Tag: donald trump

Turn Off That (Government) Radio!

On March 14, US president Donald Trump signed an executive order reducing “statutory functions of unnecessary governmental entities to what is required by law.”

Among other institutions, the order targets the United States Agency for Global Media and the broadcast media it operates and funds: Voice of America, Radio and Television Martí, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

At less than one 6,750th of last year’s $6.75 trillion federal spending, USAGM may seem like small potatoes, but as the late US Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL) reportedly said, “a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” And good reasons for wadding up the agency and tossing it in the dustbin of history go far beyond the financial.

What are the agency and its outlets, really? In a word, propaganda.

Their entire purpose is and always has been to regale the world –especially that portion of its population ruled by non-US-approved governments –with the US government’s take on every event and every issue.

While that approach never seemed very much like what America advertises itself as, it may have made at least a little sense during the Cold War when Radio Moscow and China Radio International likewise spread their regimes’ messages via the airwaves.

Now, though, in addition to not reflecting supposed American values (you know, free speech and free press instead of government propaganda), those state-operated broadcast media are beyond redundant.

These days, US “mainstream private sector” media – print, radio, television, and Internet –go toe-to-toe with competitors (state-operated and “private sector” alike) worldwide, reaching far more people than their USAGM predecessors.

And, for the most part and in most respects,  those “private sector” platforms have long since brought their editorial lines into compliance with the US regime’s every whim.

Keep reading

Trump’s Intel Agencies Are Trying To Sabotage Him Again. Will Ratcliffe And Patel Stop It?

A New York Times report on Thursday is either fake or people at the FBI or CIA ran to the paper to undermine their boss, though there’s no real reason both can’t be true.

Under the headline, “Intelligence Assessment Said to Contradict Trump on Venezuelan Gang,” the Times cited unnamed “officials” claiming that the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, members of which the White House says are illegally in the U.S., is not in cahoots with the origin nation’s government. It’s an assertion in direct contradiction to the administration, which has justified the expedited removal of many illegal aliens by claiming that the Venezuelan government works with the gang to destabilize America.

The report went on to say intelligence agencies “concluded that the gang, Tren de Aragua, was not directed by Venezuela’s government or committing crimes in the United States on its orders,” though it acknowledged that the conclusion was made with only “moderate confidence,” rather than high confidence. It also said that the FBI dissented with the opinion, claiming that the gang does in fact have “a connection” to the Venezuelan government.

If it’s true, then once again, the intelligence community is using media leaks to thwart Trump’s agenda. The president is right now in a legal dispute with a D.C. district judge as to whether the administration is illegally applying the Alien Enemies Act, which gives Trump the authority to remove illegal aliens from a “hostile nation” without a formal court hearing. That any intelligence personnel are aligning themselves with “the resistance” again is something CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI head Kash Patel are going to need to address immediately.

This is from the same playbook used in Trump’s first term. To cripple his presidency, the intelligence community, the FBI in particular, steadily plied all-too-willing reporters at the Washington Post, CNN, and the Times with information that was either wrong, out of context, or, at minimum, in dispute. It worked to stunning effect, keeping the jittery public on edge every single day of those four years, weakening support for effectively everything Trump did. That shouldn’t happen again.

Keep reading

President Trump Responds to Report from The Atlantic’s Trump-Hating Editor-in-Chief Claiming that He Was Added to Signal Group Chat Discussing Yemen Strikes

President Trump on Monday responded to a report where the Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief claimed he was included on a Signal group where cabinet officials discussed military strikes on Houthi Muslims in Yemen.

The President delivered remarks Monday with Republican Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Hyundai Motor Group executives to announce a “major economic development project for Louisiana.”

The South Korean auto manufacturer announced a $5.8 billion investment in American manufacturing to build its first-ever steel mill in the U.S., which President Trump said will produce “more than 2.7 million metric tons of steel per year” and create more than 1,400 steel jobs.

“In the next couple of years,” the President said, Hyundai will be investing at least $21 billion in U.S. manufacturing and “massively increasing its auto manufacturing in Georgia.”

“This investment is a very clear demonstration that tariffs very strongly work,” President Trump added. “The tariffs are bringing them in at levels that have not been witnessed.”

During an exchange with a reporter in the Roosevelt Room of the White House after the announcement, the President was asked if he had a response to the Atlantic’s reporting on military operations that were allegedly revealed to a reporter.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump-hating crank Jeffrey Goldberg claimed he was accidentally added to a secure Signal group chat where top Trump administration officials discussed sensitive military operations against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.

The so-called “Houthi PC small group” allegedly included National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance.

Keep reading

Trump’s Ukraine Deals: No Blank Checks, No World War

President Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine, and true to his word, he has offered President Zelensky two smart, mutually beneficial deals: defense in exchange for access to minerals and defense in exchange for energy cooperation.

Both proposals would have strengthened Ukraine’s position while advancing U.S. strategic interests—yet Zelensky rejected them. It appears he prefers unconditional aid, giving nothing in return.

Meanwhile, Europe seems determined not only to prolong the war indefinitely but also to risk provoking Russia into a broader conflict that could spiral into World War III.

The first major deal President Trump offered to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a strategic defense-for-minerals agreement that served the interests of both nations.

Under this deal, Ukraine would grant the U.S. access to critical mineral resources—such as rare earth elements—in exchange for increased American defense support.

This arrangement provided Ukraine with much-needed funding and a de facto security guarantee, as the presence of American personnel on the ground to safeguard mineral operations would serve as a deterrent to Russian aggression.

Crucially, the deal accomplished all of this without requiring Ukraine to join NATO, making it more acceptable to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had long opposed NATO expansion.

The presence of Americans on key sites would have raised the stakes for any Russian attack, potentially deterring an invasion due to the risk of direct conflict with U.S. forces.

However, European leaders harshly criticized President Trump for proposing the defense-for-minerals deal, demanding instead that the United States continue its open-ended military support for Europe and financial aid to Ukraine.

Many in Europe labeled Trump a bully and an extremist for attempting to reshape the terms of engagement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also rejected the offer, preferring unconditional financial aid over a mutually beneficial agreement.

Ironically, while condemning Trump’s proposal—which could have de-escalated tensions and provided a peaceful resolution—European nations have moved in the opposite direction.

They are rearming, expanding their militaries, approving a massive EU-wide military spending loan program, and even considering deploying troops directly to Ukraine, a move that could risk triggering World War III.

All the while, they continue to criticize the United States for stepping back from the war and exploring a diplomatic solution.

Keep reading

Hunter’s Secret Service boondoggle

President Donald Trump just signed an executive order to terminate Secret Service protection for Hunter Biden, 55, and his half-sister, Ashley, 43. It marks the end of an era of bitter irony for U.S. taxpayers and the Secret Service — both of which a shameless presidential son took advantage.

Secret Service protection for former presidents is detailed under the Former Presidents Act (FPA). The Act did not take effect until 1958, benefitting the only two living former presidents at the time — Herbert Hoover and Harry S. Truman. Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to benefit from it immediately upon leaving the Oval Office.

The FPA originally provided for lifetime Secret Service protection for former presidents. But, in 1994, it was amended to provide only ten years protection for those inaugurated after January 1, 1997. Perhaps recognizing we were living in more dangerous times, effective in 2013, the Act returned to the lifelong protection commitment. 

The spouse of a former president is also entitled to lifelong Secret Service protection unless she remarries. Any child of a former president is entitled to protection “until they become 16 years of age.” 

While Hunter and Ashley were still receiving such protection two months after Joe Biden left office, it was due to his executing an executive order before stepping down to extend protection to older children for no more than six additional months. This was something other presidents had done before him.

But here is a bitter irony tied to the Hunter Biden boondoggle. 

Keeping in mind Hunter’s 24/7 security probably involved about 18 agents, necessitating they go wherever he went and that Hunter was making numerous international trips to collect paychecks for virtually no reason other than being the son of the vice president and later president, taxpayers were taking a major hit in financing his Secret Service force. This was true too when Biden was living a life of luxury in Malibu that mandated his security team rent very expensive property nearby.

Meanwhile, as taxpayers were footing Hunter’s tremendous Secret Service costs, he was receiving millions of dollars, it is estimated, which included $3.8 million from CEFC China Energy — an oil and gas company linked to the Chinese Communist Party that ultimately went belly up — and from Burisma Holdings. Hunter had begun working with CEFC when his father was vice president.

It presented the worst possible image for someone in Hunter’s position to open doors for China — a country with national security interests far different from our own. 

After Biden became president, Hunter worked with another Chinese company linked to CEFC that sent $5 million to a joint venture created by the First Son and an associate. Joint ventures became a common feature used by Hunter to launder foreign funding. But, with Secret Service agents in tow, it was as if Hunter were in a room counting his money as they stood guard outside, providing him protection for which he was not even having to pay.

Keep reading

San Diego Border Patrol chief: Trump’s troop deployments have transformed BORDER SECURITY

A senior official of the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) has remarked that President Donald Trump’s deployment of military troops to support border security efforts has proven to be a game-changer.

Jeffrey Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the USBP’s San Diego Sector, pointed out that the presence of military personnel at the border has enabled USBP agents to focus on critical law enforcement tasks.

According to the chief patrol agent, the presence of the Army, Navy and Marines along the southern border has acted as a “force multiplier.” The military’s role in surveillance, detection and infrastructure support has freed up agents to respond more swiftly to illegal crossings. State forces, in the form of Texas National Guard (TNG) soldiers deputized as immigration officers, are also helping ease the USBP’s load. (Related: Texas Military Department ramps up recruitment to support border security efforts.)

Task Force Sapper, a unit of nearly 500 Marines, has been instrumental in fortifying border barriers with razor wire and other protective measures. Aside from barrier construction, the Marines are also engaged in surveillance and detection along stretches of the border. Meanwhile, Army engineers and military police from Fort Campbell in Kentucky have bolstered observational capabilities by backing up their counterparts from the Marines.

Keep reading

Trump Shows His True Colors

It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to show his true colors.

Trump won a landslide election last November primarily on the promise to STOP America’s “stupid” wars. It is now obvious to everyone that, while Trump might be able to negotiate a deal to stop the war in Ukraine—a war that Russia has already won—he is decidedly intent on accelerating and expanding U.S. wars in the Middle East.

But as soon as I tell the truth about the morbid duplicity of Trump’s mind and the moral derangement of Trump’s heart, evangelicals ferociously respond with examples of the “good” things he is doing, as if any of that erases the evil he is inflicting on both America and the world.

Evangelicals are eaten up with the disease of Prophetic Dispensationalism and see Trump as a harbinger of their eschatology. Prophetic Dispensationalism is a moral and spiritual cancer that befalls the brain and hardens the heart. And it is an epidemic among evangelicals.

I well remember when I was a young pastor. I heard several prominent fundamentalist/evangelical pastors use James 5:20 to justify any act of wickedness they might commit in the same way that they use Genesis 12:3 to justify every act of wickedness that Zionist Israel does commit.

James 5:20 says, “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” (KJV)

Their interpretation of this verse was that if a Christian was a “soulwinner” and won people to Christ, God would “hide” the “multitude” of the soulwinner’s “sins.” In other words, as long as a Christian was a soulwinner, none of his sins mattered—no matter how vile and wicked they might be.

That’s the same mindset of today’s Trump toadies. As long as Trump is doing something right, he cannot be condemned for anything he does wrong.

But Donald Trump has chosen a course that could lead America into World War Three and turn our constitutional republic into an authoritarian dictatorship where the fundamental mark of a free society—the freedom of speech—is eviscerated.

Keep reading

The Trump Administration Goes to War against Bureaucratic Tyranny

“This town is now as nervous as it’s ever been.”  That’s Congressman Chip Roy’s assessment of the mood in Washington, D.C., since President Trump’s return to the White House.  It’s one of several dozen refreshingly blunt descriptions of American politics in Ned Ryun’s new documentary based on his book, American Leviathan.  The documentary is available to anyone with an Internet connection, and it is nothing short of a declaration of war on the administrative state.

I highlighted Ryun’s book when it came out last September for several reasons.  First, it is a remarkably clear description of the ideas, people, and events that led us to this unique moment in history — when the inevitable clash between the authoritarian bureaucracy and the constitutional Republic has come to a head.  There was nothing “natural” about this process.  The vast and unaccountable administrative state did not arise from the U.S. Constitution; it is a repudiation of the Constitution.  The unelected bureaucracy does not reflect the wishes of the American people; it is the polar opposite of representative government.  No matter how many propagandists defend Big Government as “our Democracy,” the ever-growing Leviathan is thoroughly authoritarian in disposition.  It jealously guards its expanding powers and despises American citizens who insist that legitimate government comes only from the consent of the people.  It is such an unnatural beast that it must spy on Americans, censor their speech, and intimidate them into submission merely to maintain control.  The administrative state is “government by coercion” and the antithesis of limited government and individual liberty.

Second, Ryun is a rather unique political operative in that he “walks the walk” every bit as much as he “talks the talk.”  He is an effective warrior when it comes to getting Republicans elected, but he is also a tireless critic of the Deep State.  Those qualities are often mutually exclusive in high-stakes American politics where a person’s clout is usually directly proportional to his willingness to sell out personal principles.  Washington’s political machine — the Frankensteinian monstrosity composed of equal parts malevolent bureaucracy, corporate blackmail, academic blacklisting, news media gatekeeping, Intelligence Community skulduggery, and rank influence peddling — tends to scoop up “true believers” and recondition them into compliant cogs of the permanent government’s hive-mind, collectivist “Borg.”  Ryun is a rare political player who refuses to be “assimilated” or transformed into another D.C. “drone.”

Lastly, I wanted readers to mentally prepare for what would happen after President Trump won in November.  There were fifty days between the publication of Ryun’s American Leviathan and Trump’s victory, and while those crucial days required all of our efforts to make sure that he would, in fact, be re-elected, I knew that we would have no time to waste once he succeeded.  That’s where Ryun’s efforts really stand out.  His book is meant (1) to wake up those who have been sleeping during the century-long transformation of the American Republic into a tyrannical bureaucracy, (2) to re-energize those who have been fighting the good fight for most of their lives, and (3) to lay out the blueprint for restoring the Republic and destroying the Deep State.  I wanted readers to spend time before the election thinking about what would come next because winning was only “Step One” of a much larger operation. 

Keep reading

Wife of Activist Trump Wants to Deport Just Tried to Blow Up the Whole Case Against Him

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University anti-Israel activist whom the Trump administration has targeted for deportation, has become a darling of the left, as people who hate America so often do. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) claimed Friday that Khalil’s arrest “has created a speech-chilling atmosphere of fear” and charges that “the Trump administration’s actions represent a dangerous escalation of the president’s attempts to choke off the free speech rights of people on American soil.” And on Sunday, Khalil’s wife attempted to blow up the entire case against him, asserting that it was “ridiculous” and “disgusting” to say that Khalil supports Hamas.

This is all-important because if Khalil is found to be a Hamas supporter, the case against him would be nearly open and shut. U.S. Code § 1182 states that “any alien” who is “a representative” of “a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity” is “inadmissible.” U.S. Code § 1227 adds that such an alien “is deportable.” The Associated Press described Khalil two weeks ago as one of the “student leaders of Columbia University Apartheid Divest” (CUAD). The Washington Post reported last Tuesday that “No one disputes that Khalil was the face of Columbia University Apartheid Divest.” 

Khalil was CUAD’s chief negotiator with Columbia administrators. Politico explained: “Khalil was a lead negotiator representing the student protesters to the Columbia administration during the school’s ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ last spring. The student group behind the encampment — Columbia University Apartheid Divest, or CUAD — had two main demands: that Columbia cut all its ties to Israel, including divesting and halting plans to build a ‘global center’ in Tel Aviv, and that the protesters themselves receive amnesty for their actions.” 

However, apparently aware of how damaging that fact is to his case, Khalil himself disputes this. The BBC framed Khalil’s connection to CUAD as if it were merely something his opponents claimed: “Activists supporting Israel have accused Mr Khalil of being a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad), a student group that demanded, among other things, the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza. Mr Khalil has denied that he led the group, telling the Associated Press (AP) that he only served as a spokesperson for protesters and as a mediator with the university.” 

It’s easy to see why Khalil would want to distance himself from CUAD. In August 2024, it posted this on Instagram, then removed it once it started getting appalled notice from saner quarters: “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.” During the anti-Israel protests at Columbia, the demonstrators screamed “Death to America.”

Keep reading

Disobedience to Judges is Obedience to the Constitution

Judge James Boasberg issued an oral order demanding that planes carrying Venezuelan gang members, who were not even a party to the lawsuit before him and over which he did not have jurisdiction, be turned around in international airspace. Boasberg is now infuriated that his mere utterance, not even set down in writing, was not immediately obeyed.

Democrats and their media have taken to crying that any disobedience of Boasberg, who was appointed by Barack Obama to apparently rule not only the entire country, but the planet and all its airspace, is a “threat to democracy” and a violation of checks and balances.

It’s not. If anything, it’s an urgently needed restoration of those checks and balances which have been trampled on by judges who have seized unlimited power from elected officials like Trump.

Boasberg’s coup began when the D.C. judge decided to hear a lawsuit from the ACLU based on the detention of four inmates in Texas and one in New York. Despite it being the entirely wrong venue, Boasberg took the case. The 5 inmates who were on average 1,500 miles away from Boasberg denied that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang targeted by Trump. Despite that, they claimed they were at risk of deportation because Trump had invoked the Alien Enemies Act and demanded that Boasberg block a 200-year-old plus law that predates D.C.

The lack of minor matters like venue and standing didn’t stop Boasberg from blocking the implementation of a law that predates the White House, the Capitol and the entire principle of ‘judicial review’ that only came 5 years later in Marbury v. Madison before issuing an oral order turning around planes in midair. King George III would have been less presumptuous.

There’s a term for this that ends in a ‘y’ and it’s not ‘democracy’.

Keep reading