President Donald Trump suggested more military action is to come in Iran, saying the negotiators there took too long to agree to a deal and would now “pay the price.” Trump has given mixed messages about the Iran war in the past week, saying at one point Tuesday the attack “wasn’t a big deal” because […]
TRUMP: ‘IRAN WILL HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE’: Over a period of about four hours, beginning at 5 p.m. Washington time, U.S. warplanes bombed Iranian air defenses, ground-control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz in response to Monday’s downing of a U.S. Apache attack helicopter, in which two Army pilots were […]
President Donald Trump's "stunning" chat with reporters before he boarded Air Force One to fly back to the White House after Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday night raised red flags for one political analyst. David Pakman, host of the "David Pakman Show" on YouTube, argued during a new reaction video on Tuesday that Trump's press gaggle with reporters revealed the state of the president's mental health. Trump seemed like a bird distracted by a piece of tinsel as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum responded to a reporter's question, Pakman argued. Trump then chimed in, taking the conversation in a strange direction. "We have a lot of respect for a lot of the people before me," Trump said, standing next to Burgum on the tarmac. "I know some of you very well. But take a look at that plane. See that plane? That's in perfect mint condition." "Take a look at that," the president said, pointing. "Look at that. Isn't that amazing? And everything should look that way. We work with the military. We do a real job. But you look at the polish. Everything is beautiful."Pakman said Trump's comments were "stunning" and concerning for multiple reasons. "His brain is mush," Pakman said, adding that Trump may have been "fully sundowning at this point in time," referring to a condition that is associated with dementia. Pakman also noted that Trump's attack against ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, whom he called "Low-IQ" after Smith told the president not to attend the game, was a sign of another disturbing pattern of behavior from the president. "This show is different in the sense that we don't really hurl allegations of racism and sexism haphazardly on this program. It's just not a big part of the political analysis that I tend to do. But I don't really have any other explanation for why Donald Trump's reflexive attack on Black women, Hispanic women, Black men is that they have a low IQ and he rarely applies to white men," Pakman said. And so is it overt racism? Is it implicit racism? I don't know. But it definitely seems to be something that Donald Trump goes to."
Omar Abdulkadir Artan may be the best soccer referee in Africa. He’s certainly one of the best in the world. We know this because he was one of just 52 people chosen to officiate the 2026 World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday. His appointment was historic, as well as deserved: He was set to become the first Somali to referee a World Cup game. Artan is decorated and experienced—but he’s Somali. That, ultimately, is probably the reason why he won’t make history. On Monday, Artan was turned away at customs at the Miami International Airport, after border officials reportedly questioned him about, among other things, the Islamic insurgent group Al Shabab. The Trump administration has waged a bitterly racist campaign against Somalis and Somali Americans in recent months. The nation is on the president’s travel ban list, and President Donald Trump has called Somali Americans “garbage” and said “they’re all crooks.” The Trump administration, it seems, determined it would not allow a World Cup principally hosted by the United States to provide a showcase for a Somali—even if he earned his place; even if he really wasn’t there to represent his country. Just last year, Gianni Infantino assured fans that none of this would happen. “There is a lot of misconception out there,” the FIFA president said in August. “Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico, and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year.” That tune has changed: When the Artan news broke, a FIFA spokesperson shrugged off the fact that one of its handpicked referees had been denied entry to participate in a tournament where “everyone will be welcome.” FIFA, the spokesperson said, is not involved in host-country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr. Artan’s status will not be changed at present.” Welcome to the 2026 World Cup, a Frankenstein’s monster of a tournament, stitching together the rot of FIFA with the ruin of its principal host nation. With kickoff a day away, there are many reasons to despair—or just to tune the whole thing out. But there are also reasons to be hopeful. Donald Trump poisons everything he touches, as does Infantino. But the competitive spirit of the World Cup, in spite of it all, can be remarkably resilient—an often poignant, sometimes magical spectacle that often reminds us that there are many things that vulgarians like Trump and Infantino simply can’t desecrate. At the moment, the vibe is bad; there is very little magic and almost no poignancy. Instead there are the stories, like Artan’s, bubbling up as the World Cup approaches. The United States has denied visas to Iranian officials, detained Iraq’s star striker Aymen Hussein for seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, and has denied entry or put up significant hurdles for many fans who are citizens of nations that aren’t subject to the administration’s travel restrictions, like Jordan and Scotland. If you have followed U.S. politics in any capacity since Trump returned to the White House last January, you have probably spotted Infantino lurking. He was at the inauguration and has popped up at Trump’s side in the Oval Office and on state visits—he even donned a red Trump hat at a meeting of the president’s absurd, fantastically corrupt “Board of Peace”—where he pledged to spend tens of millions building soccer stadiums in Gaza, a tin-eared, inhumane gesture even by Infantino’s depraved standards. The conventional wisdom at the time was that Infantino was playing the long game. Sucking up to Trump would be humiliating for most, but Infantino is a virtuoso at ritual self-abasement—indeed it might be his only real talent. The prevailing theory was that Infantino was attaching himself like a barnacle to America’s gormless and corrupt president for the sake of the World Cup. By June—which is to say by now—the effort would pay off in the form of a tournament that ran smoothly, the way he wanted it. To accomplish this, Infantino went so far as to create the single dumbest and most ridiculous award in the history of humanity—the fantastically absurd “FIFA Peace Prize”—which he bestowed on Trump. A month later, Trump sent U.S. troops to kidnap the president of Venezuela; a month after that, he started a war with Iran, a World Cup qualifier. Infantino, of course, doesn’t care about national sovereignty or human suffering; he certainly doesn’t care what kind of a person leads World Cup host nations. He does care that he—and by extension FIFA—gets what he wants from the tournament. And if that requires a warmonger to be the first—and let’s face it, likely only—recipient of a FIFA-branded award, so be it. It can be credibly argued that Infantino debased himself for little in return. The lead-up to the tournament has been pure chaos and dysfunction. FIFA has known—or at least should have known—that there would be travel issues related to the tournament from the moment Trump won the election in 2024.
The US and Iran exchanged strikes overnight after President Donald Trump retaliated against Tehran for shooting down an American Apache helicopter which was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz. Bloomberg's Abeer Abu Omar reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe is your essential morning viewing to stay ahead. US forces carried out strikes against Iran hours after President Donald Trump blamed Tehran for shooting down an American military helicopter off the coast of Oman. Iran’s joint military command said it had targeted “several US bases in the region.” Stocks resumed their slide as technology shares remained under pressure and investors trimmed positions ahead of a key inflation reading in the US. Gold dropped. And Anthropic is widely releasing a version of Mythos that will be blocked from carrying out cybersecurity tasks, months after warning that the powerful artificial intelligence model could spot and exploit vulnerabilities in critical software. Today's guests: Pilar Gomez-Bravo, MFS Investment Management, Co-CIO of Fixed Income; Julian Salisbury, Co-CIO, Sixth Street. (Source: Bloomberg)
The U.S. and Iran have exchanged strikes after a helicopter was downed Monday near the Strait of Hormuz. And, House Republicans have passed a bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through Trump's term.
Democrats have worked desperately to defund or at least hinder President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and mass deportation campaign. Their efforts have proven again to be in vain.Last summer, congressional Republicans circumvented the various obstacles presented by their leftist colleagues, using budget reconciliation to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included $75 billion in new funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and tens of billions more for other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.'All that Democrats have achieved by their shutdown is a useful reminder to the American people of their support for open borders.'The war over immigration policy and funding heated up in subsequent months, featuring a pitched battle in which Democrats partially shut down the DHS for 75 days, only to then unconditionally surrender, passing funding for the DHS in the wake of the longest government shutdown in its history.On Tuesday, Democrats were dealt another significant defeat.Days after it was passed by the U.S. Senate in a 52-47 vote, the Secure America Act went to a vote in the House. Ahead of the vote, the White House said in a statement, "The Secure America Act puts an end to Democrats’ political games by fully funding ICE and Border Patrol through President Trump’s term and providing the resources needed to keep our border secure, combat human trafficking, stop the flow of deadly drugs, dismantle criminal cartels, and enforce America’s immigration laws."RELATED: Republicans took ICE hostage — then bragged about saving it Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/Getty Images"It is imperative that Congress immediately passes the Secure America Act to fully fund these critical components," said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "It has been more than 100 days since congressional Democrats defunded ICE and Border Patrol in a radical attempt to protect violent criminal illegal aliens and undermine President Trump’s highly successful border security agenda."House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), among the Democrats who futilely signaled their opposition to the bill, stated, "As if ripping health care and nutritional assistance in the One Big Ugly Bill wasn’t enough, Republicans have now come back for more to give ICE and Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine another $70 billion blank check with no oversight, no accountability, and no guardrails.""As Democrats, we rise in strong opposition to this Republican scheme. Waste of taxpayer dollars," added Jeffries.To Jeffries' chagrin, the Secure America Act passed in a 214-212 party-line vote.This funding bill will allocate $38 billion to ICE, $26 billion to Customs and Border Protection, and $5 billion in additional funding to the DHS through September 2029.Following the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) emphasized that "Washington Democrats gained **NOTHING** from their RECKLESS CRUSADE to return our country to OPEN BORDERS and UNFETTERED MASS MIGRATION. Republicans will ALWAYS stand with America's law enforcement." "All that Democrats have achieved by their shutdown is a useful reminder to the American people of their support for open borders and keeping criminal illegal immigrants in American communities — policies that have been soundly rejected by the American people over and over again," wrote Johnson. "We hope this episode serves as a future reminder to Democrats that when they shut the government down, they will receive less than nothing in return."President Trump is set to ratify the Secure America Act in the Oval Office on Wednesday.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
The US and Iran exchanged strikes overnight after President Donald Trump retaliated against Tehran for shooting down an American Apache helicopter.