<![CDATA[DHS]]><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]><![CDATA[Iran]]><![CDATA[Markwayne Mullin]]><![CDATA[Operation Epic Fury]]><![CDATA[Senate]]>Featured

Thursday’s Final Word – HotAir

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March 5, 2026
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Thursday's Final Word – HotAir

Elephants are dancing on the graves of squealing mice. Anyone for tabbing? Wouldn’t that be nice? …





Ed: Needless to say, there is no immunity for “training officers” when nations engage in hostilities. There’s also no such thing as a fully disarmed warship. War is hell for a reason. Next time Iran wants to conduct a training mission, maybe they should make sure they’re not at war with the whole region. And finally, this is a hilarious gripe coming from the world’s most prominent state sponsor of terrorism, whose proxies not only target civilians but use them as human shields, too. What’s Farsi for “chutzpah”?

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RFI: President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a televised address that his country’s navy had offloaded 208 sailors from the IRIS Bushehr, which had requested port entry due to engine trouble.

The Bushehr, like the ship torpedoed off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday, the IRIS Dena, had recently participated in a naval exercise in eastern India, Dissanayake said.

At least 84 sailors were killed in the torpedo attack, which was the first military strike far outside the Middle East region since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran.

Ed: Sri Lanka should take care not to interfere in this war. They are playing with fire by sheltering the Bushehr in one of its lesser ports. 

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Ed: Maybe they should tell that to the Mountbattens. 

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Axios: What he’s saying: “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” Trump said.

He added that he refuses to accept a new Iranian leader who would continue Khamenei’s policies, which he said would force the U.S. back to war “in five years.”





“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said.

The big picture: Trump’s comments represent an extraordinary claim of American power over Iran’s political future, further muddying the objectives of the massive U.S. military campaign he launched on Saturday.

Ed: People reacted to this as a demonstration of arrogance. That’s not entirely inaccurate, but it misses the point. Iran needs to find leadership that will work to resolve its security threats to the region, or else Trump will continue to exercise his B-52 veto power. Iran’s current regime doesn’t have anyone who could possibly fit that bill anyway.

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Ed: This appears to be part of the effort to target underground bunkers storing ballistic missiles. If so, that removed a significant part of the Iranian inventory. 

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Politico: But speaking in a phone call Thursday, Trump was entirely on offense. He brushed off worries about the impact of the Iran war on gas prices and U.S. ammunition reserves, and he insisted that the military onslaught was popular with voters. Many recent public polls show the opposite is true, although a survey released Thursday by Fox News found voters have mixed opinions on Iran.

“People are loving what’s happening,” Trump insisted. He predicted that Iran’s government would not be the last to buckle in a Trump-initiated confrontation: “Cuba’s going to fall, too.”

“We cut off all oil, all money, or we cut off everything coming in from Venezuela, which was the sole source. And they want to make a deal,” he said.





Asked whether the United States was playing a role in the Cuban government’s demise, Trump responded: “Well, what do you think? For 50 years, that’s icing on the cake. Venezuela is doing fantastically. [Delcy Rodríguez] is doing a fantastic job. The relationship with them is great.”

Ed: Cuba was always going to fall; it was just a matter of preventing other countries from stopping it. The Soviets went broke, and Venezuela’s socialist regime got forced out of the way. Havana has no choice now but to cut a deal with the US. And what about Trump’s assessment of Venezuela? Well …

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Ed: That is the result of the firm application of the Monroe Doctrine, or as we call it now, the Donroe Doctrine. 

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WSJ: Meanwhile, Lewandowski and Noem, who are both married, have publicly denied the reports of an affair, but officials have said they do little to hide their relationship inside the department. The pair have lately been using a luxury 737 MAX jet, with a private cabin in back, for their travel around the country. DHS is leasing the plane but is in the process of acquiring it for approximately $70 million. 

During the congressional hearings, Noem said the jet was being refurbished to remove the bedroom, and the jet would save the taxpayers money.

She was also repeatedly questioned on her decision to put any department spending larger than $100,000 under an approval process that has held up contracts across DHS. The department is flush with recently appropriated billions from the president’s major legislative package last year, the “one big, beautiful bill.” Given Lewandowski’s continuing business interests in the private sector, his role in awarding contracts has raised alarm bells inside the White House and DHS, the Journal has previously reported. 





Noem inaccurately claimed during her Senate testimony that Lewandowski didn’t play a role in the contracting process. She also said the department closely tracked the work of special government employees, who are only permitted to work 130 days a year. Department officials say Lewandowski is always by Noem’s side and has exceeded the 130 day limit. Last year, the White House Counsel’s Office opened an inquiry into Lewandowski’s potential abuse of the special government employee role, the Journal previously reported.

Ed: In case anyone wonders why Republicans went after Noem almost as hard as Democrats in the Senate hearing, this context goes some way to explaining it. The inspector general has also complained to Congress that DHS leadership has obstructed its work. Senate Republicans got tired of the drama, including that $220 million ad campaign Noem launched that prominently promoted herself. Mullin should get a relatively easy ride in the confirmation process. 

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Ed: When life hands you lemons ….

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Ed: The Senate usually takes care of its own. Senate Democrats will use the hearing to press for changes to immigration enforcement policies and practices, but in the end, this is a club and Mullin’s a ten-year member. I’d bet that he gets 65 votes for confirmation. More importantly, Noem’s exit gives Senate Democrats an opportunity for a face-saving end to the DHS shutdown. 





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Oklahoma Senate, 2021: In order to save taxpayers millions of dollars on a special election in the event of a future mid-term U.S. Senate seat vacancy, the Senate passed legislation Tuesday night to allow the governor to fill the seat by appointment. Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, is the author of Senate Bill 959, which would move the special election for the U.S. Senate seat to the next regularly scheduled statewide general election.

“According to the State Election Board, holding a special election to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat would cost taxpayers around $4 million. These types of elections are extremely expensive and inconvenient for voters,” Paxton said. “Allowing the governor to temporarily appoint someone to the empty seat and coordinate the special election with the next regularly scheduled general election would help avoid a nine-month void of representation, which is what it would take to run a complete special election cycle. This change is even more important right now due to the 50/50 split in the U.S. Senate.”

To be eligible to be appointed by the governor, an individual must have been a registered Oklahoma voter in the same party as the previous member for at least the last five years. The appointee would not be eligible to run for the vacancy in the special election or regular election.

Ed: So whoever Gov. Kevin Stritt appoints to replace Mullin would have to be a Republican who doesn’t want to run for the seat in the special election. Perhaps he’ll choose a retired ‘statesman’ to fill the gap, someone reliable who won’t go rogue just to make a name for themselves. That would be the safe strategy. 

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Ed: I wondered why this would go to a grand jury at all. Travis County is a progressive district, so it didn’t seem surprising. The DA’s policy is just as stupid; there is no need to send all officer-involved shootings to grand juries. DAs are expected to exercise discretion in pursuing cases, not abdicating their duty for discretion to grand juries. Garza just got exposed as a clown, and he doesn’t like it. 

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Dustin Siggins and Kerri Toloczko at RCP: In the days since Operation Epic Fury was launched, tens of thousands of Iranians have gathered to celebrate the destruction of their government. It’s a sharp contrast to a week ago, when protesters were slaughtered.

It’s also a contrast to free speech in America. We aren’t perfect, but not only can a critical word against the government get off the ground, but a whole communications infrastructure exists to amplify it for you.

We the authors are part of that infrastructure. An average day for us is helping clients participate in the American public square. They may advocate for policies, challenge government decisions, defend their reputations, or simply ensure their voices are heard.

This week’s events opened a new thought box: What would our profession look like in a place like Iran, where free speech simply does not exist?

 Ed: The right to peaceably assemble and to petition elected representatives are core constitutional rights. We sometimes forget that in our zeal to eliminate the more pernicious effects of lobbyists in our politics. This is a worthy reminder. 

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Ed: Hey, it’s got a beat and you can spazz to it. The nose ring is the dead-giveway tell, of course. 

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