Last month, six Democrats released a video urging the military to defy orders from the president and secretary of war. They implied that the military was being told to do something illicit. Yet when pressed, none of them could name a single illegal order.

The goal is obvious: sow doubt inside the ranks, then point to the turmoil they’ve created and call it “chaos” under President Trump. It’s a reckless political tactic.

Undermining trust in civilian control of the military isn’t a game. It poisons the heart of a constitutional republic.

And it’s striking: many of the same people who damaged trust in our judicial system by weaponizing it during Trump’s first term are now targeting one of the last institutions most Americans still respect — our military.

If the goal were to destabilize the country, they couldn’t be doing it more effectively.

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The president has been getting plenty of criticism from sitting members of Congress and a bunch of more purported “Con Law experts” on X who worry Trump may escalate to “kinetic actions” against Maduro, cartels and other narco-states. They argue Trump is violating “international law,” but they do not evidence even a basic understanding of the Article II grant of authorities to the president.

Constitution doesn’t change as presidents leave and arrive. Trump has the same authority President Washington’s, Lincoln’s, FDR’s and Ike.

Good presidents and failed presidents alike … their powers are the same.

Very few “X experts” seem to know of the relevant decision in U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.—the 1936 decision when the Supreme Court held that a “political society cannot endure without a supreme will somewhere. Sovereignty is never held in suspense.”

If and when Congress directs the president to stop, then the issue would be joined. Until then: That key precedent from 89 years ago holds.

The president has vast power and he’s using it.

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Everyone’s heard of “Minnesota nice” — state residents’ reputation for being polite, mild-mannered, and tolerant.

So it’s hard to believe Minnesota taxpayers have become a major funder of a terrorist group. But it’s true. A massive welfare-fraud scheme took millions meant for Minnesotans — and funneled the money to a Somalian branch of Al Qaeda.

Minnesota has seen the rapid growth of a Somali migrant community over the past three decades. Many send money home — in 2023 alone, transfers to Somalia totaled $1.7 billion dollars, more than Somalia’s national budget.

What’s more, Somali-based gangs in Minnesota have become a serious public-safety threat, deeply involved in violent crime and drug trafficking. In short, a state once known for being “nice” is grappling with some serious problems.

There’s a heavy cost when America encourages immigration but refuses to insist on assimilation.

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It’s been said that gratitude is the mother of all virtue and ingratitude the father of all vice. We do well to reflect on that this Thanksgiving.

We find ourselves in a social and political moment of great self-importance attached to impatience, and an inability to recognize the wisdom of others. We have example after example where ego trumps reason—and “my truth” is preferred over the truth itself. With our political tendencies trending toward the extremes, we diminish the greatest set of social relations ever gifted, as they were by our Founding and Constitution.

This Thanksgiving, on the eve of our nation’s 250th anniversary, let’s consider a prayer at our tables for our country and those who delivered us such a great gift with their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

Let’s giving thanks for those who gave us so much.

Let’s give thanks to the God who showed His hand behind it all.

On behalf of Salem Media, I’m Seth Leibsohn wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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It’s been said that gratitude is the mother of all virtue and ingratitude the father of all vice. We do well to reflect on that this Thanksgiving.

We find ourselves in a social and political moment of great self-importance attached to impatience, and an inability to recognize the wisdom of others. We have example after example where ego trumps reason—and “my truth” is preferred over the truth itself. With our political tendencies trending toward the extremes, we diminish the greatest set of social relations ever gifted, as they were by our Founding and Constitution.

This Thanksgiving, on the eve of our nation’s 250th anniversary, let’s consider a prayer at our tables for our country and those who delivered us such a great gift with their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

Let’s giving thanks for those who gave us so much.

Let’s give thanks to the God who showed His hand behind it all.

On behalf of Salem Media, I’m Seth Leibsohn wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, recently delivered to the Ukrainian government a 28-point proposed agreement for cessation of hostilities and at least some promise of enduring peace between Russia and Ukraine.

First: You need to state clearly: Russia is the invading force and Russia is at fault.

We also have to say The American government has finally come to a realistic assessment that there is no plausible argument that, given its military situation, Ukraine is going to be able to dislocate all Russians from its claimed territory.

And that brings us back to the 28-point agreement and political realism:

Realism means that sometimes that the best that you can achieve is the least-worst option. And let’s be honest, that’s what we’re facing here.

Short of NATO going to war with a nuclear-powered Russia, what has been proposed here is pretty much where any intelligent person knew this was going to have to end. And honestly, we knew this at the beginning.

We should be hoping that the war does, in fact, end and praying for that end.

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This weekend, Israel targeted Hezbollah’s top military commander in Beirut. American media wondered what that meant for the ceasefire in Lebanon. That concern is directed at the wrong party.

Israel signed that ceasefire one year ago, which brought an end to conflict with Hezbollah – with the condition that Hezbollah disarm and leave the southern part of the country. Hezbollah has defied those terms ever since, and had begun rearming itself.

Israel has the same problem in Gaza. Donald Trump’s ceasefire also requires Hamas to disarm and relinquish control, which the terrorists refuse to do. Both proxy armies expect Israel and the West to ignore their violations and repudiations in order to preserve political gains from pauses in fighting on both fronts. It’s the strategy they’ve employed for years.

However, the October 7 massacres forced Israel and the US to change their strategies in dealing with terror. This time, we must see disarmament through to the end – or let Israel finish both jobs.

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Recent reports show that 48 new mosques have opened in Texas since 2023. Today, that brings the total to roughly 330—part of a 35-percent increase between 2010 and 2020.

The First Amendment protects every American’s right to worship freely. And no one should be denied that right.

But it’s also true that Islam isn’t just a religious tradition. In many parts of the world, it also functions as a political ideology—one that often conflicts with core American principles like freedom of speech, equal rights for women, and yes, freedom of religion itself.

America has always welcomed newcomers of every faith and background. But we’ve also been clear about one expectation: Those who come here must embrace our constitutional values and the civic culture that flows from them. That obligation applies to everyone—without exception.

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