The Daily Wrap Up

20 April, 2026

Iranian state media released footage showing naval forces asserting control over international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, directing vessels to follow routes approved by Tehran.

[Transcript edited for clarity, flow and length]

This weekend, after Donald’s fake ceasefire was threatened by Iranians firing on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, he went on to his failing social media site, where he is now also trying to sell weight loss drugs. But mostly, he was interested in threatening more war crimes.

He wrote, “Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the State of Hormuz, a total violation of our ceasefire. My representatives are going to Islamabad Pakistan. Iran recently announced that they were closing the straight, which is strange because our blockade has already closed it.” To which I must say, as myself, you cannot close something that was already closed.

But let me continue with Donald’s very well considered, measured, and sane social media post.

They are the ones that lose the closed passage $500 million a day. The United States loses nothing. In fact, many ships are headed right now to the US.

Here is more of what he had to say:

Iran, always wanting to be the tough guy. We are offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and in the spirit of being reasonable and fair, I hope they take it.

And then he continued with this:

I hope they take it because if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single power plant and every single bridge in Iran. No more Mr. Nice guy. If they don’t take the deal, it will be my honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran by other presidents for the last 47 years. It is time for the Iran killing machine to end.

I think it is important to make the subtext text, because we know what he is saying. He is threatening to commit war crimes if his demands are not met.

The reason he has to make those demands is because he, single handedly, has rehabilitated Iran as a factor in the Middle East. Iran is now more powerful than it was before the war and probably than it has been in decades.

Well done, Donald.

The only way he can get himself out of the corner he has painted himself into is to blow the whole country up. Remember the threats of genocide?

Well, according to Iran state media, they have not yet decided if they will send a delegation to Pakistan to negotiate with Donald’s representatives. And here is the thing. Why would they.

What they are doing is working. Their propaganda campaign against Donald in particular, and the American government in general, is working. It is driving Donald crazy. It is getting under his skin.

And despite Donald’s protestations to the contrary, by controlling the Strait of Hormuz and starting to impose a toll on every ship allowed through, Iran is getting richer and American taxpayers are suffering.

Because last I checked, oil is still more than $3.50 a gallon more expensive than it was before Donald’s illegal and unconstitutional war of choice.

Turns out that, speaking of the American taxpayer, we are going to be providing Donald with $10 billion more for his completely corrupt and inconsequential Board of Peace.

Here is what Donald had to say this weekend:

The Board of Peace is showing how a better future can be built, starting right here in this room. I want to let you know that the United States is going to make a contribution of $10 billion to the Board of Peace. Thank you.

One, with whose authorization? And two, for what?

Because I do not know if you have noticed this, but none of the countries on the so called Board of Peace, of which Donald is the chair in perpetuity, is doing anything to help resolve the problems in the Middle East.

Let us check in on Donald’s polling.

Here is what Steve Kornacki had to say:

Donald Trump’s standing with the public here now is an approval rating in our poll of just 37 percent. The last time this poll reported out a couple of months ago, it was 39 percent. The big change from then to now, of course, is the launch of the war in Iran and everything that has continued to happen there. So down to 37 percent approval for Trump. Mention Iran and look at this. A big driver of that clearly is how that war is going. Only a third of adults approve of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran. There is a quarter, I should say, one quarter of Republicans say they disapprove. Those who call themselves Republicans. That might be something to keep an eye on. This continues to be a problem for the president, inflation, the cost of living.

Also, on top of that, somebody in Donald’s administration just told a journalist that gas is most likely going to be above $3 a gallon for the foreseeable future, maybe into 2027, which, by the way, is probably overly optimistic.

So Donald’s polling numbers are in free fall across the board. He is underwater in every single category.

But here is the thing. We have to act like that is not the case, because Americans have very short term memories. What we need to worry about is what happens if some deal is made in Iran that the American media pretends is some kind of win for Donald.

Because let us be real. No matter what happens, this has been an epic disaster of his making. But if it can be spun differently, it will be spun differently.

One of the reasons that optimism is misplaced is because, let us say for the sake of argument, the Strait opens tomorrow and 100 percent of pre war traffic is allowed through. Do you know how many weeks it is going to take for us to catch up. Do you know how many weeks, if not months, it is going to take for prices to come down?

As is often the case, oil and gas prices go up quickly, but it takes a very long time to bring them down again. So this should be an issue at least through the midterms. Thankfully, this is a bad issue for the Republicans and, of course, for Donald.

But let us not get complacent, because there is a chance that Donald might be able to come to some deal with Iran that is not completely disastrous for the United States, even though it will still be bad for us and good for Iran.

It is the American media’s seeming knee jerk reaction to turn anything into Donald’s benefit. So we have to worry that the media is going to spin any kind of deal in a way that makes him look good. And because American voters have very short term memories, they may just think that everything is fine.

In a way, of course, that they did not when Biden was in office.

Why?

Because the American media’s default position is to support Republicans and make them look better than they are, or at least less bad than they are. So we are going to keep an eye on these polls, because they are epically bad and they are in free fall. He is underwater across the board. So my advice?

Let us keep it that way.