They covered Christ — Trump just brought Him back to light



Jesus is coming back — to the walls of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

In a sharp reversal of the Biden administration’s campaign to scrub religious symbols from public institutions, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week that a painting of Jesus covered up in 2023 would be restored to public view. The announcement drew cheers from merchant mariners gathered at the academy.

Under the previous administration, erasing Jesus from the walls was just the beginning. But that all changed the moment President Trump took office.

The painting, titled “Christ on the Water,” dates to the 1940s and was created to honor mariners lost at sea during World War II. But in early 2023, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation sent a letter to then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling the artwork a “sectarian painting illustrating the supremacy of Jesus Christ” and demanding that it be removed as an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

Naturally, Buttigieg complied. Joanna Nunan, the academy superintendent — whose biography boasted of her efforts to expand “diversity and inclusion” in the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine — ordered the painting covered.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and then-Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) slammed Nunan for her “flawed understanding” of the First Amendment and called on the academy to keep the painting on display. At the time, academy midshipmen warned that “woke” ideology had “seeped into the school” — and that its spread had only accelerated under Biden and Buttigieg.

Duffy’s announcement marks a clear break from that era and shows just how dramatically things have shifted under President Trump.

Last week’s announcement isn’t the only recent move by the administration to defend America’s religious heritage.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins announced that his office intervened to stop a speech code threatening chaplains at a Pennsylvania VA hospital.

The action came after First Liberty Institute and the Independence Law Center sent a letter to Collins on behalf of Chaplain Rusty Trubey. An Army Reserve chaplain, veteran, and former missionary, Trubey has served at the Coatesville VA Medical Center for nearly a decade.

In June 2024, as part of his regular duties, Trubey led a chapel service and preached from the first chapter of Romans. After the service, while cleaning up, he was approached by a VA police officer who said complaints had been filed about his sermon.

After the incident, the VA removed Chaplain Trubey from his duties, launched a months-long investigation, and threatened to mark his permanent record. Though the VA eventually dropped the reprimand, his supervisor pushed to impose a sermon review process and revise the Chaplain SOP and Performance Plan to limit what topics chaplains could preach on. Had those changes taken effect, chaplains could have faced punishment for preaching in accordance with their religious convictions.

Secretary Collins reversed course, stating clearly: “There is no national or local policy or standard operating procedure which inhibits Chaplain sermons. To the extent that there have been any proposed changes to any existing policy, those proposals will not move forward and have been rescinded.”

He emphasized, “It is undisputed and well-settled law that constitutional protections and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act safeguard statements made by all VA chaplains while delivering sermons in line with their ecclesiastical endorsers.”

Under the previous administration, erasing Jesus from the walls was just the beginning. Erasing faith from the pulpit soon followed. We can only imagine what the landscape would look like if the November election had gone the other way.

But that all changed the moment President Trump took office.

In his first days, Trump issued executive orders to restore religious liberty and end the weaponization of the federal government against political dissent — a tactic increasingly common in the left’s push to enforce its woke ideology. From the start, the administration made clear that faith would not be silenced.

That mission hasn’t let up. The fight to restore our first freedom has been relentless.

And to that, many Americans say amen.

Trump’s DOT left to clean up Biden admin's $43 billion grant fiasco



The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation revealed that it inherited an “unprecedented backlog of grants” left by the Biden administration.

In late March, the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration reported that Secretary Sean Duffy had finalized a $221 million federal grant to rebuild Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — its westbound side has been closed since December 2023 following a “critical failure.” The funding for the project was initially announced in the fall of 2024, but the Biden administration “failed to sign the agreement.”

‘Under the Trump administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters.’

The DOT’s announcement noted that "the Trump administration inherited roughly 3,200 unobligated grants that had been promoted by the previous administration but never fulfilled.”

Duffy stated, “Since coming into office, my team has discovered an unprecedented backlog of grants leftover from the previous administration.”

He slammed “ridiculous DEI and Green New Deal requirements” for preventing “real infrastructure from being built and funded.”

“Under the Trump administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters. As part of our work to deliver real results, we are pleased to announce $221 million in grants for Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — a critical link that carries thousands of vehicles a day,” Duffy declared.

A DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the backlogs totaled $43 billion. After Trump won the election but before he took office, the Biden administration reportedly announced $9 billion worth of grants to 1,000 recipients that were not made official before Biden departed.

“Nothing was done to actually get these grant agreements signed and sent to projects,” the DOT spokesperson stated.

During the April 10 Cabinet meeting, Duffy told President Donald Trump about the previous administration’s massive grant backlog.

“The last administration announced 3,200 projects, big, beautiful roads and bridges — most of them are good. But they announced them — they didn’t sign a grant agreement,” he explained. “So the money doesn’t go out the door to build the infrastructure in the country. And it’s fun to do an announcement. It’s actually the harder work to put together these grant agreements.”

Duffy noted how the Biden administration included “green and social justice requirements.”

“We’re pulling all that out and putting the money toward the infrastructure, not the social movement from the last administration,” he said.

Trump responded, “Good steel, right? As opposed to green papier-mache.”

On Monday, Duffy announced that the DOT had saved taxpayers $63.9 million by terminating a grant between the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak to build a high-speed rail project in Texas.

Duffy called the project “a waste of taxpayer funds and a distraction from Amtrak’s core mission of improving its existing subpar services.”

“If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out. My department will continue to look for every opportunity to save federal dollars and prioritize efficiencies,” Duffy said.

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Mike Rogers launches Senate campaign to replace retiring Democrat



Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers (Mich.) announced Monday that he will once again be running for a Michigan U.S. Senate seat, this time to replace retiring Democrat Sen. Gary Peters in 2026.

Rogers was previously the Republican nominee in the 2024 race to replace now-retired Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Although Republicans managed to flip four Senate seats in the 2024 election cycle, Rogers narrowly lost to his Democratic challenger, now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin.

Similar to Rogers' first Senate bid, the Michigan race is expected to be one of the most contested. As of now, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is the only Democratic candidate in the running. Notably, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg clarified that he would not be running to replace Peters.

'Michigan is a battleground state, and with Mike as our candidate, I know we will add his seat to president Trump's Senate majority in 2026.'

"President Trump needs strong allies in the Senate to help him deliver on the mandate given by the American people," Rogers said. "That means bringing manufacturing jobs back to Michigan, protecting seniors’ Social Security, lowering the costs of gas, groceries, and prescription drugs, and setting our kids up for success by improving the quality of their education. Michigan, let’s get to work."

Although Democrats have had a steady winning streak in Michigan's Senate seats in past cycles, the swing state's mixed electorate makes for another pickup opportunity that Republicans have set their sights on. Rogers has also maintained support from senior Republican senators, strengthening his bid for the seat.

"Michigan is a battleground state, and with Mike as our candidate, I know we will add his seat to president Trump's Senate majority in 2026," NRSC Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement.

"Mike Rogers is the conservative leader that Michigan needs in the U.S. Senate," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a statement. "As an Army veteran and former special agent, Mike understands the importance of putting service before self. We need him in the U.S. Senate to help achieve President Trump's America First agenda and to bring manufacturing and good-paying jobs back to Michigan."

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