Civilization gets a pass. Retreating from his threat to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization,” President Trump’s settled for a two-week ceasefire.
■ Bill Kristol at The Bulwark: “It’s a surrender. Iran 1, Trump 0.”
■ Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman: “The world’s greatest military power went to war with a poor, medievalist theocracy. It was an incredibly uneven match. … Yet Iran won.”
■ Trumpwatcher Aaron Rupar: “Trump went from making insane genocidal threats … to hyping the ‘golden age’ of Iran hours later, and he received no concessions in between.”
■ Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich calls it “the latest in a host of examples revealing how to defeat Trump.”
■ Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten: “Whenever Donald Trump is caught by his own bullshit and trapped without a coherent plan, he resorts to his specious ‘two week’ formulation”—or, as Weingarten dubs it, a “fartnight.”
■ Former AP D.C. bureau chief Ron Fournier: “Trump is still a clear and present danger.”
The leaks are coming from within the White House. A gripping New York Times account (gift link) drawn from reporting for a forthcoming book reveals that, ahead of the war, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Israeli intel on the prospect of “regime change” in Iran “bullshit.”
■ The Times breaks it down with six takeaways from its own story.
■ Jeff Tiedrich’s synopsis is typically unrestrained: “Donny blundered into an unwinnable war because his despot bestie Netanyahu goaded him into it, and his piss-drunk Secretary of Death convinced him that his warfighting warfighters would warfight the shit out of Iran, and it would be over in an afternoon.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “The Times story is one you can’t read fast enough, and yet you feel like reading it through the cracks of your fingers because of how disconcerting it all is.”
‘Trump’s not just pretending to be a madman. He actually is one.’ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob: “Trump’s election … put nuclear weapons in the hands of a lunatic.”
■ Dan Froomkin at Press Watch: “Our country’s news organizations can no longer afford to beat around the bush.”
■ Charlie Savage at the Times (another gift link): “Trump’s Iran threats look like self-incrimination for potential war crimes.”
■ Popular Information reminds the military: “Just following orders” isn’t a defense for war crimes.
■ Gov. Pritzker and dozens of other Democrats say it’s time to force Trump out of office.
■ Not just Democrats: Right-winger and conspiracy champion Alex Jones asks, “How do we 25th Amendment his ass?” and ex-U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweets: “25TH AMENDMENT!!!”
■ Pod Save America cohost Dan Pfeiffer dismisses the notion as fantasy: “The 25th Amendment isn’t coming to save us.”
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “Congress, which hasn’t done its job, needs to step up, and that largely means members of the president’s party.”
‘He might be better off asking for Melania’s job.’ Jimmy Kimmel reflects on acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s profession of love for Trump.
■ Democracy Now! founder Marc Elias: Blanche is “an unusually good liar.”
■ Live on the web this afternoon at 3 p.m. Chicago time: The Freedom of the Press Foundation and other groups convene a panel discussion on Trump’s successes recasting political dissent as domestic terrorism.
Badger ’bout-face. In what Progress Report columnist Jordan Zakarin calls “a remarkable 180-degree turnaround from the majority held by conservatives less than a decade ago,” a liberal judge yesterday easily won a Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
■ Democrats also flipped a longtime Republican mayor’s seat in Waukesha.
■ In a Georgia House district Trump carried by 37 points two years ago, a Republican won a special election for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old seat by just 12 points.
■ Early voting’s on for Indiana’s May primary.
‘It is really akin to Please put some seat belts in your car before you sell the vehicle.’ A bill pending before Illinois lawmakers would require gun manufacturers to ensure their pistols can’t be easily converted into automatic weapons.
■ Used-car shopping? Carfax now can rate a specific vehicle’s future reliability.
‘Power your phone completely off before you reach the customs area.’ As airport security ramps up device searches, Kim Komando’s Current newsletter ticks off ways to protect travelers’ digital privacy.
■ Borderless: What Chicago immigrants should know before traveling.
Tired of your Gmail address? Google’s letting you change it—without losing access to your old address or logins tied to that account—but you could get more spam …
■ … and Gmail’s getting more AI-ish.
Food Awards voting time. The polls are open in the Tribune’s 15th annual Readers’ Choice Food Awards.
■ Block Club: 15 Chicago theaters are cutting ties with the Joseph Jefferson Awards after the organization honored a director accused of abuse.
Thanks. Barry Koehler made this edition better.
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