DEAN WILL BE BACK ON MONDAY
5️⃣ HEGSETH’S MURDER ORDER
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a direct verbal order before the first Caribbean boat strike: “Kill everybody.” When two survivors were spotted clinging to burning wreckage after the missile hit, the SEAL Team 6 commander ordered a second strike. The Pentagon told Congress it was to “remove a navigation hazard.” Former military lawyers call it what it is: murder. An order to kill those who can no longer fight is an order to show no quarter—a war crime. Whether Trump stands by Hegseth or not, these people still face the law. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran, put it plainly: Americans will be prosecuted for this.
4️⃣ TRUMP IS TO BLAME FOR NATIONAL GUARD DEATH
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, is dead. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is fighting for his life. And Trump is blaming Biden. Here’s what actually happened: Biden stopped the mass migration of Afghan civilians and put them through a rigorous, multi-stage vetting process. The chaotic plane images Trump waved around? Those people were sent to intake centers and carefully processed—not waved through. But that’s not even the point.
It was Trump who ordered National Guard troops into DC to do policing work they weren’t trained for. Everyone said it was a bad idea. Now DC police will accompany all Guard patrols because it’s no longer safe for them to go alone—the exact opposite of what was intended. Instead of taking responsibility, Trump pivots to immigration, ordering USCIS to reexamine every green card from 19 “countries of concern.” Another deflection. Another gaslighting. Trump put these soldiers in harm’s way, and now he’s blaming another administration for his own failed policy.
3️⃣ X CAN CHANGE YOUR POLITICAL MIND IN SEVEN DAYS
A study published in Science reveals that tiny tweaks to Elon Musk’s X algorithm can produce the same level of political polarization in one week that historically took three years. Users didn’t even notice their feeds had been altered. This isn’t content delivery—it’s propaganda manufacturing. For those who’ve followed Narativ, you’ll remember we exposed how Musk was retweeting content directly from the Kremlin’s propaganda division. X is a Russian disinformation tool operating in plain sight. It should come with a surgeon general’s warning: your reality is being manufactured.
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RE-UPPING OUR STORY FROM NOVEMBER
2️⃣ ZELENSKY’S RIGHT HAND FALLS
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s closest confidant and lead negotiator, resigned hours after anti-corruption officers raided his home. A $100 million kickback scandal in energy and defense—the two sectors most sensitive as Ukrainians fight and freeze through blackouts. Zelensky’s former business partner fled to Israel. Two ministers resigned. The former deputy PM was jailed. Yermak was heading to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to finalize peace terms. If there’s a corruption angle involving him, you have to question how these negotiations even got started.
1️⃣ KUSHNER’S SURRENDER MISSION
Donald Trump dispatched Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff—a man with documented ties to Russian organized crime—to Moscow with a direct offer to Putin: formal U.S. recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. This is America waving Ukraine’s flag of surrender. The Telegraph reports it breaks decades of diplomatic convention refusing to legitimize borders redrawn by force. European allies are alarmed; Washington’s response was blunt: they can do whatever they want. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits ceding territory without a national vote. What Trump is doing isn’t just illegal under Ukrainian law—it should send a shiver down the spine of every world leader on earth. If they can hand away Ukraine’s land today, they can hand away anyone’s tomorrow.
The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Advertising inquiries email next@narativ.org. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.
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