Donald Trump gave Iran a deadline from the UN podium Tuesday: make a deal right after the midterms, or he will "annihilate the Islamic Republic." He spoke for about 45 minutes, three times his slot, and Iran's delegation walked out as he described the strikes on their country. Masoud Pezeshkian never entered the hall. Trump claimed Operation Epic Fury sank Iran's entire navy, 159 ships, and said inflation there is "well over 300%." Then he told the room Iran is waiting on the midterms to see how he does. "What they don't realize is that I'm not running," he said. He is not on the ballot. His party is, and he walked in at 29 percent in one poll. So the threat came with a calendar, and the calendar gave away his leverage. Six Gulf leaders were waiting outside to ask him not to widen the war. A president that weak sets a date for a deal. He does not start a second war.
Trump signs a Greenland security agreement at the UN today with Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, and Greenland's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen. He calls it "permanent control over security, and all other needs." Frederiksen's office calls the same paper "strengthened security in the Arctic and North Atlantic Area." In January Stephen Miller called military force "always an option," and Frederiksen answered that an American attack would end NATO. She is signing anyway. He gets permanent basing, overflight, and a say over who else lands there. The flag stays Danish. Nobody outside the three signing governments has read the document.
David Ellison settled the last lawsuit standing between him and CNN on Monday. Rob Bonta and eleven other Democratic attorneys general walked away, though Bonta told reporters the settlement "is not a vote of support for this merger." Ellison claims "complete clearance." He does not have it. A judge still has to sign, and the president who must bless the deal threw CNN out of the White House on Saturday. Larry Ellison, his father, funds that president.
Sen. John Curtis, a Utah Republican, asked Senate Judiciary on Monday to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. "A toaster is a wedding gift," Curtis wrote. "A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else." Umar Kremlev paid for that party in the Bahamas in May. Trump says his son paid the money back. Nobody has produced the receipt.
Trump fell to 29 percent in American Research Group's September poll, his first reading under 30 all year. Nixon got there after firing his prosecutor. Trump can ban CNN from the building. He can't ban the number.
Trump falls in the polls in the week the world makes him decide in public. He walks into the United Nations at 29 percent in one survey and 32 in another, with an Iranian official dangling an exit from his war, six Gulf leaders asking him not to widen it, and Mette Frederiksen standing beside him to sign a Greenland paper nobody outside three governments has read. He is weak whichever way he turns, and weakness pushes him toward deals — the same reason he keeps reaching for Xi Jinping this week while the two of them trade public shots over Iran, AI and trade. He will call every one of them a win. He is taking them because he has nothing left to hold.
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Trump bought and sold energy stocks while his own war drove the price up — his disclosures show it.
