Category Archives: Trump

Middle East, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Bipartisan Backlash Over Trump’s Mueller Comments as Trump Set to Deploy ICE to Airports and Iran Conflict Intensifies

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Bipartisan Backlash Over Trump’s Mueller Comments as Trump Set to Deploy ICE to Airports and Iran Conflict Intensifies

Aaron Parnas (Substack)
Mar 21

Donald Trump is set to deploy ICE agents to airports across the country beginning Monday. There has also been rare bipartisan condemnation following his remarks about Robert Mueller’s death, where he said he was glad Mueller had died. Meanwhile, Iran has launched its most devastating strike on Israel since the start of the war, and Trump now faces a history-defining decision as he moves closer to potentially deploying U.S. ground troops into Iran.

More than 400 TSA officers have quit since the DHS shutdown began, as many employees have been working without pay. The shutdown stems from political disagreements over immigration enforcement reforms, leaving the TSA understaffed and strained. As a result, airports are experiencing higher absentee rates and longer security wait times. Workers and travellers alike are facing financial stress and growing frustration over the situation.

Donald Trump said that he will be deploying ICE agents to airports across the country beginning on Monday.

Here is how ICE agents allegedly responded.

Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel has begun advocating against the detention of children in ICE facilities after speaking with kids held at a Texas centre. She described troubling conditions, including poor food, limited education, and worsening health issues among detained children. The experience motivated her to work with activists and lawyers to push for the closure of the facility and reunite families in their communities. Her efforts highlight growing concern and criticism over the treatment of migrant children in U.S. detention centres.

According to CBS, the Trump administration is exploring options to secure or seize Iran’s nuclear materials as part of its broader military strategy. Planning has included potential involvement of elite U.S. special operations forces, though no final decision has been made. The effort reflects a key objective of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons amid the ongoing conflict. Officials warn such an operation would be highly complex and risky given the nature and location of the materials.

CBS News has further confirmed that the Trump administration is actively preparing for the potential deployment of U.S. ground troops to Iran, with military planners outlining detailed scenarios. Officials have moved forces, including Marines and elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, into the region to expand available options. While Trump has publicly said he is not planning to send troops, he has left the possibility open. The preparations signal a significant escalation risk as the conflict continues.

President Donald Trump is facing a major, potentially legacy-defining decision on whether to deploy large numbers of U.S. ground troops into Iran for military operations. The plans under consideration include securing key strategic locations and nuclear materials, signalling a possible escalation of the conflict. However, many of his political allies warn that such a move could erode support for the war and jeopardize future funding from Congress. Concerns over economic impacts and upcoming midterm elections are increasing pressure on the administration to avoid deeper involvement.

Drone footage shows extensive destruction to residential buildings in Arad, Israel after a direct Iranian ballistic missile strike, highlighting the significant damage caused by the attack. The strike was part of a broader escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict, with missiles hitting southern Israeli cities and injuring over one hundred people. Several buildings were heavily damaged after at least one missile was not intercepted and hit directly. Emergency responders have been working at the scene as concerns grow over further escalation in the region.

Reuters has confirmed that the Pentagon is moving to formally adopt Palantir’s AI-powered Maven system as a core military program, expanding its use across U.S. forces. The technology analyzes battlefield data to identify potential targets and has already been used in thousands of operations. Officials say the move will deepen the integration of AI into military decision-making and strategy. While Palantir says humans still approve strikes, the expansion raises ongoing ethical and security concerns about AI in warfare.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside Japan’s parliament, with reports suggesting around 11,000 attendees opposing the war. Demonstrators expressed strong dissatisfaction with the government’s stance, with polls indicating broad public opposition. Many criticized alignment with U.S. policy, calling for a more independent approach to Japan’s future.

The protests follow the Japanese prime minister’s visit to Washington, D.C., where she was photographed by the White House in a way that many viewed as explicit support for the president of the United States:

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reacted during a White House visit to what was described as President Biden’s “autopen portrait.”

A large crowd gathered on Prague’s Letná Plain to protest the government of Andrej Babiš and its proposed policy changes. Demonstrators voiced concerns that the country is shifting closer to Russia, citing plans affecting public broadcasters, defence spending, and a potential “foreign agent” law. The protest reflects growing public opposition to the government’s direction. It also signals rising tensions over democratic norms and geopolitical alignment in the Czech Republic.

According to the Washington Post, Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly proposed staging a fake assassination attempt to boost support for Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán ahead of a tight election. The plan, described as a “game changer,” aimed to shift public focus from economic issues to emotional concerns like security and political stability. According to the report, this tactic was intended to strengthen Orbán’s position by rallying voters around him. The allegations highlight concerns about foreign interference and manipulation in democratic elections.

Shortly after this news surfaced, Donald Trump released a video promoting Orbán. The timing has raised questions and scrutiny given the geopolitical context. The situation highlights concerns about foreign influence and political messaging around elections.

According to MS Now, former FBI Director and Special Counsel Robert Mueller has died at the age of 81. He was best known for leading the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Mueller previously served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013 and was appointed special counsel in 2017. His death marks the passing of a key figure in modern U.S. law enforcement and political history.

Donald Trump is celebrating his death.

Some Republicans quickly came out in disagreement with this statement.

Here was President Obama’s response.

Plans for a summit between Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping have been put on hold as the Iran conflict continues, according to Politico. The delay reflects how the ongoing war is reshaping U.S. diplomatic priorities and limiting high-level international engagement. While the White House disputes that the war is the direct cause, officials have indicated scheduling will likely follow the conflict’s active phase. The uncertainty raises concerns about stability in U.S.-China relations during a sensitive geopolitical moment.

Markwayne Mullin, the Trump DHS nominee, recounted a 2022 incident in which he threatened his daughter’s teenage boyfriend during a church speech. He said he warned the boy he would “drag [his] face across the asphalt” if he saw him kiss his daughter. The remarks have resurfaced as he faces scrutiny in his nomination.

Hundreds of migrant children are being held in ICE detention far beyond the 20-day legal limit, with some cases lasting months. One 9-year-old with severe autism was detained for over 80 days without proper therapy or support, leading to severe distress and self-harm behaviours. Advocates say prolonged detention is causing serious psychological harm and developmental regression among children. The situation has raised concerns about policy violations and the human impact of extended immigration detention.

According to the Telegraph, more than 170 Royal Navy submariners have tested positive for drugs over the past seven years, including substances like cocaine, cannabis, and ecstasy. Some of those involved were serving on nuclear-armed submarines, raising concerns about safety and security. Most personnel caught were dismissed under the military’s zero-tolerance policy. The findings highlight broader concerns about stress, morale, and discipline within the submarine force.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he is cooperating with Trump’s “Board of Peace” on Gaza reconstruction efforts but criticized it as largely a personal project lacking broader effectiveness. He emphasized that the United Nations should remain the central body for managing global crises and upholding international law. Guterres also signalled the U.N.’s willingness to help de-escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz through coordinated international efforts. His comments highlight tensions between traditional multilateral institutions and alternative initiatives led by the U.S.

Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Exposed: Putin Considered Staging Fake Assassination Attempt, Citing Trump

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Exposed: Putin Considered Staging Fake Assassination Attempt, Citing Trump
Ruby-red Idaho bucks Trump; Trump celebrates Mueller’s death and Iran thinks it’s winning the war

John Byrne and Raw America
Mar 21

Tonight: Iran says it’s winning and wants to charge the world rent for its own oil. Russia proposed faking an assassination attempt on Viktor Orbán to swing Hungary’s election. Trump is threatening to make ICE work as the TSA. And Donald Trump celebrated the death of Robert Mueller. On a Saturday. On social media. Out loud.

Iran Thinks It’s Winning, and It Might Be Right
Let’s start with the war, because the Wall Street Journal published something today that should be front-page news everywhere.

Three weeks into the conflict, Iran is not looking for an exit. It’s looking to dictate terms. Tehran is signalling, loudly, that it believes it is winning and that it intends to use this war to cement its dominance over Middle Eastern energy for decades.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is calling this conflict another Vietnam for the United States. Iranian parliamentary officials say talks with Washington are off the table entirely while Tehran, in their words, “focuses on punishing the aggressors.” Iran is now planning to formally enshrine a “new status” for the Strait of Hormuz, turning the world’s most critical shipping lane into an Iranian toll booth. Charging every ship for the privilege of moving through international waters.

Here’s the brutal reality. Iran has retained the ability to fire dozens of ballistic missiles and many more drones every day. The rate of fire has actually increased in the past week. Iranian strikes inflicted serious damage on energy infrastructure in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE this week, while Iran’s own oil exports kept booming. It’s causing far more economic damage to the countries surrounding it than it is absorbing itself.

The question of whether this ends well for Iran is open. The United States has significant military advantages it hasn’t fully deployed. But what isn’t open is whether this war is going the way Trump promised. It isn’t. And every day the strait stays closed, Iran’s leverage grows.

Russia Wanted to Stage a Fake Assassination of Viktor Orbán.
Now for a story that sounds like a spy novel but is, apparently, just a Tuesday for the Kremlin.

The Washington Post obtained and authenticated an internal Russian intelligence document from last month showing that officers in Russia’s foreign intelligence service proposed staging a fake assassination attempt on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to swing the country’s upcoming election.

Their reasoning was straightforward and rather chilling. Orban is trailing in polls for the first time in his career, beaten by a conservative anti-corruption challenger. The Russian operatives wrote that a staged attack would shift the election “out of the rational realm of socioeconomic questions into an emotional one”—where the key themes would become national security and stability rather than Hungary’s worsening economy.

They called it “the Game Changer.” They cited, as a model, the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which resulted in iconic photos, a poll bump, and an outpouring of sympathy.

No attack has taken place. But the document was authenticated by a European intelligence service, and it tells you everything you need to know about what Russia considers a reasonable election strategy.

Trump Threatens to Make ICE Your TSA
Donald Trump, currently enjoying a taxpayer-funded weekend at his Florida golf resort, has announced his solution to the chaos gripping America’s airports: immigration agents. For over five weeks now, a partial government shutdown has left nearly 50,000 TSA employees working without pay, and the predictable result—security wait times exceeding three hours at major airports including Atlanta, Houston, and Philadelphia—has apparently caught the President completely off guard. His response, naturally, was to post on Truth Social.

In a series of Saturday afternoon dispatches from what one can only imagine was a very comfortable golf cart, Trump threatened to deploy ICE agents to airports as soon as Monday. He told them to “GET READY,” adding, “NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!” One is left to wonder whether the president understands that the games, as it were, began when his own government stopped paying the people currently doing the job. But nuance has never been the strong suit of a man who governs primarily through social media posts written in capital letters.

There is, however, a small wrinkle in this master plan. It’s unclear what function ICE agents would actually perform, given that they’re not trained in airport security screening. What they are trained in, Trump helpfully clarified, is arresting people—and he made sure to specify which people, directing ICE to place heavy emphasis on the arrest of Somali immigrants. So to summarize: the airports are in chaos because the government won’t pay its security workers, and the proposed fix is to replace those security workers with immigration enforcement officers whose primary assignment would be hunting Somali passengers. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Meanwhile, in a parallel act of billionaire theatre, Elon Musk offered to personally cover the salaries of TSA workers—a touching gesture from the world’s richest man, who one might note has spent the past several months enthusiastically helping dismantle the very government apparatus that employs them. The Senate remains in session this weekend, but whether further talks or a vote will actually take place remains deeply uncertain.

Which is, of course, Washington’s way of saying, “Don’t book a flight on Monday.”

 

 

News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Trump Celebrates Mueller’s Death. Of Course He Does. The former FBI Director and special counsel has died at 81.

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Trump Celebrates Mueller’s Death. Of course he does.
The former FBI director and special counsel has died at 81.

Zev Shalev (Substack)
Mar 21

Robert Mueller, the former FBI director and special counsel who investigated Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, died yesterday at age 81 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Within hours, the president of the United States posted this on Truth Social.

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

A man who dodged the Vietnam draft with bone spurs is celebrating the death of a man who volunteered to lead a rifle platoon in combat, took a bullet, and earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. That alone tells you what kind of president we have. But it tells you so much more than that.

Trump’s rage at Mueller — even in death — is the rage of a man who has never accepted his own culpability. Not in the Russia conspiracy. Not in the obstruction. Not in any of the cascading criminality that has defined his public life. And it is precisely that refusal — that pathological inability to accept accountability — that has delivered us the presidency we have today.

A lawless presidency where corruption isn’t a scandal but a business model. Where wars are mercenary operations. Where you cannot trust a single word from the White House. Where citizens exercising their constitutional rights are attacked in the streets. Where the Department of Justice has been turned into a weapon against the president’s enemies and a shield for his friends.

Mueller saw this coming. His investigation produced 34 indictments. Twelve GRU military intelligence officers. Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sharing internal polling data with Russian intelligence while running Trump’s campaign. His deputy Rick Gates. His advisor Roger Stone, who coordinated with WikiLeaks. His National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The investigation documented the DNC hack, the WikiLeaks publication operation, the Russian troll farm, and ten instances of obstruction of justice by the president himself.

And yet Mueller was set up to fail from the beginning—in two critical ways.

The first was his mandate. Rod Rosenstein’s appointment order confined the Special Counsel’s investigation to “links between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.” Only Russia. But what we know now — from the Epstein files, from congressional investigations, from reporting by journalists who refused to let the story die — is that the operation to install Trump was never just Russia. It was a multiplex of enemies of democracy: Russia, yes, but also Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and a network of oligarchs, operatives, and intelligence assets that crossed every border. Mueller’s team investigated some of these threads. They found them. And they were told those threads were outside their scope. The most comprehensive criminal investigation of a sitting president in American history was constrained to one slice of a much larger conspiracy.

The second was William Barr.

Barr may be the most underappreciated villain in this entire story. Before Mueller’s 448-page report ever saw daylight, Barr released a four-page “summary” that distorted its findings so thoroughly that Mueller himself took the extraordinary step of writing to Barr to say it “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of his work. By the time the actual report was released — weeks later, heavily redacted — the narrative was already set. “No collusion, no obstruction.” A lie, but an effective one.

And this was not Barr’s first cover-up. It wasn’t even his second.

In 1992, as attorney general under George H.W. Bush, Barr orchestrated the pardons of six Iran-Contra officials—burying evidence of presidential involvement in one of the worst constitutional scandals in American history. The New York Times’ William Safire gave him the name that stuck: “Coverup-General Barr.”

Then came Epstein. When Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019, Barr made a show of recusing himself from the review of the 2008 sweetheart deal—the deal his own Justice Department had brokered. Epstein died in federal custody on Barr’s watch. The cameras malfunctioned. The guards were asleep. No one was held accountable.

Iran-Contra. Epstein. Mueller. Three of the most consequential scandals in modern American history. One man at the centre of burying all three.

Key witnesses like Felix Sater—the Russian-born, mob-connected businessman who brokered the Trump Tower Moscow deal with the Kremlin and Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen—were highly compromised by Russia and the US. Mueller only discovered his key witness was also deeply tied to the FSB; it turned a key investigative node into a conflicted swamp. To Mueller’s credit he sidestepped what could’ve resulted in an embarrassing trap

Mueller didn’t fail. He was failed—by a system that confined him to investigating one tentacle of a multi-headed conspiracy and by a fixer attorney general who made sure even that narrowed investigation never reached the public intact.

Now Mueller is gone. He can’t testify. He can’t clarify. He can’t defend his work. And the man he investigated is dancing on his grave in the Oval Office—proving, one more time, that the investigation was never a witch hunt. It was unfinished business.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, Mueller once believed, but grind exceedingly fine. The grinding isn’t over.

News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Meet The Obama Official Who War-Gamed Iran And Warns About an Escalating Global Catastrophe Ilan Goldenberg and his colleagues war-gamed the possible consequences resulting from a strike on Iran. What the Trump Administration has managed to do in the past three is the “worst-case scenario.”

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Meet The Obama Official Who War-Gamed Iran And Warns About an Escalating Global Catastrophe

Ilan Goldenberg and his colleagues war-gamed the possible consequences resulting from a strike on Iran. What the Trump administration has managed to do in the past three is the “worst-case scenario.”

THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali and Ilan Goldenberg (Substack)
Mar 21

After three weeks, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have launched an illegal, unnecessary war with Iran in which they have replaced an aging, dying Ayatollah Khameini with his younger, more radical son.

On Friday, the Trump administration announced it was lifting sanctions on Iran, the same country they’re bombing, to address the growing energy and gas price crisis that is disrupting world markets.

So, Trump is actually going to make Iran richer to destroy it, or something, I guess. But he’s still committed to regime change until he isn’t, and the war is winding down, even though he’s sending thousands of troops to the region and threatening to take over Kharg Island.

Just listen to the king and daddy of MAGA explain his brilliant strategy to the press: “I may have a plan or I may not.”

Meanwhile, civilian casualties are rising, Israel plans to take over Southern Lebanon after displacing nearly 1 million people, and regional allies have lost any semblance of security as Iran retaliates against their infrastructure. Contrary to Trump’s wishful thinking, he can’t just “open” the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has choked off as a weapon of retaliation, and if he does use force, then he plunges the United States into an unwinnable quagmire that will waste money and lives.

Who has benefited so far? Russia, extremists, the military-industrial complex, and America’s allies who see the once-respected superpower lose its global standing.

Wonderful. Brilliant.

Even as he war-gamed and strategized the worst-case scenario for the Obama administration, Ilan Goldenberg never predicted any administration behaving in such an idiotic and foolish manner. Goldenberg, editor of Word on the Street substack, served as Iran team chief in the Office of the Secretary of Defence, and one of his jobs was to plan what would happen if Israel initiated an attack on Iran. His colleagues role-played as the United States, Israel, and neighbouring Gulf States. They never imagined anyone being so dumb as to assassinate the Ayatollah during Ramadan, but here we are in 2026.

Goldenberg wrote a piece in Zeteo discussing the 5 lessons he learned from that experience, which the Trump administration has refused to consider or acknowledge. Tragically, he believes we are now in the “worst-case scenario.”

Middle East, News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Pentagon Contradicts Trump As Democrats Revolt Against Schumer Trump Lifts Iran Sanctions; Pentagon Plans a Ground War; Senate Democrats Revolt; New Epstein Info Shocks The Conscience

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Pentagon Contradicts Trump As Democrats Revolt Against Schumer
Trump Lifts Iran Sanctions; Pentagon Plans a Ground War; Senate Democrats Revolt; New Epstein Info Shocks The Conscience

Raw America
Mar 21

Trump has lifted decades-old sanctions on Iranian oil to try to cool a crisis his own generals warned him was coming, and experts say the move could hand Iran up to $14 billion to fund its war against us. The Pentagon is actively planning a ground war in Iran while Trump tells reporters he has no such plans. Senate Democrats are in open revolt over Chuck Schumer’s leadership, with a “Fight Club” of progressive senators quietly working to push him out. And newly unearthed FBI documents show that six days after Jeffrey Epstein’s death, a Bureau of Prisons team shredded massive amounts of paperwork at the jail where he died, using inmates to haul bags of documents to the dumpster.

Trump Lifts Iran Sanctions to Fight a Crisis He Was Warned About
The Treasury Department announced Friday that it is lifting decades-old sanctions on 140 million barrels of Iranian oil that have already left the Strait of Hormuz. The move is designed to relieve pressure on global oil supplies caused by Iran’s closure of the strait, a crisis Trump’s own generals warned him about repeatedly before he launched the war on February 28th.

Experts and lawmakers are struggling to make sense of the decision. By some estimates, the sanctions lift could hand Iran up to $14 billion in revenue, money that will flow directly into its war effort against the United States. “This move directly contradicts Trump’s own statements that the United States is considering winding down this conflict,” one financial risk analyst said. “You don’t unsanction Iranian oil if you’re winding down. This is the action of an administration that has no exit ramp and knows it. The word for that is desperation.”

A senior Iran researcher put it even more bluntly: “The U.S. is funding a war against itself.”

Gas prices for American consumers have already risen about 93 cents per gallon since the war began. U.S. crude oil has surged more than 70 percent since the start of the year. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby wrote to employees this week that the company is preparing contingency plans assuming oil reaches $175 a barrel and does not return to $100 until the end of 2027.

Before Trump launched this war, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned the president in multiple briefings that Iran would likely disrupt the Strait of Hormuz in response to a U.S. attack. Trump launched the war anyway. Now he is lifting the sanctions that were supposed to be leverage in an attempt to contain a crisis that was entirely predictable because his generals predicted it.

The Pentagon is planning a ground war. Trump Says He Isn’t.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters, “No, I’m not putting troops anywhere.” On Friday night, he posted on Truth Social that the U.S. is “very close to meeting our objectives” and considering “winding down” its military efforts.

Sources say the Pentagon is actively drawing up detailed plans to deploy ground forces into Iran, including elite rapid-response units. Multiple sources briefed on the discussions say the plans include meetings on how to detain Iranian soldiers and where to send them if U.S. troops enter Iranian territory. The 82nd Airborne Division, one of the military’s premier rapid-response units, is among those being considered. Its headquarters abruptly cancelled a training exercise earlier this month.

Amphibious warships carrying roughly 4,000 service members, including about 2,500 Marines, left California this week aboard three vessels. Additional amphibious groups are en route, bringing the total expected deployment to as many as 8,000 personnel, equipped with F-35 fighter jets and amphibious assault vehicles capable of supporting a ground offensive.

When asked about the planning, the Pentagon said only that it had “nothing to announce regarding pending or future deployments.” The White House said it was simply the Pentagon’s job to give the president “maximum optionality.”

Trump said he is not putting troops anywhere. The 82nd Airborne cancelled its training exercise. Eight thousand Marines and soldiers are heading to the region. One source described the White House’s thinking on Iran’s main oil export island this way: “If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen.” The president can say whatever he wants to reporters. The ships are already moving.

Senate Democrats Are in Open Revolt Over Schumer
A growing group of Senate Democrats has been quietly working to push minority leader Chuck Schumer out of his leadership position, and the effort is now significant enough that some senators have been conducting informal vote counts to see if they have the numbers to remove him.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut acknowledged at a dinner with progressive activists in February that some colleagues had been doing those counts. Murphy said Schumer retained enough support to keep his position, but the fact that the conversation was happening at all marks a significant moment for the Democratic caucus.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tina Smith are among those who have been most active in raising concerns and gauging frustration with Schumer’s leadership. A group of progressive senators maintains a Signal chat where members have discussed how to counter Schumer’s preferred candidates in key primary races. The group has been described by those familiar with the situation as “Fight Club.” Schumer is seen by this group as favouring centrist candidates in must-win states, including Michigan, Minnesota, and Maine, and as an impediment to a more aggressive posture against the Trump administration.

The frustrations have deep roots. During last fall’s lengthy government shutdown, Schumer reportedly told Warren that no one was negotiating a deal with Republicans, while a separate group of centrist Democrats was doing exactly that. Senate staff have taken to calling the experience of being given conflicting information by the leader getting “Schumed.”

Schumer said in an interview that his support in the caucus is “deep and strong” and that he hasn’t heard of any efforts to replace him. He declined to say whether he plans to run for re-election in 2028 or whether he intends to seek another term as leader after November’s midterms.

Democrats are feeling increasingly optimistic about Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska, and Ohio. But some of Schumer’s critics worry that a strong November showing will only convince him to stay, and they want him to commit to stepping aside before the elections happen.

FBI Documents Show Epstein’s Jail Shredded Documents Days After His Death
A newly surfaced FBI report documents claims made by a federal corrections officer who contacted the agency six days after Jeffrey Epstein’s death in August 2019. According to the officer, a Bureau of Prisons “after-actions team” arrived at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York and began shredding massive amounts of paperwork, recruiting at least one inmate to haul bags of shredded documents to a dumpster at the rear of the facility.

“There was a BOP After-Actions team that came, and they are supposed to review what happened,” the FBI report reads, summarizing the officer’s account. The officer told the FBI they found it “suspicious that an after-action team charged with investigating would be shredding huge amounts of paperwork” while FBI agents and inspector general officials were in the building conducting an active investigation. Those directing the inmate during the disposal reportedly said, “Make sure you get that box too.”

The BOP is a subdivision of the Justice Department, which at the time was part of the first Trump administration. That same Justice Department reportedly directed New York Police Department investigators to stand down in their criminal probe into Epstein five days after his death and also asked New Mexico authorities to halt their own investigation into Epstein’s Zorro Ranch property, which has been identified in a separate FBI tip as the alleged burial site of two foreign girls.

Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide. The shredding of documents during an active investigation, at the direction of a team sent to review that death, has never been fully explained. Attorney General Pam Bondi has already been accused of withholding a significant portion of Epstein files, with sources saying roughly 3.5 million of the 6 million files identified for potential release have been disclosed so far. These new documents add to a long list of questions that the Justice Department has declined to answer.

News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Pete Hegseth’s Attempt to Shut Press Out of Pentagon Doesn’t Hold up In Court

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The court blocked a Pentagon policy that revoked journalists’ press credentials and essentially criminalized asking questions under the guise of “national security.”

Brian Tyler Cohen (Substack)
Mar 21

A federal judge just ruled that kicking journalists out of Pentagon briefings is unconstitutional. Newsflash: revoking press passes, muzzling journalists, and forcing them to publish propaganda slop are, in fact, First Amendment violations. It was the rare hopeful outcome of a lawsuit filed by the New York Times, alleging that Pete Hegseth had basically given himself carte blanche to shut down negative coverage of the Pentagon. Because “national security.”

The judge rightly pointed out that it’s even more in the interest of national security that the public know what’s going on. Whether, for example, our tax dollars are being poured into launching a surprise attack on Venezuela and kidnapping their president. Or, another example, being lit on fire in the pursuit of a pointless war in Iran that no one asked for.

The Pentagon was mealy-mouthed about what the policy actually was, but it committed to this convoluted line of reasoning: soliciting military personnel to commit a crime by disclosing unauthorized information is not legally protected speech.

What they’re really doing with this is criminalizing… questions. If a journalist can’t ask questions, what are we doing here?

This all started in October, when the Pentagon abruptly revoked press passes from seven mainstream journalists for, seemingly, reporting the news. Then they enacted this policy, to which anyone seeking a press pass had to sign on in order to continue doing their jobs. More than 50 journalists declined to do so and turned in their badges. Then they were all swiftly replaced by pro-Trump influencers—by which I mean people who are easily influenced by Trump to say whatever he wants.

And this isn’t even the first time a news outlet has sued the administration over such ham-handed media censorship. Last year, the Associated Press sued after Trump kicked them out of the White House Press Briefing Room for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

We are in the dumbest timeline.

But This is Serious
First it was Stephen Colbert, then it was Jimmy Kimmel. It’s anyone aiming to tell the truth at CBS News or refusing to rewrite their stories to suit Trump’s addled interpretation of reality. Media censorship isn’t the exception anymore; it’s the rule. Legacy media is caving under pressure from this administration.

Just last week, Bari Weiss subtweeted Zohran Mamdani, costing CBS a major interview with the New York City mayor after he pulled out. It’s just another instance of her doing her master’s bidding, by which I mean Trump, since she was installed because of her willingness to parrot the party line.

The Media is in trouble.
You have the Trump-loving Ellison family first buying Paramount and now Warner Brothers, putting them in control of a full 25% of the entire media market. That includes half of the cable TV market. It will put CBS and CNN under one roof. They’re also gutting CBS—it was just announced today that CBS News Radio will shut down after almost 100 years.

We’re talking about the outlet that broadcast Edward R. Murrow’s rooftop reports on the Nazi bombing of London live during World War II. This was the home of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.

This is the death knell of real, respected journalism in America. At this point, these federal judges, like the one who ruled against the Pentagon, are our last line of defence against the end of a free press as we know it.

News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

The REAL Reason Trump is Trapped in Iran And why American consumers are up Shit’s Creek

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The REAL Reason Trump is Trapped in Iran
And why American consumers are up Shit’s Creek

Robert Reich (Substack)
Mar 20

Yesterday, Trump said that he’d do whatever is necessary to ease the oil crisis. He also assured America that the crisis “will be over soon.”

Bullshit.

The problem isn’t just that Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz. It’s also that Iran, Israel, and the United States have all inflicted — and continue to inflict — serious damage to the oil and gas infrastructure of the Middle East. This damage will take months if not years to repair.

At one point on Thursday oil prices jumped to $119 a barrel before falling back to around $111 a barrel — all but guaranteeing that the price of gas at the pump will continue to rise, as will the prices of many other products and services indirectly affected by oil prices.

What we are now witnessing is one of the grossest military and political blunders in modern history.

It’s not hard to understand why Trump is trapped in Iran. He doesn’t listen to anyone outside his small circle of sycophants who tell him what he wants to hear.

But there’s something else. Iran has adopted an asymmetric war strategy that’s working.

I’m indebted to Marty Manley for uncovering a fascinating historical fact that sheds light on what Iran is doing. During the Korean War, U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd came up with a theory of competitive decision-making that shaped American military doctrine for a generation. He called it the OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

Boyd found that victory doesn’t go to the side with more firepower. It goes to the side that cycles through the OODA loop faster — observing what’s changing, orienting to its meaning, deciding what to do, and acting before its adversary does.

Get inside your opponent’s loop, Boyd reasoned, and you don’t just outpace him. You break his ability to form a coherent picture of the war he’s fighting.

Manley observes that Iran has adopted Boyd’s approach. Iran hasn’t needed to match American firepower; it’s needed only to generate economic and political problems for Washington that outrun Washington’s ability to orient, decide, and act.

Iran has gotten inside Trump’s OODA loop because Iran has responded to U.S. airstrikes by widening the war horizontally—attacking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, launching drones and missiles at Gulf state oil and gas infrastructure, provoking the U.S. and Israel to destroy even more of that infrastructure, hitting Amazon data centres in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain (causing regional outages for banking, e-commerce, and cloud services), and squeezing other choke points that the global economy depends on.

Iran’s leaders — veterans of asymmetric wars in Iraq and Syria — are applying the same asymmetric logic to Trump’s war. Inexpensive drones, short-range missiles, and sea mines can have the same effect that IEDs had in Iraq — only with far greater strategic impact, because they disrupt global supply chains.

What has Washington done? Dropped more bombs and launched more missiles.

On Wednesday Israel struck at the crown jewel of Iran’s energy industry—the giant South Pars gas field that Iran shares with Qatar and is by far the largest in the world. (Israel says Trump gave the attack his blessing; Trump says he didn’t.) Iran quickly retaliated with an attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility.

The attacks have sent the global oil benchmark soaring and prompted a mad scramble in Washington. Trump threatens “to blow up the entirety” of Iran’s South Pars gas holdings if Iran attacks Qatar again. His treasury secretary says the U.S. will consider lifting sanctions on millions of barrels of Iranian oil.

Since he and Israel began bombing Iran, Trump’s strategy has been entirely reactive. Iran is generating problems for Washington faster than Washington can contain them — a clear sign that Iran is inside Trump’s OODA loop.

Trump and Israel assumed that overwhelming airpower would either compel Iran to surrender or trigger regime change. But neither has happened. The regime seems more entrenched and bellicose than ever.

As Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz and attacks its Gulf neighbors’ oil and gas infrastructure, the cost-benefit ratio continues to shift against Trump: Economic and political pressures are mounting on Washington faster than they are on Tehran.

Sure, Iran is hurting — but, as Manley argues, Iran can sustain its counteroffensive more easily and longer than the U.S. can sustain economic damage to Iran. An Iranian Shahed drone made of Styrofoam and powered by a motorcycle engine, for example, costs orders of magnitude less than the precision missiles sent to intercept it or the economic havoc it causes when it ignites a tanker, data centre, or desalination plant.

In addition, the longer Trump’s OODA loop stays broken, the more bad consequences occur that no one in the Trump regime anticipated. Trump’s war in Iran is now being led by Israel rather than the other way around, and Trump has no easy way to alter this power imbalance.

The war has also shifted the power balance between Russia and Ukraine, with Russian oil revenues potentially doubling as U.S. weapons stocks become depleted.

So what’s next for the U.S.? Is there any way out for Trump?

He could put “boots on the ground” in Iran and attempt to seize Iran’s stockpile of approximately 970 pounds of 60 percent enriched uranium—enough to produce multiple nuclear weapons if further enriched. If he could pull this off, it would be a major feat.

But this would be a particularly dangerous move in terms of American lives lost. It could even risk an accidental nuclear explosion.

Moreover, no one knows where the enriched uranium is being stored. In the wake of U.S. and Israeli strikes last June, it’s likely in deep underground tunnels near Isfahan and other secure locations, but the International Atomic Energy Agency can’t verify the exact locations or status of the stockpile due to a lack of access to bombed sites.

What about returning to the diplomatic table? As Richard Haass points out, Trump hardly gave diplomacy a chance before launching his war. U.S. envoys Witkoff and Kushner blended maximal positions—effectively demanding an end to Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile force, and support for proxies—with minimal time for negotiation.

Haass notes the stark contrast between this process and the administration’s apparently endless willingness to give Russia the benefit of the doubt and compromise Ukraine’s interests.

If Trump returned to negotiations now, from a position of demonstrated military capability rather than exhaustion, Iran might be forced to reorient and respond to an adversary that did something unpredictable.

The problem is that the Trump regime has repeatedly reneged on his promises to Iran, so Tehran has no reason to believe any offer Trump makes.

So, presumably for the foreseeable future, Iran will remain in Trump’s OODA loop, Trump will remain trapped in Iran, and American consumers will be trapped by soaring energy prices.

Middle East, News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Esquire We Need a White House Insider to Stand Up to Trump’s Wartime Insanity. I’m Not Optimistic.

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Esquire
We Need a White House Insider to Stand Up to Trump’s Wartime Insanity. I’m Not Optimistic.

Charles P. Pierce

I didn’t think it was possible, but the Sunday Gobshite Shows have become immeasurably worse—so immeasurably worse that I find myself pining for the comedy stylings of Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke. To be fair, this time around, it’s not entirely the fault of the hosts and their panellists. The source of this weekly degradation of both language and the truth is entirely caused by the incredible legion of liars, grifters, incompetents, otherwise unemployables, and belligerent dickwads with whom El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago has surrounded himself and inflicted upon the rest of us.

And it starts at the top. Doing one of his very bizarre stand-ups in the aisle of Air Force One, the president was asked about why 5,000 members of the American military were needed for duty in the totally obliterated country of Iran. Hilarity ensued. From Mediaite:

After the reporter asked, “Can you explain why you’re sending 5,000 marines and sailors?” Trump snapped, “You’re a very obnoxious person,” before moving on to another question. During the same press gaggle, Trump also attacked a reporter for asking him about a controversial fundraising email, which outraged many after it featured a photo from the dignified transfer ceremony of six U.S. servicemembers killed as a result of the ongoing Iran war.

Upon hearing the question, Trump demanded to know who the reporter worked for. After she informed him that she worked for ABC News, Trump called the network “one of the worst, most fake, most corrupt.” “Will you comment on the dead soldiers?” the reporter pressed, to which Trump replied, “You know what, ABC News?” I think it may be the most corrupt news organization on the planet. I think they’re terrible.”

Then there was Karoline Leavitt, failed congressional candidate from the state of New Hampshire, plying her trade as a White House lawn ornament.

Yes, the president is speaking with our allies in Europe and many of our partners in the Gulf and the Arab world to encourage them to do more to open the Strait of Hormuz. And our NATO allies especially need to step up…. He’s calling on them to do the right thing.

Leave aside the facts that a) the president is fairly begging the entire rest of the world to bail his sorry ass out and b) our NATO allies have every right to tell a lunatic who’s used them as a punching bag for ten years and who openly lusted after a piece of Denmark’s territory and just appreciate the feigned innocence it takes to imagine Donald Trump’s appeal to anyone to “do the right thing.” Stop it, lady. You’re killing me here

Here’s Secretary of Talking About War Pete (Call of Duty). Hegseth, blithely telling Major Garrett of CBS News that more people who are not him will have to die in pursuit of whatever the fck he and his boss are doing in Iran.

No one’s putting us in danger. We’re putting the other guys in danger. That’s our job. So we’re not concerned about that. The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.

There has been a lot of talk about the need for another Walter Cronkite to rise from the unmarked grave of network news and work his magic the way that Uncle Walter did over Vietnam. (Granted, it took seven years, 21,000 American and 1.5 million Vietnamese lives, and a term and a half of Richard damn Nixon for the magic to work, but hey…) Me, I don’t think what we need is a new Cronkite. I think what we need is a new Clark Clifford.

Clifford was a veteran Washington power broker, and in March 1968, as President Lyndon Johnson’s choice to replace Robert McNamara, Clifford became secretary of defence. Clifford took office in the aftermath of the catastrophic Tet invasion the previous January. Clifford was so independently influential that he didn’t care what all the brass hats and remaining New Frontiersmen around the president thought. And, by degrees, Clifford began to move the administration away from the decades of lies and deceit surrounding the war. As Time ’s Hugh Sidey wrote at the time:

The smooth lawyer was trying his greatest case. It was, said one who observed it, “the gutsiest performance I’ve ever seen or ever heard of.” For seven months the argument raged. Johnson said little, but he was listening. Clifford threw all his weight behind arguments that persuaded the president to order the partial suspension of bombing of North Vietnam on March 31 to get talks with Hanoi under way. Again, Clifford’s view held sway when bombing was halted altogether on Oct. 31 in an effort to rescue the negotiations from stalemate.

Convinced that Saigon had become the tail wagging the Washington dog, Clifford spoke out last month and again last week when he saw the negotiations heading for an interminable deadlock. There is an undeniable and heavy risk in Clifford’s position. He has no assurance that Hanoi really wants a settlement or that the enigmatic enemy would honour a troop-withdrawal agreement. In dismissing Saigon’s concern over protocol, moreover, he overlooks the fact that, as Henry Kissinger pointed out, the “choreography” of such negotiations “is almost as important as what is negotiated.” Still, he pressed his arguments with rare force.

History has told us that Clifford’s efforts came close to pushing LBJ into a settlement that autumn, only to have Nixon, that unutterable swine, sabotage the possibility of a settlement for his own political advantage.

Where’s the Clark Clifford of 2026, someone who’s brave enough and independent-minded enough to get a pliable, half-mad old man to change this doomed crusade before everything lies in ruins? Where’s the Republican who can work Clark Clifford’s magic, or does it even exist anymore?

Assholes are everywhere, News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

MAGAs Are Destroying America For Spite

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MAGAs Are Destroying America For Spite

John Pavlovitz (Substack)
Mar 20

How can anyone still support him?
Tens of millions of us still find ourselves asking this question, watching a staggering number of Americans somehow remain unflinching in their devotion to this President. Despite high crimes, sexual assaults, cognitive decline, reckless wars, and an authoritarian agenda, they remain seemingly giddy over his existence.

But Trump’s supporters aren’t necessarily pleased with the actual policies, tactics,
or methods, but with the results: pissing off the people they don’t like.

That is all that matters to them.
It’s the reason they vote the way they do.
It’s the reason their support is steadfast through pedophilia accusations and acts of treason and human rights disasters and wanton ignorance.
It’s the reason they remain emotionally infatuated with him despite his breaking every campaign promise.

Trump supporters have always seen his ascendency as a big “F— You” to his predecessor, to the identity politics that they feel has targeted them, and to an ever-diversifying nation that they see as a threat. More than affordable healthcare, unpolluted food, and economic opportunity, they want someone to stick it to the world on their behalf, and in their rage-addled state, they somehow believe he does that.

It’s a nationwide mental health crisis that seems both beyond repair and belief.

It’s terribly sad to admit that a huge portion of this nation is moved not primarily by party over country (which would be bad enough) but by spite: that they care more about flipping Democrats the bird than the sovereignty of our nation. To know that people you respected and loved and work with live with anger as their engine is a reason for mourning.

MAGA voters would rather give a strident middle finger to woke liberals, even at the expense of the air their kids breathe and the schools they attend.

They’d prefer to “own the Libs,” even if their medical bills bankrupt them, and businesses migrate away, and natural disasters go ignored.

Their white fragility is so profound that two years ago, they gave Trump another blank check because he’s reversing any recent advances by marginalized communities whose gains they see as threats to their own.

They still feel victorious, even though gas prices are astronomical, we’re immersed in chaos, nothing is trickling down, and America is not first.

Even professed Christians among them are willing to abandon any semblance of Christlikeness because they get back the nostalgic veneers and ceremonial trappings of God and Country that Obama couldn’t satisfy because of his pigmentation and his embracing of the world and its religions.

And so these people are now subsiding on Liberal tears and complete denial.

That is the only barometer for them in this moment of what is good, wise, or productive.
It guides their vote, filters their media, defines their faith, and shapes their hearts.
That’s why arguing policies or stating facts or attempting constructive conversation with them right now is almost impossible, because spite is irrational and stubborn and unmovable. It wants emotional food that feels good, even if it is filled with empty calories.

The only course of action right now is for those of us motivated by things other than revenge and payback and vitriol to be clear, loud, and unified.

We need to reach across all the divides, and to be about what we’re about, and to declare these things with clarity and without relenting or apology.

Our intent should no longer be understanding these people who are still emotionally bound to him. We do understand them. We’ve listened to them. That’s why we know that they cannot be convinced by any previously used methods to connect with rational people. Their blind hatred of the Left and their complete adoration of this President make them, practically speaking, unreachable currently.

They also remind us who we do not want to be.

Being motivated by spite is a really horrible way to go through this life, which is why the rest of us can’t make our response now be about these people and the angry wars they want to stay immersed in. It cannot be shaped by our grievances and complaints and purity stances either. We need to gaze higher than that.

The human and civil rights of our people, the future of our children, the integrity of our nation, our standing in the world, and the defense of our Constitution are all far too important to squander as a middle finger to people we want to piss off.

We’ve seen what that yields.

We need to live and work and vote for equality, diversity, compassion, love, and justice—not for spite.

Middle East, News, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Revealed: Trump’s War Plan Rejected in Devastating New Poll

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Revealed: Trump’s War Plan Rejected in Devastating New Poll

White House weighing ground assault on Iranian oil facilities, grieving father suggests Hegseth lied about their interaction, Bari Weiss takes chainsaw to CBS

Raw America
Mar 20

Only 7 percent of Americans support a ground invasion of Iran, but the Pentagon is asking Congress for $200 billion more to fund this war. Pete Hegseth told the country that grieving military families urged him to “finish” the fight in Iran. The father of one of those fallen service members says that conversation never happened. CBS News is laying off dozens of journalists as Bari Weiss tightens her grip on the newsroom. And the White House is weighing an assault on Iran’s primary oil export island that senior officials say would almost certainly require boots on the ground. Let’s get into it.

7 Percent. That’s How Many Americans Want a Ground War in Iran.

A new poll of more than 1,500 U.S. adults finds that just 7 percent would support Trump carrying out a large-scale ground invasion of Iran. Only 34 percent would support sending special forces. A majority, 55 percent, oppose deploying any ground troops at all. And nearly two-thirds of Americans believe Trump will eventually order a large-scale ground war anyway.

Overall, the Iran war is approved by just 37 percent of U.S. adults. About one in five Republicans opposes it. More than half of American households say they have already felt the impact of rising gas prices from the conflict.

Trump has said he does not want boots on the ground, while also saying he is “not afraid” of putting them there. “I’m not putting troops anywhere,” he told a reporter Thursday. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.” That is not reassurance. That is a threat delivered with a smile.

The Pentagon is now requesting an additional $200 billion from Congress to fund the war. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego put that number in context: “At the height of combat, the Iraq War cost around $140 billion per year. If the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion, they are asking for a long war.”

Trump has repeatedly insisted the conflict will be over soon. The Pentagon’s funding request tells a different story.

White House Weighing Assault on Iran’s Main Oil Export Island

Senior administration officials are actively discussing an assault on Kharg Island, the facility in the northern Persian Gulf through which Iran processes nearly all of its crude oil exports. The goal would be to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Senior officials have confirmed that any such operation, whether a blockade or an occupation, would require ground troops.

More than 2,500 Marines have already been deployed to the region, with two more units of similar size reportedly on the way.

Sources described the emerging thinking inside the administration plainly. “He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen.” Another source laid out a timeline: “We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations.”

That is the plan being discussed in the White House three weeks into a war the president said would be swift. Seizing a heavily fortified Iranian island in the Persian Gulf, while 7 percent of the American public supports a ground invasion, while oil is at $111 a barrel, while the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion more.

Trump said he is not afraid of any of it. The 13 families who have already received flag-draped caskets did not get a vote on that.

CBS Lays Off Dozens as Bari Weiss Reshapes the Newsroom

CBS News announced layoffs Friday, with sources saying the cuts could affect close to 60 people, roughly 6 percent of the news division’s workforce. Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski informed staff in a memo that the reductions were necessary to adapt to a changing media landscape and make room for what they called the things the network “must build to remain competitive.”

This round of cuts is widely seen inside the network as being driven by Weiss herself, marking the most significant test yet of her leadership since David Ellison installed her to reshape CBS News in a more conservative direction. Last month, 11 Evening News staffers took voluntary buyouts. High-profile correspondents including Anderson Cooper have already departed. The Evening News, now anchored by Tony Dokoupil, is drawing fewer than 4 million viewers, well behind ABC and NBC.

It is worth being direct about what is happening here. David Ellison is now closing in on acquiring CNN, HBO, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The FCC chair is threatening broadcast licenses over war coverage. A former Newsmax executive was just installed at Voice of America. And the most-watched news network built on the legacy of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite is now being dismantled and rebuilt by an anti-woke opinion journalist whose own staff has accused her of pursuing a clearly defined political agenda.

The journalists losing their jobs today are not casualties of a changing industry. They are casualties of a deliberate effort to remake American media in the image of the people running this country. Corporate media is not failing to cover this war honestly by accident. The people who own the cameras have decided what the cameras will show. That is why independent journalism has never been more necessary, and it is exactly why Raw America exists.

Hegseth Said Grieving Families Told Him to “Finish” the War. A Father Says That’s Not True.

At a Pentagon press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that after meeting with families of the six service members killed in last week’s refueling tanker crash in Iraq, he heard the same message from family after family. “They said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,’” Hegseth said.

That night, Charles Simmons, the father of Tech Sergeant Tyler Simmons, 28, of Ohio, told a reporter that conversation did not happen.

“When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,” Simmons said. He described telling Hegseth: “I understand there’s a lot of peril that goes into making decisions like this, and I just certainly hope the decisions being made are necessary.” When asked directly whether he said anything to Hegseth or Trump about continuing the war, Simmons was clear. “No, I didn’t say anything along those lines.”

He is not alone. Tyler Simmons’ cousin Stephan Douglas told a Columbus news station the war was unnecessary. “This could have been prevented. We didn’t need to be in this war.” Tyler’s grandmother Bernice Smith was equally direct. “Just to create a war because you want to create a war is not right.”

The Pentagon responded by saying Hegseth’s conversations with families were “private,” though Hegseth himself chose to describe them in detail at a public press conference. Hegseth used the grief of Gold Star families to justify continuing a war that those same families are now publicly questioning. That is worth saying plainly.

CNN is running cover. CBS is shedding the journalists who ask hard questions. The FCC is threatening anyone who doesn’t fall in line. The Ellisons of the world have corporate infrastructure and billionaire money.