MAGAs Can Agree to Disagree

American Thinker 

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin said, “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” Yet, it sometimes appears that if a MAGA Patriot questions President Trump, he or she is considered an “infidel” and verbally pushed off the Trump Train.

On some issues, I stand with the president from start to finish. On others, I might not completely agree but appreciate the reason for his position and accept it. But there are times when I vehemently disagree with President Trump’s actions.

I am still MAGA.

I am still an America First Patriot.

I am still riding on the Trump Train.

Fellow MAGAs should accept dissent from the president because we are Trump supporters, not members of a cult. However, it happens that if a MAGA Patriot so much as whispers any disagreement with President Trump, that person will be angrily rebuffed and sent a detailed list of Trump’s achievements.

Focusing on past achievements and ignoring current issues reminds me of something I did when I was 6.

I helped my mom clean the house, fold the laundry, and take care of my baby brother. She repeatedly praised me, saying I was her little helper and doing a great job.

That afternoon, Mom went onto the stoop and bent down to put empty milk bottles into the container for the next day’s pickup. (Yes, milk used to be delivered.) While she was bending down, I ran up to her, jumping on her back for a ride. Thanks to my momentum, she flipped over and lost consciousness for a few minutes. My dad and several neighbors carried her into the house. “What the hell got into you, Robin?!” my normally serene father yelled.

A short while later, a truck came down the street playing cheerful music while pulling a small ride. All the kids asked their parents for a dime to go on the merry-go-round.

I went into my parents’ bedroom where Mom was still recovering from the fall and said, “Except for jumping on Mom’s back, I was a very good girl today by helping Mom clean the house, fold the laundry, and take care of my brother. Can I have a dime for the ride?”

I will let you guess my dad’s response.

That memory comes back whenever I post or say anything negative about a decision President Trump has made. For instance, related to Iran. Fellow MAGAs get upset, wanting to stifle disagreement and instead focus on the president’s long list of achievements.

Of course, President Trump deserves a standing ovation for his multitude of accomplishments, but admiration does not require silence. Supporting the president does not remove my right to question or disagree with something he is doing or saying.

I’ve earned that right since I boarded the Trump Train in June 2015, when Donald Trump confidently rode down the Trump Tower escalator to announce he would run for President of the United States of America. Calling my mother, an apolitical lifelong Democrat, I informed her that Donald Trump would be elected our next president. Mom thought I was nuts. (Not the first time.)

Each month at my Republican club’s meeting, I posted flyers with photos of the 17 candidates who had declared for office. Among them, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush!, Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and former Arkansas Governor (and Pastor) Mike Huckabee. Members put their initials next to the candidate they supported.

Through the remainder of 2015 and into early 2016, my initials were usually the only ones on the Trump flyer. Most members remained split between Dr. Ben Carson and Senator Ted Cruz.

Slowly, those initials changed. Candidates dropped out after primaries or debates. Suddenly, I had lots of company on the Trump Train! As momentum grew, I organized or participated in rallies, attended events, and started wearing Trump attire.

Trump 45 offered Patriots an exciting, sometimes frustrating, but always glorious train ride. Then the fraudulent pause for a docile old man whom history will only remember as the dash between 45 and 47. (I started my weekly national newsletter, Patriot Neighbors, in 2020, the same year I started contributing articles to American Thinker.)

By President Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, the Trump Train was overflowing with Americans supporting a man who shares our commonsense conservative values. For two more years (especially if we hold Congress) and with the right Republican nominee in 2028, this great Trump Train ride will continue.

MAGA Patriots who respectfully question, debate, or criticize Trump policy should be welcomed, not chastised, because a wealth of different views benefits all of us. As Founding Father Thomas Jefferson said, “No government should be without critics. If its intentions are good, then it has nothing to fear from criticism.” Or, as Ronald Reagan said, “The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is an 80% friend, not a 20% enemy.”

Podcast thread for July 5th

 

Hope you're not too hungover from last night.

Where Are the Obamas and the Clintons on the Monsters Taking Over Their Party?

Townhall 

As the Nazis took over Germany, they were a minority party that no one really took all that seriously. Hitler was crazy, but his ramblings weren’t thought of by most Germans or the political establishment as foreshadowing. People today forget they were not a majority, as history tends to obscure reality for the sensational. Communists in Russia and China (or anywhere they destroyed, really) were a minority, too. But you should never underestimate the ability of a distinct minority to bring about massive devastation, as once radicals gain power they tend to wipe out their opposition and move quickly to consolidate control. That’s what makes the lack of comment from “leaders” on the left about the goose-steppers taking over so curious.

There are a few people commenting – Rahm Emanuel has said some common-sense things, mostly about the messaging and issues these nuts are focused on – but the people who really matter on the left are silent. Where are Bill and Hillary Clinton or Barack and Michelle Obama?

Bill Clinton famously had his “Sister Souljah moment,” when the rapper opined that maybe black people should take a break from killing each other and kill white people for a while. She meant it as a commentary on how the media didn’t really pay attention to the scourge of black men killing other black men, something still true today (including to “Black Lives Matter”); she just did it in a way that could easily be taken out of context and exploited by an opportunist politician.

Enter Bill Clinton.

He criticized Souljah for her rhetoric and gained a lot of positive media coverage in the 1992 election. It was dishonest because, well, did I mention it was Bill Clinton? It did, however, prove that Clinton could speak out against things other people in his party were doing. While Hillary, Barack and Michelle never really spoke out against their party, the concept is obviously one that applies to them too.

As the communist element of the left worms its way through the party, you’d think Democrats would care – you’d think they would be concerned with an anti-American element of their party seizing power. Granted, they may not care about the policies – there’s such a fine line between what socialists, fascists and communists want to do that it doesn’t really matter; the blood starts flowing over who gets to lead and what to do with the people who won’t obey.

The electability of Democrats is on the line. If these people don’t care about the country, which we all knew they didn’t, it’s one thing; but we know they care about their party. The American public will not vote for communists. Well, most of the American people will not vote for communists.

Sadly, there is a growing percentage of the public who have no memory of the Cold War and the horrors of communism, who’ve also been “educated” by a bunch of granola-crunching leftists with every flag ever created hanging in their classroom except the American flag. These people’s understanding of communism is on paper, all theoretical, and they are convinced it will work.

Hey, I wouldn’t care if these people left the country and started their Utopia on some island somewhere – as they murdered each other for power and eventually starved to death, I’d watch the livestream – but they’re looking to do it here. With that, I have a problem.

You’d think the people who stand to be eaten first when the liberal mob comes to dine on the rich might, if only for that reason, try to head that off at the pass. You’d be wrong. Just like you’d be wrong if you thought they’d speak out about their party heading down a path of either violence or electoral defeat.

Maybe they don’t care because they’ve made their fortunes and Secret Service protection affords them a sense of immortality, or maybe they are down with what the new emerging leaders in their party are looking to do.

But one thing is certain: they don’t care. If they’d cared, they would’ve said something by now. If they cared, they would say something now.

It’s all well and good if the damage is confined to the Democrat Party, because who cares, right? But these radicals are looking to destroy the country as well, which you’d think might bother people who’ve led incredible lives because of the country’s existence. If you’d thought that, you’d be wrong.

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After Intentionally Importing 50 million Migrants, Europe Declares a “Housing Crisis”

The EU President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Ireland to deliver remarks as Ireland takes their turn in managing the bureaucratic affairs of the EU Commission.  As part of her speech to the audience, von der Leyen notes one of the biggest challenges facing the EU is a housing and affordability crisis.

In the last 10 years, Europe has intentionally allowed around 50 million migrants to arrive and claim asylum.  The majority of the EU citizens did not want this migrant influx.  EU leadership is now declaring a “housing crisis” created by their own migrant policies.  WATCH:

At this point, the European leadership is just making fun of European citizens.

Spelunker Stumbles on Cave Untouched for Thousands of Years, Full of Prehistoric Cave Bears Marks

 A gargantuan stone arch marks the entrance to a vast “Paleolithic Cathedral” recently stumbled upon by explorers in Spain.

This hulking beam of eroded living rock—set along Spain’s impressive Almadenes Canyon—took millennia to form. It now comprises the great façade of a newly-discovered, sprawling cave system. Aptly called Cueva del Arco (Cave of the Arch), the cave has been deemed a “world-class discovery” that may hold keys to understanding our ancient past.

Located in “Neanderthal territory,” just a few miles from the town of Cieza, its surroundings are already famous for their prehistoric rock paintings. Led by Professor Martín Lerma, of the University of Murcia, and Didac Román, of Jaume I University, researchers began an excavation campaign at Cueva del Arco in 2015.

A stone arch marks the entrance to Cueva del Arco (Cave of the Arch). Courtesy of University of Murcia via Ignacio Martín Lerma

Explorers outside of Cueva del Arco. Courtesy of Ignacio Martín Lerma

Excavations at Cueva del Arco. Courtesy of Ignacio Martín Lerma

Professor Martín Lerma, of the University of Murcia, excavates a stone wall that appears to be a "roof" of the cave. Courtesy of University of Murcia

A development unfolded in 2018 inside “Cavity D” when researchers dug out what they thought was a room filled with sediment blocking them from a larger cavity. As sediment and chunks of rock gave way through slow extraction, the stone walls took on a horizontal profile, forming a “roof.”

Their labors continued until, eventually, Lerma managed to squeeze his head and flashlight through the gap and confirmed their suspicions—they'd breached an air pocket of epic proportions within the surrounding rock that had long been sealed off, perhaps for as long as several millennia.

What Lay Beyond?

Would they find evidence of human occupation? Would there be rock art? These questions spurred the Spanish explorers to delve deeper. Though the passage seemed to extend not more than twenty meters, they would soon find it orders of magnitude longer.

A view inside Cueva del Arco. Courtesy of University of Murcia via Ignacio Martín Lerma

But when the COVID pandemic shut down their operations unexpectedly in 2020, this imminent discovery was temporarily shelved. Now that excavations have gotten back on track, it has been confirmed: Cueva del Arco is far larger than they dreamed of. It ranks among the five largest caves in Murcia, a region known for its subterranean geologic wonders.

Once they realized the enormity of the find, they contacted collaborators in the project, the speleological group GECA de Cieza, and carried out a complete survey. After all the preliminary data was collected, they enlisted the help of Dr. J. M. Calaforra, of the University of Almería, and his team to assess the value of the underground rarity.

“It is a cavity with great geological and archaeological interest, both for the formations and for the perfect conservation of everything it contains,” Professor Lerma stated in a press release.

The interior of Cueva del Arco. Courtesy of Ignacio Martín Lerma

Inside Cueva del Arco. Courtesy of University of Murcia via Ignacio Martín Lerma

A massive cavern inside Cueva del Arco. Courtesy of University of Murcia via Ignacio Martín Lerma

A researcher exploring the cave system. Courtesy of University of Murcia via Ignacio Martín Lerma

Stalagmitic deposits required thousands of years to form. Courtesy of University of Murcia

The voluminous heights of some of Cueva del Arco’s hollows call to mind the airy halls of gothic cathedrals, with some chambers soaring as high as 20 meters. The system extends some 1,500 meters in total length. It appears the cavern is related to the deep, possibly thermal, aquifers the area is known for and is not directly connected to the outside.

Spectacular geological formations of great interest have been found inside Cueva del Arco. In some of its rooms, scientists observed fistulous stalactites—spindly mineral deposits that hang eerily—each about 1 centimeter in diameter, with some extending almost three meters from the cave ceiling. These would have required conditions of extreme stability and isolation over thousands of years to form.

There is not only enormous geological value to be had in further studying the formation, as well as the air composition inside; but, seeing as Murcia is “Neanderthal territory,” the cavity carries important opportunity for anthropological inquiry.

Prehistoric Cavemen—And Cave Bears?

Findings inside have confirmed the existence of occupants belonging to the Neolithic, Solutrean, Gravettian, and Mousterian periods; ranging from 7,000 to 50,000 years ago, the press release stated. Further study may yield insight into the ages lasting between Neanderthals and modern humans.

Additionally, the researchers spotted hundreds of bear claw marks throughout the whole system with overlaying patinas and sediments leading them to estimate that these marks could be tens or even hundreds of thousands of years old.

Cueva del Arco is very much a world lost in time and is worth rediscovering.

Researchers examine the interior of this natural wonder. Courtesy of Ignacio Martín Lerma

Marks that appear to have been made by the claws of a bear. Courtesy of Ignacio Martín Lerma

Bear claw marks appear throughout the cave system. Courtesy of Ignacio Martín Lerma

“We must bear in mind that we have an intact natural treasure on our hands and that is how it should continue to be,” stated Professor Lerma, invoking the need for protection of the site.

The entire perimeter of the Cueva del Arco has been closed off from visitors until scientific study is complete. And as the tunnels seem to have been sealed in perfect condition for many millennia, exploration has been carried out along a single marked path, as they aim to preserve as much of the pristine surface as possible.

“Due to the geological characteristics of the cave, we had been suspecting something like this [find] could happen for some time,” Professor Lerma stated. And although the exploration is still in its preliminary phases, he added that it has already “exceeded all our expectations.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/spelunker-stumbles-on-cave-untouched-for-thousands-of-years-full-of-prehistoric-cave-bears-marks-5044907?&utm_source=MB_article_paid_f&utm_campaign=MB_article_2026-07-05-ca&utm_medium=email&est=PXe%2Bq3akSwd8Kql8tnpiaWVovTl8runCrt%2F%2FIhNPGHoqob37vDW3Oi5wkZsUl%2FitwsMk&utm_content=highlight-news-1