cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47584733
Trita Parsi May 18, 2026
We should first recognize that restarting the war amounts to an admission that Trump’s previous escalatory gambit — the blockade of the blockade — has failed. That, in turn, was itself an admission that the war had failed. Which was an admission that the threats of war in January had failed. As I have argued before on my Substack, this relentless search for an escalatory silver bullet capable of bringing Iran to its knees is not unique to Trump; it has become a defining pathology of American Iran policy for decades.
Although negotiators have made meaningful progress on several fronts, talks have thus far failed to produce an agreement, largely because of irreconcilable differences over Tehran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile. And as Washington has come to realize that the blockade is backfiring, a new and dangerous dynamic has emerged: both sides now believe another round of fighting will strengthen their hand in the negotiations that follow.
I feel the same. I just don’t see how we get this country to lock in. Even as people get upset—in January 2025 over the DOGE terrorism; more recently over these data centers—nothing ever comes of it. Progressive and rational voices speak up, but we’re drowned out.
I fear there is just too much against us. There are too many distractions for the disillusioned. The only current movement that has overcome that is MAGA, with their ravenous hatred; but they obviously aren’t the solution.
I’m not giving up—for I and many others USA politics isn’t something we can “log out” of—but I can’t ignore that all the introspection and analysis I’ve tried runs into the same seemingly-impassible pitfalls.
MSM pretty much wont report on the actual fallout of doge cuts, trumps attack, or at least downplay it to death. since they are all owned by trump supporters. older people still consume MSMs in large amounts, and it gets distilled by right wing pundits on youtube, or social media, they never hear the actual bad that comes from trump, its all framed as a "non-issue, temporary issue or a positive thing.
One thing they have noticed and will keep noticing is the inflation and fuel prices.