"He seemed to experience a sadistic pleasure in announcing the sinking of an Iranian warship by a US torpedo, enjoying the idea of the doomed crew’s 'quiet death'.

This sort of unabashed viciousness is part of the appeal of the Maga administration for its fans, and might seem like a refreshing return to plain speaking."

#Hegseth #Trump #Iran #war #incompetence #WhiteChristianNationalism #PerformativeMasculinity #lethality #violence #death
/10

"His favourite term is 'lethality'; he loves telling the armed forces how 'lethal' they are. 'We are not defenders any more,' he announced gleefully. 'We are warriors: trained to kill the enemy and break their will.' (It might seem excessive to break their will after killing them, but why settle for half measures?)"

~ Steven Poole

#Hegseth #Trump #Iran #war #incompetence #WhiteChristianNationalism #PerformativeMasculinity #lethality #violence #death
/9

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/04/trump-using-dysphemism-language-against-iran

"The White House’s videos mixing football hits with bombing footage tell us: We have some twisted people running this country."

~ Michael Tomasky

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/23

https://newsletter.tnr.com/index.php?action=social&chash=64d52e08cc03e6090bc1ef30b73ccb85.2776&s=cdd6377d8462caad2b4695418c877aea

As Aaron Rupar says, Peter Thiel's pal Alex Karp, Palantir CEO, loves the macho bluster of Trump's war, as he proclaims:

"What makes America special right now is our lethal capacities. Our ability to fight war."

The techbros, the broligarchy, are all in on the brutality, lethality, cruelty, and want credit for its technological base.

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/8

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3mguiup62lt2j

As Aaron Parnas notes, Trump just posted the following on his Truth Social outfit:

"I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so."

War, wielding weapons, killing others with big booms, makes tiny men imagine they're big ones.

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/7

https://aaronparnas.substack.com/p/news-trump-underestimated-irans-willingness

"Now that Trump has his war, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. He appears to have had no plans in place for either the future or Iran or protection for the straits of Hormuz. Instead, the White House account on Twitter is posting videos that equate war with video games or football."

~ Joyce Vance

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/6

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-in-america

"War is BOOM BOOM, death raining from the sky, hell wrought on others from thousands of miles away by American soldiers with joysticks. The mangled bodies are not seen. They must be presumed."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/5

"Never has any party in power shown such gloating bloodlust as Trump and his dimwitted amoral ideologues are, with their infernal infotainment.

On TikTok and X they are peddling short videos romanticizing the war, glorifying cruelty."

~ Gene Weingarten

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/4

https://geneweingarten.substack.com/p/war-porn