The above animation might bring you a smile— and I hope it does for a moment—but we cannot normalize what is happening.

This morning’s NY Times headline:

Trump Issues Grave Threats as Hormuz Deadline Draws Closer

Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern. He threatens a wave of strikes on critical infrastructure. He wrote on social media:

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.”

Trump thinks what he is proposing, attacking Iran’s infrastructure, would not constitute a war crime because “they killed 45,000 people in the last month. More than that. It could be as much as sixty. They killed protesters. They’re animals, and we have to stop them, and we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”

Hegseth likened the rescue on Easter Sunday of a missing American airman shot down over Iran to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Trump continues to decline, and we need to report his behavior. Heather Cox Richardson wrote about this this morning , and I quote her in case you didn’t get a chance to read her newsletter:

During the Easter event at the White House, Trump “claimed again that former presidents are telling him they wish they had done what he did in attacking Iran; all four living ex-presidents have denied speaking to him. Sitting with children drawing pictures, he told them they could sell his autograph on eBay for $25,000. He signed their pictures, and while he signed, he told the children that former President Joe Biden was “incapable of signing his name” so he had aides follow him around with an autopen machine.

A later press conference at the White House continued the wild lies and non sequiturs. Trump began the conference by greeting the reporters with “Happy Easter. We had a great Easter. This is one of our better Easters, I think, in a lot of different ways. I can say, militarily, it’s been one of the best.”

Madness.

I don’t think he’s in control, and we have the likes of Hegseth, Miller running the government. Vance is visiting conservative President Orban in Hungary today, hoping to help boost his re-election. Orban is a dictator wannabe, like Trump, and some in his administration have in part modeled what they are doing here in the US on how Orban has been transforming Hungary into an authoritarian democracy.

That’s all for today, just wanted to alert you on the news before I get on my flight to California. Thank you for being here, keep the faith. Keep informed, don’t give up.