When America Acts Like America Again

For years, Americans were told to accept chaos as normal.
To look away as religious communities were targeted.
To believe that standing for anything, anywhere, was somehow wrong.

This week was a reminder that it doesn’t have to be that way.

When Donald Trump authorized U.S. airstrikes against ISIS-linked terrorist groups operating in Nigeria, the message was simple: the United States will not ignore the systematic slaughter of innocent people — including Christians — at the hands of violent extremists.

That message matters.

Not because America should be the world’s police, but because there is a difference between endless intervention and decisive action. There is a difference between moral clarity and moral paralysis.

For too long, the default posture of the West has been hesitation — fear of being criticized, fear of being called names, fear of asserting that some things are objectively wrong. Terrorism thrives in that vacuum.

What happened in Nigeria was not about ideology. It was about responsibility.

Extremist groups aligned with ISIS have spent years murdering civilians, burning villages, and destabilizing entire regions. Christians, Muslims, and anyone who refuses to submit to radical rule have all suffered. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make it more “nuanced.” It makes it dishonest.

Conservatives have long argued that strength deters violence, while weakness invites it. History backs that up. When America signals that it will act — carefully, deliberately, and with purpose — enemies listen.

There is also something deeply unfashionable, but deeply necessary, about defending religious freedom in a world that increasingly treats faith as an inconvenience. Christians are the most persecuted religious group globally. Acknowledging that fact isn’t bigotry. It’s reality.

What separates a serious nation from a declining one is the ability to recognize moral lines and enforce them without apology.

This moment wasn’t about spectacle. It wasn’t about slogans. It was about reaffirming a principle that built the modern world: innocent people should not be hunted, and those who do the hunting should not feel safe.

America doesn’t need to dominate every conflict. But it does need to remember who it is.

Strength with restraint.
Clarity without chaos.
Action when it matters.

That’s not extremism.
That’s leadership.