I think one of the most hilarious things about the American psyche, such as anything like that exists, is the inexplicable belief in a "timeline for war".

Like killing people is a thing you can do on a neat little schedule, where the other side just does exactly what you predict they'll do, which is for some reason always "give up and surrender" or "go so crazy that they can't effectively fight back."

The media inevitably demands this fairy tale, that can't possibly exist, and a fairy tale answer is of course given, and some people believe it unconditionally and others will use it as some kind of gotcha in a political game that's as nonsensical as the killing itself is.

But it will never work out that way. And playing along is no better, whether you think the timeline is realistic or are going to use it to score points that it wasn't met, as if all the death would be worthwhile if only the killing had proceeded as scheduled.

It's exhausting.