Jack Riggins

This is going to be an uncomfortable post, America, but it's time for some straight talk we all need to hear. As Eric Schwalm, Retired Green Beret, voter, and a guy who's spent years watching narratives get twisted and decisions get outsourced, I want to own this straight up. I was asleep at the wheel. I stopped paying attention. I used to let politicians make too many of my decisions for me. That was too much power to hand over. No more. For the first time in a long time, the path forward on immigration enforcement is truly up to regular Americans like us. No excuses. No outsourcing our spine. We overwhelmingly agree on the WHAT: deport criminal illegal aliens. Polls show 70 to 90 percent support, often near 95 to 97 percent for violent offenders. That's the goal most of us want. Safer communities. Rule of law. Real consequences for those who prey on our people. But let's remind ourselves why we chose to remove these individuals in the first place. They entered our country uninvited and without permission. They remained here fully aware that they were not supposed to, no matter how many years passed. We formally asked them to leave, and they ignored it. We even offered financial incentives and free transportation to depart voluntarily, yet they chose to stay. Now, with authorities actively pursuing them, they continue to resist and evade. And worst of all, some have committed horrific crimes while unlawfully present. These acts never should have happened because they had no right to be here at all. Good people simply do not make a pattern of such defiant, harmful choices. Deep down, we all recognize that truth. These criminal illegal aliens have shown us time and again that they will not leave on their own accord. So, the only option left is to forcibly remove them, even as they kick and scream the whole way out the door. But the HOW is being deliberately corrupted and muddied. Coordinated, non-organic efforts, including funded networks, trained cadres, rapid mobilizations, and engineered escalations, are socially engineering the outrage. They create symbolic triggers. They film confrontations. They amplify fallout. They turn targeted enforcement into optics of chaos and overreach. The result? Support for the methods crashes. ICE tactics are now called too aggressive by 58 to 63 percent of people. Trump's immigration handling is at record lows around 39 percent, even among folks who agree on the principle. This is not honest public debate. It is calculated interference designed to widen the gap between what we say we want and what we are willing to accept to get it. It forces hesitation. It fragments coalitions. It keeps the resistance's moral leverage alive. Americans have always struggled with this. We know what we want, but we chase cheap, easy, fast, high-quality results without accepting the necessary trade-offs or discomfort. We want secure borders and lower crime without visible friction. We want tough enforcement without tough optics. That disconnect lets the manipulation win. Truthfully, we've been conveniently lying to ourselves about how real change happens, distorting the facts to avoid feeling bad about the hard parts. And let's not fall for the easy out of blaming Trump or the administration. He was upfront about this from day one. We voted him in specifically to deliver on it. Now he's fulfilling exactly what he promised. But we're conveniently hanging him out to dry because manufactured rage bait and engineered discomfort are pulling at our emotions. We all need to look in the mirror and own that this is our collective decision, not his fault alone. We chose this path. Backing away now just because it feels tough is on us. Honestly, it's time to admit we've been biasing the truth to make ourselves feel better, pretending the discomfort isn't part of the deal we signed up for. Here's the truth. If we truly believe in the WHAT, we have to organically and independently back a reasonable HOW, even when it is imperfect, visible, or hard. Reject the disingenuous noise trying to skew our decision. Cut through the engineered fog. Decide for ourselves, not because of manufactured headlines or provoked incidents. Candidly, that means facing our own biases head-on and choosing honestly, without self-deception or convenient excuses. Politicians can only deliver what sustained public will allows. We've given them excuses for too long by letting artificial controversy dictate the terms. Want real change? Say yes to the process that delivers it. Put our money where our mouth is. Accept the price tag for the outcome we claim to want. I take full responsibility for supporting the HOW because the WHAT is critical for a positive future for America. No more half-measures from me. Honestly, we need to support the HOW or admit we either lied about what we wanted in the first place or are too weak-willed to back up what we say we desire. The decision is ours now. No more blaming upward. No more hiding behind polls that show agreement on ends but division on means. What say you, America? Are we ready to own the HOW, or will we keep letting others decide for us? The path to Heaven sometimes runs through Hell, and when you’re going through Hell you need to lean into that hill and keep those feet moving forward. @AsraNomani @dbongino @JoeTalkShow @VinceCoglianese