Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Year: 2025

2028 lines being drawn among conservatives as two top names emerge among AmericaFest activists

2028 lines being drawn among conservatives as two top names emerge among AmericaFest activists

The 2028 presidential election will potentially be a rumble in the Rust Belt if AmericaFest attendees’ predictions come to pass, with Vice President JD Vance the odds-on favorite to succeed President Donald Trump, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro surpassing California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the most-predicted Democrat nominee. Such a contest would also pit two younger figures against each other – with Shapiro at 52 and Vance at 41 — while also potentially reshaping the idea of the “blue wall” that Trump shattered in 2024 as Shapiro’s name recognition in Pennsylvania could return the state to the Democrats’ column. For his part, Shapiro has dismissed any curiosity about a White House run, recently telling HBO’s Bill Maher he’s “not an expert” on Beltway politics and “live[s] in the real world in Pennsylvania where we have to balance budgets.” But, that sentiment didn’t keep him from being considered more viable for the role than the more gregarious Newsom. ‘OBAMA BRO’ PODCASTER RAILS AGAINST JD VANCE’S CHANCES IN 2028, CLAIMS ‘NO ONE LIKES HIM!’ Barbara, from Camarillo, Calif., said she hopes Vance is able to step into President Donald Trump’s shoes, calling him a “great candidate” who comes from the “team that Trump built.” “I think we’re in a good place right now,” she said. Barbara also named Shapiro as the most likely Democrat to take that party’s mantle. REPUBLICAN POPULISM CRATERS AS TRUMP STUMBLES, DEMOCRATS SURGE “I think he’s going to have the most effect because I don’t think anybody else has any credibility.” If Shapiro went up against Newsom, she said, “he would wipe the floor with” the Californian. Shapiro has occasionally broken with the far-left, particularly on the issue of antisemitism. But, when New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli wished aloud that the Garden State would be run more like its neighbor across the Delaware, Shapiro hit back that he was fully supporting Gov-elect. Mikie Sherill. TRUMP SAYS JD VANCE WOULD BE ‘PROBABLY FAVORED’ FOR 2028 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION Nick from Nashville also named Shapiro as the most viable Democratic prospect. While he predicted Newsom or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. may be the nominee chosen by the base, the Democratic National Committee would be smart if it facilitated a Shapiro nomination, he said. Speaking about the future of post-Trump conservatism, Nick said he expects a lot of competing yet largely ideologically unified voices. “I think the conservative party will kind of conglomerate over somebody like Trump. I think Trump’s going to have a very big hand and who’s going to be the nominee in 2028. But I think the conservative [movement] is still going to be alive. But I think that it’s mostly going to be whoever Donald Trump kind of wants, because, you know, he basically built the conservative movement,” he said. SPECULATION SWIRLS AS AOC IS RUMORED TO HARBOR 2028 ASPIRATIONS: ‘SAVVY POLITICIAN’ “I’m very much hoping [Republicans choose] JD Vance or Marco Rubio,” Karen from Wisconsin told Fox News Digital. “We have so many good conservatives that could come in and take over. And I hope that we get another eight, 16 more years of Republicans that have put our country in the right direction.” “I hope after Charlie Kirk that especially the youth get involved more … because you know, that’s how I got involved and I just hope that someone brings up the whole [conservative] program a lot more.” GAVIN NEWSOM DECLARED AS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S 2028 ‘FRONTRUNNER’ BY POLITICO On the Democratic side in 2028, Karen predicted Newsom would be Democrats’ pick. “I seriously don’t think [Kamala Harris] is going to get the money-backing, but Newsom probably will try really hard. I hope [the GOP chooses] JD Vance. Ron DeSantis already cleaned the carpet with Newsom [on “Hannity”], so I don’t think JD Vance will have much problem because he is a very well spoken, intelligent, smart man.” Amy from Michigan also predicted the Pennsylvanian as the Democrats’ top pick in 2028, envisioning a battle between Vance and Shapiro for the presidency. Elizabeth from San Diego said she hopes it won’t be her governor who gets named the nominee in 2028, but feared it is trending his way moreso than Shapiro or Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the Hyatt Hotels heir whose name has also been mentioned. “I’m hoping that other Latinos see another Latina being in a position where I support [Homeland Security Investigations agents] going out and looking at all of the illegal immigrants and taking them out because of the fact that it gives us (Latinos and Latinas) more opportunities,” said Elizabeth, who is Latina. Ed, who was also from San Diego, predicted Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take the Republican mantle after Trump.

Inside Stefanik’s exit and how the Trump endorsement that never came was ‘biggest piece’ of the ‘puzzle’

Inside Stefanik’s exit and how the Trump endorsement that never came was ‘biggest piece’ of the ‘puzzle’

FIRST ON FOX: Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik’s surprise announcement on Friday night that she is dropping out of the race for New York governor and leaving her seat in Congress was partly due to lack of full support from President Trump, Fox News Digital has learned.  “The biggest piece of this puzzle was Donald Trump and the fact that he passed three times on endorsing her candidacy, including in the Oval Office with the Miracle on Ice Team last week,” a GOP source close to the situation told Fox News Digital. “I think [that] played the largest role in this decision,”  Stefanik’s original thought process when she jumped into the race last month, according to the source, was that she would have a “clear shot” at current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. But once Trump ally and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced his candidacy earlier this month, “it became clear that was not going to happen.” “When you start to add these things up, and you see a contested primary, you see an assumed ally in the president who passes on endorsing, and it does not seem that you’re going to have the wind to your back in this cycle, I think [it] all played into this,” the source said. STEFANIK EXITS NY GOVERNOR RACE, WILL NOT RUN FOR RE-ELECTION TO US HOUSE Stefanik’s decision to also leave Congress was based on a feeling that it was time to “move on,” the source said. “I am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and overwhelming support from Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, and Democrats all across the state for our campaign to Save New York,” Stefanik posted on X Friday afternoon. “However, as we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York.” Stefanik has been a staunch ally of President Trump during her time in Congress, including defending him during both of his impeachments. Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a high-profile cabinet-level position, before the nomination was pulled to protect the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House and amid worries Republicans could lose Stefanik’s seat to the Democrats in a special election. FBI TO BE UNDER HARSH NEW MICROSCOPE AS STEFANIK SCORES VICTORY IN ANNUAL DEFENSE BILL After Blakeman joined the race for governor, Trump opted to stay neutral, telling reporters at the White House after Blakeman announced his candidacy that “Elise is fantastic and Bruce is.” “Two fantastic people, and I always hate it when two very good friends of mine are running, and I hope there’s not a lot of damage done,” the president added. Hochul’s re-election campaign released a statement on Friday shifting its attention to Blakeman. “Elise Stefanik has finally acknowledged reality: If you run against Governor Kathy Hochul, you are going to lose,” Hochul’s campaign said in a press release Friday. “As Donald Trump raises costs on New Yorkers and targets this state relentlessly, Governor Hochul has cut middle-class taxes, put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets, and fought this administration and won when New York has come under attack.” “The fact is, ‘100% MAGA’ Bruce Blakeman traveled all the way to D.C. to celebrate Trump’s tariffs, he ran Long Island’s safety net hospital into the ground by appointing corrupt cronies to run it, and let violent crime in Nassau County spike to its highest level in a decade. Governor Hochul’s message to him or whichever lackey Trump picks to run against her is simple: Bring it on.” The source confirmed to Fox News Digital that “multiple county leaders are reaching out to Congressman Mike Lawler” as a potential candidate, adding it is “premature” to assume the New York GOP is “coalescing around Blakeman.” “Very fluid. Many folks are taking time to regroup.” The source did say that Blakeman “can be a strong candidate” and that the “Mamdani effect” is something Hochul will still have to combat in a general election.  “I wish Congresswoman Stefanik nothing but success as she pursues her priorities and continues her service to our nation,” Blakeman posted on X Friday. “At this pivotal moment for New York, it is essential that Republicans and all New Yorkers come together in unity.” Lawler responded to the news in a post on X saying that Stefanik “has been a terrific Congresswoman” and “would have been a great governor.” “As her friend and colleague, I respect her decision and wish her and her family all the best as she moves forward.” The White House directed Fox News Digital to the social media reactions from the president and his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.  In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump responded to Stefanik’s announcement, writing, “Elise Stefanik, a fantastic person and Congresswoman from New York State, has just announced she won’t be running for Governor. Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does. She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!” Leavitt also posted praise of Stefanik on social media. “Elise Stefanik has been an incredible advocate for the people of her district in Upstate New York, and she will always be a true friend to President Trump,” Leavitt posted on X. “On a personal note, Elise is my former boss. She is a great leader, and an even better person. We love you, @EliseStefanik!” Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report

Sen Murphy warns ‘people are going to die’ as Congress punts on expiring Obamacare subsidies

Sen Murphy warns ‘people are going to die’ as Congress punts on expiring Obamacare subsidies

A bipartisan Obamacare fix remains out of reach in the Senate, for now, and lawmakers can’t agree on who is at fault.  While many agree that the forthcoming healthcare cliff will cause financial pain, the partisan divide quickly devolved into pointing the finger across the aisle at who owns the looming healthcare premium spikes that Americans who use the healthcare exchange will face.  Part of the finger-pointing has yielded another surprising agreement: Lawmakers don’t see the fast-approaching expiration of the Biden-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies as Congress failing to act in time. “Obviously, it’s not a failure of Congress to act,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “It’s a failure of Republicans to act. Democrats are united and wanting to expand subsidies. Republicans want premium increases to go up.” DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY Senate Republicans and Democrats both tried, and failed, to advance their own partisan plans to replace or extend the subsidies earlier this month. And since then, no action has been taken to deal with the fast-approaching issue, guaranteeing that the subsidies will lapse at the end of the year. A report published last month by Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit healthcare think tank, found that Americans who use the credits will see an average increase of 114% in their premium costs. The increase can vary depending on how high above the poverty level a person is. The original premium subsidies set a cap at 400% above the poverty level, while the enhanced subsidies, which were passed during the COVID-19 pandemic, torched the cap. For example, a person 60 years or older making 401% of the poverty level, or about $62,000 per year, would on average see their premium prices double. That number can skyrocket depending on the state. Wyoming clocks in at the highest spike at 421%. SENATE MULLS NEXT STEPS AFTER DUELING OBAMACARE FIXES GO UP IN FLAMES In Murphy’s home state of Connecticut, premiums under the same parameters would hike in price by 316%. “When these do lapse, people are going to die,” Murphy said. “I mean, I was talking to a couple a few months ago who have two parents, both with chronic, potentially life-threatening illnesses, and they will only be able to afford insurance for one of them. So they’re talking about which parent is going to survive to raise their three kids. The stakes are life and death.” Both sides hold opposing views on the solution. Senate Republicans argue that the credits effectively subsidize insurance companies, not patients, by funneling money directly to them, and that the program is rife with fraud. Senate Democrats want to extend the subsidies as they are, and are willing to negotiate fixes down the line. But for the GOP, they want to see some immediate reforms, like income caps, anti-fraud measures and more stringent anti-abortion language tied to the subsidies. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who produced his own healthcare plan that would convert subsidies into health savings accounts (HSAs), argued that congressional Democrats “set this up to expire.” SENATE REPUBLICANS LAND ON OBAMACARE FIX, TEE UP DUELING VOTE WITH DEMS But he doesn’t share the view that the subsidies’ expected expiration is a life-or-death situation. “I’m not taxing somebody who makes 20 bucks an hour to pay for healthcare for somebody who makes half a million dollars a year, that’s what they did,” he told Fox News Digital. “All they did was mask the increase in healthcare costs. That’s all they did with it.” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., similarly scoffed at the notion, and told Fox News Digital, “The Democrat plan to extend COVID-era Obamacare subsidies might help less than half a percent of the American population.” “The Republican plan brings down healthcare costs for 100% of Americans,” he said. “More competition, expands health savings accounts. That needs to be the focus.” Democrats are also not hiding their disdain for the partisan divide between their approaches to healthcare. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Fox News Digital that the idea that this “is a congressional failure and not a Republican policy is preposterous.” “They’ve hated the Affordable Care Act since its inception and tried to repeal it at every possible opportunity,” he said, referring to Obamacare. “The president hates ACA, speaker hates ACA, majority leader hates ACA, rank-and-file hate ACA. And so this is not some failure of bipartisanship.” While the partisan rancor runs deep on the matter of Obamacare, there are Republicans and Democrats working together to build a new plan. Still, it wouldn’t deal with the rapidly approaching Dec. 31 deadline to extend the subsidies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., predicted that the Senate would have a long road to travel before a bipartisan plan came together in the new year, but he didn’t rule it out. “It’s the Christmas season. It would take a Christmas miracle to execute on actually getting something done there,” he said. “But, you know, I think there’s a potential path, but it’ll be heavy lift.”

Dem Senate candidate faces backlash after violent fantasy against conservative SCOTUS justices goes viral

Dem Senate candidate faces backlash after violent fantasy against conservative SCOTUS justices goes viral

A Michigan Democratic Senate candidate is facing backlash after a clip went viral Thursday revealing what she would do if she saw Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh out in public. Mallory McMorrow, who is running in the crowded Democratic Senate primary, ignited social media backlash from conservatives after her comments to supporters last month surfaced. McMorrow was asked by a female attendee at a Huron Valley Indivisible event on Nov. 12 whether there “was any sense in dealing with the Supreme Court,” adding that she “blame[s] them for a lot.” “So, I’m a Notre Dame grad, and Amy Coney Barrett coming out of my university makes me furious. Just on a personal level. I talked to somebody yesterday who said they saw her and Brett Kavanaugh at a tailgate last weekend,” McMorrow said last month. “I would not have been able to control myself. That would be bad. There would be beers thrown in peoples’ faces.” DEMOCRATS’ ‘UNITY’ DINNER DRAWS BACKLASH OVER ANTI-TRUMP ‘86 47’ SIGN LINKING MAGA TO NAZIS Conservatives immediately slammed McMorrow on social media for her violent rhetoric, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who said, “She needs help.”   “It’s impossible for a Democrat candidate to not be a crazed and violent radical,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh wrote on X. “Sounds as if she shouldn’t be in the Senate, then,” Charles Cooke, a senior editor at National Review, wrote on X. “I really don’t understand political figures who openly brag about being overcome by emotions such as disgust as though this were an asset,” Wall Street Journal columnist Kyle Smith wrote on X. “Pattern of Democrat politicians up to and including Chuck Schumer openly encouraging violence against Supreme Court justices,” The Federalist’s editor-in-chief Molly Hemmingway wrote on X. “Sounds like she should seek professional help and consider therapy instead of a Senate run,” conservative writer A.G Hamilton wrote on X. “Democrats are now openly threatening Supreme Court justices with violence,” GOP operative Steve Guest wrote on X. Fox News Digital reached out multiple times to the McMorrow campaign about the clip but did not receive a response. Several people online likened the comments to those said by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. in 2020 when he targeted Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, both conservative Supreme Court justices, and said, “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions” during an abortion rights rally.  Schumer would later walk back the quote, saying, “I should not have used the words I used yesterday. They did not come out the way I intended to.” This isn’t the first time that McMorrow has received scrutiny this year. Back in October, McMorrow was a headliner at the “John D. Dingell Unity Dinner,” which featured a sign with coded language threatening President Donald Trump and equating his supporters with Nazis. The sign, displayed by local Democrats, said “MAGA=NAZI” and “86 47.” The number “86” originated in restaurants to mean “cancel” or “throw out,” but in underworld slang it is frequently used as a call sign for murdering someone. The number “47” is commonly interpreted as denoting the 47th president of the United States, Trump.  “This sign was wrong. Especially now, we each have a responsibility to choose our words and signs carefully, and avoid anything that may be interpreted as a call to violence,” Andrew Mamo, a spokesman for McMorrow for Michigan, told Fox News Digital at the time. She has also come under scrutiny for fundraising with far-left radicals, including a blogger who mocked the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The month-old clip of McMorrow dropped as news spread that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent  had been verbally harassed in public at a luxury Washington, D.C., restaurant and wine bar on Wednesday night by Code Pink, a radical left-wing group. DC DINNER TURNS CHAOTIC AS CODEPINK ACTIVISTS CORNER TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: ‘BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS’ “We want to make an announcement! We have a special guest here, and we want to make a toast for the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent!” DiNucci said after striking her glass to get everyone’s attention. “So let’s give it up for the man who is eating in peace as people starve across the world based on his sanctions, which are economic warfare.” “He oversees the deaths of 600,000 people due to sanctions annually,” she added. “How many people are going to die because of the blood that’s on your hands?”