Democrats Archives

Iran Is Not Winning Friends in Region. What If Trump Were a Democrat? Eyes on Texas Primary. Nurse Ratched Now a Committed Lefty. More

Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

As the Middle Eastern conflict enters its fourth day, Iran is lashing out with “indiscriminate” strikes across the Gulf of Oman—so indiscriminate that Iran took out one of its own oil-transporting “ghost” ships.

Iran is operating with—shall we say—a slimmed down roster of top leaders. The New York Post cover features a scowling President Trump with the headline “Wait for the Big One.” The U.S. appears to have sunk the entire Iranian navy. Satellite images analyzed by the New York Times show an Iranian naval base and four ships on fire:

No notable salvaging efforts are visible.

“No, Marco Rubio Didn’t Claim That Israel Dragged Trump into War with Iran” National Review responds to the latest canard from the President’s critics:

Trump isn’t exactly shy about pressuring people into doing what he wants….People are free to agree or disagree with Trump’s decision, but it’s patently clear that Rubio was not trying to argue that Israel dragged the U.S. into this war.

“An Emboldened Israel Is Seizing Opportunities to Remake Region” is the headline on a New York Times analysis. Is there some other country in the Middle East you’d prefer to remake the region?

“Iran Is Collapsing, but Islamism Is Spreading,” Ayan Hirsi Ali writes in The Free Press. “The fall of the Islamic Republic would be a defeat for political Islam. But an election in Britain and an attack in Texas suggest that Islamism poses an increasing threat to the West,” she argues.

Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal columnist Gerard Baker makes the case for “cautious optimism” about President Trump’s strikes on Iran:

So if regime change doesn’t come now, what kind of regime survives? Leaderless, impoverished, isolated, besieged, mostly disarmed, is Iran likely to be stronger after being on the receiving end of a campaign from the most technologically sophisticated and best-equipped militaries in the world? There are risks, and news of the first U.S. casualties reminds us that the costs are dear. But for an opportunistic president, there may never be a better opportunity.

“Trump Tries to Avoid the Iraq Trap” is the headline on international affairs guru Walter Russell Mead’s column. Mead writes that Trump “practices 21st-century gunboat diplomacy” in Venezuela and Iran:

The attack is the biggest gamble of Mr. Trump’s political career. A success that ends nearly half a century of brutal, bigoted and utterly unscrupulous rule by a clique of fanatical clerics would serve both the American national interest and the welfare of humanity. Failure could irreparably dent Mr. Trump’s prestige abroad, shatter his political coalition, and destroy his authority at home.

The early stages of battle should leave Mr. Trump hopeful.

There are several other good articles on Iran on the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion pages this morning. An editorial contends that Iran has expanded the “Trump coalition” by attacking its Arab neighbors. “Iran was counting on the West’s cravenness,” writes Scalia Law School Professor Eugene Kontorovich but instead was met by the “confluence of brave and aligned leaders in Washington and Jerusalem.” Bill McGurn asks what would happen if Trump were a Democrat. He’d talk a good game but not act.

Along these lines, you might enjoy “Why Trump and Hegseth’s Swagger Leaves Washington’s ‘Elite’ Seething,” by Glenn Reynolds in the New York Post.

The midterms begin today with the primaries for a Senate seat in Texas. “I hope Crockett wins Texas primary so she can lose in November” is USA TODAY’s conservative columnist Nicole Russell’s headline. The latest Emerson poll has Texas AG Ken Paxton, MAGA darling, ahead of Senator John Cornyn but Cornyn is by no means out of the game. The shooting in Austin, by a man wearing a “Property of Allah” T-shirt, and a spewer of hatred, has become a campaign issue. The shooting also should put a spotlight on security for all of us during this tense time. “Memo to Dems: There’s a War On — Stop Blocking Funds for Homeland Security” is the headline over a New York Post editorial.

The Supreme Court has blocked California’s restrictions on telling parents that their children identify as transgender. You likely know who voted how:

The Supreme Court on Mondaybarred California from enforcing state rules that restrict when schools can notify parents about students who come out as transgender and requires teachers to use children’s preferred pronouns.

The court, on a 6-3 vote on ideological lines, allowed a federal judge’s ruling in favor of parents who oppose the policy on religious grounds to go into effect. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had put the judge’s decision on hold pending further litigation.

The Associated Press headline says that the Court blocked “outing transgender students to their parents in California.” Outing to their parents? “Who says Democrats have learned their lesson about ‘gender-affirming’ treatments for kids?” begins a City Journal article in an Oregon law that would hide data about gender procedures for children?”

The Supreme Court also sided with New York Republican Rep. Nicole Meliotakis, who challenged a Democratic redistricting plan:

Over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices, the conservative majority halted a state court ruling that had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., that covers Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn. A judge had ruled that the district was drawn in a way that dilutes the power of its Black and Hispanic voters and had instructed the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to complete a new map.

We’re just now getting the full story (with video) of Hillary Clinton’s dramatic threatened walk out during her Epstein House Oversight Committee hearing after Rep. Lauren Boebert leaned a picture of the proceedings (against the rules). Also, here.

On the other hand, we might never have gotten the true figures from the Mamdani administration about the number of New Yorkers who froze to death in the snow without the relentless digging of the New York Post:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration admitted that an additional seven New Yorkers froze to death indoors — bringing the tally of fatalities from the recent stretch of frigid weather to 29.

The updated death toll was only released after The Post pressed the admin Monday on a list showing 31 possible fatalities that was circulated in City Hall and some agencies during the historic cold snap in mid-January to early February.

A City Hall representative said seven more indoor deaths that occurred between Jan. 23 and Feb. 10 were ruled as being caused by hypothermia, bringing the total number of New Yorkers who died from the cold at home to 14.

“Why Are So Many Nurses Left-Wing?” is the alarming headline on a City Journal article. It begins:

National Nurses United has a message for the White House: “ICE messed with the wrong profession.” After intensive-care nurse Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis last month, the union’s members called U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement a “fascist, terrorizing, and lawless paramilitary force violently enforcing a white supremacist agenda.” In another statement, the union called federal immigration enforcement agencies one of America’s “top public health threats,” adding to a string of similar declarations it made about racism, climate change, and Israeli “apartheid.”

The helping professions—occupations like therapy, social work, and nursing—have increasingly drifted from their traditional roles as carers and embraced social-justice advocacy. These fields have long leaned left and female, but the skew has recently intensified, following broader trends in academia. Progressives now vastly outnumber conservatives, creating an echo chamber that has radicalized a segment of the workforce.

In “J.D. Vance’s Iran Dilemma” The Free Press’s Eli Lake suggests, “The vice president is caught between Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson.” Vance went on Jesse Waters show last night to talk about Iran. Did he put to rest the notion that the strikes go against his long held beliefs?

Virgin Alert: Relax! He’s Going to the Other Place. Texas Primary Making GOP Nervous. Green Jim Crow. You Really MUST Read Lionel Shriver’s New Book. More

Posted on March 2, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

President Trump did it.

President Trump launched the battle for Iran. Today is Day 3 of the joint strikes on Iran conducted by the U.S. and Israel.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, which called for celebratory dancing in the streets in Iran. “Khamenei Joins Saddam in Hell, but Iran 2026 Is Not Iraq 2003” is Niall Ferguson’s headline at The Free Press. Ferguson predicts that this war will not be a long drawn-out affair like Iraq. In an impromptu moment, a Sky News host in Australia addressed the late Ayatollah, urging, “You son of a b—h, shame on you, burn in hell!”

Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is not dancing for joy. “An unwise and unconstitutional attack on Iran,” Kaine says. George Will, who has nary a nice word for the current occupant of the White House, begs to differ. “At last, the credibility of U.S. deterrence is being restored” is the argument of Will’s latest. Will writes:

Some say that U.S. involvement in Iran constitutes a “war of choice.” That too casually bandied phrase rarely fits untidy reality. America’s Civil War was a choice: Lincoln chose not to heed those — they were not few — who agreed with the prominent publisher Horace Greeley. He said of the seceding Southern states, “Let the erring sisters go in peace.” Lincoln chose against such national suicide. Donald Trump’s administration has chosen not to wager U.S. safety on Iran’s abandoning its multi-decade pursuit of nuclear weapons, or on Iran’s acquiring them but not really meaning “Death to America.”

A Wall Street Journal editorial contends that it’s too soon for off ramps for Iran, while Elliot Kaufman highlights the Ayatollah’s fatal mistakes, and Seth Cropsey outlines the Trump doctrine for Iran and beyond. In contrast, many on the left weep for the Iranian theocracy. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also sides with the theocratic regime.

Andrew McCarthy has a piece in National Review saying that the President doesn’t have to wait until the danger to the U.S. us immanent before striking. An alternative way of expressing this might be: We don’t have to wait until it is too late. Meanwhile, the conflict has widened. Iran has hit U.S. military installations across the Middle East. Iran, however, has also hit civilian targets. There have been three Americans killed. Sending “our immense love and eternal gratitude” to the families of those killed, President Trump acknowledged that there will likely be more. The sad number of U.S. military deaths has risen to four.

The Free Press says that the Iranians who celebrated the death of the Ayatollah have now seen a glimpse of the possibility of democracy and freedom. “Thanks to President Trump, the hour of Iran’s freedom is at hand,” writes Reza Pahlevi, the eldest son of Iran’s last Shah in the Washington Post. He concludes: “God bless America. Long live Iran.” This went over like a lead balloon with frequenters of the Post’s comments, who were notably hostile.

“For Democratic [2028] contenders, Iran war presents opportunity and risk,” Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York observes. A tantalizing snippet:

Fifth in the polls at the moment, Gov. Shapiro was the only Democrat to include criticism of Iran’s leadership in his statement on the war. “Make no mistake, the Iranian regime represses its own people and is the leading state sponsor of terrorism around the world,” Shapiro wrote.

We saw another mass shooting over the weekend. Two people were killed and at least 14 others were wounded in a bar early in the morning in Austin. The shooter, who wore a hoodie and t-shirt with “Property of Allah” on it and allegedly collected fan pix of Iranian “leaders,” was killed by police. I sure hope the authorities can discern his motive.

The Eyes Are Upon Texas. A Senate primary in Texas tomorrow is “heated” and “has Republicans worried.” GOP contenders are Senator John Cornyn, state AG Ken Paxton, and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt. Why are Republicans worried?

“Paxton puts the seat at risk,” the GOP’s main Senate campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote in a February memo. It said its internal polling showed that “Cornyn is the only Republican candidate who reliably wins a general election matchup” against either of the Democrats’ likely nominees.

Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stomach for race and gender politics is being tested in the same primary:

In the final weeks of the Senate primary race here, Rep. Jasmine Crockett has accused her Democratic opponent, James Talarico, of supporting ads that are “straight up racist” against her.

She’s called the questions about her electability in the red state a “dog whistle,” aimed at demeaning her as a Black woman and picked up the endorsement of the 2024 Senate Democratic nominee, who blasted Talarico for allegedly privately referring to him as a “mediocre Black man.”

California prides itself on being enlightened. Demographer Joel Kotlin notices an irony: the Golden State’s stringent green policies harm actual workers:

[T]he greatest irony is that both Latinos and African Americans do worse in California than in “unenlightened places” like Texas and Florida.

The key difference in California has been the imposition of draconian environmental regulations, which have devastated industries like construction, manufacturing, and logistics.

It’s what attorney Jennifer Hernandez calls “the green Jim Crow.”

For example, Latinos constitute well over 50% of all California construction workers and the majority working in logistics, according to the American Community Survey.

But due to regulatory constraints, construction in California has been among the weakest in the nation, making it hard to build what the market wants — namely, affordable apartments and modestly-priced single family homes.

Latinos have been hardest hit because many are employed in the “carbon economy,” which relies on energy and has been decimated by regulatory pressures.

Ms. Must has not really kept up with Candace Owens since she accused French First Lady Brigitte Macron of being a man. Now, she is conducting a campaign against Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative hero Charlie Kirk. USA TODAY columnist Nicole Russell has been staying abreast of Owens’s doings and is disgusted.

Axios reports that “centrist Democrats” have launched a campaign to stop AOC from being their 2028 nominee. We are reliably informed that unicorns, likely numerically superior to moderate Democrats, are also dead set against AOC.

Alan Dershowitz’s name appeared in the Epstein files, so called. What makes him angriest is that he has not been allowed to confront his anonymous accuser, a right guaranteed by the sixth amendment.

I recently recommended Lionel Shriver’s new novel A Better Life. And lo and behold Seth Baron reviews Shriver’s “splendidly paced immigration satire” at City Journal:

In June 2023, then-mayor Eric Adams suggested a solution to the problem of tens of thousands of migrants coming to New York City to take advantage of Gotham’s absurd guarantee of shelter on demand for anyone who asked for it: private individuals could house them. In the event, the idea never came to fruition, and the city wound up leasing or buying thousands of hotel rooms instead. In the fictive world of A Better Life, Adams’s proposal is actually launched, and Gloria Bonaventura—a well-meaning, house-poor, sixty-something divorcee who lives in a rambling, restored Queen Anne with her twentysomething slacker son Nico in leafy Ditmas Park, Brooklyn—enthusiastically signs up to take in one of our “newest New Yorkers,” as just-arrived illegal aliens are routinely called (in real life, not just in the novel).

Events quickly go from bad to worse. Nico spends his days browsing anti-immigration websites and lurking around migrant welcome hubs, much to the dismay of his mother, who devotes herself to liberal good works of the “In this house, we believe” variety. Gloria lavishes attention and praise on Martine, their cheery, hardworking Honduran boarder, whose vague backstory inspires skepticism in Nico. Various insalubrious compatriots of Martine soon turn up, and eventually the menage takes on a comic/horrifying claustrophobic and surreal quality reminiscent of Buñuel (The Exterminating Angel), Polanski (The Tenant, Cul-de-Sac), Sartre (No Exit), or Beckett (Waiting for Godot, Endgame).

Combative Hillary: Who’s This Ghislaine Person? Bill Is Deposed Today. Minnesota Fraud Spigot Turned Off. Historic VMI Under Attack. Bad Samaritans. And More

Posted on February 27, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

It seemed like old times: a touchy and unforthcoming Hillary Clinton being deposed.

“In Tense Deposition, Hillary Clinton Denies Knowing Epstein or His Crimes” is the New York Times headline:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday denied ever meeting Jeffrey Epstein or knowing anything about his crimes during a more than six-hour, closed-door deposition in front of the House Oversight Committee, which briefly devolved into chaos after a Republican lawmaker leaked a photograph of the proceedings to a right-wing blogger.

Mrs. Clinton arrived to testify under oath at the Center for Performing Arts in Chappaqua, N.Y., defiant about being compelled to participate in the panel’s investigation into Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

The photo was furtively snapped and leaked by Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert. Podcaster Benny Johnson was the recipient. It is against the Oversight Committee rules to do this. Angry Dems (and Ms. Must) came away wondering if maybe Rep. Boebert could use more oversight herself:

“I really admire her blue suit, so I wanted to capture that for everyone,” Boebert, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters in Chappaqua, New York. When a reporter asked why she sent the picture to Johnson, Boebert responded, “Why not?”

She also told reporters that she had “just returned to my hotel room and installed the BleachBit software,” referring to a disk cleaning program for Windows, adding, “So I guess in regards to taking photos, I do not recall.”

You will be happy to learn that years of exile from political power have not turned Hillary into a sweet little old lady. She was her combative old self, demanding that President Trump be brought before the Committee to testify under oath about his relationship with late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

I don’t think the Committee laid a glove on her, but she did skedaddle when a reporter asked her why Epstein procurer Ghislaine Maxwell—with whom Hillary said she had “no relationship”—was a guest at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. Maxwell, however, appears to have been deeply involved with the kickoff of the Clinton Global Initiative. PJ Media’s Stephen Kruiser was not favorably impressed with the Oversight Committee’s decision to call Mrs. Clinton. “A Pox on Everyone Who Keeps Hillary Clinton in the News,” says Kruiser.

Former President Bill Clinton will testify about his relationship with Epstein before the same Committee today. He did not come willingly.

“Vance Tightens the Fraud Spigot” is Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel’s headline this morning. Washington will withhold Medicaid reimbursements from the state of Minnesota. Strassel observes:

This is unprecedented—and different from the administration’s moves to pause grant disbursements to high-fraud states. Minnesota is already on the hook for these Medicaid services. The federal check now in deferment limbo was supposed to reimburse the state for the federal government’s share of that spending. Mr. Oz made clear that “we will give them the money” after “they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem.” Future payments are also at risk. If Minnesota dawdles, it “will rack up $1 billion of deferred payments this year,” the CMS head said.

Substantively, this is a powerful approach, since it attacks the key structural flaw in the current system. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program, but states make all the decisions and send the feds a bill. States have little interest in policing fraud—in making sure that a “nonprofit” they send money to is real, qualified or successful—since the federal government “matches” at multiples. For some Medicaid populations, every dollar a state pays brings $9 from federal taxpayers. Spend more, get more. This is how you get an estimated $9 billion in fraudulent Minnesota claims.

If Vance is trying to end fraud in Minnesota, Democrats in Virginia are trying to end VMI (Virginia Military Institute) as we know it. Two bills now under consideration by the state’s legislature could damage the country’s oldest military college. An editorial calls it what it is:

Don’t think this is about saving money. It’s about progressive hostility to VMI’s martial values. As part of its review, the new panel (made up of 11 delegates, two of whom served in the military) would “thoroughly audit” whether the school has made “substantial changes” to reduce “racist, sexist or misogynistic” actions in the student body and whether the school “possesses the capacity . . . to end celebration of the Confederacy.” Possesses the capacity? The outcome seems preordained.

Does California possess the capacity to elect a Republican Governor? “Republicans Have a Rare Shot at Winning the California Governorship” announces a Washington Examiner headline. It’s because so many Democratic candidates have emerged. All candidates run against each other, regardless of party, in the primary. It would be astonishing if Steve Hilton or Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco replaced Gavin Newsom.

Maybe “public servants” in the Golden State would then rake in more realistic salaries. Meanwhile, four-termer Senator John Cornyn of Texas is struggling for re-election, and Politico wonders if there is still a place in the GOP for traditional Republican such as Cornyn. Call Him Daddy: Also in Politico, Rep. Nancy Mace, who is running for Governor of Sooth Carolina, talks about her personal traumas and why President Trump is a “father figure” for her.

Did President Trump’s economic message in his State of the Union address improve GOP chances for the midterms? Longtime political consultant David Winston answers:

It was the first step in a long-term case he needs to prove. The economic data of the past few months has generated more questions than answers as we wait for more reporting. People are just as confused as the economists, wondering if the glass is half empty or half full.

What about the tariffs? AEI Research Fellow David Hebert writes that the tariffs have made the U. S. so unpredictable that other countries are trading without us. Meanwhile, Salon’s Jason Kyle Howard writes the SOTU exposed his party’s biggest problem: they don’t know how to fight Trump. This is so unfair—the anti-Trump dancing frogs brigade was magnificent.

And Now—Bad Samaritans. The Marylander Condominiums are in a precarious situation after a nearby homeless encampment allegedly vandalized the boiler, leaving residents without heat. While residents have fled or soon will be evicted, the Washington Free Beacon reports:

The encampment, though, is still going strong. And unlike the moribund condominium, it is getting plenty of help from private charities.

The Washington Free Beacon identified nearly a dozen church groups, activists, and local businesses that deliver food to the camp on a regular basis. The meals are distributed at the entrance of the encampment, in the parking lot of a nearby McDonald’s, without any pushback from the county, which runs its own on-site delivery program through the Department of Social Services.

The victims of that humanitarian free-for-all have been the condo’s law-abiding residents, many of them low-income minorities.

If you are in the market for a fun book on progressive doing good deeds, may I recommend Lionel Shriver’s A Better Life? A progressive mom takes in an illegal under the fictional “Big Apple, Big Hearts.” All the right people are angry with Shriver.

“What Would the World Look Like Without Trump?” Martin Gurri asks this question at City Journal. It’s a rather dazzling essay but too complicated to summarize. It deals particularly with global mass migration and concludes:

Trump is the decider in this war of worlds. Should he self-detonate into nihilistic chaos, the old regime will triumph by default, and the window on an era riven by revolts from below may close. But should he achieve his objectives and pass the baton to a successor, the transformation of the system will accelerate to warp speed.

The times would be defined by an immense horizon of possibilities, including, for example, a reconfiguration of government along lines shaped by the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Whether, at the end of this process, anything resembling our current dreams and ideals will remain may be the most consequential question we can ask—and one for which there is, at present, no answer.

Happy Friday!

Delusional Mullahs & the Stakes in Iran. Dancing Frogs and F-word Part of Dem Arsenal. The Dream That Will Not Die: NYT Pushes Unverified Trump Smear in Epstein Files. More

Posted on February 26, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

President Trump faces a legacy defining decision: whether to strike Iran. The U.S. and the Islamic regime are engaging in indirect talks in Geneva. “We just need action,” say desperate Iranians back home.

A Wall Street Journal editorial is headlined “Trump and the Stakes in Iran.” The editorial argues that, while there are reasons to strike Iran, the President has not made the case yet:

This failure is creating uncertainty even inside his Administration. Media reports Monday said that Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is worried about the risks of striking Iran. Our sources say those stories are accurate, and the leaks suggest an effort by doubters inside the Administration to deter Mr. Trump more than Iran.

We’re also told that as of Tuesday the head of Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, hadn’t briefed Mr. Trump on the war plan he’s put together for Iran. The plan calls for an extensive attack on a host of Iranian regime and military targets, which is consistent with the armada Mr. Trump has assembled in the region.

Some inside the administration are proposing a delay. The Editors, however, caution against that idea:

Waiting would squander a rare opportunity to topple a regime that has terrorized the world, spread war across the Middle East, supplied Russia and China, and killed or maimed thousands of Americans.

Waiting would also damage Mr. Trump’s credibility. He told the Iranian public in January that “help is on its way,” and he didn’t say help would only arrive after the U.S. election. If he now settles for nuclear promises or symbolic strikes after having amassed so much force, Moscow and Beijing will notice. An honorable peace in Ukraine becomes harder.

There is heightened anxiety in Israel, where hospitals are conducting emergency drills and citizens are obtaining list of locations of bomb shelters. Quotable pro-attack Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says that Iran is facing its “Berlin Wall moment.” Daniel Pletka has a really magnificent piece on the Iran decision in National Review this morning.

Pletka writes that President Trump is baffled as to why Iran, facing regime annihilation by the U.S., doesn’t want to give up its nuclear ambitions:

Foreign leaders like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader, don’t just dress differently and speak different languages. They live in a different reality. In their reality, Iran is a formidable power that killed scores of Americans with a strike on Iraq in 2020, downed Israeli F-35s, and killed hundreds of Israel Defense Forces troops in its 2025 strikes on Israel. Of course, these things didn’t happen, but Iran’s senior-most leaders nevertheless believe they did.

Liberation Delayed. Cuban nationals living in the United States were prevented from “infiltrating” the communist island in their Florida-registered speedboat. The Cuban government says that the people in the speedboat fired first. Cuban border agents killed four. The brother of one of the men killed described his brother, a truck driver, as pursuing an “obsessive and diabolical quest” for Cuba’s freedom. Call me crazy, but I don’t see how wanting to free Cuba could be termed “diabolical.”

“The State of the Union Is Belligerent” is Wall Street Journal politics columnist Karl Rove’s headline this morning. Rove writes:

Throughout his record number of guest introductions, the president was empathetic and personable. His remarks, delivered as written, were often moving, patriotic and unifying.

This was also the most partisan State of the Union in memory. In what may have been a first, Mr. Trump attacked his predecessor by name several times. He repeatedly condemned congressional Democrats, tried to force them to stand and applaud him, and lacerated them when they didn’t. He was spoiling for a fight.

Polling dials indicate that one of the most popular moments in the SOTU, even for Democrats, was when the President called for a ban on insider stock trading for members of Congress, calling renowned stock picker Nancy Pelosi by name.

Who Doesn’t Love a Green Frog? But let’s admit—the Dems were memorable too. “Dems Ditched American Heroes for Adults in Frog Suits and Tiresome De Niro — All we can do is Pity Them” is the headline on Kirsten Fleming’s enjoyable piece.

[S]ome of our nation’s lawmakers chose to hang with wack jobs in inflatable frog costumes at a “State of the Swamp” event in DC, organized by the Anti-Trump organization Defiance.org.

“Tonight I defy Trump and his authoritarian project by standing in joyful, radical, peaceful resistance with the Portland Frog Brigade,” Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon said to the audience proudly sporting Kermit’s cousins on their heads.

“We answered with frog costumes, dancing, singing and joy when Trump wanted us to cower in fear,” she said crediting her amphibian army with keeping the National Guard out of their city.

I beg you: Do not under any circumstances miss the dancing frog pictures.

Miranda Devine writes that the Dems revealed their stance on illegal immigration and their true colors by refusing to stand during the SOTU. Lowered standards of civility are bipartisan, but the Democrats’ shocking embrace of the f-word takes it to a new level of vulgarity. Jonathan Turley has a worthy piece on Democrats’ obscenity-larded race to the bottom.

Another great Barton Swaim article. “Vance, Newsom and Tales of Want” argues that politicians who romanticize economic hardships of growing up (some more plausibly than others) don’t others to experience the hard knocks that shaped them:

The vice president fervently supports expanding almost any redistributionist program said to benefit the working class. Maybe if Mr. Vance’s ideas had obtained 30 years ago, the American economy would have shown more generosity to the working class, Mamaw would have enjoyed an income in keeping with her moral worth, and she would have had no trouble buying that calculator. But in that case, Mamaw would have had to make no sacrifice and there would have been no “Hillbilly Elegy” and thus no Vice President Vance.

Did Richard Nixon get done in by the deep state? It is an intriguing idea explored by Christopher Caldwell at the London Spectator. Unfortunately, behind the pay wall, so only lucky subscribers can get it.

There are some other pieces I want to recommend: City Journal’s article saying that New Yorkers don’t know how much they spend on public education (more than any other state with abysmal results). … A Wall Street Journal editorial to the effect that vaccine skeptic Dr. Casey Means, who has been nominated for Surgeon General, is not the best person to restore credibility to the Department of Health and Human Services. … An editorial at the same esteemed publication predicting that the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is about to bite.

It is an article of faith among TDS sufferers that someday, if they just keep pushing hard, something. Somewhere in the Epstein documents will destroy Donald Trump. The New York Times, in that spirit of hope, has a story claiming that the released DOJ files included a brief mention of a woman’s unverified accusation that Trump assaulted her in the 1980s, when she was a minor. But several memos related to her account are not in the files.

Breitbart focuses on the unverified nature of the accusation (not that others have not been ruined by unverified material in the Epstein material). The white whale for Republicans is the Clintons. Wily Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to be deposed on the Epstein matter in behind closed doors at her Chappaqua residence. Raise your hand if you think this will be a fruitful endeavor.

State of Union Hailed as Virtuoso Performance. Gavin Newsom’s Heartrending Life Struggles. Media Narratives on “Trans” Shootings. Prince William: Please Stop Sharing. More

Posted on February 25, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

Well, the midterms are officially underway.

The State of the Union address immediately before the midterms is traditionally considered the opening gun for the political season. President Trump scored big last night with the New York Post.

“Trump Wins Gold” the Post declares—with a felicitous nod to the gilded USA Olympic men’s hockey team, guests of the President. The patriotic Olympians bolstered the President’s “winning” theme. Trump embellished the celebratory mood (but only on one side of the House!) by dispending several Medals of Honor, including one to a soldier wounded in the Maduro raid.

Pollster Doug Schoen judged the SOTU “one big winner, one giant loser and one big problem” in a GOP agenda for the midterms. Schoen writes:

President Donald Trump gave a virtuoso performance Tuesday night. He achieved a number of important goals in his State of the Union address, but it is unclear whether he fundamentally changed the political dynamic in America. Still, it was a great performance — with profound messages.

The first and most important message was that the American people should associate the progress, future and success of the country with the Trump administration and the Republican Party. The president spoke of transformations, turnarounds and, most of all, “the golden age of America.” It was moving and uplifting — though not necessarily as persuasive as he may have hoped.

To be sure, Trump made his most compelling case yet that the affordability crisis, which Democrats used to win the 2025 off-year elections, was now finally under control.

Between Trump’s attacks and the Democrats’ behavior, it is hard to see how the country emerged more united after an extraordinary presentation that had to be moving to many Americans. Indeed, another strength of Trump’s speech was that he explicitly associated the country’s success with working people — especially heroes who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments for our nation, past and present. The explicit and implicit message was this: By standing with Trump and his policies, it was the only way America could achieve the success he spoke of in the context of the turnaround, the transformation, most of all, the “golden age” he said is underway.

The Wall Street Journal headline is that Trump “hailed an economic turnaround many voters don’t see.” The Trump averse New York Times calls the SOTU “a show, casting Democrats as the villains.” Ah, the loyal opposition. House Democrat leader Rep. Hakeen Jeffries certainly didn’t know his flock if he really thought Democrats in the House Chamber could give Trump the silent treatment!

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota ad a meltdown, shouting during the SOTU that the President has “killed Americans.” So much for brotherly love. Also, at the top of her lungs, Rep. Rashida Tlaib shouted “F— ICE!” For the second year in a row, effervescent Rep. Al Green of Texas, carrying a sign that said “Black People Are Not Apes,” was escorted out of the House Chamber. Many simply skipped the SOTU for alternate programing.

Most Telling Moment. Sasha Stone got it on her Substack section:

“If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal immigrants.”

With great timing and a gift for performance and storytelling, Trump pauses and lets the applause grow. He luxuriated in the moment as the Democrats sat there, stone-faced, thinking it would play well at MS-Now. It probably will. Trump wanted all of America to see it and remember it. He set a trap. They walked right into it.

The New York Times complains that these “stand-up” moments are an unfair maneuver by the President.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi must have wished she was still in a position to physically rip up the President’s speech. Pelosi’s own perfidious party members rose to applaud (the only time they did so) when President Trump called upon Congress to pass an insider trading bill. He mentioned genius stock picker Pelosi by name.

Instead of tearing into the Supreme Court for its bombshell ruling against the Trump tariffs, the President merely called the ruling “unfortunate.” Not all the Justices attended. Here are the ones who did not: Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Sonia Sotomayor.

The President wisely avoided overdue attention to the tariffs last night but Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley addresses them in a column headlined “The GOP’s Last Chance to Shed the Tariff Albatross.” Riley writes:

The reality, whether or not the president accepts it, is that tariffs have been disruptive to the economy and are deeply unpopular. They haven’t reduced the trade deficit or boosted factory employment, as Mr. Trump claims they have. American consumers have grown accustomed to more options at lower prices for autos, clothing, electronics, food and countless other goods thanks to free trade across international borders. Higher levies on imports lead to higher costs and fewer choices.

In the latest development in the Nancy Guthrie case, Savannah Guthrie announced that the Guthrie family is offering a million dollars for information leading to the return of her mother. It was an extraordinary video in which the Today co-host acknowledged that her mother may no longer be living and appealed directly to the abductor to “do the right thing.” If the abductor had been struggling with conscience, Guthrie begged, “Let this be a sign.”

Snow Melts Warmth of Collectivism. Columnist Michael Goodwin writes:

For better and worse, the tenure of any new major public official is often defined by events in the first 100 days of the term.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is certainly no exception, with his awful beginning at City Hall confirmed again Tuesday. His latest big time blunder was his expression of icy indifference to police officers being attacked by snowballs in Manhattan.

I Was Born a Poor Black Child. I always remember that line uttered by Steve Martin in “The Jerk” when I read about Gavin Newsom’s life struggles. After thinking that the way to bond with black people is by claiming he’s not very smart, Newsom now chronicles his life “from privilege to heartbreak.” As was once said of another great piece of literature, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

“The Mass Shootings the Media Wants You to Ignore” is a headline at American Greatness. Yes, you guessed what mass murders we are enjoined to overlook: ones committed by “trans”-identifying shooters:

You could be forgiven if you hadn’t heard much about these tragedies—the media virtually ignored them. By contrast, the country was subjected to around-the-clock hyperventilating on cable news after an ICE agent shot a woman in Minneapolis after she struck him with her vehicle.

That act of self-defense by an ICE agent triggered tearful pleas for national soul-searching and draconian restrictions on law enforcement. But the two mass shootings generated nary a peep.

This contrast highlights the iron law of the corporate media when it comes to gun violence: the facts always matter less than the narrative.

Within minutes after a shooting, the press begins assembling its preferred storyline like an IKEA bookshelf—only with more missing screws and more prone to sudden collapse.

Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson offers the royal family advice on winning back the loyalty of the people after the Andrew scandal. “No ‘spares’, no climate preaching: My plan to save the monarchy” is an excellent read. Ms. Must wishes to throw in her two shillings. The royals themselves seem to be signaling that they will try to “modernize.” Don’t! Look instead to the past with more pageantry and less sharing (such as this kind of unnecessary treacle from William).

Will Trump Maduro Khamenei? “Seismic” Arrest of Former Prince Andrew. By the Waters of the Potomac: Poop Smell. Exclusive: Christianity Not Dead Yet! More

Posted on February 19, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

Let’s talk while I get my mighty armada in place—just in case.

“U.S. Gathers the Most Air Power in the Mideast Since the 2003 Iraq Invasion” trumpets the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times emphasizes that President Trump has not yet made up his mind what to do in Iran, despite the impressive buildup of military might in the region. Has it crossed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s mind that he could be Maduro-ed? Betting odds that the Ayatollah will be removed from power are rising. The price of oil jumped 4 percent after Vice President J.D. Vance said that Iran is ignoring chief U.S. military demands in the current negotiations. Here’s more on the U.S. military assets in the region. President is full of surprises, and we don’t know what is going to happen.

Speaking of surprises, the Thames Valley cops raided the Sandringham and Windsor homes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and arrested the man formerly known as Prince. The London Spectator’s Alexander Larman calls the arrest “seismic:”

Ever since the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, no member of the Royal Family has been arrested. Which makes this morning’s news that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been taken into police custody under suspicion of misconduct in public office all the more seismic. And with a certain grim irony, his arrest comes on his 66th birthday, of all days.

This development had seemed inevitable for a considerable amount of time now. … Which means that the visit of six unmarked police cars and plain-clothes officers to Wood Farm in Sandringham today is something that only fool – or an optimistic former royal – would have bet against.

King Charles III gives his “full and wholehearted support” into the investigation of his brother.

“Mamdani Takes New York Hostage” is the headline over a Wall Street Journal editorial. The argument of the editorial is that Mayor Mamdani, who is threatening a nearly 10 percent increase on property taxes, will soak the middle class if Albany won’t raise taxes. The editors write:

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is the fresh face of America’s progressive vanguard, so his policy moves are worth watching. His first big move is threatening to raise property taxes unless Democrats in Albany raise taxes on top earners and business. What an ultimatum: Fleece the rich for him, or he’ll fleece them and the middle class.

Mr. Mamdani on Tuesday unveiled his inaugural $127 billion budget, which he amusingly called austere. Only in New York, kids. His budget is $10 billion bigger than Florida’s, though New York City’s population is only 40% of the Sunshine State’s. It’s a $10 billion increase over this year….

Mr. Mamdani’s attempt to extort Ms. Hochul over taxes is part of a broader battle in the Democratic Party. If he prevails, expect more Democrats to imitate his class warfare and hostage-taking.

Meanwhile, there is chaos on a trendy block that does not cater to the hungry masses as New York gets its first free grocery store, located in the West Village, and funded by a betting market and possibly “riffing’ on administration plans. And the Mayor has made a new hire:

News that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has hired Bitta Mostofi, a Biden and de Blasio alumna, to “audit” the NYPD and other city agencies for violations of local sanctuary laws comes amid a larger lefty push to prevent any cooperation with ICE because progressives want “Minneapolis everywhere.”