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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2025-02-13

February 13, 2025
Chris Brady

TOP OF HOUR 2
GUEST: Alan Dershowitz
TOPIC: ALL the files on Jeffrey Epstein must be released and declassified!

TOP OF HOUR 3
GUEST: Ross Douthat
TOPIC: Why living without faith is harder than living with it.

Mark 5:32-34

Mark 5:32-34

Trump: Day 24...

After Putin call, Trump says negotiations to end Ukraine war will start ‘immediately’
In a readout of the conversation posted on Truth Social, Trump said, “We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects.” The call lasted about 90 minutes.

White House says about 75K federal workers have accepted 'deferred resignation' offer
The offer’s deadline closed on Wednesday after a federal judge ruled to end a temporary pause to the program put in place last week.

Trump says he wants ‘con job’ Education Department closed ‘immediately’
President Trump said Wednesday he wants to shut down the Department of Education as soon as possible.

Trump Admin Formally Ends Biden's War on Gas Stoves
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is formally ending a review that it initiated during the Biden administration to assess the potential health risks posed by gas-powered stovetops.

Trump Adds New Gig To Jam-Packed Schedule
The Kennedy Center’s newly constituted board voted unanimously to elect President Trump as its chairman Wednesday.

At least one US citizen released from detention in Belarus, Trump official says
Adam Boehler, President Trump's nominee to be the envoy for hostage affairs, told reporters at the White House that the individual wants to remain private.

DOGE/Government Waste...

Noem claws back $50M FEMA payment to NYC migrant hotels, slams ‘deep state activists’
"I have clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels. FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer."

Lee Zeldin demands return of $20B ‘parked’ at a financial institution by ‘Biden EPA’ to dole out to climate groups
“This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight.”

DOGE subcommittee wages war on government waste in first hearing
"This week, we turn our attention to improper payments by the federal government, including Medicaid and Medicare," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who chairs the subcommittee, said.

DOGE update for Feb 12: Cancellation of 58 federal contracts
This saves tax payers over $150 million. Among the cuts: $405K at the DHS for "resilience, energy, and sustainability management support" and $4M at the DOT for "DEIA project management."

DOGE axes $25K grant for LGBTQIA+ refugee program in Greece
The Department of Government Efficiency uncovered and canceled a $25,000 award meant to provide "material, legal, and psychological support" for LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers in Greece. The program also aimed to "raise awareness of civil society" on LGBTQIA+ issues.

News...

JD Vance’s 12-year-old relative denied heart transplant because she is unvaccinated
Adaline — who was adopted from China when she was four — was treated at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for nearly 10 years, and her parents hoped she would get the transplant there.

Judge Blocking Trump Spending Freeze Likened Trump To A ‘Tyrant’
Judge John McConnell Jr., a Democrat donor and former Planned Parenthood volunteer, is seen in an unearthed video comparing Trump to a tyrant and claiming courts kept the country from “bursting” under his first term.

Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as DNI
"Miss Gabbard is a patriot," John Thune said. "She's someone who's been motivated by service. ... The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission, collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information. That's what Tulsi Gabbard is committed to ensuring."

Taibbi: This is an Alamo moment for the First Amendment
Matt Taibbi's remarks made before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.

California’s insurer of last resort runs out of money to pay LA fire claims
To continue to pay claims, the plan asked California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to approve a $1 billion assessment of its membership, which is made up of the insurance companies that do business in the state. Insurers, in turn, are allowed to pass on a portion of that cost to their policyholders.

Politics...

Bedford: Democrats’ lawfare is on a collision course with hard reality
Congress went AWOL years ago. Now, lawmakers want judges to do their work for them.

22 Blue States Joined Secret Anti-Trump Resistance Pact
Attorneys general from 22 Democrat-led states signed a secret pact to resist Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, prioritizing illegal immigrant voting power over real issues like inflation and crime.

Democrats Spiral Into Civil War Over How To Resist Trump, Lashing Out At Their Own Voters
With approval ratings cratering and voters mocking their protests, Democrats are divided between resistance and reluctant cooperation.

Reality Check: Trump Was Elected To End Biden’s Constitutional Crisis
After years of Biden trampling constitutional limits — censoring speech, defying the Supreme Court, and weaponizing the justice system — Democrats are now shrieking “constitutional crisis” because Trump is actually enforcing executive authority.

Biden White House collaborated from the start on Trump documents probe, emails show
Newly published emails show the Biden White House cooperated with the National Archives in the Justice Department's classified documents case against Trump — which allowed the White House to build a predicate for the federal case against Trump that was ultimately dismissed.

Ilhan Omar Is A Walking Case For Higher US Citizenship Standards
After America-hating Congresswoman Ilhan Omar hosted workshops advising illegal aliens on how to avoid being deported, Rep. Brandon Gill said what a lot of Americans were thinking: "America would be a better place if @IlhanMN were deported back to Somalia."

NC Democrats Sourced Nearly 80% Of 2024 Individual Contributions From Outside The State
While President Trump handily won North Carolina in 2024, the same cannot be said for statewide Republicans, who lost races for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, as well as a legislative supermajority.

Ex-Illinois House speaker convicted on 10 corruption charges at trial that exposed Democrat greed
Michael Madigan was convicted Wednesday on 10 federal charges after a long-running influence peddling trial that exposed corruption and greed inside the state's Democrat establishment.

Video: A Democrat rep says 'manufacturing' is a sexist term meant to dissuade women from industry
The word "man" is in "manufacture."

Democrat Maxine Dexter: ‘We Have To F*** Trump!’
Based on her photo, I don't see that happening.

Economy...

After Telling Democrats To ‘Feel Good’ About Economy Going Into Election, Politico Now Says Democrats Were ‘Tricked’
Politico now says Democrats were duped by misleading government stats, but for years, it was one of the loudest voices pushing Biden-Harris’ “booming economy” narrative.

Inflation, Grocery Prices Rose In January
Inflation in the U.S. increased 3% in January compared to the previous year, rising for the fourth straight month.

Immigration...

DOJ announces lawsuit against New York, Hochul, and state AG James over ‘sanctuary’ status
“This is a new DOJ,” Bondi announced. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”

Biden immigration crisis was a boon for Catholic Charities, which raked in billions in grant money
Many of Catholic Charities’ local subsidiary offices received a game-changing influx of cash. The money was allocated for migrant settlement and other services. For many local chapters, these new funds dwarfed the grants they had been awarded in previous years.

Newsweek Fudges Numbers To Falsely Claim Biden Outpaced Trump On Deportations
If you compare apples-to-apples numbers, Trump is deporting three times as many illegal aliens per week as the Biden administration ever did.

Democrats demonize black pastor as ‘white supremacist’ over church sign on open borders
Illinois Pastor James Pittman is under attack after his church posted a sign reading, “Heaven Has Strict Immigration Laws. Hell Has Open Borders.”

COVID...

NYT: Top NIH Official Abruptly Resigns
As acting director of the National Institutes of Health last year, Tabak pushed back against Republicans on the lab leak theory. He told lawmakers that viruses being studied at a laboratory in Wuhan bore no resemblance to the one that set off the world’s worst public health crisis in a century.

WAR News...

Pentagon to Focus on Winning Wars, Not Global Warming, Hegseth Says
The Defense Department is in the business of "deterring and winning wars," not "solving the global thermostat," Hegseth said.

Israel...

Israel reportedly tells Hamas that ceasefire can continue if three hostages freed on Saturday
A report quoted Egyptian sources saying that “things headed toward a breakthrough” after a meeting between Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad and a Hamas delegation in Cairo.

Jerusalem Post: Hamas must decide to continue the deal or let 'all hell break loose'
Hamas’ latest step back from the hostage deal will come at a heavy price. Israel, backed by strong U.S. support, will not hesitate to respond with overwhelming force.

Nobel winners offer to nominate Trump for Peace Prize if he gets all hostages freed
Four prominent Israeli scientists signed a letter sent to Trump, saying that they support his call for Hamas to free all the hostages held in Gaza, adding that they will nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he succeeds in securing their release.

Hamas forced Daniella Gilboa to stage her own death during captivity, her mother says
In November, a spokesman for Hamas’ military wing claimed that “one of the enemy’s female prisoners was killed in an area that is under Zionist aggression in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Israel Reportedly Planning To Launch ‘Significant Strikes’ Against Iran Nuclear Sites This Year
The Wall Street Journal reported that the analysis, which was done during the final days of the Biden administration, concluded that Israel is looking to take maximal advantage of Iran’s weakened state.

Ukraine - Russia...

China proposes Putin-Trump summit to end Ukraine war, WSJ reports
Chinese officials in recent weeks have raised a proposal with the Trump team through intermediaries to hold a summit between the two leaders and to facilitate peacekeeping efforts after an eventual truce.

Bloomberg: Trump’s Ukraine Plans Mean a $3 Trillion Bill for European Allies
Whatever the U.S. president decides is his goal for Ukraine, one thing is clear: Europe isn’t ready to shoulder its huge share of the burden.

Oil falls as potential Ukraine peace deal may ease supply disruptions
Oil prices slid as Trump initiated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, raising expectations that sanctions on Russian crude could be lifted.

Canada...

Canadian PM Candidate Threatens Trump With ‘Biggest Trade Blow US Has Ever Endured’
Chrystia Freeland is vying to replace Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party.

Europe...

JD Vance Tours Notre Dame In Paris With His Family, 5-Year-Old Vivek Steals The Show
Vance read a Dr. Seuss book aloud on the Senate floor in February 2024, apologizing for missing Vivek's birthday dinner.

JD Vance to visit Dachau concentration camp on Thursday
The American vice president will visit the site of the Dachau concentration camp on Thursday, the latest in a string of senior U.S. officials to travel to the former Nazi camp.

Media...

Florida appeals court blisters Pulitzer board and rules in favor of Trump in defamation lawsuit
The three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled that Trump has met his burden of proof and establishing jurisdiction to proceed with the case.

Toobin's New Beat: Renowned Masturbator Joins New York Times
You gotta hand it to him.

Environment...

Trump Goes to War Against Universally Hated Paper Straws
These policies were a direct descendant of cities' and states' plastic bag bans and taxes. They were spurred along in the public imagination by the viral statistic, created by a 9-year old, that Americans use 500 million plastic straws a day.

LGBTQIA2S+...

New Hampshire High School Trans Athletes Take Their Fight to Trump
A lawsuit appears to be the first challenge to the constitutionality of an executive order barring male athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams.

Federal Government To Spend Over $1.5 Million Funding LGBT Youth Mentorship And Campus Activism
The Lifeworks Mentorship program is one of the initiatives from the Los Angeles LGBT Center that’s benefiting from the financial backing of the federal government, with the Department of Health and Human Services agreeing to put up nearly a million dollars in support of it.

Kansas' Democrat governor vetoes ban on child sex-change changes
The Democratic governor's veto is purely symbolic because Republican lawmakers have the votes to override her.

Education...

School Board Walks Out On Parents Angry Over ‘Rainbow Parade’ Book For Kindergarteners
The book shows men in BDSM gear holding hands, drag queens, and naked people.

Harvard Medical School, Citing Trump NIH Cuts, Encourages Distressed Students To 'Take Advantage' of 'Countway Cuddles' Pet Therapy
Trump's policy places a cap on "indirect" research funding used to pay for energy bills, admin salaries, and, in one infamous case, a yacht.

Sports...

NBA star Anthony Edwards allegedly tells baby momma to ‘get da abortion’
After she texted him, saying she was pregnant, Edwards allegedly replied, “Ok lol. Get da abortion lol.” When she said she would not, Edwards replied, “Omg [laughing emojis] bye.”

Feb. 13, 2004 - Drudge claims John Kerry had an affair with an intern... Glenn explains how the Valentine's Day show works... Valentine's Day show Couple of the Year winner(s)... Setting up callers... Glenn says we should accept Kerry's word until proven otherwise...

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.