Professor Bret Weinstein made some bold assertions about U.S. military activity in Iran during a recent discussion on “The Tucker Carlson Show.”
“My concern is that this is evidence that he is not in control … as commander-in-chief of his own armed forces,” Weinstein said of President Trump’s interventionism. He also held out the possibility that someone on the inside could be painting a rosy picture to the president in order to saddle him with a geopolitical quagmire and eventually get him removed from office.
I chose this topic today because, of all that’s happened since Trump came down the golden escalator all those years ago, this single political move – his decision for regime change in Iran – has befuddled me, perhaps more than any other. Why would someone so politically astute, on the eve of midterm elections during a time when his poll numbers are already lower than they need to be, make such a risky choice like going into Iran?
That’s not easy to answer, but the Carlson/Weinstein interview does seem to hold some clues. At least they are asking the right question, though some nuance is necessary, to which I’d like to turn briefly.
I’ve written before about abductive reasoning, a most useful tool in situations like this, where all the facts simply aren’t at our fingertips. Abductive reasoning allows for a “best guess” explanation based on ordering the known facts in such a way that a logical and even likely picture emerges.
But exactly which facts are important regarding Trump’s decision in Iran? At least one, arguably, is the Epstein case.
Although lately missing from the headlines, it seems foolhardy to ignore this event, for it offers a window into how some person or entity sought to ensnare world leaders for the purpose of political manipulation, a fact not unrelated to our topic here. Nor is this the first time we’ve seen such things, for anyone who has studied “Operation Crossfire Hurricane” or watched the Sean Stone documentary, “All the President’s Men,” has also seen this level of shadowy political maneuvering in action. In short, it is one of the great and disappointing discoveries of our time that such dark forces have ended up with the power they have, so that we’re left to wonder, along with Weinstein, who, exactly, is in control?
I’m not saying that Trump is bombing Iran because the Deep State has compromising photos of him at Epstein Island. What I am saying is that, in light of everything mentioned above, it isn’t a reckless bet at all to say that things don’t work quite like we thought, and that perhaps some of the recent geopolitical moves have had some of this influence.
Weinstein and Carlson are on the right trail, unsettling as it may be. For, in addition to everything mentioned above about dark influence in American politics, it always seems that our geopolitical strategy simply can’t break free from the neoconservative and militaristic impulses that have dominated for so long. These forces won over the Democratic Party under Barack Obama and now seem to be holding sway with our current president. It is for these reasons, as well as others, that I think it at least possible that Trump might well be compromised.
Along with his father, Allen Keller runs a lumber business in Stevenson, Alabama. He has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Florida State University and an MBA from University of Virginia. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
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