Donald Trump is fighting a war on two fronts

The news, in brief …

• Trump hits Iran nuclear sites with surprise bombing campaign

  The president launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday night, promising further attacks if the country did not “make peace” with Israel. Read more.

• Mahmoud Khalil freed from ICE detention

  After 104 days in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil was freed on Friday. The activist told supporters that “justice prevailed.” Read more.

• Vance says former wars were started by “dumb” presidents

  The vice president saw some legs of stone in the desert and figured he could build a more permanent torso. While speaking to “Meet the Press,” J.D. Vance said other U.S. entanglements in the Middle East dragged on for years because the presidents who started them were “dumb.” Read more.

• Hegseth lays it on thick

  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was all smiles as he praised Trump’s Iran attack as “bold and brilliant.” The celebratory mood was only slightly deflated by Pentagon officials saying they were unsure if the attacks actually destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Read more.

• Trump says Iran “would use” a nuke “if they could”

  Donald Trump continued to justify his attack amid growing backlash, saying that Iran “would use" a hypothetical nuclear weapon if they had one (even though all evidence points toward their being no plans to develop a nuke). Read more.

Make me smarter …

With strikes on Iran, Trump has chosen a path of insanity

There are lots of good reasons for not psychoanalyzing politicians. But when a leader suffering a severe mental illness poses a grave risk to the nation and the world, we can’t just close our eyes. We are in such a moment now. Read more.

A caucus, if you can keep it

Somewhere deep down, the Never Trumpers had to know they were bluffing.

Unlike the Tea Partiers before them, the MAGA movement did succeed in completely reshaping the Republican Party. Anyone not willing to go along with the charismatic dear leader quickly found themselves on an ice floe, one packed with other “RINO” dinosaurs with a fatal case of convictions.

The nebulous movement was defined by backing Donald Trump no matter what, and it worked for a surprisingly long time. Trump’s cult of personality elevated offbeat creeps and weirdos like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene to national prominence, providing the Republican Party with a youthful energy that Democrats lacked while still passing the requisite tax cut bills. In spite of Trump’s unpredictability, it seemed like this arrangement could hum along exploding deficits and immiserating Americans for quite a while.

Then, Trump held a Saturday night seance for the ghost of John McCain and dropped bombs on Iran.

Greene and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie quickly voiced their opposition to the intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict. They were joined by a chorus of isolationist GOPers who felt the U.S. had no business getting involved in another Middle East entanglement.

Trump’s vice president, himself a veteran of one of those snafus, said that this time would be different, because past presidents were “dumb” and Trump is not. This did little to slow the schism. As legislators move to rein in the president’s war powers, the Republican Party appears to be heading for its first real split since Trump descended his golden escalator a decade ago.

What do you think? Will this mark a permanent split in MAGA? Is this just more crowing that will cease once the tax cut bills are under consideration? Sound off in the comments.

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Before you go …

America slides into totalitarianism — and it won't be easy to reverse

Donald Trump and his minions want to conquer all of civil society. Read more.