The world got so used to Don's deranged bravado, that I doubt that either china or russia have raised their DEFCON status equivalents, as they would probably do, should any other serious american president said the same thing.
In a lot of ways I feel the discourse that he means a nuclear attack buries the lede. This is not likely to happen.
What is more likely to happen is just as bad. Devastating civil infrastructure would put 10s of millions of lives at risk.
And even if one were to look at this from a myopic USA centric lens, has anyone considered how many of these people we were told needed liberation are now radicalized against us?
What's truly shocking is that a large part of what got Trump elected in 2024 (and the world in this mess now) was that the GOP cleverly stoked the fears of transgenderism via local-market ad buys during the election. This very play was the reason for much of Trump's gains with various demo's such as black males and hispanics/latinos. So many of these folks were completely triggered by 'grooming' and the ideas that girls are having to compete against transgender girls in their sports. The fact that folks were willing to elect Trump so that a very small number of women wouldn't have to compete against transgenders, is sad beyond words. Perhaps this (will turn into) a lesson well learned, although voters have notoriously short memories. Sophistication of this type among the masses is sorely lacking.
The ruling class has us just where they want us -- so focused on & fearful of losing our little jobs that we don't have context around much else so that we can do a thoughtful job of performing as an electorate. This is how you elect a Donald Trump, as THEY have now learned.
A lesson learned for the Democrats, hopefully. Despite being warned by so many inside and outside of their party about this issue, they gave the Republicans ample opportunity to exploit it. Really, it was quite unnecessary.
Response from Iran: "Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it will respond outside the region and deprive the United States and its allies of oil and gas “for many years” if the US crosses “red lines” and attacks civilian facilities."[1]
"Iran has closed all diplomatic and indirect channels of communication with the United States, the state-run Tehran Times reported ..." US media does not seem to have picked up on this, but media in India and China have.[2] But the common source seems to be "Tehran Times", and it's unclear who runs that or where they get their info. New York Times, AP, and AlJazeera are not saying that. Xinhua has a one-line note with no source. The US White House says Vance is talking to somebody. Politico says Vance is on "standby".[3]
The markets dropped. He and his cronies are buying up stocks. Tomorrow he'll say Iran is negotiating and offering something amazing. The stocks will go up and they'll sell. Iran will say they have no idea what he's talking about. Wash and repeat.
How is Trump's threat the most extreme in this war? Hell, "a whole civilization might die tonight?". The islamic regime in Iran has explicitly set wiping out Persian civilization as it's goal, more than 50 years ago. And they've worked hard at it. Or how about:
Iran's regime threatens to make life in the middle east essentially impossible:
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 55.2 ms ] threadFucking clown.
What is more likely to happen is just as bad. Devastating civil infrastructure would put 10s of millions of lives at risk.
And even if one were to look at this from a myopic USA centric lens, has anyone considered how many of these people we were told needed liberation are now radicalized against us?
the marginal cost for him is unfortunately not that high at this point
I'm sure he'll follow up with bailing the ocean.
The ruling class has us just where they want us -- so focused on & fearful of losing our little jobs that we don't have context around much else so that we can do a thoughtful job of performing as an electorate. This is how you elect a Donald Trump, as THEY have now learned.
Even those who don't care about innocent lives recognize the horrible consequences for everyone else:
- Iran empowered to tax the strait of Hormuz indefinitely with high insurance
- Russia empowered with access to the middle east since the Iranians will have to embrace their only ally
Trump enablers are responsible.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47674286
It says: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again."
Will. Not might.
"Iran has closed all diplomatic and indirect channels of communication with the United States, the state-run Tehran Times reported ..." US media does not seem to have picked up on this, but media in India and China have.[2] But the common source seems to be "Tehran Times", and it's unclear who runs that or where they get their info. New York Times, AP, and AlJazeera are not saying that. Xinhua has a one-line note with no source. The US White House says Vance is talking to somebody. Politico says Vance is on "standby".[3]
A negotiated cease-fire seems unlikely now.
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/4/7/iran-war-li...
[2] https://www.the-independent.com/bulletin/news/iran-mediators...
[3] https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/06/vance-is-on-standby...
Iran's regime threatens to make life in the middle east essentially impossible:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/23/iran-threat-to...
Iran's regime threatens to kill every Iranian they can "before giving Iran back to Iranians":
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/16/no-sign-of-new-prot...
Bizarre wording from this website. 90% of Jews in Iran left after the Islamic fundamentalists took over.