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Trump rallies New York crowd for Republican Bruce Blakeman’s bid to replace Gov. Kathy Hochul

Trump rallies New York crowd for Republican Bruce Blakeman’s bid to replace Gov. Kathy Hochul

President Donald Trump returned to his home state of New York on Friday night, showcasing America’s “New Golden Age” and promising to help Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman flip the Empire State red as the GOP makes its final push toward November’s midterm elections. Trump rallied supporters in Syracuse with a sweeping celebration of his administration’s economic and immigration agenda, pledging to help New Yorkers secure lower taxes, cheaper energy and safer streets by electing Republicans up and down the ballot. “We’re in the Golden Age of America,” Trump told the crowd, urging supporters to deliver the same enthusiasm that powered his presidential campaigns. TRUMP CAMPAIGN INSIDER REVEALS STRATEGY BEHIND MIDTERM BLITZ THAT WHITE HOUSE HOPES PAYS OFF BIG “Please pretend I’m on the freaking ballot,” Trump urged. “And in a really, in a certain way, I am on the ballot because they can take away everything that we, that we got.” The president took Blakeman’s challenge to Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul as the centerpiece of the rally, promising direct support from Washington if elected. “[Blakeman will] save this state. He’ll turn the state around and I’ll help him from the White House,” Trump said. “I’ll be helping him for governor.” Trump blasted Hochul over New York‘s taxes, utility bills and public safety, arguing that Blakeman could unleash the state’s economic potential by embracing domestic energy production and cutting costs for families. DEBRA MESSING SAYS COST OF LIVING, SUBWAY VIOLENCE PUSHED HER TO BACK TRUMP-ENDORSED REPUBLICAN The president also hailed his administration’s economic agenda as proof of what Trump described as a remarkable national turnaround. He singled out Micron’s planned $100 billion semiconductor complex in central New York, a project the company says is expected to generate 50,000 jobs across the state, including 9,000 directly with Micron. “This will soon be the home to the largest semiconductor manufacturing facility ever built in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said. Blakeman joined Trump onstage and echoed the president’s message of a Republican resurgence, promising to cut taxes and utility bills, focus on public safety and make New York more attractive to both businesses and families. “We have to create good jobs, good benefits to keep our young people here,” Blakeman said. “We gotta look at business not as the enemy, but as a partner.” Trump also threw his support behind Republican congressional candidates Kailee Buller, who is challenging Democrat Rep. John Mannion in New York’s 22nd District, and Anthony Constantino, who is running for the state’s open 21st District seat, pledging to help Republicans compete for both seats. The rally also notably featured a brief but memorable on-stage appearance by legendary former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, whom Trump invited up before the crowd. “I’m just happy to be up here with my president, President Trump,” Tyson said. “And, there’s no way in the world I would ever be here if it wasn’t for a president like Donald Trump. Thank you. Thank you very much.” Trump responded with a laugh, recalling Tyson’s notorious reputation. “I don’t want to fight him,” Trump joked, before complimenting the former champion. “You look good. Mike. What the h— are you doing?” With Election Day approaching, the president returned to his core message that Republicans need Trump supporters to make a roaring showing at the ballot box. “We’re going to elect a Republican House and Republican Senate,” Trump said.

James Talarico resurfaces after extended absence as his campaign pushes back

James Talarico resurfaces after extended absence as his campaign pushes back

Texas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico reappeared on the campaign trail Friday after a nearly two-week absence, ending days of speculation and criticism from political opponents regarding his whereabouts. “Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today,” Talarico’s primary spokesperson, JT Ennis, wrote on X. The post included a video of the candidate walking through crowds and greeting supporters at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. MEET THE VOTERS WHO COULD BREAK THE GOP’S DECADESLONG GRIP ON A REPUBLICAN STRONGHOLD Talarico, who is challenging Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a closely watched U.S. Senate contest, had not been seen publicly in person at a campaign event since late September. His last in-person event was a Sept. 26 news conference in Carrollton addressing rising gas prices. Talarico’s campaign attributed the absence to a severe case of the flu. However, the prolonged pause drew sharp criticism from Republicans, including President Donald Trump. HECKLERS INTERRUPT TRUMP TEXAS RALLY MULTIPLE TIMES In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the Democrat was “MISSING IN ACTION.” “TalaFREAKo has been missing for 12 days! Now, after looking for him throughout all of Texas, and beyond, probably even weirder places than anyone would think possible, he put out a statement that he has the ‘flu,’” Trump wrote. “12 days is a long time to rid yourself of the so-called flu bug. What’s going on?” he added. “We need a Senator that’s a proven Champion like one that has been, without question, the Greatest Attorney General in the History of Texas, and one of the Greatest in the U.S.A.” Talarico’s campaign pushed back on the characterization that he had been absent from the campaign trail for nearly two weeks, saying he attended a Zoom on Sept. 30 with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council after canceling an in-person event. The campaign argued that because he attended that Zoom, his absence was closer to nine days. COWBOYS LEGEND RANDY WHITE ENDORSES KEN PAXTON, WARNS JAMES TALARICO ‘CAN’T BE TRUSTED’ Talarico’s last public event was a Sept. 26 campaign event in Texas, where he held a news conference in Carrollton. On Sept. 28, he attended a fundraiser in New York City. The next day, he said he’d been diagnosed with the flu. Talarico’s absence also prompted Paxton to target his opponent’s absence while on the campaign trail. “Where is James Talarico?” Paxton asked during a campaign rally in San Antonio. PAXTON VENTS OVER LACK OF CAMPAIGN CONTROL AS DC ESTABLISHMENT HE ONCE BATTLED COMES TO HIS AID Talarico’s campaign confirmed he expects to return to a full in-person schedule through the weekend ahead of an Oct. 14 CNN town hall. The campaign previously noted that, prior to his illness, Talarico had already completed more than 100 public campaign events across the state.

Culture clash laid bare as violent Somali gangs grip suburban communities: ‘These kids are different’

Culture clash laid bare as violent Somali gangs grip suburban communities: ‘These kids are different’

More than 100 rounds fired in a Minnesota neighborhood have left police struggling to explain a troubling pattern: Somali American youths from financially comfortable households are turning online disputes into gang violence. The violence raises bigger questions about what is driving these gangs and whether struggles to fit into American life, cultural or clan ties, government policies or failures by schools and other institutions have played a role and what makes these youths different from traditional American street gangs. “They’re coming from families. They got money, and they have resources,” Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges told Fox News Digital of the young Somali American gang members under investigation. Those questions follow a late-night Bloomington gunfight that left one person injured during a string of shootings across suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul. 100-SHOT SOMALI GANG GUN BATTLE ROCKS MINNESOTA AS SHERIFF WARNS ‘WE’RE IN TROUBLE’ Hodges said the suspects defy traditional drug- or money-driven gang profiles. Asked what drives the violence beyond social media disputes, he acknowledged investigators lack a clear answer. “I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I really wish I could,” Hodges said.  Somalia, long considered a failed state until the mid-2010s, according to the U.N., has endured decades of clan-based warfare and weak central government authority, including the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu depicted in “Black Hawk Down,” when Somali militiamen battled U.S. forces during an ill-fated military operation, part of the turmoil that drove waves of refugees to America. More than 111,000 Somali refugees were admitted to the U.S. between 2001 and 2023 through the federal refugee resettlement program, spanning the George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations. Minnesota became a major destination, alongside sizable Somali American communities in New York, Texas and Ohio. Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, believes one possible explanation lies in how refugees have been resettled. “We have to remember also that this population’s origins were as refugees who were a vulnerable population and traumatized in many cases,” Vaughan told Fox News Digital. “But they were settled in clusters in certain places in the United States. And I believe that is a policy that has facilitated the formation of these gangs because it removes a lot of the incentives for people to assimilate. “And it just makes assimilation to the larger society much more difficult because it’s not necessary for people to get by.” Vaughan described an emphasis on preserving homeland cultures rather than encouraging integration as a “missed opportunity,” arguing it can leave immigrants in a “separate society within the larger Minnesota community.” History, however, complicates the argument that maintaining strong ethnic ties necessarily prevents assimilation. Stanford sociologist Tomás Jiménez cautioned against treating gang involvement among a small subset of second-generation immigrants as evidence that an entire community has failed to integrate. “I would actually not think of it as, like, a failed assimilation, as much as a particular kind of assimilation,” Jiménez said. He noted that Italian, Irish, Mexican and Salvadoran communities experienced gang activity while broader integration continued. Jiménez emphasized that assimilation unfolds across generations, pointing out that the Italian American experience spanned roughly 75 years rather than occurring overnight. He identified education, economic advancement, language and intermarriage as important measures of integration. FOX NATION REVEALS HOW RUDY GIULIANI BROKE THE MAFIA’S GRIP ON NEW YORK Donald Tricarico, an Italian American immigration scholar at Queensborough Community College, drew parallels between Italian and Irish immigrants, who established close-knit ethnic communities in New York. He said Italian families often followed relatives from the same villages into the same neighborhoods and occupations. “They came to the same neighborhoods … what migration historians call ‘chain migration,’ and they … went to the same neighborhoods,” he said, citing his own family’s multigenerational experience in New York City. “There isn’t a switch that gets flipped,” Tricarico said, challenging assumptions that Italian Americans assimilated quickly and noting that close-knit ethnic communities persisted into the 1980s in some cases. WORKING-CLASS AMERICANS SAY THEIR TOWN IS THE NEXT DEARBORN — AND THEY’VE HAD ENOUGH “Assimilation is a slow crawl,” he said, explaining that economic advancement and integration typically unfold across generations. Tricarico noted that some Sicilian immigrants arrived with ties to existing Mafia networks overseas, a criminal element distinct from the broader Italian immigrant population. Hodges, meanwhile, said investigators have found no evidence that longstanding clan rivalries in Somalia are driving the Minnesota violence. Somali American community figures have offered their own explanations, including the challenges facing immigrant parents. At an Eden Prairie news conference Wednesday, Somali teacher Fardousa Yossuf suggested parents working long hours may have neglected their children’s needs and “expressed disbelief” that people raised with Islamic values could engage in gun violence, according to Alpha News. Imam Yusuf Abdulle rejected characterizing the violence as a Somali problem in an interview with WCCO – CBS Minnesota posted on YouTube. “These kids are Americans. They’re born and raised here,” Abdulle said. “It is an American problem. It is not a Somali problem.” Vaughan, meanwhile, warned that the gangs have not reached the sophistication of transnational organizations such as MS-13 but could become more entrenched without intervention. She pointed to families and schools as critical to preventing recruitment and argued that local institutions and law enforcement must intervene before the groups become more organized. Vaughan acknowledged she had not established that specific Minnesota schools or resettlement policies prompted the shootings. Asked whether longstanding Somali clan rivalries were fueling the shootings, Hodges said investigators found no evidence supporting that explanation. “No, we have not seen that. I haven’t seen it,” he said. He added that people from groups in conflict in Somalia can belong to the same cliques in Minnesota. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Hodges said police are redirecting task force resources toward the gangs and questioned whether some Hennepin County prosecution policies could limit intervention. He warned the Bloomington gunfire could have endangered innocent bystanders had it occurred during daylight. “If that had been one o’clock

Letitia James stumped by debate question while GOP rival delivers ‘zinger for the ages’

Letitia James stumped by debate question while GOP rival delivers ‘zinger for the ages’

New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James went silent for several seconds when asked to name a former state attorney general she admired during Thursday’s New York attorney general race debate. “Tick tock,” Errol Louis of Spectrum News 1, one of the moderators said to James, prompting laughter from the Attorney General. The attorney general’s race in New York comes against the backdrop of James’ ongoing dispute with President Donald Trump, who called James “a Complete and Total Disaster” and accused her of leading a “WITCH Hunt” against him in his endorsement of James’ Republican challenger, Saritha Komatireddy, in August. LETITIA JAMES’ UNDERDOG RIVAL TURNS AG’S OWN PLAYBOOK AGAINST HER WITH SCATHING 52-COUNT CAMPAIGN ‘INDICTMENT’ The pause from James drew immediate criticism from Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor and chief of staff for the Drug Enforcement Administration, who quipped from the podium that James “only admires herself.” “An absolutely devastating moment for Tish James,” conservative communications strategist Steve Guest wrote on X. “‘She only admires herself’ is a debate zinger for the ages.” “No, no, no, no, we admire others,” James said. “I admire all of the past attorney generals because it is a difficult job and you’ve got to stand up.” When asked the same question, Komatireddy named Dennis Vacco, who served as the state’s attorney general from 1995 to 1998. Like Komatireddy, he was also a former federal prosecutor. James then said that she admired former Democratic Attorney General Bob Abrams, who served from 1979 to 1993. The exchange, which came in the final moments of Thursday’s debate, led critics to question whether James knew of other New York attorneys general. “Very telling moment,” Steve McLaughlin, Rensselaer County executive, wrote on X. “James went completely blank because she’s A: dumb as a rock B: has no idea who any former AG is because she’s not doing the job and never has been.” NY AG HOPEFUL BLASTS LETITIA JAMES AS MEDICAID FRAUD RECOVERIES COLLAPSE: ‘SHE’S NOT DOING THE JOB’ “She’s a mouthpiece,” McLaughlin continued. “Zero institutional knowledge.” “Letitia James doesn’t know the plural form of ‘Attorney General,’” another Twitter user wrote. Nicole Kiprilov, a spokesperson for Komatireddy, echoed the candidate’s comment on the debate stage. “Letitia James can’t name a single former Attorney General she admires because she’s too busy admiring herself. She’s turned the Attorney General’s office into her own political stage and ignored the safety of the state,” Kiprilov said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “New Yorkers deserve a real prosecutor, not a joke like her!” But James’ campaign pushed back on Komatireddy’s characterization of James and how she runs her office. “Attorney General Letitia James spent much of the debate teaching her opponent how the Office of the Attorney General actually works, and she was happy to name former Attorney General Bob Abrams as someone she respects,”  a spokesperson for James said in a statement to Fox News Digital. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER James’ attorney general’s office has been thrust into the national spotlight after New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special investigator to examine an alleged gang rape that occurred at Cornell University in October 2024. The renewed attention comes in response to a recent lawsuit filed by the alleged victim, Jane Doe, against the university, the alleged perpetrators, her sorority and a bar that allegedly served her alcohol while she was underage. But James has faced calls from an attorney for one of the defendants to recuse herself from the case over social media posts showing support for Jane Doe before James was appointed special investigator.