No. of Recommendations: 11
Words, what do they even mean? Let's check:
imminent (adj.)
mid-15c, "impending, about to occur," from Old French imminent (14c.) and directly from Latin imminentem (nominative imminens) "overhanging; impending," present participle of imminere "to overhang, lean towards," hence "be near to," also "threaten, menace, impend, be at hand, be about to happen."
immanent (adj.)
"indwelling, remaining within, inherent," 1530s, via French immanent (14c.) or directly from Late Latin immanens, present participle of immanere "to dwell in, remain in," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + Latin manere "to dwell" (from PIE root *men- (3) "to remain").
eminent (adj.)
early 15c., "standing or rising above other places; exceeding other things in quality or degree;" from Old French éminent "prominent" (13c.) or directly from Latin eminentem (nominative eminens) "standing out, projecting, prominent, high," figuratively "distinguished, distinctive," present participle of eminere "stand out, project;
Now, Trump's stupidity happens to satisfy all three: it's always just about to burst forth (imminent), he's been stupid since he was born (it is immanent), and his stupidity exceeds all others (eminent).
But Iran's threat was certainly not imminent. At least, not it's nuclear threat. Sure, they have "nuclear ambitions" and always have, but even Josh Hawley, during the Gabbard/Ratcliff testimony yesterday, was framing this in the light of intelligence reports that Iran could have the ability to build an intercontinental missile in 6 months. And not even a missile with a nuclear warhead. Six months is not "imminent". I may have "ambitions" to lose 50 pounds in 6 months, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lose 50 pounds by next week. So, my weight loss is not imminent.
Now, Iran's ability to continue to cause mayhem and attack its neighbors with hundreds of missiles was always immanent: they've had this capability for decades. And even now, after having their capabilities "totally obliterated" twice in the past 9 months, they are STILL raining missiles down on their neighbors.
Likewise, Iran's hatred of Israel is eminent: it rises above all others.
But neither Iran's immanent capacity for mayhem nor its eminent hatred of Israel justify calling Iran an imminent threat, one deserving of an immediate attack by the U.S., an attack that had to have been done with such alacrity that Congress couldn't possibly have been informed of the plan.
Trump "feeling it in his bones" that Iran posed an imminent threat is merely a testament to his imminent/immanent/eminent stupidity, nothing more.
