On July 30, 1941, a wan, painfully gaunt man in his early fifties was chauffeured through the Kremlin gates and ushered into the office of Josef Stalin. The American presented the Soviet dictator with a letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In it, FDR instructed Stalin that his sickly envoy should be treated with “the identical confidence you would feel if you were talking directly to me.”
The man’s name was Harry Hopkins.
Hopkins, whose last official government title was Secretary of Commerce until 1940, acted as Roosevelt’s chief emissary throughout the war years. He was, in fact, Roosevelt’s most trusted confidant. So heavily did the president lean on his friend’s counsel that Hopkins literally lived for three-and-a-half years in his own <a href="https://time.com/archive/6782779/presidential-agent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">private quarters</a> within the White House. He had been the principal architect of the New Deal and, between that and his work at the Commerce Department, was considered a top notch administrator. Indeed, Hopkins had the president’s unshakeable faith — so much so that Hopkins’ <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Barbarossa-Cataclysm-Jonathan-Dimbleby/dp/0197547214/ref=asc_df_0197547214?mcid=0fb21b4b93c03010be6c135e68622dcc&amp;hvocijid=6511239155696965424-0197547214-&amp;hvexpln=73&amp;tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=730434177080&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6511239155696965424&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9013184&amp;hvtargid=pla-2281435178098&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detractors</a> saw him as “a sinister figure, a backstairs intriguer, and an Iowan combination of Machiavelli, Svengali and Rasputin.”
<div id="attachment_875305" style="width: 422px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875305" class="size-large wp-image-875305" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2628468-412x576.jpg" alt="Soviet Communist leader Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953) with American diplomat Harry Hopkins (1890 - 1946). Original Publication: People Disc - HW0294 (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" width="412" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2628468-412x576.jpg 412w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2628468-215x300.jpg 215w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2628468.jpg 733w" sizes="(max-width: 412px) 100vw, 412px" />Hulton Archive/Getty Images</div>
But he was FDR’s man. Someone to whom he’d effectively given a sort of presidential power of attorney to speak on his behalf throughout the war to such important allies and world leaders as Stalin and Churchill, and to decide matters that could affect the fates of millions across four continents, while the physically deteriorating president stayed back in Washington. Hopkins was also appointed to head the $11.3 billion Lend-Lease program to aid the Allies, and became a member of the War Production Board and the Pacific War Council. But he functioned mainly as the president’s intimate, and unelected, advisor.
This was some serious power placed courtesy of the president into the hands of one man, an unelected administrator. Indeed, Hopkins wielded much more de facto power under FDR than Elon Musk does under Donald Trump today. The tech billionaire’s unsalaried role as the head of DOGE is to recommend to the president actions he might take to root out government waste, fraud and abuse, and nothing more. As per the historical record, no one “voted” for Hopkins any more than they voted for Musk — a common complaint from a Democrat Party that has not been so bewildered by a total loss of power since Appomattox.
Unlike President Trump, Roosevelt never openly campaigned on giving Hopkins, who also served as his 1940 campaign manager, such an integral role in the center of his administration. And yet, there were no GOP lawmakers making fools of themselves, a la Chuck Schumer today, through cringe-worthy grandstanding by shrieking over any perceived threat Hopkins posed to the health and safety of our sacred Democracy.
While Hopkins was pushing his cancer-riddled body to the breaking point in his global travels on behalf of his closest friend, other unelected men who would also wield awesome power and authority granted by Roosevelt were hard at work back home shifting the USA’s manufacturing base to a war footing.
<div id="attachment_875321" style="width: 714px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875321" class="size-large wp-image-875321" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-515955368-704x576.jpg" alt="Homeward bound from the Casablanca Conference of 1943, President Roosevelt is shown in animated conference with Harry Hopkins. Sitting directly behind them are Lieutenant George Fox (left), US Navy Medical Corps, and Rear Admiral Ross T. McIntyre (right), Surgeon General of Navy. Across the aisle are Guy H. Spaman (back to camera) of the US Secret Service, and Captain John L. McCrea, Presidential Naval Aide. Standing are Arthur Prettyman, valet, Charles Fredericks, (hands folded), Elmer Hipley, Secret Service, Wilmer Deekand, Secret Service, and Captain Otis Bryan, Chief Pilot." width="704" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-515955368-704x576.jpg 704w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-515955368-300x246.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-515955368-768x629.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-515955368.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px" />Homeward bound from the Casablanca Conference of 1943, President Roosevelt is shown in animated conference with Harry Hopkins. Getty Images.</div>
This was not an easy task for FDR, a neo-socialist, whose isolationist stance stalled America’s response as war clouds brewed overseas. His ideological antipathy towards pure capitalism caused the U.S. government to do everything it could to hinder war production through activist policies that capped profits on war materials, and banned the sale of arms to foreign powers. By 1940, Roosevelt had effectively destroyed the U.S. defense industry. All this while malevolent nations like Germany and Japan were on the march.
It is difficult for us today to imagine how weak the United States military was leading up to the Second World War. At its outbreak in 1939, the U.S. fielded less than 175,000 troops, ranking 19th in the world and behind such global powerhouses as Portugal. In fact, in 1940 FDR was advised that Nazi Germany — which was by then Blitzkreiging its way across Scandinavia, the Low Countries and the mighty France — might only need five divisions to take over much of the country. The administration was suddenly faced with a difficult choice: bring back the war economy, or risk invasion.
Gen. George Marshall, FDR’s Joint Chiefs head, told him in no uncertain terms that the U.S. government could not prepare the nation for war and then execute production on its own. He therefore urged Roosevelt to bring in the industrialists if this mammoth mobilization effort was to succeed. Says <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkIyEmUgX0&amp;t=555s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Stephen Davies</a> of the <a href="https://iea.org.uk/dr-stephen-davies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Institute of Economic Affairs</a>, “There was no large army, there was virtually no air force. It all had to be created from scratch in almost no time at all, and the administration, the government, recognized very realistically that there was just no way they could do this themselves. What they had to do was to reach out to private industry, the private sector, and divert it to the war effort.” 
Roosevelt saw the light. Says <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkIyEmUgX0&amp;t=555s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">historian</a> and pilot Randy Hotton, “Roosevelt said ‘I want the top manufacturing guys in this country.’ And one of his top advisors said, ‘Number one is Bill Knudsen of General Motors. Number two is Bill Knudsen of General Motors.’ And we can all guess who number three was.” Knudsen ended up flying in the face of the administration&#8217;s and other war economies’ dicta by keeping the U.S. war economy unplanned, unfettered, open, and allowing defense industries to turn a profit.
<div id="attachment_875313" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875313" class="wp-image-875313 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/General_Motors_head._Washington_D.C._May_29._A_new_informal_picture_of_William_S._Knudsen_President_of_General_Motors_Corp._LCCN2016875727-720x576.jpg" alt="File:General Motors head. Washington, D.C., May 29. A new informal picture of William S. Knudsen, President of General Motors Corp. Harris &amp; Ewing, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" width="720" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/General_Motors_head._Washington_D.C._May_29._A_new_informal_picture_of_William_S._Knudsen_President_of_General_Motors_Corp._LCCN2016875727-720x576.jpg 720w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/General_Motors_head._Washington_D.C._May_29._A_new_informal_picture_of_William_S._Knudsen_President_of_General_Motors_Corp._LCCN2016875727-300x240.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/General_Motors_head._Washington_D.C._May_29._A_new_informal_picture_of_William_S._Knudsen_President_of_General_Motors_Corp._LCCN2016875727-768x614.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/General_Motors_head._Washington_D.C._May_29._A_new_informal_picture_of_William_S._Knudsen_President_of_General_Motors_Corp._LCCN2016875727-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/General_Motors_head._Washington_D.C._May_29._A_new_informal_picture_of_William_S._Knudsen_President_of_General_Motors_Corp._LCCN2016875727-2048x1638.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" />William S. Knudsen, President of General Motors Corp (right). Harris &amp; Ewing, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</div>
Hopefully by now the reader sees a parallel between Roosevelt’s actions in delegating authority in the 1940s to affect a specific outcome — overhaul the war effort while bestowing upon unelected officials enormous power to affect real change both domestic and abroad — and what Trump is doing today in his empowering a man he trusts in Elon Musk, and those also unelected DOGE whiz kids, to massively overhaul our own federal government.
The Democrat Party is so pathetically lost, so out-of-touch, so confused that they are desperate for any issue to use as a differentiator between them and the Trump-enabled wrecking ball laying waste to their carefully constructed edifice of waste, fraud and abuse. So they have turned their vocal and crazed minority loose on their newest impediments to maintaining power: Elon Musk, “Big Balls,” and the DOGE crew. They claim DOGE is behaving in an “unconstitutional” even “illegal” manner. Why? Because, as Senator Elizabeth Warren screeched with an interesting choice of grammar for a Harvard professor, “No one elected Elon Musk to nothing!”
As the examples above show, when faced with a far more daunting task than rooting out government waste, even Roosevelt, among the most Left-wing of presidents, did not keep the task of winning the war within government alone, but rather brought in top men from the private sector to do the job that the federal bureaucracy simply could not be entrusted to do. Knudsen’s National Defense Research Committee and Office of Production Management was to the 1940s what DOGE is today. And the GM CEO then was the Tesla CEO of his day. And like Musk, Knudsen was even an immigrant! 
The enemy these two extraordinary men, along with Hopkins on the other side of the Atlantic, were mobilized to defeat may be different — Roosevelt’s team faced an external threat in the Axis, whereas Trump’s crew faces the internal threat of a far-reaching, ingrained web of Deep State corruption and waste. But the underlying idea of bringing on top private sector minds in a particular field (manufacturing in 1940, coding and AI search algorithms in 2025) to most efficiently perform a vital, indeed existential service to the country, even though no one elected them, is a model that has been tried before, and has succeeded with stunning results.
The Democrats know this, of course, don&#8217;t they? Ignorance can be rectified, but deep-seeded corruption, mendacity, lust for power and reliance on theft for one’s income is a harder course to change.
And as for Musk’s seeming “co-presidency” as Time magazine’s latest cover showing the Tesla/SpaceX CEO sitting behind Trump’s Resolute Desk implies, all I can say is there have been no private citizens in modern history with more power bestowed upon them by an American president, a Democrat icon no less, than Harry Hopkins and William Knudsen. Even the rabid isolationist Henry Ford got on board after Pearl Harbor. 
These men, who were akin to the Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos of their day, had very prominent seats at the Roosevelt administration table in order to tackle problems that were simply beyond an entrenched, ideological Federal administrative state. And not only did the nation survive, it thrived. We won the war and came out on the other side as the economic colossus of the world. Courtesy of the diligent and invaluable efforts of many patriotic, if unelected, titans of their day.
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities fund manager, author, and columnist whose articles have appeared on the pages of The Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, NY Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, Zerohedge, and other outlets. He is the author of three <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id=55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id%3D55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3K_WhJtiUZw7LF1PwSIHtH">books</a>. Follow him on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw02hy-lB4UuAlHo7FfD_FIQ">Substack</a> and <a href="https://x.com/bschaeffer123" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/bschaeffer123&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0P6pRoAqcBhUQ1W0qwN5rH">X/Twitter</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

President Franklin Roosevelt

Before Trump, FDR Had His Own Unelected Millionaires Come To Washington

American History

Cabinet

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Federal Government

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

Presidency

World War II

I reached a middle-age milestone this year: my oldest child got married and moved out — one down, three to go. My daughter and son-in-law, ages 19 and 21 and both employed, quickly learned about the payroll tax. Like the rest of us, they see 12.6% of every paycheck taken by the government and handed over to people like my upper-middle class parents, who definitely don’t need it.
That’s Social Security for you: a perversion of traditional values about saving, investment, and wealth transfers. Generally speaking, wealth should voluntarily flow from the old, who can’t take it with them, to the young, who could use a financial boost.
Sure, we might want a government program to stabilize incomes for the elderly poor who lacked the wherewithal to save or who risk outliving their own wealth. But a program that pays out based strictly on age, and not need? That’s not “social insurance.” That&#8217;s intergenerational plunder and a looming fiscal train wreck. It has to stop.
Everyone knows Social Security is broke and broken. The program has been paying out more than it takes in since 2021, and the latest projections have the Social Security trust fund depleted by 2033. After that date, it will only pay 79% of scheduled benefits if significant changes aren’t made.
Reform, however, seems politically impossible. Old people are the most reliable voting bloc. No sane politician dares tamper with their precious entitlements, lest he invite the wrath of the AARP — just ask Paul Ryan or George W. Bush. Raising payroll taxes also won’t fly. Unlike the personal income tax, lower earners pay proportionately higher shares of their income to Social Security. Stabilizing the program would require tax hikes on everyone — a political non-starter.
To fix Social Security, we need to <a href="https://inpolicy.org/2024/12/white-paper-the-art-of-the-deal-a-win-win-proposal-to-save-social-security/?mc_cid=a1fb06c6c9&amp;mc_eid=f20cc410a8">think outside the box</a>. Tweaking the retirement age, tax rates, and benefits won’t do. We don’t need “reform” so much as an escape hatch. If we can wean a relatively small number of people off of Social Security, we can preserve the substance of the program for those who truly need it. What we need is a &#8220;buyout.&#8221;
Companies have used buyouts for decades to resolve unfunded pension liabilities. In a buyout, the company lets workers out of the retirement plan in exchange for some kind of payment. This can be either a lump-sum, which the participant gets to invest and manage, or a more reliable alternative annuity contract. The company fixes its finances by offloading its pension obligations. Workers who accept buyouts gain greater security and control over their entitled funds.
<h3><a href="https://get.dailywire.com/?_gl=1*12irifn*_gcl_au*MTk0MTMwNzY0LjE3MzUwNjczNzI.*_ga*MjExMDc1MjEyMy4xNzE5NDkwOTk4*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNTMwOTU5OC43NzMuMS4xNzM1MzA5NjI2LjMyLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">50% OFF ALL DAILY WIRE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS FOR A LIMITED TIME!</a></h3>
Here’s how a Social Security buyout <a href="https://inpolicy.org/2024/12/white-paper-the-art-of-the-deal-a-win-win-proposal-to-save-social-security/?mc_cid=a1fb06c6c9&amp;mc_eid=f20cc410a8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would work</a>: I renounce the benefits that I’m entitled to when I reach retirement age. In return, the government will give me a modest, gradual reduction of my portion of the payroll tax. I crunched the numbers for a 10-year phased-in reduction of the employee’s share of the Old Age tax, from 5.3% to zero. Both Social Security and I come out ahead, easily. This is because Social Security does not invest tax “contributions.” Instead, it pays them directly over to retirees, in true Ponzi scheme fashion. Its rate of return ranges from pathetically small to negative for all but the oldest and lowest-earning participants — well below the returns available with stock market index funds.
The buyout is calibrated to offer a significantly higher rate of return and gain in net wealth. To ensure success and forestall regret, I will further commit to investing, within my IRA, the amount of my payroll tax reduction. Because I still have decades to invest before retirement, I will come out ahead compared with what Social Security would have provided. There are many like me, probably millions, who similarly aren’t counting on Social Security and are self-funding retirement. They too will voluntarily leave as long as the value of the buyout exceeds their scheduled Social Security benefits. According to initial calculations, a Social Security buyout should be a clear win for workers ages 45 and under in the top half of the income distribution. If a tax-saving buyout were offered continually starting now, Social Security would be stabilized when about 20% of workers opt out, with no changes to benefits, to retirement age, or to tax schedules for those who choose to stick with the program.
If you like your Social Security plan, go ahead and keep it, and good luck to you. But let me (and millions more) out, and save the program. I never wanted Social Security anyway, and I’m better off investing on my own. Most importantly, I can stop plundering my children, increase my investment in America’s future, and feel good about being part of the solution.
* * *
Tyler Watts is a professor of economics at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Social Security Cards with US One Hundred Dollar Bill $100

Here’s A Radical Way To Fix Social Security Forever

Here's A Radical Way To Fix Social Security Forever

National Debt

Opinion

Pensions

Retirement

Social Security

Taxes

The day that then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared would &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pearl-harbor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">live in infamy</a>&#8221; has been reduced, for many in America&#8217;s younger generations, to a vaguely familiar phrase they had to recall for an American History exam.
But it&#8217;s important for all of us to remember that day — that moment — that pushed a largely non-committal United States into global conflict, especially as conflicts arise in the present day that threaten to become global.
The Empire of Japan&#8217;s surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, lasted just over an hour and marked the beginning of U.S. involvement in the Pacific. It was that attack — along with the threat of alliance between Japan and Nazi Germany — that led Roosevelt to also call for the United States&#8217; official entry into the war already raging in Europe as well.
Several <a href="https://www.britannica.com/story/attack-on-pearl-harbor-timeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">key events</a> foreshadowed the attack in the early morning hours:
<ul>
<li>6:10 a.m. &#8212; The USS Condor, a minesweeper, spots a periscope.</li>
<li>6:45 a.m. &#8212; The USS Ward fires on a Japanese submarine, marking the first shot fired by American forces in World War II.</li>
<li>6:53 a.m. &#8212; Ward radios Navy HQ, but decoding processes slow down its reception.</li>
<li>7:02 a.m. &#8212; Radar station on Oahu spots an unidentified aircraft, but reports are ignored because a B-17 from California was expected to arrive.</li>
</ul>
By 7:40, the first wave of Japanese attack planes were flying over Hawaii — and the coordinated attack began within 15 minutes. By 8:10, the USS Arizona had exploded. The USS Helm, a Destroyer, sank a Japanese submarine at the harbor&#8217;s entrance seven minutes later. At 8:54 a.m., 59 minutes after the first wave began, a second wave of Japanese planes arrived and opened fire. At 9:30 a.m., the USS Shaw exploded in dry dock. By 10:00 a.m., the Japanese attack planes had returned to their carriers.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1732727087136000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Ao27zcTCGutKhTz_xpaKC">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a>
All told, Japan launched the December 7 attack with 353 planes and lost just 29 that day. However, of all the ships involved in the Pearl Harbor attack, only one would still be afloat by the end of the war.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
⏳The legacy of the Sailors, Marines &amp; civilians lost on Dec. 7, 1941 is not confined to physical artifacts, memorials or ships. Their sacrifice is the greatest example of our <a href="https://twitter.com/USNavy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USNavy</a> values: honor, courage &amp; commitment, which is alive and thriving in each of us.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PearlHarbor83?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PearlHarbor83</a> <a href="https://t.co/6BrSs88e8V">pic.twitter.com/6BrSs88e8V</a>
— Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard &amp; IMF (@PHNSYIMF) <a href="https://twitter.com/PHNSYIMF/status/1863760204397252935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
One day later, on December 8, 1941, Roosevelt delivered a joint address to the House and Senate, eventually leading to a declaration of war.
<a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/joint-address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-japan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Roosevelt said, in part</a>:
<blockquote>Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
&#8230;
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph &#8211; so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.</blockquote>
The surprise attack killed 2,403 American service members and injured more than 1,100.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tomorrow, we mark 83 years for “a day which will live in infamy.” Take time today to honor the brave men &amp; women who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor, as well as all who answered the call to service in WW2! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBPNYNWK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CBPNYNWK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PearlHarborDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PearlHarborDay</a> <a href="https://t.co/ORNj4cVXAN">pic.twitter.com/ORNj4cVXAN</a>
— Acting Port Director Jeffrey Greene (@CBPPortDirNYNJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBPPortDirNYNJ/status/1864997012896165936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2024</a></blockquote>

Fire Aboard

Remembering Pearl Harbor, 83 Years Later

History

Military

Pearl Harbor

U.S.

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> campaign is fuming over a &#8220;despicable and racist&#8221; attack ad from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kamala-harris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kamala Harris</a>, which targets Asian American voters with a warning that voting in Trump would bring back World War II-era internment camps.
The ad, which targets Asian American voters specifically, appears to suggest that Trump would bring about an environment in which they could once again face internment like they did after the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. It also predicts that Trump would spark a rise in racially-motivated crimes like the 1982 murder of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/19/1106118117/vincent-chin-aapi-hate-incidents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vincent Chin</a> — a Chinese immigrant who was beaten to death by two white auto workers more than forty years ago.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung, the son of Chinese immigrants, told The Daily Wire that the ad shows the campaign has &#8220;no morals, decency, or ethical standards.&#8221;
&#8220;This is despicable and racist behavior by Kamala Harris and her team,&#8221; Cheung said. &#8220;They have no morals, decency, or ethical standards, so they resort to the lowest form of political theater.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Things are getting out of hand. <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KamalaHarris</a> just dropped a new ad targeting Asian voters that suggests Trump will bring back internment camps, blames him for the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin <a href="https://t.co/CYa3ZhdKfz">pic.twitter.com/CYa3ZhdKfz</a>
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentScher/status/1850164642108092804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cheung took aim at the Harris campaign official in charge of courting Asian American voters, Andrew Peng.
&#8220;Andrew Peng is a f***ing disgrace to the AAPI community and he should be shamed for throwing his own people down the gutter for political purposes,&#8221; he continued.
The ad flashes images of the internment camps and concludes with Harris&#8217; endorsement of the content and the message — but critics, several of whom are Asian Americans themselves, were less than impressed with the Democratic nominee&#8217;s latest efforts to reach them.
Virginia Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao, for example, is a Vietnamese immigrant whose family fled communist rule after the fall of Saigon. He said that behind all the bluster and fear-mongering that the Left has continued to stoke against Trump lurked a Democratic Party just waiting for enough power to turn the United States into the same hell from which families like his had escaped.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1729077615157000&amp;usg=AOvVaw17Kprl74oE9DYOLREdiBPU">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a>
&#8220;Nope, that&#8217;s not it. Americans of Asian heritage know full well what Kamala Harris would turn our country into: the places our families escaped from. That&#8217;s why we are supporting @realDonaldTrump,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Nope, that&#39;s not it. Americans of Asian heritage know full well what Kamala Harris would turn our country into: the places our families escaped from. That&#39;s why we are supporting <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>. 10:51 AM <a href="https://t.co/dTBooYg1S7">https://t.co/dTBooYg1S7</a>
&mdash; Hung Cao (@HungCao_VA) <a href="https://twitter.com/HungCao_VA/status/1850205896183369866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Commentator Guy Benson weighed in as well, saying, &#8220;The Harris campaign is running an anti-Trump ad that flashes an image of an *internment camp* (created by a Democratic president, if we’re going there) and appears to blame Trump for the early-80s murder of an Asian man in Michigan. Astonishing demagoguery.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The Harris campaign is running an anti-Trump ad that flashes an image of an *internment camp* (created by a Democratic president, if we’re going there) and appears to blame Trump for the early-80s murder of an Asian man in Michigan. Astonishing demagoguery. <a href="https://t.co/5HqRt9YKwc">https://t.co/5HqRt9YKwc</a>
&mdash; Guy Benson (@guypbenson) <a href="https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1850209288242786343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;What an insane ad,&#8221; conservative commentator Steve Guest added. &#8220;Further, the fact Democrats don&#8217;t face more criticism all these years later for FDR&#8217;s internment camps is bananas too.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
What an insane ad.
Further, the fact Democrats don&#39;t face more criticism all these years later for FDR&#39;s internment camps is bananas too. <a href="https://t.co/hie0Xhqq7l">https://t.co/hie0Xhqq7l</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1850182386618646570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Only one party ever put people in internment camps. Guess which one?&#8221; RedState&#8217;s Bonchie posted, a reference to the fact that it was a Democrat president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, responsible for the Japanese camps.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Only one party ever put people in internment camps. Guess which one? <a href="https://t.co/74ySXyuige">https://t.co/74ySXyuige</a>
&mdash; Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) <a href="https://twitter.com/bonchieredstate/status/1850182188001570926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;These kind of ads are going to insult and repel Asian voters if anything else,&#8221; Joe Concha predicted. &#8220;I get politics can be dirty, but this is absolutely nauseating.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
These kind of ads are going to insult and repel Asian voters if anything else.
I get politics can be dirty, but this is absolutely nauseating . <a href="https://t.co/RRIzf6RbDf">https://t.co/RRIzf6RbDf</a>
&mdash; Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1850181247240122829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Harris campaign said in a Saturday press release that the ad would air in every battleground state, and said it aimed to &#8220;the need to safeguard democracy and protect the fundamental rights of Asian American communities who have too often been vilified, excluded, and marginalized throughout history.&#8221;

Kamala Harris Visits Houston As She Campaigns For President

‘F***ing Disgrace’: Trump Campaign Fumes At ‘Despicable And Racist’ Kamala Ad

2024 Election

Asian American

Donald Trump

Elections

Hung Cao

Kamala Harris

Politics

Racism

FRANCE-WWII-LIBERATION-LANDING-PROVENCE

Operation Dragoon: The Forgotten Invasion Of World War II, The Champagne Campaign

Europe

France

Josef Stalin

Nazi Germany

Readers Pass

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

Winston Churchill

June 6, 2024, marks the 80th anniversary of the storming of Normandy on D-Day. The United States and its allies stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Between that date and the end of the war in the European theater, there were 552,117 U.S. casualties; 104,812 Americans were killed in action. On D-Day alone, some 2,501 Americans were killed. 
Why was the war necessary? I know this seems like a stupid question, but there are many people today who don&#8217;t understand why the war was necessary. It was because the Nazis were, in fact, an evil regime hell-bent on global domination, with the imposition of their vile system of government and supremacist ideology on the globe. And as we know, World War II also led directly into the next righteous war, the Cold War, wherein the US-led Free World squared off against the Soviet Union, another evil empire. 
Americans saved the world. It is that simple. Had America not intervened in World War II, the end would have been German domination of the European continent. It was American naval resupply of the United Kingdom that allowed the United Kingdom to survive the German Navy’s attempted blockade of the island nation. Upon learning that the U.S. was entering the war, Winston Churchill later wrote, “Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.” 
If the U.S. had not entered the war — if the U.S. had remained truly neutral — the United Kingdom would have been blockaded into submission. The Nazis would have cast their eyes east, at the Soviet Union, and poured resources into its submission. After a period of reconsolidation and strengthening, Hitler’s Navy would have extended its sphere of influence across the Atlantic, particularly south and toward Latin America. Meanwhile, America would have continued to face the threat of the Japanese in the Pacific. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1980-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
In May 1941, FDR laid out the stakes of the conflict between the United States and Germany — months before the United States entered the war. He <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/radio-address-announcing-unlimited-national-emergency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>: 
<blockquote>The Nazi world does not recognize any God except Hitler; for the Nazis are as ruthless as the Communists in the denial of God. What place has religion which preaches the dignity of the human being, the majesty of the human soul, in a world where moral standards are measured by treachery and bribery and fifth columnists? Will our children, too, wander off, goose-stepping in search of new gods?</blockquote>
The United States entered the war on December 7, 1941, with Pearl Harbor. Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. It took three years for the United States and its allies to put themselves in position for the liberation of the European continent across the English channel. Historians at the U.S. Naval Institute suggest that there needed to be four preconditions to a successful amphibious invasion of France: 
<ol>
<li>Naval superiority in the English Channel</li>
<li>Air superiority over the landing beaches and well inland</li>
<li>Enough troops to establish a beachhead and then match the enemy’s subsequent buildup</li>
<li>Enough shipping and landing craft to carry the troops to the landing points and reinforce them as required</li>
</ol>
Churchill believed the last two conditions were not fulfilled in 1943, <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2019/june/d-day-year-too-late">writing</a>, “I do not believe that 27 Anglo-American divisions are sufficient for Overlord [the name for the D-Day invasion] in view of the extraordinary fighting efficiency of the German Army and the much larger forces they could so readily bring to bear against our troops even if the landings were successfully accomplished.” 
That had changed by 1944. It was go-time for the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. Almost 133,000 troops from the United States and their allies landed on D-Day. Casualties from these countries during the landing numbered 10,300. By June 30, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the Normandy shores.
Eisenhower famously issued a <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/general-eisenhowers-order-of-the-day">letter</a> to the troops as D-Day was about to happen. He wrote: 
<blockquote>Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.</blockquote>
Notice the language: no embarrassment about the use of Christian terminology. He continued: 
<blockquote>The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. 
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! 
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! 
Good Luck! Let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.</blockquote>
Notice the kind of language that is used, the language that has been completely lacking in the West pretty much since World War II, the language of total victory, the moral wherewithal to declare the moral superiority of the United States and its allies in the fight. 
FDR went on the radio the night of D-Day, and he issued a <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/prayer-d-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prayer</a>. Here is a part of it: 
<blockquote>In this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer: 
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.</blockquote>
What exactly were the United States and our allies hoping to preserve? First and foremost, the interests of the United States and a free West, the religion of the West, preserving Christian values in the West. 
The average age of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy was about 26. The men who died at Normandy were invading on behalf of their families, their country, and their churches. They were invading on behalf of the Constitution of the United States and its preservation. They were invading on behalf of Christian values in the face of Nazi paganism. Then, they would later fight the Cold War against Marxist paganism on behalf of Christian values. 
They were the Greatest Generation, in part because they were fighting for the greatest values.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan <a href="https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/ronald-reagan-normandy-speech-point-du-hoc/">spoke</a> on the 40th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. Veterans of D-Day were there. He stated: 
<blockquote>These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.</blockquote>
Reagan would <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-national-convention-veterans-foreign-wars-chicago-illinois">later</a> <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-presenting-medal-honor-master-sergeant-roy-p-benavidez">say:</a>
<blockquote>It was a very moving experience. They were what General Marshall called ‘our secret weapon. The best damn kids in the world.’ Where do we find such men? The answer came almost as quickly as I&#8217;d asked the question: Where we&#8217;ve always found them in this country. On the farms, the shops, the stores and the offices. They just are the product of the freest society the world has ever known.</blockquote>
Joe Biden arrived in Normandy yesterday. He <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/biden-delivers-remarks-from-80th-d-day-anniversary-ceremony">said</a>: 
<blockquote>We’re not far off from the time of the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us. So we have a special obligation. We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come. We must remember it. We must honor it and live it. And we must remember, the fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today. Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. That’s the test of the ages. In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice.
Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it’ll be said when the moment came, we met the moment, we stood strong, our alliances were made stronger, we saved democracy in our time as well. Thank you very much. And may God bless you all and may God protect our troops.</blockquote>
The real question for us on the 80th anniversary of D-Day is the question that Reagan asked: Where do we find such men? Because it honestly raises goosebumps to think of the extraordinary heroism and bravery of normal 18- and 19-year-old men storming beaches, running uphill into machine-gun fire in order to liberate a continent none of them had ever visited. 
Where do we find such men?
That&#8217;s a real question: How was the D-Day generation raised? Because that has a lot to do with the kind of men that were produced in the Greatest Generation.
The answer is: They were raised in church. Church membership in 1937 was at <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">73%</a>. Ninety-six percent of Americans, according to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/193271/americans-believe-god.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gallup</a>, said they believed in God in 1944. A grand total of <a href="https://www.prb.org/resources/household-change-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=Changing%20Household%20Structure&amp;text=In%201940%2C%20married%20couples%20with,households%20accounted%20for%209%20percent." target="_blank" rel="noopener">4%</a> of all households in the United States were single-parent families in 1940. 
In other words, the men of the Greatest Generation were raised by two parents in churchgoing families that believed in God.
It turns out you cannot raise a great generation in a vacuum of values because you can&#8217;t raise a great generation without raising a good generation.
How are we doing today? Today, the American single motherhood rate is <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/11/rising-share-of-americans-see-women-raising-children-on-their-own-cohabitation-as-bad-for-society/#:~:text=The%20share%20of%20births%20to,somewhat%20by%20race%20and%20ethnicity." target="_blank" rel="noopener">41%</a>, 10 times the single motherhood rate in 1937. Only <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx#:~:text=In%202020%2C%2047%25%20of%20Americans,2010%20and%2047%25%20in%202020." target="_blank" rel="noopener">47%</a> of Americans, a minority of Americans, are members of churches. The churches of today are significantly watered-down from the churches of the 1930s and 1940s, which means that a significant percentage of people who consider themselves members of churches aren&#8217;t actually receiving anything like Biblical values. Just <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1412740/us-belief-in-god-by-party/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20survey%20conducted,that%20they%20believed%20in%20God." target="_blank" rel="noopener">74%</a> of Americans say they believe in God and many of those Americans are actually quasi-agnostic and believe in something spiritual that doesn&#8217;t demand anything of them.
The United States has spent the four generations since D-Day removing all the supporting institutions of American life, exploding American values in the name of a heedless picture of emotive individualism in which your feelings are all that matters — whereas going to church instills in you a belief that you are part of something bigger and more important. 
Without those values and their supporting institutions, there is no more Greatest Generation.
Only an obnoxiously self-involved generation.

Ships At Omaha

D-Day: From The Greatest Generation To The Most Obnoxious Generation

Ben Shapiro

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Joe Biden

Normandy

Ronald Reagan

American Flags

SHAPIRO: 11 Leftist Myths About American History

Barack Obama

Civil Rights

Democrats

George W. Bush

Leftists

Republicans

Segregation

Slavery

Southern States

Vietnam

&#8220;The View&#8221; co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin attempted to rewrite history during a live television segment, claiming repeatedly that it was always Republicans, not Democrats, who &#8220;stacked&#8221; the Supreme Court.
The conversation began with ousted MSNBC host <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/01/for-the-sake-of-all-of-us-sonia-sotomayor-needs-to-retire-from-the-us-supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mehdi Hasan</a>, who recently called on liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step aside &#8220;for the sake of all of us.&#8221;
Despite <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/01/for-the-sake-of-all-of-us-sonia-sotomayor-needs-to-retire-from-the-us-supreme-court#:~:text=It%20is%20Sonia%20Sotomayor%20who,highest%20bench%20in%20the%20land.">referring</a> to Sotomayor as the &#8220;greatest liberal to sit on the Supreme Court in my adult lifetime,&#8221; he argued that she should do what the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not — much to the dismay of many liberals — and retire when she was guaranteed that a Democratic president and Senate would rubber-stamp a liberal replacement.
Goldberg was not impressed with Hasan, arguing that he should be going after Justice Clarence Thomas instead.
&#8220;Getting her off doesn&#8217;t mean somebody else is going to get on and be better,&#8221; she said.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/TheView?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheView</a> shrieked at fellow left-winger <a href="https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mehdirhasan</a> for calling on Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DailyCaller</a> <a href="https://t.co/6HLjGJdRcg">pic.twitter.com/6HLjGJdRcg</a>
&mdash; Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) <a href="https://twitter.com/NicoleMSilverio/status/1775908580832465325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Goldberg went on to claim that Democrats did not &#8220;stack the court,&#8221; arguing that Republicans were the only ones guilty of such action.
&#8220;Democrats, we don&#8217;t stack the court. We don&#8217;t. We don&#8217;t do that,&#8221; she said. &#8220;A lot of us wanted [Biden] to do that but he won&#8217;t do that because that&#8217;s not how you run the government, that&#8217;s his feeling.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Revisionist history and lies from ABC News. Whoopi Goldberg declares: &quot;Democrats, we don&#39;t stack the court. We don&#39;t. We don&#39;t do that.&quot; FACT CHECK: False. Democratic President FDR stacked the court. Sunny Hostin claims the GOP &quot;stacked the court&quot; by filling vacant seats. <a href="https://t.co/gzz0OAq8iZ">pic.twitter.com/gzz0OAq8iZ</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1775909946053271987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Goldberg and Hostin then claimed that by filling empty seats, the Republicans had &#8220;stacked the court.&#8221;
Despite their claims, the only real attempt at &#8220;stacking&#8221; or &#8220;packing&#8221; the Court came from the late Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the form of his <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-fdr-lost-his-brief-war-on-the-supreme-court-2#:~:text=The%20plan%20was%20to%20pass,own%20justices%20to%20the%20court." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937</a>. If that bill had passed, FDR would have been able to appoint one new Justice for every sitting justice who reached the age of 70 and did not retire.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712245447014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw259gdy9LGyeAJghxwMwQqU">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;This plan of mine is not attacking of the court; it seeks to restore the court to its rightful and historic place in our system of constitutional government and to have it resume its high task of building anew on the Constitution &#8216;a system of living law,'&#8221; Roosevelt said at the time.
The Senate Judiciary Committee delivered a scathing review of the plan, however, stating, &#8220;The bill is an invasion of judicial power such as has never before been attempted in this country &#8230; It is essential to the continuance of our constitutional democracy that the judiciary be completely independent of both the executive and legislative branches of the government. &#8230; It is a measure which should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America.&#8221;

Fashion Group International’s 39th Annual Night of Stars

Whoopi Goldberg And Sunny Hostin Rewrite History On Live TV, Claim Republicans ‘Stacked The Court’

Whoopi Goldberg And Sunny Hostin Rewrite History On Live TV, Claim Republicans 'Stacked The Court'

Democrat

Media

Sunny Hostin

Supreme Court

The View

Whoopi Goldberg

The attempts to take down Donald Trump are quite real, and they are having significant consequences for the body politic.
They&#8217;re coming from nearly every major institution in the United States — from our universities to the media, from academia to the judiciary. It&#8217;s happening everywhere.
The real question is, is this really about Donald Trump as a person? Is it really about Trump, with all of his myriad foibles, mistakes, and craziness? Or is it about something broader?
I would contend that it&#8217;s about something broader, that the elite institutions in our society have basically decided that if anyone remotely Right-wing were ever to enter the presidency again, it would be an existential threat to their vision of a utopian future for the United States.
Every year, the American Political Science Association publishes <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24434298-presidential_greatness_white_paper_2024">a survey</a> ranking all the American presidents, dating back to George Washington. The list demonstrates who they think was the best — and the worst.
Of course, they have dumped Trump in last place. You would assume that they would. But that doesn&#8217;t really answer the question as to whether they just hate Trump or whether there is something broader going on to truly understand how much the elite institutions hate Trump and the Right wing.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1908-bankrupting-trump-murdering-navalny-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
It&#8217;s not just that they hate Trump; it’s that they despise anyone who smacks in any way of being on the Right in the United States.
Trump is just the apotheosis. He is the apex of all they hate, and they are able to stack up Trump’s myriad of craziness and foibles on top of all that they hate about Republicans. 
If you look at their list, every Republican is downgraded significantly while every Democrat is upgraded significantly. 
They have Abraham Lincoln at number one. The usual consensus pick among historians is Abraham Lincoln, with George Washington in the number two spot. Sometimes they are switched, but they are always the top two.
But not for the American Political Science Association.
They have Lincoln at number one, and then they have Franklin Delano Roosevelt as number two, which is pretty astonishing considering that Roosevelt presided over the Great Depression. He probably lengthened it by nearly a decade with his garbage economic policies. Roosevelt initiated many of the vast government overspending programs that have crippled America and created a welfare state that has led to a $34 trillion national debt.
FDR did some good things, including his leadership during World War II, although that was plagued by some bad leadership decisions, particularly with regard to the Yalta Conference, which ceded all of Eastern Europe to the Soviets. FDR had a bizarre soft spot for Stalin.
Putting FDR above George Washington is monumentally telling, but it doesn&#8217;t end there. The list places Teddy Roosevelt at number four. Roosevelt was a progressive and a believer in the power of big government, even though he was a Republican. They put Thomas Jefferson at number five, Harry Truman number six, and Barack Obama at number seven.
Now, there is no possible way to say Obama is the seventh greatest president of all time, clocking in above Dwight Eisenhower, James Madison, John Adams, Ronald Reagan, and everyone else. That&#8217;s insane. Obama was a terrible president. By every available polling statistic, he wildly exacerbated racial divisions in the United States of America. He presided over the complete dissolution of American power around the world, downgraded the American military, and wrecked us in the foreign sphere.
Domestically, he polarized America as no president in my lifetime has — bar none — not just on issues of race, but also on issues of culture and sexual mores. We moved from a country where in 2008, Obama campaigned as a proponent of traditional marriage to a country where, by the time he left office, there were open discussions about whether men were women.
And don’t forget: He presided over the worst recovery from a serious economic recession in American history. He spent more money than all prior presidents combined.
Yet he’s number seven on this list. Lyndon B. Johnson, who initiated the Great Society programs and spent roughly $13 trillion on anti-poverty programs to leave almost precisely the same percentage of Americans in poverty as before, is ranked at number nine. This is the same guy who lost the Vietnam War and completely rewrote the constitutional relationship between the government and the private American citizen. 
<h4><a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a></h4>
Bill Clinton is at number 12; Joe Biden is at number 14.
Biden is ranked 14 while Ronald Reagan, who led the most booming economic recovery in modern American history in the 1980s and also created the groundwork for defeating the Soviet Union, is ranked at 16.
Woodrow Wilson, the worst president of all time — a vicious racist who led us into World War I, created the system that led us into World War II, jailed his political opponents for sedition, and created the bureaucratic state — is ranked above Ronald Reagan.
Because of the framework by which our elite institutions work, they conclude with a bizarre delusion that they can&#8217;t possibly lose to somebody like Trump. Thus, they are led to believe that they can do anything they want to stop Trump. 
After all, according to these people, if the 14th greatest president of all time is running against the worst president of all time, what can&#8217;t you do to stop Donald Trump?

Former President Donald Trump Participates In South Carolina Fox News Town Hall

The War On Trump. It’s About Something Bigger Than He Is.

Abraham Lincoln

On December 7, 1941 — while much of Europe was already embroiled in war — the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy&#8217;s base at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-date-that-will-live-in-infamy-remembering-pearl-harbor-80-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pearl Harbor</a>, Hawaii.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt <a href="https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/winter/crafting-day-of-infamy-speech.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received word</a> of the attack as he finished lunch that Sunday, and had planned to spend part of the afternoon with his stamp album. (An avid philatelist, FDR&#8217;s stamp collection was once valued at auction to be worth a respectable $80,000.)
Within hours of the attack, however, Roosevelt had begun making plans to respond to the tragedy and to call for a declaration of war — against both Japan and Nazi Germany. A speech that significant would normally have been drafted over a period of 3-10 days, but once the preparations began, FDR had already announced that he planned to speak to Congress the following day.
Since two of the president&#8217;s usual speechwriters — Samuel I. Rosenman and Robert Sherwood — were unavailable, Roosevelt wrote most of his December 8th speech alone. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles submitted a slightly longer speech that touched on events leading up to the December 7th attack, but Roosevelt threw it out and kept his own words.
Biographer Nathan Miller described the scene as Roosevelt dictated the speech — now one of the most famous speeches in American history — to his secretary, Grace Tully.
&#8220;He inhaled deeply on his cigarette, blew out the smoke, and began dictating in the same calm tone he used to deal with his mail,&#8221; Miller wrote. &#8220;He enunciated the words incisively and slowly, carefully specifying each punctuation mark and new paragraph. Running little more than five hundred words, the message was dictated without hesitation or second thoughts.&#8221;
Roosevelt did make a few edits after dictating his first draft — including one change that would go down in history. The iconic first line, calling December 7th &#8220;a date which will live in infamy,&#8221; originally read as follows: &#8220;Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in world history, the United States was simultaneously and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.&#8221;
FDR stood before the House of Representatives at 12:30 p.m. the next day — approximately 24 hours after he had learned of the attack — and delivered his message.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Pearl Harbor A Date Which Will Live in Infamy FDR Speech COLORIZED" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pU1HycD_0p4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Roosevelt&#8217;s <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/afc1986022.afc1986022_ms2201/?st=text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a> began with his response to the attack:
<blockquote>Mr. Vice President, and Mr. Speaker, and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives:
YESTERDAY, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.</blockquote>
What followed was a pivot from his assessment of the attack to a request for Congress to move forward with an official declaration of war.
<blockquote>Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong: Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our Nation.
As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
But always will our whole Nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces with the unbounding determination of our people we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.</blockquote>
Congress obliged, passing an official <a href="https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/artifact/sj-res-116-declaration-war-japan-december-8-1941#:~:text=On%20December%208%2C%201941%2C%20Congress,388–1%20in%20the%20House." target="_blank" rel="noopener">declaration of war</a> against Japan — S.J. Resolution 116 — that very day. The measure passed in the Senate, 82-0, and in the House, 388-1. Three days later, allied with Japan, Nazi Germany also declared war on the United States. Congress responded with <a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/images/documents/sjres119-wwii-germany.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S.J. Resolution 119</a> just hours later on December 11th. That vote passed the Senate, 88-0, and in the House, 393-0.

Smoke Pours From Battleships At Pearl Harbor

WATCH: President Franklin D. Roosevelt Responds To The Attack On Pearl Harbor

President Franklin D. Roosevelt Responds To The Attack On Pearl Harbor

Japan

WWII

Freedom. On the issue of abortion, only one side really uses that word with regularity – those who want to be clear about what is hurting women and pre-born infants. For those who want more of it, everything but abortion is said to be on the line. You’ve seen slogans like &#8220;My Body, My Choice&#8221; in branded <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/planned-parenthood-unveils-my-body-my-choice-plate/">Planned Parenthood messaging</a> for years. But link any word to abortion often enough, and no one wants to keep it in the mix.
Forget choice, access, and health care as the top rationales for ending innocent life in the womb. It’s all Austin Powers now; <a href="https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d4ccdd19-3f65-478a-9aa4-9719bed6ad31">“It’s freedom baby, Yeah.”</a>  
A recent <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democrats-push-abortion-rights-heart-2024-campaign-2023-09-01/">Reuters article</a> signaled that a pivot is underway on Team Abortion.
&#8220;It&#8217;s about freedom,” said Hassan Martini, who founded the No Dem Left Behind PAC.
Democratic strategist Jennifer Holdsworth <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democrats-push-abortion-rights-heart-2024-campaign-2023-09-01/">echoed that emotion,</a> saying, “You can&#8217;t run a party talking about freedom and then base one of your major policies on taking one of the most fundamental freedoms away from half the population.” 
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-advocates-rebrand-naral-reproductive-freedom-ccd0d424a5578aad9d7ce0dc9151afc9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NARAL Pro-Choice America</a> got the message and is changing its name to Reproductive Freedom for All (all but those in the womb of course.) 
After sending some staff into a Planned Parenthood messaging training years ago in New York City, I knew “choice was on its way out as trainers admitted “choice” was associated with “abortion” and people, regardless of their labels, don’t like that word.  
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-comments-section-with-brett-cooper">WATCH: The Comments Section with Brett Cooper</a></h4>
So, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/opinion/abortion-bans-republicans.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">choice,</a> exit, stage left. It seems that abortion agitators have read Marxist activist Saul Alinsky’s &#8220;Rules for Radicals,&#8221; who wrote: <a href="https://sliwainsights.com/saul-alinskys-12-rules-for-radicals/">RULE 7:</a> “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.”  
I also wonder if part of “choice’s” unpopularity comes from the extreme lack of choice abortion-supporting legislators offered those who didn’t agree with how they wanted their bodies to be treated on other issues. Consider <a href="https://katv.com/news/nation-world/half-of-dems-believe-fines-prison-time-appropriate-for-questioning-vaccine-poll-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national vaccine mandates</a> (and jail for those who refuse); <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/09/21/fauci-admits-he-knew-draconian-lockdowns-would-have-collateral-negative-consequences-on-schoolchildren/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National school lockdowns</a> and violations of <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/california-pastor-found-contempt-ignoring-covid-19-mandates/story?id=74623637" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the right to assembly</a>; and the sudden <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/168309/elon-musk-twitter-free-speech-ruin-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disdain for free speech</a> if the Left doesn’t like what you’re saying.
My words, my choice?
Yet, for all the naked hypocrisy of the pro-abortion Left, the question of what to do with freedom matters greatly.  
This country was founded, albeit imperfectly, on the principles of freedom and liberty for all, protected by a government that was to exist only to serve people and protect their rights.  
This summer, my family has been on a history hunting road trip. My husband, a historian by training, has made sure that we see the places pivotal to our nation. I recently saw Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” paintings. They’re remarkable in-person and inspired by wartime President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s <a href="https://www.fdrlibrary.org/four-freedoms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State of the Union Address</a> on January 6, 1941, where he said: 
<blockquote>“In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech, and expression—everywhere in the world.  
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.   
“The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.  
“The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.”   </blockquote>
The spirit of freedom that FDR speaks of is one in pursuit of social harmony, peace, and the freedom to choose or express one’s deepest values or belief systems. Nowhere in that speech, or within the Constitution, do we see calls for the freedom to pursue destructive ends, such as the untimely deaths of others. 
Not even the pro-abortion Left believes or follows their own logic on this so-called freedom when talking about their own families. Kathleen Parker, op-ed columnist for the Washington Post, powerfully described how when she became pregnant with her son over a decade ago, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/03/50years-of-abortion-roe-leak/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it changed her</a>, writing: “It was clear to me that I was a mere vessel for this other autonomous life growing inside me and my job was to protect him. Sure, it was my body, but it was his life.”  
The rebranding from &#8220;My Body, My Choice&#8221; to “Let American’s enjoy their freedoms” is nothing more than a subversive tactic to deal with the broken truth of choice – that it matters what you pick, because not all choices are created equal.
It’s not “freedom” to end an innocent’s life. That is the definition of tyranny.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
 * * *
Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America &amp; Students for Life Action with more than 1,400 groups on educational campuses in all 50 states. Follow her <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_kristanhawkins-3Flang-3Den&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=uw6TLu4hwhHdiGJOgwcWD4AjKQx6zvFcGEsbfiY9-EI&amp;r=WKaH1vFYj7fnFkioUplDf7eyhgA7RmadhwSCcSrc0RM&amp;m=dHI_zRo_S3dRh6O1egAGUHYM_18mGpBuGK8It87dRisKAAJrwoa3rFwiFjVpnjST&amp;s=myYGkzRy3aGLQAHFyLQS37EvikCgueFLdMXfbF_VAW8&amp;e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@KristanHawkins</a> or subscribe to her podcast, Explicitly Pro-Life.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

International Women’s Day Rally Outside Walgreens As Pharmacy Stops Selling Abortion Pills

The Pro-Abortion Movement’s Rebrand Is All About ‘Freedom’

The Pro-Abortion Movement’s Rebrand Is All About 'Freedom'

Abortion

Planned Parenthood

Pro-Life Movement

A new video from PragerU argues that a great commander-in-chief abroad does not always make a great president at home.
Focusing on the works of President Franklin Roosevelt, the video notes that the same president who led the U.S. to victory in World War II struggled to defeat an economic disaster within the nation.
As president, Roosevelt&#8217;s top task was to address the Great Depression. At the time, one in four Americans were unemployed. Roosevelt promised to help the &#8220;forgotten man&#8221; and put Americans back to work, popularizing his famous phrase that the only thing to fear is fear itself.
His plan was labeled the New Deal. The goal was to address the depression as an emergency, making Roosevelt commander-in-chief with strong power. Government managed industry, including new efforts that forced companies to raise prices and wages. Despite the focus on central power, Roosevelt simultaneously often blasted big cooperations and their leaders.
<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA&#8217;S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US AND SAVE 30%.</a>
The president&#8217;s downfall may have been his belief that he was better at running the economy that the nation&#8217;s economic leaders. Roosevelt&#8217;s programs included subsidizing American workers, ranging from farmers to artists. He promised pensions for senior Americans and backed organized labor unions. An economic recovery was promised, but failed to quickly materialize.
&#8220;For an economy is not like a battleship. An economy is more like a human,&#8221; the video states. &#8220;It makes choices. You can’t command an economy to grow—the economy has to feel like growing. Under the New Deal, the economy instead felt like hiding below deck. What company would hire up if it couldn’t pay the wages? Today we consider six percent unemployment a crisis. The overall unemployment stayed above ten percent throughout the decade.&#8221;
The video also addresses how Roosevelt was elected to a second term despite his economic failures in the White House.
The president&#8217;s charisma played a large part in his success. He effectively harnessed the power of radio, the most popular medium of the time, granting him direct influence over millions of citizens at once.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Franklin Roosevelt: The Great Depression | 5-Minute Videos" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TWKyRErnlpk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

PragerU

WATCH: PragerU Releases Video Featuring Franklin Roosevelt’s Response To The Great Depression

WATCH: PragerU Releases Video Featuring Franklin Roosevelt's Response To The Great Depression

Dennis Prager

Education

Prager University

Menu