Just Add Bacon? Here Are Some Simple Tricks to Making a Great Thanksgiving Turkey

How do you cook a turkey without drying it out? Doc and Chef Patrick swapped turkey-roasting tips in time for Thanksgiving on today’s show.

Something Doc has always wanted to try is making a bacon-wrapped turkey. In theory, wrapping the bird in bacon can help keep it moist if you do it properly. Chef Patrick explained why “tenting” is the trick to cooking your wrapped turkey while not completely drying out the bacon.

Want more Thanksgiving tips from Chef Patrick? Listen here for a simple, delicious stuffing recipe and more.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

DOC: This is the Glenn Beck Program. I'm Doc Thompson, in for Glenn today. Because Glenn is parts unknown, enjoying the time off on the holiday. We'll be with you on Friday as well. We're off tomorrow. Friday, we'll be with you. And don't forget, we're giving a free commercial with you. If you have a product, service, business you want to promote, you can't promote somebody else's -- not talking about something you found or discovered that's good. It has to be your business. We'll help you. Call up and give you roughly 60 seconds or so to promote it. If you're promoting a website, which, of course, you should have some sort of place you have -- (?) make sure you're prepared for a lot of people to click on it.

We've done this in the past, people have forgotten about that. And then you don't get the benefit. Be prepared Friday morning, during this broadcast. To call us up. 9:00 to noon Eastern, and we will put you on. If you have a Etsy (?) products or services, consider buying for $10 a domain name that is easy to remember. And then just forwarding that to your Facebook or your Etsy account. Because those get complicated to try to -- it's I sell bacon in favor of veterans plus soap on something with till day underscore. (?) it's a little hard to remember all that. Just do kal's website.com or something like that. And it will be easy to promote. Use the #buildingAmerica. You can start using that now on Twitter. And anybody you hear on the air, we'll tweet out a link in realtime, as they're like, okay. Here's my website. Here's what I do. So you can follow along that way.

And then after the fact, if you forget, oh, I want to find out -- what was that gun website they have? You can look it up later. If you don't get through, same thing. (?) people will begin to search through that as well. It's just something we like to do on Black Friday, promote capitalism, entrepreneurship, and hopefully encourage more and more people that in the coming years, you likely will not have one job that sustains you and your family. Glenn talks about this a lot. There will probably be multiple streams of income, making a little bit here and in respect and you'll just be charged with the task of finding a way.

VOICE: It's a gig economy.

DOC: It's a gig economy. It's a new world. Maybe you farm a little bit to take care of your produce news. You do this part-time job. That part-time job. Whatever. You have a side business. This is going to help you.

One of the hardest things today is to get promoted. One of the first -- one of the most significant things when starting a business is marketing. And yet, it's one of the things that people usually don't spend money on. So you have a great product and service, it's out there. It's ready to go. Nobody knows you're there. And if you're waiting for online, everybody else is doing, you know, social media now as well. So you're inundated. You won't break through. At least when you had a brick and martar (?) there's a new pizza place. Bob's TVs, or whatever it is. You're not seeing that now on the internet. Unless you find a way to break out, right?

VOICE: Absolutely. And that's one of the things I talk about to new businesses all the time. You may have an extremely unique product and a really great target audience, that's giant. That really needs your product. But you spend more on marketing, launching a product, than you do on product development and developing the name and everything. The brand. It's really difficult if you don't know what to do. And, again, we've talked about this before. This is a great format to get exposure, (?) to dial the number.

DOC: Oh. Do you know what it would cost, based on the reach of this broadcast? Millions of people. I mean -- I mean, it's worth it. But for the average person, if you don't have that money, while you're starting a business, if you don't have that capital to invest in -- I mean, it's an investment. It works. It's difficult for you, up front, to put that money out there. This is also a part of content. Where everybody wants that information. They're trying to hear products and services. They're happy to hear your business. So Friday morning. It's 888-727-BECK. Tell your friends and family right now. Dinner tomorrow. Say, listen, cousin Pete, you got that whatever business or whatever. (?) tomorrow morning he's going to give them free cherishes. You dial them up there. You can follow me on Twitter. @DocThompsonshow. I'll be promoting that tomorrow and Friday so you don't forget. Follow Glenn. It's at Glenn Beck. Two N's, by the way.

DOC: You'll give me (?) 60 seconds, Doc?

DOC: Yes, I will. I'll give you (?) business consultant. It's Patrick Mosher. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

PATRICK: Yeah, so I've been in the business about 29 years. The restaurant business.

DOC: Okay. Hold it right there. People don't know how to market. It's not 29. It's about 30. (?)

PATRICK: About 30. (?) is that a question?

DOC: So if it's 29. You say -- about when it's round numbers.

PATRICK: Yeah.

DOC: Like Kal is about 300 pounds. About. Right?

KAL: You know, give or take.

DOC: 100 pounds.

KAL: Forty or 60.

DOC: All right.

PATRICK: Yeah. During my career as a chef, I specialized in opening restaurants. I realized I have a real talent for that. And I went the consulting route about five years ago. Well, ten years officially. But five years full-time. And now I lend my expertise (?) looking to expand or improve their operations. And I try to bring a statistic approach to restaurants, that gives (?) that chains and large operators have in looking at their costs on a daily basis and understanding what they need. And (?)

DOC: Consults for nonfood industry businesses as well. Food industry. Go to foodbizpro.com. Foodbizpro.com. I'll tweet out a link.

All right. Let's talk turkey. Literally. These fads pop up from year to year. Some of them, the deep fried turkeys. And different ways to do turkey or whatever. Some of them work. Some of them are good. Some of them, maybe it's the effort is not really good at it. Turkey is pretty simple to cook. Sorry to let the cat out of the bag. (?) turkeys are pretty basic. Pretty simple to cook, right?

PATRICK: They are. Time, right? Twenty to 30 minutes per pound. Fifteen to 20 minutes per pound. And then a way to keep it moist. That's it.

DOC: And the moist would be either roasting pan. Basting.

PATRICK: Roasting bags.

DOC: You don't to have baste.

PATRICK: You may lose a little skin. (?) if you shake the flour in there, like the directions say, it really produces a moist (?)

DOC: You put the slits. That keeps it inflated. If you're worried about the skin. You can put a couple of toothpicks.

PATRICK: It allows some of the steam to escape. You're actually still roasting it in the bag. That picture -- what's that picture you have --

DOC: Okay. Here it is. One of the recent fads, and I have to ask you about this. Is a bacon-wrapped turkey. It's an intricate. (?) imagine you line up a dozen pieces of bacon one way, then a dozen piece the other way. And you weave it into like a basket pattern. You take that layer of bacon. Put it over the outside of the turkey. Wrapping it around. And roasting it like that. Is this a gimmick? Is this worth the effort? It looks awesome. (?)

VOICE: Do I dare suffer the wrath? The bacon wrath of Twitter.

DOC: Pat. (?)

PATRICK: I do love bacon.

DOC: Listen, you're either with us or against us.

PATRICK: I'm with you.

DOC: That's what I'm saying.

PATRICK: What's that website again? Celebrity apology.

VOICE: Generator.com.

DOC: Yeah. You're either with us or you're against us. There's no borderline with bacon.

PATRICK: It's just too much sometimes. After we we had this discussion last week about bacon and turkey, I actually was watching The Chew the other day. The television show. Which I don't watch very often. But I do like some of the recipes they come up with. And I saw them doing this. And, you know,it a good way to add (?) under the skin or inject it. Or season the heck out of the inside or the outside. I can see how this is a natural flavor enhancer. (?) it's rendering the fat from the breakon. It's not just dripping off. It's attached to the turkey. How can that not be a good thing?

DOC: Yeah, and it completely wraps around the turkey. So you have a natural way to keep the juice in. That works. Would the bacon become too crisp? Because I'll bake bacon sometimes. If I'm going to (?) 45 minutes or whatever it is to bake it up crisp like that, you're talking about a turkey that may be in the oven for three hours.

PATRICK: Yeah. What I would do is start out with it covered. Tent it with foil or the lid. (?) crisping the bacon. Maybe the last 30 to 45 minutes, remove that --

DOC: Will that keep it from crisping the bacon?

PATRICK: Yeah. Because it's keeping the steam inside.

DOC: All right. That was the first question I had. Now, part of the turkey would theoretically become a little bacon-flavored. And there's nothing wrong with that. It won't be enough (?) I would probably try a smoked bacon.

PATRICK: Yeah, I wouldn't use anything sweet like the apple wood smoked. Standard cured. (?) and if you don't like cured bacon because you don't like the sufficientlyitis. You can get uncured bacon. (?) it tastes like regular cured.

DOC: Let me pause and say, I've looked for uncured bacon and stuff. That doesn't have the nitrates. And even some without the sugar. And it is as good or better.

PATRICK: It's really good.

DOC: There's a couple of brands. But the one I know is Peter sons. (?)

PATRICK: Path Patterson or peter son.

DOC: You can probably find it out there. They have a really good product. It will be more expensive than bacon. But it is awesome. And it's going to be pretty healthy for you. You don't have to worry about the nitrates in there.

PATRICK: Yeah. And something about the antibacterial (?) it cures the bacon in almost the same manor. Now, is it really good as the an in-house. (?) it's a close second.

DOC: I love it. So if you use the smoked bacon and you wrap the bacon that way, that will work. As long as the (?) you still will be able to slice this off. Or you can have the turkey or bacon together. So that will work. What other potential problems? If you're taking the drippings at the bottom of the pan, you'll have a pretty strong bacon-flavored gravy.

PATRICK: Yeah. You may (?)

DOC: It could work.

PATRICK: It would work.

DOC: Just as long as you're okay with a strong bacon-flavored gravy.

PATRICK: And turkey gives off half a gallon or more of liquid when you're baking it. So there's a lot of liquid. The ratio of fat to -- if you skim the fat off like you spoke about in the morning show, you could skim the fat off. (?) from the actual juices. From the turkey. There's not a lot of liquid that comes out of the -- (?) it's just fat.

DOC: All right. Patrick, I've talked myself in. I've talked myself in. I may do a second (?) to try it, to test it out. I think I'm going to try it.

PATRICK: Grab a chicken.

DOC: Yeah, it would be cool with the turkey.

PATRICK: 12-pounder.

DOC: And we like the (?) do you think I weave it flat on the counter and then lift it up -- (?)

PATRICK: I would just do it on the counter. Drape it over the top. Tuck it under, so it's tight underneath. Then cut a hole where the cavity would be where you can put your onion --

DOC: Do you think (?) I think I'm avoiding the stuffing.

PATRICK: Not with traditional stuffing. Because you're not supposed to do that anyway. Because the internal of the bird. (?) the interior never reaches 165. Which is what kills the salmonella. But I would stuff it with celery. (?)

DOC: I like the idea of the bird cooking much faster. You have to cook it longer. (?) the bacon wouldn't crisp up as much. Let me get a quick break in. Doc Thompson in for Glenn Beck.

DOC: Lots of -- lots of tweets coming in @DocThompsonshow. I've tweeted out a couple of things. I've tweeted out a picture to the bacon-wrapped turkey. You can see that for yourself. It's @DocThompsonshow. And I think Patrick @foodbizpro just tweeted out a link to Petersen's bacon.

PATRICK: Yeah. It's sugar-free. (?)

DOC: Seventy-five dollars for color books! Do you know how much whisky you could buy with that?

VOICE: I know how many of a lot of things I can buy with that. (?)

DOC: Seventy-five dollars for coloring to help you relax, because you just gave me a stroke. (?)

KAL: And hemorrhoids.

DOC: Oh, my gosh. Jim just tweeted something that is either one of the funniest (?) you'll likely get a divorce. He suggested you wrap up those unused color books, give it to her as prevents.

(laughter)

KAL: I don't think that will be a very good idea.

(laughter)

DOC: I think you should do it. And film her opening it up. You to do that.

Let's see here. Just tuned in to at Glenn Beck show. I swear I was listening (?) cooking my turkey, sorry. Yes, but you say that like it's a bad thing. It's not a butterball hotline. We don't just say butterballs. You know. Let's see, Wesley tweeting, turkey in a bag, 220 (?) no carving required.

22 hours. That seems long. 220 degrees. Is that a joke? I don't know.

JEFFY: 200 tent is smoking temperature (?)

DOC: All right. Have yourself a happy Thanksgiving. My best wishes to you and your family. I hope you will take a moment and count your blessings. I think that's the key to the future. And make sure to make your plans now to join us Friday morning on the morning Blaze.

From Pharaoh to Hamas: The same spirit of evil, new disguise

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

The drone footage out of Gaza isn’t just war propaganda — it’s a glimpse of the same darkness that once convinced men they were righteous for killing innocents.

Evil introduces itself subtly. It doesn’t announce, “Hi, I’m here to destroy you.” It whispers. It flatters. It borrows the language of justice, empathy, and freedom, twisting them until hatred sounds righteous and violence sounds brave.

We are watching that same deception unfold again — in the streets, on college campuses, and in the rhetoric of people who should know better. It’s the oldest story in the world, retold with new slogans.

Evil wins when good people mirror its rage.

A drone video surfaced this week showing Hamas terrorists staging the “discovery” of a hostage’s body. They pushed a corpse out of a window, dragged it into a hole, buried it, and then called in aid workers to “find” what they themselves had planted. It was theater — evil, disguised as victimhood. And it was caught entirely on camera.

That’s how evil operates. It never comes in through the front door. It sneaks in, often through manipulative pity. The same spirit animates the moral rot spreading through our institutions — from the halls of universities to the chambers of government.

Take Zohran Mamdani, a New York assemblyman who has praised jihadists and defended pro-Hamas agitators. His father, a Columbia University professor, wrote that America and al-Qaeda are morally equivalent — that suicide bombings shouldn’t be viewed as barbaric. Imagine thinking that way after watching 3,000 Americans die on 9/11. That’s not intellectualism. That’s indoctrination.

Often, that indoctrination comes from hostile foreign actors, peddled by complicit pawns on our own soil. The pro-Hamas protests that erupted across campuses last year, for example, were funded by Iran — a regime that murders its own citizens for speaking freely.

Ancient evil, new clothes

But the deeper danger isn’t foreign money. It’s the spiritual blindness that lets good people believe resentment is justice and envy is discernment. Scripture talks about the spirit of Amalek — the eternal enemy of God’s people, who attacks the weak from behind while the strong look away. Amalek never dies; it just changes its vocabulary and form with the times.

Today, Amalek tweets. He speaks through professors who defend terrorism as “anti-colonial resistance.” He preaches from pulpits that call violence “solidarity.” And he recruits through algorithms, whispering that the Jews control everything, that America had it coming, that chaos is freedom. Those are ancient lies wearing new clothes.

When nations embrace those lies, it’s not the Jews who perish first. It’s the nations themselves. The soul dies long before the body. The ovens of Auschwitz didn’t start with smoke; they started with silence and slogans.

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

A time for choosing

So what do we do? We speak truth — calmly, firmly, without venom. Because hatred can’t kill hatred; it only feeds it. Truth, compassion, and courage starve it to death.

Evil wins when good people mirror its rage. That’s how Amalek survives — by making you fight him with his own weapons. The only victory that lasts is moral clarity without malice, courage without cruelty.

The war we’re fighting isn’t new. It’s the same battle between remembrance and amnesia, covenant and chaos, humility and pride. The same spirit that whispered to Pharaoh, to Hitler, and to every mob that thought hatred could heal the world is whispering again now — on your screens, in your classrooms, in your churches.

Will you join it, or will you stand against it?

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Bill Gates ends climate fear campaign, declares AI the future ruler

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The Big Tech billionaire once said humanity must change or perish. Now he claims we’ll survive — just as elites prepare total surveillance.

For decades, Americans have been told that climate change is an imminent apocalypse — the existential threat that justifies every intrusion into our lives, from banning gas stoves to rationing energy to tracking personal “carbon scores.”

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped lead that charge. He warned repeatedly that the “climate disaster” would be the greatest crisis humanity would ever face. He invested billions in green technology and demanded the world reach net-zero emissions by 2050 “to avoid catastrophe.”

The global contest is no longer over barrels and pipelines — it is over who gets to flip the digital switch.

Now, suddenly, he wants everyone to relax: Climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise” after all.

Gates was making less of a scientific statement and more of a strategic pivot. When elites retire a crisis, it’s never because the threat is gone — it’s because a better one has replaced it. And something else has indeed arrived — something the ruling class finds more useful than fear of the weather.The same day Gates downshifted the doomsday rhetoric, Amazon announced it would pay warehouse workers $30 an hour — while laying off 30,000 people because artificial intelligence will soon do their jobs.

Climate panic was the warm-up. AI control is the main event.

The new currency of power

The world once revolved around oil and gas. Today, it revolves around the electricity demanded by server farms, the chips that power machine learning, and the data that can be used to manipulate or silence entire populations. The global contest is no longer over barrels and pipelines — it is over who gets to flip the digital switch. Whoever controls energy now controls information. And whoever controls information controls civilization.

Climate alarmism gave elites a pretext to centralize power over energy. Artificial intelligence gives them a mechanism to centralize power over people. The future battles will not be about carbon — they will be about control.

Two futures — both ending in tyranny

Americans are already being pushed into what look like two opposing movements, but both leave the individual powerless.

The first is the technocratic empire being constructed in the name of innovation. In its vision, human work will be replaced by machines, and digital permissions will subsume personal autonomy.

Government and corporations merge into a single authority. Your identity, finances, medical decisions, and speech rights become access points monitored by biometric scanners and enforced by automated gatekeepers. Every step, purchase, and opinion is tracked under the noble banner of “efficiency.”

The second is the green de-growth utopia being marketed as “compassion.” In this vision, prosperity itself becomes immoral. You will own less because “the planet” requires it. Elites will redesign cities so life cannot extend beyond a 15-minute walking radius, restrict movement to save the Earth, and ration resources to curb “excess.” It promises community and simplicity, but ultimately delivers enforced scarcity. Freedom withers when surviving becomes a collective permission rather than an individual right.

Both futures demand that citizens become manageable — either automated out of society or tightly regulated within it. The ruling class will embrace whichever version gives them the most leverage in any given moment.

Climate panic was losing its grip. AI dependency — and the obedience it creates — is far more potent.

The forgotten way

A third path exists, but it is the one today’s elites fear most: the path laid out in our Constitution. The founders built a system that assumes human beings are not subjects to be monitored or managed, but moral agents equipped by God with rights no government — and no algorithm — can override.

Hesham Elsherif / Stringer | Getty Images

That idea remains the most “disruptive technology” in history. It shattered the belief that people need kings or experts or global committees telling them how to live. No wonder elites want it erased.

Soon, you will be told you must choose: Live in a world run by machines or in a world stripped down for planetary salvation. Digital tyranny or rationed equality. Innovation without liberty or simplicity without dignity.

Both are traps.

The only way

The only future worth choosing is the one grounded in ordered liberty — where prosperity and progress exist alongside moral responsibility and personal freedom and human beings are treated as image-bearers of God — not climate liabilities, not data profiles, not replaceable hardware components.

Bill Gates can change his tune. The media can change the script. But the agenda remains the same.

They no longer want to save the planet. They want to run it, and they expect you to obey.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why the White House restoration sent the left Into panic mode

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Presidents have altered the White House for decades, yet only Donald Trump is treated as a vandal for privately funding the East Wing’s restoration.

Every time a president so much as changes the color of the White House drapes, the press clutches its pearls. Unless the name on the stationery is Barack Obama’s, even routine restoration becomes a national outrage.

President Donald Trump’s decision to privately fund upgrades to the White House — including a new state ballroom — has been met with the usual chorus of gasps and sneers. You’d think he bulldozed Monticello.

If a Republican preserves beauty, it’s vandalism. If a Democrat does the same, it’s ‘visionary.’

The irony is that presidents have altered and expanded the White House for more than a century. President Franklin D. Roosevelt added the East and West Wings in the middle of the Great Depression. Newspapers accused him of building a palace while Americans stood in breadlines. History now calls it “vision.”

First lady Nancy Reagan faced the same hysteria. Headlines accused her of spending taxpayer money on new china “while Americans starved.” In truth, she raised private funds after learning that the White House didn’t have enough matching plates for state dinners. She took the ridicule and refused to pass blame.

“I’m a big girl,” she told her staff. “This comes with the job.” That was dignity — something the press no longer recognizes.

A restoration, not a renovation

Trump’s project is different in every way that should matter. It costs taxpayers nothing. Not a cent. The president and a few friends privately fund the work. There’s no private pool or tennis court, no personal perks. The additions won’t even be completed until after he leaves office.

What’s being built is not indulgence — it’s stewardship. A restoration of aging rooms, worn fixtures, and century-old bathrooms that no longer function properly in the people’s house. Trump has paid for cast brass doorknobs engraved with the presidential seal, restored the carpets and moldings, and ensured that the architecture remains faithful to history.

The media’s response was mockery and accusations of vanity. They call it “grotesque excess,” while celebrating billion-dollar “climate art” projects and funneling hundreds of millions into activist causes like the No Kings movement. They lecture America on restraint while living off the largesse of billionaires.

The selective guardians of history

Where was this sudden reverence for history when rioters torched St. John’s Church — the same church where every president since James Madison has worshipped? The press called it an “expression of grief.”

Where was that reverence when mobs toppled statues of Washington, Jefferson, and Grant? Or when first lady Melania Trump replaced the Rose Garden’s lawn with a patio but otherwise followed Jackie Kennedy’s original 1962 plans in the garden’s restoration? They called that “desecration.”

If a Republican preserves beauty, it’s vandalism. If a Democrat does the same, it’s “visionary.”

The real desecration

The people shrieking about “historic preservation” care nothing for history. They hate the idea that something lasting and beautiful might be built by hands they despise. They mock craftsmanship because it exposes their own cultural decay.

The White House ballroom is not a scandal — it’s a mirror. And what it reflects is the media’s own pettiness. The ruling class that ridicules restoration is the same class that cheered as America’s monuments fell. Its members sneer at permanence because permanence condemns them.

Julia Beverly / Contributor | Getty Images

Trump’s improvements are an act of faith — in the nation’s symbols, its endurance, and its worth. The outrage over a privately funded renovation says less about him than it does about the journalists who mistake destruction for progress.

The real desecration isn’t happening in the East Wing. It’s happening in the newsrooms that long ago tore up their own foundation — truth — and never bothered to rebuild it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Trump’s secret war in the Caribbean EXPOSED — It’s not about drugs

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The president’s moves in Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia aren’t about drugs. They’re about re-establishing America’s sovereignty across the Western Hemisphere.

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

PEDRO MATTEY / Contributor | Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.