President Donald Trump delivered remarks Friday night in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he highlighted his economic policies and touted the administration’s accomplishments during his first year back of his second term.
Trump also addressed healthcare, drug prices, U.S. strikes on ISIS targets in Syria, and other current events. The full video is below. WATCH:
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives an end of year wrap-up outlining the state of priorities for the United States as they pertain to global influence and geopolitical consequence. After approximately six minutes of remarks the Q&A with media begins. WATCH:
[Transcript] – Well, thank you, guys, for coming today to cover us and to do this event. I wanted to start – I’m going to be very brief because I just want to get to as many questions as I can. I can do English. I’ll answer Spanish if you ask Spanish, and then I’ll answer it in – I’ll answer it in English after I answer it in Spanish. So any other languages I won’t be able to do it, but those two.
And then – so look, when I took over as Secretary of State – I’ll refer you back to the hearings we had in the Senate in January about the role I hoped to play. And I believe very strongly this president was elected – one of the reasons why he was elected, very specific things, but one of the reasons why President Trump was elected is sort of an understanding among the American people that our foreign policy was in need of a complete recalibration. A recalibration because the world has dramatically changed. Many of the institutions, policies, assumptions that our foreign policy was operating under were built upon a world that no longer existed, and it required us to re-examine that.
New York Representative Elise Stefanik announced on X that she is suspending her race for New York governor and will not be seeking reelection in congress. Essentially a complete exit from electoral politics.
ELISE STEFANIK – While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family.
I am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and overwhelming support from Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, and Democrats all across the state for our campaign to Save New York.
However, as we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York.
And while many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom. I believe that being a parent is life’s greatest gift and greatest responsibility. I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness – particularly at his tender age.
The look on the faces of the CEOs representing some of the biggest drug manufacturers tells the story. Against the stern backdrop of collapsed resistance, President Trump announces the results of his “most favored nation” policy demand toward major pharmaceutical companies.
President Trump delivers remarks from the oval office, outlining the result of demanding pharmaceutical companies give the same pricing structure to USA medication users as they do to the rest of the world. In addition to noting how his administration has begun reducing the number of federal workers, President Trump announces that 100% of all job growth is in the private sector.
Nine, visibly strained, drug manufacturers were present as President Trump makes the announcement of their new drug pricing structure. Even the buckets of winnamins will be lower priced. WATCH:
A large part of healthcare costs overall are the costs of prescription medication. President Trump is putting major pressure on all of the drug manufacturers to give the lowest price to the USA. “As of today, 14 out of 17 pharmaceutical companies have agreed to drastically lower drug prices for American patients,” President Trump noted.
The grand plans of the EU Leadership failed to generate their desired result. Initially, Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer intended to permanently confiscate the Russian sovereign wealth fund and use it to fund their interests in Ukraine. However, the EU coalition didn’t agree.
After 16 hours of failed internal negotiations the EU ended up creating a $90 Billion euro-backed financial loan to Zelenskyy which he will not have to pay back until Russian reparations are paid to Ukraine.
The European elites essentially used EU taxpayers to create an EU loan to Zelenskyy.
EUROPE – BRUSSELS — European governments failed to reach a deal on sending Russian frozen state assets to Ukraine after a 16-hour summit in Brussels, in a major setback for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Countries were forced instead to agree on an emergency backup plan based on EU joint debt that was pushed for weeks by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever and was deemed a long shot until hours before the deal was done. In a further blow to EU unity, three countries ― Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic ― won’t take part.
“The bottom line, after today, is that our support for Ukraine is guaranteed,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said as the summit wrapped up at 3 a.m.
Rhode Island – […] “On December 18, 2025, a Rhode Island state court, based on an affidavit from a Providence Police Detective, issued a state arrest warrant for Neves Valente charging him with two counts of murder and 23 felony counts of assault and felony firearms offenses.
Earlier this evening, law enforcement tracked Neves Valente to a Salem, New Hampshire storage unit. After obtaining a federal search warrant for the unit, authorities entered and found Neves Valente deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Neves Valente (age 48) was born in Torres Novas, Santarem, Portugal and was a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States. Neves Valente arrived in the United States in August 2000 as an F-1 student at Brown University and subsequently obtained U.S. lawful permanent residency in April 2017. While at Brown University, he was enrolled in a doctoral program but subsequently withdrew from the university.” – Affidavit Here
[SOURCE]
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) has released the November Consumer Price Index (CPI) [DATA HERE] showing the rate of inflation has dropped to 2.7% overall, with core inflation at 2.6%. This is a significant drop from expectations by financial pundits and pontificating economic media.
While the media proclaim, “inflation cooled unexpectedly,” the reality is that it’s not unexpected. The results of a slowing of price increase are not accidental; they are the result of Trump’s domestic economic policies working.
[Non-Paywall Source and Media Spin]
President Trump has been cutting waste, fraud and abuse in runaway government spending; slashing costly regulations across all sectors of the economy and ending Green New Scam energy policy in favor of drill, baby, drill. As noted by NEC Chairman Kevin Hasset, Trump has reduced deficit spending overall.
There’s still a long way to go, but significant MAGAnomic progress is being made. Oh, and that skyrocketing “tariff inflation” the same shocked pundits proclaimed was sure to happen this time, well, that has not surfaced either. Just like it didn’t surface in 2018 or 2019 when the tariffs were applied the first time.
NEW YORK – US inflation unexpectedly cooled in November – slowing its pace in the first report since September after a government shutdown disrupted data gathering.
During a press conference on Wednesday, a Providence-area radio host, Chas Calenda, directly confronted Brown University officials and law enforcement with information he has received about the school intentionally disabling surveillance systems due to DEI concerns.
The response from university officials and the Providence Mayor indicate Mr. Chas Calenda’s informed accusation and question is directly on target. WATCH:
🚨 HOLY CRAP! A Providence, RI radio host just accused Brown University of TAKING DOWN security cameras in an effort to SHIELD illegal aliens
If this is true, this is a MONUMENTAL scandal.
This must be thoroughly investigated NOW! pic.twitter.com/kXyY51zDZF
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 18, 2025
In addition to information we previously shared {GO DEEP} reflecting requests from various “civil rights” and “humanitarian” groups who demanded Brown University disable their surveillance system, additional information about the issue comes via the Rhode Island ACLU making the same demand in October of this year [SEE HERE].
Brown University was under pressure from far-left groups as an outcome of concern the CCTV and school security system would be used by federal authorities to (a) identify radical leftists expressing antisemitic sentiments, and (b) identify the immigration status of persons on campus. It is not just isolated to Brown University.
Multiple municipal governments, private and municipal agencies have received the same demand in an ongoing effort to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. The mass shooting on Brown University is leading to a larger public awareness of an issue that has been spreading rapidly in the last several months.
The claim by Chas Calenda is that his local sources within law enforcement are confirming the university cowed to the concerns of the civil rights groups, including the removal of cameras. This is why there is no recorded CCTV footage, and the university is talking gibberish in their efforts to avoid admitting what has taken place.
Brown University and Providence police have $8 billion liability reasons to be less than honest with the alarmed public. The political ramifications of the story are also complicating the issue for Brown University, as well as local and national figures.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirms via his X account, that he will be leaving the FBI in January.
This announcement does not come as a surprise to those follow the details of corrupt systems closely and who have watched the scale of the problems surface through the years.
The problems within the FBI as an institution are systemic. Both Kash Patel and Dan Bongino faced a monumental challenge in trying to get their arms around the scale of the problem within the institution. There is no apple, only worms.
Any type of institutional confrontation at this scale can only succeed if the problems are first admitted. Bongino faced a big challenge with Director Patel refusing to accept institutional corruption was the biggest issue. You cannot correct problems of great consequence until you admit the core of the problem. No admission was made. The problems remain.
During a speech to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin responded to the generally-public-outline of the Zelenskyy-EU plan to end combat operations against Russia.
Remarkably, President Putin began his statement by thanking North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un for sending supportive troops to assist the Russian army in the Donbas region. Putin held a moment of silence for the fallen soldiers from the DPRK.
The entire speech transcript IS HERE. Below I am pulling out the excerpt that specifically pertains to the current line of conflict in Ukraine and the position of Russia as it pertains to a cessation of hostilities.
VLADIMIR PUTIN – […] “Today, we can see that the geopolitical situation remains tense throughout the world, and even critical in some regions. NATO countries are actively building up and modernizing their offensive forces, and creating and deploying new types of weapons, including in outer space.
Meanwhile, people in Europe are being indoctrinated with fears of an inevitable confrontation with Russia, with claims that preparations must be made for a major war. Various figures who have held or continue to hold positions of responsibility appear to have simply forgotten what that responsibility entails.
They are whipping up hysteria, guided by momentary, personal or group political interests rather than the interests of their people. I have said many times that this is a lie and an irrational narrative about an imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But they are doing this deliberately.
The truth is that Russia has always, until the last possible moment tried, even in the most complicated circumstances, to find diplomatic solutions to differences and conflicts. Responsibility for the failure to use these chances lies squarely with those who believe that they can use the language of force with us.
We continue to call for developing mutually beneficial and equal cooperation with the United States and European countries, and for creating a joint security system in the Eurasian region. We welcome nascent progress in our dialogue with the new US administration, which cannot be said of the current leaders of the majority of European countries.