Good evening, everyone. Tomorrow night, the president will address the nation in a prime-time speech from the White House. I’ll be covering it live for you, because it could touch on anything—from Venezuela to the Epstein files to a sweeping end-of-year defense of his policies. Whatever it is, you’ll get it in real time, without spin.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have shut down all discussion of a vote to extend ACA subsidies, all but guaranteeing they will expire at the end of the year—setting up higher costs for millions of Americans.
Today we also learned that CBS suffered steep viewership declines during its much-hyped Erika Kirk town hall. That didn’t surprise me at all. This is the same network that once stood for the Cronkite standard of journalism. Today, it’s drifting further and further away from that legacy.
That’s exactly why I started this work—to bring back journalism rooted in facts, clarity, and accountability. No theatrics. No narrative engineering. Just the truth. If I can live up to even 10% of Walter Cronkite’s legacy, I’ll consider this mission a success.
If you believe this kind of reporting still matters, subscribe today. We’re closing in on our end-of-year goal—and we’re doing it together.
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Here’s what you missed:
Donald Trump announced he will deliver a prime-time televised address from the White House at 9 p.m. Wednesday, with no details disclosed, as he nears the one-year mark of his second term amid renewed focus on domestic issues, battleground-state travel, and a modest rebound in his approval rating.
House Republican leaders declined to hold a vote extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, effectively ensuring their expiration at month’s end and triggering higher health insurance premiums for millions of Americans, despite opposition from centrist GOP members in competitive districts and potential Democratic efforts to force a vote.
House GOP centrists angrily confronted Speaker Mike Johnson behind closed doors over expiring Obamacare subsidies, pressing for a real floor vote to extend the tax credits, as tensions flared, voices were raised, and a last-minute compromise amendment emerged amid skepticism from conservative hardliners.
President Trump publicly defended chief of staff Susie Wiles after a candid Vanity Fair profile, praising her performance, dismissing the article as biased and inaccurate, and downplaying her remark that he has “an alcoholic’s personality,” while the White House accused the magazine of misleading, out-of-context reporting.
White House aides and Trump allies privately questioned why Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and the West Wing cooperated so fully with a lengthy Vanity Fair profile that included sharp critiques of the president and senior officials, even as Trump publicly backed Wiles and administration figures closed ranks to downplay the fallout.
ICE agents clashed with dozens of residents in south Minneapolis during a street operation in which a reportedly pregnant woman was pinned face-down and dragged by officers, prompting neighbors to rush in, shout protests, and throw snowballs, as federal agents deployed pepper spray and a Taser amid escalating tensions over aggressive immigration enforcement.
The Washington Post has confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard quietly put into effect a revised workplace harassment policy that reclassifies swastikas and nooses from explicit hate symbols to merely “potentially divisive,” triggering internal and public backlash and forcing the service’s top officer to publicly state that the symbols remain banned despite the softened language in the new manual.
A heavily promoted CBS News prime-time town hall moderated by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss featuring Turning Point USA leader Erika Kirk drew weak ratings, falling 41% in the key 25–54 demographic compared with typical programming, fueling internal criticism of Weiss’s on-air role, advertiser hesitation, and concerns that the event functioned more as public relations than journalism.
According to Bloomberg, Jared Kushner’s private-equity firm Affinity Partners has withdrawn from the takeover battle for Warner Bros. Discovery that it had been backing as part of Paramount Skydance’s hostile $108.4 billion bid—an effort aimed at upending Netflix’s agreed $82.7 billion deal—saying changes in the investment dynamics led it to step back even as the bidding war between Paramount and Netflix continues.
The Pentagon refused to release the full video of a September U.S. strike on a suspected Venezuelan drug boat that killed survivors of an initial attack, citing classification rules, as lawmakers and legal experts raise concerns about transparency, legality, and possible war crimes amid an escalating U.S. military campaign against Venezuela.
President Trump signed a new order further tightening U.S. entry restrictions, adding full bans on nationals from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, and extending restrictions to holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, expanding an earlier list of barred countries.
The Pentagon has escalated its review of Sen. Mark Kelly into a formal command investigation over a video urging service members to refuse illegal orders, a move critics call political retaliation that could test constitutional limits, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump accuse the retired Navy officer of undermining military discipline and “sedition.”
MIT professor and fusion energy researcher Nuno Loureiro, 47, was shot multiple times and killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, in an active homicide investigation with no suspect in custody, prompting shock and mourning across the MIT community.
Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of filmmaker Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, was not medically cleared to appear in court after being arrested on suspicion of killing his parents, who were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home, and he remains jailed without bail as the investigation continues.
Sudan has topped the global humanitarian crisis watchlist for a third straight year as its civil war has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 14 million people, and created the world’s largest humanitarian emergency, with aid groups warning that shrinking global funding could make 2026 even deadlier.
The BBC says it will fight and seek dismissal of President Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit over a Panorama documentary, arguing it lacked U.S. broadcast rights, caused no serious reputational or economic harm, and contains
NBC has confirmed that the FDA approved a new warning label for Pfizer’s birth control shot Depo-Provera highlighting a risk of meningioma (a brain tumor), amid lawsuits from more than 1,000 women alleging the company failed to warn patients despite decades-old studies linking progestin use to the condition.
Democratic senators led by Elizabeth Warren launched an investigation into whether energy-hungry data centers operated by tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are driving up electricity prices for consumers, citing massive power usage, opaque utility contracts, and reports of residential bills rising sharply in data-center-heavy regions.
Good news:
After devastating Nile floods, the South Sudanese city of Bor transformed disaster into opportunity by building a $5.4 million water treatment and distribution system that now provides clean, affordable water to nearly 100,000 people, creates skilled local jobs, improves public health, and supports year-round farming and education.
CCTV footage of a river otter roaming the city center of Lincoln highlights the remarkable recovery of otter populations in England after decades of decline, showcasing the success of pollution controls and conservation efforts that have returned the species to rivers nationwide.
At the request of King Charles III, a traditional Royal Mail post box was installed at the British Antarctic Survey’s remote Rothera research station, giving scientists stationed deep in Antarctica a tangible, morale-boosting connection to home just in time for Christmas.
See you in the morning.
— Aaron
