After a quiet run following some minor post midterm election activity, US President Donald Trump is making an end of the year push. On foreign policy Trump has managed to push out Defense Secretary Jim 'Mad Dog' Mattis by comitting to two policies the ineffective appointee had been desperately blocking, withdrawl of troops in Syria and a plan for disengagement in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile at home Trump and the GOP controlled House of Representatives are threatening the GOP controlled Senate with a government shutdown if a spending measure which passed the House including ~5.7 billion USD for contruction of a physical barrier along the US-Mexico border fails.