On November 26, 2025, two members of the West Virginia National Guard were ambushed and critically wounded just blocks from the White House while conducting a high-visibility patrol near the Farragut West Metro Station in Washington, D.C. The suspected gunman, identified by multiple outlets as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, was shot and taken into custody after the attack.
Video and eyewitness accounts show a lone attacker stepping from cover and opening fire on the Guardsmen in what officials described as an apparent targeted ambush that left the city reeling on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Law enforcement has the suspect under medical guard and federal investigators, including the FBI, are treating the incident as a potential act of terrorism while the motive remains under investigation.
Reports indicate the suspect entered the United States in 2021 during the chaotic Afghanistan evacuation and resettlement effort that followed the U.S. withdrawal, a program that has already raised serious questions about vetting and oversight. That fact alone will send chills through any patriot who has watched our borders and vetting programs get weaker while radicals and criminals exploit every crack in our system.
President Donald J. Trump immediately responded by ordering additional National Guard forces to the capital, underscoring that law and order — and the protection of our service members — must come before politics. The deployment was a blunt reminder that when our leaders put politics over public safety, the men and women who wear the uniform pay the price, and ordinary Americans are less safe for it.
Across conservative media and on Newsmax, commentators rightly pointed out how the left’s constant soft-on-crime, open-border rhetoric has made America more vulnerable, with hosts like Rob Finnerty calling out Democrats for appearing “stupid” this week and suggesting some on the left may have cultivated the very chaos we’re seeing. Whether you like Rob Finnerty or not, the question his comments raise is a legitimate one: who benefits politically when our streets and our soldiers are unsafe?
This is a moment for facts, not spin. We must honor the Guardsmen who were shot by demanding immediate reforms: tighten vetting for arrivals from hostile zones, restore strict immigration enforcement, and give law enforcement the tools they need to protect Americans. If the political class refuses to act, voters must make it clear at the ballot box that protecting our citizens comes before globalist impulses and virtue-signaling.
Finally, patriotism means standing with those who stand in harm’s way, not apologizing for them or pretending these threats are accidents of fate. Washington’s elites and their media allies will try to gaslight the public with calls for “nuance,” but real leadership looks like securing the border, shoring up vetting, and ensuring that our troops are never again left as targets because of reckless policy decisions.
