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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2025-10-21

October 21, 2025
 Chris Brady

BOTTOM OF HOUR 2
GUEST: Peter Atwater
TOPIC: Is the current AI investment boom a bubble that could pop like the 2008 mortgage crisis?

News...

Chip Roy moves to impeach judge over ‘absurd’ sentence for attempted Kavanaugh assassin
Judge "unequivocally based this weak sentence on the attempted assassin's 'gender identity.'"

Demolition begins on part of East Wing of White House for Trump’s new $250 million ballroom
Photos show that construction crews have already ripped off the covered entrance that for decades greeted visitors going on tours or attending special events. The wing historically has housed the first lady’s offices and sits atop a bomb shelter and will be significantly lengthened as part of the expansion.

Trump administration can deploy National Guard in Portland, appeals court says
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Monday will allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in Portland, saying it is likely to succeed on its appeal of an order that blocked the deployment.

Jeanine Pirro announces charges against 2 more DC teens over ‘Big Balls’ attack
The U.S. attorney charged 19-year-old Lawrence Cotton-Powell and 18-year-old Anthony Taylor with robbery, assault, and carjacking in the beating of federal staffer Edward Coristine, criticizing judges for releasing repeat offenders who went on to attack again.

Biden DOJ subpoenaed Ted Cruz’s phone records in Trump probe
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team secretly sought the Texas senator’s call logs from Jan. 4 to 7, 2021, as part of its Trump investigations — a move Cruz blasted as “21st-century digital Watergate” and political spying by the Biden administration.

Accountant arrested for last month’s shooting at Trump supporter’s home over yard flag
Police say 38-year-old Benjamin Campbell opened fire on North Carolina resident Mark Thomas after tearing down a Trump banner outside his home. Caught on video firing from his Jeep, Campbell faces felony charges for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

Trump administration agrees to deliver more student loan forgiveness
The outcome is the result of an agreement between the American Federation of Teachers and the U.S. Department of Education.

Anti-ICE agitator acts hurt after being 'ran over' by LAPD — but video shows the real story
Video shows a man pretending to be hit by a police SUV during the chaotic No Kings protest outside the federal building, only to return minutes later unharmed as he continued to demonstrate after claiming he was taken to a hospital.

Police thwart possible mass shooting at Atlanta airport after gunman’s family alert
Officers arrested 49-year-old Billy Joe Cagle minutes after his family warned he was livestreaming plans to “shoot up” Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Police found an AR-15 and 27 rounds in his truck, crediting the quick family call and coordinated response with saving more than two dozen lives.

Virginia Giuffre beaten, raped by ‘well-known prime minister’ in attack that broke Epstein spell, her memoir says
In her posthumous memoir, Giuffre recalled begging Epstein to step in after the unnamed politician forced her to beg for her life — but the pedophile coldly told her it was simply part of her job.

Government shutdown...

Congressional Democrats 'terrified of getting the guillotine' from left-wing base if they vote to end shutdown: Report
Senate Democrats "are going to get hammered" if they support a Republican-led bill to end the government shutdown, according to an anonymous Democrat senator. Centrist Democrats would have opened the government "yesterday," the senator said, but fear career-ending backlash from their base.

Poll shows Trump gaining support amid shutdown as blame shifts away from him
CNN’s Harry Enten says only 48% now blame the president for the ongoing shutdown, down from 61% in 2018–19, with Trump’s approval rising slightly instead of falling as it did during his first term.

NYC...

Beards, protests & the 'addiction of revolution': Mamdani's time in Muslim Brotherhood-ruled Egypt
Mamdani arrived in Egypt as a college student with the Muslim Brotherhood in charge and left soon after the Egyptian military took over again. His time there, in his words, taught him of the "addiction of revolution."

NYC business leaders drop $3 million over 2 days into mayoral race in bid to stop Mamdani
The last-ditch spending blitz comes as the Democratic nominee continues to dominate the mayoral race, with polls showing him holding a double-digit lead over his competitor.

Luxurious and surrounded by armed guards, Zohran Mamdani’s family rental is steeped in inequality
Just beyond the fences, the Ugandan streets teem with boda-boda drivers, market women, and day laborers — but you’d never know it inside the compound.

Zohran Mamdani’s socialist housing plan could crash New York's rickety rental market
The city has the nation’s most regulated housing sector and the largest stock of government-owned and subsidized housing, and yet progressives blame its real estate troubles on the free market.

NY Post runs hit piece on Curtis Sliwa as it tries to sway voters to pick the lesser of two evils
The Post is running an “opposition research” piece on Sliwa as its top story as it tries to pressure him to quit the race and steer Republican voters toward Cuomo.

Politics...

No Kings protesters can’t explain how Trump is a king
At the Soros-funded D.C. rally, marchers waving anti-Trump signs and chanting rehearsed slogans struggled to answer basic questions about their cause, with some claiming Trump was ending women’s right to vote and others parroting vague talking points about “checks and balances.”

Axios: Trump's AI memes testing limits between satire and misinformation
The president posted an AI-generated video of Trump dumping brown sludge over No Kings protesters on Saturday, drawing condemnation from Democrats as well as rockstar Kenny Loggins, whose song "Danger Zone" was used in the post.

Politico: Mike Johnson says Trump was ‘using satire to make a point’ with AI poop-bombing video
Trump on Saturday evening posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing him wearing a crown at the stick of a warplane emblazoned with “King Trump.” It is shown bombarding liberal protesters with a poop-like substance.

‘We’re going to have a vote’ on member stock trading, Chip Roy says
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said there’s still bipartisan interest in forcing a floor vote on congressional trading.

Bernie Sanders suggests Abraham Lincoln was actually a Democratic Socialist
During an appearance on "The View," Sanders claimed Lincoln’s call for “a government of the people, by the people, for the people” echoed his own socialist ideals.

Trump’s first in-person fundraiser of the 2026 cycle will be for Lindsey Graham
A golf event with the South Carolina Republican next month will mark the president's first campaign appearance of the midterms.

Karine Jean-Pierre writes she couldn’t be a Democrat anymore after party’s ‘horrible’ treatment of Biden
Former Biden White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre unleashed on the Democratic Party in an excerpt from her new memoir, explaining why she decided to become an independent after years as a party flack.

Maine Democratic Senate candidate: Accusing me of watching CNN 'even more insulting than calling me retard'
Graham Platner, who trashed cops and rural voters, says the ultimate insult is being accused of watching CNN.

Economy...

National average gas prices fall below $3 per gallon, lowest since 2020
“Gas prices have finally fallen below $3 per gallon nationally — the earliest date we’ve seen a $2.99 national average since 2020, when COVID was the primary driver of low prices,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

Immigration...

How Trump's border crackdown has choked cartels' fentanyl flow into the US
Seizures of the synthetic opioid at the southern border are down almost 53% compared with last year. The plunge isn't because authorities are catching less fentanyl — it's because cartels simply aren't trafficking as much.

Criminal illegal alien who ran Des Moines schools registered as Maryland voter
By law, only U.S. citizens are allowed to register to vote in U.S. elections, but an election watchdog group looked into voter registration in states where Roberts previously lived and found he registered to vote as a Democrat twice, once in 2011 and again in 2016.

Trump to target San Francisco with immigration raids
“San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world, and then 15 years ago, it went wrong, it went woke,” Trump said Sunday.

Israel...

Trump: ‘We are going to eradicate Hamas’ if ceasefire doesn’t hold
“They’re violent people. Hamas has been very violent, but they don’t have the backing of Iran anymore,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They don’t have the backing of really anybody anymore. They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they’ll be eradicated.”

Hamas resumes terror operations inside Gaza hospitals and schools
Palestinian reports say Hamas has re-established bases in hospitals and schools to interrogate and execute opponents, extort aid agencies, and rebuild its network under the cover of the ceasefire.

NY Times: US increasingly worried Netanyahu could collapse Gaza ceasefire
There is growing worry in the administration that Netanyahu could actively act against the deal, the report says, citing several unnamed U.S. officials.

Jerusalem Post editorial: Israel needs to take tough Gaza decisions, which may test bonds of US relationship
The difference in thinking between the U.S. and Israel on the ceasefire is that the U.S. sees its partners in Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar as having the ability to rein in Hamas and its nature of terrorism. Israel, however, is rightfully skeptical.

New poll finds soaring approval for Trump's handling of Israel-Hamas war
An Emerson College poll shows 47% of voters now approve of the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, up from 30% in April, with independents driving the turnaround. Meanwhile, Democrats are overwhelmingly negative on the peace deal.

Canada...

After years of woke land acknowledgments, some Canadian homeowners may soon be evicted
A British Columbia court granted aboriginal title to nearly 1,900 acres near Vancouver, ruling that government land titles are invalid and leaving private homeowners uncertain about whether they still legally own their properties.

Entertainment...

De Niro’s latest rant: Trump is an ‘alien’ who ‘wants to hurt people’
The 82-year-old on-screen tough guy made an appearance on MSNBC this past weekend to voice support for the No Kings demonstrations, which were very popular with his age demographic.

John Lennon’s killer says he murdered ‘to be a somebody’ as parole denied again
Mark David Chapman told a New York parole board his assassination of the Beatle was driven by selfish hunger for fame, not ideology or insanity. Now 70, Chapman apologized for the “devastation” he caused but was denied parole for the 14th time, with the board citing his lack of genuine remorse.

Media...

A Wake to Remember: MSNBC bids farewell to its dying audience
What we saw at the MSNBC Live '25 festival, the most enlightening and overpriced event since the Kamala Harris book tour.

Gayle King sparks Democrat outrage with selfie alongside Fox News host Jesse Watters
The CBS anchor posted a smiling photo with Watters after sitting next to him on a flight, prompting furious backlash from leftist fans who accused her of “normalizing hate” and betraying her audience.

LGBTQIA2S+...

White ex-state trooper says he was fired for being white after arresting black Philadelphia LGBTQ official
Former trooper Andrew Zaborowski claims he was fired for being white after a 2024 traffic stop in which Philadelphia LGBTQ director Celena McLean yelled, “It’s cause I’m black” and “I work for the mayor,” as she and her husband resisted arrest — charges that were later dropped by DA’s office.

Education...

Teacher's assistant arrested in connection with Turning Point USA attack ahead of Alex Stein event at Illinois State Univ.
Stein celebrated the students who stood their ground to yet another allegedly violent leftist.

Chicago elementary teacher mocks Charlie Kirk’s assassination with vile gun gesture at No Kings protest
“This is who we trust with our children & then wonder why they become radicalized as adults.”

Here’s why teachers are fed up with kids chanting ‘6 7’ in their classrooms: ‘Gonna start kicking people out’
The slang term comes from the viral song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by rapper Skrilla, which features the endlessly repeated lyric “six seven.”

Health...

Spike in childhood peanut allergies was caused by 'experts'
For years, doctors told parents to keep peanuts away from infants — advice now proven to have backfired. A new study shows that avoiding peanuts actually increased allergy risk, while early introduction helps babies build immunity and has already driven allergy rates down sharply.

AI...

Anthropic co-founder warns AI is ‘coming to life’ as experts dismiss talk of machine consciousness
Jack Clark said he’s “deeply afraid” that modern AI is showing signs of self-awareness, likening new systems to “a hammer that realizes it’s a hammer.” Meanwhile, philosophers and neuroscientists rejected the idea that machines are conscious — calling them “AI zombies” that only mimic awareness.

Elon Musk: Grok 5 now has a 10% chance of becoming world’s first AGI
In a recent post on X, Musk noted that his “estimate of the probability of Grok 5 achieving AGI is now at 10% and rising.”

British TV special 'shocks' viewers with AI 'anchor' reveal
Channel 4’s "Will AI Take My Job?" ended with the surprise admission that its host was entirely AI-generated, making it the U.K.’s first news program fronted by an artificial presenter as the network warns of AI’s power to deceive and disrupt real journalism.

Technology...

Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, 'experts' say
"Experts" have warned of the perils of relying on a small number of companies for operating the global internet after a glitch at Amazon’s cloud computing service brought down apps and websites around the world.

Science...

Transportation Secretary Duffy says SpaceX is behind on moon trip, and he will reopen contracts
“We’re not going to wait for one company,” Duffy, who is currently the acting NASA administrator, told CNBC on Monday. “We’re going to push this forward and win the second space race against the Chinese. Get back to the moon, set up a camp, a base.”

Oct. 21, 2011 - The world is going to end today... Why is CAIR joining Occupy Wall Street?... Are assassinations coming?... What didn't Steve Jobs like about Obama?... Biden to reporter: 'Don't screw with me' after questioned about rape comment...

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.