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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2024-05-16

May 16, 2024
Chris Brady

TOP OF HOUR 2
GUEST: Leah McGhee & Dean McGee
TOPIC: A North Carolina high school student was suspended for saying “illegal aliens"?!



Psalm 14:1

Psalm 14:1

News...

Glenn Beck: Europe’s war on food is coming to America
The Biden administration’s $5 billion rural aid package includes many of the same restrictions that have sent prices soaring and led to shortages throughout the continent. We can’t let it happen here.

Hunter Biden’s legal defense has a problem: The patron paying the bills is running out of cash
Kevin Morris, a Hollywood entertainment lawyer who has loaned millions to the president’s son, has told associates he is tapped out.

This Texas voting case could determine who controls Congress
A closely watched Texas election case resumed Tuesday, with Republican officials challenging a federal law they say has been “twisted” to benefit Democratic candidates.

Judge rules Texas county must hold new election for 2022 judicial race
The ruling follows a state-launched investigation into the voting irregularities in the election two years ago.

Barge hits bridge connecting Galveston and Pelican Island, causing partial collapse and oil spill
Pelican Island is only a few miles wide and is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston, a large shipyard, and industrial facilities.

Black People Overwhelmingly Want To Maintain—Or Increase—Police Presence. They Also Want Better Police.
The dominant media narrative has obscured much of the nuance here.

Squatter who used Shake Shack receipt to try to prove he had claim to NY home indicted on burglary, theft charges
The squatter sued the homeowners for an "illegal lockout," however, the suit was dismissed with prejudice by a judge.

Banana Republic...

Bedford: Trump allies pack courtroom, denounce Bragg’s show trial circus
Republicans are finally realizing they should at least show up for their political prosecutions.

KJP accidentally says the 'quiet part out loud' when asked easy question about Trump's trial
A reporter asked Jean-Pierre if the Biden administration believes it was "appropriate" for Speaker Johnson to defend Trump outside the courthouse. "I don't want to comment, obviously, as this is related to 2024 elections," Jean-Pierre said.

Romney says Biden made ‘enormous error’ in not pardoning Trump
“[Biden] should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Romney said. “It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

Rosie O'Donnell gives Michael Cohen a 'pep talk' on his TikTok stream
She applauded the lawyer for making “a full turnaround in terms of telling the truth.”

Debate...

Here are all the restrictions Biden's team demanded in their Trump debate offer
Trump gave Biden an open invitation to debate anytime, anywhere, and Biden rose to the challenge, telling Trump to "make my day" in a heavily edited video on social media.

Russiagate hoaxer Jake Tapper to host CNN debate between Trump and Biden
The debate will be held at CNN's studios in Atlanta on June 27.

Nate Silver slams Biden over debate demands
"It's consistent with his strategic incentives, which are that he can't be seen as ducking debates but he's not particularly confident he'll win."

Trump Says Dems Could Still Ditch Biden If His ‘Infirmity’ Grows
"I wonder whether or not he shows up, because you know, he also challenged me to golf. So I’m a very good golfer. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards. He said I’ll give him three a side, but he knows he’ll never play. This is sort of like that, I think."

RFK Jr. claims he will 'meet the criteria' to take the stage in June presidential debate with Trump, Biden
"I look forward to holding Presidents Biden and Trump accountable for their records."

‘The View’ Handicaps Trump-Biden Debates, Gets Nearly Every Possible Thing Wrong
Among many things the panel got wrong, "conservative" Alyssa Farah Griffin said it was "smart of Biden to get ahead of this by challenging Trump," however, Trump challenged Biden weeks ago after becoming the GOP nominee.

Politics...

White House forced to respond to Biden’s debunked inflation claim
Biden has said so twice now, but in reality, inflation stood at just 1.4% in January 2021. It did reach 9% — in June 2022, when he’d been in office for nearly 18 months. When a reporter brought up the discrepancy, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke to wider forces in the economy.

Biden Compares Beau’s Cancer to Police Officers Shot in the Line of Duty
Biden, at the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service, compares the loss of his son to police officers killed in the line of duty.

Democrat Fundraiser From Silicon Valley Donates $1M To Trump
“The social cost of supporting Trump isn’t as great as it was,” Helberg said of Silicon Valley society, many members of which see that “Trump was right on a lot of make-or-break issues for America.”

Democrat Jon Tester Campaigns Against His Own Record In Montana
From the border to hunting, Jon Tester can't stop attacking political positions staked by Jon Tester.

Hogan emerges as GOP candidate with strongest chance in decades to win Senate seat in Maryland
If Hogan wins the 2024 Senate race, he will be Maryland's first Republican senator in 37 years.

Economy...

Visa changes mean Americans will carry fewer physical credit, debit cards in their wallets
The biggest change coming for Americans will be the ability for banks to issue one physical payment card that will be connected to multiple bank accounts.

April Inflation Hits 3.4% As Housing, Gas Prices Remain High
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that inflation so far in 2024 had been higher than expected.

McDonald’s $5 value meal is coming in June — and staying for just a month
The promotion comes at a time when restaurants are finally beginning to feel a long-anticipated consumer pullback.

Immigration...

Biden Said He Couldn’t Take Action On The Border; Report Indicates He’s Doing It Anyway
Biden is reportedly preparing an executive order to shut down the U.S. southern border if encounters cross a 4,000-a-day benchmark (1.46 million a year).

Democrats can’t avoid ‘dog whistles’ when talking about illegal immigrants
Take Pelosi’s comments about Florida when she said that farmers need immigrants “to pick the crops down here.” Or Rep. Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, who said that we need immigrants to “pick the food we eat,” “rebuild our communities,” and “clean our homes.”

Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson complains about having to take care of illegal aliens
"But again, this is unprecedented! Unprecedented. Never in the history of the U.S. has a local government been asked to build a resettlement for migrants, but here we are," he vented.

House GOP chairman says DC is Democrats’ ‘petri dish’ for noncitizen voting push
“Now is the time to act to make sure that we're preventing noncitizens from voting, in particular, in this upcoming presidential election in November,” Rep. Bryan Steil said.

Illegal crossings at northern border sector reach 'record-breaking milestone'
More apprehensions in April than in all of fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined.

Michigan county plagued by 'burglary tourism' as foreign crime gangs abuse US visa waiver program
Oakland County sheriff battling a "cycle" of sophisticated Chilean crime groups robbing homes.

COVID-19 / Viruses...

HHS halts grants for nonprofit EcoHealth that funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan
The Department of Health and Human Services suspended all federal grants Tuesday to the controversial Manhattan nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, which funded gain-of-function virus research in Wuhan, China, in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flashback: Glenn Beck 2022 special about who is funding EcoHealth
Glenn follows the money trail to reveal the largest source of funding to EcoHealth Alliance: a source with a very shady past and an even shadier partner — the CIA.

Flashback: Glenn Beck 2021 interview with Matt Ridley about EcoHealth
A year ago, you would have been kicked off Facebook for suggesting COVID originated in a lab. For most of the pandemic, the left practically worshipped Anthony Fauci.

California’s ‘wellness’ devotees think raw milk infected with bird flu will ‘boost immunity’
As U.S. dairy farms fight outbreaks of H5N1 in cows, some believe unpasteurized, infected milk will act as a natural vaccine against the virus.

Israel...

In first for US, California public university agrees to academic boycott of Israel
Sonoma State University’s Mike Lee agreed to the establishment of an “advisory council” of Students for Justice in Palestine to ensure compliance with the deal, which also includes a section on “disclosure and divestment.”

DOJ’s civil rights office under fire in anti-Semitism hearing
Rep. Chip Roy slammed the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division for being absent in the face of campus anti-Semitism while using its time going after peaceful anti-abortion protesters.

Ukraine-Russia...

Antony Blinken says there will be no elections in Ukraine until war with Russia is over and ‘all Ukrainians can vote’
“People in Ukraine and around the world can have confidence that the voting process is free, fair, secure.”

Flashback: What Abraham Lincoln Said About Delaying Election in Midst of Civil War
"We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."

Vietnam redux? Ex-CIA official blasts Biden Ukraine strategy, urges negotiations with Putin
Beebe said that he believes that the U.S. is taking a failing approach when it comes to the war in Ukraine.

Why is Russia holding nuclear drills, and should the West be worried?
Putin has ordered his military to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain, and the United States.

Politico EU: Macron’s wrong to think France’s nuclear umbrella can protect Europe
Break it gently to the French president, but it will take more than the French and U.K. nuclear deterrents to defend the Continent without the U.S.

Europe...

Men accused of plot to attack Jews with machine guns in northwest England
All three were arrested last Wednesday and appeared at Westminster magistrates court, which heard the plot involved attempts to obtain machine guns, a hand gun, and ammunition and identifying a safe house where these could be stored.

Official portrait of King Charles III mocked online
If Glenn could see, he'd enjoy this story.

Entertainment...

Disney removes 'potentially problematic' Tinker Bell from park meet and greets
Disney has in recent years taken to having transvestites assume the roles of certain iconic female characters in its parks. But this story isn't about them, it's about a different fairy, Tinker Bell.

Hollywood Uses Anonymous Accusations to Destroy Maverick Francis Ford Coppola
This is the Hollywood left making an example of a legend to discourage others from doing the same — from daring to work outside "The System." We saw it happen to Mel Gibson in the run-up to 2004’s "The Passion of the Christ," months before he imploded. We are seeing it with Kevin Costner.

Environment...

The Scandalous Science Behind Nuclear Regulation
A flawed scientific model continues to hinder the nuclear power industry and shape policy, holding us all back.

LGBTQIA2S+...

FBI warns ISIS could attack Pride parades amid Biden's border crisis
"Foreign terrorist organizations or supporters may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month."

Education...

Minnesota Teachers Union Expels School Counselor Who Blew Whistle On Transgender Policies: Report
Elementary student counselor Christina Barton received a letter from her union, the Rochester Education Association, informing her that she was being kicked out.

Assistant principal at Alabama middle school charged with murder in connection with triple-homicide cold case
Investigators say the victims were lured to a residence and brutally tortured before their deaths.

Health...

Will AI replace doctors who read X-rays or just make them better than ever?
As AI moves into medicine, perhaps no one has more to gain or lose than radiologists, the doctors who review medical scans for signs of cancer and other diseases.

Doctor is cancer-free one year after using own revolutionary treatment on terminal brain tumor
In May 2023, Scolyer underwent an MRI that revealed he had a glioblastoma, an aggressive and terminal form of brain cancer, with his subtype being classified as so aggressive most patients don’t survive longer than a year.

Technology...

Here's How the CIA Plans to Use Your Ad-Tracking Data
For the first time ever, American spymasters are admitting that this data is sensitive — but they're leaving it up to the spy agencies on how to use it.

Sports...

Aaron Rodgers says NFL wanted a vaccination rate over 90% to get 'Big Pharma ads'
"When the stooge came and talked to us, I asked a lot of questions about, like, informed consent, about testing, about liability, and he basically didn't answer any of my questions; the president of the team ended the meeting."

Republican senator threatens to hold up RFK Stadium redevelopment bill if Redskins do not ‘honor’ former logo
Sen. Steve Daines of Montana is pushing for the NFL franchise to honor the team’s former logo as the Senate bill to redevelop the site of the former Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is being debated.

Netflix To Broadcast Multiple NFL Games This Christmas
Netflix announced that it will stream two games on Dec. 25 — which is on a Wednesday this year.

May 16, 2011 - Will Jesus return this week?... Osama bin Laden's naughty hobbies... Restoring Courage event in Israel... The influence Bonhoeffer has had on Glenn... Callers express their support of Glenn's endeavor in Israel... Pat & Stu...

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.