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A GOP strategist torched a former Trump White House aide on live TV over her "naive" plan to end a raging war.Republican strategist and CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton tore into Caroline Sunshine on Wednesday's episode of "NewsNight," guest hosted by CNN's Michael Smerconish, after she urged the U.S. to pull funding from Ukraine to force it to negotiate an end to its war with Russia. Singleton called the idea "the most absurd thing" and told her she was "incredibly naive."The clash broke out during a segment on young men souring on President Donald Trump. Smerconish cited Harvard's latest youth poll, noting nearly 70 percent of men under 30 disapprove of the job Trump is doing.Sunshine, a former Trump White House aide, laid the blame on the president's staff."I want us to win the midterms. But if we don't win, it will be because the president's staff failed to execute his winning playbook in 2024," she said. "We're not live streaming the rallies. We're not making TikToks. We're not going on podcasts. We're not talking to that audience."She said she had been "dismissed" for months while pushing for appearances with podcasters Joe Rogan and Theo Von."I don't think the president's staff trusts his instincts," Sunshine said, before urging Trump to "get a staff that understand where young men are at," to "get Ukraine to the negotiating table" and to "stop listening to" rapper Nicki Minaj.Singleton immediately jumped in."What do you mean get Ukraine to the negotiating table? You mean Russia?" he asked. "What did they do that was unlawful, illegal, immoral and unethical? It wasn't the Ukrainians. It was the Russians."Sunshine countered that "hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are dying every day in this war" and argued the U.S. should cut Ukraine off."Ukraine is not a NATO ally. The United States has no role in this war except to end it. And the only way that it ends is by yanking funding from Ukraine," she said.Singleton shot back that it was “the most absurd thing,” as Sunshine insisted she was talking about “ending the war peacefully.” He accused her of being "intellectually dishonest" and blasted the idea of forcing Ukrainians to "come to the table over something they didn't start.""That's never been the posture of the United States," he said.As Sunshine kept pressing, Singleton cut her off. "You are incredibly naive," he said. "Why would we put pressure on the Ukrainians instead of the Russians?"He then questioned whether she grasped the subject at all."Do you even understand these issues? No, I don't think you do. I don't think you understand these issues at all," Singleton said.Smerconish eventually stepped in to move the conversation along.

A bipartisan group of senators hoping for answers about a recent disruption to Ukraine's battlefield communications hit a wall at the Pentagon.The Defense Department's inspector general has turned down the lawmakers' request to investigate the throttling of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. In a response dated Tuesday, the watchdog told the nine senators that the Air Force was better positioned to address their concerns.The senators, four Republicans and five Democrats, sought the probe after Ukrainian officials said this month that connection speeds on Starlink and Starshield, its military-grade counterpart, had been slowed. Officials in Kyiv said the restrictions hampered their ability to intercept incoming Russian drones.A congressional aide who spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity characterized the decision as the watchdog declining to look into Musk and Starlink, even though the office is well equipped to do so. According to the aide, worries in Congress about Musk's grip on Starlink stretch back years and helped drive the creation of Starshield in the first place."It is concerning that the Inspector General has apparently decided not to investigate satellite communication disruptions that Ukraine relies on to protect its civilians," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the lawmakers requesting an investigation, said in a statement to the AP.Shaheen added that "the Trump administration and SpaceX have provided conflicting accounts of what led to those disruptions" and called for "an independent accounting and review to determine responsibility and prevent this from happening in the future."Those accounts have indeed diverged. Musk admitted over the weekend that SpaceX had throttled Starlink in Ukraine, claiming the country broke the service's terms, a charge Ukrainian officials rejected. He insisted, however, that any changes to Starshield were in the hands of the U.S. government. President Donald Trump has denied ordering any restriction, while Vice President JD Vance has hinted at coordination between the White House and Musk.Mollie Halpern, a spokeswoman for the inspector general's office, said the watchdog "carefully considered the congressional request and determined that the matters raised were best addressed by the Department."The Pentagon pointed questions to the inspector general's office, and the Air Force did not immediately answer the AP's request for comment. Both have previously sidestepped questions about the slowdown.

Vice President JD Vance has quietly stepped into an unexpected role while President Donald Trump threatens to unleash more bombing.Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, a hard-line power broker in Tehran, in an attempt to get peace negotiations back on track, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Rezaei leads Iran's Supreme National Security Council and has commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps longer than anyone else. One person familiar with the matter told The Journal that the letter went out at Trump's direction, and Trump knows about the outreach.According to The Journal, Vance is feeling out whether the two countries share enough ground to convince Trump to hold off on a brief but punishing attack he has signaled could come within weeks.The back channel cuts against Trump's own public messaging. Last week, he insisted the administration was not in talks with Tehran. "We're not negotiating with them," Trump said, adding that "it'll happen soon." On the campaign trail in recent days, he has told audiences he expects fighting to resume and that the conflict will end on his timeline.Trump kept up the pressure Tuesday night. "They've wanted to make a deal, but they like tapping it along," he told reporters, suggesting Iran might be waiting out the election before warning "that's not gonna help them."The exchanges so far have centered on how talks might be structured rather than the terms of any deal, a source told The Journal. Rezaei himself said last week Iran would not come to the table until certain core demands were satisfied. Earlier this month, he warned Tehran could hit the United Arab Emirates along with internet cables and data centers across the region.Vance has publicly supported the war while privately voicing doubts about dragging it out, according to The Journal. He pushed for more diplomacy before Trump launched "Operation Epic Fury" in February and later served as lead negotiator, traveling abroad twice for talks. A memorandum of understanding reached in June fell apart within two weeks over disputes about reopening shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.The timing also carries political weight. Republicans are bracing for losses in next week's midterms, with voters pointing to the war and rising fuel costs as reasons for their frustration. Vance is considered the early frontrunner for the GOP's 2028 presidential nomination, The Journal noted.A Vance spokesman declined to discuss the talks, and the White House referred questions to the vice president's office. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media that "Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed."

A former Defense Intelligence Agency staffer’s warning that Americans need to start preparing for a crisis has caused a stir with observers, and they can’t agree on whether to start stockpiling or roll their eyes.Farijah “Doc” St. Clair is head of technology and intelligence at the risk firm Crisis24. He wrote on X that “something is brewing” and that Americans’ “window to prepare, even with the basics, is closing.” He warned that “you will be on your own” in a national-scale crisis, urged people to prepare quietly and even “feign poverty,” and closed with: “It’s going to get rough.”Some readers took the warning seriously.“I have no idea what’s coming, if anything,” wrote novelist Danielle Langlois. “But when a former Defense Intelligence Agency employee shares advice like this (on top of the announcements I’ve seen from other nations), I take note. Go buy more food, maybe. Because this is weird.”Don Shift, a post-apocalyptic fiction author and Ventura County Sheriff’s veteran, called it “probably a very sober take on what’s really ‘up.’”Others wanted to know what, exactly, they’re supposed to be getting ready for.“What. Are. We. Preparing. For??” wrote Martin Skold, a geostrategist, policy adviser and author. “I’ll grant the premise: Having useful things on hand is useful, but anything more than that requires specifics.”“Preparing for an internet outage is not the same as preparing for a gasoline shortage is not the same as preparing for a nuclear strike is not the same as preparing for riots is not the same as preparing for a bank hack is not the same as preparing for a market crash,” Skold wrote. “I’m old enough to remember when telling people to stockpile necessities was considered pointless panicmongering.”Rebecca V., opinion editor at the publication Wrongspeak, dismissed it outright.“This is all a psyop to get people scared,” she wrote. “Power hungry elites just want more power. This is the way it’s been forever and will be until the end of time.”AI researcher David Bellamy, who works on training infrastructure for open-source AI and holds a PhD from Harvard, responded with a joke about AI-powered cyberattacks: “Yeah…so anyways, thrilled to release Claude Fable 5.5, which is a step change in cyberattack capabilities. Good luck everybody else!”St. Clair didn’t say what kind of event he believes is coming, telling readers “to not focus on the ‘what.’”

A heated confrontation erupted at the United Nations on Tuesday when President Donald Trump’s ambassador repeatedly ordered a Cuban official to back away from the stage during a tense exchange over the communist nation’s leadership.U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz was delivering remarks criticizing Cuba’s government when Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla approached the podium, prompting an angry response.“Back up! Back up, ambassador. Back away!” Waltz shouted.“You’re not going to intimidate me. You understand who you’re dealing with?” he continued as Rodriguez stood just feet away, refusing to budge.“This is America, back up!”The confrontation unfolded Tuesday as Cuban delegates protested Waltz’s remarks, pounding on their table and attempting to interrupt his speech.Waltz had accused Cuba’s leadership of enjoying extravagant luxuries while ordinary citizens struggled financially. “Let’s start with Castro’s two Rolexes that he proudly wore,” Waltz said while holding up an image of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.“Two Rolexes worth $40,000 in today’s money,” he continued.Waltz then displayed an image of current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wearing what he described as another Rolex.As tensions escalated, the presiding official attempted to restore order, repeatedly instructing delegates to sit down.“This individual needs to back away from this podium,” Waltz declared. “He’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America.”Global affairs analyst Olga Nesterova, who shared video of the confrontation on Bluesky, reported that the exchange erupted after the U.S. accused Cuba’s leadership of corruption, prompting a Cuban official to shout, “Liar!”US and Cuba got into a shouting match at the UN.[image or embed]— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.onestnetwork.com) October 27, 2026 at 1:51 PM

Early exit polls from Israel's high-stakes election set off a wave of stunned reactions online, with observers zeroing in on one unexpected kingmaker.Israel's Channel 12 exit poll put the opposition bloc at 52 seats, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc at 50 and Arab parties at 18, CNN reported Tuesday."This is a DRAMATIC result," Omri Marian, an internationally recognized tax law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and an Israeli expat, wrote on Bluesky. "Palestinians with Israeli citizenship hold all the leverage."Marian then laid out four possible outcomes, including Jewish opposition parties breaking their campaign vow not to partner with Arab parties, another election, a unity government with Netanyahu's Likud party or a short-lived minority coalition. He feared the unity option, under which "Bibi goes free even though he is not PM." "I worry this is where we might end up," he wrote.UC Irvine political scientist Sara Wallace Goodman asked whether a caretaker government and another election were next. Marian agreed that a minority coalition would send Israel back to the polls "within a few months."William Adler, a professor of political science at Northeastern Illinois University, was skeptical the math would translate into power. "Seems like the only way to majority government is Arab parties and it won't happen," he wrote. Marian replied, "That's what I worry, but everyone saw it coming."George Pearkes, a markets strategist, noted that two networks showed Netanyahu's bloc trailing while a third, Channel 14, showed it ahead, adding that turnout two hours before polls closed was the highest since 1988. "Man this is going to be CHAOS," he wrote. Justin Joque, a University of Michigan media scholar, cast doubt on the outlier, noting that Channel 14's pre-election polls had Netanyahu winning even as other surveys moved the opposite way.Others urged caution. Eric Columbus, a Lawfare senior editor and former Justice Department official, shared a reminder from New York Times correspondent Yair Rosenberg that Israeli exit polls miss the final hours of voting, when the right has sometimes surged. "Too soon to pop any corks?" Columbus asked.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party alliance is narrowly trailing his top rival's coalition, exit polls of voters in the country's elections showed Tuesday.A poll from Israeli TV network Channel 12 projected Netanyahu's side winning 50 of the 120 seats in Israel's parliament, known as the Knesset, NBC News reported. Parties aligned with Netanyahu's rival, Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of Israel's military, would take 52. Neither side would reach the 61 seats needed to form a government.Turnout hit 74.3% by 8 p.m. local time, the highest for that hour since 1988, in Israel's first national election since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack sparked the war in Gaza.The polls closed at 10 p.m. local time, which is 4 p.m. ET.

A mystery is unfolding around a close ally of President Donald Trump who is reportedly headed to the United States after suffering a stunning election defeat in Brazil.Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, who unexpectedly lost the presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is traveling to the U.S. after failing to surrender his passports as ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court, two sources told CNN.CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak described the development as a “strange story,” noting that Bolsonaro’s whereabouts had remained “a mystery” for several days.“He has been under investigation by the Supreme Court,” Liptak reported Tuesday. “The Supreme Court had asked him to turn in his passports by yesterday, so by Monday. He didn't do that.”Bolsonaro, who denies wrongdoing, reportedly feared arrest amid an investigation into alleged corruption, money laundering and currency evasion.Liptak raised questions about whether Trump, who has suggested Brazil’s election may have been rigged, could offer his political ally protection. “The real question now is whether Bolsonaro will be seeking some kind of asylum from the Trump administration,” Liptak said, also questioning whether the White House might have helped facilitate his departure. The reporter pointed to a striking family precedent involving Bolsonaro’s father, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who also traveled to the United States after losing an election to Lula.“Actually, while he was in the U.S., he was a guest at various points at Mar-a-Lago,” Liptak noted Tuesday.The elder Bolsonaro later returned to Brazil, where he was sentenced to 27 years in prison.“What happens next, I think, is a little unclear,” Liptak said.