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Aug 24, 2026 - World

The Trump administration is poised to unveil its new “economic D-Day” plan Monday afternoon as part of its latest ploy to force Iran into submission, but in doing so, is destined to trigger a “predictable, catastrophic reaction,” warned international security expert Robert Pape.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed the plan Sunday in an op-ed published in the Financial Times, in which he revealed that the Trump administration was readying the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.” While specific details of the plan have yet to be revealed, its key component will be the use of secondary sanctions, which aim to harshly penalize any nation or entity that financially supports Iran.Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, warned Monday in an analysis that the Trump administration’s plan was not only doomed to fail, but would likely backfire in a spectacular fashion.“It is a seductive promise. It is also flatly contradicted by history. My 30 years of research on wartime blockades and economic sanctions shows a brutal reality: maximum economic pressure alone has not won a single major war since 1918,” Pape wrote in an analysis published on his Substack.“From the post-WWI blockades to modern conflicts, massive economic sieges consistently fail to break a regime’s political will. Instead, they often trigger a predictable, catastrophic reaction. By backing Tehran into a corner, this financial siege poses an imminent risk to global energy markets, threatening to shut down critical shipping lanes and spike oil prices overnight.”Perhaps the most notable example of sanctions failing to achieve a stated end is the United States’ 66-year embargo against Cuba, which has been internationally condemned since 1992 for its impact on Cubans. The embargo was imposed shortly after the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, who permitted Cuba to become what’s been described as a “virtual slave state,” allowing its resources and infrastructure to be largely “owned by American companies.”“Bessent’s strategy isn’t going to end the war,” Pape continued. “It is actively walking Washington straight into a devastating stage of the escalation trap.”

Aug 24, 2026 - World

A major donor to President Donald Trump is pleading with the commander in chief to get his “head in the game” and walk back his latest move that Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng called “insanely stupid” and an “imperialistic disgrace.”On Friday, trade talks between the United States and Canada imploded, leading Trump to impose a 50% tariff on a number of Canadian goods. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to match those tariffs “dollar for dollar.” Beyond the tit-for-tat tariffs, however, the Trump administration has gone scorched earth on its neighbor to the north.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took to Fox News Sunday to threaten Canada with “devastating” consequences if it doesn’t return to the negotiating table, going as far as to suggest the United States may no longer protect its NATO ally militarily.“What happened this weekend wasn’t just folly and ‘Idiocracy.’ It was a scandal – an imperialistic disgrace that’s been going on far too long,” Suebsaeng wrote in an analysis published Monday in Zeteo.To get a better understanding of what some of Trump’s backers thought about the president’s latest trade war, Suebsaeng spoke with Dan Eberhart, a major Trump backer who personally contributed $100,000 and raised $500,000 for the president’s 2020 re-election campaign, according to Fox News.Eberhart was not a fan.“We need Trump’s head in the game to win the midterms,” Eberhart told Suebsaeng. “Republicans are better off with Trump holding rallies and holding off on a trade war with Canada.”Trump’s tariffs have been costly for Americans, who studies show have absorbed almost all of the price hikes caused by the elevated import taxes. On average, American households paid an average of $1,745 more due to tariffs during the first 11 months of Trump’s presidency, according to a study from the Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

Aug 24, 2026 - World

The announcement over the weekend by President Donald Trump to set off a major trade war with Canada got a huge thumbs down from the Wall Street Journal editorial board late Sunday.Not pulling any punches, the editors called it "The Dumbest Trade War Revisited" in the headline.The Journal's editors noted that Trump took exception last year when they called his tariffs against Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history and responded with, "It got dumber this weekend as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections."Trump issued his latest tariff threat against Canada last month under Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act. The law lets the President impose tariffs up to 50% on countries that discriminate against "commerce of the United States, directly or indirectly," with the editors pointedly adding, "No previous President has used this power."Trump set a deadline of midnight on Friday for Canada to reach a deal to avert 50% tariffs on $20 billion of goods. The countries were close to an agreement until "the cease-fire blew up" at the last minute, with each side blaming the other.Trump's threatened tariffs took effect Saturday morning. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened to retaliate dollar-for-dollar starting September 8. Both sides could still walk back from the ledge, though Trump's escalation could make this harder for Carney politically since Canadians don't like being bullied by Washington, the editors insisted.To justify his new tariffs, Trump said Canada discriminated against the U.S. by retaliating against his national-security tariffs on autos. He also claimed that Canadian provinces had restricted sales of U.S. alcoholic beverages in response to his "emergency" tariffs last year.The editors concluded, "Mr. Trump’s latest round of border taxes will hit an array of consumer goods, construction materials and manufacturing components. Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs and inflation. One reason for Mr. Trump’s frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy, and on trade they’re right."

Aug 23, 2026 - World

The Trump administration deported a father of two who helped them prosecute Mexican drug cartels and put him at extreme risk of torture, Maryland court records show. The man, identified only as John Doe, was the subject of a memorandum opinion filed Friday by U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher.Doe was granted Deferral of Removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2024 after an immigration judge found he would likely be tortured if returned to Mexico, where he had testified against cartel-affiliated defendants on behalf of the Justice Department.Journalist Kyle Cheney wrote on social media Sunday that Doe "was illegally removed three times in recent weeks," including once to Mexico despite his CAT protection. Gallagher's opinion details a chaotic series of removals beginning in July, including one attempt to deport Doe to Guatemala, which refused to accept him and handed him to Mexican officials, who also declined to take him. Doe was deported to Mexico outright on Aug. 1 “without his phone or other personal belongings.”The opinion notes that Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director David Venturella and Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally moved to terminate Doe's CAT protection just days before his removal in a process the court called "extremely rare,” and with no explanation in the record for their involvement.Former immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote that Doe "put himself at enormous risk to turn on the cartels and testify against them, making him a target for a hideous death if they ever got their hands on him," adding that "the Trump admin deported him to Mexico anyway."Journalist Christy Somos described the pattern more broadly, writing that the administration is "just grabbing people and throwing them wherever – other countries, camps, in danger."Gallagher ordered Doe's immediate return and directed that he be detained within 200 miles of Baltimore, Maryland, if held further, with daily status reports required until he arrives.A man who aided US authorities by testifying against Mexican cartels was illegally removed *three times* in recent weeks — including to Mexico, where he had protection from deportation due to threat of torture/death.A judge in MD has ordered his return.https://t.co/McUyfk3yFL pic.twitter.com/7hlurhoRG4— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 23, 2026

Aug 23, 2026 - World

Onlookers were left stunned Sunday as new details emerged regarding the now-collapsed U.S.-Canada trade negotiations, details that include a series of extraordinary demands from the Trump administration.Trade talks between Washington and Ottawa fell through Friday, leading both nations to vow to impose tariffs on each other. President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a number of Canadian goods, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to match those tariffs “dollar for dollar.”As to why the talks fell through, a number of news outlets, along with Carney himself, have since revealed a series of “last-minute” demands proposed by the Trump administration that critics argued "encroached on Canadian sovereignty.”Carney claimed that Trump demanded “Canada change its French language.” Carney also claimed that the Trump administration “introduced language in the final hours of negotiations that would have restricted Canada’s ability to make trade deals with other countries,” the Associated Press reported Sunday.Accepting such terms, Carney said, would have reduced Canada to “the economic equivalent of the 51st state.”Luis Moreno, the former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, called the Trump administration’s demands “utter and total insanity.” Arnaud Bertrand, a notable entrepreneur, described the Trump administration’s demands as “insane,” and called them “de-facto annexation.”Canadian physician and health commentator Kashif Pirzada also expressed shock, calling the Trump administration’s demands “basically colonization through the back door,” and author and military researcher Chris Owen argued there was no scenario in which Canada would even entertain such demands.“The US wanted Canada to automatically mirror US tariffs and break its own existing trade deals with its partners – in effect running Ottawa's trade policy from Washington,” Owen wrote Sunday in a social media post on X. “No country could have accepted that.”Utter and total insanity. WOW. https://t.co/NctaFqiEFV— Luis Moreno (@LuisMorenolg) August 23, 2026