Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Blockade & AmFest Kicks Off | 12.18.25

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Speaker 2 President Trump declares Venezuela completely surrounded, blockading their sanctioned oil tankers.

Speaker 3 You remember they took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil, and we want it back.

Speaker 5 We break down the latest on the showdown between Trump and Maduro.

Speaker 2 I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Thursday, December 18th, and this is Morning Wire.

Speaker 4 Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history.

Speaker 5 Trump speaks to the nation in a rare primetime address, laying out his agenda heading into the new year.

Speaker 2 And TPUSA kicks off its annual AmericaFest conference today under a vastly different spotlight than years past.

Speaker 6 It was Charlie's Super Bowl event of the year. It'll be our first one that we do without him.
I fully intend and I fully expect that the team's going to make him proud.

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Speaker 5 President Trump has announced a total and complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of Venezuela. It comes as the U.S.
escalates a pressure campaign against the Maduro regime.

Speaker 2 Here with more details is Daily Wire immigration reporter Jenny Tare. So Jenny, another dramatic move from Trump this week with regards to Venezuela.

Speaker 2 What is he hoping to accomplish with this blockade?

Speaker 7 These vessels are already sanctioned by the U.S.

Speaker 7 government for doing business with countries like Russia and Iran, our enemies, but they've been navigating through international waters and transporting oil largely to countries like China as well through what's called ghost ships.

Speaker 7 So, they change the flags to show a different country of origin, or they change the name of the ships throughout the journey to other countries.

Speaker 7 So, this is part of a long-standing effort to crack down on these vessels that are exporting to our foreign adversaries.

Speaker 2 So technically we've had sanctions on them for years now, but this is a step up in terms of enforcement, it sounds like. Now, how is this blockade expected to affect them economically?

Speaker 7 The oil industry in Venezuela is really its main source of income.

Speaker 7 It's how the Maduro regime is able to really sustain itself without being able to export this to, let's say, its main source of income, which is Chinese buyers who consume roughly 80% of it, they're going to have a real problem economically.

Speaker 7 And again, the Trump administration really wants Maduro out, and they don't necessarily want to go and do that militarily, although it hasn't been ruled out.

Speaker 7 But they're trying to build this pressure to say, okay, maybe we can just get him to leave the country. He's already been offered refuge in other countries like Belarus.

Speaker 7 So if he can just leave on his own, and then that will be how regime change is done, then we can walk away from this without any U.S. casualties to our troops or anything like that.

Speaker 7 So that's the hope here from the Trump administration.

Speaker 2 So if effective, this would be an absolutely crippling measure for Madru. Is he standing his ground? What are we expecting to see from him?

Speaker 7 Right. So far, he's standing his ground and he's accusing the U.S.
government of committing crimes against his regime. The U.S.

Speaker 7 government has also, in all of this, designated his regime as a terrorist organization. They've also effectively said that Maduro himself is the leader of a designated terrorist organization.

Speaker 7 That's the Cartel de los Solas.

Speaker 7 So this also goes back to the issue of drug smuggling in the region, which we know those strikes the Trump administration has been continuously carrying out for months on vessels going out of Venezuela that are purported to be carrying drugs.

Speaker 7 There's obviously been a lot of pushback from Democrats about the strikes that the Trump administration has been carrying out in the region.

Speaker 7 And there was a briefing on Capitol Hill this week where members could hear directly from the Department of War about the intelligence that they've collected on these boats.

Speaker 7 Even Senator John Fetterman came out of that meeting, a Democrat, and said that the intelligence seems very sound. Listen to what he had to say.

Speaker 6 Some things out in the media,

Speaker 6 it's kind of putting out this that the military is just picking off any boat that comes across.

Speaker 6 That's just not true. When they move on those kinetic kinds of strikes,

Speaker 6 they have absolute confidence that who's on it and what's on it. And that's exactly what it's about.
And it's undeniable that that's oil that's going to support Iran.

Speaker 6 So for me, it makes a lot of sense, at least what I've seen.

Speaker 7 And then also the immigration crisis. This goes back to the Biden era at the border.
Trump wants revenge for that.

Speaker 7 Trump saw the waves of illegal immigration that were largely perpetuated by Venezuelan nationals.

Speaker 7 And so he wants to put a stop to all of this and to go back in time and say, we still remember what you did.

Speaker 2 Well, I know we've been saying this for weeks now, but things escalating by the day. Jenny, thanks for reporting.

Speaker 7 Thank you.

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Speaker 2 President Trump gave a major address to the nation late last night.

Speaker 5 Daily Wire political reporter Cameron Arcan joins us now with more. So Cameron, a rare prime time speech from the president.
What did we hear?

Speaker 8 Well, the newsiest portion of the night was the fact that the president announced a warrior dividend, a payout of $1,776

Speaker 8 to American service members. Now, this is the first iteration we've seen of kind of this policy being floated as a result of tariffs.

Speaker 8 Now, there was this idea speculated weeks ago that Americans all could be getting a tariff payout.

Speaker 8 We don't know if that will come to fruition at this point, but this is the first time we've kind of seen this element of the policy come to life.

Speaker 8 And that was held very closely to their chest at the White House until tonight when this was announced. Let's hear more from the president on that.

Speaker 4 Because of tariffs, along with the just-passed one big beautiful bill, tonight I am also proud to announce that more than than 1,450,000, think of this, 1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call, warrior dividend before Christmas, a warrior dividend.

Speaker 4 In honor of our nation's founding in 1776, we are sending every soldier $1,776.

Speaker 4 And the checks are already on the way.

Speaker 8 The president also focused his remarks largely on the economy, including on the concept of affordability.

Speaker 8 Now, affordability has become a key topic and nearly a buzzword, touted by Democrats and slammed as hypocritical by Republicans, including the president in recent months, as Biden-era inflation has cooled significantly since its peak back in 2022.

Speaker 4 Tonight, after 11 months, our border is secure. Inflation has stopped.
Wages are up. Prices are down.
Our nation is strong. America is respected.
And our country is back stronger than ever before.

Speaker 4 We're poised for an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen.

Speaker 8 In addition, the president also made immigration one of his key themes in his year-end address.

Speaker 8 He noted how the border has largely gone quiet and poked fun at a border-related proposal in Congress while Biden was in office, and the southern border faced a major humanitarian crisis, with thousands of illegal crossings daily at some points throughout his administration.

Speaker 4 Do you remember when Joe Biden said that he needed Congress to pass legislation to help close the border? He was always blaming Congress and everyone else.

Speaker 4 As it turned out, we didn't need legislation. We just needed a new president.

Speaker 8 Now, the president also dropped hints about what he's looking for in the next chair of the Federal Reserve and what that could mean for American homebuyers, as his foe Jerome Powell will be finishing up his term next year.

Speaker 4 Wait, do you see?

Speaker 4 The numbers are going to be shocking and I'll soon announce our next chairman of the Federal Reserve, someone who believes in lower interest rates by a lot and mortgage payments will be coming down even further.

Speaker 8 In short, the president touted some of his wins from the past year and laid out some of his goals going into 2026.

Speaker 5 Well, the nation's eyes on the president last night for this address. Cameron, thank you so much for reporting.

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Speaker 2 Turning Point USA's annual America Fest conference kicks off today, marking the first major turning point event since the tragic assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 5 Here with the details is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo. So Amanda, obviously this is a pivotal moment for this organization, their big annual event.
What can we expect this year?

Speaker 11 Well, Kirk's widow, Erica Kirk, and leadership at Turning Point USA, they've made it clear that they want Kirk's mission of advancing conservatism and his legacy to move forward.

Speaker 11 Leaders have described this year's Amfest as a powerful celebration of faith, freedom, and the legacy of Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 11 Now, there will be a very significant moment at the conference when we hear directly from Erica Kirk. She's stepped in as CEO of Turning Point in the wake of her husband's murder.

Speaker 11 Erica has recently been promoting Charlie Kirk's last book and she spoke at a CBS town hall, but this speech, I would imagine, would be more focused on Turning Point specifically and her leadership there.

Speaker 11 So a lot of people will be tuning in for that. As usual, very prominent conservatives will be giving speeches at the event.
That includes Vice President J.D.

Speaker 11 Vance, Megan Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles, and literally dozens of others.

Speaker 11 Turning Point leadership seems to be stressing unity and free speech despite a lot of background noise over the past few months.

Speaker 11 Kirk was known for being very good at coalition building within the movement and promoting free speech, and that's clearly still a priority for Turning Point.

Speaker 11 Now, the event runs today through December 21st at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona. It's been sold out for a while now and tens of thousands of people are expected to be at the facility.

Speaker 11 And we should note that if you want to tune in virtually, it will be live streamed on the Daily Wire. We'll have coverage from our DC team.

Speaker 5 Right, we're certainly looking forward to that coverage here. Now, you mentioned the background noise that TPUSA is overcoming.

Speaker 5 There have been a bunch of conspiracy theories aimed at the organization in recent weeks. Where do things stand now, especially as we head into this conference?

Speaker 11 Right. There's been a lot of media and online attention on Erica's meeting earlier this week with the most prominent person who's been promoting many of those theories, Candace Owens.

Speaker 11 Megan Kelly has actually gotten involved here. She said that she worked behind the scenes to broker this meeting, in fact.

Speaker 11 Now, after the meeting, Erica said it was, quote, a very productive conversation. And she also made clear that she wants to put this behind her and the organization.

Speaker 11 She said, quote, looking forward to Amfest this week, time to get back to work.

Speaker 11 Now, one more note on this, Turning Point spokesman Andrew Colvett really applauded Erica for this meeting and he said it was a good example of her leadership.

Speaker 6 I'm not going to jump to conclusions. I'm not going to get out over my skis.

Speaker 6 I'm just going to say good for Erica Kirk, leading the way, showing the world how to do things by example, modeling a Christian ethic and good behavior.

Speaker 6 I'm going to just hope that the seeds planted in good faith and the olive branch that was offered, that that's going to bear fruit.

Speaker 5 Now, one more question before you go. There was also congressional testimony from Turning Point earlier this week about the influence of far-left group Southern Poverty Law Center.

Speaker 5 Tell us about that testimony.

Speaker 11 Yeah, so the SPLC's hate map, which is supposed to track extremism, it includes Turning Point.

Speaker 11 Amazingly, this very partisan group had a partnership or an association with the FBI, but that association was cut back in October from the Trump administration.

Speaker 11 Here's Turning Points Andrew Ceifer testifying on Tuesday.

Speaker 4 The SPLC hastily labels ideologically opposing organizations as hate groups, misleading well-intentioned entities and blurring the line between real hate and mere differences of opinion.

Speaker 4 Charlie warned just before his murder, that the SPLC's hate map designation, equating campus kids who promote the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and pro-life, pro-family values with the KKK and neo-Nazis, would put turning point in the crosshairs.

Speaker 4 This proved prophetic.

Speaker 5 Well, a big week on a number of levels for Kirk's organization. Amanda, thank you so much for reporting.

Speaker 7 You're welcome.

Speaker 5 And again, for listeners, you can watch America Fest live on Daily Wire Plus starting this afternoon.

Speaker 2 Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're listening to the show, now you can watch for free on Daily Wire Plus.
We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know

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