It was one of those moments you don't forget.
On Saturday, I had the privilege of joining a broadcast aboard the USS Intrepid. As classic warbirds took to the skies—followed and preceded by the most lethal fighting aircraft ever built—the entire spectacle spoke to me.
Deeply.
Our ability to design the F/A-18, the F-22, and the F-35, launch them from sea and land, and watch them perform with breathtaking precision is one of the chief reasons evil tyrants around the globe think twice before testing America.
The fact that we use such innovation and overwhelming power in defense of freedom—and not for conquest—is a testament to both American military strength and American restraint.
But it also made me ask a different question.
How do we stay ahead of the rest of the world? How do we preserve that freedom not just for today, but for the next 50 or 100 years?
I believe a significant part of President Trump’s strategy answers that question in two words:
Energy dominance.
Not energy independence.
Energy dominance.
There’s a difference. Independence means meeting your own needs. Dominance means having so much energy that you shape the future for everyone else. President Trump understands that energy has become the world’s most valuable currency.
This weekend, the Marxist mayor of New York City was telling residents to keep their thermostats set at 78 degrees because, supposedly, it was the only way to protect the electrical grid. Meanwhile, his own air conditioning remained comfortably paid for, and his wife escaped the heat with a trip to Spain.
The message was simple enough: you sacrifice… they’ll manage.
At nearly the same time, critics mocked the Great American State Fair for temporarily closing portions of the grounds during the hottest part of the day out of concern for visitors’ health.
Whether you’re talking about public safety, quality of life, or economic growth, one truth keeps surfacing.
Energy matters.
More than almost anything else.
America possesses more energy resources than almost any nation on Earth. That’s one of the reasons we’ve become who we are. We have consistently looked beyond today’s needs and invested in tomorrow’s opportunities.
A few days ago my son asked me how Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire.
I thought about it for a moment before answering.
“Because he saw what people would need before they knew they needed it. Then he built it first—and kept making it better.”
Look at the first generation of Teslas and compare them to today’s models. The progress is remarkable. Watch SpaceX recover and re-land its own rockets and you realize the company isn’t merely competing with everyone else—it’s forcing everyone else to catch up.
That’s what vision looks like.
And it brought me back to energy.
What solves America’s long-term energy challenge?
What powers artificial intelligence, manufacturing, transportation, and the economy for generations instead of election cycles?
I believe nuclear power deserves to be at the center of that conversation.
For decades, the conversation surrounding nuclear power has been dominated by fear rather than facts. Yet modern small modular reactors bear little resemblance to what most Americans imagine. They promise steady, reliable electricity with a remarkably small footprint while operating around the clock regardless of weather conditions. If the technology continues to develop as expected, a relatively small number of reactors could provide dependable electricity to major metropolitan areas for decades.
Assuming fossil fuels continue serving transportation and backup generation for years to come, expanding nuclear capacity would allow America to preserve more of those resources while dramatically lowering the long-term cost of electricity.
Checked your electric bill during this hot-as-Hades summer?
Exactly.
The minerals required to build the next generation of reactors—from rare earth elements to uranium—also explain why America’s competition with China extends well beyond tariffs and trade. Whoever controls the supply chains behind tomorrow’s energy technologies will possess enormous strategic leverage.
America is blessed with substantial uranium reserves, and American companies are already working to develop the next generation of small modular reactors.
As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we stand on the edge of another great chapter in our history. Every generation of Americans has been asked to imagine a future no one else could yet see—and then build it anyway.
I believe this generation has been handed that same assignment.
Cleaner. More abundant. More reliable. More affordable.
Nuclear energy may well become the next great American frontier.
If companies like Eagle Nuclear (NUCL) succeed in making next-generation reactors commercially practical, the benefits won’t simply be measured in lower electric bills. They’ll be measured in stronger national security, greater economic prosperity, and a nation that remains several steps ahead of every adversary determined to catch us.
I pray America never loses the ability to see tomorrow before tomorrow arrives.
Because that’s always been our greatest strength.