Donald Trump’s unhinged 24 hours as high aide tears his excuse for the Iran War to items
The day started badly with some pretty disastrous inflation figures. Then Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence tried to rinse his reasoning for launching the war in Iran without anyone noticing… on live TV.
A haunted-looking Trump on his way to pay respects to people killed in his war(Image: AP)
Donald Trump spent most of today away from the cameras – and if I were him, I’d have done the same.
The day started badly with some pretty disastrous inflation figures. Then his Director of National Intelligence tried to rinse his reasoning for launching the war in Iran without anyone noticing… on live TV. And then his pick to replace Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security got in a slanging match at his confirmation hearing.
Still, at least Trump took his hat off to watch the bodies come home.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Inflation was way worse than expected – even before the war
US inflation figures came out this morning, and they were not what the Trump administration was hoping for.
Prices rose by 0.7% from January to February, which is about 0.5 points higher than expected. The year-on-year increase of 3.4% was the highest since February 2025.
To put that into perspective, have a look at the faces of these two Fox Business News anchors as they try to cope with the news…
The news sent the stock markets tumbling – not just because they were higher than expected, but because they were going up before Trump started dropping bombs on Iran and spiking oil prices. Not good news for the Trump administration.
2. Trump’s anti-War National Intelligence chief tries her best not to throw him under the bus, but kinda does anyway
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s National Intelligence Director – who was so opposed to the idea of war in Iran that she sold tee shirts on her website that said “NO WAR IN IRAN” on them in 2020 – did her best not to throw her boss under the bus. But she kinda did anyway.
There was a little confusion when she appeared before Congress today. See, in her written statement to the committee, she said last year’s strikes on Iran had indeed obliterated their imminent ability to make nuclear weapons. “There have been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability,” she wrote.
But when it came time to read out her submission, she just…skipped that bit. Presumably thinking that if she didn’t read out the part where she completely contradicted the one thing Trump was leaning on to justify his war of choice, then she wouldn’t get in trouble.
Unfortunately for her, people noticed. “You chose to omit the parts that contradict Trump,” Democrat Senator Mark Warner noted.
She proceeded to dance around questions from fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff about whether there was an imminent threat of a nuclear attack from Iran. She told Sen. Ossoff that it wasn’t the intelligence community’s job to determine what is an imminent threat against the US and put that responsibility on Trump.
“The only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president,” Gabbard said.
Ossoff accused her of avoiding a direct answer “because to provide a candid response to the committee would contradict a statement from the White House.”
3. Trump’s new ICE boss says he shouldn’t have called protester killed by ICE ‘deranged’
Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s pick to replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, admitted calling Alex Pretti, a protester killed by ICE agents in Minnesota “deranged” was probably not a good thing.
Retracting the comments at a confirmation hearing before the Senate, he said: “I shouldn’t have said that and as secretary, I wouldn’t.”
The first part of the hearing was marked by a fiery opening statement by Republican committee chair Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Paul challenged Mullin’s fitness for the role, pointing to comments Mullin made after a funding fight, when he called Paul a “freaking snake” and said he understood why a neighbor had tackled Paul in a lawn care dispute. That incident happened several years ago, and Paul suffered multiple broken ribs and later underwent surgeries he linked to the attack.
“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force?” Paul said.
Mullin refused to back down to Paul, in a display that Trump is likely to expect and appreciate.
“For you to say I’m a liar, sir, that’s not accurate,” Mullin said.
Paul later said he would not vote for Mullin’s confirmation.
4. Trump takes off his hat for fallen soldiers, this time
Donald Trump flew to Dover, Delaware today to pay respects as the remains of six US service members were returned to their families. The six crew members were killed when their KC-135 aircraft went down over friendly territory in western Iraq while supporting operations.
Trump faced heavy criticism at a similar ceremony last week, after he wore a white ‘USA’ baseball cap as the coffins were carried off the plane. Later, his Political Action Committee used a photo of him at the ceremony at the top of a fundraising email.
Trump didn’t stop to answer questions from the media upon returning to the White House.
