this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, repeatedly warned Trump that Iran would likely disrupt the Strait of Hormuz in response to a U.S. attack, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.

Trump, 79, told his administration that he thought Iran would capitulate to the U.S. before it closed the Strait, adding that even if the Strait was threatened, the U.S. military could handle it.

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[–] Fishnoodle@lemmy.world 66 points 4 days ago (5 children)

I'm hoping that the military leadership is starting to realize that they WILL have to forcefully remove Trump, if anything to protect the safety and security of the country. Also the PRIMARY purpose of the US Armed forces is:

  1. To support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic.

Not one fucking word about protecting pedos or presidents.

[–] mystik@lemmy.world 50 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Remember, within the first month of this term, he fired all the 5-star generals and other military leadership who would have had the wherewithal to pull this off.

[–] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 days ago

You say "fired all the five star generals", I say "created new leadership opportunities for disgruntled veterans".

America is going to end up with two armies, one full of soldiers and one full of sycophants and idiots. Boy, this doesn't sound familiar or anything, does it?

[–] dizzle18@lemmy.zip 51 points 4 days ago

You mean the military that’s commanded by people who were telling their troops that Trump was sent by God to protect Israel? Yeah, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 6 points 4 days ago

Only an American would ever possibly hope for a military coup... I know you guys don't have a lot of history, but if that happened, it would be much, much worse than Trump.

[–] kmartburrito@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

It would not be a difficult math problem nor a stretch to calculate and conclude that he is a domestic enemy.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 34 points 4 days ago (3 children)

This asshole seems incapable of humiliation.

He should be ashamed to even show up in public given what he's done and what a dumbass he is, but I see him in front of cameras nearly daily, mugging and gesturing and holding forth, often for very long periods of time.

[–] TheFinn@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Being shameless is his superpower. I suspect it's what makes him so appealing to MAGA.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago

"He says what I'm thinking!" (and gets away with it - that's the thing that really sends a tingle up their legs - they have wet dreams about being able to say and do the sorts of things that PEDOnald did all his life and had no consequences for it)

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[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 39 points 4 days ago (3 children)

We are rapidly approaching the decision point between fighting and dying for Trump and hesgeth in Iran or fighting in Washington.

[–] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fighting in Washington was always on the table and it is clear by now that there are no takers.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 16 points 4 days ago (3 children)

We are waiting for the Midterms. There is no sense in blowing up America now, when we still have a couple of legal options left. If we get through the Midterms and 2028, we might be able to rebuild.

But if they somehow manage to cheat their way out of the Midterm bloodbath, there will be serious repercussions, and if they steal the 2028 election, it's all over. Then we have nothing to lose, and it's Civil War.

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[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Better not wear black when talking like that.

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[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)

This minorfucker and his DUI hire didn't calculate shit. Probably just type into Grok for a intelligence assessment and went with it.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They got railroaded by Bibi. It was blatantly obvious.

[–] ImmersiveMatthew@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Do you mean caught in a honey trap?

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

it's so plain that epstein was running a kompromat factory and trump's everywhere in it. hope it gets reflected in the histories.

hope there's enough of a civilization to record history....

I feel like even Grok would have made better decisions than these morons.

[–] blattrules@lemmy.world 30 points 4 days ago (3 children)

How does anyone still listen to him? Every decision he’s ever made has not come from a place of intelligence, reason or foresight, but just what he feels at that moment.

[–] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

A combination of: the people in positions of power stand to benefit personally for decisions that are bad for everyone else, and a failure of the people to hold him to account (which is itself caused by a mix of apathy, ignorance, and hatred).

It's only surprising if you have taken the competence and stability demonstrated over the last 70 years for granted.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

He's made a looot of $$$ from his decisions.

He is winning, unfortunately.

[–] blattrules@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I think when you’re born with that much money, you don’t tend to lose it easily. His father insulated him from his stupid decisions. Now he’s got a cult of personality behind him and is way further insulated from his stupidity. He’s failed upwards his whole life because he’s privileged.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

There are a whole lot of dumbasses out there would rather have a complete idiot in power rather than someone that makes them feel stupid, or, in other words, is clearly smarter, more educated, and more capable than they are.

It's an infuriating trait and I don't understand it at all.

I could do a better job than this idiot, and I am self-aware and smart enough to realize I have no business being anywhere near that kind of job. I happen to want people far smarter, more experienced, more education, and more wisdom than myself in there. I don't feel smaller by having someone better than me in there.

This is about the only job I can think of where there are certain types of idiots that cast about for non-experts for that role. You don't people agitating to have "outsiders" in their sportsball team. You don't see them calling for things like "term limits" on sports, either. Same for a whole host of occupations. People don't put out ads for positions at companies seeking someone with zero experience, but who makes them feel good about their own capabilities in comparison.

But, for a role that We, The People hire for, we have this incredibly bizarre and stupid selection criteria - dumb things that include "wanting to have a beer with them", or "running the country like a business". Things like intelligence, capability, education, wisdom, and experience don't seem to really matter for this hiring process.

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[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We fucking got our asses kicked in smaller countries like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Who would have thought the US could win against Iran?

[–] BurnedDonutHole@ani.social 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The biggest mistake they made was thinking Iran is like Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan—countries characterized by dictatorship or clannism/tribalism, where the populations were already divided. Although it is an Islamic Republic, Iran operates as a republic with regular elections where citizens vote for government officials. This is a long-established system that maintains a degree of popular support. Unlike those other states, where it was easier for outside forces to support separatists, the current situation has instead bolstered the government's narrative. They have effectively managed to convince many that the government was telling the truth about the U.S. and Israel intending to destroy Iran. Ultimately, this has united a large portion of the population behind the state. I fear it will be a long conflict unless something fundamental changes.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Although it is an Islamic Republic, Iran operates as a republic with regular elections where citizens vote for government officials.

Candidates for office are vetted by a government committee before they can run. It's a one-party state. Even the Demopublican virtual uniparty in the US is a far more open system. And the Islamic Republic is almost uniformly hated by the Iranian people, most of whom were born after Khomeini seized power.

I'm not in any way implying that US bombing or invasion is going to help the pro-democracy forces in Iran. If anything, it'll give the mullahs the external threat that they need in order to cling onto power even longer.

[–] BurnedDonutHole@ani.social 1 points 1 day ago

While the mechanisms obviously differ, candidate vetting and political gatekeeping are structural realities in the U.S. system as well. Instead of a Guardian Council, the U.S. relies on immense financial barriers—where winning a Senate seat averages over $20 million—and restrictive ballot access laws that effectively lock out third parties. Therefore, arguing that one system is "open" and the other is "closed" is often an apples-to-oranges comparison that ignores how power is actually brokered. Furthermore, not every country requires a Western-style liberal democracy to maintain a stable and cohesive existence.

As for the claim that the government is "uniformly hated" by the Iranian people: if that were entirely true, who is keeping the state functioning? A massive state apparatus cannot survive for four decades under intense external pressure solely through coercion; it requires a substantial base of active domestic support. The state is backed by millions of active Basij members and a vast network of state economic foundations (Bonyads) that employ and provide social welfare for millions more. Even in recent elections with historically low turnout, roughly 25 million Iranians still participated.

The narrative that the population is a monolith of dissent often stems from the grievances of the Iranian diaspora, who fled the country during the Islamic revolution some 40 years ago. While their perspectives are part of the story, they do not necessarily reflect the complex realities of the 88 million people currently living inside the country. For example, Iranian Azerbaijani Turks—the country's largest ethnic minority, numbering roughly 20 million—have shown no widespread intention of mounting a separatist revolt. They are deeply integrated into Iran's economic and political elite (the Supreme Leader himself is of Azerbaijani descent) and share the state's Shia identity. This integration alone contradicts the idea of a nation on the verge of internal collapse for to the people's hatred of their government.

In the long run, it is difficult to predict how the population will react to the scarcity of food and basic needs. However, that does not change the fact that there has been a united domestic response to recent attacks—a level of support for the Iranian government that was clearly not anticipated by either the U.S. or Israel.

Ultimately, unless it is in self-defense, war is murder. I wish peace and prosperity for all.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (4 children)

How can it be miscalculated when it wasn't even calculated at all to begin with?

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 15 points 4 days ago (9 children)

Trump, 79, told his administration that he thought Iran would capitulate to the U.S. before it closed the Strait, adding that even if the Strait was threatened, the U.S. military could handle it

Hitler, forcing his experienced Generals to follow his own incompetent strategies.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

At least some of those generals tried to blow him up.

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[–] SGGeorwell@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago

Dipshit dips shit.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 14 points 4 days ago

I love Hegseth’s response. It’s handled. We’re taking care of it. So don’t worry about it.

Like dude bro, they’re not “worried about it,” in their job capacity as reporters, they are asking you about it because it’s their job.

This isn’t like “who’s gonna load the dishwasher?” “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it covered.”

[–] Zos_Kia@jlai.lu 17 points 4 days ago (4 children)

What's funny is they got into this mess solely by their own crass ignorance. I'm persuaded they thought it would be like Syria or other asymmetrical wars they fought. Well though luck dipshits, Iran is a whole other kind of beast.

They already shit their pants in Afghanistan despite it being literally nicknamed "the graveyard of empires". But Iran is not that, Iran is its own empire and has been for thousands of years. Good luck trying to get Elamites and Medes to bend the knee. You're not the first to try.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Iran has as unforgiving a landscape as Afghanistan, a population half again as large, and is not a bottom-of-the-heap, destitute basket case of a country. They may hate the mullahs, but that'll be nothing compared to the hatred they have for a foreign aggressor.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 8 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Well though luck dipshits, Iran is a whole other kind of beast.

If only every single person who knew anything at all about Iran had tried to tell them this repeatedly for years and years.

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[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

jfc what fucking president says "bombing the hell out of the shoreline". This isn't call of duty with your buddies dumbass

[–] SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 13 points 4 days ago

Why does Trump want the strait OPEN?

He's the one that CLOSED it.

Ooh yea, that OLD trick he uses when he makes a problem and then fixes the problem he made.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

Trump, 79, told his administration that he thought Iran would capitulate to the U.S. before it closed the Strait

Yeah that's what it seemed like, he thought he'd just bomb a little and everything would go his way. Got hopped up success in Venezuela and thought it would be the same.

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 10 points 4 days ago

Trump, what a deal maker. /s

[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Still using the bad archive site.

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