President Trump addresses his largest TV audience ever during an interview before the Super Bowl yesterday

Peter Barry Chowka   

"Trust Elon? Oh, he’s not gaining anything. In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it. He’s so into it. But I told him do that. Then I’m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. He’s going to find the same thing. Then I’m going to go to the military. Let’s check the military. We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. But I campaigned on this, Bret."

"During the 59th Super Bowl pre-game program yesterday on the FOX broadcast network, an interview with President Donald Trump was featured. It was recorded on Friday at Mar-a-Lago and conducted by FOX News’s chief anchor Bret Baier. The all-day coverage of the “big game” on FOX was expected to attract one of the largest audiences of viewers in U.S. television history, on the order of 100 million people or more. President Trump, like several of his predecessors (including Barack Obama), was therefore smart to participate.

"Meanwhile, on game day, the president flew from Florida to New Orleans to be the first president in history to attend in-person a Super Bowl game. During the flight, the president, while sitting at his desk on Air Force One, met with a small gaggle of White House reporters for about 30 minutes and answered their questions.

"A transcript of President Trump’s interview with Bret Baier is below, modified slightly for brevity and clarity. (Video link can be found here.) ". . .

. . ."Before returning the FOX broadcast network’s coverage to the pre-game show, Baier announced that more of his interview with President Trump will run on Special Report, the hour long newscast he anchors tonight on the FOX News channel at 6 PM ET."

I am a Jordanian Palestinian and I support Trump’s settlement plans for Gazans

Then let us pray that Jordan never is run by an Ayatollah. TD

Mudar Zahran

The international community must listen to what Palestinians actually want instead of imposing impractical solutions crafted by out-of-touch bureaucrats. President Trump is publicly stating what most Palestinians and Jordanians privately believe. As a businessman, he offers a practical solution to a conflict that has been endlessly theorized but never resolved. 

"President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Gaza’s Palestinians relocate to Jordan and Egypt on a “short term or long term” basis has been dismissed as diplomatically “unprecedented.”

"The critics are wrong.

"Jordan is a majority Palestinian state ruled by an ethnic Hashemite monarchy of fewer than 100 people. If Palestinians have a “right of return,” it’s to Jordan. Palestinians in the West Bank/Judea & Samaria and Gaza were Jordanian and remain so, despite the Hashemite Kingdom’s abandonment of them.

"Jordan and Egypt oppose assuming responsibility for the Palestinians. “They will,” says President Trump. He is right — both historically and legally. Jordan’s own nationality law confirms that Palestinians are legally Jordanian. According to Jordanian Nationality Law No. (6) of 1954: "Anyone who held Palestinian nationality before May 15, 1948, and habitually resided in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between December 20, 1949, and February 16, 1954, is considered a Jordanian citizen."

"In 1951, Jordan’s Hashemite regime declared sovereignty over Palestinian territories designated for Arabs under the U.N. Partition Plan. The Jericho Conference formalized this, with Palestinians recognizing the Hashemites as "Kings of Palestine." Consequently, every resident of Gaza was considered a Jordanian citizen between 1949 and 1954. By rejecting Trump’s proposal, the Hashemite regime violates international law, which prohibits rendering individuals stateless or denying them entry into their own country.

"Jordan occupies 78% of British Mandate Palestine. The British installed the Hashemites as rulers until 1946. In 1949, Jordan revoked Palestinians' British Palestinian passports and replaced them with Jordanian passports. Most Gazans are refugees from areas previously controlled by Jordan’s Hashemite regime, making them Jordanian citizens by ancestry with the right to return.

"Like many post-colonial Arab states, Jordan is an artificial entity. It lacked its own passport until 1949, relying instead on British-issued Palestinian passports. The UN only recognized Jordan as a as a state in 1955. It also had no currency of its own until 1951, using the British-issued Palestinian pound, which bore the inscription "Palestine/Eretz Israel – Land of Israel.". . .  .

Profile in Courage: Trump’s Gaza Proposal 

"Palestinian children surely deserve better than being raised in Hamas’ incubator of hatred."

Trump’s Gaza proposal may not be viable, but at least we’ve moved away from the constant reiteration of the unworkable “two-state” solution.

"Debra Saunders’ treatment of the idea was also very good. What I’d say is a few things. First, there’s the old admonition: Take Trump seriously, not literally."

Marco Rubio, not Obama, on Cuba

Silvio Canto, Jr.

We tried engagement under President Obama and opened an embassy. What did it get us? Nothing but Russian military ships stopping in Havana Harbor. 

"Don't expect Secretary Marco Rubio to visit Havana and watch a ball game with Raul Castro. Not Rubio. In fact, the Trump-Rubio team is sending a totally different message. Here is the story:

Since the first days of the Republican administration, Rubio has been putting pressure on the island. In a press release last Friday, he made it clear that his government was reversing any measures taken by Biden that could benefit Cuba, and reported the new sanctions, which represent another economic blow to Havana. Among these is the reactivation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, also known as the LIBERTAD Act, which opens the way for Americans to take legal action against companies or people who handle “assets confiscated by the Cuban regime” after 1959.

Rubio also revealed that on January 31 he reactivated the so-called Cuba Restricted List, which prohibits transactions with companies under the control of Cuban military groups, such as the GAESA conglomerate, the business group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), which controls a large part of the hotel complexes, hard currency stores, travel agencies, financial services and other areas of the economy. According to the State Department, it is a way “to deny resources to the very branches of the Cuban regime that directly oppress and surveil the Cuban people while controlling large swaths of the country’s economy.”

"This is refreshing and the kind of hard line needed." . . .

His wife and daughters murdered, his brother declared dead

World Israel News

But his story is not just one of abduction, it is a family tragedy. His wife, Lianne, and their two daughters, 13-year-old Yahel and 16-year-old Noya, were murdered. He now has to face the harrowing reality that his immediate family has been wiped out. 

. . ."The murdered wife, the young son waiting to see him: The story of Or Levy

"The couple arrived at the Supernova music festival nine minutes before hell broke loose. As the Gazan rockets rained down, they ran for shelter. Or called his mother, Geula, and told her, “Mom, you don’t want to know what’s happening here.” That was the last time his family heard his voice over the phone.

"Ten minutes later, Hamas terrorists threw grenades and opened fire in all directions. Einav was murdered, and Or was abducted into the tunnels of Gaza.

The boy who keeps asking about his parents

"Or, a software developer by profession, is the father of Almog, who celebrated his third birthday without his parents. He has been raised by his grandparents, and as time passes, his memories of his mother and father are fading. 

“Almog keeps asking about his mom and dad,” said his uncle, Michael, in a speech at the U.N. “Even when we try to explain, he doesn’t understand why he can’t see his father or what the words ‘Mom is never coming back’ mean. But this boy can still get his father back. Don’t let him become an orphan from his father too.”

The abduction footage

"The Hamas terrorist organization has not released any documentation of Or Levy from captivity, nor has it been reported in the media who among the hostages has seen him or when. However, two videos shed light on what happened to him.

"The first is footage from the bomb shelter that has since been dubbed the “death shelter,” capturing the moments of terror.

"Michael, Or’s brother, described the harrowing video:" . . .

Meanwhile the people of Gaza ate well and grew fat:

California plans to continue allowing trans athletes to compete in girls' sports despite Trump executive order

FoxNews/ MSN 

"California Code of Regulations section 4910(k) defines gender as, "A person’s actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person’s perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person’s sex at birth.'"

"The State of California and its public school athletics association has indicated it will not fall in line with President Donald Trump's latest executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls' and women's sports. 

"The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state's law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

"The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records," a CIF statement said. 

"California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey told Fox News Digital that her state's intent to defy Trump's executive order has made her feel "disgusted." 

" 'I am disgusted that CIF is disregarding yesterday's executive order and instead doubling down on policies that are not only unfair, but dangerous for young women across California. By prioritizing their idol of transgender ideology over the safety and rights of female athletes, they are knowingly exposing high school girls to unsafe competition and stripping them of opportunities guaranteed for them under Title IX," Lorey told Fox News Digital.

"'One day, the CIF board will look back and realize they chose to be on the wrong side of history. They will have to answer for why they sacrificed the safety, fairness, and dignity of young girls to bow to an ideological agenda. But the rest of us will not stand by while female athletes are illegally prevented from competing fairly in their own sports." . . .

Shamefully, CA Gov. Newsom Signs $50M ‘Trump-Proofing’ State Legislative Package

Legal Insurrection

Meanwhile, by clearing away bureaucratic debris and ensuring the wildfire-destroyed area rebuilds aren’t subject to “climate crisis” idiocy. Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell is the de facto governor of the Golden State.

Hard no, @GavinNewsom.
This is why we must have strings on the Federal money we send to California.
Without commonsense reforms, @GavinNewsom and his cronies will ensure we have another catastrophic fire without water available to fight it. https://t.co/CSvNa3VZnG

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 7, 2025

 "Gavin Newsom just said the Pacific Palisades will have to be rebuilt considering “climate change.” RIP Pacific Palisades."

Broc Smith

"Legal Insurrection readers may recall that in the wake of the Greater Los Angeles wildfires, the state Legislature considered spending $50 million “Trump-proofing” the state: $25 million for lawfare, and $25 million for supporting illegal immigrants."

"The move was tone-deaf and poorly received by all voters, red and blue alike.

"The state legislature consequently tabled it—temporarily.

"While the rest of the nation has been focused on President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) exposing the vast amount of waste, fraud, and abuse in our government agencies, California Democrats voted for it and Governor Gavin Newsom signed it."

Newsom said the bill will “bolster funding for legal services programs that are vital to safeguarding the civil rights of California’s most vulnerable residents, including people with disabilities, youth who are homeless, victims of human trafficking and wage theft, people facing unlawful evictions, immigrants and more.

“None of the funding in this bill is intended to be used for immigration-related legal services for noncitizens convicted of serious or violent felonies,” he added in a signing statement.

The package, which was passed by the state Senate and Assembly, allocates $25 million to the California Department of Justice to support legal battles against Trump’s federal policies, including environmental regulations and illegal immigration. An additional $25 million is designated for legal aid groups to assist illegal immigrants facing potential deportation.

Newsom lobbed hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration during Trump’s first term.

Trump: No Security Clearances for the People Who Framed Him for Crimes

Robert Spencer

"Putting country over party is a quaint idea. No one talks that way anymore. But by taking decisive action against this gang of conspirators that so flagrantly put party over country, Trump is taking a major step toward making things right."

"The left is screaming that all these are acts of vengeance. But that is not what is happening at all. Donald Trump is restoring some health and sanity to the American government, and every American owes him a debt of gratitude.

"Though few noticed or realized the full implications of what was happening, the nation has passed through an extremely dangerous period. When Old Joe Biden and his henchmen decided to wage lawfare against Trump, they corrupted the justice system and endangered the very idea of a loyal opposition that the majority allowed to operate freely in an atmosphere of mutual respect. 

"Combine the Biden regime’s lawfare with its efforts to silence dissidents on social media, and Old Joe and the people who were running him were setting us on the path to a one-party state in which only one political perspective would be allowed to be heard. 

"Now Trump is striking back against all that. The New York Post reported Saturday that Trump “has ordered security clearances stripped from a new hit list of antagonists.” This makes it sound as if Trump’s acts are strictly personal, and there certainly is a personal aspect to them, as everyone whose security clearance Trump revoked was in on the effort to frame and destroy him. But this goes far, far beyond matters of personal pique.

"First, there was the security clearance of Old Joe Biden himself, because, Trump quite rightly noted, “I don’t trust him.” Now Trump has also revoked the security clearance of one of Old Joe’s primary hatchet men, former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who, according to the Post, “orchestrated the ‘Dirty 51’ letter from former intelligence officials on the eve of the 2020 election.” . . .

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 29 books, including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad, The History of Jihad, The Critical Qur’an, and Muhammad: A Critical Biography. His latest book is Antisemitism: History and Myth. 

Miranda Devine posted: Just days after revoking Joe Biden’s access to classified information and secure federal buildings — “because I don’t trust him” — Trump said his new top target is ex-Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who orchestrated the “Dirty 51” letter from former intelligence officials on the eve of the 2020 election.

. . ." 'This is to take away every right they have [revoking security clearances] including they can’t go into [federal] buildings.”  "New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg join the new group of eight Democrat foes Trump plans to punish by revoking any access to classified information and barring their entry to federal facilities."

Trump is Forcing the World to Face Its Hypocrisies on the Palestinians and Gaza

Even knowing that if it can be done, Trump is he who could do it in royal style. Please explain how this is different from our owning Iraq back in the nineties. TD

 Fred Fleitz   "Trump’s radical Gaza plan—U.S. ownership, mass relocation, and a “Riviera” rebuild—forces the world to confront long-ignored Palestinian hypocrisies." 

 But President Trump succeeded in getting the world talking about decades-old hypocrisies concerning the Palestinians and Gaza that have caused instability in the Middle East to grind on year after year.

"You could see heads exploding in the Middle East, the international media, and among Republicans and Democrats during President Trump’s February 4 joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he raised stunning new proposals for the U.S. to take over, “own,” and rebuild the Gaza Strip so it can become “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump also repeated his earlier call to relocate two million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.

"Predictably, Trump’s critics harshly condemned his proposals, calling them unrealistic, imperialism, ethnic cleansing, morally bankrupt, etc. But just like their rejection of Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, his critics offered no solutions for the hypocrisies Trump raised about the Gaza crisis.

"On February 5, Trump’s advisers responded to questions about Trump’s new Gaza ideas. White House Press Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt noted that President Trump has not committed to sending troops to Gaza and will not spend U.S. funds rebuilding it. National Security Adviser Michael Waltz said President Trump’s ideas would “bring the entire region to come with their own solutions.”

"Yesterday, the president clarified but also doubled down on his new Gaza proposals. In a February 6 Truth Social post, the president said no U.S. soldiers would be needed for his plan, Israel would turn over Gaza to the U.S. after the fighting ends, and Palestinians would be resettled in a safer area. President Trump added about his Gaza reconstruction proposal:

" 'The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the world, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.' ” . . .

Fred Fleitz previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.

A vile new low for Hamas: Their torturous release of three Israeli hostages

 Monica Showalter . . ."One of the hostages, Eli Sharabi, spent 500 days in Hamas tunnel captivity, never told once by Hamas that they had murdered the rest of his family. "For fun, they had him make this video upon his release, describing his hopes for seeing them upon his return. They giggled and waved their guns in the background as they did: 

"Then Sharabi was told upon his return that his entire family had in fact been murdered:"

 Not “killed”. Murdered. Eli Sharabi’s scream upon learning his wife and daughters’ fate will haunt all those responsible all the way to hell. Earlier today, during the Gaza “ceremony”, Hamas had already gleefully told him that his brother was dead.

"Just when you think Hamas can't can't any viler, any morally fouler, any lower on the totem pole of recognizable decency, their release of the latest group of Israeli hostages imprisoned in Gaza's tunnels for 500 days in a ceasefire deal on Saturday will disabuse you of such delusions.

"According to the New York Times:

Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinians jailed by Israel, in a staged handover where rifle-toting Hamas fighters prodded their gaunt captives to give short speeches, effectively at gunpoint, thanking the militants who had held them captive for 16 months.

...

Greta's people!

For Hamas, the heavily choreographed hostage handover reinforced the group’s message that, despite a devastating war in the Gaza Strip that killed thousands of its members and much of its leadership, the group remains in power there, defying Israeli leaders’ vow to wipe it out.

In a statement on the hostage release, l'clccc'lycl'ylyymymymyim6ymymt2wwww2wHamas said, “This confirms that our people and their resistance have the upper hand.”

Hamas claims it has treated its captives benevolently, but many Israelis saw the images as almost unbearable evidence to the contrary. Three frail, painfully thin hostages were paraded on a stage before a crowd in the city of Deir al-Balah, each holding a Hamas-issued “release certificate,” and made to mouth words written for them.

. . ."Many Israelis? Did the Times say 'many'? Perhaps they should tell us about the ones who weren't. You don't even have to be Israeli to be utterly disgusted by Hamas's torturous, hateful, release of criminally held hostages by moral monsters." . . .

Report says Eli Sharabi did not know his wife and two daughters were killed on October 7    Barely back in Israel, Eli asked, “Where are they?!” This is heartbreaking.

Put this man on suicide watch!

Bibi Netanyahu has been bringing justice to the murderers of Israeli families but not all Democrat members of Congress like that:

What has the American left become that so many support people such as this?

Now We Know Who was Running the Country for Joe Biden

 PJ Media; Matt Margolis  

"The idea that Hunter Biden, with no security clearance, was allegedly dictating the flow of information to his father is a much bigger deal than Elon Musk going after government waste, don’t you think?" . . .

"Have you noticed how leftists are losing their minds over Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to expose rampant waste and corruption? As Musk uncovers shocking levels of mismanagement and even actions aiding America’s enemies, critics have launched coordinated attacks on him, implying that he’s the one who is actually running the White House.

“ 'No one voted for Elon Musk!” they say.

"Time Magazine’s latest issue has joined the fray, featuring Musk seated confidently at the Resolute Desk—a symbolic jab suggesting he's really the one in charge. The outrage is ironic, considering the same voices now wailing about Musk’s alleged control were silent while Joe Biden spent four years clearly not running the White House. 

"Why does this matter? Well, we now have fresh allegations from Lindy Li, a former Democratic National Committee (DNC) insider, about who was running the White House for Joe Biden.

"And it’s quite terrifying.

"Once a proud fundraiser for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Li has turned into an insider spilling the Democratic Party's most closely held secrets—and, boy, does she have stories. 

"Her revelations pull back the curtain on what has been described as a chaotic and delusional 2024 campaign for the Democrats, which spectacularly collapsed under the weight of its own hubris. Li has revealed intriguing insider details about how Joe Biden was ultimately ousted, and what Pelosi and Obama really think of Kamala. Back in December, she revealed new dirt on Joe Biden’s mental decline. “The president has not been cognitively fit to assume the duties of the Oval Office for a number of years now,” she told Fox News. "And it breaks my heart because I know President Biden and I love the man, but he is in no shape or form able to carry out the duties that the Commander in Chief requires, and it's just devastating.”

Video: "Hunter commandeered the White House": Lindy Li

The media's and the Democrats’ hypocrisy is glaring. They attack Elon Musk for exposing waste, accusing him of having too much power without having been elected, while their lack of scrutiny during the Biden presidency allowed for an unelected crack addict to run the country.

Jim Acosta and the Tyranny of the Liberal Media

 American Spectator  

"Acosta appears now, per some reports, to be headed to Substack. But wherever he is headed, it is a safe bet that Jim Acosta will continue to represent the tyranny of a powerful left-wing tyranny."

. . . "USA Today headlined his departure this way: “Why is Jim Acosta leaving CNN? Anchor, Trump critic warns not to ‘bow down’ to tyranny.” (RELATED: Pity the Media?)

"USA Today reported this from Acosta on a trip to Cuba. (Acosta is of Cuban descent.)

“[I] had the chance to question the dictator there, Raul Castro, about the island’s political prisoners,” Acosta said on air. “As the son of a Cuban refugee, I took home the lesson … it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant. I have always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account.”

"OK. Full stop.

"First, I knew Jim when at CNN myself. We disagreed on politics but I found him a likable, nice guy as a colleague. (A description, I should add, that fits all the rest of my CNN colleagues.)

"In departing CNN, though, Jim Acosta, unintentionally one suspects, has put his finger on exactly what’s wrong with the so-called “mainstream” media.

"Here again, is Acosta saying that “it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant” and that “it’s the job of the press to hold power to account.” He is also quoted as saying:

“Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth. And to hope, even if you have to get out your phone, record that message,” he said.

“I will not give in to the lies. I will not give in to the fear. Post it on your social media, so people can hear from you, too.”

"Amazing.

"What Acosta ignores completely, whether deliberately or unconsciously, is this question. Which is: Who holds the powerful press to account? And if it’s “never a good time to bow down to a tyrant” then three cheers to those who refuse to bow down to the tyranny of a self-absorbed, all-powerful press.

"What better illustration of refusing to bow down to the tyranny of the press than that famous showdown between Acosta and President Trump at a long ago Trump press conference." . . .

I would love to see conservatives turn the tables on the press, making them answer questions, probing those yellow journalists themselves. TD

Elon Musk: Medicare and Medicaid “Wasted $100B of Taxpayer Money”

 Jim Hᴏft

"If this is the case, expect more fraud to be uncovered in this system in the coming days."

Elon Musk, who is leading the charge under President Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced on his social media platform X that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wasted a staggering “$100 billion of taxpayer money.”

"On Wednesday, Musk’s team, along with two senior veterans from the agency, has been meticulously reviewing the CMS’s payment and contracting systems, which are crucial for managing health insurance for approximately one in every four Americans, according to far-left USA Today.

“CMS has two senior Agency veterans – one focused on policy and one focused on operations – who are leading the collaboration with DOGE, including ensuring appropriate access to CMS systems and technology,” the agency said in a statement to Reuters.

"The DOGE team was granted read-only access to the system.

"Their mission, as outlined by Andrew G. Nixon, the HHS director of communications, is to identify “opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources” in alignment with President Trump’s efficiency agenda." . . .

Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.