Asian Nations Jockey for Leverage to Re-Open Hormuz Strait
Source: Bloomberg Politics · Bias: Center
Summary
Countries across Asia are jockeying for leverage and adopting splintering approaches as they respond to US President Donald Trump’s call to open the Strait of Hormuz by themselves, amid mounting economic disruptions.
Asian Nations Jockey for Leverage to Re-Open Hormuz Strait
Center
Countries across Asia are jockeying for leverage and adopting splintering approaches as they respond to US President Donald Trump’s call to open the Strait of Hormuz by themselves, amid mounting economic disruptions.
Racism is an act of self-destruction, warns podcaster Wajahat Ali and independent reporter Joy Ann-Reid. But that destruction extends to everything around them when they manage to grab the levers of power.“I mean there's a big hole in the White House. The lawn where they built that ugly UFC ring is now brown. They've destroyed the Jackie Kennedy garden. [President] Donald Trump is supposed to be a builder but he physically destroyed D.C.,” said Reid. “And then that the poor pathetic little fair that he had, his little world's fair with the fake arch made of plastic. And they painted it. America right now is a laughingstock. I think we created 57,000 jobs last month. That is sad. It's a sad birthday.”But this is the mess that comes of a nation that “refused to acknowledge and uproot its dark sin of white supremacy,” said Ali. “We whitewashed our history books, made heroes of racist traitors, and decided to elect the most incompetent, corrupt vulgarian after electing the first Black president.”“Refusing to learn our lesson, we re-elected Trump, even though we could have had a competent Black woman as President. Now? America is turning into a s——hole,” Ali lamented. “Just look at the Reflecting Pool as a tragic example of our downfall. Take a trip to Washington, D.C., and see the absolute mess that is the White House. Our infrastructure is collapsing, our economy is ailing, and our public health is deteriorating. Measles, death, gun violence, and suicide are on the rise. But it doesn’t matter. White supremacy will destroy everything, including itself, instead of sharing power. It will burn everything down.”“The right wing is not satisfied with just having physically destroyed the country,” said Reid. “[They] destroyed the morale of the country on our birthday where we're sad and pathetic and can't even pull off a world's fair.”The Supreme Court, meanwhile, barely protected birthright citizenship with a six-to-three vote when all the justices had to do was read the Constitution and see that if you're born here, you're a citizen, said Ali.With the war on birthright citizenship and MAGA cries to sterilize brown immigrants, Reid said MAGA and Trump are laboring for a very specific kind of America.“If they were successful at removing everyone who looks like you and me — all the Blacks, all the browns, all the Muslims all the AAPI, all the Latinos — if they got their way, you know what America would look like? It would look like Trump’s pathetic American state fair,” said Reid. “That was a place where there were no Blacks. There were no gays. There were no brown people. It was just MAGA white folks. The one’s who weren’t broken by [Trump’s] economy, who could afford to get on a plane or drive to DC with these gas prices. It was an estimate that the first day was like a 1,000 people — only tens of MAGA could even afford to go there. … [because] they are the poor. They are broke. They're bored. And they're boring.”“There was no musical entertainment,” Reid raged. “That cultural anti-phenomenon that we saw at that pathetic Trump celebration supposedly of America’s birthday and Donald Trump — that is what's left when you get rid of all of us. If you really get rid of people of color then American culture is like sad Europe.”“Like a crusty, crusty mayo sandwich that has been left in the sun for two days,” added Ali.“One-hundred percent,” confirmed Reid. “You'd get no Janet Jackson, no Michael Jackson, no Prince, no Whitney Houston, no Aretha Franklin, no jazz, no gospel, no hip-hop. What do you actually have? What is your culture? What is this white culture that you're trying to preserve at all costs, at the cost of your own economy?”Ali added that even MAGA doesn’t like MAGA America.“When they move to the Southern states where do they move to when they move to Texas? Austin! When they move to Tennessee, they move to Nashville,” said Ali. “Even MAGA influencer] Nick Fuentes was like ‘yeah, I don't want to really move to a red state. So, they know that their mayo sandwich is s——. They know their potato salad sucks. They know their chicken is dry and has no spice. They know that they're bland and pasty and that they have no culture and no rhythm.”
Despite efforts by U.S. negotiators, Iran says it wants to charge a toll for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. It's yet another unresolved issue of the U.S.-Iran war.
A right-wing influencer got more than he bargained for during a livestream in Philadelphia when a passerby challenged him in a heated, curse-laden exchange.Jack Posobiec was in Philadelphia on Friday outside Independence Hall as the city held its Red, White, & Blue To-Do, a citywide patriotic celebration tied to the July 4 weekend. As Posobiec was in the middle of his stream, a man in a purple shirt can be heard off-camera shouting, "You are the enemy!"Posobiec, a Turning Point USA-aligned influencer and Human Events host known for spreading the debunked "Pizzagate" hoax, has long crusaded against birthright citizenship. The clash came days after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in a 6-3 ruling, striking down Trump's executive order, a defeat that drew fury from Trump allies.Posobiec invited the angry gentleman to join him on camera as the man shouted curse words over the right trying to overturn birthright citizenship."Sir, there's no cursing. No cursing," Posobiec insisted. "Can you do no cursing?"The man delivered a blunt response."Probably not."The man informed Posobiec that his mother was English and his father was Irish."Do I get to stay in the country when you guys pass laws that kick out all the Irish and all the Italians and all the people of color?" the man demands to know, pointing a finger.The man added that conservatives have four votes to overturn birthright citizenship, echoing warnings from some analysts that the fight is far from over."Oh I can't wait. It's gonna be great," Posobiec exclaims. "For illegal aliens. You understand it's for illegal aliens, right?"The man fired back, "It's not. You guys are white anglo-saxon protestant white supremacists."The passerby got more agitated, accusing Posobiec of voting for the wrong people when the far-right provocateur insisted he was "Catholic and Polish.""I'm not allowed to vote for who I want to, Sir?" Posobiec retorts. "How is that freedom?""You vote for someone who wants to kick you out of the country," the bewildered man responds.As the man starts shouting obscenities again, Posobiec insists birthright citizenship will be overturned because it's unlawful."We're having a great day, and you're screaming in front of children!" Posobiec complains.Crazy lib tried to scream at the Poso family in Philly Even my kids were dunking on him pic.twitter.com/xMy3L9bdSN— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) July 3, 2026
People across the country are preparing to celebrate America’s 250th birthday this weekend — a process that has been made more challenging as event organizers scramble to deal with the extreme heat. President Trump is headed to South Dakota late on Friday, where he’s expected to make remarks at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial and…
