Now that the president's poll numbers are in a tailspin, he has launched a strike on Iran. He is desperate.
Hmm, that sounds familiar
To read this issue in your browser, click on the headline above.
Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.
Operation Epic Hypocrisy
Trump whisperer Stephen Miller’s blunt assertion, “Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace” was a significant, unofficial Republican campaign slogan in 2024. Now, of course, the US attack on Iran has touched off a fiery regional conflict that, while we certainly hope it won’t metastasize into a full-blown World War, has vastly undercut Trump’s claim to being a man of peace.
Here’s just a sample of what the MAGA right was saying, in some cases not long ago:
Donald Trump speaking in 2011 — “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak and he’s ineffective.”
Donald Trump speaking in 2020 — “We've spent $8 trillion in the Middle East and we're not fixing our roads in this country? How stupid. How stupid is it? And we're not fixing our highways, our tunnels, our bridges, our hospitals even? Our schools even? It's crazy."
I certainly understand the visceral appeal of ridding the world of one of its most evil rulers, but there’s a reason the US and other free nations don’t go around the world assassinating or arresting murderous despots. Wreaking bloody havoc is easy. Regime change is hard. It demands significant investments of blood and treasure, and even then outcomes can be far less than satisfying.
The assumption that once the dictator is gone, the people will embrace Western-style democracy and personal liberties belies the fact that many people in this world prefer a strong leader who tramples freedoms, isn’t a believer in free and fair elections, has theocratic impulses, promotes ugly nativism and flouts both international and domestic law to serve his own interests. I can’t think of an example right now, but I’m sure one will come to me.
The timing of the attack on Iran due to some alleged imminent threat does not jibe well with this chesty proclamation just last June:
Count me among the cynics who see this attack as an attempt to boost Trump’s dismal poll numbers and distract attention from the nauseating, outrageous material in the Trump-Epstein files. When presidential son Barron Trump enlists to join the fight, I’ll believe this is a necessary war.
Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses
How to kill the State of Union address
M. de Hendon — I wish that the whole foolish charade of the State of the Union address to Congress were done away with. The required annual message to Congress was born in a time when there was poor communication all around, but it has devolved into a gaudy disgrace of oafish shouting, parades of symbolic guests, futile protests, and bloviating nonsense. Of course, there is nothing so degraded that Trump cannot make worse with his endless lies, silly “gotcha” moments, and awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a hockey goalie.
Zorn — I agree. If Democrats take the House in November, I hope the new speaker — Hakeem Jeffries? — declines to invite Trump to speak. Why enable his effort to spew endless lies and attacks on Democrats to a national audience? Of course this would inevitably cause the next Republican House speaker under a Democratic president to decline to invite him or her to speak, which would probably kill this dreary tradition once and for all.
The Hammond Bears?
Laurence E. Siegel — The New York Jets and Giants play their home games in New Jersey. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington. The LA Raiders and Rams play in Inglewood. The Kansas City Chiefs will soon be playing home games in Overland Park. The Miami Dolphins play in Miami Gardens. The Washington Commanders play in Maryland. The San Francisco 49ers play in Santa Clara. Northwest Indiana is still considered part of the Chicago metropolitan area. So what if a new Bears stadium is not Illinois? They are not the Illinois Bears. And now Illinois taxpayers will no longer be asked to pony up.
Zorn — Whenever I read or see yet another story about the new stadium my gorge rises over the Bears’ failure to build a larger, domed arena on the site of Soldier Field a quarter of a century ago. A sentimental attachment to the old colonnades and the wistful notion that football should be played outside utterly warped the judgments of many, and the team and the city invested in an instantly outmoded facility.
Does journalism really need good writers?
Tom Krish — I went to journalism school and work in the industry. It’s much better to be an excellent reporter and so-so writer, rather than a so-so reporter and excellent writer. Rough estimate: Good journalism is 80% reporting and 20% writing. As a reader, I’d much rather read a story written in plain English with good quotes and info, as opposed to a prosy piece with not much substance.
Zorn — I don’t look upon them as easily separated. Writing is a fundamental element of education not because we want students to produce “prosy” pieces, but because writing and thinking are deeply entwined. Good writers are good thinkers, and good thinkers make good reporters. Not to say there aren’t great reporters who are humdrum stylists or that there isn’t an important role in media for those who are dogged sleuths who’d rather let someone else write up what they’ve found.
What is the first-duty of government?
Nick Pokragac — As you noted, in his State of the Union speech, Donald Trump said “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” But what does that say to the tens of thousands of men and women who have given their lives and health to defend our democracy and its freedoms? I don’t believe they thought protecting themselves as the most important purpose of government.
Zorn — The first duty of the government is to protect the Constitution, which, in turn, ostensibly, protects the rights of all persons within our borders.
Are you paying more than your neighbors for the Tribune?
By “neighbors” of course I mean other area subscribers. Since Tribune pricing is so opaque and so obviously “dynamic,” I put out the call recently for my readers to report what they’re paying. Here is what some people reported paying for eight weeks of seven-day home delivery, which includes digital access. When the price was “bargained down” it reflects negotiations with the customer service representatives :
$76, bargained down from $199.92
$92.67
$111.92
$116.03
$120
$175.92
$238
$324, bargained down from $520
$424, bargained down from $604
$466, bargained down from $606
The lowest price paid here amounts to $1.36 a day. The highest quoted price, before bargaining, amounts to $10.82 a day. The highest price paid by my respondents amounts to $8.32 a day. The average cost at the newsstand ($4 weekdays and Saturday, $5.75 on Sunday) is $4.25 a day
Of course the teaser rates designed to draw in new customers are lower. Here are two recent offerings on the web:
The 52-week offer amounts to $2.99 a week or 43 cents a day. The $6.99 a week offer amounts to $1 a day.
A dollar a day — let alone 43 cents a day — is not enough to sustain a quality local newspaper, which the Tribune still is. $10.82 a day, which I must assume some people are paying, is more than the paper is worth compared to the price of other publications.
I don’t know enough about newspaper economics to say what a fair price is, but I do know that subscribers, like most people, are willing to pay a fair price for a good product, but hate the idea of paying more than the next person because the company thinks they can afford it. And they hate the idea that, to get a fair price, they have to call customer service — 312-546-7900 — and haggle with the hapless representatives whose special discounts are still higher than what other people are paying
The advice several readers gave me was to tell the customer service representative that you want to cancel unless they can offer a “most favored subscriber” rate.
I’m now told by other subscribers and a customer service operator that the paper will opt you out permanently from paying up to $15.99 a month up to 15 times a year for “premium issue” inserts only after you call a second time and ask to opt out. The first time you call they will opt you out for six months only.
The Tribune publisher and editor don’t respond to my emails asking how they justify such predatory practices, why they don’t let you go online to see what you’re paying and why they don’t post and charge fair, consistent prices so no one feels ripped off.
Maybe one of you business school grads out there can explain.
If you are a seven-day a week home delivery subscriber, I’d like to hear what you’re paying for the service. Attach the invoice/postcard if you can.
Unpopular opinions?
A reader letter to the Sun-Times last week proposed that Chicago rename Midway Airport in honor of the late Jesse Jackson. A writer to the Tribune’s Voice of the People, meanwhile, suggested renaming Jackson Park for him.
I’m partial to the park idea. Jackson Park is named for Andrew Jackson, the 7th US president and general who kept slaves instead of freeing them and who ardently supported the institution of slavery rather than advocating to end it.
Andrew Jackson also signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which resulted in the brutal and deadly eviction of tens of thousands of indigenous people from ancestral homes east of the Mississippi River to land west of the Mississippi along what became known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Yes, many famous people of the past fail to live up to contemporary values, but Jackson was a particularly racist and autocratic president who, for what it’s worth, never set foot in Chicago. Making Jesse the park honoree instead of Andrew would be as easy and unconfusing a move as when Chicago renamed Douglas Park (for Stephen A. Douglas) as Douglass Park (for Frederick Douglass).
There is, however, some sentiment to rename Jackson Park to Obama Park since former President Barack Obama’s presidential center is located there. Midway airport is named in honor of the 1942 Battle of Midway, a US naval victory in the Pacific Ocean in World War II.
Your thoughts?
Last week’s result
The letters printed in the Tribune and Sun-Times on the Lieutenant Governor’s salty US Senate primary commercial have been overwhelmingly negative, and even though I kinda liked the sentiment myself, I have to admit that any commercial that inspired more people to vote against you than vote for you is a failure.
Janet Williams — While I voted that I was indifferent to Stratton’s ad it is another indication of her following the failed Democrat playbook - running on being anti Trump. We get it and I know that the other 2 major candidates in the Senate race feel the same way. But what will she do? I want to hear about restoring funding for public health infrastructure, economic fixes and public safety.
NewsWheel
Inspired by the WordWheel puzzle in the Monday-Friday Chicago Tribune and other papers, this puzzle asks you to identify the missing letter that will make a word or words — possibly proper nouns; reading either clockwise or counterclockwise — related to a story in the news or other current event. The solution at the bottom of the newsletter includes a link to a related, explanatory news story.
The week’s best visual jokes
Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:
There’s still time to vote in the conventional Quip of the Week poll!
Thanks to paid subscribers for supporting the Picayune Sentinel. To help this publication grow, please consider spreading the word to friends, family, associates, neighbors and agreeable strangers.
Info
Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.
Contact
You can email me at ericzorn@gmail.com or by clicking here:
I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.
Some of those letters I reprint and respond to in the Z-mail section of Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, which is delivered to paid subscribers and available to all readers later Tuesday. Check there for responses.
If you don’t want me to use the full name on your email or your comments, let me know how you’d like to be identified.
Social media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ejzorn
Twitter: https://x.com/EricZorn
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ejzorn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ejzorn/
Help?
If you’re having troubles with Substack — delivery, billing and so forth — check out the Substack help page. And if that doesn’t work, shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to help.
The fantasy reasoning for justifying a war
1. Trump: They refused to sign a nuclear agreement promising to stop rebuilding an obliterated Nuclear program.
2. Trump: Regime change.
3. Hegseth: Not a regime change. Destroy missile and other WMD capabilities.
4. Rubio: When Isreal attacks, Iran will retaliate against us, so we may as well attack first.
Yeah, I'm really confident these guys know what they are doing.
Netanyahu has been lying about the "imminent threat" for decades (like the Agent, everything is always two weeks away). My guess is that he thinks it is now or never to strike and to enlist the swaggering buffoon infatuated with the kinetic power of the US military in his dream of a lifetime. BN knows that his tenure, buoyed up by a rag-tag assembly of religious fanatics, has a limited shelf-life, and that the electoral prospects for the Orangeman are dismal. He knows that the Orangeman's gelled Gollum of a "Secretary of War" will be an enthusiast. Eh, voila! Billions of US treasure spent, the Middle East in a ferment, Iranian schoolchildren dead, US military dead, destruction and death everywhere, and an incalculable future.
Before the usual comments, I believe Israel has a right to exist, even with the current despicable government, I believe Iranians deserve a just government and shed no tears for the reigning mullahs, but then I believe the USA deserves a just government too.