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April 12, 2026
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- Biased media and incompetent journalists are sanewashing Trump's deranged social media posts.
- Trump should be removed from office. That might not happen under a Democratic Congress. It will never happen as long as Republicans control Congress. At least Democrats will restore Congress's role as a check on the Executive Branch, not a doormat for the president to walk over.
- Trump lost the Iran War. Under the terms of the ceasefire he agreed to, we are worse off than we were before he started this unconstitutional war. We would have been better off under the Iran Deal that Trump ripped up during his first term.
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Greetings!
The term "Obama Derangement Syndrome" was coined to describe Republicans who feigned outrage over events that normal people would not think about twice.
Lacking the creativity to come up with their own term, MAGA Republicans cite "Trump Derangement Syndrome" to deflect from and minimize scandals that outrage normal people and that would have brought down any presidency not insulated by a Supreme Court stacked with hacks and a Congress more loyal to the president than the Constitution.
On April 7, Trump posted this on Truth Social:
"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!"
Anyone who reads this post can see that Trump threatened genocide and other war crimes. If anyone is deranged, it's Donald Trump.
Why isn't this obvious to every thinking American? Maybe because too many Americans get their information from sources that use sanewashing to make Trump's irrational and extreme ranting seem reasonable or normal. You can often spot sanewashing by noticing whether a source quotes Trump or paraphrases Trump.
On April 5, Trump posted this on Truth Social:
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Any outlet that did not quote this post verbatim committed journalistic malpractice. No paraphrase can do it justice. It matters that our Commander-in-Chief is acting as if he is insane. Good journalists reported exactly what he posted on April 5.
On the other hand, Jewish Insider "reported" the next day that Trump "paired threats with optimism, leaning into the current debate with a conflicting mix of tough talk — warning yesterday that strikes targeting Iran’s power plants and bridges would take place on Tuesday in the absence of a deal — and hopes of an 11th-hour diplomatic breakthrough." Not even a link to Trump's Truth Social post.
That, my friends, is sanewashing. That, my friends, is propaganda, not journalism.
Knowing the facts means knowing that Trump should be impeached and convicted, but Republicans and MAGA media outlets don't dare lift a finger against Dear Leader. The 25th Amendment isn't coming to save us either. Voting Democratic in the midterms and in the 2028 elections is the only way out of this mess.
Trump lost this war. Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, Paul Krugman wrote that "the world’s greatest military power went to war with a poor, medievalist theocracy. It was an incredibly uneven match...
"Yet Iran won. The Iranian regime has emerged far stronger than it was before, controlling the Strait of Hormuz and having demonstrated its ability to inflict damage on both its neighbors and the world economy. The U.S. has emerged far weaker, having demonstrated the limitations of its military technology, its strategic ineptitude, and when push comes to shove, its cowardice.
"We’ve also destroyed our moral credibility: Trump may have TACOed at the last minute, but he threatened to commit gigantic war crimes — and for all practical purposes our political and civil institutions gave him permission to do so."
Trump ripped up Obama's Iran Deal in his first term. Qassam Rashid compares the terms of the Iran Deal to the terms of Trump's ceasefire. Trump should have stayed in the Iran Deal.
Or you could compare the human and monetary costs of the Iran Deal to the costs of Trump's ceasefire. Trump should have stayed in the Iran Deal.
Any way you look at it, as Halie Soifer explains, Trump failed to achieve his stated objectives.
Jennifer Rubin writes that the blame does not lie entirely with Trump: "This is also a massive failure of the entire Republican Party, which must be held accountable at the polls for abdicating its duties."
The New York Times published a detailed analysis of how Trump took the U.S. to war with Iran, which the Times summarized here. David Litt thinks that JD Vance leaked much of this information to the Times, but he writes that despite Vance's trip abroad during the war to campaign for Hungary's right-wing authoritarian leader Viktor Orban, this is JD Vance's war too.
Compare J Street's statement on the ceasefire to AIPAC's statement. Ask yourself which organization is operating in the reality-based world.
In Case You Missed It.
- Trump conflated Israel with Jewish Americans and questioned the intelligence of the 70% of Jewish Americans who vote Democratic. This is antisemitism. Imagine saying this about any other group or any other country. No condemnation from any Republican in Congress.
- Department of Irony: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum illustrated exactly how not to respond to authoritarianism by proactively falling in line (anticipatory compliance) and changing content after Trump returned to office. Have they seen their own exhibits?
- Is Hasan Piker antisemitic? Aaron Regenburg researched his record and spoke with him to find out. Piker does not hold elected office, is not running for office, and has no position in the Democratic Party. If you've never heard of him, skip to the next bullet. But if this question is nevertheless on your mind, I encourage you to read Regenburg's article.
- The Democratic National Committee's Resolutions Committee did not adopt the two proposed resolutions critical of Israel or the proposed dark money resolution that singled out AIPAC (AIPAC is part of the dark money problem but hardly the sole problem). Good and unsurprising news, but we should focus more on Democratic and Republican members of Congress and less on unelected DNC committee members debating nonbinding resolutions.
- Jeremy Ben-Ami reminds us that "Zionism has never been a single, monolithic idea. From the beginning, it has encompassed multiple strands – religious and secular, socialist and revisionist, liberal and nationalist – often in deep disagreement with one another."
Tweets of the Week. Ed Krassenstein, Melanie D'Arrigo, Ilan Goldenberg, Brooks Otterlake, and Lloyd Legalist.
Thread of the Week. Well, not really a thread, but read the tweet and the replies.
Video Clips of the Week. Ilana Dayan and Dave Columbo.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. Susan Fassbender--Twilight Cafe.
The Fine Print. I read every reply to this newsletter. I reply as often as I can. All I ask is that you read the fine print before you reply or send me anything.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (yes, I wrote it).
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Be sure to read my posts on distinguishing anti-Zionism from antisemitism, how to heal the generational rift on Israel and antisemitism, and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
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