Erick Stakelbeck: Do you think the Muslim Brotherhood will go away quietly after Egypt coup?

Well, I was on vacation last week down the Jersey shore. The good part, no Snooki sightings, and as I’m on the beach playing with my two young daughters, a family member comes up to me looking excited. He says, “Hey, did you hear the news? The Muslim Brotherhood guy in Egypt, Morsi, he got kicked out. He’s gone. The army’s in charge now.” And there goes my vacation.

Look, I live and breathe this stuff. My new book about the Muslim Brotherhood comes out next Monday, July 15. It’s called The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy. So, as you might imagine, I’m all over this issue. But what struck me during my vacation as all of this was unfolding in Egypt, was that friends and family members who aren’t political junkies were very interested in what was happening.

I spent a good part of my week answering questions about Egypt and about everything that’s going on right now in the Middle East. Look, when you have three million people in the streets of Cairo, three million, the largest demonstration in human history, that should be enough to make anyone stand up and take notice that something massive is happening, or so you would think.

A lot of Americans still seem to believe that what happens over there stays over there. Hey, Honey Boo Boo is on the tube, and Kim Kardashian is getting married. In a way, I guess, I can’t totally blame them. They’re just following the example of our elected leadership. As Egypt was in the middle of a historic upheaval last week, President Obama was seen on the golf course at Camp David, and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, the man who’s supposed to be the driving force behind our foreign policy, was out on his yacht.

There they are, ladies and gentlemen, your crack foreign-policy team. Don’t you feel safer knowing they’re on the case? These are the same folks who helped to create this whole violent mess in Egypt by backing the Muslim Brotherhood at every turn. Now, Egypt is on fire, and it’s only going to get worse. Civil War is a real possibility, and remember, this is the most populous and most influential Arab nation, the recipient of billions in U.S. aid.

This isn’t Somalia or Yemen, some medieval backwater. If Egypt becomes a failed state, which it is this close to becoming right now, the whole world is going to feel it. That’s one reason why you over here need to care about what happens over there. Events in Egypt are spiraling out of control very quickly, and that could create a few potentially nasty consequences for America.

The Muslim Brotherhood waited 84 years to gain power. They had it finally. Sharia law was about to be enforced. Women were going to be covered from head to toe. Christians were in the crosshairs, and war with the hated Jews loomed. All of the Brotherhood’s sick dreams were about to be realized and with the full backing of the United States to boot. And then it was all wrenched away from them suddenly and violently after just one year in power.

Do you really think the Brotherhood is just going to go quietly now and accept this turn of events? Folks, this is the granddaddy of them all when it comes to Islamic terrorist groups. They started the entire modern Islamic jihadist movement. The Brotherhood spawned Al Qaeda. I outline in my new book how Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, every major Al Qaeda figure you can think of belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood before they joined Al Qaeda.

That’s no coincidence. The Brotherhood is the gateway drug for jihad, the ideological driving force behind all of the terrorist madness you see today. Oh, and did I mention that Hamas is the Brotherhood’s Palestinian wing? And is it surprising that the Boston bombers attended a mosque controlled by a group that federal prosecutors say is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America?

This is a fact: Without the spread of Muslim Brotherhood ideology, of conquering the world for Allah, killing the infidel, and reestablishing a Caliphate, 9/11 would’ve never happened. I repeat, if the Muslim Brotherhood had never been created in Egypt back in 1928, 9/11 would’ve never happened. There would be no war on terror. You’d even be able to keep your shoes on at the airport.

Every single Al Qaeda leader worth his suicide belt was inspired by the teachings and writings of Muslim Brotherhood ideologues like Hassan al-Banna and especially Sayyid Qutb. Remember that name. They laid the groundwork starting with the Brotherhood’s official motto, “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

Now, pay particular attention to those last two lines – jihad, military conquest, is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Folks, they ain’t going quietly. That’s very bad news for us for a few reasons. The last time the Brotherhood was in this situation in the late 1940s and the 1950s, they carried out a wave of terrorism across Egypt and assassinated Egyptian leaders.

Finally they were crushed by Nasser and banned. But like jihadi vampires, they wouldn’t go away. Their backs are up against the wall now once again. Just today, it was announced that there is an arrest warrant for the Brotherhood’s supreme leader, Mohammed Badie. Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders are under house arrest, and the Egyptian military has killed dozens of Brotherhood supporters over the past week alone.

Look for the Brotherhood and its allies to respond to all of this with terrorism and violence. Bet on it. And folks, if they target the Suez Canal with terror attacks and shut it down, oil prices will go through the roof. That affects you. All of that Middle Eastern oil travels through the Suez before reaching Europe. Do you think the Brotherhood and its allies are unaware of this?

And how about the possibility of the Brothers and other Islamist groups provoking a military confrontation with Israel? Jihadists are launching attacks out of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula against Israel practically every day now. If the Egyptian military can’t control them, Israel will eventually have to take action to defend its borders. But it’s not just the Islamists who could start a war with a hated Zionist entity.

Writing in the Tablet Magazine last week, respected Middle East analyst Lee Smith said, “The Egyptian army has only one card left to play…Egypt may be headed to war with Israel in the not-too-distant future. But as the country implodes, war has become the easy way out…”

Smith wrote, “A short war today – precipitated by a border incident in Sinai, or a missile gone awry in the Gaza Strip, and concluded before the military runs out of the ammunition that Washington will surely not resupply – will reunify the country and earn Egypt money from an international community eager to broker peace. Taking up arms against Israel will also return Egypt to its former place of prominence in an Arab world that is adrift in a sea of blood.”

Ask yourself what would a new Middle East war do to oil prices and the global economy? It’s coming. The only question is whether Egypt, Syria, or Iranian nukes will be the trigger. What also could be coming is Egypt in total collapse with people literally starving. That’s how bad the Egyptian economy is right now. A Civil War, the kind the Islamists want to provoke, would be a death knell.

And who would be left to pay the bills to help try to lift Egypt out of total chaos and collapse? That’s right, you and me, American taxpayers. And by the way, speaking of America, just a little reminder, the Muslim Brotherhood is here in your backyard. As we’ve seen on TheBlaze TV in the groundbreaking documentaries, The Project and Rumors of War III, the Brotherhood has devised plans to destroy America from within.

Our government knows about these plans, yet Brotherhood supporters are guests in the White House, advising the Obama administration on its counterterrorism and Middle East policies. In my new book, I call them “terrorists in suits.” I’ve interviewed them around the world, face to face. They are slick, well educated, well spoken, and well dressed. They are dangerous. Right now, because of what happened to Morsi, they’re also angry.

We saw hundreds of Morsi supporters take to the streets in Chicago earlier this week to call for Morsi’s return as president. Folks, you need to know about this group and not the mainstream media version. Pick up my book, The Brotherhood, when it comes out on July 15. Pick it up.

And you know, it gives me no pleasure to deliver tough news and unpleasant facts, but if you’re watching TheBlaze, I’m pretty sure you’d rather know what’s coming than not know. And you’re going to be just fine as a result.

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

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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.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

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.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

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The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

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Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.