The resignation of Joseph Kent is not a “protest” — it is a confession of moral and strategic bankruptcy. While the United States and Israel finally move to cauterize the nuclear cancer growing in Tehran, Kent has chosen to retreat into the fever dreams of the antisemitic fringe, trading his duty to the nation for the hollow rhetoric of the “Jew-hating” cabal.
The lines are drawn. On one side stands the cold, hard reality of Iranian enrichment; on the other, a disgraced official spewing the same bile as Candace Owens and Nicholas Fuentes.
For years, the world watched in a state of “strategic patience” while Iran turned the Middle East into a tinderbox. According to Muhanad Seloom in his searing analysis for Al Jazeera, the era of restraint was a suicide pact. Iran entered 2026 with 440kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent. That isn’t a civilian power program; it is a warehouse for ten nuclear warheads.
Before the June strikes, Tehran was less than fourteen days away from a breakout. The IAEA admitted there was no civilian justification for this stockpile. The U.S.-Israeli strikes were not just justified — they were an existential necessity for global survival. Seloom, writing from the heart of the region, understands what Kent refuses to acknowledge: a nuclear Iran is a death sentence for Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike.
Joseph Kent’s resignation letter to President Trump is a masterclass in historical revisionism and raw bigotry. By claiming that Iran “posed no imminent threat” and blaming the war on “pressure from Israel,” Kent has fully embraced the antisemitic tropes popularized by the likes of Tucker Carlson and his ilk.
But Kent’s most flagrant lie – the one that reveals the true depth of his radicalization — is the claim that his wife, Shannon Kent, died in a war “manufactured by Israel.”
Let the record be clear: Shannon Kent was a hero murdered by an ISIS suicide bomber in Syria in 2019. To attribute her death to Israel is a grotesque insult to her memory and a hallucination that ignores the reality of Islamic extremism. ISIS does not take orders from Jerusalem; it seeks the annihilation of every “infidel” on the planet. As reported by USA Today, Kent’s attempt to pivot from a victim of ISIS to an attacker of Israel is the ultimate act of intellectual and personal dishonesty.
Kent’s rhetoric does not exist in a vacuum. He has aligned himself with a movement that has moved past “criticism of policy” into the territory of open dehumanization. Candace Owens has spent the last year accusing Jews of every global ill, creating a rhetorical framework that mirrors the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
The striking comparison between Candace Owens and Adolf Hitler is no longer a hyperbole – it is a warning. Kent has stepped into this circle of hate, validating the “Israel-firster” slanders that have long been the calling card of those who hate the Jewish state and the American values that defend it.
“The fact that Kent attributes the malign activity of ISIS to Israel is testimony to his dishonesty and Jew-hating bigotry.” — Ynet Global
The White House, led by President Trump and Karoline Leavitt, has rightly shredded Kent’s “slanderous and libelous” claims. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has made it clear: the evidence against Iran was not just “strong,” it was undeniable.
The strategy currently being deployed is working because it replaces the “meow” of diplomacy with the “thunder” of military resolve.
Decimation of Enrichment: The June strikes have physically set back the Iranian nuclear program by a decade.
Neutralizing Proxies: By striking the head of the snake, the U.S. and Israel are starving Hezbollah and Hamas of their oxygen.
Ending the Charade: We are no longer pretending that the IRGC is a rational actor. It is a terrorist regime that only understands the language of force.
Joseph Kent’s departure is not a loss for the intelligence community; it is a cleansing. A man who cannot distinguish between an ISIS suicide bomber and an Israeli ally has no business holding a security clearance, let alone directing national counterterrorism efforts.
The article An antisemitic liar named Joe Kent summarizes the situation perfectly: Kent has “come out of the closet.” He has chosen his side, and it is the side of those who want to see the West dismantled and Israel erased.
The White House, led by President Trump and Karoline Leavitt, has rightly shredded Kent’s “slanderous and libelous” claims. White House Press Secretary Leavitt confirmed that Kent was never even involved in the operational discussions regarding Iran, completely undercutting his fraudulent claim to “insider knowledge.”
President Trump’s assessment was blunt: Kent was “weak on security” and his departure is a “good thing.” We are at war, and in war, clarity is the greatest weapon. We now know exactly who Joseph Kent is. He is not a “Gold Star hero” standing on principle; he is a man who has succumbed to the pressures of the anti-Semitic lobby.
The thunder of the U.S.-Israeli alliance is the only thing standing between the civilized world and a nuclear-armed caliphate. The war against the IRGC is not a mistake of “the lobby” — it is the final stand of the free world. The strategy is working, the mullahs are falling, and the path of “strategic patience” is dead. Those who stand in the way, like Kent, will be remembered only for their cowardice and their complicity in the spread of hate.
President Donald Trump said he will “NEVER” endorse any senator who votes against his SAVE America Act.
“Get your Senators, REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT, to VOTE ‘YES’ ON ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump said. “I WILL NEVER (EVER!) ENDORSE ANYONE WHO VOTES AGAINST ‘SAVE AMERICA!!!’”
If passed and signed into law, the SAVE America Act, which stands for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and a valid photo ID to vote.
The legislation has passed the House but faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
The Senate will hold a vote on the bill, preceded by a lengthy floor debate this week, but the measure is expected to fall short of the necessary 60 votes to end debate and move to a vote.
Trump demanded additions to the bill that passed the House, including provisions ending mail-in voting, banning men from women’s sports, and prohibiting irreversible transgender procedures for minors.
“The Save America Act is one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “NO MORE RIGGED ELECTIONS! Voter I.D., Proof of Citizenship, No Rigged Mail-In Voting (We are the only Country in the World that allows this!), No Men in Women’s Sports, No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our Children.”
Trump said these are all “90% to 99% ISSUES” that only “sick, demented, or deranged people” would oppose.
“If they do, each one of these points, separately, will be used against the user in his/her political campaign for office – A guaranteed loss!” Trump said.
Trump previously said he would “not sign other Bills until this is passed.”
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House Correspondent for “The Daily Signal.” Send her an email. Elizabeth on X: @TheElizMitchell.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-19 12:51:412026-03-19 12:51:41Trump Reveals Fate of Senators Who Oppose SAVE America Act
Ted, a recently deported British citizen who grew up in the United States, went viral for his Friday interview with The Telegraph.
In the interview, Ted (not his real name) maintains that he deserved to be deported.
“Unlawful presence after learning that I was unlawfully present, right? I’m not making excuses. I should have been deported,” Ted said, speaking of his arrest. “There is an illegal immigration crisis in America, and any president that wants a lawfully ordered nation has the right and the duty and the obligation to enforce deportation.”
Ted’s remarks quickly garnered attention online, with right-wing commentators generally praising his integrity. The Telegraph posted a brief clip of its discussion with Ted to X with the caption: “Immigrants sent to the UK by the US say they lack support to survive in a strange land.”
🗣️ ‘ICE deported me to Britain – it’s a dump’
Immigrants sent to the UK by the US say they lack support to survive in a strange land.
Ted told the Daily Caller he “wasn’t terrifically satisfied with the way that The Telegraph tweeted [his] portion of their segment.”
“The title they used for the tweet was, or the caption they used for the tweet was something like, ‘People deported from the U.S. to the U.K. are unhappy with the benefits they’re receiving,’ and that’s never been my position. I haven’t taken taxpayer money. I’m not asking for Keir Starmer to help me resettle. So I don’t understand why they use the caption for the entire piece where there were other people who were maybe more in line with that, and then applied it to just my segment, but for the people who actually watched, I think they were sort of pleasantly surprised by the fact that I was taking ownership of being responsible for my own deportation,” Ted said.
I asked Ted to elaborate on other major misconceptions in The Telegraph’s coverage.
“Major misconceptions … That I’m like a Trump loyalist, MAGA cultist, staunch Republican, and that does not encapsulate the nuance of my political positions at all.”
“I would also say, because I was included in that, in that piece with the other two, that the misconception was I was dissatisfied with the amount of stuff I’m getting, or that I think I’m entitled to more, and then also because they included the clip from my TikTok that my most viral Tiktok of last year, referring to the U.K. in rather offensive manners.”
The Telegraph quoted Ted as saying, in that viral TikTok, “Now I’m in the United Kingdom and this country sucks and has made me more America First, because you see that outside of London, all of England is a Third World country, a dump. I hate it here and I’m excited and ready to go back to the United States.”
Ted continued: “It seems, the impression that’s given from what The Telegraph put out is, ‘Here is a guy who hates the place he is and is un-self-aware of the fact that he is a criminal who is privileged, who is honored to be in the U.K.,’ and that’s not what I think at all.”
Ted told the Caller that immediately following his deportation he made a social media profile.
“I was discussing the circumstances of my deportation and my political opinions, sort of taking the position that as someone who is deported, in the midst of all that was going on with the [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] protests and all that, I wanted to say something like, ‘Hey, I was deported, and I think it was justified.’ I’m not here saying, ‘I hate Trump. I hate ICE.’ I did reside unlawfully in the United States for a period of time which warranted my deportation.”
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-19 12:51:402026-03-19 12:51:40‘I Was Deported And I Think It Was Justified’: Recent Deportee Who Went Viral Says Outlet Got His Story All Wrong
The Remembrance Project honors Americans and legal residents killed by illegal aliens. We educate, raise awareness, and conduct outreach to protect citizens, legal residents, and their families. Our work focuses on upholding US laws and the Constitution. We remember victims and act to drive change. We provide a platform for grieving families to share their stories.
We educate the public about the dangers of unchecked illegal immigration. We advocate for responsible policies. We inform citizens and policymakers about upholding US laws and the Constitution. Protecting citizens, legal residents, and families is paramount. This is a fundamental right. We advocate for law enforcement to prevent future tragedies. We amplify victim voices and demand accountability.
We foster national dialogue on border security and immigration reform. We strive for a safe and just society. By educating, raising awareness, and enforcing laws, we honor the lost and prevent future tragedies.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-18 13:51:212026-03-18 13:51:21A Voice For Victims Killed By Illegal Aliens
President Trump signs an Executive Order committing to seek out and crush fraud with a new Anti-Fraud Task Force.
“If we found half of the fraud that’s taking place in this country… we would have much more than a balanced budget. That’s the kind of numbers you’re talking about.” – President Donald J. Trump
ESTABLISHING THE TASK FORCE TO ELIMINATE FRAUD:
Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order creating the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which will advise the President and coordinate government-wide efforts to combat widespread fraud, waste, and abuse in Federal benefit programs.
The Vice President will serve as Chair of the Task Force, the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission will serve as Vice Chairman, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security will serve as Senior Advisor, and an Executive Director will manage daily operations. Relevant cabinet secretaries and heads of government agencies will serve as Task Force members.
The Order directs the Task Force, on behalf of the President, to coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse across Federal benefit programs, including housing, food, medical care, and cash assistance administered with State and local partners, in order to protect these benefits for eligible Americans.
The Task Force will coordinate measures to improve eligibility verification, implement pre-payment controls, detect high-risk fraud trends, and disrupt and dismantle fraud networks and the mechanisms through which fraud is committed.
The Task Force will also coordinate development of minimum anti-fraud requirements to prevent exploitation of taxpayer-funded benefits, including proof of identity and documentation requirements, risk controls, and audit and remedial actions, while each member agency’ works to develop a measurable implementation plan.
The Task Force will provide frequent updates to the President regarding its work.
STOPPING FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE IN FEDERAL BENEFITS: President Trump is restoring the integrity of taxpayer-funded safety-net programs that have been exploited by illegal aliens, criminals, foreign gangs, bureaucrats, and non-governmental organizations.
States administer many of these benefit programs funded by the Federal Government, yet some have embraced policies that avoid individual eligibility validation, permit self-certification, and expand eligibility far beyond Congressional intent, while refusing to even share enrollee data necessary for reasonable Federal oversight — creating systemic vulnerabilities that enable fraud at massive scale.
In July 2025, 21 states filed a lawsuit in California seeking to block the federal government from even conducting a basic review to determine whether their enrollees are in fact eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
In Minnesota alone, Medicaid fraud could total billions. Nearly 9% of food stamp spending is in error, and scams like Feeding Our Future stole nearly $250 million intended for needy children.
Hundreds of millions in Federal childcare funding were stolen by an organized ring involving Somali immigrants, spent to purchase cars, property, and luxury travel, and even allegedly funneled to one of Africa’s most heinous terror groups — all while State officials ignored or failed to detect the fraud.
There is strong reason to believe similar vulnerabilities exist in California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado, where insufficient safeguards and weak oversight increase the risk of large-scale fraud.
Fraud and mismanagement of these programs constitute theft from American taxpayers and eligible beneficiaries, contribute to inflation in essential goods and services, and add to the national debt.
The Biden Administration weakened Federal oversight by reducing commonsense verification safeguards, expanding access without adequate controls, tolerating unacceptable error rates, and creating conditions in which fraud was institutionally enabled and tolerated.
President Trump is committed to safeguarding Federal benefits for American citizens who are truly in need, rather than allowing them to become a free pass for fraud.
DELIVERING FOR TAXPAYERS: President Trump is using every tool to fight fraud, close loopholes, and ensure benefits only go to eligible Americans.
President Trump: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
In February 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order to ensure taxpayer resources are not used to incentivize or support illegal immigration.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order eliminating information silos in the Federal Government to stop waste, fraud, and abuse.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order to improve the Department of the Treasury’s ability to screen for improper payments and fraud, track transactions, and manage the Government’s disbursements.
In April 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum aimed at stopping illegal aliens and other ineligible people from obtaining Social Security Act benefits.
In January 2026, Vice President JD Vance announced a new division at the Department of Justice dedicated to national fraud enforcement.
The Administration has taken extensive action to dismantle Minnesota’s fraud epidemic, including temporarily pausing certain Medicaid funding to the State to prevent payment of questionable claims while further investigation occurs.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. American taxpayers fund a vast benefits system for citizens in need that includes housing, food, medical care, cash assistance, and more. States administer these federally funded programs, and some States have embraced loopholes that avoid individual eligibility validation, allow self-certification of eligibility, and expand eligibility far beyond what the Congress intended. Worse, despite accepting Federal funds, some States have refused to institute basic fraud controls such as providing enrollee information to the Federal Government that would allow it to verify eligibility. As a result, illegal aliens, criminals, foreign gangs, bureaucrats, State and local officials, non-governmental organizations, and ineligible providers exploit these programs ‑- which are intended to provide a safety net to lawfully eligible Americans — with ease. This exploitation and lack of controls to prevent it have resulted in widespread fraud, waste, and abuse at the expense of the American taxpayers who pay for and utilize these programs, contributing substantially to the national debt.
Self-dealing political actors use such public benefits programs to solidify control over their communities and our political systems. Due to lax immigration policy and immigration fraud, certain public officials admit into our country, and provide sanctuary from Federal immigration laws to, migrant populations who are likely to rely on means-tested, public assistance programs (welfare) and increase the political support and power of the public officials providing the benefits. This increased support incentivizes public officials to maximize the flow of welfare to these communities and makes public officials who do so more powerful. Many of these public officials then fail to police these programs — and in some cases, willfully turn a blind eye to fraud, waste, and abuse within them — to ensure that welfare flows to these migrants. Due to insufficient election integrity measures, some migrants who are not eligible to vote do so anyway, with the same public officials permitting widespread ballot harvesting schemes that compromise our election integrity and help these public officials remain in power.
The staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota alone is a case in point. Federal prosecutors in the State estimate that Medicaid fraud in recent years could total in the billions. Nearly 9 percent of the roughly $866 million spent on food stamps in Minnesota each year is estimated to be spent in error. The non-profit Feeding our Future engineered a scam that stole nearly $250 million intended to feed needy children in Minnesota by opening fake meal sites and submitting fraudulent claims for millions of meals that were never served. One of the defendants in this scam was also charged with submitting false claims to an autism services program that was subject to widespread fraud. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal childcare funding to Minnesota were stolen by an organized ring of Somali immigrants and others who used the stolen money to purchase cars, property, and luxury travel, and sent the funds overseas. The Federal Government is investigating allegations that some of the United States taxpayer dollars subject to fraud in Minnesota were even funneled to one of Africa’s most heinous terror groups. All of this was ignored or undetected by State officials. There is also strong reason to believe that similar problems exist in other States, including California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado. In fact, Minnesota and 20 other States filed a lawsuit to block the Federal Government from even conducting a basic review to determine whether their enrollees are in fact eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Such extensive, undetected fraud could only exist in a system that ignores it.
Fraud and mismanagement in these programs constitutes theft of the hard-earned tax dollars from Americans paying into these programs, and of the benefits owed to Americans who need them. The failure to ensure sufficient Federal oversight to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse has allowed irresponsible State politicians to increase Federal spending in their own States, which has contributed to inflation for health care services, housing, utilities, and groceries.
Making matters worse, the previous administration adopted policies that weakened the Federal Government’s oversight of State administration and distribution of Federal funds under these programs, including by reducing commonsense verification measures, expanding access without adequate controls, tolerating unacceptable error rates, creating conditions in which fraud was institutionally tolerated and therefore flourished, and enabling individuals with substantial means to improperly access benefits.
My Administration will use all available resources and authorities to fight fraud, close loopholes, enforce eligibility rules, and protect benefits for eligible Americans, while ensuring States administering Federal benefits programs do the same.
Sec. 2. Establishment of the Task Force. (a) There is hereby established within the Executive Office of the President a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud (Task Force).
(b) The Vice President of the United States shall serve as the Chairman of the Task Force. The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission shall serve as Vice Chairman of the Task Force, shall preside over the Task Force at the direction of the Chairman or in his absence, and shall exercise all powers of the Chairman herein defined at his direction or in his absence. The Chairman shall designate an Executive Director, who shall administer and execute the day-to-day operations of the Task Force, and who shall report to the Vice Chairman. The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security shall serve as the Senior Advisor to the Task Force.
(c) In addition to the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, and the Senior Advisor, the Task Force shall include appropriate representatives from the following executive departments and agencies (agencies), or components:
(i) the Department of the Treasury;
(ii) the Department of Justice;
(iii) the Department of Agriculture;
(iv) the Department of Labor;
(v) the Department of Health and Human Services;
(vi) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(vii) the Department of Education;
(viii) the Department of Veterans Affairs;
(ix) the Department of Homeland Security;
(x) the Small Business Administration;
(xi) the Office of Management and Budget; and
(xii) other agencies, inspectors general, or components within the Executive Office of the President, as determined by the Chairman.
(d) The Chairman or the Vice Chairman shall convene regular meetings of the Task Force, determine its agenda, and direct its work, consistent with this order. The Executive Director shall assist in the performance of these duties. The Chairman may designate any member of the Task Force to preside over meetings of the Task Force in the absence of the Vice Chairman.
(e) The Task Force shall coordinate with the Homeland Security Council on any matters related to law enforcement, public safety, national security, transnational crime, and organized criminal activity.
Sec. 3. Operation and Priorities of the Task Force. (a) The Task Force shall, on behalf of the President, coordinate and accelerate a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs, including programs administered jointly with State, local, tribal, and territorial partners. The Task Force shall advise the President and, on behalf of the President, shall coordinate the work of appropriate member agencies to:
(i) develop measures to improve eligibility verification processes in Federal benefits programs and maximize enforcement of eligibility requirements, including program-specific requirements and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;
(ii) develop appropriate controls that operate before funds are obligated or disbursed to prevent improper payments in Federal benefits programs, including by coordinating agency action to determine when ongoing fraud or potential fraud require proactively pausing certain types of funding until such controls can be established;
(iii) evaluate indicators of fraud and high-risk vulnerabilities to fraud, including major fraud trends and cross-program and large-scale schemes, which shall include considering the current and potential use by member agencies of third-party contractors to maximize efficacy in detecting fraud;
(iv) promote the facilitation of information and data sharing and coordination between State, local, tribal, and territorial governments and the Federal Government, and benefit-providing agencies and law enforcement agencies;
(v) disrupt and dismantle fraud networks and facilitators, including providers, contractors, or other entities and repeat cross-program offenders through interagency information sharing and coordination;
(vi) investigate and disrupt the mechanisms through which fraud is committed, including any mechanisms involving facilitation of fraud by Federal, State, local, tribal, or territorial officials;
(vii) prevent remittance transfers that involve the proceeds of Federal benefits fraud, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law;
(viii) audit and ensure prospective compliance monitoring, including for use in identifying fraud in Federal benefits programs; and
(ix) analyze identifying information for all providers or retailers associated with redemption of benefits to inspect for fraud and develop a process by which member agencies recommend policies for wide‑scale revalidations or reauthorization to deter fraudulent providers, as appropriate and to the extent consistent with applicable law.
(b) Each agency administering Federal benefit programs shall, consistent with applicable law, provide to the Task Force information concerning such programs that the Task Force deems relevant to advising the President and coordinating efforts to uncover benefits fraud and increase fraud-detection capability.
(c) The Task Force shall be subject to the President’s direct supervision and control. The Task Force, through the Chairman, shall provide frequent updates to the President regarding its work and shall ensure that its actions are consistent with the President’s directions.
Sec. 4. Improved Controls and Fraud-Prevention Measures. (a) Each agency administering Federal benefit programs represented on the Task Force shall identify the agency’s benefit transactions and processes that are most susceptible to fraud schemes, which may include new enrollments, redeterminations, provider enrollments, eligibility self-attestation procedures, changes to payment destinations or payees, or transactions involving third party intermediaries. Within 30 days of the date of this order, each such agency shall submit to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Task Force descriptions of such transactions and processes and suggested measures to prevent such fraud.
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Task Force shall coordinate member agency efforts to adopt, as appropriate, minimum anti-fraud requirements for transactions and processes identified under subsection (a) of this section to prevent fraud and loopholes that allow for systemic abuse and exploitation. If such transactions and processes involving Federal funding are administered by a State, local, territorial, or tribal jurisdiction, then the Task Force and appropriate member agencies shall address how such jurisdictions can demonstrate implementation of the anti-fraud requirements. The Task Force and its member agencies also shall examine and recommend, as appropriate, any ways that Federal funds may be withheld from jurisdictions that do not have adequate anti-fraud requirements. Specifically, such anti-fraud requirements may include:
(i) screening, proof of identity, and eligibility verification;
(ii) pre-payment integrity and risk controls, including affirmative documentation requirements concerning services provided;
(iii) information- and data-sharing processes, updated criteria, minimum integrity checks, cross-program risk indicators, and coordinated recovery and enforcement pathways to prevent immigration sponsor and beneficiary and household-related related fraud, abuse, or improper usage;
(iv) appropriate use of providers, vendors, contractors, nonprofit organizations, intermediaries, and service organizations; and
(v) audit and remedial measures, including suspension, termination, repayment, exclusion, and debarment actions, as appropriate.
(c) Within 90 days of the date of this order, each member of the Task Force shall submit to the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Task Force a measurable implementation plan concerning the measures identified or developed under this order.
Sec. 5. Administration. The heads of other agencies shall, upon the request of the Chairman or the Vice Chairman, provide administrative and technical support, or information required by the Task Force to carry out its functions.
Sec. 6. Maximizing Taxpayer Pursuit of Fraud Involving Taxpayer Dollars. The Attorney General shall:
(a) take appropriate action to promote the meritorious pursuit by private persons of civil actions under 31 U.S.C. 3730 concerning fraud within Federal benefit programs; and
(b) ensure prompt review of such actions, including within the 60-day period contemplated by 31 U.S.C. 3730(a)(4) to the maximum extent practicable.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of the Treasury.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-18 11:52:332026-03-18 11:52:33Presidential Order Establishing an Anti-Fraud Task Force headed by Vice President JD Vance
“I’m thrilled to announce that just moments ago, we won the vote on the motion to proceed to the House-passed version of the SAVE AMERICA Act. We got 51 votes for it, so game on.”
“We need to stay on this thing now until it passes. Make those who want a filibuster debate, make them speak, and don’t give up until it’s done.”
The SAVE America Act has advanced in its first test vote on the Senate floor.
51-48
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is the lone “NAY” from the Republican Party. But then she’s not really a Republican.
The Senate will hold a do-or-die test vote on President Donald Trump’s SAVE America Act that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in U.S. elections on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Republicans need a simple 51-vote majority to launch further proceedings.
The Senate on Tuesday voted to open debate on the SAVE America Act in a narrow 51-48 vote, marking an early step forward for the GOP-backed election bill as Democrats remain united in opposition.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the lone Republican to vote against advancing the legislation, while all Democrats opposed opening debate. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., did not vote.
The procedural vote allows Senate Republicans to begin debate on the measure, with GOP leaders expected to allow for amendments and extended floor discussion in the coming days.
At some point, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is expected to file cloture to end debate, which would trigger a final vote requiring 60 votes to advance.
Because Republicans do not have 60 votes, Democrats could ultimately block the legislation by refusing to support ending debate, meaning Tuesday’s vote does not guarantee the bill will pass the Senate.
During the past couple of months, I have undertaken an informal experiment with many of my friends who are media appointed leaders of all the top Black civil entitlement organizations (some refer to them as civil rights organizations, but I digress).
These friends of mine work in leadership positions for radical liberal groups like the NAACP, The National Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus, The National Association of Black Journalists, etc.
I asked these radical Black liberals if they had to choose between voting for a Black Democrat versus a white Democrat, who would they choose.
Not one person asked me about any policy differences between the two candidates. Their default position was if “they were Black, they automatically had the best interest of the Black community at heart.”
Herein lies the problem permeating within the radical liberal quarters of the Black community, voting for skin color not for policies!!!
There are well over ten thousand Black elected officials across America, the most in the history of the U.S. This includes mayors, state representatives, state senators, city councilmen, etc. There is one Black governor in the U.S., Wes Moore, the radical liberal governor of the state of Maryland.
There are current and former Black mayors of St. Louis, Baltimore, New York City, Washington, DC, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, etc.
Many of these cities have not had a Republican mayor in almost one hundred hears—Baltimore, St. Louis comes to mind.
Yet whenever these radical liberal Black elected officials discuss all the negative indices in their communities among Blacks, the fault always lie with Donald Trump, white folks, racism and the legacy of slavery.
These radical liberal Blacks can never bring themselves to admit that it is their radical liberal policies that have destroyed the Black community!
Crime is out of control in these cities along with the unemployment rate, teenage pregnancy, welfare, and non-performing schools.
In many of these cities, radical liberal Blacks control all of the levers of power and they still blame their plight on “the man.” I have no idea who “the man is.” I would love for someone to introduce me to him.
You have a Black mayor, a majority Black city council, a Black state representative, a Black state senator, a Black police chief, a Black states attorney, and a Black U.S. Congressman; but yet the blame always comes down to white folks.
Make it make sense!!!
This debate is no longer about the goodness or badness of white folks. This debate is no longer about the legacy of slavery. This debate is no longer about whether Donald Trump is a racist or not.
The debate is about the failure of liberalism and Black elected officials promoting a radical liberal agenda that continues to destroy the Black community.
The War on Poverty should be renamed The War on Blacks. These policies have totally decimated the Black community and elected Black officials continue to ignore the devastation.
In former President Reagan’s 1988 State of the Union speech he stated, “We waged a war on poverty and poverty won.”
My corollary is, “Radical liberal white Democrats waged a war on poverty and Blacks lost!”
During the last fifty years radical liberals have spent well over $ 15 trillion on the War on Poverty with nothing to show but total devastation in the Black community.
For $ 15 trillion Blacks have high crime rates, low home ownership, out of control fatherless households, and non-performing schools.
According to the Libertarian Institute, “Data provided by every census between 1890 and 1954 shows that black Americans were just as active – and sometimes more – in the labor market than their white counterparts. In 1900, for example, black unemployment was 15 percent lower than white unemployment. In 2017, it was 30 percent higher…If the conventional narrative on black American poverty and general social dysfunction were correct – that this was caused by the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and private discrimination – wouldn’t we expect to see a decline in black unemployment rather than the opposite?”
Blacks must stop voting with their emotions and get back to voting for their interests like in the days of old.
We had a two-term bi-racial president, Obama, with nothing to show for it. We have sixty-two members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the largest voting block in Congress, with nothing to show for it.
Being a Black in the Democrat Party is like pissing on yourself in a dark blue suit; it gives you a warm feeling but no one ever notices.
Message to the Black community, stop letting radical liberal Democrats piss on you and then tell you it is raining!!!
To continue to vote with emotion and not policy that is based on our interests is like the sounding brass or the tingling cymbal full of sound and fury signifying nothing!
Radical liberalism has been totally discredited by the indices in the Black community and has been totally rejected by the rank and file within the Black community and in the marketplace of ideas.
If Republicans were to get serious about substantively engaging with the Black community, they could move more votes in their direction.
Unfortunately, when all is said and done, there is more said than done!
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-17 23:51:352026-03-17 23:51:35Blacks Continue to Vote for Their Own Demise
Top strategists in the Democratic Party are going into panic mode as the party spirals further into a political identity crisis. At issue is the fact that the Democratic Party, almost as a whole, has centered its messaging and policy on opposition to President Trump, who cannot run again for a third term, precipitating what’s likely to be a catastrophic problem for Democrats in 2028.
Jim Messina, who served as a campaign manager to former President Barack Obama’s successful 2012 reelection effort, told Axios this week, “You can’t win a presidential election on opposition alone.” He posited that anywhere from 85% to 90% of Democratic voters will be motivated in November’s midterm elections by opposition to Trump, while only perhaps 10% to 15% will be voting in support of actual Democratic Party principles and policies. “We cannot rely on that same calculation to win in 2028,” he warned.
David Plouffe, who was Obama’s 2008 campaign manager and a senior adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris and her failed 2024 campaign, similarly suggested that capitalizing on Trump’s unpopularity is not equivalent to running successful campaigns. “If your opponent turns the ball over five times in a football game, you’ll almost certainly win. … That doesn’t mean you played a great game,” he said. “Democrats for the next decade have to be able to win elections in what are now red states in neutral and even challenging environments. That is the test. And anyone who thinks we are ready to do that is spending too much time inhabiting a political world that does not exist.”
Since Trump’s return to the White House in January of 2025, Democrats have scored numerous wins in special and off-year elections. Former congressional members Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill were elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, while self-declared socialists Zohran Mamdani and Katie Wilson were declared the mayors of, respectively, New York City and Seattle, and union leader Taylor Rehmet flipped a Texas congressional district blue for the first time in decades.
It’s true that Trump’s approval rating is underwater: according to the latest Harvard-Harris poll, the president’s approval stands at 46%, while a recent NBC News poll placed his approval at 44%. Both polls, however, also recorded an underwater approval rating for Democrats, lower than the GOP’s approval rating. Nevertheless, Democrats and Republicans are tied in a hypothetical generic ballot matchup for November’s midterm elections. Regardless of how Democrats perform in the midterms, they will have to contend with their years of anti-Trump messaging in 2028, when he will not be an opponent.
Without a coherent non-Trump-centered platform, Democrats risk empowering a growing but unpopular socialist wing of the party in 2028. While some Democrat-aligned organizations and strategists have advised moderating the party’s policies and shifting messaging to a middle-of-the-road position, others are coalescing around socialist-aligned candidates such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a protégé of avowed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Such socialist overtures have not been relegated to Mamdani’s and Wilson’s victories in deep-blue metropolitan hubs nor to far-left 2028 pipe dreams: Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have both recently introduced socialist-aligned legislation to significantly increase taxes on wealthy Americans in order to offset taxes for low-income individuals and households.
Recent surveys have shown socialist policies gaining ground among the Democratic base, but still largely alienating Republican and Independent voters. Late last year, an Economist/YouGov survey found that most (44%) of Americans hold an unfavorable view of socialism, but a third (33%) support the ideology. The majority of support for socialism came from Democrats, 62% of whom said that they would embrace the ideology, compared to only 27% of Independent voters with a favorable view of socialism. Meanwhile, a more recent Fox News study found a record 38% support for socialist policies, again driven by Democratic voters.
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
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One unavoidable side-effect of gasoline prices being prominently posted in front of every roadside service station is that Americans remain constantly aware of the volatile fluctuations in gas prices. Since the start of President Trump’s military action against Iran, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel has jumped from $2.98 on February 28 to $3.72 on March 16. World oil prices, which ended December under $60 per barrel, have now reached as high as $106 per barrel (as of this writing, they sat at $93 per barrel). With a jump like that, not only Americans but the entire world is taking notice.
The current spike in oil and gas prices is a direct result of the U.S. military’s combat against Iran. Instead of acting like a responsible state that follows the laws of war and spares non-combatants, the Islamist Iranian regime reacted by launching missiles indiscriminately at all its neighbors, including at civilian targets.
Iran’s indiscriminate attacks have not spared international commercial shipping, including oil tankers. Since the conflict began, U.K. Maritime Trade Operations has recorded at least 14 reported attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf or Strait of Hormuz. This has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, as the owners and crews of those vessels naturally do not wish to become foolhardy casualties of war. (Notably, Iranian and Chinese ships continue to sail through unmolested.)
This closure affects global oil markets because the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf produce 20% of the world’s oil supply, and their crude oil must pass through the strait to reach global markets. (The Strait of Hormuz, which separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula, is the Persian Gulf’s only outlet to the sea; at its narrowest point, it measures a mere 24 miles across, no wider than the Amazon River in the rainy season.)
Global oil markets, in turn, affect U.S. gas prices because of the basic principles of supply and demand. Under normal circumstances, the U.S. only imports a small amount of oil from the Persian Gulf, around 2%, while countries like China and India import a much larger quantity. However, when the oil supply from the Persian Gulf is cut off, all the countries that did buy its oil still have the same demand for oil, and they go looking for other suppliers to make up the difference. Thus, an impact on the oil supply in one area of the world will affect oil prices globally.
American strategists have long considered an oil price shock due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to be an expected — or at least likely — consequence of war with Iran. “Planning around preventing this exact scenario — impossible as it has long seemed — has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” CNN quoted an anonymous former security official.
Yet, to hear CNN tell it, the Trump administration did not prepare for this likely scenario at all. “Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz in response to strikes,” the original version of the article claimed.
Such an outrageous claim was bound to be challenged. “Of course, for decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” responded Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth. “This is always what they do: hold the Strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report.” The National Review editors note that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran against closing the Strait just last year, and that one of the Trump administration’s stated goals in the current conflict is to degrade Iran’s capability to do so.
CNN’s story now includes the following “CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to reflect additional developments and clarify that top Trump administration officials briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address a major disruption to the Strait, according to one official, but that multiple sources familiar with the session said there was no indication there were any near-term solutions.”
There’s a big difference between, “The Trump administration totally forgot to account for this glaring vulnerability,” and, “The Trump administration considered the vulnerability but doesn’t have a near-term solution for it.”
As in all of life, politics is about trade-offs, and particularly so in war strategy. The Wall Street Journal reports that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine briefed President Donald Trump on Iran’s ability to close the Strait of Hormuz with mines, drones, and missiles. “Trump acknowledged the risk … but moved forward” anyway, they wrote. “He told his team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait — and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.”
In hindsight, this assessment was clearly too optimistic, but every war strategy suffers from setbacks, accidents, and unknowns. On the other hand, allowing Iran the time to build more missiles and potentially a nuclear weapon could have resulted in even worse consequences.
The reason why the U.S. Constitution invests executive power in one individual is so that one seasoned leader can be responsible for weighing the various tradeoffs and reaching a final decision. In other words, the U.S. presidency exists to make hard decisions just like this one. And those who don’t like the decisions Trump makes had their opportunity to elect a different president.
While the heightened price of gas and oil is causing Americans undeniable pain at the pump, the National Review editors allow that “None of this is catastrophic. The price of Brent crude settled above $100 a barrel on Friday. That’s the highest in four years, not in, say, 60 years. But the clock is ticking.” Indeed, oil prices hit $113 per barrel in June 2022 and $128 per barrel in July 2008. In between, oil prices peaked in April 2011 ($108 per barrel), March 2012 ($105 per barrel), August 2013 ($102 per barrel), and June 2014 ($98 per barrel). So, administration critics do have legitimate grounds to hit Trump over high gas prices, but only as hard as they hit President Joe Biden for the historic inflation in 2021-2022.
That said, the Trump administration is not doing themselves any favors in public perception by appearing desperate and unprepared for this eventuality. The Trump administration has promised military escorts for oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, but they have yet to work out the logistics. Meanwhile, the U.S. issued a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil — after President Trump slammed U.S. allies for doing just that — offering Russia’s tottering regime an invaluable financial lifeline.
Errors of strategy and judgment are inevitable in war, even when a superpower like the United States is dominantly pummeling a stubborn rogue regime like that of the Iranian mullahs. But just because the Trump administration has fumbled one snap does not mean that they failed to call the right play. A turnover can be costly, but the only thing that matters is the scoreboard when time expires.
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
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String of attacks connected to naturalized citizens raises national security questions. The United States is left vulnerable even by its own naturalized U.S. citizens from hostile foreign lands, proving a free country can be exposed to security risks by the very freedoms the Constitution endows, an expert warned on Fox News.
“That’s partially because of legal reasons: They can’t just monitor constitutionally protected free speech and opinions after they become a naturalized citizen, indefinitely, just to keep tabs on them,” Mauro Institute president Ryan Mauro told Fox News on Saturday. “They legally can’t do it, and they also don’t have the resources to do it.”
Just this month alone, the U.S. has experienced four attacks with ties to naturalized citizenship.
March 1 — Austin, Texas, bar shooting March 7 — New York City attempted bombing (parents of suspects were naturalized citizens) March 12 — Old Dominion University shooting March 12 — West Bloomfield, Michigan, synagogue attack
“There’s a bit of a jihad olympics going on, which is where you have the Sunni radicals like ISIS competing with the Shiite radicals of the Iranian regime because they need attention in order to survive and in order settle the argument of who has Allah’s blessing so that they can trigger the apocalypse,” Mauro said.
The most powerful union in the United States is putting its weight behind a GOP effort to crack down on a longtime trucking industry gimmick behind many horrific highway crashes.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is officially endorsing the Safety and Accountability in Freight Enforcement (SAFE) Act introduced by Republican Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman, the Daily Caller News Foundation has exclusively learned. The legislation aims to eliminate the prevalence of “chameleon carriers,” trucking companies that repeatedly reopen under new identities after being shut down.
The high-profile endorsement comes as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, responding to a wave of deadly wrecks involving illegal migrant truck drivers across the country, are aiming to completely revamp the industry.
“Chameleon carriers have gone unchecked for decades, harming and weakening America’s trucking industry,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “These unscrupulous operators jeopardize the safety of everyone on our roadways and threaten the livelihoods of truck drivers who follow the rules.”
“The Teamsters commend Rep. Hageman for taking an aggressive stance to rein in the worst of the worst in the trucking industry, and we strongly endorse the SAFE Act,” O’Brien continued.
Chameleon carriers are typically trucking companies that rotate through Department of Transportation (DOT) registration numbers, names or ownership structure to avoid enforcement actions. After being shut down by regulators for any number of violations, these companies will simply reopen under a new name and registration number, all while using the same trucks and staff.
If passed and signed into law, the SAFE Act would establish an automation tool to detect chameleon carriers in the registration process, helping take them off American highways for good, according to Hageman’s office. The legislation would also bolster coordination between federal and state agencies to identify chameleon carriers, require a nationwide study and preserve due process by requiring human review.
“These companies game the system, ignore the law, and put American families at risk, all while punishing hardworking truckers who follow the rules,” Hageman previously stated about her legislation. “If a trucking company racks up violations or loses its license, it should not get to slap on a new name and get back on the road.”
Deadly truck crashes have plagued the industry in recent months, with many of these wrecks involving both illegal migrants working for chameleon carriers.
An illegal migrant driver allegedly killed four people after smashing his big rig into another vehicle along an Indiana highway in February, with investigators later determining his truck was part of a network of carriers operating under numerous identities. The illegal migrant trucker who rammed into Dalilah Coleman — the girl who became the inspiration for President Donald Trump’s “Dalilah Law” — in June 2024 was employed by a chameleon carrier, according to her father.
Republican Indiana Sen. Jim Banks demanded that the DOT in February investigate the prevalence of chameleon carrier networks. Banks, who introduced Dalilah’s Law in the Senate, also runs a tip-line for insiders to report malfeasance within the trucking industry.
Dalilah’s father, Marcus Coleman, is currently championing his daughter’s namesake bill in Congress. He confirmed to the DCNF that he is meeting with Hageman on Tuesday.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Cuba’s entire electrical grid failed Monday, leaving roughly 11 million people without power on the communist-ruled island as authorities began restoration efforts.
The country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed a total shutdown of the national power system in a post on X. The ministry later claimed microsystems were coming back online “in various territories” as officials worked to restore power.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday that the island had gone three months without a single oil delivery, The Associated Press (AP) reported. He added that the power grid was using solar energy, natural gas and thermoelectric plants and that government has also put tens of thousands of surgical procedures on hold.
The collapse came a week after another massive failure knocked out electricity across Cuba’s western provinces and left millions in the dark, the AP reported. (
Cubans have grown increasingly vocal in their frustration. Footage online showed residents across Havana and other cities taking to banging pots and pans in recent days in a form of protest known as a “cacerolazo,” CBS News reported. Power failures have also served as a catalyst for anti-government unrest on the island, with protests erupting in 2021, 2022 and 2024.
BREAKING: Officials in Cuba report an island-wide blackout in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. https://t.co/wT1MJYLdFC
President Donald Trump’s administration has tightened its grip on Havana’s energy lifeline. Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 29 declaring a national emergency over Cuba and calling its government “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, according to the White House. The order initially authorized tariffs against products from any nation supplying the island with oil. The Supreme Court later invalidated that tariff authority under IEEPA, forcing the administration to roll back the tariffs, but the national emergency designation remains in force, CiberCuba reported.
Venezuela, once Cuba’s primary oil supplier, stopped all shipments after U.S. forces arrested then-President Nicolás Maduro in early January, the AP reported. Cuba generates roughly 40% of its own petroleum but falls far short of meeting domestic demand while facing a degrading electricity grid.
Díaz-Canel confirmed Friday that Havana had opened talks with Washington. Earlier in 2026, a U.S. official told CBS News that Washington is not trying to topple Cuba’s government but instead wants its leadership to move away from one-party communist rule.
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In World War II, the U.S. Navy operated “ice cream” barges behind ships to make sure our sailors had a few comforts in the most terrible war in human history.
That we were able to operate such a fleet is a testament to American logistical magnificence, but if it were in operation today under President Donald Trump, the corporate media would have accused the War Department of engaging in “extravagant” spending.
There have been plenty of pernicious, media-concocted scandals associated with Trump’s presidential tenure in the last decade, but I contend that “lobstergate” may be the dumbest.
Several prominent publications ran with headlines in the last week about how War Secretary Pete Hegseth created an apparently lavish budget for steak and lobster.
These stories were based on a report from government watchdog Open The Books about a surge in the military food budget in September.
The report was straightforward and acknowledged that this sort of spending has been going on for more than a decade as the Pentagon uses up its end-of-year budget. Open The Books acknowledged that this late-year spending surge has happened “regardless of which party controlled the White House.”
That didn’t stop the deluge of misleading headlines making it seem like Hegseth and Trump were spending money on steak and lobster just to stuff their own faces.
“The Pentagon blew through a total of $93.4 billion that month by spending, for example, $6.9 million on lobster tail; $15.1 million on rib-eye steak; and $225.6 million on furniture. There were 272 orders of doughnuts and three-tiered fruit basket stands that cost $12,540,” The New York Times reported Saturday with the subheadline “Tracking the Pentagon’s profligate lobster budget.”
The Times then quoted two unfunny professional funnymen, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, mocking Hegseth and the military for wildly spending on succulent meals.
“As Paul Revere declared on his famous ride, ‘One if by surf, two if by turf,’” Colbert said.
“What is this? My 600-pound defense department? How are they eating so much food?” said Kimmel.
Several high-profile Democrats jumped in on this narrative too.
This was from California Gov. Gavin Newsom on X.
No word on if Newsom is going to do anything about the likely tens of millions of dollars or more being squelched in hospice scams in his state, or the $24 billion spent on fighting homelessness that was never tracked nor reduced homelessness, or the billions of dollars spent over the last decade on the bullet train to nowhere.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also weighed in.
“Hegseth spent $93 billion in one month – roughly the cost of extending the ACA tax credits for THREE YEARS,” Schumer wrote on X. “But instead of lowering American’s healthcare costs, Hegseth used millions of taxpayer dollars on fruit baskets, Herman Miller recliners, ice cream machines, Alaskan King Crabs, and a Steinway & Sons grand piano.”
As Fox News pointed out, the amount of spending on military food—including steak and lobster—was essentially the same under President Joe Biden. So why didn’t he complain about this HUGE PROBLEM then? You know why.
Another critique came from an editorial in USA Today with the absurd headline “82 million can’t afford health care, but Hegseth gets lobster.”
Not only is it laughable that the money spent on military food in September could pay for the health care of 82 million Americans, but it is also downright ludicrous to think this money is going to Hegseth personally.
The author of the piece, Rex Huppke, wrote of the military giving food to troops that it’s “enough to make you want to grab a torch and pitchfork and start marching.”
I’d say the Fourth Estate should be more worried about the pitchforks than the men and women in uniform who have to do a lot more than just marching these days.
It’s certainly fair to criticize the government for how it spends the taxpayer money, and the Pentagon shouldn’t be above scrutiny. But this is hardly the first place we should choose to skimp, especially with all the military personnel currently in harm’s way.
The reality is that the U.S. military has, through most of its history, prioritized better food for our troops than other armies. We are a rich and powerful country with a penchant for logistics and supply chains.
Those qualities have allowed us to better supply our soldiers than any other mass army in the world. While I’m not saying that typical military rations are fine dining (“Unless you’re in the Navy,” as my Army Air Corps grandfather used to grouse), they’ve generally been a cut above most militaries.
And that’s for a good reason. It’s good for morale for an army to be well-fed. It’s certainly a lot better for warfighting than making the Navy go green and the other nonsense that money was wasted on under the previous administration.
They’re Americans, they should expect to have the best food and equipment in the world.
The lobstergate talking point is just mindless blather from people who’ve never thought twice about reducing the budget nor apparently thought once about the actual wellbeing of our military.
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Racist Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., complain that black folks lack photo ID. Democrats insist that expecting supposedly witless or listless blacks to show poll workers photo ID is “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Democrats never offer to give IDs to these invisible legions of undocumented blacks. Imagine if Democrats handed photo ID to these poor, benighted souls: Blacks and others of color could cash checks, jet across America, get paid to shovel snow in New York City, and even vote in states with photo ID rules.
Democrats also attack SAVE for requiring birth certificates to register to vote. “Got one of those handy with you, in your purse?” Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., prodded a congressional correspondent. “I doubt it.”
So, Senate Republicans should open the SAVE America Act proceedings by making Democrats vote first on legislation that I would call The Voting Documents for All Act.
• Any adult U.S. citizen could visit his state’s DMV office and receive a free photo ID card (not a driver’s license).
• The federal government would reimburse states for the cost of each free photo ID card, plus 10%, to encourage their assistance. This would be a funded mandate.
• Likewise, birth certificates for voter registration would be available, free of charge. Right now, Americans can order birth certificates online in all 50 states, through private and government websites. New federal promo codes could chop prices to $0.00.
• Congress would reimburse website owners and state agencies for their foregone birth-certificate revenues. Alternatively, tax credits could help voter-registration applicants recoup their document-acquisition expenses.
• Washington should offer states block grants to underwrite their worthy ways to boost access to election-related free birth certificates and photo ID cards.
• This could be financed from the $2 billion average annual revenues in the Justice Department’s Assets Forfeiture Fund. This includes ill-gotten gains from drug cartels and other criminal enterprises. This money is earmarked for “law enforcement-related priorities.”
Conveniently enough, distinguishing between U.S. citizens and cartelistas is a public safety and national security priority. This would be easier to accomplish if every American could show photo ID, and cartel members could not. The SAVE America Act’s birth certificate obligation would stymie MS-13 and Tren de Aragua thugs who try to become registered voters.
But Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told Just the News Tuesday that the Justice Department scrutinized just 16 states. “We’re finding tens of thousands of noncitizens on the voter rolls, hundreds of thousands of dead people on the voter rolls, and duplicate registrations between states.” In fact, the Justice Department indicted Mauritanian illegal alien Mahady Sacko this month for allegedly voting in seven federal elections since 2008.
The Voting Documents for All Act would help mop up this mess and put Democrats precisely where Republicans want them.
If Senate Democrats vote “Yea”—with virtually every Republican, and the GOP House concurs—then U.S. citizens would enjoy free photo IDs and registration-related birth certificates. Democrats’ top arguments against the SAVE America Act would evaporate, like drizzle on a sunbaked sidewalk.
Democrats will have no excuse for fighting a bill favored by, according to a Feb. 25-26 Harvard Harris poll, 71% of 1,999 registered voters surveyed, including 50% of their fellow Democrats, 69% of independents, and 91% of Republicans.
Conversely, if Democrats vote “Nay,” they will expose themselves as congenital liars who could not care less about Americans without photo ID (good luck renting cars or checking into motels!) and prefer not to help citizens attain birth certificates so they can register to vote.
Either outcome would be a huge GOP victory. Democrats would paint themselves into a corner, whichever way.
An enterprising Republican senator should draft this proposed measure today, and Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., should deploy it as the opening salvo in the Senate’s election-integrity showdown.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.
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THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated during a “Meet The Press” interview Sunday that the U.S. is taking several actions—including increasing oil production in deep blue California—to mitigate rising fuel costs due to the conflict in Iran.
After the military strikes of Operation Epic Fury began Feb. 28, Iran sought to block U.S. transport vessels from passing though the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway separating the country from the Gulf States through which an estimated 20% of the world’s oil demand usually flows. The reduction in shipping volume has led to the surge of oil prices in the following weeks.
“We have done many, many actions to mitigate that price rise,” Wright told host Kristen Welker during his appearance on her show. “You saw the announcement of a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil with over 30 nations of the world participating in that. We’ve had allies in the Middle East that moved oil overseas before the conflict started.”
“Heck, we just announced yesterday bringing on a meaningful amount of oil production in the state of California from offshore that California has fought foolishly to prevent new American oil to go into their own state,” the Trump administration energy secretary continued. “And we said, ‘Enough is enough,’ and we’ve got new oil production coming on in California. So lots of actions we’re taking to mitigate this price rise.”
Wright’s department on Friday ordered Sable Offshore Corp., an oil company based in Texas, to restart a pipeline system in California. The move was made “to address supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil,” a Friday press release from the Department of Energy (DOE) reads.
“California once supplied nearly 40 percent of U.S. oil production, but decades of radical state policies targeting reliable energy sources have driven a decline in domestic output while fuel demand remains among the highest in the nation,” the DOE press release states. “Today, more than 60 percent of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, with a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz—presenting serious national security threats.”
Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a loud critic of the oil and gas industry and staunch supporter of so-called “green” energy policies, blasted the move by the DOE as an “attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators are facing criminal charges and prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting.”
“California will not stand by while the Trump administration attempts to sacrifice our coastal communities, our environment, and our $51 billion coastal economy,” the governor and rumored 2028 presidential candidate said in a Friday statement.
Also during the interview, Wright told Welker he thinks the conflict with Iran ending in a few weeks is “the likely time frame.”
“The price of a barrel of oil closed above $103 on Friday. And the Iranians are warning of prices hitting $200 a barrel. Mr. Secretary, should Americans be bracing for—should they be worried that this war will actually drive the price of oil above $200 a barrel?” Welker asked Wright.
The energy secretary immediately took issue that the NBC News host cited projections by the Islamic theocracy.
“So Iran for 47 years has called the United States ‘the great Satan,’” he said. “So because they call us ‘the great Satan—I don’t think we are the great Satan; in fact, clearly we’re not—so I don’t listen much to Iranian projections of what’s going to happen.”
“So, that’s a no? So, that’s a no?” Welker jumped in.
“But there is disruption to the flow in a very important waterway,” the secretary continued, referring to the Strait of Hormuz. “And depending upon the timing and the manner in which this conflict comes to an end, we’re going to see some elevated pricing until we get there.”
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A recent attack by an illegal alien that took place on the New York City subway perfectly represents where concentric circles of awful leftist policies meet to damage free societies.
On Sunday afternoon, 34-year-old Bairon Hernandez allegedly shoved an 83-year-old Air Force veteran, Richard Williams, and another young man onto the subway track in the Upper East Side. Fortunately, the younger victim, Jhon Pena, was able to pull Williams off the track before a train arrived, though the vet remains in serious condition.
The suspect, according to Pix 11, is a four-time deportee with 15 prior arrests for, among other things, “simple assault, domestic violence, obstruction of police, possession of a weapon, drug possession, and aggravated assault.”
Hernandez first entered the country in January 2008 and was last deported in July 2020, according to the New York Post. He re-entered the country sometime after then.
Welcome to Mamdaniville, where octogenarian veterans are pushed onto train tracks by demented illegal alien career criminals while the mayor whines that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “a rogue agency, one that has no interest in laws, no interest in order.”
Uh huh.
The Department of Homeland Security posted on X that ICE has lodged a detainer on Hernandez and requested that New York not release him.
Through a single, infuriating incident we can see the two pillars of the modern Democrat Party at work: jailbreaking and open borders. Both these ideas flow from the leftist ideology that guides the activist institutional class (and a handful of sinister billionaires), controlling the actions of the party.
On one side you have the insistence that hardened criminals who go in and out of jail should be given second, third, fifth, infinite chances to prove that they are a menace to society before being locked away for good.
The Left, which in its most extreme forms supports insane ideas like prison abolition, believes that crime is a result of poverty, racism, or other “structural” societal issues that can be solved by their activism. They can’t accept that social conditions like broken families, substance abuse, or—gulp—individual moral decision making play a significant role in criminality.
And so we see heightened crime in certain parts of America because the same people are allowed to commit one offense after another and are let off the hook by activist judges.
Democrat politicians may now be afraid to openly declare themselves as being in favor of defunding the police, one of the more deranged movements in recent political history, but the ideology that animated it hasn’t lost its potency on the Left.
They just hope to rebrand, wait for anger to subside, then get right back to ensuring that jailbirds walk among us.
Then there is the other pillar of the Left, the idea that border and immigration enforcement—even the concept of national sovereignty in Western countries—is racist and deplorable.
They are so desperate in their attempt to ensure that American immigration law won’t be enforced that sanctuary cities and states, along with left-wing politicians and judges, will do everything in their power to impede its progress.
That means even giving cover to dangerous, repeat criminals who may be scooped up by ICE and ejected from the country.
How many more like Iryna Zarutska, Laken Riley, and Stephanie Minter must we sacrifice at the altar of the Left’s sacred ideology? How many more vicious criminals are loose in our country, welcomed in with open arms during President Joe Biden’s tenure and now shielded by insane “sanctuary” policies, released from jail by demented leftwing district attorneys and judges?
Leniency for wrongdoers is, time and again, cruelty to the innocent. Civilization is preyed upon and descends into savagery.
Democrats don’t care. They have an activist class to appease and a narrative to protect.
But there aren’t just individual deadly consequences that flow from these ideas. There’s a sharp civilizational consequence to on one hand tightly regulating and endlessly sponging decent, law-abiding citizens—whose citizenship is reduced to little more than a tax status—while applying no standards whatsoever to those who continually break our law and prey on our people with little consequence.
The result is that the fragile bonds of our society fray. Americans see themselves not as fellow countrymen, but as vulnerable, atomized pawns with little investment in the future of a society that refuses to protect them.
That end state would likely be welcomed by more than a few on the Left who see the traditional political, legal, and cultural system in the United States as an intolerable impediment to their grand vision for our future.
So, it’s clear when incidents like what took place in the New York City subway take place why the Trump administration must continue to make deportation and immigration enforcement a priority. Civilization depends on it.
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https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-16 10:51:412026-03-16 10:51:41Illegal Alien’s NYC Subway Attack on Vet Highlights Left’s Defense of Savagery Over Civilization
As Republicans seek to maintain their congressional majorities in November, it’s hard to keep up with the headlines: conflict with Iran, fierce debate in Congress, and an economy increasingly dominated by tech and artificial intelligence.
These polls indicate voters’ concerns in a hectic news environment.
It’s Iran, Stupid?
Bill Clinton’s winning 1992 presidential campaign once singled out “the economy, stupid,” as a winning issue.
Since then, it has become conventional wisdom that pocketbook issues win elections more than anything else in American politics.
But as the midterm elections approach, the ongoing military campaign against Iran could be competing with the economy as the top issue for voters.
A recent poll from Scott Rasmussen’s Napolitan News Service asked voters for their “most important political issue right now.”
A combined 29% of voters replied that either foreign policy (15%) or Iran (14%) was the most important issue.
Combined, this exceeds the 24% who considered the economy the most important issue.
Data Centers—Good for Economy, Bad for Quality of Life?
Across the country, tech companies are developing massive data centers to house the physical infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence.
Although Americans appear to believe these centers are good for the economy, there is a consistent trend of Americans suspecting they have negative effects on the quality of life.
According to January polling from Pew Research Center, “more [Americans] say data centers are mostly bad than good for the environment (39% vs. 4%), home energy costs (38% vs. 6%) and the quality of life for those nearby (30% vs. 6%).”
However, a mere 15% of respondents said the centers are “mostly bad” for local jobs, compared to 25% who said they are “mostly good.”
Similarly, when it comes to local tax revenue, 12% said the centers would be mostly bad, and 23% said they would be mostly good.
During his State of the Union address in February, President Donald Trump announced he was working with tech companies to ensure Americans’ electricity bills would not rise due to the construction of data centers.
One of the biggest fights on Capitol Hill right now is over the SAVE America Act—legislation which would require photo identification and proof of citizenship in federal elections.
But few people know what the bill is when they hear the name.
According to polling from the Napolitan News Service conducted from March 9-10, a mere 23% of respondents know what the bill is.
According to this polling, 75% of Americans support the bill’s proof of citizenship requirement, 81% support voter ID, and 80% support removing non-citizens from voter rolls.
The polling also indicates 58% of voters believe there is at least some voter fraud in U.S. elections.
What makes a man truly great? As President Donald Trump celebrates the ouster of dictators in Iran and Venezuela, and jokes about running for a third term in 2028, I can’t help but think of the two great men whose lives pivoted on one date—the Ides of March.
“The Ides of March” has a powerful, ominous, almost alien feel, but it’s just a fancy Latin term for March 15, the day in 44 B.C. when members of the Roman Senate stabbed Julius Caesar, who had just been appointed dictator for life.
Today, “dictator” means a person with near absolute power, and it’s often synonymous with “tyrant.” The ancient Roman Republic, however, established it as an actual position—a person invested with supreme authority during severe crises, but only for a maximum of six months. The most famous example, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, took up the mantle in the 400s B.C., assuming absolute power to resolve a crisis but then immediately returning to his farm after saving Rome.
Caesar had achieved great successes for Rome, but accepting this title threatened to make him something Rome had intentionally rejected for centuries—a monarch.
In one of history’s greatest ironies, the senators killed Caesar to restore the Roman Republic, but they ended up bringing about its ultimate demise, as a bloody civil war saw the emergence of the first emperor, Caesar’s nephew Augustus.
Redeeming the Ides of March
Another Ides of March brought about a similarly ironic fate in 1783.
George Washington led the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and while the British had already surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, they had yet to sign the Treaty of Paris acknowledging America’s independence in September 1783.
The army, camped near Newburgh, New York, and still active because America was still at war, harbored grievances against the Continental Congress, because Congress hadn’t paid them.
An anonymous soldier circulated two inflammatory letters, suggesting the Army do more than just ask nicely for more money. The first letter urged Army leaders to “suspect the man who would advise to more moderation and longer forbearance.” The second suggested that Washington supported an aggressive plan to move against Congress.
It seemed the Continental Army might take up arms against America’s fledgling government. Some analysts have suggested the Army might have tried to make Washington a king.
Whatever the true goals of this Newburgh Conspiracy, Washington took a firm stance against it.
“This dreadful alternative, of either deserting our country in the extremest hour of her distress, or turning our Army against it … has something so shocking in it, that humanity revolts at the idea,” Washington wrote in his manuscript of the address. Any man suggesting it must be “an insidious foe” against the Army and his country, the commander-in-chief said.
He urged the Army to trust Congress, and not to “tarnish the reputation of an Army which is celebrated through all Europe for its fortitude and patriotism.”
Captain Samuel Shaw recalled that Washington read a letter from Congress, expressing admiration for the Army. While reading, Washington “made a short pause, took out his spectacles, and begged the indulgence of his audience while he put them on, observing at the same time that he had grown gray in their service, and now found himself growing blind.”
Shaw noted that this remark “forced its way to the heart, and you might see sensibility moisten every eye.”
Washington had talked the Army off a cliff and had seemingly rejected the possibility of becoming a military dictator.
While Washington admirably led men in battle—and, what may be even more difficult, in occasionally ignominious retreat—and later shepherded the fledgling republic through its tumultuous early years under the new Constitution, he consistently rejected long-term power.
Lewis Nicola, writing to Washington in May 1782, expressed what he claimed were sentiments shared by the Army, that the commander-in-chief may want to consider taking charge of the American government as something like a king.
Washington responded that “no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army.”
He added that, “if I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.”
The American Cincinnatus
When Washington resigned his military commission in December 1783 following the Treaty of Paris, King George III reportedly responded to the news by saying, “If he did, he would be the greatest man in the world.”
Washington did not step aside from public life. He presided over the Constitutional Convention and served as America’s first president, holding together in one government two fiercely competing factions: the Federalists (led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams) and Republicans (led by Thomas Jefferson). Yet Washington also established a key precedent by stepping aside from the presidency after two terms—a precedent only one president, whose name is rightly synonymous with government overreach, ever dared to defy.
The Ides of March revealed George Washington’s true character—establishing him as the American Cincinnatus.
Washington’s noble speech prevented America’s experiment in ordered liberty from being smothered in the cradle.
As Trump topples modern-day dictators and defends our mighty experiment in liberty, he should also heed Washington’s example. The true measure of a man’s greatness isn’t just what he achieves with power, but his ability to give up power for a more noble cause.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-16 10:51:392026-03-16 10:51:39Beware the Ides of March: What Julius Caesar and George Washington Teach Amid Today’s Toppling of Dictators
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal.
There’s been a lot of talk in connection with the ongoing Iran war about our allies. Specifically, people are suggesting that Israel has an inordinate role to play in our decision to attack the theocracy in Iran.
And there’s even posters going around of Israeli puppeteers and we’re the puppets, which is kind of ironic when we’re a country of 340 million people and Israel is tiny at 11 million, and they, of course, don’t direct American foreign policy.
But before I get to Israel, I’d like to talk about our other allies. Here we are in an existential fight with Iran, and remember, it’s a 47-year war.
They have attacked our embassies in Beirut, Kenya, Tanzania. They blew up our Marines, 241 deaths in Beirut. We’ve had Khobar Towers. They killed people. They’ve sent assassination teams all over the world. Killed a lot of Jewish people in Argentina. They tried to kill former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and President Donald Trump.
It’s not true that they only killed 600 Americans with shaped charges. I think most people in the military that were acquainted with that … It’s more like 1,500, and thousands were maimed. And it was not just in Iraq. It was also in Afghanistan.
In other words, they sent shaped charges into the hands of Islamic militants who used them in a variety of ways, specifically IEDs, to kill Americans.
That went unanswered as well.
They’ve taken hostages. They killed 41 Americans, their surrogates, Hamas did, on Oct. 7. Of the 1,200 Israelis that were butchered—men, women, older people—41 were American citizens.
I could go on, but we’ve been in a 47-year war with this country since its birth in 1979.
And remember, it was birthed on one fact: It took over the American Embassy and took our diplomatic personnel as hostages. That was never really replied to.
And now they have bragged in the negotiations … They had an out. They had an out. Just don’t make a bomb. Don’t keep giving 50 million a month to Hezbollah, 50 million to Hamas, or 50 million to the Houthis. Just don’t do that. And they wouldn’t do it.
So, here we are in a war, and now we’re blaming many people in the United States, Israel, as the instigator.
But I’d like to talk, as I said, about our other allies.
First, Spain has already announced that we could not use the NATO base near Gibraltar—a key base that governs traffic in and out of the Mediterranean. We cannot use it for operations against Iran.
In other words, they’re saying that they don’t want any part in this war, and you the United States cannot use this base, which is supposed to be for NATO operations. And NATO has been on the record criticizing Iran and saying it should denuclearize.
This is kind of ironic.
Spain did the same thing, if you remember, in 1986. It told President Ronald Reagan, if you’re going to hit Libya, you cannot fly over our territory from bases in England. I think it cost them about 2,500. France did the same thing. Can’t fly over the Iberian Peninsula—2,500-mile detour for us to do that. They’ve been very vocal that they will not meet their 5% armament. They have barely, I don’t think they’ve quite met the 2% unless they did it recently.
Then we turn to France. France has already said from the very beginning that this was a dangerous war and basically wanted no part in it.
The most surprising though is the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom, under Prime Minister [Keir] Starmer, has said that they cannot use that key base for long-range bomber operations in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. England has always allowed us to do that, but they said we can only use it for defensive operations.
What does that mean? What does it mean when you fly into Iran to stop them from shooting missiles at the Emirates or Israel? That’s an offensive operation? It was incoherent. And then, in addition, it decided it would keep away from … It wouldn’t really weigh in.
And then when it had a base in Cyprus that was hit, or was going to be hit, targeted, then all of a sudden, the U.K. said, well, we’ll send one destroyer. But we’re not even able to send it for the weekend because we don’t want to pay overtime pay.
What’s going on with our allies?
Does Mr. Starmer remember the 1982 Falklands Wars? Remember, Falklands. Argentina took it. Britain wanted to go halfway around the world. They didn’t have the wherewithal to do it.
We didn’t really want to offend Argentine, even though that was a dictatorship in Latin America, we were trying to create a solidarity in our backyard.
The dictatorship in Argentina was reprehensible, but not as reprehensible as the Iranian dictatorship.
And what did we do? Al Haig, our secretary of state, said we should triangulate. Reagan said no. Give them 2 million gallons of gas. They’re out of gas. They’ll be stranded. Give them satellite reconnaissance. Give them 200 Sidewinder missiles. Give them anything they want. If they lose a carrier, you give a United States Marine carrier and give it to them.
It was just a blank check to Margaret Thatcher.
Do they forget that? Because they’re going to remember it because we’re not going to do that again in extremis from what they have done.
Germany. Well, no need to talk about Germany. Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz was in the White House. He kind of had a hangdog look. He had a hangdog look because a week or two earlier, into a huge crowd in Germany, he was trashing the United States and Trump himself.
Then we get to Israel.
Besides that Israel is the only democratic consensual government in the Middle East that has been a lifelong friend of the United States that has provided essential intelligence to us about our enemies and the people who have been killing us, such as Hamas on Oct. 7 and Hezbollah for 40 years, we haven’t replied to them effectively.
We’ve sent some battleship shells under Reagan. We’ve done a few things. But they are the ones that have taken out our enemies.
And by the way, it’s very rare for the United States to have a capable ally. Israel is capable.
I’ll give you one example. If you count all of the planes that are ready to fly, jet fighters that Britain has, Israel has more. A lot more. A hundred more.
If you count all the planes that France does—200. Israel has 300.
If you count the planes that Germany has, 150, Israel has 300.
What I’m getting at is the so-called big powers of NATO themselves, with these huge populations of 80 million, 60 million, 55 million, they don’t have the air capability that tiny Israel does.
And right now, they are fighting side by side with us, and those 300 planes are being used every day to take out the ability of the Iranians to do what? Fund the people who’ve killed Americans—Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis. Make sure they do not send missiles toward Europe.
Remember Barack Obama? He gave missile defense away in 2012 in Seoul in that quid pro quo with the Russian government. That missile defense was aimed at protecting Europe from a potential ballistic missile attack from where? Iran.
In conclusion, we have a very strong ally in Israel. It’s one of the most capable countries in the world.
And we have some unreliable allies in our formal alliance. We should remember that before we start making accusations that the Jews or the Israelis are pulling the strings of American diplomacy and military decision making.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.
Victor Davis Hanson, a senior contributor for The Daily Signal, is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show.” His website, The Blade of Perseus, features columns, lectures, and exclusive content for subscribers. Contact him at authorvdh@gmail.com. VDH on X: @VDHanson.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-03-15 09:51:302026-03-15 09:51:30While Some Allies Hesitate, Israel Is Already in the Fight Against Iran
