I confess I didn't read the article but I wholeheartedly agree with the Headline. Even Matt still can't avoid having everything ultimately be about Trump, eh? Too bad Walter didn't succeed in breaking him of that.
To me it's all pretty simple in more of a Christian/Jew/Muslim framing. This is enough to keep the globe fighting for another few decades at least. We're only a few thousand years into this feud. This is the foundation to it all. But American Presidents have a vote in that too.
Glad to see you taking this element on. This Substack became a haven for boomer team-Trumpers with a binary thinking problem.
They do not seem to realize that what made this place great during the Biden term was that it was one of the few places where you could get honest, informative, and well deserved critiques of that shit show.
Now that Trump is in power and earning a great share of fair criticism himself, these people can’t stand that the same approach they loved when Biden was the target is being applied to Trump.
That is what I’m here for, no matter which tribe is in power and making things worse for us, and I’m glad to see Racket get aggressive with it.
Its not. Its about ridding the world of the most destabilizing actor in our times. Trump sees the big picture -- he set the ground-work with the Abraham Accords, providing the US with Arab allies in the Middle East. The second step was getting rid of Maduro and allowing the US to control Venezuela's oil. He's now taking out the Middle Eastern trash, meaning Iranian weapons and weapons systems, and the military leadership. This is a very big-picture plan that was carefully crafted and skillfully executed. That's why you see all military experts just marveling at the process and results.
When your comment on an article starts with "I confess I didn't read the article..." the comment should also end there. Right there, not another word. Because who cares?Why would anyone continue to be interested in your thoughts when you didn't even have the commitment to read a short article?
This is an interesting point. It also wasn’t consequence free. Even if you were to argue it wasn’t as globally apocalyptic as this war, it certainly had dire consequences for the region and Americans.
Right?! I started reading thinking I was going to read a calming piece. Who could enjoy peace after that?! I was ready to break something, hit someone or scream.
No, the JCPOA would have expired, and was in no way comprehensive. It was as someone else said, Obama telling Iran "You can have nukes, but after I'm no longer president"
Iran was still working on nukes the whole time. They also cheated.
Renewing the deal that allowed Iran to continue funding terrorism in the Middle East and continue their ballistic missile and nuke programs sounds like a huge win. If you're braindead.
There is no such thing as an illegal war of aggression. There is war. Most agree it was a long time coming and that it had to happen eventually. Only a small group actually believe this chatter would prevent them from ever producing bombs.
Coming from they guy who says the number of protestors murdered by the regime is made up. I believe you less than we should believe the ayatollahs. Please, by all means, continue simping for the terrorist regime.
The 30,000 number is made up, the agency which investigated confirmed 5,500 roughly. Maybe they missed the actual total by 100% that would still be 11,000 which is two thirds less than the number you people constantly regurgitate, although I’ve seen more brazen propagandists claim the number is as high as 50,000 to 60,000.
Are you denying the Islamist terrorist regime killed 60,000 innocent Iranians?
This is the left, everyone. They hate war and love murderous dictators, even when they gun down unarmed protesters. The reason can be found on the last page of the Communist Manifesto.
Why were you not calling for the downfall of the Israeli regime when they slaughtered hundreds and maimed thousands of peaceful Palestinians during the “Right to Return” March where their only crime was approaching the Israeli militarized prison border and trying to leave Gaza?
Is it because you support the Jews slaughtering innocent Muslim goys?
You are losing the debate so you're changing the subject. +20 social credit points from IRGC. Extra +5 points for expressing strong bigotry tendencies.
For any nation choosing to declare war on another.
Forgive me, I'm all stuck in old fashioned notions of the Constitution and the Westphalian system.
Right or wrong, a nation can declare war, like the Russian Empire against the Ottoman Empire in 1877 for its massacre of Christians in the Balkans. The casus belli was protecting fellow Orthodox Christians from massacre in Bulgaria, the consensus is that the true goal was Constantinople and the Bosporus. Sometimes hypocrisy is the glue that holds things together.
This ad hoc aggression is different. Even Alexander II, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias, felt the need to declare war.
Trump is only following the path laid down by Obama in Libya, but each time we expand this presidential discretion the easier it becomes to involve us in a military tar baby. Matt is quite correct in being scared shitless. I am too.
Dude, where is your awareness of the nuclear tipped missiles pointed at all of Europe by a lunatic, suicidal theocracy? Where is your notice of the tens of thousands of Iranians killed by the ayatollah because they voiced opposition or were suspected of opposing their oppression? Come on. Recognize the need to eliminate the crazy people who expect to be given 72 virgins if they kill you, the infidel.
Where are the missiles? WTF have the been launching at other countries over the last few weeks, wooden arrows? What did they launch at Deigo Garcia? Oh, a medium range missile they claimed they didn't have!
Sorry, by “missiles” I meant ICBMs, in response to the claims of that raving psychopath Mark Levin. Obviously, Iran has lots of ballistic missiles. But they have only fired them in retaliation for being attacked. There were better ways to deal with them than this. War is only a good idea when it actually achieves your political goals, and even then you can lose any moral high ground you might have had.
Please take your heads out of the sand. Iran just admitted to having 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. They have missiles that can reach London, and just launched one toward Diego Garcia. This is 2+2=4. And these wannabe martyrs hate YOU.
It’s about 6000 km from Iran (a big country so mileages would vary) to London. But notice that the Iranians did not fire any missiles at Diego Garcia until after they had been under attack for more than two weeks. If you are going to go to war against every country that has mid-range missiles, then you have your work cut out for you. Also, they had low grade uranium which was not bomb grade. Nobody with any credibility has said they have “highly enriched” uranium. Did you not listen to Tulsi?
Hegseth and Trump and the rest of this administration said that this capability (what little it was) was annihilated (their words) last summer. So either Hegseth and Trump are liars or Mark Levin is a liar. Take your pick.
Another thing: I am not defending the Iranian regime, just pointing out some inconvenient facts for you. Nobody in any intelligence service in the world has presented any kind of evidence that the Iranians had a bomb. Trump and Netanyahu apparently did this because they can. They thought that the regime would collapse when they kicked the door in, ironically exactly what Hitler said about the USSR in 1941.
Last thing: morality shmorality, who cares that we launched a surprise attack on a country WHILE we were negotiating with them. So what? We took the Dec 7, 1941 Day of Infamy and went a step further.
Well … Aside from the fact that no country will trust us or our motives, and we’ve made it clear that countries without nukes will be attacked at our whim and pleasure (which will lead to more serious proliferation and more headaches for us) … aside from those little issues … we’ve pissed off our Gulf allies, lost three THAAD radars, depleted our missile interceptor stock to dangerously low levels AND we’ve endangered the energy supply of the entire world and further destabilized the Middle East, an amazing achievement.
And Israel won’t be any more secure than it was before we started this thing.
Where are these missiles? The entire US intelligence community, all 17 or however many agencies, says they didn’t exist except in Netanyahu and Mark Levin’s fever dreams. What are you talking about?
It's stunning to me that 53 people and counting agreed with this. Does that mean all 53 are as ignorant as you about what kind of missiles Iran has? Trump says they'll have nukes imminently, so we have to attack.
But you're saying they already exist?? This is very interesting. It's also very untrue. Not just inaccurate, but straight out false.
You seem to be hung up on exact timing. They have the missiles. They are very close to having lots of uranium capable of detonation. The trigger mechanism is simple. They are very close. Better to get rid of this threat before the nukes are in the sky.
Nice to hear this voice from you, Matt. Yes, bears, frogs, trees, clouds, stars all continue to be - *literally* - truly awesome. Nature is a game-changer, a serenity saver. One of the solutions to all of our problems. Perhaps this is what you are pointing to in your line here: "start thinking in terms of different types of answers, i.e. ones politics don’t provide..." Getting outside and away from the screen, away from the soundbytes and brainwashing flooding in 24/7 from any and all positions - there's the ticket.
Really resonated with the bear-to-human wisdom gap. There's a certain clarity that only comes from stepping away from the 24-hour news cycle and remembering that the natural world isn't participating in our madness. Thanks for the reminder to look at the trees instead of the screen for a bit!
The quality is slipping. I want to get as "close to the farm" when consuming news or well thought out news analysis and Matt historically did a great job with that. The new hires are not off to a good start - they may find their footing - but M. Tracey's addition has been a subtraction.
I bring massive entertainment value to Racket News, this cannot be denied. (I’m in my back yard kicking my border collie’s herding ball around as I type)
"the U.S. based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed 5,549 deaths (killed on Jan 8th and 9th) and is investigating 17,031 more,"- Time magazine 1-25-2026
"As many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8 and 9 alone, two senior officials of the country's Ministry of Health told Time"
"...3,117 announced on Jan. 21 by regime hardliners who report directly to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei"
Sounds like Iran killed a lot of their own people.
1 Now the same people who said every human rights organization on planet earth which reported Israeli crimes against Palestinians are all illegitimate and controlled by nefarious Jew-haters want us to believe those organizations when they report on Iran
2 the 30,000 number is unsubstantiated, the agency only confirmed around 5,500.
There is no mention of how many of these people were armed and shooting at police and military.
How many Americans would Trump thugs have killed if foreign operatives (Mossad bragged about doing this in the Iranian economic protests in January) infiltrated massive crowds of protesters and started both enticing violence as well as actually engaging in violence themselves by shooting at police, ICE, and national guard?
Matt, Iran could not be ignored. Waiting until they dropped the egg on Israel was not really an option. Granted that the endgame is obscure, but then again... if he disclosed the endgame early, he would suffer the same humiliations that the half-wit Obama did. His style is far removed from mine, but I think it's wise to be patient and see where this leads.
It appears to be leading to 2,000 Marines and 3-4,000 82nd Airborne on the ground. Who the fuck wants that? I don't much care if the Israelis and IRGC or whoever may be in charge in Iran want to kill each other but I sure don't want US blood on the ground
Anti-Iransters always want to ignore the fact that we already had a functioning nuclear deal with Iran that had more or less resolved the issue, which Trump shredded in favor of war (preceded by two sneak attacks undertaken during diplomatic negotiations, cowards that Trump and Bibi are).
The "egg" you should be worried about is the one Israel is probably insane enough to lay.
If you think that the Obama deal had any real teeth or had suppressed their pursuit of a nuclear weapon in any fashion, I don't think we are living in the same universe.
Matt, maybe this won't make a difference to you. No reason it should, I guess, coming from just another subscriber in Online World.
I have this friend - - a really good, longtime friend, great dad, great guy, gentle guy. His long career has put him in places where he sees what very few people see from a military intelligence point of view.
I understand you not liking war, conflagration, unrest, violence. I don't like it, either. And now it appears that Trump is breaking some sacred oath to voters.
That said, I hope you'll reflect deeply on how you might feel hearing on TV, the Internet, or radio that a ballistic missile finally made it to the North American continent well ahead of any schedule the citizenry thought possible. It wouldn't have to be a nuke. Just something that makes a point clearly. I hope you'll think about that. This person, my source, is not a Trump fan at all. He tells me the right calls have been made, without any question. In his opinion. That's as real to me as it is scary.
You lost me on this one Matt. Iran has been occupied by monsters for 47 years and they finance monsters around the world whose singular aim is to destroy the west, religious freedom, women’s rights etc. etc. You’re right that most of us didn’t want war with anyone and that Trump broke his promise in that regard, but the world is a very different place than it used to be. Islamafication of western countries is happening. Look at the UK. So no, I don’t agree with you on this one.
Their is very little evidence that Iran wants to "destroy the West".
We started the war in 1953 when we engineered a coup, and never even apologized for it. Been tit for tat that since then.
I'll bet we could negotiate away their "Death to America" chants if we did so, and stopped propping up regional governments.
Everything I've ever seen Iran do is react. We are locked in that cycle, but keep perpetuating it.
As for as Islamification of the West -- that wasn't coming from Iran, but will if the country falls into civil war like Iraq, Syria and Libya did with the games we've been playing in other people's yards.
I long for the stability of bombing Libya and unleashing ISIS throughout the Middle East, installing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and paying Iran to make nuclear-bomb fuel as long as they promise not to make nuclear bombs. Good times.
I’m pretty much the opposite of a person with TDS. I spent years debunking phony Trump stories. He wasn’t a Russian agent. He did just start a dumb war.
Matt, your hand-waving dismissal of this war as “dumb” is (incredibly) dumb. Yes, your years of sanity grew your credibility. Your weeks of insanity are quickly destroying it.
Still waiting for you to even acknowledge the extreme journalistic malpractice committed in your publication’s Kash Patel smear job, which rather conspicuously omitted the numbers that destroyed your narrative.
At least the Iraq war had months and months of runup where the public case, as flawed as it was, was made -- and Iran has twice the population.
Here we flipped from totally destroying their nuclear program to it being an imminent threat via a surprise late night announcement, with a chaotic seesaw of a back and forth about what the aims are -- with the ups and downs minting millionaires that are placing their bets along the way.
Even if it is a good war, it is being orchestrated in a very dumb way for a democracy where support of the people is relevant.
They had the opportunity to take out something like 40 top dogs including the Ayatollah in one bombing campaign. Are you suggesting they should have passed on it, deliberated for months, tried to win over the public - which essentially gives Iran the heads up and time to better prepare?
We don't even know that the majority of people are against the theocratic regime, due to the challenges in polling. Lots of unknowns.
It is easy to conclude that most people are against the regime because there are people in the streets. But we had people in the streets during the Summer 2020 Floyd protests -- but that didn't mean that all of America wanted Trump out.
Also, even if against the regime, the polls I've seen were not for external force being used. We've seen examples (such as in Serbia) where bombing and unpopular regimes increases popularity of the leadership.
Look at Bush's popularity here after 9/11.
Yes, I think that we shouldn't have bombed their entire leaderships structure out of the blue -- especially when we were negotiating, which means the second time we bombed them in the middle of negotiations. It reduces our credibility.
What would we think if they bombed the Congress during SOTU? We simply don't understand their internal dynamic. This is a huge country with a number of factions, urban/rural dynamics, etc.
This was nuts. As I'm an American, I hope for the best but I fear that we are not spending enough time looking at the world through the eyes of others to understand their points of view. That myopia causes us to fall into traps -- from which China always seems to benefit.
What an utterly insane comment. The case for war in Iraq was not "made" in any civically defensible sense; it was fabricated from whole cloth. And it was a case for a full-on ground war and top-down societal rebuild, whose total dishonesty and recklessness and stupidity embody the exact opposite of this situation.
I would defy you to name even a single war in history where the enemy's top 50 leaders were destroyed in the opening salvo, shaving years and trillions off the potential blowback, except you're clearly incapable of assessing any of the merits here, let alone performing comparisons of merits. You actually think the Iraq War—a nine-year, $3 trillion boondoggle that killed 8,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis based on a completely fabricated premise—is a positive comparison point! Unfathomable ignorance and stupidity.
And no, it is not "dumb" to entertain all possibilities and cite all rationales in the execution of a war. Despite the best efforts of his unhinged enemies to project their own flaws onto him, Trump is not an ideologue; he's a pragmatist executing the most efficient war in history against an enemy we should have destroyed 47 years ago when it declared war on us. Instead, president after president has coddled and, in the case of Obama and Biden, enriched our sworn enemy, allowing them to plan and fund all manner of destabilization efforts including outright wars and countless acts of terrorism.
Still beating that "numbers" drum huh? Pull your head out MAGAbot, the only logical argument here is that it's bad for both sides to have those powers - Butthey you do you.
We won't know how dumb or not dub it was until we are looking back at it. Nobody knows how this will end. I am not a fan of the war, but will not claim I know the outcome.
Lived memory -- I remember that it looked like we were dominating 3 weeks into both Iraq 1 and 2, as well as Afghanistan. The plans that had been set out for America by both Bush Administrations were still ticking along as promised.
Yes. And then asked them nicely to put it away in the closet and to never under any circumstances take it out and use it. Problem solved. So much easier than war!
Other than one comment, I didn't pick up accusations of TDS . More like disappointment and frustration that your analysis of Trump and Iran is it's a "dumb war". Way to simplistic.
I'm sorry. That swiss army knife carries no more persuasive power. It was hysterically funny the first 10,000 times I heard it, but it's like repeating a Hail Mary or a Buddhist chant. At this point its only utility is ideological compliance.
Hey Matt, what’s the full story of you and Walter?
I don’t like this new direction. I just don’t get what you are doing now? Before, your reporting had a coherence, from when I started following you in the Twitter files. Now, with this Go Outside business. A Trump rant is not the news I signed up for. I signed up for more thoughtful takes, more research and investigation, from a serious reporter. You did all of that so well. But now you’re losing me.
What's the alternative folks? Wait for another Oct 7? For ballistic missiles pointed at NYC, Toronto, or London?
Speaking with Piers Morgan recently, Eric Weinstein referred to the "dirty Harry administration." When surrounded by injustices Inspector Callahan applies unorthodox measures to get the job done.
Ok, "Go outside" was not a headline that I expected to front a big anti-Trump rant.
I would have expected it to be an editorial about not getting too worked up about Trump or anti-Trump or whatever.
Go outside, Matt!
I confess I didn't read the article but I wholeheartedly agree with the Headline. Even Matt still can't avoid having everything ultimately be about Trump, eh? Too bad Walter didn't succeed in breaking him of that.
Yes the war Trump launched in Iran has nothing to do with Trump.
Trump cultists and Israel-firsters have no ability to recognize their own faults.
That selfie you took.... golden.
It's a picture of his douche bag ....
Only people of culture can identify who my PFP is and what it is superimposed on.
To me it's all pretty simple in more of a Christian/Jew/Muslim framing. This is enough to keep the globe fighting for another few decades at least. We're only a few thousand years into this feud. This is the foundation to it all. But American Presidents have a vote in that too.
Literally every accusation you level at others applies to you.
He's a douchie troll.
Oh, I know, though that isn’t the half of it. And with Matt’s new recklessness, Dolgin is a pig in shit.
Yes, Matt is to blame. BAD MATT! Force Walter Kirn back onto the show at gunpoint and tell me you want to rape the Ayatollah!
I accuse others of supporting an unjustified war.
This applies to me?
Interesting.
“Trump cultists and Israel-firsters have no ability to recognize their own faults,” you said, in your millionth fit of mislabeling and projection.
“Literally every accusation”
Do you have a dollar for Matt’s word-jar?
The crazy war Trump just launched isn’t “about Trump”? Explain. Enlighten us.
Glad to see you taking this element on. This Substack became a haven for boomer team-Trumpers with a binary thinking problem.
They do not seem to realize that what made this place great during the Biden term was that it was one of the few places where you could get honest, informative, and well deserved critiques of that shit show.
Now that Trump is in power and earning a great share of fair criticism himself, these people can’t stand that the same approach they loved when Biden was the target is being applied to Trump.
That is what I’m here for, no matter which tribe is in power and making things worse for us, and I’m glad to see Racket get aggressive with it.
What you are saying applies to all political partisans; one's generation has nothing to do with it.
Hell to the yes, Chad. Exactly.
Top comment material
MICHAEL TRACEY FROM THE TOP ROPE!!!
With the infamous Ram Jam!
Its not. Its about ridding the world of the most destabilizing actor in our times. Trump sees the big picture -- he set the ground-work with the Abraham Accords, providing the US with Arab allies in the Middle East. The second step was getting rid of Maduro and allowing the US to control Venezuela's oil. He's now taking out the Middle Eastern trash, meaning Iranian weapons and weapons systems, and the military leadership. This is a very big-picture plan that was carefully crafted and skillfully executed. That's why you see all military experts just marveling at the process and results.
At least that's what we hope. Hope springs eternal.
When your comment on an article starts with "I confess I didn't read the article..." the comment should also end there. Right there, not another word. Because who cares?Why would anyone continue to be interested in your thoughts when you didn't even have the commitment to read a short article?
“and not the unlosable, consequence-free type preferred by preening faux-toughs like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush”
Are you off your damn rocker, Matt? The 20 plus year Iraq/Afghanistan debacle was unlosable?
This is an interesting point. It also wasn’t consequence free. Even if you were to argue it wasn’t as globally apocalyptic as this war, it certainly had dire consequences for the region and Americans.
Right?! I started reading thinking I was going to read a calming piece. Who could enjoy peace after that?! I was ready to break something, hit someone or scream.
Don’t get upset about launching a war. Trust the plan. Obey your masters.
This is "no takes" Taibbi
Not only Matt but many of the commentators too
Wahhh!!
Trump is destroying human civilization. That is DEFINITELY something to get worked up over, asshole.
"Trump is destroying human civilization." My god, the stupidity, but then you're who Matt's courting now. 🤦
Here’s to those who think letting Iran build a nuclear weapon and missiles to deliver them is an idea somehow opposed to war.
We had that stopped with the JCPOA Trump threw out because it was associated with Obama.
No, the JCPOA would have expired, and was in no way comprehensive. It was as someone else said, Obama telling Iran "You can have nukes, but after I'm no longer president"
Iran was still working on nukes the whole time. They also cheated.
Trump had the option to renew the deal and eliminate the sunset provision but instead he pulled out and launched an illegal war of aggression.
Renewing the deal that allowed Iran to continue funding terrorism in the Middle East and continue their ballistic missile and nuke programs sounds like a huge win. If you're braindead.
There is no such thing as an illegal war of aggression. There is war. Most agree it was a long time coming and that it had to happen eventually. Only a small group actually believe this chatter would prevent them from ever producing bombs.
No, Pat. Most are OPPOSED to this UNNECESSARY war of choice.
That’s, like, your opinion man.
I guess you're the Dude now?
War is war
You win or you lose.
Whining about "illegal" is for losers.
That's why you choose to commit to a treaty. It's not Iran's fault that America is run by the likes of Lindsey Graham.
Yeah, right. And if you want a new bicycle, Santa will bring one down the chimney.
You'd think people would have learned how pointless it is to try to appease psychopaths, once it blew up on them with Hitler. But, nooooooo....
People like psychopaths for leaders, Pol Pot, Hitler, Napoleon, Alexander, Mao, Stalin, Peron; the list goes on and on…
Coming from they guy who says the number of protestors murdered by the regime is made up. I believe you less than we should believe the ayatollahs. Please, by all means, continue simping for the terrorist regime.
The 30,000 number is made up, the agency which investigated confirmed 5,500 roughly. Maybe they missed the actual total by 100% that would still be 11,000 which is two thirds less than the number you people constantly regurgitate, although I’ve seen more brazen propagandists claim the number is as high as 50,000 to 60,000.
Are you denying the Islamist terrorist regime killed 60,000 innocent Iranians?
This is the left, everyone. They hate war and love murderous dictators, even when they gun down unarmed protesters. The reason can be found on the last page of the Communist Manifesto.
The hard left loves the dictators. The other leftists are okay with that as they protest together.
Yes they love the dictators but surprisingly , not, hate the "Kings"
Why were you not calling for the downfall of the Israeli regime when they slaughtered hundreds and maimed thousands of peaceful Palestinians during the “Right to Return” March where their only crime was approaching the Israeli militarized prison border and trying to leave Gaza?
Is it because you support the Jews slaughtering innocent Muslim goys?
You are losing the debate so you're changing the subject. +20 social credit points from IRGC. Extra +5 points for expressing strong bigotry tendencies.
He can't help it. It's his cult demanding fealty and obedience.
Why do I suspect that Caterwaul softpeddaled the number of dead in Gaza when THAT was still in the news?
This is the right, everyone. They avoid your arguments if they don't have an effective counter.
I like your math. 30K is exagerrated propaganda, but 5.5K is a rounding error?
Regardless of the "true" figure, it is an atrocity. It would be a legitimate casus belli if pursued legitimately.
Well, burning riot police alive as the protesters (excuse me, the Israeli fifth column) did is also an abomination.
A “legitimate cause belli” for who exactly?
For any nation choosing to declare war on another.
Forgive me, I'm all stuck in old fashioned notions of the Constitution and the Westphalian system.
Right or wrong, a nation can declare war, like the Russian Empire against the Ottoman Empire in 1877 for its massacre of Christians in the Balkans. The casus belli was protecting fellow Orthodox Christians from massacre in Bulgaria, the consensus is that the true goal was Constantinople and the Bosporus. Sometimes hypocrisy is the glue that holds things together.
This ad hoc aggression is different. Even Alexander II, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias, felt the need to declare war.
Trump is only following the path laid down by Obama in Libya, but each time we expand this presidential discretion the easier it becomes to involve us in a military tar baby. Matt is quite correct in being scared shitless. I am too.
You mean... the regime that opened this war by blowing up a couple hundred children? THAT regime?
Good God.
I think this war is a mess. But if you think Obozo had Iran's nuclear program under control, you're foolishly partisan and naive. 🤦🏼♂️
utter nonsense. You can dislike this war without spreading nonsense.
Not even close, you clown.
Dude, where is your awareness of the nuclear tipped missiles pointed at all of Europe by a lunatic, suicidal theocracy? Where is your notice of the tens of thousands of Iranians killed by the ayatollah because they voiced opposition or were suspected of opposing their oppression? Come on. Recognize the need to eliminate the crazy people who expect to be given 72 virgins if they kill you, the infidel.
Imagine openly lying about Iran currently having nuclear tipped missiles. Only a really deluded maniac or a brazen propagandist could.
Not just the missiles, but where are the nukes? That’s the critical question. This is the same story they told in 2002-2003.
Where are the missiles? WTF have the been launching at other countries over the last few weeks, wooden arrows? What did they launch at Deigo Garcia? Oh, a medium range missile they claimed they didn't have!
Sorry, by “missiles” I meant ICBMs, in response to the claims of that raving psychopath Mark Levin. Obviously, Iran has lots of ballistic missiles. But they have only fired them in retaliation for being attacked. There were better ways to deal with them than this. War is only a good idea when it actually achieves your political goals, and even then you can lose any moral high ground you might have had.
Last I heard, CENTCOM still didn't have evidence that came from Iran.
Please take your heads out of the sand. Iran just admitted to having 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. They have missiles that can reach London, and just launched one toward Diego Garcia. This is 2+2=4. And these wannabe martyrs hate YOU.
So you’re just making shit up like Trump.
It’s about 6000 km from Iran (a big country so mileages would vary) to London. But notice that the Iranians did not fire any missiles at Diego Garcia until after they had been under attack for more than two weeks. If you are going to go to war against every country that has mid-range missiles, then you have your work cut out for you. Also, they had low grade uranium which was not bomb grade. Nobody with any credibility has said they have “highly enriched” uranium. Did you not listen to Tulsi?
Hegseth and Trump and the rest of this administration said that this capability (what little it was) was annihilated (their words) last summer. So either Hegseth and Trump are liars or Mark Levin is a liar. Take your pick.
Another thing: I am not defending the Iranian regime, just pointing out some inconvenient facts for you. Nobody in any intelligence service in the world has presented any kind of evidence that the Iranians had a bomb. Trump and Netanyahu apparently did this because they can. They thought that the regime would collapse when they kicked the door in, ironically exactly what Hitler said about the USSR in 1941.
Last thing: morality shmorality, who cares that we launched a surprise attack on a country WHILE we were negotiating with them. So what? We took the Dec 7, 1941 Day of Infamy and went a step further.
Well … Aside from the fact that no country will trust us or our motives, and we’ve made it clear that countries without nukes will be attacked at our whim and pleasure (which will lead to more serious proliferation and more headaches for us) … aside from those little issues … we’ve pissed off our Gulf allies, lost three THAAD radars, depleted our missile interceptor stock to dangerously low levels AND we’ve endangered the energy supply of the entire world and further destabilized the Middle East, an amazing achievement.
And Israel won’t be any more secure than it was before we started this thing.
You are a Democrat with TDS. No doubt about it.
Ha ha, I’m a conservative who has voted THREE times for Trump.
Don’t believe you. You are a troll.
Where are these missiles? The entire US intelligence community, all 17 or however many agencies, says they didn’t exist except in Netanyahu and Mark Levin’s fever dreams. What are you talking about?
Naah, forget that, just g9 outside. No problems in the world that have been left to ferment need to be addressed.
Ladies & Gents, we have another one drunk on the hasbara koolaid.
It's stunning to me that 53 people and counting agreed with this. Does that mean all 53 are as ignorant as you about what kind of missiles Iran has? Trump says they'll have nukes imminently, so we have to attack.
But you're saying they already exist?? This is very interesting. It's also very untrue. Not just inaccurate, but straight out false.
You seem to be hung up on exact timing. They have the missiles. They are very close to having lots of uranium capable of detonation. The trigger mechanism is simple. They are very close. Better to get rid of this threat before the nukes are in the sky.
Nice to hear this voice from you, Matt. Yes, bears, frogs, trees, clouds, stars all continue to be - *literally* - truly awesome. Nature is a game-changer, a serenity saver. One of the solutions to all of our problems. Perhaps this is what you are pointing to in your line here: "start thinking in terms of different types of answers, i.e. ones politics don’t provide..." Getting outside and away from the screen, away from the soundbytes and brainwashing flooding in 24/7 from any and all positions - there's the ticket.
All the best to you and your family, Matt.
Really resonated with the bear-to-human wisdom gap. There's a certain clarity that only comes from stepping away from the 24-hour news cycle and remembering that the natural world isn't participating in our madness. Thanks for the reminder to look at the trees instead of the screen for a bit!
The bear is wise because it doesn’t think itself to know more than it actually does.
And in these words, Matt sacrifices a large portion of his audience for the sake of writing the truth.
This is why I unsubscribed.
I didn't subscribe because I was always going to agree with Matt. I disagree that Biden was a corpse, I always maintained he was a legume.
And the current leader of Iran is a potatohead
The quality is slipping. I want to get as "close to the farm" when consuming news or well thought out news analysis and Matt historically did a great job with that. The new hires are not off to a good start - they may find their footing - but M. Tracey's addition has been a subtraction.
Feel free at any time to stop clogging the comments with your whining.
poor you, upset with hearing an opinion you don't like. kick rocks, kid.
Project much?
poor you. still upset.
Great, now go away.
Then perhaps they weren't really his audience...
Correction: HIS truth not THE truth.
May I introduce you to Plato's Cave?
Antisemites like you are rejoicing, I see.
“Made possible by contributions to your Racket News station from anti-Semites like you.”
What he thinks is the truth, incomplete as it is.
The truth? One version of the truth. So, yes, have the audience will leave. Which half is correct?
That number is made up and has no evidence whatsoever. However, Israelis could kill 30,000,000 Iranians and you’d support it.
This exchange is hilarious, given the topic
I bring massive entertainment value to Racket News, this cannot be denied. (I’m in my back yard kicking my border collie’s herding ball around as I type)
Love Border Collies. Tell your dog I said Hi!
Really? Laughing at Dolgin is pretty much like picking on the kid in class who is on the spectrum.
"the U.S. based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed 5,549 deaths (killed on Jan 8th and 9th) and is investigating 17,031 more,"- Time magazine 1-25-2026
"As many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8 and 9 alone, two senior officials of the country's Ministry of Health told Time"
"...3,117 announced on Jan. 21 by regime hardliners who report directly to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei"
Sounds like Iran killed a lot of their own people.
1 Now the same people who said every human rights organization on planet earth which reported Israeli crimes against Palestinians are all illegitimate and controlled by nefarious Jew-haters want us to believe those organizations when they report on Iran
2 the 30,000 number is unsubstantiated, the agency only confirmed around 5,500.
There is no mention of how many of these people were armed and shooting at police and military.
How many Americans would Trump thugs have killed if foreign operatives (Mossad bragged about doing this in the Iranian economic protests in January) infiltrated massive crowds of protesters and started both enticing violence as well as actually engaging in violence themselves by shooting at police, ICE, and national guard?
Maybe ten?
IRGC sends +10 social credits to you.
Your derangement isn't getting worse.
Thank you doctor
Someone wanna do a wellness check on Matt?
He just checked in and it sounds like he’s doing fine. Better than many of us.
Then you need a wellness check of your own.
Matt, Iran could not be ignored. Waiting until they dropped the egg on Israel was not really an option. Granted that the endgame is obscure, but then again... if he disclosed the endgame early, he would suffer the same humiliations that the half-wit Obama did. His style is far removed from mine, but I think it's wise to be patient and see where this leads.
It appears to be leading to 2,000 Marines and 3-4,000 82nd Airborne on the ground. Who the fuck wants that? I don't much care if the Israelis and IRGC or whoever may be in charge in Iran want to kill each other but I sure don't want US blood on the ground
Anti-Iransters always want to ignore the fact that we already had a functioning nuclear deal with Iran that had more or less resolved the issue, which Trump shredded in favor of war (preceded by two sneak attacks undertaken during diplomatic negotiations, cowards that Trump and Bibi are).
The "egg" you should be worried about is the one Israel is probably insane enough to lay.
If you think that the Obama deal had any real teeth or had suppressed their pursuit of a nuclear weapon in any fashion, I don't think we are living in the same universe.
The game clock is ticking. When Congress blows the whistle as per the War Powers act Trump's endgame will be irrelevant.
lol, congress. They voted to keep sending billions to Ukraine but couldn't figure out how to vote for election integrity.
Yeah, well, it is what it is.
Those are the rules of the road in our Representative Republic.
Until voters decide to act differently, you're right.
No wonder Walter left.
Happy to see him go.
Matt, maybe this won't make a difference to you. No reason it should, I guess, coming from just another subscriber in Online World.
I have this friend - - a really good, longtime friend, great dad, great guy, gentle guy. His long career has put him in places where he sees what very few people see from a military intelligence point of view.
I understand you not liking war, conflagration, unrest, violence. I don't like it, either. And now it appears that Trump is breaking some sacred oath to voters.
That said, I hope you'll reflect deeply on how you might feel hearing on TV, the Internet, or radio that a ballistic missile finally made it to the North American continent well ahead of any schedule the citizenry thought possible. It wouldn't have to be a nuke. Just something that makes a point clearly. I hope you'll think about that. This person, my source, is not a Trump fan at all. He tells me the right calls have been made, without any question. In his opinion. That's as real to me as it is scary.
Trump is the man in the arena. Pundits are just spectators with opinions.
You lost me on this one Matt. Iran has been occupied by monsters for 47 years and they finance monsters around the world whose singular aim is to destroy the west, religious freedom, women’s rights etc. etc. You’re right that most of us didn’t want war with anyone and that Trump broke his promise in that regard, but the world is a very different place than it used to be. Islamafication of western countries is happening. Look at the UK. So no, I don’t agree with you on this one.
Their is very little evidence that Iran wants to "destroy the West".
We started the war in 1953 when we engineered a coup, and never even apologized for it. Been tit for tat that since then.
I'll bet we could negotiate away their "Death to America" chants if we did so, and stopped propping up regional governments.
Everything I've ever seen Iran do is react. We are locked in that cycle, but keep perpetuating it.
As for as Islamification of the West -- that wasn't coming from Iran, but will if the country falls into civil war like Iraq, Syria and Libya did with the games we've been playing in other people's yards.
I long for the stability of bombing Libya and unleashing ISIS throughout the Middle East, installing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and paying Iran to make nuclear-bomb fuel as long as they promise not to make nuclear bombs. Good times.
Those were the good old days
You’re TDS is getting out of hand,I have cancelled my subscription
I’m pretty much the opposite of a person with TDS. I spent years debunking phony Trump stories. He wasn’t a Russian agent. He did just start a dumb war.
Matt, your hand-waving dismissal of this war as “dumb” is (incredibly) dumb. Yes, your years of sanity grew your credibility. Your weeks of insanity are quickly destroying it.
Still waiting for you to even acknowledge the extreme journalistic malpractice committed in your publication’s Kash Patel smear job, which rather conspicuously omitted the numbers that destroyed your narrative.
At least the Iraq war had months and months of runup where the public case, as flawed as it was, was made -- and Iran has twice the population.
Here we flipped from totally destroying their nuclear program to it being an imminent threat via a surprise late night announcement, with a chaotic seesaw of a back and forth about what the aims are -- with the ups and downs minting millionaires that are placing their bets along the way.
Even if it is a good war, it is being orchestrated in a very dumb way for a democracy where support of the people is relevant.
They had the opportunity to take out something like 40 top dogs including the Ayatollah in one bombing campaign. Are you suggesting they should have passed on it, deliberated for months, tried to win over the public - which essentially gives Iran the heads up and time to better prepare?
We don't even know that the majority of people are against the theocratic regime, due to the challenges in polling. Lots of unknowns.
It is easy to conclude that most people are against the regime because there are people in the streets. But we had people in the streets during the Summer 2020 Floyd protests -- but that didn't mean that all of America wanted Trump out.
Also, even if against the regime, the polls I've seen were not for external force being used. We've seen examples (such as in Serbia) where bombing and unpopular regimes increases popularity of the leadership.
Look at Bush's popularity here after 9/11.
Yes, I think that we shouldn't have bombed their entire leaderships structure out of the blue -- especially when we were negotiating, which means the second time we bombed them in the middle of negotiations. It reduces our credibility.
What would we think if they bombed the Congress during SOTU? We simply don't understand their internal dynamic. This is a huge country with a number of factions, urban/rural dynamics, etc.
This was nuts. As I'm an American, I hope for the best but I fear that we are not spending enough time looking at the world through the eyes of others to understand their points of view. That myopia causes us to fall into traps -- from which China always seems to benefit.
What an utterly insane comment. The case for war in Iraq was not "made" in any civically defensible sense; it was fabricated from whole cloth. And it was a case for a full-on ground war and top-down societal rebuild, whose total dishonesty and recklessness and stupidity embody the exact opposite of this situation.
I would defy you to name even a single war in history where the enemy's top 50 leaders were destroyed in the opening salvo, shaving years and trillions off the potential blowback, except you're clearly incapable of assessing any of the merits here, let alone performing comparisons of merits. You actually think the Iraq War—a nine-year, $3 trillion boondoggle that killed 8,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis based on a completely fabricated premise—is a positive comparison point! Unfathomable ignorance and stupidity.
And no, it is not "dumb" to entertain all possibilities and cite all rationales in the execution of a war. Despite the best efforts of his unhinged enemies to project their own flaws onto him, Trump is not an ideologue; he's a pragmatist executing the most efficient war in history against an enemy we should have destroyed 47 years ago when it declared war on us. Instead, president after president has coddled and, in the case of Obama and Biden, enriched our sworn enemy, allowing them to plan and fund all manner of destabilization efforts including outright wars and countless acts of terrorism.
Still beating that "numbers" drum huh? Pull your head out MAGAbot, the only logical argument here is that it's bad for both sides to have those powers - Butthey you do you.
We won't know how dumb or not dub it was until we are looking back at it. Nobody knows how this will end. I am not a fan of the war, but will not claim I know the outcome.
True, but I think the Iraq and Afghanistan wars both looked much more promising than this one does at our current mile marker...
At three weeks in? Where are you getting your info from.
Lived memory -- I remember that it looked like we were dominating 3 weeks into both Iraq 1 and 2, as well as Afghanistan. The plans that had been set out for America by both Bush Administrations were still ticking along as promised.
Should we have waited for Iran to have a nuclear bomb?
Yes. And then asked them nicely to put it away in the closet and to never under any circumstances take it out and use it. Problem solved. So much easier than war!
Other than one comment, I didn't pick up accusations of TDS . More like disappointment and frustration that your analysis of Trump and Iran is it's a "dumb war". Way to simplistic.
I disagree with you, Matt. We hardly even know what’s going on. I reserve judgement.
Little boy meets emperor's new clothes.
It's not TDS, it's PDS...
Last I checked (and it's still true) MT is an equal opportunity hater.
So now you just troll here without supporting. 😂
I'm sorry. That swiss army knife carries no more persuasive power. It was hysterically funny the first 10,000 times I heard it, but it's like repeating a Hail Mary or a Buddhist chant. At this point its only utility is ideological compliance.
Hey Matt, what’s the full story of you and Walter?
I don’t like this new direction. I just don’t get what you are doing now? Before, your reporting had a coherence, from when I started following you in the Twitter files. Now, with this Go Outside business. A Trump rant is not the news I signed up for. I signed up for more thoughtful takes, more research and investigation, from a serious reporter. You did all of that so well. But now you’re losing me.
Bye
What's the alternative folks? Wait for another Oct 7? For ballistic missiles pointed at NYC, Toronto, or London?
Speaking with Piers Morgan recently, Eric Weinstein referred to the "dirty Harry administration." When surrounded by injustices Inspector Callahan applies unorthodox measures to get the job done.
Indeed. So if not now, when? if not Trump, who?