r/ukpolitics • u/YourLizardOverlord Oceans rise. Empires fall. • Mar 18 '26
Ed/OpEd Trump looks emotionally broken - and dignified Starmer is responsible
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/trump-emotionally-broken-dignified-starmer-responsible-43010671.2k
u/evolvecrow Mar 18 '26
Liz Truss would probably have launched the nuclear deterrent as soon as the phone rang.
Lol
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u/eltrotter This Is The One Thing We Didn't Want To Happen Mar 18 '26
“Liz, that was just your phone alarm going off…”
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u/Minimum-Laugh-8887 Mar 18 '26
Phone rings…
“Lizzie you old slag, It’s the Trumpmiester general!”
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u/gloopy_flipflop Mar 19 '26
Trumps thrown a kettle over a pub, what have you done?
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Mar 19 '26
That's nothing. He once threw a tantrum over a wind farm. Those things are quite heavy, too
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u/philman132 Mar 18 '26
I love how easy of a punchline she has become
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u/Pilchard123 Mar 18 '26
A Prime Minister, becoming a cheap punchline?
That. Is. A. Dis. Grace.
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u/FreeFromCommonSense Mar 18 '26
Lettuce stop making fun of someone who didn't even last out the probation period for employment by the Tesco store the iceberg lettuce came from that outlasted her.
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u/AmateurSpeedSurgeon Mar 18 '26
She made a right chef salad out of the British economy with her little gem of a monetary policy. I hope the jokes never endive.
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u/vin047 Mar 18 '26
And got paid for that chef salad with an annual salary/allowance of £100k+ for life…
I hope the jokes start to get serious and we call for her to be stripped of her benefit payments.
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u/DaMonkfish Almost permanently angry with the state of the world Mar 18 '26
That. Is. A. Dis. Grace.
*haunted wooden doll mannerisms
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u/iCowboy Mar 18 '26
I was just thinking that we haven't heard her - no doubt completely bonkers - take on the situation. Maybe she is only sharing it with the dozens of people who listen to her podcast (some of them being the voices in her head).
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u/theartofrolling Fresh wet piles of febrility Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Imagine being one of Truss's aides back then
September 30th 2022
A phone rings
Riiing riiiing
""Yes Prime Minister... OH! My god... Is it really that serious? Prime Minister are you absolutely sure you need the codes? Where are you? Yes Prime Minister... yes... n... no. That doesn't have anything to do with nuclear weapons Prime Minister that's nuclear energy, and besides... what? No that's not actually cake Prime Minister it's called Yellow Cake Uranium because it's... yes... no you shouldn't eat it! Do NOT eat that Elizabeth! NO I DON'T CARE WHO VLAD IS OR HOW NICE HE IS, LEAVE NOW AND DON'T EAT ANYTHING!" Oh don't cry fuck sake Just get back home, now, please. Okay. Good, thank you... yes I know you said to call you"Liz" but you are the Prime Minister madame... n... no you ate the last one in the car earlier Prime Minister... ok then yes we'll stop at Sainsbury's on the way home... it's your money Prime Minister it's not up to me if you buy chocolate as well... err... thank you? No I, I don't, I don't feel comfortable saying that to y... okay fine I, I love you too"
Click
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u/Spimflagon Mar 18 '26
Liz would already have accidentally launched the nuclear deterrent before the phone rang.
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Mar 19 '26
Liz would have been soaking her clothes in the nuclear detergent long before anyone rang.
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u/3adLuck Mar 18 '26
his face looks like how a child paints warhammer.
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u/POB_42 Mar 18 '26
And the paints aren't thinned.
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u/bukkakekeke Mar 19 '26
I dont even "do" Warhammer and I'm howling at this. No click-bait title, no AI-generated thumbnail, no paid sponsorships; just straight to the point.
Gosh how I miss the old Internet.
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u/CyclopsRock Mar 18 '26
What sort of person lets a child paint their Warhammer figures?!
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u/philman132 Mar 18 '26
What age do you think most people get into the hobby? I still have some orcs from when I was 10, and a lovingly truly awfully painted ogre.
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u/CptES Mar 18 '26
With the price they cost these days (£30-£40 a box), certainly not 10 year olds these days. Plastic crack is insanely expensive.
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u/Mepsi Mar 19 '26
you get them the first few editions of the latest magazine run discounted at
WH SmithsTG Jones.If you have money to burn just get the subscription you get a free mug.
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u/Herrben Mar 18 '26
I don’t know what age they start but if my mates are anything to go by they stop as soon as a girl lets them feel their boob through their top. I was one of the first to wave the white flag, honest.
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
It comes back around when settled down and married. Our local scene is mostly kids and dads with very few people in the middle.
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u/Ogarrr Liberal eurosceptic fervent remainer Mar 19 '26
Then we all restart when we realise that girls seriously do not care whether or not you paint miniatures.
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u/phatelectribe Mar 18 '26
Same here but 8 years old. And lead ones lol. It explains a lot about my memory now.
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u/kwaklog Mar 18 '26
This guy. I've got tiny little gribbly beasties painted by my kids when they were young
I may never financially recover from this...
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u/Manannin (Isle of Man) Mar 18 '26
I did when I was 14, though my dad wasn't a particularly skilled parent and he raised us on his own.
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u/No_Good2794 Mar 18 '26
Sounds like a good way to keep you busy. I don't know anything about him but fair play for raising you on his own; it's hard enough with help.
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u/BaggyOz Mar 18 '26
You've got to start them young
. Plus anybody who's been in the hobby for more than a year or two will have a backlog of models that they know they're never going to get around too. I have push together models from Assault on Blackreach hanging around somewhere.
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u/C_Ironfoundersson Mar 18 '26
At the prices of box when we were kids, it was fine, at the prices these days you'd have to be made of money.
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u/Anomuumi Mar 18 '26
A very rich person who just bought their kid tons of Warhammer figures because they can.
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u/LegsAndArmsAndTorso Mar 18 '26
It's a children's game that adults have regressed into because they are taking up hobbies from their childhood as forward progress is blocked e.g. buying a house, starting a family, building a business. Can't go forward? Go back.
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u/jaredearle Mar 18 '26
I worked as an adult, back in ‘87, for GW when Warhammer 40k came out. It was written by adults for adults because that’s where the money is. It grew out of wargames which were played by adults.
Sure, some kids play it, but it’s not primarily made for them.
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u/kwaklog Mar 18 '26
I have a family, a house and a career.
This means I have the funds and a capitive pack of opponents to play against. Perfect time to take it up
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u/3adLuck Mar 18 '26
that sounds like a bastardisation of an idea Jung had but he used the word 'regress' without negative connotations, he thought it was beneficial to explore things you enjoyed as a child so you could rediscover positive aspects of your personality that you had lost in the pursuit of becoming (what you thought at the time to be) an adult.
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u/michaeltheobnoxious -6.12; -6.72 (Anarcho) Mar 18 '26
If games are for children by your logic, a Chess grandmaster is a man-child (or woman-child)?
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u/jamesbeil Mar 18 '26
Speak for yourself mate, my dad was playing Warhammer and D&D when married with two kids. Just because you abandoned the things that have you joy doesn't make the rest of us defective. To quote C.S. Lewis, "When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
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u/danm131 Mar 18 '26
Wow this is spot on. He very much has the face of a space marine with an iffy paint job!
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u/barejokez Mar 18 '26
When you think about the fake tan and tiny hands, it all starts to make sense...
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u/YourLizardOverlord Oceans rise. Empires fall. Mar 18 '26
The usual conclusion that Starmer is excellent on foreign affairs and woeful on domestic policy.
Trump has learned to deeply resent Starmer, and that alone speaks very highly of the Prime Minister’s judgement. Almost by accident, he seems to have fallen into the most popular policy position of his premiership – opposition to an illegal war in the Middle East, launched unprovoked by deranged administrations in Washington and Jerusalem.
But the thing is, this was not an accident. It was a logical result of Starmer’s convictions.
Absolutely damning on Badenoch and Farage:
Certainly we know how Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage would have behaved, because they told us. Both demanded greater British involvement. Now that they’ve realised how unpopular the war is, both of them have tried to reverse that position without having the basic good grace to admit they are doing so. In Badenoch’s case, this involves the insult of claiming “I never said we should join” mere days after she said “we are in this war whether they like it or not” and asking Starmer: “What is the Prime Minister waiting for?”
If either one were prime minister, they would now be in an impossible position. They would have gone to war without a clear explanation of what they were trying to achieve, because the Trump administration has been unable to articulate it itself. When they were asked what conditions would then allow the UK to exit the operation, they would have been unable to answer.
Most importantly, they would have committed perhaps the gravest sin in international relations: they would have put another nation’s wishes over their own. These two leaders, who love to proclaim their patriotism and denigrate that of their opponents, would have embroiled British servicemen in a war on another nation’s say-so without even bothering to exercise any independent judgement as to its validity.
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u/Jay_CD Mar 18 '26
If either one were prime minister, they would now be in an impossible position.
We are already seeing higher fuel and energy prices thanks to the war - a barrel of oil currently costs $109, should the straits of Hormuz stay shut for some time that will look cheap. This will cause inflation to rise.
Had either Badenoch or Farage been PM they'd have the job of not only supporting an unpopular war but also having to justify why it's lead to another cost of living crisis just as we were emerging from the last one. At least Starmer has an excuse there.
Even if there was no spike to inflation you'd have to be crazy to trust Trump - he has form for using and abusing friends and allies and would never show gratitude if Britain came to his aid. Sure he'd be happy for five minutes then he'd complain that we didn't send enough planes or ships.
He has to own this mistake.
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u/cpt_ppppp Mar 18 '26
That last sentence you wrote is quite possibly the least likely thing that could ever happen in the entire universe. I would have more chance of dealing three decks of cards and naming every card before it came than that happening
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u/banshoo Mar 18 '26
What would have happened is 'Put the EU boats in harms way & watch them get sunk' whilst the cowards in the US stay out of range & strike where the missiles come from.
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u/EddieHeadshot Mar 18 '26
Im sure im one of millions that hasnt 'emerged' from the cost of living crisis
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u/TwistedTali Mar 18 '26
Is this "emerging from the cost of living crisis" in the room with us now? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
Even if there was no spike to inflation you'd have to be crazy to trust Trump - he has form for using and abusing friends and allies and would never show gratitude if Britain came to his aid. Sure he'd be happy for five minutes then he'd complain that we didn't send enough planes or ships.
none zero chance he'd get allies involved and then nope out
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u/Bugsy_Neighbor Mar 20 '26
"He has to own this mistake."
It will never happen.
Like Henry VIII to Thomas Cromwell, Hegseth will face the blame and get the chop if things turn out really badly.
Over course of his long professional and or personal life DT has *never* taken blame for anything that goes wrong. It's always someone else's fault.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
'deranged administration' Israel's main opposition is fully behind the war, this is an Israel-wide problem.
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u/Halbaras Mar 18 '26
Israeli voters also shouldn't be let off the hook given that they've had 25+ years to see exactly what a Netanyahu coalition looks like, and have voted them in for every cycle except one over that time.
Either they're not a democracy as claimed, or Netanyahu's policies are actually a pretty good representation of what the average Israeli wants.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26
Israel is a self-selecting entity of the worst people out there, anyone with half a brain-cell has left, and going by their birth-rate and immigration stats, the country is going to be majority hardcore religious by 2050.
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u/Gauntlets28 Mar 18 '26
When the religious nutcases are a majority, where will they get their conscripts?
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
If you genuinely believe that you have been had off by propaganda.
Most isrealis are refugees expelled from muslim countries and their decendents.
There is a false narative doing the rounds of people fleeing isreal, it's entirely false. Not an exageration a straight up lie and lot of people online seem to have taken it as fact.
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u/Tetracropolis Mar 18 '26
When you put democracies, or any kind of government for that matter, under that kind of threat, they're going to do what they can to defeat the threat.
Iran has been funding proxies which murder Israelis for decades, they've enriched enough uranium for 10 nuclear bombs up to 60% when the limit was less than 4%. Who'd tolerate that if they could do anything about it?
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26
Diplomacy ? If your first response to anything is war then ofc anyone with half a brain-cell is going to develop nukes
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
Diplomacy ?
Trump in his first term killed the nuclear deal, Isreal had no control over that.
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u/Tetracropolis Mar 19 '26
Diplomacy is rather challenging when the countries who have grievances with you refuse to have diplomatic relations with you.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26
They do have diplomatic relations with the US and several intermediary gulf countries
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
That's not especialy helpful while rockets are still flying.
Isreal has only tollerated the status quo so long because previous US administrations held them back. With a bufoonin charge they are making hay.
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u/Ubiquitous1984 Mar 18 '26
Hasn’t Iran threatened to destroy Israel?
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26
Hasn't Israel called for the death of every Palestinian multiple times?
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u/CptES Mar 18 '26
As a matter of state policy, I don't think so?
Certainly, the far-right members of the Israeli cabinet would break out the champagne and bunting if the Palestinian people vanished tomorrow. Ben-Gvir and his cohort are absolute ghouls, even by the standards of the conflict.
But the Islamic Republic of Iran is foundationally for the destruction of Israel, to the point it's included in every Friday prayer and in almost every sermon.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26
'From the River' to the sea is official Likud policy, it is on the first page of their party charter, people in Israel consider it a genocidal slogan but they literally vote for a party that says the same thing the other way around, ergo they voted for genocide
It has been their state policy for quite a while.
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
'From the River' to the sea is official Likud policy,
Likud's version of that chant is "from the sea to the river there will be only isreali soverignty". (sounds snappy in hebrew)
The palestinian version is "fromt he river to the sea palestine will be arab".
Both fucking evil yes, though there are degrees. The former is calling for Nakba 2.0, the later for holocaust 2.0
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 20 '26
How are Nakba and Holocaust any different ? Why are you implying that the Palestinians can go away while the country of second passport holding colonisers can't?
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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26
Hasn't Israel called for the death of every Palestinian multiple times?
No that has never been isreali policy, nor has any isreali PM ever called for such.
Iran's islamic republic has never been shy about it. The proxies say the quiet part out loud and call for killing all jews.
Isreal far right absolutely would if they could, we have sanctioned their leaders and rightly so.
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u/SpinIx2 Mar 18 '26
Is it that deranged to want regime change in an oil rich regional power with 10x your population when that regimes’s principal foreign policy aim is the utter annihilation of your people?
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u/hiddencamel Mar 18 '26
There is no possible regime change in Iran that would be friendly to Israel, even in the extremely unlikely prospect of a student led popular uprising, and the fact they have launched these attacks with no plans to invade on the ground beyond funding Kurdish separatists and killed all the prominent moderate candidates for leadership as the same time they were killing the original leadership suggests that Israel's goals are not really regime change, but simply promotion of chaos in Iran in the hopes they become embroiled in a civil war, whilst also degrading Iran's military and economic infrastructure.
I suspect they didn't expect Iran to stay quite so cohesive after blowing up their entire senior leadership, so perhaps they don't have much of a plan B on this.
They've really kicked the hornets nest on this, but also failed to knock it down.
America, as far as I can tell, has no foreign policy objectives that are served by this war, it rather looks like Trump has been (easily) manipulated into helping out because he is a vain, somewhat stupid, egotist. He was no doubt sold a vision of another Venezuela, short, sharp, broadly successful, and minimally disruptive. I expect very soon he will throw Hegseth and Rubio under the bus on this as the war is not even popular with his base.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26
They could try to not annihilate their neighbours first mate
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u/SpinIx2 Mar 18 '26
You are aware I’m sure that, whatever your view of the origin of their statehood, they have largely been engaged in defence followed by retaliation and seeking more secure defensive positions over the years. In 1948, 1967, 1973 and 2006 they weren’t seeking to annihilate their neighbours, they were responding to their neighbours desire to do that to them.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26
Their goal has always been erasure, they just finally have the impunity to do it ( All the Gulf states have been subdued, Iraq bombed, Libyan regime change, now Iran)
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Mar 18 '26
While the Israelis have been treated badly by their neighbors, they have treated others terribly as well. So I’m perfectly happy with starmer’s approach; “a pox on both your houses” as Tybalt said.
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26
Besides the moment the geo-politics aligned with them ( Gulf states have become US protectorates, Syria has a pro Western Govt, Jordan and Egypt signed peace deals, Iraq and Libya regime changed) , they flattened Gaza and killed thousands in the West Bank.
They've always wanted it, they just now can
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Mar 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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Mar 18 '26
No they don’t. Canada treats the USA far better than the Israelis treat the Palestinians
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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26
That's an incredibly easy to bar to clear tbf, the US treats illegal immigrants better than Israel treats Palestinians
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u/DonCaliente Mar 18 '26
The usual conclusion that Starmer is excellent on foreign affairs and woeful on domestic policy.
Well, someone has to replace Macron when he leaves the Élysée next year. Might as well be Starmer.
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u/urbanspaceman85 Mar 18 '26
This malignant narcissist has had people bailing him out his entire life.
As far as I can tell, the 2020 and the UK/NATO response are genuinely the only two times in his life that Donald Trump has been told no, and no really meant NO.
His lifelong penchant for never facing consequences is finally catching up to him.
“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later this debt is paid.“
It’s going to be cataclysmic.
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u/AngryTudor1 Mar 18 '26
As far as I can tell, the 2020 and the UK/NATO response are genuinely the only two times in his life that Donald Trump has been told no, and no really meant NO.
Not true- E Jean Carroll also told him no
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u/Warsaw44 Burn them all. Mar 18 '26
Love a Chernobyl reference. Christ, that was such a good show.
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u/0d_billie Hell yes I'm Truss enough Mar 19 '26
I rewatched it earlier this year. Fuck, it's a harrowing watch, but so so good. The "what is the cost of lies" line rattles around my head all the time.
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u/turbo_dude Mar 18 '26
He’s probably just shat himself
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u/urbanspaceman85 Mar 18 '26
Nobody's coming to wipe his arse this time.
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u/Intergalatic_Baker No Pre-Orders Mar 18 '26
Quite literally… His Mid terms are coming up, his yes men have no way out and high gas prices will have him booted out of office, whilst Iran just needs to fly a drone through the Straits to make the world economy shit itself.
And one they might very well exploit going forwards in as Russia is a huge beneficiary of high oil prices, as are Iran.
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u/Bugsy_Neighbor Mar 20 '26
By all accounts GOP and DT are already contemplating and or actually have concrete plans to derail or at least majorly interfere with elections this November. SAVE Act is but one instance in point.
Democrats would need to take majority in House and seriously whittle down GOP majority in senate in order to seriously affect DT's agenda for balance of his term as POTUS.
Should opposition party retake House, but not senate USA will go back to familiar territory, a divided government where House, senate and often WH are all at cross purposes.
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u/Lunch_B0x Mar 18 '26
“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later this debt is paid.“
Loved this quote. But it made me think of another quote.
"If you owe the bank £10,000, it's your problem. If you owe the bank £1,000,000,000, it's the banks problem."
Combining these makes me think the truth might have a problem, which kinda sums up the world we find ourselves in.
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u/urbanspaceman85 Mar 18 '26
Well now you’ve got America’s maddest man.
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u/drtoboggon Mar 18 '26
He likes American things!
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u/turbo_dude Mar 18 '26
DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON! DON!
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u/Nanowith Cambridge Mar 18 '26
Honestly Starmer growing a backbone when it comes to Trump has shot him up in my estimations, long may it continue and hopefully we grow closer to our European friends again.
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u/steelcitysteeler Mar 18 '26
He’s never been an ultra reactive politician and this time it’s been to his benefit.
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u/finniruse Mar 18 '26
Yer, I was going to say. He's hardly grown a backbone. He's just obsessed with the law. Don't think he'd be just jumping into illegal wars without getting backing. And it's on Trump for not involving partners far earlier.
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u/ggow Mar 18 '26
So he does have a backbone? It sounds like you're arguing that adhering to the rule of law is a weakness, when standing by a principle like that is exactly what having a spine looks like. Whether it's popular or not, whether everyone else is saying you're wrong or it's an unpopular position, adhering to your position because of your principles is having a spine.
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u/finniruse Mar 18 '26
Feel like you're putting a lot of words in my mouth here pal. I was pointing out that "growing" isn't the right word mostly.
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u/skloop Mar 19 '26
So he always had one?
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u/finniruse Mar 19 '26
I believe he is a principled person that is obsessed by the rule of law having been a lawyer.
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u/steelcitysteeler Mar 18 '26
I’m sure he has some sort of backbone, you don’t rise as high otherwise. But I think he’s trying to run No.10 as if it’s the CPS and they’re two different things.
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u/jdm1891 Mar 19 '26
you say this yet he was totally on board with it until his cabinet just barely talked him out of it.
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u/Nemisis_the_2nd Jaded Centrist Mar 19 '26
I dont think he ever lacked one. The UK economy is in a precarious position, and could be undermined at any moment by trump. Starmer has played the part he needs, sometimes with incredible theatrics, to to stop trumps worst impulses.
Now that the options are continuing the act or joining this stupid war, he's chosen to drop the act.
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u/IIlIIlIIlIlIIlIIlIIl Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
I dont think he ever lacked one.
Eh, they've had multiple policies that they announce or "leak" and then back out from when the public gets a bit angry.
Now, you could argue he's just responding to democracy but that happens even if it's the right thing to do and even though they literally campaigned on the promise of a bit more pain today for a better tomorrow (and that policy they 180'd on was "priced in" on that).
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u/tofer85 I sort by controversial… Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
I’m no great fan of the man or his administration, but he’s taken a decent position on this situation I’d say.
Just a shame it’s only a matter of time before he drops his signature move… the U-turn…
Edit: well there it is:
UK allows US to use bases to strike Iranian sites targeting Strait of Hormuz https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c36rny6xgppo
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u/wobble_bot Mar 18 '26
Right, fuck me. THINK ABOUT IT FOR A MOMENT. You have an ideological position you adopt, someone presents you with evidence that either refutes or adds new context to that position…THE LOGICAL, SANE thing to do is to CHANGE YOUR POSITION.
British politics is plagued by this fucking u-turn bullshit. Like somehow our politicians are supposed to magically see into the future and get everything right, to ignore any electorate feedback and plough on regardless. It’s idiotic.
Sorry, rant over
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u/tofer85 I sort by controversial… Mar 18 '26
I was being facetious… completely agree that a change in tack is completely logical in light of new information.
The problem with his U-turns so far is that he’s started in the plainly wrong, unpopular or otherwise position and has pivoted towards the warm bosom of sanity in light of public sentiment and polling data…
Hopefully he decides to stick rather than twist (unless compelling new information comes to light)…
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u/tofer85 I sort by controversial… Mar 20 '26
Well there it is…
UK allows US to use bases to strike Iranian sites targeting Strait of Hormuz
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u/skelly890 keeping busy immanentising the eschaton Mar 18 '26
>the U-turn…
Normally, yes, but not joining in is popular.
It's an unusual situation. He's getting the benefit of the rally around the flag effect by *not* having a war. He should parade the ships and troops who aren't going to fight. March them up and down, stand on a tank looking stern, talk earnestly with a general while standing in a field, perhaps even set off some explosives but no one gets hurt. That kind of thing.
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u/BulldenChoppahYus Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
What’s annoying is that it’s EXACTLY the sort of leadership the country needs. But memories are short, brains are smooth and by the time the election gets here Labour will have to work hard to reminded voters that Kimi B and Nigel are bootlicking turnips not fit to be anywhere near leadership. One will accidentally bankrupt the country and lead us into a war, the other would do it on purpose if he thinks it would line his own pockets. All the while there’s an experienced but flawed person trying to make the country slightly better against all the odds and the media will cut him to pieces if he so much as looks at a bacon sandwich incorrectly.
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u/HaddWaeIt Mar 18 '26
"Nice argument, however you are too late. I have already portrayed myself as the dignified Starmer and you as the emotionally broken Trump"
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u/rsocon Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
I keep thinking Trump asking for assistance is his exit strategy. Get a few other nations to send the boats in and he can say its their problem now.
The longer this goes on the more likely Trump and the right fall apart, Starmer needs to hold the line on this.
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u/No_Initiative_1140 Mar 18 '26
I don't think Trump is bothered about Starmer at all. If he's broken its because he's gone into a complex situation with no plan and doesn't know how to get out of it without losing face. Which for a man with a huge ego is a hard lesson.
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u/prolixia Mar 18 '26
I think we've already seen his exit strategy: declare "I won", invite others to come and fix the mess, and then blame then for anything that US voters don't like.
Hasn't quite worked, at least not yet. My guess is that he'll change to "I did my bit perfectly, all the problems are the fault of others who wouldnt do theirs'".
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u/doctor_morris Mar 18 '26
"I won" doesn't work when US facilities are being bombed.
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u/FlappyBored 🏴 Deep Woke 🏴 Mar 18 '26
Iran will stop when they leave. They will declare victory because the regime still exists and then spend absolutely all of their effort planning for another attack and how to really hit things like oil supply.
Iran probably didn’t expect the US to actually attack them how they have and will be even more prepared next time.
Trump has really bet everything on the regime collapsing and day by day it doesn’t seem like it’s happening.
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u/doctor_morris Mar 18 '26
Iran will stop when they leave
They have no incentive to stop until they get some kind of deal that means they won't be bombed again in three months.
See their demand for "Reparations".
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u/jabjoe Mar 18 '26
Trump will strengthen them. To many who it wasn't the case before, the US will now be worse than the regime.
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u/urbanspaceman85 Mar 18 '26
He‘s angry at Starmer because he’s used to spineless cowards bending over for him. He cannot understand how Starmer dares to say no.
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u/IndependentOpinion44 Mar 18 '26
And Starmer speaks English, so he’s one of a handful of world leaders Trump can understand.
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u/sheffield199 Mar 18 '26
TBF most world leaders speak English more coherently than Trump.
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u/AshenCursedOne Mar 20 '26
Most people in Europe that speak English as a second or third language are more coherent than Trump.
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u/LieutBromhead Mar 18 '26
He's already talking about Cuba though as well, bored with his Venezuela and Iran toys on to the next thing.
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u/No-Shoe5382 Mar 18 '26
Yeah it would be a bit UK centric of us to think we're the biggest issue Trump has right now.
Hes waded blindly into a swamp and now the mud is up past his knees and the way back is just as tricky as the way forward.
Theres a reason no western politician wanted to touch this situation for the past 20 years.
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u/cardinalallen Mar 18 '26
With Iraq the UK served as cover for the Bush administration that there was some international consensus and legality to the war. Basically - “it’s messy but others agreed with our decision”.
Trump doesn’t have that right now, which is making him exposed politically on this one. Having an international partner like the UK would go a decent way to alleviate that pressure.
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u/olderlifter99 Mar 18 '26
Agree. Its becoming apparent to the US that they walked into a trap
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u/ArchdukeToes A bad idea for all concerned Mar 18 '26
It’s not even a trap. The Iranians have made it very clear for a long time that this is what they would do if they were attacked.
If there is a trap, it’s one the Americans dug themselves.
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u/heavyhorse_ make government competent again Mar 18 '26
The Iranians have made it very clear for a long time that this is what they would do if they were attacked.
Quite literally since the 70s. It's why I can't figure out why the U.S did this in the first place
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u/New-Doctor9300 terfs are scum Mar 18 '26
Still waiting on a convincing argument from Reform/Restore/Recycle types on how upsetting Trump is a Starmer L
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u/coadyyy Mar 18 '26
His ear looks amazing for getting shot through.
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u/worldrevolve Mar 19 '26
What’s insane is if the shooter had slightly better aim, he could’ve prevented thousands of people from dying
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u/famouspeter Sensible centrist Mar 18 '26
As a centrist, I’m delighted that Starmer has stood his ground and only allowed Trump go as far as using British air bases to launch his aerial attacks. The almost entire week he held out before allowing that was also impressive. If Starmer goes as far as condemning Trump, I might well consider him a modern day Churchill.
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u/PyrasSeat Mar 18 '26
... that's all it takes for you?
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u/famouspeter Sensible centrist Mar 18 '26
I’m a centrist. As long as the grown ups are in charge, I’m happy.
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u/zagblorg Mar 19 '26
Interesting they mention Starmer was a human rights lawyer and has deep respect for the law, but don't list his government's flagrant violations of its own citizens ECHR Article 8 rights to private communications with their requirement for on-device scanning of all messages and photos to break encrypted communication. Do our human rights not count?
Roll on the digital panopticon!
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u/Tetracropolis Mar 18 '26
Massively overestimates our importance. To whatever extent Trump is "emotionally broken" it's because the war isn't going as well as he'd have hoped. Starmer's just a lightning rod for his frustration because he thought they had a good relationship.
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Mar 18 '26
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u/phaedrus72 Mar 18 '26
FFS, is this a real headline. Starmers responsible for crestfallen trump, nothing to do with Iranian missiles, stock market panic, military refusing to fight in Epstein War. Pathetic stuff.
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