We have, in this recess of the United States Senate, been gifted an extraordinary vision of perfection, the apex example of a social phenomenon long observed but rarely embodied with such an apotheosis of type: The Sad Childless Disney Adult, as <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/03/30/lindsey-graham-enjoys-disney-ride-during-government-shutdown/">embodied</a> in the person of one Lindsey Graham.
The longtime strongman ruler of South Carolina politics — peace be upon him — decided upon dismissal from the swamps of D.C. and the uncomfortable couches of many a green room to take respite from long days of agitating for wars and causing international kerfuffles to indulge in the joys of what is, for his money, the best kingdom of them all, the Magic one, where birds sing, princesses flit, and bubble wands can be purchased on every corner. Make sure you get the ones that let you replace the batteries — you don&#8217;t want them to run out when you take them home.
(They have not yet committed to sending arms to battle the Houthis, but he has a co-del meeting with Buzz Lightyear later to run that down.)
The things you must know about navigating Disney as a childless adult is that you are their ideal customer: trapped by nostalgia, burdened with a crippling lack of childhood maturation, and desperate for figures who can fill the obvious and manifold emotional gaps in your life. So, in the absence of the figures who contribute to a healthy life, one turns to that old comfortable friend, the fellow with an ear to lend and a &#8220;ha HA!&#8221; to give: M-I-C, K-E-Y — he&#8217;s always there for you with a hug and a waffle shaped like his head. No judgment here, just a land where wishes come true.
<div id="attachment_1069163" style="width: 777px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1069163" class="size-large wp-image-1069163" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Disney-tmz-767x576.jpg" alt="Credit: TMZ" width="767" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Disney-tmz-767x576.jpg 767w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Disney-tmz-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Disney-tmz-768x577.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Disney-tmz.jpg 977w" sizes=" (max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px" />Credit: TMZ</div>
The other thing you must know is that you have to download the app to skip the lines, because damn if those &#8220;affordability&#8221; people don&#8217;t have a point about how much it costs to be a dedicated Disney adult in the land of lines and upsells. Though, in fairness, the filet mignon at <a href="https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/magic-kingdom/cinderella-royal-table/menus/dinner/">Cinderella&#8217;s Royal Table</a> is the best steak you&#8217;ll ever have. And don&#8217;t sleep on the Floating Island, it has strawberry meringue. Delectable!
You&#8217;re in cycle? There&#8217;s a co-del? There&#8217;s a primary? Who cares, that&#8217;s not important. This is a personal wellness journey, holding space for the future we are manifesting. The problems of tomorrow disappear when you&#8217;re in this special place. Oh look, it&#8217;s Space Mountain! We went to space, we&#8217;ll do it again — we&#8217;re America, dammit.
People complain too much. Iran is fine. TSA will get paid. Gas prices are a distraction. The important thing is there is a live performance coming up soon, and picking between which character you want a selfie with is always the hardest part. Wish Lindsey luck!

LG_Disney

Meet Senator Lindsey Graham, The Saddest Disney Adult

Congress

Disney World

Humor

Lindsey Graham

Opinion

Satire

U.S. Senate

When I arrived in the United States Senate in 2011, the Republican Leader would often paraphrase George Washington who referred to the Senate as the saucer beneath a cup of tea. Just like a saucer cools the tea, the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” was uniquely designed to cool the political passions of the time.
From the viewpoint of a limited government conservative, slowing down the passage of legislation that generally tends to grow government and reduce our freedom, the saucer analogy seemed very appealing. But now that I’ve served within this highly partisan and dysfunctional body for 15 years, I would say a better analogy is the Senate is more like the plaque clogging an artery leading to a heart attack.
There are two basic forms of debate in the Senate: speechmaking and the offering of legislation, motions and amendments for a vote. Senators love engaging in the former, but only the latter results in law. Once debate on a particular bill ends, passage requires only a simple majority, currently 51 votes. That has never changed. What has changed is the method for ending debate and “calling the question” or voting on final passage.
Prior to 1917, when Senate Rule 22 was passed establishing the cloture vote, there was no formal way of ending debate — a filibuster — in the Senate. Because unlimited debate was the tradition of the Senate, cloture was invoked only five times in the first approximately 50 years of its existence. That’s because the cloture vote was intended to end a debate that two-thirds (now three-fifths) of senators believed had gone on too long. For example, a cloture vote succeeded in ending debate on the Civil Rights Act but only after a 57-day filibuster — 57 days of debate. It was never intended to prevent all debate, however, that is exactly how it is now being used.
Rather than requiring a simple majority to get on a bill and start debate, now a supermajority of 60 votes is routinely required. This is a huge difference. Ideally, a bill addressing an important issue would be put on the floor and then further honed through a process of discussion and the adoption of amendments. Prior to 1917, as long as any Senator wanted to keep talking or offering motions and amendments (engaged in a filibuster), the question was not called.
Eventually, exhaustion set in and the Senate moved to vote on final passage — with a simple majority required for passage. This was how a deliberative body actually lived up to its name.
Now, instead of reserving the cloture vote for the very end of an extended filibuster as a last resort measure to end debate and vote on passage, the minority uses it at the very start of the process to prevent even getting on a bill, thereby blocking all debate. The resulting record of failure speaks for itself.
Total federal government debt is approaching $39 trillion. Since I entered Congress in 2011, we should have passed 180 appropriations bills prior to the start of the fiscal year they were funding. We have passed a whopping total of six on time. That’s a 96.7% failure rate. Because of that dysfunction, we have had five shutdowns, had to rely on 57 continuing resolutions to fund government on an interim basis, and increased or suspended the debt ceiling 12 times to allow the government to incur an additional $24 trillion in debt. We had a record 42-day shutdown at the start of this fiscal year, and now Democrats are holding TSA and other DHS employees hostage over their quest to defund ICE and CBP.
Both sides want to maintain the 60-vote cloture threshold to block each other’s legislative agenda when they are in the minority. But after Democrats fell only two votes short of ending the filibuster in 2022, the odds are extremely high that they will end it as soon as they regain the majority and it’s advantageous for them to do so. The Republican conference is divided between those of us who believe Democrats will end the filibuster and are therefore willing to beat them to the punch, and those who think we should risk waiting, hoping Democrats will preserve the filibuster. There are good faith arguments supporting both positions.
In light of the profound dysfunction described above, I’m not sure how things could get much worse by ending the filibuster. The status quo certainly isn’t working. I think it’s obvious things must change — we need a paradigm shift.
If the filibuster does end, we all might be surprised to find senators attempting to find common ground on more issues to help ensure bills pass with bipartisan support, thereby reducing the chance of being overturned when the other side regains power. At this point, I’m willing to make that change.
* * *
Sen. Ron Johnson represents Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate and is serving his third term. He serves as Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and is a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Budget, Finance, and Aging committees.

Trump Funding Deal Passes Senate As Short US Shutdown Looms

I’ve Seen Enough: The Senate Is Broken, And It’s Time To Change The Rules

Democrats

Filibuster

Republicans

Ron Johnson

President Donald Trump rejected a pitch to fund other agencies under the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE, multiple sources confirmed to The Daily Wire on Monday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated to the president that Senate Republicans and some Democrats would back the pitch in hopes of ending the shutdown that started in mid-February, according to <a href="https://punchbowl.news/article/senate/trump-thune-dhs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punchbowl News</a>. In exchange, funding for ICE would be handled through a future reconciliation bill that would only need Republican votes to pass, the report noted.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday.
A source familiar with the talks said that there is a “bipartisan negotiation train that is still working” that met with White House border czar Tom Homan last week.
In addition, one GOP Senate staffer indicated to The Daily Wire that Democrats are &#8220;letting go potentially of judicial warrants and face masks&#8221; in exchange for not allowing further ICE funding through the appropriations process, with some exceptions like Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The staffer noted that it could be a &#8220;true compromise&#8221; because Republicans already have much of what they want for ICE funding with the &#8220;One Big Beautiful Bill Act&#8221; signed by Trump last year.
According to the source, the Democrats in the conversation include Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and some of the “moderate Dems who voted to reopen the government during the last shutdown.”
“They’ve been dragging their feet the whole time. They’ve been slow walking it, and they keep moving the goalposts of what they actually want, while TSA continues to be held hostage,” the source said, noting that it took 18 days for Senate Democrats to send an update counteroffer to the White House.
Democrats backed out of a meeting with White House staff on Saturday, according to a GOP Senate staffer on background, and the White House did not end up meeting with Senate Democrats on Monday.
As for the Monday meeting, the White House said that it has to do with Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-OK) likely confirmation to become DHS secretary on Monday night.
“Given that Democrats turned down a previous meeting and that Mullin is likely to be confirmed tonight, it seemed appropriate to wait until after his confirmation to allow him to be a full participant in ongoing conversations,” a White House official told The Daily Wire on background Monday.
Some of the most contentious parts of the negotiations have been on the proposed use of judicial warrants and the end of masking for agents, two of the most notable items that Democrats have requested for federal immigration enforcement reforms, according to <a href="https://x.com/bresreports/status/2036106510888063322?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punchbowl News</a>.
The White House sent its counteroffer to the Senate last week, which included proposals such as “[expanding] the use of body-worn cameras and to &#8216;limit civil immigration enforcement activities at certain sensitive locations,'&#8221; along with heightened oversight of ICE detention facilities.
While the talks continue, the president sent ICE to numerous airports in hopes of speeding up wait times in security lines, as hundreds of TSA agents have walked off the job with no paycheck in sight.
Senate Democrats have argued that Republicans have been unwilling to fund TSA by itself, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) forced an ultimately unsuccessful vote to just pay employees from that specific agency on Saturday, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5794925-tsa-funding-senate-rules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hill</a> reported.
“Instead of sending ICE agents to harass travelers at airports, why don’t Republicans get their act together and agree to pay TSA workers like we’ve asked them to SEVEN TIMES now?” Schumer posted to X on Sunday.

Long lines form outside Atlanta International Airport

Here’s How Senate Republicans Can End The Democrat Shutdown — And Still Fund ICE

Department of Homeland Security

Immigration

Politics

Senate

A Democrat’s vote to move forward with the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security was considered a surprise, and it garnered some backlash on the Left.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) voted to allow Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to advance to the final step in the confirmation process to become the next DHS secretary, succeeding Secretary Kristi Noem. Heinrich and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) are the only two Democrats who voted in favor of Mullin, who’s expected to be confirmed later on Monday.
“This is going to surprise some people, but I consider Markwayne Mullin a friend. We have a very honest and constructive working relationship. We have authored legislation together, such as the Tribal Buffalo Management Act, and we crafted the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill together this year. We often disagree and when we do, we work to find whatever common ground we share,” Heinrich said in a statement on Sunday.
“I have also seen first-hand that Markwayne is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views, and I look forward to having a Secretary who doesn’t take their orders from Stephen Miller,” he said.
The senator said that even though New Mexico is a border state, he has not had “any constructive relationship” with the DHS secretaries during the current and previous Trump administration.
“I want someone who recognizes the necessity of judicial warrants, as he has. I would like a Secretary who I can call and have a constructive conversation with about my state and the unique terrain that exists in the southwest and the proper mix of structure, technology and personnel necessary to effectively secure our border,” the Democrat continued.
In a press release, his office noted that he’s previously called for Noem to be fired, did not vote for her confirmation, and that he wants to see changes made to federal immigration enforcement.
On social media, Heinrich garnered some controversy over his decision to support the Oklahoma Republican.
“Who gives a frog’s fat ass if Sen Heinrich likes Mullin personally? His job is to ensure the nominees in Trump’s administration are qualified. Mullin lacks experience, is combative and impulsive, and will push DHS in a more aggressive, politicized direction,” Shannon Watts, founder emerita of Moms Demand Action, posted to X.
Heinrich has also weighed into multiple Senate races, including endorsing Texas State Rep. James Talarico, Maine veteran Graham Platner, and Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow – and The Daily Wire reached out to each campaign on whether they would also support Mullin&#8217;s nomination.
A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who’s backed by Heinrich in her competitive Senate primary, stated that “no, she would not vote to confirm Mullin.&#8221;
As for Fetterman, he had clearly stated his support for Mullin prior to the procedural vote.
“In January, I called on the president to fire Noem—and he did. I truly approached the confirmation of my colleague and friend, Senator Mullin, with an open-mind,” he posted to X last week. “We need a leader at DHS. We must reopen DHS.”
“My AYE is rooted in a strong committed, constructive working relationship with Senator Mullin for our nation’s security,” he added.
The Department of Homeland Security remains largely unfunded, as Democrats and Republicans are attempting to work out a deal to fund DHS while possibly making federal immigration enforcement changes. However, other agencies within the DHS umbrella, like TSA, have been caught in the crosshairs, leading to hundreds of TSA agents quitting and long lines at major airports nationwide.

Senate Holds Confirmation Hearing For DHS Secretary Nominee Markwayne Mullin

Democrat Makes ‘Surprise’ Break From Party On Major Homeland Security Vote

Markwayne Mullin

The White House sent its Department of Homeland Security counteroffer to the United States Senate on Tuesday afternoon, after Democrats sent their own late Monday night – 18 days since the White House made its previous offer.
The letter sent to Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL) and Susan Collins (R-ME) on Tuesday said that the Trump administration “will expand the use of body-worn cameras,” “limit civil immigration enforcement activities at certain sensitive locations” with a handful of exceptions, increase oversight of detention facilities, “enforce the use of visible officer identification” and other practices for officers who are not “undercover,” and “adhere to existing law and practice of not deporting any U.S. citizen and will convey current practice of not knowingly detaining a U.S. citizen, except when the person violates a state or federal law that makes the citizen subject to arrest.”
During an on-background call with reporters on Tuesday, a senior White House official said that “this offer is reasonable, it is serious, it is the product of work that has gone on since the shutdown began.” The Democrats are asking for major changes to be made, including the end of masking for agents and the use of judicial warrants.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
READ: Letter sent by WH to Senate on DHS shutdown.<a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a>
Trump admin offers to 
-expand body cameras 
-limit civil enforcement at “sensitive locations” 
-increase detention facility oversight 
-“officer identification worn by officers will be clearly displayed.”
And… <a href="https://t.co/6ZUlypxco5">pic.twitter.com/6ZUlypxco5</a>
— Cameron Arcand (@cameron_arcand) <a href="https://twitter.com/cameron_arcand/status/2033992494426534366?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
The shutdown started in mid-February over federal immigration enforcement tactics, especially in the aftermath of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, including the shooting death of Alex Pretti.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dems-send-11th-hour-dhs-counteroffer-in-shutdown-standoff-how-americans-could-pay-price?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Dems+Send+11th-Hour+DHS+Counteroffer+In+Shutdown+Standoff+%E2%80%94+How+Americans+Could+Pay+Price" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported that Britt’s office said that Democrats have been uncooperative in the process to get the department fully opened, even though most of the funding for Trump’s immigration priorities was already signed into law in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last year. Britt is considered the lead negotiator for Senate Republicans on the topic.
However, impacts of the shutdown have been rippling through the country, most notably with long lines at the airport due to TSA agents calling out or leaving the job, as they are required to work without pay. There have also been mounting national security concerns related to the shutdown amid Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
Democrats have argued that Senate Republicans have blocked legislative proposals to fund agencies like TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard without completely reopening DHS until a deal is hashed out.
“Right now, Republicans are holding TSA agents’ paychecks hostage because they want to provide more money to ICE, without basic reforms to protect Americans’ rights and safety,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement last week. “Democrats will keep fighting to get TSA workers paid and fund FEMA and the Coast Guard, and we’ll keep pushing to enact common-sense steps to prevent more Americans from being hurt, or even killed, by masked federal agents.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is the only Democrat in the chamber against the shutdown effort, pointing to the OBBA funding for ICE and CBP as rendering the closure pointless, but he’s noted that he still backs immigration enforcement reforms.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

White House Puts New DHS Offer On The Table — Will Democrats Finally Budge?

White House

If you have ever lived in a country that is not governed by a functional democratic system, you would probably notice that, by and large, its citizens hold a different standard for fairness and justice. For them, getting unmerited benefits through one’s connection to the powerful is entirely acceptable. In fact, forfeiting such a backdoor opportunity and going through proper channels is considered utterly foolish. However, it would be a mistake to assume that people in such a society are inherently dishonest. Since their culture does not stress the notion of fairness and justice as exercised in the United States, they find other ways to achieve the same end.
Many practices in China can be considered fraudulent when judged by American standards. But there is one institution that remains untouched by corruption – the annual National College Entrance Exam, also known as the Gaokao Exam. As long as I can remember, the process upholds the highest degree of integrity, standing as a startling aberration in Chinese culture. This is the area where one’s reward correlates with one’s performance irrespective of one’s connections and social status.
<h3>The Annual National College Entrance Exam</h3>
Why do the Chinese people behave so differently in this particular area? What drives them to overcome cultural norms and vigilantly guard the integrity of this examination process?
<div id="attachment_1059965" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1059965" class="size-large wp-image-1059965" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828188-864x576.jpg" alt="NANJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 20: Examinees review their study materials outside an examination site for the 2026 postgraduate entrance exam on December 20, 2025 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. 2026 China's national exam for postgraduate enrolment kicked off on December 20. (Photo by Liu Jianhua/VCG via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828188-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828188-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828188-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828188.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Liu Jianhua/VCG via Getty Images</div>
Confucianism, the primary philosophy in Chinese culture, puts great emphasis on education. Confucius believed that knowledge provides the foundation for morality. The more knowledge one has, the deeper one’s moral conviction becomes. Accordingly, a government official who is intelligent and learned would govern more judiciously, for such an erudite person certainly holds a higher moral standard. In the 7th century, the Chinese government formally began to select its administrators using a vigorous and elaborate system called the Imperial Examination. Through this process, the brightest and the most knowledgeable men were chosen to serve in government posts. In reality, however, a person’s high intelligence and profound knowledge did not necessarily reflect his moral conviction, nor his ability to govern. There have been plenty of immoral and incompetent government officials in Chinese history.
Nonetheless, success on the Imperial Examination can change one’s destiny, especially for those from a lower social stratum. In a culture where bribery receives tacit consent, holding a government post opens up endless opportunities for personal gain. This was the primary reason for the creation of a national obsession with education. Eventually, education became the national identity. After the Imperial Examination was abolished in 1905, the annual National College Entrance Exam – though with a much broader purpose – took its place in cultural significance. It was only briefly interrupted during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
The survival of this national identity is entirely contingent upon the integrity of the examination process. Should corruption occur, such as changing one’s score or using an imposter as a substitute, education would lose its objective measure and become culturally meaningless. Indeed, any dishonesty would pose a direct threat to the existence of the national identity. Consequently, any misstep in the process must be categorically eliminated. Considering that Chinese culture is based on intricate and complex relationships and is highly prone to corruption, the successful guarding of the examination process is by no means a small feat.
<div id="attachment_1059967" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1059967" class="size-large wp-image-1059967" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828256-864x576.jpg" alt="FUYANG, CHINA - DECEMBER 20: Examinees walk out of an examination site for the 2026 postgraduate entrance exam on December 20, 2025 in Fuyang, Anhui Province of China. 2026 China's national exam for postgraduate enrolment kicked off on December 20. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828256-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828256-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828256-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252828256.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />VCG/VCG via Getty Images</div>
<h3>What Sets America Apart?</h3>
What sets America apart from other nations? What is America’s national identity?
As an immigrant from an authoritarian regime, I can unequivocally state that America stands for freedom, human rights, and equality under the law. This identity is protected and secured by our political system of a constitutional republic, within which the right of the citizen to participate in different electoral processes serves as the linchpin.
However, America is not the only place that holds elections. I participated in an election in China during my senior year in high school in the 1980s. The whole process felt contrived and incongruent with the cultural environment I was in. Knowing very little about democracy and the value of voting, I simply followed the direction of the lady at the voting station who guided me to select the predetermined names. Authoritarian regimes can also call an election – and they often do – masquerading as lovers of democracy. But their process is only a sham, an exercise in fraud.
What sets America apart is its electoral integrity, the cornerstone and prerequisite of our political system that safeguards our national identity – freedom, rights, and equality under the law. For over 200 years, our electoral system has seldom faced challenges. For most Americans, electoral fraud is not just downright wrong but unthinkable. Indeed, our relatively lenient election law, compared with many other nations, suggests that electoral integrity is so engraved in the hearts and minds of the American people that it is taken for granted. Consequently, any claim of large-scale electoral fraud comes across as incredibly conspiratorial, provoking cognitive dissonance and will be met with denials.
Yet, electoral fraud does occur in America. Even before Covid, there were <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/108824/documents/HHRG-116-JU00-20190129-SD020.pdf">proven cases</a>. A look at the 2018 congressional race in North Carolina shows the result was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/mark-harris-nc-voter-fraud.html">overturned</a> by the state election board because of mail-in ballot fraud. In 2019, Elbert Melton, the mayor of Gordon, Alabama, was <a href="https://electionfraud.heritage.org/case/200627">convicted</a> of voter fraud and removed from office. And, of course, the electoral integrity of the 2020 election, in the midst of the Covid outbreak, still remains in question for many.
<h3>The New Threat To Electoral Integrity</h3>
Today we are facing yet another tangible threat. How can we prevent the illegal immigrants Biden’s open-border policy produced from participating in the voting process only granted to American citizens? The law that prohibits illegal immigrants from voting has not been strictly enforced. For instance, according to court documents, in Pennsylvania, an illegal immigrant who had been ordered to leave the United States was able to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/illegal-immigrant-charged-voting-pennsylvania-5-presidential-elections">cast ballots</a> in every presidential election since 2008. This is far from being an isolated case. The two million illegal immigrants the Trump administration has deported is still a small minority compared with the army of foreign voters the Biden administration intentionally let in. Today, they pose a substantial threat to electoral integrity.
<div id="attachment_816347" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-816347" class="size-large wp-image-816347" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Untitled-design-43-1024x576.jpg" alt="A migrant caravan walks into the interior of Mexico after crossing the Guatemalan border on October 21, 2018 near Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico The caravan of Central Americans plans to eventually reach the United States." width="1024" height="576" />(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)</div>
The Safeguard America Vote Eligibility Act (SAVE America Act) is specifically designed to deal with this threat, prohibiting states from registering voters who are not American citizens, requiring voter ID at the point of voting, and eliminating mail-in ballots with a few exceptions. The bill has already passed the House vote and is currently in the Senate. Yet, Senate democrats rallying around Chuck Schumer vowed to kill it.
If we fail to prevent electoral fraud from taking place, America would soon evolve into a nation no different from many other places where corruption, rather than law and order, marks the characteristics of the society. Citizens, ruled by a corrupt and unaccountable government, would live without freedom, rights, and the protection of law. America would lose her identity and cease to be America.
The Chinese, who are culturally lenient towards bribery and cheating, have meticulously protected the integrity of their examination process in order to safeguard their national identity. Should we, who hold a higher standard of honesty, do less?
<h3>American Identity</h3>
Further, if the Chinese lost their national identity, the obsession with education, China would still survive. At most, they would have a reduced number of highly educated people. However, if America forsook our national identity, America would not survive. America would become just like any other nation where tyranny replaces freedom, scarcity substitutes for prosperity, and obedience is swapped for liberty. America as the “city on a hill” would vanish in history. Consequently, the threat of electoral fraud we are facing is not just an inconsequential blunder, but an existential threat to our nation, the equivalent of a foreign invasion.
When the Japanese invaded China during WWII, the Chinese Communist Party of Mao and the Chinese Nationalist Party of Chiang Kai-shek temporarily joined forces in order to deal with their common threat. They recognized that if they allowed this threat to destroy their country, neither party would survive even though in peacetime they themselves had been rivals.
American citizens have recognized the common threat we are facing. Gallup polls show that 83% of Americans <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/652523/americans-endorse-early-voting-voter-verification.aspx#:~:text=Stacked%20bar%20chart%20showing%20Americans,applications%20to%20all%20eligible%20voters.">support</a> requiring proof of citizenship for first-time voter registration. Pew research also suggests that 83% of Americans are <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/22/majority-of-americans-continue-to-back-expanded-early-voting-voting-by-mail-voter-id/#:~:text=Requiring%20all%20voters%20to%20show%20government%2Dissued%20photo%20identification%20(83%25)">in favor</a> of voter ID laws. These statistics reveal that SAVE America Act has received a wide range of support transcending political and ethnic barriers. Yet, in spite of the unity behind this bill, Senate Democrats – and a few Republicans – have been going all out to stop it, laying out various pretexts, such as discrimination against the poor who do not possess the required documents for proof of citizenship. 
<div id="attachment_1059985" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1059985" class="size-full wp-image-1059985" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266146798.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 12: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (C) talks with reporters as he heads for the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2026 in Washington, DC. Thune is being pressured by conservatives to do away with the 60-vote cloture threshold and move the SAVE America Act forward, a priority for President Donald Trump going into the midterm elections. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)" width="1024" height="574" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266146798.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266146798-300x168.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2266146798-768x431.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</div>
The truth is that Democrats care little about the poor who are merely a useful tool in their power struggle. Neither do they care about Biden’s illegal population. Hiding behind egalitarianism is the real intention – using an illegal voting bloc to seize political power. Their willingness to sacrifice America in order to gain power is treasonous. Even ruthless Mao, a man responsible for the deaths of millions of Chinese, didn’t have the nerve to surrender his own country. Those who oppose this bill have managed to sink below the monstrous Mao.
Today, whether you are left or right, blue or red, we are facing a common threat, and have a mutual self-interest in electoral integrity, without which our freedom and rights will vanish. And we, too, will vanish with it. At this crucial moment before the midterms, we must get behind President Trump and demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act to save America.
* * *
Chenyuan Snider was raised in Communist China and majored in Chinese language and literature in college. After immigrating to the United States and studying at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary and Duke Divinity School, she became a professor at Christian colleges and seminaries. She and her husband live in Northern California and have two grown children.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Correction: The term Gaokao Exam refers to China&#8217;s annual National College Entrance Exam, not the Imperial Examination.

China’s Gaokao Exam Begins Grading

What China’s Exam System Taught Me About Saving America’s Elections

China

Donald Trump

Election Fraud

Elections

SAVE America Act

Voter ID

Voters

The impact of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown is continuing to intensify, leading to frustration from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who is the only Democrat to support funding the department as it currently stands, as well as hundreds of TSA workers quitting.
“We all have to acknowledge that this shutdown had no impact, zero impact on ICE, all of the funding was already in place there from the Big Beautiful Bill that I did not vote for,” the Democrat told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on NewsNation this week, and the comments were later shared by the Republican National Committee Research account.
“Why punish all those TSA agents and all the other people under the DHS umbrella just because the base demands that we just shut it down, knowing, absolutely knowing it will have no impact on ICE,” he added, acknowledging in a <a href="https://x.com/CBSNews/status/2031849814279725197?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a> interview that he does support reforms to the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policies.
Negotiations on federal immigration enforcement tactics have stalled, as Democrats want to see drastic changes to policies, including the end of masking for agents and the use of judicial warrants to make many immigration-related arrests.
“Democrats are ready to fund TSA. Republicans are blocking it. Democrats are ready to fund CISA. Republicans are blocking it. Democrats are ready to fund FEMA. And Coast Guard. Republicans are blocking it,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) posted to X on Thursday evening.
A Senate “test vote” failed 51-46 on Thursday to potentially fully fund the department, which covers agencies like TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA in addition to ICE and Customs and Border Protection, according to <a href="https://x.com/ChadPergram/status/2032162082943094950?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>.
Meanwhile, TSA agents are working without paychecks as of Friday, which is leading to more callouts and longer lines at airports throughout the country, like Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Friday morning.
“They’re not getting rich doing these jobs. They live paycheck to paycheck,” Ken Cuccinelli, a former top Homeland Security official in President Donald Trump’s first term, told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-dhs-shutdown-poses-grave-risk-as-terror-incidents-rock-american-communities-experts-warn?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Top+National+Security+Experts+Warn+Dems+%E2%80%98Playing+Chicken+With+Terrorists%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> earlier this week.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters this week that the “impacts of not funding DHS are real, and they&#8217;re in an unsustainable position,” noting that it’s been over two weeks since the White House sent Senate Democrats a counteroffer. Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) is considered the lead negotiator for the Republicans on the shutdown, but she’s noted that Democrats have not been cooperative.
“Four different times this afternoon, Republicans offered a 2-week funding stopgap for DHS to reopen and ensure hardworking Americans get paychecks,” Britt posted to X on Thursday.
“Each time, Democrats responded with bills that not only defund law enforcement, but defund TSA, Secret Service, Coast Guard, FEMA and more,” she added.
In a statement to The Daily Wire on Friday afternoon, the White House said that they are “interested in continuing conversations with Democrats about ways to end this shutdown.”
“Democrats, regrettably, have chosen to punish the American people with long TSA lines and withholding paychecks from workers who help protect our country,” they added, noting 300 TSA agents have quit since the shutdown started.

Sen. John Fetterman

Hundreds Of TSA Workers Quit As Dems Dig In On Shutdown

John Fetterman

Welcome to this week’s episode of “What is John Thune Doin’?” This is the show where we try to answer the questions, “Who is John Thune?” and “What is he doin’?”
To answer the first question first: John Thune, a Republican Senator, is the Senate Majority Leader. Now, those of you who aren’t familiar with how our government works may want to know: What does the American Senate do exactly? And the answer is: the American Senate does exactly nothing.
And you may say: “Well, if John Thune is the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate does nothing, then what is John Thune … doin’?”
Good question. That’s why we’re here.
To get to the bottom of this, our reporters met with John Thune for an hour-long interview. Unfortunately, shortly after the interview ended, they realized they hadn’t actually been talking to John Thune, but had instead interviewed the statue of Senator John Clayton in the Capitol Rotunda. In their defense, the statue just stands around all day, so it was an easy mistake to make.
Undeterred, our reporters proceeded to go to John Thune’s office, but accidentally ended up in a dark broom closet. There, they began to interview a mop, until they realized that couldn’t be John Thune, because a mop is actually good for something. Like, if your kid spills his juice on the floor, you can clean it up with a mop. Which is actually pretty useful. So definitely not John Thune.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1270-when-will-it-ever-end?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
But here at the Daily Wire, we don’t stop searching just because we can’t find the answers. In fact, we don’t even stop talking when we can’t find the answers. In spite of all our setbacks, we were determined to learn: What is John Thune doin’?
To help us in our search, we developed this handy Q and A.
Q: What is John Thune doin’? 
A: Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out.
Q: But hasn’t President Trump asked John Thune to pass the SAVE America Act, which requires voters to have a picture ID?
A: Yes, he has. 
Q: And doesn’t the SAVE America Act have the support of, like, a million percent of Americans?
A: Give or take a few percentage points, yes, it does.
Q: So… What is John Thune doin’?
A: You keep asking me that. Look, to be fair, there are some controversial parts of the SAVE Act. For instance, it bans transgender surgery on minors. This is a very divisive issue because, while 100% of Americans understand that sexually mutilating children is a Nazi-level atrocity, as many as 37% believe that pretending it’s okay makes them seem nice. Likewise, while 71% of Democrat voters support requiring voter ID, 98% of Democrat politicians oppose it, because, as Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer has said, “The Democrat party is a criminal organization in which all the criminals are obviously crazy, so if we can’t cheat at the polls, we’ll never win another election.”
Q: Wait. Chuck Schumer actually said that?
A: Maybe that was a dream I had. I’m not sure.
Q: So if the SAVE Act is so popular, why can’t John Thune get it passed?
A: Because under the filibuster rule, he needs 60 votes, and the Democrats won’t budge because of what Chuck Schumer said in my dream.
Q: So why doesn’t John Thune get rid of the filibuster?
A: Ah, because without the filibuster, when the Democrats win back power, they’ll pack the Supreme Court and steal elections by making Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico into states.
Q: What will the Democrats do if they win back power with the filibuster in place?
A: Then they’ll get rid of the filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, and steal elections by making Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico into states.
Q: So… what is John Thune even doin’?
A: All right, this Q and A isn’t getting us anywhere. To get at the essential nature of John Thune, we’re just going to have to interview another statue. Really, any random piece of marble will do. Or just a rock lying around somewhere. Even an empty space. Personally, I’d be happy to interview an empty space, if only I could find John Thune.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>.
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

John Thune 3/03/26

Does Anyone Know What John Thune Actually Does?

Andrew Klavan

John Thune

U.S. Capitol

When the Supreme Court finally overturned Roe v. Wade — reversing the worst Supreme Court decision since Dred Scott — pro-life Americans rejoiced. Little did we know the fight was only just beginning. Since then, abortion advocates have dumped millions of dollars in dark money into our states to overturn state laws, and in some cases, state constitutional provisions, protecting life. They’ve relentlessly pushed for pro-abortion judges for state courts and the federal judiciary. But above all, they’ve turned to a drug called mifepristone to bring abortion on demand to every state in the union. If pro-lifers want to protect the innocent unborn, and the health and safety of women, there’s only one thing to do: ban the chemical abortion drug.
Mifepristone first came to market in the United States in 2000, courtesy of the Clinton administration. From the beginning, it was mired in controversy. The drug was a copycat of the infamous French RU-486, which works by essentially inducing a miscarriage. This isn’t contraception. It’s not the morning-after pill. It’s a full-on abortion: the drug’s purpose is to destroy a viable pregnancy.
It was controversial because the drug carries so many side effects. It doesn’t merely kill the baby. It can also cause internal hemorrhaging, infections, sepsis, and other life-threatening conditions in the mother.
The pharma company that introduced it in the United States knew that, and took unusual and extreme measures to protect itself from liability. The name of the company is Danco. It was incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Its board of directors is secret; its investors are secret. Its corporate structure is largely shielded from public view. We do know early backers included George Soros — surprise, surprise — and other far-left activists who loudly backed population control. Their goal was simple: to put a Planned Parenthood in every mailbox in America, by developing a drug that could be shipped anywhere and cause an abortion anytime.
The Clinton administration was also aware of mifepristone’s dangers, and its FDA approval came with significant restrictions. The drug had to be prescribed by a physician. That physician had to see the patient before prescribing it, dispense the drug in person, and conduct a follow-up assessment. The FDA was also required to keep track of major health events associated with the drug and report them. The agency even slapped a “black box” warning on mifepristone’s label, meant to alert women that the drug came with serious risks.
Over time, however, one liberal administration after another removed these safeguards. 
The Obama administration dropped many of the reporting requirements and allowed non-physicians to prescribe the drug. Obama’s FDA also discarded the required follow-up visit. 
The Biden administration went further and eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement altogether.
The result? Today, mifepristone can be ordered over the internet from anywhere in the world — many of the most trafficked websites are in India — and mailed to any address in the United States. No meaningful safety protocols remain to protect women’s health or even police the integrity of the drug itself.
And what you might have expected to happen has happened. The largest study of mifepristone ever conducted found that in nearly 11% of cases, women who take the drug experience a “serious adverse health event” such as sepsis or hemorrhaging. That’s more than one in ten women. Incredibly, this rate is 22 times higher than what drug maker Danco admits to on its label.
Mifepristone’s ubiquity has also led to other horrors. Women across this country have been pressured into taking it by pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, who routinely lie about the effects. And abusive partners — able to order the drug with a simple click — have intimidated or coerced women into taking it and killing babies they wanted to keep.
But of course, Danco doesn’t care: it’s making billions. Business is so lucrative, in fact, that mifepristone is the only drug the company makes. One recent piece of public reporting suggested investors’ returns top 450% — even as one in ten women who take the drug face health devastation. What has Danco done to compensate them? Nothing. They’re too busy raking in the cash.
And the far-left abortion crazies who funded Danco and worked for years to eliminate every last safety restriction, have gotten what they wanted, too. Mifepristone now accounts for 70% of abortions in the United States — a proportion that goes up every year. It is truly abortion on demand. And no matter what voters in the states decide, the number of abortions continues to grow: the drug is available by mail anywhere, irrespective of state laws.
Those harmed are women. And the innocent unborn. At least 7.5 million women have taken mifepristone since the year 2000. That means hundreds of thousands of women are sent to emergency rooms or left to cope with life-threatening conditions on their own. And millions of babies lost.
It is time for Congress to act. The last twenty years have made abundantly clear that this drug is inherently dangerous. And inherently prone to abuse. There is a direct solution: Congress should ban mifepristone for use in abortion. And Congress should give every woman harmed by the drug — and we’re talking thousands upon thousands of women — the right to sue Danco and the other drug makers who have lied to them.
Banning mifepristone in abortions is the only realistic way to end this epidemic. The FDA could theoretically reinstate some or all of the older safety restrictions, but as one recent study showed, even with safety restrictions in place, the drug still sends approximately 10% of women to the hospital with serious side effects. And it’s lethal to the baby nearly 100% of the time. Then, too, a future FDA under a liberal president could just take the safety protocols away again.
The real solution is for Congress to act, to permanently stop the drug trade in abortion by barring mifepristone from use in abortions. And to give women their voice back by finally giving them rights against the pharma kingpins.
This is not a sidelight to the fight for life. This is the fight for life. It is the fight of our time. And it cannot wait a day longer.
* * *
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley represents the state of Missouri and serves on the Senate Committees on the Judiciary; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

In new motherhood, fetal health monitoring through regular ultrasounds and check-ups enables constant monitoring of the fetus’s growth and development.

The Abortion Industry Simply Changed Tactics. Now Congress Must Act.

Time To Ban The Chemical Abortion Drug

Abortion

Abortion Drug

Josh Hawley

Mifepristone

A hot debate has now broken out in the Republican Party over the so-called SAVE Act.
Republicans support the SAVE Act, which would force voter ID nationally. Democrats in the Senate have been holding it up.
President Trump correctly <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-addresses-house-republicans-at-annual-retreat/674954">points out </a>that the SAVE Act is quite popular with Americans.
“Even the Democrats — you saw the numbers today?— Democrats voted 86% that this stuff should be passed,” he noted. “With the Republicans, you&#8217;re at 98%. But Democrats are at 86%, except for the people that run the Democrat Party, because they want to try and win elections illegally. The only reason you vote against voter I.D. is because you want to cheat. There&#8217;s no other reason. They come up with reasons; they say it&#8217;s racist. That&#8217;s their number one: racist. Then they have to explain it, and they&#8217;re just sitting there mumbling. They can&#8217;t explain it.”
President Trump has also been having fun <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-addresses-house-republicans-at-annual-retreat/674954">mocking</a> Chuck Schumer: “It&#8217;s the easiest thing we have. Now the problem is you call it the SAVE Act, and nobody knew what the hell the SAVE Act was. &#8230; It&#8217;s called ‘The Save America Act’. And I saw Schumer yesterday: ‘We will stop Save America.’ He’s getting killed. They can&#8217;t do it.”
President Trump says that Republicans should <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-addresses-house-republicans-at-annual-retreat/674954">not approve anything</a> until the SAVE Act passes:
“But they have to get it done. Because if we don&#8217;t get this done, if it takes six months, I&#8217;m for not approving anything. I don&#8217;t think we should approve anything until this is approved. And they can&#8217;t win politically. Look, you have them in a corner, and they&#8217;re listening to every word I&#8217;m saying. It doesn&#8217;t matter because they can&#8217;t win it politically. Because when they say, ‘We don&#8217;t want voter identification. We don&#8217;t want proof of citizenship,” all these things are just losers for them.”
Chuck Schumer, for his part, keeps arguing that if we clean the voter rolls of people who have moved or are dead and require people to use voter ID, somehow this is going to result in mass voter disenfranchisement, a proposition that pretty much no one actually agrees with. 
“It allows ICE to kick tens of millions of people off the rolls, off the rolls, and they don&#8217;t tell them until Election Day,” he <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/senate-democratic-agenda/675075">huffed</a>. “And you show them, you say. ‘You&#8217;re not registered anymore, you&#8217;re not registered here, you&#8217;re not on the rolls.’ And they say, ‘I didn&#8217;t know that.’ This is a bill that destroys the country. And it is not about showing ID when you show up to vote. It&#8217;s about the voter registration rolls, destroying them, purging them, not letting people know, and taking the rights in an algorithm put together by ICE, put together by DOGE and Musk. It&#8217;s an outrage.” 
If you just say DOGE or Musk three times in a row, Beetlejuice appears, according to Chuck Schumer.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2385-iranian-propaganda-syndrome?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
This is silly. If you can&#8217;t abide by the law with regard to voting, you shouldn&#8217;t vote. And if you moved and you didn&#8217;t tell them you moved, then you probably should tell them you moved. Democrats trying to turn basic adult functions into some sort of Mensa test are lying. It’s not that hard to register to vote. It&#8217;s not hard to determine where and how to vote. People have been figuring it out for decades.
But now, because Democrats are trying to filibuster the SAVE Act in the Senate, to prevent it from passing by forcing Republicans to find 60 votes in the Senate, President Trump is talking about killing the filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, by contrast, says, no, we&#8217;re not doing that.
“We don&#8217;t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,” he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-EQvN-hLoz0">stated</a>. “But that is just a function of math. &#8230; I understand the president&#8217;s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do. We’ll continue to make that argument because I think it&#8217;s important that everybody understands this is really about the votes. It&#8217;s about the math.”
A lot of people are asking, why doesn&#8217;t Thune kill the filibuster? The answer is simple. He&#8217;s concerned if Republicans kill the filibuster, the next time the Democrats have a majority in the House and the Senate and run the presidency, they simply run roughshod over Republicans and essentially end any chance of possible parity in future elections, all with just 51 votes. They add new states, they add new senators, and they change the voting rules and all the rest.
There have been two arguments that have been put out there to counter John Thune’s argument. First, there&#8217;s the argument that Republicans should end what&#8217;s known as the “talking filibuster.” When most people think about the filibuster, they think of Jimmy Stewart talking for hours until he faints in the film “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.”
It takes 60 votes to ensure “cloture,” which means to stop a talking filibuster. Under Senate Rule 19, each senator can speak twice per day. Members of the same party can hold the floor continuously. Theoretically, Johnson could force Democrats to do that, get up there and just talk and talk and talk and talk.
In the past, however, opposing parties have allowed the so-called “silent filibuster,” a filibuster that all agree would be possible in the absence of talking for days at a time. People basically say, “You don&#8217;t have 60 votes. Instead of making us talk for weeks on end, we are not going to do that. You don’t have 60 votes to kill it anyway.”
So why doesn&#8217;t John Thune kill the silent filibuster? There are a few practical reasons. First, if 47 Democrats each gave six-hour speeches and did that continuously in a cycle, they could stop the business of the Senate for months. The only way to keep the Senate in session, in order to keep the pressure on Democrats to keep talking, would be for Republicans to maintain a quorum, meaning 51 senators nearby. If they didn&#8217;t have a quorum, if somebody goes home and suddenly there are 49 senators, Democrats can move to adjourn the session, the clock restarts, and all the senators can speak twice again. Which means that killing the silent filibuster basically ensures pain, but not gain.
That&#8217;s not going to stop critics from attacking Senator Thune and other Republicans as somehow feeble or insufficient in their defense of conservative policy. That&#8217;s always the rap from people in my industry toward politicians: “The reason that Republicans don&#8217;t do enough is a lack of will. If only they had more Nietzschean willpower! Or maybe they&#8217;re corrupt?” 
 
But that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening. The simple case here is that in the Senate, which happens to be a more collegial body than the House, Republicans must always have one eye on the question of what happens when the political shoe is on the other foot.
Just as Democrats killed the judicial filibuster only to watch Republicans stack the Supreme Court, Republicans have to be careful not to kill the filibuster on other issues, just to watch Democrats ram through fundamental changes to the nature of American life and law.
Democrats are obstructing, there&#8217;s no question about it.
They aren’t interested in honest voting.

SchumerSAVE

The SAVE Act Standoff

Chuck Schumer

House of Representatives

Iran

Mike Johnson

Between lengthy TSA lines and increased concerns about national security threats amid the conflict with Iran, conservative experts told The Daily Wire that there are serious risks associated with the continued shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, as talks in Washington stall.
DHS has faced a lapse in funding since Feb. 14, as Democrats and Republicans are at odds on federal immigration enforcement tactics, despite Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection already being heavily funded through the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last year. Still, other agencies under DHS like TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard are unfunded.
“We’re dealing with a heightened threat environment right now, and we need the federal government security capabilities to be firing on all cylinders,” Nathan Sales, former special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, said.
“If you’re a Hezbollah operative and you want to carry out an attack in the United States, you have to cross the border, and that’s a DHS responsibility,” he noted, later adding that “this is not the time to be playing politics with national security.”
Sales specifically highlighted the risks of FEMA not having the money it needs to fully operate.
“What happens if, God forbid, there is a terrorist incident on American soil and we need an immediate federal response to that,” Sales asked. “It’s not a great time for FEMA to be sitting on the sidelines either.”
Meanwhile, Garrett Exner, an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute focusing on terrorism, national security, and defense, slammed the lack of funding for TSA as “insane,” saying &#8220;it&#8217;s not a good faith argument&#8221; for Democrats to use the other agencies under DHS as leverage for immigration reform.
“We have 11 million people that came here, and we don’t know who they are, and ICE is doing the legal business of moving those people out of the country, and Democrats are trying to stop that. They’re trying to slow it down,” Exner said, referencing the Biden-era border crisis.
Recent incidents like the attempted <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-city-in-heightened-state-of-alert-after-saturdays-attack?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=New+York+City+In+%E2%80%98Heightened+State+of+Alert%E2%80%99+After+Saturday%E2%80%99s+Attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISIS-style terrorist attack</a> outside the New York City mayoral residence, along with the Southwest Airlines flight bomb threat over the weekend, are also sparking concerns, according to Lora Ries, the director of The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center.
“The House passed the DHS funding bill last week, so now it’s down to the Senate, and Senate Democrats are playing chicken with terrorists in this country,” Ries said, adding that it’s a “dereliction of duty by refusing to fund securing our homeland.”
In addition, the FBI is currently investigating the Austin, Texas, bar shooting from March 1 as a possible act of terrorism, as the alleged shooter was wearing a “Property of Allah” hoodie and a pro-Iran shirt.
Outside of the security risks, those who are essential workers, like TSA agents, are now working without pay, which will likely lead to a higher number of callouts at airports nationwide.
“They’re not getting rich doing these jobs. They live paycheck to paycheck,” Ken Cuccinelli, a former top Homeland Security official during the first Trump administration, pointed out regarding TSA, as shutdowns can “dissuade people from doing those jobs.”
Cuccinelli noted potential for the shutdown to hurt “morale” within DHS, and it could also create a ripple effect as FEMA responds to disasters like the recent Potomac River sewage spill.
TSA and other essential workers, like air traffic controllers, also bore the brunt of the 43-day-long full federal government shutdown last fall, which was triggered by Democrats pushing for an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s pandemic-era subsidies, but no permanent deal on the subsidies was ultimately reached. The remainder of the federal government is fully funded through September.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be leaving her role at the department at the end of the month amid multiple controversies, and President Donald Trump plans to replace her with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK). However, Noem&#8217;s ouster is not considered enough to warrant a deal with Senate Democrats.
&#8220;I’ve been asked if I would support Sen. Mullin as Noem’s replacement. The answer is a resounding NO. The rot in DHS is deep, much deeper than any individual. It’s a question of policy not personnel. The Senate should not consider any DHS Secretary nominee until DHS and ICE are reined in,&#8221; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) posted to X last week.

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