Monday's Final Word

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Closing the tabs ...

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Ed: I had this in an earlier post, but this moment is worth enjoying again. Later images showed a large-scale hit in the IRIB building, but I suspect this shows a preliminary 'tap' on the building by the IDF to get anyone inside to evacuate. And as you can see ...

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The notorious anchor, known for spewing hatred against non-Muslims and women who defy Islamic modesty laws, was right in the middle of glorifying “martyrdom.”

But the moment the building was struck?

She ran for her life—because, of course, she’s not willing to become a martyr herself. That’s only for the brainwashed masses she poisons from the comfort of her studio.

Preach death. Run when it comes. Let that sink in.

Ed: Indeed. The same can be said of all the regime leadership, and more broadly about Islamist leaders in general. (Via Scott Johnson)

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Ed: Getting exposed and humiliated like this is a dangerously weak position for any dictatorship/authoritarian regime. It's even worse for Islamist regimes that claim divine ordination, however. 

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Ali Asghar Hejazi, Khamenei's deputy chief of staff and longtime security adviser, is negotiating with Russian officials to arrange an evacuation for himself and his family, Iran International reported. A senior Russian official has reportedly assured Hejazi that Moscow will provide a secure exit for him should the situation deteriorate for the regime.

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Other top Iranian officials are pursuing similar plans, with some already finalizing exit routes, according to Iran International.

Ed: This may be 'too good to check' at the moment, but it will become true quickly enough. Regimes like this collapse "slowly then all at once," as the saying goes, and you don't want to get stuck in the "all at once" phase when angry former subjects start looking for revenge. 

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Ed: If this is accurate, it's a great sign that the center is not holding in this regime. The regime's police may be bugging out. 

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The Trump administration told several Middle Eastern allies on Sunday that it doesn't plan to get actively involved in the war between Israel and Iran unless Iran targets Americans, two sources from countries that received that U.S. message tell Axios.

The big picture: The U.S. has helped Israel intercept missiles, but made clear Israel is acting alone in attacking Iran. The U.S. message is that if Iran attacks Americans in response, it will be crossing a red line.

Ed: That's fine. We don't need to assist Israel in striking targets. But we shouldn't hold them back from finishing the job, either.

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President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that they are signing a trade deal that will slash tariffs on goods from both countries.

The deal does not include tariffs on steel, an especially important piece of bilateral trade. Instead, talks are still going on about whether steel tariffs will be cut to zero as planned in the provisional agreement.

Ed: Still lacking the details on this agreement, but getting to an agreement is good news in and of itself. It will put pressure on the EU to settle on trade sooner than later. 

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Ed: It doesn't sound like Trump is inclined to rescue the Iranians. Good.

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Washington is not where the biggest and most important decisions are made in this country. Those decisions are made in the states, cities, towns, school districts, churches, and families of the nation. Washington is merely where the score is kept.

Or, as Andrew Breitbart more pithily put it, “Politics is downstream from culture.”

Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 because the American people rejected the foreign policy and cultural excesses of the Obama years. Likewise, Trump was re-elected in 2024 because the voters rejected Biden’s even more significant cultural excesses. Trump wasn’t elected to convince normies to dislike Pride, Pride Month, or “woke” more generally. He was elected because the normies had already come to loathe them all on their own.

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Ed: Donald Trump didn't create populism on the Right either. He was just the only one who spoke to it and gave it a platform for change. Trump is not the cause; he's the outcome. 

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