America’s Midnight Hammer, the NeoCon Dogs of War and Trump Derangement
By John Kass
June 25, 2025
So now that Iran’s dream of nuclear weapons has been buried under the mountains—the result of the Trump administration’s Midnight Hammer and massive, 30,000-pound Bunker Buster bombs dropped by U.S warplanes over the last weekend—do you breathe a sigh of relief?
Are you pleased that the decrepit old Supreme Leader of Iran doesn’t have his coveted nuclear weapons?
Or are you of the bitter ones unable to ignore the demons of your Trump Derangement Syndrome as the latent Democrat inside you licks at your soul?
Is that the same internal demon that hushed the Democrats when Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden dropped bombs on the Middle East without seeking Congressional approval?
Is it the same demon that hushed the Democrats as President Joe Biden—bought and paid for by China in need of Iranian oil—was shuffling off into his senility, maintained as a waxen effigy by cynical Democrat White House staffers, even as Iran pursued nuclear weapons?
It’s time to apply some common sense to all of this, much as veteran Chicago newspaperman Steve Huntley did as he wrote his excellent Sunday column for johnkassnews.com:
Iran, Israel, and the Constant Threat of Nuclear War.
I leave the link here, so you may read Steve’s fine column if you haven’t already. And, if you’re a subscriber, you may leave a public comment underneath the columns and tell us what you think.
So, what do I think?
I want to be optimistic. A friend tells me that he thinks President Donald Trump is rather like the late President Ronald Reagan reincarnated. And I agree. Reagan was smooth, a trained actor and corporate spokesman before politics. He had more finesse. Trump is direct. They each brought great strength to the White House.
Reagan broke the Soviet Union. Trump destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities. And Democrats make fools of themselves with their impeachment fantasies.
There is now a cease fire. And I’m relieved and thankful that President Trump did what had to be done. He saved Israel from nuclear annihilation. He’s angry with both Israel and Iran for continuing to fight after the cease fire. But he made himself quite clear. And he let Israel know they stepped out of line, something they’re not used to from American politicians.
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,” Trump said as he left the White House for the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Are you listening, Bibi?
But Trump is getting heat from members of his own party, from the pro-Israel neocon dogs of war, from no-credibility Deep State John Brennan, and from other critics insisting that Iran may have saved some nuclear material they might use to make a bomb. They’re rooting for failure, just to demean Trump. There are no honest brokers of information here. They all have agendas.
Iran is joined only by CNN that insists Iran’s nuclear capabilities were not harmed. And Iran’s old man, their Supreme Leader, is in hiding.
Many Democrats want Trump impeached, yowling like baboons for his head. These are the same Democrats whose hypocrisy prevents them from admitting how silent they were as Obama dropped all those thousands of bombs on Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East without Congressional approval. It is estimated that during Obama’s presidency (2009-2017), he dropped around 60,000 bombs. Obama bombed Syria, Libya, Iraq and elsewhere. Democrats who are howling now had nothing to say to Obama or Biden or the Clintons.
Even now, the Democrats have nothing to say about possible Iranian terrorists let through our borders by Joe Biden’s administration. More than 1,000 illegal Iranians are in this country—unvetted–courtesy of the Democrats. Will Iran activate them to commit terrorism here in the US? The question is not if, but when.
The great New York Post reported:
“Immigration agents collared 11 illegal Iranian migrants — including suspected terrorists — over the weekend in eight states as the Border Patrol warned of “possible sleeper” cells in the US.
”Immigration and Customs Enforcement nabbed former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member Mehran Makari Sahel, who has “admitted connections” to the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, according to CBS News.
“He was busted near St. Paul, Minnesota.
“Yousef Mehridehno, whose name appears on the terrorist watchlist, was arrested by ICE outside Jackson, Mississippi, according to the outlet.”
And consider Democrat Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff for Obama. Rahm, desperate for relevance and publicity now that he is running for president, is saying there wasn’t a single person in Trump’s top intelligence or defense team he would call in a crisis.
That’s cheap, even for Rahm.
It appears Rahm has forgotten his own famous saying: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.”
What kind of crisis, Rahm? The crisis when, as mayor of Chicago, you tried to minimize the police murder of a black teenager before an election, by quietly paying off the family hoping that Obama would come to your rescue. (He didn’t). And then you suppressed the police video of the shooting?
That crisis, Rahm?
But not everything is peaches and cream.
The murderous neoconservatives are wedded to blood and their forever wars in the Middle East, and slaughter on behalf of Israel continue their barking and snarling like mad dogs.
In an interview with Fox News, Tuesday, Graham quoted Trump saying that the Israel-Iran ceasefire will allow the region to live “in peace and harmony.”
“There can be no peace between Iran and Israel until Iran decides to change its policy which is the regime policy of destroying the state of Israel and killing all the Jews,” Graham warned. “Until that changes, nothing really changes. the program has been decimated but that people who are in charge will come right back at Israel. So, I’m looking at regime change in this sense.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump walked back his own suggestions of a regime change.
“I don’t want it. I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the NATO summit. “Regime change takes chaos, and ideally, we don’t want to see so much chaos, so we’ll see how it does.”
Will the neocons have America murder a billion Muslims to appease their fellow Iran hawks, either here or in Israel? If there is a roadblock to world peace, do we look at the neocons?
Or does Iran’s Supreme Leader want the Iranian people bombed into the stone age as they bark like baboons, demanding to pursue more nuclear weapons? If he pursues nukes, he must know how things will end for Iran.
Iran, keep f—-ng around and you’ll find out.
Read our lips or have CNN’s $2 million woman Christiane Amanpour read the lips.
Either way: FAFO.
What is tempering my exuberance for Trump’s action is the fact that the American neocons and their forever wars have broken the Middle East, with refugees from neocon forever wars streaming into Europe and the U.S., creating havoc there.
I was once quite supportive of neocons. I supported the Republican wars and the idiotic belief that democracy could take hold among uneducated people who didn’t have the culture to appreciate building a republic. The numbers of American casualties grew and the neocons, the Bushes, Cheneys, all those crooked masters-of-war Democrats and the rest.
And then a U.S. Army sergeant came to see me at “the paper.”
We went for coffee at the Billy Goat. He was on his fourth tour and going back to Iraq to protect his soldiers. He’d been a reader of mine, and he wanted me to know how wrong I’d been.
He said we shouldn’t be sending those young Americans to those shithole countries.
“It’s all bullshit Mr. Kass.”
He explained. All about the pointless casualties as neocons prattled on about “democracy” and “nation building” in the Middle East. And the boys who won’t come home. And that’s when I began turning my back on the neocons and their wars.
What is appalling is that many of the pro-war neocons have played the old anti-Semitism card against those of us who oppose forever wars.
I’ve seen the hysterical charge bounce off the lips of Mark Levin in the hopes of shaming people into line from MAGA who don’t support endless wars. He doesn’t help Israel that way. It is a serious charge that Levin cheapens with cheap hysterics.
And the left used the same ugly charge against me too, with the Jacobins from the leftist newsroom union thinking they could defame me and shut me up because I dared used my column at the Chicago Tribune to oppose leftist billionaire Georg Soros, who was trying to influence the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
Chicago has never recovered.
But it didn’t work. I wouldn’t shut up. And I won’t forget. Ever.
And I won’t forget the neocons and their forever wars. And I’ll never forget being defamed as an antisemite by the leftist journalists at the Chicago Tribune Guild because I wanted to protect Chicago from Soros.
But in just a matter of 12 days, Donald Trump and Israel have remade the Middle East. And left wing Democrats just can’t handle that.
Iranian firing squads
(Copyright John Kass 2025)
-30-
About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.
Merchandise Now Available: If you’re looking for a gift for that hard-to-buy for special someone who has everything, just click on the link to the johnkassnews.com store.
Where else would you find a No Chumbolone™ cap or a Chicago Way™ coffee cup?
Because I know this about you: You’re not a Chumbolone.
Comments 28
How did regime change work out in Libya, Syria, Egypt, and Afghanistan? My old neighbor in the city legally emigrated with his family from Iraq years ago. They were the Christian minority (Persians) who suffered under the Muslim regimes. When the dreamers in our government were taking up the case and actions of regime change in the Middle East, it turned out that toppling dictators would be replaced by even more extreme elements My neighbor said that in the Middle East, though we want Western style democracy, it is like using a garbage can cover to hold down a swarm of rats, and if you lift up that cover the rats will eat you alive. Unfortunately, but realistically, strong men at the top are a necessity in that part of the world.
It’s true that you need a STRONG MAN at the top anywhere in the world, democracy or not. Just look at this nation! After Reagan and Clinton we didn’t have any strong men at the top until now, in his 2nd term Trump. Reagan was emotionally dependent on his wife Nancy and in order to please her he named the 1st woman to the nation’s Supreme Court setting a very wrong precedence. If you won’t believe me just look at the three (3) woman justices in the court who always gang up and vote against the majority. And this won’t happen all the time if they are to vote based on the constitution.
And starting from Walter Mondale there have been female VP candidates who didn’t make it thru the elections. And clearly the public is NOT ready for a woman President and Biden and the Dems
knew it. And that’s why they had to steal the election from Trump in 2020. But this time, they didn’t expect people to vote overwhelmingly for Trump! since where else do you think Kamala got her 70 million plus votes?! If the Dems were not fraudulent, Kamala wouldn’t get half the votes!
Anyways, my point is that in the 2 party political system like ours, it’s very difficult to always come up with strong leaders. And that’s why a King might be a good option!
A necessity in far too many parts of the World Mr. Jennings. Ineed!
What makes our part of the world different. I have an idea.
“These guys have been at it for so long they don’t know what the fu..
They’re doing”
Midwestern common sense, via New York city (proper NYC)
Hemisphere America. IMHO
May God keep our President from harm (lawfare, assasins, liars, feebs and grifters) and keep him focused, direct and forthright.
May the God of Abraham and Issac (all three of Him in my faith) smite the wicked (Deepstaters, MSNBC, David Brooks, NPR and NGOs funding anti-Western fascists, the EU and IFM) for their fomenting of bloodshed.
Amen!
How said, Hickey ain’t pious.
John Thank you for reaffirming Trump’s reasoning for the Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear weapons facilities. I’ve been rolling my eyes as I see the writers at the New York Times tripping over themselves as they try to condemn Trump. Especially AOC. It has been interesting as they subtly attempt to introduce the seed of impeachment into the conversation. What a bunch of Buffoons.
I was indeed shocked and encouraged when I read Brett Stephen’s very clear opinion IN TOTAL SUPPORT OF TRUMP’S DECISION.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/opinion/us-military-strike-iran-trump.html?searchResultPosition=2
I’ll bet he (Brett Stephens) was one of the two voters in New York that voted for Cuomo too. Continuing the trope that Chicago truly is the second City; even in elections Let’s get Mamdani, Brandon Johnson and Karen Bass together for a Photo. What would be the appropriate caption??
How about “Who wins the most clueless and dangerous award for this week?” for the caption?
That would be too honest and too accurate to be printed anywhere but here.
Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest?
John Scripture is on target to those that believe in Jesus Christ. So sad that the Muslin Nations are becoming Evil. So sad. Europe is going Muslim look at London and Paris. Erdogan wants Greece and that is so sad we should ask him for Reparations for 400 years of Slavery. What a joke. I tell my kids love one another and stay away from people they cause divisions due to Jealousy and Insecurity.
I’ve stated repeatedly that if Trump said oxygen is really really great, the libtards would rush out and buy oxygen proof bags to put over their heads. He can’t win for losing!
Worth a try. It can only help to improve the gene pool.
Well said John. As well, I hope whoever is leaking top secret intel to CNN is found and tried for treason.
John – excellent article. Trump is a disruptor of status quo and I believe that’s what it will take to bring positive change to the centuries-long conflicts in that region. Every day that the peace lasts between Israel and Iran is a gift. And hopefully has influence outside the Middle East region.
AOC was all dressed up for an impeachment speech at the time the truce was announced. More Karma. And locally we have our WFLD evening news programming taken over by an ex-CNN director and Paris Shultz ex-WTTW asking Rep Quigley for his assessment of the damage to the sites in Iran.
Thanks for your voice and May it continue loud and strong!
Russia is tied up in the Ukraine. China likes to sell us cheap stuff. The bombing of Irans nuclear facilities were done with the express approval of the Saudis and the other Arab Emirates of the Middle East. A member of the Saudi royal family stated in an interview a couple of weeks ago that if Iran has a nuclear bomb, then the Saudis want one too. These countries, even though all muslim have had ethnic rivalries going back for centuries. Trump weighed these odds and took the shot. And a brilliant shot it was. The idiot Democrats demand his impeachment since they have already decided that Trump can do no right. No matter what. Assisted by the lying American Mass media, the psyops are already starting. An ABC syndicated show yesterday started with hysterical people preparing for a nuclear war. The intrepid reporter then touring a 1950s era fallout shelter to ensure that low information viewers buy into the paranoia. If you read the letter sections from any Chicago newspaper you’ll see how many hysterical, frightened people there are. Rest assured, we have at least 3 more years of this bullshit from the media. It remains to be seen if any brokered peace will last as long as Irans Islamic/ Military regime remains in power. It’s hard to make peace with those sworn to destroy you. The only way to make peace with a rabid animal is to put it down.
I believe it is too early to announce peace is at hand. Remember George Bush’s comment, “Mission Accomplished.” I hope Iran’s capability to create a nuclear bomb no longer exists but I fear the extremists will attempt to gain revenge by acts of terrorism in our country. Israel is an important ally, however sometimes our influence upon the Israeli government can only go so far. Their leaders sometimes will act in what they perceive is in the best interests of Israel as opposed to what is in the best interests to the world to maintain some kind of peace.
Well said, Your Honor
May it please the Court your Honor, if I want fear mongering, I will turn on any of the laimstream media which is coordinating a full court press on disseminating mission failure as to taking out Iran’s nuclear capabilities and harping on all the potential paybacks that “may” occur. Any acts of terrorism lays at the feet of your fellow Democrat feckless Joe Biden and his squad of misfits who ushered into our country the assortment of terrorists and criminals.
You are correct. Without on the ground inspection we really don’t know the extant of destruction. Now we have only “educated” speculation. As someone who was up close and personal with the virus during the early days of the pandemic, I learned to be very skeptical of government “statements” and governmental “truths” ( i.e. the “lab leak” is a right wing conspiracy). I maintain that same skepticism here regarding Mr. Trump’s assessment of the damage inflicted upon Iran and the optimistic outcome for the Middle East. I hope he is correct, but like you I maintain a healthy skepticism.
Israel is a one or two bomb country – meaning that is all it would take to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. Iran becoming nuclear really IS an existential crisis for Israel. So Israel’s “best” interest may – as you imply – diverge from the “best” interest of the US or the rest of the world.
Great job as always, Mr. Kass, and my biggest takeaway is: “All about the pointless casualties as neocons prattled on about “democracy” and “nation building” in the Middle East. And the boys who won’t come home. And that’s when I began turning my back on the neocons and their wars.”
The people in most of these countries that we have tried (unsuccessfully) to “build” into democracies (small “D” intentional) want food on the table, not a system of government that probably wouldn’t work there anyway. And the politicians who are advocating these wars aren’t the ones who will send their sons to die in those faraway lands. It’s easy to talk tough when you aren’t in the fight.
And there are thousands of names of the people that died in these forever wars on monument walls, accompanied by grieving Family members who will never overcome their grief.
It is possible to have a war, a battle, etc., without nation building….we just saw it.
It is time for the U.S., and the GOP, to abandon Colin Powell’s b.s. Pottery Barn doctrine, especially as it applied to the Middle East and third world nations.
In short….. No, if we break it we don’t have to own it and fix it!
If a country finds itself in a fafo situation and the U.S. takes action it is more than acceptable in the 21st century to just leave it “broken” and let the geographical area worry about fixing it.
I don’t get the hit on Mark Levin. If demonizing the “Death to America” Islamic Republic of Iran getting nuclear weapons and ICBMs as hysterics, then count me as hysterical too.
Levin is a Zionist Extremist who prioritizes the agenda of a foreign country (e.g. “our greatest ally”) ahead of the U.S. There seems to be no limit on the amount of American lives or treasure he would be willing to expend fighting foreign wars. His attacks, consisting of insults and mockery directed at fellow Americans critical of Israeli policy, or U.S. support of those policies is loathsome. And remember, he endorsed Ted Cruz in 2016. Cruz recently said during the Tucker Carlson interview that the the Bible commands him to support Israel. (Cruz has accepted over $1.3 million from AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbyists.)
Thanks for always pointing out the hypocrisy of the democrats who never said a word when Barry was president. We can never give them a pass they don’t deserve. Also I hope you picked up the tab for that young soldier at The Billy Goat!
Great editorial, John. Would encourage you to avoid the four-letter words that seemingly everyone feels free to use these days. They don’t strengthen your arguments, only cheapen them.
Good article John. I fervently hope the destruction is as massive as Sec of Defense Hegseth has said “under tons of mountain.”
Random question I briefly saw your post of FB about June’s
Moutza of the month but can’t find it now. Could you please direct me to it?
Thank you
I admire that Army sergeant who risked his life to protect his troops in Iraq. And I admire Kass for recognizing that the neocon wars and “nation building” he’d previously hoped could work were, as the sergeant had experienced, “all bullshit.”
Admiration also for Kass risking his professional life to expose Soros, who remains a threat to all of America for his promotion of forever crime.
It’s past time we learned that Islamic theocracies will not be turned into Iowa-like democracies through blood shed by our brave troops. But, yes, a psychotic theocracy like Iran working religiously to annihilate democracies must have any atomic weapons program destroyed.
Great column John, on diverse, yet related topics. The bombing of Iran by US and Israeli forces was a necessary, yet regrettable decision. I am surprised at how quickly Iran’s vaunted air defenses were destroyed by Israel. I am also pleasantly surprised by the efficacy (so far) of President Trump’s bold foreign policy actions and pronouncements. The reaction of the MSM and the left is entirely predictable and sad, TDS in full view. The MSM is only good for the weather and sports (usually) reporting. The team of President Reagan, PM Margaret Thatcher, Pope Paul, and President Lech Walesa brought down communism. All strong leaders! Today, despite the threat of nuclear weapons wielded by the mullahs, our biggest threats are internal, a cancer destroying western civilization. The world would be a much safer place if England was led by a Margaret Thatcher type and the Catholic church led by another Pope John Paul. Prayers for President Trump and our leaders.
The lack of protests from the streets as well as every moozleem country and China, Russia and the rest of the Earth tells us that Iran and it’s mullahs have zero support. The ONLY street protest backing the Irainian regime are the American streets , backed by the American media. They would step over the corpse of their own children to oppose trump.