Greatness is rarely granted simply by birthright. It is molded through failure, lessons learned, and the fortitude to press on and finish the game.
One great shot may open the door to victory, but it can take another to seal the win. American history may be defined by first strikes, but American exceptionalism is forged through its second strikes. It's called a "double-tap," and if you want to finish the job, sometimes it's what you need to do. Case in point:
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Japan, double-tapped.
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Bin Laden, double-tapped.
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Rob Lowe at the 1988 Democratic convention, double-tapped.
We had another double-tap this year, one that likely saved 25,000 lives.
In early September, a drug-loaded speed boat off the shores of Venezuela was hauling ass toward the American coast when Pete Hegseth—the greatest war secretary our nation has ever known and a man who knows a thing or two about a successful double-tap—ordered our hero to strike down that drug boat.
Our Man of the Year did what any soldier of honor would do. He took out his top-secret controller and entered the code: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. BOOM! Target destroyed. Or was it? We may never know, but does it even matter?
It doesn't, because on legal and ethical orders from Hegseth, Uncle Sam, and God, our hero unsheathed his controller and once again entered the code. KA-BOOM, BITCH! Mission accomplished. Now that's a double-tap.
We'll never know exactly who fired the missile that put those surviving Venezuelan narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean. We do know that he wasn't going to leave fate to chance, that he ain't some United Nations sissy, and that it ain't a war crime to go back for seconds before they serve dessert.
Our man made sure the job was done the American way, the victorious way. That's what makes him, The Double Tapper, a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.