by Bill Salterberg, Stevensville
The daily news is rarely shocking. I have grown numb from the onslaught of “crazy” coming from this White House, since each day we are met with a host of new posts from our fearless leader……”open the f______ strait, you crazy bastards”. That was a good one, very presidential and not helpful. “A whole civilization will die tonight”. Those must have been comforting words for the 90 million Iranian civilians who trusted the U.S. to free them from an oppressive regime. But fear not, Iranians. Trump loves bluster and bravado. Deadlines came and went, and thankfully, no annihilation ensued.
But when the person occupying the White House posted an AI generated picture depicting himself as Jesus the divine healer, complete with flowing robes and celestial hands reaching out to heal an injured man while a woman prayed by his side, even members of his MAGA base were aghast.
Shortly after submitting this post, the president started feeling the heat. It was removed, but not before the damage was done. White House staffers, cabinet members, right wing pundits, and Republican congressmen were left trying to come up with explanations. Does the president think he’s the Son of God? J.D. Vance reached deep for an excuse. “It was a joke, the President likes to mix it up on social media.” Megyn Kelley was more direct, “blasphemous” and “completely inappropriate”, were her words.
But it was Trump who did what Trump always does, he lied, and he blamed. “I did post it, I thought it was me as a doctor, and it had to do with Red Cross. There’s a Red Cross worker there.” “And only the fake news could come up with that one” (referencing Trump as Jesus).
This all comes during a war of Trump’s choosing, with no attempt to corroborate with NATO allies. Among our allies, it seems the only one left is Israel’s Netanyahu. Trump dropped negotiations with Iran and instead started dropping bombs. His killing of Iranian leaders has only led to further radicalization of its leaders, and in so doing, has managed to alienate virtually all of NATO, thanks to his blame game and his utter failure with the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump agenda is flailing, and the polls reflect this. His approval is in the thirties in most U.S. polls, which brings us back to President Jesus.
What is wrong with this man who occupies the White House and likens his self serving arrogance to that of the divine Jesus, the suffering servant of the people who advocated for love and peace rather than hate?
Steve Schmidt says
Here’s where we started:
The Obama-era agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), was finalized on July 14, 2015. It contains specific, legally binding language
regarding Iran’s nuclear intentions and the international community’s right to verify them.
The following sections provide the exact verbiage from the official text.
1. Commitment Not to Build Nuclear Weapons
The most direct statement regarding nuclear weapons appears in the Preface and
Preamble of the agreement.
Preface, Paragraph iii:
“Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any
nuclear weapons.”
Preamble, Paragraph 1:
“The E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and
the United States…) and the Islamic Republic of Iran welcome this historic Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which will ensure that Iran’s nuclear program will
be exclusively peaceful.”
2. Agreement to Inspections and Verification
The JCPOA established a multi-layered inspection regime. It explicitly required Iran to apply
the IAEA Additional Protocol, which grants inspectors broader access than standard
safeguards.
Trump unilaterally canceled JCPOA. To date, Iran has not agreed to any concessions. It seems the U.S. will be fortunate to get back to even the basics of this Obama era agreement with Iran.
Stanley Eckel says
Trump stated in one of his first demands that we must acquire “Iran’s uranium and an unconditional surrender” since then I’ve heard no mention of these “demands”, it has morphed into Hormuz, oil and money. I pray we didn’t lose 13 heroes, have hundreds wounded and billions of $$ spent on oil but, I wouldn’t be surprised with this administration, he states the possible economic gains often.