Daily Signal News

President Donald Trump's State of the Union address “was more of a variety show” than an address. By highlighting various “tragic cases,” Trump showed Americans two things: “We're a wonderful patriotic country,” and Democrats' policies caused some of the tragedies, explains Victor Davis Hanson on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “They [Democrats] wouldn't stand for any applause, no matter what the topic was, or no matter whether they agreed with it. …  They were all a disaster, to be quite frank.”

Less than one week since the initiation of Operation Epic Fury, and nearly everyone is wondering: What will be the domestic reaction to America's war in Iran?  With this being the second time the U.S. has gone into Iran, something needs to change so a third time never happens. “It would behoove Donald Trump to find a magical solution” and remove Iran's “theocratic government,” replacing it with “a benevolent government,” explains Victor Davis Hanson on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ If we get stuck in a quagmire where we have to have ground troops and we get into the hundreds of American dead, it'll be a disaster for the Republican Party in the midterms.”

Susan Rice, former U.N. ambassador and national security advisor under Obama, made some very threatening statements directed toward Republicans and business elites on a recent podcast episode.    On “Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara,” Rice said she wanted Trump supporters to know that the Left won't forget if they've allowed Donald Trump “to bully” them in their respective academic, corporate, or institutional worlds.   Victor Davis Hanson breaks down Rice's comments on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words” and explains why nothing she, and her fellow Democrats, say can hurt the U.S. president and his supporters at this point.   “Your entire career of the Democratic Party—your career, Hillary Clinton's career, Barack Obama—has been to destroy Donald Trump. So we don't need lectures on retribution. You've already tried to practice retribution against Trump. And I don't think you're going to be in a position of power necessarily in the Congress in 2026, and I have a pretty good idea you won't come back to power in 2028.”

As President Donald Trump positions “the largest naval and air forces” off Iran's coast that the U.S. has “seen since the invasion of Iraq in 2003,” he has some pros and cons to weigh about striking the Middle Eastern country.  The U.S. isn't in a war with Iran right now, so Trump's positioning of forces could be for “either a preventive war, long-term threat, or a preemptive war,” explains Victor Davis Hanson on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “It's very controversial, and we don't know whether he's going to pull the trigger or not ... He'll have to make the decision pretty quickly because you can't just take those many naval assets and stick them halfway across the world ... The window is probably about another six weeks.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thursday, Feb. 19, Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. granted a restraining order sought by the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee along with Congressmen Ben Cline (VA-06) and Morgan Griffith (VA-09). The order prohibits any voting to take place before March 18.  In order to comply with Virginia law, voting of the April 21 deadline needed to begin on March 6.   The request for a restraining order is based on the contention that the Democrat majority in the General Assembly were ramming redistricting-related bills through the legislature.  Hurley ruled in favor of the plaintiffs because he found merit in the argument concerning the ballot question's language. The judge further sided with Republicans in ruling that the referendum violates the timing requirements set out in the state constitution.

From preserving parental vaccine rights to the inner workings within the Gold State's capitol, Darrlene Alquiza and Jessica Cabrera with Informed Policy Advocates join Elaine Culotti, Daily Signal California contributor for a special interview to discuss their work. NOTE : This interview was recorded prior to Elaine Culotti's 2026 California governor announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are Democrats really ready for a comeback—or are we about to revisit the graveyard of their own failed experiments? The so-called “new paradigms” of the Obama-Biden years—open borders, DEI mandates, deficit socialism, disarmament, and radical gender ideology—didn't just falter… they collapsed under their own weight, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words:”

President Trump is reversing the Biden administration's years of damage to American “family finances” and “federal finances.” When Biden left office in Jan. 2025, “the private sector wasn't adding any jobs at all, but losing them,” explains E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., The Heritage Foundation's chief economist. One year later and Trump is righting the ship: Last month was the best January ever for employment among native-born Americans.  The private sector added 172,000 jobs while government jobs declined by 42,000. All told, Donald Trump has reduced the federal bureaucracy by 323,000 in just one year.

President Trump is reversing the Biden administration's years of damage to American “family finances” and “federal finances.” When Biden left office in Jan. 2025, “the private sector wasn't adding any jobs at all, but losing them,” explains E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., The Heritage Foundation's chief economist.   One year later and Trump is righting the ship: Last month was the best January ever for employment among native-born Americans.  The private sector added 172,000 jobs while government jobs declined by 42,000. All told, Donald Trump has reduced the federal bureaucracy by 323,000 in just one year. Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When there's a problem, call Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's “fireman.” Last week, Marco Rubio, in keeping with the tradition started by Vice President JD Vance last year, painted a sobering picture of Europe's future. But with a twist. Rubio did not gloat or talk down to his fellow world leaders. Instead, he glorified America's European heritage—a very controversial statement amongst leftists who try to distance themselves from Western norms and cultures—saying that Europe is poised to make the same mistakes America has already made:  letting in 10 million illegal aliens, replacing meritocracy with DEI, failing to maintain military superiority, and forgoing energy independence. Europe is currently backsliding because it, unlike America, does not have a continent full of Donald Trumps to bring about a counterrevolution, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words:” “It really enhanced the position of Marco Rubio because he's sort of become Trump's fireman. When there's a problem that seems unsolvable or that people, whether it's in Panama or whether it's in the Middle East or whether it's in the Western Hemisphere, people call on Rubio. “And I think we should watch that very carefully because I think we're going to enter into the 2028 race, not with a Vance-Rubio vice president, but with two strong candidates.”

California's unfunded mandates “are exactly what they sound like:” a mandate “with no money behind it.”   A solution like deannexation, however, could really “change the culture of what Sacramento” has been been doing of forcing cities to follow mandates and pay for them, explains Elaine Culotti, The Daily Signal's California contributor.   “It starts to direct tax dollars directly back to the cities in which have been deannexed. It's an interesting business model, and for a state like California, is really important.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With only nine months until the midterm elections, Democrats will scrutinize every move President Donald Trump takes as they fight to reclaim control of the House and the Senate. Victor Davis Hanson lays out the narrow road ahead to victory for Trump and the GOP during the 2026 midterm elections. History is not on the incumbent's side. Messaging mistakes and unforced errors could shift key voters and hand Congress back to Democrats. Hanson explains what it will take to hold a Republican majority—and why the stakes for these midterm elections could not be higher—on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words." “There's another advantage that Trump has. They've raised, I think, $90 to $100 million. They've out-raised the Left by three or four times. And the billionaire class of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, not to mention Marc Andreessen or Elon Musk, they have defected and it's really hurting the Democrats. “What they're looking at in California with this billionaire's tax, you can be a billionaire and have property and investments, homes, but you might only have, I don't know, $100 million. They're gonna take $50 million from you on your aggregate worth. That's not gonna go over well with the billionaire class. And there, that's just a foretaste of what Kamala Harris will do if she has a Democratic Congress.” (0:00) Midterms Ahead (2:04) Unforced Errors (4:34) Incumbents Usually Lose Seats (5:35) What's Working (9:11) Outraging Democrats (10:08) Known Unknowns (10:55) Final Playbook

Are we prepared for the Cold War we're actually in? Communist China is deeply embedded in every facet of American life—our economy, academics, and cultural life. For that reason, Victor Davis Hanson warns that we are already in a Cold War against it.  The Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons. But China, Hanson argues, presents a different kind of challenge—one rooted in infiltration, influence, and integration rather than isolation. Do Americans recognize the scope of the challenge we're up against? And are we prepared to stand strong? Victor Davis Hanson answers all this and more on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “There's an insidious idea that China's not really an enemy because of the massive amount of money that has been invested there. And that means put the Chinese students, the Chinese residents, the foreign investment, and our history of empathy with China; it's very, very hard to tell people that China is an existential enemy in the way that Russia was. And we all know that they played the DEI woke propaganda card. Especially we saw that with COVID. “Can you imagine if the Russians bought farmland next to us, high-security military bases? We would have never allowed that to happen. We would have never funded a Russian lab. So there are so many different ways that China has infiltrated the cultural, social, economic, political life, the military life of the United States, that they are much more insidious, much more powerful.” (0:00) Introduction (0:15) Comparing the Cold Wars: Russia vs. China (0:40) The Russian Cold War: Isolation and Espionage (2:14) China's Unique Position (3:20) The Cultural and Economic Infiltration by China (5:34) DEI Propaganda and COVID-19 (6:38) China's Strategic Infiltration and Conclusion

It's been five weeks since the U.S. removed former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. But the question on everyone's mind is what comes next now that Maduro is no longer in power.  State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott joined “The Signal Sitdown” this week to discuss the plan to stabilize, recover, and transition power in Venezuela. Pigott explained the administration's phased approach to Venezuela.  "First, the stability of Venezuela. Second, the recovery, where you might see the beginnings of investment, in oil infrastructure, for example. Then the third phase being that transition to a longer-term situation where hopefully you have a reliable partner in the region." Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jerome Powell's tenure at the Federal Reserve “has been an unmitigated disaster” as his Fed “created a novel monetary framework in 2020 that is proving very difficult to manage and maintain.” The good news, however, is that Powell's time at the Fed will be up in May, and his replacement, “inflation hawk Kevin Warsh,” looks much more promising, says E.J. Antoni, Ph.D, The Heritage Foundation's chief economist. "If Warsh is confirmed and can clean up the Fed, it will reassure financial markets and help deliver a Main Street boom without inflation or another financial crisis."  Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jerome Powell's tenure at the Federal Reserve “has been an unmitigated disaster” as his Fed “created a novel monetary framework in 2020 that is proving very difficult to manage and maintain.” The good news, however, is that Powell's time at the Fed will be up in May, and his replacement, “inflation hawk Kevin Warsh,” looks much more promising, says E.J. Antoni, Ph.D, The Heritage Foundation's chief economist. "If Warsh is confirmed and can clean up the Fed, it will reassure financial markets and help deliver a Main Street boom without inflation or another financial crisis."  Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia's recent winter storm brought with it the usual state of emergency announcements along with “the inevitable swooping in” of some politicians going “after anyone who's price gouging.” Price gouging laws basically mean things like “batteries,” “tree removal services,” food and water can't be sold at “unconscionably higher” prices than they were “10 days prior to the storm,” explains Scott Goodman, a defense attorney at The Goodman Law Firm in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The business or the supplier that can open its books and show that this is what it costs them to get the water [for example] and that the percentage of the profit that they're adding on top of that when they sell it to a customer is basically the same as it was prior to the state of emergency, that would again, speak to the fact that they're not price gouging. They're simply passing along a higher cost that they have to the customer.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Minnesota's top officials are fanning the flames of unrest in their state. When are we going to call it like we see it? This is an insurrection. From Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, state and city leaders have repeatedly excused, enabled, and emboldened disorder. They're only the latest links in a long Democrat chain of political indulgence toward radicalism, tracing back to the civil rights era. Victor Davis Hanson warns of the fractures this mindset brings on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ What we're seeing is a complete failure of the blue state model. And the failure is ironic because it's neo-Confederate. Just like the old Confederacy and the Antebellum South, these blue states are obsessed with race. This is where DEI comes from. This is where, if you're one-sixteenth of this, or you have DNA of that, you identify, primarily, by your ethnic or racial background and not your common humanity or your common American citizenship. Very similar to the South. “This is something that's disturbing, that it's a trademark of over 150 years that the Democratic Party has, maybe it feels that it's more a people's party, but they feel they can defy federal law at their own volition.” 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Minnesota's Insurrectionary Rhetoric 00:29 Impact on ICE and Law Enforcement 03:43 Historical Context of Defiance 05:53 Blue State Model and Neo-Confederate Comparison 08:45 Conclusion: The Future of Blue State Defiance

Last week, Virginia Democrats unveiled a new congressional map that could flip four of the five Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections. However, the Virginia Supreme Court will now determine whether the Democrats' redistricting plan can proceed after a lower court blocked their efforts, ruling “that the Democrat-led Legislature had wrongly approved a constitutional amendment that would allow for mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts ahead of the midterms this fall,” Politico reported. Virginia state Del. Thomas Garrett Jr., R-Va., joins The Daily Signal's Virginia correspondent, Joe Thomas, to discuss the implications the proposed congressional map could have on the state's political makeup heading into the 2026 midterms.

A product of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump Accounts give American children — sorry, illegal aliens, this one is for us — a “tremendous” financial head start on life, providing the means to pay for college or put a down payment on a home, along with exposure to equities, something roughly 1 in 3 Americans currently do not have. If you make the maximum annual contribution of $5,000 to a Trump Account, it could be worth: At age 18: $300,000 At age 28: $800,000 At age 55: $10 million All courtesy of the power of compounding returns, argues Heritage Foundation Chief Economist E.J. Antoni in this special video commentary.

President Trump's “clamoring for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates” may finally pay off later this year when Kevin Warsh takes over as the new Fed chair.  Trump “shouldn't have to wait that long,” however, because his appeal to the Fed has been “on the grounds that inflation is much lower than what's being officially reported,” explains E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., The Heritage Foundation's chief economist.  “ It turns out Trump is spot on with today's real inflation rate being only one-third the official metrics. In fact, these numbers come from the real-time price aggregator Truflation which monitors millions of prices every single day. That is orders of magnitude more than the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, which only observes a few thousand prices just three times per month.” (00:00) Trump's Push for Lower Interest Rates (01:49) Understanding Real Inflation Rates (03:40) Comparing Truflation and CPI (06:26) Housing Costs and Inflation Metrics (09:02) The Impact of Lower Interest Rates (09:38) Conclusion and Next Steps

There is “no coherent principle” to the left's ongoing “utterly hypocritical” “insurrectionary movement” in Minnesota, argues Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson in his first post-surgery video appearance. Nearly five years ago, these same people lambasted Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed 14-year Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by the U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6, 2021. The left cheered as hundreds of demonstrators were arrested for allegedly assaulting officers and carrying firearms. Meanwhile, they said it was perfectly OK for somebody like Alex Pretti “to go to a demonstration with a military-grade semiautomatic weapon, with extra clips, and just stick it in his waistband, visible sight of anybody, and then get into a brawl with law enforcement officers,” Hanson continues. “All of our most prominent liberals are saying the state of Minnesota has a right to do what? Occupy federal property? Attack federal officers? Prevent the enforcement of federal law? I thought the left didn't like states' rights. I thought they said that this was ‘insurrectionary.'” 00:00 Introduction and Personal Update 01:32 Health Struggles and Recovery 03:58 Minnesota's Street Insurrection 06:13 Hypocrisy in Law Enforcement 09:37 States' Rights and Federal Law 12:57 Conclusion and Future Discussions

Much of the electric and natural gas rate increases Virginians have been seeing—and will only continue to see increase after the recent storm—are due to the Clean Economy Act.   Gov. Abigail Spanberger “very much ran for election on those policies,” so the big question now is if she'll do anything about the rate increases, said Steve Haner, a senior fellow for state and local tax policy at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.   “ People are about to get bills and, and it's going to shock them. And if you think the legislature's doing anything to make that cheaper, please lie down. You'll feel better. Because they're not. They're doing things that are going to make it more expensive.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Europe's illegal immigration crisis might be the warning America needs to fix its own before it's too late. According to Laura Ries, director of the border security and immigration center at The Heritage Foundation, America is “kind of on that same path” as countries like the France, Germany, and the U.K.  “The question is… Are we a sovereign nation? Do borders matter? Can we uphold the law? Can we enforce the law? What's happening to Western civilization? And this is a real question for our country.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon have a First Amendment right to interfere with the First Amendment rights of the worshipers and pastor at that church? “I think the question answers itself, and the answer is no,” argues Scott Johnson, a Minneapolis-based attorney, Claremont Institute fellow, founding member of Power Line and one of the great minds behind 2004's “Rather Gate”, on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” with Jack Fowler.

If you need any further evidence on what a menace inflation is, and what a blessing it is when inflation ends, take a look at the latest data on household wealth. After Biden, it is truly impressive how fast the turnaround happened in 2025. Under Trump, household net wealth jumped more than $9 trillion, or more than 7 percent, even after adjusting for inflation.  Under Biden's four years, household net wealth, adjusted for inflation, grew an anemic 2.0 percent. It was, in a word, pathetic. The great progress by the Trump administration to shrink government spending and the federal workforce, to reduce taxation and regulation, while increasing energy production, have all contributed to faster private-sector wage growth and slower inflation. In fact, it's been deflation in some cases, meaning certain prices have actually gone down, argues Heritage Foundation chief economist E.J. Antoni on today's special video commentary. 

When it comes to Greenland, Trump's arguments about international trade, geostrategic locations, rare earths, etc., were all ignored by European leaders. In response, Trump threatened additional tariffs on many European countries. When markets opened last week, things turned red. Those suffering from Trump derangement syndrome couldn't help themselves and immediately drew the conclusion that the stock market drop was the result of Trump's harsh negotiating tactics with Greenland.And they were wrong. To find out why the markets tanked, you need to travel halfway around the world to a country that is “basically running ahead of the U.S. in terms of the life cycle of a debt crisis,” argues Heritage Foundation chief economist E.J. Antoni in today's special video commentary.

When four black teenagers approached Bernhard Goetz on the New York City subway in 1984, he shot each them “in succession” for fear they were about to mug him. In an era of high crime, many New Yorkers hailed Goetz as a “hero” for doing what they wished they could do, explains Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst and author of “Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive ‘80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation.”   “New York City in the 1980s was broke and mismanaged… People just generally felt scared… As a result, when there was this somewhat vigilante act, a lot of people felt in New York [that] this guy finally did what needed to be done because the police can't keep us safe.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said a recent state court ruling blocking Democrats' attempt to advance a redistricting constitutional amendment is firmly rooted in Virginia law and could ultimately be upheld on appeal. Speaking with The Daily Signal's Joe Thomas, Cuccinelli said the judge found the amendment process violated state law on three independent grounds, including notice requirements, election timing, and limits on special legislative sessions. This ruling is “no slam dunk,” however, says Cuccinelli, Virginia's former attorney general and current national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative. “It is not common for a judge to go beyond ruling on one reason to reach an outcome, but the judge, I presume, knows that this is on a tight time schedule. And, in his mind, presumably, there wasn't time to go up to the Supreme Court and come back down… so he ruled on everything in front of him. So now it goes to the Virginia Supreme Court, and this is no slam dunk.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “cut through bureaucratic red tape and speed up reconstruction in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon areas one year after devastating wildfires destroyed nearly 40,000 acres of homes and businesses.” Daily Signal California contributor Elaine Culotti explains why his plan to fast-track permits and mobilize builders is critical for families displaced for more than a year in today's special video commentary.  “You have to have a plan. And the plan has to get through the process quickly, because that is called momentum. You have to have mobilization. That's when you start mobilization. And you have to have a schedule of values. That's the beginning, the middle and the end. “Donald Trump, thank you so much for doing this. … We need to be able to build. If we want to pay to play, we should be able to do that. If we want to use federal dollars to get it expedited, we should be able to do that. I thank you so much for coming to California. We are so appreciative.”

California is notorious for its high cost of living, homelessness epidemic, widespread crime, and failing public schools. These are all “symptoms of a bigger problem,” argues Carl DeMaio, a member of the California State Assembly. “ The fact that we're worse in all those areas is because we are confronting the biggest problem. And that is California's political system is fundamentally corrupt,” DeMaio told Elaine Culotti, The Daily Signal's California contributor, on her podcast. DeMaio explains that meaningful change requires a grassroots voter revolt, not reliance on party elites or national figures. “If you want true populist grassroots reform, then those of us in the streets, the grassroots, we have to narrow our focus on a couple targets and take out the establishment. Because you know what? When we focus, their money can't compete with us. We're an army. It's a public uprising. It's a rebellion. A revolt. And they can't stop that.”

Virginia's new Governor, Abigail Spanberger, openly admitted it's good for the state to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, not to protect the climate and environment, but rather because it's a great “cash grab.”   Bonner Cohen, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, explains how Virginia's participation in RGGI will raise energy costs, hurt low- and middle-income residents, and drive businesses out of the state, when he joined Joe Thomas, The Daily Signal's Virginia correspondent, on his podcast today.    “It's not about saving the planet, and we have to be very careful about what we mean when we say it makes money for Virginia. Actually, it's ultimately going to cost Virginia rate payers who, as a result of RGGI, as well as a result of other energy policies she's imposing as well as taxes she plans to raise, these people are going to see their disposable incomes reduced and you have to ask the question: to what end?” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California doesn't “generate revenue”—it drains it. Taxes aren't income, businesses create income, and Sacramento chased them out, argues Elaine Culotti, Daily Signal California commentator, on her podcast today:  “The state itself does not create any revenue. The state builds nothing. The state earns nothing. The state is money out. It is capital outflow to pay for the state to survive. To pay for the infrastructure that it owes.”

It is starting to look like California may be separating people from their personal property and taxing that property through search and seizure, argues Elaine Culotti, a Daily Signal California contributor, in today's special video commentary on the Golden State's impending billionaire tax. “ There are 17.5 million people out of 40 million people that pay taxes in California. The top 2% or 1% or half a percent—200 guys—pay 47% of those taxes.  If you create a wealth tax on those people, they are sure to leave, and it's not because of the 5% you're trying to charge them.  People do not want to disclose their assets. They deem it unsafe, invasive, overreaching government, and unconstitutional. Taxation without representation.”

Adversaries of the U.S. could launch a nuclear weapon at America, or they can achieve the same goal by flooding the nation with fentanyl, says Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., who has introduced a bill cracking down on fentanyl imports.   Over the past decade, roughly 500,000 U.S. lives have been lost to synthetic opioid overdoses, mainly fentanyl, according to the National Institutes of Health.   McDowell on Wednesday introduced a bill aimed at blocking drug traffickers from bringing a tool called a pill press into the U.S.  The process of fentanyl entering the U.S. is “coordinated,” McDowell explains. China, for example, “will ship a pill presser” to a drug dealer in the U.S. to cut “pure fentanyl, ... pressing it down into ... something that looks like a pill,” he said. The Preventing Rogue Equipment for Synthetic Substances, or PRESS, Act, criminalizes the “intentional importation of unlisted precursor chemicals and related equipment, including tableting machines, encapsulating machines, press punches, die systems, and gelatin capsules, that will be used to manufacture controlled substances,” according to the congressman's office.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instead flaunting his new red “Trump kneepads” to world leaders and corporate elite in Davos, Switzerland, during the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, Gavin Newsom should be more concerned about this state's abysmal relationship with the federal government argues Elaine Culotti, Daily Signal California correspondent, on today's special video commentary. “To be clear, our biggest problem in California is the fact that we have no relationship whatsoever with President Trump and the administration. So we can't pick up the phone and call and say, “Hey, we need a lifeline.” It does not exist. It's been destroyed. And with the Pacific Palisades and the fires in California, it has been unveiled how deep that destruction is.”

Virginia is facing a push to hold a special vote, likely in mid-April, to overturn a 65%-approved nonpartisan redistricting commission.  Joe Thomas, The Daily Signal's Virginia correspondent, breaks down the proposed change that would allow the state to redraw districts reactively if other states change theirs.  “ North Carolina, and even New York state is talking about redistricting their congressional districts ahead of the midterms. Now, unlike all those other states, Virginia had a constitutional amendment that said you can't do it.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Los Angeles consisting of nearly 4 million people, more than 400 residents are assigned to each LAPD officer, which has an annual budget of about $2 billion. During the fires last year, an estimated more than 25% of emergency response equipment was broken. All this begs the question: What happens to a neighborhood when it has become irrelevant to the city it is in? Answer: They should start exploring de-annexing and fusion safety models for more cost-efficient emergency response services, argues Elaine Culotti in this special video commentary for The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told The Daily Signal a settlement with Harvard University is close, after a protracted battle over the university's diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Trump said Wednesday that he heard the United States had a deal with Harvard. “I hear we have a deal but who the hell knows with them,” Trump told reporters. When asked about the president's statement by The Daily Signal, McMahon said, “He's right. It's ongoing.” Harvard and the Trump administration have engaged in a legal battle for about nine months after President Donald Trump pulled $2 billion in federal funding and removed Harvard's ability to enroll international students. The president took action over Harvard's alleged failure to curb antisemitism and its DEI practices.Secretary McMohan talked about this, and more, in a sit down interview with Elizabeth Mitchell, Daily Signal White House correspondent, on Tuesday.

For years, the big spenders in Congress—and the Biden administration—worked together to drive the nation deeper into debt as they wasted taxpayer money on their crazy ESG, DEI far Left agenda. Between the Democrats who just wanna see Trump fail, and the big spender Republicans who want to see any budget cuts fail, Trump has an uphill battle against the “uniparty” when it comes to further progress in the spending fight.  Federal finance is the executive branch's job, but it really comes down to Congress which “passes spending and tax legislation,” explains Chief Heritage Foundation Economist E.J. Antoni, PhD., on today's special video commentary.   “It's high time those legislators actually do something to fix the problem that they themselves helped cause.”

“America's Job Market Has  Entered the Slow Lane”—that was a recent Wall Street Journal headline. Most of the mainstream media echoes this interpretation, but the reality is much better than the headlines suggest. In fact, it's as if the reporters who wrote those headlines didn't read beyond the headline of the jobs report. Here's what the Dec. 2025 jobs report actually showed:  ✅People working multiple part-time jobs exchanged them for single full-time jobs in December.  ✅During nearly the entire final year of the Biden admin, annual native-born employment was in the red. In 2025, native-born employment beat foreign-born employment by over 1.6 million. ✅The federal workforce is the smallest it's been since 2014. “So, despite all the naysayers, Trump's first year back at the helm saw a labor market undergo badly needed structural changes that are making Americans better off… If we keep up with tax reform, regulatory reform, and energy reform, economic growth will turn into a rocket sled on rails.” For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal's YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 ⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Local officials in California may be co-opting Wolfgang Puck's and Frank Gehry's forthcoming upscale retail center along the Pacific Palisades coastline to install unpopular, high-density housing in the coming future using a little-known, Gavin Newsom-backed bill: SB 79.   “About a year ago,” California passed its Senate Bill No. 79 under the premise of encouraging housing near existing transit hubs, which, in principle, sounded like a good idea with best of intentions.   SB-79 can't be “implemented unless it's at a train station, bus station, [or] airport transit district,” so most people “didn't say no to it” because transit districts should only have limited, localized impacts, California Correspondent Elaine Culotti explains.   “This happens in California a lot where things are kind of slipped under the radar because they feel like they're not going to affect you. Well, guess what? They figured out a way to put transit districts in areas that don't have transit districts, after the fact.” For more video commentaries like this one, subscribe to The Daily Signal's YouTube channel

The pro-transgender lawyers arguing for men's ability to compete in women's sports have begun to realize they have a losing hand, and it's making them desperate, according to a lawyer on the other side of the issue. "I think the other side is starting to recognize they're on the losing side of this issue culturally, politically, in every way," Matt Sharp, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Signal in an interview Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Food and Drug Administration should “immediately” restore in-person dispensing requirements for the abortion pill, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told The Daily Signal. The senator cited safety concerns in pressing the administration to act. “You don't have to have a review to know that if a woman has an ectopic pregnancy, she's gonna have a problem,” Cassidy said. “You don't have to have a review to know that there's documented cases of people coerced into taking this.” Under President Joe Biden in April 2021, the administration stopped requiring that abortion drugs be dispensed to women in person. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, of which Cassidy is the chair, is holding a hearing Wednesday on protecting women from abortion drugs. Cassidy hopes the hearing will “rehumanize” the issue by demonstrating how the pill harms both women and unborn children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anti-regime protests have continued to gain momentum in the Middle East in recent days and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is predicting a “complete realignment of the Middle East.”   “The potential is here for something of Biblical proportion,” Huckabee told The Daily Signal, adding he has used the very same language when speaking with President Donald Trump.   If the Iranian people succeed in removing the regime from power, “that changes everything across the globe,” Huckabee said, adding it will lead to “one of the most unusual times in human history, because there will be a realignment.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming off the heels of an already highly partisan, controversial ballot initiative season, Golden State voters are again being presented a choice that will have ramifications for generations to come: The Billionaire Tax Act. During the upcoming general election this fall, California voters will choose whether to impose a one-time 5% tax on residents with net worths over $1 billion, with the goal of raising over $100 billion.  California Representative Ro Khanna, a purported 2028 presidential hopeful whose district includes the corporate headquarters of Silicon Valley's elites, like Apple and Intel, has already endorsed the wealth tax. Makes sense? No, not really. California's roughly 200 billionaires,  “pay 47% of the taxes that go into the general fund.  And what we're doing here in California is we have decided that we need to make a hundred billion dollars, right? And the way to get to it is to create this tax on things that have not been sold yet. So the way to get to it is to do a one time 5% charge on the 200 earners in the state that pay the most in taxes already,” argues Daily Signal California Commentator Elaine Culotti. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In war, dependable access to oil is as important as dependable access to kinetic arms. Access to ample reliable flows of oil represents a key strategic interest to the United States.  Western Canada sends over 4 million barrels a day of heavy crude to American refiners.  But now with access to the massive flows of Venezuelan crude following the Trump-led ousting of Nicolas Maduro last week, the U.S. may soon no longer need to rely on Canada for this vital strategic resource.  For months, Canada used its vast reserve of natural resources as leverage in its tariff negotiations with the U.S. Not anymore.  “If the Monroe Doctrine warned Europeans to stay out of the Western Hemisphere and the Roosevelt Corollary established American intervention therein, then the ‘Trump Corollary' has put a finer, and more economic point on the matter that's best summed up in two words: America first,” argues Chief Heritage Foundation Economist E.J. Antoni for The Daily Signal on this special video commentary. Keep Up With The Daily Signal Sign up for our email newsletters:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.dailysignal.com/email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠     Subscribe to our other shows: Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words:  https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9753340027 The Tony Kinnett Cast: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2284199939 The Signal Sitdown: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2026390376   Problematic Women:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL7765680741     Follow The Daily Signal:    X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=DailySignal Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/thedailysignal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Truth Social:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://truthsocial.com/@DailySignal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  YouTube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1    Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

**This episode was recorded before Victor Davis Hanson's December 30 medical operation** Whether it's some within the Minneapolis Somali community racking in millions of dollars from government grants for fraudulent businesses or severely unqualified illegal aliens obtaining commercial truck driving licenses, these groups were “categorized by officials as on the victimized, oppressed side of the lecture. And therefore, they were not completely audited. Because, if they had been audited, the cries of racism, nativism, etc., prejudice, bias would've been voiced. And people didn't want to be exposed to that,” argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” These non-meritocratic DEI recipients are thrown into a self-perpetuating system that encourages them to continuously engage in illegal activity as they will never face consequences for their actions. When audits stop, deterrence dies—and corruption thrives. (00:00) Introduction to DEI Issues (00:56) Fraud and Exemptions in DEI (02:39) The Self-Perpetuating Cycle of Victimization (04:29) The Downfall of Meritocracy (05:23) The Future of DEI

Economic booms are usually defined by  “greater productivity,” increased foreign investment, “reasonable” interest rates, “energy production,” and “plentiful deregulation and tax cuts.” But will any of this happen in 2026? Hanson predicts we'll “see an economic bonanza” in 2026 as “there's going to be more oil,”  “ new technologies,” and “all sorts of tax cuts” and “more deregulation than we've ever seen” in the Big Beautiful Bill on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”  “ Add it all up: We've had an unexpectedly—unexpectedly, unexpectedly—good third quarter. I imagine the fourth quarter might be just as good if it were not for the government shutdown—the longest in history—that occurred in the fourth quarter, but we'll see.  But more importantly: more foreign investment, more tax cuts, more deregulation, more energy development, lower interest, and I think you're gonna see an economic bonanza.” 00:00 Introduction: What Makes an Economy Boom? 00:34 Unexpected Economic Trends 01:18 Analyzing Trump's Third Quarter Growth 02:56 Future Economic Predictions for 2026 04:43 Conclusion: Preparing for the Unexpected

While Congress argues over whether it was “overreaching by the Trump administration” to capture Venezuela's dictator Nicolás Maduro, it's important to remember that Venezuela was “ not a free and open society” for the past two decades, reminds Daily Signal California Commentator Elaine Culotti.     Culotti urges Californians to see Venezuela as a reminder to take their civic duty of voting seriously in the state's upcoming elections. “ If we don't vote differently, we can't change things. And the fact that we have the power to vote is such a miracle. It's such a freedom. It's such an honor to have the power to choose the people that you want to run your country, your state, your town, your school, your insurance, everything… We should be celebrating it every day, and we should be taking advantage of it.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost one year into his second term one thing is clear: President Donald Trump is neither an interventionist, nation-builder or an isolationist. Instead, Trump has seemingly adopted the foreign policy of President Andrew Jackson, guided by principles like “No better friend, no worse enemy.”  However, Trump's Jacksonian approach to the world stage comes with a slight twist, a “vise,” so to say, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words”:  “If Maduro cannot put embargoed oil on sanctioned tankers and get to Cuba, then Cuba's going to have no ability to distill gasoline, nor will it have energy. And that's exactly what is happening. The Cuban economy is in a Trump vise. Are we going to bomb Cuba? No. Are we going to have a Bay of Pigs standoff or invasion? No. Are we going to have a Cuban Missile Crisis with China? No. We're going to have a Trump vise. And it's going to squeeze.”    00:00 Introduction to Trump's Foreign Policy 00:49 The Vise Policy Explained 01:57 Case Study: Iran and Venezuela 04:37 Impact on Cuba and the Monroe Doctrine 05:46 Conclusion and Final Thoughts