Trump spent last Easter threatening war crimes while standing with the Easter Bunny, ranting at kids about autopens, hugging a photo of a monument to himself like a binky, praising Allah, and swearing in public. If Obama or Biden had done any part of that then how long would it have taken MAGAs to demand head to roll?
So anyway, the Apocalypse got postponed … for now.
What is oh so very clear is this. Barring an unforeseen future development—even as we accept that, with Trump, anything’s possible at any time (and it’s usually something stupid, violent, and corrupt)—America UNAMBIGUOUSLY lost the Second Iran War. And BADLY. If you’ve heard different, you’re getting bad intel.
So now we entered Negotiations starting yesterday that went exactly nowhere.
If this Trump-Iran peace negotiation was to have been anything like the last three—dating back to 2020—US bombs would have started falling halfway through. I’m amazed that Iran was even willing to entertain negotiations with such obvious (to borrow a Roger Stone term) ratfuckers.
It has however been one hell of a week.
Let’s now embark on a quick replay of this emotional rollercoaster.
The Stone Age
Clay Bennett – The Crime Scene
Matt Davies – External Combustion.
Daniel Goris – At the brink
Matt Wuerker – Bombing us back to the Stone Age
Nick Anderson – Bombs Away
TACO Tuesday
For those unfamiliar with TACO, it means “Trump Always Chickens Out“. It is a political and Wall Street jab used to mock the idea that Trump makes aggressive threats, especially on tariffs, then backs down when markets or other pressures react badly.
To be clear, it is not just mocking, the term is an evidence-based shorthand for a real pattern of threat, market reaction, and rollback. In other words, he talks like a wrecking ball, but then negotiates like a weather vane.
For some the TACO jokes just don’t truly encapsulate it this time, and they are right, because we came within a couple hours of a completely insane catastrophe. But it was yet another TACO Tuesday.
Trump’s exit strategy to get out of the war was to threaten war crimes then promise not to do the war crimes and leave while declaring victory.
Dennis Goris – Another day, another #TACO
Nick Anderson – The Man Who Cried Apocalypse
Daniel Boris – Stable Genius Crisis Manager.
Graeme MacKey – We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he insists, repeatedly, oblivious to the irony
Peace in our Times?
Nope, not even on day 1.
Israel insists they can keep bombing Lebanon even though not doing that was part of what Iran said the deal is
This is where his utterly pointless war got us to, and as contrasted with how things were via Obama, it really is total shit …
… and here is some more detail …
He really did completely retreat …
Kushner being involved as he has deals with MBS is insane …
Oh come now, what did you really expect. Our “diplomacy”, was a guy being paid by the Saudis to fail, a real estate broker whose only “qualification” is that he is friends with Trump, and Vance whose only skill is to berate close US allies whenever he gets a chance to do so, is not exactly a winning team.
Failure was inevitable …
At least we haven’t murdered the negotiating team this time… Yet. #Progress
Now what?
The main danger scenario is renewed escalation by accident or deliberate pressure.
Reminder: Before all this started The Strait of Hormuz was open to all traffic, and there was the Obama deal, but he blew all that up.
You can guess what most probably comes next …
Clay Jones – Trump wins! #Trump #Iran #trumpthewarcriminal #IranWar #CeaseFire #HormuzStrait #TrumpTaco #TrumpTaco
Matt Wuerker – Dire straights
The “Ceasefire”
Nick Anderson – The Ceasefire That Isn’t
We all know what it was really all about
Trump thanks all those that died for their service in his illegal war.
Melania Denies ever knowing Epstein
This was not an off the cuff remark or some quote somebody found. She called an official press meeting to make a statement. It is very weird timing. It feels like she is desperately striving to get ahead of something that is about to come out …
Clay Jones – Melania’s surprise statement that came out of nowhere raises new questions. #MelaniaTrump #JeffreyEpstein #Trump #BarronTrump #EpsteinFiles
So what it the weirdest bit of news from the past week?
Well no.
I think this next bit was.
Bizarre Saga: Pentagon Threatened Pope with Military Force
Briefly (via here) …
A Monday report from The Free Press detailed the rocky relationship between President Donald Trump’s White House and Pope Leo XIV, the Holy See’s first U.S.-born Pope. According to the report, the Pentagon invited the Holy See ambassador to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, for a meeting in response to a recent speech by the Pope.
During that meeting, U.S. officials reportedly complained about the speech and took exception to Pope Leo’s indirect shots at the president. One of those officials, the report continued, even referenced the Avignon Papacy of the 14th century — a period largely defined by the French Crown imposing its will to influence the Catholic Church.
…
Independent reporter Christopher Hale later added that the Vatican viewed the mention of the Avignon Papacy as a threat.
The Pope has now cancelled all plans to visit the US and does to think he will ever visit the US while the current administration is in power.
Daniel Boris – Proper Pontification.
Dennis Goris – Taking on Leo #pope #warcrimes
President of (*Checks notes*) Venezuela?
He really is very stupid. (And I don’t even need to tell you who, because you immediately know). So this happened …
- Excellent idea. I really think he should go there. Immediately.
- But yes, he can barely speak English and actually thinks he can learn another language.
F**king Strait of Hormuz
War Crimes
Corruption on a truly epic scale
While we are all distorted by his pointless and totally illegal pursuit of war crimes, other stuff has been happening …
Multiple layers of Lunacy and utter incompetence
3 year old detained, and then this happened …
- Link to article
- Quote: “For five months, the young father waited for his 3-year-old daughter’s release from federal custody after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her mother, hoping through delays for their safe reunion. Only when he turned to the courts as a last resort did he learn that the girl had suffered alleged sexual abuse at the foster home where she’d been placed after immigration officials separated her from her mother.“
An utterly pointless war has real consequences. Here is just one of them …
Daniel Boris – Sticky Inflation
ICE Gestapo updates
What is not surprising is the the Federal agent lied. What is surprising is that they finally got the evidence to prove it …
MAHA – Alternative “Science”
MAGA Christian Cranks
The nuttier right-wing religious fanatics within the MAGA cult are as always doing their thing, and so here are this week’s samples.
- Wallnau is a Christian nationalist known for popularizing the concept of Donald Trump as a modern-day biblical King Cyrus from the Book of Isaiah. In other words, he’s a couple of sandwiches shy of a full picnic.
- Saying that god is being merciful to someone who’s main job was protecting pedophiles from prosecution isn’t the best way to convince anyone that the god you believe in is anything other than a monster.
- ‘God sent an embarrassingly messy gladiator’ is a very poetic way of saying, ‘We know he’s awful, but we’ve decided to make that your fault somehow.’
- Lance has twisted Christianity so badly that ‘our leader is immoral, cruel, and corrupt’ is no longer a scandal, it’s apparently his LinkedIn endorsement
- So the divine judgment on a rebellious nation is… women doing admin? That is less a doctrine than a man panicking because someone’s mum just got elected mayor.
- Imagine thinking the downfall of civilization is not corruption, violence, or greed, but a woman being allowed near a lectern. That is not prophecy. That is a Victorian panic attack with a podcast mic.
Weirdest of the Weird
Even More Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there are many excellent cartoons.
Clay Jones – If Trump and Hegseth are firing black generals while we are at war, will they fire a black astronaut while we’re in space? #Trump #Hegseth #Artemisii #Space #Iran #IranWar #HegsethPurge
Clay Jones – What else will Netanyahu trick Trump into doing? #Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #IranWar #TrumpWar #TrumpIsAWarCriminal
Daniel Boris – Agent Orange.
Matt Davies – Backbreaking Work.
Eric Swalwell
Yep …
Pushing back
Some such as Aaron really are going the extra mile to expose him for who he really is …
WSJ needs a bit of help
Here we fixed this for you, @wsj.com.
We see you trying to help JD pretend he doesn’t have to wear this war when he runs for president. Nope.
Artemis II
Finally
Trump Puts “America First” With Iran War, Closed Strait of Hormuz & Recession Worry | The Daily Show
1,100,321 views 10 Apr 2026 #DailyShow#Trump#Iran
The Daily Show team try to figure out how inciting the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major global shipping lane, stoking recession fears, and ramping up forever-war-level army recruitment align with Trump’s promise of an “America First” presidency. #DailyShow#Trump#Iran