It’s Not Islamophobia, It’s Islamo-I’m-Sick-of-Hearing-About-It

Townhall 

Two Muslims tried to murder a bunch of people this week because, well, they exist wrong in the eyes of many Muslims and that was enough for them. The Mayor of New York gave a statement on the attack that spent more time whining about the people who were simply speaking – literally using words – than criticizing the Mayor’s ideological brothers who tried to murder them. Life is about priorities and Democrats show you theirs regularly. Believe them.

Zohran Mamdani said, “This was a vile protest, rooted in white supremacy, entitled 'stop the Islamic takeover of New York City.'” He then whined that “anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me...”

Honestly, who cares? You want to be Mayor, you need to put on your big boy pants and do the job. I don’t care that you’re Muslim. In fact, I’m sick of hearing about it.

I lived for nearly 6 years in Dearborn, Michigan, in the 90s and didn’t hear as much whining about “Islamophobia” as I hear on a daily basis in 2026.

The country is not infested with “Islamophobia,” it’s overrun with wanna be victims looking for any excuse to distract from their failures, exert power over others, or simply cash in on the progressive leftist fetish of victimhood.

Honestly, we’re all very sick of hearing about it.

If your first instinct upon hearing someone talk about the very real and perverse practices of some of the members of your faith is to not condemn child brides or grooming gangs, but ascribe hatred as their motive for such statements, we have very little choice but to assume you’re cool with those things.

As a Catholic, you might want to have a condemn-off with me about how horrible the church was in its child molestation scandal, and how there are probably a lot of people burning in hell (and more who should be in prison). I’ll play that game and I may well win. Why is the response about grooming gangs to cry Islamophobia? It’s pretty easy to slam people, any people, doing bad things…if you believe they’ve done bad things.

If the topic of terrorism comes up, people like Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5) will whine that “white men” are the biggest threat to just about everything. She’s not stupid; she’s evil and knows exactly what she’s doing. She won’t be challenged on it – she won’t go within a football field of any reporter who’d ask a serious follow-up question or mention the FBI statistics about perpetrators of violent crimes like murder as a percentage of the population – so she can just toss the bomb and walk away, the subject having been confused and distracted.

There is more discussion about the sins of white people hundreds or thousands of years ago than there is about the crimes of people alive today. Well, no one alive today participated in the Crusades or slavery, on any side of those things. But every discussion about anything current that doesn’t involve someone whiter than Elizabeth Warren is, well, shut down. If Abby Phillip were paid a dollar for every time she interrupted the lone conservative on her show to prevent them from making a relevant point about anything unfavorable to even some white person with a tan, she could buy and sell Elon Musk.

The left doesn’t want to hear it. That’s how a discussion of a terrorist attack can be morphed into a discussion of tweets from Republican Members of Congress no one has ever heard of.

I’ll care as much about some tweet the left has deemed “mean” or “racist” as some random, unknown elected Republican sent out, the second leftists address the genuine lies, racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism Democrat leadership, pundits and “journalists” spew daily. Until then, I don’t think anyone is interested in your feelings.

The United States is the most amazing country to have ever existed, and we’ve been infested by the cancer of progressivism that is rotting us from the inside out. Iran, or any of our other enemies, will ever be able to do as much damage as Democrats have. Our enemies don’t have to plot against us; they just have to wait – Democrats will do their work for them because Democrats are them.

They are free to leave – to the extent that we have fences, they are designed to keep people out, not in. But they won’t leave because they know the lies they vomit up about how oppressive the US is are just that: lies. They don’t want to go back to the places from which they came, or the places that already have the governments they want to impose here, because their scam of victimhood wouldn’t play over there. They know how good they have it here, and part of how good they have it here is the ability to whine about how bad it is to a receptive audience of liberal morons riddled with guilt over things they didn’t do to people who didn’t have it done to them.

We aren’t an “ist” or “phobic” country, we’re a sick of this s**t country; we’re a “done listening to your whining and complaining” country. You want to be taken seriously, act seriously. Act like decent human beings, sickened by people throwing bombs or a regime that murders 35,000 of its own citizens for the “crime” of speaking against their real oppression. Be grateful to be here, no matter what configuration of a human being you might be, whether you were born here or moved in last week. If you are, you will find you complain almost not at all and you’ll be happy. If you’re not, you deserve your misery.

Podcast thread for March 12

 

Lovely day. :)

Suddenly, the media and other Democrats are concerned about the government spending money

Suddenly, the media and other Democrats are concerned about the government spending money

Now they pretend to care about spending?!

Jack Hellner for American Thinker 

The media and other Democrats are campaigning as hard as they can for the tyrannical Iranian regime to stay in power so it can continue building weapons, supporting terrorists around the world, pledging death to America and Israel, and threatening to assassinate Republicans, including Trump.

Most of the media and other Democrats use the same talking points to intentionally mislead the American people and influence the polls instead of informing people. They say the goals of Trump are not clear, or continually change in Iran. It takes nitwits or dishonest people to parrot such a narrative, because Trump’s agenda is obvious.

The first goal is to rid Iran of weapons so they can no longer threaten and terrorize anyone. This will also take away the threat from their proxies.

Then, after they can’t terrorize the Iranians and others, the Iranian people will have the freedom to elect a leader whose goal is not destruction, but prosperity and self-preservation.

The other talking point they use is that this is an endless war. What pure B.S. The endless war has been the last 47 years of tyranny in Iran. Democrats clearly would rather have that continue than having Trump succeed. They also never complained or challenged Obama’s long war in Libya for regime change. They did not call it illegal and unconstitutional every day.

Senator Kelly, and others, are whining that this is costing one to two billion per day. That is $3 to $6 per day per person. I will gladly pay my share. Maybe Kelly should give up one cup of coffee at Starbucks each day. I have never seen the Democrats complain about government spending or suggest cuts unless it is for the military.

How much did it cost the world because in the 1930’s so many appeased Hitler instead of taking him out?

How much has it cost all of us because these tyrants have been in power for 47 years?

How much has it cost the U.S. and the world because when Obama and Biden wouldn’t give Ukraine weapons when Russia invaded Ukraine to appease Putin?

How much has it cost because Obama, Biden, and Europe gave Iran access to hundreds of billions of dollars with their worthless Iranian deal, which the mullahs then used to build weapons and sponsor terrorism? Obama even shipped the tyrants boatloads of cash. And the compliant media and other Democrats cheered and somehow thought this deal made the world safer.

How much did it cost when Europe, Biden, and all the career diplomats watched Putin amass massive forces around Ukraine in 2021? Biden famously told Putin a small incursion would be just fine. He sent a brilliant message to Putin.

How many hundreds of billions did it cost America and the world when Biden set out to destroy the oil, natural gas, and coal industries? As the price of crude went from $40 per barrel to $120 per barrel at its highest point, the media and other Democrats cheered for the policy. They never blamed Biden for the price of oil soaring that greatly helped Russia and Iran support wars and terrorism. Nope, they falsely blamed Russia.

Wouldn’t it be great if America gave up oil and had to fight wars against Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea who won’t? We would be sitting ducks. B-52s and ships would be so efficient running on flammable batteries. Think of recharging during wars. But Democrats could pretend we are saving the planet by going towards the fictional net zero.

How much as the green scam cost the average consumer per year? It is trillions, and Mark Kelly and other Democrats supported that.

As inflation soared during Biden’s years, a family that spent $70,000 saw its cost surge 20% over four years, or around $14,000 per year. Did Kelly or the Democrats complain then?

How many hundreds of billions has it cost consumers each year as Democrats pretended they could control the weather? Democrats cheered for all the additional “environmental” regulations.

Democrats never care about waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending. They pretend it is minimal. They sought to destroy DOGE. The compliant media never asks Democrats about the fraud in Minnesota or elsewhere because they don’t care.

The open borders caused billions in short term costs and hundreds of billions in long term costs, and Democrats supported that—they still do.

Biden ignored rulings by the Supreme Court and dictatorially and unconstitutionally used hundreds of billions to pay off student loans, and Democrats supported that.

Obamacare’s massive regulations and taxes cost hundreds of billions or trillions, and Democrats support that.

But they pretend to be concerned about money now that Trump is working to make the world much more prosperous and safe by eliminating global threats.

Most of the media and other Democrats have had one clear goal for the last ten years, and it has been obvious and constant. It is to destroy Trump and Republicans, no matter what they do.

Thank goodness people were smart enough to elect Trump. Incidentally, Trump is more popular in polls today than either Obama or Bush at this point in their second term. The complicit and dishonest media will not report that.

I will gladly pay my $6 per day so Trump and Israel can rapidly finish this 47-year war and build a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.

Why America Must Defend Itself From The China-Canada Alliance

American Thinker 

Last week, The Bureau revealed that in 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) visited a lab belonging to Bobby Shah, also known as Bahman Djebelibak, a Vancouver businessman sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for links to a Chinese drug syndicate. Worse, a senior RCMP officer emailed Shah a recipe for fentanyl production.

Shah’s company, Valerian Labs, is the only Western node connected to a Chinese fentanyl trafficking network. However, it remains unclear whether the RCMP is investigating Shah or plans to file charges. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which has been monitoring Shah since 2023, has criticized the RCMP for stonewalling.

Questions have naturally arisen about Canada’s efforts to combat narcotics, especially involving China. The Shah case highlights Canada’s complicated connection with communist China, partly stemming from a history of anti-American sentiment. Becoming a trading partner with China was viewed as a way to lessen economic reliance on the U.S., reduce its influence on foreign policy, and discover new markets.

But any effort to create a new national identity that overlooks geography, history, and inherent ideology is risky. Especially when cozying up to communist China, which aims for global dominance with clear focus, long-term strategy, and sneaky execution.

In Under Assault: Interference and Espionage in China’s Secret War Against Canada, Dennis Molinaro, a former Canadian national security analyst, uses recently declassified documents to detail China’s covert operations in Canada: interference in politics and policy, espionage, theft of intellectual property, and suppression of Chinese immigrants.

It all started in 1968 when Pierre Trudeau, a sympathizer of communism, became prime minister. He was targeted even before taking office: he first visited China in 1949, the year the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the civil war, and again in 1960 with journalist Jacques Herbert. They authored a book praising communism — Two Innocents in Red China — after a guided tour that kept them from witnessing the devastating famine and the brutal takeover of Tibet.

Not surprisingly, within two years of becoming prime minister, he recognized China, convinced that it would become a communist utopia. Ordinary Canadians might have seen his decision as a way to promote peace during the Cold War and balance the threat of the Soviet Union. But the Chinese clearly saw it differently: a relationship with Canada was a way to force the U.S. to accept Beijing’s legitimacy and to gain a major role in the global order.

Leftist France was the first to recognize the CCP-led Chinese government, in 1964; in 1970, Canada followed suit, with Trudeau leading a Liberal Party government. But even before that, in 1965, as a newly elected member of Parliament, Trudeau believed that if Canada engaged with China, “it would be harder for the Americans to stop us,” according to Molinaro.

Molinaro’s book cites documents suggesting Trudeau might have been the first prime minister targeted by China. His actions clearly support this: while acknowledging China, he cut ties with Taiwan; he condemned the Vietnam War; and he aimed for Canada to diversify trade away from the U.S.

Meanwhile, CCP operatives cultivated academics and politicians to favor China in Canada and the U.S. The influence operations were funded by jade and narcotics smuggling into Toronto and Montreal. Molinaro says Canadian officials chose “deliberate blindness” even though they knew the CCP was interfering with Canadian-Chinese communities, and the government ignored China’s human rights abuses in Tibet and against its own people. In 1971, Canada was among 76 countries that voted to admit China to the U.N., while the U.S. and 34 others opposed its entry. Taiwan was summarily expelled.

For the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, China sought and received Canada’s assistance to gain recognition as the ‘One China.’ Taiwan was barred from participating under the name “Republic of China,” prompting its athletes to boycott the event. Ottawa supported China for the Olympics despite knowing that the CCP was using Canadian embassies and consulates in the U.S. as spy stations. (It wasn't until 1979 that China was permitted to open liaison offices in the U.S.)

Trudeau continued to provide aid to China, using it as an incentive to boost trade. By 1980, China replaced Taiwan as a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 1981, Ottawa launched a five-year aid-for-trade program worth $75–100 million in federal funding. Such Canadian help played a significant role—along with Deng Xiaoping’s gradual shift toward a socialist market economy—in transforming China into an economic giant.

Even after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, when many countries imposed sanctions on trade with China, Canada strengthened its business ties with China. In 1993, Prime Minister Jean Chretien led a trade delegation to Beijing despite knowing that the CCP was connected to criminal gangs and was harassing pro-democracy students in China and Canada.

Molinaro explains how Ottawa expanded its trade relations with China to include defense and military exchanges. In 1994, Chinese Vice Premier Zou Jiahua was secretly taken on a tour of a Canadian nuclear facility, followed by the sale of two nuclear reactors in 1996. Canada had no qualms about aiding a country known for human rights abuses and a poor environmental record. It also did not hesitate to help Pakistan fix a reactor in Karachi in 1992, even though it had ended nuclear cooperation with Pakistan in 1976. By 1998, Pakistan was a nuclear power. Pro-democracy and environmental activists protested but were ignored.

Describing a deal to sell spy planes with Israeli surveillance equipment to China, Molinaro says he cannot confirm whether the sale took place but cites it as evidence that Canada was willing to do anything for China. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper did aim to shift relations with China, canceling bilateral engagement and focusing on human rights. However, when actions by pro-CCP groups reduced political support, he found it practical to open six trade offices in China.  He also allowed China to establish a consulate in Montreal, and pledged to cooperate on aerospace, telecom, and pharmaceuticals.

China is notorious for cyberattacks and espionage, but Canada doesn’t seem to care. Chinese hackers compromised data at Nortel, a telecom and networking equipment manufacturer, stole its technology, and took control of entire computers. However, after Nortel’s bankruptcy, the Canadian Department of National Defense moved its staff into the company’s headquarters despite reports that it was bugged. Given that Canada is a Five Eyes member, this is especially concerning to the U.S.

China is probably the world’s biggest technology thief: NSA director Keith Alexander describes its theft as “the greatest transfer of wealth in human history.” China has stolen vacuum technology from Dyson, trade secrets for the color white from DuPont, C-17 aircraft designs, files on the F-35, and information on deadly viruses. But Canadian universities receive $50 million in research funds from Huawei, a known Trojan horse for the CCP, and work with China’s National University of Defense Technology, which is blacklisted by the U.S. as a security risk.

The 47 Confucius Institutes in Canada, now known as Centers for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC), promote China’s image and suppress criticism of its policies. Through these institutes and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), overseen by the United Front Work Department (UFWD), the CCP fights against the “five poisons”: support for Taiwan, Tibetan self-determination, the Uighurs, the Falun Gong, and pro-democracy movements. Canada has failed to protect its Chinese communities from repressive UFWD actions such as surveillance, illegal arrests and deportations, and threats to relatives in China.

In Under Assault, Molinaro argues that China’s infiltration of Canada has become dangerously widespread and presents a major threat. The U.S. has every reason to reevaluate its policies toward its northern neighbor, with which it shares the world’s longest undefended border.

British PM to Muslims: “You Are Modern Britain”

British PM to Muslims: 

“You Are Modern Britain”

While Trump topples the mullahs, Starmer exalts their supporters.

Bruce Bawer for Frontpage Magazine 

It’s the country of Magna Carta and the great English liberties. It gave us the Mother of Parliaments and established the largest and most benign empire the world has ever seen. It held out alone against the Nazis, under an inspiring leader who vowed that “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” And after the war it became America’s partner in a Special Relationship that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union.

But now? To quote John of Gaunt’s speech in Richard II, “That England that was wont to conquer others / Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.”

Of course, Britain is not alone. For centuries, challenged time and again by an incomparably ruthless religion of war, men from every corner of Europe, including the scepter’d isle, fought back fiercely, at places like Tours and Vienna, knowing that they had to do it, that they had no choice, that they were defending themselves from a force bent on total domination and destruction, a power that knew no compromise or pity. Everyone knew what Islam was.

At some relatively recent point in history, however, that knowledge was tragically lost. Where did it go? Instead of recognizing Islam as an existential enemy, an all-consuming ideology of conquest, European leaders concocted an absurd image of Muslims as innocent victims of poverty and, indeed, of European imperialism – never mind that the entire Muslim world, as we now know it, was acquired in bloodthirsty imperialist battles over the centuries by savage warriors from the Arabic peninsula. Possessed of this deluded image of Muslims, European leaders instituted insanely generous – and suicidal – immigration policies that, bit by bit, over recent years, have brought their countries to the brink of, yes, conquest.

And in no country have the leaders behaved more irrationally, more self-destructively, and less in accord with their own proudest national traditions, than in Britain. The nation most identified with the freedom of expression has imprisoned thousands of its own citizens for daring to speak the truth about Islam. And a nation of people known for their quiet decency and self-control allowed unruly Muslim mobs, in the wake of the October 7 atrocities, to take over the boulevards of major cities, stopping traffic, vandalizing storefronts, beating up Jews, cheering murder, and shouting “Allahu akbar.”

Even after all this, however, one could be forgiven for being taken aback by the disgraceful words spoken by Labour Party prime minister Keith Starmer – a man who is the very personification of fecklessness – on March 3. On that date – a mere three days after the U.S. and Israel initiated a spectacular series of military strikes on Iran, the world headquarters of Islamic terrorism and expansionism – Starmer delivered some prepared remarks at an Iftar celebration in Westminster. “I want to make clear,” he told the British Muslims in attendance, “the UK was not involved in the offensive strikes of the U.S. and Israel, and that remains the case.” He went on:

I will always stand firmly against anti-Muslim hatred in all its forms. I will root out Islamophobia. I will challenge it. My government will match those words with the action that they deserve. And that’s why last week we announced up to £40 million in funding for mosques, Islamist [sic!] schools. That’s why I will fight with every breath I have to root out the hatred that seeks to divide us.

What a speech. What a betrayal. What sheer and utter cowardice! As Donald Trump said only a few hours before Starmer’s Iftar remarks, in response to the latter’s refusal to let the U.S. attack Iran from UK bases, Starmer is “no Winston Churchill.” He’s not even a Neville Chamberlain. He’s more like a Quisling.

At that Iftar event, in a few short sentences, Starmer managed to accomplish several things. He distanced himself from the ally that saved his country from the Nazis in World War II and that has provided it with an umbrella of military protection ever since. He implicitly attributed America’s war of liberation to “anti-Muslim hatred.” He implicitly sided with the pro-terror, pro-totalitarian Muslims who condemned the strikes and against the freedom-loving Iranians (and others) around the world who applauded them. He embraced, for the thousandth time, the fiction that his country is afflicted not by unspeakable atrocities that are motivated by Islamic contempt for infidels (he has repeatedly downplayed the gang rape of childen), but rather by something called “anti-Muslim hatred.” British politicians are always shedding crocodile tears over “anti-Muslim hatred.” They never venture to explain where this “hatred” came from. Nor do they ever publicly address the question of why Brits don’t exhibit anything that might be labeled “anti-Hindu” or “anti-Buddhist” hatred.  

Of course, while Starmer likes to jaw about the “anti-Muslim hatred” that “seeks to divide” British society, he knows very well that he’s turning reality on its head. He knows that the seeds of division – a division that’s meant to be the preamble to absolute conquest – are in reality being sown in Britain’s mosques and madrassas. He knows that it’s there that barbaric preachers and teachers instill and reinforce a hatred for infidels and a conviction that Islam’s destiny is to rule over them. But instead of closing these institutions down and shipping the preachers and teachers back to where they came from, Starmer brags about spending British taxpayers’ money to pay those preachers’ and teachers’ salaries. To pay, that is, the future conquerors with the hard-earned money of those whom they intend to conquer.

The logic of it is the logic of appeasement. It’s the logic of a government that’s already looked into the future and decided that it doesn’t have the will or the skill to prevent an Islamic takeover, and that has consequently decided to sell out Britain’s heritage, Britain’s freedom, and Britain’s promise in order to make the transition to slavery as peaceful as possible. What was that line about how Britons never, never, never shall be slaves?

No, Britain isn’t the only NATO member to spit in America’s face after the attacks on Iran began. Refusing to let U.S. planes involved in the Iran strikes use a joint base in Spain, that country’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “We say no to breaking the international law that protects us all.” And his defense minister, Margarita Robles, declared: “No single country should act as a guardian of the world. We have international rules.” How quaint this delusion that “international rules” – those illusory things – are any stronger than the governments that are willing to use military power to enforce them! (This is the same country, as you may know, that decided recently to give legal status to up to half a million illegal immigrants, including convicted felons.)

Then there’s Norway, whose prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, has said that the Iran war “is not a war Norway wants to be a part of,” and whose foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, responded to the assaults by calling on “all parties to respect international law, protect civilians, and to seek diplomatic solutions.” So grateful were the (remaining) mullahs for Norway’s stance that Iran’s ambassador to Norway, Alireza Jahangiri, welcoming a Dagbladet reporter to an “elegant” room in his “venerable” villa in the “best” part of western Oslo, praised Norway’s rejection of the toppling of the ayatollah, noting that “compared to other countries in Europe, Norway has always been a strong supporter of international law” and that its “approach to the entire Palestine matter was magnificent.”    

But the anti-American, Islam-friendly rhetoric of Spain and Norway seem paltry compared to the vile message sent out by the prime minister of the UK on March 3. “You,” he told his Muslim audience, “are the face of modern Britain.” Has any British prime minister ever said anything that was a more despicable insult to his own people — to the ordinary Brits who obey the law, who work hard to make ends meet, and who have accepted for too long being treated as second-class citizens of the country that their ancestors built and fought for? Has any British prime minister ever engaged in a more shameless whitewash of Muslims — who, per capita, have contributed the least of any group to Britain’s economy and taken the most from it, who are the group most responsible for violent crime, and who are uniquely devoted to the eradication of individual liberty and sexual equality and the introduction of sharia? 

Starmer’s voice, needless to say, is the voice of profound fear – but it’s also the voice of sheer idiocy. Because what halfway intelligent person could possibly believe that British Muslims’ response to such pathetic groveling will be anything other than an intensification in their contempt for their patient, well-mannered British hosts? Muslims who get their educations in madrassas may not learn terribly much that has value in the real world, but what they do learn early on is (a) to recognize over-the-top praise of the sort served up by Starmer as a sign of utter weakness, and (b) to recognize an action like Trump’s attack on Iran as a manifestation of terrifying global power – a power that they know instinctively to treat with respect. How can a miserable creature like Starmer climb as far as he has up the greasy ladder without realizing such simple facts? 

The face of modern Britain? Islam is the scourge of modern Britain. But unless Starmer’s government is succeeded by a company of brave souls who are willing to take fast and dramatic action to reverse course, Muslims are almost certainly the face of Britain’s future – as well as the future of much of the West. Yes, there are intelligent patriots in Britain who claim that such a reversal is at hand. Maybe so. It’s hard to tell. One day there are reports of Muslims on horseback in Manchester, trying to trample supporters of Iranian freedom – while police stand by and do nothing. A day or two later, tens of thousands of pro-Trump Iranians storm a pro-Ayatollah rally in London. Who’s winning? Who knows? All I know for sure is that, if Islam does conquer Britain, the story of Britain’s centuries of triumph and glory, and of its fast and ignominious fall, will be remembered with profound and unending puzzlement wherever freedom still survives.

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Trump Is Dismantling Xi’s ‘China Dream’ One Piece At A Time

China has been chasing the title of world superpower for over a decade. Trump is still holding Xi back.

The Federalist

We are barely into March 2026, yet President Donald Trump’s bold foreign policy has already delivered a series of body blows to Xi Jinping’s grand vision for China’s global dominance.

Since assuming power in 2012, Xi has promoted the “China Dream” — a nationalist narrative of national rejuvenation that envisions China supplanting the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower. Central to this is his conviction that the “East is rising and the West is declining,” a belief that has shaped over a decade of CCP propaganda, military buildup, and assertive diplomacy. Xi discarded Deng Xiaoping’s prudent “hide your strength, bide your time” approach in favor of an assertive foreign policy posture, such as militarizing the South China Sea, coercing neighbors like the Philippines and Vietnam, and expanding arms exports to build influence in the Global South.

For years, this seemed prescient. The United States, under Presidents Obama and Biden, along with European allies led by leftist leaders, has taken a path of managed decline, plagued by open border immigration, falling birthrates, identity erosion, and economic drag from green policies. The Covid-19 pandemic (originating in China) halted Trump’s first-term growth momentum, seemingly accelerating Xi’s timeline.

But 2026 has brought a stark reversal.

Xi began the year with a stunning purge: removing General Zhang Youxia — his longtime ally and the PLA’s most senior uniformed officer — from the Central Military Commission in January. Accused of “serious violations of discipline and law” (code for corruption and disloyalty), Zhang’s ouster signals deep insecurity. Even Xi’s inner circle is not immune, raising doubts about the PLA’s cohesion and readiness amid ongoing military modernization.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump kicked off the year by capturing China’s closest ally in Latin America, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, in a precise raid, merely hours after Maduro held a meeting with a high-level Chinese delegation. Chinese-built defense systems suffered “catastrophic paralysis” during the raid, exposing significant flaws in Chinese military technology and marking an embarrassing setback for Xi.

The Trump administration has also taken control of Venezuela’s oil industry, threatening China’s billions of dollars’ worth of investments in the country and the access to oil. Yet, Beijing offered only rhetorical support for Maduro; no real support materialized. This lack of action exposed China’s limited reach: allies get words, not protection.

Days later, Panama’s Supreme Court annulled longstanding contracts dating back to 1997, which included a 25-year extension granted in 2021. These contracts allowed a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings to operate two key container ports at the entrances to the Panama Canal. By Feb. 23, Panama seized control of those ports. This is seen as a victory for the Trump administration’s efforts, which began in 2025, to reduce Chinese influence over the canal. CK Hutchison is often regarded in Western analyses as having ties to Beijing, despite being a Hong Kong-based private conglomerate.

The trifecta culminated in late February, as the United States and Israel conducted joint military strikes against Iran, successfully eliminating over 40 of the regime’s top leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, during the early hours of the operation. While President Trump’s stated objectives for this military campaign primarily focus on Iran, it has also significantly affected China.

Approximately 13-14 percent of China’s annual seaborne oil imports come from Iran, making it China’s third-largest supplier, behind Russia and Saudi Arabia. The broader Middle East and Gulf region, which includes both Iran, accounts for 40-50 percent of China’s oil imports. Last year alone, China imported 5 million barrels of crude oil per day via the Strait of Hormuz.

In response to the military strikes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned ships to avoid passing through the Strait of Hormuz and has attacked oil tankers in the area. As a result, China’s access to affordable oil from the Middle East has been restricted. Essentially, within two months, China has lost two important oil suppliers, which together represented 17 percent of its oil imports.

The situation regarding oil prices could not have come at a worse time for China, as its economy is already facing significant challenges: the property market continues to decline, domestic consumption is weakening, and youth unemployment remains elevated at more than 20 percent.

Compounding the humiliation: Chinese-supplied air defense system (e.g., HQ-9B variants) in Iran reportedly failed to protect Iranian sites from stealth aircraft and missiles. Similar underperformance of Chinese-made weaponry has been observed in Venezuela during U.S. operations and in Pakistan during its brief conflict with India. China relies on arms exports to build geopolitical influence, particularly in the Global South and to counter Western dominance. These exports also help secure resource deals, such as oil ties with Iran and other countries. Battlefield flops erode the regime’s credibility and future sales prospects.

China further undermines its international standing by limiting its response to mere diplomatic condemnation and calls for a ceasefire. Such muted response reveals a pattern: Beijing prioritizes economic interests and self-preservation over ally security.

These events reveal significant gaps in Xi Jinping’s pursuit of superpower status. China is still far from matching the United States in terms of global military presence, alliance formation, currency influence, and soft power. Additionally, China is not yet able to effectively shape the international order or reliably defend its partners. These deficiencies are casting doubts about Xi’s proclaimed inevitability of his “China Dream.” Xi has been eager to step into the role of a superpower for over a decade now, yet 2026 may very well be the year when Trump starts shattering Xi’s “China Dream.”

Thune Is Sabotaging SAVE Act While Pretending He Tried Everything

‘It’s not enough for him to kill the SAVE America Act. Thune has to kill it while also protecting his worst RINO colleagues,’ Sean Davis said.

The Federalist

Stuck in a do-nothing U.S. Senate, the SAVE America Act would be safer in a Canadian euthanasia clinic. 

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune has become a laughable Pawn Stars meme, effectively telling President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans, ‘The best I can do is a Screw America Act.” 

He’s helpless. That’s the South Dakota Republican’s answer to the urgent call from actual conservatives warning him that the window for critical election integrity reform is quickly closing. Just call him John “Very, Very Difficult” Thune. 

“There are no easy ways to do this,” Thune told reporters Tuesday when asked about the prospects of Senate passage of the voter verification legislation. “Believe me, we’ve examined all the options.”

Have they? 

‘Yeah, That’s Not Going to Happen’

The Republican-controlled House passed the SAVE America Act nearly a month ago, making the Republican-led Senate prioritize the legislation that requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in U.S. elections and photo identification to cast a ballot. Per usual, the fast-moving bill hit a brick wall. 

Originally promising the proposal would come up for a vote, Thune has spent the past few weeks whining about how hard — or impossible — it will be to move the measure to Trump’s desk. It was more of the same on Tuesday, despite the president’s threat that he wouldn’t sign any legislation but a Department of Homeland Security funding package until Senate GOP leadership gets its act together and passes the Save America Act. 

House Republicans, the bill’s Senate shepherds, Trump, and even his old buddy Elan Musk have urged Thune to work around the legislative death warrant that is the 60-vote threshold required to move the bill, using the “talking filibuster” to do it. The strategy would force Democrats —  who loathe the legislation — to hold the floor to stall a simple majority vote on the election-integrity reform. The rules would place limits on debate. Eventually the Dems would run out of steam and the vote would be called. 

But Thune threw cold water on the talking filibuster. 

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” the majority leader told ABC News earlier this week. He noted Trump’s call for adding election integrity reforms and a ban on medically transing children to the current version of the SAVE America Act. 

“The president clearly is very interested in getting the SAVE America bill up and voted on, although he wants a modified version of it, and so we’ll do our best to do that,” Thune told the corporate news outlet. 

“But the one thing I’ve said all along is, and I’ve told him and others, that I can’t guarantee an outcome. I can’t guarantee a result. If the result is only achieved by nuking the legislative filibuster, we don’t have the votes to do that and so that’s not a — that’s just not a realistic option,” he added. 

‘His Worst RINO Colleagues’

What “Very, Very Difficult” Thune didn’t say was that he’s likely running cover for RINO senators who claim they support the SAVE America Act but don’t want to have to work for it — or vote on it. 

“Understand what Thune is doing right now. It’s not enough for him to kill the SAVE America Act. Thune has to kill it while also protecting his worst RINO colleagues from being exposed for opposing it,” The Federalist’s CEO Sean Davis wrote Tuesday in a post on X. 

How does Thune accomplish his subterfuge? By avoiding a majority vote at all costs, Davis asserts. 

“Thune knows a public vote where Republicans get less than 50 votes — with people like [Republican Sens. Thom] Tillis and [John] Curtis and [Mitch] McConnell and [Lisa] Murkowski voting against IT — is electoral poison. He doesn’t want it to pass, but he also can’t have it die at the hands of his own puke colleagues,” Davis wrote. 

‘A Moment in Time’

Quoting anonymous sources, Politico on Tuesday reported that Thune plans to put the bill up for the standard 60-vote threshold next week, where it is destined to fail under united Democrat opposition. Senators, according to Politico, will be able to engage in extended debate, but Thune knows it’s all an exercise in futility. Most important, nobody has to be held accountable. 

“Thune needs to kill the SAVE America Act, not expose any of his GOP colleagues as being against it, and be able to pretend that he tried,” Davis said. “This is the actual Senate GOP trifecta — doing nothing while pretending they tried everything and protecting the worst of the worst the whole time.”

At an event over the weekend, Trump exhorted Senate Republicans to “go for the gold,” calling passage of the election law reforms a matter of “national survival.” 

Thune and friends aren’t even brave enough to compete. 

They have been presented an enticing offer. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a heated run-off Senate primary with four-term Sen. John Cornyn, has said he would consider dropping out of the race if Senate leadership agree to lift the filibuster and pass the legislation. He called Cornyn a “coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill.” 

“The SAVE America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate could ever pass, and I’m committed to helping President Trump get it done,” Paxton wrote on X. 

Last week it appeared Trump was on the verge of giving his endorsement to Cornyn, a blessing Thune and his fellow establishment Republicans have been begging for. But Trump has delayed the endorsement as Senate leadership weakly trudges along.  

Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., who serves as chairman of the powerful House Administration Committee, said it is absolutely essential that Republicans force the Senate to vote on the SAVE America Act. He said the foot-dragging has been frustrating. 

“We hear the parliamentary procedure arguments from the Senate time and again. I think that’s what frustrates a lot of us,” Steil told me Friday on the Dan O’Donnell Show. “We have a moment in time when we control the United States Senate, the House of Representatives and the presidency. Conservatives are united behind driving this agenda forward, but it seems time and again there’s a small number of folks in the Senate that have caused us to hit a roadblock.”

That would be John “Very, Very Difficult” Thune and his Republican establishment pals, working to avoid consequential votes and to Screw America First.