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Ex-GOP lawmaker goes off as US finds itself in 'worst-case scenario' due to Trump blunders
A former lawmaker and critic of President Donald Trump slammed the president's Iran war decisions following his announcement on Monday to stop a planned military attack amid "serious negotiations" and telling the military to be ready "on a moment's notice."Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told CNN that Trump's Truth Social post announcement stating alleged negotiations underway and that an attack had been stopped by allies was putting the United States in a bad position."This is so damaging," Kinzinger said. "You know, regardless of let's just be, you know, agnostic on whether he should attack again or not for the moment when you make threats and then you're eager to back down from those threats, which he has been every single time. I mean, he's gone from 'we will destroy an entire civilization' to 'we have a deal,' which we never actually had, by the way, claiming the strait's open, claiming it's closed, claiming he was going to pull the trigger on May 19th."But Trump's decision-making was troubling, and he has not offered a clear strategy for the war, Kinzinger argued."One of the greatest things the United States had is our ability to say, we will do something," Kinzinger explained. "The enemy knows that, and then hopefully we won't have to do that. This has just been like threat, back off, threat, back off. And I haven't seen the Iranians move in any way here. And we find ourselves in the worst-case scenario, which is a closed strait, this nebulous future. And gas is now having to price in, and futures are pricing in the uncertainty." Kinzinger argued that the United States was lacking a strategy to exit the ongoing military conflict."That's what's crazy, is we did go in with overwhelming military power. And now in the White House, they are trying to figure out what Iran needs to be satiated to be pleased," Kinzinger said. "And I mean, this is why they should have thought this through.""If you're going to do something like attack Iran, you have to know what the contingencies are," Kinzinger added. "And honestly, those contingencies, you have to be willing to do them. Otherwise, you probably should not have gone to this fight in the first place. And so, what is the future here look like? You know, I don't know. Are they going to find something that Iran wants? Maybe are they going to actually denuclearize them or whatever? I don't know. Is there going to be an Iranian, you know, toll on every ship that passes?"Kinzinger warned about what could be next for future generations."But I know this much. I know that my kid, who's 4 1/2 years old, is going to probably be in a country that has a worse situation based on what's going on because of this war, than had we done nothing," Kinzinger said. "I think Donald Trump needs to figure out if we resume hostilities with Iran, you need to have a plan in place to reopen that strait and stick to the use of the military until it's done, or quit these threats, because this is just making it worse."
'Critical point' for consumer shortages flagged as 'emergency buffers fail simultaneously'
Renowned international security expert Robert Pape issued a dire warning on Sunday that an irreversible “critical point” had been reached in the U.S. war against Iran, one that risks sparking global shortages and economic disruptions on a scale not seen in decades.“Two months ago, I warned that the Iran war was not simply creating an oil price spike. It was creating the conditions for shortages, supply disruptions, and eventually economic contraction,” Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, warned in an analysis published Sunday on his Substack. “That transition is now beginning.”Among Iran’s first responses to the “unprovoked” attack from the United States and Israel was to close the Strait of Hormuz – a critical shipping waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil trade historically flowed – to U.S.-aligned vessels. Predictably, the strait’s partial closure sent oil prices skyrocketing.With the war now stretching into its 78th day as of Sunday, the strait’s closure has finally exhausted worldwide “buffers” that have helped to slow the economic impact from disrupting trade through what is among the busiest shipping channels on earth, Pape warned.“The critical point is no longer oil prices alone,” Pape wrote. “The world’s emergency buffers – inventories, reserves, subsidies, and logistical workarounds – are beginning to fail simultaneously.”Signs of existing stockpiles or resources still in transit being exhausted have already reached the United States. The final shipment of oil from the Strait of Hormuz before its partial closure arrived in California earlier this month, and reporting suggests a major shortage of motor oil may be imminent.
Hundreds of diplomats fired by Trump in 'unprecedented' move amid global crisis: report
Hundreds of diplomats are being forced out of their jobs by the Trump administration despite ongoing crises around the world, according to a new report. According to CNN, the State Department finalized the firing of nearly 250 foreign service officers via email on Friday. "Your reduction in force separation will be effective today," the email read. "Thank you again for your service to the Department."The reduction in forces also impacted staff that would have been able to "provide guidance on the war in Iran," former officials told CNN. On top of that, "unprecedented numbers of people are choosing to leave" U.S. foreign services, David Kostelancik, a retired diplomat, told CNN. "Roughly 2,000 foreign service officers left the State Department last year," CNN reported based on numbers from the American Foreign Service Association. Another 100 diplomatic posts around the world in tense areas like the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia still lack a Senate-confirmed ambassador, CNN added. "The most sensitive diplomatic negotiations, on fraught topics like ending the war in Iran and securing an end to the Ukraine conflict, are being led by business associates and family members of President Donald Trump," CNN reported. "Often without teams of experienced diplomats with regional expertise."
Trump's 'expansive ambitions' falling apart after a year of crippling losses: WaPo
Donald Trump’s return from Beijing without any provable examples of successful negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping was yet another sign that, whatever lofty plans he had in store for the second year of his second term, they are easier to boast about than achieve.According to analysis by the Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum and Isaac Arnsdorf, the China summit didn’t include any measurable wins for a president who has had a rough year so far.“President Donald Trump was riding the early high of his return to power last year when he took his first major foreign trip and declared that he would make a sharp break from years of U.S. nation-building around the world,” they wrote.Exactly one year after his first major foreign trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — complete with golden swords and honor guards on Arabian steeds — Trump arrived in China at a vastly different moment, the Post is reporting. Inflation is spiraling, the Iran conflict has ensnared U.S. military forces, energy prices are soaring, and his approval ratings are cratering.This time, there were no sweeping declarations about how Trump's America would manage the world, the Post is reporting. Instead, there was Chinese President Xi Jinping, described as being "respectful but businesslike, welcoming but unbending" on issues that are U.S. priorities.Trump came to Beijing hoping to secure trade deals. Xi had other priorities, the report noted. The Chinese president made clear that Taiwan's fate, not investment opportunities, was China's top concern — yanking the spotlight from Trump's preferred focus to warn of "clashes and even conflicts" with the United States should disagreements over the disputed island be mismanaged.Trump left Friday with a promise of Xi visiting the White House in September and trade deals that proved largely disappointing. Boeing's stock dropped 8 percent between Trump's arrival and departure — a stark measure of investor skepticism about the agreements reached.The president has since claimed triumph that the trip enabled top U.S. business executives to meet the Chinese leader, but offered little evidence of actual transactions resulting from the meetings.Most of Trump's signature foreign policy initiatives "have fallen by the wayside," according to the Post. The Ukraine war still rages despite his promises to end it swiftly. Many of his tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court. Iran diplomacy has been abandoned entirely in favor of military conflict.The collapse reflects a far cry from Trump's more "expansive ambitions" for reshaping U.S.-China relations last year, when the two leaders agreed to meet four times in 2026. With Iran now preoccupying Trump and weighing down the global economy, there is little room for retrenchment.With slumping approval ratings and a faltering economy, Trump now travels the world stage "significantly weakened" compared to a year ago, Birnbaum and Arnsdorf predicted.
Trump’s 'surprise admission' on Iran handed their negotiators a gift: MS NOW
Donald Trump's reported desperation to end the Iran war is allowing Tehran's leaders to take a harder negotiating line — and a candid admission the president made on Fox News this week handed Iranian negotiators a significant strategic gift.According to MS NOW's Zeeshan Aleem, during an interview with Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Thursday, Trump revealed his evolving priorities regarding Iran's estimated 970-pound stockpile of highly enriched uranium.When asked whether the U.S. was considering seizing Iran's uranium, Trump first claimed it would take "a week and a half" to extract using a ground operation. But then he made a stunning admission that undercut his entire negotiating position."I don't think it's necessary [to get the uranium], except from a public relations standpoint," Trump said. "I think it's important for the fake news that we get it."He added: "I'm the one that said we're going to get it, and we're going to get it. We have our eye on it."In those few words — "I don't think it's necessary" — Trump appeared to abandon a position that has been central to his entire premise for the war. He instantly undermined his insistence on uranium removal as a key term of any peace deal with Iran, Aleem wrote.Trump's characterization of uranium seizure as merely a "public relations" maneuver suggests he is repackaging a key plank of his negotiation position as window dressing — essentially admitting it's not actually necessary to end the conflict.According to the report, Iranian negotiators will almost certainly exploit this revelation. If Tehran believes Trump is ambivalent about — or could eventually become indifferent to — removal of Iran's uranium stockpile, Iran has far more incentive to refuse to budge on that element or demand compromises more favorable to Tehran.Aleem observed that Trump has a documented tendency to grow bored with or abandon protracted international conflicts, and the Iran war appears to be no exception and that each public statement weakens his negotiating leverage.
GOP civil war growing as party 'splinters' over Israel ties: report
A significant schism is emerging within the Republican Party over the extent to which the United States should support Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — with a substantial number of MAGA voters showing unwavering loyalty while non-MAGA conservatives increasingly question America's commitment to the longtime ally.According to Politico, new polling from The POLITICO Poll reveals stark divides among Republican voters on Israel policy, with the party's traditional unity on Middle East issues fracturing amid Trump's unpopular Iran war and growing skepticism about U.S. interventionism.Nearly half of self-identified MAGA Trump voters say they back Israel and approve of Netanyahu's government's actions, while just 29 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters say the same. The divide is even more pronounced on specific military operations: 41 percent of MAGA voters say Israel is justified in its military campaign in Gaza, compared with 31 percent of non-MAGA voters.On whether Israel has overextended militarily, 24 percent of MAGA voters believe the country was initially justified but has gone too far — compared with 31 percent of non-MAGA voters.Non-MAGA voters are notably more critical of Israeli influence on U.S. policy. They are 10 percentage points more likely than MAGA Trump voters to believe the Israeli government has too much influence over American foreign policy, Politico's Lisa Kashinsky and Erin Doherty are reporting.The emerging fractures have spilled into an ugly public debate, with prominent Republicans including Tucker Carlson, former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Steve Bannon all criticizing America's close relationship with Israel — particularly as the Iran war escalates.Most Republican members of Congress and conservative influencers like Laura Loomer and Ben Shapiro have remained steadfast pro-Israel voices defending the administration's foreign policy approach.Republicans were powerfully unified in support of Israel in the immediate aftermath of Hamas' October 7 attack. But amid the Iran war and growing unease about Trump's foreign interventions, Israel's standing appears increasingly fragile among the non-MAGA wing of the GOP and among young conservatives."There is a sentiment right now within the Republican Party of, 'America First,' let's get out of all of the conflicts in the world, let's not be committed to those conflicts," said Amnon Cavari, an associate professor at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at Reichman University in Israel, told Politico.According to the report, the emerging Republican divide carries "significant implications" for the future of the U.S.-Israel alliance and GOP efforts to maintain the coalition that powered Trump's return to the White House.
May 14, 2026
Two more Republicans break ranks to rebuke Trump
White House in a panic that gas is about to pass $5: report
Trump administration officials once called high gas prices the Biden administration's "Achilles' heel" — but now it appears that could have come back to haunt them, according to a new Reuters report on Thursday.The political and economic backlash over the Iran war has left the White House struggling to address the skyrocketing price of oil as the prospect of a quick end to the military operation looks increasingly unlikely, three Trump administration insiders familiar with the conversations told Reuters."U.S. President Donald Trump this week backed suspending the federal gas tax, a step that would knock 18 cents a gallon off motor fuel prices currently averaging more than $4.50 a gallon nationwide," Reuters reported. "Once viewed by some White House aides as unnecessary, the idea is gaining urgency as officials run low on options to show they are tackling rising costs, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations."As prices have climbed, the president needs "a visible consumer relief move now," one of the White House insiders said."Historically, $4-per-gallon gasoline has been a level that triggers public backlash and economic anxiety," Reuters reported.AAA data has revealed that seven states have already passed the $5 a gallon mark.And as consumer sentiment drops to a record low and consumer inflation hit 3.8 percent this April — the highest it has been in nearly three years — more Americans are experiencing economic strain as gas prices climb and U.S. households are already paying the price.With midterm elections in November, Republicans have started pressuring Trump and his administration as they worry that affordability concerns among voters could ultimately push Republicans out of majority in the House of Representatives — and potentially the Senate."They feel like that’s their largest vulnerability right now: that specific cost, gas, not overall economic conditions," an unnamed White House political adviser told Reuters."The toughest thing, too, is that we made gas prices the Achilles' heel for (former President Joe) Biden and now it's our own."Taylor Rogers, White House spokesperson, said that the president and his energy team had expected the Iran war would create repercussions for global energy markets and had anticipated they needed a plan to address it."The ability to supply both the United States and our allies with reliable, affordable, and secure energy has long been a key strategic objective of President Trump, and his successful efforts to unleash American oil and gas has achieved this objective," Rogers told Reuters.
US reportedly dropped fraud charges against Indian billionaire after he hired Trump’s lawyer
Gautam Adani, richest man in Asia, was accused of conspiring to pay $250m in bribes to Indian government officialsThe US Department of Justice is dropping its fraud charges against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, after he hired a new legal team led by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, according to new reports.In an undisclosed April meeting at the justice department, Trump’s personal lawyer, Robert J Giuffra Jr, said that Adani would invest $10bn in the US economy and create 15,000 jobs if prosecutors dropped the charges against him, according to the New York Times and Bloomberg. Continue reading...
'How is this real?' Hegseth pilloried for bizarre cartoon asking for $1.5 trillion
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced backlash after he shared an animated video arguing that the Pentagon needed a massive $1.5 trillion for war preparations.In a social media post on Thursday, Hegseth called the funds a "GENERATIONAL DOWN PAYMENT on America's national defense.""We remain the strongest military power on Earth, but that power requires renewal," the defense secretary said in the video. "And with global threats that are constantly evolving, it's time to make a $1.5 trillion investment, a generational down payment. For far too long, Washington bureaucrats allowed America's defense industrial base to fall apart."The video featured a cartoon version of former President Joe Biden alongside a crumbling factory."The execution of operations Midnight Hammer, Southern Spear, Absolute Resolve, and Epic Fury are testaments to this restoration of strength," Hegseth crowed. "America's $1.5 trillion investment guarantees that the United States military will maintain this advantage against any adversary, anywhere, at any time."However, not all viewers of the cartoon were sold on Hegseth's pitch."How is this real?" author Jim Stewartson asked. "This is a pitch for $1.5 trillion and it looks like a bad Sora demo. The Pentagon is a clown show. What a tragedy.""Not for nothing, but the School House Rock vibe is bad," Lincoln Project strategist Reed Galen observed."More bullsh— from a bulls—er," Democratic author James Graham quipped."We've never seen a Secretary of a Cabinet position have to SELL the PRESIDENTS ideas with bad AI commercials," KRLL radio host Mark Bland commented.
China leader's 'striking' slight to Trump in opening remarks singled out by diplomat
Former Ambassador Michael McFaul made a point of noting that President Donald Trump lavished extensive personal praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping, but Jinping did not return the favor.During an appearance on MS NOW Thursday, the former ambassador to Russia told anchor Erielle Reshef there was a striking difference between the two leaders' opening remarks that can only be interpreted as the fact that China has the upper hand in the historic meeting.“What is striking to me about the public remarks, just how effusive President Trump was in calling the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, a dictator and autocrat, a friend,” McFaul observed. “He just kept using the phrase ‘friend, friend, friend,’ ‘great leader, great leader, great leader.’”“Chairman Xi Jinping said nothing reciprocal to President Trump, to the best of my mind, unless I missed it,” he added. “I never heard him call the president his friend, or even called him a great leader. The asymmetry, I think, is striking — a position of weakness, frankly.” - YouTube youtu.be
Hot mic catches swearing as tensions soar at Trump's China summit
A tense exchange was caught on a hot mic Thursday as the summit between the U.S. and China began, according to The Daily Beast.Inside the Great Hall of the People, Washington and Beijing's top officials were sitting down face-to-face for high-stakes bilateral talks. As they entered the room, a press pool camera that was broadcasting for PBS News was rolling live when someone with an American accent unloaded on the operator, The Beast reported."No, no, get the f--- out of here," the unknown person said. "No. Move. Got to move."The camera started spinning towards the ceiling during the exchange as several people were speaking near the camera and the sound of shoes squeaking was captured.The showdown was preceded by escalating tensions stemming from the Iran war, China's maneuvering around Taiwan, and years of economic conflict.The leaders reportedly left the talks with "positive sentiments," according to The Beast. Chinese President Xi Jinping told reporters that relations between the two countries were "generally stable."???? HOT MIC IN CHINA: "Get the F*CK out of here!" unknown voice says as the press and cameras struggle when President Trump and Xi walk inYikes! ???? pic.twitter.com/LqDtVr75Zi— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 14, 2026
GOP lawmaker blindsides CNN host with Trump defense: 'We have control?'
Rep Mark Alford (R-MO) seemed to shock CNN host John Berman by insisting President Donald Trump had "control over the Strait of Hormuz" — despite it being closed.During a Thursday interview, Berman asked Alford to explain why Trump said he didn't think about Americans' financial situation, "not even a little bit," when it came to the war in Iran."If I could just kind of give a little clarity to what I think President Trump was saying is, look, he does care about the American people," Alford replied. "He does care about the price of the pump."The congressman suggested the alternative to the current conflict was Iran growing stronger until it struck U.S. forces in the Middle East."Gas prices would be $10 a gallon," he remarked. "This is the time to put an end to it... I know that it is a hardship on filling up. It just cost me $100 to fill up my Ford Expedition last week when I was home in the district, and I travel a lot. I know it's a hardship, but we've got to do this now.""How much longer is it going to cost you 100 bucks to fill up your Ford Expedition?" the CNN host wondered."Look, I don't have a crystal ball in this," Alford explained. "I do know that we do have control over the Straits of Hormuz right now. Things have improved somewhat."A surprised Berman interrupted: "If we have control, how come there aren't vessels going in and out of the Strait of Hormuz right now?"For his part, Alford blamed "safety issues" for the inability to use the Strait."Saudi Arabia and other countries did not want us to provide those services where we're escorting tankers through," he claimed. "This has become very complicated because other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia and others, want Iran to be dealt with, but they also know that this is a delicate situation."
