My take: the DHS shutdown is not really about TSA, airports, or the rest of the department. Those are the hostages. The actual fight is ICE. Democrats have made clear they will help fund DHS if Republicans accept limits or reforms on ICE. But that proves the point: ICE is not some side issue or bargaining chip at the edge of the table. It is the table. If Republicans concede there, they are conceding the entire reason this bill blew up in the first place.

Every time the left enforces a purity test, it exiles entire constituencies and cannibalizes its own. Chavez is just the latest casualty. The message to union workers is unmistakable: identity and moral posturing outrank labor solidarity. So they don’t reform the left—they leave it, and many end up under the MAGA tent. This isn’t just optics. It’s a generational strategic blunder the left will pay for.

Everybody blames Trump for everything, from DHS fights to ICE to borders and spending. But his supporters are watching what he is being blamed for, and often they actually agree with those positions. So the constant attack does not weaken him. It makes that line, “they’re not after me, they’re after you, I’m just standing in the way,” feel less like rhetoric and more like a description of reality. The more he is blamed, the more he looks like the shield.

A doge was the elected life-long chief magistrate and head of state in the Italian republic of Venice (697–1797) and Genoa. Originating from the Latin dux (leader), the doge symbolized sovereignty, often dressed in ceremonial regalia like the corno ducale (special hat), and acted as a political leader and diplomat with restricted power.

Tyranny!

I call my mobile a phoneputer now. Thanks, Liberty Mutual.

Jesus never asked the State for help. He rejected it.