Good Morning, this is the Commonwealth Report. News for the public, not the powerful.
Trump Going It Alone on the Iran Blockade?
Peace talks between the U.S. and Iran collapsed in Islamabad Sunday after 21 hours of negotiations. Iran refused to give up its nuclear program. Trump responded by ordering the U.S. Navy to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern today. He promised “other countries will be involved” but not one ally has signed on. Australia’s prime minister said his country was never even asked. The UK declined and is instead working with France to protect freedom of navigation. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that military vessels approaching the strait will be dealt with harshly. A Columbia University energy expert says oil prices won’t fall until the strait reopens and damaged infrastructure gets rebuilt, a process that could stretch deep into 2027. This is what unilateral warmaking looks like.
Why Is Your Gas Bill About to Get Even Worse?
When Trump announced the blockade Sunday, oil markets immediately reacted. Brent crude jumped 8 percent, surging past $104 a barrel. Americans are already paying more than $4 a gallon at the pump. Inflation hit 3.3 percent in March, up sharply from 2.4 percent in February, and rising energy costs are a major driver. Trump told Fox News gas prices could be “the same or maybe a little bit higher” by the midterms. That’s Trump’s idea of reassurance. Iran’s parliament speaker posted a photo of gas prices near the White House and told Americans to enjoy today’s prices because they’re about to get worse. The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Every miscalculation in this war lands at the American pump.
Did Trump Post Himself as Jesus on Orthodox Easter? You Betcha
On Orthodox Easter Sunday, the President of the United States posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ. The image shows Trump laying hands on a hospital patient, surrounded by bald eagles, the Statue of Liberty, and the Lincoln Memorial. There’s a disturbing detail. The original image had soldier figures in the heavens, but Trump’s version replaced them with strange horned creatures. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene condemned it, calling it “more than blasphemy” and “an Antichrist spirit.” MAGA influencer Milo Yiannopoulos said he never thought Trump “actually thought he was the Messiah.” This all came right after Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV as “weak” for opposing the Iran war. When your own base calls you an Antichrist on Easter Sunday, something has gone very wrong.
Democracy Wins. Hungary Boots Trump’s Favorite Authoritarian
Hungarian voters threw out Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power, and it wasn’t close. Opposition leader Péter Magyar’s Tisza party won 138 of 199 parliamentary seats, a two-thirds supermajority giving him the power to rewrite Hungary’s constitution. Voter turnout hit its highest level since the end of Communist rule. Orbán called it “painful” and conceded. JD Vance had flown to Budapest just days before the vote to campaign for Orbán, calling him “wise and smart” and a model for Europe. It didn’t help. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared “Hungary has chosen Europe.” Magyar ran on fighting corruption, rebuilding NATO and EU ties, and ending Orbán’s alliance with Putin. Democracy won yesterday. And it proved that deeply entrenched authoritarians can still be voted out.
While You Can’t Pay Rent, Trump Builds a Gold Arch
On the same day the government reported inflation spiked at its fastest monthly rate in four years, the White House unveiled renderings of a proposed 250-foot gold-covered arch to be built at Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C. The design features four gold lions at its corners and a 60-foot gold statue on top. The National Endowment for the Humanities has already set aside $15 million in taxpayer money. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said Trump is building a “taxpayer-funded vanity project” that would block views of Arlington National Cemetery, where Beyer’s own parents and sister are buried. Rep. Katherine Clark said Americans can’t afford groceries. Progressive activist Nina Turner said people can’t afford rent. Gold arch coming. Grocery money going. That about sums up this presidency.
Geeky Science. Summers Keep Getting Longer and Scientists Are Alarmed
A new peer-reviewed study from the University of British Columbia, published last week in Environmental Research Letters, finds that summers across the midlatitudes, most of North America and Europe, are now 30 days longer than they were in the 1960s. Since 1990, inland areas have been gaining more than six extra days of summer per decade, up to 57 percent faster than earlier estimates. Total summer heat is piling up more than three times faster than in the 1961-to-1990 baseline. In Sydney, summer now lasts 130 days, up from 80 in 1990. Toronto summers are growing by eight days a decade. Scientists warn this disrupts agriculture, ecosystems, and human health. The planet’s seasons are changing. While Washington fights over arches and blockades, the Earth keeps getting hotter.
And that’s the way it is, Today Monday, April 13, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
