Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said an executive order is being drafted to strengthen U.S. elections and curb mail-in ballot fraud, after President Donald Trump alleged that California’s mail voting system “is rigged” and parts of it are under “legal and criminal review.”

“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we’ve seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system,” Leavitt told reporters during a Nov. 4 briefing. “It’s absolutely true that … there is fraud in California’s elections. It’s just a fact.”

Leavitt’s comments followed a Truth Social post by Trump earlier in the day, in which he renewed his criticism of mail-in voting and suggested criminal investigations were underway.

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump wrote.

“All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review.”

When asked what evidence the White House had to support those claims and which authorities were conducting the purported reviews, Leavitt said she would provide evidence of fraud to reporters after the briefing, alleging that “fraudulent ballots are being mailed in the names of other people, in the names of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be voting in American elections.”

The White House has not disclosed details of the upcoming executive order. The president has repeatedly promised sweeping changes to election procedures, including a nationwide ban on universal mail-in voting and electronic voting machines.

Redistricting Vote Sparks Clash

On Nov. 4, California voters approved Proposition 50, a ballot measure championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democrats that allows lawmakers to temporarily bypass the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission to redraw congressional maps.

Supporters said the measure was a needed counterweight to Republican-led redistricting in states such as Texas, while critics—including Trump—characterized it as an unconstitutional power grab.

Newsom described the referendum as “California’s chance to save democracy,” saying it would help Democrats regain momentum ahead of next year’s elections.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the future of our country,” he told supporters at a Los Angeles rally on Nov. 1.

Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland told The Epoch Times that the measure could ultimately backfire on Democrats.

“If Prop 50 passes, it becomes a rally cry nationally,” he said. “The biggest winner tonight will be [President] Donald Trump.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a “Yes on Prop 50” volunteer event at the LA Convention Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2025. Jill Connelly/Getty Images

After Trump posted on Truth Social that the redistricting vote was unconstitutional and that some of California’s mail-in ballots are under criminal review, Newsom responded by dismissing the comments as the “ramblings” of someone who “knows he’s about to LOSE.”

Trump has long criticized mail-in voting, calling it a source of widespread fraud. In August, he told reporters that his legal team was drafting an executive order to ban mail-in voting nationwide and to phase out electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots.

Constitutional experts have said that any such move would face immediate legal challenges. Under the U.S. Constitution, states control the “times, places, and manner” of elections, though Congress retains the power to alter those regulations.

“The president has no power to dictate to states how they conduct national elections,” Rick Pildes, a political science professor at New York University, told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview. He said such changes would likely require congressional approval.

Trump’s forthcoming order would mark the latest in a series of White House efforts to tighten federal election rules.

In March, the president signed an executive order directing agencies to update election security protocols, voter registration processes, and mail-ballot deadlines.

While portions of that order were blocked by a federal judge who found the action exceeded presidential authority, a directive tightening mail-in ballot deadlines was allowed to stand.

Authored by John-Paul Ford Rojas via ThisIsMoney.co.uk,

The UK is doomed under Labour, the boss of Ryanair has warned as he claimed wealthy people were scrambling to ‘get the hell out of London’ before being hit by a Budget tax raid.

Michael O’Leary said he had no faith in the Chancellor’s ability to restore growth and branded her tax policies ‘dumb’.

The comments came amid reports that Rachel Reeves is planning to target the wealthy with a mansion tax in the Budget later this month.

He told the Guardian: ‘The UK economy under the current leadership is doomed.’

‘The UK badly needs growth, but the way to deliver growth is through selective tax cuts… you are not going to grow the UK economy by taxing wealth or taxing air travel.’

Mr O’Leary’s comments add to a chorus of criticism of Labour from UK business leaders – following warnings about tax from the likes of Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Machin and Asda’s Allan Leighton.

Michael O’Leary branded Labour’s policies ‘dumb’

The Ryanair boss said: ‘I hold very little faith in Rachel Reeves or the current economic strategy of the Labour government.’

‘Rich people are fleeing… as they are trying to find low-fare flights to get the hell out of London before Rachel Reeves taxes their mansions, their income and inheritance.’

Mr O’Leary has also taken umbrage at Labour’s decision to hike air passenger duty – a tax on flights – and said further increases in the Budget would prompt the carrier to shift capacity to other countries with lower tax burdens such as Sweden or Italy.

He told Bloomberg: ‘She hasn’t a rashers how to deliver growth. She puts up employment taxes, puts up APD.’

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair had written to the Treasury describing the increase in the air tax as ‘the dumbest idea even you lot have come up with’.

He said that a further increase at the Budget would mean 10 per cent of Ryanair’s capacity, or about five million seats, is moved to lower tax countries.

‘Eventually even a dumb Labour government will work out that for an island on the periphery of Europe, the way to grow – and the way to increase tax revenue – is to get tourists onto the island first and then tax them,’ he added.

‘The way to grow is not by increasing entry taxes, which is what APD is.’

Mr O’Leary made the comments as the airline revealed a surge in half-year profit amid a hike in fares. It was also helped by aircraft deliveries helping it fly more passengers.

The low-cost airline reported a pre-tax profit of £2.6 billion for the six months to the end of September, 40 per cent higher than the same period last year.

It flew 119 million passengers, 3 per cent more than last year

Average airfares rose by 13 per cent year on year to 58 euros (£50.90), Ryanair revealed, having spiked during the Easter period.

Via VigilantFox.com,

CNN’s “expert” political panel gloated in victory as conservative commentator Scott Jennings issued a blunt warning to the Democratic Party on Tuesday night.

The results are in, and it’s official. New Jersey and Virginia elected Democratic governors. Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, and arguably worst of all, Jay Jones — the Democrat wishing for death on his political opponents and his children — won Virginia’s attorney general race.

The wins of Mamdani and Jones, in particular, Jennings called a “terrible” image for the Democratic Party — one he warned would come back to haunt them. “You own this now,” he said bluntly.

Jennings’ warning began with Mamdani’s win, when he issued this message to Chuck Schumer: “AOC is going to be the next senator from New York.”

But the real warning came when he shifted his focus to Jay Jones.

CNN panel gloats in laughter as Scott Jennings delivers a blunt warning to the Democratic Party.

It began with Mamdani’s win, when Jennings issued this message for Chuck Schumer: “AOC is going to be the next senator from New York.”

But the real warning came when he saw… pic.twitter.com/CQt2KO5uU2

— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) November 5, 2025

“I see the energy in Virginia Democrats looking the other way on a violent candidate for attorney general who says he wants to murder Republicans and their children. If you think you’re getting rid of Graham Platner in Maine now, think again. This is a terrible night for the national Democratic image given what is happening inside their party.”

Jennings continued: “Mamdani is an avowed socialist. It’s not what people say that he is. It’s what he says that he is. He’s now the leader of their party. That’s their energy and Chuck Schumer’s —”

Anderson Cooper cut in, mocking the idea: “[Mamdani’s] the leader of the Democratic Party?”

“Who is the leader? Can someone tell me?” Jennings shot back.

“He’s a life raft for Republicans who have to go on TV and get their asses kicked,” David Axelrod responded with a big smile.

Even as the panel laughed him off, Jennings doubled down on his warning about Mamdani and Jones: “You own this now. You all own this now.”

The US Treasury announced it expects to borrow $569BN in privately-held net marketable debt in the Oct-Dec quarter down from the $590BN it projected for Q4 in July. The lower estimate is due to higher start of quarter cash balance, partially offset by lower projected net cash flows. The projection still assumes an end-Dec cash balance of $850BN, albeit some had been looking for this to increase to $900BN. Looking ahead to Q1 ’26 (Jan-Mar), the Treasury expects to borrow $578BN, assuming an end-March cash balance of $850BN.

During the July-September 2025 quarter, the Treasury borrowed $1.058TN in privately-held net marketable debt and ended the quarter with a cash balance of $891BN. In July 2025, Treasury estimated borrowing of $1.007TN and assumed an end-of-September cash balance of $850BN. The $50BN difference in privately-held net marketable borrowing resulted primarily from the higher end-of- quarter cash balance and lower net cash flows. Excluding the higher-than-assumed end-of-quarter cash balance, actual borrowing was $10BN higher than announced in July.

Turning to the Quarterly Refunding Announcement, Newsquawk notes that for the refunding, the Treasury maintained guidance that it expects to maintain nominal coupon and FRN auction sizes for at least the next several quarters; any change to this would be of note. However, Morgan Stanley expects current coupon sizes to remain steady until February 2027, with guidance expected to be maintained. Regarding TIPS, Morgan Stanley expects the Treasury will continue with incremental increases to the TIPS auction sizes, expecting the $19BN of 10yr TIPS re-opening auction to be maintained, with a $1BN increase to both the 5yr TIPS re-opening and the 10yr TIPS new issue.

We will have a look at the upcoming buyback operations too for any changes. The prior refunding saw the Treasury state in H1 2026, it plans to offer direct buyback access to a limited number of additional counterparties, based on their participation in Treasury auctions. Morgan Stanley “interpret this statement to mean that the additional eligible participants for buyback operations will be the largest participants in auctions by risk taken down”.

One thing to bear in mind is the Fed’s end of QT. From December 1st, the Fed will start to reinvest all maturing Treasury security holdings on its balance sheet, while it will continue to let mortgage-backed securities roll off the balance sheet; however, the payments will be reinvested into Treasury bills instead of MBS. Morgan Stanley writes that after QT ends, the Fed will deem an across-the-curve reinvestment strategy as most optimal, meaning more front-end UST demand relative to the status quo.

Providing the nominal coupon auction sizes are left unchanged as per guidance, this is what the auction sizes would look like.

A report overnight suggests that several moderate Senate Democrats are prepared to break ranks and vote to end what has become the longest U.S. government shutdown in history. The push to reopen the government comes conveniently after major victories for Democrats in Tuesday’s elections, including socialist Zohran Mamdani becoming New York City’s next mayor, and Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill winning their respective gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.

The Soros family is very happy. 

So proud to be a New Yorker! The American dream continues!

Congrats, Mayor @ZohranKMamdani 🇺🇸🗽🌊 pic.twitter.com/nvR5Zb46TI

— Alex Soros (@AlexanderSoros) November 5, 2025

Washington Post reporters Riley Beggin and Theodoric Meyer cite multiple people familiar with the talks who say “a handful” of moderate Senate Democrats are ready to end the government shutdown.

Here’s more color on those conversations:

A bipartisan group of senators is working to craft a deal in which Congress would pass three full-year appropriations bills to fund some agencies, along with a short-term bill that would reopen the rest of the government, according to four people familiar with the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. In exchange, Senate Republicans would agree to hold a vote at a set date on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that are otherwise slated to expire. Democrats have insisted throughout the shutdown that the subsidies be extended.

About a dozen Senate Democrats are open to backing the proposal, three of the people estimated, which is still being hammered out — more than enough to break the impasse and reopen the government.

Democrats have used the government shutdown to push for the restoration of taxpayer-funded health insurance subsidies for illegal aliens. That funding stream was terminated when Republicans delivered working families tax cuts that include no tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security as well as major health care reforms earlier this year.

The report continued:

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan), who has been a part of the negotiations, said Tuesday that “everything’s on the table,” adding that “the pace of talks have increased.” Senate Democrats met for lunch Tuesday for nearly three hours to discuss the path forward. Those involved in the talks updated their colleagues on where they stand. Afterward, Peters said it was a “thoughtful” discussion: “It was one of the better caucus meetings I’ve been in in a while.”

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. They need at least eight Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster and reopen the government. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) remains opposed to the measure. A couple of lawmakers have already crossed the center aisle, including Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania, who support the GOP’s clean continuing resolution. 

Last week, a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that most respondents blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans more than Democrats for the shutdown than blame Democrats. The informational war to pin the blame on Trump by Democrats, their billionaire funders, their corporate media allies, and their protest industrial complex comes as no surprise, given that this shutdown likely gave Dems a boost during last night’s election.

This is a firm warning to Republicans, serving as an early indicator of which national strategies will work in the 2026 midterms. 

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump on Democrats’ election wins last night

“It was not expected to be a victory. Very Democrat areas. But I don’t think it was good for Republicans, or good for anybody.”

“We learned a lot.”

He’s right. pic.twitter.com/cu6I8bU9Er

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 5, 2025

Following the new weekly update of ADP’s employment report showing a rebound to job additions after two straight month of declines, analysts expected a 30k rise in jobs for October’s monthly report.

And analysts were right with ADP reporting 42k jobs added in October (better than expected)

Source: Bloomberg

Services added 32k jobs while Goods Producers added 9k…

Last month delivered a rebound from two months of weak hiring, but the bounce wasn’t broad-based.

Education and health care, and trade, transportation, and utilities led the growth.

For the third straight month, employers shed jobs in professional business services, information, and leisure and hospitality.

“Private employers added jobs in October for the first time since July, but hiring was modest relative to what we reported earlier this year,” according to Dr. Nela Richardson Chief Economist, ADP.

“Meanwhile, pay growth has been largely flat for more than a year, indicating that shifts in supply and demand are balanced.”

Small Businesses have also lost jobs for three straight months.

But, this overall rebound fits with the Revelio Labs monthly job growth data…

Source: Apollo

And a slight decline in job cut announcements (despite all the headlines)…

Source: Apollo

Finally, wage growth for job stayers and job changers was flat from September…

With females seeing higher gains across all age cohorts…

Hardly a major gain in jobs but its not a decline. Having said that, we find it hard to believe that The Fed will see this number and feel like another cut in December is not required.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

All countries should remove mercury from vaccines following the precedent set by the United States, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said via a video address during the Nov. 3 meeting of the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The Minamata Convention was born from a shared moral conviction that no human being should suffer from exposure to mercury,” Kennedy said.

“Article 4 of the Convention calls on parties to cut mercury use by phasing out listed mercury-added products. But in 2010, as the treaty took shape, negotiators made a major exception. Thimerosal-containing vaccines were carved out in the regulation,” Kennedy said, referring to the mercury-based preservative used to prevent microbial growth in vaccines.

The treaty, which began to phase out mercury in cosmetics and lamps, opted to allow the substance to be used in products that are injected into vulnerable people, pregnant women, and babies, the health secretary said.

“We have to ask: why? Why do we hold a double standard for mercury? Why do we call it dangerous in batteries, in over-the-counter medications, and makeup, but acceptable in vaccines and dental fillings?” he asked.

Kennedy said thimerosal has never undergone proper safety testing in human beings. He said that hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have identified the substance as a potent neurotoxin, carcinogen, endocrine disruptor, and mutagen.

“Thimerosal’s own label requires it to be treated as a hazardous material and warns against ingestion. There is not a single study that proves it safe,” he said. “That’s why in July of this year, the United States closed the final chapter on the use of thimerosal as a vaccine preservative, something that should have happened years ago.”

According to a March 2024 safety data sheet on Thimerosal, the substance is “considered hazardous” under the 2012 Hazard Communication Standard from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The substance may cause damage to organs through repeated or prolonged exposure. If a person ingests thimerosal or comes into contact with it via skin, they must immediately get in touch with a poison center or doctor, according to the fact sheet.

Beginning in 1999, thimerosal was removed from many vaccines in the United States after certain studies suggested that exposure to mercury in early stages could negatively affect children.

In July, Kennedy signed a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to remove thimerosal from influenza vaccines. Roughly 50 percent of thimerosal, by weight, is mercury.

“I want to be clear, it’s inexcusable that governments around the world still allow mercury-based compounds in health care, and safe alternatives exist. Now that America has removed mercury from all vaccines, I call on every global health authority and every party to this convention to do the same,” Kennedy said in his video address.

The Department of Health and Human Services chief said vaccine manufacturers have already confirmed they can produce single-dose vaccines free from mercury without interrupting supply chains.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times in July, a spokesperson for CSL Seqirus, which produces influenza vaccines, said that delivery of thimerosal-free flu vaccines for the fall season was “already underway.”

“We don’t expect the ACIP recommendation to have any impact on our vaccine supply or shipment timings,” the spokesperson said.

In June, Sanofi, another flu vaccine manufacturer, said that the company would have “sufficient supply of Sanofi flu vaccine to support customer preference.”

Safe or Dangerous?

In a July 15 statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said extensive research has shown thimerosal to be safe for use. Banning vaccines without solid scientific facts sets a “dangerous precedent,” it said.

Thimerosal is an ethyl mercury, different from methyl mercury, for which there are toxicity concerns, AAP said.

“There is no evidence that thimerosal has adverse neurological or neurodevelopmental adverse outcomes when used as a preservative in vaccines,” AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases member James Campbell said.

“This fact was definitively determined years ago, and the FDA, the CDC, and many academic institutions have excellent reviews of the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines in children. Raising this topic now has only one purpose—to sow distrust in vaccines in general and in the process to determine vaccine safety.”

A May 2024 study published in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology exposed rats to thimerosal, mimicking how a human infant would be exposed during vaccination.

Researchers found that the exposure in rats “significantly damaged brain bioenergetic pathways.” The study “supports the ability of TM exposure to preferentially damage the nervous system,” it said.

A 2013 study said thimerosal in childhood vaccines contributed to “accumulating mercury toxicity” in the kidneys.

According to an Oct. 28 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, side effects of thimerosal in vaccines are minor, such as swelling and redness at the injection site.

“Research does not show any link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder,” it said.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

In 2024, the U.S., China, and Russia were the top countries by military spending, representing more than half of the global total.

Overall, global military expenditures hit a record $2.7 trillion, a 9.4% increase over the year. Amid rising geopolitical tensions, all five regions of the world increased their military spending for the second consecutive year.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most militarized countries across three metrics, based on data from the Institute of Economics and Peace.

The Top 10 Countries by Military Spending in 2024

In the table below, we show the countries with the largest military budgets in 2024. Figures are represented in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms:

With a $949 billion budget, America has 1.5 million active duty personnel across 4,790 military sites globally.

China follows next, with $450 billion in spending. Overall, Taiwan stands as a top priority for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with widespread U.S. intelligence suggesting that Xi Jinping wants to be capable of seizing the country by force by 2027.

Ranking in third is Russia, which increased expenditures by an estimated 38% in 2024 amid ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The Top 10 Countries by Military Spending Per Capita

When it comes to military spending on a per capita basis, North Korea ranks first by a wide margin.

Qatar, a small gulf state bordering Saudi Arabia, stands in second, driven by broad-based modernization of its military, navy, and air force.

Interestingly, Singapore comes in third by this measure, despite being known as a neutral state. In fact, Singapore has consistently spent around 3% of GDP on defense for decades, higher than most European countries.

The Top 10 Countries by Military Spending as a Share of GDP

Once again, North Korea leads globally in terms of military spending as a share of GDP, reaching 34% in 2024.

Standing in second place is Ukraine, at 17% of GDP, totalling $103 billion.

In comparison, Russia’s military budget was 6% of GDP, at $352 billion in 2024. Today, Russia has the largest army in Europe, with 1.3 million active duty personnel, while Ukraine follows with 900,000 active troops.

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on military spending by country in 2024.

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

British news channel BBC “doctored” President Donald Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, to make it appear he called on supporters to riot at the Capitol before lawmakers certified the 2020 election. 

The alteration was exposed in an internal memo first reported by British newspaper The Telegraph. The doctored footage concerned Trump’s speech on the Ellipse as aired by BBC’s Panorama in a 2024 special called Trump: A Second Chance. 

The broadcast trimmed Trump’s remarks to make it seem he said he would walk to the Capitol with his supporters to “fight, fight like hell.” 

In reality, Trump said he would walk to the Capitol to “cheer on” lawmakers opposing the certification. The “fight like hell” line came nearly an hour later, long after he vowed to head to the Capitol. 

Worse still, Trump had explicitly called on his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” 

🚨 BREAKING: The BBC was just exposed for DOCTORING President Trump’s Jan 6 speech to make it seem he ENDORSED rioting, per whistleblower

“We’re gonna walk to the Capitol”

DOCTORED: “And FIGHT LIKE HELL!”

ORIGINAL: “And cheer on congressmen and women!” pic.twitter.com/z88mmVhikG…

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 3, 2025

The discrepancy was first identified by a BBC standards committee in a 19-page dossier. According to The Telegraph, the document found that Panorama made Trump “say” things he never said. 

The committee also called out BBC executives and its chairman for ignoring scathing complaints about bias, including in its Arabic coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. 

The damning dossier surfaced amid a string of humiliating losses for legacy media outlets over their coverage of Trump. 

In July, CBS News’s parent company, Paramount Global, entered a $16 million settlement with Trump after its 60 Minutes program edited a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris to make her appear more eloquent. 

Holy. Shit.

60 Minutes cut Kamala’s nonsense answer on Israel and replaced it with a completely seperate sentence she said earlier in the interview…

Mixing and matching questions and answers. This isn’t journalism. It’s fraud.pic.twitter.com/onXli46xL6

— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) October 8, 2024

Similarly, ABC News’s parent company Disney agreed to pay Trump $15 million in December 2024 after embattled host George Stephanopoulos falsely accused him of raping anti-Trump figurehead E. Jean Carroll.

This settlement included a $1 million payment to cover Trump’s legal fees. 

Social media companies have also been forced to pay Trump for banning him following the 2020 election. 

Google’s YouTube paid Trump $24.5 million following its decision to shut down his channel after Jan. 6, 2021. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta paid Trump $25 million, while X (then named Twitter) paid $10 million for the same act of censorship. 

When South African president Cyril Ramaphosa traveled to the White House this year with his big grin and large entourage, he did not seem to understand the nature of the visit.  He seemed to believe he was there to wine and dine with President Trump, as he had done with Joe Biden on multiple occasions, and that American money would flow from the encounter as it always had. 

South Africa had become so accustomed to easy US cash they felt entitled to it.  What Ramaphosa did not understand, however, was that he was in Washington DC to be interviewed and tested.  He failed miserably.  His denials of mass murders and government oppression specifically targeting white farmers were exposed in real time.  The man was crushed like a bug in front of the very western liberal media that had protected his government from scrutiny.

A similar tone is being taken by the leaders of Nigeria.  With Trump threatening potential US intervention in the region due to ongoing attacks on Christians by Muslim militants, the Nigerian government is resorting to the same denials.  A Nigerian presidential adviser has made a statement to the press, asserting that the country refutes reports of Christian persecution, but is willing to have a ‘sit down’ with Washington to find a common front in fighting insurgency. 

Sources cited by the adviser do not have any regular observers on the ground in Nigeria, except for Amnesty International.  The left leaning organization is notorious for glossing over religious violence aimed at Christians in the country, designating it as a byproduct of non-religious civil unrest and crime, instead.  

It’s a similar tactic used by South Africa to dismiss targeted violence and oppression of the white minority, along with crime data rigging to under-report murders or mislabel race motivated killings and politically motivated killings as simple “robberies gone wrong.”  The problem is, the citizens and observers on the ground in these countries cannot be gaslit.  They see the tragedies unfold every day.

The data relies on how the attacks are categorized vs perceived motives of the culprits.  Some organizations post raw data on total Christians killed during these incidents while avoiding interpretations of motive.  Others specify motives and take a nuanced approach.  All of these groups, however, agree that Christians are vastly more likely to be killed due to militant violence than anyone else in Nigeria. 

Islamic militants of various terror groups do kill each other at times, often because of internal politics.  Christians are targeted specifically for their beliefs, while the Nigerian government attempts to partially blame them as if they are involved in the sectarian warfare.  

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Nigeria-based NGO that produces detailed investigative reports on religious violence, estimates 125,000+ Christian deaths since 2009 (part of 185,000+ total civilian killings), with 7,087 killed in the first 220 days of 2025 alone, alongside 19,100 churches destroyed and thousands abducted.

Open Doors, an international Christian persecution watchdog, ranks Nigeria as the deadliest country for Christians in its annual World Watch List. It reports a more conservative 3,100–4,118 Christians killed for their faith in recent tracking periods (e.g., Oct. 2022–Sept. 2023), accounting for 70–82% of global faith-related Christian deaths.

International Christian Concern (ICC), a U.S.-based persecution monitor that tracks specific incidents via on-ground partners, documents attacks like the June 2025 Middle Belt killings (85+ Christians in one week) and Boko Haram raids.

Global Christian Relief estimate at least 4000 religiously motivated killings of Christians in Nigeria every year.

To be clear, there are no organized Christian militant or terrorist groups in Nigeria equivalent to Boko Haram, ISWAP, or radical Fulani militias that initiate systematic attacks on Muslims or others for religious reasons.  There are also no widespread attacks on Muslim Mosques in Nigeria, and there are no specific incidents of state officials singling out Muslim communities or religious buildings for demolition. 

For Christians it’s a different story.  For example, in 2021 in Kaduna State (under Sharia Law), authorities demolished 263 buildings in the predominantly Christian Gracelands community in Zaria, including 6 churches, a school, and homes. Officials claimed the land belonged to an aviation college, despite residents holding certificates of occupancy. 

Events involving the government destruction of Christian properties are common across Nigeria.  The Nigerian government, though it boasts of being secular and balanced, has only had one Christian president in the past 50 years.  The rest have been Muslim, including the current president (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and vice president in control of the country since 2023.  Tinubu’s wife is a Christian, but the base of power in Nigeria is with Muslim groups, primarily because they are willing and able to project violence at will.

This is why 12 of the 36 Nigerian states are under total Sharia Law.  The Nigerian government will be hard-pressed to convince Trump that Christians are not being singled out and targeted.  Too much evidence exists to the contrary, and simply categorizing political violence as average crime did not work for the South Africans, so it’s unlikely to work for the Nigerians.  

Solutions will probably focus in financial cuts at first.  Nigeria receives over $1 billion annually from the US along with around $6.5 billion in FDI inflows.  Much of this cash can be frozen by Trump within days using sanctions and tariffs.  A kinetic response, though improbable, is currently on the table.