Democrats need new playbook to confront Trump, Kamala Harris pollster tells party
As President-elect Trump gets ready to return to the White House, a leading Democratic pollster and strategist highlights that her party needs a new game plan to confront the former and soon-to-be future president. “The 2025 playbook cannot be the 2017 playbook,” Molly Murphy, a top pollster on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, emphasized as she gave a presentation at the first meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s executive committee since last month’s election. Trump’s convincing win over Harris — he captured the popular vote and swept all seven key battleground states — as well as the GOP flipping the Senate and holding on to their fragile majority in the House, has Democrats searching for answers as they now try to emerge from the political wilderness. Murphy, pointing to post-election polls, said most Americans give the president-elect a thumbs up on how he’s handling his transition, and that Trump will return to the White House next month more popular compared to eight years ago, when he first won the presidency. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR SPELLS OUT THE PARTY’S 2026 GAME PLAN And she noted that voters “give him a pass on the outrageous” comments he continuously makes because they approve of his handling of the economy. Murphy, in her comments Friday as DNC leaders huddled at a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, said the Democrats’ mission going forward is to change that perception. “We want to focus on this term … and tell the story about how this term is worse and things are not going to be good for the American people,” Murphy said. The Democrats’ message should be “Donald Trump does not care about you. He is going to screw you,” Murphy argued. “As a north star, I think we need to stay focused on … the economy and costs.“ “A lot of people are expecting the price of milk to go back where it was,” Murphy noted. TRUMP ALLIES TURN UP THE HEAT ON HOLDOUT GOP SENATORS She said Democrats need to borrow a page from the GOP’s 2024 campaign playbook: “We can do what they did to us … even if the economy is stronger, costs are still going to be too high for people.” And she added that Democrats need to spotlight what she called unpopular parts of the Trump agenda, including “tax breaks for the wealthy” and “letting corporations drive up prices and making you pay for it.” And she said the party needs to frame Trump’s proposed tariffs on key American trading partners “a sales tax on the American people that will drive up prices,” which was a line that Harris used on the campaign trail. Murphy also spotlighted that Trump and Republicans made gains with key parts of the Democratic Party’s base – younger voters, Latinos, and Black voters because of the economy, but also because of the Democrats’ “wonky” messaging. “A lot of times we’re talking about polices,” Murphy said, while Republicans have “culture conversations that create a connection between the party and the people that go beyond polices.” DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR FRONT-RUNNER OFFERS ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ADVICE Murphy argued that “these culture conversations that conservatives have been able to have in an organic way have been able to draw a connection that we know is not supported by policy … and we know that we have a lot of shared values with these working Americans and we need to find ways to have more authentic connection points there.” DNC chair Jaime Harrison complimented Murphy’s presentation. But, Harrison, who is not running for a second four-year term steering the national party committee, pointed to the next White House race and offered that the party should also target Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance. “I think it will be a big error on our part if we focus all of our attention on Donald Trump and not JD Vance, particularly as we start to look at the 2028 race,” Harrison highlighted.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt sold Christmas trees to local residents on his own estate in the 1930s
Franklin D. Roosevelt had many Christmas traditions he took part in with his family and White House staff during his time in office. Roosevelt was born in 1882 in Hyde Park, New York, a place he called home throughout his life. The start of Roosevelt’s time in the political sphere started in 1910, when he was elected to the New York Senate. ‘HOME ALONE’ HOUSE AND OTHER POPULAR CHRISTMAS MOVIE LOCATIONS TO VISIT IN AMERICA Soon after, in 1912, he stepped into the role of chairman of the Forestry Committee of the New York Senate. At this time, he began to plant trees on his land, which he continued for 34 years, according to the National Park Service website. By the 1930s, Roosevelt had gotten into the rhythm of having 20,000 to 55,000 trees planted on his land annually, according to the National Park Service. During the 1930s, Roosevelt began to grow Christmas trees on his estate in Hyde Park, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. Some of the Christmas trees grown on the estate were sent to Winston Churchill, according to the National Park Service. 25-30M CHRISTMAS TREES ARE CUT DOWN ANNUALLY, DISPLAYED IN HOMES, BUSINESSES ACROSS THE US Holiday spirit was on full display in the White House during Roosevelt’s time in office. Roosevelt, who spent 12 years in office, the longest term of any U.S. president, spent many of his Christmases the same way while in the White House. Roosevelt spent 10 consecutive Christmases in the White House, and the last two at home in Hyde Park, according to the White House Historical Association. Staples of a Roosevelt Christmas included a Christmas Eve party held by the president and the first lady for White House staff and the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, per the source. It was 1933 when Roosevelt gave his very first holiday message, his “fireside chat,” to the nation. GROVER CLEVELAND, FRANCES FOLSOM’S WEDDING: THE ONLY U.S. PRESIDENT TO MARRY INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE On Christmas morning, the president often spent time with family attending services and opening presents with his grandchildren. The annual Christmas feast included dishes like roasted turkey, chestnut dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pineapple salad, with plum pudding, eggnog, ice cream and cakes for dessert, according to the White House Historical Association. Roosevelt’s long span in office included devastating events in history, like the Great Depression, the attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. During years of turmoil, Christmas traditions saw a shift. For example, during World War II, four of Roosevelt’s sons were serving in the armed forces, according to the White House Historical Association, leaving his family scattered around the globe. During the White House holiday gathering in 1942, the gift given out to employees was “a black leather folder filled with war savings bonds,” according to the White House Association. In 1944, a scroll with the president’s “D-Day” prayer was handed out to employees. Roosevelt’s last Christmas message was delivered from his home in Hyde Park in 1944. “We pray that with victory will come a new day of peace on earth in which all the Nations of the earth will join together for all time. That is the spirit of Christmas, the holy day. May that spirit live and grow throughout the world in all the years to come,” he said, per the White House Association.
‘Skeptical optimism’: Faith leaders share their hopes for the incoming Trump administration
Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders are cautiously optimistic heading into the new year with a second Trump administration. This week, Fox News Digital spoke to leaders from various faith communities, many of whom expressed hope the incoming administration would lead in the right direction but wary that President-elect Trump would still prove himself. “There are some [Jewish] communities that feel positive and optimistic, and there are some communities that feel extremely concerned,” said New York City Rabbi Jo David, who has a private rabbinic practice. “I think there’s a mixed reaction, but there’s a skeptical optimism,” said Haris Tarin, vice president of policy and programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council. BIBLE SALES SURGE THANKS TO FRESH EDITIONS, NEW BUYERS LOOKING FOR ‘THINGS THAT FEEL MORE SOLID,’ REPORT FINDS Lorenzo Sewell, senior pastor at 180 Church in Detroit, said Trump has the opportunity to go down as “the greatest president in history” if he plays his cards right. “Only thing he needs to do is righteously regulate [the appropriate] resources.” Samuel Rodriguez is lead pastor at New Season, a prominent U.S. megachurch, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He echoed the sense of hope that some faith leaders are feeling looking toward Inauguration Day. “I believe we’ll see a stronger emphasis on protecting religious freedom and ensuring that faith communities are empowered to thrive,” Rodriguez said. “Policies that respect the role of faith-based organizations in society — whether they’re feeding the hungry, educating children or advocating for life — will likely take center stage. I also anticipate an administration that values the contributions of people of faith, not as something to tolerate but as an essential cornerstone of our nation.” With respect to the Jewish community, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and director of Global Social Action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said antisemitism, particularly on social media and on college campuses, and the “embrace of the Hamas narrative,” are a top priority. FOX NEWS ‘ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED’ NEWSLETTER: TRUMP’S WARNING TO HAMAS GIVES HOSTAGES’ FAMILIES NEW HOPE “We expect and hope for a completely different approach on the part of the incoming administration,” Cooper said. “We expect that the billions and billions of sanction relief that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have given to the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Iran, that’s going to come to an end.” Cooper also said building on and advancing the Abraham Accords, a series of bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, will be important. For Tarin, the biggest hope among the Muslim community, he says, is that there is not a repeat of the 2020 order by Trump that prevented people from certain Muslim countries from coming to the U.S. “No. 2, the hope is that all Americans, including American Muslims, their civil rights and civil liberties and the issues that they’ve been advocating for are protected. No. 3, the hope is for a cease-fire and the end to the conflict in the Middle East and specifically in Gaza,” Tarin said. He added that it would be beneficial if Trump embraced parts of the Biden administration’s national strategy on Islamophobia. Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump-Vance transition team for comment but did not receive a response.
RNC chair reveals what role Trump will play during the 2026 midterms: ‘All the way to the finish line’
EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Trump won’t be on the ballot in the 2026 midterms, but Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley says that Trump will play a “significant” role in supporting GOP candidates. Republicans enjoyed major victories in last month’s elections, with Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to win the White House, the GOP flipping control of the Senate from the Democrats, and holding on to their razor-thin majority in the House. Whatley argued that “as we go forward into this next election cycle, the fundamentals are going to remain the same” during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. “We need to make sure that we are building our state parties, that we’re building our ground game, we’re building our election integrity apparatus to be in place to make sure that when we get those candidates through those primaries in ‘26, that we’re going to be in a position to take them all the way to the finish line,” he emphasized. TRUMP KEEPS WHATLEY STEERING REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOLLOWING ‘OUSTANDING’ JOB But the party in power traditionally suffers setbacks in the following midterm elections. And Trump, who was a magnate for voter turnout, won’t be on the ballot in 2026. Whatley said that even though he won’t be a candidate, “President Trump is going to be a very significant part of this because at the end of the day, what we need to do is hold on to the House, hold on to the Senate so that we can finish his term and his agenda.” TRUMP ALLIES TURN UP THE HEAT ON HOLDOUT GOP SENATORS And Whatley predicted that “Donald Trump will be very active on the campaign trail for Republicans. And his agenda is the agenda that we’re going to be running on.” The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee outraised the Trump campaign and the RNC this past cycle, but Whatley is confident that with the party soon to control the White House, Republicans will be even more competitive in the campaign cash race in the midterms. “We’re pretty excited about where we are in terms of the fundraising that we did throughout the course of this cycle and what we’re going to do going forward,” he said. Whatley said that his message to donors will be “we were successful in putting Donald Trump into the White House, and we need to carry forward with his agenda by keeping these House majorities and Senate majorities.” He also pushed back on the persistent questioning of the RNC and Trump campaign’s ground game efforts during the general election. “We focused very hard on low propensity voters. This was an entirely new system that we put in place over the course of this election cycle. It worked very, very well,” he touted. And looking ahead, he said “in a midterm election cycle, low propensity voters are going to, again, be very, very important for us. So, we’re going to continue to focus on building that type of a program.” DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR FRONT-RUNNER OFFERS ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ADVICE Whatley spotlighted that ‘we also focused on outreach to communities that the Republican Party has traditionally not reached out to – Black voters, Hispanic voters, Asian American voters. That’s why we were able to see such seismic shifts towards Donald Trump versus where those blocks had been in 2016 and 2020. We also saw seismic shifts among young voters and women voters because we were talking to every single American voter. Our ground game was very significant.” Whatley was interviewed a week after Trump asked him to continue as RNC chair moving forward. In March, as he clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Trump named Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair. Whatley, a longtime ally of the former president and a major supporter of Trump’s election integrity efforts, had served as RNC general counsel and chair of the North Carolina Republican Party. Trump is term-limited and won’t be able to seek election again in 2028. Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance will likely be considered the front-runner for the 2028 GOP nomination. But asked if the RNC will hold to its traditional role of staying neutral in an open and contested presidential primary, Whatley said “we will.” And he added that “I’m very excited about the bench that we have in the Republican Party right now. You think about all the Republican governors, you think about all the Republican senators, the members of the House that we have, the leaders across the country that have been engaged in this campaign are going to be part of the president’s cabinet.” Whatley argued that the president-elect’s “America First movement is bigger than Donald Trump. He is the tip of the spear. He is the vanguard of this movement. But. It is a very big movement right now.” The chairman also emphasized that “Donald Trump has completely remade the Republican Party. We’re now the working-class party. We’re now a party that is communicating and working with every single voter, speaking to every single voter about the issues that they care about. So, as we go into 2028, we are in a great position to be able to continue the momentum of this agenda and this movement.” Unlike the DNC, which in the 2024 cycle upended the traditional presidential nominating calendar, the RNC made no major changes to their primary lineup, and kept the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as their first two contests. Asked about the 2028 calendar, Whatley said “I’ve not had any conversations with anybody who wants to change the calendar on our side. I know the Democrats did during the course of this election cycle, not sure that it really helped them all that much.” “We’re very comfortable with the calendar as it is. But as we move towards 2028, we’ll have those conversations,” he added.
US swaps prisoners with China, releasing 3 convicted spies
Two Chinese spies and a Chinese national who was charged for disseminating child pornography were part of a White House prisoner swap as Biden’s presidency nears the end. On Nov. 22, Biden granted clemency to Yanjun Xu, Ji Chaoqun and Shanlin Jin. Their releases were part of a prisoner swap that returned three wrongfully detained Americans from Chinese custody: Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung. The three Americans returned to the U.S. before Thanksgiving. CHINA DENIES NEW REPORRT LINKING CCP TO FOUR SITES IN CUBA ALLEGEDLY USED TO SPY ON THE US Xu and Chaoqun were both Chinese nationals who were convicted of espionage in the U.S. Xu, according to a release from the Department of Justice, was the first Chinese government intelligence officer ever to be extradited to the United States to stand trial and was sentenced to 20 years. According to court documents, Xu targeted American aviation companies, recruited employees to travel to China, and solicited their proprietary information, all on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). BIDEN LEAVING OFFICE WITH LOWEST APPROVAL IN 16 YEARS, FOX NEWS POLLING SHOWS In one example, noted in court documents, Xu attempted to steal technology related to GE Aviation’s exclusive composite aircraft engine fan module – which no other company in the world has been able to duplicate – to benefit the Chinese state. The Department of Justice said that Xu openly discussed his effort to steal U.S. military information in addition to commercial aviation trade secrets. Chaoqun was arrested and convicted after working with Xu on behalf of the CCP. The federal agency said that Xu recruited and “handled” Chaoqun, who was stationed in Chicago during the duration of the scheme. The DOJ said that Xu directed Chaoqun to collect “biographical information on people to potentially recruit to work with them.” “Xu’s handling and placement of a spy within the United States to obtain information regarding aviation technology and employees is yet another facet of Xu’s egregious crimes towards the United States and further justifies the significant sentence of imprisonment he received today,” said U.S. Attorney Parker at the time of the pair’s conviction. Jin was serving his sentence after being convicted of possessing more than 47,000 images of child pornography while a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 2021. Biden commuted on Thursday the sentences of 1,499 people. He is also pardoning 39 individuals who were convicted of non-violent crimes. President-elect Trump is set to take office in a little over a month, on January 20. He has said that he will immediately pardon people convicted of participating in the January 6, 2021, riot in the U.S. Capitol.
Fox News Politics: ‘Kids for Cash’ Clemency Sparks Keystone Clamor
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… – Dem claims Trump wielding nuclear strike authority ‘should terrify you’ — then people point out the obvious – Tren de Aragua being used as tool of Maduro regime, says former high-ranking Venezuelan military officer – ‘Politically motivated’ FBI treated conservatives like domestic terrorists on Wray’s watch: whistleblower President Biden has sparked anger among Pennsylvanians after he commuted the sentence of a corrupt judge who was jailed for more than 17 years after he was caught taking kickbacks for sending juveniles to for-profit detention facilities. In what came to be known as the kids-for-cash scandal, former Judge Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and shared $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups. Another judge, Mark Ciavarella, was also involved in the illicit scheme, the effects of which are still felt today among victims and families. The scandal is considered Pennsylvania’s largest-ever judicial corruption scheme with the state’s supreme court throwing out some 4,000 juvenile convictions involving more than 2,300 kids after the scheme was uncovered…Read more ANOTHER ROUND: Biden administration announces $500M aid package to Ukraine…Read more ‘ADDRESS THE BIAS: Biden admin launches national strategy to combat Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate…Read more FINAL VERDICT: Negative economic and political ratings for Biden as he exits…Read more FINAL STRETCH: White House says to ‘expect more’ climate funding before President Biden leaves office…Read more SYRIA QUANDARY: Trump’s pledge against ‘forever wars’ could be tested with Syria in hands of jihadist factions…Read more ‘FEEL THE PAIN’: Canadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country…Read more ‘WE SHOULD KNOW’: Sen. Booker ‘frustrated’ by lack of transparency about drones, says it’s causing ‘misinformation to spread’…Read more MOVING ON UP: Top GOP rebel angles for key House leadership-backed committee post…Read more ‘SHOULD BE SHOT DOWN’: Sen. Blumenthal says mysterious drones spotted recently ‘should be shot down, if necessary’…Read more PELOSI: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi injured, hospitalized while traveling to Luxembourg…Read more ‘HORRIFIC RINO’: GOP Sen. Murkowski says she’s ‘not attached to’ GOP label, but is ‘still a Republican’…Read more ‘ACT DECISIVELY’: Senate Dems demand Biden extend protections for illegal immigrants ahead of Trump admin…Read more ‘PREVENTABLE’ CRIME: DA to seek death penalty against illegal immigrants accused in Nungaray murder case…Read more ‘EQUALLY ANGRY’: Legislators across political spectrum ‘equally angry’ over handling of drone sightings: New Jersey lawmaker…Read more SHOCKING DEATH THREATS: WV lawmaker arrested after threatening to kill entire region’s delegation over caucus beef…Read more ‘EGREGIOUS HYPERPARTISANSHIP’: Montana Supreme Court blocks ban on transgender surgeries, prompting outcry from GOP lawmaker, supporters…Read more THEORIES RUN WILD: Drone experts rule out US government experiment, unsure of other New Jersey drone phenomenon theories…Read more LEFT-WING ATTACK: Climate justice group has deep ties to judges, experts involved in litigation amid claims of impartiality…Read more Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Trump posts ‘how it’s going’ message contrasting Time Person of the Year cover with mugshot
President-elect Trump on Friday posted a message on his Truth Social account that contrasted his 2023 mugshot with his Time magazine cover. Trump was named Time’s Person of the Year this week, which included a cover and an in-depth interview as he prepares to take office for the second time. “How it started, how it’s going,” Trump wrote with his mugshot on the left side and his Time cover on the right. TRUMP SPEAKS ON BEING NAMED TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR FROM THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE Trump’s mugshot was taken in May 2023 when he was processed at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta after being indicted on election racketeering charges. The magazine announced Trump, who faced an assassination attempt last summer and won the first nonconsecutive U.S. presidential term since Grover Cleveland in the 19th century, had been named its Person of the Year Thursday. TRUMP PROMISES ‘TREMENDOUS INCENTIVE’ ON TAXES DURING SECOND TERM Trump, in a ceremony after the announcement, called it an “honor.” ‘Thank you very much for doing it,” he said. “Thank the whole group at Time. Really professional people.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He was first named the magazine’s Person of the Year after his first presidential win in 2016.
‘Drone’ sightings in the Northeast spark ‘unfounded’ panic, says expert
An uptick in alleged drone sightings along the East Coast touched off a flurry of panicked calls for investigation on Friday from residents and state lawmakers, even as public officials stress the aircraft in question are, in fact, being flown lawfully, and a retired port authority aviation expert tells Fox News Digital that fears are overblown. The drone complaints began pouring in last month in New Jersey, where witnesses and residents first began reporting drone sightings off of coastal areas, including off of Cape May, a scenic town located outside of Atlantic City. More recently, lawmakers in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland have reported new alleged drone sightings in their home states, with some witnesses alleging the aircraft in question have been the “size of cars” or seen flying above sensitive infrastructure or in restricted airspace. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, told reporters on Friday he had written to President Biden to share his concerns about the fresh reports of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) sightings in New Jersey airspace, and called for more federal resources to investigate the issue. “It has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” Murphy wrote in the letter. DRONE MYSTERY: NEW JERSEY HOMEOWNERS THREATEN TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T ACT Other lawmakers in the state have gone even further, calling for the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to join in their investigations into the unmanned aircraft, with one Garden State lawmaker urging the objects be “shot down” if necessary. ”We are literally being invaded by drones,” Pequannock Mayor Ryan Herbwe told reporters on Wednesday night following a town hall meeting in New Jersey. “We have no idea who is doing [this] and where they’re coming from.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a statement on Friday citing concerns “about the potential for these unmanned aerial vehicles — many of which are as large as a car — to disrupt air traffic and, more alarmingly, to be used maliciously to threaten national security.” These remarks have added to a growing collective sense of panic — but a panic that many in the law enforcement community say is both unfounded and unnecessary. White House national security communications adviser John Kirby sought to assuage these fears, stressing during a press briefing Thursday that there is “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus.” Others in the law enforcement community also echoed this sentiment. Retired Port Authority Police Detective Lt. John Ryan told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday that the uptick in activity is likely due to two things. HOMEOWNERS THREATEN TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T ACT The first, he said, is that drones are a fast-evolving technology that has seen a boom in both recreational and commercial use in the U.S. in the last 10 years. Federal data on drone registration reflects this sharp uptick in use, most if not all of which is legal. Federal data on drone registration reflects this sharp uptick in use: As of October of this year, there were more than 790,000 drones registered with the Federal Aviation Association (FAA), and nearly 400,000 registered commercial drones. That’s “just to give you an idea” of the magnitude of the number of legal drones in the U.S., said Ryan, whose extensive police career included serving for a decade as the emergency service special operations commander at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, and then later, the chief officer of the Port Authority, whose role includes oversight of all transportation facilities, including Kennedy, LaGuardia and all other airports and ports in the area. SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH REQUIRED TO SUBMIT TRUMP FINDINGS TO DOJ BEFORE LEAVING. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The second mistake, Ryan said, is that the individuals in question are asking the wrong authorities for help. “The mistake I see people making is that they’re going to the wrong agencies and asking these questions,” he added. The FAA is the federal body tasked with registering drones and other U.S. aircraft. It’s also the one tasked with monitoring recreational and commercial drone use in the U.S. “In New Jersey, they’ve been asking the FBI, they’ve been asking the Department of Homeland Security — they’ve been asking everybody except the people that they should be asking,” said Ryan. The Pentagon also reiterated this view, noting that an initial assessment had shown the drones were not from another country, and were not shot down because they were not deemed a threat to national security. Kirby echoed this sentiment on Thursday. Asked whether the U.S. would consider banning drone use in U.S. airspace, he told reporters, “I don’t know that we’re at a stage right now where we’re considering that” as a policy option.
Senior Trump official reveals visit that set ‘trajectory’ for election victory
A top Team Trump official disclosed the moment that “really set the campaign on a trajectory to victory” – the day President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Columbiana County, Ohio, to survey the East Palestine train derailment. “The ripples from that day do not get enough attention,” White House communications director-designate Steven Cheung said on X, formerly Twitter, in retweeting an op-ed making that assertion. In February 2023, a Norfolk-Southern train hauling caustic industrial chemicals – including vinyl chloride – derailed in a small community near the Pennsylvania border, causing immediate chaos and long-lasting, widespread damage to the region. A controlled burn held shortly after the derailment released toxic phosgene into the air. WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES MISTAKES IN INITIAL EAST PALESTINE DISASTER RESPONSE On February 23 – Ash Wednesday – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, hosted Trump at the site, where the former and future president highlighted Americans “forgotten” by President Joe Biden – who had not yet shown up and would not visit for several more months. The Republican mogul handed out “Trump”-branded water and met with local officials. Meanwhile, officials in both Ohio and Pennsylvania were also visibly working to hold the railroad accountable. In his tweet, Cheung was responding to an op-ed by Pittsburgh-based Washington Examiner writer Selina Zito, who covered the crisis at the time. Zito wrote that Trump’s arrival had happened at a political nadir for the Republican, following the 2022 midterm losses and amid a then-close presidential primary race with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. She noted in a tweet that it was Vance – his future running mate – who brought him to the site. Trump’s mantra of “you are not forgotten” to Rust Belt residents too often forgotten by Washington helped change minds in the area, Zito wrote, quoting a local resident who said she had “switched parties because of the way he spoke directly to the concerns.” “I have voted for him both times since then,” the woman, who owns an East Palestine farm, said. TRUMP VISITS EAST PALESTINE, HANDS OUT TRUMP-WATER: ‘WE STAND WITH YOU’ Trump told residents that day that “in too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal.” The disparity between Trump’s eagerness to “show up” and Biden’s apparent putting-off of a visit to East Palestine helped turn the tide in the Republican’s favor, the column continued. “100%,” Cheung wrote in his tweet. Trump’s former running mate, Mike Pence, also called out Biden at the time, saying he was “AWOL” and remarking to Fox News that the Delaware Democrat’s policies had “derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through.” On the Pennsylvania side of the line, both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his then-former gubernatorial opponent, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, also responded quickly to the derailment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Shapiro lodged a criminal referral at the time, and Mastriano led hearings that hosted affected residents along the Ohio border wherein Norfolk-Southern CEO Alan Shaw notably no-showed. “It is very disheartening to hear that these alleged delays and botched response approaches took place – especially since those in East Palestine, Ohio, and areas in my district here in Pennsylvania have been dealing with the aftermath of this derailment for over a year now,” state Sen. Elder Vogel Jr. told Fox News Digital at the time, after a whistleblower had spoken out about alleged mistakes from Biden’s EPA response – which the agency disputed.
DC food workers pledge to make Trump officials unwelcome, echoing confrontations in first term
Washington, D.C.-area restaurants once again will not be free from politics as the Trump team prepares to settle into the nation’s capital for a second term. Food workers inside the Beltway are prepared to refuse service and cause other inconveniences for members of the incoming Trump administration, but this is not the first time the administration and allies will have to deal with harassment while sitting down to dinner. In September 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his wife were harassed at Fiola, an upscale Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C. Protesters confronted them over Cruz’s support for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his contentious confirmation hearings. Videos circulated online showing demonstrators shouting at the couple, chanting, “We believe survivors.” Cruz and his wife eventually left the restaurant due to the altercation. WASHINGTON, D.C., POLITICAL BAR TAKES DOWN REPUBLICAN SYMBOL AFTER FIERCE BACKLASH This incident was part of a broader wave of confrontations involving Trump administration officials and allies over the summer that year. As such, in June 2018, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was confronted by protesters at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., over the Trump administration’s family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Protesters chanted, “Shame!” and called her a “villain,” forcing her to leave. Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller, known for his role in shaping immigration policy, recounted an incident when he went to pick up an $80 sushi order from a restaurant near his apartment that same month. As he left, the bartender followed him outside, called out his name and, when Miller turned around, gave him a double middle finger. He threw away the sushi out of fear someone in the restaurant had tampered with the food, the New York Post reported at the time. DC FOOD WORKERS VOW TRUMP OFFICIALS WON’T FEEL WELCOMED WHEN DINING OUT IN NATION’S CAPITAL Also in June 2018, the owner of The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, asked then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave, citing opposition to the Trump administration’s tough immigration policies. Industry veterans, bartenders and servers in the nation’s capital told the Washingtonian this week that resistance to the Republican figures in the progressive city was inevitable and a matter of conscience. BIDEN ADMIN SETS NEW TARGET TO TRIPLE US NUCLEAR CAPACITY FROM 2020 LEVELS “You expect the masses to just ignore RFK eating at Le Diplomate on a Sunday morning after a few mimosas and not to throw a drink in his face?,” said Zac Hoffman, a Washington, D.C., restaurant veteran who is now a manager at the National Democratic Club. Not every liberal hospitality sector worker in the report planned to protest the incoming administration while doing their job, however. A bartender named Joseph said while he was disappointed by the election results, he was looking forward to higher tips with more Republicans in Washington. Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks contributed to this report.