The left descends on Turning Point USA

American  Thinker 

Over at last few years, people on the left have taken exception to the mission of Turning Point USA (TPUSA).  Our leftist university campuses in particular have criticized the TPUSA mission, since it advocates conservative and religious values.

Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of the organization, attempts to ban the organization have grown exponentially.  And if they oppose the plans of TPUSA, they have good reason to be worried about maintaining their leftist agenda:

Since [Kirk’s] death, interest in Turning Point USA, the organization he co-founded has grown exponentially.

“In the past 2 weeks, TPUSA has received 121,000+ requests from high school and college students nationwide to start a chapter or get involved with an existing chapter,” the organization posted on X Wednesday.

The attacks on the organization have been vehement and hateful.  College campus executives, professors, and students have lied and misrepresented the actions of the organization.  Here are some of the fabrications that the left is promoting:

From its inception, TPUSA has sought to be confrontational. One of its most notorious tools, the Professor Watchlist, publishes the names, photos, and alleged offenses of professors the group deems “anti-conservative.” This public shaming campaign has been condemned by educators and civil liberties advocates as a threat to academic freedom and personal safety. In more recent years, TPUSA has expanded its targets beyond individual professors, with initiatives like the School Board Watchlist, designed to stir distrust of public education and stoke fear around diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

You might be interested to learn that the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League (both of which have been discredited by the FBI), and other journalists are leading the efforts to defame TPUSA.

A petition was filed at Rutgers University to remove TPUSA.  Here’s a sampleof what it stated:

The Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has been continuously promoting hate speech and inciting violence against our community. This disturbing behavior has created a toxic environment that has already led to tragic consequences. Alarmingly, a respected professor felt compelled to leave the country, fearing for the safety of their family due to threats and harassment cultivated by this group.

TPUSA filed its own petition against a professor at Rutgers University, Mark Bray.  After President Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, Bray showed up in the headlines.  He is referred to as “Dr. Antifa“:

Bray is the author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” a book that openly calls for “militant anti-fascism.”

He has also been accused of being an Antifa financier, and noted in his book that, “at the very least 50 percent of author proceeds will go to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund which is administered by more than three hundred antifa from eighteen countries.”

Amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on Antifa, Bray announced this week that he and his wife are fleeing to Spain.

Anyone who has viewed the discussions on YouTube that Charlie Kirk had with students will know how bizarre these accusations are.  Here’s a statement of the TPUSA mission:

We are committed to identifying, educating, training, and organizing students to promote freedom. [snip]

Turning Point USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk. The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.

The encounters between Charlie Kirk and students were described as confrontations.  Here’s one description:

Across campuses, students and faculty report that TPUSA representatives deliberately provoke heated exchanges, record them, and circulate the footage to mobilize their base and fundraise off manufactured outrage. Former members have confirmed that such confrontations are not accidental, but rather part of the playbook. 

Here’s re-statement of the characterization above that is hopefully more honest and objective:

When representatives of TPUSA invite students to dialogue with them, the exchanges are passionate. But they are respectful, demonstrating good listening skills, and an abundance of patience by the TPUSA person. (Students are often misinformed or uninformed about the topics they raise and they are the ones who raise them.) Exchanges are videotaped and may be found on youtube.com, so that people can be fully informed about what is occurring and the tenor of the dialogue. As a point of information, you can’t discuss controversial topics without a degree of confrontation; the demonstration of respect makes all the difference.

The organization is also pushing back against the defamation and lies.  This statement was made by a student at Rutgers, Ava Kwan, outreach coordinator for the Turning Point USA chapter:

Any opinion that challenges their worldview is immediately branded as “hate speech,” a meaningless term weaponized to control dissent and protect their false narrative. The petition, Bray’s retreat abroad, and my own doxxing by unhinged Rutgers leftists all tell the same story: they know they’re losing.

Let’s hope she’s right.

Podcast and entertainment thread for Oct 12

 

You deserve to be happy, no matter how many dumb slip ups you've made.

Who Is Still in the Sandbox?

Townhall 

Donald Trump has completely upended the powers in the Middle East. 

Imagine that the lucrative TV contract between the NBA and one of the networks is coming to an end. Both parties rush to find the right terms for the next contract, but they cannot see eye-to-eye. Donald Trump swoops in and negotiates directly between the broadcaster and the 30 NBA teams. The front office is completely shut out of the negotiations. A new contract is signed, and all parties are happy—except for the NBA executives who realize that they have become superfluous.

Donald Trump has completely rejiggered the power structure in the Middle East. Maybe it would have happened without him, but with his recent announcement of an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the president has shown a new stack of cards in the region. Did you hear any mention of the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the first part of the agreement? Did anyone run over to Ramallah to either consult Mahmud Abbas or fill him in on the negotiations? Was there a PA rep at any of the key discussions in Egypt? Not to my knowledge. The Palestinian Authority, the bastard child of the Oslo Accords, is watching the changes unfold as are the people at the local falafel stand across the street from the Mukhata.

In addition to the PA, the Europeans and the UN have also been let out to pasture. Remember the “Quartet”? Well, Donald Trump and the U.S. are playing solo now. The fat clown who runs the U.N. had to find a working microphone to demand that the parties abide by the agreement in which he played no role. Maybe he is busy trying to figure out how UNRWA can continue killing Jews under the new program. Starmer, Macron, and the other European dwarfs were also left out of the program. They all clapped like seals when a deal to release the hostages and stop active combat was announced. But they also were not at the negotiating table. Their role is to open the door for Donald Trump.

The players who are sitting at the table: Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, Qatar. Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar apparently applied the screws to Hamas to agree to the Trump 20-point program. Qatar is the Bank of Hamas, and both Turkey and Egypt have direct lines to the remaining Hamas leadership. There was a very interesting conversation in the Oval Office recently. Donald Trump was wearing, of all things, an F-35 pin on his lapel. President Erdogan of Turkey was sitting next to him. He had come for some F-35s and other American goodies. A reporter asked President Trump if he planned to sell Turkey the newest American fighter. Trump’s answer was suggestive. He answered that he would make the deal, but that he wanted certain things from Turkey as well. Could he have been referring to getting Turkey on Hamas’ back to close a pending deal? I don’t serve drinks in the White House, so I cannot know. But Turkey, with its coup in Syria to make Assad a Russian, has strengthened its position in the Middle East. Trump knows it and wants to leverage Turkey’s role in order to advance American interests, which include peace. Turkish Airlines is petitioning to restart flights to and from Tel Aviv, after abandoning the market for two years.

Those left out of the Trump program deserve to be on the sidelines. The Palestinian Authority’s only regret on the October 7^th massacre is that they did not initiate it. Their actions and rhetoric are no less anti-Israel than those of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In 1993, as Yasir Arafat’s presence on the South Lawn was soiling the grass there, leftist fools in Israel, the U.S., and Europe felt that they could simply wish away generations of open Jew hatred by putting out a new shingle in Ramallah. Over a thousand Israelis were murdered during the second intifada due to the willful ignorance of these people, one of whom is Tony Blair who has visions of grandeur as the future viceroy of Gaza. Hamas has nixed his role, which makes me want to give them one credit point. The PA, the UN, and the Europeans showed themselves to be conflicted, distracted, and too bureaucratic to actually contribute to peace between Israel and Palestinians. So Donald Trump cut to the chase. He leaned on the countries that have influence today and are dependent on the U.S.—and this list includes Israel. Notice how Qatar got its U.S. protection promise from future attack just a week before the deal was rolled out? The deadweight bodies like the UN and the EU were sidelined so that actual results might be gained. They could read about the deal in the newspaper after its publication.

The supposed non-Hamas technocratic government in Gaza sounds like a pipe dream. The number of technocrats in Gaza is so small that they could all fit into a VW Beetle and still have room for their wives and children. It is an interesting idea though. Natan Sharansky said that in the 1990s he brought a bunch of Palestinian businessmen from Ramallah to meet Bill Clinton. “Mr. President, here is the future leadership of the Palestinian people.” As per the former Refusenik, Clinton looked up and said, “It’s Arafat, Arafat, and only Arafat.” At least today they are talking about a government that does not include the Palestinian Authority or one of the terror groups. Anyone who has spent more than five minutes on X has seen any number of videos of Gazans screaming that they would rather kill Jews than eat or have a roof over their heads. This thinking is not going to change quickly and one would be hard-pressed to find some type of leadership material from this dreck. The non-Hamas Hamas-leaning government that is supposed to run Gaza will be told to keep its Jew hatred around the dinner table and away from social media.

A side note to President Trump’s proposed visit. Rumor has it that guests on the top two floors of the King David Hotel have been cleared out for the incoming presidential party. The American delegation usually takes those floors as the top suite has bulletproof glass. They also usually take rooms and floors from other hotels. Right now, we are in the middle of a major Jewish holiday. People being moved booked those rooms at least a year ago. They cost a fortune. While I am sure that those affected will receive some type of compensation, where will they go? All of the local hotels are booked up due to the massive influx of foreign guests for the holiday season. I didn’t see any well-dressed people sleeping on the sidewalk in front of our place, so apparently they did find them alternative quarters. Maybe they can sleep at the embassy.

As I wrote last week, I don’t believe that the deal will get much past the first phase, namely full hostage release in exchange for Israel reducing its footprint from 73 percent to 53 percent of Gaza, including all border regions. But maybe that was the goal. The president certainly has made the plight of the hostages a centerpiece of his efforts during his nine months in office. I am no fan of Turkey, Egypt or Qatar, but they are being elevated in the present agreement into the major players in the region. Will a broader peace reign? Will the Abraham Accords be expanded? And will those kicked out of their rooms get them back when the presidential entourage goes home? Stay tuned!

Where China Still Has a Hold on Us

American  Thinker 

For many years now, many Americans have been muttering under our breath, “Why do we buy so much from China?” 

Whether we’re at a clothing store, a computer superstore or a big box discounter, the question is the same as we see that label on the box. 

The same goes for us in the business world, as we find ourselves forced to buy parts, components, even finished goods made in China, because they just aren’t available anywhere else.  Not in the USA, not in Mexico, often nowhere on earth except China.  It’s unacceptable, but sometimes, we’re stuck. 

So we elected President Trump, and he committed to reducing our tax and regulatory burdens, and to raising tariff barriers on China so that American companies would find it competitive again to make everything here — as we used to. 

It’s hard sometimes, but we understand both sides, and we’re living with it. 

What we talk about less — because it’s harder, and frankly, because it’s more remote, more hidden — is how all this affects our export market.  We may hate buying from China, but we don’t mind selling to China.   

Just as China is happy to export to us, we are happy to export to China.  We figure we’re finally getting some of our money back, after all.  We’ve had this massive trade deficit for all these years, and the only reason it isn’t worse is that we do sell the Chinese a lot of products — mostly raw materials for their manufacturing engine to improve and food for their people to eat. 

We ship them soybeans, integrated circuits, petroleum, vehicles, and more.  But the one in the news these days is the soybeans. 

Soybeans are our number-one export crop to China.  In a good year, we sell $18 billion’s worth of them to China alone.  That’s over 11% of our total exports to China by value. 

The integrated circuits and other tiny electronics that we make here come in second by value, at $9 or $10 billion.  We buy them back, later, as computers and cell phones and more.  Don’t let anyone tell you the USA can’t make small electronics competitively.  China buys ours. 

After these heavy hitters, we get to the fuel sector, where our exports of liquid and non-liquid petroleum, pharmaceuticals, and vehicles show up in the statistics before the next food item: corn, at about $5 billion per year. 

The problem is — well, actually, there are lots of problems, but this is the first one — the USA is a free economy, whereas China is a command economy.  Chairman Xi’s politburo in Beijing can give an order, and China increases or decreases its purchases the next day.  In the USA, it’s up to hundreds of corporations, and countless thousands of independent farmers, who await those orders — just as it’s hundreds of corporations and countless thousands of manufacturers and distributors who make the individual choices, item by item, purchase order by purchase order, to buy what China is selling. 

So one of the problems with the theory of free trade is that it can’t really exist as long as some countries are free and others are not.  Our government can set tariffs, quotas, penalties, and taxes, but our government can’t directly tell American business whether or not to buy or sell anything.  By contrast, Chairman Xi can.  He can give an order, and it’s done.   

That’s one of the things Democrats love about Marxism, after all: The establishment can issue an edict, and it happens.  As capitalists, Republicans see the positives and the negatives of such power.

China is ordering less from the USA this year.  It’s the price of trying to correct our trade imbalance.   

On the macro level, it makes sense, and it’s worth it — the goal of becoming independent of the Chinese market is paramount.  But on the micro level, it is painful, as this means countless thousands of American exporters, especially the agricultural ones, are stuck with fewer buyers for their soybeans, corn, and other foodstuffs. 

From a public policy standpoint, there are solutions — unpleasant ones, but solutions nevertheless.

Our government can give tax credits and grants to the exporters suffering from this temporary shrinkage of our Chinese customer base.  Purists oppose such grants, and with good reason, but it’s not as though it’s without precedent.  For generations, our government handed out milk subsidies, cheese subsidies, butter subsidies, honey subsidies.  If a farmer produced it, there was a bureaucrat to set a price support for it.  The barn door was left open on this issue generations ago. 

So that is the solution, and yes, we need to find a reasonable way of doing it this year, to save the producers who’ve had their markets pulled out from under them, in part, through no fault of their own. 

But there’s another of those pesky problems: Is it entirely through no fault of their own? 

We have long thought of our exporters as the heroes, the ones who get some of our dollars back when they export.  To an extent, that is true.  But there is still a part of the argument against massive imports from China that applies equally well to the issue of massive exports to China: China is our enemy, in many, many ways.

The Chinese threaten our allies.  They cheat our inventors.  They fund the terrorists who attack us.  They fund the corrupt colleges and charities and organizations that undermine us at home.  Just as we should not be rewarding such a country with our purchases, we arguably shouldn’t allow ourselves to be dependent on them for our sales either, should we? 

One day — we don’t know when — China will start a war, and we will be on the other side of it.  We will rush to the defense and support of Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and others (whether they all deserve it or not).  We will be there, because China cannot be allowed the world domination it desires.   

When that happens, we will immediately lose China as a source, and every American company that depends on China for anything at all — raw materials, technology, components, finished goods — will immediately have to find new vendors. 

By the same token, when that war happens — they’re the ones planning to start it, not we, so we have no idea — the exporters who depend on China as a customer will also find themselves, suddenly, without that buyer. 

Should they have ever allowed themselves to become so dependent on one single customer, especially an enemy nation as corrupt, communist, and warmongering as China is? 

In business school, they teach you to diversify.  Don't let your catering or landscaping or laundry business become 100% dependent on this hospital or that corporate headquarters.  What if it shuts down or moves?  What if you lose the contract?  How was this lesson lost on the farmers and agricultural giants who similarly allowed themselves to become dependent on one foreign customer, a nation that murdered a hundred million of its own citizens and constantly threatens its neighbors even today? 

In this long, hard trade war, we need to acknowledge certain hard truths.  One of them is that, just as we should never have let ourselves get so dependent on one source for our purchases, we should never have let ourselves become so dependent on one destination for our export, sales either. 

When we get through this challenging time, we pray that we can settle on a future that makes America more independent of our enemies — in both directions. 

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

Welcome to 

The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

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CBS Journos Shocked That New Boss Wants to Know What They Do

Townhall 

Writer Bari Weiss is the new Editor-In-Chief of CBS news, and some journalists worry they might now have to write fair news.

She sent a memo across CBS News asking them to explain how they spend their time.

Weiss sent a memo across CBS News asking them to explain how they spend their time and what’s working and not working.

In response, the Writer’s Guild of America’s East, which represents some CBS employees, encouraged writers not to respond until the Tuesday deadline.

The letter might be reminiscent of Elon Musk DOGE committee that cut wasteful government spending. 

She sent a memo across CBS News asking them to explain how they spend their time. 

Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, recently bought Weiss' company The Free Press for about $150 million in cash plus stock, the New York Times reported. The news company also put her in charge of the news division. 

Weiss targeted 10 core goals that the new CBS aims to achieve:

1. Journalism that reports on the world as it actually is.
2. Journalism that is fair, fearless, and factual.
3. Journalism that respoects our audience to tell the truth plainly-wherever it leads.
4. Journalism that makes sense of a noisy, confusing world
5. Journalism that explains things clearly, without pretense or jargon.
6. Journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.
7. Journalism that embraces a wide spectrum of views and voices so that the audience can contend with the best arguments on all side of a debate.
8. Journalism that rushes toward the most interesting and important stories, regardless of their unpopularity.
9. Journalism that uses all of the tools of the digital era. 
10. Journalism that understands that the best way to serve America is to endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost. 

Weiss' takeover of CBS follows as many small, medium, and large news outlets are going bankrupt and laying off employees. 

Trust of news outlets hit a record low of 28% in the U.S., according to a recent Gallup poll. The new leadership change might change that. 

University adds ‘trigger warning’ to James Bond novel ‘Dr. No’

 

CAPTION & CREDIT: Sean Connery as the original James Bond in 'Dr. No'; YouTube

Posted on October 12, 2025

By Dave Huber - Associate Editor - The College Fix

ANALYSIS: Agent’s stories ‘contain many problematic issues such as racism, misogyny and xenophobia‘

An entertainment staple for over 50 years, the suave British spy James Bond has been featured in numerous novels and 26 films, the most recent being “No Time to Die,” actor Daniel Craig’s last as Agent 007.

News broke this past week that the film franchise’s new owner, Amazon Studios, digitally removed 007’s handgun from various Bond actors’ poses. But after fan outrage, Amazon put the guns back … and offered no explanation, according to OutKick.

The Pierce Brosnan pose for “Goldeneye” looked particularly stupid:

CREDIT: John A. Douglas/X

Now the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. has included the Bond novel “Dr. No” on a list of 50 books that have trigger warnings, according to The Telegraph.

“Please note: James Bond films and novels are popular to this day but contain many problematic issues such as racism, misogyny and xenophobia,” the university said. “We will be discussing the problems with this text in all of our seminars.”

The school said it “encourages students ‘to engage with teaching texts in an informed way’ through content notes.”

Content warnings recognise the diverse lived experience of students and that there can be content they will find challenging or potentially distressing as a result of their experiences. It is our duty of care to our students to do so. The warning enables students to prepare emotionally, engage more deeply and discuss the issues raised by the content critically and constructively.

Ian Kinane, a lecturer at the University of Roehampton and editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies, defended the trigger warning.

“[I]t is simply a matter of consideration – not to mention healthy wellbeing practice – on the part of Portsmouth’s lecturing staff to signal for their students the inclusion within Dr. No of certain outmoded language and themes,” Kinane (pictured) said.

CREDIT: U. Roehampton

Kinane said he uses content warnings with his students “as an acknowledgement of his ‘awareness of their potential sensitivities.’”

He added, however, that deletions of entire sections of books — like what happened with the Bond novel “Live and Let Die” — isn’t a good idea.

“The responsible thing would be to preface the text with a disclaimer, not to expunge passages entirely to pretend they never existed in the first place,” he said.

In 2018, a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia determined that in James Bond films, the secret agent “sipped a drink 109 times, or an average of 4.5 times in each film,” meaning he has a “chronic” problem with alcohol.

Yes, “sipped.” What would we do without medical journals?

'ThisBitchNeedsToDie': Another Lib Caught Wishing Death Upon a Conservative in NJ School Board Race

Townhall 

Enough. I’m tired of being told to turn down the rhetoric when we did nothing wrong. Second, the very people making those claims are wishing death upon us behind our backs. It’s nothing new, but just a reminder for everyone to hit the mute button when some self-righteous liberal says that in your presence. 

Your people are shooting ICE facilities and conservative activists. Liberals are children who need a belt to the face, especially this liberal in a local New Jersey school board race who's been busted sending graphic texts about his conservative opponent. And yes, he’s wished death upon her. He’s since dropped out of the race (via NY Post): 

A New Jersey school board candidate was caught red-handed sending vicious, sexual messages about a conservative female board member in a group chat labeled “ThisBitchNeedsToDie.” 

Photos of Scott Semaya’s vile texts about Danielle Bellomo at a July school board meeting leaked this week on social media — and the widening scandal is now being investigated by local cops and roiling the affluent suburb of Marlboro. 

“Bellomo must be cold — her nips could cut glass right n” read one text, allegedly captured on camera while Semaya’s fingers typed an “o.” 

Outrage was immediate, and Semaya this week dropped out of the race for the Marlboro Board of Education, followed by his running mate Melissa Goldberg. 

[…] 

Semaya, 38, an accountant who has voiced progressive liberal views, was one of five candidates running for three open seats on the Marlboro Board of Education. He cited only “family circumstances” in announcing his exit from the race. He did not return multiple messages seeking comment. 

[…] 

Ironically, Bellomo was once Semaya’s daughter’s Girl Scouts leader. 

“This is heartbreaking for me,” she said. “This is what he was thinking when I was volunteering with his children — it’s a hard pill to swallow.” 

Bellomo, who is serving her first full, three-year term on the board, said she’s been subjected to months of online threats and made several police reports. 

[…] 

The vicious chat group was believed to be composed of five men, and allegedly included Chad Hyett, current Marlboro school board vice president, according to a source. Many in the town of 41,000 are now calling for Hyett’s resignation. 

We know this isn’t contained to the local level. In Virginia, Democratic candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones, had his campaign wrecked after 2022 texts revealed he wished death upon then-Speaker of the House of Delegates, Todd Gilbert, and his family, wishing his children would die of gunshot wounds so he’d change his position on gun control. 

It's no wonder that the average American liberal has a propensity for political violence. 

A WaPo Reporter Did Not Just Email This to Members of Congress...

Townhall 

I wish this were satire, but it’s not. We’re in the middle of a government shutdown battle, and The Washington Post decided to blast this email, apparently, to every member of Congress. You’d think it would be about the shutdown, right? Something about the issue of health care subsidies expiring, or health care for illegal aliens—but, alas, no. It was about which member of Congress was vaccinated against COVID. I’m not kidding:

Seriously, is this really what’s at the top of the story well over there? COVID is over. Only lunatics still get vaccinated, and there’s bigger fish to fry over who isn’t getting the shot that isn’t all that more effective than the flu shot, might give people heart problems, and Lord knows what else. But thanks, Washington Post, for reminding us how Democrats lost their iron grip on the youth vote. It’s because you and the Democratic Party lied about this virus. 

The government is shut down, but the legacy media remains obsessed with who is vaccinated or not against the little virus. What a clown show. 

Hegseth Takes Unaimed Fire After Announcing the U.S. Will Train Qatari Pilots in Idaho

RedState 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth kicked off a brief firestorm Friday during a press conference with the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. While engaged in mutual backslapping over defense cooperation, Hegseth praised the Qatari role in brokering the ongoing cease-fire/peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, which was only possible after Israel blew up Hamas's leadership, which was in luxury accommodations in Doha. And he announced the opening of a training facility for Qatari pilots at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

HEGSETH: No one other than President Trump could have achieved the peace that we believe will be a lasting peace in Gaza and Qatar played a substantial role from the beginning, working with our folks to ensure that came about. So I want to thank you for that historic peace, and I look forward to joining the president as that gets, it’s already been delivered, but as that’s formally signed as well. I’m also proud that today we’re announcing…signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho. The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots who enhance our combined training, increased lethality, interoperability. It’s just another example of our partnership, and I hope you know, Your Excellency, that you can count on us. We saw in Midnight Hammer, in those moments when we needed support in the region, Qatar was there; without a doubt, without a blink. And that has meant a great deal. I’ve had the opportunity to see that first-hand, operationally. I want to thank you, I want to thank your country for hosting our troops. It’s wonderful to welcome you to the Pentagon.

The words had hardly left Hegseth's lips when the usual suspects were attacking Hegseth and crying treason.

As saner voices pointed out, like our own Buzz Patterson, going ballistic over this statement didn't make much sense.

I know, I was an Air Force pilot.

Remember, also, Qatar just helped Trump achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. It’s part of a bigger picture.

Pete Hegseth, himself, posted a clarification.

We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.

Qatar is purchasing a new fleet of F-15s. This will require regular training for pilots and maintenance crews to service the aircraft. It makes much more sense to do that in the U.S. than in Qatar, simply because maintenance facilities are available in the U.S. and won't have to be recreated in Qatar. In addition, Qatar is tiny, so any training by its air force requires international coordination. Locating the Qatari training facility at a U.S. airbase gives them access to U.S. weapons ranges and airspace for training.

Several countries have permanent training facilities in the U.S. 

The German air force maintains a tactical training command at the Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. The command was previously in Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. German pilots have trained in the U.S. since 1958.

Hundreds of Singaporean air force personnel are based at Mountain Home. They live and work on the base as part of a training program aimed at qualifying them to operate F-15 fighter jets. Like Qatar, Singapore’s small geographical size forces the country to send its service members abroad for training. Singaporean troops also train in Australia, which offers a training ground that is five times the size of Singapore as well as live-fire facilities. It also has an air force squadron based in France.

In 2018, Singapore was authorized to expand its presence at Mountain Home, with Washington approving the construction of additional support facilities.

Pilots from the Netherlands, Britain and other NATO allies train in the United States.

Ukrainian pilots have a training facility at Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona. 

Of course, this program is not without risks. A Saudi training program at Pensacola Naval Air Station was shuttered after an aviation cadet did the most Islamic thing possible and opened fire at the training facility, killing three American sailors and wounding eight.

While I believe Qatar has a poisonous influence in the U.S., spending billions to fund universities and hire "think tanks" to promote its interests, there is no doubt that it is also a useful "frenemy" to have in the Gulf.