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Then again, all that ballroom-building blather could be a smokescreen for a deeper and more nefarious plan: Intimidate Trump into escalating the war on Iran. That would explain three strange, Israel-linked aspects of the shooting:\u00a0the patsy\u2019s social media profile featuring a picture of him wearing an IDF sweatshirt<\/a>; the\u00a0patsy\u2019s name being allegedly researched in Israel Less than 24 hours before the attack<\/a>; and the shooting erupting at the exact moment that\u00a0an Israeli magician was terrifying Melania by exposing private information she had thought was secret<\/a>. Taken together, those three odd Israeli connections to the event could easily be read as a message: \u201cWe know your Epstein secrets, we are the magicians creating these and other tricks, and we can get to you any time we like\u2026so follow orders\u00a0or else.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Trump is reportedly reluctant to escalate against Iran due to the devastating political fallout. His numbers are in free-fall, his MAGA base is cratering, and if the Democrats sweep both houses of Congress, impeachment, perhaps conviction, or even prison could be on Trump\u2019s horizon. The war, and the economic damage it\u2019s causing, is the problem. Finding an off-ramp before the damage becomes epic and irreversible is Trump\u2019s overriding political imperative.<\/span><\/p>\n But the only off-ramp is to hand Iran its victory laurels. And while Trump might be perfectly happy to lie and claim victory as he hands Iran the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief, and a nuclear deal that amounts to a lipsticked JCPOA, the Israelis see that outcome as an existential threat. For Netanyahu and his cronies, the war must go on until Iran and the whole region and the global economy are all flattened.<\/span><\/p>\n So Israel has every reason to try to force Trump to accept the disastrous political price he is paying for this misbegotten war, by threatening him with even worse consequences if he seeks an off-ramp. Those \u201ceven worse consequences\u201d could involve the prospects of either assassination or the exposure of catastrophically damaging material from the Epstein files or their analogues. The shooting last night, occurring at the exact instant the Israeli magician threatened the Trumps with exposure of their secrets, could be read as a double-edged threat referencing both of those \u201ceven worse consequences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
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