Trump to Mass Death: _(ツ)_/

[Nevilledog]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/trump-war-hegseth-death-nihilism/


In the week since launching Operation Epic Fury, President Donald Trump’s war without an apparent endgame has killed 787 Iranians, a death toll the administration has made clear it is hellbent on expanding. It includes at least 175 Iranians, mostly young children, who were killed at Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school as US strikes targeted a nearby naval base. Trump’s self-made crisis has now killed at least six American service members, including Sgt. First Class Noah L. Tietjens, who had been finishing his final deployment in Kuwait when a retaliatory drone attack killed him. As of Friday, more than 120 people in Lebanon are reported dead as the war expands across the Middle East.

This White House, like many White Houses before it, invites the possibility of death when it declares war. But has an administration ever been so naked in its lust for it? Take Pete Hegseth, who on Wednesday could barely contain his enthusiasm for dead Iranians:

Death and destruction from the sky all day long. We’re playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly.

Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.

Later, when asked about the US service members killed, Hegseth’s excitement quickly curdled into petulance. “The press only wants to make the president look bad,” he complained, suggesting that reporting on dead Americans is not only bad publicity but evidence of traitorous behavior.

The comments were shocking, even if they were an extension of long-held American foreign policy, one that has always accepted, even desired, to kill people in far-flung countries. (Similarly, we’ve always sent American troops to fight wars, knowing that some won’t make it back home.) But where Hegseth cheers on mass death, the president himself offers a shruggy nihilism. Consider that in the first three days of war, the president opted for a leisurely stay at Mar-a-Lago, where he posted two videos of himself briefly talking about the war on Truth Social. From there, Trump went forward with a previously scheduled $1 million-a-head fundraiser because he “had to eat dinner anyway.” Once back in the White House, Trump ignored questions about Iran and, instead, urged reporters to gaze upon some new statues erected in the Rose Garden. On Monday, he finally gave a brief, five-minute briefing on the war that featured updates on his ballroom renovations.

*snip*

[Bread and Circuses]

1. NO Peace , not a a moment of calm and normalacy since this Pedo came into OFFICE.

NOT one moment.

Every day, 10, 20 outrageous thins . Crimes, Lies, Hate.

I like a BORING Government. NOT Chaos.

We need regime change in the Fascists states of AmeriKa NOW.

What country can overthrow this country? CHINA!

[jimmy the one]

2. Trump loves obliterating second world countries, easy peasy

Asymmetric and guerrilla warfare and suicide bombers as reprisals in the not too distant future can always be blamed on Left wing chattering, eh trumpass?

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

From NYT comments:

Rich
Western NJ
I have never met a high-ranking military officer who spoke or acted like Pete Hegseth. He doesn't seem to grasp that this isn't a movie or a video game. He comes across as an adolescent fueled by his first surge of testosterone. There is no gravitas, no evidence of critical thinking, no sign of emotional maturity. Whatever one feels about the justification for this war, we should expect the highest standards of leadership. Hegseth is a disgrace.

Lydia Polgreen
Opinion columnist
@Rich One of the most frightening things about this war with Iran is the way Trump has placed Hegseth front and center as the face and voice of it. He is so manifestly unqualified for this job, both in terms of his experience and his temperament. War is the most grave and serious undertaking of any government, and he is acting like this is a video game. Real people — Iranian school girls and American troops — have lost their lives. I find every aspect of his performance utterly sickening.