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A conservative commentator drew baffled stares from his fellow panelists on CNN after making a flagrantly false claim to justify possible government compensation for Jan. 6 rioters.

The Department of Justice established a $1.776 billion fund to repay individuals who claim to have been politically targeted by previous administrations, and anti-trans activist Terry Schilling told "CNN This Morning" that Trump allies had every right to payouts for prosecutions that resulted in convictions and guilty pleas.

Donald Trump has handed Iran a stunning victory while simultaneously raising questions about his stability to American allies with a proposal so "divorced from reality" that it exposes the administration's complete lack of strategic planning.

So wrote New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, a Middle East expert, who said on Tuesday that Trump's misguided Iran war strategy has already inadvertently given Tehran a far more potent weapon than any nuclear capability: the realization that it can hold the global economy hostage at will with no end in sight.

Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gambled that multibillion-dollar weapons systems could bomb Iran into surrendering its nuclear program. They relied entirely on Netanyahu's promise that the Iranian regime would collapse like "a house of cards after a few weeks of heavy bombing," Friedman wrote.

Instead, they enabled Iran to discover what Friedman calls a weapon of "mass disruption" — cheap drones capable of closing the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most critical oil chokepoint.

"Now, and forever, Iranians will know that we know that Tehran can shut off the world's most important oil tap anytime it wants. This new source of leverage for the Iranian regime is priceless," the columnist explained.

Trump's latest proposal in a Truth Social Memorial Day post exposed the catastrophic consequences of waging war without scenario planning or expert input with the president writing that he is "mandatorily requesting that all Countries [in the region] immediately sign the Abraham Accords."

The columnist pointed out that Trump even claimed allies told him they "would be honored" if Iran itself joined the accords. "If Iran signs 'it will be the most important Deal that any of these Great, but always in Conflict Countries, will ever sign,'" he wrote. "Nothing in the past, or in the future, will surpass it."

Friedman posed the question: "On what planet of the Milky Way Galaxy would this regime in Tehran, which is practically founded on hatred of Israel, just up and make peace with it after this war?"

The proposal was so unexpected and so divorced from Middle Eastern political reality that Friedman labeled it as "unhinged" and a cause for concern.

CNN panelists ganged up on a conservative commentator for defending President Donald Trump's proposal to require federal workers to sign nondisclosure agreements.

The Office of Personnel Management posted a draft notice of the unprecedented order, which the administration claims is necessary to prevent “unauthorized disclosures” to the media, and anti-trans crusader Terry Schilling argued the move was both necessary and routine.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) faced a hostile crowd at a Norfolk town hall Tuesday night, where constituents repeatedly battered him over his support for Donald Trump's controversial policies — from the $1.8 billion "weaponization slush fund" to soaring food and gas prices.

According to NOTUS, Flood, who was notably shouted down by voters at a Lincoln town hall last August, was forced to justify his party's loyalty to Trump across a range of contentious issues, including the unpopular Iran war, the president's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and multi-million dollar White House renovation projects.

A right-wing activist trashed Democratic candidate James Talarico as unelectable in Texas, and a fellow panelist on CNN wiped the smirk from his face.

Anti-trans crusader Terry Schilling ticked off a litany of gender-coded reasons that Talarico, a state representative and former educator, could not defeat scandal-plagued Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, as "CNN This Morning" host Audie Cornish laughed.

All four co-hosts of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” were uncommonly happy on Wednesday morning after watching a clip of newly anointed Texas US Senate candidate Ken Paxton deliver his victory speech over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, calling it a gift to Democrats.

Paxton’s win over the 4-term senator was largely made possible by the endorsement of Donald Trump, and now Republicans after expending millions and millions on the primary, are now saddled with a candidate with a wealth of scandals and criminal charges in his past.

As President Donald Trump's Board of Peace – the international body established to oversee Gaza's reconstruction, with Trump as its lifelong chairman – approaches its six-month anniversary, not a single dollar has been deposited into its fund, or spent towards Gaza projects, several insiders told the Financial Times.

“Zero dollars have been deposited,” one person familiar with the matter told the Financial Times in its report Tuesday regarding the Board of Peace’s fund, despite there being $17 billion in pledges.

One of President Donald Trump's biographers shared a sobering prediction about how the second Trump administration will end during a new podcast interview on Tuesday.

Michael Wolff, a journalist who has written four books about Trump, discussed Trump's health with Joanna Coles, the Daily Beast's chief content officer, on a new episode of "Inside Trump's Head," the podcast they co-host. Wolff said Trump's "sense of the dramatic" makes it likely that his presidency will end suddenly and surprisingly, almost certainly in a way that gives Trump the place in history that he seems to crave.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was roundly mocked on Tuesday night after he gave his victory speech for defeating incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the state's runoff election.

Paxton was declared the winner just after polls closed at 9 p.m. ET. He will move on to face Democratic Texas state lawmaker James Talarico in November, a race that some GOP pundits have suggested will be expensive because Paxton is not known for his fundraising skills.

Republican efforts to interfere in a Democratic congressional primary in Texas ended in failure on Tuesday night.

According to Decision Desk HQ and the Associated Press, Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy Johnny Garcia has defeated sex therapist Maureen Galindo in a closely-watched contest for the Democratic nomination for Texas's 35th Congressional District.