President Trump’s decision to waive sanctions on Russia is not a concession to Moscow; it is a defense of American pocketbooks and presidential authority. When Congress passed measures in September targeting purchasers of Russian oil and gas, Russian financial institutions, and the shadow fleet, it set the stage for higher fuel prices that working families cannot afford. The executive order suspending those sanctions places the cost of living for American consumers ahead of symbolic foreign-policy gestures, and that is exactly where the responsibility of the federal government belongs.
Critics led by Senators Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, and Thom Tillis argue that the waiver disregards legislative intent, but the Constitution entrusts the president with national-security and foreign-affairs discretion, especially when domestic economic stability is at stake. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has objected, insisting the penalties were vital leverage, yet no foreign leader should dictate what American families pay at the pump or to heat their homes. The administration’s separate arrangement to import Russian diesel, framed as a market-stabilizing measure, only underscores that energy affordability is a practical priority, not an abstraction.
The same commitment to putting citizens first appears in Bend, Oregon, where a law-abiding gun owner stopped a massacre at Silver Rail Elementary before it could grow worse. Griffin J. John II, a sixteen-year-old former student, entered the school with a shotgun and forty-four additional rounds and had already killed three children and a teacher.
Kaylub Giamanco, a thirty-six-year-old carpenter with a legally concealed pistol, saw the attacker firing at a vehicle and breaching the building, went inside, and fired multiple times to neutralize the threat.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz credited Giamanco and an unnamed teacher with preventing further bloodshed, and President Trump called the armed citizen a “great hero.” This is what law and order looks like when seconds count and police are still minutes away.
National sovereignty demands the same patience and respect in Jerusalem that the White House claims for Washington.
Israeli officials say reports of an assault on European diplomats in Taybeh near Ramallah—during an olive-harvest visit by representatives from Belgium, France, Poland, and the Catholic Church—are being rushed into a condemnation campaign against the Jewish state.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar notes the delegation was not coordinated with the IDF in advance, the Prime Minister’s office says social-media footage lacks full context, and the IDF confirms no soldiers were present when masked individuals smashed a consulate window and allegedly assaulted a French mayor.
Israeli police are investigating, and until they finish, outside governments should not impose sanctions or adopt narratives based on incomplete video.
These three stories share one thread: accountable government must answer to its own citizens and its own constitutional processes before it answers to foreign capitals, editorial boards, or mobs on social media. Lowering energy costs is a pocketbook issue, but it is also a separation-of-powers issue.
Armed self-defense is a life-or-death issue, but it is also a liberty issue. Israel’s demand for a real investigation is a sovereignty issue, but it is also a due-process issue. The common enemy in each case is the instinct to let external pressure override the duty to protect one’s own people.
The administration should keep the energy waivers in place, defend the right of citizens to protect themselves, and allow Israel’s investigation to proceed without preemptive condemnation.
Liberty, sovereignty, law and order, and accountable government are not abstract ideals; they are measured by whether a family can afford heat, whether a father can stop a school shooter, and whether a nation can wait for facts before it is judged. Putting American interests first is not isolationism. It is the basic duty of government.
Tags