Trump Throws Pete Hegseth Under the Bus as Iran War Spirals

President Trump is already trying to throw Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth under the bus for the fruitless war on Iran.

“I called Pete, I called General Caine, I called a lot of our great people … and I said, ‘Let’s talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country … that for 47 years has been a purveyor of terror. And they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon. We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55 and 60, there’s no end. Or we could take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East, and eliminate a big problem,’” Trump said Monday at an event in Memphis.

“Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up,” Trump continued. “And you said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”

“Hegseth about to give his next briefing from under the bus,” liberal podcaster Jon Favreau wrote on X.

This quick comment is magnified by the chaos of Monday morning, which saw Trump announcing a five-day pause on bombing Iranian energy sites while claiming that he was close to a deal with the Iranian government. The Iranian government then denied speaking to him in any capacity at all, sparking rumors that Trump was engaging in market manipulation. And if the war is going as badly as it appears to be, Hegseth may be in trouble.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to upend laws allowing ballots to be counted after Election Day amid President Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting, according to the Associated Press.

Members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed skeptical Monday while hearing arguments for a case from Mississippi, where an appellate court had struck down a law allowing ballots to be counted so long as they are postmarked on Election Day, and arrive within five days.

Thirteen other states, including New York, California, and Texas, as well as the District of Columbia, have similar laws. An affirmative ruling could also impact states’ collection of ballots from Americans overseas.

Justice Samuel Alito fretted that “a big stash of ballots” could arrive late and “radically” flip the results of an election. Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart, who was defending the law, observed that no one has been able to furnish a single case of fraud due to the delayed arrival of mail-in ballots. Justice Neil Gorsuch worried about a slippery slope in which votes could be counted up until a new Congress was sworn in.

Meanwhile, the liberal justices appeared to support the law allowing for votes to be counted after Election Day. Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that prompting states to alter their vote-counting procedures just a few months before the midterm elections could cause “confusion and disenfranchisement.”

“The people who should decide this issue are not the courts, but Congress, the states and Congress,” she said.

Justice Elena Kagan claimed that arguments forbidding the counting of late ballots could threaten absentee ballots and early voting—which seemed to concern Chief Justice John Roberts, the court’s conservative member most likely to side with his liberal colleagues.

The ruling is scheduled to be delivered in June, just a few months before the midterm elections that could see Republicans lose their grip on the House and Senate. The Trump administration is taking extensive efforts to limit voting power, including pushing for a law that would make it harder for many married women to vote. Meanwhile, anti-voting activists are circulating an unconstitutional executive order draft that could allow the president to hijack the country’s electoral systems ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violently arrested a woman at an airport just one day after President Donald Trump called for them to help fill TSA staffing gaps.

Video of the incident on Sunday night showed two plainclothes agents dragging a sobbing woman away inside a boarding area of San Francisco International Airport. The reason for her arrest was not officially stated, and the agents refused to identify themselves or show an official badge. Meanwhile, airport authorities surrounded the agents to protect them while they kidnapped the woman—as a young girl traveling with her stood behind them crying during the arrest.

“I don’t know who you are!” one bystander shouted. “You could be someone kidnapping her!” yelled another.

Airport spokesman Doug Yakel insisted that the violent arrest had no relation to Trump’s directive.

“We understand federal officers were transporting two individuals on an outbound flight when this incident occurred,” he wrote in an email, perhaps including the little girl. “We believe this is an isolated incident and have no reason to suspect broader enforcement action at SFO.... We were not involved in or notified in advance of this incident. Airport operations continued without disruption, and there was no impact to flights or passenger processing.”

“I flew into San Francisco at 10pm last night & we got stuck on the tarmac for 30 minutes because of a ‘security’ issue. Can’t imagine it was anything other than this,” Utah State Senator Nate Blouin wrote on X. “Trump making things worse for travelers to target our neighbors. Gas prices up. Global safety down. Idiotic.”

Trump on Monday encouraged ICE agents to continue arresting people while deployed inside airports. “They’re now able to arrest illegals as they come into the country,” Trump said. “It’s very fertile territory.”

Even if this is an isolated event that has nothing to do with Trump’s ICE directive, it makes the fear attached to it a reality.

Donald Trump claimed Monday that the U.S. and Iran had moved toward a resolution to the American president’s disastrous war—but Israel is still dropping bombs.

Trump claimed Monday that U.S. officials had held productive conversations with Iranian officials and that he’d issued a five-day pause on strikes against their power plants and energy infrastructure.

Less than 40 minutes after Trump’s Truth Social post, however, the Israeli Air Force announced that it had launched a new wave of strikes in Tehran “targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime.” Al Jazeera’s Suhaib al-Asa reported that Israel’s latest large-scale attacks on Tehran were “unprecedented,” and many densely populated residential and commercial neighborhoods were struck.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has not otherwise responded to Trump’s statements, hinting that these attacks may be the message itself.

Trump had threatened Sunday to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz did not reopen soon. Iran responded, warning that it would “irreversibly destroy” essential infrastructure, like energy and desalination facilities, across the Middle East if the U.S. struck.

It’s unclear how seriously one should take Trump’s claim that the U.S. is moving toward a “complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry claimed there had been “no dialogue” between Tehran and Washington, and there is some speculation that Trump’s well-timed announcement was an attempt at market manipulation.

President Trump is insisting that the U.S. and Iran have had extensive ceasefire talks—with 15 points of agreement, even—while the Iranian government claims the exact opposite.

On Monday morning, just hours before markets opened, the president announced a five-day postponement of U.S. strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure. “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” he wrote on Truth Social. 

But Iran’s foreign ministry quickly denied the news and claimed that there has been “no dialogue” between the two countries, with one top official adding that Trump “retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” When questioned about Iran’s response later on Monday morning, Trump stuck to his story. 

“Mr. President, Iran’s foreign ministry says you’re not telling the truth when it comes to productive conversations to end the war,” a reporter asked Trump on the tarmac.

“Well, they’re gonna have to get themselves better public relations people. We have had very, very strong talks. We’ll see where they lead. We have major points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement. Perhaps that hasn’t been conveyed, their communication as you know has been blown to pieces. They’re unable to talk to each other,” Trump replied. “But we’ve had very strong talks. Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner had them. They went … perfectly. I would say that if they carry through with that it’ll end that problem, that conflict.”  

“Who is Steve Witkoff speaking with, Mr. President?” 

“A top person. Don’t forget, we wiped out the leadership, phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we’re dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected, and the leader,” Trump said, refusing to name this mystery person inside Iran.

“Is that the supreme leader?” a reporter followed up, referring to the new Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“No, not the supreme leader,” Trump replied. “We have not heard from the son. Every once in a while you’ll see a statement made, but we haven’t—we don’t know if he’s living. But the people that seem to be running it … have taken place.” 

“Can you say who that is? Why not?”

“Because I don’t want them to be killed.” 

“You said there’s many points of agreement with Iran right now. Can you give us a couple of those?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins later asked.

“Many, like 15 points. Fifteen points.... They’re not gonna have a nuclear weapon, that’s number one. That’s number one, two, and three. They will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump replied. 

“They’ve said yes to that?” 

“They’ve agreed to that,” Trump replied.

Iran has publicly stated for decades that it does not want a nuclear weapon. And in response to Trump’s latest claims, the Iranian government has said no diplomacy is even happening. If they are, the presence of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner certainly doesn’t inspire confidence. 

No one is happy about Donald Trump’s decision to use Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to help run airport security.  

ICE agents were deployed Monday to at least 13 airports across the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and all three New York City airports. Rather than simply agree to pay Transportation Security Administration workers, who are facing their second missed paycheck amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, Trump announced Saturday that he would dispatch federal immigration agents to manage growing lines at airports across the country. 

But it seems that even Trump knows that ICE agents’ presence at U.S. airports is a bad look: He asked federal officers on Monday not to wear face masks while “helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports.” ICE officers’ masks have been a sticking point in negotiations with Democrats. 

ICE officials have been scrambling to meet the president’s demands. White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday that ICE agents would assist with security and crowd control and check IDs but they would not operate x-ray machines. When asked how planning was going, Homan replied, “How much of a plan does it mean to guard an exit to make sure no one comes through that exit?”

While it typically takes four to six months to train a TSA worker, there are no legal training requirements for checkpoint screeners. “But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea,” former TSA administrator John Pistole told Axios. “If I’m getting on a flight tomorrow, I want to know that the people doing the screening are qualified, that it’s not their first day on the job.”

But ICE agents charged with crowd control aren’t off the clock from immigration enforcement. 

Speaking to CNN, Homan wouldn’t rule out making arrests. “We do immigration enforcement at airports all the time. So it’s not going to change,” he said. In a post on Truth Social Saturday, Trump had specifically directed agents to arrest undocumented immigrants with a “heavy emphasis on those from Somalia.”

Republicans privately aren’t thrilled about ICE agents patrolling airport lines, Punchbowl News reported. 

“It’s not ICE’s mission to be there,” Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters on Sunday, warning the agency’s presence could bring “additional tension” to an already strained environment. 

“It’s a mess,” another Republican senator told Punchbowl News. “No one is quite sure what’s going on.”

Florida Senator Rick Scott lamented that Trump didn’t have a choice, but said he was still concerned about ICE’s participation. “It’s frustrating, because it won’t be as good as somebody that’s trained as a TSA agent. So our airports are not going to be as safe,” Scott said.

Democrats publicly condemned the decision to dispatch federal immigration agents to help TSA. 

“This is really disturbing,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “ICE agents who are untrained and have caused problems everywhere they’ve gone, lurking at our airports. That’s asking for trouble, and it will certainly make the chaos at the airports even worse.”

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal labeled the decision “one of the biggest potential self-inflicted wounds for this administration.” 

Punchbowl News reported, however, that some Democrats are privately thrilled that Trump’s disastrous decision could sow more dissent, as the partial government shutdown drags into its sixth week. 

President Trump’s supposed five-day postponement of strikes on Iranian power plants may very well be a ploy to manipulate the markets in his favor amid skyrocketing oil prices.

“I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social, adding that the U.S. would not strike Iranian power plants or energy infrastructure for the next five days.

The announcement came just two hours before U.S. stock markets opened, and the supposed halt in strikes will end at the end of the energy sector trading week. The decision caused previously skyrocketing oil prices to dip significantly.

However, an Iranian official told Fars News Agency that Iran’s government had “no direct contact with Trump, not even through intermediaries. Trump retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry also told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency that there are no talks between the two countries. This raises serious doubts as to whether the president is telling the truth or just saying whatever he can to stop gas prices from rising more and more as Iran locks down the Strait of Hormuz.

The Kobeissi Letter detailed how Trump’s announcement sent shock waves through the stock market. “At 7:04 AM ET today, President Trump said ‘the US and Iran have had productive discussions’ to end the Iran War. By 7:10 AM ET, the S&P 500 surged +240 points adding +$2 TRILLION in market cap,” the analysis noted. “27 minutes later, Iran completely denied all of President Trump’s claims and said there has been ‘no contact’ with the US. By 8:00 AM ET. the S&P 500 had fallen -120 points erasing -$1 trillion in market cap. That’s a $3 TRILLION swing market cap in 56 minutes, just in the S&P 500. What is happening here?”

The likely attempt at market manipulation only further solidifies doubts that Trump can reopen the Strait of Hormuz, pummel Iran into submission, or win the war he started. We should expect more bombs—at the very least—next week.

“Every week, when markets open, Trump makes these kinds of statements to drive down oil prices. Even his five-day deadline aligns with the closure of the energy market,” Iranian academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, who is closely linked to the government, wrote on X. “But in reality, there are no negotiations underway, nor does Trump have the capability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s firm threat has once again forced Trump to back down.”

Donald Trump has claimed that Democrats are responsible for the long lines at airports, but the president just rejected a deal that would fund the Transportation Security Administration.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune approached Trump Sunday with a plan for Republicans to agree to fund all agencies under the banner of the Department of Homeland Security, with the exception of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, senators and aides told Punchbowl News. TSA workers are facing their second missed paycheck this week, as the partial government shutdown enters its sixth week.

Thune planned to handle ICE funding in reconciliation instead, sidestepping Democrats’ requests for certain reforms, like banning face masks for federal agents and requiring judicial warrants to enter homes. Some Senate Republicans and White House aides had urged Thune to take the deal to the president.

But Trump rejected the deal, multiple sources told Punchbowl News. He wanted Republicans to stay in Washington and keep fighting with Democrats over DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, Republicans’ disastrous voter ID bill that now features other clauses on banning men in women’s sports and “transgender mutilation surgery.” The president warned that any Republican who left town would become his next target.

In a post on Truth Social Sunday, Trump wrote that he wasn’t interested in making a deal with Democrats “unless, and until” they vote to support the SAVE America Act. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate,” Trump added.

Republicans have repeatedly blamed Democrats for the ongoing shutdown and the chaos it’s caused at airport security lines, but they have voted multiple times to block funding essential agencies under DHS.

Trump ordered ICE agents to deploy at airports Monday in order to assist with security lines, a move that is sure to sow even more chaos, not less.

After four weeks of useless threats, bombings, and death, President Trump is placing a five-day pause on his war on Iran after failing to attain the “unconditional surrender” that he claimed he would earlier this month.

“I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social. The announcement came just two hours before U.S. stock markets opened, and Trump noted the pause in strikes will last the duration of the trading week. The decision caused previously skyrocketing oil prices to dip significantly.

“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” Trump continued.

This move—at least somewhat of a surrender—will surely anger Israelis and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and war hawks like Senator Tom Cotton.

However, an Iranian official told Fars News Agency that Iran’s government had “no direct contact with Trump, not even through intermediaries. Trump retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” This directly contradicts Trump’s claim and raises serious doubts as to whether the president is telling the truth or just saying whatever he can to stop gas prices from rising more and more as Iran locks down the Strait of Hormuz.

“Every week, when markets open, Trump makes these kinds of statements to drive down oil prices. Even his five-day deadline aligns with the closure of the energy market,” Iranian academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, who is closely linked to the government, wrote on X. “But in reality, there are no negotiations underway, nor does Trump have the capability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s firm threat has once again forced Trump to back down.”

When Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was elected in 2023, the Democratic Party thought it might have a new kind of leader. The gruff, hoodie-wearing Fetterman was able to win over the working class in the country’s most important swing state and defeat his Republican challenger, Mehmet Oz, despite suffering a stroke in the middle of the campaign.

As it turns out, the Democratic establishment was right—just not in the way they thought.

Since Fetterman’s election, his net approval with Pennsylvania Democrats has dropped 108 points, from +68 in 2023 to -40 in 2026, as CNN’s Harry Enten reported Friday.

“He’s down there with the Titanic,” Enten said. “There’s no historical analog to his unpopularity.”

Fetterman’s unpopularity is easily explained: Since taking office, he has drifted hard to the right, for reasons largely unknown. He is often the lone Democrat who votes alongside the GOP, for instance when he voted to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security in February or to advance GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin’s nomination for secretary of homeland security out of committee last week. He is also probably the most vocally pro-Israel Democrat in the Senate.

It’s a stark change for a politician who formerly championed progressive causes.

Enten noted that Fetterman’s popularity among his own party is worse than that of every single sitting senator who lost a primary this century. He will certainly be a target for replacement when the Pennsylvania Senate primaries occur in 2028.