U.S. air and naval forces are set to deploy to the Southern Caribbean Sea following President Donald Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-greenlights-military-force-to-take-down-latin-american-drug-cartels">directive</a> for the Pentagon to use the military for operations against Latin American drug cartels, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-deploying-forces-southern-caribbean-against-drug-groups-2025-08-14/">reported</a> on Thursday.
Sources briefed on the move told Reuters that after Trump&#8217;s order, the Defense Department has begun deploying U.S. troops to address &#8220;threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.&#8221; Last week, Trump quietly signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-military-drug-cartels.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimesworld">according</a> to The New York Times.
It remains unknown which specific cartels the president is targeting in his directive. After Trump was sworn into office, the United States designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. Most of those cartels primarily operate in Mexico, but the reported deployment of troops to the South Caribbean Sea suggests that the operation will focus more on Central and South America.
Venezuela, whose northern coastline sits on the South Caribbean Sea, has been a recent subject of the Trump administration&#8217;s scrutiny. Shortly after the president took office, the State Department designated the Venezuelan international criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), as a foreign terrorist organization, and most recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its terrorist organization list.
Trump has also ramped up pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m">raising</a> the bounty on him to $50 million and pointing to his ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels. Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused Maduro of using the powerful Mexican drug cartel, Sinaloa, &#8220;to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.&#8221;
&#8220;To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said earlier this month.
After Trump greenlit military operations against drug cartels, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mexican-president-says-u-s-military-will-not-fight-drug-cartels-on-its-soil">said</a> that U.S. troops would not be entering her country to fight cartels. Sheinbaum said last week that U.S. officials gave her a heads-up that Trump&#8217;s directive &#8220;was coming,&#8221; adding that an American troop deployment to Mexico was &#8220;absolutely ruled out.&#8221;
&#8220;It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no,&#8221; Sheinbaum said.
Trump has already been using the military along the U.S.-Mexico border to help clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The U.S. military has also increased its aerial surveillance of Mexican drug cartels, collecting intelligence on the traffickers responsible for shipping deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, into the United States.

U.S. Navy Helicopter

U.S. Deploys Forces To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels In The Southern Caribbean

U.S. Deploys Forces To Southern Caribbean To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels

Donald Trump

Drug Cartels

Mexico

Trump Administration

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

Venezuela

Two more military academies agreed to permanently end race-based admissions, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
In a new settlement, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Air Force Academy will abandon DEI in favor of merit, Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-settles-lawsuits-challenging-race-based-admissions-west-point-and-air">said</a>. The settlement will lead to the dismissal of two lawsuits against the academies brought by the group Students for Fair Admissions.
“This Department is committed to eliminating DEI practices throughout the federal government,” Bondi said. “We are proud to partner with the Department of Defense to permanently end race-based admissions at West Point and the Air Force Academy — admission to these prestigious military institutions should be based exclusively on merit.”
Students for Fair Admission, the group whose suit led to the end of affirmative action at universities across the country, argued that race-based admissions policies at the military academies violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
The terms of agreement in the settlement stipulate that merit will be the only factor leading to admission at either West Point or the Air Force Academy.
“America is the land of equal opportunity, in spirit and in law,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Today’s agreement ensures that our future military leaders will carry on the greatness that is born of opportunity, effort, and a level playing field.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon also praised the settlement.
“Congrats to our [DOJ Civil] Division for their hard work in restoring merit-based admissions to some of our top military academies!” she posted on X.
In June, a similar settlement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/naval-academy-promises-to-permanently-end-race-based-admissions">was announced</a> between Students for Fair Admissions and the U.S. Naval Academy.
That came after President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-americas-fighting-force/">executive order</a> on January 27 that said that no one within the military should be given any advantage based on gender or race.
“Unfortunately, in recent years civilian and uniformed leadership alike have implemented Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their attendant race and sex preferences within the Armed Forces,” Trump wrote in an executive order. “These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness.  They also violate Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.”

Washington DC Celebrates Army’s 250th Anniversary With Parade And Festivities

Two More Military Academies Agree To ‘Permanently’ Drop Race-Based Admissions

Affirmative Action

Air Force

Department of Justice

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Military

U.S.

West Point

The following is an edited excerpt from a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-250810-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Morning+Wire&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">Morning Wire Weekend Edition interview</a> where Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley sat down with U.S. Navy retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They discussed his recent trip to Taiwan, where he had meetings with senior officials, including the president and senior military leadership. Here are five key takeaways. 

* * *
<h3>1. America Is Taiwan’s Primary Key Ally</h3>
First, they&#8217;re very appreciative of the United States. They understand the United States is their key ally and they make that very clear. No one else sells them weapons. No one else stands by them when they&#8217;re threatened by the Chinese. That doesn&#8217;t mean they don&#8217;t get some rhetorical support from the Australians or the Japanese on occasion or from European countries. But when it comes to ship movements, aircraft movements, it&#8217;s us. So number one, they get that.
<h3>2. Taiwan Will Increase Defense Spending — But Only Buys From America</h3>
Number two, Taiwan understands that we expect them to spend more on their defense. So they&#8217;re taking their defense spending from about 2.5% this year to 3% next year. Then, I think, they&#8217;ll go to 4% and eventually 5%. The irony is, to get the spending up that high, they can only buy the weapons from us. We&#8217;re the only country who sells to them.
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-threats-we-face-how-we-win/id1576594336?i=1000721366067" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h3>3. America’s Foreign Military Sales Program Is A “Dumpster Fire”</h3>
I say this gently, our foreign military sales program is a dumpster fire. As a result, it takes seven years to get them javelin missiles; eight years to get them stinger, man-portable air missiles. These should take two, three years. So, part of the problem is U.S. foreign military sales and delivery. But the Taiwanese are going to do everything they can to get themselves to three, four, and eventually 5% [Defense spending] by the end of the Trump administration. So that&#8217;s a big deal. 
<h3>4. It Could Take Nine Years For American Weapons To Arrive In Taiwan</h3>
Our foreign military sales overseas are hampered by a bureaucratic process inside the Department of Defense and Department of State. They have to work together. They don&#8217;t do a great job. It&#8217;s also hampered by how we integrate with the weapons providers, like Raytheon or Lockheed Martin, and the back and forth with the host country. For example, we recently did a harpoon sale with Taiwan, an anti-ship cruise missile that&#8217;s really critical to the fight. The sale was locked and first approved in 2020. And I&#8217;d say the delivery is going to be completed by 2029, if we&#8217;re lucky. That should take two, three, four years max — not nine years. So, for military sales, we have a backed up docket with Taiwan alone of $12 billion – it was $18 billion just four years ago. This is way too much. Countries cannot rely on us for timely delivery of weapons if it takes five, seven, or nine years to get weapons.
<div id="attachment_960047" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-960047" class="size-large wp-image-960047" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2224992177-864x576.jpg" alt="KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN - JULY 14: Taiwan President, Lai Ching-te, inspects the Han Kuang 41 exercise - Naval defensive mine-laying drill on July 14, 2025 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Taiwan. Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercise kicked off July 9 as the island steps up preparations against a potential invasion by China. Touted as the largest and longest iteration to date, this year’s drill will span around 10 days—roughly double the length of last year’s exercise. (Photo by Annabelle Chih/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2224992177-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2224992177-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2224992177-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2224992177.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Annabelle Chih/Getty Images</div>
<h3>5. Taiwan Must Prepare For Non-Military Attacks</h3>
Taiwan really understands that, in addition to preparing for the most likely, most dangerous scenario of a cross-strait invasion, they also have to prepare for another most likely scenario  — China attacking their societal resilience, their financial systems, their communication systems, their energy systems with diplomatic, economic, cyber and influence operations, not military attacks. While the CCP would hope to break the societal resilience of Taiwan. Taiwan has to fight that. They need to make a lot of investments in that kind of domestic resilience. And then the United States can help as well.
* * *
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-250810-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Morning+Wire&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">Catch the full interview with retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery on Morning Wire.</a></h3>

Taiwan Holds Defense Drills

‘Nine Years To Get Weapons’: An American Admiral On Defending Taiwan From China

'Nine Years To Get Weapons': An American Admiral On Defending Taiwan From China

China

interview

Military Weapons

Morning Wire

Pentagon

Taiwan

President Donald Trump quietly signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to begin using military force against Latin American drug cartels that the administration has labeled as terrorist organizations, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-military-drug-cartels.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimesworld">reported</a> Friday morning.
The order includes an official basis for the United States military to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, and military officials have already begun drafting plans for going after certain groups, the Times reported, citing &#8220;people familiar with the conversations.&#8221; It was not immediately clear which specific gangs or drug cartels Trump&#8217;s new directive greenlights military operations against.
Under Trump, the United States has <a href="https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels">designated</a> seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations: Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN), La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), Cártel de Golfo (CDG), and Cárteles Unidos (CU). The Trump administration recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its list, saying that it is operated by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking government officials, according to the Times. On Thursday, the United States upped the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m">bounty</a> on Maduro to $50 million, pointing to his ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels.
&#8220;Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TDA, Sinaloa, and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country. To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,&#8221; said Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Most of the cartels designated by the Trump administration as terrorist organizations operate in Mexico, while TdA&#8217;s roots are in Venezuela, and MS-13 originated in Los Angeles as a Salvadoran street gang. Both TdA and MS-13 also have cells operating in Central America, according to the State Department.
Trump&#8217;s order is among the most significant steps he has taken to fulfill his promise to &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCGjPpNG4xA">wage war</a>&#8221; on cartels that have trafficked fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. In May, President Trump said he offered Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum a deal that would send U.S. troops into Mexico to fight drug cartels.
&#8220;They are horrible people that have been killing people left and right. They&#8217;ve made a fortune on selling drugs and destroying our people,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000010147246/trump-offers-us-military-to-fight-mexican-cartels.html">told</a> reporters aboard Air Force One. &#8220;If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it.&#8221;
Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/sheinbaum-says-she-rejected-trumps-offer-send-troops-mexico-2025-05-03/">rejected</a> Trump&#8217;s proposal, saying, &#8220;Sovereignty is not for sale. Sovereignty is loved and defended.&#8221;
&#8220;We will never accept the presence of the United States military in our territory,&#8221; she added.

Trump Greenlights Military Force To Take Down Latin American Drug Cartels

Central America

Executive

MS-13

Politics

Tren De Aragua

American forces killed a senior ISIS leader and two of his adult sons in Syria early Friday morning, the U.S. military announced. 
U.S. Central Command said that senior ISIS leader Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani was killed during a raid in al-Bab, Syria. All-Hardani “posed a threat” to American and coalition forces as well as the new Syrian government, CENTCOM said. 
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS terrorists wherever they operate. ISIS terrorists are not safe where they sleep, where they operate, and where they hide,” <a href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/4255485/centcom-forces-kill-senior-isis-leader-in-al-bab-syria/">said</a> CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla. “Alongside our partners and allies, U.S. Central Command is committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS terrorists that threaten the region, our allies, and our homeland.”
Two of al-Hardani’s adult sons, Abdallah Dhiya and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba, were killed in the raid. CENTCOM said that both were affiliated with ISIS. Three women and three children present at the location were unharmed. 
There were no American casualties during the raid, which took place about 29 miles northwest of Aleppo.
In recent months, the Trump administration shifted American policy on Syria, dropping sanctions and moving to relax export restrictions. The move came as President Donald Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-lauds-syrian-president-as-attractive-and-tough-after-vowing-to-remove-sanctions">been friendly</a> with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. 
During a May meeting with al-Sharaa, Trump called him a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
Al-Sharaa, who has portrayed himself as a moderate, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/syrias-jihadist-president-calls-for-peace-as-his-forces-slaughter-political-and-ethnic-minorities">previously been tied to</a> various terrorist groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Al-Qaeda. Trump pushed him during their meeting to help the United States target ISIS.
In recent days, the Trump administration has also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-calls-on-syrian-muslims-to-end-attacks-on-druze-rape-and-slaughter-must-end?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Rubio+Calls+On+Syrian+Muslims+To+End+Attacks+On+Druze%3A+‘Rape+And+Slaughter+…+Must+End’">pressed</a> al-Sharaa to crack down on terror groups attacking religious minorities in the country. 
U.S. forces have continued to target ISIS operatives throughout the Middle East. In March, an American strike <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/his-miserable-life-was-terminated-trump-announces-top-isis-leader-dead-after-u-s-strike">took out</a> Abu Khadijah, a top ISIS leader who was hiding in Iraq. Khadijah was the chief of global operations and the delegated committee emir for ISIS and, officially, the second-in-command for the Islamic terrorist organization.

TOPSHOT-IRAQ-CONFLICT-MOSUL

U.S. Forces Take Out Top ISIS Leader In Syria

Centcom

ISIS

Syria

Terrorism

World

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are on the cusp of striking a &#8220;mega deal&#8221; that would send battle-tested Ukrainian drones to the United States in exchange for Kyiv receiving another batch of weapons from Washington, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/17/us-news/trump-zelensky-discuss-drone-mega-deal-for-us-to-buy-battle-ready-ukraine-uavs/">reported</a> on Thursday.
Zelensky revealed the potential deal in a discussion with the Post, saying, &#8220;The people of America need this [drone] technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal.&#8221; If a deal is struck, Ukraine also promised to share information with the United States on what it has learned about modern warfare during the conflict with Russia, according to Zelensky.
“I think this is really a mega deal, a win-win, as they say,” he said.
The White House did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request to comment.
Throughout the war, Ukraine&#8217;s drone fleet has proved to be vital in defending the country from Russia&#8217;s aerial assaults. Kyiv&#8217;s drones have also been used to launch attacks on Russia. Last month, Ukraine smuggled 117 drones into Russia, which were used for a massive assault on Russian air bases, taking out 41 Russian aircraft, including roughly one-third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-ukraine-pulled-off-its-massive-drone-strike-inside-russia">reported</a>.
The United States military has fallen behind its adversaries, including Russia and China, in producing drones and training troops to use them in battle, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/business/drones-us-military-manufacturing-lags.html">report</a> earlier this week from The New York Times. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged that the United States must catch up on drone warfare technology and <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2025/Jul/10/2003752117/-1/-1/1/UNLEASHING-U.S.-MILITARY-DRONE-DOMINANCE.PDF">moved</a> last week to rescind “restrictive policies” and &#8220;red tape&#8221; getting in the way &#8220;of American manufacturing and warfighter ingenuity.&#8221;
“So while our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones before us, we were mired in bureaucratic red tape. Not anymore,” Hegseth said in a video filmed alongside U.S. military members outside the Pentagon.
&#8220;In June, President Trump issued an executive order unleashing American drone dominance to bolster our drone industry and arm our warfighters because that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re all about,&#8221; he added.
Hegseth said that the move includes bolstering &#8220;the nascent U.S. drone manufacturing base by approving hundreds of American products for purchase by our military.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOGE</a> <a href="https://t.co/esaQtswwDb">pic.twitter.com/esaQtswwDb</a>
&mdash; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1943748870993064004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump&#8217;s relationship with Zelensky has grown warmer in recent weeks after the Ukrainian president was blasted in the Oval Office in February for his continued requests for American assistance. Earlier this month, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-have-to-trump-to-send-ukraine-more-defensive-weapons?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98We+Have+To%E2%80%99%3A+Trump+To+Send+Ukraine+More+Defensive+Weapons">vowed</a> to send Ukraine more defensive weapons as Moscow ratchets up attacks on Ukrainian cities.
“They are getting hit very hard. … We’re gonna have to send more weapons,&#8221; Trump said, adding, “I’m disappointed, frankly, that President Putin hasn’t stopped.”

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky

Trump Considering ‘Mega Deal’ To Exchange Drones, Weapons With Zelensky

Drones

Pete Hegseth

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Volodymyr Zelensky

As the United States prepares to celebrate her 249th birthday, a growing number of Americans say they’ve noticed a marked decline in patriotism.
More specifically, 44% of respondents in an <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/5379913-44-percent-say-us-becoming-less-patriotic-survey/">Economist/YouGov survey</a> published this week said they believe the U.S. is becoming less patriotic. In comparison, a much smaller 14% said they think the nation is becoming more so.
Jesse Parks, a former U.S. Army Sergeant who served in Afghanistan, has noticed this shift in attitude.
“[Seeing] flags being burnt and seeing protests being more frequent,” Parks told the Daily Wire, “it tears down the country.”
Born into a military family, Parks said he was inspired to follow in the footsteps of those who came before him.
“All my uncles, dad, older brother, served. Everybody,” he said.
Parks initially applied to serve in the United States Marine Corps, but his application was rejected. Undeterred, he enlisted later in the United States Army, where he was accepted and rose through the ranks.
When asked why he enlisted, Parks said, “I think you join the military to fight for your country. It opens up a lot of doors, but in the end, you fight.”
He was deployed to Afghanistan in December 2010, where he said his unit’s primary mission was to train and advise the Afghan National Army Basic Training Command Teams, alongside the British and French Armies. He later became an infantry fire team leader.
Parks said that patriotism was a major factor in his decision to join the armed forces. He described it as “a love of your country put into action, whether that&#8217;s military, that&#8217;s political, or that&#8217;s civil service.”
But what is “patriotism” anyway?
“Patriotism” <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patriotism">is often defined</a> as a “love for or devotion to one’s country.”
Yet, a growing number of Americans say they don’t see a shared sense of admiration for the country they call home. Lightning rod political issues ranging from abortion to illegal immigration, along with a major political realignment that has seen the Democratic Party lurch harder to the left and the Republican Party lurch harder to the right, have revealed a simmering disunity.
“[Patriotism is] a big part of what allows us to progress,” Parks said. “It is what kind of helps us progress as a society. We don&#8217;t all have to have the same views, but as long as we have patriotism, which is different than nationalism, as long as it&#8217;s there, it allows us to progress.”
<h3><a href="https://get.dailywire.com/freedom/">JULY 4 SALE: Get Six Months Of DW+ Free</a></h3>
While Parks has an expressed love of country, his may not be a shared passion: only 67% of people claim to be extremely or very proud to be American, down from 91% in 2004, according to a 2024 <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/646655/american-pride-remains-near-record-low.aspx">Gallup</a> survey.
A separate <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/646655/american-pride-remains-near-record-low.aspx">Marist</a> poll likewise found a majority of Americans have noticed this shift, with 52% of respondents stating that the country seems less patriotic than it was just a few years ago.
The disunity and decline may feel all the more evident with the recent riots and attacks on first responders.
“[T]here has been a perversion of patriotism,” Parks told the Daily Wire.
“Groups like Antifa seem like they don&#8217;t care about this country and want to tear it down,” he said. “January 6 was similar; it was a movement to dismantle the country. It is seen on both sides.” 
Rather than being complicit in this division, Parks said, groups such as Antifa should “consider the opportunity they have in this time in history to affect the country’s direction, and to act accordingly in a constructive manner.”
Despite all of this, the Army veteran sees hope for the future.
“There is a lot of talk about division in the country at the moment, but I don’t think that is anything new,” Parks said. “I hope people will get involved over the issues they think are important.”
Participation “will increase their sense of pride and reignite a love for their country.”
* * *
Simon Olech is a reporter studying journalism at the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Hands holding American flag in a wheat field at sunset. Independence Day, 4th of July.

Americans Say Patriotism Is Fading. One Army Veteran Is Pushing Back With Steely-Eyed Optimism

4th of July

Fourth of July

Opinion

U.S. Army

United States

President Trump’s strike on Iran is a seminal turning point for American foreign policy.
For years and years and years, we have been boxed into the idea that every war is the Iraq War.
Critics of President Trump — of “Peace through Strength,” going all the way back to World War II, particularly on the Left but now on the horseshoe theory Right as well — have suggested that people who do advocate for American military action liken everything to the lead-up to World War II, to Neville Chamberlain and Munich. They say not everything is World War II. Not every war is the Iraq War.
You might notice that the vast bevy of people who keep complaining about President Trump&#8217;s strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities keep comparing this to the Iraq War. That’s crazy.
These people who keep saying that a one-off strike on a nuclear facility — which is significantly more like killing Osama Bin Laden or killing Qasem Soleimani or killing Anwar al-Awlaki — is somehow more akin to the Iraq War: a full-scale, hundreds of thousands of troops ground invasion of a country in the Middle East, followed by a 20-year effort to rebuild the country and remold the government.
You have to be empty-headed to make that comparison.
But there is an Iraq War syndrome that has set in the American body politic that suggests that every military action is like the Iraq War. It&#8217;s very much like the Vietnam War syndrome that set in after the end of the Vietnam War, when every military action was supposed to be exactly what America did in Vietnam. It took Ronald Reagan breaking the Soviet Union in order for that to begin to end, and it truly ended when George H. W. Bush helped win the first Gulf War.
The lesson of Vietnam and Iraq is not: “Military power, or the threat of its use by the United States is bad,” or even worse, “The United States itself is bad,” which is an argument that is being made all the time by the horseshoe theory Left and the horseshoe theory Right.
The real lesson here is that victory is a possibility. Victory can be achieved if the commitment is clear and if the goal is defined.
President Trump had a goal. He defined that goal. He made a commitment to that goal. And then he pursued an action in pursuit of that goal.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2223-trump-s-masterstroke-what-comes-next?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
The same people who are suggesting that President Trump is wrong to bomb the nuclear facilities are the same people who suggest that the United States was wrong to use the atomic bomb to end World War II, or that America has been historically evil over the course of decades. The Howard Zinn Left and the Tucker Carlson Right shake hands on this particular prospect.
But that perspective is wrong. And it is not just wrong, it is a nefariously bad perspective, because it damages America.
The world is better off because of American power — properly used. Of course power can be misused; anyone can misuse their power. We&#8217;re the most powerful country in the history of the world, with the most powerful military in the history of the world.
But — when you use your power properly, you can effectuate good things happening.
President Trump is not George W. Bush. He ran against George W. Bush’s foreign policy. President Trump has never engaged in a long-term nation building project, nor will he. He defined this mission specifically.
<div id="attachment_938485" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-938485" class="size-large wp-image-938485" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2220648176-864x576.jpg" alt="US Vice President JD Vance, from left, US President Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, and Pete Hegseth, US secretary of defense, during an address to the nation in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Saturday, June 21, 2025. Trump said the US military struck three sites in Iran on Saturday, marking the first American involvement in direct attacks against Iranian nuclear assets in its conflict with Israel. Photographer: Carlos Barria/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2220648176-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2220648176-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2220648176-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-2220648176.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Carlos Barria/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
I do not actually think that the people warning about a “quagmire” are saying something understandable. I think they are saying something dishonest. I think they are lying to you.
Israel and the United States are not talking about regime change. When President Trump says that there may be regime change in Iran, he means from the Iranian people. That&#8217;s the same thing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Do you think Netanyahu, from a country of 9.7 million people, two million of whom are Arabs and two million of whom are ultra-Orthodox Jews, that tiny country is going to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to Iran to engage in nation-building? Do you think the United States is going to do that?
If Iranians don&#8217;t overthrow the regime, that&#8217;s their prerogative. But that does not mean that you allow that regime to go nuclear.
All of this raises a question. What exactly is the opposition? What is the opposition here? What is the case against the strike on Iran?
You can basically make three cases: the constitutional, the pragmatic, and the ideological. I think there are a lot of people who are making the constitutional and pragmatic arguments who secretly want to make the ideological argument.
The ideological argument is that America is bad, that when America involves itself in foreign policy, we are doing something evil and immoral, that our enemies, our geopolitical opponents, never have their own philosophy or their own interests. They are always, in every case, driven by American blowback. The only reason people are bad in the world is because America did a bad thing to them, and then those people turn bad.
That, of course, is ignorant. It is stupid. It is wrong. Civilizations have different interests. Countries have different interests. Those countries are driven by interests that are not always about America. Iran pursued regional domination in spite of what America was doing, not because America was a threat to Iran.
Iran decided that it wanted to obliterate Israel, wanted to wipe Saudi Arabia from the map, and wanted to take control of Yemen, not because of America, but because that is the Iranian goal. Russia is invading Ukraine because that has been their longstanding policy, not because Ukraine was moving in a more pro-American direction. Russia decided it wanted to invade Ukraine because it has been Russian policy since the 1990s to reunify with Ukraine, or at least turn it into a proxy regime.
Countries have their own rationales. The ideological case, a Howard Zinn-America-Hating-First case, has been adopted by many on the horseshoe theory Right.
Then there are people masquerading as constitutionalists who are interested in the constitutionality of what Trump is doing. This idea that the War Powers Act (War Powers Resolution) somehow prevents the president of the United States from engaging in a one-off strike is absolute sheer nonsense. It is not true. First of all, there&#8217;s serious doubt as to whether the War Powers Resolution, passed by Congress in 1973, is even constitutional. It may, in fact, violate the Article II prerogatives of the President of the United States. Article II, Section II of the Constitution says, “The president shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states.” The president is the Commander-In-Chief.
Only Congress has the power to declare war under Article I, Section VIII, Clause XI.
But did we declare war against Iran? Is there a war against Iran? One-off airstrikes do not mean a full-scale war against a country. They don&#8217;t. If that&#8217;s true, then we&#8217;ve been at war many, many, many, many times since World War II, all across the globe. But that is not what war constitutes. The Supreme Court has said so.
The War Powers Resolution states: “In the absence of the declaration of war, the president must report to Congress within 48 hours after introducing U.S. military forces in hostilities, which must end within 60 days unless Congress permits otherwise.”
There&#8217;s only one problem. Do you think the United States is engaging in 60 days of on-the-ground hostilities with Iran? We barely engaged in 37 hours of hostilities with Iran. Does this amount to a War Powers Resolution violation?
Then there are those people “deeply worried” about the pragmatic effect of this, who were not worried a few years ago when President Trump killed Qasem Soleimani, and who didn&#8217;t seem particularly worried five minutes ago, before this all happened, when Iran had terror cells throughout the West, but now they&#8217;re very, very worried.
Iran has been pursuing terror attacks, including an attempted assassination of the current President of the United States, for decades. At this point, they have planted terror cells all throughout the world. If the idea is that planting terror cells buys Iran impunity and Iran can now act with complete impunity all over the globe, pursuing nuclear weapons, and that means you can&#8217;t do anything about it, then what is the purpose of American foreign policy? What is the purpose?
I&#8217;m not saying there isn’t a risk when you take action. I&#8217;m saying that the greater risk would be a nuclear-armed Iran with terrorist cells all across the West. That&#8217;s the bigger risk.
This “pragmatic concern” is, in reality, something else.
It is a belief that America&#8217;s foreign policy is inherently bad, that America is the nefarious actor in the world. It&#8217;s wrong and it&#8217;s stupid.
President Trump knew exactly what he was doing when he ordered the strike on Iran. 
And he was absolutely correct.

President Trump Returns To White House From New Jersey

Trump’s Strike On Iran: A Vital Turning Point In American Foreign Policy

Ben Shapiro

Foreign Policy

Iran

Iran Nuclear

Israel

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Middle East

President Trump

Iran said on Friday that it has rejected &#8220;several&#8221; calls for negotiations from the United States after President Donald Trump gave a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-decide-on-iran-strike-before-july-4?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+To+Decide+On+Iran+Strike+Before+July+4">two-week deadline</a> for his decision on possibly striking the Islamic Republic, leaving the door open for talks with Tehran.
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an address on state television, “Americans want to negotiate and have sent messages several times, but we clearly said that as long as this aggression doesn’t stop, there’s no place for talk of dialogue,” the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/06/20/world-news/iran-rejects-us-talks-after-trump-gives-two-week-deadline-to-allow-for-negotiations/">reported</a>. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran&#8217;s supreme leader, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-missile-attacks-nuclear-news-tehran-trump-06-18-2025-c6c90028dc340e2716724412fcec2cf0">rejected</a> Trump&#8217;s call for the country to surrender on Wednesday as Israel continues to pound Iranian nuclear facilities and missile launchers from the sky and take out the regime&#8217;s military leaders.
“Wise individuals who know Iran, its people and its history never speak to this nation with the language of threats, because the Iranian nation is not one to surrender,” Khamenei said.
“Americans should know that any military involvement by the U.S. will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage to them,” he added.
Iran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crossing-of-a-red-line-iran-hits-major-israeli-hospital-with-direct-strike">escalated</a> the conflict with Israel on Thursday morning, striking a major Israeli hospital. President Trump said on Thursday that he would decide whether to attack Iran “within the next two weeks.”
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” the president said in a statement shared by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> shares a message from President Trump: &quot;Based on the fact that there&#39;s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/r3yVnbZHAC">pic.twitter.com/r3yVnbZHAC</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1935753412856967261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While Trump gave a two-week timeline for a decision on Iran, an Israeli official <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-israel-will-hit-all-nuclear-facilities-has-destroyed-half-of-irans-launchers/">told</a> The Times of Israel that the U.S. ally expects Trump to decide on striking Iran within 24 to 48 hours. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said that it&#8217;s &#8220;entirely&#8221; up to Trump to decide if the United States &#8220;wants to join or not,&#8221; adding that he speaks to Trump &#8220;almost daily.&#8221;
“He’ll do what’s good for the United States, and I’ll do what’s good for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu continued.
If the United States joins Israel in direct strikes on Iran, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/06/18/bunker-buster-bomb-israel-iran-conflict/84257733007/">reports</a> suggest that it could be to drop the massive &#8220;bunker buster&#8221; bomb, which can only be carried by America&#8217;s B-2 Bombers. The &#8220;bunker buster&#8221; would likely target Iran&#8217;s Fordow nuclear site, which is built approximately 300 feet underground.
Trump also said earlier this week that the United States knows &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/he-is-an-easy-target-trump-says-he-knows-exactly-where-the-ayatollah-is-hiding">exactly</a>&#8221; where Ayatollah Khamenei is hiding, adding, “He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.&#8221;

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran Refuses To Negotiate With U.S. After Trump Sets 2-Week Deadline

Global Politics

A United States aircraft carrier strike group is on its way to the Middle East, following a large number of refueling aircraft that arrived in Europe amid Israel’s ongoing offensive against Iran.
The U.S. Navy&#8217;s USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group is heading to the Middle East from the South China Sea, <a href="https://x.com/JenGriffinFNC/status/1934616363194089879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin. The strike group is equipped with nine squadrons flying F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, C-2A Greyhounds, and MH-60R/S Sea Hawks, <a href="https://news.usni.org/2025/06/09/usni-news-fleet-and-marine-tracker-june-9-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the U.S. Naval Institute</a>.
On Sunday, several social media accounts tracked the flight movements of multiple KC-135 and KC-46 refueling aircraft, showing they were en route to Europe. Two American officials said the aircraft were being repositioned to provide President Donald Trump with additional options, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-bolsters-military-options-trump-with-refueling-aircraft-officials-say-2025-06-16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Reuters</a>.
The Nimitz, which is the oldest aircraft carrier in the world and set to be decommissioned next year, was scheduled to replace the USS Carl Vinson, which is currently in the Arabian Sea, but is now coming ahead of schedule. The two aircraft carrier strike groups will reportedly be present at the same time as the only United States carriers in the Middle East.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irans-supreme-leader-responds-to-israels-attack?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Iran%E2%80%99s+Supreme+Leader+Responds+To+Israel%E2%80%99s+Attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER RESPONDS TO ISRAEL’S ATTACK</a>
A reception scheduled for the Nimitz in Vietnam on June 20 has reportedly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-aircraft-carrier-heads-west-schina-sea-amid-middle-east-tensions-2025-06-16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">been canceled</a>.
Griffin notes that the USS Nimitz&#8217;s presence amid Iran’s conflict with an American ally is significant, as it was also deployed in 1980 to help rescue American hostages held at the United States Embassy in Tehran during the failed Operation Eagle Claw.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-says-united-states-not-involved-warns-iran-against-attacking-u-s-personnel?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Rubio+Says+United+States+Not+Involved%2C+Warns+Iran+Against+Attacking+U.S.+Personnel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RUBIO SAYS UNITED STATES NOT INVOLVED, WARNS IRAN AGAINST ATTACKING U.S. PERSONNEL</a>
Aircraft tankers are essential in refueling aircraft for long-range strikes.
On Sunday night, Trump encouraged Iran and Israel to “make a deal.”
“We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!” <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114687664442020232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump posted</a> on Truth Social. “Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!”
Speaking to Fox News&#8217;s Bret Baier, Israeli Prime Minister <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-had-to-act-netanyahu-reveals-why-he-struck-iran-in-first-interview-since-rising-lion-launch?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98We+Had+to+Act%E2%80%99%3A+Netanyahu+Reveals+Why+He+Struck+Iran+In+First+Interview+Since+%E2%80%98Rising+Lion%E2%80%99+Launch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Benjamin Netanyahu said</a> he is fighting a war to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-eliminates-irans-revolutionary-guard-commander-in-strike-says-iranian-media?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Israel+Eliminates+Iran%E2%80%99s+Revolutionary+Guard+Commander+In+Strike%2C+Says+Iranian+Media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISRAEL ELIMINATES IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD COMMANDER IN STRIKE, SAYS IRANIAN MEDIA</a>
“Once they go that route, it’s too late,” Netanyahu said. “We will have a second Holocaust — a nuclear Holocaust. We already had one in the previous century. The Jewish state is not going to have the Holocaust on the Jewish people. Never again is now, and we have to act now.”
Netanyahu said he gave the Iranians a chance to make a nuclear deal with Trump, but it became clear to both him and the United States that Iran was not serious.
“They basically strung everyone along and it was clear to us that the talks were going nowhere,” Netanyahu said.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces, one-third of Iranian missile launchers have been destroyed, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-israel-strikes-iran?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+Israel+Destroys+A+Third+Of+Iran%E2%80%99s+Missile+Launchers%2C+Claims+Control+Of+Air+Over+Tehran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netanyahu announced</a> on Monday that the Israeli Air Force “controls the skies over Tehran.”

Nimitz and refueling aircraft

U.S. Military On The Move: Strike Group En Route To Middle East Amid Israel’s Iran Offensive

There are enormous threats on the world stage. Those threats can be mitigated by President Trump. Or, through lack of clarity, they can grow worse. 
Just before the Memorial Day Weekend, Vice President JD Vance spoke at the Naval Academy. He suggested that President Trump&#8217;s visit to the Middle East, in which he visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, was designed to recapitulate an American foreign policy that is based on a realistic assessment of what the world looks like.
He explained, “I actually think the most significant part of that trip is that it signified the end of a decades-long approach in foreign policy, that, I think, was a break from the precedent set by our founding fathers. We had a long experiment in our foreign policy that traded national defense and the maintenance of our alliances for nation-building and meddling in foreign countries’ affairs, even when those foreign countries had very little to do with core American interests.”
The Vice President was presumably arguing against the war in Iraq. The war in Afghanistan is a bit of a different story, since originally the war in Afghanistan was launched on the back of 9/11, so it was, in fact, a core American national interest to defenestrate the regime that had protected Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the murder of 3,000 Americans.
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Vance suggested that American foreign policy has to be focused on countering our peer adversaries: “Our government took its eye off the ball of great power competition and preparing to take on a peer adversary, and instead we devoted ourselves to sprawling, amorphous tasks like searching for new terrorists to take out while building up faraway regimes. Now, I want to be clear. The Trump administration has reversed course. No more undefined missions, no more open-ended conflicts. We&#8217;re returning to a strategy grounded in realism and protecting our core national interests. Now, this doesn&#8217;t mean that we ignore threats, but it means that we approach them with discipline and that when we send you to war, we do it with a very specific set of goals in mind. And consider how this played out in just the last major conflict we engaged in, with the Houthis over in the Middle East. We went in with a clear diplomatic goal not to enmesh our service members in a prolonged conflict with a non-state actor, but to secure American freedom of navigation by forcing the Houthis to stop attacking American ships. And that&#8217;s exactly what we did.”
The Houthi example is a very interesting one for him to use, because the reality is that the Houthis have not ceased their activities in the Red Sea. Originally, we did not define our battle against the Houthis as simply restoring deterrence with regard to Houthi attacks on American ships; the goal was to restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. The goal was to ensure that people could use the Red Sea through the Suez Canal in order to ship things, including oil and LNG, from the region.
That has not been restored. The Houthis are still shooting a couple of missiles a day over Saudi Arabian airspace at Israel. And shipping has still not been restored in the Red Sea.
Now, I don&#8217;t disagree with anything that Vance is saying on the surface. But the use of the Houthis is a telling example, because one of the things that is an open battle in this administration, which we all need to keep our eye on, is what this sort of language obscures.
What is the actual policy of the Trump administration? Is it a policy that makes sure to actually set red lines that are keepable? The Vice President suggests that every mission has to have an exit strategy with an end in sight, saying, “Past leaders sent our service members on mission after mission with no exit strategy, no end in sight, and with little articulation for the American people or for the warfighters about what we were doing.”
All of that sounds really nice. The reality is that foreign policy is a lot messier than that. So, for example, the United States currently has troops stationed in South Korea. Why? That is an open-ended conflict. There&#8217;s an armistice with North Korea, and the United States is, in fact, maintaining the peace in the region between South Korea and North Korea by having a trigger force there.
The United States still has military bases in Japan. Why? Presumably to deter a Chinese takeover of the South China Sea. The United States still has overflight and overwatch power over the Middle East. Why? To ensure the free flow of oil, for example, and to prevent, I assume, the nuclearization of Iran.
This kind of easy notion that the United States can simply, in pinpoint fashion, define our conflicts and get in and get out is not the way actual foreign policy really works.
If you believe that we are now living in a much more dangerous world than we were previously, that&#8217;s going to require a larger commitment to military spending. A safer world, a world in which free trade actually applies, in which you do have freedom of navigation, in which economic growth is the norm, in which the United States has trade capacity and commerce; in which global growth is the norm — all of that is maintained, in the end, by the credible threat of the use of the American military.
That&#8217;s the reality of the situation. That&#8217;s always been the reality of the situation. The notion promoted by some on the more isolationist side of the Republican aisle — that if the United States basically defines in pinpoint fashion its own military engagement, the rest of the world will simply comply — is not the way the rest of the world works.
That&#8217;s been true all along. There&#8217;s a very famous story about George Washington at the Constitutional Convention. There was a constitutional delegate who suggested that the standing army of the United States should be limited to 5,000 men. The reason was that there were a lot of members of the founding generation who didn&#8217;t like the idea of a standing army on the national level. And George Washington would have to fend off the British with an army of essentially irregular soldiers, militiamen, whom he had to cobble together throughout the Revolutionary War.
The constitutional delegate proposed a 5,000-man cap on the army in the actual Constitution. George Washington agreed. And then he sarcastically said that there had to be a stipulation added to the Constitution that no invading army could number more than 3,000.
Of course, the joke he was making is that, when it comes to foreign policy, necessity is the mother of policy.
So you can have all of these principles that we all hope to have about “no open-ended missions,” “no long-term commitments.” The reality is that in a world in which the United States refrains from any long-term commitment and refrains from flexible policy, what you end up with is more red lines crossed.
And so the question becomes, for the administration, how strong are the administration&#8217;s red lines, and what happens when those red lines are crossed? When it came to the Houthis, the United States drew a red line. Originally, it was about freedom of navigation.
That freedom of navigation has not, in fact, been restored.
You can make the case that shouldn&#8217;t have been the mission in the first place in the Red Sea. Fine. But that was not actually the mission. The ends were shifted in order to achieve some sort of titular end to a conflict so the United States could then go and pick up checks in Qatar.
Again, you can make the argument that that&#8217;s a good policy or that it&#8217;s not a good policy, but let&#8217;s be clear about what happened there.
Right now, America&#8217;s enemies are perceiving, at the very least, that there’s some play in the joints.
If President Trump had the foreign policy team from his first term in place, it wouldn&#8217;t be happening. Trump 1.0 was extremely predictable on foreign policy: If you crossed a red line, you would get punched in the face. If you did not cross a red line, we would negotiate with you. That was the foreign policy of the United States. 
There&#8217;s been debate inside the administration over whether Trump 1.0 was too hawkish.
But what America’s enemies see is that now might be a good time to push. That is certainly clear from Russia, from China, and from Iran. Russia. China and Iran are sensing weakness in the Trump administration&#8217;s approach. Russia has been stringing President Trump along while it ramps up its attacks on Ukraine. According to reports, China has now strengthened its ability to rapidly attack Taiwan. Iran, which has been weakened by Israel to its weakest point in decades, is stiffening its negotiating stance with the United States.
President Trump is a peace through strength president.
But that needs to be conveyed not just in words, but in actual forward posture, in military spending, in public statements.
Because the United States has spent the last 20 years being non-credible in its threats. And that needs to stop, as it did during President Trump’s first term.

Vice President Vance Speaks At U.S. Naval Academy Graduation Ceremony

Peace Through Strength Requires Actual Strength

JD Vance

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday that he was moving a historic painting of Jesus back to a “place of prominence” at the Merchant Marine Academy after the Biden administration relegated it to the basement, he told The Daily Wire. 
Duffy said in a video addressed to midshipmen that the World War II-era painting “Christ on the Water,” which depicts Jesus Christ appearing to sailors adrift at sea, would be returning to its original location at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. The Biden administration moved the painting from its decades-old location to the basement in 2023 after a complaint that its presence violated the Constitution. 
“We are moving Jesus out of the basement. To all the great midshipmen at the Merchant Marine Academy, you let me know how important this painting was to all of you,&#8221; Duffy said in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H0WJQyB83JA?si=rnn8AtzLAifg94VN%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a>, which was shared with The Daily Wire. &#8220;Now, we all know it was taken out of a place of prominence and put in down in the basement.&#8221;
Duffy, whose Maritime Administration operates the academy, said he was working with leadership at the institution to facilitate the move.
“I worked with the Academy, and because this is such a historic painting, I’m announcing that through that work with the academy, this painting is going to go from the basement back to its place of prominence. It will be a moment to celebrate,” the devout Catholic said. 
<div id="attachment_920607" style="width: 759px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-920607" class="size-large wp-image-920607" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-10.18.22-AM-1-749x576.png" alt="" width="749" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-10.18.22-AM-1-749x576.png 749w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-10.18.22-AM-1-300x231.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-10.18.22-AM-1-768x590.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/Screen-Shot-2025-05-12-at-10.18.22-AM-1.png 787w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 749px) 100vw, 749px" />&#8220;Christ on the Water&#8221; by Lt. Hunter Wood, USMS</div>
&#8220;Christ on the Water&#8221; was completed in 1944 by artist Hunter Wood, who joined the Coast Guard just 10 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Wood saw action in North Africa before working on a Coast Guard Combat Artist Unit. In 1947, his painting was installed at the Merchant Marine Academy’s Wiley Hall Elliot See Room. It was displayed at that location for almost 80 years, when the Biden administration moved it because of a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.  
Duffy said that the painting will be returned to its original location the Elliot See Room. Last month, he received a vigorous round of applause from midshipmen at the Merchant Marine Academy after he called for they painting to be restore to its original location. 
“Can we bring Jesus up from the basement?” Duffy said. “Let’s not put Jesus in the basement! Let’s get Him out! Let’s bring Him up!”
Mikey Weinstein, of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has promised to start &#8220;World War Eight&#8221; if the painting is moved, calling Duffy a &#8220;piece of s***&#8221; for advocating for the move. Weinstein claims that displaying the painting violates the Constitution and forces Christianity on students. 
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-backs-trump-officials-attempt-to-bring-jesus-up-from-the-basement-literally">sent a letter</a> last week to Duffy, praising him for the plans to move the painting and noting that there were no Constitutional reasons to keep the painting out of public view. Cruz said returning the painting would be an important step to protecting America&#8217;s religious heritage.

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Sean Duffy

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