Remember earlier this month we were talking about John Bolton banging on the war drum and Trump moving military forces into the Persian Gulf?  There were ominous warnings about Iran’s aggression and our bases being put on high alert in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Remember, too, how no other country saw the threat and dared to say so? Well, just as quickly as the threat appeared, it also disappeared, ending when Trump, standing in the West Wing door, said, “I hope not,” when a reporter shouted the question about going to war with Iran.

Now we know what all that was about – arms sales to Saudi Arabia.  Trump has made some backroom deal with MBS and the House of Saud to sell weapons to them, along with the UAE and Jordan.  The trick?  By declaring a another fake emergency, Trump can bypass Congress, which approves arms sales to other countries.  Since MBS had journalist Jamal Kashoggi brutally murdered (and Trump didn’t do anything about it) Congress has refused to support the Saudi attacks on Yemen or to approve arms sales to them.  So, Trump just ignored Congress, again.

This is how Trump operates.  When the invertebrates in Congress occasionally stand up, or when the courts step in, Trump just disregards the law and acts unilaterally to do what he wants.  The strength of our system of government is also its greatest weakness.  The Founders designed a system of checks and balances to keep power in check.  The problem with that system is that they never dreamed that each of the branches of government would be simultaneously corrupt; they anticipated a Trump-like president, so gave the Congress co-equal power to control or remove him/her if necessary.  If the Congress is also corrupt, the system collapses, and this is exactly what’s happening.  Trump does what he wants, lines his own pockets, destabilizes entire regions of the world, and is making the US an unstable oligarchy with widening social injustice and gaping income inequality.  When Congress does makes some lame effort to slow his corruption, His Orangeness just doubles down and does what he wants.  McConnell and company just shrug, since they’re busily packing the courts with radicals and weirdos while Trump infests the WH.

At least we now know why the fake concern over a fake threat from Iran so Trump can declare a fake emergency to funnel weapons to his fellow oligarchs who are differentiated from him only by their garb, language, and hair style.

Sometimes, the New York Times gets it wrong.  Take their unabashed support of GWB’s invasion of Iraq based on the blatant lie about Saddam’s possession of non-existent WMD.  In that case, the error was caused by poor or even dishonest reporting by individuals; in other cases it’s the Times’ effort to show “both sides” of an argument, even when there is actually only one side that is true.  Their problem, though, is that (especially with the current occupant of the White House) when there is no factual “other side” of an argument, they turn to opinion pieces manufactured by paid “analysts” at think tanks to present an alternative opinion, even when that opinion is either a blatant lie or twisted up exaggerations.  Such was the case this week when the Times published a remarkable piece of fiction written by a pair of fine fellows employed by the Hudson Institute, and The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Both of these think tanks claim to be non-partisan, but, just like the Heritage Foundation, nothing could be further from the truth.  Both organizations are part of the billionaire-funded cabal of right wing messaging shops peddling bullshit as scholarship.  The Hudson Institute casts itself as mainstream thought on domestic policy, but is funded by the Kochs and other right wingers; the FDD is a pro-Israel think tank started originally in the ’60s, but transformed after 9/11 into a hawkishly anti-Saudi Arabia/Iran mouthpiece.

The Times piece, published Wednesday, came to the remarkable conclusion that Trump (even though crude) is right on Saudi Arabia, over looking the butchering of Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi because Saudi Arabia is the only thing standing between Iran and WWIII.  The piece is full of nothing but manure and whataboutism, even calling Trump’s defense of Saudi Arabia “clear-eyed and right”.  This piece actually tries to frame Trump’s wild thrashing about as actual foreign policy and strategy.  They go after the Obama administration’s Middle East policy in Iran and Syria and raise the ugly head of an unbridled Iran torching the region while pursuing nuclear weapons (which Trump just unleashed by backing out of the international Iranian nuclear pact).  They try to equate Trump’s political weaving like a drunkard to Obama’s clear policies.  You may disagree with those policies, but they were clearly actual policies based on academic and diplomatic work, not random tweeting while sitting on the toilet.

The most remarkable argument they make is that Trump’s tweet storms and ranting on television are somehow some thoughtful set of principles and policies.  That notion is simply laughable; Trump’s Train Wreck is as random as the weather, with the only common thread being his hyper focus on his own ego and financial gain.  NOTHING else matters, not Saudi Arabia, troops deployed around the world, healthcare, human rights, constitutional rights, or security.  NOTHING.  Trump’s support of MBS and Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with Iran or Middle East tensions any more than it has to do with the price of bagels in Brooklyn or wildfires in California.  Trump’s “policies”, if you want to call them that, are all about filling his ego and wallet and shoring up his base so he can keep filling his ego and wallet.

Along that vein, the authors of the Times piece fail to even mention Trump’s financial ties to the Saudi royal family, including it buying millions of dollars of apartments from the Trump Organization, pouring millions into Trump hotels, or even prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bailing Trump out in the mid-90s by buying a 51% interest in the Plaza Hotel making a debt restructuring possible, saving Trump’s financial ass.

Think tanks like the Hudson Institute and the FDD are nothing but propaganda outlets using the likes of Newt Gingrich and other right wing talking heads to peddle manure as filet mignon.  The Times does no good by giving such manure a megaphone just to project “balance” where no true balance actually exists.  The Times should be ashamed of itself.