Today in Politics, Bulletin 324. 3/9/26

… Kristi Noem’s former ICE Dep. Director Madison Sheehan placed a bulk order for 2,500 custom marked ICE vehicles, but they are sitting in parking garages since agents don’t want to use them. Agents complain that they already take extensive measures to avoid being identified by the public, so the last thing they want to do is drive around in an conspicuous ICE-mobile.

… Source to Washington Examiner: “ICE has never had marked vehicles. In talking to people, they’re like, ‘We don’t want to use these, we can’t.’ It’s ridiculous because you don’t want to advertise what you’re doing. We’re just hiding them in a parking garage somewhere because we don’t want to drive them. Who wants to drive the marked vehicles?”

… “ICE’s top brass are quietly searching for a way to amend the remainder of a massive order of pick-up trucks and SUVs that were ordered last year and slated to be wrapped with the agency’s name, logo, and motto, as well as storing away many vehicles that have been delivered to ICE facilities across the country.”

… “Last August, the DHS and the WH posted photos on social media showing the agency’s newly outfitted pickup trucks and SUVs. It was the first time since ICE’s 2003 inception that the agency had acquired any marked vehicles. The vehicles were dark navy blue with a red horizontal stripe that runs along each side. ICE’s name and logo adorn the sides in gold lettering, along with ‘Defend the Homeland’ on the rear portion of the sides.”

… “Last Nov, the agency said it would spend $2.25 million to buy 25 Chevrolet Tahoes that would be emblazoned with ICE’s new logo and used for recruitment purposes as the agency moved to hire 10,000 new deportation officers. The order of 2,500 custom vehicles is the latest in a string of questionable expenditures by the DHS and its agencies over the past year, including hundreds of millions of dollars that the dept put toward an ad campaign.”

… It appears that Taco Trump is looking to throw in the towel on the Iran War after oil prices spiked along with many other unintended consequences. Just a few days ago he said the war would continue until he received an “unconditional surrender.” The he said that he would insist on choosing their next leader. Today, he was singing a much different tune.

… To CBS: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force.” He added that the US is “very far” ahead of his initial 4-5 week estimated time frame.

… Trump to the House Republican conference in Miami today: “We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. I think you'll see it is going to be a short-term excursion. SHORT TERM!”

… Which means he’s about to declare victory and get the hell out.

… Marco Rubio: “The goals of the mission against the Iranian regime are clear:

• Destroy their ability to launch missiles

• Destroy factories making these missiles

• Destroy their navy

… Prof of Strategic Studies Phillips O’Brien: “If this is actually the new set of strategic goals, the Trump admin is admitting that they have strategically failed and this has been a disaster.”

… UK journalist Jimmy Rushton: “No mention of removing the regime. No mention of destroying the Iranian nuclear programme. No mention of destroying Iran's ability to project power via proxy forces. The admin's war aims are constantly changing.”

… Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): “It took Trump 10 days to create an energy crisis reminiscent of the 1970s, replace Ayatollah Khamenei with Ayatollah Khamenei, and weaken our alliances worldwide. He put American servicemembers in harm’s way, resulting in 7 deaths. None of this made you safer or better off.”

… So after Taco Trump bails out of his Iran War, is he going to count it as one of the wars he supposedly ended?

… Trump: “The world respects us now more than ever before.”

… The Economist’s Shashank Joshi: “A group of people who come to office insisting that America’s main foreign policy error of the last 30 years has been over-commitment to the Mid East, start an unnecessary war that consumes their interceptor/munition stockpiles, causes an energy crisis in Asia and forces them to move THAAD batteries from S. Korea to the Gulf, all while changing their mind on a day to day basis whether they intend to arm a Kurdish invasion force.”

… CNBC: “Oil prices surged on Monday as Middle East countries cut production amid the ongoing conflict in the region. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were last up 12% to $102.28 per barrel, surpassing the $100 mark for the first time since mid-2022 - when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine jolted global energy markets. International benchmark Brent crude traded more than 12% higher to $104.76 per barrel.”

… Trump: “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!”

… AP: “Bahrain’s state oil company declares force majeure on its shipments after Iran attacked nation’s only oil refinery. Bahrain’s state-owned energy firm Bapco Energies has declared a force majeure across its group operations following an attack on its refinery complex amid escalating regional tensions in the Middle East.”

… “The company said the decision was triggered by operational disruptions linked to the ongoing regional conflict and a recent strike targeting the refinery. By invoking force majeure - a contractual clause that allows companies to suspend obligations due to extraordinary events - Bapco signaled that the incident could temporarily affect aspects of its operational commitments.”

… Analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera: “Bapco Energies just declared force majeure. Bahrain’s only refinery. 405,000 barrels per day. 85% exported. 90 years old. The sole refining facility for an entire nation. Force majeure means the company is legally unable to fulfil its contractual obligations. Cargoes already paid for will not be delivered. Diesel, jet fuel, and refined petroleum products that buyers across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East were expecting will not arrive. The contracts are suspended. The supply is gone.”

… “The attack that triggered the declaration was an Iranian drone and missile strike on the Sitra refinery complex. Fire broke out in at least one unit. Bahrain’s National Comms Centre confirmed containment with 32 civilians injured in the broader raids. Bapco stated domestic fuel supplies remain secured. But export operations, which account for 85% of the refinery’s output, are halted. This is not a full physical shutdown. It is something more consequential. It is a legal shutdown.”

… “Every buyer holding a confirmed cargo from Bapco must now source replacement barrels from an already strained market where Hormuz is commercially closed, QatarEnergy is under its own force majeure, Iraq has cut production 70%, and VLCC charter rates sit at $424,000 per day. The replacement barrels do not exist at pre-war prices. Some do not exist at any price. This is the third force majeure declaration from the Gulf in 9 days.”

… Bloomberg’s energy correspondent Javier Blas: “Iran’s strategy is by now clear: Impose an intolerable economic cost on Trump.”

… Trump said there is no reason why oil tankers shouldn’t try to run the Straights of Hormuz: “These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some GUTS. There’s nothing to be afraid of! They have no Navy, we sunk all their ships!”

… I don’t think they are worried about the Navy.

… Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade this morning to oil tanker captains: “If you want to diminish the Iranian threat, if you want to make sure this ends with complete Iran capitulation, show some guts and go through that Strait.”

… Maybe Fox could send him there as a special correspondent to report live from one of the tankers loaded with oil who gives it a shot.

… Fox host Lawrence Jones then said Democrats are helping Iran: “I understand the Democrats have their own political spin, but I think they should be careful about some of the talking points they’re releasing. They’re talking about the oil prices and that ‘the president can’t last too long.’ That is exactly what Iran wants to happen. Part of their strategy is the propaganda machine.”

… NPR: “A new video released by Iranian state media shows what appears to be a US cruise missile striking a compound where around 175 Iranian students and staff were killed at a girls school a little over a week ago. The 7-second video shows the missile slamming into a building inside a walled compound – likely a health clinic that was also inside the perimeter of what was at one point an IRG naval base.”

… “The strike appears to have taken place shortly after the girls school was hit. In the new video, smoke is already visibly rising from the part of the compound where the school was located. State media reports put the death toll from the bombing at somewhere between 165 and 180, many of them students.”

… Although the quality of the video makes precisely identifying the munition difficult, the missile appears consistent with a Tomahawk cruise missile, according to Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of global security at Middlebury College. The US is the only country involved in the conflict known to have Tomahawk missiles, and US officials say the military was operating in the south of the country at the time of the strike.”

… 60 Minutes asked Pete Hegseth if the US bombed the girls school in Iran. He continues to stonewall and refuse to answer: “I would say it’s being investigated, which is the only answer I’m prepared to give.”

… Fox host Laura Ingraham wasn’t happy with Hegseth’s answer: “Re-upping what I said last week: The admin must wrap up its investigation and address head-on. Horrible unintended tragedy of this war.”

… Megyn Kelly responded: “Seconded.”

… Trump was asked about it today: Q - “A video appears to show a tomahawk missile likely destroyed that Iranian girls school. Will the US accept any responsibility? Trump: I will say that the tomahawk is sold and used by other countries. And whether it's Iran who also has some tomahawks, they wish they had more, but whether it's Iran or somebody else, a tomahawk is very generic. That’s being investigated.”

… Trump bragged to House Republicans today about sinking Iranian ships: "Their Navy is gone, lying at the bottom of the ocean. I said, 'Why don't we just capture the ship? We could use it. Why did we sink them?' They said, 'It's more fun to sink them.' They like sinking them better."

… Former WaPo foreign affairs correspondent Ishaan Tharoor: “I’m on holiday in India. This is a facile observation, but Americans have barely scratched the surface in understanding how the rest of the world is reacting to this war. It’s more than well on its way to becoming an Iraq War-style disaster in the global imagination, underscored by the perceived thuggishness and caprice of the Trump approach.”

Well it appears once again our unhinged lunatic president has created another gigantic mess with many unintended consequences and is looking for a way to bail out of another disaster while declaring victory. But I have to believe this is going to take another bite out of his dismal approval rating and further damage Republicans’ chances in the midterms. It’s just sad and tragic that it had to come at the cost of so many lives.

I was one of the first to post the initial reports on the girls school in Iran and have been on it relentlessly every day. That is not something I am going to let go until we finally get answers from Hegseth. Trump and Hegseth will never apologize, and will no doubt find a way to blame someone else, but I won’t stop bringing it up until they at least admit it was them.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin you can find it here.

… Savita Subramanian, Bank of America’s head of US Equity and Quantitative Strategy: “We thought the admin was going to be focused on affordability and quelling inflation, and that seems to be the opposite of what’s actually happening.”

… WaPo’s Josh Rogin: “The US and Israel killed the wife, mother, father, and several other family members of the new Supreme Leader of Iran. Going to be tough to make a deal with him to end the war.”

… Sen. Lindsey Graham is now threatening Saudi Arabia: “The American Embassy is