The Brink

~ Clarissa
“The Brink” by Manfredi Caracciolo

So. How is everybody feeling aside from disappointed and duped?

Anybody got any unexpected takes?

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Published by Clarissa

35 thoughts on “The Brink”

  1. I do not understand this at all.

    Trump is no statesman but he is a businessman and understood the steep cost of mindless wars… or so I thought/hoped based on his first term and his master stroke of engineering Abrahams accords based on trade incentives to UAE.

    Seems everyone is collectively losing their heads. Sorry you asked for unexpected takes, this is more of shouting helplessly into a void.

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    1. I know, I’m right where you are on this.

      All those people who wailed to the skies about Trump’s utterly invented plans to invade Canada are squealing with delight at worst and silent at best over this. I feel like I’m losing my mind.

      Hello, people! Didn’t you used to be against US invasions 5 minutes ago? Or do only rhetorical invasions count?

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  2. It’s so funny that every influential person in the media/politics discourse industry gloating about this war is a former NeverTrumper and Bush era warmonger (that Trump had apparently bested years ago). David Frum, Mark Levin, Eli Lake, David fucking French lol, and so many others. They’re all coming out of the woodwork to praise his glorious leadership. They’ve never even voted for him!

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    1. We thought we voted him in for us. Turns out we were giving a gift to this crowd of un-American grifters.

      When are we going to get what was promised to us?

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  3. Count me among the delighted, Clarissa! Trump has been much too slow in dealing with Iran thumbing its nuclear threats at America.

    Whatever this leads to, we can handle it.

    Dreidel

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    1. Why do we need to handle any more of this Middle East crap? We’ve been handling it for decades with zero success. What is the goal? There’s got to be some end in sight. What would it be at this point? All I’m seeing is endless war. And Dems carrying both Houses in 2026 if this continues any longer.

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      1. “What is the goal?”

        The goal is the continued existence of Israel as the only modern Western democracy in a land surrounded by medieval barbaric kingdoms who are scared to death of the spark of freedom that Israel shines against their darkness.

        Those primitive nations have been given multiple opportunities over the past 77 years to come to terms with the fact that Israel isn’t going away, and they can’t seem to accept that simple reality.

        (As for the 2026 elections, I don’t see abandoning Israel as a winning issue for Democrats.)

        Dreidel

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        2. Dreidel is so nonchalant on this blog about everything. Most of his comments are in the vein of “Clarissa you worry so much, we’ll be fine.” But on the topic of Israel he becomes a hysterical maniac. “WE NEED TO SERVE ISRAEL AT ALL COSTS, I DON’T CARE IF WE NUKE GAZA AND IRAN, IT JUST NEEDS TO BE DONE.”

          Why is that? I’m really at a loss to understand this. Why does a retiree with no apparent skin in the game care so much that America hurt itself in order to serve Israel’s interests. If you were jewish and invoked blood and soil ties, I could sort of understand. But it’s not even that lol. What the fuck, man. What is the motivating force behind your stance of prioritizing israel over america?

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          1. I’m half Jewish and I think this recent development is nuts. Everything about it is weird. It’s completely self-defeating. It opens Trump to more impeachment charges. It depresses the base. I’m not seeing an upside.

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          2. @Stringer Bell:

            Stringer Bell asks: “Why does a retiree with no apparent skin in the game care so much that America hurt itself in order to serve Israel’s interests. If you were jewish and invoked blood and soil ties, I could sort of understand.”

            Here’s my answer: I DON’T see how America is “hurting itself” by standing up for an allied democracy like Israel in the Middle East, just like America has always stood up for allied democracies in Europe in the NATO alliance.

            Tell me, where’s the political harm in being consistent and supporting a tiny country with a large Jewish population and Western democratic values? In the 1980s, I was a USAF officer stationed in Saudi Arabia, and NONE of the many Saudis that I interacted with as a military officer or a friend ever showed any objection to my implicit support for Israel whenever the subject came up.

            You’re right that I currently have “no apparent skin in the game,” but I do have a worldview about democratic free countries, and their right to exist. If you don’t consider Israel a “democratic free country” — fine, your opinion is a valid as mine, and I don’t want to debate it.

            It’s almost midnight here in Arizona, and I’m signing off and going to bed now. So if you want to continue this friendly debate and type out a response, don’t expect an answer until tomorrow morning. Goodnight!

            Dreidel

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        3. “The goal is the continued existence of Israel as the only modern Western democracy in a land surrounded by medieval barbaric kingdoms”

          Why should that be a US policy goal?

          60 or so years of being a western style democracy (to the extent that’s true) has moved the needle exactly 0 points in any neighboring country.

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        4. I support the continued existence of Israel, but ultimately our foreign policy should be about our own interests, and the costs should not outweigh the benefits. And the benefits here seem very few.

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            2. Tbh this is consistent with a lot of what he said about Iran on the campaign trail. Time will tell if this ends up being more like the Soleimani strike or something bigger. I do think people (including me) have a tendency to overreact in the heat of the moment (though in instances of war this is maybe for the best.)

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    2. And here comes the perfect illustration of the point I made earlier in this thread. Dreidel has been a NeverTrumper all this time. The only thing that delighted him about Trump was when he carried out a hostile foreign country’s agenda (which we will all pay for with blood and money).

      #BoomerAreTumors

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      1. I want the people who were telling me that MAGAs wanted Trump to go to war to take a look at what’s happening. MAGAs are very unhappy. NeverTrumpers are over the moon.

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        1. You know, I’m wondering if appointing Hegseth and the whole anti-DEI push in the military was to boost troop recruitment (which has been dismal in the last few years) so more of our young men can now die for Israel. I hope I’m wrong.

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      2. “Dreidel has been a NeverTrumper all this time.”

        Bullshit, Stringer Bell. I’ve never liked Trump as a person, but whenever the only choice was him or a Democrat in a particular election, I’ve had no choice but to support his lukewarm Republican agenda over that of an opponent whose beliefs were nakedly, savagely left-wing Democratic nonsense.

        And yes, Trump has been a much better President than I expected.

        Dreidel

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          1. “Who did you support in the 2016 GOP primaries?”

            I honestly don’t remember, and don’t feel like straining my brain to dig up ancient history. It was whomever I thought the moderate Republican candidate who could eliminate Trump from the field was.

            After Trump won the Republican primary and the general election was Trump vs. Hillary. I DIDN’T VOTE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION for the only time in my adult life. I felt like I couldn’t support either candidate.

            Trump won in 2016 and proved to be a better president than I expected, so I voted for him in 2020.

            Dreidel

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  4. We haven’t done enough. It’s still not enough. It never will be enough.

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      1. I first heard of the fearsome Strait of Hormuz back in the 1970s… I believe on the 700 Club as part of some End Times Bible Prophecy thing…

        So this has been around even longer than Iran’s nuclear program in a “matter of days”.

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    1. Can we agree that Israel won’t settle for anything short of a regime change in Iran? Can we also agree that every attempt at an externally imposed regime change in the region has been a catastrophe?

      There’s no positive scenario here that doesn’t include the US withdrawing from the region and staying firmly away for a few decades.

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    1. At least, this situation has been a great litmus test as to who is really with us and who’s a lying opportunist.

      I’m waiting to hear what Matt Walsh will say on his show tomorrow.

      Let it all come out into the open.

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      1. Now Trump is saying regime change is not a bad idea. Is it possible he simply doesn’t know how his base feels about this turn of phrase? He’s discouraged several million voters with this today.

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