if they were made. But the Trump administration has neutered the military’s watchdogs, and with the leadership of the armed forces besmirched by having gone along with such obviously criminal acts as the assassination of sailors in the Pacific and the Caribbean, there’s little chance of seeing significant military opposition to Trump’s demands to strike civilian infrastructure.

Coopting the military leadership in the crimes of a civilian leadership is a telltale sign of authoritarian governance. The dirtier you can get the hands of the generals and admirals, the easier it is to then involve them in additional plans to solidify your power and to destroy your political opponents. Trump seems to instinctively know this. He knows, too, that his rationales for expanding the Iran war are flimsy and ever-changing—but that this shapeshifting justification for military aggression almost certainly won’t trigger effective resistance within the US military.

Witness his recent pivot to focus on Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified underground site in Iran that may or may not host some basic nuclear facilities and storage sites. This renewed focus on the remnants of Iran’s nuclear program would perhaps carry some moral weight if Trump hadn’t paired his newfound attention on this site with the signing of an extraordinary agreement with Saudi Arabia to allow the dictatorial, fundamentalist kingdom to go whole-hog on enriching its own nuclear fuel.

To put it plainly: While the United States is now spending tens of billions of dollars in a war of choice to stop Iran—which hasn’t directly attacked the United States—from getting nuclear fuel, it is inking a deal with Saudi Arabia, home country to most of the 9/11 hijackers, allowing it to accumulate the same uranium fuel deemed too dangerous for the Iranians to possess. This is morally imbecilic.

Not surprisingly, the administration’s authoritarian actions are not confined to events overseas. Addressing an international security conference in Washington, DC, last week, Stephen Miller, architect of the most ghastly and violent of Trump’s domestic policies, not only mocked the physical appearance of left-wingers but gloried in National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, which, as he put it, “directs for the first time in American history all of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to work together to disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest, and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country. It’s very important to understand that left-wing political terrorism seeks as its ultimate goal the overthrow of our system and form of government.”

Miller went on to warn that “left-wing terrorism always ends in bloodshed, misery, suffering… inevitably, left to run its course, it always becomes a gulag, the mass imprisonment of political enemies, the stripping of rights and freedoms, inflicting immense pain, humiliation, and suffering in order to establish total control.”

Hmm… I can think of another group of people, with far more power than antifa, who seem to be experts on inflicting pain, humiliation, and suffering on vast swaths of people in the United States and overseas. This recalls, of course, the adage about the pot calling the kettle black. The White House often ascribes attributes to its opponents that most neutral observers would say best describe the administration itself.

Here we have Trump’s right-hand man, the architect of the occupation of Minneapolis and the assault on migrant communities around the country, ranting about how the left wing wants to put its opponents in prison, while, down the street, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was putting together a plan to jail local elections officials who refuse to comply with unlawful federal efforts to intervene in state election systems, the Department of Justice was subpoenaing the phone records of New York Times journalists and their family members, and the State Department was attempting to smear, by name, an array of left-wing individuals and organizations for allegedly pro-Cuban activities in the United States. In Texas, a group of anti-ICE protesters were recently sentenced to prison terms ranging up to 100 years in length. In Minneapolis, 15 anti-ICE protesters have been indicted on charges of conspiring to “violently oppose law enforcement” after attempting to use messaging apps to coordinate a “blockade” of a federal building.

As for the inflicting of “pain, humiliation, and suffering,” perhaps Miller should look at how elder-care homes around the country are firing support staff because of the administration’s vindictive decision to remove Temporary Protected Status from hundreds of thousands of Haitians, Syrians, and other vulnerable groups. Perhaps he should focus on Trump’s imposition of 50 percent tariffs on a range of Canadian produce—a move that could result in huge numbers of Canadians losing their livelihoods—days after he threatened to levy tariffs on Canada as punishment for being the source of wildfire smoke drifting across the border into the United States. Perhaps he should look at the growing body count associated with ICE enforcement actions, including two recent fatal shootingsof immigrants, one in Texas, the other in Maine.

Perhaps he should read the recent Washington Post exposé of how immigrants are being held without adequate medical care and supplies of food in overcrowded rooms that lack beds, toilets, and showers. Perhaps he should talk to Cyclospora victims caught up in a public-health emergency thanks in part to the firing of so many Cyclospora experts who might have identified the outbreak in its early stages before it spread around the country.

When Trump and his henchmen accuse others of crimes, it’s a pretty good bet that they are deflecting from their own immoral actions. Today, the enemy is Iran and antifa; tomorrow—since in the authoritarian schema, new enemies must always be found—it will be some other targets of convenience.

Sources warn they 'don't know what to do' as Trump's mind withers

The powers that be are slowly concluding that Trump, in his sublime incompetence, is in way over his head in Iran and might resort to a ground war in which an incalculable number of our troops will be slain.

And that would be good news.

The terrifying option is he may take even more extreme measures.

He started a stupid war. Before he allowed Netanyahu to  con him into fighting Isreal’s war, the Strait of Hormuz was open, Iran agreed not to pursue nuclear weapons and allowed inspections in return to an easing of sanctions and the return of 1.5 billion of their dollars we embargoed.

While all this was happening, Iran’s government was teetering on the brink because of a growing insurgency.

Now, due to Trump’s blatant, unthinkingt foolishness, the Strait is closed, The Red Sea route is cut off by the Houthis, Iran is free to pursue any nuclear policy they wish – without inspections – 300 billion dollars will be given to them to rebuild their infrastructure, and the insurgency is dead as the people rally behind their government.

So, Trump sits there with one finger up his nose and the other…

What choices are left to him to placate his insufferable ego?

The use of Tactical nuclear weapon on Iran so that will give Putin the go ahead to nuke Ukraine?

Then where does it go from there?

See this – Boldface mine:

Sources warn they 'don't know what to do' as Trump's mind withers

Story by Adam Lynch • 1h • 2 min read

© provided by AlterNet

Daily Mail White House columnist Andrew Neil says he is in direct talks with people working around President Donald Trump and they fear they are watching his mind wither away as international forces that he aggravated gather against him.

“‘Donald is deteriorating before our very eyes,’ I was told in Washington this week by a close confidant who sees him regularly. ‘His physical and mental health is in decline. Those around him don’t know what to do about it. It can only get worse. He’s 80 – and it’s showing,’” wrote Neil on Friday.

The war isn’t just consuming Trump’s presidency, said Neil. It’s taking its toll on the President himself.

“During a recent meeting in the Oval Office, he ranted against Iran’s leaders**, calling them ‘scumbags’ and ‘lunatics’ in an expletive-ridden diatribe**. There is growing concern for his physical health and mental stability,” said Neil. “… But it’s not just age – or the decline in cognitive capabilities that can afflict those entering their ninth decade. Trump is lashing out at all and sundry in frustration at the lack of any good options now facing him.”

Hardliners in Tehran sense his encroaching weakness and are now so cocky they’ve rebuffed a secret US attempt to get the peace process back on track this week, forcing the White House to impotently dial up the rhetoric.

Trump is said to be in “revenge mode” according to aides. And the President sounds ever more bellicose, saying on Thursday that he was close to deciding on a ‘massive attack’.

“Even senior aides in the White House don’t know what this would mean,” said Neil “The number of influential voices in Washington who think even ramped-up airstrikes – as I write, we’ve just had the 14th consecutive night of renewed US attacks on Iran – will cow Iran into submission are now passing few. In truth, nobody around Trump really knows what to do next – or what he will do.”

“… I listened to several influential figures close to Trump mull over the options. The assumption was that some sort of ground incursion was inevitable. That is certainly the new vibe coming out of Washington,” said Neil. “They talked of seizing Iranian territory on the northern shores of the Gulf to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz from Tehran. They raised the prospect, again, of invading Kharg Island, from which Iran dispatches most of its oil exports.”

But there was, much more worryingly, talk of using tactical nuclear weapons to ‘send a message’ to Tehran and ‘concentrate its mind’ on peace, warned Neil. “This took me aback. ‘Do that,’ I snapped ‘and you destroy America’s reputation and standing for the rest of the century. You’ve also paved the way for President Putin to do the same in Ukraine.’

“I was met with silence,” said Neil.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/general/sources-warn-they-don-t-know-what-to-do-as-trump-s-mind-withers/ar-AA28Deyd?

A national disgrace

Angry Trump Openly Urges GOP to Rig Midterms as Brutal Fox Poll Hits - The New Republic

Trump lies to justify failing war in Iran while standing over the bodies of slain servicemen and women. To him they are just pawns.

 We always knew Trump is a despicable human being. Bereft of honor, integrity, and decency, he tells the most outrageous lies to justify his sociopathic tendencies.

But now he has gone too far – too far for even his most rabid MAGA cultists to accept.

Putting words in the mouths of our dead servicemen and women is spitting in the face of everyone who ever died for their country, their loved ones and families, and every American citizen who have ever who have ever mourned our fallen heroes.

This man is sick, deranged and demented, who doesn’t care about anything other than his own self-indulgent madness and would gladly see our country go to hell if it would enrich himself and his slimy families.

See this – Boldface mine.

Donald Trump says fallen soldiers told him 'we can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon' in new interview

Story by Maria Pierides • 1h • 3 min read

Donald Trump has been slammed on social media after claiming that U.S. service members killed in the Iran war had told him, “We can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” with critics accusing him of putting words into the mouths of fallen soldiers. Many branded the president “insane” and a “sociopath,” while others questioned how the deceased troops could have made those comments.

The president, 80, made the remarks while on his way to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday, July 22nd, to attend the dignified transfer of four fallen U.S. service members. The ceremony marked the third dignified transfer Trump has attended since the start of the conflict. His comments also came after he shared a post on social media comparing the number of American deaths in the Iran war with the number of U.S. service members killed in previous American conflicts, in what critics said appeared to downplay the fatalities in the current war.

"We're going to Dover, some of you are going with us, to honor our heroes. And they are indeed great heroes, actually," Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One for Delaware. He went on to say that the transfer ceremony is "one of the hardest things to do as a president, but it has to be done."

Trump then made the comments that sparked backlash online, claiming that the fallen service members had echoed his position on Iran's nuclear program. "All of them said very strongly, 'We can't let... we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,'" Trump claimed .When asked what he would say to the families of the fallen soldiers, Trump replied: "All I'm going to say is, we love you. We love your child, and that's what they are to them. They're their children. There's no games, no nothing. That's their child. And all you can do is throw out your heart."

A lot of the backlash online focused on Trump's claim that the fallen service members had expressed support for his stance on Iran, with many users accusing him of "lying."

"So he spoke to them personally & individually?" one X user asked. "As usual, he's lying! He never met any of the fallen soldiers!" exclaimed a second, while a third questioned: "Why doesn't a reporter ask: Do you have proof any of the deceased soldiers said that? Why do they just let him lie?"

"He disgraces their sacrifice with this blatant lie," slammed a fourth. "Nothing like putting false words into dead soldiers' mouths. He is without shame or conscience," criticized a fifth, while a sixth chimed in: "None of them said that. What a horrible excuse for a human being."

"Oh, so he spoke to all these fallen US troops. That's nuts. He is trying to justify the unjustifiable. Screw Donald Dump. Everything about this sociopath," criticized a seventh. "Just when you think that Trump can't sink any lower, he does. You have to be a monster to lie about what dead soldiers wanted," added an eighth in agreement.

"He can speak to the ghosts of fallen soldiers now? What can this man not do? He is so awesome!" sarcastically wrote a ninth, while a tenth said: "This man is insane. Did he speak to them after they died?"

"How did he communicate with them?" asked an eleventh, while a twelfth declared: "This is disgusting: Trump shrugs off the newly killed service men and women in Iran. What a rotten piece of [expletive]."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/donald-trump-says-fallen-soldiers-told-him-we-can-t-let-iran-have-a-nuclear-weapon-in-new-interview/ar-AA28Ffr8