"It's My Job": US Podcaster Fears Criminal Charges For 'Talking To Iranians'

03/17/26 1:12 PM

Tucker Carlson suggested that authorities could attempt to frame him under laws related to acting as an agent of a foreign power.

'A new level of unhinged' Trump baffles with World Baseball Classic take

03/17/26 3:41 AM

President Donald Trump issued a baffling statement after the World Baseball Classic (WBC) semifinal game on Monday night. Venezuela and Italy faced off in the WBC semifinal, with Venezuela besting the Italians 4-2. After the game, Trump took to Truth Social to express his pleasure with the outcome. "Wow! Venezuela defeated Italy tonight, 4-2, in the WBC (Baseball!) Semifinal. They are looking really great. Good things are happening to Venezuela lately!" Trump posted. "I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?"Trump's comments came at a time when his administration is facing increased scrutiny for its foreign policy. Earlier this year, the Trump administration arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on gun charges and brought him to New York to face trial. The Trump administration has also bombed multiple alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, killing more than 130 people, without providing evidence that the boats were connected to the drug trade. Political analysts and observers shared their reactions on social media. "Delusional," political commentator Intare Batinya posted on X. "Venezuela is a sovereign nation, not a potential 51st state. Stick to golf and leave the geopolitical magic to the experts. Annexing a country over a baseball game is a new level of unhinged.""This guy is so obsessed with making it about him that he might show up to Miami tomorrow with Maduro in chains," writer Matt Burnell posted on X. The U.S. and Venezuela will play in the WBC final on Tuesday.

'All eyes are on body language': Awkward meeting expected to reveal Trump and Vance rift

03/16/26 4:26 PM

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will appear in public on Monday, which is expected to expose the reported split between the two men and how they view the war in Iran. Trump and Vance have not been seen together much since the United States began its joint military operation with Israel in the war with Iran, according to The Swamp, The Daily Beast's Substack. The last appearance the two apparently made was with the entire Trump administration Cabinet on March 7 at Dover Air Force Base, during the dignified transfer of six slain U.S. Army service members who were killed in Kuwait. "All eyes are on the body language between Trump and his vice president this afternoon as they appear in public together for the first time since the war with Iran began more than two weeks ago," The Swamp reported. "It’s the worst-kept secret in Washington that Vice President J.D. Vance isn't the biggest fan of the war, but this should offer a glimpse into how Trump really feels about it," according to The Swamp. "Vance has been tiptoeing around the subject of the war, but it’s going to be tricky to pull off to the president’s face."Last week, Vance dodged a direct question about how he viewed the military action in the Middle East. Vance was taking questions from reporters following his speech in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he campaigned for GOP candidates in a district Republicans were hoping to flip. Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow asked the vice president what advice he gave the president regarding military strikes and the economic fallout, including surging gas prices."Did you express any concerns like those you've expressed in the past on the possibility of those extended wars?" Barrow asked.Vance refused to directly say whether he supports the joint U.S.-Israeli war in Iran."We're in the Situation Room, where you can't even take your iPod in there, or your AirPods, I guess what they're called, you can't take your iPhone in there, you can't take anything in there — because it is the most classified space anywhere in the world," Vance said."And I sit there with Pete Hegseth, and Gen. Caine, and Marco Rubio, and the entire White House team, and the president and I, and the entire senior team are talking about the options and about what we need to do and how we must best protect the American people," Vance added. "I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to show up here in front of God and everybody else and tell you exactly what I said in that classified room partially because I don't wanna go to prison and partially because I think it's important for the President of the United States to talk to his advisors without those advisors running their mouth to the American media."

'Convert or die': Nigerian Christians face Islamist ultimatums

03/16/26 3:27 PM

Armed militants attacking Christian communities in Nigeria are increasingly issuing a stark ultimatum to villagers: Convert to Islam and pay a religious tax known as jizya or face execution, according to eyewitness accounts collected by The Washington Times and international religious-freedom monitors.

'Going to slap us in the pocketbook': Trump alarms supply chain analyst with latest move

03/15/26 7:52 PM

President Donald Trump's latest move in the war in Iran alarmed a supply chain analyst on Sunday. Over the weekend, Trump called on other countries to help the U.S. clear the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranian regime has fortified in response to the coordinated bombing campaign conducted by the U.S. and Israel that began in late February. About 20% of global liquefied natural gas and oil trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has said U.S. and Israeli ships can no longer transit the waterway. That call for reinforcements came as U.S. forces struck Kharg Island, a main oil export hub for the Iranian regime. Iranian forces have also attacked multiple ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, according to reports. CNBC Supply Chain Analyst Lori Ann LaRocco warned in an interview on Sunday that the Trump administration's inability to make the Strait of Hormuz safe for international trade could have long-lasting implications. "A lot of people that I've talked to, a lot of tanker owners, they're very afraid of being a target," LaRocco told MS NOW's Alex Witt on Sunday. "We've already seen a tanker on fire. This is not a very easy remedy."LaRocco mentioned that prices for goods ranging from fertilizer to semiconductors have skyrocketed due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. "There's so much that we're not even thinking about that's going to slap us in the pocketbook, not only now, but in the months to come," LaRocco said.

'He could cut Vance's head off': Ex-GOP strategist hints at Trump's next big move

03/16/26 10:14 PM

Ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson on Monday predicted what he thinks will be next for President Donald Trump as talks about who will succeed him in 2028 have heightened and questions over whether it will be Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Wilson was talking to MS NOW host Katy Tur about the dilemma Vance, who has been vocal about his stance against long wars in the Middle East, was facing. Vance has not publicly said he was opposed to the Iran war; however, reports have surfaced about his views on the conflict as Trump has shifted his messaging to his MAGA coalition about the military strikes. "I think it's been notable, Rick, that we've seen so little of JD Vance lately," Tur said. "He's got a thing with the president that we might have to dip into at some point during this conversation, but other than that, he has been out of sight."The last appearance the two apparently made was with the entire Trump administration Cabinet on March 7 at Dover Air Force Base, during the dignified transfer of six slain U.S. Army service members who were killed in Kuwait."I don't believe that's a coincidence, Katy," Wilson said. "I think that is a feature, not a bug, of the Vance position right now. He does come from a part of the party or the part of the MAGA movement that is very anti-interventionist. And they built the 'Peace President' illusion around Trump in 2024. And Vance put the bit in his teeth and ran with it. But now he's got a president who has launched a singularly reckless effort in the Persian Gulf that will end up sending American troops to fight and die in a pointless war. And I think Vance is very uncomfortable right now."Trump has appeared to favor Rubio as his potential successor, according to reports. "Marco's been getting a lot of praise," Wilson said. "Vance has been, you know, hiding in the tall grass. What goes on today in this presser with Trump could go either way. He could cut Vance's head off right there in public. And I wouldn't, if I was Vance, you know, act without getting a food taster going forward, if Trump really digs in on this war."Last week, Vance dodged a direct question about how he viewed the military action in the Middle East. Vance was taking questions from reporters following his speech in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he campaigned for GOP candidates in a district Republicans were hoping to flip. Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow asked the vice president what advice he gave the president regarding military strikes and the economic fallout, including surging gas prices."Did you express any concerns like those you've expressed in the past on the possibility of those extended wars?" Barrow asked.Vance refused to directly say whether he supports the joint U.S.-Israeli war in Iran."We're in the Situation Room, where you can't even take your iPod in there, or your AirPods, I guess what they're called, you can't take your iPhone in there, you can't take anything in there — because it is the most classified space anywhere in the world," Vance said."And I sit there with Pete Hegseth, and Gen. Caine, and Marco Rubio, and the entire White House team, and the president and I, and the entire senior team are talking about the options and about what we need to do and how we must best protect the American people," Vance added."I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to show up here in front of God and everybody else and tell you exactly what I said in that classified room partially because I don't wanna go to prison and partially because I think it's important for the President of the United States to talk to his advisors without those advisors running their mouth to the American media."

'Lindsey Graham is going down': Charlie Kirk Show declares war on 'Lady Graham'

03/16/26 6:51 PM

Charlie Kirk Show hosts Blake Neff and Andrew Kolvet pressed for the defeat of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an ally of President Donald Trump, by hosting his two opponents, Paul Davis and Mark Lynch."I have been very loud about my criticisms of Sen. Lindsey Graham, the neocon warmonger from South Carolina, who has just seemed to stay in office for a very long time," Kolvet said on Monday's broadcast. "Charlie Kirk — Charlie always called him Lady Graham, as he called it... I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people call him."The host pointed to a 2023 quote from Kirk: "The base is done with neocons who want to spend our money to bomb faraway lands.""Feels very relevant to our current moment," Kolvet told Davis. "And I'm saying, as long as it's not Lindsey Graham, I'm excited. That's how I feel right now.""Well, as of today, Lindsey Graham's going down," Davis replied. "He's way below 50%. In South Carolina, we have a runoff state. So top two people going to runoff two weeks later.""I'm a guy who's been MAGA from the jump," he continued. "I helped President Trump as a volunteer get elected. I served in his first term. I was what they call one of his killers."For his part, Lynch criticized Graham for pledging to send South Carolinians to fight in the Middle East."Well, the people in South Carolina have said, 57% of them back when we polled in May, that they will not vote for Lindsey Graham again," Lynch explained. "They love Trump. They know Trump endorsed Lindsey, but that endorsement won't save him this time.""You're not taking our children over there for your bloodlust financial gain," he added. "And we say no to that in South Carolina, and enough's enough. We've had enough in Lindsey.""I think that's the bloodlust really resonates," Kolvet remarked. "It resonates with me. It resonates, I'm sure, with Blake. And of course, it resonated with Charlie."

'Open split' in White House as insiders spill exasperation with Trump

03/16/26 12:13 PM

There is growing frustration within Donald Trump’s White House over the way the war in Iran is going, and insiders are going behind the president’s back to call reporters and complain about him.Reporting on MS NOW’s "Morning Joe," journalist Katty Kay reported that European leaders have been telling the president he missed the perfect opportunity to declare victory in Iran and dial back the attacks.“I was told by a senior European intelligence official this weekend that the best time for Donald Trump to have tried to call victory and end early was actually last Monday or Tuesday, and that now it's getting harder for him to do that,” she told the panel. “And you're seeing these splits begin to appear in the White House quite openly in public,” she elaborated. “I mean, David Sachs, the White House advisor, was on the ‘All-In’ podcast over the weekend, saying it out loud that there are two factions.”“Now there is a faction that is pushing the president to escalate, and there is a faction that is pushing the president to de-escalate. The tech bros and the vice president seem to be in the latter camp,” she continued. “But the idea that there are two camps in the White House and that one of those camps is now openly talking about this in public and openly reaching out to journalists to say, we are trying to get the president to find an off ramp, but there are people who are pushing the president to escalate much further, significantly further.” - YouTube youtu.be

'Stark raving lunacy': Trump stuns analysts by casually threatening another invasion

03/16/26 10:57 PM

Political analysts and observers were stunned on Monday after President Donald Trump casually dropped a threat to start a new war during a press conference in the Oval Office. During an exchange with Peter Doocy of Fox News, Trump said he will take Cuba "in some form" at some point during his presidency. "All my life, I have been hearing about the United States and Cuba. You know, 'When are they going to do it?'" Trump said. "I do believe I will be having the honor of taking Cuba. That's a big honor." "Whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth," Trump added. The president's comments stunned political analysts and observers, who shared their reactions online. "Dear god," David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, posted on X. "Donald Trump is once again announcing his plans for a violent invasion of Cuba. We must stop him. To stand up for Cuba — against this malignant colonial mindset — is to stand up for all of humanity.""Like a small child talking about toys," Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic, posted on X. "Every word uttered here is stark raving lunacy," retired Army officer Mike Colarusso posted on Bluesky. "Hmmm … wonder if a certain dual-hatted Secretary of State/National Security Advisor has been playing to POTUS’s real estate developer instincts," Brian Finucane, senior advisor at International Crisis Group, posted on Bluesky.

'They said, I wish I did it': Trump says a former president privately supported the Iran war

03/16/26 5:08 PM

President Trump said Monday there is a former U.S. president who privately expressed support for military action against Iran and said he wished he'd done it.