The Matterboard is our weekly assessment of what’s worth your attention and what isn’t. Here’s last week’s edition, here’s an overview of the project, and here’s the full archive.
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Here’s what’s new on The Matterboard:
PAY ATTENTION ⚠️
The Iran war is hot again, with US and Iranian forces exchanging fire during the past several days. On Sept. 3, Trump said (again) that the war will probably end soon, because Iran can’t take much more. But Iran doesn’t seem to agree. Here’s what the Institute for the Study of War—far more credible than Trump—said on Sept. 3: “Iran does not appear willing to relinquish control of the strait [of Hormuz], which remains a core Iranian objective.” Oil prices have jumped from around $80 at the beginning of August to $96. Trump’s foolish war continues. We all pay the price.
Ukraine hurting. Regretfully, we’ve relabeled this momentous news item from “Ukraine rising” to “Ukraine hurting.” 😟 Ukraine has made remarkable strides building home-grown weapons able to strike Russian logistics hubs and military targets deep inside Russia. But it is also absorbing relentless and perhaps intensifying bombardment with almost no means of shooting down drones and missiles Russia lobs into Ukrainian cities. Ukraine has run out of Patriot missile interceptors. Other types of defenses are scarce. This isn’t a Ukrainian failure. It’s a western failure that should shame Americans and Europeans. Russia is in its fifth year of waging a medieval war against a nation that wants to be a capitalist democracy. Ukraine’s fate shouldn’t be up in the air, but it is.
Earth is roasting. No surprise here, but global warming is surpassing levels scientists set for keeping ecological and economic damage to a minimum. In 2015, nearly 200 countries signed the Paris climate accord, meant to limit the global rise in temperature to around 1.5°C or about 2.7°F. A United Nations panel now says that goal is out of reach. The planet has already warmed by about 1.4°C above preindustrial levels, and we’ll be lucky to keep the total gain below 2°C. That might not sound like a lot, but the higher temps are enough to melt glaciers and sea ice, profoundly disrupting the Earth’s climate and causing unprecedented weather disasters.
[How Trump’s Canada tariffs could backfire]
MIGHT GET SPICY 🤔
Trump’s midterm election-stealing plan has begun to come into focus. An unnamed whistleblower communicating with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut claims the US Postal Service is developing a new system for handling mail ballots, with a high likelihood of fraud, abuse or mistakes that could compromise election results. The USPS may have continued developing the system even after a federal judge ordered it to stop, which would be a violation of a court order. A separate judge has temporarily blocked the USPS from implementing its plan, and the USPS has asked the Supreme Court to settle the matter. It’s not clear if that could happen by Election Day, just two months away. But if the postal service violates court orders, it may try to block the delivery of some ballots even if judges say it can’t.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is Trump’s worst and most dangerous Cabinet appointee, and some in Washington are finally getting the picture. Hegseth is waging a culture war inside the armed services, forcing out dozens of senior officers and civilians for reasons having nothing to do with competence. His handling of the Iran war, meanwhile, has been amateurish and cringy. A few influential Republicans in Congress are now calling for Hegseth to resign. It couldn’t happen fast enough. We saw this coming and said Trump should fire Hegseth all the way back in April.
The global bond selloff continues, with long-term rates hitting the highest levels since late 2024. Interest rates, which have been unusually low for more than 15 years, seem to be resetting closer to historical averages. The problem is that, historically, the United States didn’t have to pay interest on a $40 trillion national debt. Now it does. Global investors are starting to have doubts about the soundness of the US government.
[What the bond market wants you to know]
RESULTS MAY VARY 🤷♂️
The strongest El Niño ever could make for some wild weather during the next six months. The World Meteorological Organization says the El Niño forming now in the Pacific Ocean is “supersized” and likely to be the strongest it has recorded in 40 years of monitoring. An El Niño occurs every few years when weak trade winds cause warmer-than-usual water in parts of the Pacific Ocean. That, in turn, can cause unusually severe droughts, storms and other natural phenomena, mostly in North and South America. Yes, global warming is a factor. The El Niño may have already contributed to monsoon rains that caused deadly flash floods in the Grand Canyon.
Vive le lac Ontario! Google and Apple have dutifully changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on their maps, following the childish executive order Trump signed last week declaring the name change. We guess they have no choice. If the US president says it’s so, and he’s a petulant, punitive tyrant, you probably have to play along. Still, we look forward to the un-re-naming of the lake the moment Trump is gone. It will be a terrific gesture for the next president to make, to indicate America isn’t as heinous as it sometimes seems to foreigners.
SAFELY IGNORE 🚫
NBC News anchor Kristin Welker got a demerit and has to go to the principal’s office. It’s more serious than that, but even sillier, as well. Welker has challenged some of Trump’s bogus claims about elections and other matters, both directly, while interviewing him, and in other coverage of the testy president. Trump finally couldn’t take the criticism any more, so on August 30, he announced on social media that Welker “will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.” Will she get a time-out? A spanking? An incomplete on her report card? This is probably just another Trump absurdity, but Trump has also badly abused the power of the Federal Communications Commission and its complicit boss, Brendan Carr, to try to harm and silence media critics. Laugh, but also pay attention.
[The myth of the prosperous worker]
John Ternus replaced Tim Cook as Apple CEO on September 1. Cook was one of the most successful corporate bosses in American history. During Cook’s 15-year tenure as CEO, Apple’s market value grew 13-fold, from $357 billion to $4.7 trillion. His predecessor, Steve Jobs, certainly created momentum, but Cook made Apple a tech giant through relentless growth in services, health, and wearables, plus in-house development of its own microchips. Jobs was flashy; Cook was relentlessly competent. Cook remains controversial for his occasional support of Trump. But it has kept Apple off of Trump’s enemies list. We hope Cook opens up about his views on Trump once the risk of punitive measures against the company is gone.
Duane Davis talked too much. Or maybe his conscience just couldn’t take it. At any rate, Davis’s repeated claims over the years that he orchestrated the 1996 murder of rap star Tupac Shakur finally got him convicted of murder in Las Vegas, where the killing took place. Intriguing.
[Trump and Bessent are badly missing their own economic targets]
The reflecting pool is nearly fixed! That’s according to Trump, who said so on social media on August 31. But first, just a few more loose ends to tie up—such as the Interior Dept. hiring yet another contractor to kill the algae that foul the pool, and who knows, maybe fix mistakes two prior contractors made. Trump initially said the cost of his reflecting pool reno would be $1.5 million. It’s now approaching $20 million. The pool saga is trivial as a news story, but also a priceless microcosm capturing the braggadocious blowhard Trump in full farcical splendor. If there’s a peep of news about the reflecting pool, it will always make the Matterboard.
No-show Venezuelan oil. Trump says the United States will double the amount of oil it has access to, because of a deal he made to take control of massive amounts of Venezuelan crude. So when will your big oil windfall materialize? Probably never. Venezuela sits atop some 300 billion barrels of oil, more than any other nation, including Saudi Arabia. Its reserves are nearly four times as great as known US reserves. But Venezuela ranks 22nd in oil production, averaging barely 6% of US output. That’s because decades of corrupt socialism have wrecked the country’s drilling infrastructure and driven most foreign investors away. Trump’s announcement of a deal is unlikely to change that, and few competent drillers are likely to invest in a banana republic now governed from a distance by Trump in what may be an illegal takeover.
[Trump’s sketchy Venezuela deal]
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