EPTUS Politics Mega-thread - Page 5630
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Now that we have a new thread, in order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a complete and thorough read before posting! NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets. Your supporting statement should always come BEFORE you provide the source. If you have any questions, comments, concern, or feedback regarding the USPMT, then please use this thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/website-feedback/510156-us-politics-thread | ||
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Biff The Understudy
France8195 Posts
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LightSpectra
United States3271 Posts
On April 04 2026 05:18 Biff The Understudy wrote: Still trying to figure out what the point of this war is. Netanyahu needs a boost in the polls, Hegseth wants to blow up brown people, Putin wants gas prices to rise and sanctions lifted, Mohammed bin Salman wants Saudi ascendancy in the region, and Trump trusted all of those guys instead of people in the military that know what they're talking about because they didn't flatter him as much. | ||
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DarkPlasmaBall
United States46484 Posts
On April 04 2026 05:18 Biff The Understudy wrote: Still trying to figure out what the point of this war is. To distract from the fact that Trump raped children, though I think he overestimates how much his MAGA base would really care about that, given how much they've already overlooked / excused from Trump already. | ||
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dyhb
United States769 Posts
By settled, I mean this will probably be totally contradicted in a week's time depending on polling and markets and inner White House power struggles and whoever had the President's ear last. There is no Congressional buy-in for this war. There is no public buy-in for an invasion and occupation to protect civilian naval traffic through the strait of hormuz. The default presumption should be that the military assets will be withdrawn in exchange for ending attacks on civilian ships and maybe some empty promises. | ||
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hitthat
Poland2349 Posts
Winning much? | ||
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KT_Elwood
Germany1200 Posts
On April 04 2026 05:18 Biff The Understudy wrote: Still trying to figure out what the point of this war is. Colonel Kegstand can feel manly. His ego is more fragile than Trump's swollen ankles. Trump hasn't been asked about Epstein. Billions of taxpayermoney got blown up and even if Trump gets removed within the next decade.. the US may be just incapeable of aiding NATO members in case of russian agression. | ||
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Simberto
Germany12015 Posts
On April 04 2026 07:37 hitthat wrote: There was info about damaged f-16 earier that day. Now there are talks about f-16 shot down. If true, that's the disastrous day for USAF. Winning much? It is kind of strange how this war makes you somewhat root for absolute assholes. Iran is a horrifically evil state. And yet anything they achieve here is probably better than Trump being successful in this war. | ||
KwarK
United States44353 Posts
On April 04 2026 07:47 Simberto wrote: Iran is a horrifically evil state. And yet anything they achieve here is probably better than Trump being successful in this war. No, this is the one time we want Trump to actually take good advice and follow a clear strategy to a win. The problem is that he's fucking Trump. | ||
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hitthat
Poland2349 Posts
On April 04 2026 07:47 Simberto wrote: It is kind of strange how this war makes you somewhat root for absolute assholes. Iran is a horrifically evil state. And yet anything they achieve here is probably better than Trump being successful in this war. I root for Iran mostly because orange fucker announced attack on Cuba right after, and as much I cheered death of Khamenei, I didn't forget who was the invader in the first place. | ||
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Simberto
Germany12015 Posts
On April 04 2026 07:49 KwarK wrote: No, this is the one time we want Trump to actually take good advice and follow a clear strategy to a win. The problem is that he's fucking Trump. If he were able to take good advice or have a clear strategy, we wouldn't be in this situation. Good advice was "Don't attack Iran, there is nothing to win there." And Trump hasn't had a clear strategy for anything except avoiding publicity of the Epstein files. | ||
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KwarK
United States44353 Posts
On April 04 2026 07:52 Simberto wrote: If he were able to take good advice or have a clear strategy, we wouldn't be in this situation. Good advice was "Don't attack Iran, there is nothing to win there." And Trump hasn't had a clear strategy for anything except avoiding publicity of the Epstein files. Yes and no. There's absolutely a world in which an attack on Iran works. The US coordinates with allies around the world, they stock up on fertilizer/oil, they prep lots of drone/missile defence in Arabia, they ramp up oil production elsewhere in the world, and then they deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to Iraq with a clear victory and transition plan for after the invasion. Honestly I think that's actually probably quite a good world. The IRGC regime is an ongoing human rights catastrophe and it doesn't even do a good job of governing. It's not like Singapore where they execute a bunch of people for chewing gum but they make a good society, Iran can't even provide the population drinking water. Iran isn't like Afghanistan where there is no state apparatus to coopt following regime change, Iranians are used to a strong centralized state and, by and large, they hate the IRGC. It's much closer to a post WW2 Japan scenario than Afghanistan, this is a literate educated population with an understanding of civil society. The problem is that they just YOLO'd in. We still all want the US to win, and honestly the US should win with ease, this is probably the only administration that could actually lose a war with Iran. | ||
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hitthat
Poland2349 Posts
On April 04 2026 08:00 KwarK wrote: We still all want the US to win, and honestly the US should win with ease, this is probably the only administration that could actually lose a war with Iran. No, sorry. As much as I like Americans, Trump made it clear Cuba is next, and lately Cuba did nothing to deserve another invasion. Trump's war is highly unpopular in America, which makes me treat Americans different than Russians, who overhelmingly supported their aggresion. I absolutely want America to lose if it's the price for them not moving to Havana. The worst already happened, now I only want damage control, and USA invading ANOTHER country will not cut it. | ||
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KwarK
United States44353 Posts
You have two, old broken-down aircraft carriers, do you think you could send them over? (for context, Britain's aircraft carriers were commissioned in 2017 and 2019 making them newer than all US carriers, though the newest US carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was also commissioned in 2017 and would be as new as one of Britain's if it wasn't currently docked for repairs after the laundry caught fire)Ohhh, I’ll have to ask my team. (In the Parliamentary system works the PM has to meet with Cabinet before making that decision)You’re the prime minister, you don’t have to. (Trump is attempting to teach the British PM the powers of a PM)No, no, no, I have to ask my team. My team has to meet, we’re meeting next week. (Trump thinks being repeatedly corrected makes him look good here in this story he's telling)But the war already started. Next week the war’s going to be over … in three days. (it turned out the war wasn't over in 3 days but if it was that time sensitive maybe Trump could have asked earlier so that it could have made it into the previous Cabinet meeting) | ||
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Manit0u
Poland17847 Posts
On April 04 2026 07:37 hitthat wrote: There was info about damaged f-16 earier that day. Now there are talks about f-16 shot down. If true, that's the disastrous day for USAF. Winning much? Not F-16 but F-15 is confirmed to have been shot down. A-10 and Black Hawk too with 2 other Black Hawks damaged. | ||
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Billyboy
2463 Posts
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Broetchenholer
Germany1967 Posts
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Falling
Canada11607 Posts
On April 03 2026 11:04 baal wrote: Such a weird firing of Bondi, maybe it got into his head since "the apprentice" because his hair-trigger firing seem very bad for him, in the government these firing send a message of instability while maybe he just does it out of impulse. I mean, it's pretty part for the course for him. He isn't known for who he hires so much as that he fires a lot of people. (Tough businessman who makes the tough business decisions or some such.) Which might make some sort of sense if he was taking over from somebody else and cleaning out the old crowd. But especially in his second administration who he is and will be firing is a bunch of people that nobody thought competent (except to those who defend Trump no matter what) and whose sole qualification seemed to be their sycophantic nature (which got motte and bailey as of course you would hire someone who is supportive of elected president). But it's no virtue to fire someone who was always going to be bad at the actual job (though maybe the actual job was to prosecute Trump's political enemies and bury the Epstein files and tie up the courts while the executive ignores habeus corpus). But good tsar bad boyar needs a fall guy/ girl. Speaking of another merry member of Trump's team of the best of the best. Big data breach in the FBI FBI labels data breach ‘major incident,’ notifies Congress Big sad for Kash if he also becomes another fall guy so he can't jet set around the world to party with the hockey boys on the taxpayer's dime. Additionally, the war must be going according to plan as Hegseth fires generals: Hegseth ousts US Army chief of staff and two other generals amid Iran war Meanwhile, Trump has already managed to cost the government $100m so he can golf on his own courses. Taxpayers’ Tab for Donald Trump’s Golf Habit Crosses $100 Million This alone ought to have been disqualifying in his first term that the president can charge taxpayers such exorbitant sums to his own business, for recreation. | ||
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hitthat
Poland2349 Posts
On April 04 2026 10:43 Manit0u wrote: Not F-16 but F-15 is confirmed to have been shot down. A-10 and Black Hawk too with 2 other Black Hawks damaged. I was reffering to another iranian claim, not to F-15. That's why I added "if true". x.com | ||
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doubleupgradeobbies!
Australia1354 Posts
On April 04 2026 08:00 KwarK wrote: Yes and no. There's absolutely a world in which an attack on Iran works. The US coordinates with allies around the world, they stock up on fertilizer/oil, they prep lots of drone/missile defence in Arabia, they ramp up oil production elsewhere in the world, and then they deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to Iraq with a clear victory and transition plan for after the invasion. Honestly I think that's actually probably quite a good world. The IRGC regime is an ongoing human rights catastrophe and it doesn't even do a good job of governing. It's not like Singapore where they execute a bunch of people for chewing gum but they make a good society, Iran can't even provide the population drinking water. Iran isn't like Afghanistan where there is no state apparatus to coopt following regime change, Iranians are used to a strong centralized state and, by and large, they hate the IRGC. It's much closer to a post WW2 Japan scenario than Afghanistan, this is a literate educated population with an understanding of civil society. The problem is that they just YOLO'd in. We still all want the US to win, and honestly the US should win with ease, this is probably the only administration that could actually lose a war with Iran. I think you overestimate the US's credibility, especially to Iranians even in this hypothetical. After your history with Operation Ajax, any government that gets put in charge after US invasion would be illegitimate, and would be overthrown sooner or later (how long they last will basically depend on how brutally they were willing to crack down on opposition, opposition will be everyone in Iran basically). So you would need not only not to have US fingerprints overtly visible, but also be able to project enough raw military power to topple the regime. Two things which I just don't see being possible at the same time. | ||
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maybenexttime
Poland5872 Posts
An article by Anne Applebaum. A good summary of how Trump's fuckery is perceived in Europe. | ||
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