@OurShallowState "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed."
Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood) is cinema's ultimate study in pure id. Trump’s tariff threats and demand for total submission mirror that exact pathology: dominance over compromise.
#ThereWillBeBlood#Trump
@OurShallowState Shakespeare gave us the ultimate study in unyielding ego with Coriolanus—a leader driven entirely by pride, disdain for the public, and a demand for absolute submission. Trump’s tariff fixation and power plays are just a modern rerun of the exact same pathology.
#Shakespeare
Dear Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby (@USWPColby),
Thank you very much for your lengthy post setting out the principles and guidelines that you believe should govern America's former allies in NATO.
For our part, we have taken note that President Trump no longer consistently guarantees that NATO's Article 5 will be honoured.
We have taken note that President Trump has shown a marked inclination to do Vladimir Putin's bidding, even when doing so runs counter to our strategic interests and to our political and moral commitments to Ukraine.
We have taken note that the U.S. administration has moved NATO allies further down the queue for deliveries of American weapons than previously agreed.
We have taken note that President Trump has repeatedly spoken disparagingly of the sacrifices made by our soldiers when NATO allies answered the call after the United States invoked Article 5.
We have taken note that President Trump appears to believe, mistakenly, that NATO is some kind of emergency hotline the United States can call whenever military operations far outside the Alliance's purpose and area of responsibility go wrong.
We have also taken note that President Trump regularly speaks of acquiring sovereignty over Canada and Greenland.
And, of course, we have taken note that President Trump has shown a clear willingness to unilaterally disregard the trade agreements concluded between the European Union and the United States.
Taken together, all of this means that we must adapt to the reality that we can no longer rely on the United States. And that is exactly what we are doing.
You are, of course, quite right that American defence manufacturers produce excellent weapons.
But many of those systems are also becoming outdated in light of contemporary military doctrine - as the war in Ukraine has demonstrated with remarkable clarity.
We naturally appreciate that you still find the time to lecture us on your views and on America's expectations.
But in light of the chain of events set in motion by President Trump and his administration, we must admit that they carry rather limited weight.
Lindsey Graham and I had a complicated relationship.
Before Trump, we were friends. We traveled together on congressional trips around the world, including visiting Syrian refugee camps where we met children whose lives had been shattered by war. Those moments reminded us why public service mattered.
After Trump, we went in very different directions, and we eventually stopped speaking. I never hid those disagreements, and I won’t rewrite that history today.
But death has a way of putting things in perspective. I choose to remember the man I knew before our paths diverged—the one who cared deeply about America’s role in the world and wasn’t afraid to see suffering up close.
Rest in peace, Lindsey. My prayers are with his family and all who loved him.
If your brain is so broken by MAGA that you’re fine with the President meddling in the World Cup to save a player his own immigration politics would’ve kept off Team USA, you don’t get to lecture anyone about patriotism.