Mad King Watch (Take XIV): No Kings #3 Happening Today

 

Sums up the current mood, doesn't it?

The No Kings protests return today, after a roughly six-month hiatus, to confront a President who seems ever more unmoored to any kind of objective reality., especially in light of his unilateral crusade for remote control regime change. Over 90 events are planned in Michigan alone, most spanning the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, though "local listings may vary," as TV Guide used to tell us. So check the particulars of any event before you go (see link below).

This third installment promises to be the largest one yet, with organizers forecasting seven to nine million participants at some 3,000-odd events nationwide. By any measure, today's events amount to a major display of defiance, as the Trump regime continues its slow, but steady, unraveling.

Nowhere is the disconnect more glaringly apparent than the ever-shifting rationales  for the Iran War, now entering its fifth week. The predictions of a quick finish are a distant memory, one that makes mincemeat out of this Trumpian boast: "We figured it will be four weeks or so. It's always been about a four-week process, so -- as strong as it is, it's a big country, it'll take four weeks -- or less." 

And, presumably, hash of this one: "It won't be difficult." Or this one, tossed out to CNN: "I don't want to see it go on too long." (How long, of course, wasn't specified.) Or this one, via "War Secretary" Hegseth Ham Sandwich: "This is not a so-called regime change war." So much for that idea, apparently, though even that has a conditional contingency, as Trump sees it: "If they rise, they rise." 

Glad we cleared all that up, eh? All jokes apart, however, it's worth pondering the mental disconnect that's deposited us in this most miserable of places, and why it bears addressing -- however, whenever, wherever we correct our national course. Imagine the mental thought process that prompted all those Black, Gen Z and Latino voters, among the more obvious suspects, to give Trump another try in 2024:

"Donald or Kamala? Hmm, looks like a tough one. How can I vote for a chick who hasn't worn a dress since 'Silver Spoons' went off the air? She does seem more stable than Trump, though. I can't imagine her leading us to war with Russia, or China, or any of those rogue nation states.

"But my eggs and my gas have never cost more! Just like Biden, she keeps saying, 'Look at those charts, look at those graphs! Why all the bitching? You've never had it so good!' Guess I'll just go for the man-baby. He'll blow up everything, and gas will be back at two bucks a gallon, before you know it. At least he's not boring, right?"

Obviously, I'm exaggerating for eeffect, but not by much. The scary thing is, this imagined rundown is probably more complex than the reasoning most voters likely employed to give Trump another bite at the apple. Essentially, as we've suggested before, economics played the greatest tipping point.

Sadly, Biden nor Harris never understood the reality that macro stats don't pay the bills, politically speaking, nor do they win affection in the voting booth. Learning that the official unemployment rate has never been lower offers cold comfort when you can't afford the food on your table. 

But neither should we allow those proverbial broken clocks -- the ones who finally admit that giving Trump another turn at the wheel might not have been the greatest idea, from Marjorie Taylor Greene, to Joe Rogan, and all the rest of them -- off the hook, either. Another reminder of this idea crossed my mind, via this sentence from this MSN article (see link below):

"Wall Street is sounding the alarm as Trump's Iran war threatens to crater an already fragile economy, with financial analysts warning the protective guardrails shielding the U.S. from economic catastrophe are rapidly eroding."

The effect further snowballs, as we see from these words, a few paragraphs later: "Gregory Daco, EY-Parthenon's chief economist, warned of systemic vulnerability. 'The U.S. is now confronting inherent fragilities,' he said. 'The typical buffers that would prevent any type of external shock -- like an oil price shock -- from disproportionately affecting the economy are smaller than usual.'

"'Downside risks are rising, and this is an extremely fluid situation,' Daco added.

"The financial sector is rapidly losing confidence in the administration's economic stewardship, Politico reported. A Bank of America survey of global fund managers released Tuesday found inflation expectations surging, with 28 percent now expecting Democrats to retake both houses of Congress in the midterms -- up from just 20 percent a month ago."

To which I can only respond, "Gee, guys. Guess what? Did any of these possibilities ever cross your mind, before you lined up on the dais on Inauguration Day, and began prostrating to your preferred golden calf? Apparently not. So what am I supposed to feel here? Because of all the emotions, sympathy is not among them."

You can guffaw through the rest as you wish. Whoever wrote those sentences surely has a bright future as a standup comedian, even if it's an unintentional one.

But we must not lose sight of how deep the need for accountability runs, whenever this madness finally, mercifully, and thankfully runs its course. We can talk about "Trump-proofing" our increasingly sclerotic democratic system, so that someone else like him cannot bend and break its rusting guardrails beyond repair, and beyond redemption.

We can pass whatever reforms are needed, to give people a long-overdue modicum of relief from the implicit dictatorship of make believe money, so they can regain a real and meaningful measure of control over their lives once more.

We can work on retaking our media landscape back from the feral tech bros and amoral billionaires wishing to twist it around their grimy little fingers, as the likes of Bari Weiss are already demonstrating -- in vying to soft sell their Dear Leader's worst attributes, Tiger Beat-style. The only difference being, of course, that Tiger Beat didn't pass off its '70s pop idol promotional blitzes as actual shoe leather journalism.

We can do any or all of those things. But unless we start a conversation with those who enabled this madness -- starting with, "Just what did you see in this man?" -- none of those objectives will matter. Without that conversation, we will simply end up duking it out again, four years now -- if not with JD Vance, Trump's hopeful heir apparent, then someone who sounds just like him.

With those thoughts in mind, I'm leaning towards these words from Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, as a more pertinent and relevant point of inspiration:

"Trump calls on the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their religious dictatorship. The rest of the world is willing the American people to rise up – progressives, Magas and stock marketeers alike – against their wildly out-of-control president who has no exit strategy because he never had an entry purpose. This world-changing conflagration will cost his citizens dear and they need to frighten him out of war: unpopularity is all he fears."

That is what today's third round of national actions are all about. There is a reason why Abraham Lincoln said, "Public sentiment is everything." And it's about time that the ruling class found that out, however they end up learning that particular lesson. --The Reckoner

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry, 
Before "King Lear" Reads Like A Documentary:

MSN: Wall Street Sounds Alarm
That Trump May Be Leading US To Economic Catastrophe:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/wall-street-sounds-alarm-that-trump-may-be-leading-us-to-economic-catastrophe-report/ar-AA1YYvPi?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69bc7c52f62a4665bcab5b933bfa65c6&ei=14

No Kings: Find An Event Near You:
https://www.nokings.org/

The Guardian: Polly Toynbee: It's Trump's Mania,
But Now All Of Us Will Pay The Price:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/23/war-unprecedented-depression-trump-mania-iran

Yahoo News: A Running List Of
The Most Inspirational Trump Quotes About The Iran War:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/running-list-most-inspirational-trump-200211377.html

Mad King Watch (Take XIII): Notes On The (Apparent) Eve Of World War III

 

<"Missing In Action..."/The Reckoner
Pahlavi Head Shot:
European Union, 1998-2026>

<i.>

A maximalist-minded President launches a series of strikes against a nonwhite-governed enemy, in its latest saber-rattling display of its endless appetite for controlling others. Rather than rallying around the flag, however, the overall effect is closer to the sound of one hand clapping, or the sudden implosion of a damp wet paper bag, amid rampant levels of social and political inequity. To steal a rhetorical flourish from Winston Churchill, never have so many toiled for so little, and never have so few owned so much more than the rest, always at their expense.

If you think you're living in the world of 1896 -- or going from zero to 1939, in 10 seconds or class -- welcome to the club. if you're still harboring any doubts, this weekend's strikes against Iran should finally settle them. What's most remarkable about our latest bout of Middle East madness is how little the governing classes  have learned from calamities like the endless Iraq war of 2003, and the chaotic August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, that finally climaxed our 20-year military adventurism there.

Suffice to say, neither instance proved the satirical proposition that I remember seeing in one of Tom Tomorrow's cartoons on this very subject: "They'll be too busy making cheap oil for their new American friends to stay mad at us for long." We'll revisit that idea shortly, but it's a thesis worth repeating, as Trump sleepwalks into the same box canyon that derailed his Biden and Bush-era counterparts -- that nations can never be created, nor managed, by remote control.

Nevertheless, we seem ready to repeat that mistake once more, if Trump's scarlet-coated rhetorical flourishes to Iran's beleaguered masses are any indication: "America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach." Yet bombing alone has never proven enough to generate regime change all by itself, as the Allies learned in World War II, for example. Or should have learned, perhaps, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The other basic problem, as experts cited by the Wall Street Journal suggest (see link below), is that no matter how the dust settles, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will still hold all the guns. Without boots on the ground, or some other event  forcing their hand, they won't be going anywhere -- nor switching sides -- any time soon. "There is no organized opposition ready to seize this moment,"  as one of those experts, Mohammed Albasha, told the Journal. "The likely outcome is not reform, but consolidation, closer to a closed military state."

Indeed. Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death has already spurred the emergence of a collectivist leadership that can hold the reins until the situation stabilizes, and eventually, choose a successor. If Iran's military fortunes fall further -- which isn't yet a given -- that same group could head for the hills, and coordinate some type of insurgency, if need be, similar to the Afghan or Iraqi experiences. 

Whatever scenario unfolds, neither seems likely to include a job opening for Iran's former crown prince. Judging by Reza Pahlavi's initial public statements, he seems afflicted by the same wishful thinking bouncing around the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: "This is a humanitarian intervention; and its target is the Islamic Republic, its repressive apparatus, and its machinery of slaughter -- not the country and great nation of Iran."

For all the richly justified hatred that Iranians harbor toward their government, we doubt that "humanitarian" will be the word they associate with the missiles and munitions raining down on their country. Nor is the same brutal regime that instigated over 7,000 verified deaths in its latest crackdown likely to post a Craigslist-style ad ("Wanted: New Leader To Usher Transition Away From Theocracy. Unlimited Potential And Benefits"), nor a billboard in downtown Tehran ("Reza, Where Are You? Phone Home").

<Simply drowning in the devil's excrement? 
Edwin Drake, the first man to succeed in drilling for oil:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49499443>

<ii.>

So where does this latest twitch of the Trump circus leave us? Undoubtedly, some of it's driven by petrostate nostalgia, since few blocs exert such outsized influence as the fossil fuel industry -- which accounts for just eight percent of the US economy, even by its own figures alone Yet that statistic doesn't tell the whole story, for the industry "is also woven into the U.S. political fabric in ways that resemble the structure of petrostates," as Inside Climate News suggests:

"Wyoming gets 59 percent of its state budget from fossil fuel revenue; North Dakota, 29 percent; and Alaska, 21 percent. Other states, though less reliant, take in staggering sums, led by Texas, at $14.6 billion annually; California, $7.8 billion; and Pennsylvania, $4.4 billion. And the money going into state coffers reflects the far larger impact the industry is having on state economies and jobs.

"Because institutions like the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate give states outsized power compared to their populations, fossil fuel-reliant regions can hold considerable sway over national politics and policy." It's the reason, the Climate News piece goes on venture, that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris shied away discussing from the Biden administration's attempts to move toward renewable energy, and pledged not to ban fracking, in "a vain effort to win the swing state of Pennsylvania, the nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer."

Such skewed petro-politics are also the reason why Pennsylvania's newly-minted Senator, John Fetterman, has gone from denouncing fracking as a "stain" on his state, to an aggressive proponent of it; why industry-backed boondoggles like clean coal and carbon capture continue to get federal funding; and why oil and gas interests rooted so openly for a Trump restoration, one that promised a golden opportunity to line their pockets like never before.

The only losers, of course, are the rest of us -- who will be cheerfully expected to pay more at the pump, which ends up being the most common collateral consequences of any prolonged conflict. I still hold vivid memories of the spring 2005 price spikes -- when gas soared from $1.60, to almost $3.50 per gallon -- and people at my newspaper of the time openly shed tears over the implications: "Whatever happened to the national interest?" 

I remember thinking, maybe we should have asked that question before we slapped an endless war on the national credit card. While those spikes came a couple years after the Iraq chaos, they still unfolded in a market that was still struggling to find its feet. 

Whatever or whoever was to blame, I couldn't overlook the consequences for my wallet, since I drove a 40- to 50-mile round trip to work every day at the time. When the Squawker and I worked out the math, we figured that I was losing about $20 a day, before I even got out of bed.

Even now, I struggle to describe how demoralized it felt, of heading to work, knowing you're going to lose money -- which is a far cry from the angst that oil and gas interests feel at failing to extract every last egg from the golden goose. It's the reason, I imagine, for the celebrated quote uttered in 1975 by Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, who'd been Venezuela's petroleum minister during the 1960s:

"It is the devil's excrement.
We are drowning
in the devil's excrement."

<Time to swap out that fancy linen, perhaps?

The ethically challenged Mr. Jorkin ponders his options...

"A Christmas Carol," 1951: YouTube capture>

<iii.>

Having been largely relegated to the dust of  scholarly obscurity, Alfonzo's lacerating observation has gained new life in recent years, notably after the Trump-sponsored snatching of Venezuela's tinpot strongman, Nicholas Maduro. On a more basic level, it reflects what those on the losing side of the petro-political divide know all too well -when the deck feels stacked.

Time will tell how the Iran crisis fits into that equation, though -- honestly -- the effect on oil prices is only one of many reasons to oppose the Orange Man's latest off-kilter gambit. Start with his 2024 victory speech pledge: "I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars." So much for that idea in a two-month period that's already seen three foreign entanglements.

Follow with the notion, ingrained since our beginnings, that only Congress can authorize any sort of military actions -- but don't linger endlessly on the "technical" or "management" arguments, as I call them, since they won't save us from this man's excesses, anymore than they did Bush's or Biden's Middle East missteps. "But you can't do that!" is catnip to any bad actor's ears, and Trump is no exception; alas, it's going to take much stronger medicine to finish the job.

However, what makes this outburst of Iranian interventionism feel especially egregious is the social backdrop it's unfolding against. Never have Americans felt more economically battered and beleaguered, yet received so little social support, in coping with the myriad of social ills they face (see the Hill link below).

Half now struggle to pay bills on time, which isn't impacting the stealth purchasing of warehouses needed to ramp up Trump's deportation machine, at a reported cost of $45 billion -- on top of an $11.25 billion increase for operating it, plus $100 million to acquire all these structures in the first place, amid record levels of homelessness (an estimated 771,840 on any given night), and housing costs exploding beyond any reasonable level.

Or we might focus on proposals announced last month for the Pentagon's first-ever $1.5 trillion budget, for an agency that has now failed eight consecutive audits (the only one among 24 departments that has been unable to meet that metric). Other ill effects will make themselves felt in other ways that not may be readily apparent at the time, but still come with a cost.

A good example is last week's announcement of the Pentagon's decision to cut off Anthropic at the knees -- because its CEO didn't want its AI products deployed for mass surveillance. Not to worry, though, since OpenAI's feral tech bro, Sam Altman, tripped over himself to fill the gap -- striking a deal only hours after Anthropic had been elbowed aside (see MSN link below). Altman's indecent haste to help the Trump regime build its long-cherished surveillance state recalls a nifty exchange from the 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol:

"We're all cutthroats
under this fancy linen,
Mr. Snedrig."

"I must ask you
to speak for yourself,
Mr. Jorkin."

And that's before we get to these massive data center projects -- including 32 alone threatened for Michigan -- that Altman and his kind seek to impose on the rest of us, in all their infrastructure-straining, job-draining, utility bill-jacking, wallet-busting glory, But that is the greater picture staring down at us. For affordable food, housing or utilities, the political class claims that it simply cannot rummage enough coins from under the ouch -- a reluctance that completely deserts them when they roll out their pet projects.

Giant holding pens, for real or imagined "others"? Open the checkbook; money's no object! Data centers and defense contractors? You wouldn't want them shivering in the rain and snow, do you? Innocent Americans potentially targeted as terrorists, or enemies of the state, thereby impacting their ability to make a living? Sorry, can't rethink the blueprint. Our republic would simply fall apart!

If this disconnect doesn't mobilize people, then nothing will, though it will undoubtedly take a sustained campaign to turn back this latest tide of madness. Whether that happens with the November midterms -- or, to coin the Doobie Brothers' phrase, "taking it to the streets," if Trump actively tries to derail or interfere with them -- remains to be seen.

Easy answers will hardly abound, as the risks continue to pile up. Yet this is, paradoxically, when we must find our greatest resolve, and steel ourselves for the enormous task that lies ahead, as the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists noted, in assessing the aftermath of Trump's 2024 victory:

"We do this not because our success is guaranteed. Given the forces mobilized against us, we are clearly the underdog. No white wizard will come to our rescue. But we have truth and justice on our side. And the stakes simply couldn’t be greater. We continue to fight for a livable planet, for us, our children, and future generations. Because it’s worth fighting for."

We couldn't have said it better. When all is said and done, let us hope that we're up to the task. --The Reckoner

Links To Go

Associated Press: Trump Statement On Iran:

https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-trump-address-f662a4f3378535d81197be699fb35a3e

Bulletin Of Atomic Scientists:
Welcome To The American Petrostate:
https://thebulletin.org/2024/11/welcome-to-the-american-petrostate/

Inside Climate News:
Trump's "Energy Dominance Agenda"
Sounds Like A Petrostate Plan To Some:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26112024/will-the-united-states-be-a-petrostate-under-trump/

MSN: Cancel ChatGPT Movement 
Goes Big After Open AI's Latest Move:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/cancel-chatgpt-movement-goes-big-after-openai-s-latest-move/ar-AA1XfZpY?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69a48ece529343999b303c0471c868a2&ei=67

The Hill: America's Cost-of-Living Crisis
Is Entering its Most Brutal Phase:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinion-america-s-cost-of-living-crisis-is-entering-its-most-brutal-phase/ar-AA1XjvPt?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69a48bae4e1944f0a4e93208a8bffa9f&cvpid=2ad3332b7eeb40e6982228ecc305e935&ei=127

Wall Street Journal:

The Iranian Force Built To Defend The Regime...:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-iranian-force-built-to-defend-the-regime-now-faces-the-ultimate-test/ar-AA1Xiy27?ocid=BingNewsSerp

<Suggested Soundtrack: "For My Country," the A-side

of this 1983 single released by UK Decay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF9Dn9bb98o&list=RDXF9Dn9bb98o&start_radio=1>

Smashing and crashing,
Disguised as terrain:
Count up the memories,
We'll go back again

For the honor I don't ask why,
His majesty's pleasure my honor to die:
For -- my -- country!
For -- my -- country!

Life's Little Injustices (Take XXVI): To Renew, Or Not Renew... (That Is The Question)

<"This Property Is Condemned"/Take I, The Reckoner>

If I've learned anything from apartment living it's this. Laundry rooms make great communal spaces, because they offer a place for people to drop some real knowledge, to coin a phrase from the hip-hop world. People let their guard down -- removing dirt from our clothes has a way of easing the stiffest of social fronts -- and tell you what's on their minds.

This weekend, I found myself working through the usual mountain of clothes, sheets, and assorted odds and ends -- a few raggedy pillow cases there, a stray towel over there -- when a young woman with bluish-tinted hair bounded into the room.

I had one more load to do, but needed to wait for her, since she had the three working washing machines going. With one drier already going, I just needed to kick-start the last load, and I'd be done for the night.

That's when the conversation really got rolling, after she gestured to the long silenced fourth washer. "How long have you lived here?"

"About 20 years," I responded. "Why do you ask?"

My questioner's eyes bugged open wide. "Really? Wow. How long has that washer..." She gestured at the plaintive "Out Of Order" sign taped to the lid. "Been like this?"

"Hmm, let me think," I ventured. "At least since last summer, I'd say."

"Couldn't be," the young woman scowled. She shook her head vigorously from side to side. "Because I moved in here last April, and it was already broken."

I presumed that my questioner had seen the plaintive exchange, hastily scribbled on that homegrown "Out Of Order" sign:

"Will this ever be fixed?"

"No."

"Fair enough. OK, then, it's probably been broken since the previous summer." A tinge of curiosity stirred in my brain. "If you didn't mind my asking, what's your experience been like here?"

"That's the thing," she responded. "I had a situation where water kept coming down from my upstairs neighbor, into my hall closet, and it got really moldy in there."

"Well, how did they address it?" I asked.

"They just painted right over it! They didn't even clean it out, really." She laughed, almost to herself. I swear I could her brain going: Uh-huh. Yeah, so what'd you'd expect?

"Anyway, I wasn't really using it that much, so I just moved everything out of there, that I already had."

"Sorry to hear that. If you didn't mind my asking..." I paused, to consider the framing of my next question. "What are you paying here, at the moment?"

"$1,255 per month," the young woman responded. "And when my lease comes up next month, I don't think I'll renew. Because the way I see it, you're not improving on anything, so why I should pay more to keep on living here?"

"I see the logic there," I agreed. "As for our household, we did look at other options, but didn't see anything worthwhile -- so we're standing pat, for now. Sometimes, it's easier to work with what you have."

"I definitely get that." The young woman began tossing the contents of her three loads into the driers.

"Usually, if you're looking for a better deal," I continued, "these things come down to timing. Something comes up, and you have the cash to do something about it. If you only have one or the other, you're stuck for a bit longer."

"Oh, for sure." The woman flashed a knowing smile, and finished packing up the driers. "But I don't think I'll be sticking around."

"Well, good luck to you, either way," I said.

"Same here. It's been nice talking with you." And with a great big flourish, she slammed the last of the three driers shut, and headed out, freeing me to start my final load, and finish my final task for the night.

Will she fare better than I did, in light of the shrunken housing market that prompted our household to put that search for the promised land (of lower rent) on hold? Time will tell, though the official word doesn't seem terribly encouraging, as the opening salvo from this Michigan Municipal League policy brief, issued in October 2024, appears to suggest:

"Michigan’s housing landscape faces a conundrum— a surplus of buildings coupled with unmet demand for housing units that people both like and can afford. As the composition of Michigan households evolves, with an average size of 2.48 people per the most recent American Community Survey (ACS) data in 2022, the mismatch between existing housing stock and actual needs becomes even more apparent.

"The release of Michigan’s Statewide Housing Plan in 2023 has further spotlighted the runaway problem facing every Michigan community: with housing prices up a whopping 84 percent since 2013, Michigan residents are facing numerous barriers to securing appropriate housing access."

There you have it, then. That old demon of supply and demand, the usual suspect driving so many of these discussions, doesn't appear to have grown anymore forgiving than it seemed back in 2008, when the housing bubble burst with such a resounding pop. Actually, the MML brief isn't all doom and gloom, as it offers some interesting potential solutions, as you see (click the link below).

Still, if there's a reason for why so many Americans feel caught in a mousetrap, it's not hard to see why. As usual, it comes down to lack of options and lack of resources, creating the familiar knock-on effect of falling further and further behind, with the bounty on the horizon fading ever farther from sight. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry, Before
Your Rent Rockets Skyward Again)

Michigan Municipal League:
Hacking Michigan's Housing Potential:
https://mml.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/MML-Policy-Brief-House-Hacking-10_3-Final.pdf

US Census: Nearly Half Of Renter Households
Are Cost-Burdened, Proportions Differ By Race:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/renter-households-cost-burdened-race.html

<"This Property Is Condemned"/Take II, The Reckoner>