The Lie Heard Round the World

Trump’s Fake Ceasefire, Missing Uranium, and the Slow March Toward Constitutional Collapse

Good morning! The Trump White House declared victory this week, not for any actual achievement, but because that’s what it does. The so-called “12-day war” between Israel and Iran was, according to Trump, over. Ceasefire declared. Peace proclaimed. God blessed. Reality, as usual, refused to comply.

In the early hours, Trump’s ceasefire collapsed almost as quickly as he announced it. Iran’s state media flatly denied ever receiving any ceasefire offer, calling Trump’s declaration a fabrication. “No official or unofficial proposal has been received from Iran,” Tehran insisted, and promised to demonstrate the falsehood of Trump’s fantasy with “direct and on-the-ground action.” Sure enough, within hours Iranian-backed militias launched drone strikes on multiple U.S. bases in Iraq. Israeli warplanes continued bombing Iranian targets. And Iranian officials bluntly warned that the supposed truce was a lie invented in Washington.

Unfazed, Trump blustered on Truth Social, then called up NBC to reassure America that the ceasefire “will last forever.” Moments later, while departing for the NATO summit in The Hague, Trump erupted in frustration: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” Which may be the only accurate statement he’s made this week.

Allegedly, Netanyahu, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff, that brilliant team of geopolitical masterminds, brokered the “deal” Trump claimed credit for. Except neither side actually agreed to what Trump announced. Israel’s government refused to confirm Trump’s claims. Iran not only rejected the ceasefire but suggested Trump’s lie would force further escalation. And all the while, new Iranian missile barrages continued falling on Israeli targets.

Of course, none of this would be happening had Trump not intervened in the first place. The initial escalation followed Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. For days, Trump publicly waffled, at first insisting America wasn’t involved. Then came the shift, one not driven by classified intelligence but by Fox News ratings.

According to The New York Times and Financial Times, Trump’s pivot toward direct military strikes coincided with Fox News anchors breathlessly praising Netanyahu’s poll numbers. Hannity, Ingraham, and others cheered the Israeli campaign as bold, decisive, and politically brilliant. Trump, watching the coverage, saw Netanyahu’s domestic approval rise in real time and decided he wanted a piece of the action. As one Pentagon official bluntly put it, Trump was the “biggest threat to operational security,” telegraphing strikes on social media and forcing military planners to launch deliberate misdirections just to maintain basic secrecy.

JD Vance is on hand to assure America that everything is fine. Vance, with a signature smirk, asserted that the Iranians desire peace because their entire nuclear program has been obliterated, according to him. “They can’t make a bomb now,” Vance announced, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency and U.S. intelligence both admitting they have no idea where Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles have gone. And while Vance declares victory, independent radiation monitors, including the IAEA itself, report no abnormal radiation at any of the bombing sites, a glaring sign that the bunker busters never reached Iran’s hidden uranium stockpiles. In short, the uranium is still missing. But who needs verified intelligence when you have Vance’s gut feeling and Trump’s delusions to guide U.S. policy?

While Trump and his cronies wage war by press release, the domestic front isn’t going much better. His giant legislative monstrosity, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, is suddenly wobbling. Senators Josh Hawley and Susan Collins have started publicly warning that the bill’s deep Medicaid cuts could bankrupt rural hospitals in their home states. Hawley, perhaps finally recognizing that gutting rural healthcare might not be a brilliant reelection strategy, bluntly told leadership, “This rural hospital stuff could threaten the progress of the whole bill.” When even Trump’s own party is starting to realize that his economic agenda is cannibalizing red state voters, you know the cracks are widening.

Not to be left out, Senate Democrats finally showed a faint pulse, successfully blocking one of the more sadistic provisions in the bill, a scheme that would have required plaintiffs seeking injunctions against federal overreach to post massive financial bonds, effectively shutting down groups like the ACLU from challenging Trump’s power grabs in court. It’s a small but important win for the idea that courts should remain at least mildly independent, and one more reminder that authoritarian regimes always look for ways to bankrupt their opposition.

While Trump screams into Truth Social about Iran and Israel, China just hosted 53 African nations in Changsha for a sweeping trade summit. The result? Every single participating African nation now has 100% tariff-free access to Chinese markets. This is a massive structural realignment. China isn’t sending bombers and troops abroad; it’s offering infrastructure, trade access, and long-term partnerships. The result is breathtaking: in the span of two decades, China has become the dominant trade partner for nearly every nation in Africa. While Trump was playing war tourist in Qatar and bullying allies into MAGA loyalty oaths, Xi Jinping was signing trade agreements that will define the next century of global economics.

African leaders, many of whom have grown tired of Western paternalism and military adventurism, made their position clear: “While the West draws lines and drops bombs, China draws trade routes and builds bridges.” They are choosing connectivity over chaos, partnership over protectionism. The numbers don’t lie: China-Africa trade has grown from $14 billion to nearly $300 billion since 2000. And as one African attendee bluntly put it: “No lectures. No hypocrisy. No supremacy. Nothing. Just talking about business and food.”

But the domestic authoritarian project rolls forward, regardless. While Trump was busy inventing ceasefires abroad, he quietly ordered an additional surge of federal troops into Los Angeles to crack down on protests against ICE roundups. The Insurrection Act, once a distant authoritarian fantasy, is now live federal policy. Senators Wyden, Merkley, and others have introduced the Insurrection Act of 2025 to place desperately needed limits on presidential deployment of U.S. military force against American citizens. The bill would require state consent for domestic deployments and congressional approval for prolonged military occupations. Whether it can survive Trump’s grip on the Senate remains uncertain, but at least some in Congress still remember that we’re supposed to be a republic.

Yesterday, I took some personal time because watching this level of idiocy metastasize into constitutional peril is exhausting. Today, the fog has cleared a little, and the stakes have never been sharper. I’ve written before about the necessity of nonviolent disruption, about the historical power of general strikes, sustained civil resistance, and coordinated economic noncooperation. That wasn’t theoretical; it was preparation. Because now is not the time for polite weekend protests or symbolic marches around government buildings. Now is the time for real disruption, the kind that stops the machine. A general strike. Mass noncooperation. Collective refusal to participate in the normal functions of this collapsing democracy until Congress does its job. Lawmakers have the power to rein in this president. They can cut off funds to the Pentagon. They can censure his abuses. They can, if they choose, step into their constitutional role as a coequal branch. But they won’t act unless we force the issue. And history will not forgive our restraint if we fail to meet this moment.