The Daily Wrap Up

A War Within a War

Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth

[Transcript edited for clarity, flow and length]

On Tuesday morning at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stood alongside Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Cain to brief reporters on the latest developments in the Iranian conflict, including ongoing clashes in the Strait of Hormuz and the Trump regime’s effort to escort commercial ships through the region.

This is what he said:

Pete Hegseth: Well, as you know, President Trump has directed US Central Command to restart the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz under the umbrella of Project Freedom. To be clear, this operation is separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury. Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration with one mission, protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression. American forces won’t need to enter Iranian waters or airspace. It’s not necessary. We’re not looking for a fight, but Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway. Iran is the clear aggressor, harassing civilian vessels, threatening mariners from every nation indiscriminately, and weaponizing a critical choke point for its own financial benefit, at least trying to.

Donald started an illegal and unconstitutional war of choice against Iran despite the advice of senior military officials who knew this is exactly what would happen.

So, in other words, Donald and Hegseth are presenting to the American people a solution for a problem they created. A problem that did not exist before Donald’s illegal and unconstitutional war.

Also, I do not know about you, but I am tired of these little boys playing soldier. The language they use, the way they discuss combat and conflict as if it were some kind of video game. These are not serious people. And what is worse is that they are so incompetent they do not understand how any of this works.

Why is that a problem? Because this situation is going to get much worse before it gets better, and the people in charge do not know what they are doing.

Hegseth was asked directly whether escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran now controls and has closed, means that the ceasefire is over.

Reporter: Last 24 hours or so, Iran’s fired at us. We fired at Iran. I’m just going to ask you more directly. Is the ceasefire over?

Pete Hegseth: No, the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project, and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that. And ultimately, the president’s going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire, but certainly we would urge Iran to be prudent in the actions that they take to keep that underneath this threshold. This is about the straits, this is about freedom of navigation, this is about international waterways, this is about free flow of commerce, all the things that happened before, and only Iran is contesting. So right now, the ceasefire certainly holds, but we’re going to be watching very, very closely.

So now we have a war within a war.

Are we going to pretend that both sides firing at each other is somehow part of a peace process? And then, of course, there is the claim that it is Iran’s fault for trying to profit from control of the Strait of Hormuz, a position of power that we handed to them.

Hegseth was also pressed on why the Trump regime appears to be backing off its demand for Iran’s unconditional surrender.

Reporter: On the first day of this conflict, President Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and said, When we’re finished, take over your government. It’ll be yours to take. And then on the seventh day of the conflict, the president said there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. What happens to that pledge, and when did the president decide to capitulate?

Pete Hegseth: I wouldn’t say the president has capitulated on anything. He holds the cards. We maintain the upper hand and Project Freedom only strengthens that hand. He will ensure that whatever deal is made creates an end state where Iran never has a nuclear weapon.

I am not sure there is a universe in which it cannot be objectively said that Donald has capitulated.

He told the Iranian people we would help them take their country back. That did not happen. Their country has been severely attacked, and they have been abandoned. He said we would force regime change. That did not happen. The regime remains in place and is now more powerful. He called for unconditional surrender. That did not happen either.

And now Iran is more powerful than it was before Donald’s illegal and unconstitutional war of choice. The likelihood that Iran will surrender control of the Strait of Hormuz or agree to anything resembling the Iran nuclear deal decreases by the day.

Meanwhile, as all of this unfolds, AAA reports that as of the morning of May 5, 2026, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline has climbed to $4.48. That is an increase of $1.32 since this unnecessary and unprovoked war began.

The sudden increase in jet fuel prices was instrumental in driving Spirit Airlines out of business, no matter how much Republicans try to blame Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, or Elizabeth Warren.

All of this failure is making Donald increasingly desperate. He is now floating the idea that election results he disagrees with should simply be rerun, even if it means forcing people to vote again.

This is what he posted:

Donald: We cannot allow there to be an election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the convenience of state legislatures. If they have to vote twice, so be it. We should demand that state legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done. That is more important than administrative convenience. The byproduct is that Republicans will receive more than 20 House seats in the upcoming midterms.

Because of the Supreme Court’s actions, the gerrymandering that is likely to happen will advantage Republicans if state legislatures allow it.

And if they do, Democrats will need to respond.

At the bottom of this problem is something very simple. Donald knows that if elections were held today, Republicans would lose in a landslide because of him and their devotion to him. So they are trying to get ahead of it. Because that is the only way he can continue to escape accountability. But there is something else driving this as well.

Donald’s psychological defect. He believes he should always win. Even if it means cheating. So we should expect him to pursue every possible avenue to do exactly that in 2026.