Townhall Review | Conservative Commentary On Today's News

Reliable reports from a variety of sources confirm President Trump had ordered a major escalation of combat with Iran for this past weekend only to call it off Saturday night. 

President Trump knows the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps lies and that they cheat. 

There’s no reason to believe that they’ll not lie and cheat again. It is who they have always been. Since the revolution in 1979, the Iranian regime’s negotiators have fooled both Presidents Carter and Obama in comprehensive fashion, other presidents to some degree, but they have never fooled Donald Trump.

Until this past weekend at least.

Can we still pull of a win against the terrorist regime in Tehran?

Yes. 

But only the president can do that. Not our allies. Not his advisors. Certainly not the legacy media.

Trump has been surprising and indeed startling his critics for his nearly dozen years in politics. I’m hoping he has at least one more huge surprise in store.

With Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan, the Democratic party has gone from Barack Obama denouncing those who said America deserved 9/11 to campaigning with those who say just that, like Hasan Piker, the left’s most famous podcaster.  As the political philosopher Jerry Garcia wrote: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” 

El-Sayed is the latest success endorsed and campaigned for by the Marxist-Islamist axis of the Democratic Socialists of America. This juggernaut is proving unstoppable in taking over the Democratic party.

A generation ago, a real political philosopher, Harry Jaffa, pointed out: That with the fall of the Berlin Wall, utopian communism would no longer be seen as simply a threat from abroad—but a more “deadly and dangerous phase” here at home could follow.

Quite right—a wall can stop people, but not their ideas.  That enemy is here, and potent.  The two-party system is now looking Republican on one hand and Marxist-Islamists on the other.  We cannot simply wish this away or ignore it. 

As most Americans know, the Democratic Party has begun a dangerous flirtation with the Democratic Socialists of America. What’s shocking is how far and how fast the rot has spread.

To his credit, Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi is pushing back with a pledge called the “Promise to America.” Its three core principles are simple common sense. We’re capitalist, not socialist. We want safety, not lawlessness. And we’re proud, not ashamed, of America.

Here’s the disturbing part: of the 212 House Democrats, only 13 have signed on. That tells you how mainstream socialist ideas have become in the Democratic Party, and how radicals have intimidated the moderates.

It’s shocking that these simple principles are now controversial in a major American political party. That should concern every voter who values freedom. Let’s hope it’s a wake-up call.

How can you spot a racist? It's easy to do, especially in the Protection Racket Media. Just look for those who bring race into arguments as non-sequiturs in order to demagogue people whose opinions fall outside the elites' comfort zone. 

Thus we come to Howard Bryant and the Guardian. Reporters asked Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham to take a position on male intrusion on women’s sports. Cunningham opposed it as the “common sense” position. In response, Bryant offered a bizarre rant in which he claimed Cunningham was “anti-Black” as well as “anti-transgender.”

This follows an equally bizarre essay from USA Today columnist Nancy Armour, which argued that Fever star Caitlin Clark should absorb more fouls without redress because Emmitt Till got lynched in the 1950s. Rather than address the real issue, sportswriters pulled a race card on both women. 

Sports media has become a new haven for craven and woke demagoguery.

Don’t trust them.

I’m sure many of you saw it or at least heard about it:

Anthony Fauci pled the Fifth.

The former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health was appearing before a Senate committee on Wednesday—and he went on to say nothing; he plead the Fifth well over 100 times.

But that doesn’t mean it was for nothing.

It may well result in further action. Simply put: Fauci was granted a pardon by President Biden. In accepting that pardon, Fauci no longer has the liberty to refuse to testify.

But I would like to express a brief word of appreciation here.

And that would be to Senator Rand Paul.

Sometimes Rand Paul is brilliant.

Sometimes he is a pain, frustrating me to no end.

And sometimes I want to give him a medal. That was this week. That was Rand Paul at his best … his very, very best.

He just has not given up on this issue.

Thank you, Senator Paul.

Mentalist Oz Pearlman was featured at the recent, rescheduled dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association. The choice of a “mentalist” for the entertainment portion of the program was apt. Performers in that category combine psychology, suggestion, observation, misdirection and showmanship to create the illusion of mind reading.

For the reporters in the room, Pearlman could even be categorized as continuing education. Members of the legacy media are relying on the practices employed by Pearlman to draw conclusions about President Donald Trump.

Keep your eyes and ears open for reporting in print or on broadcasts that relays what the president or vice president is “thinking” or “feeling,” as opposed to what they have said or done.

And that’s not "reporting," of course. It’s guessing.

The appearance of a mind-reader among the Beltway’s news business elites was just so “on the nose.” Did any of the assembled reporters even notice the mirror in the room?

It’s been attributed to George Carlin that if fascism ever comes to America, it will come with a smile.  Ronald Reagan said it will come in the name of liberalism. But what of communism?

Recently, Shannon Bream of Fox News, interviewed the co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, Megan Romer. Last weekend, the New York Times gave her a glowing profile.  She comes off friendly, affable and…smiley. 

What elite media never reports, Ms. Romer is a proud member of the “Red Star Caucus.”  The Red Star Caucus defines itself as “a Marxist-Leninist caucus in the DSA.”

The new DSA platform, which the DSA proudly promotes and admits to, and it’s not just incarceration of criminals, but our entire constitutional structure.

As we consider the bloody history of communism, we should recall the words of the great writer Hilaire Bellow talking about those watching from beyond the grave. He reminds us: “we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond; and on these faces there is no smile.”

This Marxist/DSA threat is nothing to smile about.

The future of the West and President Donald ’s reputation within it through the centuries will depend on the outcome of the ongoing battle with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

America is decisively winning that battle, but it has not yet won it. If President Trump perseveres, that will not happen. If he abandons the battle, it could be the worst foreign policy debacle for the United States since the end of the Vietnam War, rivaling even that of catastrophe of President Joe Biden’s command to American forces to quickly depart Afghanistan in 2021.

Iran is run by religious fanatics. That is the defining threat Iran poses to the region and indeed the world.

Most of the West doesn’t want to deal with the implications of a theocracy bound up in medieval theology and run by fanatics in possession of WMD. President Trump is willing to do this and he’s acted on it. Now he must finish the job.

 Abolish the Electoral College. Replace the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress. Eliminate the Senate. Seize ownership of “essential industries.”

These are not just hysterical claims about the Democratic Socialists of America. This is the platform the DSA adopted and published. DSA co-chair Megan Romer confirmed on Fox News Sunday that the DSA and its candidates will pursue those goals, and by any means necessary.

These DSA activists and candidates do not want to just win elections. They want a toehold for a revolution. It is not a game to them, nor a pose, and the events of the last century make very clear what the outcomes of such a revolution will be. Even winning an attempted revolution against the constitutional order would devastate the country, and the DSA does not plan on losing it. 

When communists tell you who they are, believe them. 

Until now, hard-left influencer Hasan Piker was perhaps best known for appearing to use an electric shock collar on his dog during a livestream. Now he's making news again—for addressing the College Democrats of America convention dressed as Mao Zedong.

Piker has called Mao "one of the great leaders of this world." Yet Mao's policies are widely estimated to have caused the deaths of between 40 and 70 million people.

Had Piker shown up dressed as Hitler, the outrage would have been immediate—and rightly so. Mao deserves no better. 

Piker’s appearance, and his denunciation of mainstream Democrats for compromising with so-called fascists, reflects the extremist rhetoric gaining ground on the left. Unless Democrats of good faith confront that radical fringe, their party risks losing itself. Let's hope it's not already too late.

 New York has recently created their version of Canada’s assisted suicide regimen, and it has put religious providers squarely in its crosshairs. Several groups have banded together to stop the Medical Aid in Dying legislation as it forces them to participate in suicide. 

Hochul tried to deny this, claiming faith-based providers can opt out of the program. Catholic nuns discovered, however, that the law requires all providers to coordinate assisted suicide in their facilities and to give access to doctors performing it. 

Starting next month, any healthcare provider who declines to prescribe suicide pills could still have to tell terminally ill patients about their “right” to kill themselves, help them meet the requirements for obtaining suicide pills, and direct them to a provider willing to prescribe the lethal drugs.

The death cult on the Left continues to expand its reach and its authoritarianism. We need to stand with the Catholic sisters – again – and fight for life.

President Trump was a guest on my program last week. He put the number

of Iranians massacred by the regime over two days in January at 52,000! —so we know the ruthlessness of the men in charge in Iran.

In light of that, it is entirely understandable that the Iranian people are reticent to take to the streets again.

And this has become clear: the current public faces of the rump regime in don’t have any authority over the killers with the guns.

Eli Lake is among the most respected national security reporters in the U.S.  He explained to me last week how the history of regime collapses tells us we ought to be watching for splits within the ranks of those men with guns.

That’s how revolutions against dictators begin and then gain momentum—when a cadre see the end game and don’t want to be on the wrong side when everything falls apart.

Watch closely. It only takes a few people to crack the whole of the IRGC tyranny.

A new Pew Research Center survey contains a shocking finding: Nearly half of Muslim Americans view Hamas favorably. That's right—Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for murdering at least 46 Americans and taking others hostage on October 7, 2023.

Overall, 44 percent of Muslim American respondents expressed a favorable opinion of Hamas.

This disturbing trend coincides with an increasingly assertive Islamist presence across the United States. In parts of Brooklyn, amplified calls to prayer now ring out from mosques beginning at 5 a.m.. They include the declaration, “There is no god but Allah.”

Religious liberty is a cherished American freedom. But it’s time to realize that many Islamists view such public displays not simply as religious expression, but as symbols of cultural and political ascendancy, here in America.

The late philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that the power of toxic ideologies, like fascism and communism—once they take hold—can prove impossible to reform. Now add apocalyptic theocracy to that fascism and you have a rough understanding of Iran’s leadership. The West, and hopefully many in the Trump administration, are learning that now.

As the Wall Street Journal and others reported, Iranian leadership plotted its third assassination on President Donald Trump last week.  This, after the United States had already decimated Iran’s military.  Federal courts have previously identified two other plots to assassinate Donald Trump, as well as several of his former cabinet officials.

While many Americans recoil at notions of regime change in Iran, Iranian leadership has no such compunction about trying to affect regime change in America—and via assassination.  And: It appears almost nothing will shake Iran’s fascist theocracy into moderation or civility.

This is who and what we are fighting in Iran.  Let’s complete the job and help make gentler the life of this world.

Graham Platner ended his bid to represent the people of Maine in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday night.

He would have done well to begin his consideration with earnest engagement with the Bible.

Really.

Specifically, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, verse 17, where it says: “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.”

Now more than ever, every candidate must be warned again about this truth and then again and again. Indeed, it’s inevitable for every candidate in every race in which any opponent has the means to dig deep.

Every would-be candidate ought to subject himself or herself first to the gauntlet of self-scrutiny and then to a gauntlet of “friendly” professionals who specialize in digging up “opposition research.”

If an unflattering story exists, it can be found, and it will be found. And it will be on every front page.

Platner’s saga is already a tale worth telling.

“Nothing that is secret will not be revealed.”

Talking politics with your average young male these days, chances are you will hear all kinds of odd theories coming from the Pied Pipers of Podcastistan. You will hear them mentioning “experts” nobody heard of until about 10 minutes ago or until they were discovered by these podcasters because of their contrary, and often, conspiratorial thinking.

Young men, especially, are attracted to this novel “wisdom,” and they are so prone because, as they will tell you, mainstream institutions have been untruthful over the years. But because some institutions that we used to rely on and respect have been taken over by partisanship and been wrong doesn’t mean that all normative thinking and scholarship is a lie or cannot be trusted, or that people nobody have ever heard of are the replacements of true wisdom.

We dismiss and ignore this fallacious thinking at our collective peril.

The task of the serious is to be able to discern truth from fiction and greatness from mediocrity. In these critical times, that task has never been more important than now.

What happens when the Left plucks a ‘working class man’ from obscurity and pushes him for high office? In an era of Democratic desperation, mainstream media creates narratives to protect him, even at the expense of their stated values.

Graham Platner’s rise and fall stains all the institutions of the Left. Democrats and the media tried to bury or downplay Platner’s checkered past, including his Nazi SS tattoo, his record of disturbing public comments and his moral depravity.

Don’t be fooled by the sudden shift in media coverage. Everything that outlets like Axios and the New York Times reports as “news” today had been reported weeks and months ago by independent media. The Times cooked its own report in early June to protect Platner. Every elite media outlet perpetuated the “working class” lie about a man who lives off his wealthy parents.

The insistence by Democrats and media to make excuses for Platner exposes the corruption of both.

The Nazi tattoo told us all we needed to know.

Teaching Constitutional Law is a joy.

Every semester since 1996, my students hear that Con Law ought to be their most interesting class during their three years of law school.

This year the Court issued 67 majority opinions.

Because district court judge issue bolts-from-out-of-the-blue on a regular basis, there’s a perception abroad that the judiciary becoming politicized. Our highest court, however, is an enormous force for stability in the country that just turned 250 years old.

The most significant of this term’s cases may well turn out to be NRSC v. the FEC, which held that the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act restricting the amount of money a party can spend in direct coordination with a candidate’s campaign, those restrictions were unconstitutional, and that breathes much-needed life into the two major political parties which indeed need the lift.

The Supreme Court has gone about its work successfully and will be back at it in October. The “republic of laws not men” carries on.

A specter is taking over the Democratic party and haunting America...Marxist and Islamic Socialism.

A new crop of Democratic party candidates truly stand for and believe in the worst and most dangerous ideologies of the past.  These candidates are winning nominations and likely winning races for mayor, for Congress, and for Senate—from Los Angeles to Washington, DC; from Colorado to Michigan.

Even a cursory look at their platforms and speeches reveals admissions of support for Marx and Mao and Stalin, and Islamist organizations from Hamas to Hezbollah.

This juggernaut of alien and anti-American ideology has a motor, and it has momentum; even the Democratic front-runner for President and the Democrat’s former nominee, Kamala Harris, is in regular consultation with one of its leaders, seeking favor and advice from Zohran Mamdani. 

The toxic ideology, from which millions died, and fled from in Europe, Asia, Lebanon, and Iran, cannot be replanted here.  But just now, due to enfeeblement or sympathy, no force within the Democratic party can stop it. 

The job must be left to us.

In Trump v. Slaughter, the Supreme Court has issued one of the most important administrative law decisions in years. It overrules a famous precedent called Humphrey’s Executor, which had protected some independent agency commissioners from being fired by the president.

President Trump removed two members of Federal Trade Commission over policy disagreements. But federal law says commissioners can be fired only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct. So the fired commissioners sued.

The Supreme Court held that the statutory limits on presidential removal violate the Constitution’s separation of powers. And the Court was right. If public officials exercise executive power but answer to no elected president on matters of policy, they’re no longer accountable to the voters. That creates an unelected governing class — an oligarchy, really — that’s protected by law. And that’s fundamentally un-American.