“In the sweep of less than 24 hours on April 7, Donald Trump went from threatening genocide to agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, a ceasefire that appears to give the Middle East nation a lot in return for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m damn glad he stepped away from mass murder. But let’s be honest: America can’t continue with this kind of ‘Look at me, I’m a crazy former reality show star, tune in to see what I’ll do next?!?’ insanity. … If Vice President JD Vance were smart ‒ and I very much don’t think he is ‒ he would use this disgraceful moment to turn on the president and position himself as a less insane choice to lead the country. Maybe some Republicans would get on board with that, knowing the other path available to them ends in political ruin. But I won’t hold my breath.” (04/08/26)
“The Iran war was such a fiasco that Donald Trump had no choice but to find a way out. Whether it sticks will partly depend on Democrats resisting the urge to irresponsibly goad him back into it.” (04/08/26)
“It is highly unlikely, unfortunately, that the ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan will endure. This is due to two principal impediments. First, Israel is adamantly opposed to a cessation of the bombing of Iran’s infrastructure. This bombing campaign is part of the Israeli effort to turn Iran into a failed state. Israel has the ability to sabotage the agreement. Indeed, Israel is already doing so by refusing to halt its attacks on Lebanon. Secondly, the minimal demands being made by Iran remain unacceptable to the U.S. and Israel. The demands will only be achieved by creating more pressure, which Iran can generate by continuing to block oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and targeting vital infrastructure in the region.” (04/08/26)
“Federal authorities have arrested and charged an Army veteran with top secret clearance on accusations of sharing classified national defense information with a journalist, who is accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against a whistleblower. Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, N.C., was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday, a day after she was arrested by the FBI, the Justice Department said in a statement. … Williams is a named source in Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, an investigative nonfiction book about a string of unsolved murders at the special operations base that was published in August. In a book excerpt published by Politico, Williams alleges sexual harassment and discrimination within Delta Force at the North Carolina base.” (04/09/26)
“Buried in his book about being a wheeler-dealer, Mr. Trump notoriously advances a notion eerily similar to Nixon’s Madman strategy. Trump likes to keep those with whom he is negotiating ‘guessing.’ He says this often. We cannot be shocked, then, if we’re all kept guessing about his Iran strategy. His litany of flip-flops from early March to the present day has been breathtaking, even for Trump.” (04/08/26)
“So the world’s greatest military power went to war with a poor, medievalist theocracy. It was an incredibly uneven match. … Yet Iran won. The Iranian regime has emerged far stronger than it was before, controlling the Strait of Hormuz and having demonstrated its ability to inflict damage on both its neighbors and the world economy. The U.S. has emerged far weaker, having demonstrated the limitations of its military technology, its strategic ineptitude and, when push comes to shove, its cowardice. We’ve also destroyed our moral credibility …” (04/08/26)
