Trump to Pull Stefanik UN Ambassador Nomination to Protect Republican House Majority

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / March 27, 2025

President Donald Trump is pulling the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be United Nations ambassador.

The move is designed to protect House Republicans’ slim majority, the president said.

“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” the president said on Truth Social. “The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day.”

Others can do a good job in the position, so Stefanik “will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People,” according to Trump.

“Speaker [Mike] Johnson is thrilled! I look forward to the day when Elise is able to join my Administration in the future,” he said. “She is absolutely FANTASTIC. Thank you Elise!”

While Stefanik would likely have had no trouble getting the necessary votes for confirmation, Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House with 218 seats while Democrats hold 213 seats. There are currently four vacant seats.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, was expected to slow-walk the special election to replace Stefanik.

Stefanik’s nomination was expected to move forward on April 2, the day after the Florida special elections, Axios reported last week. She would have been the last of Trump’s Cabinet to get confirmed.

Stefanik is the second of Trump’s Cabinet picks to have their nominations withdrawn, following Rep. Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal in November after it became clear he did not have the votes to be confirmed.

This is a breaking news story and it may be updated.

Watch Our Live Inauguration Day Coverage

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / January 20, 2025

The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett will be doing live coverage today from Washington, D.C. Catch his show, which you can watch right here, starting at 10:30 a.m. Eastern and concluding half an hour after the inauguration. Stay tuned to get smart commentary from guests, including Scott Rasmussen and Kurt Schlichter, and watch the inauguration itself.

American Tea Parties, Greek Yogurt Parties

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / June 21, 2011

When it comes to crushing debts, unsustainable entitlements and ballooning deficits, Americans and Europeans are all in the same sinking boat. Where they part ways is in their response to the looming crisis.

Faced with out-of-control government spending and the prospect of a bleak economic future, Americans from across the country have rallied under the banner of the Tea Party and sent a clear message to Washington: Enough! In a vigorous manifestation of that greatest of all checks on government—the “vigilant and manly spirit which actuates the people of America”—citizens began a grassroots wave of orderly protests that have since only grown in number and promise to keep the pressure on Washington to pull its financial act together.

Meanwhile in Greece, proposed austerity measures to avert bankruptcy have left the country paralyzed by strikes and riots. Last week in Athens, Greek police fired teargas at protesters who responded by throwing stones and yogurt. This week, the country is being hit with blackouts as the main power company goes on strike. Violent protests have sadly become the norm whenever European governments attempt to tackle their financial woes. Their citizens, coddled by the nanny-state and its promises of cradle-to-grave no-hassle living, do not take well to being told it’s time to face the music.

Cynics will say that Americans aren’t hurling stones and yogurt because the government has yet to touch their benefits, and that when it does, things will get ugly here too. Perhaps. But there are reasons to believe that Americans, who by and large still view themselves as free citizens of a republic rather than dependent wards of the welfare state, will have the fortitude to accept whatever painful cuts are necessary. And thanks to the efforts of the Tea Party, these cuts, when they do occur, will not be as drastic as they would have been had the people sat by in torpor until the crisis hit.

Mamdani Touts the ‘Warmth of Collectivism,’ Draws Ire From Israel for Canceling Antisemitism EOs

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / January 02, 2026

Zohran Mamdani wasted little time declaring his intent to turn Times Square into Red Square and fueling the fears he’s antisemitic.

Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York City shortly after the Big Apple rang in the new year, taking the oath of office with his hand atop not one but three Qurans. And while he is the first Muslim to become mayor of New York, Mamdani quickly presented his communist manifesto. Or in his case, communist bumper sticker.

“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” he stated in his inaugural address.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly noted on X just what warm collectivism brought in the 20th century. “The ‘warmth’ of collectivism that always requires coercion and force. How many dead over the past 100 years due to collectivist ideologies?”

The “warmth” of collectivism that always requires coercion and force.

How many dead over the past 100 years due to collectivist ideologies? https://t.co/hWPzrO0GxG
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 1, 2026

The answer? Approximately 94-100 million, according the “The Black Book of Communism.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also saw the threat in Mamdani’s words, responded on X, “When communists rule, individual rights—invariably—are taken away.”

To those voters who hoped Mamdani would moderate his radicalism once in office or bought the idea that he had softened his antisemitism, no such luck. In his public swearing-in Thursday, Mamdani declared “I was elected as a Democratic Socialist and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist.”

The Daily Signal’s Jarrett Stepman has already listed a number of the radicals Mamdani has hired in top posts. On Tuesday, Mamdani added to their number, naming as New York City’s chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer who represented an al-Qaeda terrorist and rabid anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil.

One of Mamdani’s first official acts as mayor was to cancel every executive order of his predecessor Eric Adams, a Democrat, including an order that adopted the definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). That definition included “demonizing Israel and holding it to double standards” and, as Fox News reported, denying the Jewish people’s right to have a national homeland. He also cancelled an order that blocked city agencies from boycotting or divesting from Israel.

Mamdani’s office insists the mayor will restore executive orders he agrees with. On the other hand, this is the man who refused to condemn the phrase “From the river to the sea” or “Globalize the intifada.”

As Fox News reported, Mamdani has also resorted to word games when asked specifically if he supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else,” Mamdani said. “I think that in the way that we have in this country, equality should be enshrined in every country of the world.”

Israel blasted the cancellation of the executive orders. “On his very first day as New York City mayor, Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X. “This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire.”

Meanwhile, the New York Post reports that Mamdani’s promises of a socialist utopia weren’t even met by his own inaugural bash. Around 10,000 supporters showed up for what had been billed as an “Inauguration for a New Era Block Party.” The crowd was “crammed into several barricaded pens without access to bathrooms or any food concession stands.”

“It’s definitely not a block party,” one supporter complained.

The Mamdani Era is underway.

World Leaders Who Were Winners and Losers in 2025

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / Bradley Devlin / January 02, 2026

It would be an understatement to say President Donald Trump was active on the world stage in 2025.

Trump’s national security strategy is reshaping geopolitics in real time. Meanwhile, his trade policies are remaking the global economy.

While the Trump administration boasts the fact that it has brokered nearly 10 peace agreements and ceasefires in conflicts around the globe, some major objectives remain elusive—namely, an end to the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

While the administration has helped cooler heads prevail in several conflicts, tensions between the United States and Venezuela are reaching a breaking point and 2026 will prove critical for the future of Trump’s trade policy.

While the experts love to say geopolitics is not a zero-sum game, there were definitely winners and losers in 2025.

Winners

Claudia Sheinbaum

Large swaths of the American right mocked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s oath of office speech in October 2024 for its “Mexican Humanism”—and that her left-wing rhetoric caused a more than 10% drop in the value of the Mexican Peso in the immediate aftermath of the speech.

Some on the American right, however, saw Sheinbaum more clearly: a female politician tough enough to overcome the machismo and violent undercurrent of Mexican politics, a rhetorician talented enough to deliver a speech that surreptitiously reframed Mexican history as a story of left-wing progress, and a figure popular enough to take up the mantle of her predecessor’s populism without his corny theatrics.

Throughout 2025, Sheinbaum managed to maintain her popularity born out of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s (AMLO) populist coalition while steering the ship of state on her own course. Many polls have her approval rating over 70%.

Sheinbaum had refrained from using AMLO’s infamous “hugs, not bullets” slogan to deal with cartel violence, but now she has essentially abandoned that touchy-feely framework used by her predecessor to justify a slew of government programs—in no small part thanks to pressure from Trump.

She stationed Mexican National Guardsmen at hotspots along the U.S.-Mexico border, increased border enforcement, and handed dozens of high-ranking cartel members to the United States.

The Mexican president had bigger things in mind, however. Over the summer, Sheinbaum’s plan to remake Mexico’s national security apparatus sailed through the legislature. The legislation authorized Sheinbaum to reorganize the Mexican National Guard, reinvent the National System of Public Security, which increases federal control over several law enforcement functions, and increase intelligence gathering and effectiveness through the creation of the National System of Investigation and Intelligence.

Of course, Sheinbaum has faced setbacks in the form of scandals and political assassinations—and homicides remain a persistent problem—but such is Mexico.

Mexico City’s cooperation, however, has kept Trump’s tariff ire at bay, as opposed to Ottawa’s more aggressive response. Security cooperation and aggressive action against Chinese dumping from Sheinbaum’s government has helped secure some concessions from Trump on tariffs. This has allowed Mexican exports to the U.S. to grow nearly 10% in 2025 and a general detente before the USMCA trade deal is renegotiated in 2026.

Benjamin Netanyahu

The U.S.-Israel relationship has been a flashpoint in American politics this year—particularly on the right—as the Trump administration has sought an end to the war in the Middle East. But few disagree, whether they are proponents or skeptics of America’s relationship with Israel, that it has been a successful year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has met with Trump six times in less than a year, more than any other world leader. These meetings have often yielded results for the Israeli prime minister. Case and point, Netanyahu’s most recent meeting with Trump on Monday at Mar-a-Lago.

At a joint press conference following a private lunch, Trump had high praise for Netanyahu. “The relationship’s been extraordinary,” Trump said of U.S.-Israeli relations. “You needed a very special man to really carry through and really help Israel through this horrible jam,” Trump said of Netanyahu.

Netanyahu was happy to return the favor: “We’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It’s not even close.”

Amidst allegations that Israel has failed to live up to its commitments to the Gaza peace plan, Trump said, “I’m not concerned about anything that Israel’s doing. I’m concerned about what other people are doing, or maybe aren’t doing.”

The remarks were a strong endorsement of Israel’s military and diplomatic actions as the second phase of the Gaza peace plan remains on hold. But Trump did offer some criticism for players in the region disguised in the form of clemency: “Sometimes they [Israel] don’t understand when somebody violates something that you want to give them a second chance—we hope we’ll give them a couple of second chances—but no, Israel has lived up to the plan 100%.”

Netanyahu did seem to secure a major commitment from Trump during the Monday meeting regarding Iran.

“I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” the president said, committing the United States to back Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear or ballistic missile programs. “We’ll knock the hell out of them.”

Trump’s commitment to back future strikes follows June’s Operation Midnight Hammer, the American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities—perhaps the most aggressive foreign policy action of his second term thus far.

The strikes mostly brought twelve days of open warfare between Israel and Iran to an end, as Netanyahu effectively persuaded the administration to strike the Iranian nuclear program because, despite the Israeli military’s successes in the brief Iran campaign, Israel lacked the capabilities necessary to reach the underground targets.

Mohammed bin Salman

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia that serves as Prime Minister and is heir apparent to the throne, made some major moves in 2025.

On the domestic front, Saudi Arabia’s economic growth was stronger than expected under the technocratic Vision 2030 framework, with GDP growth estimated between 4% to 5%. This is not just because of easing OPEC cuts in the oil sector—industry and service sector growth has reduced the Saudi economy’s dependence on oil. Non-oil economic activities now make up more than half of the Saudi economy.

And the crown prince is eager to spread the wealth, particularly with the United States. Since the start of Trump’s second term, Saudi Arabia has pledged more than $1 trillion of investment in the United States. It’s producing some foreign policy wins for Saudi Arabia as well. The icy relations of the late twenty-teens have thawed.

Trump and MBS have each hosted the other in their home countries this year with plenty of pomp and circumstance.

After Trump’s meeting with MBS in Washington this November, Saudi Arabia was granted major non-NATO ally status, bolstering its position as a power broker in the region as hostilities between Israel and Iran continue.

Losers

Nicolas Maduro

The walls appear to be closing in on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The opposition leader, María Corina Machado, won the Nobel Peace Prize in October—despite a questionable, even violent, past—and dedicated the award to Trump.

Two months and change later, who won the Nobel Peace Prize this year is the least of Maduro’s concerns.

In the last few months, Trump has repeatedly said that Maduro’s “days are numbered.”

The United States has ratcheted up the pressure on the Venezuelan regime in the last four months by connecting Venezuela to strikes on alleged narco terrorists attempting to bring drugs into the United States.

Throughout the U.S. operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, which has brought a surge of American assets to the region, Trump has mused about strikes on Venezuelan territory. And Trump seems to have made good on that promise last week: The president recently confirmed reports of a CIA-led drone attack on a Venezuelan port where narco-terrorists allegedly operate.

In a radio interview, Trump said the U.S. struck a “big facility where ships come from.”

“We knocked that out,” the president claimed. “We hit them very hard.”

The attack, first reported by CNN, did not result in any casualties.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken aim at Maduro personally. In August, Attorney General Pam Bondi increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest by $50 million. And on Nov. 24, the State Department designated the Cartel de los Soles, or the Cartel of the Sun, a foreign terrorist organization led by Maduro—even though the Cartel of the Sun is not an official cartel but a slang term for corrupt government officials involved in the drug trade.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration placed a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers as well.

Maduro has reportedly offered many concessions, even abdication on the condition that he and his family receive amnesty, all of which have been denied by the Trump administration.

Cyril Ramaphosa

One of the most memorable scenes of the second Trump White House came at the expense of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

When Ramaphosa denied that Afrikaners and white farmers were the targets of a racial genocide, Trump dimmed the Oval Office lights and played an approximately five minute video showing the atrocities.

Not only has the State Department opened up refugee status to white South Africans fleeing the violence, but a series of fact-finding missions in South Africa have revealed a shocking level of violence committed against white South Africans.

At the time, one senior State Department official told The Daily Signal that “Torture was a common thread throughout these crimes.”

“I won’t go into particular details, because it’s really quite foul, but everything from sexual violations to people watching their family members get brutalized to tying people up and lighting them on fire and cutting them with crude objects,” the official added. “Truly deranged things.”

Because of the South African government’s policies and unwillingness to combat the problem of racial violence, the U.S. halted foreign aid. More recently, it boycotted the November G20 meeting in Johannesburg.

Meanwhile, the South African economy is a mess. The unemployment rate is approximately 33%, among the highest in the world. Economic growth underperformed expectations as well, with GDP growth between 0.5% to 1%.

Following poor performance in the 2024 elections, the pressure on Ramaphosa and the African National Congress heading into 2026 is immense.

Keir Starmer

In July 2024, Keir Starmer’s election as Britain’s prime minister ended 14 years of Tory control. About eighteen months on, Starmer’s approval ratings are in the dumps: Nearly three-quarters of Britons disapprove of his job performance. The Labor Party’s approval ratings are tracking with the prime minister’s—Labor’s approval rating sits at 19%.

Immigration and the economy are the main drivers of Britons’ discontent.

Starmer was elected on pocketbook issues, promising renewed economic growth and lower prices. But GDP growth sat below 1.5%, underperforming expectations for the year and just a few tenths higher than 2024.

Higher prices have proven sticky. While inflation came down over the course of 2024, inflation picked back up to over 3% in 2025.

Immigration has also tested the Starmer government, too. Persistent high levels of illegal and legal immigration and a series of immigration-related scandals has put Starmer in a vulnerable position politically. While the left pushes for open immigration policies, the right, under Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, is surging in popularity because of its restrictionist immigration policy platform.

23 Books to Read in 2026

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / Bradley Devlin / Daily Signal Staff / January 02, 2026

As you set your 2026 goals, reading lists, and New Year’s resolutions, The Daily Signal is proud to offer you some of our favorite reads from 2025.

We asked our own staff, plus others from The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action, for their thoughts and to offer some of their recommendations. They are listed below.

1. ‘Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West’

By Josh Hammer

Western civilization is in a moment of peril, beset by wokeism and radical Islamism—ideologies that seek to dismantle the Judeo-Christian foundations upon which the West was built.

In “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West,” Hammer contends that these movements, despite their different origins and methods, share a common hostility to the biblical heritage that gave rise to Western and particularly American concepts of inherent individual dignity, covenant, sexual morality, the rule of law, and ordered liberty. The West’s survival depends on renewing its commitment to the very traditions that made it great.

Israel stands on the front line in this civilizational struggle, serving as both the proverbial “canary in the coal mine”—offering early warning of threats that will eventually reach Western shores—and as a bulwark defending shared values against forces that would destroy them.

What makes Israel particularly instructive, Hammer argues, is its unapologetic nationalism stemming from its deep connection to its own biblical roots. This rootedness manifests in thriving families, remarkably high fertility rates, and a dynamic, innovative economy that flourishes even under constant existential threat. Israel’s vitality stands in stark contrast to the demographic and cultural malaise afflicting much of the secularized West.

Hammer’s ultimate prescription is a robust Jewish-Christian alliance dedicated to defending and reviving the biblical heritage that both communities share. This is not merely a defensive posture but a positive vision for civilizational renewal. By recognizing their common inheritance and the unique threats facing it, Jews and Christians can work together to ensure that the values and traditions that built the West are not lost to history but reinvigorated for future generations.

—Jason Bedrick, research fellow, Center for Education Policy, The Heritage Foundation

2. ‘Hostage’

By Eli Sharabi

In “Hostage,” Eli Sharabi delivers a devastating and deeply personal account of surviving 491 days in Hamas captivity after being abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.

Sharabi recounts the physical deprivation, psychological torture, and constant uncertainty of life in captivity in Hamas’ terror tunnels, while also bearing witness to the murder of his wife and daughters.

Despite unimaginable suffering and daily torture, Sharabi’s resolve never falters. His commitment to survival, dignity and bonds forged with his fellow hostages is incredibly inspiring. He refused to let despair and the unknown of his fate consume him, instead, he chose time and again to live.

This memoir is not only a testament to Sharabi’s extraordinary grit but also a historical document of our moment; deeply personal yet resonant far beyond its pages. At its core, “Hostage” is an important piece of historical work; just as we bear witness to the accounts of Holocaust survivors, we must bear witness here as well.

—Kelly Adams, vice president, people operations, The Heritage Foundation

3. ‘The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer’

By Daniel J. Flynn

After a long and curious absence, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute returns to publishing under the ISI Books imprint under Encounter Books with a biography as unlikely—and as absorbing—as its subject.

“The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer” recounts the life of Frank S. Meyer, a figure most readers know only by nickname and shorthand, if they know him at all. Called, too neatly, the “father of fusionism,” Meyer has long been filed away as a theory rather than understood as a man.

This book corrects that mistake.

Meyer emerges here as restless, brilliant, contentious, and perpetually in motion: a thinker whose ideas were forged not in abstraction but in conflict, contradiction, and lived experience. His life, tumultuous and often surprising, mirrors the evolution of a conservatism still arguing with itself.

At a time when the movement’s meaning is again uncertain, this portrait reminds us that it was never simple to begin with. Anyone who wants to understand American conservatism—not as a slogan, but as a drama—will find this book indispensable.

—Allen Mendenhall, senior advisor, Capital Markets Initiative, The Heritage Foundation

4. ‘Ethnic America: A History’

By Thomas Sowell

How well do you really understand the different peoples of America?

As a fan of epic fantasy, such as “The Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones,” I love immersive stories with political intrigue and rich backstories.

Thomas Sowell’s “Ethnic America: A History” may not be character driven, but it has the same epic fantasy feel, with the bonus of world-building involving our country and its rich heritage.

Did you know that, even though the U.S. rounded up the Japanese in internment camps in World War II, Japanese units fought bravely in both theaters of the war, proving their loyalty? Did you know the Irish dominated the American Catholic hierarchy, even when large numbers of southern Italians came to the U.S.? Did you know U.S. Jewish newspapers praised Germany so much during World War I that the government censored them?

“Ethnic America” is dated, but it provides a great window into America’s cultural diversity and how different groups assimilated. It has enriched my understanding of our country, and it would be a great book for 2026.

—Tyler O’Neil, senior editor, The Daily Signal

5. ‘The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization’

By Pat Buchanan

Written over 20 years ago, “The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization” feels prophetic.

The problems Buchanan outlines in the book—namely a dramatically declining birthrate in Western countries and decades of completely unfettered mass migration—have only worsened since its publication in 2002.

Buchanan’s keen assessment of the perils facing Western civilization serve as an important reminder for those of us in the business of restoring our nation for the next generation. “The Death of the West” gets to the heart of why American culture seems weakened and on the verge of collapse. The book was also a favorite of our friend, Charlie Kirk.

—Emma Lagarde, associate writer, donor relations, The Heritage Foundation

6. ‘1776’

By David McCullough

“1776” provides readers with an in-depth historical account of George Washington and the United States Continental Army at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

The book highlights the Continental Army’s early struggles in the war as well as the rise of Washington’s leadership. McCullough blends massive amounts of historical data and clever storytelling to create an excellent narration of Washington and his army.

There may be no better time to pick up this book than 2026. As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, I find it important to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who took the first leap to build this great nation. David McCullough’s “1776” is an excellent place to start.

—Ryan Pollard, data services associate, donor relations, The Heritage Foundation

7. ‘Private Yankee Doodle’

By Joseph Plumb Martin

If you haven’t already read “Private Yankee Doodle,” there is no better time to read it than in 2026.

Joseph Plumb Martin writes what is arguably the best account of America’s War for Independence from the eyes of an ordinary soldier.

Having enlisted as a 15-year-old private, Martin recounts his everyday life in the Continental Army with such expressive detail that one can’t help but shiver from his frozen rags and ache from a gnawing stomach.

Yet the desperation and drudgery are lightened by Martin’s humor and misadventures. Read the book for the history but stay through all 300 pages for the battle of insults with the British, the mischief of bored soldiers, and a run-in with The General himself.

—Clara Raabe, member services assistant, The Heritage Foundation

8. ‘In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864’

By Edward L. Ayers

If you’ve ever wondered “How did our strong, young Republic come to Civil War”? Edward L. Ayers’ “In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864” is for you.

In “In the Presence of Mine Enemies,” Ed Ayers does a fantastic job of providing a new way to view the Civil War relying on the “deep contingency” of history. He avoids sweeping generalizations far too often employed when covering the Civil War. Ayers presents the war as everyday 19th century Americans saw it in their own regular lives.

Ayers’ work covers the Autumn of 1859 with the events leading to John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry and takes the reader up to June 1863, concluding just before the Battle of Gettysburg.

During this period, Ayers compares the people of Franklin County, Pa. with the people of Augusta County, Va. On paper, these people are very similar: only separated by 200 miles they shared geography, history, religion, culture, and lived in mostly rural farming communities with only a few towns. The key difference, of course, was slavery.

These people were not the elites of the day clamoring for abolition or secession, “they prided themselves on their restraint in the face of what they saw as provocation by extremists above and below them.”

Still, the national drama unfolds on their doorsteps and the people of Franklin and Augusta experience and participate in some of the most critical episodes of the war.

If you are looking for a book to deepen your understanding of the Civil War, which includes but goes beyond the battles and dives into the culture of 1860s America, you will struggle to find a better and more comprehensive option.

—Kevin Fair, donor communications manager, Heritage Action

9. ‘Mark Twain’

By Ron Chernow

A biography of one of America’s most famous writers, “Mark Twain” follows Twain’s (Samuel Clemens’) life from birth to his death.

Chernow does a marvelous job following the life of one of the most famous people in the world during the 19th century.

From Twain’s boyhood days on the Mississippi, to being a steamboat captain, to exploring the west as a young adult, to the books and articles he authored, to the marriage of the love of his life, Livy, and their three daughters, his worldwide speaking tours, and his death in Elmira, New York. This book captivates the reader by learning the thoughts and passion of this American icon.

This is a biography of an individual we think we knew, but the reader learns so much more.

Chernow does an excellent job in his research of Twain by using Twain’s letters and correspondences with friends, family and world-famous figures during that time, including U.S. presidents from Ulysess S. Grant to Woodrow Wilson.

—Mark Hurley, senior advisor to the president, donor relations, The Heritage Foundation

10. ‘A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II’

By Sonia Purnell

I first learned about Virginia Hall from a friend about a year ago. Sharing her first name made me like her immediately, but learning her story challenged me to live up to the name I share with her. “A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II” tells Virginia’s incredible story.

Hall was a once-in-a-generation kind of woman. As a young lady from a well-to-do Baltimore family, she upset expectations for her lifetime and time again.

When she lost her leg in a hunting accident, most expected her to live out her day comfortably with her family, but she instead set out on a mission to become a diplomat.

When doors closed, she found new ones to push on, and her natural grit and intelligence landed her in the center of British and American intelligence operations during World War II. Her true story is one that will make you proud to be an American.

—Virginia Allen, senior news producer and host of “Problematic Women,” The Daily Signal

11. ‘The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography’

By Frank Capra

It’s hard to pass through this time of year without watching, contemplating, or facing a blizzard of references to “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Director Frank Capra’s autobiography, “The Name Above the Title,” delves into the details of making this all-time classic film.

For example, how Capra called on his college background in chemical engineering to create what he boasted was the first realistic-looking snow on screen. Or how Capra had the actors almost imperceptibly rush their dialogue to subtly increase the film’s tension.

Or most hauntingly, how Jimmy Stewart channeled all the pain, anguish, brokenness, and despair he still suffered from his service in World War II into his harrowing breakdown at Martini’s bar shortly before George Bailey’s decision to end it all.

Capra describes his own service in that war, including the creation of his seminal film series “Why We Fight” done for the U.S. military to boost morale.

While it’s a great romp following Capra from his Italian roots to his early film success with comedies like “You Can’t Take It With You” and “It Happened One Night,” I was particularly intrigued by his recounting of the enormous pressure he got from the powerful who wanted to stop “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” because of its portrayal of graft and corruption in the Nation’s Capital.

Released in 1939, the film remains alive today in 2025. Reading this autobiography, one understands Frank Capra would have had the number of the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Tim Walz, and the media.

—Al Perrotta, contract editor, The Daily Signal

12. ‘President Kennedy: Profile of Power’

By Richard Reeves

Richard Reeves’ 1993 telling of Kennedy’s 1,000 days in office will give you a visceral sense of the pressures the young president was feeling as he dealt each day with the threat of nuclear war, as well as the country unraveling from social strife.

“President Kennedy: A Profile of Power” cuts out editorializing and speculation, instead focusing almost entirely on what we know for a fact Kennedy said, did, and saw on the fateful days of his presidency.

A highlight of the book is its detailed description of Kennedy’s Vienna summit meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, in which the two battled in a war of words over the future of Berlin.

“Then, Mr. Chairman, there will be war. It will be a cold winter,” Kennedy warned Khrushchev after the Soviet had refused to provide a clear guarantee of American access to the German city.

This is not a work of hero worship, and Reeves certainly does not set out to present Kennedy as a saint.

Reeves is bluntly honest about Kennedy’s marital infidelity, his painful back issues that were hidden from the public, as well as his routine use of “novocaine for pain and amphetamines for energy” to mask these issues. Nevertheless, Reeves avoids the temptation of turning the book into a tale of gossip and scandals.

This presidential biography, although focused on one man, tells the story of a transition from one America to another.

Kennedy thought every day of the increasing possibility of war in Vietnam and destructive riots in America’s cities—two things which did happen shortly after his presidency and have shaped the country we know today.

What Reeves presents us is a story of an imperfect man who made plenty of mistakes throughout his presidency but tried to keep his country together at a time of transition. It is, in my opinion, the most successful attempt to understand a man working under pressures that very few in history have ever had to deal with.

—George Caldwell, journalism fellow, The Daily Signal

13. ‘Extraordinary Transformation: An Entrepreneurial Blueprint for Leaders Who Seek Transformational Growth in Any Organization’

By Nido Qubein

“Extraordinary Transformation: An Entrepreneurial Blueprint for Leaders Who Seek Transformational Growth in Any Organization” is a leadership development book authored by Dr. Nido Qubein, president of High Point University and a successful entrepreneur, who draws directly from his diverse career in business and higher education.

The book reflects Qubein’s experience transforming High Point from a modest regional institution into a nationally recognized university, while also incorporating the entrepreneurial lessons he learned building and leading fortune 500 companies.

Rather than relying on abstract theory, Qubein translates real-world experience into practical, results-driven insight.

Serving as a clear and actionable blueprint, the book offers tangible strategies to improve personal effectiveness, advance careers and drive organizational growth.

With a strong emphasis on vision, discipline, accountability and execution, “Extraordinary Transformation” equips readers with proven tools to strengthen culture, inspire people, and achieve lasting success in any organization—or in their own lives.

—Jake Matthews, communications manager, media and public relations, The Heritage Foundation

14. ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business’

By Neil Postman

Although “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” was written in 1985, Postman does an incredible job of explaining how the types of media we consume changes the content and that “the medium is the message.”

Postman makes the case that with the rise of television, all information has become entertainment and how in turn, politics, teaching, religious practices, and the very essence of our culture all serve to entertain.

Postman compares the world we live in to the world in “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley; instead of our demise coming from a tyrannical government, it comes from our own voluntary choices.

Postman’s observations and warnings are more salient than ever with the rise of short form content and social media, and it makes one wonder how AI will change our public discourse and ultimately, our culture.

—Autumn Dorsey, visiting research associate, Center for Technology and the Human Person, The Heritage Foundation

15. ‘The Great Adventure Catholic Bible, Second Edition’

I spent every day of 2025 studying Scripture with “The Great Adventure Catholic Bible, Second Edition,” and it genuinely transformed my life. For me, it was particularly helpful as a candidate for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, the process I’m following to become Catholic.

But regardless of your life’s circumstances, “The Great Adventure Catholic Bible, Second Edition,” is an accessible way to learn the Word of God. Developed by biblical scholar Jeff Cavins and featuring color-coded timelines and maps, this Bible will guide you through salvation history. My recommendation is to pair your copy with Father Mike Schmitz’s popular (and free) “Bible in a Year” podcast—a new episode is available every day.

—Rob Bluey, president and executive editor, The Daily Signal

16. ‘Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer’

By Tyler Staton

Do you enjoy prayer? Avoid it? Wonder if it even works? No matter where you find yourself, “Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer” by Tyler Staton offers something for you.

This book is a compelling invitation to (re)discover prayer as the heartbeat of a vibrant spiritual life. While the concepts and practices discussed are well established in church history, Staton presents them in a manner that penetrates the deepest parts of the heart, mind, and spirit.

Prayer was the source of Jesus’ most astonishing miracles and the subject of His boldest promises, yet many believers today experience it as boring, confusing, or disappointing.

This book challenges those misconceptions head on, offering a vision of prayer in its purest form: a vital and powerful connection with God that feels more real and alive than you ever imagined.

Through biblical insight, practical guidance, and honest storytelling, Staton calls readers to embrace a life of radical faith, living with the kind of trust that might look foolish to the world but leads to intimacy with God and transformative power.

—Nicole Murcek, senior executive assistant and special projects manager to the COO, The Heritage Foundation

17. ‘Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith’

By Michael Reeves

“Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith” provides a clear, joyful, and engaging explanation of the doctrine of the Trinity, making one of Christianity’s most profound truths both accessible and delightful.

The book powerfully contrasts the relational, loving Triune God of the Bible with the solitary deity of Islam, highlighting why the Christian understanding of God uniquely grounds love, fellowship and salvation.

In an age of religious confusion, it strengthens readers’ confidence in historic biblical orthodoxy and deepens their worship of the God who is eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

—Brett Nelius, advisor to the president, donor relations, The Heritage Foundation

18. ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Greatest Warning of the Next 10 Years’

By Steve Cioccolanti

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Greatest Warning of the Next 10 Years” by Steve Cioccolanti is a prophetic book about the days that are coming upon us.

We live in interesting times where we are actors and participants in the visions of the book of Revelation and must in turn be prudent and not ignorant.

Considering that the first horse has played out its part, knowing and preparing for the future is of at most importance both personally and nationally.

Along with the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” I would read “Rise” by Bridgitte Gabriel (I must add that she is very much in line with Heritage values) who spells out how to conquer with America’s Judeo-Christian principles especially against radicalized views.

—Ruth Chege, receptionist for The Heritage Foundation

19. ‘Theo of Golden: A Novel’

By Allen Levi

“Theo of Golden” is the delightful story of how a mysterious elderly man’s kindness touches the lives of residents in a small Georgia town, from children and college students to war-hardened veterans, from the wealthiest business owner to the homeless woman who cruises through the city on her bike.

Shortly after Theo arrives to Golden, he visits a coffee shop where 92 framed portraits hang on the walls. Theo is inspired to purchase all the portraits and gift them to their “rightful owners.”

Through the stories of these interactions, the reader falls in love with the mysterious Theo and the characters who become like family to him.

—Elizabeth Mitchell, White House correspondent, The Daily Signal

20. ‘Gone with the Wind’

By Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell’s famed masterpiece, “Gone with the Wind,” is engaging from the first page, quickly becomes enveloping, and by mid-book, is all-consuming. After the final page, Scarlett, Mammy, Rhett, Melanie, Ashley, and so many more remain mental companions for weeks.

It’s surprising that the book remains in print without massive controversy, given today’s sensibilities and cancel mania.

Mitchell’s casual way of stating the supposedly obvious inferiority of blacks, or her description of Mammy employing “the guile of her race” to get Scarlett to eat are breathtaking. The editorializing, through Scarlett’s thoughts, about how it’s the Yankees who don’t understand and appreciate blacks, and it’s the Southerners who know what’s best for them—they’re most content as slaves—boggles the mind.

And yet, the book is heartachingly beautiful, and heart wrenchingly tragic. It is impossible to read the vivid descriptions of a country ripped apart without thinking of America today.

Despite its deep moral flaw, there’s something about “Gone with the Wind” that makes it one of the great American novels.

—Karina Rollins, senior research editor, policy publications, The Heritage Foundation

21. ‘Pride and Prejudice’

By Jane Austen

Most readers probably already read “Pride and Prejudice” in sophomore year literature class—or for the more “The Great Gatsby”-inclined men, “read.” My male classmates thought “Pride and Prejudice” was just a high school girl’s romantic fantasy.

And they were right.

More than ever, American culture needs to be inspired by stories of properly ordered romance and courtship, of men chasing women and women with skirts that leave more to the imagination than not.

Austen’s insightful and often scathing commentary on men and women’s complex—and often more frustrating than not—social interactions leaves the single reader looking for a modern version of that for themselves (“Bridget Jones” was on the right track, just think fewer Playboy Bunnies).

Austen relied on dialogue rather than the modern go-to of steamy get togethers—she lived at a time when men—for the most part—still acted like gentlemen and women like ladies.

For relief from the political noise and an escape to a world with real romance (and maybe a model of courtship), look no further than “Pride and Prejudice.”

—Erin Poff, development writer, donor relations, The Heritage Foundation

22. ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’

By Alexandre Dumas

“The Count of Monte Cristo” is thrilling adventure for both kids and adults. Set in the Napoleonic-era, Edmond Dantès is betrayed, thrown into prison and begins to carefully plot his revenge.

There are enemies, secret passageways, love and a daring escape. Originally published as a serial, this classic fiction will keep you turning the pages until the very end.

—Stephanie Kreuz, director of sentinel strategy, Heritage Action

23. ‘The Murder of Roger Akroyd’

By Agatha Christie

The classic mystery featuring Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, as well as one of the most shocking twists in literature and murder mysteries, is close to 100 years old.

It’s not surprising if you’ve already read “The Murder of Roger Akroyd” or at least know the twist. It’s still a worthwhile read whether it’s for the first time or you’re revisiting.

“The Murder of Roger Akroyd” is one of Christie’s shorter works, but arguably the most impactful genre in literature and film. This is not just the case with murder mysteries, but with the idea of the unreliable narrator.

How Poirot came to his conclusion about the murder still astounds me. Speaking of film, the novel was actually referenced in the new “Knives Out” film, “Wake Up Dead Man,” which I also recommend and happened to see when I was reading this famous work by Christie. I have been venturing into the classics in recent years, and I’m so glad that I did with this one!

—Rebecca Downs, Ohio correspondent, The Daily Signal

This article was originally published Jan. 1.

At Long Last, Washington Remembers Its Own Neighborhood

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / Bradley Devlin / Daily Signal Staff / Melissa Ford Maldonado / January 02, 2026

At the dawn of the new year, the most important foreign-policy debate facing the United States isn’t unfolding in Ukraine or the Middle East. It’s playing out much closer to home—in Central and South America.

The United States has long viewed the Western Hemisphere like a fire extinguisher: important in theory, hopefully unnecessary, out of mind unless something is on fire.

For decades, U.S. foreign policy has reflected that view, chasing crises in every corner of the world while overlooking the one region whose stability most directly affects American security: The Western Hemisphere.

The U.S. National Security Strategy finally breaks from that old pattern.

It is the most radical and long-overdue change in U.S. foreign policy in a generation. For the first time in living memory, the Western Hemisphere is treated as a top priority.

The strategy calls for a reallocation of military resources toward our own neighborhood and is grounded in a principle most Americans would consider common sense: the United States should act abroad in ways that make the United States stronger, safer, and more prosperous.

Imagine that!

Predictably, large parts of the foreign policy establishment hate this. They fail to understand that the National Security Strategy is not novelty. It is continuity with the best of the American tradition.

The document not only resurrects the Monroe Doctrine but invokes it four times, more often than any administration has dared to in generations and introduces what it calls the “Trump Corollary.” It sounds provocative. But to anyone who knows American history, it sounds like America remembering who it is.

The Monroe Doctrine was never an interventionist policy or imperial project. It was a defensive posture for a young republic surrounded by predatory empires: You mind your business, we’ll mind ours.

John Quincy Adams—its principal author (and at the time, James Monroe’s Secretary of State)—warned against going abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.”

He knew, as we know now, that our survival depended on a secure neighborhood, and that neighborhood meant our entire hemisphere.

And remember: Adams was speaking for a rising power, not a dominant one. In the early 19th century, European monarchies were actively trying to reassert their colonial claims. The Monroe Doctrine established a protective stance over a region just beginning to fight for its own. That stance gave Latin American nations the breathing room to win and keep their independence.

The United States didn’t liberate Latin America; it helped protect the space for it to liberate itself.

In 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry declared that “the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran heard him loud and clear.

In the years that followed, China built influence throughout Latin America the way it builds everything: relentlessly and strategically. Today, half the hemisphere has preferential trade deals with China. Russia’s state media saturates regional airwaves. Iran maintains partnerships with anti-American regimes.

And the consequences travel north. Migration surges, cartel-state networks, fentanyl flows, foreign intelligence footholds, none of these phenomena are isolated.

Every crisis in Latin America—crime, authoritarianism, economic collapse—reaches us in days, sometimes hours. The hemisphere isn’t “over there.” It is a tightly linked neighborhood of trade routes, migration pathways, and shared vulnerabilities.

A hemisphere-first strategy isn’t about solving every problem in Latin America. It’s about protecting U.S. interests by ensuring that criminal networks and hostile foreign powers cannot use the region as a staging ground against the United States.

America First is not America Alone. It is America leading where leadership matters most, alongside partners who share both our geography and our exposure to regional chaos. Latin America doesn’t need a savior. It needs a partner that finally takes the region seriously.

China understands this. It is playing an asymmetric game designed to shrink America’s geographic advantage and expand its own. And frankly, it’s winning. As a Bolivian, I can attest that Beijing’s presence is everywhere: embedded into our infrastructure, our mines, even our politics. It is subtle, underestimated, but unmistakable.

Voters understood this long before policymakers did. The collapse of Venezuela and the spread of disorder in the region have produced consequences Americans live with daily.

Americans don’t experience foreign policy through research papers or strategy documents. They experience it through border chaos, cartel violence, and the drugs that reach their streets and schools—consequences rooted in what happens in the Western Hemisphere.

For years, Americans have lived through the crises created and amplified by a government that treated the hemisphere as an afterthought. They have seen their communities endure harm as mass migration surged, drug trafficking expanded, and criminal networks grew more powerful.

By 2024, voters had had enough. They demanded an end to border chaos, an end to global distraction, and a restoration of American leadership where it matters most.

They voted for America First, and the U.S. National Security Strategy delivers just that.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

10 Times Democrats, Corporate Media Leaped to Defend Somalis Despite Massive Fraud Scandals

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / Bradley Devlin / Daily Signal Staff / Melissa Ford Maldonado / Nicole Silverio / January 02, 2026

Democrats and the corporate media rushed to defend Somalis throughout the end of 2025 as reports emerged that they committed widespread fraud in Minnesota.

Federal prosecutors charged dozens of Somalis with stealing over $9 billion of taxpayer money intended for social services, including the nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

As more details have emerged about their fraudulent actions, Democrats accused President Donald Trump and conservatives of using Somalis as scapegoats and expressed their support for the population.

Tim Walz Pivots to Attacking White Peoples’ Crimes

In response to a question about whether Somalis should be held accountable, Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has faced scrutiny for his handling of the fraud, immediately pivoted to saying that white men have committed several crimes.

“Look, it’s not law-abiding citizens. If that were the case, there’s a lot of white men should be holding a lot of white men accountable for the crimes that they have committed,” Walz said during a Dec. 12 press conference.

“I think for the community to maybe educate their population, because I think what you’re seeing here is there’s secondary victims in this, that there’s providers inside the community that are then victimizing the community themselves by signing them up, because when we’re going to some of these people, they’re like, I had no idea I was in this program. So I think it’s asking us then, you know, for every crime, which of course the majority being committed by white men, asking us to do more about that. I think it’s crime in general.”

Walz faced scrutiny from state officials who accused him of “willfully” disregarding “rules and laws to keep fraud reports quiet.” The governor accused President Donald Trump of engaging in a “PR stunt” and of “indiscriminately targeting immigrants” as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramped up operations in Minnesota to detain Somali nationals.

Minnesota State Senators Tear Up as They Expresses Support for Somalis

Democrat state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart tearfully apologized to Somalis and extended her support for them during an event at a Somali mosque on Dec. 12.

“We are heartbroken by the horrible actions of our government, and we want you to know that at the state level, we will do all that we can to support you. Whether you live in our district or not, we are here,” Stewart said through tears. “We are 100% committed to helping you. You are welcome here, you belong here and we are here for you. I apologize, I have to leave for another commitment.”

Democrat state Sen. Steve Cwodzinski then praised diversity and stated that America is a nation of immigrants.

“That’s what America is all about. We’re not a nation of ‘we’re all the same.’ We’re a nation of immigrants. We’re a nation of diversity. That’s our strength, not our weakness,” Cwodzinski said. “I really don’t know what to say.”

Their statements came after Trump referred to Somalia as a “garbage” country during a Dec. 8 Cabinet meeting. He also said that many Somalis, such as Democrat Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, had no appreciation for the U.S. despite giving them everything.

In response to the fraud, the administration has also cracked down on detaining and deporting Somalis in the U.S. illegally. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Wednesday that Trump supports denaturalizing any Somali convicted of the crimes.

Ilhan Omar Claims Trump Is Only Angry About Somali Fraud Because He’s Racist

Democrat Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said Trump does not want Somalis in the U.S. because he is “bigoted” and “Islamophobic.”

“The president has always had very bigoted, xenophobic, Islamophobic comments when it comes to, you know, people who are of Muslim faith or people who are black. We’ve seen him call African nations as ‘shitholes.’ So it’s not really surprising,” Omar said. “But what is weird to me is just how creepy he’s been obsessed with me and the Somali community.”

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar condemned President Trump’s recent comments about Somalis and said his focus on her is “creepy.” pic.twitter.com/mXLC0N1hve

— New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2025

Omar, a Somali immigrant, has defended Somalis by saying they think of themselves as Americans and pay taxes. She has urged people not to blame the Somali community for the actions of a few.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent alleged on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that individuals charged with stealing from Minnesota’s “Feeding Our Future” donated to Omar’s campaign. Omar denied any wrongdoing.

Democrat Minneapolis Mayor Says Somalis Are ‘Welcome’ In His Community

After Trump condemned the fraud and cracked down on Somalis, Democrat Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey affirmed his support for Somalis, saying they are part of the city’s “family.”

“Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the country. They are our neighbors, our friends, and our family — and they are welcome in our city. Nothing Donald Trump does will ever change that,” Frey said.

Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the country. They are our neighbors, our friends, and our family — and they are welcome in our city. Nothing Donald Trump does will ever change that. pic.twitter.com/3DmvQ4jRov

— Mayor Jacob Frey (@MayorFrey) December 2, 2025

Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor Wears Hijab on Television

Minnesota Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan appeared on the TV station, Somali TV of Minnesota, on Dec. 26 wearing a hijab, stating that Somalis are “part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota.”

“My name is Peggy Flanagan. I’m the lieutenant governor of Minnesota and I’m really honored and humbled to be here with you all today. I am incredibly clear that the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said.

Boston’s Mayor Claims Somalis Are Responsible For City’s ‘Every Achievement’

Democrat Boston Mayor Michelle Wu stated that “hate has no place in our society” without expressing any criticism for the crimes committed by the Somali population.

“You cannot talk about any achievement that the city of Boston has had in safety, jobs, and economic development, in education, without talking about the Somali community that has lifted our city up. We are proud and we are grateful for our Somali community and for our Somali American neighbors. Boston and the country are clear that hate has no place in our society,” Wu said.

“We will use every attack to actually strengthen and expand the services available, to empower and work alongside our community members who are already doing so much good in the world and setting the example for the rest of the country,” she continued.

MS NOW Analyst Laments How Somalis Are Allegedly Being ‘Scapegoated’

MS Now political analyst Mara Gay said on “Morning Joe” that Somalis were victims of the so-called far-right’s anti-immigrant narrative. She also downplayed the significance of the fraud by saying that these types of actions are “not unique to politics.”

“Let’s recall too that there’s also other scandals in other states,” Gay said. “For example, the Mississippi welfare scandal. This is not unique to politics. Americans know that. But of course, the other factor here is that because it looks like the Somali population in Minnesota, the Somali immigrant population may have been involved in some way, those people are being scapegoated.”

“And that community is being scapegoated in a way that certainly serves the far right. And so, that’s also something to keep an eye on. And that’s inappropriate, absolutely,” Gay added.

More reports of fraudulent crimes committed by Somalis have continued to emerge. While a majority of those stealing from social programs are Somali, YouTube Nick Shirley released a documentary on Dec. 26 which indicated that Somali daycare centers that receive taxpayer money are not actually providing any services.

CNN’s Abby Phillip Claims Somalis Are ‘Under Attack’

CNN anchor Abby Phillip criticized Shirley for exposing the daycare centers for their alleged fraud, saying that the population is “under attack” and receiving threats.

“But, you know, honestly, you knock on the door of a daycare center, and you’re like, let me in, let me in. What do you expect people to do? You know, in some of those cases, there were children in there. What do you want people to do in that situation? Open the door and say, come on in. When they know that the Somali community is under attack, is being threatened every single day, what is going on here?”

Politico Reporter Makes Thinly Veiled Threat to Nick Shirley

Politico senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein claimed in a Monday X post that citizen journalists like Shirley could be shot under “stand your ground” laws.

“At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws,” Gerstein said.

At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) December 30, 2025

Minnesota is not a “stand your ground” state, but instead imposed a “duty to retreat” before using force, according to the United States Concealed Carry Association.

CNN Publishes Article About Somali Community’s ‘Anxiety’

CNN published an article on Dec. 4 titled, “Anxiety grips Somali community in Minneapolis as ICE agents zero in on the Twin Cities,” which claimed that Somalis in Minnesota were living in fear because of Trump’s crackdown.

“A young man working at a bakery at the Karmel Mall south of downtown Minneapolis said the shopping center on Tuesday night was dead compared to usual. The man, who only gave his first name, Fawzi, said he is nervous even though he was born in Minneapolis, CNN wrote.

The article detailed how Somali shops in the area were deserted and how many were carrying IDs and papers in case they were confronted by immigration officials. It also quoted local Somalis condemning Trump’s statement about them.

The outlet wrote a separate piece on Dec. 7, which said that Somalis were embraced by Minnesota after being “scorned” by Trump.

Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

5 Far-Reaching Supreme Court Decisions to Watch for in 2026

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / Bradley Devlin / Daily Signal Staff / Melissa Ford Maldonado / Nicole Silverio / Fred Lucas / January 02, 2026

The Supreme Court will decide on several cases in 2026 that revolve around President Donald Trump in the near term but will have far-reaching consequences for future presidents.

Here are the biggest high court decisions to watch for in 2026.

First out of the gate, a case that will affect state laws across the country regarding women’s sports.

1. Deciding on Men in Women’s Sports

The first major case to be argued in 2026 comes Jan. 13, when justices will hear arguments in combined Idaho and West Virginia cases. The cases of Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. will affect 25 states with laws preventing biological males from competing in women’s sports.

“These are the cases in which states have banned biological males from competing in women’s sports and that’s a very, very important decision,” Han von Spakovsky, a former senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal. “It’s going to affect women and girls in K-12 sports in many different states.”

The arguments could also have federal implications since Trump signed an executive order in February to withhold federal funds from states that allow biological males to play in women’s sports.

In 2020, Idaho lawmakers enacted the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, banning men and boys from competing in women’s and girls’ sports across all ages and levels of competition.

Lindsay Hecox, a self-identified transgender athlete who wanted to be on the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University, sued the state, and lower courts sided with the athlete, including the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the West Virginia case, a transgender middle school student wanted to play on the female sports teams at her school. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled West Virginia’s law violates Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination in educational programs and school athletics.

2. Tariffs Mark First Test for Emergency Law

The Supreme Court could decide early in 2026 on Trump’s executive action to impose sweeping tariffs, part of his core economic and trade policy.

During oral arguments in November, even Trump-appointed justices seemed skeptical of the government’s arguments.

Two private companies sued in May after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement on foreign goods in the case of Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump.

“The tariffs case is the gorilla in the room, the blockbuster case,” Thomas Berry, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, told The Daily Signal, “This extends well beyond the issue of tariffs and into the executive power of future presidents.”

At issue is whether the president exceeded his executive branch authority by imposing tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which is intended to address emergencies only. Normally, trade policy, including tariffs, is enacted through legislation in Congress and signed by the president.

This is uncharted waters for the Supreme Court, which has never ruled on how far the International Emergency Economic Powers Act could go, von Spakovsky said.

“Keep in mind that the statute under which the president acted, which was passed in the early 1970s, they’ve never considered that statute,” von Spakovsky said. “We have no precedent really to go on because this is the first case.”

3. Reversing Birthright Citizenship?

In early December, the high court agreed to hear arguments on Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. Under Trump’s order, agencies would not recognize citizenship for U.S.-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen.

Birthright citizenship is the view that anyone born in the United States, even a child of illegal immigrants, is automatically a U.S. citizen.

This has the potential to overturn a Supreme Court precedent going back to 1898, when the majority upheld birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, which was enacted to grant citizenship to freed slaves after the Civil War.

“In the birthright citizenship case, Trump could be running into rough waters,” Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, told The Daily Signal. “But the current precedent is based on a 1898 Supreme Court ruling, which is way different from what is happening now.”

The disputed provision of the 14th Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The point of contention in the case is the phrase, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” which Solicitor General D. John Sauer has argued was misinterpreted by the court’s late 19th-century ruling.

4. Scrapping Humphrey’s Executor

In what could be a powerful blow against the deep state, a majority of justices seems poised to reverse the 90-year-old precedent of Humphrey’s Executor.

This specific case regards Trump’s ouster of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, but it will affect other federal boards and commissions with members appointed by Republican and Democrat presidents. The members, in theory, operate without political concerns. They serve for a set term until it expires, regardless if a new president of a different party assumes office during that term.

The high court, in the 1935 precedent in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, ruled Congress could enact laws limiting the power of a president to fire executive officials of an independent agency.

“We are not big fans of executive power, but overturning Humphrey’s Executor will make the president more accountable,” said Berry of the Cato Institute. “The problem with so-called independent executive agencies is that the president can avoid accountability. He can say, the agency did it. The president should be checked by Congress and the courts, not by appointees of the prior president. The framers never had that intent.”

5. Politics and the Federal Reserve

On Jan. 26, justices will hear a case of Trump v. Cook. In an October emergency docket ruling, the court ruled that Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook could keep her job—for now—after Trump attempted to oust her.

The question in the case is whether a president can fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors or whether the organization created in 1913 is independent.

It’s not the same question as the posed in the Humphrey’s Executor matter. Although Kamanar, of the National Legal and Policy Center, anticipates Trump will win the FTC case, he said the Federal Reserve could be viewed as an entirely different institution.

“The Federal Reserve board is different from the SEC, the FTC, or the FEC,” Kamaner said, also referencing the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Election Commission. “The Federal Reserve is funded through the private banks, not by Congress.”

Members of the board are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but Trump’s ouster of Cook marked the first time a president removed a board member.

What the Education Department’s New Portal Means for Foreign Influence on University Campuses

On Jan. 2, the Department of Education officially launched its new and improved portal for universities to report foreign funding.

In an earlier update, the department noted, the “current reporting portal had not been meaningfully updated since the first Trump administration.”

This new portal is intended to make it easier for higher ed institutions to report foreign funding, resulting in more timely and accurate disclosures.

Before launching the system, the department conducted extensive beta testing with several universities to solicit feedback, identify any bugs and ensure institutional familiarity with the portal’s reporting features

Congress first required U.S. universities to publicly report certain foreign gifts and contracts in 1986.

Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, institutions must report foreign gifts and contracts totaling $250,000 or more in a calendar year. Responsibility for enforcing compliance, collecting disclosures, and disseminating the data was placed with the Department of Education.

For more than 30 years, however, the department made little effort to enforce Section 117.

That changed in 2019, when the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report examining China’s impact on the U.S. education system.

A subsequent 2020 report from the Department of Education’s Office of the General Counsel found, “up to 70 percent of all U.S. colleges and universities fail to comply with the law, and those that do substantially underreport.”

These findings raised serious concerns, given the potential influence foreign governments and organizations can exert on both public and private institutions in the United States.

During the first Trump administration, the Department of Education opened 19 investigations into potential Section 117 violations.

Just three months after the department overhauled the foreign gifts reporting portal under then-Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos. More than 7,000 foreign funding transactions were reported, compared with the 500 to 1,000 historically received over a six-month period.

These results demonstrated that stronger enforcement and clearer reporting mechanisms could dramatically improve compliance.

After Trump left office in 2020, enforcement efforts again waned.

The Biden administration did not open any new investigations and transferred enforcement responsibilities from the Office of General Counsel to the Office of Federal Student Aid, which primarily administers student aid programs and lacks robust enforcement authority.

The consequences of this shift were significant.

The National Association of Scholars, which maintains its own database of foreign gifts and contracts, found more than 100 public records requests filed with public universities and state agencies nationwide since 2010. They also reported that at least $1 billion in foreign funding went underreported between 2021 and 2022.

According to NAS, this represented approximately 39% of total foreign funds that should have been disclosed under Section 117, based on its estimate of $2.6 billion in foreign funding identified through FOIA-obtained records.

Shortly after taking office, President Trump made Section 117 compliance a priority, signing an executive order to end secrecy surrounding foreign funding in American higher education. He made his goal clear: We must safeguard U.S. students and research from foreign exploitation.

Since Jan. 20 2025, the Department of Education has launched new foreign funding compliance investigations involving Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Berkeley, alongside continued efforts to modernize the federal reporting portal. The Department of Education also returned federal oversight priorities to the Office of General Counsel.

Congress has also taken steps to address foreign influence at U.S. universities.

In April 2025, the House of Representatives passed the DETERRENT Act, which would lower the general reporting threshold from $250,000 to $50,000. For countries of concern, like China or Russia, all foreign funding was required to be reported.

For universities accepting gifts or entering into contracts with foreign countries of concern, the bill also required institutional officials to obtain a waiver from the Department of Education. The Senate has yet to take up the bill, but given its potential to strengthen and close loopholes in reporting requirements, lawmakers should consider passing it promptly.

There is no better time to hold foreign governments and entities accountable for the gifts and contracts they enter into with U.S. public and private universities.

As the National Association of Scholars has documented, countries, including China, Qatar, and Russia, have exerted considerable influence through substantial financial contributions.

The current administration’s attempts to improve reporting mechanisms and enforce existing law represent a welcome change after years of inaction and a necessary step to restore transparency and protect American higher education from foreign influence.

Victor Davis Hanson: When I Cruised Iraq in an Abrams Tank

In this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Victor Davis Hanson answers a round of questions submitted by listeners. Here he’s asked about tanks and tank warfare. This episode was recorded before Hanson’s major surgery on Dec. 30.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of a segment from today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to VDH’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes.

JACK FOWLER: Here’s the second question from Matt. It’s entirely different subject. He says “After high school, I served in the Marine Corps. I was an M1A1 Abrams tank crewman deployed to Iraq. Videos I have seen of M1A1 tanks being used in Ukraine, oftentimes the Ukrainians appear to use the Abrams as a standalone heavy tank, such as an M26 Pershing or an IS-2 Russian tank from World War II.

“I’m aware many M1A1 Abrams have been destroyed and or captured by the Russians. In your opinion, if the Abrams tanks were used in the same manner of the U.S. Army or Marines, such as working in a section, two tanks up to a company size 14 tanks, will the Abrams may have made a better impact on the battlefield and they have a higher number of working tanks.”

So that’s about tank strategy, essentially.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Well, I can tell you that when I was at the Naval Academy for a year, I had a security clearance, and I would go about once every two weeks to Andrew Marshall’s Office of Net Assessment. And it was classified, but I did hear a couple of lectures there and also a classified lecture from other people.

And people can correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t think it’s classified now, but I think it’s true of all weapons systems that we have. When we export any weapon system to anybody other than the closest ally we have, we have a general rule that the weapon system that we export would not be able to have equity with the weapon systems that we have.

Now what would that mean? That would mean in the case of the Abrams A1, that has a very sophisticated type of ceramic hardened steel layered and reactive armor on it. You know, the reactive where you hit it and a little explosion pushes the shell out.

I am told that if we send Abrams to Egypt or anybody else those Abrams tanks, if they got into a fight with American Abrams tanks, would not be as successful.

But I don’t think we broadcast that. And I think that’s true of a lot of other systems as well.

It’s not that we just give old stuff away. We make sure that if we get in a war in the Middle East, for example, given changing alliances, and we’ve given Jordan a bunch of Abrams tanks, and they’ve attacked Israel and Israel has the Merkava, maybe they had some Abrams, that the ones that we authorize will be able to withstand the 120 smoothbore round better than the ones that they have.

FOWLER: What about as for fighting in packs as solo versus multiple tanks?

HANSON: Well, my office is next to H.R. McMaster, and he’s pretty famous because in the first Gulf War, he was an Army captain, and that had been the largest tank battle since the Yom Kippur War of ‘73.

They had about 35 Abrams and they had their volleys at the range and the velocity and the bore. And they took out each one, hit their, except one I think, T-72 top Russian tanks. And they blew them up without losing anybody.

And then when I was embedded, the first or second time, I can’t remember which, they asked me if I wanted to go with some Iraqi people for an afternoon.

So, I went in, the Iraqis showed me, It was very funny. They gave me an M4, I think, or maybe it was a Vietnam-style M16 and said, “Take the gun and drop it in the sand and jump on it.” And I did. And after about a minute, it misfired. And then they gave me an AK Russian one, they’re semi-automatic. And they did the same thing, and it kept firing.

But I could tell you that I couldn’t hit anything with the AK-47, and I could hit something with it. I’m not a very good shot. And then they were daring me to drive their T-72. And they said, you’ll never be able to drive it.

But it had levers like—my grandfather after World War II bought a 1946, I don’t know what they call it, a D1 or D2 Cat, and we used it, and I used to screw around with it I was a kid. But then I rode in an Abrams for, I don’t know, half an hour and believe me, I could not believe the difference. It was like a Cadillac.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Census Battle: How This Lawsuit Could Change Political Power in Congress

A federal lawsuit could be decided in early 2026 to require the Census Bureau to only count people rather than use statistical sampling—a move that could determine who controls Congress.

The 2020 Census overcounted the population of several Democrat-leaning states and undercounted the population of several Republican-leaning states.

While the agency admitted this was an error, plaintiffs in the case of University of South Florida College Republicans et al. v. Lutnick allege that its method of sampling led to the inaccuracies in the Census—and, ultimately, to the wrong apportionment of seats in Congress.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was named as the defendant in the case, as the Census Bureau is part of his agency.

America First Legal is representing the plaintiffs in the case, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. has also intervened as a plaintiff.

“When the federal government manipulates census data, it manipulates political power,” said Gene Hamilton, president of America First Legal, in a public statement. “This case is about stopping illegal methods that undermine equal representation and ensuring the next Census complies with the Constitution.”

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have cited the Census inaccuracies to make the case for mid-decade redistricting. Trump said on Truth Social in November: “Democrats are trying to steal our seats everywhere, and we’re not going to let this happen!”

His post continued, “This all began with the Rigged Census. We must keep the Majority at all costs. Republicans must fight back!”

In 2024, the Census Bureau released the 2020 Census Post-Enumeration Survey, showing population overcounts in Democrat-leaning states such as New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Delaware, Minnesota, while finding undercounts in Republican-leaning states such as Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

Notably, the population for the blue state of Illinois was undercounted, while the red states of Utah and Ohio were overcounted.

A press release by the plaintiffs called this a “landmark case” and said the matter would be decided in early 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

The plaintiffs on Dec. 23 also asked for summary judgement in the case—for the court to rule in their favor without a trial.

They contend that the 2020 Census undercounted Florida’s state population by 3.8 percent, added fictitious persons to the count, and diluted lawful representation.

Meanwhile, the intervenor defendants have asked for the case to be dismissed.

In their Christmas Eve motion to dismiss the lawsuit, lawyers for the intervenor defendants argued: “Plaintiffs fail to allege facts supporting their standing to sue, because their factual allegations combined with judicially noticeable facts leave them without an injury-in-fact that is redressable by relief against the Census Bureau.”

The Alliance of Retired Americans and college students backed by the National Redistricting Foundation have intervened as defendants in the case, represented by the Elias Law Group, run by Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias.

Arguing on behalf of the Commerce Department, attorneys from the Justice Department contend that the plaintiffs lack standing and have failed to demonstrate an injury.

Donalds has argued that he can intervene in the case because he relies on Census data to make decisions for constituents.

Neither the Census Bureau nor the Commerce Department responded to inquiries about this story.

The Elias Group did not respond to inquiries about the story, nor did the Alliance for Retired Persons.

Donalds’s office did not immediately respond.

The Media’s Revealing Fawning Over Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi may be retiring from Congress, but no one should expect the DNC media to stop treating her as a most glorious political figure. She draws deep bows wherever she goes. She’s always the Best Ever.

On CBS’s “Sunday Morning” in early 2024, substitute host Tracy Smith announced Pelosi “has a new book out, ‘The Art of Power’—an art which Nancy Pelosi is something of a master.”

After Pelosi bizarrely suggested Joe Biden could go on Mount Rushmore, Stahl just had to follow up with flattery: “If there were a Mount Rushmore for Speakers of the House, Nancy Pelosi would certainly be up there, commemorating her 20 years as a commanding leader in Congress.”

In mid-December, USA Today reporter Susan Page put her Pelosi interview on the front page. Page wrote a gushy book in 2022 titled “Madam Speaker,” touting her as a “master legislator, and an indefatigable political warrior.”

Pelosi suggested when (not if) Democrats retake the House next year, they shouldn’t impeach Trump a third time. “We won’t be able to get his signature on things, maybe,” she said of Trump, “but we’ll be able to slow down the terror that he is inflicting on the country.”

Trump is a terrorist. That gets no pushback. She calls his administration “corrupt, incoherent, chaotic, cruel” and his political priorities “sick.”

Then on Dec. 29, the gushy narrator was ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” He introduced it this way: “History maker … As Nancy Pelosi prepares to leave office, we sit down for an exclusive conversation about her groundbreaking path, her confrontations with Donald Trump, and the challenges ahead for Democrats.”

Karl then insisted, “Whether you agree with her or not, there is no real dispute that Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in the history of American politics. … We caught up with her in Georgetown to take a look at her remarkable career and to discuss her advice to Democrats going forward.”

Again, Pelosi was allowed to say wacky things without pushback. “The Republicans in the Congress have abolished the Congress. They just do what the president insists that they do.” They “abolished” Congress? Where are the “independent fact checkers”?

Do we believe that when Pelosi was speaker under Presidents Obama and Biden, she didn’t do what the president wanted? Or were they simply doing her bidding?

Karl spent most of this interview rehashing Pelosi’s narrative on the Jan. 6 riot. He cited “the remarkable footage her daughter Alexandra captured— featured in the 2022 HBO documentary, ‘Pelosi in the House.'” He noted from that afternoon, “Speaker Pelosi pleads with military leaders to send in the National Guard.”

But what about the days before the riot? In June 2024, the House Republicans posted previously unseen video from Pelosi’s daughter where the Speaker blames herself for the lack of National Guard troops: “Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with? … I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more.”

Even as Pelosi retires, ABC and the rest can never wonder out loud why the Democrats, from Pelosi to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, failed to protect the Congress with the National Guard, as they were still reeling from the George Floyd riots and the “defund the police” aftermath on the Left.

The fawning over Pelosi could be Exhibit A in documenting how fervently the elitist media serves the Democratic Party, pushing its narratives and painting its leaders in the brightest hues. Pelosi not just expected but demanded strict partisan discipline from the national media, and they have obeyed.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

4 Things to Expect From the Trump Administration in 2026

After the Trump administration wrapped up its first news-packed year of the president’s second term, the White House will gear up for a year of addressing health care costs and other affordability concerns, saving the Republican majority in Congress, and more.

Here are four things to expect from year two of Trump 47:

1. Saving the Republican House Majority

President Donald Trump is ramping up domestic travel ahead of midterms as he sells voters on his affordability accomplishments.

The party of the president in power historically loses midterms, but Trump is fighting hard to keep the Republican majority.

At the end of 2025, he held two rallies in North Carolina where he pitched his efforts to lower prices for Americans. He is expected to hold many more of such rallies in 2026.

Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, said Trump will be a constant presence on the campaign trail, saying he will “campaign like it’s 2024 again.”

“Typically in the midterms it’s not about who’s sitting at the White House,” Wiles said. “You localize the election, and you keep the federal officials out of it. We’re actually going to turn that on its head and put him on the ballot because so many of those low propensity voters are Trump voters.”

After Republicans’ poor performance in the 2025 off-year elections, deputy chief of staff James Blair said Americans should expect to see the president put a great emphasis on affordability.

“The president is very keyed into what’s going on, and he recognizes, like anybody, that it takes time to do an economic turnaround, but all the fundamentals are there, and I think you’ll see him be very, very focused on prices and cost of living,” Blair told Politico.

Vice President JD Vance is hitting the campaign trail as well, starting with a trip to Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, where he related his own low-income childhood to the affordability concerns plaguing Americans.

In addition to campaigning to win seats, Trump has pressured state legislatures to redistrict in order to create more seats for Republicans. Indiana GOP state senators resisted the push, but other states, like Florida, plan to revisit their Congressional maps in 2026.

2. Nominating a Fed Chair

Trump has said he will likely pick the person to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors early in 2026.

Trump recently told The Wall Street Journal he is favoring selecting either National Economic Council head Kevin Hassett or former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh.

Trump has said he expects the next Fed chair to cut interest rates. On Dec. 17, the president said he will name someone “who believes in lower interest rates by a lot.”

Previously, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the short list also includes Fed Governor Christopher Waller and Fed Vice Chair of Supervision Michelle Bowman.

3. Ramping Up Deportations

The Department of Homeland Security has hired 11,751 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after receiving over 220,000 applications. These agents are expected to ramp up deportations in 2026.

The administration has deported over 600,000 illegal aliens since Trump returned to the White House in January, according to the Department of Homeland Security. An additional 1.9 million have self-deported, but the White House is not satisfied, sources familiar with the situation told The Daily Signal’s Virginia Allen.

“ICE is under major pressure from the White House,” a senior Trump administration official told The Daily Signal, adding, “That’s public information. A bunch of people got transferred and fired … in ICE because they’re not hitting the numbers that they want them to hit.”

The Trump administration is remaining highly focused on deportations headed into 2026 and deportation numbers are expected to grow higher. To this end, a senior Trump administration official says, the media should not be surprised when illegal aliens without a criminal record are also arrested and deported.

The Trump administration “said the ‘worst first,’ not only the worst of the worst,” the senior official noted, adding, “obviously, there’s some other category that’s going to be second and third.”

4. Addressing Health Care Prices

The House and Senate adjourned for the holidays without reaching a consensus on what to do about COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies expiring on Dec. 31. Congress now has until Jan. 30 to pass an appropriations bill before the government shuts down again.

The House is expected to vote on Jan. 5 after Democrats passed a “discharge petition” to force a vote on a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. The House passed Republicans’ health care proposal on Dec. 17, which does not extend ACA subsidies, but the bill is expected to be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Republicans are divided about if, and how, to extend expiring subsidies. Most conservative members have also said they will not vote for a health care deal unless it includes a provision prohibiting Obamacare from continuing funding abortions, an issue which will be a nonstarter for Democrats.

The White House has been letting Congress lead on landing on a health care deal, but if members are unable to come to an agreement, the president will likely have to step in.

So far, he has repeatedly said that he wants to see a plan that puts money in the wallets of Americans, not insurance companies.

“What we do wanna see is the money go to the people, not the insurance companies,” Trump told The Daily Signal.

I asked @POTUS if he will assure Republicans he won't propose or accept a healthcare deal that continues to allow abortion funding under Obamacare.

"We're going to look into it. We're going to look into a lot of things. That's one of that's one of many factors," he told… pic.twitter.com/mjCNpCg8dD
— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) December 12, 2025

Will America Collapse?

While campaigning, President Donald Trump said, “We’re a nation in decline.”

Now that he’s president, the left agrees.

“We are witnessing the collapse and implosion of the American empire,” says Cornel West.

Are the predictors of doom correct? Will America collapse like so many civilizations before us?

If we don’t learn from history, says historian Johan Norberg, that might happen.

“It’s a clash within every civilization on whether they should keep going, be open to innovation and progress, or whether they should retreat and decline,” he says in my new video.

His book, “Peak Human: What We Can Learn from History’s Greatest Civilizations,” looks at the “golden ages” of Ancient Athens, Ancient Rome, Song China, the Abbasid Dynasty in Baghdad, Renaissance Italy, the Dutch Republic and the Anglosphere.

Norberg argues that once people acquire a certain amount of comfort, they say, “‘We want stability, protection, we want someone to take care of us.’ … that’s what leads to stagnation.”

People in power are generally comfortable with that:

“They’ve built their power on a particular system of production, certain ideas, a particular mentality … Whereas trade, innovation, growth, it’s all about change … What sets these golden ages apart is that, for a period of time, they managed to lift themselves above that and give more people more freedoms. That also allowed them to experiment more and come up with better technologies and raise living standards.”

Greece once led the world. Rome, too. Not anymore. Why?

Because people want “safety, stability, protection,” says Norberg. “They slow things down, get that stability, but they also get stagnation and poverty.”

China experienced a golden age during the Song Dynasty.

“They had more freedom than other Chinese dynasties… More openness to new ideas from strange places… (Farmers) were allowed to experiment with new grain, new forms of rice from Vietnam, and to trade with others. They came up with constant innovations. It became a very urbanized society that ushered in incredible experiments with iron, steel, textile, machines.”

The government scrapped laws that had limited what could and couldn’t be sold. They allowed markets to stay open all night (something not allowed before).

“In traditional Chinese society, people had fixed areas where they were allowed to live and where they had to return after having done a day’s work. People did not mingle and meet people from other classes, other professions … Under the Song Dynasty, the walls were torn down … They began to mingle with one another … they could do more business, listen to concerts, go to religious ceremonies. Eventually, Chinese society realized that this is how you make progress. This is how we become wealthier. When more people meet, when more people exchange goods and services and ideas, they prosper.”

But after the Mongols invaded, the Chinese banned ocean voyages and foreign trade. They stifled the experimentation that had made them rich.

“They wanted stability after all this uncertainty and chaos. ‘How do we do that?’ … By regulating everything, telling people to stay in their places … They got stability. They also got 500 years of stagnation, 500 years that turned the richest and greatest civilization on the planet to a desperately poor country.”

If any country is in a golden age today, I would think it’s America, and Norberg agrees.

“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in human history. We have made such remarkable progress when it comes to expanding freedoms, reducing poverty, increasing life expectancy.”

But the American experiment is now 250 years old. Few golden ages last that long. Once affluent, people want stability, and a government that resists change.

“That then undermines the innovation that we need to keep golden ages going,” warns Norberg. “If we want a golden age to keep going, we have to fight for it.”

How?

“Double down on the institutions of liberal democracy, free markets, and unleash new waves of innovation and of progress. There is still time. We can still save this golden age.”

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Somalia’s Values Matter

I recall a saying from my youth that went, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

This comes to mind reading reports of the mind-boggling welfare fraud megascandal that has been exposed in Minnesota.

For perspective on the scope of the scandal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson estimates fraud losses in Minnesota since 2018 could top $9 billion.

We’re talking about fraud in Medicaid, nutrition programs, government-funded housing programs, government programs to assist autistic children, etc.

Beyond tracking down and indicting criminals, there are critically important lessons to be learned here for our country, and we must learn them.

What do we learn about the connection between fraud and big government? What do we learn about fraud, big government and the Democratic Party? What lessons do we learn regarding our immigration policy?

Fraud and big government go hand in hand.

A Government Accountability Office report in July notes over $300 billion of fraudulent payments in 19 pandemic-relief programs.

Last May, CBS’ “60 Minutes” reported on vast fraud in federal spending programs. Per estimates of a woman who spent “a decade” at GAO, “I believe the government is losing between $550 billion and about $750 billion a year” in fraud.

What’s the connection to the Democratic Party? Simple. Democrats are the party of big government. Every proposal coming out of the Democratic Party involves more government. More government programs, which means more fraud.

And, of course, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at the helm of his state while all this was happening, was the Democrat nominee in 2024 to be our vice president. He was introduced by Kamala Harris as her running mate, saying he’s “the kind of vice president that America needs.”

The Cato Institute issues a biannual Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors, grading all 50 governors on tax and spending policies. In the last report in 2024, number 50 out of 50 governors was Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, scoring 19 points out of a possible 100.

What is the lesson regarding immigration?

The Somali community in Minnesota disproportionately participated in this widespread fraud.

Interviewing Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, CBS’ “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan noted that in COVID-19 fraud exceeding a billion dollars, “of 87 charged all but eight are of Somali descent.”

Omar herself is Somali and a member of the far-left “squad” in Congress.

Noting the disproportionate Somali presence in the scandal, President Donald Trump wrote on social media, “Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER.”

Those calling Trump a racist miss the point.

Consider the Corruption Perception Index published annually by Transparency International, an organization working to eliminate corruption around the globe.

Out of 180 countries measured in the Transparency International Index, Somalia is the second most corrupt country in the world.

Worth noting is the strong inverse relation of corruption with economic freedom. The most economically free countries—smaller government, less intrusive regulation, strong consistent rule of law—are also the least corrupt.

In the annual Fraser Institute Economic Freedom of the World Report, out of 165 countries measured and ranked in economic freedom, Somalia ranks 101.

The point is that the Somalis so prominent in the massive fraud in Minnesota come from a country with values and reality the total antithesis of what our country is about. It is a country with little economic freedom and widespread corruption.

If Somalis chose to come here to be free and responsible citizens, good for them and good for us. But it appears many have brought the destructive values of their home country with them. They should be screened.

Rep. Omar has been a perverse megaphone for anti-American sentiment since she arrived in Congress.

So, cut fraud by cutting back the scope of government, and shut our borders to those who do not aspire to our values of personal responsibility and freedom.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Trump Says He’s Pulling National Guard From Chicago, LA, and Portland

WASHINGTON, Dec 31 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his administration was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, but he added in his social media post that federal forces will “come back” if crime rates go up.

Local leaders in those cities and Democrats have said the deployments, which have faced legal challenges, were unnecessary. They have accused the Trump administration of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence at mostly peaceful protests to justify sending in troops.

Trump, a Republican, has said troop deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Portland were necessary to fight crime and protect federal property and personnel from protesters.

“We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact,” Trump wrote.

“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!”

Trump started deploying troops in June amid protests against his hardline immigration policies including efforts to ramp up deportations. He also deployed troops to Washington and took control of local police in response to what he said was rampant crime using his unique authority as president over the U.S. capital.

Military officials have been winding down and scaling back the deployments in recent months as litigation has left them in limbo.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Ryan Patrick Jones; editing by Diane Craft)

Assisted Suicide Comes to the American Heartland

A cold winter is well underway in the American Midwest, and the ice is taking many forms. The weather has been dark and forbidding, but the other frozen form is in the shape of assisted suicide.

On Dec. 12, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, signed into law a bill that makes his state the 13th jurisdiction in the nation (assisted suicide is already lawful in 11 other states and the District of Columbia) to permit physician-assisted suicide, euphemistically referred to as medical aid in dying, or MAID.

As a nation with a concentration of liberal public policies on its West and East coasts, the United States now has its first heartland state to embrace a practice that is spreading around the world.

Coincidence or not, the assisted suicide debate is taking place against a background of soaring health care costs and governments operating at historically high deficits.

Illinois is not an exception to the general trend, with a projected budget deficit of $267 million in 2026 that could rise as high as $2 billion in fiscal year 2027. Much of the deficit is attributed to spiking pension costs for retirees.

Illinois is in the second-lowest tier for total fertility among the states, hovering in the range of 1.50 to 1.59 children per woman. Its law imposes no limits of substance on abortion. The pressure under the new MAID law to choose death near the end of life is likely to be as intense there as it has proved to be everywhere else assisted suicide has been legalized.

Meanwhile, across the pond, the grueling, yearlong debate in the British Parliament grinds on.

There, resistance from disability groups and medical institutions has remained consistent with the rare result that, to date, the House of Lords has proved itself capable of mounting serious opposition to an aid-in-dying bill that has lost altitude at each stage of what was expected to be a smooth path to passage.

The leading figure in advocacy for the revolutionary bill is Lord Charles Leslie Falconer, a 74-year-old member of the Labour Party who has served in a variety of high positions in the British government, most notably as lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007.

The legislation formally known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) bill is pending in what is called the Committee Stage of the extended process. During this stage, bills are scrutinized line by line, and lords may offer amendments as they see fit.

As of Dec. 19, the fourth day of reviews and votes on the amendments, peers had introduced more than 1,000 amendments to the bill, leading to the prospect that the traditionally required debates and votes on the amendments would forestall any vote on final passage. If that occurs, the clock would run out on the bill in this session of Parliament and it would be defeated.

The situation has been likened to a filibuster, and it has prompted some members of the lords who oppose the bill to urge that a final vote be allowed to occur out of concern that a tactical defeat of the bill by the unelected House of Lords would put that body at risk of severe reform or even abolition.

However, the amendments being offered concern serious topics that were left unaddressed when the House of Commons passed the bill last June by the relatively narrow margin of 314 to 291.

One persistent theme is the long record of assisted suicide bills threatening the lives of the poor, the disabled, and other vulnerable members of society.

On Dec. 19, Baroness Sue Gray, former chief of staff to the current and very liberal Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, criticized the bill sharply as a menace to the vulnerable, saying there was “nothing in the Bill that would stop a person accessing an assisted death for reasons that were nothing to do with their illness but simply because they had been too worn down for too long by problems that could have been solved with the right care, attention and funding.” She cited the homeless as at particular risk, with their numbers rising across the United Kingdom.

Supporters of the assisted suicide measure broadly contend that 90% or more of the amendments being discussed are not substantive and many are designed merely to deter movement through the Committee Stage.

At this point, the amendments’ substance is debated but no individual votes are held on them.

Supporting groups like Humanists UK and My Death, My Decision are striving to convert the arguments from the content of the bill to the procedures involved in reaching a final vote. The House of Lords has already scheduled up to 10 Friday debates on the bill in 2026, which will carry the fight to the threshold of the March deadline for passage or expiration.

Opponents of assisted suicide seem as determined as ever to defeat the bill, and they have garnered support from an array of forces that is difficult to stereotype—even as assisted suicide proponents deplore the participation of many in the debate, including U.K. religious leaders.

Care, Not Killing is an alliance of individuals and groups that champion the disabled and human rights, including health care providers and faith-based organizations. It has focused on research- and policy-based arguments against the assisted suicide bill, pointing to the evolution of practices in other countries where assisted suicide and euthanasia have advanced.

It states, “The pressure people will feel to end their lives if assisted suicide or euthanasia is legalized will be greatly accentuated at this time of economic recession with families and health budgets under pressure. Elder abuse and neglect by families, carers and institutions are real and dangerous and this is why strong laws are necessary.”

Lord David Alton, a lifelong advocate for the right to life of the unborn (an issue where further liberalization of the law is also being pursued), cites a particularly stark example of the pressure and coercion that can be imposed on certain patients.

He quotes the late Baroness Warnock’s statement that “if you’re demented, you’re wasting people’s lives—your family’s lives—and you’re wasting the resources of the National Health Service. … Maybe it has to come down to saying: ‘Okay, they can stay alive, but the family will have to pay for it.’ Otherwise, it will be an awful drain on public resources.”

Baroness Warnock, who passed away in 2019, gained worldwide fame over her involvement in establishing the British policy on embryo research that created the 14-day rule, a construct under which new human life could be subjected to experimentation and destruction up to two weeks after fertilization.

Other key amendments to be debated and voted on in the House of Lords deal with vital matters like the scope of eligibility for assisted suicide, how and when the subject may be broached with patients who have not raised it, the value of the six-month-left-to-live rule, the conscience rights of objecting health care personnel and institutions, and other matters.

For example, the bill as introduced defines, in line with similar measures around the globe, a terminal illness as a patient that “(a) has been diagnosed by a registered medical practitioner as having an inevitably progressive condition which cannot be reversed by treatment (‘a terminal illness’); and (b) as a consequence of that terminal illness, is reasonably expected to die within six months.”

Clauses like this are widely cited but deserve far deeper scrutiny. Examples of patients outliving their diagnosis are numerous, and there is the related question of how a given diagnosis may inhibit treatments that may be expensive or that come into being during this “reasonable” six-month interval.

A cursory look at new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2025 lists eight with application for cancer treatment out of 41 total approvals year to date.

What was reasonable as the year began regarding any particular condition may be obsolete as the year ends. Medical science is providing increased hope and increased options at an unprecedented rate.

Assisted suicide ends options and ignores the fact that (and here the contribution of artificial intelligence analysis of mass amounts of data may prove invaluable) we live in an age of exploding medical possibilities (in tandem with challenges regarding cost and other factors that will challenge us to reach consensus).

The long and short of it is that assisted suicide represents science and ethics gone off the rails.

The tendency of these laws to grow in scope, to expand the idea of terminal conditions, or abandon them altogether, continues.

Canada is a mere 16 months away from potentially adding mental illness as a criterion for eligibility for assisted suicide. Data on suicide and mental illnesses in Western nations shows a negative trend that is worrisome even in the absence of a debate over assisted suicide as a solution.

The events in Illinois, and another domino about to fall in New York state, show how quickly protections for life can crumble. Today there truly is heartbreak in the heartland.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Originally published by The Washington Stand

What’s in Store for Mamdani’s ‘New Era’ in New York

When Jan. 1 rolls around, New York City will have its first self-avowed socialist mayor. As a New York resident and a keen observer of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s rise to power, I thought it worthwhile to write what I expect of him in the new year.

A lot is riding on Mamdani’s success for the Left. He’ been touted as the way of the future for the Democratic Party. He’s the Barack Obama for a new generation, just as the old Obama becomes passe.

Whereas Obama carefully laid the groundwork for the radical turn in American government and institutions leading up to the Great Awokening of 2020, my feeling is that Mamdani will be more open and aggressive in the way he promotes his agenda.

Obama insisted he was neither a Muslim nor a socialist. His replacement proudly says he’s both and is hardly concerned about being lumped in with some seriously radical folks. He wants to show everyone that real socialism is going to be tried this time, and it will work great when the cameras are rolling.

While Mamdani can’t run for president, given that he wasn’t born an American citizen, he will almost certainly have a huge amount of influence in state and national politics. The media will amplify his every action, downplay his setbacks, and tout every policy as a remarkable and incredible success.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was already browbeaten into endorsing him, will have a difficult time refusing Mamdani’s demands. Any attempt by New York state leaders to constrain his ability to act will likely be treated as a betrayal of the energized voters who put him in office.

What will the Zohran Mamdani era mean for Democrats?

Nothing good ever came from socialism—and I suspect Americans will quickly sour on his misguided ideas.

? @NEWSMAX pic.twitter.com/C8wolpb6Yn
— Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) December 31, 2025

Universal childcare, free buses, and even the government-run grocery stores he promised will need significant funding and approval from the state government. Will Democrats who effectively run the state be able to tell him “no” when the money runs out or isn’t there to begin with?

And if at any point the city, state, or federal government refuses to foist over money to pay for his numerous programs, he’ll have a built-in excuse for why they failed and enemies to pin the blame on when they do.

Though I’d almost certainly bet on Mamdani’s project ultimately failing in New York, let’s not set the bar too low here. This is perhaps in part why President Donald Trump held his fire when Mamdani came to visit the White House. It never helps to be hysterical.

The expectation should be that things will work out. After all, New York is one of the great cities of the world, the heart of American finance, and has proven to be quite functional when managed successfully.

You can be sure that if the city doesn’t immediately turn into a real life “Escape from New York” the day Mamdani enters office it will be spun as proof that his critics were wrong. That shouldn’t be the standard.

If Mamdani’s socialist ideas are so great and can make an unaffordable blue city a suddenly affordable socialist paradise, his standard for success shouldn’t just be modern Venezuela with worse weather.

I suspect that Mamdani won’t be pleased just to keep the free buses running on time. His 400-person transition team is so filled with loonies that you could post a list of the names on a wall, throw a dart at it, and expect to find someone who demands the police be abolished on a committee for safety, a transgender rabbi working on a committee for health, or a literal career criminal among a crowd of Democratic Socialists of America organizers, radical academics, and staffers of the previous disastrous regime of former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The best thing that could be said about Mamdani’s transition team is that perhaps he is simply awarding campaign loyalists and will simply jettison them later when he doesn’t need them. More likely, he will be using the New York government apparatus as a training ground for his activist army.

But there are other signs that Mamdani really means to carry through with the far-left’s war against human nature.

In early December, Mamdani announced that he will stop shutting down homeless encampments in the city. In 2022, the soon-to-be former Mayor Eric Adams wisely decided to shut down the homeless encampments that were popping up in the city and provided opportunities for those on the street to enter homeless shelters.

I hesitate to elevate this move the level of “wisdom.” It was simply common sense. Pockets of homeless people, where drug use was rampant, were popping up through the city.

Mamdani apparently saw that and thought that he’d rather turn New York into San Francisco, where open air drug markets and tent cities are the norm.

This doesn’t seem like a person who will suddenly tack to the center and work on bringing high quality, competent governance to the city. That would be the shrewd thing to do. Promise socialism but make sure it works by not following through and pretending it did.

That outcome seems unlikely. I’d expect Mamdani to use every tool at his disposal to ensure that the perception is that he’s ushering in an irresistible tide of socialism in America.

He will do television appearances, he’ll make slick social media posts about how he’s stopping Trump, and he’ll do his part to ensure that the Democratic Party’s socialist faction emerges triumphant in 2028.

He will also push through with his most high-profile programs and make a grand show demonstrating that they “work” as the city slowly deteriorates. That’s what I predict is in store for the Big Apple’s new mayor.

The city is in for some interesting times.

Watchdog: 4 Biggest Ethics Violators of 2025

An indicted member of Congress topped one watchdog’s list of top ethics violators of 2025 that also includes nonprofits and the mayor of the nation’s capital.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a conservative-leaning watchdog group, is closing out the year with a short list based on numerous ethics complaints against individuals and groups.

Here are the four who made the ethics group’s dishonor roll for 2025.

1. Cherfilus-McCormick Indicted

FACT filed a complaint against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., in early 2025 with the Office of Congressional Conduct alleging her family-owned company, Trinity Healthcare Services, got $5.8 million in overpayments from the state of Florida’s Department of Emergency Services.

Much of that money came through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. So, FACT also referred the matter to the Department of Justice.

The state agency and Trinity reached a settlement to repay the money over a 15-year period.

In November, a federal grand jury indicted Cherfilus-McCormick on 15 counts. Her arraignment was reportedly scheduled for Monday but was rescheduled for Jan. 20.

After the charges, Cherfilus-McCormick asserted, “This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment—and I am innocent.”

“The timing alone is curious and clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues. From day one, I have fully cooperated with every lawful request, and I will continue to do so until this matter is resolved,” Cherfilus-McCormick continued. “I am deeply grateful for the support of my district, and I remain confident that the truth will prevail. I look forward to my day in court. Until then, I will continue fighting for my constituents.”

Cherfilus-McCormick’s office did not respond to inquiries for this story.

2. DC Mayor Goes to Qatar

FACT made a complaint this year about a 2023 trip by Washington D.C. Mayor Murial Bowser to Doha, Qatar.

The FACT complaint alleged that Bowser’s office first mischaracterized the funding source of the trip, as well as costs for hotels, flights, and hospitality. The complaint also said the trip lacked documented public purpose or transparent disclosure. The trip was funded by the Qatar government for a climate conference.

ABC 7 News in Washington first reported that the government of Qatar paid $61,930 for Bowser and four staff members to fly to the Middle East in 2023. Bowser has defended the trip and said she takes trips around the country and the world to help the D.C. economy.

The Justice Department is reportedly investigating the visit, but Bowser is not a target.

Bowser’s office did not respond to an inquiry for this story.

3. Stacey Abrams-Tied Nonprofits

FACT filed several complaints against two nonprofits tied to twice-failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

FACT notes that one of those organizations, the New Georgia Project, shut down, which is “a closure FACT cites as validation of the serious financial concerns raised in its filings,” the group said.

The Daily Signal reached out to the New Georgia Project by the email and phone number listed on the website that still exists. The group’s most recent press release was in September 2024.

The other Abrams-tied group is Fair Fight Action, which still operates. No one from the organization responded to phone and email inquiries.

A spokesperson for Abrams did not immediately respond to email inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story.

FACT alleged the organizations misused their tax-exempt status by blurring the lines between charity and political activism. FACT’s complaints argued that the two organizations engaged in campaign-like activity and political advocacy without proper disclosure.

4. Whitehouse Alleged Conflicts

In February, FACT filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee against Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., that individuals with interests before the Senate paid $7 million to a nonprofit Ocean Conservancy run by Whitehouse’s wife Sandra Whitehouse.

Ocean Conservancy has gained $14 million in government grants since the senator’s wife began working there in 2008, according to FACT.

“The concern is that these contributions came from parties potentially impacted by legislation or oversight, constituting a serious conflict of interest, especially if Whitehouse’s official actions or influence played any role in directing the funding,” FACT says in the ranking.

Whitehouse’s spokeswoman notes that the Senate Ethics Committee reviewed the matter and dismissed the complaint.

“FACT’s dark-money donors can’t be too pleased that the group’s highlight of the year is an erroneous complaint that was long ago dismissed by Senate Ethics,” Whitehouse communications director Meaghan McCabe told The Daily Signal.

California’s Incompetence After Wildfires Woke a Sleeping Giant

In a podcast episode for the upcoming one-year anniversary of the California wildfires, Palisades resident Elaine Culotti lays out the state’s inept response and how the outrage over it is bipartisan.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Contributor Elaine Culotti. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of her videos.

Hi, my name’s Elaine Culotti, also known as the “Lipstick Farmer.”

I am presenting my first podcast for The Daily Signal. The subject of the podcast today is the Pacific Palisades’ celebration of the one year anniversary of the fires. Now, I’m not calling them a celebration, but some people are. We are about to be descended upon here in the Pacific Palisades and in California on Jan. 7 by media from all across America.

I’ve had multiple phone calls from different media outlets asking if I had a place where they could post up and where they could spread the news about what’s happened and what has not happened in the Pacific Palisades. I’m here to tell you, not enough has happened. I’d like to just kind of give everyone a rundown so you know what to expect, and then I’d like to give you my take on what I think this means for California going forward.

So as it sits, the Pacific Palisades has lost about 7,000 structures, of which about 180-ish permits have been issued. There’ll probably be a mad push out to get some more so that those numbers look better, but at the end of the day, it’s not going to work. We also have Altadena, which has a little bit more permits, but it’s also a bigger area.

And in addition to that, the houses are smaller and they are easier to permit than the more complex houses on the hillsides by the ocean. Malibu, unfortunately, is so far behind, and this is a product of being on the water and not having any sewage that has been there, historically.

Instead, it’s been septic and septic tanks, they rot, and then once they’re gone, it’s difficult to put them back because the rules and the laws have changed, and you have to have sewage and there is none in Malibu.

So, with that, it looks like [Pacific Coast Highway] is not going to be rebuilt anytime in the future. What does this mean? Well, sadly, to me, it means that it’s going to take a minute for my town and our community to come back as a community, and this should not be the case. And I know that, and I think that other people are starting to realize it too.

The only thing I can say about all of this is that there is somewhere in there a blessing. Number one, we are finally, for the first time, I think in California, truly aware of the mismanagement of the resources in the state. No one is going to argue with you that this has been handled well, and anyone that digs into it on any level can see that there is mass dilapidation, mass broken infrastructure from decades prior to the fires.

Anybody that looks into it with even a little bit of a lens can see that we did no fire mitigation, no brush clearance. We didn’t clean our forests. We did not repair our reservoirs, and we did not take care of our fire department.

So, a plethora of reasons caused the fires, but the primary, the real primary—as much as people want to blame it on a fire on a hillside—was that Sacramento has strip mined the state of California and left nothing for us to take care of our towns. And that is not lost on me.

I am traveling the state, and I’m talking to a lot of town and city leaders, and what I’m finding is that this is not synonymous only with the fire zones. What I’m finding, actually, is everywhere from Northern California as far as Humboldt County, all the way down to Chula Vista and the border, mayors and towns are struggling to have Sacramento participate in any way that is meaningful in their needs, lifestyle and promises that they have made when they’ve stepped into office.

When, and if you do come to the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, or if you are watching the news or you are seeing what’s happening, remember this podcast and remember that these are real people that lost everything and have absolutely no one to turn to for help.

Nothing has happened. Our mayor, while I know a lot of people want to blame her, has four million people that she needs to take care of in Los Angeles. And our governor is absolutely nowhere to be seen. I have not seen him in the Pacific Palisades since a few days after the fires. He may have come back by dark of night, but he certainly hasn’t come back to help or talk to anybody.

We have been absolutely left to fend for ourselves, and what I would like to say on that is, well, if that is the case, then we should do that. We should fend for ourselves. And what does that mean? Should we take back our Pacific Palisades from Los Angeles and from the state?

Should we go around to all of the cities and see if we can’t talk to each member of these cities and create a coalition to get rid of Sacramento’s quagmire and money stealing game that they do every single day?

What should we do about it? Do we want to be in a society where the government that we hire and employ with our taxpayer dollars is working against us? Is that what we planned on when we elected these officials? And now, as you can see, the other issue is that there are a lot of people that are looking for the money.

And I hope by Jan. 7 that they’re going to figure out what happened to the $100 million that was raised at a musical event by people that lost everything—for people that lost everything. That money has also not been recovered. They haven’t recovered the $24 billion in homeless money, and we don’t have an accounting for it.

They haven’t recovered what happened to the Operation Homekey money. I know they arrested a couple of people in Brentwood, but none of us have heard. Where’s the money? Where did the money go? And I’m sure now, after looking into the COVID funds that have been missing in other states, they are going to turn to California and find that we have the same problem.

The best I can say about the fires in the Palisades is that we now have this golden opportunity. We are on the precipice. We have a moment in time where we can quote, unquote, flip our state. And I don’t mean make it a red state. I mean get rid of what is ruining our state. Get rid of it. Stop voting for people that are self-serving and trying to get reelected.

I think we have to all come together, and this is going to include people on the Left and people on the right. One of the things I’ve discovered about being a Palisadian is that we’re not a divided group. I’ve talked to so many people in the Pacific Palisades, some deep blue Democrats. I’m not saying that they’re not.

There are lots of deep blue Democrats. I used to be one, but that’s not what it’s about. What I mean, we’re not divided, we all want the same things. We want fiscal responsibility in Sacramento. I can tell you that. There’s no question about it, and we want safety in our streets.

We don’t want to be fighting, and crime, and homelessness, and stores that are closing, and people that are driving through our town stealing that don’t belong there and not being able to do anything about it.

We don’t want that. And the other thing we want more than anything is economic development. We want true economic development, but economic development in our towns with the people that live in our towns. We don’t want economic development from the outside, groups that are coming in and taking advantage, and that’s what we’re getting. Because Sacramento is so oppressive with its rules and its new legislation and its crazy bills that it passes.

It doesn’t consider anybody in a place like the Palisades. It doesn’t consider anybody in Malibu, or Altadena, but it also doesn’t consider even downtown. At the end of the day, they pass these bills because they owe favors to people, I guess, and they’re looking to get those favors repaid for.

How do you go about that? Well, you create an oppressive bill and you take the power away from the people in the town that live there, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re doing it with SB 79. They did it with Proposition 50, they did it with the transit districts. I could go on and on. Heck, they even did it with Prop 36, which was passed overwhelmingly, the crime bill.

They haven’t funded it. I look forward to talking to you on this podcast as we move forward, and I look forward to seeing you on Jan. 7, if you make it to the Pacific Palisades. If you don’t, and you watch a lot of podcasts about the Pacific Palisades, just remember one really good thing: Everything burned down and you can see everything that they didn’t do.

The emperor truly has no clothes.

New Report Confirms Trump Kicked Epstein Out of Mar-A-Lago After He Pressured Young Employee for Sex

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / Katrina Trinko / David Azerrad / Al Perrotta / Bradley Devlin / Daily Signal Staff / Melissa Ford Maldonado / Nicole Silverio / Fred Lucas / Madison Marino Doan / Victor Davis Hanson / Fred Lucas / Tim Graham / Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell / John Stossel / Star Parker / Kanishka Singh / Chuck Donovan / Jarrett Stepman / Fred Lucas / Elaine Culotti / Nicole Silverio / December 31, 2025

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—A new report confirmed on Wednesday that President Donald Trump cut ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he pressured a young employee at Mar-a-Lago for sex in 2003.

Trump said in July that he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in the early 2000s because he “stole” spa staffers, while other reports suggested that Epstein was removed for making advances toward another member’s teenage daughter.

A report by The Wall Street Journal claimed that Trump permanently removed Epstein from the premises after an 18-year-old beautician told her managers that Epstein had made sexual advances toward her.

The beautician told the managers that Epstein had made advances during a personal house call, which prompted one of them to fax Trump about the allegations and urged him to ban Epstein, according to The WSJ. Trump said it was a good letter and said that Epstein should be removed.

Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t just a frequent visitor to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The club was also sending spa employees—usually young women—to Epstein’s nearby mansion for massages, manicures and other spa services, according to former… pic.twitter.com/6Aj3TW2LYf
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 31, 2025

Former employees also said that the allegations were also reported to the human resources teams, but not to the police, according to The WSJ.

The Palm Beach police began investigating Epstein two years later, when a parent reported that Epstein molested a 14-year-old from a local high school. Authorities arrested Epstein in 2006 and charged him with soliciting prostitution.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The WSJ that Trump kicked Epstein out for being a “creep.”

“No matter how many times this story is told and retold, the truth remains: President Trump did nothing wrong and he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar a Lago for being a creep,” Leavitt said.

Employees sent on house calls, including the 18-year-old beautician, were typically licensed by state board of cosmetology or massage therapy, according to The WSJ.

Another former Mar-a-Lago employee, Virginia Giuffre, left to go work for Epstein when she was 16 years old. She alleged that Epstein’s former business partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, recruited her to perform sex acts. Giuffre died by suicide in April.

Four other Mar-a-Lago employees were listed in Epstein’s address book, which was obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2009, according to The WSJ.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) was in the process of releasing documents related to Epstein to comply with The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed into law in November. The agency said some of the files contain “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Trump that were submitted before the 2020 presidential election.

In a 2020 email, a federal prosecutor claimed Trump “traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported,” citing at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996. The documents showed that Mar-a-Lago was subpoenaed in 2021 as part of the case against Maxwell.

Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in August that Trump had always been a “gentleman in all respects” and never committed any illegal wrongdoing. Several of Epstein’s victims told NBC News in September that they never witnessed or heard of Trump doing anything wrong.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Oversight Committee Calls Walz to Testify on Suspected Minnesota Fraud

THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. House Oversight Committee called on Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to testify regarding alleged fraud throughout the state.

Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., called on Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to testify at a hearing scheduled for Feb. 10.

“American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money,” Comer said.

“Congress has a duty to conduct rigorous oversight of this heist and enact stronger safeguards to prevent fraud in taxpayer-funded programs, as well as strong sanctions to hold offenders accountable.”

Fraud allegations first surfaced in November when reports stated millions of taxpayers’ dollars were stolen from the state’s welfare system and sent to a Somali-based terror group.

The allegations intensified last week when independent journalist Nick Shirley posted a video that claimed to reveal $110 million in fraud at Minnesota child care centers.

The committee will also convene a hearing Jan. 7 with Minnesota Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick, Republicans in the state House of Representatives.

Comer said these state lawmakers issued warnings about the alleged fraud in Minnesota but were ignored by the Walz administration.

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs,” Comer said.

“American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that it has frozen the sending of taxpayer dollars to Minnesota day care centers. The department sends $185 million each year to child care centers in Minnesota.

“This misconduct cannot be swept aside, and Congress will not stop until taxpayers get the answers and accountability they deserve,” said Comer.

Originally published by The Center Square.

Daily Signal Welcomes Entrepreneur Elaine Culotti as California Columnist

Entrepreneur and reality TV personality Elaine Culotti is joining The Daily Signal as a California columnist, bringing her business expertise and unique perspective on the Golden State to our growing audience.

Culotti, who starred in the Discovery+ reality series “Undercover Billionaire,” is a successful California real estate developer, interior designer, and farm-to-table farmer who founded the House of Rock design showcase in Santa Monica and owns the 40-acre Big Z Ranch in Fallbrook.

In her role at The Daily Signal, Culotti will provide commentary on California politics, culture, and business, with particular attention to policies affecting the state’s nearly 40 million residents.

Her columns and videos will complement The Daily Signal’s coverage of California and our state-based expansion. In 2025, The Daily Signal added state correspondents Joe Thomas in Virginia and Rebecca Downs in Ohio, and we are currently seeking reporters to cover California and Georgia in 2026. (Click here for more information and instructions for applying.)

Culotti brings a fresh perspective as an entrepreneur at a time when the Golden State faces big challenges. With regular updates via direct-to-camera videos, she will share her firsthand experiences and unique insights on the policies affecting everyday Californians.

Her first video, released today, examines the destructive Palisades Fire, which began in January 2025 in Los Angeles County.

“The C Team is running the show.”

Los Angeles, California | This Palisades’ resident, who was forced to evacuate his home, has this message for Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass.@TheElizMitchell pic.twitter.com/sigxvGdiDE
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) January 12, 2025

Culotti’s career began with importing antiques and architectural elements before opening her own design firm and retail business. She gained recognition for the iconic House of Rock in Santa Monica, which she transformed into a pop-up designer showcase and luxury event space.

In the reality TV show “Undercover Billionaire,” Culotti took on the challenge of building a million-dollar business in 90 days with just $100. She was inspired by her own mother’s story, an 18-year-old orphan who had only $100 at age 18.

How did @ElaineCulotti become a mega-successful construction tycoon? She isn't afraid to ask for what she wants!?

Tune in NOW to watch a new episode of #UndercoverBillionaire on @Discovery, and streaming on @discoveryplus. Download and subscribe: https://t.co/rcnbSde4SO pic.twitter.com/m2aCY0NMVg
— Discovery (@Discovery) May 12, 2021

Culotti grew up as a military brat, traveling throughout Europe with her English-born mother and Irish-American father. She attributes her sense of style to the time she spent in German castles, English farmhouses, and the towns of Renaissance Italy.

Her family’s experience gave Culotti an appreciation for the American dream. In recent months, she’s shared her optimistic outlook for California on popular shows like “The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe” and “The Adam Carolla Show.”

At her Big Z Ranch, Culotti grows everything from palm trees to fruits and vegetables and works directly with consumers to bypass traditional distribution channels. She is passionate about supporting American farmers and champions the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Her columns and videos will appear regularly on The Daily Signal’s website and social media channels. You can follow her on social media platforms Instagram, X, and Facebook.

Mamdani Takes Over New York, Property Owners Take Cover

New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to move into public housing, New York City’s Gracie Mansion Thursday, when he assumes power on New Year’s Day. This is good for him and his wife, Rama Duwaji, as he is about to make owning private property in the Big Apple a riskier proposition.

Mamdani’s flagship housing policy has been to completely freeze rents on all rent-stabilized housing, which already limits how much landlords can raise rents.

Other aspects of his designs on private property have been taking shape for some time. While it looks like he may not have his commissars expropriate landlords by force, he will use regulation to achieve the same outcome.

Three weeks after being elected, Mamdani appointed Cea Weaver to his housing transition committee. An organizer, Weaver works for Housing Justice for All, a left-leaning organization also known as the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance. She also heads the New York State Tenant Bloc.

“Tenants are half the state and a majority in every major city. United, we have the power to reclaim our homes from the stranglehold of the real estate industry,” she said when she founded the bloc earlier this year.

Two months ago, Weaver wrote an essay calling for “policy interventions” to solve “New York’s housing crisis,” which she characterized as “sky-high rents, extraordinary waitlists for affordable housing, and low-quality housing stock.”

Weaver made a good point when she wrote that the city’s housing policies “are defined by acute competition” between two Goliaths. One is “a robust tenant movement that has secured the strongest rent stabilization laws and public-housing tools in the United States,” and the other is “the country’s most powerful real estate lobby, accustomed to shaping our city in its image.”

New York City is indeed known by the most famed skyline in the world, and by its strong-willed real estate developers (one of whom sits in the White House), but also for an aggressive, Marxist tenant movement, which has pushed for rent-control laws that have ironically given Gotham rents that are as high as the city’s skyscrapers.

How do you resolve this tension? Weaver wants to do it by putting regulations and taxes on steroids; then, when landlords cry “no mas” and are “no longer interested in ownership,” the city will step in, buy out their properties, and presto, Gotham becomes the city’s biggest landlord. What’s not to like?

This is how it works: Weaver recognized that the rent freeze could have adverse consequences. She’s not dumb.

“It is true that a rent freeze, without additional intervention, risks deepening the crises within the market,” she wrote in her essay. “Owners of rent-stabilized buildings may choose not to invest in their properties.” That would make an already deteriorating housing stock worse, and Mayor Mamdani would get the blame.

Effective code-enforcement programs would help, and make Mamdani appear to care, especially with the help of a sympathetic media.

“But investment in enforcement is not in itself enough,” Weaver wrote. The city, as the New York Post aptly put it in an editorial, can then pass “laws that cause real-estate values to collapse.”

In Weaver’s world, the city’s “lack of a profit motive” is actually an advantage, not a hindrance to making decisions that make economic sense. Mamdani could then combine that ability to ignore profit and loss with the city’s awesome “taxing power,” and have the Big Apple “intervene” and “acquire rent stabilized housing as a market actor.”

“With its multibillion-dollar capital budget, the city has the capacity to act as a non-speculative market actor: purchasing buildings where the landlord is no longer interested in ownership,” she wrote.

But first, you must pass laws that crush people who own property, precipitate a housing crisis, have prices plunge, and then force these property owners to sell to Big Brother.

“We need to combine the power to enforce housing standards and the power to finance and acquire rental housing—two capacities the city already has,” Weaver wrote.

Of course, none of this will touch the truly rich. Just as Trump decamped to Florida and resides in the District of Columbia, the rich can (and will) abandon New York City. Even if they stay, the city will never buy the buildings where they live.

No, it will be middle-class property owners who will be squeezed until they can no longer make ends meet, and have to sell to the city at bottom prices.

Add to this that part of Mamdani’s housing plan is already to have the city construct 200,000 new, “publicly-subsidized, affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes” over the next 10 years.

How will he pay for it? Tax and spend, of course.

“Zohran will allocate $70 billion new capital dollars in the city’s Ten-Year Capital Plan to create new affordable housing, raised on the municipal bond market. This is on top of the about $30 billion the city is already planning to spend,” says the plan. Crush owners with regulation and citizens with taxes.

The history of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, etc., tells you that governments make for really bad owners, precisely because they lack the profit motive. Block after block of ugly, decaying buildings was always the legacy of communism.

This means that we might all want to visit Gotham soon if we want to catch one last glimpse of its great skyline. Mamdani becomes Thursday.

Originally published by the Washington Examiner

7 Significant Legal Matters From 2025 That’ll Have Impacts Far Beyond the New Year

The year has been jam-packed with consequential legal rulings likely to have long-lasting impact on matters such as parental rights and religious liberty.

The Supreme Court—often known for ideological divisions—reached unanimous rulings on two contentious issues.

On other fronts, personal legal cases against President Donald Trump have fallen away, even amid skyrocketing litigation challenging his administration’s policies.

Here’s a look at the biggest legal matters to emerge from 2025.

1. Fate of Anti-Trump Lawfare Cases

The Biden administration’s Justice Department and state prosecutors launched a barrage of investigations and indictments against Trump and allies during the 45th and 47th president’s four years out of office.

In late 2024, the Justice Department dropped special counsel Jack Smith’s case against then-President-elect Trump. Smith had secured grand jury indictments against Trump regarding his challenge to the 2020 election outcome. A federal court in Florida had already dismissed the case accusing Trump of mishandling classified information.

Almost a year into the second term, in late November, Georgia Judge Scott McAfee agreed to dismiss a racketeering conspiracy case against Trump and various Trump allies from the challenge to the 2020 election.

“His criminal exposure is effectively over,” Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, told The Daily Signal. “That was a big victory for Trump personally.”

Democrat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump in the conspiracy case. After Willis was disqualified from handling the case, it passed to Peter Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, who asked the judge to dismiss the case.

In August, a New York appeals court tossed out a $500 million civil fraud judgment against Trump. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, previously won a judgment against Trump, alleging that he exaggerated the value of his property.

The appeals panel determined the lower court judgment was “excessive,” but narrowly still found that Trump exaggerated his wealth.

One case remains live: Trump’s appeal of a 2024 criminal conviction emerging from the alleged hush money to former porn star Stormy Daniels. New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an “unconditional discharge,” meaning no jail time or fine. However, Trump has appealed the guilty verdict to clear his name.

2. Loss for Trans Agenda for Minors

In June, the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, upheld state bans on sex changes for minors in United States v. Skrmetti.

The court determined that Tennessee—one of about 20 states that have similar bans—did not violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, noting the case “carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates.” He said the court’s purview was only to decide if the Tennessee law violates the U.S. Constitution and “we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process.”

3. Opting in for Parental Rights

In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the high court ruled 6-3 in favor of Maryland parents who wanted to opt their children out of exposure to school books with explicit LGBTQ+ content.

Parents of various faith backgrounds—Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish—sought a temporary injunction to opt their children out of instruction in Montgomery County Public Schools.

“These cases have something in common. The transgender surgery case [in Tennessee] was very significant because it was about protecting children,” Hans von Spakovsky, former senior legal fellow for The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal. “It’s also protecting kids by upholding parental rights [in the Maryland case] against state and local governments.”

4. Rolling Back Nationwide Injunctions

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision narrowing the scope of nationwide injunctions from federal judges was likely the “most consequential” this year, according to Thomas Berry, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute.

Under the old precedent, “a single district court judge can determine something is unconstitutional and strike it down for the entire nation rather than for plaintiffs right in front of them,” Berry told The Daily Signal.

Such judicial rulings had been weighing down Trump’s agenda.

In June, in the case of Trump v. Casa, the high court scrapped a lower court injunction that blocked Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. This decision, however, only concerned whether a district court can make a rule that affects the entire nation. The justices ruled that universal injunctions likely exceed the authority that Congress has given to federal courts.

The problem is that district judges have gotten creative in circumventing the high court ruling, von Spakovsky said.

“It did no good,” von Spakovsky said. “The federal rule limits national injunctions to class actions. Now judges are just willy nilly certifying class-action lawsuits. The Justice Department needs to challenge a class certification, and the Supreme Court needs to lay out rules for class certification.”

5. State Porn Laws on Age Verification

The Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify viewers are age 18 or older in a 6-3 ruling.

In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, a porn industry trade group sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The ruling could impact at least 19 other states with similar laws. The Texas statute applies to entities that knowingly post material on the internet “more than one-third of which is sexual material harmful to minors.”

The porn industry group had argued that the law created a burden on adults.

6. Unanimous on Establishment Clause

In a rare 9-0 ruling, the high court in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission reversed the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the court, asserted, “There may be hard calls to make,” on religion and state issues, “but this is not one.”

Wisconsin requires employers to contribute to the state’s unemployment compensation program, but it exempts various entities, including religious ones.

Wisconsin’s Labor and Industry Review Commission concluded the Catholic Charities Bureau didn’t qualify for a religious exemption, deeming the work as mostly secular since it did not only serve Catholics.

7. Discrimination and ‘Majority Groups’

In another unanimous ruling, the court determined someone who belongs to a “majority group” can sue for discrimination. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the opinion.

In Marlean Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the high court rejected the “background circumstances” rule recognized by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which restricts protections for members of majority groups.

Jackson wrote that federal civil rights law “draws no distinctions between majority-group plaintiffs and minority-group plaintiffs.”

The Ohio Department of Youth Services hired Ames in 2004 as an executive secretary and promoted her to program administrator a decade later. When Ames applied for another post in 2019, she didn’t get the job. Worse for her, she was demoted to a job paying half the hourly rate.

The department filled both posts with gay employees. Ames sued, alleging the state agency discriminated against her because of her sexual identity.

Trump Should Seize This Opportunity to Correct His Unforced Error

I voted for Donald Trump for president three times, and would again, but his social media post about Rob Reiner after the recent killing of the leftist Hollywood actor-director was unpresidential and, to say the least, uncharitable. But it was an unforced error that Trump will have the opportunity next week to make amends for.

The president should seize that opportunity, because the Dec. 15 Truth Social post also was stooping to the level of Trump’s left-wing extremist critics in being petty and vindictive.

“A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,” Trump wrote. “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented, movie director and comedy star, has passed away … reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”

The president continued: “He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights … .”

Setting aside that non sequitur cause-and-effect assessment of the motive for the killing, Reiner—a self-described “raging liberal”—might not have been the Patient Zero of Trump Derangement Syndrome that besets so many on the Left, but he was certainly a primary vector in its spread.

The following are representative of the innumerable hateful and vitriolic social media posts Reiner—one of whose films, coincidentally, was the 1995 dramedy “The American President”—had made about Trump:

· “The President of the United States is mentally ill.” (April 5, 2020)

· “Time for Donald Trump to exit the White House and enter prison.” (July 1, 2020)

· “Donald Trump is a symbol of hate.” (July 6, 2020)

· “Trump needs to be arrested for sedition, treason, and inciting violence.” (Jan. 6, 2021)

And on Dec. 13, 2017, at the Dubai International Film Festival to promote his then-new docudrama critical of the Iraq War, “Shock and Awe,” Reiner told Variety: “Donald Trump is the single most unqualified human being to ever assume the presidency of the United States. He is mentally unfit.”

Reiner also was one of the foremost promoters of the “Russia, Russia, Russia” collusion hoax. The so-called Committee to Investigate Russia, a left-wing nonprofit he founded in 2017, was intended to hamstring Trump’s presidency through endless investigations.

So, while the impulse to respond in kind is perhaps understandable, Trump would be better served if he would resist the urge to get down in the gutter with his political enemies, who call him every name in the book (“Hitler,” “fascist,” “dictator,” and “racist,” among many others).

But given a chance later in the day to backpedal from his impetuous criticism of Reiner, Trump instead doubled down, telling reporters the Hollywood mogul “became like a deranged person, Trump Derangement Syndrome. So, I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way, shape, or form. I thought he was very bad for the country.”

Interestingly, none of this mutual contempt was even alluded to, much less addressed directly, in a hastily compiled documentary encomium-eulogy, “Rob Reiner: Scenes From a Life,” that aired Dec. 21 on CBS-TV.

Instead, it was Jenna Ellis, a former Trump lawyer, who put this terrible episode in its proper perspective.

“A man and his wife were murdered [Dec. 14]. This is NOT the appropriate response,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death. This is a horrible example from Trump (and surprising, considering the two attempts on his own life) and should be condemned by everyone with any decency.”

Even before Trump’s intemperate remarks, conservative podcaster Jack Posobiec had written: “You won’t see people on the right celebrating the horrific murder of Rob Reiner and his wife. Compare to the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder.”

The latter was a reference to the countless videos on TikTok and elsewhere in which unhinged leftists took unspeakably ghoulish glee in the assassination of the youthful conservative activist at an outdoor rally at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

It would have been more presidential for Trump to react to the slaying of Reiner, 78—along with his wife, Michelle, 70, reportedly at the hands of their son Nick, 32—akin to the way Reiner reacted to Kirk’s killing.

“Horror. An absolute horror,” Reiner said of the Kirk assassination on Piers Morgan’s “Uncensored” podcast on Sept. 26. “I unfortunately saw the video of it, and it’s beyond belief what happened to him, and that should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are. That’s not acceptable.”

Alternatively, Trump could have followed his own presidential precedent with respect to another political opponent.

When informed Sept. 18, 2020, by a reporter about the death of liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the president was properly respectful.

“[Y]ou’re telling me now for the first time,” he said. “She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman. Whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. I’m actually saddened to hear that. I am saddened to hear that.”

At minimum, Trump could have heeded the age-old aphorism: “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything.”

So, when Nick Reiner is arraigned in Los Angeles on two counts of murder on Jan. 7, Trump should rise to the occasion and take the opportunity to apologize and find something nice to say about his erstwhile adversary.

It would be the right thing to do.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Why the US Is Worried About China’s Military Drills

On Dec. 29, Washington, D.C., woke up to an array of news stories, but the one meriting greatest attention is China’s surprise military drills around Taiwan.

These drills are not merely exercises—they are full dress rehearsals for a blockade and invasion of Taiwan.

Deterring such an invasion and larger conflict is in America’s vital national interest—but one for which we are woefully unprepared.

The scale, intent, trigger, or even the duration of what the Communist Chinese are calling Justice Mission 2025 is still unfolding. What’s clear is that it is a massive air and maritime operation encircling Taiwan with a series of live-fire weapons drills.

The opening day saw Beijing send 130 combat aircraft and warships around the island, and a second-day launch of 27 ballistic missiles proximate Taiwan’s major ports in the north and south.

Indeed, Chinese military posters titled “Justice Hammer, Blockade and Disruption” give some insights into what China is practicing.

To this end, these military provocations levy economic damage given Beijing failed to make the obligatory notices disrupting fishing fleets, and commercial shipping and aircraft on the world’s busiest trade routes.

There is no excuse for China’s provocations, making arming Taiwan an urgent task.

In the final days of President Donald Trump’s first term, a key document of the Reagan era was declassified that detailed the so-called six assurances to Taiwan.

The provision of adequate military hardware is key to sustain the military balance to foster the peaceful resolution of the dispute across the Taiwan Straits.

Beijing, however, has engaged in a decades-long military buildup, greatly disrupting this balance, making necessary larger military sales to the island like the $11.1 billion arms deal recently agreed between Taipei and Washington, D.C.

The value of the deal is larger than all of the sales during the previous Biden administration’s four years. Such a deal critically includes 82 HIMARS launchers and 420 associated long-range (186 miles) ATACMs—a range that allows Taipei the ability to target Chinese logistics nodes across the straits.

If this arms sale was the trigger for Justice Mission 2025, it took longer than expected when recent provocation cycles Beijing has responded within four days of an offense.

Beijing’s provocations also undermine a diplomatic opening being offered by Taiwan opposition party’s (the KMT) leader, who is seeking a goodwill trip to Beijing—an effort intended to bolster her party as the more responsible in stabilizing cross-straits relations.

This now seems unlikely, especially with Secretary General Xi Jinping’s direction that his military be ready to fight a war over the fate of Taiwan by 2027.

So, what is known so far about Justice Mission 2025?

For one, this is the sixth massive military demonstration focused on encircling Taiwan since August 2022.

Justice Mission 2025 involves all Chinese military branches of the Eastern Theater responsible for executing any war against Taiwan—including rocket, naval, air force, and coast guard.

If past is prologue, Chinese military operations will last for several days before returning to average levels of military activity. During this time, expect new weapon systems to be demonstrated in live-fire exercises, such as the YJ-20 anti-ship ballistic missile fired from a Chinese destroyer on Dec. 28 with a range in excess of 1,000 miles.

Chinese military forces may also attempt to board and inspect vessels transiting the Taiwan Strait—a threat first leveled in April 2023 and since acted on against Taiwan’s shipping around its island of Kinmen.

Another troubling incident refuted by Taiwan is Chinese state media is drone video taken during Justice Mission 2025 of downtown Taipei.

If true, this drone very likely violated territorial airspace—a red line not crossed in over 67 years.

This would signal Beijing is much more willing to take risks, and closer to shedding blood than any time since the second Taiwan crisis of 1958.

Over 1,000 people were killed, several ships were sunk from both sides, and 31 Communist Chinese jets were shot down.

Should the current “exercises” by the Chinese military spiral into open hostilities, it is less clear how a large-scale war would be averted.

Unlike the third Taiwan crisis of 1996, the military balance is more in favor of Beijing than ever before.

The United States sent two carrier strike groups toward Taiwan as Beijing flexed its naval and rocket forces in an abortive effort to scuttle the election of Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui—who Beijing viewed as pro Taiwan independence.

Today, the U.S. Navy has two carrier strike groups and an amphibious ready group nearby, as well as significant amounts of land-based aircraft stationed in Japan and Korea

While impressive, China has built up a capability to target U.S. forces within 1000 miles of the mainland under a withering fire of land-based, sea-launched and air-launched missiles.

Beijing has a fleet of 400 modern naval warships to America’s 290 and a rocket force that numbers in the thousands.

Should war come between China and a U.S.-led coalition to deny China from seizing Taiwan, it would exceed in intensity anything seen in Ukraine or the Middle East in recent years.

While such a war would be disastrous for everyone, Beijing for decades has been preparing for while America and its allies are only now coming to terms.

Deterring war today requires capacity and unexpected actions to knock Beijing off its timelines.

It is never too late to bolster U.S. and allied defenses to deter and, if necessary, prevail in what would be a long and very uncertain war.

War on this scale would not only determine the fate of Taiwan, but also America. For this reason, greater efforts to rebuild our defense industry, build warships, increase stockpiles of key munitions, and further integrate war planning with key allies in measurable ways is urgently needed in the coming months.

Justice Mission 2025 is a reminder China is preparing for war as America’s enemies undermine U.S. vital national interests and dismantle the entire international system that has benefited the American people for more than eight decades.

Platitudes will not deter aggressive dictators. Actions are all that matters. The question for 2026 is, will America be able to keep Asian tensions from boiling over?

Virginia GOP Senate Candidate Withdraws, Explains to Daily Signal Why

Many political viewers in Virginia were gearing up to watch the 2026 U.S. Senate race between state Sen. Bryce Reeves and long-time incumbent Sen. Mark Warner. However, the week began with news that Reeves was pulling out of the race to focus on the health of a loved one.

On the plus-side, he will remain in the Virginia Senate.

We sat down with Reeves to talk about what brought him to step out of the contest, what happens next, and what will happen in January when the General Assembly convenes.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Joe Thomas: Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast.” I’m your host, Joe Thomas, Virginia correspondent for The Daily Signal.

Before we dive into today’s interview, I want to thank you for tuning in today. If you’re a first-time listener, The Daily Signal brings you fact-based reporting and conservative commentary on politics, policy, and culture. And I hope you join our band of regular listeners to our podcast.

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and also take a moment to rate and review us wherever you get your podcast. You can find additional content at DailySignal.com. Now, let’s get started with today’s conversation right after this. Mark Warner will spare no time telling you he is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee for a few years, even its chair. He never leaves.

And is there a more tensile position in the U.S Senate than the Intelligence Committee right now as we look at the statecraft that’s being employed both inside and outside of the United States, and what is really happening in a lot of these stories.

So when he faced a challenger coming up in the midterms, that was a big story. A big story yesterday was that challenger bowed out of the race early because of health concerns within his family. He’s joining us now, Virginia state Sen. Bryce Reeves.

Bryce, good morning, sir. How are you doing today? And prayers for your family. I hope all is going well.

Bryce Reeves: Good morning and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year coming. And yeah, we were disappointed, to say the least. We had put in a lot of effort so far, and we feel like that we would have made a pretty good challenger to Mark Warner.

You know the guy promised that he would only be there two terms and now he’s 18 years in, and he has TDS so bad that he’s not … well, in military terms, would call him combat ineffective.

He’s not focusing on working, trying to work with the administration at all on anything. And that’s not good. We’ve got to have, he even said it, fresh ideas and fresh leadership. And hopefully, the party will be able to find that person in this process.

I’ve been longtime friends ever since we first won that first election. We know our families. You know, it was a critical decision that needed to be made. I’ve lived by the motto to honor God, love my family, and protect the country. And I can’t protect the country if I can’t do the first two. And my significant other’s mother is very, very ill. And we were notified of that on Christmas.

And in order to run statewide—it’s for your listeners—I tried it once before, as you know. We did 154,000 traveling miles in 15 months, and there’s no downtime. You’re sitting in a car, you’re making calls for funds, and if you’re not doing that, then you’re eating a whole chicken on a six-inch plate with a toothpick.

And for anybody that’s really thought about it, it’s not the easiest job in the world to try to hold a full-time job, being an elected member and run for statewide office. That’s just too much. And there’s just no way I could do it and be faithful to what I need to be faithful to. And so, we’re doing what we should be doing.

We’re gonna be focused on going back into session this year, a very important session, I think, with the new governor, trying to make sure we don’t lose everything that we’ve worked for under Gov. [Glenn] Youngkin’s leadership the last four years.

But there’s been a lot of bills filed. And I think the Senate is going to be critically important this year, Joe, as you and I have talked, that the Senate is going to be the backstop, I think, if we can pull one or two of my colleagues that I find to be a little more moderate over on some of these very extreme positions.

Thomas: Well, for those who don’t know, Virginia’s Senate is only separated by a seat. There’s 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans. And so, all you need to do is get one to come over and ties, especially when it comes to constitutional amendments like the abortion law that they’re trying to open up abortions all the way to the moment of birth without even a second opinion from a doctor or a family member.

It’s amazing to think about these things, but beyond that, tearing up the Virginia Constitution for redistricting, Bryce, do you think, given the fact that the Virginia Senate voted overwhelmingly for the nonpartisan redistricting commission that drew these congressional districts in the first place, is there somebody we can shame into saying, “Hold it, you voted against this four years ago, five years ago.” As you said, win over that one vote, and all of a sudden, it’s not an issue anymore.

Reeves: Well, there are, but you know, Louise Lucas and leader Scott Surovell have both come out with statements saying they’re going to move forward. Sen. VanValkenburg was one of the greatest advocates for the committee structure that we have now that’s drawn by a committee in which … they couldn’t reach consensus last time, and a three-judge panel appointed two special masters to draw our maps. But it was voted on overwhelmingly by our colleagues in both the House, the Senate, and by all those that are listening as constituents, the general public.

Thomas: That’s one of the things about amending Virginia’s Constitution. At the end of the day, it lands in the lap of the voters. So, you know, there’s a lot still going on in this redistricting battle here. We’re seeing it come apart in places like Indiana.

And actually, it seems like it’s caused some rancor in California amongst the two political parties there, the far left and the middle left, which seems to me, Bryce Reeves, is hard to believe.

Bryce, what does come then of the Senate race? I know that Kim Farington is still in the race. She’s been trying to build a statewide position for a while now. Do you put your support behind someone or are you just saying, let’s see who’s out there interested in taking on Mark Warner on these issues?

Reeves: Well, Joe, I’m going to sit back. I’ve been asked to make some phone calls to some people that might be interested in it that I think are fully capable that have been in elected office before. I’m not at liberty to say who those folks are until I talk to them and figure them out.

But there’s going to be quite a few people that jump into the race that have no political experience. I don’t know that that’s going to be helpful.

Thomas: It really does help to at least start at the grassroots, even if you’re a precinct captain, to have a better understanding of what it really actually takes. Too often in Virginia, especially the last few years, consultants run candidates to make money because we’re always having elections, and sometimes they feed candidates ideas of grandeur. And it really does a disservice to both that individual and the constituency to which they potentially serve, where they could look at a different office.

Reeves: I started as a precinct captain and went to be a committee chairman and lo and behold, I was asked to run after I had a little bit of a grassroots knowledge of how politics really worked. So, I’m gonna sit and wait and make that determination if we get the right person.

But we’ve got to get the party straight. Need a chairman. We’re kind of in the wilderness. I mentioned that the other day to someone else, and we need leadership, and we have to regroup. We’ve a battlefield. Go ahead, Joe.

Thomas: No, no, but you are known in Virginia as one of the sober voices in the party. In the postscript to the 2025 gubernatorial elections, it seemed like there were a lot of incendiary devices verbally being thrown around. But you mentioned consultants. It’s been told to me that there are an awful lot of consultants that drive even the state central committee decisions.

Is that where the reform has to take place first? Because it will make it a lot harder, it seems, to recruit a candidate if you feel like the party isn’t going to be behind you the way the Democratic Party of Virginia is going to be behind Mark Warner.

Reeves: Well, I agree with you. You’re in the grassroots as well, Joe. You’ve been around long enough to understand that the party itself, the apparatus doesn’t function according to the way it should be functioning. It’s candidates and consultants, not consultants, but candidates are the ones who raise the majority of the money. The party doesn’t raise a ton of money to help. When I was the whip of the Senate, we were responsible for going out and finding great candidates, right?

It’s a difficult task to ask people to give up their lives and step forward into the breach. And it’s all consuming. And that’s a tough task. And then when you’ve got these consultants that are out there pitching other ideas and telling them different things, it makes it difficult.

So, I think there has to be reform there. I think there has to be reform in the party. I think too many people in the party want perfect and they let it be the enemy of good, a good candidate.

You’re not going to find a perfect candidate. They just don’t exist. And what we have to do is find people that want to serve, that have a servant’s heart first and foremost before anything else. And I think if you have good, godly people that want to try to make a difference, then they’ll listen and they’re coachable, that’s a lot of it.

There’s a lot to learn in the process. I mean, if I hadn’t been a precinct captain and a chairman of a committee, I wouldn’t have known how to do this stuff.

Thomas: Well, that’s to me part of the institutional memory in it, Bryce, is knowing the community you’re coming into. And that’s the challenge of a Senate race is you’re running across a state that people may not know you in, even though you might be very popular in the precinct you’ve represented, maybe in the state house or in the state Senate.

And that’s why I feel like Mark Warner is up 10 points. It’s like the New England Patriots. So, let’s not get lippy on the sidelines when we’re down four scores or they’re going to open up the floodgates on us.

But given what is going to be coming in the midterms in terms of an effort being made to win over the Senate, win over the House, I want to get your thoughts on whether or not there’s even a voice in the party saying we can’t, we’re not going to be able to battle that one and therefore let’s keep our powder dry there. I’m sorry for the military [terminology]. You’re the Ranger, not me.

I want to get your thoughts on that in a second. Here we’re visiting with Bryce Reeves. Bryce, what’s your web address?

Reeves: BryceReeves.com. Just real simple.

Thomas: He’s had it a long time. That’s when you could get a web address that was that simple back there. If you’re looking at a map of Virginia, Bryce Reeves represents an area that is lovingly referred to as Fred Vegas. It is the southern suburbs where, if they’re not already messing in politics, they are—this is where they live in the southern suburbs in Virginia because gosh, Maryland’s just too expensive for some of these folks to live in.

But that Fredericksburg area around that Northern Virginia area, yeah, there’s a conservative there and he has lived to tell the tale for it.

Bryce, we were talking about the incoming administration, and one of the sidebars to the story, I think, is that you said that you’re suspending and getting out of the U.S. Senate race, but you were going to stay in the Virginia Senate. And the institutional recognition of somebody who is a conservative, but is in an area that most people say is blue blue—and then just for variety sake blue—is important, too, because certainly I’m sure there are the political nose counters that would say it’s going to be hard for a Republican to win that seat if Bryce was blessedly successful at winning the U.S. Senate race.

Reeves: Well, I heard from my constituents, Joe, about that as well. They’d love to see me in the U.S. Senate, but they certainly didn’t want me leaving and vacating the seat, especially now that I have seniority and I actually can bring home some bacon.

Orange County was without water for 14 days due to aging infrastructure. Same with Greene County. And, working with Sen. Deeds, we were able to collectively put together about $25 million for localities to go for grants to try to help alleviate some of that.

That’s what government’s supposed to do: help fix problems. Water is a need that everybody has to have. That’s not a Republican or Democrat [issue]. And so, I love the job. I absolutely love the job.

I get to where I hate politics a lot more today because of all the—excuse my language—the crap that you have to deal with. Quite frankly, some of the people that are just keyboard heroes just don’t know you for anything.

Like even with my situation of bowing out, they’re making up this stuff, and it’s just irritating as h—. As much as I want to tell them, “Look, I’ve got a family member who’s dying of cancer. Like I’m not bowing out because I’m afraid of Mark Warner or anything else. It’s like I’ve got a need and if you can’t have enough respect for people like that than h— with you.” It’s just irritating.

Thomas: And that’s you know, that’s why I don’t read anyone else’s stuff. I have enough trouble putting my own stuff together. Most I listen to is four hours of my program. There are moments where I’m like, did I say that?

But Bryce Reeves on with us. You overlapped some of Abigail Spanberger’s congressional district, I believe in your Senate district or you’re very close to it. At some point today, there’s going to be a column posting at DailySignal.com.

By the way, speaking of health, prayers out also to Bryce’s mother-in-law, but to Victor Davis Hanson, who’s stepping away. And for at least a few months, I got to call him my co-worker at Daily Signal so I can gain gravitas for circling his orbit.

But I penned a piece about stories I’m hearing, rumblings that Abigail Spanberger has become the darling of the 2028 set. That they’re looking at JB Pritzker and the continue flagging poll numbers of Gavin Newsom, and they’re like, “Hold this woman just won a seat that had been held by a Republican, It’s a purple state. This might be our answer” and that she might govern to the center.

The warning I have is don’t expect the veto pen to be thrown away this session because I think and I’ve been told by a lot of smart people that she’s going to govern moderately, and she might veto a lot of the nuttier stuff to put the planks under her towards a 2028 presidential run.

Are you sensing that? Would you even be hopeful for that if that’s the case, Bryce?

Reeves: Well, I will tell you this, and I don’t know if it was tongue in cheek, Joe, but during this last year’s session, she had made a visit down to Richmond and asked me if I was ready to go to work in her administration. And I said, “Really?” She goes, “Well, I need a secretary of veterans defense affairs because that’s my wheelhouse.”

And I said, “I’d love to, but I’d never be able to work in politics again after that.” Because it’s something near and dear to my heart.

But lo and behold, I think she’s made a phenomenal appointment with who she’s put into that position: our former adjutant general, Tim Williams, who led through several administrations as our adjutant general in the National Guard with almost 25,000 of our airmen and guardsmen forward in the theater. And now he’s going to be the secretary, hopefully, if we can get him confirmed as Veterans Defense Affairs.

People were beating on Gen. Williams right away because Abigail appointed him, but they don’t know who the guy is. I do, and that’s a great appointment. So that’s an indication I’m hopeful, yeah.

Thomas: It’s mission. It’s look out for the veterans in a state that’s heavily veteran. Go figure. It’s how it’s supposed to work. I hate to feel like because a lot of people listening will say, “They’re just catfishing you, Joe. They’ll get you to think that, and then they’ll bite your ankle there with some gun grab and things like that.”

And I know you’ve been thinking that’s going to happen. Listen, those bills are coming back, and for everybody that doesn’t think they will, they’re going to come back because those members are still there. They’re mad that the governor vetoed 400 some odd of their bills over all these years.

Those bills may, if you think about a veto, ladies and gentlemen, that means it went through subcommittee, full committee, the floor debate, passed one chamber, went to the other chamber, went through the same process, made it all the way to the governor’s desk. And the governor had to use his big pen and veto it.

Now those bills are coming back. If you don’t believe me, go look at the bills on VPAP or go look them up on the state website. They’re there. They’re going to be refiled and they’re going to come back. So, there are going to be encroachments just like we talked earlier on the whole abortion up until the time of birth, the redistricting is coming through.

There was a bill that was filed about right to work, but Abigail’s on record at the Virginia Free event saying she will not sign that bill. So, they’re going to have their own internal struggles.

Our thing is people need to wake up and not wake up after session. It’s coming. It’s coming in the second Wednesday in January. We start session. Those bills will be filed or being dropped in the following couple of weeks. And if people really care, they need to engage.

Can people speak out enough and help you sway that one or two Democrats in the Senate?

Reeves: Absolutely. They have way more influence than the hired guns. The lobbyist. If I have a constituent in my office sitting with me and telling me how this bill is going to impact their lives, that’s way more than somebody who’s getting paid $10,000 a month to come in and advocate for something else, because that’s their job.

But if somebody takes the time out of their day to come to Richmond, absolutely. And I would encourage, and I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, if there’s a bill down there that affects you or your livelihood, you need to speak up.

Thomas: Last one for you, Bryce, and I’ll let you go, and I thank you for your blessing for your time as well. The redistricting, I had made the case, and because you’re a level-headed straight shooter, I have to ask you if you think I’m just nuttier than a bag of hair for this: I said that the peril that the Democrats might have, Don Scott and these folks, to stretch these blue districts, these 20-plus Democrat districts, far enough into the center of Virginia to create, maybe it’s plus 2 % now instead of plus 20% districts to make them all look blue from voting records creates great opportunity for hardworking Republicans who could win a D-plus-two historical district much easier than they’re ever going to try to win a D-plus 20.

Am I crazy about that?

Reeves: No, I think you’re right. We have actually talked about some of those, but I think the greater implication in all of this, and no one’s talking about—well, we are, those of us inside baseball—is just think of this. They talk about Congress taking it down 10 to one, right? That’s what they’re talking about, Congress right now.

But the reality is, if I’m doing it, and I already know that people don’t like what I’m doing, right? Why would I wait to do the House of Delegates and the State Senate? I’d pull the Band-Aid off all at once and take my licks and switch them all.

So, it’s not going to be just Congress if I’m running the show. I can’t think that my Democrat colleagues haven’t thought about this already because there’s some bright people there. But if they’re going to do that, why wouldn’t you just change the whole state in general and make the House of Delegates, the State Senate, and Congress all Democrats to where it never gets undone again?

So, if people don’t want that, then they need to make their voice heard. It’s not always the best government to have one party in charge of everything. Let’s ask Minnesota how that’s been working for them.

Thomas: Right, exactly. I appreciate it as always, Bryce. Prayers for your mother-in-law. And that’s a terrible kind of cancer to try to beat. I hope, you know, she’s…

Reeves: I’m glad you’re still here, Joe. Let me tell you, you know what it’s really like. You’ve been through it.

Thomas: Well, I did have good doctors and good family, and that’s why we stand with you when you say that this is more important than a U.S. Senate race, and I can’t argue with that because you’re absolutely 100% right. But BryceReeves.com, give him an attaboy and say a prayer for his mother-in-law.

We love you, Bryce, and we’ll talk to you again as the session gets starting, I hope.

Reeves: Absolutely, we’ll come on as much as you need us to get the word out, Joe. Happy to do it.

Thomas: God bless you, sir. Have a great day.

That’ll do it for today’s show. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on new episodes from The Daily Signal. Every weekday you can catch top news in 10 to keep up with the day’s top headlines in just 10 minutes. And every weekday afternoon, catch Victor Davis Hanson’s thoughtful analysis for The Daily Signal.

If you like what you hear on this show, would you take a minute and leave us a comment? We love hearing your feedback. Thanks again for being with us today.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

The West Isn’t Finished, as Long as Assimilation Starts Now

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.

This content was recorded by Victor Davis Hanson prior to his Dec. 30 medical operation.

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. Everybody is worried about the status and future of Western civilization.

That’s a broad term, but it mostly denotes what is now Europe, the United States, and North American Canada, the former domains of the British Anglophonic empire, and I mean, specifically, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada, etc., again, and then, more importantly, the Westernized countries, mostly in Asia, and that would be Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

And they are in a period of crisis, decline. And what would be the symptoms? We all know what they are. The fertility rate in these countries is falling drastically. People do not want to raise children. They want to satisfy their appetites. They don’t wanna put up with them. They don’t have the money, they feel.

But the fertility rate in these Asian Westernized countries is below 1.5. And Europe is about 1.39. United States is the best, except for Western Israel. It’s about 1.7.

In addition to that, they’ve made horrendous choices by falling prey to ideological mantras about green energy, and they’ve turned their back on efficient fusion, efficient nuclear energy, hydroelectric, natural gas, instead have invested in wind and solar. And that has been expensive, inefficient, and has priced them out of the global market, in many cases.

In addition to that, they’re unarmed. They have not even spent, until recently, 2%, Europe. Even the United States’ Navy is not what it was during the Reagan period.

And when you add up infertility, that’s what it is, and you add up the bane of green energy, and you add being disarmed, it really can’t withstand any other pressures. But there are pressures.

We have open borders in the West, and it’s a very funny type of open borders. We have millions of people who want to come in illegally to the United States and into Europe. But guess what? They don’t wanna fully assimilate, integrate anymore. They want to create their enclaves that are antithetical to the very society they demand to stay in.

And that manifests itself in people in Europe trying to cancel Christmas, even though that is a Western tradition, and they wanted to come into a Western country, or people in Los Angeles waving the flag of Mexico, they don’t want to go back to, and burning the flag of America, they insist on staying. That’s incoherent.

I could go on with these symptoms, but they all point to a period, supposedly, of decline. But all is not lost. There are counterrevolutions, and the counterrevolutions are very strange because they’re occurring in places where sophisticated elite Westerners look down upon.

In the case of Europe, it’s Eastern Europe. It’s Hungary, it’s Poland, it’s the Czech Republic, it’s Romania, it’s the new post-Soviet states. In the United States, it’s the red states, many of them part of the supposed illiberal, old Confederacy. And what’s that counter? And also, places in pockets like Wyoming or Utah or Idaho.

And what do they have in common, the Eastern Europeans and the red states in America? They are saying not yet. Not yet. We’re not done yet. We’re going to go back and find a period of renewal. And we know what that renewal is because we’ve seen what you do in Western Europe, and we’ve seen what you do in the blue states. Your paradigm doesn’t work, and when you know it doesn’t work, you infringe on free speech. You call it hate speech or disinformation. And we know you now, we’ve seen this side of you, the one-eye jack.

So, we’re gonna offer a different paradigm. Instead of atheism and nihilism and agnosticism, we’re gonna go back to a Judeo-Christian tradition with tolerance for other religions. We’re gonna go back to the nuclear family. We’re gonna go back to honoring the role of women, not just as professionals, which is wonderful and great, but also as mothers of two, three, four children. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s the linchpin of civilization.

And we’re gonna rearm. President Donald Trump may say he can bring back the battleship, Europe may say they can spend 5%, but we’re not going to just roll over yet. That is red state America and Eastern Europe. And more importantly, we’re gonna restore free speech.

So, we’re gonna discuss these things and we’re gonna close our borders. There’s gonna be legal-only immigration. And we do not want you coming into Europe unless you want to assimilate, integrate, and be fully European.

That’s what is happening in Eastern Europe. And the same is true in red states. And the question then is, what’s this all about? It’s a verdict for the future of Western civilization.

We’ve had the revolution for 50 years, but we haven’t seen a counterrevolution to the degree that’s taking place. Western European elites in the former British Commonwealth and blue state elites all are very critical of the Yahoos in Eastern Europe and the Yahoos in the red states. But only for a while because their paradigm is collapsing as we speak. And the people who are gonna save Europe are the people who they thought they were embarrassed of.

It’s quite ironic, but it’s also a hopeful time for Western civilization.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Somali Fraud Story Explodes Due to the Democratization of DOGE

Democrats and legacy media really don’t want to keep talking about the Somali fraud scandal anymore, but the American people are stepping right around them.

That’s my take as the story about a colossal Somali fraud ring in Minnesota explodes to the point where similar programs in other states are now being rightly looked at with suspicion.

What’s incredible about this whole thing is not just the extent of the scams taking place in Minnesota, but how it’s now all being uncovered.

The most aggressive investigation and reporting on this issue hasn’t been traditional media. It’s a handful of conservative websites and legions of people on X and other social media simply looking through public documents, doing some on-the-scene investigations and asking questions.

It was an independent journalist, Nick Shirley, who blew up the Somali day care scam. He did some real shoe leather journalism with another investigative reporter but without any institution supporting him.

Sure, some outlets covered what was happening, but they downplayed or failed to follow up on the depth of the problem that exists in Minnesota as Drew Holden at American Compass pointed out.

Seeing some pushback about the existing legacy media coverage of fraud in Minnesota, particularly from @StarTribune.

Yes, they’ve reported on fraud. Yes, they’ve published hundreds of pieces about the fraud.

But they’ve repeatedly downplayed how pervasive it is, and earlier… pic.twitter.com/giTSdDJztm
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 30, 2025

And what’s happened in Minnesota seems to be the tip of the iceberg.

How many other programs in other states are just extensive fraud operations where state regulators don’t bother—or are discouraged from—investigating whether the money is being used appropriately, legally, or for its original intent?

California will almost certainly be fertile ground for snooping into where the vast amount of public money that the state gobbles up year after year is going. This is a state that spent over $24 billion on preventing homelessness, didn’t track the money and ended up with more homelessness to boot.

So where did all that money go?

There is obviously an easy opening for a mountain of outright corruption in the Golden State, but few in power seem to want to do anything about it. In fact, it seems like they may be benefiting from it.

That is exactly what happens https://t.co/pGeb22zFW7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2025

It’s citizen journalists who are now more frequently “opening the books” on public records, doing some sleuthing and trying to get to the bottom of why our governments are paying out billions of dollars to crooks.

This is the third independent website I've seen. This is great. Bookmark them all as you come across them. https://t.co/QiNqA87nRB
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) December 30, 2025

Again, regular people are looking into grants and taxpayer money and are asking questions.

Refugee Family Child Care Microenterprise Development Grant – California (2022)

Awarding Agency: Department of Health and Human Services

Recipient: International Rescue Committee Inc (San Diego, CA)
Amount: $562,500https://t.co/fqN3Wrprl2
— RandoLand.us (@RandoLand_us) December 29, 2025

This really feels like the democratization of the original DOGE idea, a mass project by millions of concerned Americans to get to the bottom of where our money is going.

Some government agencies are actively fighting back and trying to obscure public data.

Stunning – it appears they have taken down the license look-up website so Minnesotans can’t see who the Medicaid service providers are or what licensing violations they may have. @Tim_Walz @ DHS should restore this immediately. https://t.co/hT1Yhj88vu
— Kristin Robbins (@KRobbinsMN) December 29, 2025

Even worse, many in the legacy, corporate media are apparently quite angry that some people decided to investigate stories they don’t want to cover.

Politico’s Josh Gerstein put this ominous post on X, suggesting that at some point somebody might shoot one of the amateur reporters. He said that he isn’t advocating for this to happen, but this passive aggressive post is certainly quite revealing.

This might be one of the most revealing posts from someone who claims to be a journalist that I've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/U0CoqJPoWP
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 30, 2025

They really are angry and bitter toward the people who just won’t accept the narratives that are being force fed to them over day by corporate media.

However, it’s clear that this kind of reporting can’t be contained in America just yet (good luck to Europe) and in some cases there has been a positive government response. The FBI and some federal agencies are at least saying they are looking into the matter.

SBA is pausing annual funding to Minnesota while we investigate $430 million in suspected PPP fraud across the state.

This Admin will not continue to hand out blank checks to fraudsters – and we will not rest until we clean up the criminal networks that have been stealing from…
— Kelly Loeffler (@SBA_Kelly) December 29, 2025

Kash Patel threatens Somali scammers with denaturalization, deportation over uncovered Minnesota fraud: ‘Tip of a very large iceberg’ https://t.co/Mt1W4dqI5q pic.twitter.com/8AKNxvKxId
— New York Post (@nypost) December 28, 2025

And more potential scams are being exposed. Is the same kind of large-scale day care scam happening in Ohio?

'DOOR TO DOOR': Federal authorities launched a “massive” investigation in Minnesota after a viral video by independent journalist Nick Shirley raised allegations of widespread fraud involving daycare centers.

"The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is… pic.twitter.com/X1MjetLznp
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 29, 2025

Now, maybe nothing comes out of all this.

Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and the people who support him seem to be a lot less concerned with their state budget being plundered and are a lot more concerned about ensuring that their narrative about the limitless benefits of mass scale immigration from Somalia and elsewhere isn’t disrupted.

However, because of the work of a few dedicated people, many of whom are not professional journalists, we may now start to see the depths at which the American taxpayer is truly being outright robbed.

What we do with the information is up to us. There are not an insubstantial number of Americans who are willing to let us all ride this train to perdition in the name of ideology.

But I suspect there are many others who are outraged every day and every year around tax time they are forking over their hard-earned money to con artists, cheats, and American-hating fraudsters.

How much of our country’s debt problem is really a fraud problem? Thanks to a few journalists and independent citizens on X and elsewhere, we may soon find out.

This Republican Leader Is the Loudest in Minnesota Fraud Discussion

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, one of Washington’s top-ranking Republicans, called for the denaturalization and deportation of Somalis in Minnesota who defrauded taxpayers.

“I have three words regarding Somalis who have committed fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home,” Emmer, R-Minn., wrote in a fiery statement released Monday night on X.

“If they’re here illegally, deport them immediately; if they’re naturalized citizens, revoke their citizenship and deport them quickly thereafter,” he added.

BREAKING: I’m calling for the denaturalization and deportation of every Somali engaged in fraud in Minnesota. Read my full statement below:

“I have three words regarding Somalis who have committed fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home. If they’re here illegally,…
— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) December 30, 2025

Emmer’s remarks follow the viral release of a video from YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, which alleges that several Minnesota state-funded day care and learning centers, largely operated by immigrants from Somalia, do not provide legitimate services.

Federal prosecutors have charged more than 90 people so far with defrauding public assistance programs of hundreds of millions of dollars in Minnesota, according to CBS News. Assistant United States Attorney Joe Thompson has estimated the amount of fraudulent billing in Minnesota’s Medicaid programs to be as high as $9 billion.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced this week that the agency was already sending additional resources to Minnesota to investigate fraud allegations.

Emmer added that he would “change the law,” if necessary, to revoke the citizenship of Somalis convicted of fraud.

“Our nation will not tolerate those who take advantage of our charity and refuse to assimilate into our culture. Additionally, if any naturalized Somalis had undisclosed ties to terrorist organizations like Al-Shabaab, I want to see their citizenship revoked and their asses sent back immediately,” he stated.

Emmer represents a district which hugs the northern and western suburbs of Minneapolis and stretches north to the city of St. Cloud.

.@PabloReports: Do you agree with President Trump that Somali residents in your district are garbage?

Emmer: I think what President Trump has done is raise an issue…

PabloReports: Donald Trump said they are garbage, that’s what I’m asking you about […] It’s a yes or no… pic.twitter.com/CsRO9MJlJS
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 16, 2025

Emmer recently defended Republican rhetoric on fraud within Minnesota’s Somali community, telling a reporter in the Capitol, “Not all Somalis are bad. Ninety percent … of the crimes that have been charged are from the Somali community. And there’s nothing wrong and nothing racist about calling out crime.”

Emmer has been in Congress for a decade, and during that time, has engaged with issues concerning both Somalia and Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community.

He co-founded the informal, bipartisan Somalia Caucus in the House of Representatives, the stated goal of which was to “advocate for peace and stability in Somalia by ensuring the United States is providing sufficient and meaningful assistance so that democracy, good governance, and prosperity prevail over terrorism in Somalia.”

In 2015, National Public Radio covered a discussion he held with constituents in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in which several residents called for a pause on the influx of Somalis into their community.

He pushed back on some of their remarks, telling them, “You don’t get to slam the gate behind you and tell nobody else that they’re welcome.”

Emmer addressed the issue of day care fraud since before the release of Shirley’s viral video.

In February 2025, he signed onto a letter with three other members of the Republican Minnesota congressional delegation urging Democrat Gov. Tim Walz to support congressional oversight of the Minnesota Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) amid reports of “fraud at the expense of children.”

The letter requested that Walz provide documentation regarding the state’s 62 active investigations of childcare centers.

Trump DOJ Sues State Giving Illegal Immigrants Massive In-State Tuition Breaks

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit accusing Virginia of unlawfully granting illegal aliens in-state resident discounts on college tuition.

The state’s education code classifies illegal immigrants as Virginia residents, qualifying them for reduced in-state tuition costs, the lawsuit claims.

This policy, therefore, allows illegal immigrants to access benefits not available to most other Americans, making it “not only wrong but illegal,” the DOJ stated.

“Federal law prohibits States from providing aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States with any postsecondary education benefit that is denied to U.S. citizens,” the court documents read.

“There are no exceptions. Virginia violates it nonetheless. This court should put an end to this and permanently enjoin the enforcement of provisions of the Virginia Education Code that directly conflict with federal immigration law.”

>>> DOJ Sues Texas to Enforce Law Prohibiting States From Offering Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition—and Wins

The classification means illegal immigrants are able to pay nearly $40,000 less than Americans who reside in another state.

In the 2025-2026 school year, the University of Virginia charged in-state students $23,897 in undergraduate tuition, while out-of-state students paid $62,923, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Federal immigration law asserts that “an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident,” as cited in the lawsuit.

The Trump administration has sued several states already over similar laws giving benefits to illegal immigrants over American citizens.

In June, Texas even teamed up with the DOJ to defeat its own law allowing illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition costs in the red state. In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling on agencies to ensure “no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens.”

The order included a mention of preventing states from using taxpayer funds for subsidizing illegal immigrants and attempting to hinder deportation efforts.

The federal government in July ended a Clinton-era rule that allowed illegal immigrants to access taxpayer funds for technical and career schools, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported exclusively.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

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