Hegseth’s boastful claims about Iran war contradict reality, officials say
The defense secretary’s portrayal of U.S. success in the conflict risks misinforming the public and the president, observers worry.
The chaotic but successful rescue mission has become the clearest indication yet that Hegseth’s repeated claims of air dominance come with serious caveats, and has reinforced concerns inside the Trump administration that his messaging about the war is overly optimistic and risks misinforming both the public and the president.
“Pete is not speaking truth to the president,” one administration official said. “As a result, the president is out there repeating misleading information.”
Long but coherent and important tweet.
With Threat to Wipe Out Iran’s Civilization, Trump’s Rhetoric Goes Beyond Bluster
The president’s violent rhetoric risks damaging his credibility as a negotiator and the country’s standing in the world.
It was a stunning threat that promised to eliminate Iranian civilization, delivered with all the casual callousness that has become President Trump’s preferred style of communication.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
And that is what passed as a normal Tuesday-morning update from the Trump White House: a warning of mass destruction and what international law would define as war crimes, blithely delivered on Truth Social, posted alongside ads for bullet-shaped pens, patriotic hats and a gala dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
Liberal Chris Taylor cruises to Wisconsin Supreme Court win
Liberal candidate Chris Taylor cruised to an easy victory over her conservative opponent in the state Supreme Court race on Tuesday night, expanding the liberal majority on the court to 5-2.
Taylor, a state Appeals Court judge, was projected to defeat fellow state Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar by Decision Desk HQ at 8:26 p.m. on April 7, not even a half hour after the polls closed.
The Associated Press officially called the race by about 8:40 p.m.
Taylor had received about 60% of the vote compared to Lazar with nearly 40% with about 75% of the vote in, according to unofficial results.
It’s a Wisconsin wipeout (and everywhere).
New York Times:
Warnings for the G.O.P.: 3 Takeaways From the Elections in Georgia and Wisconsin
A Republican won Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat, but Democrats shifted the district 25 points to the left since the 2024 presidential race. Conservative candidates lost in Wisconsin, too.
Here’s some election twitter:
Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Clay Fuller wins runoff election, close margin spooks Republicans
Republican Clay Fuller appears to have defeated Democrat Shawn Harris, but by a margin far closer than normal in this conservative congressional district.
Because the district is so Republican-leaning, Fuller always had a leg up. However, Democrats — and even some Republicans — said that if he didn’t finish with a commanding lead, it could indicate voters dissatisfied with Trump are willing to take it out on his allies, a troubling sign for Republicans in a midterm year.
New York Times:
The race for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District was quickly called for Clay Fuller, a Republican, but the seat had the largest leftward swing in a special election since the start of 2025. It continues a trend in which Democrats have been showing strong improvements in districts won easily by President Trump in 2024.
Mr. Trump won the district by 37 percentage points in 2024. Mr. Fuller’s lead over Shawn Harris, a Democrat, in Tuesday’s special runoff in the district is expected to be about 12 percentage points once all votes are in, according to estimates by The New York Times. That would amount to a 25-point shift from the 2024 presidential race.
Cliff Schecter/Blue Amp:
We're on the Brink of Nuclear War and Three House Members Could Stop It
Instead, the ghouls cash checks while Trump plays chicken with Iran
Right now, Iran is embarrassing him. He’s losing the war. And the theocratic mullahs are rubbing it in because they understand psychological warfare better than most Democrats. Exhibit A: this was posted by Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf just the other day:
After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from ‘regime change’ to ‘Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?’ Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.
So Trump predictably, toddler-like as always, overreacted. And now we’re potentially—though Trump will likely chicken out, Thank God—on the brink of nuclear war.
The most maddening part is as as this demented dingus drags the world to the lip of nuclear conflict, he could be stopped at any moment by a handful of Republicans. As Trump treats human civilization with the care of The Trump Taj Mahal—something to loot, bankrupt, and leave smoldering—there is only one morally coherent response: remove him from office. Full stop.
Congressional Democrats (at least 80 of them) have called for just that.
