Commentary by Bill McGuire

Actually, socialism is fine. It's as American as apple pie. It's the term “socialism” that's the menace. In US politics, the word stops sensible political discussion dead in its tracks. Here, socialism is what Claude Lévi-Strauss called a floating signifier: It points everywhere at once and therefore nowhere in particular. In the Capitol, we see politicians deploring the evils of socialism one moment and then co-sponsoring it the next. In Washington, D.C., socialism is any government program somebody doesn't like. It means no more than that.

Do you support social security? Medicare? Farm price supports? Bailouts for critical industries? A gargantuan defense budget that largely serves as a stimulus program? Congratulations, you are a socialist. You dirty pinko rat. The fact is the US has long had a mixed economy with both socialist and free market elements. And everything in between. But America likes to pretend otherwise.

According to many on the right, a Democrat is a liberal is a socialist is a communist, further confusing the issue. On purpose. More than 70 years after Joe McCarthy was knocked off his peg, the Red Scare continues. When former Attorney General Bill Barr denounced Donald Trump, he said he still couldn't vote for a Democrat because he had to "stop communism." Among many Americans, the terms “socialist” and “communist” are interchangeable, and that's just how Republicans like it.

Over here on the left, the term socialism is remarkably elastic as well. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) identify as democratic socialists. But over in Europe where such terms have any congruency at all, they really are social democrats, and they're not the same thing. Meanwhile, centrist Democrats in the US will offer the most socialistic-y proposals while never bringing the word socialism anywhere around. If they have any hope of passing them, anyway.

Is there a solution to this lexical logjam? It's a question that only raises another question: Could politicians ever start using words properly? If the word socialism doesn't mean anything anymore, maybe we should just stop using it.

McGuire is contributing pundit for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 5/11/26

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Mr. Corbett observes: “Liberty and free-market democracy have delivered the very prosperity and opportunity that critics now take for granted.”

True, but how are the Trump tariffs an example of “free-market” anything?

Or there’s this: Intel was going to get a CHIPS Act grant—that Team Trump transformed into a 10% equity stake in the company, making the federal government the largest single shareholder in the company. How is that anything other than state socialism?

Or there’s this: To allow the acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, the Trump Administration demanded a “golden share” in the company. This allows the US government to have veto decisions over production capacity, plant closures, and other aspects of the business. How is that anything other than state socialism?

And there is the Trump administration putting its thumb on the scale on behalf of President Trump’s friends when it came to the acquisition of the US portion of TikTok, like Larry Ellison’s Oracle and the Silver Lake private equity firm that Ellison is an investor in. Oh, and the government is talking a $10 billion payment from its “brokering” of the deal. Since when are “free markets” controlled by the government?

At the most generous, this can be described as mercantilism, state capitalism. . .or socialism.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

•••

Let's Debate the US War on Iran

[READ Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay's commentary, "The Economics of Engagement" in The Gray Area.]

Next Talking With, Not At … debate at The Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania is Wednesday, May 27. Topic for Debate & Donuts III is “Was the US Military attack on Iran at the end of February a good idea?”

To pre-register for this free event, email info@allentheatre.com.

Or email us at editors@thehustings.news, which also is a good address for commenting on any current issue, including the war on Iran and our current debate on whether or not socialism has a place in the United States. 

We are dedicated to providing a civil, safe, post-social media space open to views from around the political horseshoe, without echo chambers. Become a citizen pundit and voice your opinion today. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/11/26

Commentary by K.E. Bell

Ah, the great boogeyman that is socialism.

We can’t have universal healthcare because that would be socialist. We can’t feed the poor because that would be socialist. We can’t build light rail, have free tuition, offer paid parental leave, or help anyone get a leg up in any way.

Most importantly, we can’t tax the rich because that would be socialist. 

Socialism and communism will never take a foothold in America because our religion is Capitalism. We have rigged the government to be by the rich for the rich, and the corporations are greasing the wheels to make sure it stays that way. Heck, for the last 15 years they’ve been considered people.

Sounding the alarm on the dangers of Marxism sounds at best disingenuous and more appropriately like a red herring coming from a side that has systematically tilted the playing field in its own direction over the last 50 years. 

The Republicans have captured the courts on up to the Supreme Court. They have gerrymandered districts to eliminate competition while ignoring the will of the people. They’ve reversed women’s rights and voting rights, and made sure big money has more say. The tax breaks enacted by Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump have moved $79 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% to the top 1% since 1975, according to a 2025 report from the nonpartisan Rand Corporation. Those tax breaks have also ballooned the national debt to $39 trillion, and the interest on that debt is more than a trillion dollars a year. 

At some point, the adults are going to have to enter the room and fix this. 

Social Security is on track to become insolvent by 2032, when it will no longer be able to pay out full benefits as the Baby Boomers live out their golden years and Gen X enters its retirement years. Healthcare costs keep rising, and we pay roughly double for less care than those “horrible socialist” European countries.

That might be part of the Republicans’ current strategy: Let it burn and make the other side raise taxes to fix it, then reclaim office when tax hikes turn the electorate against the Democrats. 

We’re in a second robber baron era that must end. Make Musk pay his damn taxes rather than take his compensation in stock and borrow against his assets. Make big business pay its fair share. 

I have no idea what my colleague, Mr. Corbett, is talking about in terms of a push toward Marxism. I suspect it is Mayor Mamdani in New York who has him so on guard. Mamdani, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), brands himself a Democratic socialist, and he expounds on ideas of making living more affordable. I don’t see him or his ilk seizing the means of production. 

[For the record, Mamdani alone among the three is a member of the organization Democratic Socialists of America but ran for New York City mayor as a member of the Democratic Party. Sanders and AOC are self-described democratic socialists in their political leanings.]

It’s just like the Democrats to mis-brand a movement. The word socialism is so taboo on the right that using the term democratic socialist becomes toxic. Just say you’re progressives — you want to move the country forward.

Mr. Corbett’s examples of communism gone wrong are indeed horrific. But they were the acts of bad men with too much power. 

You know who else is a bad man with too much power? Donald J. Trump. And he’s given that power by a do-nothing, capitulate-at-all-costs Congress.

The United States needs to turn away from this era of far-right authoritarianism.

Adopting a few socialist…err…progressive…ideas along the way will be necessary. But I don’t think it’s fair to call taxing the rich and providing a basic social safety net “socialism.” You don’t get to wrench us hard to the right then call a turn back to the left “socialism.” Enacting these types of policies would be just an effort to rebalance the rightward tilt of the country over the last 50 years. 

Bell is a contributing pundit for The Hustings.

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THURSDAY 5/7/26

Commentary by Rich Corbett

In the decades since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, too many younger Americans have come to view Marxist ideas not as a cautionary tale but as a fashionable alternative worth considering. From college campuses to city halls — where even some mayors have flirted openly with socialist rhetoric — the under-30 generation often sees “equity” and state-directed economics as compassionate solutions to inequality. They know little of the gulags, the engineered famines that killed millions of Ukrainian kulaks, Mao’s Cultural Revolution or the drab, hopeless lines for bread in communist capitals. Raised in a post-Cold War world of smartphones and social media, they mistake the sanitized slogans of “democratic socialism” for something new and humane. This historical amnesia is dangerous. It erodes the hard-won understanding that communism is not a noble experiment gone wrong, but a proven destroyer of human freedom.

Liberty and free-market democracy have delivered the very prosperity and opportunity that critics now take for granted. Private property, individual rights and limited government, rooted in America’s founding principles and reinforced by Judeo-Christian morality, created the most dynamic economy and generous society in history. Contrast that with the communist record: State control of production led to chronic shortages, innovation stalled by bureaucrats and personal initiative crushed under the weight of the collective. Even China’s much-touted “market reforms” under Deng Xiaoping succeeded only where the Communist Party loosened its grip — yet Beijing still maintains one-party rule, surveillance and the power to dictate every citizen’s future. Sustainability, population control and utilitarian “greatest good” rhetoric may sound enlightened to academic elites, but they inevitably subordinate the individual to the state. History shows where that road leads: Not to utopia, but to tyranny.

Democracy without liberty is merely mob rule dressed up in nice slogans. America’s genius has always been the constitutional republic that protects the rights of the minority — even the single citizen — against the whims of the majority or the dictates of self-appointed experts. Communism, by design, rejects this. It replaces God-given rights with government-granted privileges, private enterprise with central planning and personal conscience with state-approved morality. The left’s long march through our institutions has normalized these ideas in one major party and much of the media. But the American people have rejected them before, and we must do so again — through education, honest debate and an unapologetic defense of the principles that made this republic exceptional.

The fight is not merely partisan, it is existential. Younger Americans deserve to hear the unvarnished truth about life under communism — not from dusty textbooks, but from the clear voices of those who remember the Iron Curtain and the boat people fleeing Castro’s paradise. We cannot afford complacency. Private property, individual liberty and faith in the Creator — not the state — remain the only proven path to human flourishing.

Resistance to the collectivist tide is not nostalgia; it is patriotism. Our heritage of freedom must be reclaimed, defended, and passed on, before another generation learns these lessons the hard way.

Corbett is contributing pundit for The Hustings. He writes on a variety of subjects at My Desultory Blog.

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THURSDAY 5/7/26

Commentary by Hugh Hansen

Speculating as we do about Trump's motivations and decision-making (I won't call it a "process"), the mess he's made of tariffs and related policy (which I think Mr. Macaulay described accurately and well) shouldn't come as a surprise. It has an us vs. them theme which seems popular with his base; it assumes easy winner and loser labels for he who imposes the tariffs and all those who must submit to them; it involves large numbers of dollars moving in commerce, which he likes to pretend he understands.

It must have felt pleasantly like deciding to fire people on The Apprentice.

Hansen is contributing pundit for The Hustings.

•••

Join the conversation on President Trump’s tariff policy as foreign policy. Email COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings (regardless of the position of your comments) in the subject line. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/4/26

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

This isn’t too difficult to understand.

President Trump is showing—and has been showing—he and his enablers don’t know what they are doing.

Let’s take a simple example from something that doesn’t get the attention it deserves—because there are too many other things that have piled on, obscuring it from view.

The tariffs.

It may be hard to believe, but it has been more than a year since Trump announced “Liberation Day,” an ill-chosen name for a disastrous program.

First of all, he applied 10% tariffs across the board, even on countries with which the US has a trade surplus. 

Realize that no one is forcing Americans to buy things from elsewhere. We want to. 

So what did that do? Made it more difficult for Americans to buy what they want to.

Then there was bizarre math.

Someone (Howard Lutnick? Peter Navarro?) took a given country’s US trade deficit, divided it by its exports to the US, and divided by two. That was the tariff rate charged. It ranged from 20% to European Union countries to 49% on Cambodia.

As time has gone on there have been so-called “deals” cut so that the tariff rates with certain countries have been adjusted. Sometimes up. Sometimes down.

It seems the adjustments are primarily predicated on Trump’s personal predilections.

This is not policy.

This is one man wielding power to make himself feel better while making Americans less better off, despite what he might argue about the manifold benefits.

One of the biggest arguments Trump and his acolytes for tariffs repeatedly made is that the tariffs would lead to more manufacturing investments by foreign companies, which would result in a massive resurgence in manufacturing jobs in the US —manufacturing jobs, they maintained, were stolen by these foreigners.

According to figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, since Liberation Day there has been a loss of 5,000 manufacturing jobs in the country. A comparatively small number (unless you are one of the 5,000) but opposite of what has been and what continues to be claimed by the Trump Administration.

Or let’s take some figures from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

It recently reported, “Manufacturing employment increased in March, gaining 15,000 from February,” which is good news, but then it goes on: “Employment in the sector has been in decline over the past few years and is below pre-pandemic levels.”

No, no big tariff-powered boom.

And NAM has this, which ought to make Joe Biden feel better: “Durable goods job openings decreased by 32,000 in February to 298,000, while nondurable goods job openings fell by 39,000 to 141,000. This number of openings is back near the pre-pandemic (2017–2019) range, wherein the average number of openings in the sector was 432,000, but remains below the average of 756,000 exhibited between 2021 and 2023.” [emphasis added]

That’s right, below the opportunities available during the Biden years.

Another part of the Promises Made, Promises Unkept is in construction. That, too, was going to boom in the Golden Age.

But according to NAM: “Manufacturing construction spending has slowed after soaring dramatically in 2022 and 2023. Down 15.0% year-over-year in January, private manufacturing construction spending has been in decline since February 2025.” [emphasis, again, added]

Again: “soaring dramatically in 2022 and 2023.” Pre-Trump. Pre-tariffs.

As for the tariffs in this space, NAM says: “High construction material prices and economic uncertainty threaten to further inhibit growth in the months ahead.”

According to the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB): “Data from the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) April 2025 survey reveals that builders estimate a typical cost effect from recent tariff actions at $10,900 per home. More than 60% of builders surveyed by NAHB have reported seeing higher costs due to tariffs.”

That was a year ago.

The good news for homebuilders — and consequently home buyers — is the Supreme Court striking down the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This means such things as some appliances and HVAC systems and other items no longer have the additional tax.

However, there are still things under the Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs. Section 232 is the application of tariffs under national security concerns.

Of course Canadian softwood lumber is a threat to national security, to say nothing of kitchen cabinets and vanities.

Can any reasonable person see those tariffs as being something other than spite?

If there is any doubt about the cavalier nature of the application of tariffs by Trump, consider his decision made last week after meeting with King Charles III.

Scotch, according to the internationally accepted Geographical Indication, can only be made in Scotland.

Those who live in the US who want to drink authentic Scotch were hit with a 10% tariff. Again, here’s a case where Americans want to buy something that they can only buy from abroad — there is nothing unfair about it — yet are hit with a tariff.

This is akin to the 10% Liberation Day tariff put on bananas. The banana tariffs were rolled back via an executive order in November 2025, along with coffee and orange juice.

Clearly there was nothing tactical or strategic or even economic about those tariffs.

So last week, after the meeting with the actual king, Trump announced the 10% tariff on Scotch is being removed.

Again: Why?

Perhaps it has something to do with a picture Trump posted on social media last week showing him and Charles together.

The caption: “TWO KINGS.”

Are the tariffs an economic tool or simply something that is applied and removed by ostensibly royal whim?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

•••

Join the conversation on President Trump’s tariff policy as foreign policy. Email COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.newsand please indicate your political leanings (regardless of the position of your comments) in the subject line. –Editors

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MONDAY 5/4/26

It is the longstanding mission of The Hustings to promote civil discourse between political animals from the far left to the far right, all everywhere between in the political spectrum. Even when the “other side” seems to be stomping all over your rights peaceful protest will be more effective than resorting to violence.  

Our new series in Annville, Pennsylvania, Talking With, Not At … with at The Allen Theatre and Salamander Bookstore Café represents the extension of The Hustings’ ethos. We have held two Talking With, Not At … debates, on whether the Trump economy has improved Americans’ lives, and whether Congress should pass the president’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, and we look forward to announcing our third in the series soon.

Until then, you are invited – encouraged, even – to contribute to our right or left columns by emailing your comments and opinions to editors@thehustings.news. Keep it civil and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we post your comments in the proper column. –Editors

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MONDAY 4/27/26

DRINK SCOTCH WHISKEY TARIFF FREE -- President Trump has Truth Socialed that he will remove his 10% tariff on Scotch whiskey in celebration of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s US visit, Politico reports. [Royal Family website photo]

Ignore Our Headline – War on Iran already has ended, President Trump argues, pointing to a twice-extended ceasefire that began in early April. So Friday’s deadline for securing congressional approval after 60 days at war, as required by the War Powers Act, does not apply, the president claims (per The Associated Press). 

The Act does not contain a provision for ceasefires, however.

Meanwhile … The Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded by the Islamic Republic, whose leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, says will protect its nuclear and missile capabilities (Politico).

•••

Gassed Up – Friday’s national average gas price is up 9.2 cents over Thursday, AAA reports, to $4.392 for a gallon of unleaded regular. That’s $1.71 higher than February 27. Diesel is up 7.6 cents over night to $5.572 per gallon, according to AAA. That’s $1.808 over February 27.

OK economy … Wall Street rallied Friday morning as ExxonMobil and Chevron report better-than-expected first-quarter earnings results, NPR reports.

•••

Homeland Secured – House Republican leadership had to suspend rules to push its bill through to President Trump’s signature late Thursday to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, ending the longest partial government shutdown in US history (per CQ Roll Call). The Senate had already passed the bill, which funds the Secret Service, Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency and others, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol. 

House Democrats had held up DHS funding over demands for ICE and Border Patrol reforms after two immigration enforcement protesters in Minneapolis were killed in January.

Section 702 extended … Meanwhile, the House passed a short-term extension to June 12 of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by 261-111 vote (Roll Call). The vote just beat expiration of FISA Section 702, which has distractors from both sides of the aisle.

•••

New Farm Bill – The House passed its budget neutral farm bill, 224-200, with “sweeping” updates to food and agriculture programs, Politico reports, after months of work and pressure from farm state Republicans and ag industry lobbyists. Senate passage of the bill, which would update the most recent authorization from 2018 also is less than certain. –TL

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THURSDAY 4/30/26

Trump War Action Imminent? – Axios scoops Thursday morning that President Trump will receive a briefing on a new plan for potential military action against Iran from CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, according to two sources with knowledge. According to the scoop this signals Trump is “seriously considering” major combat operations either in an attempt to break the logjam in negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or to pound Iran hard before ending the war. 

The scoop comes about a week after The Atlantic reported that military commanders avoid presenting Trump with battle plan updates on a daily basis. That report says war/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth typically schedules daily briefings for 8 a.m., when the president will be watching Fox and Friends instead. 

Hegseth testifies Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, a day after appearing before the House Armed Services Committee, where he said the US has spent $25 billion on the war on Iran so far and fought with committee Democrats over the whole we’ve won the war but now we’re removing the nuclear arms capability that we obliterated in last year’s attack on Iranthing.

•••

Price Matches Date – On April 30 the national average price of a gallon of unleaded regular has hit $4.30, according to the AAA. That’s up 7.1 cents over Wednesday’s price and $1.318 over February 27. Diesel is $5.496, up 3.2 cents for the day and up $1.732 per gallon from just before the US-Iran war began.

•••

Jim Crow Redux? – The Supreme Court began eroding the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013, and its 6-3 ruling Wednesday that struck down a congressional map in Louisiana a group of self-described “non-African Americans” had challenged as the result of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering appears to have completed the job. SCOTUS’ decision on Louisiana v. Callais upholds a federal court ruling that banned Louisiana from using the new map, which would have created a second majority-Black district in the state, according to SCOTUSblog.

SCOTUS did not specifically strike down the protection clause of the Voting Rights Act, though Elena Kagan in her dissent of the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote the provision is “all but dead letter.”

•••

Steady Powell – And defiant, to paraphrase Fortune magazine in its report on outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s announcement Wednesday that the board’s Open Market Committee has voted for the third consecutive meeting to hold interest rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75% in the face of President Trump’s persistent demands for a sharp reduction. 

Powell is set to step down as Fed chair, but not as an FOMC member when the Senate likely confirms Trump’s choice for a replacement, Kevin Warsh. The White House removed Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) as an obstacle, as he held up Warsh’s confirmation until the Justice Department dropped an investigation of Powell and the Fed’s long-planned renovation of its Washington headquarters. 

Powell’s term on the Fed board ends in 2028. If he were to step down early, Trump would have the opportunity to nominate a fourth board member, giving the White House a majority on the FOMC.

•••

In Case Melania Wasn’t Enough – Amazon is discussing a reboot of the television show that propelled Donald J. Trump past the pages of Spy magazine into the national consciousness, The Apprentice, potentially with Don Jr. as host, according to an exclusive in The Wall Street Journal.

Apparently, paying the first lady $40 million for the Melania “documentary” was not enough. 

Discussions are in the early stages according to the report, which notes that Amazon Prime Video owns the original 14 seasons of The Apprentice on NBC-TV starring Donald Sr. since 2022, when Amazon acquired the back catalog of MGM’s film and television studio. 

An Amazon spokesperson told the WSJ; “Since our acquisition of MGM, we have had preliminary internal discussions about what’s next for The Apprentice as a property.” –TL

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All The King’s President – Brilliantly the King of England, who has no real power in his own country, was able to manipulate President Trump’s royal obsequiousness to tell Congress Tuesday that the US must stick with NATO, support Ukraine over Russia and generally restore itself as the bulwark for global democracy. 

On Wednesday, King Charles III and Lady Camilla visit the 9/11 memorial in Trump’s hometown a day after the King reminded in his address the president that the attack on the US stands as the single example that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invoked Article Five. An armed attack against one is an armed attack against all.

Herewith, some of His Royal Highness’ key points from his speech to Congress, directed to Trump-obsequious Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) …

On America First: “Drawing on these values and traditions, time and again, our two countries have always found ways to come together. And by Jove, Mr. Speaker, when we have found that way to agree, what great change is brought about – not just for the benefit of our peoples, but of all peoples.”

On shared democratic values founded in the Magna Carta and reinforced by the US Constitution: “Distinguished members of the 119th Congress, it is here in these very halls that this spirit of liberty and the promise of America’s founders is present in every session and every vote cast. Not by the will of one, but by the deliberation of many, representing the living mosaic of the United States. In both of our countries, it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free societies that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today.”

Support for British Prime Minister Kier Starmer, whom Trump decried as ‘no Winston Churchill’ when the PM refused to join the war on Iran: “As my Prime Minister said last month: ‘ours is an indispensable partnership. We must not disregard everything that has sustained us for the last eighty years. Instead, we must build on it.”

On Article 5 and Ukraine: “In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when NATO invoked Article Five for the first time, and the United Nations Security Council was united in the face of terror, we answered the call together – as our people have done so for more than a century, shoulder to shoulder, through two World Wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan and moments that have defined our shared security. Today, Mr. Speaker, that same, unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people. It is needed in order to secure a truly just and lasting peace.”

However … President Trump Truth Socialed Wednesday morning that King Charles III agrees with him about the need to disarm Iran of its nuclear weapons, The Guardian reports.

“Iran can’t get their act together,” Trump wrote. “They don’t know how to sign a nuclear deal. They’d better get smart soon! President DJT.”

••• 

Acting Like a Trump AG – Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wants to become attorney general, and to that end the Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey Tuesday for his Instagram post of seashells arranged on a beach to read; “8647.” DOJ alleges Comey was suggesting the “86” means “doing harm” to “47,” President Trump. 

Comey quickly removed the post after that Trumpian interpretation, though “86” is more commonly taken to mean “get rid of” in the “kick out of the place” sense. 

Speaking with NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition Wednesday, Lawfare editor, Brookings Institute fellow and Friend of Jim Comey Benjamin Wittes noted that Amazon sells t-shirts reading “8646,” meaning, “kick Joe Biden out of the White House.” Dated as they may be, people wear them, protected by the First Amendment (if not by Jeff Bezos himself).

FOJC Wittes told Inskeep this second indictment of Comey is “even dumber” than the first, “about lies Jim Comey didn’t tell to Congress and this one is about a threat he didn’t make to the President of the United States.” It is based on the Supreme Court doctrine that a “true threat” is not First Amendment protected.

Comey’s attorneys have “several” opportunities to file for dismissal of the case, Wittes said.

First is “selective or vindictive” prosecution as in the first indictment. Second is First Amendment protected speech. Wittes expects motions for dismissal to be filed “relatively quickly.” Certainly before Blanche can become permanent US AG.

•••

Trump Wants to Stamp Your Passport – The Bulwark, a right-leaning never-Trumper publication since the first Trump administration, which we’ve often quoted, gets the scoop cred for reporting that President Trump plans to “plaster” his face on US passports in “celebration” of the nation’s 250^th anniversary. 

Like the Trump-Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (soon to be perhaps just the Trump Center), the Arc d’ Trump and Trump’s gilded ballroom, this would be no fleeting homage to the 45^th/47^th president. Apply for a Trump US passport today and it’s your passport to the rest of the world to date of application 2036. 

According to its report, The Bulwark sought comment from the White House after consulting two independent sources on and obtaining photos of the new passport, and the White House asked The Bulwark to hold for comment while it passed on the news to the much more Trump-sympathetic Fox News, which reported it without all The Bulwark’s details.

•••

Gas Pains – After dipping toward the $4 mark earlier in the month gas prices are up again according to the AAA. National average for a gallon of unleaded regular hit $4.229 Wednesday, up $1.247 over February 27. Diesel, the fuel that drives much of our goods across the US averages $5.464, up $1.707 over February 27. –TL

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WHCD Shooting Suspect Charged – Cole Allen was charged with attempted assassination of the president of the United States over the shooting that disrupted the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton Saturday (The Wall Street Journal). Authorities are still trying to determine who, exactly fired the shot that wounded a Secret Service officer when a bullet bounced off his bullet-proof vest, according to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. 

Allen, 31, could face a life sentence on the first count. He also was charged with discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence and transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony.

One of Allen’s public defenders stressed that he is presumed innocent going into trial and noted he has no prior arrests or convictions on record.

•••

What Has the President Been Told? – The Atlantic, which has had an unusual relationship with President Trump and the Pentagon since Pete Hegseth inadvertently let the magazine’s editor Jeffrey Goldberg in on a top-secret Signal chat reports in an exclusive that Vice President JD Vance has “repeatedly questioned” the way the Defense Department has depicted US successes in the war on Iran.

Vance, who has tried to stick to his isolationist guns in the face of the war, has questioned the accuracy of information provided to the president by the Pentagon, two senior administration officials told the magazine. He also is worried the US is running low on weapons as a result of the war.

Defense Secretary Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine have publicly claimed that stockpiles of US weapons are robust and damage to Iran's military is drastic.

Read the full story HERE. (Subscription required.) –TL

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Correspondents Dinner Attack – The Onion may want to adapt its recurring headline about school shootings, “’No way to prevent this,’ says only nation where this regularly happens” to political violence in America. 

We are not the only such country of course, but it seems we are the only such nation that’s not part of the third world and/or in constant political turmoil.

After FBI agents and Secret Service wrestled teacher Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, to the floor of the Washington Hilton for allegedly firing a shot during the White House Correspondents Dinner, CNN contributing commentator and bombastic Trump supporter Scott Jennings said that conservatives in the US are feeling the heat of political violence from the left. [There continues to be question and speculation that an agent saved by his bulletproof vest may have been struck by friendly fire rather than the suspect’s bullet.]

It should be noted that to date, there is little known about the motives and political leanings of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old killed after shooting at President Trump at his July 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Same with Tyler Robinson, suspect in the shooting last September of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. Liberals note Robinson has Republican parents and a MAGA background, according to Newsweek. 

Whatever the motives of Crooks and the Charlie Kirk suspect, it does not serve either side of the political aisle to claim singular victimhood from political violence, and it’s hard to ignore recent violent government crackdowns on immigration policy protestors by the federal government itself in Minneapolis and other cities recently.  Not to mention the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol.

The WHCD suspect, Allen, “sent a chilling anti-President Trump manifesto to his family just before opening fire” calling himself the “Friendly federal assassin.” Allen’s manifesto was obtained from a family member by the New York Post, which reports that his alleged “targets” were administration officials except for FBI Director Kash Patel.

“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” the manifesto says.

President Trump, who expressed some comradeship with journalists at the black-tie press conference immediately after the melee attacked CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell as a “disgrace” the next evening for asking on 60 Minutes about the pedophile, rapist, traitor accusations. 

Meanwhile … As with they did in response to the Butler, Pennsylvania attempt, social media influencers, particularly from the left, are posting ridiculous conspiracy theories saying with absolutely no evidence that the WHCD attack was “staged,” The New York Times reports. 

And yet, Trump potentially threw fuel on that fire Sunday morning – between the black-tie presser and his 60 Minutes appearance – that the attempted attack proves the need for his gilded White House East Wing ballroom.

“It’s got every single bell and whistle you can possibly have for security and safety,” Trump told The Sunday Briefing on Fox News.

“You can’t have a thousand rooms (above) or whatever. It’s a very big hotel on top of the ballroom and people come down the elevator, and they’re right next to the ballroom. Nobody’s blaming them. They’re good people … I’ve been in that room many times, but it’s had difficulty in the past and the new one is not to have that kind of thing.”

The White House ballroom WHCD will have to wait – Trump says he wants to see the White House Correspondents Association to reschedule within 30 days. 

•••

Iran Has No Cards – President Trump will not send a US envoy to Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks with Iran, The Wall Street Journal reports. The president suggested on Fox News that if Iran wants peace talks, they could happen by telephone instead.

Iran has floated a proposal to the US in which it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war with the US, with nuclear arms negotiations to come later, a US official and two other sources told Axios.

Meanwhile, the WSJ says that US forces have sent 38 Iranian tanker ships back to port in its blockade within Iran’s blockade.

•••

Tillis Wins – In what The New York Times called a “stunning reversal” the Justice Department said Friday it would call off its investigation into the Federal Reserve and its chairman Jerome Powell over renovation of the Fed’s Washington headquarters. Two days earlier, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro vowed to continue investigating the case, but Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) had made it clear he would block President Trump’s nominee to replace Powell, Kevin Warsh, as long as the investigation plodded on.

After his term as Fed chair ends in May, Powell has two more years left on the Fed board. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 4/27/26

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

One of the oft-cited points made about the US bombing the stuffings out of the Iranian military and related infrastructure is that it isn’t going to be like US military involvements of the past.

As Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a briefing on April 24: “Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, as the President has pointed out, all took years, decades, vague missions, shifting sands, little to show for it.”

The implication is that this is not a vague mission. 

In fact, Hegseth went on to say: “It's a bold and dangerous mission, a gift to the world, historic, courtesy of a bold and historic president.”

This is all about boldness. The mission. The president. The Hegsethian rhetoric!

Bold. Bold. Bold!

Let’s assume that the mission is to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon. That’s what Hegseth says.

There are other Administration officials — including the man who Hegseth obsequiously describes as “the only president with the guts and moral clarity to finally do something about it”* — who have varying descriptions of why the US is involved.

But if the keeping Iran nuclear weapon-incapable is the mission, then why has the US used, according to The New York Times, 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles, more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles, and 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles, when according to the bold and historic president that was accomplished some months back?**

Last June, after “Operation Midnight Hammer,” after there were 14 GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators and over 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles used against the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, President Trump declared the Iranian nuclear capabilities “completely and totally obliterated.”

So if there is no nuclear material — or, as the President sometimes calls it, just “nuclear dust” — then why are we bombing the heck out of Iran? 

Was the obliteration just hyperbole before, and now it is really happening?

According to Hegseth, “the bottom line remains the bottom line, Iran will never get a nuclear bomb.”

While that’s certainly a good objective, then why does Hegseth also say:

“It's worth saying again, for 47 years, Iran has been at war with America, killing our citizens, our soldiers, and our allies, while previous administrations looked the other way.”

Are we at war with Iran because Iran has been at war with America for 47 years (and if that is actually the case, how many Americans have actually been aware of that?) or because we want to keep them from having a nuclear weapon? Hegseth says: “Operation Epic Fury has been laser-focused from the very start.” So which is it? The nuke or the “war with America”? Is it regime change? Is it because Israel was going to start bombing so we had to get in, too? Is it something else entirely?

Doesn’t “laser-focused” imply that there is some pinpoint accuracy here regarding the mission which seems to be rather diffuse, not collimated?

According to Hegseth, “President Trump's fortitude is unshakable and his mission is crystal clear.”

As he cancels negotiations to end the war, and as he has appointed lead negotiators who are not in any way expert in things nuclear (however, if you need some luxury real estate developments, these are your guys), what is crystal clear is that the situation is anything but crystal clear.

==

*Apparently the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed to by the Obama Administration and Iran, which reduced the uranium stockpile, reduced enrichment levels for 15 years, dismantled centrifuges, etc., was a gutless move.

**One could make the argument that these are all tactical munitions and that as the US has them, the US might as well use them. Fair point — but to what end? And what happens should China decide to invade Taiwan and what had once been stockpiles of weapons have been reduced to stockouts? Consider this: as many as 95% of the advanced semiconductors used in the US for everything from missiles to iPhones to, well, lasers, come from Taiwan. If they get in trouble, we really get in trouble.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 4/27/26

COMMENTS?: editors@thehustings.news.

Reader Comments

If registering for the draft can be automatic, why not for registering to vote? Also, all things considered, wouldn’t focusing on the current status of our education system have a higher priority than SAVE? –Ron Wilke /Debate & Donuts II participant

Our Contributing Pundits …

A Simple Question of Math

Commentary by K.E. Bell

It's a simple question of math. If the Republicans think more women will vote for Democrats than Republicans, then the best thing to do is kick as many women off the voter rolls as possible. That might get them the seven or 10 percentage points they need to win in close districts. 

These are the people who claim to love America, but nothing could be more anti-American than dismantling democracy. 

It's already illegal for illegal immigrants to vote. A study by the Heritage Foundation — you know, the think tank that's dismantling democracy every way it can through Project 2025 — showed that just 68 illegal immigrants voted in US elections since the 1980s. Kick 21 million off the voter rolls to prevent 68 illegal votes over 40 or so years? The only reason is anti-democratic math.

Bell is a contributing pundit for The Hustings.

•••

SAVE’s Less Than Noble Intentions

Commentary by Joel Postman

The first general election in the US (in a modern sense) was probably the election of 1828, nearly 200 years ago. Since that time, there have indeed been isolated instances of voter fraud, but historians, and the record, concur that we have never had voter fraud that changed the outcome of a presidential election.

On November 12, 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), under President Trump, issued a statement that “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.”

Occam’s Razor tells us the simplest explanation that fits the facts is usually the right one. In this case, it tells us that enacting a law ostensibly to prevent voting by non-citizens, when such law already exists, and when voting by non-citizens has not historically been a problem, has other, less noble intentions and is unnecessary.

Postman is a contributing pundit for The Hustings.

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EARTH DAY 2026/WEDNESDAY 4/22

COMMENTS?: editors@thehustings.news.

Why Congress Should Pass the SAVE Act

Commentary by Rich Corbett

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act – known as the SAVE Act or SAVE America Act – would require documentary proof of US citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. The bill already has passed the House and is now before the Senate, which should deliver it to President Trump’s Resolute Desk without delay.

The bill amends the National Voter Registration Act to ensure that applicants provide acceptable documents such as a US passport, a REAL ID that indicates citizenship, a military ID with birth records or a birth certificate paired with photo ID. It includes provisions for name changes (like marriage certificates) and allows states to use the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database to verify records and maintain accurate voter rolls. Some versions also require photo ID at the polls for federal elections.

The goal is simple: Make certain that only US citizens vote in our federal elections.

Federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, with penalties including fines, imprisonment and deportation. Yet registration currently depends almost entirely on self-attestation under penalty of perjury. That system leaves gaps.

Real-world checks reveal the issue. Texas identified over 2,700 potential non-citizens on its voter rolls through database cross-checks. Georgia’s audit of millions of voters found 20 non-citizens registered, with some having voted. Other states, including Virginia, have uncovered similar cases. While the overall numbers are small, even a few illegal votes undermine the principle that every citizen’s ballot counts equally – especially in tight races. With high levels of immigration in recent years, proactive safeguards make sense. The SAVE Act addresses the problem at registration rather than relying on after-the-fact enforcement.

Critics argue that non-citizen voting is extremely rare and that the bill would create barriers for millions of eligible Americans who lack easy access to passports or birth certificates. They often cite estimates that over 20 million citizens might struggle to provide the required documents.

These concerns deserve attention, but they are overstated. The bill accepts widely available alternatives and includes an alternative process for edge cases. Many states already help residents obtain birth certificates at low or no cost for voting purposes. Most Americans can readily provide or acquire the necessary records – the same way they do for other important government services. Arizona and other states with similar requirements have implemented them without widespread disenfranchisement.

Public support is strong and bipartisan. Recent polls show a majority of Americans – including many independents and even a notable share of Democrats – favor requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. Requiring verification for voting is consistent with how we handle other high-stakes activities like boarding flights or opening bank accounts. Election integrity should meet at least that standard.

The SAVE Act is not about suppressing votes. It is about protecting the fundamental right of American citizens to choose their leaders without dilution. Every eligible voter benefits when confidence in the system is high. Local experiments with non-citizen voting in some jurisdictions only heighten the need for a clear federal standard: Citizenship required.

Congress has an opportunity to strengthen trust in our elections. Passing the SAVE Act is a common-sense step that enforces existing law more effectively. Senators should move forward and send it to the President.

Corbett is a contributing pundit for The Hustings and writes and publishes My Desultory Blog.

•••

Do the Math

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Mr. Corbett is absolutely right when he writes: “Real-world checks reveal the issue.”

So let’s look at some real-world numbers.

Mr. Corbett points out: “Texas identified over 2,700 potential non-citizens on its voter rolls through database cross-checks.”

While that “potential” is a bit sketchy, let’s take the 2,700 number.

According to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson (R), there are 18,657,918 registered voters in the state as of last February.

So this means that if there truly are 2,700, this means 0.014% of the total.

There are 7,349,646 “total active voters” in Georgia according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

If we take Corbett’s “Georgia’s audit of millions of voters found 20 non-citizens registered, with some having voted,” there is another bit of a dodge: “some” having voted.

But let’s take the 20.

Here the percentage is even less than that of Texas: 0.00027%

America doesn’t need saving through the SAVE Act. 

What it needs are more politicians with the grasp of numbers.

“Every eligible voter benefits when confidence in the system is high.”

And based on the numbers Mr. Corbett presents, there is no reason to think that a large percentage don’t think there’s confidence in the system, were it not for ginned-up scare tactics.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he comments primarily for the right column.

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EARTH DAY 2026/WEDNESDAY 4/22