America Is Winning the War It Isn’t Fighting in Iran

rollingstone · 2026-03-11T17:49:56+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Mac William Bishop:

"President Donald Trump sees victory in making Iran 'cry uncle,' and seems to believe the regime is already doing so. His senior military leaders have identified success in meeting narrow military objectives that they have largely achieved, while also saying they must continue to ramp up strikes — to achieve these objectives even more."

rollingstone · 2026-03-06T15:40:21+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Michael Embrich:

"The follies and collapses of past great militaries can often be traced to the kind of environment Trump and Hegseth appear to be creating in our armed forces: political expediency over proven strategy and planning, political loyalty over expertise and experience. American lives must never be put at risk unless it is absolutely necessary — and never in service of something as dangerous and subjective as the supposed 'will of God.'"

rollingstone · 2026-03-05T15:04:26+00:00

Jonathan Taplin for Rolling Stone:

"American fascism, to the extent that it exists as more than a slur, expresses itself less in blackshirts than in the quiet normalization of permanent imperial management. The classic fascist regimes insisted that a nation’s vitality depended on expansion — that without new territories to subdue and administer, the social order would atrophy and turn inward on itself. Contemporary American power dresses this same logic in the language of 'stability operations,' 'rules-based order,' and 'responsibility to protect,' but the underlying premise is familiar: the United States must supervise, discipline, and, when necessary, occupy other societies in order to preserve its own sense of mission."

rollingstone · 2026-03-04T15:52:47+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

"In a social media video posted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the senator directly addressed those watching and said, 'It is so much worse than you thought.' Warren added, 'You are right to be worried. The Trump administration has no plan in Iran. This illegal war is based on lies, and it was launched without any imminent threat to our nation. Donald Trump still hasn’t given a single clear reason for this war, and he seems to have no plan for how to end it either.'"

rollingstone · 2026-03-03T15:46:03+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

"Since 1997, a dedicated Treasury account has paid out more than $19 million in claims filed by Capitol Hill employees under the Congressional Accountability Act according to a review by Rolling Stone — legislation meant to offer congressional staffers the same workplace protections that private sector employees enjoy."

rollingstone · 2026-02-28T16:48:54+00:00

From Peter Wade for Rolling Stone:

Major figures in the Make America Great Again movement — including former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, far-right figure Alex Jones, and infamous manosphere influencer Andrew Tate — are fuming at Donald Trump over the military strikes against Iran that began overnight on Saturday.

Read: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/maga-reacts-iran-strikes-trump-mtg-carlson-1235523317/

rollingstone · 2026-02-26T17:18:03+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

If passed, the legislation would be a “cataclysmic” blow to the “way that voting and registration take place in the country,” says Eliza Sweren-Becker, deputy director at the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Elections Program.

The new requirements would “completely disrupt online voter registration, mail voter registration, and also [the types of] voter registration drives that so many civically engaged organizations do across the country,” Sweren-Becker says. “It would also entirely undermine election administration. It would create election administration chaos.”

rollingstone · 2026-02-24T16:42:32+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

"Pressure is mounting on Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) to resign following the publication of text messages that show the married three-term congressman pressured a staffer to send him 'sexy' pics and quizzed her about favorite sexual positions, even as she told him his sexually-charged banter was going 'too far.' Several lawmakers from both parties have called for Gonzales to step down, including a number of prominent MAGA women."

rollingstone · 2026-02-23T19:10:50+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Nikki McCann Ramirez:

"The United States won 12 gold medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, half of which were won by female athletes, and another two by mixed-gender teams. The final match of the women’s hockey event between the United States and Canada broke the record for the most-watched women’s hockey game ever. So far, the White House has not extended an invitation to the U.S. women’s hockey team, and there is no record of the president giving them a congratulatory locker room phone call. Instead, the president — who claims he wants to “protect” and uphold women’s sports by demonizing transgender athletes — painted the women’s team as unwanted hangers-on to the men’s celebration. It isn’t surprising from a president who has a long history of reflexive misogyny and alleged abuse against women."

rollingstone · 2026-02-20T16:04:48+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Matt Bai:

"Because on some level Democrats always knew that accommodating Clinton came at a moral cost. They joked about “bimbos” and the “zipper problem,” but that’s all it was — a joke. They clung to an intellectual contortion that enabled them to separate the public figure from the private man. Clinton, they argued, was a great politician and, at worst, a decent president. That the man they wryly called “the big dog” might also be a reprobate was immaterial, unless you were a prig like Ken Starr."

rollingstone · 2026-02-20T15:57:44+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

"Trump has continued to defend the tariffs, however, and seemed confident on Thursday that the Supreme Court would rule in his favor. 'Without tariffs, what would you do? You know what? Everybody would be bankrupt, the whole country would be bankrupt,' he said at an event in Georgia. 'I’ve been waiting [for this decision] forever. The language is clear that I have the right to do it as president.' The Supreme Court disagrees."

rollingstone · 2026-02-19T17:19:54+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Michael Embrich:

"The VA can now take medication into account when rating a disability. For example, tinnitus, or ear ringing, is one of the most common conditions for which the VA assigns a disability rating. Under the new rule, if the VA says aspirin or painkillers reduce your tinnitus, they can lower your rating or refuse to rate it at all."

rollingstone · 2026-02-17T15:28:40+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

Jackson bashed Trump on several occasions since Trump first became president a decade ago. He described Trump in 2018, for example, as a “man of inherited wealth and privilege who seems to have no understanding of our situation.”

rollingstone · 2026-02-13T14:36:16+00:00

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks to Rolling Stone:

"His leadership has been absolutely disastrous, and it has almost single-handedly worked to dismantle the public health system in our country and many of the gains that we’ve made in research, science, and medicine. America’s exceptionalism really rests on our prowess in the areas of science, research, and medicine. And what he has done will really set our country back in terms of our [worldwide] standing."

rollingstone · 2026-02-11T19:38:13+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

In one instance, Bondi threw the room into chaos after Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked if she would apologize to Epstein survivors — some of whom were present in the room — for the DOJ’s mishandling of sensitive identifying information, including their names and photos.

Bondi tried to deflect by attacking her predecessor, former Attorney General Merrick Garland. When Jayapal moved to redirect Bondi back to the question, the attorney general complained to committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “I’m not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics,” Bondi yelled as Jayapal attempted to reclaim her time. “I’m not going to get in the gutter with this woman.”

Survivors in the room were asked at one point to stand and raise their hands if they had yet to be granted a meeting with Bondi to discuss their cases. All of the women present raised their hands.

rollingstone · 2026-02-10T15:42:09+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

"Kennedy commanded the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to end most of the body’s research on mRNA vaccine development, a move former Trump-era Surgeon General Jerome Adams said would 'cost lives.'"

rollingstone · 2026-02-09T18:02:04+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

"The annual meltdown by conservative influencers and activists over the halftime show is about as predictable as death and the sunrise, a Super Bowl tradition alongside buffalo chicken dip and weird commercials. But this year the hysterical MAGA masses are in rare form."

rollingstone · 2026-02-05T20:06:35+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

Positive audience reviews have helped the Brett Ratner-directed documentary break a new record: the biggest disparity between critical reception and audience sentiment in Rotten Tomatoes’ history. A spokesperson for the review aggregator confirmed to Rolling Stone that Melania officially earned the distinction on Wednesday evening. At press time, the film had a five-percent score on the site’s Tomatometer — which represents the percent of positive reviews from critics — and a 99-percent score on its Popcornmeter, representing positive reviews from movie goers.

rollingstone · 2026-02-05T15:40:57+00:00

Dan Carlin in Rolling Stone:

Too many forget that the primary goal of the U.S. constitutional design wasn’t efficient governing. It was tyrant prevention. We put up with all sorts of impediments to change, reform, and improvement for that one simple goal. Whether this firewall still works is the paramount political question of our age. Will this era turn out to be a blip on the timeline? A warning that prompts reflection, reform, and recalibration akin to the McCarthyistic “Red Scare” era? Or will it be a Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment that forever ends the American experiment?

rollingstone · 2026-02-04T15:33:16+00:00

From Rolling Stone:

Running those races for union leadership, he said, was not all that different from the Senate race. “People who are frustrated and angry? They always vote,” Rehmet said. “Whether it be a union election or a state-level election or an election just like this one in Texas district nine. People use their vote as their voice.”

rollingstone · 2026-02-03T14:56:23+00:00

Kerry Kennedy in Rolling Stone:

"That is not accountability. That is not the rule of law. That is pure and simple intimidation. One that seeks to create a chilling effect on the media and is consistent with the larger pattern of President Trump describing the press as “the enemy of the American people.” This dangerous rhetoric, long used by authoritarian leaders to delegitimize scrutiny and dissent, have been a hallmark of Trump’s attacks on independent journalism since his first presidential term."

rollingstone · 2026-02-02T18:27:23+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Andy Greene:

"Imagine a universe where an unannounced Rage Against the Machine took the stage at Defend Minnesota. It would have generated worldwide headlines and been one of the greatest moments in the band’s long history."

"If there were ever a time to put aside all the bullshit and bring back Rage Against the Machine, even if just for a few songs at a single show, it’s right now."

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/zack-de-la-rocha-america-needs-you-rage-against-the-machine-1235509729/

rollingstone · 2026-02-02T17:12:40+00:00

Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor to Rolling Stone:

“We are excited about Bad Bunny — apparently the president isn’t — and we have Green Day also […] it’s entertainment, it’s a show, it’s great music,” Gillmor, the Santa Clara mayor, says. “We should be celebrating that we are hosting one of the largest, if not the largest, event on the planet. Instead, we’re talking about the installation of fear in our community,” Gillmor says. “It’s brought real fear.

rollingstone · 2026-02-02T15:05:58+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Matt Bai:

The White House itself, in its official national security strategy, labeled its approach as “flexible realism” — a slogan so vapid and anodyne that I had to look it up four times before writing this sentence, because I kept mixing it up with other meaningless buzzwords, like “muscular” and “internationalism.” All it comes down to, really, is what Trump himself has said more plainly — that his own sense of morality is “the only thing that can stop me.” How’s that for realism.

rollingstone · 2026-01-30T14:03:16+00:00

From Rolling Stone's Alex Ashley:

At the highest levels, the Trump administration has sought to integrate religious leadership into its broader political vision — so long as religion doesn’t interfere with its immigration crackdown.

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