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Former Republican operative Rick Wilson suggested that President Donald Trump's ceasefire with Iran could lead to an even more dangerous situation. Wilson, the co-founder of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, described in his Substack on Wednesday how the current halt on military action could reveal what might come next after the president reversed course on his serious threats against Iran. "Every TACO in Trump’s career has been followed by a larger escalation, because the reversal itself becomes a wound he has to cauterize," Wilson wrote. "The pause is never the end. The pause is the windup. And the windup on an Iran war, a war he chose, a war he cannot define victory in, a war where the adversary gets a vote and the adversary is furious, is going to arrive inside a man who has spent his whole life believing that the answer to any problem is to hit it harder than anyone expected."Wilson also cited another lingering fear. "I’ve been thinking about the most consequential, most dangerous change that could come from this doomed and deranged war with Iran, not from where it is tonight, but from where it will be two weeks from now, when the ceasefire is rubble and Trump is cornered worse than he’s ever been in his life, by markets, by allies, by his own collapsing story, by the mirror," Wilson wrote. He argued that Trump wouldn't just stop at the ceasefire."A 'demonstration.' That’s the word they’d use," Wilson added. "A clinical, bloodless word. A focus-group word. The kind of word that sounds like it belongs in a McKinsey PowerPoint deck, not attached to a mushroom cloud clawing its way into the stratosphere.Donald Trump, cornered by a collapsing strategic position in Iran, boxed in by markets in revolt, oil spiking, allies fleeing, by his increasingly obvious mental infirmities, a domestic political environment turning from brittle to shattered, decides to send a message."

MB Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's Parliament, declared a ceasefire and upcoming negotiations "unreasonable" after he accused the U.S. of violating a newly minted agreement.On Wednesday, Iran reportedly again shut down the Strait of Hormuz after Israel attacked Lebanon. For his part, President Donald Trump insisted that Lebanon had never been part of the ceasefire agreement. The U.S. president also said he had not agreed to a 10-point Iranian plan for peace as a framework for further negotiations.Ghalibaf posted a statement to X accusing the U.S. of violating the 10-point plan."As the President of the United States has clearly stated in his Truth, the Islamic Republic of Iran's 10-Point Proposal is a 'workable basis on which to negotiate' and the main framework for these talks," the statement said. "However, 3 clauses of this proposal have been violated so far."The speaker pointed to attacks on Lebanon, an alleged drone intrusion into Iran's airspace, and a denial of Iran's "right" to nuclear enrichment."Now, the very 'workable basis on which to negotiate' has been openly and clearly violated, even before the negotiations began," Ghalibaf wrote. "In such situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable."

During an appearance on MS NOW on Wednesday morning, noted historian Douglas Brinkley expressed surprise that Vice President JD Vance has chosen to ally himself so closely with Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán as he seeks re-election.While the US was prepping for a massive escalation of the war in Iran, which was averted at the last moment after Pakistan brokered a two-week ceasefire that heavily favors Iran, Vance was taking part in a MAGA-style rally for the Hungarian prime minister who is fighting an uphill battle to hang on to his job.Appearing with “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire, Brinkley was quick to point out that Orbán is a high-profile puppet belonging to Vladimir Putin.“Can you think of another moment where a sitting president or vice president would openly campaign for a foreign head of state, particularly one who we learned yet again today with Michael Weiss, terrific reporting a couple hours ago, is firmly in the pocket of Vladimir Putin?” Lemire pressed his guest."It's utterly nutty,” Brinkley quickly replied. “The F-grade goes to NATO, the failing of NATO, meaning Donald Trump's failure to keep NATO engaged. NATO doesn't want to be engaged with war crimes either. And we forget that our foreign policy has to have NATO at its center.”“And the disrespect and the disassembling of NATO under the Trump/Vance regime is disheartening, to say the least, because we're losing, squandering soft power all over the world,” he added. “And we're seeing the great alliance that's been with us, Truman, through Biden, just starting to wobble, almost crumble. And you can't expect our NATO allies to trust what President Trump says because he does a 180 the next day and he's ruling as if he's he's not really part of an alliance writ large.” - YouTube youtu.be

President Donald Trump's comments on Truth Social amid the Iran war revealed how this conflict would potentially play out, a former Defense Department official said on Wednesday. Evelyn Farkas, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, told MS NOW host Alex Witt that Vice President JD Vance referred to these talks as "fragile" and discussed what could come next. "I think he's right to call it fragile," Farkas said. "We don't know whether the truce will hold. And clearly, the Iranians are nervous that, you know, our administration could take advantage of the truce in some way militarily. Although I would say that because of President Trump's very emotional messages over the weekend, they probably are feeling pretty confident that they've gotten under the skin of our government and that we were we really did want a resolution to this diplomatically. So I think that there's a greater than 50 percent likelihood that this truce will hold, and that it will actually transform into a durable agreement, because both sides do, at the end of the day, want to put an end to this fighting."

President Donald Trump ended a call with PBS reporter Liz Landers after she asked if he regretted threatening Iran's entire civilization.Following a press briefing with Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, Landers said she had contacted the president by phone."I asked about Lebanon still being hit and if he'd seen that," the reporter recalled."Yeah, they were not included in the deal," Trump replied. "Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That'll get taken care of, too. It's alright."Trump suggested he did not disapprove of Israel continuing to shell Lebanon."It's part of the deal — everyone knows that," he explained. "That's a separate skirmish. Okay? You gotta talk faster.""I tried to ask if he regretted that Truth Social post about wiping out a civilization and noted that there was huge push back to that statement from Democrats," Landers remarked. "Then he hung up."

MAGA host Gina Loudon said she found it "very upsetting" after Democrat Emily Gregory defeated a Trump-endorsed candidate in the district where the president's Mar-a-Lago home is located.During a discussion about a special election to fill former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) seat in Georgia, Loudon said she couldn't shake off Gregory's win in Florida."Don't forget, too, the race that just happened in Florida, where the Trump-endorsed candidate did not win," Loudon recalled. "The race was seen as an early indicator heading into the midterms, highlighting both Republican strength and conservative strongholds and signs of Democrat momentum in areas where they have traditionally struggled.""Donald Trump is never going to retreat from doing presidential things," she said of Trump endorsements. "And I think even beyond his death, this man will somehow be doing presidential things."Co-host David Brody observed that Trump's influence could be waning because the Democratic candidate performed well in Georgia."A little bit of a warning signal here for Republicans," he said. "That's a tea leaf that is not good for Republicans."Loudon insisted she couldn't get over Jon Maples' loss in Trump's home district."John Maples, an amazing black conservative," she remarked. "And I hate using that, but I'm just saying he was very marketable in many ways to, let's just say, independents, right? More moderate voters. And he was Trump-endorsed, and he lost here in Florida.""But very upsetting to those like me who think, this is Trump's home district, this is where I live, and this is where President Trump's house is, his home is," she added. "Very upsetting to me that we lost this race. We really thought we had it won."