The Daily Wrap Up

21 April, 2026

[Transcript edited for clarity, length and flow]

Donald appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning with Joe Kernan for yet another one of his incoherent, rambling interviews.

They discussed the unconstitutional, illegal war of choice with Iran that Donald got us into, what it could mean for oil prices and the broader economy, as well as inflation. Donald defended his bumbling approach to foreign policy while taking shots at the Fed along the way, as if those two things have any relation in our reality.

The conversation, as I said, bounced around a lot, mostly because Donald could not stick to answering the question asked of him. It was also the usual mix of bluster, tough talk, puffing himself up, and economic grievances. For example, on the economy, Donald told Kernan, quote, “You want to see a bad stock market. Try blowing up the Middle East.”

Well, that is one way to do it.

But that is an interesting thing. Remember when he said, “We’re going to win so much, you’re going to get tired of winning.” Well, here we are.

Yes, thousands of civilians have been killed. Thirteen American service members so far have been killed. But you know what? The stock market was doing too well.

But the real truth of the matter, of course, is that the stock market seems oddly unaffected by this war. First, that may have something to do with the market manipulation And secondly, oil prices are going through the roof, which is good for the CEOs at the oil and gas companies that Donald is almost certainly getting a kickback from.

At one point in the conversation, the talk turned to interest rates.

Here is what Donald had to say:

It was down to 5 percent. It wasn’t down two or three

The reason it was down was because I had won the election, and it started falling after I won the election, and I started getting prices down from right after November 5th.

Oh wow. That is a trick and a half.

First of all, inflation was down to 3 percent at the end of Biden’s term. The Economist, not exactly known for its left leaning politics, had a cover that said, “America, the American economy, the Biden economy is the envy of the world.”

Okay. So it is a lie that inflation was at 5 percent.

Kevin Warsh, Donald’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, is before the Senate today for his confirmation hearing to replace current Fed chair and apparently enemy of Donald’s, Jerome Powell. Warsh says he will act independently and ignore pressure on interest rates, but that claim is drawing some skepticism, probably because it is a lie.

Republican Senator Tom Tillis says he will not support Warsh until the Justice Department investigation into Powell is resolved. That issue came up this morning when Kernan asked Donald if he would drop that bizarre and frivolous case.

Here is what he had to say:

We have to find out why a small building costs close to four billion. It’s not finished, by the way. They have a long way to go. They rip down the most beautiful ceilings. They will never build them again. The most beautiful, thick, foot and a half thick walls of solid masonry. They are never going to be built again. They put up six inch sheet rock walls and they say, “So we have no insulation. It’s not in the budget.” I mean, they had the best out building. It was so beautiful. I would have fixed that building. I would have had it brand new, beautiful for 25 million, and they are going to spend close to four billion, maybe more than that. I don’t know. It’s not finished. In fact, I looked at it the other day. I’m afraid Kevin will have to have an office next to me in the White House because that building is not going to be done. He is not going to be able to use that building for a long time. And he had a complaint. He said, “I didn’t realize this.” He said the saddest thing is they ripped down the best building. He said there was a building that had beautiful boardrooms that he used many times when he was there, beautiful boardrooms and meeting rooms. It was so beautiful, the nicest in Washington. He said they ripped it down, and maybe they did that to save money like the Gavin Newsom railroad, where they made it shorter in order to save money, but it is still 25 times over budget.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Says the guy who ripped down the east wing of the White House to build a 200 million, wait, no, sorry, 250 million, sorry, 300 million, nope, 350 million, nope, 400 million dollar ballroom.

Also the same guy who, when he was ripping down the Bonwit Teller building in New York City to build the eyesore that is Trump Tower, promised the Metropolitan Museum of Art that he would preserve the art deco friezes on the outside of that Bonwit Teller building and donate them to the museum.

And what did he do to save a couple of bucks.

He turned them into rubble.

There has been a lot of uncertainty about US Iran talks because during the ceasefire, Donald keeps threatening the other side. As it turns out, that uncertainty was warranted because Vice President J.D. Vance traveled all the way to Pakistan to be met with a Lego delegation of fictional Iranians.

I am just kidding.

Iran did not show up.

So Kernan tried to ask about a possible deal with Iran, but Donald had other things on his mind.

Here is what he had to say:

Kernan: So to be clear, you are saying that you need at least the prospects for a signed deal today and tomorrow, or else you would resume bombing Iran.

Donald: Well, I expect to be bombing because I think that is a better attitude to go in with, but we are ready to go. I mean, the military is ready to go. They are absolutely incredible. I built the military in my first term. I am using it now. The military, when I took it over from Barack Hussein Obama, it was so depleted, so sad. And I built it in my first term. You remember those big numbers. You talked to me about it once. That is a lot of money for military. I built it. We did a great job with our military, and we are using it now and rebuilding it too. We have done a lot of rebuilding also in my first year.

Yes. In our almost 250 years, it was not until the idiot who is Donald Trump became president of the United States that we actually had a functioning military.

The United States military budget has been close to a trillion dollars for a very long time now, and I say shame on both parties for that one.

Here is the thing though. It was not falling apart. It was probably the most fierce and well armed military in the history of the world.

The reason, theoretically, we wanted a military that large, that extensive, and that strong was to keep us safe, to keep the rest of the world safe, and in the event we got drawn into conflict so we could defend ourselves appropriately.

It was not built the way it is built so that we could, whenever we wanted, attack other countries unprovoked.

The military is ready to go.

The last resort for any military with leaders who are sane is to get into an armed conflict with an enemy.

So what about those Strait of Hormuz maneuvers?

Remember, Iran closed it. To punish Iran for closing it, Donald blockaded it, and then Iran closed it again. It is very hard to keep straight.

Here is what Donald told Kernan this morning:

Very successfully, the blockade has been a tremendous success. They said two days ago, “We will open the strait.” I said, “No, we are not going to open the strait until we have a final deal.” No, no, we want to open the strait. They said, “We are not opening. We totally control the strait, just so you understand, for all the fake news out there.”

Okay then. That is clear.

The truth of the matter is that whether there is a blockade or Iran closed it, Iran actually does now control the Strait of Hormuz, and their control of the strait may last beyond this war.

Why?

Because Donald has failed so miserably in all of his objectives that he has actually made Iran more powerful now than it has been, certainly in years, if not decades.

All of this is why, in the future, America, you do not put in charge a man who cares about nothing but money and about nothing but metrics like how well the stock market is doing, who does not care at all who dies in his war of choice if it makes him feel better about himself.