Letters from an American - Fecklessly Failing

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

April 20, 2026Reporting indicates Trump entered the Iran War convinced that Iranian people would support it, The closing of the Strait of Hormuz has left Trump unable to figure out a way out of the war, The two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran expires on April 22, Insider trading over Trump’s war announcements appears to be widespread,  Jared Kushner is doing business on his own behalf with the Saudis while leading diplomacy in the Middle East, Reporting in the Atlantic suggests Kash Patel’s behavior is endangering national security, Patel sues the Atlantic, Trump's secretary of labor resigns, becoming the third person, and third woman, to leave his cabinet. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, this is Michael Moss. Heather Cox Richardson is unable to read the letter today, so I will be reading it in her place. April 20, 26. Late Saturday evening, Josh Dawsey and Annie Lindsky of the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was so unstable and angry after learning on April 3rd that Iranians had shot down an American jet that his aides kept him out of the room as they received update. simply telling him what was going on at important moments. The journalists describe an erratic president who entered the war after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

convinced him the Iranian people would support such strikes and after his successful extraction of Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores convinced him the military could pull off another quick victory. He seemed to believe that if his gamble was, worked, he would be saving the world. But while the strikes did indeed kill Iran's top leaders and badly damaged its military, the Iranians closed the Straits of Hormuz. Trump did not foresee this outcome, although he was warned of it. He told his team that the Iranian government would give up before it closed the strait and if it did manage to close the strait, the U.S. military would

handle it. The journalist report that Trump has marveled at the east, ease with which the strait was closed. Once the strait was closed, the president flipped back and forth between demanding other countries help reopen it and insisting the U.S. didn't need any help, between wanting to fight and calling for negotiations. On April 5th, Easter morning, after the recovery of the second airmen, he turned to trying to scare Iranian leaders into reopening the and ending the conflict, warning, Open the fucking straight, you crazy b***! Or you'll be living in hell.

He added an Islamic prayer to be as insulting as possible, he later told senior administration officials. That, like his threat that, a whole civilization will die tonight, was improvisational, officials told Dawsey and Linsky. Seemily unable to figure out how to find a way out of the war, Trump has told aides he wants to focus on other topics and shifted his

attention to fundraising events for the midterms or details for his ballroom. Clara Ince Morse and Dan Diamond of the Washington Post offered proof of Trump's growing enthusiasm for his ballroom, noting that he has called public attention to it on about a third of the days this year, mentioning it less than tariffs or Iran, but more than helpful. care insurance or affordability, and his focus on it has increased as the year has progressed. On Friday, April 17th, after Israel and the government of Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire, Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial, but not military, vessels. Trump declared the Strait was completely open and ready for business, and that Iranian leaders

had agreed to everything, including never to close the strait of Hormuz again. But Iran's chief negotiator posted on social media that Trump had made seven claims in an hour, and that all seven of them were false. Iranians said that if the U.S. continued its blockade of Iranian ports, as Trump said it would, they would close the strait again. On Saturday, they did, firing on a tanker and two other vessels. all of which left the encounters safely. Yesterday, Trump announced on social media that the USS Bruins

intercepted an Iranian flag cargo ship, the Tuska, as it tried to pass the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. According to Trump, the U.S. Navy stopped them right in the tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room and then took control of the vessel. Trump posted, we have full custody of the ship and are seeing what's on board.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat of Connecticut, posted, we are spending billions to keep our entire Navy in the strait to fecklessly fail to open a waterway that wasn't closed until Trump's pointless war of choice closed it. He's just burning your tax money. The two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, begun on April 7th, expires on. Wednesday, April 22nd. On Friday, Trump said,

Maybe I won't extend it, but the blockade is going to remain. Maybe I won't extend it. So you have a blockade and unfortunately we'll have to start dropping bombs again. Today, Nick March of the BBC explained the fact pattern behind the general suspicion that someone is engaging in insider trading over Trump's war announcements. After matching the president's market-moving statements to the trade volume on a number of financial markets, March found a consistent pattern of spikes just hours or sometimes minutes before a social media post or media interview was made public. March notes a similar spike over Trump's announcement of his Liberation Day tariffs of last April. A new NBC News Desk Decision Desk poll out yesterday showed

that 63% of Americans disapprove of Trump's job performance, while only 37% approve. 50% say they disapprove strongly, a sign that they will be highly motivated to vote in the midterms. 67% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran, including 54% who strongly disapprove. This morning, Trump's social media account responded to the bad news of the weekend, including the Wall Street Journal's story by dismissing it. Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the account posted. The results of October 7th added to my lifelong opinion that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, did. I watch and read the fake news, pundits, and polls in total disbelief.

90% of what they say are lies and made-up stories, and the polls are rigged, much as the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Just like the results in Venezuela, which the media doesn't like talking about, the results in Iran will be amazing. And if Iran's new leaders regime change are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future. President DJT. Over the weekend, David S. Cloud, Alexander Saidi,

and Nick Timoros of the Wall Street Journal, reported that officials from the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, have asked Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Treasury and Federal Reserve officials if the U.S. will provide a financial backstop for the UAE if the Iran War continues to damage its economy. Meanwhile, over the weekend, Senator John Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, reminded an audience that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, is on the Saudi payroll for $2 billion. A reference to the $2 billion, a Saudi sovereign wealth fund controlled by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, has invested in Kushner's private equity firm. And now he's leading American diplomacy

in the Middle East, apparently while at the very same time asking princes, and sheikhs across the Arab world to give him billions more. If you're watching this online, don't take my word for it. Look it up for yourself. Can you imagine a normal sitting U.S. ambassador just hitting up Saudi Grand Prince Mohammed bin Salman for billions of dollars? But he's a Trump, a royal, a princeling. The rules are for us, not for them.

And it's not just Jared getting in on the action. A company owned in part by Eric and Don Jr. has been pitching Gulf Kingdoms on its drone interceptors during this war. The Financial Times reported Pete Hegsett's broker looked to buy defense fund before Iran attack. I'll tell you what. Never before have we seen so little effort to hide so much corruption. The Mar-a-Lago Mafia has taken American corruption to spectacular new heights. This afternoon, Trump's account posted, I'm winning a war, by a lot. Things are going very well.

But things were not going very well. On Friday, Sarah Fitzpatrick published an article in the Atlantic that portrayed Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, Director Cash Patel, as a poor manager, who was terrified he is going to lose his job and it was overuse of alcohol, tendency to disappear, and purges of FBI agents who had investigated Trump in danger our national security.

After Patel's behavior in the locker room of the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, during which he was filmed shouting and chugging a beer, Ryan J. Riley, Gordon Lubold, and Catherine Doyle of NBC News reported that Trump was unhappy with Patel. over the incident. Shortly afterward, Patel directed the FBI to fire at least half a dozen FBI employees who had been connected to the 2022 search of Mara Lago, the Trump Organization's property in Florida, where Trump was storing classified documents he retained after his first term. Over the weekend, Patel seemed to try again to curry favor with the president. He told Fox News Channel

host Maria Bartaromo, that the Department of Justice is about to make arrests related to the 2020 presidential election that Trump insists, falsely, was rigged. We have the information that backs President Trump's claim, Patel said. This morning, Patel sued the Atlantic and Fitzpatrick for $250 million for publishing a sweeping, malicious and defense. inflammatory hit piece, full of obviously fabricated allegations. The suit says, Director Patel does not drink to excess, and this has not and has never been a source of concern across the government.

The Atlantic says, we stand by our reporting on Cash Patel, and we will vigorously defend the Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit. Scott McFarlane of Midas touch notes that the discovery phase of this defamation lawsuit during which parties testify under oath could be quite something. And yet, at the end of the day, it was Trump's Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-Darimer, who abruptly resigned after accusations that she has abused her position,

drinks on the job, and has had an affair with a subordinate. An investigation into her conduct was nearing its completion. She is the third person to leave Trump's cabinet. All are women. When asked about Patel's fitness or office, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffrey said, Cash Patel is deeply unqualified, deeply unserious,

and his behavior is deeply un-American. And he should no longer be the FBI director. That shouldn't surprise him. anyone that I hold that view, because he never should have been confirmed to begin with. And we have to stop putting all the blame on the people who nominated this incompetent, toxic, malignant individual. What about the people who confirmed him? And it's extraordinary to me that Senate Republicans confirmed people like Christy Nome, Pam Bondi, Pete Heggseth, RFK Jr., and Cash Patel, all of them.

deeply unserious and deeply unqualified. And now the country is paying the price because of the individuals that Donald Trump chose to nominate as part of the Trump cartel that's now doing great damage to the nation. And the fact that Senate Republicans, like helpless sheep, went along with it all. Letters from an American was written by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at SoundScape Productions.

Dead of Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.