Accomplishment Builds Self-esteem, Not Participation Trophies

So you got a medal for coming in last? No wonder you feel bad about yourself. It turns out accomplishment builds self-esteem, not participation trophies.

In an interview that's gone viral, author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek nails the four main reasons for Millennial unhappiness: poor parenting, social media, impatience and environment.

"Who was it that was standing against the awards for last place?" Glenn asked on his radio program Monday.

Why conservatives, thank you very much.

Working hard to overcome challenges makes you feel capable and smart. The other failed strategies, combined with the overwhelming presence of social media, make you feel entitled, unhappy and disconnected.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN: Welcome to the program. So glad that you're here. Let's go with Simon Sinek in an interview that he did about millennials, in front of a crowd about, what is -- what is really happening with millennials? And how do we reach out to millennials? What do we need to do to get them truly engaged? Because there is a sense of entitlement there. Listen.

SIMON: The generation that we call the millennials, too many of them grew up subject to -- not my words -- failed parenting strategies. You know, where, for example, they were told that they were especially all the time. They were told that they could have anything they want in life, just because they want it, right?

They were told -- some of them got into honors classes, not because they deserved it, but because their parents complained. And some of them got A's, not because they earned them, but because the teachers didn't want to deal with the parents.

GLENN: Can we stop for a second?

Who's -- where did that failed parenting strategy come from? Let me reverse that: Who was it that was standing against the awards for last place?

PAT: Oh, conservatives.

STU: Right.

JEFFY: Yeah.

GLENN: Conservatives were all saying --

PAT: Yeah, we begged you not to.

GLENN: "This is not going to work. This is not going to work."

PAT: My gosh, at the top of our lungs, we were screaming that.

GLENN: Right. Right.

So I think the first thing, we just need to put on the chalkboard, just point number one: Not all of America was behind this --

PAT: In no way would Simon recognize that. But it's a fact.

GLENN: I think he would. I think he would.

PAT: I don't think he would, but we should ask him.

STU: And to back Simon with the stats on that, in 1940, 14.9 percent of college grades were A's. 14.9 percent. Today it's 45.3 percent.

PAT: Yeah, it's even worse in the Ivy League schools. Even worse.

GLENN: They're that much smarter.

STU: They're that much smarter, right.

Think about that, when he talks about people achieving these things without achieving them, I mean, there's no way -- if it's true that they're that much smarter, then the classes should be harder. You shouldn't be giving half the grades an entire -- not just one school or one class, all of college, half of them are A's.

PAT: And we should have the greatest school system in the world year in and year out.

GLENN: In the world. And it doesn't happen that way.

Anyway, he goes on to diagnose the problem.

SIMON: Participation medals. You got a medal for coming in last, right? Which the science we know is pretty clear, which it devalues the medal and the reward for those who actually work hard. And that actually makes the person who comes in last feel embarrassed because they know they don't deserve it. So it actually makes them feel worse. Right?

GLENN: Hello.

SIMON: So you take this group of people. And they graduate school, and they get a job. And they're thrust into the real world.

And in an instant, they find out they're not special. Their moms can't get them a promotion. That you get nothing for coming in last.

And, by the way, you can't just have it because you want it. Right?

And in an instant, their entire self-image is shattered. And so you have an entire generation that's growing up with lower self-esteem than previous generation. The other problem, to compound it is we're growing up in a Facebook, Instagram world. In other words, we're good at putting filters on things. We're good at showing people that life is amazing, even though I'm depressed. Right?

GLENN: Okay. Stop for a second. Notice that the first problem -- he wrapped all of that -- failed parenting strategies. He wrapped that up with the diagnosis of what? What does he say that all led to? This is such a huge, huge problem. What does he say?

PAT: Social media.

GLENN: No. Uh-uh. That's point number two.

PAT: Looking for --

STU: Self-esteem.

PAT: Self-esteem.

GLENN: He said the lowest self-esteem on record.

STU: Which is crazy. Because it seems every strategy today is to make them have higher self-esteem. But it fails.

GLENN: But it fails. Because you're not having to actually accomplish anything.

PAT: Because it's artificial. It's artificial. You can't tell somebody they're great if they're not.

GLENN: They know it.

STU: That's why we can't handle Jeffy.

JEFFY: Good to have you back, boy.

GLENN: When they're on the team and they know that nobody is really listening to me. I'm not -- I'm just on this team for whatever reason. I've got pictures of the boss.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: People know, "I'm not making a difference. Nothing I do is really helping anything." When you have that, low self-esteem kicks in. They want -- I hear this from employee after employee after employee. I just want to do something that makes a difference.

So when they're saying low self-esteem and when millennials say, "I want to make a difference," what they're saying is, "I have low self-esteem. I have to do something that means something." This is what is propelling them, I believe, in their boots on the ground kind of activities, where they say, I don't want to just talk about it. I want to go out and do it.

They've heard the talk about how special they are their whole life. They know they're not. They know that's a lie. And because of that, they have low self-esteem.

So now they're really motivated to stop talking about it and go actually do it, but getting there is the hard part.

SIMON: Everybody sounds tough, and everybody sounds like they got it all figured out. And the reality is, there's very little toughness, and most people don't have it figured out.

And so when the more senior people say, "Well, what should we do?" They sound like, "This is what you got to do." And they have no clue.

(laughter)

Right?

So you have an entire generation growing up lower self-esteem than previous generations, right? Through no fault of their own. Through no fault of their own. They were dealt a bad hand, right?

Now, let's add in technology. We know that engagement with social media and our cell phone phones releases a chemical called dopamine. That's why when you get a text: It feels good. Right?

So we've all had it where you're feeling a little bit down or feeling a bit lonely. And so you send out ten texts to ten friends. You know, hi, hi, hi, hi. Because it feels good when you get a response, right? Right?

It's why we count the likes. It's why we go back ten times -- and if it's going -- if my Instagram is growing slower, did I do something wrong? Do they not like me anymore?

The trauma for young kids to be unfriended. Right? Because we know when you get it, you get a hit of dopamine, which feels good. It's why we like it. It's why we keep going back to it.

Dopamine is the exact same chemical that makes us feel good when we smoke, when we drink, and when we gamble.

In other words, it's highly, highly addictive. Right?

We have age restrictions on smoking, gambling, and alcohol. And we have no age restrictions on social media and cell phones, which is the equivalent of opening up the liquor cabinet and saying to our teenagers, "Hey, by the way, this adolescence thing, if it gets you down..."

But that's basically what's happening. That's basically what's happening. Right? That's basically what happened. You have an entire generation that has access to an addictive, numbing chemical called dopamine, through social media and cell phones as they're going through the high stress of adolescence. Why is this important?

Almost every alcoholic discovered alcohol when they were teenagers. When we were very, very young, the only approval we need is the approval of our parents. And as we go through adolescence, we make this transition where we now need the approval of our peers.

Very frustrating for our parents, very important for us. It allows us to acculturate outside of our immediate families into the border tribe. Right?

It's a highly, highly stressful and anxious period of our life, and we're supposed to learn to rely on our friends.

Some people, quite by accident, discover alcohol and numbing effects of dopamine to help them copy with the stresses and anxieties of adolescence. Unfortunately, that becomes hard-wired in their brains. And for the rest of their lives, when they suffer significant stress, they will turn to a person. They will turn to the bottle: Social stress, financial stress, career stress. That's pretty much the primary reasons why an alcoholic drinks, right?

What's happening is, because we're allowing unfettered access to these dopamine-producing devices and media, basically it's becoming hardwired.

And what we're seeing is, as they grow older, they -- too many kids don't know how to form deep, meaningful relationships. Their words, not mine.

GLENN: Okay. Stop. Stop.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Jeffy say it. Where am I taking that?

JEFFY: Go ahead, Glenn. It's all you.

GLENN: That is exactly -- this -- this adds fuel to the fire of my concern about gaming the way it's being done with virtual reality and what is coming. It is -- it is giving you a full -- soon, a full sensory gratification. You will get what you -- what you want.

JEFFY: No need for any other human.

GLENN: No need for human interaction.

PAT: Yeah. As soon as the --

GLENN: And they won't know how to do it.

PAT: As soon as the VR thing is perfected, it will be the artificial thing they're looking for. But it's just that, it's artificial.

GLENN: So what do -- how do we not become Japan? Seriously, Japan, they can't get people to breed. They cannot get people to have sex with one another.

Now, I don't know what weird stuff is happening in Japan that stops that, but it's not happening in Japan. And they're -- there won't be any Japanese people left, you know, in 100 years.

PAT: Yeah, their replacement rate, is it negative now?

GLENN: It can't be negative.

PAT: It's almost zero. But it certainly -- it's at an unhealthy level for sure.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: It's at an extinction rate.

GLENN: Yeah, it's past the point of no return.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: So when we -- now we're encouraging people not to have relationships.

Now, Saturday, I heard my son -- he was in the kitchen. I was in the kitchen. And he was playing, I don't know, Minecraft or something. And he was playing it with two friends together, and they each had boxes up on the -- you know, up on the screen.

JEFFY: Yeah.

GLENN: They were two girls that he was playing them with. Who were his friends.

And I saw normal interaction. I was listening to them while I was working in the kitchen and listening to them. And it sounded like absolute normal interaction. So what's the problem with that?

I'm trying to diffuse myself from being so phobic about that. He seems to have normal interaction. It's just different. It's just not --

PAT: Third person.

GLENN: But he's still looking at them.

PAT: Yeah. Uh-huh.

STU: I think just, what is normal interaction, changes. It's something we talked about with going to a concert. You go to a concert and all you see are phones. And every person like me or older says the same thing: Why don't you experience the freaking show you paid for instead of filming it?

JEFFY: That is it.

STU: But that is how they experience the show. They don't experience the show by looking at the show. They experience the show by holding up their phone and recording it so they can post it later. That is their experience at a concert.

GLENN: Yes.

PAT: And some artists are starting to push back against that. Right? Was it Adele?

JEFFY: Yeah. She's hollered at her audience before.

PAT: "Would you put the phone down and just watch the show -- enjoy the show. Experience the show."

JEFFY: I would say: You cash the check, I'll watch it any way I want. Sing.

PAT: Yeah. Yeah.

GLENN: I will tell you though that it happens all the time. When I meet people, we'll go out places -- there's one person, if we're in a group, there's one person who I never actually interact with -- usually a parent standing there with a phone, and they're only talking to me through the phone or talking to their child through the phone stop we never make eye contact. And I always feel bad because I feel like they were ripped off.

PAT: Yeah, they missed it. They missed it.

GLENN: They never had that personal connection. They did through the phone.

PAT: But we'll get to experience it later, Glenn.

GLENN: I know. It's weird. It's weird.

PAT: That is weird.

GLENN: Now, this.

Last week, we talked about the coastal buffers and how they weaken hurricanes at landfall. Now scientists are calling this a lucky phenomena. Scientists are discovering how incredibly prepared Mother Nature is for dealing with natural disasters.

By the way, do you remember -- we have to play this. The -- what's her name from -- in Congress from California that said the Sierra Nevada is soon -- like seven years or ten years -- she said this about ten years ago. Won't have snow.

PAT: Is that Boxer?

GLENN: Yeah, it was Barbara Boxer. We have to find that. Because they're about to have 20 feet of snow from the last week and a half. I think they had 3 feet drop on them yesterday alone.

Anyway, Mother Nature is prepared for disasters. If you're caught in a natural disaster like a hurricane or some other emergency, are you prepared to feed your family? My Patriot Supply is there right now with a 72-hour emergency food kit.

Now, this is something that the Department of Homeland Security -- everybody who is reasonable would say, "You should have three days of food." Because we are such a society that runs to the store -- I love that -- we talked about it yesterday when it snowed here in Dallas. It was just flurries yesterday morning here in Dallas. And I see -- I see the flurries. And my kids immediately repeat that viral video from that comedian up in New Jersey. Got to get the milk. Got to get the milk. Got to get the milk.

You see a snowflake, and you realize, "Got to get the milk." Because I've got nothing in my house. 72-hour emergency food kit right now. Ten dollars per family member for three days. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And all the snacks and the drinks and everything else. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days, $10. 800-200-9031. 800-200-9031. Save over 60 percent right now. Ten dollars. Family of four, for 40 bucks. PreparewithGlenn.com. That's preparewithGlenn.com.

(OUT AT 8:23AM)

GLENN: So we've been listening to Simon Sinek talk about the problem that the millennials face. And really, not by their fault. They were raised with bad parenting strategies that many of us have fought against for a long time, and now we realize, "Oh, gee, everybody gets a trophy isn't healthy for society." And so now, how do we get out of this? You want to go to his solution?

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. Here's his solution.

SIMON: Which leads me to the fourth point, which is environment. Which is, we're taking this amazing group of young, fantastic kids who were just dealt a bad hand. It's no fault of their own. And we put them in corporate environments that care more about the numbers than they do about the kids.

GLENN: Okay. Stop for a second.

PAT: I'm sorry. It's not a corporation's responsibility to raise children when they're 32 years old.

JEFFY: When all they care about is making money.

GLENN: Hold on just a second.

PAT: Come on.

GLENN: We may be speaking different languages. So let me go there first.

PAT: I'm speaking English. You are speaking?

GLENN: I'm learning to speak progressive.

(laughter)

GLENN: I'm learning to speak the language that is being spoken all around us.

PAT: Yes, you are. Yes. So how do you put this in a progressive way?

GLENN: So what he's saying here is, I think you're hearing this in a progressive way. I think if I would rephrase --

PAT: Especially knowing him, yeah --

GLENN: I agree. I agree. So let me now say it this way.

First of all, do we generally agree it is their responsibility to fit in the world? The world doesn't -- the world doesn't shapeshift for you.

PAT: Right. The millennials have to fit in.

GLENN: You have to find your way in.

PAT: Yes. Yes.

GLENN: So when he says, at no fault of their own, you can say, yes -- society raised them. Their parents raised them in a certain way. And they were used as guinea pigs to experiment on, something that we took all eternal principles and threw them out the window and said, "Hey, being first is just as good at being last," right?

So through that part, no fault of their own. However, once their life starts to fall apart, it is their responsibility, correct?

PAT: Yeah, there's personal responsibility at every step, right?

GLENN: Every step. But when you're a kid and everything in society is training you to go one way, you generally don't say --

PAT: It's difficult.

GLENN: -- well, that doesn't make sense to me.

STU: Over your life you should reexamine those things, of course.

GLENN: But what does it take for you to reexamine your life?

PAT: It takes a crash. You have to hit a bottom.

GLENN: Something has to go wrong.

STU: The most common.

GLENN: Something has to go wrong. And it could be just as much, I keep getting these trophies, and I feel like crap. I keep getting -- I keep getting everything I want, and I'm not happy at all.

That's the most likely crash. But that crash will lead to suicide.

JEFFY: And that crash is coming.

GLENN: Yes.

JEFFY: He cites some numbers.

GLENN: Suicide. So that crash is a crash of no self-esteem. Because nothing has ever given you self-esteem because you've never been taught what self-esteem comes from. And that is accomplishment. Okay?

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Doing something. Even if it is -- it's like -- when you go clean your house or when you were a kid and you cleaned your room, you felt good after cleaning your room.

PAT: Yeah. Even though you didn't want to, to begin with.

GLENN: Correct. There's something to be said for accomplishment.

So now, let me show you what he just said, I think, about, it's the corporation's responsibility. No, it's not.

Well, yes. Kind of, it is. We'll go there next.

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

  

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

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The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

   USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

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If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

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This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.