News ‘A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity,’ Speaker Mike Johnson Says of Trump’s Agenda Jacob Adams | February 20, 2025 | Share House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, chats with interviewer Rob Finnerty at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, answers questions from interviewer Rob Finnerty at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) Jacob Adams Jacob Adams is a journalism fellow at The Daily Signal. Send an email to Jacob. Speaking Thursday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson discussed the midterm elections and the Make America Great Again agenda, promising to secure the border, to prevent the Trump tax cuts from expiring, to “take a blowtorch to the regulatory state,” and to boost energy production in the country. “Now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Johnson said, explaining that Republicans need to show that conservative policies are better for the American people. When asked about the 2026 midterm elections, the Louisiana lawmaker promised to buck the trend of the party in power losing control of Congress in off-year elections. “We are going to defy history,” Johnson predicted. The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now He cited the fact that there are several House Democrats who are facing reelection in congressional districts won by President Donald Trump. “We have a very favorable landscape,” the speaker told the audience at the conference in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Johnson went on to discuss the historic demographic shift in the presidential election and how Democrats currently appear not to have a leader. freestar “I wish I could explain the Democrats. They’re just enraged by everything,” he said, characterizing the Democratic Party as uninterested in cutting government spending, despite the financial debts the federal government is leaving for future Americans. “I think we need to pay down the credit card,” Johnson said of the mind-boggling $36 trillion national debt. The House speaker praised Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. “What Elon and the team are doing is what Congress has not had the ability to do,” he said, noting that DOGE was exposing massive waste, fraud, and abuse, and that it was time to bring back the American Founding Fathers’ vision of a limited government. “He [Elon Musk] is right over the target,” Johnson declared. The Louisiana lawmaker also touted Trump’s winning the popular vote as well as the electoral vote. He explained that GOP members of Congress see the impressive election victory as a mandate and promised to enshrine Trump’s executive orders into law. freestar “We are going to codify so much of what he is doing so that the next team cannot unwind it,” Johnson said of possible future liberal Democrat presidents. Johnson appeared hopeful at the breadth of policy changes that the unified Republican control of the federal government would be able to accomplish. “Now, we have an opportunity to fix everything,” he said. With respect to foreign policy, the speaker said, it’s important that Ukraine hold a presidential election, which has been postponed since last spring. He also said there was no appetite for additional U.S. funding of Ukraine. He said he had asked Republican leaders to give Trump room to negotiate with the Russians and Ukrainians to end their war. “You’ve got to give him room to operate and do what he does,” Johnson said. Johnson expressed delight at Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., having voted for Kash Patel to be FBI director and appreciation for new Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “We are very unified,” he said of Republicans in the House and Senate. freestar Johnson contended that it was a power play by Democrats to throw open the border over the past four years in order to bring in potential new Democratic voters. He expressed disappointment that now-former President Joe Biden did not seem to care about the human trafficking and fentanyl smuggling as a result of the open southern border. Johnson, who has already initiated changes in Congress, is poised to become one of the most influential House speakers in American history if he can codify into law key provisions of Trump’s agenda. “Thank God that President Trump is back in the White House,” he said. Reacting to Johnson’s speech, CPAC attendees were impressed. “Speaker Mike Johnson has the best speaking voice and personable nature of any speaker in my lifetime. He has a complete command of vocal, verbal, nonverbal communication like a professional speaker,” Robert Miller said, adding, “I think it was a great speech, and I was happy to hear it.” Calum Crichton from Scotland said Johnson seemed positive about America’s future. freestar “I think he just was very positive about the future. I think that’s really what I take from it. I don’t think America’s had that for a long period of time, particularly for the last four years,” Crichton said. “I think it’s very good that, hopefully, we are no longer fronting that [Russia-Ukraine] war and that it hopefully comes to a peaceful end. I think that’s what’s good for Europe. I think that’s what’s good for the United States,” Joanna Johnson said. “So, again, optimistic about that as well, hopefully coming to close, and so our dollars are America first and that we no longer lose life in war” Moira Gleason contributed to this report.
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AntisemitismCanada In 2026, Tulsa And Panama Are Courting Canadian Jews As Antisemitism Redefines The Cost Of Staying As antisemitism reaches unprecedented levels across Canada, Jewish families and professionals are quietly reassessing their futures, and some are being actively courted elsewhere. Ron East By: Ron East December 31, 2025 SHARE A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options as antisemitism intensifies and confidence in public protection erodes. (Image: Illustration.) TORONTO — For generations, Canada sold itself as a country where Jews could thrive without constantly looking over their shoulders. That assumption no longer holds for a growing number of Canadian Jews, particularly in the aftermath of October 7 and the months that followed. What has changed is not only the number of antisemitic incidents. It is the atmosphere. Public hostility has been normalized. Jewish schools, synagogues, and community centres operate under permanent security protocols. Anti-Jewish intimidation is increasingly framed as political expression. Enforcement is inconsistent. Accountability is rare. When Jewish life requires constant risk assessment, mobility stops being a luxury. It becomes a rational act of self-preservation. That reality helps explain why, in 2026, two very different destinations, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Panama, are appearing with growing frequency in serious conversations among Canadian Jews who have the means and flexibility to move. This is not a panic migration. It is a strategic recalculation. Canada’s new warning lights Jewish Canadians represent a small fraction of the population, yet account for a vastly disproportionate share of reported hate crimes. This is not a perception problem. It is a documented pattern. More troubling than the statistics themselves is the message many Jews hear in response: concern, sympathy, and context, but little deterrence. Protests that spill into harassment are tolerated. Jewish institutions are targeted repeatedly. Antisemitism disguised as antizionism is parsed endlessly rather than confronted directly. The result is a slow erosion of confidence in the state’s willingness or ability to enforce equal protection. When a community moves from assuming it belongs to hoping nothing happens today, the social contract has already been fractured. It is within this context that Tulsa and Panama are not merely attracting attention but actively courting. Lech Le’Tulsa and intentional Jewish welcome Tulsa is not presenting itself as a refuge city. It is presenting itself as a place that wants Jewish life to grow. In 2026, that effort has taken concrete form through Lech Le’Tulsa, a Jewish-focused relocation initiative designed to attract Jewish families, professionals, and entrepreneurs to the Tulsa area. The program combines relocation assistance with intentional community building and access to Jewish infrastructure. The name is deliberate. Lech Lecha, the biblical call to go forth and build a future, is not branding by accident. It speaks directly to a Jewish historical instinct that understands movement not as retreat, but as agency. Lech Le’Tulsa offers what many Canadian Jews increasingly feel is missing at home: A clear signal that Jewish presence is welcomed, not merely accommodated Immediate access to synagogues, schools, and Jewish communal life A civic environment where Jewish identity is not treated as a liability The financial incentives matter, but the social architecture matters more. Tulsa is offering a landing ramp. It is saying, we are prepared for you to arrive. That clarity stands in stark contrast to the ambiguity Canadian Jews experience when their safety concerns are acknowledged but endlessly deferred. Panama and the appeal of optionality Panama represents a different but equally rational response to insecurity. For Canadian Jews with international mobility, Panama offers residency pathways tied to investment, business activity, or long-term economic contribution. It also offers something increasingly valuable: optionality. Panama has an established Jewish community, a comparatively lower cost of living, and an immigration framework that openly courts skilled and capital-carrying residents. For some, it is a permanent relocation. For others, it is a second base, a contingency plan, or a future passport pathway. What matters is not the destination itself, but the logic behind the choice. When Jews seek second options, they are not rejecting diaspora life. They are applying historical lessons. Jewish continuity has always depended on redundancy, resilience, and the ability to move before crisis becomes catastrophe. The Zionist lens Canadians prefer to ignore Zionism does not deny the legitimacy of diaspora life. It insists that Jews must never be dependent on the goodwill of others for safety or equality. That lesson was written in blood long before the modern State of Israel existed. Israel institutionalized it at a national level. Individual Jews apply it on a personal level. When Canadian Jews explore Tulsa or Panama, they are not abandoning Canada in anger. They are responding rationally to warning signs. They are building leverage. They are ensuring their children have options. This is what Zionist consciousness looks like outside Israel. It is quiet, pragmatic, and unsentimental. An indictment Canada should take seriously Tulsa and Panama are not superior societies. They are intentional ones. Tulsa is saying, we want contributors, and we are prepared to integrate them. Panama is saying, we want residents and investment, and we have clear legal pathways. Canada, too often, is saying something else entirely: we are sorry you feel unsafe, but the politics are complicated. A serious country does not treat antisemitism as a public relations challenge. It treats it as a threat to civic order. That requires enforcement, deterrence, and moral clarity, including the willingness to name antisemitism even when it hides behind fashionable political language. Until that happens, Canada should not be surprised when Jews quietly explore exit ramps. The bottom line In 2026, the fact that Tulsa and Panama can plausibly court Canadian Jews is not an oddity. It is a warning. When antisemitism reaches levels that fundamentally alter how Jews calculate their futures, movement becomes strategy. History teaches Jews to act before apologies arrive too late. Canada still has time to reverse this trajectory. But time matters. And Jews, having learned this lesson repeatedly, are no longer inclined to wait.
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