Outside the Beltway

Comments

1. DK says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 08:01

   Ol’ Donny Trump Has Really Stepped in It This Time (Ryan Cooper @ The American Prospect)

   The developing situation in the region is that Iran is consolidating formal control over the strait… Only nations that have friendly relations with Iran, like China, are getting anything out. In a black irony, Iran is so far exporting more oil than it was last year.

   The easiest and least painful way to end Trump’s war is likely just to give up and let Iran seize the strait. Whatever extortionate tolls they might charge, it can’t be worse than choking off an artery controlling a quarter of international shipping. The likeliest reason that wouldn’t work is that Iran would not be satisfied… it is going to want some guarantees that America will not attack again, and even some reparations for all the child murder.

   But allowing Iran to set up a toll gate across the Strait of Hormuz is the outcome all American military plans have prioritized preventing at any cost. Allowing it to happen would probably collapse the alliance system with the Gulf states overnight. It would make Trump look like the world-historical imbecile he in fact is.

   It would also send the D.C. political press into a paroxysm of bloodthirsty rage. When President Biden ripped the Band-Aid off and ended the occupation of Afghanistan back in 2021, D.C. reporters savaged him mercilessly for weeks over the blow to their imperial pride, causing a dip in his polling numbers from which Biden never recovered…

   So if Trump tries to cut and run, he will face one of the few things he reacts to—a storm of criticism on television—plus fierce pushback from the D.C. blob….

   If Trump doesn’t cut and run, he faces a hole in global energy needs that grows by about 20 million barrels of oil and 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas every day…

   It would be a thorny situation even for the wisest statesmen in world history. Alas, all we have is an elderly idiot whose primary method of diplomacy is posting barely literate screeds on his personal social media site.

   10
2. DK says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 08:21

   Trump Doesn’t Remember What He’s Done (Anne Applebaum, Substack & The Atlantic)

   European leaders remember how Donald Trump insulted them…

   …As long ago as January 2020, Trump told several European officials that “if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you.” In February 2025, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had no right to expect support either, because “you don’t have any cards.” Trump ridiculed Canada as the “51st state”… He claimed, incorrectly, that allied troops in Afghanistan “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” causing huge offense to the families of soldiers who died fighting after NATO invoked Article 5 of the organization’s treaty, on behalf of the United States, the only time it has done so.

   …Trump began hinting that he wouldn’t rule out using force to annex Greenland… …his public and private comments persuaded the Danes to prepare for an American invasion. Danish leaders had to think about whether their military would shoot down American planes, kill American soldiers, and be killed by them, an exercise so wrenching that some still haven’t recovered. In Copenhagen a few weeks ago, I was shown a Danish app that tells users which products are American, so that they know not to buy them. At the time it was the most popular app in the country.

   …Trump placed tariffs on Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea… He raised tariffs on Switzerland because he didn’t like the Swiss president, then lowered them after a Swiss business delegation brought him presents, including a gold bar and a Rolex watch. He threatened to place 100 percent tariffs on Canada should Canada dare to make a trading agreement with China…

   …Politico has published polls showing that the Canadians, French, British and Germans now believe that China is a more reliable partner than the US under Trump…

   Too bad the EU can’t issue a travel ban on pedovoters.

   8
3. Kathy says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 08:38

   Iran fired two missiles at Diego Garcia.

   They didn’t hit. It’s not clear whether one was intercepted or it failed. Thing is US intelligence, at least, did not know Iran could do this.

   Two missiles are not a major attack. More like a test.

   I wonder what the Mullahs learned.

   4
4. Mikey says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 08:39

   @DK:

   Too bad the EU can’t issue a travel ban on pedovoters.

   Pfff. Like any of those fools would want to travel to Europe. Where’s Europe’s Gatlinburg or Branson?

   5
5. Michael Cain says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 12:44

   @DK:
   Lots of people fear that if Iran sets a toll precedent with Hormuz, the next one up will be the Malacca or Singapore straits. On the order of 25% (by value) of all the world’s goods transported by ship pass through Malacca.

   3
6. Michael Cain says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 12:52

   @Kathy:

   I wonder what the Mullahs learned.

   They learned that they have ballistic missiles that can travel 3,500 km, even if they can’t carry an explosive or hit a target accurately. Tabriz, Iran to Nice, France is 3,300 km. Tabriz to Berlin is 3,000. Somewhere in there is “We may get bombed to rubble, but if you help do that we can at least embarrass you.”

   3
7. Mikey says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 14:13

   Former FBI Director and Special Counsel Robert Mueller has died at 81.
8. CSK says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 14:32

   @Mikey:

   I’m sure Trump will write a totally classy tribute to Mueller tonight on Truth Social. Totally.
9. Mikey says:
   Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 14:55

   @CSK:

   Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!
   President DONALD J. TRUMP
   3/21/26, 10:26 AM
10. Kathy says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 15:04

    @Mikey:

    I think it’s sad when someone dies after having failed at the most important task they’d ever undertaken.

    @CSK:

    Someone should remind him Mueller worked for his first so-called administration, was appointed by his own hand picked acting AG, in his own DoJ, and he lacked the courage to fire him.

    2
11. Kathy says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 16:24

    So, I left the office Thursday the 19th on Friday the 20th at 00:30. Got to work on Friday the 20th at around 8:30 am. Left work on Friday 20th on Saturday the 21st at 6:30 am. Got back to work on the 21st at 11 am.

    I vaguely recall weekends when I didn’t have to go to the office.

    4
12. Kathy says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 17:47

    On lighter matters, the other day I got an earworm I couldn’t place. It turned out to be Mozart’s 40th symphony

    2
13. dazedandconfused says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 20:02

    Trump threatens to replace TSA with ICE.

    Might be interesting, Americans being inspected by Bubbas sporting fatigues, flak vests packed with mags, slung rifles and a ‘tude? Or will Stephan Miller be smart enough to have them shed their normal gear?

    1
14. DK says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 20:33

    @Mikey:

    Like any of those fools would want to travel to Europe.

    There’s a very minor social trend of pedovoters crying about testy encounters during their travels.

    “Actions mean consequences”: MAGA traveler who said her politics ruined an Ireland vacation gets lit up on social media (Yahoo! News)

    A Trump supporter complained on TikTok that politics followed her all the way to a pub in Ireland. But instead of sympathy, she found herself getting roasted on social media for what many dubbed her “crocodile tears.”

    The TikToker, @lawcroxnotn, posted a video about a tense exchange in a Northern Ireland bar… she claimed locals confronted them after learning they were American…

    “I walked in with my husband to the central bar, and I immediately noticed that they had the world news on,” she said. “Rightfully so. There’s a lot of crazy things going on in this world.”

    …a man quickly asked about her nationality. “And the gentleman said, ‘Are you American?’ And I said, ‘Yes, we’re American,’” she explained.

    “And I’m not lying to you when I say it instantly went from, ‘Yes, I’m American,’ to, ‘Well, who’d you vote for?’”

    She said she avoided the question, instead telling the man she wanted a politics-free evening… she said the tone became increasingly hostile… she said tearfully, “the more upset they were getting and the more nasty the comments began to come.”

    … Shortly after she went viral, @lawcroxnotn set her TikTok account to private.

    …reactions poured in across social media. Many commenters treated the story as an example of Americans discovering how their politics travel with them.

    “Ohhhh nooooo…not Trump voters traveling to Europe and then getting upsettypants when they’re asked who they voted for,” wrote @AllisonRFloyd on X…

    …One user joked that videos of MAGA tourists facing criticism abroad had become her “favorite genre of TikTok right now.”

    When Berlin-based in spring and summer, I never flinch about my having voted for McCain then Obama then Hillary (#SheWarnedUs, #ButHerEmails, #HillaryWasRight), Biden, and Harris. Nothing to be ashamed of or avoidant about. Nothing to hide here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    1
15. JohnSF says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 20:44

    @DK:
    The thing is, Trump is now threatening Europe about US involvement in NATO if Europe does not (somehow) resolve the Strits of Hormuz issue.
    But in the opinion of most Europeans, NATO is done.
    It died last year.

    We must, perforce, continue to eke it out as long as possible, due to various US capabilities (satellites, SEAD, THAAD, etc) that will take time and money to replace
    (See the horrible state of repair of the Royal Navy, which I have to confess, came as bit of shock to me. I was not paying enough attention)
    But expecting a US under Trump or Vance to respond to an Article 5?
    Nope.
    That’s entirely discounted.

    And therefore Europe supporting the US in a war of choice that seems largely driven by Netanyahu?
    Also nope.

    It saddens me so much to see the Western alliance destroyed by the petulant idiocy of Trump and MAGA.

    The Atlantic Alliance.
    Born: 14 August 1941.
    Died: 28 Februrary 2026.
    Coroners’ verdict: “murdered by morons”.

    2
16. DK says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 20:45

    @Kathy:

    Left work on Friday 20th on Saturday the 21st at 6:30 am. Got back to work on the 21st at 11 am.

    What? Do they deserve you?
17. JohnSF says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 20:59

    @Michael Cain:
    An IRBM strike at France would be a very, very, extremely, foolish thing to do.
    France has a policy of first use of nuclear weapons in such circumstances.
    The French are entirely serious about not tolerating attacks upon the “hexagonale”

    1
18. Kathy says:
    Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 21:20

    @DK:

    Does anyone? 😉

    @DK:

    I can think of an SNL type sketch. Well, part of one.

    Wife: Remember, honey, we’re pretending to be Canadian.
    Local: Where are you from?
    Husband (bad accent that sounds more like Australian): We’re from Caaaanada, eh.
    Local: Who’d you vote for?
    Husband: Governor Carney, eh.
19. Richard Gardner says:
    Sunday, 22 March 2026 at 03:42

    Stink Stank Stunk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KdLcd-sUQA&list=RDFqphhPapkoc&index=5

    Pentatonix – You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Official Video)