We had not thought nearly enough about this. We’ve worried more about Trump stoking violence on the streets in the U.S., more than violence abroad.  It is somewhat understandable. Trump has shown very little interest in international events, especially in the last two years when he’s been focused like a laser on getting a second term. Even his vote for the most admired man of the year became a campaign issue.

How could Trump think about anything abroad? When something abroad becomes an election issue, to the point that Pence canceled a scheduled trip out of the country right after January 6th. Somehow, we’re still talking about election issues in January!

From The Hill:

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Thursday accused President Trump of trying to create a “pretext for war” after the U.S. flew two B-52 bombers in the Middle East amid warnings of a possible attack in the region from Tehran.

“Instead of fighting Covid in US, @realDonaldTrump & cohorts waste billions to fly B52s & send armadas to OUR region. Intelligence from Iraq indicate plot to FABRICATE pretext for war,” Zarif tweeted. “Iran doesn’t seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests.”

Our readers understand the problem when our crazed adversaries are making more sense than our leaders.

Sunday marks the first anniversary of the U.S. Drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, … A senior U.S. military official told Fox News that a U.S. intelligence report suggests that Iran wants to “avenge that killing,” and has “potential for other more complex attacks” against Americans in Iraq.

Well, we appreciate that our defense forces would be wary, even without Trump trying to wag the dog. But if the U.S. forces wanted to prevent strikes by either side, it might be better if our Defense Department said something like: “This is a particularly bad time if we are forced to bomb your country, with the pandemic killing people already. Perhaps we can de-escalate things by ensuring that the vaccine reaches Iran quickly after all Americans are vaccinated.

But this is scary because Trump really would like to be seen as the “strong” leader to argue that the January 6th proceedings should be put off until Trump and the Senate has had time to deal with the bombings and Iran.

It can’t possibly interfere with anything on January 6th because Trump has no role in the process, and Pence has to be gone for two hours, at the most. But Trump is desperate. We should be a little scared. Trump came home from Mar-a-Lago early and Pence put his scheduled trip abroad off. Pence was supposed to leave soon after the duties on January 6th.

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Happy New Year, Y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak