In the spirit of the Christmas season, many departments of the Trump administration wished people a merry Christmas this week. And in most cases, they remembered to keep Christ at the center of the message.

In a video reposted by the Department of Labor, Fox News highlighted posts from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner.

‘Merry Christmas, America. We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior.’

The Department of Labor’s post was captioned, “Psalm 33:12. God Bless America.”

Psalm 33:12 reads: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X: “The joyous message of Christmas is the hope of Eternal Life through Christ. Wishing everyone a blessed holiday season filled with hope and peace.”

RELATED: ‘Terrorist scum’: Trump announces Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria in response to persecution of Christians

Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Rubio’s post included an illustration of the Nativity scene with the words of Isaiah 9:6 below.

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In a separate post, the Department of State wrote: “Wishing the American people a joyous and peaceful Merry Christmas.”

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“The Infinite has become an infant,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner wrote on X. “As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are reminded to adopt the humility, love of neighbor, and servant leadership that Christ embodied.”

Likewise, the Department of Homeland Security’s X account posted a short video of some of America’s beautiful landscapes with the caption, “Rejoice America, Christ is born!”

The DHS posted another video with nostalgic Christmas footage accompanied by the caption: “Merry Christmas, America. We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior.”

— (@)

In a humorous post, the Department of Energy posted an image of Santa Claus carrying a large sack of coal with the caption: “Merry Christmas! Coal isn’t just for the naughty this year.”

Earlier in December, the White House posted video of President Donald Trump saying: “With the birth of Jesus, human history turned from night to day. His word and his example call us to love one another, to serve one another, and to honor the sacred truth that every child is specially made in the image of God. Merry Christmas!”

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Earlier this month, two National Guardsmen and an interpreter were killed after they were ambushed in Syria.

On Wednesday, the remains of the two members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, were returned home to Iowa in a solemn Christmas Eve for their grieving families.

Both soldiers were posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.

The caskets of Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, and William Nathanial Howard, 29, were returned to Des Moines, Iowa, and greeted by their families on the tarmac.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R), and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn (R) joined senior leaders of the Iowa National Guard at the transfer ceremony, according to the Associated Press.

RELATED: Trump promises ‘big damage’ after 2 National Guard soldiers killed in Syrian ambush

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

The soldiers’ remains were first flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where President Donald Trump paid his respects and met with family members of the deceased.

The Independent reported that both soldiers were posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.

Following the attack, President Donald Trump promised “a lot of damage done to the people that did it.”

Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed in the attack. He was buried in Michigan over the weekend, the AP reported.

Citing the Iowa National Guard, the AP said that soldiers’ funerals will take place in the coming days.

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A Pennsylvania resident returned from grocery shopping to discover a “WANTED” flyer affixed to the resident’s vehicle.

The flyer, provided to Blaze News, features photographs of four Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and reads, “WANTED: ICE AGENTS TERRORIZING WORKING PEOPLE.”

‘ICE is focusing on the worst first through targeted enforcement. However, it is also a crime to live in this country illegally.’

It urged State College residents to share information about the federal officials, directing them to send details to a Proton Mail email address “if you see these ICE agents or have information about them.”

The flyer claimed that federal immigration officials “kidnapped 24 immigrant workers in State College [on] August 19.”

“THEY ARE ENEMIES OF WORKING PEOPLE AND ARE NOT WELCOME ANYWHERE IN OUR COMMUNITY,” it read. “SHARE WIDELY TO DEFEND IMMIGRANT WORKERS! DRIVE ICE OUT OF CENTRE COUNTY!”

It was unclear who created the flyer.

RELATED: Unruly anti-ICE protesters shut down NOLA city council meeting — police carry out activist

Image source: Anonymous tip

The Department of Homeland Security has reported a drastic uptick in assaults against ICE agents amid the rise of far-left activists attempting to doxx federal authorities.

The flyer’s mention of the August arrests appeared to refer to Enforcement and Removal Operations’ “targeted enforcement operation in Bellefonte,” according to a press release from ICE.

The agency noted that a suspected MS-13 gang member was among the 24 arrested as well as another individual with several criminal convictions, including for assault. Another seven individuals had final orders of removal, the agency reported.

RELATED: Los Angeles County Democrats vote to ban ICE from using masks — and the DOJ issues defiant response

Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

“ICE is focusing on the worst first through targeted enforcement. However, it is also a crime to live in this country illegally,” ERO Philadelphia Field Office Director Brian McShane stated about the arrests. “Knowing this, ICE has been empowered to vigorously search out, arrest, and remove anyone violating federal immigration law.”

During a press conference following news of the arrests, several immigrant rights groups claimed that many of those arrested were traveling to work at a construction site when they were detained.

The DHS did not respond to requests for comment.

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The media and conservative pundits may have buried the Department of Government Efficiency, but they have yet to carve a date of death on its tombstone. While DOGE in Washington may have appeared to insiders as a vanity project, voters saw it as a mandate — one that Republicans at the federal level have largely set aside in favor of politics as usual.

But activists have not forgotten. In red states across the country, they are still demanding accountability. And in Idaho, that pressure is finally producing results.

If Idaho can succeed and follow Florida’s lead, there is no serious reason other red states cannot do the same — unless they are prepared to admit they never intended to keep their promises.

For what appears to be the first time, state legislators serving on Idaho’s DOGE Task Force concluded their 2025 work with a meeting that departed from months of cautious, procedural discussion. Members asked harder questions, voiced long-simmering frustrations, and issued a recommendation that could reshape the state’s fiscal future: urging the full legislature to consider repealing Medicaid expansion, a costly policy that has drained taxpayers of millions.

Red states can’t stall forever

Idaho may not be Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ DOGE-style reforms have produced consistent wins for fiscal sanity and limited government. But it is doing more than other red states, such as North Dakota, where a DOGE committee stacked with Democrats predictably ignored the voters’ mandate.

The Idaho meeting exposed growing dissatisfaction with the task force’s approach. Over the summer and fall, the committee — charged with identifying inefficiencies — repeatedly deferred to state agencies for suggestions on cuts. Unsurprisingly those agencies offered little beyond cosmetic changes.

Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott (R-LD2, Blanchard) gave voice to that frustration. “What is the goal of this committee?” she asked, pressing colleagues to offer recommendations that actually matter. “Twenty thousand here, 50,000 there, or removing old code is not meaningful efficiency,” Scott said. Repealing Medicaid expansion, she argued, would be one of the “best decisions” the state could make.

Nibbling at the edges

Scott’s experience on the Idaho task force stands in stark contrast to the early federal DOGE efforts, which moved aggressively to slash U.S. Agency for International Development’s workforce, freeze fraudulent payments, and cancel billions in corrupt contracts. By comparison, Idaho’s task force had mostly nibbled at the edges. This recommendation marked its first serious step toward substantive reform.

Another revealing moment came from co-chairman state Sen. Todd Lakey (R-Nampa), who read a letter from a small-business owner offering health insurance to employees. Workers routinely request schedules capped at 20 to 28 hours per week to preserve Medicaid expansion benefits — even though full-time work would require only a modest contribution toward employer-provided coverage.

The result is a perverse incentive structure: businesses struggle to find full-time workers while taxpayers subsidize underemployment. The government fuels workforce shortages through welfare, then spends more taxpayer dollars trying to fix the shortages it created. This welfare-workforce vortex is the opposite of efficiency, and it is spreading nationwide.

The meeting’s most explosive moment came from state Rep. Josh Tanner (R-Eagle), who described Idaho’s Medicaid reimbursement structure as resembling “money laundering.”

Citing analysis from the Paragon Health Institute, Tanner explained how provider assessment fees allow states to inflate Medicaid spending to draw down larger federal matching funds, cycling the money back through enhanced payments. Paragon has described these arrangements as “legalized money laundering” — schemes that shift costs to federal taxpayers while enriching connected providers or funding unrelated priorities.

Nationally supplemental payments now exceed $110 billion annually, siphoning hundreds of billions from taxpayers over a decade.

RELATED: Turn off the money; they’ll leave: Elon Musk nails the border truth

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

DOGE’s second life

My sources tell me that hospital lobbyists went into panic mode after the meeting, urgently contacting Capitol officials to contain the fallout from Tanner’s remarks.

For the first time, the task force aired real frustrations, documented real harms, and named real abuses. That alone offers reason for cautious optimism.

Idaho now has committed conservatives in positions of influence. With the task force’s recommendation to revisit Medicaid expansion heading to the legislature, the state has an opportunity to govern as it campaigns — preserving liberty, restoring accountability, and expanding opportunity.

If Idaho can succeed and follow Florida’s lead, there is no serious reason other red states cannot do the same — unless they are prepared to admit they never intended to keep their promises in the first place.

​Doge, Elon musk, Red states, Usaid, Opinion & analysis, Idaho, Florida, Ron desantis, Spending cuts, Department of government efficiency, North dakota, Medicaid, Corruption, Waste fraud and abuse, Accountability, Opportunity 

Christians in Nigeria have faced increased persecution recently. President Trump has landed a major surprise blow against those responsible.

On Christmas Day, President Donald Trump announced a “powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”

‘The symbolism of doing this on Christmas should not be ignored.’

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.”

Trump’s post concluded, “May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”

RELATED: Rapper thanks Trump for defending Nigerian Christians; president threatens to ‘completely wipe out’ their jihadi attackers

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On X, War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the attack and the Nigerian government’s cooperation with the United States in facilitating the strike.

“The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The [Department of War] is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come… Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation. Merry Christmas!” Hegseth wrote.

Trump previously threatened to “do things in Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be happy about” and “go into that now disgraced country guns-a-blazing.”

Responding to the announcement, Fox News’ Peter Doocy said, “The symbolism of doing this on Christmas should not be ignored.”

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The young conservative movement is experiencing a notable leadership gap amid ongoing chaos in the online right-wing space. Sure, there are passionate influencers and rising political voices, but no one has fully stepped up to unify and guide the broader coalition with a commanding presence.

One person investigative journalist and BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo thinks might be able to step into the role, however, is Vice President JD Vance. But Rufo’s co-host Jonathan Keeperman isn’t sure Vance is up for the job either.

In this episode of “Rufo & Lomez,” the hosts debate whether JD Vance can step up as the unifying leader the conservative movement needs amid escalating chaos.

“I’ve been so far a bit surprised that the vice president hasn’t tried to step into this role,” says Rufo, arguing that Vance has both the “charisma” and the “authority” to effectively lead the movement.

“I’ve known JD over the years. … It does feel like he has some hesitation or maybe even some fear,” he adds.

While Keeperman agrees that Vance “has all of the tools and charisma and … the right talking points” to be an excellent leader, his role as the vice president would actually be a hindrance.

“I don’t think JD Vance should actually do that in his vice presidential position. Not right now. I think it’d be a bit presumptuous. I think people might kind of see it as him stepping in to sort of correct a situation that I think needs to just happen organically,” he counters.

For one, Vance’s position prohibits him from “[speaking] candidly about the administration.”

“Whoever is going to step into this role has to feel credible to this audience, and part of that credibility is going to come from just speaking honestly about all of these different things happening in this ecosystem — whether it’s the different personalities, the ideas, the sort of ideology that’s animating Trump but also the specific actions that the Trump administration is taking,” Keeperman explains.

In other words, the kind of leader people will follow needs to be an outsider who can speak brutal truths about the current administration, and Vance, as Trump’s right-hand man, can’t be that person.

Secondly, President Trump is still the top dog, Keeperman explains. For his VP to assume the authority of this role as the leader of the conservative movement “might not sit well inside of this coalition.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Rufo concedes. “We need some sort of native figure to step up in the same way that Charlie Kirk did, in the same way that Tucker had done.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

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