Lin Manuel Miranda and the producers of his hit show ‘Hamilton’ are throwing away their shot to light up the stage at the Kennedy Center in protest over the Trump administration replacing the failed leadership at the far-left institution.

The cancelation is just another example of the progressive elites in our nation insisting that we are living through some political emergency that must occupy our entire lives and impact every decision we make.

We saw this attitude of existential crisis from Democrats in Congress this week with their childish displays during President Donald Trump’s joint address, in which lefty lawmakers refused to stand or applaud for a childhood cancer survivor because … Trump.

Meanwhile, at Columbia University, pro-terrorist protests are erupting again, taking over libraries, because the political emergencies of our time make the mere act of simple studying an unacceptable luxury.

For the perpetually outraged Left, it all boils down to one message: ‘This is not normal.’ They claim Trump is such a danger that we must, with every waking hour and breath, acknowledge and confront that fact.

But here’s the thing, and I hear it everywhere I go, from Texas to West Virginia, from California to Wisconsin: People want normalcy back. They want to be able to talk to their family and friends on the other political side, they want to enjoy a beer without engaging in the culture war.

By and large, the people standing in the way of a return to normalcy today are those on the Left, and Miranda’s hare-brained scheme to close his own show is a perfect example.

Let’s imagine for a moment that Richard Grenell, Trump’s new president of the Kennedy Center, decided to cancel ‘Hamilton,’ in which the founding fathers are played by people of color, and replace it with the 1970s hit ‘1776,’ with an all-White cast.

All bloody hell would break loose, and rightfully so. But that didn’t happen, and would never happen, because like most conservatives, Grenell has no interest in censorship. 

Miranda and his ilk are laughably claiming they are protesting political bias in the leadership shakeup, as if the ideological makeup of the Kennedy Center hasn’t been somewhere to the left of Chairman Mao for decades.

Long story short, the Trump administration is not censoring Miranda, Miranda is censoring Miranda.

Now, it will be argued that Trump himself is not exactly courting national unity with his breakneck executive orders, mass firings of public employees and moves like the Kennedy Center shakeup itself, but there is a key distinction: Trump’s actions are political, not social.

The president has always played by mafia rules. If you are in the game, you are a fair target, but he doesn’t attack regular folks. Trump rarely, if ever, demeans those who didn’t vote for him, perhaps in part because he doubts they even exist.

It isn’t normal to refuse to perform a play, or refuse to politely listen to a speech, or refuse to allow fellow students to do their work. It’s downright abnormal.

What Miranda is doing by canceling ‘Hamilton,’ what Democrats in Congress did with their ridiculous antics during Trump’s address and what the hoodlums backing Hamas at Columbia have in common is their compulsion to invade your social life if you don’t share their world view. If you are a Trump supporter, they don’t even want to be in a room with you.

In my travels, I have met heartbroken parents whose kids won’t talk to them because of Trump, lifelong friends cast aside. In fact, almost everyone I ask has some such story. And you want to know something? That is what isn’t normal.

It isn’t normal to refuse to perform a play, or refuse to politely listen to a speech, or refuse to allow fellow students to do their work. It’s downright abnormal. Yet again and again, it is the choice that the American Left is making.

Perhaps progressives such as Miranda are rightfully scared that Americans will like the huge changes being wrought by the Trump administration, but can they give it six months to find out? After all, he did win the election.

The good news is that, unlike eight years ago when the widespread fear and disdain towards Trump was so flammable that stunts like canceling ‘Hamilton’ in protest caught the fire of the public imagination, it can now barely light a candle.

The American people don’t want preening histrionics from our elites, they just want dinner and a show without their whole lives having to be about Donald Trump. 

But sadly, Miranda and his show will not go on. Instead, he is boycotting the room where it happens, and that is a loss for everyone. A decade ago, ‘Hamilton’ brought the country together. Today it divides us. Fortunately, the American people can see a better way forward, even if Lin Manuel Miranda cannot.

House lawmakers have voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, after he was thrown out of President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

Ten Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the measure. Green himself voted ‘present,’ along with first-term Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala.

‘Al Green’s childish outburst exposed the chaos and dysfunction within the Democrat party since President Trump’s overwhelming win in November and his success in office thus far. It is not surprising 198 Democrats refused to support Green’s censure given their history of radical, inflammatory rhetoric fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.

The 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green are Reps. Ami Bera, D-Calif.; Ed Case, D-Hawaii; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; Laura Gillen, D-N.Y.; Jim Himes, D-Conn.; Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.; and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.

Republicans raced to introduce competing resolutions to censure Green on Wednesday, with three separate texts being drafted within hours of each other.

Fox News Digital was told that Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., whose resolution got a vote on the House floor Thursday morning, had reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., about working on a censure resolution immediately after Trump’s speech ended on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the House Freedom Caucus had aimed to make good on a threat to censure any Democrats who protested Trump’s speech, and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, crafted his own censure resolution against Green that got more than 30 House GOP co-sponsors.

But Newhouse took to the House floor on Wednesday afternoon to deem his resolution ‘privileged,’ a maneuver forcing House leaders to take up a bill within two legislative days.

Newhouse told Fox News Digital after the vote, ‘President Trump’s address to Congress was not a debate or a forum; he was invited by the Speaker to outline his agenda for the American people. The actions by my colleague from Texas broke the rules of decorum in the House, and he must be held accountable.’

A bid by House Democrats to block the resolution from getting a vote failed on Wednesday. Green himself voted ‘present.’

The 77-year-old Democrat was removed from Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night after repeatedly disrupting the beginning of the president’s speech.

He shouted, ‘You have no mandate!,’ at Trump as he touted Republican victories in the House, Senate and White House.

Johnson had Green removed by the U.S. Sergeant-at-Arms.

It was part of a larger issue with Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday night, with many engaging in both silent and vocal acts of protest against Trump. Democrats were also chided for not standing up to clap when Trump designated a 13-year-old boy an honorary Secret Service agent.

The House speaker publicly challenged Democrats to vote with Republicans in favor of the censure on Thursday.

‘Despite my repeated warnings, he refused to cease his antics, and I was forced to remove him from the chamber,’ Johnson posted on X. ‘He deliberately violated House rules, and an expeditious vote of censure is an appropriate remedy. Any Democrat who is concerned about regaining the trust and respect of the American people should join House Republicans in this effort.’

Green, who shook Newhouse’s hand before speaking out during debate on his own censure, stood by his actions on Wednesday.

‘I heard the speaker when he said that I should cease. I did not, and I did not with intentionality. It was not done out of a burst of emotion,’ Green said.

‘I think that on some questions, questions of conscience, you have to be willing to suffer the consequences. And I have said I will. I will suffer whatever the consequences are, because I don’t believe that in the richest country in the world, people should be without good healthcare.’

Other recent lawmakers censured on the House floor have been Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Two House Democrats, including prominent President Donald Trump critic Jasmine Crockett, suggested during a live stream on Tuesday that the president’s policy agenda is aimed at driving Black people ‘back to the fields’ to the time of slavery.

‘They have decided to go after immigrants and things like that and say, ‘oh they takin your black jobs, they taking your black jobs, not really,’ Crockett told Rev. Franklin Haynes on Tuesday as part of the ‘State of the People’ stream to counter to Trump’s address to Congress. 

‘They are obviously jobs they want us to go back to, such as working the fields, those immigrants that come into our country work the fields, something that we ain’t done in a long time and clearly he is trying to make us go back to the fields.’

Crockett’s suggestion that Trump’s goal is to send Black Americans ‘back to the fields’ was echoed by Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson in the same video.

‘It’s a recipe to make education unavailable to Black people,’ Johnson said about Trump’s plans for education policy. ‘It puts us back to when America was ‘great’ and we were picking cotton and doing the productivity that they’re putting my Latino brothers and sisters who migrate here to do that work because we are not suited intellectually to do it anymore.’

‘But they would have us back, confined to doing that kind of work. We gotta watch out for where we are headed. It’s the people that will save our democracy that will stop this movement toward the past that Trump has us hurtling towards.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Crockett and Johnson for comment. 

Crockett’s comment came shortly after she faced criticism from conservatives on social media after claiming that Trump is an ‘enemy to the United States’ and a ‘dictator.’

Crockett has become one of the most prominent faces of the Democrat pushback against Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts and recently said that if she could say anything to Musk it would be, ‘F— off.’

The comments from Crockett and Johnson were made just a few months after Trump made historic strides with Black voters at the ballot box in November. 

A Fox News Voter Analysis showed Trump’s crossover appeal to Democratic constituencies was foundational to his success. He improved on his 2020 numbers among Hispanics (41%, +6 points), Black voters (15%, +7 points) and young voters (46%, +10 points).

These rightward shifts were particularly notable among Hispanic men (+8 points), Black men (+12 points) and men under 30 (+14 points) from 2020.

Trump’s strength with Black voters was felt in Anson County, North Carolina, where the Republican candidate won there for the first time since the 1970s and only the second time in more than 100 years. Trump received 50.9% of the vote compared to 48.2% for then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Black residents make up 47% of the population in Anson County.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

A federal judge has further blocked the National Institutes of Health from implementing a policy to crackdown on how much money it doles out for indirect costs associated with grants it awards.

NIH announced a plan last month to set the rate at 15% across the board.

‘The United States should have the best medical research in the world. It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead. NIH is accordingly imposing a standard indirect cost rate on all grants of 15% pursuant to its 45 C.F.R. 75.414(c) authority,’ the NIH explained in a notice last month.

But the agency has been blocked from implementing the policy as challenges play out in court.

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, who had issued a temporary restraining order last month, granted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday.

‘The imminent risk of halting life-saving clinical trials, disrupting the development of innovative medical research and treatment, and shuttering of research facilities, without regard for current patient care, warranted the issuance of a nationwide temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo, until the matter could be fully addressed before the Court,’ the court document declared.

‘Following full briefing and oral argument by the parties, as well as review of accepted amicus briefs, the Court GRANTS a nationwide preliminary injunction,’ the document states.

After then-President Joe Biden nominated Kelley to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 2021, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats to confirm the jurist to the role.

The judge’s decision comes as various states, universities and other entities challenge NIH’s attempt to adopt the across-the-board 15% rate.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., scolded Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for engaging in ‘shameful and egregious behavior’ during President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress. The speaker, who booted Green from the House chamber, accused the lawmaker of violating House rules ‘deliberately.’

The speaker’s post on X condemning Green’s behavior comes just hours after a resolution to censure the Texas Democrat survived an attempt by his party to table it.

Speaker Johnson wrote in a post on X that Green ‘disgraced the institution of Congress’ with his protest during Trump’s address. He also urged Democrats to join in voting for the censure.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., introduced the resolution punishing Green on Wednesday. Now that it has survived the Democrats’ push to table it, the resolution will likely be headed for a House-wide vote today.

The resolution likely did not come as a surprise to Green, who, upon his expulsion from the speech, told the press he would be ‘willing to suffer whatever punishment’ came about from the incident. In fact, Green tweeted on Thursday reminding his followers on X about the upcoming censure vote.

While there were multiple resolutions to censure Green, Fox News Digital was told that Newhouse had been in contact with House GOP leadership about his resolution since Trump’s speech ended.

‘I think [Green’s protest is] unprecedented. Certainly in the modern era. It wasn’t an excited utterance. It was a, you know, planned, prolonged protest,’ Speaker Johnson told reporters on Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, Green began shouting after President Trump called the 2024 election ‘a mandate like has not been seen in many decades,’ and touting the GOP’s victories.

Johnson issued Green a warning and asked him to take his seat. When Green refused and continued protesting, the speaker asked the Sergeant at Arms to remove the Texas Democrat from the room.

‘The president said he had a mandate, and I was making it clear to the president that he no mandate to cut Medicaid,’ Green told press in the hallway outside of Trump’s address. He then called on President Trump to ‘save Medicaid,’ something that was written on several paddles used in the Democrats’ silent protest of the speech.

Rep. Green was the first and only Democrat to actively disrupt the president’s speech on Tuesday night. Other Democrats held up signs and many walked out of the speech early.

The resolution to censure, if it passes, does not carry any consequences, rather it serves as a formal condemnation of Green by the House. Other lawmakers who have faced censure include former Rep. Adam Schiff, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.

A House GOP lawmaker wants to clear the path for President Donald Trump to sell off a federal building named after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Stop Wasteful Allocations of Money for Pelosi (SWAMP) Act, led by Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., would direct the General Services Administration (GSA) to ‘dispose of the property’ or sell it ‘at fair market value and for the highest and best use,’ according to bill text obtained by Fox News Digital.

It is the latest effort by House Republicans to enact Trump’s agenda through legislative means amid a flurry of bills seeking to codify the president’s executive orders.

‘We are over $36 trillion in debt. Instead of maintaining expensive, underutilized vanity projects for liberal politicians, the federal government should be focused on efficiency and fiscal responsibility,’ Carter told Fox News Digital.

‘Selling the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building is part of a broader effort to rein in federal overreaches, reduce our debt, and put American taxpayers first.’

The Nancy Pelosi Federal Building is an 18-story structure in San Francisco that is home to several aspects of the U.S. government, including Pelosi’s own district office.

It also houses offices for the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration, among others.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported last month that Trump was looking at selling the building named after his chief Democratic rival. However, the GSA denied it was politically motivated in a statement to Fox News Digital sent last week.

‘GSA is prioritizing the reduction of deferred liability costs across our real estate portfolio, including the potential sale of buildings in need of extensive repair. Any suggestion that our planning is driven by politics is absurd,’ a GSA spokesperson said. GSA is actively working with our tenant agencies to assess their space needs, and we’ll share more information on specific savings and facilities as soon as we’re able.’

The building was built with environmental impacts in mind. However, the area surrounding the facility has fallen prey to illicit activities.

A 2020 executive order that Trump signed during his first term, aimed at revitalizing federal buildings, referred to the building as ‘one of the ugliest structures’ in San Francisco.

Fox News Digital reached out to a Pelosi spokesperson for comment but did not immediately hear back.

A new high-powered microwave system that can knock swarms of drones out of the sky at once is going to ‘touch every aspect of warfare,’ according to Epirus founder, Joe Lonsdale. 

‘It’s kind of like a Star Trek shield,’ Lonsdale, founder of Epirus and a co-founder of fast-rising defense technology company Palantir, explained of its Leonidas counter-drone system. ‘It’s able to turn them off from very far away.’ 

‘This is going to touch every aspect of warfare over the next decade,’ said Lonsdale. ‘We can knock down some pretty advanced drones.’ 

Defense tech startup Epirus secured another $250 million in a Series D funding round, which was announced Wednesday, bringing its total venture funding to over $550 million. 

Epirus’ Leonidas system is a ground-based, directed energy weapon that fires off an electromagnetic pulse to disable swarms of drones, or it can neutralize precision targets. The company aims to help the military shift away from a ‘1 to 1 mindset to a ‘1 to many’ way of thinking for short-range defense,’ according to CEO Andy Lowery. 

Drone swarms have been a key frontline tactic in the Russia-Ukraine war because most defense systems are designed to take out one unmanned vehicle at a time. Additionally, in the Middle East, the U.S. has been using multimillion-dollar missiles to shoot down Houthi drones that are built for around $2,000 or less. 

‘Swarms of drones is where war is going, and currently you have swarms of drones that are very expensive and very difficult to stop,’ said Lonsdale. ‘It’s not just drones, they’re all sorts of different types of uses for this,’ he added, predicting that one day the technology might be deployed to freeze up planes in the sky and protect satellites. The technology has already been successful in Defense Department tests on boat motors and other electronics, according to the company.  

‘This is just it’s just going to touch every aspect of warfare in the next decade.’ 

Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, warned that the U.S. needs to ‘run to play catchup’ with its adversaries in the counter-UAS space. 

‘We are not doing what we need to do,’ he told Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the National Security Innovation Base Summit in Washington, D.C. ‘We have failed miserably at counter-UAS. We do okay in CENTCOM [Central Command], but … in places like Langley Air Force Base, we are not where we need to be.’ 

Dozens of drones hovered over Langley for over two weeks in 2023, and lawmakers say they still have not been provided with an explanation. 

Epirus won a $66 million contract in 2023 to supply its Leonidas to the U.S. Army, and the technology is believed to be  in the testing phase by Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, according to comments that Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George made to Congress last year. 

The rapid rise of unmanned aerial vehicles in war has prompted a defensive race to develop systems to counter them, like high-energy lasers and high-power microwaves. 

‘We have a lot of people who are, you know, coming into the [Defense Department]wanting to embrace new technologies,’ said Lonsdale. ‘They’re really excited about this.’ 

The defense entrepreneur suggested there is ‘tons of waste’ in the Pentagon that could be repurposed for new technologies.

‘There’s a ton of cronyism. We’re seeing tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars you could pull out, depending [on] how aggressive you want to be. And these should be put into cutting-edge technologies that actually deter enemies.’

Epirus was valued at $1.35 billion when it raised $200 million in Series C funding, but the company did not disclose its valuation for this round. 

The California-based company will use the new cash influx to expand into international and commercial markets and expand manufacturing in the U.S. 

The company is also planning to open a new simulation center in Oklahoma to train soldiers in counter-drone warfare.