Barely 24 hours after the Department of Homeland Security quietly ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stand down on vehicle stops nationwide, President Donald Trump did a U-turn.

Trump overturned the pause on Wednesday, and according to sources familiar with the matter, he was furious.

‘Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch.’

Trump made the call himself, first on Truth Social, writing that “we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”

He added that the “Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch” and that the agency should “be judicious, fair and smart” going forward.

The reversal capped a chaotic 24 hours. The DHS sent officials word via email on Tuesday pausing all vehicle stops “immediately” and instructing officials “to prioritize other existing operational methods, outside of vehicle stops, to conduct immigration enforcement activities,” according to ABC News, which reviewed the email.

By Wednesday morning, the White House confirmed with Fox News that Trump had overturned the memo, calling it an internal directive that didn’t reflect broader policy.

Border czar Tom Homan downplayed the original pause on Fox News, insisting the DHS just wanted to review the recent shootings and any training gaps.

“It’s not a policy change; it’s a temporary pause,” Homan said, adding that the decision was made by “the secretary along with leadership at ICE.”

RELATED: ICE slams the brakes on vehicle stops nationwide: Report

Graeme Sloan/EPA/Bloomberg/Getty Images (L); Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images (R)

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was already under pressure before Trump weighed in. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she spoke to Mullin Monday night and personally urged him to halt “non-urgent vehicle stops.”

Once Trump’s reversal went public, Mullin didn’t directly address whether stops would actually resume. Instead, he pivoted to attacking Democrats, writing on X that DHS’ “#1 goal is to keep our officers safe and get criminals OFF our streets,” and telling anyone in the country illegally to “LEAVE NOW.”

The whiplash traces back to the fatal shootings of two men during ICE enforcement operations in the last week: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7 and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. A third man died Tuesday in Florida after being struck by a tractor trailer while fleeing federal agents, according to authorities.

In the wake of the shootings, the DHS also pledged to rapidly deploy body cameras to ICE officers nationwide.

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​Border czar, Department of homeland security, Fatal shootings, Florida, Immigration and customs enforcement, President trump, Tom homan, White house, Politics 

Americans are increasingly worried about skyrocketing housing costs, declining birth rates, and a generation of young adults struggling to reach traditional milestones. But according to BlazeTV host Steve Deace, those problems are merely symptoms of something much bigger.

“There’s a lot of things that we are pointing to in our culture right now as symptoms, and we’re at many times trying to do symptom masking,” Deace says on the “Steve Deace Show.”

While the reaction to a symptom is often just to treat it and “provide a patient or in this case a culture immediate relief,” the issue is that the underlying disease is not actually being treated.

One symptom America is facing is that the percentage of men and women getting married and owning a home by the age of 30 has declined from more than half the country in the 1960s to just 12% today.

“In 1950, that was half of the country. In 1962, the number actually went up to more than half. That was 52%. 1970, relatively stable, 48%. 1980, we start to see a little bit of slippage now, 45%. But the 80s held things still,” Deace explains. “The ’80s did a great job of treating symptoms.”

While Deace notes that he loves Ronald Reagan, “the ’80s gave us amnesty.”

“And the immigration policy that is threatening to wreck America today … its origin, its genesis, is the Reagan amnesty of ’86,” he says, explaining that Reagan also signed the 1986 vaccine indemnity act.

“That put us on the very path we’ve been on with Big Pharma ever since,” he says.

And now, only 12% of Americans are getting married and buying homes by the age of 30.

“You could get a $500,000 mortgage, 30-year fixed rate, for $2,100 bucks a month in America in 2021. Today that amount is $3,200 a month on average,” he says.

But it’s not just housing costs and immigration.

“It’s more likely that a woman in her 40s will be married and pregnant than a woman who is 19 for the first time in American history,” Deace says, explaining that this “sadly fits into the overall trend line.”

“Fifty years ago in this country, it was way more likely a 19-year-old woman was going to be married with a kid than a 42-year-old woman was going to be having a kid. Way more likely. And when you throw in these other cultural trends now, it is more likely a 30-year-old man will still be living at home with a parent than living in a home with a wife and a kid,” he says.

“This is death-of-a-culture stuff,” he continues, adding that this is the “disease.”

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​Americans, Big pharma, Declining birth rates, Housing costs, Immigration policy, Marriage rates, Mortgage rates, Ronald reagan, Steve deace, Steve deace show 

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is facing another harrowing battle, this time one having to do with his health.

The man known for heroically piloting a damaged passenger plane into the Hudson River and saving 155 lives 17 years ago is now fighting Alzheimer’s disease.

‘I am in the beginning of this long journey.’

“I recently found out I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It is early stage,” said the 75-year-old in a statement. “For now, this means a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don’t sleep as well, but I am in the beginning of this long journey.”

He said he was speaking out in hopes of encouraging other families dealing with the disease.

“This new phase of my life has challenged what it means to be of service. And the answer is to speak up,” he continued. “It is my hope that by sharing this, other families living in the shadows with this disease will feel they too can step forward.”

Sullenberger’s story was dramatized in the 2016 hit movie “Sully,” which was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Tom Hanks as the hero.

The Jan. 2009 incident that stemmed from a plane hitting numerous birds on takeoff and losing both of its engines has since been dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson.”

Sullenberger has spoken many times about his actions on that fateful day.

“I think about not only what we did but what everybody else did,” he said to ABC News on the 10th anniversary of the water landing. “All the pieces had to come together. This group of strangers had to rise to the occasion and make sure that they saved every life.”

RELATED: Air Canada CEO to resign after outrage over English-only statement on death of 2 pilots

Sullenberger had been described by the passengers as very calm as he helped them exit the plane, but he has since revealed otherwise.

“I think people with certain temperament gravitate toward certain jobs and flying is certainly one of those, and I think the training and the experience we develop tends to make us more that way,” he explained.

“It develops in you an ability to summon up from somewhere within this ability to create a sense of calm, a professional calm,” he added. “But we weren’t calm. We couldn’t be calm. The stress was too intense, but we had that focus … to be able to do the job in spite of how stressful it was.”

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​Alzheimers disease, Hero, Politics, Chesley sullenberger 

A 33-year-old Canadian female is accused of slapping a teenage girl wearing pro-Trump clothing on a boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, earlier this month — and now the suspect is in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The accused — Kaitlyn E. Tracey — was recording on her phone July 3 when she approached the teen and her friends, NJ.com reported, citing court documents.

‘I need help.’

The teen was wearing sweatpants containing the words “Trump” and “ICE,” the outlet reported. Police said Tracey “began yelling at the female juvenile over patriotic colored sweatpants with political wording.”

Police added that Tracey “was then seen on video striking the juvenile female, once to the body and once to the face, with an open hand. The female suspect then left the scene without being identified.”

Police department detectives conducted an investigation, and police said they identified Tracey on July 6 as the suspect in connection with the incident.

Tracey was charged with simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment, and obstruction, police said, adding that Tracey early on Monday was taken into custody without incident, processed, and transported to Ocean County Jail.

NJ.com, citing court papers, reported that Tracey is a Canadian citizen who entered the United States with a passport in 2024.

Indeed, NJ.com added that a man who identified himself as Tracey’s husband said Tracey is being turned over to ICE.

Blaze News on Wednesday morning checked ICE records, which show Tracey is in ICE custody at its Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, N.J.

RELATED: Washington State U. punishes instructor, staffer charged with beating up Trump-supporting student of color wearing MAGA hat

Image source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

NJ.com said court records indicate Tracey is scheduled for an Aug. 4 court appearance.

“I need help,” Matthew Geroni said in a video posted to TikTok, according to NJ.com. “I need my wife. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

The New York Post reported that Geroni is an American citizen who married Tracey “a little over three years ago” and has been sharing his wife’s story with his 140,000 followers.

The paper added that Tracey had been living in Asbury Park with her husband.

More from the Post:

Geroni didn’t mention Tracey’s alleged assault of a teen girl that led to her arrest during his public plea, instead claiming the entire situation was being taken out of context.

He created a GoFundMe page for his wife’s legal expenses but was forced to take it down a short time later after a “Facebook group of MAGA supporters” mass-reported it, he said. […]

Geroni, who routinely posts videos mocking Republicans, described himself as the “Clown of Asbury Park” and the “Jester of the Jersey Shore.”

He claimed cops told his wife to leave the boardwalk after the alleged assault because they didn’t have enough to charge her before Tracey later turned herself over to police after an arrest warrant was issued.

Tracey’s attorney, Francis R. Hodgson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, according to NJ.com.

NJ.com added that the victim was not injured and that her age is redacted in court documents.

Police said, “We would like to thank the Asbury Park Police Department, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, The 11th District of the Toronto Police Service, and the United States Custom and Border Protection Intelligence Team for their assistance during this investigation.”

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​Boardwalk, Canada, Crime, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, New jersey, Point pleasant, Police, Slap, Teen girl, Politics 

Director George Lucas isn’t too concerned with what audiences think.

As one of the pioneers of computer-generated imagery, Lucas says he’s heard the same complaints his whole career, and he’s applying that experience to artificial intelligence too.

‘That’s progress, it’s the future.’

Galaxy brain

Lucas’ core thesis is on what makes a movie a movie, and in his opinion, it isn’t the technology surrounding the production that makes the story; it’s the idea itself.

The 82-year-old cited many iconic directors and even those on film foundations as some of the biggest supporters and detractors of his beliefs, and in a recent interview, he focused on the latter.

“I’ll never do digital,” Lucas’ peers tell him, because “Lawrence of Arabia” was shot with film. “And I say, ‘No, it’s cinema. It’s the moving image. That’s what it is. It’s not a technology, it’s an idea.'”

Lucas advanced digital graphics significantly with his company Industrial Light & Magic, which he founded all the way back in 1975. Today, Lucas sees the argument against AI as similar to those he faced for using the latest and greatest technologies in his career.

“Artificial intelligence means it’s much easier for us to make movies,” Lucas told A Rabbit’s Foot. “It’s very much like sitting here saying, ‘Well, I believe the horse and the buggy is really where it’s at. These cars, they break down, they need gas, there’s all kinds of problems with them and pretty soon they’ll be making them into tanks, and then they’ll be killing people. It’s terrible.'”

Lucas, fairly black-pilled, added, “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“That’s progress, it’s the future.”

RELATED: White House rips into ‘left lunatic’ Mark Hamill for posting image of Trump in grave

Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS/VCG/Getty Images

Jedi mind trick

Lucas described AI as something that shouldn’t be used as a scapegoat either. Rather, the creator is still responsible for whatever he puts out.

“The whole idea is you’re a human being, you’re responsible for what you say and what you do, and if you’re doing something that’s illegal, you should be punished for that. Whatever you do, you should be recognized. It’s just like real life.”

In that same vein, Lucas assured readers that audiences don’t know what they want to see in film.

Lucas cited Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg as sources and friends he trusts with constructive criticism. Potential viewers, not so much.

“I don’t like focus groups,” Lucas said. “The audience doesn’t know what they want to see.”

RELATED: What are the odds? America’s birthday is full of incredible coincidences

Screen Archives/Getty Images

Jar Jar defender

However, much of the disdain seemingly comes from the reaction from studios who, when they hear the audience doesn’t like a character, “take the wrong message.”

“They let the audience actually make the movie,” the director explained. “Of course, now they go crazy with that. Now, it’s all about what the fans think. That isn’t how you make the movie. You make a movie by finding someone that knows how to make movies, that has a story to tell and is passionate about it.”

Lucas juxtaposed this with criticism about “Star Wars,” which he said has seen significant blowback time and time again over the introduction of children’s’ characters.

“Oh, that’s terrible. Jar Jar Binks is terrible!” Lucas said, mocking his critics. “Everyone said the same thing about R2-D2 and C-3PO. At the beginning, there was a huge push for me to get rid of C-3PO, and then in the third one, people said the same thing about Ewoks.”

“We want to see an adult movie!” Lucas recalled being told.

While the downfall of the post-Lucas “Star Wars” films may be from not ignoring similar audience demands, in response to whether or not he is bothered by his later films not connecting with adults, he simply said, “Well, it’s a kids’ movie.”

“It’s always been a kids’ movie.”

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​George lucas, News, Star wars, Artificial intelligence, Entertainment, Ai 

The fire that ravaged a 173-year-old Brooklyn church last month has been determined to be incendiary, meaning it was deliberately set.

Fire marshals announced the determination Tuesday, adding that the investigation remains ongoing.

‘Now we understand it is intentional, which brings another layer of grief to myself, as well as the congregation and the community.’

The New York Daily News had previously reported, citing FDNY sources, that the FDNY and NYPD were investigating the incident as a possible case of arson.

A person of interest was seen walking around South Bushwick Reformed Church shortly before a fire erupted around 1:20 p.m. on June 19. A three-alarm fire was then triggered, causing nearly 200 first responders to rush to the scene.

The church was empty at the time, according to the FDNY.

By 3:35 p.m., firefighters had managed to bring the flames under control, yet the church had sustained significant damage, including the collapse of the steeple into the roof.

As of Wednesday morning, no arrests have been made.

A GoFundMe was created by the church shortly after the tragedy to, as Pastor James E. Steward II wrote, raise money for “emergency stabilization of the property, temporary worship space, replacement of damaged equipment and furnishings, community outreach ministries, architectural and engineering assessments, and restoration and rebuilding efforts.”

As of Wednesday morning, the church has raised almost $16,000, with a fundraising goal of $26,000.

RELATED: Church is cool again — and Gen Z men are leading the way

“Now we understand it is intentional, which brings another layer of grief to myself, as well as the congregation and the community,” Steward told CBS News.

“Whoever is responsible for this ultimately has to answer to God,” he added.

South Bushwick Reformed Church was built in 1853 and declared a city landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1968. Under landmark classification, the LPC “must approve in advance any alteration, reconstruction, demolition, or new construction affecting the designated building.”

The church was one of only eight surviving wooden landmarked houses of worship in the entirety of New York City, with the congregation itself dating back to Dutch settlers in the 17th century.

South Bushwick Reformed Church, Brooklyn, New York, circa 1975.Edmund Vincent Gillon/Museum of the City of New York/Getty Images

In the weeks following the fire, church leaders fought to preserve as much of the landmark as possible, hoping portions of the remaining structure could be stabilized and incorporated into a future restoration.

The Department of Buildings had moved toward demolishing the remaining structure, but that effort was paused Tuesday after the DOB granted the church’s request for a hold on demolition through Saturday, according to the Bushwick Historic Preservation Association.

The pause gives the church time to try to save its fellowship hall, a church extension built in 1881 as a Sunday school building.

“In an incredible reversal of fortune, WE JUST SECURED A HOLD ON THE DEMOLITION!” the group wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday. “This morning, the DOB reached out giving us another chance and this time our submission was accepted.”

The church “finally put together a team of engineers and contractors and came up with a plan to stabilize the rectory side of the building in a way that wouldn’t endanger workers on site,” DOB press secretary Andrew Rudansky said.

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​Church, Fire, Investigation, Politics, New york city 

A political aide to former reality TV star Spencer Pratt revealed just how far his campaign went to compete in the heavily Democrat-leaning electorate for Los Angeles mayor.

Pratt narrowly missed the cutoff to compete in the runoff election, but he has vowed to continue his fight to save Los Angeles from socialist policies and politicians.

‘It was an experiment in completely upending the traditional politico paradigm, so we didn’t have any political advisers. It was just me and Spencer.’

In an interview with Christopher Rufo on the “Rufo & Lomez” podcast Tuesday, Pratt’s creative director, Gabriel Mann, revealed the unorthodox steps they took in the campaign to spread his message.

“There was no help — we begged people for help with our ground game — so we had to create our own,” Mann said on BlazeTV.

“And you know what we did? We spent, I think, $100,000 paying the Bloods and the Crips. I’m not joking. Totally aboveboard, totally legal. We paid the Bloods and the Crips to go do ballot harvesting for us in their neighborhoods,” he said.

“And that was the one thing that Spencer did that I think shocked a lot of people. I mean, we’re in South Central, and we were partying,” Mann added.

“What was their response to you guys?” co-host Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman asked.

“Tremendous!” Mann replied.

Keeperman joked that the South Central residents were not likely to be high-propensity voters.

“They’re not, but the people who showed up, the people with whom we interfaced, they’re very engaged, and some of them — I had this 52-year-old mom come up to me in South Central, and she was like, ‘My daughter is hooked on crack, and I cannot get anybody to help me. She’s out on the streets. I can’t get her home. I have no support,'” Mann said.

“She was like weeping, and I grabbed her by the arm and [said], ‘Come talk to Spencer. We’re gonna figure this out,'” he added.

The video closes out with scenes of Pratt talking to the woman and comforting her over her daughter’s plight.

RELATED: TMZ tries to nuke Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign — and gets bitten in the Bass

“I know a lot of people try to portray their campaign as grassroots, but, I mean, this was legitimately grassroots. … It was an experiment in completely upending the traditional politico paradigm, so we didn’t have any political advisers. It was just me and Spencer,” Mann said.

Since the jungle primary election, Pratt published a video setting out all the evidence of possible election fraud.

The entire podcast video with Mann can be viewed on the YouTube channel for Rufo and Lomez.

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​Ballot harvesting, Los angeles mayor, Election fraud, Spencer pratt, Christopher rufo, Politics 

18-year-old Nolan Wells mysteriously disappeared on July 4th while with a group of friends, before his body was discovered just off of Horn Island in Mississippi.

The case has picked up national attention because Wells was the only black one among his white friends — and while details of what happened are still muddy, Al Sharpton and Ben Crump are all over it.

“Obviously, Al Sharpton, Ben Crump, Nolan Wells’ family are suggesting that it’s more than a drowning. And I think we’re starting to figure out why,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock explains.

The family has launched a GoFundMe, which has passed $650,000 and continues to climb.

“They’re following in a pattern that we saw from Karmelo Anthony’s family. Karmelo Anthony murdered Austin [Metcalf], somehow started a GoFundMe or GiveSendGo, raised nearly a million dollars off of murdering Austin Metcalf, and allegedly this was to offset the legal fees of the Karmelo Anthony family,” Whitlock explains.

“But clearly people have recognized that if your son or daughter — black — dies in any proximity to white people, you can racialize that, start a GoFundMe, and collect, at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says.

“What are the legal fees that the Nolan Wells family are offsetting here? Maybe it’s this independent autopsy, but this seems like a money-grab,” he speculates. “This seems like ‘my black child has died and I’m owed reparations. I’m owed some sort of financial settlement because my black child died in proximity to a white person, and I get to launch a charity off of this tragedy, and that money will help soothe the pain of the loss of my child.’”

Whitlock believes that while the argument for needing hundreds of thousands of dollars could be that “Mississippi is so racist” that the money is needed to get “law enforcement in Mississippi to pursue the truth,” “there’s also the other argument that some people could make is ‘if I don’t have money, I can’t manipulate the truth. I can’t produce the truth that I want,’” he says.

“And I’m pointing to Karmelo Anthony as he laid the blueprint,” he continues. “But maybe I should point even further back that this has been the point of the entire Black Lives Matter movement from the get-go.”

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​Al sharpton, Austin metcalf, Ben crump, Black lives matter, Givesendgo, Gofundme, Harmony, Jason whitlock, Karmelo anthony, Mississippi, Nolan wells, Fearless with jason whitlock 

Democrats appear to believe that they are the party that protects children, but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales knows that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“It seems to be that the Democrats are the ones who always seem to associate with the pedophiles. They are the actual party of pedophile protectors. And honestly it seems like it’s really just Democrats who want to force you to live around pedophiles,” she says.

And she has the receipts to back it up.

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz actually pardoned an illegal alien who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl to save him from being deported. I am not making this up,” she explains.

“‘Cause why would you deport an illegal sex offender when you could just keep them here, right?” she asks.

The 42-year-old illegal immigrant, Tue Lue Vang, was convicted of repeatedly raping a child over multiple years. But that didn’t stop the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission from voting 4-2 to grant the predator a pardon.

Vang also once offered the child $10 to keep quiet about the abuse.

“And you know what? His justification is actually quite simple. He said, ‘Oh, well, sexual conduct with minors is the norm in Laos,’” Gonzales explains.

“Sorry bud, not in America,” she continues, before correcting herself. “Well, I guess in Minnesota under Tim Walz.”

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​Deported, Illegal alien, Minnesota, Minnesota governor, Pedophiles, Sara gonzales, Sex offender, Tim walz, Sara gonzales unfiltered 

The internet has done an admirable job hobbling the corporate left-wing media’s ability to control the population through a single narrative. But that blessing comes with regrettable costs.

The speed of information and the incentive to push hot takes onto social media mean that when a public figure dies, there is an immediate race to decide which competing narrative will define his legacy.

Was Graham a true convert to MAGA and its values? Unlikely. But politics is not a contest over who believes harder.

When Lindsey Graham died suddenly of heart failure over the weekend, conspiracy theories about foreign assassination plots immediately began to circulate online. Many leftists openly celebrated his death, and the reactionary impulse of conservatives drove others to recast Graham as a stalwart crusader for MAGA.

The truth is more complicated. But in the eternal battle for narrative supremacy, there is little time for reflection, even in response to death.

No one is above criticism. But in a healthy society, some space exists between a public figure’s passing and attacks on his legacy.

That standard now seems quaint, perhaps naive. It is also better for the soul of the nation.

Unfortunately, wishing to live in that kind of society does not make it real. The information war is relentless. Abstaining from the fight only means someone else defines the truth.

The news cycle does not observe a respectable period of mourning. The battle begins the moment the headline drops.

Wild conspiracy theories now seem obligatory whenever a prominent figure dies, and Graham was no exception. The senator toured a Ukrainian weapons factory the day before his death, and several figures speculated that he had really been killed in an attack on that facility or poisoned by the Russians.

Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin suggested on social media that Graham had likely been killed by Israel, despite Graham’s long record of advocacy for that country.

This is not to denigrate conspiracy theories in general. One thing we learned after COVID is that such theories can often prove correct. But the narratives around Graham’s death were bizarre.

Graham was a 71-year-old man with a family history of fatal heart conditions who did not take care of himself. His death is sad, but its cause was hardly mysterious.

RELATED: Lindsey Graham’s sister appointed to serve out the rest of his term in the Senate

Grant Baldwin/Getty Images

Progressives reacted exactly as expected. There was gloating, celebration, mockery, and even speculation about who should come next.

Graham’s death was nowhere near as visceral or violent as Charlie Kirk’s assassination, but the left’s response carried unnerving echoes. It was a brutal reminder of a lesson conservatives have worked hard not to learn since Kirk’s murder.

Even the average Democrat is emotionally unhinged.

Your progressive neighbor may not be willing to commit violence personally against you over politics. But many are happy to cheer those who do and dance on your grave once you are gone.

The reaction on the right was strange in a different way. Some conservatives rushed to construct a hagiography, transforming Graham into a MAGA saint, a lion who died fighting for the cause.

That impulse may have been an understandable response to the left’s disgusting vitriol. It was not wise.

Graham served in the Senate for 31 years. He supported every disastrous war during his tenure, including the war in Ukraine that Donald Trump ran on ending and the war in Iran now costing the administration dearly.

Graham pushed for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. He backed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during military operations in Syria and Libya.

He pushed to send hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign governments while inflation was driving up the cost of living for ordinary Americans. After Graham’s death, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that when he told the senator Israel should pay for its own defense, Graham insisted that American taxpayers should foot the bill.

On immigration, the core issue of the MAGA coalition, Graham was even worse.

He was part of the Gang of Eight and pushed for amnesty alongside men like Marco Rubio. In 2006, Graham teamed up with John McCain to pursue a similar pathway to citizenship. His attempts to secure amnesty for illegal aliens were so common that he earned the nickname “Grahamnesty.”

Lindsey Graham was, in almost every way imaginable, the essence of the Washington swamp Trump promised to drain.

He was also a savvy political operator.

Graham initially fought Trump tooth and nail. Like many Republicans, he slowly changed his rhetoric. Despite still pushing horrible foreign policy and endless war, the senator became a reliable vote for Trump on many domestic issues. His work advancing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the SAVE Act deserves note.

Was Graham a true convert to MAGA and its values? Unlikely. But politics is not a contest over who believes harder.

It would have been unwise to trust Graham. Many Republicans have discovered new respect for Trump to get what they want, only to betray him the moment he stops prioritizing their issues.

RELATED: Conservatives are blowing the easiest political win in America

Blaze Media Illustration

But Graham delivered votes and support at key moments. That made him politically useful in scenarios that cannot be ignored.

Graham spent most of his career as an institutional neoconservative advancing policies that were disastrous for the country. He eventually corrected course on amnesty and delivered some key votes for the Trump administration. Yet his monomaniacal obsession with war made him one of the central proponents of a foreign policy quagmire threatening to derail the MAGA agenda.

Does his opportunistic support for Trump in the final years of his life make him a true MAGA patriot? No.

Does he deserve the hatred poured on him by the left after his death? Also no.

That is not mercy for a political enemy. It is moral clarity. Refusing to lie about a man’s record does not require joining the mob that cheers his death.

Those are entirely separate moral sins.

In the rush to define the narrative, the complicated nature of Graham’s legacy disappears.

The internet has made immediate judgment mandatory and thoughtful reflection almost impossible. It turns public figures into mascots, villains, saints, and demons before the body is cold.

In the end, the internet makes fictional characters of us all.

​Opinion & analysis, Lindsey graham, Republicans, Senate, Maga, Legacy, Leftists, Immigration, Amnesty, Donald trump, Neoconservatives, Iran war, Ukraine aid 

MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell is a proud trailer park-raised Republican who, “through the grace of God” and a deepening relationship with Christ, beat a crippling crack cocaine addiction, then went on to enjoy massive personal success and found a recovery network.

Lindell has in recent years paid an enormous price personally and professionally for his claims both that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that the election was rigged, even becoming a target of the Biden FBI.

‘This race looks all but over.’

Trump, evidently impressed with his steadfast defender, said in December after Lindell filed to run for governor of Minnesota that the 65-year-old businessman “deserves to be governor of Minnesota.”

“That man suffered. What he did, what he went through because he knew the election was rigged. And he did it. I mean, he just did it as a citizen,” Trump said. “These people went after him, they went after his company. They did that with me, too, but at least I knew what I was getting into. He was just a guy that said, ‘Jeez, this election was so crooked; it was so rigged.’ He fought like hell.”

On Wednesday — just months after the Minnesota Republican Party endorsed Army veteran and former health care executive Kendall Qualls for governor — Trump formally endorsed Lindell, stating that “if given the chance, Mike will be SPECTACULAR!”

In addition to characterizing the “Pillow Man” as “one of America’s greatest and most hard working Patriots,” Trump said that Lindell “truly loves Minnesota, as do I, and wants to bring it back from oblivion and embarrassment. He can do it! Nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity. He truly deserves everything he gets — He will MAKE MINNESOTA GREAT AGAIN!”

RELATED: Former Miss North Dakota pleads guilty to day care fraud in Minnesota

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Minnesota GOP did not immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

In a survey of over 1,000 likely primary voters in late June, Big Data Poll found that Lindell led his closest competitor, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, by 6 points — 27% to 21%.

Qualls trailed far behind in third place with just 10% in the poll.

“Mike Lindell continues to lead among the core demographics that make up the primary coalition that nominated President Trump in the North Star State, to include the working class voters by income and education levels who were stalwart supporters of the president,” Big Data Poll director Rich Baris said in a statement. “In giving Lindell the lead both before and after the convention, Republican primary voters are sending a clear message.”

“With the president’s endorsement, this race looks all but over,” Baris added.

Following Trump’s endorsement of Lindell, Qualls said that he will continue to support the president but that “this race won’t be won by national endorsements.”

“It will be decided by Minnesota Republicans — the same Republicans who supported President Trump in all three of his campaigns — and who time and time again have lined up behind our campaign as the only candidate endorsed by the Minnesota Republican Party,” Qualls added.

Lindell has vowed, among other things, to

support state cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement;oppose sanctuary policies and protect resources for citizens;eliminate the in-person retail sales tax plan in order to reduce families’ tax burden immediately as well as spur job growth;”put real brakes on runaway property tax hikes” in part by limiting yearly increases and shifting some of the education burden to the state;”encourage policies that make it easier to marry, raise children, and care for aging parents”;crack down on welfare fraud; andexpand school choice and bolster parental rights.

The Minnesota GOP primary will take place on Aug. 11.

Democratic primary voters, who will also go to the polls next month, have several radicals to choose from, including U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running on an anti-ICE platform, and Thomas Evenstad, a convicted rapist.

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Director Christopher Nolan defended his cinematic choices for “The Odyssey” in a recent interview, which interestingly included a focus on historical accuracy.

Nolan’s remarks come as he has faced a landslide of criticism in the lead-up to the film’s release, particularly for the way he has chosen to cast the ancient Greek story.

‘I just want to make it feel very fresh for modern audiences.’

Digging in

Most notably, Nolan cast Mexican-born Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o to play Greek princess Helen of Troy. This was in addition to tapping transgender actress Elliot Page to play Greek warrior Sinon, despite Page having a lengthy movie career as Ellen Page, including in Nolan’s 2010 hit “Inception.”

Nevertheless, Nolan did not address his casting choices in a recent interview, and while he did praise some of his actors, he made a peculiar argument for why historical accuracy is important.

“We went back to what’s in the archaeology. What does that tell us? And what gaps does that leave?” Nolan rhetorically asked Channel 4.

“What do we know about Homer’s time? How were things portrayed in the earliest possible portrayals of that? And looking at how do you create a consistent and accessible world around that that feels vital and and credible.”

RELATED: Elliot Page, Travis Scott, and ancient Greece: Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ is unrealistic — but should anyone care?

Greek to me

While Nolan argued for historical accuracy in architecture, he made a different argument when asked about the “very modern” language used in the film. Nolan said the use of old English in similar depictions is only due to cultural bias.

“You look at the ancient world — people tend to view it in weird ways; there’s a lot of cultural prejudice,” Nolan argued. “They’re sort of elevating it because it’s old, you know, whatever it is. When you go to the poem, what you find is something that’s really earthy and grounded and accessible.”

Still, the 55-year-old said he wanted an updated take on the film and to avoid any illogical assumptions some audiences may have.

“I just want to center it on that and make it feel very fresh for modern audiences and do away with some of those assumptions that aren’t based on anything logical. They’re just, as I say, cultural prejudices or things over time,” Nolan added.

RELATED: Christopher Nolan’s shocking woke sellout: Weaponizing Homer’s Western classic AGAINST the West

Los Angeles, 2010. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Horsing around

The director’s use of the dreaded term “modern audiences” set off many in the comments section, who see it as a signal that the movie will be overtly progressive in tone.

Viewers called the term “a huge red flag” and a reason to be “immediately out.”

“‘Modern audience’ lol no thanks,” another viewer wrote, while a recent remark asked, “Is this modern audience with you in the room, right now?”

As for Nolan’s pick for Sinon, the character is typically viewed as a soldier who helped deceive Trojans into accepting the Trojan Horse inside their walls. According to GreekMythology.com, Sinon’s “lies, courage, and careful acting” made him one of the most “important figures in the story of the Trojan Horse.”

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