I was at the White House Monday afternoon meeting with Vice President Pence and his top national security team to discuss the threats from communist China. What happened next was completely unexpected.

As you know by now, there was a shooting outside the White House as President Trump was delivering a press briefing. A Secret Service agent interrupted the president, whispered something in his ear, and rushed him out of the briefing room.

As fortune would have it, I was sitting in the West Wing when all of this unfolded. Needless to say, it was a harrowing experience.

Along with a handful of White House aides, we were immediately rushed into a secure room by men with formidable weapons. Every door in the White House was instantly secured by the Secret Service.

Hours later, after I managed to get out of a locked-down Washington, DC, I reflected on what had happened.

First, we have a courageous president. Not that long ago, more than 60 Secret Service agents were injured during violent demonstrations at the White House. We know that extremists have attempted to breach the White House grounds before. They’re not doing so in order to thank the president for his hard work.

Trump returned to the briefing and he didn’t miss a step. When a reporter asked if he was rattled, Trump responded, “Do I look rattled to you?”

Second, as I passed multiple men ready to die to protect the president and waited in a room guarded by men willing to protect me and others in that room, I was reminded that these are the same kinds of heroes who protect us in our cities every day.

They are the same heroes who guard the DMZ separating North and South Korea, who protect our skies and “stand guard” on submarines in the South China Sea.

In virtually every case, they are under constant attack, not by our enemies but by the American political left. If that’s not enough reason to keep the left out of power this November, I don’t know what is!

Third, I saw again, after talking with Vice President Pence and his team, how much religious freedom here and around the world is a top priority for the Trump/Pence administration and for the dedicated men and women who work in the White House.

Lastly, I was reminded of the urgent need to pray for the president, the vice president, their families, and those who work with them and for us each and every day.

Clueless in Seattle

The Seattle City Council voted 7-1 Monday night to slash 14% from the police department’s budget, to cut pay for top officers, and to disband the SWAT team. Seattle is now expected to lose 100 officers through layoffs and attrition.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming the lone dissenter was the voice of reason. Council Member Kshama Sawant voted against the cuts because they didn’t go far enough.

Police Chief Carmen Best, a 28-year veteran of the force and the city’s first black female chief, resigned in protest. I can’t blame her. Clearly, Seattle’s left-wing political leadership has little respect for law enforcement.

Meanwhile in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears to have lost complete control of her city. Multiple Democrats on the city council are publicly challenging her leadership.

After regular mass shootings and the weekend’s looting, Lightfoot had the audacity to stand before the cameras and say to the thugs terrorizing her city, “We are coming to get you.”

Yeah, right. If they believed that, this weekend’s looting wouldn’t have happened!

Unfortunately for the residents of Chicago, some radical activists are rather proud of the looting, claiming it was “reparations.” As one BLM activist put it, “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.”

If Mayor Lightfoot is serious about getting tough on crime, she should start by getting tough on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who has dismissed more than 25,000 felony cases.

Left-Wing Lunacy

If you need another reminder of just how insane much of the left has become, consider this example of Trump Derangement Syndrome from CNN. Reporter Jeremy Diamond had this to say about President Trump possibly delivering his renomination acceptance speech at Gettysburg:

That could be controversial too, particularly because this is a president who has consistently positioned himself as a defender of Confederate symbols and monuments to Confederate generals.

CNN anchor Pamela Brown replied, “That’s a fair point to make.”

Actually, it’s an idiotic point to make.

Trump is not a “defender” of Confederate symbols. The New York native is a defender of American history.

The subject came up again yesterday with CNN host Erica Hill suggesting that Trump was doing “his best to shore up the Confederacy.” What?!

If these talking heads knew their history, they would understand that Gettysburg was the site of the Confederacy’s biggest defeat!

I think Gettysburg is an ideal venue for the president’s address as it underscores the battle we are in to save our country from the radical left. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, in this coming election we will nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.

Beijing Cracks Down

Communist China on Monday arrested billionaire Jimmy Lai, one of Hong Kong’s most successful financial leaders and the publisher of the most outspoken pro-democracy newspaper in the city. Free speech in Hong Kong is dead.

But the bigger news was Beijing’s attempt to reach its long arm right here into the United States.

The communist regime also imposed sanctions on 11 U.S. citizens, including Senators Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, and Pat Toomey and Representative Chris Smith. It’s very revealing that the Communist Party bosses cannot find a single Democrat they want to sanction.

Senator Cotton vowed to continue speaking up for the many victims of the Chinese Communist Party, including the Muslim Uighurs and every American who has died or lost their job due to the coronavirus. I congratulate Senator Cotton and his colleagues for earning Beijing’s scorn.

I plan on slamming China’s communist tyrants with even more vigor in the months ahead in the hope of joining the senators on China’s sanctions list!

You Are the Enemy

As you know, many schools across the nation are not reopening because the teachers’ unions are afraid to return to the classrooms. Well, there’s something else they are afraid of: YOU!

Columnist Matt Walsh exposed a Twitter thread of various educators expressing concerns about the coming school year, given that parents in the next room might overhear their discussions.

One teacher wrote that “conservative parents” were his “chief concern” when “we are engaged in the messy work of destabilizing a kid’s racism or homophobia or transphobia.” Another added, “Parents are dangerous.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here: All this left-wing indoctrination probably has something to do with declining reading, writing, and arithmetic skills.

For decades, the left railed against values instruction in the public schools. We kicked God out, banned prayer, and replaced American history with anti-American history. We’re seeing the results now of decades of the left’s “systemic anti-Americanism” in the streets of Chicago, Portland, and Seattle.

Please use every opportunity you have to be engaged in your children’s education and hold your local school board responsible for what they are being taught.