'Censorship cartel' on its heels as Trump appointees, litigation crack open alleged conspiracy - Greg Piper

 

by Greg Piper

Federal judge grants further legal discovery into censorship pressure after SCOTUS setback this summer while censored journalist discloses "as close to a smoking gun as we could hope to find now."

 

The whole-of-government approach to limit the spread of purported misinformation, disinformation and "malinformation," from the White House to federal agencies and their private partners in Big Tech, think tanks and speech-policing organizations, is turning inside out.

Judicial scrutiny is supplementing the efforts of President-elect Trump's choice for Federal Communications Commission chairman to dismantle the "censorship cartel" and Department of Government Efficiency co-leader Elon Musk to slash and burn the administrative state, with the State Department's Global Engagement Center already a reported target.

A federal judge approved further legal discovery in a lawsuit by Louisiana, Missouri and censored doctors against federal officials and agencies including GEC for pressuring Big Tech to censor, months after the Supreme Court ruled they didn't have standing for a preliminary injunction.

Alluding to Vice President Kamala Harris's much-mocked verbal crutch, President Trump nominee Judge Terry Doughty ruled he was "burdened by what has been," the SCOTUS ruling.

But he said the plaintiffs showed evidence that is not "impermissibly speculative": a congressional investigation of Facebook parent Meta that found internal admissions it censored the COVID-19 lab-leak theory because it was "under pressure from the [Biden] administration” to do so, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's similar admission to Congress this summer.

The feds are "uniquely in control of the facts, information, documents, and evidence regarding the extent and nature" of the censorship pressure, and the already disclosed emails show "the pains that certain persons and entities went through to hide their tracks," Doughty ruled while limiting further discovery to resolve factual questions for jurisdiction.

"We end with the unignorable reality that regime change is imminent" – Trump's second presidential term – and the "wild" possibility that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the "Disinformation Dozen" targeted by the White House, "may soon replace or control" the defendant Department of Health and Human Services as Trump's nominee for secretary.

But that by itself is too speculative to dismiss the case, the ruling concludes.

One of the censored doctors, Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya, is reportedly a top candidate to lead the National Institutes of Health, whom then-NIH Director Francis Collins targeted as a "fringe" epidemiologist for opposing COVID-19 lockdowns.

Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by investigative journalist Jimmy Tobias and posted Monday show Collins' Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, who recently testified at the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic's final hearing, was involved in potential censorship within NIH in January 2021.

Tabak agreed to discuss "potential concerns/policy conformity" with a manuscript on gain-of-function research in light of the COVID-19 pandemic co-authored by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences bioethicist David Resnik, who allegedly asked for then-Science Policy Director and Chief of Staff Carrie Wolinetz to review it.

Wolinetz warned Tabak the manuscript "suggest[s] parity between unsubstantiated manmade and/or laboratory origin theories and peer reviewed studies which provide scientific evidence that the virus is of natural origin" and connect the lab-leak theory to NIH-funded research in 2015, which she called "specious" given that "there is no evidence for lab release."

She also has "more global concerns with the notion that an NIH employee would be providing what amounts to critiques of HHS policy that is implemented by NIH, or suggestions that contradict messaging by NIH leadership, in this type of article," Wolinetz told Tabak.

The manuscript was not published for another three and a half years. It appeared this July in the Springer Nature journal Monash Bioethics Review, 14 months after Wolinetz left her final NIH post as senior adviser to then-acting Director Tabak, investigative reporter Alison Young noted.

Journalist Alex Berenson's opposition to the government's motion to dismiss his censorship-by-proxy lawsuit, which has gone further than the state-led lawsuit, disclosed what he calls "as close to a smoking gun as we could hope to find now."

Musk's X, formerly Twitter, gave him an Aug. 21, 2021, email from then-Twitter lobbyist Todd O'Boyle that told O'Boyle's boss he had just contacted "WH, Andy and Scott Gottlieb" – the White House, President Biden's COVID adviser Andy Slavitt and the Pfizer board member who was formerly President Trump's Food and Drug Administration chairman – "to keep the target off our back."

"It shows both that O’Boyle feared the pressure he and Twitter faced and that he viewed the conspirators as a group acting together," Berenson wrote Sunday. "Four days later - at the instigation of Dr. Gottlieb – he pushed through my permanent ban from Twitter, depriving me of a worldwide audience."

Slavitt, a defendant, comes up again in Berenson's argument that he can sue for conspiracy to violate his First Amendment rights as a member of a protected class, given that Slavitt said on a July 2021 podcast that social media companies need to "cut down on the amount of false information that people who haven’t been vaccinated see." 

Berenson is also arguing he can sue for monetary damages because "I have no other way" to hold them accountable, such as through administrative claims, for violating his rights.

Echoing President Trump's first-term Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai, commissioner and next Chair Brendan Carr said Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Google parent Alphabet may lose their liability shield under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for failure to show "good faith" in their outsourced content-moderation decisions.

Carr accused the Big Tech firms in letters made public Friday of playing "significant roles" in the "unprecedented surge in censorship" in recent years, working with the Biden administration and self-appointed "media monitors" to "defund, demonetize, and otherwise put out of business" media organizations that flouted preferred narratives.

He demanded they turn over information about their work through web browsers, app stores and social media with "the Orwellian named NewsGuard," which uses its partnerships with advertising agencies to allegedly censor media targets but may not qualify for the good-faith prong of Section 230 based on ideological and arbitrary enforcement of its ratings.

NewsGuard, which targeted Just the News among other insufficiently obedient outlets, is under House Oversight Committee investigation and was reviewed in a House Small Business Committee report on the "censorship-industrial complex" this year.

 
Greg Piper

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/censorship-cartel-its-heels-trump-appointees-litigation-crack-open-alleged

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Florida FEMA scandal exposes unaccountable bureaucracy that Trump targets for reform and cuts - Steven Richards

 

by Steven Richards

President-elect Donald Trump and his political allies have long maintained that his first term was undermined by federal bureaucrats acting independently of the president’s authority to pursue their own ends.

 

An emergency response official’s decision to withhold vital assistance to hurricane victims that showed visible support for Republicans is a scandal that belies a larger issue, namely, an unaccountable federal bureaucracy left to police itself and which President-elect Donald Trump has eyed for reform and cuts.   

The concerns were raised by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in a hearing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the dual crises of Hurricanes Helene and Milton that struck Florida and the wider Southeast earlier this year. 

“While today’s hearing will focus on FEMA, the issue at hand is part of a larger problem: the urgent need to hold the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce accountable to the American people and to the duly elected President of the United States,” Comer said in his opening statement. 

“The current system does not have strong enough mechanisms to ensure accountability. The disciplinary system is run by and for civil servants to protect civil servants,” he continued.

The hearing followed reports that during the hurricane response in Florida, one FEMA official instructed subordinates to bypass houses that displayed pro-Trump signs in Lake Placid, Florida, while they were canvassing to deliver assistance to the hurricane-stricken community. 

At least 20 houses were reportedly skipped under the guidance, and therefore were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance, Just the News reported. 

"I was simply following orders"

The FEMA official responsible, Marn’i Washington was terminated shortly after the public reports emerged of her conduct, but Comer says the accountability came too late, only after the conduct was exposed by reporting from the Daily Wire. For her part, Washington told NewsNation's Dan Abrams that "Firstly, I’m being framed,” said Washington. “There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders."

Comer added at the hearing that "FEMA leadership didn’t take action against this supervisor until the press exposed this discrimination.” Moreover, Comer said “More importantly, FEMA officials did not immediately end the discrimination.”

Comer also warned that resistance efforts by an unaccountable bureaucracy could hamper efforts by the “duly elected president” to implement his agenda. He specifically warned that President Trump suffered resistance and “insubordination” from bureaucrats throughout his first term. 

Media reports suggest that many federal bureaucrats are gearing up to conduct a similar resistance when Trump again assumes office in January. 

Federal workforce highest since WW2

Comer said this poses a larger threat this time because the Biden-Harris administration has allowed, or encouraged, the federal bureaucracy to grow “in size, but also in power.”

“And this power is evident. Just ask the people in Highlands County, Florida. They needed help, but at least one FEMA official used her power to make help harder to get,” Comer said. “We only know this because one whistleblower was brave enough to come forward. But others knew about this and said nothing.” 

The Biden administration has overseen federal spending that would bring the federal workforce to the highest level since World War Two, the Government Executive reported. 

Nearly every federal agency announced plans for financial year 2024 to increase hiring, led by the Treasury Department which planned a hiring surge for the IRS to increase its workforce by 21% over 2022 numbers. The only agency expecting to cut its workforce was the National Aerospace and Aeronautics Agency, or NASA. 

President-elect Donald Trump and his political allies have long maintained that his first term was undermined by federal bureaucrats acting independently of the president’s authority to pursue their own political ends. 

A research report compiled by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute found that bureaucrats across the executive branch worked against Trump’s policy proposals during that first term. For example, political appointees in the Department of Education said that career officials would “conceal” documents those appointees wished to review to hamper policy changes. 

This reality was apparent to American media outlets as well. Just weeks after Trump was first inaugurated, The Washington Post reported in an article titled “Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump” that federal bureaucrats were working to undermine the president’s agenda, even consulting with former Obama-era political appointees on how to do so. 

This dynamic dominated Trump’s first term and cemented his view that the federal bureaucracy needs to be purged and reformed. “They’ve got to be held accountable [for] what they’re doing. They’re destroying this country. They’re crooked people, they’re dishonest people,” Trump said in a YouTube interview earlier this year. 

“They’re going to be held accountable,” he promised. 

"Protectors of the deep state” 

Trump is likely to revive a plan from the waning days of his previous term, called Schedule F, to reclassify thousands of federal bureaucrats in “policy-related” roles to strip them of civil service protections. The plan was originally implemented by executive order in October 2020, but was reversed by the incoming Biden administration. 

The president-elect has also promised to reform how agencies oversee the workforce and hold the bureaucracy accountable, mainly by reforming the numerous inspectors generals’ offices and making them independent from the agencies they oversee. 

During the campaign, Trump promised that he would “[make] every Inspectors General Offices independent from the departments they oversee, so that they do not become protectors of the deep state.” 

The president-elect’s promises to cut and reform the bureaucracy have reportedly spooked bureaucrats across the executive branch. 

Many who worked through the first Trump term, Politico reported, are worried that the new team will follow through on campaign promises and cut budgets and staff. Others are reportedly disappointed that their work during the Biden administration will likely be reversed.

Enter DOGE

But for Trump and his team, following through on those promises is exactly the point. 

To help him achieve that, Trump has employed the help of two campaign surrogates and strong supporters, billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The pair will lead a commission dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies—essential to the ‘Save America’ movement,” Trump said. 

 
Steven Richards

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/florida-fema-scandal-exposes-unaccountable-bureaucracy-trump-has-slated

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President Trump’s Middle East challenges - Yoram Ettinger

 

by Yoram Ettinger

Reversible economic sanctions or irreversible regime-change?

 

“I’m not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars,” proclaimed President-elect Trump in his November 6 victory message.

*Bolstering the US’ posture of deterrence is the most critical prerequisite for stopping/minimizing wars and terrorism. The US’ posture of deterrence is reflected by the size and structure of the US’ defense budget, avoiding appeasement of rogue entities, and dwelling on reality (as frustrating as it is) rather than alternate reality.

*The US’ posture of deterrence has been undermined by the State Department, which was evicted from the center stage of foreign policy formulations during President Trump’s first term. Trump opposes Foggy Bottom’s multilateral/cosmopolitan state of mind, which prefers a coordinated policy with the UN, international organizations and Europe, rather than a unilateral, independent US national security and foreign policy. The State Department has also subordinated Middle East reality to its own alternate reality, which has led to its systematic failure in the Middle East (e.g., the 1978-9 stabbing the Shah in the back, and facilitating the Ayatollahs’ rise to power; the embrace of Saddam Hussein until his 1990 invasion of Kuwait; the 1993 cuddling of Arafat and ushering him to the Nobel Peace Prize; the 2009 betrayal of the pro-US Mubarak and the courting of the anti-US Moslem Brotherhood; the 2010 reference to the Arab Tsunami on the Arab Street, as if it were an Arab Spring and Facebook Revolution; the 2011 military offensive on Qadhafi, which transformed Libya into a major arena of anti-US Islamic terrorism; and pressuring Israel to conclude a series of accords with – and refrain from demolishing – Hamas, which bolstered Hamas’ terrorism and led to the October 7 atrocities). 

*The US’ posture of deterrence has been severely undermined by the State Department’s policy toward Iran’s Ayatollahs regime, which has been transformed – since the February 1979 toppling of the Shah – from “the American Policeman of the Gulf” to an arch anti-US venomous octopus, stretching its tentacles from the Persian Gulf through the Middle East and Africa into Latin America and the US soil. The Ayatollahs have become the major global epicenter of anti-US wars, terrorism and drug trafficking, threatening the US homeland and the survival of all pro-US Arab regimes, especially the Arab oil producers. The Ayatollahs aspire to control 48% of global oil reserves and key routes of global trade, which would deal a major blow to Western economy.

*The US’ posture of deterrence has been severely undermined by the delusion that the diplomatic option/negotiation, supplemented with mega-billion-dollar-gestures could induce the Ayatollahs to abandon their 1,400-year-old fanatical vision, conduct good faith negotiations and accept peaceful coexistence. The architects of the diplomatic option have ignored the fact that rogue regimes bite the hands that feed them, as documented by the Ayatollahs, who took over the US Embassy – a few months following the US support in toppling the Shah – held 50 American hostages for 444 days, and emerged as a leading threat to the US, globally and domestically.

*Thus, the 45-year-old diplomatic option has dramatically bolstered the capabilities of Iran’s Ayatollahs as the chief epicenter of global anti-US terrorism, drug trafficking, proliferation of advance military systems and mega-billion-dollars of money laundering.  Just like the Moslem Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas and the PLO/PA, Iran’s Ayatollahs have been driven by a fanatical vision, which transcends monetary considerations. Moreover, this vision has been codified by their Constitution, education system and mosque sermons.

*The Ayatollahs’ fanatical vision mandates the elimination of enemies, such as the “apostate” Sunni regimes, the “infidel” West, the “Great American Satan,” and the “illegitimate” Zionist entity, which they view as the US’ vanguard in the Middle East.

*The Ayatollahs consider negotiation as a means to advance their anti-US vision, and not as a means to advance reconciliation with the US.

*Therefore, the Ayatollahs should not be partners to negotiation, but a target for regime-change. The potential cost of regime-change would be dwarfed by the cost of facing a nuclear Iran.

*At the same time, a series of peace accords ended the state of war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and South Sudan, because – unlike the Ayatollahs, Hamas, the PLO/PA and Hezbollah – the national vision/aspiration of each Arab country does not mandate the elimination of Israel. In fact, the Saudi “Vision 2030” considers Israel as a partner, militarily, technologically and agriculturally.

*President Trump’s first term featured “maximum pressure” economic sanctions, which crippled the Ayatollahs’ economy, and constrained their capability to bolster terrorism and wars.  However, as demonstrated by the 2021 suspension and softening of the sanctions, economic sanctions are reversible by a succeeding President. They reduce/delay the wrath of war and terrorism, but do not eliminate the threat.

*On the other hand, regime-change is irreversible, eliminates the threat, and cannot be restored by a succeeding President.  Furthermore, it would significantly bolster the US’ strategic stature (including in Latin America, the US’ soft underbelly), by removing the Ayatollahs’ machete from the throats of all pro-US Arab regimes, eliminate the chief supporter of global Islamic terrorism, and induce Saudi Arabia and Oman (and possibly Kuwait, Indonesia and additional Moslem countries) to join the Abraham Accords.

*The Abraham Accords were conceived by ignoring the State Department’s preoccupation with the Palestinian issueand focussing on the national interests of the individual Arab country, as was done with Israel’s prior peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Contrary to the State Department’s conventional wisdom – which produced a litany of peace proposals that failed to produce peace – the Abraham Accords came to fruition, because they bypassed the Palestinian issue, denying the Palestinians a veto power over the peace process. The Abraham Accords validate that the State Department has been wrong to assume that the Palestinian issue is the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the crown-jewel of the Arabs and a root cause of Middle East turmoil.

*While the State Department has been obsessed with a proposed Palestinian state, all pro-US Arab countries have limited their support of the proposed Palestinian state to talk, while their walk has been indifferent-to-negative. Arab leaders pay more attention to the Palestinian rogue walk than to the Palestinian moderate talk. Therefore, they consider the Palestinians as a role model of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism and treachery, due to Palestinian terrorism against their hosts in Egypt (1950s), Syria (1960s), Jordan (1968-70), Lebanon (1970-82) and Kuwait (1990).  In addition, they are aware of the Palestinian collaboration with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Bloc, Ayatollah Khomeini, international terror organizations, Moslem Brotherhood terrorists, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia and China. Therefore, they have concluded that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would add fuel to the Middle East fire, toppling the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, transforming Jordan into an arena of anti-US Islamic terrorism, triggering rogue ripple effects in the Arabian Peninsula (as well as in the US), threatening every oil-producing Arab regime and Egypt. This would be a bonanza for the Ayatollahs, Russia and China and a blow to the US economy and homeland security.

*On the other hand, Israel has emerged as a unique force and dollar multiplier for the US, and a leading innovation center for the US commercial and defense high-tech sectors (e.g., 250 US high tech giants operate research and development centers in Israel). Israel is the “Triple-A-Store” of the US defense and aerospace industries (increasing US export), and the leading battle-tested laboratory of the US defense industries (saving many years of research and development), Armed Forces (enhancing battle tactics), the intelligence community, counter-terrorism agencies and the FBI. Israel has been the largest US aircraft carrier (as stated by General Alexander Haig, a former NATO Supreme Commander and Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, a former Chief of Naval Operations), which does not require Americans on board, deployed in a critical area between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, sparing the US the need to manufacture and deploy (to the Middle East) a few more real aircraft carriers along with a few ground divisions, which would cost the US taxpayer $15-$20BN annually.

 
Yoram Ettinger

Source: https://theettingerreport.com/president-trumps-middle-east-challengesreversible-economic-sanctions-or-irreversible-regime-change/

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Biden admin says it can’t coordinate on hostages until Trump team signs documents - Mike Wagenheim

 

by Mike Wagenheim

“It’s up to them to speak to the timing to that, but we’re ready to go as soon as they are,” a Foggy Bottom spokesman said.

 

President Joe Biden walks to the Oval Office with President-elect Donald Trump, Nov. 13, 2024. Credit: Adam Schultz/White House.

Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor, said last week that the Biden administration “sent a signal” to President-elect Donald Trump’s team that it is prepared to coordinate on a hostage deal during the transition period prior to inauguration day on Jan. 20.

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday in response to a JNS question that it is not clear that such a collaboration will occur.

“There’s a process that has to take place before we can, say for example, brief members of an incoming transition team on classified information,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, told JNS at the department’s press briefing.

“We’re ready to go. So far, the incoming transition team has not availed themselves of that process,” he added. “It’s up to them to speak to the timing to that, but we’re ready to go as soon as they are.”

Under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, which has been amended several times, the Trump team would have to sign legal agreements about the transition process. It hasn’t done so, according to the State Department.

Some analysts have said that Trump has yet to sign the relevant paperwork because it would require him to reveal donors to his transition efforts, perhaps making potential conflicts of interest public.

JNS sought comment from the Trump transition team.

“We are committed to doing everything that we can to make this a successful transition,” Miller told JNS. “That includes, of course, briefing the incoming administration at the appropriate time, when they have completed the appropriate steps, about world events and about how we see world events, and about things that we believe that they need to know.”

Several family members of Israeli hostages told reporters previously that they are placing their hopes in Trump’s efforts to free the hostages.

“The fact that there is a new administration that will put new thoughts on the table, new thinking, and I think that–by itself—is a welcome progress,” Ruby Chen, the father of the Israeli-American hostage Itay Chen, told JNS.

“We have been in a stalemate for a couple of months on the hostage deal,” he added.

Trump met Biden in the Oval Office recently and said the two talked “very much” about the Middle East, the New York Post reported. “I wanted to know his views on where we are and what he thinks,” Trump told the paper. “He gave them to me. He was very gracious.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a congratulatory phone call over the weekend with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s nominee to replace Blinken.

Mike Wagenheim

Source: https://www.jns.org/biden-admin-says-it-cant-coordinate-on-hostages-until-trump-team-signs-documents/

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Trump’s intelligence community and Iran’s regime change - opinion - Erfad Farn

 

by Erfad Farn

Trump’s return marks a new chapter: a rejection of appeasement and commitment to peace through strength.

 

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the Abraham Accords in 2020. US policies will paralyze the regime in Iran, the writer says.

(photo credit: TOM BRENNER/REUTERS)

Currently, the regime in Tehran is preoccupied with military drills and maneuvers, aiming to showcase its strength. Its goal is clear: to prepare for the potential of a nationwide uprising by the oppressed Iranian people against the brutal mullahs and their theocratic dictatorship.

The regime knows all too well that if Israel were to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities or Khamenei were removed from power, the long-suffering people of Iran would likely rise against the Islamic oppressive regime. Iran stands on the brink of extraordinary events and a historic upheaval, and Donald Trump may face a transformed Iran during his second term as president.

Khamenei and his regime dread Trump’s return to the White House. Their fear and hostility stem from his unwavering support for Israel and staunch opposition to the Islamic Republic in Tehran. Khamenei has repeatedly called for Trump’s assassination, even declaring him irrelevant and consigned to the trash heap of history. 

Yet Trump has returned, stronger than before, with a team composed of patriotic figures like Mike Waltz (National Security Advisor), John Ratcliffe (CIA director), Tulsi Gabbard (National Intelligence director), Kristi Noem (Secretary of Homeland Security), Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense), and Marco Rubio (Secretary of State) – all fierce opponents of the Islamic Republic. Their presence alone amplifies the regime’s nightmare.

Trump re-enters the presidency as an 86-year-old Khamenei contemplates revenge, having previously dispatched assassination squads to the US. All counterterrorism agencies under the DHS, FBI, and CIA are well aware of the “sleeper cells” and “lone wolves” tied to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC within the US.

The Qader cruise missile is seen during the annual military parade in Tehran, Iran, September 21, 2024. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

Trump understands that diplomacy with a terror-sponsoring regime is meaningless and an affront to the principles of diplomacy itself. The Islamic Republic of the criminal ayatollahs offers nothing substantive for the negotiation table, has no viable tools of war beyond terrorism, and lacks the resources to wage a conventional war. While Trump has publicly stated he does not explicitly aim for regime change, his return has inspired hope among Iranians who despise their current rulers.

Since the fall of the late Shah in 1979, sacrificed by then-US president Jimmy Carter’s ill-conceived and misguided policies, the people of Iran have lost their national pride and identity. 

Trump’s decisive elimination of Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Iran’s top IRGC thug, among the world’s most dangerous terrorists, brought a rare moment of collective joy to the Iranian people who prayed for Trump’s success while showing no sympathy for the slain terrorist. Without exaggeration and strangely enough, the majority of Iranians saw Trump as a patriotic hero.

A Middle East free of an isolated and weakened IslamiRepublic would be a region transformed. Imagine, for a moment, such a reality. The Shi’ite mullahs will not strike a deal with Trump; they will refuse to comply with international norms or abandon terrorism, nuclear weapons, and missile programs. 

They lack the capability for war against Israel or the US as their crumbling economy renders them vulnerable to defeat with a single trigger. The likelihood of the regime collapsing under external pressure and a popular uprising is high. Trump’s return emboldens the Iranian people to rise fearlessly against their tyrannical, war-mongering, opportunistic, and destructive rulers.

Trump’s policies will once again paralyze the mullah’s regime in Iran. His leadership in the White House represents a defining moment in Middle Eastern diplomacy, marked by decisive opposition to the Islamic Republic’s destructive actions and the fight against Islamist terrorism while fostering peace. By strengthening security ties with Israel, Trump will neutralize the military and security threats posed by Iran’s regime and its terrorist regional proxies. His “pushback” strategy will reemerge, placing the Iranian people at the forefront of transformative change.

Weakening the regime

IN THE COMING days, influential Iranian American advocacy groups will likely amplify global awareness of the regime’s true nature, dismantling the shameless policies of pro-regime lobbyists and their manipulative narratives in the US. Counterterrorism efforts against the Islamic Republic will certainly intensify.

Trump’s policy of maximum pressure on the mullahs will reestablish a global consensus against the Islamic Republic, the most dangerous terrorist power of the 21st century. Across the Middle East, his return is greeted with enthusiasm, as Persian Gulf states recognize the IRGC and Iranian intelligence as the root of their fears and tragedies. The Arab community welcomes Trump’s return, recognizing it as a critical counterbalance to Iran’s destabilizing activities. 

With Trump’s return, the “sword of peace” is wielded by someone who stands decisively against terrorism and seeks to de-escalate regional tensions. This contrasts sharply with those who, while pretending to be allies of Arabs and Jews, secretly supported and funded terrorists while remaining silent against IRGC interventions worldwide.

Under Trump’s watch, Khamenei’s succession may occur in Iran. Trump’s administration recognizes that neither Khamenei nor his successor holds any sacred or respectable legitimacy; they are merely caliphs in a brutal theocratic dictatorship sustained by propaganda, terrorism, and oppression. 

History will record that Trump championed sanctions and maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic, cutting off its regional influence and undermining its confidence. His support for Israeli-Arab relations, coupled with his administration’s intelligence and military expertise, will counteract Iranian-backed Islamist terrorism across multiple fronts. Meanwhile, some have urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to compromise with terrorists mobilized under Khamenei’s orders for Israel’s destruction.

In the Middle East, Trump’s return marks a new chapter: a rejection of appeasement and commitment to peace through strength. Trump’s intelligence team has hundreds of unfinished tasks to address, perhaps the most historic of which is dismantling the Islamic Republic’s terrorist octopus surrounding Israel and crippling the regime in Tehran. 

Khamenei’s survival hinges on terrorism and enmity toward Israel and the United States. If these tools are stripped from him and his cronies, there will be no trace of the Islamic Republic left. Let us hope for that day.

Erfad Farn, based in Washington, is a counterterrorism analyst and Middle East studies researcher with a particular focus on Iran and ethnic conflicts in the region. His new book is The Black Shabbat, published in the US. You can follow him at erfanfard.com, and on X @EQFARD

Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-829888

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The Next War: Attacks on U.S. Digital Infrastructure? - Lawrence Kadish

 

by Lawrence Kadish

"Don't prepare to fight the last war..."

 

Chinese hackers recently sought to target the mobile phones of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and intercepted data meant for our law enforcement agencies. (Image source: iStock)

It's an old saying repeated by military strategists who consistently warn, "Don't prepare to fight the last war..."

Their inference is that, while there are lessons to be learned from studying the last conflict, the next one may well be profoundly different than what you previously endured, catching a nation totally unprepared.

For America, the "next one" may already be upon us. It is not the scenario we anticipated, namely enemy aircraft coming over the pole to attack with nuclear weapons, or a catastrophic exchange of ICBMs. Even the lessons gained from the current Russian war on Ukraine may not be fully applicable to America's defense of the homeland.

Consider the current assault as revealed in media reports. Chinese hackers sought to target the mobile phones of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and intercepted data meant for our law enforcement agencies.

A sworn enemy, Iran, is also looking to wage their war against "The Great Satan" by seeking to hit our nation's most vulnerable targets: our digital infrastructure.

Meanwhile, today's Pentagon is wrestling with multibillion dollar projects that are not going well. The Army has been stymied in developing a new attack helicopter, at a cost to the taxpayer that is staggering.

The Air Force is still profoundly unhappy with its next generation tanker aircraft built by Boeing, and rightfully so.

The Navy lost an aircraft carrier to an accidental fire.

Based on these multibillion-dollar woes, the idea that the incoming Trump administration intends to shake up the Pentagon should not only come as no surprise but should be lauded and welcomed by Americans who want a strong, credible and effective defense. However, whoever sits in the corner office of the Pentagon needs to embrace the clear and urgent warning that we not only can't fight the last war, but our enemies are already engaged in the next one, intent on defeating America where we live: online.

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21133/the-next-war-attacks-on-us-digital-infrastructure

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IDF: Here's how Hezbollah rockets fell short and hit a UNIFIL base - Yuval Barnea, Yona Jeremy Bob

 

by Yuval Barnea, Yona Jeremy Bob

According to the IDF assessment, the rockets were fired from the area of Deir Aames, one of many fired by Hezbollah in a barrage launched at Israel at 09:50 this morning.

 

IDF graphic showing how a Hezbollah rocket fell short hitting a UNIFIL base, November 19, 2024.

(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Multiple UN Interim Force in Lebanon bases were hit by rocket fire on Tuesday morning and then again in the afternoon, one in the region of Ramyeh, another near Chamaa, and additional locations were hit later, UNIFIL said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a report was received that a UNIFIL post in the area of Ramyeh had been hit, causing several injuries and damage to the post.Later, UNIFIL statements clarified that four Ghanaian peacekeepers had sustained wounds from the attack.

An IDF review determined that Hezbollah fired a rocket that fell short and hit the UNIFIL post, the military said.UNIFIL largely agreed with this, saying the rocket was “fired most likely by non-state actors within Lebanon.”

A map of Hezbollah projectiles fired toward Israel from areas near UNIFIL posts, provided by the IDF, October 13, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

According to the IDF assessment, the rocket was fired from the area of Deir Aames, one of many fired by Hezbollah in a barrage launched at Israel at 9:50 a.m.

Several UNIFIL incidents

The UNIFIL West headquarters was hit by five rockets, which damaged the maintenance workshop; no peacekeepers were injured, according to UNIFIL.

During a meeting of European defense ministers on Tuesday, Italy’s Guido Crosetto said it was intolerable that Israel had bombed a UNIFIL base, according to the ANSA news agency.“Today, there was a new attack. Three rockets fell on Chamaa. It is intolerable.”

The same base had been hit earlier in November by artillery fire.

UNIFIL troops were also harassed by small arms fire while patrolling near the village of Khirbat Silim, though no injuries were reported.

Yuval Barnea, Yona Jeremy Bob

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-829836

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Italy admits rockets that hit UN forces were from Hezbollah, not Israel - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Last week Italy had said an unexploded artillery shell hit the base of UNIFIL base, putting the blame on the IDF.

 

UNIFIL PEACEKEEPERS look out at the Lebanese-Israeli border, from the roof of a watchtower ‏in the town of Marwahin, in southern Lebanon, on Saturday. Never was an organization less interim than UNIFIL, the writer quips.

(photo credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)

Italy's defense ministry admits Hezbollah staged an attack on itself when a UN Interim Force in Lebanon base was hit by rocket fire that it initially blamed on Israel, Barron's reported on Tuesday. 

Last week, Italy said an unexploded artillery shell hit the base of UNIFIL base, putting the blame on the IDF.

According to Barron's, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had initially said in Brussels that the IDF had staged the attack on the UN base in Lebanon.

Israel's newly appointed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar had promised Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani an 'immediate investigation' into the shell incident.

However, an IDF review determined that Hezbollah was responsible for firing the rocket hit the UNIFIL post, the military said.

A UNIFIL peacekeeper preparing for a patrol along the Blue Line in Labounieh, south Lebanon, April 8 20 (credit: Pasqual GORRIZ/UN)

According to UNFIL, the strikes hit areas where no peacekeepers were present, and no serious injuries were reported.

Hezbollah attacks

On Tuesday morning, multiple UN Interim Force in Lebanon bases were hit by rocket fire and then again in the afternoon, one in the region of Ramyeh, another near Chamaa, and additional locations were hit later, UNIFIL said.

According to the IDF assessment, the rocket was fired from the area of Deir Aames, one of many fired by Hezbollah in a barrage launched at Israel at 9:50 a.m.

UNIFIL agreed with the IDF report that these strikes were from Hezbollah, saying the rocket was “fired most likely by non-state actors within Lebanon.”

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-829916

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Jewish liberals should follow ‘Morning Joe’ and drop the ‘resistance’ - Jonathan S. Tobin

by Jonathan S. Tobin

It’s time to abandon the smears about Donald Trump and his voters being fascists and prioritize the clear-and-present danger to Jews from woke and Islamist antisemites.

 

Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough of the cable-news talk show “Morning Joe” discuss the massive security efforts for the inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, 2017. Credit: Official Photo by Jetta Disco/U.S. Department of Homeland Security via Wikimedia Commons.

Maybe he isn’t Hitler after all. That’s the upshot of the announcement by political talk-show hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough after they journeyed to the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this past weekend for a chat with President-elect Donald Trump.

The pair is being roasted by critics on both the right and left (including staffers at their own network) for seeming to back away from their claims that Trump is a fascist seeking the destruction of democracy. Despite all that, they were right to journey to his Florida resort, even if it meant subjecting themselves to catcalls about kissing his ring. More to the point, their example ought to be emulated by those who look to them for political guidance. At a moment in history when the political left in both the United States and Israel have adopted a strategy of demonizing the leaders of their opponents as an organizing principle, it’s high time for opinion leaders to stop acting as if doing so is appropriate or not damaging to democracy. That’s especially true for American Jews, who should be prioritizing the battle against antisemites over partisan grudges and smears.

The married hosts of the MSNBC “Morning Joe” program came under heavy fire from fellow liberals for a meeting that the couple pompously spoke of as if it were a major international diplomatic mission. In their defense, Brzezinski said the question to ask was “Why wouldn’t we” wish to restart communication with the president? Yet as comedian Jon Stewart, a leading liberal voice, satirically noted, the answer to that question was fairly obvious: “Uh, because you said he was Hitler.”

Smearing Trump and lying about Biden

The couple has done as much as anyone at the hard-core, left-wing cable-news network or anywhere else to demonize Trump over the last eight years. That included promoting smears alleging that he was an authoritarian and a fascist, as well as making specious and slanderous comparisons between his rallies, such as the one held in October in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, and events held by Nazis.

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That ought not to be forgotten. The same is true of their mendacious claims, which they based on their closeness to the incumbent, that a visibly aging and confused President Joe Biden was not mentally incapacitated. They only backed away from that lie once Biden’s problems became obvious in his disastrous June 27 debate with Trump.

Similar to some other Democrats in the weeks since Trump’s victory, Mika and Joe have come to realize that their incendiary rhetoric leaves them in a precarious position. Like many others who wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to win, they were willing to say just about anything about Trump, including bogus claims that he was a threat to democracy at a time when it was his opponents who were undermining it by promoting censorship of political speech and trying to jail their leading opponent to justify his defeat.

Now that he’s won, they are putting the talk about fascism and Hitler on hold. That demonstrates that this line of argument was never sincere. They are being widely lambasted by those on the right, who have called out their hypocrisy, as well as their preposterous claim that they aren’t seeking to “normalize” a person who had just won a presidential election.

As absurd as they might be—it’s good television optics, after all—the stars of what many still consider to be the leading political talk show on cable are right.

The argument for Trump being a threat to democracy was always a product of quotes taken out-of-context, deliberate lies (such as the false claim that he called neo-Nazis who attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017 “very fine people”), myths about Russian collusion, and a disingenuous attempt to confuse his politically incorrect and highly unpresidential manner of speaking and posting on social media with support for racism and tyranny.

Having gone out on a limb to make these points, people like Mika and Joe—and the countless others who took the same line—haven’t left themselves many options as Trump’s second term begins. They can double down on their wild attacks on Trump and their fellow Americans who have voted for him while claiming that the only reason their side lost was the manifest awfulness of the country they profess to love, as some on the left have done. Or they can behave the way that political factions are supposed to when they lose an election by acting as a loyal opposition and biding their time until they can win the next election.

A destructive ‘resistance’

That’s not the path that was chosen by Trump’s opponents in 2017 as they sought to “resist” the new president as opposed to merely oppose him. In doing so, they strained the fabric of American democracy to the breaking point, spreading conspiracy theories about Russia electing a stooge to the White House and justified efforts to censor news that might damage Trump’s opponents. That helped beat Trump in 2020 as the nation floundered amid his administration’s confused response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also set the stage for a period during which Democrats have come to believe that any tactic, no matter how anti-democratic, is permissible if it hurts Trump.

Even after his victory earlier this month, they can continue along those lines by treating his justified efforts to strip the administrative state—an unelected fourth branch of government that is both a partisan stronghold for Democrats and the authors of a growing body of law in recent decades—of its power as evidence of his fascism.

Trump’s astounding political comeback, however, has appeared to put a damper on the enthusiasm of his detractors for more trips down the conspiratorial rabbit holes in which they have dragged so much of the country’s political discourse. They may still despise the “bad orange man,” but the idea that they can go on pretending that he is not a legitimate president is no longer viable.

They’d do far better to drop the “resistance” tactics. By contrast, engaging in normal political tactics in which they criticized Trump’s missteps rather than pretending that he is another Hitler will do more to enhance their prospects of winning back power in Washington. Doing so will also help to calm the waters that both sides have helped to stir up and restore some confidence in the government as well as legacy mainstream media whose credibility was undermined by their vicious attitude towards Trump, and willingness to ignore Biden’s misrule and mental incapacity.

Fight antisemitism, not Trump

All this should give those liberal Jewish groups who are now preparing to join the new resistance to Trump 2.0 a reason to reassess their position.

Both the supposedly mainstream Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the left-wing lobby J Street that support efforts to halt the supply of U.S. weapons to Israel to allow Hamas to survive, as well as a host of other even more marginal groups, seem prepared to join those bitter-end Trump-haters. They seek to duplicate efforts to obstruct and topple the president’s first administration and are uninterested in playing the role of loyal opposition. And it’s more than likely that many of those liberal Jewish groups who prioritize a domestic “social justice” agenda will join those who may wish to try to sabotage Trump’s efforts to protect the U.S. border against illegal immigration and deport many of those who have violated the law.

That would not only be irresponsible but would do little to take the country back to a place where political disputes are not treated as a religious holy war in which compromise or mercy for opponents is considered beyond the pale. It will be bad for democracy and likely won’t hasten the Democrats’ return to power.

Just as important, they are ignoring the fact that the real peril to American Jews is not from Trump. Love him or hate him, efforts to tie him to antisemitism or to claim that he is a fascist are false. They are a distraction from the ongoing threat to American Jewry coming from an increasingly aggressive leftist wing of the Democrats that has used the post-Oct. 7 war to advance blood libels against Israel and Jews as “white” oppressors and guilty of genocide.

By doubling down on lies about Trump and his voters (a group that includes the not insignificant number of Jews who voted for him in states like New York and Florida in greater numbers than before because, among other reasons, of his sterling record as a friend of Israel) as fascists and allies of Nazis, liberal Jewish groups will be undermining attempts to do something about an unprecedented surge of antisemitism in this country and beyond.

The reality of the post-Oct. 7 era is that American Jews need to stop prioritizing partisan politics over their obligation to fight back against the scourge of Jew-hatred on the left as well as on the far-right.

It’s long past time for the Jewish members of the anti-Trump resistance to stop playing politics and start fighting the real bad guys, including those they might otherwise consider their political allies. Much like Joe and Mika, they have to tone down the rhetoric about Trump and realize that their hard feelings about the election are not as important as responding to the hundreds, if not thousands, of Charlottesville-type anti-Israel and anti-Jewish demonstrations carried out by left-wingers demonizing an entire country and its population over the past year. Those who think that sabotaging Trump is more important than fighting left-wing Jew-haters will only give undeserved assistance to those who seek Israel’s destruction and the silencing of American Jewry.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him @jonathans_tobin. 

Source: https://www.jns.org/jewish-liberals-should-follow-morning-joe-and-drop-the-resistance/

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Elections Have Consequences: How Trump’s Second Term Challenges the Political Status Quo - Roger Kimball

 

by Roger Kimball

Democrats assert power after victories, while Republicans compromise—Trump’s 2024 return, with bold Cabinet picks, challenges this norm.

 

“Elections,” Barack Obama told a group of cowering Republican lawmakers early in 2009, “have consequences.” He then drove the point home by reminding them, “I won.”

In truth, Democrats tend to understand this law of the political universe more clearly than do Republicans.

The usual rule is this: when Democrats win elections, they wield power. When Republicans win elections, they seek, or at least agree to, compromise.

In Suicide of the West, the political philosopher James Burnham quotes the nineteenth-century French writer Louis Veuillot, who summed up the essence of this political dialectic in one elegant sentence. Quand je suis le plus faible, je vous demande la liberté parce que tel est votre principe; mais quand je suis le plus fort, je vous l’ôte, parce que tel est le mien. “When I am the weaker, I ask you for my freedom, because that is your principle; but when I am the stronger, I take away your freedom, because that is my principle.”

For examples of the latter, I invite you to ponder the behavior of Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, especially the behavior of the despicable Merrick Garland, the Attorney General, these last three and a half years.

Had the Democrats won the 2024 election, we would have seen many more examples of this principle in action. Assuming the Dems had kept the Senate, we would have seen them dispense with the filibuster, thus turning that chamber into what outgoing West Virginian Senator Joe Manchin called “the House on steroids.” They would have packed the Supreme Court, adding a few new “progressive” members to the bench to counter the power of Justices like Clarence Thomas. They likely would have imposed term- or age-limits on the Justices as well.

Elsewhere, I endeavored to provide a brief inventory of the “consequences” of a Harris victory. Donald Trump would have been bankrupted and jailed. It is likely that the same thing would have happened to Elon Musk. Just as John Kerry promised, the First Amendment would have been gutted if not discarded altogether in order to further the censorship and surveillance regime of the woke, progressive elite. A virtual ban on fracking and the mining of coal would have been enacted, further depressing America’s prosperity. The trans insanity of the last decade would have been extended, destroying women’s sports and disfiguring, mentally as well as physically, many thousands of confused teenagers.

The country just dodged that fusillade. What now?

To the surprise of the inattentive, Donald Trump is not acting according to script. In 2017, he was allowed to assume office but not to take power. That was because the order of the universe had dictated that only Democrats were allowed to take power. Even before he turned the key at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there were calls for his impeachment. He had hardly clicked on the lights in the Oval Office before the Russia Collusion Hoax—organized and paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign—got underway.

Some seem surprised that Trump and his team have not docilely lined up for a rerun of his first term. But they haven’t. Last week, I noted some of the many ways the newly minted, forthcoming Trump administration differs from his first go-around. Various bad hats were clamoring to declare their reformation, and the economy responded to the decisive Trump victory with a 2000-point shot of adrenaline. Above all, one sensed a collective sigh of relief as it was borne upon us that we were finally awakening from the rancid nightmare of woke hysteria.

Suddenly, it became clear that, unlike 99.7 percent of politicians, Trump meant what he said when he promised to Make America Great Again.  He hadn’t brought along Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy for political window dressing.  He had brought them aboard for the same reason he picked J. D. Vance as his running mate: to field competent lieutenants to help realize his agenda of making America richer, freer, more secure, healthier, and more efficient.

The commentariat was still blinking in disbelief at what had just happened to their political and social assumptions when Trump began making his Cabinet nominations and other senior appointments.  Susie Wiles for Chief of Staff: super competent and the first woman in that position. Hmmm.  The China hawk Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. Hmmm again.  I think everyone’s favorite appointment was Tom Homan, former ICE director under Trump, as the new “border Czar.”

But then, last week, Trump really demonstrated that he meant business. He nominated Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services, and Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General.  All three nominations set the respectable, housebroken world of the punditocracy and political yes’em on fire.

Perhaps the quaintest response came from the Trump-allergic National Review, whose editorial oscillated between outrage and ad hominem abuse. According to the editors, Gaetz is “an unqualified toady” whose nomination should be “swiftly rejected” because “Gaetz is unfit.”  Why? At least in part because the FBI had investigated him for “sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, obstruction, and other unsavory conduct.” Here comes the best part: “To be sure, Gaetz was not charged. He has denied any wrongdoing. And allegations, even colorable ones, are not evidence.”

Indeed. And those are my italics, by the way. If the DOJ had anything, anything at all, that they could have nabbed Gaetz for, you can be sure they would have done so before you could say “Donald J. Trump.”  Remember the concept of being “presumed innocent?” That courtesy is not accorded to one’s political opponents. And what if Gaetz had been the object, as so many regime critics have been, of a groundless DOJ witch hunt? After all, the establishment hates Matt Gaetz, especially people like Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray who have suffered under his cross-examination.

NR concludes by sniffing that “the standards of fitness for an office of high public trust—and it doesn’t get much higher than attorney general—are considerably loftier than whether one manages to evade criminal prosecution.”  But how about if that prosecution was actually politically motivated persecution?  We have been treated to that spectacle again and again as the fate of the J6-ers and Donald Trump and various parents visiting school board meetings will remind you.  The Department of Justice has been weaponized and turned into a partisan tool.  That indeed, was one reason the voters delivered such a rousing victory to Donald Trump: to clean up the rotten, two-tier maladministration of justice in this country.

Responding to a CNN report that Trump is skipping FBI background checks for some of his cabinet nominees, including Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard (Trump’s pick to be Director of National Intelligence), the gimlet-eyed attorney Cleta Mitchell observed that “Obama didn’t have FBI vet his nominees because the nominees were corrupt; Trump isn’t having FBI vet his nominees because the FBI is corrupt.” Bingo.

Why would Trump nominate such controversial figures? Megyn Kelly gets it in one.  After his first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, collapsed and fed Trump to Robert Mueller, James Comey, and the rest of the corrupt Stasi-like brotherhood, Trump wants someone he can trust. Will Trump prevail?  Will controversial nominees like Matt Gaetz get confirmed?  Former Congressman and present faux-conservative commentator Trey Gowdy is one of many who say no. At one time Gowdy seemed like a rising star. It’s not clear what happened, but he long ago joined the ranks of the also-ran. I suspect that Gaetz will be confirmed, following, no doubt, the usual quota of Sturm und Drang. If not, then I suggest he follow Elon Musk’s suggestion and take a spot in the Department of Government Efficiency. “We will give him,” Musk said, “the task of auditing the FEC reports of the US Senators who opposed him.” An excellent idea. 

Why do I think Gaetz will ultimately be confirmed?  Because the public at large just elected Trump decisively, revealing a new spirit—what some commentators are calling a “spiritual shift”—in the body politic. The political weather has changed in America. As Mollie Hemingway put it on the same talk show Trey Gowdy participated in, “We don’t have a department of justice, we have a department of injustice, and that’s why you get Matt Gaetz as a nominee.” And that’s also why Gaetz will be confirmed. Elections have consequences.

 
Roger Kimball

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/17/elections-have-consequences-how-trumps-second-term-challenges-the-political-status-quo/

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