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Hello Reader,
Three words broke Republican ranks. Two struggling men died in the water. One billionaire just launched 25 million dreams. And Minnesota's billion-dollar fraud showed how political correctness can kill accountability.
A More Perfect Union
- The Order Was to Kill Them All
- WaPo Bombshell Shakes the GOP
- The Laws That Bind Us
- 25 Million Dreams, Launched
- Biden's Spiraling Immigration Catastrophe
Color Key: 🟢 Advances liberty 🔴 Restricts liberty.
Note: American Renegade of the Week will return next week.
On Friday, the Washington Post dropped a bombshell that rocked Washington.
"The order was to kill them all."
Pete Hegseth gave the command to authorize strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat on September 2nd, according to WaPo sources with direct knowledge of the operation.
Shortly thereafter, "a missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck."
Minutes later, the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack, Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, "ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth's instructions…The two men were blown apart in the water."
Hegseth immediately called the report "fake news," while Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell claimed the "entire narrative is completely false."
Yet two days later, the White House confirmed the second strike occurred—and that Hegseth had authorized the overall operation. Hegseth later clarified the “fake” part was about his personal involvement in the second strike. He had not made that distinction.
His eventual account—that he authorized the mission, watched the first strike live, then departed without witnessing survivors or directly ordering their deaths—is entirely plausible. Yet the White House has offered no evidence to refute WaPo’s account.
Here's the real problem: Hegseth has a history of reducing complex moral and legal judgments to macho slogans. The difference between " you are cleared to engage" and "kill them all" is significant. The former is a seasoned general. The latter is a talk show host puffing himself up.
Worse yet, Pentagon officials continue to offer absurd justifications: the burning boat threatened navigation: Survivors clinging to wreckage could summon reinforcements.
Full transparency is now an urgent necessity. The congressional investigations are underway. No more excuses. No more justifications. Adults only.
The Post's revelation about the second strike did what seemed impossible: it fractured the fierce GOP loyalty Trump has enjoyed throughout his second term.
GOP Senator Roger Wicker, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, promised "vigorous oversight" and "a full investigation."
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) went further: "I didn't give a damn who it was…that was a violation of ethical, moral and legal code…If the facts play out the way they're currently being reported, then somebody needs to get the hell out of Washington."
But the most damning and pointed criticism—from either party—came from libertarian Senator Rand Paul, who said Hegseth "was either lying…or incompetent."
The evidence supports Paul's fury. In a subsequent October strike, two survivors were rescued by American forces and repatriated to Ecuador and Colombia, then released—without prosecution. Ecuador's attorney general found "no report of a crime," while Colombia released its survivor. Paul noted there was "no mention of any kind of drugs or anything, no evidence, no interrogation.”
Paul revealed more damning data: the Coast Guard confirmed 21% of boats interdicted off Venezuela's coast contained no drugs. Overall, 25% of suspected drug boats carry no contraband—meaning one in four strikes could be killing innocent people.
Paul went on to expose selective White House briefings, saying "I've been offered no briefings, and I think that's purposeful, because I've been skeptical of this,” and that briefings have been “primarily given to people who are already apologists for the administration."
Only Trump-friendly Republicans are getting the facts.
"So as a country, are we just going to let people lie to us, to our face?" Paul demanded.
Good question.
In 2023, cocaine killed nearly 30,000 Americans—up 87% from 2019's 16,000 deaths. Many died from fentanyl contamination, part of America's deadliest opioid epidemic. Decimated communities and grieving families have watched administrations of both parties fail to act decisively.
I've repeatedly expressed skepticism of international law claims in these pages. Every president since Carter has authorized extrajudicial killings—from drone strikes to covert operations. I appreciate Hegseth's determination to shield our military from politically motivated foreign prosecution.
But this case is different.
The United States signed the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Article 12 requires parties to "protect and care for the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked." Those rendered hors de combat—French for out of combat—through shipwreck cannot be intentionally targeted. This principle applies to all persons incapacitated by any cause, establishing that survivors clinging to burning wreckage are legally protected.
More importantly, the Pentagon's own Law of War Manual states plainly: "Persons who have been incapacitated by shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack." The Manual uses firing upon the shipwrecked as its paradigmatic example of what not to do.
These laws exist to protect American servicemembers. When we ignore conventions we've signed and our own military regulations, we invite reciprocal treatment of our troops.
Hegseth invoked the "fog of war"—claiming fire and smoke obscured survivors. Admiral Bradley deserves latitude over split-second combat decisions made under immense pressure.
But a full investigation remains essential—for accountability, and for our own soldiers' protection.
It's fashionable to attack free markets and billionaires these days. Michael and Susan Dell just might make it passé.
Tuesday, the couple pledged $6.25 billion to seed investment accounts for 25 million American children. Not a foundation. Not a research initiative advancing their worldview. Direct capital—$250 per child—deposited into accounts families control.
The money flows through Trump Accounts, created under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. Treasury deposits $1,000 for babies born 2025-2028. The Dell gift extends this to children age 10 and under born before 2025, targeting families in ZIP codes with median incomes below $150,000.
Here's what makes this different.
Trump Accounts aren't Social Security—a Ponzi scheme where tomorrow's workers fund today's retirees. These accounts invest in low-cost index funds. The money compounds. It belongs to the child. Congress can't raid it.
This is economic freedom at work—voluntary action by free people achieving what government redistribution cannot. Dell chose to give. No bureaucrat compelled him. The money goes directly to families who decide how it grows.
Those demanding government "soak the rich" should consider: would bureaucrats have deployed Dell's $6.25 billion better than Dell himself just did? Would punitive European tax rates that prevented Dell from accumulating this wealth have served these 25 million children better?
Consider Bill Gates' foundation. Noble goals. Real impact. But ultimately, one man's vision—a vision that's proven fallible.
Dell's gift inverts this entirely. No strings. No ideology. No grand plan.
This is not one president’s or one billionaire’s vision. This is the launch of 25 million dreams.
Two crimes. One by a madman with a rifle. One a systematic looting of taxpayers stretching across years.
On November 26th, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal—who worked with the CIA during America's war—opened fire on two National Guard members near the White House, killing Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. Days earlier, the New York Times confirmed over $1 billion in pandemic relief was stolen through fraud schemes centered in Minnesota's Somali community.
Governor Tim Walz blamed Minnesota's "generosity" for the theft while retaliating against whistleblowers. When 480 DHS staffers publicly accused him of ignoring early fraud warnings, he deflected.
In response, Trump suspended Afghan asylum processing, ended Temporary Protected Status for multiple nationalities including Somalia's 705 TPS holders, and halted Special Immigrant Visa processing—affecting 180,000 Afghan applications. Terminating TPS for a single state may face legal challenges.
Biden's culpability is undeniable. Operation Allies Welcome rushed the vetting process for 190,000 Afghans—a 2021 Senate memo revealed staff couldn't recognize fraudulent documents and admitted Afghans lacking identification. 55 evacuees later appeared on terrorism watch lists. But America's obligation was real: the Taliban murdered over 6,400 civilians after seizing power. The catastrophe was Biden's botched withdrawal itself, which forced emergency evacuations that proper planning would have avoided.
Yet research shows immigrants commit crimes at far lower rates than native-born Americans—60% less likely to be incarcerated. Chinese, Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants once faced identical accusations, yet went on to make great contributions to American society.
Two things can be true: Biden opened the floodgates without proper vetting, yet most don't deserve deportation. The tragedy of Biden’s withdrawal and Walz’s political sensitivity is that Trump will use them to justify mass removal, sweeping up criminals and deserving families alike.
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