Author: William Shoukri

At 79 years old, Donald Trump is the oldest person ever to be inaugurated president. Yes, that’s right: in a role almost solely occupied by men aged 60 or older, Trump is the oldest to have been inaugurated.

While losing cognitive ability is not a joke, and certainly not something to be made light of or even analyzed, most people are not the leader of the ‘free world’.

Being the President of the United States means you are no longer just another person; you’re arguably the world’s most powerful public figure.

Society must hold the president to a higher standard.

In this article, we’re going to list as many examples as possible of statements and behaviour made and exhibited by Donald Trump that lead us to believe that the president is in full cognitive decline, and should be sitting at home with his family, not running America.

An expert opinion

Dozens of experts have given their take on Trump’s mental state. Harry Segal, a senior lecturer for the psychology department at Cornell, gave his thoughts on the signs and symptoms displayed by DJT.

“Trump has shown evidence of dementia for the past year, as indicated by his strange gait, phonemic paraphasia—when he begins a word and can’t finish it—and decline in the complexity of his words and concepts. This limited capacity explains his poor debate performance, but there are two more disturbing signs of his decline.”

He cited a few specific moments, including: “[In October] he got cognitively lost in a rally and began to talk about the ‘eight circles’ that Biden filled up with journalists. No one on his staff has been able to explain the reference.”

Examining behaviour

It’s not hard to find a myriad of examples of Trump exhibiting concerning behaviour. We’re going to take a look at some of the grossest examples.

A month ago, Trump claimed that he had halted a “nuclear” war between Iran and Pakistan, a conflict that does not exist.

On October 16, Trump told a group of reporters outside the White House that he had prevented Iran and Pakistan from descending into a nuclear conflict that would have ‘devastated the world’.

“If you look at Pakistan and Iran, I told them I was in the midst of negotiating a trade deal with… Iran and Pakistan was gonna be in line… And I said during one of my conversations, ‘Are you guys gonna go to war, two nuclear powers?’ I said, ‘Here’s the deal. You go to war, I’m gonna put a 200 percent tariff [on you both]. I’m gonna stop you from doing any business in the United States.’”

Firstly, Iran and Pakistan have never been in conflict. One must assume the president meant to say India. Still, it’s a mistake that most presidents would have been publicly shamed for.

The kicker? Pakistan credited the U.S. with helping secure a ceasefire, but the Indian government strongly disagrees, denying that the president helped ‘in any way’ in establishing the ceasefire agreement.

On the topic of made-up conflicts, Trump also insisted that he had “solved” an imaginary conflict between Cambodia and Armenia—two nations 4,000 miles apart.

Let’s make this fact-check abundantly clear: Cambodia and Armenia have never fought a war.

Trump made the absurd claim at the American Cornerstone Institute’s Founders’ Dinner on Sept 20, 2025. While standing at the podium, rambling about how he should have won the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump said, “Cambodia and Armenia, it was just starting, and it was a bad one. Think of that.”

Cambodia did have a scuffle with Thailand the previous week, and, of course, Armenia has been in a long battle with Azerbaijan —so there is a string to connect these countries with. Still, this would be front page news during the Biden administration.

Speaking of Azerbaijan, Trump didn’t forget to mention it as well. The Don has twice mistaken the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict this past fall.

The president has continually mistaken Armenia for Albania, and now even the world leaders are laughing at his memory loss. On the topic of the conflict, Trump offered his unprompted comments,

“I think that we settled Aber-baijan and Albania,”

Yes… he mispronounced the country as well. He continued by saying, “It was going on for years. It was never going to be settled… If you remember the prime minister and the presidents, they were there for many years. When they were in my office, we settled.”

To his credit, the U.S. has been credited as being a key contributor to the agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Still, you’d think Trump would be able to remember, considering he hosted both world leaders in the Oval Office just a month before this embarrassing blunder.

To add insult to injury, multiple leaders then ridiculed Trump at the Copenhagen summit on October 2. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was caught poking fun at Trump with French President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

“You should make an apology … to us because you didn’t congratulate us on the peace deal that President Trump made between Albania and Azerbaijan,” Rama told Macron. President Ilham Aliyev then burst out laughing.

Trump managed to forget House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ name just a day after meeting with him to discuss avoiding a government shutdown.

Speaking to reporters, Trump discussed his talks with “Chuck Schumer, who was here yesterday, along with… uhh, the, a very nice gentleman who I didn’t really know. You know who I’m talking about.”

We know who he was talking about… did he?

Trump has confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi.

The only thing that links these Haley and Pelosi is Trump’s feelings, and their gender, but a mix-up has occurred.

Trump claimed, regarding the Jan. 6 riot that, “Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people,”

Nikki Haley was in charge of absolutely nothing on January 6, 2021.

Trump invented a fake senator, Kristi Whitman/Whitmer

This one is especially concerning. In August 2025, Donald Trump confused every single reporter in the Oval Office after going on a rant about ‘Kristi Whitman,’ a person who does not exist.

“You know, I did a favor for Kristi Whitman… Whitmer… Kristi Whitmer.” After a moment of confused silence the president plodded on, ““A good favor, I think. With the fish, the carp, the China carp—you ever hear of it? China carp, it’s taking over your Great Lakes.”

The president glanced around the room of shocked faces before nodding to himself, seemingly satisfied with what he had just said.

It’s possible the president meant Gretchen Whitmer, Christine Todd Whitman, Chris Christie, or even Kristi Noem, whom he called Kristi Kerr a few weeks earlier.

My money would be on Whitmer, since she is the only Governor responsible for a Great Lake

Names are tough, apparently.

Trump told reporters—not once, but twice—that he was “going to Russia on Friday.” – August, 2025

In reality, the president was headed to Alaska for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This is a tragic emergency, and it’s embarrassing for me to be up here,” Trump told reporters.

He continued to say, “You know, I’m going to see Putin. I’m going to Russia on Friday. I don’t like being up here, talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once-beautiful capital [is].”

The White House had to quickly retract the statement, and Trump himself clarified the fact on Truth Social hours later.

Trump tells TIME that he ordered Israeli attacks in the fall of 2024

During the October 23 interview, TIME’s reporter brought up attacks committed by Israel against the Lebanese group Hezbollah (a group funded by Iran, Syria, Lebanese diaspora, and in parts by Israel itself). Broaching the topic sparked Trump to blurt out a ‘fact’ that took the interviewer by surprise:

“All of those attacks were done under my auspices, you know, with Israel doing the attacks—with the pagers and all that stuff,” Trump, who was not the president at the time, but in the midst of his campaign against Joe Biden, told TIME. “They let me know everything [happening],”

He then added that “And sometimes I’d say no—and they’d be respectful of that.”

Trump is either insinuating that he was a decision-maker for the Israeli government in 2024, or that he was president at the time.

Trump mixes up Kristi Noem with pro golfer

As mentioned earlier Trump has mistook Kristi Noem before, with a golfer.

In August, Trump called Kristi Noem ‘Christie Kerr’, a female pro golfer while thanking a myriad of GOP politicians.

“I want to recognize several members of the task force, including our great Vice President JD Vance. JD, thank you very much. Thank you. Our equally great Attorney General Pam Bondi. Pam, thank you very much, Pam. Secretary of Homeland Security Cristie Kerr,”

This time, Trump caught himself right away,

“Cristie Kerr, do you know who Cristie Kerr is?” he said, as Vance and others on stage laughed. “She’s a friend of mine. Great golfer.”

Noem seemed unfazed by the moment.

Quantico ramblings

We’re not even going to break down Trump’s unfocused, rambling speech addressing hundreds of America’s military generals and admirals assembled in Quantico, Va. If you’re interested, watch it; it has more content than we can disseminate here.

The generals could be seen wide-eyed and visibly concerned as the president ranted.

A cognitive test

In April 2025, Donald Trump completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a basic test used to gauge whether an elderly person’s cognitive ability has begun to decline.

The test asks respondents to draw a clock with a specific time, identify pictures of animals, remember a series of words, and count backwards by a specific number. According to the creators of the test, it is meant to detect mild cognitive impairment as early as possible, not to measure intelligence or IQ.

“It’s a very, very low bar for somebody who carries the nuclear launch codes in their pocket to pass and certainly nothing to brag about,”

Trump reportedly scored a perfect 30/30 score, which he took the time to brag about like it was the LSATS:

“One of the doctors said he’s almost never seen a perfect score. I had a, had a perfect score. I had the highest score. And that made me feel good,”

“There aren’t a lot of people in this room that would get every single question right, I can guarantee you.”

Then he decided to compare himself to some Democrats,

“Have [Ocasio-Cortez] pass the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed. Those are very hard—they’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against Trump.”

In a legendary Fox News interview, Trump also explained how he had aced the test. “It’s like, you’ll go, ‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’ So they’d say, ‘Could you repeat that.’ So I said, ‘Yeah. So it’s person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’

The average toddler can identify pictures of common animals, and most children learn to read an analog clock around age 6 or 7, according to The New York Times.

But hey, it’s still impressive, right?

“It’s actually not that easy. But for me it was easy,”.

Again, experts estimate that the test should be easily aced by any 12-year-old, but don’t take their word for it; check out the test yourself here. The toughest section for the president may have been the ‘serial subtraction’ (also known as skip counting), which most American children learn in third grade. It’s also important to note that this test takes no more than 10 minutes to complete.

Trump is the first American president to openly admit to a cognitive assessment.

“It’s a very, very low bar for somebody who carries the nuclear launch codes in their pocket to pass and certainly nothing to brag about,” Jonathan Reiner told The Washington Post. Reiner is a professor at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and a cardiologist.

Some purposeful statements?

Now, beside this list of examples, Trump has also been consistently ‘misremembering’ a key fact: who the president was in 2020.

Trump and his administration have made at least five statements implying that Trump was not the president in 2019-2020 over the last two months.

Trump is claiming that Joe Biden was responsible for a slew of controversies during that period, including COVID-19, the Jan. 6 riots, the deficit, the 2020 census, and school closures related to COVID-19.

Of course, Trump was either directly or indirectly responsible for all of those points.

This feels purposeful and pointed. These examples are not cognitive decline or a memory issue; these examples are purposeful manipulation.

Either the president is in cognitive decline and remembers little over the last four years, or he’s openly trying to manipulate the American public. We’re not sure which is worse.

Trump has granted a «full and complete pardon» to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is currently in a US prison for drug-trafficking and weapons offences, according to his attorney Renato Stabile, as reported by CNN.

I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly,

Hernández is serving a 45-year sentence after being convicted in March 2024 for accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect US-bound cocaine shipments belonging to traffickers he once publicly proclaimed to combat. Hernández was sentenced in June.

Pardoning a narco-king

The pardon comes after Donald Trump has publicly cracked down on drug-smugglers from Venezuela.

Over the last month, Donald Trump has threatened airstrikes on Venezuela and deported thousands of people to El Salvador under the guise of a war against ‘drug-smuggling’.

So if Trump is so focused on stopping drug trafficking, why is he pardoning one of the most notorious political drug traffickers of the 21^st century?

Supporting political entities

Trump’s pardoning of Hernàndez is part of a larger mission to endorse political candidate Tito Asfura, a right-wing presidential candidate.

Honduras has been run by Xiomara Castro since 2021, a leader who has created close ties with Venezuela and Cuba, two countries that Trump has criticized and called ‘dictatorships’.

Recently, Castro has been leaning towards a left-wing stance, something Trump wants no part of.

In comes Asfura, a candidate virtually tied in the polls against the left-wing and centrist parties. Hondurans went to the polls on November 30 in a presidential election whose outcome remains uncertain after a slow and unstable virtual vote count was suspended.

Whoever wins will govern Honduras from 2026 to 2030, but experts are wary that multiple candidates will claim victory on election night.

Multiple organizations have raised concerns about Honduras’s electoral process. The election will be monitored carefully by the Organization of American States and by Washington.

Trump’s post

Trump’s rambling post on Truth Social had a couple of gems, including what may just be a new term: narcocommunists

Tito and I can work together to fight the Narcocommunists and bring needed aid to the people of Honduras.

He made it clear in his post that he believes his candidate, Asfura, has the popular vote, but that corruption can always happen (2020 election, anyone?).

Normally, the smart people of Honduras would reject her, and elect Tito Asfura, but the Communists are trying to trick the people by running a third Candidate, Salvador Nasralla. Nasralla is no friend of Freedom.

Hernàndez’s attorney commented after Trump’s announcement.

We are so grateful to President Trump and everyone who supported President Hernandez. We believe he was the victim of lawfare and a political prosecution. A great injustice has been righted and we are so hopeful for the future partnership of the United States and Honduras.

-Attorney Renato Stabile

It is not clear when Hernandez will return to his country, but it should happen expeditiously.

In a move that has left some fans of Mark Carney turning their heads in confusion, the Canadian Prime Minister just inked a deal with one of the most controversial countries in the world: the U.A.E.

“We welcome U.A.E. investors to visit Canada — I will personally host them — to explore investment in Canada’s transformative projects,”

Mark Carney wrapped up his visit to Abu Dhabi before the weekend with a surprising announcement: that he had received the funding for his minerals processing project. The only kicker? It’s coming from a country allegedly funding war crimes in Sudan.

Critical minerals processing

The goal of the funding is Carney’s new critical minerals processing facility in Canada, and the initial investment will be just over $1bn.  

“[It] will expand critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, creating jobs, boosting [the] long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies and advanced manufacturing. More on that soon,”

Carney said the new project will further Canada’s economic growth, and that Canada is already “a global leader in AI, in quantum and life sciences. And we realize it’s time to begin to commercialize these strengths, for the benefit of humanity,”

Seeking trade expansion

The decision comes as Canada’s economy is struggling due to the trade war inflicted by Donald Trump. While neither the Canadian government nor the U.A.E. foreign ministry has confirmed where the rest of the reported $70bn will be invested, media reports have suggested the investments will be spread out, including into industries like energy, mining, and AI.

In a speech on Friday, the PM said he is “very confident” that Canada and the U.A.E. can more than double their trade in less than a decade.

He also included that Canada and the U.A.E. are ‘aligned’ as trading nations and ‘energy superpowers’ that are going green. That is the comment that sparked feelings in many of his supporters.

U.A.E. and Sudan

To insinuate that Canada and the U.A.E. are aligned in any way has struck a chord with people all over Canada.

Carney didn’t touch on this when he said that “To the uninitiated, Canada and the U.A.E. can appear as different as snow and sand, yet we’re deeply, deeply aligned.”

“Deeply deeply aligned”

Should Canada and the U.A.E. be deeply aligned?

According to human rights groups, the Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF) is committing a genocide in Darfur in western Sudan, while fighting a civil war with Sudan’s military rulers.

Carney claimed that “We did discuss the situation in Sudan,” but refused to go into detail.

U.S. President Donald Trump bought at least $82 million in corporate and municipal bonds from late August to early October, financial disclosures made public on Saturday showed.

Investments include bonds from sectors benefiting from his policies.

According to a release by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Donald Trump made 175 individual purchases of corporate stock between August and October 2025.

The release did not outline the value of each individual purchase, but the maximum total value of the bond purchases exceeded $337 million, according to the filings.

What did he buy?

Trump purchased stock in several industries, including sectors that are currently, or have benefited from his legislation in the past.

Donald Trump purchased offerings from several microchip manufacturers, including Qualcomm and Broadcom; retailers such as CVS Pharmacies and Home Depot, the tech company Meta, and multiple Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Trump also purchased millions of dollars ‘ worth of investment bank JPMorgan’s debt.

The most glaring example of corruption was Trump’s purchase of Intel stock, a company that the US government acquired a stake in under Trump’s directive.

No comment from the White House

The White House has not yet commented on the apparent corruption, and continues to claim that Trump has continued to file disclosures about his investments, but that neither he nor his family has a role in running the portfolio.

A disclosure filed in August shows that Trump’s portfolio has purchased more than $100 million in bonds since his return to the Oval Office.

In his annual disclosure for the year 2024, Trump reported more than $600 million in income from cryptocurrencies, golf properties, licensing and other business ventures.

It is estimated that cryptocurrency is now the most significant source of Donald Trump’s fortune. Reuters estimates Trump’s net worth to be at least $1.6 billion.

At least 120 people, including 100 police officers, were injured on Saturday in Mexico City.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest violent crime and President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government.

Sheinbaum’s administration claims the protests were organized by ‘Gen Z’ groups incited by recent high-profile killings, including the assassination just weeks ago of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, who had called for tough action against cartels.

Storming the Capitol

Protesters broke down barriers protecting the National Palace, where Sheinbaum lives. Police protecting the compound used tear gas on the crowds.

Mexican authorities arrested 20 people for crimes including robbery and assault against police officers.

Protesters were seen wearing shirts and holding signs saying “We are all Carlos Manzo,” a Former Member of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies who was assassinated on November 1.

Manzo was an outspoken critic of organized crime syndicates in Mexico and worked to lessen the control cartels have on the Mexican economy.

“He was killed because he was a man who was sending officers into the mountains to fight delinquents,” said one protester. “He had the guts to confront them.”

The protests outside Sheinbaum’s residence began peacefully, but eventually escalated, with demonstrators throwing rocks and police responding with batons and shields.

Pablo Vázquez, the security chief for Mexico City, made a statement to the media.

“For many hours, this mobilisation proceeded and developed peacefully, until a group of hooded individuals began to commit acts of violence,”

Vázquez also confirmed that 100 police officers were injured, 40 of whom required treatment at a hospital. Twenty protesters were also injured in the demonstration. Nobody was severely injured.

Violent police

Footage of riot police kicking and punching protesters has spread on social media.

A journalist with La Jornada accused police of assaulting him as he attempted to cover the rally:

“[Camacho] was kicked while on the ground, with many of those kicks aimed at his face,” La Jornada reported.

Camacho also made a statement in the paper, claiming that “One officer … threatened to kill me,”

There were also reports of protests in Guadalajara, where 47 people were detained and 13 people injured, including three police officers, according to authorities.

Sheinbaum’s popularity

Claudia Sheinbaum became Mexico’s first female president in a landslide victory in June 2024.

Winning more than 58% of the vote, she won with more than a 30-point swing over her rival, Xóchitl Gálvez.

The protests come as a bit of a shock, as Sheinbaum still owns a 70% approval rating after a full year in office.

Sheinbaum claims the demonstrations were perpetrated and funded by right-wing politicians who oppose her government.

Sheinbaum has been acting against cartels, but has refrained from enacting a ‘war on drugs,’ which is what her constituents want.

President Sheinbaum has also been criticized for failing to halt the violence gripping the country and is now facing increased hostility from nearby countries. Earlier this month, Peru’s Congress voted to declare Sheinbaum a ‘persona non grata,’ making her unwelcome in the country after Mexico granted asylum to a former Peruvian prime minister facing charges for a 2022 coup attempt.

Gen Z revolts

This protest is another example of ‘Generation Z’ (people born between 1997 and 2012) taking political matters into their own hands. Just this year, Gen Z groups have organized protests in the US, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, and a half-dozen other countries.

The group behind the protests, “Generation Z Mexico,” has described itself in a viral manifesto as a non-partisan group representing young people fed up with violence, corruption, and concentration of power.

One of Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is facing threats to her safety after being shunned by the president because of her opinions on the Epstein files.

As a woman, I take threats from men seriously. I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.

-Marjorie Taylor Greene

Trump took to Truth Social to slam Greene after her comments on CBS on Friday morning. Greene called the president’s move to keep the files classified ‘misguided,’ and in return, Trump called her a ‘raving lunatic’ who had gone ‘far-left.’

Trump went on to say he would no longer be taking Greene’s calls.

Warnings for safety

On Saturday, Marjorie Taylor Greene told the media that she had been contacted by multiple private security firms with “warnings for my safety,” after death threats began circulating online.

Greene said in a statement on Twitter that, “a hotbed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world, the man I supported and helped get elected”.

She continued to say, “aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type of rhetoric being directed at me right now. This time, by the President of the United States.”

Though Greene did not specify which threats had been received by security companies, she said, “As a woman, I take threats from men seriously. I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.”

Unfair treatment

Greene outlined her thoughts on the matter:

“As a Republican, who overwhelmingly votes for President Trump‘s bills and agenda, his aggression against me which also fuels the venomous nature of his radical internet trolls (many of whom are paid), this is completely shocking to everyone.”

Very few Republicans have come out in support of Greene’s view on the Epstein files, and after seeing what she’s gone through, it’s doubtful Greene finds support amongst her own.

Trump has said all he’s heard from Greene lately is, “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” and that, “I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”

According to YouGov, MTG is still one of the most popular Republican Representatives.

Not the first to defect

For years, MAGA influencers and pundits shouted from the rooftops about the Epstein files. Trump himself ran on a platform promising to declassify them. It seemed that MAGA was on the same page about sex trafficking and pedophilia.

When Trump gained office in 2025, though, he immediately called the files a hoax. Since then, he has flip-flopped. Saying a variety of things about the Epstein files: They’re a hoax, they don’t exist, they’re boring old news anyway, or even that there’s nothing in the files at all!

One of the first MAGA celebrities to defect on the Epstein issue is Tucker Carlson, who has emerged as a far-right Trump critic.

Carlson had rejected every claim that the US government has stated, from Epstein’s cause of death to the declassification of the files.

Donald Trump has pulled a complete U-turn on the Epstein files and is now urging House Republicans to vote to release the infamous documents.

Yes, that’s right, after months of downplaying the files, and even going so far as calling them an ‘Obama hoax,’ Donald Trump is telling his caucus to vote to release the very same files that ‘don’t exist,’ because they have ‘nothing to hide.’

House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax.

You can’t make this stuff up.

‘Nothing to hide’

In a lengthy message posted to Truth Social just after 9 PM on Sunday, Donald Trump told House Republicans they should vote to release the Epstein files.

 “As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax.”

It’s a strange and sudden turn from his messaging over the last three months, in which Trump has repeatedly downplayed, or even outright refused to release, the files; sometimes getting visibly upset when reporters questioned him.

 Trump’s post on Truth continued to say that the issue was distracting from the ‘Great Success’ of his administration.

Trump also said that Republicans had already released documents, claiming, The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on “Epstein,” are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein.”

Trump apparently wants the GOP to get “BACK ON POINT,” and then prattled off a list of ‘accomplishments’.

A strange flip after commitment

The strange part here isn’t Donald Trump flipping on the Epstein issue: it’s not the first time it’s happened. Trump was elected on the wings of a promise to release the files.

What makes this hard to grasp is the timing. This statement came less than 48 hours after Donald Trump viciously shunned Marjorie Taylor Greene, after she doubled down on her stance on CBS.

All Greene said was that Trump’s decision to keep the files classified was a ‘miscalculation,’ and in response, Trump called her ‘a raving lunatic’ and claimed he would turn down all her calls.

MTG has been one of Trump’s most effective promoters over the last 10 years and is one of the most well-known Republicans in America. It raises the question, why cut ties with Greene just a day before switching your stance? Why break down the bridge instead of crossing it?

Maybe it was the emotional video released by the victims of Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday, urging Republicans to vote, or maybe there are political motivations.

Potential motivations

It’s always dangerous to try to break down Donald Trump’s decision-making. And it’s entirely possible we shouldn’t be trying to analyze the decisions of a man being forced to take cognitive assessments and MRIs by his doctor.

With all that in mind, though, it’s still hard to believe his decisions over the last three days all happened in vacuums. Has his unpopularity finally caused concern?

Over the last three months, dozens of articles have been published speculating on the future of the GOP and the MAGA movement. Currently, the Republican Party is acting as a personal extension of Donald Trump: the least popular president since Bush, and nobody knows what it will be after he’s gone.

Constitutionally, Donald Trump cannot run for president after the end of his term in 2028, meaning MAGA will need a new figurehead to fill the Trump-shaped hole in the GOP.

A party torn in half

The Epstein files and the budget that caused the government shutdown on October 1 have split Republican voters in half. On the one side, Donald Trump has created a voter base incapable of critical thought that will support him no matter what.

On the other side, you have Republican voters, the vast majority of whom are against sex trafficking, pedophilia, and government corruption. There are also more than 10 million Republican voters who rely on SNAP and Medicare, both of which Trump managed to slash in his latest funding bill.

It leaves the GOP with a question: go with the heir apparent, JD Vance, or shake up the party completely and try to find its way back to Republican values. Of course, donors may have more say than voters, and it might not matter what America thinks, anyway.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Wednesday he would bring the Epstein issue to the floor this week. To become law, the bill would also need to pass the GOP-controlled Senate and gain Trump’s signature.

Both Democrats and some Republicans have been backing legislation to release all the documents. Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the Epstein files Transparency Act, told the media on Sunday that as many as 100 Republicans could vote in favour of the bill.

On a day dominated by revelations about Jeffrey Epstein, one story is slipping through the cracks: Donald Trump is set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

President Trump looks forward to welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to the White House, where the two leaders will participate in an official working visit,

-White House official statement

Not only is Trump welcoming Salman, who came under global scrutiny after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but he’s pulling out all the stops and rolling out the red carpet.

“We’re more than meeting,” Trump said late Friday as he flew to Florida for the weekend. “We’re honoring Saudi Arabia, the Crown Prince.”

Cozying up to the Middle East

This is the second example in the last week of Trump repairing a bridge with someone who’s been accused of violent political crimes. Just days ago, Trump welcomed Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to the White House, a man America had labelled a ‘specially designated global terrorist’ until just a week ago.

Reportedly, Trump is inviting Salman to the White House to discuss the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements outlining diplomacy between Israel and a swath of countries in northern Africa and the Middle East.

“The Abraham Accords will be a part we’re going to be discussing. I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords fairly shortly.”

There are currently five signatories to the Abraham Accords:  Bahrain, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan.

The last time Crown Prince Salman was in the United States was 2018, just months before Jamal Khashoggi entered a Saudi consulate in Turkey, and was never seen again.

A CIA investigation found there was proof tying Crown Prince Salman to the murder, and that the most likely scenario was that he had ordered the killing. Salman has denied any connection to the murder.

Bridging barriers

With the meeting on Tuesday, it seems as though any tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia have dissolved. Donald Trump’s welcome ceremony will reportedly include military bands, a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and a black-tie dinner in the evening.

The event will be coordinated by First Lady Melania Trump, who is a rare sight at the White House. The First Lady splits her time between New York, Florida, and Washington, and is rarely pictured with the president. The last time they were photographed together was while handing out Halloween candy in the UK.

In May, Trump visited Saudi Arabia as the first state visit of his second term, where he was greeted with an elaborate ceremony that included a fighter jet escort, an honor guard with golden swords and a fleet of Arabian horses accompanying his limousine.

Before the May meeting, the Saudis promised to invest $600bn in the United States. Trump brought along several American executives with him on that trip and signed several agreements.

 There is also an added dynamic to this meeting: Trump’s personal financial stake in Saudi Arabia. The Trump Organization, run by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is involved in multiple significant real estate projects in Saudi Arabia. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also has substantial business ties to the country. Kushner’s investment fund, Affinity Partners, has raised billions of dollars in capital from Saudi Arabia.

Trump’s personal connections to Saudi Arabia have raised eyebrows and put the word corruption on the tongues of his critics, but this is just another example in a long line of thinly veiled corrupt behaviour.

At 5 PM EST, on November 17, the U.N. Security Council passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing the controversial plan to deploy an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza. The resolution is based on President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza proposal and includes a “Board of Peace” to supervise Gaza’s reconstruction and governance.

Regional pushback

The plan has sparked pushback from multiple nations, including Russia, China, Algeria, and multiple other Arab countries about the yet-to-be established board that would temporarily govern the territory and the lack of any transitional role for the Palestinian Authority..

Some UN representatives have critiqued that the resolution does not put a clear path into view for Palestinian independence. The plan was also missing a timeline for the retreat of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

“The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence,”

The plan does outline that once the ISF “establishes control and stability” in Gaza, Israel will remove its troops, but experts question the vague wording.

Critics are also wary of the idea of a Stabilization Force removing power from the Palestinian Authority.

A Hamas spokesman told Al Jazeera that the group rejects the presence of any foreign military personnel in Gaza, claiming it would be exchanging Israeli occupation for “foreign guardianship,” and nothing would change.

Israeli doubt

Many experts’ doubts stem from the simple fact that Israel signed onto this accord. The verbiage used in the plan seems to imply there is a pathway for a Palestinian State, but experts warn that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu would not have signed anything that jeopardizes Israel’s future in Palestine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly and publicly opposes Palestinian statehood and a Gaza governed by the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 69,483 Palestinians and wounded 170,706 since October 2023. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, and about 200 were taken captive.