Just in time to help Donald Trump justify his plan to further destabilize the world and cause more chaos with his reported decision to decertify the Iran nuclear deal, Fox News has come up with an article claiming, “Iran’s nuclear program is far from halted.” There are also several headlines suggesting we need to start behaving more threateningly toward Iran.
Neither Britain, France nor Germany think that Iran has violated the terms of the agreement. But Fox News is relying on a group called National Council of Resistance of Iran, apparently a group of dissidents, to claim otherwise.
And since Trump seems to hold more faith in Fox News than even our own intelligence agencies, you can rest assured he’ll be referring to this article as truth no matter what anyone else has to say about it.
And do check out the four hawkish and/or fear mongering headlines underneath the main headline. Each promotes a hawkish stance on Iran:
On Iran, Trump’s advisers offer ‘dumb’ and ‘dumber’ options that will accomplish nothing
Iran warns US not to undermine nuclear deal
Iranian armed forces spokesperson: ‘It’s time to teach Americans new lessons’
Iran threatens ‘crushing’ response as Trump takes aim at nuclear deal
Fox News host Sean Hannity and contributor John Bolton have been salivating for war against Iran for years. Is Fox News going to put its full weight behind that effort now? Or "only" ramp up the rhetoric just long enough to bolster support for Trump's decertification?
Yes, Fox News wants to encourage the Pence White House to get into open hostilities with both Iran and North Korea, and it would like these things to happen as soon as possible. In the case of Iran, Fox News is clearly pushing for Trump to take public actions that will drive Iran away from the treaty – by decertifying it and reimposing sanctions, in the hope that Iran would stomp away from it on their own and they could then blame Iran. The Right Wing never wanted this treaty in the first place – it’s why they worked to sabotage it all along, including Tom Cotton’s treasonous letter just before the treaty was signed. By destroying the treaty and blaming the wreckage on Iran, the Right Wing then gets to erase another part of the Obama presidency and take another punch at the noses of Obama voters. And they get to go with a military option against Iran and look tough, which they need for another reason.
With North Korea, there’s a more direct idea involved. Bill O’Reilly is already making comments he hopes Trump will follow – namely that Trump should start launching missiles against North Korea pre-emptively to teach them a lesson. That’s the Right Wing way – act tough and punch first. And if that leads to a massive situation and a catastrophe in Asia, then it’s all North Korea’s fault, isn’t it? And it lets the Right Wing once again punch Obama supporters in the face, saying that Obama wasn’t tough enough to handle this.
And there’s a third benefit from all this, which the Right Wing knows the Pence White House desperately needs now. Going to war with Iran and North Korea would hopefully get everyone in the US to rally round the flag and start supporting a deeply unpopular president. Just like they were able to pull off with George W. Bush. If they can get everyone scared enough of these enemies or riled up enough to “support our troops”, perhaps they could get the Pence White House a second term to ensure they could make the biggest impact on our politics.
You might note that this bellicose behavior will lead to a lot of lives being lost – for certain in Asia, but also potentially in various US areas, including Guam and potentially the West Coast if Kim feels he has nothing to lose by launching everything. And you’d be correct. But the Right Wing doesn’t care about those lives – that’s collateral damage.