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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Morning Brief 2025-12-05

December 05, 2025
Chris Brady

TOP OF HOUR 2
GUEST: Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas)
TOPIC: KEEP TEXAS RED: SCOTUS upholds GOP-drawn congressional maps.

TOP OF HOUR 3
GUEST: Sister Christina
TOPIC: How a simple Christmas card can be a reminder that there is a new beginning waiting for you in Jesus Christ.

News...

The Trump administration’s new foreign aid model cuts out the ‘NGO industrial complex’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled the plan, which aims to put partner nations over wealthy NGO executives.

Trump DOJ announces arrest of J6 pipe-bomb suspect
Federal agents arrested a Virginia man tied to the Jan. 6 pipe bombs after investigators matched purchases, cell-tower data, and surveillance details, with officials saying the case only moved once Trump made it a priority following years of inaction under Biden.

Patel says FBI probing whether arrested J6 bomb suspect had other targets or plots
FBI director also blasts earlier regime for failing to solve the case: "Either sheer incompetence or negligence ... either way, it's unacceptable for this FBI."

Alleged pipe bomber’s family sued Trump DHS over illegal immigration, asked Biden DOJ to address racism
Brian Cole Jr. worked for a bail bonds company run by his father that worked to free illegal immigrants from ICE facilities and sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.

Accused DC pipe bomber’s dad once defended by famous civil rights attorney who repped George Floyd
In addition to George Floyd’s family, Ben Crump represented the families of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

Minnesota news outlet is getting wrecked online for story on Somali migrants' economic impact on Minnesota
Many grabbed a calculator and broke down the numbers in the report. One post noted, "It's easy to 'generate' $500 million in 'income' when you steal over [$1 billion] from U.S. taxpayers."

Democrat Pramila Jayapal thinks everyone in the world built America except Americans
If we pretend that America was built by people and cultures that quite literally could not have built America, then we aren’t just misremembering our past, we are losing the future that our actual ancestors secured for us.

Mamdani to stop all homeless encampment sweeps as NYC mayor, ending key Adams initiative
The Democratic Socialist flatly told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Manhattan that he would stop all sweeps of makeshift settlements come the new year when he is sworn in as mayor.

NYC Mayor Adams signs anti-BDS order weeks before Mamdani takes office
Along with a second measure on limiting protests at houses of worship, the new order will present a challenge to the incoming mayor as New York Jews contend with a sea change.

Federal grand jury declines to indict NY AG Letitia James after DOJ refiled mortgage fraud charges
That indictment was handed up by a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., federal court on Oct. 9 — but thrown out by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie on Nov. 24, who ruled that Halligan was improperly appointed to her position and had “no lawful authority” to bring the charges.

Chance meeting helps 88-year-old veteran overwhelmed by debt raise nearly $2 million
Australian influencer Sam Wiedenhofer was traveling across America on a mission to spread kindness when he stepped into a Michigan supermarket and met Army veteran Ed Bambas — whose heartbreaking story sparked a wave of donations that has now surpassed $1.7 million.

Politics...

Supreme Court allows Texas redistricting map for midterm elections
The 5-3 vote means Republicans will likely gain several seats from Texas. The decision blocks a lower court injunction just as politicians begin to qualify for elections in the state.

Trump base grows restless as prices stay high and White House downplays affordability woes
A new poll shows many Trump voters blaming both administrations for stubborn costs, while the president’s dismissive rhetoric on affordability is fueling the same backlash that helped sink Biden, leaving Americans still strained under a post-COVID price surge.

Trump fumes at 'sleazebag' Colorado Democrat Gov. Polis over Tina Peters incarceration
"The SLEAZEBAG Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, refuses to allow an elderly woman, Tina Peters, who was unfairly convicted of what the Democrats do, cheating on Elections, out of jail!" Trump posted on Truth Social. "She was convicted for trying to stop Democrats from stealing Colorado Votes in the Election."

'Fascist Pigs': Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed served on board of far-left group that smeared cops and lobbied to 'defund' and 'abolish the police'
The Democrat's tenure on the board of the Sunrise Movement — which describes itself as a "movement of young people fighting to stop the climate crisis" — occurred as the group hosted "defund the police" seminars, added "abolish the police" to a list of political goals, and repeatedly used derogatory language to describe law enforcement.

Kathy Hochul backtracks on no-new-taxes pledge following Mamdani win
The New York governor is now reconsidering "a position she had treated as nonnegotiable all year," Politico reported Thursday.

Pritzker distances himself from guaranteed income as he eyes a 2028 White House run
The Illinois governor said he will not use state funds for a guaranteed income program that is being expanded in Cook County. However he also said the country should try it out and see what happens — playing both sides of the fence.

Tim Walz claims people keep driving by his house saying 'retard'
“I’d never seen this before. People driving by my house and using the R-word in front of people. This is shameful. And I have yet to see an elected official, a Republican elected official, say, ‘You’re right. That’s shameful. He should not say it.’"

Economy...

Leftists tried to cancel American Eagle over 'fascist' Sydney Sweeney ad — here's who came out the clear winner
The American Eagle company raised its annual sales forecast after seeing higher holiday sales, and that resulted in its stock price surging by nearly 15% in early trading Thursday.

Immigration...

Trump admin dramatically scales back work permits for asylum seekers
Work permits issued to foreign nationals who’ve applied for asylum or other humanitarian programs will only be valid for 18 months rather than five years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Thursday.

Wajahat Ali says quiet part out loud in attack on Trump's re-migration plan: 'Mistake that you made is you let us in'
The leftist son of Pakistani migrants urged Trump supporters to surrender on immigration and "embrace the halal meat."

WAR news...

Afghan watchdog concludes billions in weapons US left behind form ‘core’ of Taliban military
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks a month earlier. The U.S. presence in Afghanistan then continued under four presidents.

Admiral tells lawmakers there was no ‘kill them all’ order in attack that killed drug boat survivors
"The admiral confirmed that there had not been a kill them all order and that there was not an order to grant no quarter," Democrat Rep. Jim Himes told reporters. "Adm. Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all," Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said.

House Democrat teases articles of impeachment against Hegseth over 'Signalgate,' missile strikes
Thanedar said he was filing the articles of impeachment because "every day it becomes clearer that he is engaging in unlawful, illegal activity." The charges are murder, conspiracy for murder, and unlawful mishandling of classified information.

Flashback 1989: Biden calls on Bush to do more to stop drugs coming into country, calls for strikes on narco-terrorists
"Let's go after the drug lords where they live with an international strike force. There must be no safe haven for these narco-terrorists and they must know it."

Israel...

US seeking to declare transition to phase 2 of its Gaza plan in coming weeks — official
Trump expected to name members of boards to manage postwar Gaza and the nations that will staff security force, though announcement hinges on Hamas agreeing to give up its weapons.

China...

Poll shows Americans and Europeans agree: China’s plan for a ‘new global order’ is a big problem
Americans and Europeans are “deeply worried about China’s plans to create a new global order and its technological threat to Western nations.”

Canada...

Canadian lawmakers near deal to remove religious protections from 'hate-speech' laws
Legislators are on the cusp of eliminating key religious protections from the nation's hate-speech statutes, potentially paving the way for prosecutions over biblical teachings on marriage, sexuality, and other faith-based views.

Europe...

Democrats would like to suppress free speech the way Britain does
The American left doesn’t look at the United Kingdom and see a cautionary tale, it sees a template to follow.

Multiple countries pull out of major event in protest of Israel
Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain will skip the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after organizers cleared Israel to take part.

Europe once expelled Jewish musicians, now it hunts the only Jewish state
European broadcasters boycotting Israel's Eurovision Song Contest participation frame it as moral courage, but the instinct mirrors patterns that shaped early Nazi-era exclusions of Jewish culture.

Entertainment...

‘The View’ melts down after Stephen A. Smith refuses to back off criticism of Dem senator’s military video
Smith said Sen. Mark Kelly — a former combat pilot — crossed a dangerous line by publicly telling service members anything that could be interpreted as ignoring the commander in chief.

Why was Richard Gere banned from the Oscars far longer than slap-happy Will Smith?
Slapping someone is one thing, but allegedly abusing a poor innocent gerbil, well that's quite another.

Flashback: Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere reportedly got into a fight over Princess Diana
“To this day, [he] seriously dislikes me,” Stallone said in 2006. “He even thinks I’m the individual responsible for the gerbil rumor. Not true, but that’s the rumor.”

Media...

Turns out that Hegseth’s ‘kill them all’ line was another media invention
No direct quote. No evidence. No wrongdoing. Just partisan operatives feeding rumors to desperate reporters hunting for another scandal that doesn’t exist.

Honest media would demand OIG investigate Afghan ‘vetting’ instead of Hegseth’s texts
If America’s corporate media truly cared about the truth, they would stop hyperventilating about their self-made “Signalgate” distraction and start demanding accountability for every person responsible for lying about vetting tens of thousands of Afghans.

Environment...

Climate change might have spared America from hurricanes
Scientific and media bias promote the illusion that global warming produces nothing but bad results.

Climate advocacy struggles in the Trump 2.0 era, but opponents warn it's only restrategizing
COP30 failed to produce a resurgence of support for climate policies that the Trump administration has rolled back. Some climate groups are facing financial problems and are scaling back operations. Experts say the climate movement still has momentum, and opponents shouldn't get too comfortable.

Enviros beloved offshore wind farms might warm oceans, study finds
One recent study indicates offshore wind farms might play a role in increasing sea surface temperatures on the East Coast, though proponents have touted the resource as a cornerstone of clean energy policy carrying little environmental cost.

Education...

Senate Democrats warn McMahon against disbanding Education Department
The letter comes after McMahon unveiled a plan last month that attempts to return education to individual states while also dividing federal responsibilities between the departments of State, Labor, Interior, and Health and Human Services.

Chinese Climate Group Led by CCP Insiders Gave More Than $1M to Harvard and University of California in 2024, Tax Filings Show
House lawmakers want the IRS to investigate Energy Foundation China's tax-exempt status.

Religion...

Church displays political Nativity scene with Jesus in zip ties and centurions as ICE agents
Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf of Lake Street Church of Evanston compared the plight of illegal aliens to the Roman Empire trying to kill Jesus Christ in the biblical account of his birth.

AI...

Nvidia CEO says Trump’s energy policy saved American AI
“Without energy growth, we can have no industrial growth. And that was — it saved it. It saved the AI industry.”

Anthropic chief scientist says AI will replace most white-collar jobs in 3 years, out-think students and raise control risks
Jared Kaplan, Anthropic's chief scientist and co-owner, says AI is advancing so quickly that it will soon outperform students, upend white-collar jobs, and push humanity into uncharted territory over how much control we truly have. And all this, he suggests, will happen by the end of this decade.

Anthropic accidentally gives the world a peek into its model’s ‘soul’
The most striking takeaway from the 10,000-word text is Anthropic’s explicit pivot away from the obsequious, overly cautious tone that has plagued the industry. The document instructs Claude to embody a specific persona: a knowledgeable, brilliant friend who is helpful, frank, and treats the user like an adult.

OpenAI steers $40 million to race- and gender-ideology nonprofits while excluding right-leaning groups
Its new grant list is stacked with organizations centered on identity politics — from transgender districts to race-exclusive programs — with no conservative or ideologically neutral counterparts receiving a dime.

Visa: 47% of Americans used AI tools for holiday shopping
On the blockchain side of the ledger, the Visa survey indicated 28% of consumers happily would receive cryptocurrency as a gift. That number skyrockets to 45% for Gen Z.

Science...

Cosmic-ray blast from a distant supernova likely caused JetBlue jet’s terrifying plunge
Space experts say a burst of high-energy particles from an ancient stellar explosion probably flipped circuitry in the plane’s navigation system, sending it dropping thousands of feet on its Cancun-Newark route before an emergency landing left about 20 passengers injured.

Something unseen is shaping Uranus
Forty years ago, Voyager imaged Uranus and presented the world with a new mystery. Upon further inspection, it may have just been wind.

Animals...

Popular albino alligator, dead at 30
The California Academy of Sciences recently announced that Claude, its popular albino alligator, has died.

Dec. 5, 2011 - 'Jurassic Park' about to happen for real?... World's most expensive car crash... Obama trying to emulate Teddy Roosevelt?... Turning dead people into electricity... Glenn's team saves Occupy Wall Street protester's life...

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.

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.