New midterm battleground takes shape as parties build election armies
President Donald Trump has long argued that who is counting the votes can matter nearly as much as who is on the ballot — a view that has helped turn the mechanics of elections into their own political battleground. That fight is becoming more organized, more expensive and more sophisticated ahead of the 2026 midterms. Tuesday marks National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, a once-obscure observance created in 2020 that has become a significant organizing marker for both parties. Republicans and Democrats are recruiting poll workers, observers, lawyers and voter-protection staff as they prepare for one of the most consequential midterm elections in history. “We have more poll workers in the 2026 cycle than we did in the 2024 cycle,” Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “We’re better prepared. We have staffers in 25 states. We are on the ground, ready to do battle.” TRUMP WILL ‘DELIVER’: RNC CHAIR SIGNALS MIDTERMS CONFIDENCE DESPITE ‘DOOM AND GLOOM’ The RNC, in data shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, is 42% ahead of its 2024 pace, with 16,971 volunteer signups nationwide compared with 11,917 at the same point in the past presidential cycle. “The RNC has shattered our 2024 poll worker recruitment benchmarks, built the largest election integrity operation in Republican Party history, and mobilized thousands of volunteers to help secure the ballot box,” Gruters added in a statement. “With less than 90 days until the midterms, we’re seeing record-breaking grassroots engagement, expanding our operation into new states, and building the infrastructure needed to defy history in 2026.” That effort came from the top from Trump, post-2020, and has led to the RNC’s election integrity unit buildout with its multimillion-dollar campaign. REPUBLICAN SAYS TRUMP’S TOP ELECTION PRIORITY ‘DEAD’ IN SENATE AS GOP FRACTURES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS And “parity” election laws regulating poll workers from both the national party apparatuses have the Democratic National Committee, facing widely reported fundraising hiccups, playing catch-up with the RNC and its $128.5 million midterm war chest. “We’re going to have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the vote,” Trump told Pennsylvania Republicans in 2022, starting one of his oft-repeated, campaign-rally mantras. “There’s a famous statement: ‘Sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate.’ And we can’t let that ever, ever happen again. They have to get a lot tougher and smarter.” Trump also says every next election tends to be more important than the past one, but grassroots voter enthusiasm and donor fundraising tend to be bigger in presidential elections than in the midterms. But, while Trump might not be on the ballot, his “Save America” grassroots enthusiasm will be, even as the Senate sits on passing his landmark Save America Act to set nationwide voter ID standards. RNC LEGAL VICTORY CLEARS NORTH CAROLINA VOTER ROLL PURGE OF NONCITIZENS THROUGH JURY RESPONSES “We’ve been continuing to build on the election integrity efforts of the last cycle where Lara Trump and Michael Whatley [former RNC co-chairs] did such a great job,” Gruters said in Friday’s interview. Lara Trump now hosts “My View with Lara Trump” on Fox News Channel. That statement pointed back to the nexus of the RNC’s multimillion-dollar election integrity unit at ProtecttheVote.com that has Democrats, its famed election lawyer Marc Elias and Democracy Docket founder and the DNC forced to play catch-up, to match the RNC’s poll worker masses. Parity laws in some states nationwide legally require it. “The Democratic National Committee continues to invest in our voter protection infrastructure to defend Americans’ sacred right to vote,” a DNC spokesman told Fox News Digital, when reached for comment on recent data before National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. “The Democratic Party currently has voter protection staff in more than 30 states, and we will recruit, train, and deploy tens of thousands of observers across the country this November. “We have seen a surge of citizens who have joined our training programs and stepped up to defend our democracy. We will continue our work to ensure all eligible voters have their voices heard.” SENATE FACES ‘COME-TO-JESUS’ MOMENT ON TRUMP’S ELECTION PRIORITY UNDER GOP’S NEW PLAN The DNC did not share its 2026 numbers with Fox News Digital, but did share 2021 to 2024 data showing Democrats mobilized more than 120,000 voter protection volunteers, including over 65,000 trained poll observers, and recorded more than 465,000 confirmed hours of poll observation across over 63,000 polling locations. The Save America Act is stalled in the Senate, but Trump and Republicans efforts are playing out on the ground and running up expenses for lawyers, legal election experts and staff. “We got to do everything we can to make sure we have these safe and secure elections,” Gruters said Friday, pointing to the “most litigation we’ve ever done as a party.” “We have, I think, almost 200 lawsuits now this cycle. I think 177 active lawsuits right now.” “We’re not being reactive. We’re being as proactive as we can.” DOJ TAUNTS MEDIA AFTER TRUMP SCORES WIN IN BATTLEGROUND-STATE BALLOT FIGHT “We’re bringing the absolute hammer wherever we can in defending freedom and these safe and secure election policies everywhere we have to, anywhere we can go, we will go from coast to coast,” he said. The numbers underscore how election administration itself has become a major front in modern campaigns. Election Day itself has also become election season, Trump has long lamented. With early voting stretching for days or weeks in many states, the staffing burden no longer falls on a single Tuesday or even a weekend. Parties and local officials need poll workers, observers and legal support across an extended voting window — a costly undertaking for national organizations and a significant time commitment for the Americans on the ground who sign up to serve. The RNC says it has expanded recruitment into Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Alaska and Ohio, producing 2,076 additional submissions in those states. The committee says the effort is part of a multimillion-dollar
Inside the Senate’s chaotic all-nighter that left Trump’s SAVE America Act on the shelf
During the long night to send the Senate home, deals were brokered, major legislation was punted and promises were extended. The SAVE America Act never made it off the shelf, despite promises up and down from its biggest proponents to thwart any attempt to leave Washington, D.C., without trying to pass it. And the vehicle to blast through Democratic objections and pass parts of the bill never left the garage, either. But it all nearly fell apart before lawmakers ever got a chance to hit the Senate floor for an early morning round of votes. Here’s what happened in the dead of night, and how Republicans are readying for a busy stretch when the Senate returns in September. The sun was about to rise in Washington, D.C., as the Senate tidied up last-minute work, but no lawmaker ever made an objection to adjourning for the rest of August. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, empowered by President Donald Trump, vowed that he would object and force a floor vote to keep lawmakers in Washington to find a way to pass the SAVE America Act. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT THE SENATE DID AND DIDN’T DO OVERNIGHT He even stood in the way, along with several other Republicans for differing reasons, of the deal concocted by Republican leaders to get major items, like averting a shutdown, agreed to and sent to Democrats for their approval in a bid to get a guaranteed floor vote. But the promised objection never came. A roll call vote didn’t happen. And Lee and others settled for a voice vote, responding “no” to the Senate adjourning for recess. They weren’t successful. Another issue that played out during the night was over the budget blueprint designed to sketch out how to pass pieces and parts of the SAVE America Act without fear of Democrats blocking the process. It was destined for failure, and Trump pushed Republicans to pull the plug. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is now at the helm of the Senate Budget Committee, plans to go back to the drawing board with his budget resolution and beef it up to include more funding for the Pentagon. “We’re, obviously, with the president at his direction. This is what he wants to do,” Johnson said. TRUMP PUMPS BRAKES ON SENATE BUDGET PLAN, DELAYING GOP SAVE AMERICA PUSH But the slowdown serves as another blow to the SAVE America Act and vastly lowers the possibility that Republicans can get another budget resolution and forthcoming reconciliation package, passed before the lame-duck period after the midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged that “we’re going to need to do another reconciliation bill,” but wouldn’t say just how soon the Senate could make it happen. “We’ll see,” Thune said. “I mean, I think that Ron’s gonna work on it over the break, and his team, and we’ll see what they come up with.” A major reason that the night dragged on as long as it did was because of a massive college sports bill to redraw the boundaries of the big money tied to name, image and likeness (NIL). The package, pushed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, faced pushback from several Republicans over bringing it to the Senate floor. It prompted Trump to call on the Senate GOP to move the bill in a Truth Social post, but it wasn’t enough to kill the resistance. TRUMP URGES CONGRESS TO PASS PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT BEFORE RECESS: ‘WE HAVE TO GET THAT DONE’ A source familiar with negotiations told Fox News Digital that things had become bleak as the night went on. “We are pretty much at a standstill and could be here through Monday or Tuesday,” they said. Ultimately, the bill was stripped from the larger floor deal and delayed until September after Cruz and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., huddled with Thune in his office. “We will get the bill to President Trump’s desk and deliver results for hundreds of thousands of student-athletes and bring stability to college athletics,” Cruz said in a statement. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation almost didn’t happen, not because of Republican defectors, but because of tired lawmakers. When it finally came time to do back-to-back votes to officially lock him in as former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s replacement, it was just past 3 a.m. And senators were ready to go — Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., had his suitcase ready just outside of the Senate floor. But two key votes, Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., had missed the preceding votes. The late night had gotten to them, and Republicans needed them to confirm Blanche. They were eventually roused and voted to confirm him, handing Trump one of the narrowest confirmation wins in history at 50-49.
Pentagon races to buy 10X more missiles as Iran war dwindles arsenal, threatens readiness for China aggression
The Pentagon is preparing a dramatic course correction after years of purchasing key missile-defense interceptors in relatively modest numbers — even as China built up the world’s largest arsenal of conventional ballistic and cruise missiles and the U.S. increasingly focused on the threat of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Following a string of missile-heavy conflicts, U.S. air defenses have been used repeatedly to protect Israel, American forces in the Middle East and Navy ships in the Red Sea, drawing down some of the Pentagon’s most sophisticated and difficult-to-replace munitions. The Pentagon’s abrupt course correction raises a question that has taken on new urgency after years of missile-intensive warfare: Why did the U.S. wait so long to build deeper interceptor magazines? US DRAINS CRITICAL MISSILE STOCKPILES IN IRAN WAR AS YEARSLONG REBUILD LOOMS The Army’s fiscal 2027 budget, reviewed by Fox News Digital, calls for a massive increase in purchases of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, part of a broader effort to rapidly expand a munitions industrial base that cannot be scaled overnight. The shift is particularly striking when compared with what the military was buying only a few years ago. The budget documents show PAC-3 MSE procurement at 230 missiles in fiscal 2024 and 214 in fiscal 2025. The same FY2026 budget book shows the Army Requirements Oversight Council had increased its acquisition objective for the missile from 3,376 to 13,773 in April 2025 — more than quadrupling the requirement. “The problem is 25 years of not buying enough munitions,” retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. HEGSETH DISMISSES ‘FOOLISH’ US STOCKPILE CONCERNS AS IRAN CONFLICT TESTS MUNITIONS PAC-3 MSE and THAAD are among the military’s most important defenses against ballistic missile attacks. Patriot batteries provide shorter-range protection for troops, air bases and other critical assets, while THAAD is designed to intercept ballistic missiles at higher altitudes and greater distances, giving commanders another layer of defense against incoming attacks. Reuters reported this week that the Army has used “virtually all” of its ATACMS and Precision Strike Missile inventories in just five months of conflict with Iran, while also drawing heavily on Patriot and THAAD interceptors. The rapid expenditure, coupled with years of relatively modest procurement, raises a broader question: What would happen in a longer conflict against a near-peer adversary like China? “The shortage was entirely foreseeable, and there have been arguments surrounding interceptor and munition procurement numbers for decades,” Jim Fein, a defense industrial base researcher at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “Ultimately, budgetary tradeoffs were made, and those arguing for other programs won out.” The Pentagon budget documents, reviewed by Fox News Digital, show years of relatively modest procurement for some of the military’s most important missile-defense interceptors. Army budget documents show PAC-3 MSE procurement fell from 328 missiles in fiscal 2022 to 252 in fiscal 2023, 230 in fiscal 2024 and 214 in fiscal 2025. The fiscal 2026 request began to move higher, with funding for 320 PAC-3 MSE missiles. THAAD procurement was even smaller. The Missile Defense Agency bought 11 interceptors in fiscal 2024 and 12 in fiscal 2025. Its fiscal 2026 base request called for 25, while an additional $317 million in mandatory reconciliation funding added 12 more, bringing the total to 37 interceptors. The procurement history broadly aligns with the findings of a new Heritage Foundation analysis, which estimates annual production capacity at 620 PAC-3 MSE missiles and 96 THAAD interceptors. Much of the difference between U.S. procurement and total production was accounted for by foreign military sales, according to Fein, who authored the report. Lagging U.S. purchases were the byproduct of decisions made across both the Pentagon and Congress. “Budget tradeoffs obviously lead to hard choices, and it now looks like many of those past decisions were wrong,” Fein said. “That includes decisions by the Pentagon in what they request, but ultimately what Congress appropriates.” “The shortage was entirely foreseeable, and there have been arguments surrounding interceptor and munition procurement numbers for decades. Ultimately, budgetary tradeoffs were made, and those arguing for other programs won out.” By fiscal 2027, the approach had changed dramatically. The Army’s budget request supports procurement of 2,798 PAC-3 MSE missiles, including 2,554 through mandatory Munitions Acceleration Council (MAC) funding. The request also supports 857 THAAD interceptors — 27 through discretionary funding and another 830 through the MAC. But ordering thousands more missiles on paper is only the beginning. The new production plans will require Congress to provide the money and industry to build the additional manufacturing capacity needed to deliver them. Fein called the administration’s new agreements with defense companies “the most significant effort to address munitions shortfall in, at a minimum, decades.” “The trick will be obtaining the funding needed to turn the framework agreements into actual production,” he said. Even with the money in place, replenishing U.S. magazines will take time. Advanced interceptors rely on specialized production lines and a network of suppliers producing rocket motors, seekers, guidance systems, energetics and other components that cannot be expanded overnight. That means the dramatic increase in planned procurement is less an immediate refill of depleted inventories than an attempt to build the industrial capacity needed to sustain much higher production over the coming years. The stakes extend well beyond the war with Iran, the Heritage report argues. A conflict with China could place far greater and more sustained demands on U.S. missile defenses, particularly if Beijing struck American bases and forces across the Indo-Pacific with large salvos of ballistic and cruise missiles. US FALLS BEHIND IN HYPERSONIC RACE AS CHINA, RUSSIA GAIN EDGE “Interceptor inventory is not a supporting detail in a China contingency — it is what allows the Joint Force to survive long enough to win,” Fein wrote. The report estimates the United States would require 7,082 PAC-3 MSE interceptors and 1,394 THAAD interceptors for what it considers a minimum
GOP senators rally behind 9/11 families in push to ban Mamdani from anniversary ceremony: ‘He’s a disgrace’
Republican senators are rallying behind the petition from families of 9/11 victims to block New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from attending the 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony of the attacks at Ground Zero. Several families of 9/11 victims launched an online petition calling on the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to not include Mamdani in the commemorative events honoring those who lost their lives in the terror attacks 25 years ago. Fox News Digital asked senators on Capitol Hill about the efforts to ban Mamdani from attending the memorial, and whether it would be appropriate for him to show up given claims that the democratic socialist has failed to adequately condemn Islamic extremism. FIREFIGHTER BROTHER OF 9/11 VICTIM INCENSED BY ‘RADICAL’ MUSLIMS WINNING KEY DEM PRIMARIES “It might be appropriate if he goes while wearing a paper bag over his head,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. “I mean I can’t defend anything that guy says or does,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. The petition cites eight specific concerns about Mamdani, including claims he has never directly condemned the phrase “globalize the intifada,” allegedly associating with extremist and anti-American individuals and claims that his beliefs are shaped by his father, who called for destigmatizing suicide bombers and drew comparisons between the United States and al Qaeda. “His opinions on America’s place in the world are pretty different than probably most of those families feel,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital. MAMDANI’S POLITICS LINKED TO MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IDEOLOGY AS NEW YORK VIOLENCE ESCALATES: REPORT The families’ plea also points to claims of Mamdani praising and appointing people linked to radical Islam, his comments blaming the United States for the radicalization of al Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki and his recent endorsement of democratic socialist Darializa Aria Chevalier. “He’s platformed Islamic extremism, and he openly supports Hamas, as does his wife,” Sheehy claimed. “And Hamas is not just an adjacent organization to all the other Muslim extremists, they’re one of the core members of it.” Mamdani has taken fire from many GOP lawmakers over his refusal to call for Hamas to lay down its weapons during an interview last year, as well as for other claims of ties to Islamic extremism and alleging the NYC leader of antisemitism. “Given these concerns, we respectfully ask that the organizers carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy,” the petition states. NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE URGES 9/11 ATTENDEES TO TURN AWAY FROM MAMDANI DURING CEREMONY “I think he has said some pretty disgusting things and seems to be on that trend line that he’s going to talk like that more and more,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said. “And so I certainly can understand why some of the families feel that way.” As of Monday evening, the petition had more than 82,000 signatures in support of the efforts of the families to bar Mamdani from the event. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s a disgrace and an embarrassment to the country, but we’ll see if he shows up, right?” Sheehy said. After hearing of the petition, Mamdani shared that he still plans to attend this year’s 9/11 commemoration, according to CBS News. Mamdani’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. “At the end of the day, those families should have the say who’s going to show up and honor the memory of their own families,” Sheehy said.
The Medicare-for-all trade-offs socialists aren’t talking about, according to experts
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is one of several socialist candidates making Medicare-for-all a centerpiece of their midterm campaigns, defending the policy even as El-Sayed acknowledged Sunday that it would require Americans to pay more in taxes in exchange for coverage untethered from employment. The stakes extend beyond who pays the insurance bill. A nationwide single-payer system would substantially change how healthcare is financed, what providers are paid and the role of private insurance, while potentially affecting employment and access to care under a framework radically different from the existing “Medicare” model its name invokes, according to experts. Cato Institute health policy studies director Michael Cannon and Heritage Foundation health policy expert Ed Haislmaier, who has worked with lawmakers on Obamacare alternatives, argue those trade-offs are often obscured by the “Medicare-for-all” label. “As the late P. J. O’Rourke liked to say, ‘if your healthcare is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free,’” Cannon said. ABDUL EL-SAYED’S MEDICARE-FOR-ALL CRUSADE COLLIDES WITH AN AWKWARD CONTRADICTION INVOLVING HIS WIFE In his NBC interview, El-Sayed defended Medicare-for-all by saying that the average person’s second-largest W-2 deduction “is [paid] to your health insurance company.” “So imagine, instead of paying that to your health insurance company, whose CEO makes $20 million a year, instead, you paid a little bit more in taxes for healthcare that you wouldn’t lose if you lost your job or turned 26 or got married or got divorced.” One of the central questions is how much providers would be paid. Medicare currently pays hospitals and physicians substantially less than private insurers for many services, while a single-payer system would dramatically expand the number of patients whose care is financed at government-set rates. Cannon warned that policymakers could face a choice between raising substantially more federal revenue and holding down payments at the risk of some providers reducing their participation. Canada and England have long been cited by critics as cautionary tales against implementing socialized medicine because of concerns about long wait times, including waits of weeks for MRIs in Canada, limited access to prompt care and well-to-do Westerners seeking care in the U.S. to avoid waiting at home. Still, Cannon argued the U.S. system is critically flawed and that market competition, including taking employers and the government out of the equation and putting spending choices in patients’ hands, could provide the closest framework to universal healthcare. 3 STEPS THAT COULD STOP FRAUD AND MAKE HEALTHCARE MORE AFFORDABLE FOR ALL AMERICANS Haislmaier dubbed single-payer Medicare-for-all a “solution in search of a problem.” “[Medicare-for-all proponents] haven’t got a solution for the real question, which is not the coverage, but the cost. Are we going to force competition so that people who provide better care at a lower price get more of the business? That’s our vision,” he said of conservatives. TRUMP ADMIN CRACKS DOWN ON ESTIMATED $10 BILLION IN OBAMACARE FRAUD, BOOTS MILLIONS FROM ROLLS Instead of giving the government more authority, President Donald Trump “stumbled onto something that might work,” in Haislmaier’s words, by proposing a shift away from letting health insurers manage the pool of money for each American and instead depositing funds into a restricted personal account that could be used only to buy or retain insurance. Meanwhile, several pieces of the current American system can be found within the various “socialized” models that El-Sayed, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and others want to replicate in the U.S. Socialized healthcare also does not describe a single international model. The Department of Veterans Affairs draws parallels to the British NHS, while employer-sponsored insurance is a key feature of the German system, Cannon noted. And Obamacare’s framework for ensuring eligibility for care is similar to systems in Canada and Scandinavia, he said. MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED DODGES QUESTION ON WHETHER HE STILL SUPPORTS DEFUNDING THE POLICE But the U.S. may already have the developed world beat on socialized medicine, the experts said. Cannon argued that the Medicare system for seniors referenced in the left’s platform is unique to the U.S. “When Medicare-for-all supporters say that they want a European-style Medicare system, they’re already telling you they don’t know what they’re talking about because no European nation has something like [our] Medicare Program,” he said. Cannon also resisted labeling Medicare-for-all supporters socialists, arguing the existing U.S. system already contains extensive government intervention through Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance tax policy and Obamacare. In that way, he said, the far-left Medicare-for-all crowd and Republicans appear to be vying for the title of who cares least about healthcare. “If you think this is a question between should we have a government controlling our healthcare sector or not, you’ve already missed the boat. The government already controls the U.S. Health sector.” BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS The Medicare model outlined in the socialists’ platform is also not “free” healthcare because beneficiaries face premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing. Some current Medicare-for-all proposals discourage or appear to prohibit private insurance coverage, which could affect physicians’ ability or willingness to provide access to all patients, particularly if demand increases as out-of-pocket costs decline, according in part to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. Maintaining such broad access to care while creating a one-size-fits-all model or keeping provider payments near current Medicare rates could cause hospitals to reduce participation, Cannon warned. Financing is the other side of the equation. Moving most healthcare spending onto the federal government’s books would require an enormous increase in federal revenue, even though some of that would replace premiums and other healthcare expenses currently paid by employers and households. LIZ PEEK: DEMOCRATS’ AFFORDABILITY SCAM COLLAPSES IN STATES THEY ACTUALLY RUN SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Cannon said that would double or triple federal taxes. If Medicare-for-all proponents want coverage to be as close to universal as possible, the model should remove, not add, government barriers, Cannon said. He noted that Americans one year away from Medicare eligibility and those
Top Obama ally reveals which far-left candidate needs to lose to help progressives win
David Axelrod, one of the architects behind President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, believes other progressives might stand a better chance of getting elected if, in his view, one of their more unserious candidates loses an upcoming primary. “It would be good for Abdul El-Sayed if Francesca Hong loses her bid to become the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin next week,” Axelrod wrote in a post to X. “He is a serious person. She is a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica. But the [Republicans] … would surely try to link Abdul and Hong as philosophical kin.” JOHNSON TURNS DEMOCRATS’ SOCIALIST CIVIL WAR INTO NEW WEAPON FOR MIDTERMS Axelrod’s comments seem to indicate that despite their recent success in the 2026 midterms, not all progressives are viewed equally across the party — that some of them are seen as political liabilities even among themselves. “This tweet is a perfect example of why the consultant class keeps losing elections. They’re totally clueless, and they’re hellbent on keeping working-class people out of politics,” Hong wrote about Axelrod’s X post. “I’ve spent more time in kitchens than faculty lounges. Perhaps you’d like to come to Wisconsin and work a Friday night dinner rush with me?” Hong, a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly who is running to become the next governor of Wisconsin, has advocated for a wide slew of policies that put her solidly in the progressive camp. She has called for universal childcare, supports a $20 minimum wage, advocated for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), believes even noncitizens should have access to state-issued ID, has called for publicly run grocery stores and opposes continued U.S. support for Israel. Hong is also a self-proclaimed socialist with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). WISCONSIN DEM SOCIALIST GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL DODGES WHETHER SHE STILL WANTS TO ‘ABOLISH POLICE’ Apart from policy proposals, Hong has also attracted attention for cultural and social issues that have pushed the rhetorical envelope. She has recently come under scrutiny for past calls for Americans to cancel Thanksgiving because of the spread of smallpox during the colonial era, defund the police because of their reinforcement of White supremacy and even calls to abolish the Senate after the chamber voted to acquit Trump during a failed impeachment effort in 2021. Although she has tried to push back on some of those resurfaced comments, Hong has also made little effort to paint herself as a moderate. “I’m a proud democratic socialist. I’m not advancing a brand. I’m focusing on the policies, the socialist policies that improve lives,” Hong told NOTUS last week. Hong’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Axelrod’s post or on whether she believes Republicans will try to discredit other progressives through her positions. At the outset of the race, Hong was considered a dark horse candidate. But the race was shaken up last month when Mandela Barnes, the state’s former lieutenant governor, dropped out of the race. Barnes was considered a frontrunner in the race because of his proximity to outgoing Gov. Tony Evers and his name recognition. SOCIALIST FRONTRUNNER IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ‘CANCEL THANKSGIVING’ POST EMERGES ONLINE With his departure, Hong, who had already gained sizable momentum, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley were left as the two main contenders. Evers has endorsed Crowley, citing his tenure as a public servant. Hong now faces a primary election next Tuesday, Aug. 11, after which, if she wins, she will go on to the state’s general election on Nov. 3.
Trump used catering truck, Air Force One decoy to evade Iran threat: report
President Donald Trump secretly boarded a third, smaller U.S. military aircraft using an airport catering truck as cover to depart the NATO summit in Turkey in July while using an older Air Force One jet as a decoy, according to reports. Citing an official and other material it reviewed, The Washington Post reported that the undercover maneuver took place at Ankara airport amid a credible Iranian threat against the president. Trump had arrived in the Turkish capital on July 8 aboard a brand-new Boeing 747-8, an aircraft donated by Qatar. Following U.S. military strikes against Iranian targets earlier in the summer, intelligence officials identified a specific threat from Iran targeting the president’s movements. TRUMP TAKES INAUGURAL FLIGHT ABOARD NEW AIR FORCE ONE AHEAD OF LIBRARY DEBUT HONORING FAMED OUTDOORSMAN To counter the threat, U.S. security officials executed a ruse on the Turkish tarmac, according to the outlet. Trump walked up the stairs of the legacy blue-and-white Boeing 747 — the older Air Force One — and waved to news cameras before entering the cabin. Minutes later, Trump and a small team of aides were said to have stepped out of view into an airport catering truck that had been lifted to an exit door on the far side of the plane. TRUMP SAYS HE’S IRAN’S ‘NO. 1’ TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS The truck lowered to ground level and drove across the tarmac to a nearby Air Force C-32A, a modified Boeing 757. Meanwhile, the media and White House staff boarded the older 747, believing Trump was inside. Reporters were then instructed to close their window shades for takeoff, and the jet took off as a decoy, according to the Washington Post. The legacy jet initially appeared on radar without a call sign before taking the ‘AF1’ call sign midflight, despite Trump not being aboard, according to flight-tracking data reviewed by the outlet. Trump then flew in secrecy aboard the smaller C-32A to RAF Mildenhall in England, landing shortly before the decoy jet. NEW AIR FORCE ONE TAKES FLIGHT AS TRUMP UNVEILS REVAMPED PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT It is unclear how Trump transferred from the C-32A to the legacy Air Force One after landing in the U.K. At about 10:56 p.m., he appeared before TV cameras and descended the legacy aircraft’s external stairs, according to a media pool report. Trump boarded the new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 for the return flight to Washington at about 11:01 p.m. Staff and reporters also transferred from the legacy aircraft before departing. Reporters asked the president about why the window shades were ordered down in Turkey. Trump told them: “You’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with.” The president added that he faces threats constantly and is “Number One” on Iran’s target list. When reached by Fox News for comment on the Washington Post’s reporting, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the new Air Force One is a “state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.” He added: “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.” The U.S. Air Force similarly touted the new Air Force One jet’s safety. “The aircraft is safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission,” the Air Force said in a statement to Fox News. “Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous head of state interior layout minimally changed. No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications, but the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.” Fox News also reached out to the U.S. Secret Service for comment. Fox News’ Pat Ward contributed to this report.
Dem Gov Maura Healey signs sweeping Massachusetts bill allowing abortions up to birth
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey was met with applause and smiles as she signed away Massachusetts’ gestational limits on abortion, making the deep-blue state the 10th to permit the procedure up to birth. Under the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, health care workers will have greater discretion in determining whether to perform an abortion later in pregnancy, without facing legal penalties under the state’s previous restrictions. Healey said the law is intended to ensure families facing medical complications late in pregnancy can abort their babies in Massachusetts rather than having to travel out of state. Those complications can include maternal health complications and fatal diagnoses. During the bill signing, Healey pledged to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible in Massachusetts for as long as she remains governor. LATE-TERM ABORTION TAKES FRONT SEAT AS BLUE STATE RUSHES TO EXPAND ACCESS BEFORE SESSION ENDS “We believe that health care decisions should be made between women and families and their doctors, not politicians,” Healey said. “Abortion will remain safe. It will remain legal, and it will remain accessible here in Massachusetts. That’s my commitment to you.” The bill is scheduled to take effect in 90 days. Previously, state law generally prohibited abortions after 24 weeks, with limited exceptions. Massachusetts now joins Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont in removing gestational age limits on abortion, along with the District of Columbia. NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATS ADVANCE BILL CRIMINALIZING INTERFERENCE WITH ABORTION, TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE Healey said Monday’s signing was intended to “stand with women,” arguing that those who oppose the legislation do not support women’s health. “The bottom line for people in Massachusetts, if you care about women’s health, if you care about making sure that women are able to access the health care that they need in consultation with their doctors, should be clear,” she said. “I stand with women. My opponents do not.” Healey also framed the legislation as a “shield” against national efforts under President Donald Trump and Republicans to roll back abortion protections following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. “It is up to the states to lead,” Healey said. “And as governor, I promise that no matter what Donald Trump or Republicans in Congress or the Supreme Court does, we’re going to continue to make sure that women and families have access to the health care that they need, right here in Massachusetts.” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser condemned the signing of the “egregious” law in a statement Monday, arguing that late-term abortions can involve dismemberment of the fetus. “It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year,” she said. “Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey’s approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill. The GOP must abandon the ‘leave it to the states’ position – a stance that permits egregious late-term abortion laws like this one – and advance national protections for unborn children.” Dannenfelser also argued that the U.S. is among a small number of countries that permit abortion throughout pregnancy. “Without a minimum national standard, the United States remains 1 of only 8 countries worldwide that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy. We must do all we can to turn the page on America’s ugly chapter of late-term abortion.” The other countries that allow such procedures include Australia, Canada, China, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam, according to SBA.
Top Senate Dem’s new tax idea gets torched as critics warn nearly every American could pay
The top Democratic lawmaker on the Senate Finance Committee has floated increasing taxes on data centers, a move critics say could raise costs on services used by practically all Americans. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released a white paper proposal last week calling to end tax incentives for data centers and to impose an ongoing tax on data centers operating in the United States. Critics of Wyden’s proposal argue that the costs of the new tax could ultimately be borne by all Americans by increasing the costs of common services. “This tax will be paid by anyone who uses the internet. A tax on data centers is a tax on your email, family photos, small business operations, cloud storage, and your Instagram, X, TikTok and Facebook posts,” Americans for Tax Reform director of innovation technology James Erwin said. “Senator Wyden is betraying his legacy as a champion of a free and open internet accessible to all.” TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT EFFECTIVELY PAUSES NEW DATA CENTER PROJECTS PENDING STATEWIDE GRID AUDIT Americans for Tax Reform dubbed Wyden’s proposal a “national internet tax.” Wyden’s office did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday. Wyden’s white paper acknowledges that there is some difficulty in applying a tax to data centers, given how common such facilities are and how wide their utilization is. “Generally, a data center is a facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information, and may be free-standing or within a larger structure that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for the operation of electronic equipment,” the white paper reads. “This definition alone would be broad, so carveouts would be developed to focus the tax on data centers as commonly understood, rather than trip-wiring ancillary operations into the tax.” To solve this problem, Wyden suggests excluding “internet infrastructure” from his proposed tax, but does not define what that term means or what kinds of facilities it would cover. The paper does, however, suggest that cloud computing, a highly important piece of internet infrastructure used by many industries, would not be exempted under his tax. A SOUTHERN STATE JUST TOOK THE TOP SPOT IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST-GROWING INDUSTRIES In addition to excluding data centers from many tax incentives, Wyden’s proposal would hit their owners with a “low single-digit” annual tax on gross receipts, not their profits. Though Wyden cites land use, local power prices and local water use as the concerns that prompted him to propose the new taxes, he also advocates for taxing any data centers that are built in the Earth’s orbit. “President Trump is cementing American AI dominance over China while ensuring data centers pay for their own power, water and other utilities,” White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston told Fox News Digital when asked about the Wyden plan. “The President’s commonsense approach will beat China, harness this technological boom and deliver lower costs and new opportunities for working families and small businesses.” FOX NEWS POLL: MOVE OVER BIG BROTHER, VOTERS SEE BIG TECH AS GREATER THREAT TO US Wyden’s proposal clashes with President Donald Trump’s push to accelerate artificial intelligence development and expand the infrastructure supporting it. While Wyden seeks to prioritize assistance for workers and communities disrupted by data center construction, the Trump administration emphasizes maintaining economic growth and ensuring the United States retains a technological edge over China. The two do have common ground in seeking to limit the impact of data center construction on energy and water prices, though the president has a different way of going about that. A White House official told Fox News Digital that the administration has brought together over 200 utilities, data center developers, cooperatives and state leaders into its “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” an initiative uniting different stakeholders to facilitate to creation of more energy sources to keep prices low. The Oregon senator’s approach, however, is less aggressive than the calls for a total moratorium on data center construction, which Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. have advocated for.
Fauci in the hot seat as GOP senator tears into ‘truly sick’ vaccine texts: ‘Tip of the iceberg’
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican leading the charge on investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci’s old government phone told Fox News Digital that the revelation that the former COVID-czar was concerned that vaccines could cause miscarriages was “just the tip of the iceberg.” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in an interview with Fox News Digital, alleged that the first tranche of texts from Fauci’s old government iPhone was a clear sign that the man who became the face of the nation’s COVID-19 response said one thing privately while taking a different message to the public. “We tell pregnant women don’t even have a glass of wine and yet we coerce them, convince them, sometimes mandated them, to get an experimental gene therapy as early as the first trimester,” Johnson said. “This is truly sick.” FAUCI’S HHS IPHONE TURNED OVER TO SENATE INVESTIGATORS AS CONTEMPT VOTE LOOMS “And the way this has been — I’ve known about this for years,” he continued. “But finally, because we have a text associated with St. Fauci, it’s finally getting the play in the media that it’s been deserving for years.” Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., obtained Fauci’s phone from his time as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of their broader dive into the former chief medical advisor to the president. It came as Paul was readying to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment — a gambit he successfully pulled off and has since handed off to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Johnson, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released the first tranche of private messages found on the device on Monday. FAUCI HELD IN CONTEMPT AS COVID CELLPHONE LANDS IN HANDS OF SENATE INVESTIGATORS That conversation from Jan. 2021 was between Fauci, then-Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Vivek Murthy, who would become Surgeon General during the Biden administration. During the back and forth, Fauci admitted that he had concerns about the impact of mRNA vaccines on pregnant women. “I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of,” Fauci wrote. “Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.” Johnson charged that “I’ve never heard a federal health official admit that about the injections,” and noted that cytokines storms were linked with adverse effects to the lungs from vaccination. “What you have to connect this to is what they were saying publicly, that was contrary to that, but also what they’re publishing,” Johnson said. He recalled a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021 from Dr. Tom Shimabukoro in June of 2021 after Fauci’s initial concern that found that of 827 pregnancies that were exposed to the mRNA vaccines, 104 had “what they call spontaneous abortions, we would call it miscarriage.” Johnson argued, however, that the numbers were skewed. “Of the 827 women, 700 got their vaccination or the injection in the third trimester, 127 got them in trimester one and two, which is where the 104 miscarriages occur,” Johnson said. “So the proper percentage is 104 divided by 127, an 82% miscarriage rate with women who got the injection in the first second trimester,” he continued. “I mean, that is shocking, and they knew it. They knew it, they’re not that stupid. They’re just that devious to play with the statistics that way to misinform, to lie to the American public.” Johnson’s investigation of the phone and its trove of information is in its early stages, and the lawmaker is approaching information dumps with caution — he doesn’t want to reveal people’s personal information or even delve into Fauci’s personal life. His main focus is finding more communications where Fauci said one thing privately, and did another in the public eye. “This is going to take time, but when my staff saw this, I mean, to me, this immediately impacts public safety, immediately impacts informed consent,” Johnson said. “And so I had to get this one out there right away. But there are, I’m sure, way more to come.” “I think this is the tip of the iceberg,” he continued. Fox News Digital did not immediately receive comment from the law firm representing Fauci.