Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro principally values a habit of telling the truth in any leader of the Republican Party.
Shapiro spoke about what he values in GOP politicians in an interview with The Daily Wire on the sidelines of the Turning Point USA AmericaFest conference that ended on Sunday.
“The number one thing that I would look for from any Republican leader at this point is simply telling the truth,” said Shapiro after he was asked a question on the future of Republican politics.
“I think the president has a habit of doing this in sort of pithy, short versions,” Shapiro said of President Donald Trump.
“He has a capacity for saying unpopular truths, which is great. We need more conservative leaders saying things that are true, even if, in the short-term, they&#8217;re not quote-unquote coalitional,” he continued, “because, again, you&#8217;re going to need to break whatever is here and you need to rebuild it stronger, and the only way to do that is with some true leadership.”
Shapiro spoke on the main stage at AmericaFest on the opening night in a speech that generated headlines because of its bomb-throwing, but put forward a message on the importance of truth in politics.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" 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">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“Because victory — true victory — cannot be achieved without truth. Victory without truth is victory for a lie. And that is no victory at all. And unity without truth is no unity. It is merely solidarity in falsehood,” said Shapiro in a version of his speech posted on <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/ben-shapiro-only-cowards-tolerate?r=nyv5h&amp;utm_source=flipboard&amp;utm_content=topic%2Fmossad">The Free Press</a>.
In the interview, Shapiro said that the conservative movement has drifted away from a commitment to truth as more “clowns” have come into the movement.
“You have people who were not conservative, who have entered, who have brought their non-assimilated, non-conservatism into the conservative tent,” said Shapiro. “To sort of pretend that the leadership of the movement ought to be vested in people who are either brand new and don&#8217;t hold those principles or people who have abandoned the key principles that have upheld the conservative movement for the last several decades, I think, is an enormous error.”
“A movement without principle is not a movement at all. It&#8217;s an agglomeration of people who are following whoever happens to be the leader that day,” he said.

Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro Reveals ‘Number One Thing’ He Looks For In GOP Politicians

AMFEST

Donald Trump

Media

Politics

Republican Party

The Daily Wire

Many Americans in recent years have returned to religion in a revival that accelerated because of the work of the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, according to Dr. Ben Carson.
Carson, who served under the first Trump administration as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke about Kirk’s legacy in an interview with The Daily Wire on the floor of Turning Point’s AmericaFest conference that ended on Sunday.
An American faith revival has “really been going on for the last couple of years,” said Carson. “I think it accelerated quite a bit with what Charlie was doing.”
The Trump administration alum said that many in Generation Z are finding faith because they recognized that the direction of the country without religious values was “not one that was going to lead to good things.” Many turned to religion after asking how the United States can “be a great nation.”
“The young men in particular are really coming back to church, and the young women will catch up, too,” said Carson, noting that women growing up today are facing complicated choices between balancing a career and having children. The doctor is optimistic that expanding opportunities for virtual work will improve women’s ability to balance both.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" 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">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Carson’s think tank, the American Cornerstone Institute, has launched an initiative to aid in the work that Kirk did and to reacquaint young people with the United States’ founding and religious values: the Little Patriots program. Through the program, Carson hopes to set young Americans on a good path early in their education before “Marxists” in the education system corrupt their thinking with leftist and victimhood ideology.
“The two biggest teacher unions are full of Marxists, and so it&#8217;s a battle, but I think we have the better message, to be quite frank, and we just have to make sure that we don&#8217;t get discouraged and that we&#8217;re willing to fight as hard as they do,” he said.
As a veteran of the first Trump administration, Carson said that President Donald Trump’s second term is “incredible.”
“I think the Lord did us a favor by allowing Trump to lose – or at least to be perceived as losing – so that he wasn&#8217;t there for four years so he could really think about what happened, what were the obstacles, what were the things that really worked, so that by the time his next term came around, he was ready,” said Carson.

Ben Carson

Ben Carson Says Charlie Kirk ‘Accelerated’ An American Revival

Charlie Kirk

Religion

Christian conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey speaks truth eloquently and graciously, yet firmly and with conviction. She takes Biblical teachings from thousands of years ago and applies them to the present day. Perhaps that&#8217;s why Stuckey hosts a podcast called &#8220;Relatable.&#8221;
The Daily Wire sat down with Stuckey ahead of her AmericaFest speech, and in less than ten minutes, she covered the major topics in the conservative movement in a way that anyone can understand, no matter how well-versed on a topic.
&#8220;I think clarity is kindness,&#8221; Stuckey said.
Stuckey is in her 30s, has an audience of 25 to 45-year-olds who tune in to her episodes, yet she still connects with Gen Z on college campuses.
“I want to do the best that I can to bring clarity to confusion and bring courage where there is cowardice,&#8221; Stuckey said.  &#8220;I care a whole lot about what the Bible says about what&#8217;s going on in the world, and I want to try to bring that to people as much as I can.&#8221;
Stuckey&#8217;s doing that with the more than 700,000 subscribers who listen to &#8220;Relatable.&#8221; It&#8217;s a decent sample size to get a pulse on how her mostly-female audience feels about the country. She told The Daily Wire that she recently asked her listeners what concerns them most and it was overwhelmingly the growing influence of Islam — a topic Stuckey said is being downplayed in the conservative movement.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I asked my 840k Instagram followers (mostly Christian women) what their biggest concern is for the country right now, and by FAR the most common answer is the growing influence of Islam. I’d like to see this concern reflected in the GOP asap
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) <a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen/status/1982518640387019249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
“I think it&#8217;s strange and dishonest. They are the entire reason we have a TSA. None of us like to take our shoes off or take our laptops out … you can thank Islam for that. I don&#8217;t see why we would want to minimize the negative impact on our culture and our country.&#8221;
Stuckey said her audience doesn&#8217;t know what to do when it comes to the infiltration of Islam in their communities.
&#8220;Of course we are all called to love the neighbors around us, but to see your neighborhoods change and the local church that&#8217;s been abandoned changed into a mosque, or a business center turned into an Islamic center, and we are told we are not supposed to care about that? We do care, and it scares us. Islam is incompatible with Western civilization. It&#8217;s about time we start seeing that and saying that.”
Charlie Kirk also thought Islam was a threat to the United States. Stuckey and Kirk had similar views on many topics &#8212; from Islam to family values, to the role politics plays in a Christian culture. She said she misses being able to fight alongside him in the culture war.
&#8220;Charlie was an anomaly,&#8221; Stuckey said. &#8220;He was a political strategist, he was a coalition builder. That&#8217;s not me. It might take 40 of us or four million of us to replace what one man was doing. If I can carry a small torch of what was the legacy of Charlie Kirk, I&#8217;m happy to do that.&#8221;
Stuckey said she carries Kirk&#8217;s legacy by pointing people to the Bible, and reminding them that ultimate victory is through Jesus.
&#8220;We know who wins in the end: it&#8217;s Jesus, he&#8217;s coming back,&#8221; Stuckey said. &#8220;And he&#8217;s not here yet, so we have work to do.&#8221;

The Daily Wire Talks With Allie Beth Stuckey

Allie Beth Stuckey Stays Relatable While Standing Firm In Her Beliefs

Podcast

A heavily-redacted Epstein document dump revives questions about his associates, including former President Bill Clinton; the United States wallops ISIS targets in Syria while the Venezuelan oil blockade continues; and Turning Point USA&#8217;s AmericaFest wraps up with fireworks.
It’s Monday, December 22, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251222-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Daily Wire</a>:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epstein-files-firestorm-u-s-retaliation-strikes-isis/id1576594336?i=1000742295192" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Epstein Files Released</h2>
The Justice Department has begun publishing thousands of pages of material tied to its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein. But the rollout has sparked immediate controversy with claims of heavy redactions and missing files. Because of the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed last month, the DOJ released an initial batch of over 13,000 files. These include investigative materials, grand jury transcripts from cases adjudicated in the early 2000s, police reports, flight logs, handwritten phone messages, and dozens of photographs. Though some of the material is new, none of it is blockbuster news. There are still hundreds of thousands of records under review that will be released on a rolling basis in the coming weeks, however.
<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">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">U.S. Hits ISIS</h2>
President Trump has followed through on his promise to avenge three Americans killed in Syria last week, carrying out dozens of strikes against ISIS in Syria. On Friday, the U.S. military, with some help from Jordan, hit 70+ ISIS targets across Syria. An early report from a Syria monitoring group said that at least five ISIS terrorists were killed. Most of the destruction was of ISIS infrastructure, including munitions, supplies, and hideouts. War Secretary Pete Hegseth tamped down fears that this could lead to a wider conflict. Hegseth <a href="https://x.com/SecWar/status/2002140737060692098">said</a>, “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">TPUSA’s AmFest Wraps Up</h2>
Turning Point USA’s big annual conference, AmericaFest, had more eyes than ever on it this year as organizers set out to honor its founder Charlie Kirk and give the stage to the most influential voices in the conservative movement. The event wrapped with some surprises–the major one coming on Sunday when Ericka Kirk walked rapper Nicki Minaj out on the main stage to talk about her respect for President Trump. The event was also full of fiery speeches that generated many headlines across the media. But while the media and the internet were full of controversy, the feeling on the floor of the conference felt communal and high-energy, according to Daily Wire reporters at the event.

MRN_251222_V2 (1)

Morning Brief: Epstein Files Released, U.S. Hits ISIS In Syria, And AmFest Comes To A Close

Department of Defense

Department of Justice

Jeffrey Epstein

Morning Wire

Pete Hegseth

Syria

Turning Point USA

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declared on Saturday that Islamist Ideology was the greatest single threat to freedom and liberty — and warned that it was already beginning to take hold around the world and even in the United States.
Gabbard spoke on Saturday at Turning Point USA&#8217;s AmericaFest, and she noted that where Islamist ideology was implemented, freedom and liberty quickly ceased to exist.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard warns that the greatest threat to freedom is Islamist ideology:
&#8220;It is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America&#8221;
She says it is already here and is happening in the U.S. <a href="https://t.co/MDhQeB3nLH">pic.twitter.com/MDhQeB3nLH</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanSaavedra/status/2002562550022693104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;There is a threat to our freedom that hasn&#8217;t been talked about enough,&#8221; she began. &#8220;And it is the greatest near and long term threat to both our freedom and our security, and that is the threat of islamist ideology. It is propagated by people who not only do not believe in freedom, their fundamental ideology is antithetical to the foundation that we find in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, which is that our Creator endowed upon is inalienable rights — the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.&#8221;
Gabbard noted that Charlie Kirk, prior to his death, had mentioned that threat often because he understood the gravity of the situation. Referencing the 9/11 terror attacks, Gabbard said they had proved just how far Islamists were willing to go.
&#8220;It is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America,&#8221; she continued, adding, &#8220;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.&#8221;
Gabbard went on to describe how quickly the ideology had seeped into the culture in European nations: &#8220;As we approach Christmas, right now in Germany they are canceling Christmas markets because of this threat.&#8221;
She then explained that understanding that rights came from God was what should make it clear just how grave a threat Islamist ideology is to freedom and liberty. A truly free society, she concluded, could not survive unless the people were willing to defend it against such threats.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt,  Tulsi Gabbard, United States Director of National Intelligence.

Tulsi Gabbard Warns That Islamist Ideology Is Freedom’s Greatest Threat

Tulsi Gabbard Warns That Islamist Ideology Is Freedom's Greatest Threat

Islam

Islamists

TPUSA

Tulsi Gabbard

Turning Point USA President Erika Kirk brought the house down on Sunday when she introduced rapper Nicki Minaj on the stage at AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona.
Erika Kirk sat down with Minaj on the stage, saying that she wanted to honor Charlie&#8217;s tradition of always having a surprise for the AmFest crowd. She started off with Minaj reading out loud some of her &#8220;mean tweets&#8221; directed at Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to thunderous applause.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Nicki Minaj makes a surprise appearance at AmFest 2025!!
She’s speaking her mind, defending President Trump and JD Vance, she’s proud to be American, and advocating for persecuted Christians in Nigeria.
Let’s go!!
🇺🇸🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/EVEdqFK3OY">pic.twitter.com/EVEdqFK3OY</a>
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewKolvet/status/2002813169669173492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Some 24 hours earlier, the organization had teased a huge guest who would have people talking into next year, and many believed at first that President Donald Trump would be making an appearance. But when Donald Trump Jr. took a call from his father during his speech just prior to Erika&#8217;s big reveal, that appeared not to be the case.
Minaj, for her part, has been throwing her support behind a number of conservative causes — from protecting Christians from persecution worldwide to ending gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors — and has made it her particular mission to go after Governor Newsom.
&#8220;Dear Newscum, we don&#8217;t have a problem cleaning up the scum if we have to. Please tread lightly,&#8221; Minaj said her current message to &#8220;Gavvy-Pooh&#8221; would be.
When asked what her opinion of the current administration was, she said, &#8220;I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president. I don&#8217;t know if he even knows this, but he&#8217;s given so many people hope that there&#8217;s a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.&#8221;
Minaj went on to explain that for her, the &#8220;turning point&#8221; was that she&#8217;d realized she was tired of being pushed around: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to back down any more. I&#8217;m not going to back down ever again.&#8221;
Kirk asked why it was such an extraordinary thing to see people speaking their minds in today&#8217;s world, and Minaj&#8217;s message was clear: &#8220;People are no longer using their minds, their brains. So right now just imagine, we&#8217;re not allowed to have a different opinion anymore. We&#8217;re not allowed to think out loud anymore. This is not what the world used to feel like.&#8221;
When Kirk pressed Minaj on the backlash she was seeing from within her own industry, Minaj responded with just three words: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t notice.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MrsErikaKirk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsErikaKirk</a> &#8220;I know that you are getting a lot of backlash from your own industry. What is your reaction to that?&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NICKIMINAJ</a>: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t notice.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/7Ikn7KXkvj">pic.twitter.com/7Ikn7KXkvj</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2002813815780721013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You can&#8217;t wake up and think about people who are just determined to stay mad,&#8221; she said. &#8220;In a world that doesn&#8217;t want us to think, we will continue to think!&#8221;
&#8220;What inspired you to speak up about the Christians who are being slaughtered in Nigeria?&#8221; Kirk asked.
&#8220;We take for granted that — there are people in this world who cannot worship God as they please, where they please, and we take it for granted because we have it,&#8221; Minaj said, reminding the audience that there were people all over the world who had to hide while they prayed and had fellowship together.
Kirk asked Minaj to talk a bit about her faith, and she laid out a lot of her personal history — including a recent return to her spiritual roots.
&#8220;When I was a toddler in Trinidad, my grandmother, if things got spicy in the house &#8230; she would make all the little kids go in her room and say a prayer,&#8221; Minaj said, adding that she started attending church in New York when she was a bit older. &#8220;I learned how to pray very early. I always had this faith — you know the kind of faith that makes people say oh, that person is crazy, but I had that kind of faith instinctively.&#8221;
Minaj went on to say that she tried to apply things to her life, and the point was not that Christians were perfect but that they tried. &#8220;Sometimes you can be in an industry as well that pulls you away even more.&#8221;
She then said that going back to God recently had felt like going back to a long-lost best friend. &#8220;He said, &#8216;Where were you? I&#8217;ve been waiting on you.&#8217; &#8230; As soon as you call on Him, He&#8217;s going to answer. On the first ring.&#8221;
When asked how she would address issues facing little boys and little girls — particularly as a parent — she said that she had to bring race into the mix: &#8220;Why have we gotten to a point where certain colors or certain kinds of people have to be afraid of loving themselves or loving how they look &#8230; I don&#8217;t want what was done to little black girls to be done to little white girls, to any girls!&#8221;
And for the boys: &#8220;Be boys, it&#8217;s okay. There&#8217;s nothing wrong with being a boy &#8230; Boys will be boys, and there&#8217;s nothing wrong with that.&#8221;
Her conclusion: &#8220;When the Truth comes out, the lies hide.&#8221;
After she first spoke out in support of persecuted Christians in places like Nigeria, the popular rapper accepted an invitation from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, where she addressed the body and spoke about the importance of defending religious freedom wherever it may be threatened.
She has since been spotted online leaning in to some of the memes featuring Vice President JD Vance — and making it clear that she&#8217;s amused by how much fun he&#8217;s having with the liberals who are attempting to mock him.
In more recent weeks, she has taken to using her social media presence to target Newsom — who is likely to be a top tier candidate for the Democratic Party going into the 2028 presidential primary. In addition to attacking his positions on transgender issues — namely that he wants to see &#8220;more transgender kids&#8221; and will continue to allow men to have access to female-only spaces.

Nicki Minaj

Erika Kirk Brings House Down, Interviews Rapper Nicki Minaj Onstage At AmFest

Christians

The Department of Homeland Security is recruiting new officers and agents to help carry out its mass deportation campaign at Turning Point USA&#8217;s AmericaFest this week.
With an influx of $165 billion from Trump&#8217;s One Big Beautiful Bill, DHS has focused on hiring more officers and agents to ramp up arrests and deportations. DHS arrived at the conference with a BearCat armored vehicle and signage reading &#8220;Decide America&#8217;s future, rise to your potential &amp; defend the homeland.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re looking for American patriots willing to defend the homeland, and honor the vision of America Charlie Kirk fought for,&#8221; DHS wrote on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
DHS is at <a href="https://twitter.com/TPUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TPUSA</a> Amfest! We’re looking for American patriots willing to defend the homeland, and honor the vision of America Charlie Kirk fought for.
Swing by our booth to learn more! <a href="https://t.co/EQDwbP1KTJ">pic.twitter.com/EQDwbP1KTJ</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/2002066774624456942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
The Trump administration&#8217;s goal is to hire 3,000 new Customs officers, 3,000 new Border Patrol agents, and 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to accomplish its goal of carrying out one million deportations each year.
<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">Christmas Sale &#8211; Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
The administration is currently short of that goal, with more than 605,000 deportations since Inauguration Day.
The agency is offering up to $50,000 in sign-on bonuses to entice new recruits. DHS has also asked former law enforcement officers to return to the job.
ICE has already met its goal after receiving 220,000 applications, the agency <a href="https://x.com/ICEgov/status/2001760767511793893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Thursday.
&#8220;Our Defend the Homeland recruitment campaign is the MOST SUCCESSFUL federal law enforcement recruitment campaign in American history,&#8221; ICE recently said on X.
AmericaFest is expected to have roughly 30,000 attendees, making it the largest turnout yet.

Untitled design – 2025-12-19T125927.958

DHS Looks To Recruit At AmericaFest For Its Mass Deportation Campaign

DHS Looks To Recruit For Its Mass Deportation Campaign At AmericaFest

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

mass deportation

Ben Shapiro has simple advice for how disaffected young men can turn around their lives: &#8220;Get off your ass and go do the thing.&#8221;
Speaking to The Daily Wire&#8217;s Mary Margaret Olohan at Turning Point USA&#8217;s AmFest on Thursday night, the Daily Wire Editor Emeritus was asked how men should respond to a culture that &#8220;rejects masculinity.&#8221; He said there are obstacles that need to be removed, but ultimately that men are in control of their own success.
“I think first of all we need to remove the obstacles for them,” Shapiro said. “The Trump administration has done a great job of fighting DEI, but they need to unleash the DOJ on anybody who’s violating the Civil Rights Act of 65 with regard to young white men, for sure.”
“And then, we need to say something to young men: get off your ass and go do the thing,” he declared. “Seriously. Stop telling all young white men that all of their grievances — when it comes to making basic, good decisions for their lives — are justified. Those decisions are not always justified. Here are things you can do: Finish high school. Get a job. Get married. Have kids. Go to church. Those are all in your control. You pretending those things are not in your control is grievance culture bulls***. And all the politicians who pander to that sort of stuff are making people’s lives actively worse.”
Shapiro has been preaching that message for nearly a decade; in his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/complete-transcript-ben-takes-berkeley-daily-wire?utm_source=chatgpt.com">speech</a> at UC Berkeley in September 2017, when the city <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-berkeley-protest-shapiro-20170914-htmlstory.html">spent</a> $600,000 for security involving <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2017/09/15/heres-what-i-saw-at-ben-shapiros-speech-at-uc-berkeley/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">hundreds of police</a>, he told the crowd, “Here are the three rules that you need to fulfill as a person before you can start complaining about your life failures being the result of somebody else’s actions.&#8221;
&#8220;Number one, you need to finish high school. Number two: you need to get married before you have babies. Number three: You need to get a job.”
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSbSjPWjKoP/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
&nbsp;
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div>
</div>
&nbsp;
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSbSjPWjKoP/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Ben Shapiro (@officialbenshapiro)</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
The remarks came ahead of Shapiro&#8217;s speech on the main stage of the Turning Point USA event, where he laid out the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-at-tpusa-the-right-needs-truth-not-grifters-and-frauds?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Ben+Shapiro+At+TPUSA%3A+The+Right+Needs+Truth%2C+Not+Grifters+And+Frauds">importance of &#8220;truth&#8221; in conservatism</a>.

Turning Point Inaugural-Eve Ball Held In Washington, D.C.

‘Get Off Your Ass And Go Do The Thing’: Ben Shapiro’s Indispensable Advice For Young Men

young men

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles defended the idea of Americans as a distinct people with a “real historical lineage and a real historical destiny” on Thursday night.
Knowles spoke on the main stage during the first night of Turning Point USA’s America Fest conference in Phoenix, Arizona. In a speech largely about uniting the American political Right, Knowles described the American people as having a heritage that sets them apart from others.
“To be on the team, you have to acknowledge that there is such a thing as the American people. We&#8217;re not just an idea floating in outer space. We are a real people with a real historical lineage and a real historical destiny,” said Knowles.
What defines Americanism became a point of debate online this week after Vivek Ramaswamy, a former 2024 GOP presidential candidate and current candidate for Ohio governor, wrote an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/opinion/republican-identity-divide.html">op-ed</a> for The New York Times arguing that the “American identity is based on ideals.”
Knowles appeared to push back against that idea in his speech at AmFest.
<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-33447">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“We have a real historical experience and character that is not magically imbued through a few lines of philosophy or a naturalization pop quiz,” he said. “At different times, we&#8217;ve taken in foreigners. When it&#8217;s worked, those foreigners have come to act and talk and even look like us. When it hasn&#8217;t worked, they haven&#8217;t.”
“If you prefer the flag of some other nation, the customs and habits of some other people, you are not on my team. If you are and want to be a member of the American people, you are on my team,” he added.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Michael Knowles Live at AmericaFest 2024" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VQHeDhVqvyg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Follow along with The Daily Wire’s live coverage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/daily-wire-live-america-fest-day-01?contentProgram=Daily%20Wire%20News&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">here</a> and live blog <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-from-amfest-erika-kirk-and-ben-shapiro-set-to-kick-off-tpusas-amfest?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+FROM+AMFEST%3A+Erika+Kirk+And+Ben+Shapiro+Set+To+Kick+Off+TPUSA%E2%80%99s+AmFest">here</a>.

Michael Knowles

Michael Knowles At TPUSA AmFest: ‘There Is Such A Thing As The American People’

Michael Knowles At AmFest: ‘There Is Such A Thing As The American People’

Turning Point USA Spokesman Andrew Kolvet said he has barely had time to grieve since Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.
Kolvet appeared as the first guest on The Daily Wire’s live coverage of AmericaFest from Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday. The TPUSA spokesman said that he has been so busy since Kirk’s death that he doesn&#8217;t know if he has had time to fully grieve the loss of his friend.
&#8220;I think, in my own way, I&#8217;ve done as well as I can, but we&#8217;ve been working day-in-day-out, whether it was Charlie was assassinated and then we went straight into the memorial planning — and that was all-nighters to pull off that event in the six or seven days that we did,” Kolvet told The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan and Tim Rice.
“Then we went straight into the tour, and then it&#8217;s just been one thing after another and planning for AmFest,” said Kolvet. “You know, what has it been like? I will say it is the first time in my life where I can genuinely say I can feel the prayers of strangers.”
Kolvet also gave a preview of some of TPUSA’s plans for 2026. He said that the organization, as far as the midterm elections go, will primarily be focused on implementing the plans that Kirk had begun to put in place before his death.
“Because we have not proven in the era of Trump that we can do special elections, we can do off-year elections. My hope is that when we have a national goal, 2026 midterms, that we’ll get more of these [low propensity] voters out to the polls to do the work that needs to be done,” said Kolvet. “And that’s what Charlie would be focused on. I know it because he already put that in motion.”
The first day of the annual Turning Point USA conference is loaded with major names in media, such as The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles. Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, is scheduled to give the first speech of the conference.
Follow along with The Daily Wire&#8217;s live coverage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/daily-wire-live-america-fest-day-01?contentProgram=Daily%20Wire%20News&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">here</a> and live blog <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-from-amfest-erika-kirk-and-ben-shapiro-set-to-kick-off-tpusas-amfest?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+FROM+AMFEST%3A+Erika+Kirk+And+Ben+Shapiro+Set+To+Kick+Off+TPUSA%E2%80%99s+AmFest">here</a>.

Andrew Kolvet

Andrew Kolvet Says He’s Been Working ‘Day-In-Day-Out’ Since Charlie’s Death To Move TPUSA Forward

Andrew Kolvet Says He's Been Working ‘Day-In-Day-Out’ Since Charlie’s Death To Move TPUSA Forward

General

This past August in Aspen, Colorado, Charlie Kirk set his team an impossible goal. 
Kirk was convinced high school was the most important outreach point, according to Josh Thifault, who spearheads the Club America initiative for Turning Point USA. It’s when young Americans decide what values they want to build their life on. By the time many reach college, where TPUSA has a massive footprint, it’s already too late.
At the Colorado meeting for TPUSA leadership, Kirk told Thifault and his team that they weren’t close to where they needed to be. They had 1,200 Club America chapters. Kirk said that number needed to be 20,000. 
That was the last conversation Thifault had with his longtime friend and boss. Since Kirk’s assassination weeks later on September 10, Thifault has made it his mission to get the 20,000 Club America chapters, honoring his friend’s final request.
Thifault says there has already been a surge of requests to start Club America chapters, taking the number from 1,200 to 3,000. He now thinks the “almost impossible goal” can be a reality.
“God has given us an opportunity to achieve Charlie&#8217;s almost impossible goal,” Thifault tells The Daily Wire. “His ways are not our ways, but it is our responsibility to see this through.” 
The response to Kirk’s political assassination has been described as a political revival on the Right, with a surge of interest in the organization. It sold out tickets for its flagship convention this weekend, America Fest, cutting off registration weeks ago because the massive convention center hit capacity.
Thifault says TPUSA has grown into more than just a conservative organization.
“We&#8217;re watching Turning Point evolve from being more than just a conservative politically-themed organization,” Thifault says. “I&#8217;m watching our students care more and more about faith, I&#8217;m watching our students care more about the social aspects of our value system. They have a lot of questions about getting married, a lot of questions about having kids.”
Thifault is capitalizing on TPUSA’s growing reach by working directly with states to put Club America chapters in every high school. The longtime TPUSA executive has secured partnerships with Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. 
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis invited 150 TPUSA students to the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee after announcing the partnership. Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a large-scale press conference in Austin, where his Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, announced a $1 million donation to the Club America and TPUSA expansion in the Lone Star State. In Tennessee, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Riley Gaines fired up the crowd of students on-site at the State Capitol to stand up for their values.
“I watched these state leaders one by one catch that vision that Charlie instilled in us before he died,” Thifault says. “It’s very important for the people in charge of the state to catch that vision. They&#8217;re not just doing it to honor Charlie, they’re doing it because they understand the way that changes the social fabric of their state.”
In Thifault’s speech at the Nashville event with Blackburn and Gaines, he predicted that it would have a permanent political impact on the state.
“You cannot fundamentally change the fabric of a nation unless the heart of the nation turns back to God, and that starts in you,” Thifault <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-and-turning-point-usa-team-up-to-start-chapters-at-every-high-school?author=Lynden+Blake&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Tennessee+And+Turning+Point+USA+Team+Up+To+Start+Chapters+At+Every+High+School">said</a> at the event. “We will look back on this day and say Tennessee was permanently a conservative state for 50 years, 100 years, because of the courage of our state leaders today.”
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-and-turning-point-usa-team-up-to-start-chapters-at-every-high-school?author=Lynden+Blake&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Tennessee+And+Turning+Point+USA+Team+Up+To+Start+Chapters+At+Every+High+School">Tennessee And Turning Point USA Team Up To Start Chapters At Every High School</a>
The partnerships ensure that Club America chapters can be formed at any school, no matter what administrators think about it. Thifault says every conservative governor in the nation should follow suit.
“I&#8217;m calling on every conservative governor in the nation to do an event like this with us and make promises, and create a culture where a leftist teacher or administrator is scared to trample on the First Amendment rights of a 15-year-old.”
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1016681" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1016681" class="wp-image-1016681 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-36-1-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-36-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-36-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-36-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-36-1.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo by Aaron E. Martinez/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images</div>
Thifault has spent the last three months calling lawmakers, scheduling meetings with governors to make Kirk’s goal of 20,000 Club America chapters a reality. 
“It&#8217;s just a lot of clipboard and tennis shoes-style activism right now.”
The boots-on-the-ground work Thifault is doing reminds him of his early days with Kirk, when they worked together a decade ago to get TPUSA off the ground. 
“Charlie was working 100 to 120 hours a week, he would be so busy that he wouldn’t have time to eat,” Thifault recalled. “He would get enough calories to stay alive by drinking a morning latte.” 
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1016691" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1016691" class="size-large wp-image-1016691" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-38-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-38-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-38-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-38-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Untitled-design-38.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Credit: Josh Thifault</div>
&nbsp;
Thifault says the surge to 3,000 chapters doesn’t even represent how much momentum is behind the initiative.
“The demand is even greater than the growth. In the weeks following Charlie’s passing, we had 135,000 people reach out, saying they wanted to start or join chapters.”
Thifault says TPUSA has been ready to respond to the demand because of Erika Kirk’s leadership. Erika took over for her husband as the leader of TPUSA and immediately went to work on doubling the infrastructure of the organization in 2026.
“She&#8217;s very passionate about this,” Thifault said. “I am thrilled not just with that, but also with her focus on the spiritual — which you&#8217;ve seen in a lot of her speeches. The reason why we&#8217;re able to grow this quickly is because Erika has continued the visions Charlie put in place.”
Erika has been praised for how quickly she stepped into the leadership role while still grieving her husband’s death. Thifault said Charlie left specific instructions on how he wanted his company to move forward in case something happened to him. 
“It was because Charlie explicitly left wishes that she take over with the goal of continuing the set vision for the organization,” Thifault says. “He was keenly aware that something could happen to him, and he wanted the train to keep going in the same direction.”
The fall tour, the biggest convention ever, and rapid expansion are all things Thifault said are because of Erika’s commitment to Charlie’s mission. 
“I cannot overstate the importance of that,” Thifault said.
TPUSA has come a long way from its first end-of-year conference in 2015, which Thifault attended. It was about 100 students, in a room with no windows, eager to hear Charlie Kirk’s message. 
Ten years later, there are 30,000 people in a convention center. It’s the first conference without Kirk, but his message lives on — build a movement rooted in faith, freedom, and love of country, and bring it to the next generation.
“What&#8217;s the best thing spiritually and culturally and politically for the nation? When a student is a teenager, show them the truth and let them build their lives on it,” Thifault said. 
He said that’s possible through Club America.
“The most efficient thing we can do as a society is to make sure that before students even become adults, they’re building their lives on the way, the truth, and the light.”

Credit: Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Charlie Kirk Gave His Team An Impossible Task. Now They’re Fighting To Make It A Reality.

Florida

News

Tennessee

Texas

President Donald Trump declares a blockade on Venezuelan oil tankers, then addresses the nation in a rare primetime Oval Office speech, and Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest Conference kicks off under a new kind of spotlight.
It’s Thursday, December 18, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251218-member-exclusive">video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-venezuelan-oil-blockade-amfest-kicks-off-12-18-25/id1576594336?i=1000741813790" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Begins ‘Blockade’ Of Venezuela</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1016735" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Oil-Tanker-Blockade-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Oil-Tanker-Blockade-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Oil-Tanker-Blockade-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Oil-Tanker-Blockade-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Oil-Tanker-Blockade-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Oil-Tanker-Blockade.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
President Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-orders-complete-blockade-of-sanctioned-oil-tankers-moving-in-and-out-of-venezuela">announced</a> a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of Venezuela. It comes as the United States escalates a pressure campaign against the Maduro regime. The president is now putting pressure on the state-run oil industry of Venezuela and declared that Maduro’s government is a foreign terrorist organization. Trump warned that this “will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.” The U.S. Navy in the region is expected to receive orders in the coming days to escalate operations. The president said the blockade of Venezuela will continue until Maduro returns “all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" 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">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Addresses The Nation</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1016733" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Trump-Touts-Wins-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Trump-Touts-Wins-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Trump-Touts-Wins-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Trump-Touts-Wins-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Trump-Touts-Wins-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Trump-Touts-Wins.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
President Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-president-trump-addresses-nation-from-white-house">gave</a> a much-anticipated address to the nation late Wednesday night. The address was short on new announcements and read more like an attempt to set the tone for the midterms as the end of the year approaches. The most notable portion of the night came when the president announced the “Warrior Dividend,” a $1,776 payout for American service members, and said it would be paid to more than 1.4 million people before Christmas. This comes weeks after the possibility of a dividend payout to Americans from tariffs was floated, but this is the first time an element of that policy has materialized. The president also primarily focused his remarks on the economy, including the concept of affordability. Affordability has become a key topic and nearly a buzzword touted by Democrats and slammed as hypocritical by Republicans, including the president, in recent months as Biden-era inflation has cooled.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">AmFest Kicks Off</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1016737" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/AmFest-Carries-On-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/AmFest-Carries-On-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/AmFest-Carries-On-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/AmFest-Carries-On-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/AmFest-Carries-On-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/AmFest-Carries-On.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
TurningPoint USA’s annual AmericaFest conference <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-to-stream-tpusas-america-fest">kicks</a> off Thursday, marking the first major TurningPoint event since the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and members of the TurningPoint team have made it clear that they want Kirk’s mission to advance conservatism and his legacy to continue. Leaders have described this year’s AmFest as a “powerful celebration of faith, freedom, and the legacy of … Charlie Kirk.” Erika, who’s stepped in as TurningPoint’s CEO, is expected to speak, as are prominent conservatives including Vice President JD Vance, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, and Michael Knowles. TurningPoint leadership seems to be stressing unity and free speech, despite the background noise over the past few months.

MRN_251218_V1

Morning Brief: Venezuelan Oil Blockade, Trump’s Address To America, & TPUSA’s AmFest Kicks Off

Morning Brief: Venezuela Blockade, Trump’s White House Address, & AmFest Kicks Off

Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela

White House

Menu