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“Scientists warn of a potentially severe El Niño event this summer, exacerbated by global warming. The Trump administration’s actions, including layoffs at FEMA and dismantling of USAID, along with its pro-fossil fuel policies, threaten the US’s ability to respond to climate disasters and hinder global climate action.
The leadership team from hell on a hell of a planet.
April 9, 2026
President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he walks to board Marine One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 11, 2026.
(Andrew Cabellero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.
On March 13, buried in The New York Times’ coverage of the US/Israel-Iran conflict was a headline that would have been easy to miss amid the din of war coverage: “As El Niño Simmers, Scientists Warn of Weather Extremes Starting in Late Summer.” Many readers may not even have noticed it, but that article notedthat scientists at the Climate Prediction Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, had raised their estimate for an El Niño event this summer from 60 percent to about 80 percent.
Admittedly, in this strange world of ours, that hardly seemed like an earth-shattering revelation. But if you had read the piece more closely, your alarm bells should instantly have gone off. Forecasters now predict that the coming El Niño—a warming of the Pacific Ocean that deeply affects global weather patterns—is likely to be as severe as the one in 2023–24, which triggered severe flooding and prolonged heatwaves around the world. As the article noted, however, average world temperatures are now actually higher than they were at the height of that previous El Niño, thanks to global warming, and so it’s likely that we will face even more intense heatwaves and flooding this time around.
Consider that news alarming enough. Unfortunately, the bad news didn’t end there. The Times article went on to report that, since early last year, the Trump administration has laid off thousands of Federal Emergency Management Agency workers, greatly diminishing the agency’s ability to respond to such impending weather disasters. And then there’s the dismal fact that Trump has overseen the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which once sent humanitarian aid to disaster-struck countries.
And, sadly enough, it only gets worse from there. After all, we know that the Trump administration is doing everything it can to boost the production of fossil fuels—the consumption of which is the main driver of global warming—even as it also works to impede global action to slow the warming process. On January 7, for example, the president announced that the United States would withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the bedrock treaty upon which most international efforts to rein in that onrushing nightmare are based.“
The Trump administration’s fragile white ego is in focus yet again thanks to newly proposed changes for an exhibit in Philadelphia centered on George Washington and slavery.
The administration is being sued by the city over its efforts to whitewash Washington’s history of slave ownership from the President’s House Site, the nation’s first official presidential residence. The push has been put on hold by a judge who compared it to the censorship depicted in George Orwell’s book “1984.”
The attempted alteration of the exhibit came after a Trump executive orderdemanded a review of national parks and museums to bar any displays that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” Last year, Trump also lobbed a puerile complaint that Smithsonian musuems focus too much on “how bad” slavery was.
And all that kvetching provides context for the changes that Trump’s administration is seeking to impose at the President’s House Site — alterations that The Philadelphia Inquirer said places the first president’s slave ownership “in a more sympathetic light.”
The Inquirer flagged government renderings showing plans for new historical panels to be installed at the site, and it seems clear that the administration’s goal is to make Washington out to be a loving patriot or conscientious objector to slavery, rather than a racist slave driver.
First, note what the Inquirer said has been removed:
The panels taken down by the Park Service in January included displays titled ‘The Dirty Business of Slavery’ and ‘Life Under Slavery,’ as well as illustrations about the Fugitive Slave Act and Ona Judge, who was enslaved by Washington and later escaped.
So the administration wants to omit detailed references to Washington’s slavery history — which Black activists fought for years to include — while also promoting a whitewashed narrative that he was a fundamentally moral man despite the whole “claiming dominion over other human beings” thing. Per the Inquirer:
For instance, on one panel titled ‘Presidents Washington and Adams on Slavery,’ the Trump administration writes that ‘Caught between his private doubts about slavery and his public responsibilities as president, George Washington navigated a nation deeply divided over slavery.’
‘Privately, George Washington often expressed discomfort with the institution and a desire to see it abolished,’ the panel continued. ‘Yet as a Virginia plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood were deeply tied to it.’
And another example:
And later in the same panel: ‘Slaves living in the President’s House experienced a greater modicum of autonomy than elsewhere in the South such as to explore the city and sometimes even attend the theater, with Washington buying the tickets.’
When a censorship regime like Trump’s sees fit to tout a slave owner’s generosity — and the “greater modicum of autonomy” he purportedly granted to those he subjected to brutal bondage and forced labor — it leaves little doubt that the fundamental goal is to sanitize history, rather than teach it thoroughly.
A White House spokesperson told the Inquirer that the administration wants to acknowledge “the full breadth of our nation’s history” and that “no piece of history should be washed away.”
But “whitewashing” truly is the most apt descriptor for a plan that includes touting George Washington as some kind of selfless, principled gift-giver while brushing past, or deliberately omitting, details about his well-documented — and extremely lucrative — history of enslaving human beings.“
Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu says ‘no ceasefire in Lebanon’ as Israel attacks ‘Hezbollah launch sites’
Israeli prime minister’s remarks come shortly after Trump told US media he had asked Netanyahu to be more ‘low-key’; IDF says it is attacking Hezbollah targets
A bulldozer clears rubble from a building destroyed in Beirut, Lebanon, a day earlier.Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
“I wish to inform you:There is no ceasefire in Lebanon,” Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahutold Israelis in ashort video addressposted on X. He said Israel was “continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we restore your security.”
His comments come shortly after PresidentTrump said he had asked Netanyahu to be “more low-key” in Lebanon,as the US seeks to negotiate withIranto bring the war to an end.
Netanyahu added that he had instructed his government to “open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible.” The talks will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peaceful relations betweenIsraeland Lebanon, he added.
A former Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, has died from wounds inflicted in US-Israeli strikes on 1 April, Iranian media are reporting.
Kharazi, 81, had been serving as the head of the Strategic Council for International Relations, which is part of the foreign ministry.
The veteran diplomat, “who was injured in a terrorist attack carried out by the American-Zionist enemy a few days ago, died a martyr tonight”, the Mehr and Isna agencies reported on Telegram.
Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi addresses reporters at a 1999 press conference in Tehran.Photograph: Atta Kenare/EPA
His wife was killed in the strike on their home in Tehran, media reported.
Kharazi was Iran’s envoy at the United Nations in New York and then became foreign minister from 1997 to 2005, under reformist president Mohammad Khatami.
Trump says Iran 'better not be' charging tanker fees in strait of Hormuz
Donald Trumphas warnedIranit “better not be” charging fees to tankers travelling through thestrait of Hormuz, after hearing “reports” that Tehran was doing so.
“They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Iran has said it has halted shipping traffic in the key waterway in retaliation for Israel’s strikes onLebanon.
Donald Trumpsaid he is “very optimistic” a peace deal with Iran was within reach as a diplomatic delegation led by his vice-president JD Vance prepared to head to Pakistan for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the war this weekend. Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” the US president said, in line with his administration’s narrative that there’s a disconnect between what Tehran says publicly and privately. Trump went on: “They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military. If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.”
Trumpalsoconfirmed that he had asked Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to be “more low-key” inLebanonto help ensure the success of the upcoming US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad. “I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trumptold NBC News, adding that he believed Israel was “scaling back” its operations in Lebanon (there’s been no evidence of that yet – see the next few points).
Netanyahu said he had instructed his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon aimed at disarming Hezbollah– all the while insisting that“there is no ceasefire” in Lebanonand that Israel will “continue to strike Hezbollah with force”.
Israel has since launched a fresh wave of strikes against what it called “Hezbollah launch sites” in Lebanon, after the IDF earlier ordered people to flee Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs. Later in the day, Hezbollah said it had fired a rocket salvo towards northern Israeli settlements.
While Israel continues to insist that the war will go on and “talks will be held under fire”, Lebanonis demanding a ceasefire before direct negotiations can begin. Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, saidthis was “the only solution”. Lebanon is also insisting that it needs the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement. Those talks will reportedly take place next week,hosted by the US state departmentin Washington.
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said Israeli strikes on Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreementand would render negotiations meaningless, adding that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people.
The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Lebanon forms “an inseparable part of the ceasefire” deal.Ina post on X, he said “there is no room for denial and backtracking”.
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Israel’s “ongoing aggression against Lebanon” on Thursday, ahead of the expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad.“The prime minister said that Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks betweenIranand the US were being convened,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Keir Starmer also said thatIsrael’s continued attacks on Lebanon “shouldn’t be happening”.The British prime minister alsodismissed an argumentput forward by US vice-president JD Vance on Wednesday that there had been “a legitimate misunderstanding”, saying the issue “isn’t a technical one of whether it’s a breach of the agreement or not”. It is “a matter of principles as far as I’m concerned”, Starmer said.
A statement attributed toMojtaba Khamenei,Iran’s supreme leader, said Iran will takemanagement of the strait of Hormuz into a new phase,but did not elaborate on what that would be.In the statement, read out on state tv, he also said Iran remains determined to “take revenge” for his father, who was assassinated on the first day of the war, and all those killed in the war. “We will certainly demand compensation for each and every damage inflicted, and the blood price of the martyrs and the compensation for the wounded of this war,” he said.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi suggested that Netanyahu is resisting a ceasefire because of his corruption trial, and urgedTrump not to “crater” the US economy by allowing the Israeli prime minister to jeopardise ongoing diplomatic efforts to stop the war. Araghchi said on X: “Netanyahu’s criminal trial resumes on Sun. A region-wide ceasefire, incl in Lebanon, would hasten his jailing.”
Lebanon held a day of mourningafter a punishing wave of Israeli attackskilled more than 300 peopleand injured more than 1,000 in a single day on Wednesday, prompting worldwide condemnation.
Keir StarmerandDonald Trumphave said they’re at the “next stage of finding a resolution” for reopening the strait of Hormuz, Downing Street has said.
In a statement, No 10 said that the British prime minister discussed with Trump the UK’s “efforts to convene partners to agree a viable plan” to reopen the critical shipping lane.
“They agreed that now there is a ceasefire in place and agreement to open the Strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution,” the statement said.
“The leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible,” it went on, adding Trump and Starmer would speak again soon.
Iran’s foreign minister says Netanyahu delaying ceasefire to avoid corruption trial
Iran’s foreign ministerAbbas Araghchihas suggested thatBenjamin Netanyahuis resisting a ceasefire because of his corruption trial, and urgedDonald Trumpnot to “crater” the US economy by allowing theIsraeliprime minister to jeopardise ongoing diplomatic efforts to stop the war.
Araghchi said on X:
Netanyahu’s criminal trial resumes on Sun. A region-wide ceasefire, incl in Lebanon, would hasten his jailing.
If the US wishes to crater its economy by letting Netanyahu kill diplomacy, that would ultimately be its choice. We think that would be dumb but are prepared for it.
Netanyahu’s long-running trial will resume on Sunday, an Israeli courts’ spokesperson said on Thursday.
The first sitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime, Netanyahu denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust brought in 2019 after years of investigations. His trial, which began in 2020 and could lead to prison terms, has been repeatedly delayed due to his official commitments, with no end date in sight.
Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference in Jerusalem on 19 March.Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier today, the Guardian’sPeter Beaumontwrote this analysis about Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon – asking: What was the point ofsurprise mass strikesthat killed more than 300 people and drew widespread international condemnation?
Here’s more from Peter’s piece:
Prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahuand other officials have claimed the largest strike against Hezbollah during the month-long war against Iran was carefully aimed at members of the armed group.
Others have speculated that the attack – without warning andinitially hitting more than 100 targetsin 10 minutes including in densely populated residential areas in central Beirut – was aimed at undermining the US-Iran ceasefire that many see as being imposed on an unhappy Netanyahu.
The version being briefed in the Israeli media is thatHezbollahhad sought to move command posts to civilian areas outside its historical centres, such as the sprawling Dahieh suburb, to better conceal and protect them – a claim Israel has previously made about Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu says 'no ceasefire in Lebanon'
“I wish to inform you:There is no ceasefire in Lebanon,” Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahutold Israelis in ashort video addressposted on X. He said Israel was “continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we restore your security.”
His comments come shortly after PresidentTrump said he had asked Netanyahu to be “more low-key” in Lebanon,as the US seeks to negotiate withIranto bring the war to an end.
Netanyahu added that he had instructed his government to “open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible.” The talks will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishment of peaceful relations betweenIsraeland Lebanon, he added.
Israel says it is attacking 'Hezbollah launch sites' in Lebanon
A few moments ago, the IDF said in a brief post on Telegram that it had started begun striking “Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon”.
The Israeli army earlier ordered people to flee from Beirut’s southern suburbs as it warned of further strikes.
This is all as Lebanon says that a ceasefire must be in place before it can enter into negotiations with Israel, whereas Tel Aviv insists “talks will be held under fire”.
It is also despite Donald Trump telling Benjamin Netanyahu toscale back his attacks on Lebanon, ahead of high stakes talks with Iran this weekend.
Supreme leader says Iran will take management of strait of Hormuz 'into new phase'
A statement attributed toMojtaba Khamenei,Iran’s supreme leader, who has still not been seen or heard from in public, has just been read out across state media – his first since the fragile ceasefire was announced.
He said Iran remains determined to “take revenge” for his father, who was assassinated on the first day of the war, and all those killed in the war:
We will certainly demand compensation for each and every damage inflicted, and the blood price of the martyrs and the compensation for the wounded of this war.
He was also quoting as saying that Iran will takemanagement of the strait of Hormuz into a new phase, but did not elaborate on what that would be.
Khamenei also called on pro-regime protesters to take to the streets because “your voices raised in public squares have an impact on the outcome of the negotiations”.
He added:
Iran is not seeking war but will not forfeit its rights and considers all resistance fronts as a unified entity.
Trump confirms he asked Netanyahu to be 'more low-key' on Lebanon
In that interview with NBC News,Donald Trumpalso confirmed that he askedBenjamin Netanyahuto be “more low-key” inLebanonas theUSseeks tonegotiatewith Iran to bring the war to an end.
“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump said, adding that he believedIsraelwas “scaling back” its operations in Lebanon (again, there’s been no evidence of that yet).
Earlier, I brought you CNN’sreportthat the US president had made the request to the Israeli prime minister. NBC Newsheard the same, reporting that Trump asked Netanyahu to pull back on the strikes to help ensure the success of the upcoming negotiations in Islamabad.
Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon “shouldn’t be happening”,Keir Starmerhas said on his visit to the region, echoing criticisms byYvette Cooper, his foreign secretary; andJohn Healey, his defence secretary, and emphasising a potentially widening gap between theUKandDonald Trump’sUSover the war onIranand its aftermath.
As well as the condemnation overLebanon, Starmer and his ministers have been adamant thatthe strait of Hormuz must be free of any sort of tolls or levies, after Trump mooted the idea of a “joint venture” between the US and Iran to do this.
Speaking in Bahrain on a trip in which he has also held talks in Saudi Arabia and the UAE on shoring up the tentative ceasefire between Iran, the US and Israel, and fully reopening the strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, Starmer criticised Israel’s intensified bombing in Lebanon, whichkilled more than 300 peopleon Wednesday.
He told ITV:
That shouldn’t be happening. That should stop. That’s my strong view.
As we’ve been reporting, whileIsraelhas announced it will begin talks with Lebanon, both Israel and the US have denied that ending attacks on Lebanon was part of the ceasefire.JD Vance, Trump’s vice-president, argued that there had been “a legitimate misunderstanding”.
Starmer dismissed this argument, saying the issue “isn’t a technical one of whether it’s a breach of the agreement or not”, calling it “a matter of principles as far as I’m concerned”.
UK ministers have refused to directly condemn Trump, even after the US president shocked the worldby sayingIran’s “whole civilisation will die” if Tehran did not meet US demands before the ceasefire.
In the ITV interview, Starmer was obliquely critical of the language, saying:
They are not words I would use, ever use, because I come at this with our British values and principles.
Trump ‘optimistic’ about Iran peace deal even as ceasefire appears strained
Donald Trumphas told NBC Newsthat he is “very optimistic” a peace deal withIranwas within reach as a diplomatic delegation led by his vice-presidentJD Vanceprepared to head to Pakistan for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the war this weekend.
Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” the US president said, in line with his administration’s narrative that there’s a disconnect between what Tehran says publicly and privately.
Trump went on:
They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military.
If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.
In line with whatReuters and others are hearing, a Lebanese official has told Al Jazeera thattalks with Israel would take place under US oversight.
They said Lebanon is seeking a ceasefire before agreeing to enter direct negotiations, and that those negotiations would be led by former Lebanese ambassadorSimon Karam.
The only solution to the situation Lebanon is experiencing is to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, followed by direct negotiations between them.
He added that Lebanon’s security forces have been “carrying out their work fully to enforce security and stability”, despite the “difficult circumstances they are facing”.
