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Okay, MAGA GOP on Trump, in the 2024 election versus Kamala Harris, he got 99% of the MAGA GOP vote. Perhaps surprisingly, I might have thought it'd be 100%, but it was 99%. Compare that to his approval rating now with the MAGA GOP. It's 98%. That is, there's been no real decline in MAGA support. These folks say that they're going to vote for congressional Republicans come the midterm elections. Again, that's the 99% that Trump got against Kamala Harris. Look now, in terms of the congressional vote, 98% of them say they're going to be voting for House Republican candidates. So that support is actually really holding up strong. It's really, really strong when it comes to MAGA GOP and Republicans holding on to that vote.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

And we begin thinking long-term, not midterm. You know, we got five weeks from an election, we know that. Control of Congress is on the line, you understand that. Every politician in Washington knows it, every pollster is talking about it. This week, President Trump made clear his vision goes beyond November because he's trying to get things done in two years, which normally take two terms. - As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day. I do not believe in letting problems fester. They only become harder to solve. So while others have talked, I have acted. We are solving decades of intractable challenges, and we are settling years of unfinished business, and we're doing it well. - And I know it's driving some Republicans nuts, but that's his vision. Look, it has this approach at the border, for example. He's not waiting for comprehensive immigration reform. The guy has sealed the border. He's actually almost done with the wall. He's finding those people who broke the law, came here illegally. He is rounding them up, and it's giving some people heartburn, but that's what he promised to do. Come here illegally, and you gotta get scooped up. It shouldn't be okay, because Washington failed to fix the system. That's what he ran on. That's what he talks about. And he's taking the same approach to the Capitol itself. I don't know if you've been to Washington lately, but he's building that new ballroom. Every president talked about needing an event center. He's doing it. He's fixed 48 monuments in D.C., 22 fountains, 1,000-plus graffiti sites, and the reflecting pool, I understand, is finally getting fixed the right way. His mantra is clear. For problems big and small, he's gonna identify it. He's going to fix it, and he's gonna do it fast. He's gonna do it in a way to make it last when it comes to trade. Remember Liberation Day? The rollout was rocky, no question. The markets reacted. The critics, well, they pounced. But the bigger idea was more important. Restructure a trading system that Trump believes has shortchanged America since World War II. Not one tariff, not one country, the entire system. Since then, the administration has secured 20 new trade deals, 20. Something around like Canada, I think it'll get back on track. One is about to be done. Believe it or not, it's gonna be Mexico. And the one front and center this week is China. It's obviously the most important. Has every negotiation gone smoothly? No, but the aim isn't the headline for tomorrow or a quick fix today. It's changing the terms of trade for years to come, or restructuring while bringing manufacturing back. Then there's the biggest example of all, Iran. With the war dragging on, the pressure is building. Voters are worried about the cost than they should be. The price of oil, diesel, fertilizer, it's all going up. The midterms are right around the corner. And even some Republicans are saying it's time to bring the war to an end. The war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly. War is terrible and no one likes war. The war should end yesterday. Yep, Trump knows it. But as I told you, the election is in triving this decision. They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran. It doesn't even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. His position is that whether a deal comes before November or after November, the objective does not change. No nuclear weapon, no ability to fund terror proxies and intimidate neighbors. Trump is not looking to make this better for now. And I know he's driving Republicans crazy. He knows peace in the Middle East is a pipe dream with this Iran team empowered and emboldened. He's not managing Iran. He is squeezing them. He's trying to fix not for now, but forever. And what about munitions? We got to win wars with munitions. We keep seeing the headlines warning about the capacity of America's defense industrial base. But Trump is the one building up our arsenal. The cowards and traders would love to say the United States is low on munitions, but that's not true. We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using, and we're building them at levels that we have never done before. In the very near future, massive munitions plants will be opening. There are 18 of them being built by the greatest defense companies in the world. Right now, 18 under construction. Yes, he's spreading them out. There used to be a big four, now there's 18. Not just for more missiles next month, the capacity to make more missiles for years, new systems. And that brings us to maybe the biggest long-term challenge of all, AI. The United States is racing China for this technology to transform our economy. It's also fueling our economy now. It's gonna transform our military. America, well, we're in the lead, about nine to 12 months in the lead. The question is whether we keep that lead. And at the same time, figuring out how to keep a technology this powerful from becoming a threat itself. And that can't be answered by a November poll. That's a debate that will outlive this election and this presidency. But when he hands off the Oval Office, you can be sure we will still be leading the world on artificial intelligence, or as he calls it, super intelligence. These aren't six-week problems, more like 60-year issues. And the president appears determined not to hand them to somebody else, Democrat or Republican, because this isn't just a midterm plan. It's not a reelection plan, it's an American plan. And joining us now is Fox News contributor from The Wall Street Journal, Kim Strassl. So Kim, I know you wrote a lot about this. You've been in a lot of personal briefings with the President of the United States. Do you see him thinking big picture like I just outlined? - Oh yeah, and Brian, by the way, this is why Americans voted for the guy, right? After decades of feeling as though they had politicians that said, "Oh, I'll solve this, I'll solve this," then nothing happens. They wanted someone who was gonna go in and break China. And by the way, just to add a couple of more things to the list that you laid out there, you know, just this week you had Vice President J.D. Vance come out, say they're taking more than 750,000 phantom accounts off of Obamacare. I mean, this is the fraud that's been sitting there in the United States government. For decades, nobody's done anything about. So it causes some disruption. I think it leaves some voters feeling unsettled, but stuff is getting done. - The other thing is rare earth. He's on a two-year plan to get another rare earth. He's gonna mine in this country. We never should have stopped, but environmentalists had a lot to do with that. But now he's cutting deals with Australia and the Far East and Central and South America. And I'll add something else. He's cleaning up our own hemisphere for the first time really in my lifetime. China and Russia are being pushed out. So is communism, Cuba's next. - Yeah, it's remarkable. On the rare earth, things also think they just netted that Greenland deal, which is one of the biggest sources of rare earths everywhere. And part of that deal says, "Hey, you can sell it to us, but you can't sell it to our adversaries." That was a big question mark, and that's done. - Yeah, I mean, this is one of those things that you've done this before. We're in the middle of a play-by-play and you think you understand a presidency. I think we're gonna understand his presidency a lot better two or three years out. But we're in the middle of it now. But let me just do something I just told you I wasn't gonna do. Let's drill down on November and midterms. And let's talk about Alaska. Mary Peltola, nine separate former staffers came out and says this woman's got a huge attitude problem, a rage issue, correct? - Right, and this is a problem for her. Look, I don't know how many committed Peltola voters are gonna care that much. But these are the kind of stories that come out and it says, "Complete mayhem among their staff, people quitting or being fired." It suggests a politician that has a lot of problems. And that matters a lot. You get some of these middle-of-the-road voters, they either decide they don't want that or they just decide they're not interested in going out to vote that day for her. So that's a real depressor when it comes to turn out for her. And I think is a boon for Dan S. Sullivan, the actual Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent in the race. - I gotta read this to you. You're not gonna believe it. It's in your rival newspaper. It says, "This is what you said about Planned Parenthood. "One of her angry outbursts slurs and firings, "Tumult rocks a key Senate campaign is the headline. "Peltola also disparaged Planned Parenthood, "particularly one of its regional board members "running for reelection for the 2024 House seat. "Peltola was frustrated about the organization's scrutiny "of our deliberations over how to vote on a defense bill. "She said, quote, 'I hope Planned Parenthood knows "'that if we don't win, it's more their loss than ours.' "'F' those 'B's,' she later wrote in a text message "to her staff in January 2024 "that was viewed by the New York Times. "She also went on to say, 'Peltola, "'I hope she dies of a botched abortion.' "She also had a gay slur and made fun of people "with maybe who have mental issues." - Yeah, no, look, Mary Peltola has already had some issues up here. Remember, she briefly served as a House member representing Alaska, and that was because she won, essentially, because of Alaska's goofy rank choice system. So she essentially won by default. Now, this year, there is a nasty trick going on in Alaska, Brian, where there's this decoy Dan Sullivan candidate who has purely been put, clearly been put, on the ballot with help from Democrats to try to confuse voters and get them to draw votes away from the incumbent Dan Sullivan. But I think all of this adds up to show the desperation a bit of this campaign, and the problem she has, when she's trashing on kind of loyal Democratic outside groups, she's got a, it shows the frustration and the problems there. - Kim, I wanna get to Texas real quick, 'cause James Talarico is leading. If I look at the latest poll, he's up by six. That's a mayor's survey, real clear average, up by three over Ken Paxson. But with Talarico's doing a little bit different, he's changing all his views. He now says, I'm gonna work with Donald Trump on the border. I am for oil and gas. I wanna debate Ken Paxson on Fox News with Brett Baer as the moderator. And he's telling all his Democrats, don't come. I wanna act like a Republican. Does that, is that a strategy that could be successful in Texas when the others have failed Democrats? - Well, look, I think what's adding up here in Texas is, remember, this is a red state, by the way. And a lot of people who have moved to Texas too, because they want that kind of politics. So he's already facing an uphill thing. And I always question this, Democrats ran out and they recruited all these people. Oh, you know, here's a seminarian in Texas and we'll roll them out. Then people find out what his actual views are. So now he's trying to cloak those actual past views. Are Texans gonna buy it? I don't know. But one of the problems here too is, you know, Paxson's having trouble. There was a very messy primary down there and a lot of Republicans are still pretty bitter about that. So he's gotta motivate his base as well too. - He's getting like $200 million. They're gonna flood the system, see what happens. See what kind of debate that would be. Kim Strassle, always great to have you on. Thanks so much.

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A photograph of a printed newspaper page from The Epoch Times' Opinion section, dated Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. At the top are two smaller linked headlines with thumbnail photos flanking the "Opinion" masthead: "The Data Center Backlash Has a Practical Fix" by Howard Franklin (A18) on the left, and "We Spend a Lot More on Welfare Than Bombs" by David Harsanyi (A21) on the right, the latter thumbnail showing a road sign reading "THE NATIONAL DEBT $40 [TRILLION]". Below is a large photo of a hazy, smoke-filled cityscape (buildings, an unfinished concrete structure with rebar and ladders in the foreground) captioned "Smoke rises from the site of airstrikes in Tehran, Iran, on March 6, 2026." Below that is the main opinion column headlined "Iran Is Not Even Close to Winning the War" by Mike Fredenburg, with a small circular author photo, a pull-quote in italics, and body text in three columns arguing that despite domestic political criticism, Iran's military and economy have been severely degraded and it is not winning the war against the U.S./Israel/coalition forces. A subheading "Iranian Regime in Historically Bad Shape" appears near the bottom of the third column, with "Continued on A18" at the very bottom.

Text in image: Opinion THE EPOCH TIMES A17 FRIDAY, SEPT. 11, 2026 The Data Center Backlash Has a Practical Fix Howard Franklin | A18 We Spend a Lot More on Welfare Than Bombs David Harsanyi | A21 [thumbnail sign text: THE NATIONAL DEBT $40 [TRILLION]] Smoke rises from the site of airstrikes in Tehran, Iran, on March 6, 2026. Iran Is Not Even Close to Winning the War By Mike Fredenburg The airwaves and blogs are full of pundits and other self-proclaimed experts declaring that the United States has lost or is losing the war. Certainly, there is little doubt that the war has not gone as smoothly as the Trump administration expected it to. And if you believe that the United States' inability to wrap up a nice, clean win (super unlikely) before the November midterms is a significant win for the Iranian regime, you are correct. But does that really mean that Iran is winning the war, strategically or otherwise? History tells us that merely maintaining a limited capacity to lob missiles and drones at your opponent does not mean that you are winning. Neither does the ability to exert limited control over a waterway mean that you are winning. By any reasonable standard of military degradation, strategic isolation, economic collapse, and regional realignment, it is the United States that is winning this war that probably should have been fought after Iran's proxies, including the Hezbollah terrorist group, executed the 1983 truck bomb attack on the U.S. Marine compound, killing 241 U.S. servicemen. Consider the facts: U.S. forces have sunk or crippled the overwhelming majority of Iran's conventional navy. Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, assessed that Iran has lost 80 percent to 90 percent of its naval capacity. With the vast majority of Iran's largest naval vessels having been crippled or destroyed, Tehran's ability to project meaningful naval power has been reduced to an ever-decreasing number of small Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fast-attack boats of minimal capability. While the United States has not gained air dominance over all of Iran, it does have air superiority over significant portions, and the Trump administration has claimed that 1,500 strikes have destroyed some 80 percent of Iran's air defense system. Of course, as is the case with all wars, we won't know the real numbers until well after the war concludes, but there is little doubt that Iran's air defenses have been severely degraded. And given the dire economic circumstances the regime finds itself in, those systems will be very difficult to replace, and even if they can eventually do so, it will be many years—assuming that the regime lasts that long. On the industrial and infrastructure front, the campaign has been even more decisive. U.S. and coalition forces have struck more than 13,000 targets inside Iran, including 90 percent of Iran's weapons factories. While striking targets is certainly not the same as destroying them, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has described Iran's defense industrial base as "shattered," with CENTCOM reporting that more than two-thirds of Iran's missile, drone, and naval production facilities and shipyards were damaged or destroyed, including nearly all Shahed drone production facilities and solid-rocket-motor production facilities—critical to the production of Iran's cheap but effective ballistic missiles. Satellite analysis has documented extensive damage to more than 50 Iranian military bases, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters, air bases, naval hubs, and ballistic-missile facilities. Iran has never suffered this level of damage, and with the most comprehensive economic sanctions seen in recent memory strangling Iran's economy, reconstituting this industrial capacity will take many years, and that assumes the extremely unpopular regime lasts that long. Beyond the battlefield, Iran's prestige and ability to wield influence in the Middle East have been severely degraded. Countries that once feared crossing Tehran publicly are now doing so, up to and including conducting air and missile strikes on military targets inside Iran. The United Arab Emirates has severed ties with Iran and has joined a self-defense pact that includes Turkey and Pakistan. Saudi Yes, the war is making a tough midterm even tougher, but to say that the United States is losing is just plain ludicrous. Arabia has participated in attacks on Iranian targets. And it genuinely looks like after decades of bullying by Iran, its neighbors, with the help of the bully of the Middle East—a major blow from which the regime will never fully recover. Iran's economy is in shambles, with point-to-point food and beverage inflation skyrocketing to between 113.8 and 128 percent, forcing essential groceries to more than double in cost over the past year. Overall inflation has soared above 60 to 80 percent, with food inflation in triple digits in many categories. Iran's currency, the rial, has collapsed, tens of thousands of factories and petrochemical plants being shuttered or damaged (estimates run to 20,000 industrial units affected), and oil revenues have dropped to a fraction of what they were. And with new sanctions coming online and a blockade it cannot lift, the Iranian regime is in dire straits, the likes of which it has not seen since overthrowing the shah. For some context, U.S. grocery prices have risen by only 2.7 percent over the past year, while overall U.S. inflation, bumped up by gasoline prices, stands at 3.5 percent. Adding to Iran's woes, when oil is not pumped from a well for an extended period, the well's future production is often severely degraded. The regime has been struggling to pay its troops and security forces on time; foreign bank accounts and financial channels have been severed or frozen. International Monetary Fund projections show a 6 percent gross domestic product contraction for 2026. And if the blockade stays in place, 2027 will be far worse. Iranian Regime in Historically Bad Shape When a government cannot pay its forces, the vast majority of whom are conscripts, keeping itself in power becomes much more difficult. Economic hardship, combined with the visible failure of the Islamic regime to Continued on A18

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A screenshot of a newspaper/magazine opinion article continuation (marked "Continued from A17") headlined "Iran Is Not Even Close to Winning the War." The piece argues that despite setbacks, the U.S. and Trump administration are strategically winning against Iran, citing declining Iranian regime support, polling data, shipping route changes around the Strait of Hormuz, defense industrial base shortcomings, and media coverage framing. A pull-quote is set off in the middle column. An author bio at the end identifies the writer as Mike Fredenburg, who writes on military technology and defense matters.

Text in image: Iran Is Not Even Close to Winning the War Continued from A17 protect its own territory or deliver prosperity, has diminished the regime's support among the small minority of Iranians that actually supported it before the current conflict ramped up. Further, while precise polling is difficult to obtain given the level of repression and control exerted by the regime, reporting by the GAMAAN institute indicates that substantial portions of the population view the strikes as justified or at least as a necessary reckoning with a failed system. U.S. President Donald Trump is far more popular in Iran than the regime itself—about 44 percent support for Trump versus roughly 13 percent support for the Islamic republic. Iran's Ability to Affect the World Economy Is Diminishing Daily Each day sees the importance of the Strait of Hormuz diminished, as pipelines and tankers are being built to give the world the capacity to bypass it. In as little as six months, the necessity of transiting the Strait of Hormuz will have been reduced to a fraction of what it was at the start of the conflict, permanently weakening Iran. By any reasonable standard of military degradation, strategic isolation, economic collapse, and regional realignment, it is the United States that is winning this war. The extra cost per trip on the new routes, such as those going around the Cape of Good Hope, is only about 0.5 percent to 1 percent of the value of the oil carried; in other words, a small fraction of the price swings we have seen in oil prices. Record numbers of Very Large Crude Carrier ships are being ordered, with some 60 expected to be delivered in 2027 and many more in 2028 and 2029. This additional capacity will facilitate the use of alternative routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, the strait remains a vulnerability, but there is little doubt that its significance will be reduced as a consequence of this conflict. To be fair, the Trump administration has been overly optimistic at times. The war is almost certainly not going as planned. Further, it is clear that the administration had more confidence in what airpower alone could accomplish than was warranted, overestimated the effectiveness of our air defenses, and underestimated the effectiveness of Iran's drones and missiles. The conflict has also revealed major shortcomings in our defense industrial base, highlighted the Navy's failure to develop and field truly effective littoral combat ships in sufficient numbers, and has shown that the practice of spending millions of dollars on individual missiles is a loser that puts our national security at risk and needs to be immediately corrected if we are to have any chance against an opponent such as China. These are real problems that demand urgent attention, but they are problems inherited by the current administration, not created by it. Yet none of these problems and shortcomings change the fundamental strategic picture. Iran's navy is largely gone, its air force grounded, its factories and bases devastated, its economy collapsing, its regional influence shrinking, and its great-power allies unwilling to openly provide significant support. From a big-picture perspective, the ability to sporadically launch drones and missiles to harass shipping is a Pyrrhic victory that is incentivizing the world to lessen dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, the war is making a tough midterm even tougher, as the media have seized on it to divert attention away from the hundreds of Trump administration accomplishments that have made life better and safer for the average American, but to say that the United States is losing the war is just plain ludicrous. Mike Fredenburg writes on military technology and defense matters with an emphasis on defense reform. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and master's degree in production operations management.

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A screenshot of a tweet from the verified New York Post account (@nypost), posted 4:00 PM · Jun 12, 2026 with 309.2K views. The tweet text links to an article and is accompanied by a three-panel photo collage: left, a close-up of a law enforcement officer wearing a vest labeled "POLICE ICE," standing behind a handcuffed man in a white t-shirt; top right, a long line of people in matching gray sweatsuits walking across a tarmac past a "GLOBAL X" branded airplane, with an orange traffic cone in the foreground; bottom right, Donald Trump seated at a desk gesturing with his index finger while speaking, with several women (including one who appears to be Melania Trump) standing behind him, a stack of documents on the desk in front of him.

Text in image: NEW YORK POST @nypost More Democrats support mass deportations, removal of criminal migrants, new poll shows trib.al/vzddmfF POLICE ICE GLOBALX 4:00 PM · Jun 12, 2026 · 309.2K Views

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