WTF Just Happened This Week

Curated by Matt Kiser, WTF Just Happened Today

8.17.26/ Today in One Sentence
Trump threatened to “bomb the shit out of” Oman if it “gets in the way” of U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz; ¶ Iran rejected Trump’s threat to declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory; ¶ U.S. Central Command chief acknowledged mental health challenges aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln; ¶ Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea; ¶ Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge Justice Department independence from the White House; ¶ the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s effort to overturn the $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict; ¶ the Democratic National Committee approved its 2028 presidential primary calendar with South Carolina going first; ¶ and 60% of Americans called the U.S. economic system unfair.

Today's Top Top Story
Trump threatened to “bomb the shit out of” Oman if it “gets in the way” of U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. The threat comes after Iran said it hd reached an “understanding” with Oman on a route map for ships through the strait. The U.S., however, has demanded that Iran reopen the strait first before it lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Iran missed the 60-day deadline for a peace deal. Trump ruled out extending the June agreement, which called for an end to military operations, the reopening of the strait, and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran, however, claim that negotiations “never began” and the 60-day period was “fundamentally no longer relevant.” Trump, meanwhile, declared that he has “no time schedule” to end the war and is “not in a hurry” to make a deal. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Reuters / USA Today / Bloomberg / NBC News / The Guardian)

8.14.26/Today in One Sentence
Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule; ¶ Trump signed executive orders to narrow birthright citizenship and end “birth tourism”; ¶ ICE plans to spend up to $20 million in a no-bid contract on thousands of electric shock gloves to use on people they’re trying to detain; ¶ Trump authorized U.S. companies to conduct government-directed cyberattacks against foreign hacking groups; ¶ Trump secretly after hid inside an airport catering container to secretly get off Air Force One and fly out of Turkey using a smaller military jet last month; ¶ the Navy is replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East following complaints about exhaustion, supply problems, and sailors’ mental health; ¶ the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general; ¶ the Trump official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service demanded for more resources to fight a seven-acre wildfire near his Idaho ranch; ¶ a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard; ¶ the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow construction to continue on Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom despite a federal appeals court ruling that the project likely requires congressional approval; ¶ U.S. consumer sentiment fell 8% in August as the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July; ¶ Trump reported at least $2.2 billion in income in 2025 while the average American family lost about $1,625 to inflation; ¶ the White House gave Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook 21 days to answer to allegations that she made false statements on mortgage documents; ¶ Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another term, ending speculation that the 76-year-old conservative justice would retire and give Trump the chance to name a fourth Supreme Court justice; ¶ and Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board voted to re-add his name to the building’s facade and close the main venue for a two-year renovation.

Today's Top Story
Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule. The order splits the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three shots, and spread childhood immunizations across separate doctor visits. It recommends routine vaccination against 11 diseases and directs the Justice Department to challenge some state vaccination laws. An earlier attempt to overhaul the schedule has already been blocked in federal court and legal experts say it’s unclear whether Trump even has the authority to impose the changes. Nevertheless, Trump claimed without evidence that the combined MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal” and again suggested vaccines contribute to autism, despite decades of research finding no link. The CDC also says there is “no published scientific evidence” of any benefit to separating the MMR vaccine. No individual measles, mumps, or rubella vaccines are currently approved or available in the U.S. (New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Reuters / Washington Post)