☕️ MONOCULAR ☙ Thursday, December 18, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
Trump's rapid-fire speech on affordability; House passes MTG's trans youth care ban (likely DOA in Senate); defiant Fani Willis spars in GA hearing; DOJ sues Fulton for 2020 ballots; Pfizer woes; more
Good morning, C&C, it’s Thursday! Your roundup today includes: Trump speed-runs address that tackles affordability, prices, and nearly everything you can think of in 20 great primetime minutes; the House actually passes a terrific MTG bill, and even though it’s probably going nowhere, it tees up all the right issues; a defiant Fani Willis is back in the news, her long, difficult post-Trump period only beginning to spice up; feds ramp pressure on Fulton County election officials to cough up 2020 ballot records; and Pfizer shares drop, again, as revenues drop, again, and the drugmaker flails around to find a new vaccine somewhere in its fat folds.
🌍 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🌍
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Early this morning, the New York Times did what it loves best. It ridiculed and mischaracterized the Republican President, in an nasty story headlined, “Trump Delivers Attacks and Deflects Blame for Americans’ Economic Worries.” Two days ago, the White House announced the quickly scheduled speech, which started last night at 9 pm EST, ran for about 20 minutes, and preempted regularly scheduled primetime programming on all the alphabet networks.
I’ll concede that, in terms of mechanics, it wasn’t Trump’s best. He speed-read the speech, producing a kind of high-energy monotone (for him), which allowed salivating critics to describe it as shouting. Not crazy old man shouting, like some other former official I could name. It was more like someone had told him, “you have to finish before the 9:30 shows start, and for Pete’s sake, speak up.” (The story ended with this: “Afterwards, he asked how he had done. Ms. Wiles replied, ‘I told you 20 minutes and you were 20 minutes on the dot.’” So.)
In any case: “Mr. Trump spoke loudly and at a fast clip,” the Times giddily noted. Yeah, we get it. He had to wrap it up before the commercial break.
But in terms of content, the speech was a knockout; almost too jam-packed, nearly too much material for a 20-minute address. That’s because there is too much good news. It was probably hard to decide what to leave out. Supporters noted how cleverly the President forced the media to cover his successes, by promoting them himself:
It was hard to find an issue that wasn’t mentioned. He declared no wars, and announced no new policies (except one— active U.S. servicemembers will get a $1,776 Christmas bonus from tariff revenue. That’s nice.) Rather, the speech was a mission review from his first 11 months in office, with a particular focus on prices.
The mask is now off. The Times got right to it, in the article’s second sentence: “The president has been on the defensive recently over the issue of affordability, which congressional Democrats hope to use to sweep back into power during the midterm elections.” (Meaning, the Times hopes to use affordability to help sweep Democrats back into power, but whatever.) And the reason Trump’s “on the defensive recently” is because the lying media is running nonstop fake bad news and creating a schizophrenic public that is spending like it’s the Roaring 20’s but feels more anxious than a Siamese cat in a room full of Cracker Barrel rocking chairs.
“Wielding charts and figures,” the Times sneered, “Mr. Trump tried to make the case that the economy is improving or, at least, that the bad parts of it are not his fault.” What the narcissistic psychopath who penned the story failed to say was that both things are 100% correct: the economy has improved, on nearly every measure —including prices— and the “bad parts” (presumably, inflation) are not, in fact, Trump’s fault.
It’s wild that the Democrats could create Bidenflation, then, with the full cooperation of the media, gaslight everybody that it’s Trump’s fault because he isn’t fixing it fast enough. It’s like those twins who murdered their parents demanding sympathy for being orphans now.
During the speech, the President teased lower prices for a laundry list of kitchen-table expenses: electricity, gasoline, hotel rates, airfare, groceries, mortgages, and “everything else.” He pre-announced “some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history,” soon to be unveiled. And perhaps most importantly, he confirmed real wages were rapidly improving. “After years of record-setting falling incomes, our policies are boosting take-home pay at a historic pace,” the President said.
We can’t lower prices enough to dig our way out of Bidenflation. Wages must rise faster than inflation. It’s the only way.
The only reaction quote the Times cared to include came from Trump’s top Congressional enemy, ratlike Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), 93.5, who likes to puts the cheese on BBQ burgers while they are still frozen. I did not make that up. He probably also eats raw chicken. “President Trump’s speech just showed he lives in a bubble,” said the generic statement hastily excreted by the Senator’s office. “People are feeling squeezed harder and harder every day and tonight Donald Trump took a victory lap.”
One imagines Trump’s speech must have been solid if Schumer couldn’t come up with anything more specific to criticize.
Maybe Trump should call it the “war on affordability?” On second thought, never mind, that wouldn’t be too militaristic for the Times. Anyway, wielding his FCC-based preemptive powers, last night President Trump got to tell broadcast TV-watching Americans —however many there still are— his side of the story. Take that, media.
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Yesterday, the Washington Post ran an encouraging story headlined, “Marjorie Taylor Greene’s sweeping anti-trans care bill passes House.” The sub-headline added, “It most likely will not become law, but it will still have consequences for transgender youth.” I’ll give you $5 if you can explain that. Even after reading the article, the sub-headline made less sense.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Protect Children’s Innocence Act on strict party lines (216-211), with four Republicans voting against. If it passes the Senate (unlikely), it will create criminal charges for doctors —up to 10 years in prison— if they ‘treat’ minors with puberty blockers, hormones, or surgeries. The law would also punish anyone who consents or transports a minor to the so-called ‘care.’
First, we appreciate Congress acting. Even if the bill will almost certainly stall in the Senate, swirling around the filibuster toilet bowl. They can’t avoid it; frustration will inevitably pile up at the Senate’s door, and hopefully demands to end the silent filibuster will become defeaning.
Don’t cry to me about the vaunted ‘history of the filibuster.’ They don’t have to completely delete their stupid filibuster. Just surgically remove the recent innovation that lets senators avoid actually doing the filibustering. Pretend like the silent filibuster rule is an unwanted pickle that causes their panties to bunch up awkwardly, and get rid of it faster than unwanted breasts at the Houston Methodist gender clinic.
For the love of the nation’s sanity, force the Sentors to talk. On live streaming. And make them hold it for hours. Or wear Depends. Either way would be fine. That’s the historic filibuster.
And, good for Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). She filed the terrific bill in August 2022 and hung in there all these years, finally receiving yesterday’s vote in exchange for her agreement to support the Defense Appropriations (NDAA), which are working through Congress right now. We’ll miss her.
🔥 Democrats calmly and soberly responded to their narrow loss, mostly by running around in circles on the Congressional lawn and screaming at the tops of their lungs. They used carefully considered, even-handed language reflecting the profound split among Americans over the issue, with thoughtful, measured, totally not-exaggerated phrases like “beyond cruel,” “terroristic,” “most extreme,” and “will forever stain the US Congress as an institution.” Whew!
It’s difficult to avoid thinking Democrats are now on the losing side of the issue. Even if this bill never passes, over half of U.S. states already ban the Mengele-like procedures on children. Some, like Mississippi, even criminalize trans-care tourism. In January, President Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to withhold funds from any hospitals offering The Treatment. In June, SCOTUS upheld Tennessee’s ban as constitutional, which pretty much ended the lawfare.
(If only we could mandate Congressional Democrats receive The Treatment. I bet they’d vote to make it illegal before you can get your corset on.)
One delusional Times reader posted a comment to the story saying, “I have three friends with trans kids, and they are so afraid.” That’s remarkable. Let me ask you: how many of your friends have trans kids? Or better yet, how many trans kids did you know while you were growing up? Do you suppose this reader ever wondered why so many of their friends have trans kids now? Do you think the reader likes to wear his wife’s underwear when nobody’s watching? (Hint: that was a rhetorical question.)
More bills like this, please! Let’s get this party started.
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Yesterday, CBS News ran a very entertaining story headlined, “Fulton County DA Fani Willis clashes with Georgia Senate committee over Trump prosecution.” The Senators confronted Ms. Willis with bills she authorized for her personal boy toy and squeeze Nathan Wade, who invoiced 160 hours of work per week, or around 23 hours per day. (If you can imagine the things he must have been forced to do during all that time, you can eke out a little sympathy.) Anyway, Willis thoughtfully and in a very professional manner replied with a fiery, incoherent broadside arguing, if I understand it right, that Wade used to come in early at 7:45am:
The context is that Willis’s case against President Trump is now dismissed, her own fault for mixing business with pleasure, but she remains under the microscope, like bacteria collected from patient zero. The DA remains defiant. She has partial amnesia. She said that she couldn’t remember whether the House J6 committee sent her any documents or helped her with the case. She also seems completely unembarrassed to have destroyed her own case by not being able to keep the sausage in the bun.
She also seems unaware of the implications of her own stupidity, such as how much it wound up costing the county. When Senators asked, Willis angrily insisted she didn’t even want to speculate about the price of prosecuting the president. “Whatever it cost, they tried to steal the rights of thousands of Georgians. It couldn’t have been enough,” she said.
Maybe Fani lacks basic accounting skills. I blame the public schools. But it was consistent with her approach to spending the county’s money in general.
She even tried to defend approving Wade’s obviously fake invoices. “She allowed Wade to bill 160 hours a week,” CBS reported, “while he taught the other attorneys assigned to the case how to prosecute and investigate it.”
Haha, good one. Nathan Wade had no prior RICO experience. Well, not as a lawyer. Who knows what he was “teaching” the other attorneys. Probably not accounting.
The hearing was a circus. You can almost hear calliope music playing behind the proceedings, with Willis repeatedly having her microphone cut off when she kept talking over the Senators in a furious, machine-gun speaking style with an urban patois. That may be unkind; there are certainly moments when listening to the beleaguered DA’s rhetorical skills conjures the mellifluous tones of a feral screech owl.
Where this all goes next is anybody’s guess. Anything remains possible. If the Senators develop the evidence properly, then Georgia’s Governor could remove Ms. Willis. She might face criminal or civil charges, bar discipline, or land a role on next season’s Bachelor. Now that I think about it, maybe being the subject of a criminal investigation could help make Ms. Willis a better prosecutor. You never know, but let’s look at the personal assistant position as half-full.
🔥 Three says ago, CBS ran a related story headlined, “U.S. Justice Department sues Fulton County officials over 2020 election voter data.” The lawsuit alleges that Fulton County officials refused to comply with a federal subpoena for “all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County.” So.
It’s a curious inversion. Fulton County’s DA Fani Willis’ case against Trump for election interference imploded in the fireworks of shame, but the Trump’s Administration’s case against Fulton County’s 2020 election interference is just ramping up.
You will recall, I’m sure, that diligent, hardworking Fulton County election officials, slavishly toiling like Nathan Wade, around the clock on election night in 2020, in the State Farm Arena, were ‘forced’ to stop counting in the wee hours due to a “water main break,” which later shrank into “an overflowing urinal.” Don’t scoff; the threat of an overflowing urinal somewhere in the stadium obviously took priority— safety first. Later the next day, Fulton county officials told volunteers they were all done for the night, but after monitors and media left, the county officials resumed counting anyway. Totally normal.
The DOJ’s request aims to “ensure Georgia’s compliance with federal election laws” and to investigate what the lawsuit claims were “unexplained anomalies in vote tabulation.” Anomalies is a fun word, isn’t it?
Fulton County officials, nowhere near as chatty as Ms. Willis, told CBS Atlanta they were “not at liberty to comment on pending legislation.”
2020 isn’t over.
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Yesterday, Fierce Pharma ran a story headlined, “Pfizer shares drop 5% with 2026 revenue projection and long-range outlook.” The covid drugmaker’s fortunes are not improving.
The mega-drugmaker told investors yesterday to expect another year of declining revenues, a deplorable financial slide that started in 2024 and will, apparently, continue through 2029. The company blamed falling covid vaccine and Paxlovid sales, as well as several other unrelated drugs that are scheduled to go off patent over the next 36 months or so. Sad!
Remarkably, the company predicted a drop of only -$1.5 billion on its covid vaccine sales, with continued annual revenues of $5 billion. Who are all these people still taking $5 billion worth of shots? Junkies?
As the company’s revenues shrank like Nathan Wade’s little lawyer after a cold plunge, Pfizer also announced fifteen new clinical phase 3 trials on obesity drugs. Everybody is fat now, thanks only to our own poor lifestyle choices, from eating too much fat, or too much sugar, or too little sugar, or too much red meat, or not enough kale, or whatever it is today; I’ve lost track. Sorry. Anyway, the good news is: skinny drugs can replace lost revenue from shrinking vaccine sales. It’s brilliant!
You may as well think of them as fat vaccines. After all, thanks to diligent, nonpartisan expert scientists at the CDC, ‘vaccines’ have now been more accurately and scientifically defined as any substance with extreme profit potential, including injectable radioactive sludge, if marketed correctly.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, a Greek veterinarian, blamed the company’s doglike performance on politics. “It’s mostly driven politically,” he said, repeating himself. Well, mostly politically. All those corpses of former patients might have something to do with it, too. But never mind. Bourla bravely vowed to never surrender. “Vaccines are an essential part of any healthcare system,” Bourla explained, as if speaking to children. “I can assure you, we are not going back to Louis Pasteur times.”
I don’t think we’re going back to the days of Louis Pasteur either. First of all, Pasteur never had a robot that could ride a skateboard. And even if we could go back to the Pasteur times, the first thing we’d probably do is fire Pasteur for not taking the covid jabs— before he could invent vaccines. This would almost certainly cause an infinite-time paradox that would likely destroy the universe, or at least shift us back to the timeline where Mr. Peanut wears a monocle. But I digress.
I take no particular pleasure in Pfizer’s financial suffering. But I do hope it’s a sign that pharma is receding and something better —something healthier— is ascendant instead.
Have a terrific Thursday! Skate back here tomorrow, same time, for a fresh cup of holiday-style essential news and commentary.
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So many people seem to have forgotten what we and our country had been through from January 20, 2021-January 20, 2025. It’s hard to believe but at that time nearly half the country was ok with the American government corrupting our children, covering their faces with masks, social distancing, setting up a ministry of truth, censoring people, canceling people, jailing people for political beliefs, jailing political opponents, law fare, shutting down businesses, shutting down churches, destroying the family, restricting travel, and the cherry on the sunday forcing people to have dangerous experimental chemicals injected in their arms or be fired or forced to be locked out of society. These were the Nazi like techniques the Biden administration and the democrats pushed on all of us. And who could forget Biden’s speech at Independence Hall. All you needed was a Nazi hat, some storm trooper boots and a little mustache under his nose and there you have it, a rebirth of the Third Reich.
To add insult to injury they robbed our treasury. They spent trillions of dollars on radical policies. “Vaccines”, liberal state bail outs, opening the borders and paying for all of these illegals, sending tax money to foreign countries, sending money to our enemies, billions spent on foreign wars and weapons, the list goes on and on. They transferred wealth from the hard working middle class taxpayer to non working non citizens. If you were trying to destroy America I wouldn’t have changed one thing Biden and the democrats did.
In that 4 year period inflation went over 17 percent crushing the American family. As all communists do they lied and said the inflation was transitory. I’m no economist but listening to these bumbling liars any tiny amount of faith I had left in this government I lost, especially after they stole the 2020 election.
It takes decades to build a homestead but just hours to burn it down. At this point we have to have patience with the process of fixing this disaster Biden and the democrats left us. Things have begun to get better but I believe in the next 12 months things will really start to turn around, as long as we stay focused and have patience. To me anything is better than living under the Nazi-like, Marxist, Democrat Party. We can’t again allow a party which uses fear as a weapon back into power.
Happy Thursday😊!! J.Goodrich
✝️✝️✝️
“The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the tender grass springs out of the earth,
Through sunshine after rain.’”
— 2 Samuel 23:3-4 NAS95
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PS: I’m off to OKC for 3 appts tomorrow, for docs to decide if they are going to fix the vessels in my chest that are too big for their britches and not playing nicely together. Prayers appreciated for the docs to make right decision. Not all bad though, because my grandbaby lives nearby. 🥰 Thank you!