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BANGOR, Maine - The sprint to replace ex-candidate Graham Platner will come to an end on Saturday as Maine Democrats are expected to quickly elevate Troy Jackson as their party's nominee in the high-stakes Senate showdown with longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Jackson, a former state Senate president, is on a glide path to replace Platner at the Maine Democratic Party nominating convention in Bangor, after winning the vast majority of the voting delegates chosen last weekend by Democrats in the northern New England state's 16 counties. And Jackson's top rivals in the race to replace Platner backed him after dropping out of the race the past few days, leaving only one long-shot candidate for delegates to also consider at the convention.

The Senate race in Maine, where Collins is the only GOP incumbent running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost in the 2024 election, is one of roughly a dozen midterm showdowns across the country that will determine if Republicans hold onto their slim majority or if the Democrats win back control of the chamber.

"Let’s get to work to defeat Susan Collins and create the Maine that working people deserve," Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from the remote northern tip of Maine and a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago, said in a social media post ahead of the convention.

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While Jackson quickly raised over $1 million for his burgeoning Senate campaign and coalesced party support, there are some potential warning signs.

Following reports this past week digging into Jackson's alleged temper and workplace conduct, reported claims of mortgage improprieties as well as other potential liabilities including his past strict anti-abortion stance, there are concerns by some in the party that following the Platner implosion, Democrats have landed another unvetted nominee.

"This is a bit of a rocket vetting process," a Democratic strategist who works on Senate races, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News Digital. "Maine Democrats have seemingly made their choice and they're just going to have to ride with it."

A veteran Democratic consultant who also asked for anonymity said that "it's very clear that Democrats should not be looking to Maine to flip the Senate"

"The good news is that we have upset opportunities in places like Texas, Iowa, and Alaska," added the consultant, who works with centrist Democratic Senate candidates.

Platner, a military combat veteran and oyster farmer who was backed progressive champion and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont soon after he launched his bid last August, saw his campaign quickly catch fire. Two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was heavily recruited by longtime Democratic Senate leader Sen. Chuck Schumer to run for the Senate, suspended her campaign this spring after trailing Platner in fundraising and in the polls.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TROY JACKSON, WHO'S ABOUT TO REPLACE GRAHAM PLATNER AS THE DEMOCRATS' SENATE NOMINEE

But even as Platner steamrolled the Democratic establishment and crushed the competition last month in Maine's primary to capture the nomination, he had already been forced on defense in the wake of a slew of scandals.

Platner dropped out earlier this month, amid calls from top Democrats in Maine and across the country to immediately exit the race following an explosive report containing an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. Platner denied the report but stepped aside.

Jackson, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, campaigned alongside Platner during the primary. And he quickly made the case that he was the best equipped candidate to grab the mantle of the progressive and populist movement that had backed Platner.

Similar to Platner, Jackson is running on a platform aimed at working-class voters. He backs raising taxes on billionaires, the universal healthcare system known as "Medicare-for-all," abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and he opposes military aid to Israel at a time that Democrats are increasingly divided on support for America's longtime Middle East ally.

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Jackson, who also had Sanders' support as he ran governor, is currently backed in his Senate campaign by Our Revolution, the group born in 2016 out of Sanders' first presidential campaign.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California, a leading progressive in the House and a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, was a top Platner backer. Khanna quickly moved his support to Jackson in this month's sprint to succeed Platner.

And Jackson enjoys strong support from labor unions in Maine. The labor backing, along with support from Platner’s former allies, helped Jackson capture the overwhelming majority of county-selected delegates last weekend.

The 500 delegates chosen last weekend, along with 101 selected by the state party, will vote for the nominee at the convention. While the delegates on Jackson's slate are not required to support him at the convention, he is considered all but certain to secure the nomination.

Republicans are arguing that Democrats stacked the deck to back Jackson as Platner's replacement.

"Maine voters have been shut out by the Democrat establishment with a rigged nominating process to crown Platner 2.0 without a single vote being cast," Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci charged in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Collins, as she runs for a sixth six-year term in the Senate, is facing a rough political climate for Republicans, amid GOP President Donald Trump's underwater approval ratings, persistent inflation and what polls indicate is an unpopular war with Iran.

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The senator, known as a moderate Republican who at times has voted against Trump, last month received bipartisan praise after reaching a milestone by casting her 10,000th consecutive Senate vote.

But Democrats are taking aim at Collins over her comments that she didn't regret her 2018 vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, despite his crucial vote four years later to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.

And following the fatal shooting in Maine earlier this month involving federal immigration agents, Democrats heavily criticized the Senate Appropriations Committee chair for her support for ICE funding.

But Collins has a history of defeating the Democrats' efforts to oust her from the Senate.

Six years ago, she trailed Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, the then-Maine House speaker, but the senator ended up winning re-election by nearly 9 points.

The Senate showdown in Maine is expected to be competitive, combustible, and expensive, with outside groups on both sides spending big bucks to run ads.

The first Fox News Power Rankings of the 2026 midterms, which gauge the competitiveness of elections using data, reporting and analysis, were released this week. And they rank the showdown in Maine as a toss-up.

Meanwhile, a Pine Tree Poll conducted in recent days by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center indicated Jackson with a slight three-point edge over Collins, right at the edge of the margin of error, among likely general election voters in Maine.

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Democratic lawmakers told Fox News Digital they agree New Jersey's voter registration error demands accountability but say it doesn't justify claims of widespread election fraud.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday said a "serious software error" led to the mistaken registration of roughly 6,600 noncitizens through the state's Motor Vehicle System, while the company that provides the identity-related security services denied any wrongdoing.

"In New Jersey, we absolutely need to have accountability for what happened," Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said.

"It was just horrible. There was a big problem with that computer problem that they had. We need to try to address that going forward."

NEW JERSEY REMOVES 6,600 PEOPLE FROM VOTER ROLLS WHO WERE ELIGIBLE TO CAST A BALLOT FOR 2024 ELECTION

Kim said states should be given the tools to keep voter rolls accurate instead of relying on the Department of Homeland Security's findings after the agency found roughly 250,000 potential noncitizens who may be registered to vote across New Jersey, California, Nevada and Pennsylvania during a preliminary review.

"The main thing is making sure states have what they need," Kim added. "I don't trust the idea that we're just going to mesh it with some DHS database. That's where a lot of the problems come in, but we should all be making sure we're looking out for election integrity."

Sherrill said she immediately ordered an investigation after the error was discovered and that the state's Division of Elections is removing ineligible voters from the rolls. She said fewer than 400 of those improperly registered cast ballots.

Kim said improving election technology and maintaining paper trails need to be a priority.

GOP ERUPTS OVER 6,600 NONCITIZEN VOTERS FOUND IN BLUE STATE AS SCANDAL DEEPENS: ‘WORSE THAN ANYONE EXPECTED’

"I've been pushing on that. Why don't we get behind that?" he said.

Pointing to state and county officials, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said they must ensure "only those who are eligible to vote, vote."

The comments also come after House Democrats largely opposed a legislative package combining a congressional stock trading ban with federal voter ID measures, as New Jersey's voter registration error reignites debate.

When asked whether the country needs a nationwide proof-of-citizenship requirement for voting, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said President Donald Trump's claims of widespread election fraud are "a figment of his imagination."

"There's no evidence for it, and I'm not going to validate his false narratives," he said.

Despite acknowledging those involved should be "held accountable," Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said noncitizen voting "remains extremely rare."

"I have always said that people should have to prove that they are who they say they are before they vote, and we have systems in place to ensure that happens, which is why noncitizen voting remains extremely rare," he said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the error was "not acceptable" and pointed to Virginia's voter ID requirements and election audits, saying they have never uncovered a noncitizen voting problem.

"We do have an ID requirement in Virginia," he said. "We also have audits of elections, and we've never found there to be a noncitizen voting problem."

Praising Sherrill for coming forward in a "transparent manner," Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said election software should be continuously reviewed.

CALIFORNIA ACCUSED OF BLOCKING FEDERAL VOTER ROLL AUDIT AS DOJ ESCALATES PROBE OF ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS

"We need to constantly be looking at election software and making sure," she said.

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said he supports a "simple" voter ID law but opposed the House GOP bill because he said it went beyond a basic ID requirement.

"If they put up a simple voter ID bill for an up-or-down vote without any of the other bulls--- in it, I would vote for it," he said. "I think a lot of people on both sides would, too. But they keep adding other stuff, like gutting mail ballots, and that was the problem with yesterday's bill."

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The columnist for USA Today who sparked outrage over her attacks towards WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark has a lengthy history of injecting her liberal views into sports.

The newspaper's sports writer, Nancy Armour, took aim at the iconic Indiana Fever point guard for repeatedly "flopping" on the court, arguing it's becoming "dangerous" for others, specifically Black players.

She argued the "racists" and "white nationalist faction to Clark’s fandom" will see her as a "white woman in need of saving and take matters into their own hands," citing harassment Black players have faced following various altercations with the basketball star.

"It shouldn’t need reminding this country has an awful history of Black people being harmed, even killed, in the name of 'defending' [W]hite women," Armour wrote Wednesday. "The WNBA's All-Star Game this weekend is in Chicago, Emmett Till's hometown, and a local art gallery is currently hosting an exhibit imagining his life if he hadn't been lynched. While it’s incumbent on the WNBA to do more to protect its players, there also should be an expectation on Clark to recognize the wider consequences of her actions."

DAVE PORTNOY BLASTS USA TODAY COLUMNIST FOR CLAIMING CAITLIN CLARK’S REFEREE COMPLAINTS FUEL RACISM

The writer linking Clark to Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman who falsely accused 14-year-old Till of making unwanted advances that resulted in his brutal murder, sparked outrage among critics.

Armour walked back what she called an "inartful comparision," insisting she neglected to provide enough context in her column — but doubled down on her argument.

USA TODAY REPORTER APOLOGIZES FOR INVOKING EMMETT TILL IN COLUMN ABOUT CAITLIN CLARK AFTER UPSETTING THE WOKE

"However, this point stands: There is a history in this country of perceived threats to [W]hite women being weaponized against African-Americans, and the danger that poses to Black players in the league," Armour wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. "Players have been abused online and have reported receiving death threats. That has to be taken more seriously."

"I sincerely regret that my lack of appropriate context is overshadowing that important conversation and the action that needs to be taken by the WNBA to address it directly — for the benefit of ALL players," she added.

USA Today added an editor's note to the column saying it was "updated to provide further context and clarity."

Armour, who joined USA Today in 2014, has long fixated on fueling her sports columns with her far-left views.

On Thursday, after her latest attack on Clark, she slammed The Heritage Foundation, who she dubbed the "authors of Project 2025," alleging "they're coming for Title IX" based on a recently-released policy report that concluded the longstanding law that requires schools to provide equal opportunites for men and women has become a "powerful engine of feminist social engineering" that doesn't address the inherent difference between both sexes.

"Our bodies, our self-confidence, our independence — they’re not going to stop until women have the same rights and opportunities they did before the 1970s. Which were almost none," Armour claimed.

"It’s easy to say the Heritage Foundation’s efforts will go nowhere... But Project 2025 has done too much damage already not to take the threat to Title IX seriously," she later wrote. "The Heritage Foundation wants a United States that reflects their White, Judeo-Christian and heteronormative 'values,' and is steadfastly working to eliminate anything that deviates from them... This country has learned the hard way that women can be stripped of what we'd assumed were fundamental rights. Don't let Title IX be the next to go."

SPORTS MEDIA HAS CREATED AN ‘INDUSTRY’ OUT OF COMPLAINING ABOUT WHITE ATHLETES LIKE CAITLIN CLARK

Last month, as the historic FIFA World Cup was underway, Armour declared the United States "lost" due do its "greed and hostility" on the global stage, declaring "we chose to be ugly Americans" as the host nation.

"The U.S. men’s national team could make a historically deep run and the tournament could be filled with wondrous goals and compelling games. It will not change the fact that we have shown ourselves to be a hateful and greedy nation, one where leaders are only willing to welcome a world as they want to see it rather than as it exists, and the love of the game is exploited for top dollar. That will be the legacy, and the shame, of this World Cup," Armour began her column before listing her grievances like the crackdown on Iranian visas as the U.S. continues its war with the Islamic Republic and the skyrocketing ticket prices.

USA TODAY COLUMNIST WHO SLAMMED CAITLIN CLARK DECLARED US GREED WOULD RUIN WORLD CUP

In 2025, Armour rallied behind Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles during her spat with former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines, who she accused of being "bully" against the transgender community as Gaines became a prominent advocate for women and girls in sports.

"There is no scientific evidence that transgender women athletes have a physical advantage over cisgender women athletes, but that hasn’t stopped Gaines from claiming they do," Armour wrote. "Gaines has publicly lobbied for Biles and Caitlin Clark to support her in her hate which, again, is a laughable idea to anyone who has followed Biles’ illustrious career."

She continued, "Most of us could never do what Biles does as a gymnast. But we can do what she does as a human: Be kind. Defend the most marginalized. And when you get the opportunity to stick up to a bully, do it at full throat. In a world of Riley Gaineses, be a Simone Biles."

SPORTS COLUMNIST FACES BACKLASH OVER SIMONE BILES DEFENSE AFTER RILEY GAINES ATTACK

Armour similarly attacked then-ESPN broadcaster Sam Ponder in 2023 for speaking out in defense of women and girls who object biological male athletes competing in women's sports, who the USA Today columnist accused of "plain old bigotry."

"Don’t be fooled by the people who screech about ‘fairness’ to cloak their bigotry toward transgender girls and women, the transgender girls and women who have the audacity to want to play sports, in particular. This is, and always was, about hate, fear and ignorance," Armour wrote at the time.

In 2021, Armour fumed over how NFL superstar Tom Brady, who was just days away from playing in his tenth Super Bowl, had gotten an "undeserved pass" over his past support for Donald Trump.

"Brady’s ability to enter and exit the debate at his choosing, to shield himself from accountability, is the height of white [sic] privilege," she wrote. As this country grapples with the far reaches of systemic racism, look no further than Brady, for whom the expectations, and allowances granted, will always be different."

Armour wrote a similar column prior to Super Bowl 51 in 2017 that insisted that Brady "has some explaining to do" and "no longer gets a pass on his friendship with Donald Trump."

USA Today parent company Gannett did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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Witnesses recounted the moments surrounding a pair of New York City stabbings being investigated as a possible hate crime, with one calling the scene the "scariest thing" she had ever seen.

The suspect, identified as Raul Morales, 51, is accused of yelling "Allahu Akbar" while stabbing two men on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Thursday afternoon, according to officials.

The NYPD is investigating whether bias played a role in the attacks. One victim is Jewish, while the other is Asian, police said.

Police said the stabbings appeared to be separate attacks that occurred near each other. Authorities said there was no known connection between Morales and either victim or between the two victims.

SUSPECT ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY YELLING ‘ALLAHU AKBAR,' STABBING 2 MEN IN NYC ATTACK

Both men were taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Authorities are investigating whether a knife or screwdriver was used in the attacks.

A witness described seeing a knife sticking out of one of the victims following the stabbing.

"I just saw him sitting on his knees not moving at all, with this knife sticking out. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen. The men who worked in the building are amazing and they just ran to get help," the witness told Fox 5 New York.

Another woman, who said she was friends with one of the victims, said she was inside a synagogue when she heard that someone had been stabbed. When she reached the scene, the victim was already being taken to the hospital.

"I spoke to direct eyewitnesses who said that this man had yelled 'Allahu Akbar' and had taken a screwdriver and stabbed him directly in the chest ... then the guy walked away and kind of pretended he was not culpable and said 'maybe someone should call 911, it looks like someone's hurt on the street,'" Nava Silton told the outlet.

Silton said she later visited the victim in the hospital and described him as brave and courageous.

"It is incredibly scary and he's just praying the condition doesn't get worse. He had to pull the screwdriver out of his body," she said.

Initial NYPD findings suggest mental health may have been a factor.

"While the perpetrator has no known mental health history with the NYPD, the initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

AMERICAN TOURISTS STABBED OUTSIDE ATHENS' ACROPOLIS AS POLICE DETAIN SUSPECT IN APPARENT RANDOM ATTACK

Officials across the state denounced the attack, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul.

"These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city," Mamdani said.

Hochul said she was "disgusted by what appears to be another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they’re Jewish."

Anyone who tries to tear that apart will be met with the full force of the law. New York will stand with our Jewish community today, tomorrow, and always," she said.

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Multiple people were injured Thursday after a Kenmore Air floatplane made an emergency landing off the Washington coast before catching fire, prompting a massive rescue operation, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it received a report around 5:25 p.m. local time that a Kenmore Air seaplane had made an emergency landing in North Beach Shallow Bay off Sucia Island before bursting into flames.

Authorities said all 10 passengers and the pilot were accounted for.

SEN TIM SHEEHY MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING AFTER IN-FLIGHT ENGINE FAILURE

The San Juan County Sheriff's Office said multiple people suffered injuries ranging from head trauma to broken bones and lacerations.

Kenmore Air said four passengers were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Authorities said one person was in critical condition. No fatalities were immediately reported.

The airline said it was working closely with investigators and would provide additional updates as more information becomes available.

MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A 'DEVASTATING LOSS,' COMPANY SAYS

Kenmore Air CEO David Gudgel said the company's immediate focus was on those aboard the aircraft.

"We are grateful that everyone aboard has been accounted for, and our immediate focus is ensuring our passengers and pilot receive the care and support they need," Gudgel said.

"We extend our sincere thanks to the United States Coast Guard, local emergency responders, and everyone assisting in the response," he continued. "Kenmore Air is fully cooperating with the investigating authorities, and we will continue providing verified information as it becomes available."

The airline said the aircraft involved was a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter operating near Sucia Island.

According to the sheriff's office, the flight departed Seattle's Lake Union and was headed to Roche Harbor Marina on San Juan Island.

A Kenmore Air spokesperson told Fox News Digital the route between Lake Union and the San Juan Islands is a routine flight for the airline.

"If you live here, you would be potentially taking a seaplane up there," the spokesperson said.

COAST GUARD HELICOPTER CRASHES DURING ALASKA TRAINING MISSION, INJURING FOUR CREW MEMBERS

The sheriff's office said multiple agencies responded by deploying boats and emergency personnel to the scene.

The U.S. Navy also responded, while three air ambulance helicopters transported injured passengers.

Orcas Island Fire & Rescue, Lopez Island Fire & Rescue, San Juan Island Fire & Rescue and San Juan County Parks also responded.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard for additional comment.

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Two people were shot and killed inside a vehicle on the University of Chicago campus on Thursday, according to local reports.

The victims — a 27-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man — were discovered inside a vehicle on the 5900 block of South Ellis near Midway Plaisance Ice Skating Rink and Harper Quad at around 5:35 p.m., police said, per NBC 5 Chicago.

Both victims had a gunshot wound to the head, according to police.

MANHUNT UNDERWAY AFTER COLLEGE STUDENT FATALLY SHOT CHASING ROBBERS WHO ALLEGEDLY STOLE HIS PHONE

The man and woman were transported to the university hospital in critical condition, but were later pronounced dead.

It remains unclear if the two victims had any connection to the university.

CHICAGO'S DEADLY JUNETEENTH WEEKEND LEAVES 7 DEAD AS TRUMP SHAMES DEM GOV FOR INACTION

A firearm was recovered from the scene, police said.

Video of the scene showed that the vehicle, which was damaged, appeared to have crashed either during or after the shooting, NBC 5 Chicago reported.

The incident remains under investigation.

"This incident is currently under investigation, and we cannot confirm details at this time," a Chicago Police Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to university police for additional information.

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The future of the West and President Donald Trump’s reputation within it through the centuries will depend on the outcome of the ongoing battle with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

America is decisively winning that battle, but it has not yet won it. In fact, the U.S. could lose the battle. If President Trump perseveres, that will not happen. If he abandons the battle, it could very well be the worst foreign policy debacle for the U.S. since the end of the Vietnam War, rivaling even that of the catastrophe of President Biden’s command to American forces to quickly depart Afghanistan in 2021.

Because of those two competing futures, it is highly likely that President Trump will persevere. And he should.

IRAN IS NOT A NORMAL NATION YOU CAN MAKE DEALS WITH; IT’S A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT

Iran is run by religious fanatics. That is the overarching reality about the defining threat Iran poses to the region and indeed the world. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps ("IRGC") that the repressive regime cannot be "deterred" in the way other evil tyrannies can be deterred.

Xi Jinping can be deterred. Vladimir Putin can be deterred. Both have no evident desire to die, or for history to end.

Iran cannot be deterred from its mission to destroy Israel and the United States, because destruction and even defeat in this battle is not what ultimately matters the most to the theocrats atop the Islamic Republic. "Martyrdom" is itself the best result for any individual caught up in Khomeinism. "Regime survival" is a secondary goal to its leadership’s personal worldview, an extreme version of a minority branch of Islam often called "Twelver" theology.

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The defining belief of Twelver Shi’ism is that the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, did not die, entered occultation (a state of concealment) in the 9th century, remains alive by God’s will and will return at the end of time as the Mahdi to establish justice and peace. A group within "Twelver" believers assert that turmoil may help usher in the Mahdi’s return.

When Iran’s first tyrant, Ayatollah Khomeini, drank the infamous "poisoned chalice" and accepted a 1988 ceasefire with Iraq in the brutal 1980-1988 war, that "Supreme Leader" did not remotely fear a popular uprising by his own people. Khomeini believed that he had time on his side for the instrument of worldwide salvation that he believed the Islamic Republic to be.

Today’s dictator, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp Commander-in-Chief Ahmed Vahidi, knows the regime is already on borrowed time. Shattered and facing a ruined economy experiencing hyperinflation that will only grow worse, the economy cannot support the 90+ million who depend on it. That means inevitable rebellion by the people followed by revolution against the IRGC.

Vahidi’s predecessor in the role of top tyrant, the now dead Ayatollah Khamenei, took the "Tiananmen Square" option when hundreds of thousands if not millions of protesters took to the Iranian streets in January of this year. Like Chinese dictator Deng Xiaoping in 1989, Khamenei ordered the murder of as many citizens as it took in January to suppress the sort of uprising that threatened the regime.

That wicked choice worked — once — in China in 1989. It worked again in January in Iran. Popular uprisings in both countries were brutally repressed.

But as countless dictators have found out, from Assad in Syria and Gaddafi in Libya to Ceausescu in Romania and Jaruzelski in Poland and Honecker in East Germany among dozens of other toppled tyrants, a regime that survives because of tens of thousands of secret police and their auxiliaries cannot stand against a people of millions much less tens of millions absent the sort of surveillance state China has built and brutally enforced.

Iran does not have that surveillance state. Vahidi knows his already badly weakened regime cannot survive years into the future. That fact means the religious mission — the prime directive of "Twelver theology" — cannot again be made subservient to "regime survival" as it was in 1988. If the regime isn’t going to survive and its leaders know that, they must act with increasing violence to serve the mission of destroying the "Little Satan" of Israel and preparing the way for the Hidden Imam.

So Vahidi and his minions will never ever agree to anything other than ruses that allow them to seek the WMD with which to destroy Israel and perhaps trigger the return of the "occulted Hidden Imam." Study what Pickaxe Mountain is and what end it must serve. It’s the last best chance for Iran to "break out" and obtain a nuclear weapon. Our heaviest and most destructive ordinance, the "bunker busters" President Trump used to obliterate Iran’s second most deeply-buried nuclear weapons facility at Fordow, may not work against Pickaxe. Bombing around the site may set back construction, but it cannot destroy the caverns and everything the Islamic Republic is building within it.

That’s the set of facts that sits before President Trump: A regime run by religious fanatics, one rich in oil revenues if allowed to resume the export of oil, and one executing its back-up plan to build nukes in a cavern so deep it cannot be destroyed by conventional weaponry.

Both the First Gulf War and the second war with Iraq were "perfectly executed half maneuvers," the sort of strategic hesitation in the middle of a grand plan that leads to military defeat. So too, it is often argued, was the invasion of Afghanistan.

Of many famous maxims about war from this millennium, perhaps the most famous is the one attributed to Napoleon that is featured in the subtitle: "If you start to take Vienna, take Vienna."

That maxim has never been verified as having been said by France’s military genius but is often cited because in that sentence is contained worlds of strategic thinking refined into 8 words. The sharp point is to pursue a military campaign in pursuit of a grand strategic goal to its successful conclusion. Tactical victories or defeats do not matter. Once begun, pursue the battle to its successful conclusion. Half measures or abandoned plans are lethal to a nation’s victory and survival.

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Many in legacy media are quick to note that President Donald Trump is loathe to be labeled in any way as "like" President Barack Obama. (There is no danger of comparison of the always energetic, always "on" President Trump with the infirm President Joe Biden.)

Now President Trump is assailed by almost every Democrat and some Republicans — including, no doubt, some in the West Wing — for initiating this battle with Iran. The critics argue that President Obama would never have taken the action President Trump has. The president should ignore them and resolve to "take Vienna." Nothing else will secure the country, the region and the world.

"These people are crazy," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about the religious fanatics running Iran. "They are scum," President Trump has added.

Whatever you think those tyrants are, some of them are deeply convicted believers in an "end times" theology that would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons to destroy Israel and possibly bring the Twelfth Imam out of his "occultation." Most of the West doesn’t want to deal with the implications of a theocracy bound up in medieval theology and run by fanatics in possession of WMD. President Trump is willing to do so and has acted on it. Now he must finish the job.

Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT

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