Trump makes mob-style threats. Only instead of, “I’m going to mess up you and your family,” it’s now, “A whole civilization will die tonight.” He must be impeached now… Donald Trump used to have Michael Cohen to make his threats for him (after Roy Cohn died and could no longer serve Trump and the New York Mafia families).

Using the same tactics that made him a TV star, he stokes outrage, scripts conflict, and dominates headlines even as his actions weaken democratic norms and heighten international risk… Well, 8 PM ET came and went, to paraphrase TS Eliot, “Not with a bang but a whimper.” In the latest episode of Trump’s reality show presidency, he decided he’ll give Iran “another two weeks” (we’ll get to that in a minute) to open the Strait of Hormuz because something something Pakistan something. Some are suggesting it was a predictable TACO — “Trump Always Chickens Out” — while others, including at least one retired general who was on MSNOW yesterday, say sources tell them that the commanders at CENTCOM simply and bluntly refused to carry out his and Whiskey Pete’s orders to commit massive war crimes. In either case, it shouldn’t surprise us that Trump has backed down. Throughout his entire life, this nepo-baby has only been good at two things beyond inheriting and squandering his father’s money.

As Trump demands sweeping new resources in the name of war, the scale of funding raises a chilling question: is this about national security or consolidating power? On Easter Sunday, Donald Trump posted to his failing, Nazi-infested social media site a rant that has shocked the world, threatening multiple war crimes with a level of obscenity that no Republican would have tolerated from President Obama or any other Democrat: "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Sure is starting to smell like Vietnam… — Who was General George, who Whiskey Pete just fired? — Is the Supreme Court about to become even more bizarre and corrupt than it already is? — Gas prices got you down? — JD Vance (or whatever his name is this week) is now in charge of Project Screw Blue States. — Is Vance now the Vice President of Hungary? — The West is drying up and Republicans who take money from the fossil fuel industry are trying to ignore it. — Trump has released his budget and wants $500 billion more for the military to pay for his war against Iran.