Kamala Harris Watches the Empire Burn — And Quietly Reloads

Eleven months in, the mask is off. Trump just handed Putin the upper hand. Kamala Harris is watching — and reloading.

Gaza’s new borders, ICE raids ripping families apart, Florida labeling a Muslim civil-rights group “terrorist,” a suspected Russian cyberattack crippling Sweden, Trump handing Putin the “upper hand,”

Domestic

• Israel redraws Gaza’s map with a “yellow line,” telling troops the new line is the permanent border. More than half of Gaza—its farmland, its water sources, the Rafah crossing—has been seized in direct violation of the October ceasefire that explicitly forbade occupation or annexation. The United Nations called it “a grave breach of international law,” yet the U.S. response has been silence followed by more weapons shipments.

• UNRWA headquarters in Gaza stormed by Israeli forces. Soldiers tore down the UN flag, raised the Israeli one, looted furniture, computers, and vehicles, then declared the compound Israeli territory. The UN declared the raid “inviolable” and a direct attack on its immunity; the White House called it “complicated.”

• The Supreme Court appears ready to dismantle Humphrey’s Executor, the 90-year precedent that protects independent regulators from presidential whim. Liberal justices warned that overturning it would give the president “massive unchecked power.” Rebecca Kelly Slaughter’s firing at the FTC remains in effect while the court deliberates.

• Trump personally insults ABC’s Rachel Scott as “obnoxious” and “terrible” when pressed on releasing video of Pete Hegseth’s lethal September 2 strike on an alleged drug boat. After promising the footage would be released, Trump flipped, saying “whatever Pete wants is fine with me.” The video remains classified.

• A 2016 clip of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warning soldiers to refuse “unlawful and ruthless” orders has gone viral at the exact moment he stands accused of illegally firing Hellfire missiles at civilian vessels near Venezuela. The irony is now a daily meme.

• Trump has issued roughly 100 drug-related pardons, including a former Honduran president convicted of trafficking 400+ tons of cocaine into the United States, while simultaneously ordering Navy strikes on “drug boats” in the Caribbean and Pacific.

• ICE’s “Operation Metro Surge” has turned American suburbs into occupied zones. Agents have pointed guns at protesting Minnesota students, released attack dogs on residents in Washington state, and conducted warrantless home raids. In Burnsville, Minnesota, high-school students staged a walkout after ICE detained four members of a single family—including U.S. citizens—leaving a seven-year-old without parents.

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Executive Order 25-244 on December 8, instantly designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations under Florida law—despite no federal designation and immediate condemnation from every major civil-liberties organization.

• Trump publicly accused a Federal Reserve governor of mortgage fraud for claiming two primary residences—conduct ProPublica revealed Trump himself engaged in during the 1990s. One legal expert summed it up: “He’ll need to fire himself or refer himself to the DOJ.”

• Trump is behaving like a cornered animal. Truth Social meltdowns, sudden rebranding of his followers from MAGA to “Trump Republicans,” and frantic attacks on his own base signal a man who senses the walls closing in.

• Marjorie Taylor Greene has gone full scorched-earth, no longer sniping from the sidelines but openly declaring war on the administration and exposing the split between the old MAGA branding and the raw “America First” white-nationalist core that Project 2025 was always meant to deliver.

• MAGA is fracturing in real time. What remains is less a political movement than a 1930s-style isolationist, nativist ideology: shut the borders, deport everyone, produce only “American” (read: white) goods, and let the rest of the world burn.

• Kamala Harris has sold over 600,000 copies of her memoir 107 Days and is filling arenas coast to coast with Bernie-level crowds. Early 2028 polls show her trailing Gavin Newsom, but she still dominates among Black voters and women—the same coalition that decides Democratic primaries.

• Harris continues to dodge direct 2028 questions with a practiced smile, yet she is methodically rebuilding: a new “Fight for the People” PAC, a $7 million purchase of her DNC email list, and dozens of congratulatory calls to rising stars from NYC democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani to moderate governors.

• Her memoir dishes dirt on rivals—most pointedly Gavin Newsom, who ghosted her the day Biden dropped out with the text “Hiking. Will call back.” Newsom has since hired her former chief of staff, her former campaign manager, and most of her old network.

• Legendary peace activist Cora Weiss died at 91 on what would have been her husband Peter Weiss’s 100th birthday. For decades she fought the “apocalyptic twins” of nuclear weapons and climate collapse—two threats more intertwined with authoritarian resurgence than ever.

International

• Trump to Zelenskyy: “Get your act together and start accepting things.” In a POLITICO interview he declared Russia has the “upper hand” because it is “a much bigger country” and openly pushed for Ukrainian capitulation.

• Trump called European leaders “stupid” and “weak,” while his new national security strategy explicitly adopts Russian talking points and tells Europe it is on its own.

• A major technical outage at Telia crippled services across Sweden on Tuesday evening: Thousands reported problems from 5:40 p.m.; website down, phone/SMS/TV/internet largely offline. Coop card payments failed nationwide, police non-emergency line 114 14 unreachable, and hospitals in Stockholm and Skåne entered crisis mode—maternity wards told urgent cases to come in person. Telia has no fix time; while some suspect Russian sabotage amid Ukraine tensions, authorities describe it as a technical fault with no confirmed attribution.

• A British service member was killed in Ukraine in what the MoD called a “tragic accident” while observing new defensive systems—another reminder that Western personnel are already in the fight.

• Zelenskyy met Pope Leo XIV and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni in Rome to refine a peace plan even as Trump demands immediate surrender.

• Russia cannot win on the ground. The front is a bloody stalemate; Moscow needs a diplomatic victory because its military is exhausted and hemorrhaging men and matériel.

• Ukraine now fields one of Europe’s largest armies and possesses the world’s most advanced battlefield drone technology—capable of bleeding Russia dry economically and militarily if the West simply holds the line.

There’s a reason American politics feels increasingly unrecognizable. The stories dominating the week — pardons unraveling, Texas erupting, congressional weirdness, Epstein’s shadow returning, foreign policy contradictions, and leadership vacuums — all point to the same shift:

Our politics is no longer driven by ideology. It’s driven by aesthetics, mood, emotion, and whatever narrative feels convenient in the moment.

Trump tells Zelenskyy to “get his act together and start accepting things” (i.e., surrender territory), then turns around and gives his own economy an “A+++++” while half of Americans can’t afford groceries.

He demands borders be respected everywhere except where his own policies and allies are erasing them. This is deception.

Kamala Harris is watching, reloading, and waiting.

The torch is in the air.
She might just catch it.