Managing Trump (tariffs & everything else): 1)Trump says comedian Colbert should be ‘put to sleep’; 2) A)trump message on ‘X’ to the scum left & B) Trump wishes ‘Radical Left Scum’ a Merry Christmas, tells kids he won’t let a ‘bad Santa’ infiltrate the U.S.; 3)Trump’s tariff war is voted as The Canadian Press News Story of the Year; 4)U.S. trips to Canada rise in October for first time in eight months: StatCan; 5)Takeaways from the U.S. Justice Department’s initial release of Epstein files, mandated by Congress
1)Trump says comedian Colbert should be ‘put to sleep’
By Courtesy CTV News and AFP, December 24, 2025
On the eve of Christmas, President Donald Trump has unleashed a fresh blast of vitriol at late-night comedy talk shows, saying comedian Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” who should be “put to sleep.”
Colbert’s “The Late Show” is scheduled to end in May 2026, a decision his fans say smacks of censorship.
In a late night Truth Social post, Trump wrote that Colbert “has actually gotten worse” since being “terminated by CBS, but left out to dry.”
“Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW,” Trump wrote.
Colbert has hosted the “The Late Show” since 2015 and it has been the highest-rated late night talk show on U.S. television. His opening monologues often take aim at the Republican president.
There was no immediate public response from Colbert or CBS to Trump’s post.
CBS announced the sunsetting of Colbert’s show after one more season in July, the same month its parent company reached a US$16-million settlement with Trump. CBS called the cancellation “a purely financial decision.”
Trump had sued Paramount, alleging that CBS News’ “60 Minutes” program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favour.
In another overnight post, Trump repeated threats to yank the broadcast licences of networks whose content he deemed overly critical.
“If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!”
On Sunday, CBS’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled a “60 Minutes” segment on alleged torture at El Salvador’s CECOT prison — where Trump sent hundreds of deported Venezuelans — saying it needed more reporting. [Note from Patricia: The segment played in Canada and is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiehEMlNiCI]
In August, Disney-owned ABC briefly suspended its late-night star, Jimmy Kimmel, before bringing him back on a one-year contract.
Kimmel had annoyed conservatives with comments in the wake of the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump appears to be aiming to reshape the U.S. media landscape, which he says is biased against conservatives.
His appointee to head the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, turned heads when he told a Congressional hearing that “the FCC is not formally an independent agency,” implying that his actions could justifiably be aligned with the political priorities of the White House.
2) Trump’s post on X and Story on Trump talking to kids at Christmas
Courtesy CTV News, and AFP
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly. We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement. What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401K’s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected. Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT
9:12 PM · Dec 24, 2025 – 42.1M Views
Trump wishes ‘Radical Left Scum’ a Merry Christmas, tells kids he won’t let a ‘bad Santa’ infiltrate the U.S.
By The Associated Press, Updated: December 24, 2025
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — U.S. President Donald Trump marked Christmas Eve by quizzing children calling in about what presents they were excited about receiving, while promising to not let a “bad Santa” infiltrate the country and even suggesting that a stocking full of coal may not be so bad.
Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the president and first lady Melania Trump participated in the tradition of talking to youngsters dialing into the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which playfully tracks Santa’s progress around the globe.
“We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa’s a very good person,” Trump said while speaking to kids ages 4 and 10 in Oklahoma. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Trump has often marked Christmases past with criticisms of his political enemies, including in 2024, when he posted, “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics.” During his first term, Trump wrote online early on Dec. 24, 2017, targeting a top FBI official he believed was biased against him, as well as the news media.
Shortly after wrapping up Wednesday’s Christmas Eve calls, in fact, he returned to that theme, posting: “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly.”
But Trump was in a jovial mood while talking with the kids. He even said at one point that he “could do this all day long” but likely would have to get back to more pressing matters like efforts to quell the fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
When an 8-year-old from North Carolina, asked if Santa would be mad if no one leaves cookies out for him, Trump said he didn’t think so, “But I think he’ll be very disappointed.”
“You know, Santa’s — he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side,” Trump joked. “I think Santa would like some cookies.”
The president and first lady Melania Trump sat side-by-side and took about a dozen calls between them. At one point, while his wife was on the phone and Trump was waiting to be connected to another call, he noted how little attention she was paying to him: “She’s able to focus totally, without listening.”
Asked by an 8-year-old girl in Kansas what she’d like Santa to bring, the answer came back, “Uh, not coal.”
“You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump replied, evoking a favored campaign slogan he’s long used when promising to revive domestic coal production.
“I had to do that, I’m sorry,” the president added, laughing and even causing the first lady, who was on a separate call, to turn toward him and grin.
“Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that, at all costs,” Trump said. “But you don’t want clean, beautiful coal, right?”
“No,” the caller responded, saying she’d prefer a Barbie doll, clothes and candy.
3)Trump’s tariff war is voted as The Canadian Press News Story of the Year
Source Canadian Press
By Craig Lord, Dec. 23, 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign against Canada — and the surge in patriotic zeal it inspired — have been voted The Canadian Press News Story of the Year.
Nearly two-thirds of editors and news directors surveyed from media organizations across the country picked the political and economic upheaval caused by Trump’s trade war as the most consequential story of 2025.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ momentous World Series run came in second place, followed by the spring federal election.
The tariff dispute’s far-reaching impact on Canadian politics, economy and national identity meant it dominated headlines throughout the year.
“There isn’t a single Canadian, I believe, who hasn’t felt the impact of the tariff war. It is the dominant story of 2025,” said Dan Charuk, an editor at Metroland Media Group in Hamilton, Ont.
Cracks between Canada and its largest trading partner started to spread following Trump’s re-election in late 2024. He promised during the election campaign to use tariffs to pay for his divisive agenda and rectify what he saw as the unfair treatment of the United States on a global scale.
The schism widened ahead of his inauguration in January as Trump continually called for Canada to become the “cherished 51st state.”
Trump delivered on his sweeping tariff threats in the ensuing months — but his ever-shifting deadlines often spread confusion over which products would be taxed, which would be exempt and when the tariffs would come into effect.
He fixed the Canadian and Mexican automotive, steel and aluminum industries in his crosshairs before imposing tariffs on China and other countries in April — the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs — as part of his bid to reshape the global system of trade.
The combative president’s return also transformed politics in Canada.
After former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation at the start of the year, former central banker Mark Carney handily secured the Liberal party leadership as he positioned himself as the best person to lead the nation through an unprecedented crisis.
Carney would use that momentum to carry the Liberals to a fourth straight electoral victory in April, defeating Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, who were widely seen as the government-in-waiting in late 2024.
In early April, Carney gave Canadians a stark assessment of Trump’s protectionist policies. The old era of deepening integration between Canada and the United States was over, he declared, calling for a new path forward that does not rely on U.S. market access.
But as tariffs were reshaping Canadian politics and threatening to upend the economy, another force was rumbling beneath the surface.
The response to Trump’s trade aggression and “51st state” talk was a surge in Canadian pride.
Polling throughout 2025 showed Canadians’ attitudes toward the United States, long viewed as a key ally, had soured.
“In our long history, nothing has damaged the long-standing friendship between Canada and the U.S. more than Trump’s approach to Canada,” said Dave Barry, news director at CFJC in Kamloops, B.C.
Consumers drove a “Buy Canadian” movement to hit back against tariffs, boycotted U.S.-made products and cancelled trips south of the border.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford donned a hat in January declaring “Canada is not for sale” — a clear rebuke to Trump.
“No Canadian takes kindly to a cross-check under the chin after the whistle. That’s what we got from Trump, and we responded just like we would on the ice,” said Metroland Media’s Glen Nott.
The phrase “elbows up” came to define Canada’s cultural response to U.S. aggression. Carney would adopt the mantra as his election campaign message. Poilievre, meanwhile, has since accused the Liberals of putting their elbows down by dropping counter-tariffs and agreeing to other U.S. demands.
Trade talks between Canada and the United States stalled in October after Trump took offence at an Ontario ad campaign that quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan speaking against tariffs.
Carney has said Canada is ready to talk when Trump is, but the prime minister has downplayed the need to get a swift deal.
Instead, he channelled anxieties about economic disruption into a fall federal budget that deepened annual deficits and pivoted government spending toward productive capital investments. Carney also announced plans to ramp up defence spending to meet Canada’s NATO commitments and regularly travelled overseas to deepen trade ties outside North America.
With the southern market closing up, Canada’s premiers looked inward and started making progress on removing long-standing interprovincial trade barriers to offset the U.S. tariff impact.
Canada’s economy took a sharp hit in the second quarter of the year and ongoing U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber and automakers are damaging those key industries.
But the economy has proven to be more resilient than many analysts expected, with a surprise rebound in the third quarter and a cooling — but not collapsing — labour market.
Many economists say the tariff exemption for goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement on trade has helped to shield Canadian businesses from the tariff tumult.
That free trade pact is up for review in 2026 and Trump has recently threatened to walk away from it if he doesn’t get what he wants.
4)U.S. trips to Canada rise in October for first time in eight months: StatCan
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Canadian Press Staff, Dec. 22, 2025.
Statistics Canada says the number of trips to Canada by U.S. residents in October rose compared with a year earlier for the first time in eight months.
The agency says U.S.-resident trips to Canada totalled 1,814,406 in October, up three per cent compared with 1,760,987 the same month last year.
The increase came as the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States in October totalled 2,336,872, down 26.3 per cent from 3,170,986 a year ago as Canadians continued to shun travel to the U.S.
The number of trips to Canada by overseas residents in October totalled 548,992, up 11.7 per cent from 491,296 a year ago.
Arrivals from Europe rose 10.5 per cent compared with year ago, while arrivals from Asia gained 14.9 per cent.
Canadian residents returning from overseas totalled 998,197 in October, up from 914,950 in October 2024.
5)Takeaways from the U.S. Justice Department’s initial release of Epstein files, mandated by Congress
Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Ali Swenson, December 19, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday published thousands of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a release long anticipated for its potential to reveal new details about the late sex offender and his connections to powerful people.
But it was clear soon after the release that it would fall far short of those expectations. The partial release angered Democrats who accused the Trump administration of trying to hide information. The Justice Department said it would continue releasing documents in the weeks ahead.
The file dump — dominated by photographs, but also including call logs, court records and other documents, many with redactions — comes after politicians and the public waged a massive campaign for transparency about the government’s investigations into the wealthy financier.
President Donald Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years before the two had a falling-out, tried for months to keep the records sealed. Though he hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, he has argued there is nothing to see in the files and the public should focus on other issues.
On Nov. 19, relenting to political pressure from his fellow Republicans, he signed a bill mandating the release of most of the Justice Department’s files on Epstein within 30 days. The White House said Friday’s release of the files shows how the administration is the “most transparent in history.”
Here are some takeaways about the Justice Department’s initial Epstein file release:
It includes thousands of photos, but far fewer files than expected
The law signed by Trump last month set Friday as the deadline for the Justice Department to release most of its files about Epstein.
Ahead of the release, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News he expected several hundred thousand files to be released Friday, along with several hundred thousand more to come later.
But the number of files that actually landed on the Justice Department’s website seemed to be a thin slice of the total number expected. Blanche acknowledged in a letter to Congress that the production of files was incomplete. The department said it expected to complete its production of Epstein documents by the end of the year.
Among the documents made public are around 4,000 files — mostly photographs — under a subset the Justice Department described as “DOJ Disclosures.” The vast majority of the photographs were taken by the FBI during searches of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Also included were images of envelopes, folders and boxes containing investigative materials from various probes related to Epstein. Many records are redacted and anything containing a victim’s personally identifiable information, including materials depicting sexual and physical abuse, isn’t authorized for release.
Various other files released by the Justice Department on Friday include court records, public records and disclosures to House committees. At least some of that material has already circulated in the public domain after years of court action and investigations.
Multiple photographs show former President Bill Clinton
Many of the most discussed photos from the files show the former Democratic president. Clinton has acknowledged that he traveled on Epstein’s private jet but said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes.
Some of the photos show Clinton on a private plane, including one with a woman seated next to him with her arm around him. Her face is redacted from the photo.
Another photo shows him in a pool with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted of luring young girls to Epstein so he could molest them, and with another person whose face is redacted. One shows him with the late pop star Michael Jackson, singer Diana Ross and a woman whose face is redacted.
And another shows Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face is redacted. The Justice Department did not explain how those photos were related to the criminal investigation.
Nevertheless, senior White House aides quickly called attention to them on X.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote “Oh my!” and added a shocked face emoji in response to the photo of Clinton in the hot tub.
Angel Ureña, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said in an X post that “this isn’t about Bill Clinton” and accused the White House of trying to protect others.
“There are two types of people here,” he wrote. “The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first.”
Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and the mere inclusion of someone’s name or images in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise.
No new revelations about Trump or others
To some exploring the records released Friday, the most interesting parts were which high-profile figures appeared scarcely — or not at all.
For example, Trump is minimally referenced in the files, and the small number of photos that do show him appear to have been in the public domain for decades. The president made no reference to the initial records release during a rally Friday night in North Carolina.
The release does include at least one photo of the former Prince Andrew, who appears in a tuxedo lying on the laps of what appear to be several women who are seated, dressed in formalwear. One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with men, including the prince.
Marina Lacerda, one of the women who says she survived sexual assault by Epstein, beginning when she was 14 years old, said Friday she wanted to see greater transparency from the Justice Department and expressed frustration over redactions and the incomplete release.
“Just put out the files,” she said. “And stop redacting names that don’t need to be redacted.”
Partial release upsets some lawmakers
Several lawmakers blasted the Trump administration for failing to produce all the documents required under the law.
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., had introduced what is known as a discharge petition, which eventually led to the congressional vote that forced the release of the Epstein files. On Friday, both took to social media to criticize the partial release.
Massie wrote that it “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.” Khanna called the release so far “disappointing.”
“We’re going to push for the actual documents,” he said.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said that by disregarding the deadline, the administration was denying justice to Epstein’s victims. He added he was “exploring all avenues and legal tools to get justice for the victims and transparency for the American people.”
If Democratic lawmakers so choose, they could go to court to force the Justice Department to comply with the law, but that would almost certainly be a lengthy process that plays out while the department releases more files.
Separately, the House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena for the Epstein files. That could give Congress another avenue to force the release of more information to the committee, but it would require Republicans to join them in contempt-of-Congress proceedings against a Republican administration.