Townhall Review | Conservative Commentary On Today's News

Donald Trump finally got his response from Iran. Will he act on it?

Last week, Trump had sent a 14-point framework to mediators in Islamabad for reaching a peace accord with Iran. Trump insisted that the IRGC surrender its highly enriched uranium, agree to verifiably end its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and stop attacking international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran demanded that the US recognize the strait as Iranian sovereign territory and pay war reparations.

Trump responded by calling the IRGC’s terms as “stupid” and “totally unacceptable.” Yet Trump also insisted that a deal could be reached with the regime.

That is an unfortunate illusion—something Trump maintains despite all evidence to the contrary. Iran violated its terms almost immediately in the Strait and Iran continues to threaten the strait. 

The ceasefire is dead.

Trump has to either follow through on consequences or cut bait and walk away with Iran’s regime nearly as dangerous as ever. The decision point has arrived.

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The Trump administration has launched an investigation into Smith College—one of the seven historical all-women colleges in the American Northeast.

Why the investigation?

Well, Smith College is and has been since 2015—admitting biological males.

The “seven sisters” have been granted an exemption, going all the way back to the 1970’s to Title IX legislation. They were allowed to be restrictive as women’s colleges.

The Trump administration’s basically saying you can’t have it both ways—that is: claim this historic exemption or you can admit biological males.

President Trump made the point very clear point in his second inaugural address:

He said: “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”

I will argue that was one of the most important and courageous statements a President of the United States has made in recent years. To his credit, he’s been pushing this through.

It’s a necessary step towards the restoration of cultural sanity and for that clarity.

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Since the battle with Iran began on February 28, there’ve been so many reports of “deals” with the rump regime atop the ruins of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it seems almost silly to respond to another one.

But I trust Israeli journalist Amit Segal. On Wednesday, Segal summed up the supposed framework. The most salient part is said to include—and I quote:

“Negotiations are still underway on the duration of the uranium enrichment freeze. Three sources said the freeze would last at least 12 years, and one source estimated the final outcome would be 15 years.”

That—in and of itself— makes this a terrible proposed “deal,” one that would draw fierce criticism from the GOP’s Iran hawks who want President Trump to “finish the job”, no enrichment of uranium period and finish the job in dramatic fashion.

President Trump doesn’t surrender leverage. He’s got it. We have to hope he uses every ounce of it.

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Talking politics with your average young male these days, chances are you will hear all kinds of odd theories coming from the Pied Pipers of Podcastistan. You will hear them mentioning “experts” nobody heard of until about 10 minutes ago or until they were discovered by these podcasters because of their contrary, and often, conspiratorial thinking.

Young men, especially, are attracted to this novel “wisdom,” and they are so prone because, as they will tell you, mainstream institutions have been untruthful over the years. But because some institutions that we used to rely on and respect have been taken over by partisanship and been wrong doesn’t mean that all normative thinking and scholarship is a lie or cannot be trusted, or that people nobody have ever heard of are the replacements of true wisdom.

We dismiss and ignore this fallacious thinking at our collective peril.

The task of the serious is to be able to discern truth from fiction and greatness from mediocrity. In these critical times, that task has never been more important than now.

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Today’s Democrats seem to be trying a new take on the “Extreme Makeover” reality show.

Their offshoot: I’d call it “Extremist Makeover.”

And we see it in their likely candidate for Senate in Maine.

It looks pretty close to certain Democrats be nominating oysterman Graham Platner in the Pinetree state.

He is not a "liberal." Platner is not even a "leftist." He’s an extremist. For years, he had a tattoo of a death head worn proudly by the Nazi era SS, Hitler’s worst of the worst.

It was—and remains—a vile symbol worn by guards at the concentration-extermination camps.

Maine’s current and—I trust—future Senator is Susan Collins.

Collins and Platner could not be more different.

It’s rare to have a Susan Collins represent your state from a position of power and influence do so with class and humility. To trade that in for a death’s skull and online bigotry It doesn’t seem like a bet Mainers are going to make.

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