Just a reminder that Trump didn't just bumble us into an unnecessary war -- he deliberately created the conditions that he's now screaming about

At least the State Department had a great plan in place to evacuate all the Americans from the Middle East who are trying to leave.

The US has fewer counterintelligence officers who have experience with Iran because a few years ago those US officers did their jobs properly and assisted with a judge-signed search warrant regarding a criminal theft of US defense secrets, which the search found a lot of evidence of. Seriously.

Warner: "There was no imminent threat to the United States by the Iranians. There was a threat to Israel. If we equate a threat to Israel as the equivalent of an imminent threat to the US, then we are in uncharted territory."

Q: "Do you think that Donald Trump should be deposed by this Committee?" Hillary Clinton: "Absolutely." "Donald Trump has been held civilly liable for sexual assault by a jury of his peers … That is behavior that fits a pattern if one were looking for a pattern."

As the laid off Middle East News Editor, I concur. Management eliminated the positions of every single staff correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has 190,000 fighting men and 600,000 reserves.

Those three downed jets run around $90 million each. It cost $20 million a year to operate the food kitchens serving 816,000 people in Sudan.

The United States is ‌not postured for ground forces in Iran at this ⁠moment but President Donald Trump has those options, US Secretary of State Marco ‌Rubio ⁠told reporters reut.rs/3OVijsd

A Minnesota federal judge has ordered the state’s top federal prosecutor and ICE officials to appear in his courtroom Tuesday to explain why they should not be held in civil or criminal contempt for what he alleges are repeated court violations.

👇🏽

So early polling on Trump’s new war coming in ugly for the White House. Our country wants a President who fights for them not a corrupt autocrat who fights for himself and his buddies. A thread:

Trump’s war on Iran has now claimed six American lives in addition to many more Iranians

BREAKING: Credible whistleblower discloses that FBI forensic experts were ordered to stand down from processing the scene where Renee Good was killed, because Kash Patel did not want Good referenced as a “victim” in the warrant.

Trump to Tapper: "We don't know who the leadership is. We don't know who they'll pick. Maybe they'll get lucky and get someone who knows what they're doing ... We don't know who is leading the country now. They don't know who's leading. It's a little like the unemployment line."

Trump’s war is so unpopular that Republicans are now resorting to posting fake footage to prop it up.

Six-byline alert: 🚨 “.. Khamenei told a close circle that, in the event of a war, he preferred to stay in place and become a martyr rather than be judged by history as a leader who had gone into hiding, according to the officials.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

The American people deserved to get a clear explanation of why servicemembers lives are at risk and why their gas prices are about to skyrocket. Instead, they got this.

We may need to start civilization over again

You will definitely want to hire one of these tough-as-nails, $1500-an-hour attorneys who caved to Trump, only to find that they didn’t need to after all. Gift link www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Gonna be interesting to see how our day-drunk Sec. of Defense handles this.

"We are looking forward to sharing pieces from fierce and fearless writers who love to engage deeply with stories and what they reveal about being human,” writes legacy editor, @nellminow.bsky.social, as she and Chaz Ebert kick off Women Writers Week:

So far we’ve heard 12 different primary reasons for the war, 7 different main objectives, and 5 different exit strategies.

Thread 🧵

The Golden Age.

That one person can drag us into a war without consulting or even notifying Congress, or our allies, or fully explaining to the American people why this is necessary, is absolutely bonkers. Reminder that Congress has the power to stop this.

Maj. Gen. Randy Manner (Ret.): "It's a little bit disheartening to hear that the UK govt is arranging transport for the British citizens, whereas here as Americans we feel abandoned. The State Dept is in survival mode because as we know the administration reduced their budget by almost half."

He originally said was going to cost $200 million. Then he said $250 million. Then $300 million. But now it's going to come in under budget at $400 million.

Staffer: Sir, good news. One of the F-15 pilots ejected safely and is on the ground. Calm and cool under pressure. Badass aura. A video taken by a thankful Kuwaiti civilian is going viral. Hegseth: Fuck yeah. What's his name? Staffer: Okay, so, here's the part you won't like...

Anxiety about conditions in the US since the election of Trump is leading to the largest out-migration from the US in history

This is actually a pretty good summary of where we’re at, and how we got here.

is everyone on glue

Kash just fired some counter Iranian espionage agents. www.nysun.com/article/excl...

Melania Trump is chairing a UN Security Council meeting. I'm not joking. The US currently holds the presidency of the council and that's who Trump chose as chair.

“We thought we were living in a politically neutral slave state.”

Who could have guessed that never imposing any consequences for all the crimes he committed would lead Trump to believe that no laws apply to him and he can do literally whatever he wants.

I have always found it kind of baffling that *anyone* would vote for a political party whose explicit message, for decades, has been, "Government is bad and should do nothing, and we want to occupy paid positions in the government."

It cannot be stressed enough how these Republicans don’t see government jobs as jobs at all. They see them as titles, no-show gigs where they can do whatever they want. That’s why they hated the people in those jobs before, they thought it was a scam because they don’t believe in doing the work.

Get in, losers, we’re doing the Iraq War bit all over again.

You cannot talk like this about any other minority in America. And if it was any other president’s adviser who said something like this about any other minority, it’d be the instant end of their presidency.

BREAKING: President Trump says Iran operations likely to last 4 to 5 weeks, but says he's prepared "to go far longer than that."

And this is not even a fully comprehensive list. I also know that he's called NBC News' Kristen Welker and MS Now reporters, among others. It is one part about trying out different narratives/justifications/timelines, and one part building media buy-in and consensus for the war.

so far i think in the last 48 hours trump has called - michael scherer at the atlantic - jonathan karl, abc - jake tapper, cnn - axios - bret baier, fox news - the new york times - the washington post just noting that when he wants to sell a war, suddenly theyre not "fake news" anymore

“None of this has been thought through very carefully,” one intelligence official said of plans to share criminal case information with intelligence agencies. “There are a lot of privacy concerns out there, and nobody really wants to deal with them.”

Devastating.

Trump: "We have right from the beginning projected 4 to 5 weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do whatever. Somebody said, 'the president will get bored.' I don't get bored. There's nothing boring about this."

Trump on the Medal of Honor: "I tried for myself. I've tried numerous times to get one by myself. I keep getting shut down."