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🇺🇸 Trump Designates Venezuela as Terrorist Org
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Happy Wednesday Patriots,
President Trump escalated America’s fight against narco-terrorism on Tuesday, ordering a total and complete blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers — a decisive blow to dictator Nicolás Maduro’s criminal regime.
Trump announced that Venezuela is now surrounded by the largest U.S. armada ever assembled in South America, cutting off oil revenues used to fund drug trafficking, human smuggling, and terrorism. He formally branded the Maduro regime a Foreign Terrorist Organization, making clear that stolen assets and cartel violence will no longer be tolerated.
The move follows weeks of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, targeting fentanyl and cocaine supply routes headed for American communities.
Trump’s message was unmistakable: America is done playing defense.
Get all of today’s breaking Trump news below!
—Nick
In today’s email:
đź”” Trump Designates Venezuelan Regime as Terrorist Organization
🌍 Trump Expands Travel Ban to Include 5 More Countries
đź“ť Trump Rejects Biden's Executive Privilege Claim Over Autopen
⚖️ Trump’s Push to End Fillibuster Gains Traction
🏆 Policy Group Highlights Trump's Global Wins
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Curated by Mike Luso
This week, the administration put Venezuela squarely in its crosshairs with a pair of escalatory moves that have foreign policy experts doing double-takes at how aggressive the approach has become. Trump formally designated the Maduro regime as a foreign terrorist organization and announced a total naval blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers, declaring that Venezuela is now surrounded by what he's calling "the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America."
Meanwhile, Trump expanded his travel ban with sweeping new restrictions that now affect a total of 39 countries, adding five nations to the full ban list. The administration says many of these countries suffer from widespread corruption and unreliable documentation systems that make proper vetting nearly impossible.
Check out all the latest developments and more below!
🌍 Trump Expands Travel Ban to Include 5 More Countries
Trump expanded his travel ban to include five additional countries and imposed new restrictions on 15 others, doubling the number of nations affected by sweeping entry limits to 39 total. The administration imposed full travel bans on Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, along with individuals holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, while adding partial restrictions on Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The administration said many of these countries suffer from widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records, and nonexistent birth-registration systems, making accurate vetting nearly impossible. The move came after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recommended expanding the travel ban following the shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan national over Thanksgiving weekend. Critics called the expanded ban another shameful attempt to demonize people simply for where they're from rather than genuine security concerns, while advocates for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa recipients raised alarms that the updated ban no longer contains an exception for Afghans who closely assisted the US war effort.
đź“ť Trump Rejects Biden's Executive Privilege Claim Over Autopen
The Trump administration rejected former President Biden's request for executive privilege amid congressional investigations into his administration's use of an autopen to sign official documents. White House Counsel David Warrington denied the request, citing signature discrepancies in official documents and saying Biden's repeated abuses during the pandemic and politically motivated efforts to investigate members of Congress must be subject to a full accounting. The conservative think tank Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project found that the same signature appeared on numerous executive orders and official documents, while Biden's signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature. The reports led to speculation that Biden aides had approved of executive orders and sweeping pardons without the president's involvement. Trump has repeatedly warned that "whoever controlled the autopen controlled the presidency," calling it potentially the biggest scandal of the last 100 years. House Oversight chair James Comer released a report in October calling on the Justice Department to conduct a review of all executive actions Biden signed during his four years in office.
⚖️ Trump’s Push to End Fillibuster Gains Traction
Trump's repeated calls to eliminate the Senate filibuster are gaining fresh traction among Republican senators who previously opposed gutting the 60-vote threshold. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, who earlier said "never, never, ever" when asked about changing the rules after Trump first called for nuking the filibuster in October, is now reconsidering his position, saying it makes him pause after the last government shutdown and the threat of another one. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a member of Senate leadership, said during a recent meeting with GOP leaders that he asked the room if they truly believed Senate Democrats wouldn't try to get rid of the procedural safeguard when they regained a majority, saying if Republicans believe Democrats are going to do it anyway, then why don't they just go ahead and get it done. Trump told reporters this week that he wants Senate Republicans to "knock out" the filibuster, warning them not to be weak and stupid. Senate Majority Leader John Thune's spokesperson said the leader's position on the importance of the legislative filibuster remains unchanged, though the shift among some Republicans marks a notable change in sentiment within the conference.
🏆 Policy Group Highlights Trump's Global Wins
A conservative policy group praised Trump's accomplishments across 100 global initiatives since taking office, highlighting everything from aggressive cartel crackdowns to brokered peace agreements. The America First Policy Institute documented the administration's efforts to reassert American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere by strengthening regional security partnerships, curbing drug flows and preventing pressures that fuel mass migration. The assessment comes as Trump's National Security Strategy reflects what the administration calls a historic realignment of US foreign policy, with White House spokesperson Anna Kelly saying the strategy builds upon the historic achievements of Trump's first year back in office, which has seen the administration move with historic speed to restore American strength at home and abroad. In less than a year, she said, Trump has ended eight wars, persuaded Europe to take greater responsibility for its own defense, facilitated US-made weapons sales to NATO allies, negotiated fairer trade deals, obliterated Iran's nuclear facilities, and positioned the United States to remain the greatest and most successful nation in human history.
đź”” Trump Designates Venezuelan Regime a Terrorist Organization đź””
Trump dropped the hammer on Venezuela this week with two unprecedented moves that represent the most aggressive US posture toward the Maduro government in years. The president designated the Venezuelan regime as a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a total blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the country, accusing Maduro of using stolen US assets to finance terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping. Trump claimed that Venezuela is now "completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America" and warned that the military presence will only grow until Maduro returns oil fields, land and other assets that Trump says were stolen from the United States.
The move directly targets Venezuela's primary revenue source, with oil accounting for roughly 88 percent of the country's export earnings. About 18 tankers under US sanctions that are fully loaded with oil currently sit in Venezuelan waters, with eight classified as very large cargo container ships like the "Skipper," the tanker US forces seized last week off Venezuela's coast. The Skipper is part of what the administration calls a "ghost ship" fleet of roughly 1,000 tankers that quietly navigate global sea routes moving oil from sanctioned countries like Russia, Iran and Venezuela, sailing under foreign flags to obscure their origins, repeatedly changing names, shifting ownership through shell companies, disabling transponders to evade tracking and conducting mid-sea transfers to mask their cargo.
Trump's announcement came on Truth Social, where he declared that "for the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION." The designation makes it illegal for any US citizen to knowingly provide material support or resources to the Maduro government. Trump added that he is ordering "a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela," and said the illegal aliens and criminals that the Maduro regime sent to the United States during the Biden administration are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace.
Venezuela's government fired back with a statement calling Trump's action "grotesque" and saying it violates international law, free trade and free navigation, representing a serious threat against a sovereign nation. Venezuelan officials said Trump's blockade is "absolutely irrational" and filed a formal complaint with the UN Security Council, calling the tanker seizure an act of state piracy carried out through military force. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez shared a statement from Maduro's ruling party saying Trump assumes Venezuela's oil, land and mineral wealth are his property and consequently demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches.
Some analysts warn the sharper posture could become destabilizing if pressure escalates into confrontation without a clear endgame. Roxanna Vigil, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the path ahead depends heavily on how forceful the approach becomes, warning that if it goes in the direction of escalation and conflict, there's going to be very little control over who fills any power vacuum. Without a negotiated transition, she said, a sudden collapse could produce outcomes potentially worse than Maduro, with armed groups, hardline regime actors and cartel-linked networks all competing for power.
The administration has been building up its military presence in the Caribbean for months, positioning the USS Gerald R Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, and its carrier air wing in the region. Two B-1 Lancer bombers flew near the coast of Venezuela in October, and the administration has been carrying out military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean since early September, operations that have killed some 37 people and are coming under congressional scrutiny. Trump has threatened for weeks to carry out land strikes within Venezuela, though he has yet to follow through. Venezuelan oil exports have fallen sharply this week as US actions disrupt tanker departures and leave cargoes stranded, according to Reuters.
🍟 Quick Bite News 🍟
🏛️ A federal judge declined to temporarily halt Trump's plans to renovate a historic White House ballroom after a historic preservation group sued to stop the work. A US District Judge denied the National Trust for Historic Preservation's request for a temporary restraining order, saying the organization failed to show enough irreparable harm to warrant immediately pausing construction. Leon ordered the Trump administration to submit construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of the year and warned that any below-ground work completed over the next two weeks cannot dictate the eventual size or shape of the ballroom.
🔫 Minnesota Governor Tim Walz renewed his push for an assault weapons ban just days after a gunman used a handgun in a mass shooting at Brown University. Walz signed two executive orders on gun violence after his efforts to secure legislative action collapsed due to lack of support even within his own party. The move attracted political pushback from Republicans, who said Walz was performing a public-relations stunt rather than getting at root causes of gun violence.
đź’Ľ All net job growth in November went to American workers as foreign-born employment continued declining, marking a complete reversal from the Biden administration's migrant-heavy labor market. Economist E.J. Antoni pointed out that the number of native-born Americans with jobs is up 2.6 million over the last 12 months while the number of foreign-born workers employed saw a slight decline. Research from the Center for Immigration Studies discovered that while migrants gained more than 4.7 million jobs under Biden, employment growth for native-born Americans increased by just 645,000 jobs.
🚨 The Labor Department sent a specialized strike team to Minnesota to investigate widespread unemployment insurance fraud that has cost the state millions of dollars. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said she is appalled at what the department is hearing about potential fraud coming from numerous benefits programs in Minnesota. The investigation follows reports of other massive fraud schemes in Minnesota, including 70 people being indicted in July for stealing over $250 million from hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic through the Feeding Our Future program.
🎬 A new documentary was announced that chronicles the life of First Lady Melania Trump and will hit theaters worldwide on January 30. Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million to purchase the license for the film, marking the largest documentary deal in history after beating out bids from Disney, Netflix and Paramount. The 104-minute film titled "MELANIA" was produced in a highly cinematic style at the first lady's direction, with the first lady remaining involved in every aspect from her creative vision to serving as producer.
God bless,
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