The Daily Signal - Nicolas Maduro to be Declared Head of Terrorist Org, Obamacare & Epstein Files Drama | Nov. 17, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $250 a month. Learn more at p.cexpress.ca. The United States prepares to officially declare the Venezuelan drug cartel personally run by dictator Nicholas Maduro as a terrorist organization. And Congress spends the weekend fighting over extending the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies. I'm Tony Kinnett, host of the Daily Signals Tony Kinnett cast, syndicated nationally at 7 p.m. Eastern. It is Monday, November 17, 2025. This is the Daily Signals, top news in 10.

Starting point is 00:00:45 According to United States Southern Command on Saturday, November 15th at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hexeth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization. intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. Three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the eastern Pacific and was struck in international waters. Following the president of the United States, Donald Trump announced that he would be in talks with Nicholas Maduro over Venezuelan United States relations as tensions rise. We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we'll see how that turns out.

Starting point is 00:01:33 Meanwhile, over the weekend, Nicholas Maduro spent his time singing John Lennon's Imagine to the crowds in Venezuela. No, I'm not kidding. And what song so bella, the letter, for the most young, they're looking the letter. It's an inspiration for all the time, it's an inno, for all the epoch generations, that he left John Lennon as a humanity, that live the memory eternal of that great poet and music, John Lennon.

Starting point is 00:02:17 And yesterday evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States State Department intends to designate the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, quote, headed by the illegitimate Nicholas Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other designated foreign terrorist organizations, as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe, end quote. Democrat, Senator from New Hampshire, Shaheen said that she didn't believe Maduro was a good guy, but said he was not a threat to the

Starting point is 00:02:51 U.S. I don't think it's clear what the end game is for this administration. with respect to Venezuela. They're relying on a legal opinion, excuse me, in terms of the boat strikes that they have not released. They have finally made it available to members of Congress, but they haven't released it to the public.

Starting point is 00:03:13 They are escalating in a way that, talking about a land strike through special operations that puts at risk our men and women in the military. We have so much firepower now in the Caribbean. The Gerald R. Ford has been taken from the Red Sea, so that now we don't have any firepower really in the Middle East. As we look at the threats there,

Starting point is 00:03:40 we don't have what we need, I think, in the Indo-Pacific or in Europe. And so what the President has done here is to put at risk other parts of the world, and Americans in other parts of the world for this fascination on trying to get rid of Nicholas Maduro and Venezuela, who clearly is a bad character. He's been involved in drug, illegal drugs, but he is not a threat to the United States of America. And what the president is doing is raising real questions.

Starting point is 00:04:16 On CBS Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, United States Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stated that, had not been given any immediate orders by the president of the United States, the U.S. Army stood ready to assist in whatever way the president needed. Quickly on news of day, the president did say he sort of made up his mind on Venezuela. I know this is the Marines, this is the Navy that are deployed. But does the Venezuelan army pose any kind of threat to the U.S. if actions taken? I think that the president and secretary of war have spent a lot of time thinking about

Starting point is 00:04:48 what is the best thing they can do for the American people. And I can speak from the Army's perspective, which is, We have a lot of training in that part of the world. We're reactivating our jungle school in Panama. We would be ready to act on whatever the president's tech war needed. Whether it's a pair of running shoes or a new car, you check how well something performs before you buy it. Why should investing be any different?

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Starting point is 00:05:28 Their values change and past performance may not be repeated. But no orders beyond these exercises at this point. We don't talk about those kinds of things, but we would be ready if asked. The Army Secretary also stated that drones in flying IED devices are, quote, the threat of humanity's lifetime, end quote. The United States Army has been put in charge of the counter. drone threat for the Pentagon. And then we are working hand in fist or hand in glove with the broader law enforcement

Starting point is 00:05:57 agencies. We just last week had a meeting right outside the White House where what we are trying to do because this problem is different from nearly anything we faced in a long time. It is a flying IED. And so this ID. IED. IED. Explosive.

Starting point is 00:06:11 They're cheap. You can 3D print them at home and they cross borders incredibly quickly. And so what you basically need is a digital layer to exchange information and exchange sensing and allow the closest person on the ground, the closest effect around the ground to be able to take out a drone. And Senator Cotton is right. I mean, this is the threat of humanity's lifetime. What's occurring in Ukraine, what's happening in Russia, if you look at the speed and scale

Starting point is 00:06:35 of the devastation that can come from drones, we as a federal government have got to lead on it. Last week, the Daily Signal asked the Navy Secretary about its plan amid shipbuilding to increase drone defense in the United States. Meanwhile, Congress spent the majority of its weekend with its individual members getting on every single interview and weekend show they could to argue about extending the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies and Democrat Representative Tom Suzy of New York and Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska pitched a bipartisan proposal that essentially amounts to extending the ACA tax subsidies. I understand this is a two-year proposed extension of those enhanced premium tax credits and an income cap that phases

Starting point is 00:07:17 out for those making between $200 to $400,000. But when you look at the breakdown, though, that's a pretty small portion of the overall recipients of the tax credits. It's like less than 10%. So what does this accomplish? How does this make it more affordable and fair? Well, it helps everybody else who makes under $200,000 dramatically. And the number one concern people have in America is affordability.

Starting point is 00:07:43 And health care affordability is right at the top of the list. So we need to do something to extend these premium tax credit. It'll be, say, people, thousands and thousands of dollars, literally $1,000 a month for some people. So it'll be dramatically more affordable. The people who make above $400,000 are the teeny little percentage of people that are not a very small group of people that would benefit from the existing tax credits. Most of the people are below $200,000. That $200,000 to $400,000 is a way to taper it off so there's not a cliff. And how much Democratic support do you have for this at this point?

Starting point is 00:08:25 I think the Democrats are going to strongly back the idea of extending premium tax credits so that we can keep people's insurance affordable. So we've got to come up with this compromise. Even with the caps. Yeah, people, Democrats have always said that they want to direct the policy towards lower and middle income folks, people making undervales. $400,000 a year is our bread and butter issues, that we want to try and make things affordable for those folks. And that will be like literally 95%, 99% of the people that are affected right now. Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana proposed a counter by suggesting that the money be directly given to Americans to help offset the high deductibles that are often a feature

Starting point is 00:09:11 of the proposed, quote, lower cost policies under the ACA. So first, there's two types of premium tax credits. There's a baseline premium tax credit, which was part of Obamacare. That would stay in effect, and people would still buy a policy, for example, they get in a car wreck, something disastrous. They need somebody negotiating on their behalf with all the providers. That stays the same. Okay. What we're talking about, and the shutdown was over, the enhanced premium tax credits.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Policies have become so expensive under Obamacare that under Joe Biden, Democrats passed another subsidy on top of the first. subsidy. That's what we're fighting about. And what Republicans are saying, and I'd like to hope Democrats will do, hey, wait a second, if we can have lower premiums and help people with their deductible by giving the money directly to the patient, by the way, 20% doesn't go for insurance company profit and overhead, 100% goes for health care, why don't we unite Republican and Democrats in doing that? That's where the president is. You've got to figure some things out, but we're a lot further along than you might imagine. Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, Sunday with Shannon Breem to pitch an alternative to the Obamacare funding insurance

Starting point is 00:10:21 companies model. Well, first off, you know, we ought to direct the dollars, as Congressman Bear has said, and Trump has said, give it to the person that is getting the, is going to buy the health care of the patient. I, you know, I grew up in a family that my mom struggled to find health care for a brother who had a disease. She had to go four hours away to a charity hospital because nobody would take care of him for free. So it's really important to me that we get people health care. So how do you do it? You give money directly to the consumer.

Starting point is 00:10:51 They buy the insurance plan they want. You protect pre-existing condition. And you give them information. They should know what everything costs. They should know what the outcomes are. They should know what patient satisfaction. They should be a buyer just like any other. I built on top of a hospital company and built an urgent care company.

Starting point is 00:11:08 We had all of our prices up on the menu board. So everybody could walk in and do it the way they wanted. So if you give it to the individual in HSA, they could buy, they could pay for a premium, they could pay for their copayment. They also could pay directly to go get a physical or go see a physician and buy it cheaper. So look, we have to fix this. Before you go, head down to the description and make sure you're subscribed to the Tony Kinnett cast. And join us tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, where we dig into the day's news and nonsense.

Starting point is 00:11:39 I'm Tony Kinnett, and this has been the Daily Signals, top news in 10. Take care. care.

The Daily Signal - Nicolas Maduro to be Declared Head of Terrorist Org, Obamacare & Epstein Files Drama | Nov. 17, 2025

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