Letters from an American - This is What the Commander in Chief is Doing

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

August 17, 2026Trump is flooding social media with his fantasies about his prowess, Trump claimed credit for falling pharmaceutical prices that are largely the result of the Inflation Reduction Act voted in under the Biden administration, He claims victory in Iran, He believes he is leading the country toward a second American Revolution, Today is the day that the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran expires. without a permanent agreement that opens the Strait of Hormuz and stops Iran’s nuclear ambitions, He is cozying up to North Korea and reducing traditional military exercises with US ally South Korea, He is caught in a scandal over the condition of the US military, Trump is redesigning a new aircraft carrier, replacing modern launch system with an older version, Trump’s Comptroller of the Currency has approved a preliminary chargter for Trump’s World Liberty Financial to become a bank in an unprecedented show of self-dealing.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

August 17th, 2026. From Friday through Sunday, Trump continued his now habitual weekend flooding of social media with fantasies that he is smart, beloved, and powerful. The post closest to reality on Friday touted the story by Steve Thompson, Frederica Caco, and Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post on Thursday, August 13th, reporting that prescription drug prices have fallen 3.1% this year, the biggest rate of price decrease since 1963. While that drop is real, the journalists note, much of the drop reflects the falling price of GLP1 weight loss drugs, whose price has dropped dramatically because of competition

from generic versions. For other drugs, experts say the price drop comes from the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats without a single Republican vote in 2022 during the Biden administration. That law permitted the government to begin negotiations with drug companies for lower prices on 10 commonly prescribed drugs, with the lower prices going into effect this year. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated that taxpayers would save $6 billion from those first changes. Health policy scholar Stacey Ducetzina told the journalists that Trump's Trump RX program covers a limited number of branded drugs that may not be high enough volume to be included in the new figures. The desire to claim Biden's success as his own may have been behind Trump's resurrection of accusations that Biden was corrupt.

Trump's morass in Iran also turned into a fantasy on social media. when he claimed the U.S. has built a wall of steel, complete with an AI wall through the water, of a blockade of Iranian ports. Trump then veered to declaring that Pocahontas and Abdul, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat of Massachusetts, whom he portrayed in stereotypical indigenous garb, and Abdul al-Said, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Michigan, want to take your stuff and crash the economy, and that El-Said and women in hijab are coming for your home and your belongings. Since an appeals court found that construction must stop, Trump has harped on the idea that the ballroom is crucial for national security. But as Will Hobson and Louise Radnowski of the

Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, Trump began suggesting a ballroom back in 2010 for reasons of aesthetics and space. The national security argument, the journalists note, didn't arrive until January 2026, after legal challenges to his authority to demolish the East Wing and build his ballroom. Trump's weekend fantasies put him in the same category as framers of the Constitution as he showed an AI-finished ballroom to George Washington. At one point writing, Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great military complex slash ballroom. In real life, Washington's staunchly opposed royal luxury for the president. By equating himself with George Washington, Trump appeared to entertain the fantasy that he

is leading the country toward a second American revolution, much as Heritage Foundation leader Kevin Roberts told Steve Bannon's War Room podcast in 2024. Trump's vision for the country is literally dark. On Saturday, his social media account posted a dark, black and white image of him wearing a Trump 2028 hat, with the caption in a German-style typeface echoing that of the Nazis, saying, We are going to win. In another post, he boasted that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, get along great. Sunday evening, Trump declared that, based on my very good, relationship with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, he had ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegesith to substantially reduce traditional military exercises with key U.S. allies South Korea.

The joint drills were scheduled to begin today. Trump wrote that such exercises send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful. Trump suggested the change was in retaliation for the refusal of South Korea's president Li J. Mung to help the U.S. in Iran. But as political scientist Norm Ornstein noted, the decision comes, just as North Korea is sending 50,000 troops to help Russian president Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. The idea that Trump is a powerful dictator making a victorious alliance with North Korea and Russia presents a darkly threatening posture, but like the rest of Trump's social media dump,

portrays a world different from reality. Today is a day that the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran that Trump signed on June 17th expires. Rather than ushering in a permanent agreement, that opens the Strait of Hormuz and stops Iran's nuclear ambitions, today shows just how badly Trump is flailing. This morning he lashed out, telling Trey Yinkst of the Fox News Channel, that Iran should put up the white flag of surrender. I have no time schedule, Trump told Yenksd, I'm not in a hurry. The midterms have nothing to do with my thinking. As for talks between Iran and Oman over control of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told him. Trump told him, he said, told yinxed, if Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the sh-out of them.

Oman is a key U.S. ally in the region. For Iran's part, an Iranian leader told Reuters that if diplomacy fails, Tehran will shift from defense to offense. Benoit Faso and Summer Saeed of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Iranian hardliners who spent the past two months planning to widen the war and raise the cost for the U.S., inflicting enough pain that Iran can deter future attacks. Today, Reuters reported that Iran-backed Houthis launched missiles at Saudi ships near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another key international shipping route.

Meanwhile, Trump is caught in a domestic scandal over the condition of the U.S. military. In early August, news broke that the U.S. was running low on precision missiles after using the expensive weapons to shoot down inexpensive Iranian drones. Then we heard about the appalling conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier kept overseas without adequate resupply and with maintenance issues, including overflowing toilets. Multiple outlets have reported that despondent service members, months past the scheduled end of their deployment, have attempted self-harm. The U.S. is moving the USS George Washington from the Western Pacific to replace the USS Lincoln,

leaving the region near China without a U.S. carrier. When a reporter began a question to Trump on Friday with family members of U.S. service members are concerned about the conditions on board the USS Lincoln. Trump interrupted to say, no, they're not. When the reporter followed up with, has the deployment gone on too long? Are you worried about their mental health? He blustered, no, no, no, not nearly long enough. Families of sailors reacted with fury, telling Ed Pilkington of the Guardian that sailors have bad water and so little food they have lost up to 30 pounds or 13.6 kilograms.

There is little mental health counseling despite the extended deployment. Keep praying for us, one sailor texted home. We are doing our best. to make sure we protect our country and our families. On Saturday, Aaron Parnas reported in Midas news of a supply crisis on the USS Boxer as well, and today Brad Lendon of CNN reported that sailors on a U.S. guided missile destroyer

spent four days in blistering heat last month without working toilets, cooked food, or air conditioning after the vessel lost power. Trump's contribution to military plans has been to order the U.S. Navy to alter the construction of new aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller, named for a Pearl Harbor hero, ordering the designers to replace the modern electromagnetic launch system for planes with an older steam-powered catapult system. Kenita Eyre of CNN reports the change will delay production of the craft for several years and could cost billions. Noah Robertson and Tara Kopp of the Washington Post reported on Sunday that the Navy is also considering redesigning the aircraft carrier fleet to reflect Trump's preference for ships that look like those from World War II. That change, too, could cost billions. On Sunday night, a social media user posted a video of Trump at a party at his Bedminster Club, blasting YMCA on his iPad for the crowd.

National Security scholar Tom Nichols responded, We're losing a war to Iran. We're alienating our allies. We're emboldening our enemies. Our stalwart service people are being subjected to deprivations. And this is what the commander-in-chief. is doing. But, in fact, that's not all Trump is doing. Late Friday night, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, whose leader Trump appointed, approved a preliminary charter for World Liberty Financial, or WLF, to become a bank. As Lawrence DeLevin and Pete Schroeder of Reuters report,

the charter would permit WLF to issue U.S.D.1, a stable coin tied to the dollar, and to manage and hold assets for customers and settle payments faster. WLF is the cryptocurrency venture launched by the Trump family and their close allies, the Whitkoff family. Steve Whitkoff is Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, and WLF has done at least one major deal with a national security advisor for the United Arab Emirates. Roiders estimates that as of April 26, WLF had funneled more than $1.6 billion to the U.S. President and his family. Strategic Studies scholar Phillips P. O'Brien wrote, They are going to steal everything they can while they have power. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate banking, housing, and urban officials. Committee said, President Trump is now the first president in history to approve, operate, and supervise

his own bank. This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen, and Congress cannot allow it to stand. She and nine other senators are introducing a bill to guarantee that no president, vice president, their immediate families, or other senior government officials can exploit their positions to own or control a bank, which could serve as a major vehicle for corrupt

dealings. At 409 this afternoon, Trump posted on social media an image of Kim Jong-un outside with several men standing around him talking on a landline telephone. The caption read,

Hey Donald, we cool. right?