From Tom Nichols in the Atlantic.
This is not a preemptive war. It is a war of choice, a discretionary war. It is a war for regime change. Many of Iran’s 92 million people want the regime removed. But it is far from certain that this will be the outcome.
In July 2023, three prominent chief executives, Tim Cook of Apple, Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices, entered a secure briefing room in Silicon Valley. Cristiano Amon, the chief executive of Qualcomm, joined by video. They listened as Mr. Burns and Ms. Haines said China’s military spending could mean a move on Taiwan in 2027.
Perhaps this is the invasion the Trump administration should be focused on instead of looking for a pretext to invade Iran.
During sane times, no one would possibly believe the person residing in the White House would do something like this, but that’s not the times we’re living in. He’s nuttier than a fruitcake, so it would not surprise me in the least if this were actually him.
Paul Ford in a NY Times Op-Ed.
November was, for me and many others in tech, a great surprise. Before, A.I. coding tools were often useful, but halting and clumsy. Now, the bot can run for a full hour and make whole, designed websites and apps that may be flawed, but credible.
Gabriel Zucman, posting on Bluesky,
The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering.
And he shared this graph showing that the 19 richest Americans now account for nearly 2% of all U.S. wealth (or, you know, like, the equivalent of an entire state’s wealth).
While I agree this is an appalling concentration of wealth, I’d argue the focus on the top 0.00001% risks missing the point. We could redistribute the wealth of all those individuals and we still wouldn’t make a dent in the overall wealth disparity in this country.
The real problem is that the bottom 50% controls virtually no wealth while the top 10% controls nearly 70% of U.S. wealth. That is the concentration of wealth that needs to be addressed.
Jonathan Alter, writing in the Washington Monthly, has a timely reminder that the Trump presidency will end, if not particularly soon or without damage.
But Trump has no road back now; the country as a whole is finished with him. This period reminds me of 1943, when the Allies knew we would eventually defeat the fascists, but only after a lot more death and destruction. It took nearly three years then, too.
I found myself largely agreeing with Alter’s summary of Trump abuses that will get the most attention by future historians, though I would add a fourth. Namely, his dismantling of our public health system could easily result in far more death and misery than his other policy changes combined.
I do disagree with Alter on what he sees as the best option impeachment.
So the best option is to impeach and convict Trump between Election Day, 2028 (assuming it brings a Democratic president) and Inauguration Day, 2029, with the help of new Democratic senators elected that year and sworn in by early January, plus a few Republican senators trying to get right with their constituents and their grandchildren. The Senate should make the conviction effective at 11:59 a.m. on January 20. That way, Trump is stained by removal from office, and Vance is remembered as the one-minute president who didn’t even get the chance to be sworn in.
His suggestion is just a revenge fantasy that’ll never happen. I don’t see what purpose it would serve.