Unlawful Combatants
What to know: President Donald Trump has designated cartels from Mexico and Venezuela as “unlawful combatants,” giving him more power to fight them.
The TPPF take: President Trump is right, and it’s about time we acknowledge the facts.
“For decades, Washington treated cartel violence as a crime — a problem for prosecutors, not generals,” says TPPF’s Ammon Blair. “Indictments were filed, assets seized, and sanctions imposed. But the cartels fought a different kind of war, one that combined terror, intelligence, and territorial control. We refused to define the cartels as belligerents — and fought the wrong fight.”
For more on the cartels, click here.
A Matter of Trust
What to know: Americans’ trust in the mainstream media is at an all-time low, with seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%).
The TPPF take: The media earned these numbers.
“In the late 1990s, over 50% of the entire country, regardless of political party, believed the information they got from mainstream media was mostly accurate,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester. “Today, only 8% of Republicans say they trust the media, the first time GOP trust has dropped to single digits. For Independents, only about 27% say they trust the media—also an all-time low.”
For more on trust in the media, click here.
Family Law
What to know: A number of family law measures were approved by the Texas Legislature in 2025, and many are now going into effect.
The TPPF take: Something’s still missing in most family law cases: advocacy.
“In CPS proceedings, the sheer familiarity among attorneys risks blurring advocacy into routine,” says TPPF’s Hannah Bruck. “Instead of the adversarial process we expect in courtrooms, these hearings can resemble social work conducted in front of a judge.”
For more on family law, click here.