President Donald Trump is drawing attention to the persecution of Christians in Africa, which has created a moment of “leverage” and momentum for “real action,” according to a new report from The Heritage Foundation.   “Human rights attacks against Christians occur too often, though [they] escape mainstream America, given unfamiliarity, distance, and competing priorities,” Ned Rauch-Mannino, a visiting fellow for The Heritage Foundation’s Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for National Security, wrote in the report.   The persecution of Christians in Africa is not new. In Nigeria, for example, radical Islamic terrorists have killed more than 50,000 Christians since 2009 alone.   “In the northern areas of Nigeria, the [Democratic Republic of the Congo’s] North Kivu and Ituri Provinces, northern Mozambique, and the Sahel, terrorist and extremist organizations deliberately target Christians for killings, beheadings, kidnappings, and church burnings in an effort to disrupt and destroy Christian communities and their influence,” according to the report.  ‘Country of Particular Concern’ During his first administration, Trump designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” due to the continuous killing of Christians at the hands of Islamic militants. The Biden administration removed the designation, but last week, Trump announced he would once again add Nigeria to the list of nations of “Particular Concern.”   The U.S. Department of State designates a country as one of “particular concern” if that nation has tolerated or engaged in “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”  Since the start of 2025, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria, according to the Heritage report, more than doubling the reported killings of last year.   Screenshot US Response  Trump has directed the Department of War to prepare for possible action in Nigeria in response to the violence.   “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’” Trump wrote on social media on Saturday.   “The President’s immediate response to worsening persecution in Nigeria demonstrates his seriousness, and as the White House remains unflinching in its pursuit of peace, expectations are high as this Administration maintains its generational leadership example,” Rauch-Mannino wrote.   During Trump’s first administration, the U.S. made religious freedom a critical component of its foreign policy, and doing so again will “would resume America’s leadership for peace for persecuted Christians in Africa and worldwide,” he says.   Trade negotiations and counterterrorism cooperation can both serve as powerful tools to address the persecution of Christians in Africa, the report asserts.   “The White House has proven its ability to leverage deal-making strengths to resolve conflicts around the world and unflinchingly take clear stances,” Rauch-Mannino said.   “Present negotiations in special circumstances could set expectations to demonstrably increase support, enable greater counterterrorism cooperation, and pursue and enforce laws crucial to the protection of threatened religious communities,” he added.   Rauch-Mannino contends that Congress and the executive can also levy pressure on Nigeria through a congressional delegation and senior official visits to Nigeria.   “Whether in Nigeria or elsewhere, violence against Christians requires action,” he said.    The post What’s the Right US Response to Mass Killings of Christians in Africa? New Report Calls for ‘Real Action.’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. President Donald Trump just met recently with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. And they had a mini summit of sorts, not a long one. But they were trying to resolve the growing tensions over trade and tariffs. And we’ll let the analysts and the pundits sort out who won or who lost. But I think most people feel the United States did pretty well. In other words, although we agreed to lower tariffs, they’re still going to be, nominally, 47% on incoming Chinese goods, maybe smaller or less severe in certain areas. But China, in return, is going to drop tariffs against us, restrictions about sending things into China, it’s going to buy U.S. soybeans, and it’s gonna stop its blockade or embargo of rare earth materials. And so, there was a give and take. But the question I have is, why now is China willing, after all of this rhetoric of resistance, why is it willing to even talk to Donald Trump? I thought we were gonna be in a trade war. I thought China was winning. And the answer is that, I guess, Donald Trump exposed China for what it is. We had been told by people on the right and left, if you gave China leeway, space, exemptions—forget about them cheating on copyrights, patents; forget about them manipulating currency, dumping product below the price of production, cost of production; forget about their Belt and Road, neo-imperialistic, mercantile system. Forget all about that. They’re even more insidious. The way that they transfer technology that they don’t have and cannot produce is to send over 300,000 students and hope that 1% or 2% or 3%—several hundred or several thousand—would then engage in U.S. industry, universities, corporations, and send that expertise back. And they have been doing that for 30 or 40 years. There’s another thing they do. They look and encourage DEI. They really think it’s a great idea that we have dropped, over the last five or six years, meritocratic standards because they had done it in their own past. They know what Mao Zedong did. He took the intellectuals, he took the engineers, the scientific community, put them out in the field and treated them like peasants. This was his Cultural Revolution. Seventy million people died. But more importantly, merit was not important. Ideology—that is communist ideology of the Chinese sort—made people get promoted or fired. And the result was China’s economy imploded and people starved. And China thinks, gosh, this is really good that the United States is doing this. We gotta really encourage how people that are Asian and people that are non-white are maltreated by the U.S. They also did it with the open border. They encourage it. They sent fentanyl in there that killed 70,000 people. Since 1999, probably when we first started to be aware and to document these accidental deaths and suicide by fentanyl, 600,000 Americans have died. That’s as many people that died in the Civil War. And China was supplying the raw product to the Mexican cartels. Maybe the biggest con they pulled off against the United States in particular and the West in general was the solar/wind, green agenda, global warming con. In other words, they captured the solar panel and the wind turbine market by dumping product below the cost of production, putting their Western rivals out of business, and then shipping vast amounts of green energy devices to the West while they did what? They built coal plants. They built nuclear plants. They built oil, hydroelectric plants. Yes, they had some green energy. But the point I’m making—they wanted us to have high-cost, subsidized, and limited amounts of energy while they did just the opposite and would have more fossil fuels at their disposal for cheaper and more efficient energy, and would further dominate the world global market. I could go on with Wuhan and their stonewalling about the origins and nature of the COVID-19 virus. But here’s the point. We were in a virtual war with China. They were ignoring any entreaty or effort to adjudicate with the Biden administration, with the Obama administration. Trump comes along and says: These are gonna be your tariffs. No more fentanyl. And ba-da-da, we have a big blowout. And suddenly China, I think, backs down and wants to talk. Why? Well, because we have a president that took out the Iranian nuclear facilities. We have a president that said to Israel, you were attacked on Oct. 7, deal with Hezbollah and Hamas and the Houthis as you see fit. We have a president who said to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first term, do not dare leave your borders. And who, this time, will adjudicate that war. We have a president that has achieved six or seven ceasefires all over the globe. We have an economy now where inflation is only about 3%. Gross domestic product may be over 3.5% at the end of the year. We were told that the tariffs would create a recession and crash the stock market. The stock market is at all-time highs, record highs. In other words, we have a very robust economy. We are preeminent on the world stage. Our military does not have a shortfall, as it did in 2023, of 40,000 soldiers. We have completely met all of our recruitment. We’re looking at all new types of weaponry—smaller companies, drones, artificial intelligence, robotics. It’s a very dynamic time, both in the civilian sphere and in our military. Add it all up and China says to itself, oh my gosh, we thought that the Americans were asleep. We kept poking it and we woke this dragon up. And all of a sudden, they think, you know what? We better be careful about buying farmland next to U.S. military bases. I thought they didn’t care or they were too weak to stop us. We gotta be careful about sending balloons across the United States. They’ll shoot it down in two seconds. We’ve gotta be very careful about cyberwarfare. We won’t go to Alaska and dress down and insult their diplomats, like we did with former national security adviser Jake Sullivan and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In other words, China is trying to be nice to us because it’s afraid. Because it understands that the United States always had the potential, as a free, consensual society, to be more dynamic, stronger, and have a much greater role in the world. And then, by our own volition, by our own lack of confidence, by our own divisiveness, we adopted policies that China encouraged because they knew they would weaken us. And suddenly, that’s all gone with the wind. It’s as if the United States said to China, you think you’re winning and you think you’re gonna take advantage of us? We’re in a renaissance. And all we have to say is, not yet, China. Not yet. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Trump Scared China Into Playing ‘Nice’ With the US Again appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Even as Senate Democrats continue to prevent the end of the federal government shutdown, there are promising signs in the economy under President Donald Trump. “Our opponents are offering an economic nightmare—we are delivering an economic miracle … . They want higher spending for government and illegal aliens—we want bigger paychecks for American workers and American families,” the president said Wednesday at a business forum event in Miami. Under the Trump administration, the United States has seen real improvements on key metrics of the cost of living, including inflation, gas prices, and tax cuts.  Perhaps the most notable example is the Consumer Price Index’s measurement of a decline in the inflation rate since the president took office. The Biden administration saw inflation reach an annual rate of 9.1% in June 2022, which was about a 40-year high, and a four-year average rate of 5%. But since January, inflation as measured by the CPI has been at about an annual average rate of 2.5%. When it comes to gas prices, this October saw the lowest prices for the fuel for any October since 2020. That translated to an average price of $2.98 per gallon, which is 15.2 cents a gallon lower than the previous year. The price of gas was also the lowest this past Labor Day than it had been for that time of year since 2020.  The president also saw his campaign promise of “no tax on tips” made good with the passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill. That legislation also provided for tax deductions for overtime pay and a tax deduction for seniors. According to the White House, the budget reconciliation legislation boosted take-home pay “for a typical hardworking family by OVER $10,000 a year.” Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have refused repeatedly to approve a House-passed stopgap continuing resolution funding the federal government. The shutdown has led to thousands of federal workers being furloughed and essential federal personnel having to work with uncertainty over how and when they will be paid.  “America’s economy is losing billions in growth. Even some homebuyers seeking their American dream are facing stalled processes,” House Appropriations Commission Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., explained recently before adding: “Every one of these harms was entirely avoidable. Instead, Democrat leadership designed this shutdown, celebrated it, and weaponized it—all while Americans lose paychecks, benefits, and critical services. They must end this chaos and reopen government.” For his part, Trump has sought to reduce the number of Americans that need federal assistance and to boost employment.  “In nine months, we’ve lifted over 600,000 Americans off food stamps. 1.9 million more American-born workers are employed today … than when I took office … and we have more people working now than at any time in the history of our country,” Trump said at the American Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday.  The post Economy Shows Promising Trends as Trump Prioritizes ‘Typical Hardworking Family’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Virginia Democrats swept the statewide elections Tuesday night–thanks to Northern Virginia voters who accounted for 88% of Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger’s victory margin.  Democrat Ghazala Hashmi won the lieutenant governor race, and Democrat Jay Jones won the attorney general race. Democrats also gained 13 house seats making their majority 64-36 for the 2026 session.  InsideNoVa analyzed preliminary election results and found that Spanberger won 72.3% of the total vote in Northern Virginia. Though across the rest of the state her winning margin was much closer to her Republican opponent Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.  According to the Associated Press, which has about 96% of the votes counted, Spanberger won Virginia by the largest gubernatorial margin since Terry McAuliffe in 2009. Spanberger won Virginia by 57.2% to 42.6% over Earle-Sears.  “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” President Donald Trump said via Truth Social Tuesday night in a response to the results.  Today marks the longest government shutdown in history, 36 days. The Democrats have voted 14 times to keep the government shutdown though they are still blaming Republicans.  Virginia has the second highest state population of federal workers, following California, and has been heavily impacted by the shutdown. According to the Census Bureau there are 147,358 federal civilian employees as of September 2025 in Virginia. Most of these Northern Virginia residents in the suburbs around Washington, D.C., furloughed due to the government shutdown. As of July, the Trump Administration DOGED 11,000 Virginians federal jobs, according to a report from University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.   Though Trump won the 2024 Presidential election, 312 electoral votes to Kamala Harris’ 226, Trump ultimately lost Virginia 46.3% to 52.1%. A recent poll conducted Oct. 30-31 by Emerson College and Nexstar Media found that his approval rating in Virginia is similar, 44.5% of Virginians approve of his job while 53.9% disapprove.  Both parties are already gearing up for the midterm elections officially a year away.  The post NOVA Determines Virginia’s Democrat Sweep appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Democrats had three big winners Tuesday, but New Jersey’s Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill could have the most staying power as a matter of math. Sherrill, first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, won a 13-point blowout for governor in what polls had shown to be a neck-and-neck race.  “She is a rising star. To win what was supposed to be a competitive race by such a large margin is a significant task,” Micah Rasmussen, director of Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, told The Daily Signal. Further, she ran as a moderate, in strong contrast to the much-watched New York City mayor’s race, where Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ran as a self-professed socialist.  “You can’t help but notice that she won her election by much more than he won his election by,” Rasmussen added. “She brought a wider coalition of voters together. That’s a lesson for Democrats in future elections.” Sherrill won 56% of the vote against state Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli’s 43%. Ciattarelli just four years earlier ran a tightly contested race against outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy.  Mamdani cracked 50% in a three-way race in the city, beating his nearest opponent, former disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo by nine points.  Down south in Virginia, former Democrat U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger won by a similar margin as Sherrill. But unlike in New Jersey, which appeared close for most of the contest, Spanberger generally led in polls throughout the campaign. Surveys tightened somewhat a few weeks before Election Day, but Spanberger ultimately defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. “The margins were much bigger in both states than in 2021,” Lara Bonatesta, a writer with Ballotpedia, which tracks election data, told The Daily Signal. “[Phil] Murphy won his race by two or three points. It was similar in Virginia. The turnout was a big factor.”  Further, though both women were elected governors of large states, Sherrill is eligible to run again in 2029. Spanberger is constitutionally limited to one term. “You can usually get a lot more done in eight years than in four years, but that could depend on the individual,” Bonatesta said. It’s too early to speculate whether either could be on a national ticket in 2028 as a vice presidential candidate, Rasmussen noted.  “The kind of broad appeal they had—I won’t call it necessarily moderate or centrist—united a broad coalition of votes. [That] should be what Democrats try to bottle up. Don’t pick a divider,” he said.  It’s not as simple as taking a centrist tone, said Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal said.  “They are very knowledgeable women who have experience in leadership positions,” Smeal told The Daily Signal. “They support the Equal Rights Amendment. They support reproductive rights and choice. And they support other important issues such as Medicaid and Medicare.” Sherrill has ranked 80% or higher for her liberal congressional voting record on the very liberal Americans for Democratic Action and Progressive Punch scorecards and 2% on Heritage Action for America’s conservative score card. She also has a 100% score with NARAL Pro-Choice America for her record on abortion. Sherrill has touted her moderate credentials. In 2023, the Common Ground Committee ranked her as the most bipartisan member of the House delegation from New Jersey and in the top 5% most bipartisan members of the House. She also highlighted her biography of military service and prosecuting crime as a federal prosecutor—themes that often appeal to conservative-leaning or swing voters.  She is a 1994 U.S. Naval Academy graduate and spent 10 years in the Navy with missions as a helicopter pilot. She was later an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. Sherrill did come under fire during the campaign regarding a cheating scandal in her Naval Academy class that reportedly involved more than 100 cadets. She wasn’t personally implicated in cheating. She graduated, but didn’t walk the stage, which she said happened because she didn’t turn in a classmate and report what she knew.  Both of the new governors are what Democrats need going forward, contends Kyle Kondik, managing editor for Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Though, it’s not clear the Democrat base is on board.  “Spanberger better fits the mold of candidates that national Democrats like to run in competitive states and districts, as does Sherrill,” Kondik told The Daily Signal. “Whether Democratic primary voters agree is something that is worth watching in both the 2026 and 2028 primary seasons.” The post How Big a Role Will New Jersey’s Next Governor Play in Democratic Party’s Future? appeared first on The Daily Signal.