If there’s one thing for which former President Ronald Reagan is known, it’s his defense of human liberty. 

He not only stared down the Soviet Union and won the Cold War, but he also defended America’s unparalleled freedom and prosperity from its enemies within. 

Those enemies worked tirelessly — and still do — to undermine constitutional safeguards that protect freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly, the right to own property and the right to a fair trial with a jury of one’s peers. 

Another Reagan quality was courage. He was often pilloried by left-wing mobs in America and abroad and portrayed as a heartless autocrat and as an ‘amiable dunce’ by liberal media. Nevertheless, he made his face like an iron flint, stayed focused and ultimately demanded, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ 

Reagan’s faith, the source of his strength and courage, comes through clearly in the powerful new movie ‘REAGAN,’ starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th president. Quaid nails the role. 

Early in the movie, young Ronnie, played by David Henrie, is shown growing up in Dixon, Illinois, in a dysfunctional household with an alcoholic father. His mother Nelle, played by Amanda Righetti, made sure he went to church. As a teen, Ron developed into a spiritual leader and taught Sunday school. 

Later, under relentless attack, he wasn’t shy about attributing his political courage to his lifelong faith in God. Undoubtedly, Reagan took comfort from the fact that Jesus Himself underwent persecution to the point of crucifixion. Shot by a would-be assassin in 1981, Reagan faced it with his usual upbeat attitude, even joking with doctors. The film shows House Speaker Tip O’Neil, a Democrat, visiting him in the hospital and reciting with him the 23rd Psalm. 

Jesus assured His followers that they would not face hardship alone. ‘I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world,’ Jesus said. (John 16:33) 

Also, the Apostle Peter said, ‘But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled.’ (1 Peter 3:14) 

The sweeping biopic, which debuts in theaters on August 30, also stars Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan and Jon Voight, who plays a former Soviet intelligence agent who narrates the film. As Viktor Petrovich, Voight explains to a young Russian operative how Reagan brought down the Soviet empire and what was behind his steely resolve. 

The movie captures Reagan’s tough tenures as head of the Screen Actors Guild, where he rooted out Hollywood communists, and as governor of California. It also portrays his partnership with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II to take down the ‘Iron Curtain’ of communism. 

As the movie shows vividly, demonstrations erupted in Europe and in America when Reagan stood firm against the Soviets. He was ridiculed for announcing the Strategic Defense Initiative, which the media mockingly dubbed ‘Star Wars.’ That was a mistake; Americans love movies in which good conquers evil. 

During a speech on March 8, 1983, in Orlando to the National Association of Evangelicals, Reagan famously dubbed the Soviet Union ‘an evil empire.’ This spoke to many people’s hearts, especially those of the captive peoples of Eastern Europe. America had a leader committed to defending freedom not only at home but abroad. 

Reagan’s defense of liberty extended to the right to life of unborn children. He opposed abortion on demand and the provision of birth control and abortion counseling to minors without parental consent. 

He also got rid of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which freed up talk radio and led to the success of Rush Limbaugh and other voices outside the liberal legacy media. 

In his first inaugural address, Reagan declared that ‘government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.’ His tax cuts freed up a stagnant American economy. 

He opposed the Supreme Court’s prohibition of school prayer. And he set out to appoint ‘strict constructionists,’ that is, judges who take seriously the original meaning of the Constitution. His most effective Supreme Court appointment was Antonin Scalia, one of the most brilliant conservative legal minds in American history. 

The movie ‘REAGAN’ reminds us of how American greatness depends on great leadership and faith in the one, true God of the Bible. It’s also a terrific and tender love story — that of Nancy’s and Ron’s 52-year-long marriage, ending in his death from Alzheimer’s at age 93 on June 5, 2004.  

‘REAGAN’ is not only an entertaining movie but it captures his true genius. It’s a much-needed corrective to incorrect negative popular history repeated endlessly today by anti-freedom talking heads.  

Every American should see it. 

As the presidential race heats up with less than three months until Election Day, candidates in smaller-scale races across the country are also sprinting to the November finish line.

Those include the 435 races that will decide control of the House of Representatives next year.

‘I feel sort of bullish for Republicans right now,’ veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye told Fox News Digital. ‘This [presidential] race, especially in the swing states, is going to be so close that, to me, mitigates some of the ‘If Trump wins, Republicans keep the House, if Harris wins, Democrats take it back’ – that mitigates it for me to some extent.’

Democratic strategist Joel Rubin, on the other hand, was confident in his party’s redistricting wins and renewed political enthusiasm since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the mantle from President Biden last month.

‘These 35, 40 swing districts, I think about 18 to 20 are Biden wins in red seats. So the map looks promising,’ Rubin said. ‘And the thing that’s distinct now from a month ago, obviously, is Democratic enthusiasm . . . I do think Democrats can take back the House with these kinds of numbers and these kinds of structural gains.’

And with ever-shrinking margins in the House in recent years, it’s likely control of the House will come down to just several key races, five of which Fox News Digital highlighted below:

NY-17

Freshman Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is running against former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones in the New York suburbs just north of the Big Apple. His district is among several that Biden won in 2020, and Democrats see an opening to win it back.

Both Jones and Lawler have sought to paint each other as radicals, each tying his rival to the most unpopular policy stances in their respective parties. 

Lawler, for his part, has been ranked among the most bipartisan lawmakers in the 118th Congress.

Jones, meanwhile, has reshaped himself closer to the center, going so far as to endorse the primary opponent of a former progressive anti-Israel colleague, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, which earned him ire from that faction of House Democrats.

‘I think that’s a really important one, that’s a potential pickup for Democrats against a moderate, well-regarded Republican – but in a district that had been blue, and there are . . . seats that Democrats lost in New York that we should not have lost two years ago – and that was the difference between minority and the majority,’ Rubin said.

Heye said, ‘I’m betting on Lawler, he’s a good fit for that district. And I think there are still some divisions on the Democratic side.’

VA-07

Both Republicans and Democrats are looking at a portion of the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Virginia as a chance for victory in a district that Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is vacating to run for governor.

The Democrat running is Eugene Vindman, the brother of Alexander Vindman, whose congressional testimony sparked the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

On the GOP side is Derrick Anderson, an attorney and former Special Forces Green Beret.

Spanberger won in 2017 by defeating a Tea Party Republican, and the GOP is eyeing a chance to take the seat back.

‘If I were designing, like, a prototype Democrat to run in a swing district, Spanberger is who I would design – perfect for that district, but she’s not running again. So that makes it harder for Democrats, and I know outside groups are putting money into [that race],’ said Heye.

Rubin defended Vindman, pointing out both he and Spanberger were relevant to the national security space between his military experience and her time in the FBI.

‘I think this is one where he can build off the Spanberger brand,’ he said.

MI-08

Another competitive seat will be the one being vacated by Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., at the end of this year. 

The central Michigan district has grown more conservative in recent years, according to Bridge Michigan, though Biden eked out a 2% victory there over Trump in 2020.

That race is between Democratic State Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet and former Trump administration appointee Paul Junge.

Heye said of the open seat there and in Virginia, ‘What I’ve been hearing for a while now… is that the open seats have become a liability for Democrats with their math in taking back the House.’

MD-06

Maryland’s 6th congressional district could be Republicans’ best pickup opportunity in an otherwise majority-blue state, with Democratic Rep. David Trone leaving at the end of this year.

April Delaney, whose husband John Delaney held the Seat from 2013 to 2017, is running on the Democratic side against Republican former state delegate Neil Parrott.

The district leans blue, but a Washington Post story on the race pointed out that it also has 141,000 unaffiliated voters who could decide the outcome.

Rubin noted he was supportive of Delaney’s bid but conceded that having popular former governor Larry Hogan on the ballot for Senate could inspire more middle-of-the-road people to vote Republican in state congressional races.

AK-At Large

Heye said he was also growing confident about Republicans’ chances in Alaska, where its lone congressional seat will be decided using ranked-choice voting.

‘In Alaska, [Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola] could win, but to do so, she’s going to have to massively over-perform,’ the GOP strategist said. ‘If we’re talking two weeks ago, I would say Republicans are split, ranked-choice voting, the Democrats win. That framework doesn’t exist anymore.’

The general election was meant to be a three-way race between Peltola, Republican Nick Begich, and Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. 

Republicans have consolidated in recent days, however, with House GOP leadership getting behind Begich and Dahlstrom dropping out of the race.

Peltola, a moderate Democrat, is generally well-liked in the state, which voted for Trump by roughly 10 points over Biden in 2020. Those dynamics now make for what’s expected to be a close race.

On June 5, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams went to the International Space Station for an eight-day visit. They now face an eight-month stay.

This debacle has brought long overdue attention to Boeing’s and NASA’s incompetence.

However, this failure also belongs to Vice President Kamala Harris. She is the Chair of the National Space Council. For her entire vice presidency, Harris has done the bare minimum required by law as chair of the council and has been totally uninvolved in the policy process. 

Former Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Bob Walker is a leader on space policy. As Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, he drafted the original 1989 legislation that created the National Space Council.

The council’s purpose is to provide a White House level of leadership on space policy and activities. The importance of space for military, scientific, and commercial purposes has grown dramatically in the 67 years since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and galvanized America to invest heavily in space.

The leader of the National Space Council has a major opportunity to develop America’s future in space. Vice President Harris has simply passed on that opportunity.

President Joe Biden clearly articulated the importance of Vice President Harris’s job as chairwoman in a Dec. 1, 2021, executive order.

‘The Chair shall serve as The President’s principal advisor on national space policy and strategy.’

So, the leader of the National Space Council has a major opportunity to develop America’s future in space. Vice President Harris has simply passed on that opportunity.

President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the previous council chairman, had a shared vision that space was extraordinarily important to America’s future. Pence grew up as a space enthusiast. Before he was in public office, he would pack up his family and drive to Cape Canaveral to watch space launches. President Trump understood that Making America Great Again had to include a big investment in space. 

The Trump administration was further empowered by the development of reusable rockets. This was a concept we jointly pushed and funded the 1990s – only to have NASA fail to implement our appropriations. 

Fortunately, in 2010, Elon Musk developed a reusable rocket at SpaceX in the private sector. SpaceX has reduced the cost of launching satellites by an estimated 90 percent. The extraordinary success of reusable rockets allowed SpaceX to move from its basic Falcon rocket to the larger Falcon Heavy. It is now to developing its massive Starship, which will revolutionize space travel.

Vice President Pence aggressively pushed the National Space Council to develop a dynamic program for returning to the Moon and sending Americans to Mars. President Trump and Pence also pushed to implement and develop the U.S. Space Force. This was the first-ever focused military effort to secure space for national defense.

To really drive the system, Pence led the National Space Council with eight different meetings. He held people and institutions accountable to achieve real progress. By contrast, Harris has held one meeting a year – the legal minimum.

As a result of Vice President Harris’s lack of leadership, NASA has regressed back into bureaucratic timidity. Huge Boeing contracts have continued to absorb money – despite repeated failures and no tangible results. Boeing’s Starliner program was awarded a $4.5 billion contract and later given an additional $300 million. It is now so over budget that its fixed-priced contract will cost Boeing an additional $1.6 billion to complete.

Boeing appears to be too big to manage. It has problems in its commercial aviation, military aviation, and space divisions. Its management has overemphasized lobbyists to get money from Washington and underemphasized engineers to get work done. 

In 2019, NASA’s inspector general estimated that the Boeing Starliner would cost $90 million per usable seat and the SpaceX Dragon Crew would cost about $55 million per usable seat (various changes have raised the SpaceX cost to $65 million per seat – still $25 million less than Boeing).

In 2023, NASA’s inspector general estimated the enormous Boeing Space Launch System would cost $2.2 billion per launch. One scientific mission called the Europa Clipper was shifted from Boeing to SpaceX for $178 million. It saved $2 billion in launch costs compared to using the Boeing SLS, which is years past deadline and billions over budget.

Since Vice President Harris is pro-government bureaucracy and hostile to business in general, it is no wonder the lobbyist-focused and politically sophisticated Boeing system continues to survive despite its cost and failures.

Now the failure to implement aggressive oversight is coming back to haunt Vice President Harris. Just as she has failed to do her job at the US-Mexico border, she has failed to do her job as Chair of the National Space Council.

The next time you read about the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, remember who left them there. 

They are Vice President Harris’s abandoned astronauts. If she had done her job and held Boeing accountable, they would be home.

Republican Bob Walker represented Pennsylvania’s 16th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1997. While in Congress, he served as Chairman of the Science, Space and Technology Committee (then known as the Science Committee).

Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for her first media interview Thursday since ascending the Democratic presidential ticket, with some critics arguing the CNN interviewer should have taken a tougher approach similar to an interview just weeks before with former President Trump’s running mate.

CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for a total of roughly 26 pretaped minutes, which aired Thursday night. Harris was asked about inconsistencies in her political record, Trump’s personal attacks and what she would accomplish on day one in the Oval Office. 

Walz was asked about comments he made on the campaign trail related to his military service — that he once carried weapons in war, though he was never deployed to a war zone. 

Some critics say they wish Bash had pressed the pair in the way she grilled GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance in a one-on-one interview just weeks before. 

‘Mixed marks for Bash, who pushed on some necessary subjects, but missed glaring follow-ups,’ Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X. 

More specifically, Vanessa Santos, president of Renegade PR, told Fox News Digital on Friday, ‘Dana was fired up when she grilled JD about his ‘cat lady’ comments. If she would’ve brought even half of that energy to the Harris-Walz interview, voters might have learned something last night.’ 

‘Instead, she let their nonsensical answers go unchecked and unchallenged,’ she said. 

Bash asked Walz during the interview, ‘You said that you carried weapons in war, but you have never actually deployed in a war zone. A campaign official said that you misspoke. Did you?’ 

Walz replied, ‘I’m incredibly proud. I’ve done 24 years of wearing the uniform of this country, equally proud of my service in a public-school classroom, whether it’s Congress or the governor. My record speaks for itself, but I think people are coming to get to know me. I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves. And I speak especially passionately about our children being shot in schools and around guns. So, I think people know me. They know who I am. They know where my heart is. And again, my record has been out there for over 40 years to speak for itself.’

‘And the idea that you said that you were in war, did you misspeak as the campaign has said?’ Bash pressed. 

‘Yeah. I said we were talking about, in this case, this was after a school shooting, the idea of carrying these weapons of war. And, my wife, the English teacher, she told me my grammar is not always correct,’ he said.

In contrast, during her interview earlier this month with Vance, Bash pressed the Ohio senator for roughly six minutes about his leading the charge on criticizing Walz’s characterization of his military record, challenging his criticisms three separate times during the segment. 

She also pressed him multiple times on his ‘childless cat ladies’ comments from an interview a few years ago. 

But critics argued that Bash didn’t ask the hard-hitting questions Americans wanted to hear during her interview of Harris and Walz on Thursday.

In one light exchange, Bash questioned Harris about a viral photo of Harris’ young niece watching her speech at the Democratic National Convention. 

‘You didn’t explicitly talk about gender or race in your speech. But it obviously means a lot to a lot of people. And that viral picture really says it. What does it mean to you?’ Bash asked.

Harris replied, ‘I am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race and gender. But I did see that photograph, and I was deeply touched by it.’

To which Bash followed up, ‘Did she talk to you about it afterwards?’

‘Oh, she had a lot to talk about. She had a lot. She listened to everything. And she listens to everything,’ Harris replied.

‘Did she give you your hot takes?’ Bash asked.

‘Oh, yeah, definitely,’ Harris said.

Michael Knowles, host of the conservative talk radio show ‘The Michael Knowles Show,’ commented, ‘Dana Bash only did a bad job if you consider her to be a serious journalist.’

‘In reality, her job was not to ask tough questions, as she did of JD Vance, but rather to allow Kamala Harris to check the box of having endured an uneventful interview,’ he told Fox News Digital. 

Link Lauren, a TikTok influencer and former senior campaign adviser for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., told Fox News Digital, ‘It was as if Dana Bash was leading the witness.’ 

‘She would give options for Kamala to choose from — as if this was the SAT multiple-choice section,’ said Lauren. 

‘Bash is clearly capable of conducting a hardcore interview in the peak of a critical election cycle. It’s unfortunate she didn’t deploy those skills with Harris and Walz and instead put on kid gloves,’ said Santos. 

Santos added that Bash ‘allowing Walz to blame ‘bad grammar’ for lying about his military record seems like a politically motivated tactic, and is a disservice to Americans.’

Conversely, some critics say Bash leaned too far into ‘right-wing talking points’ and should have had a more original line of questioning with Harris and Walz.

Sami Sage, co-founder of Betches Media, posted on X, ‘the CNN interview summarized: Dana Bash: why did you [right wing talking point]? Harris/Walz: because [answer they’ve given 5+ times] Dana Bash: but is it because [right wing talking point]? have you changed your mind on [right wing talking point]?’

Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott commented, ‘Kamala Harris and Tim Walz gave a perfectly thoughtful, insightful interview. But the press continues to be plagued by an inability to interview Democrats without the entire conversation being framed as, ‘What is your response to this false Republican talking point?’’

He added, ‘Framing an interview this way is an absolute disservice to viewers.’ 

Others heaped praise on Bash’s performance. Howard Kurtz, host of Media Buzz on Fox News, said, ‘Anchor Dana Bash did a fine job of pressing the vice president and following up–she does it in a low-key style.’ 

The New York Times said, ‘Dana Bash navigated a tough night adeptly,’ and went on to say, ‘in a setting arranged by the Harris campaign to appear friendly — just three people sitting together at a neighborhood coffee shop in Savannah — it was going to be difficult for Ms. Bash to extract much news out of the vice president. Still, the veteran journalist had a good night.’