April 2, 2026

Welcome to Stone Creek Republican Radio for Thursday, April second, Twenty Twenty-Six. Here are the stories you may want to know about as a republican member of the Stone Creek Republican Club. Let's begin with America Reaches for the Moon Again.NASA launched the Artemis Two mission on Wednesday evening from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts on a nearly ten-day journey around the Moon for the first time in over fifty years. Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen lifted off at six thirty-five in the evening Eastern time aboard the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission marks the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo Seventeen in December of nineteen seventy-two. The crew will loop around the far side of the Moon and return to Earth for splashdown on April tenth — a test flight laying the groundwork for an actual lunar landing mission targeted for twenty twenty-eight. America is going back to the Moon, and we are going back to win.Moving along to President Trump Puts NATO Allies on Notice.President Trump used an Easter address to send a direct message to America's European allies — carry your weight or America will reconsider the relationship. The President singled out France and the United Kingdom for refusing to commit naval assets to address the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis, calling their posture unacceptable. He raised the possibility of a reassessment of United States participation in NATO, making clear that decades of American patience with under-performing allies have limits. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is scheduled to visit Washington in the coming days. For years, Republican leaders have demanded that European nations contribute meaningfully to their own defense rather than freeloading on American strength. President Trump is not asking — he is requiring it.Our next story is Trump Vows Decisive Action Against Iran.President Trump delivered a clear and unambiguous warning this week: the United States will continue to strike Iran hard for the next two to three weeks. With the American and Israeli campaign against Iranian military infrastructure now more than a month into its operation, the President is signaling that the mission is not finished and that the pressure will intensify before it relents. This is the posture of a commander in chief who means what he says. The days of telegraphing retreats and rewarding adversaries with concessions are over. Iran is facing the consequences of decades of aggression, proxy terror, and threats to American interests in the region — and the Trump administration is not blinking.Next up, Global Airfares Surge as Hormuz Closure Bites.The ripple effects of the Strait of Hormuz disruption are now being felt by travelers worldwide. The extended closure has tightened jet fuel supplies across the Middle East and Asia, pushing international airfares sharply higher. Carriers including Kuwait Airways are rerouting major long-haul flights through alternative hubs to maintain service to India and Southeast Asia, adding cost and distance to routes that would otherwise pass through the Gulf. This is what happens when adversarial regimes are allowed to control critical maritime chokepoints — and it is precisely why the Trump administration's decision to confront Iranian aggression directly, rather than negotiate from weakness, represents the right long-term strategy for energy security and global commerce.The next story is U.S. Embassy Issues Baghdad Security Alert.The United States Embassy in Baghdad has issued an urgent warning to all American citizens in Iraq, advising immediate departure from central Baghdad in response to a credible threat window of twenty-four to forty-eight hours from pro-Iran militia groups. The Embassy is taking no chances with the safety of American lives. This kind of direct, no-nonsense protective action reflects the seriousness with which the Trump administration treats threats to Americans abroad. Iran's network of proxy militias across Iraq remains one of the most destabilizing forces in the region — and the administration's ongoing pressure campaign against Tehran is aimed at dismantling exactly that infrastructure at its source.Turning now to Trump and Xi Hold Summit in Beijing.President Trump is in Beijing through today, April second, for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting covers a full range of bilateral concerns, including trade, regional stability, and the ongoing situation in the Middle East, where China has placed blame on the United States and Israel for the Strait of Hormuz disruption. The Trump administration has consistently demonstrated that engaging rivals from a position of economic and military strength produces better outcomes than the engagement-without-accountability approach of previous administrations. The President also expressed interest in meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the trip, though American officials indicate any such meeting would require meaningful movement from Pyongyang on denuclearization first.Our seventh story is China Blames America — The World Is Not Buying It.Beijing's Foreign Ministry this week officially declared that United States and Israeli military operations are the root cause of the Strait of Hormuz crisis. This is a talking point, not an analysis. China has deep economic interests in cheap Gulf oil and deeply prefers an Iran that is unchecked and capable of threatening American allies in the region. Beijing calling for a ceasefire while simultaneously pointing the finger at the country doing the fighting is a transparent diplomatic maneuver — and the Trump administration is not about to let Chinese framing set the terms of debate. America acted. America is protecting the free flow of commerce. That is not the root cause of instability. It is the answer to it.Next, we have European Defense Ministers Scramble After Trump's Warning.Following President Trump's pointed remarks about European allies acting as paper tigers on Gulf security, defense ministers across the European Union reportedly held emergency consultations to discuss the possibility of independent maritime security operations in the Gulf without United States coordination. This is exactly the outcome that Republican foreign policy has sought for decades — European nations taking their own defense seriously, spending their own money, and committing their own assets rather than assuming America will always be there to cover the gap. Whether European governments follow through with action or retreat to the usual statements and delay will determine whether they are genuine partners or continued passengers.Let's turn to EU Divided Over Middle East Response.High-level divisions inside the European Union are stalling any coordinated response to the ongoing Middle East conflict. Irish Member of the European Parliament Barry Andrews, returning from Beirut, has called for immediate sanctions against Israel in response to strikes in Lebanon. The rest of the bloc cannot agree. This paralysis is not surprising. The EU has long struggled to present a unified foreign policy position on anything that requires actual commitment. What matters for American interests is that the Trump administration is not waiting for European consensus to define its own approach. The United States, alongside Israel, is acting in accordance with its own national security interests — and that clarity of purpose is what multilateral dithering never produces.Moving right along to North Korea Studies Ukraine Lessons for New Tank Doctrine.North Korea is reportedly incorporating battlefield lessons from the war in Ukraine into the development...