The vast majority of Republicans and most Democrats support Israel in their plight against Hamas. The images and videos that emerged on and after October 7 sparked massive outrage in the western world. And despite the loud minority that continues to hold protests across the nation, most Americans would like to see Hamas stifled one way or another.
Some of us just don’t want to get involved.
Apparently, Congress feels differently. In a massively one-sided vote, the House passed a resolution backing Israel and condemning Hamas. Only the antisemitic “Squad” and Massie voted against it. But before anyone starts throwing Massie in with the likes of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, it’s important to understand why Massie was opposed to this resolution.
It’s not that he doesn’t support Israel. He does. It’s not that he’s trying to justify what Hamas did and continues to do. His concerns rest solely in the language of the resolution which paves the way for direct U.S. military involvement and ongoing “aid” to Israel.
As he posted on Twitter:
I condemn the barbaric attack on Israel and I affirm Israel’s right to defend itself.
However, I will not be voting for House Resolution 771 today because:
1) It calls for sanctions on a sovereign country. Sanctions are a prelude to war and hurt the citizens of the country more than the government of the country that’s being sanctioned. And ultimately, sanctions create laws that will be used to prosecute American citizens (who engage in trade), not citizens of the sanctioned country. In short, sanctions do not achieve their stated purposes but do breed resentment of our country abroad.
2) It asserts the necessity of foreign aid commitments which I have voted against. Our country is going bankrupt and we can’t afford to borrow money to send overseas, yet this resolution states that we should.
3) It contains an open-ended promise of military support that is so broad that it could be interpreted to commit US soldiers to the conflict. US troops should not be engaged in this conflict.
4) It tends to broaden the conflict to other countries when it would be better to keep the war contained geographically.
Here’s a link to the text of the resolution, which contains some statements I do support and some statements I cannot support.
We can debate the efficacy of sanctions, though I would point to how much harm the sanctions against Russia have done to western economies, including ours. One can argue that if full-blown de-dollarization occurs and the U.S. Dollar is usurped as the world reserve currency, we can point to Russian sanctions as the catalyst.
As for foreign aid commitments, it’s very hard to argue Massie’s point. Israel does not need aid. They could use intelligence and a blanket of protection against the antisemitic United Nations, but otherwise Israel is best left to do what they need to do. Should we sell them weapons? Sure. But we don’t need to get into another Ukraine weapons-laundering scheme which may have contributed to the initial attacks against Israel.
Like Massie, I fully support Israel’s right to defend itself. But we have our own invasion to deal with at the southern border that requires our full attention. The language of the resolution includes our willingness to provide “other security” measures, which is an ambiguous way of saying we are open to sending U.S. troops to assist. That’s a non-starter for me.
Join the conversation about this on my Substack.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
