⚔️ War Is Peace
Donald Trump finally gets his filthy mitts on a Nobel Prize, an appeals court reverses the decision that freed Mahmoud Khalil, and ICE kills again?
On this day in 1945, Adolf Hitler scurried into his Führerbunker in Berlin, where he would spend his final 105 days before ending his life. We can only hope every hour he stewed underground was absolutely wretched.
Good morning! Peter here, with a few housekeeping items. The Zeteo team will be observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the civil rights hero would’ve wanted – not with rest but with service to our communities. As a result, there will be no ‘First Draft’ in your inboxes on Monday. However, you can look forward to an extra special Mehdi-penned newsletter bright and early Tuesday morning!
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado surrenders her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump, a federal appeals court jeopardizes Mahmoud Khalil’s freedom, hordes of ICE goons could head to Maine, CBS News’s Bari Weiss reacts to Zeteo, and some weekend reads!
🚨 Don’t miss our LIVE in-person event in DC: Join Mehdi, Swin, Ro Khanna, Joy Reid, Jim Acosta, Sarah Matthews, and Miles Taylor for a great evening in Washington, DC, to mark one year of Trump, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026!
War Galore
Yesterday afternoon, surrounded by a scrum of reporters outside the White House, the former deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly, María Corina Machado, announced she had bequeathed her 18-karat Nobel Peace Prize to one Donald J. Trump.
“I presented the president of the United States the medal,” Machado proclaimed, without immediately clarifying whether Trump had accepted what the Norwegian Nobel Institute has long made clear is a non-transferable honor.
Later in the evening, however, we got our answer on Truth Social.
“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today” Trump began his post. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
Now, I’m of two minds about Machado’s move.