Jun 23, 2025 | 💣Trump admin says it's just a bombing strike, not a regime change

 

Hi everyone!
 

It was a big weekend in the war as I'm sure you already know. Trump authorized strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Turns out the whole "two weeks" to make a decision thing was a total misdirection, as were a bunch of movements of the B-2 bombers in the Pacific. Instead, as was explained Sunday morning by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan "Raisin" Caine, B-2 bombers took off for Iran and went undetected. The bombers dropped 14 "bunker buster" bombs on the Fordow and Natanz facilities, both of which were buried deep underground. Another site, Esfahan, was targeted by Tomahawk missiles launched from a submarine.

 

The attack was definitely unexpected in the American press and it caused some tension among the GOP, split between the anti-war MAGA base who definitely does not want to see the US dragged into some new forever war, and the establishment wing, which backed the US joining Israel to attack Iran. Since the Saturday night attack, Israel has continued targeting Iranian military targets, such as the headquarters of the IRGC. And Iran has been targeting Israel, leading to the US evacuating citizens. AOC said Trump should be impeached. And Tucker Carlson wasn't happy about it either. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, a suicide bomber went into a Christian church in Syria and killed at least 20 people. England just kept attacking itself.
 

 

"Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success," Trump said in an address to the nation on Saturday night. Ahead of the attacks, the FBI was already ramping up monitoring of suspected Iranian-backed terror cells in the US. Trump also said that there "are many targets left" following the strike and that "there will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days." He also spoke about his decade-long commitment to not allowing Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and praised the US military. "There's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago."

 

The following morning, bright and early at 8 am, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine revealed that "American deterrence is back" and that the mission was called Operation Midnight Hammer, which definitely has a Nordic mythology Viking Thor ring to it. A reporter asked, "So is regime change off the table?" "Mr. Secretary and to the chairman, you said the battle damage assessment is still ongoing. But do you believe that some nuclear capability in Iran remains?"

 

"This mission was not has not been about regime change," Hegseth said. "The President authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our ally Israel." VP JD Vance reiterated that during a Sunday morning stint on Meet the Press. He said we're not at war with Iran, just with Iran's nuclear program. I'm sure Iran sees it that way.

 

Riots kept going in Portland, and the intrepid Katie Daviscourt was out covering it. She and Andy Ngo reported on some of those who were arrested and charged and whenever they report on these folx, sharing photos of them, I wonder: why do they always look like that?

 

A judge in New Jersey released former Columbia student protester Mahmoud Khalil, who was back to protesting as soon as he was out. And a Tennessee judge ordered the release of "Maryland dad" Kilmar Abrego Garcia, even though DHS said they'd just arrest him and deport him if he was back on the street.

 

Given the heat, the sun, and the mayhem, I decided to mostly check out this weekend except for brief snippets here and there. I ended up engaging in my favorite hobby of painting, which was a relief really because it let me just focus on something without constant distractions. I also binge-watched Poker Face on Peacock, and I'll tell you why: it's basically Columbo but contemporary and with Natasha Lyonne in the lead role.

 

I love a show with single-episode guest stars. I love Colombo. I love mysteries about stolen diamonds, murdered heiresses, greed, and vanity. Poker Face, in this time of turmoil, when it's hard to focus on anything in-depth, thoughtful, or actually meaningful, scratches an itch the way Murder She Wrote, Monk, Magnum PI, and Agatha Christie do—there's no child abuse, no crazed sociopaths, just logical, rational murder and crime that fearless detective Charlie Cale—on the run from her own crimes—can solve.

 

The whole thing lacks stress. Before Cale even gets involved we audience members know what the story is, we know who dunnit, there's no mystery there. There's no mystery either in whether or not Cale will figure it out—she always does. There's no pressure on the audience to feel anything but comforted. For once in this world during these tumultuous days, none of us have to guess. We're all in the know.

 

Here's what's on my desk today:

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