Latest news with #DickCheney
Irish Times
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Donald Trump has discovered that Iran's supreme leader lies just as boldly as he does
Donald Trump has finally met his match. The Iranian supreme leader lies just as boldly, with just as much bombast, as the American supreme leader. On Thursday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei put out a video hailing Iran's victory over Israel and the United States. Trump was shocked, shocked at this blatant lie. READ MORE 'As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie,' the president marvelled on Truth Social. Then Trump went on to his usual authoritarian etiquette lesson, complaining that the proper response by Khamenei to getting hit with 14 30,000-pound bombs should have been: 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!' Trump said that he deserved gratitude because he knew where the ayatollah was hiding and stopped Israeli and US forces from killing him. He said that he made Israel recall a group of planes headed for Tehran that were, perhaps, looking for 'the final knockout!' 'I wish the leadership of Iran would realise,' he tut-tutted, 'that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR. PEACE!!!' Half an hour later, Mr Honey put out a typically vinegary post abruptly cutting off 'ALL' trade talks with Canada. Before Trump did it, with an assist from the supreme court on Friday, it was Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who worked to erode checks and balances and Hoover all the power into the executive branch. With the malleable George W Bush in the Oval Office, Cheney and Rumsfeld were able to create an alternate universe where they were never wrong – because they conjured up information to prove they were right. The two malevolent regents had a fever about getting rid of Saddam, so they hyped up intelligence, redirecting Americans' vengeful emotions about Osama bin Laden and 9/11 into that pet project. Tony Blair scaremongered that it would take only 45 minutes for Saddam to send his WMDs westward. But there were no WMDs. When it comes to the Middle East, presidents can't resist indulging in a gasconade. Unlike Iraq, Iran was actually making progress on its nuclear programme. Trump did not need to warp intelligence to justify his decision. But he did anyway, to satisfy his unquenchable ego. He bragged that the strikes had 'OBLITERATED' Iran's nuclear capabilities. 'I just don't think the president was telling the truth,' Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Murphy told reporters. He believes Iran still has 'significant remaining capability'. When CNN's Natasha Bertrand and her colleagues broke the story that a preliminary classified US report suggested that the strikes had set back Iran by only a few months, Trump, Pete Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt smeared her and the New York Times, which confirmed her scoop, as inaccurate, unpatriotic and disrespectful to our military. On Friday afternoon, CNN revealed that the military did not even use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear targets because it was too deep. Though Trump likes to hug the flag – and just raised two huge ones on the White House North and South Lawns – he ignores a basic tenet of patriotism: It is patriotic to tell the public the truth on life-or-death matters, and for the press to challenge power. It is unpatriotic to mislead the public in order to control it and suppress dissent, or as a way of puffing up your own ego. Although he was dubbed the 'Daddy' of Nato in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump clearly has daddy issues. (Pass the tissues!) He did not get the affirmation from his father that could have prevented this vainglorious vamping. For Trump, it was not enough for the strikes to damage Iran's nuclear capabilities; they had to 'obliterate' them. It could not simply be an impressive mission; it had to be, as Hegseth said, 'the most complex and secretive military operation in history.' (Move over, D-Day and crossing the Delaware.) The president was so eager to magnify the mission that he eerily compared it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Trump has always believed in 'truthful hyperbole,' as he called it in The Art of the Deal. But now it's untruthful hyperbole. He has falsely claimed that an election was stolen and falsely claimed that $1.7 trillion in cuts to the social safety net in his Big, Unpopular Bill 'won't affect anybody; it is just fraud, waste and abuse'. He's getting help on his alternate universe from all the new partisan reporters in the White House briefing room who are eager to shill for him. 'So many Americans still have questions about the 2020 election,' a reporter told Trump at the news conference on Friday, wondering if he would appoint someone at the Justice Department to investigate judges 'for the political persecution of you, your family and your supporters during the Biden administration?' Trump beamed. 'I love you,' he said to the young woman. 'Who are you?' She was, as it turned out, the reporter for Mike Lindell of MyPillow fame, who has his own 'news' network. Talk about fluffing your pillows. This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
Sydney Morning Herald
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The art of the lie: Why Trump is taking issue with Iran's alternative facts
Before Trump did it, with an assist from the Supreme Court on Friday, it was Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who worked to erode checks and balances and hoover all the power into the executive branch. With the malleable George W. Bush in the Oval Office, Cheney and Rumsfeld were able to create an alternative universe where they were never wrong – because they conjured up information to prove they were right. The two malevolent regents had a fever about getting rid of Saddam Hussein, so they hyped up intelligence, redirecting Americans' vengeful emotions about Osama bin Laden and 9/11 into that pet project. Tony Blair scaremongered that it would take only 45 minutes for Saddam to send his weapons of mass destruction westward. But there were no WMDs. When it comes to the Middle East, presidents can't resist indulging in a gasconade. Unlike Iraq, Iran was actually making progress on its nuclear program. Trump did not need to warp intelligence to justify his decision. But he did anyway, to satisfy his unquenchable ego. He bragged that the strikes had 'OBLITERATED' Iran's nuclear capabilities. Loading 'I just don't think the president was telling the truth,' Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, told reporters. He believes Iran still has 'significant remaining capability'. When CNN's Natasha Bertrand and her colleagues broke the story that a preliminary classified US report suggested the strikes had set back Iran by only a few months, Trump, Pete Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt smeared her and The New York Times, which confirmed her scoop, as inaccurate, unpatriotic and disrespectful to our military. On Friday afternoon, CNN revealed that the military did not even use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear targets because it was too deep. Though Trump likes to hug the flag – and just raised two huge ones on the White House North and South Lawns – he ignores a basic tenet of patriotism: it is patriotic to tell the public the truth on life-or-death matters, and for the press to challenge power. It is unpatriotic to mislead the public in order to control it and suppress dissent, or as a way of puffing up your own ego. Although he was dubbed the 'daddy' of NATO in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump clearly has daddy issues. (Pass the tissues!) He did not get the affirmation from his father that could have prevented this vainglorious vamping. For Trump, it was not enough for the strikes to damage Iran's nuclear capabilities; they had to 'obliterate' them. It could not simply be an impressive mission; it had to be, as Hegseth said, 'the most complex and secretive military operation in history'. (Move over, D-Day and crossing the Delaware.) The president was so eager to magnify the mission that he eerily compared it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Trump has always believed in 'truthful hyperbole', as he called it in The Art of the Deal. But now it's untruthful hyperbole. He has falsely claimed that an election was stolen and falsely claimed that $US1.7 trillion ($2.6 trillion) in cuts to the social safety net in his Big, Unpopular Bill 'won't affect anybody; it is just fraud, waste and abuse.' Loading He's getting help on his alternative universe from all the new partisan reporters in the White House briefing room who are eager to shill for him. 'So many Americans still have questions about the 2020 election,' a reporter told Trump at the news conference on Friday, wondering if he would appoint someone at the Justice Department to investigate judges 'for the political persecution of you, your family and your supporters during the Biden administration'? Trump beamed. 'I love you,' he said to the young woman. 'Who are you?' She was, as it turned out, the reporter for Mike Lindell of MyPillow fame, who has his own 'news' network.
The Age
29-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
The art of the lie: Why Trump is taking issue with Iran's alternative facts
Before Trump did it, with an assist from the Supreme Court on Friday, it was Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who worked to erode checks and balances and hoover all the power into the executive branch. With the malleable George W. Bush in the Oval Office, Cheney and Rumsfeld were able to create an alternative universe where they were never wrong – because they conjured up information to prove they were right. The two malevolent regents had a fever about getting rid of Saddam Hussein, so they hyped up intelligence, redirecting Americans' vengeful emotions about Osama bin Laden and 9/11 into that pet project. Tony Blair scaremongered that it would take only 45 minutes for Saddam to send his weapons of mass destruction westward. But there were no WMDs. When it comes to the Middle East, presidents can't resist indulging in a gasconade. Unlike Iraq, Iran was actually making progress on its nuclear program. Trump did not need to warp intelligence to justify his decision. But he did anyway, to satisfy his unquenchable ego. He bragged that the strikes had 'OBLITERATED' Iran's nuclear capabilities. Loading 'I just don't think the president was telling the truth,' Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, told reporters. He believes Iran still has 'significant remaining capability'. When CNN's Natasha Bertrand and her colleagues broke the story that a preliminary classified US report suggested the strikes had set back Iran by only a few months, Trump, Pete Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt smeared her and The New York Times, which confirmed her scoop, as inaccurate, unpatriotic and disrespectful to our military. On Friday afternoon, CNN revealed that the military did not even use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear targets because it was too deep. Though Trump likes to hug the flag – and just raised two huge ones on the White House North and South Lawns – he ignores a basic tenet of patriotism: it is patriotic to tell the public the truth on life-or-death matters, and for the press to challenge power. It is unpatriotic to mislead the public in order to control it and suppress dissent, or as a way of puffing up your own ego. Although he was dubbed the 'daddy' of NATO in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump clearly has daddy issues. (Pass the tissues!) He did not get the affirmation from his father that could have prevented this vainglorious vamping. For Trump, it was not enough for the strikes to damage Iran's nuclear capabilities; they had to 'obliterate' them. It could not simply be an impressive mission; it had to be, as Hegseth said, 'the most complex and secretive military operation in history'. (Move over, D-Day and crossing the Delaware.) The president was so eager to magnify the mission that he eerily compared it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Trump has always believed in 'truthful hyperbole', as he called it in The Art of the Deal. But now it's untruthful hyperbole. He has falsely claimed that an election was stolen and falsely claimed that $US1.7 trillion ($2.6 trillion) in cuts to the social safety net in his Big, Unpopular Bill 'won't affect anybody; it is just fraud, waste and abuse.' Loading He's getting help on his alternative universe from all the new partisan reporters in the White House briefing room who are eager to shill for him. 'So many Americans still have questions about the 2020 election,' a reporter told Trump at the news conference on Friday, wondering if he would appoint someone at the Justice Department to investigate judges 'for the political persecution of you, your family and your supporters during the Biden administration'? Trump beamed. 'I love you,' he said to the young woman. 'Who are you?' She was, as it turned out, the reporter for Mike Lindell of MyPillow fame, who has his own 'news' network.
Newsweek
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
The 1600: On the Brink
The Insider's Track Good morning, Imagine being Dick Cheney right now. Your entire career dedicated to coming up with justifications for carpet bombing the Middle East. You do a pretty good job finding excuses to topple regimes across the region, even if your prediction that the US will be "greeted as liberators" never exactly comes true. But the biggest prize—Iran—eludes you. Now 20 years later, it's Donald Trump—a man you loathe so deeply you came out of your crypt to endorse a Democrat for the first time in your life—who stands on the precipice of dealing the mullahs the crippling blow you never could. Politics is funny like that. Here's the state of play as it stands at this hour. Trump cut out of the G7 early last night to fly back to DC while urging the 10 million residents of Tehran to evacuate "before it's too late" (issuing evac orders for a foreign city is kind of a weird thing for a POTUS to do but I guess we're way past weird here). He's gathering his national security team in the Sit Room this morning, where the decision at hand appears to be: force a last-chance deal with Iran or join Israel's air campaign by delivering the bunker-busting bombs and planes that could take out Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility, known as Fordow, which is buried deep inside a mountain. Cut a deal or join the war, essentially. That decision pits the two wings of the current GOP coalition in direct confrontation. The MAGA true believers, like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, who are telling Trump in no uncertain terms he cannot get us entangled in a new morass in the Mideast, that doing so would be an affront to the movement that delivered him the White House, twice. Then there's the hawks, aka the Deep State, who still exist across the federal government, despite Trump's decade-running pledge to "drain the swamp." They're telling him he stands at a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver a KO to the Iranian nuclear project, and maybe even the regime itself. The country's air defenses are in tatters, its proxies are neutered. This is the moment, they're whispering in his ear. Do what Bush, McCain, Cheney, et al. never could. If you're waking up lately feeling like you've been teleported into an alternate reality where we're running back the first George W. Bush term—mass street protests, deficit-exploding tax cuts, drumbeats of war—you're not alone. I'm old enough to remember the election last year, when every right-wing pundit in the country was telling us Trump 2.0 represented a new kind of administration. No more wars. Focus on our own problems. America First. And yet here we are, six months in, and the world is on fire. Ukraine is an endless slaughterhouse. Gaza is a disaster and moral outrage. Israel is more emboldened than it's ever been, even during eras when the neocons were actually in charge! The Democrats and broader anti-war movement are inert, complete non-entities. The Boomers are out there marching against a fascism that doesn't exist, rather than wars that do. And Trump is impulsive. No one knows how this breaks. I will be the first to sing the president's praises if he pulls off whatever's coming without dragging the US into a new military misadventure. But history is littered with the stories of American presidents who never recover from the decisions they make at these very moments. Say what you will about old Joe Biden, but at least his big foreign folly was in service of trying to get us out of a war, rather than into a new one. The Rundown President Donald Trump said he left the G7 summit in Canada a day early for something "much bigger" than a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran. Trump caused surprise with his early departure, with French President Emmanuel Macron later saying that he had left to broker an agreement between the warring Middle East nations. Read more. Also happening: Minnesota shootings: Vance Boelter sent a group text to his family members saying he "went to war" after fatally shooting Democratic Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and injuring Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, according to an FBI affidavit. Read more. Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill": Senate lawmakers have released proposed tax changes to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, making a number of changes to the budget plan approved by the House in May. "We understand that it's a negotiation," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. Here's how they compare. This is a preview of The 1600—Tap here to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Don't know what DC club to join? Ask Groucho.
These are tough times in Washington. Federal employees don't know from one day to the next whether they'll still have a job. Reporters fear their editors won't back them up if they're too hard on reporting the truth about President Trump. Lobbyists scan their client list to make sure none can be blackballed as 'DEI.' Republican politicians worry about being primaried. Democrats worry about being dismissed as irrelevant. All that angst! But, according to a recent survey in the New York Times, that stress is minor compared to the biggest existential crisis facing younger, political and socially-ambitious Washingtonians today: What private club shall I join to further my career and, maybe, have fun along the way? Let's be honest. The choices are not great, starting with what is probably still Washington's most prestigious private club, the Metropolitan Club, nestled in a drab high rise near the White House. It has a roster of famous Washington establishment names — I once chatted up Vice President Dick Cheney there — but if you're looking for signs of life, you'd be better off at Congressional Cemetery. Next up, the Cosmos Club, located in a beautiful Beaux-Arts mansion on Massachusetts Avenue, near Dupont Circle. Like San Francisco's Bohemian Club, the Cosmos Club is home to artists, writers and intellectuals. Its walls are covered with photos of members who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. But, again, it's atmosphere is quiet, if not moribund. But now there are two alternatives. Ned's Club, which opened in late January, across from the Treasury Department, with a $5,000 initiation fee plus an annual $5,000 membership fee. Aiming to attract younger professionals from both parties, Ned's has already signed up 1,500 major players in the current and past administrations, as well as several big-name journalists. If that's your idea of a good time, 'half the lobbyists in town are always there,' one unnamed member told the Times. The Executive Branch, opening this month, is Washington's most exclusive private club, created by a group of investors led by Donald Trump Jr. in an subterranean cavern under a Georgetown shopping mall. With a membership fee of $500,000, the Executive Branch is clearly a place where MAGA moguls and government officials — and maybe even POTUS himself — can hoist a drink without fear of rubbing elbows with someone not wearing a MAGA hat. If you're not sure what club to join, here's the obvious answer: Don't join any of them. To make it in Washington, you don't really have to. There are plenty of power pits in DC you can get into for just the price of a meal. No place speaks Washington politics and power like The Palm restaurant, where caricatures of past and present big shots stare down at you from the walls. Legendary lobbyists like Tommy Boggs and Chuck Manatt had their own tables here. At Friday lunch, chances are you'll see former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) holding court. Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab, in a renovated bank at the corner of 15th and H, NW, a block from Lafayette Park, is another favorite for Republican and Democratic operatives. Dinner at the Capitol Grill, near the Capitol, is like dinner in the House GOP Caucus: swap stories with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.). Or join Trump insiders led by frequent diner Steve Bannon at Butterworth's, on Capitol Hill. Trattorio Alberto, on Barracks Row, once former House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) hideaway, nightly hosts Congress members and staffers from both sides of the aisle. The Tune Inn remains Washington's classic, no-frills, grungy bar. And there's still no better place to see and be seen by the politically powerful than Georgetown's Café Milano. The point is: With so many free alternatives, there's no need to join a private club to help you climb the political, professional and social ladder. In fact, when it comes to joining clubs, the leading authority is the great Groucho Marx. He once applied for membership in the Los Angeles chapter of the Friars Club. But, once accepted, he declined the invitation, citing a busy schedule. Club managers objected, insisting there must be something else. 'I do have another reason,' Groucho wrote back promptly. 'I didn't want to tell you, but since you've forced the issue: I just don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.' That Groucho philosophy of not joining any club has enabled me to survive and thrive in the highly-competitive worlds of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington. I highly recommend it. Bill Press is host of 'The Bill Press Pod.' He is the author of 'From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
