AMERICA FIRST, TRUMP ALONE: After a year in which Donald Trump has taxed and insulted America’s allies, they are leaving him hanging out to dry on his call for help with war on Iran.

  Despite the effects of the war on the price and shipment of oil, top officials of Japan, Italy, and Australia said they would not send their navies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz closed by the embattled Iran. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius pointedly said, “This is not our war; we did not start it.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his country would not be “drawn into wider war.”

  Trump claimed at a press conference yesterday that, “Numerous countries have told me they are on the way.” He did not say which countries.

  Complaining about allies refusing to join the Iran fight, Trump said, “You mean for 40 years we’ve been protecting you and you don’t want to get involved with something that is very minor, very few shots gonna be taken, cuz they don’t have many shots left, but they say, ‘we’d rather not get involved.’”

  He went on, “I’ve been a big critic of all the protecting of other countries because I know we’ll protect them and if ever needed, if we ever needed help, they won’t be there for us.”

  The President also said that he’s delaying his April trip to China because of the war. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said “As commander-in-chief, it’s his No. 1 priority right now to ensure the continued success of this operation, Epic Fury” … known in realty as the war with Iran.

THE WAR ROOM: Israel claimed this morning that it killed Iran’s top security official and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ volunteer force in overnight strikes.

  Even while the US and Israel kill off Iranian leaders, The Washington Post reports according to intelligence sources that, “Iran’s regime likely will remain in place for now, weakened but more hard-line, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces exerting greater control.”  

CUBA FOR THE TAKING: After snatching the president of Venezuela and going to all-out war against Iran, President Trump said yesterday that he’s in position to “take” the weakened Cuba amidst an energy and financial crisis. While Trump cozies up to the dictators of Russia and China, there’s something about Cuba that really bugs him … maybe not enough Trump resorts down there.

  “I do believe I will be having the honor of taking Cuba,” Trump said yesterday to reporters at the White House. He said; “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it. They’re a very weakened nation right now.”

  Cuba suffered a nationwide blackout yesterday. The country’s prime minister said his government might open to foreign investment, including from the United States. 

THE REGIME:

— A federal judge in Massachusetts yesterday blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year. The ruling also reversed all decisions made by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) that Kennedy appointed after firing the existing panel. The decision prevents the committee from having its scheduled meeting later this week.

  The anti-vaccine Kennedy has been making major changes in vaccine recommendations and policies, particularly for infants and children. Judge Brian Murphy wrote that the vaccine panel has been ignoring basic science. He said, “First, of the fifteen members currently on ACIP, even under the most generous reading, only six appear to have any meaningful experience in vaccines the very focus of ACIP.” 

— Susie Wiles, President Trump’s White House chief of staff, revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The 68-year-old Wiles said the cancer was caught in its early stages and she will remain on the job during treatment. 

— A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to continue, for now, to deport illegal immigrants to nations other than their home countries. The court blocked a lower court ruling that would have required the administration to make it a priority to give “meaningful notice” before sending migrants to a country unknown to them.

— The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with Aids in Zambia to leverage a deal giving the US access to more of the country’s precious minerals, The NY Times reports. The Times reports having access to a department memo prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio that says, “We will only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale.” 

  About 1.3 million people in Zambia rely on daily HIV treatment provided by the US, as well as tuberculosis and malaria medications that save tens of thousands of Zambian lives every year. The Trump administration is considering whether to “significantly cut assistance” as soon as May, to increase pressure on Zambia, according to the State Department memo.

THE SPIN RACK: Utah author Kouri Richins, who wrote a book about grief for children, was found guilty of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl in a plot to bail herself out of debt and run away with her handyman boyfriend. Prosecutors described Richins as an egotistical social climber who slipped a fatal mickey into her husband Eric’s Moscow Mule cocktail back in March of 2022. Utah has the death penalty. — Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of targeting a hospital for drug users, killing at least 400 people. 

BELOW THE FOLD: President Trump told reporters that California Gov. Gavin Newsom shouldn’t become president because he has dyslexia, a difficulty with reading and writing. “Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president. I don’t want, I think, the president should not have learning disabilities, okay, and I know it’s highly controversial to say such a horrible thing.”

  Said the president with serious personality disorders.

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