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Trump Touts 'Productive Conversations' with Iran, But They Deny It – The Monday AM Quickie 3/23/26

By Corey Pein —

Is it good luck or bad luck if a potentially valuable meteorite crashes through your roof and lands on your floor, hurting no one? I can imagine both sides. - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

Israelis Say US Marines Will Soon Invade Iran, But Trump Says He's Talking to Iran Again (Maybe)

Anonymous Israeli officials tell the Washington Post that the United States Marine Corps is preparing a ground invasion of Iran aimed at taking control of the Straight of Hormuz, the vital water corridor for global oil shipments. The latest deployment of thousands of US sailors and Marines includes "an infantry battalion landing team backed by helicopters, F-35 fighter jets and armored landing vehicles," the Post reports.

"'Those Marines aren’t coming for decoration,' said an Israeli official, one of several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence issues. ...
The new US deployment signals a plan 'to take the island and the strait,' the Israeli official said, referring to Kharg Island, Iran’s main hub for exporting petroleum. Doing so could enable the United States and Israel to starve Tehran of oil revenue and provide a political off-ramp for a president who, the Israeli official said, 'needs to show that the strait is open.'"

As Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday, the regime's muddled thinking seems to be that "sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate." Trump also gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the Straight or else the US military "will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" As Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey notes, "This would be a war crime."

In response, Iran vowed escalating strikes on civilian targets in response, saying "vital infrastructure as well as energy and oil infrastructure across the entire region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed" if Trump follows through on his threat, triggering global economic catastrophe.

Then last night, Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, postponing power plant strikes for five days. It's unclear what exactly transpired, but Trump cited "very good and productive conversations" with Iran that could yield "a complete and total resolution" to the war. But Iranian state news denies that there are any talks with Trump to end the war.

Security experts see a potential ground invasion as a prelude to a costly and deadly quagmire for the US, the Financial Times reports. One military official tells HuffPost that a ground invasion "would be 'an absolute disaster,'" adding, "We can't even fully defend a single land base in the theater."

Meanwhile in Israel, Iranian missiles struck towns in the southern Negev Desert on Saturday, wounding 175, and showing that Israel's defensive capabilities aren't all that, either.

ICE to 'Help' TSA at Airports Starting Today

Transportation Security Administration officers have been working for more than a month without full pay because of how Donald Trump has handled the Homeland Security shutdown. Long lines and delays have followed. Now Trump is using Democrats' demand for DHS reforms to rein in his army of ICE thugs to expand their anti-immigrant, anti-minority crackdown to America's airports. On Saturday, per the Associated Press, "Trump said ICE officers sent to airports would focus on arresting immigrants from Somalia who are in the United States illegally. Repeating his criticism on Somalis, he said they 'totally destroyed' Minnesota."

Trump has put "border czar" Tom Homan in charge of the airport ICE deployment. It's a bit unclear exactly what they'll be doing; Homan says they won't be assisting with TSA security screenings and will be doing "immigration enforcement." So this won't help with airport delays but will further spread fear throughout society. Per Politico, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says ICE at airports is "the last thing that the American people need ... potentially to brutalize or in some instances, kill them." He added, "We've already seen how ICE conducts itself." Indeed. Stay safe out there.

Russia Planned Hungary False Flag to Boost Orbán

In Hungary, authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces the prospect of defeat at the polls for the first time in 16 years in next month's elections. Orbán's regime has served as a model for Donald Trump, who endorsed his fascistic fellow traveler on Saturday in a video message played at a conservative political conference in Hungary. Orbán is also close to Aspiring Tsar Vladimir Putin, so much so that the European Union has cut Hungary off from confidential material because Orbán's regime keeps leaking it to the Kremlin, Politico reports.

Russia has sought to return the favor in spectacular fashion. As the Washington Post reports, Russia''s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, proposed a strategy they called "the Gamechanger" to keep Orbán in power. That strategy entailed "the staging of an assassination attempt" on Orbán to "shift the perception of the campaign out of the rational realm of socioeconomic questions into an emotional one." The plot was laid out in an internal SVR report "obtained and authenticated by a European intelligence service." Well, it probably won't work now... at least not in Hungary.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Republican California Sheriff Who Is Running for Governor Seizes 650,000 Ballots from Last November's Election Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta says there is no precedent for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's so-called investigation, adding that it is not "based on facts or evidence." via the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press.
  • Trump-Linked Lobbying Firm Inks $2 Million Deal with Libyan Warlord Meanwhile in Sudan, at least 64 people were killed, including 13 children, in a strike on a hospital in East Darfur, according to the World Health Organization. via the Washington Post and the New York Times.
  • Israeli Settlers Go on West Bank Rampage "Homes and cars were set ablaze, Palestinians were pepper-sprayed and at least five people were wounded in the overnight assaults, which took place during the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan." via the AP and the Guardian.
  • Socialist Emmanuel Gregoire Elected Mayor of Paris The expected far-right wave in municipal elections across France failed to materialize. via Politico, Le Monde, and the New York Times.       

SOME NUMBER

$225 million

That's how much has been spent so far in the midterm elections by outside super PACs not directly connected to any candidate. As the Washington Post reports, it's outside spending in this election cycle is already the most ever, and $74 million more than than the previous record in 2024.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

3/23: Sam will be hosting solo; the guest will be David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Dem Senator Asked If Schumer's Leadership Position Is Safe

Sam interviews Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

Trump Hatchetman Exposed As Total Batcrap Weirdo

I'd like a second source on the teleportation incident, personally.

PARTING WORDS

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

-- Donald Trump, celebrating the death of the former FBI director who investigated his ties to Russia in a Saturday Truth Social post.

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