Monday, June 16, 2025

"He’s Pulling The Trigger On Everything All At Once"

The quote above is from Dana Williamson, Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff, referring to Trump in an article in Politico from Saturday. The piece refers to California:

Between the deployment of federal agents to Los Angeles, the gutting of climate standards and the manhandling of the state’s senior U.S. senator, the state absorbed one show of force after another from the president. And in the balance of power between the Trump administration and the nation’s most populous state, California was on the losing end.

But it looks like California is just one piece of the story:

The United States is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to Israel’s strikes on Iran and a possible retaliatory attack by Tehran, two U.S. officials said Friday.

. . . President Donald Trump is meeting with his National Security Council principals Friday to discuss the situation. The U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

. . . The Navy has additional assets that it could surge to the Middle East if needed, particularly its aircraft carriers and the warships that sail with them. The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is in the Arabian Sea — the only aircraft carrier in the region.

Via Real Clear Politics:

In a matter of days, Israel’s pre-emptive strikes have shattered Iran’s defensive shield. Iran’s air defence systems were swiftly eliminated, opening the skies to unimpeded Israeli air power. Simultaneously, precision strikes and covert operations decapitated key nodes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command, missile bases, nuclear facilities, and other military targets; too many to list here.

. . . One looming issue remains unresolved: the Fordow uranium enrichment complex. Fordow is Iran’s most challenging nuclear site, buried half a mile deep under a mountain, and it has survived the initial onslaught intact. As long as Fordow remains operational, Iran’s regime keeps a dangerous ace up its sleeve. The facility houses advanced centrifuges enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels and could potentially expedite a crash nuclear weapons effort if the leadership feels cornered. In Israeli eyes, allowing Fordow to remain unscathed would be a grave mistake.

As of yesterday afternoon: From Eli Lake at The Free Press:

As I reported earlier this year, even before Trump’s second presidency began, the restrainers inside the MAGA movement had hoped to create an America First foreign policy that pares down America’s global military footprint. On the other side, a mix of pro-Israel evangelicals, Jews, and the remnants of GOP hawks have sought to keep America engaged in the world.

. . . One reason for the public spats between various Trump allies is that the inner circle deliberating on Iran policy is very small and has been fairly tight-lipped, according to administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The inner circle consists of Trump himself, along with his chief of staff, Susie Wiles; his chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; CIA director John Ratcliffe; and Vice President J.D. Vance.

. . . the president said nothing in the first eight hours of the hostilities. The only official statement from the administration was a chilly one from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, emphasizing that Israel was acting unilaterally. But at 5:56 a.m. on Friday morning, Trump weighed in on Israel’s side. “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,” he posted on Truth Social. “But no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done.” That was not an accident, one administration official told me. “Trump was waiting to see if the Israeli mission was a success before he weighed in on it.”

. . . Ultimately, the fortunes of the Trump administration’s restrainers and hawks depend above all else on factors out of their control: the performance of the Israel Defense Forces and the decision of Iran’s supreme leader. Three days into the war, the anxious predictions of the restrainers have not come to pass.

But meanwhile, Trump is off to Canada for the G7:

[A]s the G7 kicks off it is very interesting to notice who shows up on President Trump’s G7 schedule in Canada – that has absolutely no bearing on the G7 meeting in Canada.

According to the schedule, President Trump has meetings with both Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Neither Mexico or Ukraine are in the G7 (Italy, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Japan, U.K).

. . . Obviously Zelenskyy is traveling to Canada at the behest of the global intelligence network because they are afraid President Trump may no longer keep Zelenskyy at the center of the foreign policy universe.

. . . President Trump’s rapid deportation program is making it very difficult for Mexicans in the USA to send money back to Mexico. This is quickly becoming an urgent matter for Mexican officials who will be forced to intervene in support of the local Mexican economy if President Trump keeps impeding the accumulation of illegal wages in the USA.

I'm not sure if we've seen anything like this level of activity from any administration, ever.

posted by test @ June 16, 2025   0 Comments