The pilot of the Black Hawk that crashed into a passenger jet in January, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft, failed to turn the military helicopter when advised to do so by her co-pilot, according to a new report.
On Sunday, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/business/dc-plane-crash-reagan-airport.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> new details on various &#8220;failures&#8221; underlying the mid-air <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-suggests-airport-tower-understaffed-at-time-of-collision-had-been-for-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collision</a>, which happened over the Potomac River in the Washington, D.C., area.
In the final moments, Capt. Rebecca Lobach, who was piloting the Army Black Hawk Helicopter involved in the crash, was told by her co-pilot and instructor, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, that he believed air traffic control wanted them to turn left to avoid the American Airlines passenger jet as it was about to land at Reagan National Airport.
&#8220;Turning left would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342, which was heading for Runway 33 at an altitude of roughly 300 feet,&#8221; the New York Times report said. &#8220;She did not turn left.&#8221;
Investigators &#8220;might never know why&#8221; Lobach continued flying the helicopter straight, the report asserted.
&#8220;There is no indication that she was suffering from health issues at the time or that a medical event affected her during those final moments aboard the Black Hawk, according to friends and people familiar with the crash investigation, which included autopsies and performance log reviews,&#8221; it said.
As noted in the report, there were other issues underlying the deadly incident, including those related to the helicopter&#8217;s altitude and radio communications.
The air traffic controller had contacted the Black Hawk, asking if its crew had seen the passenger jet, according to the report. Eaves said they saw &#8220;traffic&#8221; and requested permission for &#8220;visual separation&#8221; that would allow the helicopter to maneuver around it.
But cockpit voice recordings &#8220;indicate&#8221; the controller&#8217;s command for the Black Hawk to &#8220;pass behind&#8221; the passenger jet may not have been heard by the military helicopter crew because of a &#8220;bleep-out&#8221; when they activated their microphone.
Two seconds after the controller&#8217;s cut-out instruction, Eaves again communicated that the helicopter had the jet in its sights and sought the go-ahead for visual separation. In their last communication, the controller replied, &#8220;Vis sep approved.&#8221; That&#8217;s when, with 15 seconds to go, Eaves told Lobach that he believed air traffic control had given them the go-ahead to turn.

Emergency Crews Respond To Aircraft Crash Near Reagan National Airport

New Revelation From Deadly Mid-Air Collision: Black Hawk Pilot Failed To Turn When Advised

Air Travel

Military

U.S.

Washington D.C.

Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a six-part series by pollster Brent Buchanan on the politics of the American South. Last week, Buchanan explored the shifting priorities of minority voters in the South — and why Democrats shouldn’t take those voters for granted. This week, he breaks down the unique features, and critical importance, of the Southern suburbs.
We hope you enjoy.
—
Few things embody American culture and consumerism better than the suburbs.
Both a subject of generational aspiration and comedic ridicule, America’s suburbs remain a bridge to a nostalgic past and the ideal archetype of the “American Dream,” where home ownership, good schools, and safe neighborhoods still represent the opportunity of upward mobility and a prosperous future.
It&#8217;s fitting, then, with backyard barbecue season approaching, that, in part three of this series, we examine why the suburbs in America’s South have been politically stagnant.
While many of the country’s suburbs are rapidly shifting, voting behavior and partisanship in Southern suburbs are remarkably stable. This “stuck in neutral” dynamic is shaping the political battlegrounds of tomorrow — and it’s not necessarily a disadvantage for Republicans. If Democrats keep choosing the 20 percent side of 80/20 issues — like men in women’s sports, deporting illegals, or prioritizing the rights of nefarious illegal immigrants over crime victims — they’ll lose votes to Republicans or drive their own voters to stay home in the 2026 midterm elections.
That would be good news for Republicans. But our analysis of the South suggests its suburbs are much more hardened than its northern or western counterparts. Too often, mostly on Election Night, pundits and analysts rush to describe the country’s suburbs as hotly contested areas with high concentrations of swing voters.
While this is true for suburban pockets elsewhere in America, it is not the case in the South.
“As we mentioned in part one of this series, when we described the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-rise-of-the-south-is-not-what-you-think-why-it-holds-the-keys-to-political-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweet Tea Suburbs</a>, their inelasticity reflects a unique dynamic that poses a significant challenge for Republicans,” says Nicholas Valdiviez, Cygnal’s Sampling Lead for this exclusive Daily Wire project. “The GOP could seek to strengthen its performance in other areas to offset suburban stagnation, or they could try to crack through some of these areas, though the payoff would be incremental and likely extend beyond 2026.”
<h3>The Faux South: A Case Study in Suburban Inelasticity</h3>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-911457" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-The-Faux-South-1.png" alt="" width="690" height="535" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-The-Faux-South-1.png 690w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-The-Faux-South-1-300x233.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px" /></div>
The word faux is not used as a negative slight toward any of the great people or communities of this region, nor to detract from their “southernness.” In fact, as an important descriptor for this far-reaching analysis of America’s South, the term illustrates the region’s distinct and historically vital role as a sprawling gateway to the southern heartlands shaped more by commerce and trade routes than agriculture, combined with its geographical position along the borderlands of our nation’s capital.
Voters here, especially in Virginia, will tell you they are absolutely Southern — with the exception of those hard-left-leaning folks living in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) nexus along the Potomac River. Surrounding the ineffectual machinations of DC, the Faux South covers all of Maryland, most of West Virginia through the Alleghany Mountains, throughout middle and southeastern Virginia, extending down to coastal and near-inland North Carolina.
From 2016 to 2020, the Faux South saw the largest surge in Democratic turnout in the Southern United States — a 48% increase — but Republican turnout also jumped by 27%, marking the biggest regional year-over-year turnout shift in the last 16 years. At face value, that would signal some tailwinds for Republicans as the Faux South mixes most frequently with the Trumpian Highlands, another southern transitionary region. But it is the presence of the Sweet Tea Suburbs that serves as a sort of counteractive ingredient to such tailwinds.
Examining Virginia and North Carolina as the dominant states of the Faux South, we measured a strong voter disenfranchisement for elected officials at all levels, more than any other region in the South. Even our latest National Voter Trends (NVT) <a href="https://www.cygn.al/poll-democrats-continue-to-struggle-as-trump-maintains-strong-approval-even-in-light-of-tariffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a> bears this out: voters in this region had high mistrust of their elected officials from local positions like mayor and city council up to their Member of Congress. The Faux South’s approval of their congressional representatives falls nearly four standard deviations below the average (18-point approval vs. the average of 29%, or the high of 36%). Even approval of their state legislators is 10 points below the average, and five points below the average of mayors and/or village presidents.
While the numbers are net positive in our latest NVT and across all regions in the South, they&#8217;re markedly lower here than in the other regions. And despite surges in turnout, this sentiment influences how voters in the Faux South differ from the other regions’ more rightward leanings, making them more likely to disengage altogether or maintain the status quo.
Yet, as entrenched as this region can be, there are some silver linings for Republicans. Since Virginia governors are limited to two nonconsecutive terms, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears shows the most <a href="https://www.cygn.al/virginia-governor-race-poll-sears-positioned-for-strong-showing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promising </a>signs to galvanize a broad base of support and carry on the progress of widely popular outgoing Governor Glenn Youngkin. How the battles for Republican control of state legislative seats, particularly in suburban districts, with Sears atop the ticket, will indicate how well Republicans have begun to crack the Faux South.
North Carolina is a tougher story for Republicans. Though the state saw a shift rightward from 2020 to 2024, the tension lies in this portion of the Faux South’s proximity to the Sweet Tea Suburbs. The &#8220;Research Triangle,&#8221; the area between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, is central to scattered pockets of Sweet Tea Suburbs, which we described earlier as nearly immovable (split in 2020 and only R+3 in 2024), upper middle-class neighborhoods with high economic mobility. The confluence of these regions, combined with large areas of Trumpian Highlands in the western parts of the state, makes North Carolina more resistant to significant Republican gains.
<h3>Influence of Cities</h3>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-911459" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-652x576.png" alt="" width="652" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-652x576.png 652w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-300x265.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-768x678.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities.png 798w" sizes="(max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px" /></div>
The overall trend remains one of inelasticity, with only a modest Republican recovery and little evidence of the dramatic swings seen elsewhere. But the hardening of the South&#8217;s suburbs is also heavily influenced by the region&#8217;s cities. Some are burgeoning hubs of economic revitalization, while others are still stuck in neutral themselves and struggle to keep pace with the South’s rising political prominence.
The most salient point to describe the odd relationship between Southern cities and suburbs is that voters in the ‘burbs tend to be more woke and believe in Leftist virtue signaling as a way to prove their solidarity with the more economically-stratified and depressed conditions of largely-minority city dwellers. &#8220;Normies,&#8221; as Ben Shapiro might call them, chalk this up to the same old political pandering we’ve seen from highly educated suburbanite Democrats. But the political symbiosis of Southern cities and many of their surrounding suburbs has created a concrete structure for social and political acceptance of the status quo.
Compounding this disjointed interdependency is the high rate of disenfranchisement among city dwellers, especially among minority voters, who tend to view these strongholds of Democratic leadership as a matter of course — years of broken and empty promises have led less to an embrace of Republicans and more to full-on disengagement. Contrast this with cities like Chicago, where more minority communities are starting to push back against entrenched and corrupt Democratic leadership.
What makes so many of the South’s suburbs hardened to political swings, especially in Republicans’ favor, is this symbiotic relationship with many of its cities.
In recent elections, we saw the opposite happen in northern states like Ohio, where suburbs like those outside Columbus and Cleveland helped turn that state from a closely-watched swing state in presidential election years to a reliably red state. Southern cities like Memphis, meanwhile, mix heavily with the Big Sky South and Soulful South, keeping it politically stagnant and resistant to major partisan shifts.
We see something similar in Huntsville, where explosive population and economic growth have made the area more influential within Alabama. With a heavy dose of Trumpian Highlands to mix with, the surrounding suburbs continue to reflect consistent voting patterns year after year.
Similarly, Birmingham and Charleston’s suburbs have not experienced significant partisan shifts. Even as their urban cores evolve, their suburbs have not experienced significant political swings, despite some of the prevailing Soulful South trends we noted in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-end-of-democratic-assumptions-how-minority-voters-are-reshaping-southern-politics?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Brent+Buchanan&amp;category=News+and+Analysis&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=The+End+of+Democratic+Assumptions%3A+How+Minority+Voters+Are+Reshaping+Southern+Politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part two</a> of this series.
This persistent inelasticity underscores how deeply-rooted disenfranchisement and longstanding racial and cultural undercurrents keep these Southern cities and their surrounding suburbs in a perpetual state of tension, making them the most resistant to the nationwide political and generational realignment that has accelerated in the Trump era.
For Republicans, the challenge is to find incremental gains in both the suburbs and cities or look beyond these gridlocked areas for more growth in regions like the Big Hat Bloc or among the Republican Resettlers. In those two regions, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/12/07/hispanics-in-the-rio-grande-valley-are-now-swing-voters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hispanic populations</a> in particular are ripe for additional Republican gains.
For Democrats, the risk of alienating moderate voters or encouraging disengagement is more real than ever. If they continue to champion positions out of step with the suburban mainstream, Republicans can capitalize. This gives credence to the strategy of letting your opponents make unforced errors.
As the South continues to grow in population and political influence, the lesson is clear: state lines and national narratives rarely capture the true dynamics at play. The inelasticity of Southern suburbs is less a sign of stagnation than a testament to the encroaching fallout from the national political realignment.
COMING UP NEXT: All eyes are on Georgia and North Carolina ahead of the 2026 midterms. As two of the most prominent Democratic holdouts in the South, parts four and five of this series will delve into the extent of their influence and whether they’ll remain regional hegemons or embrace the coming red wave of longstanding conservative control.

Neat line of suburban houses in Fairfax, Virginia

Beyond The Swing: Why Southern Suburbs Refuse To Budge 

2026 Midterms

Glenn Youngkin

Suburbs

Virginia

Voting

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the United States is focused on developing deeper trade relationships with nations around the globe as the Trump administration seeks to bring countries to the negotiating table through tariffs.
Bessent spoke at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning, addressing President Donald Trump&#8217;s global trade strategy. The meetings come a day after Bessent said in a closed-door meeting that a prolonged trade war against China is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-tariff-on-china-will-drop-substantially-after-bessent-warns-against-trade-war?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Says+Tariff+On+China+Will+Drop+%E2%80%98Substantially%E2%80%99+After+Bessent+Warns+Against+Trade+War" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unsustainable</a>.
&#8220;I wish to be clear: &#8216;America First&#8217; does not mean America alone,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;To the contrary, it is a call for deeper collaboration and mutual respect among trade partners. Far from stepping back, &#8216;America First&#8217; seeks to expand U.S. leadership and international institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. By embracing a stronger leadership role, &#8216;America First&#8217; seeks to restore fairness to the international economic system.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a>: &quot;I wish to be clear: America first does not mean America alone. To the contrary, it is a call for deeper collaboration and mutual respect among trade partners.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Nes9sPK993">pic.twitter.com/Nes9sPK993</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1915046107115352346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump administration officials said that more than 100 countries are ready to negotiate with the United States on trade, and the president&#8217;s trade team is set to meet with 34 nations this week. China, however, remains a major hurdle for the administration&#8217;s trade agenda as Trump and his team still seek to bring China to the table to work out a deal. After Bessent warned against a trade war with China on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that the 145% tariff on Chinese goods would drop.
“It will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” Trump added.
Stocks rose on Tuesday following Bessent&#8217;s remarks and continue to climb on Wednesday morning. Bessent also addressed trade with China during his speech at the IMF and World Bank conference, saying the country &#8220;needs to change&#8221; its strategy.
&#8220;China, in particular, is in need of a rebalancing,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;Recent data shows the Chinese economy tilting even further away from consumption toward manufacturing. China&#8217;s economic system, with growth driven by manufacturing exports, will continue to create even more serious imbalances with its trading partners if the status quo is allowed to continue.&#8221;
&#8220;China&#8217;s current economic model is built on exporting its way out of its economic troubles. It&#8217;s an unsustainable model that is not only harming China, but the entire world,&#8221; he added. &#8220;China needs to change. The country knows it needs to change.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a>: &quot;China, in particular, is in need of a rebalancing&#8230; China&#39;s current economic model is built on exporting its way out of its economic troubles. It&#39;s an unsustainable model that is not only harming China, but the entire world. China needs to change.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/uKcUkhc22r">pic.twitter.com/uKcUkhc22r</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1915046948484288659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Scott Bessent

‘America First Does Not Mean America Alone’: Bessent Calls For ‘Deeper’ Trade Relationships

America First

China

Donald Trump

Economy

Politics

Tariffs

Trade War

Trump Administration

On January 24, 2017, just four days after Donald Trump was inaugurated for his first term in office, the FBI sent two agents to the White House to interrogate Trump&#8217;s national security adviser, Michael Flynn. It wasn&#8217;t billed as an interrogation at the time; they convinced Flynn that it was just an opportunity for a friendly chat. But in retrospect, their goal could not have been any more clear: They wanted to manufacture a pretext to secure Flynn&#8217;s termination. Getting rid of Flynn would enable the FBI to continue to conduct a series of fraudulent investigations into the Trump administration. It would insulate the bureau from any kind of large-scale reform. And it would help the FBI spread the narrative that the Trump administration was secretly working for Russia in some way.
Therefore, the FBI asked Flynn a few questions in the White House. Then they convinced Mike Pence that Flynn had lied to them — even though to this day, no one can explain what exactly Flynn said, because the conversation wasn&#8217;t recorded. In any event, Pence took the FBI&#8217;s word for it. Michael Flynn was fired after less than a month. His tenure as national security advisor was the shortest in American history.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1580-the-coordinated-hit-job-on-pete-hegseth-must-be-exposed-and-defeated-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
What happened to Michael Flynn is worth recalling this week because it was not a one-off. This wasn&#8217;t a random act of sabotage by some unelected, shadowy officials. It was, in fact, standard operating procedure. It is the default response of a bureaucracy that feels threatened. They will come up with a smear campaign, launder it through sympathetic media outlets, and ultimately pressure the decision-makers to get rid of their target. Eight years ago, this is precisely how they got rid of Michael Flynn. And right now, it&#8217;s how they&#8217;re trying to destroy Donald Trump&#8217;s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
From the moment Hegseth was nominated, there was a concerted effort to smear him as an alcoholic who was too inexperienced to do the job. It was almost like the Brett Kavanaugh hearings all over again. Anonymous accusations began surfacing every other day. We were even told, if you can believe it, that Pete Hegseth once celebrated St. Patrick&#8217;s Day, live on the air on &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends.&#8221; That was supposed to be profoundly scandalous. In reality, the point of that fake scandal was never to convince anyone of anything. Instead, the point was to send a message to the incoming Trump administration. The message was that the most powerful forces in Washington did not want Pete Hegseth to be confirmed. They wanted Donald Trump to pull his nomination and select someone more conventional — someone who would be more responsive to the needs of defense contractors, for example.
But Trump didn&#8217;t abandon Hegseth&#8217;s nomination. He decided, after what happened in his first term, to trust his own instincts and stand by his selection. The result has been predictable. Just a few months into Donald Trump&#8217;s term, Hegseth&#8217;s enemies have begun yet another smear campaign. And like the campaign to oust Michael Flynn, it&#8217;s not meant to withstand any kind of scrutiny. The point is to move quickly, create panic, and ultimately pressure the White House to fire Hegseth.
It&#8217;s not exactly a subtle operation. Yesterday morning, NPR came out with this story, which directly states the outcome they want to achieve: 
<blockquote>Exclusive: The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary.</blockquote>
According to NPR:
<blockquote>The White House has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon to replace Pete Hegseth, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This comes as Hegseth is again mired in controversy over sharing military operational details in a group chat.</blockquote>
So here we have an unnamed source — just one person, who&#8217;s described only as a &#8220;U.S. official&#8221; — stating that the White House is planning to fire Pete Hegseth. And based on this one nameless official, who supposedly serves somewhere in the United States government, the narrative has been set. Pretty much every outlet picked up this story: They&#8217;re all trying to convey the perception that Hegseth&#8217;s removal is a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, there&#8217;s a steady drip of new information that&#8217;s supposedly even more damning than the last hit piece. Tune into CNN, and they&#8217;ll tell you that Hegseth needs to be removed because of a new Signal chat that&#8217;s suddenly been uncovered. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Ex Hegseth aide" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NWXmVI-Ge94?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Before we go into the specifics, I need to make it clear that I was a fan of the Hegseth pick when it was initially announced. But after seeing this unrelenting smear campaign that started before he was confirmed and hasn&#8217;t let up since, I am now an even bigger fan of the pick. It&#8217;s clear that the establishment sees this guy as a threat to their agenda. He&#8217;s in a position to do extraordinary damage to their interests. And it seems like he&#8217;s already doing a lot of damage — which is why he needs to stay in his position at all costs.
And as you saw, Donald Trump doesn&#8217;t need to be told that. He understands exactly what CNN and the rest of the corporate press are doing. The coverage is breathless and fast-moving because you&#8217;re not supposed to scrutinize it. If you think about it for five seconds, you&#8217;ll realize that — as was the case with Michael Flynn — the hysteria makes absolutely no sense.
To recap: The case against Pete Hegseth is that the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-national-security-story?author=Ben+Shapiro&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+National+Security+Story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mistakenly added</a> Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, to a classified group chat about a U.S. military strike. Even if this is true — even if we pretend for a moment that a rabidly anti-Trump journalist, with extensive ties to the deep state was somehow &#8220;accidentally&#8221; added to a highly sensitive group chat — it&#8217;s still not remotely clear why Pete Hegseth should be fired as a result. He&#8217;s not the one who made the mistake.
The next alleged scandal, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/us/politics/hegseth-signal-chat.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by The New York Times, concerns a Signal chat that involved Hegseth and a dozen other people, including his lawyer, his wife Jennifer and his brother Phil, who works at the Pentagon. The chat, which was called &#8220;Defense Team Huddle,&#8221; also reportedly included Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, two former Hegseth advisers who were just fired after a leak investigation. Supposedly, during this chat, Hegseth again discussed war plans involving Yemen, although no one&#8217;s sure exactly what was communicated.
Now, under the circumstances, it would be reasonable to wonder if Dan Caldwell or Darin Selnick might have had a role in placing this story in the New York Times. After all, they were just fired from the Pentagon for leaking. They were both members of this group chat. And now they&#8217;re publicly attacking Pete Hegseth&#8217;s Defense Department, and implying that the Pentagon wants to pursue a reckless war with Iran.
As it relates to unelected operatives in the Pentagon, that may be true. I&#8217;m not in a position to dispute that claim. But anyone who&#8217;s paying attention to what Pete Hegseth is doing, both in public and in private, knows that he&#8217;s going to do everything he can to prevent that outcome.
Here&#8217;s what <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QTwlqbkbos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hegseth told</a> Fox News earlier this month:
<blockquote>[Trump] is dead serious that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. &#8230; He&#8217;s said that for 20 years, he&#8217;s been consistent, that is clear. He&#8217;s dead serious that he wants it done at the negotiating table, he wants it done peacefully, and that&#8217;s why he&#8217;s going straight to these talks, he&#8217;s set that deadline. &#8230; But he&#8217;s also dead serious that if we can&#8217;t figure this out at the negotiating table then there are other options, to include my department to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb.</blockquote>
In other words, his primary objective is not to attack Iran. It&#8217;s a peaceful, diplomatic resolution.
A couple of days later, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/us/politics/trump-israel-iran-nuclear.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> that, in private, Hegseth had personally helped avert a military strike on Iran that could&#8217;ve spiraled into World War III:
<blockquote>Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by President Trump in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program, according to administration officials and others briefed on the discussions. &#8230; Inside the Trump administration, some officials were becoming skeptical of the Israeli plan. In a meeting this month — one of several discussions about the Israeli plan — Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, presented a new intelligence assessment that said the buildup of American weaponry could potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran that the United States did not want. A range of officials echoed Ms. Gabbard’s concerns in the various meetings. Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and Vice President JD Vance all voiced doubts about the attack</blockquote>
That report was published on April 16. It states, very clearly, that Hegseth had helped stop a military attack on Iran, which could&#8217;ve easily devolved into all-out warfare.
Four days later, on April 20, the Times published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/us/politics/hegseth-yemen-attack-second-signal-chat.html">a story</a> outlining Hegseth&#8217;s second Signal chat, which is supposedly grounds for his termination. In other words, we get a new scandal, right after Hegseth enrages the defense contractors that would&#8217;ve made many millions of dollars, if not more, from an all-out conflict with Iran. And then, hot on the heels of the new scandal, we get an unverified, barely-sourced report about how the White House is looking to replace Hegseth.
At this point, I can only assume that&#8217;s another fake smear. It would be a disastrous mistake for Trump to cave to the pressure and offer up his Defense Secretary as a sacrifice. It&#8217;s the kind of mistake that could derail his entire presidency. And it would be a major victory for establishment Washington, which is becoming increasingly desperate by the day.
You can see the signs everywhere. Here&#8217;s one of them: On Monday, four more Democrat lawmakers made a <a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/four-dems-denied-meeting-with-kilmar-abrego-garcia-after-flying-to-el-salvador#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pilgrimage</a> to El Salvador to visit that MS-13 gangbanger, following the visit by Senator Chris Van Hollen that we discussed last week. The lawmakers were Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon. These politicians, like the rest of the Washington establishment, are pulling out all the stops to defend their open borders, globalist agenda. Making a martyr out of Abrego Garcia, and a scapegoat out of Hegseth, is all part of that plan.
To be clear, I see no indication that this is going to work. It doesn&#8217;t look like this MS-13 gangbanger is going to be returned to the United States, any more than it looks like Pete Hegseth is about to be replaced by another Raytheon board member. The idea that the White House is planning to cave to the demands of establishment Washington, at the moment, seems like yet another fabrication from the corporate press. For the sake of the world, which wouldn&#8217;t exactly benefit from nuclear armageddon, it should remain a fabrication and nothing more.

Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth Meets With El Salvador Minister Of National Defense Rene Merino Monroy At The Pentagon

The Coordinated Hit Job On Pete Hegseth Must Be Exposed And Defeated

Democrats

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Leftists

Matt Walsh

Michael Flynn

New York Times

Opinion

Pete Hegseth

President Trump

The Swamp

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem&#8217;s handbag, containing about $3,000 in cash, her DHS badge, passport, and other sensitive items, was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/21/politics/homeland-security-kristi-noem-purse-stolen/index.html">reportedly</a> stolen by a man wearing a medical mask at a Washington, D.C. restaurant on Sunday night.
Noem confirmed the incident on Monday while attending the White House Easter Egg Roll, but indicated that the matter remains unresolved.
Secret Service agents reviewed security camera footage at the Capitol Burger restaurant, which showed an unknown white male wearing a surgical mask stealing her unattended bag before quickly exiting the establishment.
Other stolen contents include Noem&#8217;s driver&#8217;s license, apartment keys, medication, makeup, and blank checks.
A DHS spokesperson <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/why-kristi-noem-had-3000-cash-purse-when-it-was-stolen-2062146">told</a> Newsweek that Noem had such a large amount of cash on hand to &#8220;treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts.&#8221;
&#8220;We can confirm this occurred last night. Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren,&#8221; DHS said.
A law enforcement source confirmed that the Secret Service has initiated an investigation to trace any potential unauthorized use of Noem&#8217;s financial instruments.
“This is a security breach that actually has high consequences, and it needs immediate and further review by the Secret Service and DHS, and other law enforcement partners,” former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow told CNN.
“If necessary, the Secret Service will need to make operational changes on how they deal with these types of private events moving forward,” Wackrow said.
He added that Noem remains “at higher risk for targeted threats, both by foreign and domestic actors, and just her public profile alone makes her a symbolic target.”

Connecticut Democrats And Survivors And Families Of Gun Violence Victims Mark 12th Anniversary Of Sandy Hook School Shooting

Kristi Noem’s Purse — With DHS Badge, Passport, $3,000 Cash Inside — Stolen

Crime

Kristi Noem

Restaurant

Theft

On the eve of April 10, 2025, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts underwent a patriotic transformation. 
Under the leadership of newly appointed President Richard Grenell, the iconic Washington, D.C., landmark made a bold and lasting statement: from now on, the building’s exterior lighting will shine every night with the vibrant and meaningful colors of red, white, and blue to honor the United States of America.
“The lights are a beautiful reminder of the American spirit,” Roma Daravi, Vice President of Public Relations at the Kennedy Center, told The Daily Wire. “The red, white, and blue colors are a powerful symbol of unity and our nation’s commitment to bringing people together. What better place for that than at the Kennedy Center, America’s institution for the Arts.”
Over the past several years, the Kennedy Center has taken on multiple different appearances.
The first big change happened in 2013 when the building was temporarily lit with colorful hues to celebrate a Nordic Festival’s “Northern Lights” exhibit. Then, in 2017, the Center started utilizing rainbow lighting annually during the Kennedy Center Honors. The Kennedy Center was lit yellow and blue in support of Ukraine back in 2022. It was also lit with purple and amber lights for the Women&#8217;s Suffrage Centennial back in August of 2020. 
Grenell choosing to light the building red, white, and blue every night going forward represents a permanent, year-round tribute to American values, his team explains. In contrast to landmarks like the Empire State Building, which rotates its lights for various causes, holidays, and marketing campaigns, the Kennedy Center will now be dedicated to displaying national pride.
The Kennedy Center has been in the news ever since President Trump took office and promised major reforms, including firing the entire board, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-dumps-kennedy-center-board-puts-immediate-end-to-drag-shows-for-kids">reported</a>.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote on social media in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
The changes the new board made led to full-scale meltdowns on the Left, including protests expressed through <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-protesters-plan-to-save-kennedy-center-with-interpretive-dance-yes-really">interpretive dancing</a>. But their protests haven’t made much of a difference. The Kennedy Center just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kennedy-center-breaks-all-time-attendance-record-after-lib-meltdown-over-trump">broke</a> its all-time attendance record for a public event it hosted on March 29, welcoming 11,000 attendees, of whom 76% were there for the first time.

The Kennedy Center

Red, White, And Blue Lights At Kennedy Center Will Be Permanent Fixture: ‘Reminder Of The American Spirit’

Exclusive: Kennedy Center Honors America With Permanent Patriotic Lighting

General

Kennedy Center

Patriotism

United States

President Donald Trump targeted a pair of former administration officials from his first term in office for investigations by the Department of Justice.
The president signed two executive actions on Wednesday ordering probes into the conduct of Miles Taylor, a former senior Department of Homeland Security official, and Chris Krebs, the former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The memos also strip Taylor, Krebs, and others of security clearances.
Taylor gained fame in the media after revealing himself in public as the author of an anonymous <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a> in The New York Times in which he claimed to be part of the “resistance” to Trump inside the administration. He later authored a book titled “Anonymous” about his time in the Trump administration.
“Miles Taylor was entrusted with the solemn responsibility of Federal service, but instead prioritized his own ambition, personal notoriety, and monetary gain over fidelity to his constitutional oath,” Trump’s White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/addressing-risks-associated-with-an-egregious-leaker-and-disseminator-of-falsehoods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a> states.
“While serving as an administrative staff assistant at the Department of Homeland Security, Taylor stoked dissension by manufacturing sensationalist reports on the existence of a supposed ‘resistance’ within the Federal Government that ‘vowed’ to undermine and render ineffective a sitting President,” it said. “He illegally published classified conversations to sell his book under the pseudonym ‘Anonymous,’ which is full of falsehoods and fabricated stories.”
After the memo was released, Taylor said in a post on X that the United States was “headed down a dark path.”
“I said this would happen. Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path,” Taylor wrote. “Never has a man so inelegantly proved another man’s point.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I said this would happen. 
Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path.
Never has a man so inelegantly proved another man’s point.
&mdash; Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MilesTaylorUSA/status/1910071199042068916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Krebs was in charge of cybersecurity in the first Trump administration and also led on election security. Trump fired Krebs after the cyber chief said in a statement on 2020 election fraud claims that “in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent,” according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/09/donald-trump-retribution-miles-taylor-00007512" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico</a>.
Krebs also spearheaded a joint <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election-infrastructure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> by CISA and other groups that called the 2020 election the “most secure in American history” and dismissed what the statement referred to as the “many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections.”
Krebs “is a significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government authority,” Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/addressing-risks-from-chris-krebs-and-government-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a> says. “Krebs’ misconduct involved the censorship of disfavored speech implicating the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic.”
While heading CISA, Krebs “suppressed conservative viewpoints,” “worked to blind the American public to the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop,” and “promoted the censorship of election information,” the order states.

Trump Orders Probes Into First Term ‘Anonymous’ Leaker, Ex-Cyber Chief

Department of Justice

Executive

Multiple members of Congress experienced a frightening incident on Thursday when their plane was clipped by another aircraft on the ground at Reagan National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area.
Lawmakers posted about their experience on X, stressing that people on board their flight were unharmed.
&#8220;Serving in Congress has come with some once in a lifetime experiences… like just now while stationary on the runway at DCA, another plane just bumped into our wing. Heading back to the gate, but thankfully everyone is ok!&#8221; Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) <a href="https://x.com/RepLaLota/status/1910378262506729695" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Serving in Congress has come with some once in a lifetime experiences… like just now while stationary on the runway at DCA, another plane just bumped into our wing. Heading back to the gate, but thankfully everyone is ok! (And ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/RepGraceMeng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepGraceMeng</a>⁩ is handing out grapes!) <a href="https://t.co/bOo1JNXZDh">pic.twitter.com/bOo1JNXZDh</a>
&mdash; Congressman Nick LaLota (@RepLaLota) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepLaLota/status/1910378262506729695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He also noted that Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) was handing out grapes to people on board their plane.
&#8220;Glad my colleagues and I are okay! We are safely waiting on the tarmac, but we may need more snacks,&#8221; Grace <a href="https://x.com/RepGraceMeng/status/1910386638825365895" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a>. &#8220;I&#8217;m grateful no one was hurt today, but this incident underscores [the] urgent need [to] restore all FAA jobs that keep our runways safe.&#8221;
Meng later posted a video showing what she said were crews fixing the wing on their plane.
&#8220;Fortunately, everyone is okay &amp; we&#8217;re heading back to New York soon. Thank you to all who reached out with your concerns!&#8221; she <a href="https://x.com/RepGraceMeng/status/1910398067389382860" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a> in the post.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
While waiting on the runway to fly out of DC today, another plane clipped the wing of the plane my colleagues and I were on. Fortunately, everyone is okay &amp; we&#39;re heading back to New York soon. Thank you to all who reached out with your concerns! <a href="https://t.co/MAbN2E4dcW">pic.twitter.com/MAbN2E4dcW</a>
&mdash; Grace Meng (@RepGraceMeng) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepGraceMeng/status/1910398067389382860?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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In a <a href="https://x.com/davidshepardson/status/1910392673782943921" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> announcing &#8220;preliminary&#8221; information, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the wingtip of American Airlines Flight 5490 &#8220;struck&#8221; American Airlines Flight 4522 on a taxiway at Reagan National Airport around 12:45 p.m. local time.
&#8220;Flight 5490, a Bombardier CRJ 900, was headed to Charleston International Airport in South Carolina. Flight 4522, an Embraer E175, was headed to JFK International Airport in New York. The FAA will investigate,&#8221; the agency added.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed that no one was hurt, noted that both planes returned to gates, and stated that airport operations were not impacted, according to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wingtip-plane-hits-taxiway-reagan-airport-faa/story?id=120687405&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC News</a>.
American Airlines said &#8220;the damage was limited to a winglet on each aircraft&#8221; and the planes &#8220;have been taken out of service to be inspected,&#8221; per the same <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wingtip-plane-hits-taxiway-reagan-airport-faa/story?id=120687405&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news outlet</a>. &#8220;Safety is our top priority, and we apologize to our customers for their experience.&#8221;
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) <a href="https://x.com/RepGregoryMeeks/status/1910402204789260659" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a> that seven members of Congress, including himself, were on board the plane that was clipped, along with dozens of other passengers.
The scare comes a couple months after a mid-air <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-suggests-airport-tower-understaffed-at-time-of-collision-had-been-for-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collision</a> between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk Helicopter near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people aboard the aircraft.

Jet Takes Off in Washington

Aircraft Carrying Members Of Congress Clipped By Another Plane

Congress

Transportation

U.S. House of Representatives

The Kennedy Center just broke its all-time attendance record for a public event it hosted on March 29 despite a massive outcry and multiple protests staged by leftists who are upset that Donald Trump took it over after winning the presidency.
EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky fireworks show set a new mark when 11,000 people showed up to see it, per a <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2025/04/09/kennedy-center-donald-trump-ric-grenell-earth-space-arts-breaking-sky-festival-fireworks-attendance-record/">report</a> from the Daily Caller. 
A Kennedy Center representative mentioned that 76% of all attendees at the event were first-time visitors. It was open to the public and offered free first-come, first-serve tickets, with a special VIP experience available to the first 800 people who signed up to attend.
“It was wonderful to have so many new visitors at the Kennedy Center for Cai Guo-Qiang’s firework showcase. We look forward to their return for more wonderful programming soon. Everyone is welcome here!” Roma Daravi, VP of PR for the Kennedy Center, told the outlet. 
Trump made headlines earlier this year when he promised to reform the Kennedy Center, which began when he <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5294697/trump-kennedy-center-chairman">replaced</a> its board and was elected chairman. Trump also tapped Special Envoy Richard Grenell as the Center’s interim director.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
The changes the new board made led to full-scale meltdowns on the Left, including protests expressed through <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-protesters-plan-to-save-kennedy-center-with-interpretive-dance-yes-really">interpretive dancing</a>. 
According to a previous <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-kennedy-center-is-40-million-in-debt-will-make-major-cuts">report</a> published on The Daily Wire, the Kennedy Center is $40 million in debt and will be making major cuts to staff. 
Kennedy Center Chief Financial Officer Donna Arduin emailed staff last month to reveal “the difficult reality of our current financial situation.”
“For years, the Kennedy Center has been budgeting to lose money. Instead of balancing our bottom line, we have spent all the funds that were raised on paying off part of The REACH debt, leaving us $40 million in debt with no cash to pay our bills,” she wrote in part.
REACH is a multipurpose space that includes rehearsal spaces, studios, and more, which President Donald Trump criticized while visiting the venue.

Kennedy Center Breaks All-Time Attendance Record After Lib Meltdown Over Trump

Social Issues

The U.S. Treasury building and Hotel Washington were evacuated on Thursday morning following reports of a &#8220;suspicious package&#8221; near the White House.
NewsNation White House correspondent Libbey Dean said on X that the United States Secret Service (USSS) responded to the reports and now says the scene is &#8220;safe.&#8221;
&#8220;USSS responded to reports of a &#8216;suspicious package&#8217; outside the White House today near 15th and Pennsylvania Ave NW around 9:45 this morning,&#8221; Dean posted. &#8220;The scene is now safe, but parts of the Treasury Building and the Hotel Washington were evacuated, per USSS.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
USSS responded to reports of a “suspicious package” outside the White House today near 15th and Pennsylvania Ave NW around 9:45 this morning.
The scene is now safe, but parts of the Treasury Building and the Hotel Washington were evacuated, per USSS.
— Libbey Dean (@LibbeyDean_) <a href="https://twitter.com/LibbeyDean_/status/1907840480756556196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<a href="https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/washington-dc/treasury-hotel-evacuated-after-suspicious-package-reported-near-white-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According</a> to DC News Now, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team was also called to the scene, before the department determined the area safe, too.
The incident sparked road closures that might still be in effect, other reports indicate.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The White House and Ellipse areas are closed downtown due to a suspicious package call. 15th to 17th all shut down. <a href="https://t.co/6xzZlhysXf">pic.twitter.com/6xzZlhysXf</a>
— Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) <a href="https://twitter.com/PenguinSix/status/1907826492580429994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
This is a breaking story; refresh for updates.

US-POLITICS-ECONOMY-DEBT

Treasury Building Evacuates After Suspicious Package Found Near White House

U.S. Treasury Evacuated After Suspicious Package Found Near White House

Treasury Department

White House

House GOP leaders scrubbed the floor schedule for the week after a small number of Republicans banded together with Democrats to  safeguard a bipartisan initiative to allow proxy voting for new parents.
Nine Republicans <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202587" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined</a> with 213 Democrats to defeat a rule that provided for consideration of bills that were expected to get votes in the next couple of days, including legislation to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-to-vote-on-restraining-nationwide-injunctions-stop-judicial-overreach-against-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stem</a> the tide of nationwide injunctions and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-to-again-vote-on-bill-requiring-voters-prove-citizenship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">require</a> voters prove their United States citizenship for federal elections.
What drove the GOP rebellion was language included in the rule that sought to block a <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/DischargePetition/2025031001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discharge petition</a> from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL). The petition had garnered enough signatures — 218 in total — to force leadership to act within two legislative days on a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/23/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> to allow for parental remote voting by proxy.
&#8220;At the last minute, leadership chose to tie my discharge petition to a rules package that would permanently paint me and the members supporting it as being anti-election integrity,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1907187375408914874" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Luna, who reportedly <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn48z5q28vyo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">missed</a> 137 votes while recovering from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/us/politics/anna-paulina-luna-house-proxy-voting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complications</a> associated with her giving birth to a son in 2023.
&#8220;Leadership should stop playing political games with President Trump’s agenda,&#8221; she added on X. &#8220;They can bring any of the legislation to the floor. Why would they send Congress home? They’re not serious about anything they are messaging on. I’m not in the business of lying about what is happening in DC.&#8221;
Republican opponents have <a href="https://x.com/mkraju/status/1907144366533333219" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised</a> constitutional objections to proxy voting, which took hold several years ago under Democrat leadership during the COVID pandemic, and warned that conceding exceptions for new parents would lead to more allowances.
&#8220;Proxy voting is unconstitutional and will be abused and expanded. Show up for work, or don’t run for Congress,&#8221; Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) <a href="https://x.com/chiproytx/status/1907078128410718479" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters he was &#8220;disappointed&#8221; by the outcome of the rule vote and noted that he wanted to &#8220;make clear&#8221; that it meant &#8220;we can&#8217;t have any further action on the floor this week.&#8221;
However, multiple reporters pointed out that leadership could vote on the election integrity bill because it was <a href="https://x.com/jamiedupree/status/1907149737578373320" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> in January or <a href="https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1907141365697278232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;go back to rules&#8221;</a> as the week was less than half-way over.
On Monday, Luna <a href="https://x.com/emilybrooksnews/status/1906813805985755378" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that she was leaving the House Freedom Caucus, pinning the decision on how some of the conservative group&#8217;s members sought to defeat her discharge petition.
Rep. Brittany Petterson (D-CO), who sponsored the proxy voting bill, <a href="https://x.com/ABCPolitics/status/1907120319841595412" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on the House floor on Tuesday while holding her newborn baby: &#8220;It is unfathomable that in 2025, we have not modernized Congress to address these very unique challenges that members face.&#8221;

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna

House Clears Schedule After Proxy Vote Snafu

Florida

Hundreds of pro-life activists from across the country gathered on Capitol Hill Thursday to push lawmakers to take advantage of rare opportunity to defund abortion giant Planned Parenthood
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said that over 300 activists from 39 states would meet with congressional offices to urge lawmakers to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood through the budget reconciliation process. The last time Republicans had a similar opportunity to gut Planned Parenthood of its funding was in 2017, when the effort failed by one vote in the Senate. 
Planned Parenthood was given around $699 million in taxpayer dollars in 2022-2023, according to its most recent annual report. The federal funding makes up about 34% of the organization’s annual revenue. The same report also revealed the organization ended the lives of nearly 400,000 unborn babies. 
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser told The Daily Wire that the upcoming budget negotiations were the best chance for Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood in eight years. 
“This is the biggest pot of Planned Parenthood and big abortion funding that the federal government is involved in,” she told The Daily Wire. “We provide $2 million a day for this so that they can spend $70 million last election cycle trying to defeat our candidates, unsuccessfully, thank goodness. But most importantly they are using it to build the institution of Planned Parenthood.” 
In 2017, a similar effort fell short after the late Senator John McCain decided at the last minute not to back a reconciliation bill, leaving Republicans one vote short of defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing Obamacare. 
Dannenfelser said now was the “perfect storm” to defund Planned Parenthood, given Republican control of the White House and Congress and the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency. She said that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)was the best speaker pro-lifers have ever worked on this issue. 
“We’ve got a good shot,” she told The Daily Wire, saying that the lobby day was to keep a focus on the defunding so that it wouldn’t be negotiated away during the reconciliation process. The money that could be defunded through reconciliation would be $500 million to Planned Parenthood through Medicaid. 
If successful, Dannenfelser said that it would be a monumental victory for the pro-life moment and could spell doom for Planned Parenthood. 
“You take that amount of money away for one or two years, and I really do think for an already hobbled organization, it could just bring them down,” she said. 
During a Thursday rally with several Republican lawmakers and pro-life activists, Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) said that Planned Parenthood was a “murder for profit organization” that should “never receive another penny of taxpayer dollars.” She added that she was making it her mission to “defund Planned Parenthood once and for all,” saying that its status as a non-profit should be revoked. 
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) also spoke at the event, saying that Planned Parenthood was a “baby killing machine as they abort over a thousand babies every single day.” 
Republicans have promised for years to defund Planned Parenthood after undercover videos published in 2015 showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted baby parts and organs. Yet the abortion provider has continued to receive hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year. 
The pro-life activists&#8217; visit to Capitol Hill comes one day after 150 national and state pro-lifer organizations sent a <a href="https://sbaprolife.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Defund-Big-Abortion-Letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to members of Congress urging them to take action to fully defund Planned Parenthood.

US-POLITICS-RIGHT TO LIFE

Pro-Lifers Urge GOP To Take Advantage Of Rare Chance To Defund Planned Parenthood

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