LEGOs in Graceland
Life During Trumptime 3/23/26 - 3/29/16
I’ve been watching a lot of Iranian AI-generated LEGO propaganda videos for work. Video of LEGO Trump clawing his way through a mountain of LEGO skulls while an AI-generated rap song plays haunts me. AI has allowed Iran and its sympathizers to publish propaganda about the war at a scale and speed that’s staggering.
Propaganda emphatically does not tell you how a war is playing out on the ground. It can not communicate who is “winning” or “losing” or if a particular military is achieving its objectives. It captures a vibe and elicits an emotional response in the viewer. That’s the goal. It’s best to guard your heart against it.
I’ve got much more to say about this on the Kill Switch podcast which you can view below.
3/23/26
Trump made good on a threat/ promise and deployed ICE agents to America’s airports. On Bluesky, independent journalist Marisa Kabas collected images from readers of agents milling around at airports and published a daily thread.
“counted 25 ICE officers (most with ERO vests) during my 26-minute wait in the LGA Terminal C Touchless line this morning,” writer Megan Greenwell said on Bluesky. “every one of them was either standing doing nothing or slowly walking the length of the line doing nothing. at least four were in masks.”
One of Greenwell’s photos showed two young ICE agents wearing plate carriers and walking through the airport in NYC. The image of the young brown-vested ICE agents wandering Laguardia touched a nerve and was shared and reshared online. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s official X account posted the photo through a blurry fashwave filter with the caption “Fly Safe, Patriots. JOIN. ICE.GOV.”
3/24/26
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon has called up 3,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne to the Middle East.
“The 82nd Airborne’s combat brigade serves as the Army’s emergency response force and can be deployed anywhere in the world in under 24 hours. They train to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure airfields and land. The brigade would be deployed along with the division headquarters, which is responsible for planning and coordination, the officials said.”
3/25/26
Trump visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee on Monday and the White House published photos from the trip two days later. In my favorite, a bored looking Trump stares forward as if waiting for everything to be over.
On Capitol Hill, members of Congress left a closed door briefing with the White House about the war and signaled their alarm. “I will not support sending South Carolina’s sons and daughters to war in Iran. I won’t do it,” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said in a post on X.
“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered. And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions,” House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers said.
“We just wanted them to tell us what’s the plan, and we didn’t get any answers,” Rogers told Politico. “I understand they can’t give us, they shouldn’t give us, specific operational details. But generally, we should be able to get more texture than we’re receiving from them.”
3/26/26
Trump spent the past few days talking about how negotiations were going well with Iran because the Iranians had given him a present. During a filmed cabinet meeting, Trump finally told everyone what was going on. “Steve, can I reveal the present?” Trump asked.
“You can do anything you want sir,” US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said.
“They said to show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re gonna let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil,” Trump said. “And they’ll sail up tomorrow.”
The present, Trump explained, was that Iran allowed some ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. “I hope I haven’t screwed up your negotiation,” Trump said to Witkoff. “I felt it was appropriate to say because I did taunt you the other day by saying they’re gonna give us a present.”
3/27/26
An Iranian-linked hacktivist group called Handala breached FBI director Kash Patel’s personal Gmail account and published mildly embarrassing pictures from Patel’s photoroll online. Most of the photos come from a personal trip Patel once took to Cuba. They’ve got Patel sniffing cigars, staring at a fancy bottle of liquor, and hanging out with a statue of Ernest Hemingway. The FBI later confirmed the hack and issued a $10 million reward for “information leading to the identification of the Handala Hack Team out of Iran.”
3/28/26
A US AH‑64 Apache helicopter buzzed Kid Rock’s home near Nashville and the rockstar filmed the whole thing and put it online. “This is a level of respect that shit for brains Governor of California will never know. God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her. 🇺🇸 🙏” Kid Rock said in a post on X.
This was, apparently, an off the books trip. “Fort Campbell leadership is aware of a video circulating on social media depicting AH-64 Apache helicopters operating in the vicinity of a private residence associated with Mr. Robert Ritchie (also known as ‘Kid Rock’),” a 101st Airborne Division public affairs officer told journalists. “The command has initiated an investigation to review the circumstances surrounding this activity.”
By Tuesday the investigation was wrapped up and the Army suspended the aircrew involved.
3/29/26
Another piece in The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Trump and American military leaders are talking about what experts have long known: there’s no way to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon without a ground force.
“‘This is not a quick in and out kind of deal,’ said retired Gen. Joseph Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.
“U.S. troops could avoid such a dangerous operation if Iran agreed to hand over its uranium as part of a peace settlement. The U.S. has previously removed enriched uranium from a foreign country in a peaceful transfer. In 1994, the U.S. removed uranium from Kazakhstan in an operation dubbed Project Sapphire. In 1998, the U.S. and Britain were involved in an operation to remove highly enriched uranium from a reactor near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. It was taken to a nuclear complex in Scotland.”
For more on this, I’ll point readers to my interview with François Diaz-Maurin of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists from a few weeks ago. Diaz-Maurin laid out all the complications in expert detail. On Sunday evening, concurrent with the Journal article, Diaz-Maurin published an investigation that detailed the current location and nature of Iran’s enriched uranium.