Trump Warns of More Strikes on Iran's Kharg Island, Pressures Allies on Strait of Hormuz

 

President Donald Trump threatened further strikes on Iran's Kharg Island oil export hub and urged allies to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, an artery for global energy supplies, as Tehran vowed to intensify its response.

With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in its third week, Trump said U.S. strikes had "totally demolished" much of the island and warned of more, telling NBC News on Saturday, "We may hit it a few more times just for fun."

The remarks marked a sharp escalation from Trump, who had previously said the U.S. was targeting only military sites on Kharg, and undercut diplomatic efforts. His administration has rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start negotiations, three sources told Reuters.

WAR, ENERGY CRISIS LOOK SET TO PERSIST

The war showed no sign of ending. Trump said Tehran appeared ready to make a deal to end the conflict but that "the terms aren't good enough yet."

Tehran's ability to halt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes, poses a difficult problem for the U.S. and its allies. Energy prices are soaring as the war causes the biggest-ever disruption in oil supply, and the energy crisis looked set to continue.

 "The Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — A LOT!" Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday. "The U.S. will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran would respond to any attack on its energy facilities.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had carried out missile and drone strikes on targets in Israel and three U.S. bases in the region, calling the attacks the first round of retaliation for workers killed in Iran's industrial areas. The Israeli military said it was intercepting incoming launches.

Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in Riyadh and the east, the defense ministry said. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they no had connection to the attack, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

A drone attack disrupted a major United Arab Emirates energy hub on Saturday, and the U.S. warned U.S. citizens on Saturday to leave Iraq.

The war that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched on February 28 has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, according to reports from governments and state media. At least 15 were killed when an airstrike hit a refrigerator and heater factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday.

NO IMMEDIATE TAKERS ON TRUMP'S HORMUZ REQUEST

Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones to use against the U.S. and Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told CNN. Shahed drones have been linked to other attacks on countries in the region, although their manufacturers are not always clear.

Oil market disruptions looked unlikely to end soon. Some oil-loading operations were suspended in the UAE's Fujairah emirate, a global ship-refueling hub, after a drone attack, industry and trade sources said on Saturday.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, urged China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. None of those countries gave any immediate indication they would do so.

Takayuki Kobayashi, Japan's ruling party policy chief, declined to rule out the possibility, but told public broadcaster NHK that "the (legal) threshold is very high."

Japan interprets its pacifist postwar constitution to mean it can deploy its military if the nation's survival is threatened, but the government would have to invoke a 2015 security law that has not been used.

France is seeking to assemble a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilizes, while Britain is discussing a range of options with allies to ensure the security of shipping, officials have said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who replaced his slain father, has said the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed.

CNN's Horrible Week Gets Worse As Details Emerge on Network Officials Partying at Iranian Embassy

CNN has been trying for days to defend the fact that the authoritarians in Iran - those who remain, at least - granted them permission to be the lone network allowed into the country, declaring that it was a case of journalism excellence. That most people saw this as the outlet being used as a propaganda puppet was inevitable, but still they squealed, posturing as the offended party.

 Then they promptly continued with the same behavior. Milquetoast dispatches from its correspondent Frederick Pleitgen followed, with him filing recorded segments from the streets, but no live reporting. This was followed by a whiffle-ball interview Plietgen staged with one Iranian government figure (we’ll just sidestep the 35,000 civilian assassinations, thank you). Then CNN went beyond that, as it actually turned over its U.S. broadcast to Iranian state-run TV for four full minutes. We'll leave it to readers to make up their minds on just how compromised this makes the alleged news outlet.

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READ MORE: CNN Is Shamelessly Transforming Itself Into Iranian State Television, It's Not Even Trying to Hide It

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Now it has been revealed that, ahead of this arrangement, some CNN figures in London were discovered partying it up with Iranian officials. Before CNN’s entry into Tehran, at a function held at the Iranian embassy, a CNN bureau chief and a correspondent were captured mingling with authorities. More on this in a minute.

This has been a week for the ages over at CNN. Numerous retractions had to be issued over its fractured coverage of last weekend’s bombing attempt in Manhattan; it continues to deliver propaganda-level coverage of Operation Epic Fury, and Friday saw them scrambling over a flawed report on our military not being prepared for a basic tactic enforced by Iran for decades.

As a sign of how badly this has become, Brian Stelter, attempting to perform cleanup duty for his network, has been hung out to dry not once, but twice within days. First, he called a report about the would-be bombers “solid,” followed by editors removing the language that was also used in a social media post that had to be memory-holed. Then, on Friday, he defended CNN’s Strait of Hormuz claims, saying the network stands by its reporting… only to see that reporting getting corrected on two occasions.

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READ MORE: (Updated) CNN’s Horrendous Month Continues, As Hegseth Causes Network Meltdowns With His Pentagon Presser

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Stelter showed us what it looks like when you attempt a cleanup with only a mop but no bucket of soap, managing to spread the stain.  And now, an entirely new mess has been spilled out, one that might require a ServPro team to be called in.

Over at Newsbusters, Nick Fondacaro found a story in The Telegraph that exposed how some UK political officials attended a celebration at the Iranian embassy, complete with comments made by the hosts about how their leadership has thrived, despite the rude meddling by those of us in the West. That report contained a notable detail. 

While The Telegraph never did assert that CNN had employees in attendance, one photograph showed CNN London bureau chief Andrew Roy and CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance at the party, shaking hands with Iran’s ambassador. The network told Fondacaro they were at the function performing “normal work” in covering government officials. To date, they have yet to show their work. Says Fondacaro:

As of the publication of this piece (March 13, 2026), Chance had not filed any report about it. According to his profile page on the CNN website, the only things he reported on in February were about Ukraine and Russia. A SnapStream search of on-air reports from Matthew Chance confirmed this. Neither Roy nor Chance had even posted on X about attending the regime party.

Making this all the more interesting, after Newsbusters exposed this meeting, The Telegraph has taken down that photo with the pair of CNN employees. The remaining photos in that article are courtesy of Iran Press News Agency, so taking down the one picture seems more than curious. There seems to be a strong desire to be distanced from this Iranian "celebration," as it was held in the middle of February, at a time when that country's leadership was in the process of killing tens of thousands of protesters. Not a good look to be glad-handing at a black-tie cocktail event with the very people exterminating its gentry.

We can speculate if this means CNN reached out and requested that The Telegraph yank that photo, but this tracks with the fractured behavior seen from the network over the past week. This is a news source that has degraded itself significantly within the span of days, so it is not off-brand to consider that they might be compelling another news outlet to spike an image, done in order to hide what may be an incriminating event.

Allegedly.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

Here's What Iran Just Said About the Strait of Hormuz - It Sounds Like a Huge Cave After Trump Threat

We saw President Donald Trump take the audacious move of launching U.S. strikes against military targets on Iran's very important Kharg Island, where so much of their oil goes through. 

While Trump said they wiped out the military targets, he also made it clear they didn't hit the oil installations. But he warned Iran that if they didn't open the Strait of Hormuz, they would consider hitting them. He also said the United States and other countries would send warships to ensure that the Strait was open. Marines were also being dispatched to the region. 

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 READ MORE: 'Find Out' Moment: Trump Makes Big Announcement About What the US Just Did to Iran's Kharg Island

Up to 2,500 Marines Are Headed to the Persian Gulf As Iranian Blockade of Hormuz Takes Center Stage

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After Trump's warning and action against Kharg, we get what sounds like a huge cave from Iran.

Iran said Saturday that all countries besides the US and Israel may pass through the Strait of Hormuz, in a desperate attempt at coalition busting less than a day after the US bombed military targets on its oil-critical Kharg Island.

“As a matter of fact, the Strait of Hormuz is open,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

“It is only closed to the tankers and ships belong[ing] to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies. Others are free to pass,” Araghchi told MS NOW.  

So that immediately gives up most of the leverage they might have thought they had, probably out of fear of what Trump would do. He's shown them in the past that he will follow through. 

They're trying to salvage things, hoping to break up the coalition by saying it's only the people firing on them. 

Araghchi noted that many ships “prefer” not to undertake the journey due to “security concerns,” but insisted, “this has nothing to do with us.”

“And I can say that the Strait is not closed, but it is only closed to American, Israeli, you know, ships and tankers, and not to others.”

The U.S. doesn't have a lot of traffic through the Strait; the real impact has been on Asian markets. If they're saying they're letting those countries through, that should calm those markets. That also sounds like the report of mines in the Strait from Iran is probably a myth. 

Things are going through on Saturday. 

Two Indian-flagged tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas crossed the Strait, Reuters reported Saturday.

 “They crossed the Strait of Hormuz safely early this morning and are en route to India,” Rajesh Kumar Sinha, the minister of ports and shipping in New Delhi, said.  

 Araghchi claimed many ships were traversing the Strait. 

He's clearly hoping to stave off a further attack around the Strait from the U.S. and Israel. 

Aragchi also tried to quell questions about the condition of the "Supreme Leader," Mojtaba Khamenei.

“He sent his message yesterday and will perform his duties - he is performing his duties according to the constitution and will continue to do that,” Araghchi added.

If Khamenei is able to work, then he should be able to broadcast a message in his own voice or make a physical appearance. But he hasn't. So that's not convincing people. 

We'll have to see what Trump's response is to this. But sounds like Iran knows it went too far, and is furiously backpedaling. 

The Slave America Act

And it really is an act in light of all of the excuses why the Senate can’t pass a bill that everyone wants.

Most of us tend to procrastinate or get a bit lazy at times. “Go outside and rake the leaves.” “But it’s raining!” “The rain stopped two days ago. Get to work.” My wife told me the story of a woman who presented a beautiful chocolate cake with a single candle on it to her perplexed husband. It wasn’t his birthday, and their wedding anniversary was half a year earlier. Before he blew out the candle, he asked his wife as to the occasion of their celebration. “This is the one-year anniversary of my asking you to change the burned-out light in the garage.” Needless to say, the bulbs were switched before the cake was cut.

Procrastination is one thing, lying is another. And politicians lie like the rest of us breathe. The SAVE America Act is meant to guarantee that federal elections are secured for an electorate of kosher American citizens. The purpose of the new law is to weed out illegal aliens and reduce the possibility of fraud in mail-in voting. Every normal and even sub-abnormal country in the world requires picture IDs to vote. As they say in Yiddish, Duh.

Well, it turns out that a lot of people like the current system that allows for cheating and massaging electoral outcomes. The Democrats in the Senate are monolithically opposed to election reform, and that is no surprise. They have zero ideas for making the lives of Americans better or safer. What kind of ideas are thrown around by Democrats both in Washington and in your home state and town?

- Trans for everyone, including kids who are too young to spell ID.

- Pornographic material in your kid’s school library.

- Trillions in “reparations” for people who were never slaves from people who never owned slaves.

- An open border for all to enter the U.S. and receive benefits that you paid for.

- An end to ICE deportations. Who wants to throw someone out of the party?

- More DEI in the military so that America’s tanks and destroyers can be gayer.

- More DEI in college and the workplace so that your kid can never find work.

- More Muslim immigrants to completely change the face of America.

Thus, with such a losing program, the only way to win is to cheat. I think anyone who is honest with himself will admit that there are conflicting reports as to what happened during the 2020 elections. One hears about voting machines that, in the end, can be manipulated from close and afar. He also hears that there were many mail-in votes in which the signatures were not verified. Then there were votes that came in well after the formal end to voting, and they were all for Biden. And finally, dead people and illegal aliens were proven to have voted. Did any of the above alone or in combination change the outcome of the election? Donald Trump believes so, as the margins in several key states were in the tens of thousands. Americans, including Democrats, want elections based on ID and U.S. citizenship. Many senators do not.

So, the Democrats are a solid no. They have 47 seats currently in the Senate. Senator Fetterman has said that he would not support the SAVE America Act, though he has been otherwise a breath of fresh air in actually thinking before speaking. Bless his heart. But what of the 53 Republicans? No doubt they want fair and clean elections and would support any change in protocol regarding the filibuster in order to pass what might be the most important piece of legislation in recent memory. But such is not the case. As I wrote previously, we live in a three party system: Democrats, Republicans, and MAGA. While the latter is nominally affiliated with the Republican Party, its values and outlook fit more with the Tea Party. Patriotic, fiscally responsible, traditional in values, desirous of a closed border and ejection of illegal aliens—MAGA politicians are as different from the Chamber of Commerce Republican crowd as they are from the Democrats. But why would a non-MAGA Republican senator be opposed to making elections clean and honest? Because they hate Donald Trump no less than the Democrats do. Donald Trump has upset their apple cart. The USAID grift that kept their wives employed and their martinis chilled got the DOGE treatment. They know that if honest elections ever take place over the Fruited Plain, then their ilk will be selling used cars in the local strip mall. Americans want more like Trump and Cruz and Cotton and Hawley. Fair elections might actually allow enough of our elected officials to be of a right mind on patriotism, the budget, defense, and taxes to actually get some legislation passed and make America leaner and better. Those who are not in on the SAVE America Act don’t care if the Democrats cheat—as long as they get reelected and the NGO shtick that made them sudden millionaires keeps going. Trump cramps their style, and they have zero interest in having more people like him around.

So the Thunes and Cornyns have to be tied and dragged to vote in favor of a bill that even 75 percent of Democrats support. They and their friends on the other side of the aisle regaled us with blacks not being able to figure out how to go to the DMV to get an ID or how married women would be lost forever due to a change in their last names. Sen. Lisa Murkowski gurgled that the new law would disenfranchise Americans, though Scott Presler has said that nobody would need to register again after the law comes into effect. Chuck Schumer went so far as to say that “tens of billions of people” would be removed from the voter rolls. I knew that the airport in Vegas felt a bit crowded last time I was there—now I know why: the U.S. has more voters than there are people in the entire world.

 We once had a meeting in Jerusalem between American victims of Palestinian terror and members of the DOJ, FBI, and U.S. Embassy. An official from the DOJ explained why they made zero effort to fulfill the law as written and prosecute those who harmed Americans overseas. During her remarks, she mentioned that Israel was a democracy, and all of the local Americans burst out laughing. She couldn’t understand why. The reason for the outburst is simple. Israel is a democracy—on steroids. Typical elections have 20 or 30 parties running for the Knesset. As the prime minister needs 61 members in order to form a government and no party has more than 35 seats, intense horse trading goes on. And in the end, some party with five members determines much of the political and economic policy for 10 million Israelis. And in the U.S., we also have a democracy, but one in which many involved are perfectly fine with illegal aliens voting and mail-in votes of unknown legitimacy being counted. Those folks countenance elections, but only if they are guaranteed to win. Do you remember the shock of Hillary and friends upon her losing? Google had an emergency meeting immediately after the 2016 vote in order that such an outcome should never happen again. Americans want picture IDs, something that in Israel is standard—and is standard in the U.S. for getting on a plane, buying liquor, or entering a federal building. This law has to pass if the U.S. is to have any future as a democracy. Your senator wants his grift; you want clean elections. Make sure that your senator knows that his future in the Senate depends on this upcoming vote.

Editor's Note: The Democrats are doing everything in their power to undermine the integrity of our elections.

So, That's How Republicans Just Lost a Long-Held Mayoral Seat By a Single Vote

The most frustrating situation in politics just occurred in Boca Raton, Florida after a Democrat won the mayoral race in a seat that was held by Republicans for more than 30 years straight by a single vote. Despite a Democrat winning the election, 60 percent of voters had selected a Republican candidate on their ballot. Nationally, Democrats are overjoyed by the result.

A Democrat just won Mayor in Boca Raton by 1 vote.

1 single vote.

Remember that this November. https://t.co/2bMANnCzqg

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) March 14, 2026

🚨NEWS: Democrat Andy Thomson has won the Boca Raton mayoral race by just ONE vote.

🔵 Thomson — 7,568
🔴 Liebelson — 7,567

With 100% of votes in, Thomson becomes the first Democratic mayor of Boca Raton in over 30 years.

One vote decided the election. pic.twitter.com/c1A4UrnEgC

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 13, 2026

Boca Raton, FL mayor (Trump +13)

🔵 Thomson - 7,569 (39.63%) +2
🔴 Liebelson - 7,567 (39.62%)
🔴 Nachlas - 3,965 (20.76%) pic.twitter.com/qAyEYCzRPo

— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) March 13, 2026

BREAKING: Democrats just won the Boca Raton mayor’s office for the first time in over 30 years.

Congrats, Mayor-elect Thomson! pic.twitter.com/DhxBHAWpw6

— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) March 13, 2026

So how did this even happen? Two Republican candidates ran and split the vote. There's no run off for this race, so whoever took the plurality of the vote would win the seat. It should have been an easy victory for the GOP. Instead, pride and in-fighting led to the loss of an election that should not have even been close. A recount will be held, but I am not going to hold my breath that it will change anything.

 This isn’t a new situation. Do you remember the name Al Franken? He became a senator after winning just 41.99 percent of the vote in the 2008 U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. The Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, took 41.98 percent of the vote, and trailed Franken by only 312 votes. Where did all of those other votes go? To Dean Barkley, a member of the Independence Party, which was heavily backed by Ross Perot supporters. His protest candidacy led to the rise of one of the most prolific progressives of the 2010s.

Many politicians feel the need to take a “principled” stand and play spoiler candidate in races that they have no shot of winning. Sadly, they have often done good work during their careers as well, but have either been fooled by their consultants and advisors into thinking that they have a shot or are blinded by their own pride. The Senate race in Texas is going to a costly run off because of this. The Senate race in Georgia is heading in the same direction.

Politics might seem like a fun game for some, but they have real consequences for the people who have to live under poor governance. The hubris of some candidates shouldn’t be the reason for that.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

 

Venezuela: U.S. Embassy in Caracas raises American flag again after 7 years

The U.S. flag flutters at the U.S. embassy in Caracas on March 14, 2026, ten days after the restoration of diplomatic relations following the capture of ousted leader Nicolas Maduro in a US military raid.

The United States Embassy in Caracas has raised the American flag for the first time in exactly 7 years after the Trump administration captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and former First Lady Cilia Flores, who await trial for narco-terrorism in New York.

“On the morning of March 14, 2019, the American flag was lowered for the last time at the United States Embassy in Caracas,” U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Venezuela Laura F. Dogu on the embassy’s X on Saturday morning. “This morning, March 14, 2026, at the same hour, my team and I raised the United States flag—exactly seven years after it was removed.”

“A new era has begun for relations between the United States and Venezuela,” she declared. “We’re staying with Venezuela.”

The post attached a picture of Dogu with U.S. service members who saluted as she raised the stars and stripes.

 

In another post she added, “Onward with Venezuela.”

The U.S. pulled all remaining personnel from its embassy in Venezuela in 2019 due to a “deteriorating situation,” according to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, amid political unrest. Maduro had cut off diplomatic relations with the U.S. after President Donald Trump officially recognized his opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s interim president and rejected Maduro’s legitimacy.

 

 

Years later, Trump’s administration launched Operation Absolute Resolve, striking Caracas overnight in early January and successfully extracting the country’s socialist dictator with no American lives lost.

Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, has since filled in as the country’s interim president and agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations with the U.S.

 

Last week, the Department of State (DOS) stated that the agreement with the interim government will “promote stability, support economic recovery, and advance political reconciliation in Venezuela.”

“Our engagement is focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government,” the department said in a media note. “The United States remains committed to supporting the Venezuelan people and working with partners across the region to advance stability and prosperity.”

Trump asserted that Rodríguez was a leader who would “make Venezuela great again,” in a callback to his famous campaign slogan.

 

Though he had originally warned of a second wave of strikes on the capital city, he called it off when Rodríguez’s team cooperated with the U.S. Trump said that she was “doing a great job, and working with U.S. Representatives very well,” a comment that the interim leader thanked him for.

Agradezco al Presidente @realDonaldTrump la amable disposición de su gobierno para trabajar conjuntamente en una agenda que fortalezca la cooperación binacional en beneficio de los pueblos de Estados Unidos y Venezuela. https://t.co/Fh903XT1BO

— Delcy Rodríguez (@delcyrodriguezv) March 4, 2026

 

Tehran in Turmoil: Ayatollah's Death Exposes Regime's Weakness

The past two weeks have seen Tehran’s regime stagger under an unprecedented combination of U.S. and Israeli pressure after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, 2026, and the hurried elevation of his son to the country’s highest post in early March. What looked like a brittle theocracy has been exposed as an apparatus scrambling for rituals of legitimacy while its military and economic lifelines are being systematically targeted. The speed and spectacle of the transition say as much about regime weakness as they do about its survival instincts.

Mojtaba Khamenei’s ascent was announced publicly on March 8–9, 2026, but the man now billed as supreme leader is hardly the unquestioned clerical giant the constitution envisions. Observers note he has long been a shadow power inside the system rather than a decorated religious authority with broad popular or clerical legitimacy. Tehran’s move smacks of dynastic maneuvering—an ugly, familiar workaround when ideology fails to manufacture genuine consent.

Legal and religious credentials matter in the Islamic Republic, and experts have pointed out the constitutional expectation that the supreme leader possess the highest clerical rank—something Mojtaba has not publicly demonstrated. That gap forces the regime to rely on force, patronage, and the imprimatur of the Revolutionary Guard to paper over obvious defects in legitimacy. When a government must lean on militias and coercion to validate succession, it reveals the hollowness at its core.

 Even more destabilizing are recent reports out of Washington suggesting the new leader’s physical condition is in question after strikes that accompanied the opening days of this conflict. Senior U.S. officials have publicly suggested Mojtaba Khamenei may be wounded and in no position to carry the symbolic authority the regime desperately needs to calm the streets and rally its institutions. Those disclosures should be read not as gloating but as confirmation that American pressure is disrupting Tehran’s command and control.

Inside Iran the picture is chaotic: state television attempts pomp and pageantry while ordinary citizens and dissidents circulate images and reports that contradict the official story. The IRGC’s public pledges of loyalty are less a sign of unanimity than of a leadership nervous about fractures and defections under pressure from sustained strikes and international isolation. A regime that must stage-manage loyalty is a regime on the defensive, and defensive regimes are dangerous because they grow more brutal to survive.

From a policy perspective, the unfolding chaos is vindication of a pressure strategy that compels Tehran to pay a real price for its aggression, but it also demands prudence and clarity of purpose from American leaders. Weakness or confusion in Washington would be catastrophic, yet reflexive escalation without a political plan risks entangling the nation in a grinding conflict with uncertain exit dynamics. The right course is to sustain pressure that degrades the regime’s capacity while pairing it with diplomatic levers that deny Tehran safe havens and choke off its proxies.

What’s plain is that Iran’s rulers are trading on spectacle in place of substance, trying to sell a successor who lacks the moral and institutional foundations to hold the system together. If the United States maintains resolve, the internal contradictions of the theocracy will only widen, exposing the regime to the very forces of change it fears most. This moment calls for steady American leadership — strategic pressure backed by clear objectives — so that the people of the region, and the free world, can breathe easier.

 

Media Elites Expose Contempt for Americans in Viral Immigration Rant

A short viral clip from Wajahat Ali — a columnist who writes for mainstream outlets and hosts The Left Hook — has set off a firestorm by telling his online audience that “you have lost,” a line he directed at what he called hatemongers and, in the edited versions circulating, at white Americans more broadly. Conservatives rightly smelled contempt in the rhetoric, and the clip spread across social platforms fast, prompting outrage from many who feel the elites in media look down on the country’s working people.

In the footage Ali doubles down on demographic taunts, invoking the 1965 immigration act and declaring that newcomers are “breeding people,” while mocking what he described as bland American culture. Those words are raw, intentional provocation — the sort of rhetoric that doesn’t persuade anyone but instead hardens divisions and feeds the very grievance politics it claims to condemn.

Ali’s rant was a direct response to recent presidential comments on immigration, and he followed the clip with a Substack post and livestream where he framed the exchange as a message to “hatemongers” and Trump supporters. That context matters, but it doesn’t excuse the tone: when a media figure uses sweeping insults to dismiss millions of voters, it reveals an elitist contempt for ordinary Americans that should alarm every patriot.

 BlazeTV’s John Doyle and other conservative voices rightly unpacked the clip as more than internet trolling — it’s symptomatic of a broader narrative in elite media that privileges identity-based triumphalism over common-sense patriotism. The predictable pile-on from lefty outlets, and the clumsy attempts to reclaim the clip as narrow criticism of white supremacists, prove the point: the Left’s public intellectuals treat cultural conflict like a sport, not a serious debate about the future of the country.

Conservative commentators have also pointed out that these rhetorical stunts dovetail with real policy fights over border security, merit-based immigration, and national cohesion; many Americans don’t object to immigrants, they object to lawlessness and the idea that their values are dismissed as inferior. That frustration isn’t fringe — it’s central to the 2024–26 political moment and explains why ordinary citizens tune out elites who sneer at their lives instead of offering workable solutions.

What we need now is clarity and backbone from conservatives: call out divisive smugness wherever it appears, defend the dignity of hardworking Americans, and keep pushing for immigration policies that restore sovereignty while encouraging assimilation and civic loyalty. Mockery from media elites won’t win hearts or minds; tough, principled proposals will.

If the New York Times, The Daily Beast, and other outlets want credibility, they should stop platforming pundits who treat demographic change like a victory lap and start engaging in honest debate about policy and culture. Patriots who love this country don’t back down from making the case for law, order, and a shared national story that binds diverse Americans together.

Hardworking Americans deserve better than sneering columnists and viral clips meant to provoke. Stand strong for common-sense immigration reform, civic assimilation, and an America where every citizen — regardless of background — is respected for contributing to the nation’s future.

 

CartoonDems

 

Florida Passes Citizenship Verification Voting Bill

The Florida Legislature passed a bill requiring verification of U.S. citizenship for registered voters, reflecting calls from congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump for sweeping election-law changes.

However, instead of taking effect July 1, weeks before the Aug. 18 primaries and months before the Nov. 3 midterms, the provisions will not take effect until January 2027.

The measure also would restrict which IDs Florida voters can use at the polls. Student IDs and retirement-home IDs would no longer be valid; driver's licenses, state ID cards, military IDs, and licenses to carry concealed weapons would still be accepted as proof of voter identity.

In Congress, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Friday he is setting up a high-profile floor fight next week over the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE America Act.

The Republican-led bill would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections and a photo ID to vote. It also would place restrictions on mail-in ballots.

The House passed the measure last month.

Florida lawmakers spent several hours Thursday debating House Bill 991.

It passed the Senate 27-12, with all Republicans voting yes except state Sen. Alexis Calatayud of Miami-Dade County. All Democrats voted no.

The House passed the measure 77-28, with two Democrats voting yes and one Republican opposed.

The bill now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

"The Florida version of the SAVE Act is about to pass the Legislature," DeSantis wrote in a post on X Thursday.

"Although Florida has already enacted much of what the federal legislation contemplates, this will further fortify our state as the leader in election integrity."

Republican supporters of the bill in Trump's home state hailed the new requirements as a way to rebuild "trust" and "integrity" in the state's elections.

 "What is our tolerance for fraud and lack of integrity?" asked state Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, who sponsored the Senate’s version, according to Politico.

"Yes, we have safe elections in Florida, but they don't stay safe and secure if we don't pay attention to the large gaps that exist where we can address additional fraud."

It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in Florida, and the prohibition was added to the state constitution in 2020.

In a 2025 report, the Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security said it completed preliminary investigations into more than 835 people and found that 198 were likely noncitizens who had illegally registered or voted. The office said 170 were referred to law enforcement.

"This bill is anti-American," said state Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Orlando, according to Politico.

"It's anti-Floridian. It's anti-senior citizen. It's anti-student. It's sexist."

The legislation also includes restrictions designed to crack down on party switchers. It would also create a process allowing rival candidates to legally challenge whether someone meets requirements to appear on the ballot.

That idea was championed by state Sen. Jason Pizzo of Hollywood, who has questioned whether GOP gubernatorial candidate James Fishback will meet those requirements.

Unlike some of the other restrictions, that portion of the bill would become effective the minute it is signed into law.