The Daily Wrap Up

17 Dec, 2025

[Transcript edited for clarity and flow | Watch on Youtube HERE]

It appears this holiday season is shaping up to be a dark time for the country. So, I suppose we should try to lighten things up, if that is possible.

Donald Trump has announced a naval blockade of Venezuela, which is, in effect, the beginning of a war over oil. At the same time, House Republicans are showing faint but notable signs of life, and perhaps even a backbone, by working with Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

At the FBI, Deputy Director Dan Bongino is out, with insiders saying that Director Kash Patel may not be far behind. The Pulitzer Prize Board wants to see Donald Trump’s tax returns. Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles says Trump has the personality of an alcoholic, and Vice President JD Vance is described as a long-time conspiracy theorist. What a week.

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Today, we saw a rare moment in which Republican lawmakers appeared willing to defy Donald Trump and GOP leadership. NBC News reports that several centrist House Republicans helped force a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are currently set to expire at the end of the year. Four Republicans signed a discharge petition, giving Democrats the 218 signatures needed to bypass leadership and bring the measure to the floor.

The Republican signers were Mike Lawler of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Rob Bresnahan, and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania. If these subsidies lapse, premiums are projected to double on average for approximately 22 million Americans. Congress, of course, enjoys generous healthcare benefits of its own, which makes its reluctance to protect affordable healthcare for the public all the more galling.

Still, it is encouraging to see that at least a few lawmakers found their conscience before the holidays. Following Donald’s lead, Republican leadership has attempted to dismiss the importance of these subsidies, framing them as a hoax. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been one of the most vocal proponents of this claim.

Johnson: Everybody needs to understand there’s a false narrative out there about these subsidies. It subsidizes insurance companies, and when you do that, you’re masking the rising cost of healthcare. Democrats are pretending this affects everybody in the country. It affects about 7 percent of Americans, and even then, it would only reduce premiums by about 5.7 percent.

Those Americans matter, and Johnson’s figures are incorrect. The subsidies affect roughly 22 million people. Dismissing them reveals just how disconnected Republican leadership is from the realities facing working families. If we were serious about healthcare reform, we would be learning from other developed nations that treat healthcare as a public good rather than a privilege.

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Things are also not looking good for Donald Trump’s handpicked FBI leadership. On Monday, I reported that both FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino were facing possible removal. Multiple sources say that the FBI’s mishandled response to the Brown University shooting may have been the final straw, particularly for Patel.

This follows other missteps, including the handling of the Charlie Kirk assassination investigation. In that case, Patel prematurely announced the apprehension of a person of interest who was later released, while the actual suspect remains at large. Sources also confirm that Bongino is already gone, with his office reportedly empty for nearly two weeks.

A former right-wing podcaster with no prior FBI experience, Bongino has faced criticism for lacking procedural knowledge and credibility. MSNBC reported that Bongino has told allies he plans to leave the Bureau in the new year. In reality, all indications suggest that departure has already occurred.

Donald Trump addressed the situation briefly during a White House gaggle, saying that Bongino, “ did a great job and simply wanted to return to his show.” As with so much in this administration, the focus appears to be on performance rather than governance.

Unlike many institutions that have capitulated to Donald Trump’s legal threats, the Pulitzer Prize Board is pushing back. Trump has been demanding since 2022 that the board revoke the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on Russian election interference. The board refused.

Trump responded with what has become his standard tactic, a defamation lawsuit. That strategy may now be backfiring. The Pulitzer organization is seeking Trump’s medical, psychological, and tax records from the past decade as part of the discovery process. Trump’s lawsuits rarely survive this stage. To claim defamation damages, Trump would have to open his finances and possibly his health to scrutiny.

The lesson here is simple. When faced with a bully, stand your ground.

Donald Trump is also defending his Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, following a wide-ranging interview she gave to Vanity Fair. CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene summarized some of Wiles’ most striking remarks.

Treene: Wiles described Trump as having an alcoholic personality. She said Vice President JD Vance has been a conspiracy theorist for over a decade and suggested his ideological shift was politically motivated. She also called Russell Vought a right-wing zealot, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files, and admitted she urged Trump not to pardon individuals who committed violent acts on January 6. She also said she disagreed with Trump on tariffs and pushed for delays.

Wiles made clear that while she sometimes disagrees with Trump, she ultimately works to carry out his decisions. Trump later claimed she had been misled by the interviewer, despite the fact that she spoke with Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple multiple times over the course of a year.

This week, Donald Trump ordered what he called a complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, escalating military pressure on Nicolás Maduro and threatening the country’s oil-dependent economy. On December 16, Trump wrote:

…Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America. It will only get bigger until such time as they return to the United States all of the oil, land, and other assets they previously stole from us…

There is no evidence that Venezuela stole United States assets. This rhetoric echoes long-standing interventionist doctrines that have justified exploitation of the region for more than a century. As Marine General Smedley Butler once wrote in, War Is a Racket, “war often serves corporate and financial interests.” This episode appears no different.

Finally, Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior continues. As he departed the White House, reporters discovered a so-called presidential walk of fame featuring framed photos of former presidents accompanied by inflammatory plaques attacking Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton.

Biden’s plaque falsely labels him the worst president in American history. Obama is described using racially charged language. Clinton’s plaque reduces a complex presidency to a petty political taunt. This is not leadership. It is grievance politics turned into physical space, transforming the White House grounds into a monument to personal vendettas rather than presidential dignity.

Watch on Youtube HERE