President Donald Trump spoke [Thursday] morning at his first National Prayer Breakfast. The event is a long-standing Washington tradition where members of both parties come together to honor the importance of faith and America’s Judeo-Christian heritage. The president’s speech did not disappoint.

Over three thousand people attended the prayer breakfast. Unlike in past years when President Obama lectured the audience about the sins of Christianity and greatness of Islam, this president spoke out strongly in defense of Christians abroad. President Trump also reiterated that he will allow pastors and rabbis to speak freely from the pulpit about moral issues being debated in the political arena without fear of retribution by the IRS!

Speaking of prayer, immediately after Tuesday night’s announcement that he nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, President Trump, Vice President Pence, Mrs. Pence, Judge Gorsuch and his wife, along with Maureen Scalia and Father Paul Scalia prayed together at the White House. Please share this encouraging photo with all your friends and family members!

Persecution on the Rise

President Trump’s defense of religious liberty at home and abroad could not have come at a more urgent time. Yet another report has been released that documents rising persecution of Christians overseas.

David Curry of Open Doors said that persecution of Christians “has increased again in 2016 and we are still at the worst levels of persecution in modern times.”

My friend Robert Nicholson of the Philos Project told Fox News, “There are many places on Earth where being a Christian is the most dangerous thing you can be. Those who think of Christianity as a religion of the powerful need to see that in many places it’s a religion of the powerless. And the powerless deserve to be protected.”

Yet in spite of a genocide declaration by Congress and former Secretary of State John Kerry, the disturbing reality is that less than one percent of the Syrian refugees the Obama administration allowed into America were Christians, while 99% were Muslims.

Even more unbelievable is the fact that leading Democrats like 2016 vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and House Democrat Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) are saying that Christians should not be given additional priority in the refugee process. Their callousness is bizarre and shameful, and runs contrary to U.S. tradition and existing federal law.

The Intolerant Left

A leftist/anarchist riot erupted [Wednesday] night at the University of California, Berkeley campus. Windows were smashed. Fires were lit. At least half a dozen people were injured. Incredibly, press reports indicate that there were zero arrests!

What happened to cause the violence? Nothing. Literally nothing.

The rioting took place because Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak on campus. But because of the violence, carried out by an anarchist group known as the Black Bloc, the university shutdown the event. Yiannapolous never spoke. He had to be escorted off the campus under police protection.

Rather than respecting the First Amendment and tolerating diverse opinions, the intolerant Left threw another temper tantrum. Once again, innocent people got hurt. A young woman wearing a Make America Great Again hat was pepper-sprayed by one of the black-clad thugs as she spoke to a reporter.

Ironically, these people claim to be “anti-fascists” standing up for liberty. In reality, they are the fascists. They are so intolerant of free speech that they engage in violence to shut down opinions they disagree with.

Reacting to the violence, President Trump suggested that UC Berkeley should lose its federal funding if it cannot guarantee the First Amendment rights of its students. Perhaps the local police department should lose funding too if it won’t do its job and arrest the rioters.

A Hero Returns Home

I reported Tuesday that Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens had been killed during a counterterrorism operation in Yemen against an Al-Qaeda stronghold. More than a dozen terrorists were killed, including “three senior Al Qaeda leaders.” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the raid also yielded “an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil.”

The raid was the first military action authorized by President Trump. [Wednesday] the commander in chief made an unannounced visit to Dover Air Force Base to honor Chief Petty Officer Owens by attending the dignified transfer of his remains back to the country he loved and for which he gave his life.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

The Left is really coming unhinged. Rosa Brooks has published an article at Foreign Policy fantasizing about the various ways President Trump could be removed from office. According to her biography, Brooks is a former Obama official and current law professor at Georgetown University.

What does Brooks have in mind? There’s impeachment, which Brooks concedes is “politically unlikely, unless and until Democrats retake Congress.” (That isn’t stopping some Democrats — here and here.) But Brooks has other ideas.

Trump could be declared “unable to discharge the duties of his office” under the 25th Amendment. And if that doesn’t happen, there’s always “a military coup,” an idea that seems to be gaining popularity in Hollywood.

Throughout her article, Ms. Brooks more than suggests that President Trump is insane. However, it seems to me that she is clearly suffering from TDS — “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a growing mental disorder.