Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: War Within a War

There are two wars going on in the United States right now.

The Big War is the war to get rid of Trump. It’s pretty much leaderless and going nowhere while the House and Senate are in Republican hands AND Trump’s job approval numbers are above 30%. His numbers have been as low as 33% a couple of times. If they get down around 25%…and stay there for a while…Impeachment and Removal are possible.

The Little War is, so far, a propaganda war to lay the foundation for a “preemptive” strike against Iran. The leader of this effort is Sheldon Adelson. The man is a force of nature and not to be underestimated in any way.

Adelson writes checks in $30 Million increments to politicians he likes. When organizations he supports don’t do what he wants he starts new organizations that will. He has moved conservative poltics in both Israel and the US to the Right on national security matters. In the future, textbooks on Political Science will be divided into two parts: Before Adelson and After Adelson. He is that impactful. Seriously.

When the history of the first thirteen months of the Trump Presidency (up to February 22, 2018) is written these people will have major roles:

Donald Trump. (aka The Moron)

Rupert Murdoch. (aka Trump’s Indispensable Man)

Benjamin Netanyahu. (aka The Insufferable One )

Sheldon Adelson. (aka The Boss Of Bosses)

Jared Kushner. (aka Uriah Creep)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. (aka The Eagle Scout)

Sen. Tom Cotton. (aka Robespierre)

CIA Director Mike Pompeo. (aka Jaba The Hut)

Mike Flynn. (aka Dr. Strangelove)

Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. (aka The Wild Card and The Last Best Hope)

CONCLUSION

Here’s my assessment on how these two wars are going to play out in the period between now and Trump’s thirteen month anniversary…Feb. 22, 2018.

The people who are sympathetic to building a case for Iranian misbehavior and, ultimately, a “preemptive” war in Iran (Kushner, Netanyahu and Adelson) are not happy with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson was an Eagle Scout. That means something. Seriously. They don’t view him as a reliable warmonger. They’re probably right. If the facts to justify military action aren’t there, Tillerson won’t pretend that they are. Continue Reading……..

Now open your mouth and close your eyes for ol’ Sop has a big surprise…..

Prediction: Today is gonna be both fun and fulfilling.

Next up a topic that continues to wax and wane in the sport of American Football. Certain Blowhard Politicians maintain that declines in Tee Vee ratings for the NFL is the result of player protests. Poppa John got in the act trying to lay blame for a shitty quarter on the same but the reality is closer to what the network executives are saying in the product being over exposed on the airways. Here is one such media account from a month back:

CBS Sports chairman says too much football hurting ratings ~ Kevin Spain

What’s interesting is college football grappling with a different but I think related problem in declining game day attendance.

How does SEC, LSU solve their attendance issues? Well, it’s complicated… ~ Ross Dellenger

Dellenger’s piece correctly identifies the problem but I’m not sure the entire answer can be gleaned from game day experience surveys.

Consider this an open thread.