Good morning, I’m Thom Hartmann.
Trump is now floating the idea of letting Iran’s neighbors take over the Strait of Hormuz while threatening to “finish off” what remains of the Iranian government. Economists are warning the war is about to hit your wallet hard. The first week of combat alone cost American taxpayers $11.3 billion. And CBS News, now under the control of billionaire David Ellison and “anti-woke” editor Bari Weiss, is losing viewers by the millions while cozying up to MAGA and running cover for a war that is killing American kids. That’s what we have this morning.
If you’re new here, Raw America is Raw Story and Really American’s people-powered response to MAGA and the billionaire takeover of American media. Networks like CNN and CBS are not asking hard questions about this war. They are running cover for it. The FCC chair is threatening to pull broadcast licenses from any outlet that doesn’t fall in line. We don’t have a billionaire writing us checks. We have you. Please become a paid subscriber today at the link below. Independent journalism that challenges power has never been more important, and we cannot do it without your support.
Trump Threatens to “Finish Off” Iran and Hand Over the Strait
Running out of allies and running low on options, Trump floated a dramatic new threat Wednesday on Truth Social, suggesting the United States could simply destroy what remains of the Iranian government and then leave Europe responsible for securing the Strait of Hormuz.
“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’” Trump wrote, appearing to misspell “strait.” “That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!”
This is where we are three weeks into a war launched without a coalition, without a plan for the strait, and without an exit. NATO allies have largely ignored or rejected Trump’s calls for military assistance. Iran has vowed to block any U.S.-aligned vessels from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping lane carrying roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil. And rather than diplomacy, Trump’s answer is a Truth Social post threatening to blow up what’s left and hand the keys to Europe.
It is worth noting this is the first time Trump has floated the idea of other countries effectively taking control of one of the world’s most critical shipping routes. Whether our allies take that seriously after weeks of being berated and ignored remains to be seen.
What we’re watching here isn’t just reckless foreign policy. It’s what happens when a democracy elects a man with no accountability to anyone, no congressional declaration of war, and no diplomatic framework to fall back on. Every great republic in history that abandoned its alliances and started wars of choice eventually paid a price it couldn’t afford.
Economists Warn the Iran War Is Coming for Your Wallet
The human cost of Trump’s Iran war is already staggering. Now economists are warning the financial cost is about to land on every American family.
Experts surveyed by a leading economic research group say the war will continue driving up oil prices and inflation, stifle U.S. growth, and make it all but certain the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates this year. Crude oil has repeatedly topped $100 a barrel since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, something sources say the Trump administration shockingly failed to plan for when launching the conflict.
Of the economists surveyed, roughly 68 percent believe GDP growth will take a hit of at least 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points if oil stays at $100 for the rest of the year. More than 80 percent said inflation could rise by as much as an additional 0.5 percentage points. Personal consumption expenditures inflation is already at 2.8 percent, well above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to hold interest rates Thursday. One economist put it plainly: “The uncertainty is so high that you have to wait. I would be waiting. But I would be unhappy that I had to start from here.”
And what does the White House say about the pain heading toward American consumers? Kevin Hassett, Trump’s top economic advisor, said this week that consumer hardship from the war is “really the last of our concerns right now.”
The last of their concerns. Remember that the next time you fill up your tank.
This is the oldest story in American politics. The people who start the wars never feel them. The people who pay for the wars never voted for them. And when the bill comes due at the gas pump and the grocery store, the working families of this country will be left holding it while the decision-makers move on to the next crisis they created.
$11.3 Billion in Week One
The Pentagon has told lawmakers that the United States spent $11.3 billion in just the first six days of the Iran war. That number covers only the bombs dropped. It does not include troop deployment, naval operations, or the ongoing costs of a conflict now entering its fourth week.
To put that in context: $11.3 billion is more than the entire annual budget of the Environmental Protection Agency. It exceeds the CDC’s full yearly budget. It is more than the National Cancer Institute spends in a year and more than the entire federal allocation for scientific research through the National Science Foundation.
The same administration that spent $11.3 billion on bombs in six days has proposed cutting the EPA and the NSF by more than 50 percent. It fired scientists, canceled cancer research grants, and gutted public health agencies in the name of eliminating waste. Elon Musk’s DOGE operation tore through federal agencies declaring zero tolerance for spending it deemed unnecessary.
As one Harvard Medical School professor put it: “With that money, we could be doubling public health expenditures or doubling environmental protections. We could bring healthcare to millions of Americans. Instead, we are putting that money into a war of choice.”
Congress has so far pushed back on the proposed agency cuts, passing budgets closer to previous levels. But the contrast is now impossible to ignore. There is no money for clean air, cancer research, or healthcare. There is always money for bombs.
This isn’t a budget debate. It’s a statement of values. A government that can find $11 billion in six days for bombs but can’t find money to research cancer or protect the air your kids breathe has made a very clear choice about whose lives it thinks matter.
CBS News Bets on MAGA, Loses Viewers, and Runs Cover for the War
CBS Evening News, now anchored by Tony Dokoupil under the direction of billionaire David Ellison and anti-woke editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, drew fewer than 3.83 million viewers last week. ABC’s World News Tonight pulled in nearly 8.48 million over the same period. NBC Nightly News drew 6.51 million.
This is the network that made a deliberate decision to tilt right. Ellison, who controls CBS parent company Paramount Skydance, brought in Bari Weiss to reshape the network’s editorial direction. Weiss installed Dokoupil, who wasted no time signaling the new orientation, offering what sources described as a salute to Marco Rubio on his second day on the job and giving soft coverage to the fifth anniversary of January 6th. That coverage reportedly drove out top CBS Justice Department correspondent Scott MacFarlane. Anderson Cooper left too, sources say put off by the network’s rightward lurch. Staff buyouts are underway ahead of expected layoffs.
Dokoupil claimed on taking the job that legacy media had failed average Americans by listening too much to academics and elites. Two weeks later he was touring Dallas in Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ private helicopter.
Now CBS is running the same playbook on Iran that it ran on January 6th: keep it soft, keep it safe, don’t ask the hard questions. Viewers are noticing. Nearly half the audience that ABC draws is a collapse for a major broadcast network, and it is the direct result of a billionaire buying a news organization and remaking it in his own political image.
This is what David Ellison’s vision for American journalism looks like. And this is exactly what Raw America exists to push back against.
A free press isn’t just a nice idea in a democracy. It’s the immune system. When billionaires buy up newsrooms and install editors whose job is to protect power rather than speak truth to it, the whole country gets sick. That’s not media criticism. That’s history.
A Note From Raw America
Our reporters have been in the room at the most important Capitol Hill hearings on this war. We have brought you exclusive interviews with top military generals that you cannot find anywhere else. We are joining the Washington D.C. press pool to get the most important interviews directly to you.
That work is only possible because of our paid subscribers. CNN is running cover. CBS is cozying up to MAGA. The FCC is threatening anyone who doesn’t. The Ellisons of the world are buying the newsrooms that remain. Coverage that challenges power, that doesn’t sell wars, that doesn’t propagandize for billionaires, requires readers who are willing to fund it.
Please become a paid subscriber today. We work for you, not for them.
I’m Thom Hartmann. Stay informed. Stay active. We’ll see you tomorrow.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
U.S. Intelligence Officials to Testify About Iran. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is due to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee about intelligence the government received ahead of its strikes on Iran in late February. Senators are likely to ask about the recent resignation of Joe Kent — who led the DNI’s National Counterterrorism Center — and him attributing his exit to the attack on Iran. Kent also lamented in his resignation letter that Israel’s influence on the White House led to the United States committing more resources to the Middle East.
USPS Chief Says Post Office May Run Out of Money By 2027. Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress this week that the U.S. Postal Service may be “out of cash” within 12 months. Steiner pointed to the USPS’ $9.5 billion in losses during Fiscal Year 2024, $9 billion in 2025, and nearly $1.3 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The bulk of the USPS’ losses can be attributed to the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which requires the USPS’ pre-fund all retiree health benefits 75 years in advance — even for employees who haven’t even been born.
James Carville Predicts Trump Will Quit Before Term Ends. Democratic strategist James Carville — who advised Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign — is now predicting that President Donald Trump could very well leave office voluntarily before his term ends in 2029. According to Carville, Trump will effectively become irrelevant should Democrats retake both the House and Senate after the November midterms, and his war in Iran is rapidly pushing the U.S. economy off of a cliff. Carville went on to say Trump could resign “by this time next year.”
Federal Judge Not Buying Trump’s Ballroom Plans. During a court hearing this week, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon — an appointee of former President George W. Bush — expressed skepticism with the Trump administration’s main argument to begin construction on the president’s proposed White House ballroom. While White House lawyers insist the $400 million ballroom is an “alteration,” Leon pushed back, and reminded them that the White House is a national symbol, and that the president is a steward of it, and not the owner. Construction is slated to begin in April, and Leon is expected to issue his final decision by the end of the month.
TSA Chief Warns Agency Is Rapidly Breaking Down. Acting TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News this week that a wave of call-ins from TSA agents could soon lead to airports shutting down across the country. Stahl said agents who have now missed their first full paycheck are sleeping in their cars, selling blood to pay for gas money to get to work, and rely on food donations to be able to eat. TSA agents have gone unpaid since the Department of Homeland Security was shut down in February. Democrats have offered to fund TSA separately from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, though Republicans continue to insist on an all-or-nothing approach. Democrats maintain ICE and CBP need to commit to significant reforms in order to receive funding after federal agents fatally shot U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year.
