america first, china winning by 20 points
Donald Trump explains his China strategy: a complex mix of tariffs, tantrums, and handing Xi Jinping a gift-wrapped AI advantage.
Trump’s second-term "strategic vision"—a phrase doing a lot of work here—amounts to handing China a fruit basket, a bouquet, and the keys to the global order. After years of ranting that Beijing wants to "challenge American power," he responded by gutting U.S. science, botching a trade war so badly that China walked away with a record $1.2 trillion surplus, and letting them sprint ahead in electric cars, wind, and batteries. America First apparently means "America first to forfeit the future."
Allies watched this clown show and did the rational thing: they called Beijing. Canada, tired of being threatened with becoming the 51st state and hammered with tariffs, signed a new strategic partnership with China. South Korea inked a dozen tech and trade deals in Beijing, the UK and Germany lined up for Xi Jinping photo ops, and world opinion polls now show more countries see China—not the U.S.—as the top economic power. Trump didn’t just weaken NATO; he created a global "find a new best friend" program, and Xi is the one handing out membership cards.
The national security pièce de résistance: reversing Biden-era curbs and greenlighting Nvidia to sell advanced AI chips to China after some billionaire donors whined about lost profits. Jake Sullivan called it "nuts" because it literally solves China’s main military-tech bottleneck. So after years of screaming about the China threat, Trump personally helps fix Beijing’s computing shortfall and then brags about being tough on China. The trade war ended with China restricting rare earths and banning U.S. soybeans until Trump folded, enraging American farmers and proving that the self-proclaimed master negotiator can, in fact, be bullied into submission—just not by his own citizens.
#national-security#killing-democracy#full-stupid
trump to nukes: 'if they explode, they explode'
Artist’s impression of Trump’s 'Golden Dome': a giant, gold-plated umbrella over Mar-a-Lago, funded by your grandkids’ tax dollars and protected by exactly zero working interceptors.
Senator Ed Markey is here with the cheery reminder that the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, New START, is expiring, and Donald Trump’s position is essentially: “Eh.” For the first time in over 50 years, there will be zero limits on US and Russian nuclear arsenals, but the guy with the launch codes is publicly musing that, if the treaty expires, it just "expires"—like a coupon, or a non-disclosure agreement he forgot to pay off.
Instead of backing the boring, proven method of not dying in nuclear fire (treaties, inspections, verification), Trump is drooling over a fantasy missile shield he calls "Golden Dome"—a wildly expensive sci‑fi grift that doesn’t work, but would shovel trillions to defense contractors and, naturally, required him to "control" Greenland. Because when you’re playing nuclear roulette with 4,000 warheads, why not toss in a little casual imperialism and real estate cosplay.
Markey points out the obvious: missile defense has burned through hundreds of billions and still can’t reliably stop a determined ICBM, but it’s fantastic at one thing—fueling a new arms race, since Russia and others can just build more offensive missiles to overwhelm the magic dome. With 91% of Americans supporting new limits, Trump is once again heroically standing up to the tyranny of public opinion, basic survival instincts, and math, edging us toward Arms Race 2.0 while pretending it’s some kind of strategic genius move.
#national-security#killing-democracy
trump’s golden dome and the doomsday clock
Keir Starmer and Xi Jinping, both carefully not mentioning the part where China is racing to build more nukes while Trump tries to sell a magic missile umbrella to terrified Americans.
Keir Starmer goes to Beijing, skips the part about human rights and Taiwan, and somehow also forgets to bring up the tiny issue of China’s secretive nuclear binge. Because nothing says "responsible statesman" like politely nodding while Xi Jinping quietly stacks warheads like it’s a Costco sale. Meanwhile, the Doomsday Clock just moved to 85 seconds to midnight – closer to nuclear Armageddon than ever – but Western leaders are busy workshopping their "constructive engagement" photo ops.
China is racing to expand its arsenal – about 100 new warheads a year since 2023 – while refusing to join arms control talks, all under the soothing label of maintaining only the "minimum level required for national security" (a number they conveniently forgot to define). The US and Russia still hoard about 90% of the world’s ~12,000 warheads, New START is about to expire, and nearly every nuclear state is upgrading to shiny new toys like hypersonic missiles and low-yield "usable" nukes. In other words: everyone is playing nuclear Jenga and hoping someone else knocks the table over first.
Enter Donald Trump, who, rather than strengthen arms control, is pushing a multilayered, Greenland-adjacent "Golden Dome" missile shield that experts say could blow up what’s left of strategic stability. Because nothing says "let’s calm this down" like building a giant, wildly expensive, probably-not-working space umbrella that convinces your rivals they’d better build more missiles to overwhelm it. The Pentagon is already warning that China’s "hair-trigger" posture and new ICBM fields make the US homeland more vulnerable, but Trump’s answer is: more toys, fewer treaties, and maximum provocation.
Xi calls Trump one of the "rampant" powers following the law of the jungle, which is rich coming from a guy racing to emperor-for-life status while quietly building the arsenal to match. But he’s not wrong about the jungle part: Trump helped torch the arms control architecture, is now selling a fantasy missile dome to his base, and everyone else is responding by doubling down on nukes. The adults in the room were supposed to stop this. Instead, they’re arguing over who gets the best optics while the countdown clock keeps ticking.
#national-security#killing-democracy#imperialism
trump discovers the war button again
Donald Trump, bravely threatening a war he’ll never have to fight in, while a US armada does the heavy lifting for his latest episode of Strongman Theater.
Donald Trump has decided that what the world really needs right now is a little light nuclear brinkmanship, announcing that ‘time is running out’ for Iran while parking a huge US armada on its doorstep. Because nothing says responsible global leadership like menacing a country of 89 million people to juice your strongman image and cable-news chyron.
This latest episode in "What If We Just Started A War?" comes after Trump first promised Iranian protesters that ‘help was on the way,’ then immediately backtracked when it looked like actual responsibility might be involved. Now he’s demanding Tehran negotiate a new deal on its nuclear program while simultaneously doing everything possible to make sure diplomacy dies in a ditch — in other words, classic Trump: threaten war, sabotage talks, then blame the other side for not being serious enough about peace.
Behind the scenes, Pentagon hardware is doing laps in the Persian Gulf while the rest of us get to play the fun new party game, "Is this a bluff, or is the least disciplined man alive about to start a regional war because he got bored on Truth Social?" Devika Bhat walks through what Trump could do next, which ranges from more empty chest-thumping to an actual military strike — but sure, tell us again how the adults are in the room and everything’s totally under control.
#national-security#killing-democracy
trump quietly yeets 750 pages of nuclear safety rules into the sun
Idaho National Lab, now available in ‘move fast and break containment’ mode — safety paperwork sold separately.
The Trump Department of Energy has been busy doing what it does best: secretly rewriting life-or-death rules so rich people can move faster. Over the fall and winter, DOE quietly shredded more than 750 pages of nuclear safety directives governing new experimental reactors — then handed the new, slimmed-down rules to industry while keeping the public completely in the dark. Because nothing says "responsible nuclear stewardship" like classified oopsies.
The new orders gut requirements for site security, environmental protections, groundwater safeguards, record-keeping, accident investigations, and even eliminate at least one key safety role. They also raise the radiation exposure threshold before an accident investigation is triggered — in other words, workers can soak up more radiation before anyone is officially allowed to admit something went wrong. All of this is to speed along Small Modular Reactors that just so happen to be backed by billions from Amazon, Google, and Meta, who want cheap power for AI — truly the most comforting reason to weaken nuclear safeguards.
Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair Christopher Hanson — whom Trump fired in 2025, naturally — points out that secretly relaxing nuclear safety "is not the best way" to build public trust. Edwin Lyman, a longtime nuclear safety expert, is blunter: the administration is taking "a wrecking ball" to the system that kept the U.S. from having another Three Mile Island. But sure, I’m sure everything will be fine. After all, when has a government-industry partnership that hides safety rollbacks around nuclear reactors ever gone badly?
#national-security#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
when prince harry is your nato damage control guy
Prince Harry, a literal prince, trying to explain basic NATO obligations to a guy who once asked if we could just use nukes more.
Prince Harry, a guy who used to dress up like a Nazi for fun and still manages to clear the moral bar over Donald Trump, showed up on NBC’s TODAY to defend NATO troops after Trump’s latest brain-melter about alliance forces on the front lines.
Trump reportedly made comments downplaying or politicizing NATO deployments and the risks to troops in Eastern Europe, because nothing says "commander in chief" like treating collective defense as a reality show plot twist. Harry, who actually served in Afghanistan and has this wild concept called "respect for people risking their lives," pushed back and talked about the sacrifices of NATO service members who are, you know, trying to keep authoritarian regimes from rolling tanks into their neighbors.
In other words, we’ve reached the stage of American decline where a British royal ex-pat has to go on morning TV to remind the former U.S. president that NATO soldiers are not extras in his grievance tour. Trump keeps chipping away at the alliance that underpins Western democracy, and the international response is basically: send in the spare Windsor and hope he can talk sense into the world’s most powerful Fox News comment section.
#national-security#killing-democracy#fascism
microsoft gives china a backstage pass to the pentagon, trump pretends to fix it
Stock photo of a Pentagon server rack, presumably labeled: "Totally Secure, Except For The Part Where Microsoft Outsourced It To China."
For nearly a decade, Microsoft apparently decided that the best way to secure the Pentagon’s most sensitive cloud systems was to let China-based engineers work on them, then slap a few underqualified U.S. "digital escorts" on top as a fig leaf. Because nothing says "national security" like a corporate workaround to avoid the pesky requirement that people handling defense data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
After ProPublica did the job the Pentagon allegedly didn’t know it needed to do, the Defense Department suddenly discovered this might be bad, updated its cybersecurity rules, and now Trump has signed a law to ban anyone in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea from direct or indirect access to DoD cloud systems. In other words, they’ve finally decided that the world’s leading cyber adversaries probably shouldn’t be backstage at the Pentagon’s IT show.
Microsoft, which conveniently "left out" its China-based operations and foreign engineers from a 2025 security plan submitted to DoD, is now declining comment while promising to "work with our national security partners"—a phrase that here means "please don’t cancel the contracts." Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth is thundering on X about how foreign engineers should never touch DoD systems, and Elise Stefanik and Tom Cotton are declaring this a huge "win" for security, as if Congress didn’t just discover that Big Tech had been speedrunning a "national betrayal" for years under their noses.
The new law also forces the Pentagon to brief Congress on cybersecurity controls and incidents, which is adorable coming from the same institution that only learned about Microsoft’s little escort program because ProPublica told them. But sure, now that the barn’s empty and the horses are in Shanghai, we’re installing a really excellent lock.
#national-security#corruption
foreign policy live from the mar-a-lago buffet line
Trump, live from the world’s tackiest command center, explains that Iran ‘may be behaving badly’—unlike the U.S., which only tears up treaties and threatens wars for sport.
Trump popped up on NBC to announce that "Iran may be behaving badly," which is a bold statement from a guy whose own foreign policy record is a highlight reel of shredded treaties and impulsive drone strikes. From the comfort of Mar-a-Lago — America’s least secure Situation Room and most expensive members-only food court — he warned Iran against building up weapons, as if the entire world hasn’t watched him spend years nuking U.S. credibility on arms control and diplomacy.
In other words, the man who unilaterally torched the Iran nuclear deal is now back on TV warning that Iran might be doing exactly what experts said they’d do after he torched the Iran nuclear deal. Because nothing says ‘serious statesman’ like blowing up the one agreement actually constraining a nuclear program and then acting shocked that the guardrails are gone. But sure, let’s all pretend this is a coherent strategy and not just another episode of ‘Grievance Theater’ filmed live at his golf resort.
Meanwhile, the whole performance fits neatly into the ongoing project of running U.S. foreign policy as a personal branding exercise: tough talk for the cameras, zero consistency, and maximum chaos for everyone who has to clean up after him. America’s institutions burned their credibility to enable this once, and here we are again, watching him freelance nuclear-adjacent threats between meetings with Netanyahu at the cabana bar.
#national-security#killing-democracy#full-stupid
lindsey graham discovers gravity, warns trump football is still in putin’s hands
Lindsey Graham explaining to America that the ex-KGB dictator might not be honest, as if he’s just cracked the Da Vinci Code.
Lindsey Graham went on TV to warn Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin is basically Lucy with the football – which is rich, coming from the guy who has spent the last decade as Trump’s emotional support senator every time he faceplants on foreign policy. Apparently, after years of Trump publicly swooning over Putin, undermining NATO, and treating Ukraine like a reality-show prop, Graham has noticed that the ex-KGB dictator might not be negotiating in good faith. Truly, a breakthrough in Republican science.
Graham’s message boils down to: Putin keeps dangling "peace" while refusing to budge on anything, and Trump keeps sprinting at the ball like it’s a golden opportunity for a campaign photo-op. Then Putin yanks it away and uses the chaos to strengthen his position. In other words, U.S. foreign policy is now a Peanuts rerun where the nuclear codes are offscreen.
The Trump camp, of course, is still selling this as brilliant statesmanship: the great dealmaker bringing peace to the world by believing whatever Putin says this week. Meanwhile, career diplomats and actual security experts get sidelined so Trump can chase another made-for-TV "peace" moment that exists mostly in his own press releases. Because nothing says serious global leadership like getting repeatedly conned by the same autocrat while your own party has to go on cable news and beg you not to fall for it again.
#national-security#killing-democracy#full-stupid
hegseth's turtle war: franklin goes full rambo
Hegseth: because nothing says 'defense strategy' like a turtle with an RPG.
In the latest episode of 'Why on Earth is This Happening?' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has managed to enrage both book publishers and people with functioning morals by sharing a meme of Franklin the Turtle waging war on drug boats. Because nothing says serious military strategy like turning a children's book character into a drug war hero.
In the spirit of the holidays, Hegseth accompanied the post with a festive suggestion for your Christmas wish list. Nothing screams peace on earth quite like Franklin wielding a rocket-propelled grenade. Kids Can Press strongly condemned this 'sick parody', defending Franklin as a beacon of 'kindness, empathy, and inclusivity'—qualities not exactly synonymous with blowing up boats.
Senator Mark Kelly and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer joined the chorus of voices labeling Hegseth a 'national embarrassment', questioning the sanity of a defense secretary who tweets about turtles with RPGs while overseeing nuclear weapons. But sure, let's keep pretending tweets like this are normal.
#national-security#full-stupid#killing-democracy
bolton's classified oopsie-daisy
Look at Bolton here, probably contemplating the best emoji to use when leaking classified info.
John Bolton, the mustachioed hawk who once cozied up to the Trump White House, has been hit with 18 charges for mishandling classified documents. Because nothing screams national security like firing off sensitive information via your personal email and messaging apps. Not to worry, though—Bolton is quoted on record as saying he feared a "retribution presidency," as if that's ever stopped anyone with a grudge and a Twitter account.
Enter Attorney General Pamela Bondi, the knight in shining armor who assures us there's "one tier of justice for all Americans." In other words, if you're embroiled in a scandal, make sure it's a really big one, so it takes a couple of years to catch up with you. Meanwhile, Bolton's lawyer insists these charges were "resolved years ago." In Trump's America, nothing quite screams 'justice' like a case of selective memory.
#national-security#forever-grifting
Trump's Diplomatic Shenanigans: Helping Putin One Aid Pause at a Time
president clown make up and fat piece of shit welcomes ukrainian hero to the white house
In a breathtaking display of incompetence, Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine—because who needs allies fighting for their survival when you can throw a tantrum and play negotiator with a dictator? This brilliant strategy, championed by the likes of JD Vance and Marco Rubio, is nothing but an absurd attempt to massage Trump’s inflated ego while throwing a crucial ally under the bus. Meanwhile, Putin must be cracking open the vodka, toasting to our 'diplomatic pressure' on a nation bleeding and begging for help. Bravo, America, for electing a leader whose idea of international relations resembles a kindergarten squabble!
Source: washingtonpost.com
#national-security#imperialism
Trump's Cybersecurity Strategy: Pretending Russia Doesn't Exist
The Trump Administration Is Deprioritizing Russia as a Cyber Threat
Apparently, the Trump administration has decided that Russia is no longer a cyber problem—because nothing says 'I'm safeguarding national security' like ignoring the cyber criminal masterminds actively undermining democracy while cozying up to Putin. With cyber threats taking a backseat to Twitter drama, the U.S. is effectively giving Russia a VIP pass to wreak havoc, all while claiming that China and Iran are the real bad guys. It's a bold strategy to downplay the most pressing cybersecurity threats—no doubt everyone in Moscow is popping champagne over this ridiculous incompetence!
#national-security
Hegseth's Cyber Stand-Down: A Gift-Wrapped Invitation for Russian Hackers
the most unqualified dumbass piece of shit to ever have this office
In a stunning display of incompetence, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to just fold its arms and watch as Russia continues its digital war on the West, proving once again that the only thing more dangerous than a Kremlin hacker is a clueless American bureaucrat. Meanwhile, the White House is busy bending over backwards to cozy up to a regime that invades other countries and undermines democracy, while millions of Americans are left wondering why their cyber security strategy feels like a bad sitcom. Bravo, Hegseth – you’ve successfully turned National Defense into a punchline!
#national-security
USA: The Global Police Force for Corruption and Incompetence
a flock of invertebrate bitches
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's latest episode of ‘Let’s invade Mexico’ is a glorious reminder that our leaders are more interested in flexing military might than tackling the real issues of insider corruption and incompetence that plague our border crisis. While he struts around issuing threats like a schoolyard bully, Mexican officials must be laughing behind their hands. Sure, let’s blame the cartels for the flood of fentanyl, but let’s also ignore the glaring fact that the real drug lord here wears a suit and has a corner office! If Hegseth’s grand strategy involves strutting around like an overlord while the actual problems linger, we might as well hand the cartels a medal for bottling our ineptitude. Terrific job, Pete!
#national-security#anti-immigration
federal workers with technical expertise resign en masse rather than tear down critical public infrastructure
thanks, patriots
More than **20 government tech experts just quit en masse**, refusing to help Musk’s **Department of Government Efficiency** dismantle **critical public services.** Meanwhile, Musk—who once hyped DOGE as a **bureaucracy-busting revolution**—was last seen at CPAC **waving a Chinese-made chainsaw.** Because nothing says “American efficiency” like **gutting Social Security and veterans’ services while roleplaying as a dictator.**
#national-security
trump hasn't upended the world order, just rearranged the deck chairs
Trump and Macron, the duo redefining 'awkward diplomatic handshakes'
In a delightful twist of logic, former Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates assures us that Trump hasn't upended the world order, he’s merely edited it for length and clarity. Because when you've alienated your allies and given a free pass to Russia, it's not a new order—it's just Tuesday. Coates claims that outdated post-WWII alliances are the real problem, not the fact that the U.S. is playing footsie with Putin while scolding Zelenskyy. But sure, let's pretend it's NATO's fault for not keeping up with Trump’s brilliant strategic vision of doing absolutely nothing about the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. In other words, it's not about switching sides—it's about calling our allies needy and outdated, because nothing says 'peace' like dismissing allies and cozying up to adversaries.
#national-security#imperialism
morons at the top move to fire tons of cia workers, the people that keep us safe
the cia logo
The administration’s purge of the ‘deep state’ has reached the CIA. A wave of firings and resignations is rocking the intelligence agency, with senior officials being ousted in what looks like a political loyalty test. This follows the broader shake-up across national security agencies, as Trump’s inner circle tightens its grip on intelligence operations. Critics warn that gutting experienced leadership could cripple the agency’s ability to respond to threats, but hey, who needs spies when you have sycophants? It’s not about national security—it’s about control.
#national-security
trump kills database of dirty and bad cops
Protesters march away from the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, days after the police killing of George Floyd. The killing launched a move toward police accountability by both presidents Trump and Biden, but now Trump has killed an accountability database. (John Minchillo/AP)
Trump kills federal police misconduct database, because why track bad cops? In a move that will surely make accountability optional, the Trump administration has shut down the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, which tracked misconduct records for federal officers. The database was created under Biden and covered 150,000 officers across 90 agencies, helping prevent problem cops from agency-hopping. But apparently, tracking who’s been fired for misconduct is just too much government oversight. No explanation was given for the shutdown, but Trump’s executive order scrapping it claimed Biden’s policies were “radical” and “illegal.” Because nothing says law and order like letting bad cops wipe the slate clean.
Source: washingtonpost.com
#national-security#lawlessness
judge clears the way for mass firings
protestors standing up for the civil service
I guess “draining the swamp” just means gutting the government and hoping nobody notices. A federal judge just cleared the way for Trump’s mass firings of federal workers, rejecting a union lawsuit that tried to block the move. More than half a million jobs are on the chopping block, and the IRS is already laying off 6,000 employees—because nothing says efficiency like gutting the tax agency in the middle of filing season. The unions argue this is an unconstitutional power grab, but the judge shrugged and kicked the case to a labor board stacked with Trump appointees. Meanwhile, Trump’s administration insists this is just about “streamlining and modernizing” the government—because nothing says modern like firing everyone and letting chaos sort it out.
Source: washingtonpost.com
#national-security
