Today in Politics, Bulletin 400. 6/18/26

… The theme of the last 24 hours has been Republicans doing something they rarely ever do - criticize Trump. While many are relieved that gas prices are going to come down before the midterms, there is clear unhappiness over the terms of Trump’s deal with Iran. Of course, Democrats also torched the deal while pointing out that it was a clear surrender by Trump to bail out of his disastrous war.

… Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): “Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.”

… “Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”

… Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker: “I am concerned that the MOU negotiates away victories of Operation Epic Fury. Specifically, the $300 billion fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran would make Iran’s payoff under Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison.”

… “I believe it would be an error to force Israel to stand down against Hezbollah. I also oppose the US lifting any sanctions on Iran, or unfreezing Iranian funds, in exchange for Iran’s mere agreement to negotiate for another 60 days.”

… Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “What has been released so far suggests that, unfortunately, the president is getting very poor advice when it comes to this deal. History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a bad idea. Under the terms of what’s been released, somewhere between $10-30 billion will flow to the Ayatollah immediately before they make even a single nuclear concession.”

… “I think that’s ill-advised. That money, if it goes to the Ayatollah, will go to fund terrorists trying to kill Americans and weapons that will be used to try to kill Americans. And it also appears to formalize a permanent role for the Islamic regime controlling the Strait of Hormuz. It is difficult to see what possible benefit to America could come from that.”

… Sen. Thom Tillis R-NC): “You got to do the balance of accounts: a hundred billion roughly, maybe more, spent today; 13 dead, 365 wounded, injured; our partners in the Middle East bombed, they’ve had casualties. There’s got to be a lot of return on that. We set out by saying we were going to drive down to zero their nuclear capability. Now we’re equivocating on that. There’s a lot of work to be done to convince me that we’re on the right path.”

… Fox host Mark Levin: “The insanity of those defending parts of the MOU, or major matters left out of this MOU, is truly stunning. Roger Marshall is a senator from KS. He argues that the Iranian terror regime, which has killed and maimed thousands of Americans, funded terrorism around the world, and tried to assassinate our president and his daughter Ivanka, needs ballistic missiles ‘to be able to defend themselves.’
This man should never be elected dogcatcher.”

… “I will add that the fact that ballistic missiles are not included in this MOU is an outrage. To downplay the damage these missiles do (ask the Arab countries what they think about ballistic missiles) and the significance of not including them in any deal is utterly irresponsible. Iran’s ballistic missiles have always been a major issue and, in fact, the admin talked about the regime building a circle of protection around its nuclear facilities with ballistic missiles.”

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY): “$300 billion is 5X as much as Congress spends on our roads and bridges annually. I’m tired of winning.”

… Tucker Carlson: “You probably never imagined that the end of American Empire would come in a little over a 100-day conflict with a little rogue state on the Persian Gulf. You just couldn’t imagine that would happen. The US has shown that it does not have, despite possessing the world’s best or biggest or certainly most generously funded military, the military power to impose its will on the 34th biggest economy in the world.”

… Fox contributor Leslie Marshall: “You have assets that are going to be unfrozen. What do we get? We get a strait that was opened before reopened. We get a temporary hold on no tolls. This is why have you bipartisan support against this. This is why I agree with Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Trey Gowdy.”

… CENTCOM: “Today, US forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas. American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. All US military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased.”

… JD Vance gave a press conference today about the deal went after Israelis who are livid with it: “What does bother me is you’ve seen people in Bibi’s cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal and in some ways very personally attacked the president. My message to them is Trump is the only head in the state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli govt, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”

… “Two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars. The problem for Israel is not Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the US needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”

… Ted Cruz was asked by The Independent about Vance’s statement about Israel: “The Vice President can speak for himself.”

… Trump posted: “These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran are either jealous, bad people, or stupid.”

… LA Times: “Marco Rubio stood silent and stone-faced behind Trump as the president talked about passing the buck if his deal with Iran, under increasingly withering criticism and scrutiny, ultimately falls apart. The blame, Trump said, would likely fall on JD Vance, who led the negotiations with Iran and will sign the agreement this week in Switzerland - a ceremony that will generate indelible images for a politician openly considering a run for the WH.

… Trump: “If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD!”

… “The controversial diplomatic breakthrough poses a quandary for Vance, whose aides see Rubio as his most viable challenger for the Republican presidential nomination should the secretary choose to run. Rubio, who also serves as NSA, has remained effectively mum since news of a preliminary peace deal was announced by the admin.”

… “His absence has drawn notice across foreign policy circles - not only because Rubio has served as chief architect of the admin’s global strategy thus far, but also because he has become one of the president’s most effective communicators, both at home and abroad. By contrast, Vance has emerged as the face of an agreement that appears to be fracturing a Republican Party already divided over America’s role in the world.”

… Vance was asked if he was worried about Trump’s statement: “No, not at all. I think the president was joking, as he often does.”

… Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to NOTUS: “It wasn’t a joke.”

… Barack Obama to ABC: “It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different, or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place, and had worked for a long stretch of time before we, the US, pulled out of it.”

… Tom Nichols on MS NOW: “He really thought that he was going to collapse the Iranian regime and then walk through the streets of a free Tehran while they were dedicating a statue to him. He was on a sugar high from toppling the president of Venezuela. His popularity was cratering, the economy was going in the wrong direction. And I think like a lot of autocrats, he said, a splendid little war in the Middle East where I emerge the hero will be great. And now he’s admitting they blackmailed him with the international economy, and he’s paying the blackmail because he has to.”

… Jimmy Kimmel: “We killed the Ayatollah, replaced him with a younger, more radical Ayatollah. We did nothing for the protesters in Iran. We removed the sanctions that were on Iran before the war started. We got a ceasefire that we already had before this. We opened the strait, which was already open before this.”

… “We used up who knows how many billions of dollars on bombs and missiles. Many American and civilian lives were lost. We gave Iran full control of the Strait of Hormuz and we threw in a minimum of $300 billion, because why not? Right now, Melania is wondering, how do I get a deal like that?”

… Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Fox: “This agreement is not as good as the JCPOA for 3 reasons: 1. Under the JCPOA, 97% of the enriched uranium was removed from Iran. Under this agreement, it simply dilutes it. 2. The JCPOA had the UN Security Council as an enforcement mechanism with intrusive IEAE inspections. That has not been achieved. 3. Most problematic is that we are on the hook to raise $300 billion for Iran’s economic development.”

… Pete Hegseth: “I would say one key difference you’ve got to point out between this agreement and others is this was born of strength. Of American action. JCPOA came from a bunch of begging and talking. This agreement came after months of bombing and a blockade that was impenetrable. Iran was put in a position where they had to come to the table and undertake this.”

… Brian Katulis with the Middle East Institute: “This deal essentially resets to the status quo ante with some costs paid to Iran just to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and then it resets the clock on discussions that they have not been able to get to consensus on the nuclear issues and other things. Obama’s deal was a very detailed and very technical agreement with implementation mechanisms and oversight. This thing sounds like something that was pieced together over WhatsApp messages.”

… Iran specialist Nicole Grajewski with the Center for Intl Studies in France, to NYT: “On balance, the memorandum appears to favor Iran. Tehran secures movement toward sanctions relief, a pathway for the restoration of oil exports, access to economic benefits and a reduction in military pressure while making relatively limited new nuclear commitments. Judged solely on the memorandum itself, the immediate and concrete benefits accrue disproportionately to Iran.”

… Holly Dagres, with the Washington Institute, to NYT: “It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that these negotiations could have taken place without a 3-month war. Much of what is outlined in the agreement - including Hormuz - could have been addressed through diplomacy. I’m skeptical that the next 60 days of talks will produce concrete results. This is merely kicking the can down the road.”

… Former Sec of State Antony Blinken: “It’s a bad deal to end a misguided war of Trump’s choosing. The only thing worse would be to continue the war that has proven so costly in lives lost - including US service members - and taxpayer dollars spent without making the American people safer or their lives better. By Trump’s own terms, the war is a failure. The Iranian regime is intact and its military wing more empowered, while the Iranian people are more impoverished, repressed and desperate.”

… “Iran apparently retains a significant supply of missiles and drones and the productive capacity to make more. It has renewed links to lethal proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere. The ceasefire agreement seems to be silent about these issues. The attempt to ‘re-obliterate’ Iran’s nuclear program - which Trump claimed to have wiped out last year - failed. Iran still has the highly enriched uranium it had produced before the war started, along with centrifuges to spin the uranium into weapons-grade material.”

… “But at what price in terms of sanctions relief and assets unfrozen? At best, we’ll get back to something that looks like the JCPOA - the nuclear deal negotiated by Obama without going to war that put Iran’s nuclear program in a box. Trump tore up the JCPOA in 2018 and then failed to replace it. There’s reason to doubt we will come away with anything as strong as the JCPOA - which took two years to negotiate in partnership with all the major powers - in 60 days, playing a far weaker hand.”

… “Don’t expect a return to normal any time soon, if at all. Crude oil prices will drop from the record highs they reached - but they’re unlikely to fall to pre-war levels. We will all pay for a sustained inflationary effect. It will take time to restart oil and gas production, repair infrastructure, refill dangerously depleted stockpiles, clear mines, and restore confidence. Just as it will take a lot of time to replenish our own supply of offensive and defensive missiles, to the detriment of our deterrent in other parts of the world.”

… “Meanwhile, the admin achieved a terrible trifecta of alienating our partners in Europe (insulted and threatened for two years, not consulted on the war and then lambasted for not helping bail us out), Asia (which bore the greatest impact of high energy prices and rising scarcity) and the Middle East (the primary target of Iranian retaliation), while diminishing our standing and credibility everywhere.”

… “Most of all, Trump’s war of choice has failed to make the American people better off. At a time when more and more American families are struggling to make ends meet, this war has made filling everything from the gas tank to the grocery cart to medical prescriptions harder and more expensive. We should all be glad the war is over - for now. No doubt Trump will claim credit for ending it. But that’s like an arsonist boasting about putting out a fire he started after half the house has been burnt down.”

… CNN pollster Harry Enten on Trump’s latest approval rating: “With independents, Trump is 55 points underwater. I mean, my goodness gracious! This was a political disaster. No wonder the president wants to move on from it - there was no president ever before that had any poll in which he was 50 point underwater inflation. The Iran war absolutely drove Trump to new lows.”

I am back from my brief hiatus moving into our new 240 year-old house to complete Bulletin #400 chronicling the Trump nightmare with as much detail about each day as I can possibly provide. We normally make the Weekend Bulletin 100% available to free subscribers - but since we haven’t had a Bulletin since Friday we decided to make this one fully available to everyone.

On yesterday’s Uncovered I had a chance to talk about all the biggest news events from the last 4 days while I was not writing or posting at all on social media. So it was a rare chance for me to say things for the first time about events in the news on Uncovered. If you missed it, a link to the show is here.

The home is beautiful and incredibly well-preserved by the previous owners. It also has about 15 massive mature maple trees. It was recommended that we visit the local historical society because the house apparently has a long and storied history. We will do that on Saturday. The floors are a bit creaky and uneven, but that is part of the charm.

… NY Post: “A day after advancing to a Republican runoff, megachurch pastor Jackson Lahmeyer suspended his congressional campaign on Wed amid a flirtatious texting scandal with a former Miss Oklahoma. Lahmeyer, who is married with 5 children, received Trump’s backing, but also faced a firestorm over his past flirtatious messages with the beauty queen, one of his former staffers.”

… Lahmeyer statement: “After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last 24 hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress. I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of OK’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington.”

… Trump switched his endorsement to state Rep. Mark Tedford. The president had initially backed Lahmeyer, citing his work co-founding the Pastors for Trump religious leader coalition in 2022. But a Daily Mail published a piece on Sunday detailing how Lahmeyer, a self-described ‘MAGA Warrior,’ sent racy text messages to former Miss OK USA Caitlin Simmons Key - one of his former campaign fundraisers.”

… The report included messages inviting her to his hotel room and visiting a strip club around 1 AM. In one message, he wrote, “I enjoyed those lips.”

… His wife found out around Mother’s Day and reportedly slammed the ex-beauty queen, writing, “You are a home wrecking whore. Did you enjoy ruining our family?”

… Lahmeyer deleted his account on X, with links to his former posts now displaying the message: “This Post is from an account that no longer exists.”

… Laura Loomer: “I totally understand why people choose atheism. Look at all of the people on the right with megaphones who preach nonstop about their religious superiority while they behave like absolute demons. I totally get it. Imagine looking to people for spiritual guidance and then finding out they are all frauds. Atheists have chosen the life of less drama and more tranquility. That’s just a fact when you think about it.”

… Metro (UK): “Moscow is today shrouded in noxious black smoke causing oil rain to fall after a drone strike on a refinery. The onslaught – thought to be Ukraine’s biggest attack on the Russian capital so far – caused significant damage across the city as air defences struggled to repel the drones. Moscow Oil Refinery was repeatedly hit with explosives.”

… One Moscow resident: “This is pure hell. I’ve never felt such terror.”

… Zelensky: “You’ve probably all seen how Russia struck the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra with drones. And it’s one of the most important Christian holy sites not only in our region but for the entire Christian world. It was from the Lavra and the hills of Kyiv that Christianity spread eastward across our part of Europe. Attacking such places is, in fact, a crime against humanity. Of course, we are preparing our responses to such Russian attacks.”

… National security analyst Michael Weiss: “Takes me back to the early days of the war, when Russian tank turrets performed these acrobatics. But this is a Russian oil refinery lid in Moscow being blown clean off, thanks to a long-range Ukrainian drone. Russia bombs a monastery, Ukraine bombs a refinery.”

… The Obama Presidential Center opened today. The ceremony featured performances by Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Common, Eddie Vedder, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Marc Anthony, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Tems, and U2. Former presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush were also present along with several politicians and legendary movie stars.

… From Obama’s speech:

• "We did not accomplish everything we set out to do. No administration does. Some of the exhibits reflect unfinished business. In some cases, because of my own shortcomings and mistakes."

• "The Founders fell terribly short of the declaration's promise, leaving slavery in tact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property. But in drafting a constitution and bill or rights, they did have the foresight - the genius - to provide us with a framework that allows each generation to make our union more perfect."

• “When American foreign policy lives up to our highest ideals, when we champion human rights and democracy and the sound stewardship of our planet, when we take the lead in eradicating disease and feeding the hungry and educating children, when we encourage cooperation between nations, instead of trying to dominate and bully and squeeze every advantage just because we can, and most of all, when we show through our example here at home that even a country as big and diverse as ours can make democracy work, it turns out all nations, including ours, become more prosperous and secure, and the world gets a little bit brighter.”

• “And it's why the exhibits here focus not just on policies, but on the shared values that make democracy possible. A belief that our military and law enforcement owe allegiance not to any president or political party, but to the people and our constitution. A belief in the peaceful transfer of power after the people have spoken in fair and free elections.”

• “They are American values we can all share, regardless of party. Values every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold. Values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in no less than I did.”

… Michelle Obama also spoke:

• “I'm going to take a little time to do something that I know my husband will not do today, and that is to fully sing his praises. Barack, you gotta look at me.” Barack - “No. I’m going to look down.”

• “Not once did you melt from the heat. Not once did you let it harden you - the claims that a US Senator and constitutional law expert wasn't qualified for the job. The lies about your birthright, your faith, your patriotism.”

• “You were doing the people's work, rescuing our economy, expanding health care, ending a war, ordering the bin laden raid, saving an auto industry, winning a peace prize.”

… Hillary burst out laughing at Michelle’s little dig at Trump - the peace prize line. That caused Barack to turn and smile before resuming his somber, dignified pose while looking at the floor as he promised.

… Politico: “John Thune signaled deep uncertainty over the fate of Jay Clayton’s nomination as DNI. Its future, he told reporters, is essentially up to Trump. Asked whether Clayton’s nomination was being withdrawn, Thune pointed to the WH for answers: “I’ve never been asked to slow a nomination down before.”

… Thune was asked why Trump suddenly killed the deal with some Dems to confirm Clayton and extend FISA: “I think he’s very committed to Bill Pulte. I don’t have good answers for these questions - those are probably better asked of the president and his team. We are just executing or trying to execute on what they had asked us to.”

… “Trump’s early-morning Truth Social post Wed was only the latest instance where the president caught Republicans off-guard and frustrated GOP senators who worry that he is undercutting their efforts to pass a legislative agenda and help their party’s chances in the midterms.”

… I talked quite a bit on Uncovered yesterday about the various theories on why Trump wants to keep his controversial interim DNI Pulte on the job a little while longer before Clayton takes over. There is speculation among MAGA that Trump wants die-hard loyalist Pulte to do something pertaining to elections that Clayton won’t.

… The victory parade for the NY Knicks was today in NYC. Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave a speech which really fired up the huge crowd in attendance: “Over these past weeks, as the Knicks kept winning, our city has come together as one. Neighbors invited neighbors over. Strangers high-fived one another in the streets.”

… “So often when this city has come together it is because it was forced to by a moment of tragedy or adversity. What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy.”

… I will note that the only game the Knicks lost during the finals was the one Trump attended, which broke a 13-game winning streak. Thankfully for the Knicks, Trump did not return for the final two games.

… JD Vance has started doing podcast interviews as part the tour for his new book on religion: “Trump is super smart. He reads a lot. He understands people at an instinctual level better than anybody I’ve ever known. He is a very, very—just from a pure IQ perspective—a very smart person. If you gave Trump an IQ test with the other 45 or 46 presidents that the US has had, I guarantee he’d be either near the top or at the top.”

… The new Air Force One jet donated by Qatar is now online. Trump previously said he wanted to fly on it for the first time on his way to Mt. Rushmore on July 3, but that time frame appears to have been moved up. Steve Cheung announced this morning that Trump has flown on the former AF1 jet for the final time coming back from the G7 summit.

… Meidas reporter Pablo Manriquez to Sen. Rick Scott: Q - “What do you make of these World Cup fans who are disparaging the president, calling him a sex offender?Scott: If you come to our country, you ought to be respectful of our president. They probably can’t do it in their countries. Pablo: It’s the Australians.”

… WaPo: “Days after the completion this month of a $14 million renovation, the shallow water in the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool had more algae in it than at any recorded point in the month of June for at least 5 years. Trump vowed in April to clean up what he called the ‘filthy’ and ‘disgusting’ water in the Reflecting Pool. He promised to resurface the basin to eliminate persistent leaking and to paint it ‘American flag blue.’ Once the pool started to be refilled, on June 4, he praised its ‘clean, beautiful water.’”

… “But the algae blooms that have long plagued the pool came roaring back, spawning more than a few conspiracy theories and much debate about the renovation. Some social media users said they suspected ‘bureaucrats’ had seeded the algae bloom in an act of sabotage, while others claimed photos showing the reappearance of the algae were taken during the Biden years. Regardless, there was a lot of it.”

… “Alana Menendez at the University of VA’s Dept of Environmental Sciences, analyzed light-reflectance data from a satellite called Sentinel-2. The satellite captures clear images of the Reflecting Pool several times a month, and the data it produces can be used to estimate the presence of chlorophyll-a, a pigment found in algae. A higher value of that metric points to more algae in the water.”

… “Menendez’s analysis detected more algae in the reflecting pool in an image taken Saturday - in the week after it reopened - than in any June images going back to 2021. The algae level was among the highest measured in any month in the past two years.”

… “The Interior Dept said in a statement that it is treating the pool with hydrogen peroxide and using ‘high-tech nanobubble ozone technology’ to effectively cut off the algae’s food supply.”

… Blue paint is now peeling off the bottom of the pool with photos and videos posted on social media by several people and media outlets, with some noting that hydrogen peroxide causes paint to peel. So it looks like the chemical they are using to kill the algae is now causing the new paint to peel.