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Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2023-02-06

February 06, 2023
Chris Brady
No guests slated for today's show. Subject to change.

 CB, RR, JB, SK, BM, SB

Chinese Spy Balloon...

Biden Tries To Take Victory Lap For Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon, Gets Slammed By Top Officials
“From the Southern border to Afghanistan and, now, Chinese surveillance directly above our homes and sensitive military installations, this President shows he is not interested in protecting American interests.”

Trump blasts Biden's response to China balloon
"The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show, and everything else surrounding the grossly incompetent Biden Administration. They are only good at cheating in elections, and disinformation," Trump wrote.

Biden Admin Tried To Conceal Chinese Spy Balloon To Not Disrupt Blinken Trip: Report
Bloomberg News reported that U.S. officials were “well aware” that the balloon had crossed into American airspace and that it was over Idaho on Tuesday, but decided to not inform the public to not upend Blinken’s diplomatic trip to China.

Report: Biden Official Admits US Previously Unaware of Chinese Spy Balloons that Flew During Trump Admin
A Biden official confirmed that the United States was unaware of the Chinese spy balloons that flew over the United States during the Trump administration until after he left office.

China doubles down on its spy balloon story by firing national weather service chief
Beijing announced Zhuang Guotai's firing Saturday, hours before the U.S. shot down the craft off the coast of South Carolina.

Balloons called top ‘delivery platform’ for nuclear EMP attack
High-altitude balloons, such as the one China has floated over mountain state military bases this week, are considered a key “delivery platform” for secret nuclear strikes on America’s electric grid, according to intelligence officials.

Timeline: A suspected Chinese spy balloon’s eight-day journey
On Saturday, Biden finally gave the order to have the U.S. military shoot down the balloon after it had already completed its journey across the U.S. The military used an F-22 Raptor to do the job.

Former Clinton Defense Secretary Cohen: Inspect Chinese Balloon for ‘Biological Component’
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, also a former Republican U.S. Senator from Maine, said the Chinese balloon should be taken down and inspected to determine if there is a “biological component” that could pose a threat.

Domestic News...

Judge: Banning guns for marijuana users unconstitutional
A federal judge in Oklahoma has ruled that a federal law prohibiting people who use marijuana from owning firearms is unconstitutional.

ATF Form 4473: Firearms Transaction Record Revisions
Significant changes in the Revised Form are noted.

Murdered GOP lawmaker was shot 7 times in the head
Pastor Nelia Rodriguez, a friend of the victim, said Dwumfour’s shooting was a targeted "personal attack."

Fatherless children, dangerous cities: Numbers confirm deep roots of urban crime epidemic
High rates of crime, single-parent homes largely overlap, data confirms.

Doctor cycling on Pacific Coast Highway is mowed down by Lexus then stabbed to death
Witnesses say the suspect was holding a BB gun when he approached the victim, a married father of two, and was screaming racial slurs about "white privilege."

The top 15 most affordable U.S. cities for people who want to live alone
Albuquerque, New Mexico, ranks as the most affordable city in the country for single renters.

Legislation curtailing right turns on red lights introduced to Washington legislature
If passed, Washington would be the first state in the nation to significantly roll back the right of drivers to turn right at red lights.

Politics...

NY Times: For Biden, a Chance for a Fresh Start in a New Era of Divided Government
The president plans to use his first State of the Union address since Republicans took control of the House to call for bipartisan cooperation.

WaPo-ABC News poll: Trump Takes Lead over Biden on Eve of State of the Union Address
Trump, at 48%, leads Biden's 45% by 3%. One percent said they would vote for someone else, 3% said they would not vote for either Trump or Biden, 2% said they would not vote, and 1% had no opinion.

WaPo-ABC News Poll: Highest Number of Americans In Four Decades Say They’re Worse Off Under Biden
The poll found that four in 10 Americans say their financial situation has gotten worse since Biden took office, which is “the most in ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 37 years.”

Koch Network Vows to Oppose Trump in Republican Presidential Primary
“The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles. And the American people are rejecting them,” the memo states.

Buttigieg Says You ‘Can’t Argue’ When It Comes To Biden’s Accomplishments
“At the end of the day, you can’t argue with the extraordinary accomplishments, more than almost any other modern president, that President Biden achieved, again, under the toughest of circumstances.”

Democrats move first presidential primary to South Carolina to prioritize non-white voters
Biden lost the Iowa caucus is embarrassing fashion and demanded the first Democrat primary be moved to what is considered the safest state for him in case he's primaried.

Democrats See Chance To Flip Mississippi Governorship Blue
Only 33% of Mississippians would vote to reelect Republican Governor Tate Reeves, while 57% would vote for his opponent, according to a Mississippi Today/Sienna College poll.

Economy / ESG...

Everyone’s talking about the new tipping culture — here’s what money experts say
What was once a question of etiquette is becoming for many Americans a question of affordability.

Border...

Report: Over 800K Border Crossers Freed into US Without Court Dates Since Biden Took Office
The figure details the extent to which the agency released hundreds of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. interior without court dates.

WAR News... 

Who Benefits From Our Prolonged Financing Of The Ukraine War?
America’s open checkbook for Ukraine is more likely to produce a long war than a swiftly decisive outcome. Three groups favor a long war in Ukraine: Vladimir Putin, the global industrial defense complex, and China.

Zelensky’s Party Says It Will Move to Replace Defense Minister
The expected move against Oleksii Reznikov comes amid a widening corruption scandal, although he was not implicated in wrongdoing.

NY Times: Fears of Russian Nuclear Weapons Use Have Diminished, but Could Reemerge
Nearly a year into the war in Ukraine, U.S. policymakers and intelligence analysts have more confidence that they understand at least some of President Vladimir V. Putin’s red lines.

China media: US' supply of long-range rockets pushes Russia-Ukraine conflict toward 'a nuclear threat'
The implication of these long-range arms is that Ukraine will have the ability to carry out attacks deeper into Russian territory.

Russia will reportedly test launch a Tsirkon hypersonic missile during war games with China, South Africa
The missile is allegedly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and cruising at speeds up to Mach 9.

Defense Department successfully test-fires hypersonic missile
The Lockheed Martin missile again flew at speeds greater than Mach 5, higher than 60,000 feet, and farther than 300 nautical miles.

COVID-19...

Children more than 100 times less likely to die from COVID than adults, study finds
Children account for less than 0.15% of all COVID deaths in the United States, according to official data.

Children Lost One-Third of a Year of Learning During the Pandemic, Analysis Finds
"The COVID-19 learning deficit is likely to affect children's life chances through their education and labour market prospects," the analysis' authors argue.

How a DHS whistleblower was silenced over early COVID failures
In January 2020, the senior scientist in the Department’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office began imploring the DHS to aggressively respond to the threat he believed COVID-19 posed to the nation.

Feds: Miami woman paid for Bentley, cosmetic work with fraudulent COVID loans
Daniela Rendon, 31, received $381K in fraudulently obtained funds, prosecutors say.

Commie Update...

CIA Director William Burns: 'I wouldn't underestimate' Xi's ambitions for Taiwan
Intelligence shows Xi Jinping has instructed his country's army to be "ready by 2027 to conduct a successful invasion" of Taiwan.

Chinese students running distribution for drug cartels: Former DEA official
"So that's enabling the cartels to do more business. Chemicals are coming in, money's flowing, kids are dying. That's a perfect strategic plan for China."

Entertainment...

‘Rust’ Director Joel Souza Will Testify for Prosecution in Alec Baldwin Trial
Filmmaker was wounded by a stray bullet from a gun fired by Baldwin.

Bill Maher Roasts Woke Revolutionaries
“If you’re part of today’s woke revolution, you need to study the part of revolutions where they spin out of control because the revolutionaries get so drunk on their purifying elixir, they imagine they can reinvent the very nature of human beings,” Maher said.

Dave Chappelle Wins for ‘The Closer’ Despite Transgender Backlash
Chappelle won on a night when the Grammys celebrated transgenderism and gender non-conformity with an appearance by trans dancer Jayla Rose Sullivan and references to Harry Styles’ cross-dressing.

Media...

The Most Clownish Takes About The Laptop Hunter Biden Admits Was His
Here are some of the statements that aged the worst.

Getting Trump Was More Important to Some Journalists Than Getting the Story Right
The botched pursuit of the Russiagate story illustrates how the media shed credibility.

What happens when the government dictates media access
In early October 2022, residents of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District gathered outside a gated-off facility in the city’s industrial south end. Inside, members of the media were invited to tour what would become an expanded shelter and service space for the county’s swelling homeless population.

Canada...

Catholic school suspends teen for stating there are only 2 genders, protesting boys in girls' bathrooms
A student has reportedly been suspended by a Catholic high school for the remainder of the school year for believing that God created two genders and protesting against transgender students using girls' bathrooms.

Europe...

Italy's Internet Restored After Nationwide Outage; Reports Of Global Ransomware Attack
Reuters pointed out that the cyberattack and Italy's internet outage "were not believed to be related."

Environment...

Making the Entire US Car Fleet Electric Could Cause Lithium Shortages
Converting the existing U.S. car fleet to electric vehicles would require more lithium than the world currently produces, showing the need to move away from private cars as a primary means of travel.

The Atlantic Writer: I Bought a CO2 Monitor, and It Broke Me
I didn’t shell out the $250 for the CO2 monitor until I learned about the health risks of gas stoves and indoor air pollution.

LGBTQIA2S+...

I’m an ex-banker ‘genderless dragon’ — now my son won’t talk to me
“At the time when I started my transformation, my son had already turned 16, and he rejected me at that point in my life.”

Education...

Axios: Utah schools could be required to tout 'superior' US capitalism
Teachers would have to "explain why free market systems are superior and have made America the most free and prosperous country in the world" under new standards proposed for financial literacy courses.

The Majority Of America’s Top-Ranked Colleges Will Be Led By A Woman Or Person Of Color This Fall
The new leadership profile has emerged following a spate of presidential resignations, retirements, and replacements at prestigious universities during the past 18 months.

Harvard is shutting down project that studied social media misinformation
The school’s Technology and Social Change Project, which published research on COVID misinformation and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, will end in 2024.

Religion...

Pope accuses critics of exploiting Pope Benedict XVI’s death
In the days and weeks after his death, Benedict’s longtime secretary and some conservative cardinals came out with books, interviews, and memos criticizing Francis’ papacy.

UN Looking To Push Religious Communities To ‘Fully Comply’ With LGBTQ Agenda
The United Nations is set to release a report at its annual Human Rights Council meeting in June to discuss the “perceived contradictions” between religious freedom and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Technology...

OpenAI CEO Says His Tech Is Poised to 'Break Capitalism'
"I think capitalism is awesome. I love capitalism. Of all of the bad systems the world has, it's the best one — or the least bad one we found so far. I hope we find a way better one. I think that if AGI really truly fully happens, I can imagine all these ways that it breaks capitalism."

Congress is set to expose what may be the largest censorship system in US history
This coming week a new House select subcommittee will hold its first hearing on the FBI and the possible “weaponization” of government agencies. A variety of such controversies have contributed to plunging public trust in government and the FBI in particular.

NSA wooing thousands of laid-off Big Tech workers for spy agency’s hiring spree
The NSA began reaching out to technology workers privately over LinkedIn last fall as word spread that major U.S. companies such as Meta and Amazon were bleeding tens of thousands of skilled employees.

Nerd fight: Bill Gates tells Elon Musk that he should forget about space travel and focus on vaccines
Last April, Musk noted that Gates looks like the woke pregnant man emoji.

Science...

As a US Navy fighter pilot, I witnessed unidentified anomalous phenomena
Congress must reveal the truth to the American people.

Scientists to engineer woolly mammoth's return by 2027
The long-extinct woolly mammoth is slated for a return to the world stage by 2027, Popular Mechanics reported Monday of biotechnology startup Colossal's ambitious project.

Sports...

University apologizes after students chanted ‘Russia’ at Ukrainian basketball player
Colorado State University has apologized for chants of “Russia” from its student section near the end of a basketball game Saturday night while an opposing player from Ukraine was shooting a free throw.

Mystery bidder to shell out big bucks for jar of sand from Tom Brady's retirement video
The highest bid among the 119 so far stands at $99,990, plus shipping.

Feb 6, 2004 - What Democrats said about WMDs... Poll: Dems motivated by hatred of Bush... Hillary aide calls for Bush to prove he didn't go AWOL in Vietnam... John Kerry says he's against gay marriage... Martha Stewart trial... Ronald Reagan turns 93... Husband in million-dollar 9/11 claim lied about wife's death... If you were president, would you disregard intelligence on Iraq?...

Trump's proposal explained: Ukraine's path to peace without NATO expansion

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Contributor | Getty Images

Strategic compromise, not absolute victory, often ensures lasting stability.

When has any country been asked to give up land it won in a war? Even if a nation is at fault, the punishment must be measured.

After World War I, Germany, the main aggressor, faced harsh penalties under the Treaty of Versailles. Germans resented the restrictions, and that resentment fueled the rise of Adolf Hitler, ultimately leading to World War II. History teaches that justice for transgressions must avoid creating conditions for future conflict.

Ukraine and Russia must choose to either continue the cycle of bloodshed or make difficult compromises in pursuit of survival and stability.

Russia and Ukraine now stand at a similar crossroads. They can cling to disputed land and prolong a devastating war, or they can make concessions that might secure a lasting peace. The stakes could not be higher: Tens of thousands die each month, and the choice between endless bloodshed and negotiated stability hinges on each side’s willingness to yield.

History offers a guide. In 1967, Israel faced annihilation. Surrounded by hostile armies, the nation fought back and seized large swaths of territory from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. Yet Israel did not seek an empire. It held only the buffer zones needed for survival and returned most of the land. Security and peace, not conquest, drove its decisions.

Peace requires concessions

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says both Russia and Ukraine will need to “get something” from a peace deal. He’s right. Israel proved that survival outweighs pride. By giving up land in exchange for recognition and an end to hostilities, it stopped the cycle of war. Egypt and Israel have not fought in more than 50 years.

Russia and Ukraine now press opposing security demands. Moscow wants a buffer to block NATO. Kyiv, scarred by invasion, seeks NATO membership — a pledge that any attack would trigger collective defense by the United States and Europe.

President Donald Trump and his allies have floated a middle path: an Article 5-style guarantee without full NATO membership. Article 5, the core of NATO’s charter, declares that an attack on one is an attack on all. For Ukraine, such a pledge would act as a powerful deterrent. For Russia, it might be more palatable than NATO expansion to its border

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

Peace requires concessions. The human cost is staggering: U.S. estimates indicate 20,000 Russian soldiers died in a single month — nearly half the total U.S. casualties in Vietnam — and the toll on Ukrainians is also severe. To stop this bloodshed, both sides need to recognize reality on the ground, make difficult choices, and anchor negotiations in security and peace rather than pride.

Peace or bloodshed?

Both Russia and Ukraine claim deep historical grievances. Ukraine arguably has a stronger claim of injustice. But the question is not whose parchment is older or whose deed is more valid. The question is whether either side is willing to trade some land for the lives of thousands of innocent people. True security, not historical vindication, must guide the path forward.

History shows that punitive measures or rigid insistence on territorial claims can perpetuate cycles of war. Germany’s punishment after World War I contributed directly to World War II. By contrast, Israel’s willingness to cede land for security and recognition created enduring peace. Ukraine and Russia now face the same choice: Continue the cycle of bloodshed or make difficult compromises in pursuit of survival and stability.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The loneliness epidemic: Are machines replacing human connection?

NurPhoto / Contributor | Getty Images

Seniors, children, and the isolated increasingly rely on machines for conversation, risking real relationships and the emotional depth that only humans provide.

Jill Smola is 75 years old. She’s a retiree from Orlando, Florida, and she spent her life caring for the elderly. She played games, assembled puzzles, and offered company to those who otherwise would have sat alone.

Now, she sits alone herself. Her husband has died. She has a lung condition. She can’t drive. She can’t leave her home. Weeks can pass without human interaction.

Loneliness is an epidemic. And AI will not fix it. It will only dull the edges and make a diminished life tolerable.

But CBS News reports that she has a new companion. And she likes this companion more than her own daughter.

The companion? Artificial intelligence.

She spends five hours a day talking to her AI friend. They play games, do trivia, and just talk. She says she even prefers it to real people.

My first thought was simple: Stop this. We are losing our humanity.

But as I sat with the story, I realized something uncomfortable. Maybe we’ve already lost some of our humanity — not to AI, but to ourselves.

Outsourcing presence

How often do we know the right thing to do yet fail to act? We know we should visit the lonely. We know we should sit with someone in pain. We know what Jesus would do: Notice the forgotten, touch the untouchable, offer time and attention without outsourcing compassion.

Yet how often do we just … talk about it? On the radio, online, in lectures, in posts. We pontificate, and then we retreat.

I asked myself: What am I actually doing to close the distance between knowing and doing?

Human connection is messy. It’s inconvenient. It takes patience, humility, and endurance. AI doesn’t challenge you. It doesn’t interrupt your day. It doesn’t ask anything of you. Real people do. Real people make us confront our pride, our discomfort, our loneliness.

We’ve built an economy of convenience. We can have groceries delivered, movies streamed, answers instantly. But friendships — real relationships — are slow, inefficient, unpredictable. They happen in the blank spaces of life that we’ve been trained to ignore.

And now we’re replacing that inefficiency with machines.

AI provides comfort without challenge. It eliminates the risk of real intimacy. It’s an elegant coping mechanism for loneliness, but a poor substitute for life. If we’re not careful, the lonely won’t just be alone — they’ll be alone with an anesthetic, a shadow that never asks for anything, never interrupts, never makes them grow.

Reclaiming our humanity

We need to reclaim our humanity. Presence matters. Not theory. Not outrage. Action.

It starts small. Pull up a chair for someone who eats alone. Call a neighbor you haven’t spoken to in months. Visit a nursing home once a month — then once a week. Ask their names, hear their stories. Teach your children how to be present, to sit with someone in grief, without rushing to fix it.

Turn phones off at dinner. Make Sunday afternoons human time. Listen. Ask questions. Don’t post about it afterward. Make the act itself sacred.

Humility is central. We prefer machines because we can control them. Real people are inconvenient. They interrupt our narratives. They demand patience, forgiveness, and endurance. They make us confront ourselves.

A friend will challenge your self-image. A chatbot won’t.

Our homes are quieter. Our streets are emptier. Loneliness is an epidemic. And AI will not fix it. It will only dull the edges and make a diminished life tolerable.

Before we worry about how AI will reshape humanity, we must first practice humanity. It can start with 15 minutes a day of undivided attention, presence, and listening.

Change usually comes when pain finally wins. Let’s not wait for that. Let’s start now. Because real connection restores faster than any machine ever will.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Exposed: The radical Left's bloody rampage against America

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

For years, the media warned of right-wing terror. But the bullets, bombs, and body bags are piling up on the left — with support from Democrat leaders and voters.

For decades, the media and federal agencies have warned Americans that the greatest threat to our homeland is the political right — gun-owning veterans, conservative Christians, anyone who ever voted for President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden once declared that white supremacy is “the single most dangerous terrorist threat” in the nation.

Since Trump’s re-election, the rhetoric has only escalated. Outlets like the Washington Post and the Guardian warned that his second term would trigger a wave of far-right violence.

As Democrats bleed working-class voters and lose control of their base, they’re not moderating. They’re radicalizing.

They were wrong.

The real domestic threat isn’t coming from MAGA grandmas or rifle-toting red-staters. It’s coming from the radical left — the anarchists, the Marxists, the pro-Palestinian militants, and the anti-American agitators who have declared war on law enforcement, elected officials, and civil society.

Willful blindness

On July 4, a group of black-clad terrorists ambushed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Alvarado, Texas. They hurled fireworks at the building, spray-painted graffiti, and then opened fire on responding law enforcement, shooting a local officer in the neck. Journalist Andy Ngo has linked the attackers to an Antifa cell in the Dallas area.

Authorities have so far charged 14 people in the plot and recovered AR-style rifles, body armor, Kevlar vests, helmets, tactical gloves, and radios. According to the Department of Justice, this was a “planned ambush with intent to kill.”

And it wasn’t an isolated incident. It’s part of a growing pattern of continuous violent left-wing incidents since December last year.

Monthly attacks

Most notably, in December 2024, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione allegedly gunned down UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan. Mangione reportedly left a manifesto raging against the American health care system and was glorified by some on social media as a kind of modern Robin Hood.

One Emerson College poll found that 41% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 said the murder was “acceptable” or “somewhat acceptable.”

The next month, a man carrying Molotov cocktails was arrested near the U.S. Capitol. He allegedly planned to assassinate Trump-appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

In February, the “Tesla Takedown” attacks on Tesla vehicles and dealerships started picking up traction.

In March, a self-described “queer scientist” was arrested after allegedly firebombing the Republican Party headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Graffiti on the burned building read “ICE = KKK.”

In April, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-Pa.) official residence was firebombed on Passover night. The suspect allegedly set the governor’s mansion on fire because of what Shapiro, who is Jewish, “wants to do to the Palestinian people.”

In May, two young Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Witnesses said the shooter shouted “Free Palestine” as he was being arrested. The suspect told police he acted “for Gaza” and was reportedly linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

In June, an Egyptian national who had entered the U.S. illegally allegedly threw a firebomb at a peaceful pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado. Eight people were hospitalized, and an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor later died from her injuries.

That same month, a pro-Palestinian rioter in New York was arrested for allegedly setting fire to 11 police vehicles. In Los Angeles, anti-ICE rioters smashed cars, set fires, and hurled rocks at law enforcement. House Democrats refused to condemn the violence.

Barbara Davidson / Contributor | Getty Images

In Portland, Oregon, rioters tried to burn down another ICE facility and assaulted police officers before being dispersed with tear gas. Graffiti left behind read: “Kill your masters.”

On July 7, a Michigan man opened fire on a Customs and Border Protection facility in McAllen, Texas, wounding two police officers and an agent. Border agents returned fire, killing the suspect.

Days later in California, ICE officers conducting a raid on an illegal cannabis farm in Ventura County were attacked by left-wing activists. One protester appeared to fire at federal agents.

This is not a series of isolated incidents. It’s a timeline of escalation. Political assassinations, firebombings, arson, ambushes — all carried out in the name of radical leftist ideology.

Democrats are radicalizing

This isn’t just the work of fringe agitators. It’s being enabled — and in many cases encouraged — by elected Democrats.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz routinely calls ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attempted to block an ICE operation in her city. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu compared ICE agents to a neo-Nazi group. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson referred to them as “secret police terrorizing our communities.”

Apparently, other Democratic lawmakers, according to Axios, are privately troubled by their own base. One unnamed House Democrat admitted that supporters were urging members to escalate further: “Some of them have suggested what we really need to do is be willing to get shot.” Others were demanding blood in the streets to get the media’s attention.

A study from Rutgers University and the National Contagion Research Institute found that 55% of Americans who identify as “left of center” believe that murdering Donald Trump would be at least “somewhat justified.”

As Democrats bleed working-class voters and lose control of their base, they’re not moderating. They’re radicalizing. They don’t want the chaos to stop. They want to harness it, normalize it, and weaponize it.

The truth is, this isn’t just about ICE. It’s not even about Trump. It’s about whether a republic can survive when one major party decides that our institutions no longer apply.

Truth still matters. Law and order still matter. And if the left refuses to defend them, then we must be the ones who do.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

America's comeback: Trump is crushing crime in the Capitol

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

Trump’s DC crackdown is about more than controlling crime — it’s about restoring America’s strength and credibility on the world stage.

Donald Trump on Monday invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and deploying the National Guard to restore law and order. This move is long overdue.

D.C.’s crime problem has been spiraling for years as local authorities and Democratic leadership have abandoned the nation’s capital to the consequences of their own failed policies. The city’s murder rate is about three times higher than that of Islamabad, Pakistan, and 18 times higher than that of communist-led Havana, Cuba.

When DC is in chaos, it sends a message to the world that America is weak.

Theft, assaults, and carjackings have transformed many of its streets into war zones. D.C. saw a 32% increase in homicides from 2022 to 2023, marking the highest number in two decades and surpassing both New York and Los Angeles. Even if crime rates dropped to 2019 levels, that wouldn’t be good enough.

Local leaders have downplayed the crisis, manipulating crime stats to preserve their image. Felony assault, for example, is no longer considered a “violent crime” in their crime stats. Same with carjacking. But the reality on the streets is different. People in D.C. are living in constant fear.

Trump isn’t waiting for the crime rate to improve on its own. He’s taking action.

Broken windows theory in action

Trump’s takeover of D.C. puts the “broken windows theory” into action — the idea that ignoring minor crimes invites bigger ones. When authorities look the other way on turnstile-jumping or graffiti, they signal that lawbreaking carries no real consequence.

Rudy Giuliani used this approach in the 1990s to clean up New York, cracking down on small offenses before they escalated. Trump is doing the same in the capital, drawing a hard line and declaring enough is enough. Letting crime fester in Washington tells the world that the seat of American power tolerates lawlessness.

What Trump is doing for D.C. isn’t just about law enforcement — it’s about national identity. When D.C. is in chaos, it sends a message to the world that America is weak. The capital city represents the soul of the country. If we can’t even keep our own capital safe, how can we expect anyone to take us seriously?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Reversing the decline

Anyone who has visited D.C. regularly over the past several years has witnessed its rapid decline. Homeless people bathe in the fountains outside Union Station. People are tripping out in Dupont Circle. The left’s negligence is a disgrace, enabling drug use and homelessness to explode on our capital’s streets while depriving these individuals of desperately needed care and help.

Restoring law and order to D.C. is not about politics or scoring points. It’s about doing what’s right for the people. It’s about protecting communities, taking the vulnerable off the streets, and sending the message to both law-abiding and law-breaking citizens alike that the rule of law matters.

D.C. should be a lesson to the rest of America. If we want to take our cities back, we need leadership willing to take bold action. Trump is showing how to do it.

Now, it’s time for other cities to step up and follow his lead. We can restore law and order. We can make our cities something to be proud of again.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.