'Trump is cooked': Fears of 'collapse' spread as war sparks shortage of critical resource

[turbinetree]

By Alexander Willis
Published March 22, 2026 9:05 AM ET

The United States’ war against Iran has triggered a shortage of a critical resource, one so crucial to the economy that one expert predicted a “horrendous” and imminent “collapse,” while another said that President Donald Trump would bear the blame.

That resource is Helium, which plays a critical role in applications ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to medical equipment. Shortly after Trump first authorized strikes on Iran late last month, Qatar, which supplies a third of the world’s helium, was forced to halt production of the critical resource.

Helium is critical for the function of MRI machines, a technology widely used in medical facilities across the country, including at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. where Trump received an MRI scan last year that raised questions surrounding his health. It’s also used in the space, defense and scientific research sectors.

https://www.rawstory.com/iran-war-2676572005/

Hey traitor what say you about this.....more lies, I think more lies.........or are you to worried about bilking the citizens of this country with your FUCKING WAR to go and play another round of golf at your black blanketed situation room at the cereal place you call home..............you own this shit show right along with John Roberts and his 5 other maga US Supreme court lackeys and the maga congress and senate...................your delusion of grander is like the lack of helium ..............

[Baitball Blogger]

1. And all the Party City stores closed down!!

We are so fucked!

Wait, I saw a Michael’s sign that said, We have balloons.

Putting all kidding aside, whatever it takes to stop this clown show, I’m all in.

[cab67]

7. so does Five Below, for what it's worth.

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. TrumpenFuhrer and his band of minions have created quite a situation for the country

and the world - appears critical thinking and forethought are nowhere to be found in the leadership of Trumplandia.

[Martin68]

23. A friend in Australia just reported gas prices there have doubled.

[Justice matters.]

42. The only forethought they have is their orange antiKKKRyste starting Armaggedon

So Jeeboss will come back from the deads in the sky and open the perly gates for THEM...

While they all never follow his teachings, if it was true, they could all end up down in HELL... (they never think of that possibility).

[Beartracks]

44. They think THEY can kickstart the 2nd Coming. But even Christ himself said...

... "You will know not the day nor the hour." In other words, MAGA, you don't get to tell Jesus what to do. Your Armageddon fantasies are not welcome here.

===================

[Goonch]

3. ;-{)......Stay Tuned

[tanyev]

4. I didn't think he'd be able to top the clusterfuck of his COVID response,

but once again I have underestimated his capacity for destruction, intentional and unintentional.

He's like a brontosaurus in a china shop, and shame on the Republican party for continuing to enable and support him.

[FakeNoose]

18. Believe it, he's getting help ... lots and lots of help

The billionaire overlords had everything planned for whenever the useful idiot got back into the White House. Once he was reinstated the destruction was already in progress. "Project 2025" was the part they actually published, but a lot more plans were never revealed.

[young_at_heart]

27. WHY don't they care? WHY are they content to live like this???

It can't JUST be to keep their job??? I watched "The Darkest Hour" last night and felt the rage that the people of England felt. Lord Halifax desperately wanted a "Peace Deal with Herr Hitler." He was convinced that was the answer. Thank goodness, his party chose Churchill....."fight them on the beaches, etc."..... that's how I feel riight now. How I wish a few Republicans felt this way!

[area51]

51. "It can't JUST be to keep their job?"

Can't it? Congress gets a huge salary for very little work, a pension if they stay there long enough, and gold-plated healthcare. They are willing to follow #PEDOnald to hell, apparently.

[Jrsygrl96]

5. My sister worked in a flower shop

Helium has been in short supply for a few years now. Nothing new - just worse!

[Lifeafter70]

26. Yes there is a finite amount of helium

I for one would like to see those balloons go the way of the dodo.

[eppur_se_muova]

45. Bad for sea turtles, too. They mistake them for jellyfish, swallow them, then can't digest or expel them. nt

[ms liberty]

6. Put a dementia-ridden idiot in charge, collapse civilization. Thanks, MAGA!

[groundloop]

8. tRump isn't cooked, the US is cooked

And tRump is perfectly fine with that because:
a) the tRump-Epstein Files are out of the news and
b) he continues getting richer and richer by the day

[James48]

9. Republicans intentionally destroyed US Helium production and reserves.

We had a massive helium reserve in Texas following World War 1.

It continued in existence until republicans announced that the U.S. Government making and storing helium was against conservative principles of free market capitalism. And ended the Helium storage reserves. See the Republican “Helium Privatization Act” of 1996.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_Privatization_Act_of_1996


We can’t have nice things because the GOZp destroys them all.

[jfz9580m]

10. Interesting ..Thank you

The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 is a United States statute that ordered the US government to sell much of the National Helium Reserve. The 104th Congress passed the Act of Congress presenting the legislation to the United States President on September 30, 1996. President Bill Clinton enacted the federal statute into law on October 9, 1996.[1]

The law was described by critics as a "fiasco" due to the formula-based sale price being significantly lower than the market price for helium.[2] The bill was amended in 2013 to use an auction to sell helium.[3]

It is a very short article. It looks like it was signed into law by Clinton, but there isn’t much of a backstory.

[GiqueCee]

13. Ah, the much-vaunted "Third Way"...

... influence reared its ugly head once again.

[paleotn]

16. Is the line item veto in force? Was it back then?

Seems some folks in black robes ruled that unconstitutional in 1996. The same year all this was going on.

Careful. Third way is bullshit, granted, but let's not get too carried away. Nuance.

[GiqueCee]

11. A while back...

... I asked a MAGA-path to name ONE constructive thing the current crop of Republicans have done – without LYING! Couldn't do it.

[FakeNoose]

19. I think it's mostly profit motive ... It was cheaper to buy from Qatar

... than to pay real wages to Americans for manufacturing the same product. We need to realize that is the main reason everything has been outsourced ... the cost of American labor. Billionaire overlords don't like paying Americans.

[Nigrum Cattus]

12. the repugs have sold off our helium reserves at least twice to private companies

here is one article
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/us-just-sold-helium-stockpile-s-medical-world-worried-rcna134785

[paleotn]

15. And they'll make a fortune on reduced supply and far higher prices. Who could have seen that coming?

[MichMan]

52. Looks like it was done under the Obama and Biden administrations

January 25, 2024
The sale has been in the works for more than a decade. Congress first mandated it through the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. It was initially supposed to occur in 2021, but a series of delays — in part due to the same logistical and regulatory issues threatening shutdowns today — postponed the auction to Thursday.

[MichMan]

53. Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 passed House 394-1 & passed Senate 97-2 before being signed into law by Pres. Obama.

I looked into this further to see how much support it had at the time.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/527/all-actions?overview=closed&q=%7B%22roll-call-vote%22%3A%22all%22%7D

[paleotn]

14. Gee whiz, it seems international trade is complex and important in ways we don't even know or think about.

Maybe shutting down one of the most important regions for that trade isn't a good idea? Even if one is trying to get one's pedo proclivities off front page, above the fold.

Many of us thought the stupidity exhibited by this regime would bite us all eventually. Just a matter of when and how. Well, we're there. Less than 2 years in.

[PCIntern]

17. Helium is fascinating.

There is an AI Richard Feynman lecture on it…

?si=AW2loSmB1kEmD7x5

[blue blues]

20. NOPE trump doesn't have a care in the world

Just add it to the list of destroyed by trump

[AllaN01Bear]

21. moe DISTRACTION. :(

[Martin68]

22. The other vital resource that has been cut off is fertilizer. Our farmers paid for it in advance and will desperately

need it when the growing season starts. No fertilizer = poor crops.

[Whip-poor-will]

28. Add in diesel

Diesel isn't coming down before spring planting.

Since golden brains declared no global warming we don't have to worry about extreme drought or floods

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Seems Overwrought

The US has 10% more helium reserves than the next 2 largest countries combined.
And, that doesn't count the yet to be quantified find in Minnesota.

[dpibel]

30. Ready to produce?

Having reserves and having the product are not the same thing are they?

[ProfessorGAC]

31. The Wells Have Been In Place For Decades

Goes back nearly 100 years.
The Hindenberg used hydrogen because the US restricted exports of their vast helicopter resources. They would gave used helium if the US would have sold it to them.
The reserves in the middle east were undiscovered at that point, so the US had a near monopoly.
But, those production conduits have been in place since the 1920s.
And, since helium reacts with nothing under terrestrial conditions, the infrastructure lasts a very, very long time.
I think it far more likely that the article is clickbait, than any other real concern about supply.

[BradBo]

25. Iran dosent need to strike America.

Trumps doing it for them.

[GopherGal]

29. Hmmm. Only two weeks after Noem was fired.

Looks like someone had plans to tap the reserves of whatever-it-is is in those Liferaft Lips!

[roamer65]

32. I know...let's use hydrogen gas instead!

💥💥💥💥

🤪

Jk

[thought crime]

34. "Windmills" can be used to produce hydrogen. So yeah!

[caraher]

43. I know you're not serious

But for those who may want reasons this doesn't really work, we could use hydrogen for buoyancy applications like balloons, but what makes helium necessary for MRI scanners is that helium has an extremely low boiling point, and superconducting magnets need to be kept at a similarly low temperature. Liquid hydrogen boils at around 20 Kelvin but current magnets need temperatures below 10 K; helium boils around 4 Kelvin.

[Javaman]

33. The orange pedo treats the world like it's one of his failed casinos. nt

[Squaredeal]

35. Doesn't the U.S. have a strategic reserve of helium?

I assume that it still does.

[spanone]

36. republicans will allow trmp to destroy the world.

They simply don't care about anything except kissing trmp's ass over and over and over....

[not fooled]

37. And a lot of them think it's necessary for jeebus to come back

so krasnov destroying the world is a GOOD thing.

Why do so many idiots let religious loons run the country?

[mdbl]

38. Exactly

They have always had the power to stop his nonsense. I get pissed everytime some says these are all Dump's policies causing this grief when the F'ing GOP in Congress bears as much responsibility as he does. Anyone that votes for a Repuglican in the next election is beyond stupid and self-destructive, unless you're one of the few billionaires.

[vapor2]

48. Congress is effn useless and complicit in the trump's destruction

[mdbl]

39. I don't get these "trump is cooked" headlines

or all the other headlines talking about his demise. Has there been any sign of this in reality? As long as the morons are in charge of all branches of government, it seems he's not cooked so to speak. I hope someday I am proven wrong.

[Aussie105]

40. Doomsday preppers might be onto something.

Worry less about the disaster that Trump is visiting on the world, and focus more on how you will cope with the upcoming effect on your life personally.

Practical stuff, preparing for when food supplies and fresh water run low, fuel and a generator or two, safe storage for all that.

And the favorite of post nuclear war/Zombie Apocalypse preppers - lots of guns and ammo.

[Jim__]

41. Trump will just blame the shortage on Biden. And the magats will just nod their heads in agreement.

[ToxMarz]

46. As long as the MAGAts have enough helium for their kids party balloons

and getting a laugh by talking funny, they could give a shit what else it's used for or how critical it is.

[vapor2]

47. HA! This means he may no longer get an MRI?????

[usonian]

49. "Trump is cooked?" I'll believe it when I see it. Chef Andres? Come here!

[joshdawg]

50. trump might be "cooked", but so far

no "chef" is doing a fucking thing to stop him.
No One!