Donald Trump threw a war and none of our friends came.
With the entitlement of a petulant child, the president spent more than a year threatening and belittling America’s traditional allies while publicly mocking their war dead. When the UK offered to help last week, he told them we didn’t need anyone.
Days later, with the Strait of Hormuz closed and oil above $95 a barrel, he asked every ally America has to send warships. Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, and the entire European Union all said the same thing in different languages: this is not our war, we didn’t start it, and you didn’t even consult us.
Today he bravely posed for reporters and said the U.S. didn’t need them anyway, although he did mention a couple of minesweepers would have been nice. The Navy decommissioned its last minesweepers in the Persian Gulf six weeks before the war started. They’re sitting in a shipyard in Philadelphia.
Fourteen months of “America First” bought America exactly what it paid for. And today, the drumbeats about Cuba echoed the ones we heard about Venezuela and Iran. Only Congress can stop this. Get on the phone and into your email and make sure that they do.
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USS Gerald Ford fire burned for 30 hours and displaced more than 600 sailors from their bunks, the Navy reveals, as the carrier enters its 10th month deployed.
Today’s GovBrief News
Trump's counterterrorism director resigns over Iran war, calling it a conflict "started due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."
Source: Newsweek
March 17, 2026
Trump posts "STATEHOOD!!!" after Venezuela defeats the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic final, two months after ordering Maduro's capture.
Source: Mediaite
March 17, 2026
Trump says he will act "very soon" on Cuba as Rubio calls for "new people in charge" while island reels from total grid collapse.
Source: Scripps News
March 17, 2026
American diplomatic facilities attacked 292 times in 19 days of war as State Department orders every embassy worldwide to immediately review security.
Source: The Washington Post
March 17, 2026
U.S. attacks Iranian missile sites along Strait of Hormuz with 5,000-pound bombs as Israel kills Iran's security chief.
Source: The Associated Press
March 17, 2026
Texas reports 136 measles cases this year, with 99 concentrated in a single federal detention facility in Hudspeth County.
Source: The Texas Tribune
March 17, 2026
Trump administration expands Medicaid fraud crackdown to Florida after targeting Minnesota, New York, Maine and California.
Source: The Hill
March 17, 2026
House Oversight Committee subpoenas Attorney General Bondi to testify under oath in April on the Epstein investigation, with five Republicans joining all Democrats.
Source: UPI
March 17, 2026
Amazon plans to slash Postal Service deliveries by two-thirds this fall as agency warns it will run out of cash within a year.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
March 17, 2026
Federal judge ejects prosecutor from courtroom and orders three leaders of New Jersey's U.S. Attorney's Office to testify over what he calls a destroyed reputation.
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
March 17, 2026
Federal judge mocks Trump's $400 million White House ballroom as a "brazen interpretation" of alteration law, signals ruling by month's end.
Source: CNN
March 17, 2026
Federal judge orders reinstatement of more than 1,000 Voice of America employees and restart of international broadcasting after ruling Kari Lake's appointment illegal.
Source: NOTUS
March 17, 2026
Federal judge permanently blocks Arkansas Ten Commandments classroom mandate in six school districts, calling the law unconstitutional religious coercion.
Source: The Arkansas Advocate
March 17, 2026
New York's MTA sues Trump administration for withholding $60 million in Second Avenue subway funding after Hochul warns "enough is enough."
Source: WABC New York
March 17, 2026
Postmaster General tells Congress the Postal Service will run out of cash in 12 months without action, as Trump pushes to privatize the agency.
Source: USA Today
March 17, 2026
Pearl Jam urges fans to call their senators and vote no on the SAVE America Act as Senate begins marathon debate on the nationwide voter ID bill.
Source: The Hill
March 17, 2026