Trump

One Year Since Butler, Hatred Still Rages

Come this Sunday, it’ll be a year since Corey Comperatore was murdered while sitting in metal bleachers in a rural Pennsylvania field.

Killed because he decided to go with his family to a rally in support of the 45th president who was campaigning to become the 47th.

Shot because of hatred for President Donald Trump, a casualty of a deranged and demented ideology that holds violence can somehow advance a particular cause.

On that summer afternoon, President Trump was shot in the ear by his would-be assassin. Jim Copenhaver and David Dutch, who were attending the rally and sitting near Corey Comperatore, were also shot and seriously wounded but survived.

Copenhaver, who is 75, lost 30 pounds during his extended recovery and now walks with a cane. Dutch, age 58, lost 25 pounds. He can no longer drive or lift anything heavier than 10 pounds.

American presidents have long been targeted by the unhinged and the haters. Back in 1835, President Andrew Jackson tried to beat back an assassin with his cane after the shooter’s first and second guns misfired. Presidents Lincoln, McKinley and Kennedy were all assassinated.

President Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest in 1912 but continued speaking. Plots to kill numerous other chief executives including FDR, Hoover, Truman and Nixon were all foiled. Someone fired at President Ford and missed; President Reagan was an inch from dying when an assassin’s bullet lodged in his lung.

We can draw distinctions from Scripture between righteous and unrighteous violence. Known as “Jus Ad Bellum” or “Just War Theory,” Augustine is credited with studying and coming up with criteria that applies to conflicts between nations. These principles include: “having just cause, being a last resort, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means being used.”

Obviously, the violence in Butler, Pennsylvania last year met no such bar and was instead raw vitriol that led to horrific violence.

Sadly, the same hate that has empowered multiple assassination attempts on President Trump’s life still rages red hot. It may not all be expressed with a gun, but it is nevertheless communicated in various awful ways.

After Texas’ flash floods devastated areas of South-Central Texas and killed over 100 people, including dozens of children, a Houston pediatrician tweeted:

“May all visitors, children, non-Maga voters and pets be safe and dry. Kerr county Maga voted to gut Fema. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for.”

A former Houston mayoral appointee raged about Camp Mystic being for “whites only.”

The hate often manifests in the form of rude and crass language. On a recent episode of his podcast that’s supposed to focus on writing and writers, sportswriter Jeff Pearlman unleashed a string of expletives directed at President Trump, blaming him for the recent Los Angeles riots.

“My only joy is the knowledge that nothing in life brings you any sort of happiness, that you are soulless and that you will die soulless.”

Corey Comperatore’s obituary released by his family included the following tribute:

But above all, Corey was the quintessential family man and the best girl dad. His love for his wife Helen (Scott) Comperatore was a testament to the power of partnership and devotion. Together, they raised two daughters, Allyson and Kaylee Comperatore, who will carry forward his spirit of compassion. Also surviving are his mother, Karen (Denny)  Bird, his sisters, Kelly (Doug) Meeder and Dawn Comperatore Shaffer, his stepbrother, Steven (Megan) Warheit, his two beloved Dobermans, Ivan and Negan, and many nieces, nephews and great nieces.

Corey’s life was a reflection of his faith. He was a man of God who loved Jesus with every fiber of his being. His actions were guided by his unwavering belief, and he inspired those around him to live with purpose and grace. His ability to lift the spirits of everyone he encountered was unparalleled.

We continue to pray for the Comperatore family, for Jim Copenhaver and David Dutch who still suffer – and for all those so heavily burdened with such hate for their fellow man.

Image from Getty.

Mike Huckabee to President Trump: ‘I Believe You will Hear from Heaven’

It’s not too often that the public is afforded an opportunity to see the private correspondence between the President of the United States and a senior administration official.

But that’s what happened earlier this week when President Trump shared a text he received from Mike Huckabee, who is currently serving as United States Ambassador to Israel.

Here was the text:

Mr President, God spared you in Butler, PA to be the most consequential President in a century—maybe ever. The decisions on your shoulders I would not want to be made by anyone else. You have many voices speaking to you Sir, but there is only ONE voice that matters. HIS voice. I am your appointed servant in this land and am available for you but I do not try to get in your presence often because I trust your instincts.
No President in my lifetime has been in a position like yours. Not since Truman in 1945. I don’t reach out to persuade you. Only to encourage you. I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice is far more important than mine or ANYONE else’s. You sent me to Israel to be your eyes, ears and voice and to make sure our flag flies above our embassy. My job is to be the last one to leave.
I will not abandon this post. Our flag will NOT come down! You did not seek this moment. This moment sought YOU! It is my honor to serve you!”

It’s not clear how President Trump responded, but Ambassador Huckabee, who has been married to his wife, Janet, for 51 years, is known for his deep Christian faith. A former pastor of several churches in Arkansas, Governor Huckabee attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Coming under fire while running for president in 2016, Mr. Huckabee stated, “Life, marriage and family issues aren’t bargaining chips or political considerations. They are moral issues. I will never apologize for my faith in Jesus Christ, my convictions or my values. Period.”

As Christians, we’re commanded to pray for our leaders – and in doing so, we’re asking the Lord to influence and inform their leadership.

Writing to Timothy, the apostle Paul urged, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

We pray for our leaders because we’re commanded to do so – and because we all benefit when those leading us are divinely guided. We want our leaders to hear from heaven.

Of course, the Lord can communicate with anyone anyway He chooses to – but He most often seems to speak with us via His Holy Word, prayer, and also through the counsel of others.

It might be politically incorrect for a president to admit that he’s seeking God’s guidance, but there is plenty of precedent for doing so. We know George Washington prayed daily, as did John Adams.

After Abraham Lincoln died, John Hay, one of his secretaries, found this written in the 16th president’s own hand. It was dated September, 1862 – right in the middle of the Civil War:

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party — and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true — that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

Lincoln was praying earnestly to learn and follow God’s will.

A video surfaced on Twitter of a pastors’ gathering at the White House just yesterday. Those assembled were praising and worshipping the Lord. This is a very good thing.

Over 163 years later, we pray that President Trump and all our elected leaders will similarly and earnestly seek to hear from heaven in these fragile and consequential days.

Presidents as Fathers: Which Was the Best?

What kind of father do presidents of the United States make?

On the eve of Father’s Day weekend, consider some of the advice occupants of the Oval Office have offered their children.

Donald Trump, who holds the distinction of being the 45th and 47th president, has long touted the simple and straightforward counsel he’s given all four of his children.

“I always said the same thing,” President Trump told the New York Post. “I said: no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes. I also would say don’t get tattoos, but I don’t say it too strongly, because a lot of people have gotten tattoos, and that’s what they choose to do.”

Trump’s brother Fred was an alcoholic who tragically died of the disease. As a teetotaler, the president offers toasts at special dinners with glasses of Diet Coke.

Back in 2004, Trump, who was married twice prior to First Lady Melania Trump, did an interview with New York Magazine where he bluntly said, “I’m a really good father, but not a really good husband. You’ve probably figured out my children really like me — love me — a lot.”

What about previous presidents?

President Joe Biden has reportedly urged his children to focus on the personal concerns and interests of others.

“The most successful and happiest people I’ve known understand that a good life at its core is about being personal,” the former president stated.

“It’s about being engaged. It’s about being there for a friend or a colleague when they’re injured or in an accident, remembering the birthdays, congratulating them on their marriage, celebrating the birth of their child. It’s about being available to them when they’re going through personal loss. It’s about loving someone more than yourself.”

Former president Barack Obama urged his two daughters, “Don’t let your hunger for success keep you from enjoying life.”

“What we try to encourage is the sense that it’s not somebody else’s job, it’s your job,” Obama reflected. “That’s an ethic that they’ve embraced. You have to be persistent.”

President George W. Bush, who was famously influenced by his own father, the 41st president, credits his decision to give up drinking alcohol with enabling him to be an engaged and loving dad.

As president, Bush regularly urged his daughters to live “normal” lives. “Your mother and I are living our lives,” he told them. “And that’s what we raised you to do: live yours.”

When Michael Reagan was about to get married, President Reagan wrote him the following letter:

You’ve heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the ‘unhappy marrieds’ and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

… Sure, there will be moments when you will see someone or think back to an earlier time and you will be challenged to see if you can still make the grade, but let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life. Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn’t take all that much manhood.

It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music.

…There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.”

Other notable and involved Oval Office dads have included Teddy Roosevelt, John Adams (whose son grew up to also be president), John F. Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush.

Of course, the very best fatherly advice comes not from presidents but from the Bible. Scripture urges fathers to train their children in His ways (Proverbs 22:6), discipline accordingly (Proverbs 3:11-12) and yet be mindful to not exasperate boys and girls as they raise them “in the instruction and discipline of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Which president has been the best father? It’s an impossible question to answer, but you can be sure each one, whether they demonstrate it well or not, has loved his child or children just as much as you love yours.

Image from Getty.

White House Considers Taking Billions from Harvard; Giving to Trade Schools Instead

The White House has declared it is considering taking $3 billion in federal funds away from Harvard University, which rests on a fat $53.2 billion endowment – the largest in the world – and giving the money to trade schools in order to educate working class Americans in meaningful, highly productive trades.

On Sunday morning, the White House posted:

Focus on the Family and Daily Citizen strongly applaud this policy proposal. The reason is simple. Getting young men good paying jobs is fundamental for good family formation. Many young women will tell you that they are having a hard time finding marriageable men. Men will tell you they are disinclined to seek a wife when they do not have the means to support her and children.

Recent research conducted jointly at Yale, Cornell and Harvard notes that “economic outcomes for other non-college men have sharply declined, accompanied by a drop in marriage rates for non-college women.” These women are not likely to marry men who have no or very little real career prospects.

It has long been documented how workforce participation among men has been declining in our nation. You can see the declining trend line for male employment in the United States here. It is not an encouraging picture.

In a 2022 update to his very important book, Men Without Work, American Enterprise scholar Nicholas Eberstadt explains,

Job openings so exceed the ranks of America’s un-working prime-age men (those twenty-five to fifty-four neither working nor looking for work) that every member of this idle army could be placed in a job, and there would still be more than 3.9 million jobs awaiting candidates

He adds, “The average monthly work rate for prime-age men is lower that it was in March 1940.” We are currently doing worse than Depression-era employment for able-bodied men. That is a national tragedy.

The power of trade schools are a secret weapon in helping young men gain the confidence, skills and income they need to make them a more attractive mates to young women. While serving as a U.S. senator from Florida, Marco Rubio released an important 2023 report entitled “The State of the Working (and Non-Working) Man.” In that report, he warned that in order to prepare the next generation of American men to engage in civic and employment life, we must “change teaching practices, encourage marriage, and connect young men with vocational training and jobs.”

He added, “The federal government spends about $175 billion each year supporting postsecondary education and a tiny fraction of that amount on vocational education and training.” Our nation should be pumping a large portion of the billions it contributes to college education into helping young men learn powerful vocational and technical skills that could rebuild their confidence, launch new and meaningful trade careers and help establish new marriages and families, thus giving rebirth to our nation.

Marco Rubio contends, “The results could be transformational.” We think he is right, and we strongly support the president’s new announcement to put more national support behind vocational and technical training for men and women.

Image from Shutterstock.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Sign ‘Take It Down’ Act

President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law today.

The legislation targets nonconsensual sharing of nude and explicit images online.

“This will be the first ever federal law to combat the distribution of explicit images posted without subject’s consent,” Mr. Trump spoke alongside First Lady Melania Trump at Monday’s signing ceremony.

“We will not tolerate online exploitation.”

The Take It Down Act targets three common kinds of online exploitation — “revenge porn,” explicit AI-deepfakes and sextortion — by making it illegal to share, or threaten to share, explicit images of a person online without their permission.

Penalties apply equally to real and AI-generated images.

“With the rise of AI image generation, women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will,” the President addressed AI abuse specifically.

“It’s just so horribly wrong … Today, we’re making it totally illegal.”

Focus on the Family’s Vice President of External Relations, Tim Goeglein, attended the ceremony on Focus’ behalf.

“Those of us at Focus on the Family in Washington have championed this outstanding legislation from the beginning,” he told the Daily Citizen, expounding:

The strength of this law is that it builds in real safeguards for people who have been immeasurably damaged and hurt.
Although it doesn’t happen very often in Washington, it was heartening that so many members of Congress worked together in a bipartisan manner to get this over the finish line.

First Lady Melania Trump, who helped shepherd the Take It Down Act through Congress, also thanked Congressmembers for putting politics aside in favor of passing the bill. She signed the legislation after the president, who thanked her for her leadership.

“America is blessed to have such a dedicated and compassionate first lady,” he praised.

The Take It Down Act helps parents protect their children in what can often feel like a lawless online universe. The Daily Citizen is grateful for the first family’s leadership and legislators’ willingness to pass family-first legislation.

To learn more about the Take It Down Act, and why its so important, click on our coverage below.

Additional Articles and Resources

First Lady Melania Trump Celebrates House’s Passage of Take it Down Act

First Lady Melania Trump Celebrates Committee passage of Bill Targeting Revenge Porn, Sextortion and Explicit Deepfakes

First Lady Supports Bill Targeting Deepfakes, Sextortion and Revenge Porn

Teen Boys Falling Prey to Financial Sextortion — Here’s What Parents Can Do

Meta Takes Steps to Prevent Kids From Sexting

Instagram’s Sextortion Safety Measures — Too Little, Too Late?

Zuckerberg Implicated in Meta’s Failures to Protect Children

Instagram Content Restrictions Don’t Work, Tests Show

‘The Dirty Dozen List’ — Corporations Enable and Profit from Sexual Exploitation

Taylor Swift Deepfakes Should Inspire Outrage — But X Isn’t to Blame