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Year: 2025

Trump front-and-center in Republican primary for governor as early voting kicks off

Trump front-and-center in Republican primary for governor as early voting kicks off

PINE HILL, NEW JERSEY – One week to go until primary day in New Jersey, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli was getting a shoutout from the most powerful and influential politician in the GOP. “I’m asking you to get out and vote for a true champion for the people of your state – Jack Ciattarelli. He’s been a friend of mine, and he’s been a real success story,” President Donald Trump told supporters as he dialed into a tele-rally on the eve of Tuesday’s kickoff of early voting in New Jersey. Trump’s praise came two weeks after he endorsed Ciattarelli for the Republican nomination in a primary race that turned into a battle for the president’s support. “It’s a really big deal,” Ciattarelli said in a Monday interview with Fox News Digital after meeting with local GOP politicians and leaders at the Trump National Golf Club-Philadelphia in this South Jersey borough, when asked about the significance of Trump’s endorsement. “The president’s doing very, very well in New Jersey.” NEW YORK GOV. KATHY HOCHUL FACING DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY CHALLENGE FROM HER OWN LT. GOVERNOR Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, is making his third bid for governor. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 2017. Four years later, in 2021, as the Republican nominee, Ciattarelli overperformed and came close to ousting Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, losing by just three points. In the showdown to succeed Murphy, who is term-limited and prevented from running for re-election, polls suggest that Ciattarelli is the front-runner in a Republican nomination race that includes two other prominent candidates – former businessman and popular conservative talk radio host Bill Spadea and state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a lawyer who served for a decade as state Assembly GOP leader. NEW JERSEY PRIMARY AN EARLY TEST OF TRUMP’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION And Ciattarelli and Spadea spent months trading fire over which of them was a bigger Trump supporter. “It was certainly disappointing,” Spadea said of Trump’s endorsement of Ciattarelli. “I mean, we made no bones about this. We absolutely wanted the President’s endorsement. Unfortunately, the President endorsed a poll and not a plan.” And in a Fox News Digital interview, Spadea emphasized that “I have been a supporter of President Trump since he came down the escalator,” as he referenced Trump’s announcement in 2015 of his first presidential campaign. “There is no question that I am the common-sense conservative. I am the actual Republican in this primary,” Spadea claimed. And Spadea questioned Ciattarelli’s support for Trump, claiming that his rival “has disrespected him for the better part of the last eight years…We thought that that endorsement would have been better served with me.” Four years ago, after he won the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Ciattarelli, when asked if he was seeking the then-former president’s endorsement, told Fox News Digital “there’s only one endorsement I seek, and that’s the endorsement of the voters of New Jersey. That’s the only one that matters.” Fast forward to 2025, and Ciattarelli emphasized that “people really appreciate what he [Trump] is doing for New Jerseyans. He’s put a temporary hold on the wind farms off the Jersey Shore. He’s beating up on the New York Democrats over congestion pricing. He supports a quadrupling of the SALT [state and local tax] deduction on our federal tax returns. Those are big deals to New Jersey, and that’s why he’s got so much great support here. And I’m honored to have his endorsement.” REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS CHAIR, POINTING TO CAMPAIGN BATTLES AHEAD, TOUTS ‘OUR POLICIES ARE BETTER’ While he lost out on Trump’s endorsement, Spadea said there’s been a silver lining. “Our supporters are galvanized. Matter of fact, the Tuesday and Wednesday after Trump endorsed Jack, we had a surge, our two best days ever in low-dollar fundraising,” Spadea said. “So it actually has had the opposite effect, our low-dollar surge, our volunteer surge, we’re now knocking on more than 3,000 doors a week, and we’re getting an unbelievable response from the grassroots.” Spadea said that “almost every Trump supporter that we’ve talked to face-to-face on the ground thinks that Donald Trump made a huge mistake” in endorsing Ciattarelli. And Spadea, who was interviewed in downtown Princeton, New Jersey, added that “Trump supporters believe in common-sense policies, populism, patriotism. It’s not about being told who to vote for.” Asked why Trump endorsed him rather than Spadea, Ciattarelli said that “the president wants to win. He knows that I provide the best opportunity to win in November.” “He knows we’re going to raise the necessary money. We’ve raised more money than the other five Republican gubernatorial candidates combined,” added Ciattarelli, a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics. The fundraising advantage has allowed Ciattarelli to dominate the ad wars, although Spadea said that “in the last couple of weeks we’ve actually outspent my opponent on the air” and predicted that “we’re going to win.” And Spadea, pointing to his media career, touted that “I built the largest audience in the state, a third Democrat, a third independent, a third Republican. So my appeal is not just that conservative base in the Republican Party. I’m the only candidate running for the Republican nomination that can pull in Democrats and independents.” New Jersey has long been a blue-leaning state, but Republicans have had success in gubernatorial elections. “It’s not a blue state when it comes to Governor races, Republicans have won six of the last 11. That’s better than 50%,” Ciattarelli said. And Trump, who spends summer weekends at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, held a very large rally last year in Wildwood, N.J. And he improved from a 16-point loss in the state in the 2020 election to a 6-point deficit last November.  “The president’s doing very, very well in New Jersey. He performed well here last election day,” Ciattarelli said. And Ciattarelli, looking ahead to the general election campaign, said he’s “really looking forward” to Trump’s “active participation…I think New Jerseyans are

The politics of shamelessness: a survival tactic from Trump to party loyalty

The politics of shamelessness: a survival tactic from Trump to party loyalty

Every politician operates with a certain degree of shamelessness. It’s practically in the job description. As they try to navigate in howling political winds, they regularly have to justify changing their positions. Maybe the country’s mood has shifted. Maybe it’s a matter of party loyalty. Maybe they’re bowing to pressure from big donors. And maybe they’re being hypocritical because something they opposed during the Biden administration is now perfectly fine in the Trump administration. WE ARE STILL NOT GETTING THE ‘STRAIGHT STORY’ ABOUT ALLEGED BIDEN DECLINE: KURTZ Whatever the circumstances, it’s shameless to offer an explanation that everyone knows is garbage.  And they have to do it with a straight face. They can’t very well say, Donald Trump is going to make sure I’m primaried if I don’t go along on this one. So they offer the transparently bogus explanation. That, you could argue, is the nature of politics. You need to have some flexibility, some wiggle room.  In one of my two interviews with President Trump last year, he tried to explain why he had totally flipped on TikTok. After all, he had spent his first term trying to ban the Chinese-owned company on national security grounds, only to be blocked by the courts. Now, suddenly, he had done a 180 and was trying to save the app, despite a congressional ban. Trump told me he changed his mind because outlawing TikTok would help Facebook, which he considered a greater threat.  I didn’t buy it. He had concluded that TikTok was incredibly popular, especially with younger people, and wanted to position himself as its savior. This, of course, was before Mark Zuckerberg began cozying up to Trump, such as by making a million-dollar donation to his inaugural. Trump may have the biggest shameless gene of them all–and that’s part of why he’s successful.  TRUMP RATTLED BY ‘NASTY’ ‘TACO’ QUESTION FROM REPORTER He doesn’t get hung up on what he said the day before or an hour before. He can go from expressing sympathy for Joe Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis to saying he doesn’t feel sorry for Biden at all. He can go from blaming the Ukraine war impasse on Volodomyr Zelenskyy to finally condemning Vladimir Putin to calling it Biden’s war. Ross Douthat has a smart take on this in his New York Times column: “The willingness to swerve and backpedal and contradict himself is a big part of what keeps the president viable, and the promise of chickening out is part of Trump’s implicit pitch to swing voters — reassuring them that anything extreme is also provisional, that he’s always testing limits (on policy, on power) but also generally willing to pull back.” So MAGA voters trust Trump to go pretty far–but not too far? That brings them into John Kerry territory: “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,” referring to military aid to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republican ads immediately portrayed the 2004 presidential nominee as a flip-flopper. Kerry later allowed that he had been “inarticulate.”  It’s useful to think about flipping the script. In the media furor over Trump’s spate of pardons, the president gave one to the leader of a violent Chicago gang, Larry Hoover, a drug dealer who’s been serving six consecutive life sentences for killing a man.  Largely symbolic? Sure, because Hoover will remain in prison on state charges. Doesn’t matter. If Biden had done that, conservative voters would have gone haywire. How dare he side with a murderer? Does Biden have no regard for human life? The man who was killed doesn’t get a second chance. DEMOCRATS ABANDON TRADITION AS 2028 PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS OPENLY DECLARE WHITE HOUSE AMBITIONS The MAGA-driven story would have been on television every 10 minutes. With Trump, it was a blip, barely a story at all. Naturally, Biden’s hands aren’t exactly clean on the pardon front. He repeatedly promised not to pardon Hunter, then did exactly that after the election. It was a blatant lie and a big story.  The other day Trump got angry when a CNBC reporter asked him about his TACO nickname, Trump Always Chickens Out, based on the chatter on Wall Street. He called the question “nasty,” this from the king of bestowing derogatory nicknames (see Joe, Sleepy).  Poultry metaphor aside, the president does frequently delay draconian tariffs, conduct quick negotiations and declare victory. His supporters like that because the markets usually shoot up, though the turmoil clearly shakes up the global economy. One reason Trump gets away with all this is that the Democrats don’t have a national spokesman. Tim Walz, the VP flop, toying with running for president? People like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer aren’t breaking through. AOC gets some good jabs in on social media, but she’s not even a member of the leadership.  You also have to credit Trump’s political skills. He doesn’t have the slightest fear of being shameless.

Puerto Rico permits nonbinary gender marker on birth certificates in landmark court decision

Puerto Rico permits nonbinary gender marker on birth certificates in landmark court decision

Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court has reached a decision to allow nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people to update their birth certificates. The action was brought about by six non-binary individuals born in Puerto Rico who filed a lawsuit claiming that “the Commonwealth’s current Birth Certificate Policy violates the right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, according to the court filing.” The court’s decision will now allow people who identify as nonbinary or gender-nonconforming to select “X” as their gender marker on birth certificates. TEXAS LAWMAKERS CONSIDERING BILL TO BAN GENDER CHANGES ON BIRTH CERTIFICATES In the filing, the court explains that there would be no rational basis to deny the request. “The current Birth Certificate Policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico arbitrarily distinguishes between binary and nonbinary individuals and subjects nonbinary individuals to disfavored treatment, without any justification for doing so. In such cases, it is the duty of the federal courts to intervene, to guarantee the equal protection of all persons under the law,” it states. Pedro Julio Serrano, president of Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ+ Federation, called Friday’s ruling a historic one that upholds equality, according to the Associated Press. TRANSGENDER PEOPLE SUE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER NEW PASSPORT POLICY ELIMINATING ‘X’ GENDER MARKER The defendants named in the case opposed the request, arguing that “the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a legitimate interest in maintaining vital records and statistics regarding its citizens.” The filing argued that this argument ignores the fact that the Commonwealth already permits its citizens to amend information on their birth certificates, including modifying the gender marker. The legislators have already enacted legislation to ensure that, in the case of modifications, the original, unaltered birth certificates are preserved by the state. Puerto Rico joins at least 17 U.S. states that permit their residents to include the nonbinary or gender-neutral sex on their birth certificates.

Trump’s fresh White House portrait sparks interest amid controversy over National Portrait Gallery leadership

Trump’s fresh White House portrait sparks interest amid controversy over National Portrait Gallery leadership

Nearly six months into his second term, President Donald Trump has a new portrait posted to the White House website. White House officials posted an eight-second video to social media on Monday, showing the new portrait being hung on the wall at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus. In his previous presidential portrait, which was unveiled just days before taking the oath of office for his second term, Trump could be seen wearing a blue suit coat, white button-up shirt and blue tie. The president showed no expression in the previous portrait, compared to an official portrait taken of him in 2017, in which he was smiling. LIZ PEEK: DONALD TRUMP IS OUR PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO In the portrait unveiled on Monday, Trump is wearing a blue suit coat, white button-up shirt and a red tie. In both images, he has an American Flag pinned to his coat. The president also shows little expression in the new portrait. White House officials told Fox News Digital the photo was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok. TRUMP PORTRAIT HE CLAIMED WAS ‘PURPOSEFULLY DISTORTED’ TO BE TAKEN DOWN FROM COLORADO CAPITOL As of Monday evening, the photo is hanging in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and it will eventually start rolling out to other offices and federal buildings. Trump’s new portrait was unveiled just days after he announced that he was firing Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, for being a “strong supporter” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He announced Sajet’s termination in a post on Truth Social on Friday afternoon. DONALD TRUMP FIRES NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY DIRECTOR FOR BEING ‘STRONG SUPPORTER’ OF DEI “Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am hereby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” the president wrote. “She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” A White House official told Fox News Digital that Sajet had donated $3,982 to Democrats, including the presidential campaigns of former President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Sajet also reportedly donated to other Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris. The White House also pointed to the gallery’s photo of Trump, which was curated by Sajet.  The caption of the photo reads, “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials. After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”

Trump pushes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ as solution to four years of Biden failures: ‘Largest tax cut, EVER’

Trump pushes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ as solution to four years of Biden failures: ‘Largest tax cut, EVER’

President Donald Trump turned to social media on Monday evening to sell Americans on his vision for the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” calling it an opportunity to turn the U.S. around after what he called “four disastrous years” under former President Joe Biden. The House passed the spending bill in late May and it is now in the Senate’s hands. “We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors — Something 80 Million Voters supported in November,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It will unleash American Energy by expediting permitting for Energy, and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It will make American Air Travel GREAT AGAIN by purchasing the final Air Traffic Control System.” The president said the bill includes the construction of The Gold Dome, which he says will secure American skies from adversaries. The bill will also secure the border by building more of the wall and “supercharging the deportation of millions of Criminal Illegals” that he said Biden allowed into the U.S. WHITE HOUSE: DEMS HAVE ‘NEVER BEEN MORE RADICAL, OUT OF TOUCH’ AFTER VOTING AGAINST ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ “It will kick millions of Illegals off Medicaid, and make sure SNAP is focused on Americans ONLY! It will also restore Choice and Affordability for Car purchases by REPEALING Biden’s EV Mandate, and all of the GREEN NEW SCAM Tax Credits and Spending,” Trump wrote. “THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL also protects our beautiful children by stopping funding for sick sex changes for minors.” The Senate returned to Washington on Monday, and in his post, Trump called on his Republican allies in Congress to work quickly to get the bill on his desk before July 4. In a separate post, Trump addressed what he referred to as false statements about the bill, reiterating that it is the “single biggest Spending Cut in History.” GOP HOLDOUTS SOUND ALARM ON $36T DEBT CRISIS AS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ PASSES HOUSE VOTE He noted that there will not be any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, adding they will be saved from “the incompetence of the Democrats.” “The Democrats, who have totally lost their confidence and their way, are saying whatever comes to mind — Anything to win!” Trump said. “They suffered the Greatest Humiliation in the History of Politics, and they’re desperate to get back on their game, but they won’t be able to do that because their Policies are so bad, in fact, they would lead to the Destruction of our Country and almost did. “The only ‘cutting’ we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn’t,” he concluded. HOUSE GOP UNVEILS MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes. Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July. If passed in its current state, the bill is expected to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, including interest, according to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget. Fox News Digital’s Amy Nelson, Pilar Arias, Brie Stimson and Alex Miller contributed to this report.