Europe’s political elites say democracy is under threat. Their solution? Put Brussels in charge of policing political speech. The European Union’s proposed European Democracy Shield is marketed as a tool to defend elections and counter foreign disinformation. In reality, it risks becoming something very different: a powerful censorship regime that will almost certainly be captured by Europe’s left-wing parties and the taxpayer-funded nongovernmental organizations that support them. If implemented as planned, the Democracy Shield will not defend democracy. It will defend the political establishment from voters who challenge it. The initiative is the latest expansion of Europe’s rapidly growing speech-regulation apparatus. At its center is a proposed European Centre for Democratic Resilience that would coordinate governments, NGOs, and technology companies to monitor what Brussels calls “information manipulation.” In practice, that means monitoring and responding to political speech online. This new body would sit atop an already sweeping regulatory structure that includes the Digital Services Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and new rules governing political advertising. Taken together, these laws give EU regulators unprecedented leverage over what Europeans can say—and see—online. Under these rules, social media platforms face enormous fines if they fail to remove content regulators deem illegal or harmful. Governments and EU-funded organizations can flag posts for removal. “Trusted flaggers”—groups approved by regulators—can fast-track censorship demands that force platforms to act quickly. The incentive structure is obvious: When leaving controversial content online risks massive penalties, companies will err on the side of censorship. But the biggest winners from this system will not be ordinary citizens. They will be the sprawling network of activist NGOs that already receive generous EU funding. Many of these groups openly promote progressive political causes—from climate activism to expansive migration policies to deeper European integration. Yet under EU rules they could be granted privileged status as “trusted flaggers,” giving them special authority to report and suppress speech online. This is not a neutral enforcement mechanism. It is a political ecosystem. Left-leaning governments, sympathetic regulators, and taxpayer-funded NGOs will be empowered to decide which ideas qualify as “disinformation” and which remain acceptable. Anyone who doubts how this will play out should look at recent political debates across Europe. Opposition to mass migration, criticism of EU institutions, or skepticism about climate policy are increasingly dismissed as “extremism” or “disinformation.” Under the Democracy Shield, those labels could carry real regulatory consequences. What Brussels calls fighting disinformation increasingly looks like policing dissent. Americans should not assume this is simply Europe’s problem. Because the EU regulates global technology companies, its policies frequently shape how those platforms operate worldwide. When Brussels pressures companies to remove certain types of speech in Europe, the effects rarely remain confined to Europe. In practice, European regulators could end up influencing what Americans see—or don’t see—online. That should concern anyone who values the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Democracy Shield could also create tensions in the transatlantic relationship. The United States has long treated political speech—even controversial speech—as a core democratic right. Europe is increasingly moving in the opposite direction toward government-managed “information spaces” where bureaucrats and activist groups decide what constitutes acceptable debate. If Brussels begins exporting those standards through regulation of global platforms, the result will be an inevitable clash with American constitutional principles. That is not the basis for a healthy transatlantic alliance. Democracy does not need a speech police. It needs open debate, political competition, and the freedom of citizens to challenge those in power. Europe’s leaders say the Democracy Shield will protect democratic institutions. But the greatest threat to democracy has never been too much speech. It has always been elites who believe they should control it. The post Europe’s ‘Democracy Shield’ Is a Threat to Transatlantic Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As Operation Epic Fury continues against Iran, elected officials and national security experts gathered at The Heritage Foundation to discuss what needs to be done to ensure the American military is capable of defending the homeland. The Heritage Foundation event followed the release of the 2026 Index of U.S. Military Strength, an index that annually assessed the threat environment and the U.S. military’s ability to respond to it. “Our armed forces and the supporting institutions have been neglected for far too long and we in fact were dangerously incapable of meeting the range of threats which were growing,” Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, said at the Wednesday event. While the U.S. engages in a military operation against Iran, the long-term concern for Heritage scholars and lawmakers on Capitol Hill remains China. “We are currently set to run out of critical munitions in just a matter of weeks,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., the event’s keynote speaker, said in regard to a potential conflict with China. Banks also drew attention to military recruitment problems that plagued former President Joe Biden’s tenure. “Between 2021 and 2025, the [U.S] Army shrank by over 40,000 soldiers due to lack of new recruits,” Banks said.  Greenway also hosted a discussion with Reps. August Pfluger, R-Texas; Pat Harrigan, R-N.C.; and Matt Van Epps, R-Tenn., about what policymakers need to do to ensure the military remains strong.  Pfluger is also aware of the recruitment problems and the need to revitalize the importance of the military’s mission. “Every service academy in this country needs to be taught why our form of governance is the best in the world,” stated Pfluger. “[They] need to be taught why they love this flag, why we love the Constitution, why we stand up to protect and defend it,” he concluded. As for military readiness, Pfluger said, “we are on the mend and this president is putting the right effort into our military,” in the wake of the Biden administration. “[The president is] making sure that we can cut that bureaucratic red tape and provide for the necessary resources.”  Harrigan, a former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, said Republicans’ efforts can save money and save lives. “We’ve become really, really good at producing the high-cost problems to our enemies’ low-cost solutions,” Harrigan said. He claimed this is a systemic issue that Congress is looking eagerly to fix. Van Epps praised the work Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, is doing as chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Babin, Van Epps said, is making a large push for improving the military’s technological capabilities. “Chairman Babin’s doing amazing work, there’s this connection here about accelerating the next generation of warfare in technology so that our research moves at the speed of the threat.”  The post Lawmakers Look to Ensure Military Is Prepared for Long-Term Threats appeared first on The Daily Signal.

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order prioritizing production of the pesticide glyphosate, conservative influencer Alex Clark received hundreds of messages from Make America Healthy Again advocates saying they would no longer vote Republican.  “I have received hundreds of DMs saying I’m either not voting in the midterms or I’m considering not voting because this was such a massive issue,” Clark told The Daily Signal.  Removing pesticides and chemicals from the food supply is a top issue for MAHA voters, and many became disillusioned after Trump’s executive order said that glyphosate producers should have “immunity” under the Defense Production Act. “Half of them are thinking they’re not even voting at all because they’re very unhappy about the pesticide issue,” Clark said. “Half are probably still willing to vote red.” “But as far as 2028 goes, that’s not in the bag at all,” Clark said. “And if anybody on the right is thinking that we have MAHA voters in the bag for 2028, they are sorely mistaken, and they are in for a rude awakening.”  According to Clark, the GOP is in a “situationship” with MAHA voters, and if the GOP doesn’t keep its promises to them, they will flock to Democrats who make MAHA promises.  Calley Means, a top advisor to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told The Daily Signal the Trump administration is already doing what it must to win over MAHA voters. “The concern about children’s health from voters is loudly heard in the Trump administration,” Means said in an interview, “and Secretary Kennedy is working throughout the government to drive solutions.” The Trump administration is working to ensure farmers can thrive while also working to reduce contaminants in food, according to Means. “The government has just committed over a billion dollars to driving innovation and research towards an agriculture system we all want, which is an agriculture system that continues innovating and reduces dependence on chemicals that produce negative health outputs,” Means said. “That’s what everybody wants, and the Trump administration is ensuring farmers have the tools they need right now, while putting innovation initiatives into overdrive to build a better future.” “It is a fact that 99% of corn is sprayed with glyphosate right now in the United States, and that chemical is needed for farmers right now, and it is also true that we were working and should innovate towards a better future, which Bobby Kennedy is doing,” Means continued. There have been historic successes in the first year, and much remains to be done, Means said. So far, the Trump administration has changed the childhood vaccine schedule, updated the food pyramid, worked to phase out petroleum dyes from food, and launched Operation Stork Speed to improve the quality of infant formula. But MAHA activists want more, and getting pesticides out of food is at the top of their priority list.  “We will be pushing every single day to deliver tangible benefits, to improve our food system, to make health care more affordable, to empower patients, to reduce overmedicalization, to improve mental health,” he said, “to accomplish the core agenda items that the MAHA voters have made clear are important.” Democrats, on the other hand, are offering MAHA voters nothing, according to Means. “There’s nothing happening from the Democrats,” he said. “The Democrats have not lifted one finger to reverse childhood chronic disease and all of the energy is on the Republican side, and this is worth continuing.” The Republican party can’t afford to lose MAHA voters, according to Jay Richards, MAHA advocate and vice president of social and domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation.  “It would be a disaster for Republicans if the MAHA vote was either lost or suppressed in the midterm elections, because the numbers are almost certainly sufficient to win or lose on the margins of almost any local or national election,” Richards told The Daily Signal. “I think that it’s one of the most energetic parts of the current Republican base, and it would be a self-inflicted wound if Republicans didn’t understand how important that is.”  A new poll, conducted by the Brownstone Institute and Health Freedom Defense Fund, showed that a supermajority of Americans support freedom for individuals to make their own medical decisions. At least 80% of those surveyed expressed support for the rights to refuse medical treatments and make personal health choices, and to protect doctors from censorship.  Richards said the addition of MAHA voters to the MAGA coalition is “one of the most important political realignments” of the last generation. “If the White House and Republicans are able to meet those and respect them, I think that contingent of voters will continue to support Republicans,” Richards said, “but I don’t think the Republican Party should treat them as a base that’s going to stick with them, no matter what.”  Most MAHA voters understand that an outright ban on glyphosate is not realistic and would harm farmers, but Richards said the Trump administration needs “a well thought out plan to make it easier for farmers and consumers to get affordable food without a large amount of glyphosate contaminant on it.” “If the White House and Republicans can thread that needle, I think even the frustration over the executive order could dissipate between now and the election,” Richards said.  MAHA Institute co-president Mark Gorton said voters who look at the whole of what Kennedy is doing are not going to drop their support of him because of the glyphosate order. “If you just look overall at the work that Secretary Kennedy and his team are doing, if people are paying attention,” Gorton told The Daily Signal, “they’re really working to profoundly change our health system and remove the corporate capture in a way we have not seen in generations or American history.”  Gorton, a registered Democrat who supports the president due to this MAHA policy, said Democrats oppose the MAHA agenda, even on common sense issues. “Democrats only seem to be leaning into the corporate capture by Big Pharma, spouting Big Pharma talking points on vaccines, and everything else,” he said. “Whatever President Trump And Secretary Kennedy do, the Democrats support the opposite, even on issues that where that’s idiotic, and so as much as the Republican party may not be delivering 100% for MAHA, I mean, the Democrats are determined to do worse.” To keep MAHA voters, the Republican Party needs to deliver on policy issues, said Gorton, a registered Democrat who lives in New York. Gorton has seen a lot of action on the executive level, but said Republicans in Congress need to step up their game.  “Congress is, to a reasonable extent, still bought by corporate interests, and you see that there are pushbacks on a lot of MAHA issues, and so it would be nice to see Congress really delivering and passing meaningful legislation on some of these fronts,” Gorton said.  MAHA voters have had a “prominent seat at the table during the Trump administration,” Means said. “The Trump administration has driven historic victories for those voters,” he said. The post The MAHA Vote Could Decide the Midterms. What Can Trump Do to Secure It? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

America doesn’t have a crime problem; it has a repeat offender problem. High crime in this country has mostly been a matter of choice by reckless politicians beholden to prison “reform” ideologues. A recent story highlights that reality. On Tuesday, NYPD arrested 47-year-old Damon Johnson, a resident of Brooklyn, and charged him with murder, assault, and reckless endangerment. Johnson was charged in connection to the lighting of a homeless man on fire in Penn Station, one of the busiest train and subway stations in the country. This wasn’t the defendant’s first rodeo with violence. “Johnson has about 131 prior arrests dating back to 1995 in the Bronx,” ABC News 7 reported. “He is on parole for a 2018 robbery, when he slashed a student’s face and took cash from his pockets. That victim required more than 100 stitches.” Other outlets, like the New York Post, reported that Johnson had only been arrested a mere 88 times. The Post noted that Johnson had been previously arrested for assault, “petit larceny, drug use, theft of service, and forcible touching.” He’s had, according to the district attorney, “a pair of violent felony convictions and 39 disciplinary convictions.” Honestly, it doesn’t matter if Johnson had been arrested 88 times or 131. It’s beyond absurd that a man with such a lengthy record of villainy was free to roam the streets. “There is a systemic effort by the Left to keep savages on the streets,” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts wrote of Johnson’s alleged misdeeds on X. “To them, violent criminals are the real victims: victims of some social injustice that entitles them to endless chances for ‘reform,’ regardless of how many innocents they maim or kill along the way. It is a worldview of the purest evil.” Damon Johnson in NYC, Abdul Jalloh in Fairfax County, or DeCarlos Brown Jr. in Charlotte—there is a systemic effort by the Left to keep savages on the streets. To them, violent criminals are the real victims: victims of some social injustice that entitles them to endless chances… https://t.co/mIrVqTHVLL— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) March 5, 2026 I agree. The Left routinely portrays such folks as the “true” victims of crime in America. If only we were more committed to anti-racism and their endless social programs that shovel equally endless amounts of money into failed projects that never fix the issue. The truth is, most Americans aren’t criminals. This country doesn’t have to be known for having dangerous cities. Our problems can be solved if we focus on stopping anti-social behaviors and putting larger penalties on repeat offenders. The issue isn’t the criminals, it’s the broken, perverted justice system that doesn’t properly punish them until they commit the most heinous crimes imaginable. The New York Post reported in September that “63 career criminals” had been arrested over 5,000 times in the subway system, “yet only five of them are currently behind bars.” Many of these folks go on to commit crimes elsewhere too, of course. According to data released in 2024 by NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper, 38 people who had been arrested for assault in the subway had been linked to an additional 1,126 crimes in the city. There are all kinds of stats like that in New York. The New York Times found that in 2022, nearly one-third of all shoplifting arrests “involved just 327 people,” who were collectively arrested over 6,000 times. It’s the same people, committing crime after crime after crime. Imagine for a moment if we actually kept these people behind bars. New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said it well on X. “We actually have an incredibly small criminal element in this city,” she wrote. “The problem is they’ve been allowed to do whatever they want with virtually no consequences for years now, so their impact on our quality of life is disproportionately huge.” This is a very simple fact that nobody seems to realize. Eric Adams talked about it often, and so have others, myself included.We actually have an incredibly small criminal element in this city.The problem is they’ve been allowed to do whatever they want with virtually no… https://t.co/2HuBpEeMSF— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) March 6, 2026 Paladino explained: “Catch and release, chronic downgrading of charges, decriminalization, bail reform, sanctuary policy—it all serves one purpose, to get recidivists back on the streets committing crimes.” Yep. And this isn’t just a New York City thing.  New York was significantly better following the “broken windows,” crime-fighting revolution under Mayor Rudy Guiliani. The city is merely backsliding into the attitudes that brought on the disastrous crime waves of the past. No, this issue crops up in one big, blue urban area after another. It’s built on the inversion of traditional justice, the insistence that career criminals be given three, five, 80, 100 chances to prove that they are “reformed” this time. Until that issue is resolved, crime in these areas will continue to be a problem regardless of national trends. The post Alleged Man-Burner With Over 100 Arrests Represents Repeat Crime Problem in America appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump’s military response to Iran’s decades-long war against the United States has already reaped massive dividends in its first week. On America’s 250th anniversary, Trump isn’t just reshaping the Middle East—he’s reshaping the global balance of power and strengthening the United States’ position. “Operation Epic Fury” has already yielded three massive victories in the first week. 1. Decapitating Iran Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. and Israeli military strikes had killed 49 leaders of Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The strikes killed other key leaders, such as Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Mohammed Pakpour, former National Defense Council head Ali Shamkani, and armed forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi. Israel’s Air Force also struck the building housing the Assembly of Experts in Qom—the group of 88 clerics responsible for electing the next supreme leader. Unfortunately, knocking out key regime leaders won’t necessarily doom the Islamic Republic. Just as Trump’s successful operation to extricate Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro did not result in immediate regime change, so the decapitation of Tehran doesn’t guarantee a new form of government. Iran is a much larger country than Venezuela, and its regime has a stronger foothold. Even so, the Islamic Republic appears to be flailing. Iran didn’t just send missiles to hit Israeli and American targets—it has also targeted Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Iranian drones have even attacked Iran’s northern neighbor Azerbaijan, though the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry denied carrying out the attack. Whether or not Operation Epic Fury topples the Iran regime, it will leave a weakened Iran and, likely, a safer Middle East once the conflict draws to a close. 2. Hezbollah Iran has long supported proxy forces in other countries, backing Shia militias in Iraq, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah, long considered Iraq’s most effective proxy force, acted as a likely deterrent to any Israeli attack on Iran. Israel has fought multiple wars with Hezbollah, often invading Lebanese territory to respond to the terrorist group’s attacks. Hezbollah maintained an army larger than that of Lebanon, and long operated as a state within a state—a de facto independent government that effectively held the Lebanese government hostage. After the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership by rigging their pagers to explode in September 2024. Hezbollah had reached a ceasefire agreement with Israel last year, but the terrorist group responded to Operation Epic Fury by launching rockets into northern Israel earlier this week. Then something truly remarkable happened: the Lebanese government turned on Hezbollah. It announced “the immediate ban of all Hezbollah security and military activities,” and demanded Hezbollah surrender its weapons. While some analysts faulted Lebanon’s measures as “half-hearted,” they still represent a remarkable sea change. Lebanon had often opposed Israel, seeing Israel as the invading aggressor and Hezbollah as a military force protecting Lebanon. Now, Lebanon is turning on Hezbollah and asserting itself against this Iranian proxy that seems determined to bring Lebanon into a wider war. If Lebanon can disarm Hezbollah, that will go a long way toward restoring its integrity as an independent country—and protect Israel from one of its nastiest rivals. 3. Russia and China While Russia and China, America’s two largest rivals on the global stage, have signaled support for Iran, they have remained largely disengaged from the conflict. Meanwhile, Trump’s moves in both Venezuela and Iran have separated Russia and China from major oil producers. Russia and Iran signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in January 2025, and the countries carried out joint military drills in the Indian Ocean as late as February. Yet the treaty does not include a mutual defense clause, so Moscow had no obligation to engage militarily when Tehran faced U.S. and Israeli strikes. Andrey Kortunov, former director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, told Al Jazeera that the risks of joining the war on Iran’s side would be too high. While Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target the U.S. in the region, it seems unlikely to get engaged beyond that. China signed a 25-year cooperation agreement with Iran in 2021, drawing Tehran into China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Yet China has also developed ties with the Persian Gulf states. In 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping brokered normalization between Saudi Arabia and Iran, aiming to stabilize the Persian Gulf, from which most of China’s oil comes. Around 50% of China’s oil comes from Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, while only roughly 17% comes from the Islamic Republic that just attacked Saudi Arabia. Both Russian and Chinese leaders have condemned the strikes and called for a ceasefire, but escalation seems largely limited to the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel took a bold gamble in Iran this week, and so far the results have been remarkably positive. The strikes have decapitated Iran’s leadership, led Lebanon to oppose Hezbollah, and put China between a rock and a hard place when it comes to oil diplomacy. The war is just beginning, but America and Israel have achieved truly historic successes. Let’s pray these are early signs of more victories to come—and ultimately harbingers of a lasting peace. The post NOT TIRED OF WINNING: 3 Historic Geopolitical Victories in Operation Epic Fury appeared first on The Daily Signal.