President Trump held a celebration of the Jewish faith at the White House during the 2025 Hanukkah celebration.
The president was joined by a host of well-known Jewish voices who are supporting President Trump. WATCH:
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Vice President JD Vance was questioned about White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles calling Vance a conspiracy theorist.
Vance embraces the conspiracy label, defines how accurate it is, then delivers a strong set of remarks in defense of Susie Wiles. WATCH:
The overall remarks themselves are not terribly toxic to the White House, but the question of why a chief of staff would sit down for eleven interviews over 11 months with Vanity Fair remains rather curious.
What exactly did Susie Wiles expect was going to happen with all those recorded interviews?
Last time it was Steve Bannon who held multiple interviews with Michael Wolff for his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. This time it is White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles who sat down for a series of recorded ‘on the record’ interviews with Vanity Fair author Chris Whipple. [Article w/ Paywall]
The interviews with Susie Wiles have been taking place all year, with recordings of her statements made to ensure she could not retract the divisive content now deployed by Vanity Fair at a critical moment in the Trump administration.
The intent of the Vanity Fair outline is to paint the most negative light possible, and it appears Susie Wiles gave Chris Whipple all the ammunition to do so.
TIMING: This anti-Trump narrative, supported by the toxic statements by Wiles, is dropped at a key moment when European leadership is purposefully pushing a narrative against President Trump. This series of articles and documented interviews hits at a moment of merging interests against the administration. The coordination is noted.
SUBSTANCE: The New York Times outlines some of the statements by Susie Wiles that are going to grab attention.
[…] “Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Vice President JD Vance has “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was “sort of political” because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is “an avowed ketamine” user and “an odd, odd duck,” whose actions were not always “rational” and left her “aghast.” Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is “a right-wing absolute zealot.” And Attorney General Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” in handling the Epstein files.”
Before getting to the details as released for media consumption, three facets deserve emphasis.
(1) The primary objective of Ukraine/EU has been a publicity campaign to retain influence and support. (2) U.S. Emissaries Witkoff and Kushner are silent on the announced negotiated result. (3) Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov notes, “There is a lot of noise and anonymous speculation in the media right now. Please don’t fall for rumors and provocations. The American team led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are working extremely constructively to help Ukraine find a way to a peace agreement that lasts.”
I would overlay that within the weeks of discussions it is easy to spot distance between Umerov and Zelenskyy, specifically as it pertains to the influence of the EU Leadership group. Meaning, Zelenskyy is a puppet for the EU team, whereas Umerov appears more pragmatic and seemingly more focused on the interests of Ukraine.
Additionally, despite the violence and death in the war, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to say he is in no hurry to end the bloodshed. This becomes more important to recognize when you look at the post-Berlin comments from Zelenskyy himself.
First, to the outcome of the negotiations as expressed by the EU Leadership team.
This is their official joint statement on their position within the framework. Again, not signed or accepted by the U.S delegation. [SOURCE]
The Leaders welcomed significant progress on President Trump’s efforts to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. They also welcomed the close work between President Zelenskyy’s and President Trump’s teams as well as European teams over the recent days and weeks. They agreed to work together with President Trump and President Zelenskyy to get to a lasting peace which preserves Ukrainian sovereignty and European security. Leaders appreciated the strong convergence between the United States, Ukraine and Europe.
Leaders agreed that ensuring the security, sovereignty, and prosperity of Ukraine was integral for wider Euro-Atlantic security. They were clear that Ukraine and its people deserved a prosperous, independent, and sovereign future, free from fear of future Russian aggression.
Both the US and European leaders committed to work together to provide robust security guarantees and economic recovery support measures for Ukraine in the context of an agreement on ending the war. This would include commitments to:
It seems like every other month there is another report of Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino departing the FBI. However, this time the internal sources are double-dog-sure of the likelihood.
Multiple media outlets now report an anticipated exit by Dan Bongino over the next few weeks. It would not come as a surprise if he did leave. The institutional corruption within the FBI is a very difficult situation to manage, especially if FBI leadership are not willing to admit the institutional corruption exists.
We do not want to see him fail, and the FBI has delivered some good results. Depending on which report you read, Andrew Bailey, who until recently was Missouri’s attorney general, is favored to take over the role of FBI director “probably around the first of the year.”
(VIA FOX NEWS) – Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino will make a decision about his future at the bureau within the next few weeks, two sources familiar with his considerations tell Fox News.
The blue slip process has been a part of the Senate’s judicial nomination procedure since at least 1917. When a President nominates an individual for a U.S. circuit or district court judgeship, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee sends a blue slip —a form colored blue— to the two Senators representing the nominee’s home state. This form allows the Senators to express their opinions about the nominee.
Positive Response: If a home-state Senator has no objections, they return the blue slip with a positive response, indicating support for the nominee. Negative Response or Withholding: If a Senator objects, they may either return the slip with a negative response or choose not to return it at all. In both cases, this is treated as a lack of support for the nominee, which halts the nomination process.
JD Vance notes this process is being used to manipulate the appointments of Judges in leftist states. This creates a dual justice system; one of the core issues within our extremely divided nation.
[SOURCE]
JD Vance is not wrong. However, as with all things corrupted within the state of our Republic, if the blue slip process is removed the next leftist President can corrupt the judiciary within Republican states.
Of course, all of this is an outcome of the 17th Amendment, which stopped the state legislatures from having control over their senators. Under the original constitutional framework, the Senate was designed to represent the interests of the state, as the Senators were appointed by state legislature, not popular votes. The Sea Island assembly destroyed this cornerstone when they triggered the 17th Amendment.
Repeal the 17th Amendment, and just about everything in federal government changes.
Delivering remarks from the Oval Office, Border Security Czar Tom Homan delivers a mic drop statement noting how President Trump and Customs and Border Patrol have essentially shut down illegal immigration, saving the lives of thousands of people who are no longer being trafficked into the U.S. homeland.
The current border of the U.S. is the most secure and controlled border in Tom Homan’s lifetime. Homan outlines the damage previous administrations have created, and delivers powerful words putting context to the importance of the issue. WATCH:
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Today, President Trump will participate in a Mexican Border Defense Medal award ceremony at the White House. The anticipated start time is 3:00pm ET with livestream links below.
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As with all information during high-stakes negotiations, particularly ones covered in geopolitics, trillions at stake and power dynamics on this scale, it is prudent to ignore most media reporting and focus on the public statements from the negotiators.
German Chancellor Fredrich Merz seated right next to Zelenskyy, highlighting the oppositional nature of the U.S. vs EU position during negotiations.
STEVE WITKOFF – Official Readout: “The meeting in Berlin between President Zelenskyy, Special Envoy Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and delegations from the United States and Ukraine lasted over five hours. Representatives held in-depth discussions regarding the 20-point plan for peace, economic agendas, and more. A lot of progress was made, and they will meet again tomorrow morning.”
Official Readouts are the statements that all parties agree to. The “readout” is not a shaping statement giving insight into the deal itself, but rather a status statement of the discussions surrounding the deal.
Team Zelenskyy have been waging a public relations campaign to retain support from echo-chambered EU politicians. The focus is continuation of funding, essentially money. Team Trump have been less public and approaching the negotiations with prudent pragmatism; less PR more substance; their focus is an end to the killing. These are two distinctly different priority sets.
President Trump delivers remarks during a Christmas reception meeting at the White House.
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