Off The Record with Kathie Lee Gifford

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Over the last several months, Glenn has emphasized the importance of bringing together individuals who share the same goals and unifying principles so that we can learn from one another. GlennBeck.com is working to fulfill that goal by sitting down with some of the most interesting minds to give you an inside look at who they are and what they are working on.

Television host, writer, singer, actress, and philanthropist Kathie Lee Gifford spoke to GlennBeck.com assistant editor Meg Storm about how her faith has influenced her storied career, her extensive charity work, and why people might be surprised to learn she is “dead serious” 95% of the time.

Below is a transcript of the interview:

Hi, Kathie Lee! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.

Hello! How are things with TheBlaze team? Glenn is in my prayers.

I know he appreciates that. We are doing an interview series for GlennBeck.com that highlights interesting people –

I will try to be interesting for you then!

(Laughs) So I just have a few questions about your career and some of the projects you are working on.

Alright, honey. Shoot!

Did you always know you wanted to be in the entertainment industry?

Yes, I never had any doubt from my earliest memory. I did have legitimate doubts about whether I’d be able to do it. I came from a family in Maryland. My father had been a jazz saxophonist. My mom loved singing. But that was the extent of our show business experience. My dad had three jobs at once, so we certainly didn’t have the means to underwrite a career for me.

And I also thought, when I was a little older, that my personal faith would be a hindrance to having success in the industry because I knew there would be many things I would have to say no to based on my faith. And that has turned out to be definitely true, but also a great blessing. I was never tempted to do some of the things other actresses or singers might do just to make a living. I treated God the same way some people treat a manager or an agent. I always knew God was in control of my life and sovereign over all my decisions. So what looked like it might be a disadvantage was a tremendous advantage.

People used to say to me when I was growing up, ‘How can you call yourself a Christian and be in show business?’ And I used to say, ‘How can I be in show business and not be one?’ The rejection is unbelievable. The temptations are huge. Once you get success, you think you deserve it or you earned it. It’s constant. And the one thing God does is keep you grounded and keep your perspective right.

You have covered everything in the industry from writing to theater to television to singing. Was there one thing when you were younger that stood out as what you thought you would be doing?

I love to think that I have done everything in this business except for porn.

(Laughs)

And that’s only because I have had no offers!

You know, I don’t try to re-invent myself. I am in my fifth decade of a career. I just turned 60, and I started singing when I was about 12. I am grateful I had an interest in lots of different things.

My daddy used to say when I was a little girl, ‘Find something you love to do and then figure out a way to get paid for it.’ I have probably given out that advice a thousand times to other people because he was right in that if you find what you are passionate about in life and follow it, you are going to be a happier person in general. You may not have success the way the world defines success. But you will have success at a deeper level. You will love what you do. It was Confucius who said, ‘Happy is the man who loves what he does so much he never has to work’ – because it doesn’t seem like work.

In my case, an audience can tell when a performer is having a good time, enjoying themselves, and being authentic. I have been able to do that for 15 years with Regis [Philbin]. I have done that in my live performance career. Even when I was an actress, I always felt a freedom because I was grounded in the Word of God. I know that sounds weird, but if you let the Lord define you, you are less inclined to believe any critic, any cruel person, any director. You believe what God says, and you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

You have always been so candid about you background, your personal life, and your faith. Did you ever worry if being so open would close any doors for you?

I was always concerned about the opposite – that I would somehow betray the Lord by not being open about my faith. I have always wanted to be bold about my faith because I am not ashamed of the Lord. It’s not that I am proud. I am just grateful for what he’s done for me, for his presence in my life everyday. So it’s a boldness born of great gratitude for what he has done for me and what he will do for me before this day is through. First of all, never leaving me or forsaking me. How many times in life do people feel rejected or abandoned? With the Lord holding you with his victorious right hand, that’s not an issue. You know where your strength comes from.

Nehemiah 8:10 says, ‘The joy of the Lord is my strength.’

Another in Psalm says, ‘I love you Lord. You are my strength.’

Philippians 4:13: ‘I can do all things through Christ my strength.’

I just call on all those Scriptures, and they are there for me in an instance. In the mentioning of them it’s there. It’s reality.

You spent, as you mentioned, 15 years on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. And you have been a co-host on the fourth hour of TODAY for several years. Do you feel at home on morning television?

Yeah, I do. It just came naturally to me. It wasn’t something I was looking for. It’s one of those things in life. I thought I had my career all mapped out for me. I was living in California for 15 years as an actress and a singer when I got the call to come to New York and be a correspondent for Good Morning America, which is where I met Frank [Gifford]. But it was while I was at Good Morning America the position became available to be Regis’ co-host. And I was a big fan of Regis’ from L.A. before, and I knew I would have fun with him. I had never been real comfortable with reading a teleprompter. Unless I was an actress reading someone’s words as a character, I prefer to use my own words. So it came naturally to me.

Regis is such a ping pong player in the best sense of the word. Whatever I threw at him, he threw right back. That’s what makes for great TV – someone who really comes to play.

Absolutely.

And Regis, more than almost anyone I can think of, came to play everyday. Jimmy Fallon reminds me of him now. Jimmy Kimmel does. Different young performers – I am trying to think if anyone else comes to mind – but they are always up for anything. They never plan what they are going to say next; they let it happen. Billy Crystal is like that. Howie Mandel. They let life happen as opposed to trying to control it. If you want to be really good at what you do on television: Trust your instincts, let it happen, and go with the flow.

Of all the time you’ve spent on TV – the moments you’ve had, the interviews you’ve have done – is there a particular moment or interview that really stands out?

I will never forget the very first interview I ever did at Good Morning America was with Paul Newman. And he ended up becoming a friend through the years, and I ended up working with him on his Newman’s Own line for the Hole in the Wall Gang charity that he had. I remember being deeply, deeply touched by this guy who could be home counting his awards, chasing women, eating foie gras out in the Caribbean or Riviera on a yacht. But he never – to the day he died – stopped thinking about the people he could help.

The other person was Audrey Hepburn. I met her right before she died. No one knew at the time, but she had colon cancer. She had just flown in from Ethiopia the night before. She was on my show with Regis. Frank happened to be hosting with me that day because Regis was off. And I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful person I had seen in my life. She was older then and ravaged by a disease that nobody had mentioned yet. She was certainly not in what the world would call her ‘prime.’ But I thought she was the most beautiful human being I had ever seen.

What those two had in common – again, very similar – was they understood the power of celebrity to be used to make the world a better place. And I always wanted to be that person. If God would bless me with fame and with fortune, I would be that person for whom it was never for my own fame or my own fortune. But it was for God, to be used for his kingdom.

That’s actually a great segue. Can you talk a little bit about all of the charity work you do?

I have always been an advocate for children. When I was about 8- or 9-years-old, I had what they call a carnival in my backyard to benefit muscular dystrophy. I remember I raised $58.52, and I ended up winning a contest of who could raise the most that week for muscular dystrophy. I ended up going on channel 5 in Washington D.C. and sitting on a clown’s lap. It was a clown named Captain Tug, but it was Willard Scott playing Captain Tug. So I was about 9-years-old the first time I went on television, and Willard and I have had a lifelong friendship as a result of that.

That just started my work with all kinds of children’s charities. I work with Childhelp battling child abuse. I work with an amazing man named Gary Haugen at the International Justice Mission, who does amazing work all over the world – everything from trying to rescue 5-year-old Cambodian girls from brothels to helping widows in Ethiopia and Kenya who had their land taken from them. I also love Salvation Army. And we have two homes here in New York that we have had since the early 90s – Cody House and Cassidy’s Place [named for her children].

In the early 90s, when pediatric AIDS was such a problem, babies were being born with HIV and full blown AIDS. When I held my first HIV baby in my arms, I held my newborn son – who was three months old at the time – in my other arm. And I just thought about the injustice of it. I never got over the injustice of that. That baby died within a year.

This amazing woman named Gretchen Buchenholz here in New York City started something called the Association to Benefit Children. They ended up renaming the little house we dedicated that day Cody’s House. Several years later, when mothers were getting cocktails – and not the kind that Hoda enjoys – of the three drugs, they discovered women went from a 40% chance of having an HIV positive baby to less than 8%.

Wow.

The Association to Benefit Children sued the state of New York to unblind HIV testing of pregnant mothers. It’s a complicated subject. But, at the time, the CDC was tracking the disease, but they weren’t telling the mother or the mother’s doctor if she was HIV positive. As a result, all of these babies were being born to suffer and die. So we sued the state of New York to unblind HIV testing.

I happened to sit next to [former New York] Governor [George] Pataki at a dinner in the Hamptons one summer night – here’s the man we are all suing. For two hours I had him as a captive audience. I was able to share with him the work that we were doing at ABC and what we knew about what could happen to a woman in utero. And he said three things to me, Meghan, that I had never heard a politician say:

1. He said, ‘I didn’t know this.’

2. He said, ‘We are on the wrong side of this issue.’

3. He said, ‘I am going to do something about this.’

I came away from that meeting encouraged, but I have been around enough politicians to know that the chance of anybody following through on what they say to you is pretty nil – even then. This is many years ago. Within one month, he mandated the unblinding of HIV testing in the state of New York. And one year from then was the first time the AIDS death rate went down in New York, and that is because the AIDS birth rate went down. Soon after that, every state mandated the unblinding of HIV testing. So this courageous man changed the world. He really did. He gets no credit for it, and it makes me crazy. But once in while, politicians do the right thing. He and I bonded over that. I have been very grateful to him – and the whole world should be very grateful to him – for that.

So I get involved in things like that when it comes to children, you know?

That’s a remarkable story.

Yeah, that’s one the press never likes to tell.

Honestly, I have lived in New York my whole life and never heard the details of that.

Nope. We were standing in the garden of Cody House the day he mandated the unblinding, and I heard people out on the street yelling, ‘Governor Pataki, we’ve got rights too.’ And somebody had bussed up homeless people for a couple of bucks to yell that to get coverage on the evening news. And I just thought: Who is against innocent babies being helped? They have never had unprotected sex. They have never had an intravenous drug put in their arm. They have only been born. That’s it.

I hate the suffering of anyone who has HIV or AIDS. I hate the suffering of any human being. But these little ones – there was something we could do about it. It was something we could do instantly. It was wrong not to. Governor Pataki realized that and did the right thing.

Switching topics a little bit, you launched your podcast last year. I know Glenn did one with you.

He did it with me in Dallas. We had a ball!

What has that process been like? Is it different than what you’ve done on TV?

You know, what I like so much about it is that it’s long form. Daily television is just sound bites – a little longer than a sound bite. You get three and half or four minutes at the most with somebody. And sometimes I am grateful for that. If it happens to be with reality stars, I thank the Lord it is only four minutes.

(Laughs)

But when it is with people who are fascinating – whether I agree with them or not – I love a good debate. I love going into a lot more depth with somebody. I think it is a lot more respectful. I am enjoying it in that respect very much.

Editor’s Note: Learn more about Kathie Lee’s podcast, Kathie Lee & Company, HERE.

Over the last several years, you have interviewed Glenn a few times. How did you two first meet?

I think we first met when he had the Snow Angel book coming out, and NBC wanted to do an interview with him at his studios in New York. And he said, ‘I’d be happy to, but I want Kathie Lee to do the interview.’ I was honored. Anytime someone requests me I am honored. I think that was the first time we met.

Oh, he was also here another time before that, and I made a point to go tell him that I appreciated all he did to educate on our Constitution, on our Founding Fathers. I am a huge admirer of our Founding Fathers and our Constitution. I am a Constitutionalist. I think our Founding Fathers were anointed of God when they wrote our earlier laws, and our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights. It is sacred to me. And the only place I had ever heard anyone else talking about that was Glenn. And I always admired the stance he took, and I loved every time David Barton was on with Wall Builders. Oh, I am like a sieve – I just couldn’t get enough.

No, he was talking about things you don’t hear a lot about. It’s not taught in history textbooks –

It’s not in any of out history books! Or lies are spread – sort of PC lies.

Yeah, so it just took courage for him to do what he did and what he continues to do. I don’t always agree with Glenn on everything. I don’t agree with anyone on everything – except for Jesus. But I admire anybody who takes an impassioned stance on what they believe – even if it is against what I believe. It takes courage, and I respect it when people do.

Is there anything people would be surprised to learn about you?

I think people would be surprised that I am basically 5% silly and 95% dead serious. I am a very serious person. I take my writing very seriously. I take my parenting seriously, my faith very seriously.

My favorite thing in the whole world to do is study Scripture. I want to know what the original Greek meant, the original Hebrew, so I go to Israel. I study with a Christian man – though he got he orthodox rabbinical degree from Yeshiva University in New York – because I want to know what the Bible really said… not how it has been mistranslated and miscommunicated over the centuries. What the original Hebrew and original Greek mean – that is the beginning of wisdom right there, baby.

Do you have any upcoming projects you would like to talk about?

Well, I just launched a wine product that I am really excited about. Finally! My daddy said, ‘Do something you love…’

(Laughs)

It’s called Gifft Wines. It’s a chardonnay and a red blend that we are just launching this week and very excited about.

There are some other projects that I can’t announce right now, but they are in the musical theater arena. It will be pretty evident pretty soon, I hope. But I can’t announce it yet.

And I am working on a book that will benefit Salvation Army. All of the anchors at NBC have been asked to do a project this year called Shine a Light, so I am doing a books called Good Gifts that is basically one year in the heart of a home. It is the 20th anniversary living in our home – the house I raised my children in. We moved in on my daughter’s first birthday, and she will turn 21 on August 2. So we have been chronicling with recipes, and Scriptures, and memories, and song lyrics this year. Hopefully that will be out in time for the holidays and all profits will go to Salvation Army.

That’s so special!

So I have got a full plate!

You absolutely do. I have a couple of very quick questions. You can literally give one-word answers. It’s a little ‘lightening round’ we like to do to get some insight into your favorite things.

Ok.

What’s your favorite book?

It’s the Bible.

What’s your favorite movie?

I loved Braveheart. Talk about taking a position that costs you dearly. I love stories like that. I loved Funny Girl. It had a huge impact on my career. I loved Les Misérables. Hugh Jackman is my favorite performer on the planet. I love everything he does. Those three movies I’d say are my favorite.

Favorite TV show?

Well, I guess it’s got to be the TODAY show with Hoda and Kathie Lee. Other than that, I really don’t watch television. I loved I Love Lucy when I was growing up. I loved The Carol Burnett Show. I loved The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I love that kind of brilliantly written, brilliantly acted sitcom. Those just kill me.

What’s your favorite place to visit?

Besides Israel, it’s definitely Italy. A year without a trip to Italy – there is something missing for me. But I go to Israel for my soul. I go to Italy for my wellbeing. If I had to choose one place, it would be Israel.

Do you have a favorite music artist?

Ah! I have too many that I adore. Barbra Streisand had a huge impact on me as a young singer. I adore Carole King and James Taylor. Who do I like today? I like Sara Bareilles. I think she is fantastic – a brilliant, brilliant songwriter/singer and a good person. I still think Celine [Dion] sings better than anyone on the planet.

To me, Tapestry and Sweet Baby James will always be mine. And Barbra’s first CD – My Name is Barbra I think it was called. And her Broadway album too because my favorite song – outside the ones I have written – is the [Stephen] Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein song from West Side Story called "Somewhere" that David Foster produced for Streisand on her Broadway album. If you want musical perfection that’s it, baby, right there.

And do you have a favorite Broadway show?

Yep, the one I wrote with my favorite composers David Friedman and David Pomeranz. It didn’t last very long on Broadway, but it’s available through my website. It’s called Scandalous. It took my 13 years to write it and bring it to Broadway. And although it didn’t last very long, I wouldn’t have missed that journey for anything in the world. I still hear from people all the time that it changed their life. So whatever God had planned for it – even though it was brief – was profound in people’s lives. And I am so grateful for that.

That is all that matters. Kathie Lee, it has been such an honor to talk to you. Thank you again.

Thank you, Meghan! Give my love to Glenn. And you have an awesome day.

--

Don’t miss Kathie Lee on the fourth hour of TODAY, weekdays on NBC. You can learn more about her podcast and other projects by visiting her website KathieLeeGifford.com.

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

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

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

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

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.