Enemy of all who Profit by Preservation of the Old Institution…

 

Donald Trump is unlike other Presidents. He leads and he solves problems. He has little use for the conventions of government when they become nothing more than excuses for not getting things done for the American people. He won’t be stopped from doing what he believes is right without regard for the political considerations that define the agenda for Democrats and Republicans alike. They focus on getting reelected and expanding Party control; Trump focuses on Making America Great Again with his America First agenda.

 

His accomplishments during the first year of his current term are astounding and unprecedented. He wasted no time simultaneously addressing border control, illegal criminal aliens, trade imbalances, drug prices, deregulation, energy dominance, and freeing the Israeli hostages for starters. He pushed passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” through both Houses of Congress for a July 4 signing. It was loaded with focused benefits for hardworking, tax-paying Americans and the IRS is reporting that, as of March 6, taxes are lower for all taxpayers and Federal tax refunds are averaging $3,676, significantly more than the $3,182 average refund last year. Trump moved quickly and decisively to produce tangible outcomes in just one year; he knew he will face strenuous opposition from career politicians and the media every step of his Presidency.

 

Hellbent on making Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms a signature issue for the midterms, on January 30, the Congressional Democrats opted for a partial government shutdown rather than fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This was their best idea for forcing policy changes within ICE, even though ICE is fully funded through 2029 and unaffected by the shutdown. Instead, they managed to “shut down” Border Patrol, Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). “Shutting down” in this case, means the federal employees are working without pay. TSA employees, responsible for security checks at the airports, called in sick and quit in large numbers resulting in wait times as long as 4 hours at major airports. That did not faze the members of Congress, who left town for a 2-week spring break. We learned in the process they have special travel privileges that allow them to jump the TSA lines.

 

TMZ, a popular tabloid news outlet, caught Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican, at Disney World in Florida, Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat, at a casino in Las Vegas, and Representative Seth Magaziner, Democrat, hosting a watch party for “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.” They assure us they are working even though they left Washington.

 

On Friday, March 27, Trump had enough of Congress disrupting air travel over a policy dispute. He ordered the Department of Homeland Security to pay the TSA workers with funds in the DHS budget intended for another purpose. By Monday they had been paid and security at airports across the country had returned to normal. Trump solves problems.

 

The Presidents we have known during our lifetimes would be spending this midterm election year with their finger in the political wind, primarily concerned with expanding their political power. Not Trump. On February 28, we learned the United States and Israel had jointly launched Operation Epic Fury, an attack on Iran with the objectives of preventing achievement of their nuclear ambitions, destroying their navy, destroying their ballistic missile capability, and destroying their ability to continue to fund proxy terrorist groups. Trump ran out of patience for negotiation, convinced the Iranians would string us along indefinitely while continuing to pursue weapons grade enriched uranium, and he “pulled the trigger.”  The Ayatollah Khomeini and many of the country’s top leaders were killed in multiple waves of precision military strikes, the navy was decimated, and ballistic missile program severely degraded early in the conflict. It is unclear when or how it will end.

 

Politically speaking, this was not a safe move for a president facing the midterm elections. Trump didn’t time Operation Epic Fury for the midterms. He timed it based on his assessment of the threat and the opportunity. He acknowledges there will be some temporary reversal of the economic gains of his first year, driven largely by the spike in oil prices which sent the average price of a gallon of gas to $4.00 last week. Trump is unwavering in his resolve. He insists this will be a short-term conflict with immense long-term security benefits for our country and the world. He is steadfast in his assertion that the spike in gas prices will end with the conflict and the country’s positive economic progress will resume. We are unaccustomed to a President with the courage and skill to manage through the “noise” that is an inevitable part of disruptive change. He is willing to stake his presidency on his ability to do what he says he will do.

 

The “fog of war” has made things we already know much clearer.

 

The extreme liberal bias and dishonesty of the mass American media have rendered them useless as sources of information over many years. We don’t believe a word they say and every day they provide ample evidence to reinforce our distrust. Gallup polling from September 2025 shows only 28% of Americans with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspaper, television, and radio to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. This is the lowest among the 10 civic and political organizations surveyed and down from nearly 70% in 1975.

 

We didn’t expect the seriousness of a military conflict to have a moderating effect on the media. They have seized on Operation Epic Fury as just another opportunity to pursue their relentless obsession with seeing Trump fail. They contradict everything he says, are gleeful when reporting economic repercussions from the conflict, and are loose and fact-free with their predictions for doom and gloom. A CNN anchor’s reporting last week was typical: “Experts say recession may be almost inevitable". On Friday the jobs report showed 178,000 jobs created in March, almost triple what was expected, and unemployment ticked down instead of up, as expected.

 

Those of us who have come to detest the media may find it somewhat gratifying to watch them make themselves irrelevant. As of last year, Pew Research reported that 54% of Americans use social media for news, overtaking TV at 50% for the first time. Print media dropped to just 7%. 86% of Americans report getting their news online at least some of the time. 3,000 newspapers have closed in the past 25 years.

 

The failure of the “free press” to serve as the nation’s watchdogs of truth, a role the Founders crafted for them with great care, is nothing to celebrate. A strong republic requires a trustworthy media to do its job. Media we can rely on for unbiased, factual reporting will be essential in the battle to take our country back.
 

There is nothing new to say about the career politicians in Congress. They are incompetent, dysfunctional, dishonest, and a big reason Trump was elected. Like the media, the serious implications of military conflict have had no impact on how they conduct themselves. They have profited immensely from the status quo and are threatened by a president who means what he says. The Democrats’ platform has been reduced to resisting whatever Trump says or does. Republicans try to create the illusion they are with Trump, while taking no risks and doing the minimum to push his agenda forward.

 

Skepticism over the value of our NATO alliance has been growing for years. President after president has been satisfied with pomp and circumstance rather than substantive benefits for the United States. It was Trump who forced alliance members to comply with their commitments to invest in their own security after years of American presidents ignoring the disproportionate share shouldered by the American people. Operation Epic Fury exposed who our allies are in ways we had not yet seen. There is no dispute about the threat Iran poses to the world. The NATO allies have a great deal more to lose than the US if their oil supplies are blocked from passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway controlled by Iran. Nevertheless, not only are they avoiding the fight, but they also denied the US permission to fly over their airspace during military operations. Trump immediately called them out and threatened to rethink our NATO membership. A Democrat in Congress quickly responded by defending the “allies.” NATO, he said, is a defensive alliance and the Iran conflict is a “war of choice.”  Iran would annihilate the United States and Israel if allowed to achieve its nuclear ambitions. The Congressman didn’t say what act of Iranian aggression he thought would merit NATO support.

 

Who are we?

 

The United States did not just happen. It became the greatest country in the world through the blood, sweat, and tears of generations of Americans. They powered through extremely hard times and never lost sight of what was important to them. The enemies of Donald Trump need us to be shallow and reactionary people if they are to succeed in bringing him down. The only way they could stop Trump is for the people to abandon him.  We have seen real leadership so rarely in government, they hope we won’t recognize it now that it has finally arrived.

 

Trump is the masterful deal maker he portrays himself to be. While the media and politicians feverishly work to convince us he is a master of chaos who has no plan, he is skillfully dismantling the threat of Iran while simultaneously backing our allies into a strategic corner that will require them to participate in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open or live without the oil they need.

 

We can never afford to be oblivious to risk and danger. Every serious American must always be concerned. About freedom. About security. About prosperity. I am as concerned about our entry into a military conflict and all it may entail as every other thinking American, but it will not drive me away from Trump. I trust his motives. I have confidence in his skill, and I appreciate his courage. I hope you continue to stand firmly with him too. He’s earned it.