Category Archives: Politics

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President Trump: Convicted Felon or Political Target | Part I

Imagine buying a printer and documenting it as a business expense.

Perfectly legal.

But pretend for a moment that instead of buying a printer, you bought heroin. Now, not only are you breaking the law by purchasing illegal drugs, but you’re also committing a crime in the way you reported it as “something for the office.”

If instead of buying a printer, you bought an ice cream cone, you’ve got a “falsified business expense,” but that’s not necessarily a problem. What makes it criminal is the crime being concealed by documenting the expense as something legitimate.

If someone is going to accuse you of committing a felony because of a falsified business expense, they have to prove to the jury that you’re guilty of committing a crime that was funded by the money you reported as a legal transaction. In the case of our example, the purchase of heroin.

But if you bought ice cream, that’s not illegal and however you accounted for it is not a felony and…

…they don’t have a case.

These are the 34 “felonies” that President Trump was charged with:

 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust2/14/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 8424572/14/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 8424602/14/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account, bearing check number 0001382/14/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust3/16/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 8469073/17/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account, bearing check number 0001473/17/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump4/13/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump5/22/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 8553315/22/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 0027005/23/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump6/16/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 8587706/19/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 0027406/19/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 8587726/9/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 0027416/19/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump7/11/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 8610967/11/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 0027817/11/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump8/1/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 8636418/1/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 0028218/1/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump9/11/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 8681749/11/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 0029089/12/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump10/18/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 87265410/18/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 00294410/18/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump11/20/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 87651111/20/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 00298011/21/17
 Invoice from Michael Cohen, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump12/1/17
 Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 87778512/1/17
 Check and check stub, Donald J. Trump account, bearing check number 00300612/1/17

These were all identified by the prosecution as falsified business records.

34 falsified business records, 34 felonies.

But remember, in order for a falsified business record to quality as a felony, it has to be proven that the money was intentionally categorized to conceal the fact that the law had been broken.

An excerpt from Manhattan prosecutors’ bill of particulars in the Donald Trump hush-money case referenced in the “Old, unused, and ‘twisty’ — meet the obscure NY election-conspiracy law that just might get Trump convicted” article printed in the Business Insider, April 27, 2024.

But what was the crime?

You can’t tell by looking at the business records, apart from the name, “Michael Cohen.”

In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s lawyer, cut a check to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her discretion when it came to her relationship to Donald Trump, given its sordid characteristics that occurred in 2006. That same check was later categorized as an illegal contribution to Trump’s presidential campaign and Cohen wound up serving three years in prison.1

Later, however, it was alleged that Trump tried to reimburse Cohen for the money paid out to Daniels and used a series of falsified business records in order to conceal the true nature of the payment made to the former porn star. In doing so, at least one of three crimes were committed (see sidebar):2

  • Violation of State Election Law
  • Tax Fraud
  • Federal Election Law

But you can’t simply list 34 transactions and call them 34 felonies. You have to prove that every one of those line items was intentionally mis-categorized in order to conceal a violation of either State Election Law, New York Tax Law, or Federal Election Law.

Get ready for Part II…!

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The Broadside | The First Shakeup of Team Trump

Mike Waltz is out as Trump’s National Security Advisor. But I’m not sure this is the coup that the Left thinks it is.

Quick Hit:

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate Mike Waltz as the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Waltz, a former Green Beret, congressman, and current National Security Advisor, is expected to vacate that role immediately.

Key Details:

  • Trump praised Waltz for his military service and leadership, saying he “has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first” and will bring that same commitment to the U.N.
  • In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor while continuing his leadership at the State Department.
  • Trump stated the appointments reflect a continued push “to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN,” signaling a focus on national security and international diplomacy heading into the next phase of his administration.

Democrats have been trying to oust Pete Hegseth over “Signalgate” a few weeks ago when Mike Waltz inadvertently added the Atlantic’s editor to a chat where senior officials were discussing attacks against the Houthis. Waltz owned the error and apologized but the Dems pounced on the situation as leverage to get rid of America First appointees.

It may be that Trump took care of the issue by removing Waltz but keeping him involved by nominating him to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. That’s got to make Dem’s heads spin.

If you thought President Trump was running out of ways to troll the left, you probably weren’t counting on the ultimate bait-and-switch that is sure to send the Democrats into a collective hissy fit.

On Thursday, we learned that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, are out at the National Security Council. Democrats absolutely salivated at the news. Of course, Waltz was never their true target—that’s Pete Hegseth—but, clearly, they saw Waltz’s departure from the National Security Council as a victory, and they felt emboldened by it. 

And then Trump nominated Waltz as his new pick for UN ambassador. 

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”  

Trump can’t be accused of not acting in response to the “scandal” of the Signal chat. Waltz is out.

But Waltz is also not out.

What played out this week was not just classic Trump—it was trolling on a level that left Democrats and the media scratching their heads in disbelief. It’s the kind of move only Trump could pull off, turning a target of a faux scandal into the face America presents to the world at the United Nations.

Trump’s nomination of Mike Waltz to the UN ambassador position proves once again that he’s playing 4D chess while his opponents are stuck playing checkers. What might Trump do next to troll the left? I have some ideas. While Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be interim national security advisor, a totally boss move would be for Trump to nominate General Michael Flynn as Waltz’s replacement.

Can you imagine?

Have a great weekend.

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The Broadside | Trump’s Presidency Is Going Down in Flames! (But Not Really)

The Democrats and the MSM (sorry for the redundancy) want you to think that support for Trump is in serious trouble.

Oh noes! The liberal progressive anti-Trump networks conducted some polls!

Fortunately, even if his numbers have dropped, his base remains strongly committed to his platform.

The liberal media keeps pushing its narrative about Donald Trump’s unpopularity, but the numbers tell a different story. Trump’s base is more passionate and committed than Obama’s ever was, and we’ve got the data to prove it.

Mark Mitchell from Rasmussen Reports dropped a truth bomb on X today, sharing a chart that liberals won’t want you to see. The data shows Trump’s Approval Index — the difference between those who strongly approve and strongly disapprove — consistently beating Barack Obama’s numbers. 

The key here is to not place your hopes in the polls. Instead, watch for what Trump’s strategies produce. Is he going to be perfect? Nope. (For example, some are blaming him for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals federal election victory yesterday.)

Keep a couple of things in mind. First, it’s only been 100 days and Trump has been keeping his promises to kick illegals out of the country, to rebalance trade, and to bring businesses and manufacturing back to American shores. He’s standing up to China, he’s brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, and he’s put Iran on notice. He’s slapped down the Houthis in Yemen, he’s exerting tremendous influence on control of the Panama Canal, and he’s quietly still working on an agreement with Greenland.

In other words, he’s putting America first.

Second, remember that the MSM polls are skewed liberal. The better polls are Rasmussen, which was pretty accurate about the 2024 presidential election. The MSM is no longer favored by this White House and is being dealt with like the partisan hacks that they are.

Mitchell accused legacy polling firms and the mainstream media of working together to paint a misleading picture. 

“The mainstream media on top of that is gonna be this information gatekeeping layer,” he said, citing Quinnipiac’s poll from a month ago showing Trump at negative 12 points — a number that was heavily promoted in the media despite being completely ridiculous. 

“Well, their numbers haven’t moved, and so now it’s, um, they’re gonna use Reuters. They’re gonna use ABC Washington, you know, negative 13, negative 12, negative 14,” Mitchell added. “Those are all new. They all dropped over the weekend.”

He even joked that the pollsters might be congratulating each other behind the scenes. “I wonder if they’re, like, slapping each other on the butts and saying, ‘Good game,’ after this coordinated, like, dump of polling,” he said. “I think that’s probably what it is.”

Don’t fret when you see a negative poll about Trump. Give him time to work.

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The Broadside | Trump’s Tariff Regime Seems Chaotic But He’s a Disrupter and I Trust He Knows What He’s Doing

I’m not an economist and I don’t play one on TV, so I’m not sure what to tell you about Trump’s tariff scheme. He cranks out a list of countries using some mathematical formula that creates just the right reciprocal tariffs on each, starting with a baseline 10% tariff on everyone we trade with.

Then the markets tank, analysts panic and there’s a massive sell-off. Then Trump “pauses” the tariffs for 90 days so that he can make deals with dozens of countries that reached out to the U.S. Markets skyrocket and post one of its biggest rallies in history.

What gives?

First, the tariffs to every country was meant to cause the free world to make a choice – China or us. According to Scott Bessent on the White House lawn early this afternoon, north of 75 countries have chosen us. They are clamoring to renegotiate trade deals. Inevitably, every one of these deals will benefit the United States. It defies logic to believe that America’s position vis-a-vis trade with any individual country is going to be worse off after negotiating a new deal. With some countries, we’ll be nominally better off. With other countries, we’ll be in a much more equitable place. And because we have the commitment of 75+ countries to renegotiate trade, Trump is pausing the tariffs for 90-days in good faith in order to let the negotiators do their thing.

The bottom line is none of these pending trade deals would have been offered or committed to without the tariffs used as an attention-getter.

Second, by forcing the world to choose between the United States and China, China has become further isolated. Trump has all the leverage in the world to squeeze China, and squeezing them is exactly what he’s doing.

It’s high stakes gamesmanship and Trump knows exactly what he’s doing.

Trump knew all along the stock market, and the angst around it from the chattering class in resistance media was transient, and would rebound once he got us into a position of strength in global trade.

The bottom line to phase two is that all of it – phase 1 and phase 2, were a plan to take on China and combat them as the growing threat they are before having to deal with them anyway once they’re stronger and we’re weaker. This has been always about boxing in China. All of it. Yes, Canada, you, too.

I get a little nervous when playing chicken with a behemoth like China. We are dependent on China for pharmaceuticals, as we learned during Covid (released by China on purpose, I’m convinced, to take out Donald Trump). China supplies us with electrical machinery and TV parts, nuclear reactor parts and mechanical appliances, toys, games, sports equipment, plastics, furniture and lamps, vehicles, iron and steel, and optical and photographic parts, electronics, medical equipment, pharmaceutical ingredients, and, last but not least, rare earth minerals, which are crucial for industries like defense, renewable energy, and consumer electronics.

The U.S. imported $438 billion worth of goods from China in 2024 and only exported $144 billion. We’ve outsourced a lot of our manufacturing to China.

The tariffs are a tool to reset global trade and to begin diminishing the influence that China has on the world stage. They probably won’t be too happy about any negative impact that a reordered trade regime has on their Belt and Road strategy.

Both Apple and Porsche scrambled to get their products from India and Germany before the tariffs went into effect.

Since March, Tim Cook-led Apple has chartered at least six cargo jets, each carrying an estimated 100 tons of iPhones, to fly from India to the US, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.

The tech giant also nudged Indian authorities to expedite the shipments through customs.

Apple “wanted to beat the tariff” with its last-minute shipments, a source familiar with its planning told Reuters.

In total, approximately 1.5 million iPhones were ferried to the US, according to Reuters calculations.

Meanwhile, the German luxury car brand Porsche warned analysts on Thursday that its first-quarter results would be impacted by “higher company-owned inventory shipped to the US to beat the tariff deadline.”

Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts that went into effect April 3.

That levy remains in effect despite his 90-day pause on country-specific measures.

Trump is a disrupter, and I learned from his first term and from his second presidential campaign not to underestimate him, nor to panic when he does something that seems completely illogical. There’s a method to his madness, and I’ve decided to trust that his instincts are pretty good.

Besides, what choice do I have?

Have a great weekend.

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The Broadside | At 50 Days There Are (At Least) 50 Wins

When Brandon was in office, every day seemed to crawl by. Months were like molasses, years like decades. Every moment he was in the White House with his cabal was a moment he could use to consolidate power and corrupt the institutions he controlled. I couldn’t wait for his four-year term to be done.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, I can’t believe it’s been 50 days since Trump the Magnificent took office. The days and months fairly fly by. They’re going too fast! Slow down! It’s only four years! There’s so much more to accomplish!

But he’s off to a great start, as Paula Bolyard catalogues in 50 wins in 50 days. Here’s a few to whet your appetite:

1.    President Trump secured the border in unprecedented fashion.

  • Illegal border crossings have declined to the lowest level ever recorded — down 94% from last February and down 96% from the all-time high of the Biden Administration. In one sector, illegal border crossings are down 99% over 2023.
  • Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin: “If Fox were to send me down there right now, I would have trouble finding a single migrant on camera.”
  • CBS immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez: “Typically, when we go to the U.S./Mexico border, we at least see one group of people who are trying to cross into the U.S. illegally. We did not see a single migrant.”

 4. President Trump’s tariffs are leveling the playing field for American workers.

  • President Trump restored a 25% tariff on steel imports and elevated the tariff to 25% on aluminum imports to protect these critical American industries from unfair foreign competition – a move praised by the Steel Manufacturers Association, the Aluminum Association, and businesses across the country.
  • President Trump unveiled a plan for fair and reciprocal trade, making clear to the world that the United States will no longer tolerate being ripped off. 

6.    President Trump has secured billions of dollars in new U.S.-based investments.

  • Apple announced a historic $500 billion investment that will create 20,000 new U.S.-based jobs.
  • TSMC announced an unprecedented $100 billion investment in U.S.-based semiconductor chip manufacturing.
  • President Trump announced the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure project in history, securing $500 billion in planned private sector investment — with major CEOs agreeing it would not have been possible without President Trump’s leadership.
  • President Trump secured a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties to build new U.S.-based data centers.
  • CMA CGM announced a $20 billion investment in U.S. shipbuilding and logistics, which will create 10,000 new jobs.
  • Eli Lilly and Company announced a $27 billion investment in its U.S.-based manufacturing.
  • The Trump Administration announced an $18 billion investment by American liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter Venture Global into their Plaquemines LNG export facility — made possible by President Trump’s energy policies.
  • Wisconsin-based Clarios, a leader in low-voltage energy storage, announced a $6 billion plan to expand its U.S.-based manufacturing.
  • Saudi Arabia declared its intention to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
  • Taiwan pledged to boost its investment in the United States.

7.    President Trump is bringing manufacturing back to America.

  • The U.S. gained 10,000 manufacturing jobs in President Trump’s first full month in office — led by the auto sector, which gained the most new jobs in 15 months. This is a swift turnaround after losing an average of 9,000 manufacturing jobs per month in the final year of the Biden Administration.
  • Stellantis will reopen its assembly plant in Illinois, build its next-generation Dodge Durango in Michigan, and make new investments in their Ohio and Indiana facilities.
  • Nissan is expected to move some production to the U.S.
  • Mercedes-Benz announced plans to “grow” its vehicle production in the U.S.
  • Honda is expected to produce its next-generation Civic hybrid model in Indiana.
  • Electronics giants Samsung and LG “are considering moving their plants in Mexico to the U.S.” now that President Trump is back in office.
  • Siemens announced a $285 million investment in U.S. electrical product manufacturing, which will create more than 900 new skilled manufacturing jobs.

12.    President Trump unleashed American energy.

  • President Trump declared a National Energy Emergency to unlock America’s full energy potential and bring down costs for American families — and the U.S. is now the largest net exporter of natural gas in the world.
  • President Trump re-opened 625 million acres for offshore drilling, which Biden banned in his waning days, in order to “drill, baby, drill.”
  • President Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council to maximize use of America’s extensive energy resources.

19.    President Trump is ending waste, fraud, and abuse in government.

  • President Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to maximize government productivity and ensure the best use of taxpayer funds — which has already achieved tens of billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers.
  • President Trump stopped the waste, fraud, and abuse within USAID — ensuring taxpayers are no longer on the hook for funding pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, such as sex changes in Guatemala.

27.    President Trump designated English as the official language of the United States.

49.    President Trump is ending China’s chokehold over the Panama Canal as he seeks its rightful return to U.S. ownership.

  • Following a visit from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino agreed to withdraw from the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, a debt-trap diplomacy scheme the Chinese Communist Party uses to gain influence over developing nations.
  • CK Hutchison Holding sold ports operating on both sides of the Panama Canal to a U.S.-based consortium, effectively placing the ports back in American control.

These are some of my favorites. There’s much more at the link. Go read them all and be amazed.

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The Broadside | Trump Delivers a Side-Winder and Exposes the True Conflict Between Left and Right

I watched Trump’s first joint address to Congress since retaking the White House and it was one for the history books. Here’s some highlights along with one simple observation I have.

This was a new one: Churlish Rep. Al Green gets booted after disrupting Trump’s speech and refusing to sit or to quiet down. “Remove this gentleman from the chamber.” I haven’t seen that before.

Trump on the border: “All we needed was a new president.” Trump calls out the lies that the Dems have told for the last four years while letting foreign invaders overrun our southern border.

Trump asked, presumably rhetorically, how many want to see the war in Ukraine go for another five years. Some Democrats applauded and Trump specifically called out Elizabeth Warren, using her preferred name, Pocahontas, who continued to applaud for FIVE MORE YEARS OF WAR while the cameras were on her.

Like a clapping seal that doesn’t know why it’s applauding. It just does because it’s been trained to.

Here’s the investments Trump has secured less than two months into his presidency:

In total, President Trump has secured nearly $2 trillion in new U.S. investments.

  • TSMC announced an unprecedented $100 billion investment in U.S.-based semiconductor chip manufacturing.
  • Apple announced a historic $500 billion investment that will create 20,000 new U.S.-based jobs.
  • President Trump announced the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure project in history, securing $500 billion in planned private sector investment — with major CEOs agreeing it would not have been possible without President Trump’s leadership.
  • President Trump secured a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties to build new U.S.-based data centers.
  • Wisconsin-based Clarios, a leader in low-voltage energy storage, announced a $6 billion plan to expand its U.S.-based manufacturing.
  • Eli Lilly and Company announced a $27 billion investment in its U.S.-based manufacturing.
  • Saudi Arabia declared its intention to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
  • Taiwan pledged to boost its investment in the United States.
  • Electronics giants Samsung and LG “are considering moving their plants in Mexico to the U.S.” now that President Trump is back in office.

Needless to say, the Democrats sat on their hands for the vast majority of speech. Trump even addressed the obvious.

Full Text: “I look at the Democrats in front of me – I realize, there’s nothing I can say to make them happy, stand, or smile or applaud. I could find a cure to the most devastating disease…or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever. And these people – sitting RIGHT HERE – will not clap, stand or cheer for these achievements. They won’t, no matter what. 5 times I’ve been up here.”

The Democrats are reflexively, automatically, predisposed to oppose anything and everything that Trump represents, and nowhere was it more obvious than in the joint session of Congress tonight, as enthusiastic Republicans cheered and chanted USA! USA! USA! while the childish Democrats sat on their hands or held up their virtue signaling signs. The contrast between the two groups couldn’t have been clearer.

We used to be a country that agreed on what was important. What we disagreed on was how to address those issues. Democrats (generally) wanted bigger government intervention; Republicans (generally) wanted less.

Now, we can’t even agree on the issues. We’ve got one party who left the impression last night that they support taxes on tips, taxes on overtime, taxes on Social Security, the war in Ukraine, men participating in women’s sports; that they hate the popular vote, cutting waste, eliminating Social Security fraud; and that they couldn’t care less about every one of Trump’s special guests, including the mothers and sisters of children murdered by illegal aliens, a steel worker who has fostered more than 40 children, and a child battling brain cancer his whole life who was deputized as a Secret Service agent. The party of “joy” they’re not.

The Democrat party isn’t dead—yet, but they made it clear last night that it’s really not a fight between good ideas (left v. right), but a fight between good and evil.

Pick a side.

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The Broadside | Another Indication That Trump is Taking Us Back to Foundational America

The previous administration was led by a “very devout” Roman Catholic who supported gay marriage, transgenderism, abortion, and who lit up the White House with the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ+ mafia. The current administration is led by a man who has been divorced twice, punctuates his speeches with swear words, boasts about his accomplishments and, yet, appears to have some awareness and reverence for a God whom he thinks spared his life for a reason.

In a scene that seemed strangely foreign, but shouldn’t, President Trump asked HUD secretary Scott Turner to open his first full cabinet meeting with prayer.

Click image above to see video

Father, we thank you for this awesome privilege, Father, to be in your presence. We all thank you that you’ve allowed us to see this day. The Bible says that your mercies are new every morning, and Father God we give you the glory and honor. Thank you, God, for president Trump, Father, for appointing us, Father God, for anointing us to do this job.

Father, we pray that you’ll give the president, the vice president, wisdom, Father God, as they lead. Father, I pray for all of my colleagues that are here around the table and in this room.

Lord God, we pray that we would lead with a righteous clarity. Father God, as we serve the people of this country, every job that we have, Father, we would humble ourselves before you, and we would lead in a manner that you’ve called us to lead and to serve.

Father, the Bible says that The Bible says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” But Father, we today honor you, and in your rightful place, Father, thank you for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of America.

And Lord God, today in our meeting, we pray that you would be glorified in our conversation.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Trump isn’t ready to pray himself, but it was a strong indication that even in matters of faith, the president is taking us back to our roots as Americans, where our founders acknowledged God even in matters of politics. It was refreshing to have someone open a meeting in prayer “in Jesus’ name.”

The Epoch Times catalogued five key takeaways from the meeting.

Government-Shrinking Efforts
Elon Musk, whose government efficiency efforts have sparked a media frenzy, was also at the Cabinet meeting to discuss his work.
“We do need to move quickly,” Musk told Cabinet members and reporters.

Achieving a trillion-dollar debt reduction in 2026, he said, requires saving $4 billion per day from now until the end of September.

“We can do it, and we will do it,” he said.

No Security Guarantees for Ukraine
Trump confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Feb. 28 to sign a deal that would allow the United States access to the Eastern European country’s rare earth minerals.
While the deal could provide a financial boost to Ukraine as it looks to fend off Russia’s invasion, there are no security guarantees in the deal, according to Trump, despite the Ukrainians’ seeking them.

“I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” Trump said. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”

Taiwan Question
Trump was asked by a reporter whether it was his policy that communist China would never take Taiwan by force as long as he was president.

“I never comment on that. I don’t comment on any because I don’t ever put myself in that position,” Trump replied. “If I said it, I certainly wouldn’t be saying it to you. I’d be saying it to other people, maybe people around this table.”

Gold Card Visa Could ‘Sell Like Crazy’
During the Cabinet meeting, Trump shed more light on his new proposal to address the country’s mounting debt.

He recently proposed selling “Gold Card” visas to wealthy immigrants in exchange for a $5 million investment in the United States.

“I don’t know, maybe it will sell like crazy,” Trump told reporters.

‘I’m Not Stopping the Tariffs’
Trump said he would continue with his plan to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico despite a recent decline in border crossings.
“I’m not stopping the tariffs,” Trump said. “Millions of people have died because of the fentanyl that comes over the border.”

Soon after taking office, Trump announced broad 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, citing illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking. His administration paused those tariffs for 30 days after the countries’ leaders announced separate plans to combat both issues.

Trump said the drop in border crossings was good but attributed that to policy changes with the Department of Homeland Security.

“That’s also due to us, mostly due to us,” he said.

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The Broadside | The Senate Was Full of Surprises on Thursday

With Trump in the White House, every day is like Christmas.

WASHINGTON—The Senate on Feb. 20 confirmed Kash Patel as director of the FBI.

Senators voted 51–49 to confirm Patel, who gained prominence for exposing alleged FBI and Justice Department malfeasance during the Crossfire Hurricane probe into the Trump campaign. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) crossed the aisle to join Democrats in voting against Patel’s nomination.

In a post on social media platform X, his first post as FBI director, Patel called it an honor to lead the agency and said change is coming.

Murkowski and Collins need to be primaried because they’re basically Democrats. They can go join the other squish Republican, Mitch McConnell, who finally announced he would not seek reelection.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will not run for re-election in 2026 and will instead retire, the longtime senator announced Thursday.

McConnell has served in the Senate for decades, including as Senate majority leader under President Donald Trump’s first administration. McConnell is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, and he announced his retirement on his 83rd birthday.

“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said in prepared remarks to the Senate floor. “Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

He’s made a career out of being a senator and has made the case for term limits. He’s been in the Senate for 40 years. I will allow that McConnell was responsible for setting Trump up to create a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court by not allowing Merrick Garland’s nomination to gain traction. (And we thank God for that, given the disaster that Garland proved to be as head of the DOJ during the last administration. Can you imagine him with a lifetime appointment on SCOTUS? Me, either!)

But McConnell also voted against the confirmations of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary. Frankly, I’m surprised he voted to confirm Patel. He also called January 6 a “violent insurrection,” which it certainly was not. And don’t forget that in 2022, McConnell shifted money away from important Senate races to help Murkowski defeat her Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka, while Republican Senatorial candidate Blake Masters, who was outspent 5-to-1 by Sen. Mark Kelly, got no help at all from McConnell.

It’s been a mixed bag with McConnell. I’m glad he’s out of leadership, and I’m glad he’s retiring.

Have a good weekend.

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The Broadside | Trump Is Quickly Remaking American International Policy

Starting a third week of Team Trump that’s firing on all eight cylinders—let’s take a look at his international disruptions.

Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and 10% on China over the weekend (to take effect Tuesday) with threats to increase the rates if the targeted countries don’t reel in illegal immigration and the deadly drug, fentanyl, which is sourced in China.

In the executive order, Trump said that the tariffs stem from an “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, [that] constitutes a national emergency.”

The tariffs have invited international criticism from leaders and citizens alike in Canada and Mexico. During his exchange with reporters on Sunday evening, Trump accused Canada of being “abusive” toward the U.S. in terms of trade.

He was particularly blunt about Canada.

“Canada has been very abusive of the United States for many years. They don’t allow our banks,” Trump claimed. “And you know that Canada does not allow banks to go in, if you think about it. That’s pretty amazing. If we have a U.S. bank, they don’t allow them to go in.”

“Canada has been very tough for oil on energy. They don’t allow our farm products in, essentially. They don’t allow a lot of things in. And we allow everything to come in as being a one-way street.”

Trump also claimed that the U.S. subsidizes Canada “by the tune of about $200 billion a year.”

“And for what? What do we get out of it? We don’t get anything out of it,” he added. “I love the people of Canada. I disagree with the leadership of Canada and something is going to happen there.”

He’s got a point. Why do we subsidize our northern neighbor who simply takes advantage of the U.S. relationship? Why should U.S. taxpayers be supporting Canada without some benefit? Plus, Canada relies on the U.S. military for their protection. Okay, then, pony up, eh?

Trump also threatened the EU.

The Republican leader also said that he will “definitely” impose tariffs against the European Union, which he said the U.S. has a $300 billion trade deficit with.

“They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm products, they take almost nothing,” Trump said. “And we take everything from them. Millions of cars, tremendous amounts of food and farm products. So the UK is way out of line and we’ll see the UK, but the European Union is really out of line.”

Interestingly, he also said he was cutting off American money to South Africa, in a post on Truth Social.

In this article, we learn that “the United States obligated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, the most recent US government data showed.”

During his first administration, Trump said the US would investigate unproven large-scale killings of white farmers in South Africa and violent takeovers of land. Pretoria at the time said Trump was misinformed. It is unclear whether the Trump administration carried out an investigation.

I don’t believe South Africa is aligned with our interests, so why do we send welfare checks to them?

Then there’s Greenland. Trump initially raised the idea of acquiring the island during his first term and is being loud about it in his second.

Veep JD Vance on Sunday refrained from setting expectations too high about President Trump’s chances of usurping Greenland from Denmark, although he still called it “possible” and dismissed European opposition.

Trump, 78, had set his sights on acquiring the icy island since his first administration and has rekindled those aspirations in recent weeks. Vance, 40, stressed Sunday that the territory is important for US security.

“I think it’s possible,” Vance added to Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” when asked about whether the US will acquire Greenland.

“It’s really important to our national security. There are sea lanes there that the Chinese use, that the Russians use,” Vance said. “Frankly, Denmark, which controls Greenland, [is] not doing its job, and it’s not being a good ally.”

Trump is also adamant about reclaiming the Panama Canal. From the same article above:

The vice president also defended Trump’s objectives of reclaiming the Panama Canal.

“They have violated a core tenet of the agreement,” Vance said, referring to Panama. “When we gave over the Panama Canal to the country of Panama, what we said is, you have to make sure that this canal respects American sovereignty and that you don’t give special benefits to the Chinese.”

The US agreed to give the canal zone to Panama in the 1970s under late former President Jimmy Carter in exchange for the South American country agreeing to keep the key waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans neutral.

Trump has long decried Cater’s decision to relinquish control of the canal, the construction for which was largely funded by the US.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio trekked over to Panama and met with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, saying he “made clear that this status quo is unacceptable,” according to a readout from the US.

There’s another reason why we need to control the Panama Canal.

The situation in the Panama Canal is worse than we thought. Not only does a Chinese company control container ports at each end of the waterway, but a Chinese construction battalion is slowly building a bridge right across the middle.

How slowly? Well, the bridge won’t be completed until 2027 and Sen. Ted Cruz thinks he knows why.

As Cruz, who is chairman of the Commerce Committee, noted at a hearing this week, “the partially-completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning…This situation poses acute risks to US national security.”

What kind of risks?

Imagine that China announces a blockade of Taiwan and that we want to surge forces from the Atlantic into the Pacific to counter it.

A US aircraft carrier is midway through the canal, passing under China’s bridge when, without warning, the unfinished bridge collapses, crushing the ship.

China pretends it’s an accident, offering its condolences to the families of the thousands of US sailors who lost their lives. Unable to break the blockade on its own, the island of Taiwan capitulates two months later, and the largest chip-manufacturing factory in the world falls into China’s hands.

Finally, as if he didn’t kick up enough dust yet, Trump weighed in on the conflict in Gaza and Israel with a stunning idea.

President Donald Trump recently floated a fantastic idea: Arab nations, he said, should accept large numbers of Gazans as refugees, a move that “could be temporary or long term.”

The accommodation would allow Israel to eliminate the remnants of Hamas, which, in turn, would allow the international community to rebuild Gaza.

Not only would such a policy enhance the prospects of peace, but it’s also humane.

Neither Jordan nor Egypt want the Palestinians in Gaza. But there is a compelling reason for Jordan to take them.

“Our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine is for Palestinians,” the nation’s foreign minister said after Trump’s comments.

Well, the biggest problem with the statement is that it reminds us that Jordan is “Palestine.”

Jordan, with a population of over 70% Palestinians, sits principally on land set aside during the British Palestine Mandate to create a new Arab state that was to sit next to the Jewish one.

We already have a two-state solution. We just choose to ignore it.

What’s amazing is that no one else in recent memory has floated any of these ideas. Trump has not only promoted them, but has done so with an edge of belligerence. Who else has thought about our national security from the standpoint of the Arctic and China’s delcaration that they are esablishing a presence there? Who else has looked strategically at the Panama Canal and realized that China has set itself as a threat there, too? Who’s looking at our trade imbalances and doing something about it? Who has put American interests first?

Nobody. Nobody but Trump, that is.

Henry Kissinger once noted that Donald Trump, though he may not do it knowingly, was “one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretenses.”

And it is undeniable that many of Trump’s declarations, perhaps because they are unfettered by the norms of policy debate, end up changing the dynamics of policy.

Greenland. Panama. Canada. South Africa. Israel. Gaza. The EU. Mexico. China.

Trump is remaking American policy while we watch. It’s fascinating.

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Daily Broadside | Democrats Taking Out Republican Lawyers Through Lawfare

Welcome back, me!

Have you ever traveled with Amtrak? I have, several times, but will never take the train again. After a disatrous trip earlier this year (iced-over switches, stalled for hours on the tracks as other trains got preference, arrived six hours late), this trip was late, too, and then we got stopped for an hour on the local rails trying to get home.

Better to drive and be in control of the situation than leaving it to someone else. Costs about the same.

So we know that the Deep StateTM is using lawfare against president-in-exile Donald J. Trump, trying to overwhelm him with bogus charges that wouldn’t stand scrutiny in any other situation. They’ve also ganged up on others close to Trump including Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and Steve Bannon.

But you know who else they’re ganging up on? Republican lawyers.

Democrats have aggressively targeted over 400 Republican lawyers and politicians with criminal charges, civil lawsuits, and disbarment proceedings ahead of the upcoming presidential election. They have successfully jailed Peter Navarro, with Steve Bannon expected to join him shortly. In multiple states, Democrats have pursued criminal charges against dozens of Republican lawyers and politicians, including:

  • Georgia: 19 Republicans arrested and charged
  • Arizona: 18 Republicans arrested and charged
  • Michigan: 16 Republicans arrested and charged
  • Nevada: 6 Republicans arrested and charged
  • Pennsylvania & Wisconsin: Are still conducting criminal investigations into as many as 30 Republicans who have yet to be charged

In addition to these criminal trials, Democrats are pursuing numerous efforts to have Republican lawyers disbarred. The Soros-backed 65 Project has filed disbarment proceedings against more than 100 Republican lawyers, which prevent many of these lawyers from working until the proceedings are concluded. In almost every case, the charges lack merit, but they have three primary impacts: a chilling effect that discourages other Republican lawyers and politicians from helping Trump, a financial drain on the resources of Republicans who might otherwise use their funds to help elect Trump, and a time drain that physically keeps them busy during the campaign.

If these criminal charges stick because of corrupt judges and DAs, who will be available when we need to challenge the results of the 2024 election, which will undoubtably be just as corrupt as the 2020 election?

Make no mistake, the Democrats are conducting a well-funded, well-organized effort to remove as many Republicans as possible from the November election process. Their goal is to prevent Republicans from ensuring the integrity of the election and protecting the sanctity of your vote. This is a war on the 6th Amendment—everyone, including President Trump and Republican candidates, deserves the right to legal representation. Democrats are working overtime to ensure that doesn’t happen in November.

I encourage you to read the rest of the post at the link. The author lists dozens of lawyers who have been targeted and also features a video of Christina Bobb, a lawyer who is being charged.

We are living in a third-world dictatorship led by the Democrats and their cronies in the Deep State.TM I am more convinced than ever that the Democrat Party should be outlawed, since that is what they are: outlaws.