Foreign policy analyst Trita Parsi questioned whether President Donald Trump authored his Saturday Truth Social post announcing a negotiated Iran war settlement.During his appearance in the "Breaking Points" show, Parsi highlighted the lack of characteristic misspellings, grammatical errors, and personal attacks — all typical of Trump's posts. He also noted the post correctly cited world leaders' titles and names — a stark contrast to Trump's usual social media style. Parsi suggested Trump may have allowed staff to author the post as protection against domestic right-wing figures urging him to abandon negotiations and resume military action. Parsi characterized the inclusion of nearly a dozen world leaders as a preemptive defense against inevitable accusations of abandoning Israel. The carefully crafted nature of the announcement suggests internal coordination, with Parsi criticizing previous Trump posts on Iran deals as market-manipulation tactics lacking professional review. The post's sophistication indicates significant diplomatic effort behind the scenes.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) delivered a scathing assessment of Donald Trump's Iran ceasefire Sunday, welcoming the end of the war while warning that the deal represents a humiliating capitulation to Tehran that leaves the United States weaker than when the conflict began."If this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this insane war goes on, America gets weaker," Murphy wrote in a detailed thread on X. "But make no mistake: these are Iran's terms. Our nation emerges humiliated."Murphy laid out his case methodically. The deal, as he understands it, gives Iran billions of dollars to return to essentially the same position it was in before the war started — while reports suggest it may also codify Iran's right to control the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that has remained at the centerpiece of the violent conflict."What a disaster this whole thing was," Murphy wrote.On the nuclear question — the issue Trump cited most prominently as justification for the war — Murphy was equally dismissive. The one reported concession from Iran, a promise to ship out enriched uranium, was already part of Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal. And by dropping sanctions now, Murphy argued, the United States has surrendered the leverage it would need to extract further concessions in future negotiations.Meanwhile, Murphy noted, Trump has failed to achieve a single one of his stated goals. Iran's ballistic missile and drone program remains intact. Its navy retains the ability to close the Strait. The hardline regime is still in power."They took our best shot and beat us," Murphy wrote. "Iran emerges more powerful."The Connecticut senator was careful to separate his opposition to the war from opposition to ending it. Thousands of innocent people have been killed, he noted, and the American economy has been badly damaged by the conflict. But he argued that silence about the incompetence that produced the war would be its own kind of failure."That doesn't mean we should be silent on how incompetent Trump is and how insane this war was from the start," Murphy wrote.
Early Monday morning, on Memorial Day 2026, President Donald Trump sent out a series of social media posts via his Truth Social platform — including one that used the holiday to attack Democrats. And some military veterans are calling out the attack as wildly inappropriate for Memorial Day.Trump posted, "Happy Memorial Day to all, including the Dumocrats, who disrespect our Military and all of the tremendous success that it has had over the last year. God Bless those that have made the ultimate sacrifice. I love you all! President DONALD J. TRUMP."One of the vets is Naveed Shah, who served in the U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom and is director of group Common Defense.Shah didn't mince words, telling the Daily Beast that Trump has no business attacking his political opponents as unpatriotic in light of offensive things he said about veterans in the past.Shah told the Daily Beast, "Trump has demonstrated over and over again that he hates the troops…. From calling the troops who died in WWI 'suckers and losers,' to mocking (Sen.) John McCain's five years as a POW, to attacking the Gold Star Khan family, all the way back to 2016 when he lied about donating to veterans' groups. He has never missed a chance to dishonor the people he was never brave enough to stand beside."The Daily Beast's Leigh Kimmins notes that Trump, now 79, went to great lengths to avoid military service during the Vietnam War — only to insult McCain's military record during that conflict. The late Vietnam veteran McCain was tortured and abused by the Viet Cong during his time as a prisoner of war. Kimmins explains, "Trump, who received five military deferments during the 1960s, four for academic reasons and one for bone spurs, started the national holiday by airing personal grievances, rather than issuing a heartfelt tribute to the nation's fallen…. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump drew immediate condemnation when he dismissed Sen. John McCain’s five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. 'He’s not a war hero,' Trump said. 'He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.' Veterans' groups responded with fury."The Daily Beast reporter continues, "That same campaign season, Trump attacked Khizr and Ghazala Khan — the Gold Star parents of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 — after they criticized him at the Democratic National Convention. Trump publicly questioned why Ghazala Khan had remained silent during her husband’s speech, suggesting she had not been 'allowed' to speak. The backlash crossed party lines, with Republican senators and veterans' organizations among those condemning the remarks."
Despite publicly appearing defiant about Iran peace negotiations, President Donald Trump is allegedly backing away from a deal with Iran under extreme internal pressure from Israel and its domestic allies, according to Israeli-American academic Shaiel Ben-Ephraim. Ben-Ephraim cited sources indicating Trump is reconsidering the agreement, describing it as a "terrifying turn of events." Washington and Tehran have already agreed in principle on a deal to end the U.S. war against Iran, though finalization remains pending, The New York Times reports. But prominent right-wing figures including former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Trump ally Laura Loomer have urged Trump to abandon negotiations. Loomer claimed there is "no such thing as peace with Muslims" and urged bombing Iran's regime on X.Bloomberg reported Trump faces both internal and external pressure, specifically from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. On Saturday, Trump said there's a "50/50" chance of authorizing military strikes, according to reports by Axios.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
Reports of Donald Trump's scheduled visit to Walter Reed Medical Center sent social media into a frenzy on Monday, with reactions ranging from alarm to dismissal — and one popular influencer asking the question many were thinking but few were saying out loud."Is this the day?" wrote a liberal social media influencer and self-identified U.S. Air Force veteran responding to the Daily Mail's breaking news alert about Trump's third hospital visit in 13 months.Not everyone shared the sense of urgency.Conservative influencer Catturd, one of the most followed accounts on X and popular with MAGA entities, pushed back hard on the coverage. "Any headline you're reading about Trump being rushed to the hospital is a lie," they wrote, adding in a separate post: "This is a routine annual physical. Garbage headline."A more measured critique came from European correspondent Bastian Brauns, who questioned the Daily Mail's "breaking news" framing entirely. "This is not really 'Breaking,'" he wrote. "The White House informed about Trump's visit of Walter Reed Medical Center already on May 11th. So this sounds more like sensationalism."The White House has described the visit as a routine medical and dental checkup. Trump has previously visited Walter Reed in April 2025 for his annual physical and returned in October for what the administration called a "scheduled follow-up."
The antiwar group CodePink it has yet to be served with any subpoenas after it was reported over the weekend that the Trump administration has opened an investigation into a recent humanitarian trip it helped organize to Cuba, but vehemently denied wrongdoing and said any government probe, if there is one, would only show that “this administration is beyond grotesque.”“Taking medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba is now a crime?” asked co-founder Medea Benjamin on social media on Saturday after Fox News reported that organizers had been served subpoenas. “Saving the lives of babies is a crime?”Fox reported that Benjamin and left-wing commentator Hasan Piker had been subpoenaed by federal investigators two months after they were among 40 Americans who sailed to Havana on the Nuestra America Convoy, which carried 20 tons of humanitarian aid to the island nation.The Fox reporting claimed the subpoenas issued to Benjamin and Piker seek to obtain financial, logistical, and communications information related to the trip, which was organized in response to the Trump administration’s decision in late January to threaten to impose tariffs on any country that provided Cuba with oil.The administration cut off Cuba’s main source of fuel at the beginning of the year when it sent US troops into Venezuela to abduct President Nicolás Maduro and took control of the country’s vast oil supply.White House officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, have long desired regime change in the communist country, and rights advocates have warned the administration appears to be moving toward just that as it strangles the island’s oil supply—causing frequent blackouts and impacting the healthcare and food systems—and claims the Cuban government poses a threat to the US.In organizing the Nuestra America Convoy, said Benjamin on Sunday, the advocates were acting “as moral US citizens trying to bring some relief to a population being deliberately starved by the cruel policies of our own government.”“This policy has contributed to catastrophic shortages of medicine and electricity, massive blackouts, transportation collapse, and a public health crisis that has hurt the most vulnerable, especially children and the elderly,” said Benjamin. “It is a policy that is, literally, killing babies, as we have seen in the recent tragic doubling of the infant mortality rate. This is why we focused our donations on medical supplies for pediatric hospitals.”The blockade is compounding the suffering caused by the trade embargo the US has imposed for decades, said Benjamin.The Cuban Assets Control Regulations law prohibits US citizens from conducting unlicensed travel-related transations with Cuba, but the law makes exceptions for humanitarian endeavors and other activities aimed at supporting the Cuban people.“We traveled to Cuba under the US government-authorized category of providing humanitarian aid to the Cuban people. We brought desperately needed medicines and medical supplies at a time when Cuba is suffering catastrophic shortages caused by the crippling US blockade,” said Benjamin.Benjamin, Piker, and Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim emphasized that the group stayed in Spanish-owned hotels that are “explicitly permitted under” the US law—while right-wing influencer Nick Shirley allegedly stayed in a sanctioned hotel on a recent trip to Cuba.“It is outrageous that the US government would target people for bringing humanitarian aid to suffering Cuban children,” Benjamin said. “But even more disturbing is the cruel and deeply immoral policy the United States continues to impose on Cuba—a policy designed to strangle the island economically, deprive people of food, fuel, medicine, and basic necessities, and make daily life unbearable.”Piker said the reports of the investigation indicate that “the American government would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we’ve starved, than punish the Epstein class.”Benjamin emphasized that the reports of the probe come as the administration intensified its threats against Cuba, having indicted former President Raúl Castro last week on charges related to the shooting down of a plane operated by Cuban-American exiles in the 1990s. Trump and his allies have repeatedly mused about invading the country following his military attacks on Venezuela and Iran.“President Trump already has his hands full trying to disentangle himself from the disastrous US war with Iran,” said Benjamin. “He should not start another one in Cuba. The American people are tired of endless wars, interventions, sanctions, and suffering imposed in our name.”
Donald Trump on Monday shared a post on Truth Social blaming former President Barack Obama for the United States' ongoing war with Iran, amplifying a meme that depicted Obama next to a pallet of cash with the caption: "Don't forget the one who funded Iran and caused this war to happen. OBAMA!"The image is a reference to a $400 million cash payment the Obama administration made to Iran in January 2016, which the White House at the time said was a longstanding legal dispute over a failed arms deal predating the Islamic Revolution. Critics, including Trump, have long characterized the payment as a ransom — a characterization the Obama administration denied.The post came from a pro-Trump account called WomenForTrump and was reshared by the president without comment.The timing is notable. Trump is currently engaged in active ceasefire negotiations with Iran and has spent the weekend praising what he called a "professional and productive" relationship with Tehran — a striking contrast to the inflammatory framing of the post he chose to amplify on Monday morning.It also comes just days after Trump's own Truth Social base revolted against his Iran diplomacy, with supporters accusing him of repeating Obama's mistakes and demanding military action rather than negotiation.
In a late May video with liberal journalist Molly Jong-Fast, The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson — a Never Trump conservative and former GOP strategist — argued that President Donald Trump is so desperate to get the United States out of its war with Iran that he's willing accept a bad deal with the Iranian regime in Tehran. But according to i Paper reporter Simon Marks, doing so could alienate hawkish Republicans who supported Trump's military strikes against Iran."Hell hath no fury like a Republican scorned, and this weekend, even before the ink is dry on Donald Trump's partial peace deal with Iran, the anger and visceral was already piling up," Marks explains in the UK-based i Paper. "Many of Trump's backers fear the U.S. president is surrendering to Tehran's interests. Trump was already on the receiving end of Republican lawmakers' fury over last week's hastily proposed 'weaponization' fund that could see taxpayer money paid to convicted-then-pardoned rioters who ransacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021. His announcement that peace could soon be at hand with Iran sent many of them into overdrive."Republicans who are voicing their concerns about a possible Iran deal include Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham.In a May 23 post on X, Cruz wrote, "I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran 'deal'…. If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant 'death to America' — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake…. President Trump believes in peace through strength, and his strong leadership has already made America much safer. He should continue to hold the line, defend America & enforce the red lines he has repeatedly drawn."Graham, on X, wrote that if the war leaves the Iranian regime even stronger, "we will have poured gasoline on the conflicts in Lebanon and Iraq." Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served in the first Trump Administration, is urging Trump to "open the damned Strait" of Hormuz, "deny Iran access to money," and "take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region."But White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung attacked Pompeo in a snarky response, saying, "Mike Pompeo has no idea what the f–– he's talking about. He should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals."
