4 hours ago
18
We’re now approaching month seven of a war against Iran that Donald Trump repeatedly assured us would be over in a matter of weeks. Prices are rising, troop morale is plummeting, and there is little evidence things will improve.
The situation is so desperate that the decision makers at the Pentagon have decided to bring out the big guns. I’m not talking about nuclear weapons, although Trump recently threatened to “blow the entire nation [of Iran] up”. No, I’m talking about influencers Jake and Logan Paul, who are famous for doing idiotic stunts on YouTube and getting hit in the face during boxing matches. Last Thursday, Pete Hegseth’s Department of Defense or whatever they’re calling it these days (the Department of War Crimes?) welcomed the Paul brothers to Washington DC “to meet with our warriors” and deliver a motivational speech. In response, former Republican congressman and air force officer Adam Kinzinger wrote, “We aren’t a serious country at the moment.” That about sums it up.
The Paul brothers, to be fair, rose to the occasion as best they could. In a speech which channelled Churchill, if Churchill had suffered several major blows to the head, Logan said that touring the Pentagon had been “a cool experience”. Albeit not quite as cool as being deployed to fight and possibly die in an illegal bombing campaign started by president Trump, a convicted felon, on the advice of Benjamin Netanyahu, an accused war criminal. “I don’t think there is any greater commitment to sacrifice than those who are willing to live, die and fight for their country,” Logan said. Which is why you won’t see him doing it; easier to pocket millions fighting on TV.
As well as giving a pep talk to the military, Jake met up with treasury secretary Scott Bessent and the US treasurer to discuss how “to get more young Americans financially empowered.” That must have been an interesting chat considering how, back in 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the YouTuber with unlawfully promoting crypto assets without disclosing that he was being paid to do so; he eventually settled without admitting or denying the charges. (Logan has also faced a lawsuit linked to a dodgy crypto venture, although the case was eventually dismissed). Exactly the sort of person you want the treasury secretary expending energy talking to when US debt recently topped $40tn for the first time ever and a financial crisis seems to be around the corner.
Just how Jake Paul and Bessent hope to financially empower young Americans is unclear. But it is unlikely to be via the traditional method of working hard at school and then going to university. Jake very much shares the Trump administration’s contempt for education. In 2020 he tweeted that he’s “sick of our education system and how it’s teaching kids 0 real life skills for them to secure there [sic.] own future.” He also once described high school as “kids sitting in Geography to learn where Timbuktu is for no reason.” The reason you learn where Timbuktu is, Jake, is so the US can overthrow it after they’re done with Iran and Greenland.
There has always been a strong vein of anti-intellectualism in US politics. “[T]he subordination of men of ideas to men of emotional power or manipulative skill are hardly innovations of the twentieth century,” Richard Hofstadter wrote in his 1963 book Anti-intellectualism in American Life. “[T]hey are inheritances from American Protestantism.” But while this may not be a new impulse, the Trump administration’s embrace of ignorance is doing damage that can’t be easily undone. The US is stuck in a vicious vacuousness cycle: the Trump administration has slashed research funding and disrupted thousands of grants, leading many promising young academics to flee the US. As expertise is eliminated and critical thinking purged from government institutes, chancers like the Paul brothers are elevated.
Still, I suppose we should count our blessings, before even they are affected by Iran-induced inflation. At least the boneheaded Paul brothers are simply having meetings with high-level Trump administration officials. At least they’re not directly involved with military or economic policy. Although, the way things are going it’s only a matter of time. “I’m going to make a prediction that you will be, in the not-too-distant future, running for political office,” Trump told Jake, who has been a vocal Maga supporter, on stage at a rally earlier this year. “You have my complete and total endorsement.” Could another blond buffoon with zero qualifications become president of the US? Tune in to find out in the next season of America: the Empire Implodes
