Tariffs Reversed, Missiles Launched and a VP Missing in Action
Refunds are going out. Missiles are going up. And the people who warned about all of it are either sidelined—or scrambling. Let’s break it down.
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to begin refunding more than $130 billion in tariffs the Supreme Court struck down. More than 2,000 companies are demanding their money back, and the government now has to recalculate duties and start cutting checks. The administration plans to appeal, but for now the tariff era just got very expensive.
A Pakistani businessman admitted in federal court that he tried to hire hit men to assassinate Trump, Biden and Nikki Haley—but claims Iran pressured him and he expected to get caught. The “hit men” were undercover FBI agents. He handed them $5,000 and says he believed an arrest—and eventual cooperation—would follow. That’s not usually how assassination plots are supposed to work.
Six U.S. Army Reserve troops were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait—the first American casualties of the expanding Iran war. They were working inside a fortified tactical operations trailer when a projectile pierced defenses. These weren’t combat infantry units; they were sustainment forces—the logisticians who keep wars running. The battlefield just got bigger.
President Trump is now urging Kurdish groups to open a new front inside Iran, offering U.S. air cover and support. Kurdish leaders in Iraq and Iran are weighing the risks of siding openly with Washington against Tehran. History looms large—U.S. alliances with the Kurds have often come with expiration dates.
J.D. Vance warned repeatedly that a war with Iran would be costly, destabilizing and a distraction from China. Now the war is here—and he’s largely out of sight. The vice president who built his brand opposing foreign entanglements appears to have lost that argument inside his own administration.
Jeanine Pirro’s attempt to build a criminal case over Joe Biden’s use of an autopen has collapsed. Prosecutors reportedly couldn’t find a viable statute to charge, marking another stalled effort in Trump’s campaign to pursue legal action against political adversaries. Retribution is harder when the law doesn’t cooperate.
Six stories, one theme: consequences. Financial, military and political. The bills are coming due—and not just the $130 billion kind.
