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Year: 2024

Trump administration picks’ families have 1 thing in common

Trump administration picks’ families have 1 thing in common

As President-elect Donald Trump has aggressively set to work on building his new administration, some have noticed that many of those being selected as his closest advisors are parents with families well above the national average. The current national average for a family in the U.S. is 1.94, which is below the minimum 2.1 required to replace the population. Meanwhile, some of Trump’s Cabinet members and advisers are well above the replacement level. Trump is a father of five adult children. Though he has divorced two times, he is said to be a devoted grandfather to his 10 grandchildren, even reportedly spending the morning after election night golfing with his granddaughter, Kai Trump. TRUMP’S GRANDAUGHTER KAI SHARES VLOG OF FAMILY CELEBRATION ON ELECTION NIGHT: ‘EXTREMELY PROUD’ Secretary of the Interior nominee Doug Burgum and Deputy Chief of Policy Stephen Miller each have three children. Trump’s picks for the CIA, John Ratcliffe, and Secretary of State pick Marco Rubio have four kids each. Though from several marriages, Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Department of Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth both have seven kids. The grand prize goes to Sean Duffy, Trump’s pick for transportation secretary, who with wife Rachel Campos-Duffy has nine children. In 2019, Duffy stepped down from his role as a Wisconsin congressperson ahead of his ninth child’s birth to spend more time with his family. “Raising a family is hard work,” he said in a social media post explaining his decision. “I have always been open to signs from God when it comes to balancing my desire to serve both my family and my country.” RACHEL CAMPOS DUFFY: I FOUND TRUE LOVE AND A HAPPY MARRIAGE USING THIS 90S-STYLE BLUEPRINT. IT WILL FOR FOR YOU, TOO By comparison, with four children, President Biden is more of an exception in his administration, which is mainly staffed by people with two or fewer children. During the campaign, Vice President-elect JD Vance voiced his belief that the government needs to place a greater emphasis on being “pro-family” and make it easier for Americans to have larger families and more kids. At 40 years old, Vance and his wife, Usha, have three children, and he has voiced his desire to have more. In his first big speech on the national stage at the Republican National Convention, Vance said “the American Dream that always counted most [to me] was not starting a business or becoming a senator or even being here with you fine people, it was becoming a good husband and a good dad and of giving my family the things I never had as a kid. And that’s the accomplishment I’m proudest of.” He was hit repeatedly by the Kamala Harris campaign and the media over his 2021 criticism of the country being run by who he called “childless cat ladies.” But the underlying problem of low birth rates in the U.S. poses an increasingly big worry to those paying attention. Catherine Pakaluk, a social researcher and author, told Fox News Digital that the country’s low birth rate has gotten to a point where it is presenting real problems and dangers for the future. “We Americans are not having enough children to replace the population,” she said. “What we’re seeing is an inversion of the normal population pyramid where we would think about the normal population pyramid would be a greater number of younger workers supporting a smaller number of older, retired workers.” Though not yet at the level of countries like Japan and China, which are now facing shrinking populations, Pakaluk said the result is that there are “fewer and fewer workers,” fewer people paying into the tax base, and government programs such as social security and Medicare are becoming increasingly unviable. Because of this reality, Pakaluk said she appreciates people like Vance pushing for larger families. “I really value that Vice President-elect Vance is speaking positively about families and talking a lot about how much he would like to have a larger family. … I think a lot of what is very helpful to us today is to have role models talking about how having kids isn’t really all that bad and, in fact, might be better than you expected.” Most crucial to Pakaluk, however, is advancing values that lead to people choosing to have bigger families. She recently published a book called “Hannah’s Children” in which she did extensive interviews with mothers who decided to have five or more kids. The common denominator among these women, who came from a wide array of faith backgrounds, was a strong religious belief in children as blessings from God. This led Pakaluk to believe that the solution to what she calls the “birth dearth” is a return to religious convictions on the individual and societal level. She pointed to Duffy, who is a practicing Catholic, as an example. “What I like to say is, I don’t know that you can get more children out of being pro-child. … But I think you can get more children if you’re pro-church or pro-religious community,” she said. “If people encounter strong religious communities on a more regular basis, this can change in a generation.”

Comer to create DOGE subcommittee chaired by Marjorie Taylor Greene to work with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy

Comer to create DOGE subcommittee chaired by Marjorie Taylor Greene to work with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy

EXCLUSIVE: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is expected to establish a subcommittee that will work with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to eliminate government waste, Fox News Digital has learned.  A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will chair the Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee, which will focus on rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.  The subcommittee is expected to investigate wasteful spending, examine ways to reorganize federal agencies to improve efficiency and identify solutions to eliminate bureaucratic red tape. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Comer had a meeting with Ramaswamy and his incoming DOGE team. And Ramaswamy confirmed the meeting with Comer and Greene to Fox News Digital.  “A key state to driving greater efficiency in government is exposing the problem to the public to the public—we are grateful that the House Oversight Committee has created a subcommittee to focus on this work,” a spokesperson for Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. “We look forward to working together.”  UFC STAR HOPES DOGE WILL ‘CLEAN THINGS UP AT THE STATE LEVEL,’ WANTS JUSTICE FOR PEANUT THE SQUIRREL The source said Ramaswamy is “supportive of the Oversight Committee’s endeavor and are already working together.”  Comer told Fox News Digital that President Trump’s “landslide victory reflects a clear mandate to address inflationary spending that’s driving up the cost of living for hardworking Americans.”  ​ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY APPROVE THE ‘VERY REASONABLE PROPOSAL’ TO ABOLISH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION “Wasteful government spending must end, and taxpayers deserve to see their money used effectively and efficiently,” he said.  Comer told Fox News Digital that the new Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency “will align with the Trump administration’s priorities to eliminate government waste, streamline the federal government’s operations and cut red tape that’s stifling jobs and increasing costs for the American people.”  “I look forward to working with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to deliver on these goals to Make America Great Again,” Comer said. Greene told Fox News Digital that the House Oversight Committee “is the perfect place to support the DOGE mission.” “I’m excited to chair this new subcommittee designed to work hand in hand with President Trump, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and the entire DOGE team,” Greene said. “We will identify and investigate the waste, corruption and absolutely useless parts of our federal government.” Greene said the subcommittee will provide “transparency and truth to the American people through hearings.” ELON MUSK SAYS ‘ALL ACTIONS’ TAKEN BY DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY WILL BE ONLINE: ‘TRANSPARENCY’ “No topic will be off the table,” she said. “The goal of DOGE is to bring accountability and GUT useless government agencies.”  Greene said she expects the subcommittee’s work “will expose people who need to be fired.” “The bureaucrats who don’t do their job, fail audits like in the Pentagon and don’t know where billions of dollars are going, will be getting a pink slip,” Greene said. “Chairman Comer and I are focused on delivering the mandate voters sent on Nov. 5th, and I can’t wait to get to work.” Trump this month tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, which Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, has widely touted. DOGE has already started soliciting civilian help in the agency. Trump said last week he hopes DOGE will become the “Manhattan Project of our time,” in reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s secretive atom bomb endeavor during World War II. “Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of DOGE for a very long time,” Trump said.

Democrat Tammy Baldwin details recipe for running in a swing state after victory in Trump-won Wisconsin

Democrat Tammy Baldwin details recipe for running in a swing state after victory in Trump-won Wisconsin

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., successfully won re-election in Wisconsin all while President-elect Donald Trump simultaneously flipped the state back to red in the presidential election.  As to how she did it, the Democrat attributes much of her win to her “72-county strategy.” Baldwin made sure during her campaign to traverse the entire state, venturing far from the two large blue enclaves of Milwaukee and Dane counties.  “I think showing up matters, listening matters,” she said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “And so I go, and I really listen and get to know the challenges and aspirations of people all over the state, rural areas, suburban areas, urban areas.” Baldwin won by a few tens of thousands of votes in the state, clinching victory by roughly the same margin as Trump.  RFK JR’S ABORTION ‘ISSUE’: SENATE GOP PLANS TO SCRUTINIZE TRUMP HHS PICK’S POSITION According to her campaign, she did more than 250 events in Wisconsin in 2024 alone. She also hosted several targeted tours during her campaign, including her Dairyland Tour and her Rural Leaders for Tammy Tour. Further, Baldwin’s campaign microtargeted rural communities to deliver content regarding her agricultural work.  But her rigorous travel is not the only thing that sealed the deal for her. The senator acknowledged that people can go everywhere, but they also need to effectively engage voters in each place they travel to.  One thing she noted is that she’s “had years to earn the trust of Wisconsin voters,” referencing the short few months that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris had to turn out voters for her in the state.  Baldwin also said she convenes roundtables and forums on relevant issues while she travels in Wisconsin. “So I’ve done that on, say, the fentanyl and opioid epidemic, bringing together first responders, public health officials, concerned community members to talk about what does the epidemic look like in this community, in this area of the state? What resources do you need? What are your biggest worries?” INCOMING SENATE DEM ELISSA SLOTKIN TORCHES IDENTITY POLITICS IN 2024 AUTOPSY: ‘GO THE WAY OF THE DODO’ She also held events geared toward agricultural issues, she noted.  Baldwin notably credits, in part, her work on agricultural issues with her re-election win. In early October, Baldwin earned the endorsement of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors, which was a significant achievement for a Democrat in a statewide election.  “They cited a number of different measures that I either championed or actually got into law,” she said.  The senator pointed to her Dairy Business Innovation Act, which provides small grants to various dairy producers and processors.  “I went this past spring to a particular farm that had received one of these grants, and they had also invited several other farmers and processors who had received grants to show me what they were able to do with these grants in order to grow their business and improve their bottom line,” she said. RICK SCOTT OUTLINES CONSENSUS FOR ‘DRAMATIC CHANGE’ TO SENATE OPERATION IN POST-MCCONNELL ERA The Wisconsin Democrat also pointed to the large manufacturing sector in her state and attributed her push for “buy America” rules in pieces of legislation as helping her win some of those voters.  On whether her campaign is a model for other Democrats, specifically those in swing states, she said, “I think it is something that would be helpful to many public officials.” Baldwin added that she realized the need to travel Wisconsin to this extent during her first Senate campaign: “I had been in the House of Representatives representing, as you know, seven counties in [the] south-central part of the state. I had to learn Wisconsin as I was running.” MATT GAETZ ‘WORKING THE PHONES,’ SPEAKING TO GOP SENATORS DESPITE DIFFICULT CONFIRMATION ODDS “And so traveling to do that learning was extremely important, being exposed to, you know, the timber industry and the north woods. We didn’t have a big timber industry in the south-central part of the state.” The Midwestern senator also said this was the first time she heard from Wisconsinites that elected officials hadn’t been spending much time in certain parts of the state. “One thing I will say that I hear from constituents when I show up is just like, ‘I don’t remember the last time we had a U.S. senator visit our community, and especially not a Democrat,’” she said. “It’s like, you know, the timber industry folks saying, ‘I don’t think we’ve ever had a senator pay so much attention to us,’” she added.