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The President's Daily Brief
November 19th, 2025: Putin Begins Purge Of His Own Supporters & Trump’s High-Stakes Talks With Saudi Arabia
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Narrator/Announcer
Home to the Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, the briefing with Jen Psaki and more. Voices you know and trust. Ms. NOW is your source for news, opinion and the world. Our name is new, but you'll find the same commitment to justice, progress and the truth that you've relied on for decades. We'll continue to cover the day's news, ask the tough questions and explain how it impacts you. Ms. Now, same mission, new name. Learn more at Ms. Now.
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Mike Baker
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Narrator/Announcer
Foreign.
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Mike Baker
It's Wednesday the 19th of November. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, an unusual crackdown inside Russia. Well, to be fair, crackdowns aren't unusual for Russia, but this time the targets are unusual. The Kremlin is going after its own pro war bloggers. Silencing voices that once helped sell the invasion will explain why loyalty is no longer enough and what this tells us about Putin's kung fu like grip on power. Later in the show, President Trump rolls out the red carpet for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS because even the crown prince loves a good acronym. Trump welcomes him to the White House with fighter jets and major business deals on the agenda, plus a major cartel takedown in Spain. Authorities say they've arrested 20 people linked to a Mexican drug organization targeted by the US under new terror terrorism rules. And in today's back of the brief, the UN Security Council endorses President Trump's 20 point Gaza peace plan, including the creation of a foreign stabilization force. Eh, it's all well and good until it bumps into reality. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. Tonight we're looking inside Russia at a story that says a lot about the state of Vladimir Putin's war effort and about his grip on power. It's a crackdown, but not on dissidents or anti war activists. This time, Putin is going after the people who helped sell the war to the Russian public in the first place. Over the past few weeks, several of Russia's most influential pro war bloggers. These are the so called Z bloggers who cheerlead the invasion have found themselves under investigation, labeled as extremists or even detained by authorities. These are individuals who built massive social media followings by supporting the Kremlin's goals and celebrating Russian troops. And yet they're now being targeted by the same system that they supported and promoted. So you ask yourself, what's going on? Well, let's start with the facts on the ground. One of the more prominent figures is a fellow named Roman Al Yonkin. He's a blogger with more than 100,000 followers. He was just designated a foreign agent, a label in Russia that effectively destroys your ability to operate online. Another voice, Tatiana Montian, was even designated a terrorist. Her content wasn't anti government at all. In fact, she was fiercely pro war, arguing that the Kremlin wasn't prosecuting the conflict aggressively enough. At one point, she even floated the idea of carrying out attacks inside countries that support Ukraine. And still another, Oksana Kobileva, who often posted frontline complaints from soldiers, was recently detained as well. These cases follow an earlier high profile example we've covered here on the pdb. Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov, the former FSB officer who helped ignite the war in the Donbass back in 2014. Now Girkin became one of the hardest line critics of Russia's military leadership and eventually ended up in prison. The message was unmistakable. Even icons of the national movement are not safe. So why is the Kremlin cracking down on its own cheerleaders? First, it's about control of the narrative. For two years now, the war in Ukraine has not gone the way that Moscow expected. Casualties are staggering. Sanctions have damaged key parts of the economy, and Ukrainian drone strikes are reaching deeper into Russian territory. In that environment, the Kremlin can't afford any independent commentary that exposes failures or corruption or mismanagement, especially when that commentary comes from people who can't be dismissed as Western stooges. Pro war bloggers have something that Russian state TV doesn't credibility. Many of them are in direct contact with soldiers. Others have raised money for units, delivered gear to the front, and posted raw battlefield footage. When they say that equipment isn't arriving or that commanders are incompetent, their followers believe them, and that makes them dangerous, according to the Kremlin. Second, the Kremlin is still haunted by the Prigozhin mutiny. Yevgeny Prigozhin didn't challenge the state by running for office or joining the opposition. He challenged it by building a parallel information ecosystem. A network of telegram channels, loyal fighters, and a brutally honest commentary on the military's leadership. And for several days, that was enough to send a private army marching toward Moscow. Putin learned that lesson. He can't allow any independent power centers to emerge, even if it's patriotic and pro war. If someone has hundreds of thousands of followers and openly criticizes generals, that's a risk, because the line between criticism of leadership and challenge to the regime in Russia is razor thin. Third, this crackdown reflects the Kremlin's insecurity, not its confidence. When authoritarian systems feel strong and they tolerate some internal noise, when they feel weak, they tighten the screws. The war is grinding forward, but at enormous costs, and the economy is suffering, and public frustration is simmering. In that environment, Putin wants to seal the information space. The safest version of the war, of course, is the sanitized version, the one delivered nightly on state tv. Anything that contradicts that narrative, even if it comes from a nationalist blogger, has to be shut down. Fourth, there's the approaching 2026 election cycle. Russia's political calendar might be scripted, but the Kremlin still cares deeply about the illusion of stability. Any signs of internal conflict, especially among the most pro war segment of society, undermine that IM by muzzling those bloggers. Now Russia is trying to ensure a smooth run into the campaign season. And finally, this crackdown signals a larger shift. In the early months of the war, the Kremlin tolerated the bloggers because they served a purpose. They were the authentic voices, the rough and tumble patriots who could say things that state media couldn't. But now that the war is a long, grinding stalemate of sorts, the Kremlin no longer needs enthusiastic cheerleaders. It needs discipline. And discipline means obedience. So you say. What does this tell us? Well, it tells us that Russia's leadership sees the greatest threat not from the anti war movement, which is, well, basically non existent in any organized form, but from within its own ideological base. The ultra nationalists, the hardliners, the people who want the war run more effectively, not ended. It tells us that the Kremlin is trying to suppress the very voices that once sustained its war effort. All right, coming up next, President Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House. And Spain arrests 20 people tied to a Mexican cartel newly labeled as a terrorist organization. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here now with Black Friday right around the corner. Maybe you've wondered to yourself, hey, do doctors have Black Friday sales? Well, let me tell you, the doctors at Brick House Nutrition, do they just announced their Black Friday 30 off sale. That's the biggest sale of the the most impressive health and nutrition products in the industry are now 30% off. Like Lean Lean, the doctor formulated weight loss supplement for people who want to lose meaningful weight without injections. And you can get 30 off creatine. That's creatine designed just for women to help you look leaner in shape and toned without extra dieting or exercise. 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- [09:39]
Mike Baker
Welcome back to the pdb. When President Trump welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS to the White House with a military flyover, it wasn't just pageantry. It was a signal that Washington and Riyadh are back in lockstep, trading billion dollar investments for deeper security ties and a bigger role in stabilizing the Middle East. The South Lawn ceremony Tuesday made the point without anyone having to say it. Trump didn't just greet the crown prince, he showcased him, turning the arrival into a message that the partnership he views as essential is not only repaired but in comparison to the frosty Biden era, but carrying more weight than it has in years. Inside the Oval Office, Trump kept the tone forward looking. The president talked up MBS's domestic changes at home, praised the kingdom's modernization push and made clear that his visit was about momentum, specifically economic and strategic momentum. So when MBS rolled out his announcement of boosting Saudi investment in the US from the $600 billion that he pledged in May to now $1 trillion, Trump didn't just welcome it, he sold it to Americans. Jobs, factories, capital. All of it, the president argues, is flowing back into the US because of a partnership that he revived. And the investment rollout was only the Beginning. The Trump administration is gearing up for a high profile summit today at the Kennedy center featuring the heads of Salesforce, Pfizer, Chevron and Aramco, a lineup designed to showcase the ties between corporate America and Saudi capital. The crown prince is also preparing to steer billions into American artificial intelligence infrastructure, all while Washington and Riyadh finalized new cooperation on civil nuclear energy. It's a sign of how wide the partnership is stretching beyond the traditional oil and weapons framework. Still, security ties formed a major pillar of the visit, and Trump didn't shy away from the headline announcement. In a move that surprised even some inside his own administration, he agreed to sell F35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, brushing aside concerns about sensitive U.S. technology or Israel's qualitative military edge in the region. The president sees it as a simple calculation. Strengthening Saudi capability strengthens regional deterrence from extremist actors and anchors the kingdom more firmly inside America's security umbrella. That logic ties directly into Trump's bigger diplomatic goal, expanding the Abraham Accords. For Trump, he's long argued that if Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel, quote, everybody in the Arab world goes in and what would essentially be a domino effect. According to the BBC, Riyadh is on board with joining the Abraham Accords, which were brokered in Trump's first term, but only if a two state solution between Israel and Palestine is agreed to, something that is outlined in Trump's 20 point peace plan, but only if specific needs are met. In practical terms, it's possible. Perhaps a distant possibility, but still possible. Riyadh also wants formal US Security guarantees that spell out what American protection on Saudi soil would look like. Tuesday's talks inched both sides closer to that understanding, though details remain vague. Now I'd like to point out that only briefly did the two touch on the rupture in relations caused by that 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was, of course, a Washington Post columnist murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It was an act that US Intelligence believes MBS himself approved, and one that turned a steady partnership into a diplomatic crisis overnight. But with investments pouring in and priorities aligned, Trump brushed off the matter, stating, quote, things happen, as both governments made clear. They see the episode as history, not the center of the relationship, as the Biden administration did. Mbs, who effectively runs the kingdom as his father King Solomon's health declines, is trying to position himself as a global statesman while accelerating Saudi Arabia's economic diversification. And for Trump, the visit marks an opportunity to lock in a revitalized alliance. One built on deals, deterrence, and a shared vision for a more stable Middle East. Okay. Turning to Spain, police say a months long hunt for a sprawling Mexican cocaine and meth pipeline finally paid off, ending in 20 arrests and exposing a Jalisco new generation cartel network that spanned continents. Spain's national police say the law enforcement operation had been building for the majority of the year, a slow, methodical effort to follow a trail that didn't look like much at first. A suspiciously welded piece of machinery here and a shady package shipment there. But as investigators pulled the threads, they began to see the outlines of something bigger. A Jalisco new generation cartel logistics network quietly embedding itself in Spain's industrial supply chain. Hiding drugs inside heavy construction equipment and moving them through rural estates outside Madrid as if they were just another batch of machinery parts headed across the country. By the time officers were ready to move, the picture was clear enough. The cartel wasn't just testing European waters. They had carved out a stronghold, relying on trusted fixers and alliances with Italian organized crime groups to keep the whole thing running. So when the raids began, authorities say they were hitting the network at every hinge point at once. The stash houses the machinery and the people the cartel trusted to manage the pipeline. In a statement yesterday, Spanish investigators said the US Designated foreign terrorist organization smuggled large shipments of cocaine and methamphetamine across the country near Madrid and the province of Avila. Among Those arrested were two priority targets of the U.S. drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA, along with suspected members of the Italian Camorra mafia, who police say handled international transport. Spanish police, working with the DEA and Dutch authorities seized nearly 2 tons of cocaine along with cash, cryptocurrency, weapons and vehicles. In a five minute video posted on social media, police officers can be seen storming compounds, detaining suspects, and overseeing welders, cutting up machinery to reveal bricks of narcotics. So why was Spain the operational base? Well, the answer is it's nothing new. The country has long been a gateway for North African hashish and South American cocaine. It's a status that continues to draw large transnational criminal groups. For example, just last month, police said they intercepted over six tons of cocaine off the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago, after a US intelligence tip calling the DEA's quote, information key to the raid success. And as we've long discussed here on the pdb, the US Designated the Jalisco New generation cartel as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year, citing its role in fentanyl trafficking and obviously a synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of American deaths. The cartel has also been accused of deploying fake job ads recently to recruit operatives to carry out their operations and torturing or killing those who refuse to do so. As for the Jalisco cartel, its top dog is an individual named Amicio Ruben Osaguera Cervantes, or simply known as El Mencho, one of the world's most sought after cartel bosses. Washington continues to offer a $15 million reward for information that leads to his capture. Okay, coming up in the back of the brief, a rare win for President Trump at the UN Security Council as the council signs off on his administration's Gaza peace plan, approving an international stabilization force for the Gaza Strip. I'll have those details when we return. Hey, Mike Baker here with big news from our friends at Birch Gold Group right now. It is the one time of year Birch Gold Group gives away free gold with every qualifying purchase. You heard me right? That's right. For Black Friday, when you convert an existing IRA or a 401k into a tax sheltered IRA in gold, birch Gold will send free Gold to your home for every $20,000 purchased. Look, gold started this year around what, $2600 an ounce. 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- [20:57]
Mike Baker
In today's Back of the brief, the UN Security Council has voted to endorse President Trump's 20 point Gaza peace plan, approving a US drafted resolution that creates a new international mission for the enclave. It's called the International Stabilization Force, or isf, and it's designed to help secure Gaza as reconstruction begins and a new technocratic Palestinian administration takes shape. Never mind that Hamas has thus far refused to disarm and still maintains control over much of the Strip. No point in letting those facts get in the way. The resolution passed with 13 votes in favor, while Russia and China abstained. But the key point is that this gives the US Plan international legitimacy. What had been a Washington led proposal is now formally backed by the world's most powerful diplomatic body. Ooh, did I say powerful? I meant feckless. According to the Times of Israel, the new force is authorized to operate through 2027. The plan also establishes a Board of Peace chaired by President Trump, which is meant to oversee the political and economic components of the transition. And it links future progress toward Palestinian self governance and eventual statehood to benchmarks on disarmament, reconstruction and reforms inside the Palestinian Authority. Israel publicly welcomed the vote, though officials privately expressed concern about any framework that uses the words pathway or conditions for statehood. The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, signaled its willingness to participate in the transition process. Hamas rejected the plan outright. There's a shock, calling the foreign force unacceptable and objecting to the requirement that Gaza be fully demilitarized. Well, there you go, the proverbial wrench in the works. So if this does progress, who would actually participate in the stabilization force? So far, no country has stepped forward to publicly commit troops or personnel. The US Is not expected to contribute combat forces, and several likely candidates, including France, Egypt and the uae, have remained silent or non committal. Without clarity on contributors, the timeline for deployment listed in the resolution as early 2026 remains uncertain and that uncertainty matters. A stabilization force of this scale would of course require significant manpower, logistics, funding and political will. And depending on who joins or refuses to join, the mission could either move forward smoothly or stall before it even launches. For now, the vote does mark a diplomatic win for the White House, giving Trump the UN backing that he sought for a long term plan to secure Gaza and rebuild it under new governance. So well, there's that. I'm sorry to sound so cynical and that, my friends is the President's Daily brief for Wednesday 19th November. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and don't forget if you'd like to listen to the show ad free. You can do that and it's very simple. Just become a Premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.
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