This is shocking but not the least bit surprising. We have a Director of National Intelligence who shills for a Russian dictator. I’ve no doubt whatsoever that Stalin, Lenin, Khrushchev, the whole gang are looking up from Hell and shaking with laughter. If you think I’m being hyperbolic, I call your attention to the fact that Russian TV has made no bones about the fact that Tulsi Gabbard sides with the policies of Vladimir Putin. They never have. That’s Russian TV’s way of mocking the United States to the world, is to openly proclaim and crow about having the U.S. president in Putin’s vest pocket. That, and showing nude photos from Melania’s *modeling* career, are all the master yanking on the leash, never letting Trump forget for a moment who’s the boss.
What you’re about to see is strange, even for Tulsi Gabbard. First of all, there are zero “elites” with bomb shelters who are pushing for nuclear annihilation. She’s cutting that lie from whole cloth. And there may be an inference that this is to direct attention to Iran’s potentially becoming a nuclear power, but anybody with a lick of sense knows that if there’s a threat of nuclear holocaust, it’s coming from Putin.
I have repeatedly tried to defend you and I now find it impossible
This video is so full of exaggerations and distortions that I cannot believe the people at DNI let you put it out.
The fact that someone with your level of responsibility does not understand that it is Russia…
— William Barrett (@1778Barrett) June 10, 2025
The tweet ends “that uses nuclear brinkmanship to intimidate and coerce the behavior of western nations is truly terrifying. I’m sorry to say that you are yet another decision President Trump has made that I was willing to give time to, but which now has been proven to be a disastrous mistake.” That’s about the size of it. The only part that I disagree with is the clause “willing to give time to.” For me, Gabbard in this role was an unequivocal disaster from minute one of its announcement.
This is Putin using Gabbard to get the jump on Trump’s nuclear deal with Iran, which is going about as well as you would expect. Pssst: Gaza talks are not going so great either.
President Trump and his entire top foreign policy team huddled in Camp David for hours on Sunday to discuss U.S. strategy on the Iran nuclear crisis and the war in Gaza, two U.S. officials and another source with knowledge tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump’s missions to reach a nuclear deal that averts war with Iran and a hostage and ceasefire deal that could end the war in Gaza have both faced recent setbacks.
- A senior U.S. official told Axios the president sees both crisis as intertwined and part of a broader regional reality he is trying to shape.
Behind the scenes:Â U.S. officials said the “retreat” in Camp David included several policy sessions.
- The meeting on Iran and Gaza was attended by Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, chief of staff Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA director John Ratcliffe and other senior officials.
- Trump said Monday that “generals and admirals” also attended the meetings but declined to say what was discussed.
Behind the scenes:Â “There was nothing that was not discussed,” a U.S. official said.
- “Everyone is moving around so fast. The president is out almost every weekend. JD is out all the time. And this was the right time. We will do it more often.”
- “The retreat allowed all the senior people in the administration to sit together for a long time and discuss these issues,” another U.S. official said.
- The White House didn’t respond to a request for a comment.
Split screen:Â Iranian officials have been finalizing their response to the U.S. nuclear deal proposal, and are expected to deliver a formal rejection in the next 24 hours.
- A senior White House official said the White House has received indications that despite saying “no,” Iran will express interest in continuing the negotiations. “We sent the Iranians and very tough proposal, and we expect that they will give a harsh response.”
- Trump said Monday that the Iranians were “good negotiators” but “sometimes they can be too tough,” adding: “We’re trying to make a deal so that there’s no destruction and death. … I hope that’s the way it works out, but it might not work out that way. We’ll soon find out.”
- The White House says Trump’s original deadline for a deal expires this Thursday, though both sides want to keep talking for now.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more interested in pursuing a military option — though he’s assured Trump he won’t make a move while the talks are ongoing, as Axios reported.
- Trump called Netanyahu Monday before leaving Camp David.
- After the call, Trump told reporters Iran’s demands were “just not acceptable,” particularly on uranium enrichment. “So far, they’re not there. I hate to say that, because the alternative is a very, very dire one.”
- Iran’s Foreign Ministry said a sixth round of talks would take place Sunday in Muscat, Oman. The senior U.S. official said Friday in Oslo was also an option.
Talk is cheap. It’s actual diplomacy that is rare and precious. It’s horrifying that we are where we are in history and we have this cavalcade of clowns running the show. But, we all warned about this during the election. Not that it did us any good, but this is what we warned about. Now all we can do is pray for a miracle and make the 2026 election count.
Now all we can do is pray for a miracle and make the 2026 election count.
Assuming we make it to 2026…
All of us old farts remember the famous “Daisy” ad LBJ ran during the 1964 election. People were horrified and Goldwater was outraged so it didn’t become something people saw unless they were looking when it first ran. But even at my then tender age I recall adults talking about it. In retrospect I can see why “B1 Barry” (Goldwater) was so outraged. Unlike Johnson who begged his way onto a flight into harm’s way hoping the bomber would get shot at (by then Japanese odds of successfully shooting one down in the Pacific weren’t all that great) Goldwater actually fought. Like many warriors he hated war and the last thing he wanted was to foment one. HOW to prevent it was the issue but for all the hype he’d have had the strongest of reservations I believe about actually shooting off nukes unless the Soviets launched first.
Putin is crazy but not pop off nukes crazy. But the fact is the brinksmanship is dangerous as hell. The Cuban Missile Crisis wasn’t the only time we came to the brink. There were incidents when early warnings of launches were detected by both us and the Soviets. FALSE alarms and luckily there were people in the system that recognized soon enough that it was a false alarm and the political leaders didn’t start firing ICBMs. However there were times when we were within a minute or two of full scale nuclear war.
Having opposing powers, each with enough nukes to turn the world into a crematoriam all on it’s own jawing and posturing is a very bad thing. Worse is one of them being as fucking clueless at the U.S. has in the WH in Trump. Trump probably thinks Putin popping a tactical nuke or two in eastern Ukraine would be “contained.” The terrifying part is that sometimes Putin, knowing that’s how Trump thinks actually has probably considered doing just that.
I think it’s time to dust off the original Daisy ad, only after the nuclear fireball where Trump’s face on one upper corner and Putin’s on the other get consumed. And the black screen that follows says something about how in 2024 those were the stakes, and Americans chose wrong by putting Trump back in power. Then turn to the importance of if the GOP won’t get rid of Trump how important it is to resist until the midterms and put Democrats back in control of Congress to check Trump’s power.
Conservatives would of course be more outraged than Goldwater was six decades ago. Fuck em. THEY should have cut Trump off at the knees a decades ago, and numerous times since and didn’t. And they know it. That last thing they want is to be reminded of their failure so I say again – fuck their feelings. Those were the stakes in 2024 and America failed. This country needs to be smacked in the face with how badly we fucked up by allowing Trump back into the WH. Yes, many of us worked our hearts out to prevent it but like one of my h.s. coaches told me yesterday we failed to get the job done. Now we have to somehow hang on and stop the bleeding before it’s too late.