When President Trump announced plans for a 100% tariff on Chinese imports, the usual suspects on Wall Street gasped like they’d just seen the national debt clock explode. But while the markets hyperventilated, Main Street folks nodded and said, “Well, it’s about time somebody stood up to China.” And that’s the heart of the debate…
When Paychecks Become Pawns
According to reports, the White House has floated the idea that furloughed federal workers might not automatically receive back pay when this shutdown finally ends. You’d think that in a country that can send billions overseas at the drop of a hat, paying our own employees would be the easy part. Yet somehow, common sense…
High Noon for Free Speech: Showdown at the ABC Corral
Well, that didn’t take long. For about five minutes, it looked like Sinclair and Nexstar—the two broadcasting giants carrying many of America’s ABC affiliates—were going to flex their muscles by refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel Live! after Disney dragged him back on stage. But reality set in faster than a Marvel reboot. Just as quickly…
Shutdown Chicken: Who’s Going to Blink First?
Well folks, here we are again. Washington is playing its favorite game: “chicken.” Except instead of two kids riding rusty bikes at each other down a gravel road, it’s Chuck Schumer and President Trump squaring off, and the gravel road is the entire federal government budget. One wrong move, and instead of skinned knees, we’re…
The Courtroom Drama Over Rebecca Slaughter’s Job
On Tuesday, September 2, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a narrow 2–1 decision ordering that Rebecca Kelly Slaughter—a Democratic commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) whom President Trump had dismissed earlier this year—be reinstated without delay. Now, the judges didn’t pluck this out of thin air. They leaned on a bedrock case…
Indiana’s Redistricting Crossroads
Redistricting seems to be the political word of the year. First, all eyes turned to Texas, where Republicans are pushing a bold mid-decade redraw to shore up their majority. Now, Indiana has quietly entered the conversation. According to recent reports, President Trump has been meeting privately with Indiana Republican lawmakers in Washington, discussing, among other…
Alligator Alcatraz: When Immigration Policy Meets the Everglades
A federal judge halted Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility, citing environmental and legal concerns. This article explores both sides of the debate and offers an independent Christian conservative verdict on balancing immigration enforcement with stewardship of God’s creation.
No Crimea, No NATO: What Conservative Realism Should Demand
President Trump is hosting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House—alongside a scrum of European leaders—just three days after sitting down with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. And he’s framing the deal in blunt-Trump terms: Ukraine won’t be getting back Crimea, and NATO membership is off the table. Zelenskyy, he says, “can end the war almost…
Alaska, Peacemaking, and the Peril of “Quick Fix” Diplomacy
If you’re looking for tidy endings, geopolitics is the wrong genre. President Trump and Vladimir Putin sat down in Anchorage, and—surprise—no white-smoke peace deal drifted over the Chugach. Still, the two leaders talked for hours about Ukraine, pledged to keep talking, and signaled that President Zelenskyy will now be heavily engaged. Reports suggest he’s heading…
D.C. vs. the White House: Who Runs the Police in the Capital?
Washington, D.C., has filed suit to block President Trump’s bid to assert control over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), hours after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi named Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry (Terrance) Cole the city’s “emergency police commissioner” and directed that MPD leadership obtain his approval before issuing further directives. Bondi simultaneously moved to…
The Independent Christian Conservative 