President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on Thursday, July 3, 2025, en route Des Moines International Airport in Des Moines, Iowa. (Official White House photo by Daniel Torok)
President Donald Trump said his administration will take “historic action” to prevent another devastation like the Texas flash flooding, which has claimed more than 120 lives, including dozens of children.
Scores of other victims remain missing and unaccounted for, local officials say.
“We’re going to look and see how something can happen like this,” Trump said at roundtable Friday. “They could say it’s 100-year; somebody said it’s a 500-year event. We’re not going to let a thing like this happen again where it can wreak this kind of devastation.”
Trump traveled to Kerr County, Texas, to survey the damage, meet with first responders and local officials, and visit with families who lost children.
Trump honored the young girls who lost their lives at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp on the Guadeloupe River.
“As we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort, and God has welcomed those little, beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven,” the president said. “We believe that. Have to believe that, and we do. And we lost some wonderful people beyond the little girls, who lost some very brave men and women that tried to save the girls as our nation, we mourn for every single life that was swept away in the flood, and we pray for the families that are left behind.”
Trump praised a Coast Guard rescue crew that saved 169 children at Camp Mystic.
“The camp staff was also incredibly courageous,” he said.
First lady Melania Trump also extended her condolences to the families who lost children.
“We just met with the wonderful families. We pray with them. We hug, we hold hands,” she said. “They share the stories. And I met beautiful young ladies. They gave me this special bracelet from the camp in honor of all of the little girls that they lost their lives.”
“So, we are here to honor them and also to give the support help, and I will be back,” she promised. “I promise to them, and I just pray for them and giving them my strength and love.”
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal
.]
A political organization called Evangelicals for Harris, now renamed Evangelicals for America following Kamala Harris’ catastrophic presidential election loss in 2024, has posted online a multipage apology for improperly using Billy Graham’s image for their politics.
The organization had used images of the late Christian leader who was in the confidence of presidents for the last 50 years in promoting Harris, who advocated deliberately for the transgender and LGBT ideologies that many Christians find unbiblical and objectionable.
The Billy Graham Evangelical Associated pointed out the misuse, and abuse of copyright law, and a year later the Harris organization has apologized.
Among the ads released:
EXCLUSIVE: Evangelicals For Harris drops their first media spot TODAY in an effort to win over some of those “on-the-fence” Conservative Evangelicals in swing states who are lukewarm when it comes to Donald Trump. You can watch it here first before it’s officially released. Many… pic.twitter.com/zhLUpA3CWU
— Evangelicals For America (@Evangels4Amer) July 8, 2025
The BGEA response when the images were illegally used:
Franklin Graham SLAMS “Evangelicals for Harris” for using clip of his father, Billy Graham, in an attack ad against Donald Trumphttps://t.co/Dcnm8Av96H
“Evangelicals For Harris” is running for cover and retracting an ad campaign that used the words of Billy Graham to vilify Trump in last year’s election.
The group said it did not intend to imply that Billy Graham (who voted for Trump in 2016) “would have taken a side in… pic.twitter.com/cgS7plHFg0
The online apology admits that the organization used clips of Rev. Graham without permission and claimed they weren’t trying to “give the impression that Rev. Graham would have taken a side in publicly supporting one political candidate over another.”
The group concedes that Graham “never politicized the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the works he created through BGEA.”
“We appreciate the spirit in which BGEA has approached this matter … and we affirm its intellectual property rights including copyright in these videos, and its missional interest in protecting Rev. Graham’s legacy.”
It continued, “We have taken down and will not repost our ads that incorporated video clips of Rev. Billy Graham…”
Not the Bee
explained, “The long and short of it is that they used these clips of Billy Graham, but didn’t get permission from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to use them in their political attack ads. To avoid being sued into oblivion for lifting these clips and using them for partisan purposes to support an abortion-loving Democratic candidate, they’ve apologized.”
When the dispute arose,
WND had reported on Billy Graham’s lifelong interactions with presidents, of both political parties:
He was offered government posts by Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and politely said no.
Harry S. Truman not only met with Graham, he received him as his Independence, Missouri, home. Dwight Eisenhower asked him about sending troops into Little Rock during a time of civil unrest. John F. Kennedy met with Graham before he was inaugurated.
Graham was invited to the Johnson family ranch multiple times, and spent more than 20 nights in the White House during his presidency. Graham had known Nixon for years, and the president often asked Graham to pray with him. Gerald Ford explained, “I’ve heard the comments from some sources that Billy mixes politics with religion. I never felt that and I don’t think that thousands and thousands of people who listen to him felt that.”
Jimmy Carter was an honorary chair of an Atlanta Crusade by Billy Graham back in his day, Ronald Reagan once said, “It was through Billy Graham that I found myself praying even more than on a daily basis … and that in the position I held, that my prayers more and more were to give me the wisdom to make decisions that would serve God and be pleasing to Him.” George H. W. Bush called Graham “an inspiration in my life.”
Bill Clinton credited Billy Graham with refusing to racially segregate a crusade audience. George W. Bush said a turning point in his faith came during a private talk with Billy Graham in 1985. Graham said he was pleased to have had Barack Obama visit in his home.
At the time, Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son and now chief of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said, “The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father Billy Graham’s image to help promote her—or rather to try to make Donald J. Trump look bad.
“They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father was a firm supporter of President Trump in 2016. He appreciated the conservative values and policies of President Trump, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.
“President Trump isn’t perfect—none of us are—but I believe he has changed over the years. This recent assassination attempt has had a huge impact on him—and I thank God that his life was spared.”
In his first public appearance at a religious event after a 23-day absence – likely due to fear of airstrikes – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made a calculated effort to present himself as a patriotic leader. Meanwhile, just one day after the ceasefire was declared, Iran’s security and law enforcement forces launched a new campaign – this time, against their own people. They set up checkpoints across the country and began widespread arrests, particularly targeting youth, often simply for having anti-regime content on their mobile phones.
Enforced disappearances of prisoners and ordinary citizens have continued, as have the arrests of foreign and dual nationals – especially Europeans and French citizens. These acts appear aimed at preventing the reactivation of the U.N. “snapback” sanctions. Simultaneously, the regime has escalated executions to an unprecedented level, aiming to stifle any and all domestic dissent.
The targeted elimination of several senior intelligence and IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) commanders has shattered the regime’s image of control, which heavily depended on its intelligence apparatus. A growing atmosphere of distrust and insecurity has spread within the regime, prompting significant defections. In response, the Supreme Leader has turned to hollow displays of strength in an effort to suppress a potential uprising.
The purpose behind the crackdowns
In the early 1980s, a similarly vulnerable regime sought to suppress opposition – particularly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) – through widespread checkpoints and mass arrests. Today, the same strategy is being used to identify and detain members of the MEK-affiliated Resistance Units, which are now active throughout the country.
These units have become a nightmare for the regime. While state media entities avoid mentioning them, the regime knows its most serious threat comes not from foreign powers, but from within – namely, these Resistance Units. They have the potential to mobilize a powerful street force capable of confronting the Revolutionary Guards and security forces.
Escalating internal power struggles
As the regime’s fall becomes more conceivable, internal fractures are widening. Recently, 180 economists, university professors and former officials
called for a “paradigm shift” in the Islamic Republic’s governance model, referencing the 12-day conflict with Israel. In stark contrast, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency
praised the 1988 massacre of political prisoners – mostly MEK members – as a “successful precedent,” advocating for its repetition to suppress today’s dissent. Simultaneously, calls for the impeachment of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian are gaining momentum within parts of the regime.
The third option
The regime understands that war alone will not bring about its collapse. Its only real concern is the potential targeting of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s hideouts in such a conflict. This explains its behind-the-scenes efforts to initiate talks with the United States – possibly via back channels in Norway – to defuse that threat. But retreating from its core policies – from repression to executions or nuclear ambitions – is not an option. Such concessions would signal the start of reform, inevitably triggering demands for basic freedoms and accelerating the regime’s downfall.
The only realistic path to democracy in Iran lies with the organized resistance movement, which has fought the regime for over four decades, weathered two mass slaughter campaigns, and continued its struggle outside the clerical system. Despite relentless repression, the resistance has built a vast network of Resistance Units inside Iran – tasked with exposing regime crimes, mobilizing citizens, directing protests and hitting the regime’s centers of oppression.
Alongside these units, a broad social support base – including families of political victims, former prisoners and various civic actors – actively participates in protest efforts. This network has succeeded in obtaining highly classified intelligence from within the regime. Much of what the world knows today about Iran’s nuclear and terror programs comes from this very source.
Conclusion
Iran’s crisis cannot be solved by foreign military intervention or appeasement. The only sustainable solution is to support the Iranian people and their organized resistance – a path that could actually lead to democracy, equality and enduring peace.
A Democrat senator whose stunt, crashing a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem without ID, leaving security fearful it was an attack on a federal official, now is demanding that federal agents wear their IDs on their uniforms.
It is Alex Padilla, of California, who has proposed legislation to require Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to wear identification badges.
Sen. Padilla is begging for attention again:
He’s introducing a BILL to REQUIRE ICE agents to NOT wear masks & have IDENTIFICATION on their uniforms.
This coming from the Senator who presides over a state that doesn’t even require ID TO VOTE!?pic.twitter.com/ZVG40VFuHU
His stunt at the news conference created quite a stir as he was forcibly removed by security because he charged the stage where Noem was, and had not identified himself.
The video showed multiple security officers restraining Padilla, then removing him from the room.
He shouts, “Hands off!” after being moved through double doors that partition off an entry area from the news conference room. Earlier, he is heard saying, “I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.”
Increasingly strident encounters have been developing across the country as ICE officers have been carrying out President Donald Trump’s campaign to secure the nation’s border and remove mostly to their home countries illegal aliens, including criminals, allowed into the country under Joe Biden’s tenure.
BREAKING: SEN. PADILLA DETAINED AFTER CRASHING SEC. NOEM’S PRESS CONFERENCE
Sen. Alex Padilla just sprinted onto a stage while Kristi Noem was speaking, because apparently that’s what politics is now.
“Can Kristi Noem speak? Could you have waited till she finished to ask your questions — to shout your questions?” Smith asked. “You are a senator, right? You couldn’t wait? So that was just you out of control because you were just losing it, huh?”
“You — a United States senator — couldn’t compose yourself and let the head of Homeland Security finish her thoughts before you asked a question?” he continued. “Couldn’t do that, huh? Couldn’t do it, huh?”
Noem was speaking about the riots
taking place in Los Angeles before Padilla began shouting a question at her. Security quickly rushed to Padilla, telling him to put his hands up.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin also criticized Padilla for his behavior in an X
post following the incident.
“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” McLaughlin wrote.
“Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” she continued. “@SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
Beyond Padilla’s own hypocrisy, a report at Townhall
noted the hypocrisy of Democrats across the country, who mandated masks during COVID, but now want them banned.
“The whiplash is on maximum here. Not so long ago, if you weren’t wearing a mask, you were selfish, reckless, and not part of the ‘team’ trying to curb the spread of COVID. Quietly, liberals cheered that leftist rioters were protected by masking up during the riots of 2020. Now, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents masking up to protect themselves from being doxed by left-wing domestic terrorists, the Democratic Party has suddenly become the most virulent anti-maskers in the country. It’s truly amazing (and hilarious) stuff,” the report said.
The report cited Padilla’s plan.
Dems are FUMING over ICE agent’s in masks.
Let’s remember:
– Dems MANDATED masks during Covid.
– Dems REFUSE to require Voter ID in some states.
– Dems RELIGIOUSLY wear masks while protesting and rioting.
