Secure Freedom Minute

The Trump 2.0 presidency is scarcely a week old and an epic struggle is already underway to subvert it from within. The problem is not simply the expected one of a hostile Deep State bureaucracy.Rather, it’s that a number of political appointees who do not share the President’s view of the threats we face and his determination to respond to them by practicing “peace through strength” are – despite Mr. Trump’s hard experience with uncooperative personnel in his first administration – getting key positions in the second one. Some are alumni of institutions funded by anti-Trump libertarian Charles Koch.A sizable majority of the American people voted for a change in the nation’s foreign and defense policies, not a continuation of the failed ones of the Obama-Biden years. Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth must not be represented and undermined by subordinates who disagree.This is Frank Gaffney.
 

The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm Pete Hegseth today as our next Defense Secretary. His appointment – and the return to the White House of the man who made it – are the most exciting developments in the national security arena since my old boss, Ronald Reagan, secured and fulfilled his mandate to practice “peace through strength.”What President Reagan had to do pales by comparison to the severe challenges to our security inherited by Messrs. Trump and Hegseth.First and foremost, they must eliminate the cultural Marxist “Wokism” in the Pentagon, including the replacement of generals and admirals promoted by the Obama-Biden administrations to inflict it on the uniformed services.Those steps will facilitate other vitally needed changes like restoring merit-based promotions and morale, reinvigorating recruiting, rebooting readiness, and rebuilding our sorely depleted defenses, industrial base, and power-projection capabilities.Let’s roll!This is Frank Gaffney.

Here’s a thought experiment: If the United States had a means of addictively informing, subversively manipulating and covertly collecting data on half the people of China – without the permission, let alone the control, of the ruling Chinese Communist Party – would the CCP allow us unilaterally to wield such a weapon against them?As New Yorkers say, “fuggedaboutit.” The CCP would never permit us to do to their population what they are currently doing to 173 million Americans with their TikTok app.It’s simply gobsmacking that we have allowed that to happen. So is the fact that President Donald Trump – who wanted to prevent it during his first term – has now intervened to postpone enforcement of a law requiring Chinese divestiture of TikTok, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and unanimously endorsed as constitutional by the Supreme Court.Uphold the law, Mr. President!This is Frank Gaffney.

A long time ago, I served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in Ronald Reagan’s Pentagon. In that role, I learned firsthand the truth of the President’s observation that “Personnel is policy.”So, I have grave concerns about entrusting the Defense Department’s Mideast policymaking post to Michael DiMino, a man with deeply problematic prescriptions.It would be one thing if his notions were being advanced when our most reliable Mideast ally, Israel, were secure and able to help fill the vacuum of power that DiMino’s isolationist approach would foster. But that’s not the case now, especially given a Gaza ceasefire Team Biden designed to assure Hamas’ survival.Americans voted for Donald Trump, who supported Israel over her terrorist foes – and ours – during his first term. Personnel who fundamentally disagree will be a persistent problem for U.S. policy making consistent with that mandate.This is Frank Gaffney.

Gerald Ford’s remark on the occasion of his inauguration that “Our long national nightmare is over” kept running through my head as I watched Donald Trump’s second one yesterday.It’s a source of indescribable happiness that a presidency run by unknown, unaccountable, and radical leftists was finally done – and with it a wrecking operation that relentlessly assaulted our constitutional Republic and the national security.The moment was made all the more delicious by President Trump directly repudiating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to their faces for what was done on their watch.For example, he took them to task for: ravaging our economy; unleashing millions of illegal aliens across the country; and imposing cultural Marxism’s “Woke” divide-and-conquer strategy on our military and government more generally.President Trump then immediately initiated corrective actions via over two hundred executive orders.Praise the Lord.This is Frank Gaffney.

The joyous return of three Israelis held hostage and abused by Hamas for fifteen months cannot obscure the reality of the deal that set them free: It’s not a ceasefire, it’s a hudna – a temporary pause jihadists use to emulate a diabolical strategy practiced by Islam’s prophet Mohammed.When Muslims adherent to Sharia’s totalitarian doctrine are losing a conflict, they agree to suspend the fighting, then use the time to regroup, rearm and, when it suits them, renew the bloodletting to destroy the enemy.The images of operatives and civilians in Gaza and jihadists elsewhere celebrating “victory” is all the evidence one needs that a true and enduring regional peace is not in prospect. Before Hamas gets the resources, time, and jihadist reinforcements Israel is obliged to supply pursuant to this hudna, the plug must be pulled on a predictable disaster.This is Frank Gaffney.