Here we go again. Grab a chair. Get a drink. The big guy in the white house is talking about his toys. He says he is sending an 'armada' to Iran. That is just a fancy word for a bunch of expensive boats. He wants us to think he is being tough. He wants us to think he is the boss. But really, he is just moving metal around the ocean. It is a giant game of pretend. And we are the ones paying for the gas.

He says we are 'watching' Iran. What does that even mean? It sounds like something a creep says when he is standing outside your window. 'I am watching you.' Okay, great. We have all these ships and all these planes just to stare at people? It is a waste of time. It is a waste of money. But it makes for a good headline. It makes the people who wear the red hats feel like they are winning. They love the idea of big boats. They think it means we are the best. It does not. It just means we have a lot of debt and a lot of steel.

Then he says he stopped the bad guys from killing people. He says his threats worked. He says he made them stop just by talking. Do you believe that? I don't. No one with half a brain believes that. These guys have been doing what they want for years. They do not care about a tweet. They do not care about a press release. But the big guy needs a win. He needs to look like a hero. So he makes up a story. He says, 'I saved the day!' And his fans cheer. They don't ask for proof. They don't want the truth. They just want to feel good for five minutes.

And what about the other side? The people who hate him? They are just as bad. They are running around screaming that the world is ending. They say this will start a war. They say he is a monster. But they are the same people who vote for the money to build the boats. They talk a big game about peace. Then they sign the checks for the bombs. It is a big show. It is a play. Both sides are on the same stage. They just wear different costumes. They need each other. Without the orange guy to hate, the other side would have nothing to talk about. Without the 'scary' people across the sea, the orange guy would have no one to threaten. They are all in on it.

Think about the money for a second. These ships cost billions. Billions of dollars. You can’t afford a house. You can’t afford to go to the doctor. Your kids are learning from books that are forty years old. But we have plenty of money for an 'armada.' We have plenty of money to float steel in the water halfway around the world. Why? Because it makes the people in charge feel powerful. It makes them feel like they are playing a game of Risk on a big map. But we are the pieces on the board. We are the ones who get moved around. We are the ones who have to deal with the mess when they get bored.

It is all so tired. It is all so boring. We have seen this movie a hundred times. A leader gets in trouble at home. He starts talking about a war. He sends some ships. He says some mean things. Then nothing happens. Or something bad happens and we stay there for twenty years. Either way, the people at the top get richer. The companies that make the boats get more money. And the rest of us just sit here and watch the news. We argue with our neighbors. We get mad at people on the internet. We forget that the people at the top don't care about us. They don't care about Iran. They only care about the show.

The world is a mess. It is full of people who want to be the boss. They use big words like 'armada' to hide the fact that they have no idea what they are doing. They act like they are saving the world while they are really just burning it down. And we let them. We keep watching the show. We keep picking sides. We keep thinking that one of these idiots is going to save us. They aren't. They are just going to keep moving their boats until the water runs dry. So sit back. Have another drink. The circus is in town, and it is floating on the ocean now. It is the same old story. Only the boats are new.