Republicans and Democrats panic to quickly define ‘spoiler’ candidate RFK Jr
Democrats and Republicans alike are scrambling to define Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid and ascribe his views to the other ideological side before he is able to introduce himself to the 2024 electorate. “The only thing they know is that he’s Robert Kennedy’s son,” said Allan Lichtman, a historian and distinguished professor of history at American University. As Kennedy focuses on gaining ballot access, his election travel looks much different than that of former President Trump or President Biden, who are primarily campaigning in critical battleground states. BIDEN ROLLS OUT NEW ENDORSEMENTS FOR CONTROVERSIAL JUDICIAL NOMINEE AS DEM SUPPORT DWINDLES Despite this advantage, both parties are still looking to undermine Kennedy’s outside attempt. Trump took to his Truth Social to slam Kennedy on Wednesday, calling him “the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far.” The Democratic National Committee has claimed that Kennedy is “a Trump stalking horse” in the 2024 election. MAIL-IN BALLOTS MUST HAVE DATES ON ENVELOPES, PENNSYLVANIA APPEALS COURT RULES Earlier this month, the DNC established a staff devoted specifically to addressing third-party competitors. According to spokesperson Matt Corridoni, the decision to take on outside presidential bids was born out of not taking anything for granted. “I think a lot of his support is simply based on the name, not on any understanding of what RFK Jr. actually stands for,” Lichtman claimed, calling him a “very ambiguous figure.” One reason for his enigmatic status is that “he seems to legitimately hold opinions that one can attribute to both the left and the right,” according to Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. STEPHEN A. SMITH DECLARES HE’S ‘ASHAMED’ OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY FOR NOT REPLACING BIDEN: ‘IT IS PATHETIC’ For Russell Verney, who served as a top adviser to Ross Perot’s famed 1992 independent presidential campaign, these efforts from each side were prompted by both parties’ aversions to competition. If a voter chooses to support Kennedy on Election Day, Verney claimed many of them “wouldn’t have voted for Biden anyway.” According to Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff, it wouldn’t be hard for Democrats “to paint him like a Disney villain, the black sheep of a historic American family, who has this wild vendetta against the Democratic Party his family helped build.” Republican strategists estimated a much larger threat presented to Biden, and one that isn’t easily navigated. The combination of the president’s “fragile” support and the Kennedy name’s Democratic legacy “will cost a boatload of money and a smart plan” for Biden to combat, said GOP strategist Zack Roday. CHRIS CHRISTIE WITHDRAWS FROM CONSIDERATION FOR ‘NO LABELS’ PRESIDENTIAL RUN “If I was in the Biden camp right now, I would be pulling the five-alarm fire,” added Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA. Others suggest that the threat presented by Kennedy is “asymmetrical.” “There are expected to be a lot of ‘double-haters’ in this contest” unhappy with both Trump and Biden, added Kevin Madden, former senior adviser to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kennedy press secretary Stefanie Spear claimed that the attacks from both sides were prompted by “a genuine inability” to understand “a candidate who does not fit into conventional political categories.” “Our ticket represents the broad majority who have unsubscribed from the right-left paradigm,” she said of Kennedy and his running mate Nicole Shanahan. While the campaign expressed confidence in its coalition, Lichtman said historically, “the partisans come home” on Election Day. This is the result of “wasted vote syndrome,” he explained. “You know, ‘We love you, Ross Perot, but you can’t win, so I’m not going to vote for you.’” GOP MEGADONOR SAYS BIDEN’S $25 MILLION RADIO CITY FUNDRAISER IS ACTUALLY A ‘BAD SIGN’ Verney agreed that this syndrome is often what leads to a roughly 50% cut in voter percentage for independent candidates on Election Day compared to their previous stature in polling. According to the former Perot adviser, using the idea of a wasted vote is an incredibly effective strategy to undercut an independent bid. Jacob Neiheisel, associate professor of political science at the State University of New York at Buffalo, also noted, “There isn’t a great deal of evidence that third-party candidates play such a role.” He added that third-party voters are more likely to sit out voting if their candidate isn’t an option. According to Bernard Tamas, an associate political science professor at Valdosta State University and author of “The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties,” Kennedy’s messaging is neither consistent nor cohesive, presenting a challenge to delivering voters come Election Day. “The issues that he supports may galvanize certain voters early on,” he explained, but may put them off later. The image of Kennedy projected to voters will ultimately come down to which side employs the most effective communicators, according to Lichtman. And right now, Biden seems to have an advantage with figures like former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on his side. In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung reiterated Trump’s claims about Kennedy, calling him a “radical leftist.” The Biden campaign did not provide comment and instead referred Fox News Digital to the DNC’s third-party operation. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Republicans warm to Social Security, Medicare reform as 2024 election nears
Lawmakers have long shied away from serious discussions about entitlement reform, but the issue appears to be coming back into focus for Republicans who are wary about the growing national debt. “I definitely have noticed it,” veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye told Fox News Digital of the uptick in GOP-led discussions on the issue. “Republicans have talked about this for a long time, not always with specifics. But what tends to happen is, they talk about it, they get attacked, they fall back.” Congress just ended the fiscal year 2024 government-funding fight with President Biden signing a $1.2 trillion spending package into law last week and averting a partial government shutdown. But the ugly battle, which took six additional months after the end of fiscal year 2023, only accounted for the government’s discretionary spending – which makes up just over a quarter of annual federal funds. The vast majority of federal funding is classified as mandatory spending, which includes entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known colloquially as “food stamps.” HOUSE PASSES $1.2 TRILLION GOVERNMENT SPENDING BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Discussions about raising the Social Security eligibility age or cuts to Medicare are always politically fraught. But economists are now warning that without changes, those programs are headed for forced cuts anyway, due to insufficient funds – with Medicare expected to become insolvent in 2028, and Social Security in 2033. “I do think we should be willing to have real conversations about this, but I wouldn’t say this is a new issue,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., chair of the pragmatic House Main Street Caucus, told Fox News Digital. Johnson noted that “every ten years” or so, Washington officials assemble task forces and commissions to discuss the national debt or the solvency of programs like Social Security and Medicare. TERM LIMITS, PREVENTING LEADER ‘MONARCHY’ BECOME TOP CONCERNS IN POST-MCCONNELL GOP “I think what is maybe ripening this issue a bit more now is the [threat of insolvency],” he said. “It is closer than ever.” Johnson himself has led the charge in pushing for work requirements for federal food benefits, something Democrats have used as a political cudgel, despite the programs’ ballooning costs. But in recent months, more Republicans are declaring their support for curbing entitlements. Meanwhile, House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., openly called for entitlement reform in his announcement that he would be running for House Appropriations chair. “You cannot solve the U.S. deficit problem exclusively in the Appropriations Committee, as discretionary spending only amounts to roughly 28 percent of U.S. expenditures,” Cole said earlier this month. “If we are going to produce a balanced budget, which I strongly believe we should be striving to do, we should be having serious discussions on how to fund and reform our entitlement programs, which makes up approximately 60 percent of all spending.” The Republican Study Committee, a 175-member House GOP group led by Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., recently released a budget proposal that called for raising the “retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy” as well as restructuring Medicare to compete with private options. Democrats up to the White House pounced on the proposal, accusing Republicans of trying to gut Social Security and Medicare. Seizing on the looming November election as well, Biden’s campaign has sought to link any Republican victory to deep cuts to the programs. HOUSE SPEAKER JOHNSON SAYS WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T ‘CALL THE SHOTS’ ON WHEN IMPEACHMENT IS OVER House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital that he expects that Republicans will take on entitlement reform if they win the White House, House and Senate. “My hope would be that if we have full control of government that we will take the steps necessary to preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare for the current retirees who are depending on it, those nearing retirement, depending on the next few years, [and] so that it’s there also for people like you,” Good said. Former President Donald Trump, the presumed GOP nominee for 2024, has not been explicit about his stance regarding entitlement reform. He told CNBC earlier this month that “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” His spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, later told NBC News, “President Trump will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term.” But Paul Winfree, Trump’s former White House budget policy director and current president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), backed entitlement reform to reduce the national deficit and save the programs themselves. “Interest rates are significantly higher and so too are debt service payments. At the same time, the Fed has had a hard time getting inflation fully under control,” Winfree told Fox News Digital. “Those are market signals that the deficit really needs to come down. And the sooner policymakers begin to confront the biggest drivers of the deficit, specifically what is spent on federal health programs, the more likely it will be that they can protect programs for the most vulnerable.” The federal government spent $2.2 trillion on Social Security and Medicare in 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office, out of $3.8 trillion in mandatory spending. Strategist Doug Heye, who’s pessimistic about the talk becoming action, suggested that it was precisely because reforms seem too out of reach that Republicans are able to be vocal. “Entitlement reform, depending on who you talk to, is – it’s a tool to show either voters or portions of conservative media that you’re fighting, and it doesn’t mean that any of this is going to happen. In fact, that’s sort of irrelevant to the process, showing the willingness to fight becomes paramount,” Heye explained.
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US faces ‘inevitable’ ISIS attacks at home following Moscow massacre: retired general
The former head of U.S. Central Command warned Sunday that the Islamic terror group ISIS has a “strong desire” to attack the U.S. and other foreign powers, a threat he suspects is growing. Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie told ABC News’ “This Week” that U.S. officials should “believe them when they say that.” “I think the threat is growing,” McKenzie said, noting threats from ISIS-K after the group took responsibility for a deadly attack in Moscow, Russia, last month that killed more than 140 people. The terror group also claimed responsibility for a mass bombing in Iran in January. “It began to grow as soon as we left Afghanistan, it took pressure off ISIS-K,” McKenzie said, referring to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021. “So I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners and other nations abroad. I think this is inevitable.” POLISH LEADER WARNS OF ‘PREWAR ERA,’URGES EUROPEAN NATIONS TO INVEST IN DEFENSE McKenzie, who commanded U.S. forces in the Middle East, including the withdrawal from Afghanistan, said the U.S. holds a large enough military presence in Iraq and Syria to combat extremists in the region. The retired general maintains that the U.S. should have kept a small troop presence in Afghanistan amid the exit instead of completely pulling out and ending the longest war in U.S. history. President Biden previously claimed there would be an “over-the-horizon capability” to “act quickly and decisively” in Afghanistan, even with troops no longer stationed in the region. McKenzie said the U.S. now has “almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country,” which he says benefits ISIS and other terror groups. “If you can keep pressure on them … in their homeland and their base, it makes it hard for them to conduct these types of attacks,” he said. “Unfortunately, we no longer place that pressure on them, so they’re free to gain strength, they’re free to plan, they’re free to coordinate.” McKenzie said he believes “things would be different” and “we might actually be safer than we are” if the U.S. and its allies kept a small presence in Afghanistan, prolonging military involvement in the region. The deadly attack in Moscow on March 22 highlights the threat of terror groups being able to regroup and plan large-scale operations, McKenzie said. Despite the dangers, these efforts by the terror groups are more easily detectable, McKenzie said. The U.S. said it alerted the Kremlin to a possible terror plot weeks before that attack happened. SWEDEN’S DEFENSE MINISTRY WARNING TO BRACE FOR ‘WAR’ SENDS PUBLIC INTO PANIC “I think there was probably good opportunity for the Russians to have averted this attack had they actually listened to the material that was presented to them,” McKenzie said. The suspects in the Moscow attack opened fire in one of the largest shopping and entertainment complexes in Russia before a fire broke out in the complex, according to the Russian Foreign Security Service. A U.S. counter-terrorism official told the New York Post that ISIS-K terrorists could cross through the U.S. borders and carry out an attack similar to the one in Moscow. The official said ISIS is growing “bolder” and that its members may attempt to take advantage of the chaos at the southern border and seek out a “bigger” target. “An attack on US soil is definitely a possibility,” the official said. “It would certainly send a message.” McKenzie’s comments on Sunday also come after European leaders warned about the prospect of war. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on European nations to step up investment in their defense, arguing that the continent is not ready for the current “prewar era.” “I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past,” he said in a recent interview with European newspapers before pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It’s real, and it started over two years ago.” And in January, Swedish defense officials warned about potential war as the nation was close to joining NATO, which has officially happened. “For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand,” Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said at the time at Folk och Försvars, or “Society and Defense,” annual national conference in Sälen. “But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,” he said. “Many have said it before me, but let me do so in an official capacity, more plainly and with naked clarity: There could be war in Sweden.”
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Two killed as Russia escalates attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
Russia’s attacks on such infrastructure in recent days have also caused severe power outages. Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have killed two people, one in the country’s western Lviv region, the other in an attack in the northeast, officials said. The attack in Lviv destroyed a building and sparked a fire, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram on Sunday, adding that rescue operations were under way. In the Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that an air attack killed a 19-year-old man after a projectile hit a petrol station. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands in Ukraine’s Odesa region were left without power after debris from a downed Russian drone caused a blaze at an energy facility, Governor Oleh Kiper said. Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator DTEK said 170,000 homes suffered power outages as a result of the attack. The Ukrainian air force said that it shot down nine of 11 drones launched by Russia overnight, as well as nine out of 14 cruise missiles. DTEK said five of its six plants have been damaged, with 80 percent of their generating capacity lost, according to Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. DTEK supplies around a quarter of the country with electricity and repairs could take up to 18 months, said Stratford. “But those six plants are just a drop in the ocean in relation to other energy plants, energy facilities that have been hit by Russia in recent weeks,” he said. Russia has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent days, causing significant damage in several regions. Ukrainian energy company Centrenergo said on Saturday that the Zmiiv Thermal Power Plant, one of the largest in the northeastern Kharkiv region, was entirely destroyed following Russian shelling last week. Around 120,000 people in the area were still being affected by power outages, days after 700,000 people lost electricity after the plant was hit on March 22. “These attacks are, in the Kremlin’s words, revenge for attacks that Ukraine had been making deep inside Russia, targeting their energy facilities and oil installations,” said Al Jazeera’s Stratford. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an Easter message on Sunday, urged the country to persevere. “There is not a day or night right now when Russian terror does not try to shatter our lives. Last night, we once again saw rockets and Shaheds launched against our people,” he said. “We defend ourselves, we persevere; our spirit does not give up and knows that death can be averted. Life can win,” Zelenskyy said. In Russia, 10 Czech-made Vampire rockets landed in the border region of Belgorod on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence said. One woman was injured when a fire broke out following the attack, said regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Adblock test (Why?)