Yes, bastardizing an old 60s protest song seems appropriate. Replace the word flowers with (Trump) ‘fluffers’ with a bit more wordplay and you get: Where have Trump’s top fluffers gone? News Hosts are asking; None will go on TV now, to praise Trump’s war. Think about it. Both Vance and Rubio are vying to take over MAGA and replace Trump in 2028. When was the last time you saw them do an interview, even with Fox? Hegseth has been in the news some over some of his comments but even he hasn’t done one of his chest trumping Pentagon Propaganda Pressers in a while either.
It’s not like we don’t hear certain names still being regularly discussed by journalists. That’s why I, and perhaps you as well haven’t noticed something The Daily Beast has written about. In this article they point out the absence of certain top Trump people from the airwaves. And while Trump is the all-time champ for wanting the spotlight and to have journalists interviewing him he’s far from the only person in DC who eagerly seeks out a chance to get on camera. Most of his ‘goons’ as the linked article calls them seem to have been reluctant to do TV interviews:
President Donald Trump’s top goons are running scared of network TV appearances as his war on Iran spirals out of control.
The conflict has now stretched into its fifth week, and the Trump administration is contemplating sending thousands of additional ground troops into the region in a desperate attempt to move the needle.
But despite the potential for boots on the ground—stoking fear of another protracted war in the Middle East—Americans have not heard from top administration officials for quite a while.
Notably, both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio seem to have grown allergic to media interviews since the war began on Feb. 28, with their absence from the airwaves fueling speculation that neither man sees any upside in defending Trump’s “excursion.”
It’s almost as if certain people are trying to distance themselves from the already disaster Trump has created by starting a war he and the United States can’t win. To be fair, Hegseth is likely chomping at the bit to be on the Sunday talk shows and being #1 Iran War cheerleader but the WH, or in particular Susie Wiles have a modified version of a livestock “band castrator” (Iowa Senator Joni Ernst probably donated one she’s used!) that can be activated remotely around Petey Boy’s testicles. His ‘Kill em all and let god sort em out’ talk hasn’t gone over well even with many Republicans. What intrigues me is that the top two Team Trump dudes, both of whom want to succeed him as head of MAGA and President seem to be staying well away from the spotlight.
Vance and Rubio haven’t exactly been camera shy in the past. Hell, at first Rubio seemed to like attacking Iran. His dream has always been for us to invade and take over and invade Cuba and he probably figured Venezuela wasn’t enough warm-up. A week or two of ops in the Persian Gulf with the bonus of getting control of Iran would be good practice. Of course, like with Pootie thinking his bigly badass Russian war machine would topple Ukraine’s government and send leaders (who survived) fleeing into exile Iran turned out to be more resilient than suckup military leaders told the big boss it would be.
Vance is said to have privately voiced doubts to Trump about going to war with Iran, and worse doing so in front of others. Still, he made some pro forma public statements of support once the decision was made. Rubio wasn’t at all reticent except perhaps having wanted to take over Cuba before dealing with Iran. THAT is the kind of thing that in his mind would catapult him to the top of MAGA opinion.
The thing is, Little Marco who is known by that moniker simply doesn’t have the gravitas to be President and never will. He also doesn’t have the bravado to imitate Trump’s tough guy act. Trump has gotten away with militarism without having served in uniform but as we know most of what Trump gets away with is stuff only HE gets away with. Rubio never served either. Not even as a JAG laywer.
Vance, like Hegseth at least served in uniform. Both even served in a country our troops were at war in although neither ever in combat units. Even in relatively safe postings however each was close enough to war to be wary of it. It’s hard to imagine that during a long war where so many had done multiple tours Hegseth couldn’t have requested assignment to be a platoon commander and serve ‘ass in the grass’ as in engaged in combat. He didn’t. Vance? Like Hegseth he served in a public affairs type posting. However unlike Hegseth it seems Vance at least paid attention to the problems of regime change and installing a stable new government in a place hostile to western ways. Vance is on record multiple times as being against starting such wars.
A big part of being VP, especially in the last three-plus decades has been being out there visibly backing the President they serve. Vance’s heart isn’t in it at least on this matter and Trump knows it. Rubio? As SecState it’s his job to promote our foreign policy. For different reasons his heart isn’t really in this Iran war either. It’s gone on way longer than the insular top levels of the Trump administration thought it would. Worse, it’s cost a boatload of money, used up an alarming supply of precision munitions, and put a strain on already strained Naval ships and their crews.
Our newest carrier, the Ford is I believe still in a friendly port over there undergoing repairs for a freaking laundry room fire that got out of hand. It took thirty hours to make sure the whole thing was fully contained. There were other maintenance issues with the ship even before it’s deployment was extended to head to the Persian Gulf. The longer you put such things off the longer it takes and the more it costs when it finally does make it home for maintenance. It didn’t get much news coverage but I even saw a report that a quiet investigation had started to determine if that fire was due to crew sabotage!
Getting back on point, the war isn’t going well. Iran didn’t roll over and submit. They built a leadership structure designed to carry on if some type of ‘decapitation strike’ were to be carried out. There is no way to both clear away the old regime and install a new one in Iran short of a long, bloody war and at least a million troops. Getting enough of them would require other countries to pitch in, and since Israel won’t I’m certain a single unit, not even a platoon means even MAGA goobers will go nuts. Oh, they’re angry with Trump over this war. However there’s a part of them that loves the idea of ‘kicking Iranian ass’ so they are so far still largely supporting Trump.
However, Trump made no attempt to sell his war before he started it. Not to our citizens, not to our allies and not even to Republicans on the Hill. He simply informed a few of them (along with key Democrats) just before bombs started dropping and that was it. While we see reports of MAGAs publicly saying they are done with Trump due to this war at this point it’s anecdotal. Yes, MAGA is pissed off at their Trumpty BUT are using the ‘Israel forced his hand’ excuse to justify giving him some latitude. For now. If dozens of deaths and hundred of wounded turns into hundreds of American deaths and thousands of casualties my prediction is that all bets will be off with MAGA.
I can’t help but wonder if Vance and Rubio think the same thing on this as I do. I think both want to say just barely enough to fool Trump into thinking they’ve got his back but in reality trying to create distance they can point to down the road. Unless I’m mistaken it won’t work. For one thing neither has the political skill to do that kind of tap dancing against a credible challenger who’s not part of this second Trump administration. (Looking at you Gov. Kemp of Georgia) Second, there simply isn’t enough time for Iran ire to fade before we are heavy into 2028 campaigning.
People forget there was plenty of opposition to Obama approving the Bin Laden strike in 2012 and Biden was one of them. However, it was eight years before HE would run for President and Trump’s first term was such a cluster f**k that even many conservatives thought we needed a steady, measured hand at the wheel again. However we are well into the midterms campaign and you can be sure serious work is underway for GOP wannabes to set themselves up for a Presidential campaign that will start even before the new Congress is sworn in next January.
If the war with Iran isn’t over and soon, AND in a manner that allows our country to save a little face on the world stage top Trump people, as in the most powerful people in his administration will be covered in radioactive Trump dust. Given that, limiting speeches and public appearances where they might get hit with questions isn’t all that surprising now that I think about it. And, for damned sure sitting down with a journalist including one from Fox were follow-up questions WILL be asked is survival mode having kicked in.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
