What Happened Today - 13 Nov 2025

What Happened Today – 13 November 2025
Shutdown Shitshow
Ingram Interview
Epstein Files
Trump’s Grifts…and how much he’s made
What are Fox and NewsMax sayig?
Thanksgiving Travel – What to know…
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Shutdown Shitshow
Let’s dig into the shutdown drama, because the circus didn’t end with Trump putting his signature on the spending bill—if anything, the fireworks are just getting started. That 43-day government shutdown put federal workers through hell: people went without paychecks, everyday services got completely jammed up, airports turned into nightmares, and families depending on SNAP were left sweating over empty pantries, all while politicians just pointed fingers. When Trump finally relented, he staged a prime-time event packed with his faithful, fired up the blame-thrower toward Democrats, and spun his responsibility so hard it would have made you dizzy.

This whole ordeal wasn’t just political theater; it damaged trust among his own voters. Approval ratings for Trump are sinking fast, down to the low 40s and still dropping. Disapproval numbers keep climbing, pushing past 58%. Even among Republicans, cracks are starting to show—fewer are willing to swallow every excuse, and independents are done with the gridlock and chaos. Now, Democrats are energized in a way they haven’t been in years, already laying the groundwork for a brutal midterm fight. Trump’s brand of brinkmanship is proving to be a serious gamble, and it’s not going unnoticed, especially as the shutdown’s real fallout comes into focus.

Now, for the lies and nonsense in Trump’s speech last night (12 November)—here’s a blow-by-blow of every single whopper, spin, or flat-out fabrication:

- Lie: “Democrats caused the shutdown to hurt the American people and block needed reforms.”
  - Reality: Trump pushed this shutdown over his own demands and repeatedly rejected bipartisan deals to end it sooner. Democrats fought for things like SNAP and health insurance protections, which Republicans cut out of earlier bills. Trump himself had been publicly urging Republicans to “hold the line” even when the pain was obvious and solutions were on the table.

- Lie: “Everyone affected will get back pay immediately, no exceptions.”
  - Reality: While the bill authorizes back pay, agencies are overwhelmed, and many workers have already said it’ll take weeks—sometimes longer—to get checks or overtime sorted out. Contractors, in particular, rarely see full back pay. Furloughed employees are left waiting, bills piling up, not “made whole overnight” as promised.

- Lie: “We are stronger than ever and the economy is booming thanks to my leadership.”
  - Reality: The shutdown tanked confidence in the government, slowed down economic growth, triggered market jitters, and hit federal and private workers’ wallets. SNAP delays and halted projects meant pain at the ground level. The most recent numbers show his own approval on managing the economy crashed during this shutdown.

- Lie: “Federal programs and aid kept running for everyone who needed it.”
  - Reality: Benefits like SNAP faced dangerous delays, federal housing aid got snarled, and countless families and small towns relying on these programs were pushed to the breaking point with zero warning or support.

- Lie: “This was a win for negotiating tough and getting results.”
  - Reality: Trump holding out for 43 days—and then folding while getting little more than what was offered weeks before—shows it was pure brinkmanship, not “winning.” Many Republicans just wanted the bleeding to stop; Democrats feel validated for standing firm.

- Lie: “Everything in this bill was a total win for the American people.”
  - Reality: The bill is a messy compromise. SNAP is only partially protected, paycheck protections for low-wage federal contract workers fell short, and several long-term priorities for both parties got left out entirely.

He also repeated his favorite line that “the shutdown never should’ve happened,” as though he was just a bystander…and then circled back to blaming the left at every opportunity. Watching the administration’s spin cycle in overdrive, you’d never know who was actually at the wheel of this crisis until the very last second.

That’s the real picture: bitter, avoidable chaos with lasting scars—no matter how much Trump tried to rewrite history on stage last night.
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Ingram Interview
The fallout from Trump’s Laura Ingraham interview is a storm that just keeps rolling. Trump, clearly rattled by the economic hit from the shutdown and the disastrous polling, hit Fox News thinking he’d get a friendly audience. Instead, even Ingraham—usually a loyal MAGA megaphone—pushed back hard, especially on inflation and the plain reality that everyday Americans cannot afford basic groceries, gas, or rent. When she started listing the ways costs had skyrocketed, Trump literally tried to shush her and spun some nonsense about it all being “manufactured,” pinning blame on the media and Democrats. It was old-school Trump deflection, but this time the deflection just exposed how out of touch he is.

That’s not all. Ingraham also quizzed him about his administration’s bizarre 50-year mortgage proposal—something even hard-right MAGA types hate, calling it a “giveaway to the banks.” He dodged with his usual jumble about “Trump Care” versus Obamacare, but it was clear he had no real answers for why regular working people can’t get ahead. For a president whose appeal rested on “I get you, I fight for you,” this segment was a master class in tone-deafness and self-obsession.

Now the backlash: Social media went nuclear, not just from the left but from MAGA itself—some of his biggest Twitter supporters are openly complaining that Trump’s lost his fire and has no clue how regular people live. Fox News panels and conservative pundits are torn; a few are sticking with Trump, but more and more are admitting that these “gold-lined Oval Office” moments (yes, Ingraham even mocked his tacky, Mar-a-Lago-style office decor on live TV) don’t play well with the base. For Democrats, the soundbites are campaign gold—Trump shushing a Fox host who brought up real problems, blaming everyone else for problems he created, and rambling about conspiracy theories while inflation crushes the working class.

Even lawmakers noticed. MAGA world is openly feuding over immigration, the mortgage plan, and Trump’s scattershot shutdown messaging. House Republicans have started distancing themselves; some aren’t defending the mortgage scheme or his false claims about the state of the economy, and they’re nervous about 2026. Democrats, meanwhile, are already slicing up clips to run in every swing district in the country.

This was catastrophic for Trump in terms of controlling the narrative. He lost credibility with regular viewers, gave ammo to both his critics and his “allies,” and showed just how much trouble his presidency—and re-election odds—are really in.
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Epstein Files…
The 20,000-email dump yesterday just blew the doors off the White House’s half-baked denials and handed the country a whole new level of ugly scandal. In there: direct communications between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and various Trump campaign insiders and allies, plus multiple messages where Epstein flat-out says Trump “knew about the girls” and was present for some wild scenes at Epstein’s homes. Epstein even offered to provide photos of Trump with young women in bikinis to a New York Times reporter, suggesting way more proximity and knowledge than Team Trump has ever admitted. And—this is wild—there’s even correspondence where Epstein boasts he “gave” his then-20-year-old girlfriend to Trump in the ‘90s, and emails to his own lawyers making it clear he thought Trump was so “dangerous” and “dirty,” only he could “take him down” with what he knew.

The emails also show that prominent journalists, authors, and back-channel operatives were probing Epstein for dirt on Trump as far back as the 2016 election—proving the “no connection” defense is just a smokescreen. Some messages have Epstein and his fixer discussing Trump’s visits, his fascination with the young women at Epstein’s pool parties, and how often Trump would hang around trying to see more. The files don’t just implicate Trump—Epstein pretty blatantly claims that major New York figures and other political operatives were in on the scene too. It’s so bad that both Democrats and Republicans released the emails, each trying to control the narrative, but the volume and bluntness of Epstein’s words are hard to spin away.

Of course, the Trump White House is calling it all a “smear” and “fake news,” waving off the emails as “rambling” and “out of context.” But the conversations are specific and repeated, and several outside investigators now say this dump could shatter what’s left of the walls protecting Trump and his inner circle. Already, there’s renewed pressure on law enforcement and Congress to dig further—especially as new names keep surfacing from casual asides in these exchanges.

What does this mean? For Trump, the worst-case scenario is finally materializing—not just suspicion but hard evidence that the denials, evasions, and “I barely knew him” stories were always a cover. The files crack open a direct link between Trump and some of Epstein’s most notorious parties, with witnesses who are already being contacted by journalists and prosecutors. The heat is on, and the damning details aren’t just salacious—they’re potentially criminal if any part of Epstein’s claims pan out under scrutiny.
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Trump’s Grifts…and how much he’s made
Here’s a rundown of all the ongoing Trumpworld grifts and where things stand, plus how much the family is fleecing out of the chaos—and the not-so-fine print on the legality of it all.

First, the infamous “5K DOGE checks”—this was Trump’s promise to send out $5,000 stimulus checks to Americans using money “saved” by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed up by Elon Musk. So far, nothing real has ever landed in Americans’ mailboxes. The plan supposedly would take 20% of DOGE savings and pump it right into the hands of voters, but it’s all talk—no checks, perpetual “studying logistics,” while Trump uses the announcement to juice his popularity every time bad news hits.
Then there’s the $2,000 tariff checks. Trump promised these “tariff dividends” by claiming the government could refund tariff revenue straight to the people. Again, not a single legitimate check has been cut; critics point out that tariffs don’t function as “free money”—they’re basically extra taxes paid by consumers. The only change is a court battle over whether his tariffs are even legal, with experts warning a court loss could mean the government has to PAY BACK $90 billion in tariffs, not dole out new checks.

As for Trump’s MAGA phone company and those “gold phones”—it’s a boutique, Trump-branded smartphone line with a gaudy gold finish and a proprietary TrumpWorld app, launched as a giant diversion and cash grab aimed at supporters wanting their own status symbol. The rollout’s been a dud: very few phones shipped, lots of expensive pre-orders with delays, user complaints about it being little more than a cheap Android skin, and an FTC investigation into whether Trump’s team misled consumers on privacy and security.
Now, the “gold cards” for rich would-be immigrants—Trump did sign an executive order creating a “Gold Card” visa scheme, offering expedited green cards to anyone who forks over at least $1 million “gift” to the government. Immigration lawyers and advocates are already lining up lawsuits, calling the program a flat-out sale of American citizenship, and congressional leaders are questioning both the ethics and the national security of auctioning green cards like timeshares.

How much has the Trump family banked off all these schemes and the merch circus? This year alone, between crypto token sales, branded junk (NFTs, sneakers, gold watches, “exclusive” mugs and shirts), and the new licensing deals, the family is reported to have raked in more than $800 million—just from crypto and memecoin stunts—with another nearly $1 billion from merch, luxury experiences, and fake consulting gigs. That puts the real tally since January 2025 at roughly $1.8 billion, with a lot of that funneling through opaque LLCs tied to the Trump Organization, Trump’s adult kids, and favored cronies.
Is this legal? Technically, selling merch, running a side business, and cashing in on one’s name isn’t outright illegal for a sitting president—especially with Congress barely enforcing conflict-of-interest rules. But every ethics watchdog from DC to the UN says it’s an obvious abuse of public office and a historic violation of the intent of federal anti-corruption law. Not to mention that selling citizenship to the highest bidder and peddling influence-hosting events at his properties may yet draw court challenges and, possibly, criminal probes if a new AG or Congress decides to get serious.

Bottom line: the grifts are mostly vaporware, the profits are very real, and the ethics are as rotten as you’d expect in MAGAland.
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What are Fox and NewsMax sayig?
Right now, Fox News and Newsmax are pushing a tired, misleading storyline: that Democrats engineered the shutdown to hurt Trump and the American public, then caved and walked away with nothing. They’re painting Trump as the guy who weathered the storm and “saved America” by reopening the government—a total rewrite that sidesteps Trump’s months of grandstanding, rejected compromises, and the chaos he gladly stoked from the start.

They keep hammering that Democrats “prolonged the shutdown” for leverage and say the final bill “delivered nothing meaningful” except pain for regular Americans. Republican Study Committee leaders and Fox hosts are acting like the shutdown was all a pointless stunt—while ignoring that Trump himself refused multiple bipartisan attempts to end it sooner, insisting on hardline demands even his own party couldn’t stomach. Newsmax goes further, making it sound like Dems admitted they “shut everything down for an edge”—when in reality, both sides were mired in gridlock and Trump’s team was the one pivoting week-to-week and moving goalposts. Fox also claims Democrats compromised away all their priorities, when protections for SNAP, back pay provisions, and at least temporary Medicaid relief did make it into the final bill, even if not at ideal levels.

On the economy, Newsmax and Fox say Trump’s team “inherited a mess,” downplay inflation, and act like his policies have “brought prices way down”—when anyone buying groceries, gas, or paying rent knows costs haven’t come close to normal, and the shutdown itself tanked confidence more. On the shutdown’s fallout, they gloss over the disaster federal workers faced and the botched rollout of recovery aid, shifting blame entirely onto Democrat infighting, which just isn’t supported by the actual vote records or the timeline.

Their narrative is inaccurate because it rewrites who caused the crisis, obscures bipartisan attempts to end the pain, and conveniently forgets to mention the long-term costs of Trump’s brinkmanship for regular Americans. Their talking points are all spin—distraction, deflection, and blame-shifting to keep the MAGA base riled up in the face of mounting failures.
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Thanksgiving Travel – What to know…
The FAA is still playing catch-up after the shutdown chaos. Right now, there’s a 6% cut in flights at 40 major airports due to the ongoing air traffic controller staffing shortage—this means fewer flights, mostly during peak hours, and more bottlenecks at big hubs like Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. The FAA won’t say exactly when things will go fully back to normal, just that cuts will remain until staffing and safety are solid again—which could take a week or more, maybe all the way through Thanksgiving travel.

Travelers need to buckle up for:
- Longer lines and more flight delays, especially in the mornings and evenings.
- Canceled or rescheduled flights with short notice, especially on routes with less traffic or thin profit margins.
- Crowded terminals as airlines try to pack more passengers on the remaining flights.
- Extra pressure on customer service lines—if your flight is canceled, rebooking can take much longer.

Tips: Check your flight status often, sign up for airline alerts, and if you can, book morning flights (they’re less likely to be snowed under by the day’s delays). If you have connections, leave big time gaps—don’t cut it close. And if you can drive to a secondary airport, you might avoid the worst of it.

Thanksgiving travel is going to be messy, and while it’s not full meltdown territory, it’s nowhere near “back to normal” yet. Expect ripple-effect delays and bring your patience—there’s a lot of pent-up pressure in the system from weeks of mismanagement and short-staffing.
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Those are today’s updates…

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These are facts that I researched and verified – AI helped put together some sentence structure, but the words and tone are mine. These are my views based upon facts, research and thoughtful consideration using logic. I own the copyright to any images used.  I’m comfortable to stand alone to uphold truth.  Feel free to check me, but do not attack me. I am only causing good trouble.