Kurt Andersen

Joe Rogan says “people feel betrayed” by Trump's war in Iran: “He ran on no more wars”

When Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914, the standard propagandized belief among Brits was famously “the war will be over by Christmas.” It cascaded into the 4-year First World War, killing 384,000 British soldiers and wounding 750,000, and 15 to 20 million other people.

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:

A good picture of Trump’s ignorance, confusion, recklessness, incompetence and fantasy of being the unstoppable action-hero king of the world. And of advisers too scared to be tell him the upsetting plain truth. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/u...

All of that, plus the excited courtiers, the scriptedness and virtual absence of real emotion, and more.

Trump at his Miami golf club yesterday entertaining the Republican members of Congress with tales of his exciting super-fun war on Iran.

Failing to mention that in the first 40 minutes of his "little excursion," a U.S. Tomahawk missile fired at a school killed 170 girls aged 7 to 12.

I watched Melania. How incredibly boring and, in its Marie Antoinette-Eva Braun-Imelda Marcos way, a riveting historical artifact.

Russia, Russia, Russia.

Bravo, @60Minutes.com, on your big scoop — finslly, definitively, finding that the alleged microwave ray weapon, apparently Russian-made and used against U.S. government employees overseas, is real. share.google/fZkItq1j9HBf...

Occasionally conspiracy theories turn out to be true.

Reminder: Epstein’s former BFF Donald Trump was president when he died in federal custody. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

Occasionally conspiracy theories turn out to be true.

Reminder: Epstein’s former BFF Donald Trump was president when he died in federal custody. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

Such sweet schadenfreude.

I don’t I don’t think she’s trolling anyone. I think she’s a good Soviet-formed dictator’s wife.

Spy Magazine 1986-1998 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Spy Magazine 1986-1998

I’ve come to prefer the @internetarchives.bsky.social version: archive.org/details/SpyM...

Why Iran wants nukes.

Last October in the elevator at 30 Rock I gave in to fandom and took my first and possibly last selfie ever. Go, @jamestalarico.bsky.social, go!

Every Accusation A Confession

Hegseth this morning: “Iran negotiated in bad faith, stalling, scheming, and preparing to strike.”

Trump yesterday:

At Spy we reported on and satirized Trump correctly, relentlessly and, as it turned out, presciently. Lately these bits have seemed especially apt and well-aged —from from our first cover story (1986) and a brilliant cartoon by @BruceHandy.bsky.social for our NBC TV show. youtu.be/oCN_uISlJ-k?...

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Cornyn spent $75 per vote he received in a primary he didn’t win.

“The red wedding begins’” his senior advisor said of the 12-week runoff campaign starting today against the opponent they call a “wife cheater and fraud now wrecking another home, sleeping around with a married mother of seven.”

Very dark comedy.

The mad cult leader’s response last night to the heretics Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly for opposing his war with Iran: “I think that MAGA is Trump—MAGA’s not the other two. MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe. And MAGA loves what I’m doing—every aspect of it."

Sure. They keep their unelected jobs. But republicans lose big.

I grew up in one and return regularly.

I doubt that for most of them.

Definitely Leavitt. But Noem’s dumbness and hard-wired Dakota manner don’t really let her pull off the performative condescending petulance.

We do like seeing the MAGA crackup.

“Do not vote in the midterms. And if you do, vote for the Democrats. The Republicans have to lose. Fuck them. Fuck Trump.“ www.instagram.com/reel/DVWi3YN...

Sincerely curious: do Republicans actually like the patronizing, petulant, bitchy, grrrrr public performance styles of Hegseth, Vance and Bondi?

👏👏👏

Iranians Take to the Streets to Celebrate Khamenei’s Death

Joy for now. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/w...