By Ray Cardello for June 15, 2026, Season 31 / Post 49

Joe Scarborough, of MSNOW Morning Joe, opened his Monday show with talk of the tentative Iran deal that ends the conflict in the Middle East and opens the Strait of Hormuz. This is a historic moment as it possibly ends the nearly 45-year-old stranglehold that Iran has had on the region and the world. But this huge story was not the lead story. The celebration by the residents of New York after the Knicks winning the NBA Championship for the first time in 51 years, longer than the Iran threat to global safety. To Joe, and the producers at MSNOW, images of New Yorkers reveling in the streets were more important than the end of a global threat.

As Joe got into his criticism of the Deal and Trump’s needless war with Iran, he prefaced his remarks with, “If you want lies, go to another channel, and I’ll tell you which one to go to.” Then the lies started, and his complicit guests went right along with him. The only saving grace was that Mika slept in and missed the show. It is mind-boggling that semi-intelligent “experts” can say that Iran defeated America and that Iran is stronger today than before the war. Joe also said that the United States has been suffering under the highest inflation and gas prices in years, sending our economy into a tailspin. I’m sorry, but that was in the first sixty seconds of his intro to the story, and it did not get any better. Maybe his lack of truth is why 1.4 million viewers watch Fox & Friends while only 641,000 tune in to Joe and Mika for coffee. As for tailspin, Joe did not mention the unprecedented string of historic stock market levels.

Let’s tackle the second claim first. The inflation rate during Biden’s presidency was 9.1% year-over-year in June 2022, and the highest rate under Trump was 4.2%, less than half of Biden’s historic forty-year high. Gas prices under Joe Biden broke the $5 level, while they just broke $4 under Trump and are now trending downward. Sorry, Joe, but a quick visit to your favorite AI would have prevented that mistruth.

As far as Iran winning the war and being now stronger thanks to Trump, there are no metrics to back this foolish claim. Most of Iran’s leadership has been killed. The Iranian Navy is at the bottom of the Strait, and its Air Force has no wings. Its military infrastructure has been destroyed, and many of its oil wells may need to be replaced. Its economy has been decimated, and they have lost millions per day since the blockade. They do have some drones left, but that is the extent of the military. There is no way you can spin a stronger Iran. As for Iran’s nuclear program, the supply of enriched nuclear material and dust, it is buried thousands of feet below the surface.

What was released yesterday is a framework and a signed understanding. The details still need to be hammered out in the next sixty days, but at least Iran will talk. A few weeks ago, we did not even know who we should talk to. Joe can keep lying and hoodwinking his audience, but he will need a much smaller hood if his downward trends continue.

Author’s note: Images created by Grok AI