The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump

[Swivelinglight]

the question is whether its a major escalation or not. If it's not then it's just a save face - usually that would mean de-escalation maneuver. If it's a major escalation (which no one seems to know for sure, at this point), then it's very likely war (my personal opinion).

• reports of iranian airforce taking off, which is unsettling

• trump apparently addressing nation - no idea what that will be about

• good news - AnneClaire Stapleton on Twitter: "US official tells CNN that are no reports of US casualties at this time but an assessment is still underway. Reports @barbarastarrcnn" - no US casualties reported so far - so case for war is less likely as long as that continues (assuming its true)

• more good news James LaPorta on Twitter: "Update: Senior Defense Department official tells @Newsweek Zero US casualties at the moment. News came in at 8:51 p.m. EST #IranAttacks… https://t.co/ZZu7GW1rya"

References:

Threads I'm tracking with latest updates.

Multiple rockets hit Taji base in Iraq : worldnews

Multiple rockets hit Taji base in Iraq : worldnews

Be wary of sources, of course. There's likely a lot of disinformation within each of these twitter links / twitter replies

edit: if there is war stay safe out there. expect a lot of asymmetrical warfare from Iran, even in the homeland

 

[Stigmata]

Iran fires rockets at US targets in Iraq — live updates


Judging by this the war just started.

OK this "elect the orange apprentice guy to the presidency" game isn't fun anymore...

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

OK this "elect the orange apprentice guy to the presidency" game isn't fun anymore...

I think I now feel comfortable calling him the worst President ever. He'd have to do something like this to beat the other contender, and sure enough, he did.

 

[Swivelinglight]

Alright seems like things are settling down:


BNO News on Twitter: "U.S. Defense Secretary Esper has gone home for the night, defense official says - Fox"


BNO News on Twitter: "BREAKING: President Trump says "all is well" after Iranian rocket attack, says he'll make a statement on Wednesday morning"



BNO News on Twitter: "Initial assessment is that Iranian missiles struck parts of Al Asad Airbase which are not populated by Americans, U.S. officials say - CNN"

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."


Sounds like it was a de-escalation save-face attack after all; which was the best case scenario, as a response was almost all but inevitable.

Edit: My personal opinion on all of this. Good news is likely we won't go to war. If Trump wanted war, then this was his ticket. Bad news, he drew a red line that explicitly stated any attacks on any military personnel or bases would result in utter devastation against Iran. Now we lose even more international standing.

 

[ceecee]

Alright seems like things are settling down:


BNO News on Twitter: "U.S. Defense Secretary Esper has gone home for the night, defense official says - Fox"


BNO News on Twitter: "BREAKING: President Trump says "all is well" after Iranian rocket attack, says he'll make a statement on Wednesday morning"



BNO News on Twitter: "Initial assessment is that Iranian missiles struck parts of Al Asad Airbase which are not populated by Americans, U.S. officials say - CNN"

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."


Sounds like it was a de-escalation save-face attack after all; which was the best case scenario, as a response was almost all but inevitable.

Edit: My personal opinion on all of this. Good news is likely we won't go to war. If Trump wanted war, then this was his ticket. Bad news, he drew a red line that explicitly stated any attacks on any military personnel or bases would result in utter devastation against Iran. Now we lose even more international standing.

I definitely think dipshit is looking for an off ramp.

 

[Coriolis]

I definitely think dipshit is looking for an off ramp.

Our dipshit, or theirs? Looks like "the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far" escaped casualties because the Iranians have bad aim, for whatever reason.

 

[Red Herring]

Our dipshit, or theirs? Looks like "the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far" escaped casualties because the Iranians have bad aim, for whatever reason.

Bad aim or very good aim?

 

[ceecee]

Our dipshit, or theirs? Looks like "the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far" escaped casualties because the Iranians have bad aim, for whatever reason.

I mean our dipshit and of course the IRG have bad aim. Very bad. Terrible. So many people are saying so.

 

[Lexicon]

All is well? People are wondering if their relatives stationed there are okay, and he says, “all is well!”

 

[Edgar]

All is well? People are wondering if their relatives stationed there are okay, and he says, "all is well!"

Apparently no U.S. casualties according to CNN. I think (or hope) that's what he meant by "all is well".

 

[Lexicon]

Apparently no U.S. casualties according to CNN. I think (or hope) that's what he meant by "all is well".

Casualties or not (which, hopefully the latter is indeed the case), missiles flying at all is no time to be saying crap like, “all is well!”

 

[Edgar]

Casualties or not (which, hopefully the latter is indeed the case), missiles flying at all is no time to be saying crap like, "all is well!"

Well compared to the fact that the Iranian missiles accidentally shut down a Ukrainian passenger plane a few hours ago with 180 people on board, I guess you could say all is well on the American side.

 

[Lexicon]

Well compared to the fact that the Iranian missiles accidentally shut down a Ukrainian passenger plane a few hours ago with 180 people on board, I guess you could say all is well on the American side.

From what I’ve read, it was reportedly due to mechanical failures shortly after takeoff, which is the most frequent point during a flight that such failures/fires can occur. I certainly wouldn’t rule out an attack, either, though, given current events (if it truly was a mechanical failure, that’s like an eerie Final Destination scenario, assuming at least some of the passengers were exiting Iran for safety reasons). Too early to say what happened.

And regardless, ‘all is well!’ is an embarrassingly messed up thing to say. Not that he hasn’t said far worse. *shakes head*

 

[Edgar]

From what I’ve read, it was reportedly due to mechanical failures shortly after takeoff, which is the most frequent point during a flight that such failures/fires can occur. I certainly wouldn’t rule out an attack, either, though, given current events (if it truly was a mechanical failure, that’s like an eerie Final Destination scenario, assuming at least some of the passengers were exiting Iran for safety reasons). Too early to say what happened.

And regardless, ‘all is well!’ is an embarrassingly messed up thing to say. Not that he hasn’t said far worse. *shakes head*

They can't declare a mechanical failure within minutes after the plane crashing unless they already know exactly what that mechanical failure was, i.e. air defense "mechanical failure". If you saw the video of the alleged doomed plane you will see it was burning like a match on the way down. Those things don't usually happen to modern planes.

 

[Lexicon]

They can't declare a mechanical failure within minutes after the plane crashing unless they already know exactly what that mechanical failure was, i.e. air defense "mechanical failure". If you saw the video of the alleged doomed plane you will see it was burning like a match on the way down. Those things don't usually happen to modern planes.

I saw it. I’m no aviation engineer, but in-flight fires do happen like that, still. Don’t always hear about them because the plane makes a successful emergency landing more often these days. Usually a plane being shot will lead to explosive decompression of the cabin, resulting in breakup of the aircraft before it hits the ground (from what I’ve read in the past), though that too varies based on where the aircraft was struck & what by. Like I said, it’s too early to be certain, but of course I wouldn’t rule out an attack/accidental shootdown at all, given how messed up things are right now. The timing of both the crash itself as well as reports of the cause are both highly suspect. It’s possible they’re offering up the cause so quickly to avoid potential retaliation in the meantime, while they evaluate the crash site. Anyone’s guess.

Either way, 170-180 civilians dead is also not ‘well,’ by most standards.

 

[rav3n]

BBC isn't so certain that there weren't any casualties. None of this needed to happen if Trump could negotiate himself out of a paper bag.

Iran attack: US troops targeted with ballistic missiles - BBC News

Two airbases housing US troops in Iraq have been hit by more than a dozen ballistic missiles, according to the US Department of Defence.

Iranian state TV says the attack is a retaliation after the country's top commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad, on the orders of US President Donald Trump.

The Pentagon says two sites were attacked, in Irbil and Al Asad.

It is unclear if there have been any casualties.

 

[rav3n]

Iran has announced that this is the end of their retaliation and that they don't want a war or to escalate this any further. It's an out for Trump. Now let's see if Donnie Dimbulb bows out or escalates.

Iran Says It Has Concluded Its Response To U.S. Strike, Does Not Seek Escalation

 

[Z Buck McFate]

This is almost certainly the 2nd night of insomnia/sleep loss talking, but I think "Nostradumbass" is 24 karat comedic gold.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Guys, you shoulda voted for Johnson. He doesn’t even know where cities in the Middle East are, so he couldn’t bomb shit

 

[anticlimatic]

Trump is going to come over the top with something ridiculous. Maybe. Depends on if this rocket attack was a deliberately casualty free warning shot, or if they're as weak and incompetent as we have been lead to believe.

Whos for slashing the defense budget now?