Is the U.S. Going to War?
A quick primer on the state of affairs
What a freaking week. You know the news moves fast when Saturday’s parade/protest combo couldn’t even break the 24/7 cycle. Even though both were groundbreaking, headline events.
No, now we are trying to parse through a whole lot of big-time news.
Top of mind today: Is the United States going to war?
Seemingly only Trump knows what he will do, and he’ll make “a final decision one second before it’s due.”
What you should know is that according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) yesterday, June 17, Trump preliminarily gave the green light to strike Iran, but reportedly was holding off to see if Tehran (Iran) will abandon its nuclear program.
Then today, Trump said he was growing impatient, the clearest sign (before the above WSJ report came out) that he was planning on a strike.
Meanwhile, happening abroad: United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his Cabinet to prepare for the U.S. to strike Iran as soon as tonight.
Russia responded, warning U.S. not to strike Iran or provide military support to Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying it would radically destabilize the entire situation. Putin reportedly also told Israel and the U.S. that he could ensure Iran only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
In response to the escalating tensions, nearly every country has begun evacuating its residents from Israel and Iran.
Subsequently, Axios tonight released a report that Israel needs the U.S.’s 30,000 lb non-nuclear bomb (known as the “bunker buster”) and the B-2 bomber aircraft to carry it, in order to successfully destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities known as Fordow.
Using the bomb would be unprecedented, aka it’s never been used. Officials have told Trump it would destroy Fordow, but “it’s not clear Trump was totally convinced.”
At the time of this publication, 10:00 pm ET June 18, the U.S. is reportedly preparing for strikes this weekend.
But, as we know, this could very quickly change one second before it’s due.
What happened— a narrative of last week:
At the end of last week, Israel struck Iran killing some of their top military commanders and nuclear scientists, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Over the weekend, Israel and Iran continued launching ballistic missiles at each other, as they now have for the past several days.
Last week, Sec. State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. was not involved in the strikes, then Israeli officials told the press that Trump had approved the strikes in private and was only pretending in public to oppose them.
Trump subsequently went to Alberta, Canada for the G7 meeting and cut his trip short, calling for a meeting in the situation room when he landed. While there, however, the other countries involved in the G7 called for Israel and Iran to de-escalate, which Trump initially opposed, but later seemingly signed onto.
Trump was apparently very against striking Iran until June 8— he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of negotiations with Iran; and received an important brief about Israel’s plans to strike, giving tacit approval and limited assistance. He became further concerned after last week the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency found Iran in breach of the agency’s nonproliferation requirements.
Trump has called for Iran’s surrender, which Iran’s Supreme Leader rejected, and threatened retaliation on U.S. military bases in the Middle East should the U.S. strike.
So, now, here we are, potentially on the brink of war. And the loudest voices in opposition are making their thoughts known.
But it’s not who you think.
Tucker Carlson’s Troupe
MAGA is realllll split on U.S. involvement, and leading the charge is none other than former Fox News host and big-time Trump supporter, Tucker Carlson. Carlson is against regime change, the U.S. going to war, and blindly defending Israel, absolutely skewering Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in an exchange about the issue.
Highly highly recommend a watch:
Carlson also got into it with the president, after Carlson published a newsletter calling DJT “complicit in the act of war,” to which the president called him kooky Tucker Carlson and said that someone should tell him Iran shouldn’t have nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, anti-war Democrats are facing their own reckoning realizing that, re: Tucker, sometimes the worst person you know makes a good point.
Carlson isn’t alone in his dissent. Joining him are the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green, Steve Bannon, and not to mention Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard. Indeed, Gabbard pissed off Trump last week when she issued a “non-sanctioned” video on nuclear disasters, which at the time seemed random, but now appears as though it was a blatant warning about Israel/Iran.
MAGA is divided over the move, with half supporting defense of Israel and the other half calling for an end to forever wars and America first, saying that this would be a violation of that.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Tuesday introduced a War Powers resolution that would require Congress to authorize any use of force (aka Trump can’t strike without congressional approval).
Notably, Trump does have sole executive authority over nuclear weapons. Let’s hope he takes plenty of time and confers with plenty of others before making any sort of decision.
There’s a whole lot more news to cover, but I just wanted to give you a quick rundown on the state of affairs. Will be back tomorrow or Friday with more coverage and a full news recap (since the one I wrote Monday night was no longer relevant by Tuesday morning).
Bye bye for now!