White House tells lawmakers to hold their nerve on Iran, expect ‘long-term gain’
NY Post
WASHINGTON — The White House is privately pushing congressional lawmakers to keep their cool as the war in Iran wraps up its 12th day, arguing it is critical to root out threats from the Islamic Republic against the US and its allies.
The message from the White House to jittery Republicans is that the “short-term spike” at the pump is needed for a “long-term gain,” a White House official told The Post.
While Republicans in Congress are largely cheering on President Trump’s military campaign in Iran — at least publicly — many of them are anticipating fallout and potential midterm headaches from it. Some are even gently nudging him to wrap it up.
“This is an overriding success. Our military is astounding the world,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” Tuesday. “It’s been astounding, historic.”
“Now it’s time to declare victory.”
Lawmakers had been given an estimate earlier this week that the first two days of Operation Epic Fury cost about $5.6 billion. But 12 days in, the total price tag thus far appears unknown to lawmakers.
President Trump has shown Cuba’s Communist rulers two ways their reign over the island can end: the Maduro way or the Khamenei way.
President Trump and Jewish advocates slammed Mayor Zohran Mamdani Tuesday for hosting anti-Israel activist and accused Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil at Gracie Mansion for Ramadan.
A burglar broke into a relative’s Baltimore home, taking two women hostage and shooting a cop before a police sniper killed him in a chaotic Tuesday afternoon scene.
Gov. Hochul has spent much of her 4 ¹/₂ years in office facing a time bomb left by her predecessor: drastic, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets that the state has no practical means of meeting.
Pothole complaints are surging in the Big Apple for the first time in years after two monster snowfalls recently pummeled the region — with one borough buried in thousands of gripes, city data show.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared the United States is “overwhelmingly” winning the war against Iran.
Democratic strategist James Carville unloaded on President Donald Trump on Saturday in a profanity-laced rant, admitting that he has “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and hopes to hate the president even more.
“Everyone is worrying about what comes next,” reports David Patrikarakos at The Free Press of what people in Iran are telling him. He talked to “a friend in Tehran I will call Reza. ‘The bombing is heavy,’ he told me. ‘And it’s frightening. But we have been frightened and terrorized for almost 50 years.’ ” No one sees any “signs of mass uprising — it’s just too dangerous” as “gangs of Basij enforcers, often heavily armed, roam the streets, threatening civilians and forcing them indoors.” Indeed, “the entire regime is now on a war footing,” but: “The state is in disarray. Senior officials are scattered and confused” and “an internal power struggle appears to be under way.” He concludes: “Despite the Islamic Republic’s best efforts, the battle for Iran — by both external powers and Iranians inside the country — is far from over. It may take time, but I am convinced this regime will fall.”
The FBI revealed on Monday that federal agents were searching a Pennsylvania storage facility in connection with their investigation into the ISIS-inspired botched bombing outside Gracie Mansion.
A far-left University of Maryland research assistant is facing backlash after appearing to joke about bombing parts of Los Angeles and Miami to kill Cuban and Iranian Americans who support President Trump’s military strikes against Iran.
CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane on Monday announced his surprise exit from the network — saying he looks forward to “some independence” in the latest shake-up under editor in chief Bari Weiss.
Texas Dem Senate hopeful James Talarico once “proudly” donated campaign cash to a group pushing to cut tens of millions of dollars from the police department in Austin — where the homicide rate then soared.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani can’t just condemn “violence at a protest” now that the key facts are out about Saturday’s chaos near Gracie Mansion: He needs to call out where the threats of violence come from, and denounce them.