If the two Trump administrations have proven anything, it’s that we can all become accustomed to the craziest and most terrifying stuff surprisingly easily. It was just weeks ago that the world was sent into existential dread over Trump’s vow that “a whole civilization will die tonight“.
Despite later denials, this was a fairly clear threat to use America’s nuclear arsenal aggressively and, and for a day, we all wondered if this might be the end of the world. Since then, Trump has periodically alluded to nuking Iran, and each time it becomes more normalized.
And so last night, Trump returned to beating this drum – but this time his threat to usher in atomic armageddon was met with yawns. This week’s hint that he’s considering incinerating a nation came as Trump was quizzed about the ceasefire with Iran:
Q: After today's strikes, is the ceasefire with Iran still on?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2026
TRUMP: Yeah it is. They trifled with us today. We blew them away. If there's no ceasefire, you'll see one big glow coming out of Iran. They better sign an agreement fast. pic.twitter.com/eXphPfXtt0
“They trifled with us today. We blew them away. We trifled. I call that a trifle. I’ll let you know when there’s no cease… you won’t have to know. If there’s no ceasefire you’re not gonna have to know, you’re just gonna have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran. And they’d better sign their agreement fast.”
Uh-huh. Hey, Mr President, have you ever heard of the story of the boy who cried wolf?
“They’re going to have a lot of pain.”
Trump was then asked for even an update on how the talks are progressing:
“The talks are going very well but they have to understand if it doesn’t get signed they’re going to have a lot of pain. They’re going to have a lot of pain. They wanna sign it. I will tell you that. They wanna sign it… a lot more than I do.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be so nonchalant about the prospect of Trump losing his temper, grabbing the nuclear football, and ordering an all-out nuclear strike on Iran. I mean, he is crazy and stupid enough to use nukes, which would risk the conflict rapidly escalating into an all-out nuclear exchange involving multiple superpowers.
Underneath all of this is the supreme irony that Trump’s stupid war is predicated on the danger of Iran having its own nuclear weapons. As a reminder, Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, wasn’t close to having nuclear weapons, and there’s no evidence they were developing them.
Meanwhile, the United States of America has thousands of them, is run by a visibly unstable lunatic, who’s holding a nuclear gun to the world’s collective forehead while gibbering incomprehensibly. Huh, maybe there is a country too dangerous to be allowed to have nukes, and maybe it’s not Iran…
Published: May 8, 2026 04:54 am