Letters from an American - Signs of Frustration

Starting point is 00:00:06 June 11, 26. At 8.22 this morning, Trump posted on social media, the United States will be hitting Iran, whose Navy, Air Force, radar, anti-aircraft, and all other forms of defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are gone. Very hard tonight. At some point in the not-too-distant future, we will be taking Karg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Later, he called into the Fox News Channel to say, Look, my preference has always been, take Karg Island. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you. You know, make a fortune. But I don't know that America has the

Starting point is 00:01:01 stomach. I think they'd like to see us come home, but we did it with Venezuela. Venezuela has worked out great for everybody. We've taken millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela. We brought them to Houston and various other places. Louisiana, where, you know, refineries that we have that are incredible. They're going 24 hours a day, making a fortune. And, you know, I like that in this case, too, but I'm not sure that America has a long time. You know, it's a little longer process, something that's a guarantee if I want to do it. I'm not sure the country has the appetite for it. There's a lot in this statement, even aside from the fact that Trump still has not gotten congressional approval for his actions in Iran, although the 60-day time limit for

Starting point is 00:01:53 exercising military action against an imminent threat provided by the 1970s. War Powers Act, expired on May 1st. Aside from that, which is huge, experts assess that taking Karg Island, an island in the Persian Gulf that acts as the hub of Iran's oil exporting sector, would require sending in ground troops. That idea is indeed extraordinarily unpopular, even for a war that has been unpopular since it began, and is becoming more unpopular. But as John Neefel of Media Matters, noted Tuesday, Fox News hosts are urging Trump to increase U.S. military involvement in Iran,

Starting point is 00:02:39 claiming that it will take only two weeks to win a decisive military victory. In this morning's conversation with Trump, host Ainsley Earhart boosted Trump's claims that he has destroyed Iran's military, and then told him that when Iran sends missiles at U.S. targets, we have to fight back. So when you say you don't think America has the appetite to do what we're seeing tonight, I think we do. Ron Filipkowski of Midas News reacted to Trump's post by noting, Normally you wouldn't increase the likelihood of U.S. casualties by announcing something like this ahead of time,

Starting point is 00:03:19 unless you're bluffing to use it as a negotiating ploy. stupid, you really don't care about the troops, or all three. Meanwhile, Iranian media affiliated with the state, says that Iran is now including in its list of potential military targets, all interests associated with the economic holdings managed by Elon Musk in West Asia, including those located in Arab countries and the occupied territories. In retaliation for the U.S. U.S. U.S. of Musk's Starlink and X to target Iran. It noted that Starlink has ground stations in Israel, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, while Abu Dhabi investment funds support SpaceX infrastructure.

Starting point is 00:04:11 Trump also told the Fox News Channel hosts that Iran has no defense. The only thing they have is fake news. They're dying to make a deal. They want to make a deal so bad. they're really in submission. They just don't know it yet. Trump's comparison of Iran to Venezuela is also important. Clearly, he intended his strike on Iran to mimic January's rapid strike on Venezuela that enabled the U.S. to grab Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores, leaving Maduro's second-in-command Delsi Rodriguez to run the country.

Starting point is 00:04:50 Rodriguez has been willing to do what the Trump administration asks, and the Trump administration has eased sanctions against her, allowing her to work with U.S. investors in Venezuela's oil sector. Late last month, Joshua Goodman, Alana Durkin-Ritcher, and Jim Mustian of PBS reported that the Trump administration quietly told federal prosecutors in Miami to back off on longstanding criminal investigations of Rodriguez. for drug trafficking. Although Venezuela's high court ordered that Rodriguez could fill Maduro's position for only 90 days, there is no sign that elections are happening anytime soon. Instead, as Trump suggested this morning, the U.S. appears to be controlling Venezuela's oil exports. Sanctions expert Roxanna Vigil in the Council on Foreign Relations reported on June 3rd that almost 100 million barrels of oil worth an estimated $8 billion have flowed through a process marked by no transparency and minimal oversight. Vigil notes that the Trump administration maintains this arrangement

Starting point is 00:06:05 benefits both countries, but it has not publicly disclosed how much Venezuelan oil it is sold, how much revenue it is collected, or how it has used those funds. In January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress that the U.S. was using a short-term account in Qatar and that the administration would provide an audit of that account, but it is not done so, declining to report how the funds were spent or what safeguards were in place to prevent corruption and money laundering. Vigil adds, the administration has also not released the written agreements it is entered into with the Venezuelan government, traders, buyers, banks, and other entities involved in the process. Vigil notes that this hidden arrangement involves not just oil, but also gold and other mineral exports.

Starting point is 00:07:04 Democratic lawmakers have sent a formal request to the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, asking for an audit of the system and have also introduced legislation, the Venezuela Oil. Proceeds Transparency Act to require an independent GAO audit, but so far it is not passed in either Republican-dominated Chamber of Congress. Kevin Liptack, Natasha Bertrand, and Elena Trine of CNN reported today that Trump is furious that the U.S. media and Iranian officials don't view U.S. military action against Iran as powerful enough, and his threats are now designed to force Iranian leaders into a deal. Dasha Burns and Adam Wren of Politico reported today that the mood inside the White House is

Starting point is 00:07:57 angry, insular, grievance-driven, and increasingly shaped by a group of loyalists with direct access to the president. Trump's determination to force Republicans to do his bidding shows not just in his extreme demands last night that the Republicans pass an additional threat. $350 billion for his military buildup and the Save America Act to suppress voting, but also in his insistence on making loyalist Bill Pulte acting Director of National Intelligence for the time period spanning the 2026 midterms. Pulte has no experience with national intelligence, which the law requires for a director, but he does have a track record of weaponizing the government to attack Trump's political opponents.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Putting him into the DNI position would enable him to use information from the nation's 18 intelligence agencies, not to protect Americans from foreign threats, but to undermine Trump's political opposition. Lawmakers are facing a deadline to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which expires tomorrow. But critics are concerned that the law currently does not have sufficient safeguards to protect American citizens. Putting Pulte in charge of it exacerbated their concerns, and Republicans asked Trump to nominate a permanent DNI rather than try to put Pulte in as an acting DNI. Instead, he doubled down on Pulte. A mega-operative close to the White House told Burns and Wren that as opposition to his slush fund, funding for his ballroom, and resistance to his demands for new

Starting point is 00:09:46 laws mounts. Trump is increasingly frustrated with everyone, from his own team to the Senate. He's pissed, and people are not recognizing the level of piss that he is, the operative said. He does not like being put in a box, the operative told Burns and Wren. When you put him in a box, then Trump's going to blow the box up. Today, 19 Republicans joined all but seven Democrats to reject a measure to extend FISA, suggesting they did not trust Pulte to oversee the program. Under the fast-track how Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, used, the measure would have required two-thirds of Congress to agree to it, but it failed by 218 to 198, not even reaching a simple majority. Both CNN and the Washington Post reported today that oil executives have warned the White House,

Starting point is 00:10:47 that U.S. oil reserves, which they have been releasing to keep oil prices down, are running dangerously low, despite Trump's boasts that Venezuelan oil is flowing through the U.S. They say they expect prices to soar just as peak summer travel season kicks in. This afternoon, Trump's social media account posted, based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, canceled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.

Starting point is 00:11:33 Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved. including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others. The naval blockade will remain in full force and effect until this transaction is finalized. Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly. Later, Trump told reporters, the straight is open. But the straits have been open for a number of months already, and you just didn't know about it. This evening, Boston Globe columnist Renee Graham noted a CNN Kiron that read,

Starting point is 00:12:25 Trump cancels strikes, claiming for the 39th time that a deal is near. This afternoon, Trump said he would nominate Walter Joseph J. Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. York to become the next director of national intelligence. Like Pulte, Clayton lacks national security experience. But he has another attribute that might be attractive to Trump. He has been part of the slow walking of the release of the Epstein files. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.

Letters from an American - Signs of Frustration

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