President Trump travels to Beijing to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Wednesday-Thursday.
•Contributing Pundit Bill McGuire in the left column and Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay in the right column continue the debate on socialism in the US (scroll down far-right trackbar for Rich Corbett's right-column commentary on the subject, and K.E. Bell's left-column response).
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