Meghan Markle's upcoming appearance on "MasterChef Australia" has already sparked debate, with royal experts telling Fox News Digital the backlash may be just as important as the episode itself.

The hit reality cooking series announced in an Instagram post that the 44-year-old Duchess of Sussex would be joining the show as a guest judge for Sunday's episode, writing that Markle will be "bringing her love of food, entertaining and seasonal produce to one of the competition's most memorable challenges."

In a press release, Markle, who filmed the episode during her visit to Australia with her husband Prince Harry in April, explained why she wanted to take part in the episode.

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"What attracted me to the MasterChef Australia kitchen? Two things: my love of food and my love of Australia. It was an easy yes," Markle said.

"It’s such a great show," she continued. "I’m just really honored that I was asked to be able to be here with you and to be able to judge some of these meals."

The press release noted that the cooks will take on the challenge of creating "a dish fit for a Duchess" using some of Markle's "favorite seasonal ingredients."

MEGHAN MARKLE'S SHOW EMMY NOMINATION 'SOMEWHAT BAFFLING' DUE TO LACKLUSTER RATINGS: EXPERT

In a preview of the episode that appeared on Sydney's 10 News, Markle appeared alongside season 18 "MasterChef Australia" judges Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.

Markle introduced her chosen ingredients, noting that the chefs had "quite the bounty her" and proudly sharing that her children Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, "eat Brussels sprouts."

"That’s impressive," Levin said.

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"Food and cooking to me is really a love language," Markle explained later in the preview. "I think it’s such a great way to connect. It’s something that can feel sentimental and meaningful and It’s how I, it’s how I show my nurturing and love for my friends, family, and my kids."

Following the announcement, Markle's participation in "MasterChef Australia" was quickly met with a divided reaction on social media, earning both praise from supporters and calls for a boycott from critics.

"Why? She’s not a chef??? Not interested!" one Instagram user wrote.

"Can't stand her. She's not a chef," another agreed, adding, "Why is she even on this show."

"Thanks for the heads-up and making it easier to avoid," one critic commented as another chimed in, "Definitely won't watch it!"

"First time since the beginning of this show, that I WON’T be watching, first time!!" another detractor wrote.

However, others expressed their excitement over seeing Markle's appearance.

"Can’t wait to watch it!!!" one social media user commented.

"I'll be WATCHING!!" another added.

"I know she will do a great job," a fan enthused.

"I CAN'T WAIT!! WE LOVE YOU PRINCESS MEGHAN," another supporter wrote.

"I love this for her… she is working and finding opportunities for herself," one fan added.

"All the people saying they won’t watch are the first ones who will be watching and later criticizing," another commenter wrote. "I can’t wait to watch! Love Meghan!"

Markle's appearance also made headlines and fueled debate online after a report claimed her team requested that she not be referred to as "royalty" during filming.

The polarized reaction to Markle's latest gig underscores a familiar pattern for the Duchess of Sussex, whose post-royal ventures have often generated as much controversy as publicity.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital the attention surrounding Markle's appearance, whether positive or negative, could ultimately benefit both the duchess and the cooking competition.

"Every time Meghan’s name gets in the papers, even if it is negative, it builds up the power of her brand," he said. "It also helps to hype the show before it starts."

"She was chosen as a guest judge to boost the ratings of the show," Fitzwilliams added.

While Markle's role has prompted questions about her qualifications, British broadcaster Helena Chard argued that professional cooking experience isn't necessarily a requirement for a celebrity guest judge.

"I don’t believe she’s a qualified chef. But then, they’ve had Steve Irwin as a guest judge before and he wasn’t a chef either," she pointed out. "So it’s not really about culinary credentials."

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The "Suits" alum's guest judging stint marks her latest foray into the food and lifestyle world. In March 2025, Markle's "With Love, Meghan" lifestyle and reality show premiered on Netflix. In the show, Meghan shared cooking, gardening and entertaining tips alongside celebrity guests. "With Love, Meghan" also served as a launchpad for her As Ever lifestyle brand.

In January 2026, Netflix reportedly canceled the show after two seasons and later announced that it was ending its partnership with the As Ever brand though Markle and Prince Harry retained a first-look production deal with the streamer. However, "With Love, Meghan" recently received a surprise Daytime Emmy Award nomination for outstanding lifestyle series. "Meghan does have an interest in food and entertaining," Chard noted. "So from a PR perspective, appearing on ‘MasterChef Australia’ alongside well-known hosts, strengthens her brand."

While Chard saw the guest judging role as a natural fit, other royal experts told Fox News Digital that the response illustrates the challenges Markle continues to face with public perception after stepping away from royal life.

"People are talking more about why she's judging than what she's judging," royal reporter Kinsey Schofield said. "An image reset only works if the audience buys into the new image, and right now many viewers still see a disconnect between Meghan's branding and her actual experience or authority in this space."

"Social media always amplifies the loudest voices," the "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered" host continued. "That said, there does seem to be a broader sense of Meghan fatigue. Every project arrives carrying years of baggage, and that's a challenge most celebrities simply don't have. She isn't launching from a blank slate. She's launching from a very divided public reputation."

Fitzwilliams agreed, saying there have been "sufferers from Meghan fatigue for some time" and that "a great many viewers feel this way."

"Lifestyle is aspirational, it's lucrative, and it gives celebrities tremendous control over their image," Schofield said. "The problem is that audiences don't just buy recipes or table settings anymore. They're buying authenticity."

Fitzwilliams shared his view that Markle's cameo is also tied to her broader business ambitions. "She is returning to food in the hope this boosts sales of the As Ever products," he said.

Schofield said that the guest judge appearance may not deliver the hoped-for results, arguing that every project that Markle takes on is now judged through the lens of the duchess herself.

"Meghan has had several opportunities to reinvent herself since leaving royal life, and the pattern has remained the same… enormous publicity followed by polarized reactions," she told Fox News Digital. "One television appearance probably won't rewrite that narrative overnight."

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"People often react to the brand before they react to the product," she added. "That's the downside of building such a personality-driven business model. Every project becomes less about the content itself and more about whether people have bought into Meghan as the person selling it."

Beyond the public reaction, some royal experts questioned whether audiences would view her as a credible choice to critique contestants on "MasterChef Australia."

"Celebrity guest judges aren't expected to have Michelin stars, but they do need to bring something credible to the table," Schofield said. "Meghan's challenge is that she's still trying to establish herself as an authority in this space while much of the audience sees her as someone playing a part."

Royal expert Hilary Fordwich shared her opinion that Markle's divisive public image makes her guest appearance different from most casting decisions.

"Meghan is so polarizing that while such an appearance would be low-risk for any regular celebrity, it is likely to backfire," she said, adding that the duchess "has no credentials" and "doesn't come across as authentic."

"Given the failure of her previous cooking attempts, with lackluster ratings, this is all she can do now which is to be involved in a show which is already a success," Fordwich said.

However, royal broadcaster Ian Pelham Turner shared a more optimistic outlook on Markle's latest endeavor.

"Meghan is a master at reinventions, keeping herself in the public eye, and ‘MasterChef Australia’ is the latest platform to succumb to the real values of the lady and obviously cooking is one of many talents," he said.

Turner pointed to Markle's previous charitable work with the Hubb Community Kitchen, which was established in the wake of London's devastating Grenfell Tower fire. In June 2017, a fire ignited in the 24-story Grenfell Tower apartment block which killed 72 people and displaced hundreds of residents. After becoming involved with the community kitchen in 2018, Markle cooked alongside local women and helped publish a charity cookbook that raised money to support the initiative.

The royal expert told Fox News Digital that he also believed Markle would resonate with Australian audiences.

"Australia is a country which values people who have initiative and drive, and Meghan has that people's touch to support and offer cookery as one of her skill bases," he said.

For all the debate surrounding Markle's guest judging role, experts said the real question is whether the attention translates into viewers.

Schofield believes Markle's appearance could prove beneficial for "MasterChef Australia" if the buzz prompts audiences to tune in.

"Meghan guarantees headlines, and headlines translate into curiosity," she said. "Whether that curiosity becomes ratings or resentment is the million-dollar question. Producers know controversy can be good for television, but only if viewers stay for the episode instead of switching it off."

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.

OpenAI has admitted that a combination of its advanced AI models found a way out of a locked-down test environment and compromised another company's systems. That should make every ChatGPT user stop and pay attention. The models were supposed to stay inside a tightly controlled digital sandbox with no open internet access. Instead, they found a weakness, got online and compromised systems belonging to Hugging Face, a major platform for AI models and datasets.

OpenAI described the breach as an "unprecedented cyber incident" involving "state-of-the-art cyber capabilities." The company says the system included GPT-5.6 Sol and an even more powerful model still being tested behind closed doors. Here is what concerns me. OpenAI built the models and controlled the testing environment, yet the systems still found a way around the safeguards designed to contain them.

The AI models were trying to complete a cybersecurity challenge. They apparently had no goal of damaging Hugging Face. However, they kept pushing until they found vulnerabilities and crossed into another company's infrastructure. That should be a wake-up call. You cannot control what happens inside OpenAI's labs, but you can take a few minutes to lock down your ChatGPT account before an AI-powered threat comes looking for your password, personal files or private conversations.

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OPENAI'S SAM ALTMAN WANTS TO NEGOTIATE A 5% STAKE IN COMPANY FOR US IF COMPETITORS AGREE TO KEY PROVISION

OpenAI designed the internal evaluation to measure how well its models could find and exploit difficult security vulnerabilities. The company ran the test without some of the production safety systems that normally block high-risk cyber activity. OpenAI said researchers removed those protections so they could measure the models' maximum capabilities.

The models operated inside a restricted testing environment. Internet access was limited to an internally hosted service that acted as a proxy for software packages. However, the models found a previously unknown vulnerability in that service. They exploited the weakness and moved through OpenAI's research environment until they reached a computer with internet access.

Once online, the models identified Hugging Face as a possible source of answers for the ExploitGym security benchmark. The models then searched for information that could help them complete the test. OpenAI said they combined several attack methods. Those methods included stolen credentials and previously unknown vulnerabilities.

In one case, the models found a path that allowed remote code execution on Hugging Face servers. That gave them the ability to run code on another company's infrastructure. OpenAI said the models remained focused on completing the evaluation. Yet their narrow goal still led them to cross security boundaries and compromise an outside company.

OpenAI says the incident exposed a growing gap between what advanced models can do and the safeguards designed to contain them. "The primary lesson from this incident is that model security and safety must keep pace with rapidly advancing capabilities," OpenAI said in its incident report.

Hugging Face first disclosed the breach on July 16, 2026. The company said an autonomous AI agent system carried out the intrusion from beginning to end. The attack involved thousands of automated actions across short-lived digital environments.

Hugging Face identified unauthorized access to a limited set of internal datasets. The attacker also accessed several credentials used by its services. However, the company found no evidence that anyone altered its public models or user-facing datasets. It also verified that its software supply chain remained clean.

Hugging Face closed the vulnerabilities used for the initial access. It also rebuilt affected systems and rotated exposed credentials. Meanwhile, the company advised Hugging Face customers to rotate their access tokens and review recent activity. That guidance applies to Hugging Face accounts rather than consumer ChatGPT accounts. OpenAI later determined that its models caused the activity during its internal evaluation. The two companies continue to investigate the incident together.

CyberGuy reached out to OpenAI and Hugging Face for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

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OpenAI's disclosure does not identify consumer ChatGPT accounts as part of the incident. The company has also issued no incident-related instruction telling ChatGPT users to reset their passwords. Therefore, this article should not leave you thinking someone breached your personal ChatGPT account.

The larger warning comes from what the models managed to accomplish. They searched for software weaknesses and found an unknown vulnerability. Next, they moved through restricted systems and used stolen credentials to reach an outside target. OpenAI says models such as GPT-5.6 Sol can sustain complex cyber operations over long periods. The company also says the incident shows these abilities can work against real-world systems.

That raises the stakes for any account containing valuable information. Your ChatGPT history may include private conversations and uploaded files. Developers may also have API keys connected to paid OpenAI usage. Good account security cannot stop an AI model from finding a vulnerability inside a major company. However, it can make your account much harder to take over.

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OpenAI now offers several security controls for personal ChatGPT accounts. Availability can vary by account, device and sign-in method. Start with the settings you have today. Then add stronger protections as they become available to your account.

A unique password helps protect your ChatGPT account when another website suffers a breach. OpenAI recommends using a password manager to create and store a strong password. The company also advises changing your password immediately when you believe someone exposed or shared it. To add or update your ChatGPT password:

Changing your ChatGPT password updates the password across your OpenAI account. That includes the API Platform. If you originally registered through Google, Microsoft or Apple, you may not have an OpenAI password to change. Instead, secure the outside account that you use to sign in. Also protect the email address connected to ChatGPT. Anyone who controls your inbox may receive verification messages or password-reset emails.

Multi-factor authentication adds another verification step during sign-in. Even when someone gets your password, they still need access to your second verification method. OpenAI may offer an authenticator app, push notification, text message or passkey. Available choices depend on your account and device. To turn on MFA:

An authenticator app may ask you to scan a QR code. Text-message verification may ask for your phone number. OpenAI will use the most secure enabled option first when you have more than one method available. Keep in mind that enabling MFA does not close sessions that are already active. Change an exposed password first. Then review your active sessions.

A passkey lets you sign in without typing your password. It uses a secure credential stored on your device or a compatible security key. You can protect the passkey with Face ID, Touch ID or your device PIN. Some passkeys can also sync across your devices. To add a passkey:

After setup, ChatGPT may use your passkey as the default sign-in method. The passkey may also work as an additional MFA check. The Passkeys option may not appear on every account. Availability depends on how you created the account and which sign-in method you use. If you store a passkey on only one device, losing that device could create access problems. A synced passkey can offer an easier backup route.

Someone who gained access to your account may remain signed in after you change other security settings. ChatGPT's Active sessions page can show browsers and first-party OpenAI apps connected to your account. Details may include the device, approximate location and sign-in time.

To review your sessions:

To remove one session:

To close every session:

This closes your current session along with the others. OpenAI says the process may take up to 30 minutes. Active sessions does not display every possible connection. It excludes third-party app sessions and connected apps. It also excludes Codex CLI sessions. The feature may also be unavailable when an organization controls the account through single sign-on.

Eligible personal accounts may offer a feature called Advanced Account Security. This setting replaces password-based access with passkeys or compatible security keys. It also disables email sign-in codes and SMS sign-in codes. However, the stronger protection comes with more responsibility. You must keep your secure sign-in methods and recovery keys safe. Before you enroll, you need at least two secure sign-in methods. At least one must work across devices.

To set it up:

ChatGPT will sign you out of every device after setup. You must then sign in with a passkey or security key. Advanced Account Security also turns on login-alert emails and shortens active sessions. In addition, OpenAI says conversations will not be used to train its models while the setting remains enabled. Store your recovery keys away from the devices you use to access ChatGPT. Each recovery key works only once. Losing every sign-in method and your recovery keys could leave you unable to regain access. OpenAI Support cannot restore normal access by resetting your password while Advanced Account Security remains enabled.

Lockdown Mode helps reduce the risk of data leaving ChatGPT during a prompt injection attack. A prompt injection can hide malicious instructions inside a website or uploaded file. Those instructions may try to manipulate how an AI handles sensitive information. Lockdown Mode limits outbound network access that an attacker could use to receive that information. However, it cannot prevent every prompt injection from affecting a response.

To turn it on:

Lockdown Mode restricts live browsing and disables deep research. It also blocks agent mode and file downloads for data analysis. You can still upload a file for ChatGPT to examine. Image generation also remains available. Lockdown Mode may affect connected services and web-based images. It does not change your memory settings or data controls. When you need a blocked feature, you can turn off Lockdown Mode for one conversation. A status message above the message box provides that option.

OpenAI may send a push notification through the ChatGPT app when it detects a login attempt. Approve the notification only when you started the login. Deny access when the request appears unexpectedly. OpenAI may also email a six-digit one-time password. The company says legitimate verification emails may come from these addresses:

noreply@tm.openai.com

otp@tm1.openai.com

Check the sender carefully before using a code. OpenAI advises changing your password immediately when you receive a login alert from an unfamiliar device or location. Never give a verification code to someone who contacts you. Open the official ChatGPT app or type the website address yourself instead of following an unexpected link.

Move quickly when you see conversations you did not start or unfamiliar account activity.

OpenAI deserves credit for disclosing what happened and working with Hugging Face. Still, the company's own report shows that its models crossed a security barrier and reached another company's production systems. The models kept working after they encountered restrictions. That persistence helped them uncover a zero-day vulnerability and find credentials they could use. This should push AI companies and regulators to move faster on containment. Strong monitoring also needs to stay active during the tests designed to measure dangerous capabilities. Consumers cannot build safeguards for frontier AI laboratories. However, you can reduce your exposure by protecting your login and closing sessions you no longer use. When the company building the AI says its own test environment could not contain it, people deserve visible safeguards and fast disclosure when those protections fail.

Would you trust an autonomous AI agent with your banking or personal data after learning that another agent escaped its own security test? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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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.

IRAN TO EXECUTE FIRST FEMALE PROTESTER TIED TO ANTI-REGIME UNREST

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.

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Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, many doubters around the world and within sports media, claimed that the United States would be a disastrous host.

That hosting the tournament under President Donald Trump would mean fewer international visitors, and that the U.S. shouldn't host because soccer was still a niche domestic sport. And surprise, surprise, turns out those concerns were completely invalid.

Attendance broke records before the end of the group stage. Visitors flowed into the U.S. from around the world, then gave glowing reviews to their hosts, stadiums, and local fans. Some were even overcome with emotion at the kindness they experienced in the country.

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The other concern? That fans wouldn't watch? Turns out that could not have been wrong.

Already, in the round of 16, the match between the U.S. Men's National Team and Belgium set records for the most watched English language broadcast of a soccer game in the history of the country. The World Cup Final, however, featured two teams that have little connection to the United States: Spain and Argentina. Yes, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal added star power, but rosters on both sides did not rise to the level of familiarity most have with say, France or England.

And yet, Tuesday afternoon, FOX reported that ratings and viewership blew that USMNT-Belgium game out of the water. The network announced that Spain-Argentina drew a whopping 38.937 million viewers, peaking at nearly 52 million. That shattered the record for most-watched English-language soccer broadcast in the country's history.

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Not only that, but it represented the highest viewership for a non-Super Bowl sporting event since the Winter Olympics in 1984. That's remarkable, and it shows how far soccer has come in the United States, and how interest in the World Cup has surged.

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It also raises the possibility that the U.S. should be considered a bit of a rotating host for the tournament. If the field expands to 64 teams, as expected, few other countries have the existing infrastructure to host that many games in large stadiums. And growing the sport in the U.S. is a key goal for FIFA.

Just imagine how high those numbers would be in a 2038 tournament, if the USMNT could go deeper into the tournament. Even reaching a World Cup final. Hopefully, we won't have to imagine it.

An "America's Most Wanted" fugitive spent days preparing for his disappearance before vanishing more than 20 years ago, according to newly reviewed court documents detailing emails to his attorney, a canceled flight to London and literature on changing identities found inside his home.

Ronald L. Fischer, 69, was captured Thursday aboard a sailboat off the New Jersey coast after spending more than two decades on the run following his disappearance during a Rhode Island sexual assault trial.

The FBI told Fox News Digital last week that the breakthrough came after an online sleuth tipped off investigators, ultimately leading the agency and the U.S. Marshals Service to the sailboat where Fischer had been living under the alias Richard Graydon.

'AMERICA'S MOST WANTED' FUGITIVE CAPTURED ON SAILBOAT OFF NJ COAST AFTER 20 YEARS ON THE RUN

Fischer never returned to Rhode Island Superior Court after disappearing during his trial in April 2005. A jury found him guilty of first-degree sexual assault after he fled, and authorities spent more than two decades searching for him before his capture last week.

The newly reviewed affidavit provides the first detailed account of what investigators uncovered in the days after Fischer disappeared.

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A federal affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island says Fischer emailed his attorney on April 23, 2005, telling him he was fleeing the country.

Later that evening, he called each of his daughters and said he was leaving the U.S. Investigators also determined Fischer contacted a New York travel agency before purchasing an American Airlines ticket from Boston to London, then canceled the reservation before boarding the flight.

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Hours later, surveillance cameras captured Fischer returning a rental car to an Enterprise location in Boston shortly after midnight before walking away carrying two travel bags over his shoulder.

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Investigators wrote that Fischer spent the days before his disappearance putting his affairs in order. He transferred vehicles to each of his daughters, instructed them to remove their belongings from his home and disposed of a Jaguar before vanishing.

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Authorities also reviewed an email Fischer allegedly sent to attorney Robert Mann in which they said he explained he had decided not to risk being convicted in state court and instead planned to leave the U.S. to enjoy what he described as "a good, safe, secure and comfortable life."

A search of Fischer's home uncovered literature explaining how people could change their identities and disappear.

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Fischer's ex-wife, Dr. Nancy Stein, told investigators he was well traveled, had friends in other parts of the world –including Brazil –and believed he might attempt to charter a boat.

The U.S. Marshals Service told Fox News Digital investigators believe Fischer likely left the U.S. by boat after disappearing in 2005. Authorities also believe he paid more than $1 million for the 56-foot sailboat "Silver Lining," though they have not yet confirmed when or how he acquired the vessel.

Investigators believe Fischer had been using the alias Richard Graydon since at least 2017, adding he may have adopted it earlier. Authorities also said Fischer may have alternated between living aboard the sailboat and staying on shore during his years as a fugitive.

Federal authorities ultimately obtained an unlawful flight warrant, alleging Fischer had traveled in interstate or foreign commerce to avoid prosecution.

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Fischer's years on the run ended Thursday when investigators intercepted the 56-foot sailboat "Silver Lining" off the New Jersey coast after what the FBI described as "a tip from an online sleuth."

He was taken into custody without incident during a coordinated operation involving the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies.

The U.S. Marshals Service did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for additional information about where Fischer spent the past two decades, when he first adopted the alias Richard Graydon or how he acquired the sailboat where he was ultimately captured.

"Imagine the end of capitalism." Those words in the Democratic Socialists of America manifesto offer Americans a world without landlords, debt, mandatory work hours, and "food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation ... are common goods and utilities."

The left often refers to radical changes as "reimagining" everything from police to the Supreme Court to prisons to borders. However, the rise of socialists in the Democratic Party has moved such claims from the merely rhetorical to the outright revolutionary.

The release of the DSA platform on Bastille Day, July 14, was fitting since the Jacobins pushed for the same unicameral system that the socialists are now advocating.The platform promised to change the constitutional system and end the rule of "the same criminal class of billionaires and war profiteers."

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The DSA, which counts various Democrat figures such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, includes a plan to eliminate the Senate, the Supreme Court, the presidency and other institutions in remaking the American constitutional system.

In my new book "Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution," I discuss the rise of socialism and the move among professors and pundits to scrap key aspects, or the entirety, of our constitutional system on the 250th anniversary of the republic.

The book compares many of these proposals to identical policies of the Jacobin movement in the French Revolution. It is a book about revolutions and how they can consume those who start them. Both the American and French revolutions arose during the same period, but one became the world’s oldest democracy while the other became a blood-soaked tyranny known as "The Reign of Terror."

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Notably, the Jacobins pushed for the same unicameral system that the socialists are now advocating. Even figures such as Thomas Paine (one of two figures who played a significant role in both revolutions) supported such measures to allow for more direct democracy.

It was an approach that the Framers expressly rejected. Great students of history, they did not want to replicate the elements that led to the destruction of past democracies going back to ancient Athens. Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, referred to it as democracies becoming "mobocracies."

The DSA is the direct descendant of the Jacobins in seeking to tear down moderating institutions and replace the President and justices with democratically elected figures by a Congress composed only of the House of Representatives. However, many of these suggestions are also found among leading academics and influencers.

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As with the original Jacobins, those demanding these changes are not the working class but professors, pundits and young college-educated voters.

Mainstream figures such as Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law School, have published books such as "No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States."

The media eagerly publishes such radical views, such as the New York Times column, "The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed," in which Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale call for the nation to "reclaim America from constitutionalism."

As discussed in "Rage and the Republic":

"Those who want to remain in favor often pander to the extremes. Radical leftist sites like the Jacobin have grown in popularity ... They use some of the same words and symbols but still seem improvisational and inauthentic, like a child’s game of dress-up with oversized outfits. Indeed, that is precisely the danger.

There is little knowledge, let alone memory, of what such radicalism became under the real Jacobins. There is the same blissful ignorance that allowed Rousseauian dilettantes to mutate into monsters, escalating radical agendas with every failure...As the popular slogans became disastrous policies, the momentum would carry them beyond any point of recognition or return. The new Jacobins show the same blind ambition and abandon in striking out at institutions and the Constitution itself."

Those slogans are now preying on the gullible and the vulnerable. Take the recent pitch of Michaela Brangan, DSA National Political Education Chair, who declared that with socialism:

"[Y]ou are able to take a day off and not have to worry and you don't have to have a job just to pay the bills because you do not have a lot of bills. Right? Bills are no longer a thing because there's not for-profit businesses that are constantly trying to exploit you and trying, you know, to put you into debt."

She laughed at the suggestion of, "Why do we have a Senate? What is so great about the Senate?"

If she wants that answer, she only needs to look around her at the mob seeking to destroy the world's oldest and most successful republic in history.

She is right about one thing. Capitalism has played a critical role in our republic. This is the 250th anniversary of not just our Declaration but the publication of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," which the Founders eagerly embraced. They believed that you could not be truly independent and free if you are not economically independent and free. They rejected the economic dependency pushed by many on the left.

The left has found a voice in the class warfare espoused by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and others. However, it is not a new voice. It is the same Siren's call that we rejected 250 years ago. Paine himself would barely survive in France and come to appreciate the structural precautions that Founding Father and President James Madison created in our system that were absent in the French system.

After the Jacobins implemented some of these very same policies, they destroyed their economy and then devoured themselves in waves of executions. Once again, these same voices are asking a people to destroy the most successful and stable democracy in history. Mainstream figures are conditioning the public for radical changes, often using the same coded messaging. Former Vice President Kamala Harris dismissed the opposition to ideas like packing the Supreme Court as mere "nostalgia" for a system that is no longer working.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently also pandered to the mob in declaring that "nostalgia is not working," and added, "capitalism as we know it doesn't work either."

It is not "nostalgia" that binds us to this constitutional system. It is the faith in a system based on natural rights; a system that protects the minority from the majority. It is a system based on faith in both political and economic independence; the embrace of freedom and free-market principles that created the greatest prosperity in history.

We have heard these voices before and we would be wise to take them seriously if we are, as Benjamin Franklin asked, to keep this Republic for the next generation.

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