"No Room... for Hyphenated Americans"

It's official: if you consider yourself Polish-American, Italian-American, or Taiwanese-American, the United States government believes that you should be deported. (We already knew what the Administration wants for Hispanic Americans or African-Americans.)

U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez of the 3rd District of Illinois, a naturalized citizen, is the daughter of Guatemalan parents who had immigrated illegally to the USA. At a Pan-American conference in Mexico City over the weekend, she stated in Spanish, as first reported by the right-wing The Blaze, "I'm a Guatemalan with much pride before I'm an American." 

        

The "I'm a Guatemalan with much pride before I'm an American" was ripe for exploitation. Utah senator Mike Lee rhetorically asked on X "Are you comfortable with this?" and

White House spokesperson Liz Huston said of comments made by Ramirez: "These Democrats' comments are despicable and underscore their commitment to putting Americans last. In stark contrast, President Trump is working tirelessly to secure peace deals, deport illegal alien criminals, and advance America's interests at home and abroad:...

Conservative commentator Jesse Kelly wrote on X: "Denaturalize and deport. I'm not even close to kidding."

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on X: "Any person who values any other country over America does not belong in Congress. Period."

Conservative pundit Megyn Kelly wrote on X: "Awesome. Go home."

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck wrote on X: "She should be immediately stripped of her elected office and it shouldn't be controversial in the slightest. If you put a foreign nation first, you can't be trusted to represent the United States. Period."

Right-wing podcaster and ex-journalist Lara Logan tweeted in part "this lady should be stripped of her citizenship & sent back to Guatemala."

The latter "conservative activist" is unaware, or doesn't give a rat's ass, that Article I of the Constitution indicates that the only qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives is that he/she is at least 25 years old, a citizen for at least seven years, and be a resident, when chosen, of the state in which he/she is chosen. (Also, Robby's coffee is overrated.) 

Similarly off-base is Charlie Kirk's contention that "any person who values any other country over America does not belong in Congress. Period." As long as the Constitutional requirements are met (as they are here) and assuming not extenuating circumstances such as commission of a felony, a congressman's constituents get to determine who belongs in Congress. Period.

Representative Ramirez may herself labor under the same misconception that does Kirk, Starbuck, and others on the right. Such conservatives don't fully appreciate the importance of consideration of whom a particular public official serves. Their criticism won't spur Ramirez, elected by the voters of her district; to resign or self-deport. Similarly, the congresswoman was spinning her wheels when on May 16, she called on Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, who works for President Trump and President Trump alone, to resign. 

Perhaps (not really) that is why the spokesperson for the Noem's DHS tweeted

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism...Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.

So if you're proudly Polish-American, Italian-American, or Taiwanese-American: self-deport. If you consider yourself Lithuanian-American, Irish-American, or Filipino-American, self-deport. Ditto if your heritage is Latin American or African. There is no room in this country for you- Secretary Kristi Noem, loyal to a fault to President Donald Trump, says so.

If Delia Ramirez's statement was translated accurately and its context doesn't significantly its meaning, the congresswoman should make it clear that she got caught up in the moment and considers herself Guatemalan-American, not primarily Guatemalan. She should do so despite, in her reply to the controversy, she correctly asserted "we are the living and breathing realization of the idea of America- a place where a multicultural, multiracial democracy can prosper."

As the context of Ramirez's remark is significant, so is the context in which the dispute takes place. The Department of Homeland Security is overseeing an unprecedented attack upon illegal- and sometimes legal- immigrants. It is often carried out by law enforcement agents who wear masks, a highly unusual adornment in a constitutional republic, in a crusade applauded by a President who has commented  immigrants "are poisoning the blood of our country."

The condemnation also comes from supporters, and with the approval, of a President whose loyalty to this nation is eminently questionable, though never questioned by media or Democrats. In his first term, ii July of 2018, President Trump dismissed the conclusion of election meddling made by the American intelligence community by maintaining "President Putin says it's not Russia. I don't see any reason why it would be." As then-Republican senator John McCain responded "no prior president has ever debased himself more abjectly before a tyrant."

But then, no then ex-President would refer to his country, as Trump did in October of 2022, as "rigged, crooked, and evil." Or as President in 2024 would call his country, in accepting immigrants, "a garbage can for the world..... like a garbage can."  Or the month after being inaugurated for a second term, would tell Cabinet members that Americans are "bloated, fat, and disgusting."

It's amazing that Democrats refuse to mention that Donald Trump hates our country and its people. It will be amazing also that, as the insults of Delia Ramirez roll in, Democrats will refuse to remind Americans that a prominent member of the Administration argues that if they are proud of their cultural heritage that they are not truly American.

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This Isn't working.

The actions of Tennessee's senior US senator got me to thinking. In the August 2 edition of his daily poll, podcaster and CNN broadcaster Michael Smerconish asks whether viewers agree or disagree with the proposition "It is in the political best interests of Democrats to publicly give Pres. Trump credit when he accomplishes something with which they concur." (Most respondents went with "agree," as did Smerconish himself.) But that might be the wrong question to ask.

In an interview with Newsmax

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Friday accused Democrats of having “devised a scheme that would hurt President Trump personally and end the campaign” for the White House in 2016.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard last week released what her office claims is “overwhelming evidence” that former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other high-ranking Democrats “politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump” after he was first elected in 2016.

And the video linked to by the tweet has her adding

I thought it was so incredibly interesting that the Democrats cannot accept the will of the American people. They cannot accept the outcome at the ballot box. And of course we're seeing it even today because they lost at the ballot box. They've lost in the courts.  

Now, what are they trying to do ? They're trying to resist and obstruct everything that President Trump and his Administration and the Republican-led House and Senate are doing on behalf of the American people.

GOP Senator on 2016 election: "I find it so incredibly interesting that the Democrats cannot accept the will of the American people. They cannot accept the outcome at the ballot box." @atrupar pic.twitter.com/sbohjUs3Md

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) August 2, 2025

Annoyed that Democrats would not unquestioningly accept  the agenda of a duly-elected president,  Senator Blackburn appears to advocate unilateral surrender of the Democratic Party to anything and everything Trump.. That would create a tyranny of the majority, which James Madison and other Founding Fathers were determined to avoid by creating a federal system and separation of powers at the federal level.

Blackburn, Representative Tim Burchett, Representative Mark Green, and Bill Haggerty (elected 11/24 and not sworn in at the time) are Tennessee Republicans who on January 6 each denounced the riot of that day. However, when national journalists asked them of their opinion of the pardons Trump handed out, none responded. So J. Holly McCall of Tennessee Lookout contacted them, but only Hagerty responded, defending the President; The other three failed to reply.

Tennessee has become one of the most reliably Republican state in the country, and so little can be learned by the blind loyalty to Trump of its most prominent national officials. However, it is fairly typical of Republicans nationally. Here is Politico in late January proclaiming that "several" Republican senators had criticized President Trump for pardoning violent January 6 protesters. Those "several" included S. Collins of Maine, L. Murkowski of Alaska, M. Rounds of South Dakota, and T. Tillis of North Carolina. That's 4 out of 53- not much of a rebuke.

And there are always a few Republicans willing to buck Trump on any one issue, as long as the numbers are insufficient to make an impact.  A prime example was President Trump's megabill, passed by the Senate and the House just in the nick of time, as requested, for Trump to make a show of signing it on July 4.

The GOP could afford no more defections in the Senate. It voted  51 to 50 in favor of a bill which had been amended from the one the House had passed on a procedural vote. But instead of going to committee as is the custom in such cases, the House passed the bill, unchanged. There, the GOP could afford only one more defection because the final vote was 218-214. Convenient- especially because it was approved on July 3, an Independence Day gift for Lord and Savior Trump..

Similarly, Jeannine Pirro was approved by the Senate on Friday to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The vote was 50-45, allowing three Republicans to miss the vote. Interestingly

Pirro’s opponents had hoped Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) would have voted against her, given her election denialism. Tillis opposed Trump’s first pick for the office, Ed Martin, for defending the January 6 attacks on the Capitol. But Tillis voted to advance Pirro’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and again for it on the floor. 

Tillis, who has announced his retirement, voted against the President's one big, ugly bill, no doubt in part because his vote wasn't needed. Here, he was the 50th vote in favor of the President's nominee.

But that's the game they're playing, and why the primary issue should not be whether Trump should be given credit where credit is due. Obviously, the President is the ringleader. Nevertheless, he could get nowhere without the members of his gang. They include the Republican United States Representatives and Senators, who play a critical role in the game he's playing. 

Democratic members of Congress frequently attack President Trump and Cabinet members. That is necessary, yet not sufficient. They repeatedly tell the media that lots of Republicans are with them on this issue or that but fear retribution from Trump. It's not working. Enough already.

This strategy has been a complete failure. It's sufficient to get one or two Republicans to vote in favor of the national interest but it's never quite enough, and that's not by coincidence.

Stop publicly sympathizing with the Republicans whom they imply (but never quite say) are intimidated by Donald Trump. Note that in bowing to Trump's evil wishes, they do not have the courage of their convictions.

Alternatively, accuse these Republicans of being covert Trump allies. Perhaps, like Marsha Blackburn and those other Tennessee Republicans who condemned the 1/6/21 attempted coup only when it was politically correct to do so, they are actual extremists who agree with the self-proclaimed King.

But do something. Passivity is over, at least for the Republican Party, and they seem to be doing quite well these days.

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World Peace, In Only Six Months

This is not completely bonkers- only grossly exaggerated.

Leavitt: "The president has now ended conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia. This means President Trump has brokered on average about one peace deal… pic.twitter.com/NopEkpC8a6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2025

- Thailand/Cambodia:  This is a border dispute which The New York Times notes pertains to "who can lay claim to the centuries-old Hindu temples along the border, dating back to the ancient Khmer Empire. The two nations agreed on 7/29 to a temporary cease-fire after days of cajoling and pressure from the United States, China and Malaysia. This included a phone call from President Trump suggesting trade talks between the USA and each would not resume unless the fighting, begun on 7/24, was suspended. Talks are to resume on 8/4.

- Rwanda/Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by armed conflict for over three decades. Early this year the ethnic Tutsi rebel group M23, apparently backed by Rwanda, was making advances in the DRC while sending to the rare mineral coltan it plunders. The USA in June brokered a deal with Rwanda- but not with M23- which would end the fighting but not require the rebels to withdraw from the territory it now occupies in eastern DRC.  It includes an agreement in which the two nations would strive "to expand foreign trade and investment" in "critical mineral supply chains."

- India/Pakistan: After a terrorist attack on April 22, India launched air strikes against Pakistan. The latter retaliated on May 7 and an air and drone campaign continued until on May 11, Pakistan decided to halt hostilities and India agreed. The ceasefire was promoted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though it is unclear why each side stopped and what the terms of this provisional agreement were.

- Serbia/Kosovo: There has been strife, periodically breaking out into violence, for over a quarter of a century in this area of southeastern Europe. In 2008, Kosovo, comprised almost entirely of ethnic Albanians, declared its independence from Serbia, comprised of ethnic Serbs. Serbia actively encourages civil unrest and attacks upon NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo, whose independence is not recognized by its neighbor to the north. Tensions recently flared and as noted here, "suspension of foreign aid has affected hundreds of USAID projects in the Balkans region, including organizations in Serbia and Kosovo working towards peace." 

- Egypt/Ethiopia: According to The Jamestown Foundation, Egypt has a defense pact with the Somali central government (and deploys soldiers there) while Ethiopia has a memorandum of understanding with the breakaway Republic of Somaliland to acquire basing and port rights on the Red Sea. Additionally, Ethiopia is planning an "official inauguration" in September of the Grand Ethiopian Resistance Dam, which is described here as giving "Ethiopia the power to significantly curtail the water that Egypt receives" and desperately needs. Each country backs rival insurgent groups.

- Israel/Iran: A couple of weeks ago, NBC News reported "although assessments of Iran's nuclear program after the US strikes are expected to change over time," 

One of the three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran struck by the United States last month was mostly destroyed, setting work there back significantly. But the two others were not as badly damaged and may have been degraded only to a point where nuclear enrichment could resume in the next several months if Iran wants it to, according to a recent U.S. assessment of the destruction caused by the military operation, five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the assessment told NBC News.

But the kicker is 

that U.S. Central Command had developed a much more comprehensive plan to strike Iran that would have involved hitting three additional sites in an operation that would have stretched for several weeks instead of a single night, according to a current U.S. official and two former U.S. officials.

NBC's sources led to the outlet to speculate that the President rejected the more comprehensive plan perhaps because it would have led to many more casualties on both sides and/or that it would have been "at odds with his foreign policy instincts to extract the United States from conflicts abroad."

The latter is Donald Trump's method to fulfill his primary foreign policy aim: to make deals. If the President had eschewed an attack, Iran would have had little incentive to negotiate. If more sites had been targeted- successfully- there would have been little need to have Iran come to the bargaining table. Its nuclear ambitions would have been terminated, at least for a few years. Voila! Negotiations! And if successful by USA criteria, they probably would have left Iran at roughly the status as it was before President Trump withdrew the USA from the Iranian nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Still, it would have been a deal.  And the President and press secretary Leavitt would have touted it as a great deal, even though Trump helped create the problem they would claim he solved.

The threat posed by Iran is at best, nearly as great as it was before the aerial onslaught by the USA. However, Secretary of State Rubio has had a positive impact on the conflicts involving Thailand, Rwanda, and India, though in each case hostilities may resume at any time. The impact of the Administration upon Serbia's feud with Kosovo may be somewhat negative. Leavitt may have added the Egypt vs. Ethiopia conflict, because, well, why not? Who's going to check?

The problem that Israel, as well as most of the Arab nations of the Mideast, has against Tehran persists. It appears that the attack against Iran was not as successful as it might have been nor did it provoke retaliation- Israel/USA: 1, Iran: 0, as we enter the third inning.

Donald Trump has fashioned himself, with assistance from the Republican Party, as The Great Dealmaker. But he does not consider it a means to an end. He views it as an end in itself and that he if he concludes enough of them, the Nobel Committee will come a-knocking and everyone finally will recognize him as king of the world.

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Mysterious Disappearance

The ignorance or, more likely, dishonesty of the far left on the matter of the Israel-Hamas war rivals the ignorance or dishonesty that the right exhibits on so many issues.

Sorry, Emma V, but Elissa Slotkin is clearly, obviously, and demonstrably correct.

It's hard to pick the most satisfying moment of this interview, but this part where Slotkin tries, and fails, to insinuate that the pro-Palestine protestors are soft on Trump might take the cake. pic.twitter.com/3n3kZvjHr0

— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) July 30, 2025

Senator Slotkin is seen stating "I just think it's interesting, right, that there was a ton of protests when Democrats were in charge." Co-host Krystal Ball responds "there was a protest in Manhattan yesterday."

Imagine! A protest in New York City! The heartland has spoken!

To be fair, the interchange appears to have taken place on July 29 and there was a protest in Manhattan on July 28, in front of a building at 26 Federal Plaza, at which many ICE detainees (and others) are held. The previous day, eight rabbis were arrested in NYC while protesting restriction of aid to Gazans.  By contrast, this from May 2, 2024:

An organization which tracks USA political protest activity reported on 5/30/24 that since October 7, 2023, there had been encampments on more than 130 campuses.  Nonetheless, the 1639 pro-Palestinian encampment days accounted for only 44% of the 3704 total days of protest activities on 625 campuses overall.  Although particularly prevalent on the coasts, there were protests throughout the USA, and a lot of them, as the Michigan senator recognizes.

The pro-Palestinian protestors- wherever they are now- are soft on Trump, for whatever reason(s).  Continuing the theme of useful idiocy on the far left, there Peter Daou:

I'm old enough to remember when students protesting the Gaza genocide were smeared, expelled, arrested, and brutalized under the Biden-Harris administration. In just about every way, Trump has continued Biden's policy on Israel. Dems laid the groundwork for 14+ months. Shameful. pic.twitter.com/uJXmTCuvN5

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 28, 2025

The "Biden-Harris administration" was so mean that, as The Guardian explained

In March, the Trump administration listed Swarthmore College as one of 60 schools at risk of losing hundreds of millions of federal dollars for allowing what it considered antisemitic harassment on campus. Colleges and universities across the country were already quashing pro-Palestinian protests by suspending and arresting students, and several revised their policies to ban encampments prior to Trump’s inauguration. But some have gone even further to penalize students in light of the government’s threats to pull their funding.

The federal government- under President Donald J. Trump- has taken punitive action. Before his inauguration- but apparently after his election- numerous colleges began to suppress "pro-Palestinian" protests.

The Mideast policy also changed. As Yair Rosenberg of The Atlantic writes. in January 2021

Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to the region and assured America’s Arab allies that it opposed forced displacement. “Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” he said at a press conference in Doha, Qatar. “They cannot, they must not, be pressed to leave Gaza.” Blinken then traveled to Israel, where he apparently delivered the same message to Netanyahu. The next day, the Israeli leader posted a video in which he declared, “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.” A member of Netanyahu’s party told the press that the prime minister’s stance had shifted because of American pressure. For the moment, maximalism had been shoved back into the box.

Then Donald Trump won reelection, and everything changed. The same day Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Netanyahu fired Yoav Gallant, his defense minister, who had opposed the resettlement of Gaza and publicly criticized the prime minister for refusing to commit to returning the territory to Palestinian control. In one fell swoop, the chief external (Biden) and internal (Gallant) obstacles to conquering Gaza were removed. The only pressure exerted on Netanyahu now was from the hard right. And then Trump himself seemingly joined its cause.

 On February 4, sitting next to a surprised Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Trump dramatically undid all of Biden’s efforts, promising to take over Gaza, relocate its residents, and turn the area into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” The president may have conceived of this vision out of some misdirected sense of compassion, believing it would provide better lives for Palestinians now stuck in what he correctly termed a “demolition site.” But whatever Trump’s intentions, his proposal was immediately taken as affirmation of the maximalist dream of many Israelis, and an explicit warrant for ethnic cleansing by the Israeli far right. Once that prospect turned from a pipe dream into a president’s plan, it quickly became an obstruction to concluding the conflict.

At a press conference in May, Netanyahu declared that implementing Trump’s vision was now a condition for ending the war. Last week, the director of the Mossad reportedly visited Washington to discuss the “voluntary” relocation of “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians” to third-party countries. All the while, Gaza’s hunger crisis has dramatically worsened, while hostages continue to languish in Hamas dungeons. Far from expediting the conflict’s end, Trump’s proposal has been marshaled to prolong it. And as long as the president does not explicitly reject the goal of removing the Gazan population, it will continue to bedevil his plans for the region.

Most recently, President Trump said of Israel's campaign against Hamas "they're gonna have to fight and they're gonna have to clean it up. You're gonna have to get rid of 'em."Yet, Peter Daou claims "in just about every way, Trump has continued Biden's policy on Israel."  Krystal Ball and Emma Vigeland suggest that pro-Palestinian activism has not abated. Blindness seems to be contagious as the anti-Israel activists, once so very militant, have turned into sheep. And as Senator Slotkin implied, one has to wonder why that is.

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Tell the Truth, Vivek

We don't know what precipitated or exactly what happened in downtown Cincinnati on Frida night/early Saturday morning. However, we do know that Vivek "the fake" Ramaswamy, running for the Republican nomination for Ohio governor, is right, and he is wrong. On Monday, Ramaswamy spoke to the young woman, Holly, who was assaulted and later that day stated

She’s a single working mom who went to a friend’s birthday party. It’s unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Hard-working Americans shouldn’t have to worry for their safety when they have a good time in our cities. Holly said not a single local or state official had yet reached out as of earlier this afternoon, other than one police detective.

Leftists like to lecture about ‘systemic injustice’ while thugs turn our cities into war zones. I’m done with their excuses.  As governor, I’ll make sure they’re behind bars, not running wild. Our cops will have the green light to restore order—no apologies. Holly appreciates the kind words and prayers from patriots across the country, and hopes that the publicity around her story ensures that local & state leaders clean up our failing cities. We hope to visit Holly soon as she recovers.

      

The mayor of Cincinnati is chosen in a non-partisan election. The incumbent is currently embroiled in a re-election race with Corey Bowman, the half-brother of Vice President J.D. Vance. The Representative for the city in the US House of Representatives is a Democrat but the governor, as well as the state's two US Senators, are Republicans. 

Those are the public officials who could have called the young victim, about whom the gubernatorial candidate has some concern. Yet, Ramaswamy blames "leftists" whom, he claims, "like to lecture about 'systemic injustice' while thugs turn our cities into war zones." 

Our cities, the congressional candidate contends, are "failing" and  being turned "into war zones" by officials unwilling, unlike himself, to give police "the green light to restore order- no apologies." Accountability, evidently, is so last decade. 

And so, ironically, is Ramaswamy, who raves about those "leftists (who) like to lecture about 'systemic injustice."" In what world is the Ohio Republican living in? As a resident of the USA, I've heard very few leftists decrying systemic injustice the last few years. And the phrase "systemic injustice" has nearly disappeared from popular discourse.

At :50 of its video above, the New York Post noted "It remains unclear what sparked it- but witnesses told WXIX that one of the groups made racial comments before the blows started."

We don't know which side made a comment about race before the brawl started. However, we do know that the white man and the white woman were outnumbered and being pummeled. Police chief Terri Theetge, noting that only one  of the "over 100 witnesses" called the police (at 3:06 a.m.) remarked

Nobody called the police. Nobody got us there as quickly as we could get there. They waited until they saw it on social media. That is unacceptable, to not call the police when you view this. Traffic was horrendous. People saw this, they were fighting in front of traffic. Why didn't somebody call us?

Presumably, the main reason is that individuals, particularly young people as most of these were, prefer to use their phone as a cameras rather than, well, as a phone.  There also is the bystander effect.

Nonetheless, there is a likely third reason. The criminal behavior appears to have a racial component- and the blacks present seem to have emerged relatively unscathed. That lessened the incentive for witnesses to call the police. Nor did any of the witnesses remain behind to speak to the police.

That lessened the incentive also for two other, prominent individuals to get involved. Whenever there is a hint of a bias crime committed against one or more blacks or a crime which may, just may, have been racially motivated, Benjamin Crump and Reverend Al Sharpton are at the scene in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

They are, of course, not in Cincinnati and for that, police and the citizens of the city should be thankful as law enforcement continues an exhaustive investigation.   Ramaswamy need not have called out Crump or Sharpton by name. However, for a  guy quick to condemn government officials, leftists, and "failing cities," he's awfully reticent to identify what's really going on. Seems about right for a Trump acolyte.

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Fraud and Waste Mike Johnson

Appearing on Sunday's Meet the Press, House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about imprisoned sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, accomplice of the late Jeffrey Epstein. Of course, he did a tough on law and order bit, remarking

If you're asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance. I think she should have a life sentence at least. I mean, think of all these unspeakable crimes. And as you noted earlier, probably 1,000 victims. I mean, you know, this is, it's hard to put into words how evil this was. And that she orchestrated it and was a big part of it, at least under the criminal sanction, I think is an unforgivable thing.

Of course, he also left himself maximum flexibility on the issue, having stated a moment earlier "Well, I mean, obviously that's a decision of the President. He said he had not adequately considered that.  I won't get in front of him. That's not my lane." After host Kristen Welker followed up, Johnson added "so again, not my decision...."

Look for the Speaker to be upfront defending the President when Trump ultimately extends a measure of leniency to Maxwell because Johnson is so far up Donald Trump's rear end that.... (You finish the punch line.)

Still, the Epstein saga is a scandal not for the House of Representatives but for the White House and the Justice Department, who are working a strategy to pin any blame for the crimes of Epstein's best friend not on that best friend but on Democrats. However, the House leader does bear considerable responsibility for the disastrous impact the Administration's recently enacted megabill will have on the American people.

 

WELKER: Why would Josh Hawley introduce a bill to roll back cuts in Medicaid if there are not cuts in Medicaid? He says the people in his state are going to suffer

MIKE JOHNSON: I will tell you that the one big beautiful bill safeguards the program pic.twitter.com/ikT8XeVxB4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 27, 2025

Welker led off with

Two more critical topics to get to with you, Mr. Speaker. Let's talk about what has been called the Big Beautiful Bill. In June, you told me the bill would not cut Medicaid. But two Republican senators ultimately voted against it because of what they thought were cuts to Medicaid. And Senator Josh Hawley is already out proposing legislation to actually roll back some of the Medicaid cuts that he just voted for. Did the Medicaid cuts go too far, Mr. Speaker?

Oh, dear Lord. Why must the mainstream media, most of whose members (Welker among them) left-of-center, consistently adopt Republican messaging? Call it President Trump's, or the Administration's, or the Republican megabill of tax-and-spending bill. "Big Beautiful Bill" is obviously Trump's branding, an effort to manipulate the media, which was eager to accommodate him.

Johnson replied

The bill does not cut Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill does not cut Medicaid. What it does is strengthen the program. And we talked about this, Kristen, is that the problem is there's a high degree of fraud, waste and abuse in that program. I'm talking about 10s of billions of dollars every year. What we did is we went in to go in and fix that.

He followed with fourteen sentences, none of which answered the question. But when in doubt, simply say "fraud, waste, and abuse," even though fraudsters would be prosecuted and abuse can mean anything in the world, though its most direct and accurate application is to violence against a member of a family and/or household, as in domestic abuse.

In early July, NPR reviewed the likely impact of the cuts Johnson says will "strengthen the program" and explained

The deepest cuts to health care spending come from a proposed Medicaid work requirement, which is expected to end coverage for millions of enrollees who do not meet new employment or reporting standards.

In 40 states and Washington, D.C., all of which have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, some Medicaid enrollees will have to regularly file paperwork proving that they are working, volunteering, or attending school at least 80 hours a month, or that they qualify for an exemption, such as caring for a young child. The new requirement will start as early as January 2027.

The bill's requirement doesn't apply to people in the 10 largely GOP-led states that have not expanded Medicaid to nondisabled adults.

Health researchers say the policy will have little impact on employment. Most working-age Medicaid enrollees who don't receive disability benefits already work or are looking for work, or are unable to do so because they have a disability, attend school, or care for a family member, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

State experiments with work requirements have been plagued with administrative issues, such as eligible enrollees' losing coverage over paperwork problems, and budget overruns. Georgia's work requirement, which officially launched in July 2023, has cost more than $90 million, with only $26 million of that spent on health benefits, according to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization.

 "The hidden costs are astronomical," said Chima Ndumele, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health.

Briefly: Onerous reporting requirements will result in many millions of Americans losing their health coverage, in a country in which "(54%) of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level."

Additionally, "belt-tightening that targets states could translate into fewer health services, medical professionals, and even hospitals, especially in rural communities." As in will translate. And Affordable Care Act

marketplace policyholders will be required to update their income, immigration status, and other information each year, rather than be allowed to automatically reenroll — something more than 10 million people did this year. They'll also have less time to enroll; the bill shortens the annual open enrollment period by about a month.

That is to "strengthen the program" in a country in which a majority of Americans read no better than does an 11-year old.

Co-pays will increase for many Medicaid enrollees in states which have expanded Medicaid, thus discouraging individuals from seeking primary care. More people will get sick, then get help only when their situation is dire, boosting overall health care costs. 

Welker then asked

Josh Hawley says he is worried about cuts to payments and Medicaid reimbursements. Why would he be introducing a bill to roll back cuts to Medicaid if there were no cuts to Medicaid? He says the people in his state are going to suffer.

And Johnson responded

I haven't talked to my friend Josh Hawley about his legalization. I'm not sure what that's directed to. But I will tell you that the One Big Beautiful Bill safeguards the program. It strengthens it.

The Speaker responded with seven more sentences in which the question was not answered. However, the accurate answer would be: as he opined in The New York Times, "slashing health insurance for the working poor" would be "both morally wrong and politically suicidal."  That was in May, a few week before Hawley voted for the bill 

The "strengthens the program" or "safeguard the program," applied to Medicaid, is a chapter in the old GOP playbook. It is a variation- a slight variation- of the argument Republicans have invoked against Medicare and Social Security in which they promise to "preserve and protect" what they term "entitlement programs," i.e., Social Security and Medicare.

Mike Johnson once defended President Trump by rationalizing "Yeah, he may be breaking the rules but he's doing it where I can see it. So who cares?" That may be naivete about someone who is involved in a herculean effort to hide the report detailing his sexual and economic involvement with arguably the most prolific pedophiles ever. Or it may reflect on the Speaker's disdain for rules when it suits him. He's not the very worst thing the modern Republican Party is giving the country but he deserves (dis)honorable mention.

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Very Bad Situation

There are many individuals confused, mistaken, or dishonest about what is currently happening in Gaza and Brigitte Gabriel is one of them.

Another lie propagated by CNN and Abby Phillip.

Israel is not preventing anyone from getting food, Hamas is responsible for all the suffering in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/k495XbASAS

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) July 25, 2025

In the discussion to which Gabriel refers, Abby Phillip turned to Scott Jennings and summarized the situation, remarking

What is the rationale for blocking aid, period? Israel and the United States have put together a program to distribute food because they don't want the U.N. to be a part of it. They want to do it themselves. But that program is what everyone is saying is failing.

She was referring, as NBC News reported two months ago,  "aid groups led by the United Nations" had "carried out a massive operation moving food, medicine, fuel, tends and other supplies across Gaza since the war began in October 2023." However, Israel then blocked distribution of aid while it accused Hamas of hijacking shipments. In late May, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed group approved by Israel assumed responsibility for aid distribution. However

The new mechanism limits food distribution to a small number of hubs under guard of armed contractors, where people must go to pick it up. Currently, four hubs have been set up, all close to Israeli military positions.

The GHF began to take over and 

two of the four hubs started distributing food, both in the Rafah area in the southernmost end of Gaza, where few Palestinians are located. On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians walked from tent camps outside the city of Khan Younis, crossing Israeli military lines, to reach the distribution points.

At one point on Tuesday, chaos erupted as Palestinians overwhelmed a hub outside Rafah, breaking through fences. Nearby Israeli troops fired warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic. The military later said the situation was brought under control but at least three injured Palestinians were seen being brought from the scene.

GHF publicly launched early this year and is run by a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials. It has the support of Israel and the United States.

Until resigning, Jake Wood was the face of the foundation. Wood is a U.S. military veteran and co-founder of a disaster relief group called Team Rubicon. He said Sunday night he was resigning because it was clear the organization would not be allowed to operate independently.

Soon afterward, Johnnie Moore, described here as "an evangelical Christian and former PR consultant who advised President Donald Trump during his first term," was appointed executive chairman of the GHF. Source of the organization's funding remains in doubt because Moore claims the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is "a private foundation" and "like lots of private foundations, you know, it doesn't disclose its donors."

Swell. Houston, we have a problem. Significantly

Setting up so few sites for food distribution meant crowd control problems were inevitable, according to Ciaran Donnelly, the senior vice president for international programs at the International Rescue Committee, which ran major relief operations in Gaza. “No aid organization would recommend doing it that way,” he said.

Inside Israel, as well, critics have questioned its independence. Last month in front of Israel’s legislature, opposition leader Yair Lapid, without providing evidence, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of funding the GHF through foreign shell companies. And last week, citing unnamed public officials, Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that the Israeli government had sent hundreds of millions of shekels to the group.

Israel’s government has repeatedly denied it funds the GHF.

Phillip noted  

a statement from a hundred human rights groups that say "as the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed the families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes. The Government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death."

Those aid groups never have been sympathetic to Israel. Their mission is to feed as many human beings as possible, not to acknowledge that there never would have been a calamity had Hamas not attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 with the aim of killing as many Jews as possible, extra points for raping women.

Nonetheless, Phillip was right when she added

Again, this is within the power of Israel to alleviate this. And even if the idea is that Hamas is stealing some of the aid, the quantity of aid, Scott, that is coming into Gaza right now is not even close to what is necessary to feed the population. So it would be one thing if they were giving as much food as is necessary and Hamas was stealing all of it but that's not what is happening.

At 2:17, former Republican US Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona comments (emphasis his)

I don't- I don't think Donald Trump wants children in Gaza to starve. I think he's simply saying that U.S. cold do more to put pressure on Israel to allow the food in to be distributed, um, that's what I'm saying.

Donald Trump doesn't want children in Gaza to starve. But he doesn't want them not to starve, either. He doesn't care one way or the other, because he is focused on one thing. 

Trump relatively recently has been nominated thrice for the Nobel Peace Prize: in November 2024 by the head of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign committee, a nomination withdrawn on 6/24/25; on June 20, 20245 by Pakistan leaders for his involvement during a recent India-Pakistan crisis; and on 6/24/25 by GOP Representative Buddy Carter of Georgia for the attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Our President is obsessed with this and on June 24 whined on Truth Social "no, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be. But the people know, and that's all that matters to me!"

Evidently not. This is what interests him in the Israel/Hamas war. Trump wants to win a Nobel Peace, or two or three or four. That can happen only if this particular Mideast war ends and he has something to do with it. It may not end with the complete destruction of Hamas or security for Israel, with food for Gazan civilians, nor with a solution to the crisis on the West Bank or a homeland for Palestinians. A resolution probably won't be just for both sides and possibly for neither; yet, without at least a cease-fire, there is no chance the American President will get the prize he longs for..

And that illustrates a major tragedy of this conflict. Israel cuts off aid to Gaza, later allowing it but only on a limited and ineffective basis. If Hamas cared about the well-being of the people over whom it rules (or did before 10/7/23), it would have cried "uncle" long ago. However, it does not. It is a brutal, terroristic organization which dreams of the genocide of Jews it and its fellow travelers accuse Israel of committing against Palestinians.

Striving for the capitulation of its enemy and return of the hostages it holds, Israel continues starving Gazans as if that enemy is concerned about the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.

That political policy has not succeeded nearly as well as its military has succeeded in nearly destroying Hamas. That aim, justified and necessary, should have been its sole goal in Gaza. Instead, evidence grows that Israel's goal, in which starvation of Gazans is no objective, extends well beyond evisceration of Hamas.

The latter may have been the nation's major, if not primary, goal six months ago. President Biden, unlike President Trump, thought it a net positive that Gazans be fed, and was not interested in monetarization of the region with a Riviera of the Middle East.

And so while Brigitte Gabriel and Scott Jennings question nothing the Israeli government does, pro-Palestine student organizations throughout the USA protest Israeli policy and anti-Zionist Muslim groups such as Americans for Justice in Palestine Action ramp up their condemnation of the Jewish state. Correction: now that more Gazans are killed with the strategic objective of defeating Hamas no longer operative, these activists have held their tongue. 

They did all they could to prevent Israel from defeating Hamas. Having failed to do that, with the lives of Gazan people at stake, they've practically gone into hiding.  Jennings, Gabriel, and others are off-base. The other side is even worse.

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