Top Items:
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Trump to America: Thank Me for Your Gas Bill — At today's Pentagon press briefing on the ongoing war in Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth started the show laser-focused on what really matters: not that more American service members had lost their lives in the Middle East …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Hill and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »
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Sebastian Murdock / HuffPost:
Trump Says Iran War Will End ‘When I Feel It In My Bones’ — It's another stunning admission that the president and his administration have no real timeline for ending the conflict. — President Donald Trump did little to reassure Americans that war with Iran will end anytime soon …
Discussion:
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Raw Story, MS NOW, The Hill, The Guardian, PoliticusUSA and The Philadelphia Inquirer
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Pete Hegseth Says ‘the Sooner David Ellison’ Buys CNN, ‘the Better’ — The remarks fueled concerns that CNN's prospective new owner may shift its coverage in a Trump-friendly direction. — Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, said on Friday that he was looking forward to CNN being controlled …
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, RedState, Raw Story, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, IJR and New Republic, more at Mediagazer »
Alex Leary / Wall Street Journal:
Trump: Will “Feel It in My Bones” When Iran War Should End
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CNBC, New York Post, Mediaite, New Republic, Reuters, Raw Story and WKZO
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Raging at Media, Pete Hegseth Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
Raging at Media, Pete Hegseth Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
Discussion:
Mediaite, Raw Story, Newsweek, The Independent, New York Magazine, The Daily Wire, Newsbusters and BizPac Review
CNN:
Trump administration underestimated Iran war's impact on Strait of Hormuz
Trump administration underestimated Iran war's impact on Strait of Hormuz
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Examiner, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, RedState, Breitbart, The Hill, HuffPost, Media Matters for America, New Republic, MS NOW, The American Conservative, The Nation, The Hollywood Reporter, Good Politics/Bad Politics, Mediaite, Deadline, Semafor, HotAir, BBC, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, Forbes and Sky News
Paul Waldman / The Cross Section:
Welcome to the Derp State
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Scoop: Trump claimed in G7 call that Iran is “about to surrender”
Scoop: Trump claimed in G7 call that Iran is “about to surrender”
Discussion:
CNBC, CBS News, HotAir, NewsMax.com, Metro.co.uk, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Week and Los Angeles Times
Will Saletan / The Bulwark:
The Trump War Glossary: What He *Really* Means About Iran
The Trump War Glossary: What He *Really* Means About Iran
Discussion:
Reuters, The Free Press, Time and American Greatness
Lara Seligman / Wall Street Journal:
Pentagon Is Moving Additional Marines, Warships to the Middle East — The Pentagon is moving additional Marines and warships to the Middle East as Iran steps up its attacks on the Strait of Hormuz, according to three U.S. officials. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved a request …
Discussion:
New York Post, NPR, The Daily Wire, Townhall, Asia Times, 77 WABC, The Maritime Executive, The Daily Caller, USA Today, Forbes, Mediaite and Middle East Monitor
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Axios:
U.S. sending USS Tripoli, thousands of Marines to Middle East — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sending an amphibious assault ship, the USS Tripoli, and its Marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Axios on Friday.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, Metro.co.uk, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, The National Pulse, New Republic and WTOP News
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Pete Hegseth on Strait of Hormuz: 'Don't need to worry about it'
Pete Hegseth on Strait of Hormuz: 'Don't need to worry about it'
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, ABC News, The Atlantic, Council on Foreign Relations, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, 19FortyFive, Axios, Newsweek, TMZ.com, Truthout, The Daily Signal, Raw Story, Reuters, CBS News, Human Events, HuffPost, The Hill, Mediaite, Bloomberg, National Politics, IJR, New York Post, Little Green Footballs and NewsMax.com
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Exclusive: Grenell expected to shift out of Kennedy Center leadership on Monday — Ric Grenell plans to transition out of his role as president of the 54-year-old Kennedy Center on Monday, as the nation's premier performing arts venue finalizes plans for a two-year shutdown for renovations, Axios has learned.
Discussion:
NBC News, CBS News, The Hill, Advocate, The Daily Caller and Courthouse News Service
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Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Kennedy Center's President Is Leaving After Tumultuous Year — Since Richard Grenell was appointed by President Trump, the arts center has endured a wave of cancellations and departures. It will soon close for lengthy renovations. — Richard Grenell, a close ally of President Trump …
Discussion:
The National Pulse
CNN:
Exclusive: Trump is preparing to replace Ric Grenell as head of the Kennedy Center — President Donald Trump is expected to remove Richard Grenell as head of the Kennedy Center, according to three sources familiar with the matter. — The move comes as the arts and culture institution …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Wrap and Raw Story
Emmett Lindner / New York Times:
How This Oil Supply Shock Compares With the Embargo of 1973 — Governments have stockpiled oil, and cars are more efficient but the supply shock is global, and there's no sense of when it'll end. — In October 1973, oil-producing countries in the Middle East imposed an oil embargo …
Discussion:
WKZO, IEA, Politico and Washington Examiner
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Evan Halper / Washington Post:
Trump administration allows for Russian oil sales as energy prices soar
Discussion:
New York Times, Straight Arrow News, Financial Times, The Hill, CNN, Wall Street Journal, NewsMax.com, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, France 24, Daily Mail, EconomyNext, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Reuters, Politico, The Floridian, New York Post, Forbes, The American Conservative, CNBC, CBS News, Mediaite, Raw Story, CoinDesk, WTOP News and BizPac Review
Politico:
Vance was ‘skeptical’ voice in White House on Iran strikes … A second senior Trump official said “his role is to provide the president and the administration, you know, all points of views of what could happen from many different angles and, you know, he does that. But once the decision has been made, he's fully on board.”
NBC News:
Judge blocks subpoenas against Fed Chair Jerome Powell, citing ‘essentially zero evidence’ — Powell said the subpoenas were related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings. — A federal judge on Friday said he was blocking subpoenas …
Discussion:
CNBC, Democracy Docket, Reuters, Fox News, New York Times, Politico, The Guardian, RedState, Washington Times, Associated Press, Newsweek, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, WKZO, MS NOW, Mediaite, Scripps News, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill and NewsMax.com
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New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Blocks Subpoenas in Powell Investigation — What We're Covering Today — Powell Inquiry: A federal judge blocked an attempt by the Justice Department to issue subpoenas to the Federal Reserve as part of its investigation targeting the central bank's chair, Jerome H. Powell.
Patrick Smith / NBC News:
All 6 U.S. crew members killed after refueling plane crashes in Iraq — The crash brings the number of U.S. service personnel killed since the Iran war began Feb. 28 to 12. A 13th died of a medical issue. — ADD NBC NEWS TO GOOGLE — All six U.S. crew members have been confirmed dead …
Discussion:
New York Times, Time, Associated Press, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Salon, The Hill, KHOU-TV, Forbes, Military and Veteran …, Breaking Defense, Daily Mail, Raw Story, WXIA-TV, Axios, Human Events, The Floridian, CNBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Wall Street Journal and Task & Purpose
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Paul McLeary / Politico:
Hegseth, attacking press, declares victory is near amid ongoing Iran conflict
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Africa Today News, New York, DNYUZ and Defense One
Eric Niiler / New York Times:
Trump Administration Readies Plans to Dismantle Renowned Science Lab — Proposals include transferring a supercomputer to the University of Wyoming and shifting a space weather lab to a private company. — The Trump administration is reviewing proposals to break up one of the world's leading climate …
Talmon Joseph Smith / New York Times:
Consumer Prices Rose in January, Before Iran War Added Price Pressures — The economy also grew more slowly at the end of 2025 than first thought, revised data showed. — Economic growth was slower at the end of 2025 than data first showed and inflationary pressures persisted at the start of this year …
Discussion:
Reuters, Associated Press, DNYUZ, Reason, Semafor and Buenos Aires Times
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Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Fourth-quarter GDP revised down to just 0.7% growth; January core inflation was 3.1%
Discussion:
WKZO, Democrats, MS NOW, New Republic and Washington Examiner
Justin Lahart / Wall Street Journal:
Economy Was Even Slower in Fourth Quarter, New Estimate Shows
Economy Was Even Slower in Fourth Quarter, New Estimate Shows
Discussion:
CNN, Associated Press, U.S. Bureau …, Raw Story and Fox Business
Brandy Zadrozny / MS NOW:
Dark money group offers influencers $1,500 for posts attacking Chicago Democratic primary candidate — Progressive House candidate Kat Abughazaleh told MS NOW the secretive campaign is “filled with false and defamatory claims.” — A week out from a crowded and contentious Democratic primary …
Discussion:
New Republic and Election Law Blog
David Zimmermann / Washington Examiner:
Sinema admits to affair with bodyguard in motion to dismiss lawsuit from his ex-wife — Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) admitted to having a sexual affair with her past bodyguard in a new motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the guard's ex-wife last year.
Discussion:
TMZ.com, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Daily Mail, Newsweek and The National Pulse
Will Sommer / The Bulwark:
How a Catch-a-Predator Sting Nabbed a Right-Wing Hatemonger — Was Jake Lang evaluating a teenage girl for a bikinis-and-burkas protest? Or was something more lecherous at play? — ∙ Paid — Welcome back to False Flag! … ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS HATEMONGERS on the far right appears …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Judge Says Trans Rights Case Is About ‘Swinging Dicks,’ Berates ‘Woke’ Colleagues — “This is a case about swinging dicks,” began 9th Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke in his dissent. — The case in question centered on the policy of two Korean spas in Washington state that allowed only …
Discussion:
HotAir, The Daily Signal, Slate, Not the Bee, Daily Caller News Foundation and The Gateway Pundit
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
I graphed every president's approval rating during “rally around the flag” events — Donald Trump launched airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. In the two weeks since, I've already written about how the public opposed the strikes from the start and how nearly every poll on the war so far confirms this trend.
Discussion:
Newsweek
Sam Levin / The Guardian:
ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony — Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’ — US immigration agents in Oregon used a custom-made app to identify neighborhoods …
Discussion:
El País
Financial Times:
France and Italy open talks with Iran in hope of securing safe Hormuz passage — Europeans look for ways to restart energy shipments as Iran's new supreme leader vows to keep strait shut — European countries including France have opened talks with Tehran seeking to negotiate a deal …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Forbes, NewsMax.com, Reuters, The Gateway Pundit, NBC News, Agence France-Presse and France 24
Politico:
‘Oh, boy’: Oil industry frets over Trump's profit-minded Iran post … “The idea that the industry profits from war and death is not one a VP of public relations wants to promote,” said Mark Jones, political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. — Trump's post drew groans from some in the industry.
Discussion:
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Truthout, New Republic and IJR
Maxine Joselow / New York Times:
E.P.A. Moves to Weaken Limits on a Cancer-Causing Gas — The gas, ethylene oxide, plays a crucial role in sterilizing medical devices. But long-term exposure is linked to several types of cancer and other ailments. — The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed to weaken limits …
Discussion:
Grist, Associated Press, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, WKZO and The Washington Free Beacon
Politico:
Hegseth ignored military officials when he slashed offices that limit risk to civilians … The high level of opposition to the cuts, which has not been previously reported, hints at the tension between top military officials and their civilian leader over the rules of engagement in combat, which the Pentagon chief has called “stupid.”
Discussion:
New York Times, JURISTnews, U.S. House Representative …, The Hill and Mediaite
Wall Street Journal:
Hegseth: Strait of Hormuz Is Open — The Strait of Hormuz is open for transit, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping,” he said. “It is open for transit should Iran not do that.”
New York Times:
What Are We Living Through in Trump 2.0? Here Are 3 Possibilities. — From the whirlwind start of the second Trump administration through the war in Iran, Americans have been put to a very difficult task: How are they to make sense of this cascade of events?
