Inflation and invasion. Those were the two issues that propelled Donald Trump to victory in 2024. Now Congress is facing what is essentially its last chance to fulfill those election mandates after squandering its best political capital during the first year and a half of this term.

Yet as Republicans push their third and final party-line budget reconciliation bill, the priorities are once again random and disconnected from the two central campaign promises.

Republicans appear poised to end this Trump trifecta the same way they ended the last one: without enduring victories.

Just like the first two bills.

Truth is, neither reconciliation bill cut the deficit on net. Neither defunded sanctuary cities, birthright citizenship, amnesty programs, or the judicial review now hampering every facet of immigration enforcement.

The first bill — the one fueled by the greatest political capital Republicans had enjoyed in years — focused on a random assortment of tax provisions that failed to excite the country and likely added significantly to the deficit. It also contained more defense spending.

The second bill simply threw more money at the Department of Homeland Security, which, under current failed policies, will not change the dynamic of litigating every last illegal alien removal to death.

So what is in Reconciliation 3.0?

The bulk of it is $73 billion for the military, mainly for the Iran war, though it will likely include funding to rebuild Arab Gulf states.

So despite complaints that the GOP cannot move beyond its myopic focus on taxes and defense spending, 11 years into the MAGA movement, that is still all Trump and Republicans seem capable of producing: more tax cuts, more spending, and more money thrown at a wasteful Pentagon.

In fact, while this bill earmarks $73 billion for defense, Trump originally asked for $350 billion.

Let’s start with the military component.

If our military cannot keep the Strait of Hormuz open on a $1 trillion annual budget, then something is wrong with the weapons we are buying, the strategy we are pursuing, or the will to use the tools we already possess.

Republicans cannot continue mindlessly increasing the defense budget without auditing our strategic interests and determining whether the current procurement regime satisfies our needs.

Throwing another $100 billion or $200 billion at Boeing and General Dynamics will not change the dynamic.

RELATED: The GOP’s 2028 ticket math is already brutal

Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Last June, the House Oversight Committee’s Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee held a roundtable highlighting a GAO report on procurement waste.

“DOD now plans to invest over $2.4 trillion in its costliest weapon programs,” the report found. “However, because the department remains alarmingly slow in delivering capabilities, these investments are at high risk of becoming obsolete before they even reach the field.”

So long as the defense industry knows congressional appropriations are effectively unlimited, it will continue gouging taxpayers for these weapons systems.

Meanwhile, Congress should be asking a basic question, regardless of one’s view of the decision to go to war with Iran: How do we still lack the leverage to keep shipping lanes open against an adversary that essentially lacks an air force and a functional navy?

And if we lack the weapons and strategy to protect shipping lanes against Iran, how do we plan to deter China from doing the same in the South China Sea after it has already built extensive military infrastructure on artificial islands?

It will not happen by throwing another $100 billion at the same system.

This bill will therefore accomplish what Republicans usually accomplish when in power: It will add to the debt.

We all lamented Bidenflation. But since the debt ceiling was lifted during last year’s budget reconciliation bill, the debt has increased by $3.2 trillion. The monthly tab for interest on the debt in June was greater than the cost of the military and roughly on par with Medicare spending.

Meanwhile, despite the Federal Reserve lowering the federal funds rate over the past two years, the 10-year Treasury remains near a 19-year high. That means debt maturing this year will roll over at much higher interest rates.

So we print more money to service more debt, which is why the M2 money supply just hit another record.

In the wake of that debt service, we will not see a long-term easing of inflation.

As for immigration, this bill does nothing about anchor babies, sanctuary judges, or sanctuary cities. It does nothing to defund foreign-worker programs fleecing American workers and college graduates.

Instead, it includes $10 billion to bribe states to deal with voter fraud, including the threat of noncitizens voting. But the only states likely to use the money properly are the states already combatting voter fraud.

RELATED: Trump’s mass-deportation promise needs receipts

David McNew/Getty Images

There is no point passing this provision without the legal enforcement of the SAVE Act. Frankly, there is little point passing the SAVE Act without fixing the antecedent problem: our immigration policies.

Then, of course, the bill contains a $12 billion bailout for farmers hurt by Trump’s other failed signature economic policy: tariffs.

But if this same Congress and White House continue pushing a farm bill that perpetuates the subsidy regime harming small farmers — and if they continue supporting endless rezoning of farmland for data centers — what is the point of throwing more good money after bad?

The lesson is obvious.

Republicans appear poised to end this Trump trifecta the same way they ended the last one: without enduring victories.

Sure, they passed Elizabeth Warren’s Section 8 bill. But they have not passed a single major provision that seriously addresses immigration or inflation.

They had three chances to do something transformational.

They struck out.

But fear not. In congressional baseball, there is always a fourth chance for voters they treat as suckers.

“We’re right now looking at a reconciliation 4.0 to do the things that are left out of this one,” a House Republican told Politico on Wednesday. Oh, joy!

​Congress, Debt, Deficit, Elizabeth warren, Inflation, Iran war, Opinion & analysis, Reconciliation, Republicans, Save act, Spending, Bidenflation, Immigration 

Justice Amy Coney Barrett — who, in a slap in the face to American-born citizens, just ruled in favor of birthright citizenship — told the House Appropriations Committee that the mounting threats against her have taken a toll on her children.

“They have required my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about,” Barrett testified, sharing that her security detail gave her a bulletproof vest to wear.

When she brought it into her bedroom, her young son asked what it was.

However, BlazeTV host Steve Deace doesn’t have much sympathy for the Supreme Court justice.

Deace explains that he asked Grok how often Barrett has voted with the Democrat block of justices, to which the AI answered 50% to 75% of the time.

“So, my Grok account literally said to me, if, based on how you typically propose such questions, you need to consider that within that 75% she’s often voting on things that are obvious to the majority of the court, that are 7-2 decisions or greater,” he says.

“But, Grok said, if you’re factoring in the more contentious kinds of issues that, given what you typically ask me about, are really what you care about, it’s about 50-50,” he continues.

This means, Deace says, that “Amy Coney Barrett, on the most important things, is essentially a coin flip.”

“That’s essentially what she is on the most important things, the things that we think are fundamental, existential in determining what kind of people ought we to be and will ultimately become. She’s a flip of a coin,” he explains.

“What are you gaining by simping for this worldview about half of the time in your most important rulings? Whose favor are you incurring? What cocktail party are you now being invited to? What aura of respectability there in suburban D.C. are you now being granted?” he asks. “Because by your own admission, the answer is nothing.”

Deace corrects himself, noting that she didn’t actually receive nothing. She got a bulletproof vest.

“Forgive me. I don’t have much sympathy,” he says.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Amy coney barrett, Birthright citizenship, Justice, Steve deace, Supreme court, Bulletproof vest, Democrats, Steve deace show 

President Donald Trump told the nation from the White House Thursday that the Chinese government has interfered with American elections and gained access to “sensitive” voter data of tens of millions of Americans.

Trump also accused deep-state bad actors of “deliberately massag[ing]” his daily briefings and even of attempting to run a “shadow government” during his first term to keep the information about “China’s election meddling” from him, other lawmakers, the media, and the American public.

Trump reiterated his demand that Congress pass the SAVE America act, and accused Democrats of stalling on the bill because it would keep them from cheating in elections.

The president said evidence of his claims are available for review at the White House website.

“The documents … show that over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history — resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files,” said the president.

He said the information China collected included “names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data that would be needed to register to vote and engage in other nefarious activities, which is exactly what was happening.”

Trump then said the White House Government Transparency Task Force had gathered evidence that the “deep state” had worked to cover up the Chinese acquisition of U.S. voter data.

“U.S. spy agencies began learning about the compromise of voter registration files in 2020 when they discovered that tens of millions of voter data … in 18 states have been bought, stolen, or hacked by China. Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” he said.

He also claimed, citing a CIA document, that during his first term, China sought to influence major American business leaders and persuade them “to turn against the president of the United States.” Trump further claimed China tried to buy off seemingly anti-Trump American journalists with “large sums of money” to write even more “negative articles about him.”

He even claimed China tried to create bogus ballots in the 2020 election.

“Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, stated that China’s activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden,” he added.

He went on to allege that officials had found as many as 287,000 non-citizens were found registered to vote nationwide.

The president also claimed that classified material that was supposed to be destroyed in “burn bags” was never actually destroyed, and he called on the FBI and the DOJ to investigate and to “prosecute those responsible for any crimes.”

Trump reiterated his demand that Congress pass the SAVE America Act and accused Democrats of stalling on the bill because it would keep them from cheating in elections.

“The only reason you wouldn’t [pass it] is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad and your candidates are so pathetic that you can’t get away or can’t get elected any other way,” Trump claimed.

The SAVE America Act would require voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote in elections and require a photo identification to cast a ballot. Left-wing critics of the proposal say it would disadvantage minorities and other Democratic demographics.

The president completed his address by calling on all Americans to pick up a phone and call their representatives to ask for the SAVE America Act to be passed.

RELATED: Trump team slams ‘b***h’ Democrat for floating bizarre conspiracy theory on housing bill delay

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said he was briefed on the president’s speech before the address and described it as possibly the “most important Oval Office address since the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

He added, “The time for complacency with China is over.”

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​President donald trump, White house, Election, Election fraud, Save act, China, Deep state, Politics, Joe biden 

Baltimore Police posted video Wednesday showing six “younger males” ganging up on and brutally beating a 74-year-old man outside a 7-Eleven; the attackers also were wielding a rifle and a sword, police said.

Police said the “attempted armed robbery” occurred in the 2500 block of Liberty Heights Avenue around 3:46 a.m. July 7.

‘Wish he was armed and eliminated some/all [of] the threat.’

The video police posted shows the victim seemingly headed to the door of the convenience store when two of the offenders — one of them pointing what police called a “gray assault-style rifle” at the elderly man — run up to him. The rest of the suspects follow seconds later and begin surrounding the victim.

Soon the group begins taking turns shoving and throwing objects at the elderly man, who does his best to fight them off and shield himself.

But one cowardly culprit sneaks behind the victim and shoves him to the parking lot surface, after which the others take turns stomping him. One of the attackers appears to bash the victim over the head with the rifle.

In another portion of the video, the elderly man goes after a suspect appearing to hold the rifle, but a second suspect throws an object at the victim from behind, then scampers away.

Soon a suspect appearing to hold a sword approaches the victim and waves it at him before he and another attacker throw objects at the elderly man at the same time.

RELATED: Elderly Air Force veteran assaulted, robbed after withdrawing cash from ATM; video shows juvenile taking victim’s wallet

In one of the more gut-wrenching portions of the video, the victim is holding what appears to be a pair of milk crates to defend himself when one of the attackers shoves him to the parking lot surface, after which he’s stomped and punched.

Seconds later, after the victim rises to his feet, the same attacker who just shoved him from behind repeats his cowardly act, knocking the elderly man to the ground from behind again — and then skips away in what appears to be a kind of celebration.

The victim tries to get up, but the same attacker who knocked him down twice jumps in the air and kicks him. The video doesn’t show how the incident was resolved.

According to WJZ-TV, a store employee said the 7-Eleven was closed at the time of the attack, and police said the victim was treated for minor injuries afterward.

Police said robbery detectives need the help of the public to identify the culprits seen in the video, and those with information are urged to call Citywide Robbery detectives at 410-366-6311 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.

A number of commenters who reacted under the police department’s X post about the incident were far from happy:

“Stop pretending anything will happen if they’re found,” one said. “Please.””ATTEMPTED armed robbery?!? How about ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON?!? Fk you Baltimore. No wonder you’re a third world s**t hole,” another commenter wrote. “How ANY law abiding citizen could live there is beyond me.””Hope we catch them, we all got somebody heading home or out this time of day,” another commenter stated. “Wish he was armed and eliminated some/all [of] the threat.”

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​Baltimore, Physical attack, Attempted armed robbery, Rifle, Sword, Ganging up, Elderly man, Brutal beating, Surveillance video, Crime 

The two lethal shootings during federal immigration operations in the last couple of weeks have led to restrictions on traffic stops by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Initially the traffic stops were temporarily paused after the shooting deaths of a Mexican migrant in Houston and a Colombian migrant in Maine.

‘Over half of all ICE field offices now do have body cameras, and the remainder of the field offices are expected within 60 days.’

President Donald Trump stepped in to order that the traffic stops continue as part of his promise for mass deportations, but a Daily Wire report on Thursday indicated that new restrictions were approved.

Traffic stops will be allowed in operations where at least one officer had a body camera and one teammate had training in specialized prosecutions. In addition, the stop needs to have an “operational” justification.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin said his ICE sources confirmed the report.

In both recent lethal incidents, no officers were wearing body cameras. Officials explained that the rapid expansion of officers led to a shortage of cameras available in the field.

“Basically, it boils down to, unless someone has a body-worn camera, no vehicle stops can be made,” one agency source said to the Daily Wire. “Since the majority of officers do not have body-worn cameras, hardly any stops will be made.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted that the body camera rollout had faced difficulties.

“With respect to body cameras, I know there’s been some questions about that in recent days. Over half of all ICE field offices now do have body cameras, and the remainder of the field offices are expected within 60 days,” Leavitt said to reporters.

“It’s been a slower rollout than we would have hoped, but that’s because of the Democrats’ decision to shut down DHS for several weeks,” she added. “So, we expect to fully execute on the promise of body cams to all field offices across the country very soon.”

RELATED: Meth-like substance found in van of illegal alien killed by ICE, FBI says — but Democratic DA disputes

The Wall Street Journal reported that the pause on traffic stops was made unilaterally by Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of Homeland Security, and angered the president.

“We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands,” Trump wrote in response on social media.

“The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch,” he added. “I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming!”

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​Ice traffic stops, Immigration and customs enforcement, Markwayne mullin, Immigration, Mass deportations, President donald trump, Politics 

Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona had a telling response to the allegations in a New York Post report that he had been sexually involved with at least two staffers in the House of Representatives.

Gallego, who is a close friend of Eric Swalwell, told NBC News when questioned about the report that he was not going to engage in “gossip.”

One source called the allegations a part of a ‘pattern of mistakes and missteps and judgment calls’ from the Democrat.

The Post report cited three sources confirming the two relationships, including one source saying they heard it firsthand from the 46-year-old senator.

Gallego reportedly admitted to the relationships with aides of Texas Democrats to one source, while another source said they had recently learned about the incidents.

A third source also confirmed the report.

The relationships allegedly occurred during the time Gallego was a House representative. The sexual interactions were consensual, and Gallego was not married at the time, according to the sources.

Gallego is considered a possible presidential candidate, but these allegations and any other potential scandals may derail that hope.

One source called the allegations a part of a “pattern of mistakes and missteps and judgment calls” from the Democrat, and the source bluntly wondered if there were more scandals coming.

“What else could there be out there?” the person asked.

One of the women involved was reportedly in her 20s and much younger than Gallego at the time.

Gallago’s friend Eric Swalwell was accused of sexual harassment and had to drop his gubernatorial campaign as well as step down from Congress. Speculation swirled as to whether Gallego knew about those allegations before they were public and whether he had his own peccadilloes.

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida claimed in April to have heard of four women who claimed to have had inappropriate or unwanted attention from the senator. At the time, he responded by denying the “right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House, and their allies” and calling for an apology.

RELATED: Gay couple arrested on child sex abuse allegations — and they have 5 young sons

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) avoided questions about the report.

Gallego did not respond to a request for comment from the Post, nor did the two House staffers reportedly involved.

The senator was also among the Democrats who rescinded their endorsements of Graham Platner, the former senatorial candidate in Maine, over sexual assault accusations.

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​Anna paulina luna, Eric swalwell, Ruben gallego, New york post, Sexual relationship, Politics