Badlands Brief
Trump Rugs the Deltas with an Early MOU
The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.
Trump and Iran Sign MOU Ahead of Schedule, Media Picks Up on the Doha Connection That Facilitated Trump’s Middle East Mediation
The United States and Iran have reportedly finalized and digitally signed their memorandum of understanding ahead of the previously scheduled signing ceremony in Switzerland. President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders reportedly signed the agreement remotely, bringing the interim accord into effect earlier than anticipated while formal negotiations on a permanent agreement are expected to continue over the next 60 days.
The 14-point framework, which includes provisions for ending hostilities, reopening maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief tied to compliance, and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Reuters and AP separately published details of the draft framework, are described as an interim agreement designed to create conditions for a broader settlement.
Meanwhile, The Atlantic examined Qatar’s role in the diplomacy, noting that Doha’s longstanding ties with both Washington and Tehran helped provide communication channels before and during the conflict. The magazine reported that Qatari officials had been working to broker contacts with the Trump administration before hostilities began and argued that the country’s unique relationships made it particularly well positioned to facilitate mediation efforts.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: We are now learning that Qatar served as the backchannel between President Trump and Iran. This is precisely what I have been speculating for years, pinpointing the “soft war” between Saudi Arabia (+ the Arab League) and Qatar in 2017, where President Trump backed Saudi Arabia while also meeting with Qatar and promising Sheik Tamim to help him resolve it.
What this rift achieved was pushing Qatar away from the Arab League, forcing the Qataris to make peace with their longtime rival in Tehran.
Do you remember the gas pipeline that the Qataris wanted to run through Syria and into Europe in 2010? And when denied the bad twin in Qatar teamed up with Hillary Clinton and Obama to create ISIS to overthrow Assad? That pipeline was going to directly compete with a Iranian-Russian pipeline, which is why Assad rejected the Qatari proposal.
I also have speculated that Qatar served as the backchannel between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who have been mortal enemies since 1979 when the Ayatollah accused the Saudis of being western puppets and religious frauds—provoking an ideological arms race in the 1980’s which radicalized the entire Middle East as both sides sought to demonstrate that they were the true keepers of the Islamic faith.
I believe it was Qatar who helped the two countries restore relations in November 2023, in the wake of the October 7 attack when the entire Islamic world was reeling from the invasion of Gaza and being baited by Israel to start a major regional war.
Remember: Qatar has been branded as a sworn enemy of Israel and the Zionist Diaspora. They accuse Qatar of funding the October 7 attack, though it was actually Netanyahu using money he had secured from Qatar after convincing them that Gaza was facing a humanitarian crisis after Hamas had its funding cut off by the Palestinian Authority—because Hamas attempted to assassinate the Palestinian Prime Minister in March of 2018.
You will recall that Israel fired a missile into a residential neighborhood in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, in September 2025, on the day before Charlie Kirk was assassinated. (I believe that both of these terrorist attacks were committed by Israel.) You will also recall that, in response, President Trump signed a security agreement with Qatar pledging that the US would respond militarily should Israel do it again.
In another interesting coincidence (I’m sure), after many years of delays, the new Air Force One was just delivered yesterday, and is expected to officially enter service on July 4th.
You will recall that President Trump ordered this plane during his first term in office. Boeing failed to delivery, with repeated delays and upcharges. So the Qataris stepped in and gifted the United States one of their 747’s; a symbolic gesture that will come to define our evolving relationship in the Middle East with the Arabs.
As for this MOU, President Trump has triggered everybody and their mother with the chaotic deployment, fooling the traitors in the GOP to sharpen their knives and prematurely attack before even knowing what was in the deal. It has truly been a masterclass in how to bait your enemy into destroying himself.
Ben Shapiro has been whining about rumors of JD Vance planning a photo op with Iranian Parliament leader Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Friday. Honestly, I hope President Trump invites the (fake and gay) Ayatollah to the White House for a World Peace Summit, just for the memes.
There are videos of Ghalibaf leading chants of “Death to America,” but he and the Ayatollah have both said on multiple occasions that those chants are directed specifically at America’s corrupt political elite, and not the common people, whom the Iranian leadership have said are being unfairly oppressed by the satanic pedophiles who run our government.
It seems that we may have a lot more in common with these people than we have been led to believe.
DOJ Names National Coordinator for Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has appointed longtime federal prosecutor Alessandra Serano as the Justice Department’s national coordinator for human trafficking and child exploitation cases.
Serano, a DOJ veteran since 2003, has served in multiple US Attorney’s Offices including the Southern District of California, the Virgin Islands, and most recently the Eastern District of Virginia. She had been working as senior counsel to the deputy attorney general and recently completed a temporary role with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In her new position, Serano will oversee federal efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking and child exploitation cases across the Justice Department and partner agencies, while also coordinating with the Office of Justice Programs on victim services funding. Within 120 days, she is expected to help deliver an updated DOJ strategy on combating trafficking and exploitation.
The role consolidates oversight of cases handled across all 93 US Attorney’s Offices as well as specialized units within the DOJ Criminal Division, elevating the position within the deputy attorney general’s office.
Ashe in America: As the “Epstein files” hysteria continues to consume all of the energy, the administration appears to be taking steps to roll up trafficking networks.
You’d think this story would make people concerned with child trafficking take notice, but this appointment was largely ignored. Don’t get me wrong, there would lots of discussions about trafficking — Epstein, UK Rape Gangs, etc. — but no one noticed that :
“Within 120 days, she is expected to help deliver an updated DOJ strategy on combating trafficking and exploitation.”
That would be mid-October.
Less than a month before The Midterms™️…
Notable.
“[Serano’s] appointment follows a recent DOJ announcement of an investigation into the status of roughly 300,000 unaccompanied immigrant children, including concerns that some may have been exploited through labor or sex trafficking via so-called ‘super sponsors.’”
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Media Says Energy Prices Will Remain Elevated for Months as Trump Confidently Disagrees
Major media outlets and energy analysts are reporting that any easing in oil and gas markets following the reported US-Iran agreement is unlikely to bring an immediate return to pre-crisis conditions. Analysts cited by OilPrice.com say sanctions relief, infrastructure constraints and shipping disruptions could delay significant increases in Iranian exports; related reports suggest that uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and regional security continues to weigh on markets.
Businesses and governments are preparing for prolonged supply-chain disruptions and elevated energy costs, with concerns focused on shipping through the Persian Gulf and the potential for renewed instability. Analysts cited in the reports suggest that even with diplomatic progress, global energy markets may take months to normalize.
President Donald Trump struck a more optimistic tone, writing on Truth Social that oil prices should come down and expressing confidence that the agreement and regional developments would help stabilize markets.
Burning Bright: The latest vector of media fear-mongering centers on energy prices.
The Media Protectorate, joined even by ostensibly-reasonable voices in the financial and logistics alt-media is sounding the alarm that, even with Trump’s Iran framework in hand, prices are likely to remain elevated for months, if not the balance of the year.
Physical supply chains, they insist move far slower than headlines, with the visible theater of disruption, in their telling not yet yielding to Trump’s promised renormalization.
Trump himself is pouring cold water on that framing.
He claims that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will normalize rapidly—that it possibly already has, while the world’s attention was fixed elsewhere.
Hundreds of ships and millions of barrels of oil, he claims continued to move through the chokepoint for the entirety of the conflict, often under conditions the surface narrative was never made privy to.
If Trump is to be believed—and the accumulating pattern of the past decade suggests we should at least test the premise—then a clarifying question presents itself: does this increase or decrease one’s belief that the war between the United States and Iran was ‘real’ in the conventional, kinetic sense?
Or does it point instead to the deeper architecture my Iran War series has traced from the outset, with the visible conflict serving as narrative theater while its actual purpose ran along different lines, and even planes of reality?
As I have argued for months, the real point of the Iran operation—beyond the Narrative Nuclear Disarmament campaign that is stripping away the hegemon’s final credible pretext for the Forever War crucible they’ve held the world in stasis within since World War II—was to clear the path for an authentic Trump Transition.
That transition is predicated on energy, not managed scarcity, and from where I’m sitting, the Iran War Narrative has accelerated this shift on two mutually reinforcing fronts:
On the first front, global energy trade has tipped toward the United States and the emerging Pax Americana sphere Trump is rapidly constructing under the guise of deconstruction, from Venezuela to Argentina.
On the second front, the central narrative supplied more than mere cover—it supercharged the Nuclear Energy pivot I’ve been writing about since 2024.
The Iran crisis has generated both the psychological and the political permission structure for the accelerated deployment of advanced reactors, restarted facilities, rebuilt supply chains and the broader renaissance in fission and fusion-adjacent technologies Trump has been signaling from the start of his second term, and that his 2025 Executive Orders codified in advance.
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Iran Deal Deepens Intra-MAGA Divide, Accelerates Exposure of Neocons
President Donald Trump’s agreement with Iran has intensified divisions within the broader MAGA coalition, as disagreements over the deal have become one of the sharpest internal foreign-policy disputes of Trump’s political movement. Critics from the hawkish wing argue the agreement makes excessive concessions to Tehran and sidelines Israel, while more restraint-oriented voices have defended diplomacy over renewed military escalation.
According to Axios, commentators and activists who generally support Trump have split over the memorandum of understanding, with debate centering on whether the agreement represents a strategic victory or an unacceptable compromise. Some pro-Israel conservatives have criticized the deal’s terms and the role of regional mediators, while others have argued that avoiding a prolonged Middle East war is consistent with Trump’s “America First” approach.
The dispute has exposed longstanding tensions inside the Republican coalition between interventionist and non-interventionist factions. While Trump administration officials have defended the agreement as a mechanism to end hostilities and begin broader negotiations with Iran, prominent supporters and critics alike have used the debate to more clearly define competing visions for US foreign policy.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: This doesn’t need to be a long take.
All of you know where I stand on this issue—it’s pretty much all I have been talking about for the past year, when I’m not talking about geopolitics.
The Republican Establishment is our sworn enemy. They are the gatekeepers of our future, intent on preventing the Golden Age. Their attempts to establish a Hegelian Dialectic regarding “muh antisemitism” is a replay of the Democrats’ attempt to use racism and DEI to control public discourse. Everything I have done over the past 3+ years has been in service of dismantling both sides of that false dialectic.
Our sacred duty is to completely dismantle the Republican Party and its proxies, so that America can be free from its deceptive tyranny.
President Trump has done a masterful job triggering these sociopaths. Here are two of my favorite clips from the G7:
When Trump walked in to the official meeting and announced, “I’m the boss!” in front of the room, before sitting down.
But the highlight of the week had to be when President Trump told the story of how he met the President of Egypt, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“We fell in love, deeply in love.”
What an absolute legend. There will never be another one like him. I only hope we can live up to the incredibly standard that he has set as an edgelord. We all must step up our game.
Establishment Knives Continue to Come Out Against Our Boy Blue, With Clinton Among the Latest
Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton publicly criticized former President Joe Biden, marking one of the most prominent rebukes from within the Democrat establishment since Biden left office. Clinton’s remarks contrasted with her previous endorsements of Biden in both the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.
Clinton reportedly argued that Democrats need to move beyond the party’s recent leadership and adapt to a changing political landscape. Her comments come amid broader debate within Democrat circles over the party’s direction following losses and internal disagreements over messaging, candidate recruitment, and generational change.
The criticism adds Clinton to a growing list of prominent Democrats and party strategists who have publicly reassessed Biden’s leadership and electoral legacy. While Biden retains support from many allies, divisions over his presidency and its impact on the party’s future have become increasingly visible.
Ashe in America: How is Hillary Clinton still walking around free? It’s discouraging.
What’s encouraging, though, is that she’s talking about old elections. And it seems like she is preemptively giving a concession speech but she’s not on a ballot. She’s lamenting the state of the Democrat party as though the 2026 contest is already decided.
Elections are fake, so it might be.
But, again, Clinton is wallowing in the past and only halfheartedly suggesting ways to enable the party for the future.
I wonder if she’s mourning the death of her vision and plans, and blaming Our Boy Blue, the former SCROTUS.
That’s even more encouraging. But it’s still discouraging that the evil old hag is still, allegedly, walking around free.
BONUS
Trump Cancels Jay Clayton DNI Hearing, Says Pulte Will Remain Acting Intelligence Chief
President Trump announced Wednesday that he is canceling Jay Clayton’s Senate confirmation hearing to become director of national intelligence, a move that further complicates efforts to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lapsed last week, and leaves Bill Pulte on track to assume the role of acting DNI on Friday.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Republicans had agreed to remove Bill Pulte as acting DNI in exchange for Democratic support on FISA reauthorization, but claimed Democrats later indicated they would oppose the measure. “The Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal,” Trump wrote.
Trump also said he does not want to remove Clayton from his current role as US attorney for the Southern District of New York until his preferred replacement, Jamie McDonald, is confirmed. As a result, Trump said the administration is canceling Clayton’s DNI hearing and “will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be US Attorney.”
Trump added that he would not approve FISA reauthorization without the SAVE AMERICA Act attached, arguing that Republicans had “fallen into a trap.” The decision ensures that Bill Pulte will assume the role of acting director of national intelligence on Friday, following Tulsi Gabbard’s departure.
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Pulte / Clayton / FISA / Save America Act: I am ............ amused......... at the way PDJT makes moves. And the way the SDNY is seemingly attached in one way or another to many moves. I agree with the idea of dismantling the Demican and Repulicrat parties. Their exposure of fraud is growing more and more. This will be interesting to see what happens with FISA and SAA - and IF they are ever renewed and passed.
Last night my husband and I watched "The Alamo" with John Wayne. There was one particular scene that truly caught my attention. Davy Crockett (John Wayne) talking about the word "Republic" and what it means to him - maybe especially after his service in Congress.
Davy Crockett: Republic. "I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat - the same tightness a man gets when his baby takes his first step or his first baby shaves and makes his first sound as a man. Some words can give you a feeling that makes your heart warm. Republic is one of those words."
May each one of us fight to get back to the Republic - as he describes. These are not the ACTUAL words of Crockett, but apparently are in line with the sentiments he expressed. Republic. Almost brings tears to my eyes thinking that it is a possibility.
Ghost states “It seems that we may have a lot more in common with these people than we have been led to believe.” To me, that is and always has been 100% true. “The People” everywhere are our brothers and sisters. It will become increasingly clear as resolutions continue. I look for CHINA (our sworn enemy) to extract that nuclear dust in Iran pretty shortly, since President DJT tells us they are pretty much the only ones who can do it easily. Well maybe when China ties the isotopes to Obama, Clinton, and various REPUBLICANS, the world will start to figure out which ones are NOT “The People.” ???