'Betting on state secrets': Conservative warns Trump just found new way to rig economy

07/16/26 1:45 PM

President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency dealings earned him a massive amounts of wealth — effectively rigging the whole industry in his favor as if it's one of his old casinos, conservative analyst and talk radio host Erick Erickson warned on Thursday.This comes after financial reports revealed Trump and his family have made over $1.4 billion from crypto assets alone under the new presidency, their single largest gain of assets."In gambling, they say never bet against the house," he wrote. "In crypto, President Trump has positioned himself as the house."Erickson, a committed conservative Republican who nonetheless criticizes the president on occasion, pointed out Trump has made more of a profit on cryptocurrency "than every single publicly traded U.S. cryptocurrency company," which all combined finished out the year half a billion down.The real problem, wrote Erickson, is so much of this money is flowing in from foreign sources."An Abu Dhabi state-backed fund chaired by the UAE’s national security adviser used $2 billion of World Liberty’s stablecoin to finance a deal — weeks before the White House cleared the UAE to buy advanced American AI chips," wrote Erickson. This is by no means the only foreign racket currently in progress, he said. "Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, manages more than $6 billion — 99% of it foreign, including $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund — while Kushner serves as a peace envoy dealing with those very governments," wrote Erickson. All of this only scratches the surface of the problem, Erickson said.If the GOP "meant what they said" in 2016 when they vowed to "drain the swamp," wrote Erickson, "the test is simple, and it applies to their own side: no foreign money flowing to the president’s family while the government it deals with awaits a decision; no regulators dropping cases against companies the first family owns; no one betting on state secrets; real divestment, not divestment to one’s children.""Drain the swamp. Don’t just recycle the water for our side," he concluded.

'Due to Trump’s illegal war': U.S. service members' deaths met with despair and rage

07/18/26 6:27 PM

News that two service members had been killed by direct Iranian fire rocked the nation on Saturday. U.S. Central Command announced the two service member's death, a third's disappearance and four medical evacuations one day after a base was attacked in Jordon. "Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM will withhold additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified," the statement read.Sixteen U.S. service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded since the war began, the Associated Press reported. "The battle over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil," the Associated Press reported. "The strikes threaten civilians and infrastructure, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy again is on alert."Americans responded to the news with words of outrage and despair. "Really awful, dark, foreboding developments in the Middle East over the last 24 hours," wrote MS NOW analyst Sam Stein. "Hard to see how you deescalate from here."Political strategist Mike Nellis condemned President Donald Trump for mounting an attack on Iran without approval from Congress."I will ask again: for what?" Nellis wrote. "Trump has no plan, no clear mission, and he’s getting our sons and daughters killed for his own vanity." Nellis later added, "I’ll tell you what: if Barack Obama had launched an illegal war, 16 U.S. service members were dead, and another was missing in action, the MAGA media machine would be frothing at the mouth. Right now? Quiet as a church mouse. F---ing cowards."Political podcaster Shaykh Sulaiman said simply, "Due to Trump’s illegal war."

'Full-fledged disaster': Trump's new sanction demand fuels rage and conspiracy rhetoric

07/19/26 3:22 PM

President Donald Trump's Sunday morning demand that Republicans "add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill" after two U.S. service members were killed in Jordan has fueled outrage and the spread of conspiracy theories online. Trump's Truth Social comment on the fatal war in Iran referenced death only in his reliance on the name of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). "Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "That’s what Lindsey wanted to do."This comment appears to be a correction of one Trump made earlier in the week — saying Graham would have wanted the Senate to pass the Clarity Act — that reportedly made one ally "wince."“The most obvious and logical way [to honor Graham] would be the sanctions bill, because it’s his bill,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Politico. “You’re not making anything up."The bi-partisan bill would slap sanctions on buyers of Russian oil and gas, according to Politico, in a report describing Graham as a "one of the chamber’s fiercest Russia hawks.""The problem is, the sanctions bill still faces serious doubts among some Republicans," Politico reported. "Graham at multiple points over the past year believed he had talked Trump into backing the measure, only for it to be put on ice as Trump tried to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin."On Sunday, Trump's oft-reported praise of Putin spurred Garry Kasparov, an anti-authoritarian activist, to suggest the Truth Social post foreshadowed a new change to the legislation."Soon, Trump will be saying that Graham really only wanted Iran to be on the sanctions bill and not Russia at all, and that in fact, in private, he thought Putin was a strong leader they could work with," Kasparov wrote. Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski called out Trump for having lifted the sanctions in June."Seems like only yesterday the Trump Admin was lifting sanctions on Iran and declaring victory," he wrote. Activist podcaster Amy Siskind responded by citing recent Wall Street Journal reporting that Iran pocketed up to $6 billion from oil shipments after those sanctions were lifted. "Now Iran is is using that money to target and kill US troops, likely with the help of intelligence from China and Russia," Siskind wrote. "What a full-fledged disaster of foreign policy!"But conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer celebrated Trump's comment and used it as an excuse to recirculate her baseless theory that Graham's "sudden death" had been orchestrated by Russian and Iranian operatives — despite his office confirming cardiovascular disease was the root cause. "President Trump just called for Republicans to add Iran to the Russian sanctions bill," Loomer wrote. "Great idea. And then the DOJ needs to arrest every single American Woke Reich influencer who is colluding with Russia and Iran and attending their state sponsored propaganda tours. Their assets should be frozen."