My friends, I am sure you have heard the big news by now.

Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring.

President Trump now has a historic opportunity. He can cement a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that will defend our First Amendment rights of free speech and religious liberty as well as our Second Amendment rights.

Twenty-seven years ago, I was honored to lead the Citizens Committee to Confirm Clarence Thomas. That was a huge battle against some ugly tactics by the Left.

Well, buckle up, my friends. The battle to replace Anthony Kennedy will be the biggest and perhaps the most consequential confirmation fight we have ever seen. The Left is already in full panic mode.

President Trump announced that he is looking over his list of previous Supreme Court contenders. The same list from which he selected Neil Gorsuch. He expects to make an announcement soon, and he said he expects the Senate to confirm his nominee before the High Court reconvenes in October.

We must be ready for whatever the Left throws at us.

Stunning Results

Tuesday’s primary elections have the DC establishment reeling.

Maryland Democrats shocked the political establishment by selecting former NAACP leader Ben Jealous, who was backed by Bernie Sanders, as their nominee to take on popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

But the biggest upset of the night occurred in New York, where Rep. Joe Crowley, a 20-year incumbent and member of the Democrat leadership, lost to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old first-time candidate.

Crowley was widely seen as a potential successor to Nancy Pelosi, and his defeat is being compared to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning upset in 2014.

Crowley’s loss is noteworthy for another reason. Ocasio-Cortez is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America. That’s the same group of radicals that drove Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen out of a Washington, DC, restaurant last week.

Ocasio-Cortez’ platform includes socialized medicine, euphemistically called “Medicare for All.” Democrats have had some success with that message, but they have no clue how to pay for it. Even left-wing politicians in California gave up on it because of the cost.

Medicare has problems now as a program for the elderly. What “Medicare for All” really means is “problems for all.”

In addition, she is also calling for jobs for everybody, free college for everybody, the abolishment of ICE and impeaching Donald Trump. 

Ocasio-Cortez’ victory demonstrates that the Democrat Party is openly embracing full-blown socialism and open borders.

Elections have consequences (see next item) and we cannot afford to lose the 2018 elections to the radical Left.

Left Loses Big

On its final day of the 2018 term, the Supreme Court handed a big loss to the Left. It ruled 5-4 that public-sector unions could not force nonunion members to pay union dues.

The ruling is a huge blow to organized labor as these dues have been a goldmine for the Left. More than 80% of public-sector union donations go to Democrats. In 2016, public-sector unions spent more than $160 million trying to elect Hillary Clinton and other left-wing candidates.

According to one estimate, the impact of yesterday’s ruling could cost public-sector unions and their Democrat allies as much as two-thirds of that money.

The decision is just common sense. If someone doesn’t want to join the union, why should they be compelled to pay for the union? The public gets it.

A new poll found that 57% of Americans opposed the idea of forcing nonunion members to pay dues. Only 20% thought that unions should be able to collect dues from nonunion workers.

Had the 2016 election turned out differently, yesterday’s decision would have turned out differently. Neil Gorsuch would not be on the Court today and Hillary Clinton’s nominee would not have sided with the American people.

What’s Next?

As we have documented recently, the Left is seething with rage, and it is going on the attack — figuratively and literally.

There is a line of reasoning that says it is all because of Donald Trump. The Left’s rage is justified because Trump is the one who lowered public discourse and because he is so extreme.

But that’s just not true.

Check out this article from the left-wing media outlet Splinter. (Warning: graphic language.) The author warns that the harassment of Sarah Huckabee Sanders is nothing. He writes: “This is all going to get more extreme. And it should.”

He urges people to look back at recent history and seemingly celebrates domestic terrorism:

“The U.S. had thousands of domestic bombings per year in the early 1970s. This is what happens when citizens decide en masse that their political system is corrupt, racist, and unresponsive. The people out of power have only just begun to flex their dissatisfaction.”

Well, guess what my friends? Donald Trump wasn’t president when the Left was rioting and blowing things up in the 1970s.

What is happening on the Left today would be happening regardless of whether Trump won the GOP nomination.

Remember when union thugs attacked Tea Party demonstrators?

Did Donald Trump cause the Occupy Wall Street violence during the Obama years? (More here.)

Does Donald Trump’s rhetoric explain why peaceful pro-life activists have been routinely accosted for decades?

Did Donald Trump’s rhetoric cause a leftist to shoot up the Family Research Council?

No, Donald Trump is not the cause of the Left’s insanity.

But he is the first Republican leader in a long time to stand up and fight back!

My friends, don’t miss the big picture.

The Left’s real target isn’t Sarah Sanders, Kristjen Nielsen, Stephen Miller or other Trump administration officials.

IT’S YOU!

The Left is making examples out of these people in order to make you afraid of defending your values.

Media Malfeasance

If you need more evidence of how the mainstream media is stoking violence, just look at the headlines regarding Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision.

In many cases the president’s order was described as a “Muslim ban” or an assault on Muslims. It’s not unless North Korea and Venezuela have suddenly embraced Allah.

The president’s order limited immigration from nations that are hotbeds of extremism and known for sponsoring terrorism. But yesterday’s Washington Post ran with this front-page headline: “To Many Muslims, Decision Feels Like The End Of The American Dream.”

How is any Muslim living in Washington, DC, impacted by this decision? Well, I’ll tell you one way: Thanks to Donald Trump, they are now less likely to get blown up by the extremists who caused them to come here.

Multiple Democrat presidential wannabes described the decision as inconsistent with the values of America. The only way that could be true is if our values demand we commit suicide.

But the Constitution is not a suicide pact that requires us to take anyone and everyone. Nor are we required to import more hate.