For a related but lesser piece, see Glenn Greenwald "Joe Kent's Courage and Conscience, and the Craven Careerism of Tulsi Gabbard" which just came in via e-mail 8:33 p.m.
Insightful and all too credible a take. Rather than Israeli pressure or blackmail, more likely it's Trump's narcissism and stupidity, and that of his main crew, that led to war. The man with the silver spoon down his throat couldn't manage a casino without going bankrupt, couldn't build a hotel without stiffing contractors and workers, wouldn't have gotten into an Ivy or had capital to begin with without his NYCity daddy. Joe Kent may be as much an opportunist as the supposedly astute J.D., but yeah, he also may be better at cutting his losses.
It’s largely the the belief that Trump was worse than Israel that lost the democrats the presidential election. Hopefully they learn better sooner than later. I still hear democrats defending genocide Joe Biden’s honor. Perverse shit.
"He instead offers the questionable explanation that the nation of Israel is somehow calling all of the shots. "
Ken, I think Israel is calling the shots. If President Biden could call himself a proud Zionist while fulling supporting slaughter in Gaza and Trump could pick up where Biden left off with the added spectacle of 7 visits by war criminal Netanyahu followed by war on Iran than what more evidence is needed.
Decades of unquestioning military, financial and diplomatic support for Israel is such epic hypocrisy coming from a country that is supposedly for liberty and justice for all that hijacking is not too strong a word for what has happened.
Today I spoke face to face with a Jewish candidate running for Illinois office who would not respond to my letter to her asking her to commit to liberty and justice for all and stand against ethnic cleansing Israel. Speaking to her I told of my terror at the tail wagging the dog and that the terrible parasite of Israel has to be detached from the body of America. She had nothing to say. Though I did not mention it to her, I also wrote the man challenging her for office who is not a Jew. He, too, remained silent to my letter, as did my city council, as did my mayor, as did my state representative and state senator.
If this is not proof that America is sewed up for Israel, when every politician fears the power of the pro-Israel lobby then what more is needed?
That AIPAC controls Congress, not only through copious donations but also through intimidation, and thus lays claim to a U.S. taxpayer-funded chunk of Pentagon money and other favors for Israel; that Israel/Zionists have infiltrated top positions at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, the BBC; that Hillel is in formal partnership with ADL, in turn in partnership with AIPAC; that adoption of the discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism is being pushed as an orchestrated campaign aimed at state and local governments by the ADL, AIPAC, and other Jewish organizations; that the “hasbara strategy” of putting Jewish victimhood forefront, of the necessity of establishing Israel for the survival of the Jews, of creating an atmosphere of constant threat to Israel is the fabulist narrative holding sway over the general perception of Israel, are just some of the key reasons to hold that the parasite leeches from the host.
Israel needn’t be “calling all the shots” to be extraordinarily powerful and influential in the shots that are called. I’ve noticed a lot about people who try to avoid looking at the monster in the face, they create strawman arguments against Israel’s control — they think if anyone mentions Jewish power it must mean the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and absolutely no nuance. I think there is possibly understandable fear motivating it but also possibly understandable skepticism that “little Israel” could be so powerful. But that I believe comes from naivety about the power of the U.S. and about the way power has been distributed throughout history — in the hands of a relative few. It’s a bit like learning for the first time that the British ran the world for awhile. Some tiny little island off the coast of Europe “calls the shots” in India? Absurd! But that be where the evidence points.
For a tiny minority in control look at the 1% controlling America. We, the 99%, know that is a fact and the connection with Israel is in our political system being completely corrupt so that lobbies dictate what Congress does. AIPAC is example 1, but every corporate interest is not just influencing politics, they are often writing the legislation that their puppets then pass. The Israel lobby wrote the anti-BDS legislation that has passed in far more than half of the 50 states.
Larry Ellison, now owner of Paramount and CBS is the largest donor to "Friends of the IDF". There is no conspiracy. The hypocrisy is so accepted that Zionist billionaires like Larry, Haim Saban, Sheldon Adelson (deceased), Bill Ackman all proudly proclaim their allegiance to Israel. People with dual citizenship see nothing wrong with it. INCREDIBLE, and we the people have swallowed this whole.
Right along with getting Israel out of US politics is the necessity of getting private money out of it. Even the Supreme Court is captive, approving the worst thing imaginable for corruption - that corporations can spend unlimited money in politics. What is American history but repeated proof that business in politics is the very last thing that should be allowed. See the entire 19th century in the US. See muckraking. See Teddy Roosevelt trustbusting. Only a fool would deny that one man - one vote is meaningless when you and I compare ourselves to Bezos or Musk or Zuckerberg?
The law in America is for sale just as is the legislature. In my district there is one and only one candidate out of 15 running for the House telling the truth when she says there should not be billionaires. It makes democracy a sham. We have a homeless problem, AI is about to sweep away jobs and Bezos buys a $500 million yacht. It is obscene, common and there is no move in Congress to return to a highly progressive income tax.
I would like to add, regarding Ellison, that there are laudable news programs, and thoughtful articles on Substack calling out the Ellison family acquisitions, along with Kushner, and Witkoff, etc., for various and sundry sins, and grifts. The Saudis, along with Putin, get front and center, with some UAE, and Qatar thrown around like parsley.
But never, not once, is there a single mention of Israel. The silence speaks louder than any words of how intimidated they are, or how much they are accomplices. Either way, there are those who still do not dare touch the infamous "Third Rail" of politics. I think most of us are aware that, alas, there are still far too many like this.
I feel like the US is capable of acting unhinged in this way all on its own, without Israel calling any shots. But I agree with everything else you said.
You're right and the Vietnam War and following wars are evidence of that. Power is a dangerous thing to give to any human being and the founders did their best to see that power was divided so that those afflicted with it, obsessed with gaining it, could offset each other. The glaring oversight is - what if they all cooperate with each other? The difficulty is that money brings power and then protects that power. Wealth is national and when it is so unevenly distributed as is characteristic of capitalism what has happened to the US is certain. Unrestricted capitalism will destroy the country that supports it, overpowering democracy with ease because while the little people are striving to make a living, the powerful have disposable wealth that can be dedicated to keeping themselves in place.
In a way we owe Israel thanks for so blatantly demonstrating its power that the corruption of our country is now illustrated in bright sunlight as American blood is being shed to protect ethnic cleansing for a country with 1/40th of the US population and with Jews equal in number to those in Israel living in perfect safety here, making the atrocities of Israel under the claim that it is to keeping Jews safe being demonstrably false. Israel is creating antisemitism in America, something Zionists wish to highlight under the absurdity that it has nothing to do with Israel's behavior. We must get the Zionist monkey off America's back.
he needs to be backed up by others in the intelligence community otherwise he will just be dismissed as an antisemite, a Nazi, conspiracy theorist, you know, the usual go to crap.
Whatever happens, Joe Kent is not going to be a Senator. He's from Washington State, where Maria Cantwell is more likely to be seriously challenged from the left than the right.
Thanks for the dissection of the resignation letter. I only read maybe the first third of it, and said gee, this is surprising, someone in the Trump administration could actually write something coherent and that made sense. I didn't get into the nuanced aspects you revealed, all quite important: "It's not the buffoon, it's those with undue influence, just gotta keep them at bay so as not to detour us from the path to greatness." And to think we haven't heard the last from this guy. Jeesch.
I appreciate your calling out Kent. But the ongoing invasion is not going to slow because the man in the oval continues to do what he wants, when and how he wants, with whom he pleases, and the rest of us - the entire nation that is - are left with yet another giant mess to clean up and another hole in our ragged image. We need to cut through this Gordian knot. We need to stop being trapped in process discussions that don't end with DJT's removal from office. It's a shame no one in America believes it can be done.
100% agree with Kent and would like to add that I'm waiting for the principled fighter who stays and does their job instead of quitting. Kent's obligation was to the American people, not to maintaining harmony by bowing out.
Hegseth subscribes to the ready, fire… Fire again and again ideology. Just shoot stuff. He’s line a blustery roid raged guy who just wants to blow stuff up. And DT loves it.
Kent’s letter said he thought that Iran poses no IMMEDIATE threat to theUS. Not that they’re not a “threat”! I’d agree that if they wanted to, they could have retaliated before when took out Suleiman. I applaud his bravado
Even if there are underlying motives that could be construed as self-serving, for Kent to speak up in this manner is meaningful. This guy is not one of Trump's billionaire cabinet members. He is going to have the full might of the highly politicized DOJ coming after him. I appreciate the stand he has taken, even if there are things to find fault with, or if we would prefer to have been done differently.
Let's not forget, he could have left quietly for 'family reasons.' Maybe it is for a future campaign, but also maybe it isn't. Regardless, I believe it took courage to do this, and we should be wanting, and encouraging, a slew of others to take the same steps, not finding ways to find fault with doing so. There are plenty of others who will have finding fault as their #1 priority, and for very different reasons.
“ But there’s a cynicism to his letter and its insistence that the president of the United States is some defenseless lamb being led astray by Israel.”
I don’t get that impression. He seems to be presenting Trump as a fool who has been tricked, not as a “defenseless lamb.” Nor do I see him as portraying the Pentagon as “innocent” in the letter, as he doesn’t even mention it. His placing primary blame on Israel for much of the wars in the past 30 years is accurate. That the pentagon has been an instrument is relevant, but should be secondary to Israel’s influence. And him publishing this letter is valuable even if you think he isn’t sufficiently a pacifist for your political tastes. And while it’s no doubt there was political calculation for his own career involved, from what I’ve read he has been consistently opposed to a stupid war with Iran for years. Of course with that said, he is a politician so his motives should always be suspect.
Yah that would be enough to make me go ballistic about this if I were in his situation. He essentially holds Israel largely responsible for his wife’s death, which is reasonable. To see Israel pulling America into another war similarly to one that killed his wife can’t be nice, assuming he isn’t a sociopath like most politicians seem to be.
Trump ran on being the “peace president” and bringing the U.S. into no new “forever wars” and particularly said how disastrous Iraq was and how bad a war with Iran would be. He betrayed his political promises, not surprisingly, and now he is pulling America into another war that is like what killed his wife?
Come on now, sure this could be a “cynical” motive cuz this is a politician we are talking about —but hell, that would be extremely cynical; about as “cynical” as Ken’s appraisal of the letter.
Now the FBI has launched an investigation into him possibly leaking information. This just shows that anyone who resigns from the Trump regime immediately becomes Trump's political enemy.
Glenn Greenwald posted "Joe Kent's Courage and Conscience, and the Craven Careerism of Tulsi Gabbard" a little while ago. I think he misses some important nuance that Ken gets.
Ken, in all your time reporting and researching, what movements or actions have been most effective in stopping wars that are not supported by the populace? I am curious to know what has worked. Happy to see this letter even though he may have other motivations.
his leaving struck me as a rat leaving a sinking ship
For a related but lesser piece, see Glenn Greenwald "Joe Kent's Courage and Conscience, and the Craven Careerism of Tulsi Gabbard" which just came in via e-mail 8:33 p.m.
Insightful and all too credible a take. Rather than Israeli pressure or blackmail, more likely it's Trump's narcissism and stupidity, and that of his main crew, that led to war. The man with the silver spoon down his throat couldn't manage a casino without going bankrupt, couldn't build a hotel without stiffing contractors and workers, wouldn't have gotten into an Ivy or had capital to begin with without his NYCity daddy. Joe Kent may be as much an opportunist as the supposedly astute J.D., but yeah, he also may be better at cutting his losses.
It’s largely the the belief that Trump was worse than Israel that lost the democrats the presidential election. Hopefully they learn better sooner than later. I still hear democrats defending genocide Joe Biden’s honor. Perverse shit.
"Hopefully they learn better sooner than later."
They won't.
"He instead offers the questionable explanation that the nation of Israel is somehow calling all of the shots. "
Ken, I think Israel is calling the shots. If President Biden could call himself a proud Zionist while fulling supporting slaughter in Gaza and Trump could pick up where Biden left off with the added spectacle of 7 visits by war criminal Netanyahu followed by war on Iran than what more evidence is needed.
Decades of unquestioning military, financial and diplomatic support for Israel is such epic hypocrisy coming from a country that is supposedly for liberty and justice for all that hijacking is not too strong a word for what has happened.
Today I spoke face to face with a Jewish candidate running for Illinois office who would not respond to my letter to her asking her to commit to liberty and justice for all and stand against ethnic cleansing Israel. Speaking to her I told of my terror at the tail wagging the dog and that the terrible parasite of Israel has to be detached from the body of America. She had nothing to say. Though I did not mention it to her, I also wrote the man challenging her for office who is not a Jew. He, too, remained silent to my letter, as did my city council, as did my mayor, as did my state representative and state senator.
If this is not proof that America is sewed up for Israel, when every politician fears the power of the pro-Israel lobby then what more is needed?
That AIPAC controls Congress, not only through copious donations but also through intimidation, and thus lays claim to a U.S. taxpayer-funded chunk of Pentagon money and other favors for Israel; that Israel/Zionists have infiltrated top positions at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, the BBC; that Hillel is in formal partnership with ADL, in turn in partnership with AIPAC; that adoption of the discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism is being pushed as an orchestrated campaign aimed at state and local governments by the ADL, AIPAC, and other Jewish organizations; that the “hasbara strategy” of putting Jewish victimhood forefront, of the necessity of establishing Israel for the survival of the Jews, of creating an atmosphere of constant threat to Israel is the fabulist narrative holding sway over the general perception of Israel, are just some of the key reasons to hold that the parasite leeches from the host.
Israel needn’t be “calling all the shots” to be extraordinarily powerful and influential in the shots that are called. I’ve noticed a lot about people who try to avoid looking at the monster in the face, they create strawman arguments against Israel’s control — they think if anyone mentions Jewish power it must mean the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and absolutely no nuance. I think there is possibly understandable fear motivating it but also possibly understandable skepticism that “little Israel” could be so powerful. But that I believe comes from naivety about the power of the U.S. and about the way power has been distributed throughout history — in the hands of a relative few. It’s a bit like learning for the first time that the British ran the world for awhile. Some tiny little island off the coast of Europe “calls the shots” in India? Absurd! But that be where the evidence points.
For a tiny minority in control look at the 1% controlling America. We, the 99%, know that is a fact and the connection with Israel is in our political system being completely corrupt so that lobbies dictate what Congress does. AIPAC is example 1, but every corporate interest is not just influencing politics, they are often writing the legislation that their puppets then pass. The Israel lobby wrote the anti-BDS legislation that has passed in far more than half of the 50 states.
Larry Ellison, now owner of Paramount and CBS is the largest donor to "Friends of the IDF". There is no conspiracy. The hypocrisy is so accepted that Zionist billionaires like Larry, Haim Saban, Sheldon Adelson (deceased), Bill Ackman all proudly proclaim their allegiance to Israel. People with dual citizenship see nothing wrong with it. INCREDIBLE, and we the people have swallowed this whole.
Right along with getting Israel out of US politics is the necessity of getting private money out of it. Even the Supreme Court is captive, approving the worst thing imaginable for corruption - that corporations can spend unlimited money in politics. What is American history but repeated proof that business in politics is the very last thing that should be allowed. See the entire 19th century in the US. See muckraking. See Teddy Roosevelt trustbusting. Only a fool would deny that one man - one vote is meaningless when you and I compare ourselves to Bezos or Musk or Zuckerberg?
The law in America is for sale just as is the legislature. In my district there is one and only one candidate out of 15 running for the House telling the truth when she says there should not be billionaires. It makes democracy a sham. We have a homeless problem, AI is about to sweep away jobs and Bezos buys a $500 million yacht. It is obscene, common and there is no move in Congress to return to a highly progressive income tax.
I would like to add, regarding Ellison, that there are laudable news programs, and thoughtful articles on Substack calling out the Ellison family acquisitions, along with Kushner, and Witkoff, etc., for various and sundry sins, and grifts. The Saudis, along with Putin, get front and center, with some UAE, and Qatar thrown around like parsley.
But never, not once, is there a single mention of Israel. The silence speaks louder than any words of how intimidated they are, or how much they are accomplices. Either way, there are those who still do not dare touch the infamous "Third Rail" of politics. I think most of us are aware that, alas, there are still far too many like this.
Amen
I feel like the US is capable of acting unhinged in this way all on its own, without Israel calling any shots. But I agree with everything else you said.
You're right and the Vietnam War and following wars are evidence of that. Power is a dangerous thing to give to any human being and the founders did their best to see that power was divided so that those afflicted with it, obsessed with gaining it, could offset each other. The glaring oversight is - what if they all cooperate with each other? The difficulty is that money brings power and then protects that power. Wealth is national and when it is so unevenly distributed as is characteristic of capitalism what has happened to the US is certain. Unrestricted capitalism will destroy the country that supports it, overpowering democracy with ease because while the little people are striving to make a living, the powerful have disposable wealth that can be dedicated to keeping themselves in place.
In a way we owe Israel thanks for so blatantly demonstrating its power that the corruption of our country is now illustrated in bright sunlight as American blood is being shed to protect ethnic cleansing for a country with 1/40th of the US population and with Jews equal in number to those in Israel living in perfect safety here, making the atrocities of Israel under the claim that it is to keeping Jews safe being demonstrably false. Israel is creating antisemitism in America, something Zionists wish to highlight under the absurdity that it has nothing to do with Israel's behavior. We must get the Zionist monkey off America's back.
Ken has the best take, as usual.
he needs to be backed up by others in the intelligence community otherwise he will just be dismissed as an antisemite, a Nazi, conspiracy theorist, you know, the usual go to crap.
Is this one case where antisemitism is actually in play? It's not like the guy is condemning genocide.
Whatever happens, Joe Kent is not going to be a Senator. He's from Washington State, where Maria Cantwell is more likely to be seriously challenged from the left than the right.
We’ll see!
all that AIPAC money she has taken pretty much assures she will not be primaried in any serious way
Let's hope
Thanks for the dissection of the resignation letter. I only read maybe the first third of it, and said gee, this is surprising, someone in the Trump administration could actually write something coherent and that made sense. I didn't get into the nuanced aspects you revealed, all quite important: "It's not the buffoon, it's those with undue influence, just gotta keep them at bay so as not to detour us from the path to greatness." And to think we haven't heard the last from this guy. Jeesch.
I appreciate your calling out Kent. But the ongoing invasion is not going to slow because the man in the oval continues to do what he wants, when and how he wants, with whom he pleases, and the rest of us - the entire nation that is - are left with yet another giant mess to clean up and another hole in our ragged image. We need to cut through this Gordian knot. We need to stop being trapped in process discussions that don't end with DJT's removal from office. It's a shame no one in America believes it can be done.
100% agree with Kent and would like to add that I'm waiting for the principled fighter who stays and does their job instead of quitting. Kent's obligation was to the American people, not to maintaining harmony by bowing out.
Hegseth subscribes to the ready, fire… Fire again and again ideology. Just shoot stuff. He’s line a blustery roid raged guy who just wants to blow stuff up. And DT loves it.
Kent’s letter said he thought that Iran poses no IMMEDIATE threat to theUS. Not that they’re not a “threat”! I’d agree that if they wanted to, they could have retaliated before when took out Suleiman. I applaud his bravado
.
Even if there are underlying motives that could be construed as self-serving, for Kent to speak up in this manner is meaningful. This guy is not one of Trump's billionaire cabinet members. He is going to have the full might of the highly politicized DOJ coming after him. I appreciate the stand he has taken, even if there are things to find fault with, or if we would prefer to have been done differently.
Let's not forget, he could have left quietly for 'family reasons.' Maybe it is for a future campaign, but also maybe it isn't. Regardless, I believe it took courage to do this, and we should be wanting, and encouraging, a slew of others to take the same steps, not finding ways to find fault with doing so. There are plenty of others who will have finding fault as their #1 priority, and for very different reasons.
“ But there’s a cynicism to his letter and its insistence that the president of the United States is some defenseless lamb being led astray by Israel.”
I don’t get that impression. He seems to be presenting Trump as a fool who has been tricked, not as a “defenseless lamb.” Nor do I see him as portraying the Pentagon as “innocent” in the letter, as he doesn’t even mention it. His placing primary blame on Israel for much of the wars in the past 30 years is accurate. That the pentagon has been an instrument is relevant, but should be secondary to Israel’s influence. And him publishing this letter is valuable even if you think he isn’t sufficiently a pacifist for your political tastes. And while it’s no doubt there was political calculation for his own career involved, from what I’ve read he has been consistently opposed to a stupid war with Iran for years. Of course with that said, he is a politician so his motives should always be suspect.
it wasn't lost on me that Kent lost his wife in a prior war
Yah that would be enough to make me go ballistic about this if I were in his situation. He essentially holds Israel largely responsible for his wife’s death, which is reasonable. To see Israel pulling America into another war similarly to one that killed his wife can’t be nice, assuming he isn’t a sociopath like most politicians seem to be.
Trump ran on being the “peace president” and bringing the U.S. into no new “forever wars” and particularly said how disastrous Iraq was and how bad a war with Iran would be. He betrayed his political promises, not surprisingly, and now he is pulling America into another war that is like what killed his wife?
Come on now, sure this could be a “cynical” motive cuz this is a politician we are talking about —but hell, that would be extremely cynical; about as “cynical” as Ken’s appraisal of the letter.
Now the FBI has launched an investigation into him possibly leaking information. This just shows that anyone who resigns from the Trump regime immediately becomes Trump's political enemy.
Glenn Greenwald posted "Joe Kent's Courage and Conscience, and the Craven Careerism of Tulsi Gabbard" a little while ago. I think he misses some important nuance that Ken gets.
Ken, in all your time reporting and researching, what movements or actions have been most effective in stopping wars that are not supported by the populace? I am curious to know what has worked. Happy to see this letter even though he may have other motivations.
There's no one way! It's always specific to the circumstances of the moment - discerning that is part of the challenge.
But Kent is proud of seeing conspiracies, stalwart in agreeing with Carlson and Levin.