Here’s the Truth About Trump’s $1,776 Bonus for the Military

President Trump on Wednesday announced a $1,776 bonus for members of the military. The next morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth enthusiastically sold the “warrior divided” announcement as a Christmas bonus for all the troops’ hard work.

“Thanks to President Trump’s unwavering commitment to our warriors, and the provisions provided in the One Big Beautiful bill, more than 1.45 million service members will … receive a onetime, tax-free bonus of $1,776,” he said. “This warrior dividend serves as yet another example of how the War Department is working to improve the quality of life for our military personnel and their families.”

In actuality, the Trump administration is taking money that was congressionally allocated toward soldiers’ housing and repackaging it as this corny $1,776 gimmick, while Hegseth gushes over the move like he’s doing these people a favor. It was already their money.

“Congress appropriated $2.9 billion to the Department of War to supplement the Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement within The One Big Beautiful Bill,” a senior administration official told Defense One, noting that Hegseth directed $2.6 billion of the funds to be distributed. “Approximately 1.28 million active component military members and 174,000 Reserve component military members will receive this supplement.”

If the economy is so hot (it isn’t), and if tariffs have us raking in cash (they don’t), why can’t the Trump administration give its dear war fighters an actual Christmas bonus rather than frame scraps as sustenance?

For years, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump built a tight-knit friendship on their shared hobby: hunting women for sport.

Despite Trump’s vehement denials of a meaningful connection to the deceased child sex trafficker, people around the pair of socialites were under the impression that Epstein and Trump were each other’s closest friends. A critical component to that friendship, reported The New York Times Thursday, was their mutual obsession with ensnaring, showcasing, and eventually bedding the most beautiful young women.

Stacey Williams, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who accused Trump of groping her at a party in 1992 while she was dating Epstein, told the Times that it was akin to “trophy hunting.”

In order to ascertain the depth of their relationship, the Times spoke with more than 30 former Epstein employees, victims of the financier’s abuse, and their mutual acquaintances. The newspaper also uncovered new documents that shed additional light on Epstein and Trump’s extraordinarily private relationship.

What reporters discovered was evidence of an enduring friendship founded on power and sexual entitlement.

“Neither man drank or did drugs. They pursued women in a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency,” the Times reported.

Recently released documents and interviews reveal that Epstein claimed he “gave” Trump a 20-year-old woman he had previously dated; that Trump had made advances on one of Epstein’s employees aboard the serial abuser’s private jet, telling her that he could have anyone he wanted; and in another instance, Trump allegedly mailed Epstein modeling cards to peruse “like a menu,” according to another Epstein employee who spoke with the paper.

One woman, who was groomed for Epstein’s abuse by the disgraced financier’s longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, anonymously told the Times that Trump was a regular in Epstein’s life. She said that Epstein often bragged about his relationship with Trump but also seemed to view him as competition.

“It was like a pissing contest—who had the most women,” she said.

The House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 emails last month that it had obtained from Epstein’s estate. The documents included multiple mentions of Trump, such as in a 2011 email, when Epstein expressed he was grateful Trump had stayed quiet about details of Epstein’s life. The “dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” Epstein wrote, despite detailing how Trump had spent hours at one of Epstein’s properties with a known victim.

But that should be just the tip of the iceberg. After months of dragging their feet, Republicans in both chambers of Congress passed a bill to release the investigation files related to Epstein and his potential associates. Trump signed the bill on November 19, starting a 30-day timer on the documents’ release. If everything goes to schedule, the files will be released Friday.

So far, the administration has already attempted to waylay public expectations that the files will be exposed to the full breadth of the document load, with FBI Director Kash Patel claiming that his agency is doing everything it can to release the portions of the files that are “lawful,” despite the fact that Congress mandated their entire release.

Donald Trump’s social media company is now going to get into fusion power.

Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, announced Thursday that it’s pursuing a $6 billion merger with TAE Technologies, which says it is building “the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant” to power the data centers that support artificial intelligence.

Shareholders from each company will own 50 percent of the new entity as a result of the deal, which the companies say will be completed in mid-2026. TAE is backed by Google and oil giant Chevron, while Trump Media continues to struggle to make money. The social media venture reported sales of $927,900 from June to September 30, down from $1.01 million in the same period last year. It also lost $54.8 million during that period, an increase from $19.2 million last year.

Cow enthusiast and former Representative Devin Nunes, the CEO of Trump Media, bragged about the deal in a statement.

“Trump Media & Technology Group built uncancellable infrastructure to secure free expression online for Americans, and now we’re taking a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations,” Nunes said. “Fusion power will be the most dramatic energy breakthrough since the onset of commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s—an innovation that will lower energy prices, boost supply, ensure America’s A.I.-supremacy, revive our manufacturing base and bolster national defense.”

The merger would lead to one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies, according to the news release.

The move is somewhat confusing, the only explanation being that Trump wants to capitalize on power generation connected to the AI boom. Fusion power itself is still unproven and unrealized, with scientists still unable to generate more power than they use for the process. But Trump, having already used his social media company to go big on cryptocurrency, seems to see dollar signs in something slightly more tangible in fusion power. Does this mean that supporting this impractical technology will soon become government policy?

Progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez likes her chances in a 2028 general election matchup against Vice President JD Vance—and the numbers are currently backing her up.

“Do you think that you could beat JD Vance in a head-to-head race for president as polling suggests in 2028?” AOC was asked by Migrant Insider’s Pablo Manríquez.

The congresswoman laughed.

“Listen, these polls like three years out are … they are what they are,” she said with a smile. “But, let the record show—I would stomp him. I would stomp him!”

The polling in question is from The Argument/Verasight, and has Ocasio-Cortez edging out Vance 51 percent to 49 percent.

As the congresswoman said herself, there is still so much that can happen between now and 2028 that could deem polls like this completely irrelevant. However, this positive showing from perhaps America’s most popular left-leaning politician demonstrates a desire for populist, antiestablishment, pro–working class politics that Democrats have eschewed and Republicans have misrepresented.

Ocasio-Cortez would join a crowded Democratic primary field that could include the likes of Governors Gavin Newson, JB Pritzker, Andy Beshear, Wes Moore, and Josh Shapiro, as well as Senators Cory Booker, Ro Khanna, Chris Murphy, and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Donald Trump has been talking to attorney Alan Dershowitz about running for a third term in office, which is prohibited by the Constitution. 

In an Oval Office meeting, Dershowitz gave Trump a draft of a book he is writing called Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term? Dershowitz told The Wall Street Journal that the book, due to be published next year, lays out scenarios in which a president could serve a third term, and that Trump said he would read it and wanted to know Dershowitz’s opinion.

“I said ‘It’s not clear if a president can become a third term president and it’s not clear if it’s permissible,’” Dershowitz said. The attorney and Jeffrey Epstein associate worked to defend Trump when he was facing impeachment proceedings in his first term. 

“He found it interesting as an intellectual issue,” Dershowitz added. “Do I think he’s going to run for a third term? No, I don’t think he will run for a third term.” 

But Trump has been discussing the possibility of a third term in office for a while now, telling NBC News in March that “there are methods which you could do it.” He continues to “joke” about the possibility, with his business selling “Trump 2028” hats for $50 each. Meanwhile those close to Trump, like Steve Bannon and Boris Epshteyn, continue to promote the unconstitutional move.  

On Tuesday, at a White House Hanukkah event, Miriam Adelson, one of Trump’s biggest donors, said she had spoken to Dershowitz and believed a third term was possible, as the audience broke out in chants of “four more years.” With that kind of encouragement, these threats need to be taken seriously. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson is conveniently sending Congress home the day before the Justice Department is supposed to release the Epstein files in full. The announcement came Wednesday night.

This looks like yet another instance of Johnson doing every little thing he can either to delay the release of the files or to make it so that his fellow GOPers don’t have to be in town to answer to their complicity in this monthslong campaign to avoid their release—as he did by egregiously delaying the swearing-in of Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva for weeks.

“Like I said: view all political developments for the rest of the week in light of the fact that the Epstein Files are supposed to be released on Friday,” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote Wednesday evening on X. “House Republicans just suddenly canceled Congressional session Friday and are sending everyone home Thursday evening.”

While recent releases have produced photos of notable people alongside Epstein—like Bill Clinton, President Trump, Bill Gates, Woody Allen, and Noam Chomsky—it’s unclear what Friday’s drop will reveal. If Johnson has his way, it might not happen at all.

President Donald Trump gave a nonsensical justification Wednesday for his blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” coming and going from Venezuela.

Speaking to reporters, Trump appeared to claim that he was simply stealing back oil that already belonged to the United States.

“You remember they took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back, but they took it, they illegally took it,” Trump said.

At another point, he said, “They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back.”

It seems that Trump was referring to when Hugo Chávez ordered the seizure of foreign-owned oil fields in 2007, including land and assets that belonged to U.S. oil companies ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

In the intervening 18 years, Chevron struck a deal with Venezuela (that Trump somehow made worse) while ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips entered into a lengthy legal battle that is still ongoing to win billions of dollars from the Venezuelan government.

It seems pretty obvious that oil fields located in Venezuela, even if they were previously owned by U.S. companies, don’t actually belong to the United States—but Trump sees things differently. On Tuesday, he wrote on Truth Social that it was time for Venezuela to “return … the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

Trump’s blockade is the second major military escalation targeted at Venezuela’s oil industry, after Venezuela accused the United States of piracy because it seized one of Caracas’s oil tankers. This follows months of extrajudicial strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea that the U.S. government claims, but won’t bother to prove, are smuggling drugs. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles indicated that these efforts were about forcing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.

Earlier this week, Trump manufactured the perfect excuse to invade Venezuela, by ordering fentanyl to be classified as a weapon of mass destruction. For anyone thinking, “I recognize this tune,” it’s because Trump’s newest tactic is just an echo of the U.S. government’s lie that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction as justification for its invasion of Iraq. It seems that history is repeating itself, as there is reason to believe that America’s growing interest in Venezuela is not about drugs at all: It’s actually about oil.

To President Donald Trump, a picture is apparently not worth 1,000 words. It’s important to get some real words in there too, in case things aren’t clear.

As if Trump’s new hallway of presidential portraits wasn’t enough of an eyesore, he’s now added long, rambling plaques summarizing the accomplishments of each of our past leaders. And they are just as petty, biased, and indelicate as you would expect.

Under Joe Biden’s “portrait”—which is just a picture of an autopen signing Biden’s name—the plaque begins, “Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History.” The plaque features a number of totally accurate and not at all exaggerated “facts” about Biden’s tenure, including blaming him for both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

For Barack Obama, the plaque reads that he was “one of the most divisive presidents in American History,” and credits him with passing the “‘Unaffordable’ Care Act, resulting in his party losing control of both Houses of Congress.”

Even George W. Bush is catching strays: “President Bush created the Department of Homeland Security, but started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.”

But, like a shining city on a hill, one president remains above criticism: Ronald Reagan. “Ronald Reagan won the Cold War, and transformed American politics and the Conservative Movement,” the plaque reads. “He was a fan of President Donald J. Trump long before President Trump’s Historic run for the White House. Likewise, President Trump was a fan of his!”

Was this true? The Washington Post seems to think not, as Trump reached out to the Reagan White House with invitations at least six times back in the 1980s, and each time was ignored or rejected. But what does truth have to do with anything when you’re the man who, as Biden’s plaque reads, would “get Re-Elected in a Landslide, and SAVE AMERICA”?

Thank goodness this man isn’t in charge of the Smithsonian—oh, wait.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Kash Patel’s woefully underqualified No. 2,  is finally headed for the exit.

The former talk radio announced Wednesday that he will leave his position next month, the AP reported. Bongino reportedly told confidants that he was not planning to return to FBI headquarters at all this year, eight people told MS NOW.

Donald Trump also confirmed Bongino’s exit while speaking to reporters Wednesday. “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show,” the president said.

Bongino, who had no prior experience working for the FBI, previously spread conspiracy theories about the bureau where he would later manage day-day-operations. He once claimed that the plot to plant pipe bombs at the Democratic and Republican National headquarters on January 6, 2021, reeked of an “inside job.” 

Patel also reportedly granted Bongino a waiver to bypass getting a key security clearance, but the deputy director was still given access to highly classified information, such as the president’s daily brief, which collates essential information from the intelligence community.

News of Bongino’s potential exit comes after another report that Trump was considering removing Patel, as the hapless leader’s blunders start to pile up. The report also comes amid the FBI’s ongoing manhunt for a mass shooter at Brown University. 

This story has been updated.

The Federal Communications Commission website no longer reflects that the FCC is an “independent” agency after FCC Chair Brendan Carr testified to Congress on Wednesday that he didn’t consider it to be one.

Axios’s Sara Fischer caught the change, and posted about it on X: “This is INSANE. I took this screenshot of the @FCC website at 11:52 a.m. ET where it explicitly states the FCC is an independent agency. 25 minutes later, it has been removed following Carr’s comments during this hearing! See before and after screenshots below.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, there is no mention of the FCC being an “independent agency” on its website, only a “U.S. agency.” (The last publicly available confirmation of the word “independent” appearing on the site was October 1.)

During the hearing, Carr was pressed on whether he considered the FCC to be an independent agency: Though he had previously said himself that the agency was “long ago determined” by Congress to be independent, he claimed on Wednesday that his position had changed, and he now believes it to no longer be independent, since its members are subject to for-cause removal by the president.

One senator even read from the FCC’s website. New Mexico’s Ben Ray Luján said, “Just so you know, Brendan, on your website it just simply says, man, the FCC is independent.... This isn’t a trick question.”

Unluckily for Luján—and for the American people—it doesn’t say that anymore. Whether the change was the Trump administration’s attempt to protect Carr from appearing to lie during congressional testimony, or just a mask-off moment about the sad state of the FCC, it’s clear that the agency can no longer be trusted to act independently of the president.