Nikki Haley seemed worried Monday.
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations wrote on X, “Diplomacy will never work with the Iranian regime. They will always lie, cheat, and stall.”
“A decisive, surgical strike now could prevent far greater costs later and permanently weaken the ayotollahs [sic],” Haley promised. “Missing this moment will burden America and our allies for generations to come.”
Wanting the U.S. to attack Iran is not remotely new for Haley, who sees so many moments of her career as missed opportunities for war.
A few days prior, Haley warned that any diplomatic deal with Iran would make President Donald Trump look like Barack Obama. Haley isn’t the only hawk to attempt this trick.
This fretting by the neoconservatives’ favorite 2024 Republican presidential candidate comes in light of reports of Trump’s top general warning against an American strike, and of the possibility of a deal that might give the president an off-ramp from war.
Last week, the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East felt like the brink of war. Neoconservatives were excited about it. This week, it looks like there could be a possible alternative.
This has upset neocons—none more so than veteran talk radio host Mark Levin, who wrote on X in ALL CAPS, “IF WE DO NOT TAKE OUT THE IRANIAN REGIME NOW, IT WILL NEVER BE DONE, AND OUR CHILDREN AND FREEDOM-LOVING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WILL NEVER FORGIVE US… LET US NOT SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY DELUDE OURSELVES THAT SOME NEGOTIATED DEAL IS ANYTHING OTHER THAN APPEASEMENT AND, ULTIMATELY, SURRENDER.”
The neoconservative hysteric added, “DEALS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN PAPER AGREEMENTS THAT MEAN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THIS REGIME AND, IN FACT, SUCH A PAPER AGREEMENT WOULD BE A DEATH WARRANT FOR THE WEST AND OUR CHILDREN.”
For Levin, diplomacy means inevitable death and destruction. It means the same to his fellow neocon-hivemind ally, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who shared Levin’s rant with the comment, “No truer words ever spoken.”
The U.S. Constitution? The Bible? No, according to Graham, this old Bush-Cheney retread’s Twitter rant was the gospel.
When Levin went on another rant against diplomatic efforts on his Sunday night show on Fox News, Trump shared it on his Truth Social. This appeared to please billionaire Bill Ackman, who has long advocated for a U.S. war with Iran, and who also shared Levin’s monologue.
Levin did get more granular than Haley and other hawks in how he worried about the news outlet Axios and its reporting about generals’ warnings and potential peace.
Axios reported Monday, “Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has been advising President Trump and top officials that a military campaign against Iran could carry significant risks, in particular the possibility of becoming entangled in a prolonged conflict.”
Levin shared the report, writing, “Here come more leaks from Iran’s second favorite ‘media’ source, Axios, after Al Jazeera—whomever [sic] is leaking from the administration should be fired and prosecuted.” He later seemed concerned about a second “leak.”
What, exactly, makes Axios “Iran’s second favorite ‘media’ source” after Arabic news powerhouse Al-Jazeera?
Glenn Greenwald questioned this too, sharing Levin’s anti-Axios post and noting, “The star reporter for Axios who covers Israel is an Israeli citizen who not only served in the IDF Reserves until 2024 but also in Israel’s notorious intelligence Unit 8200 (Barak Ravid).”
“That’s not enough for Mark Levin, who thinks Axios is an anti-Semitic mouthpiece for Iran,” Greenwald added.
So an Israeli reporter is somehow running cover for Iran?
No, but that’s the level of mania some neoconservatives appear to be reaching as this president has gotten them so close to war, only for more doubts to now arise rather than them finally getting their main event.
I mean, if one truly believes of Iran, as Levin so emphatically does, that “THESE MASS MURDERERS WILL USE THESE WEAPONS, BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE ALLAH WANTS THEM TO ELIMINATE ALL COUNTRIES, SOCIETIES, AND PEOPLE WHO DO NOT CONFORM TO THEIR 7TH CENTURY DEATH CULT—SUBJUCATING AND MURDERING NOT JUST MILLIONS BUT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF HUMAN-BEINGS,” it just might make you crazy. THIS crazy.
And nervous. May those most eager for war hopefully become even more nervous.
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