Dan Caldwell Framed? Ukraine Walkaway? Reverse TDS?

Three separate topics that kinda hang together. First, I want to highly recommend Tucker Carlsons hour and a half interview with one of the three DoD guys that were fired recently. The leak is that they were fired for leaking—but that’s not official. The smart take is that these guys were fired for talking Hegseth out of supporting war on Iran. Scalps for the Jewish Nationalists, who have not given up on that war. Indeed, the news is full of speculation that Israel will do a “limited” strike on Iran if Trump can’t do a deal. Or maybe if the deal isn’t what they want. Anything that could get sucker America into a war for the Jewish Supremacy Project.

The long interview is quite fascinating because most of it deals with Caldwell’s life story and what it says about the military. Two teasers. First, Tucker asks Caldwell about whether Iran’s air defense was damaged much by the supposed Israeli strike. Caldwell ducks that—which I take to be a negative. Second, Caldwell states that the US war on Syraq—because the wars on Iraq and Syria are totally linked—were flat out criminal, crimes against the people of those countries. And he ties the US in to the rise of ISIS and all its atrocities. He also describes the effect of all this on vets, which is how he first got involved with Hegseth. Here are the links:

Pete Hegseth’s Top Advisor Framed for Pentagon ”Leaks” (It Was Really About Iran)

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:10 What Would Happen if the US Went to War With Iran?

9:13 The Real Reason the US Invaded Iraq

15:38 The Military Power of Iran

22:25 The Global Coalition Iran Has Formed Because of the US

26:37 Is This Evil or Stupidity?

31:10 How Trump Exposed Regime Change Wars

41:37 Caldwell’s Experience in the Marine Corps

50:31 The Impact of the Iraq War on Veterans

1:00:59 How Caldwell Helped Pete Hegseth Become Secretary of Defense

1:08:21 The Real Reason Caldwell was Fired

1:11:30 Was Caldwell the Source of the Leaks?

1:22:09 How Caldwell Was Escorted Out

1:23:41 Who Are the Real Culprits of the Pentagon Leaks?

1:28:58 Caldwell’s Reaction to His Ousting

Is Trump really going to do a walkaway from Ukraine? That’s the topic that Danny Davis and Doug Macgregor dealt with today. Color me skeptical. Or, at least, any walkaway will be partial and harmful to US interests. In other words, Trump may indeed walk away from his “peace deal” ploy, but he has already extended sanctions for a year. Further, he is continuing the military exercises with NATO while NATO ups the war talk (5,000 German troops and armor to Lithuania—I wonder how the Russians view a German move to the east?). My guess is he’ll continue providing intel to the war effort if he does a walkaway. We shall see, but that won’t mollify the Russians. It will confirm them in their distrust of the US.

Here’s a transcript of the heart of the discussion, IMO. Mac is adamant on two points: One, the US badly needs normalized relations with Russia for strategic reasons, and he fears Trump will blow this—Trump went into this with fundamental misunderstandings of what could be accomplished. Two, Jewish Nationalists and their supporters are behind both the war on Russia and our war on whomever else they want America to be at war with for the sake of Israel.

Col Doug Macgregor: Trump Revealing Ukraine Peace Plan this Week

Mac: Ukrainians have done terrible things to the Russian population. They were doing terrible things to the Russian population in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, which was probably the single most important reason the Russians intervened there militarily to begin with--to stop it and to protect the Russian population. Of course, they had no idea, apparently, of just how far things had gone in Ukraine. They didn't know in detail about the Biolabs that were trying to come up with genetic weapons that would kill large numbers of eastern Slavs. They weren't aware that there were weapons being developed for use against the Russians that were calculated to kill large numbers of Russians. So I don't take anything Ukrainians [say] seriously, but I think what Mr Putin is saying is very real, and he means it. The problem is I see no evidence that the Ukrainians will ever comply with any of that. In fact, the opposite is the case. I think they'll continue to do whatever they can to harm as many Russians as possible. And look--if you go back to people like Victoria Nuland and her crew and the people in Washington under Biden and prior to this that were there in 2014, nursing and cultivating this hateful regime in in Kiev, that's what they wanted. They wanted to harm Russians, which is why I urged President Trump as soon as he was elected to put an end to it and say, ‘Look, not my war, didn't start it, we don't want it, we're suspending all aid to this regime, I'm pulling everybody out within 48 to 72 hours, no more Americans in Ukraine.’ That's what he should have done. Had he done that he would be sitting on top of the world at this point and he would be well along in normalizing relations with Russia which, again, is vitally strategic to us. We need to normalize relations with Moscow. That, of course, is the very opposite of what the people that brought on this war want. They want permanent conditions of hostility with Russia, just as these same people are advocates for permanent conditions of hostility with anyone Israel doesn't like. It's the same gang. They're all the same people.

In this contribution by DD, it’s not entirely clear what he means by “then we can do it in order” in the thinking that he attributes to Trump. My guess is that he believes this reflects Trump’s idea of doing a deal with Russia and then “doing it [pivoting to China] in order”. In order meaning, China is the next up after Russia. Then DD continues in agreement with Mac—Trump has fundamentally misunderstood that Putin is a serious guy who says what he means and means what he says. Dealmaking of the Trumpian variety—replete with a whirlwind of threats and what passes for charm—doesn’t cut it with Vlad.

DD: You know it's really disappointing. We seem to be going down the wrong path. I think that Trump fancied, 'I can come up with a deal that will convince the Ukraine side to agree to this, and then we can do it in order.' I suspect that that's what he thought. I think now recognizing that it's not because he doesn't have a legitimate partner in Zelensky--who actually wants the war to end but wants to preserve the status quo irrespective of all facts and whatever else--but that when you look at what Putin said about a month ago it's clear that this is something that the Russian side has said, almost from the beginning and has definitely not changed. But it shows just how different the two positions about what people are trying to accomplish are:

Putin: We agree with the propositions to stop hostilities, but we proceed from the fact that a ceasefire should be such that would lead to a permanent peace and remove the initial original causes of the crisis.

DD: And so if he's trying to find something that gets to the end, or gets to the core of the reason why the war started which you referred to just a second ago, and all we're looking to do and all Zelensky is looking to do is he just wants to stop the attack on civilian infrastructure, not even address the core causes, then you see you have an unbridgeable gap.

Mac: Well, President Trump tends to view the world through the lens of--quote unquote--dealmaking. This [the war on Russia] is not about dealmaking. This is about the life and death of nations and peoples. There's no interest in some sort of shortfused deal that is going to elevate Trump or his administration to greatness. There will be no win for Donald Trump personally in any of this. That was never going to be the case. The only win that he could achieve was to extricate us from this and put the regime in Kiev in a position where it had to reach an agreement with Russia, and that is ultimately what has to happen for any kind of stability and peace to emerge.

Now, let's be frank. There's no such thing as a permanent peace in Europe or anywhere else. You can achieve some sort of stabilty, conditions for stability and prosperity, at least for a limited period of time. And that's what the great statesmen of the past, whether they were Asian and China or Japanese or Russian or British or French--everyone sought to create conditions of stability, knowing full well that there was no permanent solution, but that you could achieve some stable outcome that would last for perhaps decades. And in the meantime, having achieved that, you might be able to work on the remaining issues that could come up in the future and find a way forward past those obstacles.

…

On more than one occasion Trump has offered this advice: Whatever you do, don’t hire anyone smarter than you.

…

Some will say President Trump doesn’t want war with Iran. The problem is he’s not doing anything to stop it.

We’ll find out soon enough.

On to reader feedback. I got a fairly lengthy and detailed communication today from reader laffin_boy, who wants to save me from Reverse Trump Derangement Syndrome (RTDS). What RTDS refers to, as you’ll see, is people who just won’t give up their belief in Trump. In particular, laffin_boy wants me to give up on the idea that Trump is smart.

Let me explain where I’m coming from in that regard. I’m the son of a psychology professor, and my father used to tell me that intelligence is to a great extent a function of personality and character. What he meant was that smart people are quite capable of doing dumb things. They can be smart without being intelligent. And my father attributed that to personality and character defects. I think that’s the caveat we need to apply when evaluating Trump. For the rest, I believe I’ve covered virtually every single base my correspondent brings forward—readers can be the judges.

Anyway, I appreciated the detailed feedback and thought that other readers—who might find themselves in a similar position—might also appreciate the discussion.

I've enclosed some thoughts about the MIH's current perspective that I think is better sent directly than dumped into the comments. I hope you will accept these remarks as constructive, since that's my intent.

I'm a long-time reader. You’re on my very short list of must-read blogs because you’re very good at collecting & summarizing the informed consensus of what’s going on in all 3 rings of the circus. Like you, I voted for DJT 3 times. (as if there was any other option) But if you have any desire to stay within hailing distance of reality then the time is already past to admit that we, as an ex-nation, are seriously screwed. And the catalyst for our impending destruction is the clown who was supposed to save us from this fate.

You recently reiterated your delusion that Trump is Smart. He’s not. He’s a clever bully with a stage 4 ego who’s spent his life jousting with New York Jews and other predators. He doesn’t understand the difference between bullshit and leadership. And he’s facing at least 6 problems with enormous implications for not just the US but the entire world. And it’s now clear that he has NO idea what he’s doing or how to solve these problems.

UKRAINE: Because “The Deal” is all he knows he figured that if he did a bunch of undercover “favors” for Russia that Putin would owe him one in return and agree to a ceasefire so that he could declare Victory and move on to another problem. (‘cause this is the way Deals™ work in NYC) Unfortunately he hasn’t got the guts or the clout to publicly announce that Ukraine was not really a Slavic civil war but actually an American Attack on Russia and so he was going to pull the plug and end all further “support” for our wholly-owned proxy state. Which means now he’s out of options and has another American Defeat to add to his (empty) list of accomplishments.

ISRAEL / GAZA: What was the point of Witkoff’s stunt of setting up the ceasefire if they weren’t willing to follow through with whatever it took to maintain it ??? Not to mention sending Israel all the bombs they need to completely exterminate the rest of the prisoners in Gaza. Where NO food, medicine, water, or fuel has been allowed in during the last 50 days. Where our American ambassador to Israel, Mr Huckleberries, says mass starvation of a confined population is okey dokey with him.

YEMEN: This is probably the best illustration of DJT’s arrogance AND ignorance. “Yemen should be easy. We’ll just bomb these ragheads night & day till they cry Uncle”. But their military assets are deeply buried and unaffected by bombing. And the US military, ordered to bomb the country back to the stone age but lacking any useful intel on military targets, is just dumping their bombs on civilians because that’s all they see. They don't know what else to do. Like slaughtering the 100+ men at a tribal ceremony last week. (An event which, sadly, MIH failed to come up with a criticism stronger than “probably wasn’t a good idea”) The Ansar Allah, as a people, believe in their commitment to the Palestinians and, if necessary, are willing to die for this cause. Yet we degenerate Americans can’t even conceive of the faith and courage this requires. And between Gaza & Yemen Trump has shown that, MORALLY, he’s no different than Bibi the Butcher.

IRAN: The Witkoff talks are a delaying tactic while they wait for an unlikely miracle. The only thing Iran might agree to would be JCPOA II with sanctions relief. Trump could never sell that to congress or the (yarmulke-wearing) Deep State. And because he’s just a bully and instinctively, idiotically began his “pressure campaign” with a massive "show of force" and a relentless bombing campaign on Yemen he’s boxed himself in. He has to either get an agreement that he can sell back home - which is now impossible - or he’s forced by his own ineptitude to attack Iran. And the BEST possible outcome of that stupidity would be the total humiliation of the Anglo-Zionist forces. Because the more likely option is WW III. With nukes.

TARIFFS: Not content with his total failure with all the previous problems he launched his long-anticipated economic plan the Make America Great Again with great fanfare. But Wall Street has given this fiasco a vote of No Confidence. And the rest of the world? Well here’s a few well-informed opinions:

Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand

4/19/25

....what he's doing is extortion ... and no country with a modicum of self-respect and sovereignty would give in to that, if only for the precedent this would set.....Tariffs, as anyone who's studied history or watched Star Wars knows, are an hostile act... Trump then positioned these "deal" discussions as a form of humiliation because, as he himself put it, it required countries to come to Washington to "kiss his ass" in order to get the tariffs negotiated down.

The deals he seeks are 100% zero-sum and "win-lose": countries need to agree to unilateral concessions that are detrimental to their interests....To say this is short-sighted and self-defeating would be the understatement of the century, especially in the current geopolitical context....

In this moment the very last thing America should do is double-down on unipolar behavior, behaving with even more hubris, thinking that economic bullying will somehow restore its fading dominance when it is in fact the primary reason why it's fading.

It's almost the definition of insanity: applying ever-increasing pressure on a system that's already fracturing under that very pressure.

The only realistic outcome that can be expected here is that this will dramatically expand the constituency for a post-American world, and validate years of warnings from Beijing, Moscow, and others.

- - -

(John Pang) @jynpang

"Trump’s economic war with China is a blunder of historic, perhaps civilizational, proportions. Because a second-place America is so distasteful to certain parts of the US psyche, Trump is obliged to choose losing even worse. On some level, America rationally understands that it cannot win with the hand it holds and because of that, the only option is to chimp out, throw everything at the wall – chip sanctions, tariffs, alliances, libelous accusations – and lose spectacularly, irrationally and cathartically.”

- - -

Those are the charitable reviews. Here’s one that goes into much more detail:

https://asiatimes.com/2025/04/trump-trade-war-its-worse-than-a-crime-its-a-blunder/

And last but not least: DEBT: outgoing (Zionist) Treasury Secretary Yellen left Trump a debt time bomb that comes due before the midterm elections. She arranged previous debt rollovers so that about 7 trillion ! in debt will come due soon and Trump will have to roll it over into longer term debt - but at a much higher interest rate, because of his tariff stupidity - which will happen as the country is well into the recession caused by his ignorant conviction that China needs the US much more than the US needs China and his inability to admit that his tariff program was a colossal disaster.

So here we are. 1/3 of the country is convinced that Trump is Hitler and another third has convinced themselves that he’s our savior (RTDS) He HAS to be our savior because we don’t have a plan B. But the plain simple fact is that the emperor is buck naked. He’s not playing 5D chess - he’s still (emotionally) back in NYC screwing whoever he can. That’s all he’s capable of. He’s a 2 bit hustler who’s managed to convince half the country that he’s a genius since anyone who acts this crazy must be a genius.

MIH is a unique blog and is currently at the “sweet spot” in the Substack lifecycle. Because of the quality of your reporting you currently have a modest collection of intelligent, well-informed commenters - which is very rare on SS. But sooner or later they’re going to want a more realistic narrative from MIH or they’ll go somewhere else. RTDS is a curable condition. Reality - ugly as it is - is still better than Make Believe.