How to Make America Safe Again 

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will likely fail to achieve their part of the bargain in making America great again, as their goal to cut federal spending by $2 trillion is overly ambitious. However, if they want to help make America safe again, they could seek more modest cuts and conduct better due diligence on organizations tied to radical Islamists who receive millions of dollars annually in federal grants.

Some of these grant recipients belong to a shadowy ecosystem that fuels terrorists like Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who plowed his truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve, killing 14 people and wounding dozens of others, including two vacationing Israelis.

Sam Westrop, director of the Middle East Watch Islamist project, has been tracking this funding for years online at USAspending.gov. In March, Westrop stated that the Biden administration allocated around $60 million in grants and contracts in the past three years to 150 domestic Islamic organizations. Many of these groups are entirely legitimate and peaceful, but Westrop pointed out that approximately $14 million of the total sum lined the pockets of 38 organizations categorized as Islamist-run or influenced.

This included a $330,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant in 2023 to the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, a pro-Iranian institution whose Imam, Mohammad Ali Elahi, has demonized Israel as “warmongers and enemies of humanity.” After world leaders gathered this past June to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, he sermonized: “It’s a shame to see Western leaders in Normandy today celebrating victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago while supporting the Israeli Nazi behavior and barbaric genocide in Gaza today.”