I understand politically why Rubio is doing this – because clearly he’s looking to 2028- but this is pathetic moral and ethical negligence, as this is a man who controls the most powerful nation in the world’s national security apparatus. And he’s hightailed it….. I think more people in the US national security space should call bullshit on this, rather than marvel at his political acumen. Which is just cowardice. If he is truly opposed to anything, he should just resign. Instead of this Houdini charade.
"The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles"
"...the purpose of this is to destroy that missile capability."
"our mission and our focus is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities"
"the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities"
"I’m telling you what the objectives of this operation are. The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can’t rebuild it, and make sure that they can’t hide behind that to have a nuclear program. That’s the objective of the mission."
-- Marco Rubio, 3/2/26
https://t.co/yNCUakGrmx
People here claim I advised U.S. generals poorly. (I never advised them at all.) But never in my career in national defense did the United States ever lose a war to one of our worst enemies in just four months and then completely capitulate on every major issue.
we killed hundreds of civilians, spent billions of munitions, and at least a dozen American troops' lives for the ability to pay Iran $300 billion
Art of the Deal
Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate Mike Collins is a notorious bigot, antisemite, and extremist currently under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars. Collins, who is only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, voted to double health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians, for the Iran War, and for the Trump tariffs.
Pro-Israel groups deliberately turned Israel into a polarized issue and alienated almost the whole Democratic Party for the sake of a war that turned out to be as disastrous as Obama warned them and is going to end up with a deal that’s worse for them than JCPOA was.
Applebaum: What binds Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is not religion or ideology.
China is communist, Russia nationalist, Iran theocratic. What binds them is fear of liberal language: rights, rule of law, separation of powers and independent courts. 1/
@ASFleischman Very true, but trial attorneys who care about preserving errors can significantly increase the chances of the case coming back. Unfortunately, a lot of trial attorneys simply don't care about that aspect of trial work ("I like to focus my energies on winning the trial.")
This is so insanely corrupt, I can’t even believe it.
More than half the donors to Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom just won over $50 billion in new federal contracts in six months.
And here’s the part that should make your blood boil.
Sixteen of these 27 donors were facing federal enforcement actions, antitrust reviews, labor cases, securities charges. Many of those cases have been quietly dropped or scaled back since Trump took office. You write a check, your legal problems disappear. That’s not a coincidence.
The White House won’t even release the full donor list. They’re hiding it on purpose, because daylight is the one thing pay-to-play can’t survive. A federal judge already ruled ballroom construction has to stop until Congress authorizes it.
Government is supposed to serve the people, not auction itself off to the highest bidder. When access goes to whoever pays the most, working families always end up paying the price.
We either end the corruption, or the corruption will end us.
https://t.co/4MGFzSseFl
From 1966 to 2025 we dropped sterile flies over South America that ate screwworm and thus prevented them from spreading, but the le epic efficient cracked coders at DOGE thought this was a silly waste of the ~0 dollars it cost us.
We've got a flailing war with Iran, continued Russian aggression against Ukraine, a need to deter China in the IndoPacific - and Trump just chose a guy for Director of National Intelligence with zero experience and a vendetta against Trump's political foes. What could go wrong???
Economy then vs now:
GDP growth:
2024 2.8%
2026 1.6%
Inflation:
2024 2.9%
2026 3.8%
Wages:
2024 rising faster than inflation
2026 rising slower than inflation
Unemployment rate:
2024 4%
2026 4.3%
Jobs added per month:
2024 >120,000
2026 76,000
Jobs vs Unemployed:
2024 7.6 million job openings vs 6.9 million unemployed
2026 6.8 million job openings vs 7.2 million unemployed
National Debt
2024 $35.5 trillion
2026 $39 trillion
Deficit
2024 $1.8 trillion
2026 CBO projection $2 trillion
Uninsured Americans:
2024 27 million
2026 CBO projection 30 million
Gas prices per gallon:
December 2024 ~$3.00
Today $4.43