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Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Trump Threatens Iran With Another Strike if It Restarts Nuclear Program

The news coming out of Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Mar-a-Lago. Financial Times: Donald Trump has threatened to launch fresh strikes against Iran if it is found to be rebuilding its nuclear programme, as he held talks with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump also said Hamas has a “very short period of time to disarm” in Gaza, where a US-brokered ceasefire has largely held since October, or the Palestinian militants would have “hell to pay” (Financial Times). Jerusalem Post: When asked if Trump was concerned about Israel’s progress towards the implementation of the deal’s second phase, he said he is “not concerned about anything Israel is doing.” “Israel has lived up to the plan 100%,” Trump stated, adding that he is actually concerned about what other involved parties “are doing or maybe are not doing” (JPost).

President Trump Receives the Israel Prize

It’s the nation’s highest civilization honor—and this is the first time a foreign leader has received the prize. Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch: Dear President Donald Trump, it’s my great and distinct honor to inform you that the Israeli Prize Committee following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recommendation has reached a historic decision to award you the Israel Prize in the category, “Special Contribution to the Jewish people” (Video: Kisch). Jerusalem Post: Trump will be awarded the prize for his “work in the fight against antisemitism, his contribution to promoting the return of the hostages to Israel, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his consistent support for the right of the State of Israel to defend itself,” a statement released by the Education Ministry explained (JPost).

Trump Finishing 2025 in a Flurry of Diplomatic Activity

Looking to bolster his role as peacemaker—hosting Ukraine’s Vladmir Zelensky on Sunday and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. CNN: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida has become a center of global diplomacy, with high-stakes talks Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to follow Monday. The twin meetings mark significant attempts by Trump to cement a legacy as a global peacemaker…. Trump also hopes to deliver a jolt to Gaza peace efforts to initiate the second phase of a deal that stopped widespread fighting in October between Israel and Hamas but that could fail without progress. His intensified focus on Gaza and Ukraine came after Trump put his stamp on the holiday season by ordering US military action in the Middle East, Africa and the Western Hemisphere (CNN).

Iranians Protest on Streets as Currency Collapses; ‘Death to the dictator’

The very fact that citizens are on the streets is indicative of diminished central authority and reduced control of Khomeini and the mullahs. Chants of “Death to the dictator” (Open Source). New York Times: Protesters took to the streets of the capital, Tehran, and other cities in Iran on Monday to decry surging inflation and the collapse of the national currency, which have thrown markets into chaos and punched holes in family budgets. The currency plunged to a record low this past weekend against the U.S. dollar and the annual inflation rate rose to 42.2 percent in December. Amid the turmoil, the head of Iran’s central bank, Mohammad Reza Farzin, resigned on Monday, pending the president’s acceptance, local news media reported…. The currency collapse has been painful for ordinary Iranians, who have watched the value of their salaries and savings drop while prices for goods and services skyrocketed (New York Times). Financial Times on the currency collapse: Iran’s currency has plunged to new lows as the country struggles with the economic aftershocks of the war with Israel, sparking protests from shopkeepers and piling pressure on President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Islamic republic’s leaders. The rial has lost about 40 per cent of its value since the 12-day war in June, hitting a record low of 1.45mn to the US dollar on the open market in recent days (Financial Times).

Iran Claims They’re in ‘all-out war’ With US, Europe and Israel

“We are in an all-out war with the US, Israel and Europe,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said. More from Financial Times: “They do not want our country to stand upright . . . and are surrounding us from all sides: economically, culturally, politically and from a security perspective,” he told Khamenei.ir, the supreme leader’s news website, in an interview published on Saturday…. “While they raise society’s expectations, they block our [oil] sales and our trade, undermining people’s livelihoods.” Pezeshkian acknowledged his government was struggling with declining revenues, saying in the interview that a drop in global oil prices had also dealt a heavy blow to Iran’s income. That added to what he described as “extensive” problems in “water, financial management, politics, social affairs, the economy and culture”…. Deep disagreements between the sides remain, with Tehran maintaining it will not accept a reduction of its uranium enrichment to zero, as requested by the US (Financial Times).

Trump Confirms US Hits Venezuelan Drug Shipping Facility ‘very hard’

The president confirmed the hit in a radio interview Friday and again yesterday in the press interchange while he was at Mar-a-Lago meeting with Netanyahu. The Hill: President Trump said during a recent radio interview that the U.S. “knocked out” a “big” facility in Venezuela, as the administration continues to turn up the pressure against President Nicolás Maduro. Asked about Venezuela during a Friday appearance on the “Cats & Cosby” show on New York’s WABC radio, Trump lauded the U.S. military’s attacks against purported drug-smuggling vessels in the region and added that U.S. forces hit a facility two days earlier. “We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” the president told hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard….” On Monday, Trump shed some more light on the attack, saying the U.S. personnel hit an “implementation” area. “We hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around,” the president said while at Mar-a-Lago … (The Hill).

China Surrounds Taiwan in Unprecedented Military Drill

The Chinese Communist Party is shouting their aspirational intent. Fox News: China on Monday launched its largest military exercises ever around Taiwan, surrounding the island with warships, aircraft and live-fire drills as tensions spiked following a record U.S. arms sale to Taipei. The drills, known as “Justice Mission 2025,” involve coordinated deployments of ground forces, naval vessels, fighter jets, drones and artillery across seven maritime zones encircling Taiwan. China’s Eastern Theater Command said the exercises include simulated strikes on land and sea targets and rehearsals to blockade Taiwan’s main ports, a scenario analysts say would be central to any attempt to isolate or coerce the island (Fox News). Ward Clark of Red State: China is almost certainly playing the same game they have been playing with Taiwan for years now: Push, prod, intimidate. But Taipei hasn’t shown much of any tendency to be intimidated; they have just made a major purchase of American weapons systems that will make them even less likely to cower to Chinese pressure (Red State).

Are the Walls Closing in on Walz?

That would be Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and vice presidential nominee for Kamala Harris last year. There are now talks of criminal charges against him and a chorus of calls for him to resign. New York Sun: The growing social services scandal in Minnesota — now reckoned to amount to billions of dollars — raises the possibility that the state’s two term Democratic governor, Tim Walz, could face criminal jeopardy. Congressman James Comer, who leads the House Oversight Committee, is widening his probe into the scandal, which is centered on Minnesota’s Somali community. This week he took to Fox News to declare that “The walls are caving in on Tim Walz” …. While regular citizens are not usually required to report crimes, public officials like Mr. Walz are usually held to a higher standard. They are generally seen to have a fiduciary duty to protect state assets. Actively concealing a felony could amount to the crime of “misprision of felony” or, alternatively to obstruction of justice. A failure to report could —theoretically — even lead to a charge of conspiracy, with the silent party accused of being an accessory to a crime (New York Sun).

Small Business Administration Cuts Off All Minnesota Grants Amidst Massive Somali Fraud

The Trump administration is moving at an expedited pace while elite media either ignores the scandal or labels it somehow just a fixation of a MAGA base. Catherine Salgado of PJ Media: The Small Business Administration (SBA) is clawing back all grants to the state of Minnesota over its gargantuan fraud scandal. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler confirmed the move on Dec. 28, saying she was “disgusted and sickened” by the Minnesota government covering up for out-of-control fraud. SBA was able to identify half a billion dollars’ worth of fraud just in the first few days of the federal entity investigating Minnesota. Loeffler said in comments to Benny Johnson, which she reposted on X, “The scope of this international scam is still unknown, likely in the billions. Pending further review, SBA is freezing all grant funding to the state in order to stop the rampant waste of taxpayer dollars and uncover the full depth of fraud.” The fraud is particularly tied to Somali “migrants,” hence Democrats’ determination to ignore it (PJ Media).

10.

Getting Ready for America’s 250th; ‘It’s a republic, and we’ve kept it’

Now we just need to be careful we don’t through it away. Niall Ferguson—a conservative historian who has, at times, both praised and criticized Trump. He’s long been bullish on the American experiment: the exceptional character of the United States lay in its constitutional solution to an age-old problem: how to have a republic that provided its citizens not just with security, but also with liberty and prosperity. That was the goal set by the Declaration of Independence: to secure for “the People . . . certain unalienable Rights . . . among these . . . Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” … I remain skeptical about all the warnings of excitable journalists and professors that the American republic faces a mortal threat in the person of Donald Trump. For 10 years, I have been reading that he is the reincarnation of either Julius Caesar or Adolf Hitler. I have consistently taken the other side of the bets that we are either Rome or Weimar…. July 4 is half a year away, it’s true. Perhaps in the coming six months, the Cassandras will be vindicated …. But I wouldn’t bet on it. History suggests that, so long as it doesn’t lose a major war (a subject for another column), a republic that has lasted 250 years has a good chance of lasting at least another few hundred. So happy birthday, United States, when it comes. Here’s to the next 250 years—indeed, to the next 750…. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, it’s a republic—and we’ve kept it. Now it’s just a case of not throwing it away (Free Press).

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