Republicans took a victory lap when Matt Van Epps defeated leftist Democrat Aftyn Behn in Tennessee&#8217;s special election this month.
But what, if anything, does Van Epps&#8217;s victory mean for Republican prospects as we head into the 2026 midterm elections?
The Daily Wire asked three Republican strategists to share their key takeaways from this race. All three said that Democrats run the risk of killing any momentum they have if they nominate far-left candidates in primaries for competitive seats.
“For all the handwringing about margin of victory, this was nearly a double digit win. Special elections are special for a reason, and Republicans were wise to leave nothing to chance and sprint through the tape,” South &amp; Hill Strategies co-founder Colin Reed said, calling Van Epps the “type of candidate the GOP needs more of.”
“There are some useful lessons looking forward for both parties: for the GOP, the midterm political climate remains challenging, as it always does for the party in charge, and for the Democrats, they need to nominate less extreme candidates if they want to compete beyond the deep blue bastions of America,” he said.
“That’s a challenge for them because the far Left is where all the energy and enthusiasm resides.”
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The results of the 2026 midterms will shape the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in the White House. Currently, there are 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the House of Representatives, with two seats that are vacant. The magic number for a majority is 218, which both parties are vying for both on the campaign trail and in mid-decade redistricting battles.
Van Epps won with roughly 54% of the vote, leaving Behn with just over 45%. In 2024, Rep. Mark Green, who resigned earlier this year, won the seat with 59.5% of the vote, with President Donald Trump also winning heavily. Van Epps was sworn in on Thursday.
The race led to surrogates campaigning left and right, from President Donald Trump phoning into a rally with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), to former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Al Gore hoping to rally the troops for Behn.
Despite her loss, Behn expressed confidence about the margin by which she lost, as she ran her campaign largely on affordability, but faced a wave of scrutiny for her past far-left comments on abolishing prisons, law enforcement, and abortion.
“Tonight, we did something everyone counted out. We proved to a nation that states like Tennessee are still worth fighting for,” Behn posted to X on Tuesday. “The margin was close, and that can only be attributed to the thousands of volunteers who showed out. This is just the beginning.”
Chris Burger, founder and CEO of the Tennessee-based Rotunda Public Affairs, said that “voters weren’t buying what she’s selling.” Burger pointed out how the Democrat was in a primary with three others: Darden Copeland and state Reps. Bo Mitchell and Vincent Dixie.
“This is what happens when you have four people in a Democratic primary, and they elect by a pretty close margin, the most extreme left-wing person in the race, and then all the far-left activists and the national media complex come together,” he added.
&#8220;They put all their attention and money into it, and they threw the kitchen sink at it. And you know, Aftyn&#8217;s a far-left socialist and she does not represent the Seventh District or Tennessee values at large,&#8221; he said.
A third GOP operative, who spoke with The Daily Wire on background, said that they are “very encouraged” by Tuesday night’s results, and said that “a nine-point margin is really strong compared to what we&#8217;re seeing in other elections this cycle.”
However, the operative cautioned that special elections are just that — special — and that turnout likely looks very different from that during a standard election. The operative also pointed out the major messaging pivot by Democrats between the start of the year and now, which went from focusing highly on Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to discussing the cost-of-living.
&#8220;Affordability, they call it, was a con job by the Democrats,&#8221; Trump said during his cabinet meeting earlier this week, as he often blames Democrats and the Biden administration for policies that triggered high inflation.
Burger said that the affordability argument from Democrats like Behn falls flat on its merits when people consider the &#8220;policy objective&#8221; the candidates are campaigning for.
&#8220;If you look at what the Democrats want to do: government involvement. And government involvement typically always drives the price up.

Aftyn Behn and Matt Van Epps

Three GOP Strategists Explain Why Aftyn Behn Lost — And What It Means For 2026

Aftyn Behn

Congress

Elections

Matt Van Epps

Politics

Tennessee

U.S. House of Representatives

We are at a critical moment in our shared history. A moment that calls for moral clarity and an unwavering commitment to justice. 
Christians around the globe are facing a genocide. And while President Donald Trump champions religious liberty in Syria after hosting the former al-Qaeda fighter-turned-president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and declares <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/11/trump-deserves-credit-for-focus-on-nigerian-christians/">Nigeria</a> a “country of particular concern” because of the slaughter of Christians, we cannot be naive.
Christian persecution is already here in America. Our nation is becoming a dangerous place for faithful believers to live.
We must stand up now for the persecuted not only as individuals but as a united front for our brothers and sisters around the world.
Policymakers, churches, and ordinary citizens have a moral responsibility to ensure our nation remains a beacon of hope and freedom for all, especially those persecuted for their faith.
I know something about persecution and the price of freedom. I grew up in Communist Romania, where the freedoms we now experience in America were stolen from its citizens. Speaking the truth meant imprisonment, torture, and even death. The government sought to control every thought, every word, every breath. That’s why I became a political refugee and found a new home in America in 1988.
A <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/new-poll-74-worry-americans-could-lose-our-freedoms-were-not-careful">2024 Cato Institute survey</a> found that nearly 74% of Americans worry that if we’re not careful, Americans could lose their God-given freedoms and liberties. An out-of-control regime can gradually build persecution against Christians, making small, incremental changes that could go unnoticed until it is too late. I know. I lived it.
In Communist Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime controlled religious organizations by appointing loyal leaders, restricting activities, and nationalizing properties. Atheism was promoted through education and propaganda, portraying Christianity as outdated. Religious groups faced pressure to align with state policies, with non-compliance leading to imprisonment, job loss, or death.
The legacy of this persecution continues to shape the religious landscape in Romania today.
While the extent and nature of persecution differ significantly between Communist regimes and contemporary American society, there are parallels in the experiences of marginalization, pressure to conform, and struggles for expression. The challenges faced by Christians today often manifest initially in social and cultural pressures rather than outright physical persecution. And we are beginning to see signs of it here.
That’s why I’m joining the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpolicyinstitute.org/events/persecuted-and-prevailing-addressing-christian-persecution-in-the-modern-world/">Persecuted and Prevailing”</a> panel on December 4, 2025, at the Museum of the Bible to promote the truth, amplify our voices, and push for legislative action to support Christians.
As a human rights attorney in Communist Romania, I defended Christians, experiencing firsthand America’s crucial support. Congressmen Frank Wolf and Christopher Smith met with me often to discuss my cases, raising awareness among U.S. policymakers and the public about Romania’s dire situation. Their efforts drew media attention to the plight of Romanian Christians under the thumb of Communism, creating urgency for supporting persecuted believers.
Wolf’s actions shaped U.S. foreign policy to prioritize religious freedom, and the global impact included co-sponsoring the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ281/PLAW-114publ281.pdf">International Religious Freedom Act</a> (IRFA) of 1998, which established a framework to combat religious persecution worldwide and monitor and recommend policies. The Congressman also backed resolutions condemning persecution in Iran, Sudan, North Korea, and China, reinforcing human rights as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.
Now it’s our turn to carry the torch forward. Citizens who have the freedom to advocate for change must pressure policymakers to strengthen global religious liberty.
We are the voice for the persecuted who suffer in silence worldwide. If we fail to speak about oppression, like what I and many others endured in communist Romania, it will most certainly take root here. This generation needs to understand the fragile nature of freedom and the courage it takes to preserve it.
Using our voice and Constitutional rights to petition our government is the only way to protect our freedom and stand for truth. If we don’t use our voice today, we risk being silenced tomorrow.
When truth is distorted, freedom fades. Pray for discernment in a world clouded by lies. Live boldly, speak the truth in love, for true freedom flows from God’s presence, which has been with America since its founding. Remember, if God’s presence fades, so will our freedom.
* * *
<a href="https://www.virginiaprodanbooks.com/">Virginia Prodan</a> is an international human rights attorney, best-selling author of the memoir “<a href="https://virginiaprodanbooks.com/get-the-book-2/">Saving My Assassin</a>,” and host of the “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/courageous-leadership-with-virginia-prodan/id1590554517">Courageous Leadership with Virginia Prodan</a>” podcast. She serves as an ambassador on the President’s Council for National Religious Broadcasters, a member of the Advisory Board of the American Christian Leaders for Israel, and an Allied Attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Revolution Flag and Crowd at Polling Place

I Escaped Communist Romania. I Recognize The Early Signs Of Religious Persecution.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Christians

Communism

Faith

Murder

Nigeria

North Korea

Persecution

Sudan

We all remember the moment from &#8220;Anchorman&#8221; when Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell, read the words, &#8220;Go F*** Yourself, San Diego,&#8221; to end a live news broadcast. Even though he was just blindly reading the words from the Teleprompter, which had been sabotaged, it didn&#8217;t matter. Rioters threatened to kill Ron Burgundy. He was fired. Everything changed after that moment, and everyone in the theater understood why. You see, the anchorman had just said something highly profane about the residents of his own city, on camera. It&#8217;s the kind of thing that you simply cannot come back from — unless, like Ron Burgundy, you manage to redeem yourself by saving a woman from being mauled by a bear. Which is the kind of thing that would get anyone out of the doghouse.
Back in 2004, no one would need to have this joke explained to them. The humor was pretty self-evident. But just twenty years later, it&#8217;s not remotely clear that this scene would land. For one thing, we don&#8217;t really have comedy movies anymore. That’s not just a thing people say. It’s true. Hollywood stopped making comedies right around 2012 to 2013. Now the genre essentially doesn’t exist.
But more importantly, in 2025, recent events have demonstrated that it&#8217;s actually very possible for a prominent person to tell an entire city to go f*** itself, in no uncertain terms, and then remain popular in that same city — popular enough to potentially win a congressional race. In fact, it&#8217;s now a viable campaign strategy to look the voters in the eye and pull a Ron Burgundy because, as it turns out, insulting the voters can somehow make you more popular than you were before.
If that sounds hyperbolic to you in any way, then you probably haven&#8217;t been following the rise of a Democrat congressional candidate named Aftyn Behn, who&#8217;s running in today&#8217;s special election to fill a seat in Tennessee&#8217;s 7th Congressional District. This is a district that includes downtown Nashville and most of Nashville&#8217;s black population — along with several Republican-dominated suburbs like Franklin, plus several rural counties. Back in 2020, as we&#8217;ve discussed, Behn openly attacked the city she intends to represent in Congress. She stated that she hates Nashville, and then she went on to name several specific features of the city that she despises.
But the really remarkable part of this story is that, having trashed her own potential voters in this resurfaced clip, Aftyn Behn has made the conscious decision to stand by her remarks. And, in doing so, she appears to have strengthened her political position. She&#8217;s running in a district that went for Donald Trump by more than 20 points in the last election. And yet, according to a recent Emerson College poll, Behn is within 2% points — within the margin of error — of winning this race. The Republican, Matt Van Epps, is barely holding onto the lead.
Before we get into the implications of this race for the Republican Party — and there are many implications — there are some recent videos you need to see. Without context, you might assume these clips are coming from some kind of satirical film about U.S. politics, like a modern-day take on &#8220;Anchorman.&#8221; 
They&#8217;re darkly hilarious, in many ways. But they&#8217;re very real. 
<h3>Watch:</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
CNN: &#8220;Do you think it was a mistake to say you hated Nashville?&#8221;
AFTYN BEHN: &#8220;I was a private citizen.&#8221;
So yes, she still hates Nashville and people will still vote for her <a href="https://t.co/Lrg8jwsNXt">pic.twitter.com/Lrg8jwsNXt</a>
— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) <a href="https://twitter.com/saras76/status/1995155204464083308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @saras76/X.com
She can&#8217;t even muster up a single word of praise for Nashville — not a single positive thing — even when it&#8217;s teed up for her. The best she can do is utter a non sequitur about how she made the previous remarks bashing Nashville as a &#8220;private citizen,&#8221; as if that&#8217;s relevant in any way. But if anything, that makes it worse, because it means it&#8217;s what she actually believes. It&#8217;s something she said before she had an obvious incentive to lie, as a politician.
Of course, this woman knows what just happened in Virginia, where a Democrat sociopath — someone who says he wants conservatives and their children to die — just won the race for attorney general. She understands that Democrat voters are motivated, above all else, by hatred. And she&#8217;s made the calculation, at this point, that the only viable path forward is to appeal to Democrats&#8217; profound disdain for the world they live in (or, in this case, the city they live in).
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1700-the-matt-walsh-show?elementPosition=2&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-976065" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
To be clear, if she had just said that she hates the bachelorette parties in Nashville or whatever, that wouldn&#8217;t really be an issue. If she had said she just hates the pedal taverns and wants to abolish them and imprison everyone involved, I would wholeheartedly agree. But she explicitly stated that she also hates the entire city as a whole. And now she&#8217;s banking on the possibility that most people living in Nashville also hate the entire city — hate themselves, essentially. And frankly, she might be right.
In recent days, across various interviews with friendly outlets, Behn has used the same script when she&#8217;s been asked about her many, many other deranged comments. 
Here&#8217;s another example:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: CNN&#8217;s Kasie Hunt gives up and moves on after far-left congressional candidate Aftyn Behn of Tennessee refused to admit that funding the police is a good thing.
Hunt: Would you like more money for more cops on the streets in your district?
Behn: So those um, past comments… <a href="https://t.co/DScvVKZQYt">pic.twitter.com/DScvVKZQYt</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1995657250581742007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @CollinRugg/X.com
Notice that, in this case, CNN attempts to do her a favor. They don&#8217;t show any of the &#8220;old posts&#8221; that they&#8217;re asking about. They think they&#8217;re teeing up a softball question — where she can safely say, without any pushback, that yes, she wants police departments to exist. This is one of those issues that, especially now that the George Floyd hysteria has subsided, is something you&#8217;d hope 100% of Americans would agree on.
But still, even with this very generous setup, she doesn&#8217;t give the answer that a well-adjusted, sane human being would give. Instead, she once again states that she was a &#8220;private citizen&#8221; when she made those &#8220;old posts,&#8221; which remain unmentioned. And then, when she&#8217;s pressed on her non-answer, she strongly suggests that, indeed, she still wants to defund the police, in the year 2025. She states that she&#8217;s going to defer to her &#8220;community,&#8221; rather than take any position of her own. And then she proceeds to say that her &#8220;community&#8221; wants &#8220;mental health services.&#8221; She never says her &#8220;community&#8221; wants to have a police department.
Again, it&#8217;s the kind of answer that will only appeal to you, as a voter, if you&#8217;re a deeply disturbed individual. And the more this woman rises in the polls, the more we have to ask ourselves if that&#8217;s a fair way to describe the entire Democrat Party — as in, every single voter they have.
Over at MSNBC — a.k.a. &#8220;MS NOW&#8221;  — the damage control went even worse for Aftyn Behn. That&#8217;s because, in this interview, the anchor actually put some of her tweets up on the screen, to great comedic effect.
<h3>Watch:</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Democrat Aftyn Behn refuses THREE TIMES to walk back her previous calls to defund the police:
MSNBC: &#8220;Do you still stand by those comments?&#8221;
BEHN: &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to give cable news talking points&#8230;.
MSNBC: &#8220;What is your position today?&#8221;
BEHN: &#8220;I&#8217;m gonna talk about my race.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/92YRm2KMOk">pic.twitter.com/92YRm2KMOk</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1992748967491510366?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @RNCResearch/X.com
Yeah, she&#8217;s not going to get into &#8220;cable news talking points&#8221; — like addressing the question of whether she supports burning down police stations. That&#8217;s just a &#8220;talking point&#8221; — as in, it&#8217;s something that she explicitly stated that she supports, just a few years ago. And to this day, she won&#8217;t renounce it.
To be clear, Aftyn Behn is indeed a real person. This is a real candidate that the Democrat Party is running for a House seat. And they&#8217;re not disavowing her, or even criticizing her, in any way. Why would they? Behn represents the mainstream Democrat Party. That&#8217;s the important point here. If someone says he&#8217;s a Democrat, this is what he&#8217;s supporting.
And just to emphasize that point, the Democrat Party has come out and announced that they strongly support everything this woman is saying.
This is a post from <a href="https://x.com/kenmartin73/status/1995235893116821694?s=20">Ken Martin</a>, the chair of the Democrat Party, just a couple of days ago.
<blockquote>Democrats are building momentum. We’re all gas, no brakes. Let’s do everything we can to chip away at the GOP’s House majority. This Tuesday, get out and vote for Aftyn Behn if you live in TN-7!</blockquote>
So there it is. The highest levels of the Democrat Party have endorsed one of the most demented candidates to run for office in the modern history of this country. They&#8217;ve also endorsed all of this.
<h3>Watch: </h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Democrat Party is backing a candidate who wants to abolish police and thinks burning down police stations is justified.<a href="https://t.co/rzLjel5I5F">pic.twitter.com/rzLjel5I5F</a> <a href="https://t.co/KVbtPprrJR">https://t.co/KVbtPprrJR</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1995324387587727378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @RNCResearch/X.com
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 Democrat nominee for the upcoming TN07 special election Aftyn Behn condemns women who get married and start families&#8211; saying it&#8217;s the product of &#8220;deeply patriarchal structures&#8221;:
&#8220;My therapist always asks me to transcribe my dreams and the recurring dream I&#8217;ve had is standing… <a href="https://t.co/LTsYj0im7Q">pic.twitter.com/LTsYj0im7Q</a>
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) <a href="https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1993043067486527894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @greg_price11/X.com
She says, &#8220;My therapist always asks me to transcribe my dreams, and the recurring dream I&#8217;ve had is standing up in a Cafeteria full of women and saying &#8216;I don&#8217;t want children. I want power!'&#8221;
Just by itself, 15 years ago, that statement would&#8217;ve been disqualifying, regardless of your politics. For one thing, she&#8217;s going around admitting that she&#8217;s in therapy — which obviously isn&#8217;t something you should brag about. There&#8217;s no reason to be proud of the fact that you&#8217;re paying someone with a master&#8217;s degree who has a vested interest in making sure you&#8217;re never &#8220;cured&#8221; of whatever disorder he&#8217;s diagnosed you with. That&#8217;s a point of shame, not pride. In fact, in a sane country, going to therapy would be disqualifying for any political candidate. If you need therapy, you are not mentally strong enough to hold political office, or any other position of importance.
But that clip gets even worse when she goes on to explain that marriage punishes women, and forces them into &#8220;patriarchal structures,&#8221; whatever that means. Maybe she&#8217;s talking about no-fault divorce laws, where women can cheat on their husbands, and then take half their assets. Who knows — she didn&#8217;t really elaborate, as far as I can tell.
What I do know is that there are many, many more clips that illustrate how unhinged this woman is. She also admitted that she follows around ICE vehicles, and harasses ICE officers and state troops, for example. She says she&#8217;s uncomfortable with Christian influence in government. And so on. But we&#8217;ll end with this clip — which we&#8217;ve played before — because it really underscores the extent of the threat that this woman, and the Democrat Party in general, pose to our country. This was how Aftyn Behn responded to the massacre of Christian men, women and children at the Covenant School in Nashville. In the aftermath of the shooting, she didn&#8217;t say she was worried about the safety of Christians, who had just been massacred because of their faith by a trans-identifying terrorist. Instead, she said the so-called &#8220;trans community&#8221; was under attack — and that, as a politician, one of her primary goals would be to go after me, and The Daily Wire. 
<h3>Watch:</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WATCH: This is how Democrat Aftyn Behn responded to the Covenant shooting, when a trans-identifying woman killed six at the Christian school.
It inspired Behn’s first run for office…so she could fight to protect “trans communities” and against Daily Wire and <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MattWalshBlog</a>. <a href="https://t.co/th13e1v6dW">pic.twitter.com/th13e1v6dW</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1992975426193326512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @realDailyWire/X.com
The fact that a woman this deranged and evil even has the slightest possible chance to win the special election today — in a district that Trump carried by more than 20 points, in a deep-red state, in a race against a candidate who has been endorsed and heavily promoted by Donald Trump — is a very, very bad sign for the future of the Republican Party.
Over the past few months, we&#8217;ve talked about some major built-in advantages that Republicans are probably going to have, in future elections. If the Voting Rights Act is gutted by the Supreme Court, which is the expected outcome, Democrats will lose several seats in the House. And as more illegal aliens are deported, and as more people leave failing states like California and New York for states like Florida and Texas, Democrats will lose even more representation in Congress.
But these benefits only exist at the margins. They don&#8217;t protect the Republican Party against a complete and total collapse of popular support. And that appears to be where the party is headed, given that Democrats are running complete sociopaths — and winning, or coming very close to winning. If today&#8217;s election in Tennessee is indeed even somewhat close — if this woman isn&#8217;t completely blown out — then we are headed for the worst-case scenario, one year from now in the midterms. Democrats will sweep both houses of Congress, if this trend continues.
And we shouldn&#8217;t be surprised by that outcome, if it should come to pass. Republicans in Congress have been so ineffective that they&#8217;ve failed to give voters a single reason to support them. This is the point where, as we talked about yesterday, the Trump administration has to step in, and take decisive action — any kind of decisive action — that actually improves the lives of American citizens in some tangible way. Denaturalize as many Somali fraudsters as you can. Bomb as many drug dealers as possible. Suspend all foreign migration. Do something, or else you&#8217;ll be replaced very quickly by lunatics and craven degenerates like Aftyn Behn. Today&#8217;s election is a massive warning sign. The polling alone makes that very clear. We can either heed that warning now, while we still have time, or we will lose so badly in 2026 that, as a country and as a movement, we may never recover.

MixCollage-02-Dec-2025-04-42-PM-4216

This Is The Platform That Psycho Feminist Aftyn Behn Is Running On. It’s Crazier Than I Thought.

This Is The Platform That Psycho Feminist Aftyn Behn Is Running On. It's Crazier Than I Thought.

Democrats

Leftists

Matt Walsh

Opinion

The 2026 midterm elections are still a year away, but Republicans and Democrats are already in full election mode as an important U.S. House seat is up for grabs on Tuesday.
Democrats are optimistic their candidate will make some noise on December 2, when votes are counted for the special U.S. House election that will determine who represents Tennessee&#8217;s 7th Congressional District. The seat became empty after Republican Rep. Mark Green retired on July 20, shortly after voting to pass President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Big, Beautiful Bill.&#8221;
It&#8217;s a district that Democrats have no business winning and one that Republicans are counting on to help maintain their House majority come the 2026 midterm elections. For an off-year election in a deep red state, the stakes can&#8217;t get any higher, so here&#8217;s everything you need to know ahead of the December 2 election.
<h3>The Candidates</h3>
Republican candidate Matt Van Epps, 39, easily won the crowded GOP primary in October after an endorsement from President Trump. Van Epps is an Army helicopter pilot and combat veteran with years of experience in the Tennessee state government. He <a href="https://www.mattfortn.com/meet-matt">served</a> as the deputy chief operating officer for the Tennessee Governor&#8217;s Office. He was then tapped by Republican Governor Bill Lee to run the Tennessee Department of General Services, where he &#8220;oversaw statewide procurement, facilities management, and essential services that touch every department in Tennessee government.&#8221;
During the Republican primary, Van Epps was criticized by his opponents for working to implement strict COVID lockdown measures in the early days of the pandemic and was nicknamed &#8220;Tennessee Fauci.&#8221; That line of attack on Van Epps was ineffective, and he won the GOP primary by more than 25 points.
<div id="attachment_1005705" style="width: 586px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1005705" class="wp-image-1005705 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094309.502-576x576.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094309.502-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094309.502-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094309.502-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094309.502-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094309.502.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" />Matt Van Epps for Congress</div>
Van Epps <a href="https://www.mattfortn.com/issues">describes</a> himself as a &#8220;conservative warrior&#8221; who is focused on &#8220;advancing President Trump&#8217;s America First agenda.&#8221; Along with snagging Trump&#8217;s endorsement, the Republican candidate also boasts <a href="https://www.mattfortn.com/endorsements">endorsements</a> from Governor Lee, former Rep. Green, and Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.
Democrats picked Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn as their nominee for the 7th district special election. Behn, 36, has served in the Tennessee state House since 2023. The Tennessee Democrat was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-returns-campaign-trail-trump-country-back-aoc-tennessee">dubbed</a> the &#8220;AOC of Tennessee&#8221; by Democratic activist David Hogg, referring to leftist New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. After socialist Zohran Mamdani&#8217;s stunning victory in the New York City mayor&#8217;s race, Democrats are hoping that the party&#8217;s younger and more radical candidates can win, even in deep-red states.
<div id="attachment_1005697" style="width: 586px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1005697" class="wp-image-1005697 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094027.635-576x576.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094027.635-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094027.635-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094027.635-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094027.635-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094027.635.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" />Aftyn Behn, Tennessee General Assembly</div>
Other prominent Democrats have come alongside Behn, campaigning for her in Nashville. Last week, former Vice President Kamala Harris made a <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/18/kamala-harris-nashville-aftyn-behn-7th-district-election/87324707007/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=false&amp;gca-epti=z114035p005050c005050u116535d00----v114035&amp;gca-ft=51&amp;gca-ds=sophi">surprise appearance</a> with Behn, returning to the Democratic campaign trail for the first time since her 2024 election loss.
Behn is not hiding from her leftist views. Earlier this year, she followed and filmed ICE agents and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers as they made immigration arrests around Nashville. She has <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJPrwJbpkoO/">called</a> Trump&#8217;s immigration operations &#8220;state-sponsored fear and violence.&#8221; Behn also voiced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-democrat-aftyn-behn-wont-take-back-support-for-burning-down-police-stations">support</a> for burning down police stations during the 2020 George Floyd riots. She recently refused to address the controversial social media post where she stated, “Good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified.”
After three Christian schoolchildren and three staff members were killed by a trans-identifying shooter in Nashville in 2023, Behn <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-aftyn-behn-said-covenant-shooting-made-her-fearful-for-trans-communities">said</a> she was &#8220;fearful&#8221; for &#8220;trans communities.&#8221; Behn has also been slammed for saying in the past that she hates Nashville, parts of which she&#8217;s now running to represent.
<h3>The Location</h3>
The 7th district sits in the western part of what is considered Middle Tennessee. It spans from the state&#8217;s border with Kentucky, through north and west Nashville, and all the way to the Alabama state line. Voters in the 7th district went for President Donald Trump by 22 points in 2024, and the district has been safely in the hands of Republicans and Rep. Mark Green, who represented the 7th from 2019 until his surprise retirement earlier this year.
<div id="attachment_1005707" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1005707" class="wp-image-1005707 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094502.570-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094502.570-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094502.570-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094502.570-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Untitled-design-2025-11-25T094502.570.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />TN 7th Congressional District, TN Secretary of State</div>
The various demographics inside the 7th district will be a key aspect to watch when results come in on Tuesday night. Much of District 7 covers rural areas, where Van Epps is expected to perform well, but it also covers north and west Nashville, which is far more liberal than the surrounding area. Behn will have to perform exceptionally well in those areas of Nashville and will need a high Democratic turnout for a chance to pull off an upset.
Last month&#8217;s primary election showed that turnout could be an issue for Democrats. Behn pulled off a narrow primary victory, receiving just over <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/07/us/elections/results-tennessee-us-house-7-special.html">8,600 votes</a>. Van Epps, meanwhile, pulled in over 19,000 votes in the primary as Republican turnout far outpaced that of the Democrats.
If Republicans show up in the counties surrounding Nashville and the more rural areas of the state as they have in recent House elections, Van Epps will likely cruise to victory. Tennessee&#8217;s 7th district includes areas such as part of wealthy Williamson County, which Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/2024-election/results/tennessee/">won</a> by more than 30 points in 2024, and rural Robertson County, which Trump won by 40 points.
The House Majority PAC, which is connected to House Democratic leadership, believes that Democratic wins in New Jersey and Virginia earlier this month show that &#8220;no Republican-held seat is safe.&#8221; Democrats are also hoping that Behn can reach independents and moderate Republicans with her focus on affordability and the economy.
<h3>The Spending</h3>
Republicans and Democrats have poured millions of dollars into the special House race, with Behn&#8217;s campaign raising over $1 million between October 1 and November 12, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/millions-pour-tennessee-special-election-ahead-december-vote-rcna244846">reported</a>. In that same timeframe, Van Epps raised $591,000. Outside groups have also dumped millions of dollars on the race, mostly in support of Van Epps and in opposition to Behn. The Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. has reportedly spent over $1 million on the race. The conservative group Club for Growth has also waded into the special House race to boost Van Epps.
Behn&#8217;s campaign has spent more than half a million dollars on advertisements, while the Democrat-aligned House Majority PAC and Your Community PAC have spent a combined $950,000 on additional ads, according to the <a href="https://nashvillebanner.com/2025/11/24/tennessee-7th-congressional-district-election-spending/">Nashville Banner</a>.
<h3>The Expectations</h3>
Earlier this month, Cook Political Report <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/house/race/485206">moved</a> Tennessee&#8217;s 7th district from &#8220;solid&#8221; Republican to &#8220;lean&#8221; Republican. Under its summary of the race, Cook Political Report states, &#8220;Sources roundly agree that Nashville Democrats are ravenous at the prospect of an upset, while many Republican voters are unaware an election is even taking place.&#8221;
Tennessee Republican Party Chair Scott Golden <a href="https://wpln.org/post/how-competitive-is-tennessees-special-congressional-race/">told</a> WPLN News last week that the race will come down to how many Republican voters show up to the polls. Golden stressed that the special election date and early voting running up against the Thanksgiving holiday make the GOP campaign&#8217;s job even tougher.
“Anytime you have a special election that is bracketed by the Thanksgiving holiday, you can’t afford to take a day off,” he said. “I think if there’s concern, it’s just that people aren’t aware that they have the opportunity to vote right now.”

AftynVanEppsFinal

Everything You Need To Know For The Crucial Tennessee Special House Election

Election

Republicans

President Donald Trump pushes ahead with a potential war-ending deal in Ukraine,  Democrats spend big on a House race in red Tennessee, and Wicked: For Good casts a spell on audiences, leaving some hope for Hollywood after a disastrous year of earnings.
It’s Monday, November 24, 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-251124-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/ukraine-deal-dilemma-tns-district-seven-duel-11-24-25/id1576594336?i=1000738094135" 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’s Ukraine Peace Plan</h2>
Topline: President Trump is offering Russia and Ukraine a new peace deal, and ramping up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign on.
Peacemaker-in-chief: President Trump has relished his role as peacemaker since regaining the White House, brokering an end to a number of conflicts. But despite his best efforts, the war in Ukraine continues to rage.
But the White House is out with a new 28-point plan that they’re confident will benefit both sides. The plan seems more favorable to Russia, which, from a geopolitical standpoint, makes sense. Regardless of whether they’re the &#8220;bad guys,&#8221; the reality is they have the upper hand militarily. This is a war of attrition, and Moscow is much better suited to endure.
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The White House is urging the Ukrainians and others to be realistic and understand that Putin will not sign onto any deal that leaves him empty-handed, and that means making some painful concessions.
Ukraine’s concessions: Ukraine would be forced to give up on NATO membership and “enshrine in its constitution that it will not join NATO.” It would also bar NATO troops from being stationed in Ukraine in the future and limit the size of Ukraine’s military to 600,000 personnel.
Perhaps most importantly for Zelensky, it would give Russia nearly all of the land it has seized in Eastern Ukraine, and even some it hasn&#8217;t. Specifically, it calls for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk Oblast region, a strip of land that was home to a quarter million Ukrainians before the war. That region would be turned into a demilitarized zone to serve as a buffer between the two countries.
All parties involved in the conflict would be granted amnesty under the deal, and the U.S. would begin immediately lifting sanctions on Moscow, bringing them back into the international economy.
Finally, it would require Ukraine to hold nationwide elections within 100 days of signing.
What Ukraine gets: The biggest reward would be an end to the conflict. There’s also a promise to allow them to seek membership in the European Union, and a plan for $100 billion in frozen Russian assets to be invested in a fund to rebuild Ukraine.
As far as security guarantees, one of Zelensky’s main demands, there’s not much beyond vague assurances that Europe and the U.S. would coordinate a military response and reimplement sanctions if Russia were to invade again.
What the U.S. is hearing: Ukraine and the rest of Europe are generally not happy. The headline this weekend on one of Ukraine’s largest newspapers read, “New U.S. peace plan pushes Ukraine toward capitulation.”
Elsewhere, Ukrainian military and political leaders expressed anger that they were not consulted beforehand, accusing Trump of giving Putin his wishlist. In a speech over the weekend, Zelensky seemingly implied that the U.S. had threatened to withdraw support unless they signed onto the agreement, telling his people, “Now, Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”
Over the weekend, Zelensky held calls with European allies, including France and the U.K., and they offered a unified front, telling the White House in a joint statement the deal “would leave Ukraine vulnerable to attack” and “requires additional work.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Tennessee Special Election</h2>
Topline: An important special election in Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District will take place on December 2 to replace former Republican Congressman Mark Green. Democrats are pouring big money into the race, hoping to flip the seat. In 2024, the reliably red district backed Trump with 60% of the vote.
All eyes on TN: This is for a crucial seat in the House, as all seats now are, since the GOP majority is so thin. Also, Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District is important as it represents parts of the Nashville metropolitan area.
Democrats are eager and see it as a pick-up opportunity following off-year election victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia earlier this month. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/21/house-democratic-super-pac-drops-1-million-on-tennessee-special-election-00664768?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQKNjYyODU2ODM3OQABHogrquGjqh20iTwQ6dUzCymZZpN20Ifc4YfHQ1_eafcdb9uyMSsEtcPs6kEu_aem_h0OvKIWh4pdNncH8LWPpBQ">Politico</a> reports that the Democrats’ House Majority PAC has poured $1 million into advertisements for the race. <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/tennessee-house/2026-tennessee-house-analysis-music-city-mayhem">Cook Political Report</a> ranks the race as “Likely Republican,” but the focus and money has some Republicans a bit nervous.
The Republican: The GOP candidate is Matt Van Epps, the former commissioner of Tennessee’s General Services Department. Van Epps is a West Point graduate and a combat veteran, and he has the crucial endorsement of President Trump.
Morning Wire spoke to Van Epps about his views on Trump’s agenda and how it aligns with his own goals for Tennessee.
“I&#8217;m an America First conservative. What we&#8217;re hearing quite a bit as we&#8217;re out across the Tennessee 7th Congressional District is cost of living and working to decrease inflation,” said Van Epps. “We&#8217;re working really hard to connect with a lot of folks to address that and put plans in place to do that from housing, energy, keeping taxes low, cutting regulations, health care, [and] child care.”
The Democrat: Most of the attention in this race has focused on the Democrat, state Rep. Aftyn Behn, touted by some Democrats as a rising star and “Tennessee’s AOC.” Behn even had former Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Jasmine Crockett campaign for her.
But she’s also caused quite a stir, partly from her social media posts. For example, she has <a href="https://x.com/RepOgles/status/1924882174865502306">filmed</a> herself openly bragging about trying to bully law enforcement from carrying out its federal operations.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Wicked: For Good&#8221; Saves The Box Office</h2>
Topline: In one of the worst years in Hollywood history, one film waved a magic wand this weekend to bring audiences back to theaters. &#8220;Wicked: For Good,&#8221; the follow-up to last year&#8217;s smash hit musical, is shattering records. But is it any good?
The numbers: The numbers are nothing short of dramatic. According to early estimates, &#8220;Wicked: For Good&#8221; opened globally in the neighborhood of $228 million.
Final numbers are not out yet, but in the domestic market alone, the film is projected to debut at around $151 million, making it the biggest opening ever for a Broadway-musical-inspired feature.
Beyond that, the film had already pulled in the highest earnings this year, around $31 million, in domestic preview screenings. It also had the highest pre-sales for a PG movie ever. It’s definitely on its way to being one of the highest grossing films this year.
The critics: So far, critics aren’t as positive about the sequel as they were about the original. On Metacritic, &#8220;Wicked: For Good&#8221; has only a 59% positive rating. The first movie averaged 73%. The same story is taking place on Rotten Tomatoes. The first movie was 88% positive. The new release is 70%.
DW’s take: That decrease in enthusiasm isn’t too surprising. The first film largely followed the path of the stage production. Even though Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s performances didn’t seem to match the energy and wit that Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth brought to Broadway, powerhouse ballads like “Defying Gravity” (so good Disney ripped it off for &#8220;Frozen&#8221;) and comical ditties like &#8220;Popular&#8221; and &#8220;Loathing&#8221; were still very entertaining.
The problem is the most compelling parts of the musical were covered in the first film.
&#8220;Wicked: For Good&#8221; is 20 minutes shorter, but feels about an hour longer because there’s simply not a lot of the actual story left to tell. There is a lot of padding to fill out a sequel that could have been wrapped up in 30 minutes. There are some new songs, but they don’t boast either that sly humor or moving poetry of the originals. The performances are, overall, somewhat flat, though Jonathan Bailey as love interest Fiyero is an <a href="https://x.com/wickedcomfort/status/1985635639060992190?s=20">exception</a>.
While a handful of sequences are impressive, &#8220;Wicked: For Good&#8221; doesn’t offer the entertainment value of the first entry. But when you’re the only holiday blockbuster extravaganza in town …

MRN_251124_V2

Morning Brief: Trump Eyes Ukraine Peace Deal, Tennessee’s 7th In Focus, & ‘Wicked’ Sweeps Hollywood

Morning Brief: Trump Seeks Peace In Ukraine, All Eyes On TN’s 7th, And A ‘Wicked’ Hollywood Weekend

Donald Trump

Hollywood

Media

Morning Wire

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

Democrats currently have a massive advantage in Congress for 2026. According to the latest <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/19/nx-s1-5611088/poll-democrats-republicans-trump-approval-inflation">NPR/PBS News/Marist poll</a>, this is their largest advantage since 2017 in terms of whom people would vote for on the congressional ballot.
When you actually go to the polling place to cast your vote, you are not voting on a generic member of Congress, you are voting on your congressperson. Thus, it&#8217;s possible that widespread dissatisfaction with the Republican Party doesn&#8217;t necessarily translate into your individual congressperson losing his or her seat.
Democrats, however, currently hold a 14-point advantage in this poll — a very, very large advantage. If that were to stick in the generic congressional ballot, then we’re looking at a Democratic wave in 2026.
President Trump’s approval rating is just 39%, which is his lowest since right after January 6.
A combined 6 in 10 people blamed congressional Republicans or Trump for the government shutdown, which is likely the result of the legacy media spinning a completely Democrat-caused government shutdown into a story about President Trump and Republicans.
Nearly 6 in 10 say that Trump&#8217;s top priority should be lowering prices. No other issue comes close.
So, those are very bad numbers for the Republicans right now. What does that mean for the 2026 election? 
In fall 2022, Democrats had a lead in the generic congressional ballot. They ended up losing nine House seats to the Republicans. In 2018, during Trump&#8217;s first term, the Democrats’ lead was somewhere between 6 and 12 points, and they also ended up winning 40 seats. In 2014, when Obama was president, Republicans had a five-point advantage, and the GOP gained 13 seats. So, the number of actual vulnerable districts has shrunk dramatically.
So, even if Democrats have a gigantic advantage in the generic congressional balloting, the way the districts are stacked up, there are a lot more solid dem districts and a lot more solid Republican districts and fewer swing districts overall. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2322-uh-oh-democrats-pull-ahead-in-2026-race?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Democrats need three seats to take control of the House. So, what is the most likely outcome?
The upper end of disaster for Republicans would be 20 to 25 seats, which would put Democrats pretty solidly in control of the House. Now, it would take a massive Democratic wave for them to take over the Senate. The two most vulnerable seats are in Maine and in North Carolina.
Senator Susan Collins — who is frequently a target for many dyspeptic Republicans who don&#8217;t understand that if you want a Republican to hold the seat in Maine, that Republican is not going to look like Tom Cotton or Rick Scott — is a battler and a survivor up in Maine. She is the only Republican incumbent running in a state won by Kamala Harris in 2024. Collins is facing a radical democratic socialist, Graham Platner, who is a disaster area for a wide variety of reasons.
In North Carolina, the seat is open because Thom Tillis, a frequent target of the president, has decided that he is not going to run for reelection. Perhaps that seat swivels blue.
If the Democrats take both those seats, they still won’t have the upper hand because Republicans hold 53 seats, which means that in order for Democrats to take control of the Senate, they would need to take two more. It’s not totally out of the range of possibility for Democrats to win the Senate, but it would take a lot.
But losing the House would be bad enough; if the GOP loses the House, that&#8217;s the end of major legislation from the Trump administration. It means endless investigations. It means that the House becomes a baton to wield against everything the Trump administration is trying to do on the executive level.
There’s a brand new <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-approval-falls-lowest-his-term-over-prices-epstein-files-reutersipsos-poll-2025-11-18/">Reuters/Ipsos poll</a> that shows similar numbers, with Trump at 38%, which, again, is the lowest rating he has had since he returned to power in January.
Why is President Trump lagging in the polls now? Why is he at 39%-40%?
The reason is not what people think it is. It’s not his foreign policy or that Trump&#8217;s foreign policy is tearing apart the Republican Party. In fact, he only part of his policy right now that is wildly popular, at least by Trumpian standards, is his foreign policy. In fact, his approval ratings on foreign policy are better than any prior president of the modern era at this point in his term, which is extraordinary.
For the amount of crap that he is currently taking in the very online spaces, you guys should get out and touch grass. It turns out many Americans like the stuff that President Trump has been doing on foreign policy,
It isn&#8217;t immigration either. The president&#8217;s net approval ratings on immigration have gone down, but that&#8217;s largely because he has solved the immigration crisis in the United States. He solved the problem of the southern border. If Americans were thinking about the southern border in comparison to Biden, Trump’s approval ratings would be 80%.
The reason Trump’s approval ratings are low are two: The economy and the Epstein files.
He has slid 24 points since February of 2025 on the economy and 59% of Americans do not approve of his handling of the Epstein files.
The reason president Trump’s approval ratings have dropped on the Epstein files is because there are actors trying to use the Epstein files as a club against the president in order to seize control of the MAGA movement. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s happening.
Trump, however, has not done anything radically different from Joe Biden when it comes to Epstein. In fact, he has been significantly more transparent than Joe Biden ever was.
It’s notable that many of the big advocates on the Epstein matters are either directly implicated by the Epstein files, like Steve Bannon, or are people who had no qualms about Epstein and were not talking about Epstein a year and a half ago. There were no major motions from Rep. Thomas Massie, for example, to the Biden administration asking for the release of the Epstein files.
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Now there are a bunch of angry critics of the president&#8217;s foreign policy who are attempting to use the Epstein files as a way to undermine him.
That doesn&#8217;t mean people don&#8217;t have open questions; of course, that&#8217;s true. But the people who have elevated this to the top of the issue stack are people who, shall we say, do not like the president&#8217;s foreign policy decisions.
Why do you think Abby Phillip is now massaging Marjorie Taylor Greene? You can tell who&#8217;s getting the strange new respect these days when you&#8217;re on the same side as Abby Phillip.
There are also popular podcasters and voices who continue to malign the president without saying his name because they&#8217;re cowards who continue to say that the administration is covering up the Epstein files, but don’t say Trump&#8217;s name because they don&#8217;t want to offend Trump. They&#8217;re afraid that Trump will reach over like King Kong and crush them.
Instead, they simply imply and imply and imply, without just saying the thing they want to say, out of pure, unbridled cowardice.
It&#8217;s pretty impressive.
But it’s not right.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-SHUTDOWN

Democrats Pull Ahead In 2026 Race

Ben Shapiro

Polls

U.S. Senate

President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening signed a bill ordering the Department of Justice to release its records on the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The department now has 30 days to comply with the bill and release the evidence and records it has compiled on Epstein, notwithstanding any redactions to the materials. The bill reached the president’s desk after the House voted to approve the release of the records earlier this week.
The president had long resisted efforts to release the files, calling accusations that he was attempting to hide the facts of the case a “hoax” while blaming Democrats for pushing conspiracies. The president switched to supporting the files’ release on Monday, urging House Republicans to support the measure after it became clear that the bill would pass regardless.
Trump announced the bill’s signing in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115579394833948106">post</a> on Truth Social, highlighting Epstein’s connections to various Democratic politicians.
“Perhaps the truth about these Democrats, and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein, will soon be revealed, because I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!” the president wrote.
Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.
“At my direction, the Department of Justice has already turned over close to fifty thousand pages of documents to Congress,” he continued, before accusing the Democrats of leveraging the Epstein files to “try and distract from our AMAZING Victories.”
“This latest Hoax will backfire on the Democrats just as all of the rest have! Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he concluded.
Under the bill, Attorney General Pam Bondi has 30 days to release all unclassified information related to Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi is allowed to &#8220;withhold or redact information that could jeopardize a federal investigation,&#8221; NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-signs-bill-release-justice-department-jeffrey-epstein-files-rcna244793">reported</a>.
The president has repeatedly denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking, pointing out that he banished Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2007.
It’s unclear what will be revealed in the documents to be released. The Justice Department has already released tens of thousands of pages of collected evidence related to Epstein as part of a House probe into the matter. Much of the remaining materials cannot be released as it is sealed from public view by court order.
While the odds of revealing new criminal conduct may be low, the possibility of embarrassing revelations may be high in the new files. Harvard University economist and former president Lawrence Summers has already <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/us/larry-summers-harvard-epstein.html">paused</a> teaching at the university while the institution investigates his relationship with Epstein and waits for new information in the documents to be released.

Trump Signs Bill To Release Epstein Files

Jeffrey Epstein

The House is expected to approve a bill that would compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, new details come to light about the person who tried to kill Donald Trump, and the United States and Venezuela signal a willingness to talk as a massive warship floats into the Caribbean.
It’s Tuesday, November 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-251118-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/house-considers-epstein-files-thomas-crooks-questions/id1576594336?i=1000737219826" 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;">House To Vote On Epstein Files</h2>
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Topline: After weeks of intense debate and political drama, the House of Representatives is expected to hold a vote on Tuesday to release the Epstein files. 
For years, voters and lawmakers from both parties have taken turns demanding the release of the Epstein files, expressing confidence that they’ll be incriminating for the other side.
Despite implying on the campaign trail that he supported full transparency regarding the Epstein case, upon taking office, Trump shifted his tone and called the entire case a “Democrat Hoax,” arguing that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was “somebody that nobody cares about.” That response angered many on the Right, and gave more ammunition to Democrats, who’ve made the files one of their core issues lately.
Republican leadership, at the behest of Trump, had been blocking that vote, saying it was unnecessary because the House Oversight Committee was already releasing Epstein emails and other evidence as part of their own investigation into the topic. But last week, a petition to force a vote reached the necessary 218 signatures, when four Republicans joined all 214 Democrats. 
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had no real choice but to allow the vote to proceed later Tuesday afternoon. 
Trump changes tune: Trump changed course and has voiced support for releasing the Epstein files in recent days. 
Trump’s handling of the files has provided extensive fodder for Democrats, who’ve used it to their advantage in elections nationwide.
But it’s not just Democrats pushing the president on this topic. Trump’s MAGA base is deeply loyal to him on most issues, but on this one, they’ve been very frustrated. Polling shows that 75% of Republicans want the files released in their entirety, while just 40% of Republicans approve of his handling of the Epstein case — on most other issues, he’s around 90%. 
GOP lawmakers are very aware of that discontent. While only four Republicans signed the petition to force this vote, there was a good chance a few dozen would have voted in support of the measure today, regardless of what Trump wanted.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">New Evidence in Crooks Case Leads to Coverup Allegations</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1002099" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Crooks-Case-Questions-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Crooks-Case-Questions-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Crooks-Case-Questions-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Crooks-Case-Questions-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Crooks-Case-Questions-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Crooks-Case-Questions.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: Demands for answers about the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump are increasing. Though 20-year-old suspect Thomas Crooks has long been painted as a lone gunman with no clear motive, new claims are prompting calls for more transparency.
A number of media and political figures on the Right argue that the public is not getting the full story on Crooks, who was killed by an FBI sniper during the assassination attempt.
Joe Rogan and Elon Musk ignited the news cycle a couple of weeks ago when they discussed elements of the case that they did not feel made sense.
“There was never a formal report. There was never press conferences where they detailed all the information that we know currently and where the investigation stands at the moment,” Rogan <a href="https://x.com/triffic_stuff_/status/1989103407135899896?s=20">said</a> on his podcast. “There&#8217;s a lot of weird s***, the fact that they wouldn&#8217;t let people be on that roof because the Secret Service lady said it was sloped and it was dangerous. … Meanwhile, the snipers that were on the other roof was a steeper pitch.”
Tucker Carlson <a href="https://x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1989317393768951907?s=20">released a video</a> examining alleged evidence that the FBI and DOJ are suppressing key details about Crooks&#8217; life. Then Miranda Devine, host of the Pod Force One podcast, released her own report for the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/11/17/opinion/fbi-secret-service-butchered-the-thomas-crooks-case-and-invited-conspiracies-we-deserve-the-truth/">New York Post</a> detailing more claims.
What’s new: The new evidence is based on a confidential source who was able to gain access to Crooks’ accounts on platforms like Gmail, YouTube, and Snapchat. Seventeen accounts altogether were uncovered.
What they revealed is a shocking ideological flip: Back in 2019, when Crooks was 15, he was posting effusive praise for Trump, calling him &#8220;the literal definition of Patriotism.” But by August 2020, amid the COVID lockdowns, Crooks had turned hard against Trump, labeling him &#8220;racist&#8221; and fantasizing about &#8220;terrorism-style&#8221; attacks, including assassination.
The accounts also showed him active on pornographic sites catering to “furries,” and he was using they/them pronouns.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Floats Peace Talks With Venezuela</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1002101" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Presses-Maduro-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Presses-Maduro-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Presses-Maduro-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Presses-Maduro-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Presses-Maduro-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Presses-Maduro.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Trump suggests talks could happen with Venezuela – even as the U.S. continues to pressure dictator Nicolás Maduro. Meanwhile, Maduro is calling for peace.
Trump signaled on Sunday evening that talks could be in the works.
“We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we&#8217;ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1990207803374395800">said</a> Trump.
Trump also referenced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has plans to <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1990187781151445245">designate</a> the cartel run by Maduro, the Cartel de los Soles, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). That designation allows Trump to direct military strikes against any cartel asset inside Venezuela.
As U.S. authorities say Maduro is both the head of the cartel and the head of state, the line between drug cartel targets and government assets is blurry.
The designation will also open up financial levers the administration can pull, likely targeting top Maduro allies. The designation will be officially made on November 24.
Maduro begs for peace: Last week, Maduro held a massive rally in Caracas and called for peace. He punctuated those calls with a <a href="https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1990117665327677700">rendition</a> of John Lennon’s song, &#8220;Imagine.&#8221;
Strikes possible: Potential U.S. strikes against Venezuela remain very real. The U.S. has about 15,000 troops in the region, along with an armada of warships that includes the world&#8217;s largest aircraft carrier. Trump said Friday that he has “sort of made up [his] mind” about how to proceed against Venezuela, but then he appeared to backtrack again on Sunday, saying talks could happen. The plan seems to be in flux.
The U.S. has put a lot of pressure on Maduro and keeps ratcheting it up every day. In the summer, the State Department increased the bounty on Maduro to $50 million – twice the bounty the U.S. put on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Trump has given the green light for CIA operations against Maduro and has put in place more sanctions against Maduro and his allies.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that high-level discussions were underway on whether to carry out strikes against Venezuela and what those strikes would look like. According to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/16/trump-maduro-venezuela-military-talks/">report</a>, those discussions have involved officials such as Vice President JD Vance, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and Secretary Rubio.

MorningWire-0428

Morning Brief: Epstein Files Vote, Thomas Crooks Questions, & Maduro Begs For Peace

Morning Brief: Epstein Files Vote, Crooks Cover-Up, And Trump Floats Talks With Maduro

Department of Justice

Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela

It is a brand-new day, and that means it&#8217;s time for more Epstein revelations.
The reason for the Epstein revelations is that there was a discharge petition put forward late last night in the House of Representatives. The petition was signed by several rogue Republicans — some of whom are very much oriented against the Trump administration — in order to shame President Trump by saying that there ought to be a widespread release of more documents.
Democrats had to chum the waters. They had to make everyone interested in Epstein again. So they decided to do this in their usual fashion, which is to selectively release three emails.
Republicans then responded by releasing 20,000 pages of documents.
The Democrats were attempting a shame tactic directed at President Trump that was going to demonstrate full-scale that he was in Jeffrey Epstein&#8217;s pocket, or that Jeffrey Epstein was blackmailing Donald Trump, or that Jeffrey Epstein had untoward material about Trump, which is why Trump has been reluctant to allow for the release of more materials.
The reason President Trump does not favor the release of more materials is, as he has noted, there are already tens of thousands of pages of materials out there, and courts have already barred the release of an enormous number of these materials on the basis of victim protection. The FBI is doing the same.
You can yell and scream about it as much as you want, but these discharge petitions, these attempts to pry more documents out, are likely to fail in court.
President Trump believes the whole process is an attempt, by implication, to humiliate him.
And it does seem like that based on what the Democrats did. They dropped three emails, which were less than edifying with regard to the broad conspiracy theories that have been put out there about Jeffrey Epstein.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2317-more-epstein-emails-drop-what-are-the-revelations?elementPosition=4&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
As I&#8217;ve said a thousand times, there are true, open, honest questions to be asked about Jeffrey Epstein: How did he make all of his money? Where did all that money come from? Why was one media mogul paying him something like $158 million to do his taxes and look for tax breaks? Why was another mogul giving him access to a $70 million home in Manhattan?
These are very real questions that require very real answers. But instead, the entire realm has been filled with the most outlandish speculation. The case that you have heard — retailed in public by many prominent figures — is not the idea that Jeffrey Epstein was running a child sex trafficking ring on behalf of himself, in which he preyed on underage girls, but a broader conspiracy involving the idea that Jeffrey Epstein brought in a bunch of underage girls and a bunch of prominent people, and then blackmailed them after making tapes and taking pictures of them.
There is no evidence for this. In fact, Michael Tracey, who&#8217;s been all over this for years — a journalist with whom I frequently disagree — has done a very good job digging into the details, and there’s no evidence for that version of the story.
That still doesn&#8217;t answer the question as to where all the money was coming from. Was he blackmailing those guys? That could be. But as far as Donald Trump or Bill Clinton or any of the other wide variety of figures who have been mentioned in connection with this, unless you have evidence, it&#8217;s very difficult to make claims about them.
That has been blown into an even bigger conspiracy theory, that Jeffrey Epstein was a foreign agent acting on behalf of a foreign power, honey-trapping these guys in order to blackmail them to change policy.
The evidence of that just doesn&#8217;t exist. If it did, then Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, the president, and the vice president would have an obligation to tell you that.
But they&#8217;re telling you the opposite.
So where is the evidence? It&#8217;s a free country. You can speculate, but stop pretending the speculation is evidence.
That&#8217;s the backdrop of all of this.
Democrats are trying to underscore allegations that Donald Trump was being blackmailed by Jeffrey Epstein. But in the supposedly embarrassing emails involving Donald Trump, there&#8217;s no “there” there.
Email number one was an email from Jeffrey Epstein, apparently to his lawyer, saying, “I want you to realize that the dog that hasn&#8217;t barked is Trump.” 
This is April 2, 2011, long before Donald Trump was even a gleam in the eye of American presidential politics in a serious way.
“I want you to realize that the dog that has embarked is Trump.” Redaction. And then it says, “‘Victim’ spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned, police chief, etc. I&#8217;m 75% there.”
There is one major problem with this particular revelation. What the Democrats did was to redact the name of the person, supposedly because it was to protect the victim. Who&#8217;s the victim? The victim here is apparently Virginia Giuffre.
Virginia Giuffre was a very unstable person. She passed away recently. She was considered such an unstable personality that prosecutors could not use her in the case against Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell. Not only that, but in a sworn deposition, Virginia Giuffre literally said that she was never mistreated by Donald Trump. But if you just read that email out of context, it would sound as though Virginia Giuffre was trafficked to Donald Trump.
But that&#8217;s not what the email says, and that&#8217;s not what the email means. And we have counter-evidence with regard to this particular person.
This is a very cynical move by Democrats to redact the name there and then put “victim.” Not because Virginia Giuffre wasn&#8217;t a victim of someone — he may very well have been victimized by Prince Andrew — but because we know who she is publicly. Also, she&#8217;s dead, so there&#8217;s no more victim protection.
There&#8217;s a deposition with Virginia Giuffre. She said, “Donald Trump was also a good friend of Jeffrey’s. He didn’t partake in sex with any of us but he flirted with me.”
ABC News<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/virginia-giuffre-trump-jeffrey-epstein/story?id=127468657"> noted</a>:
<blockquote>Years later, while being questioned by lawyers for Maxwell (who Giuffre sued in 2015 for defamation) – Giuffre said the quote about Trump attributed to her was not accurate. She also said that she had met Trump when she worked at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, but said she did not recall ever seeing Trump at Epstein’s homes or seeing Trump and Epstein together in the same place. She also said Trump never flirted with her.</blockquote>
The basic idea that Giuffre was victimized by Trump is not true. Democrats put out the email cynically and then redacted the name of the victim to make it look like there was another victim who was not Virginia Giuffre victimized by President Trump.
Not true.
The second email is from Jeffrey Epstein to Michael Wolff, who was basically doing PR on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein. Michael Wolff is the author who is constantly writing extremely sleazy and half-accurate tomes about what&#8217;s going on in the Trump administration or the White House.
Wolff was doing defense for Jeffrey Epstein, which shows you what kind of human he is. Jeffrey Epstein apparently wrote to Michael Wolff of Trump, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”
If he asked Ghislaine to stop, I don&#8217;t understand why that&#8217;s bad for Trump. They released this email to make it sound like Trump knew about the girls. This email is dated January 2019. According to Trump, he threw Epstein out of his club because he knew that he was acting in nefarious ways.
Third email: from Michael Wolff. This is December 15, 2015.
Michael Wolff wrote, “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you, either on air or in scrum afterward.” 
Epstein wrote, “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” 
Wolf wrote back, “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn&#8217;t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you. Or if it really looks like he could win, you could save him generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in Trump regime”.
The proof here is that Michael Wolff, who is a purveyor of many untruths, said to Jeffrey Epstein that he should hold over Trump&#8217;s head the idea that maybe he had been on the plane or to the house.
I&#8217;m not sure what this is supposed to prove.
These are the only three emails the Democrats released. They released them in order to imply things about Trump without actually saying them.
This is one of the things that&#8217;s deeply annoying about our current politics: People are never asked to actually say the thing they appear to be saying.
Instead, they just imply, and then they back away, and then they imply some more, and then they back away.
If you want to say it, just say it. It&#8217;s a free country. You can say it.
And then we can all judge you by what you are actually claiming.

Patrick McMullan Archives

Democrats And The Selective Epstein Email Release: There’s No ‘There’ There

Democrats And The Selective Epstein Email Release: There’s No 'There' There

emails

Ghislaine Maxwell

Trump Administration

The government shutdown is over, the Justice Department investigates riots surrounding a Turning Point USA event, and a standoff brews in the Caribbean between Venezuela and the United States.
It’s Thursday, November 13, 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 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251113">the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Shutdown Comes To A Close</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1000149" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Marathon-Shutdown-Ends-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Marathon-Shutdown-Ends-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Marathon-Shutdown-Ends-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Marathon-Shutdown-Ends-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Marathon-Shutdown-Ends-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Marathon-Shutdown-Ends.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: The government shutdown finally came to a close on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump signing legislation to reopen the government.
The House voted on legislation to fund the government through the end of January. The vote came after eight Senate Democrats sided with Republicans earlier this week to break the filibuster and push through a continuing resolution to fund the federal government.
After more than 40 days, the shutdown’s impacts hit all across the country. From air travel to food stamps, Americans felt it.
What comes next:  The debate will quickly shift to healthcare and Obamacare subsidies, which the Democrats used as a rhetorical tool to prevent funding the government for the past 40 days. When they voted to reopen the government over the weekend, part of the deal was to bring that debate back to the Senate in December.
On the House side, Democrats such as Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have proposed extending those subsidies for three years. But with Republicans in the majority, the calculus is different, and there is a lot unknown about the continuation of those subsidies.
The argument from many Republicans and opponents of the renewed subsidies for the Affordable Care Act is that the program was never sustainable to begin with.
Shutdown drama continued:  Republicans are very pleased with the outcome, but many Democrats, aside from those few who voted to reopen the government, are not. 
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Berkeley Riot</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1000153" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/DOJ-Probes-TPUSA-Riot-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/DOJ-Probes-TPUSA-Riot-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/DOJ-Probes-TPUSA-Riot-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/DOJ-Probes-TPUSA-Riot-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/DOJ-Probes-TPUSA-Riot-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/DOJ-Probes-TPUSA-Riot.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: The DOJ is investigating a protest outside of a Turning Point USA event at UC Berkeley this week.
TPUSA has gotten more attention than ever over the last two months since Charlie Kirk, the group’s founder, was assassinated. In the wake of that tragedy, rather than pull back, the conservative activist group has gone all in.
While a number of its events have faced significant protest, thanks to increased security, most have been peaceful. But during the final stop of the Turning Point tour this week at Cal Berkeley, a protest turned violent. In the hours leading up to the event, hundreds of black-clad protesters <a href="https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1988056273716474048?s=20">descended</a> on the venue, hurling insults and threats at conservative students attending the event, and mocking Kirk’s murder.
Other chants included, “When fascists come and cause a wreck, they get a bullet in the neck.” At one point, a group of protesters attempted to rob a man of his necklace and proceeded to beat him when he attempted to stop them. As the victim, who was briefly detained by police himself, stands up, dripping blood from his face, some in the crowd begin to taunt him, <a href="https://x.com/FrontlinesTPUSA/status/1988051012050186316?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying,</a> “white boy, you’re bleeding.”
Turning Point staffers say rioters set off smoke bombs and tear gas outside the venue, and hurled fireworks and glass bottles at those trying to get in, including parents carrying small children. And then, as the event ended, large groups of rioters blocked exits and hurled threats at those leaving. 
DOJ steps in: Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will &#8220;spare no expense unmasking all who commit and orchestrate acts of political violence” and seeking out the identities of specific agitators. Bondi <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1988339354754769099">added</a>, &#8220;Antifa is an existential threat to our nation.&#8221; The Justice Department also sent a letter to the University of California Board of Regents, notifying them that an investigation had been opened into their handling of the riot, ordering them to preserve all internal records regarding security preparations. 
“ There was a sold out crowd of over 2,000 tickets for this event with Rob Schneider, the comedian, and in fact, only a thousand people were allowed to enter,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/AAGDhillon/status/1988582068776026127?s=20">said</a> the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon. &#8220;There were shenanigans with the ticketing, but a lot of people didn&#8217;t come because of what we call the ‘heckler&#8217;s veto,’ the violent mob allowed to fester outside.” 
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Fracas In Caracas</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1000145" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Will-Venezuela-Blink-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Will-Venezuela-Blink-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Will-Venezuela-Blink-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Will-Venezuela-Blink-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Will-Venezuela-Blink-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Will-Venezuela-Blink.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: Venezuela says it’s launched a “massive mobilization” of its armed forces – as the United States’ largest aircraft carrier arrives in the region.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, on Tuesday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maduro-orders-massive-military-mobilization-as-u-s-carrier-group-nears-venezuela">announced</a> a military buildup to counter what he called the “imperialist threat” from the United States. That buildup included military exercises on Wednesday that reportedly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-military-mobilization-us-navy-flotilla-nears-caribbean-uss-ford/">involved</a> around 200,000 troops. Reports say that the military has prepped anti-aircraft systems across Venezuela in case Trump decides to order land strikes, as he has hinted at a few times.
State of play: The United States’ largest and most advanced warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has finally arrived in the region, military officials said on Tuesday.
But diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington have broken down, and it is unclear whether they have since rebounded.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/world/americas/maduro-venezuela-us-oil.html">reported</a> last month that diplomacy between the two sides is basically broken. It broke over Maduro’s refusal to vacate leadership.
Caracas had offered the United States a majority stake in its oil and other mineral wealth. Part of the agreement would have been that Caracas would distance itself from powers hostile to the United States – namely, China, Iran, and Russia. But the United States walked away.
Invasion?: Many have made comparisons between the military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. There remain some stark differences, however. Venezuela is much larger than Panama, has a larger military, and Maduro is protected by special forces from Cuba, and Moscow has promised to help Venezuela in the event of an invasion.
Also, in 1989, the United States went into Panama to oust dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/us/politics/panama-noriega-maduro.html">roughly</a> 27,000 troops. With the addition of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the United States still has only <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/americas/venezuela-military-mobilization-us-buildup-intl-latam#:~:text=Maduro%20has%20also%20claimed%20that,CNN's%20Haley%20Britzky%20contributed.">around</a> 15,000 troops in the Caribbean Sea.

MRN_251113_V1

Morning Brief: The Swamp Reopens, Berkeley Riot On FBI’s Terror Radar, & The Fracas In Caracas

Morning Brief: Govt Shutdown Ends, DOJ Probes Berkeley, And Venezuela Calls Up Troops

Government Shutdown

Hakeem Jeffries

Harmeet Dhillon

Mike Johnson

Pam Bondi

United States

University of California Berkeley

Speaker Mike Johnson said the House will vote on a bill to release all files related to the late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein next week.
Johnson said on Wednesday that a discharge petition to bypass leadership and force a vote on the bill hit the benchmark for needed signatures. He has decided to expedite the vote for the bill, which under current rules could have been delayed until at least early December, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5603299-house-votes-epstein-files-mike-johnson/">The Hill</a>.
The discharge petition received the final signature it needed after Johnson <a href="https://apnews.com/article/adelita-grijalva-arizona-house-epstein-files-johnson-da75c9f0e362291f3d0edb1da99e019d">swore</a> in Democrat Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday evening. Grijalva won a special election in Arizona seven weeks ago to fill the seat of her father, Rep. Raul Grijalva, who died in March from complications of treatment he was undergoing for cancer.
“As soon as the discharge petition received the 218th signature, we brought it up on unanimous consent, and that would, as you know, make it — would get it through the process immediately. The Democrats shockingly opposed it,” said the speaker. “It was a staggering level of hypocrisy. I think some of them regretted it, because within about a half hour of that, there was a lot of confusion, and some of them claim that they did not object, but they did, and that’s what happened on the floor.”
“We’re going to put that on the floor for a full vote next week, soon as we get back,” he added.
Grijalva’s swearing in brings the partisan split in the House to 219 Republicans to 214 Democrats. Johnson had put off Grijalva’s swearing in for weeks, prompting a lawsuit from Arizona’s attorney general. Johnson has said he was waiting until the House was back in session after Senate fights over the government shutdown had been resolved.
Four Republicans joined every Democrat to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files.  Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie sponsored the bill. Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia joined Massie and the Democrats in supporting the discharge petition to force a vote.
&nbsp;

Mike Johnson To Fast-Track Vote To Release Epstein Files

This evening, Members of Congress will come together publicly, not to debate or campaign, but to pray for America in a National Prayer Call.
In a first, the House Freedom Caucus and the Family Research Council will host a national call to prayer titled, “Congress Prays for America.” It will unite Members of Congress, Christian leaders, and Americans across the country to do what is desperately needed in this moment: humble ourselves before God and seek His guidance for our nation.
This couldn’t come at a more urgent time. In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a young Christian leader who devoted his life to calling this generation back to truth and faith, our country is being forced to confront its spiritual crisis. Political violence, moral confusion, and hatred have filled the void where faith and grace once stood. It’s not just a political problem — it’s a spiritual one.
The answer to the kind of darkness America is facing won’t come from another government program or campaign speech. It will come from personal and corporate repentance, humility, and a national return to God.
That’s what this prayer call is about.
For decades, Washington has treated faith as something to be kept private — to be tolerated but never proclaimed. Lawmakers have been told that prayer belongs in the pews, not the halls of Congress. But America’s founders knew better. They opened every session of Congress with prayer because they knew the affairs of men could not prosper without the wisdom of Heaven.
When Congress prays, Members are reminded that we are not the ultimate authority — God is.
On Thursday night, Members will pray for an end to political violence. They will pray for our President, for Congress, for the people impacted by the ongoing shutdown, and for peace and protection in Israel.
The same faith that once guided the founding of this nation can still renew it today. We need a revival of courage, conviction, and compassion in our government. We need leaders who remember that the Constitution protects freedom of religion, not freedom from it.
That’s why this call matters.
When Members of Congress bow their heads together, they acknowledge that the power to restore this nation doesn’t lie in the levers of politics, but in the hands of Providence. God can bring revival to the very place where division has taken root: the United States Capitol.
This isn’t just a national prayer call from Congress. It’s a step toward something our country desperately needs — a spiritual revival and awakening. 
America’s hope doesn’t rest in Washington, but it can start there.
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Tony Perkins is president of Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
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Correction: The previous title indicated a prayer meeting at the Capitol tonight. The prayer call is in fact a teleconference phone call, not an in-person meeting. The revised title reflects that change.

Aerial Shot of Colorful Evening Sky Behind Capitol Building and Washington Monument

Why We’re Hosting A National Prayer Call Tonight: ‘Congress Prays For America’

Why We’re Hosting A National Prayer Call Tonight: 'Congress Prays For America'

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