If you want to know how far our culture has fallen—and how dangerously fast—we need look no further than Montclair, New Jersey, where federal authorities just arrested a 21-year-old man who allegedly fantasized about murdering Jews with swords and guns in an ISIS-inspired terror plot. His name is Milo Sedarat, and according to federal prosecutors, he’s not just some disturbed loner. He’s part of a broader network of radicalized extremists who were plotting mass shootings, overseas jihad, and potential bombings right here on American soil.

This case didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s the latest, most chilling example of what happens when a society tolerates rabid antisemitism, excuses terrorism, and allows radical ideologies to fester under the banner of “free expression” or “social justice.” Sedarat, according to the FBI, was emboldened by the wave of anti-Israel protests that broke out on college campuses in the spring of 2024. In one message, he allegedly wrote, “Bro everyone hates the Jews now…I hope a second holocaust happens to them.”

Let that sink in. This wasn’t written in some ISIS cave in Syria. It was written by a young man in suburban New Jersey, radicalized online, who admired Hezbollah and wanted to kill not only strangers, but his own mother’s Jewish friends. “I wanna kill her friends,” he allegedly wrote. “I’m gonna stab them with my sword.”

Where did he get the idea that this was acceptable? Who taught him that Jews are oppressors, that Israel is a colonialist evil, that Hezbollah are “freedom fighters,” and that violence against innocents is somehow justified resistance? The answer is painfully clear: the modern radical Left, the grievance industry in academia, and the cowardly political class that has refused to call this evil by its name.

We’ve watched over the last few years as antisemitism has metastasized into mainstream culture. From the halls of elite universities to the platforms of social media influencers, Jews are once again being singled out and demonized. The same people who scream about “hate speech” when someone criticizes illegal immigration will turn around and defend pro-Hamas rallies and chants like “From the river to the sea”—a genocidal slogan with one goal: the annihilation of Israel.

This isn’t just moral rot—it’s national security negligence. Sedarat was allegedly part of a broader ISIS-inspired network that included suspects in three states. He posted videos of himself at a gun range, talked about strapping a bomb to his chest, and fantasized about driving into protests to run over Jewish people. This isn’t “edgy speech.” This is terrorism in the making.

And while the FBI deserves credit for breaking up this plot before blood was shed, the deeper problem remains: how did we get to a point where a young man raised in America could dream of slaughtering Jews with a sword and think he’d be celebrated for it?

Part of the answer lies in the failure of leadership under the previous administration. For years, Biden and his allies refused to name radical Islamic terrorism as a threat. They allowed open border policies, looked the other way on domestic radicalization, and treated antisemitic hatred as a political inconvenience rather than a moral emergency.

Thankfully, we now have a Commander-in-Chief in Donald Trump who understands the threat and calls it what it is. During his first term, Trump crushed ISIS, moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and signed the Abraham Accords—historic steps toward peace and stability in the Middle East. Under his leadership, America stood with Israel and against the forces of radical jihad.

But the battle isn’t over. The ideology that fueled Sedarat is alive and well in our universities, in online echo chambers, and in certain communities that refuse to assimilate to American values. It’s time to stop pretending this is just about “mental health” or “fringe actors.” We are dealing with a coordinated, ideological threat that wants to destroy Western civilization from within.

The good news? Americans are waking up. We’re not going to be bullied into silence. We’re not going to let the enemies of freedom dictate who we defend or what we believe. And we will not—under any circumstances—tolerate the normalization of antisemitism or the glorification of terror.

This isn’t just about protecting Jewish Americans. It’s about defending the very soul of our nation. And we will.