The End of Migration

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

While President Trump placed a moratorium on migration to the U.S. from third-world countries, Pope Leo was speaking against migration in Lebanon. These two leaders with very different backgrounds reached the same conclusion.

The Pope was addressing Lebanon, which has the largest Christian population in the Middle East amid a Muslim majority. He declared, “There are times when it is easier to flee, or simply more convenient to move elsewhere.”

He emphasized that “it takes real courage and foresight to stay or return to one’s own country, and to consider even somewhat difficult situations worthy of love and dedication.” He urged people not to leave their homeland, adding that “we must not forget that remaining in our homeland and working day by day to develop a civilization of love and peace remains something very valuable.”

Joe Biden should have adopted that approach for the 200,000 Afghans whom he disastrously brought into our country. One of them has been charged with shooting two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., killing one young woman and critically wounding a young man.

The shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was reportedly living in an apartment without beds, and repeatedly playing the violent video game “Call of Duty” before driving nearly 3,000 miles across our country to go on his rampage. This is not assimilation that is needed for an immigrant to become a productive member of American society.

Biden brought in more refugees than any other president since the end of the Cold War. In 2024 alone, Biden transported 105,500 refugees from multiple third-world countries into the United States, at a time when American college students are struggling to find jobs.

Biden’s lax immigration and refugee policy brings in future Democrat voters, which is the only way that the Democrat Party can survive demographically in the long term. Surveys show that liberal young women are much less likely to have children than conservative young women, and Republican states are growing faster than Democrat states are.

Bringing in hordes of refugees and other migrants has been done by Democrat presidents for political reasons, not because it makes sense for our country or for the migrants. It is impossible to screen so many people from primitive countries like Afghanistan, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that 29-year-old Lakanwal was radicalized after he resettled here.

Refugees are not even required to swear allegiance to the United States upon arrival here. It is only as a final stage in obtaining citizenship that Congress requires an oath of allegiance to our Constitution and laws.

Any foreigner unwilling to swear his full allegiance to the U.S. should not be allowed to remain here, but should be returned to his country of origin. This should be the first step, not merely the last, in every immigration program that is not discontinued.

Trump has properly ordered a “comprehensive review and a re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025,” which is when refugees entered our country under Biden’s policies. Trump referenced a Citizenship and Immigration Services finding that the Biden Administration “potentially prioritized expediency, quantity, and admissions over quality interviews and detailed screening and vetting.”

The Biden Administration’s policy allowed millions from all over the world to cross our southern border into our country, with no way to screen them. Many of these illegal aliens were from hostile nations, which Trump has already shut down by beefing up border security.

On November 12, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its first “Special Message” in a dozen years, to address the migration issue. Although reported by the liberal media as a rebuke of Trump, in fact it included a strong statement against illegal migration.

“We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good. Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation.”

Less than a week later, Pope Leo declared, “No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has the right to determine who enters, how, and when.”

In September, the Southern Baptist Convention cut its ties with a migration coalition of evangelical groups which has been criticized by Trump supporters for being too permissive toward migrants. White evangelical voters supported Trump by a record 84% in 2024 as he campaigned hard against the open-border policies of Biden and Harris.

But Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), once considered the frontrunner to become Harris’s 2024 running mate, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump’s crackdown on migrants constitutes “the U.S. Government harassing” refugees. The real harassment has been Democrats bringing in migrants who should not be here.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

“It’s OVER!” Trump Targets Fraud by Somali Immigrants

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

President Trump is ending the gravy train of fraud in Minnesota, much of it perpetrated by Somalis relocated here and some of the money funding terrorism back in Africa. Trump vows to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, which has lasted many years longer than intended.

Trump’s acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Joseph H. Thompson, recently indicted six from Somalia and two others for wire fraud. They allegedly defrauded Minnesota’s Medicaid-funded housing stabilization program.

This comes after 56 people, mostly from Somalia, pled guilty in connection with a federal investigation into a Minnesota nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future. Even the Washington Post Editorial Board expressed its outrage at the vast extent of fraud in this state run by Governor Tim Walz, who was the Democrats’ Vice Presidential nominee last November.

Trump observes that “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back where they came from.”

A total of 78 defendants associated with Feeding Our Future have been charged with crimes. In just two years, the organization increased its take of government funding from $3 million in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021. Meanwhile, Medicaid payments on autism claims increased by $200 million in Minnesota between 2020 and 2024, and federal charges have been filed based on alleged kickbacks to the Somali community.

Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the U.S., who were settled here under the TPS program and among whom many have become American citizens. Earlier Trump terminated the TPS program for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians.

It was over 30 years ago that an ill-advised President George H.W. Bush brought Somalis into our country under this temporary program, beginning in 1991. No “temporary” program should last more than three decades as this one has.

Acting U.S. Attorney John Thompson is an experienced career prosecutor, and he sounds just like the Trump appointees as he uproots fraud by immigrants that is bleeding our scarce government resources. He estimates that the defrauding of government programs in Minnesota exceeds $1 billion.

“It’s an extraordinary problem, the fraud that’s pervasive in this state,” Thompson told a news station in an interview in July. A Somali American former investigator confirmed this problem in an article published in the Minnesota Reformer.

“Minnesota’s public programs don’t adequately guard against organization fraud,” the Somali American said. He added that many Somalis are “skilled professionals whose experience and education credentials are not recognized in the U.S.”

“Somalis inherently trust one another. This creates a vast opening for fraudsters,” he continued.

Decades ago Phyllis Schlafly criticized the lack of assimilation by refugees and other immigrants in our country. The fraudulent conduct worsens because tribal behavior dominates in these non-assimilated communities, rather than a competitive market that helps keep participants honest.

Many millions of these dollars stolen from the government in Minnesota are funneled to Al-Shabaab back in Somalia. Al-Shabaab seeks to impose strict Sharia Law in Somalia, and is affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda.

The City Journal quotes a former official who worked on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force to say, “Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities [Minneapolis-St. Paul], in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way.”

“The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” observed another expert on terrorism quoted by the City Journal.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who is a Republican congressman from Minnesota, demanded on Monday that there be an investigation into this. “Minnesota has become the land of 10,000 frauds under Tim Walz,” declared Rep. Emmer in a play on its “10,000 lakes” nickname.

News that stolen taxpayer dollars are funding Al-Shabaab terrorists “is not only a grave national security concern, it’s a slap in the face to the hardworking, law-abiding people of Minnesota,” Rep. Emmer said.

Located in East Africa on the equator, Somalian temperatures commonly exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and its capital, Mogadishu, has been called the world’s most dangerous city. It was senseless for Somalis ever to be relocated to the cold climate and different culture of Minnesota in the first place.

But so many Somalis have resettled now in Minnesota that they have oversized political clout in elections there. “If you don’t win the Somali community, you can’t win Minneapolis,” observed former Minnesota state senator David Gaither. “And if you don’t win Minneapolis, you can’t win the state,” he added.

Amid all this fraud, Gov. Tim Walz seeks reelection to a third term as governor of Minnesota. Republicans are campaigning against him on this issue of rampant fraud under Walz’s watch.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

GOP Should Focus on Young Voters’ Hard Times

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

Hard times have hit young Americans, who are a pivotal voting bloc. Jobs are scarce, housing is unaffordable, student debt is suffocating, and foreign labor has taken away opportunities from American workers.

A downturn in the hiring of college graduates leaves the class of 2026 victims facing the weakest job market in five years. A National Association of Colleges and Employers survey found that 51% of employers rate the job market for college grads as “poor” or merely “fair,” and only 2% said it is “excellent.”

This does not bode well on Election Day for the GOP. The landslide victory by socialist Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of New York City was propelled by young voters, despite warnings that electing him would be a big mistake.

Polling indicates that 75% of young voters in New York City cast their ballots for Mamdani, and there was a surge in youth turnout. The blowout victories by Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia were also propelled by sharp increases in turnout by young voters.

The redistricting ballot initiative in California to send more Democrats to Congress was enacted with 80% support by young voters, and a large turnout by them. While some of this is due to a superior get-out-the-vote operation by Leftist groups, young people are struggling financially today.

Young adults should not face astronomical costs for health insurance, as they are mostly healthy and typically need coverage against only catastrophic losses. They should be able to purchase low-cost health insurance that is not dependent on their employer, so that they do not lose it when they are laid off or switch jobs.

Young adults are vastly overpaying for health insurance, as they are required to fund costly care they typically never need. The current system of tying tax breaks to employer-based health insurance no longer works, as the record 14.8% of American-born, working-age men who lack a job has increased from 4.2% in 1960.

Young men today are additionally burdened by gambling debts, due to the explosion in sports gambling that is heavily promoted with advertising. One out of every four of these men is unable to pay a bill because of his gambling losses.

Only 44% of young voters aged 18-29 have any investments in the stock market, so news of Wall Street records does not help with that demographic. Most of those voters are in debt.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson weeks before he was assassinated, Charlie Kirk explained how debt has radicalized the young generation. Kirk explained that in the 1970s and 1980s, the price of a home was about three times the average income.

Today, the price of a home is as high as seven times the average income. The average age of a first-time homeowner has increased by ten years, from 30 to 40, and people are marrying later, perhaps likewise due to economic difficulties.

“Gen Z owes the most money in any generation in history,” warned Charlie Kirk in the interview. He added that young adults are not living beyond their means, but “most are actually doing this to meet their means.”

Verizon just announced its biggest layoff ever, cutting loose a breathtaking 15,000 jobs. Layoffs by large, typically profitable corporations just reached their highest level for an October in 22 years.

Ending the racket of allowing hundreds of thousands of foreigners to continue to take jobs away from American college graduates would help. For fiscal year 2025, the four highest exploiters of H-1B visas for foreigners are Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, and Google.

Private equity is a culprit in increasing costs and eliminating jobs, and Republicans are allowing Democrats like Mamdani to take the lead in scrutinizing predatory practices. Mamdani picked as co-chair of his transition team Lina Khan, the former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair who investigated private equity tactics.

Toys “R” Us was a well-liked retailer employing 31,000 people, until private equity acquired it in a leveraged buyout. Private equity typically loads its target with debt, and a company acquired in this way is 10 times more likely to go bankrupt as Toys “R” Us then did.

Other companies that spiraled downward into bankruptcy after being acquired by private equity include Red Lobster restaurants, Payless shoes, Party City, Sears, Envision Healthcare, and the multi-state hospital system Steward Health Care. Each time this happens, jobs and healthy competition are lost, and prices increase.

An estimated 40% of emergency rooms in our country are controlled by private equity firms, and deaths increased as a result. Billed charges for visiting an emergency room are far higher, even after adjusting for inflation, than a generation ago.

Republicans should address the economic hardship of young voters as a high priority to have any chance of electoral success.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

“Full, Complete” Pardons for 2020 Presidential Electors

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

Fake news was working overtime on Monday by declaring, without authority, that the “full, complete” presidential pardons related to the 2020 presidential election cannot protect against bogus state charges arising from that election. The liberal media wrongly insisted that the Pardon Clause in the U.S. Constitution applies only to charges brought by federal prosecutors.

Not so. The Pardon Clause states that the President “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Every attempt in court to narrow the scope of the Pardon Clause has failed.

Our system of dual sovereigns, federal and state, is subject to the Supremacy Clause, which means that state sovereignty cannot limit the scope of the Pardon Clause. It was modeled on the vast, nearly unlimited pardon power of the King of England.

The newly pardoned 77 alternate electors, federal officials, attorneys and activists who objected to voter fraud in 2020 were acting in defense of the integrity of a presidential election, and thus in defense of the United States. Their conduct is fully pardonable by the President, which Trump has appropriately done.

Yet naysayers argue that the term “United States” in the Pardon Clause means only crimes prosecuted by the federal government. If that were true, then the Supreme Court would not have upheld in Ex parte Wells (1856) the last-minute commutation of a death penalty by President Millard Fillmore of a man convicted of murder in a District of Columbia court, as there were no federal common law crimes.

Federal law never denied women the right to vote, but New York prosecuted Susan B. Anthony for voting illegally in the 1872 presidential election, and prosecuted local officials for allowing her to vote. After his reelection as our 18th President, U.S. Grant pardoned the state officials for their violation of state law, and in 2020 President Trump pardoned Susan B. Anthony for casting an illegal vote.

Just last week an all-Democrat panel of the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Trump’s argument that the charges against him in the so-called hush money case that resulted in 34 felonies should have been heard in a federal court. The charges brought by the New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of violating campaign finance laws during his 2016 campaign for President of the United States.

If a case can be heard in federal court, as all Trump-related cases can be, then the charges are pardonable by the president. No one credibly doubted that President Ford’s pardon of President Nixon protected him against all potential charges relating to the Watergate scandal, including non-federal ones.

The tradition of complete pardons by the president, which began with President George Washington, has always precluded prosecution of the underlying conduct in state court. Those who doubt this broad scope of the pardon power cannot cite any example of a beneficiary of a presidential pardon being prosecuted in state court for the same conduct.

Even Democrat-dominated New York courts shut down an attempted prosecution of Paul Manafort after President Trump granted him a pardon. While the rationale for that decision was based on New York’s strong rule against double jeopardy, the result was to prohibit a first-of-its-kind state prosecution of conduct excused by a presidential pardon.

The ban on slavery in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits its use “within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This is not a reference to the federal government but to all of the States and territories, as demonstrated by the plural pronoun for jurisdiction.

The U.S. Supreme Court emphatically held after the Civil War, in Ex parte Garland (1867), that the presidential pardon “is unlimited, with the exception” for cases of impeachment. “It extends to every offence known to the law,” not merely to federal crimes.

Alexander Hamilton, a Framer of our Constitution, wrote favorably of a broad pardon power in The Federalist No. 74. Hamilton explained, “The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel.”

The use of the term “United States” to mean only the federal government and only federal laws is a modern distortion of the elite in Washington, D.C., to puff themselves up. The national liberal media distorts this further by obsessively reporting on D.C. as if that enclave represented the entire United States.

As the Supreme Court recognized in Schick v. Reed (1974), the Framers of the Pardon Clause stated that this power is a “prerogative” of the President, which ought not be “fettered or embarrassed.” The presidential pardon power would be impermissibly undermined if federal charges could be refiled as state charges by an unscrupulous local prosecutor like Alvin Bragg.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

National Review on Phyllis Schlafly

Rachel Lu published The Rise of a Populist Influencer in the Age of Print Media, archived here, in National Review.

There are responses by Mark Hemingway and Anne Schlafly, archived here.

Lu wrote a brief rejoinder.

Lu takes some unnecessary and unfounded cheap shots.

Update: Another response is National Review Smears Schlafly.

Road Carnage Caused by Illegal Aliens

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

Not one, but two triple-fatality car accidents were recently caused by illegal aliens driving trucks with commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) issued by California. Florida has investigated and uncovered devastating details about the road carnage wrought in its state by a California resident who never should have received a CDL.

Driving in India is on the left side of its roads, the opposite of here in the U.S. Speeds are typically lower in India compared with the U.S., and the high-velocity, high-congestion movement on our interstates and turnpikes is unlike travel in India.

In our country illegally from India, Harjinder Singh had failed his CDL exam 10 times within two months in Washington State in 2023, but then that liberal state granted him this license anyway. That authorized him to drive large trucks on our highways nationwide.

He next obtained a similar license from California, where he was residing this year. Driving a truck in Florida, he attempted a shockingly reckless maneuver that no American trucker would ever do.

While driving northbound in the outside lane near Fort Pierce on the Florida Turnpike, Singh unexpectedly turned his 18-wheeler across all the inner northbound lanes to make a bizarre, illegal U-turn in a median area limited to authorized vehicles. High-speed traffic behind him had no way to anticipate that swerving maneuver, and a minivan carrying three could not stop.

All three in the minivan were killed by the collision, but Singh and his passenger were uninjured. He is being held without bond in the local St. Lucie County Jail.

Singh has an insufficient understanding of English to drive a big rig on our turnpikes, as he was doing. His reckless U-turn was prohibited by signage and tradition well-known to American drivers, but he cannot read road signs if he cannot understand English.

After the crash, the U.S. Department of Transportation discovered that Singh correctly answered only 2 out of 12 questions in English. He could read only 1 in 4 road signs.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has granted 62,000 CDLs to illegal aliens, which makes the tragic accidents inevitable until the Trump Administration cracks down against California for allowing this. Merely two months later, another illegal alien with the last name of “Singh” crashed his truck on a California highway, likewise killing three in his accident.

Jashanpreet Singh, apparently having no relation to Harjinder Singh, had illegally entered our country, and was caught but then released by the Biden Administration. Gov. Newsom turned him loose on our highways to drive big trucks here.

On October 21, Jashanpreet Singh caused the deaths of three people and injured several more by rear-ending them at high speed. He has been charged with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving under the influence of a drug.

Prosecutors allege that this 21-year-old, which is the minimum age for receiving a CDL for interstate trucking, was driving at a high speed in his truck. He has pleaded not guilty while his supporters demand the return to him of his Sikh turban as he sits in jail.

This Singh’s understanding of English is so poor that he has requested an interpreter at court hearings to translate into his native tongue of Punjabi for him. Punjabi is a language spoken in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, and it is estimated that 316,000 Indian migrants into the U.S., about half of whom have settled in California, speak this language.

Sean Duffy, Trump’s DOT Secretary, has pulled $160 million in federal funding from California due to its failure to comply with federal standards in issuing CDLs to illegal aliens, many of whom cannot read our road signs. Earlier, Secretary Duffy pulled an additional $40 million in funding.

“It would have never happened if Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules,” Duffy explained. “California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice. There will be consequences.”

New regulations issued by the Trump Administration on Sept. 26 required California and all states to verify a driver’s status in the U.S. before granting an application for CDL privileges. Despite this, California ignored the Trump Administration’s regulations by expanding Singh’s driving privileges for interstate trucking on Oct. 15, which was apparently his 21st birthday.

As Trump’s Department of Homeland Security responded on X, “This tragedy follows a disturbing pattern of criminal illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles on American roads, directly threatening public safety.”

A 20-year-old American is considered too inexperienced to receive an

interstate trucking license, and a young driver typically needs to be 25 to rent a car. Secretary Duffy should suspend California’s authority to license interstate truckers until it stops licensing 21-year-old illegal aliens unable to understand English.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

Conservative Triumphs Worldwide

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

Called “ultraconservative” by the liberal media, Japan’s new prime minister is its first woman ever in that position. But a Japanese feminist author told NBC News that Japan attaining its first female prime minister “doesn’t make me happy.”

Sanae Takaichi takes the reins of power in Japan with strongly conservative positions on gender and marriage. She’s much more like Phyllis Schlafly than Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris.

Takaichi opposes same-sex marriage and is against allowing married woman to keep their maiden name as their last name after marriage. She favors the Japanese tradition of male-only succession in its imperial family.

She is unlikely to support DEI. She will strengthen the Japanese military which would help us by creating a buffer against communist China, and she’ll meet next week with President Trump during his Asia trip.

She has supported tougher immigration policies in Japan. Like Trump, she is an advocate of hard work: “I myself will throw out the term ‘work-life balance.’ I will work and work and work and work and work,” she said.

Her election was made possible by support from the Japan Innovation Party, called Ishin, which the liberal media describe as far-right. The same childless Japanese feminist author, Chizuko Ueno, complained that Takaichi “sees herself as the Japanese version of Margaret Thatcher.”

The issue of women’s rights pales in comparison with the crisis in Japan of its vanishing birth rate. Its population is contracting, falling from 127 million in 2015 to only 123 million today, a trend that will soon be nearly impossible to reverse.

Japan’s population is declining at a rate of 0.5 to 1.5% annually now. That leaves fewer young workers supporting its vast elderly population.

The median age in Japan is 50 years old, meaning that half of its people are aging out of the workforce. By comparison, the median age in Florida as the place of retirement for many Americans is only 43 years old, and in booming Texas, the median age is only 36.

There cannot be economic growth without young workers, and Japan’s real gross domestic product decreased by an annualized 0.2% between the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of this year. Japan is burdened by the highest debt-to-GDP ratio of any developed country, a whopping 240%.

The number of childbirths in Japan dropped in the first half of 2025 by 3.1% from a year ago. A record-low 340,000 babies were born there in the first six months of this year, far too few to sustain its future.

The decline in births there is plummeting even faster than projections. While some blame male traditions in the country, the Japanese people are turning to a conservative woman to try to save them.

Takaichi’s election is part of a trend worldwide which also recently resulted in the first conservative president of Bolivia in 20 years. Rodrigo Paz won a stunning upset against Leftist control of that South American country, and he vows to establish a better relationship with the United States.

This is terrific news as Bolivia is the third-largest producer of illegal cocaine in the world. In 2023 alone, 33 tons of cocaine were seized by anti-drug efforts in that country.

The recent Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an anti-communist in Venezuela, María Corina Machado, who was forced into hiding after the Leftist dictator Nicolás Maduro stole the election from her last year. Machado is widely considered to have won that election for president of Venezuela while campaigning on a platform of getting tough against illegal drugs and improving relations with the U.S.

When the Norway committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Machado, she immediately praised Trump and called him to let him know that he should have won. Machado’s conservative positions are popular in Venezuela, and her campaign rallies drew large crowds just as Trump’s did.

The left-wing political party ruling Great Britain today – the Labour Party – has fallen to a rock-bottom 19% in public support, according to recent polling. This is less than half of its support at the beginning of last year, and the liberal media are distressed at this without understanding why.

Trust in the liberal President of France, Emmanuel Macron, fell to a record-low 14% this month according to a poll funded by the business daily Les Echos. President Trump’s approval rating in the United States is three times higher than that.

In June, Trump-endorsed conservative Karol Nawrocki prevailed in Poland over the liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski. The conservative Prime Minister of nearby Hungary, Viktor Orbán, cheered this “fantastic victory.”

Back home, liberals are perplexed by Trump’s growing popularity during the Democrat-induced partial shutdown of the government. To understand better, they should take note of conservative victories sweeping the globe.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

Portland Protesters Deserve the National Guard

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

On Saturday night, October 4, a federal district judge blocked President Trump from deploying the National Guard to restore order in Portland, Oregon, which is notorious for the Antifa riots there in 2020 that shut down much of the city. Portland is one of the most Left-wing large cities in the United States, comprised overwhelmingly of white liberals.

Violent protesters in Portland, probably funded by radical groups from elsewhere, have spat at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, obstructed their vehicles, and even started a fire outside of an ICE facility. More recently additional protesters against ICE have shown up naked as part of their bike ride, which locals defend as a longstanding Portland tradition.

On October 8, the White House posted that “for years, an Antifa-led hellfire has turned Portland into a wasteland of firebombs, beatings, and brazen attacks on federal officers and property – yet the Fake News remains in shameful denial about the Radical Left’s reign of terror.”

President Trump has posted quotes from many in Portland about the violence they face and fear. “Yesterday morning, I was broken into again for the tenth time,” said one downtown Portland business owner. “We need help here and something needs to be done, so if [the National Guard] is what we need to do to get our leaders paying attention to what’s happening in Portland, then I think it’s a good thing.”

“Since early June, Antifa militants have laid siege to the ICE field office in south Portland,” the White House points out. “The terrorists have violently breached the facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram, hurled explosives and projectiles, burned American flags, viciously assaulted, attacked, and injured officers, doxed officers, berated neighbors, and even rolled out a guillotine.”

In a recent op-ed for TheHill.com, renowned law professor Jonathan Turley decried Democrats who have responded by denying the existence of Antifa. “Antifa was first created in the 1920s, associated with the Weimar-era German communist group Antifaschistische Aktion,” Turley observes, and “it is very real.”

Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that “Just like we did with cartels, we are going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa – destroy the entire organization from top to bottom. We’re going to take them apart.”

At first the federal judge blocked President Trump from using the Oregon National Guard. No problem for Trump, as he then directed the California National Guard to restore order in Portland, but the judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against them, too.

In an expedited appeal to the Ninth Circuit, where the Republicans comprise about 40% of that court, a fortunate draw of two Trump-appointed judges was randomly assigned to the three-judge panel for this case. Their questioning was critical of a district court judge preventing a president from restoring law and order.

Some of the Portland protesters “are violent people,” the Department of Justice attorney Eric McArthur informed the appellate judges. “The president is entitled to say enough is enough and bring in the National Guard to reinforce the regular forces,” he argued.

Ninth Circuit judges Ryan Nelson and Bridget Bade, both previously appointed by Trump, seemed to agree. Their questions emphasized that the president has broad authority to establish law and order.

“It just seems a little counterintuitive to me that the City of Portland can come in and say no, you need to do it differently,” commented Judge Ryan Nelson during the oral argument. He was unpersuaded by Oregon’s attorney, Stacy Chaffin, who argued that presidential deference “has a limit, and that limit is this case.”

Oregon’s attorney insisted that the rationale given by Trump for sending in the National Guard is “untethered to the facts,” as the district court judge had held. The only appellate panel judge likely to agree with that assessment is Susan Graber, a law school classmate of Bill and Hillary Clinton who was appointed by Bill to this court.

Meanwhile, a similar standoff between local officials and the Trump Administration is occurring in Chicago. Its Mayor Brandon Johnson has only a 6.6% approval rating among Chicago voters according to one poll, while 79.9% disapprove of his performance.

As in Portland, a district court judge granted a request by Democrats to block Trump’s use of the National Guard to restore law and order in violence-ridden Chicago. But on an expedited appeal, the Seventh Circuit has already ruled in favor of Trump by partly staying that injunction against him and allowing the troops to remain in northern Illinois.

The No Kings protest this Saturday is co-sponsored by MoveOn.org, which was founded in 1998 with funding from the flying toaster screen saver. Its original slogan in 1998 was “Censure President Clinton and move on to pressing issues facing the nation.”

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

No Nobel Prize for Trump yet

The NY Post reports:

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Friday dedicated her award to President Trump and his “decisive support” of democracy in the South American nation.

Trump said that he deserved the prize for ending 8 wars.

Prediction Markets are Gambling on Steroids

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

Prediction markets have rapidly become a mega-billion-dollar industry of nationwide gambling through cell phones. These are online platforms where people bet on outcomes of almost any event, such as whether a team will win the Super Bowl, whereby the cost of the event contract is less than the amount paid out to those who guessed correctly.

This is gambling, and 20 red and blue states prohibit these bets on sports. Betting on elections has long been banned everywhere in the U.S. and, until 2005, in England, while nearly every state prohibits wagering by anyone under 21.

But new prediction markets bypass all of these sensible limitations, by accepting these bets on websites over the internet. On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, has agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket, which is not even the largest company in this emerging market.

High school students, typically boys, are suddenly spending their time and their family’s money by wagering in this manner and through “sportsbooks,” which are apps on their phones. DraftKings and FanDuel, whose ads are pervasive, are two sportsbooks that pepper teenagers and everyone else with promotions and other enticements to gamble.

More than 2 million young men today are “NEET,” which means Not in Employment, Education, or Training. Instead, many of them are betting weekly or daily on their favorite sports teams.

Once addicted, a gambler then wants to bet on any sporting event. Illustrating how powerful this addiction is, $31.7 million was wagered in Colorado on ping pong matches earlier this year, in January alone.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that companies, most notably Kalshi, are accepting billions of dollars in bets while bypassing state regulations that protect teenagers and athletes against this vice. Congress has failed to hold any hearings on this frenzied activity that seems likely to erupt in a major scandal between now and the midterm elections next year.

Online sports gambling is illegal in California and Texas, but Kalshi circumvents their state laws in taking bets from residents there. With millions wagered on individual performances in a game, known as prop bets, the incentive for corruption or intimidation of players by gamblers is severe.

Scandals have already appeared, signaling something worse that is yet to come. Major League Baseball has for three months been investigating two errant throws by a Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher that opened early innings this past summer, as a spike in bets on whether those pitches would be a “ball” or a “strike” was flagged.

Kalshi and other companies rushing into prediction markets insist that states cannot regulate it as states have long regulated sportsbooks and traditional gambling. Instead, Kalshi and others accept only the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as having authority over it.

But currently the CFTC has only one out of the five commissioners it is supposed to have: the Biden-appointed Caroline D. Pham. The traditional expertise of the CFTC is in regulating corn or wheat futures for farmers, not gambling on the Super Bowl and on individual performances within games.

In states that allow sports gambling, there are important limits such as New Jersey’s ban on bets on college games played within the State, and wagers on NJ college teams playing anywhere. This helps protect local college players against being pressured by gamblers to underperform.

Prediction markets ignore the 21-year-old age limit imposed by states on gambling. Litigation over the legality of prediction markets is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits, and in district court in Nevada, but changes are unfolding faster than courts are keeping up.

A Pew Research poll found 43% of adult Americans oppose sports betting for being harmful, while only 7% praise it. Allowing wagers on elections makes even less sense, particularly in the current climate of political violence.

Some Republicans fret about possible political repercussions from the ongoing partial government shutdown, but negative fallout from a corruption scandal or violence resulting from this gambling crisis could be worse. Twice before in American history there has been a public backlash against gambling such that it was prohibited after being allowed to flourish.

The ease of gambling on phones and the use of AI to exploit gambling proclivities make this vice more dangerous than ever before. Already in September $2.5 billion was wagered on NFL games in the prediction markets, while more than $10 billion in additional wagers were processed by sportsbooks.

Unlike sportsbooks and casinos, prediction markets do not pay any state gambling taxes, and there is no redeeming value to this activity. An estimated 90% of gamblers never seek any help for their addiction, so this is pure exploitation without any guardrail.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.

Shut It Down, Already!

The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly

Both the Right and Left seem fine with a government shutdown, so let the drama unfold. Republicans in Congress have proposed a clean funding bill that continues the Biden-era spending levels through November with no additional expenditures, while Democrats demand far more.

With Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) retiring next year and no longer acting as a Senate leader, his Chicken Little predictions of political disaster for Republicans from a shutdown ring hollow. Many in MAGA supported the reelection of Trump for the purpose of shutting down the government, and this appears to have been the primary goal of mega-donor Elon Musk.

Liberals use false spin for their benefit by insisting that a shutdown always hurts the Republican Party the most. The Republican Congress shut down the government for 21 days in late 1995 through early 1996, and in fact gained two Senate seats in the subsequent election, despite the Democrat Clinton prevailing over the weak Republican nominee Bob Dole at the top of the ticket.

Clinton failed to garner a majority in the popular vote after that shutdown, and Republicans held onto their majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans also maintained their large majority in state governorships, without any net loss.

Google AI says that Republicans received most of the blame for that 1995-96 shutdown but, even if true, that was decades before MAGA and the growing public opinion that the federal government needs to be shut down. The federal debt at the end of the 1995 fiscal year was only $5 trillion, while today it is grotesquely more than 7 times that amount, at a monstrous $37.5 trillion.

Public contempt for the federal government and officials in Congress is sky high. The leadership of both political parties on Capitol Hill has disapproval ratings greater than their approval ratings, in another indication that the American public would be just fine with unplugging their lavish salaries and benefits.

A recent Gallup poll found that only 23% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the federal government, while 61% have a negative view. These approval and disapproval ratings are worse than those of every other sector, including pharmaceuticals, oil, and utilities.

The federal government is plainly broken in many other ways, too. Federal workers are almost unanimously anti-Trump, and their one-sided verdicts against Trump supporters in court cases in D.C. have been appalling.

Foreign aid has continued to flow to prop up regimes in faraway lands and to fund warfare. Trump has taken laudable steps to end USAID and other foreign spending that spreads liberal harm around the world, but shutting down the federal government may be the only foolproof way to end this.

Eight months into the Trump Administration, many in MAGA conclude that it is impossible to clean house in the Swamp. Shutting down the federal government is the only viable way to end injustices wrought by the Feds.

Democrat leaders in Congress may be supporting a shutdown to appease their base of the far Left. Zohran Mamdani, a self-described socialist, is leading by a landslide in the polling for the next New York City mayor to be elected in five weeks.

Progressives complained loudly and bitterly about the Democrat leadership who agreed to the Republican bill last March to continue federal spending, because it led to trimming Medicaid funding. Progressives indicate that they may challenge the Democrat establishment next year based on their capitulation to Trump.

Meanwhile Trump’s brilliant Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, has devised a clever plan to lay off much of the federal workforce permanently, in what is called a reduction in force (RIF), if Democrats force a shutdown. Democrats are squawking because these federal workers are overwhelmingly anti-Trump, but this has not yet caused the Dems to budge on their unreasonable demands.

Liberals fulminate about how it is unprecedented to conduct RIFs during a government shutdown, but this ingenious approach is likely to succeed. While federal agencies have not traditionally implemented RIFs during shutdowns, the law is clear that they have the discretion to do this if they abide by the rules as Vought is explaining to them.

Democrats can keep the government open by enacting a clean funding bill, but instead insist that Republicans provide free health care to migrants whom Biden wrongly reclassified as “lawfully present.” Trump properly revoked that special status, which appropriately renders them ineligible for free health care, and Republicans are right to protect Americans against the medical costs of illegal aliens.

Given the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, eight Democrats must join the Republicans to keep the federal government going. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has vowed to vote Nay because the spending is too high under the Republican bill, even without tacking on the additional Democrat spending demands.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

These columns are also posted on PhyllisSchlafly.com, pseagles.com, and Townhall.com.