By Bob Gaydos

    It was about 3 in the afternoon Tuesday when I saw the New York Times update on the looming deadline Trump had set for the annihilation of Iran. Pakistan (Pakistan?) was acting as a mediator in peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.

   Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said meaningful progress had been made in negotiations between the two parties and had asked Trump to extend his deadline for the annihilation of Iran by two weeks. In that time, Iran would also agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

    I actually felt my body relax. After 10 years of living with and writing about Trumpian insanity, I knew Trump finally had his offramp. All he had to do was ignore the bloodthirsty Pete Hegseth and accept it. Which, of course, he did.

    Like much of the rest of the world, I have grown accustomed to Trump plunging the country headlong into one crisis or another through pride, arrogance or sheer stupidity, or usually all three, but this one worried me a bit more than the rest. Thinking about a world war starting in the Middle East with nuclear weapons possibly involved can do that.

    With the relief, almost immediately came the question, “Why Pakistan?” How did they get involved? OK, neutral party with no dog in the fight. Still …?

    Then I remembered who we were dealing with. Trump. What’s the deal here? What does Pakistan get out of doing something all of Europe and, indeed, the rest of the world refused to do – try to save Trump from starting a world war?

     I did a quick Google check on Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. I learned “Islamabad is a planned city built in the 1960s to replace Karachi. It officially became the capital on August 14, 1967. It is known as a green, modern city nestled in the foothills of the Margalla Hills.”

    Sounds lovely and probably an ideal location for a Mar a Lago East or some other variation on a Trump golf course. Maybe with a hotel attached. Maybe Pakistan agrees to rename them the Mara a Lago Hills. Certainly a golf course somewhere in Pakistan, but not close to the border with India because, you know, border wars.

      I haven’t seen anything on who was negotiating peace terms for the U.S., but if Jarod or the Trump boys were involved, history says you can bet on it. In fact, as I recently wrote, you literally can, on the Prediction markets. Some people probably did.

     Meanwhile, back in reality, I have yet to see any evidence that a single Republican member of Congress urged Trump to call off his threat or questioned his mental stability. Quiet, meek and out of town. Considering all the generals Hegseth recently fired, I have to think there was some resistance to Trump’s plans for Iran.

      And for now, or theoretically two weeks, in which U.S. troops don’t have to worry about orders from the commander-in-chief to blow up power supplies, bridges and anything else that allows the ordinary citizens of Iran to go about their daily life. To commit war crimes, in other words.

    Instead, according to what I read in the papers, there’s a proposed plan in place for Iran to have all sanctions on it lifted, reparations paid for the damage done to it by American missiles, and the Strait of Hormuz reopened for oil traffic for those willing and able to pay a fee to Iran. It’s also supposed to not develop nuclear weapons, which it already had agreed to not do when Barack Obama was president.

  The U.S. apparently gets to not send young Americans to die in a trumped up war because the president wants people to stop talking about him raping young girls. The art of the deal.

    And yes, let us never forget, the Republican Party owns this entire mess lock, stock and barrel for continuing to allow Trump to take an ax to everything America once proudly stood for.

     If they can somehow find the guts, they can rescue the country from this insanity by invoking the 25th amendment and removing him from office. No deals. It’s their only offramp now.

By Bob Gaydos

   I took a few mental health days to escape from, you know, the world. Re-emerged in time to see that the No Kings Day was a huge success across the nation, with more than 8 million Americans reportedly taking to the streets to demonstrate their a) anger b) disappointment c) revulsion d) all of the above concerning Donald Trump.

    Which helped.

     But then I saw a couple of posts on Facebook that helped me figure out what was really bothering me. Not Trump. Well, yes, Trump, but that’s old news. Trump is Trump. He’s just as he’s always been, just older, dumber and nastier than when he invaded our national consciousness in 2015.

     One of the Facebook posts noted that the thousands of No Kings demonstrations all had the same theme: Trump is stupid, evil and destroying our country. A bad wannabe king and we don’t want him. Which is all true.

    But missing from the messages, as the post noted, was any blame for the Republican Party, which to be fair, since it controls Congress, could stop the insanity in a heartbeat, if it had the courage to do so.

    Or perhaps even more to the point for many Republicans in Congress, if they really wanted to. That is, if they actually disagreed with much of what Trump has done. I get the feeling that a lot of congressional Republicans are willing to overlook Trump’s flouting of the Constitution, shredding diplomatic relationships and monetizing the presidency because they are as racist, bigoted, misogynistic and greedy as he is. They’re happy to have him take the point and the heat, even if they think he’s a moron and danger to the country.

      That doesn’t sound like what they swore an oath to and it certainly calls for more public blame for the current chaos the Trump presidency has created. This wannabe king has a lot of Republican foot soldiers and they need to be called out for being willing (House Speaker Mike Johnson) or weak (Sen. Lindsay Graham) enablers. Without them, he’s gone in a heartbeat or however long it takes to read him the 25th Amendment and escort him to the door of the White House he’s in the process of trashing.

     Which goes to the message of the other Facebook post. It was a 2025 comment by former late night TV host David Letterman. He touched on another pet peeve of mine — the echo chamber of cable and YouTube “news” outlets issuing a steady, daily stream of whatever what’s his name did and why it is so wrong, stupid, bad, illegal, etc.

    Letterman: “We know there’s something wrong, but what I’m tired of is people, daily, nightly, on all the cable news shows telling us there’s something wrong. I just think we ought to direct our resources and our energies to doing something about it. … let’s just stop whining about what a goon he is and figure out a way to take him aside and put him in a home.”

    Yes, David, I agree. But I’d make it a federal correctional facility at this point. And this goes back to my original point that, while many Americans were perhaps duped or delusional in voting for Trump in the first place, Republicans are ultimately responsible for allowing this stain on America’s legacy to continue. They need to bear the blame and shame on a daily basis for as long as it continues.

    Suggestion: This coming July 4, the 250th anniversary of America’s birth, would be a perfect time to demonstrate the true meaning of “All men are created equal” by escorting Donald Trump out of the White House permanently. That would be something to celebrate. Tell the Republicans.