Furies and Scapegoats 😱 ✡️🌻😱 💣🚀

The W Word:  Operation Fury is definitely a war though for technical reasons, the Trump administration would rather that no one use the W word.  Voting on the war’s legitimacy may be cathartic but with the war ongoing it’s akin to closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.  Nevertheless Congress, mostly but not only Democrats, is trying to move forward with some type of war powers resolution. As to the rationale for the war, you’d think that an administration made up of former Fox hosts would have worked on its messaging, but apparently not as evidenced by War Pete’s bellicose performance during the Pentagon’s press conference.  Depending on who’s speaking and the vagaries of the weather, the war is about regime change, nukes, missiles, freeing long-suffering Iranians, and/or because Bibi made Trump do it. While it’s fair to say that Bibi has been pushing to take Iran out for many years and through several administrations, including Trump’s first one, Trump’s the one in charge. The buck stops with him, if he had made it clear that he didn’t want the Iran attack to go forward, Bibi would have been unhappy, but the war wouldn’t be happening.  That said, Bibi, Israel, and “the Jews” make for good scapegoats so the scapegoating is on and will likely continue although Trump must have read Secretary of State Rubio the riot act because he’s pulled back on the “blame it on Bibi” assertion, at least for now. As to war logistics, is anyone really surprised that our crackerjack administration didn’t anticipate that they’d need to help American civilians stuck in the warzone get back home? The US doesn’t even have confirmed ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, or Iraq; not because the Senate hasn’t confirmed them but because Trump hasn’t nominated any. Remember when Trump said: “I only can fix it,” he meant it, and anyway aren’t son-in-law Jared and real estate buddy Witkoff enough of a tag team? Maybe that’s why FBI guy Kash fired a whole bunch of counter-intelligence agents with Iran expertise.  Given Trump’s preference for military action, including last night’s operation against Ecuadorean drug traffickers, is anyone really surprised about reports that our stock of munitions is running low? Maybe a lack of arms will prevent Trump from moving on to Cuba, then again, maybe not. As to Iran, leadership vacuum or not, they’ve got a huge Revolutionary Guard force, estimated at one million. Their strategy of shooting missiles at neighbors, presumably part of an effort to pressure them to force an end to the hostilities may have sounded good in the bunker but appears to be having the opposite effect, at least for now. Lots of fury, no end in sight. It would be really great if Operation Epic Fury succeeds but that’s likely wishful thinking.

Primarily Yours: With 53% of the vote, Texas State legislator James Talarico, the moderate Christian minister, comfortably beat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, the firebrand, by 7 points to become the Democratic candidate for the Senate. Talarico’s victory was marred by some controversy due to Texas’ recent redistricting and changes in rules about where voters could cast their ballots.  Crockett is right to be upset about some of her Dallas area voters losing access but even if their votes had counted, Talarico would have been the winner. Unlike the Democrats, Republicans don’t yet have a candidate.  Incumbent Senator John Thune received the most votes in the Republican primary, barely, but with only 41.8% of the vote he fell far short of the 50% needed to win so he’ll face off on May 26 in a runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton, the impeached, morally flawed candidate that Democrats think they could, well maybe, beat in the fall. Had Trump weighed in there probably wouldn’t be a Republican runoff, but because he didn’t Republicans will have to spend boatloads more money for the runoff and then probably boatloads more to try to win the general election.  In other Texas news, Dan Crenshaw, the Republican congressman best known for his eyepatch lost to far right MAGA candidate Steve Toth. Tony Gonzales, the Republican Congressman whose distraught ex-girlfriend self-emulated came in second in his race and will now be going to a runoff against his opponent MAGA gun activist Brandon Herrrera.  On the Democratic side Al Green a victim of redistricting best known for initiating the Trump impeachments came in second in his race against fellow Democratic Congressman Christian Menefee, another redistricting victim.  Their race is also expected to go to a runoff. As of now it looks like former Congressman Colin Alred will also face a runoff against fellow Democrat Julie Johnson, who replaced him when he ran for the Senate and lost. Moving east, in North Carolina former Governor Roy Cooper easily won the state’s Democratic Senate primary and will face off against Republican Michael Whatley who also easily won his primary. North Carolina is viewed as the Democrats most likely chance to pick-up a Senate seat.  In a closely watched North Carolina House election, it appears that Congresswoman Valerie Foushee may have managed to eke out a victory against her Bernie Sanders endorsed challenger Nida Allam. Foushee had been facing criticism for her earlier support of Israel.  Lastly, in Arkansas, Democrat Alex Holloday didn’t just flip a state legislative seat, but he won in double digits.  That’s not the kind of thing that’s supposed to happen in Arkansas.

More 💩:  On Monday, the DOJ announced that it would not appeal its losses in the cases brought by the law firms standing up to Trump.  Ketchup must have started flying at the White House because on Tuesday the DOJ did a 180, telling the court that it had changed its mind and would pursue the appeals.  Although no one was throwing ketchup during her Senate hearing, ICE Barbie Noem probably wished she was at a McDonalds because not only was she set upon by a few Democratic Senators, but she was also slammed by a few Republicans including North Carolina’s Thom Tillis who now that he’s no longer running for reelection has found his cojones.  Tillis told her she should be impeached, questioned her competency, and even attacked her for bragging about killing her dog. Tillis is a known dog lover so that dog thing real set up on fire.  While he didn’t bring up the slaughtered dog, Louisiana’s John Kennedy, a Rhodes Scholar who frequently pretends to be a country bumpkin, laid into her as well.  Lastly, since there is always more on Epstein, reports are that with the Iran war raging, the DOJ has been disappearing more files.  Also, Commerce Secretary Lutwick has agreed to meet with the Oversight Committee.