“Our message to every child in America is you are perfect exactly the way God made you!”
– President Donald Trump
“The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation to secure the border. But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.“
– President Donald Trump
“President Trump’s speech wasn’t a speech for the mainstream media, it was a speech for the American people.“
– Speaker of the House Mike Johnson
“The way Democrats behaved was unserious and embarrassing. The contrast between our forward looking vision and their temper tantrums was on display for all of America to see.”
– Speaker of the House Mike Johnson
“President Trump’s first 43 in office is simple – promises made, promises kept.”
– Tiffany Smiley
“I think Vladimir Putin is an old school communist, a former KGB agent, and he’s not to be trusted, and he is dangerous.“
– Speaker of the House Mike Johnson
“There is security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.”
– President Ronald Reagan
“Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.”
-Thomas Sowell
Friends & Family That Disagree: It’s OK… just relax.
As of now, we still live in a free country where it’s OK to agree to disagree, have different opinions and share them in public, support different political candidates, make your case to others, share ideas, comments, articles, memes, and not be censored or arrested.
The progressive, liberal Democrat’s Orwellian approach to free speech and “fact checking” has been temporarily halted, hopefully long enough for Americans to see and appreciate the difference.
Western Civilization is at risk on many fronts; eternal vigilance is required to preserve freedom and liberty! Let’s hope it’s tactics versus direction that we disagree with.
The Congressional Meltdown – America Reacts: Say what you will about President Trump’s speech, most think it was pretty awesome, but the Democrat’s belligerence was embarrassing.
They refused to stand and clap for a young boy recovering from cancer.
They refused to stand and clap for a parent of a murdered daughter… twice.
They refused to stand and shake the hands of entering cabinet members or the president.
They held up bingo cards as some show of resistance, powerful… not!
They had multiple outbursts, ignoring congressional decorum… hypocrites.
Democrats couldn‘t even find it in their hearts to stand for the 95-year-old mother of Marc Fogel.
Example after example of childish, immature, and embarrassing responses to a Presidential speech to a joint session of Congress. The American people watched and skewered them on focus group panels, social media, and post speech interviews.
Even liberal commentators on MSNBC and CNN belittled the Democrat’s apparent lack of messaging and leadership.
Quick reminder: the Republicans stood for and applauded Jill Biden—even as her husband was abusing his presidential powers and had politicized the federal government – because she was the First Lady.
EVERY Democrat sat silent as Melania Trump entered the chamber?!?
The Democrats demonstrated to America why they don’t deserve to be elected… nothing but embarrassing obstructionism, hypocrisy, blatant partisanship, and lack of common sense… all for political gain.
This is NOT your parent’s Democrat party!
Reagan and Trump: President Reagan called the old Soviet Union the “evil empire” and demanded they “tear down this wall” while continuing to engage in dialogue and meetings with Soviet leaders that ultimately led to the demise of the Soviet Union and unprecedented expansion of peace and prosperity in Europe.
President Trump can do as much and more with Russia and in the Middle East. He has a historic opportunity to bring lasting peace in Ukraine and Israel while stabilizing the world.
In an attempt to bring Putin to the negotiating table, Trump has tempered his and America’s rhetoric towards Putin. As Secretary Rubio recently stated, if there is even a 1% chance of peace, we should try. There are no illusions about who Putin is or what he has done. But in the quest for peace, President Trump is leading the negotiations based on his experience and his strategy is to bring a lasting peace to the world.
Many can question his tactics and strategy. However, President Trump and his administration are approaching these negotiations with open eyes, a clear sense of history, and overwhelming public support for both peace and NATO.
But let’s not forget, Russia is the obstacle to peace in Ukraine. Not Ukraine. Russia continues to attack civilian targets, Russia kidnaps young Ukrainian children, Russia threatens its neighbors.
The proper strategy should be to erode Russia’s leverage and grant Ukraine leverage until peace talks. The people of Ukraine are the good guys. All they want is freedom.
President Trump is approaching these negotiations from his America First perspective, believing debts should be paid, partners should treat America equitably, peace is good for not only America but the rest of the world, and the United States should not just keep borrowing money while indebting the American taxpayer to help others with a blank check when they have the resources to pay back any investment or military engagement.
Russia is/was the aggressor. Russia should NOT be rewarded for being the bad guy.
Give peace a chance – while Europe and Canada hopefully step up to play a more important and equitable role in the process. Europeans’ actions need to match their rhetoric!
NATO: Our NATO alliance remains the most successful alliance in history that has secured peace and freedom in Europe and beyond.
The United States should remain an important partner in NATO.
Europe and Canada should immediately increase their spending to 3% with the objective of moving up to 5% in the next few years to pay their fair share of defending their homelands.
If Article 5 of the NATO treaty is invoked, it doesn’t automatically force a member country to go to war in the sense of deploying troops or engaging in direct combat. Article 5 states that an attack on one ally is considered an attack on all, and members agree to take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force,” to restore and maintain security. Therefore, the United States will never be sucked into a conflict by some gamesmanship on either side.
Europe and Canada have to step up and start paying their fair share. The free ride at American taxpayer expense is over. Talk is cheap…and dangerous.
Ukraine vs. Russia: Just to restate the obvious:
Putin’s Russia attacked Ukraine and viciously terrorized civilian populations, kidnapped young children, and committed other war crimes over the last three years.
Ukraine’s people have bravely defended their homeland and people against unbelievable odds with one hand tied behind their back by its friends in Europe and the U.S.
Ukraine could very easily become Russia’s next Afghanistan… a costly war with no logical or rational way out other than an embarrassing defeat.
Putin should use Trump’s offer of a deal and get out while he can. Russia has so much potential and so many natural resources of their own… but democracy without conflict is a challenge for them.
It is in the United States national security interest for Ukraine to win this war and be a free and independent nation, trading partner, and part of the free world.
AND the United States, Russia, and Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum, getting Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons for the sake of world peace. The agreement prohibited Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, “except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.”
Russia breached the Budapest memorandum in 2014 with its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. As a response, the US, UK, and France provided Ukraine with financial and military assistance and imposed economic sanctions on Russia, while ruling out “any direct interventions to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia.”
Ukraine deserves our support and, more importantly, the support of its neighbors in Europe.
Neither Europe nor the United States should limit Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Attacking critical military infrastructure, military bases, airports, and other military-related objects with EVERY weapon available is fair game and would be a game changer for Ukraine.
The Politics of the Ukraine vs. Russia War: As we all focus on those lands far away, protected by those “huge, beautiful oceans,” let’s not forget the effects of war and how we handle freedom yearning Ukrainians and Easter Europe have here at home?!?
Think Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and others.
The presidential race is determined by a few battleground states.
U.S. Senate seat pick-ups will be in key states with large Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian, and Eastern European voters. Looking for 60 seats???
Congressional seats across the country will depend on a few swing seats in ethnically diverse districts.
Be aware. Be prepared. Key ethnic voters in key states can make a difference.
AND… when 2-4 House Republicans and 3-4 Senate Republicans take a stand against Putin’s Russia… the America First Trump agenda becomes at risk.
Don’t ignore the less talked about domestic politics!!!
Fentanyl Tariffs: China produces it… Canada and Mexico let it into the United States. It’s the leading killer of young Americans between 18-35 years old.
President Trump asked China to stop it, Canada and Mexico to intercept it, and they are NOT willing to step up and STOP the fentanyl.
This isn’t about economics; this is a life-and-death issue and our neighbors seem unwilling to help… and so President Trump is putting tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico… and by the way, it’s easily fixed.
Read more below and follow me on X & GETTR – @sanuzis
–Saul Anuzis
Click Here for Past Commentary from Saul
Saul’s News Weekly Rewind Video
This Week: Democrats have serious optics problems following President Trump’s speech and Senator Rand Paul pitches Elon Musk on permanent deep DOGE cuts!
Trump hails his whirlwind, six-week ‘common sense revolution’ — as downbeat Dems protest address to Congress
President Trump was the boisterous showman in chief before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night — boldly declaring “America is back” and its “greatest era” was underway as he brushed past petulant Democratic protests to lay out both the accomplishments and the agenda of his second term.
Trump, 78, described his avalanche of executive orders and new initiatives as a “common sense revolution” during the 99-minute address — the longest in modern history — echoing the theme of his second inaugural address as the opposition largely sat on their hands and seethed before drifting quietly into the DC night.
“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country,” Trump said.
“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started. America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back, and the American Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before.”
Here’s Everything the Dems Refused to Applaud for During Trump’s Address to Congress
President Donald J. Trump delivered the longest address to a joint session of Congress last night, which was riddled with partisanship, thanks to the Democrats’ puerile antics. There were more than a dozen things that should have elicited bipartisan clapping. The kid battling cancer wants to be a cop, only to be granted honorary status in the United States Secret Service. There was a career steel worker in the gallery, who fathered seven children and was a foster parent to 40 more—that wasn’t enough to get Democrats clapping. Another was admitted into West Point, a happy moment which left Democrats sitting on their hands.
It didn’t play well with voters either. The disdain Democrats have for America and its voters when they don’t win is beyond astounding. Here’s the comprehensive list of everything they sat on their hands for because they’re the miserable, unpatriotic cancers of American politics:
• The capturing of an ISIS terrorist that masterminded the Abbey Gate attack
• A young boy fighting brain cancer
• A call to lower taxes for middle-class Americans
• Americans joining the military in record numbers
• Law and order
• Taking down illegal revenge porn
• Protecting women’s sports
• The United States of America
• Working together to Make America Great Again
• Ending the harmful electric vehicle mandate
• Cutting regulations to unleash American prosperity
• Ending censorship and bringing back free speech
• Ending discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion”
• Recognizing only two sexes
• Defeating inflation
• Unleashing American energy
• Ending waste, fraud, and abuse in government
• Ending taxes on tips, overtime, and seniors’ Social Security
• Bringing manufacturing home to America
• Securing historic investments in American chip manufacturing
• Ending the harmful electric vehicle mandate
• Cutting regulations to unleash American prosperity
• Ending censorship and bringing back free speech
• Ending discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion”
• Recognizing only two sexes
• Defeating inflation
• Unleashing American energy
• Ending waste, fraud, and abuse in government
• Ending taxes on tips, overtime, and seniors’ Social Security
• Bringing manufacturing home to America
• Securing historic investments in American chip manufacturing
• Ending the harmful electric vehicle mandate
• Cutting regulations to unleash American prosperity
• Ending censorship and bringing back free speech
• Ending discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion”
• Recognizing only two sexes
• Defeating inflation
• Unleashing American energy
• Ending waste, fraud, and abuse in government
• Ending taxes on tips, overtime, and seniors’ Social Security
• Bringing manufacturing home to America
• Securing historic investments in American chip manufacturing
So What Do Democrats Stand for If They Won’t Stand for D.J. Daniel?
Watching President Trump’s address before a Joint Session of Congress there were two things that became very apparent. The first thing is that President Trump was at the top of his game and reveling in the moment. The second thing that I noticed is that Democrats are utterly devoid of a heart and soul.
While Democrats try to preach that they are the party of the common man, they have abandoned the common man some time ago. They no longer represent – if they really ever did – the hard working, patriotic Americans who made this country the greatest country in the history of the planet. The blue collar Americans who had traditionally voted Democrat didn’t walk away from the party, the party walked away from them. No, to be more accurate, the Democrat Party ran away from hard working Americans.
One could hardly not notice how the Democrats sat on their hands during the president’s speech, or held up their little paddles while President Trump honored thirteen year old cancer survivor D.J. Daniel. Young D.J.’s goal in life was to become a police officer, so the new Director of the Secret Service stepped forward and appointed D.J. an honorary Secret Service Agent. The moment was magical, and the Democrats sat there like pond scum floating on the water of a small, fetid swamp.
The Democrats made Trump look more presidential than ever
By the end of President Donald Trump‘s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, Democrats decided not to applaud a child battling brain cancer, the mother of a woman who was murdered by a 26-year-old Venezuelan man who entered the United States illegally, the passage of a sports bill that would have kept biological men from competing with girls, a western Pennsylvania man released from prison in Russia to his 95-year-old mother, and a newly admitted student to a U.S. military academy.
They sat stone-faced on their hands, some playing with their iPhones, during all of these moments — moments that had many bathed in tears.
Brad Todd, Republican strategist and founder of OnMessage, posted on X, “This will forever be known as the moment when we realized the Democratic Party was fundamentally broken. They took cancer’s side.”
One longtime Democrat who worked in the Senate for years, who is now, as he says, “thankfully in the private sector,” said, “They did what most people in their party have long said couldn’t happen. They made Trump look presidential.”
It was also hard for him to wrap his brain around Democrats not applauding border crossings falling to 8,000 from 200,000.
Polling after the speech reflected what was heard anecdotally Tuesday night from a wide variety of voters.
Democrats’ Biggest Problem Right Now Is That They Are Out Of Touch And Uncool
Do Democrats have a plan other than being awful and making fools of themselves?
I am a middle-aged dad, and to quote Abe Simpson, a minor character from a show that was popular 30 years ago, “I used to be with ‘it,’ but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it,’ and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you!”
Obviously, I am no longer an arbiter of what’s cool, if I ever was one. If anything, my superpower is that I am old enough to be emotionally, socially, and financially secure, such that I get to care about things on the merits and am otherwise immune to feeling like I should approve of something because of its cultural cachet.
Which brings me to the Democrat party. I have a decades-long written record of disagreeing with their policies on the merits, and they’ve become so uncool I actually feel bad for them. I can’t watch them right now without experiencing second-hand embarrassment. Now I’m sure there are many fine folks on the former bird app who are willing to angrily disabuse me of the notion I should feel bad for Democrats, and fair enough. But great Odin’s raven, what are Democrats doing to themselves? (If you’re keeping score, that reference is 21 years old.)
On Tuesday night, Rep. Al Green, a 77-year-old congressman from Houston, was ejected from Trump’s speech to Congress for repeatedly interrupting Trump by yelling and waving his cane at the president. Suffice to say, this image made Green temporarily the face of his party, and that face looked an awful lot like a doddering old fool. In fact, I wasn’t the only one thinking about Abe Simpson after Trump’s speech:
Senate GOP Majority Leader John Thune an Early Political All-Star
Rookie Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., might be the unsung hero of the early Trump administration. Moving the Senate with unaccustomed speed and keeping his often disparate Republican caucus largely united should earn acclaim throughout the Republican Party for his leadership ability.
At this writing, the Senate has confirmed 19 Trump Cabinet and sub-Cabinet nominations and, through a cumulative 1,197 Republican confirmation votes. In only seven of these 1,197 instances did a Republican fail to support the appointees, and the Nay votes came from only three GOP senators: former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (3 times), Susan Collins, R-Maine (2 times), and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska (2 times). The remaining 50 Republicans voted unanimously for all of the nominations, though in a few instances certain senators were absent.
Included within this group are the four nominations that were expected to be the most tenuous and challenging to confirm. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FBI Director Kash Patel all cleared the confirmation process and gave Thune a 1.000 batting average for so far shepherding all nominees through what is often an adverse and complicated process.
Can Europe Ever Catch Up On Defense Spending: US Spent $8.4 Trillion In Past Decade… Rest Of NATO Just $3.8 Trillion
Europe has to urgently find a solution to a depleted defence capability.
But how much should Europe be looking to spend on the military? It’s useful to begin by considering how much neglect there has been in recent years.
Consider NATO official figures on defense spending.
Since 2014, in the aggregate NATO countries have spent around 2.5% of GDP on defense. But this is largely because the US spends closer to 3.5% of GDP (and is the largest country in economic terms.) Europe and Canada combined spent only 1.5% of GDP for most of the past decade—only increasing to 2% of GDP in 2024.
Why Conservatives Don’t Jump on the Pretend Support for Ukraine Bandwagon
The divide between Americans who blindly state they “support Ukraine” (whatever that means) and Americans who are skeptical and see the Russia-Ukraine war as far more nuanced got more heated due to last week’s testy exchange in the Oval Office between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The conflict is not as simple as “I stand with Ukraine” or “You like Vladimir Putin,” despite the left’s false dichotomies and false framing of the argument. It’s the same type of logical fallacy as asking someone, “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”
While the left thinks it looks good in theory to virtue signal that you support Ukraine, it’s not that black and white. Just because Putin is a bad actor doesn’t mean Zelenskyy should be blindly supported; while he may not appear to be as evil as Putin, he certainly is no angel. He’s canceled elections and is now ruling as a dictator.
Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Dubinsky called for the impeachment of Zelenskyy after the botched White House visit. He said Zelenskyy has failed in foreign policy, causing Ukraine’s isolation from allies, and is engaging in authoritarian rule.
Throwing more and more money that we don’t have at the problem hasn’t solved it; the war has continued, and more troops are dying. Russia is receiving technology and tools from China and troops from North Korea, helping Putin continue the war indefinitely with no end in sight.
In a perfect world, Putin wouldn’t have been an aggressor. But the world isn’t the lofty ivory tower that elitist leftists like to pretend, and efforts to remove Putin haven’t worked. And even if they did, would a far worse hardliner take over?
Is CIA Director Bill Burns Helping Ukraine to Win or Blocking It?
There have been worrying signs of collusion between some very senior US officials and the Kremlin on handling Ukraine and an investigation may be warranted.
Almost 600 days of Russia’s war in Ukraine have given rise to almost 600 days of confrontation between pro-Ukrainian and Kremlin-appeasing groups within the US administration.
The good news is that friends of Ukraine have largely succeeded in overcoming the artificial and self-destructive taboo against supporting Ukraine that the US has imposed on itself. The bad news is that – each time – Kyiv’s American skeptics seem to succeed in significantly slowing down US support.
Unacknowledged in large parts of official Washington is the reality that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have had to pay for this procrastination with their lives. Had there been a hundred or more F-16 fighter jets in the Ukrainian skies a year ago, this cursed war would now be history.
Meanwhile, the US’s puzzling taboo has deliberately tied the hands of the victims of criminal aggression. The US press has reported in detail on how Russia invaded Ukraine, is destroying its cities and villages, and is daily murdering civilians with rockets launched from Russian territory. Yet Washington has effectively prohibited Ukraine from delivering answering strikes on the sources of Russia’s bombings.
DOGE-inspired bipartisan bill seeks payment transparency to ‘clean up Washington’
Democrat, Republican senators unite to ‘increase transparency and cut down on wasteful government spending’
Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., introduced a bill Wednesday that would require the annual presidential budget to include data on improper payments to federal agencies, taking a page out of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) playbook.
“When federal agencies waste money, it means less money for essential services, national defense or deficit reduction,” Ricketts, a member of the Senate DOGE Caucus, said. “Transparency brings accountability. My bipartisan bill will highlight where money is being misspent so we can combat waste and save taxpayer dollars.”
The Improper Payments Transparency Act would require the president’s annual budget request to include data on improper payments, which are defined under U.S. law as payments that should not have been made or were made in an incorrect amount.
The act would require a description of the program on an improper payment report, including an explanation of why the improper payment occurred, data on improper payment trends and a corrective action plan agencies will take to limit improper payments.
Not One Democrat Senator Voted To Protect Women’s Sports From Males
On Jan. 14, the Republican-majority House of Representatives passed the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” by a 218-206 margin with all Republicans voting “yea” and all but two Democrats voting “nay.”
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) sponsored the House bill, and there was a similar bill in the Senate sponsored by Tommy Tuberville. Unfortunately, Tuberville’s common-sense bill failed to pass the Senate on Monday because Republicans needed multiple Democrats to vote in favor.
But none of them did. Not one Democratic senator was willing to say “no, males do not belong in women’s sports.”
Centrist Dem group rails against leftist identity politics and purity tests
Centrist Democrats produced a five-page document of takeaways at a retreat organized by Third Way.
When several dozen Democratic political operatives and elected officials gathered at a tony resort off the Potomac River last month, frustration boiled over at the left wing of their party.
Democrats had become too obsessed with “ideological purity tests” and should push back “against far-left staffers and groups that exert a disproportionate influence on policy and messaging,” according to a document of takeaways from the gathering produced by the center-left group Third Way and obtained by POLITICO.
The group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials and party leaders who gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia for a day-and-a-half retreat, where they plotted their party’s comeback, searched for why the party lost in November — and what to do about it. Much of what they focused their ire on centered on the kind of identity politics that they believed lost them races up and down the ballot.
One of the key ways to win back the trust of the working class, some gathered there argued, was to “reduce far-left influence and infrastructure” on the party, according to the takeaways document. That included building a more moderate campaign infrastructure and talent pipeline, pushing “back against far-left staffers and groups that exert a disproportionate influence on policy and messaging,” and refusing to participate in “far-left candidate questionnaires” and “forums that create ideological purity tests.”
