Pulling their weight: At the height of this week’s NATO summit, China’s ambassador to Nepal lashed out at the European “ass kissers” who made nice with Donald Trump. “His anger is well founded,” writes the Hudson Institute’s Mike Watson. “Between the bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear program and the summit’s results, the last few days have been good ones for Americans and their friends.”
Trump entered office “intent on rebalancing America’s alliances.” He made important progress toward that goal at the summit, where all NATO members except Spain agreed to increase their defense spending over the next 10 years. In doing so, Watson argues, Trump created “an opening for an updated Nixon doctrine.”
The summer after his inauguration, Nixon called on America’s allies to commit more resources toward their own security so the United States could focus on major nuclear-related threats. Now, “a Nixon Doctrine 2.0, in which the United States supplies key capabilities to its allies and partners, extends its nuclear umbrella over its allies, and otherwise focuses on the Indo-Pacific—the main theater—is beginning to emerge.”
“This week, Trump delivered an important message to the world,” concludes Watson. “When the NATO allies pitch in, ‘we’re with them all the way.’ When Israel needs help against common threats, Washington shows up. Iran just discovered that Xi Jinping doesn’t think that way. Others will notice. And those Chinese diplomats will be seething.”
READ MORE: Trump Revamps the Nixon Doctrine
Ode to Joe: Exactly one year ago yesterday, Joe Biden wandered onto a debate stage in Atlanta after posing with a can of “Dark Brandon” water that he said left him “feeling pretty jacked up.” What happened next, our Andrew Stiles writes, “would spark a chain reaction that would ultimately usher in a new era of American greatness and change the course of Western civilization for the better.”
Biden stammered and rambled, his mouth agape and his gaze glossy, “as though he’d been jolted awake from his afternoon nap and ordered to perform open-heart surgery with a pair of child’s scissors.” His “disastrous performance, arguably the worst in the history of politics, made it impossible for Democrats to keep lying about his fitness to serve another four years.” Trump would cruise to victory and “secure another four years (at least) in the White House. Within a year, many of Iran’s senior military leaders would be dead, its nuclear program in ruins, and its own doddering tyrant cowering in an underground bunker.”
“In his own bumbling way, Biden helped save the United States from ruinous decline, and delivered a crippling blow to the Islamist regime in Iran,” notes Stiles. “The only things he had to sacrifice were his dignity, the respect of his party, and his so-called legacy. Any patriotic American would accept that trade. Happy anniversary!”
READ MORE: Biden Stumbled So That Trump Could Soar: Happy One-Year Anniversary to the Debate That Saved America
No sanctions relief for you: Donald Trump was reportedly considering easing sanctions against Iran in an attempt to kick off nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic. Then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei went and opened his big, terroristic mouth.
Following Khamenei’s Thursday address on Iranian state TV, during which the ayatollah claimed to have given “America a severe slap” during the 12-day war and vowed to “never surrender,” Trump said any sanctions relief is off. Trump “SAVED” Khamenei from “A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post. Rather than thank the Don, Khamenei issued “a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust.”
“They are always so angry, hostile, and unhappy, and look at what it has gotten them – A burned out, blown up Country, with no future, a decimated Military, a horrible Economy, and DEATH all around them,” Trump continued. “They have no hope, and it will only get worse!” Shortly thereafter, Trump revealed what “worse” might mean: Asked if he would bomb Iran again should the mullahs enrich uranium to a concerning level, Trump responded, “Sure, without question, absolutely.”
READ MORE: Trump Drops Sanctions Relief for Iran Following ‘Angry, Hostile, and Unhappy’ Khamenei Address
In other news:
- Turning the cold shoulder: Kamala Harris is weighing a run for California governor and the state’s top Democratic donors are making clear they aren’t exactly thrilled with the prospect: “Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete s— storm,” one donor who contributed six figures to Harris’s failed presidential bid told Politico.
- Mossad agents spent months smuggling explosive drone parts into Iran using “suitcases, trucks, and shipping containers” ahead of the successful Israeli operation to assassinate leading Iranian nuclear scientists—and Bibi Netanyahu surprised the Islamic Republic by carrying out the attack around the scheduled date for his eldest son’s wedding, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- Harvard, with its $53 billion endowment, is asking “big technology and pharmaceutical companies” to bankroll its research in lieu of federal funding from the Trump administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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