Members of the Beltway political class seem to believe that Donald Trump's flurry of a first month in office has alienated the American people. Ignore them, says Free Beacon founding editor Matthew Continetti.
Trump has moved fast and broken things. Washington politicos think that's a bad thing. But they "can't—or won't—grasp the extent of public dissatisfaction with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," writes Continetti. "Eighty-three percent of voters said they would like to see substantial change or complete and total upheaval (my italics) in how the country is run."
From his "notable executive orders on affirmative action, DEI, gender ideology, and paper straws" to his illegal immigration deterrence, Trump has started delivering that change on the domestic front. His greatest danger, according to Continetti, "is a foreign policy that ends in trade wars, military conflict, and wasted political capital."
Voters chose Trump to improve the economy and close the southern border. Acquiring Greenland—as much as this columnist loves the idea—wasn't on the menu. Nor was making Canada the 51st state, retaking the Panama Canal, or owning the Riviera of the Middle East on the Gaza Strip. Just 22 percent of voters in a recent Quinnipiac poll support Trump's plan for Gaza.
And while it's true that Trump campaigned on ending the Ukraine war, he risks losing popularity and support if an agreement with Russia makes America look weak. Eighty-one percent of voters in the Quinnipiac poll said the United States shouldn't trust Vladimir Putin. The voters are right.
Second-term presidents often pay a price for foreign-policy hubris. Reagan had Iran-Contra. Bush's surge in Iraq succeeded militarily but cost him politically. Obama's deal with Iran endangered America. Trump, more powerful than ever, seems tempted to join their company. The message from voters was simpler: raise wages, seal borders, drain the swamp. Everything else is a distraction.
Read the full column: Trump's First Month: Victory at Home, Danger Abroad
Hamas terrorists on Thursday returned to Israel the dead bodies of some of the hostages, including innocent children, they abducted and murdered. The victims, Oded Lifshitz, 83; Shiri Bibas, 32; and her two children, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month old Kfir, were held in captivity for more than 500 days after being taken from their home. Hamas terrorists displayed their caskets on a makeshift stage in front of a sign that depicted Bibi Netanyahu as a snarling, bloodthirsty vampire. Gazan civilians, including many children, cheered and enjoyed celebratory music.
Or, as NPR described it, it was a "somber" scene.
The taxpayer-funded outlet covered the macabre propaganda display on Thursday’s episode of Morning Edition, noting that Thursday marked "the first time that Hamas has handed over bodies during this war." NPR’s Tel Aviv-based correspondent, Kat Lonsdorf, told listeners the scene was "more somber and much less celebratory on both sides." Come again?
"While that was true in Israel, where mourning citizens quietly gathered together, NPR's description of the scene in Gaza differed from what unfolded on the ground," writes our Adam Kredo. "Inside the war-torn strip, Hamas terrorists paraded the coffins of two dead children, their mother, and an 83-year-old man through the streets of Gaza before mobs of cheering Palestinians." Then, early Friday, Israel revealed in a gut-wrenching announcement that Hamas returned not the body of Shiri Bibas but rather "an anonymous, unidentified body."
When Uri Berliner left NPR, he cited the outlet's work "downplaying the atrocities of October 7, overlooking how Hamas intentionally puts Palestinian civilians in peril, and giving little weight to the explosion of antisemitic hate around the world." NPR denied the claims. How about now?
Watch the footage: As Gazans Celebrate the Murder of Jewish Women and Children, NPR Calls the Scenes 'More Somber and Much Less Celebratory'
Over in the Midwest, Indiana native turned prospective Michigan Senate candidate Pete Buttigieg keeps backing away from his woke past. Buttigieg, speaking Tuesday at a University of Chicago Institute of Politics panel on the "Future of the Democratic Party," took aim at diversity training, saying Americans shouldn't be made to "sit through a training that looks like something out of Portlandia, which I have also experienced." So have cops in Buttigieg's South Bend.
"In 2017, with Buttigieg a year into his second term, South Bend's police department instituted diversity and anti-discrimination training sessions aimed at 'Bridging Relationships and Strengthening Community Through Inclusion,'" our Collin Anderson writes. "Slides from the sessions lamented 'Implicit Bias' and presented cops with a list called the 'The "Ism" Trail,' which denounced nefarious 'isms' that perpetuate prejudice and power dynamics, including 'racism,' 'sexism,' 'ageism,' 'languageism,' 'materialism,' 'classism,' 'colorism,' and 'sizeism.'"
Violent crime was surging in South Bend at the time, and two years later, during his failed presidential campaign, Buttigieg apologized for the police department's lack of diversity, saying, "I couldn't get it done."
Buttigieg's Tuesday comments came as he takes a "serious look" at a 2026 Senate run in Michigan, "where he and his husband moved in 2022 'because of family.' As Buttigieg eyes that run, he's worked to distance himself from the left-wing policies that defined his failed 2020 presidential campaign," including taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for federal inmates and illegal immigrants.
Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi is the ruler of one of the seven United Arab Emirates. He's best known for waging alleged "hack-and-leak" operations targeting the business associates and journalists who exposed his ties to Iran, including our friend Jay Solomon of the Free Press. Now, he's in business with Gretchen Whitmer and the state of Michigan.
On a recent trip to the Middle East, Whitmer signed a memorandum of understanding with the sheikh, our Chuck Ross reports. She said the deal would facilitate "student exchanges, internships, and joint programs between Michigan and Ras Al Khaimah-based academic institutions" and drive bilateral investments between Michigan and the small Gulf nation. Joy!
"Saud, a University of Michigan graduate who hosted the governor during her visit, is a controversial figure in the United States," writes Ross. "The dictator, who was until recently represented by Dechert’s Andrew Levander, threatened to sue the Washington Free Beacon for reporting on litigation that accused him of using a network of lawyers, lobbyists, private eyes, and hackers to wage smear campaigns against former business associates and journalists."
Read more: Gretchen Whitmer Forges Business Deal With Iran-Linked Emirati Sheikh Implicated in Hacking Schemes
Away from the Beacon:
- Colorado's Medicaid program reportedly spent nearly $4 million on health care for dead people. Can we send "Big Balls" out West?
- Speaking of DOGE, if you're a federal worker out of a job, have no fear: You get three free months of Politico Pro.
- Mehdi Hasan is assembling a team (of anti-Semites). His "new media company," Zeteo, hired Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman to host a "monthly YouTube show" that "will spill the tea on what really goes on inside of Congress & the damage done by big money and special interests." Subtle!