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Guys: I can’t believe it. Donald Trump told the truth. He stood up in front of the world and admitted that America lost the war because we were on the verge of economic catastrophe.
There’s a lot to say about this development—and about the mini-rebellion we’re seeing from certain Serious RepublicansTM who are now totally shocked and think that Trump was winning the war but just, I don’t know, chickened out at the last second or something?
That’s what we’re going to talk about today and I’m here to tell you that Donald Trump is going to die on the hill of this surrender because he has no choice. The people saying he should look behind Door #3 have no idea what they’re asking for.
(Also: Trump has their number. They will come crawling back to him. And he knows it.)
Today’s newsletter is not spinach. We’re going to have fun together. And if you stick around until the end, Tim and I went through JD Vance’s Big Beautiful Catholic Book together so that you don’t have to.
Want a tiny taste of what that’s about? Vance credits Peter Thiel as being the great Christian evangelist who brought him to the Catholic Church and says that it was Thiel who got him into reading the philosopher René Girard.
Who was René Girard? A guy who studied how authoritarian movements always scapegoate vulnerable populations as a way of gaining power.
That’s right. Thiel and Vance read this guy’s warning about authoritarianism and loved it because they thought it was an instruction manual.
Unbelievable content today. Don’t miss it. Come ride with us.
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1. Truth Social
President Trump’s G7 remarks yesterday were striking because they represented the administrations first candid appraisal of the Iran war since bombing commenced. For months, every single member of the administration, from Trump on down, has insisted that everything was going great.
The military was LETHALLY DOMINANT.
The Iranians were begging for a deal.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz was unimportant.
Lots of ships were transiting the strait in super-duper double secret, because we could control the waterway any time we wanted.
Oil prices were immaterial.
The economy was so hot right now.
The Iranian military had neither offensive nor defensive capabilities.
Their nuclear program was, and would remain forever, totally obliterated.
Ditto their ballistic missile capabilities.
All options—including invasion—were on the table.
That was the story until yesterday, when the president essentially admitted that:...
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