This is the April 6, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.

“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

— President Donald Trump in an Easter morning post threatening Iran’s destruction

JS: Karim Sadjadpour — one of the preeminent Iran experts in the world — posted this over the weekend: “Wars are judged by the political orders they build, not by what they destroy. Trump is measuring this war by what he has destroyed. History will judge it by what’s left behind.” 

David, that’s where we are, isn’t it?

David Ignatius: There’s nobody wiser on Iran than Karim, and it’s deeply distressing to read his account. You’ve got a president vacillating between bombing Iran into the Stone Age and walking away — facing a regime that is hard-line, brutal, and utterly unwavering. 

This weekend was, in some ways, the most painful yet. On one hand, the rescue of that downed colonel — pulled from a mountain crevice deep inside Iran — was extraordinary. A real display of what the U.S. military can do.

But then came the president’s vulgar Easter tweet. Historians will put that post next to what Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt said to the country in moments of crisis — and the contrast will be stark. 

JS: David, so where does that leave us on Day 38? 

DI: We’re balanced between the two fundamental themes of this war. The rescue mission was an amazing feat of arms — it showed what our special operations forces can do. But it also revealed that Iran can withstand our best punch. 

And they’ve got an asset in the Strait of Hormuz that’s very hard to take away without diplomacy. If Trump follows through on his threat to blow to smithereens every power plant and bridge, that would likely make the strait impassable for decades — leaving behind such ruin and rage that reopening it would be almost impossible. 

The path out of this requires working with allies toward a diplomatic solution. The idea that you just keep pounding the other guy until he says OK — the evidence in this war suggests otherwise. 

JS: David Rohde, you were held captive by the Taliban for seven months. Posts like that Easter tweet don’t intimidate jihadists, do they?

DR: No, this will not impact a hardened jihadist. The Taliban are different from the Iranians, but they share the same extreme religious view: If you die fighting for your cause, you become a martyr. Maybe this kind of threat works on political opponents in the United States, but it’s not going to cause the Iranian regime to back down. I talked to a Persian Gulf diplomat this morning who agrees: It only strengthens the hard-liners.

I met this weekend with a group of Iranians who have recently fled to the U.S. — moderates whose relatives at home are watching Tehran be destroyed in front of their eyes. These are people who heard the president say “help is on the way” the night he launched the strikes. They’re still waiting for that help — and just baffled by these threats of massive destruction to civilian infrastructure. 

MB: Pakistan, with the help of Egypt and Turkey, has reportedly put together a ceasefire framework and is working to get something affirmed today, but a Persian Gulf diplomat tells MS NOW Iran is expected to reject it. Jonathan Lemire, with so much damage already done, is there any real path to a deal?

JL: To get an agreement, you need rational actors. We could argue Iran isn’t one — but one has to wonder about Washington right now, too. 

Pakistan deserves credit for trying, but there’s not a lot of optimism. And the president’s deadline keeps shifting — it was tonight, now it’s Tuesday. Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth is firing top Army generals, including the chief of staff, during a time of war. That’s unheard of. 

And if Trump follows through on targeting civilian infrastructure, let’s be clear: That’s a war crime. It would turn the Iranian people — who have been waiting for help — against us for decades.

JS: We saw this weekend that Iran still has real warfighting capability. Two weeks ago, an intel source who’s worked Iran for a generation told me the target counts had eerie echoes of Vietnam-era body counts — that Iran is far more resilient than the Trump administration believes, with far more equipment hidden across that terrain. Three weeks later, that looks exactly right.

DI: They’re still in this fight. Weakened, yes, but their hostage is the Strait of Hormuz. They’ve got their arms around the global economy’s neck, and there’s no sign they’re letting go absent diplomacy. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote a detailed peace proposal in Foreign Affairs this weekend. With Tuesday’s deadline approaching, the question remains: Is it bombs away — or do we get to a negotiating table?

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

CHART OF THE DAY

Source: Associated Press, The White House

ON THIS DATE

In 1974, Swedish pop outfit ABBA won Eurovision with their song “Waterloo,” launching the career of one of the biggest acts in popular music history.

“MAMA, AT WATERLOO NAPOLEON DID SURRENDER!”

A CONVERSATION WITH ANNE APPLEBAUM

Oil prices are up 60%. The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked. And Trump is telling NATO allies to go “take” it themselves. Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum joined “Morning Joe” today to discuss why — after 14 months of tariffs, threats, and insults — they aren’t rushing to help. 

MB: In your recent Atlantic piece, you argue that “everyone but Trump understands what he’s done.” What are the most immediate geopolitical consequences you’re seeing right now?

AA: You need some context to understand the European reaction to current events in the Middle East. Since coming to power, Trump has insulted and tariffed American allies. In January, his public and private statements convinced the Danes — and all of their allies — that he was about to invade Greenland. And they prepared for that. 

Now the president is acting as if people with those very recent memories should jump to his aid — even when he can’t explain why he launched this war or how it ends. 

JS: How much of this comes down to trust, and the fact that allies no longer take the U.S. at its word?

AA: Almost every day, the president has a different explanation for what he wants to happen. Sometimes he wants allies. Sometimes he doesn’t. Everyone can see it, everyone can hear it — and yet the president and people around him act like none of this matters.

JS: What are the real-world implications of that unpredictability? 

AA: If you’re in the room with the president, you have to expect something toxic to happen. There are European leaders who simply don’t want to go to Washington anymore. 

And these are democracies. Trump is very unpopular in Europe — even on the far right. None of their voters like this war. So for European leaders, being seen agreeing with the United States has gone from a political asset to a political liability. That’s a complete 180-degree reversal from where we were a year and a half ago.

JS: Let’s turn to Hungary. Is this finally the moment that Viktor Orbán could lose power?

AA: Orbán used his democratic mandate to dismantle Hungarian democracy — taking over the judiciary, the media, the bureaucracy, the universities. The result: Hungary is now one of the poorest, most corrupt countries in the EU, with real crises in health care and education. And he’s not winning. In some polls, he’s down by 20 points. The only question is what he does to stop the election — or change the results.

JS: And, of course, there were recent reports of a fake Russian assassination plot to boost him before the election — and an intercepted call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov where they’re just openly colluding. Are you even surprised anymore? 

AA: Orbán now serves as Vladimir Putin’s puppet in Europe. He blocks European funding for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia. None of that is a surprise. 

What is a surprise: JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, is flying to Budapest to endorse him.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

EXTRA HOT TEA

$400

— The price of a “luxury Bible,” part of a growing high-end niche. Overall Bible sales hit 19 million last year — the highest in 21 years.

ONE MORE SHOT

Participants in their Sunday best — and then some — show off elaborate bonnets outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral during New York City’s Easter Parade.

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