Good Morning, this is the Commonwealth Report. News for the public, not the powerful.
How Much Will Trump’s Iran War Really Cost Us?
University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers just blew up the Pentagon’s $25 billion estimate. He says the real cost runs into hundreds of billions, very possibly trillions. The Pentagon comptroller told Congress $25 billion. Independent analysts already counted $71.8 billion spent in the first two months, about $1.2 billion every day. Trump promised $200 billion when he launched this war in February. Now he wants a $1.5 trillion defense budget. That’s a 40% jump, roughly $4,000 per household. Wolfers says the war’s already wiped about $3 trillion off the stock market. “War is hell. And hell comes with a hefty price tag,” he wrote. The Iraq War cost $3 trillion when you count lifetime veteran care. Working people pay this bill. Billionaires pocket the contracts.
The American People See the Rot. Washington Cashes the Checks
A new Politico poll just landed, and the numbers are stunning. 72% of Americans say there’s too much money in our politics. Only 5% disagree. 61% say billionaires have too much influence on elections. And this crosses every line. 80% of Harris voters agree, 77% of Trump voters agree. Two-thirds say special interest money is corruption that should be restricted. Remember, Elon Musk dropped $277 million to elect Trump in 2024. Since then, Musk has grown his personal wealth by $235 billion while gutting the very agencies investigating him. Citizens United cracked the door. Billionaires drove a Mack truck through it. Americans across the spectrum see the rot. They want it stopped. The question is whether either party in Washington has the spine to take on the donor class that funds them.
Did Ted Cruz Just Confess to Killing Social Security?
At the Milken Conference in Beverly Hills this week, Ted Cruz let it slip. He called Trump Accounts “the dirty little secret.” His words. He admitted conservatives have spent 50 years trying to privatize Social Security. Then he laid out the plan. Get parents hooked on Trump Accounts for their kids. Then convince them to divert payroll taxes into private Wall Street accounts instead of Social Security. “Babies grow up,” Cruz said. “We gave the money to babies, and so the old people didn’t get pissed.” Bush tried this in 2005 and got crushed. Now they’re sneaking it through the back door. Hand your retirement to the same Wall Street casinos that crashed the economy in 2008. That’s the plan. Trump promised he’d never touch Social Security. Cruz just admitted otherwise.
Trump’s Closing the Chapter on FEMA
Trump’s FEMA Review Council just dropped its final report, and it’s a doozy. “It is time to close the chapter on FEMA,” they wrote. The 12-member panel wants disaster response handed to the states, with Washington just chipping in. This is happening as climate disasters explode. 2025 was the third-worst year for billion-dollar weather disasters ever, 23 of them, 276 dead, $115 billion in damage. The 74-page report mentions climate exactly once. FEMA’s already lost a third of its workforce under Trump. Experts say small rural counties depend on FEMA expertise and federal dollars to survive hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. Now they’re on their own. Hurricane season is weeks away. Storms don’t care which state you live in. But this administration sure does, especially when it comes to handing out aid.
Why Did Trump Fire the CDC Inspectors Right Before a Cruise Ship Outbreak?
A deadly hantavirus outbreak is spreading from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. Three dead, at least eight infected with the Andes virus, the only hantavirus that spreads person to person. 38% of people with respiratory symptoms die. There’s no vaccine. No treatment. And here’s the kicker. Last year, Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE fired every full-time inspector in the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program. Three of the CDC’s twenty Port Health Stations now have zero staff. Trump also pulled us out of the World Health Organization. Six Americans have already disembarked and come home. Six states are monitoring exposed residents. Senator Schumer is demanding Trump rehire the disease detectives now. “Public health under this administration is a sinking ship,” Schumer said, “and Trump keeps firing the crew.”
CNN Anchor Stunned to Discover Americans Like Taxing Billionaires
CNN’s Michael Smerconish had a rough Saturday. He ran a poll asking whether Mamdani’s “tax the rich” push is an asset or liability for Democrats. He clearly expected the answer he wanted. Instead, with over 25,000 votes, 51% called it an asset. 49% called it a liability. “Wow,” Smerconish said on air, visibly stunned. Then he insisted, “49% is the correct answer.” Yes, you heard right. The minority is the correct answer because Michael says so. Meanwhile, as you read above, that Politico poll shows 72% of Americans think there’s too much money in politics. But on cable news, taxing the rich is still treated like a shocking, brave opinion. Memo to Michael. The American people figured this out a long time ago. They’re waiting on pundits to catch up.
And that’s the way it is, Today Monday, May 11, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
