Erick-Woods Erickson
Sadly for Senator Alex Padilla, who yesterday engaged in cosplay as a protestor, events are now overshadowed by those in the Middle East. Those mean old Israelis stole his thunder with their own.
Senator Padilla’s stunt was a stunt. It was too much even for CNN whose on-the-scene reporter noted Padilla never identified himself and whose anchors and analysts noted this was to “create a moment and to show his constituents…he is fighting.”
If you actually believe the Department of Homeland Security and related security personnel were strong-arming the Senator instead of he set it up to go that way for attention, you are the rube the Democrats want.
Of course, some of the rubes could get more violent as a counter-measure. Padilla, in provoking that kind of confrontation, risks provoking violence. Rumor has it the Senator is on his way now to Israel to storm the IDF headquarters so he can get back in the news cycle.
His stunt has been overshadowed.
On April 12, 2025, President Donald Trump gave Iran sixty days to get serious about dismantling their nuclear weapons program. Yesterday was the sixty-first day. Israel clearly put the date on the calendar and last night Iran was fiery but mostly peaceful.
The entire world watched the events unfold last night except the people watching MSNBC where the coverage of a judge in California improperly revoking Donald Trump’s control of the National Guard dominated coverage. Expect a reversal there otherwise George Wallace could have canceled the National Guard’s actions in Alabama back in the day. Marvel that the progressive judge and brother to retired Justice Stephen Breyer really did issue an order that amounts to giving George Wallace the power to stop the integration of the University of Alabama. The progressive left really and truly is committed to always keeping a perpetual underclass of serfs to pick their crops. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed Judge Breyer’s decision pending review by a three-judge panel.
Israel claims it is engaged in what it says could be a multi-day mission to wipe out Iran’s nuclear capacity. In the first waves, it appears Israel killed several senior military leaders and top nuclear scientists. It also appears that Iran’s nuclear enrichment site has been completely destroyed.
According to Israeli intelligence, Iran had assembled enough material for 15 nuclear weapons and was on the verge of making them.
The United States denies it has had any role in planning or executing what is happening. *wink* *wink* Instead, the United States has been keeping Iran busy at the negotiating table even as Iran was starting to put its nuclear weapons together.
Israeli media and some American senior intelligence personnel are claiming that Israel did coordinate with the United States but is the sole party to the physical attacks.
President Trump convened a Cabinet meeting last night that the White House staff say was previously scheduled, but was about the devolving situation in the Middle East. This morning, the President is convening his national security team.
My presumption is that, despite what will undoubtedly be public protestators, many Arab nations are breathing a sigh of relief now and, honestly, China probably is too.
The Israeli Prime Minister last night said, “We have no choice but to act swiftly. If we don’t act now, we simply won’t be here anymore. ‘Never again’ is now. We have learned the lessons of history: when a foe says he intends to destroy you – believe him.”
Hopefully, the Great Satan and Little Satan overnight conspired to send the Ayatollah to the OG Satan. Israel says the operation will last weeks.
I’ll just note that the show goes live at 12pm ET and you can listen to it anywhere right here and you should bookmark the link.
Notably
Israel striking sixty-one days after Donald Trump gave Iran sixty days is no coincidence. And let’s be real here — the US helped. American and Israeli government sources say CENTCOM was involved throughout the planning and operation. Israel does not have the satellite capacity to do five runs in one night without American assistance. It simply doesn’t and no one believes Marco Rubio’s denials of American involvement.
So let’s go a bit further.
The United States has been getting Iran to the table repeatedly. The President has been publicly talking about both his hopes and frustrations. We’ve been leaking that we were holding Israel back. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s son’s wedding plans got leaked and the Prime Minister signaled he was going for some rest as Donald Trump signaled he was sending his representative to talk some more with Iran.
Iran never saw it coming. Everything from the Trump Administration and the Israeli government signaled it was a normal day at the office so much so that Iranian leaders felt it was safe to assemble top brass at one location last night as there were no hints of imminent attacks.
Then boom.
Just Saying
Between the Israeli pager attack, last night’s targeted bombing of Iran, and Ukraine’s drone missions in Russia, the United States has some amazingly sophisticated friends, and perhaps the President of the United States should recognize Ukraine and Israel and contrast them to Russia and its friend Iran.
Side Note
I posted this on Twitter last night and want to share it here:
Just a bit of a dive on my thinking on the Rubio statement about our involvement with Israel, Scott Bessent, etc. Your mileage may vary and feel free to disagree. But…
Earlier today, I saw several people I respect go after Bessent for saying tariffs are not taxes.
Yes, Bessent is lying and he knows better. I know Bessent is lying because, in his prior life, he was clear that tariffs are taxes.
But Bessent works for a man who insists a tariff is not a tax.
Would you rather Bessent be Secretary of the Treasury or Howard Lutnick? Because Bessent is much more of a free marketeer than Lutnick. So I won’t blow up Bessent for the nonsense statement because I presume he is toeing the party line while doing his best to minimize the fallout, which he is so far doing a good job of. Bessent or Lutnick were quite literally your two choices.
That gets me to Rubio.
Of course Israel acted with our blessing and used our planes and probably used some of our intelligence and satellite imagery too. But what good would it do for Rubio or Trump to come out and say “we helped”?
What good would it do? It would not only do no good, but risk many more American lives.
Years ago, chatting with Donald Rumsfeld, he told me that when Richard Nixon decided he wanted to do price controls, Rumsfeld fought hard to put Dick Cheney in charge because he knew Cheney was opposed to price controls and would slow walk anything and work behind the scenes to minimize any damage. Rumsfeld said the alternative to Cheney was a true believer in price controls.
Again, feel free to disagree, but I have no doubt Bessent knows how bad tariffs are and I have no doubt the United States has been having lots of private talks with Israel. You know that is the case.
And I’d rather Rubio at State and Bessent at Treasury than far worse alternatives so I’ll show them grace on the performances they must do to, behind the scenes, do what must be done as best they can.
And The Tangent
Tucker Carlson and podcast bros of the alt-right have been insisting that if Israel wants to go it alone, let them, but the United States does not need to get into any wars, start any wars, or participate in any wars, and certainly has no interest at all in stopping Iran from getting a bomb.
Got that? Let Israel go it alone, but leave us out of it.
That’s what happened overnight.
So I assume they’ll all be okay with what happened. Right? Right?
Well, actually, Tucker Carlson’s favorite historian, Darryl Cooper, overnight called for the United States to bomb Tel Aviv. Just two days ago Cooper acknowledged he is a National Socialist too.
One Worry
The Biden Administration’s porous border let a lot of people funnel into this country, some of whom are labeled “got aways” by federal officials. We caught multiple people from Iran. We caught multiple people with terror ties. At the time, the media worked hard to downplay those captures because it made Biden look bad.
The FBI, CIA, and Pentagon in the past three years have all expressed concerns that some of the gotaways could be terrorists. Again, you might not have heard that because so much of the press was in “protect the precious” mode with Biden, but I am concerned about sleeper cells.
In the Defense Intelligence Agency’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, it notes, “Iran also will continue to directly threaten U.S. persons globally and remains committed to its decade-long effort to develop surrogate networks inside the United States.” The same report also raised the issue of transnational terrorism and illegal immigration being tied together as a point of entry to the United States for bad actors.
Joe Biden made it very easy for Iran and, should my fears come true, the American press corps will rush to blame Donald Trump. You know they will.
