The Lead
'Trump Derangement Syndrome' Takes on a New Meaning
by David Shavin (EIRNS) — Mar. 19, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump had a bit of a rude awakening last night when his holier-than-thou campaign to save the world from the nuclear bombs that Iran doesn’t have, bumped up against the possibility that Americans may resent him for $4.00/gallon gasoline or worse. His oh-so-clever strategy of bombing every military facility on Kharg Island, while supposedly leaving every energy facility intact, ran up against Israel’s berserker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, bombing Iran’s massive natural gas field, South Pars. Late last night, he blustered that Israel cannot do such a thing again—of course, he explained, they had only acted in the heat of the moment, those little scamps!—and Iran will be destroyed like nobody’s ever seen, if they touch Qatar’s gas facility (the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant). Apparently, the idea that Iran, when attacked, would not close the Strait of Hormuz and that energy costs would not skyrocket, was wished away.
Trump claims that he was never informed that Israel was going to send the region into a war on energy facilities. (Brent crude immediately surged to a $114/barrel level.) On March 19, Netanyahu responded to Trump’s outburst that he had “acted alone” in the attack. Certainly, the full-blown Armageddonists, those who prefer the world being swallowed as the select are raptured, and the merely greedy financial speculators, those who prefer continual overlordship with their foot on the neck of the downtrodden, both have some psychological issues, yet it is an unholy partnership, and one with possibilities of fractures. Various media weighed in on their “inside” take on the supposed Trump vs. Netanyahu match.
Axios cited various senior U.S. officials and White House officials to say that Trump wants to stabilize the oil market and to end the war having destroyed Iran’s missiles, its navy and its nuclear program, with regime change as an optional bonus. And Israel wants no country, no leader and no stability. “Israel has other focuses and we know that,” and “Israel is going to try to kill their new leader. They’re much more interested in that than we are,” and finally, “Israel doesn’t hate the chaos. We do. We want stability. Netanyahu? Not so much….”
Pretty scary when it looks like the geopoliticians and financial speculators look relatively more sane. But don’t worry about that. Much more scary is that the speculator gang is so desperate, their best weapon is the Armageddonist gang—and they think they can deploy Frankenstein’s monster.
Simplicius, in his “Things Go Haywire as Israeli Escalation Throws Iran Conflict into Dangerous New Phase”](https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/things-go-haywire-as-israeli-escalation?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1351274&post_id=191424694&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1hsw1q&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email) addressed an advantage that Netanyahu’s gang has over their partners: “Israel is obviously escalating the conflict deliberately in order to ensure no off-ramp exists, and that U.S.—and preferably its Gulf allies—commit to a total and decisive destruction of Iran. Israel is doing this via two simultaneous strategies: first by eliminating all the ‘moderates’ and rational people within Iran’s leadership to ensure that only hardliners remain who will push for maximum punishment against the region. And second, by crossing Iran’s ‘red lines’ in hitting its most sensitive economic and energy sites in order to spur Iran’s retaliation against equally critical sites throughout the region to ignite as big a firestorm as possible which can engulf everyone and coerce the entire world into ‘finishing off’ Iran once and for all.”
One of those sensitive sites is Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Energy Plant, where Netanyahu just launched a missile, hitting within the complex, though not directly on the nuclear plant itself. With hundreds of Russian technicians employed at the facility, it makes the South Pars facility pale by comparison.
Yet Trump did not even blink. The truth is that “Trump Derangement Syndrome” has taken on a new meaning.
At 11:00 am ET on Friday, March 20, the International Peace Coalition will address “The Dangerous Spiral in Iran and the Power of Truth.” Independent Presidential candidate Diane Sare will be a featured participant. Read her opening to yesterday’s press conference, “Now Is the TIme To Break the Silence” and deploy the truth.
Do you know anyone who may admire those who tell the truth, but has not figured out how the truth may be deployed as a powerful weapon?
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- Former Palestinian Ambassador Hassassian Urges Russia-China Mediation for Iran War (↓)
- Trump Denies U.S. Knew of Israeli Plans To Hit Iranian Gas Field (↓)
- Iran Retaliates After Israeli Strike on Its South Pars Gas Field (↓)
- U.S. Aircraft Carrier Leaves Red Sea Because of Laundry Room Fire (↓)
- Zakharova Calls Out U.S. and Israel for Missile Attack on Iran’s Nuclear Power Plant (↓)
Collapsing Imperial System
New World Paradigm
U.S. and Canada
- U.K. Pushing Washington for Unredacted Epstein Files on Ex-Prince Andrew and Lord Mandelson (↓)
- Lebanese Prime Minister Calls on U.S. President Trump To Stop Israel's Invasion (↓)
- First Fleet of Modern Cargo Ships on Lake Tanganyika (↓)
- Jerusalem’s Cardinal Pizzaballa Calls Out Religious Fakers Who Invoke God To Make War (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
