Trump’s Iran probe and ‘love’ of inflation reveal a reality-checking agenda
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Why does Donald Trump love inflation?
Why does Donald Trump keep saying the Iran war is about to end – and then telling a Fox reporter he’s going to “blow the s– out of it”?
Why is Donald Trump trying to revive the controversial slush fund after it’s dead?
Why does he insist on putting an unqualified real estate scam in charge of national intelligence despite the cries of his own party?
PRESS RELEASE: LONDON THREATS TO STRENGTHEN GOP PLACE AMID GROWING DISAPPOINTMENT WITH TRUMP
Something strange is happening here—but what?
Is Trump “getting more and more frustrated with everyone,” as Politico quoted a MAGA staffer close to the White House? “You’re upset and people don’t see how upset you are.”
President Donald Trump is taking a major swing at a lasting peace deal with Iran that gives up its nuclear weapons ambitions. (Roberto Schmidt)
If there’s a connective tissue here, it’s that Trump and his far-reaching agenda are meeting reality.
THE STATE OF WAR: HOW TRUMP IS FIGHTING THE 9-FRONT WAR
He was even blamed for his presence causing the Knicks to lose Game 3 of the NBA Finals (while Taylor Swift’s T-shirt got credit for Wednesday’s miraculous comeback).
The opposition parties, led by the courts, have blocked much of what the president wants to do. His name appears in the Kennedy Center. His prized ballroom is under construction, as is his proposed 250-foot arch.
Republicans were so outraged by the temporary appointment of Bill Pulte, who launched a mortgage fraud investigation into Trump’s enemies, as director of the National Intelligence Service that they refused to renew an expiring domestic surveillance law. After digging, the president bowed to political reality yesterday and appointed Jay Clayton, the US attorney in Manhattan.
TRUMP PLAYS SIGNS OF CONFLICT ON POSSIBLE MILITARY STRIKE ON IRAN
Publicly, Trump has dismissed the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats and a few renegade Republicans. But he and his team were secretly obsessed with the scandal, according to a new book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
The Justice Department released dozens of Epstein documents on Dec. 19 following President Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Trump has refused to do what many advisers have urged him to do, which is to proceed with Epstein’s disclosures before Congress makes the files public. He insisted that his MAGA background was behind him, while many of its members were angry about his former relationship with the late rapist and lamented the cover-up.
Trump accused California of conducting illegal elections on Tuesday. But when late polls boosted a candidate, former Fox host Steve Hilton, in one of two November slots, took credit for it.
TRUMP, THE DEMOCRATS ARE LOCKED IN ENDLESS CYCLES OF PAYBACKS AFTER THE ACT OF FINDING COMEY AND PUSHING THE PRESIDENT’S ENEMIES.
In fact, Trump’s insistence, twelve years later, that he actually won the 2020 election, even though he never gave the slightest evidence in court, is still a good example of him seeing the world the way he wants it to be. The same thing happened to the rebels of Jan. 6 tried to portray them as patriots. That was the impetus for the $1.8 billion “anti-gun” fund, to take money out of their pockets, even as we all watched on live television as many of them attacked police and threatened law-makers.
Now, why does the president make the politically absurd comment that “I love inflation”? Especially when the annual rate just rose to 4.2 percent, the highest in three years?
Trump’s explanation: “You know we’ve been pumping out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran — until now.”
HOW TRUMP HAS GIVEN DEMOCRATS THE GIFT OF APPARENTLY DISMISSING AMERICANS’ FINANCIAL WORRIES
However, this was not a secret. The New York Times reported on it last month.
The war provides the clearest illustration of Trump’s aggressive tendency to see a foggy picture through dark glasses. For more than two months, the president repeatedly announced that he was close to making a deal with Iran, that they wanted a deal, that he was giving the mullahs a few more days. However, no agreement emerged.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on June 10, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
Instead, the administration and Tehran ended commercial bombing raids after an American helicopter was shot down, the crew was fortunately rescued. Yet Trump clings to the myth of a lasting ceasefire.
WHY TRUMP, IRAN SEE LIGHT YEARS FROM DIVING WITH ANY AMOUNT TO END THE WAR
In a call to “Fox & Friends” yesterday, he took aim at one of his favorites.
The problem was “fake news,” he said. The media is “disciplined,” he said. “The New York Times writes stories like they’re doing good, and they’re not,” he said of Iran. He included CNN and MSNOW in that case.
“The media just covered it like crazy.”
WHY TRUMP CRIMES IRAN WAR BROADCAST AS WORST – FURNISHED BY RHETORICAL FCC BACKING
While the media’s hostility toward Trump has influenced other war stories, what I’ve seen recently is an attempt to highlight Trump’s actions and announcements about Iran. If Iran’s defenses are so depleted, as Trump says almost daily, how did the terrorist regime manage to shoot down an Army helicopter?
He also said he plans to take Kharg Island, the center of Iran’s oil infrastructure.
Then came the end of blame…for his people.
TRUMP PIVOT IN LAND AS ITS IRAN DEAL, CHECKS TEHRAN IS BLINKING
“I don’t know if America has the stomach for it…I think they’d like to see us come home,” he told Fox. “I’m not sure the country is looking forward to it.”
That may be true, but it’s not something a leader might say out loud.
Still, Trump tweeted that Iran would be “HITTING VERY HARD OVERNIGHT.”
TRUMP PUSHED IRAN TO THE END — BUT HAVE WE DEFEAT THE CENTER?
And then, yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing this column, Trump swung again, canceling the threatened airstrikes.
He said the talks were “brought to the highest level of the Iranian leadership and approved.” The stock market “loves a deal.” There will be a signing “soon,” perhaps in the next few days.
I have never believed that Trump would actually try to destroy the civilization of Iran. His heart was not in it. That is not how he wants to be remembered in history. It’s always a pressure tactic.
Now I’m not one of those people who write Trump off, having spent decades watching him come back from a thousand different investigations and controversies. He is the Houdini of politics.
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None of this helps Republicans retain control of the House during the terms. But if Trump pulls out of Iran, even the most-criticized arrangement for not completely denuclearizing, the country could move on and the environment could feel very different come November.
The big question is whether the president will see the world view he chooses or will he see the real world with all its barriers and frustrations.
