Last weekend in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, protesters gathered for a No Kings rally, holding signs that compared federal immigration officers to Nazis — one reading, “Nazis used trains. ICE uses planes.” These kinds of messages aren’t just offensive, they’re dangerous. And they’re becoming far too common in politics.
The same weekend, halfway across the country, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL) was shot and killed in a politically motivated attack. While the investigation is ongoing, the timing is chilling — and it reminds us that words and rhetoric can have consequences far beyond the floor of a legislative chamber.
Most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions.
When public servants are threatened, harassed, or even harmed for doing their jobs, something has gone deeply wrong in our democracy.
It’s time to turn down the temperature — not just in our political speeches, but on our main streets, in school board meetings, and even our protest signs.
Public service is about problem-solving, not posturing. I’ve always believed in working with my neighbors — even when we disagree — to make our community safer and stronger. But that’s becoming harder when disagreement is met with dehumanization and history is twisted into political theater.
We’ve seen it right here in my community. At a recent public hearing on how to protect children from online predators, a woman disrupted the meeting to shout that our Jewish sheriff, Fred Harran, was a “Nazi.” A week later, during a Bucks County Commissioners meeting about a law enforcement partnership with ICE, Commissioner Bob Harvie warned of “parallels” between modern politics and pre-war Nazi Germany.
I’ve worked hard in the state House to expand Holocaust education in Pennsylvania schools, because I believe history must be remembered — not weaponized. As the daughter of educators, I was raised to know that using Nazi references as political attacks not only dishonors the memory of those who suffered, it poisons the possibility of honest, civil debate.
None of this is to say we shouldn’t debate serious issues — immigration, public safety, fiscal priorities, and the future of our communities. Or that we shouldn’t take part in peaceful protest rooted in our First Amendment rights. We must. But we must also remember that democracy isn’t about shouting each other down — it’s about listening, questioning, and finding common ground.
RELATED: It’s not a riot, it’s an invasion
The truth is, most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions. They want their kids to be safe, their neighborhoods to be strong, and their elected officials to focus on solving problems — not scoring points.
Let’s be better than the signs. Let’s be better than the sound bites. Let’s choose to be neighbors first and partisans second.
Because if we don’t change the tone now, we risk losing more than just elections — we risk losing one another.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.
Numerous Democratic politicians have in recent days returned to their summer 2020 strategy of characterizing violent leftist riots as peaceful protest and President Donald Trump's desire to restore order as both escalatory and authoritarian.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, among the standouts in his party who previously refused to join progressives in attacking Israel in the wake of the 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks, proved willing once again to call out his colleagues for their radical approach.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executed a number of lawful operations last week in California. Democrats were quick to demonize the federal agents and frame their operations as illegitimate.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for instance, accused ICE agents of sowing "terror" and stressed that the city would "not stand for this."
California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla followed suit, stating that the "ICE raids across Los Angeles today are a continuation of a disturbing pattern of extreme and cruel immigration enforcement operations across the country" and demanding "accountability for today's actions."
'This is a wake up call for many Democrats.'
While Democrats vilified ICE, similarly minded radicals took to the streets, attacking police and federal agents, blockading major thoroughfares, setting fires across the city, and looting downtown businesses.
RELATED: VIDEO: Blaze News reporter on scene as tensions escalate in Los Angeles for 4th night
At the outset, Fetterman's comrades were largely silent on the matter, even as police were being brutalized by foreign flag-waving radicals. However, when President Donald Trump called up the National Guard on Saturday and deemed the rioters "troublemakers and insurrectionists," Democrats decided chaos was, actually, a problem — but a problem attributable primarily to Trump.
Bass, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey were among the Democrats who blamed Trump and his administration for the violence and unrest.
Fetterman suggested in a message on Monday that Democrats' failure to condemn the violent and destructive acts committed by the rioters in Los Angeles was not only immoral but a self-own.
"I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration — but this is not that," wrote Fetterman in a message accompanying a photograph of a rioter standing atop a destroyed car and waving a Mexican flag while nearby other wrecks burned. "This is anarchy and true chaos."
"My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement," added Fetterman.
While poorly received by unhinged partisans like podcaster Keith Olbermann, Republicans welcomed the insight.
RELATED: White House warns radicals now massing in Boston, elsewhere in wake of LA riots: 'Think twice'
"Well said," responded Alabama Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R).
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote, "It's hard to preach hard truths to your own side. I respect this."
Elon Musk responded with an American flag emoji.
Deputy White House chief of staff Taylor Budowich seized upon Fetterman's tweet as a strong indicator to similarly sensible Democrats that their party may have left them behind.
"This is a wake up call for many Democrats: there is no room for you in the party of @GavinNewsom and @KamalaHarris," wrote Budowich. "Their self-obsessed pursuits of power are blind to you and your concerns. They defend chaos, reject biology, and are unbothered by the invasion of our nation."
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President Donald Trump celebrated on Friday the partnership between U.S. Steel and Japan-based Nippon Steel, telling Pennsylvania steelworkers, "We don’t want America’s future to be built with shoddy steel from Shanghai — we want it built with the strength and the pride of Pittsburgh!"
Trump marked the occasion with a rally at U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works-Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, just outside of Pittsburgh — a venue carefully secured in advance by the U.S. Secret Service, keen not to drop the ball again in the Keystone State.
'I proclaimed a simple but crucially important principle: If you don't have steel, you don't have a country!'
"This is an incredible deal for American steelworkers, and it includes vital protections to ensure that all steelworkers will keep their jobs and all facilities in the U.S. will remain open," Trump told rally-goers, evidently proud of shepherding the companies into an agreement that wouldn’t jeopardize American control or jobs.
The president also announced that the tariff on steel would double from 25% to 50% in order to help the steel industry even more. The audience applauded loudly at the proclamation.
"When I came into office eight years ago, I proclaimed a simple but crucially important principle: If you don't have steel, you don't have a country!" he added.
Trump lauded steelworkers as "the best people," saying, "You people and others like you built this country."
“We are once again going to put Pennsylvania steel into the backbone of America,” he said at the end of his speech.
Supporters of the deal were jubilant in their comments to CBS News.
"How I feel is I can take a breath today," said third-generation steel worker Andrew Macey. "It's just wonderful."
"When you see that everything you've done for the last two years come together, it's overwhelming with emotion," said West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly. "So yes, I was crying. I'm not ashamed to admit it. Big men cry, and I was crying with happiness."
Former President Joe Biden torpedoed a $15 billion deal for the Japanese corporation to fully purchase U.S. Steel, stressing that "a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains."
Biden's Jan. 3 decision — announced weeks before Trump retook office and just days after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States indicated it was unable to reach a consensus on the transaction — was condemned by both companies. They noted in a joint statement that Biden's action reflected "a clear violation of due process and the law" and relied upon a process "manipulated to advance President Biden's political agenda."
The companies subsequently took legal action, challenging Biden's order, and said of their litigation:
From the outset of the process, both Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel have engaged in good faith with all parties to underscore how the Transaction will enhance, not threaten, United States national security, including by revitalizing communities that rely on American steel, bolstering the American steel supply chain, and strengthening America’s domestic steel industry against the threat from China.
U.S. Steel leaders suggested that without an infusion of capital from Nippon Steel, the American company would have to limit its legacy blast furnace investments and embrace cheaper nonunion electric arc furnaces, reported CBS News.
The company's mixed package of threats and warnings also included the suggestion that U.S. Steel might move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh.
Trump, like his predecessor, was not initially convinced the sale was a good idea.
The president, who emphasized in his first term that "if you don't have steel, you don't have a country," noted a month before Biden blocked the deal, "I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan."
Trump reiterated his opposition in late January, stating, "We saved the steel industry. Now, U.S. Steel is being bought by Japan. So terrible."
'US Steel will REMAIN in America.'
Despite his months-long opposition, Trump expressed an openness on Valentine's Day to the possibility of Nippon Steel acquiring a minority stake in U.S. Steel, saying he "wouldn't mind greatly." However, he suggested that "psychologically, we can't even think about letting that happen," in reference to a full takeover.
It appears there has since been a favorable shift in psychology and terms.
A month after speaking with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Sen. Dave McCormick (R) about U.S. Steel and about keeping jobs and investment in the state, Trump announced on May 23 that the deal — or some form of it — had the green light to proceed.
RELATED: Revving up America — Trump’s Nippon Steel deal puts the pedal to the metal
Trump framed the deal not as an acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon but rather as the beginning of a "partnership" that would create at least 70,000 jobs — U.S. Steel presently employs just over 14,300 people in North America — and add $14 billion to the American economy.
"I am proud to announce that, after much consideration and negotiation, US Steel will REMAIN in America, and keep its Headquarters in the Great City of Pittsburgh," the president wrote on Truth Social. "For many years, the name, 'United States Steel' was synonymous with Greatness, and now, it will be again."
The president framed the $14 billion figure as an investment — the largest in "the History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" — and noted that the bulk of the investment would occur over the next 14 months.
'That's a big deal.'
While the White House told Blaze News that the "details of the deal will be announced at the appropriate time," Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick, a champion of the deal, provided some insights into key elements of the arrangements with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.
McCormick confirmed that Nippon has agreed to invest $14 billion "into new investment into U.S. Steel, and that's going to be $2.4 billion, at least, minimum, in the Mon Valley right outside of Pittsburgh."
Gov. Shapiro confirmed at an event Thursday that, based on commitments Nippon Steel has made to him and the White House, there will be an investment of at least $2.4 billion in steelmaking in the state.
"That's a big deal, and it's something that I think we do need to celebrate," said Shapiro.
Besides the investment, there are apparently a number of assurances that Americans are still calling the shots.
RELATED: Trump signs steel, aluminum tariffs despite significant opposition
'This is being extremely well received in Pennsylvania.'
Sen. McCormick noted further that "it's a national security agreement that will be signed with the U.S. government. It'll be a U.S. CEO, a U.S. majority board, and then there will be a golden share that will essentially require U.S. government approval of a number of the board members, and that will allow the United States to ensure production levels aren't cut and things like that."
Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori told Reuters that trade and manufacturing capacity issues will be overseen by directors appointed by the CFIUS, effectively putting the Department of Commerce on the board.
Blaze News reached out to U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel, and the Department of Commerce for comment but did not receive responses by deadline.
The deal, according to McCormick, would save about 10,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and add another 10,000 jobs in the building trades. He noted elsewhere that the deal supports the creation of at least 14,000 jobs.
"This is being extremely well received in Pennsylvania," said McCormick. "The steel workers there are wildly excited about it, and I think it's going to be a great thing for my state."
While individual workers might be elated, the United Steelworkers, a general trade union headquartered in Pittsburgh, is skeptical — but was initially outright condemnatory.
'The latest "partnership" announcement continues to raise more questions than answers.'
"Allowing the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon, a serial trade cheater, will be a disaster for American steelworkers, our national security, and the future of American manufacturing," USW international president David McCall said in a statement on May 22. "It is simply absurd to think that we could ever entrust the future of one of our most vital industries — essential to both national defense and critical infrastructure — to a company whose unfair trade practices continue to this day."
Blaze News reached out to the union after more details emerged about the nature of the "partnership." In response, a spokesman provided the message the USW sent to members Wednesday, which contained softened language but sustained skepticism:
The latest “partnership” announcement continues to raise more questions than answers. Nippon still maintains it would only invest in USS facilities if it owned the company outright. We’ve seen nothing in the reporting to indicate that position has changed. We also have no confirmation if or how much of the stated $14 billion would go to our union-represented sites, or how much would be for new capital improvements versus routine repair & maintenance.
While the USW remains uncertain about the arrangement, there appears to be significant support in Pennsylvania, including at the top.
Gov. Josh Shapiro noted in a statement that he and Pennsylvania Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis have long "worked with the leadership of Nippon and U.S. Steel, local labor, and federal, state, and local partners to press for the best deal to keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pittsburgh, protect union jobs, and secure the future of steelmaking in Western Pennsylvania."
"Now that President Trump — who has sole decision making authority in the CFIUS process, has expressed his support for the deal — we have the opportunity to deliver historic investments, ensure the future of American steelmaking continues to run through the Mon Valley while the headquarters of U.S. Steel remains in Pittsburgh and have our workers, right here in Pennsylvania, continue leading the world with their skill and innovation," added Shapiro.
Davis said the announcement looked "promising" but noted that he wants to "make sure everyone involved in the deal holds up their end of the bargain."
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Let’s cut through the wishful thinking.
Contrary to what you may hear on Fox News or from conservative pundits, the Democratic Party isn’t imploding. The happy talk about a collapse may feel good, but it doesn’t reflect political reality. Yes, the party’s popularity has cratered in the polls — down to 27% according to some surveys. Yes, Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Jasmine Crockett of Texas are sideshow acts. And yes, elected officials like Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka allegedly physically assaulted ICE agents at a detention facility in New Jersey.
The sooner the Republican National Committee realizes it’s running from behind in 2026, the better.
But don’t assume any of that will cost Democrats elections.
Democratic voters have shown time and again that they either don’t mind obscene behavior from their leaders or they flat-out enjoy it. Don’t expect outrage over arrests or outbursts to suddenly translate into ballot-box blowback. Polls may show the party in a deep slump, but that doesn’t automatically translate into lost races. Voters often treat parties as abstractions but candidates as individuals.
That distinction matters. Case in point: Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.).
Spanberger, a liberal Democrat, is running away in her race for Virginia governor — despite the Democratic Party’s poor national standing. Unless she commits an unforced error (and even then, the media will likely run interference), she’s on track to succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Her GOP opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, is a Marine Corps veteran, a devout Christian, and a compelling conservative voice. She’s also black. But in modern Virginia politics, don’t expect her race to break through the stronghold of the overwhelmingly left-wing black vote — or the white, college-educated suburban women who reliably side with Democrats.
Don’t confuse collapsing party approval with electoral collapse. The left may be unpopular, but it’s still powerful — and that matters more than the polls.
Spanberger may not wave the woke banner, but she’s every bit as culturally left as the rest of her party. Unlike the loudest activists, she avoids the firebrand persona and leans hard into buzzwords like “unity” and “bringing people together.” If elected, expect her to govern just like Ralph Northam (D) — minus the public enthusiasm for post-birth abortion.
Spanberger isn’t unique. Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro (D) follows the same playbook. He speaks calmly, claims to support Israel, and talks about “solving problems,” all while quietly pushing a radical social agenda. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) has also mastered the performance. His folksy demeanor wins voters in a red state, even though his positions align with the likes of Tampon Tim Walz and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. He talks like Andy Griffith while voting like Bernie Sanders.
Don’t confuse presentation with moderation.
The Democratic Party hasn’t lost its grip on blue America. It hasn’t even flinched.
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Just look at Philadelphia, where radical District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) just won his primary in a landslide — beating a supposedly more moderate Democrat with over two-thirds of the vote. In New York City, Democrat prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s far-left prosecutions and anti-Trump theatrics haven’t dented his popularity.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for a Republican breakthrough in the deep-blue states. Democrats still dominate Illinois, hold Minnesota, and likely have an edge in Michigan and Wisconsin.
If the Democratic Party were truly in its death throes, it wouldn’t be holding its ground so confidently in the places that matter most.
Winning elections in the United States means collecting the most officially recognized votes. A national party can lag in overall popularity and still dominate the game. Democrats understand that — and play to win, by hook or by crook. Whether through ballot harvesting, lawfare, or machine politics, they know the courts won’t stop them and the legacy media won’t question them.
Their ground game runs deep. Teachers’ unions, public sector workers, black activists, LGBT groups, and college-educated white women fight for them like their paychecks depend on it — because they often do.
Democrats also enjoy bountiful donations from most of those at the top of the income curve, who don’t confuse the crony capitalism from which they benefit with real socialism. Even if the Democrats claim to be fighting plutocracy, they are being swamped with megabucks from the very rich.
Let’s also stop pretending Democrats lack a unified message. Their priorities are crystal clear: DEI, trans ideology, unlimited abortion, open borders, and tax hikes to fund their coalition. Millions of Americans support all or most of this agenda, or at least don’t mind it enough to vote against it.
Fox News may roll its eyes at the clowns in Congress, but those clowns aren’t trying to impress us — or the Fox All-Stars. They’re mobilizing their base, and the base likes what it hears.
The sooner the Republican National Committee realizes it’s running from behind in 2026, the better. Because that’s exactly what it’s doing.
It is hard to believe we have been forced into this fight.
For 28 years, I played competitively on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, and even though it took me seven long and frustrating seasons to win my first tournament — a time when I questioned myself more times than I can count — I went on to capture 34 titles, including six major championships. That career earned me a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame and the LPGA Hall of Fame, which is the most difficult hall in all of sports to enter.
Never in my wildest dreams did I believe I could compete against elite male athletes.
The LPGA has been around for 75 years, and we only have 35 members in our Hall of Fame due to the rigid entry criteria. In 2024, we added our most recent inductee, Lydia Ko. For context, Lydia has won 23 LPGA titles, three major championships, and three Olympic medals — and she just got in. It goes to show that the LPGA Hall of Fame is an elite club. I am humbled to be a part of it.
But I can promise you this: Even with the career I had, I would never have won a PGA Tour event — ever. It’s comical to think in those terms.
A few LPGA players have tried the Professional Golf Association Tour. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, an Olympic medalist in track and field and the original founder of the LPGA, played in one men’s event. So did Annika Sorenstam, who is one of the greatest players of all time with 72 LPGA Tour wins and 10 majors.
Michelle Wie West, who was a teenage phenom, played in the PGA Tour event near her home in Hawaii. And Brittany Lincicome and Lexi Thompson, both long hitters in the women’s game, accepted sponsor exemptions to play with the men. Not one of them made the 36-hole cut to play the weekend. The best in the history of women’s golf never made the top half of the field in a PGA Tour tournament.
On the flip side, if a struggling PGA Tour player had decided to declare himself a woman and play the LPGA Tour, that person would have shattered our record book.
Thankfully, late last year, professional golf did the right thing and instituted a gender policy that secures women’s golf for women.
The fight is far from over. While President Trump signed an executive order to pull federal funding from any school or state that allows men — no matter how they identify — from competing in women’s sports, women are still being bullied, harassed, and cheated out of trophies they have worked their whole lives to attain.
Within the last few weeks, men identifying as women have won track and field and swimming championships, and a female fencer was sanctioned after she took a knee and conceded rather than compete against a biological male.
Whether it’s a transgender college volleyball player or the absurdity of two Olympic boxers who are biological men, it’s up to those of us with long, successful careers to stand up and say, “Enough!”
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I was so disheartened by my home state of Pennsylvania. During a floor debate on the Save Women’s Sports Act — a bill that would do nothing more than infuse common sense back onto the playing fields — Pennsylvania state Senator Lindsey Williams said, “I want all girls to know that there are elected officials like me who believe female bodies are just as strong and fast and capable as male bodies.”
That statement was so ridiculous, I spent half a day confirming that it wasn’t a parody.
But Williams wasn’t finished. She went on:
I want all girls to know there are elected officials like me who would never underestimate your ability to beat a boy at their own sport, because that’s what the premise of this bill assumes, that female bodies are less than male bodies, that girls are at an automatic disadvantage, and can't possibly compete against boys. Even though girls do it every day.
I attended Furman University in the mid-1970s, where I was a three-sport athlete. In the fall, I played field hockey. In the winter, I played basketball. In the spring, I played golf. During my senior year, I focused solely on golf. But never in my wildest dreams did I believe I could compete against male athletes in any of those disciplines.
Sure, I could beat most of the random guys on campus at golf. But at the elite college level, female bodies are obviously at a disadvantage over our trained male counterparts. It’s simple biology.
I have been inspired by the courage and leadership that women like Riley Gaines and former gymnast Jennifer Sey have shown on this issue. And the number of women speaking out is growing. From disc golf and cycling to weightlifting, women are finally ignoring the insincere calls for empathy. They are saying, “No, this is not right. This is not fair. Women’s sports must remain for women.”
It is my honor to place my name among those taking that stand. Many of us fought for places to compete when none existed. We cannot surrender our sports or our spaces. This moment and this mission are too important to sit on the sidelines.
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