Good Morning, this is the Commonwealth Report. News for the public, not the powerful.
Is Trump’s Iran War Already Falling Apart?
He started it. Now he can’t finish it. The Wall Street Journal reports Trump has told aides he’s willing to end the Iran war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. A month ago Trump said he didn’t need anyone’s help. Now he’s begging NATO allies to go take the strait by force. Germany said no. Spain said no. Italy said no. Britain said no. Germany’s Defense Minister put it plainly. This is not our war, we didn’t start it. Trump, who spent years alienating every ally he had, is now shocked they won’t clean up his mess. Nearly 2,000 Iranians are dead. Thirteen American service members have been killed. Oil is at 107 dollars a barrel. This is what happens when you start a war without a plan to end it.
Are We Watching a Regime Reach Its Breaking Point?
Eight million Americans took to the streets last weekend in the No Kings protests, one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history. That’s roughly 2.5 percent of the entire country. David Rothkopf, former editor of Foreign Policy Magazine, says the Trump administration has now crossed the tipping point where authoritarian regimes typically begin to collapse. History shows that when more than two percent of a population takes to the streets, governments rarely survive it. The resistance isn’t abstract anymore. It’s in the streets, in cities and towns across this country. The question is whether our institutions can hold long enough for democracy to do its work.
Can You Still Afford to Fly?
In just a few weeks, jet fuel prices have nearly doubled, jumping from $2.17 a gallon to $4.57. Airlines are now warning that supplies could run dry. United Airlines is cutting five percent of its flights. Delta says the fuel spike cost them 400 million dollars in March alone. American Airlines is looking at the same number. SAS is canceling over a thousand April flights. Carriers across Europe and Asia are raising ticket prices. There’s a real risk of planes stranded abroad with no fuel to come home. Trump promised cheaper gas, cheaper flights, cheaper everything. The Iran war has delivered the opposite.
January 6th Rioters Are Now Suing the Cops Who Stopped Them
You heard that right. Forty-six people who stormed the U.S. Capitol are suing Capitol Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police, seeking over 18 million dollars in damages. They claim officers used excessive force on what they’re calling a peaceful crowd. That’s the crowd that beat officers with flagpoles, smashed windows, and tried to stop the certification of a free election. Lead plaintiffs include Proud Boys convicted of felony assault, already pardoned by Trump. The Trump administration has also settled with the Ashli Babbitt estate for nearly five million dollars. The people who attacked American democracy are using our own courts to get paid for it.
A Toddler Is Behind Bars and Getting Sicker
A Democratic lawmaker is raising alarms about a two-year-old child held in ICE detention in Texas who is sick and not receiving adequate care. This isn’t an isolated case. A two-month-old was hospitalized this year after choking on his own vomit at the Dilley, Texas family detention center. Emergency 911 records show staff repeatedly calling ambulances for infants in respiratory distress. Last year was the deadliest year in ICE detention in two decades. Children are getting sicker inside these facilities, not better. ICE says it provides the best care these children have ever received. None of them was convicted of a crime. No trial was held. Just kids behind bars, getting worse.
Trump’s Poll Numbers Are Sinking Into the 30s
Nate Silver says Trump now has profound problems. For the first time in his second term, Trump’s approval rating has dropped below 40 percent, hitting 39.7 in Silver’s tracker. His net approval is minus 17.4, a new low. One University of Massachusetts poll puts him at just 33 percent. Support for the Iran war is underwater too. Gas is over four dollars a gallon. Markets are down. Eight million people just marched against him. His numbers are dragging the whole Republican Party into that trench with him. With midterms coming in November, Republicans who’ve covered for Trump should be getting nervous. History is rarely kind to those who enable disaster and look the other way.
And that’s the way it is, Today Tuesday, March 31, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
