President Trump addressed the nation today. Thoughts?

I don’t have enough information, yet, to give a genuine response.

I know that Congress, is trying to stop Trump from starting a war.
They are removing funding for such a war, and making it clear that hitting “cultural sites,” is a war crime.
Even Miconnell, has said that impeachment is imminent…

They have the votes, to move forward…

The government is taking away Trump’s legal power, to make war. Trump back walking from his previous rants, shows that he is trying to save face…

@MrGrimm888 I agreed with most of what you said but McConnell saying that impeachment is imminent just means, I believe, that they will start the trial soon. I still think he won’t call witnesses and plans on a speedy acquittal although I hope that’s not the case.

I believe that Trump was saying in his speech that he won’t be starting a war? I don’t believe that was ever his intent.

Well. There’s a difference in trying to start a war, and understanding what causes them…

If someone gets punched in the face, they probably started a fight… Trump’s decision to assassinate the “number 2” person in a government, on their soil, was that type of move.

Iran, has already responded. As has Iraq. Iran, and Iraq, both want US forces out. The US, has said that that won’t happen. Now. It’s a waiting game. Contrary to the desires of both nations, there are thousands of more US troops, on the way. If their diplomatic means of kicking us out don’t work, we can expect further action…

@MrGrimm888 attacking our embassy is an act of war and what President Trump did was an equal response. He could have chosen to respond to the missiles but he is responding with a non-violent course of action. Doesn’t appear to be actively putting us in a war as NO ONE wants that.

Killing 8 people, was a non-violent response?

@MrGrimm888 What?

They set fire to our U.S Embassy. We reacted by sending the rocket to that airport. They reacted by sending the missiles to our bases. We are reacting by stopping trades/ things we do that benefit Iran. We aren’t reacting to what happened last night with violence. I think you misunderstood my comment. We reacted to the initial attack with violence but not last night’s retaliation.

Iran has been an ass pain for a very long time.
I remember the eighties, and at that time they were trying hard to root some very unfriendly people in the US.
This was a very popular song back then. It is still relevant.

@Patty_Melt Exactly. People act like this was all started by President Trump but this has been going on forever? Yeah American isn’t always ‘innocent’ in everything but it isn’t just an issue President Trump has faced. Many presidents have had to deal with the Middle East.

I’ve changed my mind on quite a few political ideas that I’ve had. I no longer really consider myself conservative but I don’t consider my self liberal either. I have taken a ton of political alignment quizzes and I am in the middle, but leaning right just a little bit. I don’t like to get into politics as much but I try to look at both sides as un-biased as I can (which is difficult sometimes.) I just don’t see how President Trump was 100% in the wrong over this, and I don’t see how this is an attempt to get re-elected, when I feel that if he were to start a war, it would lower his chances as most people don’t want a war.

But again, I am rather inexperienced when it comes to this stuff so what do I know?

His twitter thingie broke.

@kritiper What does that even mean?

Iran have been asking for a bloody nose since the eighties, screw em!

@SergeantQueen ”...Yeah American isn’t always ‘innocent’ in everything…”

That’s the understatement of the century. We orchestrated the overthrow of their democratically elected and loved leader to install a dictator that would protect BP’s oil profit. It was a total violation of international law. We started the fight in the first place.

Eventually we ended up supplying weapons/dual-use weapons to both Iran and Iraq during their war. We even sold Saddam Hussein some of the chemicals for making mustard gas he used. So yeah, we’re hardly fucking innocent. You’re absolutely correct about that point.

Also assassination is a violation of international law and a war crime.

We’re walking on thin ice, in the ME. We aren’t helping things, because we don’t understand the culture…
Killing a terrorist, is one thing, but assassination of another country’s generals, on their soil, with no proof of a sudden attack, is different…

They want us out, and I say, let’s go. There is no strategic advantage to what we’re doing. And our every move, just creates more reason for them to attack the US and it’s allies…
Let the surrounding countries, or Europe, deal with the problems.

We’ll still have to deal with random issues. As a result of our actions…. That sucks. But, we asked for it. The US, has made the same mistakes, throughout the region. It got the US 9/11, and a crazy deficit to China.
The results are clear. The US makes things worse in the ME, and drives our economy deeper into dept….

People are going to suffer, and die there. That’s historically true, for thousands of years. That also sucks. But, why be a part of it?...

The US trained Bin Laden, to fight the Russians. How’d that turn out?...

We need to pull all of our forces there, and if needed, put some in Europe. But. Let’s get our boys out of that BS. Peace, in the ME, is a distant dream…
They ALL hate each other. That isn’t going to stop by US intervention….

We need to let them, and regionally affected areas, sort it out. Our strategy, has clearly failed, and made things worse…

It’s time to admit our strategies failed, and get out….IMO….

From my point of view Trump is taking credit in preventing ww3 that he nearly started.

@gorillapaws Yeah, I know we did all that. It really isn’t an understatement.

@RedDeerGuy1 How so? He didn’t almost start anything? Also, it wouldn’t have been a world war? What countries would have gotten involved?

@gorillapaws I don’t believe those things happened under President Trumps administration so how would he be responsible for starting a war when they attacked our embassy and we responded? It is clear they haven’t liked us for a VERY long time, and that this conflicts is not new.

@SergeantQueen He killed Irans general. China and Russia suport Iran, and are good trading partners. What if they did that to our leaders? We would go apeshit for revenge.

This has been going on since 1979 And again, I am not claiming America is innocent either. I don’t think America likes Iran and Iran doesn’t like America. That’s obvious.

@RedDeerGuy1 I suppose. I’ve heard a lot of people say they’d stay out of it, but who knows.

@SergeantQueen ”...they attacked our embassy…”

Why do you think they did this?

Because they don’t like us? They haven’t for many years?

@SergeantQueen “Because they don’t like us?”

Why don’t they like us? Can you think of any reasons why they may not like the USA?

I was glad to hear it seems to be de-escalating. Other than that there’s not much to say.

I would really love more information, or maybe even links. I have done research, but most of this happened way before I was born and there are so many things I don’t know where to start.

Well, @gorillapaws as you said we started shit with them many many years ago. According to the article I linked about the death to America slogan it was the overthrowing of their leader and interference in their politics.

”Regarding the words ‘Death to America’, we mean American politics, not the American people””

”We do not really want death to anyone. The slogan is simply against the interference of those governments [i.e. US, and Israel]”

We have a tendency to get involved with shit we shouldn’t. And sometimes it is best to ignore other countries. But what do you think President Trump should have done regarding the Embassy? I don’t really know the answer. It sounds like the guy he assassinated was not by any means good, but yeah. It was us getting involved again and worsening things. Is it best to ignore all attacks from another country?

So yeah, America started shit with Iran way back. And it’s never ending drama between us. But I believe President Trump is trying to de-escalate that by what he said in his speech. We are going to leave them alone, stop doing what we were doing that escalates them, and make peace when they are ready to. He is getting us out of the drama that he didn’t start and leaving it up to them. That is how I interpreted his speech. I will admit that I don’t know if that is right, but I am saying it anyways because I don’t know shit and I want to know about it. I am 19 and I feel that so much of this was never taught to me and I don’t want to remain ignorant. I’m not really trying to “debate”.

My opinion is that this whole thing is a ploy by Trump to shift the news cycle away from impeachment.

@Caravanfan Everything is a ploy by someone to shift the attention to something else. People do that shit all the time but the impeachment thing was dumb anyways because they wouldn’t send the information to the Senate. Which poses the question, You want him out of office so bad, why not go the whole way and send the articles? It’s all childish on both sides.

~Maybe they are chanting “Depth to America”, and all is a big translation error?

I find it refreshing when Trump reads a prepared speech. Here there’s no blustering about attacking “cultural sites”. I think Iran fired those missiles with the intent of killing no one to placate their people’s anger but to also avoid further conflict with the U.S. I think neither the U.S. or Iran wants war, but both are prepared for it. I do fear that this de-escalation is very temporary and that hostilities between the U.S. and Iran will not end any time soon and that we may see a cycle of escalation and de-escalation continue into the near future. Maybe we will become inured to it and stop speaking of “World War III” every time there’s an escalation. But in the trough of the wave we can relax. That’s about as much as we can hope for.

@Demosthenes I agree with you. I got worried last night when I heard there were no casualties, and I know that sounds weird, but my thought process was this: “Would they try to do worse because they didn’t hurt anybody?”

Obviously I am super grateful that nothing happened, it was just a scary thought since they seemed so intent on retaliation and everybody was really freaking out about it.

I really hope this chills out now.

@Caravanfan Agreed. I also think conflict with Iran has been on the agenda for some time but was put on the back burner because the American people simply would not tolerate yet another war. Afghanistan and Iraq are not in the news everyday now and the transient memory is below a threshold that they probably think they’ll be able to get away with military action.
Soldiers are being deployed all around and the word from them through the grapevine is February 1st or earlier. I do think the leaders of Iran are f’ing A-holes and getting them under our control would be a step in the right direction. I just hope our military leaders know what they’re doing.

Also, @Caravanfan can’t you say that about anything? What is he supposed to do? Just do nothing because if he does something he’s trying to shift the attention away from impeachment? That was already getting drawn out forever and he is still president and has a job to do. Doesn’t mean he is taking away from the impeachment. Most Americans were sick of that anyways.

Triggered much?

That the hit on the base is nothing.

@Caravanfan LMAO nah. Thanks for the childish reply though, I appreciate it.

I feel like I got fucked without being kissed first

I thought he sounded like he had a cold or shortness of breath.

I had a feeling it was all planned WITH Iran. I know that probably is not the case, but it popped into my head.

I think Trump is setting things up to get re-elected. He is crazy like a fox.

@SergeantQueen You know what Twitter is? You know that Trump tweets all the time…
That thingamabob he tweets with broke. So he went on TV.

@JLeslie Did you happen to see Putin has meetings with Iran and others coming up next week? Crazy timing. Wouldnt surprise me if Trump and Putin are trying together to subdue Iran et al.

I’d like to think that Trump, really thought there was a threat…
I don’t understand why the threat, would be stopped by killing just a few people….

If it was planned, it should have went off regardless of who was in charge… I don’t understand why the entire operation, happened….

We’re screwed!!!

Look at the history. We side with Iraq, then stuff comes out that they screwed us, and we side with Iran, Iraq, Iran.
They collaborate so we will give weapons and training to one, then the other. They are playing tetherball with my government. I think leave them each to the other, because they are planning to join together against us.

@Patty_Melt “Look at the history…”

I think you need to take a closer look at the history. We were the villains. We were double-crossing both countries because we wanted to control oil and also because we were obsessed with fighting the Godless commies. Our companies were getting rich selling weapons to both sides of the war. It’s not entirely the fault of the US. It stared with European Imperialism and carving up the Middle East for the benefit of European nations with boundaries that totally ignored ethnic groups, trade routes, religious beliefs, etc.

The conflict between Sunni and Shia had been raging for centuries, not to mention other faiths in the region like Zoroastrianism, Yazidism and even Christianity. Then you have ethnic groups like the Arabs, Kurds and the Turkic people layered into that. These groups were arbitrarily thrown together in the Treaty of Versailles after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire to best suit the British and French interests.

I know it’s hard to see ourselves as the villains—especially with the way the news likes to portray us as bringing freedom to oppressed people. The reality is that this has always been about oil and having control over it. We have treated the people of the Middle East as pawns for our own benefit and acted in bad faith on countless occasions.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t truly awful people who genuinely are terrorists in the region, but it certainly can be argued that the US (and Israel) have been the biggest terrorists in the region for the past few decades. Different administrations have failed in different ways. It’s certainly not 100% Trump’s fault. This goes all the way back to Eisenhower as far as the USA’s role. That said, assassinating Iran’s beloved general was like sticking our proverbial dick in a hornet’s nest. Thank God it seems that this may not escalate further.

“I think leave them each to the other…”

I completely agree with this conclusion. We have managed to unite people that have hated each other for centuries by making them hate us more through our actions. Regime change in the Middle East is a fool’s errand. We need to stop squandering trillions of dollars, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, and thousands of US soldiers all for oil and to boost the quarterly profit of our military contractors. We are giving the people in the Middle East very legit reasons to hate Americans. You can’t somehow bring peace to the region with force.

We need to get the fuck out completely. We need to stop selling weapons to the region. We need to develop green technology at home so oil becomes irrelevant to our national interests. It’s good for the planet, it’s good for jobs, it’s good for our soldiers.

@KNOWITALL I didn’t see it. It all makes me feel how I have felt forever, powerful countries play chess with other countries, and it’s just wrong. I think @gorillapaws has a great answer.

I need to google Tulsi Gabbard. She was the most outspoken about getting out of the Middle East, I wonder what she is saying about recent events.

I’m also wondering if the company I work for has been writing any articles, I haven’t look at our stories. We have reporters in Iran if I remember correctly.

I know my experience with persons I met, and their behavior. There was no fake news involved there.

It is always painful to endure a craven shallow man confronted with a deep and complex issue. To state that Trump is out of his depth on anything beyond a burger menu would be a charitable assessment beyond anything he will ever deserve. It puzzles me that the man can muster the wherewithal to dress or feed himself. It falls on the world to adapt to the reality of a man at the helm of the greatest nation on earth who should by right be hidden away in a dungeon free of all responsibilities beyond a rattle or some other inert shiny baubles.

You take exaggeration and character bashing to super ultra new levels.

the “character” himself is an exaggeration of banal incompetence. He in fact has taken the word incompetence to “super ultra new levels”.

How so?

You REALLY don’t need me to tell you Sarge. “The thing speaks for itself.” LISTEN TO IT!

No, I want to know. Because I do not feel he is THAT incompetent.

In comparison to whom?

Sarge, the hope for this country is in the young people like yourself who are trying to figure this all out. I applaud your sincerity in the attempt, and the frank illustration on what can befall good people. Because to look at THIS one and conclude “he’s not all that bad”, demonstrates scant knowledge or understanding of what preceded him, or WORSE, what YOU are entitled to expect from YOUR commander and chief. THIS TURD supposedly works for YOU.

So I ask you, who was worse?

“He in fact has taken the word incompetence to “super ultra new levels”. How has he done this. ”In comparison to whom?” who were you comparing him to? I asked that based off your response

@SergeantQueen Prepare yourself, you’re about to get ‘woke’ by STan. haha!

I don’t care to get ‘woke’ I want to know why @stanleybmanly thinks what he does.

why rotate the turrets, then level all guns at the turd? Or how is it that the turd is to be recognized as dangerous and worthy of being blown out of the water?

childish

I thought I was asking a legit question, I have NO idea what the response means. But whatever.

of course your question is legit. But when you ask for comparisons, remember that the fool is our 45th. Pick ANY one of the 44, and try to defend the stipulation “worse than Trump”.

It’s laughable people find logical justification for trump’s idiotic action.

As if trump isn’t a pretentious douchebag who would KILL anybody just so he can take credit, say fuck you to Congress and everyone else who HATE him and then hide behind the so called cause of protecting the American people.

If you really believe that then you are shallow and needs to grow more brain cells.

He killed that General because he CAN. He knows he has enough justification for his gullible defenders to swallow like poison that they are willing to drink and then shout out about it in defense of him. He did “shoot and did kill someone” and got away with it. But not on 5th Avenue.

What the hell? How are you not understanding my comments? I’ll explain it I guess….

You: the “character” himself is an exaggeration of banal incompetence. He in fact has taken the word incompetence to “super ultra new levels”.

Me: How so? (I asked this because I want to know how he has “in fact taken the word incompetence to “Super ultra new levels”)

You: You REALLY don’t need me to tell you Sarge. “The thing speaks for itself.” LISTEN TO IT!

My question to you is: How the fuck is Trump incompetent? Stop putting it on me because you are making 0 sense. I’ve asked you 3 times to explain. I’m waiting….

@mazingerz88
_ He killed that General because he CAN. He knows he has enough justification for his gullible defenders to swallo and shout about in defense of him._

He killed a terrorist. LOL imagine being one of the people that would be against that. Couldn’t be me!

When you’re 30 or better yet 40. You probably would be able to figure out things correctly by yourself.

Okay. Yep. When people in Iran are happy over his death yet you still find a reason to be upset by it. You make no sense.

Did you all see the war resolution passed, 8 Dems defected and 2 Reps flipped, i believe. Its not legally binding, like Kosovo etc, but a rebuke of sorts.

I’m not too familiar with the conflict between both countries. But from what I understand it was the CI@ that intervened all those decades ago in the first place? Not all American presidents have had favourable opinions of it. Some even wanted to destroy it.

[Mod Says] This question was answered by a troll impersonating @eIbanditoroso. If you check the username very carefully, you will see that they have replaced the what should be a lowercase “L” with a capital “I.” We have removed all of the imposter’s answers, as well as the responses to them. Please don’t hold anything the imposter wrote against the actual @eIbanditoroso.

Good catch.
It made me cry.

Yeah, it was a pretty convincing fake. Unfortunately, I think we’ll need to be on the lookout for more of them.

Thanks. Did he see that mess?

I don’t think so. Looks like you were the next target, but we caught it before the fake you could post anything.

I’m so glad you nipped it in the bud. I felt betrayed, to see a fluther friend behave so. I’m grateful to know it was a dupe.