CNN's Audie Cornish compared the unfolding Pentagon scandal to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that has consumed much of President Donald Trump's second term so far.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has found himself in the crosshairs after the Washington Post reported that he ordered a follow-on attack against two survivors of a missile strike of an alleged drug smuggling boat, and the Trump administration has been scrambling to shield him from accountability for what has been described as a war crime or even murder.
“Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral [Frank] Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”
Cornish asked her panelists on "CNN This Morning" to comment on Leavitt's attempt to pin blame for the strike on the admiral, and former White House official Ashley Davis, who served during George W. Bush's presidency, seemingly sidestepped the issue.
"I mean, I'd lookat Karoline and think, oh, my God, your job is tough everyday," Davis said. "So, I mean, it'sgoing to be a – listen, I don'tknow who'sright. I think it's going todefinitely be litigated onthe Hill in committees, andthey're going to call up a lotof people on this."
Cornish stepped in to compare the administration's handling of this matter to the Justice Department's fumbling of the Epstein matter that has continued to plague the president ever since.
"It's interesting, it's a little bit like Epstein, it's a topic thatthey're – no one asked them tostart sinking boats in Venezuela, right," Cornish said. "Like, so thisis their operation. They'vereleased almost no informationabout it, and now they'regetting tangled up in theinformation they've released."
CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere pointed out that the emerging name for the scandal struck him as odd.
"One way that you know thatwe're into strange territoryhere is that we're referring toit as a double tap, which islike a hired assassin term," Dovere said. "It's not something that we talkabout within the military strikeand the terminology thatwe're using, the way that we'retalking about this, these werepeople who were killed. There isa question of whether the United States can just kill people."
Cornish said this attack, which was the first of at least 21 strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that resulted in more than 80 deaths, was unusual compared to subsequent strikes.
"We should be clear, they did do attacks where therewere survivors and they turnedthem away," she said. "This is not how thereis some precedent for whathappens after an attack."
Republican Party officials have a "serious concern" that Democrats could make huge gains in typically red states.
Lower polling numbers than expected for the GOP and candidates who are, according to insiders, not taking their races seriously, are worrying Republicans running election campaigns this year. A special election Tuesday in Tennessee's 7th Congressional District could be an indicator of how the 2026 midterms will turn out — and GOP members worry it's leaning towards a Democrat sweep.
Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested the party had been "over-performing" in parts of the country that Trump's administration had flipped in the 2024 election.
He told NOTUS, "Democrats have been over-performing the 2024 Trump numbers since the very beginning of his presidency, starting in late January in Iowa, where we flipped a district that Donald Trump had just won."
While Republican Matt Van Epps is projected to win the race for the Tennessee state representative seat, Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn is reportedly closer than the GOP had hoped. In some races, however, the Republican Party has slipped well behind.
A strategist speaking on Republican Andy Ogles' campaign suggested that the financial gap between how much cash the former Maury County mayor had raised and how much the Democrat candidate had raised is now a bridge too far.
An unnamed strategist said, "I mean, he’s raising like no money. You can’t just lie around and do nothing. That’s how you lose any race — primary or general." Other GOP strategists have a "very serious concern" over how Ogles is running his campaign for reelection.
Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, backed the anonymous strategist and said the strength of a campaign comes from its financial backing.
He said, "But obviously, the more money you have in your campaign account, the stronger you are, the more opportunity you have to communicate with the voters. You might have raised a red flag for me."
Gov. Andy Beshear (D) would suggest the flip of Trump voters from red to blue will appear in the midterms thanks to the president's "betrayal" of his voters.
Beshear said, "So when you look at that flip of Trump voters, it’s both that our candidates were more focused on where people are right now — I’m trying to make their lives a little bit easier and a little bit better — and Donald Trump has betrayed them with the way he’s governed this last year."
Calls for resignations are erupting among Virginia Republicans following the party’s historic losses last month in several election contests. It's just the latest sign of inter-party turmoil.
Democrats were decisively victorious in Virginia last month, winning races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, as well as several contests in the Virginia legislature — and by unprecedented margins. And on Monday, the chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, Virginia state Sen. Mark Peake, announced he would be resigning Dec. 31, sparking even more calls for state GOP leaders to step down from their positions.
“While it seems like we are in the cold, dark depths of winter right now (we are), I am supremely confident that Republicans will continue to fight for the values embodied in the Republican Creed, which can lead us to a victorious spring,” wrote Peake in a letter to the Virginia Republican Central Committee on Monday, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Peake had served as the state’s GOP chair since April.
Scott Pio, the local GOP chair for Loudoun County, championed Peake’s decision to step down, saying he appreciated Peake “taking the humble way out.” But he demanded that Peake resign sooner, and also called for more people to leave in a statement released Monday on social media.
“Thank you for resigning Mark, but your resignation needs to happen quickly and this week,” Pio wrote.
“A full month will be LOST to raising, organizing and building a system that can convert and build votes. To EVERY STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBER that has taken a paycheck in the last 5 years by our candidates. You will NOT be missed. You have just 9 days to RESIGN or I will start airing your dirty laundry out in the open.”
Pio went on to call for the resignation of the vice chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, Kristi Way, and threatened to expose her “anti-Trump laundry” should she refuse.
Mark Peake is officially resigning at the end of the year.
While I will NOT take credit for this resignation and should not, I appreciate him taking the humble way out.
I will cease speaking against Mark Peake as he has work that now needs to be done in the Virginia Senate.… pic.twitter.com/NkAOcJaaqm — Scott Pio (@spoiledtechie) December 1, 2025
A historic target of the GOP is now costing it the suburbs as it throws the party way out of synch with modern voters, a lifelong Republican argued Tuesday.
In a growing trend among conservative politicians, leaders like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene are hammering property taxes, backed by high-profile supporters like Elon Musk. It's a fight that's far from new for the party.
Libertarian arguments against property taxes frame them as "paying rent to the government for property you already own," portraying such taxes as inherently illegitimate, wrote Aaron M. Renn, a writer and hardcore Republican from Indiana, in a New York Times essay.
"Over the past couple of decades, there’s been a sea change among college-educated suburbanites when it comes to their expectations from local government," he wrote.
Suburban voters have undergone a significant transformation in their expectations of local government. "They don't want a night watchman state that does the bare minimum," the he wrote. Modern suburbanites expect high-quality public services, including "modern playgrounds and trail networks" and "a bustling walkable downtown."
Contrary to his party's assumptions, suburban voters are now willing to support tax measures that improve community infrastructure. In strongly Republican areas like Saratoga Springs, Utah, and Medina County, Ohio, voters have approved tax levies for parks and recreation, demonstrating a nuanced approach to local funding, he pointed out.
Renn's home of Carmel, Indiana, exemplifies this suburban sensibility, he wrote. A Republican stronghold that has "built more than 150 roundabouts, virtually eliminating traffic congestion," the city represents a model of effective public investment. Its extensive trail networks, public art, and innovative infrastructure have made it a recurring entry on national "best cities" lists.
However, prominent Republicans are "waging war on the revenue model that powers" such community improvements, potentially alienating educated suburban voters who have increasingly shifted leftward. By pandering to retired baby boomers eager to reduce their tax burden, the party risks losing crucial demographic support, he warned.
"It's great that the Republican Party has expanded its reach to the working class," the analysis warns, "but it's not good to be losing the suburban professional one." This potential electoral loss could significantly impact the party's future, especially when Trump is no longer driving voter turnout.
The critique argued that rhetoric about eliminating property taxes might appeal to boomer retirees, but actually implementing such policies would be "the Republican Party eating its demographic seed corn for the future."
Ultimately, the piece suggested that Republicans should celebrate successful models like Carmel, which demonstrate how strategic public investment can improve community quality of life while maintaining relatively low property tax rates.
Republicans are admittedly "nervous" about Tuesday's special election in Tennessee's seventh congressional district, and that's reason enough to put them on edge about next year's midterms.
President Donald Trump won that district by more than 20 percentage points just over a year ago, but polling shows Republican Matt Van Epps with a single-digit lead over Democrat Aftyn Behn, who has centered her campaign around affordability as Republicans bash her as too far left and called her "the AOC of Tennessee," reported the Washington Post.
“It’s interesting that Van Epps isn’t in a strong enough position just to ignore her,” said Vanderbilt University political scientist John G. Geer. “That tells me they’re worried.”
The district stretches from the Alabama border in the south to the Kentucky border in the north and was redistricted in 2022, when state Republicans dispersed voters from a Democratic district centered on Nashville into three nearby GOP districts, and Behn has worked to activate Black voters in parts of the city added to the seventh district.
“I’m not a moderate white guy, but I am an organizer and I’m a Tennessean,” Behn told the Post, saying she hoped to “rewrite the Democratic playbook in the South.”
Trump and his allies have poured considerable resources into the campaign to replace Republican Rep. Mark Green — who also won by more than 20 points last year but resigned from Congress in July – and while most would be surprised if Behn won, the fact that the race is close indicates the GOP's narrow 219-213 House majority is fragile.
“Remember, the world is watching this one,” Trump said, acknowledging the result is an early referendum on his second term. “I need somebody like Matt Van Epps. He is going to be one of our best congressmen."
Republicans have been scrambling in recent weeks, the Post reported, to salvage down a race they believed had been locked down with Trump's endorsement of Van Epps, but the president's approval rating has dipped deeply into negative territory over the course of this year.
“It’s fair to say this Republican is a little nervous,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN). “It’s an off-year. It’s a special election. It’s around the holiday, and there’s just a lot of things that could play into the Democrats’ favor.”
Any hope Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth might have that Navy Admiral Frank Bradley will absorb all the blame for what is being called a “war crime” was disabused by an MS NOW panel on Tuesday morning.
Reacting to both Hegseth and the White House singling out the admiral for having the final say on the attack that killed two alleged "narcoterrorists" who were hanging onto a burning vessel in the Caribbean in September, the “Morning Joe” co-hosts claimed the embattled Pentagon chief is facing a reckoning.
With host Joe Scarborough claiming Hegseth does not have a lot of fans among Republican lawmakers, he noted that normally stoic Fox News personality Brit Hume yesterday came down hard on the Pentagon head — which is a sign that the tide is turning.
“It's very interesting, Brit Hume proving once again that the administration, like in the Epstein files, finds themselves in a position where they're not fighting lefties, right? They're not going up against the most progressive voices in America, people they can call communists or Marxists,” Scarborough pointed out. “It is Fox News contributors. It is [National Review’s] Andy McCarthy saying, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ This new excuse of pointing, you know, at somebody else.”
“You're right,” co-host Willie Geist later contributed. “The White House was caught in this moment right now where they're saying, ‘Well, yes, Defense Secretary Hegseth did order the second strike, but not to kill the people just to disable the boat. The decision to kill the people, allegedly, is that of Admiral Bradley, a decorated admiral in the Navy. So to push that admiral in front of the bus is not going to end well, probably for Defense Secretary Hegseth.”
“He's in a bind. The White House is in a bind,” he warned.
A Texas judge who announced his candidacy in a high-profile U.S. House race Tuesday isn’t likely to face repercussions despite attracting a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission , experts told Raw Story.
Tano Tijerina, a Democrat-turned-Republican judge in Webb County, Texas, has long been eyeing a campaign against Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).
Cuellar has held the 28th congressional district seat since 2005, now a prime GOP target in recent redistricting attempts and in light of bribery charges against Cuellar.
On Nov. 21, Cecilia Martinez, an ethics professor from San Antonio, filed an FEC complaint, alleging Tijerina used an exploratory committee to circumvent state resign-to-run laws, which require officeholders to step down from an elected job upon deciding to campaign for another, if there’s more than a year and 30 days left in the term.
Tijerina’s term as a county judge ends Dec. 31, 2026. But, he launched an exploratory committee for a challenge to Cuellar in June, gaining national attention.
Martinez’s allegation that Tijerina violated federal law has also attracted coverage.
She alleges Tijerina made up his mind to run for Congress long before launching his exploratory committee, citing interviews with local TV and radio stations where the judge acknowledged needing to wait until after Dec. 1 to announce a potential candidacy, in order to keep his job.
The complaint also references a social media post, shared by Tijerina, from a Webb County employee who said she was excited to see her “boss” head to Congress.
The FEC says a candidate is considered to be campaigning rather than “testing the waters” if they advertise or make statements as candidates, inform the media of a planned date to announce their candidacy, or raise more money than “reasonably needed to test the waters.”
The complaint says: “Judge Tijerina’s congressional campaign remains under the guise of an exploratory committee not because he is legitimately testing the waters, but because he does not want to face the state-law consequences of declaring his candidacy.”
Tijerina’s exploratory committee called the complaint a “political sham.”
Below is the Tano Tijerina Exploratory Committee's response to the Laredo Morning Times sloppy hit piece:
The Laredo Morning Times has earned itself the Ambush Journalism Award after firing off a press request at 7:51 AM on a Saturday while the entire County government was busy… — Judge Tano Tijerina (@JudgeTano) November 23, 2025
“Judge Tano Tijerina is following every federal and state rule governing exploratory activity, and has not crossed a single legal line,” said the committee in an X post shared by Tijerina on Nov. 23.
“This is a coordinated smear campaign by far-left operatives terrified that even the possibility of Judge Tijerina exploring a run jeopardizes their grip on TX-28.
“Instead of finding an alternative for their own ethically compromised incumbent, they dug up an ‘online’ professor to rubber-stamp a flimsy accusation that falls apart the moment you read it.”
Bradley A. Smith, a professor at Capital University Law School who served on the FEC from 2000-05, including a year as chair, told Raw Story: “These are very hard cases to try to claim, ‘Oh, no, he's actually a candidate and needs to start filing reports as a candidate.
“You basically are asking the FEC, or eventually a court, to sort of mind read what the person was really planning to do.”
‘They game laws all the time’
Once an individual decides to become a candidate, they are required to register with the FEC within 15 days of raising or spending $5,000.
The Tijerina complaint points out that he is working with a political consultancy, Lilly and Company, and hosted a fundraiser in October, soliciting donations between $500 and $7,000.
But fundraising for an exploratory committee is allowed even if it exceeds $5,000, the FEC says. Only once the individual decides to be a candidate does the $5,000 threshold come into play.
Smith said: “The whole idea is to test the water. You’re telling people, ‘Yeah, I'm thinking about running for Congress. I'm thinking really seriously about it. I'm raising money for it,’ because, remember, you can raise this money, and then if you declare, then the money all has to be reported.”
Activities considered to be testing the waters include polling, traveling and making calls.
“By definition, you are doing campaign stuff, and you can very specifically do things like public polling, see how you might do, and that sort of thing,” Smith said.
“So, it's pretty easy for a candidate in this position, especially once the complaint is filed … to just say, ‘Well, yeah, I'm considering it, there's no doubt about that … that's why I set up an exploratory committee, but I haven't made a final decision.’”
While “all the money he's raising is in accordance with the rules,” Smith said Tijerina could be in “technical violation.”
“Is he gaming the Texas state law? Yeah, probably, but they game laws all the time in this kind of thing,” Smith said.
Randall Erben, an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, said it’d be up to a court to determine if Tijerina was a candidate prior to 13 months before the end of his term.
Erben said Texas courts “like eligibility, and they like people staying in office. That’s the public policy of the state.”
However, the framers of the resign-to-run provisions wanted “public office holders to pay attention to what they were doing.
“They were elected to a full term on a county or district office or city office. They wanted them to focus 100 percent on the duties for which they were elected, and not be spending a lot of time seeking other office.
“It's pretty simple public policy, and especially in this day and age where campaigning is 24/7, 365, I think the public policy is probably even more valid now than it was when they added it in the 1950s.”
‘Cost of doing business’
The FEC would not confirm receipt of the Tijerina complaint, due to confidentiality requirements. Any complaint resolutions are published 30 days after a vote to close the matter, said spokesperson Myles Martin.
Smith said: “As a practical matter, I don't think the FEC has ever been very rigorous in trying to say, ‘You've gone too far.’”
With President Donald Trump firing one commissioner and others resigning, the agency has for months lacked a quorum, meaning it “can't act on anything” anyway, Smith said.
“If we think about this for the midterms … it's quite likely that if the fine were assessed [against Tijerina], it wouldn't be until, quite possibly, after the 2026 election.
“A lot of campaigns say, ‘Well, cost of doing business,’ at that point.”
When Christopher A. Wray, a traditional Republican conservative who got along with the Biden Administration, announced his resignation as FBI director in late 2024, Donald Trump was determined to appoint an ultra-MAGA replacement. And he found it in now-FBI Director Kash Patel, a far-right conspiracy theorist and Trump loyalist
But Patel is far from universally loved among FBI alumni, and a 115-page report — according to the Trump-friendly, Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post — offers a biting critique of his months leading the agency. The report describes the FBI as a "rudderless ship" under Patel's direction.
Patel, in the report, is described as "in over his head," and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino is described as "something of a clown."
According to the Post's Miranda Devine, "Patel is described by multiple internal sources as inexperienced, with one source saying he 'has neither the breadth of experience nor the bearing an FBI director needs to be successful.' Another source, a self-professed Trump supporter, said Patel is 'not very good,' 'may be insecure,' and 'lacks the requisite experience' or the 'measured self-confidence' to be FBI director. However, an additional source described him as 'very personable and likable' while noting he 'created a culture of mistrust and uncertainty among the ranks.'"
The report is drawing a lot of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.
Chuck Todd, former host of NBC News' "Meet the Press" — which goes back to 1947 — tweeted, "Not a good sign for the FBI bros that this story showed up in Trump's favorite newspaper."
KrassenCast's Brian Krassenstein posted, "A massive 155-page report on the FBI, leaked to the NY Post finds that the FBI Under Kash Patel is a 'rudderless ship' and 'll f––d up.' It also covers this embarrassing story about @Kash_Patel: The day after Kirk was assassinated, Patel flew into Provo, Utah, on the FBI jet but 'would not disembark from the plane without an FBI raid jacket,' according to ALPHA 99, a 'highly respected' source who has served in the FBI for multiple decades."
X user Henry Hamblin wrote, "This is really intense, Miranda. The inclusion of the 'medium' raid vest that he demanded (and it was a woman agents!) before getting off the plane in Utah, I'm guessing h'’s been targeted for dismissal."
Business owner Ashley Kenyon posted, "And somehow they don't say same about Pam Bondi? I think Bongino isn't the issue at Deputy director he doesn't choose how to run the FBI. Patel is the issue. He talked big on all the podcasts for years but isn't doing anything he said he would. I think also there is significant leftovers of known bad actor FBI agents who they can't seem to fire."
Donald Trump has added further fuel to a conspiracy surrounding the use of an autopen by presidential predecessor, Joe Biden.
The president has previously claimed he will cancel all executive orders Biden passed when using an autopen. He took to Truth Social and wrote, "Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect."
It seems Trump is still thinking on the autopen days after this post, and a week after showing Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman a framed photograph of Biden's autopen, which has replaced the presidential portrait of Biden.
Trump has frequently alleged that the Biden administration forged the Democrat leader's signature using an autopen to sign off on broader actions he was not aware of. While there is no evidence to support this, it's a claim Trump has shared several times. His most recent claim of this occurring had him dubbed a "lunatic" by concerned members of the public.
Taking to Truth Social, the president shared a screenshot from far-right conspiracy site InfoWars. Alex Jones made an unfounded claim that Michelle Obama "may have used" Biden's autopen during his time in office.
The full claim reads, "Michelle Obama may have used Biden's autopen in the final days of his disastrous administration to pardon key individuals." While the claim from Patrick Byrne is absurd, it falls in line with the president's thoughts on Biden's autopen.
Trump sharing the screenshot has caused some concern with members of the public. One viral post to X had one person write, "The president is a lunatic."
Political commentator Brian Krassenstein went on to say the move to cancel all executive orders from Biden signed with an autopen is "illegal". They wrote, "THIS IS ILLEGAL and Trump used an autopen hundreds of times."
Trump would go on to call Joe Biden "crooked" and says the executive orders he signed into law would be revoked as they had been signed "illegally".
Trump wrote, "I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally."
California Governor Gavin Newsom has once more mocked Donald Trump, this time with a "memorandum" billing him as the "healthiest person alive".
Newsom made the hilarious claim through an official statement which ripped apart the president's shorter working days and alleged inability to stay awake during meetings. The statement, posted to the Governor Newsom Press Office account, mocked Trump for standing "like the leaning Tower of Pisa" and used the president's own rhetoric to jokingly claim Newsom is "the healthiest person alive and ever to live."
The statement reads, "As part of Governor Gavin Newsom's annual physical, we conducted advanced imaging of his cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neurological health. I'm pleased to report that nothing about the Governor's health is merely 'normal'. Governor Newsom remains the healthiest human currently alive or recorded in medical history."
Newsom's statement would go on to hit out at Trump, whose White House press team had released a similar-sounding statement bragging about the "excellent health" of the president. The 79-year-old Commander in Chief recently confirmed he would release his MRI results, though when pressed by reporters for what the test had scanned, Trump couldn't recall.
He told reporters on Air Force One, "It was just an MRI. What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it."
Newsom's press office statement adds, "We'll simply note that Governor Newsom completes full workdays without falling asleep in meetings, does not require 'executive time' to lie down and watch TV during work hours, and is able to stand upright without looking like the leaning Tower of Pisa."
"If a side-by-side health chart were released, we recommend redacting it for the President's emotional well-being. Governor Newsom remains the healthiest person alive and ever to live. Please direct follow-up questions to my office."
The office in question would be that of Dr. Dolittle, the fictional character from the children's book series written by Hugh Lofting. It's clear that Governor Newsom has little time for Trump's health claims, making a mockery of repeated statements from the White House over the president's health.
Newsom's press team also joked he had such a steady resting heart rate that he was asked "if he was 'meditating or just naturally enlightened'". Captain Sean Barbabella released the MRI results earlier today, suggesting Trump "shows excellent health" for a 79-year-old.
An FBI dossier that criticised director Kash Patel and his team has led to mockery from Democrat representative Eric Swalwell.
Swalwell, who confirmed he was running for Governor of California next year, took aim at FBI Director Patel in a statement made to X. The post poked fun at Patel, who was said to have refused to leave a plane until a jacket emblazoned with the FBI logo was found for him. The report, which was written by a collection of active and retired agents and analysts.
Part of the report recalled Patel refusing to leave until he was handed an FBI jacket. The report reads, "Patel apparently did not have his own FBI raid jacket with him and refused to step from the plane without wearing one."
Swalwell took to X and mocked Patel for this, while also criticising the department's apparent lack of focus on real issues like domestic terrorism. The Dem rep wrote, "I don’t mind that FBI Director Kash Patel had to wear a women’s (size medium) jacket to cosplay as someone in charge. I just wish he’d focus on stopping the rampant domestic terrorism happening on his watch."
FBI Director Patel, along with deputy director Dan Bongino, appear to have had a negative effect on employee's with "an 80/20" skew to negativity through anecdotal reporting.
Sources have described Patel as "in over his head" and lacking "the breadth of experience" necessary to be a successful FBI director. The "pulse check" on the FBI's mood comes as the FBI dossier described Bongino as a "clown" and also detailed a tantrum from Patel, who refused to leave a plane until he was handed an FBI jacket.
Patel is yet to respond to the comments made in the dossier, though deputy head Bongino took to X with a thinly veiled knock at those who were unhappy with the changes the Trump administration had made to the FBI.
He wrote, "A LOT of people are very upset at the changes and reforms we've made at the FBI. They will do anything to revert to the old ways of doing things. So they leak gossipy nonsense to media outlets and 'journalists' with a clear agenda, and they ignore the historic results and the significant reforms we instituted."
Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has ripped into a series of Truth Social posts made by Donald Trump.
The 58-year-old comedian would tear down a post made by the president which included his Thanksgiving message and a controversial attack on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Speaking in the opening address of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host suggested one of Trump's posts in particular had people laughing at him, not at the country.
Trump's post reads, "A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at..."
Kimmel would take aim at the "laughed at" section of the post, using it as a segue into people mocking the president and his later comments on Truth Social. The talk show host said, "'Murdered, mugged, beaten, and laughed at?' I hate to be the one to tell you, our country isn't being laughed at, they're laughing at you."
Kimmel would then turn his attention to later in the Truth Social tirade where Trump had called Gov. Walz a leader who "does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both". Kimmel joked this was Trump being "presidential when he wants to be."
He continued, "I wonder why he didn't get that Nobel Peace Prize. It makes no sense. Trump posted that little blessing on Thanksgiving and caused quite an uproar, even among some Republicans". Trump would double down on his claim that Walz was "seriously retarded", a statement he made as part of his Thanksgiving post.
The president would then tell Air Force One reporters he believed there is "something seriously wrong" with the Governor of Minnesota. Kimmel dubbed Trump "President of the Eighth Grade" following these comments on Walz.
Later in his address, Kimmel would joke the president "can't read" when it comes to polling numbers. Trump claimed he was doing well in the polls but figures across the board are not on the president's side.
It was reported earlier this week that Trump was losing ground not just in general polling but in Republican support too. Kimmel said, "According to every major poll, it's [Trump's approval rating] the lowest we've ever seen since we flushed him out of office the first time."
"His negative rating is now at sixty percent. There are gas station bathrooms on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Donald Trump right now. We are not in an upwards trajectory."
Donald Trump's administration must brace for a storm of problems as the president is "sinking like a rock", his niece, Mary Trump, has said.
The political commentator and member of the Trump family suggested the slate of problems Trump now faces may be too much for his administration to survive. Cracks are beginning to show in the president's core support, and issues from healthcare to the cost-of-living crisis are starting to see Trump slip in the polls.
Mary Trump said, "The Trump regime has long been a sinking ship and with a rat like Donald at the helm it's not really surprising. But, the sinking is accelerating. Even with full control of the government, Republicans are resigning and even more are threatening to."
She went on to say Trump's approval ratings are "sinking like a rock" and that he looks "increasingly feeble" and "unhinged" in public appearances. Mary Trump also responded to an article published in The Atlantic, which suggested Trump is starting to lose touch with what his voter base wants.
Mary Trump countered this claim, suggesting, "Donald Trump has never been in touch with what the public wants from a president or, if he has been in touch with that sentiment, he's never cared about it, so this, again, is not exactly news."
"If by being in touch with the public means holding way too many rallies, I don't really see how that tracks, how that translates into Donald's caring what the American people think or want."
Trump has been consistently slipping in the polls and has even lost the lead on the "only number he cares about". It was reported earlier this week that Trump had seen the Republican voter base approval rating dwindle by seven percentage points.
MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart said, "If you look at the latest Gallup poll... I say when you look at those overall poll numbers, you've got to go and look at his Republican approval rating because that is the only number he cares about,"
"In this poll, it's interesting, Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen among Republicans seven percentage points since like a month ago."
