President Trump’s diesel fuel supply deal with Vladimir Putin is a lose-lose.  The amounts are too small to have a meaningful, sustained effect on the record prices American drivers, truckers, shippers, farmers, ranchers and homeowners are paying at the pump, which are largely a result of Trump’s war of choice against Iran. But the deal does throw Putin a lifeline to continue his war of aggression against Ukraine (which Trump promised to end in 24 hours), the other contributor to record high diesel prices.  How is this good for America? apnews.com/article/trump-rus…

President Trump is now offering Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for concrete steps on its nuclear program. Sound familiar? It’s a lot like the nuclear deal President Obama negotiated, which I worked on and which Trump tore up in his first term and replaced with nothing. A big reason we ended up in this failed war of choice.

Really enjoyed sitting down with @ananavarro. We covered a lot of ground, from the Trump administration’s stalled war in Iran and its interventions in Venezuela and the Caribbean to the risks posed by AI. Thanks for having me, Ana.

AI has the potential for extraordinary good, but also for catastrophic consequences if its development outpaces our ability to put the right guardrails in place. America does not need to choose between leading the AI race with China and taking seriously the profound risks that come with this technology. We can do both, and I believe we must. Thanks to @JMathieuReports and the @BloombergTV team for having me on today to discuss this and other pressing global issues.

For the record, this is false. Complete fiction.

When America becomes unreliable, our allies and partners don't stand still. They adapt. They hedge. They look elsewhere. And the consequences to the American people are serious. I’ve been warning about this for over a year, and this piece by @FareedZakaria eloquently illustrates why restoring U.S. credibility isn't just about repairing relationships. It's about protecting our security, our prosperity, and our leadership. Worth a read. washingtonpost.com/opinions/…

. @AndyBeshearKY and I talked about the real-world consequences of President Trump's war with Iran. Our military has carried out every mission asked of it. The failure lies with leaders who started a conflict without clear objectives, a coherent strategy, or an honest explanation to the American people. Now, we’re in an escalation cycle that will be hard to break out of.

I have known and worked with @AmbBridgetBrink through the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations. She is a tireless and fearless advocate for American values and interests around the world, with uncompromising integrity and courage. Bridget was an extraordinary Ambassador to Ukraine, standing strong under fire. She never shied away from telling me her views, even when they may have been unpopular. Bridget is also a staunch fighter against corruption. These attributes are exactly what we need in government.

China understands that leadership in AI is not just about building the most capable models. It is about shaping the rules, norms, and institutions that will govern how AI is developed and used around the world. Xi Jinping's remarks today at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai are an important reminder that Beijing intends to lead on both fronts. Beijing is moving with purpose, bringing nearly 30 countries along with it as signatories to a new China-backed AI organization, giving it a growing platform to shape international standards and extend its influence around the world. It didn’t have to be this way; in fact, the United States once led this effort. During my time in the Biden Administration, we secured voluntary commitments from frontier AI companies on safety, security, and trust. My colleagues and I then worked with the G7 to internationalize those principles, as well as with the UK on safety. We secured the first ever UN General Assembly resolution on AI by broad consensus. That work gave the United States a strong foundation from which to lead. It showed that innovation and governance could advance together, and that America could bring other countries with us. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration’s approach to AI governance continues to swing between embracing it and rejecting it. That inconsistency — together with our cratering credibility and growing trust deficit around the world — puts our technological leadership and our diplomatic influence in peril. If America's approach to AI governance continues to vacillate and if we continue to alienate countries near and far, we will cede far more than a diplomatic initiative. We will allow China to shape the rules, standards, and norms that will govern the defining technology of this century. The question is not whether those rules will be written, but who writes them. I, for one, would prefer it to be America. reuters.com/world/asia-pacif…

Excellent piece by Jon Finer in @nytopinion echoing what I heard in Europe this summer and outlining the enormous costs of the global movement to de-risk from America nytimes.com/2026/07/12/opini…

I was recently in Europe, where the topic du jour was America. What I heard didn't surprise me, but the consistency did. Again and again, people asked the same question: Can America still be counted on? This week's NATO summit surely did little to reassure them. The Alliance itself is stepping up. More money for security — building upon a trend begun during the Biden Administration, when the number of allies devoting the long agreed 2% of GDP to defense went from 9 to 23. Greater industrial cooperation, including across the Atlantic.  Sustained support for Ukraine. A strong reaffirmation of its commitment to collective defense in the face of Russian provocations. The Trump Administration could and should have declared success. Instead, more public confrontations with allies, threats directed at fellow NATO members, and renewed suggestions about taking territory from a close partner dominated the headlines. The greater damage is quieter, and much harder to reverse. Many Europeans are no longer asking when America will return to the role it has played for generations. They are planning for a future in which it doesn't. For nearly eight decades, NATO and our broader network of alliances have been among our greatest strategic advantages. They have deterred aggression and so made war less likely, expanded our influence, strengthened our economy, and kept Americans safe. They allow us to share burdens rather than carry them alone. They multiply American power instead of diminishing it. These relationships were never acts of charity. They were built out of enlightened self-interest to advance our own security and prosperity. When allies lose confidence in the United States, they don't simply wait for Washington to change course. They adapt. They build new partnerships. They look elsewhere for leadership. Those decisions, once made, are difficult to undo. Our adversaries and competitors understand this. Russia has long sought to fracture the transatlantic alliance. China benefits whenever democratic nations are less able to act together. Every doubt cast on America's reliability is an opportunity for those who would prefer a weaker, more divided West.

Wise words from my friend @RoKhanna

Thoughts on the “Ceasefire” with Iran: President Trump should share the ceasefire agreement with the American people.  They deserve to see it and draw their own conclusions about the results of the president’s war. Just as they should have been informed before he launched it. From what’s been reported, it’s a bad deal to end a misguided war of President Trump’s choosing. The only thing worse would be to continue the war that has proven so costly in lives lost — including U.S. service members — and taxpayer dollars spent without making the American people safer or their lives better. By President Trump’s own terms, the war is a failure. The Iranian regime is intact and its military wing more empowered, while the Iranian people are more impoverished, repressed and desperate. Iran apparently retains a significant supply of missiles and drones and the productive capacity to make more. It has renewed links to lethal proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere. The ceasefire agreement seems to be silent about these issues The attempt to “re-obliterate” Iran’s nuclear program — which President Trump claimed to have wiped out last year — failed. Iran still has the highly enriched uranium it had produced before the war started, along with centrifuges to spin the uranium into weapons-grade material. Maybe that will be addressed in the negotiations that are supposed to start this week. But at what price in terms of sanctions relief and assets unfrozen? At best, we’ll get back to something that looks like the JCPOA — the nuclear deal negotiated by President Obama without going to war that put Iran’s nuclear program in a box. President Trump tore up the JCPOA in 2018 and then failed to replace it. There’s reason to doubt we will come away with anything as strong as the JCPOA — which took two years to negotiate in partnership with all the major powers — in 60 days, playing a far weaker hand. And by the way, if the president tries to claim credit for Iran renouncing nuclear weapons as part of any agreement, look no further than the very first paragraph of the JCPOA, which contains the same pledge. The only “achievement” of the ceasefire is the likely re-opening the Strait of Hormuz — which was open before the war started. And we will apparently pay Iran to do so, in the form of waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil. Iran has now demonstrated the capacity to stop or slow the passage of oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other critical products upon which so much of the world depend. Going forward, it will almost certainly find ways to collect “fees” for safe passage that will help entrench the regime. Don’t expect a return to normal any time soon, if at all. Crude oil prices will drop from the record highs they reached — but they’re unlikely to fall to pre-war levels. We will all pay for a sustained inflationary effect. It will take time to restart oil and gas production, repair infrastructure, refill dangerously depleted stockpiles, clear mines, and restore confidence. Just as it will take a lot of time to replenish our own supply of offensive and defensive missiles, to the detriment of our deterrent in other parts of the world. Maybe the only positive development is the world’s renewed focus on renewable energy as a way to break the stranglehold of the Strait. But China will be the big winner as the world’s leader in wind, solar, EV’s and batteries — further expanding its influence — while the Trump administration is paying wind farms to shut down and gutting incentives to make us more competitive in EVs. (I just returned from Norway, where more than 90 percent of the new cars sold last year were full EV’s. Norway may be ahead of the curve, but we’re driving right off the road). Meanwhile, the administration achieved a terrible trifecta of alienating our partners in Europe (insulted and threatened for two years, not consulted on the war and then lambasted for not helping bail us out), Asia (which bore the greatest impact of high energy prices and rising scarcity) and the Middle East (the primary target of Iranian retaliation), while diminishing our standing and credibility everywhere. Most of all, President Trump’s war of choice has failed the ultimate foreign policy test: it has failed to make the American people better off. At a time when more and more American families are struggling to make ends meet, this war has made filling everything from the gas tank to the grocery cart to medical prescriptions harder and more expensive. We should all be glad the war is over — for now. No doubt President Trump will claim credit for ending it. But that’s like an arsonist boasting about putting out a fire he started after half the house has been burnt down.

As a lifelong Knicks fan, only one night compares: Game 7, May 8, 1970. Watching with my dad as an injured Willis Reed limped out, out-jumped Wilt, and scored the first two buckets. Same spirit last night. Thinking of my dad, watching from the bleachers somewhere. LET'S GO KNICKS

The pace and scope of change is unlike anything we've experienced before, with new actors super empowered by information and technology. How should future U.S. administrations think about and act on this moment to advance America’s leadership in the world? I spoke about that this week at @amprog Ideas Conference alongside @LindaT_G, @AndyKimNJ, and @jrpsaki.