Iran Deal To Be Signed Friday. White House Social Notes: Trans Twerking on Lawn Replaced by UFC. Liberals Take to Fainting Couches. DC May Be Headed for a Mamdani Moment. Envy. More
The U.S. and Iran have reached an agreement to stop fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz:
Iran and the U.S. have agreed on an interim peace deal, the two nations announced Sunday, a potentially major breakthrough after nearly four months of fighting that created global political and economic turmoil.
A deal is set to be signed Friday. … Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened on Friday, indicating in a social-media post the time was needed “for purposes of mine removal.” In an earlier post, Trump said that Iran’s restrictions on shipping in the Strait and the U.S. naval blockade on Iran would be simultaneously and immediately lifted.
U.S. stock futures jumped on word of the interim deal. What the Democratic talking point will be was outlined yesterday on Fox’s Sunday show by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island: We expended immense treasure and American lives to get back to something similar to Barack Obama’s JCPOA. Reed characterized the deal as President Trump’s birthday present to himself.
Supporters of the agreement point out that, unlike with the JCPOA, Iran will only get phased sanctions relief if it meets the provisions of the deal. Dr. Rebecca Grant said that the agreement could open the door to the expansion of the Abraham Accords.
There is no shortage of criticism. “Trump Gives Iran a Lifeline and Calls It Peace” is the headline on Eli Lake’s Free Press article. The Free Press also publishes a symposium entitled “Has the Iran War Been Worth It?” Contributors are Aaron MacLean, Elliott Abrams, Sohrab Ahmari, Martin Gurri, and others. Abrams has a piece in National Review headlined “The Iranian People Have Been Forgotten.” Abrams writes:
Many aspects of the Iran deal announced on Sunday are unclear, or nonexistent. … But one key aspect is now crystal clear: The American agreement with Iran completely abandons the Iranian people. …
Powerline’s Scott Johson has been particularly critical (here, here, and here). Grimmest assessment: “The Iranian ayatollahs don’t want a deal. They want apocalypse.” On the other hand, posting on X, Mark Penn says, Give peace a chance:
It’s easy to criticize this deal but Iran did lose at least two rungs of top leadership, much of its missiles, its navy, its air force and its Uranium. These changes including taking out the Ayatollah were unthinkable but were executed in days.
As we used to say, Give Peace a Chance, and so this is an opportunity for the Mideast to wake up and change course here. Will they take it? Probably not, but this is still a significant accomplishment to get to this point without a general war.
Israel will still need to defend itself but its enemies have been weakened and the region is gradually learning that accepting Israel has its rewards and that terrorism is not a way of life.
It’s His Party. Here’s how USA TODAY describes President Trump’s big 8-0 birthday bash:
Call it the Donald J. Trump spectacular, a Vegas-meets-White-House extravaganza at dusk.
Seated under “The Claw” – a 90-foot arch adorned with glimmering stars and stripes lights, which loomed over a Colosseum-style arena on the White House’s South Lawn – the president, on his 80th birthday, spent the evening of June 14 taking in a series of Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts cage matches.
A Wall Street Journal report:
The unprecedented event used some of the most iconic symbols of American power—the U.S. military, the White House and the Lincoln Memorial—to promote the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a company that stands to profit from the fight’s far-reaching exposure….
Taken together, the spectacle symbolized the style of politics Trump has brought to Washington, breaking norms and snubbing elite sensibilities. After delivering a flurry of strikes that lead to a knockout, middleweight fighter Bo Nickal credited Trump for having “the balls” to put on the show. Another fighter, Diego Lopes, leapt to the top of the cage after a win, facing the White House with arms spread wide, the audience erupting.
Here are the top moments from the USA TODAY. Here’s a moment Ms. Must could have done without: “Michelle Obama is a man, shouts champion at Trump’s birthday UFC fight.”
Compact mag’s Matthew Sshmitz explores the revolutionary cultural significance of President Trump’s UFC fight on the White House lawn. Comparing White House Parties: “Media Head For Fainting Couch Over White House UFC Fight After Shrugging at Topless Trans Twerker.”
Lest We Forget. Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Miranda Devine on the U.S.’s “Ageless President Trump keeps on winning at 80. And laughs in the face of his naysayers.“
The District of Columbia may be headed for what a Wall Street Journal editorial calls “a Mamdani moment”:
The nation’s capital is in the throes of a mayoral election, and buckle up. The apparent front-runner in Washington, D.C.’s June 16 Democratic primary is a Zohran Mamdani lite, setting up what could become a confrontation with the Trump Administration.
The seat is open after Muriel Bowser, who counts as sane and effective by Washington standards, decided not to run for a fourth term. … This sets the stage for the district’s Mamdani moment. Ms. Lewis George isn’t promising government-run supermarkets as the New York mayor is. But she does want to build 72,000 new housing units within five years, while expanding rent control. A centerpiece of this program is a pledge to ramp up government-owned housing construction. She promises a universal childcare subsidy.
Meanwhile, Ms. Lewis George appears to share the widespread view among her philosophical allies that the inconveniences of socialism are for other people. She recently purchased a $1 million residence after railing against zoning for single-family houses.
Maine’s moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins is being accused by the mainstream media of “pouncing” on opponent Graham Platner by noticing Mr. Platner’s colorful past. Shame on Senator Collins! Spiked Online’s Jenny Holland has also had the temerity to notice that Mr. Platner’s “shady treatment of women and even shadier taste in body art reek of ‘progressive’ hypocrisy.” Holland writes:
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator and folk hero for addled rich-kid Commies, summed up the vibe nicely: ‘Is he a saint? I guess not.’ That’s one way of putting it.
Look, accountability is for the other side, okay? Being true to a set of values is just not what the Dems are about. Get with the programme, you guys.
Speaking of Sanders. Writing in The American Spectator, Lou Aguilar shows Sanders’ economic ignorance and call to envy in his response to Elon Musk’s dazzling IPO that, unlike Sanders’ dated political ideas, holds financial potential for ordinary Americans:
“Today, Elon Musk, a trillionaire, pays the same amount into Social Security as someone making $184,500,” Sanders tweeted. “If we end that absurdity and lift the cap on taxable income, we can make Social Security solvent for 75 years.”
Sanders’ apparatchik Elizabeth Warren chimed in. “Elon Musk just became the world’s first trillionaire,” she said. “The typical American household would have to work more than 11 MILLION years to make Elon Musk’s level of wealth. We need a wealth tax.” And Komsomolka AOC posted on X regarding Musk, “But taxing wealth so normal people can afford to see a doctor and not go bankrupt over inhalers is radical left. OK.”
That there exists a major American party ruled by such abject economic and historical ignorance not only boggles the mind but constitutes a clear and present danger to the country. Yet Sanders came within a hair’s breadth of locking the Democratic nomination for President in 2020. He had to be torpedoed by panicky party leaders, and replaced with a dimmer — eh, more deceptive — leftist zombie. And a recent poll put AOC as the Dem favorite for President in 2028.
I could waste my time arguing why the Democrat attacks on Musk are Marxist hogwash.
Have you been to Union Station lately? If you have, you might have been tempted to praise President Trump’s literal cleanup.
Now, maybe we need to beautify our embassies abroad? The great Theodore Dalrymple says as much.
