Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning updated in OP 12/2/26

One thing I've learned is Trump supporters find an excuse to support everything. Others will just avoid saying anything until this ends and pretend it never happened.

Not a single day goes by without news of Trump and the United States doing something that demonstrates corruption, greed, zero empathy, bullying, lies and a lack of respect for anything of their choosing.

The rule of law has been torn up and this situation is very far from normal.

All of Trump's supporters are in hiding, that's why there's nobody defending it.

There was poster in here a few days back justifying it in advance.

Operation Protect the Paedos

Trump posts on Truth Social...

“Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with United States”

This administration cannot keep their story straight.

They lie so much that they can't remember their excuses.

So now this attack is as a result of interference with their elections?

Utter bullsh1t.

When do they attack Russia then…

Or how about the gerrymanderers in Texas?

Fentanyl next…. Followed by the Somali pirates….

The talks were just a farce. Israel official said they had this planned for months with the US.

The escalation path here is clear and Iran's mullahs are responding to what they can only see as an existential threat to their rule.
The offer of amnesty to IRGC & Regime members who lay down their arms? To who?
Without US/Israeli boots on the ground?
Who do those folk surrender their arms to?

Is an effort to encourage those wavering in support of the regime to switch sides.
Doing so whilst bombing every target the US/Israelis can reach?
Will only reinforce the hardliner's resolve to hang on.
The Mullahs will seek to launch every missile they can.

The escalation will IMHO be quicker and more calibrated than last June's efforts.
The Iranian IADS seems to have once again not been a factor in countering the opening salvoes.

Whether the performance of their defensive measures can improve or even survive against the US DEAD measures?
Is at best questionable, I'd hazard the recently delivered Chinese SAM and radar equipment hasn't been operationalised and that in itself was a factor in the decision to strike.
Better to hit Iran now, rather than allow them improve their defence.

That means Iran's only defence?

Is the unleashing of every ballistic, cruise and drone weapon they can launch.
Hitting the US bases in the region and Israel.
The US has surged Patriot and THAAD into the ME (Which answers part of the questions around missed deliveries to Ukraine).
THAAD & SM3 & 6 are what the US is pinning supporting Israel's BMD on, in cooperation with Arrow & David's Sling there.

In June, I wrote on the Israel v Iran thread about the economic calculus of missile defence.

At the peak of the 12 day and what was a far more limited/calibrated response by Iran was costing Israel up to $300 million a day.
It also used about 950 various interceptors, less than a 100 of all the models US & Israeli have liky been built in the interim between then and now.

If Iran can mass launch (more than 8 or so a time) at individual targets?
The damage of the last few days of the 12day war will be an example of what might come.
Pinning the hope for victory on the rising of the Iranians?
Is a very risky strategy that will see thousands more of those people slaughtered.

The US war reserve stocks are going to be rapidly impacted and I don't believe that they can sustain high intensity operations for more than a couple of weeks.
In those 2 weeks?
Every available ground target in Iran will be hit, there will be significant infrastructure destruction there, let alone the lives lost.

But?

Iran's underground & hardened storage facilities may well survive anything but MOP usage.
That allows Iran to continue to threaten Israel & US bases and the cost of defending against that threat?Both in terms of needing to have aircraft over Iran in Scud hunting roles, and in cost of ballistic missile interceptors will quickly become unaffordable as well as quickly leading to congressional oversight of "War powers" of Trump

I misheard it as earlier and thought they said Pink Fury… I thought no way did they name the operation Pink Fury….. Epic Fury sounds about right

Is there any criticism of trump from prominent members of the right in the USA?

The joint attack explains why Trump dropped off from asking the street protests to continue early last week. No point in killing those you want to take up government during a series of pre-emptive strikes over a period of days.

As for boots on the ground, remember what the US military coalition did a few years back in Iraq: the coalition withdrew without removing Saddam Hussein from power having to return a few years later to complete the job. I don't see the US or Israel committing a large force to the ground in Iran. Its possible it will have undercover teams, CIA & Mossad] in Iran to do the dirty work of removing the religious leaders etc from office. I see the US using safe distance tactics in Iran and the Israelis will be happy to [maybe] assist the Lebanese Govt forces clear Iran's proxies out of Lebanon. Presumably Israel has been increasing the stock in its armouries for "unplanned" events.

This bout of military war in the middle east may have an effect on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The US is going to need all the munitions it can order from US industry and not give it to Ukraine. If the Ayatollahs regime ends in Iran to be replaced by a civilian Govt, Russia might lose a major supply of the drones it's getting from Iran for its night-time blitzes on Ukraine's cities and towns. That being a side-effect 0f the war on the Ayatollahs, it would help Ukraine even if it meant Trump [with some-one whispering in his ear] talking about ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.