Alexander Willis

U.S. officials made the startling admission recently that achieving the Trump administration’s primary goals in its war against Iran had become “unlikely,” The Washington Post reported, and that undoing the damage caused by the conflict had “emerged as perhaps” the war’s new “paramount objective,” a revelation that left several notable critics dumbfounded on Tuesday.

“The incompetence is just insane,” noted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Tuesday in a social media post to their more than 1.1 million followers.

The Post spoke with both U.S. and Israeli security officials about the current state of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, some of whom spoke with the outlet on the condition of anonymity.

In their assessment, the initial objectives of the war – toppling the Iranian government and removing its ability to ever acquire a nuclear weapon – had likely become out of reach, with the new primary goal shifting to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route that Iran shut down to U.S. ships in response to the attack President Donald Trump authorized late last month.

“In other words, the only real war aim now is to fix a problem entirely created by the decision to go to war,” wrote former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) in a social media post on X.

“The war aim is now re-opening a strait that would not have been closed were it not for the war itself,” wrote The Economist journalist Shashank Joshi, also in a social media post on X.

As early as March 9, just days after having authorized Operation Epic Fury, Trump claimed that the Iran war was “very complete, pretty much.” Behind the scenes, however, Iran’s defiance – particularly in its refusal to allow U.S.-aligned vessels to pass the Strait of Hormuz – has reportedly sparked panic within the Trump administration as oil prices continue to soar.

President Donald Trump’s war against Iran appears to be bleeding support, with one prominent conservative media figure saying on Monday that it had become “apparent” the administration could not achieve its stated goals in the conflict.

“It is becoming apparent to the Trump administration that they are not going to be able to change the regime, unless you throw 10,000 ground troops into Iran, which is never going to happen,” political commentator Bill O’Reilly told NewsNation in comments flagged Tuesday by The Hill.

“So, the thinking is, we’ll make a deal, the deal will encompass inspectors going in to see that they aren’t enriching uranium, no ballistic missiles and [a] bunch of other things in return for a lightening up of the economic sanctions against Iran.”

Joining Fox News in 1996, O’Reilly would go on to become cable news’s “most popular host” for well over a decade before being ousted from the network in 2017 amid sexual misconduct allegations. Nevertheless, O’Reilly has remained an influential figure within conservative circles.

O’Reilly’s comments were strikingly similar to those made recently by U.S. and Israeli security officials, who, speaking anonymously to The Washington Post, revealed that the Trump administration’s primary goals in the Iran war had become “unlikely,” the outlet reported.

Trump has reportedly been looking for an off-ramp from the war he initiated late last month amid soaring energy prices. However, according to a former Trump security adviser, such an out may not exist.

Washington, D.C. resident Sidney Reid was acquitted last year after being charged with assaulting and impeding federal officers during an immigration enforcement operation, and in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, revealed that a secret recording may very well have spared her from 20 years behind bars.

“If I didn’t have the video, I would 100% be in jail right now,” Reid told the Journal for its investigative report earlier this month.

Federal immigration enforcement agents were approaching a D.C. jail last year after having received a tip from a jailer that an alleged undocumented migrant was set to be released — a tip that the Journal noted was a potential violation of D.C. law.

As the agents approached the jail, witness Reid pulled out her cell phone to record the operation, and was immediately ordered to stop, video reviewed by the Journal revealed. She refused, and she was arrested and charged with felony assault and impeding.

However, when agents took Reid’s phone, placed it inside her bag and put the bag in a government vehicle, it continued to record — and captured what Reid characterized as a particularly damning conversation between the arresting agents.

“I have to return to 1d and process this stupid female,” said federal officer Dinko Residovic, the officer who arrested Reid, as heard in the secret video recording.

What the arresting agents discussed next, Reid argued, was what helped her avoid a potentially lengthy prison sentence on a felony assault charge.

“In another part of the recording, agents went back and forth about exactly how Reid, a veterinary assistant at an animal hospital, had assaulted them,” the Journal’s report reads. “First, it was a raised knee, then an elbow. The next day, Reid was accused in a criminal complaint of ‘forcefully’ pushing an agent’s hand against a cement wall.”

Reid’s recording was submitted as evidence in her trial, where three grand juries ultimately declined to indict her. She was also later acquitted after prosecutors reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.

President Donald Trump has aggressively pushed for Congress to pass the SAVE Act, his voter ID bill that critics say would dramatically suppress voter turnout, but one prominent journalist alleged on Tuesday that the president is well aware the legislation was doomed to fail — but is pushing it regardless for one nefarious reason.

An acronym for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the bill would require voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, presenting challenges to the 52% of voters who don’t possess a passport or the 11% who don’t have access to their birth certificate.

Trump has vowed not to sign any other bills until the Save Act reaches his desk, and has also invoked Jesus Christ in his calls on lawmakers to pass the legislation.

However, even Republicans have warned that the SAVE Act is “doomed to fail,” with the bill fiercely opposed by Democratic lawmakers, and Republicans unable to muster enough votes to overcome the Senate filibuster, a procedural rule that essentially requires bills to receive 60 votes to pass through the chamber, a number far beyond the GOP’s 53-45 Senate majority.

In an analysis published on her Substack Tuesday, writer Amanda Marcotte theorized that Trump and the GOP were well aware that the bill had no shot at becoming law, but continue to press for it anyway for ominous strategic reasons.

“Frankly, I think it’s more about apportioning blame after the midterms. Trump and other MAGA Republicans want to keep pushing the idea that most Americans are not legitimate voters, either because they aren’t white or because they’re too liberal,” Marcotte wrote.

“All that resentment can definitely be channeled into future fundraising and organizing. Unfortunately, as we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, it can also lead to violence, something I have no doubt Trump wants to keep in his back pocket against future contingencies.”

Marcotte argued her theory was likely more accurate for GOP lawmakers, given that Trump “is such a pudding-brain these days” that it was “possible” he legitimately believed that bill could be passed.

“The misnamed SAVE America Act feels like it’s [dead on arrival] on Capitol Hill, but Donald Trump and his biggest goons keep on pretending it’s his administration’s signature legislation,” Marcotte wrote. “I don’t think that’s because they actually think it will pass, although Trump is such a pudding-brain these days, it’s possible he still thinks he can force it through.”

While the less than 20% of Americans who identify as MAGA Republicans continue to support nearly every decision President Donald Trump makes, his “contempt” for his most loyal supporters “is getting worse,” argued writer Amanda Marcotte in an analysis published Tuesday.

“To Trump and his top brass, like Vance, feeling like they owe anything to anybody, especially to the red-hat yokels who got them into office, is insulting,” Marcotte wrote on her Substack. “Their resentment at their own voters for actually expecting results is getting worse, and that’s starting to be reflected in policy choices.”

Trump’s directive to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports nationwide to help alleviate staffing shortages sparked by the ongoing partial government shutdown, Marcotte noted, negatively impacts MAGA voters.

“Trump voters fly, too!” she wrote.

Perhaps more revealing, Marcotte argued, was Trump’s response to questions about rising gas prices, a predictable outcome of the war against Iran he initiated late last month.

“Trump and even Vice President JD Vance can’t help but sneer with annoyance every time they’re asked to care about skyrocketing prices at the pump,” Marcotte wrote. “Trump even tried to spin that as a good thing, claiming that ‘we make a lot of money’ when gas prices go up. Of course, that ‘we’ does not include approximately 99% of Americans, so he’s basically just telling the rest of us we don’t matter. Including his own voters.”

Marcotte dismissed the idea that Trump’s alleged disdain for his own voters was “some attempt at playing 11th-level chess," and instead came to a more straightforward conclusion.

“I think Trump and the rest of the White House really do hate Americans,” she wrote. “They view the majority who don’t support the MAGA agenda as bratty liberals who need to be squashed into silence. But they also hold most Trump voters in contempt, seeing them as easily duped morons. (Which is hard to argue with, honestly!)”

Ousted Border Patrol Officer Greg Bovino was revealed Tuesday to have claimed minority status, according to previously unreported legal documents obtained by The New York Times and despite his admission to having referred to undocumented migrants as “filth” and “trash.”

Bovino was moved out of his role at “commander at large” of the US Border Patrol in January following the deadly immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that led to the killings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Set to retire this week, Bovino spoke with the Times for a Tuesday report that uncovered a surprising revelation.

Bovino was forced to testify shortly after being assigned to work in Louisiana in 2018 in a discrimination lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by four DHS employees. During his testimony, Bovino admitted to calling undocumented migrants “scum,” “filth” and “trash.”

In his testimony, he also admitted that he claimed to be a member of a minority group himself.

“He identified his race as ‘Native American’ and his tribe as Cherokee,” the Times report reads. “He testified that he had identified this way since he was 8 years old, but said he was not registered on any official tribal rolls. To reward top performance, he said, he gave out tomahawks.”

In its report, the Times also spoke to several current and former DHS officials, many of whom referred to Bovino as a longstanding “chronic institutional headache,” and even among those “who generally shared his politics,” the Times reported.

“He had no trouble putting himself out there as better than the others and doing that in front of them,” said Chris Magnus, formerly the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection from 2021 to 2022, speaking with the Times. “It struck me as particularly unprofessional, disturbing and, frankly, obnoxious, how he interacted with both his colleagues and his subordinates.”

President Donald Trump floated the idea of deploying the National Guard on Monday in an effort to address the mounting chaos at airports nationwide amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.

Airports have been plagued with increasingly long lines due to the partial government shutdown, which began last month after Democratic lawmakers refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security without reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump moved ICE agents into airports on Monday, and later on the same day he floated sending in the National Guard as well.

“The Democrats are fully to blame with the struggle the great American public is going through at the airports! They're going through a big struggle right now and we just put ICE in charge, and they're helping [Transportation Security Administration] (TSA) and they're working together so far very well,” Trump said while speaking at an event in Memphis, Tennessee.

“If we don't have enough, we will bring out the National Guard where we need it to help out at the airports. But we're not going to let this happen – it's extortion by the Democrats, they're holding up money that's already been approved!”

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was widely mocked Monday after posting and sharing dozens of social media posts targeting a group that had confronted him over the weekend about his handling of the FBI’s probe into Jeffrey Epstein — with one self-described MAGA supporter describing Bongino’s behavior as an online “crash out.”

On Saturday, Bongino was confronted during an event by a group of three individuals, one of whom was Ivan Raiklin, a prominent supporter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election. One of the three individuals began shouting at Bongino, using a homophobic slur and labeling him as a "protector” of people associated with Epstein.

As of Monday morning, Bongino had posted or shared posts mocking the trio on his X account no less than 35 times, 25 of which were edited versions of a photo of the individuals that appeared to be altered using generative artificial intelligence. The edits depicted the individuals wearing a range of different attire, including pink dresses, women’s fitness apparel, and tight black leather outfits.

“They called out Dan Bongino for all of his lies ... and Dan of course had a crash out over it,” wrote X user “SeverianoNessus,” a self-described MAGA supporter but pointed critic of the president’s war against Iran.

Another X user, “SmithGreg1983,” came to a similar conclusion.

“Anyone else find it hilarious [Bongino] crashing out so hard with his reposts?” they wrote Monday in a social media post on X. “They struck a nerve.”

And X user “Janet,” another self-described MAGA supporter, said that they “almost” felt sorry for the former FBI official.

“I have to say that [Bongino] looked deflated and sick when you confronted him,” they wrote in a social media post on X, responding to Raiklin’s call for Bongino to host him on his podcast. “I almost feel sorry for him. But he had to know what he was getting into when he accepted the position at the FBI.”

Bongino has faced fierce backlash from MAGA supporters following his resignation from the FBI earlier this year. Despite having hyped up theories around Epstein prior to his role at the agency, he later signed off on a memo that concluded Epstein had died by suicide and that no evidence existed to prosecute potential co-conspirators of Epstein.

President Donald Trump shot down a reporter’s question Monday when asked about the recent deployment of more than 2,000 U.S. Marines out of San Diego, California.

“It's been reported that there were Marines that left California, left San Diego last week,” a reporter asked Trump in Washington, D.C., just ahead of his trip to Memphis, Tennessee. “Why are they headed there now?”

Trump not only refused to answer the reporter’s question, but scolded them for having asked it.

“Let me ask you this: if you were in my position and I asked you that question, do you really believe I'd give you an answer?” Trump said. “Crazy question! We don't talk about strategy.”

Reports have confirmed that the USS Boxer, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, left San Diego last week with more than 2,000 Marines onboard. Their deployment represents just the latest development in the Trump administration’s war against Iran, which experts say is soon approaching the point of no return as the United States continues to climb the escalatory ladder.

While President Donald Trump cited “productive conversations” with Iranian officials as reason for his sudden reversal Monday in his administration’s war against Iran, new reporting appeared to directly contradict those claims, prompting critics to argue the announcement was an attempt to “save face” after effectively folding under pressure from Tehran.

“Iran called his bluff on the Strait and he folded,” noted journalist and professor Adam Cochran in a social media post on X Monday.

On Saturday, Trump warned Iran that unless U.S. vessels were allowed to traverse the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial shipping channel through which 20% of the world’s oil trade flows – he would authorize strikes on Iranian power plants, a threat that one international security expert warned could spark “global economic disaster of historic scale.”

Trump issued Iran a deadline of Monday evening to comply with his demand, but on Monday morning he extended the deadline by five days after claiming to have had “very good” conversations with Iranian leadership.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, however, Iran’s foreign ministry said that no such talks had taken place between Tehran and the Trump administration, and “described Trump’s remarks as part of an effort to influence energy markets and gain time,” the Indian news outlet WION reported. Past reporting also suggests that Iran has been effectively ignoring the Trump administration's pleas to restart negotiations.

The revelation led several prominent Trump critics to theorize, much like Iran’s foreign ministry, that Trump’s sudden reversal was merely a ploy to buy time and “save face.”

“Iranian media already claiming that there have been no talks with Trump,” Cochran wrote in another social media post on X to their more than 285,000 followers. “As I suggested – it looks like they called his bluff on the ultimatum, and he is trying to save face before markets open. He’ll postpone only to re-escalate later this week with the risk of these strikes landing next weekend.”

Author and journalist Ali Abunimah came to a similar conclusion as Cochran, arguing that Trump’s reversal was further evidence that the president had succumbed to pressure and was attempting to reframe the retreat as a diplomatic breakthrough.

As chaos continues at airports across the nation amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, multiple insiders revealed that President Donald Trump had been presented with a plan to fully fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and pay airport employees — but rejected it out of hand, Punchbowl News reported Monday.

The partial government shutdown began last month after Democratic lawmakers refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without major reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the immigration enforcement agency under DHS that has carried out violent operations across the nation in recent months.

According to Punchbowl News, however, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) presented Trump with a proposal on Sunday that would have provided funding for all agencies under DHS, including TSA, other than ICE.

“But Trump said no, according to multiple sources,” Punchbowl News reported. “The president wants Republicans to stay in D.C. and keep fighting with Democrats over DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, the GOP’s voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill.”

In public, Trump has explicitly blamed Democratic lawmakers for the long lines and chaos seen at airports nationwide as TSA workers continue to work unpaid, writing on social media last week that Democrats were “fully to blame.” Trump announced over the weekend that he would be deploying ICE agents to airports nationwide to help with staffing shortages.

The revelation that Trump rejected a plan to fund TSA, however, led to several critics issuing the president sharp rebukes.

“Confirmed what I suspected in a post last night,” wrote Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief for the progressive media company MeidasTouch, in a social media post Monday on X. “Thune reached a deal with Dems to fund DHS except for ICE and Trump rejected it. DONALD TRUMP is to blame for airport chaos – not Democrats.”

Reed Galen, a prominent GOP strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, urged lawmakers to call Trump’s bluff.

“Send him the bill. Make him veto it,” Galen wrote Monday in a social media post on X.

And Emre Yurttas, a pro-Democratic Party political commentator, wrote to their more than 9,000 followers on X that the revelation would only worsen the GOP’s election prospects in the coming midterms.

Jon Fleishman, who previously led the California Republican Party as its executive director, slammed Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco on Monday after his office announced it had seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in a 2025 statewide election as part of a fraud investigation — a probe Fleishman called "politically motivated.”

Bianco, an ally to President Donald Trump who’s also running as a Republican for California governor, announced the probe last Friday, citing reports from an activist group that claimed voter irregularities existed in California’s Proposition 50, a referendum overwhelmingly supported by voters that will allow California to redraw its congressional districts.

For Fleishman, however, the probe had no merit.

“It looks to me like it’s a politically motivated effort,” Fleishman said, speaking with New York Times.

“It’s awfully coincidental that he would be taking this high-profile and extreme of an action literally two months before he’s facing a statewide election.”

Fleishman wasn’t the only critic of Bianco’s fraud probe. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber also condemned it as meritless, and said it lacked “credible evidence” and risked “undermining public confidence” in California’s elections.

“Investigations into election processes must be conducted by those with the appropriate legal authority and subject matter expertise,” she said in a statement released after the probe was announced. “Similar claims raised in other states by individuals without election administration experience have been thoroughly reviewed and debunked.”

Publicly, Republicans have cast Georgia as one of their top opportunities to flip a Democratic-held Senate seat. But “behind closed doors,” they’ve tempered expectations of unseating Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), citing the first-term senator’s competence and popularity,” The Washington Post reported Monday.

“I’m not feeling bullish about it,” said one GOP strategist, speaking with the Post on the condition of anonymity. “[Ossoff] has wisely avoided the temptation of going on cable news for six years and playing to the base for social media likes. I think he’s going to reap the benefits of that.”

Conservative groups have polled hypothetical matchups against Ossoff in the hopes of unseating the 39-year-old Democratic senator, who represents a state President Donald Trump won in 2024 by more than two percentage points. Privately, however, Republicans appear to be growing less hopeful of their chances to make ground against Ossoff.

“Look, this guy’s no slouch,” said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) to a crowd of Republicans in January, according to an audio recording obtained by the Post. “[Ossoff is] pretty sharp, he’s articulate, he’s young, he’s handsome, he talks well. You better have somebody who can go toe to toe with him.”

Republicans’ midterm election prospects have only grown more dire as Trump’s favorability has continued to slip among voters. Illinois Democratic primary elections last week saw voters race to the polls in unprecedented numbers, leading Democratic strategist Avivia Bowen to predict that Republicans may face a “rage turnout” from Democrats this fall.

Additionally, a recent NBC poll conducted between Feb. 27 and March 3 showed that Democrats carry a 6-point lead in taking back control of Congress, with Trump’s unprecedented unpopularity appearing to drag down GOP candidates nationwide.

Leon Panetta, former Defense secretary, White House chief of staff and CIA director, hammered President Donald Trump on Sunday over his handling of the Iran war, telling The Guardian the president was “sending a message of weakness” as he continued to escalate the conflict he initiated.

Panetta specifically criticized Trump for failing to anticipate Iran’s response to U.S. aggression – namely, its move to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel, to U.S.-aligned vessels.

“He tends to be naive about how things can happen,” Panetta said, speaking with The Guardian by phone. “If he says it and keeps saying it there’s always a hope that what he says will come true. But that’s what kids do. It’s not what presidents do.”

Given his experience spanning decades as a top official in the federal government, Panetta said it was difficult to comprehend how Trump had failed to predict Iran’s response.

“In every national security council I’ve been a part of where we’ve talked about Iran, that subject always came up,” Panetta said. “For some reason, either they didn’t consider that could be a consequence or they thought the war would end quickly and they wouldn’t have to worry about that. Whatever it was, they were not prepared for it and they’re now paying a price.”

Panetta also fiercely criticized the assassination of Iran’s previous supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in late February in the initial joint strikes from the United States and Israel.

“We replaced an old guy, a supreme leader who was near death at a time when the people of Iran were willing to take to the streets with the hope that they could ultimately change their way of government,” Panetta said.

“And instead today we have a more entrenched regime, we have a younger supreme leader who’s going to be there a while, and he’s much more of a hardliner than the first supreme leader. That didn’t turn out too well.”