The Diabolical Reactions to Donald Trump’s Courage

posted by Paul Krause at American Thinker 

Donald Trump’s decision to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend has been greeted by the usual outrage of the mob plagued by Trump Derangement Syndrome. No matter what Trump does, Trump is wrong by virtue of being Donald Trump. The outrage over Trump’s courageous decision, though, is nothing but hypocrisy and theatrical grandstanding.

First, we must understand the train of events that have led to this war between Israel and Iran over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. For most of the 21st century, the prospect of a nuclear Iran has haunted America and Israel -- the two nations condemned to death and destruction by the radical regime in Tehran and its fanatical militant supporters. There has even been rhetorical agreement between Democrats and Republicans that a nuclear Iran is a grave threat to national security.

Now the divergence occurs. President Obama agreed to a nuclear treaty with Iran, proclaiming it would halt the Iranian nuclear program. Freeing up billions of dollars for Iran, the Iranians embarked on an aggressive terror funding campaign with their proxies around the Middle East. The JCPOA was quickly violated by Iran in 2019, which the IAEA confirmed. Nothing was done -- until now.

Since the October 7, 2023, attacks, Israel has unleashed a devastating military campaign against its terrorist enemies. Hamas and Hezbollah have been effectively destroyed. Bashar al-Assad, the staunch ally of Iran, is also gone. With Iran’s proxies dismantled and no longer having to face the specter of an Iranian-backed Syria, Israel was prompted to strike at Iran in the belief that Iran was weak. Iran was.

The weakness of Iran, seen in its inability to counter Israel’s initial attacks, was revealed to the world -- but especially to Donald Trump -- that Iran’s nuclear facilities were vulnerable. The fog of war was lifted by Israel’s attack. Trump, who had previously said he would not allow Iran to ever get a nuclear bomb, seized the opportunity to launch the attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities that has shattered the credibility of the mullah regime in Tehran.

Cue the music of outrage.

Within a few minutes of Trump’s announcement of military action, a choir of critics vented their outrage. Some called for impeachment. Others for an investigation. Others were adamant that Trump’s strike was illegal. Others began calling Trump a war criminal.

The diabolical outrage over Trump’s decision is hypocritical. Were these same Democrats, like Nancy Pelosi, calling Obama’s decision to bomb Libya illegal? Did Nancy Pelosi call Joe Biden’s decision to attack the Houthis in Yemen illegal? No. It’s all political theater. Likewise, the mass of protestors claiming the criminality and illegality of the strike was conspicuously quiet under Obama and Biden.

Additionally, the cries of those claiming the unconstitutionality of Trump’s decision ring hollow, since these same politicians do not lift a finger and complain about all the other actions of government that can be deemed as bypassing the Constitution. The Constitution only matters when they can make a quick and cheap political point on social media or in front of the television camera. It would be nice if our politicians cared about the Constitution more, but we shouldn’t be fooled by their feigned outrage, which exists only because Donald Trump is President.

Beyond the hypocritical outrage, the animosity against Trump’s decision reveals another problem: the inability of many to confront evil. In the 1950s, the great political philosopher Eric Voegelin noted that all politics is a manifestation of spiritual struggle because human nature is spiritual. Any politics that refuses to acknowledge the spiritual, metaphysical dimension of human existence is not political science at all because it fails to have knowledge of the most intimate reality of human nature: the spiritual.

Evil is a spiritual reality that emerges from spiritual disease and disorder. Weakness, spiritual weakness, the inability to see Evil for what it is, allows Evil to grow and strengthen itself. Eventually, spiritual Evil takes on incarnate form. At this point, the confrontation with Evil becomes inevitable. Spiritual courage is needed to confront Evil at this moment.

The reactions against Trump’s decision to attack the Iranian nuclear sites reveal the spiritual weakness of his critics. They turn a blind eye to the obvious Evil of the Iranian regime, with some even suggesting and arguing that the United States is the great Evil power. Boy, they sound like the “death to America!” crowd in Iran. And let’s not forget the irony of these leftists who would also say that morality is relative. Cognitive impairment much?

Donald Trump breaks the brains of his critics and opponents because they cannot see the world of politics in its actual form: a spiritual struggle between Good and Evil. When Donald Trump closed his Oval Office address, his closing words reveal that he understands the stakes: “I want to just thank everybody. And, in particular, God. I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.”

X22, On the Fringe, and more- June 25

 

Be Prepared or Be a Serf

posted by Kurt Schlichter at Townhall 

You should not live in fear, but you should live with the understanding that there are bad people out there who want you either enslaved or dead. Donald Trump’s courageous strike against the scumbag Iranian mullahs only highlighted the fact that we may very well have hundreds, if not thousands, of sleeper agents within the United States who can act on command to unleash a wave of murder the likes of which we’ve never seen. I wrote a best-selling novel about it. But that’s only one threat. Another threat is homegrown nuts, terrorists, and criminals, to the extent that they differ. And then there is the threat posed by leftists who want to rule over you forever, no matter the cost. You might be out at church, in the mall, or at your own house when it happens, and you better be prepared to deal with it all.

What I’m trying to say is you need to buy guns and ammunition.

The fact is that things are getting uglier. Our opponents are getting uglier, and not just aesthetically (although a lot of them are really unattractive). As Donald Trump racks up win after win, his enemies, both foreign and domestic, are going to get more and more desperate. Obviously, the Iranians, who have killed well into four figures of Americans over the last 50 years, will be looking for payback if their own people don’t hang them from the nearest construction crane first. Hopefully, by the time you read this, they won’t have struck. We’ve also got, among other disaffected bands of jerks, Hamas, the Houthis, and probably the Hottentots gunning for Americans. For four years under President Biden, the border was wide open with a big flashing “Welcome” sign inviting every Third World psychopath and communist cadre into America. Some of them are sleeping in their sleeper cells. Some of them are running around our college campuses, protected by credulous district court judges who think that the Constitution requires us to put out the welcome mat for people who want us dead.

Here at home, criminals who Soros prosecutors won’t prosecute are walking the streets because these poor, justice-involved persons deserve pity for us making them into criminals with our capitalism and structural racism. Of course, were you even to smudge the line between legal and illegal, they would come down on you like Trump came down on Fordow. There are still plenty of legal aliens out there who kill Americans through drunk driving and murder. And then there are the lunatics, like the guy who thought Tim Walz commanded him to kill because Jazz Hands would be a good senator; anyone who thinks that has already won on his insanity defense.

But the people we should be more concerned about are the leftists enraged at our challenge to their political, social, and cultural supremacy and who would happily shed blood to keep it. We have an entire ruling class that is facing the prospect of losing power for good. It has never been effectively challenged like this since it came into being after World War II, except for short periods, and never so radically. The worst it has ever experienced until now is a temporary slowing of America’s decline into a socialist miasma rather than a complete reversal of the whoosh down that slippery slope. But a reversal is what it’s getting now, and they are frantic to stop us.

Look at the things they’re trying to impose on us and look at how they are not just being stopped but are being turned around. Last week, there was a major Supreme Court case that basically said, “No, there is no constitutional right to mutilate children, dummies.” They really thought they had it. If Kamala Harris had won, they would have. You would have seen the Constitution interpreted to create an affirmative right to cut your children’s bodies apart to conform to the delusions of mentally ill kids or their Munchausen mommies. But because of Trump and his appointments, that didn’t happen. And you saw the Democrats react. Every single one of them was mad about it. Why, not letting young ‘uns be mutilated was the worst thing in the history of ever. Move over, Dred Scott, because not being able to carve up the kiddies is like the Fugitive Slave Act on steroids.

Today, they’re losing across the board. Abortion. DEI. Illegal aliens. We’re not just slowing their roll; we’re rolling them back. Do you think they’ll sit still for it? Do you think they’re just going to allow everything that they’ve built, every mile they’ve trekked in their Gramscian march through the institutions, come to naught?

No, they’ll fight – and I write about it in my upcoming novel, America Apocalypse: The Second American Civil War (you can pre-order now). But the trouble is not going to start with big movements of troops across the battlefields. It’s going to be smaller, more directed actions against particular people – people like you. We had a small-scale insurgency from the late-60s to the mid-70s in this country in which hundreds of people died, and thousands of bombs were detonated by leftist, urban terrorists, mostly spoiled college brats who decided that since the working class wasn’t going to rise up, they would just start killing. Two people already tried to kill Trump. We’ve all seen the statistics that over half of Democrats are open to the idea of murdering their political opponents. At some point, somebody’s going to pick up a gun and start trying to make that happen on a larger scale. 

You don’t want to be caught short. You don’t want to be caught unprepared. It’s not fair that we have to go through our lives taking into account the fact that there are other Americans who would hurt us because we refuse to live under their boot heel, but life isn’t fair. That’s the way it is. Nothing is free, especially freedom. It isn’t going to guard itself, and you’re not always going to be able to rely on the government to protect you either logistically – when seconds count, the police are minutes away – or intentionally, like when the FBI and other law-enforcement organizations under President Eggplant made the conscious choice to allow leftist terrorists to flourish while focusing on such crimes as conservatives’ premeditated petitioning of school boards and Catholics intentionally praying. Even today, blue city cops will do nothing about illegal aliens, including ones who are even more criminal than they all are by virtue of being illegal aliens.

So, prepare. Get the equipment you need. Get the training you need, and not only about shooting guns but about understanding the legal aspects of lawful deadly force. You also need an understanding of basic emergency medical aid, like how to stop the bleeding. Talk to your family about what to do in bad situations. Talk to your neighbors about sticking together if things get ugly. You are your own first responder.

You understand why they want you to be afraid. You understand why they want you disarmed. It’s because when you are not afraid and when you are prepared to defend yourself, your family, your community, and your Constitution, they can never intimidate you. They can never take what is yours from you. And they can never rule over you. 

The Left Has an Authoritarian Problem

It’s “scientifically indisputable” that the left is getting nastier and more controlling.

posted by M. Walter at American Thinker 

It’s not just your imagination.  Lefties really are completely un-self-aware about what tyrants they are, and one professor with five thousand study participants proved it.

October 2024’s article, The Left Has an Authoritarian Problem (but Doesn’t Know It), was written by social psychologist Luke Conway who “has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, and others, as well as on the BBC and NPR” and draws from three “decades of authoritarianism research.” The article appears in an online publication called “Presser” which, according to their “What is Presser?” page, launched in 2024 and is “politically nonpartisan” but has “a clear bias toward liberalism, secularism, and humanism.”

Interestingly, Professor Conway’s research focuses on the followers of authoritarian leaders, not the authoritarian leaders themselves, and he argues, quite convincingly, that, in short, the people get what they want good and hard: were there not a crowd of people with an authoritarian ethos within themselves, an authoritarian leader would be all but powerless over them. One must precede the other. A leader of this sort must have the mob.

Indeed, leaders are irrelevant if no one will obey them. [snip] It doesn’t matter if Congresswoman Maxine Waters tells protestors to ‘get more confrontational' if they don’t like a trial verdict; it only matters if everyone thinks that kind of authoritarian fear-mongering is okay.

He gives an excellent example of what the absence of the authoritarian follower ethos would look like were it not there to precede the tyrant leader:

Imagine an authoritarian Donald Trump supporter walking down the street and subsequently being commanded by Joe Biden to support climate change research. Do you see? It matters very much to an authoritarian [follower] who is giving the command and what the command is about.

In the section “Obeying Authority Isn’t the Problem” Professor Conway describes exactly who they are: “nasty” and punishing.

The first thing to get straight is that, to a psychologist, ‘authoritarian’ doesn’t just mean ‘obeying authority’ or ‘ordering someone to do something.’ Parents who punish their kids for being mean to their siblings aren’t authoritarian leaders. People who obey the speed limits aren’t authoritarian followers. Authoritarianism means something specifically nastier. Authoritarians don’t merely enforce reasonable rules or obey those rules—they want a strong leader to crush and silence their opponents. They want that leader to hurt people for the benefit of their group. [Emphasis added.]

“For the benefit of the group” is an extremely important phrase. He notes that one of the traits necessary in a populace for an authoritarian to take over is an ethos of “collectivism,” a well-known trend among progressives — as opposed to individualism, which is a well-known trend among conservatives.  In fact, progressives will sneer at what they deride as the “rugged individualism” ethos of conservatives.  They regard it as selfish.

Professor Conway’s comprehensive research, which we will detail shortly, has shown overwhelmingly that the authoritarian blind spot “is something that is unique to left-wing authoritarians. He then adds, “And this blind spot makes liberal authoritarianism uniquely dangerous.”

Every party has potential authoritarians—but a party that denies the problem also won’t address the problem.

Right now that party is the Democratic Party. We’ve tacitly raised a generation of liberals who think that it’s normal for Disney to fire actress Gina Carano for having a political opinion that some people don’t like, and yet also think they aren’t authoritarian for doing so.

What he describes with Ms. Carano is a marquee example of the blind spot, and exactly the “nasty” and punishing aspect of leftist authoritarianism he described earlier.

Here’s where we see how comprehensive his research and findings are.  In the section “Scientific Data on Authoritarian Self-Ignorance” he goes in for the kill shot.  If you are a progressive reading this and think there’s no way this can all be true, read on.

This isn’t mere speculation. Our scientific data demonstrate this very clearly. In a national survey of over five thousand Americans, we gave people a standard authoritarianism questionnaire and then afterwards asked them a simple question: ‘Do you view yourself as a dogmatic and authoritarian person?’

Conservative Americans who scored high on the authoritarianism questionnaire had no problem saying ‘Yes, I am authoritarian.’ But liberals were a different thing entirely. Not only were liberal authoritarians less likely than conservatives to accurately identify themselves as authoritarians (when they were, in fact, authoritarian), but there was actually a negative correlation between left-wing authoritarianism (the reality) and liberals’ willingness to identify as authoritarian (their own perception). That means that the more authoritarian liberals are, the less they believe they are authoritarian!

The results of this survey were one of the most astonishing things I’ve seen in all my years conducting research. [Emphasis added.]

The inescapable conclusion:

Do we currently have a left-wing authoritarian problem? The answer to this question is scientifically indisputable:

Without a doubt.

See?  It’s not your imagination.  They really are completely un-self-aware.  Maybe that helps.  Maybe not.  It doesn’t mean they won’t continue to be monumentally frustrating — in addition to being absolute poison to Liberty.  But it may help us to know they really don’t seem to be able to help it, blind as they are to their own inner tyrant.  I’d be fascinated to know how we keep manufacturing so many millions of these people.  Seems to me we should figure that out and stop it.  Now that would be a benefit to humanity.  Perhaps Professor Conway can study that next.  So far, this is a good contribution, if for nothing else, our mental health and blood pressure.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

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Credit Where Due – Majority Leader John Thune Eyes Friday for Senate BBB Votes to Begin

Sundance reporting for CTH 

Cautious optimism is warranted, however it looks like Senate Majority Leader John Thune is pushing hard to hit the deadlines set by President Trump for passage of the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) reconciliation package.

Speaking today right before a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Thune noted he is optimistic the Senate can finalize their negotiations on the BBB over the next two days, setting up the Senate to hold their first cloture votes on Friday and a vote-a-rama through the weekend.

President Trump is still assisting Leader Thune with phone calls to Senate republicans between foreign policy engagements.  Trump is only staying in the Netherlands for 24 hours so he can quickly get back to DC to assist in any arm-twisting needed by Thune or Johnson.

According to Politico, House Speaker Mike Johnson has cautioned House representatives to stay in town this weekend and be prepared to reconcile both bills and vote on the package as soon as it exits the Senate.   As many of you are aware, this is a critical legislative package containing a large amount of President Trump’s America First policy priorities.

As things stand right now, it looks like Thune is going to try and get the package into voting position on Friday, with immediate votes to take place.  We are critical of Thune when warranted, but should also appreciate the work of the Majority Leader when he is structurally supportive of the MAGA agenda.

(Via Axios) – Senate Majority Leader John Thune expects to start voting Friday on President Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” he told Axios in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

Why it matters: This would have them voting into the weekend, and it would upend the House’s recess next week. But Thune (R-S.D.) is confident Congress will meet its self-imposed July 4 deadline to get a bill on Trump’s desk.

Thune said Friday was looking more likely for an initial vote than Thursday, setting up the potential for a weekend slog.

“I think we get on it, and then we will plow through, and we’ll get into vote-a-rama and grind it out until — until whenever,” the leader said. “It’s just the nature of the beast at the end.”

Johnson told House Republicans “not to leave town” this weekend in case the Senate gets a bill passed, Politico reported Tuesday. (read more)

We anticipate that once the BBB is completed, obviously there will be a celebration – a news cycle for the White House and legislative leadership to promote & celebrate, and then President Trump will likely shift straight into the details of the trade agreements being constructed in the background by Secretary Lutnick, Secretary Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer.

As the trade aspect is underway from the oval office, expect Secretary Rubio and Steve Witkoff to be reengaged with Ukraine-Russia.  By mid July we should see multiple announcements of trade agreements, while simultaneously the foreign policy focus of Rubio and Witkoff should start to materialize into substantive change.

Media Disinformation; CNN Falsely Accuses Trump Of Not Notifying Democrats Of Iran Strike

CNN only updated its story after the lie had already gone viral, gaining traction across social media and among cable pundits.

Julianna Frieman reporting for The Federalist

CNN walked back a key claim in its Sunday coverage of President Donald Trump’s strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, admitting that Trump did, in fact, notify Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in advance. Initially, CNN’s Sarah Ferris and Morgan Rimmer wrongly reported, “Trump briefed top Republicans before Iran strikes, but not Democrats.” Now the same article states that Trump did not brief some Democrats — only after 10 hours of the original headline imprinting in the American psyche. 

“Correction: This story has been updated to make clear Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was called before the strike, not after as initially reported,” an italicized note at the beginning of the CNN story reads. 

The correction dramatically undermines the media’s preferred narrative that Trump acted unilaterally and recklessly, ignoring congressional consultation. In reality, the president followed standard protocol, reportedly looping in Schumer. But CNN only updated its story after the false claim had already gone viral, gaining traction across social media and among cable pundits eager to paint Trump as a threat to global stability. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t let the false claim stand. 

“This is Fake News. The White House made bipartisan courtesy calls to Congressional Leadership and spoke to @SenSchumer before the strike. @RepJeffries could not be reached until after, but he was briefed,” Leavitt wrote on X, calling on CNN to “please retract” its false report. 

Meanwhile, Democrats rushed to condemn Trump, telling the public that the commander-in-chief needed their approval before acting on behalf of the nation he leads. 

Some lawmakers, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called for Trump’s impeachment. Others, such as Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., sounded off that the president’s move was “grossly unconstitutional.” Even House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who was reportedly briefed, weighed in, stating that Trump “misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for use of military force and risks of American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.”

But Schumer, who had the facts, did not bother to correct the record. He let the outrage fester. 

This is how the game works. The propaganda press — with CNN leading the charge — publishes a misleading or outright false narrative. Elected Democrats seize on it to attack the president. By the time the truth catches up, the damage is already done, and people who should have spoken up don’t because the lie serves their purposes. 

The New York Times got in on the narrative-control action over the weekend too, but in a different way. After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised “our boys in those bombers” in the Iran nuclear site strike, The New York Times ran a smug correction, pointing out that women also pilot B-2 bombers. Instead of focusing on the critical mission, the outlet opted to fact-check a figure of speech — and got crushed for it online. 

This wasn’t journalism. It was political messaging disguised as reporting. And it underscored what many Americans are smart enough to see through: Legacy media don’t exist to tell the truth. They exist to reinforce narratives that help Democrats and hurt Republicans. 

This is especially true when it comes to Trump. While elected Democrats and Republicans have every right to criticize his actions, the media should be there to tell us who said what, not to inject an opinionated voice of its own. 

But that’s not what we have. The corrupt press operates less like reporters and more like a rapid-response team for the Democrat Party — quick to spotlight every accusation, slow to correct even the simplest of facts, and utterly uninterested in accountability when their distortions cause real destruction. Their lies create an embattled society of skeptics who trust no one and sheep who believe it all. 

The only “war” being fought by the U.S. is an information war — and the media is on the front lines, not as watchdogs, but as political operatives.

President Xi Skips Key Summit, Adding Fuel to Ebbing Power Theories

 First-ever BRICS absence deepens questions over internal CCP dissent

OTTAWA— Chinese President Xi Jinping will skip the upcoming BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, the first time he has ever missed the gathering of major emerging powers—a development that will add to speculation that Xi’s power among elite Chinese Communist circles is being challenged by a faction publicly humiliated by Xi in 2022.

Beijing cited a “scheduling conflict,” according to multiple officials involved in summit planning, South China Morning Post has reported. But Xi’s absence—coming amid intensifying economic pressures and purges within the People’s Liberation Army—has triggered speculation that deeper internal political currents may be at play.

China’s delegation to Brazil will instead be led by Premier Li Qiang, marking the second time in under a year that Xi has delegated such a high-level multilateral forum. Observers note that Li also stood in for Xi at the G20 summit in India in 2023.

The BRICS platform is a key pillar of China’s push for a multipolar world, challenging the Western-led order.

The official explanation for Xi’s absence—that he has already met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva twice in the past year—has done little to quell questions about the Chinese leader’s standing at home. Those concerns are being amplified by mounting signs of internal dissent within the Chinese Communist Party, as China’s economy falters and long-suppressed questions about Xi’s hardline tactics against the West, including mounting threats to invade Taiwan, gain traction with the reemergence of a sidelined political faction.

As detailed in a recent Jamestown Foundation analysis, Xi Jinping may be facing renewed political friction from within the Party’s elite ranks—specifically, the so-called Tuanpai, or Youth League faction, aligned with former president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.

The history of the Xi-Hu rift is punctuated by a theatrical public humiliation: in October 2022, Hu Jintao was forcibly escorted from the closing session of the CCP’s 20th Party Congress. The moment was captured on live television and interpreted globally as Xi’s final symbolic purge of Hu’s faction. Hu, seated next to Xi Jinping, appeared to reach for documents on the table. Li Zhanshu, seated to Hu’s left, took the papers and placed them out of reach. Xi signaled, and two security staff approached Hu, gently lifting him from his seat and escorting him out. Hu appeared reluctant, attempting to retrieve the documents and briefly exchanging words with Xi. He also patted Premier Li Keqiang, a key figure in the Youth League faction, on the shoulder before leaving. The stunning incident lasted about 90 seconds.

Li died less than a year later, in October 2023, reportedly from a sudden heart attack while swimming in Shanghai. His unexpected death at age 68—soon after leaving office—was officially described as natural, but has fueled speculation among Chinese observers and dissidents, with some questioning the timing and circumstances.

Evidence of the Hu faction’s comeback emerged from the secretive Party retreat in Beidaihe in August 2023. According to Nikkei Asia, and later corroborated by additional sources, three senior Communist Party elders delivered pointed criticisms of Xi Jinping’s policies behind closed doors. All three had ties to the former Hu-Wen administration. Their intervention reportedly provoked visible frustration from Xi, according to individuals familiar with the meeting.

https://www.thebureau.news/p/president-xi-skips-key-summit-adding?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1444443&post_id=166806706&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=rd3ao&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

3 Takeaways From The U.S. Bombing Of Iran’s Nuclear Sites

The bombings are a powerful deterrent to the ‘CRINK’ alliance; talk of America’s decline is merely wishful thinking; 

and leadership matters.

Helen Raleigh reporting for The Federalist

Saturday’s Operation Midnight Hammer, bombing Iran’s three most significant nuclear sites, proves that all the talk of America’s decline is merely wishful thinking from our adversaries. Just days before the bombing, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, proclaimed that the U.S. is on a path of “inevitable” decline, similar to other fallen empires throughout history. This same narrative — that “the East is rising while the West is declining” — has been propagated by Xi since 2020. Yet, the bombing of Iran demonstrates that America is far from declining.

The United States stands unrivaled in its ability to deploy deep-penetrating bombs. Vice President J.D. Vance highlighted this extraordinary capability by sharing that the U.S. main strike force, consisting of seven B-2 Spirit bombers, undertook an impressive 18-hour mission to target areas in Iran. During this mission, these B-2 bombers “dropped 30,000-pound bombs on a target the size of a washing machine and then got back home safely without ever landing in the Middle East or ever stopping other than to briefly refuel,” which they did in the air. Satellite images later confirmed Vance’s statement.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed in a Sunday press conference that the operation used more than 125 aircraft in the mission, including multiple fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and “a full array” of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. This unparalleled military operation showcases capabilities that no other nation can currently achieve. China’s Xi must be taken aback and disheartened, as his narrative of America’s decline has been proven utterly false.

Second Takeaway: Leadership Matters

The second key takeaway is that leadership matters. Since 1995, four U.S. presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden — have all vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, the first two presidents believed that imposing economic sanctions, alongside diplomatic efforts, would be enough to compel Iran to comply. The latter two attempted to incentivize the mullahs by lifting sanctions and releasing billions of dollars to the Iranian government. Furthermore, throughout this period, all four presidents dissuaded Israel from taking military action to halt Iran’s nuclear program. Unsurprisingly, under these U.S. leaders, Iran continued to make advances in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Before the recent U.S. bombing last weekend, Iran was alarmingly close to achieving its goal. David Albright, president and founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, highlighted that Iran could “convert its current stock of 60 percent enriched uranium in three weeks at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) into enough weapon-grade uranium for 9 nuclear weapons, taken as 25 kg of weapon-grade uranium (WGU) per weapon. Iran could produce its first quantity of 25 kg of WGU in Fordow in as little as two to three days.”

George Kennan, a prominent Cold War diplomat, characterized the former Soviet Union as “impervious to the logic of reason” yet “highly sensitive to the logic of force.” Such an assessment applies to Iran as well.

In recent months, Trump attempted to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear ambition through negotiations. However, the Iranian government was defiant and unwilling to engage in negotiations in good faith.

Rather than allow Iran to stall him as it did with his predecessors, Trump took decisive military action. Although it may take time to accurately assess the results of Saturday’s bombing, Trump expressed confidence in his address to the nation Saturday night that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been destroyed.”

Trump’s leadership is reflected not only in his ability to make such a monumental decision but also in how he has assembled a great team that worked together to achieve the maximum military surprise by deploying various deception tactics. For example, Trump reportedly already decided to bomb Iran last Wednesday, but he claimed a day later that he would make a decision “within two weeks,” probably to trick Iran’s mullahs into thinking he chickened out at the last minute and wouldn’t take any military action against them, at least not anytime soon.  

On the day of action, the U.S. military, guided by this exceptional team, deployed B-2 bombers to the west as a decoy. This, as Caine described, was a “deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders.” 

The Trump administration’s ability to maintain secrecy around this complex military operation is also remarkable, especially considering the Biden administration’s record of leaking classified Israeli war plans. These leaks not only undermined Israel’s ability to defend itself but also strained the relationship between Israel and the U.S., resulting in Israel’s reluctance to share its plans with the Biden administration.

In contrast, the Trump administration’s operational security was so effective that Jennifer Griffin, a long-time national security correspondent for Fox News, remarked, “In my 18 years at the Pentagon, I’ve never seen such operational security. There was nobody speaking about this… There was a complete lockdown, almost a blackout of information. There were no leaks.” This achievement is likely a testament to the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

No wonder retired Gen. Mark Kimmitt, who served as assistant secretary of State under George W. Bush, expressed both fascination and admiration for the Trump administration’s execution of Operation Midnight Hammer, particularly concerning their strategies of deception and secrecy, in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

Third Takeaway: A Powerful Deterrent

The third crucial takeaway is that the bombing of Iran acts as a powerful deterrent to the “CRINK” alliance, comprising China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Geopolitics expert Sam Cooper, author of the Substack newsletter “The Bureau,” pointed out  that Iran is pivotal within this alliance, as it “supplies drones to Russia, subsidizes oil to China, and provides weapons to terrorist groups that pose threats to U.S. bases and allies.” However, following Israeli and especially the U.S. military action against Iran, the other CRINK members did not rally to Iran’s defense.

The reluctance might indicate that the other CRINK nations are reassessing their strategies regarding the U.S. and their broader geopolitical goals. The weekend bombing of Iran demonstrated U.S. military dominance and a readiness to eliminate threats to American and allied security. It’s essential for the remaining CRINK members to recognize that when Trump extends an invitation for negotiation — whether on trade issues or resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict — they had better embrace the opportunity and engage in good faith. Failing to do so could lead to dire consequences for them in the future.