A Trump escalates his war on immigrants and refugees stateside, opens a new war front in the Middle East -- implausibly labeled a "defensive operation" -- and rages against European allies, my new Nation column breaks down what all of this means. www.thenation.com/article/arch...
There seems no end-game, which massively raises the risk of quagmire; and there seems no even medium-term strategy, since Trump says US might have to keep bombing for 4-5 weeks. In a region with a 5,000 year history, a month is hardly more than a blip. What happens after that?
Trump claims to be "surprised" that Iran struck back across the region. But surely any military intervention would have been gamed out in advance, and those strategy sessions surely highlighted the risk of Iran seeking to draw entire region in and hitting the energy sector as it does so.
If aim is to destabilize vile theocratic leadership of Iran, killing hundreds of civilians, including a school full of children, seems hardly the way to go about this. If the aim is to highlight just how murderous the Mullahs are, then out-killing them from the air seems rather counter-productive.
It reads much like "We shall break international law now to stop you possibly, maybe, breaking international law at some undefined point down the road." That's a recipe for endless, rolling, global mayhem and a complete breakdown of the rules-based international order.
Trump talks about "beating the crap" out of the Iranians, and a "big wave" of bombings still to come. Translation: America has the power to kill a lot of people and therefore will kill a lot of people. It's hard to see how this is a winning-hearts-and-minds strategy.
The more the Trump team tries to justify the war it has launched in the Middle East, the clearer it is that they a) have no long-term strategy and b) haven't even bothered to create the flimsiest of reasons for a war of choice. They have thrown much of the world into chaos for no legitimate reason.
There is no long-term strategy here; and since this clearly won't be an in-and-quickly-out operation, that means there is a ll the potential for a bloody quagmire.
See the Guardian's Simon Tisdall and his analysis of what this means.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/28/donald-trump-bombs-iran-war-middle-east
With no congressional input, no real effort to rationalize a massive military intervention to the US people, and with negotiations ongoing, Trump took the US into a major war overnight. This isn't a necessary or a rational war. It's a calamitous intervention designed to feed the ego of one man.
Trump's State of the Union was incredibly long and incredibly mendacious. My take on the sundowning "president's" words, in my latest Authoritarian Watch column. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
We spoke with @sashaabramsky.bsky.social about his latest book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the US Government and as well as his article at @thenation.com, “The Republican Crack-Up Has Begun.” soundcloud.com/user-8304426...
New DHS policy is to arrest and indefinitely detain refugees who have been in country more than a year and don't have green cards -- even though Trump administration is slow-walking their applications for those Green Cards. My Truthout column explores what this means. truthout.org/articles/wit...
Nothing like promoting a drunken Frat Boy to head the world's most powerful law enforcement agency. What I love about the Trump 2.0 guys is how consistently they show class and decorum and sense of the dignity of high office when they are in public settings...(Not)
www.cnn.com/2026/02/23/p...
Many thanks for this note -- and my sympathies to you for being RIF'ed. If you have stories you want to share, do send men a chat message. And please circulate this book as far and wide as possible.
% of US population lacking health coverage: roughly 9 percent. Percentage of Danes lacking health coverage: 0. Number of Americans slated to lose health care coverage in 2026 as ACA subsidies end: 4.8 million. Number of Danes slated to lose healthcare coverage: 0.
Which country needs a medical ship?
Now there's an idea... Last I looked it is one of the poorest states in the Union, with nearly 10% of population, and more than 4% of children, having no access to health insurance.
Thank you to the wonderful team at OpCit Books, in Santa Fe, NM, for hosting a discussion of my book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. It was a joy to meet you all and to see you incredible bookshop.
Or as much sense as making it all-but-impossible for refugees to get Green Cards in a timely manner and then declaring that refugees without Green Cards are now subject to arrest and indefinite detention. Stupid is as stupid does: there's an awful lot of stupid going around Trumplandia these days.
Or at least as much sense as imposing a global 15% tariff in a fit of pique against a Supreme Court (three of whose members are Trump appointees) that has ruled Trump's tariff regimen to be unconstitutional...
So, just to clarify: the president who presided over the end of ACA subsidies in the US, impacting tens of millions of people, is sending a hospital ship to Greenland to take care of all the people left without healthcare in a system with universal health care coverage... That makes sense!
Interview I did on the Richard Eeds show, in New Mexico, on my book American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government... Do come hear me present on the book at OpCit in Santa Fe this Saturday at 2pm.
santafe.com/podcast/rich...
My Jacobin Show podcast conversation on American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. It starts at 14.30 minutes in.
www.youtube.com/live/mEbRE9S...
MAGA is running into powerful headwinds. My latest Authoritarian Watch column details the pushback against Trump now showing up both at the grassroots level and, belatedly, inside the halls of power. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Jeff Bezos took it upon himself to neuter the Washington Post this past week. My Santa Fe Reporter column explores the implications of a declining independent media landscape at a time of rising authoritarian governance. sfreporter.com/columns/lett...
Interviewed by Joan Esposito on WCPT820, in Chicago. about American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. @wcpt820am.bsky.social
omny.fm/shows/joan-e...
It was a joy to be a guest on Patti Vasquez's radio show on WCPT 820 - Chicago's Progressive Talk, in Chicago. @ WCPT820 @heartlandsignal.bsky.social
omny.fm/shows/drivin...
Thanks to New Lines Magazine, and its excellent politics editor Danny Postel, and to Nighthawk bar in Chicago, for hosting me today for a discussion of American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. Another standing room only crowd; great questions; lots of enthusiasm.
Author @sashaabramsky.bsky.social joined @johnfugelsang.bsky.social to discuss his new book, “American Carnage: How Trump, Musk and DOGE Butchered the U.S. Government.”
