Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) lavished praise on current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), claiming that he is a &#8220;unifier&#8221; and more than qualified to take over as Speaker and insisting that Democrats would regain control of the House in 2026.
Pelosi sat down with ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl to discuss her lengthy tenure in the United States House of Representatives — and as the first female House Speaker — on Sunday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;This Week,&#8221; as she is set to begin her final year in Congress.
WATCH:
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Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi says she thinks the Democrats will re-take the House of Representatives in 2026: “Hakeem Jeffries is ready, he&#8217;s eloquent, he&#8217;s respected by the members, he is a unifier.” <a href="https://t.co/ZnRxKy0sL5">https://t.co/ZnRxKy0sL5</a> <a href="https://t.co/O6RtIf76eh">pic.twitter.com/O6RtIf76eh</a>
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/2005313931665953007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;So, if the Democrats win the House back —&#8221; Karl began, but Pelosi interrupted.
&#8220;No, no — when. When the Democrats win the House back, because we will,&#8221; Pelosi insisted.
&#8220;How does the next Democratic speaker of the House deal with Donald Trump?&#8221; Karl asked. &#8220;What would be your advice?&#8221;
&#8220;Be yourself. Just do your own thing, just be yourself,&#8221; Pelosi said. &#8220;Hakeem Jeffries is ready, he&#8217;s eloquent, he&#8217;s respected by the members, he is a unifier &#8230;&#8221;
&#8220;You have no doubt it will be Hakeem Jeffries?&#8221; Karl asked.
&#8220;No.&#8221;
Karl asked whether there were already plans in place going into the second half of Trump&#8217;s presidency, specifically whether there were plans for impeachments or investigations — &#8220;or do you deal with him and get something done on all the other issues?&#8221;
Pelosi argued that it would be &#8220;hard to come up with something that [Trump] will sign because of the problem that he is,&#8221; and claimed that Trump would &#8220;hold up&#8221; anything useful that Democrats were able to force through.
But while Jeffries apparently has Pelosi&#8217;s full confidence, he has already run into trouble as the Minority Leader in recent weeks.
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-catches-hakeem-jeffries-in-straight-up-lie-about-government-shutdown">challenged Jeffries</a> during an interview while Senate Democrats were keeping the government shutdown going, rebuffing his claim that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was refusing to speak with him about bringing the shutdown to an end. Within seconds, it was revealed that Johnson and Jeffries had spoken about ending the shutdown — and that Johnson had initiated the conversation — and that Jeffries had written him off because he was not willing to simply give up and let Democrats have what they wanted.
Jeffries also ran into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hakeem-jeffries-earns-annoyed-eye-roll-from-cnbc-anchor">several challenges</a> from CNBC hosts who disputed his claims that Republicans were the ones at fault for the government shutdown and that Democrats were offering reasonable solutions to the potential extension of COVID-era Obamacare subsidies.
During a recent press conference, when asked a question about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hakeem-jeffries-trashes-dr-oz-gets-hit-with-brutal-fact-check">Dr. Mehmet Oz</a> — who is currently serving in President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration as the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, Jeffries trashed the renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon as &#8220;woefully unqualified.&#8221;
In short order, Fox News anchor John Roberts replied with a fact-check: &#8220;@hakeemjeffries just insisted that @DrOz is ‘unqualified.&#8217; Just a quick fact check for the minority leader: Mehmet Oz: Undergraduate degree — Harvard; MD — UPenn; MBA — Wharton School; He was a renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital before taking the leap into TV.&#8221;

Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi Is Certain Dems Will Retake House, Praises Jeffries As ‘Unifier’

Nancy Pelosi Is Certain Dems Will Retake House, Praises Jeffries As 'Unifier

Media

Nancy Pelosi

Politics

Cheryl Hines admitted during a recent interview that her husband, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had offered her the chance to stage a &#8220;fake&#8221; separation in order to divert politically motivated attacks away from her.
Hines told Dr. Phil McGraw that Kennedy had known he would be a political target, but that he&#8217;d made the offer in the hopes that he could draw some of the negative attention away from her, sparing her the stress of constant scrutiny.
WATCH:
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🚨NEW: Cheryl Hines tells Dr. Phil how RFK Jr. offered her fake separation so she’d stop taking heat for his politics🥹
“Things got really intense. I didn’t consider it.”
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t marry him because of his politics. Why would I leave him because of his politics?”<a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DailyCaller</a> <a href="https://t.co/19slzW2zKr">pic.twitter.com/19slzW2zKr</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/2005030903257727297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Dr. Phil raised the question, asking whether it was true that Kennedy had offered her an out, and then immediately followed up by asking whether she had actually considered going through with it.
&#8220;Well &#8230; Things got really intense,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t consider it.&#8221;
Hines went on to say that Kennedy had drawn a significant amount of criticism for his stance on vaccines during COVID — particularly vaccine mandates — and that she had often gotten lumped in with him when he was attacked.
When Kennedy voiced his unpopular opinions, Hines said, people would turn on her and ask how she could stay married to him if those were the things he believed. Others would refuse to spend time with her because she stayed with him, saying, &#8220;I can&#8217;t be around you because you&#8217;re married to him.&#8221;
Hines brushed it all off, saying that she&#8217;d known she and Kennedy would have disagreements before they were married, and nothing had changed. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t marry him because of his politics. Why would I leave him because of his politics?&#8221;

HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr Testifies At Senate Finance Hearing

Cheryl Hines Says RFK Jr. Offered Her ‘Fake’ Separation To Divert Political Attacks

"Things got really intense. I didn’t consider it."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

President Donald Trump responded early on Sunday to reports of breakout fighting between Thailand and Cambodia, saying that the United States had quickly stepped in to bring the leaders of both nations back around to honoring the peace agreement they&#8217;d made months earlier.
Trump shared the news in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115797695341052561">post</a> to his Truth Social platform on Sunday morning, taking a moment to lay out a number of other conflicts in which both his first and second administrations had intervened with positive results.
&#8220;I am pleased to announce that the breakout fighting between Thailand and Cambodia will stop momentarily, and they will go back to living in PEACE, as per our recently agreed to original Treaty,&#8221; Trump began, citing the treaty that was pushed through in July of 2025, brokered by Malaysia but under trade pressure from the United States. &#8220;I want to congratulate both great leaders on their brilliance in coming to this rapid and very fair conclusion. It was FAST &amp; DECISIVE, as all of these situations should be!&#8221;
&#8220;The United States of America, as always, was proud to help! With all of the wars and conflicts I have settled and stopped over the last eleven months, EIGHT, perhaps the United States has become the REAL United Nations, which has been of very little assistance or help in any of them, including the disaster currently going on between Russia and Ukraine,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;The United Nations must start getting active and involved in WORLD PEACE!&#8221;
The new peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand was signed on Saturday and took effect at noon that day — and will put a stop to all military movements and airspace violations, The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/thailand-cambodia-border-fighting-ceasefire-0019310e1c062cd211f9f5398b3bc463">reported</a>. Once the ceasefire has held for 72 hours, Thailand will also be required under the new deal to return 18 Cambodian soldiers who have been held prisoner since prior to the last peace agreement in July.
Cambodia’s Tea Seiha and Thailand’s Nattaphon Narkphanit, both defense ministers, met at a checkpoint on their shared border Saturday to sign the new ceasefire agreement.

UK Hosts President Trump And First Lady Melania Trump For State Visit – Day Three

President Trump Responds After Fighting Breaks Out Between Cambodia And Thailand

Cambodia

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Thailand

School choice advocate Erika Donalds said that students will be better off when parents have better access to what their kids are learning and when schools are held accountable for veering away from what should be taught.
Donalds, the wife of Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), sat down with The Daily Wire&#8217;s Tim Rice and Mary Margaret Olohan for an interview at Turning Point USA&#8217;s 2025 AmFest, the first one held without the group&#8217;s late founder, Charlie Kirk.
Donalds began by saying that she was excited to see so many people of all ages attending breakout sessions at the conference that were devoted to reforming education — and how fixing what was wrong with education in the United States played into saving the republic as well.
&#8220;President Trump is doing exactly what he promised the American people,&#8221; Donalds said of President Donald Trump&#8217;s plan to first dismantle the Department of Education as a federal entity and then return power to the schools and the states. &#8220;He&#8217;s going to return that power not just to the states, but expand school choice and give power to the parents to make decisions on behalf of their children.&#8221;
Donalds praised Education Secretary Linda McMahon, saying that she had been instrumental in delivering on Trump&#8217;s promises.
The conversation turned to charter schools — several of which Donalds has had a hand in founding — and she said that they can serve as valuable school choice options, especially in areas where private schools are too expensive or otherwise inaccessible. She said that even with advances in school choice, she saw a major role for charter schools to partner with Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and to offer more &#8220;modular style&#8221; classes.
In her home state, Donalds noted, charter schools were already adapting to the changing educational landscape by offering &#8220;individual courses and extracurricular activities that families can access using their ESA dollars.&#8221;
Responding to a question from Olohan, who noted she was homeschooled for a time herself, Donalds said that the number of families homeschooling in the United States was higher than it had ever been — and that even more families indicated that they&#8217;d like to homeschool if they could. Donald made it clear that one of her goals was to help families remove as many of the barriers preventing potential homeschoolers from moving forward as possible.
Rice then raised the issue of artificial intelligence — and how the knee-jerk reaction is often to keep AI out of schools because students will obviously use it to cheat — but Donalds argued that she believed there was certainly room for AI in education.
There should certainly be guard rails in place, Donalds argued, but AI could be used to find gaps in education and help children to succeed who might otherwise fall through the cracks.
&#8220;We need guardrails and we need parents to have visibility into what&#8217;s going on in the AI used in their classrooms,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Once those guardrails are in place, I believe AI can absolutely help with the abysmal academic results in this country.&#8221;
She went on to explain that AI could help a child struggling with reading by identifying the particular concept that was causing the hang-up and tailoring a curriculum to the child&#8217;s needs. The same could be done with other subjects, she said, giving the example of a child having difficulty with algebra and saying that AI could identify where they were going wrong — even if it was a skill they should have picked up in elementary school.
The remainder of the interview focused on ideological and cultural issues seeping into the education system and how expanding parental rights and access to resources and curriculum were the best guard against that.
&#8220;We want to make sure that when students are graduating 12th grade that they are civically literate,&#8221; Donalds said, arguing that if America&#8217;s young people did not understand how the founders had built the country or why the government had been set up the way that it had, they would be unable to defend it in the future.

Erika Donalds

Erika Donalds Talks Trump, School Choice, And Why AI Is Good For Classrooms

Byron Donalds

Charter Schools

Daily Wire

Education

Parental Rights in Education

Just one week after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard warned of the major threat posed by Islamists, major cities across the United States — and around the world — have altered and even canceled New Year&#8217;s celebrations due to security concerns.
In Chicago, state and local officials released a joint threat assessment just before Christmas, and warned that <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/post/new-years-eve-chicago-news-citys-nye-2025-celebration-is-attractive-target-foreign-domestic-extremists-report-says/18310758/">crowded celebrations</a> — such as the annual New Year&#8217;s Eve fireworks at Navy Pier — could be &#8220;attractive targets&#8221; for either domestic or foreign terrorists. They plan to go ahead with the events as planned, but will be increasing security in the area — and will be actively monitoring for potential attacks with drones or by using vehicles to ram crowds.
In <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/four-indicted-foiled-new-years-eve-terror-bombing-plot-targeting-southern-california-businesses">Los Angeles</a>, just over a week earlier, the FBI foiled a series of planned New Year&#8217;s attacks by the anti-government extremist group Turtle Island Liberation Front. Those attacks were supposed to target local businesses — and the group also planned to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the coming weeks. Members of the group had already begun the process of building and testing pipe bombs to be used in the holiday attacks when they were caught.
Audrey Carroll, one of those indicted in the Southern California case, had sent messages to other members saying things like, &#8220;I identify as a terrorist,&#8221; and, &#8220;I am a Hamas fangirl.&#8221;
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A <a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/lone-wolves-small-groups-most-persistent-security-threats-new-years-eve-times-square-report-says/18305122/">threat assessment</a> for the massive New Year&#8217;s Eve celebration held in Times Square, New York City, also raised red flags as officials said the largest concerns were potential &#8220;lone wolf&#8221; actors and small, organized groups. New York City is a symbolically &#8220;aspirational target&#8221; for would-be terrorists, the assessment stated, also noting the potential for &#8220;vehicle ramming attacks.&#8221;
&#8220;Lone offenders remain a particular concern due to their frequent ability to avoid detection until operational — al-Qa&#8217;ida and ISIS, and their supporters, continue to demonstrate an interest in targeting special events in the Homeland, as well as US officials and other perceived enemies,&#8221; the assessment read.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that he would still feel comfortable allowing celebrations to go on if he were in charge, touting the capabilities of the New York Police Department: &#8220;If it were me in New York, I would go ahead, but that&#8217;s because I know I have the greatest police department in the world.&#8221;
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“If it were me in New York, I would go ahead, but that&#8217;s because I know I have the greatest police department in the world.”
— Former NYC Mayor <a href="https://twitter.com/RudyGiuliani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RudyGiuliani</a> said New York City can still hold a safe New Year’s Eve celebration despite heightened terror threats<a href="https://twitter.com/RitaCosby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RitaCosby</a> <a href="https://t.co/AD7900BsQ3">pic.twitter.com/AD7900BsQ3</a>
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) <a href="https://twitter.com/NEWSMAX/status/2004967129917870547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The threat assessments come as multiple <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-real-war-on-christmas">celebrations</a> and holiday events — from Christmas markets to New Year&#8217;s Eve concerts — have been noticeably changed or canceled altogether across Europe amid similar threats of Islamist attacks.
In Salzburg, Austria, the famous Christmas market has had a security overhaul — including security guards and dozens of cameras — and Paris has canceled the annual New Year&#8217;s Eve celebration on the Champs- Élysées.
It also comes as Gabbard recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-warns-that-islamist-ideology-is-freedoms-greatest-threat">laid out</a> the threat posed — in the United States and around the world — by Islamist ideology.
“It is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America,” she said, adding, “And if you fail to comply, if you fail to adhere to this ideology, if you dare to exercise your God-given right to free speech, censorship is not what we face. They will use violence or any means that they deem as necessary to silence us.”

US-LIFESTYLE-HOLIDAY-NEW YEARS

Major Cities Scuttle New Year’s Plans Amid Increased Islamist Terror Threats

Chicago

domestic terrorism

Islamists

New Year's

New York City

Radical Islam

Terrorism

terrorist attack

U.S.

President Donald Trump let a second holiday missive fly late on Christmas Day, taking aim this time at the &#8220;Sleazebags&#8221; who had cozied up to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and reminding his followers that he had dropped Epstein &#8220;long before it became fashionable to do so.&#8221;
Trump posted the <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115782891296626533">message</a> via his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening, just an hour after his post announcing military strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria, and said that once the truth was out in the open, it would be primarily Democrats who had a lot of explaining to do.
&#8220;Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein, gave him bundles of money, went to his Island, attended his parties, and thought he was the greatest guy on earth, only to &#8216;drop him like a dog&#8217; when things got too HOT,&#8221; Trump began, saying that they then &#8220;falsely claimed they had nothing to do with him, didn’t know him, said he was a disgusting person, and then blame, of course, President Donald J. Trump, who was actually the only one who did drop Epstein, and long before it became fashionable to do so.&#8221;
&#8220;When their names get brought out in the ongoing Radical Left Witch Hunt (plus one lowlife Republican,&#8217; Massie!), and it is revealed that they are Democrats all, there will be a lot of explaining to do, much like there was when it was made public that the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax was a fictitious story,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;A total Scam — and had nothing to do with &#8216;TRUMP.'&#8221;
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Trump then turned his attention to the media — specifically The New York Times — saying that the outlet was &#8220;losing many subscribers due to their highly inaccurate (FAKE!) coverage.&#8221;
&#8220;Now the same losers are at it again, only this time so many of their friends, mostly innocent, will be badly hurt and reputationally tarnished,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;But sadly, that’s the way it is in the World of Corrupt Democrat Politics!!! Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas! President Donald J. Trump.&#8221;
Congress has released <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doj-drops-30000-more-epstein-docs-that-include-accusations-against-trump">a number of documents</a> related to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spin-cycle-the-epstein-and-redacted-files">Epstein</a> in recent days, pursuant to the Epstein Transparency Act, but critics have said that it&#8217;s not enough — and that too much information remains redacted.

Trump Targets ‘Sleazebags’ Who Cozied Up To Epstein In Holiday Howler

Democrats

Jeffrey Epstein

President Donald Trump ordered the United States military to carry out strikes on ISIS targets in Africa on Christmas Day, saying that he had warned them to stop the systematic slaughter of Christians and they had not heeded that warning.
Trump shared the news first in a post to his Truth Social platform, saying that the War Department had — on his orders — carried out a number of &#8220;perfect strikes&#8221; on targets throughout Northwest Nigeria.
&#8220;Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!&#8221; Trump posted, adding, &#8220;I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.&#8221;
&#8220;The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.&#8221;
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&#8220;The President was clear last month,&#8221; War Secretary Pete Hegseth added. &#8220;The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come… Grateful for Nigerian government support &amp; cooperation. Merry Christmas!&#8221;
Just hours before President Trump confirmed that the strikes had taken place, the War Department posted a Christmas message that served as a reminder that the United States military did not rest just because it was a holiday.
&#8220;Christmas night, 1776… The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware. We carry his legacy,&#8221; the post read, and included an image of then-General George Washington and his men crossing the Delaware River.
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Christmas night, 1776…
The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware.
We carry his legacy. <a href="https://t.co/eFRDAwfewO">https://t.co/eFRDAwfewO</a> <a href="https://t.co/ePUt394Qdj">pic.twitter.com/ePUt394Qdj</a>
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOWResponse/status/2004235843448504500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
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On Christmas night of 1776, Washington led some 2,400 men in crossing the treacherously icy Delaware River. They surprised an encampment of Hessian soldiers — Germans fighting for the crown — near Trenton, where they won a decisive victory and took some 900 of the Hessians prisoner. Two other generals were supposed to cross the Delaware that same day — one to harass other troops in the area and prevent them from providing backup and another to prevent the Hessians a safe avenue of retreat — but only Washington and his men were able to make it across the river.

President Trump Attends Pentagon Ceremony On 24th Anniversary Of 9/11

Trump Strikes ISIS Targets In Nigeria On Christmas Day

Africa

ISIS

Military

Terrorists

World

President Donald Trump posted a Christmas message to everyone — &#8220;including the Radical Left Scum&#8221; — on Christmas Eve, touting a number of things that his administration has changed in just the first year of his second term in office.
Trump posted the message first on his Truth Social platform, and he laid out a few things he&#8217;d been critical of during former President Joe Biden&#8217;s time in office, explaining what he&#8217;d already done to usher in major changes.
&#8220;Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly,&#8221; Trump began, immediately pivoting to attack Biden&#8217;s policies. &#8220;We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement.&#8221;
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Trump followed that with a series of positive changes that he attributed to his own policies: &#8220;What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401K’s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected.&#8221;
&#8220;Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had,&#8221; the president continued. &#8220;We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT.&#8221;
The tone set by the White House Christmas message just hours later was much more subdued, featuring a simple photo of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
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MERRY CHRISTMAS! <a href="https://t.co/YJ9YYEf19v">pic.twitter.com/YJ9YYEf19v</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2004189679105773873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Department of Homeland Security posted a video, set to &#8220;Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.&#8221;
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Rejoice America, Christ is born! <a href="https://t.co/tZgLyTxkVn">pic.twitter.com/tZgLyTxkVn</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/2004208041605128250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Christmas night, 1776… The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware. We carry his legacy,&#8221; the War Department said, sharing an image of then-General George Washington crossing the Delaware River.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Christmas night, 1776…
The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware.
We carry his legacy. <a href="https://t.co/eFRDAwfewO">https://t.co/eFRDAwfewO</a> <a href="https://t.co/ePUt394Qdj">pic.twitter.com/ePUt394Qdj</a>
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOWResponse/status/2004235843448504500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Merry Christmas to all. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May His light bring peace, hope, and joy to you and your families,&#8221; War Secretary Pete Hegseth added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Merry Christmas to all. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May His light bring peace, hope, and joy to you and your families. <a href="https://t.co/lycKvYq9eS">pic.twitter.com/lycKvYq9eS</a>
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/2004182968286564502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
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US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CABINET

Trump Sends Christmas Wishes To Everyone — ‘Including The Radical Left Scum’

Trump Sends Christmas Wishes To Everyone — 'Including The Radical Left Scum'

Christmas

General

Social Media

The White House did not publish an official &#8220;Naughty List&#8221; for 2025 — though whether they made one is anyone&#8217;s guess — a handful of lawmakers would have been shoe-ins for inclusion.
These people worked against President Donald Trump and his administration over the past year by holding up votes on Trump&#8217;s nominees and agenda, attacking the president on social media and in the press, and badmouthing him and his team in front of any microphone they could find.
They come from both parties and across the country, unified only in their opposition to the Big Man. Let&#8217;s take a look at which Grinches made the list.
<h4>LaMonica McIver</h4>
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was one of three New Jersey lawmakers who physically pushed their way into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding facility in her state. She and the others claimed that ICE agents had gotten &#8220;rough&#8221; with them, but body cam footage belied her account.
McIver was indicted for her trouble, on three counts of &#8220;forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.&#8221;
<h4>Marjorie Taylor Greene</h4>
President Trump&#8217;s former ally is the most recent lawmaker to incur Trump&#8217;s wrath.
After a series of criticisms from Greene — focused primarily on the Trump administration&#8217;s handling of files related to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — Trump attacked the Georgia congresswoman in several Truth Social posts. Calling her &#8220;Marjorie Traitor Greene&#8221; in one instance, he cheered her eventual resignation from Congress as &#8220;good for the country.&#8221;
In the days since, Greene has given a handful of interviews — and they&#8217;ve been progressively less flattering to Trump.
<h4>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</h4>
The New York firebrand has been a more-or-less constant thorn in the side of Republicans since she was elected, and 2025 has proved to be no different. With the policies championed in her proposed Green New Deal languishing under the weight of Trump&#8217;s regulatory reform, she has turned to jabbing at members of the administration and those who support it via social media.
One such barb was aimed at former collegiate swimmer — and staunch advocate for women and girls — Riley Gaines, who pointed out the dangers of embracing socialism as AOC has.
&#8220;Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referencing the 2022 NCAA championships where Gaines had tied for 5th place with trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas.
Gaines was unperturbed, replying, &#8220;It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a ‘gotcha’ by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman *in the nation* yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol. Misogynistic dunce.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez also took to social media to crow about a poll that showed her besting Vice President JD Vance in a potential 2028 match-up. What she didn&#8217;t mention was that the poll was taken in Canada, where socialism has already taken hold — and where no one can vote for her, anyway.
<h4>Mark Kelly</h4>
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined five other members of Congress — all of them veterans of either the Armed Services or the Central Intelligence Agency — to make a video encouraging members of the military to question their orders in real time. Nicknaming them the &#8220;Seditious Six,&#8221; Trump said his administration was prepared to investigate Kelly in particular because, as the only member of the group who retired from the military, he is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and can be recalled to be court-martialed for his actions.
<h4>Chuck Schumer</h4>
Senate Minority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-roast-chuck-schumer-over-shutdown-deal-we-need-new-leadership">Chuck Schumer</a> kept members of his party in line through the longest government shutdown in American history — and despite the fact that he and his party got nothing for their trouble, they still managed to inflict a significant amount of pain on people who either worked for the federal government and were furloughed or were dependent on government assistance.
When the shutdown finally ended, Democrats got none of the things they&#8217;d demanded, and members of Schumer&#8217;s party began to turn on him.
&#8220;Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?&#8221; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said at the time.
<h4>Hakeem Jeffries</h4>
House Minority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-catches-hakeem-jeffries-in-straight-up-lie-about-government-shutdown?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=CNN+Catches+Hakeem+Jeffries+In+Straight-Up+Lie+About+Government+Shutdown">Hakeem Jeffries</a> (D-NY) has almost constantly been at odds with the Trump administration — and his attacks have often been disingenuous at best. After claiming that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had refused to talk to him about bringing the shutdown to an end, Jeffries was forced to admit to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins that they had, in fact, spoken — and that Johnson had initiated the call.
On another occasion, Jeffries aimed his ire at Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Administrator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hakeem-jeffries-trashes-dr-oz-gets-hit-with-brutal-fact-check?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Hakeem+Jeffries+Trashes+Dr.+Oz%2C+Gets+Hit+With+Brutal+Fact-Check">Mehmet Oz.</a> He mocked the acclaimed cardiothoracic surgeon and claimed that no one should take him &#8220;seriously.&#8221;
Fox News anchor John Roberts laid out the fact check: &#8220;Just a quick fact check for the minority leader: Mehmet Oz: Undergraduate degree — Harvard; MD — UPenn; MBA — Wharton School; He was a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital before taking the leap into TV.&#8221;
Jeffries did praise Trump for issuing a pardon to Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hakeem-jeffries-sides-with-trump-over-pardon-for-texas-democrat">Henry Cuellar</a> (D-Texas), whose indictment was viewed by a number on both sides of the political aisle as politically motivated — but on balance, he more than earned the sombrero memes in which he was featured.
<h4>Chris Van Hollen</h4>
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was at first of many congressional Democrats who sided with dangerous criminal aliens over American citizens, attacking ICE agents for faithfully enforcing federal immigration laws. But when his party and their media cohorts effectively adopted MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia as their cause du jour, it was Van Hollen who took his activism to absurd new heights.
When the criminal illegal alien was deported and sent to El Salvador — an admitted mistake made by the Trump administration, which could legally have deported him to any country other than El Salvador — it was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-border-czar-tears-into-dem-senator-van-hollen-for-el-salvador-trip">Van Hollen</a> who took it upon himself to fly to El Salvador and demand to meet with Abrego Garcia.
<h4>Adam Schiff</h4>
Perhaps the naughtiest of them all, Schiff made the leap from the House to the Senate in January, and although he still hasn&#8217;t delivered the &#8220;evidence&#8221; he swore he had of Trump colluding with Russia, he has poured a fair amount of time and effort into being a bee in the Trump administration&#8217;s bonnet.
Just two days after Trump&#8217;s inauguration, Schiff <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-complains-bondi-isnt-doing-the-job-his-party-is-blocking-her-from-getting?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Complains+Bondi+Isn’t+Doing+The+Job+His+Party+Is+Blocking+Her+From+Getting">complained</a> in an X post that Pam Bondi — then Trump&#8217;s nominee for attorney general — had not given a thorough review to all of the January 6th pardons. He omitted the fact that his party had stalled Bondi&#8217;s confirmation process — and therefore it was ridiculous to expect her to already be doing the job they were preventing her from getting.
In the months since, Schiff&#8217;s statements have been an exercise in lacking self-awareness.
&#8220;That attitude that you can make a president or a party unsuccessful, no matter what damage it might do to the country, because it’s good politics — we have to get past that ruinous idea,” he said on a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-claims-lawmakers-shouldnt-use-politics-to-destroy-presidents?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Claims+Lawmakers+Shouldn’t+Use+Politics+To+Destroy+Presidents">recent podcast</a>, omitting his own history of doing exactly that to Trump.
When War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered strikes on narco-terrorists in the Caribbean, Schiff referred to men who survived the initial strike as &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-defends-narcoterrorists-claims-they-were-shipwrecked-survivors?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Defends+Narcoterrorists%2C+Claims+They+Were+‘Shipwrecked+Survivors’">shipwreck survivors</a>&#8221; and declared the strikes illegal. He later complained that Trump had only survived multiple prosecutions because then Attorney General Merrick Garland had not been &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-complains-that-merrick-garland-wasnt-partisan-enough?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Complains+That+Merrick+Garland+Wasn’t+Partisan+Enough">partisan enough</a>.&#8221;
Here&#8217;s hoping these naughty folks enjoy their coal — and learn to be nicer next year!

Eight Lawmakers (Probably) On The White House’s Naughty List

Eight Lawmakers [Probably] On The White House's Naughty List

Adam Schiff

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Chuck Schumer

Hakeem Jeffries

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waded into the debate over a recently pulled &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bari-weiss-had-5-reasons-for-yanking-60-minutes-report-on-el-salvador-prison">60 Minutes</a>&#8221; story highlighting the conditions at El Salvador&#8217;s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison — but Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele pushed back.
The twice-failed presidential candidate shared a video after CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pulled a story on the prison, promising a look at what was really going on.
&#8220;Curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison,&#8221; Clinton <a href="https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/2003137309072580799">posted</a>. The video she shared, originally from PBS News, interviewed three Venezuelan men who had been deported to the prison by President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration.
Salvadoran President Bukele responded to Clinton with a lengthy post of his own and proposed a trade-off: &#8220;Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton, If you are convinced that torture is taking place at CECOT, El Salvador is ready to cooperate fully,&#8221; Bukele began in his <a href="https://x.com/nayibbukele/status/2003586690288660789">response</a>. &#8220;We are willing to release our entire prison population (including all gang leaders and all those described as &#8216;political prisoners&#8217;) to any country willing to receive them. The only condition is straightforward: it must be everyone.&#8221;
<a class="c-link" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-12320">Christmas Sale &#8211; Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
&#8220;This would also greatly assist journalists and your favorite NGOs, who would then have thousands of former inmates available for interviews, making it far easier to find additional voices critical of the Salvadoran government (or willing to confirm whatever conclusions are already expected),&#8221; Bukele continued. &#8220;Surely, if these testimonies reflect a systemic reality, a much larger pool of sources should only reinforce the claim, and many governments should be eager to offer protection.&#8221;
His conclusion was simple: &#8220;Until then, we will continue prioritizing the human rights of the millions of Salvadorans who today live free from gang rule. Respectfully, Nayib Bukele.&#8221;
A number of others also responded to Clinton&#8217;s post, with some referencing the fact that when she was First Lady, her husband — then-President Bill Clinton — had played a role in <a href="https://x.com/HerbertEsmahan/status/2003788400323862735">deporting</a> Salvadoran gang members back to El Salvador en masse.
Many of those <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-the-u-s-fueled-the-rise-of-ms-13/">Salvadoran criminals</a> — who had come to the United States as their country was being torn apart by civil war — formed MS-13 in Los Angeles. When the Clinton administration first expanded the list of crimes that could result in deportation and then began deporting MS-13 members in large numbers, the still-rebuilding Salvadoran government was unable to handle the overwhelming number of gang members being dropped at their doorstep.

Hillary Clinton Appears At Women Transforming Global Security Event

Hillary Clinton Wades Into ’60 Minutes’ Brouhaha, Gets Torched By Salvadoran President

Hillary Clinton Wades Into '60 Minutes' Brouhaha, Gets Torched By Salvadoran President

Deportations

El Salvador

Hillary Clinton

illegal immigrants

Nayib Bukele

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on December 24, 2022. We’re bringing it back.
 * * *
American service members have often spent their holidays away from loved ones — and in harm&#8217;s way — and the men who found themselves in the besieged Belgian city of Bastogne just before Christmas of 1944 were no exception.
Bastogne, which sits just a few miles from the border of Luxembourg, had been under German control since <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-invasion-of-western-europe-may-1940" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May of 1940</a> and had only been liberated by Allied troops a few months earlier in September — and much of the 101st Airborne Division remained in and around the city.
Other divisions were scattered throughout the surrounding area, many composed of replacement troops who had only recently arrived in Europe: among them were elements of the 106th Infantry &#8220;The Golden Lions,&#8221; the 9th Armored &#8220;Phantom&#8221; Division, and the 28th Infantry &#8220;The Bloody Bucket.&#8221; Some were still waiting for supply drops, ammunition, and even winter uniforms.
The surprise attack began on December 16th when German Panzer divisions pushed back towards Bastogne, catching the mostly-green American troops in the frozen Ardennes Forest off guard and breaking through roadblock after roadblock. Some put up a good fight, but many were driven back into Bastogne and forced to regroup.
On December 17th, just outside of a nearby town called <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-malmedy-massacre" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Malmedy</a>, a Hitler Youth graduate turned Waffen SS (Schutzstaffel) General Joachim Peiper and his men captured over 100 American soldiers, all part of Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. After a brief skirmish, the Americans who were unable to escape into the woods surrendered — and after taking their personal possessions from them, Peiper&#8217;s men lined the unarmed Americans up in eight rows in a nearby field and opened fire. The few who survived by pretending to be dead recalled hearing laughter as the SS soldiers fired.
By December 20th, the city of Bastogne itself was under siege, entirely surrounded and vastly outnumbered by the enemy — and word of Peiper and the massacre at Malmedy had gotten to soldiers and civilians alike. Snowy and frigid weather conditions made supply drops all but impossible, and even on the ground, visibility was limited.
Bastogne had also been inundated by &#8220;stragglers&#8221; — soldiers who had been assigned to units that had been overrun as the Germans had moved to encircle the city — and so Team SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) was born. Men from tank battalions, men from artillery groups, cooks, barbers, it no longer mattered: if they could carry a weapon and stand a post, they were temporarily reassigned to SNAFU and used as much-needed replacements to aid the 101st Airborne.
<div id="attachment_848989" style="width: 859px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-848989" class="wp-image-848989 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-1140427866-849x576.jpg" alt="Airborne Infantrymen, .30-caliber Machine Gun, Ardennes-Alsace Campaign, Battle of the Bulge, 1945. (Photo by: History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)" width="849" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-1140427866-849x576.jpg 849w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-1140427866-300x204.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-1140427866-768x521.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-1140427866.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px" />History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</div>
<a href="https://www.asomf.org/the-battle-of-the-bulge-asom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Two days into the siege</a>, on December 22nd, a German contingent approached waving a white flag — and delivered an ultimatum to Major Alvin Jones, who commanded the 2nd Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment.
&#8220;The fortune of war is changing. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne,&#8221; the letter read. Demanding surrender — within two hours — the German commander threatened to destroy the city if the Americans did not comply. He also promised that the Americans would be blamed for any resulting civilian casualties.
&#8220;The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hour’s term,&#8221; the German commander wrote. &#8220;All the serious civilian losses caused by this Artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity.&#8221;
&#8220;They want us to surrender,&#8221; Jones told Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe.
McAuliffe, who was acutely aware of the situation, laughed in the face of certain doom: &#8220;Aw nuts!&#8221;
He went to write a return memo, but told his staff, &#8220;I don’t know what to tell them.&#8221;
Lt. Colonel Kinnard commented, &#8220;Well, sir, that first remark of yours would be hard to beat.&#8221;
And so McAuliffe&#8217;s reply read simply: “To the German Commander: Nuts! The American Commander.”
Colonel Joseph H. Harper, commander of 327th Glider Infantry, delivered the note to the Germans — reportedly delighting in the chance to explain to them what it meant: &#8220;If you don’t understand what &#8216;nuts&#8217; means, in plain English, it is the same as, &#8216;Go to Hell.’”
McAuliffe followed that note with an <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2021/12/nuts-mcauliffes-1944-christmas-letter-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">equally blustery</a> Christmas Eve letter to his troops, detailing both the German commander&#8217;s demands and his response.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
75 years ago this Christmas Eve, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe wrote this letter to his troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Today we remember the service members who served during the holidays both then and now and wish you a Merry Christmas! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoVeteranEverDies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoVeteranEverDies</a> <a href="https://t.co/VuYyhYqqVj">pic.twitter.com/VuYyhYqqVj</a>
&mdash; National Cemeteries (@VANatCemeteries) <a href="https://twitter.com/VANatCemeteries/status/1209458808587784192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting — it’s cold, we aren’t home,&#8221; McAuliffe&#8217;s letter read. &#8220;All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West.&#8221;
&#8220;We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division,&#8221; McAuliffe continued. &#8220;These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World history. The Germans actually did surround us, their radios blared our doom.&#8221;
McAuliffe, after sharing his flippant response to the German demand for surrender, concluded with these words: &#8220;Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: &#8216;Well Done!&#8217; We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.&#8221;
The Germans did deliver the <a href="https://www.asomf.org/the-battle-of-the-bulge-asom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised barrage</a> of artillery and bombs, bringing assault after assault over four days beginning on the 22nd — but on December 26th, a late Christmas gift finally arrived: General George S. Patton and his Third Army severed the German lines completely, breaking the siege of Bastogne.
<div id="attachment_848993" style="width: 721px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-848993" class="wp-image-848993 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-119462242-711x576.jpg" alt="American military commander Lieutenant General George S. Patton (1885 - 1945) (center left) talks with Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe (1898 - 1975), Bastogne, France, December 28, 1944. McAuliff commanded the 101st Airborne Division, which was beseiged in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, until the seige was broken by troops under Patton shortly before this picture was taken. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)" width="711" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-119462242-711x576.jpg 711w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-119462242-300x243.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-119462242-768x622.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-119462242.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px" />PhotoQuest/Getty Images</div>

Two Infantrymen, Bastogne, Belgium, Ardennes-Alsace Campaign, Battle of the Bulge, December 1944

No Silent Night: Christmas Eve At The Siege Of Bastogne, 1944

Europe

Nazi Germany

U.S. Army

U.S. Military

World War II

Editor’s Note: This article was first published last December. It&#8217;s a good holiday story, so we’re bringing it back.
* * *
In 1955, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup had a very important job. It was the height of the Cold War, and Shoup was working at the Continental Air Defense Command — now known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
One December day, his phone rang, but it wasn&#8217;t his regular phone. It was the red phone — the phone that had a <a href="https://kdvr.com/news/local/wrong-number-started-norad-santa-tracker/">number so secret</a> that only he and a four-star general at the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/disney-hires-obama-era-pentagon-spokesperson-to-build-on-companys-strong-reputation/">Pentagon</a> knew of its existence. But when he answered the phone, a child was on the other end.
&#8220;Is this Santa Claus?&#8221; the child asked. <a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/life/2018/12/21/santa-tracker-creator-norad-colonel-christmas/2369617002/">Shoup</a>, according to his children — Terri Van Keuren, Rick Shoup, Pam Farrel — was initially surprised and annoyed, but when the child began to cry, he quickly changed his tone. He said, &#8220;Ho, ho, ho,&#8221; and asked the child whether he had been good — and then he asked to speak to a parent.
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/12/19/371647099/norads-santa-tracker-began-with-a-typo-and-a-good-sport">NPR reported</a>:
<blockquote>His children remember Shoup as straight-laced and disciplined, and he was annoyed and upset by the call and thought it was a joke — but then, Terri says, the little voice started crying.
&#8220;And Dad realized that it wasn&#8217;t a joke,&#8221; her sister says. &#8220;So he talked to him, ho-ho-ho&#8217;d and asked if he had been a good boy and, &#8216;May I talk to your mother?&#8217; And the mother got on and said, &#8216;You haven&#8217;t seen the paper yet? There&#8217;s a phone number to call Santa. It&#8217;s in the Sears ad.&#8217; Dad looked it up, and there it was, his red phone number. And they had children calling one after another, so he put a couple of airmen on the phones to act like Santa Claus.&#8221;
&#8220;It got to be a big joke at the command center. You know, &#8216;The old man&#8217;s really flipped his lid this time. We&#8217;re answering Santa calls,&#8217; &#8221; Terri says.</blockquote>
The joke took another turn when, on Christmas Eve of 1955, several of the Airmen under Shoup&#8217;s command drew a sleigh and eight reindeer on the glass board that they normally used to track the paths of airplanes over U.S. and Canadian airspace.
According to Terri, Shoup saw the drawing and asked, &#8220;What is that?&#8221;
The airmen said it was just a joke, apologizing and offering to take it down.
&#8220;Dad looked at it for a while, and next thing you know, Dad had called the radio station and had said, &#8216;This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center, and we have an unidentified flying object. Why, it looks like a sleigh.&#8217; Well, the radio stations would call him like every hour and say, &#8216;Where&#8217;s Santa now?'&#8221; Terri told NPR, adding, &#8220;And later in life he got letters from all over the world, people saying, &#8216;Thank you, Colonel,&#8217; for having, you know, this sense of humor. And in his 90s, he would carry those letters around with him in a briefcase that had a lock on it like it was top-secret information. You know, he was an important guy, but this is the thing he&#8217;s known for.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s probably the thing he was proudest of, too,&#8221; her brother agreed.
In the years since, NORAD has embraced the tradition. Call centers are operational and children can call from all over the world to see where Santa is as he makes his grand journey delivering gifts around the world in a single night.
Santa&#8217;s 2024 journey is already underway and can be tracked on X at @NORADSanta.
https://x.com/NoradSanta

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‘The Santa Colonel’: The Air Force Officer Who Turned A Sears Ad Typo Into A Holiday Tradition

'The Santa Colonel': The Air Force Officer Who Turned A Sears Ad Typo Into A Holiday Tradition

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Virginia Kruta