We here at The American Spectator have justly lampooned the No Kings crowd. They’re easy to poke fun at, given that their very name and message is, well, obviously incorrect. Donald Trump has been called numerous things by the Left, most of which are at least subjective and debatable. For instance, one could argue in circles about how to best define the “democracy” that Trump is somehow unilaterally destroying. But a king? That’s pure nonsense from the get-go. (RELATED: The Ridiculous No Kings Protest) Donald Trump is, of course, not a monarch. Even if Donald Trump wanted to be king, he couldn’t. Gosh, Trump can’t even abolish the loathsome Department of Education. That’s because in our constitutional system of separation of powers and checks and balances, the legislative branch stops him. (RELATED: Linda McMahon Body-Slams Woke Classrooms) And yet, speaking of education, that hasn’t stopped the dimwits at the American Federation of Teachers from pushing the No Kings movement. The AFT’s website, the morning of the recent nationwide No Kings rallies, was filled with silly, incendiary language on “Why fascists fear teachers” and “No crowns, no thrones, no kings.” Gadzooks, you would think that teachers would know that Trump not only isn’t a king but has neither a crown nor throne! The AFT ought to be educating kids in a proper understanding of what words like “monarch” and “fascist” actually mean. (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 289: No Kings, Just Clowns: The Boomer Rebellion Against Reality) Apparently, the ignorance that pervades American public education starts at the top. To his immense credit, Donald Trump has seized upon the spectacle to have a little fun. He has trolled the No Kings crowd, posting manipulated photos of himself wearing a crown, which no doubt had them howling even louder: “See! See! We said he wants to be king! There you go!” (RELATED: The ‘No Kings’ Phonies) But alas, amid our lampooning of the No Kings howlers, it looks like they’re having the last laugh. But alas, amid our lampooning of the No Kings howlers, it looks like they’re having the last laugh. Well, not the last laugh, because they don’t laugh — they’re too angry. I should say, the No Kings howlers are having the last word. They’ve been suddenly vindicated. That is because Donald Trump, ladies and gentlemen, has in fact received a crown. Yes, it is true. If you didn’t catch the news, Donald J. Trump received a crown during his current swing through Asia. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday made Trump the first American president to receive South Korea’s highest honor, the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, replete with a replica of the golden Cheonmachong crown. President Donald Trump was awarded the Grand Order of Mugunghwa by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during a ceremony at the Gyeongju National Museum, South Korea, on Oct. 29, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok/Flickr) No doubt, Trump can’t spell, let alone pronounce, “Mugunghwa” or “Cheonmachong.” But what does that matter? Mugunghwa or cowabunga, Trump at long last got his crown! Before I extend my congratulations to His Highness, let me add a few words of explication about South Korea, a country that I’ve lectured on for decades and alternately admire and find a little crazy. Not to rain on King Trump’s special parade. South Korea is quite the political soap opera. The country’s leadership has been mired in scandal for decades, and especially throughout the last year. The current leader who crowned Trump, Lee Jae Myung, who is a member of the Democratic Party of Korea — yes, a Democrat — took power last June after the impeachment, expulsion, and arrest of the previous leader, Yoon Suk Yeol, a right-leaning populist and nationalist who was being dubbed the “South Korean Donald Trump.” (RELATED: KPop Demon Hunters and South Korea’s Out of Control Lawfare) The American Left characterizes Jan. 6, 2021, as an attempted coup by Donald Trump, an insurrection that had teetered the nation’s capital in a state of near-martial law. But in fact, South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol was the real McCoy. Last January (as noted ironically in a January 6 piece for The American Spectator by Doug Bandow), Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops to the legislature, the National Assembly. These were real troops, not a bunch of yahoos banging on the side of a building with sticks. This very unpopular action by Yoon triggered his impeachment and indictment. (RELATED: South Korea’s President Commits Self-Immolation) Yoon’s authoritarian tactics harkened back to South Korea’s days under military rule, with leaders like Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country from 1961 to 1979 before being assassinated. There had been several assassination attempts against Park. His wife was killed in one of them. Their daughter was elected president decades later, but alas, she — Park Geun-hye — was driven out of office in 2017 and likewise put under arrest, given a 24-year prison sentence. Even South Korea’s new president has faced drama and serious danger. An assassination attempt was made against him as well (in January 2024). And I assure you, this is a mere short list of South Korean high-ranking officials targeted over the past 50-plus years (including Nobel Peace Prize winner and heroic dissident Kim Dae-Jung). South Korea is a wild place. No, it isn’t as crazy as the lunatic asylum run by the House of Kim up north — a communist-totalitarian monarchy — but at times it seems like an Asian Wild West. So, South Korea knows an authoritarian when it sees one! This will make sense to the No Kings folks. They will tell you — actually, they will scream from the streets — that Donald Trump is an authoritarian. South Korea’s leaders apparently know a king when they see one. Thus, they took the step of awarding Trump the crown that our homegrown No Kings movement had seen coming along. The irony was not lost on the political scientists at the New York Times. America’s newspaper of record confirmed in a headline, “Trump Has Likened Himself to a King. South Korea gave Him a Crown.” Indeed, New York Times. Spot on. Brilliant analysis. And so, there you go! The likes of the American Federation of Teachers have shown themselves not to be the dunces we thought they were, but rather astute political prognosticators. I guess they, too, know a monarch when they see one. Impressive, AFT. Who would’ve thunk it? The No Kings movement has proved astutely prophetic. Here’s hoping that Trump will start wearing his crown soon. I suggest The Donald don the crown for his next State of the Union address. I think the liberals would love that. READ MORE from Paul Kengor: Pop Music Isn’t as Popular Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Blessed Is the Peacemaker

When Bill Gates announced his “pivot” from climate catastrophe to humanitarian hope, the press dutifully nodded along. A messiah-complex monopolist shedding his alarmist mantle for a brighter, kinder cause. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll see the same stage, the same spotlight, the same script — just new marketing. For decades, Gates has backed policies that punished farmers, penalized energy independence, and empowered unelected technocrats who operate far beyond democratic reach. For decades, Gates has backed policies that punished farmers, penalized energy independence, and empowered unelected technocrats who operate far beyond democratic reach. He invested in synthetic meat and lab-grown crops while millions of real farmers faced ruin under the weight of green regulation. He funded climate models that forecasted apocalypse, and initiatives that made energy scarce and food expensive — all under the banner of “saving the planet.” (RELATED: Saving the Planet by Eating Fruit and Whole Grains Is Possible — If You’re Dumb Enough) Now that public trust in climate crusades is crumbling, he’s rewriting his role. The new storyline: humanity first. Less “save the Earth,” more “save the poor.” It’s a clever shift — not a retreat, but a rebrand. By recasting the mission as “human development,” Gates retains the same hierarchy: billionaires setting the agenda, governments executing it, and citizens left to applaud or adapt. The faces change, the structure doesn’t. (RELATED: A Better Alternative To the Davos Elites) What looks like repentance is really repositioning. The sermon has simply moved from melting ice caps to malnourished children. The congregation, weary of doom, is offered a gentler gospel. One where Gates emerges as a benevolent pragmatist rather than a panicked prophet. Yet beneath the new tone lies the same theology: that salvation flows downward, from the billionaire to the billions. His new rhetoric sounds refreshingly modest. Let’s stop catastrophizing, let’s focus on real improvements in living standards. Again, though, look closer and you’ll see that the modesty is strategic. He isn’t ceding power; he’s consolidating it. For years, his foundation’s model has relied on bypassing local governments and funneling vast sums through “partnerships” with international NGOs. The pivot doesn’t end that pattern. If anything, it perfects it. The climate panic made him influential. The humanitarian pivot will make him indispensable. And there’s something almost comic in the presentation. The man who told the world to eat less beef and burn less fuel now frames himself as a champion of practical prosperity. The same policies that strangled small farms and inflated food prices are now being recast as learning curves — as if the damage were a necessary prelude to wisdom. The irony is thick enough to spread on toast. (RELATED: The Great Salad Scam) To his credit, Gates is not wrong that poverty and disease kill far more people than carbon. But when he says so, he speaks as though the crises were separate, when in truth, one fed the other. Climate orthodoxy — the kind he financed — throttled developing nations’ access to affordable energy. It kept the poorest poor. Now, in an act of almost biblical self-forgiveness, he presents himself as the one to lift them up again. (RELATED: Europe’s Energy Suicide: Brussels Trades Industry for Ideology) It’s the same savior complex with a new script. The same conviction that global order can be engineered from a Seattle office park. The same faith that the planet’s problems can be solved if only the rest of us would get out of the way. That’s the real meaning behind the pivot. There’s a darker side, too. When philanthropy becomes policymaking, democracy shrinks. Decisions about vaccines, food systems, and climate strategies migrate from parliaments to private foundations. No one voted for this, yet it happens anyway. Gates’ fortune makes him unaccountable, and his causes, however noble in appearance, come with no oversight. He may preach transparency, but he governs through opacity — a king whose crown is the presumption of good intent. The joke, if there is one, is cosmic. The man who spent years warning us that we were running out of time now assures us that everything will be fine — provided we follow his next plan. The stage lights dim. The actor changes costume. And the audience, desperate for reassurance, claps on cue. Meanwhile, governments that once marched to the tune of climate panic now quietly rebrand their failures as “development strategies.” Corporations that cashed in on green hysteria are pivoting, too, marketing the same control with friendlier campaigns. The transition from fear to hope may feel fresh, but it’s still theater. The same hands still pull the strings. So what do we do when the man with more money than many small nations becomes the moral compass of modern policy? The answer begins with skepticism. It’s not enough to ask what he funds — we must ask what he gains. Every pivot preserves his power. Every cause, however well-presented, extends his reach. This is the paradox of Gates. His vision always sounds virtuous, but it always ends with him in charge. Climate, health, education — the topics shift, the hierarchy stays. And now, with his latest transformation from technocrat to “humanitarian,” he is no longer selling fear but faith — in himself. READ MORE from John Mac Ghlionn: The Catholic Roots of America’s Horror Craze The Harvard Index of Holiness How the Irish Became America’s Favorite Fantasy

Nick Fuentes is more than a provocateur; he is a symptom of a digital right that has traded principle for clicks. In livestreams and social media posts, he packages resentment, anger, and conspiracy into a profitable brand, preying on young men who feel alienated by a rapidly changing world. His collaboration with Tucker Carlson signals a deeper moral crisis: when extremism becomes mainstream, the movement itself is at risk. The Fuentes-Carlson alliance is not merely a matter of personalities. It exemplifies a structural problem within modern conservatism: the exploitation of disillusioned youth. Many young men, untethered in a society transformed by technology, shifting gender norms, and collapsing traditional structures, are drawn to the false promise of belonging and purpose. Into that vacuum step digital demagogues who offer identity and influence — but only in exchange for anger, conspiracy, and moral compromise. (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 260: Conspiracy Watch: Is Nick Fuentes a Fed? Is Bill Gates’s Butter Real? And Is Clinton a Gangster?) They convert rage into a commodity, eroding the very foundations of the society they claim to defend. Conservative philosophy at its core is about discipline, responsibility, and the cultivation of character. It is about building institutions, families, and communities that endure. What Fuentes and his imitators sell is the opposite: chaos masquerading as rebellion, moral abdication presented as insight. They convert rage into a commodity, eroding the very foundations of the society they claim to defend. (RELATED: The Myth of the Radical Young Right) Social media amplifies the danger. Algorithms reward provocation, and every extreme comment or conspiracy theory spreads faster than reasoned debate. Carlson’s platform, with its massive reach, magnifies these messages further, giving young men the sense that anger and disillusionment are not only acceptable — they are rewarded. Mentorship, guidance, and civic responsibility are replaced by manipulation, turning disaffection into a political weapon. (RELATED: A Message to Young Conservatives: Get Involved) This is the Republican Party’s problem to solve. Extremism of this kind cannot be shrugged off as harmless or merely “edgy.” Fuentes represents the worst of the digital right: monetized hate, glorified grievance, and moral corruption of a generation. Tolerating this behavior risks far more than election losses; it risks the movement’s ethical and cultural legitimacy. The GOP must draw a clear line between legitimate policy debate and identity-based extremism. Condemnation is necessary, but so is proactive mentorship: young men need guidance, purpose, and community — not digital cults of rage. (RELATED: Is the Right Pining for Racial Purity?) There is also a broader lesson for conservatives. The culture wars, media narratives, and outrage cycles matter, but the more pressing battle is internal: the fight over the moral character of the movement. How the right handles figures like Fuentes will define its credibility for decades. Anger and hate cannot dominate the discourse without corroding principle, substance, and moral authority. Traditional conservatives, in particular, recognize the stakes of mismanaged influence. We see the danger of ideologies that exploit anger, alienation, and resentment for power, while disregarding the communities affected. Discipline, responsibility, and legacy matter — not just for individuals, but for the health of an entire movement. Conservatism must nurture character, not chaos. Nick Fuentes is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is a moral and cultural environment where hate is marketable, conspiracy is currency, and young men are guided by rage rather than purpose. Platforms like Carlson’s, intentionally or not, enable the worst instincts in American conservatism, and the consequences extend far beyond any single broadcast or livestream. If the right hopes to reclaim its credibility, it must begin with moral authority. That means rejecting the monetization of hate, denouncing extremists who exploit disillusionment, and investing in the mentorship and formation of the next generation of conservative men. Without these measures, the movement will continue to trade substance for spectacle, and the digital right will continue to sell rage as gospel. Conservatism is about more than clicks. It is about clarity, courage, and character. The question is whether the movement has the moral courage to reclaim these values before the false prophets of the digital right make them irrelevant. READ MORE from David Sypher Jr.: The Group Chat Wasn’t an Anomaly — It Was a Mirror NC Gov. Josh Stein Chooses Softness Over Safety The Mississippi Miracle: What Real Respect for Black Students Looks Like

by Susan Duclos, All News Pipeline: An Ohio Dollar General, on advice from a security group, boarded up their windows and doors in preparation for possible looting when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits run out on November 1, 2025, due to the government shutdown after Democrats voted more than a dozen times to reject […]

from The National Pulse: WHAT HAPPENED: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel. ?WHO WAS INVOLVED: ICE officers and their families are the targets of these threats, as the agency enforces President Donald J. Trump’s mass deportations policy. ?WHEN & WHERE: The threats have been escalating recently, […]

Happy Halloween! ?

Senator Ron Johnson just said out loud what many have long suspected. Except he now has the receipts to prove it! Both the FBI and Dept. of Justice are still suffering from internal sabotage according to Sen. Johnson. And he says it’s happening even under the Executive Branch leadership of the Trump Administration — right under their noses, in fact. Sen. Johnson’s remarks come on the heels of an explosive finding that continues to pull the layers back on the illegal ‘Arctic Frost’ Operation. As well as what ultimately manifested into the weaponization of federal agencies — both law enforcement and intel agencies — against President Trump and Republican targets. Unfortunately, those ‘receipts’ didn’t come in the form of either the FBI or DOJ’s own internal purge of Biden-era corruption. It took whistleblowers to divulge those secrets — EVEN NOW. Which is why Sen. Johnson is blowing his OWN whistle on the sabotage STILL GOING ON inside Kash Patel’s FBI, and Pam Bondi’s DOJ. Here’s a clip of Sen. Johnson’s first take on that sabotage from a press conference following the newest ‘Artic Frost’ revelations: The targeting Sen. Johnson referenced had to do with NEWLY revealed specifics about the scope of the illegal ‘Artic Frost’ investigation. The newest numbers show that hundreds of subpoenas were used to target even more Republican groups and individuals than previously disclosed. All under the direction and CORRUPT AUTHORITY of AG Merrick Garland, FBI Dir. Wray, Jack Smith, and a name I’m sure you’re familiar with by now — Judge Boasberg — as reported by the National Review: Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) released the documents Thursday after the companies handed them over in response to his oversight request, issued as part of his investigation into the scope of the Biden-era “Arctic Frost” investigation. Earlier this week, Grassley released a large collection of records showing federal investigators sent almost 200 subpoenas targeting more than 400 Republican entities and individuals. Other records Grassley previously released showed the “Arctic Frost” investigation covered 92 Republican organizations and GOP-linked operatives. “In 2023 Verizon was ordered to turn over call records for certain members of Congress to the Department of Justice. The Special Counsel and DOJ at the time decided who to target. A court ordered Verizon not to tell anyone about that. We had no choice but to comply with the court order. So we did,” Verizon spokesman Rich Young said in a statement to NR. The “Arctic Frost” investigation began in 2022 with authorization from then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and then-FBI Director Christopher Wray. It eventually turned into Smith’s prosecution of Trump in Washington, D.C. related to January 6th. Smith subpoenaed Verizon and AT&T in May 2023, and secured non-disclosure orders from Judge Boasberg at the time of the subpoenas. FBI Director Kash Patel is working closely with Republican Senators and House lawmakers to divulge all of the relevant “Arctic Frost” documents. Patel has fired agents involved with the investigation and shuttered the unit tasked with carrying it out from the Washington, D.C. FBI field office. Trump routinely accused Smith of weaponizing the federal government against him on behalf of Biden. “These thugs should all be investigated and put in prison. A disgrace to humanity. Deranged Jack Smith is a criminal!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday. Again, I don’t want you to miss what Sen. Johnson is highlighting with his accusations. The problem isn’t that we’re finally finding out the specific actions of that conspiratorial group of Deep State criminals. The problem is HOW we’re finding out. Sen. Johnson shared a shortened version of his comments via X and highlighted what that means: The records that were made public yesterday were not obtained from an agency — they were obtained through a whistleblower. We need more whistleblowers who want to see the integrity and credibility of @TheJusticeDept and @FBI restored. I am concerned that the partisan actors… pic.twitter.com/iRq2i5xdQc — Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) October 30, 2025 Here’s the full text of his warning: The records that were made public yesterday were not obtained from an agency — they were obtained through a whistleblower. We need more whistleblowers who want to see the integrity and credibility of @TheJusticeDept and @FBI restored. I am concerned that the partisan actors burrowed into these agencies are sabotaging the efforts of the Trump Administration. To be clear, he isn’t implicating Kash Patel or Pam Bondi in his indictment of either the FBI or DOJ. But he is very much sounding the alarm on ‘PARTISON ACTORS’ (should read DEEP STATE ACTORS) working from within each of those federal agencies against the Trump Administration. Even now — 10 months into President Trump’s current term. So while the cancer is being sought out, and cut out — according to Sen. Johnson… it is still actively working from within to maintain its stranglehold on the facts. Feverishly working to cover up all the proof of all that transpired during the Biden years. Proven by the simple fact that the newest details weren’t rooted out by the agencies themselves, but still had to rely on secretive whistleblowers with enough backbone to thumb their nose at the corruption within. Sen. Johnson also went on Fox News a day earlier, emphasizing the ‘weaponization of the federal government’ against Americans that is STILL being covered up to a great degree: There’s no legitimacy to this “Arctic Frost” investigation — it’s completely political. Biden has weaponized federal agencies against ordinary Americans, including 38 Wisconsinites on his “enemies list.” These are God-fearing, law-abiding patriots who simply love their… pic.twitter.com/1EwVn52CAT — Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) October 30, 2025 The details of how that weaponization happened continues to astound me. To AT&T’s credit, they REFUSED to comply when confronted with the information subpoenas and gag orders from Jack Smith and Judge Boasberg. And in case you can’t quite place Boasberg… here’s a photo shared in context by Mike Lee asking whether the Judge should be removed for his part in politicizing the judicial bench and conspiring against President Trump. If you don’t recognize the name, I bet you recognize the face: Yes. https://t.co/WlzZ3aQORb — Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) October 30, 2025 I don’t always agree with Sen. Ron Johnson… But I certainly do on this point.  Get Boasberg off the bench! As I said, AT&T refused to be part of the illegal investigation. But Verizon was all in and gave up the private information when the Biden Administration pressured them, as reported Thursday by Fox News: Two major phone carriers took sharply different paths when former special counsel Jack Smith’s team subpoenaed phone records tied to Republican lawmakers in 2023, according to the redacted subpoenas and letters first shared with Fox News Digital. The documents, provided by the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveal Verizon’s compliance and AT&T’s resistance when faced with Smith’s requests, which were part of Arctic Frost, the FBI probe that led to Smith bringing election charges against President Donald Trump. The 12 phone numbers on the subpoena to Verizon are redacted and replaced by Grassley’s office with the names of the lawmakers associated with them. They include one House member and 10 senators, including Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fl., whose name was not previously reported. AT&T received a similar request, according to a second subpoena. The company told Grassley the subpoenaed phone records were associated with two lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, according to a source directly familiar with the matter. The source said AT&T declined to disclose the second person. Accompanying the two subpoenas were gag orders, signed by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of Washington, D.C., that directed the two phone companies not to disclose the subpoenas to the lawmakers for one year. Prosecutors can seek such gag orders to temporarily keep investigative matters confidential. The phone companies also wrote letters to Grassley, first shared with Fox News Digital, explaining how they handled the subpoenas they received, revealing two different approaches. Verizon justified complying with the subpoenas, saying they were “facially valid” and contained only phone numbers, not names. Verizon said that with the “benefit of hindsight” and recent discussions with the Senate Sergeant at Arms, which handles congressional phone services, it has modified its policies so that it puts up more of a challenge to law enforcement requests pertaining to Congress members. AT&T, meanwhile, did not comply with the subpoenas. “When AT&T raised questions with Special Counsel Smith’s office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced,” David Chorzempa, general counsel for AT&T, wrote. This story continues to get deeper and deeper. The puzzle pieces of those involved continues to crystalize in how they WORKED TOGETHER from the judiciary, federal law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and corrupt politicians… to target their political enemies — President Trump in particular. In a way, that isn’t all that surprising. We pretty much knew that was happening, long before we had the empirical proof. But the real story here — the more CURRENT story, I should say — is that which Sen. Ron Johnson logically reasoned out. Ten months into the Trump Administration… and we’re still having to rely on WHISTLEBLOWERS to root out the inner-agency corruption inside the FBI and the DOJ. That’s not good. We have seen some good headway at both agencies in that regard since President Trump took office. But apparently… not good enough.  Maybe it’s time to drop the hammer AGAIN? How about it — who’s down for ANOTHER round of Deep State firings?