‘USA!’ trumps ‘DSA!’ A Long Island celebration of – Latest News
As New York City’s outlook dimmed with its election of radical Zohran Mamdani as mayor, simply 30 miles east on Long Island, the longer term regarded shiny.
Gotham’s socialist revolution felt mild years away from the unabashed salute to the Stars and Stripes within the suburbs Thursday on the Fox Nation Patriot Awards at Brookville’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. The night is a veritable love letter to the nation meant to “honor and recognize America’s finest patriots.”
For all of the handwringing about pols and their twisted friends who hate America, fraternity of this nation’s core values — free speech, religion and household — was on full show on the glittering night celebrating Old Glory with 2,000 exuberant and spirited attendees.
Maj. James Capers Jr. accepts the Salute to Service Award from Harris Faulkner onstage during the Fox Nation Patriot Awards. Getty Images
High-profile personalities like Erika Kirk and First Lady Melania Trump have been honored alongside on a regular basis heroes like 13-year-old Skyler Derrington, a Camp Mystic survivor of the catastrophic summer season flooding that swept by means of Texas, and Larry Pickett Jr., a 20-year-old West Point cadet who sprang into motion and pulled a stranger out of his car simply earlier than it exploded.
Unlike most vapid awards exhibits, it’s not a celebration of self however of sacrifice and repair.
While Mayor-elect Mamdani’s victory celebration was awash in cheers of “DSA! DSA!” from revelers worshiping the extremist Democratic Socialists of America motion, Patriot Awards attendees thundered with unambiguous requires nation with chants of “USA! USA!”
Forget the smug, self-righteous and self-hating awards exhibits, the place it’s cool to have contempt to your nation.
This was a celebration of the anti-elite, the dedication to the everlasting optimism of a nation.
It gathered those that acknowledge the greatness of this nation, not those that flip their back on it.
The many tales of heroism and braveness delivered to mild outline the ethical coronary heart of America.
For emcee Sean Hannity, the longtime Fox News host, it’s “the only awards show that matters.”
“We’re not patting ourselves on the back” like typical Hollywood awards exhibits, the Long Island native advised the energized crowd, who traveled from so far as Alaska to have fun. “We’re here to honor America’s true patriots. We are here to honor what makes this country great, the single best country that God . . . ever gave man.”
Honorees included Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, the inspiring 13-year-old from Houston who captured hearts throughout the nation for pursuing his dream of changing into a law-enforcement officer amidst his courageous battle towards a uncommon and incurable most cancers. The irrepressible teen, who gained over President Trump, defied each odd by accumulating badges — from native police departments to the Secret Service to Border Patrol — and breaking a world report within the course of.
These aren’t celebrities in a typical sense.
It’s the story of America itself: peculiar people who do extraordinary issues with out ever chasing recognition or the highlight.
During our battle of conflicting beliefs and values for the soul of this nation, the phrase “patriot” can grow to be corny — even verboten.
But newly minted “Young Patriots” like DJ Daniel and the scores of unsung heroes across the nation don’t look to finger-point amidst challenges. When there’s a drawback they bootstrap, not blame.
Don Mangieri, a 70-year-old retired metropolis sanitation employee, was a strolling embodiment of the Patriot Awards. Doree Lewak/ NY POST
At the seventh annual Patriot Awards, good luck recognizing disaffection. Here, it was admiration so far as the attention might see.
After all, the place else however in America can you progress from a rent-controlled one-bedroom in Astoria, Queens, to Gracie Mansion in a single day?
What a well timed rebuke of the dangerous concepts cravenly peddled during Gotham’s mayoral election.
This is a group that cherishes religion, household and freedom.
Elite teen athletes Alexa Anderson and Reese Eckard took a daring stand and stepped off the rostrum they shared with a organic male in silent protest of males collaborating in feminine sports activities during this 12 months’s Oregon high college state championships. They endured vicious assaults, however the track-and-field stars knew they have been preventing for equity for generations of women to return.
“I thought it was important to take a stand. We want protections in our sports and we’re going to fight for them,” Eckard advised The Post.
Indeed, the awards are a reminder that each citizen all the time has a seat on the desk, an alternative to stand up for the freedoms which can be the United States’ beating coronary heart.
There’s a great huge sky throughout America — and whereas the radical-activist class chooses to determine the values we maintain pricey because the black cloud hanging over the nation, the people at these awards look up and see seeming obstacles solely as silver linings of potentialities.
What good timing for anybody disillusioned in regards to the direction of the nation. If the visitors on the Patriot Awards reveal something, it’s that sovereignty is our compass.
Salute to Service Award recipient Maj. James Capers, the 88-year-old trailblazing veteran who grew to become the primary African American to command a Marine Recon Company, is an instance of this nation’s indelible legacy. “I saw the darkness,” he advised The Post, recalling his service on three continents as a subject agent during the Cold War and sustaining extreme accidents in Vietnam. “And this country is the light.”
The South Carolina native, born to a household of sharecroppers during the Jim Crow period, went on to bravely serve his nation in elite items during his decades-long army profession and was awarded the Silver Star, three Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. The renewed effort to award him the Medal of Honor, the nation’s high army distinction, is slated to be taken to the president’s desk.
These tales — of tragedy and triumph, heartbreak and hope — characterize the promise of this great nation.
When Camp Mystic survivor Skyler Derrington belted out her personal and poignant rendition of “Hallelujah” — towards the backdrop of devastating scenes from the Central Texas floods that killed 103 people, together with 27 lady campers — the heartrending tune immediately grew to become the emotional spotlight of the night.
To this viewers, each be aware was a whisper from God, a promise of hope for a new starting.
The 13-year-old hero carried a delicate energy when she collected her Faith Award.
I witnessed probably the most profound, if humble, expressions of love for this nation.
Marian Dale Riley, a 101-year-old from Canada who grew to become a US citizen at 19, advised The Post what makes this nation distinctive is the “opportunity.”
“You can be anything you want to be here — you just have to try. It’s up to us” to satisfy the American dream, stated the Anchorage resident. “It’s up to us to carry it on. We can’t let it go.”
These of us aren’t in search of handouts. They consider in free and truthful markets. They don’t need huge authorities — they consider within the promise of self-governance.
Don Mangieri, a 70-year-old retired metropolis sanitation employee, was a strolling embodiment of the Patriot Awards, wrapped head to toe within the crimson, white and blue getup he purchased online and proudly sporting his solidarity on his sleeve.
“I’m very scared,” the Long Islander advised The Post about Mamdani’s win. “I don’t see socialism and communism anywhere in the world that achieved anything but failure.”
Invoking the reminiscence of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose widow, Erika, gained the inaugural Charlie Kirk Legacy Award, Mangieri added, “The next generation will be the people who make the difference between whether we make or break this country.”
Yes, attendees have been wrapped within the flag. But the true embrace was even larger. The evening felt like a hug after we needed it most.
It might have been an night of black tie and ball robes however with a star-spangled twist. Without any of the pomp or circumstance, the evening celebrated severe people who don’t take themselves too critically.
It’s people who’ve — or discovered — the liberty to chase their desires, committing to unshakable optimism for higher days.
While he’s spent his profession overlaying devastating wars around the globe, Fox News conflict correspondent Benjamin Hall advised The Post, “We musn’t overlook the people who do wonderful issues, the unsung heroes. Sometimes you need to raise people up and show what makes neighborhood sturdy.
“America is a country unlike any other, where hard work pays off. People can have a great idea and make anything out of it,” stated the Brit. “That doesn’t happen in many parts of the world.”
Melania Trump is aware of one thing about that. The Slovenian native tapped into a profound fact in regards to the spirit of this nation and the creativity that drives it.
“I applaud American dreamers and innovators who embrace originality,” stated the primary woman during her speech for profitable the Patriot of the Year Award.
“When someone creates from conviction a song, a movement, an idea, it triples outward, uniting our people,” she stated to the gang of besotted dreamers and risk-takers. “Daring to chase your dream is the American way. Innovation isn’t accidental here. It’s in our DNA. In this country, innovation is a form of patriotism.”
We could also be pushing 250 this July — however based mostly on the fortitude and focus of these patriots, it looks like we’re simply getting began.
