“The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur detailed on a podcast Friday why he believes the Democratic Party’s focus on “identity politics” has damaged its brand with voters.

For years, Democrats and progressives have advocated for companies and industries to adopt policies like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and Critical Race Theory, which has led to a growing focus on race and ethnicity within the party. On the “PDB Podcast,” co-host Patrick Bet-David pointed to the results of the 2024 election, showing how traditionally Democratic states are now leaning more red, despite conservatives leaving the area.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen this or not. Which states got redder, which states got bluer,” Bet-David said. “When you saw this, 50 states, 100% of all states in America went more red. What are we talking about? And by the way, look who went the reddest. California and New York.”

“So by the way, here’s the thing. You know what? When sometimes we think about and we say, ‘Don’t make my Florida, California. Don’t make my Texas, [California],’” Bet-David added. “The fear was, well, what are you going to do when all the conservatives and Republicans and the red leaves New York and California? New York and California are going to get bluer. That’s not what happened … So even after people left and people stayed, the people that stayed even got redder to say, ‘Dude, these policies are ridiculous. I’m out.’”

Uygur then responded by using an example of Latino men, highlighting how the once-strong Democratic key voting bloc showed significant support for President-elect Donald Trump, prompting Democrats to question how they were losing key voters.

“Latino men were heavily on the Democratic side and, and Democrats view politics — Look, I think the right wing plays identity politics too,” Uygur said. “Again, we can get into that, but unfortunately for the Democratic establishment, they view everything through identity and they’re like, ‘OK, blacks are ours, Latinos are ours, women are ours, [the] educated are ours, et cetera.’”

WATCH:

“Educated is at least about something you did as opposed to who you are. But they took Latino men for granted. Then after the election, when Latino men flipped over the Republicans into Trump, they started saying, ‘Oh, they’re sexist. That’s why they got that macho culture, et cetera,’” Uygur added.

Uygur went on to state the Democrats’ current blame of voters is not helpful to the party, pointing out how it can be disproven.

“First of all, blaming the voters is an incredibly dumb strategy and also incorrect. If you ignore that map that you just showed, that’s a disaster for the Democratic Party. If you keep ignoring reality and ignoring the truth, that’s how you lead to more losses,” Uygur said. “So if Latino men are so sexist, then why is the president of Mexico a woman, right? If Latino men are so sexist, why did they vote for Hillary Clinton by a 31 point margin? This doesn’t have anything to do with sexism. What it has to do with is that you didn’t deliver for Latinos.”

Following the results of the November election, Trump set historic records, winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote against Vice President Kamala Harris. While early polls months prior to Election Day showed Trump gaining ground with key Democratic voting blocs, particularly black and Hispanic men, exit polls revealed significant margins for the Republican Party.

Although Trump did not lead among Latino or black voters overall, he gained 14 points with Hispanics nationwide and one point with black voters, according to Reuters. More specifically, Trump received 21% support from black men — a 2-point increase from the 2020 election — and 55% support from Hispanic men, a 19-point jump from 2020, the outlet reported.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/”PBD Podcast”)

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Donald Trump completed his comeback to become the 47th president of the United States in resounding fashion. Trump was able to sweep the seven swing states, win the popular vote, and lead the charge as the GOP took back the Senate and retained the House, all while the party holds a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. There are many positives to highlight about Trump’s win, including his gains among black male and Latino voters, but the most fascinating ingredient of his success may be his appeal to Generation Z and young males, thanks in part to the evolving media landscape and how media is now consumed.

According to NBC News exit poll data, Trump received 43% of Gen-Z voters (those between the ages of 18 and 29). Within that subset, Trump also received 42% of those aged 18 to 24. This youngest voting- eligible demographic accounts for only 14% of those who voted, but it’s fascinating to analyze how a 78-year-old Republican was able to appeal to them. He did so by making himself available where young people spend their time – on social media, following influencers, and listening to podcast hosts.

As Politico has reported, Republicans increasingly seek out alternative news sources. Only 21% of Republicans read newspapers in 2024. Just 35% watched national network news. Republicans go to websites and apps 39% of the time. Forty-six percent gather information from social media (presumably X, Truth, and Rumble). A staggering 55% consume on-demand audio and video, such as podcasts and streaming services. Trump and his campaign staff understood this.

Enter Joe Rogan.

Trump appeared on Rogan’s Spotify show and spent three hours talking with the top podcast host in the world. Trump also joined the Theo Vonn podcast. He visited other hot properties such as Aidan Ross’s gamer channel and “Bussin’ with the Boys.” These interviews had an impact on young American voters; the casual, conversational approach to politics has appealed to Gen-Z and created a connection with Trump.

“Trump’s victory isn’t a result of a failure by news outlets to sufficiently hold him accountable,” an article at Semafor explains. “The real answer is one that is a lot more uncomfortable to grapple with: The national news media is more limited in its reach and influence than ever in the modern era.”

The NBC News exit polling data for swing states reveals striking numbers for the Generation Z demographic. In Pennsylvania, Trump received 41% of the Gen Z vote. In Georgia, it was 39%. In North Carolina, Trump won almost half (forty-nine percent); in Wisconsin, he took 45%, and in Michigan, 49%.

Worth noting, too, is that Trump did better with Gen Z women than in 2020, which seems almost unfathomable when you consider that he was running against Kamala Harris, who made abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign. Trump lost young women to Joe Biden by 35 points in 2020. In 2024, he reduced that deficit by eleven points, as Harris won by twenty-four points. Trump also made a 13-point swing in his favor with young men overall, compared to 2020, when Biden won these voters by 11 points.

Donald Trump is a generational political figure. He surrounded himself with staffers who understood the shift in electoral and communication dynamics – how to get your message out and who to get it out to. Platforms matter. Evolving is essential. Trump did so, and it proved a major factor in defeating an opponent and a party that the media portrayed as more tech savvy. They were wrong, again – and Trump has won, again.

President-elect Trump’s confirmation last month of his plan to deploy military assets for immigration enforcement sparked a constitutional debate. Legal scholars and commentators quickly declared such action forbidden by long-standing prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. But this conventional wisdom misreads both the letter and spirit of American law. A careful examination of a pair of longstanding statutes reveals military support for immigration enforcement is permissible.

The issue hinges on two 19th century laws: the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the Insurrection Act of 1807. When properly understood, both allow the President to use active-duty military forces to support the deportation of illegal immigrants.

Posse Comitatus: A Firewall Between the Military and Law Enforcement
Since our nation’s founding, Americans have been wary of standing armies and their role in civilian affairs. Concerns about military involvement in domestic law enforcement dates back to colonial experiences under British rule, particularly the quartering of British troops in civilian homes and their use to enforce British law. This experience was so troubling that it influenced several key elements of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The Third Amendment, ratified in 1791, explicitly prohibits American soldiers from occupying private homes inside the county during peacetime. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, informed by a distrust of a large military force employed against its citizenry, codified the separation of military and civilian law enforcement. This act established a firewall between military force and civilian law enforcement.

The term “posse comitatus,” Latin for “power of the country,” dates back to the medieval England tradition of local sheriffs organizing citizens to assist in maintaining public order. A form of this practice made its way to the American Old West: sheriffs called for volunteers – “a posse” of the county – to chase down bandits. This power allowed sheriffs to deputize civilians to temporarily suppress lawlessness and maintain order.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 derives its name from this practice with a crucial distinction: it specifically prohibits the military from acting as this civilian force. The law’s architects recognized that using soldiers instead of citizens for domestic law enforcement would fundamentally alter the relationship between military power and civil society. They sought to ensure that federal troops were kept out of local law enforcement.

Yet this legislative barrier against using military force for domestic law enforcement is not absolute. Congress regularly makes exceptions, allowing military support to civilian law enforcement for actions such as protecting federal property, conducting domestic counterterror operations, engaging in counterdrug efforts. In cases related to immigration enforcement, courts have ruled the Posse Comitatus Act only prohibits direct military involvement in law enforcement actions such as detaining citizens. Support activities, from transportation to surveillance, remain legal. This distinction between direct enforcement and support operations provides the legal basis for President-elect Trump’s proposed use of military assets in his planned deportation program.

Military Assets Against Illegal Immigration Today: U.S. Troops at the Southwest Border
The military currently provides support for immigration enforcement. Today, roughly 4,000 service members assist Customs and Border Protection along the southwest border. They operate surveillance aircraft, transport Border Patrol personnel, and maintain vehicles. These activities fall within the established legal framework for military support of immigration operations.

The incoming administration has the potential to significantly expand this support role. Military aircraft could transport detainees, military installations could provide temporary housing facilities, and military personnel could assist with administrative and logistical tasks. None of these activities would violate Posse Comitatus because they do not involve direct law enforcement actions.

The Insurrection Act: A Broad Authority for Military Force
But what about using military forces to support law enforcement and enforce the law? This is where the Insurrection Act becomes crucial.

The Insurrection Act, a composite of laws enacted between 1792 and 1807, represents a significant exception to the traditional separation of military and civilian law enforcement in the United States. The act grants presidents extraordinary power to deploy federal troops on American soil—a power that is typically forbidden but also vitally important to the success of federalism.

The act’s broad language, largely unchanged since the Civil War, allows presidents to deploy troops whenever they believe domestic unrest, rebellion, or resistance to federal law makes normal enforcement impossible. This extensive authority is rooted in Congress’s constitutional power to call forth the militia to “execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions,” as described in the Constitution. The act effectively creates a presidential override of the prohibitions against using military forces for domestic law enforcement. What was initially conceived as an emergency power for a young nation now stands as a powerful tool for President-elect Trump, who might see state resistance to federal immigration enforcement as justification for military deployment.

Illegal Immigrant Safe Havens: Local Government Resistance to Federal Law
Some jurisdictions have already declared their intention to resist federal immigration enforcement. Six states have already publicly announced plans to resist President-elect Trump’s plan to deport thousands of undocumented immigrants. Under the Insurrection Act, such resistance justifies the use of military force.

The deployment of military forces by a president inside the United States to enforce the law when local governments refuse to do so is not unprecedented. This happened several times during the Civil Rights era, most famously when President Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act to send the 101st Airborne to Little Rock in 1957 when state officials obstructed federal desegregation orders. Nearly seven decades later, the principle remains unchanged: local authorities cannot nullify federal law. If they attempt to do so, the President has authority to direct military power to enforce it. Invocation of the Insurrection Act in such an instance would permit American troops to detain undocumented immigrants inside the United States.

The Constitution provides remedies when state and local authorities obstruct federal law enforcement. The incoming administration has legal authority to use military assets to support immigration enforcement. Those who claim otherwise misunderstand both the law and its historical context.

Patrick O’Malley is an attorney in New York and Maryland, a former Assistant District Attorney in Queens County, NY, and a retired U.S. Army Reserve Judge Adjutant General officer who taught National Security Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Joe Buccino is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and the CEO of Vantage + Vox.

Trump returns to the White House. The GOP has majorities in the Senate and House. Now what?

It’s time to make America great again. To fix what “they” broke. To flip the narrative, so that government works for us – not the other way around. Yet, where to begin?

Inflation. Cleaning-up the Justice Department – including directives targeting parents attending school board meetings, “pro-lifers,” and Catholics who like Latin Mass. The hostages held by Hamas, and Israel’s fight with Hamas and other terror groups. Men playing women’s sports. The Ukrainian-Russian war. Securing the border and doing something about our many million illegal immigrants. Closing down the failed Department of Education. Unleashing American energy – oil, natural gas, and nuclear. Holding higher education accountable. Protecting American farmland from the Chinese. Dealing with the insanity of the United Nations. Rebuilding our military and refocusing it on national security. Stopping “climate crisis” madness. Making America healthy. Fighting anti-Semitism. Combating violent crime in our cities.

The Biden/Harris administration and its counterparts in many cities and states leave behind a mess. They have misused and abused the powers of government.

For those more focused on governing than campaigning, the bigger thrill is not Election Night celebrations but undoing harmful policies and enacting good ones. Now the heavy lifting starts.

A smart, effective roadmap has to be a marriage of MAGA and conservative political priorities with “kitchen-table” issues. In short, prioritize the legislative agenda around the coalition that helped Republicans win Pennsylvania and other swing states.

With a narrow House majority and the inevitable Chuck Schumer-led filibusters in the Senate, this kind of focus will be critical to pushing issues over the finish line. Plus, these policies – and the legislators supporting them – must withstand the inevitable resistance from special interests and the legacy media, many already beginning their assault against the Trump agenda. All the more reason to maintain the diverse but fragile coalition that prevailed on November 5.

Trying to do everything at once, however, will drain resources and confuse the public, leaving Republicans vulnerable to obstruction from Democrats and their allies. Unifying priorities, effective messages, and well-executed legislative plans are essential to making progress and improving the lives of Americans. Success will offer opportunities to grow public support – and to accomplish even more. And yes, to win future elections, too.

What unites MAGA, conservative Republicans, first-time voters in rural Pennsylvania, and black and Hispanic voters in Philadelphia, Reading, and elsewhere who supported Trump for the first time? The “kitchen-table issues” that the GOP talked about. The practical things that matter to those of us focused on reality, rather than trying to advance an ideology or seek “revenge.”

Priority one must be fighting inflation – making life more affordable. As Ronald Reagan explained: “Inflation is the cruelest tax.” It eats away at every paycheck, every week, every day.

This will take time, but the reversal begins with a few vital steps. Start by clawing back the unspent billions allocated for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (how Orwellian a name!).

Next, the United States must be energy-independent. This lowers the cost of everything. Permits for drilling must be approved so that American oil and natural gas can be unleashed to lower prices, raise our quality of life, and improve national security. Additionally, the holds on oil and gas leases must be lifted. Lastly, we should allow Pennsylvanians – and our friends in Ohio and West Virginia – to sell liquified natural gas to our European allies. We will make money and create jobs, while helping Germany, France, Poland and others get out from under Vladimir Putin’s thumb.

Be prepared to implement as many of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s DOGE recommendations as possible. We must not only stop the growth and reduce the power of the federal government; we must also eliminate wasteful spending, regulations, and even whole agencies that make it harder for businesses to operate.

Next, secure our borders and address the illegal immigration crisis. Most of these people are being entirely subsidized by taxpayers. Start with the known criminals, then move on to those who have no jobs or host family here. We need to restore our borders and respect for the law – and stop encouraging people to sneak in, live for free, and falsely claim “amnesty.”

Next, peace. Work to get our hostages home and to stabilize the firefights around the world that drain our resources, divert our energies, and pull American service members into wars. Support Israel in its effort to rescue the hostages and eliminate terrorists, their masterminds, and their funders. Work to bring the Ukraine-Russia war to an end.

Make life more affordable and strengthen our economy. Secure our border and protect Americans and those respecting the rule of law. Strengthen our resolve with allies, support our military, and build peace through strength.

These are the goals and promises that unified the Trump coalition and won the election. From here, they can move on to other worthy and important goals – everything from school choice to tax reform, from the mess at the UN to protecting American farmland and rooting out the waste and inefficiencies of our bureaucracies and agencies.

But first, focus on kitchen-table issues that unite voters. Show voters that you’ve listened. Prove that you share their priorities. Gain their trust, grow the cause, and go on from there. It’s an approach that makes sense not just politically but more importantly, for the good of the nation.

I keep reading and seeing stories in the media explaining how Donald Trump won the 2024 election. As usual, they’re all wrong.

The media credit Joe Rogan, hip podcasters, influencers, rappers and the young American males who they convinced to vote for Trump.

They’re partly right. Those votes certainly helped put Trump over the top. So did a few million new black voters, Latino voters and union voters. We greatly thank them and appreciate every one of them.

Elon Musk’s support and money and enthusiasm was also a key to Trump’s victory.

Lara Trump at the RNC with her army of lawyers and poll watchers made a big difference.

Also give credit to hundreds of thousands of GOP volunteers who worked tirelessly to elect President Trump. God bless you. Every one of you made this possible.

An 83-year-old organizer by the name of Steve Stern helped put together an army of 200,000 poll workers and poll watchers. Steve, you’re amazing.

And Scott Presler’s brilliant voter registration push in Pennsylvania was a big part of Trump’s victory.

It was a team effort. Take away any one of those and perhaps Trump doesn’t win. They all get credit.

And of course, President Trump himself should be at the top of the list. Donald J. Trump is the most talented politician, salesman, marketer and disruptor in history.

But everyone is missing Trump’s main secret weapon.

The media and the radical left certainly don’t understand the outsized role this secret weapon played in Trump’s victory.

This secret weapon is not just the MAGA Army of dedicated Trump voters but the MAGA leadership.

This leadership is not politicians, political consultants, lobbyists, lawyers or billionaires.

This leadership who educates, and motivates, and mobilizes, and keeps hope alive, and brings the fire for MAGA, is …

Conservative talk radio, conservative talk TV, conservative streaming TV and conservative podcasts.

I’m not just referring to the high-profile names like Fox News and Newsmax. Of course, they deserve plenty of credit.

But I’m referring to thousands of blue-collar, under-the-radar, conservative talk radio hosts in every city in America.

And hundreds of conservative podcasters whose names you may have never heard of.

And conservative streaming TV networks like Real America’s Voice TV (known as RAV).

And the key to their power and influence is repetition.

Because unlike Joe Rogan, or the young podcasters, these conservative hosts didn’t suddenly find religion (i.e., Trump) in just the few weeks leading up to the election. Nor did they just decide to talk politics in the few weeks before the election. Nor did they endorse Trump the night before the election.

These conservative talkers have been by Trump’s side since Day 1.

These conservative TV and radio hosts and podcasters have supported, and promoted, and celebrated, and defended President Trump for hours a day, every day, for 10 long years (since 2015, when Trump came down that famous Trump Tower escalator).

Repetition was the key to Trump’s victory.

I’m Exhibit A. I’ve been on TV and radio fighting for President Trump five hours a day, with three streamed TV shows, and three hours of syndicated national radio for a decade. Plus, my most popular show is my weekend show, “America’s Top Ten Countdown” on Real America’s Voice TV. I’ve been promoting President Trump 24/7.

That’s 25 hours a week, 100 hours a month, 1,200 hours a year. Since 2015, that’s 12,000 hours on the air I’ve been supporting President Trump. That’s just me. One guy. Now multiply that effort by thousands of conservative radio, TV and podcast hosts.

That’s Trump’s secret weapon.

Tens of millions of Americans get their news by listening in their cars to conservative talk radio on their way to and from work.

That’s the Trump base.

Millions more get their news from conservative streamed TV on their cellphones, laptops, tablets, desktops or on Roku, Pluto, Samsung, Apple TV and Amazon TV.

That’s also Trump base.

Take Real America’s Voice TV. The hosts are Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Wayne Allyn Root (yours truly), Grant Stinchfield, Ted Nugent, Dr. Gina, Jack Posobiec, Brian Glenn and Ben Bergquam, to name a few.

The left doesn’t even know those names. They don’t know we exist.

Yet from the amazing reaction I get from fans wherever I go, I’m betting more conservatives now get their news from watching streamed TV networks like Real America’s Voice (combined with many others) than from Fox News.

The mainstream media don’t understand it yet, but they no longer matter.

I watch my own TV shows either on my cellphone while out to dinner, or sitting in my living room watching TV on Roku, Pluto or on my Samsung app.

I’m sure CNN and MSNBC think my three streaming TV shows on Real America’s Voice and FrankSpeech are a joke. But I guarantee you more people watch my TV shows and listen to my nationally syndicated radio show combined than any show on CNN or MSNBC.

And there are thousands of conservative hosts and podcasters like me who collectively are reaching tens of millions of Americans.

They are now more important than ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and all the rest.

So is TheGatewayPundit.com. My commentaries there reach more people than watch CNN. Gateway had about a billion views in the past year. This is how conservatives get their news.

Yes, Joe Rogan’s help was fantastic and greatly appreciated. And I also appreciate all those young podcasters and influencers. We needed every one of them. They certainly added a few million votes to Trump’s final tally.

But Trump got 63 million votes in 2016 without them. And 74 million votes in 2020 without them.

This time around, Trump got 77 million votes. So, all those new endorsers, and all those young podcast followers combined, got Trump about 3 million new votes.

But, Mr. President, never forget who brought you to the dance.

Trump’s three presidential elections were built on a base of 60-plus million MAGA voters. And that base listens to conservative talk radio and podcasts, and watches conservative streamed TV. Not just in the days or weeks before the election. But every day, many hours a day.

Club 47 in Palm Beach, Florida, is another example of this phenomenon.

It’s a conservative club dedicated to President Trump. While Democrats can’t get 500 people in a room to listen to Biden or Kamala without paying them (or throwing a Beyonce concert), Club 47 gets thousands to attend events every month to listen to speeches by conservative MAGA stars.

I’ll bet the mainstream media has never heard of Club 47. Let alone the fact that tens of thousands attend their events each year.

Here’s another example. Real America’s Voice TV broadcast every Trump rally in the country, for months on end. They invested millions of dollars to bring every Trump speech to the people sitting at home. So, Trump didn’t reach 10,000 or 20,000 or even 100,000 attending. He reached millions of Americans with each speech because of RAV’s TV coverage. I’ll bet the mainstream media had no idea any TV network was covering these rallies. Thank you, RAV.

These were Trump’s secret weapons.

The MAGA Army, and the conservative under-the-radar media that reached them, educated them, energized them, mobilized them and gave them hope that Trump would prevail, when no one else would.

That’s who brought Trump to the dance through three presidential elections over the past 10 years.

Everyone else helped close the deal. But MAGA and conservative talk is “the Art of the Deal.”

That’s your secret weapon, Mr. President.

That’s not my opinion. That’s a fact.

MAGA.

It was a blustery December day in Washington, D.C., as hundreds of pro-LGBTQ+ protesters and conservative activists opposed to medical gender transitions for minors clashed outside the Supreme Court. Both sides showed up Wednesday to try to influence the high court’s decision-making in a landmark case that will determine whether states can ban puberty-blocking drugs, hormone treatments, and gender surgeries for minors.

The case landed in the high court after the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state of Tennessee over its spring 2023 passage of a measure banning medically assisted gender transitions for minors. The Biden administration intervened on the ACLU’s behalf, claiming the law violates the Constitution. The case began as L.W. v. Skrmetti, with parents Samantha and Brian Williams and their trans teen, known as L.W., and two other children squaring off against the state of Tennessee, represented by its attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti.

Inside the court room Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito cited several European countries that have placed restrictions on medically induced gender transitions for minors and calmly dissected the common argument from advocates of the practice that the drugs and surgeries help prevent suicides of children and teens with gender dysphoria.

Alito asked about the Cass Review of England’s gender services for children and young people, which called for more caution in providing medically assisted gender transitions and was used as the basis to restrict the prescribing of puberty blockers to children under 18 years old in the U.K.

“On page 195 of the Cass report, it says there is no evidence that gender affirmative treatments reduce suicide,” Alito stated.

ACLU attorney Chase Strangio conceded that there are no studies showing a reduction in “completed suicides,” which he said are thankfully rare, but argued that other studies do show a reduction in suicidal ideation, which he described as a “positive outcome to this treatment.”

The obvious skepticism by the court’s conservative majority spurred headlines that the high court would likely uphold the Tennessee ban, meaning similar restrictions in 25 other states also would remain protected from legal challenges.

Alliance Defending Freedom CEO, president and general counsel Kristen Waggoner was in the room for the oral arguments and afterward appeared buoyed by the direction the decision appeared to be headed.

“We felt good about it,” Waggoner told CNN. “We’ve had a number of constitutional cases before the court, and you never want to speculate about what it will do. But in listening to the questions, I think what was very clear was that the U.S., the Department of Justice, was quickly walking back any allegation or suggestion that there’s overwhelming scientific support for this, because there’s not.”

The Alliance, or ADF, describes itself as the “world’s largest legal organization” fighting for parental rights and against abortion, censorship, trans individuals participating in women’s sports, and legal challenges to religious liberty. ADF filed an amicus brief in support of the Tennessee law, and the group also is serving as co-counsel in defending similar laws in Alabama and Idaho against the Biden administration’s challenges.

Waggoner, perhaps best known for serving on Mississippi’s legal team in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe. v. Wade, has prevailed in 13 other Supreme Court cases in recent years. Her courtroom success in arguing thorny, high-profile conservative cases has earned her plaudits among Donald Trump’s advisers and a coveted spot on the president-elect’s shortlist for key judicial appointments or even the Supreme Court, if Alito, 74, or Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, decide to retire.

Waggoner sat down with RealClearPolitics shortly after the election to reflect on Trump’s win and what it means for the cultural fights she and ADF have been waging in recent years.

RCP: Did you feel your organization played a role in the election of Donald Trump and the successful Senate races that handed Republicans majority control of that chamber?

Waggoner: I think it depends on what you mean by that. I think that our issues that we’ve been working on for many, many years, in the election and with polling seem to have been determinative for some voters. You know, to see that the issue of gender ideology played such a prominent role for many Americans was satisfying and in many ways reinvigorating. I mean, we’ve been doing this work for so long to see that people are starting to hear it, to see it, to know that there’s an ideological war being waged against our children, and that we have to put an end to it, is incredibly encouraging in this moment.

RCP: Are you and ADF playing any kind of a role in Trump’s presidential transition plans or nominations?

Waggoner: That’s not something that we traditionally talk about. There are a number of groups that are doing all they can to assist in the transition team and also to get the right people in the right places. [We’re] committed to doing all we can, not just in terms of a list of potential jurists, but in the right seats in the federal government to make meaningful change.

I think Americans are getting tired of the whiplash of different administrations and policies just changing 180 degrees, particularly in the areas that we work on with regard to parental rights, with regard to gender identity and censorship. I was pleased to hear in both the run-up to the election and after the election, President Trump continue to commit to those three areas as very significant areas for his administration.

RCP: President Trump reportedly had a falling out with the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal organization that played a key role in helping him choose judicial appointments during his first term. Do you think ADF will help fill that vacuum and play a bigger role in those decisions during Trump’s second term?

Waggoner: My hope is that President Trump will keep the promises that he made, and those promises focus on stopping censorship and stopping gender ideology in all the ways that it plays out through the federal government and in the way that it is devastating families and children, and in reinforcing parental rights in this country. And I am hopeful that the appointments that he will make will confirm that. What I told our team and what I tell our ministry friends, is what’s most important now is what happens next. And we don’t know what will happen next. I only know what we will do, and that is that we will make every effort to ensure that those promises are kept, and we will continue to litigate, and we will continue to try to pass good laws that protect the rights of Americans, and to do all we can to encourage others to do the same. I think our track record speaks for itself in in how that will play out.

I continue to be encouraged that we are at a tipping point, and that tipping point didn’t come by happenstance. It came through intentionality, the power of Americans telling the stories and saying enough is enough. So, we need to keep that momentum going.

RCP: Can you give me an update on some of the cases you have pending at the Supreme Court right now? I know you have several petitions for certiorari, or cert petitions, asking the high court to weigh in after ADF exhausted legal options at the state level.

Waggoner: We have six cert petitions that are pending right now, which is the most that we’ve ever had at the Supreme Court. Two of those have to do with women’s sports. When we started this, not only were there no laws in place, [some of our clients were] getting brutally canceled in so many different ways. So, we’re hopeful that the court will uphold these laws where states have taken action to protect women and girls …

We also have this Skrmetti case. When we started working with state legislatures to ensure that these dangerous drugs and medical experiments weren’t taking place on minors, legislators were reluctant to stand up because they were uncertain. And of course, we want to treat everyone with dignity and respect. But I think there was a reluctance to really understand that you’re actually harming these kids, and you’re treating the women and girls – you’re disrespecting their rights.

… One caution that we have raised with anyone who would listen to us is that the federal government – it’s supposed to be a government of limited power, and that these battles will continue beyond an administration, because the federal government can’t resolve all of them, which means that it’s more important, more and more important, for Americans who now understand these issues to insist that we are protecting these rights at our state and local level.

RCP: After the election, Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and father of two girls, pressed his party to rethink its approach to transgender issues, especially as it relates to transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ and women’s sports. Do you think the Democratic Party is capable of changing their positions on these issues? So, do you think some Democrats are more amenable to working across the aisle with groups like yours on the issue of protecting girls’ and women’s sports and possibly other areas of agreement?

Waggoner: I hope there are people we can work with in that party. I long for the days when you could reach across the aisle and agree on some of these core issues. It’s deeply troubling about what it signals for the future of our nation that we can’t agree that we should all be able to speak freely, that the First Amendment means that the government can’t silence or punish dissent, that we are going to weaponize the justice system. We have to get back to a place where we recognize that there are core rights that all Americans have, including those who are opponents, and so I hope for that day.

RCP: What is your reaction to California Gov. Newsom and other blue-state governors threatening to engage in a legal war against the Trump administration when it comes to transgender rights, among several other issues? Newsom has been aggressively fighting school boards across California, threatening them with civil rights investigations and lawsuits if they pass policies requiring schools to notify parents if their children are gender transitioning at school. Newsom this year also signed two bills that punish social media platforms for allowing certain political commentary and forces them to monitor and remove the content.

Waggoner: We intend to make states pay for violating the rights of Americans. Our recent settlement in the 303 Creative case, which was at $1.5 million [and which centered on whether states’ anti-discrimination laws can force web designers and other businesses to create works recognizing same-sex marriages in violation of their religion or values], demonstrates that we will be seeking damages whenever we can in lawsuits, because this has to stop. There has to be a price to pay to silence people, to punish them for expressing their view, and California has been at the tip of the spear in terms of censorship.

Our lawsuit related to the [political satire website and X.com account] Babylon Bee, which was just a few weeks ago. We got a preliminary injunction on that. What a draconian law California passed to try to censor speech and only protect politicians as they do so. So again, we are committed to continuing to ensure that good laws are passed, but also to ensure officials and local officials have to pay a price for violating the Constitution. I think that’s the one of the main ways we’ll see this stop.

But another way is Americans have to stop being willing to be silenced because of fear of cancel culture. And that may be one of the best things that happened in this election, is that the lid is blown off, and people [are saying] I’m no longer going to be shamed for believing in biological reality or common sense, and I’m going to speak out, because there’s too much at stake.

RCP: On a more personal note, what do you think about the closer relationship developing between Speaker Mike Johnson, a former longtime ADF attorney, and President-elect Trump?

Waggoner: It’s a wonderful opportunity in this moment to ensure that we are advancing the right to be able to live and speak the truth. And I believe that Speaker Johnson is committed to that, as President Trump is. I’m hopeful [Trump] will again keep the promises that he’s made, and my hope is that Speaker Johnson will help him do that in the areas that we’ve discussed.

Speaker Johnson was an ADF attorney and on our team for a number of years. We’re delighted that he is in the position he’s in so that he can protect the American people. I hope that he stays strong and keeps his focus on the North Star, which is protecting the constitutional rights of Americans.

RCP: Your name has been mentioned in several media reports as being on Trump’s shortlist for several key judicial appointments and even the Supreme Court if a vacancy occurs during Trump’s second term.

Would that be something you would accept if offered?

Waggoner: Yes, absolutely. It’s just a privilege to be among such quality individuals who are also on the list.

A House task force probing the attempted assassination in July of Donald Trump held a final hearing Thursday that contained some fireworks, promises to improve, and unanswered questions.

Ronald L. Rowe Jr., acting director of the Secret Service, was the only witness to appear before the task force, which includes eight Republicans and six Democrats. Rowe replaced Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned after the first assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The panel, formally called the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, focused primarily on the attempt on Trump’s life in Pennsylvania. A second assassination attempt occurred Sept. 15 at the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

After the hearing, the panel voted unanimously to make its final report available to the full House. It wasn’t expected to be made public immediately, however.

Here are key highlights from the task force’s final hearing.

1. ‘Accountability Is Occurring’
Rowe opened by saying that the July 13 shooting was an “abject failure [that] underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations.”

“President-elect Trump was wounded,” Rowe said, a month after the Nov. 5 election victory that will send Trump back to the White House. “A cowardly and despicable act killed one person and critically injured two others.”

The 21-year-old shooter killed one man in the crowd at the Trump rally and seriously wounded two other men.

“The recently completed mission assurance inquiry thoroughly investigated the specific actions and inactions that led to the assassination attempt,” Rowe said. “Four areas of deficiencies were identified: communications, protective advance processes, command and control processes, and coordination with external entities.”

The “mission assurance inquiry” is bureaucratese for the Secret Service’s internal investigation of what happened.

“Let me be clear, there will be accountability and that accountability is occurring. It is an extensive review that requires due process and the pace of this process, quite frankly, it does frustrate me,” Rowe added. “But it is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure. I personally carry the weight of knowing that we almost lost a protectee and that our failure cost a father and husband his life.”

Task force Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., later asked Rowe: “Of all the areas the Secret Service reviewed after July 13, what do you think is most concerning about that day?”

Rowe said it was the failure to recognize the proximity of the AGR building, atop which the shooter took his shots, and the failure of communication among Secret Service agents and local law enforcement. (AGR stands for American Glass Research.)

“That to me is glaring, those are basic tenets, fundamentals of what advance teams are supposed to identify,” Rowe said. “They are supposed to identify hazards [and] risks and then mitigate those risks effectively—either by using law enforcement and coordinating assets, or taking matters and making sure that risk is taken out of play. We did not do that on the 13th. Post-July 13, there was a renewed focus on that.”

2. ‘You’re Out of Line’ … ‘Don’t You Bully Me’
The task force’s hearing was mostly calm until Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, asked Rowe about the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York City this year, where Rowe stood just behind President Joe Biden.

Rowe reportedly switched places to stand closer to Biden at the 9/11 event. That would go against normal operating procedures, which are to have the Secret Service’s special agent in charge of the president’s regular protective detail stand next to him at major events, since that agent is most familiar with the protectee.

Fallon asked Rowe whether he was the special agent in charge when standing close to Biden. Rowe didn’t directly answer the question.

“That is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11,” Rowe shouted at Fallon. “I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there, Congressman.”

Fallon followed up, saying: “I’m not asking that. I’m asking if you were the special agent in charge.”

Rowe repeated: “I was there, Congressman, to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9/11. Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes.”

Fallon said, “I’m not.”

Rowe shouted, “You are out of line!”

Fallon shouted back, saying: “Don’t you bully me. I’m an elected member of Congress, and I’m asking you a serious question.”

Rowe again shouted, saying, “I’m a public servant who has served this nation and spent time on our darkest day.”

Fallon said, “You won’t answer the question.”

Kelly jumped in with the gavel and said, “This committee will come to order.”

Fallon said: “I’m asking a serious question for the American people. They are very simple. They are not trick questions. Were you the special agent in charge that day?”

Finally, Rowe replied: “No, I wasn’t. I was there representing the United States Secret Service. It did not affect protective operations.”

3. ‘Why Aren’t People Saying Something?’
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the task force’s ranking member, noted that a tree blocked countersnipers’ vision of substantial parts of the rooftop of the AGR building, from where the shooter fired.

When he was in the Army, Crow said, there was a culture of “See something, say something” in case of a suspected life and safety issue. Commercial airline pilots have a similar responsibility, he said.

“I’m struck by the lack of that culture on July 13,” Crow said of the Butler rally, where a bullet grazed Trump’s right ear shortly after he began to speak. “If you’re a countersniper and you’ve been placed in a position that doesn’t allow you to see entire sectors of the position that you are responsible for, why aren’t people saying something? And it happened on numerous occasions.”

Rowe said that “it starts with training, a retraining, a reeducation of folks.”

“I’ve directed the Office of Protective Operations to initiate and stand up an auditing capability to regularly send out folks to evaluate how we are doing and also share findings with our office of training,” Rowe said.

The Secret Service head added: “We have to do after-action reports and we have to retrain our people to see something and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, why don’t we have that hallway covered?”

4. ‘Apathy or Complacency’
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., also a task force member, appeared indignant as he recalled his own time in the military.

Green asserted: “Going to war, I didn’t give a s— if I died. What I didn’t want to do was fail. Your guys showed up that day [in Butler] and didn’t give a s—.”

What happened July 13 demonstrates apathy in the agency, Green argued.

“It speaks of an apathy or complacency that is really unacceptable in the Secret Service,” Green said, adding: “It speaks of a culture of lack of attention to detail, lack of sense of urgency, complacency. These are leadership issues. These are command climate issues. What is the command climate of the Secret Service?”

Rowe insisted that the agency is addressing leadership issues, including by providing training for the equivalent of a military captain before an agent may rise to a position of higher leadership.

“We are reorganizing and reimagining this organization,” Rowe told Green. “That includes making sure we are developing a leadership development program so that we are touching people at the GS-13 level, which is right before—the equivalent of a captain—touching them before they get promoted to [GS-14]. … We need to hit people and identify leaders early on.”

5. ‘Information That This Committee Does Not Have’
Task force members and staff visited the site of the first assassination attempt against Trump in Butler. Staff interviewed over 45 law enforcement officials, examined thousands of documents and transcripts, met with FBI and Secret Service officials, and subpoenaed other federal agents who were on the ground July 13in Butler, said Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla.

“It is important to note information that this committee does not have from the Department of Justice, including components of the Department of Justice: the FBI, the ATF,” Lee said, referring to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The unexamined evidence includes digital analysis of electronic devices belonging to the rooftop shooter in Pennsylvania, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper, and the gunman at Trump’s golf course in Florida, who was stopped in his vehicle and arrested. The task force also didn’t have any financial information about the would-be assassins, Lee said.

Lee said the task force has a thorough analysis of what security procedures could have been improved from the Secret Service, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. But, he said, almost no information came from the Justice Department.

“In a very real sense, we do not have some of the critical intelligence information that might have helped us even better understand the needs of your agency going forward,” she told Rowe.

“Our mission on this task force is to understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination, ensure accountability, and prevent such a failure from ever happening again,” Lee said. “I would assert that preventing such a failure from ever happening again necessitates that this Congress has access to all of the relevant information related to this day, related to the actual threat landscape that affects not only President Trump but other protectees under your care.”

6. Robot Dogs aka ‘Autonomous Canines’
On what would seemingly be a lighter note, Rowe spoke with a serious tone and straight face about the robot dogs—or “autonomous canines”—at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“Right now at Mar-a-Lago, we’ve started using a sensory array, an autonomous robot, that’s out there walking the seawall right now,” Rowe said. “It has a sensor package. We will use it at sites. We started using it.”

The acting Secret Service chief said the Defense Department has used similar technologies.

“Those are the types of technologies that have been out there, that have been in DOD world for years,” Rowe added. “We need to start leveraging those resources. So, the usage of autonomous canines down there right now is just one example of that.”

7. ‘That Cost Seconds’
Secret Service agents didn’t retrieve radios to communicate with local law enforcement that were set aside for them by the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, noted Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.

“You had isolated assets on rooftops that had no direct radio communication other than the relay through their command post and their cellphones,” Higgins said. “It would have been very easy for them to have a local radio up on the roof. That didn’t happen. That costs seconds, and impacts the results of the entire day.”

Rowe replied that the Secret Service is working to improve that.

“We’ve implemented a PACE—primary alternate contingency and emergency,” he said. “And also making sure, for example, the snipers—our countersnipers—and local snipers are co-located. That’s to cut down on that, to make sure they are standing next to each other so that there is communication between them. Also, we are exchanging radios and making sure we have their radios and can hear what they say.”

Higgins responded, “So sharing radios was part of your pre-mission plan for Butler on J13. So the failure to execute the pre-mission plan has impacted us here.”

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]

The incoming Trump administration is reportedly devising a plan to remove illegal migrants from the United States, even if their home countries refuse to accept them.

Illegal migrants that have been ordered deported by an immigration judge, but hail from a country that refuses to take them back, may be sent to Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Grenada, Panama or possibly elsewhere once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, according to NBC News. Such a plan, which has yet to be confirmed by the transition team, could prove to be a game-changer in the president-elect’s promised goal of conducting the largest deportation initiative in U.S. history.

It’s not immediately clear if these illegal migrants would be allowed to remain and work in the countries in which they are deported, or what type of pressure Trump officials are applying to these host governments. A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Foreign governments that refuse to take back deportees have long frustrated federal immigration authorities in multiple administrations. In lieu of remaining in detention indefinitely, many of these individuals may simply be released back into the U.S., even if an immigration judge has ordered them to be removed.

Under the Biden administration, federal immigration authorities and major cities across the country experienced an unprecedented illegal immigration crisis. Management of this crisis was made more difficult when Venezuela, the second-highest source of illegal immigration into the U.S., stopped accepting deportation flights in February.

Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country under Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist authoritarian who has overseen rampant inflation, economic turmoil and political repression. Trump is reportedly being pushed to make a deal with Maduro’s government, which would involve them accepting deportees again in exchange for an easing of U.S. sanctions, but it’s not clear if the incoming president is receptive to such an idea.

In the past, the Chinese and Cuban governments have also proven uncooperative with deportation flights from the U.S. However, both countries have begun accepting more flights from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) once again.

During Trump’s first White House term, he secured safe third country agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which were intended to keep asylum seekers at bay by forcing them to seek refuge in those countries first before applying in the U.S. However, the Biden administration suspended those deals immediately upon entering office — part of a massive unraveling of Trump-era immigration policies by President Joe Biden that helped spark the current southern border crisis.

Trump plans to enter office and begin to not only conduct the largest deportation program ever witnessed in U.S. history, but he has also vowed to resume border wall construction, end birthright citizenship for those born to illegal migrant parents, restart the travel ban and bring back the Remain in Mexico program — which kept asylum seekers waiting in Mexico while their claims were adjudicated in immigration court.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., dissed by critics as “Pocahontas” over her unjustified claims to Native America heritage, has taken aim at Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary.

But she hit the Joe Biden administration, including his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, right between the eyes.

It’s her decision to blame, publicly, a yet-to-be seated nominee for a problem that Biden and Austin allowed.

In 2023, over 29,000 active-duty troops were sexually assaulted, including more than 6 in every 100 women in the military.

Many servicemembers never report these crimes. The rates of assault are estimated to be up to 4x higher.

Pete Hegseth must not be the Defense Secretary.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 4, 2024

She cited, “In 2023, over 29,000 active-duty troops were sexually assaulted, including more than 6 in every 100 women in the military. Many servicemembers never report these crimes. The rates of assault are estimated to be up to 4x higher. Pete Hegseth must not be the Defense Secretary.”

Her one link to reality must have been that Hegseth was investigated, but eventually not even charged much less convicted, over a “consensual” encounter with a woman.

But she was excoriated on social media for blaming problems that happened under her party’s control on a candidate for an administration position.

There, the “U.S. Ministry of Truth” called her “the dumbest fool in the whole Senate.”

The Gateway Pundit pointed out her stats are “damning indeed,” and “would be disqualifying if Hegseth had anything to do with it.”

The report explained, “Warren was referencing sexual assaults that occurred in the military under Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s watch.”

Trump’s nomination cited Hegseth’s stellar America First credentials and decorated service as an army combat veteran, it said.

“Despite this, sick leftists and the drive-by media have orchestrated a horrific smear campaign portraying Hegseth as a drunkard and sexual predator. Warren, one of Hegseth’s staunchest critics, gave credence to the later smear as she cited disturbing statistics on her X account claiming that nearly 30,000 soldiers, including over 6% of women, were sexually assaulted in the military last year. Due to this, she concluded that Hegseth had no business serving as Defense Secretary,” the report said.

Social media told the “rest of the story.”

“So all that happened on your party’s watch?”

So have you demanded that Lloyd Austin resign?”

“So, because Biden’s defense secretary failed you’re going to blame someone that was nominated to fix it?”

And, “Hey Pocahontas, who was the president in 2023?”

So…have you taken that up with @SecDef Austin? https://t.co/P13xFsjM45

— Logan Ratick (@Logan_Ratick) December 5, 2024

Middle East/Israel:

IDF recovers body of murdered hostage Itay Svirsky

His mother is buried on the right,
On the left is his father.
Itay will be buried in the middle, between them.

An entire family brutally murdered by Hamas, the Svirsky family pic.twitter.com/ERbTDgha6V

— נועה מגיד | Noa magid (@NoaMagid) December 4, 2024

Israeli security forces have recovered the body of Itay Svirsky, 38, after 425 days in Gaza. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, the same day his parents were killed in the Hamas attack. The recovery comes after confirmation of his death in January alongside fellow hostage Yossi Sharabi after 99 days in Hamas captivity.

Forces loyal to Assad driven from key hub of Hama; prior to potential last stand in Homs

If the reports that Assad’s forces have retreated from Hama, handing it the rebels, are true, they will be retreating to mount a last stand at Homs.

If the rebels capture the Homs area, it is all over for Assad. His Alawite coastal heartland and all the ports (circled in pink)… pic.twitter.com/VDWM9WJLSx

— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) December 5, 2024

Syrian rebels ousted pro-government forces from Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major new victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies .

The Syrian army said it was redeploying outside the city “to preserve civilians lives and prevent urban combat” after what it called intense clashes.

Hamas terrorists likely executed 6 Israeli hostages as troops drew near

IDF Investigation reveals that six former hostages:
-Alex Dancyg, 75
-Yagev Buchshtav, 35
-Chaim Peri, 79
-Yoram Metzger, 80
-Nadav Popplewell, 51
-Avraham Munder 78

Were all executed by “Palestinians”. pic.twitter.com/HKJ7kIfXZz

— Mosab Hassan Yousef (@MosabHasanYOSEF) December 4, 2024

Hamas terrorists likely executed the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered from southern Gaza on Aug. 20, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday following a comprehensive probe.

While the military said it was not possible to determine with absolute certainty how Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Avraham Munder, Haim Peri and Nadav Popplewell were killed, their bodies were found with gunshot wounds, unlike their six guards, who are believed to have died in an Israeli Air Force strike in the area.

Report: Trump wants hostage deal before inauguration

I was really impressed by this latest nomination.

A newly created role – no US President has done it before – which underscores Trump’s commitment to securing the return of hostages taken during the October 7th attacks, a serious and focused approach to the crisis.
Adam Boehler… pic.twitter.com/ndB3X1n6MS

— miha schwartzenberg (@mihaschw) December 5, 2024

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has traveled to Qatar and Israel to kickstart the U.S. president-elect’s diplomatic push to help reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before he takes office on Jan. 20.

Steve Witkoff, who will officially take up the position under Trump’s administration, met separately in late November with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to a source.

Amnesty International publishes report accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza

.@amnesty international literally redefined the legal term of genocide to suit their accusation, stripping the term of its actual meaning in the process. The craziest part? They admit this in their report, correctly assuming that most people won’t read all the way to p. 101: https://t.co/lqJYrjkidU

— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) December 5, 2024

Amnesty International says Israel is “committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza, in a new report that it calls a “wake-up call” for the international community.

The London-based rights organization says its findings are based on “dehumanizing and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials,” satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans. It did not, however, go to Gaza itself, or interview any serving or former IDF soldiers to get a more balanced view. Indeed, the Israeli branch rejected the parent group’s accusation.

Hamas threatens to ‘neutralize’ hostages if IDF makes additional rescue attempts

BREAKING: HAMAS ISSUES HOSTAGE THREAT OVER RESCUE PLANS

Hamas has warned it will “neutralize” hostages if Israel tries a rescue mission similar to one carried out in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp in June.

In a statement dated Nov. 22 and seen by Reuters, Hamas claimed to have… pic.twitter.com/sQ7Kpi5Tfd

— Yisrael official (@YisraelOfficial) December 5, 2024

Hamas leaders ordered the organization’s operatives to “neutralize the hostages” if Israel launches a rescue operation to free them,

A report cites an “\internal document” in which Hamas leaders ordered operatives holding the Israeli hostages to “neutralize them,” after Hamas leaders claimed that “information has been received that Israel is planning an operation to rescue the hostages.”

U.S. claims Hezbollah already ‘trying to rebuild’ after IDF onslaught massively denuded weapons reserves

US intel: Hezbollah looking to rebuild after losing half of its weapons stockpiles https://t.co/HMR6BPVwvE

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) December 5, 2024

Hezbollah is trying to restore its power and rebuild the stockpiles lost to Israel over the course of Operation Northern Arrows.

An American official, an Israeli source, and two American Congress members who were exposed to the information confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies assessed in recent weeks that Hezbollah, even during the operation, acted to recruit new terrorists and attempted to find creative ways to acquire new weapons – including local production and smuggling of materials from Syria.

British chief of defense staff says Israel set Iranian missile production back by a year; world entering ‘third nuclear age’

Israel’s successful retaliation against the mullah terror entity :
took down the mullah air defence system
destroyed ballistic missile production for a year
demonstrated exquisite targeting and extraordinary intelligence
– Admiral Sir Tony Radakin (photo: BBC) pic.twitter.com/LMzUrKoFSW

— Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי (@AviKaner) December 5, 2024

“Global power is shifting and a third nuclear age is upon us,” said Britain’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Adm. Sir Tony Radakin. “The era of state competition primarily through geo-economics has shifted to a resurgence of geo-politics. And it will last decades.”

U.N. resolution demands Israel return Golan Heights to Syria’s Assad

Today’s reminder that the UN exists on another planet comes in the form of a resolution demanding that Israel hand the Golan Heights over to Syria, a country rapidly being taken over by jihadist rebels.

It passed, of course, with 97 in favor, 8 against, and 64 abstentions. pic.twitter.com/rq3SAWwCpQ

— Avi Mayer אבי מאיר (@AviMayer) December 4, 2024

At the same time as Sunni jihadist rebels are battling Iranian client Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the U.N.G.A. called on Israel to “desist from … its repressive measures against the population of the occupied Syrian Golan.”

The United Nations estimates that the Syrian civil war has claimed the lives of over 300,000 civilians since it began in 2011. The annual resolution, which does not consider the fate civilians in the Golan would face under Assad, passed with 97 countries in favor, eight against, and 64 abstentions.

O.E.C.D. cuts Israel’s growth forecast as war costs continue to mount

OECD cuts Israel growth forecast as costs of war expected to continue to mount https://t.co/ceX6MxunOY

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) December 4, 2024

The O.E.C.D. significantly downgraded its growth projections for Israel, forecasting a mere 0.6% GDP growth in 2024 – a sharp reduction from the 1.9% previously estimated in May – and 2.4% growth forecast in 2025, down from the earlier projection of 4.6%. These figures imply negative per capita growth in 2024, with the economic outlook bleak amid inflationary pressures, fiscal imbalances and geopolitical instability. Inflation expectations have been revised upward, reaching 3.1% for 2024 and 3.6% for 2025, well above the government’s target range.

IDF spokesperson R.Adm. Hagari in hot water after criticizing bill that could protect intel leakers

IDF SPOKESPERSON SCOLDED FOR SLAMMING CONTROVERSIAL SECURITY BILL

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesperson, is in hot water after calling the Feldstein Law “very dangerous,” warning it could let anyone with clearance leak classified info without consequences.

The… pic.twitter.com/krEJDBgx5K

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 4, 2024

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari drew widespread backlash on Wednesday when he criticized a law being advanced by the government that would shield members of the defense establishment from prosecution should they give classified intelligence to the prime minister or defense minister without authorization.

During a press briefing, Hagari said the bill would be “very dangerous for the IDF and national security” should it become law.

Qatari emir given royal treatment after he lands for state visit

BREAKING: The Emir of Qatar has landed in the UK on a state visit. Somehow, Israeli leaders are not welcome, but the people who have hosted Hamas for decades are.

The moral bankruptcy of the West has never been clearer. pic.twitter.com/OlCNmdOxdR

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) December 3, 2024

After rolling out the red carpet for Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Tamim Al Thani, the U.K. government announced plans to double joint U.K.-Qatar humanitarian assistance with a $100 million fund intended to “tackle key global challenges” in Gaza, Syria, Somalia, and beyond.

The humanitarian pledge was the first initiative announced during Al Thani’s two-day state visit to Britain, which kicked off with pomp and circumstance on December 3. Prince William and Princess Catherine greeted the emir and his wife before King Charles III formally welcomed the Qatari couple along London’s Horse Guards Parade.

Nearly one-third of Jewish Ontario doctors considering emigration over vertiginous spike in antisemitic incidents

Almost ONE-THIRD of Jewish medical professionals in Ontario are considering leaving the country. Due to the shocking rise in antisemitism.

Important thread and important for @JustinTrudeau to see just how badly he and his government have failed the Jews. https://t.co/hXJ8EJ5ztM

— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) December 5, 2024

Nearly one third of Jewish medical practitioners in Ontario are considering leaving the country in response to rising antisemitism, according to a new survey that found that doctors across Canada are worried about what’s happening to their profession.

The data released by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO) on Wednesday reveal widespread concerns of antisemitism among health-care practitioners across Canada.

IDF eliminates senior Hezbollah representative to Syrian army in targeted airstrike

Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian Military, Salman Nemer Jamaa, was eliminated in an intelligence-based strike.

Jamaa, a senior Hezbollah terrorist, has held various positions in the Hezbollah terrorist organization over the past years, especially in the Syrian arena.… pic.twitter.com/RQxk4sgSY7

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 3, 2024

The Israeli Air Force recently announced the elimination of the Hezbollah terrorist Salman Nemer Jama’a who represented Iran’s Lebanese proxy in the group’s dealings with the Syrian Army. He held various positions in the terrorist organization over the past several years, particularly those involving links to the Syrian military.

“Jama’a was a key figure in the terrorist group which supported these operations,” the IDF said. “The Syrian regime has actively supported Hezbollah, allowing the smuggling of weapons into Lebanon and endangering Syrian and Lebanese civilians.”

Someone working inside of Jack Smith’s lawfare cases against former and now President-elect Donald Trump reported “possible misconduct” going on, but an investigation into that issue, dated more than a year ago, has been stalled to date because Smith said a review would affect his investigations of Trump.

Those cases now, of course, have been ended by Trump’s election to the White House in last month’s vote.

So Congress is trying to get that review going again.

The revelations come from House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who confirmed the Department of Justice recently briefed the committee on an internal investigation it had opened into Smith’s operations.

According to Washington Examiner, Jordan has been dissatisfied with what apparently is a campaign to block Congress from getting the information it wants, and addressed that concern in a letter to Jeffrey Ragsdale, counsel for the Office of Professional Responsibility, who was told to provide documents on the issues at hand within days.

Jordan, in the letter, pointed out the committee already had asked for documents relating to allegations Smith and his team “lied to a federal court, manipulated evidence seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during its raid of Mar-a-Lago, and improperly pressured a lawyer representing a defendant indicted by Smith.” Those charges all have surfaced through various venues in recent months.

Further, there have been claims J.P. Cooney, on Smith’s team, “intentionally sought to impose an ‘unprecedented’ and ‘excessive’ prison sentence upon a criminal defendant, and then spread false conspiracy theories when his supervisors overruled his recommendation.”

All of this was held in abeyance because Smith insisted any revelations about misbehavior in his staff would affect the lawfare cases he was creating against Trump at the time, the letter explained.

“You stated that Smith only allowed the investigation to begin because it would now no longer ‘interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation and prosecution.’ It is absurd that OPR—the Department entity charged with upholding ethical conduct—would only examine allegations of prosecutorial misconduct after the subject of the allegations has approved the inquiry,” Jordan wrote.

Jordan said one of the concerns was that “these attorneys” would be able “to evade internal accountability by leaving the Department.”

DOJ briefs House GOP on internal inquiry into Jack Smith misconduct allegationshttps://t.co/d3CP7JIPeV

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 5, 2024

The Examiner reported, “It is unclear what the nature of the misconduct was, but it is normal for attorneys to self-report to the DOJ’s personnel office if they are aware of allegations being made about them in the media or elsewhere.”

And it documented that Jordan has been trying to get records from Ragsdale since earlier this year regarding “various ethics allegations against Smith and the attorneys working for him.”

For example, one allegation involves Jay Bratt and “was first raised in court by an attorney representing Walt Nauta, one of the co-defendants in the classified documents case against Trump. The attorney, Stanley Woodward, said that during a closed-door meeting, Bratt inappropriately brought up Woodward’s application to become a judge while Bratt was trying to convince Woodward to comply with him in the Trump case. Smith has disputed the accusation,” the Examiner explained.

In a fiery response to critics and the mainstream media, President Donald Trump has clarified the withdrawal of Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister as his nominee for DEA administrator.

Despite Chronister’s claims of voluntarily stepping aside, Trump made it clear: “He didn’t pull out, I pulled him out.”

The nomination of Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff with a history of controversial decisions, ignited fierce backlash among Trump’s grassroots supporters.

He was described as a “flip-flopping opportunist” who switched from Democrat to Republican. Many questioned why a figure with a record of actions that seemed at odds with core conservative principles was even considered for such a critical role.

As MAGA voters took to social media and conservative outlets sounded the alarm, it became clear that this pick would not stand without a fight.

• COVID-19 Overreach: Chronister ordered the high-profile arrest of Pastor Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne for holding church services in violation of COVID-19 lockdown orders.
• Soft on Crime: Under Chronister’s leadership, his office released Joseph Williams, a repeat offender with 35 prior charges, who committed murder shortly after being freed during the pandemic.
• Weakness on Law and Order: Deputies under his command were criticized for standing down during Black Lives Matter protests as property and businesses were destroyed.
• Anti-Second Amendment Stance: Chronister is a vocal supporter of red flag gun confiscation policies, using them on numerous occasions.

Read more here:

‘Should Be Disqualified!’ — Conservatives Slam Trump’s DEA Pick Chad Chronister for Being a Woke, Democrat Donor, Pro-Vaccine ‘Tyrant’ Who Arrested a Pastor During COVID

On Tuesday, Chronister released a statement claiming he had withdrawn from consideration due to the responsibilities of his current role in Hillsborough County.

“To have been nominated by President-Elect Donald Trump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime,” Chronister wrote.

“Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling. I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County,” he added.

To have been nominated by President-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime. Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully… pic.twitter.com/bvNF8m9Bh4

— Chad Chronister (@ChadChronister) December 3, 2024

After Chronister announced his withdrawal on Tuesday, the mainstream media wasted no time in framing the story as a “setback” for Trump. The Wall Street Journal published a headline claiming, “Trump’s DEA Pick Pulls Out In Latest Setback."

However, President Trump quickly dismantled this narrative, calling out the media’s portrayal of the situation.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump blasted The Wall Street Journal for its headline.

Trump wrote:

"The Wall Street Journal is becoming more and more obnoxious and unreadable. Today’s main headline is: “Trump’s DEA Pick Pulls Out In Latest Setback.” With all that’s happening in the World, this is their Number One story of the day.

Besides, he didn’t pull out, I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters. But, more importantly, what’s my “latest” setback??? I just won the Presidency of the United States!

They haven’t written a good story about me in YEARS. Somebody over there ought to look at what they’re doing. The only one worse than them is stupid, China-centric Forbes Magazine!"

‘COVIDian sheriff’ nominated by Trump for DEA chief bows out

This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit.com.

Peter Navarro, who advised President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House on trade deals and negotiations, is returning to that institution as the new senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, the president-elect has announced.

“I am pleased to announce that Peter Navarros, a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it, will serve as my Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing,” Trump said in a social media statement.

“During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire America.”

Trump noted that Navarro’s work then included helping with renegotiations of NAFTA and more.

BREAKING: President Trump has appointed Peter Navarro to serve as Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing. pic.twitter.com/2yhW16Fv1p

— WorldNetDaily (@worldnetdaily) December 4, 2024

By being “treated horribly,” Trump likely was referring to a prison term for contempt of Congress imposed by Democrats as part of their lawfare campaign against Trump himself.

It was when ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set up a partisan committee to “investigate” the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. That body now is known to have concealed evidence that benefited Trump, such as that he proposed authorizing National Guard troops to prevent violence that day, and was refused.

The committee released a report that essentially claimed Trump wanted an “insurrection” that day, even though the evidence shows it was a protest that turned violent when a few hundred people rioted.

The committee then, according to reports, destroyed the evidence it used for its report.

Navarro was caught up in that agenda against Trump.

The committee demanded he testify about Trump and events that day, and he refused, citing executive privilege. Members of Congress disputed that, had him charged and convicted, and sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons for four months.

He was released just in time to be a speaker at last summer’s Republican National Convention, at which Trump was formally nominated to his second term in the White House, which he won by a landslide in November.

Navarro was the first former White House official to go to prison following a contempt of Congress conviction. However, months later, Steve Bannon, a Trump ally who served as White House chief strategist, became the second.

His offense essentially was the same as Navarro’s: refusing, based on executive privilege, to tell the Democrat-run Pelosi committee the details it demanded to use against Trump.

At the convention, Navarro warned, “I got a very simple message for you. If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump. Be careful. They will come for you.”

In Navarro’s trial, a judge ordered that he could not use executive privilege as a defense.

Democratic strategist James Carville pointed fingers at Tucker Carlson as the key influence behind President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections.

During a segment on MSNBC’s “The Beat” with host Ari Melber, Carville discussed a comment made by Jonathan Lemire earlier that day on the network. Lemire suggested that Patel’s nomination bore the hallmarks of Steve Bannon, indicating an appeal to the far-right factions within Trump’s support base.

“People I’ve talked to say this pick was a nod to the extreme right-wing portions of the Trump base, the Steve Bannon, ultra-MAGA sector here, who had been disappointed by some of Trump’s more conventional picks like, say, Treasury secretary and secretary of state,” Lemire said. “So, this is Trump throwing them red meat because he knows he needs to keep them happy.”

After the footage aired, Carville dismissed Lemire’s statement and stated his own theories.

“One person is driving this, I promise you. And it’s Tucker Carlson. Tucker’s an old friend of mine… We haven’t talked to each other in a while, but we were friends. But everything that I see is the same thing I heard in the green room in 2002. OK? And J.D. Vance, Don Jr., Kash Patel was Tucker’s business partner. I’m just telling you what’s out there. And Tucker is 40 times more clever than Steve Bannon,” Carville told Melber.

Carville continued with his narrative about Carlson’s supposed influence over Trump’s decisions.

“I think he has more influence in this current administration, way more than Vernon Jordan had in the Clinton administration or any of the kind of wise men that were around. But Tucker is very, very, very powerful. And the Kash Patel pick proves that beyond any doubt at all,” Carville said.

Trump announced a series of appointments, including the nomination of former Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, who later withdrew his nomination amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Additionally, Trump has tapped former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth as Pentagon chief and selected Kash Patel to serve as FBI director.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Dean of the nation’s political analysts, Michael Barone, sat down with The Wall Street Journal to discuss the 2024 election.

The headline that emerged from that discussion was “Donald Trump’s Rainbow Coalition,” noting that the monopoly of the Democratic Party over the nation’s Black vote seems to be over.

If this is true, and it indeed seems to be, the implications for the political dynamics of our nation’s future are profound.

In 2024, Trump picked up 13% of the Black vote compared to 8% in 2016, and 21% of Black men voted for Trump.

Also, among Black voters, as in all voting groups, young voters moved more to the Republican candidate.

Among Black voters ages 18-29, 16% voted for Trump compared to 6% of Black voters 65 and up.

In 1956, Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower won 39% of the Black vote. In 1960, Republican Richard Nixon captured 32%.

Then the world changed in 1964 when Republican candidate Barry Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Act. Goldwater picked up 6% of the Black vote in that election, and the Republican Party never recovered with Black voters.

In all presidential elections since, the Democrat-Republican ratio has hovered around what Barone calls the 90-10 ratio.

The election results this year point to change. But why should we conclude that this is not a one-off move?

Despite the ongoing and persistence of race as a political topic, it is capturing the interest of young Blacks less and less. They see themselves more as individuals than belonging to a Black voting bloc.

In a survey done by the NAACP last September, 26% of Black men under 50 said they would support Trump. Of these, 82% said their most important issue was the economy.

Barone also points out, correctly, that the central role of the Black church as a platform for political unity is weakening.

The PRRI American Values Survey released in September showed 13% support for Trump among Blacks saying they attend church weekly or more, 15% among those saying they attend church monthly or a few times a year, and 23% among those saying they seldom or never go to church.

Per The New York Times, Black church attendance over the last 20 years is down 20 percentage points. Among young Black millennials and Gen Z, 50% of those who say they do attend church say they attend a Black church compared to two-thirds of older generation Blacks.

There is meaning both to more Blacks not attending church and to the movement of those attending church to non-Black churches. Politics are far more likely to be the topic of discussion and sermons in Black churches.

Kamala Harris’ campaign pitch to the American people was about big government. More spending, more subsidies, more social engineering.

More young Blacks, certainly young Black men, see the path to prosperity as taking personal responsibility, and this means an economy that is kept free. Less government spending and lower taxes.

The data is there to see that Blacks can get ahead in America. Per the Federal Reserve, median Black household wealth stood at 5.6% that of White households in 1989. By 2022 this was up to 15.7%. In 1972, median Black household income stood at 57.5% of White households. By 2022, this increased to 62%.

Is this enough progress? Clearly, no. But it is increasingly clear to a new generation of Black Americans that what they need to get ahead is freedom.

Data abounds showing countries that are more economically free have far greater wealth and opportunity.

The ideological divide between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party – more or less government, more or less freedom – is more pronounced than ever.

Black Americans, particularly young Blacks and Black men, want a future, and they see the future in freedom.

HIALEAH, Florida – After flipping by double digits in the 2024 election the former Democrat stronghold of Miami-Dade County, President-elect Donald Trump is now being honored by local officials with a street named for him.

Palm Avenue, a main thoroughfare in the Cuban-packed city of Hialeah, is now President Donald J. Trump Avenue.

The approval vote Tuesday from the county commission was 9 to 1, and Democrats could have blocked the measure as they hold seven of the 10 seats.

Trump had personally signed one of the street signs when attending a memorial service in Florida.

“Miami-Dade County strongly supported President Trump during the election, and this designation serves as a lasting tribute to his leadership and vision for our nation,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera said on X.

President Donald J. Trump Avenue is official in Miami-Dade County!

Today, we ratified the City of Hialeah’s initiative to honor President Trump’s legacy of championing freedom and opportunity by co-designating Palm Avenue—a vital artery in our community—as “President Donald J.… pic.twitter.com/27AECJ6qTB

— Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera (@KMCabreraFL) December 3, 2024

Commissioner Marleine Bastien, a Haitian-American who represents northern Miami, was the sole vote against Trump Avenue.

“I respect the fact that President Trump won the popular vote, the Electoral College and Miami-Dade County,” Bastien said, according to the Miami Herald.

“However, his victory does not erase the collective trauma that immigrants and citizens alike felt during this election cycle.”

She specifically pointed to “falsehoods about Haitians eating cats and dogs in Ohio” and “derogatory comments about Haiti, Mexico, and some African countries in the past.”

In both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Trump lost Miami-Dade County to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively.

“I want to thank the commissioners that supported this item, as well as the City Council of Hialeah who had endorsed this effort from the moment President Trump visited Hialeah,” Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo said.

Is the news we hear every day actually broadcasting messages from God? The answer is an absolute yes! Find out how!

Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeKovacsNews

With his presidency ending in a few weeks, Joe Biden’s legacy is only getting messier.

For many Democrats, he’s the man to blame for returning Donald Trump to the White House.

If only Biden hadn’t selfishly run for reelection, the story goes, Kamala Harris would have had time to mount a better campaign – or maybe the party could have had a proper primary contest to find somebody, anybody stronger than Biden or Harris.

The trouble with that theory is that Democrats haven’t won a presidential election without Biden on the ticket since 1996.

Perhaps Barack Obama didn’t really need Biden as his running mate in 2008 and 2012; yet he needed someone for the No. 2 slot, and he evidently thought Biden the best thing available.

Democrats at the time should have pondered what that said about their talent pool.

If they’d done so, they might have avoided the mistake that really set them up to lose this year – a mistake named Kamala Harris.

Elite Democrats knew perfectly well Biden was already showing his age, then 77, when he won the 2020 nomination, but at the height of COVID lockdowns, his lack of cogency and energy wouldn’t be noticed on the campaign trail – because there wouldn’t be a campaign trail.

If Biden was the best the party could field at the ticket’s top, though, what was left below him?

By making Biden his veep, Obama had missed the chance to elevate a leader from his own generation.

And Hillary Clinton, hellbent on having the White House for herself, sucked all the air out of the 2016 primaries, leaving only enough oxygen for Bernie Sanders to challenge her from the left – which the then-75-year-old Vermont democratic socialist did surprisingly well.

Senior Democrats in effect prevented the next generation of leadership from being born – perhaps a fitting thing for a party so fiercely dedicated to abortion.

What they had in lieu of fresh presidential material was identity politics.

So, fully aware Biden wasn’t fit to be a two-term president, Democrats accepted Harris as his running mate.

Her qualification as Biden’s heir apparent wasn’t that she was popular with voters: On the contrary, she never made it to the first primary in her bid for the 2020 nomination, so pathetic were her polls.

Nor did Harris represent, like Sanders, an ideological force within the party; her opportunism was already transparent long before she turned repudiating her own words and past policies into the hallmark of her ’24 campaign.

What argued for making her Biden’s running mate was simply her race and sex.

After all, the central message of Clinton’s campaign four years earlier had been that a woman deserved to be president.

How could a party that ran on that not put any woman on its ticket next time?

Yet it was also the year of George Floyd, and the party of Black Lives Matter couldn’t afford not to take color into consideration as well.

Harris wasn’t popular, she wasn’t principled, but she was ambitious – and she ticked the right boxes.

Yet when a party selects candidates this way, it can’t be surprised that it loses, especially after Clinton had already proved identity politics wouldn’t beat Trump.

Elite Democrats may blame Biden now, but the truth is they knew all about his condition and still preferred to have him run again rather than risk the party’s fortunes on Harris.

There was no one else: The choice was Biden or Harris, and until his debate meltdown – and for some time afterward, in fact – Democratic insiders saw Biden as obviously the stronger candidate.

The party sealed its fate in 2020 when it elevated Harris for reasons having nothing to do with electability.

Yet Democrats put their philosophy to the test: If race and gender preferences are needed in higher education and corporate America to right the wrongs of racism and sexism, isn’t it all the more important those wrongs be righted with preferences at the highest level, that of presidential politics?

But trying to do that landed Democrats with a substitute for Biden who couldn’t win, even with the media branding her opponent an outright fascist.

Harris’ campaign has revealed its internal polling never showed her ahead.

Biden, Harris, Clinton and Obama led Democrats to a dead end.

To escape, the party will have to rethink its identity politics – but given Trump’s gains with black men and Latinos, Democrats may fear any retreat from affirmative action will unravel their already fraying coalition.

By rejecting Harris and electing Trump, however, the nation’s voters – of both sexes and all colors – sent Democrats a clear message.

The question is whether they’re willing to hear it.

In the spring, James Blair, political director for the Trump campaign, called a meeting in West Palm Beach. The occasion: Marc Elias had changed the world.

It was Elias who had petitioned the Federal Election Commission at the beginning of the year to allow a George Soros-funded political action committee to coordinate with campaigns. And the Democratic super lawyer had won. A nine-page advisory opinion followed in March. For the first time, the FEC ruled that federal candidates could coordinate with outside organizations. And now politics would change forever.

Blair sensed opportunity. All he had to do, the reason he gathered the most loyal MAGA captains of the biggest grassroots armies around a conference table inside Trump campaign headquarters last April, was convince them to accept a little heresy. The political director had to teach them to love the mail-in ballot.

Trump had taught his base to hate mail balloting, a practice he blamed for his loss in 2020. Now Blair was urging the former president’s most faithful followers to embrace what was previously verboten. According to sources inside the room that day, the conversion did not go smoothly.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, balked. A confidant of the Trump family, Kirk and his lieutenant Tyler Bowyer were allegedly “horrified” by the idea of pushing absentee ballots for fear of alienating MAGA diehards. Ned Ryun, CEO of American Majority Action, insisted absentee ballots were half the battle, arguing that Republican hopes would languish in long lines on Election Day without them. One source described the mood that day as “snippy.”

Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet dismissed that characterization and told RealClearPolitics the organization was making plans as early as 2022 to “hammer home” the early vote.

“There were skeptics,” Blair said in retrospect. Without singling anyone out, he told RCP that “less sophisticated” operatives on the right still subscribed to “this theory that ‘well, if the votes come in early, then [Democrats] know how many they need to cheat.’” His counter-argument as he showed the grassroots the math: “No, once a vote is banked, that’s good.”

This was easier said than done, as Trump had hardwired a deep distrust into the minds of millions of Republicans by arguing that anything other than same-day voting was synonymous with fraud. “We have to get rid of mail-in ballots,” Trump said during his January victory speech after winning the Iowa caucuses. As he began his easy march through the GOP primary field, Trump added, “Once you have mail-in ballots, you have crooked elections.”

Data alone would not be enough to convince the base to abandon that belief. Only Trump could change their minds. “He had to create the permission structure for his voters,” Blair explained, “which is that voting early, whether by mail or in person, can be a pathway to victory, not to defeat.”

Clearing a primary field of Republican challengers too afraid to attack him was one thing. Unseating an incumbent president would be another. Enter Susie Wiles.

She came from Florida, just like Blair, where Republicans had built majorities for decades despite being outnumbered by Democrats on registered voter rolls. As campaign co-chair, she had just helped Trump brush aside the primary challenge of Florida’s own governor. Then Wiles looked to the general election, directing Blair to draft a memo outlining a new Trump way to win. In short, they planned to export the Florida model.

They laid out the data, pointed to successful case studies, and ran sophisticated election simulations. But the final argument that changed Trump’s mind? “Look, sir,” the former president was told, according to sources familiar with the discussions, “people are really excited to vote for you, and they want to vote for you as soon as they have the chance to vote.” On the evening of April 19, in characteristic all caps, Trump did something very uncharacteristic: He reversed himself and blessed the mail ballot. Wrote the former president on his social media website Truth Social:

ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!

Once the green light was given, the Trump machine kicked into another gear. They would still drive turnout on Election Day, but they would work just as hard to bank votes in advance. This has an obvious tactical advantage. Every supporter who cast their ballot early represented one less voter the campaign had to spend time and resources on getting to the polls on November 5. All campaigns do this. But the FEC decision that allowed federal candidates to coordinate with outside groups, the one ushered in by liberal lawyer Marc Elias, turbocharged everything. Tim Saler, chief data consultant for the Trump campaign, took full advantage.

Saler was the analytical brain behind the GOP’s ground game juggernaut. Despite all the massive reporting from the Associated Press to the New York Times suggesting the opposite, he insisted in an interview with RCP that Trump actually had one. “It was not outsourced at all,” Saler said of the get-out-the-vote apparatus. “It was coordinated.”

Flashback to Florida. Many of the groups inside Trump headquarters, almost a dozen in total, were already planning their own canvassing programs. Some had more experience than others.

Turn Out for America, a political action committee bankrolled by conservative billionaire Dick Uihlein, was on board from the beginning and widely considered among Trump operatives as “the gold standard.”

American Majority Action, Ryun’s group, had just run two pilot programs the year before, one in Louisiana and another in Virginia. Ryun was convinced Republicans could win by banking votes. “We had faith in what they did,” said a source with direct knowledge of the Trump operation. The newest addition: Turning Point Action.

Kirk and Bowers leveraged their influence with millions of conservative students to create a turnout machine. “Turning Point will just need to keep evolving,” a Trump operative said of the newest edition while stressing that their efforts were welcome and helpful.

America PAC, the Elon Musk upstart that would eclipse all the rest in spending, would come later.

Saler loves them all and says each did good work. Ahead of Election Day, the first order of business was making sure the assorted groups “did no harm.” Under the new FEC paradigm, and for the first time, the campaign could communicate priorities, coordinate strategy, and share best tactics. Hence the second priority discussed at the West Palm Beach meeting: A data-sharing agreement.

“There was a real misnomer, or just a false attack, that we didn’t have a field program,” Saler said of the idea “that our field program had been farmed out.” The campaign already had in-house volunteers, a program called Trump Force 47, that fanned out to all 50 states and knocked on millions of doors on its own. What the new coordination rules provided for was the creation of the outside armies fanning out to each of the seven battleground states in search of the all-important low-propensity voter.

“The president’s coalition is more rural, lower propensity, and more down scale,” Saler explained. “Think a 35-year-old man who turns a wrench in small-town, central Wisconsin, who never engages face-to-face with anybody in politics.”

To turn out a coalition like no other, Saler had to assemble an apparatus like no other. The campaign would be at the center. They shared targeting priorities with the outside groups, who then sent their people into the field to find and identify Trump voters, building a real-time data loop. They didn’t just go where other GOP presidential campaigns had been in years past. Because of the new canvassing rules, Trump HQ could send outside groups, not just to big population centers, but door to door even in the most rural areas. On front porches, outside grocery stores, and everywhere in between, canvassers sought out the MAGA faithful, registered them to vote, and pushed them to do it early.

“The president is a unique character in American history; He is the champion of the forgotten man and woman,” Saler said before adding that the campaign was just as unique. “We also didn’t forget them.” In the moment, though, skepticism abounded. Some Republicans, many of them on the outside looking in, questioned the wisdom of relying so heavily on mercenary doorknockers ahead of what was sure to be a make-or-break election. Even Ben Shapiro was worried. In an October interview, Shapiro warned the former president that he was hearing mixed reviews about the ground game. Was his campaign up to the job? Trump avoided the question. In the final stretch, no one had a definitive answer.

A team of rivals, meanwhile, was working on his behalf in pursuit of low-propensity voters.

A staple on the college circuit, Kirk focused on the youth vote while directing his organization’s political arm, Turning Point Action, to decamp from campus and field an army of more than a thousand paid doorknockers across each of the swing states in pursuit of low-propensity voters overall. A spokesman denied that there was any hesitation about registering voters for absentee ballots. Instead, the organization modeled its early-vote strategy off of the Democratic playbook while making accommodations for lingering concerns over mail-in ballots.

The emphasis was on early voting, but if a voter preferred to cast their ballot in person on Election Day, the organization was ready to drive them to the polls. Explained Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet, “We only care about getting ballots in the box.”

At times, the organization took “low propensity” to the extreme. Scott Presler, a conservative activist who partnered with Turning Point in Pennsylvania, courted a normally apolitical and untapped constituency: the Amish.

That community’s aversion to politics wasn’t the chief obstacle. It was the calendar. “Get this,” he told RCP, “Amish get married on Tuesdays in November.” Otherwise, they generally match the voter profile of a normal social conservative, he reported. Armed with that information, Presler parachuted into rural farming communities west of Philadelphia and north of Pittsburgh with absentee and mail-in ballot applications.

While Turning Point and their partners earned praise for that kind of innovation, elsewhere, some questioned the efficiency of their organization. One Turning Point intern attracted online criticism when he bragged in a social media post that he knocked on just 500 doors over the course of nine weeks, a seemingly low number. Another paid Turning Point Action employee, currently under contract in Wisconsin through November, told RCP that management had set a daily goal of just 10 voter contacts.

“We set out on a mission to chase low-prop and first-time voters across the country,” Kirk wrote in a social media post the week after the election. Across four states (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin), according to their internal numbers, Turning Point Action had helped no less than 300,000 low-propensity voters cast their votes. “Mission accomplished,” he wrote.

American Majority Action took a more traditional approach with Ryun at the helm. The hard-nosed operative, who helped former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker become just the second state executive to survive a recall 13 years prior, had raised and deployed as many grassroots armies in the time since. The difference this time? Ever since the “Red Wave” fizzled in the 2022 midterms, Ryun had been on a one-man crusade to force Republicans to embrace absentee and early voting in earnest.

After running two successful pilot programs in state races, he was convinced the GOP could take the approach national. Trump supporters would learn to love the mail-in ballot, he was convinced, once they won with it. Toward that end, American Majority picked four targets: Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. They hired 1,600 staff, drilling into each canvasser two numbers: Seven and nine. Between seven and nine is how many times a single low-propensity voter, on average, must be contacted before they will return a mail-in ballot. A blunt Ryun calls it “targeted harassment.”

According to an after-action report, the group made more than 11 million phone calls in support of Trump and sent just shy of four million texts to voters in each of their four target states. They knocked on nearly 2 million doors.

On the eve of the election, Ryun wrote in an op-ed for “American Greatness” that Republicans had experienced their fair share of growing pains. It would take time for the GOP to catch up to Democrats on the early voting front, but overall, the conservative movement earned a passing grade: “A solid B to B+ level with lots of room for growth.”

America PAC was the last big group to arrive. Elon Musk endorsed Trump after the first assassination attempt, and while Republicans welcomed the many millions of dollars from the world’s richest man, the political novice attracted his fair share of scrutiny. His group planned to compete in all seven battleground states. They initially hired just a handful of vendors to execute a one-size-fits-all, top-down strategy.

By the end of the summer, though, Musk fired his initial team and hired Genera Peck and Phil Cox, veterans of the defunct DeSantis campaign, to put together a national plan with individual directors in each of the battleground states. They took a tailored approach, and by the end, Musk lent his celebrity to the Pennsylvania campaign, a state he often told voters was the key to the whole election. His group spent north of $200 million, a deep war chest that lent itself to sending canvassers nearly everywhere.

The scope of all of this was relatively new territory. Few national, grassroots organizations previously had the resources and expertise to chase votes across multiple states concurrently. Each additional battleground added another level of complexity and difficulty. But it wasn’t all top-down. A patchwork of groups supplemented the work in the individual swing states.

Motivated by the frustration that the right had “yielded voter registration to the left,” former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler launched “Greater Georgia” in the Peach State. The group identified tens of thousands of conservative Georgians and helped get them registered to vote. Another state-specific get-out-the-vote engine to the north: PA Chase. Founded by Cliff Maloney, that organization canvassed throughout Pennsylvania in search of low-propensity voters in need of a mail-in ballot. “We’re finally catching up to the Democrats,” Maloney said of his efforts before Election Day. “This is straight out of their playbook, right?

In this way, the Trump campaign and its allies chased the low-propensity voter. And it worked. He not only swept each swing state on his way to becoming just the second president in history to win non-consecutive terms, but Trump also won the popular vote, something Republicans haven’t achieved since 2004. Said Saler of the electorate that returned the former and future president to the Oval Office, “He created them.” Many were first-time voters. Some voted only for him. Now every Republican operative involved in planning for the midterms and the next general election is focused on one question: How to keep these voters in the GOP fold? It will likely include a heavy emphasis on the early vote.

Trump World, even in victory, sees the mail-in ballot as a pragmatic necessity, not an ideal way to vote. “Look, they’re not perfect, and if we could just do away with them, we probably would, but that’s not the world we live in,” Blair said. “They exist. So, it is what it is.”

For his part, Ryun has become their biggest apostle of early voting and the mail-in ballot. After Republicans won big, he isn’t in a hurry to see the GOP set them aside. “I’m telling you, this works, and this should be our game planning forward,” he said, before adding that a more pressing question for the right was discerning which groups did real work and which did little more than gobble up donor dollars.

“There are some vaporware organizations, like Turning Point, that I’m afraid were not as effective as they could have been because they were on a journey of self-discovery in politics,” Ryun said. “My concern for the future is, how do we make sure that some of these voters who turned out for Trump-only become consistent Republican voters.”

A Turning Point spokesman dismissed that criticism. Said Kolvet, “We’re not in the business of getting down in the mud.” The results, he said, speak for themselves. “The campaign, which knows the data and accomplishments well, knows how successful our program was,” the spokesman concluded.

Republicans will have their work cut out for them in the midterms. They have historically underperformed whenever Trump is not on the ballot. The coordination between federal candidates and outside groups – that the FEC allowed at the insistence of Democrats like Elias – will not change. It was central to a Trump victory.

“Thank you, Marc,” quipped Saler, the Trump data consultant who helped engineer the former, and future, president’s comeback. “We appreciate you.”