The Daily Signal

Jerome Powell’s tenure at the Federal Reserve “has been an unmitigated disaster” as his Fed “created a novel monetary framework in 2020 that is proving very difficult to manage and maintain.” The good news, however, is that Powell’s time at the Fed will be up in May, and his replacement, “inflation hawk Kevin Warsh,” looks much more promising, says E.J. Antoni, Ph.D, The Heritage Foundation’s chief economist. "If Warsh is confirmed and can clean up the Fed, it will reassure financial markets and help deliver a Main Street boom without inflation or another financial crisis."  Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia’s recent winter storm brought with it the usual state of emergency announcements along with “the inevitable swooping in” of some politicians going “after anyone who’s price gouging.” Price gouging laws basically mean things like “batteries,” “tree removal services,” food and water can’t be sold at “unconscionably higher” prices than they were “10 days prior to the storm,” explains Scott Goodman, a defense attorney at The Goodman Law Firm in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The business or the supplier that can open its books and show that this is what it costs them to get the water [for example] and that the percentage of the profit that they’re adding on top of that when they sell it to a customer is basically the same as it was prior to the state of emergency, that would again, speak to the fact that they’re not price gouging. They’re simply passing along a higher cost that they have to the customer.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Minnesota’s top officials are fanning the flames of unrest in their state. When are we going to call it like we see it? This is an insurrection. From Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, state and city leaders have repeatedly excused, enabled, and emboldened disorder. They’re only the latest links in a long Democrat chain of political indulgence toward radicalism, tracing back to the civil rights era. Victor Davis Hanson warns of the fractures this mindset brings on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ What we're seeing is a complete failure of the blue state model. And the failure is ironic because it's neo-Confederate. Just like the old Confederacy and the Antebellum South, these blue states are obsessed with race. This is where DEI comes from. This is where, if you're one-sixteenth of this, or you have DNA of that, you identify, primarily, by your ethnic or racial background and not your common humanity or your common American citizenship. Very similar to the South. “This is something that's disturbing, that it's a trademark of over 150 years that the Democratic Party has, maybe it feels that it's more a people's party, but they feel they can defy federal law at their own volition.” 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Minnesota's Insurrectionary Rhetoric 00:29 Impact on ICE and Law Enforcement 03:43 Historical Context of Defiance 05:53 Blue State Model and Neo-Confederate Comparison 08:45 Conclusion: The Future of Blue State Defiance 👉 The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: http://dailysignal.com/donate 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest short videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠  Also on Spotify: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9753340027  👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enable notifications:  https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1 👉More exclusive content is available on Victor’s website: https://victorhanson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, Virginia Democrats unveiled a new congressional map that could flip four of the five Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections. However, the Virginia Supreme Court will now determine whether the Democrats’ redistricting plan can proceed after a lower court blocked their efforts, ruling “that the Democrat-led Legislature had wrongly approved a constitutional amendment that would allow for mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts ahead of the midterms this fall,” Politico reported. Virginia state Del. Thomas Garrett Jr., R-Va., joins The Daily Signal’s Virginia correspondent, Joe Thomas, to discuss the implications the proposed congressional map could have on the state’s political makeup heading into the 2026 midterms. 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A product of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump Accounts give American children — sorry, illegal aliens, this one is for us — a “tremendous” financial head start on life, providing the means to pay for college or put a down payment on a home, along with exposure to equities, something roughly 1 in 3 Americans currently do not have. If you make the maximum annual contribution of $5,000 to a Trump Account, it could be worth: At age 18: $300,000 At age 28: $800,000 At age 55: $10 million All courtesy of the power of compounding returns, argues Heritage Foundation Chief Economist E.J. Antoni in this special video commentary. 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s “clamoring for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates” may finally pay off later this year when Kevin Warsh takes over as the new Fed chair.  Trump “shouldn’t have to wait that long,” however, because his appeal to the Fed has been “on the grounds that inflation is much lower than what’s being officially reported,” explains E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., The Heritage Foundation’s chief economist.  “ It turns out Trump is spot on with today's real inflation rate being only one-third the official metrics. In fact, these numbers come from the real-time price aggregator Truflation which monitors millions of prices every single day. That is orders of magnitude more than the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, which only observes a few thousand prices just three times per month.” (00:00) Trump's Push for Lower Interest Rates (01:49) Understanding Real Inflation Rates (03:40) Comparing Truflation and CPI (06:26) Housing Costs and Inflation Metrics (09:02) The Impact of Lower Interest Rates (09:38) Conclusion and Next Steps 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is “no coherent principle” to the left’s ongoing “utterly hypocritical” “insurrectionary movement” in Minnesota, argues Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson in his first post-surgery video appearance. Nearly five years ago, these same people lambasted Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed 14-year Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by the U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6, 2021. The left cheered as hundreds of demonstrators were arrested for allegedly assaulting officers and carrying firearms. Meanwhile, they said it was perfectly OK for somebody like Alex Pretti “to go to a demonstration with a military-grade semiautomatic weapon, with extra clips, and just stick it in his waistband, visible sight of anybody, and then get into a brawl with law enforcement officers,” Hanson continues. “All of our most prominent liberals are saying the state of Minnesota has a right to do what? Occupy federal property? Attack federal officers? Prevent the enforcement of federal law? I thought the left didn’t like states’ rights. I thought they said that this was ‘insurrectionary.’” 00:00 Introduction and Personal Update 01:32 Health Struggles and Recovery 03:58 Minnesota's Street Insurrection 06:13 Hypocrisy in Law Enforcement 09:37 States' Rights and Federal Law 12:57 Conclusion and Future Discussions 👉 The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: http://dailysignal.com/donate 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest short videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠  Also on Spotify: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9753340027  👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enable notifications:  https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1 👉More exclusive content is available on Victor’s website: https://victorhanson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Much of the electric and natural gas rate increases Virginians have been seeing—and will only continue to see increase after the recent storm—are due to the Clean Economy Act.   Gov. Abigail Spanberger “very much ran for election on those policies,” so the big question now is if she’ll do anything about the rate increases, said Steve Haner, a senior fellow for state and local tax policy at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.   “ People are about to get bills and, and it's going to shock them. And if you think the legislature's doing anything to make that cheaper, please lie down. You'll feel better. Because they're not. They're doing things that are going to make it more expensive.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Europe’s illegal immigration crisis might be the warning America needs to fix its own before it’s too late. According to Laura Ries, director of the border security and immigration center at The Heritage Foundation, America is “kind of on that same path” as countries like the France, Germany, and the U.K.  “The question is… Are we a sovereign nation? Do borders matter? Can we uphold the law? Can we enforce the law? What’s happening to Western civilization? And this is a real question for our country.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you need any further evidence on what a menace inflation is, and what a blessing it is when inflation ends, take a look at the latest data on household wealth. After Biden, it is truly impressive how fast the turnaround happened in 2025. Under Trump, household net wealth jumped more than $9 trillion, or more than 7 percent, even after adjusting for inflation.  Under Biden’s four years, household net wealth, adjusted for inflation, grew an anemic 2.0 percent. It was, in a word, pathetic. The great progress by the Trump administration to shrink government spending and the federal workforce, to reduce taxation and regulation, while increasing energy production, have all contributed to faster private-sector wage growth and slower inflation. In fact, it’s been deflation in some cases, meaning certain prices have actually gone down, argues Heritage Foundation chief economist E.J. Antoni on today’s special video commentary.  👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to Greenland, Trump’s arguments about international trade, geostrategic locations, rare earths, etc., were all ignored by European leaders. In response, Trump threatened additional tariffs on many European countries. When markets opened last week, things turned red. Those suffering from Trump derangement syndrome couldn’t help themselves and immediately drew the conclusion that the stock market drop was the result of Trump’s harsh negotiating tactics with Greenland.And they were wrong. To find out why the markets tanked, you need to travel halfway around the world to a country that is “basically running ahead of the U.S. in terms of the life cycle of a debt crisis,” argues Heritage Foundation chief economist E.J. Antoni in today’s special video commentary. 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 00:00 Trump's Greenland Strategy and European Resistance 00:25 Market Reactions and Misinterpretations 03:31 Japan's Economic Turmoil and Its Global Impact 05:53 Strategic Importance of Greenland 07:36 Lessons from Japan and Future Implications Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When four black teenagers approached Bernhard Goetz on the New York City subway in 1984, he shot each them “in succession” for fear they were about to mug him. In an era of high crime, many New Yorkers hailed Goetz as a “hero” for doing what they wished they could do, explains Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst and author of “Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York’s Explosive ‘80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation.”   “New York City in the 1980s was broke and mismanaged… People just generally felt scared… As a result, when there was this somewhat vigilante act, a lot of people felt in New York [that] this guy finally did what needed to be done because the police can’t keep us safe.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said a recent state court ruling blocking Democrats’ attempt to advance a redistricting constitutional amendment is firmly rooted in Virginia law and could ultimately be upheld on appeal. Speaking with The Daily Signal’s Joe Thomas, Cuccinelli said the judge found the amendment process violated state law on three independent grounds, including notice requirements, election timing, and limits on special legislative sessions. This ruling is “no slam dunk,” however, says Cuccinelli, Virginia’s former attorney general and current national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative. “It is not common for a judge to go beyond ruling on one reason to reach an outcome, but the judge, I presume, knows that this is on a tight time schedule. And, in his mind, presumably, there wasn’t time to go up to the Supreme Court and come back down… so he ruled on everything in front of him. So now it goes to the Virginia Supreme Court, and this is no slam dunk.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “cut through bureaucratic red tape and speed up reconstruction in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon areas one year after devastating wildfires destroyed nearly 40,000 acres of homes and businesses.” Daily Signal California contributor Elaine Culotti explains why his plan to fast-track permits and mobilize builders is critical for families displaced for more than a year in today’s special video commentary.  “You have to have a plan. And the plan has to get through the process quickly, because that is called momentum. You have to have mobilization. That’s when you start mobilization. And you have to have a schedule of values. That’s the beginning, the middle and the end. “Donald Trump, thank you so much for doing this. … We need to be able to build. If we want to pay to play, we should be able to do that. If we want to use federal dollars to get it expedited, we should be able to do that. I thank you so much for coming to California. We are so appreciative.” 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California is notorious for its high cost of living, homelessness epidemic, widespread crime, and failing public schools. These are all “symptoms of a bigger problem,” argues Carl DeMaio, a member of the California State Assembly. “ The fact that we're worse in all those areas is because we are confronting the biggest problem. And that is California's political system is fundamentally corrupt,” DeMaio told Elaine Culotti, The Daily Signal’s California contributor, on her podcast. DeMaio explains that meaningful change requires a grassroots voter revolt, not reliance on party elites or national figures. “If you want true populist grassroots reform, then those of us in the streets, the grassroots, we have to narrow our focus on a couple targets and take out the establishment. Because you know what? When we focus, their money can’t compete with us. We’re an army. It’s a public uprising. It’s a rebellion. A revolt. And they can’t stop that.” 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia’s new Governor, Abigail Spanberger, openly admitted it’s good for the state to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, not to protect the climate and environment, but rather because it’s a great “cash grab.”   Bonner Cohen, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, explains how Virginia’s participation in RGGI will raise energy costs, hurt low- and middle-income residents, and drive businesses out of the state, when he joined Joe Thomas, The Daily Signal’s Virginia correspondent, on his podcast today.    “It’s not about saving the planet, and we have to be very careful about what we mean when we say it makes money for Virginia. Actually, it's ultimately going to cost Virginia rate payers who, as a result of RGGI, as well as a result of other energy policies she's imposing as well as taxes she plans to raise, these people are going to see their disposable incomes reduced and you have to ask the question: to what end?” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/   Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California doesn’t “generate revenue”—it drains it. Taxes aren’t income, businesses create income, and Sacramento chased them out, argues Elaine Culotti, Daily Signal California commentator, on her podcast today:  “The state itself does not create any revenue. The state builds nothing. The state earns nothing. The state is money out. It is capital outflow to pay for the state to survive. To pay for the infrastructure that it owes.” 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 00:00 Introduction and Overview 01:06 California's Revenue Problem Explained 04:16 Impact of Bureaucracy and Overregulation 06:56 Proposed Solutions and Government Actions 08:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is starting to look like California may be separating people from their personal property and taxing that property through search and seizure, argues Elaine Culotti, a Daily Signal California contributor, in today’s special video commentary on the Golden State’s impending billionaire tax. “ There are 17.5 million people out of 40 million people that pay taxes in California. The top 2% or 1% or half a percent—200 guys—pay 47% of those taxes.  If you create a wealth tax on those people, they are sure to leave, and it's not because of the 5% you're trying to charge them.  People do not want to disclose their assets. They deem it unsafe, invasive, overreaching government, and unconstitutional. Taxation without representation.” 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adversaries of the U.S. could launch a nuclear weapon at America, or they can achieve the same goal by flooding the nation with fentanyl, says Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., who has introduced a bill cracking down on fentanyl imports.   Over the past decade, roughly 500,000 U.S. lives have been lost to synthetic opioid overdoses, mainly fentanyl, according to the National Institutes of Health.   McDowell on Wednesday introduced a bill aimed at blocking drug traffickers from bringing a tool called a pill press into the U.S.  The process of fentanyl entering the U.S. is “coordinated,” McDowell explains. China, for example, “will ship a pill presser” to a drug dealer in the U.S. to cut “pure fentanyl, ... pressing it down into ... something that looks like a pill,” he said. The Preventing Rogue Equipment for Synthetic Substances, or PRESS, Act, criminalizes the “intentional importation of unlisted precursor chemicals and related equipment, including tableting machines, encapsulating machines, press punches, die systems, and gelatin capsules, that will be used to manufacture controlled substances,” according to the congressman’s office.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instead flaunting his new red “Trump kneepads” to world leaders and corporate elite in Davos, Switzerland, during the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, Gavin Newsom should be more concerned about this state’s abysmal relationship with the federal government argues Elaine Culotti, Daily Signal California correspondent, on today’s special video commentary. “To be clear, our biggest problem in California is the fact that we have no relationship whatsoever with President Trump and the administration. So we can't pick up the phone and call and say, “Hey, we need a lifeline.” It does not exist. It's been destroyed. And with the Pacific Palisades and the fires in California, it has been unveiled how deep that destruction is.” 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices