Monday, March 02, 2026
Trump Bombed Iran To Distract Americans From His Many Domestic Problems
Robert Reich tells us the real reason for Trump's bombing of Iran:
Trump and Netanyahu’s attack on Iran is premised on a gossamer web of assumptions and inferences.
Trump says Iran has enough nuclear material to build a bomb within days, will soon have long-range missiles capable of hitting the United States, and plans an attack. But he has offered no evidence. Most experts say he’s wrong.
Here’s the real reason for this war. Trump wants it to divert Americans’ attention from everything that’s gone to shit on his watch: the economy, ICE’s cruel raids and murders, the crisis in public health as exemplified by the measles epidemic, our loss of friends and allies around the world, his boundless corruption, and his increasing unpopularity as shown in plummeting polls.
Oh, and there are the Epstein files, rapidly closing in on the man whose history of sexual assaults and braggadocio make his complicity highly likely.
Benjamin Netanyahu is also using this war as a giant diversion. He doesn’t want the world to dwell on the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
As former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert wrote recently, “A violent and criminal effort is underway to ethnically cleanse territories in the West Bank. Gangs of armed settlers persecute, harm, wound and even kill Palestinians living there.”
Like Trump, Netanyahu has been trampling constitutional rights — seeking a judicial coup to eliminate the separation of powers, purging Israel’s independent attorney general of his powers, trying to dismiss his own corruption trial, and politicizing appointments to what had been a neutral civil service.
Trump and Netanyahu are using the same authoritarian playbook.
A big part of that playbook is war. War takes over the news. War blots out criticism. War divides a nation’s people, subjecting those against it to being called unpatriotic. War grants leaders all sorts of emergency powers. War consumes everything else.
We mustn’t let this war do so.
I finally watched a tape of Trump’s State of the Union address (I couldn’t bring myself to watch it at the time). It was even more horrendous than I’d imagined.
What stood out for me was all the important problems Trump didn’t mention, as if they didn’t exist. Climate change. Widening inequality. Monopolies driving up prices. Declining real incomes. The growing scourges of poverty — homelessness, hunger, disease, and violence — in America and around the world. Unregulated AI.
If and when he ever mentions them, he calls them “hoaxes.”
Instead, he’s worsened all of them — helping fossil fuels while killing off wind and solar, eviscerating antitrust enforcement and letting monopolies consume entire industries, giving the rich more tax cuts while cutting back Medicaid and food stamps, destroying USAID and discouraging lifesaving vaccines while letting measles run rampant.
And he’s trying to divert attention to fake problems — non-Americans voting in elections (they don’t), Greenland and Venezuela (they pose no threat), “disloyal” Americans who criticize him or judges who try to hold him accountable (thank goodness they’re still trying).
And now, the biggest diversion of all: full-scale war in the Middle East.
Hopefully, the casualties will be limited. Hopefully, Americans will see through this.
Hopefully, this will strengthen the resistance to Trump. Hopefully, it will lead to an even greater landslide victory for Democrats and independents in the midterm elections — if Trump allows midterm elections.
Please remain hopeful. Don’t give in to war fever. Stay strong.
Sunday, March 01, 2026
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New Poll Shows Affordability Is Still A Potent Issue
The charts above are from the ABC News / Washington Post / Ipsos Poll -- done between February 12th and 17th of a nationwide sample of 2,589 adults, with a 2 point margin of error.
Why Did Trump Attack Iran At This Time?
Early Saturday morning, Donald Trump told Americans that he had launched a "massive and continuing" attack on Iran. Israeli planes also participated in the attack.
The attack came as a surprise to most. Although Trump was poised to attack with a huge military presence in the Middle East, news reports quoted both the Iranian and U.S. negotiators as having made good progress toward reaching a diplomatic solution. In fact, the Iranians were offering more concessions than ever before.
But it wasn't enough for Trump evidently. He doesn't negotiate. He just bullies and expects others to give in to his demands. So he attacked. Why?
It wasn't for regime change. No one expects a bombing campaign to do that. A country under attack is far more likely to unify than to overthrow its government. And after the thousands recently killed in demonstrations in Iran, one would expect the government to be even more brutal while being attacked by another country.
It wasn't for U.S. security. Despite Trump claims, Iran doesn't pose a real threat to the United States. Their missiles cannot reach the United States (and estimates are that they are at least 10 years away from developing missiles that can).
It wasn't because they were close to developing a nuclear bomb. The attacks last year did serious damage to their nuclear program - and they were negotiating a treaty that would stop any development of nuclear weapons.
You can call me a cynic, but I think the attack was done to distract from his domestic problems.
The Epstein files have become a more serious problem for Trump, with many pages that accuse Trump of sexually abusing a teenager having been withheld by the Justice Department. A majority of Americans believe Trump is trying to cover up misdeeds in the Epstein scandal, and about half believe Trump was involved in Epstein's criminal misdeeds.
He is also in serious trouble on the economy. While he has helped the rich to get even richer, his policies have made most Americans poorer. They are having trouble affording a decent life in this country. He scores very low in the polls on his economic agenda, and signs are that his party is heading for a huge defeat in November (with Democrats winning one of both houses of Congress).
Add to this the fact that the public has turned against his immigration policies - seeing them as unnecessarily cruel.
The fact is that on the domestic front his administration is in deep trouble. A smart president would change policies to help people, but Trump's narcissism won't allow that. He cannot admit he's wrong on any issue.
So, he attacks Iran. He does this to pose as a savior of the country - hoping to get most Americans to drop other concerns and unite behind him. It's just a huge distraction from his domestic problems - and sadly, a distraction that puts American military personnel in danger.
I don't think it will work. Outside of his MAGA cult, most Americans now realize the truth about Trump - that it was a serious mistake to allow him back in power.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Public Overwhelmingly Say Vaccines Are Safe And Should Be Required To Attend School
The chart above is from the Reuters / Ipsos Poll -- done between February 18th and 23rd of a nationwide sample of 4,638 adults, with a 2 point margin of error.
Most Americans Think Trump Has Become Erratic With Age
The chart above is from the Reuters / Ipsos Poll -- done between February 18th and 23rd of a nationwide sample of 4,638 adults, with a 2 point margin of error.
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