June 20, 2026
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Michael's Daily Notes
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Winston Churchill told Parliament in 1947: "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried."
It's the best frame for what just happened with Iran.
The Trump administration's 14-point memorandum of understanding is drawing fire from all sides - and not without reason. Iran gets sanctions relief, billions in frozen assets, the right to sell its oil freely again, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund. What does America get? A reaffirmation that Tehran won't build a nuclear weapon - a pledge the regime has made and broken for decades. Trump achieved less than President Obama did with the 2015 nuclear deal, and Obama never dropped a single bomb.
Nobody's happy. A new AP-NORC poll finds 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran. Fifty-three percent say the war went "too far." The hawks hate the deal. The public hated the war. But Max Boot, writing in The Washington Post, asks the question nobody on either side wants to answer: what was the alternative? "For once, the president's lack of consistency and conviction proved an advantage in allowing him to exit an unwinnable war rather than escalating to save face."
Churchill's framing fits. This deal is the worst outcome, except for all the others.
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DAILY POLL
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Trump's Iran deal is the worst outcome except for all the others.
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TOP STORY
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The United States beat Australia 2-0 at Seattle's Lumen Field on Friday to clinch a spot in the World Cup knockout rounds after just two matches, making for an abnormally strong start and promising beginning for the tournament's home team.
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TODAY'S YOUTUBE
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SPONSORED BY PARX CASINO
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IN OTHER NEWS
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President Trump on Friday debuted the Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar that will serve as the new Air Force One, touring the retrofitted $400 million jet at Joint Base Andrews ahead of commissioning flights and a planned Washington flyover on July 4th.
CNN's Harry Enten reported that the Democratic Socialists of America hold a plus-17 net favorability among Democrats — better than congressional Democrats — as prediction markets give DSA-aligned candidates real shots at toppling incumbents in next week's New York House primaries.
Trump's memorandum of understanding ending the 40-day Iran war lifts sanctions, unfreezes $24 billion and waives oil restrictions in exchange for vague nuclear pledges — a sellout, but one that The Washington Post's Max Boot argues beats escalating an unwinnable war of choice.
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A MESSAGE FROM COMCAST
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President Trump's $14.7 million no-bid renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool awarded to a Virginia firm that worked on his Sterling golf club, the company's first government contract, is under fire after algae blooms turned the water green and the freshly applied "American flag blue" paint began peeling weeks before the July 4th semiquincentennial.
Barack and Michelle Obama personally greeted the first 100 guests to walk through the doors of the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Juneteenth, and joined LeVar Burton to read "Where the Wild Things Are" to schoolchildren at the campus's public library branch.
Legal experts say Luigi Mangione may have abruptly abandoned a psychiatric defense in his New York murder trial to avoid damaging admissions in his separate federal case, to keep sensitive medical records from becoming public, or because he personally rejected being portrayed as mentally ill.
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MORE NEWS
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In an attempt to lessen the possibility of brain damage amongst young soccer players, the American Youth Soccer Organization has banned deliberate "headers" for players 12 and under while capping practice headers for 13- and 14-year-olds.
U.S. intelligence agencies have warned the Trump administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under political pressure to keep waging Israel's war in Lebanon, is likely to take steps that would undermine President Donald Trump's push for a lasting peace deal with Iran.
King Charles has offered Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their children royal accommodations for a planned July visit to the U.K.—their first family trip there in four years—as questions over security arrangements remain unresolved.
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For the Left
The Justice Department intervened on Thursday in a lawsuit filed by a Catholic order of Nuns, The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, backing their constitutional challenge against a New York law requiring long-term care facilities to assign rooms and use pronouns based on gender identity.
For the Right
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seeking to sell or transfer seven warehouses that were purchased for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers after a shift in leadership under Markwayne Mullin and a lawsuit by Salt Lake City Officials earlier this month.
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