I really doubt Trump knows his own pleasures. I'm sure he knows his desires. I think him incapable of pleasure. He is a ghost. A wraith. He is an emptiness in the form of a human. He imagines his desire is before him but what he sees has no more substance for him than a desert mirage to a perpetually thirsty man. As soon as his prize is achieved, it evaporates in his hands. He may have never actually known pleasure. He is in Hell already and he wants to take us there with him. I am not going to go.
Trump's immediate family are laughing all the way to the bank. Billions from Qatar, Emirates, etc., for whom, among others, this war is being fought (see Maddow 3/1/26 youtube).
And it's not just more than everybody else they want. They want it ALL. They see anybody else having anything as an infringement and an injustice. We should probably just eat them.
Snyder nails the contradictions but here is the framework:
This isn’t lying incompetently…it’s not needing coherent lies anymore because constitutional constraints are gone. Trump claims he already destroyed Iran’s nuclear program AND is destroying it now because nobody can enforce consistency. Courts can’t check him. Congress learns from TV. Truth doesn’t “win” when the machinery rewarding lies faces zero accountability.
The “war on truth” was won when Venezuela proved executive war-making works without consequences, Iran confirmed the pattern’s operational, and three U.S. troops died for a war launched to cover Epstein files.
Snyder’s right this makes nuclear proliferation worse, risks terrorism, weakens actual defense; but that’s not incompetence, it’s what happens when power optimizes for personal survival over national interest.
Truth needs more than friends. It needs institutions that enforce it. We’re cataloging contradictions while he bombs countries for feeling “on a roll.” That’s not truth finding friends, that’s truth documenting atrocities for history books written after collapse.
We know one thing. None of the fallen will share 47’s income bracket. We don’t yet know the names of the three soldiers we’ve lost so far but there’s a good chance their families aren’t oligarchs. In 2017, just six days into his first term, 47 authorized a raid on Yemen aimed at intelligence gathering. It resulted in the death of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, injuries to three other U.S. troops, the loss of a $75 million aircraft, and civilian casualties. 47’s response to the most recent fallen was “there will likely be more.” We have a volunteer army made up of young people paying the ultimate price. For what?
Trump thinks he is so clever. Yet he is obviously transparent. "Trump seems to think that he can say anything; but in fact he is giving his opponents ever more opportunities to build coalitions in all of the domains where he is so obviously selling everyone else out for the sake of himself."
The older I get, the more I realise just how devastating the impact of postmodernist assault on the concept of truth really is. As a great guy once said, "The truth will set you free", and the reverse is also true: lies imprison you.
"A war in the Middle East risks terrorism in the United States. But we have shut down the relevant institutions and diverted the relevant personnel to immigration enforcement."
Exactly. Trump's gutting the US security section monitoring terrorist activity is an invitation to terrorists. Trump needs a terrorist event in order to declare a security emergency and invoke martial law which will "require" Federal control of the midterm elections. That's if the elections are held at all. A Democratic Party in control of the House will impeach him. Even if not found guilty by the Senate, his power will be reduced and the whole corrupt regime may fall apart. If that were to occur there would be prosecution of many of his appointees to the administration. The Trump Regime wants no part of that and will do whatever is in its power to avoid a call to responsibility.
I fear T's invitations to the other global powers of China and Russia, more than terrorism, as those powers are intelligent, systematic and consistent in their degradations of American global influence.
EVERY act and executive order T makes degrades America.
The Manchurian candidate could not be better named. He is their pawn.
Truth, honor, integrity, kindness, courage, tenderness, and love are all in danger of being extinguished in service of his majesty’s insatiable need for personal pleasure and his ravenous craving for all encompassing power. God help us.💋🇺🇸🙏🏻
There's no evidence that Trump is a human being. He refuses to release his medical files, the first modern president to do so. In fact he shares many known characteristics of "the boys," the extraterrestrial MAGA species on Earth.
Trump is sadistic.
Trump is nocturnal and crepuscular. He likes to tweet from the bathroom at 3 am. We don't really know his everyday eating habits. We know he throws Big Macs inside his limousine and inside the White House. He feeds McDonald's food to White House guests. He doesn't do State Dinners or try to keep a top chef at the White House.
Sadly, I lack evidence that Trump specifically can see in the dark (infrared).
Sadly, I lack evidence that Trump specifically has telepathic ability.
Trump has the emotional maturity of an eight year old human male.
Trump and Melania live several states apart. It's likely she only lived with him when she wanted to reproduce. Trump may regard any female in his vicinity as there to mate.
Trump has offspring with multiple mates.
Trump is bisexual like all extraterrestrial MAGA critters. They are not lonely because males and females live apart.
Trump uses mind- and mood-adjusting substances which might help him adjust to Earth's atmospheric mix, which the extraterrestrial MAGA critters abhor. Trump is associated with Adderall. See Hegseth and Pirro using alcohol? Musk using ketamine? See the price of cocaine increase at a Republican convention? Many smoke cigarettes, smoke marijuana, or vape; ask a pot smoker to switch to THC gummies and if an extraterrestrial, they will be angry. Extraterrestrials may have inspired "I'd rather fight than switch."
A multi-time cowardly bombastic draft dodger has no business sending troops into battle…especially when he’s unable to coherently state the mission. Clearly President Epstein aka PedoFelon is desperate to divert attention from the TrumpStein Files.
Timothy, I agree…he’s set us up for a likely multi-prong terrorist attack on our shores, for which we are unprepared for thanks to his carnival of incompetent ignorant buffoons.
Might it be that this war, which does not have to do with US interests, is explained by Israel’s interests, and that US officials can’t say anything about the purpose because there’s nothing to say?
Israel really is “on a roll,” having weakened its enemies by decimating the leadership and capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, and now it’s going for the trifecta. In return for US help, Trump Tower Gaza. It’s all going great, except for Israel becoming a country that commits the atrocities it was created to prevent.
This is completely different from the Venezuela operation, which, with minimal effort and commitment, gave the USG control over Venezuela in the realms that matter to it, namely the oil sector and with it, the ability to finally topple the Cuban government.(Poor Cuba. It should have built a thousand solar farms with a miliion Chinese solar panels.)
Sure the Venezuelan oil sector is a mess, but it can be profitable as long as the government (taxpayers) make sure of it. Watch for the multi-billion $ loan guarantees. Iran’s oil sector (3rd largest reserves after Saudi and Venezuela) will also be a mess for a while but higher prices will be good for Big Oil at least in the short term.
On one level this is all a sick guy having fun dominating the world and doing whatever the f he wants. But it all makes sense once you remember that the plan is to transfer the nation’s wealth to the rich.
Thank you, Prof Snyder. I can only image how hard it is for you - who understands a world in which truth and lies are at war (Russia) so well - to write this essay. I know it was very hard for me - who grew up in a family where my father was a dictator who used gaslighting and threats of violence to control my mother, my sister, and I - to read it.
I agree with your final point … that the truth can find allies. This is what I’m working on, the the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum here in small town America (Stroud, Oklahoma). I moved here five years ago from NYC, because costs are so low that I could create this museum using my personal retirement funds. I would love to speak with you about my plans to leverage the support the Buddhist monks’ Walk For Peace got to create a new peace network here in the USA. People want peace. And we can have it if a hidden truth (how to catalyze the required cultural transformation) becomes visible to the public at large. I hope to hear from you about how to schedule a zoom talk. Until then, here’s two minutes of Buckminster Fuller from around 1980. He knew peace was possible back in the 1960s!
Urgent announcement. After successfully conducting a nuclear bomb test in its far Eastern mountains, near the Afghanistan border (confirmed by US intelligence), Iran has announced that unless there is immediate Regime Change in the United States, in accord with that nation's own Constitution, they will be vastly expanding their attacks on US bases in the Middle East. The successful downing of three US fighters in the Gulf Region was intended as a collective "warning shot."
Sorry, Robo (I am here assuming that that is your nickname). For those readers o\who might not be Robo(ts), It's a joke, or at least it's intended as a joke. But, indeed, who knows?
I really doubt Trump knows his own pleasures. I'm sure he knows his desires. I think him incapable of pleasure. He is a ghost. A wraith. He is an emptiness in the form of a human. He imagines his desire is before him but what he sees has no more substance for him than a desert mirage to a perpetually thirsty man. As soon as his prize is achieved, it evaporates in his hands. He may have never actually known pleasure. He is in Hell already and he wants to take us there with him. I am not going to go.
I’ve never seen/heard a more profound description of Trump. A wraith. A ghost. A mirage. The prize evaporating in his hands. Thank you for this.
Well said, Steve.
This is a brilliant description! Welcome to the world of malignant narcissism.
Just imagine what it must be like for his immediate family to be in the circle of hell dominated by DJT and Stephen Miller.
Trump's immediate family are laughing all the way to the bank. Billions from Qatar, Emirates, etc., for whom, among others, this war is being fought (see Maddow 3/1/26 youtube).
But when is enough enough?
Greed cannot be satisfied.
Unfortunately, they all suffer from the insidious disease of MORE!
And it's not just more than everybody else they want. They want it ALL. They see anybody else having anything as an infringement and an injustice. We should probably just eat them.
For these creatures? Never.
One shudders.
He’s reptilian and always wants more, more of whatever feeds his ego.
Snyder nails the contradictions but here is the framework:
This isn’t lying incompetently…it’s not needing coherent lies anymore because constitutional constraints are gone. Trump claims he already destroyed Iran’s nuclear program AND is destroying it now because nobody can enforce consistency. Courts can’t check him. Congress learns from TV. Truth doesn’t “win” when the machinery rewarding lies faces zero accountability.
The “war on truth” was won when Venezuela proved executive war-making works without consequences, Iran confirmed the pattern’s operational, and three U.S. troops died for a war launched to cover Epstein files.
Snyder’s right this makes nuclear proliferation worse, risks terrorism, weakens actual defense; but that’s not incompetence, it’s what happens when power optimizes for personal survival over national interest.
Truth needs more than friends. It needs institutions that enforce it. We’re cataloging contradictions while he bombs countries for feeling “on a roll.” That’s not truth finding friends, that’s truth documenting atrocities for history books written after collapse.
—Johan
We know one thing. None of the fallen will share 47’s income bracket. We don’t yet know the names of the three soldiers we’ve lost so far but there’s a good chance their families aren’t oligarchs. In 2017, just six days into his first term, 47 authorized a raid on Yemen aimed at intelligence gathering. It resulted in the death of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, injuries to three other U.S. troops, the loss of a $75 million aircraft, and civilian casualties. 47’s response to the most recent fallen was “there will likely be more.” We have a volunteer army made up of young people paying the ultimate price. For what?
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/2026-03-01/three-soldiers-killed-in-iran-attack-20916333.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/01/trump-video-us-casualties-iran-00806533?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/27/517496770/father-of-navy-seal-killed-in-yemen-raid-has-harsh-words-for-trump
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/yemen-raid-planning-obama-administration-leave-off-trump-pick#:~:text=What%20came%20to%20the%20White,should%20run%20his%20own%20process.
Trump thinks he is so clever. Yet he is obviously transparent. "Trump seems to think that he can say anything; but in fact he is giving his opponents ever more opportunities to build coalitions in all of the domains where he is so obviously selling everyone else out for the sake of himself."
Powerful post today, Mr. Snyder.
The older I get, the more I realise just how devastating the impact of postmodernist assault on the concept of truth really is. As a great guy once said, "The truth will set you free", and the reverse is also true: lies imprison you.
Liars think their lies change reality, but reality begs to differ.
Let us all build coalitions to protect our country, our vote, our democracy and our future!
Thank you Dr. Snyder for bringing logic into the picture when the world seems full of chaos.
RAZOR-SHARP observations and perceptions; I am deeply grateful.
"A war in the Middle East risks terrorism in the United States. But we have shut down the relevant institutions and diverted the relevant personnel to immigration enforcement."
Exactly. Trump's gutting the US security section monitoring terrorist activity is an invitation to terrorists. Trump needs a terrorist event in order to declare a security emergency and invoke martial law which will "require" Federal control of the midterm elections. That's if the elections are held at all. A Democratic Party in control of the House will impeach him. Even if not found guilty by the Senate, his power will be reduced and the whole corrupt regime may fall apart. If that were to occur there would be prosecution of many of his appointees to the administration. The Trump Regime wants no part of that and will do whatever is in its power to avoid a call to responsibility.
I fear T's invitations to the other global powers of China and Russia, more than terrorism, as those powers are intelligent, systematic and consistent in their degradations of American global influence.
EVERY act and executive order T makes degrades America.
The Manchurian candidate could not be better named. He is their pawn.
"The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that is also a hypocrite!"
Tennessee Williams
The fundamental math of Trump & Co. is called arithmetic:
weakness all around + Trump + Hegseth + Miller + Vance + Rubio + Vought + weakness all around = Death + Suffering
Truth, honor, integrity, kindness, courage, tenderness, and love are all in danger of being extinguished in service of his majesty’s insatiable need for personal pleasure and his ravenous craving for all encompassing power. God help us.💋🇺🇸🙏🏻
I am truly, deeply, sickened by the Human race. With all our abilities, this is the level we behave at?
What I do not understand is WHY does not anyone STOP this monster?
I hear you Kate💔🇺🇸
There's no evidence that Trump is a human being. He refuses to release his medical files, the first modern president to do so. In fact he shares many known characteristics of "the boys," the extraterrestrial MAGA species on Earth.
Trump is sadistic.
Trump is nocturnal and crepuscular. He likes to tweet from the bathroom at 3 am. We don't really know his everyday eating habits. We know he throws Big Macs inside his limousine and inside the White House. He feeds McDonald's food to White House guests. He doesn't do State Dinners or try to keep a top chef at the White House.
Sadly, I lack evidence that Trump specifically can see in the dark (infrared).
Sadly, I lack evidence that Trump specifically has telepathic ability.
Trump has the emotional maturity of an eight year old human male.
Trump and Melania live several states apart. It's likely she only lived with him when she wanted to reproduce. Trump may regard any female in his vicinity as there to mate.
Trump has offspring with multiple mates.
Trump is bisexual like all extraterrestrial MAGA critters. They are not lonely because males and females live apart.
Trump uses mind- and mood-adjusting substances which might help him adjust to Earth's atmospheric mix, which the extraterrestrial MAGA critters abhor. Trump is associated with Adderall. See Hegseth and Pirro using alcohol? Musk using ketamine? See the price of cocaine increase at a Republican convention? Many smoke cigarettes, smoke marijuana, or vape; ask a pot smoker to switch to THC gummies and if an extraterrestrial, they will be angry. Extraterrestrials may have inspired "I'd rather fight than switch."
…emotional maturity of a toddler, but missing the wacky charm.
A multi-time cowardly bombastic draft dodger has no business sending troops into battle…especially when he’s unable to coherently state the mission. Clearly President Epstein aka PedoFelon is desperate to divert attention from the TrumpStein Files.
Timothy, I agree…he’s set us up for a likely multi-prong terrorist attack on our shores, for which we are unprepared for thanks to his carnival of incompetent ignorant buffoons.
Might it be that this war, which does not have to do with US interests, is explained by Israel’s interests, and that US officials can’t say anything about the purpose because there’s nothing to say?
Israel really is “on a roll,” having weakened its enemies by decimating the leadership and capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, and now it’s going for the trifecta. In return for US help, Trump Tower Gaza. It’s all going great, except for Israel becoming a country that commits the atrocities it was created to prevent.
This is completely different from the Venezuela operation, which, with minimal effort and commitment, gave the USG control over Venezuela in the realms that matter to it, namely the oil sector and with it, the ability to finally topple the Cuban government.(Poor Cuba. It should have built a thousand solar farms with a miliion Chinese solar panels.)
Sure the Venezuelan oil sector is a mess, but it can be profitable as long as the government (taxpayers) make sure of it. Watch for the multi-billion $ loan guarantees. Iran’s oil sector (3rd largest reserves after Saudi and Venezuela) will also be a mess for a while but higher prices will be good for Big Oil at least in the short term.
On one level this is all a sick guy having fun dominating the world and doing whatever the f he wants. But it all makes sense once you remember that the plan is to transfer the nation’s wealth to the rich.
Don't forget the 747 and ask the crypto bribes, oops "investments" from the Gulf States.
Thank you, Prof Snyder. I can only image how hard it is for you - who understands a world in which truth and lies are at war (Russia) so well - to write this essay. I know it was very hard for me - who grew up in a family where my father was a dictator who used gaslighting and threats of violence to control my mother, my sister, and I - to read it.
I agree with your final point … that the truth can find allies. This is what I’m working on, the the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum here in small town America (Stroud, Oklahoma). I moved here five years ago from NYC, because costs are so low that I could create this museum using my personal retirement funds. I would love to speak with you about my plans to leverage the support the Buddhist monks’ Walk For Peace got to create a new peace network here in the USA. People want peace. And we can have it if a hidden truth (how to catalyze the required cultural transformation) becomes visible to the public at large. I hope to hear from you about how to schedule a zoom talk. Until then, here’s two minutes of Buckminster Fuller from around 1980. He knew peace was possible back in the 1960s!
https://youtu.be/LQ3DXDONKmQ?si=082iLuQt31xc9bGf
"Weeks [before] this war began. . ."
Urgent announcement. After successfully conducting a nuclear bomb test in its far Eastern mountains, near the Afghanistan border (confirmed by US intelligence), Iran has announced that unless there is immediate Regime Change in the United States, in accord with that nation's own Constitution, they will be vastly expanding their attacks on US bases in the Middle East. The successful downing of three US fighters in the Gulf Region was intended as a collective "warning shot."
Evidence?
Sorry, Robo (I am here assuming that that is your nickname). For those readers o\who might not be Robo(ts), It's a joke, or at least it's intended as a joke. But, indeed, who knows?