The FEMA story that erupted over the weekend is probably much more than a one-day story about one malcontent at the federal agency. Let me remind you of what happened.
 
A whistleblower shared an online message written by a FEMA supervisor giving workers in one Florida county instructions as they went door-to-door offering those impacted by Hurricane Milton a chance to apply for federal aid.
 
One direction from the supervisor instructed workers to skip houses that had a Trump sign or flag on display. This supervisor has reportedly been fired. However, she claims her actions were supported by superiors and that FEMA is turning her into a “scapegoat.”
 
Multiple members of Congress from Florida and North Carolina have publicly said there is no way this scandal is only one individual. They are demanding a full investigation. How many staff followed her directions?
 
When Hurricane Helene hit, we all saw with our own eyes how slow FEMA’s response was in the hardest hit and heavily Republican areas. People all over the region said they never saw anything with “FEMA” on it for days.
 
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance visited these areas before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They said the delayed response was outrageous and that it was clear Washington bureaucrats didn’t care about residents of rural North Carolina.
 
After all, we know what they say about us all the time. They call us “deplorable,” “irredeemable,” “Nazis,” and “garbage.”
 
What did the media do? They attacked anyone who criticized the pathetic relief effort. FEMA also interrupted volunteers who were helping.
 
That was all called “misinformation,” and they claimed it was putting FEMA employees in danger. It was called an effort by Trump to divide the country. Some volunteers were called “white supremacists” who were attempting to recruit new supporters.
 
That’s what dominated the news. Not the lack of action, but the fact that FEMA’s failures were being pointed out.
 
This failure is a massive scandal! It’s another example of how the left tried to shame people into silence and shut down any debate.
 
That’s why the left’s attacks on free speech are so dangerous. It enables this kind of totalitarian action where some people get help from the government but if you vote the wrong way, you don’t get help.
 
Free speech and legal protection for whistleblowers is the only way we get to the bottom of scandals like this.
 
These storms, in all their horror, also knocked down the left’s facade and exposed what we have been fighting. Biden, Harris, and the left use every lever of power to smash us whenever and however they can, even when they’re not in power. (See next item.)
 
 
 
Pentagon Petulance
 
They’re burning the midnight oil in the Pentagon. Are they developing plans to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat or Tehran’s assassination plots against Donald Trump? No.
 
Are they looking for ways to capture terrorists pouring across the border? Nope.
 
According to various reports, there is a cadre of paranoid officers in the Pentagon who are more concerned about unfounded fears that Donald Trump will use the military as a private army to get his political enemies than they are of the real enemies of the United States.
 
Really? I hope someone is taking names at these meetings.
 
You may recall that when Trump was first in the White House, he wanted to use the military to help secure the border. The initial response from top Pentagon leaders was, “We don’t get involved in domestic issues.”
 
The president is the commander-in-chief. The protection of America’s borders is the top priority of the American military, unless there was a coup at some point and none of us were told.
 
Defending the borders and the people of the United States of America is the primary goal of the U.S. military. If it can’t do that, something is seriously wrong.
 
By the way, this petulance and resistance is just more proof that the left has absolutely no intention of “coming together” and “uniting.”
 
 
 
Trump’s Picks
 
The Trump/Vance administration is rapidly taking shape, and we are excited about the appointments we are seeing so far. Here’s what has been announced: 
 

• Stephen Miller, a champion on immigration policy, has been named deputy White House chief of staff. 

• Rep. Elise Stefanik, a proud America First advocate and strong supporter of Israel, has been named ambassador to the United Nations. 

• Rep. Mike Waltz, a vocal critic of the Pentagon’s woke policies, has been named as Trump’s National Security Adviser. 

• Former Rep. Lee Zeldin has been nominated to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. 

• Former ICE Director Tom Homan has been named “Border Czar.” There is no one better for the job. 

• South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will be nominated as secretary of Homeland Security. 

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be nominated as ambassador to Israel. 

• While no formal announcement has been made yet, Trump is expected to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of State.

  
What isn’t a good sign is the apparent instinct of Senate Republicans to go with another establishment fixture, rather than a fighter, as the next majority leader.
 
Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer raised eyebrows when he refused to invite Senator-elect David McCormick to the orientation session for new senators because he wasn’t confirmed as the winner yet. Some news agencies have called the race and there appears to be no legal way incumbent Democrat Bob Casey can overcome the gap.
 
Senators Mike Lee, Eric Schmitt, and Katie Britt blasted Schumer’s move and said they would “personally escort” McCormick into the briefing, essentially daring Schumer to arrest them. That would have been an interesting scene, but Schumer has backed down.
 
That said, there should have been 49 Republican senators saying they would escort McCormick into the meeting, not three!
 
That’s the attitude every elected Republican must have. They need an attitude adjustment now given the fight we’re in and how aggressively the left will resist everything Donald Trump wants to do.
 
Sadly, there are Republicans throughout Washington who aren’t thrilled by last week’s results and are saying to one another, “We’ll just have to sweat it out for the next four years and try to talk Trump out of as much as possible.”
 
I wish I could say they all get it, but they don’t.
 
 
 
Lessons Learned
 
The 2024 election represents many things, but there should be two clear lessons.
 
One is that the “neo-con” Never Trump movement has been completely destroyed. It turns out that the Cheney-Haley-Kinzinger wing of the party is irrelevant. We were constantly told that Trump needed to bend over backwards to bring in Haley voters. He didn’t bend over backwards, and he won 94% of self-described Republicans.
 
Meanwhile, there are many voices that get a lot of attention in the evangelical world who have been urging Christians to not vote and to stay out of politics. They constantly cherry-pick scriptures and quote platitudes like, “Jesus loves migrants.”
 
Yes, Jesus loves everyone, including citizens. But that tells us nothing about what a godly society should do when it comes to keeping our nation safe.
 
If Christians had followed these voices of surrender, the election results would have been the exact opposite. We would be preparing for the inauguration of President Kamala Harris.
 
It wouldn’t have taken much of a shift within the evangelical vote to put battleground states in the left’s column, handing the election to the most pro-abortion ticket in the history of the United States.