Secure Freedom Minute

Remember the TV game show called “Let's Make a Deal”? Contestants would choose one of three doors, hoping it concealed a great prize.  The present churning on Iran feels like that show. President Trump has faced two unpalatable options: Door One: Do nothing and, effectively assure the mullahs' regime remains in place – including its covert nuclear weapons program. Or Door Two: Bomb a very hard Iranian nuclear target and become engaged military in another Mideast war.  Instead of giving the ayatollahs two more weeks to agree they won't “get the Bomb,” which amounts to Door One, he should take Door Three: Require the mullahs' true “unconditional surrender,” meaning the liberation of the Iranian people.  Anything less means victory for the Sharia-supremacists and ensures much more of the truly “endless war” they have waged against us from Iran for over forty years.  This is Frank Gaffney.

There's a secret weapon in the campaign to end the mortal threat the Iranian regime poses to Israel, America and Western civilization: namely, the people of Iran.  After all, the mullahs' Sharia-supremacist totalitarian misrule has impoverished, isolated and murdered them for over four decades. In addition, the ruling ayatollahs believe they must bring back their messiah by initiating the Apocalypse, which would kill untold millions of Iranians, among others.  If empowered to liberate themselves, Iran's people can do more to end the regime's doomsday nuclear weapons program than any external power. So, we need to encourage and enable them to rise up.  Understandably, they'll only take the immense risks of doing so if convinced Western deal-making with the regime won't sell them out again. That means no further negotiations with the mullahs for any purpose other than their unconditional surrender.  This is Frank Gaffney.

Israel's successful campaign to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program, prevent its ballistic missiles and other weapons from attacking the Jewish State's population centers and decimate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, military and intelligence leadership has given rise to an historic opportunity.  For the first time since 1979, when the ayatollahs imposed their apocalyptic and totalitarian Sharia-supremacist regime on the country's highly cultured, capable and pro-Western population, the people of Iran have a real chance to liberate themselves.  That prospect increased immeasurably with President Trump's immortal, two-word social media post yesterday. He said simply, “Unconditional Surrender.”  By signaling an end to negotiations with the mullahs for any other purpose, the Iranian people now can, and will, bring them down. They'll need, of course, support in rejoining the civilized world. But that decisive victory is finally possible, at last.  Praise the Lord! This is Frank Gaffney.

President Trump abruptly left the G-7 meeting to work on the conflict between Israel and Iran's mullahs. Thankfully, he has explicitly said it's not to pursue a ceasefire, whose practical effect would be to deny the decisive victory Israel's security – and ours – requires.   Instead, Mr. Trump has said he's working on “something bigger” and that he wants a real end to the Iranian nuclear threat,  meaning Tehran “giving up entirely.”  Our superb “emergency briefing” yesterday showed why: The Iranian regime is committed to our destruction, not just Israel's. It's compelled by faith to lie in any negotiation. And it'll use anything short of complete defeat to regroup, rearm and resume its war on Judeo-Christian civilization.  I pray the Trump team, and you, will go to the video tape at VictoryCo.org and help Israel achieve the only acceptable outcome – namely, decisive victory.  This is Frank Gaffney.

Israel and the Iranian mullahs are at war, precipitated by the prospect nuclear weapons might soon feature in ongoing strikes on Israeli civilian targets.  Will the United States do what it has done repeatedly in previous Mideast conflicts, namely, insist that the Jewish State suspend its military operations before achieving a decisive victory?  To his great credit, President Trump has thus far resisted calls to do so again to avoid a new “endless war.” In fact, the most endless war in memory is the forty-year one the Iranian mullahs have waged against Western Civilization. It will continue and intensify if they and their nuclear weapons program survive.  An emergency briefing at 2 p.m. today will explicate why Israel is absolutely right to insist on finishing the job and why it is in America's vital interest that's accomplished. Join us at VictoryCo.org This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute. Literally overnight, the Mideast was transformed. Israeli forces conducted air and missile attacks against Iran, having determined that its regime – which had long declared the intention to destroy Israel and had repeatedly tried to do so, both directly and through myriad proxies – was poised to “go nuclear.”  Most importantly, Israel's preemptive, defensive strikes destroyed not only key parts of Iran's vast nuclear weapons infrastructure, but the IRGC security apparatus that ran it and kept the mullahs in power. It's, of course, too early to declare a permanent victory. But we can say now: Praise the Lord!  Israel has validated, yet again, that she has not only the power but the will to crush her enemies, and ours. And so has been the Trump Doctrine, whereby America wants our allies to play such a role, and will help defend them when they do.   This is Frank Gaffney.

Welcome to perhaps the most consequential grassroots-driven public policy initiative in U.S. history. On June 1st, the Texas state legislature became the fifth in the nation to exercise a little-noted constitutional authority to make gold and silver coin legal tender and “functional money.” The instigator of the Transactional Gold and Silver movement is my friend, Kevin Freeman, the author of the best-seller that launched it, Pirate Money: Discovering the Founders' Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset. Will Governor Greg Abbott now enable Texans and others to have an alternative to paper dollars that are worth ever-less and the totalitarianism-enabling Central Bank Digital Currency the Federal Reserve wants to foist upon us?  Or will he surrender to banking lobbyists indifferent to this mighty blow for freedom and, interestingly, even the opportunity for their industry to benefit from it, too? This is Frank Gaffney.

Communist China and the United States have just agreed in principle to ease trade frictions. Ostensibly, it will mean back to business-as-usual with respect to our insane dependence on Chinese exports of rare earth minerals. Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party's “business” is to destroy this country. For example, a third Chinese national has just been charged with smuggling here biological materials capable of devastating our agricultural sector and harming consumers. Worse yet, the unrest seen in recent days – and far more widespread agitation scheduled for the next ones – bear the fingerprints of CCP-tied donors and front groups committed to our national demise.  Of particular concern is the fact that among the millions of illegal immigrants Joe Biden let in whom Donald Trump has promised to deport are tens of thousands of apparent Chinese soldiers. Their “business” is our mortal peril. This is Frank Gaffney.

China is reportedly developing high-speed torpedoes that will use artificial intelligence to overcome the use of decoys and other techniques in order to destroy our submarines. Should that happen, it would negate one of the few remaining advantages our navy enjoys over the Chinese Communist Party's considerably larger and increasingly well-armed one. It would also compound the betrayal JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and Bank of America's Brian Moynihan inflicted by raising $4-plus billion for a Pentagon-designated “Chinese military company” called CATL. It's extending the lethality of Chinese non-nuclear attack submarines with advanced lithium ion batteries.  Those CEOs need to be held personally accountable for increasing the danger to American sailors with funds supplied by American investors. In so doing, they have violated President Trump's vitally needed “America First Investment Policy” and created a diabolical precedent for further underwriting our enemy via Hong Kong. This is Frank Gaffney.

President Trump has deployed National Guard units to the streets of Los Angeles in response to what are not “peaceful protests,” but riots organized by powerful Communist and aligned groups.  Their goal isn't merely preventing the implementation of Mr. Trump's electoral mandate to deport millions of illegal aliens. It's the precursor to likely violent nationwide resistance to his presidency apparently planned to begin in earnest on June 14th.  Predictably, California Governor Gavin Newscom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, who recently allowed wildfires to destroy large swathes of Los Angeles, object to such efforts to end the mayhem. In fact, the Homeland Security Department says they are contributing to it. President Trump is right to nip in the bud this prospective insurrection, rather than contend with its desired consequences – which will make those of 2020's so-called “Summer of Love” pale by comparison.  This is Frank Gaffney.

On June 6th, we honor those who fought and died to liberate France from foreign invaders who brutally imposed a totalitarian ideology on her people and their continent. Tragically, France today is among the European nations now increasingly occupied, not by Nazis, but by adherents to the Islamic doctrine of Sharia. The current occupation is not yet complete. But the French government has previously acknowledged that over 700 areas of its country are effectively “no-go zones,” where repressive Sharia is the law and first-responders and non-Muslims dare not enter.  A new Middle East Forum report warns that governmental acquiescence to Sharia-supremacism is now underway in this country, too. It documents how Plano, Texas is actually paying millions of tax dollars to Islamic organizations espousing wife-beating and other affronts to Judeo-Christian civilization for which Americans have sacrificed everything.  Shut them down now.  This is Frank Gaffney.

President Trump yesterday reinstituted a travel ban he initially ordered early in his first term. It's worth recalling why.  One reason is that there is no way to vet people from many countries across the Middle East and Africa. As he noted in a seminal speech in Youngstown on August 15, 2016, admitting their citizens risks letting in adherents to the ideology of “radical Islam” known as Sharia, which requires its adherents to engage in jihad to impose Islam worldwide. Sharia is the law of the land in most of the countries included in the new executive order. Recent terrorist attacks remind us that we must prevent more jihadists from coming here. They also underscore the necessity of removing Sharia-supremacists already here, in many cases illegally – and, as he promised in Youngstown, “stripping out” the networks that support them.  This is Frank Gaffney.

Two Chinese students have been accused of sneaking into the country a potential “agroterrorism weapon.” It's a biological pathogen that could be used to devastate America's agriculture and food supply and harm those who consume it. The question occurs: How many others among the 270,000 PRC nationals studying in this country might be engaged in similar missions? Or, for that matter, the tens of thousands of suspected Chinese soldiers now here? The truth is no one knows. But what is certain is that all of them are obliged to engage in such activity – or worse – if the Chinese Communist Party orders them to do so.  The Trump administration is trying to send the students home. The President needs to inform the public about the danger posed by – and enlist its help in finding and enabling the removal of – the soldiers, too.   This is Frank Gaffney.

Last week, polymath Mike Benz described a decisive moment early in the Cold War when the fledgling CIA covertly intervened to ensure the election of a pro-Western government in Italy. The rest is history. By preventing Communists from using ballots rather than bullets to take over a key Western European nation, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's bid to conquer the entire continent was confined to the enslavement of just its eastern half.  Unfortunately, in the election this week in South Korea, it has been the Chinese Communist Party assiduously intervening, using democracy to destroy it in South Korea. While the final results are not yet in hand, the absence of countervailing efforts by the United States, let alone the decisive ones we mounted in Italy nearly 80 years ago, may thrust a key ally behind an ominous CCP Iron Curtain in Asia. This is Frank Gaffney.

On Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Communist China there would be “devastating consequences” if it invaded Taiwan – a prospect that “could be imminent.” That warning was extremely important, as far as it goes.  Unfortunately, while the Chinese Communist Party has widely denounced Pete's remarks, its dictator, Xi Jinping, may be inclined to discount them – unless accompanied by actions that credibly deter the kind of blockade or invasion for which China's military has been “rehearsing.” Such steps should include: enforcing Trump's “America First Investment Policy” to stop U.S. underwriting of the Chinese military; implementing a counter-mafia strategy to root out the CCP's “old friends” here; securing the Panama Canal and moving significant elements of the Atlantic fleet through it ASAP; issuing a presidential statement today opposing the CCP's threat to freedom in South Korea; and finding and removing Chinese soldiers inside America. 

The U.S. government has recently served notice on Harvard and other academic institutions: They must stop ignoring the national security implications of having Communist Chinese and pro-terrorist students on campus.  In explaining steps being taken to restrict or terminate visas for such individuals, the State Department is rightly noting that they can put at risk public safety, proprietary information or other, vital American interests.  Harvard is accused, among other things, of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” Many other schools, if not similarly complicit, have turned a blind-eye to the CCP's influence and even espionage operations on theirs.  This must stop.  The Trump team deserves credit for taking action to that end. And its ability to do so must not be denied by federal judges as indifferent to national security as have been far too many in the academy.  This is Frank Gaffney.

Donald Trump prides himself on being a deal-maker. And he aspires to be a peacemaker.  Consequently, he is pursuing an agreement whereby Iran's mullahs would actually abandon their ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons – and thereby prevent another “endless” Mideast war.  Mr. Trump's courtiers insist that he'll succeed where his predecessors have consistently failed. For that to occur, however, the mullahs must faithfully forswear their determination to trigger Armageddon, thus bringing back the Shiites' messiah and ushering in their own Golden Age, in which all the world submits to Islam.   Ain't gonna happen. That being the case, the only realistic hope for peace lies with the end of the Iranian regime. A true master deal-maker knows when to cut his losses. This is that time and Israel is prepared to do the heavy lifting.  Let that be your legacy, Mr. President. This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute. Suddenly, a rising chorus of Western nations is insisting that there must be a Palestinian state, right now. And the United Nations is pressing forward with a meeting next month to discuss this initiative, adding further legitimacy to what is, truly, a harebrained idea.  Why the sudden furor? And why the rush? Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, a world-class Israeli-American information warfare practitioner, has just produced a short video explaining that the reason for this diplomatic push has nothing to do with the merits of such a state being more compelling than heretofore.  Incredibly, these nations – from the United Kingdom to Australia half-a-world away – appear panicked that the existing Palestinian terror-state in Gaza is about to be vanquished by Israel, and with it the odious, terrorist regime that seeks explicitly to destroy both the Jewish State and ours.  I say, “Good riddance, Hamas.” This is Frank Gaffney

During his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged to defeat what he called the ideology of “radical Islamic terrorism.” Of late, his administration has been signaling a willingness to embrace its enablers and practitioners. That's the unmistakable take-away from Mr. Trump's visit to Qatar this month. After all, his hosts bankroll Sharia-supremacism worldwide, including by funding toxic influence operations and Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. Speaking of such terrorists, the administration recently appointed a convicted one along with another Sharia-supremacist to an advisory board on religious liberty. It's not clear whether Qatar had a hand in these ominous selections. What is certain though, as former spy Sam Faddis powerfully warns, jihadis and their Communist allies are now openly advocating violent action here at home. This is a time for rolling up radical Islamic terrorists – not enabling, let alone emboldening, them.

Today we recognize and honor the sacrifice of all those in uniform who gave their lives for our country. It is impossible to overstate the debt we owe those men and women. Without their willingness to serve and die, the rest of us surely would not be living in the land of the free and the home of the brave. I would like on this occasion to thank as well the nearly 900 members of the Israel Defense Forces killed since October 23, 2023. They have perished in defense of their own country, of course.  But they did so in fighting Sharia-supremacist enemies who explicitly seek the destruction of our nation, too. Their loss in advancing what we pray will be Israel's ultimate victory will help keep such foes from murdering Americans on foreign battlefields, or here at home.  This is Frank Gaffney.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem informed Harvard yesterday that it can “no longer enroll foreign students” for “fostering anti-Semitism and violence” and “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” The Secretary declared,“Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.” We must hope that this action will lead to the removal of over a quarter of a million Chinese students nationwide. After all, each of them has been approved to be here by the Chinese Communist Party. Often they are related to Party members.  And they are all subject to legal requirements to do the CCP's bidding if tasked with espionage or even sabotage – enforced by threats to their families at home and, in some cases, covert Chinese police offices in America. Such students are ticking time-bombs. They should be sent packing forthwith. This is Frank Gaffney.

The Conclave that made Cardinal Robert Prevost Pope Leo XIV was roiled by his predecessor's betrayal of Catholics and other people of faith in Communist China.  Pope Francis reportedly agreed to a toxic secret deal with the Chinese Communist Party – and ignored the CCP's intensified efforts to destroy religion – hoping he'd be allowed to visit the People's Republic. Question: Were the cardinals' votes cast with the knowledge that Prevost had actually visited China “multiple times” and would “gladly” continue Francis' direction? Or did they only learn it, as we did, eleven days later?  Saturday is the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. Pope Leo must answer that prayer by breaking with the Chinese Communists – not continue “the direction” of abandoning the real Church and submitting to their lethal, so-called “patriotic” one. Weigh in at RepealtheDeal.org. This is Frank Gaffney.

Four decades ago, President Ronald Reagan declared that it would be better “to save lives than to avenge them.” For that purpose, he unveiled a “Strategic Defense Initiative.” Tragically, his vision for protecting our country and its population has not been fully actualized, even though the threat we face from enemy missiles has metastasized dramatically.   Yesterday, however, President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth outlined a “Golden Dome” anti-missile system reprising a plan known as “Brilliant Pebbles” that would have been in place thirty years ago if Bill Clinton had not cancelled it. It will include space-based sensors and interceptors – by far, the most effective way to dissuade attackers from launching missiles against us. Importantly, Mr. Trump has given the job of deploying the Golden Dome before his term is up to an operational commander, not a research agency. Let's roll! This is Frank Gaffney.

Yesterday, Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan and Brian Moynihan's Bank of America raised $4.4 billion for a Pentagon-designated “Chinese military company operating in the United States.” Most Americans might be astonished that there are any such companies – let alone that Wall Street is so indifferent to the national security implications that it is massively enriching one. The company in question is called CATL. It's the world's largest electric battery manufacturer and reportedly is putting them in Chinese submarines, increasing their lethality – meaning the death of Americans in the event of a shooting war. Messrs. Dimon and Moynihan are, thereby, not only aiding and abetting a “foreign adversary.” They have violated President Trump's vitally needed “America First Investment Policy” and created a precedent for doing so via Hong Kong that threatens to make a mockery of his commonsensical effort to end such underwriting of our enemy.  This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  The passing of Dr. Michael Ledeen at any time would be a terrible loss for our country. His myriad brilliant books and countless essays on foreign policy amounted to a national treasure. Surpassingly invaluable were his analyses of the regime that has misruled the people of Iran and threatened ours for over four decades. He tirelessly argued against negotiating with, and thereby legitimizing and even propping up, the mullahs in favor of helping long-suffering Iranians remove them from power, often exhorting that we do so “faster.” Such counsel is especially needed now as the Trump team actively pursues yet-another “deal” with the ayatollahs. Michael would likely urge Israel to exercise the only option that can actually keep them from getting the Bomb: namely, disrupting the regime's security apparatus, enabling the Iranian people to liberate themselves, and do it faster.   So should we.

The atheistic Marxist Chinese Communist Party has long sought to destroy religion in China and, most especially, the Roman Catholic Church. In 2018, the Vatican became complicit in the CCP's crimes against Chinese believers and their clergy, churches and Bible – all of which Pope Francis studiously ignored.   The deal whereby this betrayal was institutionalized remains secret. But revulsion about its repercussions for persecuted Catholics in China, and other Christians, Falun Gong, Muslims and Buddhists rocked the Conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV instead of the odds-on favorite who negotiated the agreement, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.  On May 24th, the new pope will preside over the International Day of Prayer for the Church in China. He can answer the prayers of millions there, and countless more worldwide, by repudiating the odious accord that betrayed them and religious freedom. Join them at RepealtheDeal.org. This is Frank Gaffney.

On August 15, 2016, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivered perhaps the most clear-eyed speech ever given by such a political figure about the grave threat posed by, and the necessity of countering, “Radical Islamic Terrorism.” He condemned its animating ideology rooted in “Sharia law,” which he promised to use “ideological warfare” to defeat. Mr. Trump pledged “a new approach, which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas, and by our friends in the Middle East…to halt the spread of Radical Islam.” That approach is especially needed now, following his trip to Qatar – the nation whose enormous wealth is relentlessly weaponized to spread Radical Islam and the Sharia-supremacism at its core. Ditto his sanctions-ending meeting with a Syrian president who was – until recently – a leader of al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Paging Candidate Trump. This is Frank Gaffney.

President Donald Trump is making a gigantic bet on a remade Middle East. The massive weapons sales he has announced to Saudi Arabia and others that may be in the offing with additional regional states, to say nothing of his termination of sanctions on and possible normalization of relations with Syria might make sense in a region transformed by two other developments. First, Iran has genuinely ceased to be a threat to all of its neighbors, and us, by being denuclearized, ending the regime's support for terrorism and terminating its proxy wars. And second, Israel has decisively defeated its enemies – and ours – and re-emerged as America's powerful, secure and valued ally.  As a practical matter, however, those two conditions can only emerge if the Iranian people have been liberated from the mullahocracy that brutally oppresses them and threatens the rest of us.  This is Frank Gaffney.

Overshadowed by news yesterday of progress by the Trump team in securing more reciprocal trade arrangements with the Chinese Communist Party were reports that top Wall Street firms are doubling down on the CCP's wildly unreciprocated access to our capital markets. At issue is fundraising that Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan and Brian Moynihan's Bank of America are determined to do for what the Pentagon has determined is a “Chinese military company operating in the United States.” Known as CATL, this conglomerate makes electric batteries for consumer vehicles. Its batteries are also making China's submarines more lethal. House CCP Committee Chairman John Moolinaar has explicitly warned Dimon and Moynihan to abandon the CATL deal. By refusing to do so, they must now be subject to extensive document disclosures and, ideally – given the harm they are causing to the national security – public repudiation, as well.  This is Frank Gaffney

Even as the United States was negotiating yesterday with Iranian diplomats to effect their country's denuclearization, Iran's regime was putting on a show of its undiminished enmity with mobs chanting “death to America.”  The man most especially, and quite literally, in the mullahs' crosshairs is President Donald Trump. They have for some time had assassination squads inside this country with orders to kill him and several of his former senior subordinates.  This week, incredibly, the President is scheduled to visit three Middle Eastern nations – Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar – that are awash with such Iranian operatives and/or Muslim Brotherhood-tied jihadists itching to murder him. What could possibly go wrong? In short, any single thing and Donald Trump is coming home in a box. Please call the White House at 202-456-1111 and urge the President to cancel his trip now.   This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute. The election of Peruvian-American Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV is a fresh start for the Vatican. Or is it?  An early test of whether this papacy will amount to more of the same will be if the new pontiff continues the worst legacy of Pope Francis – namely, his toxic secret deal with the Chinese Communist Party. A damning documentary available for free at RepealtheDeal.org makes clear that the CCP has weaponized such legitimization by the Vatican to intensify its destructive domination of Catholics, their churches, their Bible and other people of faith.  In short, Pope Leo's decision will determine whether the Church will serve Jesus Christ – or a literal anti-Christ figure: China's dictator Xi Jinping, who is determined to be treated as a god, especially by faithful Christians. The world needs a new pope, not Francis 2.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Eighty years ago today, the Second World War in Europe ended. Amidst celebrations of the anniversary, there's widespread cognitive dissonance – psychologists' term for an inability to perceive what one doesn't want to see. European elites in particular profess concerns about the possibility of another invasion of their lands, this time by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. They bemoan President Trump's purported diminished commitment to Europe's security in light of Chinese preparations for war that our Indo-Pacific commander recently described as at a “rapid boil.” The truth is that Europe has already been invaded by millions of illegal immigrants best described as Sharia-supremacists for their attachment to Islam's totalitarian code which requires that its adherents engage in jihad and conquest. Europe's collective failure to address – and mitigate – this threat may mean the next victory there will be celebrated by freedom's enemies, not its friends. This is Frank Gaffney.

Bloomberg reports that two of Wall Street's biggest firms have doubled-down on their intention to help raise at least $7 billion dollars for a Chinese military company helping the People's Liberation Army prepare to kill Americans.  Jamie Dimon's JP Morgan and Brian Moynihan's Bank of America exemplify the indifference of too many in the U.S. financial sector about national security. Evidently, they're determined to help enable electric battery-manufacturer CATL's making Chinese conventional submarines a more lethal threat to our naval forces and personnel. House CCP Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar has warned the companies to drop the CATL deal and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins to stop such corporate enabling of our enemy in violation of President Trump's “America First Investment Policy.”  These material risks are not being properly disclosed to investors, greatly compounding the treacherous malfeasance of JPMorgan and Bank of America. This is Frank Gaffney.

Tonight U.S. time, the cardinals who currently collectively make up the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church will lock themselves away in the Sistine Chapel to make the most fateful decision of their lives – and, arguably that of the spiritual life of their institution.  They will not only be electing a new pope. They will be determining whether the Church will serve Jesus Christ -- or the man who is, arguably, an anti-Christ figure: Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, who aspires to be treated as a god, especially by faithful Christians. Unless the cardinals or the next pope repudiate a secret deal struck with Xi during the papacy of Francis, it will continue to legitimize, enable and make more devastating the Vatican's submission to the Chinese Communist Party. That must not happen. Please, learn more about the stakes and take action now at  RepealtheDeal.org. God bless you. This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  In less than two days, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church will lock itself in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope. One of his first acts will be to mark on May 24th the annual day of prayer for China.  We need to know now whether he will answer the prayers of millions of Catholics, non-Catholic Christians and, for that matter, practitioners of other faiths in China by terminating the toxic secret deal his predecessor reached with the Chinese Communist Party. The cardinals are on notice: There's no more important determinant of the Catholic Church's future direction and faithfulness to Jesus Christ than whether it continues or abandons its betrayal of Chinese believers to the CCP's determined effort to destroy religion in China. Join us in calling on them and the pope they are poised to elect to RepealtheDeal.org.   This is Frank Gaffney.

Donald Trump's selection yesterday of Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his acting National Security Advisor is a God-thing.  It comes at a moment when the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church will for sure decide on its next pope. The cardinals also need to act on a direct threat to the institution, its clergy, faithful and future in Communist China.  Secretary Rubio is not only a Catholic. Throughout his career he has opposed the Chinese Communist Party and its bid to dominate the world. As the son of refugees from Castro's tyranny, he knows firsthand what is at stake. Catholics and others around the world are calling on the cardinals to reveal and terminate a toxic secret agreement between the Vatican and the CCP. We need Secretary Rubio to facilitate the Trump Team's joining us. You should, too, at RepealtheDeal.org.  This is Frank Gaffney.

It is a time of choosing for the Roman Catholic Church. Obviously, its cardinals will be making a choice of a new pope one week from today.  But an extremely powerful webinar yesterday revealed that they face an even more immediate and, arguably, more fraught choice in the meantime. The cardinals must decide whether the Church will stand with freedom, Judeo-Christian civilization and, yes, Jesus Christ. Or submit to a Chinese Communist dictator, Xi Jinping, who the Vatican has secretly empowered to supplant all three in China.  Underscoring the choice, Beijing yesterday announced that it had unilaterally appointed two new Catholic bishops – in direct violation of a secret deal negotiated by the reported frontrunner to be the next pope, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.  The cardinals must repudiate this odious deal. Learn more and urge them to do so at RepealtheDeal.org.   This is Frank Gaffney.

Last week, Pope Francis died. Starting this week, as Catholic leaders prepare to select his successor, a question that must be formally addressed is: Will a secret, and scandalous, part of the last papacy be laid to rest, as well? In 2018, an as-yet-undisclosed deal was struck by the Vatican with the Chinese Communist Party. Its principal architect was the Church's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is said to be a frontrunner to replace Francis.  Parolin's diabolical deal is still secret because it shamefully betrayed the Catholic Church, harmed countless believers and devastatingly impacted even other faith communities in China. In practice, it has effectively enabled atheistic Communist dictator Xi Jinping's claim to be God.   Today, we are launching a grassroots campaign calling for the Catholic Church to reveal and repeal the deal. Join us and take action at RepealtheDeal.org.  

On Monday, Spain, Portugal and part of France came, literally to a screeching halt for many hours. Millions are still without power.  What happened? And could it happen here?  The Portuguese grid operator blamed extreme temperature variation-induced “oscillations” in its high-voltage power lines. It may actually have more to do with the unreliability and attendant problems caused by so-called “sustainable” wind and solar power generation, on which the affected grid relies for over 50 percent of its electricity. Parts of the U.S. electric grid certainly face such so-called green energy-precipitated problems as solar and wind farms that work part-time replace coal, nuclear and gas-fired power plants that work continuously.  That's a formula for disaster here, too. Until it's reversed, our grid will go down, too – if not due to enemy action or solar storms, because of insane green energy policies. This is Frank Gaffney.   

Over the weekend, Chinese military personnel unfurled the PRC flag on an uninhabited Pacific reef known as Sandy Cay, then claimed to have “maritime control” and “sovereign jurisdiction” over the tiny sandbar near a key Philippino outpost.  This isn't the first time the CCP has laid claim to such South China Sea features, some of which became bastions for power-projection and controlling their undersea resources. This is, however, China's first such incursion on Donald Trump's watch. If there's no push-back, there will surely be additional, and more fraught, acts of Chinese aggression in the region. Fortunately, the United States can penalize the Chinese Communists without force by ending a May 2013 Memorandum of Understanding that gave their companies uniquely privileged access to U.S. capital markets. This is a policy course-correction that needs to be taken anyway. Do it now.

A jihadist attack against mostly Indian tourists in Kashmir has precipitated a crisis that may see two nuclear-armed states go to war again. If that happens, it may be precipitated by the weaponization of water. India holds Pakistan responsible for this act of terrorism and responded by suspending a treaty governing the Indus River's waters. The Pakistanis say interfering with their access to such flows would amount to an act of war.  Ironically, Pakistan's patron and enabler, Communist China, initially denounced India's water warfare. That's particularly rich since the Chinese have diverted water from Tibet for years, creating drought conditions downstream in Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.  Beijing is now threatening India's access to river flows, as well.  If shared use of transnational water sources in South Asia is not restored quickly, war – and perhaps a nuclear one – may well ensue. This is Frank Gaffney.

Has Egypt switched sides? For over five decades, successive Egyptian governments have received enormous amounts of U.S. foreign aid and military assistance – essentially rewards for making peace with Israel and for remaining generally aligned with American regional policy and interests. We had a taste of what could happen to this arrangement when Barack Obama encouraged the toppling of longtime ally, President Hosni Mubarak, and the Muslim Brotherhood came to power. Fortunately, the Brothers' regime was overthrown before it fully imposed Sharia law and threw in with Israel's enemies.  Now, Egypt's government is violating the peace treaty with Israel by massing forces in the Sinai. It's recently conducted air and naval exercises respectively with China and Russia and improved relations with Iran. And it has released top Muslim Brothers from jail.  These manifest the strategic equivalent of tectonic shifts. Brace for impact.  This is Frank Gaffney.

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke yesterday about “trade, Iran, etc.” and are “on the same side on every issue.” Hopefully, that means no further extensions of the U.S.-Iranian disarmament negotiations past this weekend.  Otherwise, there's a real risk the mullahs will succeed in foreclosing the only outcome with a chance of precluding them from acquiring and probably using nuclear weapons – namely, their forcible removal from power. More time invites the regime in Tehran to declare it's acquired such weapons, transforming the calculus of contending with the threat it poses. Alternatively, more time allows Iran's Chinese and Russian allies, fresh from military exercises with an increasingly problematic Egypt – to increase their regional presence, arguably making an attack on the ayatollahs too risky. Therefore, Trump and Netanyahu must stop the Iranian nuclear threat, without further delay.                                        This is Frank Gaffney.  

Pete Hegseth is a change agent in the Defense Department. Like most institutions, especially highly bureaucratic and hierarchical ones, the Pentagon is inherently resistant to major course-corrections. And few have been more dramatic than those being undertaken by the Trump administration after four years in which the military was subjected to unprecedented, highly politicized and debilitating “fundamental transformation.” The new Secretary of Defense has been tasked with restoring the warrior ethos to our armed services. That means eliminating the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion agenda that made promotions to leadership a function not of warfighting skills and achievement, but conformity with and championing of what amounts to cultural Marxism.  At a moment when the prospect of a shooting war looms large, Pete Hegseth needs our support in clearing the Pentagon's decks for action, not encouragement to those resisting the changes the times require.  This is Frank Gaffney.

The passing of Pope Francis prompts an examination of his legacy and what it portends for Catholics and other Christians. An illustrative facet was his diplomacy with the Chinese Communist Party. Since 2018, Francis has approved four deals with Xi Jinping's regime. While they remain secret, their effects have been unmistakable. In short, they legitimized the CCP's increasing domination, mutation and in some cases destruction of Catholic churches, icons, texts and doctrine.  As part of their “Sinicization” of Christianity, the Chinese Communists have also increasingly made Xi the object of worship, appointed his bishops, barred children from attending mass, and harshly punished those who seek to continue practicing their faith in so-called underground churches. Typical of Frances' political proclivities, his legacy in China will be one of a radical leftist makeover of the Catholic Church at the expense of tradition and religious freedom.  This is Frank Gaffney. 

Michigan Congressman John Moolenaar is a national treasure. He chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and works tirelessly to counter what the CCP calls its “unrestricted warfare” against us.  Yesterday, Chairman Moolenaar took action. He wrote two of our country's top financiers, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, and demanded that they stop their investment banks' joint efforts to raise over $7 billion for a Chinese military and slave-labor exploiting company known as CATL.  It is, as the Godfather would say, “an offer they can't refuse.” Should Messrs. Dimon and Moynihan fail to disengage from thus “funding our own demise,” the chairman will require them to provide extensive documentation about this transaction that will expose the degree to which such “old friends” of China are knowingly betraying and endangering America.  Bring it! This is Frank Gaffney.

In less than a month, world government will be imposed on us indirectly, if not directly, thanks to a new pandemic treaty the World Health Organization finalized yesterday and plans to adopt and make legally binding in mid-May – with profound implications for public health, personal freedoms and national sovereignty. If you liked how the COVID-19 crisis was handled – in large measure thanks to the incompetence and malfeasance of the WHO and the insidious influence of the perpetrator, the Chinese Communist Party, and the principal beneficiary, Big Pharma – you're going to love this new world order.    Among its consequences will be: universal health IDs, vaccine mandates, obligatory censorship, technology transfers, open-ended financial costs and the proliferation of viruses with the potential to cause pandemics – all “managed” by greatly empowered and unaccountable international bureaucrats.  Sounds terrifying? Learn more and take action at SovereigntyCoalition.org. This is Frank Gaffney.

Yesterday, two senior advisors to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were physically escorted from the Pentagon and put on administrative leave, reportedly in connection with an investigation of leaks of sensitive national security information. Both are among a small number of individuals who previously worked for organizations funded by an anti-Trump libertarian billionaire named Charles Koch. Unsurprisingly, his employees have been associated, like him, with foreign policies described as “restraint.” In practice, they often amount to “retreat,” or even “defeatism.” Donald Trump resolved to avoid again hiring personnel opposed to his policies. Before returning to the White House, he actually declared that Koch alumni “need not apply” for jobs in his second administration.  It would be a good idea to revisit the decisions that ignored the president's sensible direction, and hire instead staff who – like his Cabinet – espouse robust America First policies.   This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.  Have you heard about “the Maryland man” improperly deported to El Salvador? If you haven't, it's not because the media isn't working overtime to bring his case to your attention.  Unfortunately, such reporting is an information operation. It reflects a determined effort to obscure the status of not only Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but others like him unlawfully present in the United States.  Open-borders advocates and journalists have relentlessly transformed such illegal aliens into “undocumented immigrants,” then simply “migrants” and now residents of whatever American state they currently live in.  U.S. judges twice determined Garcia is a member of El Salvador's MS-13, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization, meaning he had to be deported. The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that a district judge here can't compel his return from El Salvador.  President Trump has a mandate to deport illegal aliens. Get it done.  This is Frank Gaffney.

It seems we have reached an inflection point in the fight to adopt what President Trump has called an “America First Investment Policy”: Last week, two influential Wall Street financiers appear to have broken with their colleagues' determination to continue investing in China first. Friday morning, Shark Tank personality Kevin O'Leary objected to the unfairness of Communist Chinese companies enjoying privileged access to U.S. capital markets. He demanded that Paul Atkins, the Securities and Exchange Commission's newly confirmed chairman, ensure that they instead comply with our laws and regulations – just as O'Leary's companies and everybody elses' must.  Later that day, BlackRock chairman Larry Fink declared that “nefarious” Chinese companies should be delisted from our capital markets. If he now walks the walk, and divests his company's vast holdings propping up Xi Jinping's regime, we may finally stop underwriting our enemy.    This is Frank Gaffney.

In May 2019, the Chinese Communist Party publicly declared a “People's War” on the United States after decades of “unrestricted warfare” against us. Throughout, it has been building up the power and reach of its military, incredibly with American funding and technology.  The CCP's aggressive response to President Trump's efforts to end its predatory trade practices have further underscored an insight millions of Americans gleaned from Xi Jinping's COVID biological warfare attack: His regime is willing to use physical violence against us, as well. That prospect compels us to take urgent stock of ways in which it might do so, and emerging vectors of attack. A PresentDangerChina.org webinar today will examine preparations the Chinese and their Russian allies are making to exploit the Arctic for this purpose – and President Trump's urgent focus on the role played by Greenland and Canada in countering such threats.      This is Frank Gaffney.