In the high-stakes chess game of politics, timing is everything. From Richard Nixon’s calculated “Black Friday” maneuvers to Donald Trump’s “Black Friday” decimation this past week, American presidents have long recognized the power of the calendar in shaping public perception. These leaders have weaponized Fridays and Saturdays, traditionally slower news days, to either bury controversial decisions or dominate news cycles unchallenged.
Trump’s Pentagon firings bear a striking resemblance to Nixon’s infamous Saturday Night Massacre. The termination of the black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first woman head of the Navy, and the black vice chief of the Air Force appear more racially motivated than Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre of 1973, where he fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of top Justice Department officials who refused to carry out his orders. Trump’s rapid, systematic efforts to gain control of intelligence agencies, the Justice Department, and the FBI suggest a comprehensive strategy to reshape the federal government in his image.
While "Black Friday" in the United States is commonly associated with retail sales and political maneuvering, the phrase carries a much darker meaning in Tehran. On September 8, 1978, a day that became known as "Black Friday," Iranian security forces opened fire on protesters in Jaleh Square, igniting the revolution that changed the course of Iran's history. Iran's Black Friday is not a story about shopping or political calculations but a nation rising up and taking back their country.
Tehran seemed deceptively calm in the early morning of September 8, 1978. The sun rose over the city, accompanied by the familiar sounds of car horns, street vendors, and distant calls to prayer. Yet a wave of dread swept through the neighborhoods around Jaleh Square. Whispers of a planned gathering spread despite the Shah's martial law; many were urged to stay indoors, while others sensed this could be a pivotal day. They could not foresee the horror unfolding—a massacre that would be forever known as "Black Friday," a term that evokes a chilling reality far removed from Western commercialism.