donelsonfiles

Tyson Fury had his battle of the baddest against Francis Ngannou, former UFC champion who was doing his first boxing match at the age of thirty-seven. What should have been an easy match for Fury turned out to be battle of survival as he barely got by Ngannou and even hit the floor in the third round with a Ngannou left hook. This fight was close on the Compubox data as Fury landed seventy-one punches to fifty-nine, but Ngannou landed more power shots 37-32. Usually in these matchups, the boxer has the advantage since more Mixed Marital Arts are not allowed to kick or get their opponent to the ground. So, this is hands versus hands and the boxer has more experienced with just using hands. Ngannou has been at the top of the UFC heavyweight division, and he was taking on the baddest man in the boxing world.

I had Fury winning the first two rounds as he landed more punches and even in the second round turned southpaw, to confuse his opponent. In the third round, Ngannou stunned Fury with a left hook that sent boxing heavyweight champion to the canvas, and I had the third round as the 10-8 round for Ngannou and after three rounds, it was 28-28. Fury acknowledges after the fight, “He’s a very awkward man and he’s a good puncher and I respect him a lot.”

The fourth round was a pick em which I gave to Fury, but it could easily have gone to Ngannou but the next two rounds, Fury landed some good shots and looked like he might be getting back in control of the fight. Near the end of the fifth round, Ngannou looked tired. After six rounds, I had it 58-55 but it could easily have been 57-56. Ngannou had the better of the next two rounds as he landed some hard lefts and rights. After eight rounds I had it 76-75 and remember the fourth round was tight so it could be the opposite in favor of Ngannou.

Fury won the last two rounds with some better shots snapping Ngannou head in the ninth round and nice right-hand uppercut in the tenth final round. I had it 96-93 for Fury. The official score was 95-94 for Ngannou and 96-93, 95-94 for Fury. I can understand the 95-94 for Ngannou since there were close rounds and Ngannou showed good boxing skills that surprised Fury as Fury admitted, “”He’s a good boxer. He’s a lot better than I thought he’d be, and he gave me a good fight. … I would like to do it again down the line and I’m sure Francis would like to do it as well.”

Now Fury faces Oleksandr Usyk on December 23^rd, but Fury suffered cuts over his left eye and forehead and now he has less than two months to get ready for the undefeated Usyk. Fury at time looked confused and uncomfortable as Ngannou showed usual boxing skills and now what will he do? He signed with the PBL, (Pro boxing league), and certainly he showed enough skills to box other contenders.

As for Fury, I wonder if he was surprised by Ngannou, but he stated he trained for 12 weeks so he was in shape, but did he take this fight seriously? Or did he show vulnerability that maybe Fury is losing a step? He did not look impressive and certainly he would have to fight better to beat Usyk.

Iowa at a crossroads in Football

Iowa is 6-2 but this is the worst 6-2 team in America. On defense, they have given up only 116 points, 14.5 a game and 31 of those points came against Penn State so they have given up only 85 points to the other seven opponents. On offense, Iowa only scored 156 points for an average of 19.5, considerably lower than what Brian Ferentz needs to keep his job and if you take out 41 they scored against Western Michigan, they only average 16.4 points.

The reality is that Iowa is at a turning point where it needs to change to keep on top of the better college teams or slip into mediocrity. Since Brian Ferentz became the offensive coordinator, the Iowa offense has been rather offensive and this year, it has reached a peak in total absurdity as the last four games, Iowa has yet to pass for more than 116 yards. Iowa managed to beat Wisconsin passing for only 37 yards.

The number one quarterback Cade McNamara went out with season ending injury along with top two tight ends, Eric All and Luke Lachey so that didn’t help. Deacon Hill showed that after four games, he is not ready to take over the offense and there has been no improvements over the four games he started and the question is why Joe Labus who did win a bowl game in his only game as starter not given a chance or the Marco Lainez who plays for the scout team. They couldn’t do worse what is being done now.

Iowa defense has been the key for the past three years, but stagnant offense has kept this team from going to another level. This year is no different. Iowa has a chance to win the Big Ten West, but the offense could keep them from winning the Big Ten West.

The question is the future, since Iowa will be in a new Big Ten that includes USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, teams that emphasize offense. It was not that long ago, Iowa could occasionally beat Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State but the past three years a wider gulf has arrived between Iowa and the top teams in the Big Ten East. Their first appearance in the Big Ten championship, Iowa lost a close battle to Michigan State, but their second appearance was complete rout by Michigan. For Iowa football future, changes have to be made to stay competitive. The defense is championship caliber and Phil Parker is one of the best defensive coaches in the business but too often over the last three years, his defense has been called to keep Iowa in games while the offense flails. The past game with Minnesota shows Iowa problem as the offense scored 10 points but it was the defense that kept them in the game and should have won the game when a punt return touchdown called back on a controversial call (or I will say a really bad call). Iowa was one bad call from being 7-1 but the problem of the offense took away what should have been easy victory into a disappointing defeat.

The question is after the season, will Kirk Ferentz follow through on the deal that stated his son had to average 25 points to keep his job and replace his son as the offensive coordinator ? If he manages to win the Big Ten West, which is still in reach, it would be a fitting end to a good career and if he is forced to fire his son, why not simply say goodbye? Both Brian and Kirk would simply move on into the sunset and Brian would find a new job and begin his career anew. As for Iowa, it might be close to the time that Kirk Ferentz and Iowa part ways and allow Iowa to move forward.

Kirk Ferentz has had a good career as a head coach, he has won over 200 games as a coach, presently is 10-9 in bowl games, with five victories over southeastern conference foes and two Big Ten West titles. For the past three years, the question that has arisen is whether Iowa would move forward into the brave new of world of college football and become competitive in this world. With USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon added to a league that has Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan, means that Iowa must change its offensive philosophy to become competitive. And the real question is Kirk Ferentz that guy?

October 26

Show At Rumble —> https://rumble.com/v3rww1p-the-frontiers-of-freedom-weekly-report-october-27-2023.html

Show At FF.org —> https://www.ff.org/weekly-report-10-27-23/

GL’s Twitter —> https://x.com/GLandrith/status/1717708364178747598?s=20

FOF’s Twitter —> https://x.com/FoF_Liberty/status/1717709144998736109?s=20

GETTR —> https://gettr.com/post/p2tehza0dda

Maga Republicans

Who are the MAGA republicans? If you listen to Joe Biden, you will think that MAGA Republicans are the second coming of Fascism as he recently stated, ““Trump and the MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy… I worry because I know that if the other team of MAGA Republicans win, they don’t want to pull the rule of law, they want to get rid of the FBI.” The truth is the complete opposite. John Hinderaker noted, “Why are Democrats so enamored of denouncing “MAGA Republicans? In part, no doubt, because “MAGA” polls very poorly worse than Republicans, conservatives, and so on. Democrats saw an opportunity and have done all they can to smear MAGA and hang that term around the necks of their opponents. In the constantly repeated view of Democrats, MAGA voters are ignorant, racist insurrectionists, dedicated to the overthrow of “our democracy.” Below is a poll that shows what Maga means to Trump voters.

54% of “Maga Republicans” want stronger borders, something that most Americans want as well and 63% wants a better economy, again within the mainstream of most Americans. Over 30 percent wanted lower taxes and around 30% want better international agreements to protect their job, hardly radical ideas. Better economy, lower taxes, stronger borders and better international agreements represented what Making America Great again and only one out of four viewed Donald Trump as the definitive MAGA definition.

John Hinderaker added, “I wonder whether the Democrats are using “MAGA” as a racist dog whistle. The Republican Party has become increasingly diverse, from both a racial and a class perspective. I wonder whether Democrats, in speaking to their constituencies, intend “MAGA” to be interpreted as white. Or, more specifically, the white working class. Democrats advocate vicious discrimination against whites (as well as Asians, of course). I wonder whether demonization of “MAGA” is really a dog whistle, standing in for demonization of working class whites. That might help to account for the contemptuous attitude that Democrats express toward “MAGA Republicans.”

Hinderaker own point has merit as the left disdain the working class and while they may hate the white working class, they also hate Asians and won’t be long that many within the Hispanic working class and business owners will join working class whites as victim of the left derision. There is a lesson for the Republicans since many in the GOP are uncomfortable with many of the Trump populist and there is truly little understanding or attempt to understand who they are.

When we did a survey on retirement, we found “The demographic group least prepared for retirement is the base of the Trump/Conservative coalition: Middle Class, skilled workers. Republicans without a college degree account for 73% of Republican workers age 50+ who have saved less than $100,000.” Many in the Republican coalition have been hit hard by the recession of 2007-09 and the decades follow through the Pandemic.

We concluded, “The challenge for Republicans is to protect their base among older voters, while designing a strategy that appeals to voters age 18 to 49 and college graduates. Younger voters are facing their own financial distress with student loan debt that could slow down their accumulation of wealth for retirement. For older voters, conservatives are lacking policy solutions that focus on looming challenges to retirement savings and health care risks. In addition to addressing social security issues, conservatives need to emphasize economic growth not only as a key for full employment but as an absolute necessity for maintaining and increasing retirement savings. The number of voters willing to increase taxes on the wealthy as a solution to shore up and even increase Social Security benefits is something conservatives must realize. Seniors will not allow their own benefits to decline in any future budget crunch. They feel entitled to the benefits of both Social Security and Medicare because they have been contributing to the system.”

In another report conducted through the Americas Majority Foundation, “The U.S. is still a country where wealth and income earned through hard work and personal risk taking is respected. Our national survey found interesting dynamics. 71% of Blacks, 79% of Whites and 66% of Hispanics believe that hard work is still rewarded but when asked if the economic system rigged against the Middle Class, we see the results reverse. 71% of Blacks, 65% of Whites and 61% of Hispanics believe the economic system is rigged. In a survey among Michigan voters in August of 2016, two of every three voters viewed the system rigged against the Middle Class with two/thirds of White and Black voters along with 55% of Hispanic voters viewing the system as being rigged against Middle Class. Even with that cynicism, four out of five Michigan voters believe that to increase economic opportunity and a fair opportunity to succeed, you must grow the private sector, which is the position taken by Republican candidate Donald Trump, the first Republican who won Michigan since 1988.”

We found that many Americans are of two minds. They think that hard work is still rewarded and support the proven principles of productive work, delayed gratification and personal responsibility and they also fear a trend toward system being rigged against them. A system where the proven principles are not enough. While they respect the entrepreneurs who start up their companies, they have less respect for executives who manage long-established companies. The heart of the complaint is executives who are paid millions while seemingly running former power-house companies into the ground. This entrepreneur/manager divide is part of the explanation on whether a person sees it as a system that allows people to pursue their passions or a system where only the top benefit. If they see a manager-stock-trader economy, they will likely think of it as a rigged system where only the top benefit. If they see an entrepreneur economy, they are more likely to think in terms of pursuing passions. Many Trump Republicans like other Americans view the system rigged against them and that is something Republican Party needs to understand.

President Trump showed a commitment to the concerns of “Populists Capitalists” who did not fare well under many trade agreements and past economic policies. Which is what underlining the tension within the GOP from speaker race to the presidential campaign, as the populist wing of the party feels unwanted and outside as many within the GOP just as soon be rid of Trump supporters. The GOP is going through the process of defining what kind of Party it will be in the future. Will it be a populist party or a conservative party? Or a third way, a constructive collaboration of the populist and Conservative party? Trump own administration did combine both with his tax and regulations reduction plus his only trade deal was NAFTA Two, adjusting work rules to benefit blue collar while keeping trade flowing. Trump foreign policy was a more modest approach, concentrating on China and not adding any new involvements. His trade policy more protectionist than previous Republican administrations but there was enough that united the Party and even today, there is more that unites the MAGA and more traditional Republicans from cutting the deficit, lower taxes, regulations and while there is a debate on Ukraine, there is little debate over supporting Israel. Republicans can’t win without the populist wing and the populist wing must understand that it is part of a conservative/populist coalition.

The one issue down the road is Entitlement reform, as it is agreed that we need to tackle Medicare and Social Security but as noted, many of the Trump coalition are among those who are not prepared for retirement and since 2007, the investor class declined, in particular among the Middle Class. The Middle Class and upper Middle Class saw significant drops in participation in the investor class since the Great Recession. Two thirds of those with incomes between $30,000 to $74,999 were members of the investor class but this was reduced to 54% by 2017 for a drop of 13% and those earning between $75,000 to $99,999 declined from 85% to 75%. The Stock market lost half of its value during the Great recession and many investors removed their money from the market or they took money out to survive periods of economic difficulty. The rise in the stock market has made up the difference in what was lost, many of the Middle class did not reinvest and did not participate in the market’s rise. This has helped in the decline in income and wealth of many within the Middle-Class during Obama’s recovery. Both College graduates and those without college degrees saw reduction in investor class participation but those without a college degree saw bigger drop in participation as members of the Middle Class and many blue-collar workers not only saw themselves without jobs but they also saw their nest egg disappear. Eighty-three percent of College graduates were members of the investor class before the Great Recession but after only 78% of College graduates were members of the investor class. Those without college degree went from 53% to 43%. Many of these workers became Trump Republicans during as Trump made significant inroads among blue collar and no college graduates voters.

The Great Recession and the slow recovery afterwards saw many Americas going month to month and 61% of eligible workers dipped into their 401 K and one third of Americans have no savings. With the rise of the investor class, Americans took control of their retirement savings, and everyone knows that Social Security and Medicare are unstainable and insolvent. The decline of many workers no longer in the work force during their prime years will ensure that Social Security and Medicare become broken even quicker. The divide can be solved by combining the best of Reagan Revolution with Trump populism as it worked in first Trump administration. It also begins with Republicans have an opportunity to be the party of working man and woman and Main Street. It’s what worked for Trump in 2016.

Referencess

Nordic Capitalism, Venezuelan Socialism & Voters’ Perceptions
THE POLITICS OF RETIREMENT: A Report on Voters Age 50+
THE POLITICS OF RETIREMENT: A Report on Voters Age 50+ summary
Tax and Social Security in The New Paradigm
The Decline of the Investor Class &Rise of Minority Entrepreneur

Showtime says good bye to boxing

Showtime has now made if officials, it is no longer in the boxing business after this year, and this will not benefit the sport at all. This leaves a big hole in a network where some of the bigger matches occurred, in particular after HBO left business.

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn noted, “A lot of people don’t get on with people in boxing, but you’ve also got to look at the bigger picture. It’s not great news for boxing. It’s just a sign of the future and the sign that the way that content is being distributed and delivered to fight fans, and that is by streaming. We saw that a couple of years ago, we made our own move to build those partnerships and those relationships, but boxing will be worse off without Showtime, as it was worse off without HBO.”

Showtime and boxing lasted 38 years beginning with the fight between Marvin Hagler and John Mugabi and for many years, HBO and Showtime aired the biggest fights, but CBS sports will be the main sports division for Paramount who owns Showtime and there is no plan to air boxing events on CBS sports. Showtime was synonymous with boxing but no longer.

Hearn point is that boxing is moving to streaming services and we are seeing that of other sports. ESPN Plus is a streaming service where many sporting events are moving to, among those sports are boxing and DAZN has entered the boxing scene with their streaming.

Boxer insider Sean Crose observed, “And, in a lot of ways, it’s going nowhere. DAZN will still broadcast fights. ESPN will still broadcast fights. What’s more, other entities are now involved in the boxing industry, entities that may soon become major players. Considering the fact that Showtime wasn’t running much more than pay per view cards in recent months anyway, it’s pretty safe to assume boxing’s fandom will deal with the network’s exit in a healthy manner fairly quickly. Still, there’s unsettling questions that need answering. For starters, will boxing continue to slip further and further away from the American mainstream? Admittedly, streaming is the future, but right now big cable outlets still carry a lot of figurative water. At the moment, only ESPN is currently broadcasting boxing. Who is to say it will continue to at this rate?”

Here is the rub, there are very few sports networks just as ESPN and Fox sports that televise boxing and even Mixed Martial Arts have moved to PPV/Streaming. The problems for sports like boxing moving toward streaming is that you need to build up your audience and one way is to be on more popular network whether it is ESPN or Fox sports. Many boxing fans are elderly where cable television is what they prefer to watch their sports Of course if you buy streaming services, eventually you move away from cable. One of my daughters has moved to streaming and away from cable and she has many different options, but you have been able to find the right services to be able to get boxing matches. Hearn noted, “Ironically the news comes probably one of their (showtime) best years in terms of bigger fights, but it’s just the future of a traditional broadcaster doesn’t lend itself, in my opinion, to the audience anymore.”

In many major sports, the broadcasts give a broader audience a chance to see the big games and big events. Major sports may move their sports to streaming but they understand that they need to build their audience and put much of their sports events on cable or the more popular streaming services. Boxing may lose that with the move to streaming compared to other sports. Showtime over the years did not just broadcast the big events but also SHOBOX, the Next Generation where young boxers were given exposures and Showtime had a chance to build an audience for those young fighters as they moved up the ranks. I remember seeing a young Paul Malignaggi on a ShoBox: The Next Generation in Laughlin Nevada and remember how fast and quick he was. He eventually won championships in two divisions and was featured on many fight cards. One reason for his being featured was that we saw his career from its beginning to its peak. Future fighters may end up being missed. Years ago, I observed that boxing promoters should work with Mixed Martial arts and come up with their own network, Combat Sports, just like NFL, Tennis, MLB, NBA, and NHL have. These channels promote their sports and give us the latest on what is happening in sports.

Sean Crose added, “what’s going to happen to fighters who demand a fortune before they’ll even consider fighting a legitimate opponent.? Will they change their ways, agree to fight at market value, and see if they can bring in the kind of numbers that warrant astronomical fees and pay per view headliners? Or will these fighters continue on with the mindset that using Floyd Mayweather’s business strategy will earn them. Mayweather style fortunes (hint – Mayweather earned enormous sums of money because millions actually wanted to watch his fights)… Lastly, will fighters and their camps decide it’s okay to make bouts with fighters from other camps on a regular basis? Bad as the loss of Showtime is for sport, it means there’s one less political camp to have to please in the current conditions. Premier Boxing Champions, for instance, one of the biggest fighter organizations in the fighting game, is now going to be on the hunt for new broadcasters. If a deal is made where it’s clear PBC fighters will be more easily able to face fighters from outside organizations than it apparently is now, that will be nothing but good for boxing. Of course, other organizations like Top Rank, Golden Boy and Matchroom will have to play by the same rules as PBC if things are to truly improve.”

Sean Crose concluded, “Which leads to the final point – (some) popular fighters, broadcasters, promoters, advisors, and managers will have to simultaneously decide to be reasonable if boxing is to find itself in a better, stronger place. If they don’t, then one of two things will likely occur: Boxing will continue to shrink, or a new breed of savvy, clear-headed fighters will force the business to change. One option would be welcome. The other would provide more of the same.”

Showtime forgoing boxing is a big blow for a sport that has lost popularity over the past years and even lost ground to Mixed Martial Arts in particular UFC. How will boxing adopt to this new era and try to grow the sport or will the sport simply implode further to irrelevancy?

show October 20

Show At Rumble —> https://rumble.com/v3qmipp-the-frontiers-of-freedom-weekly-report-oct.-20-2023.html

Show At FF.org —> https://www.ff.org/the-weekly-report-oct-20-23/

GL’s Tweet —> https://x.com/GLandrith/status/1715471882793709955?s=20

FOF’s Tweet —> https://x.com/FoF_Liberty/status/1715473951663505725?s=20

GETTR —> https://gettr.com/post/p2szk5fb060

Big fights over the weekend for 154 and 160 pounds

Junior Middleweight Tim Tszyu defeated Brian Mendoza to defend his WBO junior Middleweight title as he dominated the second half of the fight. Tsyzu grinded Mendoza down over twelve punishing rounds and before that he stopped Tony Harrison and followed that up with a one round knockout of Carlos Ocampo before his victory over Mendoza. He was scheduled to fight Jermell Charlo for Charlo belts, but Charlo injured his hands and after it healed, Charlo then went for Alvarez, moving up two division. In his fight with Mendoza, Tsyzu landed more punches and was more accurate with both his jab and power shots.

Punch Stats

PUNCHES	TSZYU	MENDOZA
Total landed	120	93
Total thrown	406	433
Percent	30%	22%
Jabs landed	22	22
Jabs thrown	148	208
Percent	15%	11%
Power landed	98	71
Power thrown	258	225
Percent	38%	32%
— Courtesy of CompuBox

Tszyu can deliver with his shots with thudding accuracy, and he ripped Mendoza eyes with cuts over Mendoza’s under right eye and over his left eye. His best punch was his over right hand, and those punches are delivered compactly with little wasted motion. At the end of the fight he looked fresh, not tired. The only bout he really wants is to fight Jermell Charlo for all Charlo’s belts and be the man at junior Middleweight just as for a time, his father, Hall of Famer Kostyua Tsyzu was the king of the junior Welterweight.

Janibek Alimkhanuly easily pounded Vincezno Gualtieri and now holds two of the Middleweight divisions belts, IBF and WBO middleweight belts. Now he must find a way to fight Erislandy Lara or Jermall Charlo. Alimkhaunuly landed four times as many punches as Gualtieri and his punches had more punch. As the fight progressed, Gualtieri was in survival mode.

Punch Stats

PUNCHES	ALIMKHANULY	GUALTIERI
Total landed	82	22
Total thrown	243	85
Percent	34%	26%
Jabs landed	38	12
Jabs thrown	169	55
Percent	23%	22%
Power landed	44	10
Power thrown	74	30
Percent	60%	33%
— Courtesy of CompuBox

The problem is that Alimkhanuly poses a serious threat to either Lara or Charlo without any significant return on investment and this particular bout was hardly a sellout. When Gennady Golovkin made his way with spectacular wins and had two close bouts with his first two matches with Alvarez in their trilogy. Alimkhanuly is still unknown despite winning two belts, but his style is crowd pleasing as he punches with bad intention with every punch.

If there is no Lara or Charlo in his future, then there is Chris Eubanks, fresh off a victory over Liam Smith and who is a good draw in Great Britain. Alimkhanuly could developed into a great draw and the future may be close.

Evil Exit

What would Nazism in the 21^st century look like? My good friend, the late Richard Nadler, remarked to me in the 1990’s that when communism fell, he didn’t anticipate the rise of national socialistic movements which we are seeing in China, Russia, much of the Middle East starting with Iran and including Hamas in Gaza strip. There are degrees of National socialism, or you can use the term fascism to describe these governments.

What we are witnessing in the Middle East is simply out right Nazism without the goose steps, but the goal of Iran, Hezbollah and Hama is the elimination of Israel and a second Jewish Holocaust. There is nothing but hatred and for Israel there is no compromise with this present governing body in the Gaza strip and Iran is about as close as you get to Hitler vision of the Jews.

This is not about a land dispute but something more sinister, Hamas and Iran want to wipe every last Jew off the face of the earth. They attacked a musical event organized to promote peace between the Palestinian and massacred them. If you are a secular Jew, a liberal Jew, an orthodox Jew, it doesn’t matter, they will kill you. They slaughtered babies and beheaded them afterwards, they rape women before torturing and killing them, then paraded their naked bodies in the street. This is evil and starting us in the face.

This century has featured an attack on the more democratic and plural world order from Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and Hamas is nothing more than extension of Tehran. The world is a darker place for it In Russia and China, depending upon how you define National Socialism or fascism, certainly Russia and China can fit both descriptions. While both companies “allow” private companies to exist, they only exist at the behest of the government, to follow the government dictate and goals. Billionaires serve the state just as corporations in Nazis Germany and Fascist Italy served Hitler and Mussolini. While Russia and China have not shown the same wiliness to kill off an entire race like Hamas, they have no qualm about using forces to punish those in their way. Just ask the Ukrainians and Uhgars in China.

How does a modest foreign policy deal with aggressive nations without getting America troops involved in endless struggle? The first objective is to understand our enemies and their goals. Hamas and Tehran have been very clear about their view on Israel, and Putin has made it clear, that the collapse of the Soviet Empire was major mistake, and he has done what he can to destabilize NATO and rebuild the Russian empire including the Ukraine. We can’t forget that in 1994, the Budapest accord was designed to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine if Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons. When Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014, Russia violated their promise to protect Ukrainian sovereignty and Obama administration allowed the agreement to be broken nor did the Obama administration view Ukraine as our national interest since it was not part of NATO.

Arming the Ukrainians to fight their own war is not the same as involving US troops. Certainly, as I stated, we may be at the time to change our objectives to a peace treaty that pretty much leave close to the 2014 lines in place in exchange for Ukraine being part of NATO. This does accomplish the following, Ukraine stopped Russian objectives of splitting NATO and Putin re-establishment of a Russian Empire. The second benefit is that we now have an army of 250,000 men, trained, to keep the peace in Central Europe added to NATO and allows United States more flexibility in where we put resources, including working with allies in the Pacific.

In the Middle East, let the Israelis take care of Hamas and maybe Hezbollah. This will hurt Iranian goals to destabilize the Middle East, go back to the Trump policy of sanctions and hurt the Iranian government economically as we were doing before and strengthen the alliances of Sunni Arabs and Israel. We won’t need to be involved militarily in the Middle East since this alliance can hold the line and pursuing a policy of energy independence gives us leverage to influence the oil/natural gas markets plus gives us more markets to export.

America First doesn’t mean we ignore bad actors, and it does mean we will use force to protect our national interest. Conservative and Republicans must understand the world is a dangerous place and yet, understand due to our present economic situations, we are limited in what we can do so we need to be clear what those objectives are. It also means building alliances that protect our national interest without involving our troops while allowing us more options to defend what is our national interest.