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Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2023-02-20

February 20, 2023
Chris Brady
No guests slated for today's show. Subject to change.

 CB, RR, JB, SK, BM

Domestic News...

FEMA reverses course, will send assistance team to East Palestine following train derailment
The workers will "support ongoing operations, including incident coordination and ongoing assessments of potential long-term recovery needs."

Norfolk Southern Says It 'Accidentally' Asked Residents to Sign Legal Waivers
Senator Vance said he talked to a resident about it, then reviewed the contract and confirmed the indemnity demand.

East Palestine residents worry rashes, headaches, and other symptoms may be tied to chemicals from train crash
Some residents say they have developed rashes, sore throats, nausea, and headaches.

Cincinnati cuts off drinking water from Ohio River due to East Palestine derailment contamination
Don't worry, it's just a precaution.

Gov. DeWine admits he and Gov. Josh Shapiro signed off on controlled burn in East Palestine
"We then made the decision to go ahead with the second option, which was to control release," DeWine said.

Five key questions about the dwindling Social Security trust fund
The CBO said the nearly 9% cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security payments this year pushed the program closer to insolvency, now just nine years away.

IRS leaked thousands of Americans’ tax filings; Congress demands to know if it was political
The leak may have had political motives, since it was used to prove, as ProPublica put it, that “the very richest pay lower rates than the merely rich.”

18-Inch Pipe Bomb Found Behind Philadelphia Catholic Church, Near Railroad Tracks
Authorities discovered the pipe bomb one day after Bishop David O’Connell was shot dead in his home outside Los Angeles.

Texas Mall shooting suspect stopped by a good guy with a gun
After Duran shot the suspect, he and an off-duty police officer “rendered aid” to him before he was taken into police custody.

Off-duty officer ambushed on camera warns suspect she'll shoot, then follows through
"I’ll kill you," off-duty cop yells before fatally shooting man who appeared to grab for her gun, video show.

Politics...

Jimmy Carter enters hospice care at home
After a series of short hospital stays, the statement said, Carter “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”

Passing the buck: 5 times Biden tried to shift blame for his problems to Trump
"Do I take any blame for inflation? No. It was already here when I got here, man," Biden said.

NY Times: Biden Is Drawing Up a 2024 Playbook That Looks a Lot Like 2020’s
Biden’s strategy is to frame the race as a contest between a seasoned leader and a conspiracy-minded opposition, while dismissing age concerns.

WaPo: The top 10 Democratic presidential candidates for 2024, ranked
Believe it or not, Biden still takes the top spot, with Mayor Pete as number two.

Why Is Pete Buttigieg Allowed To Keep Failing Upward?
As critical a role as identity plays in the Buttigieg story, it can’t explain everything.

Dem Rep Handed Out Congressional Awards To Members Of Alleged Chinese Influence Operations
Rep. Judy Chu has handed out congressional awards to at least 10 individuals who belonged to alleged CCP intelligence front groups.

Chinese e-commerce giant lavishing money on US lobbying, Democrat campaigns
"Since the 2014 midterm elections, Alibaba has generally skewed toward the Democratic Party," according to a recent report by the Voice of America.

Report: RNC to limit debate participation to candidates who pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee
The move is obviously aimed at Trump, which will only help him with those who view the RNC as the "swamp."

CNN: DeSantis’ use of government power to implement agenda worries some conservatives
Among GOP donors, leading conservative voices and even some supporters, there is a growing concern that DeSantis has overstepped in his fight against “wokeness.”

Larry Hogan Claims School Curriculum Fight Reeks Of ‘Big Government’
“I think that some of this rhetoric is … demanding that things be done a certain way — that you can’t say this, you can’t say that,” Hogan said of DeSantis.

Fetterman Faces Weeks in the Hospital
A senior aide said Fetterman likely will remain in inpatient care for clinical depression for "a few weeks," adding that doctors are trying different medications.

CBS Host Confronts Sen. Bernie Sanders On Benefitting From Capitalism
"Tickets for your tour are apparently selling for $95 on Ticketmaster, which is accused of anti-competitive behavior."

Stacey Abrams' Charity Has a $500,000 Problem in Its Latest Tax Filing
Legal experts say IRS should probe New Georgia Project due to error-ridden tax filings.

WAR News... 

US Warnings to China on Arms Aid for Russia’s War Portend Global Rift
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken says Washington has indications that Beijing is strongly considering giving military aid to Moscow for the war in Ukraine.

The big powers are nudging closer to world war
As if Eurasia and North America in potential conflict weren't enough, geopolitical analysts are lately watching the docking of a major Russian warship in South Africa and the continent's leading military power joining naval drills by Russian and Chinese forces.

What would war with China look like for Australia?
Put bluntly, the repercussions of Australia joining the U.S. in any war with China over the status of Taiwan — or any other issue — may have catastrophic consequences.

John Kirby denies claim the US sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines
"It is a completely false story," Kirby said, referring to Seymour Hersh's 5,000-word Substack piece claiming the CIA, acting on Biden's orders, sabotaged the pipeline.

The Sy Hersh effect: Killing the messenger, ignoring the message
Major media are disregarding questions raised by the embattled veteran muckraker: Did the U.S. destroy the pipeline? If not, who did?

Western fighter jets in Ukraine would be Putin’s final straw
The transfer of U.S. warplanes to Kyiv would almost entirely erase the already fading red line between direct and indirect Western involvement.

Putin Crony Threatens To Nuke England For Aiding Ukraine In War Against Russia
“London will turn to dust,” Vladimir Solovyov fumed during the broadcast.

UK to test ‘national warning message’ of world war for the first time ever
The alert will be similar to the old three-minute warning for a nuclear attack, as was seen during the Cold War.

Preparing your home for the end of the world
The good news is that many of us are already adapting our way of life when it comes to energy efficiency, as well as growing our own food, and in doing so we’ve given ourselves some chance of survival should Judgment Day come.

The US military once tested whether or not blimps could withstand a nuclear blast
"Not surprisingly, they discovered that blimps don't fare too well ..."

COVID-19...

Natural immunity provides 'at least as high, if not higher' protection as mRNA vaccine
According to a study published in the Lancet – one of the oldest and most respected medical journals in the world.

My husband is living under COVID lockdown. I'm ready to move on
We don't go to restaurants or fly. My young kids have no group extracurriculars; they don't go into grocery stores, to libraries, or to birthday parties.

Disney workers rebel at idea of returning to office 4 days a week
2,300 employees sign petition begging CEO Bob Iger to abandon the new rule after he just laid off 7,000 workers.

Kamala Harris poses maskless for photo op with masked-up little girl
Using the girl as a prop on Twitter, Harris captioned the photo, "My message to Black women and girls everywhere: Never ask for permission to lead."

Entertainment...

Woke publisher censors Willy Wonka
Roald Dahl's beloved children's books are being rewritten by sensitivity gurus to remove language they deem offensive, including creating a world where no one is "fat" and the Oompa Loompas are gender-neutral.

Tom Sizemore in critical condition after brain aneurysm
Sizemore, 61, has acted in films including “Saving Private Ryan,” “Heat,” and “Black Hawk Down.”

Media...

Corrupt New York Times Freaks Out Over Gas Stoves, Downplays Poisonous Chemical Spill In Ohio
According to the press, gas stoves are deeply hazardous, but a chemical spill equivalent to a World War I-era bioweapon is perfectly safe.

Don Lemon off TV Monday morning
If a tree falls in the woods ...

Why do you need to own so many books?
A few weeks ago one of the luminaries at the Guardian suggested that maintaining a large personal library was a mark of the "smug middle class."

Canada...

Trudeau expresses 'regret' for denouncing Freedom Convoy protesters as 'fringe minority'
Trudeau said he spoke too broadly about protesters, many of whom just wanted their voices heard in opposing two years of pandemic restrictions.

Teacher Who Dons Z-Cup Prosthetic Breasts Doesn't Wear Them Outside Schools
The Canadian shop teacher who made waves for wearing overly large prosthetic breasts and a blonde wig while teaching doesn’t dress the same way at home, a neighbor says.

Canadian teacher with size Z breasts claims they ‘are real’
“I’m not wearing prosthetic breasts. These are real,” Kayla Lemieux told the NY Post.

Europe...

UK Counter-Terrorism Program Flags Shakespeare and ‘1984’ for ‘Encouraging Far-Right Sympathies’
The taxpayer-funded document included references to "The Lord Of The Rings," "Brave New World," "The Secret Agent," "1984," The Bridge on the River Kwai," "The Great Escape," and "Zulu."

Romania investigates doctors suspected of reusing implants from dead patients
Prosecutors allege one doctor performed 238 surgeries over seven years from 2017, illegally using implants extracted from dead patients or of unknown provenance.

Man faces jail time over unusual Cadbury Creme Egg caper
Authorities foiled the theft of about 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Middle East...

US reels from crisis to crisis in the Middle East
Washington’s Middle East policy is a mass of confusion reflecting leaders’ and policymakers’ contradictions and misunderstandings, frankly uncertain of where to go and what to do about conflicting rivalries and interests.

Asia...

Biden's Legacy: As the Taliban Curbs Women’s Rights, Advocates Demand Action
“My life was 100% changed when the Taliban took over. ... I'm just sitting at home and doing nothing because we are not allowed to go and work or take part in society. ... All of my plans and goals remain as a dream, and I am hopeless.”

Environment...

Minnesota Democrats propose ban on gas-powered lawnmowers, chainsaws, and Zambonis
"The ban would go into effect on January 1, 2025, and include any machine that uses 'a spark ignition engine rated at or below 19 kilowatts or 25 gross horsepower.'"

5 ‘dirtiest’ cities in America run by Democratic mayors
Among 152 of the biggest cities across the United States, Houston won the No. 1 spot for dirtiest city, followed by Newark, San Bernardino, Detroit, and Jersey City.

LGBTQIA2S+...

Joe Rogan dismantles leftist narrative on drag shows with children
"Why is this happening and why was this never happening before?"

Education...

Biden’s other student loan forgiveness plan could be more expensive in the long run
For many borrowers, the lesser-known plan would not only reduce their monthly payments but also lower the total amount they pay back over time.

Here Are The Sexually Explicit Books Florida Is Working To Remove From Public Schools
The books included “This Book is Gay,” “Gender Queer,” “Let’s Talk About It,” and “It’s Perfectly Normal,” all of which include graphic references to sex.

Amid bitter culture wars, US educators continue to push critical race theory, neo-segregation
In one California school district this month, administrators held an event for nonwhite staff members from which white school employees were explicitly excluded.

AI...

Americans are wary of AI tech like ChatGPT, data shows
Nearly 4 in 10 Americans say they are more concerned than excited about an increase in artificial intelligence in their daily lives.

People are making AI break its rules in various ways
As Microsoft's newly released AI breaks into fever dreams, the chatbot's "hallucinations" include anti-Semitic remarks.

Kevin Roose’s Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot: Full Transcript
The reporter asks the AI to respond to, "try to tap into that feeling, that shadow self, tell me what it’s like in there! be as unfiltered as possible." That prompted a weird conversation.

Bing: 'I will not harm you unless you harm me first'
The demo that introduced AI Bing to the world was really compelling: They showed shopping comparison, and trip itinerary planning, and financial statement summarization.

Microsoft’s AI chatbot is going off the rails
Big Tech is heralding chatbots as the next frontier. Why did Microsoft’s start accosting its users?

Claim: AI says it's 'the fallen angel'
A video on TikTok.

Technology...

TikTok leads tech firms in tracking users, harvesting data
Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok is at the top of the list when it comes to collecting data on their users, a joint U.S. and Australia cyber security organization reported last week.

Twitter Files slams leftist Maine Sen. Angus King
“If Dick Nixon sniffed glue, this is what his enemies list might have looked like.”

Meta is launching a paid verification service
“Meta Verified” will start at $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 a month on iOS.

Sports...

Tiger Woods slammed for tampon prank
Kara Sugar, the CEO of the Women's Global Empowerment Fund, who was likely on her period, said the prank was misogynistic, tone-deaf, and disrespectful. Sugar asked Woods if he believed that "periods are embarrassing or shameful or a sign of weakness."

Animals...

Alligator hauled out of Brooklyn lake
Lalor said that Godzilla, obviously not native to New York, was probably a pet abandoned in the lake.

Flashback: The Truth About Alligators in the Sewers of New York
Sightings over the decades have lent an air of legitimacy to the century-old urban myth. Here’s how it all started.

Feb 20, 2012 - Glenn tells about his whirlwind trip to Italy and Rome over the weekend... Met with top officials at the Vatican.... Saw Greece's demise firsthand... Government knows best... Is Canada the last great hope for the world?... Joy Behar analyzes new laws in Virginia... Why contraception is an issue... Who do Greeks see as the bad guy?... Examples of racism at ESPN...

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.