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Tuesday, March 31, 2026

My Wish Has Been Granted!

 


Friends, just when you were sure you were living in "the best of times", they go and get even better!  For one thing, I asked for "more kings", and it turns out that Britain's King Charles III is about to arrive for a state visit.  Marvelous!  Will he shower DJT with titles, awards, and fawning praise?  I can only assume he will.  Might DJT crown himself emperor to mark the occasion and one-up his regal visitor?  Could be!  Let's cling to hope, shall we?

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w3dpgjzj8o 

 

But there's more!!!  Eric Trump has unveiled plans for the Trump Presidential Library in Miami, which looks less like a library and more like an opulent futuristic skyscraper.  I know I would enjoy visiting it someday.  Of course, if the Dems have their way, after he leaves office Trump will be locked away in a Supermax prison, but that's only if they get their grubby mits on the White House again, and I trust my fellow Americans won't let that happen.  Well, I hope they won't!

 

https://x.com/EricTrump/status/2038773279788331022 

Sunday, March 29, 2026

More Kings, Please!

 


Friends, in the wake of the latest "No Kings" protests, only one conclusion is possible: a Trumpian monarchy would be infinitely preferable to any "democracy" that empowered the sort of people who attend No Kings rallies.  I jest (or do I?), but they were a sorry bunch.  Good natured, for the most part, but entirely captive to a series of delusions (of the sort spoon-fed to elderly white liberals on certain "news" networks that need not be named).  Ah well.  That's the American way: we're free to trumpet our ignorance to our hearts' content!  Luckily, these protests will have precisely zero impact on the governance of the country, although the midterms are a different story, and the sheer energy the Left is manifesting could be consequential there.

 

https://nypost.com/2026/03/28/us-news/no-kings-protests-turn-violent-as-unruly-mob-waving-palestinian-flags-hurl-cement-blocks-at-dhs-agents/ 

 

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2026/03/28/the-no-kings-protests-were-even-more-insane-than-you-wouldve-thought-n2673597 

 

In other news, President Trump is talking openly about limited special operations missions inside Iran, and about seizing control of Kharg Island, which would effectively give the U.S. control over Iran's oil exports.  Of course, arguably U.S. naval dominance already gives us control over, well, everyone's oil exports, to the extent that we choose to exercise said control.  The sooner the Iranians figure this out, the better!  Now, is all this talk of boots on the ground mere gamemanship that is designed to get the Iranians to concede more in negotiations?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Quite possibly even Trump doesn't know the answer, as yet.

 

 https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8jke9v9xv9t

 

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-middle-east-news-updates?st=4ZFkzJ 

Friday, March 27, 2026

Lèse-Majesté

 


Friends, if the legions of protestors tomorrow are to be believed (a big "if"), then our country has already achieved the pinacle of perfection: we've made the great and glorious Donald J. Trump our King-Emperor, and thus we've left democracy in our regal dust.  Oh, if only it were so!  The powers of President Trump seem all too limited, from what I can tell.  He doesn't even command respect, let alone obedience.  Be that as it may, I wish the lefties a pleasant day of kvetching, which is surely their favorite pastime. 

 

Meanwhile, President Trump is trying to solve problems created by Democrats, as per usual.  He's ordered that TSA agents should be paid, despite the partial government shutdown.  Can he do that?  Probably not, since liberal judges won't let him do anything, but I applaud him for making the effort!

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/03/27/no-kings-protest-trump-iran/89331992007/ 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33l4j03kr3o 

Gloomy Gus

 


Friends, don't get me wrong: DJT is always a ray of sunshine, but I, on the other hand, sometimes get despondent about our country's future, especially when I consider the political resilience of the Democrats, who ought to have been consigned to the dustbin of history a long, long time ago.  Well, they haven't been.  In fact, they're prospering, thanks to the, uhh, resilence of TDS!  And that's the subject of my latest article.

 

Democrats Think They're Winning – and, Sadly, They're Right!


There's no question that the ongoing U.S./Israeli campaign against Iran has opened some fissures in the conservative/MAGA movement, and that in itself is something to concern those who wish President Trump well, but a more troubling and possibly long-lasting realignment is happening concurrently: leftists and Democrats are reviving, despite the fact that we left them for dead in the wake of the 2024 election. Their squabbles are long forgotten, as the Trump haters find common purpose in – what else? – hating Trump.

Witness, first of all, the steady drumbeat of anti-Trump coverage in the mainstream media and on social media, exemplified in uniquely horrifying fashion by the tendency of the talking heads to root openly for Iran in the present conflict, and to portray the noble efforts of President Trump and the U.S. military to bring down the mullahs as aggression, inhumanity, and pure stupidity. Whether this incessant calumny has any relationship to the facts or not, it is having a cumulative effect: Trump's approval ratings are drifting down, and the Democrats' advantage in generic ballot polls is gradually increasing. A point here and a point there may not seem like much, and the President's base remains broadly enthusiastic, but no one can question that Trump and Republicans are in a steadily weakening political position. The Left's lies, including its damned lies, are having an effect.

Second, it's getting increasingly hard to ignore the trend in special elections, which is almost uniformly favorable to Democrats, and not in a subtle way. Democrats routinely outperform the results they obtained in 2024 in these special elections by 15 or 20 points. That's a lot! Republicans even lost in Trump's “backyard”, as the Dems love to point out, in a race for a Florida House seat in an area that includes Mar-a-Lago. Ouch! Meanwhile, Republican-held state legislative seats in Texas, Iowa, Mississippi, Georgia, New Hampshire, and elsewhere have turned blue, and emphatically so. The Democrats think the momentum is on their side, and there's very little evidence in the results of these special elections to contradict them.

Lastly, money makes the world go 'round, and politics even more so. The Democrats and leftists aren't just taking to the streets in their millions, shaking their fists at “King Trump” – they're also putting their money where their big, obnoxious mouths are. Contributions are pouring into special election campaigns and into the coffers of liberal candidates running in the midterms. The Democrats have become, lest anyone forget, the party of the well-heeled, and they are, as a result, tapping into an almost inexhaustible reservoir of financial support. They have massively outspent us in most recent election cycles, and they may well do so again in 2026, especially when dark money is factored in.

It is worth remembering that President Trump and Republicans face these severe headwinds despite the fact that the U.S. economy is basically sound, inflation low, and the markets buoyant. What would happen if, say, the market tanked, or unemployment rose, or inflation heated up? How hard would it be to revive GOP fortunes then? An economic slowdown, moreover, is looking increasingly possible, according to economists.

The solutions to these challenges are by no means apparent, but one thing is for sure: the Democrats and leftists cannot be written off as perennial losers, and they cannot be depended on to sink their own ship. On the contrary, we should recognize that President Trump's victory in 2024 came despite the inherent and broad-based strength of the Democratic Party and the Left, with all their ingrained advantages and prodigious institutional and popular support. To hold on to the House of Representatives in November (not to mention the Senate, which is looking increasingly shaky), it will take wise decisions from the President and his top lieutenants, as well as a maximum effort from Republicans, conservatives, and the MAGA movement. Even then, we may fall short.

That's just the sad, unvarnished truth.


Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is a history professor at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmakers show on WLEA/WYSL.

 

And here it is at World Net Daily:

 

https://www.wnd.com/2026/03/democrats-think-theyre-winning-sadly-theyre-right/  

 

***

 

In other news, Senate Republicans are considering the use of another reconciliation bill to get the DHS funded, possibly pass a version of the SAVE Act, and otherwise advance the GOP agenda.  I think this is an excellent idea, as getting the dastardly Dems to support anything common sensical, or even vaguely sensical, is a lost cause.  Reconciliation bills only require a simple majority.  I say: get on with it!

 

https://rollcall.com/2026/03/24/in-the-senate-thune-resurrects-idea-of-reconciliation/ 

 

Finally, in a first for any U.S. president, Donald Trump's signature will soon be appearing on our paper money!  Wow.  Perhaps Trump believes this will cause all Americans to think of him with reverence and gratitude every time they spend money.  Fat chance of that!  Still, I have no problem with Trump's signature, likeness, or shoe size appearing on U.S. dollars, and we might also consider appending a short message mocking the Democrats on every bill too.  Why the heck not???

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0el909yp3o 

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Sue Their (Digital) Pants Off?

 


Friends, while I've not been among the biggest fans of social media empires like Meta and Google, I find today's ruling by a jury in Los Angeles troubling.  It found Instagram and YouTube liable for a young woman's mental illness, on the theory that the addictive nature of social media platforms is psychologically damaging.  Well, no doubt that's true, but the addictive nature of almost anything, from booze to BMWs to badminton to banana bread, can be damaging, if one indulges too much.  If you ask me, anyone who uses social media excessively has done injury to themselves, and personal responsibility ought to be the operative principle here, not entitlement and self-pity.  I suppose reasonable people might disagree about these matters, but consider this: if this ruling stands, it will be lawyers and judges who decide what the permissible parameters of social media will be, and do we really want THAT???

 

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026/03/25/jury-finds-meta-and-google-negligent-in-landmark-social-media-addiction-trial/ 

 

In other news, the UN has voted to name the transatlantic slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity".  A very timely decision, no?  I mean, otherwise, the slave trade could restart any day now!  Of course, the motivation for this ridiculous decision, which I'm happy to say that the United States opposed, was to justify open-ended reparations.  Luckily, resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly have no practical effect.  I must say, the sheer cheek in naming any one atrocity "the gravest" of all time is impressive.  As I understand it, the Afro-Middle Eastern slave trade actually took more lives, but who has even heard of it???  What an unseemly spectacle these efforts to monetize historical grievances are.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg06q36052o 

 

According to President Trump, Iran is about ready to pull a Venezuela and give us everything we want.  Well, I'll believe it when I see it...  The truth may be that, at this stage, no one is in firm control of Iran, and concessions granted by some could easily be undermined by others.  That is to say, our destabilization of the country may make a clean resolution to the present conflict difficult to achieve.  Always be careful what you wish for!

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/03/24/trump_new_leaders_of_iran_are_gonna_make_a_deal_they_gave_us_a_present_--_a_very_significant_prize.html 

 

Finally, those of us who support President Trump's efforts to facilitate regime change in Iran are understandably frustrated by the pro-Iranian propaganda that fills the mainstream media to overflowing.  Be that as it may, you can't deny that the Trump haters have had a certain measure of success in convincing the public that this operation has been a failure and that it endangers American lives, and the global economy, needlessly.  Trump's approval numbers have ticked down, and in fact they've been falling (gracefully) more or less since the outset of his second term.  This trend naturally does not reflect the quality of his leadership or the objective reality of political and economic conditions, so much as the accumulated weight of anti-Trump narratives in the media and social media.  We conservatives have utterly failed to intimidate our enemies, and we have also utterly failed to transform the media and social media landscape, by hook or by crook.  In short, we've left a giant machine in operation that wants nothing more (and nothing less) than to convince as many people as possible to hate, hate, hate Donald Trump all day, every day.  It's working, albeit not as much as the Left would like.  If we're not very careful, therefore, the second Trump Administration will follow much the same arc as the first, and the strains imposed by unpopularity will create something of a doom loop from which Trump and his top lieutenants will find it hard to escape.  I know this is a depressing way to look at it, and I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong, but this is where prevailing trends seem to be taking us, in my estimation.  And this, I hasten to add, is all within the context of an economy that is generally strong.  If the economy goes south, things get even bleaker!

 

https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/approval-rating 

Monday, March 23, 2026

Victory is Nigh?

 


Friends, it's not easy to make sense of all the mixed signals coming out of the White House, but it appears that Trump and Co. are talking to...someone in Iran's government, and it appears we like what we're hearing.  Trump implies that forces in Iran are prepared to do business with us and achieve a sort of regime change by proxy, as we did in Venezuela (?).  That could be an ambiguous result to the present conflict, as indeed our achievement in Venezuela was and is, but it could also be a way out of the current impasse.  We've always known that we need the cooperation of elements of Iran's security forces and bureaucracy to, well, Make Iran Great Again.  What we don't want is to be hoodwinked by mullahs in sheep's clothing...  Stay tuned!

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/03/23/trump_strait_of_hormuz_will_be_jointly_controlled_by_me_and_the_next_ayatollah_whoever_that_is.html 

 

In other news, Americans are growing more and more skeptical of the value of a college education, although the numbers of young people attending college are not exactly plummeting.  If you ask me, the skepticism is justified, but it's very hard to make generalizations about the value of higher ed, since every college is different, every major degree is different, and the shape of the job market is changing moment to moment.  I would say that anyone contemplating a college education should think long and hard about where, and how, and what is a reasonable price point.  Better yet, get rick quick and avoid the rat race!!!  That's the gold standard of career advice...

 

https://tippinsights.com/college-education-flunks-out-by-more-than-2-to-1-voters-say-its-not-worth-it-i-i-tipp-poll/ 

Sunday, March 22, 2026

Winding Sideways?

 


Friends, President Trump is talking about "winding down" our offensive against Iran, at the same time as U.S. forces continue to pour into the region, threats between Trump and Iran are flying freely, and the regime of the mullahs shows no signs of evaporating.  It's hard to know what the future portends, but the economic impacts of the war will only increase with time.  A number of countries have signaled their willingness to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but only under favorable conditions, whatever those might be.  I say: good luck reading all these tea leaves, but listening in to this week's Newsmakers broadcast would certainly boost your global affairs I.Q. by 100% or more!

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-floats-winding-down-iran-war-as-strikes-continue/ar-AA1Z6E7m 

 

https://wysl.podbean.com/e/newsmakers-3-21-26/ 

 

In other news, Elon Musk has kindly offered to pay the salaries of TSA agents, who are being stiffed by the dastardly Dems, who refuse to fund DHS.  What a nice guy!  I would take him up on it, although I suppose making those despicable Democratic lawmakers wait in long lines at the airport would be a decent interim solution, too.

 

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2035306094281855336?s=46 

 

There's another "No Kings" day of rallies coming next Saturday, so prepare for anti-monarchists to pillage your town or city!  As you all know, I love Republicans, but I have no patience for republicans (scum, every one of them!!!).  Punctuation makes all the difference.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/03/22/video-robert-de-niro-pushes-no-kings-leftists-to-take-to-the-streets-against-mentally-ill-tyrant-trump/ 

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Calculated Risk

 


Friends, let's be clear: Iran is retaliating against Israel and America's attacks mainly by striking back against...the whole world, not its battlefield foes.  What I mean is that Iran is doing its best, not just to pepper the whole region with missile and drone strikes, but also to close the Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic, thus dealing a body blow to the global economy.  And yet, somehow, most of the world doesn't mind at all.  In fact, it roots for Iran, just to spite the Zionists and MAGA!  Well, that's pretty dumb, but I would also like to draw your attention to an important fact: the Strait is not completely closed, and, to the extent it is, that is only because most of the world knows that, for weeks if not months, it can dispense with Gulf oil without serious consequence.  If the world was desperate for what the Middle East has to offer, after all, NATO, Japan, China, et al. would be helping us open the Strait.  I mean, it would be suicidal for them to do anything else.  The fact that they aren't tells us that all the handwringing over this "war" is mostly for show, at least at this stage.  I conclude that the Strait is only "closed" because, right now, no one minds greatly that it is.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4geg0eeyjeo 

 

Want more cogent analysis of our hostilities with Iran?  Listen in to the "Fourth Box" podcast, featuring Yours Truly as honored guest!

 

https://rumble.com/v770a3a-history-professor-nick-waddy-on-the-war-in-iran.html 

 

Finally, now that DJT has made us all rich (thanks to strong economic growth and a buoyant stock market), we can throw a bit of our filthy lucre at the upcoming Trump coin...in gold, no less!  Of course, any image of Trump has a value that's beyond price...

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywxvgynr2o 

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Degrading the Degraded

 


Friends, today our Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, assured us that, while the Iranian theocratic regime remains "intact", it has been "largely degraded" by the furious pace of Israeli and U.S. airstrikes.  Well, I should think so!  We're aiming, of course, not merely to degrade this odious dictatorship, but to overthrow it, and in that regard we have to be disappointed at this stage of the operation.  Regime opponents haven't risen up and seized control of even a small part of the country.  I remain hopeful that they will, but we have to face the possibility, even the probability, that, when we wind down our offensive, the mullahs will still be in power.  That would stink, but we can, and probably should, look on the bright side: Iran's capacity to be a regional nuisance (and worse!) will be substantially reduced, one way or another.  Perhaps this is why Trump supporters, conservatives, and Republicans remain broadly supportive of U.S. operations against Iran.  There is much talk in the mainstream media of MAGA fissures due to Trump's "aggression", but the reality is that Democrats are much more divided over the "war", if indeed we can call it that, than Republicans are.  Many Democrats are big supporters of Israel, and enemies of Islamic fundamentalism, so it's not surprising that they might be skeptical of the doomsaying going on in the media and in elite leftist circles.  Anyway, I expect the political impact of the fighting in the Middle East to be largely transitory.  A month from now, I feel confident that the airstrikes will be over, and either we'll be dealing with a new Iranian leadership, or we'll be dealing with the tottering remains of the old one.  Either way, the world, and America, and Trump, can get back to business as usual.  Of course, what is "normalcy" these days???

 

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2026/03/18/dni-tulsi-gabbard-iranian-regime-appears-to-be-intact-but-largely-degraded/ 

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/03/17/tremendously-popular-polls-maga-gop-overwhelmingly-back-trumps-iran-op-epic-fury/ 

Thursday, March 12, 2026

An Inferno of Their Own Making

 


Friends, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is pretty excited about the fact that it was able to set fire to two oil tankers transporting Iraqi oil, but it should think twice, in my humble opinion.  First, because the only reason Iraq is striking third parties, like Iraq and the Gulf States, is because its ability to kill Americans and Israelis, and to do serious damage to our militaries and infrastructure, is basically nil.  It's striking the only targets available to it, therefore.  The other reason why Iran should be careful what it wishes for, when it launches these scattershot attacks, is that, while the Western media may celebrate every time an Iranian missile finds its target, because our brave journalists hate Trump a whole lot more than any Ayatollah, the Iraqis, and the Qataris, and the Kuwaitis, and the Saudis feel rather differently.  They're the ones with missiles raining down on their heads!  The Iranians are doing a pretty fine job, therefore, of justifying our "aggression" against them.  What's more, as long as they keep firing missiles and drones, they oblige us to continue our efforts to suppress them, meaning no rest for the mullahs!  Ergo, I would advise the Iranian hardliners to enjoy the little fires they manage to light out in the Gulf, because they will be dwarfed by the massive conflagrations that we unleash in their backyard.  Take that! 

 

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/03/12/dramatic-explosions-as-iran-attacks-oil-tankers-in-persian-gulf/ 

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Saving the SAVE Act?

 


Friends, John Cornyn, who is in the fight of his life to hang on to his Senate seat, has just made a big about-face: he's decided he will accept limits on the filibuster in order to get the SAVE Act passed, which would mandate voter ID throughout the country.  Will this dramatic turn of events save the SAVE Act?  Not necessarily, because overturning the filibuster is darn tough, but maybe the Republican Senate can finesse the issue, i.e. keep the filibuster but drill a few more holes in it?  We shall see.  One thing is fairly clear: Cornyn's real objective is to save himself...from Ken Paxton, his formidable challenger.  Paxton has cannily offered to concede the primary election to Cornyn if the SAVE Act gains Senate passage.  Now, would the bill have the sweeping implications for U.S. elections that Republicans and Democrats seem to assume it would?  I mean, the GOP acts as if the bill is a magic bullet that can eliminate fraud and basically kneecap the Democratic Party.  The Dems, by contrast, talk as though the bill will make it virtually impossible for women and minorities to vote.  Voter ID has done nothing of the kind anywhere that it's been passed, but no matter.  I suspect both parties are engaging in more than a little hyperbole, but the only way to know for sure is...to pass the bill!  Why not?  It would be a fun experiment!

 

https://nypost.com/2026/03/11/opinion/sen-cornyn-why-the-save-act-matters-more-than-the-filibuster/ 

Monday, March 9, 2026

The Supreme Leader is Dead -- Long Live the Supreme Leader!

 


Friends, I'm sure we all wish nothing but the best for Iran's new "Supreme Leader", Mojtaba Khamenei!  May his reign be as glorious as it is brief.  All kidding aside, U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran's leadership and high value military sites are going great, so much so that DJT claims that our "short-term excursion" there is nearly finished, but I must say what I haven't seen are mass demonstrations against the regime, OR any cities falling to the resistance, OR major elements of the security forces defecting to the opposition and pleding their fealty to the Shah, or Trump, or any figure of equivalent marvelousness.  Long story short: the regime of the mullahs remains very much intact, and so the time for gloating has not yet come.  President Trump, please take note!

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwykdn0yn4wo 

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/03/09/trump-says-iran-war-is-nearly-complete/ 

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Winter is Here!

 


Friends, although lefties and elitist insiders assume that everything Trump does is motivated by greed, arrogance, or stupidity, I take the President at his word that the purpose of our strikes against Iran is to allow the Persian people to rise up and reclaim their freedom and their sovereignty from fundamentalist tyrants.  Will it work?  That's hard to say, but it's one of the main topics on this week's Newsmakers show.  Don't miss out!  Brian and I also discuss relations with Venezuela, tariff refunds, the vacuity of leftist claims that we live in a "dictatorship", the harm that illegal immigration does throughout the Americas, the upcoming Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros., and more!

 

https://wysl.podbean.com/e/newsmakers-3-7-26/ 

Thursday, March 5, 2026

ICE Barbie Goes Back in Her Box

 


Friends, today we got the disappointing news that President Trump has decided to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.  I figured it was a bad sign when Trump failed to single out Noem for praise at the State of the Union.  Sometimes I hate being right all the time...  Well, why am I disappointed?  Because every retreat that Trump makes confirms in the minds of Democrats and lefties that they are winning.  Because Trump is naive if he thinks that changing personnel will mitigate the media's and the Left's utter disdain for his immigration policies.  Because Kristi Noem, although she isn't perfect, is basically a victim of her own success.  Crime has plummeted.  The border is secure.  We've deported and otherwise rid ourselves of three million illegal immigrants in one year.  By any objective measure, that's a pretty strong record for Donald Trump's DHS commandant.  But Noem's success made her a favorite target of lefties, and the fact that she's a physically attractive woman to boot -- well, that made her Public Enemy No. 1.  Okay, No. 2.  Anyway, does her firing signal a retreat from Trump's deportation strategy?  Let's hope not, because that really would be a crying shame.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2e4v7yvjx8o 

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

You Can't Please Everyone

 


Friends, good news: the U.S. Senate has declined to place limits on the authority of President Trump to use force against Iran.  Only one Republican -- Rand Paul -- voted to handcuff DJT, while only one Democrat -- John Fetterman -- voted to maintain the President's freedom of action.  Of course, none of these votes matter in practice, because any resolution requiring the President to disengage from hostilities would, we assume, be vetoed by that same president.  Still, it's significant that the Senate is willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, for now, since, according to polls, most Americans are not.  I personally take Trump at his word that there will be no extended "war" with Iran, and no U.S. occupation of Iran.  Instead, we are doing our best to facilitate a takeover of the country by secular, moderate elements, although whether such elements will emerge remains to be seen.

 

https://www.ms.now/news/trump-iran-war-powers-senate 

 

President Trump is greatly irritated by Spain's refusal to allow U.S. military forces based in that country to join in hostilities against Iran.  He has threatened, in fact, to place an embargo against all U.S. trade with Spain.  The Europeans naturally regard any such suggestion with horror, and they say that our trade deal with the EU precludes any such action.  Does it?  I dunno, but sooner or later I would advise President Trump to use his power to embargo other countries, because it would be a felicitous demonstration of his executive authority, especially in light of the Supreme Court's decision to impose burdensome restrictions on his ability to use tariffs.  An embargo, needless to say, is a heck of a lot more serious than a mere tariff, and, as long as President Trump retains the ability to embargo our adversaries, he will enjoy enormous leverage in our trade negotations with friend and foe alike.  If all he does is posture and vent, on the other hand, embargoes, or potential embargoes, will frighten no one.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93wwq1n542o 

Monday, March 2, 2026

Guns A-Blazin'!

 


Friends, U.S. and Israeli military power is making short work of the mighty Iranian Navy, pictured above back when it was afloat.  Indeed, our military operations are proving extremely successful, but it's the political piece of the puzzle that counts: the formation of an organized, viable opposition movement that can take control of the country and install a new government.  Of course, Rome wasn't built in a day...  Neither was Persepolis.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/03/02/centcom-tehrans-gulf-of-oman-fleet-wiped-out-zero-ships-remain-as-u-s-hits-1250-targets/ 

 

In other news, France is extending its nuclear umbrella, ambiguously but adamantly, over several of its European allies, in a gesture that underlines, as per usual, its pusillanimity.  It's unclear what France is promising to do, or if indeed it would even have the gumption to use nukes to defend itself, and it's extra unclear why this declaration matters when ALL the relevant countries are in NATO, and thus already enjoy a total security guarantee from every NATO member state, including the United States (and France).  Of course, to be fair to the French, NATO's strength and integrity, over the years, has been buttressed by the fact that no one has ever dared challenge it.  The same could be said for France's nuclear deterrent as well.  What we know for sure is that France, and every European country, refuses to deploy even conventional military forces, in miniscule amounts, to defend the people of Ukraine, who they regard as part and parcel of "the West", even if they lack membership in the EU or NATO.  Bottom line: the Europeans' record of fighting (and dying) for their sovereignty and their freedom, at least since 1945, doesn't bear much scrutiny.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4zlnezrl7o 

 

Finally, almost every poll, except this one, agrees that the dastardly Dems have the edge going into the midterms.  The margins matter a great deal, however.  If the Dems squeak by with a slim popular vote majority in the House, they might fail to capture the majority of seats.  If they win by 5 points or more, then even the Republican Senate could be in jeopardy.  Will Iran play a role in determining the outcome?  It's way too early to tell.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/03/02/poll-republicans-surge-in-general-ballot-move-closer-to-defying-history-of-congressional-midterms/