Nancy Mace vows to ‘fight like hell’ to rename old Black Lives Matter Plaza for Charlie Kirk
FIRST ON FOX: A new bill could see part of the national capital renamed after slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, introduced three months after his assassination. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is introducing legislation to rename the area that until recently had been known as Black Lives Matter Plaza, she first told Fox News Digital. “Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization that wants to defund the police and take your speech away,” Mace argued. “And what I want to do on the three-month anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s political assassination is celebrate him and the First Amendment and freedom of speech by renaming the plaza after him.” CONSERVATIVES FROM PASTORS TO SENATORS WISH CHARLIE KIRK A POSTHUMOUS HAPPY BIRTHDAY Black Lives Matter is a far-left activist group that gained traction after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a White police officer. It is not designated as a terrorist organization, but people on the right and even some Democrats have criticized it for going too far with calls to “defund the police,” while questions have also been raised in the past about how it spends its funding. A two-block area of Washington, D.C., was renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza by the city’s government in June 2020 amid nationwide protests over Floyd’s killing. It was marked by a massive mural depicting the words “Black Lives Matter” in the middle of the street. STATE REP’S BILL WOULD PUNISH COLLEGES FINANCIALLY IF THEY DON’T RENAME ROADS AFTER CHARLIE KIRK That was reversed in March of this year after pressure from Republicans, including President Donald Trump, amid a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts across the country. Mace suggested she was not optimistic that her bill would get a House-wide vote but said she would “fight like hell” for it. It comes three months after Kirk was assassinated while speaking at a college free-speech event in Utah. Both Republicans and Democrats have condemned the killing as a tragedy and an attack on free speech. Prosecutors in Utah are seeking the death penalty against Tyler James Robinson, Kirk’s accused killer. Mace’s bill is one of several pieces of legislation introduced to memorialize Kirk in the wake of his death. “I think members of Congress have done their part, rank-and-file members. But there’s still more to do yet. And we need to make sure that we continue his legacy forever,” Mace said. A resolution honoring Kirk passed the House of Representatives in September with support from all Republicans and 95 Democrats. Fifty-eight Democrats voted against it, while another 38 voted “present.”
Homeland Security moves toward scrutinizing foreign tourists’ social media accounts before entry
The Department of Homeland Security is moving toward scrutinizing the recent social media histories of foreign travelers before allowing them to enter the United States. In a notice filed Tuesday in the Federal Register, U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote, “In order to comply with the January 2025 Executive Order 14161 (Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats), CBP is adding social media as a mandatory data element for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application.” “The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years,” it added. Homeland Security describes ESTA as “an automated system used to determine the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program and whether such travel poses any law enforcement or security risk.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REVOKES RECORD 85,000 VISAS IN SWEEPING IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN TARGETING SAFETY THREATS The Visa Waiver Program currently allows citizens of designated countries — such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan — “to travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa,” according to the DHS. Fox News Digital has reached out to Homeland Security for further comment. The notice said the American public has 60 days to comment on the CBP proposal. STATE DEPARTMENT YANKS VISAS FROM MEXICAN EXECUTIVES IN MIGRANT SMUGGLING CRACKDOWN The White House said in the executive order referenced in the Federal Register notice that, “It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.” “To protect Americans, the United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests,” read the order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, 2025. “More importantly, the United States must identify them before their admission or entry into the United States. And the United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security,” it added.
Trump compares real wages under his admin versus Biden’s during speech calling out Dem affordability ‘hoax’
President Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania Tuesday night touting his administration’s economic success, after Democrats swept a series of elections in 2025 while mainly campaigning on platforms focused on “affordability.” “They caused the high prices, and we’re bringing them down,” Trump told the crowd in attendance at a casino resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, whom he spoke to for nearly two hours. “Lower prices, bigger paychecks – you’re getting lower prices, bigger paychecks, we’re getting inflation – we’re crushing it – and you’re getting much higher wages. The only thing that is really going up big – it’s called the stock market and your 401ks.” Affordability has become a flashpoint heading into the midterms, with Republicans now fine-tuning their messaging on the economy after a slew of Democrats won elections in 2025 running on a platform focused on lowering costs. Prior to Tuesday night’s address in Pennsylvania, Trump told Politico in an interview that he would give his economy an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” grade, but a November Fox News national survey found that some 76% of voters reported they view the economy negatively, up from the 67% who reported the same in July, and up from the 70% who said the same at the end of former President Joe Biden’s term. TRUMP INSISTS PRICES ARE ‘COMING DOWN,’ BLAMES BIDEN – BUT VOTERS SAY THEY’RE STILL GETTING SQUEEZED Real-wages were among one of the several statistics that Trump shared with voters Tuesday to prove how much better the economy is under him than Biden. According to Trump, real wages “plummeted” by $3,000 under Biden, while under Trump’s second administration, the president said, the typical factory worker has seen their real wages increase by $1,300, construction workers by over $1,800, and miners by $3,300. Trump added that, under Biden, real-wages for construction workers dropped by $3,500. To put things into perspective for the audience, Trump also touched on the price of everyday goods, and shared charts with the audience showing how the prices differed under his predecessor’s term. Citing a report from Walmart, Trump said the cost of a full Thanksgiving meal, trimmings, turkey and all, is 25% cheaper under his administration than it was under Biden. He said the price of Thanksgiving turkeys specifically was also down 33%. Trump added that egg prices have “dropped like a rock” under his second term, noting their price point is down 80% since March. TRUMP APPROVAL CLIMBS AS REPUBLICANS RALLY BEHIND PRESIDENT’S AFFORDABILITY AGENDA: POLL “One of the most important ways we’re defeating inflation is by unleashing American energy, including oil, gas and clean beautiful coal,” Trump also said, citing data he said shows 22 different states have lower gas prices today than they ever have in the last seven years. Three of them, Trump noted, have gas as low as $1.99 per gallon. Trump also touted lower mortgage rates under his administration, $18 trillion in new private investments compared to Biden’s less than $1 trillion, and a hot stock market as examples of how his economy is doing well. “I can’t say affordability hoax because I agree the prices were too high. I can’t call it a hoax because they’ll misconstrue that. But they use the word affordability and that’s their only word,” Trump said while bashing Democrats on the economy Tuesday night. “They say, ‘affordability’ and everyone says, ‘Oh, that must mean Trump has high prices.’ No. Our prices are coming down tremendously from the highest prices in the history of our country.” Trump added during his speech Tuesday night that Democrats talking about affordability, “is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching about public safety.” Meanwhile, amid his barbs at Democrats on their “affordability” messaging, Trump posited that he doesn’t have to “sell” his administration’s policies to anyone, because they are “the right policy.” “We don’t have to sell men in women’s sports. We don’t have to sell transgender to everybody. We don’t have to sell open borders where the whole world is allowed to come into our country from prisons and everywhere,” Trump told the crowd. “That’s our message. They gave you high prices. They gave you the highest inflation in history. And we’re giving you we’re bringing those prices down rapidly.”
Trump gives update on wounded National Guard member 2 weeks after DC ambush shooting: ‘He got up from bed’
President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that West Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was critically wounded in a Thanksgiving eve ambush-style shooting in Washington, D.C., has begun showing incredible signs of recovery. Speaking at an event in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump told supporters he has remained in close contact with Wolfe’s family since the shooting that also killed 20-year-old National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom. The president described Wolfe’s parents’ unwavering belief that their son would survive even as physicians warned that the odds were impossibly slim. “The night that he was so badly hit and the doctors gave him almost no chance, I called their hospital room and spoke to her, and she said, sure, he’ll be fine,” Trump said. “Oh no, I’m telling you, he’s going to. I’m praying, the whole country is praying, sir. I’m telling you, don’t worry about it. He’s going to be fine.’ This is the mother talking to me.” FATHER OF FALLEN NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER CALLS HER DEATH A ‘HORRIBLE TRAGEDY’ IN HEARTBREAKING POST “And the father is like, devastated,” he continued. “He’s an incredible guy too, both. And I went and invited them to the Oval Office, and they came in.” Trump said Wolfe’s mother never wavered. “She said, ‘sir, he’s fine.’ It was amazing, actually.” Then Trump shared a significant medical update on Wolfe’s condition since he was rushed into critical care. AFGHAN SUSPECT IN NATIONAL GUARD ATTACK WAS ‘RADICALIZED’ AFTER ARRIVING TO US, NOEM SAYS “And today, Monica — she said, ‘we’re all praying’ and I’m praying. And then she called to say, ‘Sir, he moved his finger today.’ This is like three days later — ‘he moved his finger.’ And today I got a call that he got up from bed. Do you believe that? He got up, he got up,” Trump told the crowd. “Now, he didn’t speak. He’s not ready for that yet. I mean, you got hit in the head, but he got up, and boy, they’re so happy.” Trump praised the medical teams watching over Wolfe. “It’s amazing. And the care that they’ve given him — the hospital and the generals that have been there, the military that’s been there — it’s amazing,” he said. Wolfe, 24, and Beckstrom were ambushed near the Farragut West area of downtown Washington on Nov. 26. Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries, and Wolfe has remained in critical care since the attack. Federal prosecutors charged 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal in connection with the shooting, including first-degree murder. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Trump says Rep. Crockett’s Senate run ‘a gift to Republicans’: ‘Can’t imagine she wins’
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he believes Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, running for Senate in the Lone Star State is “a gift to Republicans,” saying he “can’t imagine she wins.” Speaking to reporters after departing Air Force One at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Pennsylvania, Trump was asked to respond to Crockett’s recent announcement on entering the race for the seat held by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running for re-election. “She’s a low IQ person, I can’t imagine she wins,” Trump said. “Maybe she gets the Democrat nomination, but I think it’s a gift to Republicans,” he continued. FIERCE TRUMP CRITIC JASMINE CROCKETT SHAKES UP HIGH-STAKES SENATE RACE The president added: “She’s a terrible representative. I’ve watched her for the last two years, I can’t believe she’s a politician, actually.” Crockett, a progressive firebrand and fierce Trump critic, filed paperwork on Monday to run for Senate in 2026. She has served as a congresswoman for Texas’ 30th congressional district since 2023. The congresswoman, a late addition to the field, told supporters after launching her campaign that she would stand up to Trump, which she said Cornyn had failed to do. “I’m done watching the American dream on life support while Trump tries to pull the plug. The gloves have been off, and now I’m jumping into the ring,” she said. “Many people wonder why I jumped in this race so late, and I just want to be clear that this was never my intention, this was never about me, I never put myself into any of the polls,” Crockett added. “But the more I saw the poll results, I couldn’t ignore the trends, which were clear, both as it relates to the primary as well as the general election, I could have played it safe and continued serving in the United States House of Representatives for as long as my constituents would have me, but I don’t choose to do that, because, Texas, this moment we’re in now is life or death.” Crockett appeared optimistic that she could flip the seat viewed as a Republican stronghold in a GOP-led state. A Democrat has not won a statewide office in Texas in more than 30 years. “Many people asked, ‘Can we win this race in November?’ I’m here to say, ‘Yes, we can!’” Crockett said during her speech. “Texas is a big boy state made up of brawlers with a moral code. Our representation should reflect that, sadly enough, it doesn’t,” she continued. “After evaluating the data, analyzing the trends, researching historic numbers, and combing over the crosstabs, it was clear, the numbers were strongest for my candidacy for United States Senate, that’s why I decided to enter this race.” EX-NFL STAR ABANDONS SENATE BID AS JASMINE CROCKETT NEARS MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT Crockett’s campaign announcement, which included a video with soundbites of Trump attacking her, came shortly after former Rep. Colin Allred — one of the two Democrats already running for the Senate in 2026 — abandoned his bid to replace Cornyn, instead launching a campaign to return to the House rather than continue his second straight bid for the Senate. State Rep. James Talarico remains in the race on the Democratic side, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt are challenging Cornyn in the GOP primary.
$900B defense bill advances to House-wide vote as conservative mutiny threat looms
A wide-ranging bill setting the federal government’s defense and national security policy for the fiscal year survived a key hurdle Tuesday night, but questions over whether it will get to President Donald Trump’s desk still remain. The House Rules Committee voted to advance the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) along party lines after hours of debate, setting up the bill for a chamber-wide vote on Wednesday afternoon. The legislation will dictate how roughly $900 billion of the federal budget will be spent on America’s national defense. But with several conservatives already voicing concerns, it’s unclear if it can survive a procedural hurdle that will likely need almost all House Republicans to vote in lock step despite support from the majority of the House GOP. CONGRESS UNVEILS $900B DEFENSE BILL TARGETING CHINA WITH TECH BANS, INVESTMENT CRACKDOWN, US TROOP PAY RAISE The House Rules Committee is the final gatekeeper before most pieces of legislation get a chamber-wide vote. Lawmakers on the panel are responsible for setting terms of debate on a bill, including deciding which amendments, if any, can be voted on. The next step is generally a House-wide procedural vote, called a rule vote, where lawmakers decide whether to green-light debating the bill. Fox News Digital was told earlier this week that House GOP leaders hope to hold the NDAA vote in the early evening Wednesday. But questions about whether the bill could pass a chamber-wide rule vote earlier in the day began popping up soon after the 3,000-page bill was unveiled Sunday night. Rule votes generally fall along party lines even if the underlying measure has bipartisan support. And with a razor-thin majority, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can only afford to lose two GOP votes and still win. GERMANY UNVEILS NEW INCENTIVES TO BOOST MILITARY RECRUITMENT AMID GROWING RUSSIA THREAT At least two House Republicans, Eric Burlison, R-Mo., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital Tuesday afternoon they are undecided on the House-wide rule vote. Some conservatives are concerned with the bill’s exclusion of a ban on central bank digital currency (CBDC). Without it, GOP privacy hawks argue that the federal government could use digital currency for widespread surveillance and control of Americans. “Conservatives were promised that an anti-central bank digital currency language, authored by Tom Emmer, the whip, would be in the NDAA. Our initial reading of it, we’ve had it for hours now, is that it is not in there. And then there is no anti-abortion language either. So, as we fund our military, there are red lines that we need to put in here,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, said on “Mornings with Maria” Monday. Self told Fox News Digital he was also undecided on the rule vote but would vote “no” on the final legislation. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, posted his frustration with the measure’s exclusion on X and told reporters he too was undecided on the rule. Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said he was frustrated with the process of crafting the final NDAA. “All of this was negotiated behind closed doors,” he told Fox News Digital. “We’re getting shoved, and we just have to eat it, or, you know, vote against increasing pay to our military service members. It’s a very unfortunate situation to be in, that the speaker keeps putting us in.” And Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he was likely going to vote “no” on the rule vote Wednesday. It was a good sign, however, that the House Rules Committee’s three House Freedom Caucus members — Reps. Morgan Griffith, R-Va.; Chip Roy, R-Texas; and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — all voted to advance it to a chamber-wide vote. The vast majority of House Republicans are also supportive of the legislation, pointing out it includes multiple measures codifying Trump’s agenda, ramping up the U.S.’s capabilities against China and other adversaries, as well as providing a pay increase for service members. House GOP leaders have the option of putting the bill up under suspension of the rules, meaning it bypasses that procedural hurdle in exchange for raising the passage threshold to two-thirds rather than a simple majority. The NDAA itself is likely to pass along bipartisan lines, but it’s unclear how many Democrats will help. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he would vote for the NDAA despite concerns “with how a number of issues were handled by the Speaker and the White House during final negotiations,” he said in a statement.
New report reveals federal spending per person has ballooned by nearly 10,000% since 1916
FIRST ON FOX: Although the federal government’s spending on citizens has never been greater, Americans continue to feel the burden of an affordability crisis. Conservative fiscal watchdog group Open The Books, which keeps track of various metrics on government growth and spending, identified in their latest report that, since 1916, per capita government spending, or how much money the government spends on average per person in the United States, is 9,800% bigger. In 1916, the government spent an average of $208.36 per person in today’s dollars, according to Open The Books. Since then, the fiscal watchdog group says the trend line has gone up “almost uninterrupted” and the current per capita spending by the federal government sits at $20,474.19. Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan government agency that provides economic and budgetary analyses, found that in Fiscal Year 2025 the federal government spent a record $7.035 trillion. WHITE HOUSE TURNS UP HEAT ON BIDEN’S ECONOMIC RECORD AS VOTERS SOUR ON ‘AFFORDABILITY’ “While American families and businesses find a way to do more with less, government does less with more,” Open The Books CEO John Hart told Fox News Digital. “Today’s federal government is 98 times bigger per person than it was just over a century ago. The best affordability and stimulus program imaginable is to reduce the waste, fraud and central planning in government. Every dollar saved in Washington is a dream realized somewhere in America.” The government’s per capita spending level equals about $82,000 for a family of four. In their report outlining their findings, the group pointed out that this is virtually just as much as the median household income in 2024, which was $83,730. Open The Books also notes that, according to national averages for how much people spend annually on their mortgages and groceries, the government’s per capita spending eclipses the average spending on these two basic needs. According to Open The Books, the Department of Agriculture recommends spending between $12,000 and $20,000 annually on groceries for a family of four, while the average mortgage payment in 2025 is just under $28,000, according to Rocket Mortgage. AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HAD ACCESS TO MORE LUXURIES, BUT WHY DO WE FEEL SO POOR? During the early part of Donald Trump’s first term, as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began to take shape, Open The Books also worked to keep track of all the savings that the Musk-led group created. Ultimately, DOGE’s cuts were but a drop in the bucket compared to how much the government forks over each year in mandatory spending for programs like Medicare and Social Security, Open The Books found. While DOGE helped scoop up discretionary spending savings totaling approximately $150 billion, and congressional Republicans’ passed a July rescission package saving around $9 billion, spending for Medicare in 2024 totaled around $912 billion, while Social Security got $1.5 trillion. Meanwhile, another recent report from Open The Books illustrated how government spending has increased at a much faster rate than it has grown. For example, staffing levels at the Department of Education have decreased since 2000, but the agency’s spending has grown by 749%, according to Open The Books. “Much of the spending growth is now predestined as Americans are forced to service an extraordinary national debt. But taxpayers should also scrutinize all aspects of federal spending,” Open The Books wrote in their per-capita spending report. “Has quality of life, affordability, or innovation improved along with per capita spending? Aside from interest, what else is the government buying that it wasn’t before, back when we were building ourselves into a global superpower? Open the Books will spend 2026 continuing to expose waste, fraud and abuse wherever it exists and pushing for real-time transparency for taxpayers. Put simply, they deserve more bang for their buck.”
Democrats end 30-year losing streak in Miami as Trump-backed candidate falls short
It took nearly 30 years, but Democrats finally broke their decades-long ballot box losing streak in Miami, Florida, the city known as the nation’s “Gateway to Latin America.” Democrat Eileen Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, in Tuesday’s Miami’s mayoral runoff election, according to the Associated Press. While the election was technically nonpartisan, the ballot box face-off became the latest showdown this year between Democrats and Republicans, with both parties pouring in resources and the race grabbing plenty of national attention. President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzalez, who served on Trump’s Homeland Security Department transition team, and this past weekend took to social media to emphasize that Miami’s mayoral election “is a big and important race!!! Vote for Republican Gonzalez.” WHY MIAMI, FLORIDA IS IN THE NATION’S POLITICAL SPOTLIGHT Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Florida poured in resources to boost Gonzalez. But Democrats, energized by last month’s decisive 2025 election victories and by last week’s double-digit overperformance in a special election in a red-leaning congressional district in Tennessee, aimed for a victory in Miami. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and allied groups invested in the race. DNC Chair Ken Martin told Fox News Digital that, following last week’s “historic overperformance in Tennessee and the record Democratic momentum across the country this year,” the DNC is now “laser focused” on Miami’s mayoral runoff. Higgins made history as the first woman elected Miami mayor. And her victory is another boost for Democrats. “Tonight’s result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs for working families across the country,” the DNC’s Martin said in a statement Tuesday night. Florida was once the largest of the general election battleground states but has shifted dramatically to the right over the past decade. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 points in 2022, and Trump carried the state by 13 points in last year’s presidential election victory. But Miami remains a rare blue oasis in the Sunshine State. Trump narrowly lost the city in last year’s presidential election, although the president won the wider Miami-Dade County by 11 points. Trump made major gains last year with Hispanic and Latino voters in his re-election victory, but Higgins’ win in Tuesday’s runoff election is the latest signal that Hispanic and Latino voters may be souring on the president and his party. KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS Higgins, a mechanical engineer and former Peace Corps director in Belize, focused on the issue of affordability and of making local government work better and faster during her campaign. González, a veteran and senior advisor at an asset management firm, spotlighted the fight against overdevelopment and called for the elimination of property taxes for primary homes as he bid for mayor. Higgins captured 36% of the vote in the Nov. 4 election, with González coming in second at 19%, in the multi-candidate field. With no candidate topping 50%, the contest headed to Tuesday’s runoff. Higgins will succeed term-limited Republican Mayor Francis Suarez, who grabbed national attention two years ago as he briefly and unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination.
Federal appeals court lets Pentagon reinstate transgender service ban, says judge overstepped military leaders
A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the Pentagon to temporarily enforce its revived ban on transgender military service, ruling that a lower court improperly blocked the Trump administration’s 2025 policy. The decision marks a major development in one of the most closely watched military policy cases in the country. The 2–1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stays a district court’s preliminary injunction and permits the Trump administration to continue enforcing the restrictions while litigation continues. “Today’s victory is a great win for the security of the American people,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. “As commander in chief, President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that our Department of War prioritizes military readiness over woke gender ideology.” FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST TRUMP ORDER HALTING SEX CHANGE PROCEDURES IN PRISONS Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, writing for the majority, said the district court wrongly substituted its own judgment for that of Pentagon leadership. “The United States military enforces strict medical standards to ensure that only physically and mentally fit individuals join its ranks. For decades, these requirements barred service by individuals with gender dysphoria, a medical condition associated with clinically significant distress,” the majority wrote. “The district court nonetheless preliminarily enjoined the 2025 policy based on its own contrary assessment of the evidence. In our view, the court afforded insufficient deference to the Secretary’s [Hegseth] considered judgment. Accordingly, we stay the preliminary injunction pending the government’s appeal.” FEDERAL JUDGE UNDERCUTS TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ‘RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY’ The 2025 policy, enacted under President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, “generally bars individuals with gender dysphoria from serving in the Armed Forces,” the court noted. According to the majority opinion, the Pentagon concluded the policy would advance “important military interests of combat readiness, unit cohesion, and cost control.” Judge Patricia Millett Pillard issued a sharp dissent, accusing the Trump administration of failing to justify the renewed ban and arguing that the motives behind it were impermissible. SUPREME COURT HANDS TRUMP VICTORY ON TRANSGENDER PASSPORT POLICY CHANGE “There may well be valid reasons to reexamine and alter military service policies set by previous administrations. But on this record, one cannot tell,” Pillard wrote. “Defendants provide no evidence that they based their new policy on any assessment of costs, benefits, or any other factor legitimately bearing on military necessity. Indeed, there is ‘no evidence that [President Trump or Secretary Hegseth] consulted with uniformed military leaders’ before imposing their unprecedented ban on transgender servicemembers.” Pillard said the administration’s approach reflected “animus from the start,” pointing to President Trump’s Jan. 27 Executive Order 14183, or Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, issued in February. In that order, Trump declared it “the policy of the United States” that “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” The order also claimed that openly identifying as transgender is “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member” and directed Hegseth to develop policies within 60 days. The policy on transgender service has shifted repeatedly over the past decade. Restrictions were relaxed in 2016, tightened in 2018, relaxed again in 2021 and reinstated in 2025, the court noted. The district court halted the latest version earlier this year, prompting the Pentagon’s successful appeal for a stay. The case now returns to the district court for full consideration and is expected to continue moving toward what could ultimately be a Supreme Court review. The Department of War did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Expert reveals key factor that led to massive Minnesota fraud scheme
An ongoing decline in American assimilation and a deep fear of being accused of racism were key factors in the massive fraud scheme in Minnesota that is now coming to light, according to an expert. Minnesota is facing one of the largest social-services fraud scandals in U.S. history after federal prosecutors uncovered what they describe as “schemes stacked upon schemes” by Somali-run non-profits that siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from child-nutrition and Medicaid housing programs. Prosecutors have since charged more than 70 defendants, a large percentage of whom are members of Minnesota’s Somali community, securing dozens of convictions as new waves of indictments continue. The scandal has triggered state and federal investigations, congressional scrutiny, and calls for accountability over why warnings were missed and how the fraud was allowed to reach this scale. Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said that the decline in immigrant assimilation in America was key during an interview with Fox News Digital. INSIDE ‘LITTLE MOGADISHU’: MINNESOTA’S BELEAGUERED SOMALI COMMUNITY UNDER A CLOUD OF FRAUD AND TRUMP ATTACKS “Assimilation is a two-sided coin. The pressure comes from inside, from you wanting to assimilate so you can make it in the new society, but it also comes from outside, where the society says, ‘Hey, we expect you to do this. We expect you, if you want a driver’s license, to be able to speak and read English at a basic level.’ We don’t do that anymore in America. We don’t we don’t really expect anything of our immigrants,” explained Hankinson. “There are a lot of people who are American-born,” he went on, “who really don’t like this country and what it stands for. And so, they don’t think anyone else ought to accept it and adapt to it either.” Hankinson noted that in no way can the fraud scheme be blamed writ large on the Minnesota-Somali community, which is estimated to have around 80,000 people. He said that those involved in the scam are a minority. However, the fact that the tight-knit community has by and large not assimilated into the broader American society and customs meant that many of the factors that could have exposed the scheme earlier were not there, according to Hankinson. “When you come from a culture that provides you with nothing from the center, everything is family, everything is clan, everything is local, then it’s almost impossible for you to understand how a federal system would work. And if your neighbor came to you and said, ‘Hey, we got this cool thing going, if you just say your kid’s autistic, I’ll give you a thousand dollars a month.’ I mean, that’s a no-brainer for an awful lot of people,” he explained. “Even if they thought that maybe it was wrong on some level, they might think, ‘Well, hang on, in my new country, maybe that’s frowned upon,’ they’re not going to rat out the clan member, the family member,” he added. TIM WALZ CALLED OUT BY WASHINGTON POST FOR REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL That, combined with the existence of generous taxpayer-funded welfare programs and Minnesota being what Hankinson called a “high trust state,” made the state “ill-equipped to handle fraud.” “In Minnesota, these programs were low-hanging fruit. They were so easy to fleece, it’s almost farcical,” said Hankinson. “So, the carrot is there to commit fraud, and there’s no stick.” He pointed to one aspect of the scheme in which prosecutors say Minnesota’s Medicaid autism program was exploited by companies recruiting families, securing fraudulent diagnoses, and billing for therapy that never happened, draining millions from the program. “That is outrageous. Somebody should have noticed at some point that, ‘Hang on a minute, why have the autism rates in Somali kids gone from one in a hundred to like one in three or whatever it was?’” he said. “There should have been some oversight, and there again you get into the whole American racial guilt, which is a particular issue that we have, where if you’re an unscrupulous scammer, you can always play the race card, and that will often get you away with it because people are terrified.” “Nobody likes to be called a racist. It’s about one of the worst things you could be called,” he went on. “But I do think liberal Americans, in particular white liberal Americans, are more afraid of that label than anything else. So, some of these scammers, they threatened to make a fuss about being targeted on account of race or immigrant status or religion. And that probably contributed to state authorities being a little slower.” ILHAN OMAR SAYS SHE’S FRUSTRATED SINCE SOMALIS ARE ALSO VICTIMS IN ‘FEEDING OUR FUTURE’ SCAM This dynamic has also played out on the national level. Following the Trump administration’s announcement of its crackdown on illegal immigrant Somalis in Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has accused it of “demonizing an entire group of people just by their race and their ethnicity.” “I can’t take Tim Walz seriously, honestly, because he was the governor who was in charge while all this was happening. Where was he?” said Hankinson. “He was asleep at the switch.” “It’s not a question of scapegoating,” he said. “It’s a good thing to send a message, not to the Somali community per se, but to all of Minnesota and the rest of the 49 states that this is America, we have laws, we have rules. When you break those rules, you are going to get punished.” Hankinson added that ultimately, he hopes to see many Somalis joining in the effort to crack down on the minority involved in fraud so that they can “give their community the reputation that it deserves.”