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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

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Glenn's Show Prep

Glenn interviews Marco Rubio and Josh Mandel

November 02, 2012
Wilson

Writer

You’ve heard of Marco Rubio and you know he’s the type of guy America needs in Congress - Josh Mandel is running in a tight race in Ohio and he is another guy this country desperately needs. He’s a military veteran and a tea party style conservative - and he’s only 35 years old. Glenn interviewed them both on radio this morning while they were campaigning in Ohio.

Transcript of interview is below:

GLENN: All right. We're going to be in Ohio. You know, I think they are ‑‑ we are on the verge of miracles, quite honestly. I don't know how else to describe it. It is ‑‑ you're going to see on Tuesday I believe Chick‑fil‑A. Remember there was no big ‑‑ nobody was bussing people in. Just, everybody just came.

PAT: So Tuesday we're going to see a lot of chicken sandwiches?

GLENN: Yes, we're going to see a lot of chicken sandwiches.

PAT: Wow, I can't wait.

GLENN: And people will be standing in line to vote and they are going to be like, where's the chicken sandwich? But remember ‑‑ and it went on for a couple of days.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: That's what's going to happen. They are running out of "I voted" stickers in Texas. In Texas. I mean, Texas is like it doesn't ‑‑ I'm not going to really count in the presidential election. But they are running out of "I voted" stickers here. That's fantastic. In Ohio things are dicey. I personally think if it's not stolen, you are going to see an amazing upset in almost all of these states. We have one of the guys who's running, he's state treasurer now, he is running for Senate against Sherrod Brown. I'll let Josh tell the difference. We have Josh on the phone. Also Marco Rubio is on. Is he on the same line?

STU: Yeah, they're separate ‑‑ I think they are sharing the phone there, with each other.

GLENN: Is this a party line? Is that what's going on?

MANDEL: Hey, Glenn, how are you doing?

GLENN: Good. How are you. Is this Josh?

MANDEL: Yeah, this is Josh on the party line in Cleveland, Ohio.

GLENN: Marco, where are you.

MANDEL: He's coming. He's out in the diner shaking hands with some folks.

GLENN: Okay. So Josh, first of all, what's the difference between you and Sherrod Brown?

MANDEL: Well, he was named the most liberal senator in the United States of America, he's never seen a regulation he didn't like or a tax he didn't hike, and I'm a proud full spectrum conservative. While I am a Republican, I'm a conservative first and I'm a constitutional conservative and in Washington some of the Republicans are oftentimes just as much a problem as some of the Democrats and we need to elect more senators like Senator Rubio and others who will stand proudly as conservatives to do the right thing for our country.

GLENN: Small government conservatives?

MANDEL: Small government conservative. I believe the private select ‑‑ private sector is the solution to our problems. When it comes to a lot of our social woes, I think we should look to religious organizations and nonprofit organizations oftentimes before we look to government. And I also believe that while so many politicians, my opponent and others think that the federal government is the answer, I think Washington's the problem. Is the more we can get Washington out of the way, the stronger our economy and our country will be.

GLENN: So you're the treasurer in Ohio State and ‑‑ which is fantastic, because you obviously are a numbers cruncher. The financial cliff that is coming our way and all the trouble we're having. If we don't change the course now, how long do you think we have?

MANDEL: Not very long. It's ‑‑ we are running 100 miles per hour down the tracks and it's I believe soon going to be off the rails if we don't get some new leaders in Washington, $16 trillion debt, over a trillion dollars to China, Social Security, Medicare, bankruptcy.

GLENN: How are you ‑‑ how would you suggest that we stop the money printing and the QE infinity and pull ourselves back up without ‑‑ I mean because the first thing that will happen is interest rates will go up. How do we ‑‑

MANDEL: Sure.

GLENN: How do we not collapse ourselves by trying to heal ourselves?

MANDEL: Well, I think we need to make aggressive cuts in our federal government quickly and, you know, there's a lot of Republicans who disagree with some of the things I stand for. For instance, many Republicans will say, you know, we can't touch defense spending as well. I actually believe we need to do a top/bottom review of all of our bases throughout the world and, for instance, in Europe we're not fighting the Nazis anymore, we're not fighting the Cold War anymore. We could probably trim down or shut down some of our installations and ‑‑

GLENN: So how aggressive are you talking? You know, when Calvin cool age came in, he and Harding, they put the spending by 50%.

MANDEL: Right.

GLENN: How aggressive, how aggressive do you think we should be?

MANDEL: We have to be very aggressive. We need to do a top/bottom review of the federal government and for every agency administration bureaucracy that is not called for in the United States Constitution, we have to really ask the question what is its purpose, how many people work there, how much does it cost the taxpayers and what is the value to our society.

GLENN: I love you.

MANDEL: And one of the first acts, Glenn, of ‑‑

GLENN: If we wouldn't be sued by Barry White, I would play Barry White right now and turn the lights down.

MANDEL: Hey, Glenn, I have someone here who wants to say hello.

GLENN: Oh, wait, wait.

MANDEL: Go ahead.

GLENN: Wait, I just want to thank you for your service, first of all, especially for everything that's going on in Benghazi. You were a Marine for eight years and you know we don't leave men behind. And thank ‑‑

MANDEL: I do know that.

GLENN: And thank you for your service. And I can't wait until you get to Washington and start pulling the bodies out.

MANDEL: I appreciate that. You know, it was my honor to do my small part and do a couple of tours in Iraq and it sickens me to see when our Americans are killed overseas and abroad and I ‑‑ this is just disgraceful how this is playing out with Benghazi. And I'll tell you something else, just while you're on this topic. I didn't like those comments the president of the United States made to Governor Romney at the debate about bayonets and horses. When I went through Marine boot camp in Paris Island, South Carolina, we actually did have bayonets that we trained with. And as a Marine if Iraq, I actually did have a bayonet that I wore on my flak jacket and I just think the commander‑in‑chief of our military needs to be more respectful of our men and women when he's making comments about our military and he should really understand who it is out there carrying a weapon and protecting our country every day.

GLENN: And I know I have Marco Rubio waiting but I mean, you're an official in Ohio. How concerned are you on the stealing of the election in Ohio?

MANDEL: Ballot integrity is definitely a big issue here. I mean, I was down by the board of elections the other day and there's just vans and vans and vans of people being dropped off there to vote and obviously the default is giving ‑‑ is believing the people are following the law and doing everything legally within the bounds, and I'm ‑‑ I hope and assume that's happening. But at the same time with such a volume of people voting early here in Ohio, we need poll watchers and we need folks keeping eyeballs on every ballot site. But I think it's also important, Glenn, that those poll watchers are Americans. I don't know if you caught this.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

MANDEL: Crazy idea about the UN observers wanting to come into America ‑‑

GLENN: I don't know how Ohio handled it but Texas said, go to hell, we'll arrest you if you come in.

MANDEL: Yeah. Over my dead body.

GLENN: Exactly right. Thank you very much, Josh.

MANDEL: So if any of your listeners want to help us out here in the last week, our website's pretty simple. It's JoshMandel.com.

GLENN: Thanks, Josh. JoshMandel.com.

MANDEL: Let me pass out the phone. We've got Senator Marco Rubio here. We're calling you from Joe's Diner in Ohio.

GLENN: Oh, really? Is Joe Biden there because ‑‑

MANDEL: Joe Biden's not here but Marco sure is. Hang on one second.

GLENN: Thanks a lot.

RUBIO: Glenn, good to talk to you.

GLENN: Hey, senator, how are you?

RUBIO: I think people understand the choice of this election is not just between two people. It's between two very different views of our government's role and our future and what America should be, what America should remain. And, you know, I think you're starting to sense that from people as you talk to them.

GLENN: Oh, I tell you I think you're going to see a miracle on Tuesday. I really do. I mean, a miracle as far as the distance between the two. I think America is wide awake. They've just had enough. They're quiet about it. It's like my grandparents. My grandparents didn't have to say anything. They would just go do it. And I think that's what's going to ‑‑ that's what's going to happen.

RUBIO: Yeah, I think that as well.

GLENN: Is ‑‑ how do you think things are going to fare for Romney in Ohio and Florida? How close?

RUBIO: Let me start with Florida, yeah, because that's ‑‑ obviously live there and spend a lot of time there. I feel great about Florida. The analogy I always use is I know people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 that are going to vote for Mitt Romney. I don't know anyone who voted for John McCain that's going to vote for Barack Obama this time. I know that's anecdotal but I think that's the feeling people have. There's a lot of disappointment. Some people just kind of bought into the 2008 notion that, you know, he's ‑‑ let's try something different, he's going to unify our country, he's going to bring us together. And it's just been a disaster. I mean economically, politically, all the way around. And people are just ready to walk away from that and kind of go back to the free enterprise system which made us the most prosperous people that have ever walked the Earth.

GLENN: I am really concerned about what's happening in Benghazi.

RUBIO: Yeah.

GLENN: And even when Mitt Romney wins on Tuesday, on Wednesday I will still be pushing for ‑‑

RUBIO: Yeah.

GLENN: ‑‑ serious investigations because we are ‑‑ what we have is a president that let guys die and a lot of people watched them die in realtime. There's a massive coverup on this. And beyond that, you've got at least ‑‑ you've got anywhere from 25 to 500 people who know and are now having a hard time sleeping at night. And if those guys are allowed to let that just cook in their soul, man, we go really dark. It's not good. We've never been that way as Americans, to leave just people die.

RUBIO: Yeah. Two things are happening. On the one hand I think there's a very serious concern that I have and I think it's a legitimate question to ask and that is, is the reason why they spent two weeks telling us that this was the result of a spontaneous uprising, is the reason why they're saying that because it went counter to their narrative that Al‑Qaeda had been defeated, Bin Laden was dead and the world was safer. And then they bragged about this for months. It was a key part of their convention. Obviously we're very happy Bin Laden is dead, but Al‑Qaeda unfortunately has reconstituted itself in North Africa including Libya. So that's the first element of it. The second is that there's clearly something going on here in terms of our different agencies to be able to interact and coordinate and make the right decisions in a timely fashion to save lives. So we're going to have what they call classified hearings. But I'm going to push for open hearings as well. And by the way, these hearings should have happened a long time ago.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

RUBIO: They shouldn't be happening after the election. And there's a lot of information out there that's going to be classified that shouldn't be classified. There's no reason to keep it that way. The American people have the right to hold their government accountable for its failures, A, so that the people who did it can be held accountable and, B, so that it never, ever happens again.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Senator. You and you keep going and we wish you luck that I think the real hard work for America begins on Wednesday.

RUBIO: Well, thanks for what you've been doing for years all the way back to the 9/12 movement and your involvement in that years ago. It really began in '09 right after the election when folks like you raised your voice and began to educate the American people about what was going on. That led to the big wave in 2010 that allowed me to get elected and the wave in 2012 that's going to give us a new president and is going to give us Josh Mandel.

GLENN: Well, just don't ‑‑ don't let us down. One quick question. How worried are you about the lame duck session?

RUBIO: I'm worried. I mean, a lot of bad things happen in lame duck sessions. You have folks who are never going to run again who don't feel like they're accountable. You have a lot of ‑‑ you know, they will package a couple of good ideas with ten bad ones and tell you that's the way business is done, that's the only way to get things done. So I am concerned about some pretty bad policy happening in the lame duck. You know, we got that START treaty with the Russians and a couple of other things that were not good for our country as well.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Senator, appreciate it.

RUBIO: Thank you.

GLENN: We'll talk again soon.

STU: They're both great.

PAT: I liked Josh Mandel, too. Liked him.

GLENN: He knows ‑‑

PAT: He knows what he's talking about.

GLENN: He knows what he's talking about. He's a Jewish American, strong on Israel. I mean, he gets it.

PAT: And clearly Rubio is ‑‑

STU: Fantastic.

PAT: There's hardly anybody better.

STU: I will say I maintain ‑‑ a lot of people said they liked the Clint Eastwood thing and whatever, you liked it or you didn't like it. One of the worst things that happened in that convention was that Clint Eastwood thing took all the attention from Marco Rubio's speech which was one of the best speeches by a Republican that, I mean, I can remember.

PAT: And it got no attention at all.

STU: Yeah.

PAT: None.

STU: I mean, here's a guy who's really smart, different. Obviously the optics are good on politically and demographically. It's just one of those things that Marco Rubio needs to be heard.

GLENN: Every time I ‑‑ every time he speaks, gives a major speech, like ten of my friends write to me and says, "My gosh, did you see this guy?"

STU: Yeah, he's great.

GLENN: He's really, really effective.

STU: Josh Mandel was great, too. That's the first time I heard him in an extended area. He's great.

GLENN: I talked to him in Ohio last time. I met him backstage and we spent about ten minutes together. He's really sharp. He's really sharp.

STU: That's great.

GLENN: Come on, Ohio, come on.

STU: Come on, Ohio.

GLENN: Come on, Ohio. Remember how pissed you were at Florida?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. That's the way we're going to be with you.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: You don't want none of this.

GLENN: No, you don't. We'll come up there and give you such a hit.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.