I woke up this morning like most of you — no idea what had happened overnight. By the time I sat down to prep this live, the Middle East had already blown up again, and Donald Trump had already been humiliated on the world stage. Again.
Here’s where we stand: Iran fired ballistic missiles into Israel in response to Israeli strikes on the suburbs of Beirut — strikes that killed civilians, including children. Israel shot most of them down. Israel then hit military sites in Iran. Iran said it would stop firing if Israel stopped bombing Lebanon. Trump went on Truth Social and basically told everyone to knock it off. And then Israel hit Lebanon again anyway.
That’s it. That’s the story. The so-called leader of the free world issued a direct order to stand down, and the country that receives more U.S. military aid than any other on earth looked him in the face and ignored him.
Meanwhile our military is parked in the Strait of Hormuz doing essentially nothing — exhausting our sailors, burning fuel, wasting resources — while Iran gets supplies from China and Pakistan through land routes anyway. The blockade isn’t working. And Trump is out there calling it incredible.
I also get into the Epstein files, the immunity clause Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche is desperately trying to shore up, and why I think the legal groundwork being laid right now is specifically about protecting Trump from crimes we haven’t even seen yet.
Netanyahu is running out Trump’s clock and protecting himself from a corruption trial in the process. Iran is winning the PR war. And Cuba is probably watching all of this and breathing a sigh of relief.
This is the weakest Trump has ever looked. Geopolitically, there’s no debate.
