Elon Musk Can’t Buy the Swamp

posted by Shaun McCutcheon at American Thinker 

Elon Musk just learned a hard political truth: that even the richest man in the world cannot buy influence in Washington, at least not when it matters most.

Musk can buy recognition in D.C., and he has, complete with a steady stream of free media every time he spars with Donald Trump. But despite pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into election-related causes, endorsing candidates, and even threatening to primary Republican lawmakers who supported the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Musk was left empty-handed. Congress passed the bloated spending package anyway. Republican members shrugged off his influence, ignored his warnings, and fell in line with business as usual.

The reality is that the political class in Washington is not interested in accountability. They are interested in self-preservation. And no amount of wealth, celebrity, or even genius is going to change that.

Over the weekend, Musk responded in the most Musk-like way possible, by launching a new political movement -- the America Party. On its face, it sounds exciting. Americans are exhausted by the status quo. The Republican establishment is stuck in the past, and the Democratic Party has become increasingly hostile to free thought, economic liberty, and even patriotism. So why not build something new?

Because we’ve seen this movie before -- and it rarely ends well.

Third parties in the United States almost always fail. They siphon votes, fracture coalitions, and often help elect the very candidates their supporters most oppose. Ross Perot split the conservative vote and helped elect Bill Clinton (twice) with less than 50 percent of the popular vote. Ralph Nader arguably handed the White House to George W. Bush in 2000. The result is leaders who lack clear mandates, elections that deepen national division, and voters who feel more alienated than ever. In 1860, the last time four political parties had national relevance, the country was on the eve of civil war. Ironically, it was the Republican Party (then a new political force) that won that election, boosted by the new red state of California.

Musk’s failure to move Trump or the Republican conference does not mean he is politically irrelevant. On the contrary, he wields more power than most political donors ever will. But his real power is not in the money he gives, it's in the speech he enables and the messages he can amplify.

By acquiring Twitter (now X) and restoring a culture of free speech on the platform, Musk has done more to open up the political playing field than any billionaire, political party, or advocacy group. He created a space where Americans across the spectrum can speak freely, challenge the status quo, and bypass institutional gatekeepers.

In today's media environment, a viral video or live-streamed conversation can reach more voters than a multi-million-dollar ad buy. A compelling post, a sharp meme, or a citizen-led grassroots message can shape public opinion more effectively than the most polished campaign spot.

Platforms like X have become a lifeline for democratic engagement -- especially as corporate media and government-aligned institutions work overtime to limit dissent and control narratives. Musk’s investment in protecting speech -- whether you agree with what’s being said is worth far more than anything he could donate to a political campaign.

And that’s precisely why the establishment is scared. It wasn’t Musk’s campaign contributions that triggered outrage, it was his defense of free speech, his refusal to silence controversial views, and yes, his willingness to support Trump. That’s what led the political class and media elite to turn on him.

Washington doesn’t fear money, it fears losing control. And free speech threatens that control in a way no check ever could. It is one force in American life that cannot be bought, manipulated, or easily stopped short of a full-scale assault on the Constitution.

The First Amendment isn’t just a lofty ideal. It is the last line of defense between the people and the powerful. While politicians continue to spend recklessly and ignore public will, it is free speech that allows citizens to push back -- to expose corruption, challenge failed policies, and demand accountability.

That is where Elon Musk should keep his focus. He has already disrupted the information ecosystem. He has restored balance to the national conversation. And he has shown the world that bold ideas, when allowed to spread, are more powerful than money, endorsements, or any party label.

The America Party may offer a momentary thrill. But history suggests it will struggle to survive. What will endure is the power of speech, transparency, and truth in a system that increasingly tries to suppress all three.

In the battle between money and speech, it turns out speech still wins -- and that is something truly worth investing in.

And we Know, On the Fringe, and more- July 11

 

Do Not Fear the Future

posted J.B. Shurk at American Thinker 

What is more important — wealth or health?  Do you prefer to be loved by adoring strangers or by close members of your family?  When you depart this world, would you rather be remembered for your political power or moral courage?  Is the cultivation of a virtuous character more valuable than the accumulation of material things?

I ask these questions to highlight how much power you have over your own life.  I often receive messages from people who are worried about the future.  Some sound despondent about the challenges ahead.  Some are happy that President Trump did this and unhappy that he did that.  Some seem so engrossed in the turbulent world of politics that they struggle to be upbeat about more important things.

I am an ordinary sinner with no special knowledge about our existence, and my intention is not to lecture others.  I do wish to remind people, though, that they are in control.  No matter how coercive governments and corporations are, we are still masters of our fates.  We decide what we believe.  We decide how we will act.  We decide what costs we are willing to bear in defense of our principles.  

There is something liberating in the acknowledgment of these simple facts.  Surely our principles aren’t really our principles until we are willing to suffer in defense of them.  Our earthly struggles are the grindstones that sharpen our moral virtue.  Adversity is as much a blessing as it is a burden.

Those who worry so much about the future that they squander the 86,400 seconds each day sacrifice present happiness.  And happiness, as I suggest in the first paragraph, cannot be bought.  Fame is a shabby substitute for love.  Just consider how many celebrities use alcohol and drugs to treat their depression.  Likewise, the size of your home or bank account reveals nothing about your worth.  Wealthy people die every day.  Their possessions do not make their lives exemplary.  Moral excellence, on the other hand, is rare in this world.  The life of a poor but virtuous person is more extraordinary than the life of a wealthy but dishonorable one.  Strength can be found in remembering that.

Advancements in artificial intelligence (A.I.) worry people.  Every week, a major news publication is accused of publishing A.I.-written articles.  Students are turning in A.I.-written assignments as their own work.  Professions, including medicine and law, are increasingly relying on A.I. tools for both problem-solving and finished reports.  Some people connect these dots and conclude that not only will there be no human jobs in the future, but also there will be no thinking human beings.  

Allow me to offer an even more startling glimpse into the future.  As A.I. becomes more adept at mimicking the great writers of the past, it will not stop once it corners the market on popular fiction.  The Big Tech companies that are building A.I. infrastructure today are the same companies that store all our emails, text messages, and social media posts.  You didn’t think that they provided “free” accounts all these years out of the kindness of their corporate hearts, did you?  What happens when an A.I. system uses everything you’ve written in the twenty-first century to mimic your writing style in a personal message to a loved one?  The more competent that A.I. becomes, the more difficult it will be to know for sure who is communicating with us.

Taking this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it is easy to see how foreign adversaries (or unsavory domestic intelligence services) might one day use A.I. to foment social unrest by impersonating the friends and family members of millions of citizens instantaneously.  Will we be forced to verify one another’s digital identities to avoid confusion and deception?  

Surely that won’t work, either.  For decades, companies such as Google and Apple have requested that we answer a series of “security” questions, ostensibly to help them verify our identities should we get locked out of our accounts.  As any computer engineer with expertise in algorithms and probability can tell you, a small amount of personal information is highly predictive at generating an individual’s likely passwords.  Next time you tell Big Tech or Big Brother your first pet’s name, childhood address, or high school mascot, remember that some A.I. is using that information to build a digital profile on you in cyberspace.  Is it any wonder why government agencies are the silent partners of every tech company?

In a world where our digital identities may never be secure, what is one to do?  Perhaps we will relearn the value of human interaction.  Perhaps we will realize that we are only as secure as our personal relationships are strong.  In fact, it is entirely possible that one outcome of a future dominated by A.I. is a renewed appreciation for human-intensive work.  

Have you noticed, for instance, that the market for handmade furniture and crafts has grown steadily since the ’90s?  What happened around that time?  The World Wide Web crisscrossed the planet.  Ironically, technological innovation actually renewed consumer demand for trade skills that were in obvious decline.

The twentieth century gave us the modern factory, and rapid technological growth increased manufacturing productivity exponentially.  But those “advancements” came with serious costs.  Jobs were lost to international trade as multinational firms chose cheap foreign labor over domestic producers.  Quality also declined, and consumers who once expected appliances to last decades were forced to accept that goods barely survived a manufacturer’s limited warranty.

People fed up with cheaply made products have used the internet to find human producers who would otherwise never be able to survive in a globalized world of Big Box fabrications.  Thirty years ago, this trend seemed unlikely.  Today, it is an undeniable reality.  An increasing number of consumers would rather purchase quality handmade goods than mass-produced facsimiles that cannot withstand the rigors of time.  There is a reason why Amish furniture is in high demand today.

Do not be surprised if a similar effect follows advancements with A.I.  The more that artificial intelligence dominates life, the more that real intelligence will become a precious commodity.  There will be a moment when an individual’s skill and education are prized because the A.I.-enabled knockoffs appear as hollow imitations of human creativity.  There will be a moment when human interactions are cherished because digital interactions can’t be trusted.  There will be a moment when personal knowledge and character will be valued for their human authenticity.  Technological revolutions impact human history in unexpected ways.

For millennia, a good sword was expensive and required time and skill to wield well.  Big, strong swordsmen had a distinct advantage.  The handgun, however, quickly leveled the playing field.  As was often said of Samuel Colt’s famous revolver, “God created men; Colonel Colt made them equal.”  A lightweight AR-15-style rifle provides a small woman with the power to defend herself against a large man.  Firearms have democratized self-defense.

Similarly, the printing press, radio, television, and personal computer have democratized communication.  Although governments have had varying success in using these innovations to maintain power, there is no doubt that the information revolution of the last five hundred years has narrowed the knowledge gap between the wealthiest and the poorest more significantly than during any other period in history.  And whatever happens with A.I. over the next few years, there is no doubt in my mind that a similar democratizing effect will accompany its proliferation — irrespective of the wishes of today’s “ruling class.” 

In the midst of great change, certain things remain constant.  We humans love and seek to be loved.  We are remembered for our virtues and moral failings.  We find sustained purpose in our relationships with God and our families.  Let us hold fast to these truths.

The Bullets Follow the Bullhorns: Democrats Own the Assaults on ICE

posted by Charleton Allen at American Thinker 

The slogans were there, scrawled on concrete in black spray paint—graffiti of the obscene, vulgar, and unmistakably ideological sort. “F[**]K ICE,” one read. Another declared “Traitor,” while others were marked with anarchist symbols and far-left slogans like “Resist Fascism, Fight Oligarchy.”

Yet, the situation is far more grave than the graffiti suggests.

This is a crime scene. Here, a planned ambush was unleashed: fireworks used as bait, spent rifle casings, gas masks, tactical vests, and the blood of a wounded law enforcement officer.

This is Alvarado, Texas, in the year 2025.

It was here, just south of Fort Worth, that ten heavily armed left-wing militants launched a highly coordinated attack on law enforcement outside the Prairieland ICE Detention Center.

Their objective was unmistakable: lure, target, and execute federal officers. When officers on the scene responded to a disturbance—initially believing it was fireworks—gunmen opened fire. An Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck. Federal agents returned fire and made multiple arrests. It was political terrorism.

And just days later, in McAllen, Texas, Border Patrol agents were fired upon in another ambush attack. The shooter was armed with a rifle and wearing tactical gear—another warning sign that ideologically motivated violence against immigration enforcement is spiraling. As in Alvarado, a local police officer was wounded.

These are the inevitable consequences of a political movement that has spent the better part of a decade demonizing the very people sworn to enforce our immigration laws.

What was once violence on the fringe of political debate has been normalized by one of America's two main political parties.

It’s past time to say it plainly: The Democrat party bears responsibility for these acts of political terrorism. Of course, the perpetrators bear ultimate responsibility for their actions. But the fault for creating this cauldron of violence is shared.

For years, leading Democrats and their activist auxiliaries have waged rhetorical warfare against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, particularly when Donald Trump has served as president.

They have called ICE agents “terrorists,” “fascists,” and “white supremacists in uniform.” Some have demanded that the agency be abolished outright.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once likened ICE detention facilities to “concentration camps.” Rep. Ilhan Omar, meanwhile, has brazenly warned Americans that the nation is being transformed into “one of the worst countries in the world,” citing the presence of masked, armed agents, and military deployments in U.S. streets.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—a man who would be Speaker of the House—declared his intent to “unmask” and expose the identities of ICE agents. Jeffries vowed, “No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, [they] will of course be identified.”

In the same breath, he compared ICE officers to Nazis and Soviet secret police—a grotesque smear seemingly designed to dehumanize and delegitimize the very concept of immigration enforcement.

This rhetoric does not exist in a vacuum. It sets in motion a chain of events—results that should shock no one grounded in history or attuned to this political moment.

Assaults on ICE officers have spiked by over 400%, according to Director Todd Lyons. Agents’ families are easy targets. One man in New York was recently charged with threatening to “kill them all—including their kids.”

So when politicians beat the drum to strip those agents of anonymity—inciting mobs to see them as monsters—the result is tragically predictable.

The suspects in the Alvarado ambush are reportedly tied to a broader web of far-left agitation. Flyers, riot gear, surveillance tools, assault weapons, detailed anarchic how-to manuals, and a red-and-black resistance flag were recovered at the scene.

This was an armed insurrection—intending not only to disrupt federal law enforcement, but to maim and kill. When political rhetoric dehumanizes law enforcement and hurls twisted epithets at men and women doing their job, it is a dog whistle to those on the lunatic fringe.

Is there a greater danger to a constitutional republic than an armed phalanx of nihilists, activated by the words of the leaders of the minority party, attempting to maim and kill government officials?

For all their sanctimony about “protecting democracy” and “upholding the rule of law,” today’s Democrats have built a movement that selectively nullifies both. When they’re in power, they ignore the law, declining to enforce statutes they dislike, gutting immigration courts, and instructing executive agencies to slow-walk deportations.

When out of power, they attempt to nullify the exercise of executive power through venue shopping, nationwide injunctions, institutional sabotage, and now, through ideological violence.

It’s the same pattern every time:

If voters elect someone they oppose, they launch impeachment proceedings or shop for a judge to block authority.

If ICE agents do their jobs, they are branded as racists.

If a president uses Article II powers to enforce the border, they call it fascism.

It’s nullification by any means necessary—ballots, bench, or bullets. The difference between the Democrat party and the Jacobins is increasingly that of wardrobe and weaponry.

The Democrats have spent years stoking this fire. They wrap their bombast in the language of compassion—but it’s calculated sabotage, and they know it.

There are more than enough words in the English language for legitimate dissent, debate, and discourse. Embracing the language of violence lays the foundation for violence to unfold. One leads directly, even inexorably, to the other.

This should be a moment for a reckoning, a reset. But so was Harpers Ferry.

Alvarado and McAllen didn’t just happen. Each was incubated by years of demagoguery, fueled by slogans, funded by activist nonprofits, sanitized by academia, amplified by the media, and enabled by politicians too craven to admit they had lost control of the beast—and worse, they now depend on it for power.

I strongly believe in freedom of speech, expression, association, and the press. But these freedoms are not freedoms from responsibility.

You stoke the fires of Jacobin rage—you should expect the burn that follows. Those who peddle incitement behind the thin veil of “activism” or “speech” do not deserve immunity from political consequence.

They deserve exposure, and voters must demand that those responsible be held to account.

Sadly, the Democrat voices of reason and genuine commitment to the rule of law have been silenced and sidelined—first by those who stoke the Jacobin fringe, and then by the Jacobins themselves, who have gained greater control over the party with each passing election cycle.

And the modern-day Girondists—the establishment enablers who think they can ride the tiger—are fanning the flames of a nihilist fervor they cannot control.

These are no longer voices America can safely trust with power.

There is a consequence to the rhetoric of the Democrats—and it led directly to Alvarado and McAllen. The consequences of this escalation—from violent hyperbole to violent acts—must flow from the ballot box to the political class.

If Democrats cannot or will not grasp the gravity of this moment, they risk becoming a rump party for a generation—or worse, the party that helped unravel the Republic itself.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

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The Roots of Leftist Rage ~ VDH

by Victor Davis Hanson at Townhall 

Across the political left, from orthodox Democrats to Antifa in the streets, the opposition to President Donald Trump has lost its collective mind.

The House minority leader and now self-styled tough guy, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, poses with a baseball bat to show how dangerous he is in opposing Trump's budget bill.

Jeffries harangued Congress for eight hours; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker went on for 25 -- both to no effect.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit the rally trail in private jets to rail about oligarchs, omitting that the ultra-rich are not only mostly leftists but also the funders of the Democratic Party.

Sometimes the Democrats in Congress make bizarre videos, featuring profanity like f**k or s**t. On other occasions, they scream and interrupt Congress.

Some representatives now confess that they're being pressured by their constituents to take a bullet for the cause.

The racialist Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett -- sometimes playing the prep-school prima donna, sometimes modulating her accent to pass as the authentic inner-city activist -- gains headlines for monotonously ranting about old white men.

On left-wing social media, the assassin Luigi Mangione remains a heartthrob for murdering a health-care executive, replacing the Tsarnaev brothers as the hot new left-wing killer.

He, too, might soon end up with a cover photo on Rolling Stone.

The left-wing internet mob grotesquely claims that children lost to the recent flash flood in Texas deserved their fate.

They even advance three sick reasons for their ghoulishness. Texas Christians supported the MAGA agenda and thus met a just fate. Or, as red-state Texans, they were deservedly collateral damage to DOGE's bureaucratic reductions. Or, as climate denialists would say, the flash flood took righteous revenge on children for their supposed ignorance.

Add it all up, and there is a sizable leftist "base" that is completely amoral.

Then there are the college campuses, where left-wing antisemitism, pro-Hamas terrorism, and DEI-fueled racism risk costing elite universities their multibillion-dollar subsidies which fund the indoctrination of young leftists.

In panic, cash-strapped universities can no longer hide that they were gouging the federal government with outrageous surcharges on grants. They were systematically defying the Supreme Court by their race-based admissions and hiring. They institutionalized segregationist dorms, segregated graduations, and antisemitism.

Finally, there is the so-called "left-wing Resistance" and the street mobs' descent into violence and terrorism.

Sometimes, thugs ambush ICE agents.

Sometimes, they firebomb Tesla dealerships.

Sometimes, they attack federal buildings, shut down freeways, and pelt patrol cars with concrete.

They continue with impunity because they know the Democratic Party cannot and will not censure them.

As in the months-long rioting of 2020, leftist politicos assume their street bandits will cause so much mayhem, violence, and chaos that Trump will either be forced to call out the troops (and thus "prove" he's Hitler) or be too scared to -- only to be blamed for the unrest, which could cost him the midterms.

But who or what drives the insane rages of these various armies of the left?

One is an obviously bleeding Democratic Party. Despite gushing about its new DEI, illegal alien, trans, and Middle Eastern constituents, it has no political power. Its issues are mostly 30-70 losers.

It has little power in the House or Senate beyond fake-filibusters, performative outrage, or profanity-laced rants.

It lost the White House. The Supreme Court eventually nullified the illegality of left-wing district judges.

It does not trust the people, so plebiscites and ballot measures are mostly out.

Two, unlike his first term, Trump is addressing the causes, not just the symptoms, of the progressive project, whether on the border, crime, cultural issues, or foreign policy.

This time around, there are no John Boltons, no Rex Tillersons, no Alexander Vindmans, and no Anonymouses from the inside to thwart the Trump agenda.

The administration is loyalist and committed to addressing the root causes of the left-wing influence, not just its manifestations.

So, Trump has focused on leftist sacred cows like NPR, PBS, the elite campuses, USAID, and the administrative state -- all the inculcators and laboratories of leftist ideology.

Finally, the left is outraged that so far, the Trump counterrevolution is working.

The economy is solid. The border is closed. Military recruitment has radically recovered.

The budget bill has passed. The Iranian nuclear threat has lessened. NATO is strengthening. The Middle East has a chance for calm.

Tariffs did not cause inflation. Deportations created more, not fewer, American jobs. Biological men will likely no longer be winning women's athletic contests.

Add it all up, and the impotent left in all its orthodox and street manifestations has become unhinged.

And why not when it rightly fears that not just its power, but the very sources of its power, are in mortal danger?

To Retain Exports Japan Slashes Auto Prices 20 Percent, Now Face Problem with Wages

Sundance reporting for CTH 

It’s the reverse rustbelt issue.  In order to retain their market share, Japanese automakers are slashing the prices of their export vehicles to the USA.  However, simultaneous with the anticipated drop in profits, the Japanese economists are worrying what impact this will have on autoworker wages.

Not accidentally this is exactly the problem U.S. workers suffered through during the era of offshoring our manufacturing. Apparently, Japan is heading into the dynamic the U.S. rustbelt previously suffered.  Imagine that.

The Straits Times – TOKYO – Japan’s automakers slashed the price of products exported to the United States at record pace, in a sign that companies are sacrificing profits to remain competitive as President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit cars.

In June, the export price index for vehicles shipped to North America plunged 19.4 per cent from a year earlier on a contract currency basis, the biggest drop in records going back to 2016, according to the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) corporate goods price report on July 10.

The data adds to signs that Japanese automakers are trying to avoid a major price increase to remain competitive in the US, even after Mr Trump began to impose 25 per cent auto tariffs in early April. The flip side of the move is it raises concerns over companies’ profitability and whether they can continue to keep raising wages – a key component of the Bank of Japan’s sustainable inflation goal.

The report also showed producer prices overall rose 2.9 per cent from a year earlier in June, slowing from 3.3 per cent in the previous month as the price of oil and steel declined.

BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda said last week he is closely watching whether the wage-inflation cycle will be maintained in the face of the US levies, in order to determine the timing of the next rate hike. In addition to the auto and steel tariffs that are already in place, Mr Trump announced on July 7 that the across-the-board tariffs on Japan will be raised to 25 per cent starting Aug 1.

While Japanese automakers including Subaru have announced some price increases, Japan’s strategy of not raising prices too much has shown up in other data. Car exports to the US, which make up about a quarter of US-bound shipments, declined 24.7 per cent by value in May, but only 3.9 per cent by volume. (link)

WHAT HAPPENED TO TRUMP?

The Real Threat Isn’t Settler Colonialism — It’s Settler Immigration

If Americans are taught by foreigners (and their children) to hate the men and ideals that birthed liberty, they will never fight to protect it when the next settler immigrant tries to take it away.

Brianna Lyman reporting for The Federalist

There’s a good chance that this November, New York City will elect an openly declared socialist, Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani isn’t American in any meaningful sense — he’s from Uganda and preaches ideas that are fundamentally incompatible with our republican form of government. Still, he has a good shot at winning, partly because his ideology taps into the same grievance that animates leftists everywhere: the myth of settler colonialism.

To these young, naive ideologues, America is an evil place because it was founded by colonizers, and this is “stolen land.” We’ve all heard the claims before. It’s the same reason leftists use to justify their hatred for Israel. To them, Israel (like America) is an example of settler colonialism, rotted to the core. But the real threat isn’t settler colonialism — it’s settler immigration.

Self-described political anthropologist Arsalan Khan posted on X that “Mandani argues that the difference between a settler and an immigrant is that the settler aims to create an entirely different society that fundamentally subordinates and excludes the native.”

Unironically, Khan was not trying to describe Mamdani himself, but that’s exactly what his post did.

Mamdani, like so many other foreign-born politicians in America, aims to create “an entirely different society that fundamentally subordinates and excludes the native.” Our reckless immigration policies — legal and illegal — have invited in not just people but entire ideological movements that want to dismantle America and remake her into something unrecognizable.

One way this is done is through the endless repetition of the lie that Americans live on “stolen land” and therefore are oppressors by birthright. Mamdani demanded that a statue of Christopher Columbus be taken down. Mamdani’s own father, Mahmood, said in 2022 that America is the “genesis of what we call settler-colonialism” across the globe, as reported by Fox News.

These comments are the embodiment of a dangerous trend where foreign-born radicals are using our open door to undermine our very foundations.

Somali-born Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said in a 2018 post on X that “we’re a country built on stolen land and the backs of slaves.”

Then there’s Rashida Tlaib, born to Palestinian immigrants, who said in a 2024 Thanksgiving message that “this Thanksgiving, we mourn the Indigenous people killed by European settlers and the United States in order to steal their land. From here to Palestine, we stand in solidarity with all Indigenous people as they fight for freedom on their own land.”

It’s a message meant to demoralize Americans, to strip them of patriotism and guilt them out of loving their country, history, and heritage. After all, who could possibly love a nation so irredeemably wicked?

Sadly, the message is working.

Just five years ago, Americans watched in disbelief as statues of our greatest men — Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and countless others — were torn down, defaced, or smeared in the name of justice.

“There is no point in having these statues. All they do is remind everybody of the history of the United States and its role in perpetuating white supremacy and the institutionalization of anti-blackness,” 21-year-old Rosario Navalta, the daughter of Filipino immigrants, told The Washington Post.

“Jefferson is not ‘the’ father of this nation,” she said. “We cannot sit there pandering to the past.”

But what does the daughter of immigrants from a third-world country know about this nation? Clearly nothing if she believes Jefferson’s legacy begins and ends with the fact that he — like so many others worldwide at the time — enslaved people.

But never mind the facts. The truth is that our open-door immigration policies have flooded this country with either newcomers themselves or newcomers who raise children who despise what makes America, America. From Mamdani and Omar to Tlaib and Navalta, the result is the same: These are settler immigrants who want to do exactly what Khan described — create an entirely different society that fundamentally excludes the native people and ideas.

And once you delegitimize the founders, you delegitimize the country itself, paving the way for a new type of America — you know, the kind Mamdani promises. An America not steeped in natural rights, but an America in which there are no natural rights and therefore no system of government to protect those natural rights.

If Americans are taught by foreigners (and their children) to hate the men and ideals that birthed liberty, they will never fight to protect it when the next settler immigrant tries to take it away. That’s the real threat, not some invented myth of “settler colonialism” but settler immigration — foreign-born radicals who come to America not to embrace and protect her, but to erase her.

Democrats Astonished by New Polling Showing Voters Don’t Care About Their Favorite Fake Crisis

Katie Jerkovich reporting for RedState 

CNN's polling analyst Harry Enten delivered more bad news to Democrats after a new shock poll proves Americans aren't afraid of so-called climate change, with numbers that haven't changed in decades, proving radical activists have failed.

In a clip on Thursday from our sister site Townhall.com, Enten stands in front of his big board with a message across the front that reads "Americans Aren't Afraid of Climate Change."

He then broke down the numbers:

"Americans AREN'T afraid of climate change!" Enten said with shock in his voice. "Climate activists have not successfully made the case to the American people!"

The data showed that in 1989, 35 percent of those polled admitted they were greatly afraid, and those numbers have basically stayed the same, with 39 percent feeling that way in 2000, and five years later, that number sits at 40 percent.

"We went back all the way to 1989, look at that, it was 35 percent," Enten said. "2000, 40 percent. 2020, 46 percent. And in 2025, 40 percent. Which is the exact same percentage as back in 2000."

"Despite all of these horrible weather events, the percentage of Americans who are greatly worried about climate change has stayed pretty gosh darn consistent," he added, sounding genuinely flabbergasted. "Which kind of boggles the mind a little bit, granted everything that we see on our television screens, our computer screens."

"Hurricanes, tornadoes, the flooding," Enten continued. "But yet, greatly worried about climate change, 40 percent, the exact same percentage as in 2000."

The bad news for Democrats follows other reports lately, with RedState reporting that when it comes to one of their favorite issues, illegal immigration, Americans' support of President Donald Trump's actions to get rid of illegal criminals in the country has "gone up like a rocket."

As my colleague Nick Arama wrote:

He's gone up 20 points since his first term on the topic, and now he's in positive territory. "Trump knows that what he is doing is working with the American electorate," Enten said. Cue the crying from the rest of the CNN crew, who aren't going to like that. 

Enten further outlined how 54 percent approved of Trump's deportation program for those here illegally, and 51 percent approved of ICE searching the town for people who were there illegally. "So it's not just on the broad issue of immigration," Enten said, it's on these specifics as well, where Trump is above 50 percent. 

The report went on to note that despite Democrats like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom pushing back on these efforts, Enten said, "The American electorate thinks Democrats don't have a clue." 

Enten showed three different polls as to who the American people trusted more on immigration. CBS and CNN both had GOP +6, and Ipsos had +19, even more. No matter what poll, no matter which way you cut it, Enten concluded, the American public is with Donald Trump on immigration and the specifics. 

So, for those keeping track, Democrats are on the wrong side of the so-called climate change issue, illegal immigration, transgenders, oh and the economy.

Democrats don't have a finger on the pulse of what people care about. And while that's bad news for them, that's good news for President Trump and Republicans.

Rubio Shuts Down Media's Fake News on the Trump Administration Pausing Aid to Ukraine

Becca Lower reporting for RedState 

When the legacy media latches on to a story it wants to disseminate widely, it's not all that different from a hungry Doberman Pinscher guarding a luscious T-bone steak its owner accidentally left on the kitchen counter. Such has been the case with the recent story about the Trump administration Pentagon pausing aid shipments of rockets and other weapons to Ukraine in its war with Russia. They just keep trying to make it happen.

Check out over Independence Day weekend, when a reporter in a gaggle asked President Trump about the alleged pause, the insinuation being that it was a change in U.S. support: 

Then CNN's Kaitlin Collins asked the president about it during Tuesday's cabinet meeting; 

The NY Post even got in on the party with a new column it published on the 4th of July, written by its Editorial Board, begging Trump to "re-arm Ukraine" in the wake of the phone call with Vladimir Putin. 

FNC's Jennifer Griffin opined on it on Wed. while sharing an AP piece on X -- and notice that these "facts" are based on the word of  a handful of anonymous sources who leaked to the AP:

US resumes sending some weapons (155 mm artillery shells and GMLRS) to Ukraine after Pentagon pause surprised White House, embarrassing President Trump.

Trump has privately expressed frustration with Pentagon officials for announcing the pause.

Readers might remember this is the same reporter whose blatant bias in her reporting against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came to a head in June, as we wrote.

The only problem with the media's desire to keep this story burning is that it's fake news.

Ukraine already thanked the U.S. for resuming the shipments on Tuesday, in an interview by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top advisor, Andriy Yermak, with the NY Post:

[Pres. Trump] was quite disturbed by recent strikes — they’ve been happening for more than three years — but by recent strikes, murders with drones and missiles that fall in Ukrainian cities, including the capital of Ukraine.

He continued:

We would be happy if in this war with Russia against Ukraine, President Trump helps us to achieve a just and strong, durable peace. His pressure is working.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio put this fake news story to bed once and for all with a quick answer to a media scrum question:

"That decision, unfortunately, was mischaracterized," Sec. Rubio said. "It was a pause pending review on a handful of specific type munitions. That, frankly, is something that is logical that you would do, especially after an extended engagement" -- while defending both Israel and American bases overseas after the bombings of the Iranian nuclear facilities.

He continued by calling it a "very limited review," characterizing it as "typical," so that the U.S, has adequate munitions on hand.

Rubio shows a clear hint of frustration in his voice after listening to the question on this, I think - and can you really blame him?