Mainstream media are claiming that President Trump somehow lost in his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and was kowtowing or subordinate to him.

One point they continue to raise is that when reporters asked whether Trump had asked China for help with Iran, he was dismissive and quickly moved on. They interpret this as Trump having asked and been rebuffed, which is not the case.

China had already offered to help, and before the meeting, both President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had publicly stated they were not going to ask for Chinese assistance.

When reporters pressed Rubio on what Trump had asked Xi regarding Iran, Rubio was explicit: “He didn’t ask him for anything. I mean, we’re not asking for China’s help. We don’t need their help.”

Trump’s own response to reporters, “we don’t need favors,” was consistent with that position, not evidence of a failed request.

Xi had already volunteered during the summit that he was willing to help, telling Trump, “If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help.”

There is also a very good reason President Trump did not ask China for help with Iran. China has a long history of making agreements and failing to keep them.

During Trump’s first term, the Phase One trade deal, signed in January 2020, required China to purchase an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods and services over two years. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China fell more than 40 percent short of its target in the first year alone.

Trump is not foolish enough to believe China can be relied upon to deliver on its promises.

Beyond that, Trump tends to focus intensely on the issue directly in front of him rather than being pulled into tangential matters. He was in China primarily to discuss trade, tariffs, and investment issues that have a direct and concrete impact on the American economy and people’s daily lives.

He did not raise the Uyghur genocide, human rights, democracy, or freedom of religion because those were not the purpose of the visit.

The same pattern of deliberate, singular focus was evident the week before, when reporters asked Trump whether economic strain on Americans, particularly rising gas prices, was affecting his negotiations with Iran.

Trump told reporters: “Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”

As Snopes noted, the quote was widely truncated and stripped of context. Trump was not saying he is indifferent to the American economy. He was saying he refused to let domestic political pressure push him into a bad deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Another reason not to enlist China’s help is that Beijing has little meaningful record of successfully brokering peace agreements. It frequently presents itself as a global peacemaker, but its actual record is limited. Analysts at the China US Focus describe Beijing’s approach as “quasi-mediation diplomacy,” heavy on rhetoric and symbolic gestures, light on costly commitments. China points to the 2023 Saudi-Iran normalization as its signature diplomatic success, but its other attempts, including in Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have produced no concrete results.

By contrast, Trump has claimed to have helped end nine conflicts, including the wars or standoffs involving Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia, Israel and Hamas, and the ongoing effort toward Ukraine and Russia, with Axios reporting the count has grown steadily since he returned to office.

The Abraham Accords from his first term have been revitalized and expanded, with Kazakhstan joining in November 2025 and additional countries in discussions. Only Trump was able to move Arab and Muslim states toward normalization with Israel on that scale.

The operational realities of the Iran conflict further illustrate why China is largely irrelevant here. The UAE and Saudi Arabia carried out covert offensive military strikes against Iran, the first known offensive actions by Gulf states against Tehran, while Saudi Arabia and Kuwait conducted additional covert strikes on Iranian-backed paramilitary targets in Iraq. The UAE has also expressed openness to deeper military engagement with the United States and Israel, at a minimum, to end Iran’s ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz.

This is the kind of direct coalition engagement Beijing has never demonstrated an ability to organize or lead.

Despite leading the BRICS bloc, which includes Iran as a full member since 2024, despite being the world’s largest oil importer and Iran’s largest oil customer, purchasing upward of 90 percent of its exported crude and generating roughly $31 billion annually for Tehran, and despite serving as Russia’s principal financial backer, Beijing has proven unable to meaningfully influence the conflict.

BRICS itself failed to issue a joint statement on the 2026 Iran war, deadlocked because both Iran and the UAE, on opposing sides of the conflict, are members. In Iran’s hour of greatest need, neither Russia nor China came to its aid in a forceful or kinetic way. As the Carnegie Endowment noted, Beijing calculated it made far more sense to sit on the sidelines than waste resources on a conflict it could not control.

Xi told Trump China would not provide military equipment to Iran, but stated it intended to keep buying Iranian oil, making Beijing a financial lifeline for Tehran, not a partner in pressuring it. There is little reason for the United States to depend on China for help in a conflict where Gulf partners are already engaged operationally and China remains on the sidelines.

The post Trump Rightly Dismissive of China’s Offer to Help Resolve Iran Conflict appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Pentagon has prepared plans for a possible renewed military campaign against Iran as President Donald Trump weighs whether to resume strikes following stalled negotiations and mounting tensions in the Middle East.

According to The New York Times, U.S. and Israeli officials have intensified military preparations for the possible return of combat operations as early as next week if diplomatic efforts fail.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled the administration is prepared to escalate.

“We have a plan to escalate if necessary,” Hegseth told lawmakers this week.

The US may launch new strikes on Iran within days

According to The New York Times, Trump’s team and the Pentagon are discussing large-scale bombings and special forces operations targeting underground nuclear facilities. pic.twitter.com/8YHnfxUFXe

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 16, 2026

Trump, returning from China on Friday, indicated Tehran’s latest peace proposal was a non-starter.

“I looked at it, and if I don’t like the first sentence, I just throw it away,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The president has repeatedly warned Iran against dragging out negotiations.

“They’re either going to make a deal, or they’re going to be decimated,” Trump said earlier this week. “So, one way or another, we win.”

BREAKING: Trump indicated he could accept a 20-year halt to Iran’s nuclear activity:

20 years is enough. But the level of guarantee from them… it’s got to be a real 20 years. pic.twitter.com/cic86rTAuC

— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 15, 2026

Potential military options reportedly include expanded bombing campaigns targeting Iranian military infrastructure, missile facilities, and other strategic sites.

More aggressive scenarios under discussion reportedly include deploying U.S. Special Operations forces to target deeply buried nuclear materials at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility.

However, such an operation would carry significant military risk and require broader troop support.

The Pentagon has maintained a major force posture across the region since last month’s ceasefire, including more than 50,000 troops, two aircraft carriers, Navy destroyers, and combat aircraft.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said this week that U.S. forces remain prepared.

Military planning comes as Iran appears to be reconstituting key capabilities damaged in earlier strikes.

Meanwhile, credible intelligence reports indicate Tehran has restored access to much of its missile infrastructure, including launch sites along the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian officials have also signaled readiness for a return to hostilities.

“Our armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said.

Trump has not publicly made a final decision, but the prospect of renewed strikes appears increasingly real.

The post Pentagon Draws Up Strike Plans as Trump Weighs Renewed Iran Assault appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On the night of May 5, eight Christians were murdered when Fulani extremists attacked Nding village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria. The following morning, the extremists returned and launched another attack during the funeral.

Truth Nigeria reporter Masara Kim was covering the funeral when he suddenly found himself running for his life amid the sound of gunfire.

In an interview with the Gateway Pundit, Kim said that as he stood filming in front of the mutilated bodies from the attack, his thoughts turned to Mark 13, where Jesus warns of wars and rumors of wars.

He reflected that biblical prophecy speaks of people hearing about distant events, but he was confronting those realities face-to-face.

“On the one hand, it was relieving to know that the end of the tribulation, the end of suffering, the end of pain, for me as a persecuted Christian, is near. But on the other hand, it was really, really terrifying.”

Among the victims was a nine-year-old girl. Even though he was accustomed to witnessing the effects of violence, Kim said this case broke through that experience.

“I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that somebody could be so cruel, could be so wicked as to go for an innocent child… a little girl who couldn’t hold a sword, couldn’t shoot even a slingshot, much less pose a threat to anyone.”

He described seeing her lowered into the grave, the remains of her brain still visible. He said he looked at the other bodies, four women and two men, and though he fought back his tears, “my heart was completely shattered.”

Kim was still filming when people began to run. He initially estimated the gunshots to be two to three kilometers away and thought security forces might arrive in time.

A community leader then urged him to stop and help bury the dead immediately. The grave had been dug only about two feet deep. There were no funeral rites, no hymns. Mourners said the Lord’s Prayer and left.

When shooting reached them, Kim said the moment transformed him.

“I was no longer the reporter, I was now becoming the story.”

Running alongside other mourners, he prayed aloud for two things: mercy on his own soul, and mercy on those he would be leaving behind. He said he had already accepted death, but his concern was for those who die slowly and in pain.

He described a man shot and hacked with machetes in 2010 who, sixteen years later, still endures daily pain that no painkiller can touch, a man who, Kim said, “has learned to just ignore the pain and live as though nothing is wrong, but deep inside knows the pain that sometimes makes him wish he was dead instead.”

Kim said he has been shot at approximately five times in his career.

The first incident he recounted was June 23, 2018, when more than 250 Christians were killed in the Gashish district of Barkinladi County, Plateau State, roughly 30 miles southwest of Jos. He had traveled there to attend a colleague’s father’s funeral and to investigate ongoing attacks in the region. Before the service ended, he observed Fulani men gathering on the surrounding hills.

A motorcyclist was shot and killed 500 to 600 meters from the venue, and a woman was killed two miles away. When mourners departed in a convoy, their vehicle was riddled with bullets. By the following morning, more than 250 Christians were dead.

“I called, I texted, I pleaded, but they never responded,” he said of the soldiers assigned to protect them. “They never intervened.”

In 2020, he returned to the same region to oversee construction of a well for displaced residents of a community where more than 90 people had been killed. Survivors had spent over two years in IDP camps with no government support, sharing an open stream with animals. Two children had already died of cholera from contaminated water.

Kim raised funds to drill the well, and during one of his inspection visits to the community of Nghar in the Gashish district, Fulani gunmen opened fire on his vehicle. He and his companions escaped and spent the night in a nearby church.

That September, he was pursued for 45 to 50 minutes at night while returning from a reporting assignment. Unknown men in a vehicle repeatedly attempted to block his path, and he drove at high speed through multiple streets before escaping.

In May 2017, he had traveled to the northeast to report from Chibok, where more than 200 Christian girls had been kidnapped by Boko Haram three years earlier, and terrorists opened fire on his convoy en route.

The most intense experience, by his account, came on May 16, 2023, when he covered the aftermath of an attack in Mangu, Plateau State, that had killed 50 people the previous night. His team was attacked three times that day.

During the first attack, more than 20 gunmen opened fire before police, and Civil Defense Corps officers pushed them back. Moving further into the area, they encountered a force Kim estimated at more than a thousand fighters, still being reinforced by arrivals on motorcycles.

Retreating through the same community, they ran into a third ambush, forcing officers to abandon their vehicles and flee on foot.

“I had already seen what the bullets of these terrorists had done to those guys on the floor,” Kim said. “And now those bullets were coming for me. I already saw myself in the same condition as the victims I had just filmed.”

His consolation, as it had been each time, was the promise of eternal life.

Mainstream media outlets and Democratic lawmakers in America have argued that these attacks are not religiously motivated. They have also criticized President Trump and other members of the Trump administration who have described the attacks as genocide.

Meanwhile, Nigerian Christians are being killed on a daily basis, and brave men like Masara Kim are risking their lives to get the word out.

The question is whether anyone in the international community will listen.

The post Reporting on the Massacre of His Own People: Nigerian Christian Journalist Explains Why He Risks His Life appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured a major victory for the state of Texas.

Texas Children’s Hospital has agreed to create the nation’s first dedicated detransition clinic, cut ties with five physicians, and pay $10 million to the state as part of a broader settlement.

The agreement follows a state investigation launched after Texas banned gender-related medical interventions for minors in 2023.

Earlier this year, Paxton sued the hospital, alleging that it continued to provide prohibited procedures and used inaccurate diagnostic codes to bill Medicaid.

Under the settlement, Texas Children’s will establish a clinic focused on treating patients who previously underwent gender-related medical interventions and are seeking care related to reversing or managing those effects.

For the first five years, the hospital will cover the full cost of services.

The settlement also requires the hospital to permanently sever ties with five doctors involved in providing such care to minors.

“This historic settlement reflects an institutional and fundamental cultural shift away from radical ‘gender’ ideology,” Paxton said in a statement.

“I applaud Texas Children’s Hospital for changing course and committing to being a part of the solution by agreeing to form a first-of-its kind Detransition Clinic that will help provide free care to those who have been victimized by twisted, morally bankrupt transgender ideology.”

BREAKING: Texas AG Ken Paxton secured a MAJOR settlement victory against Texas Children’s Hospital, which requires them to open a detransition clinic and pay $10 million for illegally performing gender-based surgical and chemical castrations.

BIG WIN pic.twitter.com/pip79SHE1F

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 15, 2026

Texas Children’s did not admit wrongdoing and said it had complied with applicable laws, but said it chose to settle to avoid prolonged legal costs.

The hospital said the agreement closes “a chapter that has been wrought with falsehoods and distractions.”

Settling, it said, “will allow us to redirect those precious resources to focus on the life-saving care and groundbreaking discoveries of our exceptional clinicians and scientists.”

“We stand proud knowing we will always put our purpose over politics and that we have and will continue to follow the law.”

The case marks one of the most significant enforcement actions yet under Texas’s ban on gender-related medical treatment for minors.

It also delivers a major legal victory for Paxton as he prepares for a Republican Senate primary showdown against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

The post Texas AG Ken Paxton Scores Major Win — Forces Children’s Hospital to Open America’s First ‘Detransition’ Clinic appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The UNITE THE KINGDOM RALLY IN LONDON – May 16, 2026

Live aerial video via UKSploosh.

Hundreds of Thousands of supporters turned out today at the Unite the Kingdom rally through central London.

This comes less than a week after far-left Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered the most devastating party elections in the country’s history.

Once again, UK patriot Tommy Robinson led the efforts to organize and lead the march against the destruction of England.

Starmer blocked at least 10 Unite the Kingdom speakers from entering the country for the rally.
The PM is also using facial recognition on the crowd of thousands.

The Gateway Pundit contributors are in London today covering the historic event.

Here is the Tommy Robinson live feed from today’s event.

The post LIVE FEED: Hundreds of Thousands of British Patriots Turn Out to “Unite the Kingdom” Rally in London appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.