5️⃣ White House Exodus Begins
The FBI Deputy Director’s office sits empty as Dan Bongino clears out ahead of his January departure, while Trump’s own Chief of Staff spent months telling Vanity Fair he has an alcoholic’s personality and his cabinet is filled with zealots and conspiracy theorists. Bongino clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein files and yelled at people during meetings, while FBI agents openly count down the days until he’s gone. The MAGA exodus is beginning. Bongino knows what’s in the Epstein files and he knows that if he hangs around much longer, he will never work again, never make money again, never be taken seriously again. Susie Wiles sat for 11 hours with Vanity Fair over 20 hours across different visits, all recorded, plotting her exit and effectively telling Trump in the press: I got all the dirt, I know where all the bodies are. The rats are fleeing the ship.
4️⃣ Applebaum: Trump’s National Security Strategy is a Suicide Note
Anne Applebaum’s devastating analysis calls Trump’s National Security Strategy a suicide note that refuses to name Russia, China, or Iran as threats while identifying one enemy: European liberal democracy itself. The document aims to help illiberal forces in Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Austria break up the EU, using language about Europe’s civilizational erasure that former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt says is to the right of the extreme right. Trump dismantled the Global Engagement Center, ending cooperation with 24 countries against Russian and Chinese influence campaigns in what amounts to unilateral disarmament. The administration’s information now comes from conspiracist websites and random X accounts as America abandons allies and targets democracies while ignoring actual adversaries.
3️⃣ Britain and Canada Mobilize as War Drums Beat
Britain just launched Military Intelligence Services, consolidating all defense intelligence under one organization for the first time in UK history, as Canada mobilizes 300,000 civilians in the biggest force buildup since World War II. Canada isn’t just expanding its military, it’s pivoting completely toward Europe: joining EU defense programs, building Gripen fighters domestically, constructing an Arctic satellite shield, and signing major defense pacts with Sweden and Germany. The era of relying on America is over. Canada refuses to be caught sleeping by Russia, by chaos, and definitely not by a Trump Administration that sees us as strategic terrain. When your closest allies stop trusting your protection and start building their own defense infrastructure at wartime scale, that’s the signal—the world is realigning away from America.
2️⃣ ISIS Strikes on Two Continents Same Day
ISIS struck on two continents on the same day, killing 2 US soldiers in Syria and massacring 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, showing coordinated resurgence while Trump partners with former terrorists. The Syria attack came from inside: a Syrian Internal Security Forces member killed Americans in a green-on-blue attack after officials warned the US coalition about ISIS threats that were ignored. Hours later in Sydney, a father-son team with ISIS flags in their car and an improvised explosive device killed a 10-year-old girl and Holocaust survivor at Bondi Beach in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades. The son had been investigated by Australian intelligence in 2019 for ISIS cell connections and recently returned from the Philippines’ ISIS stronghold, yet his father—who had six licensed firearms—faced no scrutiny before they targeted Jews celebrating Hanukkah.
1️⃣ Trump’s Delusional Address Tonight
Trump addresses the nation tonight at 9 PM to celebrate a great year that exists only in his head—approval at 39%, economic approval at 33%, 70% saying the economy is poor—while four House Republicans broke ranks to defy Speaker Johnson on healthcare and a Kentucky Democrat just won by 47 points. Johnson’s authority collapsed as Republicans signed the Democratic discharge petition that’s now three signatures from forcing a vote on ACA subsidies, with 22 million Americans facing premiums that double January 1. He just knows he’s going to give an address and try and convince you things aren’t as bad as they are. Things are far much worse than you think. The king of delusion celebrates his imaginary kingdom tonight as the real one burns and his own Chief of Staff admits that retribution is the one priority.
The United States of America is going through some things right now.
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