Trump EOs expose Joe’s border lie, Australia’s gone full Nazi and other commentary

Conservative: Trump EOs Expose Joe’s Border Lie

President Trump’s executive orders on Day 1 prove “the border could have been secured at any point over the past four years by the Biden administration, without any action or new legislation from Congress,” fumes The Federalist’s John Daniel Davidson. Trump “declared an emergency” and ordered the “military to immediately resume construction of the border wall.” He also “announced the reinstatement of his Remain in Mexico policy” and “ordered that criminal cartels in Mexico be designated as” terrorist organizations. “The Biden administration could have done” this — or simply left in place Trump’s border policies, which “were working.” Biden and Democrats “triggered the very immigration crisis they later claimed to have no power over. It was a lie and a coverup.”

Antisemitism watch: Australia’s Gone Full Nazi

“The most recent target of antisemitism in Australia is a building that was, until two years ago, my home,” writes Alex Ryvchin at The Free Press. The building was “set on fire and vandalized”; the words “F–k Jews” were scrawled on the side of a nearby car. “As co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, I spend my days advocating for my country’s Jewish community — which numbers around 120,000 people.” Since Oct. 7, “Australia’s Jewish community has been continuously reeling from attacks like this.” And “the reaction in Australia has been to quibble.” “The Jews I speak to today don’t recognize our country anymore . . . We know how antisemitism can escalate. It won’t end with arson. The question before Australians now is: Will someone get killed before it does?”

From the right: Weaponizing Polls for the Info War

“In the context of politics and news, there is an information war,” and “polling has become part of that war,” declares the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. RealClearPolitics is “at the center of that war” because its polling average that showed Trump ahead of Harris prompted The New York Times to falsely claim RCP “was now in the category of partisan polling and was undermining faith in the entire system.” In reality, RCP has kept its promise to “present all angles and perspectives of political events.” The Times and other media are typically “using the poll results they like and ignoring the results they don’t like.” “The last thing we need in U.S. politics is an information war on polling.”

Eye on LA Fires: Beware Hawaii’s Rebuild Woes

“Gov. Gavin Newsom has reportedly been in conversations with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green” about how to best rebuild Los Angeles, but Reason’s Christian Britschgi warns that “if California’s efforts replicate Hawaii’s, the road to recovery will be long indeed.” “Over 2,000 properties with residential structures were either destroyed or suffered major damage” during Maui’s devastating 2023 fires. Yet “roughly a year and a half since the fires, a total of three of those homes have been rebuilt,” thanks to cumbersome regulations. As of now, “228 building permits for wildfire reconstruction have been issued, and 112 homes are currently under construction”; “the situation is even more bleak for rebuilding commercial structures.” Newsom should look to Hawaii as a lesson of what not to do.

Mideast beat: Key Questions for Trump on Iran

How would President Trump approach nuclear negotiations with Iran? wonder Reuel Marc Gerecht & Mark Dubowitz at The Wall Street Journal. Unless he links the talks to “Iran’s regional behavior,” “sanctions relief will fund Tehran’s nefarious actions, including the supply of arms” to proxies that “have killed Americans and Israelis.” “Nuclear negotiations never made any sense unless Washington was prepared to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities,” yet many of Trump’s supporters would rather it went nuclear. Would Trump back an Israeli strike? If he stands down after an Iranian attack, “it could dissuade Saudi Arabia” from joining the Abraham Accords, which Trump “ardently wants.” Meanwhile, “Israel’s future is now inextricably tied to whether Americans, especially Republicans,” see “skirting the Middle East” as “neither advisable nor possible.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board