"Won't Make It Back To Your F***ing Country": Trump Warns Iran Amid Talks

06/22/26 12:33 PM

The safe passage of commercial vessels through the strait is critical to bringing down global oil prices.

'He will cave': Expert predicts Trump poised to give up to another major adversary

06/21/26 3:32 PM

Authoritarianism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat is predicting that President Donald Trump's praise for China's Xi Jinping will end the same way his Iran standoff did: with the president backing down to a strongman he admires.Her forecast came in response to an Axios clip in which Trump gushed about the Chinese leader on "The Axios Show." Asked about Xi, Trump described him in the language of physical admiration he often reserves for fellow autocrats, calling him tall, "6-foot-2," and praising his "great stature," "great confidence," and intelligence. For Ben-Ghiat, a historian of fascism and author who has spent years studying how leaders flatter and accommodate dictators, the fawning was a tell rather than a throwaway line."He will cave to Xi in the end just as he capitulated to Iran," Ben-Ghiat wrote, situating the comment within what she sees as a consistent pattern across Trump's foreign policy. She tied the prediction to a larger argument about whose interests the president ultimately serves, describing Iran as "an ally of China" and noting that Trump "has consistently acted to help Russia," which she also called a Chinese ally. Her conclusion was blunt: in her telling, Trump "is in office to make the strongmen leaders he admires do well."The framing reflects the through-line of Ben-Ghiat's broader work, which holds that authoritarian-minded leaders are drawn to one another and that public displays of admiration often precede real concessions. Her reference to Iran points to the recent memorandum of understanding that ended Trump's war, a deal numerous analysts described as lopsided in Tehran's favor. By her logic, the same dynamic of tough talk giving way to accommodation is poised to repeat itself with Beijing.Ben-Ghiat's argument lands at a moment when Trump's critics are increasingly scrutinizing the gap between his strongman rhetoric and his actual outcomes. Her point is that the admiring description of Xi's height and confidence is not idle praise but a window into how the president approaches the world's most powerful authoritarians, and that the flattery, in her view, tends to be a preview of where the policy is heading.

'How humiliating': JD Vance ripped as his confident Iran boast unravels in real time

06/20/26 6:04 PM

Vice President JD Vance is facing online mockery after a boast about the recent Iran deal backfired.Vance went on Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday morning to tout Trump's new Iran deal. He told the Fox program, "My understanding, talking to Steve and Jared this morning, is that things are going well," referring to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner."The United States has all the cards," Vance continued. "The straits are now open."Less than a few hours after he made those comments, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, and online commentators let him have it."How humiliating," writer Polly Sigh reacted on X."Steve and Jared - the two who completely bungled these negotiations from the start which led us into this mess," added MeidasTouch, a political news network."Talking to Steve and Jared. Good lord," wrote Missouri Democratic congressional candidate Fred Wellman."He's not a particularly good liar," veteran journalist Bill Kristol said. "But he's certainly a shameless one.""Believe nothing that comes out of his mouth," Middle East and geopolitical analyst Matthew RJ Brodsky posted."Trump has given Vance enough rope to hang himself," economist and author Anders Aslund wrote. "Witkoff and Kushner are no negotiators, nor knowledgeable. The US has no cards.""We said Uno. Iran said Draw Four," writer and podcaster Hemant Mehta posted, playing off Vance's card metaphor."It might be time to retire the 'we have all the cards' metaphor," University of Ottawa professor Roland Paris suggested. "Given how obviously the administration is being outplayed by those who supposedly don't have any cards."Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and contributing editor for The Atlantic, simply reacted, "Hahahahahahahahaha."

'Oracle, Maestro': Former US Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan Dies

06/22/26 7:02 PM

In his 18 and a half years at the helm of the Fed, Greenspan presided over a sustained era of American growth and prosperity, yet one that ended with devastating consequences in 2008, two years after he had left the central bank.

'Put Myself Forward': Andy Burnham Says He Will Run For UK Prime Minister

06/22/26 5:10 PM

Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who previously said he would join a leadership race, instead said he was backing Burnham

'Ridiculous!' Furious Fox News host calls to pull JD Vance from peace negotiations

06/22/26 1:49 PM

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade lost it, calling for President Donald Trump to replace JD Vance as Iran negotiator — blasting his Israel criticism as "ridiculous."On Fox & Friends, Kilmeade unloaded on Vice President JD Vance after Vance warned Israeli cabinet members Thursday that Trump is "the only powerful ally" they have "anywhere left in the entire world." The remarks came as U.S. and Iranian negotiators were deep into a 60-day sprint to flesh out the memorandum of understanding the two countries signed last week."The president's gotta go on the inside," Kilmeade said, "because then the negotiators are wasting their time. No one's happy with this document. The president doesn't seem to be happy.""The fact that he hopped on Friday and started ripping Israel and said they have no friends — that is ridiculous!" Kilmeade continued. "Have you heard of the Abraham Accords? Do you understand that the Gulf States are tighter with Israel than ever before?"He then demanded Trump take over directly — and called Vance out by name."I think JD Vance, who's late to this party, doesn't understand the depth of the disagreement," Kilmeade said.MS NOW reported this week that Vance has compounded his inexperience with a series of false claims — including insisting that the deal's terms for destroying Iran's enriched uranium stockpile are "spelled out very clearly," when the memorandum of understanding includes no such provisions. Vance repeated the claim even after it was discredited.The vice president arrived Sunday at the Lake Lucerne Summit in Switzerland — where U.S. negotiators sat across from Iran's foreign minister and parliamentary speaker — but PBS reported Trump threatened to "hit Iran very hard again" on social media while talks were underway.Fox & Friends contributor Lawrence Jones, who spoke with Trump over the weekend, said the president told him privately the memorandum of understanding "was a starting point" — and that if Iran kept pushing him, "I gotta strike them."

'Slowly, then very quickly': Economist shares striking warning as Trump's war deal falters

06/22/26 12:39 AM

President Donald Trump's war with Iran put the global economy on the brink of collapse, and one economist warns that it could get worse if one sector of the economy begins to show signs of weakness. Liaquat Ahamed, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former World Bank investment chief, said during a recent episode of "The Court of History" podcast on the Legal AF Network that Trump's unilateral decision to impose tariffs on America's trading partners had already weakened the global economy before his war with Iran began. After the Iranian regime closed the Strait of Hormuz, the economy came exceedingly close to the brink, Ahamed argued. The only thing that saved Trump from collapsing the global economy was the enormous amounts of money tech companies are spending to build data centers around the world, Ahamed added. Without that, the economy would be in a "dark place," he continued. "The tech companies are spending trillions of dollars to build these data centers, and that is essentially sustaining the global economy," Ahamed said. Ahamed compared the state of the global economy to recent historical crashes, borrowing the old adage attributed to Ernest Hemingway that economic crises often unfold "slowly, then very quickly." He noted that the current value of the U.S. stock market is more than double the country's GDP, which he described as similar to the valuations seen during the dot-com bubble. That is happening at a time when more stress is being injected into the economy. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran appear to be ramping up again after Vice President JD Vance traveled to Switzerland to negotiate a deal with the Iranian regime to end the conflict. The Iranians announced they are closing the Strait of Hormuz once again in response to Israel's continued fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which the regime has described as a "red line" in the negotiations. "Calling an end to this whole thing is very hard," Ahamed said. "On the other hand, I can assure you there will be an end."

'Ummm…': Trump's 'erratic' speech sparks concerns he's 'exceedingly unwell'

06/17/26 5:40 PM

The internet fired off stunned reactions on Wednesday as President Donald Trump gave a meandering speech after the G7 Summit in France.Trump spoke about the Iran agreement from Évian-les-Bains and talked for more than 40 minutes on a stage with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick standing behind him.Political and media experts commented on the president's demeanor and claims."This is one of the most erratic press conferences I think I've ever seen from Trump. He sounds like he's got a rotten cold," Mikey Smith, deputy political editor for The Mirror, wrote on X."Even with the bronze plaster on his face, the president looks exceedingly unwell," former CIA case officer and political commentator, wrote on X."Ummm………….," political commentary account Spiro’s Ghost wrote on X."A few missiles never hurt anybody," Ron Filipkowski, MeidasTouch editor and attorney, wrote on X."This is the dumbest speech in the history of speeches. My 7th grade speech for class secretary was better," Georgetown University professor Anthony M. Hopper wrote on X."Sounds like Trump's personal 'Strait of Hormuz' just opened," former Metro editor at the Chicago Tribune Mark Jacob wrote on Bluesky."Heads up to the moms whose SNAP benefits just got cut," editor Amanda Katz, former Washington Post writer, posted on Bluesky.This is one of the most erratic press conferences I think I've ever seen from Trump. He sounds like he's got a rotten cold. https://t.co/CWF2i1FlB6— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) June 17, 2026

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