I think we can all understand why former BBC correspondent Nick Bryant posted this on Bluesky

[highplainsdem]

And since another Nick Bryant has sometimes been mentioned on DU, I'd better add this from his Substack:

https://historyneverended.substack.com/about

Some of you will know me as a former BBC correspondent, who covered all the US presidents from Donald Trump back to Bill Clinton. Some of you will have read my books, The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself and When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the President. Some of you will know me as a newspaper columnist or presenter on ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra. Before all of that, I was a student in US history who completed a doctorate focused on America in the1960s. History Never Ended will be the primary home of my writing.

Yesterday he posted this:

When I first started out as a journalist I thought it paid to have a background in US history when covering America. Then I thought it would probably be better to be a constitutional lawyer with expertise in jurisprudence. Now I think it would be useful to be a psychiatrist.

— Nick Bryant. (@nickbryantoz.bsky.social) 2026-03-07T21:57:35.006Z

[malaise]

1. The words of an effin lunatic

That is all

[Ilikepurple]

10. Unhinged in content and reads like it was written a sixth grade boy who's discovered AI

This post by Trump doesn’t seem to have the semi-polish of others I’ve seen from him this term. It’s inconsistent in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. Decent grammar and punctuation, I’m unnaturally curious about the composition of his posts. I also might be wrong and he might be just some Clouseau-esque fumbling master at codeswitching between highbrow and lowbrow MAGAspeak. Some seem cowritten by a Trump AI chatbot, some seem written by him but polished by someone else, some seem written by someone else with a few Trump “tells” inserted to seem authentic, and some seem written by someone else and edited by Trump. I’d love to see a stylometric analysis of his various posts, and even different sentences from the same post. This one reads like comic book fan fiction I wrote at 10 where my vocabulary and compositional skills were at odds while excitedly trying to convey my super hero ideas.

Attempt at jumping into Trump’s mind

The first sentence probably started out as
“Iran has apologized to its Middle East neighbors”
Not enough “win” in there for Trump. Let’s add surrendered
“Iran has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors“
Wait nothing about me and my doings yet. Subordinate clause to the rescue
“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors.”
Still not enough “winning”, what did my mom make me promise when I was being aggressive with siblings? Oh yeah. Let’s add
“and promised that it will not (hit) shoot at them anymore.”
Now I can take credit for something that hasn’t happened. That is, Iran apologized, surrendered, and promised not to shoot at others anymore. Like what a schoolboy might say to a principal after being caught bullying. Just weird.

[malaise]

14. Just weird is kind

Sometimes I wonder if this is a nightmare - how the eff did we get here?

[Deuxcents]

26. I think about that all the time..there isn't one issue that he doesn't comment about or make demands on.

It’s a nightmare by any definition

[Evolve Dammit]

36. Incrementally over 11 years.

[malaise]

38. A good take here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21082516

[Evolve Dammit]

41. Good compilation. Thanks Malaise

[ananda]

22. It just means he wrote it himself.

It really does sound like him, himself,
not somebody polishing it up a bit.

[Ilikepurple]

27. I thought so at first, but no typos or punctuation errors gave me pause.

Syntax is clumsy as if coming from two different sources. Perhaps, just Trump’s trying to smartify his schoolboy ramblings.

[NJCher]

33. did you

Like me, consider a career in forensic linguistics?

In my next lifetime, that's what I'm doing.

And oh, btw, being a college writing teacher in the age of AI (and even before that) is a great way to get practice because students so often try to foist off some paper they didn't write on the English teacher.

Most of the time the software the department provides for us does the job, but there have been nights where I stayed up until 4 a.m. tracking down sources in some kid's paper.

As an amateur internet sleuth, I spent a lot of time on the note the "kidnapper" wrote in the JonBenet Ramsey case.

[Ilikepurple]

40. Interesting. I can't imagine grading papers in the age of widespread internet usage let alone AI

I know my daughter had to send papers through plagiarism detectors. I imagine they now offer AI service to detect AI. I’ve read some fragmented papers where trying to figure out what was being said kept me up late, but felt that most of them were at least the students’ work. I like to hear how academics are dealing with the burgeoning use of AI. Good luck out there on the front lines of academia. If people are still doing forensic analysis in our next lives, I might see you at the office.

[CrispyQ]

2. So they have surrendered but are also the loser of the ME until they surrender?

If it weren't for the damage he's done, I'd be embarrassed about this fucking fool. Instead, everyday I get more & more outraged at the republican congress who could stop this but don't.

[William Seger]

15. Leavitt said it's up to #rump, not Iran, to decide when Iran has surrendered

Apparently, #rump is dumb enough to believe her.

[CrispyQ]

24. I guess he changed his mind in the course of his tweet.

Frickin' moron.

[William Seger]

32. Maybe he suddenly remembered Leavitt is a professional liar

But "changed his mind" might be a misleading description of what's going on in the pinball machine #rump's brain has become.

[NJCher]

34. I'm having too much fun with this thread

in the pinball machine #rump's brain has become.

[lostincalifornia]

3. and so are those who voted for him or refused to vote for VP Harris.

[Solly Mack]

4. And some people think he is smart.

The mind wobbles.

[czarjak]

5. Aaaaaand!

Jesus STILL ain't comin' back, rubes. Believe me! Or, not?

[czarjak]

6. Aaaaaand!

Jesus STILL ain't comin' back, rubes. Believe me! Or, not?

[Justice matters.]

42. IF Jeebus ever comes back... (doubtful;)

I know a war criminal orange $atan who will be the first to get thrown in a burning HELL forever!

Too bad I don't believe in any fairy tale.

[TBF]

45. Why would any god, or goddess for that matter, come here?

This is the last place I'd come if I had supernatural powers.

[choie]

7. If ANY president had written/sad anything remotely like

there would be blazing op-eds and headlines stating that the mental health of this president is a clear and present danger to this country and the world. I will never ever understand how and why this president gets away with murder.

[Katinfl]

18. If ANY president had even the slightest notion to say/do/write what he has, it would be front page news.

And it’s not. If I did not read DU or some of the other sites I read, I would not know half of what is going on with him.

[Evolve Dammit]

37. Free pass to the criminal mob boss

[lostnfound]

8. Paging stephen milller's parents and hegseth's bartender. What are your thoughts?

I feel sorry for Miller’s parents, few fates are as awful as having your kid turn into a bloodthirsty psycho. Hegseth maybe didn’t have any parents, nor a shrink, but he damn sure has had a bartender.
How are y’all staying quiet?

[PatSeg]

9. Oh dear, he's listening to the voices in his head again

"Thank you President Trump" - I wonder if they had tears in their eyes when they said it.

[fierywoman]

11. Projection, projection, projection -- thy name is Donald Trump.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

12. Nothing screams FIFA Peace Prize recipient like targeting people...

..."that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time" for "complete destruction and certain death."

But what do I know? I'm one of the Democratic "warmongers."

It's nice to know the WWJD crowd is totally okay with this....

[Scrivener7]

13. On the bright side, this sounds like the first step in him

pulling out of this wasps' nest.

The stock market does it again.

[peggysue2]

17. Karoline Leavitt, Trump's perky-lipped Tokyo Rose has already said that . . .

The unconditional surrender Trump has referred to will be determined by Trump himself, when HE decides Iran no longer poses a threat and US objectives have been fulfilled.

That leaves a lot of wiggle room for The Decider to simply say: Okay, we're done. We've set the country afire.

Then he can turn his attention to Cuba--Make Cuba Great Again.

Of course, there's no accounting for Iran's agreement in all this. They're suppose to bow down and say "Thank you very much, Sir. Who will you choose to lead us into your Golden Age."

Utterly insane!

[WestMichRad]

29. "Karoline Leavitt, Trump's perky-lipped Tokyo Rose"

A very apt description!

[MadameButterfly]

39. I think he's holding out for unconditional surrender

That's why he's destroying the water supply for civilians and sinking ships. He's under the impression that he can cause enough horror to make the Irani leadership swallow their pride and take care of their people when the've been murdering protesters. Countries don't surrender to war criminals who threaten genocide, whether they're leaders are good or bad. Trump in Iran has become Putin in Ukraine.

I wonder if Trump will be allowed to travel abroad without being arrested after this.

[Kid Berwyn]

16. Suggest he specialize as a Forensic Psychiatrist.

Trump is a criminal goldmine, from treason and corruption to criminal abuse of authority and dereliction of duty to mass murder and child sexual abuse.

PS: ETA I’d add it would make a career, but am so sick of Trump I wouldn’t recommend him for study to anyone with a good mind.

[bmichaelh]

19. Group Dynamics

Last edited Sun Mar 8, 2026, 02:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Any analysis of Trump and this era would be lacking if they only analyzed Trump and his narcissism and his magical thinking.

One would also need to know something of group psychology.

There was enough evidence from the first term to know that Trump would be a disaster; yet some voted for him.

[bmichaelh]

20. Shakespeare

If I never knew anything about history or psychology, I would know Trump would be bad only by reading Shakespeare.

There is a lot of great psychology in Shakespeare's characters.

I am reminded of Richard III when he appears surrounded by clerics and pretends to be in "devout prayer" when he is offered the crown.
How many times has Trump surrounded himself with his religious followers.

There are about 20 to 30 excerpts from Shakespeare that could apply to Donald Trump.

Here are just three:

PAROLES
He will lie, sir, with such volubility
that you would think truth were a fool.
--Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well 4.3.248-49

MENENIUS
There is no more
mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger.
--Shakespeare, Coriolanus 5.4.28-29

PISANIO
[His] tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile.
--Shakespeare, Cymbeline 3.4.34-35

[malaise]

21. This needs its own thread

Perfect

[calimary]

23. Shakespeare knew Trump better than even he EVER imagined.

Nailed it way back then. AND now, too.

[FakeNoose]

25. The comments posted on BlueSky are priceless!

[Mysterian]

28. I hope I can be proud of my country again one day

Today I feel nothing but shame.

[Historic NY]

30. Iran will get revenge.....

[pat_k]

31. President Masoud Pezeshkian and IRGC aren't on the same page

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/3/8/why-are-iranian-leaders-sending-mixed-messages-on-gulf-attacks

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has offered an apology to neighbouring countries that have been subjected to Tehran’s retaliatory strikes since the United States and Israel launched a military offensive on the country..

But Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) expressed its disapproval of the president’s remarks on Saturday, warning neighbouring countries that Tehran would continue attacks if US and Israel used their territory to attack Iran...

And related goings on:

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/3/7/caught-between-iran-and-saudi-arabia-can-pakistan-stay-neutral-for-long

...during early hours of March 6, Saudi Arabia’s negotiation defence ministry confirmed it intercepted three ballistic missiles targeting the kingdom’s Prince Sultan Air Base. And hours later, Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir was in Riyadh, meeting Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, where they “discussed Iranian attacks on the Kingdom and the measures needed to halt them within the framework” of their mutual defence pact, the Saudi minister said in a post on X...

And 3/7 from Rueters

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-has-told-iran-not-attack-it-warns-possible-retaliation-sources-say-2026-03-07/

Saudi has told Iran not to attack it, warns of possible retaliation, sources say

Two Iranian ⁠sources confirmed that a call had taken place in which Riyadh warned Tehran to halt attacks on Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf ...

The bottom line is that there seems to be no recognition from this regime that the IRGC/Basij is a vast oppressive military, economic, industrial conglomerate that operates with relative independence from Ayatollah rule. They are NOT dealing with your typical state leadership infrastructure supported by a "regular" army. In Iran, the "regular army" territorial defense is the Artesh. The IRGC/Basij is an entirely difference thing.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143628778#post10

[Buddyzbuddy]

35. He's going to dazzle the world with his state of confusion.

You'd get better responses by asking a
"Magic 8 ball".

[vapor2]

46. That's funny, a magic 8 ball (I remember those)

[Trueblue Texan]

43. TSF has become so delusional, he thinks Iran is one of the 12 year olds he took advantage of.

Humiliation and abuse is what turns him on. Someone should bite the shit of his...um...ego.

[pansypoo53219]

44. fine. but did you fuck little girls w/ jeffrey?