Donald Trump appears to have once again risked triggering an international incident, as he casually hinted at being open to sending military strikes to Mexico and Colombia to combat drugs coming into the United States.
The US president made the controversial statements on Monday (November 17) during a press conference with FIFA President Gianni Infantino ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
“Would I launch strikes on Mexico to stop drugs? It’s OK with me. Whatever we have to do to stop drugs. Mexico is… look, I looked at Mexico City over the weekend. There’s some big problems over there,” Trump began.
“If we had to would we do there what we’ve done to the waterways? You know there is almost no drugs coming through our waterways anymore. Isn’t it down like 85 percent?”
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Donald Trump appeared to admit that he’d be ‘proud’ to bomb both countries (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He continued: “We have almost no drugs coming into our country by the sea. You know, the waterways. And you know why? OK it’s pretty obvious. Would I do that on the land corridors? Look, every boat we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives – not to mention the destruction of families. These families are decimated forever. The mother, the father, the children, they never recover from it.
“Do I feel the same way about the corridors they use? We know every one of them. We have every one of those corridors under major surveillance.”
Trump later added: “Colombia has cocaine factories where they make cocaine. Would I knock out those factories? I would be proud to do it personally. I didn’t say I’m doing it, I would be proud to do it.”
Since coming into office for a second term, Trump has continually pledged his support to battle drug trafficking, including allowing the Department of Defense to carry out boat strikes in the Caribbean on vessels they claim were smuggling drugs.
However, despite their claims, no evidence to prove the allegations has ever been found, and so far over 80 people have been killed in the strikes.
Monday’s meeting comes around two weeks before the all important World Cup Draw, which will determine which nations face off against each other at next year’s highly anticipated soccer event.
The US, Canada and Mexico will host the international tournament when it kicks off in June next year, with the majority of the games, including the final, set to take place on US soil.
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The comments came during a press conference with Gianni Infantino (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Infantino’s visit to the White House comes after the FIFA boss had previously expressed his support and admiration for Trump in a speech that may land him in hot water.
“He does things. He does what he says. He says what he thinks. He actually says what many people think as well, but maybe don’t dare to say and that’s why he’s so successful,” Infantino remarked.
He added: “I have to say it and I’m a bit surprised sometimes when we read some negative comments. I’m not American, but as far as I understand, President Trump was elected in the United States of America and was quite clearly elected.
“When you are in such a great democracy as the United States of America, you should first of all respect the results of the election, right?”
In addition to his high praise, Infantino also created FIFA’s Peace Prize, with many speculating that Trump has been tipped as the first recipient, just weeks after the president had lost out on the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Under FIFA’s current governing rules, Infantino’s comments may breach its code of ethics, which prevents members from taking sides in politics.
Americans could be in for a pretty decent payday as a result of Donald Trump’s so-called ‘tariff dividends’.
Republicans have long pledged to put money back into the pockets of American citizens, but whether that’s actually possible is still a question that many are asking.
Back in February, Elon Musk (who was then a ‘special government employee’) suggested that people could get as much as $5,000 into their bank accounts from DOGE dividends.
This might have been a bit too optimistic, though; at the time of writing, DOGE is said to have saved $214 billion, which amounts to just over $1,329 in savings for the estimated 161 million individual federal taxpayers, per its website.
But now Trump has teased a similar payday for Americans, this time from ‘tariff dividends’.
The president made an unexpected announcement on Truth Social over the weekend (ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)
He wrote on Truth Social on Sunday (November 9): “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER.”
Trump continued: “We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
The POTUS didn’t share when such a payment would be made, however.
According to the Treasury Department’s September statement, $195 billion from tariff duties was collected in the first three quarters of this year, The Hill reported.
The money will also be used to pay off America’s ‘ENORMOUS’ debt, Trump added. The US is in $37.64 trillion worth of debt as of 2025, per US Treasury Fiscal Data.
Trump says Americans will get a $2,000 payout (Truth Social)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has since been quizzed about the president’s remarks and shared exactly where this 2,000 bucks might come from.
Speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, he said: “The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways, George.
“You know, it could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda – you know, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility of auto loans.”
He did admit that he hadn’t spoken to Trump directly about the proposed plans, though.
UNILAD have approached the White House for clarification on the matter.
Donald Trump issued out three demands that had to be met by the BBC or he would consider ‘all legal rights and remedies’ at his disposal.
Donald Trump gave the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) until November 14 to resolve an issue that has got them in hot water right now.
Trump initially issued the threat of legal action after it was revealed that the BBC had edited a speech he made before the US capitol riots of January 6, 2021.
Critics have argued that the edited version was ‘misleading’ where as Trump’s legal counsel Alejandro Brito went as far to say it was ‘’false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory.’
A week before last year’s presidential election, the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? appeared to show Trump encouraging an attack on the capital using spliced-up clips.
The BBC has apologized for the documentary splicing of clips (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
In the aired clip: Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell,”
But what the Republican president said, in full, was: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
A letter was sent to the BBC by Brito and it made three clear Trump’s demands:
• Issue a ‘full and fair retraction’ of Trump: A Second Chance?
• Apologize immediately
• ‘Appropriately compensate’ Trump
According to a VT report, despite receiving a personal apology for the documentary, Trump told reporters he would be moving forward with legal action.
On Friday (November 14), Trump spoke on Air Force One about the matter.
He said he would be filing a lawsuit ‘for anywhere between a billion and $5bn’ as early as next week. He added to reporters that ‘we have to do it’.
Trump has said he has an obligation to take legal action (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
About the backlash and potential for legal action, a BBC spokesperson said: “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
Speaking in an interview with GB News, Trump said: “I made a beautiful statement, and they made it into a not beautiful statement.
“Fake news was a great term, except it’s not strong enough. This is beyond fake, this is corrupt.
“I think I have an obligation to do [the lawsuit]…This was so egregious. If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”
UNILAD has contacted the BBC for comment.
It seems Donald Trump can barely contain his excitement over the news of Nancy Pelosi retiring.
Now, the president and the former speaker of the House haven’t exactly been the best of buds.
Pelosi, now 85 years old, became the 52nd speaker of the US House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, and again from 2018 to 2023, being not only the first elected woman into the position, but the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress as head of House Democrats between 2003 to 2023.
Throughout her two decades as California rep, with her first being elected in 1987, she has gone on to be one of the most influential figures for the Democrats – and also a vocal critic of Trump.
Now, Pelosi has announced she won’t seek re-election in Congress when her term ends in 2027, which the POTUS seems pretty happy about.
Nancy Pelosi is going out on a high (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
In a text message to Fox News journalist, Peter Doocy, Trump reportedly penned: “The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America.
“She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country. She was rapidly losing control of her party, and it was never coming back.”
Touching upon the times Pelosi drove Trump’s impeachments, he continued: “I’m very honored that she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice. Nancy Pelosi is a highly overrated politician.”
His scathing criticism comes as Pelosi likewise called the Republican ‘evil’, as well as ‘dangerous’, following the Capitol Hill riots in January 2021.
Most recently, she called the 79-year-old president ‘the worst thing on the face of the Earth‘.
In an interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson, she added that he ‘is just a vile creature’ who ‘does not honor the Constitution’.
President Trump is apparently quite happy with the news of Pelosi’s retirement (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
She slammed the president for having ‘turned the Supreme Court into a rogue court,’ claiming he ‘abolished the House of Representatives’ all while having ‘chilled the press’.
Announcing her retirement on Thursday (November 6) morning, Pelosi said in a video statement: “I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.
“For decades, I’ve cherished the privilege of representing our magnificent city,” she said directly to San Francisco voters. “I was able to represent our city and our country around the world with patriotism and pride.
“I say to my colleagues in the House all the time, no matter what title they have bestowed upon me, there has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, ‘I speak for the people of San Francisco.’”
She’s credited for campaigning for affordable healthcare (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Pelosi proved instrumental in the push back against Trump and even her own party, having encouraged former president Joe Biden to withdraw from the race after a disastrous campaign.
Now appearing to bow out on a high, her decision also comes after voters passed Proposition 50, a ballot she fiercely campaigned for which could give Democrats five more seats in the House come the 2026 mid-term election.
After leading her party in the House for two decades, she is credited with supporting landmark votes like the Affordable Care Act and noted in her speech that she was able to secure billions of dollars for San Francisco.
Pelosi ended her message with an encouragement to voters to ‘fight for the American values we hold dear’.
“In doing so we ensure that our city shines on as a beacon of hope, justice and peace for the country and for generations to come.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has spoken out on the public row engulfing the BBC, including Donald Trump’s threat of legal action.
Trump has threatened to sue to BBC over a Panorama documentary, called Trump: A Second Chance?, released shortly before the 2024 election.
This included footage of a speech that Trump made before rioters stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
In the documentary, two clips of his speech, which were actually far apart, had been edited to appear as though he had said them consecutively.
The POTUS has threatened to sue the BBC for ‘anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion’ over the clip, telling Fox News he had an ‘obligation’ to do so because it had ‘defrauded’ viewers and ‘butchered’ the speech.
Now, Sir Keir Starmer has responded to the threat of a huge lawsuit against the BBC.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has spoken out (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
The prime minister spoke out following a question from Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, in the House of Commons.
Sir Davey told MPs that ‘President Trump is trying to destroy our BBC’, as well as accusing the president of attempting to undermine press freedom in the US and the UK.
Responding, Starmer had a shocking five-word statement, telling the house that the BBC must ‘get its house in order’.
He said: “Where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order, and the BBC must uphold the highest standards, be accountable and correct errors quickly.”
The prime minister added: “But I will always stand up for a strong, independent BBC.”
Starmer went on to say that ‘some would rather the BBC did not exist’, adding: “In an age of disinformation, the argument for impartial British news service is stronger than ever.”
Donald Trump is threatening to sue the BBC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The scandal has seen BBC director general Tim Davie as well as CEO of news Deborah Turness both stepping down from their roles, as well as an apology from BBC chairman Samir Shah for the ‘error of judgement’.
In addition to the threat of legal action from the US president, the BBC is also facing criticism from a report published by Michael Prescott, who had previously been an independent external adviser on the BBC’s editorial standards committee.
A memo from Prescott was leaked to UK newspaper The Telegraph, and claimed that the BBC had also had biased coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict, as well as on transgender rights.
Following the backlash, a BBC spokesperson said: “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
