Five Falsehoods From Trump’s Year-End Address

 https://www.newsweek.com/five-falsehoods-from-trumps-year-end-address-11231600

President Donald Trump opened his national address Wednesday night with a familiar phrase, one he’s used since returning to office nearly a year ago: “I inherited a mess.”

In a speech that moved rapidly from economic claims to immigration, energy, housing, health care and crime, Trump painted a sweeping picture of national revival under his leadership and offered a long list of promises and boasts

Instead of outlining new policy in detail, Trump leaned heavily on declarative claims about prices, border security, the job market and his own election results. He described a country that had been “absolutely dead” before his return, and one that is now, he said, “the hottest anywhere in the world.”

Inflation: Trump Says It’s Over, But Prices Are Still Rising

Gas Prices: No State Has Reached the $1.99 Trump Claimed

Investment: Trump Touts $18 Trillion, but Only $9.6 Trillion Is Logged

Not all of Trump’s claims during his national address were false. Several had a basis in real data, though many were overstated.

Lawrence: ‘Immoral’ is Donald Trump’s brand, and his chief of staff just proved it

‘Every word is on tape’: Vanity Fair reporter says ‘everybody was on board’ for Wiles interviews

New York Stands at a Crossroads: The Fight Over Legalized Killing

 https://vinnews.com/2025/12/15/new-york-stands-at-a-crossroads-the-fight-over-legalized-killing/

The bill is called the “Medical Aid in Dying” act. The name itself is a masterpiece of political dishonesty. “Aid” suggests help. “Dying” suggests something inevitable. But strip away the euphemisms and you find the truth: this is a law that would put poison in the hands of vulnerable people, with almost no way to take it back, and call the killing “medicine.”

Hochul agrees to sign Medical Aid in Dying bill

 https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2025/12/hochul-agrees-sign-medical-aid-dying-bill/410219/

After months of negotiations over a controversial measure that would permit doctors to help some terminally ill patients end their lives, sources told City & State that Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to announce a deal to sign it on Wednesday. 

‘Extremely demoralizing’: Republicans respond to the bombastic Wiles interview

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/16/why-vanity-fair-aides-and-allies-wonder-what-wiles-west-wing-were-thinking-extremely-demoralizing-republicans-respond-to-the-bombastic-wiles-interview-00693821

White House aides and allies on Tuesday rushed to publicly defend Susie Wiles after a jaw-dropping interview in Vanity Fair had her pointedly criticizing the president and many in the Cabinet.

Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “Junkyard Dogs”: The White House Chief of Staff on Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-susie-wiles-interview-exclusive-part-1?srsltid=AfmBOoqsamWkMVL2lyRQ8ePSEEQsEKeju1FYBOE59tkrlSkR4FPKw7Oj

Throughout the first year of Donald Trump’s second administration, Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple has interviewed Wiles amid each moment of crisis. This insider’s account joins a portfolio of portraits for an unflinching, up-close look at power—and peril.

Sen. Chris Murphy after boat strike briefing: There’s ‘no fentanyl’ and ‘no legal justification’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5651822-trump-administration-strikes-questioned/

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Tuesday’s classified briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirms the Trump administration has no legal or national security justification for the strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. 

A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Murphy said in a video on the social platform X that the two Cabinet officials admitted to lawmakers that the accused drug-trafficking vessels are believed to be smuggling cocaine, not fentanyl. He also said Rubio and Hegseth said intelligence suggested the boats were going to Europe, not the U.S., contradicting the administration’s public justification for the strikes. 

6 takeaways from Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles’ unvarnished interviews

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/politics/takeaways-susie-wiles-interview

The money quote from the interview might be Wiles saying that Trump – a known teetotaler – has an “alcoholic’s personality.”

(Wiles denied those quotes to The New York Times, but the Times says Vanity Fair played its tape of Wiles saying these things.)

Rav Yitzchok Abadi zt”l – A Light That Illuminated Generations

 https://vinnews.com/2025/12/16/rav-yitzchok-abadi-ztl-a-light-that-illuminated-generations/

Rav Yitzchok Abadi zt”l was not simply a rav—he was an embodiment of what Torah greatness looks like when combined with brilliance, courage, humility and unwavering dedication to truth.

MAGA leaders warn Trump the base is checking out. Will he listen?

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/15/trump-base-maga-midterm-voters/

Savanah Hernandez, a conservative commentator who serves as a Turning Point USA contributor, described the second Trump term so far as “underwhelming,” while crediting Trump with making positive, lasting changes to the conservative movement.

“All we’ve really seen is punchy tweets, cool video edits, but really no follow-through on any of the promises,” she said of the messaging coming from the White House.

“And if he listened to his base and he was connected to us, even just through social media, you would see that the average person is still struggling to buy groceries, that the housing crisis is still on the mind of everybody, that inflation is still a really big issue, and when Americans see billions of dollars going overseas to any country, it really feels like a betrayal when we’re struggling here at home,” Hernandez said.

Trump says looking into whether Israel violated ceasefire by killing Hamas leader

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-880379

US President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration was looking into whether Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire by killing a Hamas leader on Saturday.

The White House sent a scolding message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, expressing

Washington’s anger over the assassination of senior Hamas official Sa’ad Ra’ad, which it described as an Israeli violation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, two American sources told Axios.

Donald Trump's Son Uses Presidential Power in Court

Donald Trump’s Response to Rob Reiner’s Death Sparks MAGA Backlash

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-response-to-rob-reiners-death-sparks-maga-backlash-11214421

"A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood," Trump wrote in a Monday morning post on Truth Social, his preferred method for communicating directly with the American public."Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, 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.Trump's Monday post about Reiner concluded: "He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!"

Listen to the people, President Trump — they really DO feel economic pain

 https://nypost.com/2025/12/08/opinion/listen-to-the-people-president-trump-they-really-do-feel-economic-pain/

President Trump is stepping out of his White House bubble to address economic gloom; we expect he’ll make time to listen as well as speechify.

He needs to be careful: Slamming Democrats’ talk of “affordability” as a “con job” is readily twisted to make it seem like he doesn’t think people are suffering.

We realize that he means that Dems are responsible for the nation’s current woes; they can’t credibly claim to be the party of strong economic growth, which is the only way out of this box.

The prez can and should offer genuine assurances, but must admit the frustration is painfully real: Three-quarters of Americans view the economy negatively, a Fox News survey found last month.

RFK Jr.’s lunatic war on vaccines puts kids at risk

 https://nypost.com/2025/12/14/opinion/rfk-jr-s-dangerous-war-on-vaccines-puts-kids-at-risk/

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is still chipping away at one of the biggest public health wins of the last century: the widespread use of disease-eradicating vaccines.

On Dec. 5, his handpicked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices tossed the recommendation for universal hepatitis B vaccines for infants at birth, instead advising it only for babies whose mothers tested positive for the disease — and recommending that babies who don’t get the jab at birth don’t receive it earlier than 2 months.

But … why?

The hep B vaccine has a stellar safety record, and relying on testing is a bad plan; it’s usually done in the first trimester or during birth, but can go wrong in plenty of ways — like moms being exposed post-test, or not getting tested at all.

Universal at-birth vaccination is a low-risk, very effective strategy for preventing a disease that has a 90% chance of becoming a chronic, liver-damaging, possibly deadly illness for babies who get infected.

The Hidden Story of Chanukah | Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Chanukah in Our Time | Rabbi Sacks | Chanukah

Bondi Beach Terror Attack: At Least 16 Killed as Gunmen Target Jewish Holiday Event

 https://time.com/7340702/bondi-beach-shooting-terror-attack/

At least 16 people have been killed and dozens injured after two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, in what officials have described as the deadliest mass shooting to hit Australia in 30 years.

The shooting, which Australian authorities have declared a terror attack, targeted hundreds of people celebrating Hanukkah at the beach. One witness said people who were not part of the Hanukkah event were ushered aside by the shooters. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.

At least 40 people were confirmed wounded in the shooting, which began around 6.45 p.m. on Sunday at one of Sydney's most popular tourist destinations. One gunman was shot and a second was arrested.

“Most People Have No Idea How Bad Trump’s Health Really Is” - Rick Wilson

How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed

 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/andrew-tate-barron-trump-romania.html

Barred from leaving Romania, Andrew Tate courted powerful figures on the American right, from Tucker Carlson to Barron Trump. Then an extraordinary order let him go.

When Andrew texted in January that the Trump administration was “on top of things,” he didn’t name names.

But several of his supporters had found roles in the incoming government.

Paul Ingrassia, who was initially named White House liaison to the Justice Department, had once been part of the Tates’ legal team. Alina Habba, a counselor to the president who would later serve a brief stint as New Jersey’s top prosecutor, told Andrew on a podcast in January that “I got your back over here.”

And Mr. Grenell, a special presidential envoy, privately discussed the Tates’ case with Romanian officials, The Times found.

Megyn Kelly and Ben Shapiro denounced the Tates. Some Republican leaders spoke out, too.

“I certainly don’t think that we should be using any influence in our government to try to get him out of what seemed to be extremely serious charges in Romania,” Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri told HuffPost, referring to Andrew.

Trump Supporter despite his supporting Drug Trader and antisemite

 https://mishpacha.com/trump-flunks-the-test/

 “I supported Trump with full awareness that he would frequently embarrass himself, and, by extension, me.” One such moment took place this week when the president pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras, who had served only two years of a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking.

That pardon created an air of complete incoherence around American policy. At the very moment when the president has basically declared war on Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro for running drugs into the country, and has claimed the right to blast speedboats allegedly carrying those drugs out of the water, he pardons another Latin American leader-cum-drug lord.

Another of those embarrassing Trumpian moments — and one of greater consequence for the Jewish community — took place recently, when he weighed in on the controversy around Tucker Carlson’s softball interview of neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.

Can one urge rounding up and killing Jews, as Fuentes has done, and still be part of the MAGA movement? That’s one question. The other: Is Carlson complicit in those ideas when he provides them with a broad audience? And if he is complicit, is he still part of the MAGA team?

Trump Administration helps free the Tate Brothers

‘Mamdani Effect’ Is Seeing More People Moving to New York, Not Leaving It

 https://www.newsweek.com/mamdani-effect-more-people-moving-new-york-city-not-leaving-11193747

A month after Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in New York City’s mayoral election, the mass exodus of wealthy residents that landlords and real estate agents—especially down in Florida—had predicted has so far failed to materialize.

Instead, sales of luxury homes in the Big Apple—priced above $4 million—were up by 31 percent in November compared with October to 151 properties, according to the latest data by real estate brokerage firm Olshan Realty. 

Environmental group sues Trump for replacing national park pass photo with his own image

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/environmental-group-sues-trump-replacing-national-park-pass-photo-his-own-image

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Wednesday to prevent President Donald Trump's face from appearing on next year's National Parks Pass.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., argues the Trump administration violated the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act by substituting the winning picture from the National Parks Foundation's annual public lands photo contest with an image of President Trump.

"Blotting out the majesty of America’s national parks with a closeup of his own face is Trump’s crassest, most ego-driven action yet," Kierán Suckling, the center's executive director, said in a statement. "The national parks are treasured by Americans of every stripe. Their timeless power and magnificence rise above even the most bitter political differences to quietly bring all Americans together."

Suckling continued, "It’s disgusting of Trump to politicize America’s most sacred refuge by pasting his face over the national parks in the same way he slaps his corporate name on buildings, restaurants, and golf courses.

US becomes the Pirates of the Carribean

‘WALKING HYPOCRITE’: Claire McCaskill calls out Trump for mocking affordability

Rand Paul DESTROYS Pete Hegseth Over Deadly Boat Strikes!

Loomer on boat strikes: ‘Fentanyl isn’t being manufactured in Venezuela’

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5638688-laura-loomer-trump-venezuela-drug-strikes/

Far-right activist Laura Loomer noted inconsistencies with the Trump administration’s justification of strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of Venezuela.

Loomer said Monday on the social platform X that while she has “no sympathy for narcoterrorists being killed,” it is “worth noting” that the majority of drugs, including fentanyl, brought into the U.S. are trafficked through Mexico.“Fentanyl isn’t being manufactured in Venezuela,” she added.

Fact check: Trump’s absurd claim that he saved 100,000 lives by attacking alleged Venezuelan drug boats

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/08/politics/venezuela-drug-boats-trump

The total number of US overdose deaths from all drugs in 2024 was about 82,000, according to provisional federal data. (Even adding in reported Canadian opioid and stimulant deaths doesn’t bring the total to 100,000.) Trump is essentially claiming, in other words, that his decision to attack a small number of boats in the Caribbean – there have been at least four US strikes since the beginning of September – prevented more than a full year’s worth of deaths.

There are other issues with Trump’s claims. The White House and Defense Department have not presented proof that the boats were carrying either drugs in general or the “fentanyl, mostly” Trump claimed last week they were carrying, nor that the people on the boats were planning to try to get such drugs into the US. The Caribbean is not known to be a significant fentanyl-smuggling route, and Venezuela is not considered a significant source of the illicit fentanyl trafficked into the US. That fentanyl is primarily manufactured in Mexico and smuggled across the US border in vehicles – generally by US citizens.

Fact-checking Trump’s claim that each boat strike off Venezuela’s coast saves 25,000 lives

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-claim-that-each-boat-strike-off-venezuelas-coast-saves-25000-lives

President Donald Trump said U.S. military strikes on five Venezuelan boats have saved more than 100,000 lives because the maneuvers thwarted drug smuggling.

Several aspects of Trump’s statement make it wrong.

There is no way of knowing how many lives are saved as a result of drug interception efforts, drug experts have told PolitiFact.

Additionally, if Trump’s statement were accurate, the strikes on five boats in less than two months would have saved nearly double the number of U.S. lives lost to drug overdoses in an entire year.

The administration has provided no evidence about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on the boats. This lack of information makes it impossible to know how many lethal doses of the drugs could have been destroyed.

Even if the boats were carrying 25,000 lethal drug doses each, that doesn’t mean that destroying them saved 125,000 lives. There were 73,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. That means the drugs on five boats would have been responsible for 125,000 deaths, nearly double the number of U.S. overdose deaths in one year.

The amount of drugs that are stopped from entering the U.S. doesn’t indicate how many lives were saved.

We rate Trump’s statement Pants on Fire! ​

Honduras issues arrest warrant for ex-president Hernández recently pardoned by Trump

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/09/americas/honduras-issues-arrest-warrant-for-ex-president-hernandez-recently-pardoned-by-trump

Luis Santos, the director of Honduras’ Specialized Unit against Corruption Crimes, told CNN a few days ago that Hernández had “an open case in the Supreme Court of Justice for money laundering and fraud,” and that an earlier international arrest warrant had been in the possession of the Ministry of Security and Interpol since September 2023.

Trump formally pardoned Hernández on Dec. 3, telling reporters at the White House “I feel pretty good about it,” and calling the prosecution a “Biden horrible witch hunt.”

The move was criticized by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress, who questioned Trump’s decision to pardon someone with a drug trafficking conviction when his administration has been so focused on disrupting drug trafficking in Latin America, ramping up military activity and launching controversial strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

'I didn't say that': Trump backtracks on double-tap strike video release