Trump gave Americans what they didn’t know they needed



Donald Trump had publicly toyed with the idea of running for president many times before 2015. In fact, he even entered the Reform Party’s presidential primaries for the 2000 election. But the timing was never quite right — until it finally was.

Of the many actions and twists of fate that created the opening for Trump’s presidential candidacy, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 is an underappreciated one. Hailed by the conservative legal establishment as a win for free speech (on the merits, I would agree), in practice, it unleashed a flood of money into the American political system, fundamentally reshaping the landscape of campaigns and how they were conducted.

The man who had descended that golden escalator years earlier was still there, still fighting, still determined to strive and seek and find, and not to yield.

Suddenly, the candidates themselves mattered much less, along with political parties. What mattered now were the new players who emerged from the wreckage of campaign finance law.

Super PACs could raise unlimited funds from corporations and billionaires. Dark money nonprofits kept their donors’ identities secret while spending hundreds of millions of dollars on attack ads. Labor unions could now spend unlimited treasury funds on elections. A new class of mega-donors wielded influence that dwarfed anything seen in American politics since the Gilded Age.

Courting donors over voters

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman could pour millions into Democratic super PACs and dark money groups. The Service Employees International Union could spend tens of millions mobilizing voters and running ads. George Soros could funnel tens of millions through a network of left-liberal nonprofits to influence elections at every level of government.

Candidates became supplicants in this new ecosystem, spending their days not connecting with voters but courting billionaires at private fundraisers, their policy positions increasingly shaped by the preferences of their financial benefactors rather than their constituents.

Voters noticed. They saw their television screens dominated by attack ads funded by shadowy groups with names like “American Bridge” and “Democracy for America” — names that were meant to sound generically patriotic and like they might belong to a real civic organization. But hearing them triggered something of an uncanny valley effect.

These changes to the political landscape occurred against the backdrop of a recession that continued to drag on and revelations that the NSA was engaged in widespread domestic surveillance. The combination was toxic: a political system that felt increasingly bought and paid for by wealthy interests, an economy that wasn’t working for ordinary people, and a government that was spying on its own citizens.

RELATED: Soros and McCain: The unholy alliance hidden in plain sight

Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

By early 2015, the presidential race appeared to be the ultimate expression of this corrupted system. On the Republican side, 16 candidates were scrambling for the affections of mega-donors, with Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise super PAC raising over $100 million before he even officially announced his candidacy.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was cementing her position as the Democratic front-runner by giving $225,000 speeches to Goldman Sachs and collecting millions from Wall Street firms through the Clinton Foundation. She embodied everything that had gone wrong with American politics: a former public official who had leveraged her government positions into vast personal wealth, maintaining close ties to the very financial interests that Americans blamed for the 2008 crash.

The prospect of a Clinton-Bush general election felt like the ultimate expression of a rigged system — two political dynasties, both thoroughly embedded in the donor class, offering voters a choice between different flavors of establishment corruption.

Social media-sanitized speech

Beyond the obvious problems of corruption, the influx of cash and new types of political players were merging with another phenomenon that was reshaping American politics: the rise of social media and its democratization of political destruction.

The 2006 “macaca moment,” when Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen’s use of an obscure North African racial slur (his mother was raised in Tunisia) was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube, had served as an early warning of how a single unguarded moment could end a political career. By 2015, politicians had learned to navigate this new landscape with extreme caution, delivering focus-grouped sound bites and staying rigidly on message to avoid giving their opponents — or the online mob — ammunition.

This created a feedback loop with the post-Citizens United donor class: Candidates became even more scripted and poll-tested because they couldn’t afford to alienate their financial backers with an off-the-cuff remark that might go viral.

Corporate donors and wealthy superfunders demanded message discipline and political correctness from their chosen candidates, adding another layer of constraint to an already sanitized political discourse. The result was that American politics had become unbearably dull, with American politicians speaking an entirely different language from the American people.

Enter Donald Trump

Into that world stepped Donald Trump. His ride down the golden escalator marked the beginning of a journey that would shatter the suffocating façade of American politics. That escalator ride was itself emblematic, the first of a decade-long series of glittering images that dazzled and dizzied the American public.

Trump’s political staff had tried to keep him from riding the escalator, arguing it would look “amateurish and not remotely presidential.” He overrode them, as he would continue to do at key junctures. Just as the political establishment fundamentally underestimated and misunderstood the man and his appeal, so did many of those who worked closely with him. Few have ever really understood Trump, as evidenced by the failure of so many Republicans who tried to imitate what they thought were his key points of appeal.

Trump did not just break the system — he made the system break itself.

Within minutes of announcing his presidential run, he had violated every norm of politics, calling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers while his rivals cowered behind carefully vetted talking points. Just weeks later, he attacked John McCain’s war record, declaring, “I like people who weren’t captured.” Any other candidate would have been finished before he started — donors would have fled, consultants would have resigned, and the media would have declared the campaign dead on arrival. But Trump had no donors to placate and no handlers to satisfy.

While his 16 Republican opponents were trapped in a system that demanded they speak in euphemisms and focus-grouped boilerplate, Trump could say exactly what millions of Americans felt but had been told was unspeakable in polite political society.

Though the media declared his campaign was toast, they couldn’t turn away from the spectacle. No one could.

Trump did not just break the system — he made the system break itself. The more outrageous his statements, the more coverage he received. Cable news couldn’t resist the ratings bonanza. Every controversial tweet became breaking news, every rally a must-watch live event. The media, who had long served as enforcers of political correctness and donor-approved messaging, found themselves amplifying the very voice that was destroying their gatekeeping power.

Trump’s Republican opponents remained paralyzed, unable to adapt or even understand what was happening under their feet. So completely did Trump dominate every news cycle that even Jeb Bush’s $100 million super PAC couldn’t muster a fraction of the attention for its candidate that Trump could with a single tweet — and for free. Trump also had help from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which deliberately boosted him during the Republican primary because, in one of the biggest political misjudgments in American history, campaign operatives thought he would be the easiest opponent to defeat in the general election.

The comeback

Trump’s first term came and went. I saw him at a low point, just ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. He was doing a rally in Mesa, Arizona, for the Republican ticket. Only the faithful were still showing up. He was characteristically running late. The desert sun was brutal, even in October. The only bottled water inside the security perimeter had been sitting in the sun all day and was boiling hot. During the wait, I had helped with several incidents of heat exhaustion. Those of us who remained were in a practically hallucinatory state by the time Trump came onstage.

He was obviously tired. Not just in a physical sense, but a deeper kind of tiredness. It was just two months after the FBI had raided his home, the latest in a long series of serious attacks by his political enemies. But he went on through the full act. The setting sun had painted the desert horizon a crimson red.

As the speech wound into its finale, I was reminded of Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” a poem about an aging king gathering his faithful mariners for one more voyage, one more adventure into the unknown.

“Though much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,” the poet wrote.

Trump may have seemed diminished, but he was not defeated. The man who had descended that golden escalator seven years earlier was still there, still fighting, still determined to strive and seek and find, and not to yield.

And so he did not yield.

Two years later, Trump would return to the presidency in what would be one of the most remarkable political comebacks in American history. The faithful who endured the brutal heat that October day had witnessed not an ending, but an intermission. The assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, became the ultimate test of his political resilience. Rising with blood on his face and fist raised, shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” he transformed what could have been his final moment into his resurrection, emerging from that brush with mortality — not diminished but reborn, rejuvenated, and more powerful than ever.

What Trump has given to America is not what we wanted — we didn’t even know what to want — but what we needed: a vision of greatness.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the American Mind.

'Sorry about that': WNBA announcer apologizes for sounding too pro-Trump



The WNBA continued its efforts to push away conservative fans last week, rejecting a simple statement over the idea that it could be misconstrued as conservative.

Between the constant dragging of star Caitlin Clark and the relentless woke activism that included a George Floyd tribute this May, the league not only basks in liberalism, but it outright rejects patriotism at the same time.

This trend continued when WNBA commentator Rebecca Lobo uttered a phrase last weekend that could be considered supportive of the president or even too conservative for the league.

Lobo was doing play-by-play alongside Pam Ward for a game between the Las Vegas Aces and the Indiana Fever on Sunday, a huge game for women's basketball fans. As is often the case with the WNBA, the final score was not the most talked about aspect of the game, but rather it was antics on the part of the announcers.

While discussing a foul call, Lobo was at odds with the referees' decision as Ward jokingly pointed out the disagreement.

'Differences of opinion are perfectly fine.'

Fans posted a recording of the exchange in which Ward asked Lobo, "So they disagree with you?"

Lobo responded, "They do, and I disagree with them, and that’s fine. That’s what makes America great, right, Pam Ward?"

Lobo's seemingly harmless statement sucked the gravity away from the broadcast table, resulting in dead silence over the microphones for about eight seconds.

"I should rephrase that," Lobo eventually said, breaking the silence. Her apology would come soon after.

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Lobo's suggestion of correcting herself was met with a whispered "yes" from Ward, who then offered a different version of the remark.

"Differences of opinion are perfectly fine," Ward asserted.

Lobo of course gave in and apologized.

"Yes, that's a better way to say it. Sorry about that," she conceded.

Fans responded to the footage with confusion, with many saying Lobo should have stood her ground.

"No reason to take back. [She] said the fact we disagree makes America great!" a Caitlin Clark fan wrote on X.

A Florida fan replied to the X post, saying, "So they hate America? Or like America? They literally live in the land of conundrum."

RELATED: ‘The real controllers’: Who's REALLY behind race-baiting in the WNBA

1996: Rebecca Lobo and teammates celebrate their Olympic victory over Ukraine, 98-65. BOB DAEMMRICH/AFP via Getty Images)

Governing bodies in sports all exert control over their athletes, former gymnast Jennifer Sey told Blaze News.

The athlete explained that in her sport, "for decades you couldn't talk about abusive coaches. And I guess in the WNBA you can't say anything that might be construed as conservative."

Sey added, "There's no way all the players agree and have the same views, but the WNBA makes it clear what the organization's politics are, and they must send a clear message to the players to fall in line or else."

The national champion called it "patently ridiculous" to interpret Lobo's comments as political simply because Donald Trump is the president.

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No, The Federal Reserve Shouldn’t Monetize The National Debt Again

Lawmakers of all parties keep thinking that some magic bullet will solve all of the country’s fiscal problems. It won’t.

Congressman ‘Sarah’ McBride Missed The Real Reason Why Support For The Trans Movement Was A ‘Mirage’

The unpopular and dangerous extremes were always the logical conclusion trans ideology was hurtling toward.

Exclusive: Oversight Project refers former FBI Director Wray to DOJ for criminal charges



FBI Director Kash Patel announced earlier this month that the bureau located an intelligence report from August 2020 that detailed "alarming allegations" regarding an apparent Chinese communist plot to interfere in the presidential election for the benefit of then-candidate Joe Biden.

Such allegations, if brought to light at the time, would have vindicated the concerns about voter fraud and foreign election interference then expressed by President Donald Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr, which were written off by election officials, Democrats, and the liberal media as "unfounded" and "preposterous."

Instead, elements of the intelligence community apparently covered up the alleged foreign election interference campaign.

"Former FBI leadership withheld the facts and misled the public on China's 2020 election interference," Patel stated on Thursday. "And they did so for political gain."

Patel noted in a separate message, "We're restoring trust — through transparency, not politics."

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, sent a criminal referral for former FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Department of Justice on Thursday, seeking accountability not only for Wray's alleged role in the apparent cover-up but for his alleged false or misleading statements to Congress regarding the infamous FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics.

Election interference cover-up

The referral obtained by Blaze News, which was also sent to Director Patel's office on Thursday, alleges that Wray violated federal law by giving false and misleading testimony to Congress on the topic of known voter fraud efforts.

On Sept. 24, 2020, Wray told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the FBI had "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."

On March 2, 2021, Wray suggested to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI was "not aware of any widespread evidence of voter fraud, much less that would have affected the outcome of the presidential election."

RELATED: Vindicated? Patel's FBI uncovers apparent Chinese communist plot to rig 2020 mail-in vote for Biden

Photo by LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The trouble with both statements is that they fly in the face of what the FBI apparently knew about the alleged Chinese communist attempt to swing the election for Biden.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on July 27, 2020, that between Jan. 1 and June 30 of that election year, CBP officers at the International Mail Facility at Chicago O'Hare International Airport had seized 1,513 shipments containing fraudulent documents, including 19,888 counterfeit U.S. driver's licenses.

"The majority of these shipments were arriving from China and Hong Kong, with other seized shipments arriving from Great Britain and South Korea," noted CBP.

Blaze News previously reported that the bulk of the licenses were intended for college-age students across numerous states and in many cases had functional barcodes.

The August 2020 FBI intelligence report helped make sense of this sudden glut of fake IDs, suggesting that the Chinese communist regime was mass-producing fake American driver's licenses in order to create voter identities for Chinese nationals so that they could vote with fake mail-in ballots.

'Accountability for the bad actors in government would be practically a case of first impression.'

Patel told Just the News that while substantiated, the allegations in the intelligence report "were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public."

The Oversight Project made abundantly clear in its referral that it was highly unlikely Wray was unaware of this report and the allegations therein when he testified before Congress in 2020 and 2021.

After all, Wray apparently received routine briefings about threats to the integrity of the 2020 election from Nikki Floris, the FBI deputy assistant director for counterterrorism at the time, who had raised the alarm in October 2019 about China "aggressively pursuing foreign influence operations."

RELATED: 1,004 days of betrayal for suspended FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Weaponization against Catholics

The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government indicated in a December 2023 report that the FBI:

  • "abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists";
  • "relied on at least one undercover agent to develop its assessment";
  • "proposed developing sources among the Catholic clergy and church leadership"; and
  • would likely still be "violating the religious liberties of millions of Catholic Americans" were it not for former FBI special agent Kyle Seraphin's disclosure.

Congressional investigators began looking closely at the bureau's anti-Catholic animus after a memo from the bureau's Richmond field office was leaked earlier that year, tying adherents of the Catholic faith to violent extremist views.

RELATED: The FBI was completely correct to keep an eye on Catholics

Nes/Getty Images

While Wray previously testified to Congress that the Richmond field office produced only a "single product," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has demonstrated that not to have been the case.

Grassley revealed earlier this month both that the memo was distributed to over 1,000 FBI employees across the country and that the FBI produced "at least 13 additional documents and five attachments that used anti-Catholic terminology and relied on information from the radical far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)."

— (@)

The Oversight Project's criminal referral alleges that Wray repeatedly gave false testimony about the Richmond anti-Catholic memo, noting that his "testimony was inaccurate not only because it failed to reveal the scope of the memo’s production and dissemination, but also because it failed to reveal the existence of a second draft product on the same topic intended for external distribution to the whole FBI."

"Furthermore, a query of Sentinel (the FBI’s case management system) identified 13 documents and 5 attachments that included the term, 'radical traditionalist catholic' or 'Radical-Traditionalist Catholic' in the FBI systems," said the watchdog's criminal referral. "The Intelligence Memo itself states on page 24 of the PDF — '(U) Prepared by the Richmond Division and the Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit; coordinated with FBI Milwaukee and FBI Portland Divisions.'"

Between his statements to Congress about election interference and his statements about the FBI's anti-Catholic memorandum, the Oversight Project figures that Wray committed several criminal violations, including obstruction of proceedings before Congress; corrupt conduct; and making false statements.

When asked to comment on whether he expects Wray to be held accountable for his alleged violations, Howell told Blaze News, "I don't expect accountability, but we certainly deserve accountability."

"Accountability for the bad actors in government would be practically a case of first impression," continued Howell. "To expect it would be unrealistic optimism, but it should and could happen, and that's why the Oversight Project is making the case publicly and doing everything we can to make it more likely to happen."

Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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Illegal alien child-rapist remains at large thanks to anti-ICE group: DHS



President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security warned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations are being thwarted by anti-ICE activists, allowing a child-rapist to remain at large.

A Wednesday press release from the DHS announced that it is searching for Jose Reyes Leon-Deras, a convicted child-rapist who was apparently able to evade ICE with alleged assistance from the Colorado Rapid Response Network.

'Anyone responsible should be charged with interfering with a federal investigation.'

The agency stated that the group is "known for protesting with bullhorns to warn illegal aliens and shouting profanities at ICE law enforcement officers attempting to arrest dangerous criminal illegal aliens."

ICE attempted to arrest Leon-Deras on June 20. However, CORRN allegedly alerted the suspect about the agency's presence, effectively "facilitat[ing] his escape."

RELATED: Trump’s ICE busts 11 illegal Iranian nationals: Terror suspect, ex-sniper, and another with Hezbollah ties

Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The DHS described Leon-Deras as a "safety threat," warning the public not to approach him but to report sightings to law enforcement.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, "The Colorado Rapid Response Network and its 760 members disrupt ICE operations targeting dangerous criminal illegal aliens. In this case, they helped Jose Reyes Leon-Deras, an international fugitive and convicted child-rapist, flee law enforcement. This dangerous monster is on the loose on American streets and could harm more innocent children."

The DHS press release linked to a June 20 Facebook post from CORRN celebrating that ICE was unsuccessful in its arrest attempt.

The post read, "June 20 7:30am CONFIRMED AND ONGOING ICE presence near Longs Peak Venue and Martin St LONGMONT. The same agents that were shown in our video on Tuesday. Besides these two also a grey Malibu. We will update with a photo. Our volunteers are on site and assisting the people targeted."

"No one detained," a later update to the post stated, "Volunteers confronted the ICE agents and used a bullhorn to to [sic] share their rights, ICE called the police to try and intimidate our volunteers."

The post included photographs of several alleged ICE vehicles, including their license plate numbers.

RELATED: Illegal aliens bust out of Colorado detention center — local authorities 'declined to assist' manhunt: ICE

Anti-ICE protestors demonstrate outside the ICE Processing Center on June 9, 2025, in Aurora, Colorado. Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

According to CORRN's website, the group is "committed to responding to raids, deportation, and any Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity happening across the state in our communities."

"This statewide network is intended to immediately respond to reported situations by confirming the existence of a raid or the presence of ICE, documenting the case — including using legal observers, and slowing down and controlling the public narrative of these events as we fight to keep our families together," the website reads.

CORRN runs a 24/7 hotline where residents can report ICE sightings. The group responds by sending "trained volunteers to the scene" where they "record the event, identify the agents on the scene, and inform the people involved of their constitutional rights."

ICE Denver stated, "Groups like this interfere with ICE's ability to keep communities safe."

Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) called CORRN "a disgrace."

"Anyone responsible should be charged with interfering with a federal investigation," he remarked.

CORRN did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Trump admin changes the game, sues federal judges in Maryland for automatically blocking deportations



President Donald Trump's opponents failed to stop him at the ballot box, so now they are attempting to neutralize his presidency in the courts.

U.S. district court judges have proven more than willing to help out in this regard, slapping the government with more nationwide injunctions in the first 100 days of Trump's second term than were entered throughout the whole of the 20th century.

As of Wednesday, the New York Times indicated that 199 or more of the court rulings against the president's executive actions so far this year have at least temporarily halted the Trump administration's initiatives.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has intervened in a number of cases to reaffirm the president's Article II powers and his exercise thereof, it's abundantly clear that the Trump administration is tiring of what White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has repeatedly called a "judicial coup."

The Department of Justice turned the tables on Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against the U.S. District Court of Maryland and all 16 of its judges — including its 10 authorized judges, all but one of whom were appointed by former Presidents Joe Biden or Barack Obama.

The lawsuit takes aim at an order handed down last month that automatically blocks the deportation of illegal aliens in the state whose detention is challenged by immigration attorneys.

RELATED: Clinton judge blocked workforce cuts — yet Rubio just proved with USAID that where there's a will, there's a way

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

If a petition for writ of habeas corpus is filed on behalf of an illegal alien detainee in or said to be in the District of Maryland, the Trump administration is automatically enjoined and restrained from removing the alien from the country or altering the alien's legal status for at least two days.

The district court's Chief Judge George Russell III, an Obama appointee, claimed that the May 28 amended standing order was necessary because the recent flood of illegal alien detention and removal challenges "that have been filed after normal court hours and on weekends and holidays has created scheduling difficulties and resulted in hurried and frustrating hearings."

Chad Mizelle, DOJ chief of staff, stressed that "this obviously illegal practice cannot stand. To stop it, the Department of Justice has no choice but to sue the Maryland federal district court — and its judges — to ensure that they stop overstepping their authority in this critical area."

Lawyers for the government noted in the lawsuit that the district court's automatic injunction does "precisely what the Supreme Court has forbidden: make equitable relief a 'matter of right' in the District of Maryland."

'This pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand.'

"Defendants' automatic injunction issues whether or not the alien needs or seeks emergency relief, whether or not the court has jurisdiction over the alien's claims, and no matter how frivolous the alien's claims may be," said the lawsuit.

RELATED: Will the Supreme Court rein in rogue judges — or rubber-stamp them?

designer491 via iStock/Getty Images

The complaint notes further that the standing orders:

  • "violate congressional limits on district courts' jurisdiction over immigration matters";
  • "disregard the procedural and substantive requirements for issuing what amounts to a local rule";
  • "are fundamentally inconsistent with the judicial role to resolve only concrete and discrete 'cases' and 'controversies'";
  • rob Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations of any opportunity to contest the alien's assertion of being "located in the District of Maryland" at the time of a habeas filing; and
  • "can also adversely impact the operational planning necessary to coordinate a removal, especially a removal of an alien to a country that is recalcitrant about accepting the alien."

The DOJ characterized the Maryland District Court's automatic injunctions as "a particularly egregious example of judicial overreach interfering with Executive Branch prerogatives — and thus undermining the democratic process."

"President Trump's executive authority has been undermined since the first hours of his presidency by an endless barrage of injunctions designed to halt his agenda," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "The American people elected President Trump to carry out his policy agenda: this pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand."

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'Hugely successful': Trump triumphs at NATO summit, winning over allies after years of resistance



President Donald Trump's participation in this week's NATO summit was well-received and represented a significant victory for him, contrasting with similar meetings during his previous administration.

'This has been a hugely successful summit for President Trump.'

In 2018, when Trump was pushing NATO allies to meet their then-target of 2% of GDP for defense spending, he got into a spat with German officials after he scolded the country for cutting an oil and gas deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He accused Germany of being "totally controlled by Russia," calling it a "very bad thing for NATO."

The following year, several allies — then-Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, and President of France Emmanuel Macron — were caught on camera mocking Trump.

In contrast, this year's NATO summit in the Netherlands was notably successful for Trump.

RELATED: Trump to take on NATO summit: Will allies step up or stall?

G7 summit on June 9, 2018, in Charlevoix, Canada. Photo by Jesco Denzel /Bundesregierung via Getty Images

Dr. Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas fellow, told Blaze News, "This has been a hugely successful summit for President Trump and a demonstration of real U.S. leadership on the world stage — a dramatic difference to the weak-kneed Biden presidency."

At one point, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte even praised Trump for striking Iran's nuclear enrichment sites.

"I just want to recognize your decisive action in Iran. You are a man of strength, but you are also a man of peace. The fact that you are now also successful in getting this ceasefire done between Israel and Iran, I really want to commend you for it. And I think this is important for the whole world," Rutte told Trump on Wednesday.

Rutte also credited Trump for securing substantial defense-spending increases to 5% of GDP.

"Without President Trump, this would not have happened," he remarked.

RELATED: Canada's solution to reliance on US? Increasing commitments in Europe

U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

During a Wednesday afternoon press conference in the Netherlands, Trump reported that his NATO allies were "so respectful" toward him. He celebrated the increased defense-spending commitments from the ally countries.

"I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It's not a rip-off, and we're here to help them protect their countries," Trump said.

The only conflict Trump expressed was with Spain, the only country that refused to commit to the defense-spending targets. He vowed to negotiate "directly with Spain" on a trade deal, adding that it would have to "pay twice as much" to make up the "unfair" difference in defense spending.

Trump also confirmed that he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he stated "couldn't have been nicer" to him.

Trump mentioned that he and Zelenskyy had previously experienced some "rough times," likely referring to the tense exchange he and Vice President JD Vance had with the Ukrainian president earlier this year at the White House.

Trump remarked that he had a "good meeting with Zelenskyy" at this week's NATO summit, adding that Zelenskyy and Putin would like to see an end to the ongoing war.

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As I Slept In Jerusalem’s Bomb Shelters, I Realized Trump’s Attack On Iran Was Putting America First

We were awakened by sirens at 3:00 a.m. This was a warning from the Israeli government to get ready for retaliation. And Iran did retaliate.

Trump’s ICE busts 11 illegal Iranian nationals: Terror suspect, ex-sniper, and another with Hezbollah ties



Following the United States' weekend strike on Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, the Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the arrest of nearly a dozen Iranian nationals who are illegally in the country.

The former Biden administration's open-border policies have sparked concerns that potential terrorists and other threat actors have flooded into the U.S. undetected, raising the risk of the formation of sleeper cells.

'We don't wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump's mandate to secure the homeland.'

ICE's arrests, which took place over the weekend, included a suspected terrorist, an individual with admitted ties to Hezbollah, and an alleged former Iranian Army sniper, according to a Tuesday press release from ICE.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that the arrests reflect the agency's "commitment to keeping known and suspected terrorists out of American communities."

Immigration agents in Mississippi apprehended Yousef Mehridehno. The U.S. government terminated his residency in 2017 after it determined that he made false statements on his original visa application and potentially committed marriage fraud. The federal government in February listed Mehridehno as "a known or suspected terrorist," the press release said.

RELATED: 'They don't know what the f**k they're doing': Trump cusses out Israel, Iran for nearly blowing up his ceasefire

Yousef Mehridehno. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Mehran Makari Saheli, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with admitted connections to Hezbollah, was arrested in Minnesota. He was previously convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and a judge ordered his removal in 2022.

Mehran Makari Saheli. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE Atlanta arrested Ribvar Karimi, who was reportedly carrying his Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card, which noted that he was previously an Iranian Army sniper from 2018 to 2021. ICE determined that he was eligible for removal after he entered the U.S. on a marriage visa in 2024 and allegedly broke federal law by failing to adjust his immigration status.

Ribvar Karimi. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad, who was reportedly carrying a loaded firearm when ICE Houston arrested him, entered the country on a student visa in 2016 and was arrested the following year in Texas for allegedly assaulting his wife, impeding her breathing. His wife obtained a restraining order, claiming that he had threatened her and her family in Iran. An immigration judge ordered his removal in October 2019 after his status was terminated due to academic suspension.

Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE Houston also arrested Hamid Reza Bayat, who was convicted of drug crimes and driving on a suspended license. An immigration judge previously ordered his removal nearly two decades ago.

Hamid Reza Bayat. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

In Phoenix, Arizona, federal immigration agents apprehended Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, an illegal alien who received removal orders after he was convicted for threatening a law enforcement office and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Agents also arrested Linet Vartaniann, an American citizen, for allegedly harboring Eidivand and threatening to open fire on officers. The agency claimed that Vartaniann stated she would "shoot ICE officers in the head" if they entered her home.

Linet Vartaniann. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE officials in Colorado Springs nabbed Mahmoud Shafiei and Mehrdad Mehdipour, two illegal aliens living together. Shafiei was convicted of drug crimes and previously arrested for alleged assault and child abuse. A judge ordered Shafiei's removal in 1987.

Mahmoud Shafiei. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Mehrdad Mehdipour. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Federal immigration agents in San Francisco apprehended Bahman Alizadeh Asfestani, who has a criminal history, including a conviction for theft and possession of a controlled substance for sale.

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Bahman Alizadeh Asfestani. Image Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Mohammad Rafikian, who has a lengthy rap sheet, was arrested on Monday by ICE Buffalo. He was previously convicted of grand larceny, schemes to defraud, criminal impersonation, and practicing as an attorney.

Also on Monday, federal agents in San Diego grabbed Arkavan Babk Moirokorli, an illegal alien convicted of forging an official seal.

'Very commonly, such groups are engaging in criminal acts to raise money, promote propaganda, recruit assets, or source technology and equipment.'

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, "Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden's fraudulent parole programs or otherwise."

"We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out — and we are. We don't wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump's mandate to secure the homeland," she added.

When Blaze News contacted ICE for comment, it directed us to its press release. The agency would not respond to specific questions about the arrested illegal aliens' potential terrorist cell involvement, whether they had previously been under surveillance, or had known or suspected contact with Iranian officials.

Kyle Shideler, the director and senior analyst for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, told Blaze News, "While the term 'sleeper cell' captures the imagination, it's better to think of such cells as 'terrorist infrastructure.'"

"Very commonly, such groups are engaging in criminal acts to raise money, promote propaganda, recruit assets, or source technology and equipment," Shideler continued. "That doesn't mean they may not possess military or terrorist training and the ability to conduct attacks. But it does allow a proactive law enforcement approach, which seeks to find and remove such threats before it becomes truly dangerous. Aggressive immigration enforcement is good counterterrorism."

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