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Republican declares ‘bulls—‘ after Musk says it’s ‘hard not to like’ Fetterman who ‘puts country over party’

Republican declares ‘bulls—‘ after Musk says it’s ‘hard not to like’ Fetterman who ‘puts country over party’

Business magnate Elon Musk said in a post on X that it is “Hard not to like” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.  “He puts country over party,” Musk added. He made the comments in response to footage of Fetterman saying that he admires Musk, who is “involved in very important parts of American society” such as artificial intelligence and SpaceX. Fetterman said that Musk is “on a different team, but that doesn’t make me an enemy.”  FETTERMAN SAYS TRUMP CASE IN NEW YORK WAS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED, CALLS FOR PARDON ON ‘THE VIEW’ The Democratic senator said that Musk has “made our economy and our nation better.” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., fired back at Musk on X.  “Bulls—. It is hard to not like what @SenFettermanPA what he says, it is easy to hate how he really votes. Do not fall for this.” FETTERMAN HITS PARTY’S LOSSES AMONG YOUNG MALE VOTERS: ‘IT’S UNDENIABLE THAT DEMOCRATS HAVE LOST A LOT’ President-elect Donald Trump has tasked Musk and former GOP presidential primary contender Vivek Ramaswamy, who self-identifies as a “small-government crusader,” with working on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The two entrepreneurs aim to place Washington D.C.’s profligate spending in the crosshairs. “If we don’t tackle the exponential growth in national debt, there will be no money for anything, including essential services!” Musk warned in a tweet. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece last month, they noted, “We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.” Ramaswamy and Musk met with lawmakers in D.C. on Thursday. ‘WE’RE GOING TO GUT THE FISH’: REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY “Great discussion today with @elonmusk on his goals for the @DOGE. Looking forward to working together to improve government efficiency and get America back on track,” Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune, R-S.D., said in a Thursday post on X. “Excellent discussion about solving the national debt crisis,” Musk responded.

Scott Walker calls nixing of landmark WI law that led to mass protests in 2011 a ‘brazen political action’

Scott Walker calls nixing of landmark WI law that led to mass protests in 2011 a ‘brazen political action’

Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker spoke out after a county judge in Madison struck down major parts of a 2011 law geared toward public employee unions.  Dane County Judge Jacob Frost ruled that the provisions of a law known as Act 10, which selectively exempt certain public workers from its restrictions on unionization and collective bargaining, are unconstitutional. The controversial law sought to close a budget deficit by limiting collective bargaining, thereby moderating public workers’ benefits that Walker said at the time helped solve a fiscal situation he was required to address. The original passage in 2011 led to weekslong protests inside the state Capitol, and even saw legislative Democrats flee to neighboring Illinois to prevent Republicans from reaching a quorum to vote on it. Walker later survived a 2012 recall election over the law’s passage and rode his success into a decent showing in the 2016 presidential race, where he eventually bowed out of the primary that ultimately went to Donald Trump.  On Tuesday, Walker, who currently leads the conservative-training nonprofit Young America’s Foundation (YAF), said his law simply took power “out of the hands of the big union bosses and put it firmly into the hands of the hardworking taxpayers…” “And what this court decision did as brazen political action was to throw that out and put power back in the hands of those union bosses,” he said in an interview, calling collective bargaining not a right but an “expensive entitlement.” POMPEO CLAIMS TEACHERS’ UNION BOSS IS AMONG THE ‘MOST DANGEROUS PEOPLE’ IN US Asked about Frost’s assertion that disparate treatment of collective bargaining rights of certain “public safety” workers and other public workers was unconstitutional, Walker said it was a “bogus political argument.”  Frost stripped more than 60 sections of the law from the books. The law was upheld multiple times at the state and federal levels, Walker replied, adding a new issue is that of a potentially-growing “liberal activist majority” on the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin Supreme Court that may hear any appeal of the ruling. Walker said that if appealed, the first place the case will land is in Waukesha court, which he predicted would overturn Frost. But a subsequent appeal by the left would bring it before the state’s high bench. “It’s all the more reason why the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin this spring (2025) is more important than ever,” he said. Walker went on to discuss the roots of Act 10, and how it was his way of abiding by Wisconsin’s balanced-budget requirement. He noted the original name was the “Budget Repair Act” and that a prior Democratic administration instead chose to cut funding for municipalities, which instead resulted in layoffs. Instead of risking job loss or Medicare cuts, Walker opted to require public workers to contribute more to their entitlements in return for keeping their pensions solvent. WALKER SAYS WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS ARE MOTIVATED In addition, Wisconsin Senate President Chris Kapenga echoed Walker’s claim that partisan politics played a role in the ruling: “[I]t’s proof there is very little justice left in our justice system. Wisconsin’s legislature should be discussing impeachment, as we are the only check on their power,” said Kapenga, R-Oconomowoc. “Believing Dane County judges and the liberal majority in our state Supreme Court are independent jurists is almost as far-fetched as believing the border is secure, inflation’s not a problem, or [President Biden] won’t pardon his son.” “The left keeps telling us, ‘Don’t believe what you see’ — Wisconsinites see right through it,” he said. As for Walker’s current role as president of YAF, he said his organization is preparing for conservative leadership to return to Washington as he brought it to Madison in 2010. Walker said he is thrilled by the prospect of seeing many YAF alumni in the new Trump administration, including Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump and formerly ex-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Sergio Gor, a longtime aide to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was named Trump’s head of presidential personnel last month. Walker praised Gor’s prior work leading YAF’s George Washington University chapter. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Four years ago, younger voters sided with Biden by 25 points,” Walker said. “This election, that shrunk right down to 5 or 6 points. And most interestingly, young men four years ago went with Biden by 15 points. In this election, they shifted to Trump by 14. What we need to do is lock that in.”

Here’s what Kash Patel’s former colleagues are saying about him

Here’s what Kash Patel’s former colleagues are saying about him

President-elect Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be the next FBI director, a person with an extensive background in national security and intelligence.  Patel’s experience ranges from personally carrying out dangerous missions in the Middle East in an effort to bring home U.S. hostages to implementing counterterrorism strategies against America’s most-wanted terrorists. Current and former U.S. national security officials and lawmakers say that when looking at his résumé “objectively,” he is “one of the most experienced people ever to be nominated” to lead the bureau.  During the first Trump administration, Patel served as a deputy assistant to Trump and as senior director for counterterrorism. In that role, Patel was involved in presidential missions aimed at decimating Al-Qaeda senior leadership and ISIS command and control. Patel was involved in the planning of the mission to take out Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, among others.  WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD THE FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP ‘DEEP STATE’ Patel also was involved in efforts to bring some of the most-wanted terrorists to the U.S. for prosecution, and worked on Trump administration efforts to return dozens of U.S. hostages back home. “When I was national security adviser, Kash was my senior director for counterterrorism. He was responsible for all interagency actions against ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations,” former White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Fox News Digital. “He was also responsible for hostage rescues, and he did a great job on both fronts.”  O’Brien recalled Patel’s “tremendous personal bravery” with regard to Austin Tice, a hostage who has been held presumably by the Syrian government for more than 12 years.  In 2020, O’Brien said Syrians “finally agreed to let an American come in for negotiations and I asked Kash Patel and Amb. Roger Carstens if they would go.”  “I wanted someone from the White House, so it wasn’t just representatives of the State Department. Kash was the White House’s man,” O’Brien said. “They traveled overland from Beirut to Damascus through territory where the Al Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Hezbollah were all present. It was a very complex situation. They drove all the way to Damascus to meet with the head of Assad’s intelligence service.”  O’Brien said the “Syrians themselves could easily have taken Kash and Roger hostage.”  “I have never heard Kash talk or tell war stories about that mission to try to save a fellow American,” O’Brien said.  He added: “I would say to anyone who ignorantly criticizes Kash Patel’s character, tell me the last time you did something dangerous to try to save a stranger.” FBI HAS LONG BEEN ACCUSED OF POLITICIZATION AHEAD OF DEM CONCERN OVER KASH PATEL NOMINATION Not everyone shared O’Brien’s rosy representation of Patel. Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and others have blasted Trump’s pick of Patel, claiming he is unqualified.  But O’Brien and others say those attacks “are entirely politically motivated because he supports the president’s America First agenda.”  “There was a time when Democrats would have applauded a president for appointing someone with criminal defense experience and who is against the FBI surveilling American citizens — but that was a very different Democrat party,” O’Brien said.  Beyond his counterterrorism work, Patel was heavily involved in U.S. strategy to counter Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean efforts against U.S. interests. He also worked on the implementation of multimillion-dollar sanctions against foreign adversaries.  Victoria Coates, a former deputy national security adviser to Trump and vice president for national security at the Heritage Foundation, said that Patel was a “strong colleague” at the National Security Council (NSC) and “understands that critical piece of our national security architecture.”  “After four years of Biden-Harris mismanagement, he will be the strong hand the FBI needs to keep the American people safe,” Coates said. “Instead of a director who spends all his time testifying to Congress about all the red lights he sees flashing across the dashboard, we will have one who will do something to actually put them out.”  Prior to working as a deputy to Trump and in the NSC, Patel worked in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as the principal deputy to the acting DNI Ric Grenell and helped former Director John Ratcliffe transition into the role. Trump nominated Ratcliffe last month to serve as the director of the CIA.   At ODNI, Patel also worked to focus intelligence collection against counter narcotic and transnational threats.  “Kash brings a lot of passion to government service because he has seen what corruption is like from the inside,” Grenell said. “He is a first-generation American who knows how elites manipulate the system so they retain power and control over Americans.”  “Reforming Washington and its insular ways requires courage,” Grenell continued. “Those of us outside of Washington who want reform have to stop expecting those who live and work in Washington to deliver reform. They are never going to reform themselves.”  Prior to joining the Trump administration, Patel served as the national security adviser and senior counsel for counterterrorism to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  DURHAM FINDS DOJ, FBI ‘FAILED TO UPHOLD’ MISSION OF ‘STRICT FIDELITY TO THE LAW’ IN TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE Patel was the chief investigator for the committee’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Throughout his investigation, he led the effort to uncover FISA abuse and exposed the FBI and the DOJ’s unlawful actions before federal court to illegally surveil Americans, including members of the 2016 Trump campaign.  “The best thing about Kash is, because of his previous government experience and his key role in uncovering Russiagate, he won’t be bamboozled by the bureaucracy,” said former Trump White House deputy national security adviser KT McFarland. “Intelligence community bureaucrats cover up their mistakes and malfeasance by hiding behind the ‘sources and methods’ excuse. They slow-walk de-classification efforts and internal investigations. Most appointed officials new to intel bureaucracy fall for it — Kash won’t.” McFarland said that critics of Patel claim that he will “seek revenge,” but she declared that those critics “are wrong.”  “Remember, government bureaucrats always leave a paper trail of their actions,” she said. “Kash can expose them by declassifying these