Trump’s Wars in His Year of Infamy

By Bill Doughty––

On Dec. 27, 2016, President Barack Obama and Japan’s then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe placed wreaths at the USS Arizona Memorial and spoke at Pearl Harbor. Obama said, “This harbor is a sacred place.”

Several months later, Obama again made history when he went to Hiroshima and brought a message of healing and understanding with –– and for –– the people of Japan. During that trip, the 44th president visited Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (photo above by Cpl. Nicole Zurbrugg).

While Obama was in Japan, Donald Trump, then a candidate for president, tweeted: “Does President ever discuss the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while he's in Japan? Thousands of American lives lost. #MDW” (Twitter; 28 May 2016).

Trump and First Lady place wreath at USS Arizona Memorial Nov. 3, 2017. (PO2 James Mullen)

On a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial in 2017, Trump asked then-Chief of Staff John Kelly to explain the significance of the attack, showing he was “dangerously uninformed,” according to The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, authors of “A Very Stable Genius.”

Kelly is a former U.S. Marine four-star general and a Gold Star father. 

Kelly has been quoted recently as telling friends this about Trump: ”The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.” Kelly praised retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was belittled and persecuted by Trump, for telling the truth during Trump’s impeachment hearings. “Here right matters.”

Trump castigated Kelly in a White House press conference Sept. 4. “I know John Kelly, he was with me, didn’t do a good job, had no temperament. And ultimately he was petered out. He was exhausted. This man was totally exhausted. He wasn’t even able to function in the last number of months,” Trump said, adding he asked for Kelly’s resignation.

President Trump and retired Marine

Kelly is considered a likely source to a story reported in the Atlantic magazine; he has not denied the report that Trump called service members “suckers” and U.S. war dead “losers.” Also, Trump called the late Senator John McCain a loser. Trump denies it, but he actually did call McCain “a loser” in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015.

Trump has repeatedly attacked McCain for his record of support for the Veterans Administration. Trump claims credit for VA Choice, but Obama signed that bill in 2014, and John McCain was one of the bill’s originators. Cindy McCain, the late senator’s widow, endorses former Vice President Joe Biden, not Trump, for president.

Trump fails to condemn right-wing domestic terrorism. Trump, a conspiracy promoter, has supported Q-Anon, even defending his retweets of a Q-Anon theory that former President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden mistakenly killed the body double of Osama bin Laden, sponsor of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, including the World Trade Center and Pentagon. As part of that conspiracy, Q-Anon also accuses Biden of ordering the assassination of a team of Navy SEALs to cover up their so-called mistake. The commander in chief retweeted several related tweets.

Trump claims to love the military. But he belittles generals, including Gens. Kelly, Mattis, McMaster, McRaven, and McChrystal, among others. He takes away congressionally appropriated military funds to pay for his wall. He rescinds Pentagon orders and interferes in the military justice system, including pardoning war criminals.

U.S. Marines grind sections of the wall before installing concertina wire near the California-Mexico border, Nov. 14, 2018. (Lance Cpl. Jared Curtis)

He takes money from the military in order to construct a border wall, and he deploys troops inappropriately, including against migrants and protesters. 

Capt. Brett Crozier and Capt. Carlos Sardiello cut a cake at a change of command ceremony Nov. 1, 2019.

He belittled Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, former CO of USS Theodore Roosevelt, who called for help for his Sailors after an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard his ship earlier this year.

Trump refuses to confront Putin about reported Russian bounties on the heads of our troops in Afghanistan as he turns his back on the Kurds fighting ISIS and continues to offend NATO allies, South Korea, and other friends of the United States.

In 2020, Trump implies that pay raises to the military will buy their support. But he admits he likely doesn’t have the backing of senior, well-educated leaders. In fact, Trump accuses Pentagon military brass of being war profiteers.

Another of his former key administration officials, retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, one of Trump’s national security advisers, condemned Trump’s unwillingness to commit to a smooth transition of power after the election. “This is something that our founders feared," McMaster said. ”We have to demand that our leaders restore confidence in our democratic principles and institutions and processes.”

Trump and McMaster invited military service members to a luncheon at the White House, July 18, 2017.

On Sept. 7, 2020, at another White House press conference, Trump said, “I’m not saying the military is in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else, stay happy.”

Is it possible Trump is projecting? He, himself, boasts about selling weapons and weapon systems to foreign nations, especially Saudi Arabia. He reportedly authorized selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to United Arab Emirates to persuade UAE to acknowledge normalization with Israel.

Trump famously boasted of being a “wartime president” in the fight against COVID-19. His “generals” in the pandemic war are CEOs of huge corporations, many of whom make a profit.

When he contracted the virus, Trump seemed to blame Sailors and Marines. A week later he appeared to blame Gold Star families. Here are some related haiku of Trump:

“It’s very hard when

you’re with soldiers, when you’re

with airman, … Marines”

+

“When they come over

to you it’s very hard to

say, “‘stay back, stay back.’”

(Fox News, 1 Oct 2020)

+

“Very, very hard

when you are with people from

the military”

(Fox News, 1 Oct 2020)

“would be a chance that

I would catch it … I met with

gold-star families”

+

“all came in and they

all talked about their son and

daughter and father”

+

“…an inch of my face

sometimes –– they want to hug me

and they want to kiss”

(Fox Business News; 8 Oct 2020)

He asks U.S. citizens to be “warriors” and to go into harm’s way without a unified national strategic plan, adequate testing, or mask mandates. 

HM2 Christopher Lopez inspects medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United States has about four percent of the world’s population and about twenty percent of the world’s death from COVID. As Trump seems to surrender to “an invisible enemy,” he treats citizens, including children, as kamikaze “warriors” –– pushing them to go back to schools and jobs no matter what.

Now Trump seems to be waging a war against a free and fair election, the rule of law, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Constitution itself. Trump seems hellbent on winning by any means necessary. Will he create his own “infamy” before election day and/or before he leaves office?

On Nov. 3, Americans have an opportunity to return to decency, integrity, healing, and understanding by voting for military Blue Star father Joe Biden and helping to elect Biden/Harris.

"Haiku of Trump: The Chasm, Schism & Isms of Donald J. Trump,” is available on Amazon Kindle and is free through Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Who Could Be Against Trump?

By Bill Doughty

Hundreds of former national security leaders –– from both Republican and  Democratic administrations –– signed a stark warning letter to the nation last month, citing about ex-President Trump, “He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators, and has made clear he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again. That alone proves Mr. Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.”

Project 2025 was the must-read of the summer, and now this letter is a must-read for autumn, just a few weeks before the election. The lead signature is from Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith, USN (Ret), President of National Security Leaders for America.

Signatories include former SECDEFs Chuck Hagel, William Cohen, Leon Panetta, and William Perry as well as seven Senate-confirmed military service secretaries. The officials and senior officers called former President Donald J. Trump "impulsive," "ill-informed" and “unfit” to serve again as commander in chief.

They condemn his promise to “terminate” parts of the Constitution, his constant lying, and his role in the January 6, 2021 attempt to overturn the previous election and his “promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators.”

The letter includes signatures from three former acting service secretaries, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Among the more than 740 Americans who signed the letter are service members, civilians, and military spouse representatives. There are at least 63 Navy and 18 Marine Corps retirees who endorse Harris over Trump

Many Republicans have denounced Trump, with most pledging support to Kamala Harris for President. Notably, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Representative Liz Cheney announced their endorsement of Harris. Liz Cheney is former House GOP conference chair and was the #3 Republican in the House of Representatives until she turned against Trump and helped lead a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2001 (J6) insurrection, consequently becoming a victim of MAGA retaliation.

Now Liz Cheney joins former Trump White House aides Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews today in Pennsylvania to campaign against Trump, noting, according to reports, his threat to democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has issued similar warnings about another Trump presidency, and is actively supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Recently, retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, writing in a New York Times OpEd, “Ms. Harris has the strength, the temperament and, importantly, the values to serve as commander in chief.” He added, “I have cast my vote for character, and that vote is for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

In 2020, Admiral William McRaven, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, warned the nation about a second Trump administration and what it would mean for the future of the country: “When good men and women can't speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.”

In another editorial about Trump, McRaven addressed him directly and wrote, "Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.” Both McRaven and Admiral James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, condemn Trump for his lack of character, his failure to uphold his oath to the Constitution, his affection for dictators and autocrats, and his antagonism of Allies and alliances.

Late Senator John McCain’s family have joined former members of Trump’s own administration –– including VP Pence, SECDEF Gen. Mattis, SECDEF Esper, CoS Gen. Kelly, NSA John Bolton, and CJCS Gen. Milley –– in condemning Trump for his role in the J6 insurrection coup attempt, threat to national security, and lack of stability. For his part, Trump threatens to retaliate against his critics both in government and in the media.

Next week, Bob Woodward’s new book, “War,” will hit book shelves, reporting on Trump’s “romance” with Russia’s Putin expanding on allegations of Russia’s help in Trump’s 2016 election when Trump, “Russia if you’re listening…” and publicly siding with Putin over his own Intelligence officers. Woodward reports that Trump secretly sent Covid-19 testing equipment directly to Putin in the early weeks of the 2020 pandemic, even though there was a shortage and need for testing in the United States. Trump denied the report, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that the tests had been sent to Putin. It seems Woodward has written another must-read for this year.

‘Where Law Ends’ / Seeds of Ukraine Invasion

Review by Bill Doughty––

There’s a scene in “Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation” by Andrew Weissmann (Random House, 2020) in which Vietnam Veteran Robert Mueller leads his Special Counsel team in a celebration of the Marine Corps Birthday, something Mueller had done since his days as director of the FBI. Semper Fi.

“On November 10, [2018], Mueller held his last U.S. Marine Corps Birthday celebration –– an annual event he had commemorated at the Bureau and now in the Special Counsel’s Office. The whole office attended, cake was served, and –– as tradition would have it –– the first piece was handed from Mueller to Ben Cohen (our security officer), symbolizing the passing of the torch from the oldest to the youngest marine. The tradition was lovely, and we all knew it would be our last with the office and Mueller.”

The birthday commemoration occurred during the fraught days of Special Counsel team interviews with a key figure in events that would lead to the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, was accused of coordinating a meeting at the Trump Tower in June 2016 between Russian operatives, including Natalia Veselnitskaya and other Russians, and members of the Trump campaign, including Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. 

Manafort coordinated also with Russian intelligence officer Constantin Kilimnik, providing internal polling information to a foreign entity; Manafort pleaded guilty in federal court to obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He comes across in “Where the Law Ends” as a simultaneously pathetic loser, smooth Svengali, and evil liar.

Weissmann outlines how Manafort worked with Ukrainian oligarchs and Russian officials in an attempt to divide Ukraine after the Ukrainian people voted Russia’s puppet Viktor Yanukovych out of office. We see the seeds of Putin’s invasion plans –– planted years ago and fertilized during the Trump administration.

“Russia had sought for years to control Ukraine, as Putin needed that territory to transmit oil and gas to Europe. But Ukraine needed Russia even more, as it obtained basically all of its energy from that nation. Russia had enjoyed de facto control of Ukraine when Yanukovych was president, funneling him millions of dollars in bribes to curry his favor. But after Yanukovych’s overthrow, Russia no longer had such a willing puppet under its control. Thus, Russia had turned to brute force: its infamous invasion of Crimea, a region of eastern Ukraine, in 2014 –– the one that had outraged most Western democracies, but which candidate Trump oddly had regarded as no big deal.

“The proposal for Russia to take over the eastern half of Ukraine was the Crimea invasion on steroids. Russia would annex the country, reinstall its favorite figurehead, and thus control the economic heart of the country. Notably, Manafort and Kilimnik’s proposal explained that, for such a move to succeed, it would need the consent of the United States. It called on Trump to give Russia an approving ‘wink’ –– the word the proposal used –– and, furthermore, to appoint Manafort to negotiate the logistics with Russia on America’s behalf. In a separate email, Kilimnik endorsed Manafort for this role; Manafort would be able to deal with Russia at the ‘very top level,’ Kilimnik explained…

“The facts we’d established, even amid Manafort’s attempts to muddy them were staggering. On August 2, if not earlier, Russia had clearly revealed to Manafort –– and, by extension, to the Trump campaign –– what it wanted out of the United States: ‘a wink,’ a nod of approval from a President Donald Trump, as it took over Ukraine’s richest region.

“It was a tremendous thing for Russia to ask for. It would seem to require significant audacity –– or else, leverage –– for another nation to even put such a request to a presidential candidate. This made what we didn’t know, and still don’t know to this day, feel monumentally disconcerting: namely, why would Trump ever agree to this? Why would Trump ever agree to this Russian proposal if the candidate were not getting something in return? Both Manafort and Trump were too transactional to give away something for nothing.”

Trump, Manafort and Ivanka Trump (Shealah Craighead)

Weissmann’s book was written prior to Trump’s pardons of people involved in coordination with Russia to help him get elected: Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Alex van der Zwann, Roger Stone, and Paul Manafort (along with dozens of other pardons).

Regarding Manafort, Weissmann says Judge Jackson’s expression of disapproval of Manafort’s crimes were incisive and “managed to articulate a central and dismaying truth about our entire experience at the Special Counsel’s Office.”

“She spoke of Manafort’s numerous lies, and his multiple obstructions of our investigation –– both through his own willful deceit and by coaching witnesses to lie for his protection. He’d done the latter, Judge Jackson noted, while he was under indictment and out on bail. Finally, she explained that Manafort had even lied to the government about telling the truth: claiming that he would finally cooperate with our investigation only to obfuscate and impede it further. ‘It is hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud and the extraordinary amount of money involved,’ she said. Manafort had not lived an exemplary life. Here was a chastening recognition that his conduct was serious and flagrant, and repeated over years.”

Working with the Russians and on behalf of the Trump campaign, it seems Manafort had sowed the political terrain for an invasion of Ukraine.

The title of Weissmann’s book comes from a John Locke quote, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”Weissman outlines how Mueller's team faithfully and methodically defended the Constitution (from enemies, both foreign and domestic).

He introduces us not only to key actors in the limelight such as Manafort, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and Bill Barr, but also to various members of the Mueller team who worked behind the scenes, sometimes at odds over how to present to the courts the corruption they encountered.

Trump and Barr (Shealah Craighead)

Weissmann begins and ends his narrative with discussion of former Attorney General William Barr, starting with the author’s profound disappointment in how Barr presented a distorted summary of the Mueller Report to the public. Near the end of the book Weissmann lists specifics, point by point, of how Barr misled, obfuscated, and showed a “disregard to the facts and attempted erasure” of the Mueller Report’s findings, even though the report clearly shows coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.”

Barr had emasculated the special counsel, which he alluded he would do in an AG audition memo he wrote as a private citizen.

“Barr’s gambit –– enabled by [Rod] Rosenstein and his staff –– gave the president a green light to resume conducting himself beyond legal confines,” Weissmann contends.

“And it worked. Three months later [after release of the Mueller Report], on the day after Mueller testified about our report in Congress, the president held up hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia –– funding that had been authorized by Congress and previously signed off on by the president himself. Why? Because he wanted the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into his political opponent Joe Biden and his son…

“Still, it is a different investigation that Trump sought from Ukraine that I find even more disturbing. The president leaned on the Ukrainian government to investigate Ukraine’s purported interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. These allegations are rooted in Russian disinformation. The unanimous conclusion of our Intelligence Community and Trump’s own experts, like Dr. Fiona Hill, is that Russia interfered with the election; our indictments laid out clear and extensive proof, replete with Russian emails detailing the efforts. We had the facts. Why would Trump raise the boogeyman of Ukraine election interference other than to distract from what Russia had done (and would continue to do)?

“Did Ukraine help Trump in the 2016 election? Of course not. And nothing about Trump’s Ukraine allegations diminished the proof against Russia.”

Historians will value this book a hundred years from now for its first-person findings, eventually leading to the first impeachment (of two) of former President Donald Trump, who solicited a foreign entity (Ukraine) for help in an election campaign. And he would solicit foreign help again and again.

Weissmann’s book is all-the-more relevant after Trump’s recent request, once again, for a foreign entity’s help against his political foe in an interview at the end of March with Real America’s Voice at Mar-a-Lago. Reminiscent of his “Russia, if you’re listening” request in 2016 for dirt on political opponent Hillary Clinton, Trump again asked President Putin of Russia for scandalous information on political opponent President Joe Biden and his son.

Trump, who previously and recently called Putin a savvy genius, lamented not being able to coerce Ukraine for information. And the former president offered this shocking comment about China: “And I won’t even talk about China because they haven’t gone into Taiwan yet.”

At the end of March, two hundred U.S. Marines were deployed to Lithuania on the eastern edge of the NATO alliance. The deployment includes a command-and-control unit for Marine Air Control Group 28 out of Cherry Point, North Carolina.

NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 ships sail in formation in Geiranger Fjord, Norway, March 9, 2022, during Exercise Cold Response. NATO

Following Exercise Cold Response training in Norway, ten Marine F-18 Hornet fighter jets from Beaufort, South Carolina, were repositioned to Eastern Europe, according to the Pentagon, which has 14,000 troops stationed in Europe. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard have helped or trained with Ukraine, especially since 1997.

Meanwhile, for more than a month valiant Ukrainian military members and civilians are defending their country and are now beating back the Russians, who are committing war crimes against their neighbor.

NATO, reunited and stronger, is supporting the courageous Ukranians. Semper Fi.

In an interview at Mar-a-Lago in March, during Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Trump asks Putin for dirt on Bidens.

War on Credibility –– an ‘Orwellian’ 2026

by Bill Doughty––

Are we being bombarded with mis- or disinformation: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength”?

As examples: Is the administration tearing down the Department of Education in order to keep citizens strong or ignorant? Was war with Iran really necessary during peaceful negotiations? Will freedom from information about actual slavery enslave us toward further ignorance and endless war? 

Speaking of slavery … 

After the Trump administration tore down factual information at the Philadelphia President’s House about America’s history of slavery, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe used an Orwell reference from “1984” in her order this month to reinstate the information:

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts," Rufe ruled. "It does not.”

Later in her ruling, Judge Rufe writes, “And yet, in its argument, the government claims it alone has the power to erase, alter, remove and hide historical accounts on taxpayer and local government-funded monuments within its control. Its claims in this regard echo Big Brother’s domain in Orwell’s 1984…”

Her 40-page ruling begins with an Orwell quote about rewriting history and also contains a 1984 excerpt about book banning:

“The largest section of the [government’s] Records Department . . . consisted simply of persons whose duty it was to track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction. A number of the Times [a newspaper] which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophesies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it. Books, also, were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made. Even the written instructions [for workers in the Records Department] ... never stated or implied that an act of forgery was to be committed; always the reference was to slips, errors, misprints, or misquotations which it was necessary to put right in the interests of accuracy.”

In the midst of current heavy-handed totalitarian tendencies Orwell’s ghost hovers over other aspects of the Trump administration and its war on truth, a war that further erodes the stature and credibility of the United States.

Moments after President Trump removed Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, Noem spoke at a conference and misquoted Orwell.

"It reminded me of the quote that is often attribute to George Orwell that states, 'People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf,’” Noem said. Orwell did not say or write that phrase.

While Orwell would certainly have agreed with the sentiment, he would have been appalled at the attack on a girls elementary school in Iran (that killed scores of children and more than a dozen teachers).

Trump and “Secretary of War” Hegseth dragged their heels and obfuscated information about the bombing of the Shajarah Tayyebeh girls school in Minab, Iran. Now a Pentagon investigation into the Feb. 28 strike concluded that the United States military was responsible for the attack due to faulty intelligence.

Further investigations should look into the connection between the bombing of the school and Hegseth’s earlier gutting of the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence by approximately 90 percent. The office, also known as the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) initiative, was established to limit risks to civilians during military operations by providing "no-strike" lists and verifying target coordinates.

Hegseth told senior military leaders several months ago he wanted “Maximum Lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct.” Before his recent banning of press photographers who took unflattering photos of him, he restructured the Pentagon press pool to only include pro-Trump and pro-republican reporters willing to promote propaganda.

After the first U.S. casualties were announced and the media focused on honoring the service members killed, Hegseth chastised reporters: “I get it; the press only wants to make the president look bad. But try for once to report the reality.”

At a later press conference White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “It’s the position of this administration that the press in this room and the press across the country should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury and the damage it is doing to the rogue Iranian regime.”

Orwellian Hypocrisy

Orwell would be sickened by the propaganda, warmongering, hubris, and hypocrisy of Trump and his appointed followers.

When Vice President J.D. Vance first endorsed Trump, he wrote a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, “Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars.” Vance said, “He has my support in 2024 because I know he won’t recklessly send Americans to fight overseas.”

Trump himself promised he would not start wars. As part of his vow of "America First" he said he would prioritize rebuilding the U.S. at home instead of spending resources on nation-building in foreign nations. And he argued that U.S. interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere had failed, creating instability and leaving behind chaos.

But after threatening Canada and Greenland, Trump attacked Venezuela, then started a war with Iran, and now promises Cuba will be next on the hit list. All without congressional approval or making a clear case to the American public.

Trump, Vance and current Director of National intelligence Tulsi Gabbard each repeatedly criticized Biden for the tragic deaths of 13 service members during the Trump-arranged withdrawal from Afghanistan. Sadly, as of March 13, there have been 13 service members killed in the war started by the Trump administration (along with Netanyahu's Israel).

Meanwhile, Gabbard, who frequently criticized America’s "military-industrial complex,” once warned that policies under Trump (such as those regarding Iran) were costly, dangerous, and risked starting new wars. At one time she reportedly sold T-shirts emblazoned with “No War with Iran.”

As of now, Gabbard is still supporting Trump’s policies. In fact, she is also knee-deep in “big-lie” election conspiracy theories and wading into voting interference. 

Over the years, Gabbard has defended Russian interests by blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, arguing the West ignored Russia's "legitimate security concerns.” She, along with other members of Trump’s administration, has echoed Kremlin talking points and propaganda.

Until Trump’s war on Iran, the world has witnessed the biggest war since Orwell’s time. For the past four years Putin’s totalitarian regime has continued to attack the democratic republic of Ukraine, targeting Ukrainian civilians and the nation’s energy infrastructure in its aggression.

Putin offered “unwavering support” to Iran’s new Ayatollah and said, “I am confident that you will continue your father's work with honour and consolidate the Iranian people in the face of harsh ordeals.”

Shockingly, Russia has reportedly assisted Iran in targeting U.S. Navy facilities and personnel along with other American military and intelligence assets.

President Zelensky, on the other hand, is offering the United States assistance in defending against Iranian drones –– the same type of drones Iran provides to Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Instead of punishing Russia for assisting Iran in targeting Americans, Trump is waiving sanctions against Russia to allow them to profit from oil sales.

Orwellian ‘Excursion’

President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and other administration officials have given nearly a dozen conflicting reasons for starting the conflict with Iran even though the United States was in the middle of peaceful negotiations and no evidence of an imminent threat.

White House officials also contradict themselves on what to call the “Operation Epic Fury” war. After a 7th U.S. service member died, Trump proclaimed during a House Republican retreat at his golf resort in Doral, Florida on March 9 that the war was “a little excursion.”

“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil...,” Trump said. “And I think you’ll see it’s [going to] be a short-term excursion.” (We are reminded of Trump’s efforts to downplay threats and severity in the beginning weeks of the Covid pandemic.)

Calling the war “a little excursion” brings to mind a similar gaffe by former President Joe Biden on the eve of Russia’s war with Ukraine, on Jan. 19, 2022, warning of a possible “minor incursion.”

Orwell, who preached accuracy and clarity of language, would remind us that “incursion” means a hostile invasion or attack, while “excursion” is defined as a brief trip or outing taken for pleasure.

Is it propaganda when Trump claims of conducting an “excursion” (while causing massive destruction); ending wars (while starting one); curbing high prices (while causing prices to rise); or promising voting security (while creating instability and curbing voting rights)?

Like Biden before him, Trump proclaims the economy is great even as inflation increases and working class families pay the costs. At his March 11 rally in Kentucky Trump said “Prices are coming down very substantially” as prices rise.

During WWII, Orwell wrote about propaganda in his essay “Propaganda and Demotic Speech” published in Persuasion Summer Quarter 1944:

“At present propaganda only seems to succeed when it coincides with what people are inclined to do in any case. During the present war, for instance, the Government has done extraordinarily little to preserve morale: it has merely drawn on the existing reserves of good-will. And all political parties alike have failed to interest the public in vitally important questions … But some day we may have a genuinely democratic government, a government which will want to tell people what is happening, and what must be done next, and what sacrifices are necessary, and why.”

Yesterday, Trump again called the war an “excursion” and proclaimed the operation was “over.” During his rally in Kentucky on March 11, Trump told supporters, "We won.” He asserted that the war was "over in the first hour.” But at the same rally that the U.S. is "not finished yet” and must "finish the job.”

Orwell would recognize the doublethink and doublespeak –– what we now call gaslighting.

Orwellian Memes/Videos

Orwell’s ghost seems to whisper that in a true democracy the people must be kept informed with facts and truth.

But instead of clear and thoughtful communication about the reasons, ramifications, and duration of the war with Iran (and plans for other “incursions” or “excursions”) Trump and Hegseth are putting out boastful memes and videos of war and destruction using images from movies, games, and cartoons such as SpongeBob Squarepants. [Sadly they use ACDC’s “Thunderstruck” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and other unlicensed music and images.]

The videos are not endorsed by original content creators. In fact, actor and director Ben Stiller demanded the White House stop using images from his movie “Tropic Thunder” to promote Epic Fury.

Steve Downes, the actor who voices Master Chief in the game Halo, spoke out about using his work. “I demand that the producers of this disgusting and juvenile war porn remove my voice immediately,” Downes posted on social media.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company rebuked the White House for using imagery from a "Pokémon" game in a video montage.

After seeing his image in one of the propaganda war videos NFL Hall of Fame legend Ed Reed, one of football’s greatest safeties, said “I do not approve this message.”

Another former star, safety and ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark, spoke out against the White House war videos on The Pivot podcast: “We’ve lost all decorum, we’ve lost all integrity, we’ve lost all character. And I believe that the latest White House post or the White House post involving myself and other NFL players is absolutely disgusting and despicable,” Clark said.

The Catholic Church and other religious and nonreligious leaders and critics condemn the mixing of real combat deaths with entertainment media, which trivializes war and turns it into a "digital spectacle."

One of the White House’s videos is titled “Justice the American Way.”

In 2026 is this now the American way: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength”?

Rather than present information for frontal cortex critical thinking to promote trust, Trump and Hegseth instead spew images for the amygdala and id that reinforce ignorance and erase credibility. “Ignorance is Strength.”

I hear Orwell’s voice channeled today in the words and deeds of Daryl Davis. Davis is an American blues and R&B singer and activist who succeeds in promoting unity and healing divisions. He writes: “The cure for ignorance is education. You fix the ignorance, there’s nothing to fear. If there’s nothing to hate. If there’s nothing or no one to hate, there’s nothing to destroy.” As for ignorance, it starts with not ignoring –– but finding –– truth.”

On the Joe Rogan Experience podcast of Jan. 30, 2020, Davis told Rogan, “The most important thing that you have in any endeavor is your credibility.”