Here’s What Trump Means By Calling For ‘Peace Through Strength’
Peace through strength, defined by 'hard-nosed realism' over the 'utopian idealism' of a bygone era, is poised to yield both a popular and durable American defense policy.Peace through strength, defined by 'hard-nosed realism' over the 'utopian idealism' of a bygone era, is poised to yield both a popular and durable American defense policy.The 5 best Christmas decorations in recent White House history
One of the White House's longest and most anticipated traditions is the Christmas tree decorations unveiled every year by the first lady.
Although administrations had already been decorating the White House for Christmas for decades, back in 1961, then-first lady Jackie Kennedy became the first to decorate in accordance with a theme.
Since then, Americans across the country have been able to enjoy countless Christmas displays at the People's House, no matter their party affiliation. No doubt, some decorations have been more controversial than others, but most have provided unique and festive insights into the personal taste of each first lady.
That said, here are the five best Christmas instillations in recent White House history.
5. 2011, Michelle Obama: 'Shine, Give, Share'
First lady Michelle Obama's 2011 Christmas display featured warm Christmas lights, garlands, and ornaments reminiscent of the best the 1980s had to offer.
Obama's theme balanced familiarity and festivity, even featuring a decorative recreation of their dog, Bo.
But the real showstopper was a commemorative Christmas tree honoring the brave men and women of the military whose service allows millions of Americans across the country to enjoy the holiday peacefully at home.
On the tree hung framed medals awarded to America's finest military members, with the blue star families fittingly being honored in the White House's Blue Room. The tree was also adorned with handmade holiday cards written by children from military families.
4. 1983, Nancy Reagan: 'Old-Fashioned Toys'
First lady Nancy Reagan's Christmas decorations were unpretentious and relatable. The Christmas tree above features an eclectic mix of garlands, tinsel, and playful ornaments that suited the 1983 theme "Old-Fashioned Toys."
The tree seemed to celebrate the excitement of Christmas as seen through the eyes of a child, anxiously waking up early to unwrap gifts after noticing that Santa finished his plate of cookies. The tree was not particularly glamorous or high fashion, but rather comforting and familiar. It felt like going home for the holidays.
To top it all off, Reagan's display featured a surprise celebrity appearance.
While Reagan unveiled the Christmas decor, she also appeared alongside Mr. T dressed up as Santa Claus.
3. 1967, Lady Bird Johnson
First lady Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson integrated every nostalgic Christmas motif imaginable in her Christmas decorations.
The tree itself had garlands made of popcorn and cranberry, sugar-cookie ornaments and candy canes hung on branches, as well as classic silver bobbles and felt decorations. The tree looked as if it had been decorated entirely by ornaments and embellishments children made at school to proudly hang on the tree in their family living room.
Johnson's decorations also included a beautiful 18th-century Italian Nativity scene complete with floating angels.
The Nativity scene was presented to the White House as a Christmas gift by an American philanthropist and art collector named Jane Engelhard, who also made major donations to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2. 2006, Laura Bush: 'Deck the Halls and Welcome All'
First lady Laura Bush included all of the classic elements that make Christmas festive, but she also added a unique, whimsical detail.
Bush's trees featured faux snow caps on the branches that made them appear as though they had just been plucked out of a Christmas Claymation movie. The trees were also adorned with cascading silver tinsel and garlands, sparkling snowflakes, and glass ornaments tied with red bows.
Similar trees were found throughout the halls of the White House beside bold garlands of red and silver ornaments consistent with the tree's color palette.
1. 2025, Melania Trump: 'Home Is Where the Heart Is'
First lady Melania Trump's taste in Christmas decorations has been consistently exquisite, and 2025 is no exception.
Most will remember Trump's iconic display featuring a hallway of bold, red Christmas trees or stark, white branches from her husband's first term. Although her decorations made a splash both of those years, 2025 is arguably her most stunning display yet.
Dozens of trees are illuminated by twinkling lights and floating candles with dashes of red and gold ribbon running between the branches. Matching red presents are laid at the base of the trees as well as countless wreaths on every window of the White House.
Trump also featured several playful elements throughout the White House, including a Lego portrait of President George Washington, President Donald Trump, and matching Lego bows on the wreaths above them.
In a touching tribute, one tree displayed in the Red Room is decorated with tens of thousands of blue butterflies to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of foster children across the country, one of her signature causes.
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Democrat Obama Army official praises $1,776 warrior bonus from Trump admin: 'Long-overdue moral obligation'
A former U.S. Army official says the federal government's gift to service members this Christmas is a signal to troops that their sacrifices are appreciated.
Patrick Murphy, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania and the former U.S. undersecretary of the Army for the Obama administration, praised the Warrior Dividend as a sign of respect for military families.
'There is a troubling tendency to politicize military leadership and culture.'
Last week, President Trump announced that approximately 1.5 million military members would receive a bonus of $1,776 to thank them for their service and to commemorate 250 years of the U.S. military.
According to the former congressman, the payment is well deserved.
"Having served in uniform and later at the Pentagon, I saw firsthand how much our troops give and how often that sacrifice shows up as stress on families, finances, and retention," Murphy, a decorated former JAG Corps attorney, told Blaze News.
Murphy stated that with a quarter of military families operating on a single income, many troops suffer from significant financial strain, which is "one of the leading causes of our suicide epidemic."
He added, "The Warrior Dividend isn't just about pay. It's about honoring a long-overdue moral obligation. It's a signal to our troops and their families that their sacrifices are supported and valued."
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Presidential treatment
Murphy told Blaze News about his experience working under different administrations and said they all have made attempts to show support for U.S. troops in their own way.
Citing President Obama's "groundwork" for reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Biden addressing housing and suicide prevention among service members, and Trump's financial support for the military, Murphy said he feels "core support for our troops has remained consistent, but the tone, priorities, and follow-through of leadership have varied."
With that in mind, Murphy urged politicians to treat the military in an apolitical manner.
"There is a troubling tendency to politicize military leadership and culture, something I believe undermines readiness and trust. The Armed Forces function best when they are professional, trusted, and insulated from partisan conflict."
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Tapping Gen Z
Murphy is noted for having recruited more than 120,000 Gen Z Americans through a military initiative called Soldier for Life. He detailed his recruitment strategy, admitting it was not easy to get messaging through to a new generation. Therefore modern methodology and a fresh approach were needed.
"Gen Z is a group that is smart, driven, and looking for meaning. So we reimagined our outreach and met them where they are — digitally," Murphy recalled.
The approach included a focus on benefits that would appeal to that generation, like education, leadership training, and careers in artificial intelligence. As well, Murphy said he ensured the core messaging focused on "America, its diversity, its values, and its evergreen need for genuine, authentic leadership."
"We weren't just selling a job; we were calling young people to be part of something bigger than themselves. And when you show Gen Z that service is not just honorable but empowering, they respond. That's how you build the next generation of leaders, in and out of uniform."
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Chaplains Punished For Mentioning Jesus Cheer Hegseth’s Return To God-Focused Ministry
The chaplain brings God to the fight, offering something bigger for the soldier to hold on to. It is something an atheist can't offer.Troops who refused COVID shot to receive retroactive honor to 'right the wrongs of the past': Hegseth
President Trump's secretary of war is making it a point to set the record straight for those servicemen and -women who adhered to their convictions and refused the Biden COVID shots.
In a memorandum dated December 6, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered Pentagon leadership to identify service members wrongfully discharged because of their refusal to take the jab and give them their due.
Sean Parnell said that nearly 8,700 service members were 'involuntarily separated' from the military because of their refusal to take the jab.
Specifically, many service members were given a general discharge rather than a fully honorable discharge.
"It is unconscionable that thousands of former Service members who held true to their personal and religious convictions were not just separated, but separated with General (Under Honorable Conditions), rather than Honorable, discharge characterizations," Hegseth wrote.
RELATED: Activist judges overruled: Trump judges greenlight Hegseth’s ban on military 'dudes in dresses'
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that nearly 8,700 service members were "involuntarily separated" from the military because of their refusal to take the jab.
Of those, Parnell continued, "more than 3,000 received less than honorable discharge characterizations."
"The department is committed to ensuring that everyone who should have received a fully honorable discharge receives one and continues to right wrongs and restore confidence in and honor to our fighting force,” Parnell said.
In his first week back in office, Trump signed an executive order to reinstate service members who left or were removed from duty on account of the "unfair, overbroad, and unnecessary" COVID vaccine mandates. Hegseth then began implementing that directive in February.
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Hegseth Orders Review Of Discharge Characterizations For Troops Booted Over Biden’s Covid Shot Mandate
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum ordering a reevaluation of discharge characterizations for service members removed from service for foregoing the Biden-era Covid shot mandate, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday. Signed on Dec. 6, the new directive instructs the War Department to undertake a “proactive review of personnel records, to identify individuals who were […]Biggest Military Funding Bill Still Allows Promoting Soldiers By Race And Sex
Sound legislation, not gaslighting, is needed to end identity preferences and restore merit in personnel policy.D.C. Appeals Court Upholds Trump’s Prohibition On ‘Trans’ Soldiers In The Military
In a major win for the Trump administration, a federal appellate court upheld the Pentagon’s prohibition on trans-identifying individuals from serving in the military on Tuesday. In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals fully paused a March injunction issued by Biden-appointed District Judge Ana Reyes that sought to […]Activist judges overruled: Trump judges greenlight Hegseth’s ban on military 'dudes in dresses'
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes — a foreign-born, Biden-appointed, lesbian judge who previously worked as a lawyer to fight the first Trump administration's immigration policy — decided in March to indefinitely block the enforcement of the second Trump administration's ban on transvestites in the military, suggesting it likely violated their constitutional rights.
Reyes, formerly of the Feminist Majority Foundation, suggested in her March 18 ruling that the "Military Ban is soaked in animus" and that it was her responsibility as a judge to keep the executive branch at heel, despite acknowledging the "pernicious" nature of judicial overreach.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed the administration a big win: a 2-1 decision staying Reyes' order and greenlighting enforcement of the ban.
'We're done with that s**t.'
Citing the Supreme Court's June 6-3 ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee's ban on sex-rejecting genital mutilations and sterilizing puberty blockers for minors, U.S. Circuit Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao — both appointed by President Donald Trump — ruled that War Secretary Pete Hegseth's ban on trans-identifying military members likely did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause or trigger any form of heightened scrutiny.
"In Skrmetti, the Supreme Court held that a law prohibiting the use of hormones to treat gender dysphoria in minors 'classifies on the basis of medical use' and thus does not discriminate based on either sex or transgender status," Katsas wrote for the majority. "The same reasoning would seem to cover the Hegseth Policy, which classifies based on the medical condition of gender dysphoria."
Even if the policy contained a classification triggering some form of heightened scrutiny, Katsas emphasized that "decades of precedent establish that the judiciary must tread carefully when asked to second-guess considered military judgments of the political branches."
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Katsas noted further that the policy was "likely constitutional because it reflects a considered judgment of military leaders and furthers legitimate military interests," such as cost issues, unit cohesion, and military readiness.
Trump noted in his Jan. 27 executive order titled "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness":
Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false "gender identity" divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.
The Pentagon subsequently released guidance stating that "military service by Service members and applicants for military service who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is incompatible with military service," and took steps to begin giving those with gender dysphoria the boot.
Katsas suggested that Reyes' claim that the Pentagon's policy did not advance legitimate interests was more or less baseless — that she:
- "gave no sound reason for overriding the Secretary's considered judgment";
- premised her claim that "medical studies now overwhelmingly conclude that gender dysphoria is highly treatable" on a "declaration from one doctor who simply stated, in one sentence and without citations, that 'gender dysphoria is highly treatable'"; and
- "downplayed evidence of greater mental-health issues faced by transgender individuals."
The court also rejected Reyes' suggestion that the policy is rooted in animus against transvestites, noting that she "looked beyond the Hegseth Policy itself to derive animus from various statements made by the President or other officials" — an approach the Supreme Court has previously rejected.
The dissenting judge on the panel, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, lashed out at her colleagues, claiming in a 27-page dissent — which reads like a work of LGBT activist literature — that the majority's decision "makes it all but inevitable that thousands of qualified servicemembers will lose careers they have built over decades, drawn up short by a policy that would repay their commitment and service to our nation with detriment and derision."
"The majority grants this stay in the face of all evidence to the contrary," continued U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard. "We should not accord deference to the military when the Department itself carelessly relied on no more than blatant animus."
According to Pillard, the Pentagon's decision to oust gender-dysphoric individuals from the military was "based on nothing more than negative attitudes about transgender identity."
She also clutched pearls about various comments from elements of the Trump administration, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth's May 6 remarks stating, "No more dudes in dresses; we're done with that s**t."
"Because the Hegseth Policy is openly fueled by animus towards transgender people and defendants have not shown that it is based on military considerations, it fails even the most deferential form of equal protection review," wrote Pillard.
Following the appellate court's ruling, Hegseth shared a cartoon to social media depicting him kicking a bearded man in a dress out of the Department of War. The transvestite depicted in the cartoon is holding a box containing a book titled "DEI Military" and an LGBT flag.
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Hegseth: AI Autonomous Warfighting Systems Are The Future, And They’ll Be Made In America
What are the ethical concerns behind autonomous systems making their own decisions to take human life? Conversely, what are the benefits of being able to send unmanned systems into warzones in order to save the lives of American troops?Today's top stories
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