The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 21st, 2025: China Rages At Trump's 'Golden Dome' Announcement & Top Aides To Mexico City Mayor Assassinated In Suspected Cartel Hit
21 May 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, President Donald Trump has unveiled his plans to build a new comprehensive air defense system for the United States that he has dubbed the “Golden Dome,” and China is already throwing a fit, accusing the U.S. of trying to turn space into a warzone. We’ll have the details. Later in the show—Mexico’s bloody political violence escalates inside the country’s capital, where two top aides to the mayor of Mexico City were brazenly assassinated in broad daylight on Tuesday in a suspected cartel hit. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Kikoff: Build credit fast and get your first month for just a dollar at https://GetKikoff.com/miketoday. Thanks to Kikoff for sponsoring us! Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Jacked Up Fitness: Go to https://GetJackedUp.comand use code BAKER at checkout to save 10% off your entire purchase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
It's Wednesday, the 21st of May. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, President Trump has unveiled his plans to build a new comprehensive air defense system for the United States that he's called the Golden Dome.
And China, well, they're already throwing a fit, accusing the US of trying to turn space into a war zone. We'll have the details. Later in the show, Mexico's bloody political violence escalates inside the country's capital, where two top aides to the mayor of Mexico's city were brazenly assassinated in broad daylight on Tuesday in a suspected cartel hit. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
We'll begin today with a return to our coverage of space-based warfare as President Trump unveils his plans to build a futuristic missile defense system dubbed the Golden Dome. The ambitious multi-billion dollar project aims to protect against next-generation aerial threats to the U.S., including ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as, and this is important, hypersonic weapons.
In an announcement from the Oval Office on Tuesday, the president said he had selected a design for the new missile shield, which he teased would be fully operational by the end of his second term. That's according to a report from the BBC.
The Trump administration has so far remained vague on the details of the project, but officials said Tuesday that an initial sum of $25 billion, with a B, has been earmarked for the Golden Dome in the spending and tax cut bill currently making its way slowly through Congress.
But that will only represent an initial investment, as you might suspect, with the project estimated to cost a total of somewhere close to $175 billion. Now, I'll go on record as saying that $175 billion in fat stacks is a very conservative estimate for the Golden Dome.
As our regular listeners will remember, Trump first announced his plans back in January, when he signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to begin the immediate development of an Iron Dome-style missile defense system.
While the Golden Dome may take its inspiration from Israel's Iron Dome, the project promises to be, well, obviously many times larger and designed to combat a wider range of threats. The administration is keeping the details of the project close to the vest, but Trump said Tuesday it will involve technologies across land, sea, and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.
Analysts have speculated that it will probably work by employing thousands of satellites to spot and track missiles and then fire interceptors from orbit to neutralize any potential incoming threats. It sounds a bit like Dr. Evil's Alan Parsons project from Austin Powers. But perhaps I'm oversimplifying it. Trump said, quote, We'll have it done in three years.
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