Tag: donald trump

Trump’s big, bad battleship will fail

President Trump announced on December 22 that the Navy would build a new Trump-class of “battleships.” The new ships will dwarf existing surface combatant ships. The first of these planned ships, the expected USS Defiant, would be more than three times the size of an existing Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Predictably, a major selling point for the new ships is that they will be packed full of all the latest technology. These massive new battleships will be armed with the most sophisticated guns and missiles, to include hypersonics and eventually nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The ships will also be festooned with lasers and will incorporate the latest AI technology.

If you think you have heard this story before, you would be right. This will be the fourth time this century that the national security establishment has attempted to build a new surface combatant ship for the Navy. For those of you who may not be keeping score, the previous three attempts have been horrendous failures.

Just to refresh everyone’s memory, the Navy already attempted to build a modern version of the battleship in the early 2000’s. That was the Zumwalt-class destroyer program. Navy leaders wanted to build 32 such ships that would be armed with a futuristic gun system to support Marine amphibious assaults. The gun could never be built in a cost effective way so it was cancelled. That left the ship without a clear mission and the entire program was stopped after only three ships had been built. Each of those ships still don’t have a clear mission and now exist as $8 billion anchors around the Navy’s neck.

Less than a month before the president announced this latest shipbuilding program, the Secretary of the Navy cancelled the Constellation-class frigate program after Navy leaders sunk nearly $9 billion into it and before a single hull had been commissioned. That announcement was shocking because the Constellation frigates were intended to be a low risk replacement for the earlier, failed Littoral Combat Ship program.

The Littoral Combat Ships were supposed to be the Navy’s workhorse ships that would hunt mines and submarines, fight other surface ships, and provide security for the rest of the fleet. They were originally to employ a complicated modular design that would see each ship have mission systems swapped out in port to give them the specialized capabilities for their next deployment. The scheme failed spectacularly when modules didn’t work and cost soared. The ships also proved to be quite fractious and suffered several embarrassing mechanical breakdowns. Several Littoral Combat Ships had to be rescued at sea and towed back to port.

The Littoral Combat Ship program was expected to help the Navy increase the size of the fleet because each ship was supposed to cost a mere $220 million when the program began in 2002. By the time Navy officials gave up on the program 15 years later, the cost of each hull had grown to over $600 million.

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Hunter Biden Seemingly Justifies Assassination Attempts Against Trump With a Disgusting Remark

Hunter Biden, even in his moments of clarity, still possesses a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. This illness made an unwelcome appearance during an explosive interview with one of America’s top podcasters this week.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Hunter delivered a blistering critique of illegal immigration during his marathon, unfiltered sit-down with former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan on the popular “Shawn Ryan Show.”

The interview landed like a political grenade inside Democrat circles because Hunter openly contradicted the core immigration posture of his father’s administration.

“We need a vibrant immigration,” Hunter said, “but we don’t want immigrants that are coming here illegally, draining us of resources and being prioritized above people that are actual literal heroes that are coming home, that are still recovering from 20 years of endless war or anybody else in our society, right?”

But Sleepy Joe’s ne’er-do-well son quickly fell back on the Democrat plantation when asked by Ryan about the assassination attempts against political officials.

“I hear ya…But part of me also says if you don’t want to be called a fascist, don’t act like a fascist,” Hunter quipped.

So Hunter apparently thinks calling Trump a fascist is fine, even if it leads to political violence.

How vile, yet totally expected.

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DOJ forced into Epstein files U-turn after Trump photos vanished as Pam Bondi is warned she faces CHARGES

The Department of Justice was forced into a U-turn on its release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein after a photo of President Donald Trump was temporarily removed from the files. 

The missing photo depicted Trump alongside his wife Melania, Epstein, and the pedophile’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. 

It was taken in February 2000 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and was one of the few photos in which the president appeared in the documents as federal agents raided Epstein’s New York City townhouse.

Another photo from one of Epstein’s open desk drawer showed him posing with four women in swimwear. 

The photograph of both images are now once again included in the files, the Department of Justice announced Sunday, following accusations of a cover-up. 

‘The Southern District of New York flagged an image of President Trump for potential further action to protect victims,’ the department explained on social media.

‘Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Justice temporarily removed the image for further review.

‘After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction.’

Still, Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, announced Sunday that they are speaking with their fellow members of Congress about holding Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt.

They claimed that is the best way to hold the Justice Department accountable for its failure to release all eligible files related to Epstein’s crimes by Friday’s deadline.

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Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Deployment of National Guard to Chicago

The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 23 ruled that President Donald Trump may not deploy National Guard troops to Chicago to protect federal immigration agents for the time being.

“At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said in an unsigned order.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch filed dissenting opinions.

The new ruling could undermine Trump’s arguments for deploying the National Guard in other locations throughout the country.

On Oct. 29, the high court delayed ruling on whether the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago was lawful.

Instead, the justices directed attorneys for the Trump administration, the state of Illinois, and the city of Chicago to address what the term “regular forces” means in a federal law that allows the president to take command of state National Guard troops.

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A Christmas Gift to the War Machine

Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount.

To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, “The Chance for Peace,” each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.

Congress is so addicted to military spending that they appropriated even more money than President Trump requested, including an unconscionable $800 million for thoroughly corrupt Ukraine. Will Washington ever be called to answer for why Americans, who are seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and a declining economy, should continue to subsidize a criminal regime overseas whose ruling class enjoys the comfort of golden toilets?

The Ukraine money also undermines President Trump’s claim to be a neutral mediator in the conflict. How can you be a peacemaker when you are sending nearly a billion dollars in weapons to one side to help kill the other side? It makes no sense.

Congress even included measures in the bill that would prevent President Trump from bringing any US troops home from real “forever wars” in Korea and Europe. For how many more decades must the American worker continue to subsidize a US military presence in countries completely unrelated to our own security? World War II ended 80 years ago and the Korean war some ten years later. Yet the American military empire remains, at an incalculable cost to Americans.

Some fellow critics will say this is all about welfare for rich countries overseas, and that’s partly right. But more than that, it is welfare for the politically-connected US military-industrial complex at home. Imagine how many retired US military officers and former US officials-turned-lobbyists might be financially inconvenienced if we finally “just marched home”?

This week Western Christians will celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, with the Orthodox celebrating a few days later. It is disheartening that so many Americans who call themselves Christians also hold fast to a view that we must bankrupt our country and impoverish our people by playing policeman to the world and arbiter of whose regime must be changed by Washington.

Christians are among the biggest victims in these overseas operations, including in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Yet many American Christians turn a blind eye to the suffering and misery produced by neocon-led militarism overseas. They don’t care that unquestioning support for Israel, for example, has nearly erased Christianity from where it was born.

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Epstein’s brother’s wild claim that Trump authorized his murder is unearthed in DOJ files

Jeffrey Epstein‘s brother claimed that he believed Donald Trump authorized the murder of the notorious sex trafficker in 2019, according to the latest Epstein files release. 

A document in the cache of around 8,000 files released Tuesday included a tip that Epstein’s brother Mark sent to the FBI in 2023, making the claim about his brother’s death four years earlier. 

The tip read: ‘Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in his jail cell. I have reason to believe he was killed because he was about to name names. 

‘I believe President Trump authorized (his) murder.’ 

The document did not provide any details as to why Mark Epstein believed that Trump ‘authorized’ his brother’s death, which was ruled as a suicide.

Trump has never been formally accused of wrongdoing related to the sex trafficker’s death. 

The document was one of many in Tuesday’s release that delved into Epstein’s much-scrutinized death in his jail cell on August 10, 2019 in the Manhattan Correctional Center. 

In another document released by the DOJ was from just days before Epstein was found dead in his cell, Epstein wrote a sickening letter to serial child molester Larry Nassar, claiming that ‘our president’ loves ‘young, nubile girls.’ 

While he was not explicitly named in the note, Donald Trump was serving his first term in the White House at the time. 

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Trump Administration Halts Offshore Wind Farms, Citing National Security

President Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on Monday that it is pausing leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects off the East Coast.

“Due to national security concerns identified by @DeptofWar, @interior is PAUSING leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms,” DOI Secretary Doug Burgum posted on X. “ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED.”

President Trump “is bringing common sense back to energy policy and putting security first,” Burgum added.

In a separate news release, the DOI stated that the pause was also connected with “national security risks” identified by the Department of War in “recently completed classified reports,” according to reporting by Fox News.

According to the news outlet:

The department highlighted unclassified reports from the U.S. government in the past that have “long found” that massive turbine blades in large-scale offshore wind projects can create radar interference called “clutter” that can obscure legitimate moving targets and generate false targets.

In 2024, a Department of Energy report found that while the radar threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some of that “clutter,” the radar can “miss actual targets” when that threshold is increased.

However, on Monday the New York Times called the pause “a major escalation of President Trump’s crusade against offshore wind power.”

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Trump-Class Battleship Announced as U.S. Seeks to Compete With China’s Naval Expansion

“They’ll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” President Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago press conference announcing plans for the new Trump-class battleship. He referenced historic ships such as the Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Alabama, noting that while they were formidable in their era, the new vessels would surpass them by a wide margin.

The ships, the first battleships built since 1944, will serve as the centerpiece of what Trump describes as a revitalized U.S. Navy and a future “Golden Fleet.” Speaking alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, Trump said the idea originated during his first term, when he asked, “Why aren’t we doing battleships like we used to?”

Trump said the Navy will initially build two large surface combatants, with a long-term goal of expanding the class to 20 to 25 ships. The lead vessel will be the USS Defiant, which he said could be delivered in roughly two and a half years, though longer-term Navy planning places construction in the early 2030s.

According to Navy officials, the Trump class would be the largest U.S. surface combatant built since World War II, displacing roughly 30,000 to more than 35,000 tons, far larger than existing destroyers.

The ships are intended to function as heavily armed offensive platforms, capable of operating independently, alongside carrier strike groups, or as the command-and-control hub of a surface action group. Navy descriptions emphasize long-range strike, fleet coordination, air and missile defense, surface warfare, and anti-submarine operations.

The Trump class is expected to use proven combat systems already deployed on Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, including the SPY-6 radar and large vertical launch missile magazines. Planned armaments include hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike weapons, with design margins for future systems such as directed-energy weapons, rail guns, and nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missiles. Navy leaders have described the ships as delivering unmatched firepower and creating a new layer of deterrence at sea.

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Trump denies disaster aid to Colorado for wildfires, flooding

President Trump has denied disaster aid to the state of Colorado in the wake of wildfires and flooding.

The office of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced the denial in a Sunday statement. He accused the president of playing “political games” and urged him to reconsider. 

“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” Polis said in the statement.

“I call on the President’s better angels, and urge him to reconsider these requests. This is about the Coloradans who need this support, and we won’t stop fighting for them to get what they deserve. Colorado will be appealing this decision,” he said.

Under the Stafford Act, a president can unlock additional federal assistance by declaring a major disaster.

The Trump administration, however, has sought to shrink federal disaster assistance to states — and has denied some requests for disaster aid. 

While other presidents have turned down some disaster requests, Trump’s denials come as his administration is expected to try to downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency and spend less federal money on disaster response. 

The White House defended Trump’s decision not to declare the disaster.

“The President responds to each request for Federal assistance under the Stafford Act with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement—not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email.

Jackson added that “there is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster relief.” She said that the Trump administration also mobilized two firefighting planes to help with the response to the fires.

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Russia pledges ‘full support’ for Venezuela against US ‘hostilities’

Russia on Dec 22 expressed “full support” for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by US forces deployed in the Caribbean, the two governments said.

In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the two allied countries blasted the US actions, which have included bombing alleged drug-trafficking boats and, more recently, the seizure of two tankers.

A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Dec 21.

“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, of the call between ministers Sergei Lavrov and Yvan Gil.

“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added.

“The ministers agreed to continue their close bilateral cooperation and to coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”

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