5 Reasons Trump’s Second Term Promises To Be More Effective Than His First

There are several noteworthy factors that explain why the second Trump administration is outshining the first.

Zuckerberg's Meta to pay Trump massive settlement after banning him on Facebook, Instagram



Tech giant Meta is expected to pay President Donald Trump tens of millions of dollars in a lawsuit settlement after the company banned Trump from its social media platforms just before the end of his first term in office.

On Wednesday, spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed that Meta had agreed to pay $25 million. The lion's share of that sum — $22 million — is expected to be given to Trump's future presidential library, while another $3 million will go toward legal fees and other plaintiffs, NBC News reported.

Meta has already filed the settlement notice in federal court in San Francisco. According to the conditions of the settlement, Meta does not have to admit wrongdoing. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump threatened that Zuckerberg would 'spend the rest of his life in prison' if he interfered with the 2024 election.

The case relates to the melee at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, just two weeks before Trump left office. Immediately following the incident, Trump was banned on most social media platforms, including Meta's Facebook and Instagram.

At the time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed that Trump had attempted "to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden."

In July 2021, Trump filed a series of lawsuits against various social media companies for banning his accounts. The suit against the platform then called Twitter was tossed, and the suit against Google was "administratively closed" but could be reopened, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Roughly 18 months later, with Trump gunning for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Meta lifted the suspension on Trump's accounts, though with some "guardrails" in place to prevent "repeat offenses." "The public should be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed choices," the company said in January 2023.

During the campaign, Trump continued to call out social media platforms for apparently engaging in censorship and malicious political activism. In a book released earlier this year, Trump even threatened that Zuckerberg would "spend the rest of his life in prison" if he interfered with the 2024 election.

Zuckerberg, meanwhile, had lately changed his tone regarding Trump. After the then-candidate was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, Zuckerberg claimed the photograph of Trump pumping his fist and yelling, "Fight!" was "one of the most bada** things" he had ever seen.

A month later, he pledged to end the controversial "Zuck Bucks" scheme that affected the 2020 presidential election. He also admitted in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that Facebook spiked the Hunter laptop story and claimed that Facebook had been "pressured" to censor Americans during the Biden-Harris administration.

After the November election, Zuckerberg had frequent contact with Trump, visiting the then-president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago home on at least two occasions, in part to discuss the pending lawsuit against Meta.

Meta also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, and Zuckerberg attended several events on Inauguration Day, including the prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church and the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol.

On the evening of Inauguration Day, Zuckerberg posted to Facebook a photo of himself and his wife, Priscilla Chan, with the caption "optimistic and celebrating" along with an American flag emoji.

Perhaps to make further inroads with the new administration, Meta has also ditched its DEI policies and signed Trump ally Dana White of UFC fame to its board of directors.

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Trump’s swift actions drag America back from the brink



During Donald Trump’s second inauguration, a lip reader focused on an off-camera exchange between Barack Obama and George W. Bush. According to the lip reader, Obama, a staunch socialist, leaned toward Bush, an established RINO, and asked how they might “stop what’s happening.” Thankfully, the immediate answer is nothing at all. Trump’s inauguration represents a significant shift, pulling the nation back from the brink of the November 5 election, which many feared could lead to a tyrannical socialist regime.

For over a century, the Democratic Party and complicit Republicans have gradually imposed socialist policies in America. Since Obama’s rise to power in 2008, these policies have increasingly targeted American conservatives. Executive agencies, such as the IRS, harassed the Tea Party movement, the Department of Health and Human Services targeted the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the FBI investigated reporters who dared to challenge the Democratic Party line.

In America, the illness is the Democrats, and we all need a cure.

Since Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy in 2015, these agencies, along with RINO Republicans, directed their efforts against him, his family, his businesses, his associates, and other conservatives. Americans should recognize how close the nation came to losing its freedoms and express profound gratitude to Trump for his decisive actions in just the first four days of his second administration.

Trump’s new administration withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization, restoring sovereignty over the nation’s economy and health care system to the American people.

At home, Trump has nominated John Ratcliffe as his new CIA director, Pam Bondi as his attorney general, and Kash Patel as his man to reform the FBI. Under this new leadership, conservatives will no longer face investigations or persecution for expressing their love of country and freedom. These appointments aim to ensure full investigations into the past 16 years of agency misconduct, uncovering the truth about recent history.

Trump is securing the border while empowering law enforcement to operate in Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities. This marks the end of years where Democrat-led city and state administrations shielded criminal gangs involved in systematic drug and sex trafficking. In just a few days, hundreds of murderers, rapists, and drug dealers have been arrested, making the nation safer. This also signals the end of the Democrat Party’s alleged practice of importing illegal immigrants to replace American voters or form socialist militias to plunder inner cities.

Trump has declared the Green New Deal dead and frozen further funding for the Inflation Reduction Act. Both initiatives were designed to enable a massive economic takeover of the energy sector and redistribute wealth to Democrat-controlled states and constituencies at the expense of businesses and taxpayers nationwide. This move could spell the end of environmental, social, and governance policies, which aimed to control the nation’s investment capital and direct it to Democratic Party-aligned enterprises. Let’s hope it also ends the practice of financial institutions “debanking” citizens and businesses for holding unfashionable conservative views.

Trump is dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across all government agencies and the military. These DEI initiatives, engineered to divide the country, infiltrated public institutions and businesses through executive boards and human resources departments to indoctrinate American adults.

He is also putting an end to critical race theory in education. This socialist-driven framework re-educated America’s youth to despise their country and themselves. What’s more, the president is halting transgenderism in education and medicine — another socialist initiative that exploited prepubescent children by pushing psychotropic drugs and promoting irreversible physical changes. These policies, which included surgeries and treatments that targeted children’s minds and bodies, were part and parcel of the Democratic Party’s agenda.

From restoring national sovereignty and reforming intelligence and justice agencies to securing the border, enforcing law and order, and shutting down redistributionist programs, Trump is steering the nation away from the precipice engineered by over a century of the Democrats’ socialist policies. His actions are bringing the country back to free enterprise and a focus on education reform.

Our nation has been saved.

One of Trump’s best nominations so far might be Linda McMahon as secretary of education. Her appointment should serve as a model for this generation and the next. Trump assigned McMahon with returning control over education to states, local communities, and citizens, with the goal of putting herself out of a job.

Socialism, like all tyrannies throughout history, thrives on concentrated power. To reverse the tide of tyranny in America, we must decentralize power for a generation or more — shifting authority out of Washington, D.C., and returning it to the states and the people.

History offers a cautionary tale. When Ronald Reagan took office promising a conservative revolution, then-House Democratic Leader Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) publicly declared, “I can read the Congress; they go with the will of the people, and the will of the people is to go along with the president.” Privately, however, he assured fellow Democrats, “Time cures all ills.”

In America, the illness is the Democrats, and we all need a cure. Thank you, Dr. Trump.

When it comes to new friends, Republicans should trust but verify



The enthusiasm surrounding Donald Trump’s inauguration last week highlighted the breadth and diversity of the president’s coalition. Among those attending were American technology leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. However, conservatives should hesitate before fully welcoming these figures into the America First movement.

While the GOP rightly celebrates the powerful allies surrounding President Trump, the party must uphold its foundational conservative principles. Republicans should avoid capitulating to the liberal ideologies often espoused by the tech industry and should not overlook the past actions of these business leaders.

To prove their political transformation is genuine, tech leaders need to take meaningful steps to counter the decade-long vilification of President Trump and his supporters.

Zuckerberg, who once sported hoodies but now discusses “masculine energy” on Joe Rogan’s podcast, allowed his Facebook platform in 2021 to bow to Biden administration pressures and censor dissenting opinions on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similarly, Cook’s Apple Newsfeed, Pichai’s Google search engine, and Bezos’ Washington Post played roles in suppressing critical information. Their actions contributed to the promotion of draconian lockdowns. These lockdowns, in turn, enabled widespread vote-by-mail, which, according to MIT’s Election Data and Science Lab, has been linked to higher rates of fraud compared to in-person voting, even among scholars who generally view election fraud as rare.

Worse, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, personally contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to an organization that provided ballot drop boxes to facilitate the 2020 election. Ninety percent of those were in Democrat-leaning counties.

To his credit, Zuckerberg has since admitted to mishandling the public health crisis. The young billionaire publicly rebuked the Biden White House for launching its censorship campaign against Facebook, but he didn’t have to succumb.

And let’s not forget how Big Tech suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story. The Washington Post, whose slogan was “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” also cast plenty of shade on the New York Post’s reporting of “Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop.”

It's also worth remembering that in 2021, Apple and Google removed the social network Parler from their app stores and Amazon threw it off its cloud web hosting service. The corporations claimed that the platform, founded as a free-speech alternative to the censorious, pre-Elon Musk Twitter, was responsible for spreading violent content and contributing to the “insurrection” on January 6. The move left hundreds of thousands of conservatives without a virtual home.

Before millions of disaffected Democrats joined Trump’s cultural movement, conservatives watched in frustration as the “very fine people” lie from Charlottesville was allowed to circulate unchecked online. Technology leaders were too focused on elevating the MeToo and Black Lives Matter narratives to counteract what could have been easily debunked with a straightforward analysis of Trump’s actual statement.

Today, identifying as a common-sense conservative may be considered cool, but not long ago, Republicans were dismissed as backwater bumpkins and ostracized in social circles. It’s fair to say that major tech companies contributed to the public prejudice against conservatives through their platforms.

While Zuckerberg and Bezos have distanced their companies from the divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion framework that dominates woke corporate culture, companies like Apple and Microsoft are expanding their DEI programs. They claim these initiatives foster a “culture of belonging” and promote inclusivity.

To prove their political transformation is genuine, tech leaders need to take meaningful steps to counter the decade-long vilification of President Trump and his supporters. Incorporating America First policies into their corporate practices would be a good start.

For instance, instead of manufacturing iPhones in China, Apple CEO Tim Cook could explore plans to build an Apple plant in states like Michigan or Nevada. A city such as Detroit, which has one of the highest unemployment rates among major U.S. cities, could greatly benefit from the economic boost an Apple facility would provide.

Similarly, many American merchants selling on Amazon have seen their sales stagnate due to the influx of counterfeit, low-cost Chinese products on the platform. To support U.S. businesses, Jeff Bezos could take action to prevent Chinese sellers from undercutting American entrepreneurs.

Conservatives are compassionate, kind, and tolerant people, but expanding our coalition shouldn’t require compromising core principles. Nor should it mean quickly forgetting the criticism and attacks we endured from those who now want to align with us. While we can welcome their change in rhetoric, we should also hold them accountable to back their words with real actions.

72 Hours In The Rotunda — How A Group Of Young Trump Staffers Executed His Inaugural Vision

72 Hours In The Rotunda — How A Group Of Young Trump Staffers Executed His Inaugural Vision

The real reason Donald Trump didn’t put his hand on the Bible during his inauguration



Many keen observers noticed that when Donald Trump was taking the oath of office on Inauguration Day, he didn’t place his hand on either of the two Bibles held by his wife, Melania Trump. One of those Bibles was Trump’s personal Bible, given to him by his mother; the other was the Lincoln Bible that was used when Abraham Lincoln took the presidential oath in 1861.

As Chief Justice John Roberts led President Trump through the swearing-in recitation, he held his right hand up instead of placing it on the Bibles.

Some were very upset by this. After all, in 2017 during his first inauguration, President Trump did place his hand on the Bibles held by his wife. Further, Vice President JD Vance, who was sworn in just before Trump, placed his hand on the Bible held by his wife, Usha Vance.

What gives? Should we read into this?

Allie Beth Stuckey dives into the controversy.

“People were saying, ‘Oh, this must mean something; this is bad,’ but in reality, it is not required for you to put your hand on the Bible,” says Allie, adding, “I don't think he's signifying anything.”

“Actually, if you watch the video of this happening, it was a little rushed. You could tell Melania was trying to get up by him and Chief Justice Roberts started reading the oath before Melania was right there, and so I think it was just a rushed situation,” she speculates.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that Trump intentionally didn’t place his hand on the Bibles, but given how many times he explicitly mentioned God in his speech — “I was saved by God to make America great again,” “we will not forget our God,” and “one family and one glorious nation under God” — it’s unlikely that his hand placement had some symbolic meaning.

Further, “The fact that they provided their own family Bible means that they did care about that, that it was important to them, even if it was just symbolic,” adds Allie. “If they didn't care at all, they wouldn't have provided a family Bible.”

To hear more of her analysis on the inauguration, watch the episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

FACT CHECK: There Was No Red Moon On Eve Of Trump’s Inauguration Day

A post shared on X claims there was a red moon on the eve of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. 🚨Update: Red Moon on the eve of the Inauguration. In various cultures, a red moon has been interpreted as an omen. In ancient Mesopotamia, it was seen as a “threat to the king’s life.” pic.twitter.com/wmo0FFo3DC — US […]

Most influential conservative ever? Trump sets a blazing pace



Donald Trump, who survived multiple assassination attempts and criminal prosecutions, pulled off the most impressive political comeback in American history when he took the oath of office Monday. During his inaugural address, he lambasted Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, forcing them to sit through a list of their failures. The 47th president made sweeping promises, including sending troops to secure the border, returning manufacturing to the United States, and avoiding unnecessary wars. Everyone expected bold rhetoric but wondered if Trump would back it with action. He did not disappoint.

After fulfilling his ceremonial duties and thanking his supporters, Trump issued a flurry of executive orders. He pardoned more than 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021, some of whom remained in prison awaiting trial. Many had faced nonviolent charges or had been investigated without actually entering the Capitol. Trump also withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization, which he blamed for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic. In another order, he directed the federal government to recognize only two genders and removed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies from relevant agencies.

Rapidly rolling out his agenda would give Democrats less time to recover and limit the ability of sympathetic media outlets to manipulate public opinion.

Immigrants at the southern border discovered that the CBP One app — used by the Biden administration to facilitate an invasion of the United States — had been shut down. News crews filmed migrants in tears after their screening appointments were canceled.

Meanwhile, Trump issued an order freezing federal civilian hiring and designated foreign drug cartels operating in the United States as terrorist organizations. He also imposed a 90-day pause on all foreign aid to reassess those programs. Ideally, they will be eliminated entirely.

Most significant for the nation’s future, Trump signed an order to end the destructive practice of birthright citizenship. Currently, anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically considered a citizen, regardless of their parents’ legal status. But this was never the intention of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War to clarify that freed slaves were, in fact, American citizens.

Under Trump’s new directive, if a child’s parents are in the country illegally or only under temporary status, that child will not be deemed a citizen. The measure aims to end the “anchor baby” phenomenon, in which foreign nationals enter the country on a temporary visa, have a child who becomes a citizen, and then leverage that status to remain in the United States.

This change is crucial because it dramatically affects voting patterns. New immigrants tend to favor Democrats, which is why the left pushes so hard for open borders. Although illegal immigrants cannot vote, their children born on American soil gain citizenship. Democrats were playing the long game, hoping that a large influx of illegal immigrants now would translate into political victories later, when those children came of age and started voting. By restoring what he considers the 14th Amendment’s intended meaning, Trump has blocked this strategy, making it more likely Republicans will prevail in fair elections.

Trump’s day-one blitz of executive orders sends a strong message, but it marks only the beginning. The left remains stunned by his sweeping victory, though its disorientation will not last forever. Progressives tried every tactic — from labeling Trump a Nazi to attempting to bankrupt him, remove him from the ballot, imprison him, and even kill him. All those efforts failed, and the American people returned the billionaire to the White House with a clear mandate. Progressives continue their accusations of racism and fascism, but the energy and power behind those charges have largely evaporated.

Trump must maintain an all-out offensive while his opponents remain weak and demoralized. Although executive orders can make a splash, they can also be undone with the stroke of a pen.

The birthright citizenship question will head to the courts — opponents have already filed a raft of lawsuits — and the administration must be ready to defend its position vigorously. At the same time, achieving lasting change through legislation is critical, though the president will likely battle members of his own party as often as he fights Democrats.

In his first term, Trump encountered constant opposition from personnel within his own executive agencies. Now older and more experienced, the president recognizes the importance of securing Senate confirmation for key appointees to ensure his second administration’s success.

Trump has also pledged to abolish certain government agencies, such as the Department of Education, and to implement major law enforcement steps, including the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Rapidly rolling out this agenda would give Democrats less time to recover and limit the ability of sympathetic media outlets to manipulate public opinion.

Trump made a strong showing on his first day back in the White House. The left remains stunned by the scope of defeat and can only offer modest resistance to his agenda. Unlike his first term, the president now benefits from powerful media allies — such as Elon Musk — and a staff fully attuned to the obstacles he faces. The time for action is now.

If Trump maintains this rapid pace, he is poised to become one of the most influential conservative presidents in American history. But if he hesitates or loses focus, the left will seize the opportunity to revive its flagging movement.

Lisa Murkowski denounces Trump's J6 pardons



Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska denounced President Donald Trump's sweeping pardon of 1,500 defendants convicted of offenses related to the January 6 protest at the Capitol.

On his first day in office, Trump pardoned the 1,500 defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 others, fulfilling one of his key campaign promises.

'The Capitol Police officers are the backbone of Congress — every day they protect and serve the halls of democracy.'

"This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation," the pardon reads.

While Trump and his allies maintained great support for pardoning the J6 "hostages," including Blaze News investigative reporter Steve Baker, Murkowski expressed great disapproval.

"The Capitol Police officers are the backbone of Congress — every day they protect and serve the halls of democracy," Murkowski said. "I strongly denounce the blanket pardons given to the violent offenders who assaulted these brave men and women in uniform."

Other Republicans, like Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, had similar reservations about the sweeping nature of the pardons.

"Anybody who is convicted of assault on a police officer, I can't get there at all," Tillis said Tuesday. "I think it was a bad idea."

Although she was highly critical of Trump's J6 pardons, Murkowski refrained from addressing the pardons former President Joe Biden issued just hours before Trump was sworn in.

In the 11th hour, Biden pardoned Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the January 6 committee, as well as his brothers Francis and James Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens, his sister-in-law Sara Biden, and his brother-in-law John Owens.

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