Trump’s War on Cartels Just Got Personal
Tulsi Gabbard confirms what the media won’t: the border’s under new management.
Good Morning, it’s Sunday, October 26th, 2025.
At dawn on October 15th, a Sinaloa cartel boss learned what “America First” really means. Tulsi Gabbard — yes, the former Democrat now running U.S. intelligence — revealed how Trump’s team captured El Pato, one of Mexico’s most violent drug lords, even as federal workers went unpaid during the Democrats’ shutdown circus.
Today’s issue cuts through the noise: Trump’s border war is real, blue-state spin on crime is cracking, and even Fetterman’s cussing at his own party. Buckle up — the mask is slipping.
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Trump’s Border Message: “We’re Not Asking Anymore”
Tulsi Gabbard reveals how Trump’s team took down a cartel boss — while Democrats kept the lights off in D.C.
What you need to know:
DNI Tulsi Gabbard confirmed that Trump’s intel operation led to the Oct. 15 capture of Leonardo “El Pato” Martinez Vera, a top Sinaloa Cartel figure accused of kidnapping, murder, and trafficking. The takedown happened during a Democrat-fueled government shutdown, while intelligence officers were literally working without pay.
Why it matters:
Trump isn’t just talking border security — he’s running counterterror ops against cartels Biden let run wild.
The State Department’s February 2025 FTO designation of Sinaloa, MS-13, and Tren de Aragua has given the White House new teeth.
Even blue-state governors are admitting it: Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker conceded last week, “We don’t have the problem that existed before.”
The Real Story
When Tulsi Gabbard — the former Democrat who now runs U.S. intelligence — goes on Fox News to praise Trump’s “seriousness,” you know the game has changed.
This isn’t another press release victory lap. The National Counterterrorism Center quietly tracked El Pato for months. Sources say the final raid involved joint intel with Mexican special forces and U.S. tech assets that Biden-era officials once deemed “too aggressive.”
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would’ve paid federal workers and troops during the shutdown — the same workers Gabbard said “worked tirelessly” to make the arrest happen. Let that sink in: Democrats froze paychecks while Trump’s unpaid agents hunted killers.
And for the cartel chiefs watching? The message was crystal: the border is no longer open for business. Trump’s team isn’t “negotiating” — it’s neutralizing.
What They Don’t Want You To See
“Our folks… working now without pay because of the Democrats’ government shutdown… got this guy arrested and behind bars,” — Tulsi Gabbard, Fox News, Oct 25, 2025
Bottom Line:
Trump just proved that real border security doesn’t come from speeches — it comes from resolve. While Democrats bicker over funding and feelings, the Commander-in-Chief is hunting terrorists in cartel uniforms. Gabbard didn’t just confirm the capture — she confirmed the shift: America’s border is under new management.
Pritzker Can’t Spin Chicago’s Body Count
Fox’s Bret Baier dropped the receipts — and the governor folded faster than a card table at a tailgate.
When Fox’s Bret Baier pressed Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Chicago’s murder rate Thursday, the Democrat governor tried to rewrite the numbers — but Baier came armed with facts, not feelings.
Pritzker claimed Chicago “isn’t even in the top 30” for murder rates and bragged that violent crime was down “double digits.” Reality check: Chicago police recorded 573 murders in 2024 — the city’s “lowest” in five years, but still enough to lead major U.S. cities with a rate of 17.47 murders per 100,000 residents.
Baier didn’t blink. He flashed the Fox News crime map on-screen and read it aloud — Chicago ranked #1, above Philadelphia, Houston, and Los Angeles.
Pritzker’s answer? A word salad about “community violence interruption” and a swipe at Trump, who, ironically, was the only president to actually send troops to Chicago to stop the bleeding.
Democrats have run Chicago for decades. The city bleeds; they blame Washington. The media yawns. Then Fox drops a chart, and the truth finally hits like a headline they can’t censor.
Bottom Line:
Pritzker’s data dodge was the perfect metaphor for blue-state denial — crime is down on paper, but bodies are still piling up in morgues. You can’t “community-interrupt” a bullet.
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Fetterman to Schumer: “Cut the Sh*t”
Even Democrats are done pretending the shutdown is some moral crusade.
Sen. John Fetterman just told his own party to grow up. The Pennsylvania Democrat unloaded on Chuck Schumer after Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan bill to pay U.S. troops and essential workers during the government shutdown, now dragging into its 23rd day.
“Just open up the whole thing and cut the sh*t,” Fetterman snapped. “I don’t care about who’s winning, who’s losing — America loses.”
He was one of only three Democrats to back the GOP-authored bill, which would’ve guaranteed pay for federal employees and the military while Congress kept arguing. But Schumer and company tanked it — because in D.C., leverage comes before livelihoods.
The irony? Fetterman’s own state has two million residents on SNAP and another 400,000 relying on Obamacare subsidies — both programs about to freeze if the shutdown continues. The left’s line about “protecting the poor” doesn’t hit the same when they’re the ones turning off the lights and paychecks.
Republicans are now pushing a Ted Cruz-led bill to fund airport and federal workers next week, daring Democrats to block it again on live TV.
Bottom Line:
When a tattooed progressive in gym shorts is the adult in the room, you know the party’s lost the plot. Fetterman’s done playing mascot — he just torched the Senate’s shutdown circus.
FBI’s Pipe Bomb Mystery Deepens
Nearly four years later, the Bureau quietly dropped “new details” on the D.C. pipe bomb case — and somehow made the story even murkier. Transparency? Still MIA. Read More
Democrats Admit Shutdown Is About “Leverage”
Pressed by Fox, senior Dems finally said the quiet part out loud — they’re holding paychecks and food stamps hostage to score policy wins. Working families? Collateral damage. Read More
Antifa Chaos, Portland Edition (Again)
Masked radicals brawled outside a federal ICE facility — no arrests, no accountability. Portland police? Still auditioning for “best supporting background actors.” Read More
Together with The Ledger
The Shutdown That Didn’t Stop the Mission
Democrats starved the troops. Trump fed the fight.
Tulsi Gabbard confirmed it — while Washington bickered, unpaid agents took down a Sinaloa boss.
That’s not luck. It’s leadership.
Exactly what The Ledger has been documenting — how parallel power runs on resolve when the bureaucracy runs on fear.
👉 Upgrade and see how America’s real security apparatus now answers to Trump.
While Democrats argue about optics, Trump is exporting justice across the border. Chicago’s leaders still can’t tell the truth about their murder rate. Fetterman just called BS on Schumer. The political class is unraveling — because the spotlight’s finally catching them mid-script.
Every move this week proved one thing: America’s done waiting for permission to protect itself. The swamp’s still talking; the rest of the country’s taking notes.
~ Scott 🇺🇸
P.S. Here’s my take — Tulsi’s blunt, fearless support for Trump isn’t just loyalty. It’s a signal that the adults are back in charge. Intelligence, border ops, law enforcement — all synced, all serious.
What’s your read? Are we finally seeing the first real border war fought to win?
Hit reply — I actually want to hear what you think.
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I go all the way back to Eisenhower and I can say I have never seen anything like Trump and his Cabinet. What a great time to be alive. When they start making movies about this time in history, they will be blockbusters. So much material!