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President Trump's new strategy for dealing with Democrats DHS shutdown and the long airport lines that are coming with it. Shocking new revelations about Iran's missile capabilities and what it might mean for Europe and the rest of the world. A 2028 presidential hopefuls revenge plot against President Trump and Republicans. One more ridiculous California boondoggle. All of that and more in another special Monday. Look ahead from 10 minute drill. Everybody get up. Get up. The story of America is the story of an adventure.
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I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. We are a nation under God and I believe God intended for us to be free.
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Over the weekend, lots of media coverage of the long airport lines across the country as Democrats continue to to hold TSA paychecks hostage. President Trump has announced a new strategy to help deal with that. He's going to send ICE in to help tsa. He posted on Truth Social. The radical left Democrats have hurt so many people with their vicious and uncaring ways. If the Democrats do not allow for just and proper security at our airports and elsewhere throughout our country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before. So what he's going to do is send in ICE, which is fully funded through 2029, to support the TSA, which is not funded, as Democrats continue to hold their paychecks hostage. Now this presents a number of interesting angles, particularly the fact that because Democrats are withholding TSA funding as a protest to ice, they're actually going to get more ICE than they ever wanted before. Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill reportedly are not even meeting with Republicans to discuss a solution. Capitol Hill reporters have reported out conversations from members like Susan Collins who are normally involved in those bring everybody together conversations that normally end shutdowns. Democrats have continued to refuse to even meet with moderate Republicans who might be willing to work with them on a path forward. The other dynamic we've seen in the last few days that we'll cover much more extensively this week is the fact that Democrats continue to propose whack, a mole funding bill so they can say we want to fund tsa. The problem with those bills is each of them only funds individual parts, which would mean that they're continuing to withhold paychecks for things like fema, the Coast Guard Cybersecurity Authority and Secret Service, other parts of dhs. And if Republicans were to agree to a short term fund for one, they would be agreeing, agreeing to a long term shutdown for those other critical homeland security assets. So the other major Senate action of the last week focused on The SAVE act, which we've talked about as a bill to require voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote. Now, Democrats have said they're not actually against voter id, they're against other things in this bill. Ohio Senator John Hust had brought up a bill to call their bluff, which would have just been a basic photo ID bill. And naturally Democrats block that. So to tie together the shutdown and the voter ID fight, President Trump tweeted or posted on Truth Social on Sunday night that he would agree to a $5 billion cut in ICE funding to reopen the DHS department if Democrats would be willing to approve voter ID citizenship to vote and no mail in voting with certain exceptions. I don't know if this compromise will get anyone to the table, but President Trump is showing he's willing to get creative to get everybody moving on this. Over in Iran. Over the weekend, Iran attempted to strike the major US Air base at Diego Garcia using advanced ballistic missiles. Now, what was notable about this is what these ballistic missiles showed is the fact that they can go more than 2,000 miles, which is significantly further than any intelligence had suggested they were capable of before that. Which means that some of these long range missile systems might have the range to reach deeper into the Middle east and even potentially parts of Europe. President Trump, meanwhile, warned Iran that if they don't open the Strait of Hormu, he will attack their power supplies in ways that have never been done before. In Chicago, a Loyola student named Sheridan Gorman was murdered by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Reports so far suggest that it was a random killing by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who came in under Joe Biden. This is going to restart a lot of conversation about immigration enforcement and the longer term consequences of the Biden immigration policies. And also additional risks that come from Democrats continued shutdown of the department. Department of Homeland Security Gavin Newsom is in the news for another major boondoggle, the California Nature Highway. California's wildlife crossing project, Bridge to Nowhere has surpassed $100 million. This has been reported extensively by the New York Post. The fact that it was originally supposed to cost less than half of that. But over time, it's become what many have called a jobs program for environmentalists. And like everything that Gavin Newsom touches, has ballooned in cost, with no end of construction in sight. We'll cover this more this week as the far too early 2028 democrat primary heats up. JB Pritzker is laying out what he views as his best pitch to the activist base, which is his own Project 2029, a promise to arrest everyone he can close to President Trump if he wins the presidency and Democrats have control of Congress. As I've said before, this would suggest to me that Democrats have not learned anything from their weaponization of the legal system against President Trump that empowered President Trump back into office back in 20. On that same note, Axios reports that Democrat presidential hopefuls are leaning into their rough childhoods with JB Pritzker, Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro to try and connect with voters. The challenge for people, especially like Pritzker and Newsom, is they grew up surrounded by billionaires with all sorts of special privileges and so this likely will fall on deaf ears as people learn more about Gavin's relationship with the Gettys, about J.B. pritzker's, you know, billionaire lifestyle growing up in Atherton, California, where he got everything he wanted, including eventually buying his way into the Governor's mansion. Another story we'll be looking forward to covering this week is from the California Post, Nicky Neely of Defending Education posted about this A low performing California school district signed a $270,000 contract with a Fresno based schoolyard rap for Edutainment education, which was a summer rap camp, and race based affinity groups for young black kids to learn how to rap instead of learning how to do math, science and everything else. We will cover this more on Tuesday. The First Wives Club there's two different first partners that we're going to talk a little bit more about this week. First, Gavin Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. We've talked before about many scandals that she's tied to, including using the Governor's Mansion to promote her personal business and making millions of dollars by licensing very creepy documentaries to the public school system to try and run propaganda in front of students. But she's back in the news for a few different diatribes. One that I particularly thought was notable about how she doesn' believe conservatives in America are able to grasp or wrap their heads around why she uses the esteemed title of First Partner instead of First Lady. The other that we're going to get into is the wife of Zoran Mamdami, who has a long history of posting content supporting terrorism, anti Semitic content, and a wide range of very controversial views. We'll look forward to getting into those. That is all the time we have today for this very quick Monday rundown. Each of these are stories that we'll cover more throughout the the week, but because it was such a newsy weekend with so much activity, we wanted you to be able to kick off the week with a little bit of Cliff Notes about what to prepare for. So we'll look forward to giving you more of this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Thank you for joining us. Please tell your friends, leave us a review and have a great Monday.
Episode: Monday Rundown: Trump’s new strategy for ending the shutdown; Iran missiles that can hit Europe; Dem Revenge Plot
Host: Matt Whitlock
Date: March 23, 2026
In this brisk, packed episode, political strategist Matt Whitlock delivers a rapid-fire rundown on the week’s political headlines. The main stories covered include President Trump’s unconventional strategy to end the ongoing DHS shutdown, troubling new details on Iran’s missile range posing threats to Europe, and a “revenge plot” floated by a prominent 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful. The episode maintains a direct, candid, and occasionally sardonic tone as Matt connects key national events and looming challenges for both parties.
“If the Democrats do not allow for just and proper security at our airports... ICE will do the job far better than ever done before.”
“[Trump] is showing he’s willing to get creative to get everybody moving on this.” ([02:55])
“Some of these long range missile systems might have the range to reach deeper into the Middle east and even potentially parts of Europe.”
“He will attack their power supplies in ways that have never been done before.” ([03:50])
“This is going to restart a lot of conversation about immigration enforcement and the longer term consequences of the Biden immigration policies.”
Wildlife Crossing Scandal:
California’s “Nature Highway” wildlife bridge project soars to $100M+, more than double original estimates.
“It’s become what many have called a jobs program for environmentalists…like everything Gavin Newsom touches, has ballooned in cost.” ([05:00])
Upcoming 2028 Primary Themes:
Matt foreshadows more analysis as the Democratic primary heats up, specifically Newsom’s vulnerabilities.
“This would suggest to me that Democrats have not learned anything from their weaponization of the legal system against President Trump...” ([05:47])
“Race-based affinity groups for young Black kids to learn how to rap instead of learning how to do math, science, and everything else.” ([06:45])
“She doesn’t believe conservatives in America are able to grasp or wrap their heads around why she uses the esteemed title of First Partner instead of First Lady.” ([07:20])
| Timestamp | Topic | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:45-02:30| Trump’s new DHS shutdown plan & Congressional dynamics | | 02:30-03:15| Voter ID/SAVE Act clash & Trump’s compromise proposal | | 03:20-03:55| Iran’s missile strike on Diego Garcia; strategic implications| | 04:05-04:30| Chicago murder & immigration policy backlash | | 04:45-05:10| California Nature Highway and Gavin Newsom critique | | 05:30-06:25| JB Pritzker’s “revenge plot”; 2028 Democratic narratives | | 06:30-07:00| Schoolyard rap camp education grant | | 07:00-07:40| First wives’ controversies |
Matt Whitlock’s delivery is direct, layered with sardonic wit and skepticism toward Democratic priorities, while highlighting Republican opportunities and policy innovations. He tees up deeper dives on these stories for the week ahead, promising more on California’s spending, Democratic candidate narratives, and controversial education programs.
Listeners walk away with a concise but comprehensive “CliffsNotes” on the latest American political dramas—leaving them prepared for further developments as the week unfolds.