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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2025-10-23

October 23, 2025
 Chris Brady

BOTTOM OF HOUR 1
GUEST: Sebastian Gorka
TOPIC: President Trump's counterterrorism program has killed OVER 300 suspected jihadists in the last nine months.

TOP OF HOUR 3
GUEST: Charles Murray
TOPIC: Murray: “I thought I didn’t need God. I was wrong.”

News...

CBS News: Many big names in group of unlikely allies seeking ban, for now, on AI 'superintelligence'
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have joined prominent computer scientists, economists, artists, evangelical Christian leaders, and American conservative commentators Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck to call for a ban on AI "superintelligence" they say could threaten humanity.

Entire White House East Wing will be demolished to make way for ballroom — as Trump reveals new $300M price tag for the project
“In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, as he showed off renderings of what the White House grounds will look like when the project is completed in 2029.

Democrats, media clutch pearls over President Trump’s ballroom build
The same people and publications who cheered tearing down statues are now waxing poetic about Trump building a ballroom on private dime.

Pictures from Harry Truman's demolition of the White House
By autumn 1950, interior demolition had left the White House a cavernous hollow space 165 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 70 to 80 feet high.

GOP senator says she plans to sue Biden DOJ officials, FBI for invasion of phone privacy
Sen. Marsha Blackburn says search of phone records violated her 1st and 4th Amendment rights, her separation of powers protections as a lawmaker and possibly the Stored Communications Act.

The New York Times wants an America without Americans
On Tuesday, Leighton Woodhouse wrote for the New York Times that conservatives are “spinning” a “mythology” that is “historically delusional.” The delusional mythology Woodhouse is referring to? The belief that Americans are a “group of people with a shared history.”

Kamala Harris family Secret Service agent reportedly moonlighted as plus size model
A female agent formerly on the Secret Service detail for Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff moonlighted as a model and never passed her physical fitness test, sources told RealClearPolitics.

Government shutdown...

Dem leader admits shutdown pain ‘worth it’ for political leverage, White House blasts ‘sick’ strategy
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark said Democrats view the government shutdown as “one of the few leverage times we have,” acknowledging it’s hurting families but defending the tactic, prompting the White House to blast Democrats for holding Americans “hostage” for their agenda.

NYC...

NY Post: Mamdani breaks a sweat, fails to give specifics as Cuomo, Sliwa repeatedly pin him into a corner during fiery NYC mayoral debate
Front-runner Zohran Mamdani broke a sweat — literally — during a knock-down, drag-out final mayoral debate Wednesday as a fired-up Andrew Cuomo repeatedly pressed him to “quit acting” and deliver straight answers.

NY Times: 7 takeaways from the final NYC mayoral debate
Cuomo, who was criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike over his languid debate performance last week, assailed Mamdani at every turn. He focused on Mamdani’s limited experience and youth and blasted him for refusing to take positions on some issues.

Cuomo says Trump will ‘knock Mamdani on his tuchus’ if socialist wins NYC mayor race
Cuomo mocked socialist rival Zohran Mamdani, saying Trump would “knock him on his tuchus” if he became mayor, while Mamdani called Cuomo “Trump’s puppet.” Curtis Sliwa urged both to stop grandstanding and focus on working with Trump to help New Yorkers.

Actor torches NYC socialist mayoral frontrunner for dining at luxury sushi spot
Michael Rapaport ripped Zohran Mamdani for eating at $145-a-plate Omen Sushi while calling himself “working class,” mocking him as “Zoron the Moron” and saying, “You ain’t working class — you’re fraud class.”

Politics...

Democrats keep promising an 'alternative' — to what, exactly?
Top Democrat strategists say the party’s biggest problem is failing to offer a positive “alternative” to Trump’s agenda, but that’s the issue — we’ve seen what the alternative to all of that looks like. It was called the Biden years.

Dem megadonors snub Kamala-headlined DNC fundraiser, with one sending 'profanity-laced rejection'
Major Democratic donors turned down the Democratic National Committee's request to host a fundraiser, blasting the party’s lack of direction as DNC cash reserves sank to just $12 million — far behind the GOP’s $86 million war chest.

North Carolina approves new GOP-drawn congressional map
The move is expected to give Republicans an additional U.S. House seat in the 2026 midterms.

Special counsel tapped to probe scandal-plagued Jay Jones over 2022 reckless driving case
Prosecutors are reportedly looking into how Jones completed his community service requirement to avoid jail time.

Democrat Senate hopeful, who claims he's not a Nazi, taught military tactics and recruited for socialist paramilitary group in Maine
Graham Platner, who some say puts the socialist in National Socialist, provided advanced firearms training and recruitment for the Socialist Rifle Association, an extremist group linked to paramilitary activity.

Mamdani effect? Three top mayoral candidates take aim at wallets with socialist-minded tax policies
Three leading Democratic Socialists are mainstreaming tax policies aimed at the redistribution of wealth.

Hunter Biden: Obama leading dad off stage by the hand 'really pissed me off'
"I almost jumped up on the stage and said, 'Don't ever f**king do that to the president of the United States again — ever,'" Hunter told an interviewer.

Ex-GOP senator enters highly competitive race in hopes to flip New Hampshire red
John Sununu, who served as New Hampshire’s U.S. senator from 2003 to 2009 before losing his seat to Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, is looking to re-enter politics. He's got the backing of the NRSC but faces a primary fight with Trump ally Scott Brown.

Jasmine Crockett says 'karma' is making her 'strongly' consider running for a higher office
The "fake ghetto hood rat" claimed that attempts to unseat her have stirred her ambitions for the U.S. Senate, adding that she believes “karma” and a strategy to “expand the electorate” could propel her to statewide victory.

Pro-trans progressive launches bid for Pelosi’s seat before she has a chance to announce retirement
As speculation mounts that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will soon announce her retirement, one California lawmaker is wasting no time entering the succession race.

James Carville fantasizes about Trump ‘collaborators’ paraded in the streets like post-war Nazis
"They should be put in orange pajamas, and they should be marched down Pennsylvania Avenue. And the public should be invited to spit on them."

Economy...

Amazon’s secret strategy to replace 600,000 American workers with robots
Who could have foreseen that having to pay people $23 an hour plus benefits to move a box from one place to another place might eventually lead to them being replaced by robots?

Flashback: Amazon announces $1 billion plan to raise US wages and cut health care costs
The company said in September that the average pay will rise above $23 an hour this year, with cheaper health plans starting in 2026, following a year of nationwide strikes organized by unions and backed by Democrats.

Catastrophic Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack to cost UK economy at least $2.5 billion, according to estimates
The indirect impacts make this one of the most financially consequential hacks in history.

Immigration...

Trump urges Senate to pass Kate’s Law
The president called on lawmakers to approve the long-stalled bill mandating a 10-year sentence for illegal aliens who re-enter the U.S. after deportation, saying Congress must act to finally deliver justice in Steinle’s name.

Democrats plan to add 'master ICE tracker' to website
Rep. Robert Garcia says the tracker will be used to track and document ICE activity using information from sources on the ground.

Cotton demands DHS audit visas after Hamas terrorist found living in Louisiana
Sen. Tom Cotton ordered an immediate security review of all visas issued since 2021 after a Gazan man accused of taking part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre was caught living in Louisiana on a fraudulent visa, blasting the Biden administration for failing to properly vet Middle Eastern applicants.

Trucker suspected of killing 3 in horrific DUI crash reported to be illegal migrant
Law enforcement arrested an Indian national suspected of killing three in a major highway accident in California while under the influence of drugs and driving a semi-truck.

WAR News...

US conducts lethal narco-boat strike, this time in the Pacific
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said it was the eighth U.S. strike on a drug-smuggling vessel, declaring that narco-terrorists “will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere,” as President Trump vowed to cut off Venezuela’s flow of narcotics to the U.S.

Israel...

Netanyahu stresses Israel not a US protectorate, JD Vance responds: 'We don't want one'
"We want Israel as an ally," Vance said, "and for the U.S. to have less interest in the Middle East."

Rockefeller Brothers Fund gave millions to terror-tied extremist groups in 2025
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has spent millions of dollars in 2025 supporting an array of anti-Israel groups, several of which have ties to terrorism abroad and extremist activists in the United States, a Washington Free Beacon review of the organization’s grantees shows.

Indonesia defends move to bar Israeli athletes, says it ‘understands the consequences’
Indonesia says it understands the consequences of its decision to block Israeli athletes from entering the country but defends the move as part of its pledge to “maintain international order.”

Ukraine - Russia...

White House hits Russia with massive sanctions, demands 'immediate ceasefire' in Ukraine
"Given President Putin's refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia's two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin's war machine," Scott Bessent announced.

Trump says Putin talks 'don't go anywhere'
“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” Trump said, adding, “I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” about the new sanctions.

Trump denies WSJ reporting on long-range weapons use in Ukraine
"The Wall Street Journal story on the U.S.A.’s approval of Ukraine being allowed to use long-range missiles deep into Russia is FAKE NEWS! The U.S. has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them!" he posted on Truth Social.

Europe...

Notorious pedophile Ian Watkins killed in prison
The former Lostprophets frontman, serving a 29-year sentence for child sex crimes, was murdered at HMP Wakefield in England, where four inmates have been arrested as police continue their investigation.

Media...

Sunny Hostin suggests she had to protect son from her allegedly racist white neighbors
Hostin claimed she once brought her son to the local police station to prevent him from being “harassed” while running in what she described as an “all-white neighborhood.” She said she feared neighbors might falsely report him to police, citing her belief that “black boys are not given the presumption of innocence and youth.”

Flashback: Sunny Hostin forefathers were slave owners
Research says it's very likely her third great-grandfather not only owned a slave but was also involved in the slave trade.

White House hammers Jen Psaki over comments about JD Vance's wife: 'Circle back on that, moron'
After Psaki mocked the vice president’s wife on a podcast, saying that Usha Vance should “blink four times” if she needed rescuing, White House communications chief Steven Cheung fired back, blasting Psaki as “a dumba** who has no comprehension of the truth.”

Environment...

A whistleblower was meeting with the SEC, accusing a solar panel company of fraud. The Biden admin guaranteed a $3 billion loan for the company at the same time.
Sunnova Energy, which filed for bankruptcy in June, allegedly used hidden cells on a spreadsheet to inflate its numbers and defraud investors

LGBTQIA2S+...

Minnesota Supreme Court rules for male who was barred from competing in women's event
The far-left court ruled that a man who claims he's actually a woman was discriminated against by USA Powerlifting when the organization did not allow that man to compete against women in 2018.

Snoop Dogg flips on LGBTQ agenda, teams with GLAAD for kids’ song ‘Love Is Love’
After blasting woke messaging in children’s media just months ago, the rapper — who’ll endorse for a buck — has now partnered with GLAAD on an animated “Doggyland” track promoting same-sex dog parents and lyrics teaching kids that “love won’t change.”

Monkeypox is back, and this time it's ...
Three California residents have been infected with a more severe strain of the virus — marking the first time this type of monkeypox has spread within the U.S., health officials said on Friday.

Education...

Alaska schools’ social studies standards omit Washington, Lincoln, and Christianity
Even in a red state like Alaska, bureaucrats have infiltrated the education department with "protest" and "action civics."

Report predicts growth for Arizona school choice program
Program has witnessed a 753% increase in student participation since 2022.

AI...

Meta cuts 600 jobs at 'Superintelligence Labs'
Zuckerberg has been on a hiring spree to stack his company with top AI researchers, and the cuts on Wednesday did not affect these newest hires, who have been empowered to develop “superintelligence.”

Suzanne Somers AI clone debuts 2 years after her death
Somers died two years ago, but her husband, Alan Hamel, insists that fans will be able to interact with her again via an AI clone he says is “amazing.” Hamel said, "It was Suzanne. And I asked her a few questions, and she answered them, and it blew me and everybody else away."

Sports...

Too big to fail NFL shrugs off criticism of Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime choice
Commissioner Roger Goodell called the pick “carefully thought through” and said the halftime show is "going to be exciting and a united moment."

Animals...

Dozens of wild monkeys dive into Florida river, shocking tourists
A viral TikTok from Silver Springs State Park shows dozens of rhesus macaques leaping from trees and cliffs into the water, startling kayakers. “Look at them all. These are all monkeys jumping in. It’s raining monkeys.”

Oct. 23, 2009 - Obama’s contradictions… A/B comparing of what has been said… Obama not losing sleep over administration going after Fox News… Mysterious phone call… Glenn’s Twitter… Glenn visits Harlem…

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.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

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.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

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.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

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.