Frank's Musings

The deal announced on 22 July 2026 between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia permitting the Kingdom to enrich uranium used for peaceful nuclear energy generation is likely a forerunner to an eventual U.S. concession to Iran that would allow the Islamic Republic similarly to develop its own domestic nuclear power industry in return for ending its interference with shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. This is a risky bargain for Trump to make, but the Iranian regime seems to have forced Trump to admit that he and Netanyahu overplayed their cards by attacking Iran.

I wonder if MBS is comfortable with an incipient nuclear rival across the Persian Gulf.  That decision may reflect his anticipation of the eventual reduction of Saudi Arabia's oil-based economic prominence.

By minimizing the size of the financial gains he and his family have gleaned so far, particularly from his second term in the White House, Donald Trump believes his MAGA supporters will shamefacedly lament they couldn’t more adequately compensate him for his excellence as their leader. He has, after all, demonstrated that, like those of us without superior professional qualifications, admirable intellectual accomplishments, or hundred-billion-dollar fortunes, we can, at least, appear to prevent a complete collapse of our liberal and equitable democracy.

In fact, Trump is willing humbly to settle for being memorialized on Mount Rushmore instead of being given full access to the U.S. treasury. Bless his unpretentious heart, he does realize that stone can’ t simply vanish like paper wealth. His sculpted face would constantly remind the country how much it owes to him for his audacity.