It's the stupidity, stupid

Political strategist James Carville famously coined "It's the economy, stupid" as the slogan for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. For the current administration, it seems that slogan has nutated into "It's the stupidity, stupid".

Look, I don't mean to make Trump supporters mad, or even to make them feel sad. It's just that it's not possible to assess Trump's presidency, in either term, without picking up on instances of stupid behavior and stupid decision-making. And before you protest that every president does stupid things (which is true), it's the depth of the stupidity in Trump's case that is so troubling.

The latest and most egregiously stupid act on Trump's part was his commencement of war on Iran. How do I know this? Because to this day, nearly two weeks after the ordnance started flying, the administration still hasn't settled on one solid explanation for why we attacked. If you're a Trump supporter, tally up what you've heard.

Iran was a week away from a nuclear weapon! (I thought last year's Trump-ordered missile strikes eliminated their program, per Trump's own boasting.)

Iran was planning to attack us! (Haven't gotten any proof of that, and neither have the members of Congress who've been given classified briefings by administration officials.)

The ayatollah and his regime are terrible people who massacred thousands of their own people! (True enough, but oppressive leaders who massacre lots of their own people are, lamentably, not rare. Why now, and why Iran?)

Israel forced our hand! (Really? Really? You're tellig us that Benjamin Netanyahu can play the current administration like a cheap fiddle?)

Given all the above lame (indeed, quadriplegic) excuses for sending U.S. troops into harm's way, I really shouldn't be surprised that this same president and administration were left dumbstruck that Iran responded with, among other things, a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Per an Atlantic piece by Phillips Payson O’Brien:

Astonishingly, President Trump and his aides were caught unprepared when Iran, under air assault from the United States and Israel, retaliated by targeting shipping in the Persian Gulf region and specifically through the Strait of Hormuz. Military planners have pointed out for decades that the waterway—through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes—is highly vulnerable to Iranian assault. But the Trump administration acknowledged in classified briefings, CNN reported last night, that it did not make provisions for a closure because officials assumed that such a move would hurt Iran more than the United States.

In its failure to anticipate Iran’s reaction, the administration ignored a dynamic that former Defense Secretary James Mattis, a first-term Trump appointee, was fond of pointing out: Once hostilities begin, “the enemy gets a vote.” U.S. leaders have drastically underestimated the Iranian regime’s ability to survive, adjust, and strike back. Just two weeks into a war that began at a time of the president’s choosing, the U.S. appears uncertain about what to do next.

This administration's M.O. has been on display since Day 1. It is transparently impatient with what it considers dithering, which includes the kind of careful, deliberative approach that most administrations took when contemplating big decisions and big actions, including — especially — those requiring military action.

Maybe crying, "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" is exhilarating for Hegseth, and for Trump. Maybe it's exhilarating for you. But if you're so cavalier about the lives of our soldiers, you have no goddamned business being anywhere near the chain of command.

Not planning for a totally foreseeable bad outcome is unbelievably stupid. Yet that's exactly what this unbelievably arrogant administration did, led by its unbelievably arrogant president. What's worse is that this administration will neither recognize nor feel shame for its stupidity, because the president is without empathy or humility and he will not permit his toadies/accomplices to express either of those things: he considers them weaknesses.

The depth of this administration's grotesque stupidity in attacking Iran is beyond obvious. So here's the real question: if you deny that stupidity, how long can you keep your better judgment at bay? How long can you contort yourself into a pretzel to justify what cannot be justified, to excuse what cannot be excused?