And while we are attacking Yemen, T**** is pulling billions in funding for public health departments. Directly affecting places like Lubbock, Texas, where a measles outbreak has worried parents overdosing their children on Vitamin A based on advice given by that miserable lying RFK, Jr. And the result of this funding cut will be that the outbreak spreads, causing more illness and death.
This government has turned from a government of the people to a government against the people. We have cause now to revolt and remove the head of this kakistocracy. Before more of us are snatched off the street for no reason.
I will not allow my grandchildren to grow up under a fascist regime. I consider T**** to be, henceforth, my sworn enemy. Let the battle be joined.
Eloquent; thank you. My feelings exactly. I fight every day and go to every event, for my grandchildren. I usually remind my children of the location of my will, before I head out. Grandparents are the logical resistance; we have the least to lose, in terms of dire consequences.
And have you heard that many children and adults are suffering from liver damage due to the large volume of Vitamin A they are consuming at the idiotic non medically advised direction of heroin addict RFK, Jr.?
Vitamin A is FAT SOLUBLE. That means it STAYS in your body, unlike water soluble vitamins like Vitamins B, C. Any DOCTOR or even educated person KNOWS this.
RFK should be fired. He is doing harm. The medical creed:
“First Do No Harm.” But then again RFK ISN’T a doctor…
An MD should replace RFK. RFK won’t even ACKNOWLEDGE the rapidly spreading devastation measles is causing for the unvaccinated (particularly in Texas). As of today, 3/29/25 there are over 500 cases, 97% are due to unvaccination. The red stares will be hardest hit.
TB is coming back too.
It seems Trump has so much hate he wants to destroy our country.
And a General absolutely should be in charge of the DOD!!!
The orange sadist is diagnosed as a Malignant Narcissist: a person so self-centered that they don't care if their actions kill other people. No "seem" about it.
“RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist
Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”. “
The shock of the security violations caused the implications of defying the Federal Records Act to take a back seat, attention-wise. But I was thinking almost right away, ‘How long have they been communicating this way about lots of critical issues?’ And we will never know. But at least their astonishing carelessness alerted us to the situation. They are not to be trusted. They will find another work around.
I want Senate Democrats to pursue every angle, including the original one: why, how and who actually invited Jeffrey Goldberg into this chat group. Was it a mistake, or did someone (inside NSC, CIA?) want details about this violation of the Espionage Act to get out, figuring Goldberg to be a longtime, trusted reporter, albeit one without a security clearance? Anything seems possible, and nothing seems too farfetched given what we know now.
The sight of Pete Kegsbreath bouncing up and down on his heels on the tarmac like a little 4-year-old, launching gratuitous insults to a reporter who clearly has more brains and integrity than he does is simply disgusting. They're all such incompetent, arrogant little fuckheads who think we're just as dumb as their followers are. They best think again.
I’m starting to wonder if Goldberg was intentionally set up, so his “consequences” could serve as a warning to journalists? But then, that risked revealing their illegal use of Signal, as occurred. But Goldberg clearly became the (planned?) scapegoat rather quickly. I thought the decision by the Atlantic to release the transcript quickly was a good show of strength. From the crash course in fascism we are all now enrolled in, resistance needs to be swift. I just gave Atlantic subscriptions to my children as a show of support to the journalism.
I posted that idea on a different Substack (Bulwark?) and it got more upvotes than anything I’ve ever written. The Atlantic has been around for 167 years. And watching Jeffrey Goldberg moderate Washington Week, it’s so obvious he is a very decent human being, so it’s a vote of support to him as well.
On today's Morning Joe program I heard about YouTube's awesome growth. They conjectured that certain programs on MSNBC may become substacks on YouTube. The ability of people on substacks to communicate with one another via remarks or "likes" is superior to anything like that on radio, television, or even newspapers.
And he did not reveal any security information. But I have my doubts that they’re smart enough to have actually done that on purpose. Waltz apparently had been leaking stuff to the Atlantic for some time. So it could’ve been a goof up on his part. There’s such a bunch of idiots I wouldn’t be surprised if none of that was planned. Because after all, was it very smart to say” I just hate rescuing those Europeans”?
"Waltz apparently had been leaking stuff to the Atlantic for some time..:"
I don't think there is evidence that goes that far. To my understanding what the Atlantic published about it, Waltz had requested a connection with JG over Signal, which JG - not knowing if that indeed was the Mike Waltz or some hoax or some informer - had accepted as standard investigative journalistic practice. But until he was added to this group chat no communication happened between them over Signal.
I got the digital edition for years (after enjoying free back issues from the library rack), but realized I wanted the paper edition; reading on a tablet is a pain. And after reading, I donate to the library. I feel good that they've had my $ support for years. Pleased that I can support Snyder (and Reich, and Krugman, and Solnit, etc., etc.) with a paid sub to their Substacks. It's the least I can do.
There must be a diagnostic, psychoanalytic term for how these fill-in-the-blank-o-paths disclose their own motives and actions by accusing others of same. Is it, at root, a lack of empathy? So that even when so violently othering, they see only themselves? Retching up their own innards? It seems so painful and futile I can almost find compassion.
Projection is what you're talking about. And once you start to look for it, you will see it over and over again. It's a really common tactic of bullies.
Thanks, you are right, projection. It took me a while to see your comment. Why are there so many bullies these days? The cruelty out there is hard to watch.
The same debased and non-evidentiary language that they popularized on Faux News. Jurassic Park is real. Reptilian predator "brains" are emerging from the Murdoch lair and are invading all aspects of our government.
I did notice that afterward, thanks. On Faux News, Waltz did his Sergeant Schulz "I know 'nussing'" rendition, although the Daily Beast published a photo of the two of them standing next to each other, showing that Waltz was a liar. Apparently Elon and his team of young Muskholes are now working around the clock to uncover how this happened.
Goldberg is a national security expert and writes about it so it seems perfectly appropriate that he's in Waltz's phone contacts list - why is this odd?
As for "astonishing carelessness"...In Trump's first administration, he shared with the Russian Foreign Minister and a diplomat a classified/top secret image of a Iranian site. By sharing this image, Trump identified which intelligence ally provided it and consequently, assets in the field were killed. Bottom line is that Trump is an ignorant man who puts the U.S. and the world at risk with his dreams of being an authoritarian, just like his buddy Putin.
And what about the huge stash of the stolen documents at Mar a Lago in non-secure places ? that apparently were recently returned to him - some were top secret. We have no way of knowing who saw them.
If the United States paid the El Salvador government $6 Million i) to take these deportees and imprison them, and ii) some deportees had no criminal record/detainer or any criminal adjudication at all, in the United States, and, iii) as the President of that country promised, they would be imprisoned and subject to hard labor: Was this not a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment?
The Thirteenth Amendment provides:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Did the government of the United States sell these souls into slavery?
This question sincerely bothers me and I would greatly appreciate a response. I have not seen anything in the press about this issue or potential issue.
No, I think this is huge, as djt would say and not just one more thing. Can you imagine a headline the "President Trump is a slave trader," or the United States is a violator of human rights by selling a sentient human being into slavery.
I am thinking particularly of the man who has been described as gay, a barber, a make-up artist and is represented by an immigration firm in Los Angeles. He was mentioned very painfully in an Erin Burnett interview with a photographer that was there while the man was whimpering.
Yes, he had no due process to prove that i) he was no a gang member; ii) was an asylum seeker; and iii) was not convicted of any crime. I wish someone would hear me. Trump sold those, that meet the above criteria, into slavery and of course, without due process. There was no due process in the original sin of this country- slavery.
I agree with you, but aren’t we in a bad place where we are reduced to trying to figure out how horrendous each one of these actions might be compared to the other?
We are in a horrible place. Professor Snyder called it when he wrote Decapitation Strike last November. When I read that, I agreed, but I never dreamed that it would happen in 60 days.
Even the Project 2025 folk knew timed deletion apps were dangerous for officials to use and included a warning in one of their training videos to that effect. Pro Publica reported this some months ago and the Pentagon has issued similar warnings specific to Signal. They knew. They knew.
Read your comment and used ChatGPT to find references to "timed-deletion" apps in Project 2025, our new Bible. Here's what I got back, recognizing not all information may be correct.
"Project 2025, associated with the Heritage Foundation, has been reported to recommend the use of private messaging applications, such as Signal, for conducting official business to potentially evade records-keeping laws. [The Guardian] Signal is known for its privacy features, including end-to-end encryption and message-disappearing functions. However, the use of such applications for official communications has raised concerns regarding transparency and adherence to records retention obligations. For instance, the Trump administration’s use of Signal for sharing sensitive information has been scrutinized for potentially violating legal requirements related to record preservation. [Fortune] Additionally, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has recommended encryption for sensitive information but does not condone using it to evade public records. [AP News]"
When I first heard about the P2025 connection, it was that it was recommended. In amazement I looked it up myself and found a clip from a P2025 training vid, attributed to Pro Publica, that showed a guy saying use of such apps should be done with care as there would be potential for violating the records retention requirement. The clip was not the entire vid. So, getting your heads up, I found the original training video. It's titled Oversight and Investigations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxe55mU4DA8&ab_channel=ProPublica). The pertinent portion begins at about 17:30. It does, indeed, include discussion of Signal explicitly and the importance of FOIA (as a pitfall) and that great care must be taken in using timed-deletion apps. This caveat comes after they recommend trying not to put anything in writing. The whole video is worth watching if for no other reason than to see how the Heritage mind works. The adversarial mindset is quite blatant. Also, one of the participants even uses the mantra "waste, fraud and abuse" with the same practiced rhythm DOGE is using it now and although I'm not sure when the training vid was made, Pro Publica published it Aug. 2024. So much for the regime not following the P2025 script. Thank you for responding to my comment in the way you did, deborah hennessy. This is how we keep each other honest. I knew I should have looked up the source video and your prompting made me do so. I think ChatGPT was correct to say that it was reported that P2025 recommended Signal because The Guardian actually did report it that way. Anyway, now I want to go watch all the P2025 training vids. This one is cray. Thanks.
Wow! I suppose this explains why Trump got rid of the 18 inspector generals so quickly. I did get a chuckle out of the congressional oversight statement that if Congress doesn’t like what they see happening in a presidential administration, they can cut the budget. That must’ve been a nuance that the current administration missed since they have control of the House, the Senate, and the presidency yet they’re gutting not just a single program but dozens if not more and even closing up shop on other agencies.
You obviously watched it. Insane, isn't it. I think the regime knows they can just strangle the departments and programs and even independents but they want to show their flex. They are fascists, after all.
I have been anticipating Timothy's take on this latest outrage and, no surprise, it doesn't disappoint. It examines fresh angles about the implications of all Americans' rights, and it is yet more chilling reading. Thank you for another fine piece. I am taking the liberty of attaching a link to an important article out of London today by Stephen Rand via The Article. It builds on the history of Pax Americana. I am confident your followers will appreciate it, and encourage them to share it far and wide. Every American should read it. https://www.thearticle.com/america-the-empire-that-texted-itself-to-death
"This flurry of texts is the smoking gun of a digital nervous system in imperial collapse. It doesn’t point to external threat. It reveals something bleaker: a cadre of historically void, economically illiterate, tragically incurious individuals, accidentally seated at the helm of global power. So ignorant in their stupidity, they operate in bliss.
And it is precisely that bliss—their cheerful, unthinking ignorance—that allows them to attack their own judges, undermine their own courts, and dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Not because they are hideous, Nazi-esque authoritarians bent on crushing dissent—but because they are children in the midst of a tantrum, smashing the furniture with no concept of what it means.
I don’t think they understand what they are pulling down. Like a meathead enforcer on a sports field—not focused on victory, but determined to obliterate any trace of talent or intellect through sheer brute force, no matter the score.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
But J.D. Vance wouldn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying."
Thank you very much for this excellent article. I hope it will be widely read. Certainly Trump does not understand how this alliance as well as our foreign aid has benefited the United States more than any other nation. This lack of understanding, this ignorance of history is a profound and devastating tragedy .
America: the empire that texted itself to deathMichael Waltz, JD Vance and Pete Hegseth (Image created in Shutterstock)
The Trump administration, it seems, has discovered a novel way to declare war—by texting its plans to the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic. Of all the inboxes in all the world, it had to be Jeffrey Goldberg’s. That one of the administration’s most vocal media critics ended up with what appears to be a strategic playbook is almost too surreal to parody. It’s not just a security breach. It’s farce.
Texting war plans to a journalist sets a new bar in political stupidity. And that stupidity offers an insight into the very essence of the Trump administration. Because the content of those texts is more alarming than the leak itself. Beneath the chaos lies something darker: an administration that no longer understands—and therefore cannot uphold—the post-war order that has underpinned global peace, trade, and prosperity for nearly a century.
Take J.D. Vance’s glib complaint that the strike against the Houthi rebels was about “bailing out the Europeans”. It betrays a staggering ignorance of the system America built, and from which it has benefited more than any other nation on Earth. The strike was intended to protect the trade route from the Strait of Hormuz, through the Suez canal and into the Mediterranean. This isn’t merely a European lifeline—it’s one of the main arteries of the global economy along with shipping lanes such as the Malacca Strait and the Panama Canal. Block any of them, and the consequences will ripple from the price of petrol in Nebraska to the cost of cornflakes in Newark. This isn’t about subsidising the EU. It’s about keeping the global market flowing.
This is where history matters. The modern American order—often referred to as Pax Americana—was born not merely from idealism, but from the cold clarity of power, oil, and trade. In February 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, anchored in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. It was there that the “Deal of Bitter Lake” was struck: the United States would guarantee Saudi security in exchange for stable access to oil. Part of that stability in oil supply would be the protection of trade routes – in this context the trade artery in question was the one running from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean through which all those barrels of Saudi oil would flow onto the global market.
And that was the Pax Americana blue print which was rehashed across the world. Oil would flow through U.S.-protected trade routes, be priced in U.S. dollars, and underpin global trade—however benevolently—by Washington.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
Today, it is precisely this vital trade artery ruining from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean that Iran — through its Houthi proxies in Yemen — seeks to disrupt. Yet what U.S. Senator J.D. Vance derides as a “European subsidy” is in fact the very lifeline of global commerce that Roosevelt championed as fundamental to American prosperity in the post-war era.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
A decade later, the logic of this global artery—protected by America to the exclusion of all others—was reaffirmed during the Suez Crisis. When Britain, France, and Israel attempted to seize control of the canal, President Eisenhower pulled the plug. He forced Prime Minister Anthony Eden—Churchill’s anointed successor—to withdraw in humiliation. Eden resigned weeks later. His French counterpart, Guy Mollet, barely survived the fallout. Eisenhower’s message was unambiguous: the American defence of global trade routes trumped old alliances, national pride, and empire. The United States would uphold the order—even if it meant flattening its own allies to do so.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
What bound it all together was a bargain: America would police the world’s sea lanes, provide a security umbrella, and—yes—reap the rewards. In return, global capitalism would flourish. And flourish it did. For seventy years, the system lifted billions out of poverty, spread democratic norms, and delivered the most sustained period of wealth creation and peace in human history.
It was not a perfect empire; far from it. From Vietnam to Iraq we can see it’s flaws. But it was an empire nonetheless—an empire built on rules, markets, U.S. dollars, and aircraft carriers. It outlasted Soviet communism and, so far, has outpaced China’s state-directed Belt and Road ambitions. The American system was not centrally planned, nor (when at its best) imposed by force. It was built on a radical simplicity: give people security and freedom, and prosperity would follow.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
But now, that empire is under threat—not from revolutionaries or rival powers, but from within.
These messages do not herald a new ideology. They do not unveil a bold doctrine or competing worldview. What they reveal is far more banal, and far more dangerous: stupidity. Not Greta Thunberg challenging carbon economies. Not Beijing building an alternative infrastructure. Just rank, performative ignorance masquerading as the art of the deal.
Figures like J.D. Vance seem entirely oblivious to the brilliance of what Roosevelt sketched aboard the Quincy, what Eisenhower enforced at Suez, what Reagan championed, and what Clinton expanded. The Pax Americana they deride is the very system that made them wealthy, powerful, and relevant.
And this is why Ukraine matters.
This whole world order—the order of freedom, commerce, trade, and capitalism—on which America has not only fattened itself but grown strong through strategic protection, is now being tested in Ukraine. It is there, in that scarred soil, that a true clash of civilisations is unfolding: between the centrally planned and the liberally enriched, between subjects and citizens. It is not merely a border war. It is the fault line where the global order is being contested, fought over, and possibly remade.
That is why the clash in the Oval Office was not simply jaw-dropping political theatre—it was historic. It will echo for decades as the moment it became clear that the Trump administration had no understanding of its role in upholding the ”Made in the USA” global order—the ecosystem of rules and security so painstakingly constructed in the post-war world.
Instead, the Trump administration treated geopolitics—America’s stewardship of Pax Americana—as if it were a playground squabble over who gets the last of the mineral rights. Sweeties, tossed around. Ukraine, reduced to a bargaining chip. A transactional world of short-term “deals” replacing long-term strategy.
For a time, I wondered if I was missing something about the Trump administration—some grand economic manoeuvre unfolding behind the scenes. Was it merely sabre-rattling with Canada to mask a deeper realignment? A hardball bid to force Europe to shoulder more of the burden for Pax Americana? A calculated push to modernise the Western alliance to confront a rising China?
But there was nothing so intricate. This flurry of texts is the smoking gun of a digital nervous system in imperial collapse. It doesn’t point to external threat. It reveals something bleaker: a cadre of historically void, economically illiterate, tragically incurious individuals, accidentally seated at the helm of global power. So ignorant in their stupidity, they operate in bliss.
And it is precisely that bliss—their cheerful, unthinking ignorance—that allows them to attack their own judges, undermine their own courts, and dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Not because they are hideous, Nazi-esque authoritarians bent on crushing dissent—but because they are children in the midst of a tantrum, smashing the furniture with no concept of what it means.
I don’t think they understand what they are pulling down. Like a meathead enforcer on a sports field—not focused on victory, but determined to obliterate any trace of talent or intellect through sheer brute force, no matter the score.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
But J.D. Vance wouldn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
America: the empire that texted itself to death Michael Waltz, JD Vance and Pete Hegseth (Image created in Shutterstock)
The Trump administration, it seems, has discovered a novel way to declare war—by texting its plans to the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic. Of all the inboxes in all the world, it had to be Jeffrey Goldberg’s. That one of the administration’s most vocal media critics ended up with what appears to be a strategic playbook is almost too surreal to parody. It’s not just a security breach. It’s farce.
Texting war plans to a journalist sets a new bar in political stupidity. And that stupidity offers an insight into the very essence of the Trump administration. Because the content of those texts is more alarming than the leak itself. Beneath the chaos lies something darker: an administration that no longer understands—and therefore cannot uphold—the post-war order that has underpinned global peace, trade, and prosperity for nearly a century.
Take J.D. Vance’s glib complaint that the strike against the Houthi rebels was about “bailing out the Europeans”. It betrays a staggering ignorance of the system America built, and from which it has benefited more than any other nation on Earth. The strike was intended to protect the trade route from the Strait of Hormuz, through the Suez canal and into the Mediterranean. This isn’t merely a European lifeline—it’s one of the main arteries of the global economy along with shipping lanes such as the Malacca Strait and the Panama Canal. Block any of them, and the consequences will ripple from the price of petrol in Nebraska to the cost of cornflakes in Newark. This isn’t about subsidising the EU. It’s about keeping the global market flowing.
This is where history matters. The modern American order—often referred to as Pax Americana—was born not merely from idealism, but from the cold clarity of power, oil, and trade. In February 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, anchored in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. It was there that the “Deal of Bitter Lake” was struck: the United States would guarantee Saudi security in exchange for stable access to oil. Part of that stability in oil supply would be the protection of trade routes – in this context the trade artery in question was the one running from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean through which all those barrels of Saudi oil would flow onto the global market.
And that was the Pax Americana blue print which was rehashed across the world. Oil would flow through U.S.-protected trade routes, be priced in U.S. dollars, and underpin global trade—however benevolently—by Washington.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
Today, it is precisely this vital trade artery ruining from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean that Iran — through its Houthi proxies in Yemen — seeks to disrupt. Yet what U.S. Senator J.D. Vance derides as a “European subsidy” is in fact the very lifeline of global commerce that Roosevelt championed as fundamental to American prosperity in the post-war era.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
A decade later, the logic of this global artery—protected by America to the exclusion of all others—was reaffirmed during the Suez Crisis. When Britain, France, and Israel attempted to seize control of the canal, President Eisenhower pulled the plug. He forced Prime Minister Anthony Eden—Churchill’s anointed successor—to withdraw in humiliation. Eden resigned weeks later. His French counterpart, Guy Mollet, barely survived the fallout. Eisenhower’s message was unambiguous: the American defence of global trade routes trumped old alliances, national pride, and empire. The United States would uphold the order—even if it meant flattening its own allies to do so.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
What bound it all together was a bargain: America would police the world’s sea lanes, provide a security umbrella, and—yes—reap the rewards. In return, global capitalism would flourish. And flourish it did. For seventy years, the system lifted billions out of poverty, spread democratic norms, and delivered the most sustained period of wealth creation and peace in human history.
It was not a perfect empire; far from it. From Vietnam to Iraq we can see it’s flaws. But it was an empire nonetheless—an empire built on rules, markets, U.S. dollars, and aircraft carriers. It outlasted Soviet communism and, so far, has outpaced China’s state-directed Belt and Road ambitions. The American system was not centrally planned, nor (when at its best) imposed by force. It was built on a radical simplicity: give people security and freedom, and prosperity would follow.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
But now, that empire is under threat—not from revolutionaries or rival powers, but from within.
These messages do not herald a new ideology. They do not unveil a bold doctrine or competing worldview. What they reveal is far more banal, and far more dangerous: stupidity. Not Greta Thunberg challenging carbon economies. Not Beijing building an alternative infrastructure. Just rank, performative ignorance masquerading as the art of the deal.
Figures like J.D. Vance seem entirely oblivious to the brilliance of what Roosevelt sketched aboard the Quincy, what Eisenhower enforced at Suez, what Reagan championed, and what Clinton expanded. The Pax Americana they deride is the very system that made them wealthy, powerful, and relevant.
And this is why Ukraine matters.
This whole world order—the order of freedom, commerce, trade, and capitalism—on which America has not only fattened itself but grown strong through strategic protection, is now being tested in Ukraine. It is there, in that scarred soil, that a true clash of civilisations is unfolding: between the centrally planned and the liberally enriched, between subjects and citizens. It is not merely a border war. It is the fault line where the global order is being contested, fought over, and possibly remade.
That is why the clash in the Oval Office was not simply jaw-dropping political theatre—it was historic. It will echo for decades as the moment it became clear that the Trump administration had no understanding of its role in upholding the ”Made in the USA” global order—the ecosystem of rules and security so painstakingly constructed in the post-war world.
Instead, the Trump administration treated geopolitics—America’s stewardship of Pax Americana—as if it were a playground squabble over who gets the last of the mineral rights. Sweeties, tossed around. Ukraine, reduced to a bargaining chip. A transactional world of short-term “deals” replacing long-term strategy.
For a time, I wondered if I was missing something about the Trump administration—some grand economic manoeuvre unfolding behind the scenes. Was it merely sabre-rattling with Canada to mask a deeper realignment? A hardball bid to force Europe to shoulder more of the burden for Pax Americana? A calculated push to modernise the Western alliance to confront a rising China?
But there was nothing so intricate. This flurry of texts is the smoking gun of a digital nervous system in imperial collapse. It doesn’t point to external threat. It reveals something bleaker: a cadre of historically void, economically illiterate, tragically incurious individuals, accidentally seated at the helm of global power. So ignorant in their stupidity, they operate in bliss.
And it is precisely that bliss—their cheerful, unthinking ignorance—that allows them to attack their own judges, undermine their own courts, and dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Not because they are hideous, Nazi-esque authoritarians bent on crushing dissent—but because they are children in the midst of a tantrum, smashing the furniture with no concept of what it means.
I don’t think they understand what they are pulling down. Like a meathead enforcer on a sports field—not focused on victory, but determined to obliterate any trace of talent or intellect through sheer brute force, no matter the score.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
But J.D. Vance wouldn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
They clearly have no respect or gratitude for those who served (vets) or are currently serving. We must protect them all from this heinously self-serving administration.
Of all the groups who got conned by Trump, the military and vets had me most in turmoil over their support for such an obvious demagogue. I can’t decide if I’m sorry for them, or furious at them. How could they be so easily fooled, and at the same time apparently willing to die for the country? Or worse, do they subscribe to and endorse Trump’s malevolent conduct, which was never hidden?
Why, indeed - and if they don’t have enough information now as to what’s happening, then when? BUT I think your question explains why Trump purged top brass to allow him to replace them with loyalists. The very words “purge” and “loyalist” are chilling. It’s unlikely rank and file military would rise up without leadership, is my intuition.
Sandy: "Why aren't they doing that?" Well, they see Republican politicians taking the same oath and acting as loyalists to the present administration which is doing whatever it can to destroy our institutions.
Like all the others who voted for tRump they have been betrayed bigtime. Thanks to his co-president, the Muskrat. Neither of them have anything but contempt for the military or veterans. Now they are decimating the department that supports vets with mental and physical health care.
Trump appears to be tired and sleepy and uninterested in governing. He is always seeking to get back to Florida and play at golf while leaving the leadership to Musk. Musk's goal is to destroy our institutions and privatize everything.
Trump got what he wanted... the spotlight as the "star" of an obscene version of "The Apprentice". He has no values and no ethos... it would be difficult to find a more worthless and dangerous person to occupy the White House.
As a Vietnam veteran, I continue to be sickened by the blind, servile compliance of anyone on active duty or retired that defends the words and actions of the man (I use that term loosely, as a reference to gender not character) who refers to the wounded and dead as "suckers and losers". Such people have lost the right to claim that they have "served their country".
Yeah, JF—same here. I hate to say it but I think it’s a combination of things and none of them at all positive: ignorance/gullibility, the influence (disinformation) of right wing news and social media feeds, some not insignificant amount of misogyny, sexism and racism and—perhaps most sadly—that Trump’s selfish and xenophobic world view generally resonates with many of the members of our armed forces.
Attack plans posted in a Signal chat with highest level defense, & national security officials is illegal, but hey...Discussion of specific (highly classified) operational details in a (Signal) group chat with the highest levels of the admins intelligence & defense officials & a journalist, just hours before U.S. troops attack terrorist targets, is an egregious breach of national security & violation laws to prevent such disclosure & maintain official records. NYT reports that the admin denies the obvious classified level of the details discussed, & btw Dems are not united on appropriate sanctions. MSM continues platforming of Trump admin blatant lies: "Top Officials Reject Responsibility" (& the media &/or Biden are to blame)
Dunning–Kruger effect doesn’t touch this level of bat shit crazy arrogance & incompetence.
Dunning-Kruger might explain the arrogance; but the incompetence is by design. Trump deliberately selected the worst possible choices for his cabinet, one after another. I can only surmise he is breaking the country as a favor to Putin.
A lot of people I read seem pretty sure Putin has something on Trump besides the appeal of a Trump Moscow hotel. Whatever it is, I suspect the stakes are high - as high as a fifth floor window . . .
Trump is a con being conned by Putin. Not benign. People without moral boundaries, both -- one being better trained and more experienced at this level of international dangers.
So true. That was obvious in Trump One. The tragedy is Americans who are both uninformed and who didn’t vote. There was nothing secretive about this development. (At first I mis-read ‘dictator’ as ‘doctor’, and was astonished that Trump would have wanted to become a doctor!)
wow, does gobsmacked cover the emotion? Silly me thinking all the while how stupid they are? No ! they get away with breaking our constitution by an auto delete! I have till now underestimated #47 and his team of criminals! I count on you Dr. Snyder to lend understanding to the tyranny but now I am trembling in my shoes. I believe you have stated the obvious! They do this ALL the time! What a great way to conspire! Our technology will be the death of democracy. This piece gives me no hope. We just got a window for a moment to expose the awful conspiracy unfolding everywhere all the time. It feels awful to have my eyes wide open. Thank you ;-)(
We all know that no one will resign; there will be no down side for these people who lie to committees; this story will have a shelf life of three or four days, which is three or four days more than the roundup of innocent civilians on your streets. Shame on you.
I will be surprised if this security breach has a political shelf life of 3 days. That is not because I consider it to be of little import. It is of great importance. However, the American mind has an attention span of < 3 days. Maybe 3 minutes. The MAGA faithful are proof positive that Trump is right about the Department of Education.
Our collective attention span has NOTHING to do with Department of Education. Curricula development is not their directive. Media and video as much as anything, contribute to attention span. Please don't beat up on DOE.
This is all of a piece, as the noose tightens. Today we learn DOGE will demand access to voting records (although I doubt Democratic states will comply, and will then be threatened with loss of federal funds). Just thinking about DOGE accessing my voter registration has me feeling pre-violated.
This bears the pawprints of S. Miller on it. He and similar racist isolationists prioritize such actions as arresting Venezuelans who, like several other millions of compatriots, have sought a decent life outside of their homeland and thought they could be safe in the USA. Likely, many of them could not be classified as "illegal." Maybe most. But they are dark-skinned and this is anathema to South African Musk & Trump and their ilk. The Venezuelans must be arrested, flown against the orders of a judge to a gulag prison in a foreign country and subjected to Gestapo-type treatment. Trump: "You're fired!"? Musk-Trump's justification for this: "We are at war" and a law from the deep 19th or even 18th century can be read to permit the President to have people arrested (to hell with habeas corpus) and ejected from the USA. Sadly, for the Gestapoval Orifice, Trumpists and Muskrats, when the El Salvador plot was carried out, the USA was demonstrably not at war. But now that the USA has been shot at and has bombed the Houtis in retaliation, Mr. Miller can make the case that the USA is bloody-well at war. And so what about how much danger American military people near Yemen are exposed to? What the heck: if a non-person like the Musk can fire 80,000 veterans with or even without the stroke of a pen, because he likes the idea of others suffering and adding to his fortune by wrecking their lives, well, it's worth it to him and that kid whom he carries around on his shoulders. No wonder the people of Greenland want nothing to do with Trump. Come to think of it, that includes Canada and every last Canadian who is able to think, to feel and to care about other human beings. What ever happened to the USA which we used to know way back when? Sad and disgusting.
This piece gives me hope that we will NOT fall into NAZI Germany 1933! Then there was no internet, cellphones, communications like we have today - the better to keep under wraps what Hitler & Co. did while millions were dragged into war. These clowns are too dumb to know what they DON'T know - this should be their undoing and the beginning of the end of this disastrous reign of terror in America! Thank you, Timothy Snyder for this thoughtful message.
Fabulously astute observation! Thank you for connecting the two processes so concisely, including the judicial connections. We have to stop being paralyzingly scared when we have all this evidence to give us unending perseverance of justified rage over untoward wrongs threatening us and all that we care about. Your ability to so clearly write about what you're thinking about is fuel for our fire!
And while we are attacking Yemen, T**** is pulling billions in funding for public health departments. Directly affecting places like Lubbock, Texas, where a measles outbreak has worried parents overdosing their children on Vitamin A based on advice given by that miserable lying RFK, Jr. And the result of this funding cut will be that the outbreak spreads, causing more illness and death.
This government has turned from a government of the people to a government against the people. We have cause now to revolt and remove the head of this kakistocracy. Before more of us are snatched off the street for no reason.
I will not allow my grandchildren to grow up under a fascist regime. I consider T**** to be, henceforth, my sworn enemy. Let the battle be joined.
Eloquent; thank you. My feelings exactly. I fight every day and go to every event, for my grandchildren. I usually remind my children of the location of my will, before I head out. Grandparents are the logical resistance; we have the least to lose, in terms of dire consequences.
Thank you. No doubt, we are THE generation responsible for democracy now..
Well, and we are the generation responsible for where democracy is now.
You are so right!
And have you heard that many children and adults are suffering from liver damage due to the large volume of Vitamin A they are consuming at the idiotic non medically advised direction of heroin addict RFK, Jr.?
Vitamin A is FAT SOLUBLE. That means it STAYS in your body, unlike water soluble vitamins like Vitamins B, C. Any DOCTOR or even educated person KNOWS this.
RFK should be fired. He is doing harm. The medical creed:
“First Do No Harm.” But then again RFK ISN’T a doctor…
In medical school, we were taught which vitamins had the potential for liver damage. The acronym was ADEK.
An MD should replace RFK. RFK won’t even ACKNOWLEDGE the rapidly spreading devastation measles is causing for the unvaccinated (particularly in Texas). As of today, 3/29/25 there are over 500 cases, 97% are due to unvaccination. The red stares will be hardest hit.
TB is coming back too.
It seems Trump has so much hate he wants to destroy our country.
An MD absolutely should be in charge of the HHS!
And a General absolutely should be in charge of the DOD!!!
The orange sadist is diagnosed as a Malignant Narcissist: a person so self-centered that they don't care if their actions kill other people. No "seem" about it.
First time I've read kakistocracy. Brilliant and so sadly apt.
Do you knit, Monsieur?
Everyone should join the national protest April 5th.
This is the latest:
“RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist
Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”. “
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/28/rfk-jr-fda-vaccine-scientist-peter-marks/
One way to look at this: bombs dropped on Houthis = "not classified"; migrant flights = "State Secret".
Not classified but "sensitive".
The shock of the security violations caused the implications of defying the Federal Records Act to take a back seat, attention-wise. But I was thinking almost right away, ‘How long have they been communicating this way about lots of critical issues?’ And we will never know. But at least their astonishing carelessness alerted us to the situation. They are not to be trusted. They will find another work around.
I want Senate Democrats to pursue every angle, including the original one: why, how and who actually invited Jeffrey Goldberg into this chat group. Was it a mistake, or did someone (inside NSC, CIA?) want details about this violation of the Espionage Act to get out, figuring Goldberg to be a longtime, trusted reporter, albeit one without a security clearance? Anything seems possible, and nothing seems too farfetched given what we know now.
The sight of Pete Kegsbreath bouncing up and down on his heels on the tarmac like a little 4-year-old, launching gratuitous insults to a reporter who clearly has more brains and integrity than he does is simply disgusting. They're all such incompetent, arrogant little fuckheads who think we're just as dumb as their followers are. They best think again.
I’m starting to wonder if Goldberg was intentionally set up, so his “consequences” could serve as a warning to journalists? But then, that risked revealing their illegal use of Signal, as occurred. But Goldberg clearly became the (planned?) scapegoat rather quickly. I thought the decision by the Atlantic to release the transcript quickly was a good show of strength. From the crash course in fascism we are all now enrolled in, resistance needs to be swift. I just gave Atlantic subscriptions to my children as a show of support to the journalism.
I like the subscription idea.
I posted that idea on a different Substack (Bulwark?) and it got more upvotes than anything I’ve ever written. The Atlantic has been around for 167 years. And watching Jeffrey Goldberg moderate Washington Week, it’s so obvious he is a very decent human being, so it’s a vote of support to him as well.
On today's Morning Joe program I heard about YouTube's awesome growth. They conjectured that certain programs on MSNBC may become substacks on YouTube. The ability of people on substacks to communicate with one another via remarks or "likes" is superior to anything like that on radio, television, or even newspapers.
And he did not reveal any security information. But I have my doubts that they’re smart enough to have actually done that on purpose. Waltz apparently had been leaking stuff to the Atlantic for some time. So it could’ve been a goof up on his part. There’s such a bunch of idiots I wouldn’t be surprised if none of that was planned. Because after all, was it very smart to say” I just hate rescuing those Europeans”?
"Waltz apparently had been leaking stuff to the Atlantic for some time..:"
I don't think there is evidence that goes that far. To my understanding what the Atlantic published about it, Waltz had requested a connection with JG over Signal, which JG - not knowing if that indeed was the Mike Waltz or some hoax or some informer - had accepted as standard investigative journalistic practice. But until he was added to this group chat no communication happened between them over Signal.
Thanks for the suggestion . I love the Atlantic — and am going to subscribe
I got the digital edition for years (after enjoying free back issues from the library rack), but realized I wanted the paper edition; reading on a tablet is a pain. And after reading, I donate to the library. I feel good that they've had my $ support for years. Pleased that I can support Snyder (and Reich, and Krugman, and Solnit, etc., etc.) with a paid sub to their Substacks. It's the least I can do.
I immediately subscribed
Good idea— I am going to gift Atlantic subscriptions, too. Thanks for the inspiration.
"... a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.”
Hegseth describing Hegseth.
Ha! Out of the mouths of knaves.
There must be a diagnostic, psychoanalytic term for how these fill-in-the-blank-o-paths disclose their own motives and actions by accusing others of same. Is it, at root, a lack of empathy? So that even when so violently othering, they see only themselves? Retching up their own innards? It seems so painful and futile I can almost find compassion.
Projection is what you're talking about. And once you start to look for it, you will see it over and over again. It's a really common tactic of bullies.
Thanks, you are right, projection. It took me a while to see your comment. Why are there so many bullies these days? The cruelty out there is hard to watch.
The same debased and non-evidentiary language that they popularized on Faux News. Jurassic Park is real. Reptilian predator "brains" are emerging from the Murdoch lair and are invading all aspects of our government.
Goldberg says that Mike Waltz invited him to join the chat.
The chat clearly states that Waltz added him.
I did notice that afterward, thanks. On Faux News, Waltz did his Sergeant Schulz "I know 'nussing'" rendition, although the Daily Beast published a photo of the two of them standing next to each other, showing that Waltz was a liar. Apparently Elon and his team of young Muskholes are now working around the clock to uncover how this happened.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-waltz-says-hes-never-met-jeffrey-goldberg-heres-a-photo-of-them-together/
I wondered about that too.
Goldberg is a national security expert and writes about it so it seems perfectly appropriate that he's in Waltz's phone contacts list - why is this odd?
As for "astonishing carelessness"...In Trump's first administration, he shared with the Russian Foreign Minister and a diplomat a classified/top secret image of a Iranian site. By sharing this image, Trump identified which intelligence ally provided it and consequently, assets in the field were killed. Bottom line is that Trump is an ignorant man who puts the U.S. and the world at risk with his dreams of being an authoritarian, just like his buddy Putin.
And what about the huge stash of the stolen documents at Mar a Lago in non-secure places ? that apparently were recently returned to him - some were top secret. We have no way of knowing who saw them.
Bingo!!!
If the United States paid the El Salvador government $6 Million i) to take these deportees and imprison them, and ii) some deportees had no criminal record/detainer or any criminal adjudication at all, in the United States, and, iii) as the President of that country promised, they would be imprisoned and subject to hard labor: Was this not a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment?
The Thirteenth Amendment provides:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Did the government of the United States sell these souls into slavery?
This question sincerely bothers me and I would greatly appreciate a response. I have not seen anything in the press about this issue or potential issue.
There is so much wrong with what they did, just add that to the list.
No, I think this is huge, as djt would say and not just one more thing. Can you imagine a headline the "President Trump is a slave trader," or the United States is a violator of human rights by selling a sentient human being into slavery.
I am thinking particularly of the man who has been described as gay, a barber, a make-up artist and is represented by an immigration firm in Los Angeles. He was mentioned very painfully in an Erin Burnett interview with a photographer that was there while the man was whimpering.
Yes, he had no due process to prove that i) he was no a gang member; ii) was an asylum seeker; and iii) was not convicted of any crime. I wish someone would hear me. Trump sold those, that meet the above criteria, into slavery and of course, without due process. There was no due process in the original sin of this country- slavery.
I agree with you, but aren’t we in a bad place where we are reduced to trying to figure out how horrendous each one of these actions might be compared to the other?
We are in a horrible place. Professor Snyder called it when he wrote Decapitation Strike last November. When I read that, I agreed, but I never dreamed that it would happen in 60 days.
Thank you, Dr. Snyder. Stay safe.
Even the Project 2025 folk knew timed deletion apps were dangerous for officials to use and included a warning in one of their training videos to that effect. Pro Publica reported this some months ago and the Pentagon has issued similar warnings specific to Signal. They knew. They knew.
Read your comment and used ChatGPT to find references to "timed-deletion" apps in Project 2025, our new Bible. Here's what I got back, recognizing not all information may be correct.
"Project 2025, associated with the Heritage Foundation, has been reported to recommend the use of private messaging applications, such as Signal, for conducting official business to potentially evade records-keeping laws. [The Guardian] Signal is known for its privacy features, including end-to-end encryption and message-disappearing functions. However, the use of such applications for official communications has raised concerns regarding transparency and adherence to records retention obligations. For instance, the Trump administration’s use of Signal for sharing sensitive information has been scrutinized for potentially violating legal requirements related to record preservation. [Fortune] Additionally, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has recommended encryption for sensitive information but does not condone using it to evade public records. [AP News]"
When I first heard about the P2025 connection, it was that it was recommended. In amazement I looked it up myself and found a clip from a P2025 training vid, attributed to Pro Publica, that showed a guy saying use of such apps should be done with care as there would be potential for violating the records retention requirement. The clip was not the entire vid. So, getting your heads up, I found the original training video. It's titled Oversight and Investigations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxe55mU4DA8&ab_channel=ProPublica). The pertinent portion begins at about 17:30. It does, indeed, include discussion of Signal explicitly and the importance of FOIA (as a pitfall) and that great care must be taken in using timed-deletion apps. This caveat comes after they recommend trying not to put anything in writing. The whole video is worth watching if for no other reason than to see how the Heritage mind works. The adversarial mindset is quite blatant. Also, one of the participants even uses the mantra "waste, fraud and abuse" with the same practiced rhythm DOGE is using it now and although I'm not sure when the training vid was made, Pro Publica published it Aug. 2024. So much for the regime not following the P2025 script. Thank you for responding to my comment in the way you did, deborah hennessy. This is how we keep each other honest. I knew I should have looked up the source video and your prompting made me do so. I think ChatGPT was correct to say that it was reported that P2025 recommended Signal because The Guardian actually did report it that way. Anyway, now I want to go watch all the P2025 training vids. This one is cray. Thanks.
Wow! I suppose this explains why Trump got rid of the 18 inspector generals so quickly. I did get a chuckle out of the congressional oversight statement that if Congress doesn’t like what they see happening in a presidential administration, they can cut the budget. That must’ve been a nuance that the current administration missed since they have control of the House, the Senate, and the presidency yet they’re gutting not just a single program but dozens if not more and even closing up shop on other agencies.
You obviously watched it. Insane, isn't it. I think the regime knows they can just strangle the departments and programs and even independents but they want to show their flex. They are fascists, after all.
Boy, are those dudes paranoid. You would think Roy Cohn had videos too!
Hmmmm.
I have been anticipating Timothy's take on this latest outrage and, no surprise, it doesn't disappoint. It examines fresh angles about the implications of all Americans' rights, and it is yet more chilling reading. Thank you for another fine piece. I am taking the liberty of attaching a link to an important article out of London today by Stephen Rand via The Article. It builds on the history of Pax Americana. I am confident your followers will appreciate it, and encourage them to share it far and wide. Every American should read it. https://www.thearticle.com/america-the-empire-that-texted-itself-to-death
Great article.
The best part IMHO is towards the end:
"This flurry of texts is the smoking gun of a digital nervous system in imperial collapse. It doesn’t point to external threat. It reveals something bleaker: a cadre of historically void, economically illiterate, tragically incurious individuals, accidentally seated at the helm of global power. So ignorant in their stupidity, they operate in bliss.
And it is precisely that bliss—their cheerful, unthinking ignorance—that allows them to attack their own judges, undermine their own courts, and dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Not because they are hideous, Nazi-esque authoritarians bent on crushing dissent—but because they are children in the midst of a tantrum, smashing the furniture with no concept of what it means.
I don’t think they understand what they are pulling down. Like a meathead enforcer on a sports field—not focused on victory, but determined to obliterate any trace of talent or intellect through sheer brute force, no matter the score.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
But J.D. Vance wouldn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying."
Thank you very much for this excellent article. I hope it will be widely read. Certainly Trump does not understand how this alliance as well as our foreign aid has benefited the United States more than any other nation. This lack of understanding, this ignorance of history is a profound and devastating tragedy .
Please share it far and wide
Can you check that link? Doesn't seem to be able to reply. Thanks.
America: the empire that texted itself to death
Stephen Rand
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STEPHEN RAND
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America: the empire that texted itself to deathMichael Waltz, JD Vance and Pete Hegseth (Image created in Shutterstock)
The Trump administration, it seems, has discovered a novel way to declare war—by texting its plans to the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic. Of all the inboxes in all the world, it had to be Jeffrey Goldberg’s. That one of the administration’s most vocal media critics ended up with what appears to be a strategic playbook is almost too surreal to parody. It’s not just a security breach. It’s farce.
Texting war plans to a journalist sets a new bar in political stupidity. And that stupidity offers an insight into the very essence of the Trump administration. Because the content of those texts is more alarming than the leak itself. Beneath the chaos lies something darker: an administration that no longer understands—and therefore cannot uphold—the post-war order that has underpinned global peace, trade, and prosperity for nearly a century.
Take J.D. Vance’s glib complaint that the strike against the Houthi rebels was about “bailing out the Europeans”. It betrays a staggering ignorance of the system America built, and from which it has benefited more than any other nation on Earth. The strike was intended to protect the trade route from the Strait of Hormuz, through the Suez canal and into the Mediterranean. This isn’t merely a European lifeline—it’s one of the main arteries of the global economy along with shipping lanes such as the Malacca Strait and the Panama Canal. Block any of them, and the consequences will ripple from the price of petrol in Nebraska to the cost of cornflakes in Newark. This isn’t about subsidising the EU. It’s about keeping the global market flowing.
This is where history matters. The modern American order—often referred to as Pax Americana—was born not merely from idealism, but from the cold clarity of power, oil, and trade. In February 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, anchored in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. It was there that the “Deal of Bitter Lake” was struck: the United States would guarantee Saudi security in exchange for stable access to oil. Part of that stability in oil supply would be the protection of trade routes – in this context the trade artery in question was the one running from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean through which all those barrels of Saudi oil would flow onto the global market.
And that was the Pax Americana blue print which was rehashed across the world. Oil would flow through U.S.-protected trade routes, be priced in U.S. dollars, and underpin global trade—however benevolently—by Washington.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
Today, it is precisely this vital trade artery ruining from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean that Iran — through its Houthi proxies in Yemen — seeks to disrupt. Yet what U.S. Senator J.D. Vance derides as a “European subsidy” is in fact the very lifeline of global commerce that Roosevelt championed as fundamental to American prosperity in the post-war era.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
A decade later, the logic of this global artery—protected by America to the exclusion of all others—was reaffirmed during the Suez Crisis. When Britain, France, and Israel attempted to seize control of the canal, President Eisenhower pulled the plug. He forced Prime Minister Anthony Eden—Churchill’s anointed successor—to withdraw in humiliation. Eden resigned weeks later. His French counterpart, Guy Mollet, barely survived the fallout. Eisenhower’s message was unambiguous: the American defence of global trade routes trumped old alliances, national pride, and empire. The United States would uphold the order—even if it meant flattening its own allies to do so.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
What bound it all together was a bargain: America would police the world’s sea lanes, provide a security umbrella, and—yes—reap the rewards. In return, global capitalism would flourish. And flourish it did. For seventy years, the system lifted billions out of poverty, spread democratic norms, and delivered the most sustained period of wealth creation and peace in human history.
It was not a perfect empire; far from it. From Vietnam to Iraq we can see it’s flaws. But it was an empire nonetheless—an empire built on rules, markets, U.S. dollars, and aircraft carriers. It outlasted Soviet communism and, so far, has outpaced China’s state-directed Belt and Road ambitions. The American system was not centrally planned, nor (when at its best) imposed by force. It was built on a radical simplicity: give people security and freedom, and prosperity would follow.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
But now, that empire is under threat—not from revolutionaries or rival powers, but from within.
These messages do not herald a new ideology. They do not unveil a bold doctrine or competing worldview. What they reveal is far more banal, and far more dangerous: stupidity. Not Greta Thunberg challenging carbon economies. Not Beijing building an alternative infrastructure. Just rank, performative ignorance masquerading as the art of the deal.
Figures like J.D. Vance seem entirely oblivious to the brilliance of what Roosevelt sketched aboard the Quincy, what Eisenhower enforced at Suez, what Reagan championed, and what Clinton expanded. The Pax Americana they deride is the very system that made them wealthy, powerful, and relevant.
And this is why Ukraine matters.
This whole world order—the order of freedom, commerce, trade, and capitalism—on which America has not only fattened itself but grown strong through strategic protection, is now being tested in Ukraine. It is there, in that scarred soil, that a true clash of civilisations is unfolding: between the centrally planned and the liberally enriched, between subjects and citizens. It is not merely a border war. It is the fault line where the global order is being contested, fought over, and possibly remade.
That is why the clash in the Oval Office was not simply jaw-dropping political theatre—it was historic. It will echo for decades as the moment it became clear that the Trump administration had no understanding of its role in upholding the ”Made in the USA” global order—the ecosystem of rules and security so painstakingly constructed in the post-war world.
Instead, the Trump administration treated geopolitics—America’s stewardship of Pax Americana—as if it were a playground squabble over who gets the last of the mineral rights. Sweeties, tossed around. Ukraine, reduced to a bargaining chip. A transactional world of short-term “deals” replacing long-term strategy.
For a time, I wondered if I was missing something about the Trump administration—some grand economic manoeuvre unfolding behind the scenes. Was it merely sabre-rattling with Canada to mask a deeper realignment? A hardball bid to force Europe to shoulder more of the burden for Pax Americana? A calculated push to modernise the Western alliance to confront a rising China?
But there was nothing so intricate. This flurry of texts is the smoking gun of a digital nervous system in imperial collapse. It doesn’t point to external threat. It reveals something bleaker: a cadre of historically void, economically illiterate, tragically incurious individuals, accidentally seated at the helm of global power. So ignorant in their stupidity, they operate in bliss.
And it is precisely that bliss—their cheerful, unthinking ignorance—that allows them to attack their own judges, undermine their own courts, and dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Not because they are hideous, Nazi-esque authoritarians bent on crushing dissent—but because they are children in the midst of a tantrum, smashing the furniture with no concept of what it means.
I don’t think they understand what they are pulling down. Like a meathead enforcer on a sports field—not focused on victory, but determined to obliterate any trace of talent or intellect through sheer brute force, no matter the score.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
But J.D. Vance wouldn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
Identify yourself. Who is wunsix? This is one of the most articulate assessments of our current political situation I have seen. I'm impressed.
well, maybe you shouldn't. It could be dangerous. In these times. But I'm still impressed. I like your composition.
I agree. Have shared it around.
Glad you liked it. I did not write it--just forwarded it
STEPHEN RAND
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The Article @STEPHENRAND
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@STEPHENRAND
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Well argued: 83%
Interesting points: 86%
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America: the empire that texted itself to death Michael Waltz, JD Vance and Pete Hegseth (Image created in Shutterstock)
The Trump administration, it seems, has discovered a novel way to declare war—by texting its plans to the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic. Of all the inboxes in all the world, it had to be Jeffrey Goldberg’s. That one of the administration’s most vocal media critics ended up with what appears to be a strategic playbook is almost too surreal to parody. It’s not just a security breach. It’s farce.
Texting war plans to a journalist sets a new bar in political stupidity. And that stupidity offers an insight into the very essence of the Trump administration. Because the content of those texts is more alarming than the leak itself. Beneath the chaos lies something darker: an administration that no longer understands—and therefore cannot uphold—the post-war order that has underpinned global peace, trade, and prosperity for nearly a century.
Take J.D. Vance’s glib complaint that the strike against the Houthi rebels was about “bailing out the Europeans”. It betrays a staggering ignorance of the system America built, and from which it has benefited more than any other nation on Earth. The strike was intended to protect the trade route from the Strait of Hormuz, through the Suez canal and into the Mediterranean. This isn’t merely a European lifeline—it’s one of the main arteries of the global economy along with shipping lanes such as the Malacca Strait and the Panama Canal. Block any of them, and the consequences will ripple from the price of petrol in Nebraska to the cost of cornflakes in Newark. This isn’t about subsidising the EU. It’s about keeping the global market flowing.
This is where history matters. The modern American order—often referred to as Pax Americana—was born not merely from idealism, but from the cold clarity of power, oil, and trade. In February 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, anchored in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. It was there that the “Deal of Bitter Lake” was struck: the United States would guarantee Saudi security in exchange for stable access to oil. Part of that stability in oil supply would be the protection of trade routes – in this context the trade artery in question was the one running from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean through which all those barrels of Saudi oil would flow onto the global market.
And that was the Pax Americana blue print which was rehashed across the world. Oil would flow through U.S.-protected trade routes, be priced in U.S. dollars, and underpin global trade—however benevolently—by Washington.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
Today, it is precisely this vital trade artery ruining from the Strait of Hormuz through to the Mediterranean that Iran — through its Houthi proxies in Yemen — seeks to disrupt. Yet what U.S. Senator J.D. Vance derides as a “European subsidy” is in fact the very lifeline of global commerce that Roosevelt championed as fundamental to American prosperity in the post-war era.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
A decade later, the logic of this global artery—protected by America to the exclusion of all others—was reaffirmed during the Suez Crisis. When Britain, France, and Israel attempted to seize control of the canal, President Eisenhower pulled the plug. He forced Prime Minister Anthony Eden—Churchill’s anointed successor—to withdraw in humiliation. Eden resigned weeks later. His French counterpart, Guy Mollet, barely survived the fallout. Eisenhower’s message was unambiguous: the American defence of global trade routes trumped old alliances, national pride, and empire. The United States would uphold the order—even if it meant flattening its own allies to do so.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
What bound it all together was a bargain: America would police the world’s sea lanes, provide a security umbrella, and—yes—reap the rewards. In return, global capitalism would flourish. And flourish it did. For seventy years, the system lifted billions out of poverty, spread democratic norms, and delivered the most sustained period of wealth creation and peace in human history.
It was not a perfect empire; far from it. From Vietnam to Iraq we can see it’s flaws. But it was an empire nonetheless—an empire built on rules, markets, U.S. dollars, and aircraft carriers. It outlasted Soviet communism and, so far, has outpaced China’s state-directed Belt and Road ambitions. The American system was not centrally planned, nor (when at its best) imposed by force. It was built on a radical simplicity: give people security and freedom, and prosperity would follow.
But J.D. Vance doesn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
But now, that empire is under threat—not from revolutionaries or rival powers, but from within.
These messages do not herald a new ideology. They do not unveil a bold doctrine or competing worldview. What they reveal is far more banal, and far more dangerous: stupidity. Not Greta Thunberg challenging carbon economies. Not Beijing building an alternative infrastructure. Just rank, performative ignorance masquerading as the art of the deal.
Figures like J.D. Vance seem entirely oblivious to the brilliance of what Roosevelt sketched aboard the Quincy, what Eisenhower enforced at Suez, what Reagan championed, and what Clinton expanded. The Pax Americana they deride is the very system that made them wealthy, powerful, and relevant.
And this is why Ukraine matters.
This whole world order—the order of freedom, commerce, trade, and capitalism—on which America has not only fattened itself but grown strong through strategic protection, is now being tested in Ukraine. It is there, in that scarred soil, that a true clash of civilisations is unfolding: between the centrally planned and the liberally enriched, between subjects and citizens. It is not merely a border war. It is the fault line where the global order is being contested, fought over, and possibly remade.
That is why the clash in the Oval Office was not simply jaw-dropping political theatre—it was historic. It will echo for decades as the moment it became clear that the Trump administration had no understanding of its role in upholding the ”Made in the USA” global order—the ecosystem of rules and security so painstakingly constructed in the post-war world.
Instead, the Trump administration treated geopolitics—America’s stewardship of Pax Americana—as if it were a playground squabble over who gets the last of the mineral rights. Sweeties, tossed around. Ukraine, reduced to a bargaining chip. A transactional world of short-term “deals” replacing long-term strategy.
For a time, I wondered if I was missing something about the Trump administration—some grand economic manoeuvre unfolding behind the scenes. Was it merely sabre-rattling with Canada to mask a deeper realignment? A hardball bid to force Europe to shoulder more of the burden for Pax Americana? A calculated push to modernise the Western alliance to confront a rising China?
But there was nothing so intricate. This flurry of texts is the smoking gun of a digital nervous system in imperial collapse. It doesn’t point to external threat. It reveals something bleaker: a cadre of historically void, economically illiterate, tragically incurious individuals, accidentally seated at the helm of global power. So ignorant in their stupidity, they operate in bliss.
And it is precisely that bliss—their cheerful, unthinking ignorance—that allows them to attack their own judges, undermine their own courts, and dismantle the institutions of liberal democracy. Not because they are hideous, Nazi-esque authoritarians bent on crushing dissent—but because they are children in the midst of a tantrum, smashing the furniture with no concept of what it means.
I don’t think they understand what they are pulling down. Like a meathead enforcer on a sports field—not focused on victory, but determined to obliterate any trace of talent or intellect through sheer brute force, no matter the score.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
But J.D. Vance wouldn’t understand that. And that’s genuinely worrying.
It has ceased to work in the last 10 minutes. I used the link a few times earlier today, no problem. Don't know what to suggest.
thank you for sharing the article here!
it's working now, 4 hrs since you commented here.
It's timing out, probably because of high demand for it ;-)
I had the same problem, just typed the title and was taken to the website. It doesn't appear to want to open.
I got a timeout error.
They clearly have no respect or gratitude for those who served (vets) or are currently serving. We must protect them all from this heinously self-serving administration.
Of all the groups who got conned by Trump, the military and vets had me most in turmoil over their support for such an obvious demagogue. I can’t decide if I’m sorry for them, or furious at them. How could they be so easily fooled, and at the same time apparently willing to die for the country? Or worse, do they subscribe to and endorse Trump’s malevolent conduct, which was never hidden?
Moreover don’t members of the military take an oath to defend against all enemies, foreign or domestic? Why aren’t they doing that?
Why, indeed - and if they don’t have enough information now as to what’s happening, then when? BUT I think your question explains why Trump purged top brass to allow him to replace them with loyalists. The very words “purge” and “loyalist” are chilling. It’s unlikely rank and file military would rise up without leadership, is my intuition.
But what went wrong in the military if we have Generals who are loyal to a Putin puppet?
Sandy: "Why aren't they doing that?" Well, they see Republican politicians taking the same oath and acting as loyalists to the present administration which is doing whatever it can to destroy our institutions.
But their oath was not to politicians.
That's right. Their oaths were to the Constitution.
Like all the others who voted for tRump they have been betrayed bigtime. Thanks to his co-president, the Muskrat. Neither of them have anything but contempt for the military or veterans. Now they are decimating the department that supports vets with mental and physical health care.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/helped-veterans-crisis-doge-cuts-eliminated-job-rcna196803
Trump appears to be tired and sleepy and uninterested in governing. He is always seeking to get back to Florida and play at golf while leaving the leadership to Musk. Musk's goal is to destroy our institutions and privatize everything.
Trump accomplished his primary objective. Staying out of prison.
You are spot on. He accomplished his primary goal of staying out of jail. Now let Muskrat do what he wants. If needed, he’ll be on the golf course!
Trump got what he wanted... the spotlight as the "star" of an obscene version of "The Apprentice". He has no values and no ethos... it would be difficult to find a more worthless and dangerous person to occupy the White House.
As a Vietnam veteran, I continue to be sickened by the blind, servile compliance of anyone on active duty or retired that defends the words and actions of the man (I use that term loosely, as a reference to gender not character) who refers to the wounded and dead as "suckers and losers". Such people have lost the right to claim that they have "served their country".
Yeah, JF—same here. I hate to say it but I think it’s a combination of things and none of them at all positive: ignorance/gullibility, the influence (disinformation) of right wing news and social media feeds, some not insignificant amount of misogyny, sexism and racism and—perhaps most sadly—that Trump’s selfish and xenophobic world view generally resonates with many of the members of our armed forces.
Good questions.
Attack plans posted in a Signal chat with highest level defense, & national security officials is illegal, but hey...Discussion of specific (highly classified) operational details in a (Signal) group chat with the highest levels of the admins intelligence & defense officials & a journalist, just hours before U.S. troops attack terrorist targets, is an egregious breach of national security & violation laws to prevent such disclosure & maintain official records. NYT reports that the admin denies the obvious classified level of the details discussed, & btw Dems are not united on appropriate sanctions. MSM continues platforming of Trump admin blatant lies: "Top Officials Reject Responsibility" (& the media &/or Biden are to blame)
Dunning–Kruger effect doesn’t touch this level of bat shit crazy arrogance & incompetence.
All of the GOP & much of MSM, Big Law & some of academia capitulate as Trump MAGA commit extortion & in your face corruption. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFUnbS3TaY4 & now Trump Senior National Security Adviser invited journalist to join a high level group chat involving top secret war plans. https://newrepublic.com/post/193098/donald-trump-advisers-journalist-top-secret-war-group-chat
Dunning-Kruger might explain the arrogance; but the incompetence is by design. Trump deliberately selected the worst possible choices for his cabinet, one after another. I can only surmise he is breaking the country as a favor to Putin.
By direction of Putin.
A lot of people I read seem pretty sure Putin has something on Trump besides the appeal of a Trump Moscow hotel. Whatever it is, I suspect the stakes are high - as high as a fifth floor window . . .
He's a Troodle, trained to perform on command because he's so droolingly pliable in the face of monied powers.
I wish that was all that’s going on. That sounds too benign, for what we are experiencing. And the storm keeps coming.
Trump is a con being conned by Putin. Not benign. People without moral boundaries, both -- one being better trained and more experienced at this level of international dangers.
He admires dictators because he wants to be a dictator himself.
So true. That was obvious in Trump One. The tragedy is Americans who are both uninformed and who didn’t vote. There was nothing secretive about this development. (At first I mis-read ‘dictator’ as ‘doctor’, and was astonished that Trump would have wanted to become a doctor!)
Doctor Miracle (Tales of Hoffmann)
I think that your assessment is correct. Putin, somehow, has control over Donald. And our president is desperately trying to satisfy his master, Vlad.
wow, does gobsmacked cover the emotion? Silly me thinking all the while how stupid they are? No ! they get away with breaking our constitution by an auto delete! I have till now underestimated #47 and his team of criminals! I count on you Dr. Snyder to lend understanding to the tyranny but now I am trembling in my shoes. I believe you have stated the obvious! They do this ALL the time! What a great way to conspire! Our technology will be the death of democracy. This piece gives me no hope. We just got a window for a moment to expose the awful conspiracy unfolding everywhere all the time. It feels awful to have my eyes wide open. Thank you ;-)(
We all know that no one will resign; there will be no down side for these people who lie to committees; this story will have a shelf life of three or four days, which is three or four days more than the roundup of innocent civilians on your streets. Shame on you.
I will be surprised if this security breach has a political shelf life of 3 days. That is not because I consider it to be of little import. It is of great importance. However, the American mind has an attention span of < 3 days. Maybe 3 minutes. The MAGA faithful are proof positive that Trump is right about the Department of Education.
Our collective attention span has NOTHING to do with Department of Education. Curricula development is not their directive. Media and video as much as anything, contribute to attention span. Please don't beat up on DOE.
you misunderstood the intent of my comment.
This is all of a piece, as the noose tightens. Today we learn DOGE will demand access to voting records (although I doubt Democratic states will comply, and will then be threatened with loss of federal funds). Just thinking about DOGE accessing my voter registration has me feeling pre-violated.
Flush Doge!
This bears the pawprints of S. Miller on it. He and similar racist isolationists prioritize such actions as arresting Venezuelans who, like several other millions of compatriots, have sought a decent life outside of their homeland and thought they could be safe in the USA. Likely, many of them could not be classified as "illegal." Maybe most. But they are dark-skinned and this is anathema to South African Musk & Trump and their ilk. The Venezuelans must be arrested, flown against the orders of a judge to a gulag prison in a foreign country and subjected to Gestapo-type treatment. Trump: "You're fired!"? Musk-Trump's justification for this: "We are at war" and a law from the deep 19th or even 18th century can be read to permit the President to have people arrested (to hell with habeas corpus) and ejected from the USA. Sadly, for the Gestapoval Orifice, Trumpists and Muskrats, when the El Salvador plot was carried out, the USA was demonstrably not at war. But now that the USA has been shot at and has bombed the Houtis in retaliation, Mr. Miller can make the case that the USA is bloody-well at war. And so what about how much danger American military people near Yemen are exposed to? What the heck: if a non-person like the Musk can fire 80,000 veterans with or even without the stroke of a pen, because he likes the idea of others suffering and adding to his fortune by wrecking their lives, well, it's worth it to him and that kid whom he carries around on his shoulders. No wonder the people of Greenland want nothing to do with Trump. Come to think of it, that includes Canada and every last Canadian who is able to think, to feel and to care about other human beings. What ever happened to the USA which we used to know way back when? Sad and disgusting.
This piece gives me hope that we will NOT fall into NAZI Germany 1933! Then there was no internet, cellphones, communications like we have today - the better to keep under wraps what Hitler & Co. did while millions were dragged into war. These clowns are too dumb to know what they DON'T know - this should be their undoing and the beginning of the end of this disastrous reign of terror in America! Thank you, Timothy Snyder for this thoughtful message.
Fabulously astute observation! Thank you for connecting the two processes so concisely, including the judicial connections. We have to stop being paralyzingly scared when we have all this evidence to give us unending perseverance of justified rage over untoward wrongs threatening us and all that we care about. Your ability to so clearly write about what you're thinking about is fuel for our fire!
Well stated Professor
Snyder. Please stay safe.