← Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
SITREP 31: Middle East Ceasefires, Virginia Redistricting, & Drama in Congress
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We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created. As a member of Congress, I get to have a lot of really interesting people in the office, experts on what they're talking about. This is the podcast for insights into the issues. China, bioterrorism, Medicare for all in depth discussions, breaking it down into simple terms. We hold. We hold. We hold these truths. We hold these truths. With Dan Crenshaw, the eagle has landed. Welcome back. SITREP 31 can't believe it's been 31 of these. This is the situation report. Thanks for joining me. And we're going to cover the most interesting news news from last week and arm you with the facts. So let's start with Iran. The negotiations continue and the ceasefire has been extended. So the top line here, the latest developments in Iran center on a pretty fragile extended ceasefire between the US And Iran. Diplomacy stalled and there's ongoing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. The situation is far from resolved. The original two week ceasefire was announced around April 7th. It was mediated in Pakistan to halt active fighting that included US And Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and Iranian responses to those strikes. The truce was set to expire on or around April 22. On April 21, President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire. He cited on Truth Social a request from Pakistani mediators for that extension and the need for Iran's seriously fractured government to submit a, quote, unified proposal for ending the conflict permanently. Now, Trump emphasized that the US Would maintain its naval blockade of Iranian ports and keep military forces at the ready. Now, the US has already intercepted some vessels and fired upon some Iranian commercial ships that have violated the blockade. Now, these could be direct hits. These could be warning shots, a shot across the bow, quite literally. Now, clearly the threat of enforcement is a very real one. Now, despite the ceasefire extension, Iran has been firing on vessels on three at least and seized two in the Straits Hormuz on April 22. Iranian officials have accused Pakistan of playing a double game in mediation and insist on the lifting of the US Blockade before any further talks. The Trump administration says Iran's moves are the predictable outcome of a weakened regime. I tend to agree with this. So let's review all of this. So far, we have used overwhelming air power to destroy missile sites, drone production, destroy their navy and and massively set back their nuclear program. And now we're giving time for negotiations. This would be the natural progression of diplomacy and a strategy like this. Let these negotiations unfold, but don't take your foot off the gas. The Straits of Hormuz remain a priority, of course. And Iran knows that the price of breaking this truce would be pretty bad. And that's exactly what peace through strength means. You don't achieve it with strongly worded letters or giveaways that let the world's top terror sponsor enrich uranium and fund proxies. You do it by speaking the language they understand, which is strength backed by action. So Trump's approach is holding Iran accountable after 47 years of aggression, protecting our allies like Israel and putting America first. And, yes, this is America first. Now, let's talk about Congress. We've got expulsions, resignations, ethics investigations. So strap in, because the last few weeks in the House of Representatives have been a parade of scandals, ethics probes, misconduct allegations, and members heading for the exits before anyone gets real answers. And let's be honest, this isn't random. It's a pattern of behavior that we're all getting a little tired of. So in the last two weeks, three members of Congress, Tony Gonzalez, Sheila McCormick and Eric Swalwell, have all resigned or announced plans to step down. See this? You know the. There's a bipartisan effort to lose the faith of the American people. Clearly. So. Florida Democrat Sheila McCormick stepped down minutes before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on recommending her expulsion. The bipartisan, bipartisan panel had already found her guilty on 25 of 27 counts, including embezzling more than $5 million in federal disaster relief funds that went straight to her political operation. How did she do that? Well, allegedly her brother was awarded the FEMA contract and then allegedly handed it over to her. Moving over to Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez, he resigned amid a House ethics investigation after he admitted the affair with former staffer. That staffer tragically later died by suicide, setting herself on fire. Gonzalez admitted the relationship finally after denying it, and the probe wrapped up after he left. And the public won't get the full report again. It's closed. It's a. It's a case closed by resignation. Then we have California Democrat Eric Swalwell. He resigned and dropped his bid for California governor after multiple women came forward with serious allegations. In one case, a former staffer accused him of sexual assault while she was drunk, leaving her bruised and bleeding. Social media influencer Ali Samarco said he sent her unsolicited nudes on Snapchat after they connected over politics on X. Swal denies the worst of it, but he does admit mistakes and resigned before any ethics vote could land. So this is worth noting, folks. You're seeing a pattern here. Members Resign in order to kill an ethics investigation because, well, ethics can't do an investigation if you're not actually in Congress. Some might suggest that this is proof of their guilt. Some might suggest. Now to cap it off, that's not it, guys. Like, I think more are coming. We've got Representative Republican Corey Mills and Nancy Mace also in a full blown inter party feud because they're both floating resolutions to expel one another amid their own separate ethics headaches. Now, Corey Mills has more scandals than I can possibly document here. From a domestic violence charge. Right, right here in D.C. where D.C. police were called to it, to accusations of receiving bags of cash from sketchy figures and to hanging out with prostitutes. And there's photo evidence of it. This was in the country of Georgia. So that story continues to unfold. It's one of the more wild ones, alec. Look, Americans expect the people in charge to act with some integrity and face real consequences when they don't. But too many treat the job like they're untouchable until the heat gets too high and then they just resign and the files get sealed. And we wonder why trusting Congress is in the toilet. Moving on, Virginia redistricting not good for Republicans, folks. So Virginia voters just handed Democrats a major win in a special election, narrowly approving constitutional amendment that lets the Democrat controlled legislature redraw US congressional amendment districts ahead of the 2026 midterms. The results could turn Virginia's House delegation from competitive into a near total blue sweep. So, and this was a close one. So it was a popular vote. The, the yes side won narrowly by 51.5% to 48.5%. Roughly 88,000 votes separating the two sides out of 3 million cast. So a lot of people showed up. But Democrats poured over $65 million into the effort and the new map they've already drawn is projected to give them a massive advantage. So in Virginia, Democrats had a small advantage. It was six Democrats and five Republicans. And that's the kind of thing you would expect because Virginia is a pretty purple state. I mean, Youngkin won Virginia. So you know, it's, it's not obvious that that's, you know, six to five is pretty good. But now it's 10 to one, 10 Democrats, one Republican. It's going to believe it's a blowout. So that means up to four Republican held seats could disappear or become heavily Democratic. Bottom line, we're losing maybe five seats and that's having, that's after having already lost five seats in the California redistricting. We made up for some of it because we gained five seats in the Texas redistricting, but on net, Republicans are losing five seats. So former Governor Glenn Youngkin called it an egregious power grab, noting the race was much closer than expected. Because Virginians know is this quote, virginians know a 10 to 1 map is not Virginia. And Republicans are already pushing the state Supreme Court to step in and block the maps on constitutional grounds. And we'll keep you informed on how that battle goes back to here in D.C. over the weekend, President Trump signed an amazing executive order, something I've been working on over a long time, to push fast tracking psychedelic therapies. So they just announced this new executive action aimed at accelerating access to cutting edge treatments for serious mental illness. The goal, cut through regulatory delays, get promising therapies to patients faster, especially for conditions like severe depression, PTSD and schizophrenia. I would also add substance abuse to these. Now the order pushes the FDA and other agencies to speed up approval pathways for emerging treatments with a clear focus on therapies that have really shown strong results already. But they're stuck in this slow moving clinical process and, and FDA approval. Now this includes psychedelic assisted treatments, usually things like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine, which is like the mother of all psychedelics when it comes to treatment. Now these have shown a ton of promise and, and, and great results in clinical trials, but for ptsd, depression, trauma related disorders and like I said, also, also drug addiction, specifically with ibogaine. Now many of these treatments remain restricted or tied up in regulatory hurdles even as veterans and patients with severe mental illness report significant benefits in controlled settings. So the FDA and va, just to be fair to them, they have long been very forward leaning on MDMA in particular. You know, RFK Jr. For instance, has always talked about this, but even before him, like the FDA and the VA were good on it. This I even got the FDA to establish clinical trial guidelines for MDMA and psilocybin and they did so right away. But ibogaine was left out and we need that same kind of guidance from fda. I think that's the next major hurdle and I hope this executive order solves that because for patients who have tried everything and still aren't getting better, I mean these therapies aren't fringe, they're hope. And I've been fighting for this issue for years because I've personally seen it save lives. Now another developing headlines, just real quick, Apple announces a new CEO, John Ternus. So Tim Cook is going to be gone and he'll continue working as CEO through the summer, working closely to ensure a smooth transition and make sure certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers worldwide. You know, keep going. And more interesting news. Southern Poverty Law center is indicted. Oh, my man. So Southern Poverty Law center, this is, this is a far left non profit. It's, it's supposedly about civil rights and stuff. You know, it's if you know, you know, okay, you've probably heard about all the things they put out. They were just indicted for allegedly making payments to members of extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, among others. The indictment alleges that between 2014 and 2023, the Southern Poverty Law center secretly funneled more than $3 million in donations to violent extremist groups. Now, why would they do that? Like this is, these are the groups they supposedly fight, but apparently maybe so they could keep left wing donations coming in by creating fear about these supposedly far right extremist groups. It's like the doctor keeping the patient sick. You know, as Thomas Sowell famously said, racism isn't dead, but it is on life support. Kept alive by politicians, race hustlers, and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as racist. End quote. Great quote. And you should read everything by Thomas Sowell, just in case you were wondering. Another news. Tragically, two Americans working with two other Mexican law enforcement officials were killed in a car crash in northern Mexico after a joint counter cartel operation. They were coming back from a mission targeting a major meth lab in Chihuahua when their vehicle reportedly went off the mountain road and exploded. We don't know much more details than that. And it's unclear who these Americans working for. I don't know if they were DEA or HSI or FBI or any of the above, but God bless their service and the battle against evil. And this is a harsh reminder that the cartel threat is real as ever and must be confronted with force. Now, last guys, if you read nothing else, here's a good one for you. It's called the the Data Center Moratorium. A fault line in Dem primaries. It's on Politico. It's a great breakdown of one of the Democratic Party's newest schisms, like whether or not Democrats should fight to halt all new development of data centers all over the country. I don't know why that's a question for Democrats, but I guess it is. Go ahead and read it. Thanks, y'. All. That's the sit rep out.