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When President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury in late February, he promised a quick, brief offensive against the Iranian regime. But more than half a year later, the Iran war rages on. And author/Yorktown Institute President Seth Cropsey, who served as a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, highlights a "mortal weakness" the military is facing in an article for the conservative National Review.

"As the Iran war drags into its sixth month without a clear pathway to resolution," Cropsey writes in the Review, "one could forgive chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan 'Raizin' Caine for making a clear policy intervention. Yet it is remarkable that military professionals and the general public do not recognize this intervention as such[.] Six months without a serious policy choice should indicate to any policymaker or military officer that the American policy system has failed. The question is why."

Cropsey continues, "The standard answer, in which there is some truth, is to blame the lack of an interagency process. But the deeper issue during a war is necessarily that of military planning."

Cropsey fears that China could benefit from the lack of a resolution in the Iran war.

"The legacy of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 has made it nearly impossible for the president to receive a coherent menu of policy options in a conflict rather than the idealized end of policy advice," the conservative author explains. "The result is an increasingly militarized policy process. This is a problematic but manageable issue against Iran, considering the United States' relative advantages. Against a first-rate adversary, however, this is a mortal weakness. China will learn the limitations of America's policymaking system rapidly following this Middle Eastern adventure."

Cropsey adds, "The more rigid American policymaking becomes — and the more a constrained military advice system is reinforced — the more likely it is that China will present the United States, under this administration or the next, with a series of options that encourage capitulation[.] A series of leaks and off-the-record comments suggest that the choice for war with Iran was a decision made by an executive with limited strategic discipline."

Cropsey fears the moves that Mainland China's government will make in the months ahead.

"China's regional ambitions are clear," the former naval officer warns. "Whether by strength or guile, it wishes to shatter the American security system and, among other things, absorb Taiwan into its political orbit and break the First Island Chain. This would undermine America's position across Asia and destroy the global economy. The United States has an enormous, nearly existential interest in preventing this eventuality. The question is which means of resistance the U.S. should adopt."

President Donald Trump's latest attempt to crush Iran has turned into another embarrassment, and one that a new piece from MS NOW argued has shown just how much of the world is "against us."

Steve Benen is a longtime contributor for MS NOW and producer for host Rachel Maddow, and in a piece published Tuesday, he broke down the recent news surrounding Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's attempt to launch an "economic D-Day" against Iran, as military options have largely failed to defeat them. The plan involved supposedly "crushing" sanctions on the Middle Eastern nations, as well as “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” on “ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran."

As Benen explained, these threats fizzled quickly.

"It quickly became obvious the president’s threat was largely meaningless, and the administration’s new policy amounted to little more than another underwhelming threat from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a week later," he explained. The administration’s efforts, however, are ongoing. As part of this week’s controversial summit for finance ministers and central bankers from Group of 20 nations, Bessent issued a new declaration on Tuesday morning about his message to international attendees.

"We are telling people, either you are with us or against us," Bessent said at the summit, a remark which notably seemed to echo a similar comment from former President George W. Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

This, Benen argued, was more evidence of Trump's belief that the U.S. "can simply bark orders, issue a few threats and isolate Iran," given its economic stature in the world. However, a Bloomberg report found that "countries with ties to Tehran had so far shrugged off the threat" by the end of the week, leaving many analysts and observers "underwhelmed" by the effort.

In fact, the move might have ended up handing more economic influence to Trump's nemesis, China.

"That was soon followed by a New York Times report noting that Iran had joined a handful of other countries, including China, Russia and India, for a meeting of the 10-nation political and security group known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which Beijing dominates," Benen added. "The message to the White House wasn’t exactly subtle: Trump and his team demanded other countries further isolate Iran, at which point much of the world turned to the Republican administration and said, simply, 'No.'”

Germany is placing the blame for an "incursion of explosive-laden drones" in August at the feet of Russian President Vladimir Putin and they're prepared to retaliate.

“The attack involved tools such as the drone configuration, various components, explosives and cyber technology that we recognize from other Russian hybrid operations and its war against Ukraine,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said when speaking to reporters on Tuesday. “The German government has therefore concluded that Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig on August 4.”

Germany said that it is willing to deploy diplomatic measures currently, though it is an escalation.

CNN reporter Aaron Blake remarked that President Donald Trump swore, Putin is "not going to attack a NATO territory." Yet, Germany made it clear that Russia is responsible for stopping a drone attack targeting the Leipzig airport.

It comes after Russian forces attacked the Orlivka international ferry crossing, which sits on the border of Ukraine and Romania, the Kyiv Post reported Tuesday.

NATO was forced to scramble F-18 fighter jets last week after a suspected Russian drone approached Romania. The incident prompted concerns that Russia was escalating its war with Ukraine to include NATO territory.

It is the latest in a series of incidents in which Russian drones entered — and sometimes exploded — in NATO member countries. There have been a few Ukrainian drones that were said to have been "pushed off course through electronic jamming" by Russian fighters, The Guardian reported in May.

That same month, "Defense News" reported that turning Ukraine's drones toward NATO airspace has been intentional, Lithuania said at the time.

"The jamming has been escalating for nearly three years, since Russia began disrupting signals around the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, and now spikes whenever Ukrainian drones fly toward Russian targets," the report at the time said.

Politico reported Tuesday that the August attack involved "three drones — two of which carried explosive material — spotted at Leipzig-Halle Airport in eastern Germany in August, including one drone that was found near a Ukrainian Antonov plane used to transport munitions."

The German response is a significant shift in response to Russia under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In the past he's made it clear that Germany is neither at war nor at peace, but Politico noted it's the first time Germany has indicated it will respond to Russia with countermeasures.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced on X, "NATO stands in full solidarity with Germany after the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig on 14 August. The evidence is clear. And I welcome the measures announced by Germany in response. NATO will continue to strengthen our ability to deter and defend all Allies against any threat – including malign actions like those seen in Leipzig and elsewhere across the Alliance. Russia’s attempts to intimidate us, to undermine our unity and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and will fail. Our support to Ukraine is unwavering, as is our ironclad commitment to NATO’s collective defence."

The statement came about two hours before CENTCOM announced that the U.S. was bombing Iranian targets again.

An author and historian told MS NOW that the "scoundrel and sinner" who mentored President Donald Trump is still "haunting" the U.S., arguing that he represents the through-line from one of the country's worst moments to the present crisis.

Kai Bird appeared on the Tuesday edition of MS NOW's State of Play, promoting his new biography, American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump, detailing the life and influence of lawyer Roy Cohn. Cohn first rose to infamy by assisting Sen. Joseph McCarthy in carrying out his "Red Scare" witch hunt against alleged communists, and later became a key mentor to a young Donald Trump after becoming his lawyer, purportedly seeing potential in him decades prior to his becoming president.

"I like to quote H.L. Mencken, the political humorist who once said, 'what a dull world this place would be for us honest men if it were not for the sinners,'" Bird said. "And Roy Cohn was a sinner and a scoundrel who met Donald Trump in October of 1973, and he molded him into becoming, I would argue, the worst and also the most consequential president of recent decades."

Among the characteristics of Trump attributed to the influence of Cohn are his preference for loyalty above all else and his determination to never admit defeat under any circumstances.

"He taught him, as you listed his rules: Attack, attack, attack; Don't tell me what the law is, tell me who the judge is. You know his playbook is now Donald Trump's playbook," Bird added.

He argued later in the interview that the long shadow of Cohn over Trump has created a scenario in which rampant corruption is corroding the public's trust in democracy, making them more "cynical" in the face of a system that seems to have no rules. He also argued that Cohn represents a clear line connecting one of America's low points — the Red Scare — to the last decade of Trumpism, and it is a connection that must be reckoned with.

"At the time when I became a historian several decades ago, I studied the McCarthy era, and I thought this was a low point in our history, something that, however, we'd gotten past," Bird said. "But I no longer believe that. There were thousands of victims of mccarthyism in 1954, but there are many more thousands today. And we have another witch hunt. And there's a direct line between mccarthyism and the last decade of Trumpism, and the connection is Roy Cohn, and he's very much haunting us from his grave."

President Donald Trump greatly offended many Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, when he posted an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ back in April. Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, defended Trump during a late August interview with evangelical podcaster Bryce Crawford. But the host didn't back down from calling out the image as highly offensive.

Crawford told Vance, "I'm a Christian, I saw the photo — it made me upset. I'm not going to lie, it made me upset."

Vance, in response, didn't defend the image but was careful to avoid direct criticism of the president.

"I hear you, and I know the president didn't mean any offense," the "Hillbilly Elegy" author told Crawford. "Obviously, he loves Christians, and politically, has done a lot of good for religious liberty, and certainly didn't mean anything by it. I'm biased because I see this from the inside. So, it's like, 'Did Donald Trump mean to post a meme of himself as God?' No."

Trump posted the image depicting him as Jesus Christ as part of a blistering online rant again Pope Leo the 14th, who hasn't been shy about criticizing the U.S. president on immigration and other issues. And when the image sparked a vehement outcry, Trump removed it and claimed, "I thought it was me as a doctor."

But Crawford didn't believe Trump's explanation, telling Vance, "I don't know how he thought he was a doctor in the photo. He was (wearing) a white robe with a red sash on it, you know — and that makes me upset as a Christian."

Crawford said, however, that he "did appreciate" Trump removing the offensive image.

Vance continued to defend the president, insisting that he never meant to offend Christians. The vice president argued that because Trump is too busy to spend a lot of time surfing social media, "people will bring him stuff" — and that image, Vance maintained, was an example.

Crawford told Vance, "Sometimes, he'll like chuckle at it — and sometimes, if he really thinks it's funny, he'll have somebody post it. And that's exactly what happened here. He did not mean to like, mock or mimic God. That's just not who he is."

Vance himself was a vehement critic of Trump during the United States' 2016 presidential election. But he later went full MAGA and became a major ally of Trump, aggressively championing his policies during his years in the U.S. Senate.

Former CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane reported on Tuesday that Don Lemon's lawyers are demanding the Justice Department dismiss its case against him.

The former CNN host, along with other local reporters, has been in an entrenched battle with a Minneapolis prosecutor claiming that journalists reporting on a protest at a church were part of the protest. They all vehemently deny the charges and have produced interviews and videos from that day to back up their legitimacy.

There has been an ongoing concern among the defendants that Justice Department lawyers may have misled the grand jury to secure the indictments against the journalists. Lemon and the other reporters, including targeted investigative reporter Georgia Fort, asked for access to the grand jury transcript to more closely examine what the grand jury was told and by whom.

Last week, the judge ruled that the grand jury transcripts be released to her for review.

Now, Lemon's lawyers want the case thrown out based on those materials, MacFarlane saw in the court filing.

Lemon's attorneys claim that the "government improperly posted defamatory comments & prejudicial photographs of certain defendants on social media," including social media posts by former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

"A continuation of the X post by the White House reposted commentary by former Attorney General Pam Bondi which stated that federal agents had executed the arrest of Ms. Armstrong 'at my direction,'" the court filing said. "The post also contained text stating, 'UPDATE: A second arrest has been made at my direction. Chautyll Louisa Allen has been taken into custody.' The White House also posted on its X page a photograph of Ms. Allen being arrested. The photograph appears to show Ms. Allen in a room where she is confined with two agents on each side."

"The Defendants are now on notice that the Government will not hesitate to publicize information about their cases — true or not. This could certainly have an impact on whether witnesses are willing to come forward to testify in this case (acknowledging witnesses' reluctance to testify when presented with 'spectacle' and 'repercussions')," the filing continues.

Lemon, along with the others named, was charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act), which prohibits physical obstruction to interfere with people seeking or providing reproductive health services or exercising religious freedom at places of worship. Protesters began shouting during a church service and journalists were there to report on it. After the fact, the Trump administration said that they were protesting along with the other people and thus violated the FACE Act.

A psychologist specializing in body language broke down the visible cues by President Donald Trump and his scandal-plagued assistant Natalie Harp, revealing the signs of a "strange dynamic" between the pair.

Dr. John Paul Garrison is a clinical and forensic psychologist, who has released numerous videos using his expertise in interpreting body language to examine Trump's behavior and well-being. While most of his videos have focused on Trump's signs of neurological decline, his latest video delved instead into his headline-grabbing relationship with Harp, the young assistant whose devotion to the president has been likened by many to an obsession.

Harp first entered Trump's orbit during his years away from the White House, and since his return, she has become perhaps his closest assistant, carrying around a portable printer at all times to share flattering reports and information with him, and maintaining considerable power over the information he sees. She has also alarmed staffers and Secret Service members over her devotion to him, leading the latter to raise concerns about her behavior becoming a security risk.

In his latest video, Garrison started by examining a recent piece of footage in which Harp was standing near Trump as he gave an address.

"One thing you may notice is that Natalie Harp is constantly smiling," Garrison said. "Now, you've only watched her for a few seconds, but you're going to see the same facial expression throughout the rest of this, as well as other video clips of her. She is always smiling. So, why is that? Why is it that President Trump would need somebody that is constantly smiling? Primarily because he's looking for constant admiration. He's looking for immediate feedback to say, 'You're doing great. Everything you do is great.' And keeping a facial expression like this, keeping this smile all the time, helps him [get] that."

He added: "And I don't want people to think I'm being critical that she is smiling. That's really not what I'm saying. But the point is that he doesn't care about authenticity. He doesn't want genuineness. What he wants is unusual amounts of loyalty. He wants devotion. He wants admiration. And so having somebody that keeps this look all the time is going to help feed that for him."

Garrison also highlighted a point in the clip where Trump noticed that Harp was standing near him, after which he began to look back at her more often. This, Garrison explained, was likely because she "truly is a source of comfort for him." Trump never appeared to show any different emotion when he looked at her, because to him, "people like this are objects."

"They are to be used," he explained. "So when he looks back at her, it may provide him security, but he's not going to feel the need to smile or nod or give any sort of recognition because he doesn't see it as a two-way street like that."

The instances of Trump looking back at Harp continued throughout the clip, adding to the sense that her presence was "regulating" for Trump in some way. Garrison also noted how her smile appeared to get bigger when the president tried to make a joke, and how she was "constantly" nodding in affirmation even when he was not looking at her. Another woman standing next to Trump in the clip was also nodding frequently, but Garrison argued that this was normal given that she was part of the conversation, whereas Harp was showing signs that "she's just so used to reaffirming everything that he says."

"It seems like almost by default she's constantly nodding her head along with every single statement he makes," Garrison added.

Later, he contrasted Harp's behavior with that of First Lady Melania Trump, using footage of her alongside her husband at the Freedom 250 race in Washington, D.C., where she appeared "disengaged" from her husband, looking away from him often and keeping her hands in her pockets.

"Melania Trump, on the other hand, is a lot more aloof," he explained. "She seems to resist physical touch from him. She seems to move away. She seems to show that she's quite irritated with him at times. And obviously, the dynamic is different. But I thought it would be interesting to contrast the two of them because the response that he's going to get is going to be so dramatically different. And Trump may actually be somewhat psychologically reliant on Harp at this point because of that constant sense of admiration."