Monday, March 2, 2026

In this episode: Trump declined to rule out sending U.S. ground troops into Iran “if they were necessary,” saying “whatever it takes” and adding, “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground”; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected the idea of an “endless” war in Iran; the Pentagon acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S. interests – contradicting Trump’s claim that the U.S. was "very nearly under threat" from Iran; a federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s effort to delay litigation over potential tariff refunds; the Justice Department dropped its defense of Trump’s executive orders sanctioning four law firms with ties to Democrats; Trump allies are continuing to press him to declare a national emergency and impose federal election rules without Congress as the SAVE Act’s voter ID and proof-of-citizenship mandates has stalled in the Senate; 34% of Americans approved of the U.S. attacks on Iran; and 60% of Americans said they don’t trust Trump to make the right decisions on U.S. use of force.

Read more: Day 1868: "The yips."

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