STARBASE, Texas—War Secretary Pete Hegseth is on a mission. As he tours military installations and visits defense contractors, Hegseth is laser focused on what it will take to make sweeping changes for America’s military. He recognizes it won’t be easy, but there’s no other choice if America wants to maintain its dominance in our rapidly changing world. China, Iran, and Russia, along with other adversaries, are external threats. Closer to home, however, a slow-moving bureaucracy, lack of innovation, and a business-as-usual mentality present a different set of challenges. “When it comes to our current threat environment,” Hegseth declared, “we are playing a dangerous game with potentially fatal consequences. We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose.” Hegseth emphasized this point repeatedly during Monday’s trip to Texas, where he was accompanied by the state’s Republican senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, alongside other members of Congress. “We just want the best,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday. Dubbed the Arsenal of Freedom tour, Hegseth is traveling the country to see America’s warfighting capabilities firsthand—and send a not-so-subtle message to his own department and the defense contractors who support it. That much was clear when Hegseth set foot inside Lockheed Martin’s F-35 factory in Fort Worth and SpaceX’s headquarters on the outskirts of Brownsville. “We need to be blunt here,” Hegseth said Monday. “We can no longer afford to wait a decade for our legacy prime contractors to deliver the next perfect system only to find that it’s delivered years behind schedule and costs 10 times what it should.” Amidst the fanfare of his visits, Hegseth’s message was consistent: military superiority depends on both longtime partners like Lockheed and new disruptors like SpaceX. America’s Most Lethal Fighter Aircraft Inside of Lockheed Martin’s mile-long building, America’s military might was on full display. With planes under construction on the factory floor, Hegseth paid tribute to the company’s veteran-heavy workforce and complimented them for leading the way—quite literally. During last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer to destroy three nuclear sites in Iran, F-35s flew ahead of the B-2 stealth bombers that dropped the payload. More recently, during Operation Absolute Resolve, F-35s played a key role in the capture of Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro. War Secretary Pete Hegseth at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 factory. (Department of War) Lockheed Martin delivered a record number of 191 fighter jets in 2025 at a breakneck pace. The company says its F-35 production line is running five times faster than any other allied fighter. The mile-long factory employs 19,000 workers and relies on nearly 2,000 suppliers across America. Hegseth’s visit served not just as a pep rally but also an opportunity to showcase a company that he pointed to as a model he’d like others to emulate. “We ultimately don’t care what the name is on the side of the missile or the plane or of anything that’s made at the War Department,” Hegseth said. “We just want the best, and our expectation is that every company competes, and every company competes on a level playing field.” ‘Make Star Trek Real’ More than 500 miles south in Starbase, along the U.S.-Mexico border, Hegseth spoke to hundreds of workers gathered Monday evening at SpaceX’s cutting-edge factory, where Elon Musk set the stage by casting a futuristic vision. “I’ll tell you a little bit just about the purpose of SpaceX,” Musk said. “It’s like, we want to make Star Trek real, OK?” No one on Earth can out-innovate an American entrepreneur once freed from the dead weight of a stifling bureaucracy.We will forge a new Arsenal of Freedom. Thank you @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/nHvgXoof2O— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) January 13, 2026 Acknowledging that SpaceX moves at a speed far faster than the Pentagon, Hegseth vowed to cut through red tape and make changes to reshape acquisition, embrace technology, and revolutionize how business is done at the War Department. “Here you iterate in terms of hours and days, maybe weeks,” Hegseth quipped. “In Washington, we talk in terms of months, years, and oftentimes multi-years. It’s too slow.” Hegseth’s speech was heavy on AI’s potential, and he announced that Musk’s Grok would follow Google’s Gemini as the next frontier AI model company to join GenAI.mil. He then proceeded to declare war on the Pentagon bureaucracy, abolishing the Defense Innovation Steering Group, the Defense Innovation Working Group, and the CTO Council. War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Elon Musk at SpaceX. (Department of War) “In modern warfare, the fastest innovator and iterator will be the winner, and no one can out-innovate an American entrepreneur who has been liberated from the constraints of cycling bureaucracy. That old era ends today,” Hegseth said. “We are done running a peacetime science fair, while our potential adversaries are running a wartime arms race.” Mission Alignment The adage “personnel is policy” clearly resonates with Hegseth, who inherited a Pentagon that was unfocused, misaligned, and not clear in its mission. By putting an emphasis on the “warrior ethos” and viewing everything from the perspective of the warfighter, Hegseth has already made remarkable changes to a department that inherently resists them. “Winning requires a new playbook,” he said, crediting Musk’s algorithm to “question every requirement, delete the dumb ones, and accelerate like hell.” .@SECWAR "In modern warfare, the fastest innovator will be the winner – and no one can out-innovate an American entrepreneur who has been liberated from the constraints of a stifling bureaucracy.The old era ends today: We’re done running a peacetime science fair while our… pic.twitter.com/Vx2I6MVhNw— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) January 13, 2026 Hegseth namechecked his key lieutenants who are making those changes happen: Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, and Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Mike Duffy. He also announced that Cameron Stanley was appointed chief digital and AI officer and Owen West would run the Defense Innovation Unit. Hegseth’s stops in Texas marked the latest leg of his Arsenal of Freedom tour. Previous stops included a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, and Rocket Lab in Los Angeles. Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Budget Proposal The tour coincided with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 7 executive order empowering Hegseth to identify defense contractors that underperform and fail to prioritize U.S. government contracts. Trump’s order also prohibits contractors from stock buybacks and corporate distributions if they’re not hitting the Pentagon’s targets. Trump followed that news by calling out a defense contractor by name. “Raytheon,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “has been the least responsive to the needs of the Department of War, the slowest in increasing their volume, and the most aggressive spending on their Shareholders rather than the needs and demands of the United States Military.” Later that same day, the president announced he would propose a $1.5 trillion budget for the War Department, the largest ever in U.S. history. Hegseth called it “a historic and generational investment in American security.” He added: “All of this will make our forces more agile, more lethal, and more ready to deter and, if necessary, win a future fight. This is what President Trump demands, and this is what we will deliver.” War Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the SpaceX factory in Texas. (Department of War) The War Department has not yet announced where Hegseth will visit next, but you can count on hearing the same notes he hit Monday and last week. He wants you to know the status quo is unacceptable, and he won’t tolerate excuses. “This is not reform for the sake of reform. It never has been. This is about whether our warriors fight with yesterday’s tools, or they fight overmatching our adversaries using tomorrow’s technologies,” Hegseth said at SpaceX. “We know the threat. We know the opportunity. We know what must be done. We share the urgency. Now we will do it, and we must do it at wartime speed.” The post On the Road With Pete Hegseth: War Secretary’s High-Stakes Plan to Reinvent the Pentagon appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As anti-regime protests in Iran continue for a third week, U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee predicts a “complete realignment of the Middle East.”   “The potential is here for something of Biblical proportion,” Huckabee told The Daily Signal, adding he has used the very same language when speaking with President Donald Trump.   If the Iranian people succeed in toppling the regime, “that changes everything across the globe,” Huckabee said, adding it will lead to “one of the most unusual times in human history, because there will be a realignment.”   Before the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Israel and Iran had a cooperative relationship as the two nations shared geological interests. That economic, military, and intelligence cooperation ended, however, when the Ayatollah came to power.   Israel’s relationship with Turkey has also deteriorated in recent years after the two nations shared a “close partnership,” Huckabee said.  “I think anything is possible,” Huckabee said regarding the prospect of alliances between Israel and nations such as Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon.   “It takes leadership, it takes resolve, and President Trump has exhibited something that I’ve never seen,” Huckabee said. “He has a resilience that is unshakable, and he’s got a resolve to do what he says. So, I say, pop the popcorn, get in a good chair, sit back and hang in for the ride.”  Iranians have been protesting the regime for more than two weeks, in response to a failing economy and rampant inflation. The U.S. Department of State advised Americans Tuesday to flee Iran as the situation there grows increasingly unstable.   “U.S. citizens should leave Iran now,” the U.S. Consular Affairs account posted on X Tuesday.   Despite a growing death toll, Iranians are continuing to take to the streets to demand change. Due to regime-imposed internet blackouts, monitors have been unable to determine an exact number of casualties, but some experts predict the totals are in the thousands.  The regime “underestimated the resolve of their people,” Huckabee said. “And it may be the end of this regime, and I think we can all hope that it will be.”  Trump has threated a U.S. response to the regime’s killing of protesters.  “The White House said today all options are on the table,” Huckabee said. “President Trump is really good about not revealing all the cards in his hand.”  Trump was slated to meet with his senior national security team on Tuesday to discuss a possible U.S. response to the regime’s deadly crackdown, after he issued a statement on Tuesday telling the Iranian protesters that “help is on its way.”   The fall of the regime would mean a “safer world,” according to the ambassador. “It’s going to be a world in which the powers that have been so destructive, from Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, will be, at least in the initial phases, neutered, because they’re not going to have that supply line of money and weaponry that has been their hallmark.”  Iran is documented to have provided financial backing for the terrorist group Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.   In Israel, Huckabee said Trump’s firm statement against the Iranian regime has been received well.  “I told the President not very long ago, was on the phone with him, and I said, ‘Mr. President, I don’t know if you realize this, but if you were on the ballot in Israel, you would get 95% of the vote, and the other 5% they’re all locked up in insane asylums.’ I said,   Trump has “done so many things that has shown a real understanding of the value of our partnership,” Huckabee said, referring to the U.S.-Israel alliance.   In June, the U.S. carried out strikes on Iran’s three key nuclear facilities, damaging the regime’s nuclear capabilities and significantly mitigating Iran’s threat to Israel and the world.   The U.S. also played a leading role in the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that was agreed to in October and based on Trump’s 20-point plan for peace. The first phase of the deal, which included the release of all hostages and a ceasefire, is well underway. The second phase is slated to include a formal end to the war that began following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.   Huckabee says he is confident the second phase of the peace deal between Israel and Hamas will be implemented in 2026 because “President Trump is leading it.”   A “technocratic government” will be established in Gaza, Huckabee said. “It’s going to be a slow process, because there is an immense level of work to do.”  It took Hamas 20 years to get it to the point where it is today, Huckabee said, “so, I don’t have any illusions that 20 days or even 20 months is going to restore it all, but it will happen.”   The post Ambassador Huckabee Predicts a ‘Complete Realignment of the Middle East’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President of The Daily Signal Rob Bluey called on Republicans in Congress to massively reduce the national deficit, telling host Steve Bannon during a Tuesday appearance on “War Room,” “Think about how much more progress we can make and the economic juice we can give this White House if we were able to also reduce government spending. “Just like you and I are expected to balance our budget on a monthly basis, we should expect the same of our congressional representatives,” Bluey stated.  “Republicans have for years, if not decades, promised that they were going to do this,” Bluey said of deep cuts to government spending. ROB BLUEY: Just as we are expected to balance our personal budgets, we should expect the same of our congressional representatives!The spending that we saw during the Biden administration directly contributed to the inflation crisis that the American people face.While… pic.twitter.com/e8Jvw78EeH— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) January 13, 2026 Bluey was on War Room to discuss an exclusive story published by The Daily Signal that suggested Republicans in Congress could be getting serious about bringing down government spending. Previously, The Daily Signal reported that the Republican Study Committee had come out with a comprehensive plan to balance the budget within the next 10 years. The 189 member committee’s report ran more than 100 pages, calling for ending wasteful spending and bringing costs down for the American family. “What the Republican Study Committee is attempting to do here is to go through department by department and eliminate what areas that they think are duplicative wasteful, try to find efficiencies throughout the government,” Bluey told Bannon. “The spending that we saw during the Biden years contributed to the inflation crisis that the American people faced,” Bluey later said. While the Trump administration has managed to bring Biden-era inflation down, Bannon later asserted that the inflationary pressures could reemerge thanks to reckless government spending during the Biden administration. BALANCING THE BUDGET IN 10 YEARS?@RobertBluey says the Republican Study Committee claims it can get to “no deficit” in a decade—by going “department by department” to cut “duplicative” and “wasteful” spending as debt sits at $38T.@bannons_warroom pic.twitter.com/2qKvvDIANP— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) January 13, 2026 “We have a big fight in front of us, Rob, but we’ll partner with you, because right now, the reason the legislators don’t take it seriously is that it’s still financeable,” Bannon said of the nation’s debts. “I think you look at the 10-year budget, it’s $2.5 trillion annually just for the interest payments—it’s over $2 trillion,” Bannon continued. “So when this hits, it’s going to hit like a punch from Sonny Liston right up in your face, and you’re not going to be able to recover from it,” Bannon added. “It is going to be a serious challenge that we will have to confront,” Bluey replied. “And who is it going to impact most? Probably those young people who are entering the workforce and are staring at years to try to pay down this huge debt.” The post Bluey and Bannon Say Conservatives Need to Pressure Congress Into Balancing the Budget appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump has rapidly presented new economic ideas in recent days, shaping congressional discussions while giving some Republican members pause. One of Trump’s proposals that turned the most heads was his urging credit card companies to cap interest rates. “We will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. AFFORDABILITY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday, calling for “a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%.” At a Tuesday press conference with fellow members of the House leadership team, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., appeared to caution reporters against alarm over Trump’s call. “The president is the ideas guy,” Johnson told reporters, adding that Trump is “doggedly determined” to be “reducing the cost of living, bringing down prices for the American people. And he’s looking at every idea under the sun to do that.” But Johnson also hesitated against forcing credit card companies to lower rates, a proposal he said “you would need legislation” to implement. He added that such a move would prod companies to “just stop lending money, and maybe they cap what people are able to borrow at a very low amount.” “I wouldn’t get too spun off about, you know, ideas that are out of the box, that are proposed or suggested. The thing about this president is he’s totally transparent, and he says often what he’s thinking out loud,” Johnson said.  Other Republicans expressed skepticism over the proposal. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters there might be “unintended consequences” for capping credit card rates. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Trump also endorsed a Senate bill requiring banks to offer more credit card options and create competition in the market. “Everyone should support great Republican Senator Roger Marshall’s Credit Card Competition Act, in order to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff. Roger is a FANTASTIC Senator!!!” Trump wrote. Later on Tuesday, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., reintroduced their legislation, citing the president’s approval. There may be signs the president is warming to the idea of working with Democrats on affordability, as well. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced Trump had called her shortly after she had delivered a speech criticizing his economic policies. “After my speech, the President called me,” Warren wrote. “I told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it.” The administration’s criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has also created some unease on the Hill. On Sunday, Powell announced the Justice Department had opened an investigation into him, alleging he lied during Senate testimony. President Donald Trump denied involvement in the probe to reporters.  Johnson, for his part, argues the investigation is not in his lane. “That is not a congressional investigation,” he told reporters. “That’s a [Department of Justice] investigation. We have to let that play out.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also reserved judgement for the case, but did express concern about the effects of the administration meddling with the Federal Reserve. “If the Justice Department is pursuing something, I hope they have a smoking gun or something, because I don’t think you trifle with the Federal Reserve,” Thune said. “It’s critical to the financial markets in this country. It’s critical to our economy.” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also warned against an escalation of a feud between the White House and the central bank, arguing it could lead to financial instability. “The quickest way to unsettle the bond market would be to have the Federal Reserve and the executive branch of government start suing the bejesus out of each other,” Kennedy told reporters Tuesday.  Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who decided in July not to seek reelection, has also publicly criticized the investigation. The post Trump’s ‘Affordability’ Ideas Drive Capitol Hill Talks appeared first on The Daily Signal.

On Jan. 23, hundreds of thousands of Americans will gather on the National Mall for the March for Life in Washington, D.C. This rally is for the awareness of the sanctity of all life but pays particular attention to honoring the beauty of unborn life and protecting the right to life for every American. I have been lucky enough to attend the March for Life on three occasions. Each visit left me inspired and more convinced of the need to ensure we protect unborn children. The last time I attended the march was in 2024. The slogan was, “With every woman, for every child.” A video played on repeat while thousands gathered to hear a variety of speeches. The video for this year’s rally spoke about how the death and darkness of abortion will only end with an approach of hope and love. Those gathered were invited to be the light in the darkness for those babies who have no voice. Speeches were given by Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-La.), two women who found a pregnancy center and chose life, as well as the head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines (now the LA Chargers), Jim Harbaugh. The most powerful words were delivered by one of the mothers who made the decision to keep her child after finding her way into a pregnancy center. She spoke about her fear of being alone and the weight of the decision she faced. Yet, her child is now her everything. In her witness, you could see the love of a mother who recognized that a decision for an abortion is the rejection and murder of a real person. If women feel supported in their crisis pregnancies, they will learn the value of their unborn child; therefore, they will be more likely to choose life for their unborn child. Following the presentation of speakers, the march begins.  It takes hours for the crowd to enter into the street and finish the walk around the Capitol. As a participant, all you can do is wait for your section to funnel into the street to march. In this waiting, in the bitter cold, I found myself thinking about mothers who were considering an abortion. I also was struck by the fact that every single person around me was given the gift of life because their parents chose to keep them. I doubt that was the mindset of the thousands present (and it often is not my mindset), but the joy of the crowd is what made me consider this fact. The people present were there to stand up for life and bring awareness to its dignity, but they did so joyfully because life is so precious. Learning about abortion as a procedure and the scientific evidence for life in the womb also further strengthened my desire to promote life. My journey to investigate these facts was sparked by my first visit to the March for Life, years ago. During that march, there was a section of people on the sidewalk with large jumbotron screens, showing pictures and videos of babies in the womb. You could hear them crying, see them moving, and make sense of their facial structure. There were so clearly human beings. In my research, I found that abortion is the ending of a human life. Science is clear and indisputable. The life killed is a unique set of DNA. The embryo, no matter the age, is a human baby. There are two types of abortions. Surgical abortion is the procedure which kills the child by inserting a needle into its brain. Then the child is ripped out of the mother and discarded, as if he or she were medical waste. The second and now easily attainable form of abortion (for the very early stages of pregnancy) is medical abortion. A mother takes two pills, mifepristone and misoprostol. These medicines cut off key nutrients to the child and force the uterus to contract, forcing the baby out of the woman’s body. In essence, this drug cocktail forces a miscarriage. As a father of three children, who also lost our fourth child (the twin of my 1-year-old daughter), the words describing an abortion are difficult to type out. I have seen my children on a sonogram. I have watched them grow as my wife’s stomach increased in size. I witnessed their births. Learning what abortion does convinced me more than ever before that it is a destructive action which cannot be chosen. Studies show that abortion has major negative impacts on mothers, including physical and emotional. Most importantly, however, abortion kills innocent life and makes the value of life dependent on those who can take it away, rather than intrinsically as a human being. The theme for the 2026 March for Life is, “Life is a Gift.” In this month, which is dedicated to the celebration of the sanctity of life, may we cherish our own lives and fight for the right of every person to live the most precious gift: their own life. The post The Month for Life appeared first on The Daily Signal.