JONATHAN TURLEY: Jack Smith’s secret surveillance of Patel and Wiles should alarm us all

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith has long operated under the Irish poet, playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde’s rule that “the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

Over the last few months, the public has learned of a wide array of secret orders targeting members of Congress, Trump allies and others. Now, the Trump administration has learned that FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles were also targeted by Smith in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens.

Smith was a controversial choice as special counsel because of his history of aggressive legal arguments and tactics, including his unanimous loss before the Supreme Court in the case that overturned the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell.

His tendency to stretch the law to the breaking point also did not play well with juries in high-profile cases, including his case against former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who was accused of using campaign funds to hide an extramarital affair. That case ended in an acquittal.

Despite such criticisms, Smith immediately returned to his past pattern of tossing aside any restraint or caution. Even Democrats earlier this year expressed objections to his targeting of Republican members of Congress, including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Smith told carriers not to tell members of Congress that their calls were being seized. Not only did such records reveal potentially confidential sources, ranging from journalists to whistleblowers, but Smith’s gag order prevented Congress from responding to or challenging the allegedly abusive demand.

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Now, the Trump administration is alleging that Smith and the prior Biden administration effectively buried the targeting of Patel and Wiles. It took a year into the new Trump administration for these orders to be uncovered.

The early accounts of the orders contained equally disturbing elements. Reuters reported that “In 2023, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney, according to two FBI officials. Wiles’ attorney was aware that the call was being recorded and consented to it, but Susie Wiles was not.”

It is astonishing to hear of a lawyer agreeing to the FBI recording of an attorney-client conversation as a general matter. However, recording such a call without informing the client would be a breathtaking invasion of protected communications.

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There is much we still do not know.

On its face, these orders appear consistent with the earlier allegedly abusive demands. Smith had virtually no basis for targeting Republican members and Trump allies. It was a fishing expedition in which Smith simply compiled lists of every well-known ally of President Donald Trump.

There are also concerns over the response to this controversy. There are reports of 10 FBI employees being fired. Agents often carry out the orders of superiors in such investigations. The administration should assure the public that these agents were afforded due process before being ousted for their roles in carrying out orders.

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The recently disclosed files from these investigations are an indictment of Smith himself. He was given a historic mandate to investigate a former president. Rather than exercise a modicum of restraint to show the public that this was not a partisan effort, Smith yielded to his worst temptations in targeting a long list of Republicans.

In his prior testimony, Smith offered little to justify these orders beyond a shrug that such secret orders routinely occur. However, he was targeting a “who’s who” of top political opponents of President Biden and the Democrats.

To make matters worse, Smith struggled to release damaging information — and even schedule a trial — on the very eve of the 2024 presidential election. Every action by Smith only magnified the perception that he sought to influence the election. He became a prosecutor consumed by his antagonism toward Trump and his unchecked power.

Nothing was sacred for Smith. His demands in the investigation from the courts included a wholesale attack on free speech principles.

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Ultimately, these files are not only an indictment of Jack Smith but also of former Attorney General Merrick Garland, who failed to exercise his authority to oversee Smith and protect core constitutional values.

It is essential that Congress and the Trump administration fully investigate Smith’s surveillance demands. Smith has long demanded accountability for others while evading such accountability for his own actions.

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If past orders are any indication, the Patel and Wiles orders were likely based on sweeping generalities and demands for absolute secrecy. That is the signature of Jack Smith. Indeed, Smith appears to have replicated his increasingly infamous record, with the collapse of two high-profile cases and lingering questions over his judgment and actions.

He has again yielded to his temptations — and the public has paid the price.

WILL CHAMBERLAIN: How the FBI trampled attorney-client privilege to hunt Trump allies

FBI Director Kash Patel just dropped a bombshell that should horrify Americans of all political stripes. In 2022 and 2023, Jack Smith, the illicitly-appointed “special counsel,” and the Biden Justice Department subpoenaed toll records of calls from Patel and now-White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Both were private citizens, and this surveillance continued while Wiles was co-managing President Trump’s election campaign. The FBI even wiretapped a call between Wiles and her lawyer in which the lawyer, knowing of the wiretap, failed to inform Wiles. This conduct is ghastly, and there must be dire legal consequences.

The attorney-client privilege is one of the most sacred legal principles in the Republic. To represent their clients effectively, lawyers need to be able to engage in frank discussions. Clients must feel secure in the knowledge that what they say cannot be used against them. The privilege is so sacred that, in Swidler & Berlin v. United States (1998), the Supreme Court held that it survives the death of a client under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

The lawyer who colluded with the FBI to record his client should be disbarred. Rule 1.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct in every jurisdiction imposes strict limitations on disclosure of confidential information by attorneys, such as instances where a client is threatening to commit a serious crime. That obviously wouldn’t apply here. Further, Rule 1.7 delineates strict guardrails to safeguard clients from conflicted lawyers. A lawyer cannot represent both sides. That would be antithetical to the adversarial process.

For some reason, Wiles’ lawyer agreed to let the FBI wiretap the call. A lawyer working with the FBI against their client’s interests would be a clear-cut violation of this rule. And that’s not the end of potential ethical violations: Rule 1.4 requires attorneys to communicate pertinent information to their clients (which clearly didn’t happen here), and Rule 8.4(c) prohibits behavior involving dishonesty and misrepresentation by omission. It’s hard to think of a more glaring omission than not telling your client that the FBI is listening to what you think is a privileged conversation.

Wiles also could sue the lawyer for malpractice, as well as the lawyer and the FBI agent(s) under the Wiretap Act. This suit would be appropriate if the FBI failed to minimize the interception of privileged communications. Title III wiretaps, so called based on the 1968 law that authorizes them, are subject to approval from the Justice Department and a federal judge. 18 U.S.C. § 2518(5) mandates minimization procedures for privileged communications, and appellate courts universally have interpreted this provision strictly. Minimization is crucial in many contexts; for instance, government prosecutors employ so-called taint teams of lawyers not involved with the case to screen for privileged information to prevent its falling into the hands of the prosecution.

In addition to civil liability, those involved could face criminal repercussions. The FBI agents involved could be charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2511, which prohibits the unauthorized interception and disclosure of communications in interstate commerce. The lawyer could be charged as a coconspirator under 18 U.S.C. § 371 for participating in the violation of the wiretap statute. Even if they had a warrant to surveil Patel and Wiles, that would in no way justify intentionally recording what are supposed to be privileged conversations between an attorney and their client.

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Take a moment to digest the gravity of what happened. The Biden Justice Department subpoenaed records of allies of President Trump, Biden’s main political opponent, against whom there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Smith also subpoenaed records of nearly a dozen members of Congress. Then, the government wiretapped a call between a private citizen and her lawyer. J. Edgar Hoover, the infamous former FBI director who served for nearly half a century, regularly wiretapped political opponents. Under the Biden administration, the FBI degenerated into the abyss of the Hoover era. We must determine who else was the subject of these outrageous investigations, especially if there were other violations of attorney-client privilege.

Patel deserves massive credit for exposing this unconscionable conduct. The FBI worked hard to conceal it, labeling the files as “prohibited.” This means that the files were not readily accessible even to the new FBI leadership. Patel has stopped the “prohibited” subterfuge to prevent future abuse, and ten FBI agents no longer have jobs as a result of their involvement. That is a good start, but those involved in this monstrosity must face severe legal, political, and financial consequences. The anti-Trump lawfare nearly destroyed the Republic, and it must never happen again.

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REP RO KHANNA: We need a new tech social contract to reclaim AI from billionaires

On February 20th, I was at Stanford University with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. to speak to over 1,600 students about the defining issues of our time: inequality and AI. We had the largest turnout since President Barack Obama visited the campus in 2015. I laid out my vision for a new tech social contract and seven seminal principles for a more democratic AI. Here is the essence of what I had to say.

We live in a new gilded age. Tech billionaires, believing they would have been heroic conquerors in a different era, are wresting control of our economy, our media, and our politics.

Most Americans feel they have little say in shaping their own future or that of their kids. This has contributed to anger, resentment, and a hopeless cynicism in places across our nation.

A nation cannot survive with islands of prosperity and seas of despair.

Professor Gabriel Zucman has shown that today’s wealth concentration is at the highest it has been in our nation’s history. About 19 billionaires have 3.4 trillion — the equivalent of 12.5 percent of all the goods and services that are produced in the U.S. in a year. This is nearly three times more than the wealthiest Americans were worth relative to the size of the economy at the peak of the Gilded Age. 

Extreme wealth forms an unholy alliance with power leading to two tiers of justice and stripping ordinary citizens of an equal voice in our democratic experiment.

We see the future from here. We know what is coming in a way most politicians and D.C. bureaucrats simply can’t see. And the question we need to ask ourselves is this: What kind of future are we going to build? Will this future be only for the tech lords or for all of us?

We convened this town hall at the epicenter of this wealth concentration and AI innovation. The 50-mile radius around my district which includes Stanford, Apple, Google, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Tesla is worth over $18 trillion. Their market capitalization is nearly 1/3 of the entire US stock market. One-third of our nation’s wealth originates here and in the one surrounding Congressional district.

We see the future from here. We know what is coming in a way most politicians and D.C. bureaucrats simply can’t see. And the question we need to ask ourselves: What kind of future are we going to build? Will this future be only for the tech lords or for all of us?

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That is why I am calling for a new tech social contract. To whom much is given, at least, a little is expected.

The truth is our taxpayer dollars and philanthropic dollars funded the development of AI at Dartmouth, MIT, and at Stanford with ImageNet and with the Digital Library Project that helped give birth to Google.

Let us acknowledge that tech entrepreneurs have taken risks and shown skill and imagination in scaling and adopting the technology. But just like every successful generation of American entrepreneurs over the past two centuries, they stand on a foundation of public investment.

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That is why we must ask not what America can do for Silicon Valley, but what Silicon Valley must do for America.

The AI revolution can help cure cancer and rare disease, slash housing costs, make it easier to start businesses and factories, address our energy needs, and lower medical and educational costs for the working class.

But in the hands of a few billionaires, the priority is to eliminate jobs, extract profits, and addict us to outrageous content that turns us from citizens to combatants.

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I am not an AI accelerationist.

I am not an AI doomer.

I am an AI democratist.

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So I want to lay out seven principles for what a democratic AI looks like. This vision is part of a broader call of patriotic renewal to have shared prosperity in our nation, not oligarchic capture and dominance. I have a vision for a new economic patriotism where we have a thriving middle class with good jobs in rural communities, factory towns, suburban neighborhoods and our urban centers.

Here is what that means for AI in America.

First, we must keep humans in the loop.

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We need real protections against mass displacement, beginning with our 3.5 million truck drivers. Even as self-driving trucks improve safety and efficiency, human drivers must remain just like pilots must still fly our planes. This will allow us to develop AI that augments human capability instead of eliminating jobs.

Second, every large company must bargain with its workers.

Unions or elected representatives should ensure displaced workers move into new value-creating roles and can share in AI’s productivity gains through higher wages, profit sharing, and shorter workweeks.

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Third, we have to fix the tax code’s anti-human bias.

Robots get accelerated depreciation while hiring humans comes with payroll taxes. Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu estimates that companies pay about zero tax on digital tools, while paying something like 30% in taxes between employers and employees when they hire workers.  This makes no sense. We must make it easier to hire workers, not AI agents. 

We also need to create an annual data dividend so every American gets a check from the data they generate both for private businesses and our government activities like public health, traffic management and policy research.

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Fourth, we must launch a Future Workforce Administration.

We should seize this moment of anxiety among white-collar and blue-collar families alike and answer it with the boldest, most patriotic jobs agenda in generations.

Funded by a modest wealth tax on the trillions created here and by a token tax on AI used by businesses that displaces labor, this program will put Americans to work in public service. The initiative will drive moonshot projects that expand the frontiers of science, clean energy, and biotech.

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It will mobilize young people to rebuild towns, teach our children, provide childcare and eldercare, and strengthen small businesses in every community.

And we will launch 1,000 new trade schools and tech institutes—so the next generation are prepared for careers AI can’t replace.

Fifth, data centers must serve the communities who power them.

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Right now, data centers are one way extraction centers from communities to the wealthiest corporations.

That must end.

Tech companies need to provide local communities with compute resources for schools and libraries, create local tech jobs and fund startups, and use renewable energy and dry cooling technology. We should look to what Singapore has done with their data centers for a balanced solution and invest in massively increasing the supply of clean energy. Most importantly, tech companies must pay their full electricity bills instead of shifting costs onto our communities.

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Sixth, we must prevent AI from weaponizing our public discourse.

We can unite across party lines to stop engagement-driven algorithms from spreading hate. End Section 230 protection for amplified violent content and require platforms to open up so Americans can connect freely across them.

Seventh, we must regulate AI so it is used to improve humanity, not damage it.

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We need clear enforceable guardrails with mandatory third-party verification of advanced AI models, so this powerful technology does not cause serious societal harm. It needs to be more than the voluntary collaboration taking place at the Center for AI Standards and Innovation at NIST at Commerce. We need a robust federal agency to regulate AI like we regulate nuclear energy or federal aviation.

We need a program with the boldness and scale of the New Deal, a democratic project for our time. Not to slow innovation, but to ensure its benefits reach every American.

The United States will benefit with access to global markets for our AI models by ensuring their safety –– preventing agentic AI from doing harm — and data privacy.

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These principles are the beginning of a framework to ensure that AI does not usher in a level of wealth and power concentration that further rips our democracy apart. If we continue with the status quo or adopt poll-tested incrementalism, we will leave ordinary Americans out in the cold and modern prosperity will be only for the privileged.  

I will not sit by and watch that happen. 

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We need a program with the boldness and scale of the New Deal, a democratic project for our time. Not to slow innovation, but to ensure its benefits reach every American. A program that, by its very substance, says –– there will be no surrender to tech lords. None. Only a reclaiming of AI for the American people.

And so, my challenge to Stanford students –– emerging technology and business leaders –– is simple. The future must not be written by AI agents that serve San Francisco billionaires. Like at any other pivotal moment in American history, it must be written by all of us, together, in a way that binds our divides and gives us a new national purpose of economic renewal and independence for every American in every place of our beloved nation.

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DAVID MARCUS: Delusional Dems ‘ dancing pet frogs are Antifa thugs

As President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday, many congressional Democrats skipped it to attend a Robert De Niro-headlined counter program called the “State of the Swamp.” One group celebrated there, the “Portland Frog Brigade,” are quite literally Antifa thugs in cutesy clothing.

By now, you have probably seen these big inflatable frogs, if not from clips of Tuesday’s brain-dead anti-Trump bash, then from protests at ICE facilities, first in Portland, then Chicago, Minneapolis, and across the country.

If you watch the news coverage about these supposedly amiable amphibians, even in most conservative outlets, they are treated as goofy, but harmless, activists playing dress up, not as the dangerous thugs they are. And that is the whole point: It’s not a costume, it’s a tactical uniform.

The standard-issue inflatable frog costume serves two key purposes: First, it hides the identity of the agitator. Second, and more importantly, it makes the agitator appear to be the exact opposite of a physical threat.

How do I know all this about the frog brigade? Well, I witnessed the whole thing begin in Portland last October and even had a brief scuffle with one of the Antifa leaders who popularized the demented trend.

Here is how I described Portland Antifa agitators, including the original frogman, harassing and trapping a pro-Trump woman in her car at the Immigration Customs and Enforcement facility there:

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According to intrepid reporter Andy Ngo, who knows more about Antifa than Vin Scully knew about the LA Dodgers, the man credited with starting the frog suit ploy is a known agitator who was arrested in January protesting the arrest of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members in Portland.

By then, the frog suit had taken off, like a biblical plague. The frogs were suddenly everywhere, but why?

What Antifa and its allies realized was that the childish absurdity of the costume makes anyone claiming that those wearing them are some sort of serious threat look ridiculous. Even just writing this column feels that way, but in this case, the truth is very important.

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In addition to the multiple Antifa frogs being praised at the Democrat shindig, there was a man in a giraffe outfit doing slam poetry, proudly proclaiming that he had been detained in ICE facilities three times for his agitating, and to cheers, no less.

Again, the cute Sesame Street-style furry costume is meant to make claims that this lunatic is a dangerous criminal seem nonsensical, even when he openly admits to being arrested trying to protect foreign gangbangers from deportation.

It is possible that many Democratic elected officials really did not know these frog people are Antifa, though Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Maxine Dexter, both Democrats from Oregon, certainly should, since their constituents started it all.

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Let’s not forget that it was just a few short years ago that Democrats told us Antifa doesn’t even exist. In fact, Rep. Gerry Nadler, D-N.Y., called the group a “myth” and Biden FBI Director Christopher Wray called it an “ideology,” not an organization. My, how times have changed.

Last month, The Nation magazine, which knows a thing or two about the left, ran an article with the headline, “Liberals Think Antifa Isn’t Real. But It Is—and It Knows How to Win.”

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Now that the Trump administration has labeled Antifa a terrorist organization and The Nation has declared it a forceful faction in the progressive fight, the cowardly communists have begun to shed their menacing black gear for goofy animal costumes.

But make no mistake, at night, in the shadows, the costumes come off and the thugs with gas masks and sticks show up to menace our federal agents.

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This is what the clueless and myopic politicians and celebrities were celebrating at their counter program on Tuesday. They will support literally anything that opposes Trump, even grown men in frog costumes who accost women in so-called political protests.

So the next time you see one of those frogs, don’t be fooled. Don’t be taken in by the absurd charade. Just know these are anti-American thugs who regularly employ violence in their attempt to take down the United States of America, as Democrats cheer them on.

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Power play: How US-Canada cooperation can skip the games and secure our borders

The U.S. hockey team’s stunning victory in the Olympics has thrilled Americans and stunned and disappointed Canadians: two peoples who are experiencing their own icy relations right now.

Nonetheless, the fact that five of the U.S. players, including star goalie Connor Hellebuyck, play on Canadian NHL teams, while no less than 22 Canadian team members play on American teams, reminds us how closely tied both countries actually are, no matter what their respective politicians say about each other.

Indeed, leaders need to set aside their personal pique and see the U.S.-Canada relationship for what it is, a partnership forged in history with common economic and strategic interests to advance, as well as the resources to match.

“Forged in history” isn’t just a matter of both countries being part of the English-speaking people’s legacy of freedom and prosperity for the world, alongside the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. It also reflects Canada’s essential contribution to Allied victory in World War II. The battle of the Atlantic, and hence victory over Nazi Germany, would not have been possible without the Canadian Royal Navy, which grew to become the world’s third-largest, from 13 ships in 1939 to over 400 by 1945, as its frigates, destroyers and destroyer escorts shielded vital Allied convoys. More than 1.1 million Canadians served in uniform, with 45,000 losing their lives — a higher proportion of military deaths relative to population (roughly 0.4%) than the United States (0.32%).

Canada also worked hand in glove with the U.S. and U.K. on secret atomic research during World War II. In the Cold War, Canadians were essential to the creation of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, the most successful intelligence network in history. The Five Eyes’s division of global labor allotted to Canada two areas even more crucial today: the polar regions of Russia and the interior of China.

Yet Canada’s opportunities for cooperation with the United States go further than that of any other Five Eyes member, or even other NATO members. The future of the Western Hemisphere — perhaps even the free world — may depend on how Washington and Ottawa find common ground in shaping the future of the global economy. 

The most obvious sector is energy. Between them, the United States and Canada produce roughly 30% of the world’s natural gas and 25% of the world’s oil. By promoting cooperation in LNG exports across the Atlantic and Pacific and in building cross-border pipelines like the still-suspended XL Pipeline, Ottawa and Washington would dominate global markets as never before. And while bringing Venezuela’s oil industry back to peak efficiency will take years, a U.S.-Canada energy consortium can reshape the geopolitics of energy production, far sooner.

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The next opportunity is strategic mineral extraction and refining. Any mineral extraction plan centered on American possession of Greenland or deals with Ukraine will take years — even decades — to yield results. By contrast, Canada is already a major producer of gold, iron, nickel and copper. It’s also involved in important projects to tap into its rich reserves in rare earth elements such as cobalt, graphite, vanadium and lithium (Canada currently has the sixth-largest lithium reserves in the world, and the sixth or seventh-largest reserves in cobalt).

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While China currently dominates supply chains in these critical minerals, a vigorous U.S.-Canada consortium could displace China as a major supplier to world markets. Indeed, Canadian companies could help to revive the United States’ own mining industry, and together set clean and environmentally safe standards for the extraction of all these materials.

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In terms of strategic goals, Canada owns half of North America’s “Fourth Coast,” i.e. the 10,000-mile plus shoreline of the Great Lakes and one of the great historic centers of U.S. shipbuilding. Currently ranked 6th or 7th in world shipbuilding, Canada, like the U.S. is looking to democratic allies like South Korea and Japan to beef up large-scale shipbuilding and naval defense capacity. Indeed, this past week, Ontario Shipyards partnered with South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean to bring large-scale shipbuilding back to Ontario, including naval vessels. In short, cooperation with Canadian companies like Ontario Shipyards can be part of restoring America’s own maritime strength.

Finally, Canada will be an essential partner in plans for the Golden Dome missile defense system, offering critical Arctic territory, sensors, and radar infrastructure for continental missile defense.

Mentioning the Arctic also leads to thinking about icebreakers. As this region becomes increasingly vital thanks to climate change, Canada’s fleet of 18 icebreakers — the second largest fleet in the world after Russia — will be indispensable for keeping shipping lanes open both for civilian and military use (today the U.S. has only three operational icebreakers).

Breaking up the ice is essential — not just in the Arctic, but in the current US-Canada relations deep freeze. The future of the free world may depend on where the thaw comes, and how soon.

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Why capping credit card interest rates will kill credit for working families

Americans are rightfully concerned about affordability. From healthcare and housing to groceries and utility bills, Americans have been finding these everyday necessities difficult to afford for far too many years. 

In response, President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are pursuing multiple policies meant to lower costs for the American people. 

While the President and our former Republican congressional colleagues usually have good economic and regulatory instincts, there are some policies worth reconsidering, as they could exacerbate the affordability crisis.

For example, as Congress assesses the proposed 10% price cap on credit, Republicans should follow their instincts by recognizing price controls like this have a long history of producing harmful unintended consequences for working families and small businesses.

When governments mandate an artificially low price for a product or service in a competitive market, the result is always the same: reduced supply. This is not just a theory. It’s historical fact. 

In 1971, President Nixon set price controls on retail gasoline sales. Because drivers paid less at the pump than the true cost of gas, demand increased. But since producers and gasoline retailers could not recover their full costs from the artificially low prices, they supplied less to the market. The result was a predictable shortage of gasoline and Americans waiting in long lines at the gas pumps.

In several large American cities, including New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, rent increases are capped at varying rates, preventing landlords from being able to recoup investment in maintenance and improvements, causing neglected maintenance, reduced improvements and a shortage of new housing.

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Price controls on credit cards would have a similar effect. They would reduce the availability of credit.

Banks charge interest on credit cards because there are costs and risks associated with issuing and managing them. For example, banks must cover the infrastructure cost of the credit card, including administration, maintaining security, applying chargebacks and offering credit card rewards programs. Credit card balances are unsecured loans with high default rates, creating a significant cost for banks.

By capping rates at an arbitrary and artificially low level, such as 10%, banks would either have to make up for the lost revenue elsewhere with higher fees and charges, or discontinue issuing credit cards to high-risk and low-income customers.

Consumers who lose access to credit cards altogether would be forced to turn to more expensive, riskier alternatives, such as loan sharks and payday lenders. The Cato Institute emphasizes that, “History has shown that these [price] controls result in shortages, black markets, and suffering. In any event, consumers lose.” 

For those consumers who could keep their credit cards, banks would “likely respond to a credit card cap by reducing rewards programs and other card benefits, including fraud protection, while replacing lost interest revenue with fees to be paid by all credit card users,” the American Action Forum explains.

A credit card rate cap would also bring government interference where free market competition is already working to the benefit of customers. In fact, there are already dozens of credit cards with 0% APR introductory rates for significant lengths of time. Economist Stephen Moore authored a report last year detailing the harm a rate cap would have on consumers, concluding that the “System isn’t broken. Credit cards are more popular than ever… But rules that make cards less profitable and more vulnerable to the risk of losses from non-payments threaten this well-functioning and economically vital market.”

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For decades, Americans have voluntarily used credit cards to build businesses, borrow money— and facilitate the purchases of daily life. The free market has enabled these activities and should not be upended by the government. The government’s role in regulating the financial services industry is to ensure proper disclosures, competitive markets and systemic stability — not to set prices. Rate caps would undermine market function and competition and return us to a badly failed policy of price controls.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters have long supported caps on credit card interest rates. Fortunately, most Republicans know better. Leaders, including Sen. Mike Rounds, Sen. Pete Ricketts, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have voiced strong concerns about these price controls, with Sen. Thune correctly observing that the proposal “would probably deprive an awful lot of people access to credit around the country.”

Free markets deliver consumers better products, services and choices than price-setters in Washington. Congress should let the marketplace continue to offer consumers, working-class families and Main Street businesses, of all incomes, access to the credit they need.

New York’s Mayor Mamdani promised change — now he’s gutting the NYPD

For New York City to “work,” it needs to be, and feel, safe. Absent the confidence of both residents and tourists that the streets of America’s largest city will be secure and orderly, the Big Apple risks losing more of its luster. This is a reality that New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani — once known for saying “nature is healing” — began at least pretending to appreciate after NYPD Detective Didarul Islam was shot and killed in the line of duty last summer. But a recent announcement calls the mayor’s sincerity into question.

Last week, Mayor Mamdani announced that the city would need to address a budget shortfall in part by canceling the planned hiring of 5,000 additional officers over the next two years. The decision will undoubtedly harm public safety by exacerbating a pre-existing recruitment and retention crisis that has already led to slower response times and limited the NYPD’s ability to bring overall crime back down to pre-2020 levels.

While the number of uniformed officers in the department rose to about 34,300 by January of this year, the next two years will see thousands of officers who joined the department during the hiring blitz of 2006-2007 become eligible for retirement as they hit their 20-year marks. When that time comes, New Yorkers will understand just how much they need the 5,000 hires Mamdani plans to halt.

Things are already bad. Comparing the final week of 2025 with the last week of 2018 shows that response times for critical, serious and noncritical calls for service were all up more than 50%. But what else can one expect from a department that dwindled by about 3,000 officers during that time frame? The need for police hasn’t declined with the size of the department. When a smaller force faces the same — or higher — levels of demand, something has to give.

Defenders of Mamdani’s decision to cut NYPD funding for new hires will likely point to recent declines in shootings and homicides over the last two years, suggesting that the city is nowhere near a public safety crisis. Those declines are real and worthy of celebration insofar as they represent the hard work of the men and women of the NYPD despite the forces working against them. But beyond those two measures, much more work remains to be done.

Compared to 2018, 2025 saw 14.2% more rapes, 16.7% more robberies, 47.7% more felony assaults, 9.5% more burglaries, 10.3% more grand larcenies and a whopping 149.1% more car thefts. Even with the recent decline in murders — which remained above the city’s 2017 low at the end of last year — the seven major crimes tracked by the city were up 26.9% overall in 2025 compared to 2018. This is despite reductions in opportunities for criminals driven by:

• A sizeable decline in the city’s population
• The fact that more New Yorkers (like other Americans) are spending more time at home in the post-pandemic era
• The decline in alcohol consumption and, by extension, the frequenting of bars and nightclubs
• Subway ridership still being at only 85% of pre-pandemic levels.

The truth is that the NYPD has been both literally and figuratively working overtime to keep crime at bay. Despite being understaffed, 2024 saw the NYPD make more felony and narcotics arrests, as well as sharp upticks in summonses for quality-of-life violations such as public drinking and urination, along with violations in the transit system. Last year, the department also made significantly more vehicle stops — much to the chagrin of Mamdani’s allies on the far left.

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But New York will not see crime return to where it was less than 10 years ago without closing the gap between the number of police officers it has and the number it needs.

Doing more with less is a math problem that simply cannot be solved in the NYPD’s favor.

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The plan to hire 5,000 additional cops over the next two years would have provided much-needed relief to a department that has spent the first half of this decade fighting an uphill battle to keep crime at bay — not only bleeding more officers and investigators than it wanted to, but also being unable to backfill vacancies without lowering hiring standards.

The overwhelming consensus in the criminological literature is that investments in hiring more police reduce crime. The decision to cancel the planned hires belongs in a recipe book titled “Disasters,” yet the move will not come as much of a surprise to those familiar with the mayor’s history of anti-cop activism. While it’s true that candidate Mamdani assured New Yorkers that this history was “out of step” with his campaign, he didn’t make much of an effort to convince skeptics of his newfound respect for law enforcement. If he follows through on this proposal to cut the NYPD, it will reiterate an important lesson New Yorkers would have done well to remember in the lead-up to last November: When someone tells you who they are, believe them.

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SEN LINDSEY GRAHAM: Iran is facing a Berlin Wall moment — history is watching us now

Over the past few weeks, there has been great speculation regarding the growing unrest in Iran and what action, if any, the United States will take in response. One fact that remains clear is that the Iranian regime finds itself at its weakest point since 1979. As such, the world has reached a pivotal crossroad — one that will define the course of history for generations.

First, let’s examine how we got to this point. After the attacks of October 7, Israel was determined to give new meaning to the phrase “Never Again” and has relentlessly gone after the terrorist networks that perpetrated the attack. With assistance from the United States, they tremendously degraded not only the nuclear capability, but also the missile capability and general military readiness of Iran. It is ironic to me that one of the main reasons Iran is so crippled stems from October 7, yet it serves as a silver lining that has sprung from one of the greatest atrocities in modern history, nonetheless.

The second major factor is that the people in Iran have risen up and taken to the streets by the millions. Daily life is miserable, and with no viable economic growth potential, the future remains hopeless as long as the ayatollah stays in power. The bravery of the protesters, combined with the military thrashing given by Israel and the United States, has placed this regime at a tipping point.

The next question, arguably most important, is where do we go from here. President Donald Trump has two lines in the water: a diplomatic line and a military line. While diplomatic negotiations are always worth pursuing within reason, my ultimate hope is that regime change will be achieved. This will come about in one of two ways: either the current regime changes its ways — which I find unlikely — or the Iranian people will take over once the regime falls.

To those who resist regime change: why do you wish to see this regime continue as it is? The ayatollah and his henchmen slaughter people for protesting, they beat young women to death for wearing their headscarves improperly, and they have overseen the largest state sponsor of terrorism for decades. Who wants that to continue? I certainly don’t, nor do the Iranian people. The people are the ones demanding regime change, and we should stand behind them.

When asked by the world media what the protesters in Iran should do, President Trump boldly said, “Keep protesting. Help is on the way.” I believe that to be the correct statement, and it will be historical in nature if the regime collapses.

Trump’s support for the protesters, in conjunction with America’s display of strength in Operation Midnight Hammer, has created the largest opportunity for peace and prosperity in the Mideast in over 1,000 years. If this regime is replaced, normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel becomes possible again. The people of Iran will chart their own destiny, and terrorist networks across the region, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis will atrophy even further. My trip last week to Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia — three states facing threats from Iran and its proxies — reaffirmed to me that each of these possibilities are not only attainable, but would be extremely beneficial to the United States and our allies.

TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP CREATES ‘RARE OPPORTUNITY’ FOR CHANGE IN IRAN, FORMER IRANIAN POLITICAL PRISONER SAYS

On the other hand, we must remember who we will be forced to reconcile with if the regime holds. At the helm is the ayatollah, a religious zealot who orchestrated an assassination attempt on President Trump’s life. When he chants death to America and death to all the Jews, he means what he says. If the ayatollah remains in charge after all this bluster, I fear the problems that will arise will haunt the region for decades and America even further.

With the fate of millions at stake, I am praying for President Trump as he makes one of the most consequential decisions any president can make. I know President Trump to be a man of his word. He is reluctant to get entangled in wars with no end, yet unafraid to use force.

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It is my strong view that history is watching every move we make. If we follow through by sending help to the protesters risking their lives, we will have a 21st Century Berlin Wall moment. Ronald Reagan’s determination to stand up to communism paid dividends for the entire world when the Soviet Union crumbled under its own weight. What followed was a new birth of freedom around the globe, liberating millions who knew nothing but oppression.

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If the ayatollah falls, it will set in motion a similar sequence of events across the Middle East. All the terrorist proxies will be left hanging, the Abraham Accords will expand exponentially, the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel will be back on the front burner, and the Iranian people will come to know what all human beings desire most: freedom. The ripple effects of this regime’s destruction will bring forth tremendous, positive change across the region that will echo across the world.

Only time will tell what will happen next. For now, we must be smart, and we must be bold.

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Some of the most notable guests at Trump’s 2026 State of the Union: photos

Prominent figures from across the media, business and political landscapes showed up as guests to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.

Notable attendees included Erika Kirk, the widowed wife of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, David Ellison, the media mogul and CEO of Paramount, and Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank media personality and businessman.

Several of the more notable attendees were highlighted by Trump during his address.

Kirk received a mention from the president as he condemned political violence of all kinds in his address.

“We must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind,” Trump said.

Charlie Kirk, who was just 31-years-old at the time of his death, was killed by a gunman on Sept. 10, 2025, while conducting a political debate event at Utah Valley University.

The U.S. men’s hockey team also made an appearance on Tuesday, receiving praise from Trump fresh off their gold medal victory in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

TRUMP SHAMES DEMOCRATS IN VIRAL STATE OF THE UNION CHALLENGE ON MIGRANT CRIME: ‘FIRST DUTY’

“Congratulations to team U.S.A.,” Trump said as the players streamed into the chamber during the address.

Trump also highlighted guests brought by others, like first lady Melania Trump. She invited 11-year-old Everest Nevraumont, a youth advocate for education through artificial intelligence.

“I challenge keeping America’s next generation positioned to succeed and strongly succeed in the future,” Trump said.

Trump also used guests like Enrique Márquez, a former political prisoner of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, to remind audiences of his international achievements under his second administration.

In early 2026, the U.S. stormed Venezuela’s capitol city and captured Maduro, giving Trump newfound leverage in negotiations over the country’s future.

“We’re working closely with the new president of Venezuela to unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries,” Trump said.

The White House reunited Márquez with his family at the State of the Union. 

Trump also awarded the Purple Heart to Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and deceased Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, two National Guard members who were critically injured and fatally shot by a gunman who ambushed them while on duty last year in Washington, D.C.

RO KHANNA’S STATE OF THE UNION GUEST RECRUITED OVER 20 UNDERAGE GIRLS FOR EPSTEIN: ‘LIKE HEIDI FLEISS’

“I’m going to ask a highly respected General James Seward to present Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and the great family of Sarah Beckstrom, with the award created by our late, great president, George Washington himself,” Trump, who invited her parents as his State of the Union guests, said. “It’s called the Purple Heart. We love you all.”

As Trump spoke, Major General James “Jim” D. Seward, Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard, presented Specialist Beckstrom’s medal to her parents and pinned the Purple Heart on Staff Sergeant Wolfe in the viewing gallery above.

Guests like O’Leary and Ellison did not receive a shoutout from the president, but mingled with multiple lawmakers.

O’Leary, primarily known for his television presence on ABC’s Shark Tank, owns companies like O’Leary Ventures and O’Leary Fine Wines. 

In recent years, O’Leary has surfaced as a political commentator, giving his thoughts on the effectiveness of political party messaging, voter sentiments and more.

LIZ PEEK: AMERICA EXPECTED ONE THING FROM TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION. IT GOT ANOTHER

Ellison is the current chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance Corporation keeps a relatively low political profile but, in the past, has made several high-dollar donations to many Democratic candidates despite now calling himself a friend of President Trump.

Trump has boasted publicly about a personal relationship with Ellison.

Most recently, Ellison has made headlines for his attempt to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery — a move that would solidify Ellison and Paramount as titans in the media world.

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He was seen walking into the House of Representatives on Tuesday alongside Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who invited him.

“Honored to have David Ellison as my guest to POTUS’ State of the Union address this evening,” Graham said in a post to X.

MIKE DAVIS: Kash Patel is restoring the FBI despite constant attacks

The one-year anniversary of FBI Director Kash Patel’s term has arrived. As a badge of honor, Patel is under constant attack by partisan Democrats and other conspiracy theorists – including even some whackjobs on the right. Contrary to these smears, Patel has boldly and decisively led back the FBI to where it should be: the premier law enforcement agency in the world.

Patel, after many long days of work to ensure our American athletes and dignitaries remained safe at the Olympic Games in Italy, got invited into the locker room of the men’s U.S. hockey team after their gold medal triumph over Canada. Because this was the first gold for the American men since the Miracle on Ice team in 1980, this became a significant moment. Patel, justifiably, allowed himself to enjoy the historic moment of American patriotism and pride. The athletes clearly enjoyed the presence of a senior U.S. official (and fellow hockey player), which became even more significant when Patel called President Donald Trump to praise the gold medal-winning U.S. team.

Democrats, who are quicker to defend a sitting Democratic U.S. senator splitting margaritas with an alleged human-trafficking and wife-beating illegal immigrant than a senior U.S. government official celebrating a U.S. gold medal with American Olympians, predictably attacked Patel for his appearance in the postgame locker room. To anyone with a pulse, it’s obvious too many of today’s Democrats are nothing more than dreadful, anti-American Marxist losers. It’s hard to imagine anything lower than knocking a senior U.S. official for celebrating an iconic U.S. victory at the Olympics.

In response to the Patel (and America) haters, this is a good time to educate America about Trump FBI Director Kash Patel’s unprecedented success in his first year.

On Sept. 10, 2025, a degenerate assassinated Charlie Kirk. Thousands of Americans attended the event on the Utah campus. The FBI, under Patel’s leadership, took command. Within two days, law enforcement took into custody 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. His father turned Robinson in after the Patel FBI broadcast images, cultivated from many sources of video surveillance, to the public. Robinson now awaits the swift justice he richly deserves. Despite the ravings of online conspiracy instigators, there are almost no unanswered questions in the Kirk case, thanks to Patel’s quick and decisive leadership.

Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro became a primary culprit in the mass importation of illicit drugs into the United States. Last month, the Patel FBI — with the assistance of military special forces — arrested Maduro and his wife at their fortress in Caracas. U.S. forces quickly scooped up the Maduros and took them out of Venezuela with no American casualties. They now sit in a Brooklyn jail. They faced a 2020 federal indictment but remained free for the entirety of the Biden administration. This operation adds to Patel’s record of over 2,100 kilos of fentanyl seized (up 31%), enough to kill 150 million Americans, and the disruption of 1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises, a 210% increase year over year.

The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list represents the worst of the worst in terms of fugitives. Murderers, pedophiles, drug kingpins and terrorists make up most of its occupants. Under Patel’s leadership, six of the Ten Most Wanted, collectively on the run for over 50 years, are now captured, which exceeds in one year all such captures during the Biden administration (four in four years). Drug traffickers like Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympian who made the list, garner a lot of media attention when captured, but other barbarians are off the streets thanks to Patel’s leadership.

FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL: WE HAVE MADE AMERICA SAFER IN JUST ONE YEAR

Just last month, Alejandro Rosales Castillo’s turn came to face justice. This coward hid in Mexico for nearly a decade after murdering a 23-year-old co-worker in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cindy Rodriguez Singh, another monster, met the same fate. Singh allegedly murdered her 5-year-old child and fled to India. Thanks to Patel’s FBI, she was captured in New Delhi less than two months after her addition to the list. Overall, arrests under Patel’s FBI are up 197% year-to-year, and over 6,000 child victims have been located, a 22% increase year over year. Dedicated “crimes against children” operations like Restore Justice, Enduring Justice and Relentless Justice resulted in 730 arrests and over 450 victims identified.

For years, the domestic terrorists who comprise Antifa have wreaked havoc on American cities. On July 4, 2025, two dozen of them allegedly attacked the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE holding facility in Alvarado, Texas. The domestic terrorists allegedly fired upon ICE agents, and a responding police officer almost lost his life after one terrorist allegedly shot him in the neck.

It is crucial to remember into what the FBI had degenerated during the Biden administration. The Biden DOJ wasted massive FBI resources for years hunting down every individual who had taken a selfie in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, even if the individuals had not acted violently. Other FBI resources went toward investigating parents at school board meetings and Mass-attending Catholics out of supposed concerns the parents and devout Catholics became domestic terrorists.

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Biden special counsel Jack Smith spent over $50 million in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to imprison President Trump. Prosecutors use law enforcement to conduct investigations, and Smith had the FBI at his disposal. Even before Smith’s arrival in November 2022, the FBI had raided President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago under orders from Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland.

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No longer is the FBI wasting its resources. Under Patel’s leadership, agents are not targeting pro-life Christians; they are capturing foreign drug kingpins and narco-terrorist leaders. Agents are not investigating parents at school board meetings; they are bringing to justice parents who murdered their children. Agents are not wasting years on January 6; they are spending time bringing violent Antifa domestic terrorists to justice and capturing assassination suspects like Tyler Robinson in short order. Agents are not participating in Jack Smith’s witch hunt; they are investigating the perpetrators of the unprecedented, republic-ending Obama and Biden lawfare.

Special operations and surge initiatives, like Summer Heat, have resulted in nearly 9,000 arrests in just three months, while over 450 human traffickers have been identified (up 23% year over year), and espionage arrests are up 35% year over year. Patel has led a rapid turnaround of the FBI from a decaying and weaponized agency back to the one that, growing up, Americans respected. For that, Patel deserves immense credit.

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LEE CARTER: Trump’s State of the Union wasn’t a pivot — it was a power play

If you tuned in last night hoping for a softer, more conciliatory Donald Trump, a president shaped by polls, eager to reach across the aisle, you were watching the wrong show.

The 2026 State of the Union wasn’t a pivot. It was a power move. A flex. A signal that the old rules: measured rhetoric, polite bipartisanship — are dead. Trump continues to write new rules in real time, as audaciously as he’s writing everything else.

From the opening line, a “speech to set the record straight,” Trump made it clear: he wasn’t there to negotiate facts. He was there to define them. He understands something that confounds his opponents: in contemporary American politics, a good story doesn’t just compete with statistics, it obliterates them.

While critics were fact-checking, Trump was storytelling. And in today’s politics, a story like his can outweigh nuance or evidence.

He delivered a narrative so simple, so emotionally resonant, it could fit on a bumper sticker: America is in a golden age. The economy is roaring. The border is impenetrable. Crime is plummeting. Fentanyl is down. The stock market is shattering records. More Americans are working than ever before.

“We are winning so much we don’t even know what to do about it,” he crowed.

That wasn’t persuasion. It was affirmation. It was focused on the faithful. In a country this fractured, politicians are hard-pressed to win converts anymore, but they can energize their base and give fence sitters a reason to support them. Trump abandoned the moderation game years ago. He’s all-in on mobilization, and he’s playing to win a turnout war, not a debate.

TRUMP’S ‘HOME RUN’ SOTU SPEECH SPARKS PRAISE FROM CONSERVATIVES ONLINE WHILE LEAVING DEMOCRATS SEETHING

A Theme That Resonates: Protection

Forget the orthodoxy about growth and prosperity. And, interestingly, forget about affordability.  Strip away the applause lines and the theatrics and one word drove the speech: protection.

Protect the border.

Protect American workers.

Protect Social Security.

Protect families from crushing healthcare costs.

Protect children’s financial futures through tax-free investment accounts.

Protect consumers from “wild prescription drug prices.”

TRUMP CELEBRATES ‘TURNAROUND FOR THE AGES’ IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS AND MORE TOP HEADLINES

Even “no tax on tips, overtime, or Social Security” isn’t just tax policy — it’s framed as shielding working Americans from government overreach.

For many, protection is more important than prosperity. Prosperity is aspirational. Protection is emotional. When Democrats sat stone-faced during key applause lines focused on protecting Americans, Trump didn’t flinch. He smiled. Those frozen faces weren’t distractions; they were props. The visual of one side celebrating protection and the other sitting still is not accidental, it’s strategic.

Healthcare: The Night’s Smartest Move

DIAL SHOWS HOW VOTERS REACTED TO TRUMP CRITICIZING DEMOCRATS FOR PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

One of the speech’s most politically sophisticated moves came on healthcare.

Trump didn’t defend insurers or pharmaceutical companies. He obliterated them.

He blamed “crushing healthcare costs.”

He declared “maximum price transparency” a governing principle.

He revived the “most favored nation” promise, that Americans should pay the lowest drug prices on the planet.

5 UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS FROM TRUMP’S RECORD-BREAKING STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Then he pulled a punch: he blamed Democrats for defending the “healthcare establishment.”

Healthcare anger isn’t partisan. Voters think the system is rigged. By transforming insurers and “wild prescription prices” into common enemies, he tapped into genuine, bipartisan fury while keeping the partisan accountability laser-focused on the other side.

The Rally Presidency: The Theater Was a Big Part of the Message

The U.S. men’s hockey team appearance. The goalie story.

The families honored. 

The medals given.

The perfectly timed applause lines.

The calculated glances across the aisle.

This was less State of the Union, more arena rally with a teleprompter. But dismissing it as theatrics misses the point. The theater is the message.

Trump understands the visual theatrics of politics in a way that most presidents never quite master. The standing ovation. The stony opposition. The camera that cuts away at precisely the right moment. He doesn’t waste imagery; he weaponizes it.

And those images, not the fact-checks that will follow, will echo through screens, social feeds and campaign ads for months to come.

Intensity Over Conversion

Moderation? Outreach? Forget it. That is not Trump. It wouldn’t be authentic. And frankly, it wouldn’t be strategic. Trump’s goal is mobilization. Turnout over persuasion. Base over critics. Swing voters over skeptics.

The anxious voter, the voter worried about inflation, crime, drugs, borders, saw in Trump a fighter who was ready to defend them. The speech energized the base while signaling to swing voters that Trump is taking action on the issues that affect them directly.

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The Bottom Line

This speech will enrage critics, electrify supporters, and frustrate fact-checkers. But strategically? We can all see what he was doing.

He reframed healthcare.

He reinforced protection.

He amplified economic confidence.

He created visual contrast.

He rallied his base.

 This wasn’t a pivot.

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It was a power play (every pun intended).

And in American politics, whoever controls the narrative controls the moment.

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President Trump’s Iran warning is serious — but Americans need the full facts

Last summer, when the United States and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities, I argued the operation was deliberate — not reckless. The June 2025 strikes on Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan were designed to deny Tehran a near-term breakout capability and restore deterrence without plunging America into another open-ended Middle East war.

The purpose was clear: disrupt the program, buy time and strengthen Washington’s leverage.

Subsequent intelligence reporting suggested the damage was significant, though not permanent. Iran’s nuclear program was set back — not eliminated. That distinction mattered then, and it matters even more now.

Today, we find ourselves at another critical moment.

President Donald Trump has surged substantial American military power into the Persian Gulf — carrier strike groups, fighter aircraft and support assets — amid renewed nuclear tensions. This is not symbolic. It is a serious deterrent posture designed to protect American forces and signal resolve to Tehran.

That buildup is legitimate. It reinforces credibility. It reduces the risk of miscalculation.

But alongside this posture, we are now hearing dramatic claims that Iran could be “about a week away” from producing weapons-grade uranium.

US POSITIONS AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, STRIKE PLATFORMS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN TALKS SHIFT TO OMAN

Americans deserve clarity about what that statement means.

Enrichment levels and a deployable nuclear weapon are not the same thing. Moving uranium from 60% enrichment to 90% weapons-grade material is technically faster than enriching from scratch. But building a usable nuclear weapon requires additional steps: weaponization work, warhead integration, testing and a viable delivery system.

Language suggesting Iran is ‘one week away’ narrows the political space between deterrence and kinetic action. It conditions the public for urgency. It compresses timelines. And it risks turning technical possibilities into perceived inevitability.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, has confirmed that Iran possesses uranium enriched to roughly 60% — a deeply troubling development. But there has been no public confirmation that Tehran has assembled a nuclear device or crossed into verified weaponization.

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That distinction is not academic. It is strategic.

We have lived through what happens when worst-case intelligence assessments harden into political certainty. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq based on assessments that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Those claims proved wrong. The consequences cost thousands of American lives and reshaped U.S. foreign policy for a generation.

No one should casually invoke that parallel. But neither should we ignore it.

FORMER REP MTG ASSERTS THAT AMERICANS DON’T WANT US WAR AGAINST IRAN

If Iran has restored enrichment cascades beyond what was damaged in 2025, present the evidence.

If inspectors have been restricted or expelled, say so.

If weaponization activity has resumed, show the proof.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S IRAN BUILDUP MIRRORS 2003 IRAQ WAR SCALE AS TENSIONS ESCALATE

So far, what we see publicly is enrichment risk — not confirmed bomb production.

That does not make Tehran benign. Iran’s enrichment levels are dangerous. Its ballistic missile expansion and proxy network destabilize the region. The regime continues to challenge U.S. interests and those of our allies.

Deterrence must be credible.

KHANNA AND MASSIE THREATEN TO FORCE A VOTE ON IRAN AS PROSPECT OF US ATTACK LOOMS

President Trump is right to position strength in the Gulf. This force posture protects American troops and sends a message that the United States will not tolerate aggression. Strategic ambiguity can serve a purpose in diplomacy.

But language suggesting Iran is “one week away” narrows the political space between deterrence and kinetic action.

It conditions the public for urgency. It compresses timelines. And it risks turning technical possibilities into perceived inevitability.

ISRAELIS KEEP SUITCASES PACKED AND READY AS TRUMP WEIGHS POTENTIAL IRAN STRIKE DECISION

If the administration believes Iran is sprinting toward a nuclear weapon, the American people deserve a clear, direct explanation from the president himself — backed by corroborated intelligence and shared with Congress.

No spin.

No anonymous leaks shaping public perception.

MORNING GLORY: WHAT WILL PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP DECIDE TO DO WITH IRAN?

No vague alarm substituting for documented facts.

The United States can strike if necessary. It has done so before. But military action must be grounded in verifiable intelligence and a defined strategic objective — not rhetorical escalation.

Another Middle East war would not be surgical or isolated. It would ripple across Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, the Gulf and global energy markets. It would strengthen hardliners in Tehran and test American alliances at a volatile moment.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN HAS 15 DAYS TO REACH A DEAL OR FACE ‘UNFORTUNATE’ OUTCOME

That does not mean force should never be used.

It means the threshold must be high — and the evidence must be clear.

The American people will support strong action when the threat is real and unmistakable. They will not support another war built on ambiguous timelines and worst-case projections.

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We do not need another Middle East war.

And we certainly do not need another weapons-of-mass-destruction myth.

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If force becomes necessary, the justification must come clearly and directly from the commander in chief — backed by hard intelligence, not alarm.

That is the standard Americans deserve.

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The white-collar office ecosystem is being rewritten by AI — Here’s how we win

For the better part of two centuries, Americans have lived by a simple economic truth: progress disrupts. The steam engine displaced artisans. Electricity remade factories. The assembly line reduced the need for skilled craftsmen even as it made goods affordable to the masses. The computer automated clerical work. The internet hollowed out entire industries, including travel agencies, record stores and video rental outlets.

And each time, the sky was said to be falling.

Now comes generative artificial intelligence: tools that can draft contracts, write code, analyze medical scans, generate marketing campaigns and tutor students. The anxiety feels different this time. Louder. More personal.

That’s because it is.

For decades, the brunt of technological change and globalization fell disproportionately on blue-collar workers. The Industrial Revolution transformed agricultural and manual labor. Late-20th-century outsourcing and automation eroded manufacturing towns across the Midwest. Global supply chains lowered costs for consumers, often at the expense of factory workers and entire communities.

The professional class — lawyers, consultants, academics, journalists, doctors, bankers, architects, designers, accountants — largely watched from a safe distance. They were the “knowledge workers,” beneficiaries of the information economy. Their jobs required education, credentials and cognitive skills. Those traits were supposed to provide insulation from disruption.

Generative AI has shattered that assumption.

DEMOCRATS ARE LOSING AI BECAUSE OF A BIG MESSAGING PROBLEM

For the first time in modern economic history, the most highly educated workers find themselves squarely in the blast radius of automation. Software drafts legal briefs. AI copilots write and debug code. Language models generate polished essays and emails in seconds. Image generators design logos and marketing collateral without a design degree.

This isn’t just another productivity tool. It’s a general-purpose technology, like electricity or the internet, touching nearly every sector at once. And it’s moving at a speed that makes previous revolutions look slow by comparison.

That pace is unsettling. But it is not a reason to retreat.

TRUMP’S SCIENCE AND TECH MAN LAYS OUT WHITE HOUSE’S GLOBAL AI STRATEGY

Economist Joseph Schumpeter called this process “creative destruction” — innovation dismantling old industries to make room for new ones. It is not painless. But it is the engine of prosperity in a dynamic economy. America’s global leadership has always depended on our willingness to lean into change rather than legislate it away.

What makes this moment feel volatile is not merely the scope of change, but who it affects. Disruption has reached the offices, not just the factory floor. It is threatening the comfortable as well as the vulnerable.

That discomfort is understandable. It is also clarifying.

ELON MUSK SAYS YOU CAN SKIP RETIREMENT SAVINGS IN THE AGE OF AI. NOT SO FAST

When automation came for blue-collar America, many in the professional class invoked “market forces.” When globalization decimated manufacturing jobs, workers were told to retrain for the knowledge economy.

Now the knowledge economy itself is being redefined.

The answer remains the same: adaptation.

The workers who will thrive in the AI era will not be those who reject or defer to these tools, but those who master them. Generative AI is not a replacement for human intelligence. It is an amplifier.

It drafts the first version; judgment refines it.

It generates code; humans decide what to build.

It analyzes mountains of data; people determine what matters.

In medicine, AI flags anomalies, but doctors interpret them and treat patients. In law, AI summarizes case law, but attorneys craft the argument. In education, AI accelerates knowledge, but teachers shape character and curiosity.

The winners will treat AI as augmentation, not competition.

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There is a reason for optimism here. Generative AI democratizes capabilities once scarce. A small business owner can generate marketing copy without hiring an agency. A startup founder can prototype software without a massive engineering team. A student in a rural district can access high-quality tutoring on demand.

Yes, some jobs will disappear. Some roles will evolve. Entire workflows will be redesigned. That has always been true during periods of rapid technological advancement.

New categories of work will emerge: AI trainers, model auditors, human-AI workflow designers, data curators, governance specialists and roles we cannot yet imagine.

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The question is not whether change is coming. It is whether America will shape it, or allow others to.

Other nations are racing to lead in artificial intelligence. China, in particular, views AI not only as an economic engine but as a strategic asset. Authoritarian systems will deploy these tools at scale.

The United States became the world’s most dynamic economy not by freezing innovation, but by channeling it. We do not win by retreating from technology. We win by leveraging technology more effectively than anyone else.

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There is a profound opportunity embedded in this shift. With AI tools, individuals can accomplish far more than they could on their own. Productivity will rise not because humans matter less, but because they can do more. The advantage will belong to those who are flexible, adaptable and highly skilled at using tools to amplify their own effectiveness.

The transition will require serious investment in education and workforce development. It will demand humility from institutions that assumed credentials guaranteed security. And it will require policymakers to balance innovation with sensible safeguards.

But the proper response to disruption is not nostalgia. It is preparation.

The Industrial Revolution raised living standards. The computer age created industries employing millions. The internet unlocked global commerce and communication. None of those transitions were smooth. All expanded opportunity.

Generative AI is the next chapter in that American story.

The most resilient individuals and companies will not ask how to preserve yesterday’s job descriptions. They will ask how to combine human intelligence with machine capability to produce better outcomes, faster and at lower cost.

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That is not artificial intelligence.

That is augmented human intelligence.

That is not decline.

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That is renewal.

The age of augmentation has arrived. Let’s meet it the way Americans always have: with confidence, hard work and faith in our ability to build what comes next.

LIZ PEEK: America expected one thing from Trump’s State of the Union. It got another

Call me crazy, but I loved President Trump’s State of the Union speech.

Yes, it was long — the longest in at least 60 years — but it was also entertaining. It was optimistic, positive and hopeful about America’s future. Right off the bat, on Tuesday night, Trump introduced the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team, and though they didn’t lead the chamber in singing the national anthem (my secret hope), they did show off their gold medals to thunderous applause and shouts of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” That set the celebratory and triumphant tone of the evening.

Trump did not appear to be a president under siege, struggling with sagging approval ratings; far from it. He was at his best; he was relaxed, at times funny, and appropriately incredulous at the smallness and absurdity of his Democratic opponents. My guess is that he gets a much-needed bounce from this performance — not only because of his likable delivery, but also because he reviewed the enormous number of accomplishments that he and his Cabinet have racked up in a single year.

As important, he avoided picking a fight with the Supreme Court, which could easily have soured the mood. He described the Supreme Court’s ruling declaring his tariffs illegal as “disappointing” and “unfortunate,” but then moved on, talking up the importance of tariffs in leveling the playing field for U.S. firms and in attracting trillions of dollars of investment into the United States.

He also packed the gallery with a crowd of sympathetic and admirable people whose lives and experiences not only served to demonstrate the policies he touted but also inspired the audience.

Who could fail to applaud the children who are surviving grievous injuries, or the pilot wounded during the extraction of Venezuela’s illegitimate president, Nicolás Maduro, who managed to carry out the mission and was then awarded the Medal of Honor? Or the National Guardsman shot in the head who is recovering against all odds? The stories are heartwarming and incorporate much that is exceptional about the United States — the bravery, sacrifice and patriotism that characterize so many heroes.

President Trump’s most important mission was to remind people that President Joe Biden left behind a mess and that he is working to fix it.

President Trump’s most important mission was to remind people that President Joe Biden left behind a mess and that he is working to fix it. Trump inherited from Biden an economy dependent on gigantic federal spending, an open border unprotected from a rush of criminals who flooded in among the millions who entered illegally, and prices that soared more than 20% in four short years.

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A massive influx of undocumented migrants poured into cities like New York, causing chaos, crime and rising budget headaches as the public had to foot the bill for migrants receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare, education and housing. Those problems are ongoing, despite Trump’s efforts to deport the criminals who are also making our cities unsafe. In his speech, he called upon Congress to outlaw sanctuary cities. It won’t happen, but it should.

Trump ran on closing the border; today it is more secure than ever. As he reminded voters, if Democrats return to power, they will reverse his efforts.

As is customary, Trump cataloged his greatest hits. He celebrated the “one big beautiful bill,” which he said contained the biggest tax cuts in U.S. history, including reduced taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security. (He introduced a couple from Pennsylvania who are saving over $5,000 per year from the bill.) Trump also touted his efforts to bring down prescription drug prices, to make IVF more affordable — and sympathetically introduced a young woman trying to become a mom — and to establish price transparency in healthcare.

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He touted the “Trump Accounts” for young children, which he said could help them get a running start in life, and called out computer innovator Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, for contributing more than $6 billion to the program.

He also talked up his plan to make tech companies operating data centers pay for the copious electricity those projects require. Electricity prices have soared across the country, thanks in large part to what he described as reckless energy policies put in place by climate-focused Democrats. Trump is trying to fix that.

Another plan to increase affordability is his recent executive order banning large Wall Street financial firms from buying up homes. At the margin, this may help, as will lower mortgage rates. Such initiatives are meant to reduce the cost of living, which is likely to play a large role in the midterm elections.

The president and his team are also focusing on rooting out welfare fraud, which he said is rampant. Trump said that eliminating theft of taxpayer dollars could eliminate the deficit. It won’t, but it can surely help. Even Joe Biden’s Government Accountability Office said the country was losing hundreds of billions of dollars every year to fraud and theft; the Biden White House ignored the problem, but the Trump White House is addressing it.

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The theft of billions of dollars in welfare payments in Minnesota by primarily Somali criminals became an overnight political liability for Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials who, at best, ignored the problem. Trump has designated Vice President JD Vance to lead the fraud investigation; you can be sure that Democrat-run states like California and New York will be in the crosshairs.

It was a good night for the president; it was a bad night for Democrats. Over 70 Democrats shamefully boycotted the speech, which only made their dour presence less impactful. 

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President Trump more than once called out Democrats, in some cases, for opposing popular items like tax cuts and voter ID laws. He also berated them for supporting unpopular measures like gender reassignment of minors without parental approval. As he introduced a family whose daughter had experienced that misfortune, he waved his hand at Democrats, saying, “These people are crazy.” Most would agree.

President Trump got the message: He needs to make life more affordable. Now he has to follow through. After Tuesday night, the country knows he is working at it.

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DOUG SCHOEN: One big winner, one giant loser and one big problem after Trump’s State of the Union

President Donald Trump gave a virtuoso performance Tuesday night. He achieved a number of important goals in his State of the Union address, but it is unclear whether he fundamentally changed the political dynamic in America. Still, it was a great performance — with profound messages.

The first and most important message was that the American people should associate the progress, future and success of the country with the Trump administration and the Republican Party. The president spoke of transformations, turnarounds and, most of all, “the golden age of America.” It was moving and uplifting — though not necessarily as persuasive as he may have hoped.

To be sure, Trump made his most compelling case yet that the affordability crisis, which Democrats used to win the 2025 off-year elections, was now finally under control.

He also made it clear that his Republican Party had policies on healthcare, retirement, prices and, most of all, taxes that he argued would benefit the American people in ways few have articulated.

At the same time, in ways I have never heard before, Trump used the speech to castigate not only the Biden administration but Democrats in Congress, who did little to present a unified front at the State of the Union.

Between Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, being ejected from the House chamber for the second year in a row and members of the “Squad” jeering Trump and wearing buttons with expletives, the messaging by Democrats at the 2026 State of the Union was even worse than last year. That was especially true given the more than 30 empty seats in the chamber, as some Democrats chose to hold their own “People’s State of the Union” — whatever that might be.

Between Trump’s attacks and the Democrats’ behavior, it is hard to see how the country emerged more united after an extraordinary presentation that had to be moving to many Americans. Indeed, another strength of Trump’s speech was that he explicitly associated the country’s success with working people — especially heroes who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments for our nation, past and present. The explicit and implicit message was this: By standing with Trump and his policies, it was the only way America could achieve the success he spoke of in the context of the turnaround, the transformation, most of all, the “golden age” he said is underway.

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The president’s use of imagery was powerful — from the victorious U.S. Olympic hockey team to the military heroes recognized in the chamber. It was awe-inspiring and moving, and it left me with a sense of pride in our country that I had not felt in years during a State of the Union address.

Still, on Tuesday night, I did not sense that many minds were changed or that many midterm voters were swayed by the president’s nearly one-hour, 40-minute speech. While I am by no means sympathetic to today’s Democratic Party — especially its progressive wing — the degree of attacks and venom expressed at what is traditionally a nonpartisan event was off-putting, even to someone who has spent 50 years in the rough-and-tumble of politics.

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At the same time, Trump set the agenda for the midterm elections and made it clear he will run a populist campaign based on economic empowerment and affordability, contrasting it with a Democratic Party that he said supports open borders, higher taxes and policies hostile to law and order.

I am convinced many Americans found the speech profoundly moving and compelling in ways political events rarely achieve. I am not convinced, however, that polls will show the fundamental change that Trump and Republicans hoped would follow the State of the Union.

Time will tell.

It was particularly compelling when Trump asked lawmakers in the chamber to stand if they believed in the “fundamental principle” that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Almost no Democrats stood. 

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The move drew a predictable and lengthy standing ovation from Republicans. But I am not convinced that, given what polls show is widespread public concern about ICE’s actions, that the moment — as extraordinary as it was — will make immigration the winning issue it was in 2024. Yes, Americans recognize the Trump administration’s achievement in sealing the border. But many are now judging the president and his party more on ICE’s actions in major cities than on Homeland Security’s work at the border.

President Trump delivered a great speech Tuesday night, but a significant challenge remains: I do not believe many minds were changed, nor were Americans brought together.

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Man with Tourette syndrome ‘deeply mortified’ after shouting racial slur at awards show

The audience member with Tourette syndrome who shouted a racial slur during a broadcast of the 79th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) issued a statement expressing mortification about the incident on Monday.

John Davidson, who has severe Tourette syndrome and was the inspiration for the BAFTA-nominated biographical film “I Swear,” was heard shouting the n-word while Black actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. During other portions of the program, Davidson was heard shouting profanities, including “f— you” and “shut the f— up.” 

In the statement, Davidson said he has always been “deeply mortified” that his involuntary tics could be considered “intentional or to carry any meaning.”

“I was in attendance to celebrate the film of my life, I SWEAR, which more than any film or TV documentary, explains the origins, condition, traits and manifestations of Tourette Syndrome,” Davidson stated.

“I have spent my life trying to support and empower the Tourette’s community and to teach empathy, kindness, and understanding from others, and I will continue to do so. I chose to leave the auditorium early into the ceremony as I was aware of the distress my tics were causing.”

Earlier in his statement, Davidson thanked BAFTA and everyone else involved in the awards ceremony “for their support and understanding and inviting me to attend the broadcast,” adding that he appreciated the announcement before the broadcast began that “my tics are involuntary and are not a reflection of my personal beliefs.”

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“I was heartened by the round of applause that followed this announcement and felt welcomed and understood in an environment that would normally be impossible for me,” he continued. “In addition to the announcement by Alan Cumming, the BBC and BAFTA, I can only add that I am, and always have been deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.”

Actor Alan Cumming, who hosted the BAFTAs, addressed the situation on-air during the broadcast. 

“You may have noticed some strong language in the background. This can be part of how Tourette syndrome shows up for some people as the film explores that experience,” Cumming said. “Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone.”

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The BBC issued an apology after failing to remove the profane language when the pre-taped show aired.

“Some viewers may have heard strong and offensive language during the BAFTA Film Awards. This arose from involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette syndrome, and as explained during the ceremony it was not intentional. We apologize that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer,” a BBC spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Some critics of the way the situation was handled took to social media. 

“Asking for more grace for the person who shouted a racist slur instead of for Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, who had to push through being embarrassed in front of their peers. But that’s often the expectation — that Black people are just supposed to be ok with being disrespected and dehumanized so that other people don’t feel bad,” former ESPN anchor Jemele Hill wrote. 

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GOV GAVIN NEWSOM: From privilege to heartbreak, my life behind the headlines

Five years ago, I knew exactly what kind of book I needed to write.

It would chronicle crisis and conflict — the pandemic, the catastrophic wildfires, Trump 1.0, the relentless flywheel of California politics grinding out public policy. It would be the book people expected me to write.

I proudly turned in the manuscript.

It was quickly rejected.

I still remember the Zoom call with Ann Godoff, the legendary editor-in-chief at Penguin Press. I assumed she would tell me to trim the personal material — that the early chapter about my childhood was unnecessary or self-indulgent. I started preemptively editing in my head.

“I’ll pull the biographical parts,” I said.

She stopped me.

“That’s the part I care about,” she replied. “I didn’t know any of this about you.”

What followed wasn’t a policy book. It became, instead, a memoir — and not the kind I imagined. The subtitle, “A Memoir of Discovery wasn’t crafted for effect. It describes what happened to me during the writing process.

When I began revisiting my childhood, I assumed I understood it. I didn’t. I thought I had a firm grasp of my parents’ story — of the split between my father’s orbit and my mother’s. I didn’t.

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My father, William Newsom III, was an intellectual, a lawyer, a judge and a close friend of Gordon Getty, the heir to a great oil fortune. They’d met in high school. My grandfather, William II, was a builder, a shrewd political operator and a friend of California Gov. Pat Brown. He was sometimes called “Boss Newsom.” For my father, this world provided access to power and privilege but not wealth. He was a friend and sometimes an employee.

For years, I believed that if I worked harder, responded faster and explained more clearly, I could reshape public perception. But caricatures persist because they serve a purpose. Fighting them endlessly can become a trap in itself.

I began digging — and uncovered interviews my father had given to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Listening to him explain, in his own voice, why he left our family was illuminating. I had grown up with fragments and assumptions. Hearing his account forced me to reconsider memories I thought were settled.

On my mother’s side, it was even more startling. She never talked about her childhood. She never talked about what my aunts later described to me as a “house of horrors.” She never talked about the gun her father put to her head as a little girl. She never talked about his suicide. She never talked about the alcoholism, the secrets, the generational trauma that shaped her.

These weren’t minor footnotes. They were structural beams. And I had never truly asked about any of it.

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For most of my early life, I navigated two worlds. There was my father’s proximity to privilege and influence, to the California political machine his own father helped build, to the Getty dinner tables and to his books. And then my mother’s quieter, more disciplined world, rooted in grit and self-reliance. I thought I understood that tension. I had even built a persona to survive it.

There’s a line in the book about plaster crumbling. That wasn’t metaphorical. That was real. I had built armor — professional, polished, controlled. I thought it was a strength. Sometimes it was. Sometimes it was fear.

Mark Arax, who worked closely with me on the book, put it plainly: If this was going to be a memoir, it couldn’t be guarded. “You’ve got to crack yourself open,” he said.

That meant confronting things I had avoided. Acknowledging that my mother’s dire warnings about going into politics were not abstract. Admitting that during the recall effort in 2021, humiliation felt visceral. Recognizing that I had sometimes been too self-absorbed to see how my ambitions affected the people closest to me. Accepting my insecurities rather than masking them.

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For years, I believed that if I worked harder, responded faster and explained more clearly, I could reshape public perception. But caricatures persist because they serve a purpose. Fighting them endlessly can become a trap in itself.

Writing this book changed that equation for me. It didn’t make me less ambitious or less committed. It helped me see that the grit people associate with drive traces back to my mother. That my family challenged convention long before I entered politics.

It also reminded me that telling your own story means telling stories that involve others — parents, mentors, friends, children. That carries responsibility.

In the end, I wrote this book for my kids.

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If it finds an audience, I’m grateful. If it doesn’t, that’s fine. I can’t control that. What I can do is ensure that Montana, Hunter, Brooklyn and Dutch know more than the headlines. They deserve to understand the full arc — the doubts, the mistakes, the sweaty hands, the resilience, the contradictions. They deserve the context behind public life.

I can choose whether to live inside a flattened version of myself or tell the more complicated truth: I have been blessed by extraordinary relationships, and I have also been shaped by hardship and conflict. I am the sum of those contradictions.

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This book isn’t an argument. It isn’t a rebuttal. It’s an attempt to tell a fuller story — one that acknowledges both the advantages I’ve had and the fractures that shaped me.

We’re all more complicated than the caricatures attached to our names. Writing this memoir forced me to confront myself — to uncover the real origin story that lies beneath the surface of us all.

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My walk across America proves we’re not nearly as divided as DC claims

Day after day on this Walk Across America, the blisters on my feet remind me of the cost, but the conversations I’ve had along the way healed something far deeper. I’ve stopped to talk to strangers on corners, at bus stops, at roadside diners and McDonald’s, and in many other places. Most of us would call these people ordinary, but that wouldn’t be true, for each one of them was unique in his or her own way. They are the salt of the earth who make the world run.

Not one of them asked about party lines, protests or the latest squabble on social media. They all talked about where they were headed, their jobs, their kids’ futures, the price of feed, church, football games, and how to help others or keep kids off the wrong path. They spoke with passion, and they saw themselves as part of the community. They had a role. They felt important.

A retired teacher shared how she tutors kids after school for free — she considers her pension a blessing and sees this as her way to give back. I was talking with a man whose truck had broken down when a mechanic stopped and offered to fix the stranger’s truck. I even spoke with a teen pushing his lawnmower down the street to mow a senior citizen’s lawn for free. All of these conversations did wonders for my soul.

They also led me to realize that America isn’t as divided as the headlines scream. What unites us isn’t manufactured in Washington, D.C. or amplified on screens. It’s forged in the quiet acres of faith, family and neighborly love. In fact, I would argue that those in the spotlight treat one another more harshly than the people on the streets.

I’ve seen Black and White believers link arms in prayer. I’ve seen couples of all shades and married to people of different shades. I’ve seen conservatives and liberals who refuse to surrender their friendships to fleeting politics. I’ve seen people organize work and sports around the fairest and most worthy principle of all: merit. And I’ve seen losers and winners hug, both going home to work on what needs improvement.

Psalm 133 declares, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down to bring blessing. Ephesians 4 urges us to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” We cannot force unity through laws or shame. It must come organically, rooted in shared faith and purpose.

Back on Chicago’s South Side, I’ve seen what division breeds: suspicion, silos, violence. The cause is bad faith and policies that foster dependency. How can you be all you can be when you place your life, or part of it, in the hands of another — especially the cold, faceless government?

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This walk shows a far better reality. In diners, churches and front yards across these states, people are hungry for real connection — not performative activism, but authentic fellowship that says, “Your struggle is mine, and we’ll rise together through hard work, prayer and accountability to God.”

This isn’t naive optimism. I’m seeing it with my own eyes. I feel like I’m back in my hometown of Kenton, Tennessee, where life was always like this — and I loved it. I miss it so much, yet it warms my heart to know it is still alive in many parts of America. I’ve met former gang members mentoring youth, business owners hiring the overlooked and pastors crossing town lines to collaborate. They’re not waiting for permission or programs. They’re living out the merit-based, faith-driven life that built this nation. And when they do, barriers fall.

As I head toward my distant goal of Los Angeles on my walk across America, I’m carrying this truth forward. Unity isn’t achieved by erasing differences. It’s achieved by elevating what matters most — God, family and the creation of opportunity.

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My million steps aren’t just to fund a building on the South Side of Chicago. They’re to remind America — and to remind myself most of all — that we can still come together around these timeless values.

This walk has filled my soul with happiness and faith. What I have seen is beauty – American beauty. You know what I say is true. You know it still exists.

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We may not walk together but walk with me in spirit and be part of the greatness of this nation.

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DAVID MARCUS: Patriotic Team USA wins gold as anti-America whiners flop

Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win for the United States men’s hockey team over archrival Canada is arguably our nation’s most significant winter gold medal since the last time our boys were kings of the sport during the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” and the team’s pride in its country just made it all the sweeter.

You may recall that, from the outset of the games in Milan Cortina two weeks ago, there were American athletes chiding and criticizing our nation from their press podiums, and while correlation is not causation, many of them didn’t fare terribly well.

Take Hunter Hess, the American freestyle skier who said about representing the U.S. prior to competing, “It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now. It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of.” He added, “I think, for me, it’s more I’m representing my friends and family.”

Hess finished 10th — and his 15 minutes of fame ended.

Then there was figure skater Amber Glenn, who said members of the LGBT community in America are “having a hard time” and that she would use her voice to “try to encourage people to stay strong.”

It’s worth noting that Iran had a winter Olympic team this year. One wonders how Glenn thinks gays and lesbians are treated there.

Notably, while her teammates helped secure a team gold in figure skating, Glenn finished a disappointing fifth in singles, missing the podium — which hopefully gave her extra time to focus on gay rights.

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America did win singles gold, through figure skater Alysa Liu, who not only did not complain about her country but chose to compete for the United States instead of China, as fellow Chinese-American freestyle skier Eileen Gu did. Liu and her family, after all, found freedom here.

Then there was hockey — the glorious men’s and women’s tournaments in which both U.S. teams took gold. There was no whining about America or President Donald Trump. Instead, there was downright pure, unapologetic patriotism on display.

Take women’s hockey star Taylor Heise, who told Fox News Digital, “Playing for your country and the pride of the place that you live in is pretty amazing and to wear that USA emblem on your chest every day is something you don’t want to take for granted.”

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Hear, hear.

Or consider Jack Hughes’ postgame interview on Sunday. His broken teeth and game-winning goal were emblematic of Team USA’s grit. He said, “It’s all about our country right now. I love the USA. I love my teammates — it’s unbelievable. The USA Hockey brotherhood is so strong, and we had so much support. I’m so proud to be American today.”

Not long after, the boys in red, white and blue were speaking with President Donald Trump in the locker room via speakerphone, excited about the chance to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address — the same event many Democrats in Congress are petulantly skipping out on.

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There is no scientific way to know whether feeling patriotism, rather than ambivalence and dull shame, when competing for your country at the Olympics impacts performance. But it certainly seems like playing for millions of people — instead of just your “friends and family” — could provide a boost.

By definition, top Olympic athletes compete at such a high level of talent and ability that the slightest advantage can make all the difference. Some of these sports are decided by fractions of seconds.

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Maybe it’s cheesy, but it certainly sounded as though the winners drew inspiration, courage and energy from knowing the American people were cheering them on. They weren’t winning for Boston, Dallas or Philadelphia — they were winning for all of us.

As our focus shifts to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles later this year, American athletes should take note: patriotism and pride in America just might be a competitive advantage. And yes, I’m looking at you, men’s basketball team.

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On Sunday morning, millions of Americans shared something very special — a victory as unlikely as our great nation, similarly won through guts and determination. And now we get to watch viral videos of sad Canadians shocked at the result.

So, thank you to the patriots of Team USA. You made the dark days of winter a little brighter and made us proud — not just of you, but of the remarkable nation we share.

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America has a very expensive promises problem — and the bill is coming due

Every four years, Americans fall in love with a fantasy. A new president will change the federal deficit.

Republicans promise growth will outrun the debt.

Democrats promise taxes on the rich will fix it.

And the U.S. Debt Clock keeps spinning like a Vegas slot machine that only pays out in red ink.

As of 2026, the United States owes roughly $38.5 trillion, and it’s climbing about $8 billion per day. The net interest payments on the debt officially exceed our annual defense budget.

We’re not arguing politics anymore. We’re arguing arithmetic.

The Trump Plan: Growth + Tariffs + Tax Cuts

Let’s be fair: Trump’s economic philosophy has been consistent since he started campaigning.

Extend tax cuts — no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security.

Add tariff revenue — now a political and legal battle.

Shrink bureaucracy — started with DOGE.

Grow GDP faster than spending — up only 1.4% last quarter.

That worked sort of well when debt was $20 trillion lower and interest rates were near zero.

But today’s numbers are very different.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates current policy paths keep deficits near $2 trillion annually and push debt to about 120% of GDP within a decade. 

Here’s the translation. Even if the economy hums at an insane rate of GDP growth, the government is still spending dramatically more than it collects. Why is it that nobody really understands revenue and expenses in Washington, D.C., and that 85% of our revenue comes from the two buckets of personal income tax and payroll tax?

The Real Problem Isn’t Taxes or Tariffs.  Here’s the 60-second explainer.

It’s interest. Lots and lots of interest. Interest on the debt alone is projected to exceed $1 trillion in 2026 and now roughly 14% of federal spending. 

That means before we fund:

Defense

Social Security

Medicare

Infrastructure

Our Veterans

It’s like playing credit card roulette and the interest just keeps compounding with no end in sight. No State of the Union message Republican or Democrat can outgrow a compounding interest bill this large.

Politicians Don’t Like To Campaign On Math

TRUMP HAS SET THE STAGE FOR AN AMERICAN COMEBACK AFTER BIDEN’S DISMAL ECONOMY

Last fiscal year:

Government spent: $7.01 trillion

Government collected: $5.23 trillion

Annual deficit: $1.78 trillion

To erase the deficit overnight, you would need one of the following:

• Raise taxes roughly 35% (think about top tax rates going from 37% to 50%) and remember almost half the people in America don’t pay federal taxes whatsoever.

• Cut benefits massively, which really means one of the big three: Medicare, Social Security or Defense. 

• Or grow the economy at wartime levels for a decade.  

Do any of those sound realistic to you?

Why Trump Unfortunately Can’t Fix It (And Neither Can Anyone Else Alone)

Even Trump’s policies which add tariff revenue are projected to still increase deficits over time because tax cuts reduce revenue faster than tariffs raise it. 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth we all need to face. America does have policy problems, but more importantly, America has a promises problem. Nobody wants to sacrifice anything, and when you are in debt, something has to be sacrificed to get out of debt.

The Real State Of The Union

The federal debt isn’t going to be eliminated.

It will be inflated away, written off, monetized, or slowly eroded by negative real interest rates because, mathematically, a $38.5 trillion balance sheet cannot be balanced with incremental policy tweaks. The U.S. doesn’t default. It dilutes.

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Presidents don’t control the deficit anymore. Trump can change tax policy. He already did it. Congress can try to change spending. But they rarely agree. But reality is reality. Changing this quickly is like turning the Queen Elizabeth around in a bathtub.

Unless America changes expectations or sacrifices are made on both sides of the aisle, the debt clock keeps running no matter whose name is on the Oval Office door. The debate in Washington is ideological. The risk to all of us is our standing to wear the crown of being the world’s currency.

LIZ PEEK: Inflation, immigration and Trump’s State of the Union moment of truth

President Trump will address the nation Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. The stakes, for the president and for the country, could not be higher.

Will President Trump reenergize his voters and help the GOP keep control of Congress in November? He could, and he must. The Trump agenda is not done, and the prospect of Hakeem Jeffries becoming House speaker should make your hair stand on end. Not because Jeffries is a Democrat, but because he is the face of Trump-hating, brainless opposition that would rather hurt the U.S. than accommodate a president he doesn’t like. Exhibit A: ridiculous government shutdowns.

With betting sites showing 79% to 81% odds that Democrats will take over the House in November, and with Democrats leading the “generic ballot” by about five points, Trump needs to deliver a barnburner — he needs to be upbeat, likable and accurate. The facts are on his side; there is no need to embellish.

First, he can blow off inevitable Democratic razzing by showcasing Jack Hughes, the Olympic hockey player who scored the winning goal in overtime Sunday and led the U.S. men’s team to Olympic gold. Hughes, who lost three teeth during the game, proudly proclaimed afterward, “This is all about our country. I love the USA.” What an inspiration.

Moving on, the president must convincingly address the issues that matter most to the majority of Americans — not just his base. Gallup reports that, unsurprisingly, top voter concerns include the economy, especially the cost of living. Trump cannot dismiss “affordability” as a hoax; it is not. He is understandably frustrated to have to fix what his predecessor, Joe Biden, broke — and that he is being blamed for the 20%-plus surge in prices he inherited. But the weaker buck now stops with him.

Trump must report that inflation is coming down and that the slowdown will continue, partly due to his energy policies. U.S. oil production is at record highs; that isn’t an accident. After years of the Biden White House discouraging oilfield investment — including pausing lease sales and slow-walking drilling permits — Trump is accelerating both. From Jan. 20, 2025, Inauguration Day, until Jan. 6 of this year, the Trump administration approved 5,742 drilling permits for public lands, a 55% increase over the same period under Biden. The White House has also published an ambitious lease schedule, especially for offshore waters, which will guarantee high output for years to come.

On Tuesday night, the president must convincingly address the issues that matter most to the majority of Americans — not just his base.

Removing obstacles to producing homegrown fossil fuels is critical. So is axing renewable mandates and rules that push consumers toward high-cost electricity. The president cannot undo the foolish and costly energy decisions made over the past decade by Democratic officials, which have lifted electricity prices in New York and other blue states to as much as 50% above the national average. But his administration can roll back regulations — as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is doing — that drive energy costs even higher.

WATCH: TOP 5 MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS IN AMERICAN STATE OF THE UNION HISTORY

Trump’s push for lower interest rates will also drive costs down, especially for housing. Moreover, his executive order signed last month restricting institutional purchases of homes may relieve price pressures in targeted markets. Conservatives don’t like the White House interfering in private investment, but homebuyers will.

Elsewhere, Trump must reassure Americans that the explosive growth of artificial intelligence will make their lives better, not worse. People worry about losing their jobs to AI and about the new industry’s enormous power demands. Democrats have stoked those fears, in some cases opposing new data center construction and generally pushing back on Big Tech.

Our preeminent technology firms have much to answer for — from purposefully ensnaring and harming young people to inserting left-leaning bias into supposedly neutral tools like search — but leading the country to AI dominance isn’t one of them.

LIZ PEEK: TRUMP’S ECONOMIC WINS ARE REAL — NOW HE NEEDS TO CONVINCE THE COUNTRY

Trump should highlight the productivity gains AI promises. It will displace some workers, but it will also make nearly everyone more productive. Greater productivity means higher incomes. In industries such as health care, AI goes beyond efficiency — enabling more accurate diagnoses and accelerating the discovery of new drugs.

Gallup reports that another top issue for voters is “government and poor leadership.” Some will interpret that as a lack of confidence in the Trump White House; animosity toward the administration is certainly intense. But the president can turn that sentiment against Democrats, too, by reminding voters how much of their hard-earned tax dollars are lost to fraudsters or wasted through incompetence.

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Minnesota has become a poster child for elected officials enabling or ignoring massive corruption, but the problem is widespread and appears concentrated in Democratic-run states that thrive on massive welfare spending. California has come under scrutiny for allowing billions in pandemic relief intended for small businesses and the unemployed to go missing. Medicare fraud in the state also reaches into the billions. New York is under investigation as well.

Immigration is another top concern for voters. It was key to Trump’s election and is an issue he must address. He should highlight the deportation of criminals that the Department of Homeland Security has achieved — and that Democrats have opposed. He should also differentiate between murderers and rapists and those who have lived in the country for years and whose only crime was entering illegally. For those individuals, Trump should offer access to legal resident status if they meet certain requirements — but make clear they will never become citizens. Americans would back such a resolution.

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Finally, Trump should insist that Congress pass a voter ID law — if not as part of the SAVE Act, then as a stand-alone bill. The vast majority of Americans want secure elections. 

The GOP must earn its majority, and this would be a good start.

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DAN GAINOR: Trump defeated the press like David smacked Goliath. Can they recover?

Over 10 years ago, billionaire businessman Donald Trump announced he was running for the biggest office in the land. Three presidential races and two victories later, one thing is clear. Trump won his war with the media hands down. The press set out to destroy him. They failed. And he crushed them instead. At no time since the founding of our republic has the traditional media been less influential.

President Trump has won lawsuits against two different news networks, watched as other news organizations refused to endorse his competitor in the presidential race and celebrated as public media had its taxpayer funding ripped away. This is another classic Trump upset victory that is reminiscent of David smiting Goliath. It didn’t go well for Goliath either time.

Who could have predicted the turn of events? The establishment left-wing press has influenced everything in America for decades — politics, culture, sports and more. They helped decide both party’s presidential candidates, destroyed political careers, covered up scandals (Hunter Biden, anyone?) and helped push every issue in the world to the left — from taxes, to transgenders to the media itself.

They had survived the many threats to their power — the internet, blogging, social media, declining ad revenue, everything the world threw at them. Even the first term of Trump. The press pushed hard for and celebrated two Trump impeachments, an election defeat and enough lawfare to keep Perry Mason busy. They looked like they could take on anything.

Anything, that is, but Trump Part II. This time everything has been different. And, as Trump prepares to deliver his State of the Union speech, Tuesday, February 24, the state of his opponents in the media is in a shambles.

Just look at his overwhelming victory against NPR and PBS. Republicans warred against so-called public media for decades. Both networks were overflowing with leftist staffers, guests and agendas, and it all was paid for by American taxpayers. But, every attempt to chip away at funding became a battle against Big Bird. The right was humiliated each time it tried to nibble funding away from two of the most openly leftist networks in the nation. The result made Republicans unwilling to try. Trump was willing and pushed Congress to axe the funding and won. Former CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta had urged more funding for public media, calling for it to be “too big to fail in this country.” Yet, fail it did.

All of those claims that the federal money didn’t make up much of public media’s budget turned out, unsurprisingly, to be a lie. Both networks are struggling with finances. PBS canceled “PBS News Weekend” and blamed Trump: “PBS cancelled the show due to the loss of federal funding for public media,” it declared. You can pretend to be sad now.

BOZELL, GRAHAM: TRUMP SUCCESSFULLY DEFUNDS NPR AND PBS AND HE’S JUST GETTING STARTED

Trump hit the press with lawyers of his own and won. Both ABC and CBS settled lawsuits against Trump, fearing worse outcomes. ABC agreed “to pay a $15 million ‘charitable contribution’ to a future presidential foundation for construction of Trump’s presidential library, covering $1 million in legal fees, and appending a statement of regret to the segment,” according to The Washington Post.

The changes at CBS were even more profound. The network settled for $16 million for the future Trump library. But that wasn’t all. CBS hired Free Press founder Bari Weiss as its new editor-in-chief. Most in the media were furious, even though she’s no conservative. The New Yorker referred to it as a, “Hostile Takeover of CBS News.” Weiss has battled with network staff to try to get them to be more even-handed, which has infuriated journalists who mostly complain anonymously to others in the press.

One producer resigned, complaining, “Stories may instead be evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations.” Journalists who thrilled at the network’s openly leftist ideology, now whine if it shifts slightly closer to center. To top things off, CNN anchor and “60 Minutes” correspondent Anderson Cooper didn’t renew his contract either.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: HOW MEDIA WENT FROM ‘WATCHDOG TO ATTACK DOG’ OVER TRUMP AND RUSSIA COLLUSION NARRATIVE

Ideological expectations were changing in newspapers, as well. Last February, Post owner Jeff Bezos, of Amazon fame, announced a huge shift in the editorial pages. He declared they would promote, “personal liberties and free markets.” Two things most journalists hate. The exodus of staffers that followed reads like a Who’s Who of leftist Posties — including columnists Jonathan Capehart and Philip Bump, and its hilariously titled fact-checker Glenn Kessler.

The entire journalism world had erupted in anger when the Post and 43 other of the nation’s top newspapers refused to endorse a candidate for president in 2024. That tally included both the L.A. Times and several top chains, according to journalism’s Nieman Lab. The Post reportedly lost over 200,000 subscribers. This January, the paper had massive layoffs of somewhere between a third and half its staff. One Hill op-ed described the cuts as, “Darkness descends with Washington Post mass layoffs.”

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The Post was far from alone. There were 2,254 job cuts at news outlets in 2025, including cuts at CNN, CBS, NBC and more.

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Even social media no longer bans Trump. And Trump went from being a minor player there to founder of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which includes Truth Social. It has a market cap of about $3 billion.

Not too shabby for the man who called the media “the enemy of the American people” after he first took office in 2017 and has warred with them ever since. Now, journalists face three more years of defeats at the hands of their arch enemy and a future filled with conservatives who learned how to take down media giants from a master.

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JILLIAN MICHAELS: Our hockey heroes just gave America the miracle we needed most

We just witnessed something rare and beautiful at the Winter Olympics: Team USA winning gold in both men’s and women’s hockey — back-to-back, overtime thrillers over Canada, the fiercest rival in the sport. The women set the tone with a 2-1 OT victory, and then the men did the impossible. Their first Olympic gold in 46 years, clinched on an overtime goal by Jack Hughes, despite playing through a brutal high stick that knocked out several of his teeth.

In the locker room afterward, Hughes didn’t talk about politics. He talked about love of country, about his teammates, about American hockey with the kind of authenticity the moment deserved. “This is all about our country right now. I love the USA,” Hughes said. Chills.

For years now, high-profile athletes have been pressured into speaking on behalf of causes — to take the stage as proxies for political movements many aren’t even aware of, much less understand. We’ve lived through endless cycles of controversy over a knee, an anthem, or an opinion on a policy issue most of them weren’t asked about until the pundit class made it a litmus test. Careers have been saddled with expectations to publicly confess national “sins,” to don a badge of shame for living in a country that, objectively, remains exceptional in human history.

Yet here we are watching our hockey teams, men and women alike, who didn’t cave to pressure, didn’t posture and preen. They competed. They battled. They represented the United States proudly — without apology.

That’s refreshing.

Yes, America is not perfect. No nation ever is. We have real debates to be had about policy and leadership. We have legitimate differences of opinion about how to steer our ship going forward. But unity, real organic unity, comes from shared experiences that transcend ideological divides. Rarely does something bind a country quite like sporting triumphs on the world stage.

Sports don’t care about your party registration. They don’t care if you’re from California or Kentucky or New York. You’re either on the ice, in the arena, on the field giving everything you have, or you’re watching, cheering, and roaring for one flag.

FEBRUARY 22 IS ALREADY THE GREATEST DAY IN AMERICAN HOCKEY HISTORY — CAN TEAM USA ADD TO THE LEGEND?

This is why moments like this matter.

Because they remind us of something too many pundits and performative activists have forgotten: most Americans don’t wake up every day thinking about how to hate their own country. Most of us wake up hopeful — grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, proud of what we can achieve, and ready to cheer on fellow citizens who give it their all.

And give it their all they did.

TEAM USA’S JACK HUGHES SHARES PATRIOTIC MESSAGE AFTER OLYMPIC THRILLER

Hughes’s goal was the storybook ending. Assisted by Zach Werenski and backed by 41 saves from goalie Connor Hellebuyck, Team USA’s men finished the tournament undefeated, ending a nearly half-century gold drought on the 46th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice.

The women’s gold was no consolation prize, it was a statement. Another 2-1 overtime win against Canada, a testament to grit, skill, and composure. Together, these teams showed what American hockey looks like and is a reflection of Americans as a whole: relentless, fearless, united.

And then there was the moment after the wins: an honest, joyful phone call with President Donald Trump, celebrating their accomplishment. It wasn’t posturing. It wasn’t a photo op. Just pride, shared between the leader of the nation and the athletes who made every American feel a little prouder today.

‘MIRACLE ON ICE’ STAR TELLS ’60 MINUTES’ HISTORIC OLYMPIC VICTORY SHOWED ‘WHAT MAKES OUR COUNTRY SO GREAT’

In a time when headlines profit from division, when the loudest voices tell us we must be ashamed of our own country simply for existing, these hockey victories remind us of something simple and potent:

We are a free people. A resilient people. A people who rise to the occasion when the world watches.

And when we win, we win as one nation.

So let’s savor this. Let’s be proud of these teams! The women who paved the way, and the men who finally brought home gold after decades. Let’s celebrate the toughness, the character, the patriotism in locker rooms, on the ice, and in the hearts of millions of Americans watching back home.

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In the end, that’s what the Olympics should be about: the best of sport and the best of a nation coming together on the world stage — not to divide us, but to remind us who we are.

What could be more worth cheering for.

CHAD WOLF: Space isn’t just the final frontier, it’s the ‘ultimate high ground’

The race to the moon is on — again. But the strategic competition playing out today is much bigger than our race with the Soviet Union in 1969. If China reaches the moon ahead of the United States and establishes a permanent, manned presence — it will not treat the lunar surface as a peaceful scientific outpost, but as an extension of its campaign to surpass America, intimidate our allies and compromise our systems that keep the American homeland secure. This is no longer something of science fiction.

President Donald Trump understands this threat, signing the Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority, which made it abundantly clear that he wants the United States to lead this new space race — returning Americans back to the moon by 2028 and building a permanent manned presence on the lunar surface.

Let me be clear, the fear that China could somehow “claim” the moon by arriving first misunderstands both geography and international reality. Two of the main locations for settlement are the Shackleton Crater, which stretches about the distance from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland, and the South Pole–Aitken Basin, which is roughly the distance from Washington, D.C., to Denver, Colo. The moon is vast.

The strategic concern and question for Congress is not who arrives “next,” but who establishes a durable, scalable and defensible presence on the lunar surface. China understands this question and is well on their way to develop a reusable launch system to control this terrain and its abundant critical resources within a decade. The U.S. needs to recognize this threat and address it with the urgency it demands.

The Obama-Biden administration’s Space Launch System (SLS), which is currently being used for the Artemis missions, utilizes 1980s architecture developed from the shuttle missions and has been highly criticized by NASA’s former inspector general during the Biden administration who calculated the cost of a single SLS launch was $4.2 billion, with nearly $64 billion already spent despite only one operational flight since 2022. This is an enormous price tag with limited payload capacity and a launch cadence measured in years rather than months.

Seeing NASA’s struggles with the SLS, Chinese state-backed firms are now mimicking architectures that support fully reusable, self-landing heavy-lift rockets modeled on SpaceX’s Starship. As seen on Feb. 11, China’s Long March 10 booster (developed in just eight years) successfully guided itself to a powered, vertical ocean splashdown. This is an unmistakable signal that China is quickly catching up to us and recognizes that a nation that can launch more often and move more mass will dominate.

The critical national security question is this: What happens if the U.S. does not pivot quickly toward prioritizing cost, capacity and cadence, after Artemis III?

ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT ISS FOR 8-MONTH MISSION AFTER MEDICAL EMERGENCY FORCED EARLY EVACUATION

First, we will likely see the formation of a permanent Chinese, manned presence expanding Beijing’s intelligence collection and space awareness across the Earth–moon system helping China monitor U.S. and allied activity. Beijing has invested in capabilities designed to “degrade, damage, or destroy” U.S. satellites — the backbone of American command-and-control and targeting. This has direct homeland security implications.

Trump is right to push a layered, space-enabled missile defense, known as the “Golden Dome,” but if the Chinese control the ultimate high ground, it can build a moon-based counter-command designed to blind, spoof, disrupt or hold at risk the space layer that makes that shield possible. Put simply: you cannot defend the homeland from above if Beijing can contest the space above you. The United States should establish that capability first — call it the “Donald J. Trump Moon Base” and lock in the operational advantage ahead of the Chinese.

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Second, if China is left untouched on the lunar surface, it would surely increase the risk of espionage, sabotage and gray-zone interference against our own forthcoming lunar infrastructure.

Seeing NASA’s struggles with the SLS, Chinese state-backed firms are now mimicking architectures that support fully reusable, self-landing heavy-lift rockets modeled on SpaceX’s Starship.

Finally, Beijing will seek to turn its presence into control over resources on the lunar surface. It is critical for us to get ahead of the Chinese on the extraction of these critical minerals, which China already has a stronghold of on Earth. We need these critical minerals for national defense, economic prosperity, and, frankly, our sovereignty.

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The moon is the ultimate high ground; we cannot afford to be first on Earth but second in space. If China gets to the moon, fine, but if it frequently returns, they will turn their presence into control — over the “Golden Dome,” over our critical infrastructure on Earth and in low Earth orbit, and over the resources the moon provides — America will be permanently exposed to its greatest adversary.

To beat China, Congress should demand accountability for delays and cost overruns, stop blindly giving subsidies to outdated systems, and pivot to reusability. Our continued homeland security depends on it. Let’s put America first and prioritize cost, capacity and cadence.

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SEN ELIZABETH WARREN: President Trump’s broken promise on credit cards

President Donald Trump could save American families hundreds of dollars on credit cards, but so far, he’s been all talk and no action.

At the State of the Union, President Trump will try to spin a happy story about his failed economic agenda. During his campaign, he promised to lower costs “on day one.” He is now more than 400 days into his second term, and his policies are forcing Americans to pay more for everything from groceries to housing and electricity. Last Friday, the Supreme Court rebuked him for illegally taking money from working families. And polls show the American people think the president is not doing enough to lower costs.

One way Trump could lower costs quickly is to follow through on his campaign promise to put a 10% cap on credit card interest rates. This could save the average American with credit card debt about $900 a year. Collectively, families would save roughly $100 billion, giving them some breathing room and strengthening the economy overall.

TRUMP CALLS FOR 1-YEAR 10% CAP ON CREDIT CARD INTEREST RATES

On Jan. 9, the president seemed poised to act. He announced that credit card companies will no longer rip off the American people — and then he politely asked the biggest banks to put in place a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates by Jan. 20. At the time, I said that asking credit card companies to play nice is silly, and if the president was serious, he’d work to pass a bill through Congress that would deliver lower rates.

Three days later, President Trump called me himself. I had just given a speech noting that he is driving up costs for families and sowing terror and chaos in our communities. I repeated my push: If the president really wanted to cap credit card interest rates, he would use his leverage and push a bill through Congress. On our phone call, I delivered the same message.

While the president dawdles, the big banks are coming out of the woodwork to warn of an ‘economic disaster’ if we cap credit card interest rates. Give me a break.

That was six weeks ago. President Trump’s Jan. 20 deadline has come and gone, and no one is surprised that the big banks have not voluntarily cut credit card rates to help American families. Instead, Trump and his budget chief, Russ Vought, have moved in the opposite direction, trying to sideline the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which could be used to bring down credit card costs. While Trump claims he wants a credit card interest rate cap, his own regulators are helping out those very same Wall Street banks that are ripping off Americans and blocking states from protecting their citizens from sky-high loans.

While the president dawdles, the big banks are coming out of the woodwork to warn of an “economic disaster” if we cap credit card interest rates. Give me a break. These are the most profitable financial institutions in the history of the world. There is no reason for them to demand 25% or 30% interest rates when smaller banks and credit unions are offering much lower credit card interest rates and are still making solid profits.

The big banks make about a 1.5% return on their lending generally — but for credit cards, they make a whopping 6.8% return. Credit cards also bring in and sustain new customers for other services. These banks could lower credit card rates and still be wildly profitable.

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Credit card CEOs love those high rates because they help finance a big chunk of the salaries and bonuses for those at the top. Compensation for every big bank CEO topped $40 million last year, with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon pocketing a tidy $770 million. Shareholders are happy, too. Big banks paid out a record $140 billion in dividends and share buybacks in 2025. Meanwhile, the American people have been charged more than $150 billion annually in credit card interest.

Americans want relief — and Democrats are ready. After the president called me, I reached out repeatedly to his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to share ideas about how to design an emergency 10% rate cap that prohibits banks from retaliating by shutting down accounts, reducing credit lines or devaluing rewards. I also explained how we could transition to a permanent rate cap, so credit card companies can’t go right back to ripping people off after one year.

But after six weeks, there’s no deal to help the American people. We don’t need more speeches. We need an agreement on legislation and a commitment from the president to actually fight for it.

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Let’s pass a bill to cap credit card interest rates. The Senate Banking Committee could hold hearings in March and get a bill to the president’s desk this spring.

No more delays. It’s time to deliver relief for American families.

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