Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced “Operation Southern Spear” on Thursday as tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, and the U.S. and its European allies, mount over the Trump administration’s lethal strikes on drug traffickers.
Hegseth announced the new mission in a post on X. It was not immediately clear whether the operation is a new label on the ongoing operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, or whether it represents some expanded operation in the administration’s efforts against the cartels.
“Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and [U.S. Southern Command], this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it,” Hegseth <a href="https://x.com/SecWar/status/1989094923497316430">said</a>.
The War secretary said that the operation was ordered by President Donald Trump.
The operations announcement comes as tensions have flared this week between Washington and Caracas. Earlier this week, Venezuela <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maduro-orders-massive-military-mobilization-as-u-s-carrier-group-nears-venezuela">announced</a> a “massive mobilization” of its military and held drills on Wednesday that involved an estimated 200,000 soldiers. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said the military exercises were in response to the “imperialist threat” from the United States.
Venezuela’s show of force came as the USS Gerald R Ford and other vessels arrived in the region after the aircraft carrier was repositioned to the Caribbean Sea. The Ford is the United States&#8217; largest and most technologically advanced warship.
The Trump administration has positioned U.S. military assets in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean to cut off water routes used by drug cartels to ship deadly chemicals into the United States. The U.S. military has destroyed around 20 boats and submarines that it said were trafficking drugs such as fentanyl and cocaine.
In response, some officials in Europe have been critical of the U.S. strikes, accusing the United States of violating “international law.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/marco-rubio-rips-eu-critics-who-claim-drug-boat-strikes-violate-international-law">responded</a> to those complaints on Wednesday.
“I do find it interesting that all these countries want us to send and supply, for example, nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe, but when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere, where we live, somehow that’s a problem?” said Rubio. “I would say that the United States and this president has made very clear his job is to protect the United States from threats against the United States, and that is what he is doing in this operation.”

Pete Hegseth

Hegseth Announces New Operation Against Drug Cartels As Tensions Flare With Venezuela

Donald Trump

Executive

United States

Venezuela

World

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>:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-ends-shutdown-venezuela-mobilizes-troops-11-13-25/id1576594336?i=1000736567005" 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;">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

Department of Justice

Government Shutdown

Hakeem Jeffries

Harmeet Dhillon

Media

Mike Johnson

Morning Wire

Nicolas Maduro

Pam Bondi

Politics

U.S. House of Representatives

University of California Berkeley

Venezuela has announced a “massive mobilization” of its military in response to the increased U.S. military presence in the Caribbean Sea.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said Tuesday that Venezuelan military and reserve forces would carry out training exercises through Wednesday in response to the “imperialist threat” from the United States, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/americas/venezuela-military-mobilization-us-buildup-intl-latam">CNN</a>. Padrino López said that the order to put Venezuela on a war footing came from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The military buildup in Venezuela comes as the United States’ largest warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and the rest of its carrier group entered the US Southern Command region. War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the aircraft carrier to the Caribbean Sea last month to join U.S. forces policing international waters off Venezuela’s shores.
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the SOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said, according to the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article312873636.html">Miami Herald</a>. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.”
Last week, Russian-made anti-aircraft systems were seen inside the La Carlota military airport in Caracas. The Buk-M2E missile systems were tagged after Maduro sent out requests to Russia and China for aid against a possible attack from the United States.
In addition to the systems seen at La Carlota, a slew of anti-air missile defense systems have been spotted being placed across Venezuela.
Tensions between Caracas and Washington have soared since President Donald Trump took office over Venezuela’s ties to the international drug trade and the trafficking of drugs into the United States. In response, Trump has moved warships into the southern Caribbean Sea to target suspected drug boats and subs.
The White House has also targeted Maduro personally. Trump said last month that he has approved CIA operations against Maduro in Venezuela, suggesting that the White House wants regime change in Caracas. Trump has also weighed whether to expand U.S. strikes against the drug trade to Venezuelan soil.

Nicolás Maduro

Maduro Orders ‘Massive’ Military Mobilization As U.S. Carrier Group Nears Venezuela

Global Politics

The United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence with the United States on drug boats in the Caribbean to stay out of major counter-narcotics strikes in the region.
While controlling multiple territories in the Caribbean, the U.K. has long helped the U.S. interdict drug smugglers in the open sea, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/politics/uk-suspends-caribbean-intelligence-sharing-us">reported</a>. But as the mission becomes more lethal, the U.K. no longer wants to be involved.
The intelligence blackout began over a month ago.
The Department of War has launched more than a dozen strikes on boats, killing 76 people.
Believing that the strikes violated international law, the U.K. started to worry that its intelligence was helping the U.S. locate the vessels before obliterating them.
Trump administration officials have <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DepartmentofWar/videos/4345830319036573/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> the strikes, saying the drug traffickers are “operating under the control” of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Some legal experts, however, have questioned President Donald Trump&#8217;s authority to act on the threats without congressional approval.
Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal adviser, recently told The Daily Wire that “the strikes are not legal” and lack justification.
“The precedent that this administration seems to be invoking are strikes the U.S. has taken over the course of the last 20-plus years in the context of the U.S. war on terror against groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS,” he said. “But those precedents are really irrelevant and a red herring with respect to the strikes we’re seeing in the Caribbean and now the Pacific.”
“For the first time, the U.S. government designated criminal entities, drug trafficking organizations as foreign terrorist organizations,” he explained. “But those assertions seem to be undermined by the U.S. Intelligence community.”
Dr. Nicholas Creel, law professor at Georgia College and State University, believes the strikes are legal, pointing to roughly five out of 30 examples of “instances where we moved first and somebody died” where the president actually received congressional approval.
“What a lot of people lose in this is if we do agree that the president has the authority to respond to attacks, who is it that gets to define an attack is? It has to be the president,” Creel said. “It necessarily cannot be Congress.”
“That’s why we chose this word to give the president the authority to respond to these attacks so it has to be that decides what this attack is. And if you or I think this is not an attack, fine, but we’re not the president.”
He continued: “Pretty much every president since FDR would have to have been said to have acted unconstitutionally in terms of the war powers, which seems a bit odd. If it’s that common a practice, is it really, I mean, just because people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s legal, but at the same time, if everybody is basically doing it? Is it really illegal?”

Trump/Starmer

UK Now Refuses To Share Certain Intelligence With United States Over Drug Boat Strikes

UK Stops Sharing Certain Intelligence With US Over Drug Boat Strikes

Colombia

Drugs

United Kingdom

The Trump administration has escalated a military campaign in the Caribbean against alleged drug traffickers and could soon target Venezuelan military facilities in the counternarcotics attacks.
The first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-precision-strikes-on-venezuela-military-could-begin-within-hours?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=U.S.+Precision+Strikes+On+Venezuela+Military+Could+Begin+Within+Hours" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strike</a> took out 11 alleged drug traffickers reportedly bound for the United States, setting off an escalation of aggressive military hits on drug boats in the Caribbean. Since then, more than a dozen such strikes have taken place.
Trump administration officials have <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DepartmentofWar/videos/4345830319036573/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> the strikes, saying the drug traffickers are &#8220;operating under the control&#8221; of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Some legal experts, however, have questioned Trump&#8217;s authority to carry out strikes without congressional approval. Trump has also faced questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, leading him to authorize new briefings for Congress, Axios recently <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/11/03/trump-venezuela-briefings-congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal adviser, told The Daily Wire that &#8220;the strikes are not legal&#8221; and lack justification.
&#8220;The precedent that this administration seems to be invoking are strikes the U.S. has taken over the course of the last 20-plus years in the context of the U.S. war on terror against groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But those precedents are really irrelevant and a red herring with respect to the strikes we&#8217;re seeing in the Caribbean and now the Pacific.&#8221;
&#8220;For the first time, the U.S. government designated criminal entities, drug trafficking organizations as foreign terrorist organizations,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;But those assertions seem to be undermined by the U.S. Intelligence community.&#8221;
The situation reached a boiling point earlier this month, with reports that the Trump administration could soon target Venezuelan military facilities believed to have a role in the drug trade. The White House and Trump, however, pushed back on claims of an imminent attack.
The Treasury Department <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0207" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanctioned</a> Maduro in July, accusing him of leading Venezuela&#8217;s Cartel de los Soles and supporting the Tren de Aragua prison gang and Sinaloa cartel.
Trump <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0207" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designated</a> Cartel de los Soles and <a href="https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tren de Aragua</a> as terrorist organizations after they &#8220;conducted kidnappings, extorted businesses, bribed public officials, authorized its members to attack and kill U.S. law enforcement, and assassinated a Venezuelan opposition figure.&#8221; In August, Trump <a href="https://www.state.gov/nicolas-maduro-moros" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubled</a> the bounty for Maduro’s capture to $50 million — the largest such reward in U.S. history — and offered $25 million apiece for his cartel lieutenants, including Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López.
But the designation doesn&#8217;t afford Trump the authority to hit the alleged drug runners, Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;So the distinction between war and crime is what I think is at the heart of this,&#8221; Shapiro said. &#8220;Twenty-five years ago, for the first time, the president invoked the war powers against Al Qaeda, which is a non-state actor and here we also have apparently a non-state actor drug cartels. And so the issue isn&#8217;t the harm caused by the drug cartels &#8230; there&#8217;s a talking point that drug overdose deaths in a single year surpass totaled American deaths in most major wars. But that doesn&#8217;t change crime into war.&#8221;
&#8220;Armed force, I think, is justified when enemy attack political reasons, whether it&#8217;s Al Qaeda or Hamas or someone else like that, but usually the military isn&#8217;t appropriate against criminals, and criminal gangs could be treated as military targets, if and when they act as arms of a hostile war government,&#8221; he said.
Shapiro recognized that military force could be &#8220;appropriate&#8221; if there were evidence proving that the drug trafficking in the Caribbean &#8220;is the Venezuelan government&#8217;s attempt to destabilize or otherwise attack the United States.&#8221;
&#8220;But if they&#8217;re just criminal gangs, looking to make a profit, then I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s appropriate to use military force,&#8221; he added.
Recognizing he holds a &#8220;minority&#8221; opinion on the issue for believing that Trump has the authority to act alone, Dr. Nicholas Creel, law professor at Georgia College and State University, told The Daily Wire that the president has the authority to act alone when &#8220;emergencies&#8221; occur.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s pretty clear that he does have the authority to do this,&#8221; said Creel.
While Congress has the authority to declare war, the president has the power to respond to attacks without awaiting a vote or any possible delay. He said there&#8217;s roughly five out of 30 examples of &#8220;instances where we moved first and somebody died&#8221; where the president actually received congressional approval.
&#8220;What a lot of people lose in this is if we do agree that the president has the authority to respond to attacks, who is it that gets to define an attack is? It has to be the president,&#8221; Creel said. &#8220;It necessarily cannot be Congress.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s why we chose this word to give the president the authority to respond to these attacks so it has to be that decides what this attack is. And if you or I think this is not an attack, fine, but we&#8217;re not the president.&#8221;
He continued: &#8220;Pretty much every president since FDR would have to have been said to have acted unconstitutionally in terms of the war powers, which seems a bit odd. If it&#8217;s that common a practice, is it really, I mean, just because people are doing it doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s legal, but at the same time, if everybody is basically doing it? Is it really illegal?&#8221;
Trump sent the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, along with her full strike group, to the region this week, marking the largest concentration of naval assets in the region in decades.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also deployed F-35B fighters and MQ-9 Reapers to Puerto Rico, which are capable of destroying clandestine drug labs and airstrips in Venezuelan territory.
Trump recently confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert actions inside Venezuela. United States military aircraft have also recently buzzed the Venezuelan coast in recent weeks.

Untitled design (84)

Does The President Have The Authority To Strike Venezuelan Drug Boats?

Millions of Americans this week will head to the polls in several crucial elections, more revelations regarding former President Joe Biden’s Arctic Frost operation come to light, and President Donald Trump draws a line in the sand regarding Christian persecution in Nigeria.
It’s Monday, November 3, 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-251103-member-exclusive">the 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/election-week-preview-trump-warns-nigeria-11-3-25/id1576594336?i=1000735013132" 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;">Election Day Preview</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-994917" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Ballots-And-Bellwethers-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Ballots-And-Bellwethers-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Ballots-And-Bellwethers-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Ballots-And-Bellwethers-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Ballots-And-Bellwethers-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Ballots-And-Bellwethers.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: It’s election week, with millions of Americans heading to the polls for the first time since Donald Trump’s 2024 victory.  
New York: The race for New York City’s mayor is getting the most national attention. An avowed socialist could soon lead America’s largest city. The 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani came out of nowhere this year to win the Democratic Primary, and he’s maintained a significant double-digit lead throughout the general election.
He is running against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who, after losing in the primary, began running as an independent. Current polling shows Mamdani with an average lead of 14 points.
Mamdani’s endorsements: Typically, whoever wins the primary in New York is immediately endorsed by party leaders. But with the exception of far-Left folks like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, most national Democrats were hesitant to sign on — clearly concerned about tying themselves to Mamdani’s more radical views.
While New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) eventually were pressured into endorsing Mamdani, in an extraordinary move, high-profile Democrats like  Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have yet to do so.
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/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
Interestingly, Mamdani’s support is coming from foreign-born Americans. One of the latest polls shows that among voters born in America, Cuomo is actually ahead by nine points. But among foreign-born voters, Mamdani holds a massive 38-point lead.
New Jersey: Republicans have had their eye on the Garden State ever since last November, when Trump got within six points of victory. In 2020, he lost by 16% – the second-largest shift to the right in any state in the country.
A few months ago, the governor’s race looked like a blowout, with Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) ahead by more than 20 points. But Republican nominee Jack Ciatarelli has gained significant ground. The latest polls show him within about three points.
Virginia: Democrats were embarrassed in Virginia four years ago when Republican Glenn Youngkin pulled off a stunning upset. This time, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears needs an even bigger upset to defeat Democrat Abigail Spanberger.
This governor’s race has, in many ways, been defined by the Attorney General election, specifically, Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee. Last month, leaked texts from 2022 showed him wishing death on Republican colleagues in Virginia, even saying he hoped their children died because “only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.” Despite those messages, Jones stayed on the ticket, though it did lead to him cratering in the polls.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Operation Arctic Frost Revelations</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-994915" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Worse-Than-Watergate-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Worse-Than-Watergate-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Worse-Than-Watergate-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Worse-Than-Watergate-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Worse-Than-Watergate-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Worse-Than-Watergate.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: New whistleblower documents expose a Biden-era &#8220;enemies list&#8221; buried deep in a federal investigation codenamed Arctic Frost. Republicans say this probe, which targeted President Trump and hundreds of his allies, weaponized the Justice Department for political reasons.
Arctic Frost started as an FBI operation in April 2022, led by then-agent Timothy Thibault. Initially, it was aimed at probing alleged efforts by Trump allies to challenge the 2020 election. But when Special Counsel Jack Smith took over in November of that year, it ballooned into the basis for Trump&#8217;s election interference indictments. Those charges were eventually dismissed.
But now, whistleblower records obtained by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) show a lot more was going on at the time — Arctic Frost became a sweeping dragnet targeting Republican senators, donors, and outside conservative groups.
Grassley has also revealed that the authorization for Arctic Frost had come from the top of the Biden administration, meaning then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and then-FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The predicate: Grassley released 197 subpoenas issued in 2023 alone. The subpoenas included nonpublic grand jury material that demanded everything from emails to phone metadata to bank records and credit reports of 34 individuals and 163 businesses, including many conservative groups such as Turning Point USA.
The subpoenas sought communications from nine Republican senators, including Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Ron Johnson, as well as from House members and White House aides such as Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner. They even went after media companies — Fox News, Newsmax, Sinclair — demanding donor lists and fundraising data.
Repercussions: Cruz is demanding the House impeach D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, for approving a 2023 gag order that silenced carriers like AT&amp;T from alerting targets. Cruz said there were &#8220;no facts or evidence&#8221; to justify it, and Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) is drafting articles, calling Boasberg a &#8220;radical activist judge&#8221; who enabled spying on senators.
Some could be charged with crimes. Some conservative legal experts are pushing for criminal charges against DOJ and FBI staffers for conspiring to violate the free speech, free assembly, and privacy rights of their targets.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Threatens Nigeria Over Christian Persecution</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-994913" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nigeria-On-Notice-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nigeria-On-Notice-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nigeria-On-Notice-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nigeria-On-Notice-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nigeria-On-Notice-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Nigeria-On-Notice.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Trump issued a stark warning to Nigeria over the persecution of Christians – while he continues to flex U.S. might in South America.
Nigeria: Trump said the U.S. military would move on Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” unless it stops the persecution of Christians. He <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115476385101120405">posted</a> on Truth Social on Saturday that Nigeria needs to “move fast” or the U.S. military will “completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
That post came a day after Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115470116607441456">announced</a> that he had designated Nigeria a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN,” which means Nigeria has been identified for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news-corner/trump-calls-for-support-for-persecuted-nigerian-christians/">under</a> the International Religious Freedom Act.
The scope of the persecution is vast. According to one report, more than 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria just since the start of the year, which makes Nigeria easily the deadliest country for Christians globally.
Sen. Cruz <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-statement-on-president-trump-action-against-nigeria-for-christian-persecution">said</a> that the designation is “a critical step in holding accountable and changing the behavior of Nigerian officials who have facilitated and created an environment conducive to the outrages in Nigeria.” He has introduced legislation to take it a step further, punishing in particular officials who push blasphemy and sharia laws in Nigeria.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu <a href="https://x.com/officialABAT/status/1984640117361840491">said</a> the accusations of Christian persecution do “not reflect our national reality,” and that “Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.” A spokesman for the president <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-tells-department-defense-prepare-possible-action-nigeria-rcna241330">added</a> Sunday that he would welcome U.S. help fighting terrorism “as long as it (the U.S.) recognizes our territorial integrity.”
South America: According to reports from the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/u-s-eyes-striking-venezuelan-military-targets-used-for-drug-trafficking-cafcfe47?st=tchg4R%3E">Wall Street Journal</a> and the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article312722642.html">Miami Herald</a>, the president has weighed military strikes on Venezuelan targets, which could be launched at any time.
The reported targets would be military assets used in the drug trade, and if the president moved forward with strikes, it would serve not only as a clear message to drug traffickers but to President Nicolás Maduro, as well. The Trump administration wants him out of government – the sooner the better for him.
The military pressure on Venezuela is the opposite of the pressure Trump has used in Argentina. There, the country’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, won a massive victory in the midterm elections, at least partly due to Trump’s offer of an economic lifeline to Argentina’s government – but only if Milei’s reforms were protected.

MRN_251103_V2

Morning Brief: Election Day Nears, Biden-Era ‘Enemies List,’ & Trump Warns Nigeria

Morning Brief: Election Day Preview, Arctic Frost Revelations, And Trump Threatens Nigeria

Argentina

Chuck Grassley

New Jersey

New York City

Nigeria

Ted Cruz

Virginia

Zohran Mamdani

President Donald Trump in an interview that aired Sunday agreed that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s “days as president are numbered.”
Trump sat for an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” his first interview with the program in five years. CBS correspondent Norah O&#8217;Donnell asked the president about the future of Maduro, who Trump first demanded step down in 2018, leading Venezuela.
“On Venezuela in particular, are Maduro&#8217;s days as president numbered?” O’Donnell asked.
Trump replied: “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”
Reports late last week <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article312722642.html">suggested</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/u-s-eyes-striking-venezuelan-military-targets-used-for-drug-trafficking-cafcfe47?st=tchg4R%3E">that</a> the Trump administration has looked at land targets in Venezuela to strike as part of its escalating efforts to crack down on drug trafficking to the United States. The targets reportedly consist of military assets that have been used in the drug trade.
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Trump said last month that he has approved CIA operations in Venezuela to counter the drug trade and Maduro, whom his administration has identified as a top cartel leader and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m">imposed</a> a $50 million bounty on.
Trump dismissed O’Donnell’s questions regarding any plans to launch military strikes on Venezuelan territory.
“I&#8217;m not saying it&#8217;s true or untrue,” said Trump of reports of potential strikes.
“I wouldn&#8217;t be inclined to say that I would do that. But – because I don&#8217;t talk to a reporter about whether or not I&#8217;m gonna strike,” said Trump. “You&#8217;re a wonderful reporter, you&#8217;re very talented, but I&#8217;m not going to tell you what I&#8217;m going to do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it, or if I wasn&#8217;t going to do it.”
Trump also played coy when asked about his decision last week to deploy the USS Gerald R Ford carrier and its strike group to the Caribbean. The Ford is the newest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet.
“It&#8217;s gotta be somewhere. It&#8217;s a big one,” Trump said when asked what purpose the Ford serves in the Caribbean.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Norah O&#8217;Donnell: “Is it about stopping narcotics or is it about getting rid of [Venezuelan dictator Nicolás] Maduro?”
President Trump: “This is about many things.”
Norah O&#8217;Donnell: “Are Maduro’s days as president numbered?”
President Trump: “I would say yeah, I think so,… <a href="https://t.co/RBdCwn5xW2">pic.twitter.com/RBdCwn5xW2</a>
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedWave_Press/status/1985158157153243508?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></blockquote>

Trump Says Maduro’s Days Leading Venezuela Are Numbered

Trump Says Maduro's Days Leading Venezuela Are Numbered

President Donald Trump has set the stage for precision strikes inside Venezuela on military facilities the United States says protect and empower one of the globe’s most dangerous criminal syndicates, Cartel de los Soles.
The strikes reportedly could begin within hours.
The White House has intimated that Nicolás Maduro isn’t just Venezuela’s dictatorial ruler — he’s the head of the Soles cartel. &#8220;Cartel de los Soles is a Venezuela-based criminal group headed by Nicolas Maduro Moros and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime that provides material support to foreign terrorist organizations threatening the peace and security of the United States, namely Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel,&#8221; the Treasury Department <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0207">reported</a> in July.
According to a source who spoke to <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article312722642.html">the Miami Herald</a>, “Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to. What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming.”
The strategic focus of the attacks is decapitating the cartel hierarchy that, Washington says, moves half a thousand tons of cocaine to American and European markets each year. Though officials haven’t confirmed if Maduro himself is a target, one source put it bluntly — “his time is running out,” the Miami Herald reported.
This escalation follows months of buildup ordered directly by President Trump upon returning to the Oval Office in January 2025. He executed a multipronged campaign to dismantle the crime-terror pipelines running from Caracas to Central America. Trump’s first move was to designate the Cartel de los Soles and its enforcer gang, Tren de Aragua, as terrorist organizations.
That classification signaled that the U.S. now treats Venezuela’s military-backed cartel as a global threat on par with al-Qaeda. Backing that declaration is a Joint Task Force of U.S. destroyers, Marines, and advanced aircraft patrols the Caribbean with pinpoint reconnaissance and reconnaissance drones tracking smuggling routes.
The arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, along with her full strike group, marked the largest U.S. naval concentration in the region in decades. Former Venezuelan officers call it the “final phase” — a buildup designed for precision strikes, not occupation.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth greenlit the deployment of F-35B fighters and MQ-9 Reapers to Puerto Rico, capable of destroying clandestine drug labs and airstrips in Venezuelan territory. Meanwhile, President Trump doubled the bounty for Maduro’s capture to $50 million — the largest such reward in U.S. history — and offered $25 million apiece for his cartel lieutenants, including Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, both indicted in U.S. courts on narcotics charges.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi, announcing the reward increase, accused Maduro of running the Cartel de los Soles “as a military drug empire” allied with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and transnational gangs.  Administration officials make no effort to hide their intent: destroy the cartel’s infrastructure and cripple Maduro’s power base. Trump, who has long pledged to stop the flow of deadly narcotics into the United States, views the Venezuelan campaign as the next front in his war on drugs — a continuation of his promise to use every element of American power to defend the nation from foreign narco-terror.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/u-s-eyes-striking-venezuelan-military-targets-used-for-drug-trafficking-cafcfe47">put it bluntly</a>: “The President is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our homeland.”  Behind the naval armada, U.S. intelligence operations have intensified. Trump recently confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert actions inside Venezuela — a rare presidential admission that signals just how personal this mission has become.
Pentagon sources reveal that B-1 and B-52 bombers have made repeated flights along Venezuela’s coast, probing its Russian-built S-300 missile systems and mapping air-defense weak points.  Maduro bragged last week that his forces possessed 5,000 Russian-made surface-to-air missiles. But analysts note that the overwhelming American presence — from electronic-warfare Growlers to missile-equipped destroyers — gives Trump unmatched tactical options. Former Commander of U.S. Southern Command Admiral James Stavridis called the buildup “a hammer poised over Caracas.”
Trump insiders echo the same strategic philosophy that guided earlier operations against Iranian General Qasem Soleimani: swift, targeted, devastating action. Elliott Abrams, Trump’s former Venezuela envoy, noted, “What he favors are high-impact strikes, not long occupations.” The force assembled in the Caribbean — roughly 10,000 personnel and over 100 combat aircraft — is optimized for surgical strikes, not invasion.
The administration’s goal, officials say, is not to occupy Venezuela but to break the nexus between Maduro’s regime and the international drug trade — through relentless, decisive pressure. Should Maduro’s own generals turn against him, the end could come swiftly. As one source told the Herald, “There’s more than one general willing to hand him over. Talking about death is one thing. Seeing it coming is another.”

US Warship Docked In Panama After Trump Said Military Hit Third Drug Boat From Venezuela

U.S. Precision Strikes On Venezuela Military Could Begin Within Hours

U.S. Military

President Trump brokers several monumental deals in Asia, the U.S. ramps up its military presence in the Caribbean, and we get an expert opinion on the state of the Trump economy.
It’s Monday, October 27, 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-251027-member-exclusive">the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
<div class="ad-wrapper" data-testid="ad-wrapper"><iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-asia-trip-carriers-to-the-caribbean-10-27-25/id1576594336?i=1000733666489" 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></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Strikes Trade Deals In Asia</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-991431" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Trade-Tour-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Trade-Tour-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Trade-Tour-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Trade-Tour-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Trade-Tour-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Trade-Tour.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: President Trump landed in Asia on Sunday to kick off a whirlwind diplomatic tour aimed at securing new trade deals and peace treaties.
Trump arrived in Malaysia, the first stop on his tour of South Asia, which will also include visits to Japan and South Korea.
The main goal of the trip is to lock down more trade deals and open up access to Asian markets. Within hours of his arrival in Malaysia, the president announced new trade agreements with Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Each country will eliminate the vast majority of existing tariffs on U.S. imports, and the latter two will allow for unprecedented American investments in rare earth mineral production.
While this trip was focused on trade, the president also signed a ceasefire deal between Cambodia and Thailand, two longtime foes who were on the brink of war this summer after fighting broke out over a border dispute. Under this new agreement, the two sides will pull back military forces from the border and exchange POWs.
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“I love doing it. I shouldn’t say it’s a hobby, because it’s so much more serious than a hobby — but it’s something that I’m good at and it’s something I love to do,” <a href="https://x.com/clashreport/status/1982325118300004784">said</a> Trump.
Meeting Xi: This trip will be defined by Trump’s sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The two will meet face-to-face on Thursday for the first time since 2019. Ahead of that high-stakes showdown, Trump expressed optimism regarding a “comprehensive deal” that could end the tit-for-tat trade war that’s lasted all year and resulted in unprecedented tariff rates exceeding 100%.
Ahead of that sit-down, officials from both sides have been meeting virtually non-stop this week to hammer out the framework for a potential deal. Beijing says a “basic consensus” has been reached and that the two sides “engaged in candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump’s Moves Against Drug Trade In South America</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-991433" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Carriers-To-The-Caribbean-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Carriers-To-The-Caribbean-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Carriers-To-The-Caribbean-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Carriers-To-The-Caribbean-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Carriers-To-The-Caribbean-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Carriers-To-The-Caribbean.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: President Trump ordered the most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier group to the Caribbean last week as he floated the possibility of strikes against drug cartels on land. And the Trump administration placed sanctions on the president of Colombia as tensions continue to rise with the erstwhile U.S. ally.
Venezuela: President Trump moved the USS Gerald R Ford carrier group to join the forces already stationed in the Caribbean. The Ford carrier group is the largest in the U.S. military, so this is an aggressive signal from the president that he isn’t satisfied with a few drug boats blown up here and there.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on CBS’ &#8220;Face The Nation&#8221; on Sunday and said he had spoken to President Trump about potential land strikes in South America.
“I think that’s a real possibility,” <a href="https://x.com/FaceTheNation/status/1982479665525613037">said</a> Graham. “I think President Trump has made a decision that Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, is an indicted drug trafficker, that it’s time for him to go, that Venezuela and Colombia have been safe havens for narco-terrorists for too long.”
Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro said last week that there are 5,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles stationed around the country to defend the airspace. He also said that “millions of men and women with rifles would march across the country” if the United States were to attack on Venezuelan soil.
Colombia: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his family on Friday. Bessent said in a statement that Petro “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.”
Colombian officials have pushed back, pointing to continued interdiction of cocaine &#8212; but the country’s coca fields have grown continuously since Petro took power in 2022. Trump’s moves against Colombia have received support from Republicans representing sizable communities of Colombian Americans.
“Colombia is once again the number one producer of coke in the world. Colombians don&#8217;t deserve that,” <a href="https://x.com/RepMariaSalazar/status/1982503947744243931">said</a> Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar. “President Trump has a responsibility to stop drugs coming into this country.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">E.J. Antoni On Inflation and Trump’s Trade Deals</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-991435" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Growth-Without-Gimmicks-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Growth-Without-Gimmicks-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Growth-Without-Gimmicks-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Growth-Without-Gimmicks-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Growth-Without-Gimmicks-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Growth-Without-Gimmicks.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The latest economic report shows inflation slightly cooler than experts predicted at 0.3% rather than the predicted 0.4%. The White House is touting the numbers as yet more proof that Trump’s economic plan is working.
Morning Wire spoke with economist E.J. Antoni of the Heritage Foundation. (The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: First, big picture – we&#8217;re nine months into Trump&#8217;s second term. How is the economy doing?
Antoni: I&#8217;d say the best way to describe it is that it&#8217;s in the midst of a transition, right? For basically the last two years of the Biden administration, you had a labor market that was being propped up in a lot of ways by government hiring. That&#8217;s gone away. In fact, it&#8217;s been replaced with government firings. And the result of that is a drag on the overall jobs numbers, right? In the same way, when you look at something like the way we measure the economy through gross domestic product or GDP, you had government purchases which were accounting for a very large percentage of that. That&#8217;s all gone away. In fact, it&#8217;s been replaced by a reduction in those government purchases, which is a drag on the headline number. What I&#8217;m trying to get at here is, as the government re-privatizes, as the Treasury Secretary says, you will see what looks like sluggish growth – which I think we&#8217;re in right now – but in reality is actually a returning to health. It&#8217;s almost like the chemotherapy that makes you feel really lousy, but gets rid of your cancer.
Morning Wire: The inflation numbers were a little bit cooler than projected. How do you feel about the state of inflation right now?
Antoni: Pretty good, especially since the number one driver of inflation in that CPI report for the month of September was gasoline prices going up so much, except that increase has completely reversed in the first three weeks of October. Now, prices are actually slightly lower than they were in most markets. We should expect the next CPI report – if we can even get it, it&#8217;s unclear because the government shut down – but if we could get it, we would expect even cooler CPI numbers.
Morning Wire: Treasury data show the tariff collection has really surged in recent months. What is the net effect of Trump&#8217;s tariff plan thus far in the economy? Are they working as advertised?
Antoni: Well, I guess it depends on how we want to say as advertised, right? … But here are the facts. They&#8217;re bringing in way more revenue than anticipated to the Treasury. We can certainly have a debate over who is paying for those tariffs. But, the fact is they&#8217;re bringing in billions of dollars in revenue, in fact, hundreds of billions of dollars when you annualize it. That&#8217;s one of the reasons why September had the biggest surplus ever for the month of September in terms of the Treasury monthly statement. It was because not only have we seen a reduction in overall government spending, but an increase in revenues, overall revenues of course, because the economy&#8217;s growing, but also specifically from customs duties, which are from the increase in tariffs.
Morning Wire: Is the reshoring effect — like Stellantis moving some production to the U.S. — is that a real trend or just a few isolated incidents?
Antoni: It’s certainly a real trend, but it is being blunted to a certain extent right now. You are seeing help to the manufacturing sector, and that some of it is being re-shored. But you&#8217;re also seeing, at least in the short term, some pain inflicted on manufacturing because, again, some of the things being tariffed are actually inputs. You&#8217;re making it more expensive, let&#8217;s say, for a car manufacturer to buy steel from abroad for the time being. Now, once that steel gets re-shored back to the United States and you can buy it domestically, then it&#8217;s a moot point, right? But at least for the time being, you&#8217;re having competing effects there where one is helping, the other is hurting.
Morning Wire: Final question, we&#8217;re about to wrap up the year with a couple months left here. What do you project to happen big-picture with the economy over the next few months?
Antoni: I think we&#8217;re going to continue to see some of these very positive trends with economic growth where, although the public sector, the government is shrinking, we&#8217;re going to continue to see growth in the productive private sector. And in particular, one of the reasons why I&#8217;m so optimistic here is that the growth we have seen thus far this year, which I think will continue, has been driven by increases in earnings, not simply increases in debt. … Their money is going further because earnings growth is outpacing inflation. That&#8217;s a very positive development.

MRN-251027-Thumb-V1

Morning Brief: Trump’s Asia Blitz & Military Build-Up In The Caribbean

Cambodia

China

Inflation

Lindsey Graham

Tariffs

Thailand

Xi Jinping

President Donald Trump may order land strikes on Venezuela and other parts of South America in pursuit of drug cartels without congressional authority, according to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham appeared on CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday and defended Trump’s suggestion last week that land strikes may be the next step after the U.S. military blew up 10 drug boats and submarines in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
“I think that&#8217;s a real possibility,” said Graham on the potential for U.S. strikes on land in South America. “I think President Trump has made a decision that Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, is an indicted drug trafficker, that it&#8217;s time for him to go, that Venezuela and Colombia have been safe havens for narco-terrorists for too long.”
“I support that idea, but I think he has all the authority he needs,” Graham added after noting that Trump is expected to brief Congress on possible military operations in and around South America when he returns from a trip to Asia later this week.
The South Carolina senator cited operations ordered by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. The missions, which took place in Panama and Grenada, are precedents that should set the legal foundation for any land strikes against drug cartels ordered unilaterally by Trump.
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“When President Bush 41 took Ortega out in Panama, Reagan went into Grenada to deal with the Cuban influence from Grenada in our backyard – [Trump] has all the authority in the world,” said Graham. “This is not murder. This is protecting America from being poisoned by narco-terrorists coming from Venezuela and Colombia.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
U.S. land strikes on Venezuela are “a real possibility,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says, telling <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> President Trump plans to brief Congress about potentially expanding the U.S. military operations “from the sea to the land.”
“I support that idea. But I think he has… <a href="https://t.co/q7iBG7D0H7">pic.twitter.com/q7iBG7D0H7</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1982479665525613037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
Graham’s comments come days after the administration announced the U.S.S. Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group would move to the Caribbean. The Ford is the newest and most technologically advanced carrier in the U.S. fleet, signaling the seriousness with which the White House is approaching its fight against drug cartels and terror networks that are flooding the United States with dangerous and illicit drugs.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the Ford’s latest assignment in a <a href="https://x.com/SeanParnellASW/status/1981759934539985132">post</a> on X.
The aircraft carrier group “will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” said Parnell in a statement.

USS Gerald R. Ford

Lindsey Graham Says Trump ‘Has All The Authority He Needs’ To Strike Venezuela

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dispatched the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group toward South America on Friday, as the United States continues to take out suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and President Donald Trump hints at striking targets on land.
The aircraft carrier strike group will assist in disrupting &#8220;narcotics trafficking&#8221; and countering &#8220;narco-terrorism&#8221; in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibility, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a <a href="https://x.com/SeanParnellASW/status/1981759934539985132">post</a> on X. The SOUTHCOM region encompasses all of Central and South America, along with the Caribbean.
&#8220;The enhanced U.S. force presence &#8230; will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs [Transnational Criminal Organizations].
The USS Gerald Ford, America&#8217;s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, is the flagship for Carrier Strike Group 12. The Strike Group also <a href="https://www.c2f.usff.navy.mil/csg12/">includes</a> a Carrier Air Wing, a Cruiser, and Destroyers. The carrier group is set to join eight other American ships in the region, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-aircraft-carrier-latin-america-uss-gerald-ford/">reported</a>. The growing U.S. military presence near South America is part of Trump&#8217;s effort to take out drug cartels and prevent deadly drugs from reaching American shores.
Trump has ordered <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/narco-terrorists-u-s-destroys-tren-de-aragua-drug-boat-in-caribbean-hegseth-says">10 strikes</a> against suspected drug runners in the Caribbean Sea, killing at least 43 people, while two other suspected cartel members have been captured. The president said on Wednesday that he would continue taking out suspected drug boats, adding that land strikes are &#8220;going to be next.&#8221;
Trump said that the United States is &#8220;totally prepared&#8221; to hit targets seeking to traffic drugs into the United States by land.
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&#8220;They&#8217;ll be coming in by land a little bit more because they&#8217;re not coming in by boat anymore. There are no boats in the water. There are no more boats,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1981115684051702183">said</a>, adding, &#8220;And we will hit them very hard when they come in by land.&#8221;
The president&#8217;s boat strikes have focused on suspected cartel members coming out of Venezuela, enraging Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who claims that the United States is seeking to force him out of power. Maduro has called the strikes “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country.”
Some lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have expressed concern about Trump&#8217;s strikes on suspected drug runners, arguing that Congress must grant approval before the administration uses the military to target suspected narco-terrorists in international waters. Most Democrats and some Republicans have called for more oversight of the Trump administration&#8217;s military actions in the Caribbean.
Republican Senators Mike Rounds (SD), Thom Tillis (NC), Todd Young (IN), and Susan Collins (ME), have all made public calls for more Congressional oversight on the strikes.
“This is a legitimate discussion between the two branches of government that we should always be having,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/us/politics/republicans-trump-drug-war.html">said</a> Tillis. “I think we’ve got to be very careful when you’re talking about ordering a kinetic strike.”
Senators Rand Paul (KY) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) have taken their opposition to Trump&#8217;s strikes a step further, joining with most Democrats earlier this month in an effort to pass a measure stopping the military action. Paul introduced the measure alongside Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), but it ultimately failed. Rounds, Young, Tillis, and Collins all voted against the measure, as did Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
Trump said on Thursday that he doesn&#8217;t need to ask for a declaration of war to carry out the strikes.
“I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them, you know? They are going to be, like, dead,&#8221; he said.
He <a href="https://x.com/amconmag/status/1981462145112879262">added</a> that he might &#8220;go to Congress&#8221; to inform them about the land strikes, saying, &#8220;I can&#8217;t imagine they would have any problem.&#8221;
The Trump administration has told the American people that the strikes are conducted based on credible intelligence that marks the targets as cartel members.

USS Gerald Ford

U.S. Deploys Largest Aircraft Carrier To South America As Trump Hints At Land Strikes Against Cartels

U.S. Sends Largest Aircraft Carrier Toward South America As Trump Hints At Land Strikes Against Cart

Drug Cartels

U.S. forces carried out a tenth strike on a suspected drug boat, killing six Tren de Aragua &#8220;narco-terrorists&#8221; Thursday night in the Caribbean, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said.
The &#8220;lethal kinetic strike&#8221; was the first to take place in the dead of night. It comes as the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-drug-boat-blown-to-pieces-after-ninth-u-s-strike-on-narco-terrorists?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Another+Drug+Boat+Blown+To+Pieces+After+Ninth+U.S.+Strike+On+%E2%80%98Narco-Terrorists%E2%80%99">Trump</a> administration ramps up a campaign of pressure against the Venezuelan regime over drug trafficking in the region.
&#8220;The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,&#8221; Hegseth wrote on X of the hit, which took place in international waters.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.
The vessel was known by our… <a href="https://t.co/lVlw0FLBv4">pic.twitter.com/lVlw0FLBv4</a>
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/1981706596972372446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,&#8221; he added.
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Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, on whom the Trump administration has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m" target="_blank" rel="noopener">placed</a> a $50 million bounty, labeled the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-drug-boat-blown-to-pieces-after-ninth-u-s-strike-on-narco-terrorists?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Another+Drug+Boat+Blown+To+Pieces+After+Ninth+U.S.+Strike+On+%E2%80%98Narco-Terrorists%E2%80%99">strikes</a> as “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country,” while accusing Trump of “seeking a regime change” in the Latin American country.
Trump has signed off on a covert CIA operation in Venezuela against Maduro, who he believes is complicit in the drug trafficking campaign.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/b-1-bombers-buzz-venezuela-as-trump-floats-land-strikes-against-drug-cartels">B-1 bombers</a> also flew within 50 miles of Venezuela in a massive show of force Thursday.
U.S. Air Force and Marines flew B-52 bombers and F-35B jet fighters last week near an island off the coast of Venezuela in a show of force.
Trump said Thursday that drug trafficking along waterways has plummeted as a result of U.S. military strikes.
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“Now, they’re coming in by land, and even the land is concerned because I told them that’s going to be next,” the president <a href="https://x.com/JewishWarrior13/status/1981470436345938164" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “We may go to the Congress and tell them about it, but I can’t imagine they would have any problem with it. I think, in fact, while we’re here, I think it’s a good idea, Pete, you go to Congress, you tell them about it. What are they going to do? Say, ‘gee, we don’t want to stop drugs pouring in?’ They’re killing 300,000 people per year.”
On Wednesday, Maduro claimed that thousands of Russian-made anti-air missiles are at the ready to handle threats.
“Any military force in the world knows the power of the Igla-S and Venezuela has no less than 5,000” of the missiles, Maduro said, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/americas/maduro-trump-venezuela-military-intl-hnk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>.
Trump said last week that Maduro desperately offered “everything” to the U.S.
“He’s offered everything,” <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1979251067029246356" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Trump. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f*** around with the United States.”
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‘Narco-Terrorists’: U.S. Destroys Tren De Aragua Drug Boat In Caribbean, Hegseth Says

Tren De Aragua

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