Outside the Beltway

Keeping the Strait Straight

News whiplash and the weird communications stylings of the Trump administration.

Steven L. Taylor · Wednesday, May 6, 2026 · 4 comments

In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s character awakens every morning to Sonny and Cher singing “I’ve Got You, Babe.” In Trump’s America, I am having (as I have mentioned before) a similar experience: as I am brushing my teeth each morning while listening to Morning Edition, I am told, literally almost daily, that the Strait of Hormuz is open or that the Strait of Hormuz is closed.

Yesterday, SecDef Hegseth announced the following:

“As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait. American destroyers are on station, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones and surveillance aircraft providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels, except Iran’s of course.”

So, roughly 24 hours ago, from when I am writing this, we were being told that the US was going to make sure the Strait was open to all but Iranian traffic. Reports yesterday morning suggested that not all carriers were convinced that the passage was safe.

But, of course, the recycling of Israel’s Iron Dome into Trump’s fantasy of a Golden Dome into Hegseth’s
“powerful red, white and blue dome” would surely inspire confidence, yes?

Well, before the US could demonstrate the might of its fully operational prismatic dome, Trump took to Truth Social yesterday evening with the following (and resulting in my morning news whiplash today).

And another communique this morning:

Really, this is Groundhog Day-esque. And it continues to amaze that all of this is being communicated to the world via social media (worse, as I often note, on a social media platform he owns and that earns advertising revenue via the clicks he generates–never forget that all of this is him directly profiting from his office right out in the open).

I will say again, I suspect most Americans have tuned a lot of this out. Most people have a vague sense of geography at best (I am likely being kind there) and even less sense of geostrategy and the linkage of all of this to the broader global economy (although they are acurely aware of gas prices). And, further, we appear to have so enured to Trump’s exaggerated and erratic rhetoric (Trump being Trump, dontcha know) that a lot of people just tune it all out.

Meanwhile, it is stunning (albeit not surprising) to watch how much all of this is clearly just a game for many high-level politicians. Lindsey Graham’s, for example, capacity to go on TV and say things like, “If we can take back control of the Strait of Hormuz, it is checkmate,” would be utterly laughable if this war had not cost billions of dollars and killed thousands of people. Because, as one might be aware, the Strait was open for transit before we started this “little excursion.”

Or, worse, our Secretary of State saying that the goal is now to get the Strait “back to the way it was.”

The nihilism of all of this is profound.

Nothing really matters, right? I mean, Lindsey is in the Senate and gets to be on TV, and Marco can continue to tell himself this will allow him to be president someday (and, gosh, he sure is important right now, isn’t he!).

Meanwhile, Axios reports: Exclusive: U.S. and Iran closing in on one-page memo to end war, officials say

Among other provisions, the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the U.S. agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

[…]

The duration of the moratorium on uranium enrichment is being actively negotiated, with three sources saying it would be at least 12 years and one putting 15 as a likely landing spot. Iran proposed a 5-year moratorium on enrichment and the U.S. demanded 20.

[…]

Two sources with knowledge also claimed Iran would agree to remove its highly enriched uranium from the country, a key U.S. priority that Tehran has rejected up to now.

We shall see. None of this strikes me as anywhere near worth the cost of this action, let alone the costs to the global economy that will continue for some time.

Again, the fact that the Strait is part of this negotiation is a visible failure on the part of the Trump administration. The fact that the negotiations are back to the nuclear program and sanctions relief puts us kind of where we were pre-attack, and I still do not see, especially from a cost/benefit POV, how any of this will be superior to where we were with the JCPOA.