Democrats Have Filed Articles Of Impeachment, But We Aren’t Going To Allow Them To Impeach Trump

On Wednesday, a group of congressional Democrats filed five articles of impeachment against President Trump, and they say that they are doing this “because of great concerns for the country and our Constitution and our national security and our democracy”.  Of course this effort is probably not going anywhere because Republicans control both the Senate and the House, but it shows what could happen if the 2018 mid-term elections go badly.  If the Democrats are able to take back control of both the Senate and the House in 2018, they will attempt to impeach Trump.  And even if they get close to taking back control, they could potentially convince some establishment Republicans to join them in getting rid of the president.

Elections really matter, and just because someone uses the “Republican” label does not mean that they will stand up for Trump when push comes to shove.  For example, state representative Christy Perry just entered the race for the open seat in Idaho’s first congressional district, and she could end up being my most formidable opponent.  Unfortunately, her voting record is very liberal and she would not be someone that Trump could count on at all.  It is absolutely imperative that we fill this seat with someone that will be an ally of the president, and that is why Trump supporters all over the district are getting involved in my campaign.

The future of the Trump presidency hinges on what happens in 2018, because the Democrats have already shown us what they intend to do once they are back in charge.  The following comes from NBC News

The five articles accused the president of obstruction of justice related to the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and other offenses.

“We have taken this action because of great concerns for the country and our Constitution and our national security and our democracy,” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said at a news conference to announce the effort.

Cohen said he understands that Republicans hold the majority in the House and are unlikely to allow hearings on the impeachment articles. He said the group will hold occasional briefings to explain each of the five articles of impeachment and where they believe Trump ran afoul of the law or committed misdeeds that warrant impeachment.

If 2018 goes very well for pro-Trump forces, the threat of impeachment will go away entirely.

But usually the opposition party makes substantial gains in Congress during the first mid-term elections of a new presidency, and if we allow the Democrats to take back control of the Senate and the House in 2018, President Trump may not even make it to the 2020 election.

If you support President Trump, I hope that you will stand with pro-Trump candidates such as myself in 2018.

The left wants to cut Trump’s presidency as short as possible, but we aren’t going to let that happen.  Instead, we are going to make sure that he wins again in 2020, and we are going to do all that we can to get the Make America Great Again agenda fully implemented.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

California Residents On Edge After A Swarm Of 10 Earthquakes Hits Near The San Andreas Fault

Is the San Andreas Fault starting to wake up?  On Monday, a “swarm” of 10 significant earthquakes struck Monterey County, California.  The largest was a magnitude 4.6 earthquake that could be felt all the way over in San Francisco.  Of course this comes at a time when other portions of “the Ring of Fire” are starting to awaken as well.  For example, just yesterday I wrote about the alarming eruption of Mt. Popocatepetl that just took place down in Mexico.  For decades the west coast of North America has been relatively stable compared to the rest of the Ring of Fire, but now that is changing.

So should those living along the west coast be on alert?  Without a doubt, the shaking that happened on Monday definitely got a lot of attention…

A 4.6-magnitude earthquake rattled Monterey County on Monday and was felt more than 90 miles away in San Francisco, officials said.

The quake hit at 11:31 a.m. about 13 miles northeast of Gonzales, near Salinas, and was followed by nine smaller aftershocks, with the largest measuring magnitude 2.8, said Annemarie Baltay, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.

Some experts are trying to assure us that we have nothing to be concerned about, but others are claiming that an earthquake swarm such as this “dramatically increases the likelihood of a major quake in California”.  And not too long ago, the director of the Southern California Earthquake Center did admit the following

‘Any time there is significant seismic activity in the vicinity of the San Andreas fault, we seismologists get nervous,’ Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, told the LA Times last year.

‘Because we recognize that the probability of having a large earthquake goes up.’

Hopefully the shaking on the west coast will settle down and this will turn out to be a false alarm.

However, seismologists have warned us that the 800-mile-long San Andreas fault “could unzip all at once” without warning someday.  The following comes from Fox News

For years, scientists believed the mighty San Andreas—the 800-mile-long fault running the length of California where the Pacific and North American plates meet—could only rupture in isolated sections.

But a recent study by federal, state and academic researchers showed that much of the fault could unzip all at once, unleashing a rare, singular catastrophe. Now, insurers have used that research to come up with a new analysis of the damage that could be caused by statewide break of the San Andreas.

And just like we witnessed in Japan, a massive earthquake offshore could produce an enormous tsunami which could potentially “wash away coastal towns”.  The following comes from the Los Angeles Times

If a 9.0 earthquake were to strike along California’s sparsely populated North Coast, it would have a catastrophic ripple effect.

A giant tsunami created by the quake would wash away coastal towns, destroy U.S. 101 and cause $70 billion in damage over a large swath of the Pacific coast. More than 100 bridges would be lost, power lines toppled and coastal towns isolated. Residents would have as few as 15 minutes notice to flee to higher ground, and as many as 10,000 would perish.

Scientists last year published this grim scenario for a massive rupture along the Cascadia fault system, which runs 700 miles off shore from Northern California to Vancouver Island.

Scientists don’t know exactly when it will happen, but they promise us that “the Big One” is coming someday.

And based on all of the shaking that has been taking place lately, we may be a lot closer to that day than many imagined.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Popocatepetl Violently Erupts, And Authorities Warn A Bigger Eruption Could Threaten More Than 20 Million People In Mexico City

Mt. Popocatepetl is one of the most important volcanoes on the entire planet, and yet most Americans are not familiar with it.  In ancient Aztec, Popocatepetl means “smoking mountain”, but to the locals the 5,426-meter-high volcano is simply known as “Don Goyo”.  A catastrophic eruption of “Don Goyo” would be a nightmare scenario for the more than 20 million people living in the Mexico City metropolitan area, and that is why authorities are watching Mt. Popocatepetl very closely at the moment.  In fact, we are being warned that the eruption that just took place could be a precursor to an even larger eruption

Chilling footage showing the violent eruption emerged online amid fears there could be more.

A huge plume of smoke blasted three kilometres in to the air from the summit of Popocatepetl after a series explosions over the course of 24 hours.

Surrounding towns were blanketed with ash and debris and authorities are now warning a bigger eruption could threaten the 23.6million inhabitants in the Mexican capital, located just 35 miles (56km) away.

This latest eruption actually resulted in what is known as a “volcanotectonic earthquake”.  Such quakes are caused by the movement of magma, and scientists are very concerned about what that might mean.

“Don Goyo” has been spewing ash regularly since early this month, and at this point local residents are being told to remain indoors

Locals have been warned to avoid outdoor activities and to keep doors and windows shut, and it is not yet clear when they can leave their homes.

It has been emitting ash since the beginning of the month, reports suggest, before a string of explosions.

Of course the activity at Mt. Popocatepetl has been ramping up for quite a while.  Back on September 19th, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that affected Mexico City also triggered a minor eruption of the volcano.

But minor eruptions can be handled.  What we want to avoid is the kind of catastrophic eruption that has given Popocatepetl legendary status.  In fact, we are told that at one time enormous mud flows from the volcano buried entire Aztec cities

Historians tell us that Popocatepetl had a dramatic impact on the ancient Aztecs. Giant mud flows produced by massive eruptions covered entire Aztec cities. In fact, some of these mud flows were so large that they buried entire pyramids in super-heated mud.

But we haven’t witnessed anything like that in any of our lifetimes, so it is hard to even imagine devastation of that magnitude.

In addition to Mexico City’s mammoth population, there are millions of others that live in the surrounding region. Overall, there are about 25 million people that live in the immediate vicinity of Popocatepetl. Thankfully, we haven’t seen a major eruption of the volcano in modern times, but at some point that will change.

Our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that just hit Iraq is yet more evidence of this fact.

A catastrophic eruption of Mt. Popocatepetl would be a disaster unlike anything North America has seen in centuries, and it would almost instantly collapse Mexico’s economy.

This isn’t getting a lot of attention from the mainstream media in the United States, but this is a major story.  Great shaking is taking place all along the “Ring of Fire”, and that potentially has dramatic implications for people living all over the globe – including the west coast of the United States.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Why Doesn’t The Left Give Our Veterans The Respect That They Deserve?

Our veterans deserve the very best, and yet way too often they get the very worst.  The Department of Veteran Affairs is a disaster, it takes forever to get claims processed, and VA facilities are often extremely dirty and poorly managed.  Rates of unemployment and suicide are far higher for veterans than they are for the population as a whole, and yet the left is strongly backing the NFL players as they disrespect our veterans when they refuse to stand for the national anthem.  There are more than 18 million veterans in the United States today, and more than 9 million of them (including my father) are over the age of 65.  As a society, it is time for us to make it exceedingly clear that we are not going to put up with mistreatment of our veterans any longer.

There was one promising sign on Sunday.  It is being reported that for the first time this season, every player stood for the national anthem

No NFL players protested during the national anthem during Sunday’s early games, according to multiple reports.

The NFL Players Association unanimously passed a resolution earlier in the week calling for a moment of silence during Sunday’s games in honor of Veterans Day.

Players who previously knelt or raised their fists during the anthem stood this week. Tennessee Titans receiver Rishard Matthews walked onto the field holding hands with soldiers, then stood for the anthem, The Associated Press reported.

Hopefully this show of respect will continue in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, we have a ton of work to do in order to make things right for our veterans.

Things got especially bad during the Obama administration.  Obama did not make our vets a priority, and it showed.  At one point it was taking an average of seven months to get an appointment at a VA facility, and thousands upon thousands ended up dying as they waited for treatment that they desperately needed

A leaked document shows nearly one-third of the 847,000 veterans in the Department of Veteran Affairs’ backlog died while waiting for treatment, amounting to more than 238,000 patients, according to documents obtained by the Huffington Post.

Are you angry yet?

And as I mentioned above, many VA facilities were found to be in absolutely horrific condition during the Obama years.  An ABC News investigation from a few years ago discovered the following conditions at facilities around the nation…

*Bathrooms filthy with what appeared to be human excrement.

*Dirty linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies.

*Examining tables that had dried blood and medications still on them.

*Equipment used to sterilize surgical instruments that had broken down.

*Some patients were forced to beg for food and water.

*Veterans that were neglected so badly that they developed horrific bedsores and dangerous infections.

The federal government needs to get this fixed, because our veterans deserve far better treatment, and if I get elected I am going to fight for our vets as hard as I can.

During the Obama years, one study discovered that 22 military veterans were killing themselves every single day.

Just think about that.

At the time, that accounted for about 20 percent of all suicides in the United States.

And on any given night, about 200,000 homeless vets are sleeping in the streets.

We can do better than this, and we must do better than this.  Our veterans fought to defend the liberties and freedoms that we are enjoying today, and we all need to work diligently to make sure that they receive the respect, care and treatment that they deserve.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

One Year Ago A Miracle Happened

On November 8th, 2016 we witnessed the greatest miracle in the history of American politics.  Leading up to election day, virtually all of the experts were boldly assuring us that Hillary Clinton would be the next president of the United States.  Personally, I was quite alarmed about what a Hillary Clinton presidency would mean, because Clinton’s vindictiveness is legendary and my anti-Clinton articles had been seen by millions of people.  When Trump shocked the world by winning the election, it was like an entirely new day had just dawned in America.  If Donald Trump could become president of the United States, literally anything was possible.

President Trump has been visiting Asia this week, but on Wednesday he took a few moments to thank those that voted for him last November…

President Trump marked the anniversary of his 2016 presidential election win by remembering the “deplorables.”

“Congratulations to all of the ‘DEPLORABLES’ and the millions of people who gave us a MASSIVE (304-227) Electoral College landslide victory!” he tweeted Wednesday, featuring a photo of him and some of his aides aboard Air Force Once.

It has been 12 months, but it is still hard to grasp what happened on that historic night.  Nobody in the mainstream media seemed to believe that Trump had a chance, and his shock victory took almost the entire nation by surprise.  The following is an extended excerpt from an article that I published on the day after Trump’s victory entitled “Do You Believe In Miracles?”

—–

After it was all over, I kind of stumbled around my home lost in my thoughts. I was happy, confused, hopeful, stunned and pensive all at the same time. Like so many others, what I thought I knew about politics turned out to be wrong. But in other ways, the election of Donald Trump has confirmed so much of what I know to be right about America.

Ultimately, it was the American people that decided this election, because the elite were doing their best to absolutely bury him.

Never before has the mainstream media been so openly biased against a major party presidential candidate. For months on end they dumped sewage on Trump, but it didn’t work.

Never before has a major party presidential candidate faced a civil war in his own party on the eve of the election. A whole host of big names in the Republican Party publicly announced that they would not vote for Trump, but it didn’t work.

Never before have we seen a bigger October surprise than the lewd tape from 11 year ago that came out and shocked the world. That would have instantly killed the campaign of any normal politician, but it didn’t kill Trump’s campaign.

From the very beginning it seemed like Trump was at war with almost everyone, and somehow he came out on top in the end.

He beat the Bushes and the Clintons.

He beat the Republicans and the Democrats.

He beat Hollywood and the mainstream media.

He beat the pollsters and the pundits.

He beat the never-Trumpers and the billionaire donors.

He beat Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Beyonce, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Lebron James.

He beat the forces of globalism, elitism and political correctness.

He beat CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and Barack Obama.

He beat them all.

—–

Millions of us that had worked so hard to get Trump elected were absolutely jubilant, but of course there were millions of others that were bitterly disappointed.  If you want to take a walk down memory lane, watch this YouTube video that shows a whole host of liberal talking heads melting down in the aftermath of Trump’s win.  They also knew that something had just fundamentally changed in America, and they were not happy about it at all.

Sadly, many Republican politicians have still not embraced Trump, and that is a huge mistake.

For example, many believe that Ed Gillespie’s huge loss in Virginia happened because he distanced himself from the president

“Republican Swamp Thing Gillespie Rejected,” Bannon’s Breitbart News declared in a headline.

Gillespie “did not embrace me or what I stand for,” Trump tweeted from Asia.

The rush to destroy Gillespie — who borrowed some tactics from Trump but kept his distance from the president — points to an escalating fight within the party over whether candidates are better off courting Trump and his loyal base or keeping them at arm’s length.

As for me, I am proud to stand with President Trump, and pro-Trump voters all over the nation are getting involved in my campaign for Congress.

Of course Democrats are hoping that the Trump era will be over as soon as possible and that things will then go back to normal.

But that isn’t going to happen.  We are here to take our country back, and the Trump movement is only just getting started.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

The Mainstream Media Is Talking About A Coming Middle East War That Could Involve Saudi Arabia, Iran, The U.S. And Israel

People better start waking up and paying attention to what is happening in the Middle East, because the situation is becoming quite serious.  If things go badly, we could be facing a major regional war which would involve not only Saudi Arabia and Iran, but also potentially the United States and Israel.  Yesterday, I quoted an article in the New York Times that warned that tensions between the Saudis and the Iranians were raising “the threat of a direct military clash between the two regional heavyweights”.  And now Jake Novak of CNBC is saying that a “direct conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as opposed to the proxy war they’re fighting in Yemen, looks inevitable.”

I put those last two words in bold so that there wouldn’t be any confusion.  In fact, Novak is warning that the Saudis “are marching ever closer towards a wider regional war”.  Novak understands the dynamics of the Middle East, and he realizes where things could be headed if cooler heads do not prevail.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have already been fighting proxy wars against one another in Syria and Iran for quite a while, but a direct military conflict between the two could literally be a nightmare scenario.

One of the primary characters in this ongoing drama is Saudi Arabia’s extremely hawkish crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.  He hates Iran with a passion, and he has already said that he believes that a peace dialogue with Iran is impossible.

And over the past several days, events in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have moved talk of war to the front burner

First, the kingdom squarely blamed Iran for a missile attack on Riyadh from Yemen that was thwarted by the U.S.-made Patriot anti-missile system. The Saudis called that attack “direct military aggression by the Iranian regime and may be considered an act of war.”

Second, the Saudis accused Lebanon of — figuratively at least — declaring “war” against it because of aggression from Hezbollah. That statement spurred even Saudi ally and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to publicly urge for calm.

In an article yesterday, I discussed the “purge” that is currently taking place in Saudi Arabia.  Many believe that this purge is all about removing any potential obstacles to a war with Iran.  Mohammed bin Salman and his father have made dealing with Iran their number one strategic priority, and they have even enlisted the Israelis as allies in their cause…

As is already well-known, the Saudi and Israeli common cause against perceived Iranian influence and expansion in places like Syria, Lebanon and Iraq of late has led the historic bitter enemies down a pragmatic path of unspoken cooperation as both seem to have placed the break up of the so-called “Shia crescent” as their primary policy goal in the region. For Israel, Hezbollah has long been its greatest foe, which Israeli leaders see as an extension of Iran’s territorial presence right up against the Jewish state’s northern border.

If Saudi Arabia and Iran go to war, it is probably inevitable that Hezbollah will strike Israel at the same time, thus getting the Israelis directly involved in the conflict.

Not only that, if a major regional war does erupt in the Middle East it would almost certainly mean that the U.S. would have to get involved as well.  Here is more from Jake Novak of CNBC

But if full blown war breaks out directly between the two countries, it’s hard to see the U.S. being able to sit it out without at least some form increased weapons support and other aid. Then it will be up to Iran’s possible allies, like Russia and China to make the next move.

If you are thinking that this sounds like the type of scenario that could cause World War III to erupt, you would be correct.

The Iranians and the Saudis both have weapons of mass destruction, and so a direct conflict between the two would seem to be unthinkable.

But rational thinking does not always prevail in the Middle East.  The conflict between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam has a long and bitter history, and the bad blood between the Saudis and the Iranians is never going to subside until one side or the other ultimately prevails.

Let us hope that a “hot war” between Saudi Arabia and Iran does not erupt any time soon, because such a war would not be good for the United States whatsoever.  Pretty much every scenario that you can imagine ends with enormous numbers of innocent people dead, and such a conflict could ultimately be the spark that sets off World War III.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

How Many Mass Shooters Have Been Members Of The NRA?

The left is using the tragedy in Sutherland Springs to demonize the NRA.  Personally, I am so sick and tired of these relentless attacks, and I am proud to stand with the NRA, the Gun Owners Of America and every other organization that is working hard to defend our 2nd Amendment rights.  As you will see below, it was actually the intervention of an NRA instructor named Stephen Willeford that saved countless lives in Sutherland Springs.  And would you like to know how many mass shooters have been members of the NRA?  The answer is zero

Based on the arbitrary definition of a shooting involving at least four deaths, there had been 130 mass shootings in the United States as of June 6, 2017, going back over the last 51 years. (This does not include gang killings, killings that began as other crimes such as robberies, and killings that involved only the shooter’s family.)

Information about how the guns were obtained is incomplete, but 248 different guns were used, at least 141 of which were obtained legally and at least 39 of which were obtained illegally; handguns were the most common weapons used, usually more than one, each of which takes about two seconds to reload, making limited magazines (commonly incorrectly referred to as “clips”) a minor inconvenience. None of the shooters were known to be members of the NRA.

The bad guys in our society are always going to find ways to get guns.  Just look at what is happening down in Honduras for example.  They have some of the strictest gun laws on the entire planet, and yet their entire nation has become a war zone.

Some say that we have a “mental illness problem”, but I would describe it as a moral and social decay problem.  Culture really matters, and our culture has been going down the toilet for decades.  If we don’t do something about the rampant decay in our society, violence is going to continue to get worse.

And as violence continues to escalate, I want as many responsibly armed citizens around as possible.  Instead of vilifying the NRA, we should be thankful that men like Stephen Willeford are willing to act like heroes

So much for those who want to vilify the NRA in the wake of the Texas massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday: Stephen Willeford, the man who shot and chased the man who killed 26 people in a Texas church, is an NRA instructor. Willeford insisted, “I’m no hero; I am not. I think my God, my Lord, protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done.”

It is a fact that most mass shooters tend to be to the left on the political spectrum, and most of those that have attempted to attacks presidents throughout history have also been on the left.  Just check out this list

  1. Andrew Jackson – shot at by Richard Lawrence (Suspected Democrat plot, no proof.)
  2. Abraham Lincoln – 3 attempts – Democrats, Baltimore, 1861; Democrat confederates, Aug, 1864, Shot at from ambush; shot dead by J.W. Booth, Democrat, April, 1865
  3. James A. Garfield – shot and killed by Charles J. Guiteau, utopian communalist. (Modern progressive.)
  4. William McKinley – shot and killed by Leon Czolgosz, Far left Socialist
  5. Theodore Roosevelt – shot, wounded, by John F. Schrank, Anti third term motive.
  6. Franklin D. Roosevelt – Shot at by Giuseppi Zangara, Marxist, (He missed and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.)
  7. Harry S. Truman – attacked by Oscar Collazo, Griselio Torreslo, Leftist revolutionaries who wanted a Socialist Puerto Rico.
  8. John F. Kennedy – shot and killed by Lee H. Oswald, Communist.
  9. Richard Nixon – Samuel Byck thought Nixon was oppressing the poor, attempted airplane hijack to crash into White House.
  10. Gerald Ford – Lynette Fromme, Anarchist, Manson girl, waved gun, failed to properly load it;  Sara Brady, shot at the president, progressive Socialist, lousy shot.

I have pledged to never move a single inch when it comes to defending our 2nd Amendment rights, and I am asking all of my supporters to stand with me.  The left is making gun control one of their highest priorities, and we must never, ever back down.

I really like how Charlie Daniels made this point in his latest column

Opportunistic politicians rush to judgement to write meaningless laws that would further muddy the waters, and leftist ideologues who don’t know a .22 from a .357 condemn all guns and gun owners, wanting to outlaw all firearms, leaving the villains who obtain their guns illegally to continue the mayhem while ordinary citizens would be left with no way to protect their families.

The same people who self-righteously insist on having sanctuary cities for lawbreakers are the ones who scream the loudest for more gun control, completely ignoring their potential for harboring murderers in their midst.

We need thousands more leaders like Charlie Daniels all over the nation.

And we need millions more responsible gun owners such as Stephen Willeford to help protect us from the crazed lunatics like Devin Patrick Kelley that seem to be multiplying in our society.

The NRA and the Gun Owners of America are not the problem.

The truth is that they are a big part of the solution, and those attacking them should be ashamed of themselves.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Is Saudi Arabia Heading For War With Iran?

Is a major war in the Middle East looming on the horizon?  Most of us living in the western world simply do not realize how much Saudi Arabia and Iran truly hate one another.  Saudi Arabia is the global center for Sunni Islam, and Iran is the global center for Shia Islam, and the two major sects of Islam have a history of bad blood that literally goes back for over a thousand years.  The Saudis and the Iranians are already engaged in “proxy wars” in Syria and in Yemen, and now a missile that was fired at Riyadh’s international airport threatens to turn the conflict between the two regional powers into a hot war.

If you are tempted to think that I am exaggerating one bit, just consider what the New York Times is saying about this…

Saudi Arabia charged Monday that Iran had committed “a blatant act of military aggression” by providing its Yemeni allies with a missile fired at the Saudi capital over the weekend, raising the threat of a direct military clash between the two regional heavyweights.

The accusations represent a new peak in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran at a time when they are already fighting proxy wars in Yemen and Syria, as well as battles for political power in Iraq and Lebanon.

And Yahoo is reporting that the Saudis are saying that this missile attack “may amount to an act of war”…

On Monday, a Saudi-led military coalition battling Tehran-backed rebels in Yemen said it reserved the “right to respond” to the missile attack on Riyadh at the weekend, calling it a “blatant military aggression by the Iranian regime which may amount to an act of war”.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also warned Tehran.

“Iranian interventions in the region are detrimental to the security of neighbouring countries and affect international peace and security. We will not allow any infringement on our national security,” Jubeir tweeted.

For those that have not grasped the implications of what I am saying yet, let me break this down very simply for you.

If Saudi Arabia and Iran go to war, the United States will be involved in that war on the side of the Saudis.

It would be a war unlike anything we have ever seen in the history of the Middle East, and it is almost a certainty that weapons of mass destruction would be used in such a war.

Essentially, what we are talking about is the potential for World War III to erupt in the Middle East.

And all of this comes at a time when the biggest “purge” in the modern history of Saudi Arabia is taking place

A campaign of mass arrests of Saudi Arabian royals, ministers and businessmen expanded on Monday after a top entrepreneur was reportedly detained in the biggest anti-corruption purge of the kingdom’s affluent elite in its modern history.

The reported arrest of Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar followed the detention of dozens of top Saudis including billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in a crackdown that the attorney general described as “phase one”.

The purge is the latest in a series of dramatic steps by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to assert Saudi influence internationally and amass more power for himself at home.

Some would say that the Saudis are “cracking down on corruption”, while others would say that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is “consolidating power” prior to going to war.

In any event, this situation deserves our full attention, because it could ultimately result in a major regional war in which the United States is directly involved.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.