The subhead of today’s NYT article on Iran reads: “The American blockade and Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz have created a stalemate that is neither peace nor raging conflict, with both sides attempting economic strangulation on the water.” All week, both sides have seemed to be stumbling towards some sort of de-escalation agreement, but no tangible news yet.
On Tuesday the Trump primary coattails remained strong as Texas Attorney General Paxton soundly defeated Senator Cornyn in the primary runoff. Cornyn went from 42.0% in a three-way race to only 36.2% head-to-head. With Paxton now the nominee against the Democrats’ Talarico, there is an increasing amount of optimism that the Democrats might be able to overcome a very difficult map to retake Senate control. Getting to 50 would require holding Georgia and New Hampshire while flipping seats in Maine, North Carolina, and at least one of Alaska and Ohio; getting beyond 50 would require inroads in states like Iowa, Nebraska, and/or Texas.
There’s talk today that Trump is seeking to have the U.S. start issuing a $250 bill in light of the 250th anniversary, with Trump’s picture on it. This would require legislation, which seems unlikely to pass. Since the target market for a $250 bill would (like the now-discontinued 500 Euro bill) largely be criminals, I’m actually okay with putting Trump’s picture on it.
The main piece of news from the past month that I didn’t get to in my previous post involves the lawsuit Trump had previously filed against the IRS, seeking $10 billion in damages over the fact that during his first term an IRS contractor was able to leak Trump’s tax returns. A federal judge had expressed skepticism as to whether there was really an adversarial situation here that the courts could address, given that Trump was suing an agency that, under the unitary executive theory, he controls. Before the judge could rule on that, the government announced that it was settling the lawsuit, under terms that are insanely favorable to Trump. First and foremost, the settlement purports to permanently resolve in Trump’s favor all open IRS audits involving him and his family. In addition, the settlement would create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund”, run by people the Attorney General appoints, creating “a process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.” “Victims” like, you know, the January 6th rioters. Or, perhaps the Trumps themselves. Of all the things that have happened in the second Trump administration, this may actually be the very worst.