U.S. President Donald Trump is set to deliver a live address to the nation on Wednesday night. He announced the event on Tuesday, but the White House is offering very few details but Tucker Carlson has hinted that "war is coming."
On Tuesday afternoon, the President wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that, "I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST. I look forward to 'seeing' you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!"
On retired jurist Judge Andrew Napolitano's show, "Judging Freedom," when asked if Trump was going to start a war in Venezuela, Carlson revealed that a member of Congress told him that Trump will announce that "a war is coming" in his address on Wednesday night.
NEW: Tucker Carlson says a member of Congress told him that President Trump will be announcing tonight that "a war is coming" during his address.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 17, 2025
Judge Napolitano: "Is Trump going to start a war in Venezuela?"
Carlson: "I don't know the answer ... here's what I know so far,… pic.twitter.com/TI2n8gwk9T
The President announced on Truth Social the day before the address is scheduled that "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," and that he is "ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.
However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has told reporters that Trump plans to speak about what the administration views as its accomplishments over the past year and to preview parts of the agenda for 2026 and beyond. The Associated Press has reported that the president will likely offer a glimpse at what he plans for 2026, and a senior official in the Trump administration told NBC News that he is not expected to announce any new policies.
This address comes at a moment when Trump's approval ratings on the economy are reportedly at a low point compared with earlier in his presidency. The live event is also scheduled a day after Vanity Fair published a revealing profile of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in which she offered scathing assessments of the president and his associates, as well as several disagreements with him.
She apparently told writer Chris Whipple that the President had "an alcoholic's personality," dubbed Vice President J.D. Vance "a conspiracy theorist," who only turned from Trump critic to ally to help his campaign for the Senate, and former Senior Adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk "an avowed ketamine user" and an "odd, odd duck" whose actions weren't always "rational" and sometimes left her "aghast."
The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.
— Susie Wiles (@SusieWiles) December 16, 2025
Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the…
Wiles also reportedly had a broken "loose agreement" she had with President Trump that any "score-settling" legal actions against his perceived enemies would end after the first 90 days of his second term as president. The Chief of Staff herself and several other key figures in the Trump administration have condemned the article as a "hit piece" and defended Wiles as a loyal and strong ally to the president.
According to the White House public schedule, the address is listed at 9:00 p.m. EST in the Diplomatic Reception Room. Television networks, including broadcast and cable news, are planning special coverage, and some regular programming will be interrupted for live coverage.
