An End to the Shutdown
What to know: The U.S. Senate has voted to end the nation’s longest-ever federal government shutdown.
The TPPF take: Senate Democrats’ shutdown surrender was a gift to the Republican Party.
“Progressives bet the farm on voter backlash, but while the shutdown likely boosted the vote in the odd-year election in Virginia and New Jersey, the real prize — the 2026 midterms — is a political eon away, with the Senate vote handing Trump a PR win while exposing Democrats’ fractures,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “Thus, the shutdown cave-in telegraphs Democratic weakness just as Republicans gear up for midterms that will determine whether Trump will truly get a full term at full effectiveness.”
For more on the shutdown, click here.
The Catastrophe is Canceled
What to know: Billionaire Bill Gates has softened his climate stance and now admits there’s no impending doomsday.
The TPPF take: Predictably, the climate establishment hasn’t taken Gates’ apostasy well. But he’s got things mostly right.
“The catastrophist narrative is losing its grip, and more people are recognizing, as Gates now does, what Life:Powered and our allies have been saying for many years,” says TPPF’s Cullen Neely. “Lifting people from poverty protects them from an always-changing climate better than any scheme to reduce carbon emissions.”
For more on climate catastrophism, click here.
Warrior Ethos
What to know: Writing in Real Clear Politics, U.S. Army veteran Doug Truax says that to honor our nation’s veterans, we should restore the military’s warrior ethos.
The TPPF take: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is doing just that.
“For too long, the service of our men and women in uniform has been distracted by initiatives that drew attention away from the battlefield tradecraft that truly keeps Americans safe,” says TPPF’s Selene Rodriguez. “Whether you agree with every policy he proposes, the central thrust—making lethality and readiness the organizing principle—is sound. Our adversaries do not negotiate from weakness, they test strength.”
For more on the U.S. military and the warrior ethos, click here.