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Feb 24, 2026 - World

Donald Trump's words have come back to haunt him as Jon Stewart ripped into the president for a claim he made last year.The president bragged about Iran's nuclear capabilities being "totally obliterated" in June 2025 — but it seems the threat is still very real, Stewart said Monday. Steve Witkoff, the United States' Special Envoy to the Middle East, is now claiming Iran is just a week away from having "bomb-making capabilities," despite the strikes.The talk show host grilled the president's team on these claims, questioning whether the public should believe what the administration claims about Iran. Stewart said, "I remember Trump saying we 'totally obliterated their nuclear program,' yelling at people who questioned it."Which makes me wonder, how obliterated was it?" A clip of Trump saying Iran's nuclear capabilities were "obliterated like nobody has ever seen before" was then played.Stewart continued, "So the kind of obliteration that, somehow, rebliterates? Almost immediately? No one has ever seen that before. So is our plan now to re-obliterate their nuclear program every few months? Or is there a longer-term strategy?"Our peace through strength will force Iran, let's call it, an Iran nuclear deal. I think I remember that phrase from when we made a nuclear deal with Iran. Whatever happened to that?" A clip of Trump confirming the US had withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal then plays.An expert previously told Raw Story that Trump's plan for Iran is unpredictable. Professor Anthony Glees said, "It is not at all clear what would happen if Trump decided to take on the Islamist rulers of Iran. By toppling Maduro but replacing him with someone from his side of the political divide in Venezuela, Trump showed a canniness of some quality."However, he can't do this in Iran. There are no US-friendly ayatollahs. It is, however, perfectly possible that he will run out of road and be forced into military action."

Feb 24, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump wants to project a certain image on the global stage, and some world leaders have learned how to use that to their advantage, according to one expert. Trump wants to appear as a ruthless leader on par with strongmen like Russia's Vladimir Putin or China's Xi Jinping, according to Fiona Hill, Trump's Russia advisor during the first administration. Hill said during an interview on the "The Court of History" podcast on Monday that Trump's desire to be seen in this light gives world leaders a psychological advantage when they interact with the U.S. president, because they have turned that desire for adoration into currency. "Putin, I think, understands it perfectly," Hill said. "Because if you look at Putin, he rations out his access to him for Trump. He kind of dangles things out of there, plays just hard to get all the time because he knows that Trump, more than anything else, wants his adulation and respect, and Putin's just not going to give that because that's currency. That's extraordinarily valuable."Hill recalled being on phone calls between Trump and Putin and noticing that the Russian leader had "so much of an advantage" against Trump. It also appears that "he knows this" as well, Hill said. "He is not that ruthless," she continued, referring to Trump. "He wants to be treated as if he is, but he's just not that ruthless. And that's why he is intimidated by Putin, because he wants everybody else to think of the United States in that same manner. He doesn't want to be benign and benevolent. If he can't be respected, he wants to be feared. He doesn't want to be made fun of or to become a meme."

Feb 23, 2026 - World

CNN anchor Jake Tapper was shocked Monday by FBI Director Kash Patel's partying in the locker room with the gold medal-winning U.S. men's hockey team at the Olympics in Italy. Tapper questioned what Patel was doing there — and exactly who was footing the bill. The move comes amid multiple high profile federal investigations. "The FBI director's enthusiastic, beer-soaked celebration with Team USA at the Olympics in Milan. Does this count as official government business? And are you and I paying for it?" Tapper asked. Tapper described how this wasn't the first time Patel has come under fire for using his taxpayer-funded jet for personal travel, including jet-setting with his girlfriend and country singer Alexis Wilkins. "Believe it or not, that's your FBI director, Kash Patel, celebrating with the U.S. men's hockey team after their overtime win against Canada to win the gold medal. It was an incredible win that all Americans can celebrate," Tapper said. He also pointed out how the FBI had sharp words for a reporter just before Patel was caught in the video partying, which Patel later defended, saying the trip was planned months ago for him to meet with Italian law enforcement officials and the American ambassador to Italy. "Now, why exactly the FBI director who you might think would be busy with all sorts of things, why he's in the locker room in Italy, seemingly pounding beers along with the team well, you can be forgiven if you're asking that question, especially after FBI spokesman Ben Williamson was lashing out at a reporter from a different network on Twitter the day before the game for asking whether Patel was going to attend the match," Tapper said. "The FBI spokesman writing, quote, 'your rag outlet wrote that he went to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime, even when provided information that your theory was false,' unquote. Now the FBI is denying this was a personal trip for Patel."

Feb 23, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump announced last week that a U.S. Naval hospital ship was en route to Greenland, sparking outrage at yet another imperialist move on the Danish territory despite its residents' repeated insistence they have no interest in joining the United States. Trump cited a supposed public health crisis going on in Greenland, without any details or explanation.But according to the Wall Street Journal, no such hospital ship on the way."The U.S. has two hospital ships, the East Coast-based USNS Comfort and the West Coast-based USNS Mercy, which are designed as floating medical treatment facilities," said the report. "Both vessels are currently in a shipyard in Mobile, Ala., according to maritime tracking information. The Comfort is undergoing repairs that are expected to be completed in April, while the Mercy is in the middle of a one-year maintenance period that began last July."Moreover, even if a ship were on the way, the report noted, it couldn't do much."Even if the Pentagon were to send one of the ships to Greenland, Danish authorities would have to make a formal request for their assistance before they could dock on the island, one of the U.S. officials said," said the report. "Danish officials have publicly rejected Trump’s offer to send a hospital ship."This comes after reporting that the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederick Nielsen, rebuffed the offer of a hospital ship visit to the island, saying, “President Trump’s idea to send a US hospital ship here to Greenland has been duly noted. But we have a public health system where care is free for citizens.”

Feb 23, 2026 - World

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Monday that he doubted Congress would pass any legislation to reinstate President Donald Trump's tariff policy following the Supreme Court decision last week that the president's levies were illegal. He described how it would be unlikely for lawmakers to reverse that decision, Politico reported. “It’s going to be, I think, a challenge to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs, on the legislative side,” Johnson said. “And so that is why, I think, you see so much of the attention on the executive side, the executive branch, and what they’re doing and how they’re reacting to the ruling.”And although some Republicans have suggested a second path with a budget reconciliation process following the high court's ruling, Johnson still didn't think it would happen. “I’m not sure it has much to do with reconciliation,” Johnson said.Trump this weekend said he would raise tariffs to 15 percent globally, which are slated to expire in 150 days. After that, lawmakers would need to extend those levies. However, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the conversations, Republicans have said privately they do not expect to have the support to do so, and senior GOP leaders don't have plans to continue the Trump tariff agenda, Politico reported.It was also unclear how potential refunds would work following the Supreme Court decision, which Congress will not be handling, Johnson added. “The White House is going to sort that out, and we have to give them the time and space to do it,” Johnson said. “This is an unprecedented event, of course, so there’s no playbook to follow. I think they’ve got good arguments on their side, and we’ll see how it shakes out. That’s not something that really involves the House at this point.”