A video of Barron Trump at the age of almost three with his mother, First Lady Melania Trump, has gone viral in recent days as interest in the president's youngest son intensifies.
In the video, originally posted on TikTok but shared to X, Barron answers questions about his then-love of drums in an accent similar to his mother's.
This video is so cute. pic.twitter.com/4YccXfXawI
— Cassandra MacDonald (@CassandraRules) January 22, 2025
"What do you want for your birthday?" she asks him.
"Like on television drums," he said.
Barron is also seen sitting on an oversized stuffed cat in an opulent room and trying on a clunky gold watch while Melania dotes on him.
"This video is so cute," the X user captioned it.
The video, which was originally posted on TikTok in November 2024, now has over 1 million views on X alone.
As far back as August, another interview of a young Barron Trump speaking with a Slovenian accent went viral, this one from 2010.
Of course, if he was spending the majority of his time with his mother or anyone else with a heavy Slovenian accent (Grandma? a nanny?), he would naturally pick that up.
Assuming he didn't have a Slovenian nanny, it proves what has been obvious all along--his mother devoted herself to him and spent a lot of time with him.
Barron has been protected from most exposure to the media, which have been like vultures around the Trump family and cannot be trusted.
Now that he's an adult legally, he will have to decide how much he wants to be in the public eye.
Melania Trump has said recently that she is "very proud of him—about his knowledge, and about politics, and giving advice to his father."
Social media was not happy with a recent shopping trip by former Vice President and failed Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.
Photos of the couple leaving 99 Ranch Market Asian Grocery store in Westwood, California showed them carrying their groceries in plastic bags, which got her branded a "hypocrite" by some social media users.
JUST IN: Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff seen grocery shopping together with plastic bags, violating left-wing environmental doctrine - NYP pic.twitter.com/nDJMTgnbS6
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 24, 2025
In 2019, Harris waged something of a campaign against plastic bags. During a CNN campaign event, Harris was asked if she thought plastic bags should be banned and she said, "I think we should, yes."
At the time, she did say she didn't like paper straws. "We gotta kind of perfect that one a little bit more," she said.
Somewhere between then and 2024, she stopped talking about banning plastic bags. Now she's using them, but is she doing anything wrong?
California has banned single-use plastic bags, so why was this market even using them?
According to some internet users, Harris and Emhoff were probably using reusable plastic bags, which are now used in California instead of single-use ones.
"Quick clarification with the plastic bags," one X user said. "Here in California, they decided to allow grocery stores to distribute these thicker, reusable plastic bags. So, that’s what they’re using, rather than the thin plastic bags you get in most other states."
The publicity is happening at the same time that Harris campaign insiders are saying that Harris is blaming Emhoff for her election loss and that their marriage has become strained as a result.
Emhoff has faced recent accusations that he cheated on his former wife and conceived a child with their nanny.
An ex-girlfriend also said that Emhoff slapped her when they were dating.
Let's be real though--no one cares about what Emhoff did half as much as they feared, and rightly so, that Harris would make everything Biden did worse by continuing them and making them even more radically liberal.
If she wants to feel better about her showing in the election by blaming hubby, I guess it's a free country--no thanks to her.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been sworn in as President Trump's Department of Homeland Security Secretary, which is the latest major confirmation of Trump's new administration.
Noem was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at his home on Saturday after a scheduling issue forced a change in plans.
Noem was originally set to be sworn in at the Indian Treaty Room inside the Navy Department Wing of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. but that ceremony was delayed multiple times for undisclosed reasons.
In a post to X, Noem stated, "It is such an honor to be sworn in as the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. It was made even more meaningful by being sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at his home. Thank you, President [Donald] Trump for putting your trust in me to help keep America safe."
Noem has an important next few years ahead of her as she will play a key role in Trump's America First agenda ensuring that America is made safe after years of rising crime and the arrival of millions of unvetted illegal immigrants, some with connections to terrorist groups.
The last four years have been tough on Americans who have had to deal with rising crime everywhere as well as general societal breakdown actively encouraged by the Biden administration and their soft-on-crime policies.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry shared photos of Noem's swearing-in on X saying, "Sharon and I were honored to be a part of the swearing in ceremony for Homeland Security Secretary, @KristiNoem. America will be safer and stronger because of her and @realDonaldTrump [President Donald Trump]’s leadership. And once again Americans will be put FIRST!"
Noem was confirmed by the Senate in a 59-34 making Noem the fourth Trump nominee to be approved by the Senate meaning she captured a few Democrat Senators alongside all Republican Senators.
Noem's confirmation was much simpler than the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who was confirmed on a 51-50 vote after the Senate tied forcing Vice President JD Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote.
Hegseth had three Republican Senators join Democrats in voting against him in the form of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME).
Noem faced no such trouble and as such is now ready to begin working to secure the southern border and repair the "broken immigration system," that her predecessor Alejandro Mayorkas left her with.
Under the Biden administration, millions of illegal immigrants crossed into the United States including a massive amount of "gotaways" that could be anyone.
The discovery of violent transnational gangs and individuals with terrorist links in the United States has illustrated just how badly the Biden administration handled things.
The sheer amount of crimes and needless deaths caused by illegal immigrants is ground enough to consider criminal investigations into the Biden administration. Noem is well aware of all of this and will be putting her energy into securing the homeland starting with the border.
Americans have witnessed tragedy after tragedy like the murder of nursing student Laken Riley and the killing of Travis Wolfe and they have had enough. America will be made safer with mass deportations and the closing of the southern border.
A federal judge has banned eight Capitol protestors from entering Washington, DC, without his permission in a decision on Friday after Trump floated the idea of inviting protestors to the Capitol.
US District Judge Amit Mehta covers most of the protestors whose sentences Trump commuted and who did not receive a full pardon.
The order read, "The court hereby amends the conditions of supervised release … to include the following special conditions. You must not knowingly enter the District of Columbia without first obtaining the permission from the Court,” the decree says, with an identical prohibition against setting foot in “the United States Capitol or onto surrounding grounds."
Judge Mehta President Barack Obama and also serves as a panelist on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court which is the same court that has been rubberstamping the mass surveillance of the American people.
This decision is likely to set up a battle between Trump and the D.C. judges who are determined to flout Trump's pardons of the J6 protestors.
The news that Trump had granted sweeping pardons and sentence commutations to the Jan. 6th protestors sent progressives into a howling rage at the news that Trump was really going to end the unjust imprisonment of political prisoners.
In all, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who participated in the protest, many of whom committed no crime and were merely attending the protest.
Leftist prosecutors attempted to hit innocent protestors with obstruction charges which were overturned by the Supreme Court but it still took Trump winning the presidency and issuing pardons to free innocent conservative protestors.
There were a further 14 protestors whose sentences weren’t fully wiped away, but Trump has made it clear that those cases also could “go to a full pardon," which seems likely considering this decision from Judge Mehta barring protestors from attending events at the Capitol.
When Trump was asked about hosting protesters, Trump said, "I don’t know. I’m sure that they probably would like to. I did them something important, but what they did is they were protesting a crooked election. I mean, people understand that also, and they were treated very badly. Nobody’s been treated like that. So I’d be open to it, certainly. I don’t know of anything like that, but I think they’re going to meet with some of the congresspeople — congressmen, -women want to meet [them], but I’d certainly be open to it."
Trump isn't backing down on the January 6th protestors and is holding strong on his promises to protect them and give them justice for the last four years of injustice that they have faced.
Those who protested at the Capitol on January 6th all those years ago have faced unspeakable civil rights violations with some alleging that physical abuse was common.
There have been allegations of physical abuse, retaliation, and deprivation of food and heat, in a squalid D.C. jail where some defendants were housed for extended periods without charges.
Most concerning is the strong evidence that many protestors were pressured to confess to crimes they didn't commit. It will be up to Trump and his new Department of Justice to untangle this mess and hold bad actors in the justice system accountable.
Pretty much anyone who was paying attention during and after the 2020 election knows the media suppressed stories about the Hunter Biden laptop that broke just before the election.
Two former top Politico reporters admitted on a podcast this week that their ex-employer participated in the suppression, killing stories that were negative to Biden and telling reporters not to write them.
Marc Caputo, now with Axios, and Tara Palmeri, now with Puck, discussed the circumstances on Palmeri's "Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast earlier in the week.
Caputo acknowledged that the press has lost much of the public trust it had, giving the laptop story as an example.
“Politico did that terrible, ill-fated headline: 51 intelligence agents, or former intelligence agents, say that the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation, or bore the hallmarks of disinformation. Turns out that story was closer to disinformation because the Hunter Biden laptop appeared to be true,” he observed.
Caputo jumped in to say that it wasn't just Politico; Facebook and Twitter censored stories about the laptop and even shut down the New York Post's account for a week to keep the October surprise from getting out to a wider audience.
“I was covering Biden at the time, and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to write about the Hunter Biden laptop,’" he said. "And I was told this came from on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop. And the only thing Politico wound up writing was that piece that called it disinformation, which charitably could be called misinformation, at the least.”
“Yeah, I mean, I had a hard time — you know I wrote some pretty serious reporting on Hunter Biden, which actually ended up getting him prosecuted — the story on the gun” replied Palmeri.
Palmeri said she spent three months--during the Biden transition and the beginning of his presidency--investigating the laptop story, but got very little interest in publishing it because Politico's higher-ups didn't want to hurt Biden during the "honeymoon period."
"I had everything, you know, the police reports, every, like, you know, I’m a solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have been published a little quicker if it was a different type of story,” Palmeri mused.
Caputo then said he pursued a story in 2019 about the tax lien on Hunter Biden's work for Burisma, but got nowhere with it at the time.
“That story was killed by the editors, and they gave no explanation for that either,” he said. “So that general experience, you know, obviously the public doesn’t know about those things, but as a reporter having witnessed the way in which the two candidates-”
“We just get called, like, ‘the terrible mainstream media.’ It’s like you don’t understand the process there,” Palmeri put in.
“Well, you also don’t understand the dumb decisions of cowardly editors that are made above us,” Caputo agreed.
As early as February 1st, President Trump's team is considering imposing a 10% tariff on China, according to Trump's statements, as Reuters reported.
“We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” the president said, speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday evening. “Probably Feb. 1 is the date we’re looking at,” he added.
The addictive synthetic opioid fentanyl causes tens of thousands of U.S. overdose deaths each year.
Washington and Beijing have agreed to collaborate on reducing illicit drug supplies, primarily generated in China and Mexico.
Trump reported a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday over fentanyl and trade. The Chinese statement said Xi advocated for collaboration and positive economic relations between the two countries.
China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang reported that a trade war has no winners at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday (official translation). He urged international support for “economic globalization” and “distribute it better.”
The offshore Chinese yuan rose before falling to 7.2796 per dollar.
Leading Chinese state-run and financial media ignored the planned tariffs and focused on other Trump announcements, including his EU tariff threat.
China trades most with the U.S. Official data from Wind Information shows China's dollar imports from the U.S. dipped 0.1% last year while exports rose 4.9%.
In 2024, China's trade surplus with the U.S. was $361 billion, up from $316.9 billion in 2020, Trump's last full year.
The White House hiked duties on Chinese goods to stimulate imports and address U.S. firms' worries in China. Beijing reacted with its own duties.
“If the US imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on China and China responded in kind, US GDP would be $55 billion less over the four years of the second Trump administration, and $128 billion less in China,” the U.S.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics said in a Jan. 17 report.
On Tuesday, Trump mentioned that his team was discussing the possibility of imposing a tariff of "approximately 25%" on Mexico and Canada.
He made similar comments the day before, saying that taxes on Mexico and Canada may be implemented as soon as February.
“We’re thinking in terms of 25% (levies) on Mexico and Canada, because they’re allowing a vast number of people” over the border, he said on Monday.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump vowed to impose tariffs of more than 60% on commodities from China. According to a post on his social media network Truth Social, he advocated for "an additional 10% Tariff" on China as late as November.
Despite every indication to the contrary, it seems that President Donald Trump's detractors believe he's just a few bad bites away from dropping dead of a heart attack.
This belief began to be circulated in 2015 when the now (again) president's personal habits became part of the national discussion.
Among other things, Trump is a huge fan of McDonald's burgers, fast food, and Diet Coke. He also does not take his exercise regimen seriously.
It seems apparent that Trump's unwell-wishers are mostly projecting due to wishful thinking, but the "evidence" for the junk food-loving, 5-hour-a-night sleeping president has been raised over and over again.
Last year, first lady Melania Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the president's nominee for health secretary, were reportedly "ganging up" on Trump to push him to eat a more healthy diet, according to The Daily Mail.
Included in their alleged insistences were him substituting lean protein for some of his current diet, as well as salads and more vegetables.
Some of Trump's former aides have also testified about Trump's McDonalds order of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish and a chocolate milkshake, which comes to a whopping 2,430 calories.
However, no matter what is being said about the current leader of the free world, he seems to have unmatched energy.
On Monday, at the age of 78 and 220 days, Trump became the oldest person to ever be inaugurated as president, outpacing Biden's age during the 2020 inauguration by about 5 months.
However, his ongoing comparison to Biden seems to have benefited him on the campaign trail, as Biden, now 82, seemed to struggle to stay awake frequently while serving his term over the last few years.
But the standoff with the last administration wasn't relegated to Biden. Despite being 18 years her senior, he challenged Kamala Harris to a cognitive test on X in October of last year.
This was several months after Harris, the former vice president, took over the Democratic ticket following a primary season in which she never received a single vote.
During his challenge, Trump told his supporters that Harris had been "slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions."
While Trump didn't do any tricks beyond the standard at his swearing-in, he also didn't shuffle the way Biden has been seen doing over the past few years, and it seems that is enough to anger his detractors, pushing the narrative about his health and age.
For the fashion-conscious, First Lady Melania Trump stole some of the limelight at her husband's inauguration ceremony by wearing a stylish outfit designed by American craftsmen.
Melania wore a double-breasted navy coat by American designer Adam Lippes and a matching boater hat by American milliner Eric Javits.
“The tradition of the presidential inauguration embodies the beauty of American democracy and today we had the honor to dress our first lady, Mrs. Melania Trump,” Lippes said in a statement. “Mrs. Trump’s outfit was created by some of America’s finest craftsmen and I take great pride in showing such work to the world.”
With her outfit, she wore black gloves for warmth and her signature Manolo Blahnik stilettos.
It was the fourth-coldest Inauguration Day on record with a high of 27 degrees, and incoming President Donald Trump decided to hold the swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda rather than outdoors as is traditional.
Ronald Reagan's 1985 swearing-in had a high of only seven degrees, while Ulysses S. Grant's inauguration in 1987 had a high of 16 degrees and John F. Kennedy Jr.'s in 1961 was 22 degrees.
Reagan's inauguration was also held indoors, as was William Taft's 1909 ceremony due to 10 inches of snow in D.C. that day.
With the president being a senior citizen at 78 and several other lawmakers in attendance in their 80s, it was probably a good idea to avoid standing around for hours in sub-freezing temperatures.
It was still necessary for the Trumps, Vances, Bidens and others to dress warmly as they walked from outside to the Rotunda.
Second Lady Usha Vance wore a light pink jacket with suede ivory gloves and Manolo Blahnik boots. The designer of her outfit was not known, but she has favored designers like Oscar de la Renta and Sergio Hudson in the past.
Outgoing First Lady Jill Biden wore a royal blue jacket and dress by Ralph Lauren, where Lippes got his start before developing his own line.
Her heels matched the coat and dress.
Everyone seemed cordial during the swearing in of Trump, putting aside any hostility that had been previously expressed and showing Americans that the transfer of power was peaceful and gracious.
Biden can now get some much-needed rest, and the country will be in good hands under Trump.
Journalist and producer Elizabeth Nissen, best known for her work with ABC News in the 1990s, died at home on January 7, three days after her 71st birthday, according to her family.
Nissen started at ABC News in 1986, and her best work was on "Nightline" and "World News Tonight."One of the most famous stories she covered was Princess Diana's death in 1997.
She won an Emmy for her news coverage at ABC News in 1998.
She also worked on "NewsNight" at CNN, "Nova Science Now" on WGBH, and in print media in the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek.
She co-founded and was senior producer for NBC Learn, the educational division of NBC News.
Nissen also taught writing and journalist at Columbia University and the University of Michigan.
"A lifelong reader, learner, and teacher, Beth was passionate about communicating information in a relatable way. She prepared her students to be critical thinkers, and helped teachers improve methods and techniques for more effective instruction," her obituary read.
Her obituary further remembered her for “her wit, her knowledge, her compassion and her nurturing of friendships through extensive personal correspondence.”
It also said she was a caregiver who was an active member of her local Rotary Club and “The Adelphies” group at the 1st Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor.
Nissen was one of seven siblings.
She was predeceased by her parents and one brother, but is survived by her other five siblings.
She didn't have any children of her own, but was adored by her nine nieces and nephews.
No cause of death was given for her family, and her obituary said she requested not to have a memorial service.
She suggested that those who knew her meet in smaller groups of colleagues, friends, and family members to remember her and share stories about her.
In the aftermath of a ceasefire deal between the terrorist organization Hamas and Israel, it turns out President-elect Donald Trump was the key force behind getting the deal done after over a year of war.
The deal went into effect Sunday morning with Hamas agreeing to release 33 Israeli hostages in return for other hostages held by Israel. Multiple deals have failed and the Biden administration has repeatedly failed to bring the war to any meaningful end.
However, with Trump set to be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, he fulfilled a promise to bring hostilities to a close before assuming office after Biden failed multiple times.
New York Times columnist David Brooks commented on Trump's role in getting a deal done saying, "I do think it was Donald Trump’s pressure that really sealed the deal, because Israel had to swallow a lot for this deal."
He continued explaining, "They’re trading away a few hostages, some of them dead, in exchange for terrorists, a lot of them. And so, Israel didn’t want to do that."
The devastating war between Israel and Hamas is over for the time being but it did cost Israel as they had to give up a substantial number of hostages to get their people back.
The war has been raging since the horrific October 7th, 2023, attack that saw hundreds of terrorists break into Israel leading to the massacre and rape of civilians. Israel hit Hamas with unflinching vengeance but the war dragged out far longer than expected with terrible losses on both sides.
According to figures from the Hamas-controlled Gazan health ministry, the death toll was at 46,913 as of Saturday before the ceasefire took effect.
The Gazan health ministry claimed that a further 110,750 people had been wounded. Of course, these figures are from Hamas which has waged a propaganda war against Israel so it can be assumed that those numbers are inflated.
Of course, it is still reasonable to assume that a portion of those deaths and wounded are accurate meaning that thousands have died since the war began.
While Israel's losses are far less than even the most conservative estimates of Hamas's losses, Israel has still suffered tremendously from this war. The damage to Israel's tourist industry and the financial costs have crippled the nation and they will need years to recoup their losses.
Trump has major plans for his 2nd term in the White House and achieving a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was on that list. Now Trump will be able to shift his focus to the war between Russia and Ukraine that Biden has been unable to end.
That conflict could be potentially more difficult to solve but Trump has made ambitious promises about quickly ending that war that has killed thousands and cost the U.S. billions in aid sent to Ukraine.
Should Trump manage to quickly end the war in Eastern Europe, it will be the ultimate humiliation for his predecessor who sat by while these wars raged and cost the lives of thousands.