Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Trump Gives Jaw-Dropping Defense for Envoy Busted Aiding Putin

The president was unfazed by his special envoy coaching the Russians.

President Donald Trump thinks his special envoy coaching a henchman of Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “standard” practice.

Trump brushed off a Bloomberg bombshell detailing Steve Witkoff’s chummy five-minute phone call with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, in October. The American official taught the Russians how to get into Trump’s good graces before they uncork the touchy topic of a Russia-Ukraine peace plan

“That’s a standard thing, you know, because he’s got to sell this to Ukraine, he’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump, 79, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. “That’s what a dealmaker does. You got to say, ‘Look, they want this. You’ve got to convince him of this.’ You know, that’s a very standard form of negotiation.”

“I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation, and I would imagine he’s saying the same thing to Ukraine, because each party has to give and take,” he went on.

According to a transcript of the phone call, Witkoff had several pieces of advice for the Russians.

“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace, and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen,” he said. “So I would say that. I think from that, it’s going to be a really good call.”

Ushakov replied: “OK, OK, my friend. I think that very point our leaders could discuss. Hey Steve, I agree with you that he will congratulate, he will say that Mr. Trump is a real peace man and so and so. That he will say.”

It’s a strategy that Witkoff himself has employed in the past. During a televised Cabinet meeting in August, the special envoy talked up Trump as the “single finest candidate” to ever seek the Nobel Peace Prize, which eluded the U.S. president this year despite his aggressive lobbying.

“Your success is game-changing, out in the world today, and I hope everybody wakes up one day and realizes that,” Witkoff said, as the room broke out into applause.

Witkoff’s advice didn’t stop at praise for Trump. The envoy also laid down a script for Putin when it comes to peace talks.

“Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things—to explore what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done,” he told Ushakov.

“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” he went on. “But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here. And I think Yuri, the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.”

Just before the two officials hopped off the call, Witkoff advised Ushakov that it would be best if Putin spoke to Trump ahead of the White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That meeting ended in yet another fiery shouting match behind closed doors, according to the Financial Times.

“OK, OK. I got your advice,” Ushakov responded. “So I discuss that with my boss and then I come back to you, ok?”

Two weeks later, Ushakov got back on the phone. This time it was with Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s economic adviser, who has emerged as a key player in efforts to shape a peace deal with Ukraine.

A second transcript reported by Bloomberg showed the two Russian officials discussing how to move forward after the call with Witkoff.

“I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible,” Dmitriev said.

“They might twist it later, that’s all. There is that risk. There is,” Ushakov replied. “Well, alright, never mind. We’ll see.”

It turned out Ushakov had no reason to worry. When Trump released the latest iteration of his peace proposal, U.S. lawmakers blasted it as a “wish list” drawn up by the Kremlin.

The proposal would see Ukraine ceding its occupied territories to the Russians, halve the size of its military, and rule out future NATO membership—all of which were demands Putin had been making since 2022.

The fierce backlash to the proposed peace plan forced Trump to back away.

“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. “GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-gives-jaw-dropping-defense-for-envoy-busted-aiding-putin/?

ps:Putin doesn't need anyone coaching him! These were his plans!!

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Trump shedding support among Latino voters, survey finds

WASHINGTON — A majority of U.S. Latinos have grown pessimistic since the 2024 presidential election and increasingly disapprove of the immigration and economic policies of the second Trump administration, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/11/25/repub/trump-shedding-support-among-latino-voters-survey-finds/?

Trans people and people of color have been quietly erased from national caregiving plan

Three years after the release of the first comprehensive roadmap to address difficulties faced by family caregivers of older adults and people with disabilities, the Trump administration has quietly erased transgender caregivers and caregivers of color from a list of underserved or hard-to-reach populations, The 19th has exclusively learned. 

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/11/25/trans-people-and-people-of-color-have-been-quietly-erased-from-national-caregiving-plan/?

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Trump, 79, Has Baffling Plan to Rename the Republican Party After Himself

The president’s new nickname idea is not one of his best.

Donald Trump has come up with a new nickname for the Republican Party.

He wants to name it after himself.

“There is a new word for a TRUMP REPUBLICAN,” the 79-year-old boldly declared on Truth Social media Wednesday, before asking his followers what exactly the word ought to be.

Scorning the low-hanging fruit of ‘Trumpublican,’ a suggestion so obvious even his son Don Jr. thought of it, the president mused: “It is, TEPUBLICAN??? Or, TPUBLICAN???”

The last of these options would require MAGA supporters to master an impressive feat of pronunciation known to language experts as the “voiceless labial-alveolar plosive.”

They say that to utter a “t” and “p” sound simultaneously, without any intervening vowels, those identifying as “Tpublicans” would need to press their lips together and place their tongue against the ridge behind their teeth.

It requires blocking off the flow of air through the nose and pushing the breath forcefully outward, without activating the vocal chords.

This is very hard to do. Perhaps accounting for why the “voiceless labial-alveolar plosive” is ordinarily only heard in the high mountains of the North Caucasus, certain parts of rural Ghana, and on a remote island off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Trump’s further assertion that “almost everyone” is a “TRUMP REPUBLICAN” comes as his nationwide approval rating hovers at about 38 percent, and as the embattled president struggles to retain full control of his party amid a confluence of simultaneous scandals and crises.

Concern has also continued to mount over the state of Trump’s cognitive health amid frequent memory lapses, difficulty articulating his thoughts and sudden bursts of aggression some experts say could represent the early stages of dementia.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tepublican-or-tpublican-trump-79-has-baffling-plan-to-rename-the-republican-party-after-himself/?

ps:How much more vane can he get?????

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Republican Senator Trashes Trump’s ‘Flat-Out Wrong’ Vengeance Crusade

Lisa Murkowski speaks out against Pentagon probe into Democratic lawmaker wildly accused of “sedition.”

Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski has condemned the Trump administration’s investigation into Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly for posting a video urging troops to “refuse illegal orders.”

Sen. Murkowski lashed out at the “flat-out wrong” investigation the Pentagon launched into Kelly, which could see the former Navy commander and astronaut recalled to active duty so he can be court-martialed over the “serious allegations” of misconduct.

Kelly was one of six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video on social media reminding active-duty military members that they can defy orders if they “violate the law or our Constitution.”

Trump ramped up a MAGA backlash by posting on Truth Social that Kelly and the other Democrats’ actions were “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” The president also reshared a post from a supporter last week reading, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”

Murkowski, 68, a moderate GOP senator who frequently opposes President Donald Trump, has now defended Kelly and suggested that the Department of Defense and FBI “surely have more important priorities than this frivolous investigation.”

“Senator Kelly valiantly served our country as an aviator in the U.S. Navy before later completing four space shuttle missions as a NASA astronaut,” Murkowski posted on X. “To accuse him and other lawmakers of treason and sedition for rightfully pointing out that servicemembers can refuse illegal orders is reckless and flat-out wrong.”

Republican Utah Sen. John Curtis also came to Kelly’s defense, though without directly attacking the Pentagon probe.

“As a colleague, I respect Mark Kelly and value his friendship. I know him as someone whose career has been defined by service,” Curtis posted. “His record as a combat naval aviator and NASA astronaut reflects his example of the discipline and dedication that are important for success.”

Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon, a retired military officer, backed Kelly over Hegseth, who he said was presiding over “amateur hour once again at the Department of Dense.”

The other five Democrats said that the FBI has launched an investigation into them over the video. Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin accused the probe of being the latest example of the president using federal agencies to carry out a revenge tour against his adversaries.

“The President directing the FBI to target us is exactly why we made this video in the first place. He believes in weaponizing the federal government against his perceived enemies and does not believe laws apply to him or his Cabinet,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “He uses legal harassment as an intimidation tactic to scare people out of speaking up.”

In a joint statement, Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahan added, “No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has labeled the Democrats the “Seditious Six,” calling their actions “despicable, reckless, and false.”

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, added that Kelly is the only one of the six who falls under the Defense Department’s jurisdiction and will be “addressed appropriately.”

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kelly dismissed the investigation into him as “ridiculous,” while calling Hegseth “unqualified” to lead the Pentagon.

“He just wants to please the president, and this is what he can do this week,” Kelly said. “You can’t make this s--t up.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-sen-lisa-murkowski-trashes-trumps-flat-out-wrong-vengeance-crusade/?

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Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) — Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family’s food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-usaid-thailand-trump-rubio-aid-7f6919a1863ceea2ddf6708e47bb88f0?

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World Leader Absolutely Rips Trump’s Social Media ‘Insults’

The U.S. president has continued to make wild claims about the country.

President Donald Trump warned South Africa that it will not be invited to next year’s G20 summit in Miami after what he perceived to be a snub against the United States.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly clapped back, calling Trump’s salty social media post “regrettable.”

On Wednesday, Trump, 79, repeated his claim that a white “genocide” was taking place in South Africa, promoting a debunked right-wing conspiracy theory. He also said he was offended by a protocol dispute at the G20 summit held in Johannesburg last week.

The meeting was attended by leaders from Japan, China, Australia, France, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, and other countries. But while the U.S. is usually present, Trump refused to attend or to send any White House officials to the event.

“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” he wrote in a post on Nov. 7. “No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”

In a G20 tradition, President Ramaphosa declared the event closed by banging a gavel on a block. The gavel is then traditionally handed over to the leader of the next country to hold the rotating presidency.

The White House instead attempted to send a staffer from its South African embassy to accept the gavel handover. However, South African officials felt handing the gavel to a junior diplomat was an insult and a breach of protocol.

Trump posted, “At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony.”

He added, “Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year. South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”

Ramaphosa posted a lengthy statement on X, saying, “As the United States was not present at the summit, instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handed over to a US Embassy official at the Headquarters of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.”

He said while the U.S. was expected to participate in all the G20 meetings, it elected not to attend the summit in Johannesburg of its “own volition.”

The president added, “South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms.”

Ramaphosa said that South Africa would “never insult or demean another country or its standing and worthiness in the community of nations.”

His statement ended by noting it was “regrettable” that despite “numerous attempts” to reset South Africa’s diplomatic relationship with the U.S., “President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country.”

In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed America’s absence from the G20 was because the South African government “refuses to acknowledge or address” Human Rights abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German colonists.

“To put it more bluntly,” Trump said, “they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.”

It is the latest move in the ongoing feud Trump has with South Africa over his claims they are discriminating against the white population of the country.

When Ramaphosa met with Trump at the White House in May, he played the president a video of what he claimed were the burial grounds of white farmers allegedly killed by Black South Africans trying to take their land.

Trump then confronted Ramaphosa with unsubstantiated claims that South Africa’s Black-led government is anti-white and perpetrating a “white genocide” against local farmers—while Elon Musk, the South African-born billionaire, stood on the sidelines of the Oval Office.

“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?” Ramaphosa said in response to the claims. “I’d like to know where that is, because this I’ve never seen.”

Fact-checkers later established that the footage Trump played didn’t actually show the “burial sites” of “over a thousand” white farmers.

The white crosses on display had been temporarily erected as a memorial to a white farming couple shot dead on their premises in 2020.

Trump claimed the “Fake News Media” were not covering the “genocide.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/world-leader-lashes-regrettable-trump-post-after-g20-snub/?

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Trump Approved National Guard Shooting Suspect’s Asylum

Law enforcement sources say the suspect in an ambush near White House was granted asylum in April.

The Afghan man alleged to have shot two National Guardsmen near the White House had his asylum approved by the Trump administration earlier this year, according to reports.

The suspect has been identified by multiple law enforcement sources and media outlets as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal. According to CNN, fingerprints matched a man of that name who fled to the U.S. during the Taliban takeover of his homeland in 2021.

Lakanwal, the outlet reported, had “applied for asylum in 2024, and it was granted by the Trump administration in April 2025.”

ABC News also identified the suspect as Lakanwal, reporting three law enforcement sources who said his asylum was approved in April 2025.

While not naming Lakanwal, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed on X that the suspect had arrived “under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021.”

The shooting unfolded by the Farragut West Metro entrance around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday. Officials said the West Virginia Guardsmen—a woman and a man on “high-visibility patrols” in the capital—were initially fired upon before subduing the gunman, who was also hospitalized.

Both Guardsmen remain in critical condition, and the suspect is in custody after being wounded following the incident. Authorities have not publicly released the Guardsmen’s identities.

Officials have not announced a motive. The FBI is probing whether the attack could have international terror links, ABC reported.

Following the shooting, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it was halting, “effective immediately,” the processing of immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals pending a security review.

President Donald Trump, 79, delivered a late-night address from Florida calling the ambush “an act of terror,” vowing to “re-examine every single alien” who entered from Afghanistan and to send 500 more Guard troops to Washington.

“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about,” Trump said.

“Nobody knew who was coming in. Nobody knew anything about it. His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden, a disastrous President, the worst in the history of our country.”

He added, “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them. “America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror. And at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission the service members were so nobly fulfilling.”

Trump announced that his “Department of War” would send 500 more troops to Washington.

Noem also blamed the Biden-era program: “The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States...under the Biden Administration,” she wrote on X, in a post which drew immediate pushback from critics who pointed out that the asylum approval had occurred this year.

Declining to name Lakanwal, she added, “I will not utter this depraved individual’s name. He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants.”

Before moving to America, Lakanwal had served alongside U.S. Special Forces troops in Afghanistan, NBC reported, per a close relative and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Intelligence sources told Fox News Digital that Lakanwal had worked “with various entities in the U.S. government, including the CIA, due to his work as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.”

Ratcliffe told the outlet: “In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation.”

A White House official said that, as President, Joe Biden entered into the 2023 Ahmed Court Settlement, meaning that, regardless of his asylum status, Lakanwal would not have been removed due to his parole status.

They added that the Democrats had “sued the Trump administration relentlessly and blocked us in court repeatedly every time we have tried to revoke parole status.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast: “This animal would’ve never been here if not for Joe Biden’s dangerous policies, which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-approved-national-guard-shooting-suspect-rahmanullah-lakanwal-afghanistan-dhs-kristi-noem-asylum/?

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Pentagon Pete May Have Accidentally Kneecapped His Own Revenge Plot

The former Fox News host reportedly wants to make an example of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth might have accidentally sabotaged his own effort to punish a Democratic senator and retired Navy captain who appeared in a video urging military members to disobey illegal orders. Hegseth has threatened to call Sen. Mark Kelly back to active service so he can be court-martialed for appearing in the video, which also featured five other Democratic members of Congress with military or intelligence experience. Of the group, the Arizona senator achieved the highest rank and is the only one who served long enough to retire with a military pension, which means he must still follow the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or UCMJ.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host who served in the National Guard, has therefore zeroed in on Kelly, who served 25 years in the U.S. Navy and flew combat missions over Iraq before being chosen as a NASA space shuttle pilot. He retired as a captain in 2011.

The defense secretary wants to make an example of Kelly, sources told CNN. But by repeatedly accusing the senator of violating the UCMJ, Hegseth has likely kneecapped any potential military justice case against him, multiple legal experts said.

The secretary’s public statements are a clear case of “unlawful command influence,” in which a superior commander improperly influences or appears to influence the outcome of a military trial, making it impossible for the accused to receive a fair hearing, the legal experts said.

A superior commander making comments that imply they expect a certain result in a case is a textbook example of UCI, according to The Judge Advocate General’s School.

Given that everyone at the Defense Department works for Hegseth, his comments about Kelly make it nearly impossible for anyone below him to fairly convene a court to hear the case, sources told CNN.

A coalition of former and retired military judge advocates also issued a rare joint statement warning that recalling Kelly to face a court-martial would be partisan in nature, legally baseless, and compromised by unlawful command influence, the outlet reported.

The Defense Department declined to comment on CNN’s report or on Kelly’s case more broadly.

The defense secretary—who now styles himself as the “secretary of war”—has called the Democratic lawmakers the “Seditious Six” on social media and said Kelly’s conduct “brings discredit upon the armed forces and will be addressed appropriately.”

He has also suggested that Kelly’s comments violate several statutes of the UCMJ, even though Kelly and his fellow lawmakers were citing the uniform code in their Nov. 18 video.In the video, the six Democrats address members of the military and intelligence communities directly, reminding them that they took an oath to uphold the Constitution and must refuse illegal orders.

Although the video didn’t give examples of specific orders, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have questioned the legality of the U.S. military deploying to American cities and blowing up suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.

“Know that we have your back, because now, more than ever, the American people need you,” the lawmakers said.

President Donald Trump responded by writing on Truth Social, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reposted a supporter who wrote, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”

Hegseth has been exploring ways to punish Kelly, including administratively reducing his rank from captain to commander, according to CNN.

The senator, who was elected in 2020 and whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, survived an attempted assassination in 2011, has dismissed the court-martial threat as “almost comical,” and called it a “ridiculous” way for Hegseth to appease the president.

“He’s going to prosecute me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for… reciting the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” he told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday. “You can’t make this s--t up.”

The video also features former intelligence officers Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin and New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander; Pennsylvania Reps. Chris Deluzio, who served in the U.S. Navy, and Chrissy Houlahan, who was with the Air Force; and former paratrooper and Army Ranger Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-pete-may-have-accidentally-kneecapped-his-own-revenge-plot/?

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• ? President Trump is sparring with his White House ballroom architect over the 90,000-square-foot addition's size, The Washington Post reports based on anonymous sources. Trump wants to go big. The architect has counseled restraint to avoid overwhelming the historic mansion. "As with any building, there is a conversation between the principal and the architect," one White House official told the Post. "All parties are excited to execute on the president's vision on what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office." Gift link.

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Prolonging the Conflict

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Pay attention to the dates, because the timing matters. Steve Witkoff spoke with Yuri Ushakov, a Russian official, on October 14. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on October 17. Trump had been hinting that he would offer to sell Tomahawks, long-range cruise missiles, to the Ukrainian army. But he did not.

Why not? Perhaps because Ushakov listened to Witkoff’s advice and persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to call Trump on October 16. Witkoff, in other words, may have helped block that sale. And that would make Witkoff responsible for prolonging the war.

Let me back up and explain.

Witkoff, a former real-estate developer, is supposed to be negotiating a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. He is in theory acting on behalf of the United States but also on behalf of millions of people who want peace in Ukraine and security in Europe. Ushakov, a former Russian ambassador to the United States, has different interests: Like his boss, he wants Russia to win the war.

A tape of the October 14 conversation has been leaked to Bloomberg. That’s how we know Witkoff suggested to Ushakov that Putin call Trump. He also offered advice about what Putin should say. The Russian leader should flatter Trump, of course, which is standard advice for speaking to the American president: “Compliment him on his great success in Gaza, congratulate the president on this achievement.” After that, Witkoff said, “It’s going to be a really good call.”

Then, Witkoff advised, Putin should impress upon Trump this idea: “The Russian Federation has always wanted a peace deal. That’s my belief. I told the president I believe that.” Together, the two of them would cook up a peace plan, just like Trump’s recent Gaza peace plan.

Ushakov gave Putin this advice. Putin followed it. How do we know? Because Putin did, in fact, call Trump, on October 16. The call lasted for more than two hours. Trump said the call was productive, and that the two leaders would soon meet, potentially in Budapest (which never happened). During his meeting with Zelensky on the following day, he did not offer Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Instead, he became emotional and angry.

In keeping with a long-standing Russian demand, Trump tried to persuade the Ukrainians to give up Ukrainian land in Donetsk province that they currently control—land that the Russians have not been able to conquer after more than a decade of fighting. This is what Putin wants: to obtain Ukrainian territory without fighting for it, to weaken Ukraine, and to use any temporary cease-fire as an opportunity to plan the next invasion.

“With a single phone call,” one insider told Politico last month, “Putin appears to have changed President Trump’s mind on Ukraine once again.” This was Witkoff’s achievement. Working with another Kremlin insider, Kirill Dmitriev, he went on last week to propose the 28-point peace plan that could, if carried out, temporarily stop the fighting but position Russia to invade a weakened Ukraine at a later date.

I’ve written this before, but it cannot be repeated often enough: This war will end only when Russia stops fighting. The Russians need to halt the invasion, recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine, and drop their imperial ambitions. Then Ukraine can discuss borders, prisoners, and the fate of thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children.

But the only way to persuade Russia to stop fighting is to put pressure on Russia. Not Ukraine, Russia. The Ukrainians have already said they will stop fighting and agree to a cease-fire right now, on the current lines of conflict. Yet Witkoff is seeking to persuade Trump not to put pressure on Russia, and we don’t really know why.

Witkoff has no previous diplomatic experience, so perhaps he is naive. He spent many years in New York real estate, at a time when Russians were spending fortunes on property, so perhaps he feels gratitude. Maybe he’s helping Russia win because he has “the deepest respect for President Putin,” as he told Ushakov, and admires his brutality. Maybe he, or others in the White House entourage, have business interests tied to Russia—or hope to. In addition to discussing “peace,” Witkoff has also been, according to the document made public last week, talking with the Russians about American investments “in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic.”

Whatever the reason, Witkoff is prolonging the conflict. He is not promoting peace. His call to Ushakov was not, as Trump said last night, a normal negotiating tactic. Every time he intervenes, advocating for Putin’s positions, he encourages the Russians to think they can get Trump on their side, pull America away from Europe, break up NATO, and win the war. In other words, every time he intervenes on behalf of the Russians, he contributes to the deaths of Ukrainians, the attacks on infrastructure, the ongoing tragedy that affects millions of people.

If this were a normal American administration, he would be fired immediately. But nothing about this negotiation, or this administration, is normal at all.

Related:

• Trump’s real secretary of state
• The murky plan that ensures a future war

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Inside the White House meeting that launched Ukraine peace talks

Skyline of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. Photo: Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images President Trump kickstarted the latest peace talks in Ukraine last week after Vice President Vance, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, made the case that a new 28-point plan could bring a breakthrough, administration officials tell Axios' Marc Caputo. Why it matters: Their White House meeting on Nov. 18 — unreported until now — laid the groundwork for the talks in Geneva last weekend that have given the administration more hope than ever of stopping the war. In the talks, U.S. and Ukrainian officials narrowed a list of 28 conditions in the proposed peace plan to 20 items, and reached substantive agreement on 18. A senior administration official said the other two points haven't been discussed publicly "because they're delicate issues." Those two issues are likely Ukrainian territorial concessions to the invading Russians and security guarantees for Ukraine to deter more Russian aggression. During the White House strategy meeting, Trump recommended that U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, a friend of Vance's, take the proposal to Ukraine because he already was planning to visit Kyiv to assess its fighting capabilities and spirit, another source said. "It was Dan Driscoll's role, basically, to take an honest assessment of where their military situation stood by interacting directly with their military," the official said. "One of the hardest things to judge is the will to fight." ? Friction point: When Rubio flew to Geneva over the weekend to hammer out more details of the plan with Ukraine, it helped trigger an explosion of online chatter and news articles that claimed there was a divide between Vance and Rubio on Ukraine. Rubio took to X on Tuesday night to dispute a story about a "rift" with Vance, writing: "These people don't just get things wrong, they literally make things up." One of the officials said: "There's this false narrative that there are two competing teams — this Marco Rubio pro-Ukraine team, and then there's JD Vance anti-Ukraine team. It's just not true. ... You can't survive here in this administration if you take that approach. There's only one team here." ? Between the lines: Administration officials and advisers close to Vance and Rubio say the two have worked as a tag team throughout the process, a vestige of their time as friends and allies when they served together in the Senate. Their top staffers are friends and the two share an adviser, Andrew Baker.

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?️ Charities brace for rough holiday

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios As rising prices and fallout from the government shutdown squeeze Americans' budgets, many are unable to give back this holiday season — and charities are feeling the strain, Axios' Julianna Bragg reports. ? The Salvation Army will need to surpass last year's roughly $100 million total to help the 28 million Americans it serves, national community relations and development secretary Dale Bannon tells Axios. ? One Warm Coat, which provides outerwear to people in need nationwide, saw a nearly 25% increase in nonprofits applying for coats through the program this year. In Feeding America's most recent survey of partner food banks, 95% reported equal or higher demand in October versus September. The data reveals "the shock that the shutdown caused for neighbors needing food assistance and the food banks and agencies working to provide support," says Monica Lopez Gonzalez, the group's chief marketing and communications officer. Go deeper.

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Trump says he wants to ‘permanently pause’ migration to the US from poorer countries

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status. He is blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-guard-shooting-migration-17bc0655f4544cc702623574ed08eb62?

ps:This is exactly what he was hoping for and fortunately it was not anyone living in DC, but from out of town from what I can gather!!

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World Leader Absolutely Rips Trump’s Social Media ‘Insults’

The U.S. president has continued to make wild claims about the country.

President Donald Trump warned South Africa that it will not be invited to next year’s G20 summit in Miami after what he perceived to be a snub against the United States.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly clapped back, calling Trump’s salty social media post “regrettable.”

On Wednesday, Trump, 79, repeated his claim that a white “genocide” was taking place in South Africa, promoting a debunked right-wing conspiracy theory. He also said he was offended by a protocol dispute at the G20 summit held in Johannesburg last week.

The meeting was attended by leaders from Japan, China, Australia, France, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, and other countries. But while the U.S. is usually present, Trump refused to attend or to send any White House officials to the event.

“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” he wrote in a post on Nov. 7. “No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”

In a G20 tradition, President Ramaphosa declared the event closed by banging a gavel on a block. The gavel is then traditionally handed over to the leader of the next country to hold the rotating presidency.

The White House instead attempted to send a staffer from its South African embassy to accept the gavel handover. However, South African officials felt handing the gavel to a junior diplomat was an insult and a breach of protocol.

Trump posted, “At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony.”

He added, “Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year. South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”

Ramaphosa posted a lengthy statement on X, saying, “As the United States was not present at the summit, instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handed over to a US Embassy official at the Headquarters of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.”

He said while the U.S. was expected to participate in all the G20 meetings, it elected not to attend the summit in Johannesburg of its “own volition.”

The president added, “South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms.”

Ramaphosa said that South Africa would “never insult or demean another country or its standing and worthiness in the community of nations.”

His statement ended by noting it was “regrettable” that despite “numerous attempts” to reset South Africa’s diplomatic relationship with the U.S., “President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country.”

In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed America’s absence from the G20 was because the South African government “refuses to acknowledge or address” Human Rights abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German colonists.

“To put it more bluntly,” Trump said, “they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.”

It is the latest move in the ongoing feud Trump has with South Africa over his claims they are discriminating against the white population of the country.

When Ramaphosa met with Trump at the White House in May, he played the president a video of what he claimed were the burial grounds of white farmers allegedly killed by Black South Africans trying to take their land.

Trump then confronted Ramaphosa with unsubstantiated claims that South Africa’s Black-led government is anti-white and perpetrating a “white genocide” against local farmers—while Elon Musk, the South African-born billionaire, stood on the sidelines of the Oval Office.

“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?” Ramaphosa said in response to the claims. “I’d like to know where that is, because this I’ve never seen.”

Fact-checkers later established that the footage Trump played didn’t actually show the “burial sites” of “over a thousand” white farmers.

The white crosses on display had been temporarily erected as a memorial to a white farming couple shot dead on their premises in 2020.

Trump claimed the “Fake News Media” were not covering the “genocide.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/world-leader-lashes-regrettable-trump-post-after-g20-snub/?

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Donald Trump Uses Shocking Slur in Late-Night Thanksgiving Message

The president dropped the offensive word in a rant against being “politically correct.”

Donald Trump used a late-night Thanksgiving message to deploy an offensive slur against a political rival before announcing he wants to pause migration from all “Third World Countries.”

Trump began his rambling post with a happy Thanksgiving greeting, but it quickly devolved into an anti-immigration ragepost, blaming “American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up.”

Trump said he would “permanently pause migration” from “all Third World Countries” in the wake of the fatal shooting in Washington, D.C., in which the suspected gunman is an Afghan national.

The 79-year-old was also fuming about a familiar talking point—Somalia—when he used the slur against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Complaining on Truth Social about America being “Politically Correct” over immigration policies, the president then circled back on his plans to terminate the temporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota.

The president had earlier in the evening told reporters that “Somalians have caused a lot of trouble,” and ”We’re not taking their people anymore. We’re getting a lot of their people out because they’re nothing but trouble.”

Last week, Trump claimed Minnesota is a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and said he wanted the Somalis living there sent “back to where they came from.”

Trump wrote on Thursday that there were “hundreds of thousands” of refugees from Somalia, “completely taking over” Minnesota.

“Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone,” Trump claimed.

“The seriously ret---ed Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both,” Trump wrote.

Walz reposted Trump’s offensive post on his X account, adding the caption “Release the MRI results.”

Since Trump admitted he had an MRI scan at his medical check-up last month, but did not say what the scan was for, debate has raged about the president’s cognitive decline.

Not content with insulting Walz, Trump then unleashed on Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia but has lived in the U.S. for 30 years.

The president labeled her “the worst ‘Congressman/woman’ in our Country” and said she was “always wrapped in her swaddling hijab.”

He claimed Omar “does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country... and how ‘badly’ she is treated,” calling her “place of origin” a “decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation.”

The Daily Beast has contacted Walz’s and Omar’s offices for comment.

Trump has blamed former President Joe Biden’s immigration policy for the arrival of the Afghan national who is the suspect in Wednesday’s fatal shooting in Washington, D.C.

The suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan man who has lived in Washington since 2021 after fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country. CNN reported that he had “applied for asylum in 2024, and it was granted by the Trump administration in April 2025.”

During a press conference on Thursday, Trump called a female reporter “stupid” when she said his Department of Justice this year reported there had been “thorough vetting” by the DHS and FBI of Afghans who had entered the U.S.

When directly asked if the suspect was granted asylum under his watch, Trump dodged the question, saying, “When it comes to asylum, when they’re flown in, it’s very hard to get them out, no matter how you want to do it’s very hard to get them out, but we’re going to be getting them all out.”

Trump’s Thursday night Truth Social screed followed suit, adding that America and “certain other foolish countries” were being “just plain STUPID” when it comes to immigration.

Claiming that most immigrants in the U.S. are on “welfare, from failed nations or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels,” Trump said they were being supported through “massive” welfare payments from “patriotic” Americans, “who, because of their beautiful hearts, do not want to openly complain or cause trouble in any way, shape, or form.”

Trump then made his threat to “permanently pause migration” from all Third World countries, claiming it would “allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”

Trump also said his administration planned to “deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

He noted that “only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”

Earlier on Thursday, Trump ordered a review of all green card holders who came from “countries of concern.”

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said Thursday afternoon in a statement on X.

The Trump appointee stated, “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies. American safety is non-negotiable.”

Trump’s Thursday post ended with the line, “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-uses-shocking-slur-in-late-night-thanksgiving-message/?

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Trump, 79, Derails Troop Call With Bonkers Rant About His Golf Record

The president spent Thanksgiving bragging about being better at golf than Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump veered off the fairway into the rough after being asked during a Thanksgiving call with troops just how good he is at golf.

In a livestreamed call Thursday with troops from bases around the world, Trump was asked his true golf handicap and if he and former President Joe Biden are ever going to play a round.

Trump claimed he had invited Biden, but he never showed up, but dodged the question about his own golf handicap except to suggest it was far better than his predecessor’s. In an extended brag, he also insisted that his dozens of tournament wins were all “legitimate.”

Trump has gone golfing on nearly 25 percent of the days he’s been back in office, according to a website that tracks his time on the green.

He golfed through it over the summer while his administration was taking heat from his own supporters for failing to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and again this fall during the record-long government shutdown.

Asked about his handicap during the Thanksgiving call—after bluntly breaking the news that a National Guard member shot near the White House had died—Trump rambled off into a defense of his golfing record.

“I know a lot about golf. I’ve won 38 club championships, and I don’t get to practice much. I won one last year,” he said. “I won a club championship at a big club, beating a 27-year-old kid. I said, ‘You know, I’m decades older than you.’ But I said, ‘The fairway doesn’t know how old you are as you walk up the middle and he’s in the rough.’ And, uh, I’ve been a good golfer over the years.”

He didn’t say what his handicap is, describing it only as “very low.”

The president has been dogged for years by accusations that he cheats at his favorite pastime by kicking balls from the rough into the fairway, instructing his caddies to throw opponents’ balls into bunkers, and awarding himself numerous “gimme putts,” according to The Times of London.

He also regularly claims to “win” tournaments at his own clubs, including competitions where he has skipped rounds or where nobody has seen him play, The Palm Beach Post reported.

During his Thanksgiving call, Trump insisted that all of his tournament wins had been “legitimate” and then launched into a rant about Biden.

“A lot of people talk, but they can’t play, like Biden. Biden can’t hit a ball 30 yards. I’m telling you, I looked at his swing. He cannot hit a ball 30 yards. He said he was a 6-handicapped. He said—that was the only thing that made me angry during the debate with him—he said he was a 6. I said, ‘You’re not a 6.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m an 8.’ I said, ‘That was quick. I picked up 2.’ But he’s not 100.”

During the 2024 debate, Trump and Biden sparred over the former president’s golf handicap, which Biden said was previously an 8 but that he’d gotten down to a 6 while he was serving as vice president under Barack Obama.

Golf pros who analyzed footage of Trump’s swing told the Daily Beast in August that Trump’s game was above average and impressive for a man in his late seventies, but that it wasn’t champion-level play.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-79-derails-troop-call-with-bonkers-rant-about-his-golf-record/?

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Trump Gives Jaw-Dropping Answer on Attending Slain National Guard Member’s Funeral

Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was shot and killed in the attack in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump responded to a question about whether he will attend the funeral of a National Guard member killed in Washington, D.C., by bragging about his electoral success in her home state.

Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was fatally shot just blocks from the White House. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was also shot and is in critical condition.

Asked Thursday if he plans to attend Beckstrom’s funeral, Trump said he “hadn’t given it any thought, but it sounds like something I could do.”

“I love West Virginia,” he said from his Mar-a-Lago resort of Beckstrom’s home state. “You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere. These are great people. I love the people of West Virginia.”

Beckstrom and Wolfe were ambushed near Farragut Square, just blocks from the White House, while on deployment with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump’s move to take over law enforcement in the capital.

After she was hospitalized in critical condition, Beckstrom’s father Gary Beckstrom told a New York Times reporter, “I’m holding her hand right now. She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”

Trump said Thursday he had learned Beckstrom had succumbed to her injuries. He called her a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” who was “outstanding in every way” before launching into an attack on his predecessor Joe Biden. Officials arrested a suspect at the scene who has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who served in an anti-Taliban paramilitary force supported by the CIA.

Lakanwal was granted entry into the U.S. in 2021 during a Biden-era program for Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover and granted asylum by the Trump administration in April.

Officials allege that he drove across the country from Washington State to carry out the attack, The New York Times reported, though a suspected motive has not been released.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-gives-jaw-dropping-answer-on-attending-slain-national-guard-member-sarah-beckstroms-funeral/?

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Trump vows to ‘permanently pause’ migration from poor nations in anti-immigrant social media screed President Donald Trump vowed on Thanksgiving to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations in a blistering late-night, anti-immigrant screed posted to social media. It came in the wake of the Wednesday shooting of two National Guard members. The suspect entered the U.S. in 2021 through a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials said. Read more.

What to know: The president said on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born U.S. residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels” as he blamed them for crime across the country that is predominantly committed by U.S. citizens.   A study by economists initially released in 2023 found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have been imprisoned at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to past research undermining Trump’s claims.   Trump pledged to “terminate” millions of admissions to the country made during the term of his predecessor, Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for noncitizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump criticizes the program that brought Afghan refugees to the US who fought the Taliban   Refugee groups worry about backlash after shooting of National Guard soldiers in DC   A look at the National Guard presence since Trump sent troops to Washington in August   2 Virginia brothers allegedly plotted to kill ICE agents, Homeland Security says   Court transcripts show Border Patrol official Greg Bovino dodging questions about use of force   Federal judge expands access to bond hearings for detained immigrants nationwide   Sons of Virginia Giuffre, who accused Andrew and Epstein of abuse, seek control of her estate   Judges allow North Carolina to use a map drawn in bid to give Republicans another US House seat   West Virginia parents can cite religious beliefs to opt out of school vaccines, judge says   Trump administration says lower prices for 15 Medicare drugs will save taxpayers billions   ‘Rush Hour 4' will be distributed by Paramount after Trump’s reported request   America will celebrate its 250th birthday next year. There’s a commemorative ornament for it   Gary Walters worked in the White House for 37 years. Here’s what the chief usher saw

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? 1 for the road: Trump's gift room

Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times President Trump uses a small, seldom-seen study just off the Oval Office as a miniature version of the gift shops at Trump properties, the N.Y. Times' Doug Mills and Ashley Wu write. Trump shows off the merch to foreign leaders, and has been known to hand out trinkets and tchotchkes to favored visitors, like he does at his clubs. When Doug Mills took these photos last month, goodies on display included Trump 2028 hats (two styles) ... cuff links ... and tumblers, water bottles, towels and M&M's with Trump's signature and the presidential seal.   The study is between the Oval Office and Trump's private dining room — "part of a small suite of private rooms, including a bathroom ... clustered off the Oval Office for the president's use," The Times notes: "The president does not appear to be selling anything from this room ... According to a White House official, Mr. Trump uses the Oval Office as his primary office, and therefore wanted to turn the lesser-used study into a gift room for guests. The items in the room are swapped out or restocked at the discretion of Mr. Trump." N.Y. Times gift link.

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? President Trump said during an event last evening that the U.S. may "almost completely" eliminate income tax in the next couple of years due to tariff revenue. That would require over $2.5 trillion a year in tariff collections, more than 10 times what the government actually took in during the last fiscal year. Go deeper.

Suspect in shooting of National Guard members now facing a first-degree murder charge

Charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia announced Friday. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, now include one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Trinidad’s leader backtracks and says US Marines are in the country working on airport radar Dominican Republic grants US access to restricted areas for its deadly fight against drugs College freshman is deported flying home for Thanksgiving surprise, despite court order Long-awaited $3.6B in heating assistance released to states and tribes National Parks to raise fees for millions of international tourists to popular US parks

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Did Trump administration grant asylum to DC National Guard shooting suspect? What we know

One National Guard member died and another was wounded in a shooting on Nov. 26, 2025. The suspect, an Afghan national, faced a murder charge.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/11/28/trump-asylum-dc-shooting/?

U.S. Military Documents Indicate Plans to Keep Troops in Caribbean Through 2028

The United States is formulating plans to feed a massive military presence in the Caribbean almost to the end of President Donald Trump’s term in office — suggesting the recent influx of American troops to the region won’t end anytime soon.

https://theintercept.com/2025/11/25/trump-caribbean-venezuela-military-troops/?

Keep Talking About Gaza at Your Thanksgiving Table

If Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been a site of tension in your family for the last two Thanksgiving holidays, this year should be no different. The so-called ceasefire might seem like a good excuse to bury the hatchet and enjoy a quieter turkey dinner, but when we look at the harrowing status quo for Palestinians in Gaza today, there is no peace to be thankful for — especially not on a day that marks the remembrance of this country’s own genocide against Indigenous Americans.

https://theintercept.com/2025/11/27/gaza-thanksgiving-family/?

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Rolling back history

Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photos: Getty Images

In the past year, federal, state and institutional decisions have gutted major pillars of America's civil rights protections and racial equity infrastructure, wiping away public data, slashing research funding and erasing Black history, Axios' Delano Massey reports. Why it matters: Taken together, these moves amount to an unprecedented rollback of civil rights progress, historians say — the largest since Reconstruction. Effects are piling up: $3.4 billion in grants for HBCUs, public health research and Black entrepreneurs have been cut or frozen, according to the Blackout Report, from the nonprofit Onyx Impact. 6,769 federal datasets have been deleted, including those tracking maternal mortality and sickle cell disease, which disproportionately affect Black Americans, per the Blackout report. 591 books by Black authors have been banned from Pentagon-run schools and libraries, Onyx Impact notes. The removed titles include works by Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Ibram X. Kendi. The Trump administration is reviewing national museums, including the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture, after President Trump criticized the museums as being "out of control" and focusing on "how horrible our country is." Government websites have deleted content related to Black history. Some deleted material — including National Park Service pages about Harriet Tubman and Medgar Evers — was restored after public backlash, but researchers say most erasures remain uncorrected. Colleges across the country have shuttered cultural centers, including those that are geared toward Black students, The Washington Post reports. ? What we're watching: The cuts and deletions are, paradoxically, drawing more attention to Black history, says National Urban League president Marc H. Morial. "The attempt to erase history has made all of us more cognizant of the need to tell it," he said.

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?? Breaking: Trump declares Venezuelan airspace closed

With the growing threat of a U.S. attack, President Trump posted on Truth Social this morning: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP."

Why it matters: Trump has been threatening military action against Venezuela as part of his effort to deter what he calls narco-terrorists.

• The U.S. Navy has built up warships off Venezuela's coast. U.S missiles have been obliterating boats allegedly running drugs in the Caribbean.

? Between the lines: Administration officials told Axios' Marc Caputo that Plan A was to pile so much pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that he'd flee Venezuela. This could be another attempt to ratchet up that pressure — or a sign that threats are about to turn into action. 

On Thanksgiving, Trump told U.S. service members that after deterring Venezuelan drug traffickers by sea, "we'll be starting to stop them by land also ... The land is easier, but that's going to start very soon."

• Last week, the FAA warned airlines of a "potentially hazardous situation" when flying over Venezuela "due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around" the country.

⚡ U.S. pauses asylum: Continuing the clampdown since the shooting of two National Guard members, Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (part of Homeland Security), tweeted last evening that USCIS "has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." Get the latest.

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? ICE turns to local police

Data: ICE. Map: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals The Trump administration doesn't have enough Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to meet its deportation goals. But it's placed a huge bet that thousands of local cops can help, Axios' Brittany Gibson reports. Why it matters: ICE has signed 1,100+ agreements this year for local law enforcement to cooperate on immigration arrests and detentions. The agency is dangling financial incentives from President Trump's "big, beautiful bill." ? By the numbers: Nearly 650 counties now participate in some form of the 287(g) agreement, a formal partnership between ICE and non-federal law enforcement. Red states are fueling the surge with new laws requiring cooperation. DHS says these partners will also help vet sponsors of migrant children who have lost contact with the government. ICE is offering to reimburse full salary, benefits and 25% of overtime for "each eligible trained 287(g) officer" — plus bonuses of up to $1,000 based on "successful location of illegal aliens provided by ICE and overall assistance."

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? U.S., Ukrainian officials meet in Miami today

U.S. and Ukrainian officials will negotiate outside Miami this morning at Steve Witkoff's exclusive Shell Bay golf club, before President Trump's envoys head to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Why it matters: The U.S. and Ukraine are working to finalize understandings on the U.S. peace plan, which has been heavily revised over several days of talks to be more palatable to Kyiv. Witkoff, Trump's envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, are expected to present that document to Putin on Tuesday.

Between the lines: President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff and lead negotiator, Andriy Yermak, who was expected to lead the Ukrainian delegation, resigned Friday after anti-corruption authorities raided his home.

• The corruption probe has reached deep into Zelensky's inner circle and rattled his government. Yermak, long seen as the second-most powerful person in Ukraine, texted associates on Sunday that he was "going to the front" in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian contingent, now led by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, is already in Miami ahead of the meeting.

• The U.S. team includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner.

? What to watch: During talks in Geneva last Sunday, the sides reached agreements in principle on all but two issues: territory and security guarantees.

• A senior U.S. official said the White House wants to close the gaps on those last two issues today: "The Ukrainians know what we expect from them."

Keep reading.

ps:For what purpose? Just to give everything to Russia??????????