General

Mark Wauck’s compilation of recent Iran war craziness: “Iran’s surrender near.”

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Danny Davis’ interview with Robert Barnes yesterday has received a lot of play in the last less than 24 hours. Barnes maintained vociferously and at some length—citing insider sources of some sort—that Trump is simply out of touch with reality. Barnes’ basic thesis is that Trump is in the grip of his belief in the power of positive thinking—his own thinking. He genuinely believes in his own genius and excludes skeptics from his inner circle. One of several examples of this that Barnes offered was this incident. If true—and it appears to be well sourced and featured on a pro-Trump outlet—it’s pretty disturbing

Report: Trump Told G7 Leaders Iran’s Surrender Near

President Donald Trump reportedly told Group of Seven leaders this week that Iran is “about to surrender,” as the U.S. and Israel continue a sweeping military campaign against the regime’s military infrastructure.

…

“I got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all,” Trump reportedly told the leaders, referring to “Operation Epic Fury” and the strikes that have hammered Iranian military targets over the past two weeks.

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Officials from three G7 countries briefed on the call told Axios that Trump expressed confidence the regime in Tehran is on the verge of collapse after sustained U.S. and Israeli attacks.

At the same time, Trump suggested Iran’s leadership structure may be so weakened that no one remains with the authority to formally surrender.

“Nobody knows who is the leader, so there is no one that can announce surrender,” Trump reportedly said.

…

Trump reinforced that message in a post on Truth Social, declaring that U.S. forces are “totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran.”

“Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated,” Trump wrote. “We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time.”

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Trump reportedly said the situation around the strait [of Hormuz] is improving and that commercial shipping should soon resume normal operations.

Wow!

Simplicius pointed yesterday to similar Trump comments—including Trump’s fantasy that China will send ships to help open the Strait of Hormuz:

SIMPLICIUS Ѱ @simpatico771

30m

Trump is as big a gift to Iran as Zelensky was to Russia.

Nations dream of having adversaries as stupid as this

Russians With Attitude @RWApodcast

1h

Incredible post. “We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s military capabilities”. China will send ships to open the Strait of Hormuz. “A drone or two”

And then how out of touch is this?

Armchair Warlord @ArmchairW

Two weeks into a major war that literally nobody in America (who isn’t Lindsey Graham) voted for and which the Trump Administration didn’t even try to make a case for beforehand, and Trump does his first interview on the matter with Jake f-cking Paul.

This is actually insulting.

And in that interview we get a new reason for the war:

Yugopnik @yugopnik

“America is not in decline bro”- my guy, a lobotomite youtuber is talking to a pedo reality tv president about liberating the gays and women with bombs surrounded by merch hats

Quote

War Monitor @WarMonitors

Trump on Iran: “We support gays, but they throw gays off the buildings… we have to wipe out the evil. It’s an evil curse. They’re evil people.”

Later in the day, yesterday, of course, Trump launched his perplexing strike on Kharg Island. Larry Johnson today focuses on this as yet another example of Trump’s tenuous contact with the real world:

Trump’s Kharg Island Fantasy… All Bark, No Bite

Trump is deep into fantasy land. Yes, I think he has lost touch with reality. He admits that the oil terminals were not attacked, just some unidentified military targets. Iran has previously warned of that an attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure would be answered by a comparable attack on all oil and gas infrastructure in the region in which the US and its allies have an interest would be set ablaze and destroyed.

If you don’t know it now, only one of Iran’s 5 operational oil export terminals is located on Kharg Island. According to data from the international company Kepler, the amount of oil loaded from the tanks installed on Kharg increased by 1.5 times in the past month. This suggests that Iran, by quickly emptying Kharg’s tanks, was prepared for this attack.

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… Perhaps Trump’s lie about devastating Kharg Island is the start of his PR campaign to gaslight the American public into believing Iran is defeated, which would allow Trump to declare victory and start withdrawing US forces. That’s one possibility. Alternatively, he really believes the lie and is convinced that this latest strike will convince the Iranians to surrender. If you want to glean some keen insights into Trump’s drift into madness, please take an hour to watch Danny Davis’ interview with Robert Barnes (linked here).

Drift into madness?

Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal

17h

Trump’s psychotic threat to destroy oil infrastructure on Kharg Island sets the stage for massive retaliatory attacks across the region that will further devastate the global economy

OK, got it. Drift into madness it is.

Dimitri Lascaris @dimitrilascaris

12h

The fastest way to deplete the munitions stocks of the United States and Israel?

Inflatable hospitals.

About the Anglo-Zionist Empire in a nutshell:

Wall Street Bankers Offered Lucrative Access to Join the Pentagon

A presentation from a headhunting firm aimed to recruit Wall Street investors to the Pentagon by offering “unmatched access” to government officials and fund-raising opportunities among foreign sovereigns.

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The presentation says that the Pentagon is seeking to build a 30-person investment team to deploy up to $200 billion in government investment over the next three years. Joining the team offers “unmatched access to top-level government officials and privileged information flow — whatever you need, you can get.”

“If you ever want to raise your own fund, you will gain access to fund-raising channels that include royal families and foreign sovereign contacts,” the slide deck says.

The document was prepared by Heidrick & Struggles, a headhunting firm. It is not clear whether Pentagon staff members approved or dictated the content of the presentation, which features an agency logo.

The Defense Department declined to comment. Heidrick & Struggles did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The presentation was earlier reported by Semafor.

Officials in and around the Trump administration have continually blurred the lines between public service and individual profit seeking.

The president’s family continues to profit off a cryptocurrency venture that has received investment from foreign officials also negotiating with the government. David Sacks, the White House A.I. czar, has promoted policies that could benefit stakes he holds in hundreds of A.I. companies. In January, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, extended a loan to a company that was also doing business with his former firm, which is now run by his sons.

The Pentagon recruiting effort dangles both money and access, offering Wall Street recruits the opportunity to manage “more capital than most investors deploy in their entire careers.” Salaries could reach as much $300,000 at the Pentagon, or $500,000 to $600,000 “if employed through a government-aligned nonprofit.” According to federal statistics, the average pay for a federal worker is about $100,000, and only about 3 percent make $200,000 or more.

Remember how Israel and the US targeted individuals in Iran? Now that the early warning radars have been decimated Iran is using drones in a new way:

Sprinter Press @SprinterPress

2h

Iran has started launching strikes on specific addresses of Israeli leaders, ministers, commanders, pilots, and intelligence officers.

Targeted objectives, specific houses, precise strikes…

In fact, a real hunt for people has begun within Israel.

There is great anxiety in Tel Aviv. Some are trying to save their lives.

Many are going into hiding.

Apparently, Israel did not expect that Iran had such capabilities. They acted confidently and without looking back — now this has become a shock for them.

Another question arises: who helped Iran gain such capabilities, who provides navigation and digital intelligence.

There’s a pattern here—assuming the people you target are stupid.

We’ll close with a pair of head scratchers:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

Mar 10

EISEN: What do you say to American who are struggling with making ends meet and don’t want foreign wars?

WITKOFF: If they have children, think about what this world would look like if you didn’t have Donald Trump as the president

Huh.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

Greenblatt: “We are seeing Jewish people, the Jewish state, blamed for the war in the Middle East. That is wrong. It is wrong to scapegoat, it is wrong to hold Jewish people accountable for something you don’t like on the other side of the planet. We really need leaders on all sides in politics, running for office, podcasters, to stop with the conspiracies. You don’t get to say you’re opposed to hate if you’re trafficking in hateful conspiracy theories.”

For the past two weeks we’ve been verbally bombarded by Trump regime officials telling us that this war is all about Israel. Now those people are hateful conspiracy theorists? Well, I do think those creeps are hateful conspiracy theorists, it’s just that I don’t think this is an example of conspiracy theorizing.

Israeli torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners

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Interview with Mark Collett: Trump has self-destructed and betrayed his supporters and the country

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In which I express my anger and sense of betrayal at what Trump has done. I apologize for my appearance. Just rolled out of bed.

JTA: At Republican antisemitism confab, Tucker Carlson is the villain — and JD Vance the unspoken question

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At Republican antisemitism confab, Tucker Carlson is the villain — and JD Vance the unspoken question

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s national chairman said he has no concerns about Vance, who has yet to make a decisive statement on Carlson.

JD Vance, RJC antisemitism symposium
Some Jewish Republicans are losing patience with Vice President JD Vance, who has not condemned Tucker Carlson. (From left: Madison Thorn/Anadolu via

Nearly everybody called out Tucker Carlson at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s symposium on antisemitism.

Attendees clapped when Sen. Ted Cruz called Carlson “the single-most dangerous demagogue in the country,” and speakers praised President Donald Trump for recently casting him aside as “not MAGA.”

There was no such praise for Vice President JD Vance, however, who has made no decisive statement on Carlson, nor on Candace Owens. The two media personalities have come to represent an emerging, anti-Israel wing of the Republican party that indulges in antisemitic conspiracy theories and is anathema to the RJC and its rank-and-file. Vance’s silence has drawn skepticism and growing impatience from some Jewish Republicans.

But no speakers offered direct criticism of Vance on Tuesday and, after the event, a top RJC official said in an interview that he has no concerns about the vice president.

“I have a concern about Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, but not JD Vance,” said Norm Coleman, national chairman of the RJC and a former U.S. senator from Minnesota.

Coleman said he has known Vance for “many, many years” and has had discussions with him about Israel and supporting the Jewish people. He pointed to Vance’s 2024 speech at the Quincy Institute, an isolationist think tank, on why supporting Israel is in America’s national security interest.

“So he’s been there, he’s spoken out publicly, he’s walked into the lion’s den and kind of stood with the Jewish people and stood with Israel,” Coleman said. “He’s always done that in my conversations with him, and I got to believe it’s the same in his conversations with President Trump.”

Coleman did not mention Vance in his public remarks on Tuesday, which included heaps of praise on Vance’s boss.

In fact, the only direct mention of Vance on stage came from Ted Cruz, which came in the form of neither approval nor criticism. In an address focused on rising right-wing antisemitism and its spread among young people, Cruz recalled a pair of Turning Point USA events where students asked questions about Israel and made conspiratorial remarks about Judaism.

“There was one Turning Point event that JD Vance was at, at Ole Miss, where a kid gets up and asks this wildly anti-Israel question,” Cruz said. “And what happened next was extraordinarily revealing: Spontaneously, a third of the students burst into applause. That was their immediate reaction to that question.” What Cruz excluded was that Vance sidestepped the question without pushing back.

Cruz also blasted Republicans who haven’t explicitly condemned Carlson, saying, “Nick Fuentes is easy to denounce. And I actually think it’s a tell among Republican politicians if they’ll denounce Fuentes but they’re scared to say Carlson’s name.” But Cruz stopped short of naming any such politicians.

Later, Shabbos Kestenbaum, the high-profile critic of campus antisemitism who sued Harvard, cheekily addressed anyone who “is planning on running for president in 2028, and you are part of the Trump administration right now, and you want to — I didn’t say anyone’s name! — but you want to sort of nod and wink to this terminally online groyper base?”

Kestenbaum, who works for the conservative media organization PragerU, stopped short of naming names and joked that he doesn’t “want to get in trouble.” But he offered a clear message: “If our nominee is someone who, as I said, is winking to that online space, then we will lose elections and quite frankly we will deserve to lose elections.”

When asked after the event who he was referring to, Kestenbaum said he was addressing “anyone, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, who is trying to acquiesce to a radical anti-American and antisemitic base.”

He added, “I think President Marco Rubio has a really nice sound to it.”

Unlike Tuesday’s speakers, conservative personality Ben Shapiro has explicitly called on the vice president to condemn Carlson.

“I’d like to see Vice-President Vance change tack on a lot of this; I hope that he will,” Shapiro said last month in a New Yorker interview, when asked about who in the conservative world “would cast out the kind of characters that Tucker Carlson and company are encouraging.”

Shapiro’s comments, and his monthslong stand against right-wing antisemitism, have signalled a heightened urgency in how Jewish conservatives are approaching Trump’s potential successors amid fears that the party will cede ground to antisemitic right-wing figures. Similar to Kestenbaum, Shapiro said he would “likely” support Rubio in a primary over Vance.

Arlene Ross, who traveled from New York to attend what she said was an “outstanding” symposium, said she likes Cruz and Rubio. As for Vance, she believed his name would have come up on Tuesday if there were a Q&A session because the “Jewish community is not too keen on him” being “a little too cozy with the extreme right.”

Instead, Vance’s name was left out of the conversation, which Ross chalked up to speakers — a number of whom were elected officials — not wanting to cross the White House.

“I think they didn’t want to badmouth Vance because they were afraid of Trump’s reaction if they did that,” she said.