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.

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

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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

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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

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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

Ban Socialism NOW! 

Commentary by Bill McGuire

Actually, socialism is fine. It's as American as apple pie. It's the term “socialism” that's the menace. In US politics, the word stops sensible political discussion dead in its tracks. Here, socialism is what Claude Lévi-Strauss called a floating signifier: It points everywhere at once and therefore nowhere in particular. In the Capitol, we see politicians deploring the evils of socialism one moment and then co-sponsoring it the next. In Washington, D.C., socialism is any government program somebody doesn't like. It means no more than that.

Do you support social security? Medicare? Farm price supports? Bailouts for critical industries? A gargantuan defense budget that largely serves as a stimulus program? Congratulations, you are a socialist. You dirty pinko rat. The fact is the US has long had a mixed economy with both socialist and free market elements. And everything in between. But America likes to pretend otherwise.

According to many on the right, a Democrat is a liberal is a socialist is a communist, further confusing the issue. On purpose. More than 70 years after Joe McCarthy was knocked off his peg, the Red Scare continues. When former Attorney General Bill Barr denounced Donald Trump, he said he still couldn't vote for a Democrat because he had to "stop communism." Among many Americans, the terms “socialist” and “communist” are interchangeable, and that's just how Republicans like it.

Over here on the left, the term socialism is remarkably elastic as well. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) identify as democratic socialists. But over in Europe where such terms have any congruency at all, they really are social democrats, and they're not the same thing. Meanwhile, centrist Democrats in the US will offer the most socialistic-y proposals while never bringing the word socialism anywhere around. If they have any hope of passing them, anyway.

Is there a solution to this lexical logjam? It's a question that only raises another question: Could politicians ever start using words properly? If the word socialism doesn't mean anything anymore, maybe we should just stop using it.

McGuire is contributing pundit for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 5/11/26

Iran Drives 3.8% CPI

Inflation rose 0.6% month-over-month in April, for an annual Consumer Price Index of 3.8%, the Labor Department reports. That’s up from a March CPI of 3.3% marking a reversal of the still Federal Reserve-antagonistic 2.4% for January and February, an improvement over December's extra-tariffy 2.7%. Energy rose 3.8% month-over-month in April, to equal 40% of the increase for all items. Shelter was up 0.6% for the month, with food prices up 0.5%. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

About Your Finances – In what The Late Show host Stephen Colbert calls “chopper talk” President Trump Tuesday responded to a reporter’s question as he was about to board a helicopter on the White House lawn, on whether he considers the financial situations of Americans in light of the economic ravages of the Iran war (see CPI chart above).

“Not even a little bit,” Trump responded (per The Hill). “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situations. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump was on his way to Air Force One, which would then fly to Beijing for Trump’s economic summit Wednesday and Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for their first in-person meeting since 2017. 

Except maybe finances of these 17 Americans … Here’s the full list of American business leaders who have accompanied Trump to Beijing (as compiled by SFGate):

•SpaceX/Tesla CEO and X-Twitter owner Elon Musk

•Apple CEO (about to retire) Tim Cook

•Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

•Boeing CEO Robert “Kelly” Orrberg

•Blackrock Chairman/CEO Larry Fink

•Blackstone CEO/Co-founder Stephen Schwarzman

•Cargill Chairman/CEO Brian Sikes

•Citi Chair/CEO Jane Fraser

•Coherent CEO Jim Anderson

•GE Aerospace Chair/CEO H. Lawrence Culp

•Goldman Sachs Chair/CEO David Solomon

•Illumina CEO Jacob Thaysen

•Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach

•Meta Vice President/Vice Chair Dina Powell McCormick

•Micron Chair/President Sanjay Mehrotra

•Qualcomm President/CEO Cristiano Amon

•Visa CEO Ryan McInerny

More Kirkland for China … Iran has allowed a China Costco Shipping supertanker cross through the Strait of Hormuz without paying tolls as a “gesture of goodwill,” according to a Costco official, The Wall Street Journal reports. The US war on Iran will be a talking point between Trump and Xi, as China is Iran’s closest trading partner.

•••

Care About This? – National average for a gallon of unleaded regular is $4.511 Wednesday, up $1.529 per gallon over February 27. Diesel is $5.659 per gallon, up $1.862.

•••

$4 Billion in Two Weeks – Cost of the 11-week war on Iran is up $4 billion over the last two weeks to $29 billion, Pentagon comptroller Jay Hurst told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee Tuesday (per The New York Times). 

“That’s because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs,” Hurst told the subcommittee.

The figure does not include costs of repairing US Military installations hit by Iranian drones. Nor does it account for an apparently growing shortage of US munitions.

In back-to-back testimony before the subcommittee, war/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to say when the Trump administration would request more money for the war effort. The White House has requested $1.5 trillion in defense spending for the coming fiscal year. –TL

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 5/12/26

De-Gas Tax – President Trump says he will suspend the federal gas tax, which has been frozen at 18-cents per gallon for gas and 21-cents per gallon for diesel for decades. This will require congressional approval, though for that matter so does the US war on Iran.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed for a temporary gas tax suspension, the Chicago Tribune reports, though member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chris Murphy (D-CT), told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Monday on The Source he’s not likely to support any such action that lets Trump extend the war. But will that backfire on Democrats who oppose even temporary gas-price relief for consumers?

Meanwhile, at the pump … Average national price for a gallon of unleaded regular continues to notch down and was at $4.504 per gallon Tuesday, down 1.6 cents from Monday and up $1.521 since February 27. Diesel inched up 1.2 cents to $5.644 per gallon, up $1.851 since the beginning of the war.

Doing the math … Which means that with the federal taxes suspended, a gallon of unleaded regular would cost you $4.324 while a gallon of diesel fuel would cost that semi delivering food to your local grocery $5.434.

•••

Project Freedom Redux? – President Trump’s plan to free blockaded oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz last week lasted a bit more than two days before the White House dropped it like a cold attorney general. 

It’s back. For now.

Trump called the Iranian counterproposal to his administration’s proposal for a ceasefire that presumably would extend or supersede the ceasefire that officially ended Monday evening “that piece of garbage they sent us – I didn’t even finish reading it,” (per The Guardian).

“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says: “sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.”

Trump says he’s considering restarting US Navy escorts of the ships stopped up in the Strait to try and end the blockade. Check back tomorrow.

Oil price futures rose Monday and so did the stock market, buoyed perhaps by better-than-expected Big Oil financial results last week. Or they know or understand something the rest of us don’t.

•••

Good Jobs Report – While we were debating the merits or lack thereof regarding socialism in America the Labor Department put out its jobs numbers for April, last Friday. And they were good, at 115,000 added last month. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%. 

Marketplace Morning Report’s fave economist, Julia Coronado of the University of Texas at Austin and founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives LLC says the better-than-five-digit number is the result of record April temperatures, which drove growth in seasonal jobs (including, for example, construction). –TL

_______________________________________________

MONDAY 5/11/26

Ceasefire, Not Ceasefire? – Tehran has rejected the Trump administration’s latest peace proposal, warning Iran would not hold back from responding to any new US military strikes or allow more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz, The Guardian reports.

President Trump Truth Socialed news of Washington’s latest proposal, which he did not detail according to NPR’s Morning Edition. The Islamic Republic’s leadership wants economic sanctions lifted and billions of dollars-worth of its liquid assets in foreign banks released.

Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iran are engaged in a "shadow war," according to the NPR report, in which each country says it continues to intercept military drones.

About that blockade … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News’ Major Garrett on 60 Minutes Sunday that an end to the US-Iranian war does not necessarily mean the end of Israel’s war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. But the US-Iranian war will have to end with the US seizing Iran’s enriched uranium, Netanyahu said, which means the likely end of Iran’s support for Hezbollah, Hamas and “probably” the Houthis, Netanyahu said. 

The PM acknowledged that Israel and the US did not anticipate the likelihood that Iran would block tanker ships navigating through the Strait of Hormuz.

“I think – I’m not sure it was misread,” Netanyahu told Garrett. “But the – you know, there’s a – great risk for Iran to do it. And it took a while for them to understand how big that risk is, which they understand now. No, I – I don’t claim – perfect foresight, and nobody had perfect foresight. Neither did the Iranians.”

•••

More About That Blockade – Oil prices rose 4% Monday morning after the war of words between President Trump and Iran’s leaders escalated, but the price of unleaded regular gasoline and diesel fuel notched down a bit from weekend prices, according to AAA. The national average gas price was down 1.6 cents from Wednesday, May 6 – the last day we published prices – to $4.52, while diesel was down 3.8 cents to $5.636. Those averages are up $1.537 for gas and $1.839 for diesel since just before the war began February 28.

•••

Up on The Hill – The Senate is in session Monday with confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell with Kevin Warsh a top priority for Republicans. Off the floor, Senate Republicans are preparing for upcoming votes on budget reconciliation bills, including $1 billion in funding for Secret Service security upgrades for Trump’s ballroom on the former site of the White House East Wing and a filibuster-proof bill for immigration enforcement spending, according to CQ Roll Call.

The House of Representatives returns Tuesday with 2027 military construction and Veterans’ Affairs spending and biofuels legislation on its agenda.

Democrats are expected to force action on war powers in each chamber, Roll Call reports. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
MONDAY 5/11/26

Capitalism This Isn’t

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Mr. Corbett observes: “Liberty and free-market democracy have delivered the very prosperity and opportunity that critics now take for granted.”

True, but how are the Trump tariffs an example of “free-market” anything?

Or there’s this: Intel was going to get a CHIPS Act grant—that Team Trump transformed into a 10% equity stake in the company, making the federal government the largest single shareholder in the company. How is that anything other than state socialism?

Or there’s this: To allow the acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, the Trump Administration demanded a “golden share” in the company. This allows the US government to have veto decisions over production capacity, plant closures, and other aspects of the business. How is that anything other than state socialism?

And there is the Trump administration putting its thumb on the scale on behalf of President Trump’s friends when it came to the acquisition of the US portion of TikTok, like Larry Ellison’s Oracle and the Silver Lake private equity firm that Ellison is an investor in. Oh, and the government is talking a $10 billion payment from its “brokering” of the deal. Since when are “free markets” controlled by the government?

At the most generous, this can be described as mercantilism, state capitalism. . .or socialism.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

•••

Let's Debate the US War on Iran

[READ Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay's commentary, "The Economics of Engagement" in The Gray Area.]

Next Talking With, Not At … debate at The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania is Wednesday, May 27. Topic for Debate & Donuts III is “Was the US Military attack on Iran at the end of February a good idea?”

To pre-register for this free event, email info@allentheatre.com.

Or email us at editors@thehustings.news, which also is a good address for commenting on any current issue, including the war on Iran and our current debate on whether or not socialism has a place in the United States. 

We are dedicated to providing a civil, safe, post-social media space open to views from around the political horseshoe, without echo chambers. Become a citizen pundit and voice your opinion today. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/11/26

The Socialism Boogeyman

Commentary by K.E. Bell

Ah, the great boogeyman that is socialism.

We can’t have universal healthcare because that would be socialist. We can’t feed the poor because that would be socialist. We can’t build light rail, have free tuition, offer paid parental leave, or help anyone get a leg up in any way.

Most importantly, we can’t tax the rich because that would be socialist. 

Socialism and communism will never take a foothold in America because our religion is Capitalism. We have rigged the government to be by the rich for the rich, and the corporations are greasing the wheels to make sure it stays that way. Heck, for the last 15 years they’ve been considered people.

Sounding the alarm on the dangers of Marxism sounds at best disingenuous and more appropriately like a red herring coming from a side that has systematically tilted the playing field in its own direction over the last 50 years. 

The Republicans have captured the courts on up to the Supreme Court. They have gerrymandered districts to eliminate competition while ignoring the will of the people. They’ve reversed women’s rights and voting rights, and made sure big money has more say. The tax breaks enacted by Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump have moved $79 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% to the top 1% since 1975, according to a 2025 report from the nonpartisan Rand Corporation. Those tax breaks have also ballooned the national debt to $39 trillion, and the interest on that debt is more than a trillion dollars a year. 

At some point, the adults are going to have to enter the room and fix this. 

Social Security is on track to become insolvent by 2032, when it will no longer be able to pay out full benefits as the Baby Boomers live out their golden years and Gen X enters its retirement years. Healthcare costs keep rising, and we pay roughly double for less care than those “horrible socialist” European countries.

That might be part of the Republicans’ current strategy: Let it burn and make the other side raise taxes to fix it, then reclaim office when tax hikes turn the electorate against the Democrats. 

We’re in a second robber baron era that must end. Make Musk pay his damn taxes rather than take his compensation in stock and borrow against his assets. Make big business pay its fair share. 

I have no idea what my colleague, Mr. Corbett, is talking about in terms of a push toward Marxism. I suspect it is Mayor Mamdani in New York who has him so on guard. Mamdani, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), brands himself a Democratic socialist, and he expounds on ideas of making living more affordable. I don’t see him or his ilk seizing the means of production. 

[For the record, Mamdani alone among the three is a member of the organization Democratic Socialists of America but ran for New York City mayor as a member of the Democratic Party. Sanders and AOC are self-described democratic socialists in their political leanings.]

It’s just like the Democrats to mis-brand a movement. The word socialism is so taboo on the right that using the term democratic socialist becomes toxic. Just say you’re progressives — you want to move the country forward.

Mr. Corbett’s examples of communism gone wrong are indeed horrific. But they were the acts of bad men with too much power. 

You know who else is a bad man with too much power? Donald J. Trump. And he’s given that power by a do-nothing, capitulate-at-all-costs Congress.

The United States needs to turn away from this era of far-right authoritarianism.

Adopting a few socialist…err…progressive…ideas along the way will be necessary. But I don’t think it’s fair to call taxing the rich and providing a basic social safety net “socialism.” You don’t get to wrench us hard to the right then call a turn back to the left “socialism.” Enacting these types of policies would be just an effort to rebalance the rightward tilt of the country over the last 50 years. 

Bell is a contributing pundit for The Hustings.

_____
THURSDAY 5/7/26

Is Socialism a Threat?

The Army-McCarthy Hearings, 1954 [PHOTO: Library of Congress, Thomas J. O’Halloran]

By Todd Lassa

After former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized May 3rd with pneumonia President Trump blamed the far left, Truth Socialing, “what a tragedy he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL.”

[READ ‘The Economics of Engagement’ by Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay in The Gray Area.]

After Trump took office for his second time last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) launched his Fighting Oligarchy Tour, co-starring his fellow democratic socialist (note the lower-case “d” and “s”), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). 

Political rhetoric from the progressive left is that the nation is becoming – or has become – a tech-oligarchy under the Trump White House, with David Sachs, Peter Thiel and, of course, Elon Musk leading the way.

Once politically liberal – at least on social issues -- Silicon Valley and even its cosmopolitan bastion of the left to the north, San Francisco, are leaning rightward from the influence of those tech-oligarchs, who oppose DEI, city streets open to the unhoused and neighborhoods open to the undocumented, and especially, Democratic politicians proposing wealth taxes and imposing stiffer corporate regulations.

Are these tech-oligarchs hard-right populists? Laissez-faire capitalists? Straight-up libertarians (though not in terms of religious beliefs)? All of the above?

Likewise, are politicians like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani who favor rent control, free city buses and those wealth taxes progressives? Socialists? Marxists? All of the above?

That’s the question tackled by our pro-MAGA right-column Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett and left-column Contributing Pundit K.E. Bell. 

In the spirit of our no echo chamber civil media ethos, please be sure to read both columns and consider voicing your own opinion on the issue with an email to editors@thehustings.news and be sure to indicate your political leaning in the subject line, irrespective of which side here you agree or disagree with.

THU-FRI 5/6-7/26

_____
THURSDAY 5/7/26

America Must Reject the Siren Song of Marxism

Commentary by Rich Corbett

In the decades since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, too many younger Americans have come to view Marxist ideas not as a cautionary tale but as a fashionable alternative worth considering. From college campuses to city halls — where even some mayors have flirted openly with socialist rhetoric — the under-30 generation often sees “equity” and state-directed economics as compassionate solutions to inequality. They know little of the gulags, the engineered famines that killed millions of Ukrainian kulaks, Mao’s Cultural Revolution or the drab, hopeless lines for bread in communist capitals. Raised in a post-Cold War world of smartphones and social media, they mistake the sanitized slogans of “democratic socialism” for something new and humane. This historical amnesia is dangerous. It erodes the hard-won understanding that communism is not a noble experiment gone wrong, but a proven destroyer of human freedom.

Liberty and free-market democracy have delivered the very prosperity and opportunity that critics now take for granted. Private property, individual rights and limited government, rooted in America’s founding principles and reinforced by Judeo-Christian morality, created the most dynamic economy and generous society in history. Contrast that with the communist record: State control of production led to chronic shortages, innovation stalled by bureaucrats and personal initiative crushed under the weight of the collective. Even China’s much-touted “market reforms” under Deng Xiaoping succeeded only where the Communist Party loosened its grip — yet Beijing still maintains one-party rule, surveillance and the power to dictate every citizen’s future. Sustainability, population control and utilitarian “greatest good” rhetoric may sound enlightened to academic elites, but they inevitably subordinate the individual to the state. History shows where that road leads: Not to utopia, but to tyranny.

Democracy without liberty is merely mob rule dressed up in nice slogans. America’s genius has always been the constitutional republic that protects the rights of the minority — even the single citizen — against the whims of the majority or the dictates of self-appointed experts. Communism, by design, rejects this. It replaces God-given rights with government-granted privileges, private enterprise with central planning and personal conscience with state-approved morality. The left’s long march through our institutions has normalized these ideas in one major party and much of the media. But the American people have rejected them before, and we must do so again — through education, honest debate and an unapologetic defense of the principles that made this republic exceptional.

The fight is not merely partisan, it is existential. Younger Americans deserve to hear the unvarnished truth about life under communism — not from dusty textbooks, but from the clear voices of those who remember the Iron Curtain and the boat people fleeing Castro’s paradise. We cannot afford complacency. Private property, individual liberty and faith in the Creator — not the state — remain the only proven path to human flourishing.

Resistance to the collectivist tide is not nostalgia; it is patriotism. Our heritage of freedom must be reclaimed, defended, and passed on, before another generation learns these lessons the hard way.

Corbett is contributing pundit for The Hustings. He writes on a variety of subjects at My Desultory Blog.

_____
THURSDAY 5/7/26

Us vs. Them Tariffs

Commentary by Hugh Hansen

Speculating as we do about Trump's motivations and decision-making (I won't call it a "process"), the mess he's made of tariffs and related policy (which I think Mr. Macaulay described accurately and well) shouldn't come as a surprise. It has an us vs. them theme which seems popular with his base; it assumes easy winner and loser labels for he who imposes the tariffs and all those who must submit to them; it involves large numbers of dollars moving in commerce, which he likes to pretend he understands.

It must have felt pleasantly like deciding to fire people on The Apprentice.

Hansen is contributing pundit for The Hustings.

•••

Join the conversation on President Trump’s tariff policy as foreign policy. Email COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings (regardless of the position of your comments) in the subject line. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/4/26

Iran War, Week 10

RIP Ted Turner – On June 1, 1980, media mogul Ted Turner launched the first 24-hour news network, CNN, which went global. On Wednesday, Turner, once known as “the mouth of the South” died aged 87 after years suffering Lewy body dementia. Scroll this column for a picture of news media ca. 2026. [Photo: Turner Foundation.]

WEDNESDAY 5/6/26

CNN, We Hardly Knew Ye – In the wake of founder Ted Turner’s death Wednesday, President Trump Truth Socialed about the likely Foxification of the 24-hour mostly hard-news cable network. 

“Ted Turner, one of the Greats of All Time, just died. He founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his ‘baby,’ and destroyed it. It became woke, and everything that he is not all about. Maybe the new buyers, wonderful people, will be able to bring it back to its former credibility and glory. Regardless, however, one of the Greats of Broadcast History, and a friend of mine. Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Rolling Stone teased Trump’s reaction as gloating about corporate broadcast news becoming Fox News-like partisans of his administration and MAGAworld. With Edward R. Murrow’s CBS News already on its way, newsies are bracing for tech oligarch scion David Ellison’s takeover of the network via his Skydance Media’s purchase of Paramount Global. 

We still have ABC News and NBC News, maybe. And what do we think of Fox News-of-the-left MS NOW?

Send your comments to editors@thehustings.news.

•••

Kash’s Retribution – No, this is not a story about East Germany’s Stasi police. Almost three weeks after The Atlantic reported that some government officials have been alarmed by FBI Director Kash Patel’s behavior, “including conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absence,” MS NOW reports the bureau has “launched a criminal leak investigation centering on the story’s lead author, Sarah Fitzpatrick. 

J. Edgar Hoover would be proud. 

•••

What’s the Deal? – Iran had 48 hours – so, to Friday morning – to respond to key points on a one-page memo to end the war with the US, Axios scoops Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Iran says it is allowing safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz due to new procedures (per NPR). 

Key to the one-pager that sources described to Axios is the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States lifting restrictions around passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran would commit to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment while the US would agree to lift sanctions and release billions of dollars-worth of frozen Iranian funds.

In other words … It would pretty much re-establish the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and the P5+1 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US, with Germany the “+1”) during the Obama administration, right down to sending an airplane with billions of dollars to Iran (the un-freezing of assets).

And, of course, the Strait is open to oil tankers and container ships full of fertilizer or aluminum.

Meanwhile … This was all good news for President Trump’s stock market, which rallied in pre-trading hours Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reports. Axios’ exclusive on the one-page memorandum led to a 6% drop in Brent Crude oil futures, according to the WSJ, though there will be a lag before we’ll see lower prices at the fuel pump.

•••

Gassiness Stout – A gallon of unleaded regular breached the four-and-a-half bucks mark Wednesday morning. AAA says the national average for gas is $4.536 per gallon, up 5.3 cents over Tuesday and a $1.854 premium on regular over February 27. Diesel is up 1.5 cents to $5.674, or $1.91 since the war began.

•••

Tuesday’s Primaries, Special Election – Five of seven Trump-backed primary candidates for the Indiana state senate beat incumbents who voted against the president’s redistricting plan in December in the Republican primary, with a sixth going to the incumbent and the seventh separated by three votes Wednesday, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. 

In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), who lost his seat in 2024 to MAGA candidate Bernie Moreno, had an easy win in the Democratic primary The Associated Press reports, to challenge this November Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed last year to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat. In the states’ gubernatorial race, former über-MAGA presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy won the Republican primary to face Democratic candidate Amy Acton this November, the AP reports. Acton was Ohio’s health director during the COVID-19 pandemic and ran in the Democratic primary unopposed.

Democrat Chedrick Green defeated Republican Jason Tunney in a Michigan special election for the 35th District state senate election, maintaining his party’s 20-18 majority in Lansing, the Detroit Free Press reports. Green will be up for re-election November 3. –TL

________________________________________________

TUESDAY 5/5/26

Let's Get This Strait – The US does, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine and war/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Tuesday morning Pentagon press conference. The US has more than 15,000 service members to guide commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, Caine said.

Caine said about 22,500 mariners are trapped on commercial vessels in the region, The Guardian reports. 

On Monday, US Central Command said two American-flagged merchant ships “successfully transited” through the Strait of Hormuz on the first day of President Trump’s vaguely defined Project Freedom, and were “safely headed on their journey” (per Newsweek). 

Trump added Monday that US forces sunk six small Iranian ships in the Strait.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called CENTCOM’s claims “baseless and completely false,” that “no oil tankers have passed through the strait.” Major General Ali Abdoullai told Iran’s semi-official FARS news agency the Strait is “under control” of the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile … Fox News quoted Trump threatening Iran Monday that the country would be “blown off the face of the Earth” if it attacks US ships.

Asked Tuesday what these actions mean for the US-Iran ceasefire, Hegseth replied; “The ceasefire is not over. This is a separate event.”

Hegseth also responded in the presser to a question about “kamikaze dolphins” being used in the Strait.

“I cannot confirm or deny that we have kamikaze dolphins,” the war/Defense secretary said, “but I can confirm they don’t.”

•••

The Cost – The average national price of a gallon of unleaded regular hit $4.483 Tuesday, up 2.6 cents over Monday and up $1.801 over February 27th. Diesel averages $5.659 per gallon, up 1.8 cents over Monday and up $1.895 since the war began. –TL

_______________________________________________

MONDAY 5/4/26

Trump’s ‘Project Freedom’ – Latest move in the war President Trump says has ended is a US initiative to guide commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, The Wall Street Journal reports Monday.

“Countries from all over the world,” Trump Truth Socialed early Monday, “have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz. For the good of Iran, the Middle East and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”

But wait … Iran says Project Freedom violates its ceasefire, now running three weeks and counting, with the US and claims to have struck a US Navy vessel, which the US military has subsequently denied.

•••

Cost, So Far – Project Freedom or no, gas prices rose 6.5 cents per gallon of regular unleaded Monday, from Friday, to a nationwide average of $4.457, the AAA reports. That’s up $1.775 per gallon since February 27. Diesel was up 6.9 cents from Friday to $5.641, which is $1.877 higher than the average when the war began. [This item has been corrected to indicate the Monday-over-Friday price differences. --Ed.]

•••

Get Well, Rudy – You’ve heard by now that Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York City from 1994-2001 and fervent warrior for overturning results of the 2020 presidential election in favor of Donald J. Trump, has been hospitalized in Florida, in critical condition. 

On Monday, President Trump Truth Socialed his prayers for the former “nation’s mayor,” per Mediaite …

“Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition. What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL – AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
MONDAY 5/4/26

The Royal Scam

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

This isn’t too difficult to understand.

President Trump is showing—and has been showing—he and his enablers don’t know what they are doing.

Let’s take a simple example from something that doesn’t get the attention it deserves—because there are too many other things that have piled on, obscuring it from view.

The tariffs.

It may be hard to believe, but it has been more than a year since Trump announced “Liberation Day,” an ill-chosen name for a disastrous program.

First of all, he applied 10% tariffs across the board, even on countries with which the US has a trade surplus. 

Realize that no one is forcing Americans to buy things from elsewhere. We want to. 

So what did that do? Made it more difficult for Americans to buy what they want to.

Then there was bizarre math.

Someone (Howard Lutnick? Peter Navarro?) took a given country’s US trade deficit, divided it by its exports to the US, and divided by two. That was the tariff rate charged. It ranged from 20% to European Union countries to 49% on Cambodia.

As time has gone on there have been so-called “deals” cut so that the tariff rates with certain countries have been adjusted. Sometimes up. Sometimes down.

It seems the adjustments are primarily predicated on Trump’s personal predilections.

This is not policy.

This is one man wielding power to make himself feel better while making Americans less better off, despite what he might argue about the manifold benefits.

One of the biggest arguments Trump and his acolytes for tariffs repeatedly made is that the tariffs would lead to more manufacturing investments by foreign companies, which would result in a massive resurgence in manufacturing jobs in the US —manufacturing jobs, they maintained, were stolen by these foreigners.

According to figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, since Liberation Day there has been a loss of 5,000 manufacturing jobs in the country. A comparatively small number (unless you are one of the 5,000) but opposite of what has been and what continues to be claimed by the Trump Administration.

Or let’s take some figures from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

It recently reported, “Manufacturing employment increased in March, gaining 15,000 from February,” which is good news, but then it goes on: “Employment in the sector has been in decline over the past few years and is below pre-pandemic levels.”

No, no big tariff-powered boom.

And NAM has this, which ought to make Joe Biden feel better: “Durable goods job openings decreased by 32,000 in February to 298,000, while nondurable goods job openings fell by 39,000 to 141,000. This number of openings is back near the pre-pandemic (2017–2019) range, wherein the average number of openings in the sector was 432,000, but remains below the average of 756,000 exhibited between 2021 and 2023.” [emphasis added]

That’s right, below the opportunities available during the Biden years.

Another part of the Promises Made, Promises Unkept is in construction. That, too, was going to boom in the Golden Age.

But according to NAM: “Manufacturing construction spending has slowed after soaring dramatically in 2022 and 2023. Down 15.0% year-over-year in January, private manufacturing construction spending has been in decline since February 2025.” [emphasis, again, added]

Again: “soaring dramatically in 2022 and 2023.” Pre-Trump. Pre-tariffs.

As for the tariffs in this space, NAM says: “High construction material prices and economic uncertainty threaten to further inhibit growth in the months ahead.”

According to the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB): “Data from the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) April 2025 survey reveals that builders estimate a typical cost effect from recent tariff actions at $10,900 per home. More than 60% of builders surveyed by NAHB have reported seeing higher costs due to tariffs.”

That was a year ago.

The good news for homebuilders — and consequently home buyers — is the Supreme Court striking down the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This means such things as some appliances and HVAC systems and other items no longer have the additional tax.

However, there are still things under the Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs. Section 232 is the application of tariffs under national security concerns.

Of course Canadian softwood lumber is a threat to national security, to say nothing of kitchen cabinets and vanities.

Can any reasonable person see those tariffs as being something other than spite?

If there is any doubt about the cavalier nature of the application of tariffs by Trump, consider his decision made last week after meeting with King Charles III.

Scotch, according to the internationally accepted Geographical Indication, can only be made in Scotland.

Those who live in the US who want to drink authentic Scotch were hit with a 10% tariff. Again, here’s a case where Americans want to buy something that they can only buy from abroad — there is nothing unfair about it — yet are hit with a tariff.

This is akin to the 10% Liberation Day tariff put on bananas. The banana tariffs were rolled back via an executive order in November 2025, along with coffee and orange juice.

Clearly there was nothing tactical or strategic or even economic about those tariffs.

So last week, after the meeting with the actual king, Trump announced the 10% tariff on Scotch is being removed.

Again: Why?

Perhaps it has something to do with a picture Trump posted on social media last week showing him and Charles together.

The caption: “TWO KINGS.”

Are the tariffs an economic tool or simply something that is applied and removed by ostensibly royal whim?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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Join the conversation on President Trump’s tariff policy as foreign policy. Email COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.newsand please indicate your political leanings (regardless of the position of your comments) in the subject line. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/4/26