Damaged but Alive in Some Form
What will it take to prevent MAGA from becoming a cardboard cutout just like the new ayatollah?
It’s hardly been the best of starts for the new ayatollah, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iran’s most senior cleric, its supreme leader, hasn’t been seen in public ever since it was announced he would be replacing his father in that most coveted of roles.
I mean, you can understand why, can’t you?
If a senior member of the Iranian regime even makes a brunch reservation these days, he’s liable to get a huge side order of high explosive to go with his shakshouka or whatever the hell they eat instead of avocado toast over there.
Pilaf? Baba ganoush? Rice and peas?
Anyway.
Mojtaba’s father, his wife and his daughter have all been killed by the Israelis, and the rumour is Mojtaba himself was badly injured along with them in the devastating first wave of attacks two weeks ago. They say he’s lost a leg and may not even be fully conscious. He exists purely as a figurehead—albeit an invisible one—while a faction of the Revolutionary Guards does the real string-pulling behind the scenes.
In an interview on Friday, President Trump seemed to confirm this rumor, describing Mojtaba as “damaged… but probably alive in some form.”
Ouch. That’s the kind of thing you say when your friend goes on holiday and you kill their beloved hamster by sitting on it.
The Iranians deny this, of course. They say Mojtaba is only “lightly wounded” and “still active.”
My money’s on President Trump, for what it’s worth. It’s hard to think of a more plausible explanation for why the supreme leader was replaced by an actual cardboard cutout at the official “allegiance ceremony,” in a scene reminiscent of South Park (when they used cardboard cutouts and the jokes were still funny). Surely if the man’s alive somebody could at least have got some grainy camera-phone footage ready for his big debut? I guess not. Perhaps they just do things differently in Tehran.
Laugh all we want at the “cardboard cleric,” but the situation on the other side isn’t really that much better. In fact, “damaged… but probably alive in some form” makes a pretty good metaphor for MAGA right now.
Maybe.
At this stage, it’s still too early to assess the damage. Let’s look at the polling. Aggregated national surveys suggest about 43% of the great American public are pro-Operation Epic Fury and 50% are against. Separate polls of Republicans, however, show overwhelming approval. One poll showed around 85% of Republicans support the war and want it to continue, and self-described “MAGA conservatives” gave the war a rollicking 94% approval. Trump’s personal approval rating is also pretty much the same and may even be a little bit higher since the war?… conflict?… special military operation (two weeks to take Kiev)?… began.
People are screaming like mad on Twitter, but Twitter is mostly a platform for hysterical faggots, people who think Erika Kirk eats babies, and Indians masquerading as e-girls these days, so it’s hard to set much store by what you see there.
At this stage, then, it doesn’t look like Trump has lost his base, and it’s the base that matters.
None of this is intended as a vindication of Trump. It’s a matter of public record that I think the war is a dangerous gamble that shouldn’t have been taken, not only because it imperils Trump’s domestic agenda but also because it further enables Netanyahu’s insane apocalyptic plans to settle scores that should remain firmly confined to the pages of the Old Testament. MAGA has nothing to do with Amalek. With a name like that, Amalek should be deported. Bye bye, Amalek!
Perhaps more than any in recent memory, this war is both confusing and confused—as evidenced by the fact that nobody, not even members of Trump’s cabinet, really knows what to call it, and no clear set of aims appears to have been established.
Trump just said the war will end “when I feel it in my bones.” Okay then.
