Good News Friday ...
August 22, 2025
Dear Patriot,
Unless you follow the news 24/7, as we do at DTR, it is easy to miss interesting information and the good news. The news business had a saying was: "If it bleeds, it leads.” That is true still today. The bad, the sensational, the depressing, and the fake news gets to be above the fold. Everything else fades fast.
We are here every Friday with the good news. We have a lot of it this week.
But, we also found interesting articles that are a bit longer that we wanted to share. If you are interested hit the links.
Have a safe and fun late summer weekend!
1- President Trump continues to defeat every corrupt attempt to take him down. President Trump is running up the score: 437 Trump to 0 Democrats.
Here is President Trump’s response on Truth Social: Townhall
This is a massive win for all Americans and blow against the leftist lawfare strategy.
Appeals court tosses $515 million fraud judgement against Trump in NY fraud case
QUOTE: A five-judge panel of a New York appellate court on Thursday found that a $515 million fraud judgment against President Donald Trump was unconstitutional and violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibitions on excessive fines.
Judge Arthur Engoron originally imposed a $355 million penalty as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James's civil fraud case against the then-presidential candidate. Other interest assessments, led the figure to balloon to more than half of $1 billion by August, Newsmax reported.
The decision is a major win for Trump, who has largely fended off the myriad legal cases brought against him in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, save for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case over his falsification of business records.
2- Oh..gee. This is really a shame.
Kidding!!
The data is in. We are seeing a massive shift in America. We are witnessing a move to common sense and away from straight-up crazy.
We are seeing the ineffectiveness of the Fake News to control the narrative.
Facing this story must have popped the NYTimes employees out of their tiny bubbles.
We wish that Rush was still here to witness the implosion of the far-left, radical Democrat Party.
Study: Democrats Losing Registration Race in All 30 States that Track Party Affiliation — 4.5 Million-Voter Swing Toward GOP
QUOTE: The Democrat Party is hemorrhaging support with no end in sight, according to a shocking analysis of new voter registrations.
Fueled by President Donald Trump’s gains among men, younger voters, and Latinos in 2024, more new voters nationwide chose to be Republicans than Democrats for the first time since 2018, according to a report from the New York Times which relies on voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm.
Perhaps more troubling for Democrats, the data suggests Democrat Party activists can no longer rely on the party’s tried-and-true methods to reverse the trend, leaving panicked party leaders and pundits unsure how to resurrect the party’s electoral prospects.
The numbers are staggering.
“Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot,” the report reads. “That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.”
No states – red, blue, or purple – are immune to the trend.
More voters are choosing to be Republicans.
“I don’t want to say, ‘The death cycle of the Democratic Party,’ but there seems to be no end to this,” Michael Pruser, director of data science for Decision Desk HQ, told the Times. “There is no silver lining or cavalry coming across the hill. This is month after month, year after year.”
More trends paint a similarly dire picture for Democrats.
Dumping money into the existing framework is not a solution for Democrats, but no easy – or difficult – fix is apparent. Compounding the party’s problems is the lack of a leader or message.
If Trump and his movement’s heirs continue expanding the MAGA coalition, Democrats’ problems will grow with it.
3- This is a good thing but, overall, Texas is still infested with dangerous RINOs.
Texas House passes new GOP-friendly congressional maps
QUOTE: After a long day of debate, the Texas House of Representatives passed a Republican-favored congressional map Wednesday evening that could flip five districts red by merging Democratic seats in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas to form new Republican-leaning seats and by making two Rio Grande Valley districts currently held by Democrats more competitive.
Districts currently held by Democratic Reps. Al Green, Marc Veasey, Julie Johnson, Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett are potentially targeted.
The vote came weeks after state Democrats decried the unorthodox mid-decade redistricting as blatant gerrymandering to increase the number of GOP congressional seats.
The new map does not appear to significantly weaken any GOP-held seats but experts have said it would rely on the durability of Hispanic support for Republicans in 2024 to carry into next year's midterms. The maps have gone through some small adjustments since being first introduced in July.
4- Thousands and thousands of illegal criminals are being sent out of the USA.
ICE Arrests Surge to 4,000 in Virginia
QUOTE: The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has detained roughly 4,000 migrants in the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to reports.
By the end of July, ICE had arrested 4,179 illegal aliens in Virginia.
In July, Gov. Youngkin reiterated his support for the arrest and deportation of illegal aliens. He also doubled down on his support for arresting illegal immigrants in and around courthouses. “Let’s just be clear, the vast majority of the people that have been arrested at courthouses around the country are committing violent crimes,” Youngkin said at a press conference in July. “If someone breaks the law and is here illegally, they should be arrested.”
5- More evidence that the Trump immigration plan is working.
Trump's Biggest Immigration Win Yet
Solving America's illegal immigration crisis didn't require amnesty -- just better leadership.
QUOTE: Last week, the Center for Immigration Studies released a study showing America's foreign-born population dropped by 2.2 million from January to July. While the number of naturalized U.S. citizens increased, there was a staggering 1.6 million-person drop among illegal immigrants. CIS estimated that this represented a 10% decline in the country's illegal immigrant population.
While determining the number of illegal immigrants always requires estimation, this drop is supported by anecdotal evidence.
A decrease in illegal immigration is great news for most Americans. It will increase wages for low-skill Americans. It will put downward pressure on housing prices. It will reduce crime. It will lower the amount of money Americans spend supporting illegal immigrants.
But it's terrible news for the Democrat Party -- especially if this drop continues. If the country didn't have any illegal immigrants, Democrats would have less political power.
6- DNI Tulsi Gabbard is draining the worst of The Swamp. She has also slashed jobs by 40%.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard Axes Biden-Era Censorship Office that Targeted Conservative Voices in America
QUOTE: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on Wednesday that she had eliminated the Foreign Malign Influence Center, a Biden-era government organization that worked with social media giants to censor conservatives and voices that opposed Biden administration beliefs.
Gabbard told Jesse Watters, “Here’s what’s interesting, Jesse, is this was created under the Biden administration, and ultimately it has been used, and this is documented, there’s documented evidence of this, is that it was essentially used as a means to censor Americans’ free speech, calling it, ‘Hey, you’re spreading disinformation.’
This center was going and working with different social media companies saying, Well, this is disinformation or misinformation. We have to censor these dissenting voices who are being critical of the then Biden administration. That’s one example of some of the others, once again, who are not only not conducting our core national security mission, but actually existing as a means to politicize intelligence, and in this case, censor free speech of Americans, which is a direct contradiction and undermining of our fundamental constitutional rights.
7- The One Big Beautiful Bill has good news for parents trying to educate their children, but almost no one knows about it.
Bethany Mandel at Washington Examiner
The OBBB Act is one of the most significant shifts in education in decades
QUOTE: Hardly anyone is talking about it, but Congress has just passed one of the most consequential education reforms in history.
Tucked into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a provision that could transform how families access education, reshape the politics of schooling, and finally give parents the power to direct their children’s learning. The legislation establishes a first-of-its-kind federal tax credit scholarship program, open to all types of educational settings. Beginning in 2027, people will be able to claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit, up to $1,700 annually, for donations to educational nonprofit groups that fund K–12 scholarships for low- and middle-income students. The scholarships are designed to be flexible, meeting the wide-ranging needs of modern families. Parents can use them for tuition, tutoring, books, uniforms, transportation, educational technology, or special-needs services. And because they are classified as tax-free for recipients, the scholarships will provide real, immediate support rather than burdensome paperwork.
It is not a small pilot program or a symbolic gesture but a structural shift. Federal law now recognizes that parents, not bureaucrats, should hold the reins of their children’s education. Remarkably, this sweeping change has been barely discussed in the media, as if the country doesn’t realize a quiet revolution has already begun.
8- More good news from the Big Beautiful Bill.
Average American to receive $3,752 tax cut in 2026 from Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill:’ report says
QUOTE: The White House is touting a new economic analysis that estimates taxpayers will see an average $3,752 tax cut in 2026, due to provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation report, taxpayers in every state will see reduced federal taxes next year and though there is “considerable geographic variation” in tax benefits.
“President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is the largest, most consequential tax cut on the middle class ever,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said Friday. “Between lower inflation, massive investments, and historic tax cuts, all Americans are reaping the benefits of the Trump Economy – and the Golden Age has just begun.”
9- The days are numbered for this radical far left propaganda operation. It can not come soon enough but, it is delightful to watch.
Democrats Fume as MSNBC Rebrands to MS NOW
QUOTE: MSNBC, long a politically progressive cable news channel, will no longer carry the NBC brand following its planned rebranding later this year.
In a bold and controversial move, MSNBC is set to rebrand as MS NOW (short for My Source News Opinion World) later this year, shedding its legendary NBC-derived name and iconic Peacock logo.
As part of Comcast's plan to spin off its cable networks into a publicly traded entity called Versant, the change has ignited sharp partisan reactions and raised broader concerns about the network's aging brand and shrinking viewership. Under the direction of Versant CEO Mark Lazarus, the network will officially detach from NBC News.
The announcement triggered swift backlash.
Democrats and left-leaning viewers are particularly distressed — not only by the branding shift, but by what many see as symbolic damage to MSNBC's identity and journalistic weight.
10- For the first time in our lifetime, conservative messaging is ahead of the curve. This is an interesting look into a different way to talk to voters. Read it all at the link.
I made memes for the White House. Here’s what I learned
QUOTE: Serving as director of digital content for President Donald Trump was the most meaningful and intense chapter of my professional life. From the moment we rebooted the administration’s online presence on Inauguration Day, the mission was clear: speak in a voice that resonated with real Americans and make sure our MAGA message could not be ignored. We did not build a cautious, government-style account. We built a fast, culturally fluent content machine designed to cut through the noise and win online. And it worked.
In just six months, the administration’s platforms added over 16 million new followers, with the fastest growth among Americans aged 18–34. We generated billions of video views and gained more than half a million new YouTube subscribers – nearly triple the previous administration’s total growth over four years.
But it was never just about numbers. Our success came from echoing the humor, passion and identity of a movement that was already alive. We did not invent the culture. We gave it a megaphone.
This was not entertainment for entertainment’s sake. Our meme-heavy, content-first strategy was aligned with the president’s priorities. Digital was not a sideshow. It was a frontline tool for shaping narratives, building momentum, and applying pressure.
That was clearest during the push for President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We were not writing legislation. We were making sure Americans understood what was at stake. We turned policy into content people wanted to share – and that shifted the conversation.
That agility was only possible because of President Trump. His decisiveness gave us the freedom to move fast and take risks.
Those of you who haven’t subscribed YET …. you really should … only $50 / year
11- If you have seen acres of fertile farmland with solar panels instead of crops, you will appreciate this news.
Agriculture Secretary Rollins ends use of taxpayer dollars to build solar panels on US farmland
QUOTE: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Monday announced the Agriculture Department (USDA) will no longer spend taxpayer dollars to build solar panels on American farmland.
The department claimed on Tuesday that Tennessee alone has lost over 1.2 million acres of farmland in the past 30 years so the Green New Deal could build subsidized solar panels and the state is expected to lose a total of 2 million acres by 2027.
"This destruction of our farms and prime soil is taking away the futures of the next generation of farmers and the future of our country," Rollins said in a post on X. "Starting today, [USDA] will no longer deploy programs to fund solar or wind projects on productive farmland, ending massive taxpayer handouts. Also ENDING the use of panels made by foreign adversaries like China.”
12- A good take on the Trump Presidency. Read it all at the link.
Issues & Insights Editorial
The Backlash Presidency
QUOTE: For those who can’t understand why Donald Trump was twice elected president, including the Republicans and conservatives who continue to impugn him, we have the answer: Trump is the response to three (yes, three) terms of Barack Obama.
This country has never had a president like Trump. He doesn’t hold back, he can sometimes be crude, he sees no benefit in playing nice with people who want to destroy him (who also happen to overlap with Americans who want to take down their own country a notch or two because, in their perverted thinking, America was never great to begin with). Love him, like him or hate him, Trump is a transformative president – he was called on to halt the road the Obama-fueled ruling class was taking the country down, to break the walls its members had built to insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions, to prosper financially at others’ expense.
Voting for Donald Trump was the counterrevolution to Barack Obama’s effort to remake America, built on the appalling ideology of radicals Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, and Jeremiah Wright – not to mention Obama’s Marxist mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, who turned Obama into an America-hating, Soviet-adoring teen.
13- Finally, these “students” are being held accountable and sent back to their own wonderful countries.
Rubio’s State Department yanks more than 6K student visas due to assault, burglary, support for terrorism
QUOTE: The State Department has yanked more than 6,000 student visas in 2025 for overstays and law violations — including support for terrorism.
The Trump administration has launched multiple initiatives aimed at cracking down on immigration and revoking visas of those attending academic institutions in the U.S.
Those who’ve participated in pro-Palestinian protests have faced heightened scrutiny, as one example, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the administration was reviewing the visa status of those students.
The roughly 6,000 visas that were pulled were primarily due to visa overstays or encounters with the law, including assault, DUIs, burglary and support for terrorism, the State Department told Fox News Digital. "Every single student visa revoked under the Trump Administration has happened because the individual has either broken the law or expressed support for terrorism while in the United States," a senior State Department official said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "About 4,000 visas alone have been revoked because these visitors broke the law while visiting our country, including records of assault and DUIs.”
14- Remember this hysteria? Well, it is all good now.
The Much-Hyped Texas Measles Outbreak Is Over
QUOTE: Texas health officials have officially declared the end of a much-hyped measles outbreak. While the virus did infect 762 people statewide, the situation was ultimately controlled, with the last case reported on July 1. No new infections have emerged in the affected areas for over six weeks, surpassing the standard threshold to declare an outbreak contained.
15- Energy is a crucial part of an economic recovery in America.
America Producing Record Amounts of Oil and Gas
QUOTE: Drill baby drill is working.
Under Biden, US oil and gas production were driven not by pro-energy policies but by high crude prices. Crude was over $100 in 2022 and generally ranged between $70 and $85 for the rest of Biden’s term. As we demonstrated, the barrel price would have pushed production much higher had it not been for Biden’s anti-fossil fuels climate policies.
In just six months, Donald Trump has brought America’s oil and gas production to its highest levels ever, not driven by high prices but by pro-production policies. Now, the price is closer to $60 a barrel and yet domestic production is at an all-time high.
The Energy Information Administration reports forecasts that gas prices will keep falling to below $3 a gallon by next year.
The big story here, of course, is fracking and horizontal drilling which has roughly tripled American production in the last 15 years or so. What a difference a president makes. Biden’s first executive order was to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline to slow oil and gas delivery across the country. The first day executive order from Trump was to make oil and gas production a national security and economic priority.
PRAY for President Trump and his team.
PRAY for justice and full accountability for all who committed crimes against our Constitution and country.
PRAY for the end of war.
PRAY for all children, born and unborn.
PRAY for fair elections.
.
Hold Fast,
Defending The Republic
.
This will be permanently available for all at Defending The Republic.
Regardless of who wins any election, to have confidence in the outcome, we must continue to demand (1) real paper ballots, (2) hand counted in a bipartisan transparent process, and (3) citizen voter ID.
NOTE: Defending The Republic, Inc. is a §501(c)(4) non-profit organization, gifts to which are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.
This email was sent by:
To Unsubscribe for any reason, simply: contact: editor@defendingtherepublic.org with UNLIST in the subject line..