• 2026 budget plan: On Friday, the White House released Donald Trump’s 2026 budget blueprint. No presidential proposal is ever fully adopted by Congress. Trump’s also comes later than usual because Republicans are currently wrangling over spending legislation. Trump’s blueprint includes steep cuts to numerous federal agencies as well as a record $1 trillion for defense. However, a number of Republican lawmakers have been quick to object, contending that much of the proposed Department of Defense spending increase wouldn’t actually go to the DOD, like funding the Energy Department’s development of nuclear weapons or DHS’s border enforcement. Sen. Mitch McConnell accused the White House of doubling down “on the Biden administration’s material neglect for the glaring national security threats.” Trump’s budget blueprint would cut non-defense discretionary spending by 22%. The federal budget has risen to $7 trillion annually, with deficit spending nearing $2 trillion.

• Ashli Babbitt settlement: Despite what the Leftmedia has tried to tell us for years about January 6 being the darkest day in American history, the only person killed that day was Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran participating in the mob that entered the Capitol and broke windows. A settlement with the Trump administration in the lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch on behalf of the Babbitt estate has been reached, but not yet signed. Details of the settlement have not been made public, although the suit sought $30 million. The civil suit alleged negligence by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, though an internal investigation cleared him of wrongdoing. Mark Alexander has argued for his prosecution.

• Leftmedia picks a new illegal alien hero: Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A person illegally enters the U.S. and Democrats mobilize everything to protect this new illegal at the expense of citizens everywhere. It’s a story that has played out repeatedly in the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, and that’s unlikely to end soon. An unnamed woman illegally crossed the southern border into Governor Katie Hobbs’s Arizona while eight months pregnant. Less than a week ago, she gave birth, and under Jus Soli “right of the soil” citizenship, that child is now a U.S. citizen. The mother’s deportation, already in progress, has become much more complicated. The Trump administration is rightly working to overturn Jus Soli and turn toward the Jus Sanguinis “right of blood” citizenship that was well established in the Old World.

• Alcatraz reincarnated: Alcatraz may soon go from a tourist destination back to a notorious federal prison. Early Sunday morning, Donald Trump issued the following announcement on social media: “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering.” Trump explained that he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, along with the DOJ, FBI, and DHS, to “reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.” He then noted his rationale for this decision: “We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally.” If Trump can’t deport the worst of the worst, then he’ll confine them to “The Rock.”

• Tariffs on films: Donald Trump wants to save Hollywood, or at least the American movie-making industry. Thus, over the weekend, Trump announced that he was authorizing a 100% tariff against movies made in foreign countries. Claiming that the U.S. movie industry is dying and expressing concern over national security — citing foreign messaging and propaganda — Trump posted on Truth Social, “I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” It’s unclear how or if this tariff would apply to American-owned studios filming movies overseas, which is a common practice.

• CBS’s Harris interview nominated for Outstanding Edited Interview: When Kamala Harris appeared on “60 Minutes” in the late days of the 2024 presidential election, she didn’t wow anyone. In fact, the network’s editing was so deceptive that the Trump administration filed a $20 billion lawsuit against CBS, alleging that she would’ve sounded even more incoherent without their beneficial editing. Apparently, the Emmys wanted to give the Trump case some extra weight by giving that interview a nomination for “Outstanding Edited Interview” on Thursday. White House communications director Steven Cheung pointed out that the Emmy nod is well deserved since “it takes some serious talent” to make Kamala sound coherent.

• Maine governor has financial ties to “gender-affirming care”: Maine Governor Janet Mills has been in a months-long feud with the Trump administration over her anti-woman, pro-trans stance. Her position isn’t the reasoned, principled stance she pretends it is; it’s about money. Mills’s sister, Dora Mills, is the chief health improvement officer at MaineHealth. MaineHealth, a subsidiary of Maine Medical Center, is the largest provider of transgender treatments in the state of Maine, and its revenue has increased substantially from 2018 ($1.54 billion), the year before Mills became governor, to 2023 ($3.69 billion). Dora joined MaineHealth in 2018, and in 2022 it was a top donor to Janet’s reelection campaign. A MaineHealth representative with pronouns in his bio said assertions of a conflict of interest do not merit a response.

• Pence receives Profile in Courage Award: On Sunday evening at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, former Vice President Mike Pence was honored with the Profile in Courage Award. It centered on Pence’s courageous decision on January 6, 2020, to uphold the Constitution and oversee the certification of the presidential election rather than acquiesce to Donald Trump’s dubious demands and claims that Pence had the authority to halt the ratification proceedings. For his principled fidelity to the Constitution, Pence has sadly been smeared with ignorant and vitriolic criticism. Yet, gracious as always, Pence noted, “I’ve been deeply humbled by how many Americans have come up to me and just taken a point to encourage us and support us, and it convinces me that the American people know that whatever differences we may have, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand.”

Headlines

• Stephen Miller emerges as top contender for Trump’s next national security advisor (Axios)

• Trump vows to extend TikTok ban deadline until a deal is struck (Fox Business)

• Youngkin signs law that would set daily time limit for kids on social media (Daily Wire)

• Trump looking for “total” disarmament of Iran nuclear program, open to “civilian energy” (Jerusalem Post)

• Houthi missile hits grounds of Ben Gurion Airport after interception fails (Times of Israel)

• German intelligence officially designates AfD an “extremist organization” (Hot Air)

• Humor: Nine deadly consequences of defunding NPR (Babylon Bee)

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