Trump backs Netanyahu after rumors of friction, talks tough on Iran: ‘We’ll knock the hell out of them’

Steven Nelson / NEW YORK POST 

President Trump gave gushing praise to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday — denying reported friction with his counterpart and vowing to “knock the hell out of” Iran if it rebuilds its nuclear program.

“I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re gonna have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them,” Trump said while welcoming Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.

“But hopefully that’s not happening. I heard Iran wants to make a deal. They want to make a deal that’s much smarter. You know, they could have made a deal the last time before we went through a big attack on them, and they decided not to make a deal. They wish they made that deal.”

Trump said the men would focus on about five major issues, including the implementation of the Trump-brokered October peace deal in Gaza and Israeli relations with the new Syrian government.

It Was Already Gonna Happen, but What Fetterman Said About Trump Will Lead to a Primary Challenge

Matt Vespa / Townhall Tipsheet

 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was already likely to face a primary challenge for not kowtowing to party leadership and for telling it how it is on the Hill. His party got creamed nationwide in the 2024 elections. There’s a reason for that, something he’s been saying in the media for years. You can wallow in adolescent tantrums, Democrats—it still won’t erase why Democrats got pummeled last year. Fetterman has become a surprise of sorts, bucking his party in some crucial showdowns. The Pennsylvania liberal is staunchly pro-Israel and was not pleased at all with the tactics used during the Democrat-induced government shutdown.

 

Again, Fetterman’s mantra is ‘we lost, let’s learn and act like it,’ meaning there are some battles his party must concede, whether on spending or on appointments. One thing he can’t stand is his party’s denigration of Trump supporters. Fetterman hails from an area where Trump’s message resonated; these people are not Nazis. The former Braddock mayor is also sick of the ‘autocrat’ narrative. It didn’t work then, and it certainly didn’t work in 2024.

lhan Omar’s Somaliland stance slammed as Minnesota fraud scandal deepens

Michael Rubin says billions in fraud losses highlight contrast with breakaway region's stability, democratic institutions

Emma Bussey / Fox News

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s defense of Somalia’s territorial claims and her opposition to the recognition of an independent Somaliland has been criticized as authorities ramp up investigations into alleged mass fraud in her home state.

One analyst argued the corruption scandal allegedly involving Somali communities in Minnesota is relevant when contrasting failures in Somalia and the stability of Somaliland, an autonomous region that Omar has opposed recognizing.

Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, claimed highlighting the difference between the two regions "mattered."

"The corruption exposed in Minnesota mirrors the governance failures that have plagued Somalia for decades," Rubin told Fox News Digital.

"Somaliland has charted a different course entirely, relying on internal accountability rather than international assistance and that distinction matters right now," he said.

Minnesota was engulfed in controversy after revelations that fraud losses across multiple government programs since 2018 could total billions of dollars, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Read more and see video here.  

Zelensky says US offering Ukraine 15-year security guarantee in latest peace plan

Samuel Chamberlain / NEW YORK POST

 

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters Monday that the US is currently offering Ukraine a 15-year security guarantee in the latest draft plan to end Russia’s long-running invasion.

Zelensky, answering questions via WhatsApp one day after his high-stakes meeting with President Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., said he had told Trump that Kyiv would like the guarantee to be extended for up to 50 years.

“I raised this issue with the president. I told him that our war is still going on, and it has been almost 15 years,” Zelensky said.

“Therefore, we would really like the guarantees to be longer. I told him that we would very much like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years. And that would then be a historic decision by President Trump.”

According to the Ukrainian president, Trump said he would “think about” the request.

The exact form of the security guarantees have not been made public, but Zelensky said Monday they would include monitoring for violations of any cease-fire as well as some sort of “presence” by the US and European nations. Read more here.

Wishing all my 'Patriot Factor' blog followers and readers 

of the Christian faith a very  Merry Christmas. Enjoy this most special and beautiful of days with  your family and close friends. 

  

 The  'Patriot Factor' will return on Monday, December 29th 

Brown U. janitor says he warned campus security about suspicious visitor twice in weeks leading up to mass shooting

David Propper / NEW YORK POST

A Brown University custodian spotted depraved gunman Claudio Neves Valente pacing school hallways and peering into classrooms nearly a dozen times in the weeks before his mass shooting — and alerted campus security twice about the suspicious figure, a new report said.

Derek Lisi, who has worked at the elite school for 15 years, told the Boston Globe he “knew something was off with” the mass shooter before the sicko opened fire in a lecture hall, killing two students, Dec. 13.

While Lisi said he twice told the same security guard about a suspicious person lurking around the same building in the days leading up to the horror, it’s unclear if any action was taken by the guard or campus officials.

“He’d been casing that place for weeks,’’ looking into classrooms and “circling the hallways,’’ Lisi told the outlet of Neves Valente.

“I thought it was someone trying to steal something. Every time he saw me, I think he thought I was security, because he would always walk away.’’

“I said, ‘Something’s off with this guy, so I gotta say something,’ ” Lisi said. Read more and see video here.

Trump Administration Terminates Offshore Wind Farms Over National Security Concerns

Dmitri Bolt / Townhall Tipsheet 

 

The Department of the Interior announced on Monday that leases for all large-scale offshore wind farms will be paused, due to national security concerns, as the turbine blades can create radar interference, which can create "clutter" obscuring legitimate targets and generating false targets.  

The five leases that will be paused include: Vineyard Wind1, Revolution Wind, CVOW, Sunrise Wind, and Empire Wind.

DOI stated that the pause will "give the Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects."

"Today, we are sending notifications to the five offshore wind projects that are under construction," Secretary Burgum said. "Their leases will be suspended due to national security concerns. During this time of suspension, we'll work with the companies to try to find a mitigation, but we completed the work that President Trump has asked us to do. The Department of War has come back conclusively, that the issues related to these large offshore wind programs create radar interference that creates genuine risk for the U.S., particularly related to where they are in proximity ot our East Coast population centers." See X and video here.