Thoughts and prayers, for real
Donald Trump sounds like he is going nuclear.
See updates through April 9, 2026, at end of post.
I should preface what I’m about to say by noting I grew up during the Cold War, when “Christian” (more precisely, Protestant[1]) capitalism was pitted against a “godless communist” (more accurately, authoritarian socialist) monolith in Moscow (somehow conflating China with the Soviet Union), when all-out nuclear war was an ever-present possibility, and indeed, when mutually assured destruction was unironically understood by its acronym MAD. It was “good” versus “evil,” every bit as stupidly hierarchically invidiously monistic as it sounds.
I’m hearing that word “armageddon” again,[2] in reference to Donald Trump’s vulgar threats against Iranian bridges and power plants[3] and that “a ‘whole civilization will die tonight.’”[4] And I’ve seen a concern that Trump may indeed go nuclear,[5] though the White House now denies this.[6] (I distrust anything emanating from this administration.)
It is certainly something to contemplate when a war started first, because Binyamin Netanyahu wanted it; second, because Donald Trump needed a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein files; and third, because war is Pete Hegseth’s idea of a hard-on, may result in the first use of nuclear weapons since the U.S. dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
I’m not religious but my thoughts and prayers are for the Iranian people—and for anybody downwind.
Update, April 8, 2026: The worst has not happened yet. “American B-52 bombers were reported to be en route to Iran before the [two-week] ceasefire agreement was announced.”[7] It opens the Strait of Hormuz and pauses U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran—but not Lebanon. Negotiations are supposedly to begin on Friday in Islamabad, Pakistan, on the basis of an Iranian 10-point plan[8] which “[Donald] Trump had earlier rejected . . . as ‘not good enough.’”[9]
This comes as a report emerges that Pete Hegseth has been misleading Trump about the war, which has not conformed to Hegseth’s rosy claims.[10] Between this and Trump’s acceptance of an Iranian plan as a basis for negotiation, I infer that Iran has the upper hand and that I would not want to be in Hegseth’s position right now—toxic masculinity only gets one so far and often pushes the male beyond that limit, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.
Update, April 9, 2026: It seems there are some discrepancies between what Iran has agreed to and what the U.S. has agreed to. Here’s Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism:
“The press is amplifying market-soothing Trump claims that he has cemented a ceasefire ‘deal’ with Iran and is on a path to a resolution of the war. But there are serious differences between what Iran has said it has agreed to, which is a US capitulation. The only concession Iran appears to have made is to somewhat reduce its Strait of Hormuz transit fee. By contrast, Trump depicts the two week ceasefire as a pause in his threat to end Iran as a civilization over a four-hour period, contingent on Iran fully opening the Strait…to which Iran has not agreed.
“In addition, the Iran terms call for all hostile action to end, including of Israel against Lebanon. But Israel was not a party to this (non-convergent) agreement and is making minimally compliant noises while also reaffirming its intent to continue ethnic cleansing in Lebanon.”[11]
It’s worth reading Smith’s post in full.
[1] Richard Tarnas, Passion of the Western Mind (New York: Harmony, 1991).
[2] Andrew McDonald, “TACO Tuesday?” Politico, April 7, 2026, https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/taco-tuesday/; Nicholas Vinocur, “Trump’s Iran threats set EU on edge,” Politico, April 7, 2026, https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/trumps-iran-threats-set-eu-on-edge/
[3] Dan Rather, “Trump Unhinged,” Steady, April 6, 2026, https://steady.substack.com/p/trump-unhinged
[4] Al Jazeera, “US denies nuclear plan as deadline on threat to Iran ‘civilisation’ looms,” April 7, 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/7/us-denies-nuclear-plan-as-deadline-on-threat-to-iran-civilisation-looms; Gregory Svirnovskiy, “Trump threatens ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ ahead of Iran deadline,” Politico, April 7, 2026, https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/07/trump-iran-deadline-threats-00861313
[5] Al Jazeera, “US denies nuclear plan as deadline on threat to Iran ‘civilisation’ looms,” April 7, 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/7/us-denies-nuclear-plan-as-deadline-on-threat-to-iran-civilisation-looms; Patrick Wintour, “A war of regression: how Trump bombed the US into a worse position with Iran,” Guardian, March 27, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/27/how-trump-bombed-us-into-worse-position-iran-strategic-failure
[6] Al Jazeera, “US denies nuclear plan as deadline on threat to Iran ‘civilisation’ looms,” April 7, 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/7/us-denies-nuclear-plan-as-deadline-on-threat-to-iran-civilisation-looms
[7] Andrew Roth, “US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire as Tehran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz,” Guardian, April 8, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/07/trump-iran-war-ceasefire
[8] Dave Lawler and Barak Ravid, “U.S. and Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire,” Axios, April 7, 2026, https://www.axios.com/2026/04/07/iran-2-week-ceasfire-trump-pakistan; Andrew Roth, “US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire as Tehran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz,” Guardian, April 8, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/07/trump-iran-war-ceasefire; Jacob Wendler and Paul McLeary, “Trump announces Iran ceasefire ahead of 8 p.m. deadline,” Politico, April 7, 2026, Trump announces Iran ceasefire ahead of 8 p.m. deadline
[9] Andrew Roth, “US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire as Tehran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz,” Guardian, April 8, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/07/trump-iran-war-ceasefire
[10] Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Pete Hegseth Is Misleading Trump and Us About Iran War,” New Republic, April 7, 2026, https://newrepublic.com/post/208737/pete-hegseth-misleading-donald-trump-iran
[11] Yves Smith [Susan Webber], “Iran War: MSM Ceasefire Reporting Obscures Iran Agreeing to US Capitulation, Trump Depicting Different Deal; Israel Not a Party, States It Will Not Comply; Reason to Doubt Much Hormuz Traffic Increase Soon, Which Would Mean More Supply Pressure,” Naked Capitalism, April 8, 2026, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/04/iran-war-msm-ceasefire-reporting-obscures-iran-agreeing-to-us-capitulation-trump-depicting-different-deal-israel-not-a-party-states-it-will-not-comply-reason-to-doubt-much-hormuz-traffic-increase.html