America & Ukraine
The Associated Press has been regularly asking the American people a simple and important question: "What size role should the U.S. have in the war between Russia and Ukraine?"
In February, just before the Russian invasion, 26% of the public said we should play a major role, while 52% said a minor role and 20% said no role at all.
In March, when the non-stop coverage of the conflict dominated the news, support for a major U.S. role rose sharply to 40%, while support for a minor role dipped slightly to 46% and 13% said we should have no role.
This month, public opinion is shifting toward caution again. Support for a major American role in Ukraine is down to 32%, while 49% say we should have a minor role and 18% say we should have no role at all.
On the question of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine to fight Russia, support is tepid. Only 22% of the country is ready to see our sons and daughters die defending Kiev.
Anti-Russian sentiment is sky high, and the American people instinctively feel Ukraine is the victim in the conflict. The public supports sending humanitarian aid and military supplies, but no more. Why? Here's my analysis.
1. There's growing concern that President Biden is mentally impaired and may not be fully in charge of his own White House. Support for our brave men and women in uniform is strong as always, but confidence in our "woke" Pentagon and top brass has plunged. Why would we want to stumble into another war spilling blood and treasure under this "leadership"? That is a question more "hawks" should be asking themselves.
2. Americans notice the hypocrisy of our political and media elites demanding that Ukraine's sovereignty and borders must be protected, while at the same time we are being invaded by an unprecedented wave of illegal aliens from 140-plus countries.
Today, the respected National Sheriffs Association sent a letter to Congress making this startling assertion: "We simply have no border left in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas or Southern California." This has greater national security implications for the American people than anything likely to happen in Ukraine.
3. Our country has dealt with a pandemic, lockdowns, closed churches, schools and businesses, runaway inflation, social unrest, corruption at the highest levels of federal law enforcement, the possibility of worldwide food shortages and relentless attacks on our constitutional rights. Most Americans don't want to add nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine to that list of horrors.
Ronald Reagan often said that he trusted America's "common man" more than our globalist elites. That's good advice today, too.
Tears At Twitter
There's been much wailing and gnashing of teeth at Twitter ever since it was announced that Elon Musk was taking over the company. It was reported yesterday that top Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde cried during a meeting with her staff.
Now, most people won't recognize her name, but they're definitely familiar with her work. Known as Twitter's "moral authority," Ms. Gadde created the company's censorship policies.
"Ayatollah Gadde" is responsible for Donald Trump getting banned from the platform while tyrannical regimes like communist China are still tweeting away. If you post on Twitter that a biological man who claims to be a woman is still really a man, it's her rules that get you banned for telling the truth.
There's nothing "moral" about that "authority."
Ms. Gadde apparently cried when she had to break the news to her staff of censors that their services may no longer be needed at Twitter. I'm not trying to be mean-spirited, but her tears are actually a good sign.
Responding to the reports of Ms. Gadde's distress, Elon Musk tweeted that suspending the New York Post's Twitter account for reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop – a legitimate, truthful news story – was "incredibly inappropriate."
Musk is right, and Gadde is right to be worried about her job.
Here's an idea. Fox News should televise the first time Musk walks into Twitter's headquarters to meet the "staff." Of course, Fox will have to warn viewers that some people may find the images disturbing.
The Insane Left
One major problem we're facing today is that Ms. Gaddy and people like her have an insane definition of speech.
They claim that if you argue with a marginalized person – a woman, a minority and especially a trans individual – your speech can "trigger" those individuals and is equivalent to violence.
In other words, they believe words are violence if they are spoken critically of "oppressed groups," and "white straight men" – the "oppressors" – should have their speech regulated.
We saw an example of this mindset on The View yesterday when ABC News legal analyst Sunny Hostin said this, "So when Elon Musk says, 'Wow, this is about free speech,' it seems to me that it's about [the] free speech of straight white men."
Of course, in practice it's not just white straight men who get censored. If you're a conservative pro-life woman, they will censor you too, because, "You're enabling the patriarchy." If you're a black conservative, they will censor you too, because, "You're the black face of white supremacy."
Musk responded to the left's criticism by tweeting, "The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all."
By the way, it's not only that the left believes words are violence, they insist that literal violence is actually free speech.
The left's warped mindset is dangerous. Help me defend our values!
Reid's Wrong Again
Speaking of warped mindsets, MSNBC's Joy Reid lashed out at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week. That Reid attacked DeSantis isn't surprising. But the reason she attacked DeSantis really exposes the unhinged left.
DeSantis was holding a ceremony to sign legislation banning critical race theory curriculum in Florida's schools, and several young black boys holding signs opposing critical race theory were on the stage with him. In response, Reid tweeted this:
"This mis-use of Black boys is tantamount to child abuse. I would really like to hear the back-story on who these kids were and how they wound up at a DeSantis event. Given how anti-Black DeSantis is, using Black children this way is extra sick."
No, the race-obsessed Reid is the "extra sick" one.
The boys were there thanks to Jack Brewer, whom I know. He runs a wonderful foundation dedicated to helping fatherless minority children. He specifically talks about how black children are told to accept failing grades because they're black and because math is racist.
Incredibly, Joy Reid sees this picture of Ron DeSantis with these black children and her first instinct is to scream, "How dare you kids get off the liberal plantation! That's child abuse!"
Brewer went on Tucker Carlson's show last night to set the story straight. He said:
"I don't think that people like Joy Reid are used to seeing African-American young boys [who] are fatherless, [who] love this country and understand really what their potential is. . .
"She should be fighting on my side over here. I work and serve these children each and every day. . . She is going to have to apologize. I want MSNBC to apologize. Otherwise, I'm going to have to pursue my legal strategy that my lawyers are putting together."
I know many Americans just want both sides to sit down, talk it out and find common ground. But where's the common ground between Joy Reid and Jack Brewer? How do you find common ground with people who lack common sense?
Only one side can prevail in America's culture war. And an America where Joy Reid's worldview prevails will no longer be America.
Please help me fight the radical left!
Day Of Remembrance
Tonight, Israelis will begin to observe Yom HaShoah, a national day of remembrance for the heroes and martyrs of the Holocaust.
Fighting the evil of anti-Semitism has always been a major priority of my work, including when I served as a Trump-appointee at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. At my urging, the commission held a seminar and a hearing on Capitol Hill about the growing threat of anti-Semitism and how to combat it.
Sadly, anti-Semitism is increasing in America. According to the latest report from the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents increased by 34% in 2021 to a record high. The number of physical assaults jumped 167% from 2020.
The ADL insists that "you cannot point to any single ideology or belief system" to explain the shocking increase in attacks. But it also notes that there was a "staggering increase" in anti-Semitic attacks "during the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Hamas."
Whatever the explanation, anti-Semitism is clearly a growing problem in Joe Biden's America.
While we remember the first Holocaust, we must never forget that the Islamic Republic of Iran is insisting on another one. Iran's leaders have repeatedly called for a second Holocaust through the "annihilation" of Israel and its eight million Jewish citizens.