Fast Takes: Ugly turn on Ukraine, lefties promoting terror and other commentary

Centrists: Ugly Turn on Ukraine

“Weakening Ukraine’s defenses while Russia batters its cities is a disgraceful way for the Trump administration to pursue peace,” thunders The Washington Post’s editorial board. The “restrictions on Ukraine’s satellite communications” didn’t impact its operations deep in Russia, which don’t rely on Starshield; instead, they only “disrupted missions against Russian military positions and supply lines inside Ukraine’s territory. Worse, they hobbled interceptor drones protecting Ukrainian population centers,” enabling Russian attacks that “left at least 600,000 people without electricity.” With Europe already looking to OK “a satellite manufacturing venture intended to challenge SpaceX,” this shows major “strategic myopia,” as “the White House could hardly have supplied a better argument for friendly governments to prioritize standing up competitors to U.S. firms.”

Espionage beat: Lefties Promoting Terror

“Fergie Chambers, the radical American political activist with a $250 million inheritance” has “been fighting extradition to the U.S. ever since ” his arrest this summer “in Spain on charges of providing financial support to internationaal terrorist groups,” note Jay Solomon & Leonel Caraciki at The Free Press. “Why is the Trump administration so determined to get him back?” Per “Spanish court documents obtained by The Free Press,” Chambers is accused of “conspiring with Iran” to “support Hamas and possibly other terrorist activities backed by Tehran.” Those allegedly include terror group Palestine Action — and “the Trump administration’s pursuit of Chambers is part of a wider crackdown on groups that officials believe have foreign funding or ties to international terrorist groups” such as Neville Roy Singham. 

Public-safety desk: First the Cameras, Then the Cops

“Casual observers might view the growing popular opposition to Flock Safety” and the automatic-license-plate readers it operates as “an isolated issue,” yet “the movement is heavily influenced by ideological activists,” observes Stu Smith at City Journal. That is, the real “goals of anti-Flock activists” center on “a longer struggle against all policing technology — and, ultimately, policing itself.” “These activists are aware that they have forged an unlikely political alliance with the Right” over the cameras; the movement is somewhat “driven by bipartisan sentiments.” Movement leaders understand that “radical messages don’t always work on this broader audience” and so screen their real intents. But “don’t be confused about what this is: ‘defund’ by another name.”

From the right: Vote Peltola for a Poor Alaska

A vote for Democrat Mary Peltola — who says Washington politicians are “‘corrupt’ and ‘rigging the system’ against Last Frontier residents” — is a vote “for political and economic suicide” in Alaska, warns The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel. Incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan must remind voters that, no matter how much Peltola “blames Trump policies, tariffs in particular, and Mr. Sullivan for Alaska’s price problems,” Joe Biden’s four years of over “70 orders and actions against its economy” sent the state off “an economic cliff.” And, it was Peltola who in the House “served as a loyal assistant for 2½ of those years.” Thankfully, “Trump issued an order entirely dedicated to Alaska that rescinded Biden policies.” Sullivan is “Alaska’s line to the presidency,” and it’s unlikely the administration would “grant further favors” if it’s a “Peltola ask.”

Liberal: Donors Still Pushing Dems Left

Michael Bahareen at UnHerd notes a Wall Street Journal report detailing “two crops” of Democratic donors sharing “the same fundamental goal: electing more progressives and shifting the Democratic Party’s center of gravity Leftward.” Notably, “these Democratic donors actually hold views that are consistent with or even to the Left of the median Democratic voter, including on economic matters.” And they boost “candidates whose views and priorities” put “the party wildly out of step with the majority of the country.” During the “2026 primary season, Left-wing candidates, many backed by this class of donors, have had immense success.” The Left’s “growing influence” and “momentum” in the Democratic Party — “buoyed with serious financial support” — could cause “Democrats’ likely gains this November” to “prove short-lived.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board