If you get to know these two boys, you'll understand the US President
But when I heard him last week tell a reporter the following, my ears perked up, and brain whirred gears: 'You don't know that I'm going to even do it [get the US to 'enter' the Israel-Iran conflict]. You don't know. I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this, uh, Iran's got a lot of trouble. And they want to negotiate.'
While American talk-show hosts have been going overdrive, making fun of Trump's 'inarticulate', 'unintelligible', 'unintelligent' utterance(s), his ambiguity over what action to take in West Asia - inaction included - made a lot of sense to me. As he later elaborated, 'I like to make a final decision one second before it's due, you know? Because things change, especially with war. Things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other.' He's right. You make plans with the mujaheddin to drive out the Soviets from Afghanistan with Rocky 3 one moment, the next moment you're in Abbottabad waking up a Saudi dude at some ungodly hour for being the wrong kind of mujaheddin, and the next moment you're having a rack of spring lamb with burnt cipollini soubise with a field marshal who, just a month back, was at the Pakistan Military Army at Kakul, in the same Abbottabad, attending the graduation ceremony of the 151st Long Course. Now, if 6th c. BC philosopher Heraclitus had said 'Things change with war from one extreme to another', everyone would have reckoned this 'cascading decision-making' to be d-e-e-e-p. Conversely, if Trump had said, 'No man ever steps in the same river twice,' Heraclitus' 'theory of flux' would have ended up as just another butt of a Jimmy Fallon joke.
And speaking of butt, upon listening to Trump's 'I may do it. I may not do it' line, I realised who I was reminded of: the great philosopher duo of the 90s - Beavis and Butt-Head. These two busted-sofa-seated animated anti-heroes of the slacker generation, forever glued to a TV, were rude, brash, incoherent, degenerate, hyper-apathetic 'budding misogynists'.
I recognised in them what our parents would call in 'Bengali' 'loafers,' the kind who sat around doing nothing for hours except banter and 'PNPC' (poro ninde poro chorcha, or bitch and pass comments about others). B&BH had this most infectious grunt-snigger - Beavis' heh-heh, heh-heh paired with Butt-Head's huh-huh, huh-huh. Their asynchronous laugh itself was lowbrow Oscar Wilde gold. Butt-Head was the alpha of the two-pack morons, while Beavis, with his signature bouffant, was the true numpty of all numpties. B&BH was created by animator-writer Mike Judge as two 'thunderously stupid and excruciatingly ugly' teenage boys. They were meant to be vicious caricatures of 'trailer trash'. But as with many anti-war or anti-drug messages, the very thing being lampooned or critiqued, the two pimple-faced rednecks became utterly alluring in their 'fart for art' jokes. When Butt-Head says, 'If everything was, like, cool, then how would you know what sucked?' or Beavis says, 'I may be cool, Beavis, but I can't change the future,' they are sharing MAGA-Socratic insights. When Trump speaks, he's not only channelling his inner B&BH - especially Beavis - but has the same kind of chutzpatic snigger-snark, butt-kicking delivery. When Butt-Head says after killing a frog, 'That was cool, huh-huh. When we killed the frog, huh-huh, it won't croak again,' a special moronic purity shines through. Ounce for ounce, that trumps wiseass wisdom any day. So, when the Yellow-Haired Bouffant One exclaims, 'I am the Great Cornholio, I need TP for my bunghole!' I understand him. Hang on. Sorry. That was Beavis after a sugar rush, not Don Don before one. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. How Vedanta's Anil Agarwal bettered Warren Buffett in returns
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Trump unveils modified reciprocal tariffs hours before August 1 deadline
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MyVoice: Views of our readers 1st Aug 2025
Maintain parliamentary decorum Apropos the edit 'Op Sindoor...'. There was nothing new about the debate in Parliament with each side only repeating what was said by them on umpteen earlier occasions. The Indian public is paying for the debates, and I wish there was a way for demanding our money back for these kinds of debates that are just noisy and lack substance. The fortuitous way the Pahalgam killers were liquidated is a little suspicious because there were constant demands from the opposition to arrest them. Which terrorist would carry their voter ID card from Pakistan if they were to indulge in terror attacks? The only notable thing about the entire debate came courtesy of Priyanka Gandhi, who gave names of the dead. Anthony Henriques, Mumbai Aghast at Trump's doublespeak It was a proud moment when ISRO successfully launched the earth observation satellite NISAR, which has been developed jointly by NASA and ISRO (THI, July 31). While USA and India with NASA and ISRO have collaborated, coordinated and cooperated on the highly expensive satellite indicates their great vibes as regards space technology. Against this backdrop, it is shocking that US President Donald Trump, despite ongoing deliberations with India, has announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports to the USA adding penalty for buying Russian crude oil at discounted price. One fails to understand Trump's doublespeak pertaining to 'friendship' and 'tariff'. In addition, Trump announced a deal with Pakistan on developing massive oil reserves and hoped that India would buy oil from Pakistan! The increase in tariff is bound to adversely impact both India and the United States. Hopefully, Trump will rethink his hasty announcement and reduce tariffs after which both nations stand to benefit. J P Reddy, Nalgonda-508001 Who will bell the cat? This has reference to the article on '80 years history of plastic chairs and futuristic environmental Villain'. It must be noted that since 1957, plastic has been promoted and sold in India, including used in everyday life. In fact, there are several colleges that offer diplomas to PG courses on plastic. Our country has around 50,000 plastic processing units, which provide thousands of jobs. Moreover, without government support, such progress cannot happen. So far no one has found any equivalent material that can effectively replace plastic (despite the 'ill-effects') across all applications. Gudipati Shanti Priya, Secunderabad-11 GHMC chief must follow Lucknow example I wish to appeal to the Commissioner, GHMC, to emulate the fine example set forth by the Lucknow civic body, which has successfully turned garbage hills into green parks and waste into fuel. The great transformation has seen Lucknow leapfrog from the 41st rank to an envious third in the Swacch- Survekshan ranking, 2024-25. This can be attributed to the diligence and determination of Indrajit Singh, Lucknow Municipal Commissioner, and his team. They successfully processed nearly 20 metric tonnes of solid waste into fuel and organic fertilizer. He not only provided 1200 EV vehicles to collect household waste but also JCB vehicles to clean up drainage canals. Making the initiative more effective, Singh ensured proper training to sanitation workers, who were all provided PPE kits and were subject to regular health check-up. By adopting such novel methods, he made Lucknow a greener and hygienic city. The GHMC chief can also take similar measures to transform Hyderabad. R. J. Janardhana Rao, Hyderabad-28
