Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro principally values a habit of telling the truth in any leader of the Republican Party. Shapiro spoke about what he values in GOP politicians in an interview with The Daily Wire on the sidelines of the Turning Point USA AmericaFest conference that ended on Sunday. “The number one thing that I would look for from any Republican leader at this point is simply telling the truth,” said Shapiro after he was asked a question on the future of Republican politics. “I think the president has a habit of doing this in sort of pithy, short versions,” Shapiro said of President Donald Trump. “He has a capacity for saying unpopular truths, which is great. We need more conservative leaders saying things that are true, even if, in the short-term, they’re not quote-unquote coalitional,” he continued, “because, again, you’re going to need to break whatever is here and you need to rebuild it stronger, and the only way to do that is with some true leadership.” Shapiro spoke on the main stage at AmericaFest on the opening night in a speech that generated headlines because of its bomb-throwing, but put forward a message on the importance of truth in politics. Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships “Because victory — true victory — cannot be achieved without truth. Victory without truth is victory for a lie. And that is no victory at all. And unity without truth is no unity. It is merely solidarity in falsehood,” said Shapiro in a version of his speech posted on The Free Press. In the interview, Shapiro said that the conservative movement has drifted away from a commitment to truth as more “clowns” have come into the movement. “You have people who were not conservative, who have entered, who have brought their non-assimilated, non-conservatism into the conservative tent,” said Shapiro. “To sort of pretend that the leadership of the movement ought to be vested in people who are either brand new and don’t hold those principles or people who have abandoned the key principles that have upheld the conservative movement for the last several decades, I think, is an enormous error.” “A movement without principle is not a movement at all. It’s an agglomeration of people who are following whoever happens to be the leader that day,” he said.

President Donald Trump posted a Christmas message to everyone — “including the Radical Left Scum” — on Christmas Eve, touting a number of things that his administration has changed in just the first year of his second term in office. Trump posted the message first on his Truth Social platform, and he laid out a few things he’d been critical of during former President Joe Biden’s time in office, explaining what he’d already done to usher in major changes. “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly,” Trump began, immediately pivoting to attack Biden’s policies. “We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement.” Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships Trump followed that with a series of positive changes that he attributed to his own policies: “What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401K’s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected.” “Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had,” the president continued. “We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT.” The tone set by the White House Christmas message just hours later was much more subdued, featuring a simple photo of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. MERRY CHRISTMAS! pic.twitter.com/YJ9YYEf19v — The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 25, 2025 The Department of Homeland Security posted a video, set to “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” Rejoice America, Christ is born! pic.twitter.com/tZgLyTxkVn — Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 25, 2025 “Christmas night, 1776… The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware. We carry his legacy,” the War Department said, sharing an image of then-General George Washington crossing the Delaware River. Christmas night, 1776… The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware. We carry his legacy. https://t.co/eFRDAwfewO pic.twitter.com/ePUt394Qdj — DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) December 25, 2025 “Merry Christmas to all. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May His light bring peace, hope, and joy to you and your families,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth added. Merry Christmas to all. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May His light bring peace, hope, and joy to you and your families. pic.twitter.com/lycKvYq9eS — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) December 25, 2025

Many Americans in recent years have returned to religion in a revival that accelerated because of the work of the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, according to Dr. Ben Carson. Carson, who served under the first Trump administration as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke about Kirk’s legacy in an interview with The Daily Wire on the floor of Turning Point’s AmericaFest conference that ended on Sunday. An American faith revival has “really been going on for the last couple of years,” said Carson. “I think it accelerated quite a bit with what Charlie was doing.” The Trump administration alum said that many in Generation Z are finding faith because they recognized that the direction of the country without religious values was “not one that was going to lead to good things.” Many turned to religion after asking how the United States can “be a great nation.” “The young men in particular are really coming back to church, and the young women will catch up, too,” said Carson, noting that women growing up today are facing complicated choices between balancing a career and having children. The doctor is optimistic that expanding opportunities for virtual work will improve women’s ability to balance both. Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships Carson’s think tank, the American Cornerstone Institute, has launched an initiative to aid in the work that Kirk did and to reacquaint young people with the United States’ founding and religious values: the Little Patriots program. Through the program, Carson hopes to set young Americans on a good path early in their education before “Marxists” in the education system corrupt their thinking with leftist and victimhood ideology. “The two biggest teacher unions are full of Marxists, and so it’s a battle, but I think we have the better message, to be quite frank, and we just have to make sure that we don’t get discouraged and that we’re willing to fight as hard as they do,” he said. As a veteran of the first Trump administration, Carson said that President Donald Trump’s second term is “incredible.” “I think the Lord did us a favor by allowing Trump to lose – or at least to be perceived as losing – so that he wasn’t there for four years so he could really think about what happened, what were the obstacles, what were the things that really worked, so that by the time his next term came around, he was ready,” said Carson.

The White House did not publish an official “Naughty List” for 2025 — though whether they made one is anyone’s guess — a handful of lawmakers would have been shoe-ins for inclusion. These people worked against President Donald Trump and his administration over the past year by holding up votes on Trump’s nominees and agenda, attacking the president on social media and in the press, and badmouthing him and his team in front of any microphone they could find. They come from both parties and across the country, unified only in their opposition to the Big Man. Let’s take a look at which Grinches made the list. LaMonica McIver Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was one of three New Jersey lawmakers who physically pushed their way into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding facility in her state. She and the others claimed that ICE agents had gotten “rough” with them, but body cam footage belied her account. McIver was indicted for her trouble, on three counts of “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.” Marjorie Taylor Greene President Trump’s former ally is the most recent lawmaker to incur Trump’s wrath. After a series of criticisms from Greene — focused primarily on the Trump administration’s handling of files related to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — Trump attacked the Georgia congresswoman in several Truth Social posts. Calling her “Marjorie Traitor Greene” in one instance, he cheered her eventual resignation from Congress as “good for the country.” In the days since, Greene has given a handful of interviews — and they’ve been progressively less flattering to Trump. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez The New York firebrand has been a more-or-less constant thorn in the side of Republicans since she was elected, and 2025 has proved to be no different. With the policies championed in her proposed Green New Deal languishing under the weight of Trump’s regulatory reform, she has turned to jabbing at members of the administration and those who support it via social media. One such barb was aimed at former collegiate swimmer — and staunch advocate for women and girls — Riley Gaines, who pointed out the dangers of embracing socialism as AOC has. “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referencing the 2022 NCAA championships where Gaines had tied for 5th place with trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas. Gaines was unperturbed, replying, “It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a ‘gotcha’ by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman *in the nation* yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol. Misogynistic dunce.” Ocasio-Cortez also took to social media to crow about a poll that showed her besting Vice President JD Vance in a potential 2028 match-up. What she didn’t mention was that the poll was taken in Canada, where socialism has already taken hold — and where no one can vote for her, anyway. Mark Kelly Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined five other members of Congress — all of them veterans of either the Armed Services or the Central Intelligence Agency — to make a video encouraging members of the military to question their orders in real time. Nicknaming them the “Seditious Six,” Trump said his administration was prepared to investigate Kelly in particular because, as the only member of the group who retired from the military, he is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and can be recalled to be court-martialed for his actions. Chuck Schumer Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer kept members of his party in line through the longest government shutdown in American history — and despite the fact that he and his party got nothing for their trouble, they still managed to inflict a significant amount of pain on people who either worked for the federal government and were furloughed or were dependent on government assistance. When the shutdown finally ended, Democrats got none of the things they’d demanded, and members of Schumer’s party began to turn on him. “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said at the time. Hakeem Jeffries House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has almost constantly been at odds with the Trump administration — and his attacks have often been disingenuous at best. After claiming that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had refused to talk to him about bringing the shutdown to an end, Jeffries was forced to admit to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins that they had, in fact, spoken — and that Johnson had initiated the call. On another occasion, Jeffries aimed his ire at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. He mocked the acclaimed cardiothoracic surgeon and claimed that no one should take him “seriously.” Fox News anchor John Roberts laid out the fact check: “Just a quick fact check for the minority leader: Mehmet Oz: Undergraduate degree — Harvard; MD — UPenn; MBA — Wharton School; He was a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital before taking the leap into TV.” Jeffries did praise Trump for issuing a pardon to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whose indictment was viewed by a number on both sides of the political aisle as politically motivated — but on balance, he more than earned the sombrero memes in which he was featured. Chris Van Hollen Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was at first of many congressional Democrats who sided with dangerous criminal aliens over American citizens, attacking ICE agents for faithfully enforcing federal immigration laws. But when his party and their media cohorts effectively adopted MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia as their cause du jour, it was Van Hollen who took his activism to absurd new heights. When the criminal illegal alien was deported and sent to El Salvador — an admitted mistake made by the Trump administration, which could legally have deported him to any country other than El Salvador — it was Van Hollen who took it upon himself to fly to El Salvador and demand to meet with Abrego Garcia. Adam Schiff Perhaps the naughtiest of them all, Schiff made the leap from the House to the Senate in January, and although he still hasn’t delivered the “evidence” he swore he had of Trump colluding with Russia, he has poured a fair amount of time and effort into being a bee in the Trump administration’s bonnet. Just two days after Trump’s inauguration, Schiff complained in an X post that Pam Bondi — then Trump’s nominee for attorney general — had not given a thorough review to all of the January 6th pardons. He omitted the fact that his party had stalled Bondi’s confirmation process — and therefore it was ridiculous to expect her to already be doing the job they were preventing her from getting. In the months since, Schiff’s statements have been an exercise in lacking self-awareness. “That attitude that you can make a president or a party unsuccessful, no matter what damage it might do to the country, because it’s good politics — we have to get past that ruinous idea,” he said on a recent podcast, omitting his own history of doing exactly that to Trump. When War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered strikes on narco-terrorists in the Caribbean, Schiff referred to men who survived the initial strike as “shipwreck survivors” and declared the strikes illegal. He later complained that Trump had only survived multiple prosecutions because then Attorney General Merrick Garland had not been “partisan enough.” Here’s hoping these naughty folks enjoy their coal — and learn to be nicer next year!

A foundational pillar of quantum mechanics—wave-particle duality—faced a significant challenge this year following a provocative reinterpretation of the classic double-slit experiment. While physics has long held that light simultaneously possesses particle and wave-like properties, researchers led by Celso Villas-Boas have proposed a model that explains interference patterns using only particles (photons). In the traditional double-slit experiment, light passing through two slits creates an interference pattern of bright and dark fringes on a screen. This has historically been cited as definitive proof of light’s wave nature. However, the team from the Federal University of São Carlos suggests a different mechanism: Instead of waves crashing into each other, the researchers utilize “dark states”—special quantum states where photons are unable to interact with other particles. These dark states account for the dark stripes on the screen. By explaining the experiment through the presence or absence of photon interactions, the need for a “wave” model is effectively eliminated. The mathematical foundation of Villas-Boas’s work centers on the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian, the standard model for describing how light (radiation) interacts with matter (a two-level atom). The crux of the math is the “coupling” between these photon states and the detector’s atoms. The researchers identified two distinct types of collective states: bright states and dark states. The reception among the scientific community has been polarized: Many educators feel the work upends decades of established pedagogy regarding interference. Proponents argue this view clarifies “impossible” phenomena, such as interference between non-overlapping waves or between mechanical and electromagnetic waves. Beyond theoretical debate, this shift suggests tangible advancements. Villas-Boas’s ongoing research into dark states reveals that thermal radiation (like sunlight) may contain significant “hidden” energy that does not interact with matter. Furthermore, this reinterpretation could pave the way for novel technologies, including: light-driven quantum switches and materials engineered to be transparent only to specific light states. Traditional solar panels and thermal collectors only harvest light that “couples” or interacts with their materials. If sunlight contains photons in “dark states” that don’t interact with matter, we have been missing a massive reservoir of energy. This could lead to a new generation of Quantum Photovoltaics designed to “break” the dark state of these photons, allowing us to capture energy that previously passed right through our best solar cells.