Spare me the make believe indignation from Republicans about the Afghanistan evacuation.
1/ Here's the story of the relentless Republican effort (led by President Trump) to undermine and destroy the programs that help bring Afghan refugees to the U.S.
2/ Over the last decade, Republicans have pushed to intentionally create a massive backlog in the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program - the one we use to bring Afghan partners to America, by putting onerous conditions on the applications.
3/ In 2016, Obama asked to increase the cap for the SIV program. Senate Republicans objected.
Then, the Trump Admin started slowing down SIV processing. When Biden took over, there were 10,000 unfilled visas, despite 17,000 applications in the pipeline.
4/ This dovetailed with the assault by Trump and Republicans to destroy other refugee programs that bring Afghans to the U.S..
Obama admitted over 2,700 Afghan refugees. Trump admitted 400, bc he had dismantled the refugee system. Biden had to rebuild it.
5/ And today Trump Republicans are making it clear they will oppose bringing more Afghan refugees to the U.S..
Steven Miller: "Resettling [Afghans] in America is not about solving a humanitarian crisis; it’s about accomplishing an ideological objective to change America,”
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Trump's Iran War has been a disaster in the U.S., as gas prices eclipse $4.
But in the developing world, the shock of spiralling energy prices has been cataclysmic.
1/ A short thread the scope of the damage Trump has caused. There are crises everywhere and you need to know.
2/ Here's just a sample of the disasters that are spiraling out of control, all over the world:
The Philippines had declared a national state of emergency. Their fuel reserves are so low they can only last for 30 more days of normal economic activity. abcnews.com/Business/phili…
3/ Protests broke out in India over shortages of cooking gas. The entire nation has had to give up cooking hot food. reuters.com/business/energ…
2/ Trump isn't even pretending to choose military targets. He is promising to bomb all of Iran's power plants and bridges. This is military.com making it clear that hitting civilian infrastructure, like power plants, is a war crime. military.com/feature/2026/0…
3/ Trump's advisors are telling him to hit civilian sites because it will cause unrest and potentially topple the regime.
But just think about the insanity of this plan: kill tens of thousands of civilians in order to cause a national panic. wsj.com/world/middle-e…
Air power is how a nation projects extra-territorial power. And how you protect your own airspace.
But drones are replacing airplanes. And we CANNOT destroy all their drones. Their drone attacks continue. jpost.com/middle-east/ir…
3/ Rubio Objective 2: Destroy their navy.
Ok, but for what? Their "navy" isn't what closes the Strait of Hormuz. It's thousands of speed boats and suicide boats. And like their drones, we can't destroy them all.
Trump's illegal attack on Iran has set off regional war. The latest - Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon. 800 are already dead.
1/ Tonight, I want to walk you thru a🧵on how devastating this new war could be, and how Trump's blunder set it in motion. theguardian.com/world/2026/mar…
2/ Iran's terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, operates out of Lebanon. Fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah broke out after the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. It lasted for a year until a ceasefire in November 2024. Trump inherited this ceasefire. washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysi…
3/ But Trump inherited something else good: a new Lebanese government - the most competent in decades - that was open to confronting Hezbollah. And this was the only real, long term solution - the Lebanese government taking full control of the country. nytimes.com/2026/03/06/wor…
It’s crystal clear now that Trump has lost control of this war. He badly misjudged Iran’s ability to retaliate. The region is on fire.
1/ I’m going to explain to you in this🧵what I’ve learned - in part from closed door briefings - about the four biggest current crises.
2/ CRISIS ONE: Trump believed Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz. He was wrong. And now oil prices are spiking.
If the Strait stays closed, a global recession will result. It actually may already be too late. Gas prices are the first to spike, but food prices are next.
2/ Right now, Trump has no plan to reopen the Strait. And a plan may not exist.
The assets Iran uses to harass and attack tankers - thousands of small drones, speed boats and mines - cannot be eliminated. They are too numerous, too spread out and hidden. foxnews.com/world/iran-dep…
I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public.
I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are.
1/ Here's what I can share:
2/ Maybe the lead is that the war goals DO NOT involve destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program. This is, uh...surprising...since Trump says over and over this is a key goal.
But then of course we already know air strikes can't wipe out their nuclear material.
3/ Second, they confirmed "regime change" is also NOT on the list. So, they are going to spend hundreds of billions of your taxpayer dollars, get a whole bunch of Americans killed, and a hardline regime - probably a MORE anti-American hardline regime - will still be in charge.