We’re Back

Due to a technical issue regarding our domain, The Hustings was incommunicado from Friday morning, May 29, to Monday evening, June 1. For the record, our domain is not for sale. 

But the outage affected our email as well, so if you submitted a comment to editors@thehustings.news between May 29 and June 1 please submit it again. 

If you didn’t, there’s still plenty for you to discuss in the right or left column. 

Big question today outlined in the center column on the US-Israel war on Iran is whether Iran just might be winning this war, despite the Trump administration’s claims. 

Scroll down that center column for the Trump administration backing off its $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Act – for now – and a bipartisan bill that would make sure it doesn’t happen.

Don’t miss Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s parsing of Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll results for President Trump, in today’s right column.

There’s also the withdrawal of country music star Martina McBride, hip-hop artist Young MC, half of Milli Vanilli, the Commodores and others from Freedom 250, the Trump administration’s celebration of the semi-sesquincentennial because those artists say they did not know they were being tapped to participate in a “partisan” event. President “Number One Attraction anywhere in the world” Trump will headline instead, with a campaign rally-style kickoff of the celebration. --Editors

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TUESDAY 6/2/26

Iran War, Week 14

Get ready for another rally -- The president, seen here attending the LIV Golf tournament at the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C. (in Sterling, Virginia), will headline the Freedom 250 celebration on the National Mall. [White House photo]

Dear Center Column – Before digging into local news, an 11 p.m. newscast asks, “Are hopes for peace in Iran fading?”

Dear 11 p.m. newscast – It appears you haven’t been paying attention. President Trump has ping-ponged between being ready to sign a peace deal with unnamed leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran and threatening to bomb the nation of 90 million back to the Stone Age for some 14 weeks now, driving up both the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Averages and the interest rates on US Treasury bonds. Monday’s flip-flop was nothing new, with those Iranian leaders taking the lead again and telling President Trump to stuff the peace deal after Israel extended its war on Lebanon to Beirut.

Latest is that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says the US supports its attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs so long as Hezbollah continues to attack northern Israel, The Guardian reports.

The endless flip-flop has prompted some pundits and analysts to conclude that Iran, and not the US, is winning the war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not be pleased.

Nor is President Trump pleased with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump reportedly “lashed out” on Netanyahu over his aggression on Lebanon, telling the PM “You’re fucking crazy,” according to an exclusive report in Axios.

Question of the day … Is Iran winning this war?

•••

Gas Relief – In the face of all this ceasefire turmoil and Iran’s persistent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, gas and diesel prices continue to ease back from their wartime peaks. Average national price for a gallon of unleaded regular is down 13.6 cents from last Thursday to $4.29 Tuesday. That’s $1.309 over February 28. Diesel is 12.2 cents cheaper than last Thursday to $5.432, which is $1.635 above the price per gallon just prior to the war.

•••

‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ on Ice – The Trump administration has “signaled” plans to drop the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund the president’s Justice Department negotiated with the president’s Internal Revenue Service in a deal over the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, CNN reports.

With heavy support from congressional Republicans as well as Democrats, Reps. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) have introduced the bipartisan Transparency for American Taxpayers Act to make sure the Anti-Weaponization Fund doesn’t pop up in the middle of semi-sesquincentennial celebrations and pay off the 1,500 or so January 6th rioters who already have been pardoned by President Trump. After all, that $1.776 billion has a nice, semi-sesquincentennail ring to it.

Speaking with Suozzi on CNN’s AC360 with Anderson Cooper, Fitzpatrick warns that Congress must soon address the Federal Judgment Fund Act, a 1956 statue that allows Congress to settle legitimate lawsuits after the fact, which appears to be the basis of the Trump administration’s A-WF.

But first, the bipartisan stopgap to make sure the $1.776 billion fund is not allowed to happen. …

“This is a bipartisan bill to block the president’s $1.7 billion slush fund to pay off the January 6th criminals and other maladjusted minions!” Fitzpatrick says on his website. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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TUESDAY 6/2/26

Dentistry & Donald

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Whenever I go to the dentist the hygienist invariably asks: “Do you floss every day?” 

If I looked at my record just from a few days preceding and a few following the appointment I could answer “Yes.”

But before or after, well, not so much.

Under the circumstances, with someone holding an exceedingly sharp instrument mere millimeters from my open mouth while I am in a defenseless position in a chair, I answer “Yes.”

In effect, the hygienist is conducting a survey of one.

Clearly those surveyed are not necessarily the most honest and forthcoming in their responses. It is necessary, therefore, to consider survey results with a large grain of salt (or a dislodged chunk of plaque).

But sometimes the numbers are so big even with caveats galore there has to be some veracity to the numbers calculated.

Which leads me to new Strength In Numbers/Verasight polling on how well our president is doing with regard to things Americans care about.

Again, realize the people answering the poll may not be fully forthcoming. But still, consider the magnitude.

Asked about how well President Trump is handling the issues the pollsters found the following:

  • Border security:                                            0%
  • Deportations:                                             -12%
  • Immigration:                                              -12%
  • Crime & public safety:                                 -12%

Evidently the Wall that we no longer hear about has left people completely neutral, the whole ICE phenomenon is not making people particularly happy, and when you predicate your persona largely on being tough on crime (“Lock ‘em up!”) you might think the numbers would be above the net approval line, not below it.

•Education:                                               -19%

Perhaps if more time was spent supporting our public schools and public and private universities, there would be some positive feelings. But no, the efforts all seem to be undermining and penalizing our educational institutions, and that is not going to make America great. Here’s something to think about: China graduates 1.3 million engineers each year while the US graduates 130,000. While some may argue the US graduate engineers are 10x better, that brings to mind whistling by the graveyard. 

Look only at how the Chinese auto industry has developed in a matter of a few decades and now leads the West in terms of electric vehicles. Yes, we should eliminate grants to research universities because the president doesn’t like their politics.

  • Trade with other countries:                                  -21%

Given the tariff situation, not bad. Not bad at all. But still underwater.

  • Elections and democracy:                                    -22%

Remarkable about how the President keeps talking about crooked elections. Doesn’t it occur to him or any of his acolytes and minions that the so-called “crooked” elections not only put him in office but put the Republicans in control of the House and Senate? If these elections are as corrupt as he claims. . . .

•Government funding & social programs:           -22%

You don’t hear much about DOGE anymore, but a lot of people are feeling the results of it, and those feelings aren’t good.

  • Foreign policy:                                          -23%

Again, something surprisingly strong. Doesn’t foreign policy seem to be predicated on the president’s social media posts, and change from one to another? Diplomats? Who needs ‘em when you have real estate guys like Kushner and Witkoff? (Consider: those two know as much about geopolitics as my dental hygienist likely knows about New York real estate. Would it be fair to put her up against those two guys in a negotiation? So why does it seem sensible to put Kushner and Witkoff up against people who actually are trained in foreign policy?)

•Jobs & the economy:                                  -25%

Wasn’t the President going to make the economy grow in a way that no one would believe it? Sure, Wall Street is doing remarkably well — but that’s largely predicated on the success of the tech companies and the massive investments in artificial intelligence. Think about this: The aforementioned cuts in research programs at US research universities as well as those made to federal scientific research programs, programs in the pre-Trump days that led to things like successful tech companies and AI, are going to put the US behind in the not-distant future. But Trump will be gone, so he doesn’t care.

•Health care:                                              -28%

If you remember when Trump ran for president in 2016 excoriating Obamacare was something he frequently did, promising to create something far, far better. Clearly we’re still waiting. “Promises kept” was one of the 2024 campaign lines. Perhaps the “n” should be dropped from the final word in the previous sentence.

•Prices/inflation:                                        -47%

“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.

“America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have — the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth — and we are going to use it. We’ll use it. 

“We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world.

“We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”

That’s from the January 20, 2025, Inaugural Address.

Let’s see.

Inflation is up.

  • Energy prices are up, and the Strategic Oil Reserve is being tapped, not filled.
  • Manufacturing employment was 12.66 million in April 2025 and 12.59 million in April 2026.

Even if the people answering the questions of the pollsters were fudging things, being down 47% is a huge number, and the facts on the ground — as in what people are experiencing every time they go to the gas station and supermarket — show we are not in the Golden Age that was promised.

Far from it.

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TUESDAY 6/2/26

Whose Power is the War Power?

Whose Power is the War Power?

Left and right were mostly on the same page, if not in the same column debating the US-Israeli war on Iran at Wednesday evening’s Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts III at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania.  

Each participant adhered to The Hustings’ ethos of echo chamber-free political discussion, agreeing and disagreeing with each other with civility and respect. That means the Allen Theatre and The Hustings are busy planning Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts IV. Watch this space for details.

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Left and right, moderate and progressive-to-MAGA are invited to our next live Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts III 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, at the Allen Theatre, 36 E. Main St. in Annville, Pennsylvania where we will take up the issue of the 12-week old US-Israeli war on Iran. 

Confirm your attendance at this free, civil debate with an email to info@allentheatre.com or editors@thehustings.news.

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TUESDAY 5/26/26

Iran War, Week 13

President Trump visits the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings is resurfacing after placing a no-bid contract that a National Park Service analysis obtained by The New York Times says is adding a 20% surcharge costing the federal government at least $850,000 more than the typical 6% to 12% [White House photo].

Like Rolling a Rock Up a Hill – This hardly sounds like the “largely negotiated” done deal with Iran that President Trump described four days ago, but we suppose it’s something. 

US officials are reportedly closing in on an agreement that could extend the ceasefire with Iran, lead to reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and set the table for more substantial negotiations, three American officials with knowledge of discussions tell The New York Times. 

So. Another ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz free and open, kinda like 14 weeks ago.

•••

His Own Retribution – The Justice Department has launched an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former Elle advice columnist who won two civil judgments worth $88.3 million against then-former and future President Donald J. Trump over sexual abuse and defamation, CNN reports. The investigation reportedly hinges on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her lawsuits against Trump. 

Speculation is that the investigation revolves around Carroll’s 2022 deposition, in which she said she had received no outside funding for her lawsuits, although she later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had paid some legal fees and expenses.–TL

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THURSDAY 5/28/26

War On, Deal Off? – Iran targeted an unnamed US base in the Gulf Region, it says, in response to US strikes on southern Iran Thursday, The New York Times reports. This follows President Trump’s open cabinet meeting Wednesday in which he threatened to blow up Oman over Iran’s plan to toll the Strait of Hormuz in partnership with Oman. 

Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry called Trump’s threats “dangerous” and “bullying,” according to The Guardian.

Washington and Tehran in recent days have suggested they were close to an agreement to resume open shipping in the Strait.

But at his cabinet meeting, Trump said this in response to a reporter’s question (per NYT): “The Strait is going to be open to everybody. Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it. But nobody’s going to control it. That’s part of the negotiation we have.”

Clearly, Iran has learned since the war began in late February the power it has gained by controlling the Strait.

Meanwhile … The Israeli Defense Force conducted its first attack on Beirut in three weeks, after refraining from attacking Lebanon’s capital at Trump’s request, The Times of Israel reports. The IDF targeted an apartment building in the southern Choueifat area in an attempt to assassinate an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-connected military leader, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported. 

While Thursday’s IDF attack on Beirut is its first in three weeks, Israel has been unrelenting in its war on southern Lebanon, where more than 1 million locals have been displaced from their homes, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Gassiness – Global oil prices were on the rise Thursday after the US and Iran reported missile strikes on each other. But there’s lag at the American pump: Average national price of a gallon of unleaded regular dropped by 6.5 cents from Tuesday to $4.426, Thursday, which is $1.445 higher than February 28. Diesel was down 3 cents from Tuesday to $5.554, or $1.757 higher than the war’s start. –TL

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WEDNESDAY 5/2726

Paxton Wins Texas Primary – Is state Rep. James Talarico the real winner? 

Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton walloped – that’s a Texas word, right? – four-term Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s GOP primary runoff. The numbers were 64.1% for Paxton to 35.9% for Cornyn, according to The Texas Tribune.

Democrats couldn’t be more delighted, as if Texas, which is just about MAGA central might have second thoughts about forwarding to the November 3 midterms the Trump-endorsed AG who has been impeached and suspended from office by more than 70% of his own party in the Texas House, according to the Trib. Paxton faced a federal investigation into corruption allegations lodged by former top deputies, who have filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging they were illegally fired for reporting Paxton to law enforcement. 

Oh, and there’s the lawsuit by the state bar seeking to penalize Paxton for attorney misconduct. 

Paxton was indicted on three felony counts of securities fraud, “that have loomed over nearly his entire tenure as attorney general,” the Trib reports. 

Oh, and Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton has filed for divorce, citing “biblical grounds” and accusing the US Senate nominee of adultery. 

Any wonder Paxton was endorsed by President Trump? --TL

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TUESDAY 5/2626

Where is That Deal? – A lot happened between Washington and Tehran through the Memorial Day weekend. None of it remotely resembled a peace deal.

Here’s the latest from The New York Times and The Guardian:

Iran Tuesday has threatened to retaliate against US strikes Monday that the US said are defensive, against Iran’s missile launch sites and boats attempting to lay more mines in the Strait of Hormuz (The Guardian).

The Islamic Republic accused the US of violating the ceasefire. Its Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said in a written statement that US military bases in the Middle East are no longer safe and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to  respond forcefully to any US strikes (NYT).

These bellicose statements replaced negotiations after President Trump Truth Socialed Saturday that a deal with Iran was imminent, but he once again warned Iran had better reach an agreement or face annihilation. The Trump administration’s threats do not seem to scare the country that has chanted “death to America” for 47 years.

Iran did ease up slightly on repression of its own people, as President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered his country’s communications ministry to end its nearly complete internet blackout. 

Trump Truth Socialed, again on Monday afternoon that Iran’s enriched uranium will either be turned over to the US and destroyed or is to be destroyed in coordination of Iran and the Atomic Energy Commission. 

Iran officials traveled to Doha, Qatar, Monday to discuss negotiations ….  Hours before the US Military announced strikes on Iran meant to protect US troops.  

The upshot is … The Trump administration is struggling to reach the same level of compliance by Iran on its nuclear arms program that the Obama administration took two years to reach under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed and President Trump threw out in his first administration … while also working to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

•••

Slight Ease of Gas Pains – National average for a gallon of regular unleaded ticked below $4.50 Tuesday to $4.491, 1.6-cents lower than Monday, but up $1.51 over February 28. Diesel slid, too, by 7.2 cents from last Thursday to $5.584 per gallon, or +$1.787 versus the start of the war on Iran.

•••

Russia Targets ‘Decision Centers’ – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio to evacuate the US embassy in Kyiv as Russia prepares to begin strikes on Ukraine’s “decision-making centers” (per The Kyiv Independent).

Moscow has framed the planned hit as retaliation for Ukraine’s attack on Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast. The Kremlin claims the attack hit a dormitory in Starobilsk, though Kyiv counters that it was targeting a Russian drone command facility.

Russia staged its heaviest attack Tuesday on Ukraine since the beginning of the war, hitting every district in Kyiv. But that attack is seen as a sort of desperation as the four-year-old war hobbles Russia’s economy as Ukraine shows unexpected levels of resilience with its aggressive military drone program. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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TUESDAY 5/26/26

Fissures in the MAGA GOP?

Agreement (Mostly) on the Iran War

Citizen debaters on the right as well as the left attending Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts III at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania Wednesday evening generally argued that President Trump’s war on Iran was a bad decision. All agreed that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Each participant adhered to The Hustings’ ethos of echo chamber-free political discussion, agreeing and disagreeing with each other with civility and respect. That means the Allen Theatre and The Hustings are busy planning Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts IV. Watch this space for details.

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President Trump’s failure to bring the US-Israeli war on Iran to an end and re-open the Strait of Hormuz is beginning to crack open the MAGA-Republican coalition on Capitol Hill. Before heading out of town for the Memorial Day weekend break May 19, lame-duck Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, joined Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to force a resolution to bring a War Powers Act debate to the floor. The measure passed 50-47.

Whether you are right or left and agree or disagree with the four Republican senators on the issue, you are invited for The Hustings’ next Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts at the Allen Theatre, Wednesday, May 27 at 6 p.m. EDT. The event is free, but if you can please register via info@allentheatre.com or editors@thehustings.news.

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TUESDAY 5/26/26

Trump’s Iran Message Not Clear, Consistent

Commentary by Hugh Hansen

It is universally agreed Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons. Contrary to Mr. Corbett's assertion, the president's messaging has been neither clear nor consistent. 

Nor, indeed, truthful. 

The War Powers Resolution gave a specific time frame. The political will to pass it came in the aftermath of the long conflict in Vietnam; that is utterly unrelated to its legal requirements.

Hansen is a contributing pundit for The Hustings.

•••

Read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s “Rhetoric Doesn’t Buy the Groceries,” impetus for this left-right debate on the US-Israeli war on Iran, in the right column. Voice your opinion on the war with an email to editors@thehustings.news.

•••

The Allen Theatre and The Hustings are happy to announce Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts III on the US war with Iran, Wednesday, May 27 at 6 p.m. Eastern time. 

Was the US Military attack on Iran at the end of February a good idea? 

Whether you lean left or right, we want to hear from you. Please join us in person at the Allen Theatre, 36 East Main Street, Annville, Pennsylvania on May 27.

Pre-register at info@allentheatre.com for this free event and please indicate your stand on the war, for our planning purposes. [Please note: it’s perfectly OK if you lean left and support the war or lean right and don’t. This is about free, open and civil discussion around the political horseshoe.]

Voice your opinion on the war here, at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leaning in the subject line so we may publish your comments in the proper column. –Editors

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FRIDAY 5/22/26

Trump’s War Strategy

By Todd Lassa

UPDATE – After President Trump Truth Socialed Saturday that negotiations to end the war in Iran are “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner” and told his negotiators “not to rush a deal,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported “significant” though “not final” progress had been made. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, Bahrain and Pakistan are leading negotiations with Iran that reportedly do not address Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, the key reason Trump says the US and Israel initiated the war on Iran in late February.

Is this yet another Trump red herring? Rubio on Monday echoed the president’s bellicose threats from over the past 12 weeks to try and force Iran to reach an agreement, saying the US will either have a good agreement or deal with Iran “another way.” 

Also on Monday, Esmail Baqai, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said a deal “is not imminent.” (From reports by the BBC, NPR’s Morning Edition and The Independent.)

And so, the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded. Meanwhile … Americans are paying an average of $4.507 for a gallon of unleaded regular to return from Memorial Day vacations Monday, AAA reports, 5.7-cents cheaper than last Thursday but $1.526 more than on February 28.

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President Trump famously, or infamously, has never expressed a coherent foreign policy, though his introduction of the “Donroe Doctrine” with the US Military attack on Venezuela and capture of its authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, just after New Years 2026 has boosted his State Department’s belief in itself and hints at what could lead to a more coherent strategy. 

Trump is of the age to have vivid memories of news broadcasts following Cuba’s Marxist revolution of 1959, the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis of the Kennedy administration, the Mariel Boat Lift of the late Clinton administration and the custody fight over six-year-old Elián Gonzalez after he was rescued on a sinking boat between Havana and Miami (he was eventually returned to Cuba) in the second Clinton administration.

Certainly, Trump closely followed Iran’s 1979 revolution, the hostage crisis at the end of the Carter administration and chants of “Death to America” coming from leaders of the Islamic Republic in subsequent decades.

We’d bet Trump had little or no knowledge of Cuba’s dictatorship under Fulgencia Batista, from 1952 up to Fidel Castro’s revolution.

We suspect Trump does not think much about the Shah of Iran’s CIA- and MI6-assisted coup ď état of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 (when the president was seven years old).

But the Trump administration seems to be connecting the two nations. As the war on Iran drives up oil prices, pushing the US Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index to 3.8% and putting pressure on the global economy, Trump’s State Department, led by Cuban-American Marco Rubio – who has more expertise by far than anybody else in the president’s cabinet – is using the early January attack on Venezuela and capture of Nicolás Maduro as a template for its actions in Cuba and potential capture of its former president Raúl Castro, brother of the late Fidel.

Chances of something that looks like regime change on the island are probably better than in Iran, where our initial attacks killed off palatable alternatives to the late Ayatollah Khamenei, or in Venezuela, where Trump is copacetic with the leadership of Maduro’s subordinates. Shutting off oil shipments to Cuba from Venezuela and anywhere else makes potential regime change in Cuba much easier, satisfying generations of Cuban-Americans in South Florida while opening up the possibility of Trump Organization-style beachfront projects in Havana. 

The upshot is this could happen as the US is in the middle of yet another ceasefire with Iran.

If and when Trump can finally end the war (which he has said many times has already ended, and we’ve won) with any agreement that neutralizes Iran’s nuclear enrichment program beyond what the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action achieved during the Obama administration, a Venezuela-like victory in Cuba would top the headlines, especially on Fox News and its cohorts to its right. 

This could be the sort of Trump administration “win” that would do more for the GOP in the midterms than the mid-decade gerrymanders in Republican-led states.

•••

CORRECTION: A report in Thursday's center column, "Castro, Meet Maduro?" misstated former Cuban President Raúl Castro's age. He is 94.

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FRIDAY 5/22/26

Temporary Sacrifice, Enduring Security

Commentary by Rich Corbett

I respect Mr. Macaulay for highlighting the burden on American taxpayers and the real pocketbook pressures families face every day – from gas prices to grocery bills to the rising cost of living – because those realities matter. No one wants to see hard-working people stretched thin, but a nuclear-armed Iran that vows death to America and its allies should not be ignored.

The nuclear evidence is not speculation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly documented Iran’s enrichment to near-weapons-grade levels, its concealment of military dimensions and its rapid reconstitution efforts repeatedly after 47 years of failed deterrents. The US and allied intelligence confirmed that Iran was racing toward breakout capacity, even after Trump’s 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer (Reuters). President Trump’s clear, consistent message isn’t the lackadaisical jibber-jabber of politicians past, it is recognizing that a nuclear Iran is an existential threat to our security and the world’s. 

Allowing it to happen is not an option.

[Subscription to Reuters required: the May 4, 2026 report citing three sources says US intelligence indicates the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon did not change after Operation Midnight Hammer, when US-Israeli intelligence claimed that attack on Iran had pushed back the timeline up to one year. – Ed.]

Yes, the short-term economic pain is real. Conflicts disrupt markets, oil prices rise and the risks inherent to curtailing Iran’s ambitions are real. History shows these pressures ease once stability returns. What history also shows is that the long-term cost of a nuclear Iran – higher defense spending, regional chaos, oil shocks far worse than anything we’re seeing now – and the risk of far deadlier conflict would dwarf today’s discomfort. Decisive action now is the responsible path to lower prices and safety in the months and years ahead.

On the War Powers Resolution of 1973: That law was written for sustained, open-ended wars, not short-term defensive operations to eliminate an imminent nuclear threat. The Trump administration’s targeted strikes were precisely the kind of limited, time-sensitive action a president must take as commander-in-chief to avoid a full-scaled war. Congress was briefed, the mission was narrow and strikes successful; the 60-day clock was never intended to handcuff a president from stopping a nuclear 9/11 before it starts. This is not nation-building or an endless war – it is a swift, necessary defense in order to prevent “death to America” in our homeland.

Strength isn’t cheap, but weakness is far more expensive. President Trump chose the harder right over the easier wrong being proposed by his shortsighted -- or midterm-ambitious -- political adversaries. I’m convinced history will show that protecting America from a nuclear Iran is a decision that will ultimately make life more affordable – and keep America safe.`

Corbett is contributing pundit to The Hustings. His website dedicated to a variety of subjects is My Desultory Blog.

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FRIDAY 5/22/26

Your Economy v. No Nukes for Iran

Scroll down this column for details on Debate & Donuts III, May 27

Is a “guarantee” that Iran will “never” build its own nuclear arms worth the highly inflated cost of filling your car’s fuel tank with gas and the price of food delivered to your grocer by a diesel-chugging semi-truck?

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has his own opinion on this in today’s right column. Please read it and weigh in with your own opinion, with an email COMMENT to editors@thehustings.news.

Also, watch for pro-MAGA Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett’s comments on the subject, also in the right column, later this week. 

•••

The Allen Theatre and The Hustings are happy to announce Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts III on the US war with Iran, Wednesday, May 27 at 6 p.m. Eastern time. 

Was the US Military attack on Iran at the end of February a good idea? 

Whether you lean left or right, we want to hear from you. Please join us in person at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania May 27.

Pre-register at info@allentheatre.com for this free event and please indicate your stand on the war, for our planning purposes. [Please note: it’s perfectly OK if you lean left and support the war or lean right and don’t. This is about free, open and civil discussion around the political horseshoe.]

Voice your opinion on the war here, at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leaning in the subject line so we may publish your comments in the proper column. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/18/26

Iran War, Week 12

Goldphoner – The long-awaited-by-MAGA Trump T1 smartphone began shipping last week, according to USA Today. Scroll down this column for details in Monday's report.

THURSDAY 5/21/26

Republican Senators Wake Up and Take Notice – After losing his GOP primary to a self-proclaimed Donald J. Trump yes-man Tuesday, Sen. Thomas Massie (R-KY) warned the president he still has seven months remaining in his term. Lame duck Republican senators are now leading a revolt against two of President Trump’s pet programs: His golden grand ballroom with $1 million in security enhancements, where the White House East Wing used to be and his $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” paid by tax dollars from his “settlement” with the Internal Revenue Service.

The Senate is to hold an initial procedural vote Thursday evening and begin a vote-a-rama on a $70 billion-plus Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol reconciliation bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) cannot start a floor vote process until he has locked down 50 votes, Punchbowl News reports. There are 53 Republicans in the Senate.

“Imagine that,” Tillis said, “a fund that is set up to compensate people who assaulted Capitol Police officers. How absurd does that sound coming out of my mouth?”

Thune can’t count on Massie, fellow primaried Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-SC), who is not running for re-election this year, plus Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY).

Thune might count on Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), to brings him back to 48 votes.

Earlier this week, Cassidy, Paul, Collins and Murkowski voted to advance Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) war powers resolution out of the Foreign Relations Committee. Trump is expected to veto the resolution.

•••

Bibi Will Follow – In comments that contradict the nature of the relationship many analyst-pundits have understood since late February, President Trump says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “do whatever I want” when it comes to extending the ceasefire with Iran. Trump’s comments came a day after he and Netanyahu reportedly had a tense phone call on the subject, according to The Times of Israel. 

“He’s a very good man, will do whatever I want him to do,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “And he’s a great guy. Don’t forget, he was a wartime prime minister.”

Trump’s call with Netanyahu came the day after Trump cited progress in negotiations with Iran, prompting him to (again) suddenly pull back from plans to restart military attacks on the country.

Sources have told Axios that a proposal Qatar and Pakistan drafted with input from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt would entail a “letter of intent” to end the war to begin 30 days of negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz and limitation of Iran’s nuclear program.

•••

Fuel Up – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.564 Thursday, up 0.9 cents from Wednesday and up $1.583 from February 28, the AAA reports. Diesel is up 0.4 cents to $5.656, or $1.859 higher than the day before the war began. 

•••

Castro, Meet Maduro? – It would take a Venezuela-like US invasion, which is not out of the question after the Trump administration’s perceived success in that operation from early last January, to bring former Cuban President Raúl Castro to trial. Cuba has no extradition treaty with the US, making that the only likely option for the Trump administration. 

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday announced indictment of Castro, 94, and four others in connection with the 1996 killing of four humanitarian workers with Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue by Cuban fighter jets in international waters (Politico). 

A Miami grand jury returned the charges following  unsealing of an investigation led by federal prosecutors in South Florida. The indictment alleges conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder. 

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the charges a “political maneuver” without legal foundation.

This comes amidst US pressure on Cuba via sanctions, a recent visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Trump administration threatening sanctions on other countries that try to deliver oil to Cuba after cutting off oil from Venezuela after that January capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro. –TL

_______________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 5/20/26

Generalissimo of the GOP – While America’s political animals from center-right to left remain mired in arguments of where to rate Donald J. Trump on the authoritarian measurement scale (“competitive authoritarianism,” Viktor Orbán style is a popular answer), there can be no question about the president’s supreme control of the Republican Party. 

On Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) lost the Kentucky GOP primary in his bid for an eighth term in the House of Representatives. Massie, who voted to convict Trump in January 2021 for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, introduced with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) the Epstein Files Transparency Act, voted against Trump’s One Big Beautiful spending and tax-cut bill and opposes the war on Iran, lost the primary with 46% of the vote to Kentucky farmer and ex-Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein who campaigned he will vote in lockstep with the president on everything and thus snagged 54% of the vote.

Massie’s loss came three days after fellow maverick-y Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) lost his primary to Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA). 

Trump endorsed Gallrein, of course, in the costliest House campaign on record, with an estimated $34 million spent by 4:30 p.m. Monday, the eve of the primary, according to The American Prospect. 

A day earlier, the president Truth Socialed that Massie is the “worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country” (per The Guardian).

Turn back the calendar further, to May 11, and there’s this from Trump during a campaign rally-like speech in Kentucky: “We’ve got to get rid of this loser. He’s disloyal to the Republican Party. He’s disloyal to Kentucky. And most importantly, he’s disloyal to the United States of America. He’s got to be voted out of office as soon as possible.”

Not soon enough for Trump.

Massie, who claimed victory among young voters, at least, who he said are fed up with such politics, noted that Tuesday marked six months after he and Khanna introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and Massie has seven months left in his current term.

Massie is not your typical Republican. He will not be your typical lame duck congressman.

•••

RIP Rep. Barney Frank – Capitol Hill staffers many times voted Barney Frank, Democratic congressman for a diverse suburban Boston district from 1981 to 2013, “brainiest,” “funniest,” “most eloquent” in an annual poll by Washingtonian magazine. Frank died Tuesday, age 86, at his home in Ogunquit, Maine, about a month after his friend, James Segel, said the former congressman had entered hospice care with congestive heart failure, according to The New York Times obit. 

Frank publicly declared he was gay in 1987, helping “normalize being openly gay in public life,” according to the obit. 

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 he co-sponsored with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) “helped reshape the US financial system” after the 2007-08 financial crisis (worst since the Great Depression), according to The Wall Street Journal.

“This country has never had a congressman like Barney Frank, and the House of Representatives will not be the same without him,” President Barack Obama said upon his retirement 13 years ago.

•••

…And Worser – This supplemental to the Internal Revenue Service’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund settlement with President Trump’s $10 billion suit against his agency was “quietly” added Tuesday and signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to The New York Times: the government is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” pending tax claims against Trump, his family and his business. 

Meanwhile … Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges, both veterans of the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop President Trump’s $1.776-billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.

•••

More Time, More or Less, for Iran – Giving a tour to reporters Tuesday of construction at his Grand Ballroom site where the White House East Wing used to be, President Trump said he was “an hour away” from new strikes on Iran when “serious negotiations” for a permanent ceasefire progressed, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, standing in for expectant White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters there are two serious pathways for Iran, according to the report: Continue to negotiate or restart the US Military campaign. Vance also repeated, in week 12 of Trump’s four- to six-week war on Iran, that this is not a “forever war.” 

•••

Fuel Up – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.555 Wednesday, up 2.2 cents from Tuesday and up $1.574 from February 28, the AAA reports. Diesel is up 0.2 cents to $5.652, or $1.855 higher than the day before the war began. --TL

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 5/19/26

TACOs for Tuesday? – It didn’t take long after President Trump’s latest threat of annihilation Monday to announce he had postponed another US Military strike on Iran. This happened not in preparation for TACO Tuesday, but because leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates begged him to hold off as negotiations are progressing (again) (per Newsweek).

The circumstances didn’t stop Mohsen Rezaei, top Iranian advisor, from taking a TACO mock. He said Trump had cancelled the military strike on his own and that Iran’s “iron fist” would force the US to retreat, even surrender.

•••

Fuel Pains – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.533 Tuesday, up 1.8 cents from Monday and up $1.552 from February 28, the AAA reports. Diesel is up 1.9 cents to $5.65, or $1.853 higher than the day before the war.

•••

It Gets Worse – Treasury Department General Counsel Brian Morrissey resigned Monday, seven months after he was confirmed by the Senate and hours after the department’s Internal Revenue Service announced the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund as settlement for President Trump’s suit against the agency, The New York Times reports. Morrissey worked for Trump 45’s Justice Department and was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The settlement over Trump’s $10 billion suit alleging the IRS leaked his tax returns was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and IRS Chief Executive Frank Bisignano, according to The Wall Street Journal and will pay people who claimed they were targeted unfairly by past presidential administrations. 

A five-person commission to the Anti-Weaponization Fund to be appointed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche can be fired by the president. Blanche was to testify before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday on the Justice Department’s budget, though the settlement – considered the most blatantly corrupt by watchdog organizations and many Democrats on Capitol Hill – will certainly come up in testimony, Marketplace Morning Report notes. –TL

_______________________________________________

MONDAY 5/18/26

$1.776B of Taxpayer Money to Trump Allies – Hours after President Trump announced he would drop his $10 billion lawsuit against his administration’s Internal Revenue Service (which was based on a leak of his returns by a federal contractor, and not a full-time federal government official), his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to settle to pay cases for his allies over unlawful, politically motivated investigations and prosecutions (scroll this column for earlier story), NPR’s All Things Considered reports. 

Ethics watchdogs and congressional Democrats are trying to intervene. 

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called the “anti-weaponization fund,” apparently set at an amount to celebrate the semisesquincentennial the “single most corrupt, self-serving act of any president in American history.”

•••

T1 Details --Trump Mobile, headed up by Don Jr. and Eric has taken an estimated 600,000 deposits at $100 each, while disclaiming, “a deposit is not a purchase” and “does not guarantee a Device will be produced or made available for purchase.” The T1 will not be produced in the US as first promised, though final assembly will be here. Chipset is by Qualcomm (per The Verge) whose president and CEO, Christiana Amon, was among the oligarchs who accompanied President Trump in China last week.

•••

Tick, Tick, Tick or TACO Tuesday? – Time is just about up, again, for Iran as President Trump Truth Socialed the US ceasefire with the country will end if our enemy does not agree to a peace deal, The Guardian reports. As is usually the case, such a deal hinges on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Tehran has demanded a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon before there could be a broader peace deal.

“For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE,” Trump's Truth Social post reads.

At least TIME will BE OF THE ESSENCE Tuesday, when Trump is scheduled to meet with national security advisors to discuss next US Military steps, Axios reports. 

The ceasefire did not keep Iran from hitting the United Arab Emirates with a drone strike that caused a fire at a nuclear power plant, according to The Guardian. UAE officials called the strike a “dangerous escalation” and blamed Iran and its proxies. 

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, reported intercepting three drones.

•••

Trump Drops IRS Suit – President Trump moved Monday morning in a federal court in Florida to withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service – his own administration’s IRS – over past leaks of his tax returns, The Associated Press reports. A deal to drop the suit if the IRS paid $1.7 billion to his allies over what they claimed were unlawful, politically motivated investigations and prosecutions was not mentioned in the filing in the Florida federal court, where Trump filed the suit in 2025. 

ABC News first reported the potential $1.7 billion deal, the AP reports, which drew instant Democratic backlash. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called such a deal “unconstitutional.” 

“This, of course, is a political grievance fund that Donald Trump can use to pay off his friends,” Raskin told ABC News This Week.

•••

Fuel Pains – The national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.515, down 1.3 cents from Friday and up $1.533 from February 28, the AAA reports. Diesel was down 3.1 cents to $5.631, or $1.834 higher than the day before the war.

•••

No Crying in Politics – Two-term Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who voted to convict President Trump in January 2021 for his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election was defeated for his shot at a third term in Saturday’s GOP primary with just 25% of the vote, according to The New York Times. 

Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), with 45% of last weekend’s vote, faces state Treasurer John Fleming in a June 27 primary runoff. Fleming is an ex-Trump administration official who garnered 28% of the vote. 

Trump Truth Socialed after the vote that Cassidy’s “disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now part of a legend, and it’s nice to see his political career is OVER!”

Conversely, Cassidy told supporters in Baton Rouge Saturday, “When you participate in a democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. But you don’t pout. You don’t whine. You don’t claim that an election was stolen from you.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 5/18/26

Rhetoric Doesn’t Buy the Groceries

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

It is almost like the Republicans in Congress, for the most part, are a group of Stepford Wives and Husbands or Chatty Kathys and Kens when it comes to the war in Iran.

Pull the string and they repeat a mantra of “The Iranians have been against America for 47 years and Donald Trump is not going to let them get a nuclear bomb. Gas prices are a small price to pay and they’ll come back down quickly once this is over. President Trump is the only president who has the stuff to get this done.”

The question is what is this based on? Has there been any evidence presented to the American people about this nuclear bomb-making program targeted at the US? Any?

And as for gas prices, while it sounds as though this is going to be “presto-change-o”—the war ends and suddenly gas prices plummet, let’s look at some facts.

According to GasBuddy.com, on May 15, 2021, the average price of a gallon of regular was $3.04. On June 14, 2022, the price rose to $5.02 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The market adjusted. But it took until December 25, 2022, for the price to get back to $3.05.

Or let’s go back further, to 2007 to 2008, when a combination of increasing demand and constrained supply pushed the price of a gallon of regular from $2.24 in January 2007 to $4.06 in July 2008. Then it dropped to an amazing $1.79 per gallon in January 2009. (George W. Bush was finishing his last weeks in office that month.)

So in the most recent case it was six months for a return and in the one 17 years ago it was five months. No, there will be no instant reset to the $2.97 per gallon that we had on February 28, 2026. 

But let’s not let facts get in the way. 

Congress used to have a collective spine.

It passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Briefly, that is a federal law passed that requires:

  • The president consulting Congress before putting troops into hostilities
  • The president providing a written report to Congress 48 hours after troops are deployed or if existing forces are going to be significantly expanded
  • The president stop using the military in a conflict if after 60 days Congress doesn’t formally declare war or provide specific statutory authorization 

The 93rd Congress performed as the Constitution intended, as the first branch of government, with the sole power — yes, sole power — to make laws, declare war, control taxes, and permit spending.

Richard Nixon vetoed the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

The 93rd Congress didn’t cower.

The very day Nixon vetoed the bill, October 24, 1973, the Senate voted to override the veto and a couple weeks later the House did the same.

With regard to the current situation — “a skirmish,” “a little excursion,” “a little detour” — the US is at war with Iran and none of the three points required by the War Powers Act have been performed by the Trump administration.

But it seems that doesn’t matter.

Somehow congressional Republicans believe the president is some sort of savant in all areas, almost as much as the president thinks he is.

When he wants to get something done, he pulls out the Sharpie and signs an Executive Order. There have been 259 so far this term. Possibly more by the time you read this. And he has some 980 days to go.

Joe Biden signed 162 during his entire term in office and you’d think that he would have had that autopen sign a whole lot more.

The mantra “We cannot let Iran get a nuclear bomb” is an excellent goal, but there has never been an explanation or vague description of how that will be accomplished.

Although the president said after Operation Midnight Hammer that the Iranian capacity for producing nuclear weapons was “obliterated,” somehow in eight months — the time between the operation (June 21-22) and the start of the war (February 28) — the Iranian capacity was reconstituted from “nuclear dust.”

So what are we to believe when there seems to be an ever-shifting description of what’s happening or why the country is at war? How many times have we heard a “deal” is eminent before it isn’t? How many times have we heard that other countries need to participate before we hear that the US doesn’t need them? How many times have we heard the Iranian military capacity is sunk or smashed before there’s word of more missiles flying?

How many times have we had a clear explanation — or any explanation, for that matter — of how this will end?

Put a microphone in front of a Republican in Congress and you’ll just hear the same phrases repeated over and over about 47 years and the coming precipitous drop in gas prices.

Meanwhile, everyday Americans are wondering about how they’re going to fill their tanks and buy some ground beef for a Memorial Day barbeque (in May 2025 a pound of ground beef was $5.98 per pound; it is now $7.01).

In his State of the Union Address on February 24, 2026, President Trump excoriated the Biden Administration for high inflation and high prices.

Inflation was at 3.0% at the end of the Biden Administration. It is 3.8% today.

The president said: “The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles, rent, is lower today than when I took office, by a lot. And even beef, which was very high, is starting to come down significantly. Just hold on a little while, we're getting it down. And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.”

Since the end of the Biden Administration the price of chicken is up 3.9%, butter up 22.2%, fruit 6.1%, and rent up 4.2%. Hotels, which are not as necessary as food, have had a price decline of 3.2%. According to Kelley Blue Book, “The average transaction price (ATP) for a new vehicle purchased in April was higher than March and above year-ago levels .... The ATP for a new vehicle, according to Kelley Blue Book, was $49,461, up 1.8% from one year earlier. Prices last month were higher by 0.7% from March, above the long-term average of 0.3%.”

Yes, we are seeing “numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.

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MONDAY 5/18/26

Next Live Debate

The Allen Theatre and The Hustings are happy to announce Talking With, Not At … Debate & Donuts III on the US war with Iran, Wednesday, May 27 at 6 p.m. Eastern time. 

Was the US Military attack on Iran at the end of February a good idea? 

Whether you lean left or right, we want to hear from you. Please join us in person at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania May 27.

Pre-register at info@allentheatre.com for this free event and please indicate your stand on the war, for our planning purposes. [Please note: it’s perfectly OK if you lean left and support the war or lean right and don’t. This is about free, open and civil discussion around the political horseshoe.]

Voice your opinion on the war here, at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leaning in the subject line so we may publish your comments in the proper column. –Editors

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THURSDAY 5/14/26

Trump, Xi Meet Cute

FRIDAY 5/15/26

What Hath Trump-Xi Wrought? – Not much, according to most reports and analyses. In his final remarks before departing Beijing Friday, President Trump claimed “fantastic trade deals” between the US and China. Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping settled “a lot of different problems.”

China’s warning shot at the beginning of the summit that the US must leave Taiwan’s fate to China was not one of the problems settled, The Guardian reports. Trump said “nothing’s changed” about US policy toward Taiwan, though he said he might not approve a major arms sale to the independent, democratic island northeast of Hong Kong.

Even the Murdoch-owned New York Post concluded “pomp and pageantry reigned supreme.” The NYP began its five-takeaway news piece with a much-quoted clip from Murdoch-sibling Fox News’ interview with Trump telling eponymous host Sean Hannity China’s leaders from Xi on down “are a very organized people.” 

The Fox News clip ends after one-minute, 58 seconds without revealing much else. 

NYP takeaway #2, however, says Xi has shown willingness to help Trump on Iran.

“Anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of relationship with him,” Trump said. “He’d like to see the Hormuz Strait open. He said, ‘If I could be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.’”

But if China lets the war with Iran continue to deplete US arms stockpiles, might that make it less likely the Trump administration will complete the arms deal with Taiwan?

•••

Less Gassy – The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular dropped by half a cent Friday to $4.528, according to the AAA, while diesel also dropped a half a cent, to $5.662. That’s up $1.546 for gasoline and up $1.865 for diesel since February 27.

•••

About Those Skydance-CBS Weasels – Stephen Colbert began the last Late Show on its penultimate week with a shot at how CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil failed to get a Chinese visa in time for the Trump-Xi summit and had to host the CBS Evening News 100 miles off the Chinese coast in Taiwan. CBS news chief Bari Weiss was collateral satirical damage in the cold open. 

Colbert ended Thursday joining The Late Show founding host David Letterman dropping CBS assets from the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater. (Colbert noted that CBS barred him from the theater’s roof when he took over from Letterman, who regularly dropped watermelons and other smashable items onto the street below.)

But on Thursday’s show, Letterman and Colbert took great delight in dropping what Colbert said were the show set's custom-made guest chairs and the host’s Eames office chair from the roof, hitting and breaking a large CBS eyeball badge placed on the sidewalk. They followed that up with a couple of watermelons and a cake embossed with “The Late Show – 1993-2026.” 

Letterman thanked Colbert for “everything you’ve done for this country.” Colbert returned the compliment and asked his predecessor if he had anything else he wanted to say.

“Well, not necessarily to the audience but to the folks at CBS,” Letterman replied. “In the words of the great Ed Murrow, ‘Good night and good luck, you motherf***ers'” (CBS’ censorship).  –TL

_______________________________________________

THURSDAY 5/14/26

President Trump in Beijing – As President Xi Jinping dazzles President Trump with his country’s pomp & circumstance without public protest that lesser authoritarians sometimes suffer, the Chinese government has gone straight to the point of its number one goal of this historic two-day summit.

Taiwan.

This is the fifth paragraph of China’s readout of the first in-person meeting of Xi and Trump since 2017:

“President Xi stressed that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations. If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy. ‘Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water. Safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the US. The US side must exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question.”

Pump up the pomp … President Trump told President Xi months ago he wanted the biggest display in the history of China, and he got it, according to NPR’s Tamara Keith. Trump and his entourage of 17 corporate leaders/oligarchs, plus Melania director Brett Ratner, who reportedly is scouting locations for his Rush Hour 4, stepped off Air Force One onto a red carpet while a military band played. 

The entourage was greeted by China’s vice president and 300 Chinese teens in matching outfits colored in Air Force One’s iconic livery, who were waiving US and Chinese flags in-sync. Trump would look forward to bilateral talks, about trade in the wake of the president’s Liberation Day tariffs from April of last year, plus teas and a grand banquet. 

Trump is hoping for announcements of big Chinese purchases of US goods, including possibly oil, US access to China’s rare earth resources and a crackdown on fentanyl coming into the US. Melanie Hart, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub told Keith on All Things Considered this adds up to the type of made-for-TV gala Trump relishes.

•••

YOUR COMMENTS on President Trump’s historic visit to China are, as always, welcome. Email editors@thehustings.news

•••

Trump’s Fed Chief Confirmed – The Senate Wednesday confirmed President Trump’s nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, by 54-45 vote, The Hill reports. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only senator to cross the aisle and vote with the 53 Republicans.

•••

Uh-oh – We assiduously cover the Consumer Price Index and the monthly jobs reports issued by the US Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Wednesday evening APM’s Marketplace alerted us to another monthly number reported by the BLS, the Producer Price Index, that deserves attention. This is the inflation rate for producers that typically, eventually, get passed on to consumers when their goods come to market.

And for April, the PPI is not pretty: Up 1.4% for the month and a rate of 6% year-over-year, highest since a 6.4% annual figure as supply chains began to open up during the pandemic, in December 2022. April’s CPI rose to 3.8%, ICYMI.

You’re up next, Fed Chair Warsh.

•••

At the Pump – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular hit $4.534 Thursday, up 2.3 cents over Wednesday and $1.552 over February 27. Diesel is $5.667, up 0.8 cents over Wednesday and $1.87 over February 27. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 5/14/26

Right to Left

In case you missed it, we have been debating the case of socialism in America in our three columns. The debate was sparked by right-column Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett’s commentary calling on young voters to reject the “siren song” of Marxism. Left-column Contributing Pundit K.E. Bell countered with his commentary here.

Contributing Pundit Bill McGuire and Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay continued the discussion here and here.

You are invited to add your comments with an email to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings (right or left) in the subject line. 

You’ll note from the differing views in the right column commentaries of Corbett and Macaulay that opinions may differ within the same side of the political aisle.While you are here, be sure to read today’s left column for information on how to 

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THURSDAY 5/14/26