A retired professor at the U.S. Naval War College on Wednesday night immediately smacked down President Donald Trump's stunning explanation for why he has ordered the Defense Department to restart nuclear bomb testing after a nearly three-decade hiatus.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim the United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country, warning that its adversaries are catching up.
He also claimed that other countries are testing their weapons, and insisted the U.S. must do so as well.
"The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country," said Trump. "This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
But expert Tom Nichols flattened multiple claims from Trump late Wednesday.
"Nothing in here is correct. Russia's stockpile is larger than ours, by a small margin. Trump did not create a larger stockpile by 'updating' in his first term. No nation except North Korea has tested nuclear weapons since the 1990s," he wrote on X.
Beth Sanner, former deputy director of national intelligence, called it a "bad idea" on CNN, telling anchor Kaitlan Collins that the move will allow adversaries to catch up faster because they'll be allowed to test more.
"Adversaries benefit more than we do," she told viewers on "The Source."
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has extended deployment orders for the National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. through at least February 2026, according to a new report from CNN.
The initial deployment orders were scheduled to expire at the end of November, according to the report. It was issued at a time when the Trump administration is squabbling with DC's attorney general in court over removing roughly 2,000 troops from the District's streets.
There are about 2,300 troops on D.C.'s streets, the report adds. Troops have assembled from states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama.
This is the second time Hegseth has extended the troop deployment orders. A senior official with knowledge of the matter told CNN that the previous extension "was largely intended to ensure the continuity of benefits for service members and their families."
President Donald Trump uncorked another startling social media post on Wednesday night, alerting the globe that he has ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's department to ramp up testing of nuclear weapons.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to note that the United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country, but warned that its adversaries are catching up.
"This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office," he wrote. "Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years."
"Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump exclaimed.
Notably, the United States has abided by a voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992, though it has maintained the ability to resume these tests. It has, however, used a program to maintain confidence in the "safety, security, and effectiveness" of its nuclear arsenal. In 2020, Trump administration officials reportedly discussed whether to conduct an explosive test of a nuclear weapon, but both the first Trump administration and subsequent Biden administration abided by the moratorium.
In 2024, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administrator said the U.S. has "no technical reasons" to conduct nuclear tests.
The U.S. conducted more than 1,000 explosive nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992, with federal lawmakers creating a program to compensate some people whose health may have been affected by nuclear testing.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) issued a statement on Wednesday evening, tearing into the Trump administration for holding a briefing with the Senate on the recent military strikes on suspected narcotics smuggling boats in the Caribbean — but only inviting Republican senators.
"Shutting Democrats out of a briefing on U.S. military strikes and withholding the legal justification for those strikes from half the Senate is indefensible and dangerous," stated Warner. "Decisions about the use of American military force are not campaign strategy sessions, and they are not the private property of one political party. For any administration to treat them that way erodes our national security and flies in the face of Congress' constitutional obligation to oversee matters of war and peace."
"This partisan stunt is a slap in the face to Congress' war powers responsibilities and to the men and women who serve this country. It also sets a reckless and deeply troubling precedent," Warner continued. "The administration must immediately provide to Democrats the same briefing and the OLC opinion justifying these strikes, as Secretary Rubio personally promised me that he would in a face-to-face meeting on Capitol Hill just last week."
"Americans deserve a government that fulfills its constitutional duties and treats decisions about the use of military force with the seriousness they demand," he concluded.
The strikes, which have been going on for weeks and leaving gruesome carnage in their wake, are a drastic departure from both international law and longstanding U.S. policy, which treats potential drug-smuggling ships as a civilian law enforcement issue, interdicting and arresting the crews instead of ordering military strikes. Some of the ships, by the administration's own admission, didn't even have the capability of reaching the United States.
Vice President JD Vance hinted that a student's girlfriend ought to be deported unless she meets certain criteria during a speaking engagement at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday.
Vance spoke at a Turning Point USA rally on Ole Miss' campus. During a question-and-answer segment, one student asked about Vance's views on legal immigration and a merit-based immigration system. The student also mentioned that his girlfriend is a legal immigrant studying at the school who wants a green card.
"My honest view is that right now America, thanks in part to the Biden border invasion and in part to bad immigration policies, but right now we have let in too many immigrants to the United States," Vance said. "That is just a fundamental reality."
"You asked about your girlfriend, and I don't know the full details of your situation, but my view is that there are people who want to come to the United States and enrich America, but we have got to get our overall numbers way down," Vance said. "I am married to the daughter of immigrants...I do believe that some immigrants can come here and enrich America."
"But, here's the problem. We don't even know how many illegal aliens we have," Vance said. "I've heard estimates as high as 50 million. When something like that happens, you have to let your society cohere a little bit and find a sense of identity, for all the newcomers to assimilate into American culture. Until you do that, you have to be careful about any additional immigration."
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to intervene in a case concerning President Donald Trump's efforts to deploy federal troops to Portland, Oregon, stunned one legal analyst on Wednesday.
Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News, discussed the court's decision to review the case en banc with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen during a podcast interview on Wednesday. The decision effectively halts the troop deployment because the litigation remains ongoing.
"It's an extraordinary action," Klasfled said. "For the full court, for an en banc court to intervene at this stage means that they think that the original panel was so misguided that they had to intervene at this stage. And it comes right after Trump's DOJ had to admit in an embarrassing two-page letter that the statistics they cited in order to justify sending the troops to Portland were entirely bogus."
Trump deployed troops to Portland earlier this month under the guise that the city had become a "war zone." The state sued the administration, and a district court judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the deployment. A three-judge panel overturned that order on Oct. 20.
However, Klasfeld said the administration had to walk back some of the claims it made while under oath.
"Courts don't like to be misled," Klasfeld said. "And here the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the entire en banc bench, intervened immediately and said, 'We're going to reinstate the federal judge's order.' And that's probably why we're at the stage we are right now."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton received a brutal smackdown by the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board on Wednesday evening over his lawsuit against the manufacturer of Tylenol over Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s unsubstantiated claims it causes autism when taken during pregnancy.
Paxton, the board argued, is doing everything that the conservative movement hates and resents about liberal trial lawyers, soaking businesses under "dubious" pretenses to make a political statement.
"'By holding Big Pharma accountable for poisoning our people, we will help Make America Healthy Again,' the AG said," wrote the board. "Our people? The people he’s really standing up for are his friends and donors in the plaintiff bar. Their claim that acetaminophen — the main active ingredient in Tylenol — can cause autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder if taken during pregnancy was rejected in federal multi-district litigation in 2023. Mr. Paxton is bringing the claims under Texas law in state court."
The lawsuit against Kenvue, which makes Tylenol, and its former parent company Johnson & Johnson, "notably omits that the Food and Drug Administration has periodically reviewed the evidence of acetaminophen’s neuro-developmental risks over the last decade. The FDA repeatedly determined a causal link hadn’t been shown that would merit a change in its safety label," the board wrote. "Adding a safety warning based on flimsy evidence creates its own risks, such as deterring pregnant women from taking the pain killer and fever reducer when they need it" — and indeed, there is more evidence linking autism to untreated fevers in pregnancy than to Tylenol.
Nonetheless, the board wrote, Paxton "apparently believes women and courts should take orders from Mr. Kennedy," as his litigation "quotes alarmist and unscientific statements by the Health and Human Services Secretary."
In short, the board concluded, Paxton is acting as "a valet for the trial bar out to soak business for political gain and campaign donations. His anti-Tylenol suit is one more reason Texas Republicans would be wise to deny his bid to join the U.S. Senate."
All of this comes as Trump similarly jumps on the bandwagon and proclaims pregnant women should just "tough it out" rather than take Tylenol, something that runs contrary to the broad majority of medical advice and even his own Food and Drug Administration.
MAGA influencer Candace Owens called out President Donald Trump on Wednesday because of the president's seeming disinterest in keeping the public informed about the investigation into conservative activist Charlie Kirk's killing in September.
Owens discussed the administration's "silence" about the investigation during a new episode of her podcast, "Candace." She blamed the influence of the "pro-Israel lobby" for keeping the investigation under wraps.
"I knew spiritually, from the moment Charlie Kirk passed, that we were never going to get the full story from officials," Owens said. "I can't explain it. I felt that way. And then when Trump rushed to Truth Social-out that AI-generated photo of him and Charlie with the Star of David in the background, I just knew. I knew the investigation into who murdered Charlie Kirk was 'officially' over."
"Find me just one person with a platform who is pro-Israel who says 'I want the investigation into [Kirk's] death to continue,'" Owens continued. "It's a bit weird, right?" Dogs, very silent right now. And there's a steak on the ground, and they're not moving."
Owens added that Trump's decision to declare a national day of remembrance for Kirk was another sign that the government "is not trying to solve what happened here."
"I think it's crap," Owens said. "It's never good when the feds are lining up to give you a holiday. Martin Luther King, Jr. vibes. I definitely think the feds killed Martin Luther King Jr... I don't like it. The best way to honor Charlie Kirk is to figure out who killed him."
A new investigation by The Washington Post reveals that many of the promotional clips the Department of Homeland Security posts on social media to boast about its operations quelling lawlessness and protests are, in fact, from months ago or in completely different cities than the actions they mention.
In an egregious example, Drew Harwell and Joyce Sohyun Lee noted, "The Department of Homeland Security posted a swaggering montage to social media in August declaring it had triumphed in its takeover of Washington, D.C. It showed footage of federal agents fighting what a DHS official called a 'battle for the soul of our nation' and working 'day and night to arrest, detain and deport vicious criminals from our nation’s capital'" — but in fact, the footage was from totally unrelated operations from Los Angeles and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Meanwhile, the report noted, as the narrator was discussing deportations from D.C., it "played over a clip from May showing detainees on a Coast Guard boat off the coast of Nantucket, the Massachusetts island 400 miles away."
This was not an isolated issue, the report said. DHS posts frequently included misleading and unrelated footage.
"Some videos that purported to show the fiery chaos of Trump-targeted cities included footage from completely different states," said the report, including footage of supposed "antifa terrorists" in Portland, Oregon, that actually showed protesters near Chicago. Even more damning, "One that claimed to show dramatic examples of past administrations’ failures instead featured border crossings and smuggling boats recorded during Trump’s first term."
Abigail Jackson, who works in communications at the White House, did not dispute these misleading edits when asked by the Post, but said, “The Trump administration will continue to highlight the many successes of the president’s agenda through engaging content and banger memes on social media.”
This comes after a number of other controversies with DHS social media posts, including one video that compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids to catching Pokémon.
Vice President JD Vance raised a few eyebrows on Wednesday with remarks in a new podcast interview proclaiming himself a big believer in UFOs and unexplained phenomena.
The comments were made during an interview with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine on aPod Force One podcast.
"One last question about UFOs," said Devine, as she and Vance both chuckled. "I'm a mad UFO looney toon as well."
"Me too," Vance replied with a laugh.
Devine brought up that Vance previously said he would "figure out" what's going on with UFOs. As she began to ask about his progress on the topic that has fascinated Americans for decades, Vance admitted he hadn't.
"It was a little tongue-in-cheek. I have not figured it out yet. I haven't had the time to figure it out yet," he said.
Vance said he's not alone in his fascination with the topic —Secretary of State Marco Rubio apparently feels similarly.
"There's certainly an interest there, certainly an intrigue, but I haven't yet had the time to dig in. Things have been so busy," he added.
Vance said there's a "crazy person" inside him who will "put the tinfoil hat on from time to time," and pledged not to let himself get too busy not to get to the bottom of the UFO phenomenon.
When Devine asked if Vance agrees with President Donald Trump's top spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, that aliens are real, Vance refused to go that far, but acknowledged, "I’m a big believer that there are things out there that we can't explain.
"If one person sees an alien, maybe I see an angel or a demon," he said. "I’m a big believer that there are like spiritual forces working on the physical world that a lot of us don’t see and a lot of us don’t understand.”
He said what could be viewed as an alien could actually be a guardian angel — or a more sinister entity that "actively wishes us harm."
NEW – JD Vance on UFOs: “I’m a big believer that there are things out there we can’t explain. If another person sees an alien, maybe I see an angel or a demon.”
“I’m a big believer that there are like spiritual forces working on the physical world that a lot of us don’t see and… pic.twitter.com/XjMButyY67 — UAP James (@UAPJames) October 29, 2025
A House Republican stammered Wednesday when he was confronted with a Republican's remarks undercutting President Donald Trump's claim about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as the program is just days away from losing funding amid the ongoing government shutdown.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper was interviewing Rep. John Rose (R-TN) when the GOP lawmaker paused to try and respond to a question about how Congress could extend the multibillion-dollar pool used for emergencies to fund SNAP, including government shutdowns.
Tapper had just wrapped an interview with Sariya Birdine, a Tennessee food stamp recipient, when he asked Rose his reaction.
"Her basic take is not to assign partisan blame," Tapper said. "It's just you and your colleagues are paid to solve these problems and make sure that they're not. People like her kids are not pawns in this fight."
"Twenty-nine days — for 29 days, Republicans in the Senate have kept the government shut down. And it's really deplorable to see them using people like Mrs. Birdine as pawns, if you will, or leverage as the Democrats refer to it, to try to get what they want. And, you know, we know that Republicans, with the help of one Democrat in the House, passed a bill to keep the government open 40 days ago. And unfortunately, Chuck Schumer decided that a shutdown made sense for Democrats. And he's played this game. Using the American people as fodder to accomplish what he wants to accomplish politically. And it's really shameful."
Tapper referred to the $6 billion contingency fund under the Department of Agriculture that the Trump administration said could be accessed — until Sept. 30 — but now they say those funds aren't for that.
"The top Senate Appropriations Republican Susan Collins, says her team's analysis is that the Department of Agriculture can use that fund. Shouldn't you support using that contingency fund to pay for SNAP? So kids like Sariya's that we just heard from don't go hungry?" Tapper asked.
"Well, that — that certainly seems tempting, but the — the fund $5.6 billion is not nearly enough to cover the cost in the short run," Rose responded, stumbling before blaming Democrats again.
"And secondly, that fund is there for emergencies. And we have a hurricane bearing down on us now. And so if we use those funds here, then there won't be able to be used elsewhere. We see Democrats make these trade-offs all the time, where they pick winners and losers with funds like this. And so I think we have to be careful if we take something that's there for an emergency and use it when the answer is simple you know, the Senate is in Washington, you know, five or six senators could join all the Republicans and get this done and reopen the government and spare people like miss Birdine and her family, her 5-year-old and her 6-year-old from the suffering that the Democrats are using, the Schumer shutdown should end. I think they miscalculated. They need to just take stock of that. We've seen this mistake over and over in the past, and it just doesn't work to use people as leverage in these situations."
"I get that the $6 billion in contingency funding is a short-term solution," Tapper said. "Only 2 or 3 weeks worth of SNAP funds. But that means a lot to those kids. And if Sen. Susan Collins says they can use it, she's the head appropriator on this matter. She says they can use it for this. Why not just do it? We're talking about an emergency situation here of kids and seniors and disabled people and veterans being able to eat."
That's when the Republican lawmaker then pointed to the Trump administration's talking points and tried to shift blame on his opponents again — ignoring that Collins has already admitted that the funding was actually available.
"Well, my understanding is Sen. Collins may — may be right, but my understanding is that the administration made the assessment that those funds could not be used for this purpose. And more importantly, that they're — they're to make way or to provide for emergencies. And so I think, again, we need to just get back, get the Senate to get us back in business. And you know, that's — that's the easy for five or six Democrats. And then we can negotiate on these bigger questions that they want to talk about. But as long as they keep the government shut down, they're holding all of America hostage for their political, their frankly, their progressive, radical, left-wing agenda. And — and so, you know, this needs to end and they need to quit hurting everyday working Americans like Ms. Birdine."
In Rose's district, there are 76,000 SNAP benefit recipients and more than 700,000 recipients in Tennessee.
Fox News host Jessica Tarlov issued a grave warning Wednesday about President Donald Trump's Asia trip during a new broadcast of "The Five."
Trump is traveling in Asia this week, where he is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate a trade deal over rare earth minerals that are used to build semiconductors. Tarlov warned that Trump may allow China to purchase powerful semiconductors from NVIDIA in exchange for China purchasing more soybeans from American farmers.
China stopped purchasing soybeans from American farmers in May after Trump imposed new tariffs on the country, according to reports. Instead, the country began buying soybeans from Argentina, which has caused the market for American soybeans to nearly collapse.
NVIDIA is also currently prohibited from selling its most powerful Blackwell semiconductor chips to Chinese firms, which has allowed the U.S. to maintain an advantage over China in developing artificial intelligence technologies.
"This trip, overall, is about Trump coming hat-in-hand to China and saying, 'Will you please buy our soybeans again?'" Tarlov said.
"The tariffs with China have created a huge amount of pain for Americans, especially for our farmers, and what I'm really worried about, and we will see what deal actually gets done, is that he is teasing the fact that he may allow them to buy NVIDIA chips," Tarlov continued.
Tarlov added that the Blackwell chips are estimated to be 20 times more powerful than any other chip on the market.
"So people should be very scared about the fact that he is considering that to be one of the concessions for us to do a trade deal with them," she added.
Oregon state police are shredding President Donald Trump's ICE agents after officers "suffered exposure" from tear gas during a protest outside an ICE facility in Portland earlier this month.
Judge Karin Immergut said she would decide on whether to hold the government in contempt and determine whether the government violated a temporary restraining order when officials refused to pause National Guard soldiers going into Portland, Oregon.
New evidence was presented in court on Wednesday about the federal government firing on local law enforcement with pepper balls and chemical gas.
"Oregon State Police Capt. Cameron Bailey says his sergeant & other officers 'suffered exposure' from tear gas after federal officers sprayed protest - adds there was no warning for law enforcement. Continues plaintiffs' main theme, that federal officers are endangering cops as well as protesters," Talking Points Memo reporter and co-host of the John Marshall podcast Kate Riga wrote on Bluesky.
People at the protest said the scene in early October was alarming.
"Commander Franz Schoening of the Portland Police Bureau describes a protest in early October outside the ICE facility featuring lots of 'older' people - says it was 'startling' to watch federal officers use tear gas on the crowd, that it wasn't 'best practices' or justified," Riga said.
The DOJ attempted to stop the testimony in court, with the judge blocking the objections.
"Pattern emerging - commander keeps describing 'indiscriminate' force used, unprompted, by federal officers against protesters, and DOJ jumps in with an objection to break up flow of testimony. Judge Immergut consistently overruling objections," Riga added.
Trump has alleged that the National Guard is necessary because his "people" told him that Portland was burning to the ground.
