Shannon Jaronik @zonk84.bsky.social

The 2024 debate schedule will be the first in history that needs to account for when one of the participants has yard time.

BREAKING: Trump: I agree to suspend bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks

Trump says what he means, except when he doesn't mean it, which is defined by people who are not him.

@AGHamilton29 I’m setting aside that allies he threatened to invade aren’t rushing to join a war he started. Typical of the people who gave away every principle except war with Iran.

I don’t know if people are playing dumb, genuinely don’t understand what’s happening, or are simply blinded by their feelings about Trump, but a lot of the social media commentary right now is absurd and exhausting. What’s going on is essentially a high-stakes game of chicken between the Trump administration and the remaining leaders of the Islamic Republic over what the end of the current fight looks like. Both sides have clear objectives (see below). The Islamic Republic believes (or believed) it could use economic pressure, information warfare, and domestic political pressure to force Trump to back down and avoid giving America what it wants. China and Russia are covertly assisting in this effort because the collapse of the regime would severely weaken their influence in the region, and because they are always eager to undermine American power. The regime has also found willing domestic allies in this campaign, including many on the left and certain podcast hosts who are committed to opposing what they — like many Marxist college professors — view as the American empire. On the other hand, Trump and his administration are using military pressure to force the regime’s leaders to concede. They are essentially presenting the regime with a choice: surrender on these specific demands, or we will continue escalating pressure and removing regime leaders until we find someone who will. I think the Islamic Republic has underestimated how committed Trump is to achieving these goals. He views them, not without reason, as central to his potential legacy. A Middle East without the constant threat of well-armed and well-funded Iranian terror proxies would be a genuine game-changer. This perspective is shaped not only by his own beliefs but also by the strong encouragement of key regional allies who see Tehran as the central threat — and not just Israel, but most of the Gulf states as well. Everything else you’re seeing right now is simply the two sides trying to gain leverage and apply greater pressure on each other. Regarding Trump’s absurd postings specifically, Trump has always been viewed on the world stage as unpredictable and somewhat crazy. He leans into this image. He believes that acting like a bully and openly flexing American power is central to his negotiating and pressure strategy to get what he wants. I have been very critical of Trump for using this style against allies (for example, threatening to take Greenland, or arbitrarily raising tariffs), because it often alienates them unnecessarily and can be counterproductive. (I’m setting aside for now the fact that some of those same allies have proven very unreliable lately.) However, this approach works much more effectively against rogue regimes and enemies. They genuinely believe he is crazy enough to follow through on threats that other leaders would never make. He has proven this with things like the Mauduro raid. That perception gives him a real edge in a game of chicken like the one playing out now. His over-the-top posts actually make it more likely that regime officials will look for an off-ramp with concessions, not less likely. So while you might dislike his style or find the threats inappropriate, the only questions that truly matter are whether he is prepared to follow through (probably not) and whether these threats help achieve a successful outcome. This isn't a podcast debate. It's a war. And now that Trump has committed to it, he rightly wants to win it. Anyone telling you that isn't feasible and he should just give in without achieving America's objectives is intentionally deceiving you, and you might want to ask yourself why...

We told you not to vote for him in 2016. We told you not to vote for him in 2020. We told you not to vote for him in 2024. And now you’re angry that we were right.

@MenAreSpeaking @justindeanlee He literally had dinner with the gameshow host. Literally.

@justindeanlee Or look at it this way: the right punishes retards, that's why Nick hasn't become an embarrassing leader on the right. You are seeing Chesterton's fence at work. Don't change it.

Fuentes is bad, but still more or less fringe. Hasan Piker is orders of magnitude worse—& the mainstream left actually embraces him. The disparate levels of outrage about these guys is quite telling.

@baseballcrank You don’t get to just trade people to the “other side” just because they’re not longer convenient for your transactional whims.

Are these really the friends you want? If you're asking me to make a binary choice between Trump or Tucker, MTG, & Candace Owens, that's a pretty compelling case for choosing Team Trump.

@Rainovertrees @AGHamilton29 And the point is is this: people like Tucker have been saying the same thing for a long time. The guy they helped make viable is potus. The only thing that has changed? Well, let’s have it out with Iran.

@zonk84 @AGHamilton29 And- x.com/AGHamilton29/s…

What you see happening now is people who have centered their entire ideology around one politician have lost all sense of reality and will side with the most evil and dishonest people available just because they perceive it hurts Trump. These are people who would otherwise recognize Tucker and Candace as evil and now they are so blinded by wanting to oppose Trump that they are openly promoting them. There are long term consequences to your credibility when you do that. Many of us won’t forget it.

@SPimpernel22 Oh, to be more precise- I don’t give a shit about podcasters, influencers, and sundry other yakkers. I blame him and people like him for the gameshow host. I couldn’t care less about the minor clowns. I object to people who claim they’re above riding in the clown car.

@zonk84 so, it’s absurd to blame you for hasan, just like it’s absurd to blame ag for candace/tucker.

@H4ken @AGHamilton29 Nope - pointing out how unprincipled you are. Hmmm…. I don’t like his collectivist policies but I do like his pwning the livs policy. Call that a principle if you like. But it isn’t.

@zonk84 @AGHamilton29 Wtf are you talking about? Is this an attempt at shifting the goal post?

@SPimpernel22 @AGHamilton29 Folks like you? I actually never heard of Piker otherwise…. As folks like you so often do, you thrive by pretending pretty bog standard LoC folks march to podcasters. Hell, closest I came to knowing Piker was calling Cenk a ridiculous twat 25 years ago in the “blogosphere”

@zonk84 @AGHamilton29 who made hasan piker prominent? we can do this all day, man.

@H4ken @AGHamilton29 Cool. Should we explore that conference, Tucker’s remarks, and the subsequent 6 years of the gameshow host?

@zonk84 @AGHamilton29 How many instances do you need? There are like hundreds of them. x.com/AGHamilton29/s…

@H4ken @AGHamilton29 Cool. Then it should be easy for you to prove me wrong. Go for it.

@zonk84 @AGHamilton29 A simple search of the word "Tucker" from AG for the timeline you're asking will generate plenty of results where AG is criticizing Tucker.

@AGHamilton29 Then it should be easy to prove me wrong.

@zonk84 I literally attacked Tucker all the time when he was on FNC. It would take a 2 second search to verify.

@AGHamilton29 Cool cool. Care to share some of your anti-Tucker bon mots from BEFORE Fox News got rid of him? 25 years now, I’ve seen how you people operate. There’s one, single consistency to you. And it ain’t principle.

@zonk84 wtf are you talking about? I’ve been calling out Tucker and Candace for a decade even long before their openly demonic turn…

@AGHamilton29 Wish the same would happen to our Supreme Leader….

Seeing all the reports that The Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader is completely out of commission and other people are running the government on his behalf… It’s no wonder that Democrats feel like they are able to relate to the regime so well these days.

@josh_hammer @ZitoSalena Would be nice if you dipshit cultists bought secret decoder rings for everyone else.

In 2016, @ZitoSalena famously said to take Trump seriously but not literally. Ten years later, that is still correct. And it's frankly amazing that it still needs to be said.

I wish you hadn’t, too. Maybe we can find common ground in that idea.

@MeghanMcCain Never mind any critical thought that might involve who was previously a treasured member of your cult.

Inject this straight into my veins.