THURSDAY 3/5/26

Trump to Noem: You’re Fired, More or Less – The answer to what do  we mean by “more or less”? is, “depends on what a special envoy for the Shield of America does, exactly.”

Yes, that is Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s next job – until now a nonexistent security position -- in the Trump administration, the president said in firing her, according to The New York Times. Trump also said he wants to replace Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).  

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would not commit to voting for Mullin and Noem’s firing does not change Democrats’ demand for restructuring immigration enforcement in order to fund DHS.

Conversely, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he would vote for Mullin, a “nice upgrade” from Noem, the NYT reports. Still, no one has called Fetterman a DINO (Democrat In Name Only). Yet. 

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Power Vacuum – The Senate rejected a war powers vote Wednesday, 47-53, that would have officially put a stop on President Trump’s war on Iran, (per NPR’s All Things Considered ). The vote was mostly along party lines, which means that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted with most Democrats for the resolution and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted with most Republicans against it. 

In the House … The House was set to vote Thursday on a similar measure introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). Similar results were expected, though it would take just a couple of Republicans joining Massie to approve the resolution.

But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) teed up the thin GOP majority against it, saying “It would put the country in serious harm, and it would certainly jeopardize the lives of our troops and all those who were involved in making these great sacrifices to defend us.”

Spreading through, and beyond, the region … With Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz and reports of strikes on US ally Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan airport, the war has spread wide through and beyond the region. According to Azernews, an Iranian drone strike on Nakhchivan airport has left four dead so far. Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces have struck Beirut after Iranian-controlled Hezbollah fired rockets and drones on the north of Israel, The Times of Israel reports. 

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Tariff Refunds Due – Federal Trade Court Judge Richard Eaton at the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade has issued a written order directing the Trump administration to begin the process of refunding more than $130 billion in import fees, The Wall Street Journal reports, following the Supreme Court’s ruling against the tariffs in its February 20 ruling on Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump. Such companies as Costco Wholesale, FedEx and Pandora jewelry are among more than 2,000 importers that have filed lawsuits seeking the refunds. –TL

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No Arms Shortages – The US has the means to carry out its air campaign on Iran “for as long as it wishes,” War/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a press conference Wednesday morning (per The Wall Street Journal). That campaign could last up to eight weeks, he said – or also, Hegseth said in various points in the press conference, six weeks or less than four. 

“They are toast and they know it, or at least they soon will know it,” Hegseth said. 

Hegseth was tamping down concerns the war in Iran would deplete the US arsenal. He was accompanied at the Pentagon by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine.

Hegseth said that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, the first such sinking by a sub since World War II. 

Caine said that Qatar shot down two Iranian bombers that were “inbound” and that the United Arab Emirates has intercepted multiple drones, while Iran has fired more than 500 missiles and launched 2,000 drones. 

All the President’s Explanations … The US with Israel struck Iran before Iran could get off a pre-emptive strike of its own, President Trump said Tuesday in yet another explanation for the war. The US-Israeli airstrikes brought an abrupt end to negotiations between Iranian diplomats and US special envoy Steve Witkoff and White House son-in-law Jared Kushner last week. 

Trying to straighten out the White House’s message, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said later Tuesday that Tehran was given “every single possible opportunity” to shutter its nuclear weapons program in negotiations with Witkoff/Kushner (per The Guardian).

Tehran “had no intention of actually negotiating a nuclear deal,” Rubio said. 

Rubio earlier had acknowledged that Iran wasn’t enriching uranium for weaponry following the US strike last June on the country’s three major nuclear facilities. 

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First Round of Primaries – Texas State Rep. James Talarico topped firebrand US Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for John Cornyn’s (R-TX) US Senate seat, The Associated Press reports. Talarico took 52.8% of the vote to Crockett’s 45.9% in his quest to become the first Democrat elected statewide in 30 years.

On the GOP side, incumbent Cornyn, after spending $70 million on his campaign, edged state Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, 41.9% to 40.7%, which means they’re both headed off to a May 26 runoff.

In North Carolina former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) faces former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Watley (R) to replace retiring Republican US Sen. Thom Tillis. 

Arkansas is the biggest climb for Democrats, with Hallie Shoffner winning the party’s primary to challenge Sen. Tom Cotton’s re-election bid. Democratic state Sen. Fred Love will challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sander’s re-election bid. –TL

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TUESDAY 3/3/26

The Latest – The State Department has closed US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after being hit by Iranian drone attacks and has advised ambassadors to immediately depart from 14 Middle Eastern countries, The New York Times reports. Meanwhile, Israel’s military said Tuesday it has seized an area of Lebanon in a conflict with Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia.

Death toll … Six US soldiers have been killed, USA Today reports, with 787 deaths counted in Iran, 11 in Israel and eight in Gulf states.

Munitions buildup … Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says the case for supplemental funding for munitions was “brought up in discussions” Monday in a Gang of Eight closed door briefing with Trump officials and top lawmakers on the House Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, Roll Call reports. 

“There are more details to be determined, of course, how long the operation goes and what the need is,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting.

Good questions … President Trump generally has been sticking with his four- to five-week timeline. Impetus for US involvement with Israel has been less clear.

Pre-emption … Israel’s determination to attack Iran would guarantee that Iran would strike back at both Israel and the US, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a closed meeting with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, The Guardian reports. Rubio & Co. held the meeting ahead of an expected House vote Thursday on a war powers resolution sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). 

“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States,” Rubio told reporters at the Capitol afterwards.

President says … “Our objectives are clear,” Trump said at a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House Monday (pictured). “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities and we see that happening on an hourly basis, and their capacity to produce brand new ones, and pretty good ones they make. Second, we’re annihilating their navy, already we’ve knocked out 10 ships. They’re at the bottom of the sea. Third, we’re insisting that the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon, they can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ve said that from the very beginning. They’re never gonna have a nuclear weapon. They were on the road to getting one, legitimately through a deal that was signed foolishly by our country. And finally, we’re insuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorists outside of their borders.”

Trump uncharacteristically took no reporters’ questions after just six minutes of remarks but characteristically pivoted to compliment himself about choosing new gold drapes and how he is building the biggest, best ballroom anywhere in place of what used to be the White House East Wing.

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The Clintons’ Recordings – The House Oversight Committee Monday released recordings of its questioning of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton regarding their connection to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, taken at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York last week, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Hillary Clinton told the committee she did not know Epstein, only that Ghislaine Maxwell had attended daughter Chelsea’s wedding as a “plus-one” with another guest.

Bill Clinton told the committee he recalled seeing Donald J. Trump at a golf tournament about 2002-03 in which the future president told the former president he “had some great times together over the years” but fell out over a real estate deal.

“The president …” Bill Clinton said, “this is 20-something years ago, never said anything to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein, either. He just didn’t. He just said, ‘we were friends, and we had a falling out over a land deal.’ That’s all.” 

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Tuesday’s Primaries – Primary elections are held Tuesday in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Regime Change? -- MONDAY 3/2/26

By Todd Lassa

Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei is dead, killed by Israeli and US military forces on sudden strikes announced by President Trump at 2 a.m. Saturday, Washington time.

“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History is dead,” Trump Truth Socialed. 

In a brief telephone interview from Mar-a-Lago Sunday told The New York Times he intends to keep the assault on Iran going for “four to five weeks.”

“It won’t be difficult. We have tremendous amounts of ammunition,” the president said in the interview. “You know, we have ammunition stored all over the world in different countries.”

The US military attack on Venezuela in which its president, Nicolás Maduro was arrested and brought to New York in January was “the perfect scenario” for regime change in Iran, Trump told the NYT. But Iranian protesters – an estimated 7,000, according to The Associated Press, of whom gave their lives trying to push back against the brutal totalitarian regime in the last month – do not have an organization backing them in order to take over, Middle Eastern analysts say.

“Anytime you start down this path, you don’t really know where it leads,” Daniel Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel, told NPR’s Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday, from Israel, as Iran counter-attacked that country with missiles. “Again, I hope to see the demise of this regime, and I hope the Iranian people have a better life. But what has been launched now could produce all kinds of outcomes, and it could produce a military dictatorship. It could produce a civil war. It could produce a splintering of the country itself.”

The US-Israeli attack comes after negotiations broke down last week between Iranian diplomats and US special envoy Steve Witkoff with White House son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump has said just before his State of the Union address that war on Iran could come within a couple of weeks if no accord was reached.

In another, earlier call, this one with The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer Sunday, Trump said of Iran’s post-Khamenei leadership; “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner.”

But attacks intensified on Sunday, the NYT reports, with Iran striking Israel and Gulf countries in the Middle East, killing three US troops. 

Having prepared for Trump’s apparent capriciousness, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a House resolution calling for a war powers vote on Trump’s military action in Iran.

Is the start of a new war with Iran a wag-the-dog situation? The week in which only congressional Republicans and the MAGA faithful had anything good to say about Tuesday’s State of the Union address ended with ex-President Bill Clinton testifying on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein while deferring to the House Oversight Committee to determine whether the current president should do the same.

But any wag-the-dog theories must consider the other party involved in a “four or five week” war on Iran: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fended off an impending trial into corruption charges against him by claiming it would divert too much necessary attention on the country’s war fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Gaza.

Last December, in a request suggested by Trump, Netanyahu asked Israeli President Isaac Herzog for a pardon. Netanyahu has called the three separate cases of bribery, breach of trust and fraud launched in 2019 a “witch hunt.”

Four years before that, Netanyahu vehemently opposed then-President Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action written to prevent Iran’s nuclear arms development. Trump killed Obama’s JCPA at the beginning of his first term in 2017.

Today, Netanyahu has yet another diversion from his impending trial, as Trump faces the possibility of another extended US war in the Middle East and the end of the lower gasoline prices at the pump he has claimed as a major part of his second term’s economic miracle. 

After the US-Israeli attacks, Iran notified ships in the region that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Independent. By Sunday night, benchmark US crude futures were up by as much as 11% to $75 barrel, with Brent futures, the global price gauge, up 8% to about $79, The Wall Street Journal reports.

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MONDAY 3/2/26