WHITE HOUSE – President Donald J. Trump announced that the federal government will return to the American people hundreds of millions in Obamacare overcharges, collected by the Biden Administration, by issuing refunds of $500 per person to nearly 1 million Americans in 30 states. Today’s actions directly refund the Americans most exposed to the higher costs imposed by the Biden Administration’s gross mismanagement of Obamacare.
The Biden Administration overcharged Americans through Obamacare plan exchange “user fees” that were passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums, funding the operations of the federal Obamacare exchange far in excess of what was needed to run the exchange.
As a result, the Biden Administration accumulated a significant surplus of funds that were not used to benefit the Americans who paid these higher premiums.
President Trump is refunding these excess fees to Americans who do not receive premium assistance under the Unaffordable Care Act – and therefore paid the full cost of Biden’s premium tax – in the 30 states that use the federal exchange for the operations of their Obamacare markets.
These states include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Thanks to President Trump’s actions, nearly 1 million Americans will receive a refund check of $500 per person. Checks will be sent to eligible Americans beginning in October 2026.
On one hand you have Canadian Prime Minister seeking to attain “associate member” status in the European Union {SOURCE}. On the other hand, you have U.S. President Trump speaking about a “united Ireland.” {SOURCE} At first blush the stories seem disconnected, until you think about them.
Canada is a commonwealth country of the United Kingdom (UK) and seeking to achieve ‘associate membership’ status within the European Union is Carney’s way to counter the geopolitical reset currently underway by President Trump. A reset that diminishes the influence of Great Britian’s, ie. London’s. historic economic influences. One way to hit back against the scheme would be to leverage populist sentiment to take down London and Ottawa simultaneously. That approach would support the breakup of the U.K commonwealth governing structure. There’s the connection.
As we review the media reports, keep the U.S-Russia “strategic relationship” approach in mind.
CANADA – Canadian officials are negotiating with the European Union for closer ties with the economic bloc in response to the breakdown of trade negotiations with the United States earlier this summer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday—including potentially becoming an “associate member” of the union.
Although the EU is historically not known for allowing flexible membership arrangements with individual countries, European officials are reportedly open to Canada joining as an “associate member,” anonymous officials from both Canada and the EU told the Journal.
This could mark the largest reorientation of the Canadian economy in decades—the U.S. has long been Canada’s largest trading partner, with about going across the southern border in 2025.
President Trump executes a clear foreign policy, a unique doctrine of sorts, where national security is achieved by leveraging U.S. economic power. It has been a fundamental shift in approaching both allies and adversaries; summarized within the oft repeated phrase: “economic security is national security.”
The Trump Doctrine of using economics to achieve national security objectives is a paradigm shift in American politics. Modern U.S. history provides no easy reference strategy, because until now no American president has ever leveraged this approach.
U.S. B-2 bombers struck Iran on June 22, 2025, as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, targeting key nuclear facilities.
Immediately following the August 2025, Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump, Russia restarted Arctic-2 LNG terminals and began increasing natural gas (LNG) production for storage on ‘floating platforms.’
It absolutely did not make sense that Russia would start producing even more LNG considering the previously imposed western sanctions against them, and the fact that Russia was already overproducing LNG. As noted by analysts at the time. Russia had no market for this LNG, yet Russia began increasing LNG supply anyway. For six months Vladimir Putin extracted and stored LNG.
Two months later, on October 25, 2025, President Trump did something odd. President Trump had attended the ASEAN summit in Asia before; however, this time instead of flying West over the Pacific, he flew east to Malaysia. This put a refueling stop in Qatar, which everyone just ignored as a routine part of the travel plan.
However, upon arrival in Qatar, the Amir of Qatar came to the airport to pay a courtesy visit to President Trump. They spoke aboard Airforce One during the refueling stop.
President Trump visits the new US embassy in Ballsbridge, Ireland where he was introduced by U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh, whom he appointed last year. During his visit to the embassy, President Trump delivered remarks. WATCH:
Following his remarks, President Trump boarded Marine One to travel to his golf resort in Doonbeg. The president will attend the Irish Open and plans to stay two nights during his visit. He will present the Irish Open golf trophy to the champion on Sunday. President Trump will depart Ireland and return to the US Monday morning.
President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Farmleigh House. President Trump was greeted outside the property by Martin and his wife, Mary.
Michael Martin recognized the spirit of the travel so close to the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and spoke of the bond between the Irish and the New Yorkers who were killed and injured during the attacks on the World Trade Center. WATCH:
The arrival ceremony of President Trump was formal as the red carpet was rolled out as he arrived at Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish president’s residence, in Phoenix Park. After shaking hands with Irish President Catherine Connolly, the Guard of Honour presented Arms and the National Anthems of United States of America and Ireland were played by a military band. BELOW:
Here’s the fact bomb that silences Canadians almost immediately when delivered.
In December 2024 then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, told President-elect Donald Trump that Canada could not comply with a renewed trade agreement based on reciprocity because: (1) Canada had deindustrialized; their manufacturing was now “light” manufacturing and assembling of component goods made by others. (2) Canada had legislated energy policy based on climate change, and high carbon emitting industrial production was no longer an option [coking coal burning etc.]. (3) The NATO military spending goal was too high for Canada to reach [they were 19th and it wasn’t a priority because the USA was the crutch]. (4) Internal provincial rules, restrictions and cross-border trade regulations did not align with a Canadian federal trade policy effort, and (5) the political power of the ‘dairy cartel’ inside Canada tied the hands of Canadian trade representatives.
That was the gist of it. That’s why Canada cannot now or ever find a path to a U.S. reciprocal or balanced trade agreement. #1 and #2 is specifically why Canadian govt officials repeatedly use the word “intertwined.” They say intertwined because they can no longer function separately. Canada is economically dependent on proximal and economic subsidies from the United States.
That outline by Trudeau led Trump to say that Canada should then become a 51st state….. And, well, you know the rest. Someone in Canada should ask Trudeau about it. The former Prime Minister has no reason to deny it, and too many people were witness. Then, perhaps, Canadians will understand.
Earlier today, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participated in the 25th Anniversary 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon.
Participating speakers included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and former National Security Advisor Condeleeza Rice. President Trump begins his remarks at 1:08:03 of the video below.
The missing aspect in all USMCA/CUSMA trade discussions is the simple fact that President Trump and U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer would prefer bilateral trade agreements. The reason is simple and is highlighted in all the problems with the three-party USMCA.
Two countries can negotiate based on their individual interests; multiple country assemblies get complicated. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his “middle power” strategy of multiple interests assembling to create larger influence simply doesn’t work in trade discussion. That’s the bottom line.
Reuters is reporting the obvious. Mexico and the United States are racing to reach a bilateral trade deal before the U.S. midterm elections in less than eight weeks, according to six sources in both countries familiar with the talks, an effort made more urgent by the collapse of Canadian negotiations with Washington. Both USTR Jamieson Greer and President Trump have previously said the deal with Mexico would likely come first.
Mexico has played this very well. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has not participated in any antagonisms toward the U.S. position; they are simply negotiating for their best outcome. The Mexican government officials don’t try to hide their U.S. dependency under the misguided premise of patriotism. They understand the nature of the relationship.
If President Sheinbaum wants to keep a strong economy, she needs the USA. Both leaders want a trade agreement; it’s business beyond politics. Canada on the other hand is playing pure politics and trying to carve out a deal for themselves the rest of the world doesn’t have. Canada wants to be excluded from the baseline tariffs applied to everyone, that’s not going to happen.
Promethean Action’s Barbara Boyd presents her review of the election outcome in Germany, the alignment of Canada with the EU and the Ukraine negotiations headed by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“A Saxony-Anhalt provincial election saw Germany’s nationalist AfD win 43.8% to the next party’s 17.2%, prompting alarm in the British press and among EU-linked elites because the AfD campaign pledged to end open borders and halt German funding for the Ukraine war. The script argues the surge reflects a broader European revolt driven largely by economics: China’s industrial strategy and competition are squeezing Germany’s Mittelstand, with the Wall Street Journal cited on job losses and a shift toward importing more advanced machinery from China, while green policies, nuclear shutdowns, and the ban on cheap Russian energy have pushed prices 40–50% higher and cut energy-intensive production by 15%.
It links Germany’s downturn to EU war-mobilization plans, casts doubt on Mark Carney’s planned EU-Canada alignment, and contrasts that with Trump-era peace efforts, including a Trump-Putin call, corruption probes in Ukraine, and U.S. officials downplaying inflation impacts from Canada’s tariffs.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to impress; however, his response to the Wall Street Journalist narrative engineer is absolutely brilliant.
Following visits to Colombia and Ecuador, Secretary Rubio is in Peru today to discuss the “Shield of The Americas”; a joint collaboration and intensely strategic partnership between the United States and Latin American countries to eliminate corruption, arrest narcotraffickers and remove all corrupt elements.
During a news conference with Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, Secretary Rubio addressed the Peruvian people in both English and Spanish as he explained the specifics of the Shield and what the partnership entails. During the Q&A session of the press conference, a Wall Street Journal narrative engineer asked a question about sovereignty and the U.S. acting unilaterally if Peru didn’t agree to address the threat.
Essentially, Rubio responded by telling the journalist to stop working for the ‘Bureau of Imaginary Problems’. I have prompted the video at the point of the question and then provided the transcript from that moment to the end. The overall English audio-dub is not bad, so the entire presser is well worth watching:
[Transcript] – QUESTION: Vera Bergengruen with The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Secretary, you have stressed that the members of the Shield of the Americas are sovereign partners. But if one of these governments refuses to act against one of these groups that Washington deems a terrorist threat, does the U.S. reserve the right to act unilaterally, including here in Peru?
And President Fujimori: (Via interpreter) The question wanted more information about the partner of the Shield of the Americas. This will include to collaborate with the United States here in the country.
SECRETARY RUBIO: I’ll answer that question in English and Spanish. I don’t know if you guys heard it. Basically, the gist of the question is, if you’re a member of the Shield and refuse to act, does the United States – will the United States act unilaterally?
Well, if we were going to act unilaterally, why would we need the Shield? We’re not – if we were interested in acting unilaterally, we have the capacity to act unilaterally. The reason why we’re not doing it is because we want to do it with our partners. It’s the most effective way to do it. For us to confront transnational criminal groups, we need to do it inside the sovereign territory of countries, and we want to partner with those countries. It’s in their interest to do it. That is why we have the Shield. That is why the Shield exists.
People make up these problems that don’t exist. They’re getting ahead of themselves with these – these ridiculous sort of things that no one’s even contemplating. The bottom line is the reason why we have a Shield is because we choose to act in partnership with our partners. So it’s very simple. This is not very complicated; let me explain this to you. It’s a very, very simple equation. We have a country that says we want to defeat these criminals, these terrorists, these evil, despicable human beings; we want to defeat them. We want to work with America to defeat them. And so we say, of course we want to work – what should we say to them? No, we don’t want to work with you? No, we’d like you not to do anything about these groups?
