Representative Don Bacon is openly and publicly in opposition to every President Trump policy. Bacon is a ‘professional republican’, a traditional DeSantis republican.
Appearing on CNN the Nebraska Republican says if President Trump were to leave NATO, “there would be a civil war in the republican caucus.” WATCH (prompted):
In fulfilling her legislatively mandated annual report called the “National Threat Assessment,” Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, releases the combined intelligence assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Additionally, here is the transcript of DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
[TRANSCRIPT] – “I am here today to present the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment, joined by the Directors of the CIA, DIA, FBI and NSA.
This briefing is being provided in accordance with ODNI’s statutory responsibility and represents the Intelligence Community’s assessment of the threats facing U.S. citizens, our Homeland, and our interests.
As President Trump’s National Security Strategy highlights, America is blessed with an enviable geostrategic position, unparalleled assets, resources and a military second to none. Intelligence remains among our sharpest tools in protecting our interests and informing our policymakers and decisionmakers on key national security concerns.
In this assessment, we are following the structure of priorities laid out in the National Security Strategy, starting with threats to our Homeland, then shifting to global risks.
The defense of our Homeland is of utmost importance to the American people. Putting America first means committing to an unrelenting vigilance in service of our own citizens, borders, and communities. Recent efforts to bolster Homeland defense have yielded significantly positive results, but challenges persist.
For example, President Trump’s strict enforcement of U.S. policies at the U.S. Mexico border and regionally has served as a deterrent and drastically reduced illegal immigration. Based on Customs and Border Patrol data, January 2026’s monthly encounters are down 83.8% compared to January 2025. Encounters declined 79% compared to 2024.
The drivers of migration are likely to continue. Potential worsening instability in countries like Cuba and Haiti risk triggering migration surges. Smugglers who often operate as transnational criminal organizations view chaos as an opportunity for profit and will look to continue to profit from illegal immigration flows.
Transnational criminal organizations continue to pose a daily and direct threat to the health and safety of millions of U.S. citizens primarily by producing and trafficking in illegal drugs.
Under President Trump’s leadership, fentanyl overdose deaths have seen a 30 percent decrease from September 2024 to September 2025.
Fentanyl potency has also decreased, likely due to disruptions to the production supply chain.
U.S. efforts to work with China and India to halt the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals to North America are demonstrating improvement, but there is more work to be done as there are still tens of thousands of fentanyl-related deaths in America every year.
President Trump’s aggressive efforts to more directly and actively target TCOs and reduce the inflow of fentanyl precursors has already had a significant impact which is likely to continue. (continue reading – pdf)
The opening statement is 8-pages in full and can be found by following the ‘continue reading’ link above.
Tulsi Gabbard is doing a solid job as DNI, against formidable opposition from all directions.
“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
This could have been a challenging question for Vance to answer because both Vance and Kent are funded and supported by the same ideological donor, Billionaire Peter Thiel. [FYI Tucker is also in this stable] Thiel is a libertarian minded billionaire within Big Tech and not necessarily an ideological fan of Donald Trump or MAGA. Palantir is one of Thiels companies with CEO Alex Karp running it. Palantir is a major contractor within the national security apparatus.
JD Vance adroitly navigates the answer by saying once the President makes a decision, the role of all subordinates is to get behind that decision, and never openly compromise your leadership.
“It’s one thing to have a disagreement of opinion…That said, whatever your view is, when president of the United States makes a decision, it’s your job to help make that decision as effective and successful as possible…If you are on the team and you can’t help implement the decisions of his administration, he has the right to make those decisions, then it’s a good thing for you to resign. And I think that’s exactly right. It’s fine to disagree, but once the president makes a decision, it’s up to everybody who serves in his administration to make it as successful as possible.” WATCH:
This is very interesting because Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer went to Paris last weekend to meet with their Chinese counterparts and organize the deliverables for the upcoming summit between Chairman Xi Jinping and President Trump.
At roughly the same moment that Bessent and Greer were meeting with China, President Trump sent out the Truth Social message requesting Chinese ships to come to the Strait of Hormuz and escort their oil. I said at the time of Trump’s message that Chairman Xi was going to have to negotiate through this issue carefully because it was very obvious that President Trump was not going to maintain any diplomatic pretenses when he met with Chairman Xi.
Yesterday, during the St Patrick’s Day celebration President Trump said the summit was cancelled. “We’re resetting the meeting and it looks like it’ll take place in about five weeks,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in an event with Micheál Martin, the Irish prime minister.
Today, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed there is no scheduled replacement date for the cancelled summit.
Keep watching. Bessent and Greer didn’t go to Paris for nothing.