Trump ADMITS Defeat, Says Iran Ceasefire Is on "Life Support" - Pod Save America

[ihaveaquestion]

May 12, 2026 Pod Save America
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivers a blistering response to Jeff Bezos's Washington Post after the editorial board attacks her for criticizing billionaires. Jon, Tommy, and Lovett mull what an AOC 2028 campaign could look like and discuss the latest news, including President Trump rejecting an Iranian counterproposal that could end the war, his proposal to make Venezuela the 51st state, and his upcoming trip to China, which will now include his billionaire buddies Elon Musk and Tim Cook. Then, they react to the Virginia Supreme Court's decision to throw out the state's voter-approved congressional maps, debate how much the GOP's new redistricting advantage will actually be worth in November, and preview Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's pivot back to reality TV.

CHAPTERS
0:00 - Ceasefire w/ Iran On “Life Support”
16:12 - Ad Break
18:53 - Trump Considers Suspending Federal Gas Tax
26:29 - Trump Floats Venezuela As 51st State
29:30 - Ad Break
32:14 - Trump Spending Time In China This Week
37:05 - Redistricting Fallout
49:24: Ad Break
52:01 - AOC Responds To Question About Billionnaires
1:00:03 - Sean Duffy’s Family Road Trip Reality Show

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Trump adds yet another foreign country to his list of possible new U.S. states

The point isn’t that Venezuela is poised to become a state. Rather, this is about the president changing the nature of a broader debate.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-adds-yet-another-foreign-country-to-his-list-of-possible-new-u-s-states

Earlier this year, on the first anniversary of his second inaugural, Donald Trump posted an item to his social media platform that raised eyebrows here and abroad. It showed the Republican president in the Oval Office alongside a large image showing much of the Western Hemisphere, including the entirety of Canada and Greenland covered in American flags, as if they were part of the United States.

But those who looked closely might have noticed that there was another country, farther down in the image, that was also covered in the red, white and blue: Venezuela, which Trump had bombed two weeks earlier.

Trump posts an image depicting Canada and Greenland as part of the United States

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-20T06:09:46.203Z

.....This week, he made clear that the idea remains on his mind. USA Today reported:

More than five months after the United States captured now-former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has again suggested that his administration would try to annex the oil-rich country.

The president told Fox News correspondent John Roberts on Monday, May 11, that he was now “seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state.”

His serious considerations notwithstanding, there’s no reason whatsoever to think this is likely to happen. Indeed, Delcy Rodríguez, the acting leader of Venezuela, wasted little time in pushing back against Trump’s reported comments, telling reporters that Venezuela would “never” consider the idea of statehood because the country loves its independence and would continue to defend it.....

Since getting elected to a second term, Trump has repeatedly talked about trying to make Canada the 51st state. There was related talk about making Greenland a state, too. Now, evidently, the incumbent American president has related ambitions about Venezuela.

Those who hear such talk and shrug it off as nonsense are right to be skeptical, but I’m struck by the fact that in GOP circles, it’s not uncommon to hear Republicans condemn Democratic talk about making the District of Columbia and/or Puerto Rico states. Indeed, just last week, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin mentioned this during an on-air interview as if it were part of his own personal nightmare.

And that’s precisely why I’m interested in Trump’s incessant talk about adding to the United States: The more the president focuses on this, the more this becomes less of a debate about whether to add new states and more about which states to add.