Trump Blithered and Blustered, and the War Got Worse
What a difference one little speech makes!
It may have been Trump’s shortest speech ever—short “like no one has ever seen before” from Trump; but it sure did a lot of harm.
Don’t expect oil’s miraculous return to lower prices that happened yesterday and today to hold out for long. We’ll see what the president announces tonight…. Jawboning doesn’t change reality; but prices could soar higher than ever by tomorrow if the president launches a ground invasion.
They did. Maybe not “higher than ever,” but they certainly blasted off like the Artemis. The wild part of today’s ride was that US oil prices shot up the most, with West Texas Intermediate pulling the rare feat of ripping right past Brent Crude in a 11% jump that happened in just twelve hours! And it didn’t even take the president announcing a ground invasion to do it! He just blathered the same old stuff about the war going a little longer and hitting Iran harder in order to decimate them again because you cannot be thoroughly decimated enough times.
Markets all over the globe hit the “sell” button after Trump’s little talk. The only safe-haven asset of any merit that has remained a safe haven is the Chinese yuan. Interest on the US debt soared upon the opening of markets on the morning after the speech. Asian markets, especially Japan, went down hard overnight. US stocks floundered aimlessly all day alongside oil’s gusher of a rise. Gold and silver fell. Gasoline shot up to the highest prices in the US since Russia invaded Ukraine. Very great accomplishments … like no one has ever seen before.
All of that “winning” came for Trump, even though he did nothing in his special speech but blabbergas about how great he is and tell us the war will be stretching to the outside of his timeline envelope and that he basically doesn’t seem to care any more what he gets out of this war before he leaves, other than a 2-3 weeks more of heavy destruction (chaos) and the final end after the last final end of Iran’s uranium enrichment.
None of this was the least bit surprising to readers here, as it was quintessential Trump, and we all knew that the last “total decimation” of Iran’s uranium was not the end of the matter when he told us it was last summer an accomplishment no president before him has ever achieved, as Trump had boasted when trying to chalk up points in his competition for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Europe can handle the aftermath of Trump’s War on its own, Trump said; but he offered one olive branch: If they are really nice and beg us and genuflect to him just right, maybe we’ll help them with getting the Strait of Hormuz opened back up; but they will have to lead the way. Analysis of his speech almost universally said it was a nothing-burger. I certainly didn’t hear anything significant that I haven’t heard Trump say, unsay, and then re-say many times over the first four weeks of the war It was about as useful as Pete Hogsbreath’s Washington recall and pep rally for the generals.
“You’re fired! and you … and you.”
All of Trump’s prettiest attache’s are on the chopping block. Apparently, Pam Blondi, even though she was always as nice to Trump as a good lap-poodle can be, did not beg enough (in the manner Europe is supposed to exhibit) because she got canned today, after pleading for her job yesterday in a rather loud argument … just like Noem got axed before her. Trump spoke nicely about her today but said she’s just not getting done what he wants to see done. As many times as she has butchered the law on his behalf and stalled releases of the Epstein Files, it’s not enough because he’s not winning all the time. It seems like, no matter how outrageous he acts, he doesn’t always win in court.
Next on the block may be Tulsi Gabbard because Trump has been inquiring with top staff about replacing her. She’s not quite into his war as much as he would prefer, though she has consistently tried her best to look like she loves praising him during cabinet meetings. I image, if she is fired, she will, like Blondi, praise His Greatness on the way out the door for having blessed her with this opportunity to serve him and her country, although I once thought she had more spine and independent thinking than that. She’s lost it for me … and for Trump, albeit for very different reasons. I believe he would be right to fire her but for the opposite reasons than the ones that are driving him. Prior to selling out to him, she had been 100% against going to war with Iran … or going into just about any war. And she used to speak her own mind.
Trump also gave hints yesterday that Leavitt could leave it soon when he ridiculed Karoline publicly for all the bad press he has been getting. Apparently, that is her fault for not fully controlling the media every time he does something that screams for attention. We know that, with Trump, these hints are often a shot over the brow for what’s coming if the one with the overshot brow doesn’t do better. Leavitt has been his official and strongest sycophant, tirelessly arguing down the press every day, even ridiculing them in the way he admires, always praising her boss, and expanding on his lies with great acuity, but I guess that doesn’t go far enough if the boss is sinking in the polls. And to think Trump is an old-world publicity hound who has long gone by the motto “Even bad press is good press because it keeps your name in the news.”
Following his speech, two large side benefits emerged for nations Trump might not want to benefit. One was the observation that this whole war has turned into the biggest sugar plum Trump could possibly have given Putin, and the other is that China has emerged as the only large economy whose bonds are doing better, rather than worse, with US Treasuries particularly tanking, sending interest on the national debt to the moon, for which Artemis makes a good symbol. China emerges as the sole surviving safe haven.
Putin come out on top of everyone. His oil is worth more than ever. Trump has had to strip away many of his own and Biden’s sanctions in order to get Russian oil to the world’s hands; but Russia won’t sell any to Europe. It has plenty of other customers now. The US is expending enormous amounts of weaponry it might have sold on credit to Ukraine and has been distracted from focusing so much on Ukraine. NATO is busting apart more and more every day. The US is flushing alliances down the toilet like the effluent of a sour lunch and creating huge animosity against itself all over the world with its wars—Iran by far the worsst—and aggressive land and oil grabs to where Europe and even the UK almost hate Trump more than they loathe Putin. People trust Putin far more than to the US president because Putin stays with his deals; he doesn’t change with every wind that howls.
And China is even more the rising economic sun than it was prior to the war. The United States of America does not look like a good place to do business, and it is going broke faster than ever thanks to this war stacking piles of debt and higher interest rates on top of Big Bloated Bill.
Finally, in response to Trump’s speech, Iran immediately started firing even more missiles and drones all over the Middle East just to demonstrate it is not as “decimated” as Trump claimed. Its air force, which Trump claimed was destroyed, clearly has plenty of drones and missiles, which do count as air force, in spite of Trump’s claims. With rockets and drones being as devastating as they have been, Iran hardly needs expensive manned aircraft. That’s old-world thinking.
Iran still says the war will end when they say it does, regardless of whether Trump leaves in order to make things easier for them.
