07.20.26

War games

As the war in Iran enters its most intense period since the U.S. and Israel bombarded the country in late February and early March, Trump and Hegseth seem more pumped than ever.

Hegseth is having the time of his life standing at podiums saying words like “offensive capabilities” and explaining Trump’s brilliant “diplomatic” strategies. Of the president’s efforts to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, for instance — something the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) had been doing quite well since 2015, until Trump blew it up — “he gave them every single opportunity and then he precisely took it away . . . . and even then after that, they didn’t have that,” blathered Hegseth, who is looking especially spiffy in his blue suit. Maybe he’s been doping on testosterone supplements, as he’s now encouraging soldiers to do.

As for Trump, he’s relishing sounding like a commander in chief. Asked by Fox News’s Trey Yingst whether he planned to seize Kharg Island, where 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports are handled, he switched into his “expert” voice. "I can't say that to you because if I did, it would be foolish," he said. But of course, he had to be careful not to hit the oil reserves there, since they’re "a chunk of the world economy," which he’s handled so delicately for the past 19 months.

This is how it’s been since the start. In early April, when the war was about seven weeks old, and Trump was threatening to demolish “a whole civilization,” I wrote a piece about these two world-wrecking knuckleheads for the Guardian, headlined “For Trump and Hegseth, the Iran war is a game.” It still is — for them, if not for the troops now dying every day and, of course, the Iranian people.

You can read it here.