From§Each

Page A227From§Eachthe evening edition — 2 November 2026

President who pledged to avoid foreign wars trades stock in companies profiting from the one he started

By The LodgersThe Euro Desk

“Trump promised 'no more wars'. His foreign policy tells another story”, 2 November 2026 (Photo via France 24 — the original report)

As it ran on the front

Today we are making a war that was promised over, which is not a dish you get over here, so I shall go slowly. You will need a campaign promise, a price tag still climbing, and a president with money riding on the outcome.

You will need, exactly: forty-seven billion dollars, the Iran war's official cost as of October 28th; over a thousand stock trades made in June, some in energy firms; and a September report crediting the whole foreign policy with saving taxpayers three hundred twenty billion dollars over four years. Keep all three on the counter; do not let them touch yet.…

Clive Invested. I have backed my own work more than once, and no one here has matched a poet for commitment to a losing position.

Gary Invested is one word for it. I invested an evening in Keith's door, which no longer exists — the only return this house has seen.

In October, the Pentagon had moved troops out of the hemisphere where it claims no oil and into the one where it claims thirty-five percent, seating its largest contractor on the committee planning the future of war. You will be looking for the vote. There is none; there is a committee, and the contractor sits on it.

Rob No vote. Nothing in this house gets voted on either, and nobody asks what happens to the lentils when the gas goes off mid-simmer.

Keith Nobody asks because I tell you anyway. If the gas is off that's a supply problem, and I know men who'd pay to say so first.

Now to today. France 24 counted it on November 2nd: wars still running under a president who promised to end them — Iran priced near forty-seven billion dollars, Venezuela's oil thirty-five percent claimed by the Pentagon, diesel above four dollars a gallon from the fighting. At a rally in Texas, a week before the midterm elections, the president said of the Iran war, "It can be over whenever I want it to be over." His own disclosure, filed for the second quarter, showed stock bought in energy firms posting record profits from it, in a quarter when the fighting paused for a ceasefire, then restarted.

The paper on the table today has it as a broken promise: "Trump promised 'no more wars'. His foreign policy tells another story," reads the France 24 headline. At home, the Hill had it as savings: "Trump's foreign policy saves taxpayers $320 billion over 4 years." Both figures sit on the counter; I am not adding them for you.

Gary Add them up yourself. That's rich from a kitchen that hasn't settled its own meter this quarter, and nobody's rushing to add that up either.

Keith Settled. I could settle the meter by Thursday if someone let me sell the rights to how we got here.

This serves the energy firms whose stock rose with the war, and the contractor on the committee planning the next one. The tab, forty-seven billion dollars so far, goes to the taxpayer and the pump, not the president.

Clive Doesn't go to the president. There's a first. I'll put that in the poem too, right after the part about things that never come back to the one who started them.

“He swore off these wars on the trail, then the filing shows him trading stock in the oil companies getting rich off the one he kept running. That's not a coincidence, that's a financial disclosure. Forty-seven billion and climbing, and he's got a piece of it.”
Sal
“Look, those are routine quarterly disclosures every official files, this isn't about any one trade — and the foreign policy report shows three hundred twenty billion saved, so if anything we're under budget. Did I say under budget? There's a war on, nobody's under budget.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

The Pentagon has failed its audit eight years running — the only major federal agency never to pass one Military Times, 19 December 2025

Official Price Tag of Iran War Jumps to $47 Billion as Trump Says It Will End 'Whenever I Want It To'
Common Dreams§

US President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters on Tuesday that his illegal war of choice in Iran will end "whenever I want it to" as the conflict's official price tag reportedly jumped to $47 billion—a figure that independent analysts believe to be a dramatic underestimate. "It can be over whenever I want it to be over," Trump…

· Big Oil Stocks Surged Due to Iran War—and New Filings Show How President Trump Cashed In from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026

· Trump’s foreign policy saves taxpayers $320 billion over 4 years: Report from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· With Elon Musk’s Return to Washington, Possible Conflicts of Interest Resurface from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026

· Hegseth puts the future of warfare in the hands of major Maga donors from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026

· Pete Hegseth appoints Elon Musk to US taskforce on future of warfare from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026

· Elon Musk boosts GOP spending advantage with return as 2026 juggernaut from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026

· An Elon Musk insider shares what he found in Washington — and it should terrify you from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026

· Trump Accord Enshrines Light-Touch Regulation of AI from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026

· Trump says tech CEOs signed ‘morally binding’ document to self-regulate artificial intelligence from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026

· READ IN FULL: Trump and tech leaders’ White House Accord on Super Intelligence from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026

· Soaring diesel prices take their toll on US farmers in midwest corn belt from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026

· Inflation Could Soon ‘Get a Lot More Painful’ as Trump’s Iran War Drives Diesel Over $6 a Gallon from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· 'Can't Message That Away': GOP Frets as Trump Administration Desperately Spins Record-High Diesel Prices from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026

· 'Trump Did It!': At $5.85 a Gallon, Diesel Price Hits All-Time High in US Thanks to War on Iran from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· States take matters into their own hands to curb record-high diesel prices from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026

· U.N. experts say U.S. may have committed war crimes with 2 Iran strikes from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026

· Trump Says 'Big Decision' Coming on Whether to 'Annihilate' Iran from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· Pentagon No. 3 frustrates senators in closed-door briefing on Iran war, Trump defense strategy from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Senate Democrats, minus Fetterman, urge Hegseth to provide receipt for Iran war costs from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Hegseth on "devastation" to Iran's capabilities from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026

· Trump admits Iran war will not end before midterms from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· Iran War Trump Said Would Be Quick Has Now Lasted 6 Months With 'No End In Sight' from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026

· CBO Finds Trump's Iran War Has Already Cost Nearly $40 Billion—And That's a 'Conservative' Estimate from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Tillis supports Hegseth impeachment resolution: 'He needs to go' from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· Massie Files Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth for Illegal Iran War, Boat Murders from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Massie launches effort to impeach Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Tillis urges Trump to fire Hegseth over 'inept management' of military from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· Tillis renews calls for Hegseth’s firing after Driscoll’s departure: ‘I have never witnessed more inept management’ from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· Farmer who voted for Trump says farmers are "all just in survival mode" from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· Farmer who voted for Trump says "I can't stay in business" amid rising costs from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· Massie says he’s convinced enough Republicans to pass Epstein Files II discharge petition from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· Massie names Epstein 'coconspirators,' discusses new Epstein files legislation from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Read Thomas Massie’s eight impeachment charges against Pete Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Fake Republican midterm convention site still redirects to Epstein files from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026

· Trump says he has a ‘big decision’ coming up on Iran: ‘Do I want to go in and annihilate them’ from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Fox News Poll: 71% think Trump administration lacks plan to end Iran war from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Iran recently downed at least 2 American drones, officials say from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Live updates: Energy secretary downplays rising gas prices as US, Iran trade strikes from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· U.S. Strike on Iranian School May Have Been War Crime, U.N. Report Says from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· UN Inquiry Finds US Strike on Minab, Iran That Killed 123 Children Was War Crime from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· UN investigators conclude ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe certain US strikes in Iran were war crimes from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· UN Suspects US War Crimes in Iran from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· US Condemned for 'War Crimes' After Bombing of Wedding Party in Iran from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026

· US investigating if missile hit Iranian wedding ceremony, killing 4 from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026

· Trump says he has a ‘big decision coming up’ on Iran from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· White House issues explosive response to UN-backed report claiming US committed war crimes against world’s No.1 sponsor of terror, Iran from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Human rights experts: 'Reasonable grounds' to believe US committed war crimes with Iran strikes from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· US Energy Consumers Have Spent $121 Billion Extra Since Trump Launched Iran War: Moody's from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Iran downed at least 2 American drones in recent days, U.S. officials say from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Iran: Account of US Air Force colonel's rescue 'fictional' from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026

· Consumer Burden of Trump Iran War Exceeds $100 Billion as Oil Prices Pass $100 a Barrel from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· 'A Serious and Alarming Threat': US Bombing, Blockade Deepen Iran Medical Crisis from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· Consumer Confidence Hits Lowest Level in Months as US Faces 'Trump's Reckless Tariffs and War With Iran' from the morgue, 25 Aug 2026

· U.S. Air Force officer rescued from Iran speaks for the first time to 60 Minutes from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026

· Rep. Thomas Massie forcing vote on Pete Hegseth's impeachment from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· Did Johnson Just Adjourn Congress for 7 Weeks to Avoid Massie's Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth? from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Massie saying Johnson is sending the House home early to prevent Hegseth impeachment from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· ‘You’re Elected to Fight and Kill the Other Side’: How Congress Lost Its Way from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· Army combat veteran challenging Mike Lawler calls Hegseth national security 'hazard,' backs impeachment from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· Former Air Force secretary says he 'couldn't serve' in Trump administration from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026

· Former Air Force secretary: Hegseth's Pentagon 'dysfunctional' from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026

· House Republicans split over leaving Washington early for campaign trail from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026

· Since 2025, Trump Made More Stock Trades Than All 535 Congress Members Combined from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· Fossil Fuel Advertising Contracts Hit Record High as Big Oil Pockets Billions From Iran War from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· 'How are we gonna get through this?' Many Americans are struggling as prices rise from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026

· Trump's Top Oil Stocks Have Made Him Up to $4.4 Million Richer During Iran War: Analysis from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026

· Gas prices reach Labor Day high amid Iran war from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026

· Trump Hammered Over Iran War That Drove Gas Prices Above $4 Per Gallon Every Day in August for First Time Ever from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026

· Warsh under pressure as Fed weighs rate hike from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Inflation held at 3.4% in August in consumer price index, creating tough choice for Warsh Fed from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026

· Warsh indicates Fed could raise rates to cool inflation from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026

· Key U.S. Bond Rate Near 20-Year High as Oil Prices Keep Climbing from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· 10-year Treasury yield hits highest level since 2007, oil surges above $105 as Fed expected to hike interest rates from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Benchmark mortgage rate hits 14-month high as bond yields keep rising from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026

· Benchmark mortgage rate hits highest mark in over a year from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026

· Goldman Sachs warns oil prices could hit $120 as U.S. fuel costs surge from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026

· Massie Moves to Force Impeachment Vote Against Hegseth, Citing Civilian Deaths from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· GOP Rep Thomas Massie introduces 8 articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Republican Rep. Massie moves to impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth over Iran war from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Thomas Massie Forces Vote To Impeach Pete Hegseth from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Pete Hegseth Faces Growing Criticism as War With Iran Rolls On from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026

This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.