Eighty years ago yesterday, Americans woke up to the shocking news of a surprise attack on our Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As storm clouds gathered in Europe and Asia, Americans in the 1930s wanted to avoid the problems of the world. But the enemy rarely gives you a vote, and Pearl Harbor gave us no choice.

In every city and town, men like my father, Stanley “Spike” Bauer, ran to enlistment centers. It would be months before we won a battle in the South Pacific, where my father fought as part of the First Marine Corps Division. But we ultimately prevailed, defeating the Japanese warlords and Hitler’s Germany.

Could we win a war like that against our major adversaries today? Could we defeat communist China, Putin’s Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran? While our military is certainly much more powerful, our nation is much weaker in many ways.

Yes, America had problems when World War II began. We had greater poverty, and we had a lot progress to make on civil rights. But Americans believed we were an exceptional nation, a blessed nation. The country then overwhelmingly believed in the God of the Bible. There was a consensus on reliable standards of right and wrong.

Today, we’re divided over our Pledge of Allegiance and our national anthem. Our children are indoctrinated to believe that their country was founded on slavery and genocide. As a result, America’s youth don’t have the same sense that this is a special country worth defending.

But every generation is called upon to sacrifice for the preservation of freedom. On December 6, 1941, few Americans appreciated the dangers they were facing. On September 10, 2001, few Americans had any idea what malice was about to be unleashed. I believe we are facing a similar situation now.

Millions of American soldiers who have passed away are watching to see whether we can muster the courage to save this great country, just as they did 80 years ago.

More Mandate Madness

If there is any threat to our freedom, it comes from the left. The left worked with elements of our intelligence agencies and the corrupt media to essentially reverse the results of the 2016 election. To a sad extent, they succeeded in severely obstructing the Trump Administration with the “big lie” of Russian collusion.

For years, the political left has worked with the leftists who control social media to prevent free and open debate. There are many ways the left is undermining our constitutional Republic. But what I want to focus on here is how they have used the pandemic to undermine our constitutional rights.

As we all remember, left-wing politicians eagerly shut our churches while keeping “essential” abortion clinics open. They have aggressively restricted the free speech of anyone who questions the failed public health response to COVID. And now we have more evidence of the left’s totalitarian impulses.

Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation. He did this not by seeking the approval of the city council, but by executive order, even as his term in office is ending in just a matter of days.

The mayor is demanding that children as young as five be vaccinated. Many countries are hesitating to do this because children are the least at-risk group. But now children in New York City will be required to show their vaccination passport in order to go to McDonalds. He also ordered 184,000 private companies to mandate vaccinations for all employees.

Bill de Blasio is an admirer of communist dictators, and his instincts are those of an authoritarian. He’s on his way out of office, which makes this sweeping edict even more obnoxious. And it seems that the incoming mayor may share de Blasio’s enthusiasm for mandates. We’ll see.

Just to be clear, the issue here isn’t vaccines. Most Americans don’t have any issue with vaccines. The American people are not “anti-science.” But they have big problems with abusive Big Government mandates.

By the way, a federal judge in Georgia just issued a nationwide injunction against Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors. All of Biden’s mandates — on healthcare workers, federal employees and large companies — have been blocked by the courts.

Biden’s Standing Ovation

While the media tries to stoke racial division, the real battle in America is, more accurately, a class struggle. Sunday night, we saw a modern equivalent of “Let them eat cake” as denizens of the Swamp gathered at the Kennedy Center.

After 11 months in office, Joe Biden is one of the most unpopular presidents in modern American history. His approval rating, depending on the poll, ranges from the upper 30s to the low 40s. But when he and Jill Biden entered the presidential box at the Kennedy Center, they received a prolonged standing ovation.

The elite of Washington’s wine and cheese crowd thinks he’s the best thing since French bread and brie!

Meanwhile, the American people are being pummeled by “Bidenflation,” a hidden tax hike on the average household of nearly $200 a month!

Thousands of small businesses have gone out of business during the pandemic. Biden said he had a plan to “crush COVID” and save the economy. But more Americans have died this year from COVID under Biden than died last year under Trump.

The public correctly believes our schools have been turned into indoctrination centers. We’re being challenged by enemies all over the globe. More than 60% of Americans believe we’re headed in the wrong direction.

Most heartland Americans can’t even dream of a night at the Kennedy Center. They just want to be able to go to their local restaurant without being harassed by the vaccine police or shocked by the latest price increases. But for Washington’s liberal elites, an evening with Joe and Jill Biden was the thrill of a lifetime.

During the evening’s performances, David Letterman looked up at the Bidens and said, “It’s quite nice once again to see the presidential box being occupied, and the same with the Oval Office.” Letterman wanted to be sure that working-class Americans had no doubt that this crowd loves the failed Bidens and hates the successful Trumps.

But Middle America may well get the last laugh. The latest Harvard/Harris poll finds Joe Biden losing to Donald Trump in a potential rematch.

Nunes To Leave Congress, Join Trump

Representative Devin Nunes announced Monday that he will retire from Congress and vacate his House seat at the end of the year. Nunes was a stalwart defender of Donald Trump against the fake Russia collusion narrative, and he did everything he could to expose the Deep State.

Redistricting in California, a state dominated by the left, was expected to make his seat more difficult to hold, but that’s not why he’s leaving.

While his leadership in Congress will be missed, I am excited that Nunes will continue to serve the conservative movement as the CEO of Donald Trump’s new media company. Nunes will lead the rollout of “TRUTH Social,” a social media platform challenging Big Tech’s left-wing censorship.

Good News

As you know, Congress is currently debating the National Defense Authorization Act. There are a lot of problems with the legislation, including the refusal of congressional Democrats to confront communist China’s genocide and use of slave labor.

Nevertheless, I am pleased to report that a number of disturbing provisions in the bill have been scrapped, including a plan to draft our daughters into combat and a new Pentagon office that would have put existing critical race theory efforts on steroids.

Many conservative groups, including my public policy organization American Values, have worked furiously behind the scenes to stop these radical proposals.

These victories wouldn’t be possible without your generous support!