A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Mr. Magoo as Commander-in-Chief
In a move rich in historic irony, President Trump has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil in a desperate effort to ease global oil prices sent skyrocketing by his poorly planned attack on Iran.
Trump’s gift to Vladimir Putin to get his own ass out of the sling is both a huge concession to Russia and an unmistakeable admission that the economic reverberations from the elective war in Iran are having acute downstream political effects on Trump and Republicans in an election year.
Trump, the gift that keeps on keeping to Putin, was first elected with extensive help from Russia, endured one Russia-related impeachment, and has virtually abandoned Ukraine in its defense of Russia’s invasion. The sanctions were originally opposed to punish Russia for the Ukraine invasion. With his strange attraction to Putin’s Russia as backdrop, Trump is lurching toward Russia anew, this time as a pressure relief valve with the Strait of Hormuz bottled up by the threat of Iranian missiles, drones, and mines.
The gambit to free up Russian oil to calm volatile crude markers, which experts say won’t necessarily be effective, came as CNN reported that the Trump administration had failed to plan for the potential closing of the Strait of Hormuz, even though the risk of such retaliation from Iran has been “a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” as one former U.S. official put it.
“Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes, according to three sources familiar with the closed-door session,” according to CNN.
Administration officials “believed closing the strait would hurt Iran more than the U.S.,” CNN reported, which colored their view of the risks to world oil supplies.
Beyond the irony of freeing Russia from the doghouse of international opprobrium to save his own skin, the oil supply fiasco is another in a long line of examples of Trump simply failing to grasp — let alone care about — core U.S. national interests.
JD Vance Scampers for Political Cover
With JD Vance’s political prospects jeopardized by the Iran war, a subset of Trump White House officials let Politico know that JD Vance opposed the operation behind the scenes even though he has supported it in public: “Vance is ‘skeptical,’ is ‘worried about success’ and ‘just opposes’ the war on Iran, a senior Trump official said via text message.”
The Latest From the Middle East …
- Four U.S. service members were killed when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq while supporting the U.S. attack on Iran.
- The U.S. has been carrying out airstrikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq since the war began on Feb. 28.
- For the third time in 10 days, NATO shot down an Iranian missile targeting Turkey.
- Two people were killed in a presumably Iranian drone strike in Oman. Al Jazeera has a running tracker on death tolls by country, which provides a good overview of the sweep of the regional conflict.
Two Apparent Terrorist Attacks at Home
- Virginia: An Army lieutenant colonel was killed and another person critically wounded in a shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. The alleged shooter was released from prison in 2024 after serving nine years of an 11-year sentence for attempting to support the Islamic State. He was apparently killed by students, though authorities provided few details. “He was not shot,” an FBI agent said at a press conference.
- Michigan: An armed man rammed his vehicle through the doors of a Michigan synagogue and drove down the hall in what is being treated as targeted attack. Security guards opened fire, and one security guard was injured by the car. The attacker died in the attack, though authorities aren’t clear on how the man died. His car caught fire in the building, and 30 law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation. No one else was injured in what is being treated as a terrorist attack.
ICYMI
With many of President Trump’s retributive prosecutions flailing, prosecutors in Miami are under increasing pressure to make something stick against former CIA Director John Brennan in the pre-eminent investigate the investigators charade, CNN reports.
DOJ officials and U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones made a push in January to bring a case against Brennan, according to CNN, but some career prosecutors resisted the pressure. They view the case as “relatively weak” and are “struggling to delay bringing the case to a grand jury.”
‘President Trump’s Justice Department’
In a press release yesterday, DOJ gave away the game, describing itself as “President Trump’s Justice Department,” which Chris Geidner believes is the first time DOJ has used such a headline in the Obama, Trump, or Biden administrations.
Quote of the Day
“When I read that, I think, what is this? Is this Turkey? Is this Tunisia? Is this Hungary? Is this Poland? No, it’s the United States where these impeachment calls are coming out.”—Judge M. Margaret McKeown, a senior judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, on calls by President Trump and congressional Republicans to impeach judges for their rulings
It’s at Least as Bad as You Expected
The folks at 404 Media has been going through the videos of some of the DOGE bro depositions. Here’s a pungent sample:
Florida Passes Proof-of-Citizenship Law
The Florida legislature passed and Gov. Ron DeSantis supports a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The bill would make Florida the most populous state with a proof-of-citizenship requirement, a GOP obsession that seeks to use the false claim of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens to make it harder for citizen, especially minorities, to vote.
2026 Ephemera
Democrats have flipped 28 GOP-held seats in state legislatures across the country over the past 14 months, Politico reports.
Become Part of the TPM Community!
Our annual membership drive is in full swing.
If you love Morning Memo, if it’s a regular part of your news diet, if you’ve thought about joining but just haven’t gotten around to it, then take a moment to sign up today. It’s a relatively low-cost way to support independent journalism at this critical time.
For those who have already joined, or been members forever, thank you! We see you, too.
See You Back Here Monday
Hot tips? Juicy scuttlebutt? Keen insights? Let me know. For sensitive information, use the encrypted methods here.
Friday the 13th; but honestly it feels like the 417th Friday the 13th since Jan. 20, 2025.
Here’re today’s doses of medicine, i.e. truth, from our staunch friends:
March 12, 2026 - by Heather Cox Richardson
and a couple of Tim Snyder’s interviews from last week:
What’s all this about?
“The president wants you right away,” the voice said.
Bessent began rapidly looking around the room as an aide rushed to remove his microphone. He left the interview at 10.22 am and returned almost two hours later at 12.07 pm.
I suspect a lot of Cubanos in Florida are going to be surprised at their next visit to a polling place.
Cuban Sandwich, meet Leopard.