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Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Trump on Memorial Day: “Our Debt to Them Is Eternal”

Speaking at Arlington: Every day the Republic stands is only possible because of those who did what had to be done when duty called and the cost was everything—to them and their families. Our debt to them is eternal, and it does not diminish with time (Donald Trump). From his proclamation: We are eternally indebted to our Nation’s fallen heroes. On this solemn day, as we honor their sacrifice, the First Lady and I ask all citizens to join us in prayer that Almighty God may comfort those who mourn, grant protection to all who serve, and bring blessed peace to the world (White House). Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: Throughout time, civilizations have honored the powerful, the well-connected and the well-born. Emperors and kings have built magnificent shrines to their own royal greatness. Yet in America, with our great experiment in self-government, it is fitting that the most honored and closely-guarded tomb in the land is that of an anonymous soldier, of an unknown rank (X).

Putin Escalates, Trump Threatens Sanctions

Wall Street Journal: President Trump is eyeing sanctions against Moscow this week as he grows frustrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued attacks on Ukraine and the slow pace of peace talks, according to people familiar with Trump’s thinking…. Trump addressed the potential of new sanctions on Sunday, saying that he is “absolutely” considering them. “He’s killing a lot of people,” Trump said of Putin. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him?” … Hours after Trump’s comments Sunday, Russia launched its largest-ever drone-and-missile assault on Ukraine overnight into Monday. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched more than 350 explosive drones and at least nine cruise missiles. The Russians characterized the strikes as retaliation for Ukrainian bombings within Russian territory (Wall Street Journal). Center for the Study of War: Russian forces conducted the largest combined drone and missile strike of the war against Ukraine on the night of May 24 to 25. The Ukrainian Air Force reported on May 25 that Russian forces launched nine Iskander-M and Kn-23 ballistic missiles from Kursk Oblast, 55 Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles from Saratov Oblast and the Black Sea, one Kh-22 cruise missile from the airspace over the Black Sea, and four Kh-59/69 cruise missiles from an unspecified area of Russia and 298 Shahed and decoy drones from the direction of Bryansk, Kursk, and Oryol cities; Millerovo, Rostov Oblast; and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai (CSW).

In Wake of Murder of Israeli Embassy Employees: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Visits Israel

Times of Israel: The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on Monday held a memorial ceremony for Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, the two victims of last week’s shooting attack in Washington, DC, where they both worked at the Israeli embassy. The ceremony was hosted by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and was attended by US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. At the event, Sa’ar thanked Noem for visiting Israel in the wake of the “shocking murder” of the two embassy workers, saying that her visit “shows solidarity and illustrates the close ties between our peoples” (Times of Israel). Jerusalem Post: On Sunday, Noem met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office, where she expressed unwavering support for Netanyahu and the State of Israel. The two also discussed the United States’ negotiations with Iran. “President Trump specifically sent me here to have a conversation with the prime minister about how those negotiations are going and how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out,” Noem said during an interview with Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “It was a very candid conversation.” Iranian and US delegations wrapped up a fifth round of talks in Rome last week, and signs of some limited progress emerged. Additionally, the PMO shared that Noem expressed great appreciation for Netanyahu’s policy of building a fence along the Egyptian border and for his conduct of the Israel-Hamas War (Jerusalem Post). From the office of the Prime Minister: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this evening, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, with US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who expressed unwavering support for the Prime Minister and the State of Israel (Prime Minister).

Now We Know What “Globalize the Intifada” Looks Like

Will the naïve wake up? Reihan Salam and Jesse Arm: (the shooter) didn’t invent this worldview. It has been cultivated for years—by groups that venerate terrorists, by academics who excuse anti-Jewish hate as anti-colonial resistance, and by students chanting “Intifada” while shutting down bridges and storming campus buildings. It is a worldview that divides people into fixed categories of oppressor and oppressed, resents Jewish achievement, embraces violence, and sees Western civilization as inherently illegitimate. It targets Jews first—but never only…. The murders of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were horrific. They were also predictable. If Americans continue down this path—excusing, indulging, and minimizing political violence when it comes from favored factions—we will see more such tragedies. It is not enough to mourn. We must act. Not by censoring ideas, but by enforcing the law, defending civic order, and refusing to normalize an ideology that leads, inexorably, to bloodshed (Atlantic). Josh Hammer: So are we really not supposed to take seriously the clear calls for Jewish genocide that have erupted on American campuses and throughout American streets since the Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7, 2023? Are we really supposed to believe that chants such as “globalize the intifada,” “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “there is only one solution, intifada revolution” are vague and open to competing interpretations—devoid of any discernible meaning? That doesn’t even pass the laugh test. Or perhaps more accurately, if morbidly, it doesn’t even pass the murder test. When peacefully demonstrating pro-Israel Jewish American Paul Kessler was killed by a pro-Palestinian thug in Thousand Oaks, California, on Nov. 5, 2023, that is what “intifada revolution” looks like practice. When Israeli woman Tzeela Gez was murdered by jihadists while en route to the hospital to deliver her baby earlier this month, that was what “from the river to the sea” looks like in practice. And when two beautiful young Israeli embassy staffers were executed while leaving an event this week at Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum, that is what “globalize the intifada” looks like in practice. Really, what did you think was going to happen? (Newsweek). Bari Weiss: But the shooter’s evil worldview has a demented logic, and, as he proved, it’s a risk to us all. It’s a worldview that says that Jews and those who support the Jewish state—wherever they live—are now acceptable targets. It’s a worldview that insists that a beautiful young woman and man in love in our nation’s capital might look like innocents to the uninitiated, when in fact they are monsters deserving of death…. If anyone even noticed it among the chaos that began in this country on October 8, they probably dismissed it as a few kooks or ignored it entirely. As if it were ever normal to target a Jewish museum in order to protest a war in the Middle East against a terrorist group. As if it ever had anything at all to do with “Palestine.” Then, over the weeks and months, the flags turned into chants to “globalize the intifada,” and professional talkers dismissed it as a metaphor and not what it always was: a demand for open season on Jewish people worldwide (Free Press).

More “Globalize the Intifada”: Colorado Man Arrested for Attempt to Attack U.S. Embassy in Israel, Assassinate Trump

“He will now face justice.” New York Post: A Colorado man allegedly tried to firebomb a US Embassy office in Israel — and threatened to kill President Trump and Elon Musk, federal prosecutors revealed on Sunday. Joseph Neumeyer, 28, a US-German dual citizen, was charged with attempting to destroy the US Embassy branch in Tel Aviv during his appearance at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Neumeyer was deported from Israel on Saturday and was detained pending trial, according to a press release of the complaint sent out on Sunday…. He made a series of social media posts threatening embassy staff and Americans more broadly before showing up at the US Embassy in Israel carrying homemade explosives, according to the complaint. “Join me as I burn down the embassy in Tel Aviv. Death to America. Death to Americans and f—k the west,” Neumeyer wrote in one Facebook post dated May 19, the feds alleged (New York Post). Eyal Yakoby: Joseph Neumeyer, the man arrested at JFK for planning to firebomb the U.S. embassy outpost in Tel Aviv, posted “Death to Trump. Death to America.” Pro-Palestinians are the most violent people on planet earth. We need investigations and prosecutions (X). FBI Director Kash Patel: Joining our partners, I can confirm that today FBI agents arrested Joseph Neumayer, a dual U.S. and German citizen, on allegations of planning to firebomb the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel — as well as threats made against President Trump’s life on social media. Neumayer was arrested earlier this week in Israel — when Embassy officials discovered a backpack carrying multiple explosive devices and a social media account allegedly linked to Neumayer detailing intent to attack the Embassy and threatening President Trump. Israel returned him to the U.S. as of this morning, where our special agents arrested him at John F. Kennedy airport. He will now face justice (FBI Director).

Iran Pessimistic on Deal With U.S. After Latest Negotiations in Rome

Wall Street Journal: Iran’s rulers are unhappy with the direction of nuclear talks, which is a sign President Trump is pushing in the right places. No one is ever pleased to make far-reaching concessions, but those are what the U.S. and the world need to get a deal worth making…. Tehran may decide it can’t abandon enrichment or allow its centrifuges to be dismantled. And it may call the U.S. and Israeli bluff on the use of force, but that could be a mistake its leaders come to regret (Wall Street Journal). Laurence Norman: The sticking point to a framework agreement is whether Iran would be allowed to keep enriching uranium in a new deal. Without setting out an agreed approach to address the question, technical negotiations would likely bog down on the point that has haunted the negotiations thus far (Wall Street Journal). Janatan Sayeh: As the fifth round of negotiations between Tehran and Washington concluded in Rome, signs of progress remained elusive…. Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei struck a similarly pessimistic tone during a May 20 sermon. Khamenei asserted that the negotiations were unlikely to bear fruit and denounced US demands for zero uranium enrichment as “outrageous and excessive.” On May 21, Kayhan, a newspaper aligned with Khamenei’s office, argued that the negotiations had failed to produce meaningful outcomes and called for a shift in policy toward “active resistance” against the United States. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reinforced this position on May 22, reiterating that Iran would not relinquish its enrichment capabilities…. that new intelligence suggests Israel is preparing a potential strike on Iranian nuclear sites—though Jerusalem has yet to finalize any decision. While an Israeli strike during active negotiations remains unlikely, the apparent stalemate in Rome may bolster the legitimacy of such an option. Tehran is taking the threat seriously. On May 22, Araghchi described the leak as “alarming and [it] warrants immediate and serious condemnation from the UN Security Council and the IAEA.” He further warned that the regime would take “special measures” in retaliation should an attack materialize (Long War Journal).

A Closer Look at the Trump Win and America’s Political Realignment; “a flashing warning sign for a Democratic Party out of power”

For years, we’ve been told that the future belonged to the Democrat party. Many will remember John Judis and Ruy Teixeira’s “The Emerging Democratic Majority” (Amazon). Now we’re looking at a political realignment—led by Trump—but a realignment that could be much deeper and more enduring than Trump. Shane Goldmacher in the New York Times: Donald J. Trump’s victory in 2024 was not an outlier. It was the culmination of continuous gains by Republicans in much of the country each time he has run for president, a sea of red that amounts to a flashing warning sign for a Democratic Party out of power and hoping for a comeback… Counties that have become steadily more Republican exist in some of the country’s bluest strongholds, including New York City, Philadelphia and Honolulu. Mr. Trump’s party is still losing in those places, but by significantly less. At the same time, Mr. Trump has driven Republican margins to dizzying new heights in the nation’s reddest bastions. Taken together, the findings represent a blaring alarm for a Democratic Party that long saw itself as championing the working class and that staked its future on the belief that the nation would become steadily more diverse and better educated…. But the sheer scale of Republican gains in the Trump era is significant on its own. All told, 435 counties voted more Democratic in 2024 than did so in 2012, by an average improved margin of 8.8 percentage points. And 2,678 counties became more Republican, by an average of 13.3 percentage points. That’s six times as many counties moving toward the G.O.P. than toward the Democratic Party — and by a substantially wider margin…. Even more arresting is that the average swing toward the G.O.P. in those 66 Hispanic-majority counties was 23 percentage points — a political earthquake with which both parties are still coming to terms. Mr. Trump improved his results in each of his three presidential runs in about two-thirds of majority-Hispanic counties. Democrats, by contrast, steadily improved their share of the vote in not a single county in America where Latinos account for a third or more of the population (New York Times).

Party Allegiance and the Hispanic Vote; “it’s a preference cascade that comes about when social norms dictating group loyalty to a single party start to crumble”

Patrick Ruffini with his own take on “American Realignment,” beginning with a look at Starr County Texas: Starr was also once one of the most resoundingly Democratic; Barack Obama won it by 73 points in 2012. In 2020, the county swung harder rightward than any other county in the U.S., by 55 points. And in 2024, it voted Republican for the first time in 132 years: Trump was on top by 16 points…. The Democratic analyst David Shor estimates that Democrats went from winning 81 percent of Hispanic moderates in 2016 to just 58 percent in 2024. And these voters were now voting exactly how you would expect them to, given their ideologies: conservatives for the party on the right, moderates split closer to either party…. Something seemed to break in 2020. That pandemic year, candidates had to improvise new ways to reach voters. Barrera recalls locals’ reactions when a “Trump train”—a caravan of cars and trucks flying Trump flags—one day drove down the main county highway. People emerged quietly from their homes to witness the spectacle. And then, much to Barrera’s surprise, they started applauding. This small display was an early warning of the political sea change that would take Trump from winning 19 percent of the county’s vote in 2016 to 58 percent in 2024. Although Trump made gains across the country with Hispanic voters, a shift of this magnitude signals something much bigger than changes in policy or positioning; it’s a preference cascade that comes about when social norms dictating group loyalty to a single party start to crumble (The Atlantic).

Christians Hold Worship Event at Park in Seattle; Antifa Shows Up; Mayor Condemns Christians

“The audacity to blame Christians for the violence.” Newsweek: Mayday USA, a conservative Christian group, brought its #DontMessWithOurKids rally to Seattle, the fourth of five stops on a national tour, on Saturday. Organizers say the #DontMessWithOurKids movement “refuses to stand idly by while the children of our nation are indoctrinated by liberal, political, and sexual agenda that seeks to destroy their God-given identities.” A counterprotest—urging people to “Protest Fascist ‘Family Values'”—was arranged in response, endorsed by the Freedom Socialist Party, Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity, Puget Sound Mobilization for Reproductive Justice and Radical Women. Organizers called on people to “send a message with a loud picket line, signs and banners: Bigotry is not welcome here!” (Newsweek). Eric Metaxas: The @MayorofSeattle owes Christians in his city a heartfelt apology — and as soon as possible! This sort of bigotry toward ANYONE is unacceptable. Shame on him and on ANY leaders who are THIS ignorant of the American concept of Religious Liberty. Totally unacceptable (X). Statement from Mayor Bruce Harrell: Today’s far-right rally was held here for this very reason – to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood… “While there are broad First Amendment requirements around permitting events under free speech protections, I am directing the Parks Department to review all of the circumstances of this application to understand whether there were legal location alternatives or other adjustments that could have been pursued. The Police Department will complete an after-action report of this event, including understanding preparation, crowd management tactics, and review of arrests and citations” (Seattle). Local Pastor Russell Johnson: Christians were … violently assaulted for the high crime of expressing their deeply held religious beliefs in the form of a permitted worship event on city property. 23 antifa thugs were arrested. Cops were hospitalized. Church people were assaulted. And the @MayorofSeattle has the audacity to blame Christians for the violence (X).

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