Townhall Review with Hugh Hewitt

Hugh Hewitt: Persevere

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

As we watch the ongoing campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Trump now faces a decision on when to end the battle.

A premature end will almost certainly lead to another war.

This regime refused to stop its nuclear program, its missile program its exported terrorism after President Trump ordered Qassem Soleimani killed in January 2020, and again after Operation Midnight Hammer in June of last year, when he obliterated the nuclear weapons program of the Islamic Republic.

Instead, the fanatics atop this barbarous regime began to rebuild their killing capabilities and displayed their true nature with the stunning massacre of more than 35,000 of their own citizens in January. The Islamic Republic regime is incapable of changing. The regime must be changed.

Persevere President Trump. Americans have been dying at the hands of this wicked regime since it came to power in 1979. More have died this week. Do not let this regime survive to kill again.

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Ed Morrissey: Ending Iran's 47-Year War is America First

Monday, March 2, 2026

For 47 years, the radical Islamist terrorists running Iran have conducted multiple acts of war against the United States. The regime abducted our diplomats in 1979 and kept them hostage for 444 days. Their proxy terror network Hezbollah killed more than 240 Marines in Beirut, and kidnapped Americans throughout the 1980s. Iran and its Shi’ite militias targeted and killed hundreds of Americans in Iraq while wounding thousands more.

This weekend, Donald Trump finally addressed this long war by responding to it with overwhelming force.

Some Americans wonder how this fits with Trump’s “America First” strategy—claiming Trump has gone to war to protect Israel.

Make no mistake: This fits America First. It puts American interests ahead of European appeasers that spent decades restraining the US from a proper response to Iran’s acts of war. It will fully re-establish America as the first among nations—the superpower that, once again, does not fear to protect its interests.

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Carol Platt Liebau: Mamdani’s Revealing Early Days as Mayor

Monday, March 2, 2026

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani recently attended prayers at an Islamic Center with documented ties to the Alavi Foundation, which the Justice Department has identified as an Iranian front organization.

While the mayor was there, an imam prayed for the Mahdi—a Messianic figure in Islamic eschatology—to kill all “infidels.”

The Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. But that does not require political leaders to legitimize rhetoric that casts fellow Americans as enemies of God—that ought to be killed.

At other recent events in Times Square, Islamic speakers have declared it: “We are a threat”—referring to themselves. This isn’t pluralism. It’s provocation.

America welcomes those who come here legally to embrace our way of life. But hostility to our faith, our freedom, and our fellow citizens can’t be normalized.

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Seth Leibsohn: Iran Has Been at War With Us for Decades

Friday, February 27, 2026

There is contemplation of war with Iran.  The truth is, Iran has been at war with us for decades. In 1979, Iran seized our embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage, holding them for over a year. Then—in 1983—Iran’s terrorist arm, Hezbollah, killed 17 American in Beirut. Later that year they killed another 241 in another bombing there.

In Spain in 1984, Hezbollah killed 18 Americans at a restaurant, and bombed the US Embassy in Beirut yet again, killing 11 more. In ’92, they bombed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 innocents.  And another 85 they killed in Argentina two years later.  There’s TWA Flight 847 and Bobby Stetham’s public execution, and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers killing 19 Americans.

On and on.

Now they seek nuclear weaponry and kill their own dissidents by the tens of thousands.

As Lincoln put it: We didn’t want war, but the war came.  Let’s not be wobbly over it.

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Ed Morrissey: How Do You Not Stand

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Donald Trump's State of the Union address checked all of the usual boxes. As theater however, Trump reminded Democrats of his mastery.

Trump knew Democrats wanted to make the event into a circus and became the ringmaster. He anticipated their heckling and out shouted it from the dais.

He offered America a parade of heroes while Democrats sulked in their seats. Not once but twice, Trump asked Democrats to stand with Americans and then ridiculed them for failing to rise to the occasion.

First, Trump declared that the first duty of government was to American citizens rather than illegal aliens and challenge the room to stand in agreement. Almost every Democrat remains seated and Trump scolded. You should be ashamed.

More shockingly, Democrats refuse to stand when Trump called for justice for Iryna Zarutska, the young Ukrainian woman murdered in Charlotte by a lifetime violent offender. Trump appeared shocked and rebuked them. How do you not stand?

Trump exposed the Democrats for what they are.

Radicals who care less about Americans than they do for power.

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Carol Platt Liebau: The Left's Threat

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Americans just got a revealing glimpse of what Democrats have in mind if they reclaim power. On a recent podcast, Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice warned Big Tech, law firms, media outlets, companies, and universities that Democrats won’t “forgive and forget” those who cooperate with President Donald Trump. The left “won’t play by the old rules,” she announced.

How ironic. The same crowd that constantly calls Trump an authoritarian is now openly threatening political retribution.

Rice’s threats aren’t hypothetical. During the Biden administration, federal officials strongarmed tech companies to suppress disfavored speech. JP Morgan has just admitted to debanking Trump and some supporters — hardly a coincidence in today’s regulatory climate.

Meanwhile, Rice’s former boss Barack Obama speaks loftily about unity and “coming together.” Nice words — but Americans have seen too much to believe them.

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Hugh Hewitt: Watching Iran

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

A major battle with Iran appears imminent.

Ought it to be called a war, a battle or a strike?

That depends on what the United States and Israel decide to do and what President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu call it.

It also depends on whether Ayatollah Khamenei orders the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s proxy forces in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as well as terror cells around the world, to mount counterattacks that kill Americans, Israelis or people in our Gulf allies.

The ayatollah can trigger massive escalation with any counterattack that results in American and/or Israeli casualties.

And so there’s genuine risk to our troops and to our allies in Israel and the Gulf States. That is why when President Trump orders the American military to attack, it should be with overwhelming and sustained force.

Fanatics don’t reason, and the United States cannot afford to allow the world to see it deterred by the words and shaking fists of a second- or third-rate military equipped with bluster and ballistic missiles.

And led by fanatics.

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