#incompetence

The New York Times

By Michael Crowley and Edward Wong

July 13, 2026

President Trump’s latest threat to impose fees on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz contradicts weeks of declarations by his top aides that no country can charge tolls or fees for passage through the vital waterway that has been a contested space in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

Mr. Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” on Monday that America was “going to get paid for guarding” the strait, adding that the United States “will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20 percent,” for all cargo that passes through the waters. Mr. Trump has made remarks before about the United States collecting tolls in the strait, which for decades has been considered for an international waterway.

He and his aides have not explained how his position squares with repeated contradictory public assertions by the likes of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Mr. Trump’s White House national security adviser.

Addressing the issue during a visit to the Middle East in late June, Mr. Rubio said: “No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law. That’s the way it is in international waterways all over the world, and that’s the way we expect it’ll be here.”

Mr. Rubio spoke before attending a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of oil-exporting Gulf Arab countries, after which the United States signed a joint statement declaring that the nations “rejected any tolls, fees or attempts to assert control over the strait.”

Vice President JD Vance took the same position on June 18 as he discussed a cease-fire deal between the United States and Iran that was aimed at reopening the waterway. “We believe international waterways should be free of tolls,” he said during a news conference.

But Mr. Trump said on June 20 that the United States could collect tolls. His statement came six days after he signed an agreement with Iran that formally started the cease-fire to allow for talks on a broader peace settlement. The agreement recognized Iran’s power in the strait and said no country would collect tolls for 60 days, though it left the possibility for tolls open beyond that.

In that statement, Mr. Trump said there would be no tolls after that period either, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed, for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs.”

It was unclear what Mr. Trump meant by “services rendered.” The U.S. military tried to send naval escorts with commercial tankers through the strait in early May, during a tentative cease-fire with Iran, in what the Trump administration called Project Freedom. But Mr. Trump had to shut that down after less than 48 hours because the crown prince of Saudi Arabia objected to the United States using the country’s airspace for the venture.

Early in the war, the Iranian military effectively closed the strait by laying mines and threatening other attacks. That halted most of the export of a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, extracted and made by Middle East producers. Iran then began asking shipping companies to pay up to $2 million per vessel for a guarantee of safe passages along a route through the strait that ran close to Iran’s coast.

After the failure of Project Freedom, the U.S. military began a quiet effort to give radio guidance to commercial tankers in order to direct them along a route by Oman’s coast, on the southern side of the strait and opposite Iran’s shore. But Iran attacked three ships traveling in that area last Tuesday, and the U.S. military said it could not guarantee the safe passage of ships. Tanker traffic has plummeted, sending global oil prices soaring.

Glee Violette ·

He hates us all. He looks like hell. He sounds like hell. And he is mad as hell - using BOTH definitions of the word.

He reportedly lost it when his FIFA team lost, and never got it back.

Right now he is at the NATO Summit in Turkey, which started Tuesday and ends today, Wednesday, where he is making it all about HIM.

Where he is demanding that NATO force Denmark to turn Greenland over to him. Where he sexually insulted Italy's leader. Where he said, “I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits."

Where he is whining the NATO countries did not join his aggression against Iran, saying, "I spoke to Germany, I spoke to France, I spoke to UK, I spoke to Italy," he said. "They were not there for us." Ignoring the FACT that joining in on aggression is NOT part of the NATO pact. NATO responds ONLY when a member nation is ATTACKED.

Where he is complaining that NATO countries “have not treated us right, we been treated unfairly; we pay disproportionately.” Trump demands that all NATO countries pay 5% of their GDP. The US only pays 3.2%. SIX NATO countries pay MORE than us. Including Denmark.

Where he has been bragging non-stop that he ended 8 wars. He did not. And now he cannot even remember the names of the countries he has been rattling off. He has difficulty even bringing up one or two, before sputtering to an enraged stop.

So, instead, he restarted his OWN war. Iran.

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Over the past couple of days, Iran IRGC boats fired on three tankers that were not obeying its instructions on which route to use in the Strait of Hormuz.

So Trump put the US sanctions back on Iran's oil and petrochemicals, and revoked the oil export license issued by the US Treasury that allowed them to MAKE those sales.

Which is something he never should have given them in the first place until the USA got something substantial in return - at LEAST the unrestricted re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

But, whatever, doing something rational was not enough for Trump. He had to take it further. He had to take his rage out on SOMEONE.

US Central Command said Tuesday night that US strikes Trump ordered hit 80 targets, including Iranian air defense systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile weapons and more than 60 small boats used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s paramilitary force.

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But even THAT was not enough to calm him down.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that the ceasefire is "over."

"I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum! You know what scum is? They're scum, they're sick people. They're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent, and if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over," he ranted.

The MOU negotiations have been paused during the funeral of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah and his family members, who were killed on the first day of the attack on Iran by the US and Israel. The funeral ends Thursday.

The reporters asked Trump if he would allow the MOU negotiations to continue. Trump said the negotiators from Pakistan and Qatar were "good people" but that for him, "I think it is over."

"They'll have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars."

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SO. If he is saying the ceasefire is over, and negotiations are over, and he has re-started the war with Iran, it should be time for CONGRESS to be involved, right? That is their JOB, under the Constitution.

But NO. The Senate and House BOTH voted to take back their war powers. But then, Trump's people bullied two of the Republican Senators who voted against him into reversing their votes.

Trump retains sole authority to do whatever the hell he wants.

When will enough be enough for Republicans to realize they are not only destroying our national security in every way, for their own PERSONAL GAIN, but that in doing so, they are destroying THEMSELVES as well? They will NEVER get what the power they think they are going to get. The power he promises them.

Trump is TRUMP. Everything he promises is a lie. Everything he gets control of, he takes what he wants up front, and then runs it into the ground and walks away, leaving everyone else holding the bag, paying the price, and cleaning up his mess.

Just like his Crypto investors. His cell phone investors. His DC "project" investors.

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Europe has realized that. This NATO Summit will be the final straw. Trump did nothing to strengthen it. Instead he attacked it with childish rants and tantrums, spending more time on Truth Social, posting, posting and posting trivial CRAP, than talking with THEM.

They are now in private talks to form their OWN alliance. Other countries, like Canada, are indicating they want to join in.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Arab nations, INCLUDING Iran, are in talks to create a new alliance of their own.

BOTH alliances excluding the United States of America. BOTH having the potential to create two NEW Superpowers. And leaving the United States NO LONGER a Superpower.

China would love that. So would Russia. Trump has made enemies of our friends, because he thinks our enemies ARE our friends. They are not. They most assuredly are NOT.

But why does he think this way? Because with our NATO allies, everything is above board, and he has to follow the rules, and there is nothing in it PERSONALLY for HIM.

With dictators and royals and oligarchs, well, that is quite a different thing.

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Thanks to the Republican Party's greedy support of Donald J Trump, THIS is where we are. He could NOT have done it alone. This is the doing of Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell, and their Billionaire DONORS, from Steve Bannon's Cambridge Analytica project, bankrolled by the Mercer Family, and the Tea Party bankrolled by the Koch Brothers, to the Project 2025 conspirators, Stephen Miller and Howard Lutnick and Russell Vought, bankrolled by Peter Thiel and the Tech/Crypto Bros. - and of course, Elon Musk.

None of this was for US. It was NEVER for us. It was always for THEM. For THEIR power. For THEIR money. For THEIR Empire.

To them, we are pawns. Serfs. Cannon fodder. Suckers. The "unwashed masses" used and manipulated by EVERY authoritarian system, no matter if they are called Royalty or Fascists or Communists - or CORPORATIONS.

We all know what our rights working for a Corporation are. THAT is the model for America's future government put forth by ALL of the above. THAT is what they think Donald Trump will give them.

Hell. Hell right here on earth.

Look at him. Look at ALL of them. THIS is America's true enemy.

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The world is such a beautiful place,

But there are some obsessive ragebaiters like your case,

Deep down you know what you say is wrong,

But you still at it headstrong,

All these excuses to make your mama look bad,

I know she gave it her all but you still choose to be sad,

You so naive of how the world works,

You think human psychology is just calling out jerks,

You use pictures over words,

You think its better but you're doing worse,

Hiding behind those self diagnosis fancy,

Using ragebait as shield against fear of being miss nancy,

Acting all innocent,

Always attempting to circumvent,

The man who sees the world as bitter,

How would you know any better.