Pratt is a reality TV star running for the mayor of Los Angeles and I’ve been watching his campaign with morbid fascination. I have never lived in California and can not vote in this election, but the grotesque spectacle of its current politics calls to me. My guilt in following an election on the opposite coast was ameliorated somewhat when a Pratt fan bought a billboard for the candidate in Georgia. That’s a lot of Pratt rather close to my home.

Pratt first came to my attention because of an AI-generated campaign video that depicted him as Batman and Joe Rogan as Commissioner Gordon. In the video current LA mayor Karen Bass is imagined as a cruel Joker ruling over a Los Angeles on fire while Governor Gavin Newsom eats cake. In the video Pratt and normal everyday folk gather together to hurl tomatoes at Democratic establishment figures.

Pratt and his campaign did not buy this ad. It’s the work of a man named Charles Curran who saw Pratt during a televised debate and became a fan “It’s not inherently difficult. Which is why I think you’ll see a lot more of this,” Curran told The New York Times.

Curran is correct. We’re at the start of a new political reality where AI-generated videos become normal campaign fodder. This may seem frightening, but American politics has always been inundated with cartoonish satire using the tools of the day. I may loathe AI-generated art, but the tools are ubiquitous and I think it will be used by all sides in the coming elections.

The AI-generated political slop supporting Pratt is, at least, competently made. When Andrew Cuomo ran for Mayor of New York City last year he deployed a number of AI-generated advertisements that were quite haunting. In one, a satire of the famous Schoolhouse Rock video about how bills are passed, a cartoon Cuomo sang alongside a seemingly pregnant AI-generated cartoon bill.

Elsewhere online, a sex worker connoisseur filmed a video for Instagram where various working girls in Los Angeles shouted out their love for Pratt.

Win or lose, Pratt feels like an evolution of Trumpian style politics in America.

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5/11/26

During an earnings call with investors, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the oil market would remain bad for some time. “If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalization will last into 2027,” Nasser said. As of this writing, the Strait remains closed.

Trump posted on Truth Social 55 times between 10PM and midnight. He shared videos about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, conspiracy theory rants about his 2020 election loss, security footage of a man knocking plates out of a waiter’s hands at a restaurant, and a video of a Door Dasher allegedly stealing food.

5/12/26

Guerilla artists Secret Handshake installed arcade cabinets for the video game Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell at the DC War Memorial on the National Mall.

“The Trump administration knows that the best way to sell combat is by making it a video game. That’s why they’ve been pumping out the sockets Iran War video game hype reels. But why stop at clips when you could go full throttle?” Said a plaque near the arcade machines.

Journalists spotted members of the National Guard on patrol in DC playing the game. You can play it yourself online.

The FBI in Sacramento announced the arrest of the founder of the Punjabi Devils, a Hell’s Angel’s-style motorcycle gang. The Feds alleged that the founder attempted to sell weapons to an undercover officer.

5/13/26

Japanese snack maker Calbee announced some of its colorful bags will now be sold in black and white. The reason is a shortage of naphtha, a critical ingredient in colored ink that is in short supply because of the global oil squeeze caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump landed in China with a delegation that included Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Elon Musk.

5/14/26

A lot happened today, let’s start in China.

Thursday was the busiest day for Trump in China. The delegations from both countries sat for lengthy press conferences, posed for pictures, and discussed the fate of Taiwan and the Strait of Hormuz.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in attendance despite being under Chinese sanction for speaking out against Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and its mistreatment of Uyghurs. Early reports indicated that China got around its own sanctions by changing Rubio’s name so it didn’t match the official sanction documents. According to The New York Times, however, this isn’t true.

“The theory linking the multiple versions of his name to sanctions relief is wrong. Many non-Chinese people have varied Chinese transliterations for their names, even in official pronouncements or reports. It turns out that Xinhua, the state news agency, had already been referring to Rubio as both 卢比奥 and 鲁比奥 for about a decade. There might even have been other variations that have appeared in state news reports.”

Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, testified before a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand grilled him on the end of the war and the bombing of civilian targets.

“How did we then bomb 22 schools?” Gillibrand said.

“There is no indication that we have that has been corroborated. Zero—” Cooper said.

“How many schools have we bombed?” Gillibrand said.

“There is one active civilian casualty investigation from the 13,629 munitions.”

Gillibrand asked if Cooper was investigating the various claims made by multiple news agencies and humanitarian groups about the US bombing of civilian targets in Iran. “Have you investigated those claims?” She said.

“We have not,” Cooper said.

The CIA published photographs of Director John Ratcliffe meeting with various officials in Havana, Cuba. CNN reported the meeting and said the DOJ was preparing an indictment against former President Raúl Castro. To me, this is another bid to wrap up all the Boomer plotlines before Trump dies.

The US House voted on a resolution to curtail Trump’s war powers. Such resolutions need a majority to pass and the vote was a tie, 212 to 212, so it failed. Democrats led the effort, but several Republicans voted in favor. An April 16 vote was split 213 to 214. A similar measure has failed in the Senate seven times.

America’s Ambassador to Greece is Kimberly Guilfoyle, California Governor’s ex-wife, the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., and former Fox News talking head. Today she cut the ribbon at a McDonald’s at the Mall in Athens, calling it “the most technologically advanced McDonald’s in all of Europe!”

5/15/26

Trump spent his last day in China meeting. A foreign leader visiting Zhongnanhai is rare and Trump did not enter the gardens during his 2017 visit. After taking in the rare delight of the imperial gardens, Trump and the US delegation left China. Before boarding the plane home, they threw away everything the Chinese had gifted them. “American staff took everything Chinese officials handed out—credentials, burner phones from WH staff, pins for delegation—collected them before we got on AF1 and threw them in a bin at [the] bottom [of the] stairs. Nothing from China allowed on the plane,” New York Post WH correspondent Emily Goodin said in a post on X.com.

5/16/26

US forces in Africa announced they’d killed Islamic State leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki in Nigeria. Al-Minuki was a former Boko Haram faithful who joined the Islamic State’s West Africa division in 2016. He rose to prominence there and became an important figure in the Islamic State’s global campaign. The specifics of the mission are unknown but the Government of Nigeria partnered with US forces to make it happen and AFRICOM said there were no American casualties.

5/17/26

A drone struck a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. The attack started a fire but the UAE said no one was injured and international monitoring agencies did not detect a radiological leak. The Barakh power plant is the only nuclear power facility in the UAE. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in the aftermath, but the UAE Defense Ministry would later claim the strike came from Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq.

Axios published based on “classified intelligence” that claimed Cuba had acquired more than 300 drones and planned to use them to attack US military assets in the region.

“The intelligence—which could become a pretext for U.S. military action—shows the degree to which the Trump administration sees Cuba as a threat because of developments in drone warfare and the presence of Iranian military advisers in Havana, a senior U.S. official said.”

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I imagine the legs of a tarnished gold statue sunk into wetlands that have taken over a former golf course. Kudzu devours the figure’s abdomen, vines obliterating the face making it impossible to know the subject. Arches crumble. Paper disintegrates. Glue evaporates and coins fall from walls. Even memory fades in time.

Here’s what I saw last week.

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5/4/26

US Secret Service agents shot a man named Michael Marx near the White House. According to an indictment released two days later, Secret Service agents noticed Marx had a concealed handgun and was near a Vice Presidential motorcade. Marx allegedly attempted to flee the scene and shot at agents, wounding a civilian in the process. Agents then shot Marx in the “hand, left arm, and upper abdomen.”

“Fuck the White House. Kill me, kill me, kill me,” Marx allegedly said in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Monday also saw the start of Operation Project Freedom, a US led effort to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz and bust the Iranian blockade. US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed it guided two merchant vessels through the Strait. The IRGC said this was a lie, that no ships had cleared the Strait, and that it had fired warning shots at passing vessels. Merchant ships in the area confirmed the Iranian attacks.

5/5/26

Secretary of State (and so much more) Marco Rubio announced the end of Operation Epic Fury, Trump and the Pentagon’s name for the War in Iran. “Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” Rubio explained during a press conference.

“I’m not going to—we’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer is a deal. He would prefer to sit down, work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed, a full opening of the straits so the world can get back to normal, and he’d prefer that that be negotiated through the route that Steve and Jared have been working and that all of us have been supporting.

That’s the route he prefers. That is so far not the route that Iran has chosen. And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we’re the only nation on Earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there. And that’s what we’re undergoing now.”

The same day, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed Operation Project Freedom was a present. “As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait,” Hegseth said in a briefing to the press. “American destroyers are on station, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and surveillance aircraft, providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels except Iran’s, of course, which is why our ironclad blockade remains in full effect as well. In fact, six ships tried to run the blockade out of Iranian ports as Project Freedom commenced, and they were all turned around. This is more than strategy. It’s also humanitarian.”

Hours later, Trump said Operation Project Freedom was on hold.

“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

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5/6/26

General Atomics shared pictures of a Kansas State University branded Predator drone as part of a long-term partnership between the university and the defense contractor. Along with the deadly drone, General Atomics has donated $10 million to build out the Kansas State University Salina campus. KSU is now The College With Its Own Predator®, according to a press release.

Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican representing Georgia, shared an AI-generated picture of himself decked out in jewelry seized and auctioned by US Marshalls.

Maryland legislators demanded answers from the Pentagon following the revelation that Joint Base Andrews leaked 32,000 gallons of jet fuel into the Potomac River. The DoW knew for months but failed to inform Maryland. There are echoes of the Red Hill water crisis in Hawaii. In 2001 families living on and near Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam noticed their water was contaminated and later learned that a broken fuel container had spilled tens of thousands of gallons of fuel into the Oʻahu aquifer.

Pastor Mark Burns unveiled a 22-foot tall golden statute of Trump at the Trump Miami Doral golf course. “Let me be clear: this is not a golden calf. We worship the Lord and Jesus Christ and Him alone,” Burns said in a post on Instagram.

5/7/26

Iran and the US continued to exchange fire in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump continued to say the ceasefire was still in effect. Pakistan insisted that the war would end soon.

Hegseth lauded the fiscal responsibility of the Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget in a video posted on X. The Secretary of War promised to eliminate graft and waste in the defense procurement process and said that defense CEOs had grown rich off American taxpayers.

He also name-checked “Deal Team Six,” a group of negotiators he said would get America a better deal on defense projects. Who has Hegseth tasked with handling the negotiations? Steve Feinberg, CEO of the private equity firm Cerberus turned Deputy Secretary of Defense (War). Former Cerberus employee George Kollitidies is leading Deal Team Six.

Slate reported that Trump has been gluing coins to doors in the White House. “Outside the West Wing, he took ‘challenge coins,’ which are these military coins that the president can give away as a party favor when he meets people, and started gluing them to the middle of doors.”

5/8/26

The Department of War released what it said would be the first of a batch of “UFO Files,” a mix of redacted photos and documents related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The files are an unsorted tranche going back decades, a cross section of sightings and write-ups of people seeing odd lights in the sky.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation—and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency,” Hegseth said in a statement accompanying the release.

My favorite of these new UFO disclosures concerns an incident witnessed in September 2023 by a person in an F150 near a “US test site.” Here’s a picture, made by the FBI, of what they say they saw.

“Actual site photo with FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023 of an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky, 130-195 feet in length, and disappearing instantaneously,” said the accompanying description.

“The vehicles drove through a couple of gates and [redacted] saw a bright light over the horizon. The light was stationary in the air, then started moving to the right, then disappeared. [Redacted] could see the light through the top right of the vehicle’s windshield. The light was bright white and was visible for ten seconds before it disappeared. The light stayed the same size throughout the incident. [Redacted] thought the light was ten to twenty miles away. [Redacted] did not notice any interference with his vehicle.”

The FBI conducted this interview via Facetime, according to the writeup of the incident.

5/9/26

It’s dangerous to divine the thoughts of a person from their social media posts. We aren’t our posts. And yet…I find this is not a truism I can often abide by. The people in power, whether CEOs or politicians, love to post. It often feels like performance is the point of their lives, not corporate or civic governance.

“Trump’s Truth Social lays bare narrow obsessions of an extremely online president,” NPR said in a recent story.

And so.

On Saturday, Trump posted an AI-generated picture of butterflies crumbling into the ocean next to a photo of drones breaking apart below the caption “Drones Dropping Like Butterflies.”

He followed this up with two more pictures of AI-generated war propaganda and then seven photographs of Trump National Golf Course in Virginia. The golf course photos had an odd sheen, as if someone had taken a photo of a television screen. Some of them repeated.

He followed this up by posting more AI-generated war propaganda and a grotesque caricature of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

5/10/26

Work began on “repairs” to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. Contractors drained the pool and began to paint it blue. Trump initially said this would cost $1.8 million, but costs have already ballooned to $13.1 million. The White House rushed the bidding process for the project, claiming that a delay would cause “​​serious injury, financial or other, to the government.”

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Tehran has all the cards.

To hear Robert Pape tell it, this was all predictable. Pape is a political scientist who te…

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The truth is that the women are real and many are still in danger. Trump’s post made real Iranian women who protested the Iranian regime appear fake. The story speaks to a moment we’re in where it’s become impossible to parse truth from lies online. This was already difficult before AI-generated pictures and video. Now it feels impossible.

On this episode of Angry Planet, Mahsa Alimardani is here to tell us the story. Alimardani is the Associate Director of Technology Threats and Opportunities at WITNESS.

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• Eight real women turned into AI propaganda

• Real crimes bastardized into regime propaganda

• “We need to come to terms with the fact that our information environment is structurally different.”

• Content Credentials as a partial solution

• How AI is supercharging our chosen reality tunnels

• The cycle of uprising and repression in Iran

• The structure of Iran’s internet and how its blackouts work

• Domestic intranet as an alternative form of communication

• AI-generated Lego propaganda videos

• Iran Reframed

• Explosive Media’s deep connections to the Islamic Republic

• Politics as fandom, fandom as politics

• “Everything is becoming flattened.”

• “The onus on the person scrolling is a bit unfair.”

Mahsa Alimardani’s LinkedIn

The Real Iranian Women Protesters Trump Made Look Synthetic

In the Room With Iran’s Social Media Savants

How AI Content Detection is Being Weaponized in the Iran War

Iran Is Winning the AI Slop Propaganda War

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Since World War II, air power enthusiasts have touted the success and possibility of air power. It’s a seductive promise: that you can defeat an enemy in a war without committing ground troops. Reality and history don’t bear out that promise. What’s happening between the US and Iran right now is just another datapoint.

Air power boosters often bring up NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Kosovo as proof of the promise. Professor Robert Pape, author of Bombing to Win, has an excellent post on his Substack about why Kosovo proves the opposite of what air power enthusiasts claim.

“Within days of the bombing, Serbian ground forces accelerated operations on the ground in Kosovo. What Western intelligence would describe as ‘Operation Horseshoe’ evolved rapidly. Units that had numbered in the hundreds expanded into tens of thousands of troops, including mechanized columns moving methodically along Kosovo’s road networks in a sweeping arc — a horseshoe-shaped advance designed for visibility as much as control. Civilians saw it coming. They could do nothing to stop it—because the enemy always gets a say when air power is the only coercive tool, as I explain in Bombing to Win.

“The result was mass displacement on a staggering scale. Mechanized units moved from town to town. Families fled on tractors and on foot, carrying what they could. Border crossings into Albania and Macedonia were overwhelmed. At night, Kosovo glowed from burning homes.

By late spring, roughly 800,000 to 1 million Kosovar Albanians—nearly half the population—had been driven from their homes. Thousands were killed; many more were wounded or brutalized. What had been framed as a limited air operation to prevent humanitarian catastrophe now coincided with its dramatic acceleration.”

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4/27/26

An interactive article in the Sunday New York Times chronicled the disappointment of Trump voters.

“We were made a lot of promises during the election. I know that it’s only been a year and a half, but I don’t think I’ve really seen much progress toward even moving toward what he said he was going to do, such as tax breaks or, let’s see, helping with the education system. I feel like he just defunded a lot of the education systems, the schools. I don’t know why he made so many promises,” said 26-year old Franceska.

“I thought he’d learned his lesson, and was going to prove to everybody he learned from his mistakes, and he was going to turn the country around and he was going to be a stellar president. But it’s turned out to be a horror movie. I was so wrong with the vote for him,” said 62-year old Jose.

4/28/26

The State Department is planning to issue limited editions US passports with Trump’s face on them.

“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. Passports to commemorate this historic occasion. These passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the U.S. Passport the most secure documents in the world,” the State Department told The Bulwark.

Fox News published a mock up of the design, which includes Trump’s face hovering over the Constitution and American flag. His signature, in gold, below.

A federal grand jury indicated former FBI Director James Comey. He’s been charged with two offenses: threatening to kill Trump and communicating that threat via Instagram. The charges stem from a May 2025 Instagram post that depicted seashells on a beach arranged to spell out “86 47.”

“James Comey disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see,” current FBI director Kash Patel said in a press release about the indictment. “As the former Director of the FBI, he knew full well the attention and consequences of making such a post. This FBI and our DOJ partners pursued a rigorous investigation that followed the facts—and now Mr. Comey will be held fully accountable for his actions.”

4/29/26

As negotiations between Iran and the US continued, Trump posted an inflammatory meme on Truth Social. “Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” He said above an AI-generated picture of himself in aviator glasses holding an assault rifle while explosions destroyed a Middle Eastern landscape behind him, a visual allusion to Tony Stark in Iron-Man.

While Trump posted, the oil market spiraled, peace-talks stalled, and Iranian authorities executed protestors. United Nations human rights officials said that 21 people have been executed since the start of the Iran War and 4,000 more have been arrested.

4/30/26

Trump signed bipartisan legislation that funded the Department of Homeland Security, officially ending a months-long shut down. The Congressional dispute over the budget began in February in the aftermath of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. TSA agents went without pay, air travel wait times increased, and the White House deployed ICE agents to airports. Democrats demanded reforms of various DHS connected agencies and Republicans refused. Republicans in Congress “threw a fit,” according to Speaker Mike Johnson “and were able to pass a budget “with no crazy Democrat reforms.”

On various social media platforms, Trump endorsed a place to change the name of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement.) It appears the name change is moving forward.

5/1/26

Trump made good on a threat to withdraw American troops from bases in Europe. The Pentagon announced the removal of 5,000 of its 36,000 troops in Germany. This will be a significant reduction of American soldiers in Europe and a blow to the US ability to project power in the Middle East.

The withdrawal announcement came days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Trump’s prosecution of the war in Iran in front of high school students. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,” he said. Trump has also threatened to withdraw troops from Spain and Italy.

Just before noon, Trump posted a picture of himself as a fifth head on Mount Rushmore on Truth Social. Three minutes after 11PM, the President posted an AI-generated photo of himself, JD Vance, and Marco Rubio, swimming in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

5/2/26

Negotiations continued between Tehran and the White House. On Saturday, Pakistan delivered a 14-point peace proposal, itself a counter-proposal to a 9-proposal from the United States. “I’ll let you know about it later. They’re giving me the exact wording now,” Trump said while boarding Air Force one.

“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” he later said in a post on Truth Social.

Spirit Airlines, a much maligned and surreally beloved budget airline, suddenly shut down. Spirit had struggled for years, but the recent massive spike in oil prices due to the Iran War was the final nail in the coffin. The airline attempted to get a bailout from the White House, but could not reach a deal.

“Americans will soon be paying a billion, or two or three, dollars a year for plane tickets in the aftermath,” Spirit attorney Marshall Huebner said during bankruptcy proceedings.

5/3/26

Rudy Giuliani, America’s Mayor, former advisor and personal lawyer to Trump, the man who sweated it out during the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference that ended Trump’s second election bid, was hospitalized with pneumonia.

“Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently in the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition. Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,” Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s spokesperson said in a post on X.

His illness was bad enough that a Catholic Priest reportedly administered last rites.

“Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition. What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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On April 20, Eyal Yakoby posted a picture on X of eight women he claimed Iran soon planned to hang. The next day, Donald Trump shared a screenshot of Yakoby’s post and called for the release of the women. On April 22, Trump claimed his request had been honored.

“I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Four will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison. I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution.”

Iranian news sources and social media accounts said the women were fake, AI-generated simulacra that had duped the President. The Telegram channel for Iran’s judiciary court said it was all fake news and word spread online that Trump had been fooled by AI.

The truth is stranger. As Mahsa Alimardani outlined in Tech Policy, at least six of the eight women pictured are real. Some of them have been arrested and one is, or was, facing the death penalty.

“This dynamic is not only about what AI can produce. It is also about the doubt AI creates around content that is entirely real. Two days earlier, on April 7, he had reposted authentic footage of Iranian casualties, footage that did not need fabrication. Underneath, one reply read: ‘With Central Casting, AI, and the manipulation and manufacturing of headlines that get inorganic reach on social media has made me question everything. Nobody is innocent here, and I don’t want American tax payers to fund NATO or be involved in the Middle East at any capacity.’

“That reply is the dynamic’s logical endpoint. Faced with an information environment in which authentic and synthetic content sit indistinguishably side by side, audiences do not become better at telling them apart. They withdraw. The pattern on display here is not disinformation in the conventional sense; the underlying events are real. It is propaganda: real cases packaged with synthetic, unverified, or instrumentalized material in service of a political agenda. The damage is not the falsehood. The damage is that real human rights cases, propagandized this way, look fabricated.”

4/20/26

Twenty-seven year old Julio César Jasso Ramírez wounded 13 people and killed a Canadian woman before shooting himself during a mass shooting at a pyramid in Mexico. This was, from what we can tell, a shitpost shooting influenced by American murderer culture. Authorities found an AI-generated picture of Ramírez posing with Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold “among his effects.” The shooting occurred on the 27th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

In the Strait of Hormuz, another cruise ship slipped through the American and Iranian blockades.

4/21/26

The Guardian published an interview with Ecuadorian fishermen who survived a drone strike by US forces in the Pacific Ocean.

“The crew of the patrol boat spoke English to each other, and used a translator to address the Ecuadorians. “From the moment we arrived on the US patrol boat, they were pointing guns at us, shouting: ‘Get in, get in,’” said Palacios, 54. “They handcuffed us, put hoods over our heads and pushed us around. We were terrified they were going to kill us.”

According to the crew’s account, they were held for several hours by the US vessel before being transferred to a Salvadorian patrol boat and, after several more days at sea, eventually to El Salvador, where they were taken to a military base and questioned. Later they were handed over to immigration authorities and taken to a UN shelter.

Back home, their families conducted a desperate search, frustrated by the silence and lack of official information surrounding their disappearance. The fishers were eventually returned to Ecuador, where they were released without charge.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that the flu vaccine would now be optional for servicemembers. “The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance, at all times, is just overly broad and not rational,” Hegseth said. “Our new policy is simple: If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it; you should. But we will not force you.”

Disease scholars don’t agree on where the Great Influenza of 1918 began, but one popular theory states it started at Fort Riley in Kansas among American soldiers. The cramped living conditions and pre-modern hygiene of barracks life were a perfect incubation ground for the pandemic.

That flu would go on to kill 600,000 Americans and tens of millions worldwide.

Virginia voters approved a Democrat authored gerrymandering plan. If left unchallenged, the redistricting could net Democrats four additional seats in Congress.

4/22/26

Trump fired Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan and promoted Hung Cao to take his place.

Phelan was a capital management guy, an ardent fundraiser for Trump during his third presidential bid and husband to a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and an Epstein flight enjoyer. He fell out of favor with Trump because he couldn’t do the impossible: launch new battleships named for the President by 2028. The first of the new ships is to be named the USS Defiant and Trump wants them built in the United States with American steel. Phelan told him that was impossible and that the Navy should use the shipyards of Europe.

Big mistake.

Cao, Phelan’s replacement, has already pledged to get the job done to Trump’s specifications. Cao, unlike Phelan, is a Navy veteran. He has tried and failed to win election to the House and Senate in Virginia, said that Monterey, California was beset by witches, and once claimed to have been blown up in combat despite never receiving a Purple Heart of Combat Action Ribbon.

4/23/26

Axios reported that Iran’s military was spotted deploying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump responded in a post on Truth Social.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!”

4/24/26

During a Pentagon Press conference, TMZ DC asked Hegseth if he’d consider changing the “Department of War” to the “Department of Peace.”

“It’s a great question, actually,” Hegseth said. “You go from defense to war because you want to be proactive about peace through strength. I gave a speech in front of generals about what the ethos of the War Department is all about because I want it to go through every echelon of this department. It means something, it’s not just words. And when you fight a war the right way, the idea is that on the other side you bring about peace. That is what we’d like to see the most. In fact I once did a video about the one institution that should win the Nobel Peace Prize every single year is the United States Military.”

The Department of Justice announced it was bringing back death by firing squad as a punishment for federal crimes. The announcement was part of a broader policy of pursuing the death penalty in certain cases.

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

4/25/26

Cole Thomas Allen attempted to breach security at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner while carrying a shotgun and several other weapons. Allen got to the floor above a room where Trump, JD Vance, and several cabinet members mingled with celebrity journalists. Footage from the evacuation created several viral moments.

Cameras caught CAA agent Michael Glantz calmly eating a salad during the chaos. “I have a bad back. I couldn’t get on the floor, and if I did get on the floor, they’d have to bring in people to get me off the floor. And No. 2, I’m a hygiene freak. There was no freaking way I was getting in my new tux on the dirty Hilton floor. It was not happening,” Glantz told The New York Times when it asked why he didn’t go for cover.

4/26/26

In the aftermath of the attempted shooting, the press and public dug through Cole Tomas Allen’s internet history looking to understand what had happened. CNN pointed out he loved video games. The National Review declared he’d found a “safe space for left-wing extremism” on Bluesky. Right wing provocateur Chris Ruffo laid blame at the feet of left-wing blogger Will Stancil.

Trump and his allies said this latest assassination attempt was proof that the President needed a new ballroom at the White House. “This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House. The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!!”

Senators Lindsey Graham, Katie Britt, and Eric Schmitt introduced legislation to fund construction of the ballroom to the tune of $400 million. “Our bill supports his effort by providing funding to build this ballroom and keep future Presidents, their Cabinet, guests, and other world leaders safe,” Britt said in a press conference announcing the bill.

In polls, Americans overwhelmingly rejected building the ballroom.

On Sunday Night, 60 Minutes aired a 13 minute interview with the President about the shooting. It posted the full, uncut, 40 minute interview on YouTube. As always, it’s worth watching the full Trump ramble if you have the time.

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The Iran War is being fought without much on the ground media coverage. It’s a strange feeling to be deluged 24/7 by social media feeds filled with information but little original reporting. Tehran heavily restricts the internet and the leadership of both the US and Iran are less than forthcoming with journalists. But people want to know what’s going on and a cottage industry of people “monitoring the situation,” which often amounts to posting unvetted Telegram videos and sharing official state propaganda without context.

AI is making the situation worse. Not just because bad actors can create passable fake photos and videos at scale but because it gives people an excuse not to believe what’s in front of them. When the US Navy posted photos of lavish meals served to Sailors in an effort to counter stories of starving troops, I saw a lot of folks pour over the images looking for signs of AI-generation.

There were none, as far as I can tell. It reminded me we should be careful about what we want to believe.

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4/13/26

Trump posts an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus healing a sick man at 2:49 AM.

The picture was originally posted on Instagram and X by right-wing influencer Nick Adams on February 4, 2026. Adams’ picture depicted an angelic figure floating above Jesus-Trump’s head. When Trump posted it on Truth social, the image had been altered slightly to transform the angel into the demon Bael, a popular figure in Iranian propaganda about the United States.

Trump deleted the post, but the damage was done. Depicting himself as Jesus Christ was a bridge too far for some Christians. Trump has posted images like this many times over the past decade—he posted an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope a year ago, but this image dominated a newscycle in a way others haven’t. In my opinion, the rebuke from a portion of the electorate that would normally wave off this kind of thing is an indication that people are looking for an excuse to stop supporting him.

Later that day, Trump received a DoordDash order from McDonald’s at the White House and talked to reporters about the picture. “I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor,” he said.

CENTCOM officially began blockading Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said in a press release.

4/14/26

America’s blockade, it seems, was not super effective. The Pentagon claimed zero ships traversed the Strait, but maritime tracking showed some vessels had slipped through. The ceasefire continued and multiple news outlets and Trump said that negotiations would resume in Islamabad soon.

4/15/26

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered remarks at a Pentagon prayer breakfast and appeared to recite lines from Pulp Fiction as if they were a real prayer. This was the framing in much of the press, which referred to the Pulp Fiction prayer as a “blunder.” An op-ed in CNN claimed that Hegseth “trampled all over” the administration’s efforts to resolve a feud between Trump and the Pope.

As much as I dislike the Secretary of War I find myself in the unenviable position of defending him.

In the preamble to the Pulp Fiction quote, Hegseth made it clear he’d been handed the prayer by a member of the combat search and rescue team that rescued the down pilot in Iran. “This prayer was recited by Sandy-1, which is one of the Sandies, to all Sandies, all those A-10 crews prior to all CSAR missions, but especially this CSAR mission that happened in real time. They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth said.

So the Secretary of War is reciting something a troop read out before going on a mission which happens to be a quote from Pulp Fiction they probably thought sounded cool. This kind of thing happens all the time in the American military. Troops adopt stuff from pop culture they like. The first time I ever picked up a phone for a story was to call Air Force pilots to ask about a My Little Pony squadron patch.

It’s unclear if Hegseth knew he was quoting Pulp Fiction, but I’m sure he didn’t think he was quoting the Bible. The Secretary was just reciting something he thought was cool that a Sandy also thought was cool.

I was, once again, reminded to be careful about what I want to believe.

4/16/26

USA Today published a story that shared photos of troop’s meals taken aboard the USS Tripoli and the USS Abraham Lincoln. The two images showed strange gross meats and half-empty plates and went viral online. Hegseth and the Navy denied the reporting. “My team confirmed the logistics stats for the Lincoln & Tripoli. Both have 30+ days of Class I supplies (food) on board. NavCent monitors this everyday, for every ship,” Hegseth said in a post on X. “Our sailors deserve—and receive—the best.”

The sad plates of the US troops fighting the war in Iran was a reflection of other troop food stories that permeated more military minded news outlets in late February. Military folklore has it that the Pentagon always serves troops a heavy meal before a deployment and just before the start of this latest war, Sailors and Marines on social media shared images of steak and lobster dinners.

4/17/26

The Atlantic dropped a report on FBI director Kash Patel that painted him as a drunk.

“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.”

“On multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials. A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.”

Patel would go on to file a defamation lawsuit against the magazine.

4/18/26

The US Navy posted a photoshoot with fancy foods on X in an attempt to counter the story earlier in the week about Sailors and Marines choking down grey meats aboard deployed ships. People on social media went over the photos with an appraiser’s eye, looking for tell-tale signs of AI-generation and fakery. The truth is the photos were probably staged but there’s no reason to believe they were made with AI.

Obsession over the food of soldiers is a popular pastime in America and is one of the reasons we have the Food and Drug Administration. Popular history has it that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is responsible for a push to clean up America’s food supply. But the US Army Beef Scandal was just as influential. During the Spanish American war, more soldiers died due to bad meat than gunfire and America accused the military of feeding its troops “embalmed beef.”

4/19/26

The United Arab Emirates is asking America to ease financial burdens caused by the war in Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“UAE Central Bank Gov. Khaled Mohamed Balama raised the idea of a currency-swap line with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Treasury and Federal Reserve officials in meetings in Washington last week, the officials said. The Emiratis emphasized that they had so far avoided the worst economic effects of the conflict but might still need a financial lifeline, the officials said.”

“Treasury officials invited Gulf countries on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington last week to outline their needs for repairing infrastructure and rebuilding their economies, promising to put them at the front of the line if assistance is needed.”

The Fed used swap lines heavily used during the 2008 financial crisis, buying the currency of other borrowing central banks with dollars and later selling it back. It also used swap lines to support foreign central banks after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Since the war began I’ve spent some time on r/UAE, a message board that caters to people “visiting, living, and working in UAE.”

In a war that’s beset by so much misinformation, AI-slop, and outright lies on all sides, the subreddits dedicated to various Gulf coast countries is an interesting place. Without tracking down the author of each individual post, it’s impossible to verify any post, but I find the stories told here more interesting and telling than any video I’m seeing on X or Telegram.

Show note:

Sorry for the delay getting this out. I have pneumonia. (yes, really) How did I get it? From eating too much salsa. (yes, really) The body has many mysteries and aspiration pneumonia is one I have now revealed to myself.

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Last Thursday, the President of the United States shared a video of a woman being beaten to death with a hammer in a Florida gas station parking lot. It’s the exact kind of thing that would have been a minor hit on Rotten.com.

I am often struck by how many of the worst parts of the early 2000s era internet now permeate our culture, but I am just as shocked by how quickly these things slip by. Twenty years ago, the President sharing a murder on social media would have dominated the public’s minds for months. Now, a week after he shared it, it feels already forgotten.

At least we have these new pictures of the Moon.

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4/6/26

Let us pause for a moment and marvel that transcendent human accomplishments are still possible. The Monday after Easter, NASA’s ARTEMIS II mission spent seven hours cruising by the Moon. The last manned mission to the moon occurred in 1972 and the return of people to the Lunar orbit was a pleasant reminder that humans are still capable of great things. The pictures NASA published of the fly by are stunning.

4/7/26

On Tuesday Trump threatened to end the Iranian civilization, leading to a day of mass nuclear anxiety as the world waited to see if he would make good on the threat. As is so often the case with Trump, he did not make good on the threat. That did not lessen the anxiety.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end,” Trump said in a post on Truth social.

4/8/26

Pakistan negotiated a two week ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Multiple versions of a supposed 10 point plan made the rounds online. Iran and the United States argued the finer points of the agreement in public and the Farsi and English versions of Iran’s 10 point plan didn’t match up.

Iran said its proposal included America’s acceptance of its enrichment of uranium as part of Tehran’s nuclear program. Trump claimed that they’d worked with Iran to dig up its highly enriched uranium. Hegseth said Tehran would give over the material voluntarily.

Confusion reigned, but peace talks began.

4/9/26

On Truth Social Trump posted an AI-generated picture of himself standing with UFC CEO Dana White in front of a fighting arena on the White House lawn. It was an advertisement for a White House-hosted UFC fight scheduled to take place over the summer. The picture included the logo of Stake, an online casino.

The President’s endorsement of an online casino comes at a time when gambling has infested all aspects of American life. Every sports event is stuffed with advertisements for some form of betting. Video games are saddled with gambling-style mechanics. People make big money betting on the outcome of world events on sites like Kalshi and Polymarket.

Later that day, Trump kicked off the MAGA civil war by calling out Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candance Owens, and Alex Jones for criticizing the war in Iran. The massive media figures only intensified their critiques.

Still later, Trump posted security footage from a Florida parking lot that showed a woman being brutally beaten to death with a hammer.

4/10/26

The crew of the Artemis II returned safely to Earth.

4/11/26

The first round of peace talks in Iran collapsed in Islamabad. Vice President JD Vance was unable to thread the needle and he retreated from the talks. Trump and White House factotum Marco Rubio were in Florida watching a UFC fight when news of Vance’s failure broke. “We win, regardless,” he told reporters. “We defeated them militarily.”

The Strait of Hormuz remained closed. Iran continued to hold highly enriched uranium.

4/12/26

In a sign of possible shifting political winds, Viktor Orbán lost his re-election bid in Hungary. Orbán’s rule has been a political reality in the country since the 1990s and his election loss was overwhelming. American conservatives viewed Orbán’s Hungary as a kind of bulwark against overreaching liberalism and they have not taken the defeat well.

In the runup to the election, JD Vance stumped for Orbán in the country and Trump posted his support online. In an embarrassing moment on the campaign trail, Vance attempted to get Trump on the phone only to be sent to voicemail. If polls (and Polymarket) are to be believed, the attempted intercession of American power in the country only made Orbán less popular.

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“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he said. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.”

The promise to kill an entire civilization has caused anxiety, panic, and fear since it was issued in the morning. Some are calling for impeachment or invoking the 25th amendment. White House sources have told reporters that nukes are off the table, while others have told other reporters that nukes ARE a possibility.

It’s good to remember that we’ve been here before. Trump once threatened “fire and fury the likes of which the world has never seen” against North Korea which set off a similar round of nuclear panic and worry. But America wasn’t at war with Iran then and North Korea had nuclear weapons.

So we are left to wait. Maybe you’re reading this on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday and nothing happened. It’s possible Trump just ordered the destruction of civilian infrastructure like bridges and power plants, something he’d threatened in an Easter missive. Feeling relief at that possibility is an obscenity.

“I think what’s happening is that, for the first time in his life, Trump is being told “no.” Having dealt with people who have this particular personality disorder, there’s no obvious limit to what he’ll do to himself or others trying to avoid accepting it,” Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons expert and previous guest of the show, said on Bluesky.

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3/30/26

TMZ published photos of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham enjoying a vacation alone at Disney World. The images are odd as is the idea that Graham, who is a 70 year old lifelong bachelor, would visit Disney World by himself. There is a war on, one he has championed. There’s an energy crisis and a partial shutdown of the government.

And there is the Senator, hanging out with Mickey Mouse.

3/31/26

Reuters reported that Italy had previously denied the United States access to some bombers that were headed to the Middle East as part of America’s war with Iran. Speaking with reporters, Italian officials reiterated that they were abiding by existing agreements. The day before, Spain had closed its airspace to any US planes involved in the Iran War. Austria would do the same a few days later. Both France and Portugal have set conditions on the use of their airspace but stopped short of an outright ban.

4/1/26

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments about birthright citizenship. Trump sat in the crowd for a little more than an hour and listened to the Justices, even those he’d hand picked, tear into his administration’s argument against birthright citizenship. A decision on the issue is expected this summer and early analysts predict it won’t favor Trump. This was the first time a sitting President attended a Supreme Court argument hearing.

Later that evening, Trump addressed the nation on national television to update them on the war in Iran. He thanked the troops, said the War had gone well, denounced Barack Obama, declared victory, and said there was still so much war left to fight.

“This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching and they can’t believe the power, strength and brilliance, they just can’t believe what they’re seeing—theyu—leave it to your imagination, but they can’t believe what they’re seeing, the brilliance of the United States military,” he said.

4/2/26

Pam Bondi is out as Attorney General.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Blanche has previously claimed he was magically “transported” or “teleported” to a Waffle House in Georgia. The Waffle House employees do not remember this. In a post on Truth Social, Blanche claimed that God had cured his prostate cancer and “transported” him.

“I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES,” he said.

4/3/26

It was a big day for American airpower losses.

Iranian forces shot down an F-15E over western Iran. During an early search and rescue mission for the pilots, an A-10 Warthog took fire and went down. The Warthog pilot ejected and American forces recovered him. A Black Hawk and a HH-60 helicopter also took fire during the search but made it back to base. An Iranian drone hit a CH-47 Chinook on the ground in Kuwait.

Back home, rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine got out of jail and showed off a Spongebob Squarepants toy signed by fellow inmate and former president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

4/4/26

The State Department revoked the permanent resident status of the niece and grand niece of assassinated IRGC leader Qasem Soleimani. According to a notice from the State Department, the women spread Iranian propaganda and called America the Great Satan.

“Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account,” the memo said.

4/5/26

Trump celebrated Easter by praising Allah and threatening to destroy Iran.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” the President of the United States said in a post on Truth Social.

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Propaganda emphatically does not tell you how a war is playing out on the ground. It can not communicate who is “winning” or “losing” or if a particular military is achieving its objectives. It captures a vibe and elicits an emotional response in the viewer. That’s the goal. It’s best to guard your heart against it.

I’ve got much more to say about this on the Kill Switch podcast which you can view below.

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3/23/26

Trump made good on a threat/ promise and deployed ICE agents to America’s airports. On Bluesky, independent journalist Marisa Kabas collected images from readers of agents milling around at airports and published a daily thread.

“counted 25 ICE officers (most with ERO vests) during my 26-minute wait in the LGA Terminal C Touchless line this morning,” writer Megan Greenwell said on Bluesky. “every one of them was either standing doing nothing or slowly walking the length of the line doing nothing. at least four were in masks.”

One of Greenwell’s photos showed two young ICE agents wearing plate carriers and walking through the airport in NYC. The image of the young brown-vested ICE agents wandering Laguardia touched a nerve and was shared and reshared online. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s official X account posted the photo through a blurry fashwave filter with the caption “Fly Safe, Patriots. JOIN. ICE.GOV.”

3/24/26

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon has called up 3,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne to the Middle East.

“The 82nd Airborne’s combat brigade serves as the Army’s emergency response force and can be deployed anywhere in the world in under 24 hours. They train to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure airfields and land. The brigade would be deployed along with the division headquarters, which is responsible for planning and coordination, the officials said.”

3/25/26

Trump visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee on Monday and the White House published photos from the trip two days later. In my favorite, a bored looking Trump stares forward as if waiting for everything to be over.

On Capitol Hill, members of Congress left a closed door briefing with the White House about the war and signaled their alarm. “I will not support sending South Carolina’s sons and daughters to war in Iran. I won’t do it,” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said in a post on X.

“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered. And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions,” House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers said.

“We just wanted them to tell us what’s the plan, and we didn’t get any answers,” Rogers told Politico. “I understand they can’t give us, they shouldn’t give us, specific operational details. But generally, we should be able to get more texture than we’re receiving from them.”

3/26/26

Trump spent the past few days talking about how negotiations were going well with Iran because the Iranians had given him a present. During a filmed cabinet meeting, Trump finally told everyone what was going on. “Steve, can I reveal the present?” Trump asked.

“You can do anything you want sir,” US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said.

“They said to show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re gonna let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil,” Trump said. “And they’ll sail up tomorrow.”

The present, Trump explained, was that Iran allowed some ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. “I hope I haven’t screwed up your negotiation,” Trump said to Witkoff. “I felt it was appropriate to say because I did taunt you the other day by saying they’re gonna give us a present.”

3/27/26

An Iranian-linked hacktivist group called Handala breached FBI director Kash Patel’s personal Gmail account and published mildly embarrassing pictures from Patel’s photoroll online. Most of the photos come from a personal trip Patel once took to Cuba. They’ve got Patel sniffing cigars, staring at a fancy bottle of liquor, and hanging out with a statue of Ernest Hemingway. The FBI later confirmed the hack and issued a $10 million reward for “information leading to the identification of the Handala Hack Team out of Iran.”

3/28/26

A US AH‑64 Apache helicopter buzzed Kid Rock’s home near Nashville and the rockstar filmed the whole thing and put it online. “This is a level of respect that shit for brains Governor of California will never know. God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her. 🇺🇸 🙏” Kid Rock said in a post on X.

This was, apparently, an off the books trip. “Fort Campbell leadership is aware of a video circulating on social media depicting AH-64 Apache helicopters operating in the vicinity of a private residence associated with Mr. Robert Ritchie (also known as ‘Kid Rock’),” a 101st Airborne Division public affairs officer told journalists. “The command has initiated an investigation to review the circumstances surrounding this activity.”

By Tuesday the investigation was wrapped up and the Army suspended the aircrew involved.

3/29/26

Another piece in The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Trump and American military leaders are talking about what experts have long known: there’s no way to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon without a ground force.

“‘This is not a quick in and out kind of deal,’ said retired Gen. Joseph Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.

“U.S. troops could avoid such a dangerous operation if Iran agreed to hand over its uranium as part of a peace settlement. The U.S. has previously removed enriched uranium from a foreign country in a peaceful transfer. In 1994, the U.S. removed uranium from Kazakhstan in an operation dubbed Project Sapphire. In 1998, the U.S. and Britain were involved in an operation to remove highly enriched uranium from a reactor near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. It was taken to a nuclear complex in Scotland.”

For more on this, I’ll point readers to my interview with François Diaz-Maurin of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists from a few weeks ago. Diaz-Maurin laid out all the complications in expert detail. On Sunday evening, concurrent with the Journal article, Diaz-Maurin published an investigation that detailed the current location and nature of Iran’s enriched uranium.

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No one should be “monitoring the situation” if they’re not paid to do so, but world circumstances have made it impossible to look away. How many will die? When will it end? What new obscenity will we be forced to swallow with a grin? These are questions we’re all grappling with right now, the questions that have created a world where The Wall Street Journal is explaining why Iran keeps releasing AI-generated Lego videos.

Here’s what kept me sane this past week: the success of the excellent Project Hail Mary and the sheer excellence of the video game Marathon. Project Hail Mary is an original film not based on an existing IP that shot almost everything in camera. The alien co-star is a puppet. It’s been so long since I’ve seen a big budget film that felt grounded in reality that I had forgotten how good it is. Go see it.

Marathon is a video game about learning to accept death and loss while listening to a corporate executive wax poetic about a drinkable cheeseburger.

The game is best with friends, just like the drinkable cheeseburger.

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3/16/26

The week kicked off with the US Transportation Department stripping 200,000 immigrant truck drivers of their commercial driver’s license. According to reporting from The Washington Post, the new rule will wipe out 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses in America.

The Post told the story of Aleksei Semenovskii, a 41-year old Russian asylum seeker.

“This [rule] is devastating for my family,” said Semenovskii, breaking down in tears. “I’ve built this small business relying on my driving privileges. I didn’t think anyone could take this away from me for just being an immigrant.”

3/17/26

Joe Kent, a former Army Ranger, resigned as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said in his resignation letter. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Later that day, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—who hates wars unless they’re waged on behalf of Bashar Al Assad—announced her unwavering support of President Trump. It was impossible not to read it as a response to Kent.

“As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country,” she said. “After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion.”

The next day, the FBI announced it had launched an investigation into Kent over improper handling of classified material.

3/18/26

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, heir apparent to Kristi Noem, sat through a round of Senate grilling today as part of the confirmation process for Director of Homeland Security. Opinions from the Congressional crowd were mixed. Mullin once threatened to fight a representative of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters during a Senate hearing.

“I know that is a good man,” Sen. Bernie Moreno said, pointing at Mullin. “I will vote for you. Our Republican colleagues will vote for you. You will get confirmed and you will make this country proud Markwayne, thank you and thank you for standing by a great American person.”

Sen. Rand Paul wasn’t sold. A neighbor assaulted Paul in 2017, breaking five of his ribs and causing an injury that necessitated lung surgery. At the time, Mullin sided with Paul’s attacker in interviews and called Paul a snake.

Paul used the confirmation hearing to grill Mullin about the comments and make a point about his character. “In the days after the fight, you did many interviews in which you justified the violence as historically justified by precedents, such as caning and dueling,” Paul said. “Is it today your opinion that the caning of Charles Sumner was not only justified, but argues still for resolving our political differences with violence?”

“What I would simply point out to some of the rules that still apply to this body,” Mullin said. “For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there. I was pointing out what is still—”

“It’s been illegal for 170 years. There’s no precedent for legal dueling,” Paul said, cutting him off. “Even then they fled the country. Do you realize that the man that beat Charles Sumner with a cane, he beat him till he was unconscious. You know why no Senators intervened? Because his friend held a gun on the other Senators, and he kept beating him and beating him until he crushed his skull. That’s what you’re insinuating as the precedent of the Senate and that’s what you live by. That is a very, very dangerous sentiment.”

Mullin sat in silence for a beat.

“After a half a dozen victory lap interviews where you pointed out that the Union guy was just lucky that fear kept him from standing up, Dana Bash asked you if you have any regrets about bringing violence to a Senate committee, and you replied that you have no regrets. Today you’ve said you have no regrets about being happy, being completely understanding, why I was attacked from behind. You had no regrets about instigating a brawl in a Senate committee hearing. Are those still your opinions?”

“Mr. Chairman, you’re going to have your opinion. I’m going to have mine. As the Secretary of Homeland Security, I’m going to bring peace of mind and security to this country, and I’m going to stay laser focused on that,” Mullin said.

3/19/26

Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House and made a Pearl Harbor joke while taking questions from the press. A Japanese reporter asked Trump why he hadn’t told America’s allies about the plan to attack Iran.

“Well one thing: you don’t wanna signal too much, y’know? When we go in, we went in very hard. And we didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? OK?” Trump said, spreading his hands before him while people in the room laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right? He’s asking me, no—you believe in surprise, I think, much more so than us and we had to surprise ‘em. And we did. And because of that surprise, we knocked out, the first two days we probably knocked out 50% of what we—and much more than we anticipated. If I go and tell everybody about it, it’s no longer a surprise. Right?”

As a brief reprieve from the horror, we must remember that good things are still possible in America. The same day as Trump’s Pearl Harbor joke, Joseph “Afroman” Foreman won a free speech case against seven sheriff’s officers in Ohio. In 2022, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio raided his home. They found no evidence of a crime. Afroman used security footage from the raid to make music videos mocking the police. Seven of the officers sued Afroman for invading their privacy.

They lost. The entire trial is incredible. Highlights include retired deputy Shawn Cooley being forced to respond to being called “Lemon Pound Cake” and the ex-wife of a different deputy explaining that the music videos had nothing to do with her divorce.

3/20/26

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that some sanctions on Iranian oil would be lifted to help ease pressure on the oil market caused by America’s war on Iran.

“At present, sanctioned Iranian oil is being hoarded by China on the cheap. By temporarily unlocking this existing supply for the world, the United States will quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran,” Bessent said in a post on X. “In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against Tehran to keep the price down as we continue Operation Epic Fury.”

The New York Times had a horrifying story about Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent and Trump ally.

“Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent turned presidential special envoy, had learned that his Brazilian ex-girlfriend was in a Miami jail, arrested on charges of fraud at her workplace. They had been in a custody battle over their teenage son. Now he saw an opportunity.

He reached out to a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, explaining that his ex was in the country illegally, according to records obtained by The New York Times and a person familiar with the communications. Could she be put in ICE detention? That could help him get his son back.

The official, David Venturella, promptly called the agency’s Miami office to ensure that ICE agents would pick up the woman from the jail before she was released on bail, according to the records and a person with knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity to discuss it. During the call, Mr. Venturella noted that the case was important to someone close to the White House.”

3/21/26

Robert Mueller died on March 20. He was 81 years old and had lived with a Parkinson’s diagnosis since 2021. Trump gave his obituary for the man, such as it was, the following day.

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

3/22/26

The State Department issued a “Worldwide Caution” notice to Americans.

“The Department of State advises Americans worldwide, and especially in the Middle East, to exercise increased caution. Americans abroad should follow the guidance in security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate,” the notice said. “Periodic airspace closures may cause travel disruptions. U.S. diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted. Groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or locations associated with the United States and/or Americans throughout the world.”

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Jake Paul appeared at a political rally with Trump in Hebron, Kentucky this week where the President gave Paul his full endorsement. Paul is not running for any political office. “I’m gonna make a prediction. You will be, in the not too distant future, running for political office. And you have my complete and total endorsement, OK?”

Paul is a longtime YouTuber who parlayed his success into a career selling low quality snacks to children. He boxed Mike Tyson, starred in a reality show that aired on HBO, and interviewed the President on YouTube. When I think about the future of American politics I see Paul.

The Oscars aired on Sunday and I have, on occasion, heard friends and critics moaning about a certain kind of movie typified by Oscar nominees F1 and Top Gun: Maverick. Both are directed by the same guy and feature an aging hero who steps up to show a young and cocky upstart how it’s done. In ages past, a similar movie would see the aging hero seeing his limitations and stepping aside. Think Bull Durham.

The success of Top Gun and F1, I’m told, is a sign that Baby Boomers have a chokehold on the culture. These films are metaphors for how the new generation can’t get ahead, a trend we see reflected in business and politics across the country. I think the real issue is more material. Hollywood knows how to market its films and young people aren’t going. They’re at home watching Jake Paul and Mr. Beast on Youtube.

The torch is getting passed in American entertainment. One showman has anointed another.

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3/9/26

While all eyes are on America’s war with Iran, the War on Drugs continued with increased intensity. Pentagon social media accounts spent Monday celebrating weekend attacks on boats in the Pacific. The Department of War said the strikes killed “six male narco-terrorists,” a number that brought the death toll of this phase of the War on Drugs to 157.

3/10/26

In what would become a theme of the US-Israel War in Iran this week, the Trump administration sent mixed signals about the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said it had begun to mine the Strait, especially grim news because the US Navy decommissioned its Middle East minesweepers last year.

Oil prices shot up and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright didn’t help. “The U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets,” he said on X. This wasn’t true and he immediately deleted it. Oil prices climbed went up as a result.

“If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY! If for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before. If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction! Additionally, we are using the same Technology and Missile capabilities deployed against Drug Traffickers to permanently eliminate any boat or ship attempting to mine the Hormuz Strait. They will be dealt with quickly and violently. BEWARE!” Trump said on Truth Social.

Iran mined it anyway.

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3/11/26

We got a glimpse of the cost of the Iran War today. During a closed door briefing with Congress, the administration said the first six days had cost an estimated $11.3 billion. During the first two days of strikes, the US spent $5.6 billion on munitions alone. Reporting on the briefing said that Trump planned to ask Congress for an additional $50 billion in funding for the war.

“Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised,” Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said in a statement to the world.

The Wall Street Journal had an illuminating article about America’s lack of a plan for the Strait of Hormuz going into the war. Trump wanted to sell insurance to ships in the Gulf as a way of easing the burden on the oil industry his war had caused. It’s not going well. “US officials called London insurers and brokers, trying to figure out how the market operates, industry insiders said,” the Journal reported. “Some have received calls asking for confidential data on the Lloyd’s market that participants have been reluctant to share.”

3/12/26

Palantir CEO Alex Karp spoke at AIPCon 9 and then gave an interview to CNBC where he talked about the Pentagon blacklisting Anthropic, the role AI is playing in war, and the disruption he sees coming to the American economy. “This technology disrupts humanity’s train, largely Democratic voters, and makes their economic power less, and increases the economic power of vocationally trained, working class, often male voters. These disruptions are going to disrupt every aspect of our society,” Karp said.

In Iraq, a US Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed during a mission. Six airmen died.

3/13/26

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was in the middle of a sit-down on camera interview with Wilfred Frost of Sky News when the President pulled him into a closed door meeting in the situation room.

When Bessent returned around 90 minutes later he sounded shaken. “The President is in great spirits. The Iranian mission is proceeding well ahead of schedule and, you know, I have to tell you, I have teenage—teenager who is considering military service and I can give this team my highest compliment…I would say I trust my child’s life in their hands.”

During a press conference that same day Pete Hegseth claimed the Strait of Hormuz was open for business. “The only thing prohibiting transit right now is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit should Iran not do that,” Hegseth said.

3/14/26

On Truth Social, Trump attempted to will a coalition of allies into existence to help the US open the Strait of Hormuz.

“Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe. We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are. Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated. In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”

As of this writing, no allies have signed up to help though some have tepidly left the option open.

3/15/26

Tucker Carlson said the CIA is after him and has been reading his text messages. What’s his crime? According to Carlson, he spoke to people in Iran before America attacked.

This week on Angry Planet, journalist Aram Shabanian joins the program to talk about his first reactions to the Iran…

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This was inside a PragerU Freedom Truck, a White House backed traveling exhibition meant to teach kids about the birth of the United States during its 250th birthday. The main attraction is AI-generated founding fathers and AI slop George Washington was interesting, but the picture of Chambers is what stuck with me after I left.

Chambers was one of the central figures that kicked off the post World War II Red Scare that launched the political careers of Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, and Joseph McCarthy. As the American public soured on the House Unamerican Activities Committee and the hunt for communists, the fight over Chambers legacy became a central grievance of the American right-wing. The picture of Chambers was on the bottom row of the heroes, about at the eye level of a kindergartner.

I thought again of Trump and others claiming that America’s war in Iran is simply the culmination of a 47 year long conflict. All the old grievances come around again, even and especially the ones we thought had been forgotten.

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3/2/26

First Lady Melania Trump chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council where she called for peace and asked the world to think of the children.

“The US stands with all of the children throughout the world. I hope soon—peace will be yours,” Melania said during remarks to the council. “Children raised in a culture rooted in ignorance are surrounded by disorder, and sometimes even conflict. These societies are filled with rigid thinkers who embrace prejudice and shun human dignity.”

Days earlier on February 28, air strikes in Minab, Iran leveled the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school and killed more than 175 people including many children. Neither the US or Israel has claimed responsibility for this specific attack, but analysis from the New York Times and others concluded that the school was destroyed at the exact same time America bombed a nearby Iranian naval base.

3/3/26

Not content with all the wars in front of it, the Trump administration teamed up with Ecuador to expand both country’s combat operations against the Los Choneros cartel. The Ecuadorian military has been fighting this war against organized crime since 2024 with the support of the US, but American combat operations in the region are new. US Southern Command announced the opening of a new front in America’s long running War on Drugs by posting footage of air strikes against alleged traffickers (which it called terrorists) on X.

3/4/26

Official propaganda out of the White House this week was thick with video game references. In the Call of Duty franchise, players who kill multiple opponents without dying in a multiplayer match are rewarded with a “killstreak” bonus. There’s different types of killstreak bonuses, but one of the most popular is an airstrike that drops cluster bombs on enemies.

A White House video posted to X merged footage of a Call of Duty killstreak with the destruction of targets in Iran. Electronic music throbbed over grainy footage of targets exploding. “Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump,” a voice chanted as aircraft and vehicles exploded. Every destroyed piece of equipment netted +100 points in this fictionalized version of the very real war.

3/5/26

Kristin Noem is out as the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The cabinet and staff of the first Trump administration was unstable. People came and went so fast it was hard to keep track. Anthony Scaramucci famously served only ten days as White House communications director. Trump 2.0 has proved much more durable and resistant to scandal.

Noem’s antics, apparently, went too far. The breaking point was allegedly a $220 million tax-payer funded ad that featured Noem on horseback in front of Mount Rushmore. That’s about the cost of last year’s Superman film and the ad only runs 60 seconds, so about $3.6 million a second.

3/6/26

Trump told CNN’s Dana Bash that Cuba was next on the regime change list.

“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is gonna fall too. They want to make a deal so badly. They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put Marco (Rubio) over there and we’ll see how that works out. We’re really focused on this one right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready — after 50 years.”

Over on X, the White House continued playing to the gamers by posting footage from the Iran War against music from Grand Theft: Auto San Andreas. Cringe Meme Czar and White House director of communications Steven Cheung retweeted the video along with the San Andreas cheat code for infinite ammo.

3/7/26

At 4 AM, staff at the Capitol installed a plaque honoring the police who protected Congress on January 6, 2021. According to the Washington Post, the plaque sat in the basement of the Capitol uninstalled for years despite Congress passing a law saying it had to be displayed.

“Last summer, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and another officer who responded to the riot sued the Architect of the Capitol to have the congressional memorial installed and, according to federal court records, ‘to honor the women and men who saved the lives of those inside the building, and to ensure that the history of this attack on the Capitol — and on democracy — is not forgotten.’”

“I never thought honoring police officers would be this controversial,” Dunn told the Post.

3/8/26

Trump promised to strike Iran “very hard” over the weekend and on Sunday the IDF hit a fuel depot in Tehran that caused black smoke to billow into the air above the city. Iraq and Kuwait cut oil production, Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, and the Pentagon announced the death of a seventh US service member in the Iran War. As early trading began on Sunday, the cost of a barrel skyrocketed and oil futures plummeted.

“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday night.

On r/WallStreetBets—a subreddit for financial shitposters—one user posted a picture of panicking wojaks hugging each other under the title “Lord help us tomorrow.”

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But is the buildout of LLMs and machine learning systems really as important as the development of the atom bomb? And what are the lessons from the atomic age that AI scientists should then learn? Do we need an AI Non Proliferation Treaty? An AI International Atomic Energy Agency?

On this episode of Angry Planet, Ankit Panda comes on to talk about the uses and limitations of the “AI as nuclear weapons” metaphor. Panda is an expert in nukes and a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He’s been sharing his extended thoughts on the AI-nuclear connection at his Nukesletter Substack.

• Stanislav Petrov

• AI as nuclear weapons

• Why nuclear weapons resonate with people in the AI field

• The Strategic Air Command story

• That time we spilled nuclear material all over Greenland and Spain

• NNSA and Anthropic

• AI as the next Manhattan Project

• A massive infrastructure project

• Fissile material as silicon

• What’s the AI version of an NPT and IAEA?

• AI and nuclear are both dual use

• On AI winters

• What AI is actually being used for, what it might be used for

• The socialization around AI will change.

AI Arms and Influence: Frontier Models Exhibit Sophisticated Reasoning in Simulated Nuclear Crisis

Nukesletter

Does the AI/Nuclear Weapons Analogy Really Make Sense?

Editor’s Note: Today’s Nukesletter continues on the theme of AI from my last post, but is somewhat different. I was asked recently by the good folks at the Federation of American Scientists and the Future of Life Institute to write a short “think piece” with some broad thoughts on the often-analogized AI-nuclear relationship. That resulted in the piece …

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3 months ago · 17 likes · Ankit Panda

Many of Trump 2.0’s actions speak to specific Boomer obsessions. He declassified many of the remaining JFK assassination files. He’s said he’ll do the same for UFOs. He brought some of that old, if diminished, Kennedy magic back to DC by appointing RFK Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary.

Even his domestic policies feel like the kind of thing an angry and dying Boomer would recommend during a heated political fight with their family. “Crime would go down in the cities if you’d just send in the military,” they might say. Or “want to get rid of immigrants? Just unleash ICE to bust their heads.”

What we saw at the end of this week is the foreign policy version of that attitude playing. These are the dreams of a dying generation grasping the wheel of power one more time before it’s all over.

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2/23/26

On February 22, the Mexican Army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel (JNGC) leader El Mencho in an attack carried out with support from the United States. Over the next few days, JNGC hijacked trucks, killed people, and set things on fire across Mexico in retaliation.

A Costco in flames in Puerto Vallarta captured public attention. On Reddit, a poster earned international ire when they complained that Westin Puerto Vallarta wouldn’t honor their late checkout request.

“I am platinum elite, over 1,000 lifetime Marriott nights,” the person said in the now deleted post on r/Marriott. “PV is on fire due to the cartel setting cars and buses on fire all over the city. The airport is closed and Ubers and Taxies are not running. I asked for a 4pm checkout, which I’m entitled to based on availability. They won’t extend past 2pm and adi we would have to use the hospitality suite.”

2/24/26

Trump delivered a long and boring State of the Union. Clocking in around two hours, the speech played the hits. Of note for our purposes: the President bragged about ending a war between Israel and Iran just days before he’d partner with Israel to launch a war on Iran.

“My first 10 months I ended eight wars, including Cambodia. Isn’t it funny? Sick people,” he said. “Cambodia and Thailand. Pakistan and India. Would have been a nuclear war. 35 million people said the prime minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for my involvement. Kosovo and Serbia. Israel and Iran. Egypt and Ethiopia. Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Congo and Rwanda. And, of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level, it’s just about there.”

2/25/26

Ten people in a stolen speedboat traveled from Florida to Cuba where, according to Cuba’s Interior Ministry, the boat approached the coast and its occupants opened fire with assault rifles. The Cuban coast guard fired back, killing four and injuring the others. The six survivors are in custody. One of the dead is an American citizen. Cuba said they found handguns, assault rifles, bullet proof vests, and Molotov cocktails on the boat.

2/26/26

Pakistan is at war with the Taliban in Afghanistan. In an interview on state TV in Afghanistan, Taliban commander Hamid Khorasani told viewers that his forces would meet Pakistan’s ballistic missiles with suicide bombers. It’s further proof that Taliban bureaucrats hated working in an office and “missed the days of Jihad.”

2/27/26

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave AI company Anthropic an ultimatum this week: give us full access to Claude without safeguards or we’ll declare you a supply chain risk. At issue was Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s refusal to allow Claude to be used for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons systems. According to The Washington Post: Hegseth demanded to know if Claude would help America shoot down an incoming nuclear weapon.

Amodei’s response? “Call us and we’d work it out.” WaPo noted that Anthropic denied he’d said this.

Anthropic stuck to its guns. Hegseth declared Anthropic a supply chain risk which would blacklist it from all government work. Hours later, the Pentagon used Claude when it launched an air attack against Iran.

Today, Hegseth also picked a fight with the Boy Scouts over “woke” policies. The Boy Scouts bent the knee.

2/28/26

The vibe war turned kinetic. After bombing Iranian nuclear sites in June last year Trump claimed Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated.” A little less than a year later, Trump started a broader war against Iran. Why? “It’s a very simple message,” Trump said in a speech to the nation on Saturday. “They will never have a nuclear weapon.”

3/1/26

Iran confirmed that the US-led campaign against Iran killed the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The attacks also, apparently, killed quite a few other important people, including officials the US had identified as possible candidates to take over Iran.

“The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump told Johathan Karl of ABC News. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.”

In a speech on Sunday, Trump acknowledged that several US troops had already died during the war. He thanked them for their service. “Sadly there will likely be more before it ends,” he said. “That’s the way it is. Likely be more.”

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Fishback is a Groyper running for governor in Florida and currently fighting to win the Republican primary. He’s one of the most avowedly “4Chan” candidates I’ve yet seen. He inveighed against junk food in a recent speech at the University of Central Florida, calling it “goyslop,” and has promised to bring back public executions.

The success or failure of Fishback in the primary will tell me how much appetite America has for the politics of weirdos spouting online bullshit. Sometimes my wife will catch me laughing at a post I see online and ask what I think is so funny. Startled, I’ll look up from my scroll and realize that explaining the joke will require a long conversation about stupid online bullshit that will, once it’s finished, destroy the joke and make me look completely insane.

And so it is with “goyslop” and any number of other Groyper idioms. Once it moves from the message board to the sidewalk, it’s obvious how deranged it’s always been.

February 16, 2026

It was President’s day. Here’s a picture Nicki Minaj posted of herself sitting next to a pastel festooned AI-generated President Trump.

Just to even out the left-right divide of cringe President’s Day Posts, here’s a picture Hillary Clinton posted of herself hanging out with a drone in Ukraine.

I can think of no better way to celebrate President’s Day in 2026.

AI company Anthropic got into a fight with the Pentagon this week. Anthropic’s Claude is the only LLM cleared for sensitive government data, the company has a close working relationship with the government, and the Pentagon used Claude during the Maduro raid. Anthropic wants to make sure its tech isn’t used for mass surveillance of autonomous weapons. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth won’t give Anthropic those assurances and threatened to cut the company off from government contracts.

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February 17, 2026

HHS posted a video of secretary RFK Jr. hanging out with Kid Rock. Set to the 27 year old Kid Rock song Bawitdaba, the video depicts the two men working out and drinking whole milk together in a pool. Kennedy submerges himself into water multiple times while wearing blue jeans.

February 18, 2026

CNBC aired an interview with Donald Jr. and Eric Trump where the brothers talked crypto and defended the Trump family against accusations of corruption. They didn’t deny the corruption so much as claim it was a necessary and inevitable reaction to being bullied by banks and social media companies.

“We were the most cancelled people in the world in 2020, 2021, and it’s really great to almost have this retribution where all of a sudden we start pushing an agenda,” Eric said. Both talked about the shock of being pulled off Twitter and getting “cancelled” by major banks. The result was going into DeFi.

February 19, 2026

The Vibe War with Iran began.

The state of American military equipment in the Middle East looks an awful lot like it did ahead of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As of this writing, the war is still vibes-based. Will America attack Iran? Only the President, constrained only by his own morality, knows.

While he weighed the possibilities, Trump stopped in at a fast food restaurant in Rome, Georgia for a photo-op. Trump is ever in his element when surrounded by cheeseburgers and he glowed behind the cash register at a chili dog place called The Varsity.

“THIS is what putting American workers first actually looks like. 🇺🇸🔥” Boasted the official White House X account. “The comeback is real.”

According to The Varsity’s website, starting level managers make around $33,000 a year.

February 20, 2026

The Supreme Court told Trump he couldn’t just issue tariffs at-will and he didn’t take it well. We tend to consume Trump in soundbites: a post there, an excerpted piece of a speech here. Lately I’ve been trying, as much as I have the time for, to watch his remarks in full. Trump can sound cogent when edited down. He’s much less so when you listen to him at length. His speech racing to the SCOTUS ruling is a good one to watch if it’s been a while since you’ve listened to Trump at length.

“I am allowed to cut off any and all trade or business with that same country. In other words, I can destroy the trade, I can destroy the country. I’m even allowed to impose a foreign country-destroying embargo. I can embargo, I can do anything I want, but I can’t charge one dollar because that’s not what it says, and that’s not the way it even reads. I can do anything I want to do to them, but I can’t charge any money. So I’m allowed to destroy the country, but I can’t charge them a little fee. I could give them a little two cent fee, but I cannot charge under any circumstances. I cannot charge them anything.”

February 21, 2026

The week closed out as it began: with Nicki Minaj posting cringe. The starstruck pop-star posted a picture of a Donald Trump branded Bible signed by the man himself on X. “One of the most meaningful gifts I’ve ever received in my entire life,” she said.

February 22, 2026

The US men’s hockey team defeated Canada in the Olympics and took home a gold medal, the first since 1980. Team member Dylan Larkin livestreamed the celebration from the locker room after the medal ceremony and caught FBI Director Kash Patel hanging out with the team. Video of Patel circulated on social media that showed the director pounding beers and chanting.

Earlier in the week, the FBI’s public affairs people insisted that Patel was flying to Milan for a previously planned work trip and wasn’t there to attend the Olympics. Footage of Patel chugging a beer with the Olympians seemed to run counter to the PR.

“For the very concerned media - yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys- Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth. 👊🏼🏒🇺🇸” Patel said in a post on X.

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