Tom Luongo on Trump's Iran Mistake

Tom Luongo: 

I can see the argument that Iran and Russia forced the US to choose between Ukraine and Israel, I can see that the US is forcing Russia to choose between Ukraine and Syria. 

Do I think trading Ukraine for Syria a good trade for Russia? Of course, in every way. Iran can defend Syria at this point; what is NATO going to do? 

When you play out the series of moves it doesn’t end well for the United States which is exactly the plan. Iran has to take the punch in the mouth, they have to sacrifice Hamas, the Palestinians. 

Even Trump is talking about going to war with Iran. The Republican caucus here in Florida is demanding DeSantis stop his presidential campaign. Why? Because Trump just came out in favor of going to war with Iran. Meaning, there’s been a deal made.  And he’ll do this. We have four years of evidence that Trump will do whatever the British want him to do even though it was the British (Steele dossier) that brought on Russia/Russia/Russia. He had four years of these neocons running operation after operation against him and then he comes out and says this, at this moment in time, when he’s got a 50-point lead and every other neocon is dropping out of the race? When everybody who is a Republican of any note wants war,  and Trump who owns the Republican base, could have shown leadership and said, ‘What happened in Israel was terrible.....” and stopped there. We don’t have to be the 800lb gorilla going all over the world beating everyone over the head. 

The Iranians invented chess and the Russians perfected it, the British invented statecraft and now we’re going to watch who perfected that. It’s really dumb, and yet it’s where we’re headed because everybody’s incentives line up for war. Today we are closer to an absolutely ugly long-form conflict than we have ever been. 

The Gospels Show that There's No Limiting Principle to Hate

In the gospels, a scourged and humiliated Jesus is presented by Pilate to the crowds. Pilate thought this would be enough for them, but there’s no limiting principle to hate. So why am I surprised to see that pictures of dead Israelis only create marches with Palestinian signs in American streets saying “finish the job”? 

Why am I surprised that at the end of Russia hoax, there were no apologies or sack cloth and ashes? Why am I surprised that after the Kavanaugh hearing and Kavanaugh being stalked by a gun with a gun, that it didn’t mortify the Democrats? Or why, after Steve Scalise was almost murdered by a Sanders support, that that wasn’t the “come to Jesus” moment? And why am I surprised that a justice system would put hundreds in prison for misdemeanor offenses would not result in the DoJ saying, “that is enough.” 

If the crowds didn’t think it was enough for Jesus to suffer a scourging that hastened his death, then they certainly won’t be moved by a Trump supporter who trespassed on Capitol grounds or a dead young Israeli woman. The gospels are ever timely. 

As John Zmirak recently wrote that our anger should be directed at spineless Republicans and not Democrats: 

"I’m not writing about this to pump up rage at Democrats. That’s like getting angry at alligators, for trying to bite off your legs. Gators gonna … gator. That party is no longer a mainstream, patriotic organization...Their party is no longer under human control, but is instead fully operated by principalities and powers, whose hunger for the blood of the unborn and the severed genitals of children will not be denied. The only response to 'political' programs that stink of brimstone is prayer and fasting. We don’t elect men to Congress and expect them to serve as exorcists."

If Lawmakers Could Have Sex with Ukraine They Would

Interesting commentary from Mark Wauck on the mysterious allure Ukraine has for a large segment of US lawmakers:

McCarthy made a variety of commitments in order to get the votes he needed to be elected Speaker. One of those commitments was that there would be no blanket Continuing Resolutions (CR)—spending bills would be voted on in separate categories. Typically a Speaker will not bring a bill up for a vote unless a majority of his party is on board with it. However, when it came time to send more money to Ukraine, McCarthy realized that he did not have a majority of Republicans on board. To get around his own party’s majority, he violated his commitment and bundled the Ukraine aid into a CR that was then passed with the help of Dems—over the heads of the majority of Republicans.

Gaetz pulled the plug on McCarthy because McCarthy had violated his pledge, but what precipitated it was the Ukraine issue. No doubt various members had various reasons for not wanting to pass the aid to Ukraine. Some, like Johnson, wanted provisions for tracing what happened to the money that was being shipped to Ukraine. That the Deep State could not tolerate. They demanded a blank check, in a manner of speaking.

Now Johnson—third in the presidential succession—will control the process. This not only complicates funding for the Neocon war on Russia, it also complicates any scheme to remove Biden before he can run again. Interesting times.

Tale of Two Views

I recently experienced an interesting convergence of readings from two very different sources: one an erudite atheistic political philosopher and the other a Pentecostal minister and Trump supporter. 

See the convergence, first from the political guru: 

Nowadays every dog in the street know that "wokeness" aka "political correct-ness" aka "progressivism" aka "social justice" is a religion. In 2008 it was an Archimedes-tier insight. That flash of genius was so bomb-intense it gave me, like, genius Tourette's, and I wanted to run naked out of the bathtub screaming Eureka.

I discovered, back in 2008, that the prewar mainline Protestant missionary-industrial complex in the process of morphing into the postwar secular aid-industrial complex. Having shown that our supposedly secular technocracy was in fact a theocracy—and not only that, a theocracy tied to what had been the most powerful English-speaking religious movement (growing out of English Calvinism) for 400 years—felt to me like a complete and sufficient disproof of the state.

After all, the fundamental principle of modern government is the separation of church and state. Nothing could be more important! And yet, simply by evolving away its belief in God— the way a cancer cell evolves away its MHC complex, which tags it for the immune system—this new religion has become basically as powerful as Islam in Iran. Certainly, if you replace all instances of "social justice" etc. with a reference to Allah, etc., you are looking at a pretty darned Muslim country.

Tracing it to the 16th century is easy. Across time, its devotees have been called Calvinists, Brownists, Independents, Dissenters, Puritans, Unitarians, and so on. It was the founding religion of Harvard. It remains the ruling religion of Harvard. Nothing ever happens, nothing ever changes.

The truth is that every stable government is a theocracy —a marriage of church and state. The problem with modern Puritanism is not that it is too integrated with the regime. It is not integrated enough. It is superior to the state; it should be subordinate.The "woke religion" holds unaccountable power over the regime-whereas it (and all other religions) should actually be subject to the secular authorities.

And then from evangelist Lance Wallnau in his book "Chaos Code", who uses the examples from the Old Testament where renewal (including the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem) only come from the combined efforts of a statesman and a religious leader. With the Temple, there would’ve been no rebuilding without both the political statesman Cyrus and Nehemiah and Ezra. 

He brings up Pope John Paul II as an example of his changing Poland when combined with the help of Lech Wałęsa. 

The Deep State's Trump-Shaped Keyhole

Things were more boring, pre-Trump, for sure. Of course that hid a cancer that had grown inside the body politic but ignorance is bliss. It was nice being naive and thinking the Republican Party was a force for good. The temptation is to think that we could’ve limped along with Hillary or a Romney for awhile, but the other side of the coin is we had a cancer that would only grow bigger if left untreated. Trump is the chemotherapy and it’s a bitch in the short-term. It could kill the patient, or it might heal it, but either way there’s no going back at this point. 

Trump has such a unique collection of skills, and is so different, that one can’t help but feel he was sent by God to this nation at just such a time.  I remember asking in 2015 how it could be that Trump and Hillary were the two best choices we had. But Trump, amazingly, was the best choice only because of his flaws. Only he could act so blasé and immune to the danger that he faced from enemies within. Only he, with his long history of having been litigated against, could think that being prosecuted by some of the highest courts in the land was only “business as usual”.  Only he, who paid to have a porn star go away, could be “un-blackmailable” by the bureaucracy. It’s like he used the greatest power arrayed against him and turned it around as a weapon on his attacker. He almost turned J6 into a positive. 

In short, Trump has a political courage born of his narcissism that was the perfectly shaped key that unlocked the secrets of the state.

Trump’s rise reminds us that God still writes with history, and through flawed vessels.

The Demise of McCarthy

So the high political drama today was Kevin McCarthy losing his speakership; subsequently they decided to simply cancel Congress all week and into next week.

I’m worried about a potential delay in Ukraine funding. I think we should lock them all in a room like a papal conclave until blue and yellow smoke appears.


The wonder of it is that Gaetz telegraphed this six ways from Sunday starting back in January when they had the huge speaker fight. And yet there wasn't a sense of urgency on McCarthy’s part. They didn’t open congress on Monday until 6:30pm and renamed a couple post offices before concluding business. Similarly they took a six week summer break even knowing this September bill was coming due. 

To what can I attribute it to? I recall Bill O’Reilly saying the “swells” like George W Bush couldn’t imagine reversals since they’ve had so few. Seems like McCarthy’s failure to take Gaetz seriously might be along those lines?  Just figuring everything will work out even though you don’t have a plan. Or you’re betting the other guy will fold, and on the merits that usually works. Congress is pretty incompatible with a man of principle. 

I tend to agree with journalist Julie Kelly: “Just my opinion, but my sense is if McCarthy had not embraced Ukraine funding all year; formed a separate J6 committee or at least a highly functioning weaponization committee; and immediately moved to impeach Garland, or Wray, none of this happens.”

It’s sort of the toothless Republican brand that McCarthy has embodied well enough. Don’t rile up the Democrats, lose gracefully, and collect your insider trading profits. 

Ultimately Gaetz has a quintessential American aura about him of being either a great hero or a great villain. He's anything but mediocre. 

Speculation on Trans

One of the great mysteries of life is how the trans cult ignited and took off.  If we trace it back to “patient zero” we would go to Bruce Jenner. Did someone get to him and pay him off or did he come up with it on his own? 

Retracing his life we see him in quite a bit of trouble just before the big announcement in April of ’15 that he was “transitioning”. 

In December of ’14 he divorced Kim Kardashian. The gravy train seemed to be slowing.  Even more impactful was the February 2015 fatal multiple-vehicle collision in Malibu. Actress Kim Howe was killed when his SUV ran into Howe's car. Accounts of the sequence of collisions have varied, as have even the number of people injured.  Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, but three civil lawsuits were filed against Jenner and later settled, with financial details not disclosed. 

So just two months after this horrific accident with the specter of a huge financial need coming, he goes on Barbara Walters.  Coincidence? I don’t doubt he already was into cross-dressing but did the deep state say to him, “we can make your financial and legal problems go away if you come out as a woman”?  It’s a stretch surely but it’s even harder to believe the trans cult happened organically.