Donald Trump named Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’

President Joe Biden addressed the nation Sunday afternoon after meeting with his national security team, calling the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s “abhorrent” regime a “historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.”

“At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” Biden said. “This regime brutalized, tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians.”

At the same time, it’s “also a moment of risk and uncertainty,” Biden added, saying that the U.S. would “support Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel, should any threat arise.”

He also said the U.S. is “mindful” of the security of Americans in Syria, including American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran Austin Tice, who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012. Biden said it will “remain committed to returning [Tice] to his family.”

“This is a moment of considerable risk and uncertainty,” Biden said. “But I also believe this is the best opportunity in generations for Syrians to forge their own future free of opposition.”

President-elect Donald Trump had earlier called the situation in Syria a “mess” and urged against the U.S. getting involved in the conflict.

“In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” Trump wrote in a post on X.

On Saturday, White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the U.S. “has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization,” and said that the U.S. would work together with its allies and partners to urge deescalation and to protect U.S. personnel and military positions.

Speaking at a defense conference Saturday, before rebels advanced into Damascus, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the speed and scale of the rebels’ rapid advance came, in part, because Assad’s chief backers — Iran, Russia and Hezbollah — had all been “weakened and distracted,” in recent months.

That has left Assad “basically naked,” Sullivan said. “His forces are hollowed out.”

Early Sunday, the rebel military operations command for the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, claimed the president was no longer in the capital, writing: “We declare the city of Damascus free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday morning that Assad “decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully.” Russia and Iran were the two most important foreign backers of Assad’s government.

Trump said Russia, which has long supported Assad’s regime, is “tied up in Ukraine” and apparently unable to intervene in Syria, and said Assad being forced out “may actually be the best thing that can happen” to the Russian government.

“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse,” Trump said.

In an interview with ABC News, retired Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, who led the U.S. Central Command during Trump’s first term, agreed with the president-elect’s assessment that the situation could spell chaos.

“I’m not sure it’s ultimately going to be good news for the people of Syria,” McKenzie said. “You know, we could have an Islamic State arise there which will have profound negative implications across the region. That is possible. There are other possibilities as well. And I think in the next 48, 72, 96 hours, we — this will begin to become clearer to us.”

“It’s a significant moment in Syrian history,” McKenzie added. “I wish I could be more hopeful that it will mean good news for the Syrian people. I think that’s very unclear right now.”

Asked about the safety of the 900 U.S. military members stationed in eastern Syria to contain ISIS, McKenzie said Assad’s fall could put them in a better place.

“Actually, there’s probably less danger right now than there was before, because what you see are the Iranians, Lebanese Hezbollah and, in fact, the Russians are all on their back heels now as a result of what has just happened in Syria,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — As President Joe Biden prepares to pass the baton to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, it’s unclear if Biden will follow the tradition of leaving his successor a note in the Oval Office.

President Ronald Reagan started the ritual in 1989, according to the Washington Post, when he left a note for his former running mate, President George H.W. Bush.

He used light-hearted stationery that said, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down,” with a drawing of turkeys climbing on top of an elephant. Reagan wrote, “I treasure the memories we share and I wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers. God bless you & Barbara. I’ll miss our Thursday lunches.”

Every president since has taken part in the tradition. But since Reagan’s letter to Bush, each handover has been from a Democrat to a Republican or vice versa.

Bush, who lost the 1992 election to Bill Clinton, said to the nation’s new leader, “Don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.”

“You will be our President when you read this note,” he wrote. “I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. Good Luck.”

“I love that letter,” Clinton told ABC News in 2018. “I thought it was vintage George Bush. I thought he meant it, but I also thought he was trying to be a citizen in the highest sense of the word. It was profoundly moving to me personally.”

Clinton followed his predecessor’s tradition in 2001, when he said in a letter to President George W. Bush, “Today you embark on the greatest venture, with the greatest honor, that can come to an American citizen.”

“Like me, you are especially fortunate to lead our country in a time of profound and largely positive change, when old questions, not just about the role of government, but about the very nature of our nation, must be answered anew,” Clinton said. “You lead a proud, decent, good people. And from this day you are President of all of us. I salute you and wish you success and much happiness.”

“The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible,” he wrote. “My prayers are with you and your family. Godspeed.”

In 2009, George W. Bush wrote to President Barack Obama, “Congratulations on becoming our President. You have just begun a fantastic chapter in your life.”

“Very few have had the honor of knowing the responsibility you now feel. Very few know the excitement of the moment and the challenges you will face,” he said. “There will be trying moments. The critics will rage. Your ‘friends’ will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me. No matter what comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead. God bless you.”

When Obama handed off to Trump in 2017, he wrote to his successor, “Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.”

“We’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune,” Obama said, according to CNN. “Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.”

Obama noted later in the letter, “We are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions — like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties — that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.”

He concluded by saying, “Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.”

Trump described Obama’s letter as “long,” “beautiful” and “so well-written, so thoughtful.”

“I called him and thanked him for the thought that was put into that letter,” Trump told ABC News “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir in 2017.

Then, in 2021, despite the contentious handover from Trump to Biden when Trump refused to admit he lost the 2020 election, Trump did follow tradition and leave Biden a note.

Biden described it as a “very generous letter,” according to Politico. The letter has never been released.

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(RIO GRANDE CITY, TX) — Starr County, Texas, voted predominantly Republican this month — for the first time in 100 years.

Home to some 75,000 residents across about 1,200 square miles, it has a relatively small footprint, in a state where everything is glorified for its bigness.

But it’s been making an outsized impression in national politics. Even after its historic flip from blue to red, a century in the making, it’s continued to garner headlines.

Last week, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham offered up 1,402 acres of Starr County to facilitate President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.

In a letter to Trump dated Nov. 19, Buckingham said she’s offering the land, located along the border of Mexico, “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”

She has also proposed alternative uses for it, including as a site for detention centers.

“Now it’s essentially farmland, so it’s flat, it’s easy to build on. We can very easily put a detention center on there — a holding place as we get these criminals out of our country,” Buckingham said in a recent interview with Fox News.

The land, which Buckingham declared property of the state in 2023, adds to another parcel previously owned by the Texas General Land Office, bringing the southern border acreage that it controls in Starr County up to 4,000.

ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal visited Starr County to ask residents what issues and values most influenced them to vote for Republican candidates this year, instead of upholding their century-long blue streak.

“The economy is just driving, I think, everybody crazy,” said Becky Garza, the owner of Texas Cafe in Rio Grande City, the largest city in Starr County.

She explained that she used to complain about buying a box of eggs for $10, and now they’re $20.

“If things don’t get better, I might have to either cut staff, cut hours, or I’m going to start with cutting hours and then from there work it, maybe cut down, maybe cut the menu, you know, to keep the place open, you know, because I don’t want to lose my my customers,” Garza said.

And she doesn’t think she’s the only one who’s making those kinds of hard decisions, she told ABC News.

Jaime Escobar, the mayor of neighboring Roma, another city of Starr County, agrees. He suggested that residents are more influenced by the local economy than what’s being said in Washington, D.C.

“We no longer want to be considered just a poor community because we’re rich culturally,” he told ABC News. “We’re proud of our Mexican-American heritage, but we don’t — no longer want to be dependent just on the government.”

But with D.C. being invited into their backyard, it’s bound to bring the topic of migration and deportation to the forefront — even for those who may not have prioritized the issue during the election cycle.

Asked about how people might respond to a detention facility in nearby Starr County, Escobar said, “People don’t want families to be torn apart. That’s the last thing we want.”

“But at the same time,” he added, “we hope that Trump and his administration do the right thing and focus on the criminal element first, and then see how in the meantime, we’ll see how the policies can be implemented in a better way.”

Buckingham, on the other hand, believes that “folks who live down on the border feel really abandoned by those open border policies.”

She told ABC News, “They feel like it’s directly harming their communities, both their safety and their prosperity.”

In the same interview this week with ABC News, Buckingham also said that she would “absolutely” offer up even more of Texas, the way that she did Starr County.

“I have 13 million acres. If any of them can be of help in this process, we’re happy to have that discussion,” Buckingham said.

Trump has said he would carry out his mass deportation plans — a top campaign promise — by declaring a national emergency and using “military assets” to deport migrants currently living in the U.S. without legal permission.

He backed up his commitment with the choice of several immigration hard-liners to join his administration, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for secretary of homeland security and former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as “border czar.” Both picks require Senate confirmation.

But with an estimated 11 million people presumed to be living in the U.S. without legal immigration status, the promises have raised questions of both feasibility and cost.

Removing them could cost billions of dollars per year, according to estimates from the American Immigration Council.

And while Republican-friendly areas of Texas might feel compelled to support the effort, other southern border states, like Arizona and California, have already expressed their disinterest.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told ABC News Live last week that she would not use state police or the National Guard to help with mass deportation.

“We will not be participating in misguided efforts that harm our communities,” she said.

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