Last week, the national debt topped $40 trillion for the first time in our history. Of that amount, almost half was added since 2019. We are now spending more to service the debt than we spend on national defense. The national debt was 54.6% of gross domestic product ? the total value of goods and services produced ? in 2001. Today, it is approximately 124% of GDP and rising. Much of the debt stems from mandatory spending, including Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, veterans’ benefits and Obamacare subsidies. Still, Congress cannot resist piling on more spending. Democrats went on a spending spree during the COVID-19 emergency. The 2021 infrastructure bonanza was bipartisan. Waiting in the wings are the Democratic Socialists of America with “Medicare for All” (costing $30 trillion to $40 trillion over 10 years), free college tuition ($28 billion to $75 billion in the first year), free childcare, reparations for slavery, large-scale public investments tied to the Green New Deal and so on. Part of the debt is owned by foreign governments. Japan is the largest outside holder of our debt, holding about $1.2 trillion. Tokyo is currently selling U.S. bonds to shore up its currency. While it is true that much of the debt is owned by U.S. investors, what happens when they stop buying, say, during a serious economic downturn? Politicians such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, want the Treasury to inflate the currency. However, that hurts savers, particularly retirees, whose money will buy less and less. There is also the crowding-out effect. The greater the portion of the national debt spent on interest, the less there is available for the necessary functions of government.

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he cited our national debt, then over $9 trillion, as irresponsible and ruinous. That debt has since ballooned to $40 trillion. We now pay more to service the debt than we do for any other single item, including the military. Congress’ one real job is to manage the budget, yet when the department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attempted to reign in the federal bureaucracy, every cut was fought tooth and nail. Now, when our Justice Department is trying to identify and eliminate undeniable massive fraud within federal programs, it too is fought by those meant to be guarding the nation’s purse. Every taxpayer should be outraged. It’s all too obvious that our government has become a massive money-laundering machine used to keep the current power structure in place. As those who have been deeply in personal debt already know, cutting the national debt will be painful. However, whatever pain we suffer will be far less than if we continue to ignore it. That path leads to bankruptcy and a drastic devaluation of our money and destructive inflation followed by industry grinding to a halt and a scarcity of goods, then bread lines, black markets and starvation. We’ve seen this scenario play out in nation after nation around the world. If we are to avoid this future, massive reform is needed. This will require a budget that forbids new borrowing and requires no new spending that is not accompanied by a bigger cut to existing spending. In addition, our gargantuan government and its supporting bureaucracy must be put on a strict diet that cuts the “fat.” Fraud must be diligently identified and prosecuted. Finally, we must stop electing the same politicians who brought us here. That said, we must also avoid falling for new faces who promise more “free” goodies. Their empty promises are not the reform we need and their dream of a socialist Utopia is at best unrealistic. Whenever tested, such dreams have proven disastrous.

According to a 2019 release by the FBI, “China is the world’s principal infringer of intellectual property, and it uses its laws and regulations to put foreign companies at a disadvantage and its own companies at an advantage.” The cost of Chinese and other nations’ theft of intellectual property ? pirated software, aircraft designs and much more ? is estimated to be between $225 billion and $600 billion annually. The Chinese espionage effort, which includes its theft of intellectual property, reached Lockheed-Martin and its suppliers. In 2007 and 2008, it stole terrabytes of design data on the F-35 strike aircraft. China’s J-35 stealth aircraft bears a strong visible resemblance to the F-35. The United States is probably equal to China now in the development of artificial intelligence, but how long can that last if China simply steals what it needs to know to propel its own efforts? Since President Trump entered his second term, U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) has taken a more offensive approach and strategy. Gen. Joshua Rudd, commander of USCYBERCOM and director of the National Security Agency, testified before Congress on June 5: “China seeks a world order more amenable to the Chinese Communist Party’s vision and ideology ? and views cyber as a critical domain for modern warfare. Not only is China confronting us in cyberspace, it is also expanding its sway in the Pacific while insisting that it is only acting to defend itself. China has constructed a substantial cyberspace operations force, supported by capable and adaptive enablers in its native defense, cybersecurity, and information technology industries.” USCYBERCOM acts by “persistent engagement,” taking the initiative daily by hunting and contesting adversary networks and “defending forward,” operating on foreign networks to identify malware, mapping adversary infrastructure, and neutralizing threats at their source. But is that enough? China is our adversary, regardless of how President Trump feels about Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It must be treated accordingly.

Is your refrigerator spying on you? If it was manufactured in China, it could be. About five years ago, a friend of mine bought a drone for his teenage son. The two of them took it out to a shooting club, of which we are both members, and flew it around, taking videos of the scenery and of them breaking clay targets. The most interesting part of this story is that my friend signed onto the manufacturer’s website a few weeks later and found the videos he and his son had taken online for everyone to see. The drone had obviously invaded his home’s internet and broadcast the videos back to China. Is this sort of event a commonplace? We don’t know because so many appliances ? from drones to refrigerators and dishwashers ? are manufactured by China under several trade names including LG (i.e. “Lucky Goldstar”). Now we are informed that one or more British naval drones sent data back to an internet address in China. The U.K. Ministry of Defence tells us that the data wasn’t sensitive information and that the sending was detected in a routine security check. Righto, and carry on, old chap. It’s pretty obvious that the ministry hasn’t a clue as to which data was sent to China or what value it had to the Chinese. Was it data on how fast or maneuverable the naval drones were? Was it trivia, such as how fast the drones could sail, or data on where they had been stationed? Last December, the Federal Communications Commission banned all drones and critical components made in foreign countries. That’s a good step, but much damage has already been done. The whole point is that the drones - like my friend’s and the British ones - are all part of a clear Chinese effort to steal and assemble data relating to damn near everything the West does. China’s population is about 1.4 billion people, which means that it has enough eyes and hands to gather whatever data it wishes.

A Chinese national pleaded guilty on Monday to illegally attempting to buy and export to China restricted U.S. military equipment used for communicating with satellites. The case highlights Beijing’s preparations for targeting American satellites in a future conflict and bolstering its military communications. Dingwei Chen, 29, pleaded guilty in federal court in Utah to violating the Arms Export Control Act for trying to obtain military-grade satellite modems and radios from three U.S. defense contractors. Chen worked covertly with several others in attempting to buy and smuggle the satellite communications modems, court documents state. Amid growing U.S.-China tensions over Taiwan, Senate intelligence oversight legislators want U.S. intelligence agencies to set up a special unit to monitor warning signs of a Chinese assault on the self-rule island. A section of the fiscal 2027 intelligence authorization bill would require Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who was sworn into office on Aug. 3, and Bradley Hansell, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, to create the new intelligence group. The bill language calls for the new China-Taiwan Strategic Warning Task Force to be set up within two months of passage of the annual intelligence law. The goal of the task force will be to “lead the efforts of the intelligence community with respect to providing indications and warning of any military aggression by the People’s Republic of China against Taiwan.” U.S. intelligence officials worried the United States would be unable to spot the early warning signs of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The assessment stated that PLA modernization, stepped-up operational activity and the use of civilian ferries during military exercises near Taiwan were “eroding” U.S. intelligence agencies’ efforts to detect unusual activity or preparation for “an attack on Taiwan.”

Gen. Whiting said China’s space weapons can target vital U.S. military satellites used for both warning and defense missions. The Chinese military is “in no uncertain terms expanding military options for sustained offensive operations against the satellites we rely on to defend the homeland and project power,” he said. “These developments intend to degrade our current space superiority and would potentially give China a maneuver and logistics advantage in space, something we would never accept on the land, at sea or in the air,” Gen. Whitting said. Counterspace weapons are one of four areas where Beijing is moving “breathtakingly fast,” he said. The threats are not future possibilities seen in war games and simulations but are real now, Gen. Whiting said. “They exist today and we have to face them.” China also has built a space architecture that allows the PLA army, navy, and air rocket force to increase the range, power and precision of attacks by leveraging space systems, he said. A third tool is the PLA’s development of a space-based targeting system to hold American forces at risk through advanced command and control and related technology. The system “can find, fix, track, target and then provide that data back to Chinese over-the-horizon fires to hold at risk our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marine Corps, and that is something now we collectively have to face,” Gen. Whiting said. A fourth element of growing Chinese military space power is a rapidly built, orbiting maneuver and sustainment capability, he said. “Last year we saw them demonstrate refueling of two satellites on orbit, possibly some kind of servicing as well,” he said.

China’s military is expanding an array of space warfare weapons that pose a major threat to American satellites and the military operations they support, a senior Space Force general said Wednesday. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of the Colorado-based Space Command, said the space weapons deployed by China and Russia are “in some ways getting harder to fight.” “We operate in a domain in which our opponents have built a suite of counterspace capabilities to hold our satellites at risk in all orbital regimes,” Gen. Whiting told the Space & Missile Defense Symposium in Alabama. The four-star general singled out the Chinese Communist Party for what he called its “breathtaking pace of space and counterspace” weapons development. Asked the most significant issue he faces as a commander, Gen. Whiting said: “I think the ongoing greatest challenge is just the speed at which China is moving to rapidly improve their space capabilities and the threat that that potentially poses.” People’s Liberation Army space weapons now include a “robust suite” of arms and capabilities that can blind and deafen U.S. military forces by disrupting and destroying satellites, he said. “These include direct descent [anti-satellite] missiles, ground-based lasers, jammers and maneuverable co-orbital ASATs and dual-use satellites like the SJ-21,” he said. Space Force leaders have warned that China’s Shijian-21 and similar Shiyan maneuvering robot satellites use extension arms that can clear debris and move satellites but also can be weaponized for covert space warfare. In 2025, Gen. Michael Guetlein, then-Space Force vice chief of space operations, said Chinese SJ satellites were observed that year maneuvering around each other in synchronicity and control in what he called orbital “dogfighting” ― a process that can be used to attack and destroy satellites.

The Defense Department revoked former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s access to classified information, accusing the Biden administration official of leaking sensitive details about Air Force One to an unidentified media outlet. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the decision to pull Mr. Kendall’s security clearance also bars him from holding any government-related sensitive position. “This action follows his unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One’s capabilities to a media outlet,” Mr. Parnell said Friday in a statement. “Safeguarding classified information is a non-negotiable duty. Those who violate that trust forfeit the privilege of access and any role requiring it.” The Pentagon did not provide details about the leaks. Still, President Trump’s decision to accept a Boeing 747-8 luxury jumbo jet from Qatar to serve as a temporary presidential plane has drawn significant press scrutiny. The jet, officially known as the VC-25B Bridge, reportedly lacks several defensive capabilities needed to protect the president, such as missile-warning systems, advanced anti-missile countermeasures, and infrared jammers. Mr. Trump used the Qatari jet to fly to the July 7-8 NATO summit in Turkey. Mr. Kendall told National Public Radio last month that he doubted it could have been brought up to Air Force One standards in time. “A month is not enough time to do anything significant. Software could be done. Software changes can be made relatively easily anyplace,” he told NPR. “Hardware modifications? I’m having a hard time imagining any that could be done in a month that are of any serious significance.” A longstanding tradition in Washington allows some high-ranking, former senior officials from past presidential administrations to retain security clearances after they leave office. An incoming administration often consults with former leaders to understand past decisions or historical operations. Letting them maintain access to classified information allows current leaders to quickly bring a former official into classified briefings if a crisis arises.

The democratic socialists, notes Ms. Hoff, claim their brand of socialism differs from the totalitarian regimes because “workers” would govern institutions and not unelected bureaucrats. The two systems are founded on lies, so why should people running on the DSA platform be trusted? Evidence reveals the objectives of socialism and communism. As many as 100 million are estimated to have died at the hands of these totalitarian governments. Xi Van Fleet survived China’s murderous Cultural Revolution. Xi has appeared on many U.S. TV programs, warning Americans about the Maoist-communist tactics and the danger America faces if we allow these economic and political systems to further expand in our politics. Others have testified about economic hardships, loss of liberties and other things Americans take for granted. In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams warned: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” Adams argued that unchecked human passions lead to self-destruction. As I wrote in a previous book, “America’s Expiration Date”, the average age of democracies is 250 years. We are now at our “expiration date.” Inertia from “the greatest generation” will soon run out if we do not renew the principles upon which Adams and the other Founders built the nation. Socialism will lead to our destruction, and once destroyed, it will be nearly impossible to bring back our constitutional republic.

It has become a truism that people who are embracing socialism have never had to live under it and its ideological twin, communism. Young people seem so enamored by these train wrecks that they are willing to vote for the most radical candidates who promise them the moon and claim they can pay for it all by increasing taxes on “millionaires and billionaires.” Hoping to balance the one-sided propaganda about socialism coming from the media and candidates running for office as socialists, Fox News has conducted interviews with people who once lived under these systems. The testimonies are a powerful rebuke to those who believe socialism is the answer to every problem. In a one-week series, correspondent Alexandria Hoff interviewed people who fled the Soviet Union, China, Venezuela and Cuba. Virginia attorney Marina Medvin, who left the Soviet Union, described herself as “overwhelmed” by the abundance of food in U.S. grocery stores. Ms. Hoff says: “Like many who have fled authoritarian socialist regimes, Medvin is alarmed by what she sees as the Democratic Party in America warming to socialist promises.” Ms. Medvin: “They say that the purpose of democratic socialism is to bring equality … but what equality does it bring? That everyone is equally poor? That everyone is equally miserable, everyone is equally depressed?” In Venezuela, reports Ms. Hoff, it took about 15 years for the nationalization of private industries to unravel into social and economic collapse. Daniel Di Martino: “We couldn’t find milk in the grocery store and then we couldn’t find chicken, then we had to line up. The government asked for our ID to buy groceries and assigned us a day of the week to go to the store.” The story of Cuba is well known. Yali Nunez escaped the failed island nation. Ms. Nunez sees democratic socialists in the U.S. blindly embracing what she fled at age 16: “None of these people have spent one day in socialism or communism … they are selling you a story they don’t even understand”