June 15, 2026

From the pinned item in the New York Times liveblog of developments in the Iran War at 5:00 am ET: “The United States and Iran reached an agreement on Sunday that paved the way for further talks to ultimately end a monthslong war.... The announcement ... sent oil prices tumbling, in part because the deal is expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.... But critical issues — including the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, the linchpin of the U.S.-Israeli attacks that started the war — have been pushed back to a later round of negotiations. And the economic shock waves of a war that has crippled supply chains and sent inflation soaring will keep rippling through the global economy for months. The text of the agreement, which is scheduled to be signed by leaders from the two countries on Friday in Geneva, was not immediately released.... 

“[Donald] Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that the deal would reopen the strait, and that he had authorized the immediate removal of the United States naval blockade' on Iranian ports. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that the agreement, which it described as a 'memorandum of understanding,' called for an immediate end to military operations on all fronts. That includes Lebanon, where Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah are fighting.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said in an interview on Sunday afternoon that the agreement he reached with Iran would ultimately assure that the Strait of Hormuz is 'permanently toll free' and argued that, despite the objections of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, he had saved Israel from nuclear obliteration. Mr. Trump also insisted that if Iran failed to reach a final nuclear accord with the United States — a process his aides say they expect will begin on Friday in Switzerland — he would restart military attacks on Tehran or make the United States 'the guardian of the Middle East' in return for 20 percent of the region’s revenues. In a 28-minute phone conversation that Mr. Trump initiated from the White House residence, and a brief follow-up call, the president asserted that his decision to attack Iran in late February, and his subsequent naval blockade of its ports after Tehran closed the strait, had remade the Middle East in America’s favor.... He praised two authoritarians — Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — for aiding in the settlement, and excoriated Mr. Netanyahu for mounting attacks that nearly derailed the final agreement.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Robert Reich: “Trump again claims victory in Iran.... [His]  so-called 'agreement' with Iran ... stops the fighting and reopens the Strait of Hormuz.... Recall that the Strait of Hormuz was open before Trump began bombing Iran. At best, the agreement Trump is touting restores the status quo to where it was when he commenced hostilities. Remember also that Iran had agreed to limit its development of nuclear-grade materials in its treaty with the Obama administration, which Trump revoked in 2018. So what has been accomplished? Iran now is under the control of a more extremist regime than when Trump started this war. Oil prices are far higher, and will take some time to return to where they were before it began (if they ever do). Meanwhile, Trump has caused the United States to be more dependent on fossil fuels than we were prior to his inauguration for a second time, and the high oil prices brought on by his war has enriched Vladimir Putin’s regime. The war with Iran has cost the United States an estimated $90 billion, and that’s a conservative estimate. It has caused widespread suffering throughout the Middle East. It has put Israel in a more precarious situation than it was before — and much of that is due to Benjamin Netanyahu, who is not a party to, and has not approved, the agreement.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, for all that mayhem and hardship and uncertainty, Trump has awarded himself a participation prize of the sort a kindergartener gets. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Tom Nichols of the Atlantic doesn't seem to think Trump deserves that: "The details of the agreement remain unconfirmed, but the president, of course, is eager to spin the outcome as a victory. (Trump was in a hurry to sign the deal on his birthday; the Iranians, who now seem to be in charge of this whole business, instead said they will send someone to a meeting in Switzerland on Friday.) But even before we have the details, it is clear that Trump has failed to achieve every one of the goals he put forward for this war of choice, and now he is determined to sign, seal, and deliver America’s capitulation as quickly as possible.... The Iranians have achieved their key strategic aims — regime survival above all — while the Americans have achieved none of their own.... The United States has perhaps done worse than gaining nothing. Iran, while temporarily weakened, is now an even more powerful political actor: The regime in Tehran stood up to a massive U.S. onslaught, survived, and then inflicted pain on various states in the Gulf as punishment for going along with Trump’s war. The Israelis, for their part, have been left out in the cold." Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.

~~~ Earlier That Same Day. Bibi Misbehaving. Barak Ravid of Axios: Donald "Trump tells Axios the U.S.–Iran deal to end the war is still on track for Sunday despite Israel's strike in Beirut and the Iranian threat to retaliate. The escalation in Lebanon took place hours before the U.S. and Iran were supposed to sign a deal to end their war.... Trump said he was shocked when his advisers called to brief him about the Israeli strike in Beirut, and he fumed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.... 'Why did Bibi have to do a fucking attack? I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no fucking judgement. I let him know that,' Trump said.... Trump claimed the deal with Iran will be good for Israel because it will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, require the disposal of the nuclear material and allow snap inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities." MB: By way of explanation, nothing in that last sentence is true. Nothing.

Jun 14, 2026: a Day That Will Live in Infamy. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s 80th birthday Ultimate Fighting Championship stunt on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday night was a mass-media spectacle unlike any in the history of the presidency. Mr. Trump sat ringside beside his wife, Melania Trump, as fighters whaled on one another inches away inside an eight-sided cage wrapped in cryptocurrency advertisements. All five of his children and nearly all his grandchildren sat around him. Thousands more were there on the lawn beneath a 600-ton steel-arch contraption called the Claw. The White House loomed dramatically over a fighting pit packed with billionaires, cabinet members and Republican lawmakers. It was all such an astonishing sight for so many reasons: The use of the trappings of the White House for violent cage fighting. The corporate sponsorships. The eruptions of casual cruelty. At one point, a fighter took the mic and made a nasty joke about Michelle Obama while standing in front of the house she once lived in with her husband, daughters and mother. Even for a president with a lifelong penchant for P.T. Barnum-esque gambits, this one was in a league of its own.” The link is a gift link. MB: I suppose Trump will do worse things before his term is up, but I recommend you read this to get at least a flavor of how depraved the whole spectacle was. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Last week when Trump attended a $5,000-$8,000-a-ticket basketball game, he suggested that was okay because the poors  "... can watch it on television.... But that’s the way life goes.... That’s the way life is, you know." For last night's horrifying event, many people couldn't even afford to watch it on teevee, because Trump & Dana White made sure the even was televised exclusively on the subscription network Paramount, which is owned by one of Trump's billionaire buddies David Ellison. Even when Trump does something disgusting he pretends is "for the people," "the people" get no consideration at all. It's all part of the Big Grift. More on that linked below. 

It's My Party and I'll Sleep if I Want to. Marie: How anyone could sleep through the cacophony, I don't know, but Trump was able to doze off ringside. 

Colosseum on the Potomac. Marie: There are a couple of before-and-after pictures of the South Lawn floating around the Internet that Snopes says are fake. However, the one posted below, published by the BBC, appears to be real. The changes aren't much better than those in the fake shots, and that was before the area was mobbed by thousands of people. It must be lovely this morning: ~~~

The Washington Post has photos of some of the less grotesque scenes.  

Trump's Corruption Is So Multi-faceted & Ubiquitous, It's Perverse. In yesterday's Comments, Patrick mentioned, in another context, that Trump has no shame. He does not. In response to Patrick's comment, and near the end of yesterday's thread, Akhilleus does a very nice job of illuminating Trump's psychopathy.  ~~~

~~~ Aram Roston & Joseph Gedeon of the Guardian: “The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced on Friday that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial at the heavily publicized White House mixed martial arts event on Sunday. The development connects the Trump family’s financial interests to the high-profile UFC competition being promoted on government property.... The UFC said some fighters will receive bonuses in World Liberty Financial crypto called 'stablecoins', whose value is pegged to the US dollar. World Liberty named the currency 'USD1'. World Liberty is a venture of the Trump family and the family of Steven Witkoff, Trump’s friend and special envoy to the Middle East. The company is now listed as an 'official sponsor' of UFC Freedom 250, the fight scheduled for Sunday. The use of its stablecoin in the fight would appear to boost efforts to have it used more more broadly.... At one point, Trump Sr was publicly listed by the company as its 'Chief Crypto Advocate'. His financial disclosure form lists his holdings in World Liberty Financial as 'over $50m'.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Poor Eric Doesn't Have Enough Money. Brendan Rascius of the Independent: “Eric Trump forcefully denied online allegations that he sought insider information about the UFC Freedom 250 event being held Sunday at the White House.... Hours before the event began, UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier posted several screenshots purporting to show direct messages between himself and Eric Trump. 'I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for bringing this to light, but I refuse to stay silent,' he wrote. In the purported exchange, Eric Trump asked Cormier for insight into the matchups, writing, 'Who you got winning?' and 'You placing any bets?' He later apparently added: 'I’ll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged? I’ve been eying the Lopes fight and I think an upset wouldn’t be too unrealistic. $$.'... Shortly after 8 p.m., Eric Trump — the executive vice president of the Trump Organization — began issuing a flurry of denunciations. 'This is completely fake! I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary,' he wrote on X.” ~~~

     ~~~ Ahmad Austin of Yahoo! Sports republishes the entire chain of DMs between Eric & Cormier. "Shortly after the tweet was deleted, both Cormier and Eric claimed the screenshots were fake.... Longtime MMA sportswriter Adam Martin, however, insisted the tweet was real and he saw it before Cormier deleted it."  

Trump Builds Gigantic Swamp on National Mall:  

Andrew Pantazi of Axios: Donald "Trump is demanding Congress attach his sweeping voting overhaul to legislation renewing a key U.S. surveillance authority.... Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is among the government's most contested surveillance authorities, long opposed by privacy advocates and supported by security hawks. Its fate now hinges on Trump's unrelated demands for a voting bill.... I'm against FISA if it doesn't come with The Save America Act (Full version!) firmly attached to it," Trump wrote in one post. He also defended his controversial pick of Bill Pulte, a MAGA enforcer and housing regulator with no national security experience, as acting director of national intelligence.... He slammed Republicans for 'moving too fast on nominations!!!' to replace Pulte. [Trump's nominee for DNI Jay] Clayton has a confirmation hearing set for Wednesday."

Odd Man Out. Cleve Wootson & Ellen Francis of the Washington Post: “When ... Donald Trump arrives on the shores of Lake Geneva for this week’s Group of Seven summit, he will find America’s closest allies in a new posture: increasingly willing to tell him no. After years of tariff threats, diplomatic whiplash and public confrontations, many world leaders have concluded that Trump is not an interruption to the international order but a feature of it — a reordering likely to endure regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. Rather than simply accommodating Trump, they are increasingly preparing for a future in which the U.S. is a less predictable partner and Europe is less inclined to follow America’s lead.”

They Really Don't Know What They're Doing. Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: “...  the second Trump administration is cracking down on ...[fraudulent hospices that steal] from federal health care and other programs as part of a White House task force led by Vice President JD Vance and spurred by a right-wing YouTuber’s viral video alleging fraud in Minnesota day cares. A Post review of the task force’s announcements showed many of the actions resulted from investigations that predated the task force or the Trump administration. Vance and other officials have also downplayed warnings from the industry that innocent operations are being harmed along with the nefarious ones.... The Post identified at least 43 legitimate hospice agencies that were suspended and are trying to get their funding restored. The law firm Husch Blackwell has submitted more than 40 appeals, none of which CMS [-- the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services --] reviewed within the 15 days required by law, according to attorney Andrew Brenton. Four of the agencies have succeeded in restoring their funding.”

AP: “Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to a hospital Sunday, his spokesperson said, but there was no immediate information about why he was there or his prognosis.”  

2028 Presidential Race. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “Vice President JD Vance, in an interview with 'CBS Sunday Morning,' said he and his wife, Usha Vance, will discuss a 2028 presidential run after this year’s midterm elections.”  

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