Official stupidity can do a lot of harm, as the daily examples from the Trump administration have made all too clear. (Official cowardice–can we spell Congressional Republicans?–doesn’t help.)
Trump’s “gut decision” to wage war on Iran, and the warrior cosplay of Pete Hegseth (who should never have been allowed near the grown-up’s table, let alone the Defense Department) will undoubtedly have multiple horrific consequences. We are already seeing some of them–along with obvious evidence that the “Peace President” consulted no intelligence personnel and engaged in nothing so pedestrian as planning before authorizing an assault that will destabilize the Middle East and quite possibly the world.
Just classify it as another administration “whoops”–like the raging re-emergence of measles, and the “accidental” deaths of peaceful protestors….
But as Paul Krugman has reminded us, sometimes stupidity inadvertently teaches people a truth they’ve been trying to ignore.
It’s very obvious that Trump gave no thought at all about the huge importance of the Strait of Hormuz to America’s continued reliance on his beloved fossil fuels. And in just a couple of weeks, it has turned out that Trump’s war of choice has made a strong case for renewable energy. We are suddenly being reminded that the wind and the sun don’t require transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
As Krugman notes, the policy folks who have been beating the drums for solar and wind power generally argue for renewable energy based upon its environmental benefits, and its role in moderating the damage caused by fossil fuels that have a major role in climate change and air pollution, the latter of which imposes significant damage on human health and reduces life expectancy. Trump’s “wag the dog” war has pointed to another reason we need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels: “In a dangerous world, it’s infinitely safer to rely on the sun and the wind than to depend on fossil fuels that must be transported long distances, from nations that are untrustworthy, often exploitative and located in regions that frequently devolve into war zones.”
Ya think?
Krugman tells us that approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil supply comes through the Strait of Hormuz. It isn’t just oil, either– the Strait is a “crucial route for shipment of liquefied natural gas and fertilizer.” When, as now, that passage is effectively closed, there are no good alternatives.
It is still very early in this unwise conflict, but consumers are already seeing rising gas prices. Krugman expresses surprise that crude oil prices haven’t increased even more steeply, but he is also surprised at how quickly retail gasoline prices have surged.
It isn’t only Americans who are feeling the effects. Not that Trump gives a rats patoot about our longtime allies, but Europe is being affected as well. As Krugman notes, and environmentalists know, most of Europe is far ahead of the US in renewable energy capacity, but it remains dependent on imported gas for a significant portion of its heating and electricity generation needs. Trump’s ill-considered war is hurting their economies. Meanwhile, Krugman tells us that Asian nations, “scrambling to replace their LNG imports from the Middle East, are driving up prices worldwide.”
Now, Trump hates renewable energy, especially wind power. He has tried to destroy hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of investment in offshore wind turbines and sought to block land-based projects as well, although in some cases he has been stopped by the courts. He has also put pressure on other countries to go back to fossil fuels. On Tuesday he lashed out at the UK, calling the British “very uncooperative” and attacking them for having “windmills all over the place that are ruining the country.” But Britain would be in much worse shape right now if wind power weren’t supplying about 30 percent of its electricity.
And as Alan Beattie recently wrote in the Financial Times, U.S. stupidity has once again gifted China. “From the US you get forced into trade deals promising a future of burning fossil fuels whose price is subject to wildly destructive US adventurism. From China you get reliably cheap EVs and green tech to generate renewables.”
As Krugman concludes, Trump’s ill-conceived war against Iran ends up making a strong case for nations to seek energy independence. For many of those nations, that will means wind and solar and nuclear. The rising gas prices in the U.S. also bring that lesson home–justifying my devotion to my Prius.
Donald Trump, hero of renewable energy? Talk about unanticipated consequences…
Yet another symptom examination, Sheila, of significant merit. Once again, we try to fit the psychopath into a rational box. Nope. His brain doesn’t work like healthy brains. What seems completely illogical to rational people seems like “normal” to the psychopath.
The world now sees Trump for what he is and the MAGA morons still lap it up. Amazing. Group pathology, aka cult has nearly 1/3 of our willfully ignorant population cheering as they worship our demise at the hands of this madman. Trump the madman says he will stop the war whenever he wants. The Iranians have different ideas.
Iranians have been fighting invaders, neighbors and themselves for thousands of years. The point is that even if we stop destroying their “infrastructure”, elementary schools and yacht navy, the Iranians will continue to hate and kill Americans as often as possible. If Bibi thinks that bombing Iran will quell the existential threat he says they pose against Israel, he “ain’t seen nothin’ yet”.
Since Trump is doing his daily diligence of alienating our friends, Iran will find itself with plenty of allies to help destroy the United States. Once our economy finishes tanking, we will be very vulnerable to the economic warfare that will collapse our greedy, mindless capitalism.
Do we have an alternate solution to this self-destruction? The whole world wonders.
“…Trump gave no thought…” No other explanation is needed for today’s entire global situation; seated in the White House and/or Mar-A-Lago, depending on Trump’s comfort zone at any given time. I can’t remember who made the comment but it holds true when his lips are moving; “Trump has never had an unspoken thought.” He has never anticipated the outcome of his words or his actions and has always had a money source to pay his way out of consequences. Hence; a convicted felon and rapist sits on the throne of global power, ordering mass destruction within our borders and around the world. He has now joined the ranks of his billionaire friends who paid his way. We CAN and the probability that we WILL become targets of enemy nations rises by the hour now.
The World Trade Center was targeted TWICE and ultimately destroyed with thousands of lives, because leaders did not believe any nation would dare directly attack the mighty United States of America. We even trained the pilots who skyjacked the planes who destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon with brave American plane passengers preventing the targeted White House bein the final hit. We must rise to the levels of those brave American passengers and use our only remaining weapon which is our vote.
Our hubris has finally been our undoing as cartoon character Pogo warned us decades ago; “We have met the enemy and it is us!”
“Unanticipated Consequences”
Back in November, I told my financial guy that I was worried about Trump doing something really stupid and destabilizing the economy. He’s always told me that I don’t need to worry. Trump wants the stock market to do well.
I have always said it seemed like the main policy goal of Trump 1.0 was just to make sure the stock market did well. Wages were stagnant (remember we were talking about raising the minimum wage to $15?) but the average person wasn’t feeling the economic love, but the stock market was doing well, right up until COVID came along. The US botched its response mainly due to a move three years before when Trump dismantled the pandemic readiness group because “it’s a waste of money”.
We gotBiden and 4 years a really solid growth, but like the rest of the world we were hit with inflation and so here we are at Trump 2.0.
With Trump 2.0 we once again have the billionaire class flying high in an era of extended low taxes and lax regulation. The stock market continues to do well while most of America is only doing OK. However this time around any competency is out the window now that cabinet posts are filled with right wing media personalities. So here we are in a wag the dog moment where one hit after another on the US (and world) economy keeps coming.
In December I was able to convince my financial guy to give me some protection so for a chunk of my stock holdings, he put me into a type of insurance policy that will protect me from a big market drop. The cost of that policy is that if the market has really big gains, I will loose out on some of those, but the spectacular incompetency of Trump 2.0 seems to be killing the worlds largest economy one ego trip at a time.
I will say that with (you pick) a gulf war, tariffs, measles outbreaks, out of control ICE, it was easy to see what might happen. We have a lot of history and you just had to listen to competent people. Everything that has happened seems to be very intentional, just not the the way the idiot in the white has expected.
Yesterday when civil defense sirens went off at 10:15. For a second I thought “Oh my god, what is going on? Did the Iranians smuggle a nuclear bomb into the US?” I told Diana to turn on the TV and I did a Google search. It turns out we had a spring tornado drill scheduled for 10:15 in Indiana.
That is how far I think our position in the world has fallen.
The Intel was telling Trump and Kegsbreath not to attack Iran, and especially to assassinate the supreme clerics of the country. It would be like murdering the Pope in Italy. But what do these idiots know about anything except for cool tats and divine inspiration coming from his head? I am hearing cries from Congress Critters to oust Hegseth immediately. “He should never have been allowed to occupy that seat!”
While Sheila enjoys her Prius, the dumbass MAGAs in the 8-cylinder pickup trucks are crying at the pumps. I’m even hearing MAGA men cursing at Trump. The strongly anti-semitic Nick Fuentes is going nuts on social media. Tucker Carlson is destroying Israel and Bibi Netanyahu. Bernie Sanders has a social post that went viral about all the media companies now owned by the Ellisons, but didn’t even mention their Zionism. Canada will have access to Chinese electric and hybrid cars at prices far below the American market. Any idea what the demand will be like?
The two intel points I’ve read from independents are that the Ayatollah was warned to take shelter in bunkers because Israel was targeting him, and he and his high clerics chose martyrdom instead. I wondered how Israel could get all those leaders in one place, but now it makes sense.
Also, the dollar was already in trouble on global markets, but now Saudi Arabia is looking to sell oil outside the dollar because of the damage done by Trump. The deal was that the US would protect them, but Iran has exposed a weakness.
p.s. Who else would like to see a guided drone drop on top of Lindsey Graham’s head today?
in trucking its human needs and amazon. the rest is near dead. this has been the go too story for us. tariffs did the bang up,and made uncertainty the key role in investments. the long design and mfg of the products, supply chains went belly up. few see how multi-country supply for a single product and its need for steady supply. but as truckers know, if you cant pay that insurance,the government takes away your right to haul. the authority is the part where we have to, is whether or not we exist.and if you cant make the payments to insurance they contact DOT and inform them, and your outta buisness.then you have to respend about a grand to start it all over,if, your record is good and you dont have points in your CVSA file. now your hiring a mouthpiece for the issues. it costs us money not to work.even your truck payment can go into repo status if you default. this is what trucking is about. and why 50% of truckers fail the first year. cut throating and contracts are a gamble,one decision to pull the rug out and your done. the con jobs to get truckers into a contract for various needs, are talked up like a used car salesman. then when the enity who started the contract decides the bucks aint enough the he pulls the rug. and the trucker is left with,whatever trumps world today decides,not the trucks owner. im working with a large farm oper. and the money to hire this truck barely makes any profit. this has been this way since 1980 and deregulation,the biggest scam in trucking. im talking with the owner/family farm here. he said the FSA the farm bureau. they told him not to hold his breath on any bailout for the farmers. i figured trump/project 2025 hacks never thought about how they decimated small buisness trucking either.
wheres our bail out? oh,sorry, we voted 85% industry wide for your sorry ass admin. that shows how stupid people can be. im a progressive,and im few and far between in this field. but im also a realist and been in this game played since 1978.
that straight of hormuz is a joke. the rise in costs are greed. we dont supply much oil beyond our boaders. exports are nil. then why are we getting hit at the pumps? by design. were in a glut of oil that is used to fuel our nation. this again is the domestic billionaire shareholders game of bullshit. seems they know in midterms their ass will swing again. now its seems get all the toys ya can before trump pulls another rabbit outta his ass.
PS, theres no infrastructure bill. the highway work this year is taking a nose dive. up here in the upper plains, montana isnt even paving much. and NoDak cant even get the cuthroat road crews(CSI,StCloud) to come back over the state line.
Todd: Me! Me! Me! The man is nothing but a worm in human shape.
Trump has always, and continues to this moment, been able to avoid consequences, one way, or another…usually with his money, reportedly with his threats towards his victims. So, he’s had no opportunity to learn how the real world acts, and we will all pay the price.
Hegseth, of course, had no qualifications for his job, but that did not matter to Trump. Did he suffer some PTSD in his time as a soldier? Is that what turned him into a jackal, or am I being unfair to jackals?
“While Sheila enjoys her Prius, the dumbass MAGAs in the 8-cylinder pickup trucks are crying at the pumps.” Todd, you state this as if there are only the two options and that MAGAs are the only ones crying at the pumps. My friend who “has money” drives an expensive gas operated vehicle, I am forced to drive my Dad’s 30 year old Pontiac Sunfire and we both cry at the pumps. One major difference is; she lost her fob and had to contact the dealership who towed her vehicle to do whatever electronic function adaptions necessary to provide a new fob and towed her car back to her home…at a cost of well over $800. I paid $2.99 plus IN sales tax for a duplicate car key. “Unanticipated Consequences” of progress doesn’t always mean improvement. Not even Alan Watts’ prophetic comment in the 1960s that “Man is going to computerize himself out of existence.” could see how far this would go. Even my new toaster is computerized and does nothing but toast bread.
“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.” Oscar Wilde in the 1890s
Here’s my advice to future generations of historians: Don’t look at US publications or videography when you examine this period in history. Our friends and neighbors, even our enemies will give you a clearer picture of who we are.
If your sources are all here, you’ll read about the “left wing media” that is in reality, nearly nonexistent. Aside from Mother Jones, which is farther to the left than many publications, there are no significant regular newspapers on the left wing. Liberals go online to blogs, to podcasts, or to late night tv for sanity. Did I forget the New York Times? I did not. The Grey Lady is very much a centrist newspaper.
VOTE!
In the midst of a war of choice and its deadly consequences for too many, dump’s overnight rant (apparently he sleeps in daytime meetings to catch up on his zzzz’s) was, as always, attacking someone who has called out his Epstein association.
Deranged and illogical, filled with lies and intimidating threats, done in all caps, of course, his diatribes continue to degrade and demean the office he holds.
The fact that no one is shocked at his rants on social media tells me that his behavior as the President of the United States is now considered the norm. Remember that when he is long gone and there is someone else in that office.
Will that be what we can expect from his successor?
The consequences of his election by the willfully ignorant, the worshipful cult who believe he is the second coming and the sociopaths reaping opportunistic profits amidst the chaos, plus the indifference and self-centeredness of those who sat the elections out show what normal has become.
Whether the consequences intended or not, we all are and will suffer them.
JD,
I share your angst and horror regarding this monster in the White House, but I say again: rational people keep searching for the norm that doesn’t exist here. Forget the media. They’re just looking for the next “bleeds it ledes” headline.
There is NOTHING normal about this administration.