Missiles That Miss, Stories That Stick, and Questions That Linger
As expected, the Middle East is a pressure cooker again—and so are American opinions about it.
I can read the room. I understand where emotions are right now. Rather than picking a side in the latest binary slugfest, I’d rather trace the narrative footprints—so you can see how stories get written, and who writes them. What I offer is consistent with my ongoing approach–a presentation of a series of dots perhaps different from the ones you’re seeing so that you yourself can consider them in conjunction with the real news.
This American on Facebook says it well, especially the notion of not getting sucked in to the curated media narrative.
My slant will be clear, there’s no question. But my posture is inquisitive still. My tone is Socratic.
Think.
And don’t forget—narrative war isn’t confined to Gaza or Tehran. The Russia-Ukraine saga, seemingly unrelated, is part of the same tapestry. There are historical things about Ukraine and certain more recent histories about the Middle East that are…fascinating.
Trump ‘open’ to Putin as Iran-Israel mediator
Putin’s involvement in this is absolutely an extension of all the work I’ve been doing on him and Russia-Ukraine. It is a decent guess that at some point, Americans will see Trump and Putin align against leaders and things we never thought was possible. And if that happens, the cognitive dissonance will be great.
By the way again, have you done that search I’ve been inviting you to from time to time for a couple months?
What is psychological projection in our interpersonal relationships?
Netanyahu is saying that Iran tried to assassinate Trump.
Interesting, and convenient for the narrative he is pushing on us Americans….
The rhetoric isn’t new. We’ve heard this script before—from the same cast. As he has before, Netanyahu is demanding US involvement in the crisis. He is using familiar speaking tactics to do so. It is similar to what we saw over twenty years ago, when we were pulled into a war over weapons of mass destruction that never existed–all over blind trust.
Here he is again, this time invoking sacred text in ways that seem…convenient.
Because I read the Bible religiously, I knew the bit about “killing someone before they kill you,” not to mention the defiant, aggressive body language tied to it, was a lie immediately. Here are some things to consider, in addition to other overtures he’s made over the years like the Saddam Hussein/Iraq one:
The Talmud is “interesting” reading, by the way. It admits to things even the J Encyclopedia lays out.
I almost started down a rabbit hole there and I can’t.
As I have written recently concerning Israel specifically, the MAGA base will continue to fracture over this story, the more and more it plays out. We must keep in mind that Trump was clear about Israel not attacking Iran in the middle of his negotiations with them. Yet that’s exactly what happened. But the more telling detail may not be the strike itself—it’s what followed, the aftermath, and who chose to say what. Here is a small sample:
Turns out I got lucky in writing that Levin v Carlson post last Thursday, a day before all of this accelerated. I’ve also been lucky to be putting out work on Levin in general in recent weeks:
Tucker v Levin: Yet Another Cage Match (Thursday)
Trump, Levin, and the Narrative War Over Israel (April 23, Feast of St George)
The Cowboys, the Cartoons, the Conservative Controlled Opposition (April 30, Octave of St George and Feast of St Pius V)
The story being told is entirely too recognizable not to have some type of coordination going on, whether that be by military intelligence or divine providence.
I invite you to scroll through Levin’s X page, including the comments. You will get the standard, age-old conservative platform.
The Bush model.
–The model that many a conservative and patriot are learning to break, a fracturing inspired by the last ten years of Americans challenging what we have been fed by the government-media apparatus. In addition to the April 23 post listed above:
“Top Pentagon officials have been divided over the extent of US military support for Israel, a split whose resolution will shape President Donald Trump’s second-term foreign policy.
US military leaders, including the chief of US Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, have requested more resources to support and defend Israel. But their requests have drawn resistance from undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby, who has long opposed moving US military assets from Asia to the Middle East, people sympathetic to each side of the argument told Semafor.”
Set up from the start? Coordinated? A ruse crafted in plain sight?
And if so–who is really writing the script?
Narrative warfare.
This isn’t just about bombs and borders. It’s about the soul of US foreign policy, and which ghost is whispering in the war room—Cheney’s, or something new?
Where is the plot twist–the rug pull–actually coming from? Was Bret Baier correct in the above video that Trump and Netanyahu are the ones engaged in the ruse together? Or are there other alliances–perhaps shocking for Americans to discover–actually going on behind the scenes?
Remember Putin. Remember Saudi Arabia.
I’d go as far as to say remember North Korea and China–at least certain portions of them.
Remember, there are good twins and evil twins inside all governments, just as there are here in the US. Hat-tip, Chris Paul.
Just as there are in Israel and Iran.
And if every nation is at war with itself, which version of each country are we being told to support?
And which version of each country worships Christ as Messiah?
Whatever happens next, this is perhaps a very important video to consider. One reason I warn against emotional reactions and promote reasonable observation of narrative flow is because of something Trump says here. Some of this is all about optics–for us to see and learn:
Back in 2024, Trump revealed that after Soleimani was killed, Iran called him to alert him that they were about to strike back, by sending missiles toward a certain location–but they were going to purposely miss the target.
“They let us know. Don’t move. We’re going to have to hit you back, psychologically…. They sent 16 or 18 missiles and we knew they weren’t going to hit inside the fort.… That was respect. We had respect.”
Remember when the media thought it was “very strange” that no one was killed?
Such a tale of Iran calling Trump to pre-warn about missiles—meant to miss—fits neatly into the “theater of the real” motif we’ve traced before. They hit nothing, and the show went on.
What is being shown to us now?
Trump and Bibi. It is a relationship that just keeps on inviting us to the front.
I could go on. This piece isn’t meant to solve anything—it’s meant to sharpen your vision. The war isn’t just in Gaza or Tehran. It’s in our perception. Hopefully some of you have been following my unique perspective on narrative warfare and are primed for this moment. I realize this isn’t the best article per se in terms of analysis and a focused thesis, but I do it for one primary reason–to invite you to the cognitive war happening as we speak.
It has to be all of us getting involved, not just something Fox News or Tucker Carlson or even LeJeune tells us to think.
And perhaps the only way to “win” that war is to walk a fine line between keeping one eye on the narrative while we pray and walking straightway off the stage of it all.
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May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.
