You know you're in trouble when Tucker Carlson has the moral high ground

Trump’s Armageddon insanity in Iran reminds me of an old funny-not-funny joke:

‘When it’s my time to die, I want to go peacefully and in my sleep, like my uncle. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.’

The world is careening as an indulged manchild sets the world on fire, while Republicans in Congress dishonor their Constitutional oaths by refusing to stop him. From burning hellscapes in the Middle East to the earth’s rising temperatures, Trump is the quintessential arsonist with a hose: Douse the flames with gas, brandish a spigot, then demand adulation for putting out the fire.

The new ceasefire in Iran, like the one in Gaza, is already shaky. On Monday Trump threatened the world with his own deranged ramblings about the stone age, on Tuesday Americans ate tacos Fox News called ‘victory,’ and by Wednesday bombs were falling again as the Strait of Hormuz was decidedly not open. To Trump’s credit, no one was talking about the Epstein files.

Turns out Trump can’t control Netanyahu, who, continuing the bombing campaign, is as concerned as Trump about staying in power, but isn’t as concerned as Trump about the price of gas. Maybe Trump should have considered the trajectory of Bibi’s political motivations before he let him drag us into Israel’s forever war.

Nah. Just kidding. Anticipating global consequences exceeds Trump’s capacity. But even as we inch ever closer to 12 on the Atomic clock, signs of intelligent life are beeping.

Military brass understands the assignment

Last November, after Trump and Hegseth released one snuff video after another bragging about murdering people on the high seas, Senator Mark Kelly and five other veteran lawmakers released a video reminding U.S. service members that they must refuse illegal orders, citing canned, non-controversial military code. Even though they were announcing the law as it is plainly written, the video got under Trump and Hegseth’s skin, and led them to “investigate” to try to silence Kelly, a retired Navy captain.

Hegseth claimed that Kelly citing the military code of conduct—which Hegseth considers “woke”—was somehow ‘conduct unbecoming an officer.’ Setting aside the scary optics of a Secretary of Defense (not War, sorry, until Congress says so) openly rejecting civilized laws of war, it seems Kelly’s public service announcement may have hit its mark.

Because on Tuesday, MSNBC aired an interview suggesting that military officers were rejecting Hegseth’s civilian targets.

When a dry drunk tells you to bomb civilians, JUST SAY NO

Trump and Fox News may have sold Trump’s surrender to Iran as victory, but hope lurks yet beneath the surface. Because while our Commander in Chief has been tanking 80 years of post-WWII diplomacy, there’s evidence that military brass has been pushing back.

On Tuesday, April 7, Retired Army Major General Randy Manner appeared on MS NOW, where he told Nicolle Wallace that he had secondhand knowledge that military officials were saying “no” to Pentagon leadership. General Manner said in part:

The idea of attacking bridges that are clearly, overwhelmingly for civilian use would be a war crime, and the planners in CENTCOM would not permit that. I have indications that many targets recommended by the Secretary of Defense were rejected by CENTCOM (because) they were civilian targets… It’s secondhand knowledge, but I believe people are already saying no to the hierarchy.”

Because Trump and Hegseth fired JAGs as the first order of business, and excluded military lawyers from strike planning, mapping out the combat missions in Iran falls to CENTCOM, U.S. Central Command. Officers at CENTCOM are now the last line of defense against unlawful orders.

It is reassuring, to put it mildly, that while Republicans are letting a lunatic destroy the global order that has protected America for 80 years, military leaders are taking their oaths of office seriously. Rejecting Trump’s blatantly unlawful orders, military brass is standing up where Congress won’t.

Even Tucker Carlson gets it

Trump’s profanity laden Easter message revealed his frustration at being sold a quick and easy war in Iran, which has turned out to be anything but. Threatening war crimes, he posted that, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran…–JUST WATCH!” He ended his petition for involuntary civil commitment with a mocking, ‘Praise be to Allah!’

There’s no real debate about whether threatening to obliterate 92 million people is a war crime. Nor is there real debate, outside the Fox News propaganda network, about how insane, provocative, and dangerous it was.

Even rightwing firebrand Tucker Carlson was outraged. Carlson urged members of the administration and military to resign if given illegal orders to slaughter civilians. Taking severe umbrage at the mocking “praise Allah” part of Trump’s message, Carlson asked, “Who do you think you are?” Carlson told Trump, “(Y)ou are not God. And only if you think you are, do you talk this way… (We are) not a theocracy. We don’t go to war with other theocracies to find out which theocracy is more effective…”

Color me shocked. A broken clock strikes at just the right moment during one of America’s darkest hours. It reminds me of another favorite saying, this one of hope:

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”- Albert Camus

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.

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