Marco Rubio Defends the West, Michigan Democrats Worry About El-Sayed, and Krista Pike Awakens After Botched Execution

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a sweeping defense of Western civilization from Athens, Greece, with the Acropolis rising behind him—tracing America's political inheritance back thousands of years and warning the West against surrendering the values that made it exceptional. Meanwhile, new CNN reporting reveals growing concern among Michigan Democrats about Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, even as he predicts a seven-point victory. And death row inmate Krista Pike has regained consciousness and begun talking nearly a week after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her, as her attorneys begin what they expect will be a long legal fight.

Rubio's Athens Address: A Defense of Western Inheritance

Speaking Wednesday with the Parthenon as his backdrop, Secretary Rubio argued the West's extraordinary success grew from qualities first celebrated in ancient Greece: "ambition, courage, curiosity, competition, and the relentless pursuit of excellence." He traced America's political and cultural inheritance directly to antiquity, noting that "Greece is literally carved into the architecture of our government, in the towering columns, in the domes and the monuments across our capital city."