President Donald Trump ordered the United States military to carry out strikes on ISIS targets in Africa on Christmas Day, saying that he had warned them to stop the systematic slaughter of Christians and they had not heeded that warning.

Trump shared the news first in a post to his Truth Social platform, saying that the War Department had — on his orders — carried out a number of “perfect strikes” on targets throughout Northwest Nigeria.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump posted, adding, “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”

“The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing,” he continued. “Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”

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“The President was clear last month,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth added. “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come… Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation. Merry Christmas!”

Just hours before President Trump confirmed that the strikes had taken place, the War Department posted a Christmas message that served as a reminder that the United States military did not rest just because it was a holiday.

“Christmas night, 1776… The world slept while Washington crossed the Delaware. We carry his legacy,” the post read, and included an image of then-General George Washington and his men 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

On Christmas night of 1776, Washington led some 2,400 men in crossing the treacherously icy Delaware River. They surprised an encampment of Hessian soldiers — Germans fighting for the crown — near Trenton, where they won a decisive victory and took some 900 of the Hessians prisoner. Two other generals were supposed to cross the Delaware that same day — one to harass other troops in the area and prevent them from providing backup and another to prevent the Hessians a safe avenue of retreat — but only Washington and his men were able to make it across the river.

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.

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“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.