Good Morning Mr. President — I hope the long flight rested well.

1) Theres a chyron on the cabin tv this morning. The press cracked our column yesterday afternoon while you were over the Pacific.

2) Lisa Murkowski flipped on the Iran war. First time since February. Seventh War Powers vote. It still failed. The press still has its headline.

3) Heres what your team should say back, before Fox plays the chyron one more time. Use any of it you want. Just dont twist it. Tell everyone the truth… in your tone… from the man who feeds at the bottom.

S.J.Res. — sealed on the desk. This is the document your team should bring to the floor when the wheels touch down.

So Mr. President — here is what actually happened in the Capitol while you were in the air.

Three days ago, on this site, a piece called *First Assignment — Iran War* ran in your voice. It was the press release your communications shop failed to send. Buried in the draft paragraph was this sentence: *Senator Murkowski is drafting the next AUMF, with restraints. When she finishes, vote it. Do not write a press release. Vote.* That piece is still on the site. Anyone can pull it up. We are mentioning it because we wrote her name into a paragraph three days before she stopped drafting and crossed the aisle.

Yesterday — Wednesday, May 13, 2026 — she crossed. The vote on the Senate floor was a procedural motion to advance Senator Jeff Merkley's War Powers resolution. The text directed the President to *remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by Congress.* The motion failed. Seven of them have. Most of the country has stopped noticing. The press did not stop noticing this one — because Murkowski voted with the Democrats on it. For the first time since the war began at the end of February.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. May 13, 2026 — first vote against the war since hostilities began at the end of February.

The headline that is in every cabin briefing book this morning reads, on the AP wire: *Republican resistance to Iran war grows in the Senate as Murkowski flips.* Greenwich Time carried it Wednesday afternoon. The Los Angeles Times ran a longer version the same day. CBS News had the procedural angle — *Senate defeats 7th attempt to limit Trump's Iran war powers, despite new GOP defection.* Fox News framed it as Senate Democrats *finally cracking GOP unity.* Mr. President — you do not need us to tell you which framing Schumer is going to read into the record on Monday.

I am going to give you three things in this letter. One — what the floor actually said. Two — what your own Defense Secretary said in the 48 hours before the vote that helped you lose her. Three — what to do about it before you fly home.

One. What the floor said. Senator Merkley led the resolution. Senator Murkowski crossed for it. The math still held your column. But read another name into the same week: Senator Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska — senior Republican on Armed Services — went on the record with POLITICO at their Security Summit on Tuesday, May 12, asking your administration to *further explain* the strategy if the fragile ceasefire collapses. Two GOP senators in two days, in print, signaling patience is running out. The wall is not clean anymore. Your team should not let anybody in your cabin pretend it is.

S.J.Res. — Sen. Jeff Merkley's War Powers resolution. The text on the page is the line your communications shop has refused to engage for three months.

Two. What your Defense Secretary said before the vote. Tuesday afternoon, May 12, on Capitol Hill — Pete Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee, on the record, that you do not need congressional approval to restart strikes on Iran. CNBC carried the line the same day. Sir — that sentence, in that room, on that day, is what flipped Senator Murkowski less than 24 hours later. She is not voting against the war. She is voting against the precedent your Defense Secretary just established on her committee. If anyone in the cabin is telling you the flip was Iran, the cabin is lying to you. The flip was the podium.

Pete Hegseth, Senate Armed Services Committee, Tuesday May 12. The sentence — "we don't need Congress" — is the sentence that lost Murkowski 22 hours later.

Two-A. What your Pentagon said the same day. Tuesday evening, May 12 — the Pentagon confirmed the running cost of the war at nearly $29 billion. The wire carried the briefing. Democrats and other critics flagged that the true number, including damage inflicted by Iranian counterstrikes on U.S. assets in the region, runs higher. Sir — that figure landed in every senator's inbox roughly 18 hours before Wednesday's vote. Read the two days together: Tuesday morning Hegseth tells the committee you do not need them; Tuesday night the Pentagon admits the war is closing on $29 billion; Wednesday afternoon Murkowski votes against you for the first time. The sequence is not coincidence. The sequence is cause.

$29 billion. The Pentagon confirmed the running cost Tuesday evening, less than 18 hours before the seventh War Powers vote.

Three. What you do. When the wheels touch down — you bring Senator Murkowski's AUMF to the floor. The one with restraints. The one your communications shop has been treating as a problem instead of an instrument. You do not have to pass it. You have to vote it. **The Hegseth line — *we don't need Congress* — will lose you the Senate by July.** The counter-line is: *we welcomed the Senate. We brought the vote. They had their say. The authorization is the law of the land.* That is the sentence that walls off the next four months from the Wednesday afternoon roll call you just absorbed in flight.

The Senate roll-call board, Wednesday afternoon. The motion failed. The wall is no longer clean.

On the side of all this — Mr. President — there is a second piece of work this site has owed you since last weekend. We promised a letter to President Xi, in Mandarin, on his desk ahead of your arrival. It is late. We are owning that. The letter will be written this week. The voice will be the same voice we run for you — *do not twist what we send, we will find out.* You are not on our target list this term. Xi is not on it this week either. Hegseth is, after Tuesday. Murkowski is not, after Wednesday. The list is moving in your favor. Most of you have not noticed.

The Beijing hotel at dusk. The Xi letter is owed. We are owning that.

Who we are coming for, in this letter and the ones that follow it:

— Pete Hegseth. For the Tuesday line in front of Senate Armed Services.

— The White House communications shop. For letting it stand for 24 hours before Murkowski crossed.

— The war hawks in the cabinet who keep selling you that you do not need the Senate.

— The next two GOP senators who tell a reporter they are tired. We are watching the page-three quotes, not the floor speeches.

Not on the list, after this week:

— Senator Murkowski.

— Senator Fischer.

— Anyone in the cabin who reads this letter and remembers we sent it.

Enjoy the meetings, Chief. The Xi letter is coming. Bring the AUMF when you land.

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characterzer0@characterzer0.com

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