President Trump on Monday said that a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction of the newly renovated reflecting pool and grass on the National Mall will be "fully enforced," threatening the left-wing vandals defacing the national monuments in DC. President Trump undertook the project to restore the filthy green water basin, built in the 1920s, which has been marred by issues, including sinking and leaking into the swamp beneath.
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In his new book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith," Vice President JD Vance unveils the story of his spiritual journey — straying from the Christianity of his youth, periods of atheism, and his eventual conversion to Catholicism in 2019.In a recent interview with BlazeTV’s Allie Beth Stuckey, Vance opened up about his turbulent faith journey, the pain of losing his anchor in Christianity, and what ultimately led him back to God through Catholicism. Raised primarily by his Baptist “Mamaw,” Vance’s childhood was defined by Scripture readings, televised Billy Graham revivals, and occasional church visits — an upbringing he describes as devout but “unchurched.”When Mamaw passed away when Vance was 20 years old, the faith she had raised him with fizzled quickly.“I was an atheist two years later ... Christianity to me was Mamaw, and when that was gone ... I just didn't really have any anchor to Christianity anymore,” he says.But there was another factor in his falling away from faith: the evangelical church's heavy emphasis on culture wars, especially the Terri Schiavo case, which he felt distanced from in light of his impending Iraq deployment, loss of his grandmother, and his mother’s severe drug addiction.“Why are we talking so much about [Terri Schiavo] when I saw so much that was going wrong in my own community that it felt like the church wasn't speaking to,” he recounts, emphasizing the importance of Christians caring about both public policy and the individual issues impacting communities.“There was this sense of almost betrayal that there was a total chaotic situation in my own life, and the faith didn't speak to it in the same way. And again, was that totally fair? No, but it's certainly part of the story of why I lost my faith,” he confesses.As a born-and-raised Southern Baptist, Allie has a different perspective on evangelicalism.“Something I really appreciate about evangelicals is not only, you know, doctrinal fidelity and being consistent on that, but the willingness to take that and take those doctrines into the culture and to say, ‘Look, if God is the creator and the authority of all things, then that has to dictate what we think about life ... [and] all of these other other issues as well,” she explains, “and when Christians don't do that, especially if evangelicals didn't do that, we'd be in a really bad spot.”Despite these strengths, Vance ultimately found his way back to faith through a different tradition.After achieving much worldly success, he found himself feeling empty and uninspired despite being surrounded by fellow high achievers at Yale Law School.“These Christians in my life, they're actually the ones who seem to have it figured out. Like they're much happier, they're much healthier, they're much more well-adjusted,” Vance recalls.“So that got me on the pathway of like, well, if they're right about virtue and they're right about character and they're right about the things that actually matter, maybe they're right about Jesus. Maybe this actually comes from some inner truth that radiates outward.”This intellectual and personal reckoning eventually led Vance to Catholicism in 2019.To hear more about his spiritual journey — including what ultimately drew him to Catholicism rather than the evangelical faith of his youth — watch the full interview above.Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Outbound Senator John Cornyn is getting candid about Donald Trump.The former GOP whip described the instability fueled by the White House in a Semafor interview published Monday, lamenting about how talking with the president isn’t “particularly useful” because “he can and will” flip his opinion depending on whoever he last spoke to.“The president seems to revel in chaos, which is so different from any other leader that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know about you, but I like to minimize the chaos in my life,” Cornyn told Semafor. “He just seems to revel in it. We’ve seen even recent evidence of it on the [Director of National Intelligence].”Cornyn was referring to Trump’s sudden cancellation of a Senate confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton—the president’s pick to run the Office of National Intelligence—via a Truth Social post mere hours before the hearing was set to take place last week.Trump tapped Clayton earlier this month as DNI in place of acting Director Bill Pulte.Pulte’s leadership had sparked a maelstrom in Congress. Democrats refused to renew FISA Section 702, a federal spy bill, until Pulte was replaced by someone with legitimate national security experience, as the position requires by law.Clayton, unfortunately, does not satisfy that requirement either. The former law professor and corporate crisis management counsel has no national security experience to bring to the role.Yet rather than quell the furor, Trump opted to make the stalemate even more difficult for his congressional allies by tacking his dead-in-the-water voter ID bill, the Save America Act, onto negotiations over the lapsed spy statute.Cornyn has become a more vocal critic of the president since he lost his primary runoff last month to Trump’s preferred candidate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.Cornyn’s race was a gamble and a loss for the GOP: One of the party’s most prolific fundraisers, Cornyn had done much to support other Republican candidates over the course of his 24-year legislative career, bringing in more than $400 million for auxiliary races. The lost cash flow, paired with Trump’s waning popularity and dismal economic offerings, could bode poorly for the Republican Party come November.
MS NOW's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski cut into a live press conference to call out Vice President JD Vance's remarks in real time.The vice president spoke to reporters Monday morning in Switzerland, where he's been engaged in high-stakes talks with Iranian officials, and Vance was asked about President Donald Trump's threats to kill those same Iranian negotiators before they returned home if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed."No, they didn't throw a wrench in the system," Vance said, when asked about the president's threats. "The thing with the Iranians, yes, they did threaten to walk out, or at least there were social media threats that they would walk out. But we were negotiating well past 1 in the morning yesterday, so they didn't walk out, and their technical team is still here in Bürgenstock, working with our technical team, actually, as we speak, though, I imagine maybe some of them are taking a break to watch this news conference.""But look, what we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can't expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record," Vance continue. "So when they say things that aren't true, the president is going to respond to it, I'm going to respond to it, Americans are going to respond to it. When they make threats that aren't rooted in reality, they have to accept that the president of the United States is actually going to set the record straight. That's all that happens.""So, yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining," the vice president added. "But at the end of the day, the talks continued and we made great progress."The "Morning Joe" hosts interrupted to react to Vance's excuses for the president's threats."Wow," Brzezinski said."While he waits for the next question," Scarborough said, "we will be talking ... about how every statement from the Trump administration is either projection or confession. That certainly was the case on that last preposterous answer about accusing the Iranians of, quote, trash talk destroying civilizations." - YouTube youtu.be
'What you really see is one vision of the country, and one mood among Republicans, and a very, very different vision of the country and mood among both independents and Democrats'
This poll comes as the Trump Administration is actively involved in peace efforts with Iran, with Vice President JD Vance at the forefront of the negotiations.
Vice President JD Vance, as he departed Switzerland on Monday, said "a lot of good progress" was accomplished during negotiations with Iran on Sunday, setting up a path to a final deal and permanent settlement. Vance arrived in Switzerland at around 6 am local time on Sunday, where he joined Special Envoys to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, and mediators from Qatar and Pakistan.
The post WATCH: JD Vance Says Talks with Iran Resulted in “Very Good Foundation” to End War, Announces Iran Agreed to Allow IAEA Nuclear Inspectors into Country appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Vice President JD Vance and his team are holding out hope for one thing — that President Donald Trump can stay alive long enough for Vance to have a chance at a two-term presidency, according to an analyst.As midterms draw closer and MAGA starts to picture the future, Vance and Republicans have serious concerns over Trump’s declining health, Mike Rothschild, journalist and conspiracy theory expert, told Raw Story in an exclusive interview. The White House has attempted to quell rumors that the president’s mental acuity and physical well-being have shifted, but behind-the-scenes and among MAGA circles, the conversations are different.“I think it’s a movement that’s quickly realizing it’s going to be leaderless,” Rothschild told Raw Story. “Whether that’s going to be tomorrow or January 2029. We’re going to be facing a post-Trump future.”That reality has left MAGA with anxiety, Rothschild pointed out.“This whole coalition was all held together by Trump because nobody could do what Trump did — that combination of charisma and the shamelessness to lie and say anything and contradict yourself constantly and to risk being humiliated and to know that his humiliation is what actually makes his supporters love him more,” Rothschild explained.“You have to be Trump to be Trump. No one else can do it,” he added.For presidential hopefuls in the GOP, that could be problematic. But it’s not the only hurdle.“Vance can’t do it. Marco Rubio can’t do it,” Rothschild said. “None of these guys have that movie star thing that Trump has — or used to have. I think very quickly we’re seeing what a leaderless MAGA looks like. And I think that’s why you see so many influencers rush to be like him.”Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes — all former Trump allies — have used Trump to boost their careers but have since turned on him in a move to try and gain more followers and influence in MAGA world. “They’re throwing Trump off the side of the ship because they don’t need him anymore,” Rothschild said.Depending on how voters decide in November, it could also reflect how MAGA followers and Republican presidential candidates treat Trump.“If the midterms are really a shellacking, Trump isn’t going to have any use for them anymore,” Rothschild said.But for one potential candidate — Vance — the timing couldn’t be more important. The vice president hasn’t committed to a campaign for 2028, but has launched a media tour promoting his new book,“Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”“They really need Trump to hang on to January 2027,” Rothschild said.Under the 22nd Amendment, no person can be elected as president more than twice. A vice president who has served more than two years of another president's term can only be elected president once more.“If Vance became president tomorrow, he couldn’t run for two more full terms,” he explained.
