"If He Wants A Deal...": Mojtaba Khamenei's Aide's "Test Of Trust" For Trump

06/06/26 12:43 PM

He described the demand as a confidence-building measure and said Iran views the money as its own funds rather than a concession from the US.

'A lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there': Trump orders fresh purge of officials

06/05/26 5:31 PM

President Donald Trump has instructed Bill Pulte, the controversial new acting head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), to execute sweeping personnel cuts across the nation's 18 federal intelligence agencies and units before a permanent successor is confirmed.In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump revealed his explicit mandate to Pulte, who lacks the necessary security clearances, to dramatically reduce the size of an agency he views as "unnecessary and/or too big.""I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there," Trump admitted to The Journal, specifically targeting career officials from the Biden and Obama administrations. When asked directly if he was ordering firings, Trump confirmed the instruction. "I want him to 'start the process,'" Trump said, adding that his eventual permanent nominee should continue the purge once confirmed.Trump bluntly framed Pulte's temporary status as an operational advantage rather than a limitation. "You're less shackled," Trump said of the acting designation. "It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time."The president outlined a calculated strategy to complete major structural changes before his permanent appointee takes office, allowing the future ODNI to inherit a smaller, ideologically aligned agency rather than managing the cuts themselves."Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come," Trump explained. "Because, if he [Pulte] reduced the size, in conjunction with me…and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in…he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn't have to saddle somebody that goes in."The approach reflects Trump's broader effort to reshape the intelligence community according to his preferences, The Journal reported. Pulte, who has no prior intelligence experience and has been highly critical of the FBI and other agencies, is widely viewed as unlikely to survive Senate confirmation despite his acting appointment.Pulte and ODNI representatives declined to comment to The Journal on the directives.

'Brilliant' move to control Trump flagged by ex-insider

06/06/26 10:14 PM

Anthony Scaramucci, who served as White House Communications Director for 11 days in 2017 before being fired, is back with unsolicited but specific advice for anyone who has to deal with his former boss — and he has a case study.In a video clip posted to X this week, Scaramucci laid out three rules: never take Trump's call on his terms, don't respond when he comes at you, and tell people you're ready for a fight. "Elbows up," he said. "When you do that with him, he comes towards you. My advice is you gotta push and shove with Trump. If you're overly kowtowing to him and laying down, forget it — never gonna work."Then he got specific. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Scaramucci said, executed the strategy perfectly after winning his election earlier this year. Carney didn't call Trump to celebrate. He waited. "Trump was like, 'What the hell is going on?'" Scaramucci said. When Trump's team finally reached out, Carney set conditions: address him as Prime Minister, issue a communiqué after the call, and acknowledge Canada as a sovereign nation — not a "51st state." If Trump started "his bulls---," Carney wasn't taking the call, Scaramucci said."That's what Carney did, and the meeting went quite well," Scaramucci added. "Because Mark Carney knows how to forecheck in hockey. You have to forecheck Donald Trump."The advice is consistent with what Scaramucci has been saying publicly since his brief and chaotic stint in the Trump White House, where he was hired by one chief of staff and fired by the next before he had officially started the job. He has since become one of Trump's more colorful Republican critics — and, apparently, an informal coach for anyone else who has to sit across the table from him.Three quick things for anyone dealing with Trump.1. Never take the phone call on his terms.2. Don’t respond when he comes at you.3. Tell people — elbows up, I’m ready for the fight.When you do that, he comes toward you.Push and shove with Trump and he respects it. Lay… pic.twitter.com/EHjbjZC34B— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 6, 2026

'Cringe level is off the charts': Hegseth mocked over motivational speech to Navy sailors

05/29/26 4:58 PM

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was criticized Friday after giving what was intended as a motivational speech to a group of Navy sailors.Hegseth joined the military personnel for a workout drill on USS Boxer, which is docked in Singapore, when he stopped to give a pep talk about the ongoing Iran war.“The president said 'Iran can either do it the right way, with a deal across the table, or they can deal with my guy on the left.' That happened to be me. But it's not me. It's you guys!” Hegseth said.People online mocked Hegseth's message to the group."The cringe level is off the charts," journalist Aaron Rupar, who has 1.1 million followers, wrote on X."Hegseth is an actor playing a Secdef in a cheesy movie," former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a frequent Trump administration critic and veteran, wrote on X."Pete Hegseth got how many of our fellow Americans killed and injured and how many bases destroyed all because he used GROK to plan a war with Iran and then got America's A-- handed to her?" Pastor Ben Dixon, a political commentator with more than 164,000 followers, wrote on X."This is so ... stupid!" Gwilym Eades, a lecturer in human and environmental geography at Royal Holloway University of London, wrote on Bluesky.the cringe level is off the charts https://t.co/SvhS7oolvs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 29, 2026

'Don't be absurd!' Scott Bessent loses it as Dem pins him on Trump's Iran claims

06/04/26 7:48 PM

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent snapped "Don't be absurd!" at a Democratic lawmaker Thursday after getting cornered on the administration's rosy claims about the Iran conflict — a tense exchange that exposed the widening gap between White House spin and reality on the ground.During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the Treasury Department's budget priorities, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) pressed Bessent on an offhand remark the secretary had made suggesting the conflict with Iran was over."Do you truly believe that we are no longer in conflict with Iran and that they are no longer a threat to Israel or allies in the Gulf, that their nuclear program has been destroyed, that they no longer have a ballistic missile program and drone program threatening its neighbors in the region?" Schneider demanded.Bessent walked it back fast. "The conflict is on pause," he said."So everything's good with Iran now?" Schneider pushed."No. Don't be absurd."The back-and-forth cut to the heart of the administration's credibility problem on Iran. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump has told aides privately he would only consider ending the ceasefire if Tehran kills American troops — a far cry from the decisive victory the White House has been claiming. The U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28 in strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, but a ceasefire has been in effect since April 8.Bessent cited Trump's statement, telling Schneider that unless an American life is lost, the president does not believe he will have to restart "kinetic action."The exchange grew heated again when Schneider pivoted to the cost of living, rattling off rising prices for beef, coffee, housing, and health insurance. Bessent interrupted repeatedly, at one point shouting "Sir! Sir!" as Schneider reclaimed his time."I think you're just out of touch with what American families are facing," Schneider told him.Bessent fired back with a broadside at Schneider's home state: "No wonder so many people are leaving Illinois. Why don't you come see me in South Carolina?"The two did find rare agreement on one point — that no president, Republican or Democrat, should be shielded from IRS audits — before Schneider circled back to the administration's controversial IRS settlement, which Democrats have called an illegal act of self-dealing.

'He has no idea how to get out': Internet in uproar as Iran suspends talks with US

06/01/26 3:54 PM

Reactions were mounting Monday after Iran announced it was suspending talks with the United States following Israeli strikes and an increased military offensive in Lebanon, which Iran had set as a condition for any ceasefire.The US had reportedly been in talks with Iran, which said it was now considering a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz just hours after President Donald Trump told critics to "sit back and relax" and let him handle the now cancelled negotiations.Iranian state media Tasnim news agency reported Iran's negotiating team was halting "talks and exchanges of texts through mediators." Media and political commentators shared their reactions on social media, questioning Trump's negotiations amid the ongoing war."$300 billion to Iran for war reparations. 30 billion would have funded healthcare subsidies here," AI expert and Fractional chief technology officer Jeff Nall, who has more than 10,000 followers on Bluesky, wrote in a post."Maybe if he hadn’t been telling us for 3 months that a surrender deal with Iran was imminent he wouldn’t have to post at 1:02 AM that he has no idea how to get out of this war while accomplishing anything meaningful," Ron Filipkowski, MeidasNews editor in chief and former Marine who has more than 782,000 followers, wrote on Bluesky."Another reason to just walk away. Does America benefit at all from playing referee between Israel & Lebanon? Prior to the war, Iran couldn’t dictate terms in Lebanon, but their control of the Strait of Hormuz gives them the ability to do so. Cut our losses & just leave," Joe Kent, ex-Trump administration insider and former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote on X."America voted in 2024 to end foreign wars, not to go to war with Iran and to fund genocidal wars. Americans aren’t billionaires who can afford to sit back and relax paying over $4.50 for gas and nearly $6 for diesel. I’m not sorry for 'chirping' because it’s my 1st amendment right, I don’t belong to a cult where I owe blind faith and obedience, and I want America First and I thought that’s what we promised the American people. If Iran’s military is obliterated and if they’re [SIC] nuclear program is completely wiped out like President Trump has boldly claimed, then America should just pull out of the war and the Strait will reopen and we can call it a victory. Be done with this pointless nonsense before America’s 250 and put America FIRST and ONLY," former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), an ally of Trump now turned critic, wrote on X."It's been nearly two months straight of 'Don't worry guys, we're super close to a deal! Iran really wants to make a deal. This whole Iran war thing was absolutely genius.' Followed by the inevitable resumption and/or expansion of warfare. Rinse, repeat," Michael Tracey, a journalist with more than 346,000 followers, wrote on X.

'Thought I Would Perish': Everest Survivor Dawa Sherpa Recounts Ordeal

06/06/26 2:09 PM

Dawa Sherpa, 57, disappeared in brutal conditions on the upper slopes of the world's tallest mountain on May 30 during one of the final climbs of the spring season.

'Ugh!' Fox News host rips Trump's 'dead end' as he rejects own show's talking point

06/05/26 1:10 PM

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade couldn't hide his disgust Thursday morning when his own network flashed an "Iran Deal Soon?" graphic on screen — audibly groaning and declaring the talks a "dead end" just seconds after reading the optimistic chyron off a teleprompter."Ugh!" Kilmeade blurted before pivoting sharply from the network's framing. "The problem is there are no talks. Hezbollah's backed out of it. I see that as a dead end."The @BadFoxGraphics account, which tracks Fox News graphics and on-air moments, captured the clip and said Kilmeade had thrown "cold water on producers' efforts to again predict an imminent Iran deal."President Donald Trump claimed back in 2020 he'd have a deal with Iran "within four weeks" of being re-elected. It never happened. After returning to office, he gave Iran 15 days to reach an agreement in February 2026 — then launched airstrikes on the country. By late May, he was declaring on Truth Social that a deal had "been largely negotiated" — only for officials to walk that back within 24 hours, NPR reported. A Situation Room meeting last weekend ended with no announcement.Now Trump is hinting the war could wrap up "as soon as this weekend" — a claim Kilmeade, reading from his own network's script, couldn't stomach.

'We Come Without Past Baggage': Nepal Foreign Minister To NDTV On Gen Z Support

06/06/26 1:09 PM

On his maiden visit to New Delhi, Shisir Khanal signalled a decisive reset in bilateral relations, with energy, connectivity and digital cooperation topping the agenda.

'Who is their press person?' GOP insider stumped by Ivanka Trump interview

06/06/26 6:55 PM

An amused Democratic strategist and an appalled Republican Party strategist agreed on MS NOW that Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, hurt both her own image and damaged the Trump administration with a decision to boast about the purchase of an island when Americans can’t fill their gas tanks.In a clip from the David Senora podcast earlier in the week, the woman known as the first daughter expressed her joy at discovering the 1,400-acre luxury Mediterranean island off the coast of Albania where she and her husband Jared Kushner hope to build a resort.“For me, it feels more like a challenge than anything else. The culmination of all of my experience in real estate, all of my travel, a lot of reflection on how I want to live, how I think people increasingly are wanting to live, and trying to really build something that’s a tangible manifestation of that,” she joyously recalled.After watching the clip with MS NOW’s Alex Witt, former House Speaker John Boehner adviser Maura Gillespie has a few critical things to say. “I just don't, I don't understand why she would go out and do an interview about this,” she began. “I mean, it comes across so tone deaf. She's not a, you know, leader or an elected official, but she obviously is the president's daughter.”“And by doing these interviews — I wonder, who's their PR person? Who is their press person?” she asked. “Meghan [Hayes] and I both did columns for officials and people who are in government positions or positions of power, and I just don't understand who advised her to do this or why she thought this was a good idea.” “I don't think she's striking the right balance,” she continued with a laugh. “I think that when people are struggling to pay for their groceries and gas, talking about taking a boat, which I'm assuming is a yacht, to do a nice swim in the Mediterranean Sea, I mean, it's just really tone deaf.”Democratic communications expert Hayes then piled on.“She used words that ‘the opportunity became available for us to do this,’ which I think says to the American people, this is corruption,” she observed. “They worked with the government, they made deals, and it just spells more corruption by the Trump family. I mean, I've been to Albania, it's gorgeous, I understand why you would want to do something, a development there, but not in this way, not in this time. It's just completely tone deaf and it just feels [like] more corruption from the Trump family.” - YouTube youtu.be