Coffee Talk with Tiff

June 2, 2026 12:26 pm EDT Tiff Coffee Talk with Tiff 0
Image credit: AI-generated illustration created with ChatGPT

It’s Tuesday…

Shitshow’s public schedule for…

06/02/2026:


The saying goes, “May you live in interesting times.”

Whoever came up with that saying clearly wasn’t prepared for whatever the hell this is.

These aren’t interesting times. These are WTF, JFC, and FFS times.

A few weeks back, DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced she would be stepping down after her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

This morning, Puddle announced her replacement.

And because apparently we’re committed to making every timeline weirder than the last, his pick immediately raises the question: what in the actual WTF is this shit?

Before you ask…

Yes, this is legal.

Pulte was confirmed by the Senate to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which means he can be designated to serve in an acting role.

There is a time limit on acting appointments, at least in theory. In practice, the law comes with enough caveats, exceptions, and legal gymnastics to keep government lawyers employed for decades.

That’s the explanation. It doesn’t make it any less weird.

We’ve now completed the WTF portion of today’s post.

It’s time for the JFC section.

Yesterday, Iran announced it was suspending talks with the United States.

When asked about it by CNBC, Puddle said he didn’t care.

The rest of the tweet says: I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring.”

A short time later, he posted that he had spoken with Bibi and that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire.

Then, despite having just told reporters he didn’t care that the talks had been suspended, he announced that negotiations with Iran were continuing at a rapid pace.

Axios later reported that his phone call with Bibi wasn’t exactly a friendly chat. It was reportedly more of a “what the hell are you doing?” conversation.

President Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon in an expletive-laden call on Monday, two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios.

Behind the scenes: One U.S. official said Trump told Netanyahu that following through on his threats to bomb the Lebanese capital would further isolate Israel around the world.

Axios. 06/01/2026.
  • Two of the sources said Trump claimed he’d helped keep Netanyahu out of jail — a reference to his support during Netanyahu’s corruption trial.
  • Summarizing Trump’s remarks to Netanyahu, the U.S. official said: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
  • A second source briefed on the call said Trump was “pissed” and at one point yelled at Netanyahu: “What the fuck are you doing?”

The other side: Netanyahu released a statement after the call saying he’d told Trump that Israel would attack targets in Beirut if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israel, and that in the meantime Israel would continue its operations in southern Lebanon.

Axios. 06/01/2026.
  • “Our position remains the same,” Netanyahu wrote.
  • The second U.S. official claimed that, in reality, Trump had “steamrolled” Netanyahu on the call. “Bibi said, ‘OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of,'” according to the official.
  • Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

That report prompted one hack talk show host to demand the FBI investigate whoever leaked details of the call.

The rest of the tweet says: The Iranian regime will benefit from that leak, viewing us as weak and desperate for a deal — even coming to Hezbollah’s defense. The Israeli people will also be furious.  The missiles are aimed at them, not Washington.  And for 100 other reasons, what was thought to be a devasting political hit on Netanyahu by the leakers about a private call between heads of state has done much damage to us and our military and our diplomatic strategy.  And if the leakers or others believe Israel should abandon its survival for some deal, they will have a very hard lesson to learn.  If the substance of the call is accurate, it is bad enough in my view. Will there be an FBI investigation to determine who leaked?  If not, why not?

The thing about leaks is that sometimes they can be disproven.

All it takes is for the people involved to say the reporting is wrong.

Instead, Bibi appeared to confirm the central point of the Axios story.

In other words, while Puddle was telling the world Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop shooting at each other, Bibi was publicly stating that Israel would continue military operations in Lebanon.

And then reality showed up.

The Israeli military launched deadly new strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday after accusing Hezbollah of launching attacks overnight, despite President Donald Trump saying both sides had agreed to de-escalate after Iran threatened to pull out of peace talks.

[snip]

The Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal for a “mutual cessation of attacks,” which would also block Israel from attacking Beirut. Its threat to do so had sparked panic in the Lebanese capital, after the U.S. ally’s deepest incursion into its neighbor in 26 years.

But despite the claims of a renewed ceasefire, clashes continued Tuesday morning.

[snip]

The Israeli military told NBC News that it had launched at least one strike in Nabatieh, but said it was targeting what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure.

It said earlier that it had intercepted at least two projectiles overnight that had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported. Hours later, it said sirens had sounded in northern Israel and that it had identified a “suspicious aerial target” in an area where Israeli soldiers were operating in southern Lebanon.

NBC News. 06/02/2026.

So let’s review.

Iran suspended talks.

Puddle said he didn’t care.

Puddle then announced the talks were moving rapidly.

Puddle announced a ceasefire.

Bibi announced military operations would continue.

Israel launched additional strikes.

Mark Levin decided the real issue was the leak.

If you’re confused, don’t worry. Everyone else is too.

And now for today’s FFS moment.

Last night, Puddle endorsed Congressman Tom Kean Jr. for reelection.

Which is certainly one way to remind people Tom Kean Jr. still exists.

Tom Kean “WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

Unless you need his vote in Congress.

GOP Rep. Tom Kean is running unopposed in his primary on Tuesday, seeking a third term in one of the nation’s most competitive seats.

But voters haven’t seen or heard directly from Kean in months — and it’s still unclear when he might return to work on Capitol Hill. Kean has yet to offer a date for his return to House Speaker Mike Johnson and his team, who have been navigating their reed-thin margins without him since early March, according to three GOP leadership sources.

The New Jersey congressman said in late April on social media that he’s dealing with a “personal medical issue,” without specifying what it is, and said he would be back “very soon.” Late last month, he told The New Jersey Globe that he’d be back in the “next couple of weeks.”

[snip]

Since early March, Kean has continued to post regularly on his social media accounts. But it’s his staff who are attending high school graduations and ribbon cutting ceremonies for new businesses. His last public events appear to have been in early March, when he spent the weekend attending events such as a documentary screening at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey.

CNN. 06/01/2026.

To be fair, Kean’s office says he’s dealing with a personal medical issue, and I genuinely wish him well.

That said, Puddle endorsing a guy who is running unopposed and hasn’t been seen in months feels less like a campaign announcement and more like a missing persons bulletin.

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About Tiff 3644 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.