F Word Diplomacy? 😱 ✡️🌻😱 💣🚀

War, War:  Very early yesterday the weapons officer, a member of the two-person US flight crew shot down over Iran, was rescued by the US military with some help from Israeli forces. The pilot, the other member of the downed plane’s crew had been picked up by US forces shortly after the plane had been shot down. The rescue operation was impressive, a show of our commitment to never leave a soldier behind as well an indication of US military might at its best. That said the rescue came at a high cost because it involved the use of a considerable amount of resources, the complete destruction of two of our planes and injuries to several members of the rescue team.  Trump who had laid low during the weekend, igniting social media chatter that he had been transported to Walter Reed for some unspecified health crisis or maybe just one of those suspected monthly infusions, emerged to celebrate the success of the rescue mission.  He then followed up by threatening Iran over Truth Social, screeching: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped in one in Iran.  There will be noting like it!!! Open the Fuckin Strait, you crazy bastards or you’ll be living in Hell.  JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”  While it would be naïve to think that other presidents never expressed their frustration with similar language behind the scenes, it’s totally bonkers that Trump said what he said publicly and also bad that he’s threatening civilian infrastructure but then again, he is, as Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries put it, “disgusting and unhinged.”  Unfortunately, he’s also in charge. Overnight a Pakistani-brokered plan for an immediate ceasefire, to be followed by negotiations on a broader settlement to be concluded within 15 to 20 days, was proposed to Iran and the US.  At least at this point, the proposal doesn’t appear to be going anywhere because Iranian leadership who spent the night responding to Trump’s Easter threat by shooting off drones and missiles at civilian targets is also unhinged and doesn’t believe Trump can be relied upon. A pot calling the kettle black standoff with lives and nukes at stake.

Budget War:  The cost of the rescue operation and the entire Iran “incursion” goes far to explaining why Trump wants Congress to include an additional $1.5 trillion for defense spending in next year’s budget. Trump’s plan is for that money to be offset by extraordinarily steep cuts in funding for health, childcare, education, housing, the environment because we really don’t need those woke things especially since their funding gets in the way of keeping taxes for billionaires low.  As to that whole woke thing, apparently rooting it out of the military is one of reasons that Secretary of War/Beer Hegseth keeps firing generals.  It’s reported that Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, who was summarily kicked to the curb last week was ousted because he’d opposed Hegseth’s decision to remove two Blacks and two women from the one-star general promotion list.  To be clear, our military, whether one supports the Iran war or not, is performing impressively.  It was, until Hegseth stepped in, led by the “woke” generals, men, and women, white, black, and Hispanic that he with the enthusiastic support of Trump has been rooting out. It’s hard to miss the discordance.  Out of one side of their mouths Trump and Hegseth are celebrating the strength of the US military, out of the other side, they’re slamming it for its diversity, working to whitewash and single sex the leadership that got it there. Somewhere around 40% of the military identifies as non-white and women make-up just under 20% of active-duty forces. Alienating them by insulting their capabilities, reducing their promotion opportunities, and deporting their spouses while having INS agents waiting outside of military graduations to scoop up “undocumented” family members is more than discriminatory, it’s stupid and likely to have ramifications sooner rather than later.

Special and Weird: There are four special elections taking place in Georgia tomorrow.  One of the races is for the House seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene where Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired Army General, is running against Republican Clay Fuller.  The other three elections are for state seats.  It’s unlikely that any of these seats will flip so the focus will mostly be on margins of victory.  Margie Q won her ruby red district by 30 points in 2024, so it’s a stretch to think that Harris has a chance.  However, Republicans have spent way more on the race then Democrats, an indication of their concern about the optics of tightening margins in the run-up to the midterms.  The weird race to watch is the June 2 primary to replace termed out California Governor Gavin Newsom.  Democrats are worried about losing the governorship because though there are far more Democrats in blue California, regardless of their party affiliation, only the top two primary finishers will get to progress to the November election. The Democratic field is splintered, with many candidates and no clear leader.  Congressman Eric Swalwell is running neck and neck with former Congresswoman/one time Senate aspirant Katie Porter and one-time presidential candidate/billionaire Tom Steyer with five other Democrats also on the ballot.  The more concentrated Republican field has only two candidates: Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. There’s a chance that the two Republicans who until yesterday were polling around 17+/- points each finish in the top two spots, advancing to the general election, leaving the Democrats who are mostly polling in the low teens in the dust. The good news for Democrats is that Trump may have just given them an assist.  Last night, he endorsed Republican Steve Hilton, that’s good for Hilton but will likely tank Bianco’s chances of coming in second, making it more likely that one of the Democrats will nab the second place slot and then go on to win in November.