At the high-profile United Nations Commission on the Status of Women this week, the United States was the only nation in the world to vote against a woke document that failed to define what a woman is and promoted gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion principles, The Daily Wire can first report.
Thirty-six nations are members of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and every single year during the commission, there is an agreed-upon document that focuses on topics affecting women around the world, including injustices.
This year&#8217;s document was a disappointment to Bethany Kozma, Director of Global Affairs (OGA) at the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the other members of President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration who had traveled to the commission in New York.
The document was filled with mentions of DEI, gender ideology, and ambiguous language about &#8220;reproductive rights,&#8221; but was bereft of language unique to womanhood, according to Kozma. &#8220;No mention of motherhood or unique female experiences,&#8221; she said, adding, &#8220;and it failed to define what a woman is.&#8221;
In short, The Daily Wire has learned, it was not aligned with the Trump administration&#8217;s policies and views on these issues. Since the president took office again in 2025, the United States has clearly defined what a woman is, banned boys from girls&#8217; spaces and sports, fought back against transgenderism in the medical world, and shut down many DEI projects in corporations and academia.
&#8220;The UN Commission on Women is supposed to be for women, yet for years, it’s been co-opted to include men pretending to be women,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;Many countries claim to support and empower women, yet some of them cannot even answer the simple question: &#8216;What is a woman?'&#8221;
&#8220;Thanks to the moral leadership of President Trump, the tide is changing and we&#8217;re standing up for women and girls,&#8221; she emphasized. &#8220;And I really was hopeful that we could come to an agreement.&#8221;
Kozma and her delegation from the United States worked hard to participate in good faith, offering amendments to the document that they knew some countries might sign onto. Natalie Dodson, senior advisor to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., shared that their delegation worked aggressively to negotiate with the other countries in order to include language defending the integrity of women.
&#8220;The text was not something that the U.S. liked at all,&#8221; Kozma explained. &#8220;It would not have been something that we would have ever put out on behalf of the United States government, but we had offered several amendments that were just very common sense.&#8221;
One amendment that they had been asking for, over and over, was an amendment that essentially defined men and women so that there would be no ambiguity.
<div id="attachment_1056463" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1056463" class="size-full wp-image-1056463" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_6039-scaled.jpeg" alt="" width="2560" height="1920" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_6039-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_6039-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_6039-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_6039-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_6039-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Members of the United States Delegation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.</div>
The Commission on the Status of Women wasn&#8217;t interested in the American amendments, Kozma and Dodson explained to The Daily Wire. Minutes before midnight on Sunday night, the council sent the final draft to the United States without acknowledging any of the American red lines that Kozma&#8217;s team had outlined.
And when it came time to vote on the amendments, which were intended to be voted on separately, the council bundled all the amendments together. Some nations might have voted for one amendment but not another, and bundled together, the amendments failed.
During Monday&#8217;s vote, the United States was the only nation in the world to vote against the document. Six nations abstained: Côte d&#8217;Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, and Saudi Arabia.
Kozma believes it was a deliberate attempt at &#8220;isolation&#8221; by the council to make the United States look like &#8220;we won&#8217;t don&#8217;t defend women and girls.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m really proud of us,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire over the phone. &#8220;We were the only country that was voting to protect women and girls.&#8221;

World Leaders Gather For The 80th Session Of The United Nations General Assembly

U.S. Stands Alone Defending Women In Gender Identity Fight At United Nations

Department of Health and Human Services

Social Issues

Transgender

U.S.

United Nations

Women

Saturday’s strikes on Iranian terrorist infrastructure have predictably revived the familiar debate about “preemptive” self-defense under international law. But the debate often misses the practical, fact-bound question: was the United States responding to a speculative future risk, or to an ongoing campaign of hostile action that has already crossed the threshold? On the public record, Iran’s hostility looks less like rhetoric and more like sustained operations.
This distinction matters. In strategic theory, there is a difference between initiating violence and terminating a pattern of violence, between starting and ending a conflict. Iran’s campaign against U.S. military forces and interests did not begin this week. It has spanned decades. The relevant legal and strategic question is not whether Tehran might one day act. It is whether a pattern of armed attacks, proxy operations, missile strikes, and assassination attempts already constitutes an ongoing armed attack under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.
Article 51 preserves the “inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs.” Some read that as a strict sequencing rule, but state practice treats it differently. Where a state faces a continuing pattern of force, or repeated, closely linked strikes, it may treat the series as meeting the “armed attack” threshold and act to prevent further attacks, so long as its response is necessary and proportionate.
The hard limits are factual, not semantic: What is the threat? Is it ongoing or imminent? What alternatives exist? And is the response calibrated to prevention rather than punishment? Once that line is crossed, lawful self-defense can aim not only to repel the last attack, but to stop the next one.
Iran’s record is not ambiguous. 
Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has fueled attacks through Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, killing hundreds of American service members — <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/04/04/iran-killed-more-us-troops-in-iraq-than-previously-known-pentagon-says/">603 in Iraq</a> alone, according to a 2019 Pentagon report. On January 8, 2020, Iran launched a ballistic-missile strike on Al-Asad Air Base and Erbil, injuring more than <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iranian-attack-al-asad-air-base-60-minutes-2021-08-08/">100 U.S. troops</a>. Between October 2023 and February 2024, Iran-backed forces conducted over 170 attacks on American bases in Iraq, Syria, and <a href="https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3659809/3-us-service-members-killed-others-injured-in-jordan-following-drone-attack/">Jordan</a>, killing and injuring Americans. Additional rocket attacks followed. Authorities in the United States have reportedly disrupted multiple Iranian assassination plots targeting American officials.
This is not conjecture; it is a documented operational pattern.
Alongside kinetic attacks, Iran’s cyber campaign reflects the same logic of persistent pressure. American authorities have attributed or linked Iran-connected actors to operations <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View/Article/4229506/nsa-cisa-fbi-and-dc3-warn-iranian-cyber-actors-may-target-vulnerable-us-network/">targeting American</a> institutions and infrastructure, including denial-of-service attacks on banks, attempted hospital intrusions, and infrastructure targeting. Cyber operations do not always meet the legal threshold of “armed attack,” but they form part of an integrated coercive strategy: normalize aggression below the threshold, blur attribution through proxies, and test the limits of American restraint.
Nor did that pattern end after the June 2025 confrontation. American interests remained in the crosshairs. Rocket attacks were foiled. U.S.-funded infrastructure was struck. Militia networks continued to operate within Iran’s broader apparatus of support and enablement. Whether carried out directly or through proxy layers, the operational reality was unchanged: American personnel and interests remain targets.
That is why calling this attack “preemption” obscures more than it clarifies.
On the domestic side, the constitutional picture is equally clear. Under Article II, presidents have the authority to repel attacks and protect American forces and interests abroad. The War Powers Resolution even presupposes that authority by requiring reporting after hostilities begin. It does not require advance permission to defend Americans under attack, and there is longstanding bipartisan recognition that the commander-in-chief may act swiftly in defense of U.S. personnel and national security interests. 
As it relates to urgency and imminence, according to officials, in the hours leading up to the operation, the United States had indicators that Tehran was going to launch a strike against American assets in the region. The President decided to prevent those launches from occurring. The law does not require the commander-in-chief to wait until American lives are lost to prove a point about process.
Critics argue that decisive responses are destabilizing. But instability does not originate in the act of defense. It originates in sustained aggression. 
The present debate has also mischaracterized the stated objectives of the mission. The president did not frame this as a project of political transformation. In fact, he articulated defined security objectives: ending Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, halting expansion of its ballistic missile arsenal, preventing development of longer-range missile systems capable of reaching the United States, neutralizing threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, and degrading networks responsible for killing Americans. The purpose of limited, calibrated strikes is not regime change for its own sake. It is to degrade capability, restore deterrence, and reduce the probability of future attacks. Regime change, if it occurs, is a byproduct. The strategic objective is threat elimination tied directly to the national security interests of the United States.
Those interests are concrete. Iran’s nuclear trajectory threatens to convert a chronic threat into an acute one. A nuclear-armed Tehran would constrain America’s freedom of action, embolden proxy networks under a nuclear umbrella, and accelerate proliferation across the Middle East. It would place U.S. military forces in Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, and elsewhere under greater strategic risk. It would increase the chance that a miscalculation becomes a catastrophe.
Iran’s ballistic missile expansion compounds that risk. Its medium-range missile arsenal already threatens regional allies and American forces. Its pursuit of longer-range systems raises the specter of expanded reach into Europe and beyond. Combined with repeated threats to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz — a globally vital economic chokepoint — these capabilities directly implicate American economic and security interests.
Deterrence is not about punishment. It is about prevention. It seeks to convince an adversary that aggression will not pay. Against a regime that finances terrorism, threatens leaders, probes infrastructure, and openly declares hostility, restraint without consequence invites repetition.
Iran’s proxy model deliberately manufactures legal and ethical confusion. Attacks are launched from dense civilian environments. Responsibility is diffused. Blame is inverted. International humanitarian law does not excuse that tactic; it condemns it. The legal standard under Article 51 is necessity and proportionality, not passivity. International law was never intended to require a state to absorb attacks while debating terminology.
Peace is not sustained by wishful thinking. It is sustained by credible lines and credible consequences. “Peace through strength” is not rhetorical flourish. It reflects a long-standing deterrence principle: aggression declines when it becomes predictably costly.
In the end, the choice is not between war and peace in the abstract. It is between allowing a sustained campaign of violence to continue or lawfully acting to prevent its next phase. When a regime finances terrorism, launches missiles, supports attacks on American troops, attempts assassinations, and advances capabilities that magnify those threats, the right of self-defense is not theoretical.
Article 51 is not a suicide pact. It exists for precisely these circumstances.
* * *
Mark Goldfeder is an international lawyer, CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a law professor at Touro Law School.
John Spencer is Chair of War Studies at the Madison Policy Forum and Executive Director of the Urban Warfare Institute. He served 25 years as an infantry soldier, including two combat tours in Iraq. He is author of the book Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connections in Modern War and coauthor of Understanding Urban Warfare.

TOPSHOT-IRAN-US-ISRAEL-WAR

Ending A Campaign Of Violence Is Not Starting A War

Donald Trump

Iran

Middle East

Opinion

First Lady Melania Trump will &#8220;make history&#8221; on Monday as the United States takes over the United Nations Security Council presidency and she becomes the first sitting First Lady to control the gavel and address the body.
Trump&#8217;s speech, set to focus on achieving peace through better education, will not just mark the first time an American First Lady has presided over the Security Council — it will also be the first time a sitting First Lady from any member nation has done so.
The Office of the First Lady released a statement on Monday, declaring, &#8220;First Lady Melania Trump is set to make history at the United Nations, taking the gavel as the United States assumes the Security Council Presidency to emphasize education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace.&#8221;
The statement went on to say that Trump would preside over the council as members addressed topics relating to &#8220;education, technology, peace, and security.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
First Lady Melania Trump to Preside Over U.N. Security Council Calling for Peace Through Education
Today at 3PM ET <a href="https://t.co/d2UXUdNmhh">pic.twitter.com/d2UXUdNmhh</a>
— Office of the First Lady (@FirstLadyOffice) <a href="https://twitter.com/FirstLadyOffice/status/2028532475400425642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz gave a brief statement to Fox News Digital, saying that given Melania Trump&#8217;s long history of being &#8220;a passionate and tireless advocate for children,&#8221; it was only &#8220;fitting&#8221; that she address the Security Council to promote education and advocate for its use as a path to peace.
&#8220;Her message of helping the helpless through education and technology fits exactly with our mission at the U.N., to achieve meaningful and lasting peace,&#8221; Waltz explained. &#8220;As a green beret and now diplomat, I have seen firsthand that peace prevails where children are taught and not terrorized.&#8221;
Melania Trump&#8217;s personal initiatives have almost always been geared toward children, beginning with her BE BEST program announced in 2018 — which promoted online safety and anti-cyber-bullying programs for children, as well as efforts to combat opioid addiction. In her time away from the White House, she also introduced Fostering the Future to promote digital safety and AI education — and to provide scholarship funds for children in the foster care system.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

First Lady Melania Trump To Make History, Preside Over United Nations Security Council

Global Politics

Melania Trump

Politics

The United States didn’t hedge — it called Tehran out by name, publicly torching what it says are flat-out lies from the Iranian regime in a blunt, point-by-point takedown posted by U.S. Central Command, just hours after the joint United States–Israel operation that eliminated Iran’s supreme leader.
The fact-checking barrage comes in the wake of the coordinated strike by the United States and Israel that took out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a move officials have framed as a decisive blow against what they describe as the regime’s decades-long campaign of terror and regional destabilization.
In a pair of sharply worded statements on X, CENTCOM directly contradicted claims made by Iran’s ambassador at the United Nations and by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, labeling them false and accusing Tehran of deliberately misleading the international community.
During a U.N. Security Council meeting, Iran’s ambassador claimed Tehran’s response had been directed “solely and exclusively at the bases and assets of the United States.”
CENTCOM <a href="https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2028182813837828251">rejected</a> that claim outright.
“The Iranian Regime is actively targeting civilians and has attacked more than a dozen locations,” the command stated, listing sites it says were struck.
According to CENTCOM, those locations include:
<ul>
<li>Dubai International Airport</li>
<li>Kuwait International Airport</li>
<li>Zayed International Airport, Dubai</li>
<li>Erbil International Airport, Iraq</li>
<li>Fairmont Palm Hotel, Dubai</li>
<li>Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai</li>
<li>Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bahrain</li>
<li>Port of Dubai</li>
<li>Residential areas in Beit Shemesh, Israel</li>
<li>Residential areas in Tel Aviv, Israel</li>
<li>Residential area of Era Views Towers, Bahrain</li>
<li>Residential areas in Qatar</li>
</ul>
The public rebuttal marks a significant escalation in messaging, with the United States accusing Tehran of attacking civilian infrastructure while misrepresenting its actions before the international community.
In a separate claim, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps asserted it had struck the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with ballistic missiles.
CENTCOM again <a href="https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2028124242273767557">dismissed</a> the claim.
“The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” the command said. “The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”
The forceful denials come as the United States and Israel continue a coordinated military campaign targeting Iranian military assets, including air defenses, missile infrastructure, and naval capabilities.
By publicly labeling Tehran’s statements as false, Washington is waging an information battle alongside ongoing military operations — seeking to counter Iranian claims, reassure allies, and underscore that key U.S. assets remain fully operational.

FACT-CHECK: U.S. Destroys Iran’s UN ‘Lies’ After Supreme Leader Strike

Fact Check

World

President Donald Trump convened the inaugural Board of Peace in Washington, D.C., telling attendees that the United Nations has failed to live up to its potential, adding that the newly-formed board will be “making sure it runs properly.”
“I think the United Nations has great potential. It has not lived up to that potential,” Trump said. “The United Nations, I think, is going to be much stronger, and the Board of Peace will be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”
Trump went on to say he plans to assist the United Nations by improving its facilities and ensuring its viability. 
When Trump spoke at the United Nations Headquarters in September, the escalator abruptly stopped, and the teleprompter did not work during his remarks.
“We will make sure that the United Nations is viable and that you have good people at the United Nations doing a good job,” he said. “As I said, for years, the United Nations has had tremendous potential. It&#8217;s really important, and I think it will eventually live up to its potential. That will be a big day.”
The meeting, which took place at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, was attended by representatives of 48 countries, the European Union, and FIFA.
Over a dozen representatives made pledges on behalf of their countries to the board to improve the situation in Gaza.
In addition to President Trump announcing a $10 billion U.S. commitment to the Board of Peace, the United Arab Emirates pledged $1.2 billion, and Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir committed $1 billion. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani announced over $1 billion to support “a final resolution that fulfills Palestinian aspirations for statehood and recognition and Israeli aspirations for security and integration.”
Along with unspecified contributions from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait, the total pledged by countries other than the United States adds up to roughly $7 billion, according to Trump.
Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania pledged troops for an International Stabilization Force. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said his country would also contribute forces, but Israel has said it would reject Turkish troops from entering Gaza.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pledged “significant” funding for the Board of Peace and scholarships for 500 Gazan students to study in his country. Romania’s President Nicușor Dan said his country would provide medical treatment for 4,000 sick children and their family members, as well as assistance in rebuilding Gaza’s fire safety system.
Trump also declared that the war in Gaza is over and warned that if Hamas did not give up their weapons, they would be “very harshly met.”
“This is a tremendous group of powerful people, they&#8217;re brilliant people, and I think that we can do things that other people would not be able to conceive or think of,” Trump said. “The Board of Peace is going to lead the way in Gaza. We&#8217;re going to make Gaza an example of success and safety and unity, and it&#8217;s an honor that you&#8217;re here.”
In addition to the European Union, the countries that participated include: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Qatar, South Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and the European Union.

US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP

Trump Throws Down Gauntlet At UN — Launches New Global Initiative

Board of Peace

Iranian women&#8217;s rights activist Masih Alinejad, speaking at the United Nations Geneva Summit, excoriated European politicians whom she said have looked the other way while thousands of her countrymen and women have been killed, tortured, and mutilated by the despotic Islamic regime.
“I am supposed to talk only in three minutes,” the woman who has been targeted in three alleged assassination plots linked to the regime. “But in my country, in 24 hours, they killed 40,000 people in Iran. And I am here at the United Nations while the killers are walking here. I saw them with expensive Gucci bags. I saw them with expensive brands walking here at the United Nations. &#8230; I am going to talk the truth.”
“The Secretary General of United Nations stands with dictators,” she alleged. “The Secretary General of United Nations sends a congratulation letter to Islamic Republic for the anniversary of this murderous regime. You tell me, do they stand with dictators or the victims? The victims are here, these two women. One of them lost her eye because the Revolutionary Guard shot her in her eye. One of them carried a bullet in her arm. Do they stand with them?”
“Right now, after killing 40,000 people, they storm into hospitals; they&#8217;re finishing off the injured ones; they&#8217;re arresting doctors and nurses; they put the political prisoners on death row; they&#8217;re executing them,” she continued. “I want to ask Geneva to host a peace conference, invite the opposition from Iran, invite the leaders of Europe, invite the leaders from European countries and free world here to talk about an Iran without an Islamic Republic.”
Tearing a photo of Ayatollah Khomeini into pieces, she declared, “The West waited too long,” adding that it would not be “Islamophobic” to “treat ISIS the way they deserve to be treated.”
“The West waited too long, too long,” she said. “When I was fighting against compulsory hijab, they were like, ‘Oh, this is Islamophobic. Oh no, we have to respect others&#8217; culture.’ All the female politicians from West, they went to my country, they borrowed compulsory hijab from Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, France, from everywhere, high representative of Europe. &#8230; Suddenly, they realized, ‘Oh, this is not their culture.&#8217; They started to cut their hair to show their solidarity with us.”
“Stop cutting your hair,” she demanded. “Cut your ties with our killers.”
“And now 40,000 people have been killed,” she noted. “Now the time has come to understand. Don&#8217;t wait that long. &#8230; You call them reformists. We call them killers.”
“When I see my sister standing here, my sister, with bullets in their body, being blinded, standing here, I feel ashamed that I am alive that I don&#8217;t carry the bullet,” she said.
“I&#8217;m going to leave Geneva forever,” she said. “You can kick me out forever. But I couldn&#8217;t keep silent because I feel the guilt on my shoulder. I don&#8217;t know how to save my people with empty hands. I cannot sometimes sleep; I cannot breathe; I cannot even eat because I feel guilty. I cannot believe how come the leaders of European countries do not feel guilty by shaking the hand of those Islamic Republic officials full of blood. Shame on you.”
“I need you to promise me that we&#8217;re going to stand together, all of us, with my brother in Venezuela, my sister from Belarus. I need you all to stand with us and help my people in Iran. We have to stop the massacre and kick these f***ing killers from Europe, from everywhere,” she concluded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Rare Moment of Truth at UN: Iranian women&#39;s rights activist <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlinejadMasih</a> takes the floor at United Nations <a href="https://twitter.com/GenevaSummit?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GenevaSummit</a> to blast European politicians who for years failed to call out the regime&#39;s terrorism and gender apartheid, points to victims in the room shot by the regime. <a href="https://t.co/zvgdS2J8Ld">pic.twitter.com/zvgdS2J8Ld</a>
&mdash; Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) <a href="https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/2023925966905479383?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TOPSHOT-SWITZERLAND-US-IRAN-ENERGY-DIPLOMACY-NUCLEAR-UN

MIC DROP: Women’s Rights Activist Torches Europe’s Appeasement With Explosive Final Line

Masih Alinejad

The United Nations is at serious risk of “imminent financial collapse” after President Trump slashed U.S. funding last month, Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a letter.
In a letter sent to all 193 member states last week, Guterres warned that the U.N. could run out of money by July. &#8220;I cannot overstate the urgency of the situation we now face. We cannot execute budgets with uncollected funds, nor return funds we never received,&#8221; the secretary-general <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr579mdv4m7o">wrote</a>, according to the BBC.
President Trump pulled out of UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency; the World Health Organization; and the U.N. Human Rights Council in January, citing waste, mismanagement, and a lack of financial commitment from other countries.
“We walked away from WHO, the World Health Organization; UNRWA, the U.N. agency in Gaza that’s been completely infiltrated by Hamas. We walked out of it and defunded that, too. The so-called human rights councils that cater to countries like North Korea and Venezuela and Iran. We’ve walked away from that,” United States Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-waltz-says-the-trump-administration-has-a-plan-to-save-the-united-nations">told</a> The Daily Wire in December. “It’s really about focusing our effort on the parts that align with an America First agenda and defunding and walking away from the rest of it — the nonsense.”
The U.S., previously the U.N.&#8217;s largest contributor, did not pay its regular budget contribution in 2025 and provided only 30% of the expected funding for U.N. peacekeeping operations. In December, the U.S. pledged $2 billion to U.N. humanitarian programs, a fraction of the $17 billion it spent in 2022, according to the BBC.
“[The U.N.] needs to get back to basics, stop with all of the other nonsense, trying to do everything for everybody all over the world. Stop with the focus on climate, stop with the focus on gender and all of these other social issues, regardless of how you feel about them, and let’s get back to peace,” Waltz said.
Prior to recent funding reductions, U.S. taxpayers had been providing 22% of the U.N.&#8217;s regular budget, more than the next three highest contributors <a href="https://www.cfr.org/articles/funding-united-nations-what-impact-do-us-contributions-have-un-agencies-and-programs">combined</a>.
President Trump has shifted his focus to his newly established Board of Peace, which is intended to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-asked-putin-to-join-his-board-of-peace-heres-what-that-means">oversee</a> the technocratic transitional government for Gaza, among other geopolitical objectives.
The Board has a $1 billion permanent membership fee, and with 60+ countries invited, is seen by many as a potential challenger to the United Nations.
Several other major donor nations have also announced funding reductions. The United Kingdom and Germany have implemented significant cuts to their foreign aid budgets, further compounding the U.N.&#8217;s financial troubles.
Guterres’ letter described the current crisis as &#8220;categorically different&#8221; from previous financial challenges, noting that only 77% of assessed contributions were paid in 2025, leaving billions in unpaid dues.
The Secretary-General concluded that the “integrity of the entire system” depends on all nations honoring their &#8220;assessed contributions,” and should the budget shortfalls remain unaddressed, the U.N. must &#8220;fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse.&#8221;

United Nations Chief Warns Of ‘Imminent Financial Collapse’ After Trump Slashes Funding

America First

foreign affairs

Mike Waltz

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” is off to a turbulent start with controversy over its $1 billion permanent membership fee and unusual lineup of invitees, with everyone from Russian President Vladimir Putin to anti-Trump socialist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reportedly receiving invitations. 
The board, officially announced by Trump on Truth Social last week, is intended to oversee the new technocratic transitional government for Gaza: the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).
“It is my Great Honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115901692370933354">posted to Truth Social</a> on Thursday. “The Members of the Board will be announced shortly, but I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place.”
Although the board has been introduced as being Gaza-focused, the large list of roughly 60 known invitees so far has led some to question if it will address other world conflicts or <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/trump-board-of-peace-un-blair-gaza-peace-plan-b2903210.html">even rival</a> the United Nations.
In the letter to world leaders, Trump called it the “most impressive and consequential Board ever assembled, which will be established as a new International Organization and Transitional Governing Administration.”
According to a draft charter reported by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trumps-1-billion-a-seat-diplomacy-club-takes-aim-at-the-u-n-2bccd9f9?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqfvPlMmNhrIlJgDz7UvxfNd0u3Fqnav8BAv73LsUrc47zvL8sBJ_ryQ3l1V2Kw%3D&amp;gaa_ts=696e60b5&amp;gaa_sig=ybWCqp-03SFwzr8kCccUdFBjqFyY_dJcaxc7Ut-nuWJjrDE9uBdBsuHCLDlZZ3nSTPoSksS7Lrf-OkV4An3o-A%3D%3D">The Wall Street Journal,</a> countries could either serve a three-year term or pay $1 billion for <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2012684845109874988">permanent</a> membership. Bloomberg, which also reviewed a copy of the draft, reported that it grants Trump ultimate authority over both membership and decision-making.
The list of invited countries continues to grow as leaks and social media posts reveal new names, with some leaders publicly expressing excitement. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for example, <a href="https://x.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/2012853496568053801">said it was an</a> “honorable invitation” and accepted. Argentine President Javier Milei also <a href="https://x.com/JMilei/status/2012495664546992638">called it</a> an honor to be invited by Trump’s board to “promote lasting peace in regions affected by conflict, starting with the Gaza Strip.”
Other Western countries were less thrilled, with France reportedly set to decline the invitation, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/france-likely-to-decline-trump-invite-to-gaza-board-of-peace-says-source/">according to AFP</a>. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he agreed to the board in principle but is still working out the details.
<div id="attachment_1029935" style="width: 455px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1029935" class="size-large wp-image-1029935" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Purple-And-Beige-Playful-Daily-Baby-Routine-Infant-Schedule-Flyer-445x576.jpg" alt="" width="445" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Purple-And-Beige-Playful-Daily-Baby-Routine-Infant-Schedule-Flyer-445x576.jpg 445w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Purple-And-Beige-Playful-Daily-Baby-Routine-Infant-Schedule-Flyer-232x300.jpg 232w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Purple-And-Beige-Playful-Daily-Baby-Routine-Infant-Schedule-Flyer-768x994.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Purple-And-Beige-Playful-Daily-Baby-Routine-Infant-Schedule-Flyer.jpg 1159w" sizes=" (max-width: 445px) 100vw, 445px" />(The Daily Wire)</div>
Some of the most surprising invitees include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian Alexander Lukashenko — often called Europe’s last dictator — and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who <a href="https://brazilreports.com/trumps-second-term-what-it-means-for-brazil-and-lula/6718/">openly supported</a> Kamala Harris over Trump in the 2024 election and last year <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/america-votes/article/brazils-lula-says-trump-wants-to-be-emperor-of-the-world/#:~:text=Brazilian%20President%20Luiz%20Inacio%20Lula,Brazilian%20products%20such%20as%20steel.">referred to</a> him as a “wannabe emperor of the world.”
According to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/01/statement-on-president-trumps-comprehensive-plan-to-end-the-gaza-conflict/">the White House</a>, the Board of Peace will have an Executive Board made up of several high-profile figures: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Steve Witkoff, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East; Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law; former British Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair; Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management; Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank; and Robert Gabriel, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor.
The Board of Peace will oversee the NCAG, which will be headed by Ali Shaath, who hails from Gaza, is a civil engineer, and previously served as deputy minister for transportation of the Palestinian Authority.
The NCAG faced criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following domestic uproar over the inclusion of representatives from Qatar and Turkey — both countries that have had ties to Hamas. Netanyahu <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-883875">stated on Monday</a> that no Turkish or Qatari forces would be allowed to operate in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu’s office said the board “runs contrary to its policy.”
Hamas has stated that it will dissolve its governance once the new committee assumes control, as required under Trump’s peace plan, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-hamas-drone-strike-governance-f59c7e742149366e67549e7dd2e10309">Associated Press</a>. It remains unclear whether the terrorist organization will willingly disarm.
Upon announcing the NCAG, Witkoff said the United States expects Hamas to “comply fully with its obligations,” including the return of the body of Ran Gvili, the final Israeli hostage held in Gaza.
“Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,” Witkoff said.
The Palestinian Authority <a href="https://x.com/HusseinSheikhpl/status/2011445660499775945">publicly welcomed</a> the launch of the second phase, signaling rare alignment with the Trump administration. 
In a statement, Palestinian Authority President Hussein Al Sheikh said the Palestinian Presidency “welcomes the efforts undertaken by President Donald Trump to complete the implementation of his peace plan,” and announced its support for the NCAG as well as the “Board of Peace.”

Gaza summit in Egypt

Trump Asked Putin To Join His ‘Board Of Peace.’ Here’s What That Means.

What To Know About Trump’s Board Of Peace

Argentina

France

Hungary

Israel

The United States withdrew from dozens of left-leaning international organizations on Wednesday, including groups focused on climate and gender activism. 
President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-international-organizations-conventions-and-treaties-that-are-contrary-to-the-interests-of-the-united-states/">executive order</a> on Wednesday officially pulling the United States out of 66 groups, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact. The withdrawals come after Trump, in February, directed a full review of the international organizations the United States was involved with. 
“These withdrawals keep a key promise President Trump made to Americans — we will stop subsidizing globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2009059107819671646">said</a>. “The Trump Administration will always put America and Americans first.”
The State Department said the organizations identified on the list were determined to be &#8220;wasteful, ineffective, and harmful&#8221; to American interests.
As a result of the executive order, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States would withdraw from the Green Climate Fund, a group established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that pushes climate activism in developing countries. 
“Our nation will no longer fund radical organizations like the GCF whose goals run contrary to the fact that affordable, reliable energy is fundamental to economic growth and poverty reduction,” Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0352">said</a>. 
The move to get out of the UN Climate groups was praised by critics of climate activism. 
&#8220;This action is a long overdue course correction that puts American sovereignty, economic strength, and energy security back first,” said American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac. “Withdrawing from international organizations that undermine U.S. interests frees our nation from unelected global bureaucracies that have used climate and ESG agendas to weaken American industry and raise costs for families.”
Other groups that the United States will no longer be involved in include the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Global Forum on Migration and Development, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Solar Alliance, and many more. 
The review of international organizations is still ongoing, according to the White House. Under Trump, the United States has already left groups like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Human Rights Council. 
“We will not continue expending resources, diplomatic capital, and the legitimizing weight of our participation in institutions that are irrelevant to or in conflict with our interests,” the State Department said. “We reject inertia and ideology in favor of prudence and purpose. We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not.”

President Trump Holds News Conference After US Captures Venezuelan President Maduro

Trump Pulls U.S. Out Of Dozens Of ‘Wasteful’ And ‘Radical’ International Organizations

Mass Exit: U.S. Leaves Dozens Of 'Wasteful' And 'Wasteful' International Organizations

Climate Change

Marco Rubio

State Department

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz says President Donald Trump is directing him to steer the group back to its original mission: peace.
In an interview with the Daily Wire editor-in-chief Brent Scher, Waltz laid out how his new role at the United Nations advances President Trump’s unapologetic America First approach to international diplomacy in a body that he claims has been ineffective.
“You&#8217;re supposed to be stopping wars, ending wars, preventing wars,” Waltz said. “That was the establishment of the UN and its purpose after World War II to prevent any other future world wars. And yet here we are 80 years later and we have more conflicts around the globe than ever.”
While critics have advocated that the United States abandon the UN, Waltz said the organization can be salvaged if it implements the reforms at the top of his agenda. According to Waltz, the UN is a mechanism to get other countries to start “pulling their weight” to establish peace. As an example, he cited the efforts to combat the gangs in Haiti, shifting from a primarily United States-led effort to include other countries such as Kenya.
“Sharing the burden and having a mechanism where everyone can come in and do that is also important,” he said. “We&#8217;ve just got to get it back focused on those peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions that they did so well in the past and that they strayed from in recent decades.”
Waltz also stressed that certain UN agencies and programs need to be defunded when they do not align with American interests.
“We walked away from WHO, the World Health Organization. UNRWA, the UN agency in Gaza that&#8217;s been completely infiltrated by Hamas. We walked out of it and defunded that too. The so-called human rights councils that cater to countries like North Korea and Venezuela and Iran. We&#8217;ve walked away from that,” he said. “It&#8217;s really about focusing our effort on the parts that align with an America First agenda and defunding and walking away from the rest of it — the nonsense.”
Waltz added that there are also far too many UN agencies focused on climate change.
“At most you need one, if not none, but you definitely don&#8217;t need seven. So that&#8217;s the kind of reform agenda that we&#8217;re driving here. We&#8217;re defunding all kinds of these agencies again, led by the president with an America First agenda,” Waltz said.
Among the agencies he believes are essential, he cited telecommunications, global shipping, and civil aviation.
“When I land, when flying internationally, I want everybody speaking English,” he said. “Landing the planes the same way, the mechanics train the same way. We want them aligned with our standards, not China or Russia&#8217;s standards.”
Overall, Waltz emphasized the UN’s importance as a platform for countries to discuss diplomacy.
“We should have one place in the world where everybody can talk, where everyone can come together and at least try to hammer things out with using diplomacy, either to end wars or prevent wars,” he said. “ I want that American-led and in the United States, not in places like Beijing or Moscow. But I&#8217;m 100% on board. We&#8217;ve got to clean house.”
Of the successes so far under the Trump administration, Waltz says the UN agreed to cut over 2,600 bureaucratic positions, a 15% overall budget cut, and 25% of its peacekeepers around the world.
“So we’re cutting, we&#8217;re DOGE-ing, we&#8217;re going to get them back to basics in line with the president&#8217;s vision.”
“They need to get back to basics, stop with all of the other nonsense, trying to do everything for everybody all over the world. Stop with the focus on climate, stop with the focus on gender and all of these other social issues, regardless of how you feel about them, and let&#8217;s get back to peace,” Waltz said.
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Waltz said a major focus is ensuring that the United Nations does more to stop the persecution of Christians around the world.
“Well, it actually started with President Trump, who put a spotlight on the persecution of Christians around the world, but according to most NGOs, 80% of Christians that are killed and persecuted actually happens in Nigeria,” he said.
Waltz praised rapper Nicki Minaj for advocating to stop the persecution of Christians in Nigeria alongside him in the UN last month.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Thrilled to be Honorary Ambassador to the Barbz! <a href="https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@NICKIMINAJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/Sq9OHYhaZu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/Sq9OHYhaZu</a>
— Ambassador Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz/status/1990948047023374560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
“Someone like her, with her quarter billion followers across all of our platforms. It&#8217;s an unlikely pairing. I didn&#8217;t see that one coming, but where we can work together to not just put a spotlight and educate people but to make sure there&#8217;s real action.”
Waltz acknowledged that representing the United States at the UN can be challenging, given the presence of adversarial countries, including an incident in which the Cuban ambassador <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eU72MjsdYR4?time_continue=92&amp;embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&amp;source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disrupted</a> one of his speeches and accused him of lying.
“There are times where I think the tribes in the Middle East, Afghanistan are easier than here,” Waltz said. “I&#8217;m a Green Beret by background. I&#8217;ve served all over the world. It isn&#8217;t easy. My wife sometimes says I&#8217;m a masochist, but look, this is the world stage right here in New York.”

United Nations Security Council Meets To Consider Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan

Mike Waltz Says The Trump Administration Has A Plan To Save The United Nations

When Nicki Minaj stepped up to the podium at the United Nations on November 18th, wearing a somber black suit instead of her usual bubblegum pink, one of the world’s most influential rap artists became one of the most unexpected voices to join the fight against Christian persecution in Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, hundreds of communities live in fear simply because of how they worship,” she said. “Protecting Christians is not about taking sides, and it is not about dividing people. It is about uniting humanity.”
Her appearance was arranged by United Nations Ambassador Michael Waltz, who has spent the past several months pushing world leaders to acknowledge the religious genocide in Africa’s most populous and economically successful nation. “We are witnessing atrocities,” Waltz declared earlier in the session. “One bullet at a time, one torched Bible at a time.”
The unlikely partnership between the superstar and former counterterrorism officer came at a moment when the mass Christian killings in Nigeria have triggered the most direct American criticism of Nigeria’s government in decades. President Donald Trump recently reinstated Nigeria’s designation as a “Country of Particular Concern,&#8221; a formal label that opens the door to sanctions, aid restrictions, and military pressure.
A Crisis Long in the Making
Violence in Nigeria’s central and northern regions is not new, and the perpetrators come from a variety of Muslim groups, from Fulani herder militias in the Middle Belt to Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province jihadis in the North. Leery of seeming critical of Islam, legacy media outlets have for years regurgitated the narrative of the Nigerian government, shying away from characterizing the attacks as religious persecution. Instead, they’ve cited secondary causes — land disputes, ethnic tensions, weather-related displacement — that sometimes overlap with religious motives.
But in several recent congressional hearings, press briefings, and policy papers, consistent evidence has emerged that Christian communities, particularly in rural regions, are being disproportionately targeted specifically because they are Christians. The numbers vary, depending on the source, but even the most conservative estimates are grim. Advocacy organizations report 7,000 Christians killed and 7,900 abducted this year alone, with more than 19,000 churches destroyed. In a <a href="https://rileymoore.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-moore-introduces-resolution-condemning-persecution-christians" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> condemning the religious violence, Texas Congressman Riley Moore noted that as many as 100,000 Christians have been killed since 2009.
Humanitarian groups like Open Doors stress that more Christians are killed every year in Nigeria than the rest of the world combined, making it the most dangerous nation on earth for Christ followers. Yet under the Obama and Biden administrations, the federal government refused to classify the violence as persecution, with Biden reversing the first Trump administration’s designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has spent years trying to convince his fellow lawmakers to adopt a clearer, more confrontational response to the Nigerian government’s ongoing refusal to address the violence. He told The Daily Wire the Nigerian government has not simply turned a blind eye to the situation but in some cases are complicit in the persecution and murder of Christians.
Cruz’s advocacy has helped initiate a wave of renewed interest in the crisis that was further amplified once Minaj and Ambassador Waltz moved the conversation to the global stage.
Cruz recounted that when Senate Republicans were invited to breakfast at the White House shortly before the Country of Particular Concern designation was reinstated, he pulled the president aside and personally thanked him.
“This unlocks targeted sanctions,” he explained. “It unlocks the ability to use deep economic leverage. It allows the administration to say enough is enough.” He added that Nigeria has 12 states enforcing Sharia-based laws and maintains a federal blasphemy statute. According to Cruz, these legal structures “are used to persecute Christians” and create an environment where extremist groups can operate with impunity.
The senator takes particular issue with outlets like the Associated Press reporting that the data does not support a Christian genocide.
“I think you could actually teach [the AP report] in a journalism class as an example of pure political hackery and dishonest reporting,” he said. Cruz believes the media reluctance stems from a worldview that downplays religious persecution when the victims are Christian. He compared it to coverage of the war in Gaza, alleging that some outlets report atrocities selectively depending on who commits them.
To bolster the strength of the Country of Particular Concern designation, Cruz has introduced the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2747" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025</a>, which will place targeted sanctions on Nigerian officials who enforce Sharia law and facilitate violence against Christians and other minority groups.
The View from the Ground
In Abuja, officials maintain that the crisis cannot be reduced to persecution and accuse some in Washington of using Nigeria as a “political football.” Government spokesmen insist the country’s constitution forbids religious discrimination and that Muslim communities also sometimes suffer violence at the hands of more extreme Muslims. These are the claims regularly echoed by major American media.
But those on the ground in Nigeria say that while it’s true other Muslims are sometimes targeted for not being “Muslim enough,” there’s no question that Christians are disproportionately targeted.
Judd Saul, founder of Equipping the Persecuted, ministers on the ground in Nigeria, and he told The Daily Wire that the Nigerian government regularly fails to act to protect Christians, even with ample forewarning. Yet outlets like the AP and Reuters are content to echo their talking points.
“The mainstream media never shows up. They just take the government’s word for it, and every time Christians are killed, it’s always ‘unknown gunmen.’ But we know who’s doing it,” Saul said. He added that legacy reporters need to visit Nigeria to see the situation on the ground for themselves. “They need to see the dead bodies, hug the wounded, hug the survivors, be there feeding them when they&#8217;re starving, like I have,” he added.
Other Americans ministering in Nigeria echo Saul&#8217;s sentiment.
“Let&#8217;s not forget, [Nigerian] Christians are second class citizens,” Pastor Brad Brandon, who leads a Christian relief organization Across Nigeria, told The Daily Wire. “Oftentimes, they have trouble even buying food at the market or getting medical care or education for their children simply because they&#8217;re Christians.” He further pointed out that of the 3.5 million people in Nigeria’s displaced persons camps, eighty percent are Christians who are there because their homes and their villages have been destroyed by Muslim attackers.
“When somebody denies that this is a genocide or Christians are being targeted, like the AP has done, if it wasn&#8217;t so serious and horrific, it would be laughable,” Brandon said, citing the Yelwata massacre where 250 Christians were slaughtered in a single night. &#8220;Entire villages were razed, houses burned, women and children shot as they fled the flames,&#8221; he said. Brandon himself witnessed the violence close up in 2021 when a Nigerian colleague was hacked to death in his bed by extremists after they torched his church and home during a ministry tour. &#8220;We&#8217;ve lost friends, scouts, partners. We’re constantly in and out of massacre sites,&#8221; Brandon added.
It’s a reality that has led some Nigerian pastors to carry weapons during worship services, prepared to protect their flocks physically if need be.
A Growing Movement
As recognition of the crisis in Nigeria has grown, American churches have begun organizing prayer vigils, fundraising campaigns, and policy petitions. Ambassador Waltz is preparing for closed-door consultations with his UN counterparts in hopes of securing a multilateral fact-finding mission. Lawmakers in the United Kingdom have called for a parliamentary inquiry into Nigeria’s security situation, while several members of the European Parliament have urged the European Union to reassess its aid strategy.
Yet for survivors and displaced families in Nigeria, the long-awaited international response can feel distant and lack urgency. Viral videos circulating online show Nigerian pastors standing in mass graves pleading for help, describing ruined congregations and inaccessible hospitals. One recent clip showed a rural priest surrounded by makeshift wooden crosses, mourning dozens of victims buried less than a day earlier.
Whether Minaj’s intervention will translate into sustainable policy outcomes remains unclear. Celebrity involvement has, historically, produced mixed results for international crises. But for now, what she has undeniably done is thrust Nigeria’s crisis into headlines it had rarely reached. Her UN appearance led to days of debate across cable news and radio programs. Editorial boards that had not covered Nigeria’s rural violence in months published opinion pieces after her social media posts praising President Trump for his action. Lawmakers previously unfamiliar with the issue requested briefings.
As Waltz put it afterward, “Sometimes the world pays attention only when someone unexpected steps forward.”
In the wake of the UN event, the Trump administration is reportedly considering targeted sanctions on specific Nigerian officials accused of failing to prevent extremist violence. The State Department is preparing a report on blasphemy laws and religious-freedom restrictions in Nigeria’s northern states. Ambassador Waltz has indicated that he hopes to formalize new security conditions for future arms sales.
Nigeria, facing diplomatic and economic pressure, is weighing how to respond. Officials have hinted that they will accept additional counterterrorism support but will resist any effort to frame the conflict primarily as religious.
Meanwhile, advocates like Saul say the crisis cannot wait for geopolitical negotiations. He argues that international pressure must intensify immediately, before more villages are burned and more families displaced.
International Stakes and China’s Influence
One complicating factor, though, is China’s expanding presence on the African continent. China is Nigeria’s largest bilateral lender and a key investor in infrastructure, energy, and mining, and it benefits from the status quo. Cruz believes that economic relationship gives the United States further geopolitical incentive to put pressure on Nigerian officials to stop the violence.
“Communist China is the single largest geopolitical threat facing the United States for the next hundred years,” Cruz said. “Their objective is unequivocal. They&#8217;re not shy about it. It is global domination. It is economic domination. It is military domination. And Africa is one of the major battlegrounds where China is trying to exert its influence.”
According to Cruz, China benefits from a weakened or destabilized Nigeria because radical Islamist factions tend to resent Western influence more than Chinese investment.
“Chinese communists are perfectly fine with persecuting Christians,” he said. “The Chinese communist government persecutes Christians in China. They also recognize that the more influence radical Islamists have in Nigeria, the less likely Nigeria is to align with America because radical Islam hates America. And so, from China&#8217;s perspective, if they want Nigeria to side with the communists, one of the ways of doing so is trying to strengthen the forces that hate Americans, that hate Christians, that hate the West. And sadly, that&#8217;s exactly what China is doing.”
For Cruz, Waltz, and scores of humanitarian workers, the moment to stake a clear position on Nigerian persecution feels long overdue. And for the families living through nightly attacks, fleeing burned homes, or burying loved ones in village clearings, it is simply another chapter in a long struggle for survival — one they hope the world, finally, has begun to see.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj Puts Nigeria’s Christian Persecution In The Spotlight

Christian

Nigeria

Persecution

Ted Cruz

President Donald Trump is stretching the “politics make strange bedfellows” saw to the breaking point.
Celebrity Nation leans aggressively to the Left, and anyone defying that groupthink puts their career at risk. Actor Zachary Levi said it out loud after he praised President Trump last year, calling the move <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/zachary-levi-endorsing-trump-lifeline-career-1236026923/">“career suicide.”</a>
That wasn’t the case in 2009, however, when celebrities flocked to President Barack Obama following his historic 2008 election. They pledged <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/celebrities-pledge-oath-obama/">to do whatever he told them to do</a>.
Different party, of course.
This past week, President Trump had recording artist Nicki Minaj indirectly singing his praises for drawing attention to a humanitarian crisis. The rapper took Trump’s side after the president called out the shocking slaughter of Christians in Nigeria.
Minaj, in connection with the administration, spoke before a UN event about the shocking headlines coming from the African nation.
<div id="attachment_1002653" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1002653" class="size-large wp-image-1002653" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nicki-Minaj-864x576.jpg" alt="Nicki Minaj" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nicki-Minaj-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nicki-Minaj-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nicki-Minaj-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nicki-Minaj.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images</div>
&#8220;In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted … Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart &#8230; simply because of how they pray.&#8221;
She also <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nicki-minaj-nigeria-christians-trump-be7b03a3f1d4e43747fa26e600be5d3f">thanked the president</a> for leading the way on the matter to “combat extremism and to bring a stop to violence against those who simply want to exercise their natural right to freedom of religion or belief.”
Trump critics contend that multiple religions have been targeted during the violence spree, and that the nation has sadly been the source of extreme violence for some time.
Minaj’s appearance understandably rocked pop culture, but it wasn’t the first time.
For starters, Trump’s second term features former Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., his Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Health and Human Services, respectively.
Journalist Megyn Kelly, who Trump once blistered during an early Q&amp;A, stumped for his presidency in the waning days of the 2024 campaign.
It’s Trump’s pop culture connections, though, that raise eyebrows the highest. Think Snoop Dogg, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Bill Maher, and others who famously linked arms with the president in the past.
It started during the President’s first White House foray. Rapper Kanye West hopped aboard the Trump Train, meeting with the world leader at Trump Tower in 2016 following an extended concert speech praising the real estate mogul.
Two years later, West wore a <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/snl-kanye-west-gave-pro-trump-speech-maga-hat-1148092/">red MAGA</a> hat on “Saturday Night Live” and praised Trump, but the artist’s string of antisemitic rants and emotional meltdowns caused his fame to curdle into its current, sorry state.
West’s former wife, Kim Kardashian, has arguably had a more productive relationship with Trump. The reality show starlet teamed with Trump on prison reform measures. Kardashian, ignoring a celebrity culture that raged against all things Trump, made the trek to the White House to personally push for her pet cause.
The wannabe lawyer and Trump <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51744918">discussed reform measures</a> aimed at first-time offenders and those she felt were treated unfairly. That public relations coup led to the 2018 release of three young mothers — Crystal Munoz, Judith Negron, and Tynice Hall, all tied to drug-related charges.
<div id="attachment_1004231" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1004231" class="size-large wp-image-1004231" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1149706439-864x576.jpg" alt="U.S. President Donald Trump, right, listens as reality star and activist Kim Kardashian West speaks about a second chance hiring and re-entry initiative at an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday June 13, 2019. Kardashian West took a star turn at the White House on Thursday to promote efforts to help those leaving prison get jobs and stay on track. Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1149706439-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1149706439-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1149706439-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-1149706439.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
She also played a role in the <a href="https://time.com/5486560/prison-reform-jared-kushner-kim-kardashian-west/">2018 bill</a> that expanded the criminal reform initiative, allowing prisoners to earn credits for early release among its measures. Kardashian wasn’t the only player who made that happen, but she became its public face via her social media empire.
Trump’s second term has seen more of the same, right from the jump.
Rapper Snoop Dogg infamously starred in a 2017 music video in which he <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/trump-hits-back-at-snoop-dogg-assassination-video-idUSKBN16O04V/">“shot” a clownish Trump stand-in</a>.
Future Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39268735">blasted the clip</a>, telling TMZ at the time that, &#8220;If the wrong person sees that and gets the wrong idea, you could have a real problem.&#8221;
It was part of Hollywood’s collective wish for the real estate mogul to <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/celebrities-wished-trump-dead/">leave this mortal coil</a> during his first term.
The rapper/actor/pitchman apparently had a change of heart over time. By 2025, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43733/snoop-dogg-trump-perform-inauguration">Snoop Dogg performed</a> at a pre-inauguration gala dubbed the Crypto Ball alongside Rick Ross and Soulja Boy. That’s despite previously calling anyone who performed for Trump during his first term “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BPGvbw4jnvn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again">Uncle Toms,” in a stereotypical, Stepin Fetchit-style voice</a>.
<div id="attachment_1004233" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1004233" class="size-large wp-image-1004233" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2199697788-864x576.jpg" alt="SNL50: THE HOMECOMING CONCERT -- Pictured: (l-r) Snoop Dogg at Radio City Music Hall on Friday, February 14, 2025 -- (Photo by: Arturo Holmes/Peacock via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2199697788-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2199697788-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2199697788-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2199697788.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Arturo Holmes/Peacock via Getty Images</div>
The rapper even stood up to social media critics who trashed him for his about-face.
“Y’all can’t hate enough for me, I love too much,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BdjP-n8rIs">he told his critics</a>, via Entertainment Tonight. “We gotta pick each other up instead of putting each other down.”
Earlier this year, longtime Trump critic Bill Maher made the trek to the White House to break bread with his ideological foe. Maher got roasted for his trouble, including a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/opinion/larry-david-hitler-dinner.html">seething New York Times op-ed</a> from Larry David of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame.
Maher even suggested recently he’d like a second dinner with Trump while continuing to roast his leadership.
<div id="attachment_1004247" style="width: 1028px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1004247" class="size-large wp-image-1004247" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Club-Random-maher-kid-rock-1018x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: ClubRandom/YouTube.com" width="1018" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Club-Random-maher-kid-rock-1018x576.jpg 1018w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Club-Random-maher-kid-rock-300x170.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Club-Random-maher-kid-rock-768x435.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Club-Random-maher-kid-rock-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Club-Random-maher-kid-rock.jpg 1793w" sizes=" (max-width: 1018px) 100vw, 1018px" />Screenshot: ClubRandom/YouTube.com</div>
How did the initial Maher-Trump dinner happen in the first place? Singer Kid Rock, a repeat guest on Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, arranged for the unlikely meetup.
The wildest part of the dinner? Maher had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwqzHsSEZY">Trump sign a list</a> of all the insults the president had thrown the comedian’s way over the years. Maher considers it a prized possession, one he has shown to his “Club Random” guests.
It took courage for stars to align with Trump during his first term.
Now, with a few more celebrities bucking conventional wisdom, the president’s “bedfellows” are looking a little less strange.
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Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
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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