By: Josh Schrock August 8, 2026

Being labeled a cheater on the golf course is a black mark that’s virtually impossible to remove. Whether it’s a wild cheating scandal at Q School or someone fluffing their lie during a Saturday morning scramble, cheating in golf isn’t new.

But what happened recently at WingHaven Country Club near St. Louis rocked the local golf scene and is spreading after the culprit went on ESPN Radio in St. Louis to confess.

To set the scene, the events happened during a member-member championship at WingHaven last weekend. The golfer in question, who we won’t name to avoid piling on, is a plus-2 handicap and played college golf at a junior college before having what he described to ESPN as “a cup of coffee” at Eastern Illinois University.

At the WingHaven event, there was a hole-in-one pot. The golfer in question was in the first tee time of the day, which he learned before the round. He told his group before they teed off that his grandmother had been having health issues and he was expecting a phone call that he might have to take. On the third green, the golfer told his group he got the call. So he ran up to the fourth tee box and teed off to keep up the pace of play. He told his group he’d meet them on the tee when he’d finished his call.

The fourth hole is a par-3. When the group caught up to their playing partner, they asked him how he fared with his tee shot. He said he “thinned it a little,” but didn’t see where it landed. When they got up to the green, there was a divot on the green . . . and the golfer’s ball in the hole.

Naturally, a celebration occurred, but there was understandably some skepticism because no one had witnessed the shot. Players sought out the superintendent, who reviewed security camera footage from a maintenance shed near the fourth green. The footage showed the golfer driving past the shed early in the morning toward the fourth green well before his tee time. After that footage surfaced, the golfer informed the super that he had placed the ball in the hole early in the morning. Aware he had put himself in an untenable spot, the golfer resigned his membership.

News of the faked ace quickly made its way around the St. Louis golf scene, leading the culprit to call into the ESPN show, “The Morning After,” on Friday to issue an apology, offer an explanation and ask that his family be left out of the reaction to his cheating. The pro shop at WingHaven confirmed the legitimacy of the story to GOLF.

“You do something as dumb as I did, there are consequences for that,” the golfer said. “Some are very fair, and some aren’t.

“I made a terrible mistake. The lack of moral character. I can take the banter and the chatter and the heat because I deserve that from a golf perspective. What I am most worried about is my family — breaking trust with a marriage that I have had for five years next month. We have two kids that are under 3 and it’s not fair to them for me to put them in that situation where when they walk through a room there is a stigma there that your dad is a [cheater]. So questions that they may get asked or be getting asked down the road, that’s the worst part. The golf is secondary.”

Asked why he made the decision that will follow him for the rest of his golfing life, the golfer did not provide much of an explanation.

“I was so upset that we were giving a couple shots back,” he said. “That’s no excuse. There’s no excuse for what I did, and I was completely in the wrong.

“There’s really no motivation. Just complete stupidity and we were giving two shots back to the field and that’s not an excuse. There’s no excuse for what happened. We were giving two shots back to the field and I went about it just completely and utterly the wrong way.”

The hole-in-one manipulator ended his appearance on ESPN Radio in St. Louis with a plea to those piling on — to not bring his family into the repercussions that are headed his way.

“People say he’s only sorry because he got caught and that might have been true at first,” he said. “But the messages that I’m going to get, I’m just someone to attack. People that I’ve never met in my life. People that don’t know me. People that have no clue who I am. They just want to attack. I get it. I opened up the door to that. That’s fine. I can take that. But my family doesn’t deserve that.

“I’m not a cheater on the golf course,” the golfer said. “I made a bad decision and I have to suffer the consequences. I’m trying to move forward as best I can and it’s been rough. … I’m trying to move forward and do what’s right for my family and be there for them and the two young kids that don’t deserve this. The wife that doesn’t deserve this. It’s terrible. I don’t want sympathy from anybody. I don’t deserve sympathy. But I just wish people would tread lightly on my family.”

It has been said that a reputation is earned in drops and lost in buckets. At WingHaven Country Club’s member-member, a swing that never happened cost a golfer something much more valuable than the money he had to return once his ruse was found out.

You can listen to the entire ESPN Radio interview here.

Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on Wednesday that they had targeted 85 allegedly “American military facilities,” in reality launching sweeping bombing campaigns against neighbors Kuwait and Bahrain.

The IRGC’s aggression follows Iran bombing various vessels attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, reportedly ships linked to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian regime’s attacks prompted U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to resume targeted strikes on Iran’s terrorist infrastructure to protect free navigation in the strait, which the IRGC used as its reasoning for bombing Kuwait and Bahrain.

The IRGC’s statement, as shared by the Iranian government’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), claimed that its forces had launched a “joint missile-and-drone operation, striking 85 locations linked to important U.S. military installations in Bahrain’s Salman Port and Fifth Naval District, as well as Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait.” IRNA celebrated the bombings as a successful effort, claiming to have shot down an American MQ-9 drone in a proportional response to CENTCOM’s strikes hours before. The U.S. government has not at press time confirmed any major damage as a result, though the targeted countries have condemned the strikes as needlessly endangering their populations.

The Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya operational headquarters issued a statement following the attacks appearing to promise more strikes on its neighbors, insisting that any country aiding the “aggressor U.S. military” would face Iranian bombing.

“The origin of any support for the aggressor U.S. military in its aggression against the sovereignty and territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be a legitimate target of the armed forces,” the statement read.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait described the strikes as “heinous Iranian aggressions” directed at Kuwait, not at the United States, given where the strikes occurred. The attacks, it asserted, were “a flagrant violation of its [Kuwait’s] sovereignty, a direct threat to its security and stability, and to the safety of its citizens and residents on its territory, and a grave breach of the rules of international law.”

“The Ministry renews its affirmation that the continuation of these brazen aggressions, at a time when regional and international efforts aimed at de-escalation are underway,” the Foreign Minister stated, “constitutes a systematic undermining of efforts to reduce tensions and strikes at the supporting international will for this path.”

The Kuwait Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes on Bahrain in a separate statement, using similar language to describe the “aggression” by Iran and adding that Kuwait offers its “steadfast and supportive stance toward the security and stability of the sisterly Kingdom of Bahrain.”

Hostilities erupted between Iran and America in February, when President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury and eliminated the longtime dictator of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Those hostilities were paused by a temporary ceasefire in April that evolved into an agreement in June contained in a memorandum of understanding signed by both parties. The memorandum required both sides to engage in discussions for 60 days towards cementing a new agreement preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. It also required Iran to allow the free flow of commercial transit in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran violated the agreement on Tuesday, reportedly bombing three tankers attempting to navigate the Strait of Hormuz. Two of the ships were identified as Qatari and Saudi vessels. The U.S. government retaliated against Iran for these strikes, blaming the regime directly.

“U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” CENTCOM revealed on Tuesday. “The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”

Bahrain, like the United States, condemned Iran for the strikes on the ships prior to the IRGC targeting the country. In a statement, the Bahraini Foreign Ministry issued “strong condemnation and denunciation of the Iranian terrorist attack” on the Saudi and Qatari tankers, deeming it “an unacceptable attack on the security and safety of international navigation and global energy supplies.” Bahrain demanded that the U.N. Security Council “take a firm stance” to punish Iran for its terrorist activities and insisted the international community has a role to play in ensuring safe transit in the Strait of Hormuz “without restrictions or the imposition of illegal fees.”

On Wednesday, President Trump declared during the ongoing NATO summit in Turkey that the memorandum of understanding with Iran was no longer valid as the Iranian government had violated it. He punctuated his comments by referring to Iranian regime officials as “scum” who could not be trusted with negotiations.

“They’re a bunch of scum, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters, referring to Iranian government officials. “We don’t like them, they’re evil people. They’re crazy and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”

“Everyone’s agreed, no nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, joke to the press, they say we never even talked about it. There’s something wrong with them, they’re cuckoo,” Trump added.

Frances Martel

Jon Donnison,Jerusalem. and George Wright

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected US President Donald Trump’s 15-point plan for Gaza, stating that no military pull-out will happen until Hamas is “genuinely” disarmed.

Trump’s Board of Peace said last month it had reached an agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

But Hamas said handing over its heavy weapons was contingent on Israel ending “all forms of aggression” and withdrawing its forces from Gaza.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Gaza since agreeing to an initial ceasefire in the territory last October.

“Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens”, he added.

A Hamas official told the BBC on Sunday the group “reaffirms it commitment” to the agreement and it was ready “to engage seriously and responsibly in implementing” the 15-point plan.

They called on mediators to ensure “that all parties comply with what has been agreed”.

Israel’s rejection signals another blow for Trump’s Gaza peace plan which was announced in September last year.

The plan included the creation of the Board of Peace to oversee the agreement’s implementation, as well as the disarmament of Hamas, withdrawal of Israeli troops and reconstruction of Gaza.

What’s in the Gaza peace deal roadmap?

Netanyahu’s statement does not come as a surprise.

But he has taken some time to make it, perhaps reflecting the difficult position the Israeli leader is in.

He clearly is unhappy with Trump’s plan but at the same time he will not want to upset his closest ally.

It’s just over a week since Trump announced what he called a “monumental step toward lasting peace and security” – that Hamas for the first time had agreed to disarm, on condition that Israel withdraws its forces from Gaza.

On Sunday, Netanyahu was clear that was not going to happen under his watch. He said Hamas had to disarm first, adding that it couldn’t be some “fictitious disarmament” – it had to be real.

The reality is any disarmament and withdrawal of Israeli forces would likely need need to be phased.

Netanyahu said he was now in discussion with US officials about how to go forward.

“They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand our ground on these matters,” he said.

But just months before Israeli elections and under pressure from members of his right-wing coalition to take a tough stance on Gaza, he is unlikely to want to make concessions.

He has faced calls from far-right parts of the coalition to hold a new cabinet vote and end the Gaza plan, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir who dismissed the draft as “not acceptable”

According to the United Nations, about 1.9 million people – 90% of Gaza’s population – have been displaced in the territory since the war in Gaza started.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 73,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Additional reporting by Jack Burgess

By Nandita Bose

Sat, August 8, 2026 at 6:04 AM EDT

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – U.S. House Democrats preparing for a possible return to power are developing a broad investigative strategy targeting companies and financial firms surrounding President Donald Trump, instead of trying to impeach him immediately, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Senior Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and committee aides have discussed using hearings, subpoenas and document ‌requests to obtain records from entities tied to Trump’s political and business orbit, the sources said. It is a bet that investigating private companies and outside financial players will prove more fruitful than directly ‌confronting a White House they expect to resist oversight, they said.

The approach reflects both Democratic caution and a lesson many in the party say they learned during Trump’s first term: that impeachment proceedings can consume Congress while allowing Trump to cast himself as the victim of a ​partisan campaign.

Instead, Democrats involved in the planning envision using House investigative powers after November’s midterm elections to scrutinize the administration’s decision-making and examine whether Trump used his power to benefit himself, allies or donors.

“We’re not going into this to impeach,” said a senior Democratic aide, describing the thinking among party leaders and committee staff. “No one wants a failed vote on day one. The focus is on building a body of evidence through investigations that can hold Trump accountable.”

Republicans hold a narrow House majority, and polls favor Democrats regaining the majority in November. Winning control would give Democrats the power to issue subpoenas, compel testimony and documents, hold public hearings and pursue contempt proceedings.

Democrats expect the White House to fight or ignore requests ‌aimed at the executive branch, making companies, contractors and financial firms working with ⁠the administration an important route for obtaining information, the sources said.

The White House said in a statement that Trump has worked to thwart the “radical left’s agenda” and remains committed to preserving Republican majorities in Congress. A White House official said the administration is “prepared to respond to oversight requests, no matter who is in the House or Senate.”

Three sources said Apple, ⁠Alphabet, Palantir, Blackstone, BlackRock and companies owned by Elon Musk, such as Tesla, have surfaced in discussions because of their contracts, regulatory exposure or administration dealings. The sources said no final target list has been established and no formal investigations have begun.

The sources provided no further details about the investigations. Reuters could not determine if they face any accusations of wrongdoing.

Alphabet, Palantir, Blackstone and BlackRock declined comment. Apple and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrats are expected to examine Department of Homeland ​Security ​contracts, financing for Trump’s planned White House ballroom, corporate donors and alleged pay-to-play arrangements, two sources said. They also plan a probe ​of Trump-linked financial vehicles including 1789 Capital – a venture capital firm where his son ‌Donald Trump Jr. is a partner – and foreign sovereign wealth funds whose investments in Trump family-linked entities could raise questions about administration influence, the sources said.

1789 Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

Because foreign funds may be harder for congressional committees to reach, Democrats are discussing seeking records from U.S.-based firms and funds tied to Trump’s family and other intermediaries, the two sources said.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

Democrats have already begun laying the groundwork for investigations, two of the sources said.

Party leaders are sending letters to companies, contractors and other organizations connected to potential investigations, they said. The requests seek records and pave the way for subpoenas if Democrats win the House, the two sources said.

Representatives Robert Garcia from California and Jamie Raskin from Maryland, the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, respectively, said existing investigations would expand if Democrats win the House.

“From sketchy Pentagon contracts lining the pockets of the president’s sons, ‌Trump’s crypto billions, and the shady backroom deals for Trump donors, we will ensure we combat corruption when Democrats take back the ​House in November,” Garcia said in a statement.

The letters include requests for information from media company Paramount Skydance over its dealings with ​the Trump administration and the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery deal as well as video platform YouTube and parent ​company Alphabet over the company’s $24.5 million settlement with Trump in September. Letters have also been sent to private prison operator GEO Group and security firm Salus Worldwide Solutions for their ‌contracts with the DHS as well as commodity traders Vitol and Trafigura over the ​administration’s sale of Venezuelan oil, the two sources said.

Alphabet and ​Trafigura declined comment. The others did not respond to requests for comment.

The companies can ignore the requests while Democrats are in the minority. But the letters put potential targets on notice and signal records Democrats could subpoena, the two sources said.

IMPEACHMENT NOT FIRST MOVE

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in June on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Democrats haven’t ruled out impeaching Trump if they win back the House but that the ​party’s focus would be on pocketbook issues.

Democrats involved in the planning say impeachment remains ‌an option if investigations uncover evidence of an impeachable offense, but not as a first move.

The calculation reflects the party’s experience during Trump’s first term, when he became the first U.S. president to be ​impeached twice by the House before being acquitted by the Senate each time.

“If investigations uncover evidence that we believe meets the threshold, we will not hesitate to move forward,” said the senior ​Democratic aide.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)

Yahoo

An Iranian military spokesman said Saturday that Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz is “irreversible,” warning that the United States must accept the new status quo or face even greater costs.

“The Iranian order prevailing over the Strait of Hormuz is irreversible,” Iranian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Amir Akraminia said, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

“Today, the Iranian order prevails in the Strait of Hormuz, and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran stand firm until this order is fully established,” Akraminia said.

He said Iran’s armed forces have the will and military capabilities necessary to enforce Tehran’s position.

“The United States has no choice but to accept the status quo, otherwise it will incur costs far greater than in the past,” Akraminia said.

His comments came as Iran said Saturday it was close to reaching an agreement with Oman on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, although Tehran said a deal alone would not be enough to fully reopen the strategic waterway.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran and Oman were “very close” to an agreement on a temporary route while technical and legal issues surrounding a permanent arrangement are resolved.

But Araqchi said reopening the strait would depend on other conditions, including compensation from the United States.

The United Arab Emirates also said Saturday that Iran had attacked a carrier affiliated with its state oil company with a missile as it transited the strait. No injuries were reported. Iran did not immediately comment on the accusation.

Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

Akraminia portrayed Iran’s position in the strait as a result of the country’s resistance to the United States, saying it had elevated Iran’s standing internationally.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Democratic socialist candidate Melat Kiros shocked Colorado’s Democratic establishment when she defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in the state’s June primary. The double-digit win exposed a growing rift over the party’s values that has left some Democrats stunned and questioning the future of the party.

“If you had told me this woman would have won by 13 points, I would have bet my house against that,” Doug Friednash, a veteran political strategist in Colorado, told Fox News Digital. “I never would have thought we would have seen a victory of that magnitude here in Denver.”

Friednash has tracked Colorado’s political shift from red to deep blue over the past three decades, previously serving in the state legislature representing House District 10 in Denver. He later served as Denver city attorney and chief of staff to former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, and he currently works as a partner at Brownstein, a prominent legal and lobbying firm in the region.

Kiros’ victory was one of dozens of wins for far-left candidates in Democratic primary elections this cycle as socialists continue to ascend across the country. The far-left’s rise in the party has alarmed seasoned Democrats like Friednash.

“It was one thing watching this happen in New York … But when it happens in a state like Colorado, which is really the gateway to the West, it tells me that this issue is going to spread and may be a cancer to the Democratic Party if they don’t figure out what our values are,” Friednash said.

He noted that Kiros’ victory did not happen in a vacuum, pointing out that DSA-backed candidates have successfully captured seats in the state legislature and city councils over the past few years.

Weddings are a joyous occasion, and I’ve heard of at least three in my social circles in the upcoming months. But two of these weddings are diverting from the norm of a weekend celebratory affair, choosing instead to hold their nuptials on a weekday.

“A weekday?!” one might well say. “How inconsiderate! I can’t take a whole day off from work just to attend a wedding!”

But perhaps that’s the whole point – not to be inconsiderate, of course, but to trim costs. After all, setting a wedding for a weekday reduces the costs of venues, caterers, florists, and other services, while also automatically lowering the wedding guestlist – not through invites from the couple, but through each guest’s own decision on how far they are willing to go to be available on the big day.

This trend isn’t just in my social circles, however. As a recent article in Elle explained, the younger generation is riding the pendulum away from the millennial trend of bombastic, Instagram-worthy weddings, opting instead for small, quiet, budget-friendly ceremonies that rely on dresses from grandma’s attic and a friend with a film camera.

“In many ways, this shouldn’t come as a surprise,” author Rowan Beaird writes. “Gen Z has lived most of their lives amid periods of profound economic precarity, and the idea of spending thousands and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars on a single day seems absurd.”

Beaird believes these young couples are onto something, asking, “What would it mean for us to think of these celebrations not as a performance, but as simply what they are at their core: traditions, rituals, ceremonies marking the start of a marriage?”

Wait, weddings that are traditions, rituals, and ceremonies to mark the start of a marriage? What a novel idea!

Except … that’s exactly what a wedding was always supposed to be: a solemn pledge which marks two lives coming together symbolically and physically, promising to love and to cherish one another in sickness and in health, not a big party that celebrates a physical relationship that’s already started – and may even be on the rocks soon given the debt required to make the party bigger and better than the one the Joneses had last year.

In 1786, George Washington dropped a profound little line while writing to Charles Armand-Tuffin:

For in my estimation more permanent & genuine happiness is to be found in the sequestered walks of connubial life, than in the giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure, or the more tumultuous and imposing scenes of successful ambition.

Washington was writing more about the daily aspects of married life more than he was speaking of wedding ceremonies, but I believe his advice speaks to the trend away from over-the-top weddings. Essentially, Washington saw that a happy marriage isn’t necessarily one which has all the bells and whistles, the sights and sounds, the smells and the tastes that make a wedding Instagram perfection. Those things all appeal to the senses – the “giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure” and the “imposing scenes of successful ambition.”

Instead, it is the quiet solemnity – those “sequestered walks” – of a simple marriage ceremony surrounded by family, old traditions, and even homemade cake, that tend to create true happiness. For such events are not spectacles of eye candy that fool guests into thinking the couple has it all together; rather, they are humble attempts to focus on the people and realities of life – the stuff that all marriages are really made of in the end.

And when we recognize that true marital success is found in how we handle the simple, foundational things of life – God, family, friends, and resources – then perhaps we’ll have more couples who make it further than a few years after they walk down the aisle.

Annie Holmquist, Intellectual Takeout

UPDATE: Kamala Harris has just issued a desperate warning to every American that if the SAVE America Act passes, people have to prove who they are to vote

Kamala warns it will disenfranchise people.

DOES SHE REALIZE WHAT SHE’S ADMITTING?!

“This president is trying to push this SAVE Act, which basically requires for people to register to vote, you need PROOF of WHO YOU ARE!”

😭😭

You don’t have to convince ME! Everyone should prove who they are to vote!

Kamala is an incredible saleswoman for the SAVE America Act.

SEN. ASHLEY MOODY NAILED IT: “The SAVE America Act, indeed election integrity efforts, are grounded in a simple common sense, indeed foundational principle, that only American citizens should vote in American elections. I really am dumbfounded that I still have to come to the floor and have this debate with anybody in this chamber!”

Eric Dougherty, X

Donald Trump Won the Iran War

The maximalists wanted regime change, the minimalists wanted nothing, and the doubters see only waffling. Carafano’s answer: the victor gets to define victory — and everywhere you look, the region is moving Trump’s way.

The maximalists wanted regime change, the minimalists wanted nothing, and the doubters see only waffling. Carafano’s answer: the victor gets to define victory — and everywhere you look, the region is moving Trump’s way.

Iran War Turns into Trump Middle East Triumph: We are about to see the biggest reshaping of the Middle East since Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. 

Like the pharaoh, who missed every warning sign up to the parting of the Red Sea, the critics and questioners of Trump’s tug-of-war with what’s left of the Iran regime seem obtuse to the prophetic truth that the region will never be the same again—in a good way.

Maximalists. They would only be happy if Trump fought the war they wanted, arguing that nothing less than overthrowing the regime would do. Anything else is a defeat and a humiliation. That’s a perversion of the president’s more limited goals to eliminate the regime’s capacity to bully and destabilize the region—objectives largely accomplished. 

Minimalists. They would only be satisfied if America did nothing, contending, “Trump has dragged the United States into a needless war with Iran—and one with no clear end,” ignoring that the regime building a nuclear arsenal; constantly threatening its neighbors; plotting the assassination of U.S. officials; and engineering the horrific October 7 attacks on Israel were clear and present dangers, and that Trump demolished these threats in a way that no other American president ever came close to even denting. 

MORE – Donald Trump Lost the Iran War 

Procrastinators. They are impatient and confused by what they see as Trump’s waffling, vacillating between negotiating and punishing the regime, overlooking the deep conviction behind his strategy, a sincere humanitarian streak which abhors needless loss of life—ours and theirs. Since he has largely accomplished our war aims, Trump can take a more measured approach to get to the end-state he wants without unnecessary loss of life and needless destruction. Instead, he is “de-risking—every time the Iranians fail to meet their obligations or retaliate, he takes more capabilities and assets of Iran off the table.” Rest assured, worriers, that while the war may only be over when the enemy quits—the truth is that the enemy has already lost, and now the only prospect they face is that the more they fight, the more they lose. 

Theory of Victory

The victor gets to define victory.

Every war leader, in every war, has their detractors. Commanders-in-chief need a better metric to judge their efforts than taking the counsel of discontented doubters. 

A good fight has a “theory of victory,” a logical, feasible, suitable, and acceptable means to justify calling a win in war. That guidepost is the best measure of success.

For Trump, a win is to squash Iran’s capacity to destabilize the region, creating space for regional collective security, reconstruction, and economic resilience, providing a long-term deterrent against a resurgent regime. From the Abraham Accords to the work of the Board of Peace, and major economic initiatives like IMEC and Tripp, the expectation is that the real measure of Iranian defeat is if these initiatives flourish. That’s the theory of victory.

The real test of “is Trump winning” is if there are signs that the long-term peace structure the president is seeking to replace the overshadowing threat of Iran is emerging. Everywhere you look in the region—the answer is yes.

Energy Resilience. Only a year ago, the Iranian regime could threaten to shut down up to a third or more of the world’s oil exports. Even today, while fighting in the Strait of Hormuz still lingers, that is no longer true. Regional exports are rebounding, by some estimates up to two-thirds of pre-war levels. The UAE, for example, is already exporting at 85% of pre-war levels.

Nor is oil rocketing toward $ 200 a barrel like the IRGC hoped. In fact, prices are bobbing below wartime highs. Part of this is because the region is rapidly developing redundant and resilient means to move product through new cooperative initiatives, including potentially a Saudi-Israeli pipeline. The prospects that Iran can hold the flow of the world’s energy hostage are now nil. 

Trump Won the Iran War

So, here is the reality check—the inconvenient truth the doubters don’t want to talk about.

If Trump were losing his war, none of these initiatives would be happening. Instead, what is being witnessed is increased American influence, increased partnerships, and more momentum for the framework Trump envisions to bring long-term peace and stability to the region. These are not signs of defeat, but regional transformation on an unprecedented scale. 

The spin doctors can spin whatever the damn well please, but the historians are going to write that Trump is the most consequential force in reshaping the Middle East in modern memory. 

About the Author: Dr. James Jay Carafano 

James Jay Carafano is a national security expert and a 25-year Army veteran. His most recent books are Cold Combat: Mountain Warfare in Italy and the Battle of San Pietro, 1943, and Digital Dominance: Winning in a Socially Networked World. He is a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor.

North Carolina elementary school is facing backlash after parents discovered a transgender music teacher was educating students while wearing a dress, causing a bitter divide. 

Middle Creek Elementary School in Apex, near Raleigh, went back to school on July 30, where students were met with a new music teacher, who is a ‘transgender biological male, who dresses as a woman,’ State Representative Erin Paré said in a statement. 

At a school board meeting on Tuesday, many parents said they were unaware of the new hire, with many finding out via social media, after popular creators, such as Libs of TikTok, posted about the teacher. 

Heagarty said the district is ‘following the guidance of the United States Constitution and our US courts system,’ which dictated that school dress codes ‘must be gender neutral and non-discriminatory.’ 

Many parents and board members spoke in support of the teacher, including board member Jennifer Job, who accused parents of using the educator to propel their political agenda. 

‘People online and in this room are willing to sacrifice this person’s love for their job for their culture war,’ she said at the meeting. 

Many parents and community members said the addition of a transgender teacher promoted diversity, and attacking the educator was only showing children to discriminate based on appearance and identity.  

‘We have a responsibility as a county to serve students of all diverse backgrounds and their families,’ Anna Crollman, who formerly taught in the district, said at the meeting, according to The Observer. 

However, some parents have formed a coalition called Middle Creek Parental Rights, which is led by Aaron Driver and his wife. 

The group is demanding the school release the hiring records for the transgender teacher and said parents should not have found out about the educator via social media. 

He said young students have come home with ‘big questions’ about gender identity.