The Lead

Ceasefire Extended; but Aggression and Brutality Doesn't Sustain a Nation

by Paul Gallagher (EIRNS) — Jun. 14, 2026

The faster that truth sinks in, the better for the nation and the world.

President Trump, who was cajoling a peace “deal” with Iran from late June 13 throughout June 14, was confirmed by Pakistani and Iranian officials late Sunday evening. It reflected the fact that the President had forced himself into a high-pressure trap. The constant claims of a “peace deal” did not bring Iran around for more than 100 days, because of Iran’s strong respect for its own sovereignty under an unprovoked, existential attack. Pleading with Israel for a ceasefire with Lebanon did not work because in “Bibi” Netanyahu, Trump had met more than his own equal in military brutality.

On Sunday, Netanyahu again bombed Beirut to try to ensure that the United States could not achieve a “Trump birthday deal” with Iran. Israel’s extremist right-wing ministers claimed the bombing of buildings in the city was in “necessary, automatic” response to three drones fired at northern Israel by Hezbollah, although the Times of Israel’s blog acknowledged that it had not responded to several previous such drone attacks which did not affect civilians.

The Trump Administration’s “government of billionaires, for billionaires, and by billionaires” has been looting developing nations by brutally seizing their raw materials; looting its own allies by selling them hyper-expensive oil and natural gas in a global energy crisis of its own creation; and now has turned its “operation economic fury” against its largest ally, India. None of this has produced any American economic revival. Rather, it has cost American consumers more in inflation, high interest rates, debt and war spending, than its ill-gotten gains. May’s inflation readings rose to 4.2% for Consumer Price Inflation, and 6.3% for Producer Price Inflation.

This has also cost Trump his credibility, as he abandoned every promise made to election supporters.

Among President Trump’s erstwhile strongest supporters, everyone from Marjorie Taylor Greene to Joe Rogan recognizes this failure.

This is not America. We are about to celebrate the 250th year of our Declaration of Independence from the British Empire, this July 4th. We are supposed to be reading that masterful Declaration from public places all over the nation, on or about that day. Pope Leo, the first American Pope, has already read it publicly to the graduates at his own alma mater, Villanova:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

You can participate, either by attending in person or by getting on a Zoom connection, in 2028 Presidential candidate Diane Sare’s July 5 meeting in Philadelphia, America 250: A Rededication.