David Waldman and Greg Dworkin count down the days... to any holiday you choose, as long as it improves upon today.

Ahrrr! There be pirates! And they be us! Donald K. Trump notes that it was a really big boat, and that it had some oil for him. Venezuela notes that this traditionally is the final step before the ground invasion. And just when Gops had solved the previous war crimes hiccup too.

Next stop, Columbia. Don't worry, thanks to the Pentagon, Don Jr. can take the price hit.

Republicans in revolt. Mike Johnson is finding himself afflicted with chronic painful discharge petitions. A lot of that burning sensation he's feeling is Marjorie Taylor Green. The Senate is set to vote on dueling health care proposals in order to protect their phony baloney jobs. That's a lot of harrumphs. Donald gets off on their fighting. Gops that don't gerrymander might see some not so friendly fire, as Trump is placing targets on each one of them personally.

In comparison, the Democratic party is doing fine, flipping a bunch of Gop seats, and planning to flip a bunch more. Trump is doing an A +++++ job on creating the tariff-based misery that's delivering voters to the polls.

In an early Christmas gift exchange, Trump's FIFA award has been followed by some nice pardons.

A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention, while hundreds in the DOJ work to regift him to a yet to be announced recipient before Christmas.