Even Erik Prince Warns Iran Will “Burn It Down” – Boots On The Ground Could Mean “Burning American Warships”
Even Erik Prince is warning the Trump administration to exercise extreme caution in Iran – particularly when it comes to boots on the ground.
The founder of Blackwater, whose private military contractors became synonymous with the U.S. quagmire in Iraq, is pushing back hard on current U.S. strategy toward Iran. Prince issued a sobering warning at CPAC last week. Speaking on the “Breaking Stuff and Killing Bad Guys” panel, Prince expressed deep skepticism about the current trajectory of U.S. involvement in Iran:
“I don’t share the optimism of the administration that there’s going to be a peaceful stop to this. They will burn it down.”
He then highlighted the particular dangers of committing ground forces:
“And my real concern is that if they try to putboots on the ground and force the Strait of Hormuz, you will see imagery of burning American warships in the next couple of weeks. And I don’t think people are really prepared for that.”
Prince is “extremely concerned” about the escalation and noted that Iran’s leadership has been preparing for conflict with the U.S. for decades.
Echoes of Earlier Warnings
Prince cautioned strongly against any US ground commitment nearly a month ago in a March 1 appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room.
“Don’t ever contemplate ground troops in Iran,” he said. “I don’t think a regime has ever been changed by air power alone. It’s wishful thinking.”
He was equally skeptical of relying on airpower for regime change:
“Airpower alone is not going to get that done.”
ERIK PRINCE: If there are negotiations with the mullahs for some kind of transition, give them the city of Mashhad almost like a Vatican where they can go and be super Islamic and strict while the rest of Iran breathes free.
Prince’s warnings arrive as discussions continue in Washington about Iran’s critical oil infrastructure, including Kharg Island (which handles the vast majority of Iran’s crude exports) and control of the Strait of Hormuz. Prince described a potential airborne assault on Kharg Island as “mighty thin” and “pretty sporty” due to dense missile defenses and Iran’s effective use of FPV drones down to the squad level.
At CPAC, he reinforced that Iran is no easy target and would respond aggressively to any attempt to seize or blockade key maritime chokepoints.
China’s EV Giant BYD Misses Earnings, Enters Brutal New Phase Of Competition
BYD is entering a tougher phase after releasing weaker-than-expected financial results and signaling growing pressure in China’s electric vehicle market, according to Bloomberg. Chairman Wang Chuanfu described the current environment as having “reached a fever pitch, and is undergoing a brutal ‘knockout stage.’”
The company’s stock fell at the opening of trading in Hong Kong, reflecting investor concerns. Its latest quarterly results showed a sharp drop in profitability, with earnings and revenue both missing forecasts. This downturn followed a challenging year overall, marked by declining annual profits despite BYD maintaining strong global sales and even surpassing Tesla in volume.
At home, the company is losing momentum. Demand in China has softened, and competition—especially from newer, technology-driven entrants like Xiaomi—is intensifying. Although revenue still grew slightly over the past year, profit margins narrowed and overall earnings declined, pointing to rising costs and pricing pressure.
The beginning of 2026 has not reversed this trend. Domestic sales have continued to weaken, and BYD has been overtaken by Geely in the Chinese market. To offset this, the company is focusing more on international expansion, where demand remains stronger and profit per vehicle is higher. Its goal of selling over a million cars abroad highlights how critical overseas markets have become, even though building factories outside China requires significant investment.
Bloomberg writes that financial pressures are also increasing. Analysts suggest that BYD’s domestic car business could soon become unprofitable, leaving exports as the primary source of earnings. While higher oil prices may temporarily push more consumers toward EVs, sustained growth will depend on improving charging infrastructure and broader industry support.
Some of BYD’s difficulties are tied to its own strategic choices. Its “God’s Eye” driver-assistance system, once promoted as a major competitive advantage, has drawn complaints from users. The company had aimed to make this advanced feature standard across its lineup, but the rollout has exposed technical shortcomings and the risks of scaling new technology too quickly.
In response, BYD appears to be adjusting its priorities. Instead of emphasizing advanced software features, it is shifting toward practical improvements like battery efficiency and faster charging. Its latest battery technology can recharge from 10% to 70% in just minutes, signaling a move toward solving real-world concerns such as range and convenience rather than focusing solely on high-tech driving capabilities.
Oil Spikes As Iran Strikes Fully-Laden Kuwaiti Oil Tanker
Summary
Iran struck a fully-laden Kuwaiti oil tanker in a Dubai port
Iran rejects ‘excessive, illogical’ US demands whileTrump mentions ‘progress’ with a ‘more reasonable regime’. Trump again threatens to destroy Iran energy sites and Kharg Island. Hundreds of US Special Forces arrive in region.
White House seriously considering ground operation to seize Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile but also wants Tehran to negotiate handing it over willingly. Bessent: US will ‘retake’ Hormuz Strait ‘over time’.
Bazan oil refinery in Israel’s northern city of Haifa is on fire after a second apparent Iranian missile strike of the war. Trump says US response ‘coming shortly’.
Iran accuses Israel of more ‘false flags’ – after Kuwait water desalination plant hit.
* * *
Iran Strikes Fully-Laden Kuwaiti Crude Carrier
After two weeks of ‘calm’, the Kuwaiti crude carrier Al-Salmi was attacked by Iran while in Dubai Port, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said in a statement.
The tanker was fully-laden.
The attack resulted in damage to hull, outbreak of fire on board.
Emergency teams were mobilized and working to contain the situation.
The organization confirmed that there were no human casualties as a result of the incident.
The incident may include potential oil spill in surrounding waters.
Kuwaiti residents were issued an “extreme level” threat alert.
Oil prices immediately jumped higher on the report…
There continues to be a situation where Washington is proclaiming successes in meeting all military objectives in Iran, and yet Tehran is still refusing all alleged US initiatives at direct talks toward some kind of ceasefire. A Monday morning post from the State Department laid out the following words of Secretary Rubio, who at one point stated: “We always prefer to settle things through diplomacy. But we also have to be prepared for the fact that effort might fail. We are dealing with a 47-year-old regime that still has a lot of people involved in it who aren’t necessarily big fans of diplomacy or peace.”
SECRETARY RUBIO: Here are the clear objectives of the operation. You should write them down:
1. The destruction of Iran’s air force
2. The destruction of their navy
3. The severe diminishing of their missile launching capability
4. The destruction of their factories
🎯 pic.twitter.com/SrqCtPLlZB
President Trump has meanwhile suggested a major US response is coming after Israel’s Bazan oil refinery in Haifa was attacked by the Iranians. A huge blaze has engulfed the vital energy complex. According to a NY Post interview:
President Trump on Monday put Iran and the speaker of the Islamic Republic’s parliament on notice after Tehran attacked Israel’s biggest oil refinery and told The Post his response is coming “shortly.”
Iran escalated its attack on infrastructure by striking a water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery was set ablaze in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after the Iranian missile attack. Asked for his response on the strike, he told The Post: “You’ll see shortly.”
As for the man believed to be running the day-to-day of Iran’s government, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Trump said “We’re gonna find out” if Washington can work with him. “I’ll let you know that in about a week,” Trump stated.
The IRGC is meanwhile touting that it is targeting “American-Israeli command centers, drone hangars, and pilot hideouts in new missile strikes on their military installations in the region” – per Press TV.
Bessent: We Will Retake Hormuz ‘Over Time’
As of last week Rubio was still giving a timeline of at least 2-4 more weeks of Iranian operations. On Monday CBS is reporting that hundreds of special forces, including Navy SEALS and Army Rangers, are now positioned in the Mideast region. Army paratroopers are also said to be in place – and yet these numbers still don’t seem on a level needed for an outright ground assault, as Trump is said to be mulling some kind of high risk seizure of Iran’s uranium (below).
Fresh Monday statements from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continue to signal a longish timeframe for US operations in Iran (far beyond the mere ‘days’ mentioned in late February at the start). Speaking somewhat ambiguously, he said “over time” the US will “retake” control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Hundreds of US Special Ops military personnel, including Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, are now in the Middle East, as well as Marines and Army paratroopers, sources tell @CBSNews. We reported on some of the preparations on March 20. The deployments serve to give Trump options in… https://t.co/aqlporCFSG
“We are seeing more and more ships go through on a daily basis as individual countries cut deals with the Iranian regime for the time being,” Bessent described, saying also “The market is well supplied,” according to Bloomberg.
Iran Again Rejects ‘Excessive’ Demands
Iran has once again stated that it has rejected the latest “US demands” as “excessive and illogical” according to state Tasnim, also confirming that it did not participate in the weekend Pakistan-hosted summit attended by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“We have never had any direct negotiations with the United States. What has been raised are messages received through intermediaries indicating the US desire to negotiate,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in a press conference Monday. Meanwhile Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is expected in China on Tuesday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, after Beijing made clear it is ready to back a Pakistan-mediated peace effort.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has urged President Trump to end the war, saying Washington holds the key here to stopping a worse spiral. “I tell President Trump: Nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you,” Sisi stated at the opening of the country’s Egypes energy conference. Still, despite Tehran’s latest statement of rejection, Trump put out of a fresh Monday Truth Social Post displaying some optimism toward dealing with a “more reasonable regime” and mentioned “great progress” – but coupled with the usual ‘or else’ type threats. For example, Trump again has threatened to destroy Iran energy sites and Kharg Island.
Over the weekend Trump had said to reporters aboard Air Force One, “The one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead, and the third regime – we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before… and frankly, they’ve been very reasonable.”
Plan For Uranium Seizure
With more Marines and reportedly Airborne troops en route to the region, among Trump’s ‘options’ is the seizure of Iran’s enriched uranium. A fresh Wall Street Journal report says Monday, “President Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to U.S. officials, a complex and risky mission that would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer.”
No decision has been made, the report makes clear, and the White House is said to be considering the danger to US troops. On this question, the likelihood for something to ‘go wrong’ – or some kind of mass casualty event for American forces, would be high. This would also open the possibility of forces getting bogged down for at least weeks, months, or longer – and not just ‘days’ of an operation.
“It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has sought to clarify of plans.
Unbelievable video
filmed by a resident from Tehran shows the reality of life under Israeli/US strikes
One key part of the WSJ report gives a window into where future negotiations would focus: “The president has also encouraged his advisers to press Iran to agree to surrender the material as a condition for ending the war, according to a person familiar with Trump’s thinking,” the report says. “Trump has been clear in conversations with political allies that the Iranians can’t keep the material, and he has discussed seizing it by force if Iran won’t give it up at the negotiating table.” But already Tehran sees itself in an existential war for survival, and so isn’t going to be very open to just giving up its enriched stockpiles.
Israeli Oil Refinery on Fire
Huge fires have been observed at the Bazan oil refinery in Israel’s northern city of Haifa, after another apparent Iranian attack, which marks the second such hit on the site since the war started.
Israeli television channels have reported the attack and emergency response at the scene. “Search and rescue forces, both reserve and regular forces, are on their way to a site in northern Israel where reports of impact have been received,” the IDF said in a statement.
Area residents are being asked to stay inside and shelter in place, with Jerusalem Post reporting “The Environmental Protection Ministry told Ma’ariv that a gasoline tank is burning in the refinery complex, producing thick smoke, but with no risk to the population in the area from a hazardous materials incident.”
Smoke rising from Haifa’s Petrochemical complex following reported Iranian missile strike.
BREAKING:
Smoke rising from Haifa’s Petrochemical complex following reported Iranian missile strike. pic.twitter.com/iXlQn41Ohp
There’s been another interesting accusation that Israel is conducing false flags to make any potential ceasefire deal much harder. It’s remained an open question whether things will escalate toward an all-out exchange of fire on infrastructure, such as energy sites and water plants.
Iran’s military has newly accused Israel of attacking Kuwait’s desalination plant, according to Al Jazeera. The Iranian statement, featured in semi-official Tasnim agency, said the “Zionist regime’s brutal attack on Kuwait’s desalination plant, under the pretext of accusing the Islamic Republic of Iran, which took place in the past few hours, is a sign of the vileness and baseness of the Zionist occupiers.”
Indian worker killed in attack on Kuwait plant…
Kuwait says an Indian worker has been killed in an Iranian attack on a power and desalination plant, as Gulf states report intercepting drones and missiles.
“We declare that American bases and military personnel, their interests in the region, and the military, security, and economic infrastructure and facilities of the Zionist regime will continue to be our powerful targets,” it said. There’s also a lingering threat against American university branch campuses in the region, after over the weekend two Iranian campuses in Tehran came under attack. Iran had earlier said the long-range attacks (which failed) against the UK’s remote Diego Garcia base was also a false flag.
The relationship between the tech right and the populist right is a central question of our day.
After an initial alliance in the lead-up to the 2024 campaign, fissures quickly appeared. The first prominent one was the Christmas H-1B fight. Others followed, both in and out of the administration. In many ways, the divide has been growing — with Bannon leading tech critiques, and Republican politicians like DeSantis staking out tech-skeptical stances. Trump has managed to keep things together, but the future is unclear.
I believe an alliance is necessary both for America’s success and for the right to have the power to dislodge the entrenched establishment left.
The simplest approach would be a pragmatic alliance of necessity — both factions push distinct priorities, and compromise where necessary to form a political coalition.
But I think we should aim for more — for an alliance between the tech right and the populist (or cultural) right that gives each group a crucial, or even heroic, role in a shared vision for America. I believe such a vision can center on (1) an appreciation for the conditions — and the people — that ultimately drive tech-enabled prosperity, and (2) an appreciation for how disruptive technology can structurally favor right-aligned constituencies and address central priorities of the cultural right.
Populists need tech:
The populist right needs tech. It may not need specific tech elites, or even anywhere close to a majority of current Silicon Valley figures, but it needs a positive vision for technology and it needs people who can master technology. Two factors drive this:
First, Americans have always been favorably inclined to technology. I believe if the parties split on technology, the pro-tech party will have a significant structural advantage with the electorate. This inclination is not new: In 1840, Tocqueville noted how Americans happily built ships that would last only a few years because of their enthusiasm for new innovations that would quickly obsolesce them. In the mid-to-late nineteenth century, Americans broadly embraced the power of technologies from the revolver to the railroad to conquer and settle the West. And America’s embrace of technology was certainly apparent in the broad popularity of the tech industry for much of the last half-century. It’s possible a tech-skeptical party can succeed in other countries, but I suspect that in America any party capable of real wins must present a positive vision for the use and mastery of technology.
Second, whether we like it or not, technology will shape the future. This has always been true to varying extents; people and groups who mastered major new technologies usually gained outsized influence, and often came to rule new regimes. In the case of major transitions like the shift to the digital age, the stakes are particularly high. Opposing technologies like AI may be a little like opposing gunpowder in the fifteenth century: many may not have liked its impact on the world, but the world was shaped by those who mastered it.
Tech needs populists:
The tech right also needs populist support. Entrenched legacy leftist interest groups retain tremendous power, and without strong opposition, will simultaneously try to stifle new technologies and squeeze technologists for the money needed to fund their ever-more-bloated programs. Populists represent large factions deeply skeptical of this legacy regime, and are capable of bringing tremendous political energy to any opposing coalition.
A populist right aligns with tech on more than just opposition to legacy elites. Right-leaning Americans are among the only people on earth broadly supportive of the free market policies and rule of law that allow Silicon Valley to thrive. While populism can create tensions with free-market and rule-of-law idealists, the broad populist right goal of cultural preservation includes restoration of the conditions necessary to preserve these norms.
Deeper alignment:
Finally, I believe the tech right and populist right need each other — not just to politically partner against common enemies, but to achieve the technological dynamism technologists pursue, and the restored status and opportunity populists seek.
This symbiosis reflects the particular character of the American people in a time of technological disruption: Americans are uniquely suited to mastering technology.
Americans are good for tech innovators–multiplying the impact of new technologies by acting not just as consumers but as creative and productive users of technology. This is not limited to a few exceptional entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley; rather, millions of Americans in companies across the country have a particular drive (relative to many other cultures globally) to find new sources of leverage and better ways to do things. These are the people who jump on new technologies that can solve such problems, embracing the change this entails. A country of such people is a country ripe for innovations that would find far smaller markets in more conservative or less resourceful societies. This particular character opens the aperture for technological innovation, and plays a key role in America’s technological dynamism.
By the same token, technologists can be good for the American people. While many tech innovations theoretically spread rapidly around the globe, in practice, Americans will often be the biggest beneficiaries of them because of this particular facility with technology–advancing the relative position of the American people in a time of global and cultural competition. This is especially true for core constituencies of the populist right, such as independent executives and skilled physical-world workers, who stand to benefit from technologies like AI – in contrast with core opposing constituencies like bureaucrats, who are ripe for replacement with AI.
Call to action:
Thus, the tech right should champion not just the free markets widely recognized as enabling Silicon Valley’s success, but also the people and culture that make America such a fertile place for technological innovation and development. Practically this means embracing both product and policy decisions that strengthen rather than undermine this culture. This means building products that solve critical problems and serve as platforms for broader productive application, and avoiding products that contribute to vice or addiction. And it means supporting immigration and trade policies that first and foremost strengthen the American people, rather than optimizing for those that serve the most immediate desires of tech companies.
The populist right should embrace technological innovation. This means encouraging Americans at all levels to master new technologies, recognizing the potential of such technologies to advance America’s position versus geopolitical rivals and the position of core populist right constituencies domestically. And it means politically supporting tech leaders who accept their responsibility to the American people – supporting policies that allow continued innovation, and protecting successful innovators from the confiscatory efforts of the left.
The alliance I propose is aspirational: Today, many in Silicon Valley – even many who would see themselves on the right – have little regard for the priorities of the populist or cultural right. And many populists more easily see the immediate threats that social media poses to families and that AI poses to jobs, and they remember with distrust the degree to which tech companies embraced censorship and deplatforming. But I believe the need for political alliance is clear, and the potential alignment toward a shared vision far deeper than many recognize. One of the great opportunities for statesmanship in coming years is the forging of such an alliance.
“Surprise” X1.5 Solar Flare Detected Ahead Of NASA’s Rocket Launch To Moon
Space weather website SolarHam reported Monday morning that a “surprise X1.5 solar flare” was detected on the sun and may impact Earth within the next 48 hours. This comes ahead of NASA’s Artemis II launch on Wednesday and could affect the launch if the solar storm is severe.
“AR 4405 erupted this morning at 03:18 UTC (Mar. 30) with a surprise X1.5 solar flare. This event launched a halo coronal mass ejection (CME) into space, which also appears to have an Earth-directed component,” SolarHam wrote in a space weather update earlier this morning.
A 1.15 X-flare exploded from sunspot 4405, launched a gigantic coronal mass ejection into space which will impact Earth and our surrounding space environment right around April 1st. This is the date set for the launch of Artemis II, a ten day space mission around the Moon by… pic.twitter.com/3cTNRkbsHQ
The update continued, “Although the main bulk of plasma is heading to the east, the edge of the CME should pass Earth within the next 48 hours.”
For context, an X1.5 solar flare is large. The standard scale goes A, B, C, M, then X, with each step representing a 10-fold increase in X-ray intensity. That means an X-class flare is the strongest major category.
A strong X-class solar flare can affect GPS, satellites, communications, and power grids, and even cause delays in rocket launches. The size of the disruption depends on whether it is Earth-facing and whether it is accompanied by a coronal mass ejection.
Upcoming this week is NASA’s Artemis II crewed mission atop the Space Launch System rocket. So far, government forecasters are calling for an 80% chance of acceptable weather on launch day. NASA has not provided any update indicating that the current solar storm threat will affect the mission. Artemis II is currently targeted for no earlier than Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 p.m. EST.
We get the government we choose to elect, hence the government we deserve. Voting for ever-higher punitive taxes on the rich is arguably a form of civic suicide. Consider that a wealthy New Yorker can get a raise of almost 40% just by moving.
That’s right. If moving eliminates a 14.8% top state and local tax rate, our top-tier taxpayer gets a 36% raise, not a 14.8% raise, by leaving. It’s doubtful if any of our city and state leaders have done this math, but it’s shocking.
Mamdani wants to take the top rate up another 2%, if not by the state then by the city, which would mean that our rich neighbor can get a 42% raise.
Here’s how the math works.
A rich New Yorker pays a maximum state and city income tax of 14.8%, on top of a maximum federal tax of 37%. But there are hidden taxes. Uncapped Medicare and Medicaid taxes push the marginal federal tax to 39.4%. If the income is earned on investments, the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT, another gift from Obamacare) adds another 3.8%, pushing the top federal tax above 43%.
So, top-tier New York taxpayers may soon pay a marginal tax of 43% to the IRS and 17% to the city and state of New York. The combined 60% marginal tax rates mean they have the privilege of keeping 40 cents of each new dollar they earn. A move to one of the nine states with no income tax allows our taxpayer to keep 57% of every additional dollar of income, instead of 40%. Do the math. That’s a 42% raise.
Forget the argument about “paying their fair share.” “Fair” is an entirely subjective term. Your fair share of someone else’s money might be seen as a ripoff by them, especially if the money is spent less wisely than we might spend our own money. If you are rich and believe you’ve earned your money, will you consider leaving a state for a permanent 40% raise? Of course.
This is hardly a phenomenon unique to New York. California’s headline top rate of 13.3% becomes 14% with the phase-out of deductions. A Silicon Valley billionaire can keep 43% of each new dollar of income. Moving to Dallas or Miami, or Anchorage for the adventuresome, boosts this to 57%, a raise of almost 33%. This doesn’t even count the “please leave now” impetus of a “one-time only” 5% wealth tax on billionaires. Never mind that the fine print on the wealth tax initiative turns a 5% tax into a 50% expropriation for billionaires like the founders of Google, because their 30% voting share at Google, not their 3% equity ownership, is used to determine the tax.
People have called the United States “50 laboratories of democracy.” A state or a city is welcome to impose whatever taxes, regulations, or laws are allowed by its own bylaws or the national Constitution. And citizens are welcome to choose whichever states have taxes, regulations, and laws that they feel best align with their values and beliefs.
Nor is it unique to our various states, with their diverse tax regimes. Taxes drove the Rolling Stones to their own “Exile on Main Street,” relocating to France of all places to escape England’s 90% top tax rate (where a tiny drop to 85% would provide a 50% pay raise). Even Switzerland has divergent tax rates, ranging from 22% in Zug to roughly 40% in Berne, Geneva, and Vaud. Where do the billionaires tend to live? Zug.
Milton Friedman has been credited with the observation that the only thing more mobile than the wealthy is their capital. It is the rich who largely fund government spending, whether that spending is at the federal, state, or local level, and whether that spending is wise or foolish. Instead of a politics of envy, perhaps we should try a politics of gratitude.
Rob Arnott is founding chairman of Research Affiliates, a $160 billion asset management firm based in Newport Beach, CA.
“This sort of derangment is a novel psychopathology in the human species. . . a synthesis of low-IQ feminized brain scramble & neurotic lunacy.”
– JD Haltigan on X
Went to the No Kings assemblies in my town and the next nearby town on Saturday. Mental illness as far as the eye could see. Old folks, too, as far as the eye could see, predominately of the female persuasion: the devouring grandmothers. The Democratic Party has marshalled mental illness as its premier campaign strategy, and lately it is winning bigly around the country as mental illness becomes the go-to cope option for the ragged remnants of Boomerdom.
They believe things that are patently insane, for instance, the latest proposal by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) that illegal immigrants deserve reparations on account of being “traumatized” by U.S. immigration enforcement actions.
If it feels like the Democratic Party is at war with our country you are not hallucinating.
It is every bit as much a jihad as the Death to America crowd in Iran has explicitly pushed since 1979.
The president gets no help whatsoever from his own party, as you see in the disgraceful hijinks around the urgent issue of election reform. You know exactly how the election playbook was written: let x-million foreigners into the country illegally, give them (illegally) social security numbers, driver’s licenses, automatic voter registrations, addresses, mail-in ballots. . . and voila! They don’t even have to mail-in their own mail-in ballots. Lawfare ninja Marc Elias will arrange ballot pick-up service. And the cherry on top is that the census must count all the illegal aliens to add new congressional districts for extra seats in Congress.
So, in the face of that, Republican Majority Leader John Thune could not muster enough votes to save the SAVE Act. Or so he said. Looks more like lack a’wanna. Eerie lack a’wanna. On their tours of cable news, the hapless Republican senators, when asked, would not name their colleagues leaning against the SAVE Act. But you know who they are. Mitch McConnell, Murkowski, Tillis, Collins, Capito.
Leader Thune could not even manage to get Homeland Security funded with the prospect of Iranian sleeper cells awakening around the country. He just threw in the towel at three o’clock in the morning on Friday, and sent the whole crew home to meet the Easter Bunny. Chuck Schumer did an end-zone dance. The brokenness of our politics could not be more in your face. As things shape up this grueling springtime, Mr. Trump might have to go Abe Lincoln on these folks. That is, declare some sort of national emergency to save the election and the country.
Of course, the nation is more than a little distracted just now with doings in Iran. The No Kings folk are unabashedly rooting for everything to go wrong there, and not a few conservatives in the public arena are straining to conjure an Iranian victory in their black-pilled deliriums. Many claim they “have no idea” what we are doing there — can it be that hard? — or else they are rabidly exercised over our alliance with Israel in the operation. You know how that goes. Cue Tucker. He’ll explain.
The truth is we are pounding these savage Shia clerics and their Revolutionary Guard myrmidons to the garden of eternal bliss where the seventy-two virgins wait. Whatever remains of Iran’s legit government is bargaining under cover for an off-ramp now. Pakistan mediates. The parties sit in different rooms and pass notes through the mediators in a third room. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pretends that he will not negotiate with Mr. Trump’s envoys, Witkoff and Kushner, both Jews, the horror! But that’s sheer fakery.
To avoid humiliation in the process, Iran is still lobbing missiles and drones around the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel, and they will probably keep doing that until the very moment of capitulation. Anyway, in less than a week, Mr. Trump turns the lights off all over Iran, and then they are back in the twelfth century. . . no command communication, no juice for anything, no money, no food, no water, no nothing . . . and a population getting dangerously desperate to make it all go away. . . to return to some dim memory of what normal life once was in an Iran not ruled by psychotic death cultists.
Everybody else is greatly alarmed by the disruption of Persian Gulf oil supplies through Hormuz.
Global finance was already pretty shaky before the hot war commenced, and the economic tail of that dog was not wagging happily.
In America, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Apollo Global, and Blue Owl Capital had recently “gated” redemptions — meaning investors can’t get all or part of their money out of plays that are folding on collateral rot. This private equity fiasco has significant contagion potential.
The sudden oil shock makes everything feel a hundred times worse, and pain is already felt, especially in the far east and Australia / New Zealand.
But consider that the Hormuz “blockade” is also a bit of last-ditch capitulation bravado.
It could be a shorter crisis than the alarmists imagine. We see everything that Iran has got from high in the sky, whatever attack boats remain. . . the thermal signatures of rockets going off. . . the bays where the drones emerge.
Mr. Trump might order troops in to the stabilize ports and more than one island. Or perhaps not.
I doubt we’ll know until after Iranian lights go out. If the kinetics conclude, what remains is re-starting the maritime insurance apparatus with or without Lloyd’s of London. Then, tankers start moving again.
Off-Ramp In Progress? Israeli Media Signals ‘Completion Phase’ Of Iran War
It’s no secret that Washington is looking for an off-ramp amid what has been a steady pattern of escalation with Iran over the past month since Operation Epic Fury began. The White House’s anticipated timeline and even list of objectives has seriously shifted since the war’s start, as has the scope, given Tehran’s ‘unexpected’ big retaliatory strikes on the Gulf and Israel – including on energy and infrastructure targets.
It seems Trump was thinking Iran could be parallel to the Venezuela situation – where a ‘decapitation’ operation swiftly removed Maduro and the US basically acknowledged a pliant puppet in his place (Delcy Rodríguez). That’s why White House officials at the very start were talking about an operation that would lust just ‘days’ or maybe a couple weeks. Now, one month in, and we have fresh headlines like this: “Iran war enters its fourth week with no clear end in sight.”
The US administration is meanwhile trying to refocus its definable objectives, however overall vision and strategy for a ‘mission accomplished’ end-goal has been anything but clear. For example, the start of the war saw the White House officially list as an objective the end of Iran’s nuclear program and removal of enriched uranium – but that is no longer listed.
Instead, the State Dept. – citing Marco Rubio – has issued the following military objectives in Iran:
1. The destruction of Iran’s air force
2. The destruction of their navy
3. The severe diminishing of their missile launching capability
4. The destruction of their factories
These are much more ‘achievable aims’ allowing the Trump administration to save face by declaring they’ve all been met, whenever it wants to proclaim a mission complete situation, and pull Pentagon assets from the theatre.
But the fact that Iran still has de facto hold over the Strait of Hormuz remains a big problem, as does its ongoing nuclear capabilities, despite that nuclear sites have been degraded or possibly destroyed.
One big and somewhat surprising sign that the US-Israeli coalition could be about to wind down the war is that Times of Israel on Monday ran the following headline:
“A month into the war with Iran, the Israeli military has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting ‘economic’ targets of the Iranian regime,” the publication wrote.
It goes on: “The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, including air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, weapon production sites, some nuclear facilities, and various headquarters.”
The same report also details how dozens of top civilian and military leaders have been killed in the campaign, and most importantly longtime Ayatollah Ali Khamnieni. However, the report also mentions one Israeli objecting of “setting the conditions” for some kind of popular uprising which could topple the government, and that has not happened. Still, the language in the report strongly suggests an offramp could be in the works, perhaps under pressure by the United States:
On Saturday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that “within a few days” the military would complete targeting all of the “critical” assets of Iran’s military production industries, sites used to develop weapons that threaten Israel. The military has also said it has taken out most of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers and air defense systems.
And here’s a key line from Times of Israel:
Israel’s defense establishment is now in what it described as the “completion phase” of the goals it set out at the start of the war, meaning it believes it has largely achieved its objectives of degrading Iran’s military capabilities and “creating the conditions” for the Iranian regime to fall, The Times of Israel has learned.
Yet there are still other signs which suggest the war could go on for quite a bit longer, and even turn into a deeper quagmire, given the White House has yet to rule out ground forces.
I told @NewYorker: “What is the point of the entire U.S. military role in the Middle East? If it has any point, it should be to prevent something like the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Yet U.S. military action has only brought about the very problem it’s supposed to prevent.”
Is Trump heading toward trying to ‘force’ a ‘mission accomplished’ moment? It would be interesting if this happened before the Strait of Hormuz was actually opened up. Such an outcome would probably be used by Iranian officials to instead declare ‘victory’ for the Islamic Republic.
Cory Booker Blasts Party, Says Democrats ‘Failed This Moment’, And Calls For New Leaders
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning and delivered a scathing rebuke of his own party, saying it has “failed this moment.”
Booker was on the show to promote his new book, and host Kristen Welker read a passage from it in which he argues that political coalitions can’t succeed if they exclude people based on “purity tests” or demand total agreement on every issue.
In his book, he wrote, “We cannot cancel everyone who fails a purity test. We cannot exile those who don’t align with our every belief, however passionately we hold it. Coalitions that are only composed of the already converted cannot change the country. If everyone in your coalition agrees with you on everything, your coalition is too small, too small to make big change and too small for what our democracy demands.”
Welker then pressed him on whether Democrats are shrinking their coalition by doing exactly that. “Do you believe Democrats are making the mistake of shrinking their coalition with what you describe as purity tests, senator?”
“Look, I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment,” he replied. “It’s why I’ve called for new leadership in America. I’ve called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country, and our adversaries know it. They come onto our social media and try to whip up hate in America. That is one of our biggest crises. It is time for a new vision of our country that’s far more uniting, that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides. I really believe this is a time where we need new leadership, new moral imagination to pull our country together, because the challenges on the horizon aren’t just this current crisis that Trump has caused.”
Booker even appeared to criticize the Democrats’ Trump obsession, telling Welker that Trump “shouldn’t be the main character of our narrative right now.”
“We have real challenges from new technologies like AI and robotics, new challenges, that we need more unity in our country, and a reminder that we are not each other’s enemies. In fact, our ability to find common ground has always been our greatest hope.”
Booker continued, “Americans want a new generation of leaders that show that they can lift the whole country up,” he said. And then, in case anyone missed it: “It is time for a new vision of our country that is far more uniting that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides.”
While hawking his new book on Meet the Press, Cory Booker calls for new leaders in the Democrat Party and says that Democrats have “failed this moment.”
“I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment.”
Booker’s comment reeks of irony.According to reports, Senate Democrats are quietly – and not so quietly – tearing each other apart over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) recently met with progressive activists in Georgetown, where the discussion turned to whether Chuck Schumer could be pushed out of leadership. Murphy indicated that some lawmakers had been informally counting votes to gauge support for removing Schumer. Murphy is reportedly part of a group of senators quietly canvassing colleagues about dissatisfaction with Schumer. That group, dubbed “Fight Club,” is reportedly coordinating through a Signal chat to oppose Schumer’s preferred candidates in key 2026 races. The group believes Schumer has been putting his thumb on the scale for centrist candidates while an insurgent wave of progressive energy goes untapped.
That sounds like a party that is still demanding ideological purity, not diversity. It would be foolish to think that Cory Booker is calling for the next generation of Democratic leaders to take over because they’ll bring ideological diversity to the party. Much of the anger against Chuck Schumer stems from his vote to fund the federal government in March of 2025 to avoid a shutdown. His approval ratings tanked because he was seen as capitulating to President Donald Trump, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been floated as a possible primary challenger, and polling even showed her witha double-digit lead over Schumer.
Turkey Reports Another Iranian Missile Near-Miss Over NATO Skies
Another near-miss has unfolded over NATO skies, with Turkey on Monday announcing that air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran. It’s another dangerous indication that the Iran war could easily expand into a broader conflict at any moment.
The intercept was carried out by air and missile defense assets positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the Turkish defense ministry, which offered no further initial details concerning trajectory, type, or what the intended target ultimately was.
This marks the fourth fourth such interception since March of the war and Operation Epic Fury, which has surpassed the one-month mark.
The timing is notable given Ankara is simultaneously trying to play middleman between Washington and Tehran, alongside Pakistan where regional diplomats have been trying to jump-start direct Tehran-Washington talks, which has proven elusive.
Turkish and NATO officials have struck a familiar tone, describing that “all necessary measures” are being taken to counter threats to Turkish territory and airspace, and further saying that ongoing developments will be “closely monitored”.
There’s been speculation that these ballistic missiles from Iran could be intended for US-British military assets in Cyprus. Earlier in the conflict drones were sent – likely from Iranian allies in Lebanon – onto a British airbase in EU-member Cypriot territory.
NATO command has previously stated that “Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense.”
This developing pattern of large Iranian missiles flying over Turkey has raised the potential for invoking NATO Article 5, despite US officials having downplayed this option.
During the first incident, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had described, “On the matter with Turkey, I’ll have to get back to you on exactly what the intercept looked like.”
He laid out at the time that “We’re aware of that particular engagement, although no sense that it would trigger anything like Article 5.”
