This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:
Chump spent 2025 antagonizing our long standing allies -- France, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, go down the list. And now? David McAfee (RAW STORY) notes, "President Donald Trump called for international cooperation on Iran policy in a Truth Social post, arguing that securing the Strait of Hormuz should be a collective responsibility rather than falling solely on the United States." He started this war and now? Now he needs the help of US allies. Russia's sold him out. They're feeding intl to Iran. Chump needs help. Big time. His request did not go well. David McAfee notes:
"The United States of America has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both Militarily, Economically, and in every other way," Trump wrote, before shifting to call for international cooperation. He urged countries reliant on oil transit through the strait to "take care of that passage," promising substantial U.S. assistance and coordination to ensure "everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well." Trump framed the effort as a long-overdue "team" approach that would foster "Harmony, Security, and Everlasting Peace!"
The post drew immediate online backlash, with critics highlighting what they saw as a glaring contradiction: claiming total Iranian defeat while seeking help to secure the vital waterway, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil flows.
Professor Phillips P. O'Brien, a noted historian and strategist, described the message as "a work of art" worthy of preservation. He pointed out the irony: if Iran's military capability is "100% destroyed," why plead with frequently insulted allies to intervene in the Gulf?
In other developments over the weekend, Malcolm Ferguson (THE NEW REPUBLIC) noted:
The U.S. is deploying to the Middle East a Marine expeditionary unit that can conduct ground operations if needed.
Multiple outlets reported Friday that the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, which is based in Japan, is being sent to the Middle East, along with multiple other warships and fighter jets. The attached 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit has thousands of Marines and sailors and can offer land, amphibious, and aviation support.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Eric Schmitt (NEW YORK TIMES) added:
The deployment of about 2,500 Marines to the Middle East represents a new phase in the two-week-old war in Iran, as Iranian forces increase their attacks on the Strait of Hormuz.
The unit, officially known as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to two U.S. defense officials, will be in an unusual position given the problem vexing the Pentagon: the Iranian military’s ability to mine the strait, a narrow waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
U.S. airstrikes have forced the Iranians to forego their larger naval vessels and deploy fast boats carrying mines that can evade aircraft. These boats would likely launch from an archipelago of islands closer to the strait.
With the arrival of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from the Indo-Pacific region in the coming days, the Pentagon will be able to quickly launch raids onto the islands with infantry Marines who will have logistics and air support, said a retired senior defense official with knowledge of the unit’s capabilities.
That doesn't sound like a war that's ending or even winding down. And another evacuate notice issued today. Aaron Boxerman, Yeganeh Torbati, Farnaz Fassihi and Erika Solomon (NEW YORK TIMES) report:
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urged all American citizens to leave Iraq immediately on Saturday after the embassy was attacked overnight for the second time since the war with Iran started.
The warning said militias allied with Iran had carried out numerous attacks on targets associated with the United States, including diplomatic facilities, American companies and hotels frequented by foreigners. It recommended Americans travel overland to neighboring countries because commercial flights were not operating, and warned them not to come to the embassy or a U.S. consulate in the city of Erbil, in northern Iraq.
Kataib Hezbollah, one of several Iran-backed militias in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, saying it had fired on the embassy the previous night. A video verified by The New York Times showed that a structure on the embassy’s roof was on fire. Two Iraqi security officials who were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the attack but could not give additional details.
He is such an idiot. And no one, no country, took him up on Saturday's offer to join him in securing the Strait of Hormuz. He's feeling very alone. And he created this. He's the one who spent all of 2025 attacking our allies, talking about taking over Canada and Greenland and erupting when other countries said "no." He's the one who pushed all our allies away. And now he needs them because he and Netanyahu started this illegal war of choice and it's not playing out like Chump thought it would. It's actually costing a lot of lives -- including American lies. And Chump feels he can't pull out because he'll look like the idiot who started a war for nothing -- which is what he did, let's be clear.
He did it to help out Netanyahu and to help out himself -- to get people focusing on something other than his dead friend Jeffrey Epstein and the way Chump's ruined the economy.
He didn't listen to military advisors who warned him about the Strait of Hormuz or anything else. All that's gone wrong was predicted but Chump ignored the military and focused on the yes-men and yes-women that make up his administrations.
They're the one who flatter and lie to him daily. They're the ones who lie and agree with him that the polling is wrong and he's beloved across the land. They kiss his ass daily. And they enable this demented man in his crimes against the Constitution and against our democracy.
It’s good to have you back. Let me ask you about the big picture argument that we are hearing from the Trump administration with top officials. You just heard Secretary Chris Wright argue that the threat from Iran is so significant, not just to the world, but to the United States, that invading now will ultimately make the world more secure. Do Trump officials have a valid point there, Senator?
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF:
No, I don’t think they do. And I don’t think the President has really leveled with the American people. First, by promising the American people he wouldn’t bring us into another foreign war. Then, being unwilling to tell us what the real costs of this war are going to be. And we still don’t hear from the Secretary, don’t hear from the president with the real cost of this will be, how long it will go on. Already we spent billions and billions of dollars. And more significant, we’ve lost 13 service members as a result of the war. And we still haven’t heard a clear articulation of why we’re at war. What was the imminent threat we were facing? They’ve said it was the nuclear threat, but the intelligence doesn’t back that up. They said it was the threat of being hit in the United States by ballistic missiles. That is years and years away. They want regime change, but then they say they don’t want regime change. And when you ask how long this war’s going to go on, the secretary can’t tell you, the president won’t tell you. And it’s because not having a clear object in mind when we began this war, it makes it very difficult to tell when its objectives have been accomplished. This is why I think the president was so vague with you when he wouldn’t describe to you what kind of a deal is he looking for with Iran — because it just isn’t clear. And now there’s the prospect with the 31st Marine Expeditionary force going to the region, that we have boots on the ground. And I don’t think they’ve leveled with us about that either. So I don’t think the war is worth the costs, and it has already unleashed a lot of things that should have been foreseen, like the closing of the strait, like Iran’s attack on its neighbors. But it’s not clear that the President had a plan for any of this.
KRISTEN WELKER:
You did here Secretary Wright say he anticipates the conflict will be over in the next few weeks. Do you accept that timeline? Do you think that’s realistic, based on what you’re seeing?
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF:
Well, the one thing I agreed with the secretary on is when he said there are no guarantees in war. It may very well have been that when they began this war they expected it to be over very quickly, that they thought it would be like Venezuela. Except Iran isn’t like Venezuela. You can’t simply pick the number two mullah to replace the number one mullah and expect things to be any different. So the bottom line is they don’t really know when this war is going to end. And I hope and pray that it does end very soon. But as we have seen, our enemy also has a vote in when things end. And if Iran keeps blowing up ships, or trying to blow up ships in the strait, and gas prices continue to go up and up for Americans, then it is very foreseeable we could become even more entrenched in this, to try to keep the strait open. I have a very hard time believing that China and the other countries the president listed to you are really going to be escorting ships through the strait. That just doesn’t add up to me. So the bottom line is, we simply don’t know how long this war is going to go on. But we know the costs to the American people are already too high. For a president who promised to bring down the cost of living for Americans, this is doing exactly the opposite, and raising the cost and the difficulty of Americans to be able to afford simple groceries, and lodging, and rent, and energy prices. It’s simply unsustainable.
Last week, in Stanley, New Mexico, officials began examining Epstein's former Zorro Ranch. It's now owned by Don Huffines. He's a Republican politician currently running for Texas comptroller whose his ads during the primary had to be altered because his voice was judged 'too femmy' and they eliminated his speaking from the latter ads to avoid alienating potential voters.
Jon Schuppe and David Ingram (NBC NEWS) report:
To girls without much money who needed help with college or a career, visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s 10,000-acre New Mexico ranch felt like being treated to an exclusive resort.
Flown in from around the country to the gated compound, they rode horses across a mesa dotted with ancient rock carvings. They posed for pictures at Epstein’s 26,700-square-foot mansion. They hiked, swam, shopped and watched movies.
Hanging out with a wealthy middle-aged man was weird, but Epstein made the girls feel special. He asked about their goals, offered advice and handed them cash. And then the trips turned dark.
Epstein touched their thighs, had them strip for a massage or attacked them with a sex toy, and the girls grew confused and frightened. Alone, far from home and surrounded by photographs of Epstein with celebrities and politicians — some of whom had visited the ranch — they believed there was nothing they could do to stop him.
One victim, 15 at the time, jumped on an ATV the day after Epstein assaulted her and went racing across the property with another young guest and crashed into a tree. “Don’t worry,” the other girl said, the victim later recalled. “No one gets in trouble for anything here.”
The victims eventually understood that Epstein had used money and power to exploit them for sex. Starting in 2006, they began to come forward — not just the girls, but women as well. At least 10 have alleged that starting in the mid-1990s, Epstein groomed or abused them at the ranch, according to an NBC News review of court testimony, lawsuits and other records. Half were teenagers when Epstein harmed them.
Yet to this day, no one has fully accounted for the crimes committed at Zorro Ranch, a failure that confounds victims, local officials and the public. Decades of missed chances allowed the ranch to escape scrutiny, prolonging its secrets and delaying justice for the girls Epstein brought there.
Saturday on MS NOW, Alex Witt reported on the investigation.
Edward Helmore (THE TIMES OF LONDON) adds:
FBI information released in January’s Epstein files by the US Department of Justice included an anonymous tip to Albuquerque radio host Eddy Aragon. “Somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro, two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madam G,” the anonymous sender wrote, referring to Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I don’t know if there are bodies buried out there, but good luck,” said Sean, a local whose stepfather had leased Epstein’s land for cattle until ordered off because the billionaire was concerned about them straying onto his private jet runway.
[. . .]
Several women have previously said that they were abused as teens or young adults at the property, including Jane, who testified at Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial that she was escorted to see him at Zorro. “I just, as usual, felt, like, my heart sink into my stomach,” she said.
Another accuser, Annie Farmer, said she was ordered by Maxwell to perform a nude massage on Epstein at Zorro ranch when she was 16 years old. The late Virginia Giuffre said that Epstein trafficked her to have sex with high-profile men there.
Epstein's best friend Donald Chump continues to lose it in public. Robert Davis (RAW STORY) reports:
President Donald Trump raged in a rambling Truth Social post on Sunday that media outlets that write negative stories about the Iran war should be charged with treason.
Trump issued the threat in response to a report by The Wall Street Journal about five U.S. military refueling planes being hit by Iranian forces. The report said the planes were hit at a Saudi airbase. They were damaged, but not totally destroyed, according to the report.
In his post, Trump accused the Iranians of "feeding" the story to the U.S. press.
Chump is such a nightmare that it can be easy for some to forget how awful JD Vance is. On Sunday's LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, John did the heavy lifting on the realities of JD.
Washington, D.C. – Today,U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement expressing her condolences for Capt. Ariana G. Savino, who lost her life in the crash of a KC-135 in western Iraq on Thursday. The official identification of Air Force casualties was announced late this evening.
“I am heartbroken to learn about the passing of Capt. Ariana G. Savino from Washington state. I am deeply grateful for her courage and sacrifice in service to our country. Our servicemembers put their lives on the line to keep our country safe—remarkable women like Capt. Savino represent the absolute best of our state and country.
“I also want to express my sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones of Capt. Savino and join them in mourning her loss. I, of course, also extend my condolences to the families and loved ones of the other five brave Air Force Airmen we lost in this tragic incident. As we mourn the passing of these heroes, we must remember our commitment to honor them not only with words but by supporting the families they leave behind. The families and friends of Capt. Savino are in my thoughts during this difficult time.”
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