Mentally Declining Trump Unable to Manage Iran War – The Wednesday AM Quickie (4/1/26)
After my story about the Bilt credit card fiasco published yesterday, their spokesman called seven times in a matter of minutes to complain. Not because it was inaccurate. He just didn’t like how the facts sounded. Anyway, Corey’s back tomorrow, see you next week. - Whitney.
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THE BIG NEWS
Mentally Declining Trump Unable to Manage Iran War
Trump put his mental decline on display in the Oval Office last night, telling reporters that his war with Iran “could be over in two weeks, or three weeks, or ‘a couple days longer to do the job.’” Per the NYT:
He said the U.S. first needs to “knock out every single thing they have,” but then said “it is possible that we will make a deal before that.”
He then added that “it doesn’t matter whether” the Iranians come to the negotiating table or not.
Trump concluded the event by attacking media coverage of his war and bizarrely claiming that Iranian soldiers “are not even shooting at us,” though an Iranian attack injured 12 US service members in Saudi Arabia just last week. According to the tracker maintained by Al Jazeera, at least 200 US troops have been injured in the war so far and 13 have been killed.
Back home, gas rose to an average of $4 a gallon yesterday, the highest since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the AP reported. Californians are paying the most; the average price in that state was the highest in the nation at $5.89. Nations around the world are bracing for persistent high prices and setting policies to reduce oil and gas consumption, especially in Asian countries, which import most of their oil and gas from the Middle East. Myanmar, for example, is limiting the use of private vehicles to every other day and municipalities in the Philippines have set four-day work weeks. Denmark’s energy minister, meanwhile, asked people to limit driving.
Trump is infuriated by all of that. Given that he no longer has the mental acuity to regulate his emotions, if he ever possessed that skill at all, he lashed out at European countries that have refused to step in and save him. According to The Guardian, he yelled at France and the UK like the spoiled brat he has always been, telling officials there to “go get your own oil” and that it’s not his responsibility to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “That’s not for us,” he told reporters. “That’ll be for whoever’s using the strait.”
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
GOP War on Immigrants: 52 People Dead in ICE Camps Since Trump Retook White House
- 14th Person Dies in ICE Concentration Camp in 2026, Deadliest Year on Record and it’s Only April Mexican national Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano is the latest person to die and the fourth Mexican national to die in California’s Adelanto ICE Processing Center this year. The Mexican government demanded “an immediate review of the facility,” run by private prison company GEO Group, while the US government insisted that he and all prisoners are safe in their concentration camps, which is a lie. via the LA Times and the US Government.
- ICE Will Hunt Immigrants at Marine Corps Graduation Events Agents “will be stationed outside graduation events for the nation’s newest Marines to identify whether any of their family members are undocumented,” the Marine Corps said. via NBC News.
- Reuters Profiting Off Mass Deportations The media company is a data broker that sells personal data, including “names, addresses, car registration information, Social Security numbers, and details on someone’s ethnicity.” Among Reuters’ data customers is the Department of Homeland Security, which uses the information to power surveillance tools like Palantir’s ELITE, which identifies people to deport. via 404 Media.
- Trump Shuts Immigrants Out of Small Business Loans Only US citizens and nationals may now receive loans from the Small Business Administration, “eliminating a longtime source of financing for immigrants… On top of that, any business that’s even partly owned by a permanent legal resident with a green card is no longer eligible for the loans.” via the AP.
California Takes AI Regulation Into Own Hands
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order requiring tech companies to institute safety and privacy policies for artificial intelligence, in spite of Trump’s warning that states shouldn’t regulate AI, The Guardian and the NYT reported. Newsom is giving companies four months. If they want to sign contracts with the state, they’ll have to prove they “have policies to keep AI from distributing child sexual abuse material and violent pornography.” Companies must also show how their models avoid “harmful bias,” as well as “unlawful discrimination, detention, and surveillance.” Newsom’s order directs state policymakers “to come up with best practices for watermarking AI-generated or -manipulated images and videos.” Trump would prefer none of that to happen because he wants AI to be totally unregulated – his recent “policy framework” executive order demands lawmakers block state AI guidelines. Nonetheless, states have passed over 100 laws to protect children from AI, which various lawsuits allege literally makes people kill themselves.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- 446 Hospitals at High Risk of Closing Because of Deadly GOP Spending Bill The One Big Beautiful Bill law’s severe healthcare funding cuts are putting hundreds of hospitals “at high risk of closing or cutting services” in 44 states and Washington, DC, endangering nearly 7 million patients. via NBC News.
- Hegseth’s Broker Tried to Cash In on US War on Iran Like all the other profiteers in the Trump administration, Hegseth is angling to make a buck off his position, including via his broker, who tried to make “a multimillion-dollar investment” in a BlackRock defense industry fund. via the Financial Times.
- Army Investigating Why AH-64 Apache Helicopters Hovered Near Kid Rock’s House The washed-up Trump supporter posted videos on social media showing himself saluting the helicopters as they “hovered alongside his swimming pool,” presumably on taxpayer money. Initially, crews involved were suspended. Then Peter Brian Hegseth unsuspended them, saying “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, Patriots.” via the AP, The Guardian and the Washington Post.
- Federal Judge Halts White House Ballroom Construction, Notes Trump Does Not Own Building Work must stop “unless and until Congress blesses this project,” the judge wrote about the new building, which I noted yesterday is just a “shed” for a “massive” underground military complex. via NBC News and the NYT.
SOME NUMBER
100,000
That’s how many child sexual abuse images and videos Daniel Tocci possessed, according to a Justice Department news release about his sentencing this week that failed to note that Tocci is one of the Jan. 6 traitors Trump pardoned, according to NBC News. In addition to the child sexual abuse material, Tocci’s laptop “contained extremely disturbing images of violent acts, such as a cat being killed by being put in a blender, a male shooting a female in the head, a dog being beaten to death, and severed heads and limbs, as well as images and videos of bestiality.”
ON THE SHOW TODAY
4/1: Sam is hosting solo today and his guests are Iddo Elam, Israeli refusenik who served time over his refusal to serve in the IDF, and Emma Janssen, writing fellow at The American Prospect, where she reports on anti-poverty policy, health, and political power.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
CNN Panel FLIPS OUT When Emma Vigeland Mentions Gaza Genocide
Hell yea. Go Emma. I wonder what that condescending joker has to say about Iran Air Flight 655.
Fox Host Throws Hegseth Under The Bus For Iran War Debacle
Clock’s ticking.
PARTING WORDS
“I was scared and I thought: ‘What a mafia. But they will not break us.’”
-- Francesca Albanese, legal expert and UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories, describing her reaction when she first learned that Trump had sanctioned her for calling the genocide in Palestine what it is. Among other financial punishments, the Trump regime has blocked Albanese and her family from their property in Washington, DC and banks have frozen Albanese’s accounts. According to Politico, “Transactions involving her are stopped because intermediaries, such as Stripe, are American. Her health insurance has halted payments. Hotels have canceled bookings in her name.” Albanese’s husband and 13-year-old eldest daughter are challenging the sanctions today in a District of Columbia court on free-speech grounds. Under UN rules, Albanese may not bring suit herself.
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