Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the defenders of Ukraine and the entire modern civilization!
Today in the issue:
- Chaos as the norm of politics
- How someone makes big money 15 minutes before the next tweet about the war with Iran
- Trump’s court chronicles: another two defeats in court
▶ Generally speaking, it is difficult to highlight any main event that occurred in the USA over the concluding week. But everything that is happening can be characterized by one word – chaos.
One of the four goals of the 47th president, when he was returning to the White House, along with closing his criminal cases and lifting charges, personal and family enrichment, and revenge on those he considered his enemies, was the establishment of an authoritarian system of governance in the country with unlimited executive power.
Trump’s criminal cases are closed, charges have been lifted. He and his family have enriched themselves and continue to do so. He dreamed of becoming a billionaire and he became one. He is taking revenge on everyone he considers his enemies, using the federal prosecutor’s office as a tool against those who were involved in investigations in which he was a figure, and nominating his candidates in the Republican primaries against Republican legislators whom he considers disloyal to him.
But he didn’t succeed with authoritarian power. And is unlikely to succeed. He failed to intimidate the big cities that do not like or accept him with immigration police and the national guard. He failed to force the Republican majority in the Senate to repeal the filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes for the consideration of bills, to turn Congress into a printer stamping “laws” that override existing laws. Most of all, he wanted a “law” that would de facto prevent many voters in large cities, who vote for Democrats, from participating in elections. But it didn’t work. He also failed to abolish birthright citizenship. He failed to declare a trade war on the world through customs tariffs. That is, he declared it, but he had to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision that recognized his tariffs as illegal.
To establish an authoritarian system, it would be necessary to eliminate an independent judiciary. But he also failed in this. He was confident that the three Supreme Court judges he appointed, along with the two ultra-conservative judges already there, would fulfill all his wishes. However, it turned out that this would not be the case. He was granted immunity from criminal prosecution, but the Supreme Court declared his order to send troops to major cities illegal by majority vote, declared his tariffs illegal, ruled to return a deported immigrant to the U.S., and canceled other decisions. Without a compliant court, without a judicial system obedient to the executive branch, creating an authoritarian regime is impossible.
But chaos can be created. Consisting of unsuccessful attempts to establish an authoritarian regime, impulsive actions in foreign policy leading to chaos in the world, weakening the U.S.’s position globally, reducing allies’ trust in the U.S. to the ground, leading to rapid inflation growth and economic problems in the U.S. and other developed countries.
From insane financial-economic decisions depriving more than a million Americans of health insurance and making insurance more expensive for everyone else, but allowing billionaires and large corporations to pay very low taxes or none at all.
The increase of the U.S. sovereign debt to $39 trillion, which is more than the country’s GDP. At least $10 trillion or 26% of the sovereign debt was added as a result of Trump’s financial-budgetary policies during both his first and second presidencies. By the end of his second presidency, U.S. sovereign debt will reach $42 trillion, or perhaps even higher, at his instigation.
This chaos is the main characteristic of the 47th President’s policy. However, some people thrive in this chaos.
▶ On May 20, The Wall Street Journal published an article – a journalistic investigation “Suspicious Oil Deals That Triggered Regulator’s Scrutiny.”
Exclusive: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is parsing records of oil trades made before a March social-media post by President Trump https://t.co/KL4Ovm1wKa
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 20, 2026
This is what the article discusses.
The regulator – the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating a surge of unusual and almost simultaneous oil futures sales that occurred over a very short period on March 23, 2026, shortly before Trump’s tweet about postponing the attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure he had announced shortly before.
The regulator’s attention was drawn to several suspicious transactions that took place around 6:50 a.m. during the usually relatively sluggish “pre-trading” period before the full-scale trading opens. Oil futures transactions worth more than $800 million were executed.
About 15 minutes after these unusually large early-hour transactions, the 47th president tweeted that the U.S. would delay attacks on Iranian energy facilities.
Oil prices immediately fell – by as much as 13% – as traders interpreted the statement as a reduction in supply disruption risk and a possible sign that the war might end. Companies that were somehow prepared for this announcement and opened positions in anticipation of a price drop made substantial profits.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is now trying to determine whether any participants in the suspicious trades knew in advance that Trump would publish his tweet and whether confidential information was intentionally leaked to oil traders who subsequently profited from it.
The article emphasizes that no firms have been accused of any wrongdoing, and regulators face a complex challenge as oil futures markets are heavily influenced by algorithms and high-frequency trading systems. Distinguishing insider trading from complex but entirely legal trading operations can be difficult.
According to the article, some firms told investigators that their trading operations were not based on insider information but on a brief note published by Semafor about 15 minutes before Trump’s tweet. This note suggested that the White House was looking for ways to resolve the conflict with Iran, which could have signaled a future drop in oil prices.
According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), cited by the Wall Street Journal, transactions involving futures contracts on U.S. and international crude oil worth more than $800 million were concluded within minutes.
The trading volume sharply increased from the usual level of several hundred contracts per minute to several thousand contracts per minute.
This activity was observed during a relatively “thin” market period – early morning – making this unusual spike especially noticeable.
The events of March 23 do not appear to be an isolated incident. According to the newspaper, regulatory bodies are also examining other major oil futures transactions related to the president’s statements about the war with Iran in April and May, including the incident on May 6, when transactions worth around $700 million were made shortly before reports of negotiations to end the conflict emerged.
So for most, it’s chaos and uncertainty, and for some, profit in this chaos.
▶ Following Thursday’s statements by Vice President Vance and Treasury Secretary Bessent that a “memorandum of understanding” with Iran is about to be signed once the president reviews and approves it… nothing new actually happened, which was, however, expected.
Reportedly, on Friday, Trump held a meeting in the White House Situation Room with unnamed advisers, but no decision was made. According to media reports citing sources within the White House, Trump disagrees with Iran’s demands regarding the unfreezing of its assets in American banks and the lifting of all sanctions in exchange for unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.
▶ Trump’s legal chronicles. On Friday, two federal judges made painful decisions for Trump.
● A federal district judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, reviewing the lawsuit of one of the dismissed prosecutors in the Capitol riot cases on January 6, 2021, ruled that the $1.776 billion fund created by Trump and his Department of Justice to compensate those whom the 47th president considers victims of “political prosecutions” cannot accept any money for its funding, cannot disburse money to anyone, and cannot accept any applications for payouts, and the administration cannot take any further actions related to this fund.
● Another federal district judge – in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Kennedy Center (an arts center in Washington) was illegally renamed by its board of trustees to the Trump Kennedy Center, and that Trump’s name must be removed from the name and the building’s facade within two weeks. The judge also ruled that Trump’s decision to close the Center for major repairs and renovations this summer is illegal. The Kennedy Center was created by a law passed by Congress, giving it the name of the president John Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. This center has become the capital’s main concert and theater hall. After Trump’s appointment of a new board of trustees that named the center after him, there was a mass boycott by musicians, actors, and composers from pre-scheduled performances at the center. As a result, Trump decided to close it for repairs and renovations on an unknown project.
The judge ruled that the Center was established in accordance with a law passed by Congress, and that only Congress can decide its naming and operational matters.
Strangely, the 47th president does not intend to appeal the court’s decision. He tweeted several times, where he insulted the judge, “radical left Democrats,” predicted the destruction of the Kennedy Center due to its allegedly critical condition, and said that Congress should handle it.
There are 966 days left until the end of the story titled “Fear: Trump in the White House” © (the title of Bob Woodward’s book, published in 2018).
Thank you to everyone who read. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Take care of each other, help each other. Health to all.
Ultimately, what happens in the world depends on us. Whether we fight evil, do good, remain mere observers, wait passively, and believe that someone somewhere will decide for us, or fight evil and do everything possible for good to prevail.
We must not let evil win. The victory of evil would mean the end of the world we live in. We cannot allow that. Especially now.
Ukrainian friends, I embrace and love you all. Please take care of each other, I ask you very much.
Ukraine is and will always be.
And evil will be defeated and punished. And it definitely will be.
