Democrats’ El Salvador trip lampooned by Senate GOP group in faux tourism ad: ‘¡Bienvenidos!’
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) lampooned Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador to aid deportee and alleged gang member Kilmar Garcia in an ad Tuesday, while appearing to foreshadow more potential trips from members of the upper chamber’s minority party. “¡Bienvenidos a El Salvador Senate Dems!,” the NRSC said in a statement. “Democrats should feel free to make their trip to hang out with MS-13 gangbangers one-way.” In the ad, a video mimicking a typical beachy tourism ad plays as the narrator begins, “Welcome to El Salvador.” NOT A MARYLAND MAN: GOP BLASTS DEMOCRAT SENATOR FIGHTING FOR RETURN OF SALVADORAN NATIONAL “Home to breathtaking sunsets, world-class surf breaks – and gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia.” The narrator goes on to call the country “THE destination (emphasis theirs) for Democrats seeking the thrill of bringing violent criminal illegal aliens back to America.” Van Hollen had sought to negotiate the release of Garcia so he could accompany the lawmaker back to Maryland, where his family lives. Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen. “Come witness Trump Derangement Syndrome in its purest form,” the narrator adds. “From Chris Van Hollen to Cory Booker; you may even see Jon Ossoff.” KILMAR GARCIA NOW GETS 5 TOTAL DEM PROPONENTS IN EL SALVADOR Booker did not respond to requests for comment both last week and on Monday after the ad was released. A spokesperson for Ossoff told Fox News Digital: “Sen. Ossoff has not traveled and is not traveling to El Salvador.” The ad continued: “So what are you waiting for, Senate Democrats? Join your colleagues, and step into the rhythm of rescue today,” the ad concludes with “Rhythm of Rescue” in wavy blue text superimposed on a coastal scene. Nearby Colombia recently utilized the tourism slogan “Feel the Rhythm.” Since Van Hollen returned to the U.S. without Garcia, four Democratic House members: Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Robert Garcia of California, and Maxwell Frost of Florida made a joint trip to San Salvador. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Homeland Security released new documents this week that it says definitively prove Abrego Garcia, who is imprisoned in El Salvador after his deportation from the U.S., is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which his lawyers deny. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said at the White House earlier this month it would be “preposterous” to send Garcia to the U.S., which he did not originally enter legally.
Rubio overhauling ‘bloated’ State Department in sweeping reform
The Trump administration has announced it is overhauling the State Department and shuttering more than 130 offices around the world in order to streamline operations and align the department more closely with the administration’s foreign policy objectives. The move was announced on Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality and redundant offices will be shut down. Programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will be shuttered too, he said. Rubio said the State Department had become bloated, bureaucratic and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in a new era of great power competition. RUBIO ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF STATE DEPARTMENT EFFORT THAT ‘WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD ALREADY’ “Over the past 15 years, the Department’s footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared,” Rubio wrote. “But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy. The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests.” Rubio wrote that an example of an out-of-control department is the Global Engagement Center (GEC) that he shuttered last week. He said the office engaged with media outlets and platforms to censor speech it disagreed with, including that of President Donald Trump. The GEC has been accused by conservatives of censoring them too and had a budget of around $61 million with 120 people on staff. Despite Congress voting to shutter it, the GEC simply renamed itself and continued operating as if nothing had changed, Rubio wrote. The shake-up announcement comes days after a New York Times report outlining a State Department overhaul via a leaked draft executive order. Rubio’s plans announced Tuesday, which were accompanied by a State Department reorganization chart, included the shuttering of several embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa and reducing diplomatic operations in Canada. Rubio’s plans include reducing the number of agency offices from 734 to 602, effectively closing 132 offices, a 17% reduction. Offices related to human rights and democracy promotion are among those targeted for closure. He said activists redefined “human rights” and “democracy” to pursue their projects at the taxpayers’ expense, “even when they were in direct conflict with the goals of the Secretary, the President, and the American people.” RUBIO SAYS US READY TO ‘MOVE ON’ WITHIN DAYS IF NO PROGRESS MADE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEAL He said that the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against “anti-woke” leaders around the world who transformed their hatred of Israel into policies such as arms embargoes. The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, he said, funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to international organizations and NGOs that facilitated mass migration around the world and at the southern border. The proposed changes also include all non-security foreign assistance being consolidated in regional bureaus to ensure that every bureau and office under the State Department has a clear responsibility and mission, Rubio said. For instance, if something concerns Africa, the Bureau of African Affairs will handle it. Additionally, programs not aligned with core national interests, such as certain diversity and inclusion initiatives, will be discontinued. Rubio said the changes are necessary to deliver on Trump’s America First foreign policy and bring the State Department into the 21st century. Rubio’s announcement did not say whether any consulates would shut. Separately, under secretaries at the State Department are also being instructed to present plans to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15% within 30 days, according to a report by The Free Press, citing a senior State Department official. Rubio shared the report on X. These include six top offices employing thousands of people, the outlet reported. “The American people deserve a State Department willing and able to advance their safety, security, and prosperity around the world, one respectful of their tax dollars and the sacred trust of government service,” Rubio wrote. “Starting this week, they will have one.”
Gorsuch, Roberts side with left-leaning Supreme Court justices in immigration ruling
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday sided with left-leaning justices in an immigration appeals case, a narrow ruling that could portend the court’s future thinking amid a flurry of legal cases centered on immigration. The 5-4 ruling in Monsalvo Velazquez v. Bondi centered on the government’s interpretation of a 60-day “voluntary departure” deadline, which authorities can use to allow certain immigrants deemed to be of “good moral character” to depart the U.S. on their own terms within that timeframe. The Supreme Court ruled, with the backing of Roberts and Gorsuch, that any voluntary departure deadlines for immigrants under the 60-day departure time frame that fall on a weekend or on a legal holiday in the U.S. should be extended to the next business day. FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS HALT TO TRUMP ADMIN’S CFPB TERMINATIONS Writing for the majority, Gorsuch noted that this interpretation of the 60-day period aligns with long-standing administrative practices, including in immigration law. “When Congress adopts a new law against the backdrop of a ‘long-standing administrative construction,’ the Court generally presumes the new provision works in harmony with what came before,” Gorsuch said. “Since at least the 1950s, immigration regulations have provided that when calculating deadlines, the term ‘day’ carries its specialized meaning by excluding Sundays and legal holidays (and later Saturdays) if a deadline would otherwise fall on one of those days,” Gorsuch added, noting that the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act passed by Congress uses the same reading. Gorsuch was joined in the majority decision by Roberts, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The court’s ruling overturns the decision of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Board of Immigration Appeals, which had voted to reject that interpretation in the case of Monsalvo Velázquez, a 32-year-old Colorado resident targeted for removal in 2019. And while the case in question centers largely on the technicalities of certain immigration proceedings, the slim majority ruling could offer early signs of the court’s thinking as justices gear up for a flurry of high-profile immigration cases – including cases centered on due process protections for migrants, and on nationwide injunctions that block Trump’s birthright citizenship ban from taking force. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CASE Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett dissented, noting that, in their view, the court lacked jurisdiction to weigh in on the matter. While Thomas said he would have remanded the case back to the lower circuit court to consider other outstanding issues, and Barrett took issue with the nature of the appeal filed by Monsalvo, Alito said in a separate dissenting opinion that he viewed the court’s interpretation as a whole as incorrect. In his view, the 60-day period imposed by the government is straightforward, and should include weekends. “There will always be a sympathetic pro se alien who is a day or two late,” Alito said. “Unless the Court is willing to extend the statutory deadline indefinitely, it would presumably be forced to say in such cases that a day too late is just too bad.” “For this reason, sympathy for petitioner cannot justify the Court’s decision,” he said. The narrow ruling comes just weeks before May 15, when justices are slated to hear oral arguments in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. The case is considered one of the most highly anticipated ones to be reviewed by the high court since Trump took office.
Republicans troll Dems’ El Salvador visits with offer to foot travel bill – in exchange for one thing
The House GOP’s elections arm is offering to foot the bill for any future Democratic lawmakers’ trips to El Salvador after multiple progressive lawmakers traveled there in protest of the Trump administration’s deportation policies. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) made the public offering on Monday – but any takers have to provide real-time video evidence of the visit. “If out-of-touch House Democrats are so desperate to cozy up to violent gang members, the least they can do is let Americans watch the show,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said. “We’ll pay for the plane tickets, they just can’t forget to smile for the camera while they sell out their constituents.” KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA SUSPECTED OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN REPORT OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS Progressive Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was in El Salvador last week, where he met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant married to an American citizen. The administration says Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member with a violent history. Democrats, in contrast, have painted him as a Maryland father and husband wrongfully deported under the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration plans. Four House Democrats – Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., and Maxine Dexter, D-Ore. – are currently in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia’s family lawyer in an effort to secure his release. Frost told Fox News host Will Cain on Monday that they had not been able to meet with him. In their press release announcing the trip, the group said it was not funded by taxpayer dollars, though it did not say how it was funded. OREGON LAWMAKER LATEST DEMOCRAT TO VISIT EL SALVADOR FOR DEPORTED ILLEGAL MIGRANT ABREGO GARCIA It comes amid President Donald Trump’s standoff with the courts over his administration’s deportation of suspected Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gang members to El Salvador. Democrats and human rights groups argue that the White House is denying due process rights to deported individuals, while supporters say the illegal immigrants’ hearings and deportation orders are sufficient evidence of due process. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision earlier this month that ordered the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. The court ordered the U.S. “to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to tie Democrats to suspected criminals being deported to an El Salvador prison – particularly after border security and immigration proved potent issues for the GOP in the 2024 elections. SEN VAN HOLLEN POURS COLD WATER ON ‘MARGARITA-GATE’ PHOTO-OP AFTER EL SALVADOR TRIP The NRCC’s Senate counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), released a video on X with a message to Democrats: “¡Bienvenidos a El Salvador Senate Dems! Democrats should feel free to make their trip to hang out with MS-13 gangbangers one-way.” The 40-second video is a vacation-style clip advertising El Salvador as “the destination for Democrats seeking the thrill of bringing violent criminal illegal aliens back to America.” “Come witness Trump Derangement Syndrome in its purest form,” the voiceover says. “So, what are you waiting for, Senate Democrats?”
Democrats’ identity crisis: Youth revolt rocks party after Trump comeback
The tract of political land where Democrats reside is unique. It’s not the same political street address where they took up shop in 1995 after losing the House and Senate to the “Republican Revolution” of 1994 – which flipped control of the House to the GOP for the first time in 40 years. They still held the presidency then with President Bill Clinton. It’s not the same zip code after the legendary House blowout in 2010 where they dropped an historic 63 seats. President Barack Obama remained in the White House. It’s even a different electoral co-op for Democrats compared to 2016, when President Donald Trump unexpectedly prevailed over Hillary Clinton, winning in the Electoral College. Democrats controlled neither the House nor Senate in 2017. But a lack of support for Trump in Congress and his inexperience at governance undercut sizable portions of his legislative agenda. DEMOCRATS’ VICE CHAIR IGNITES CIVIL WAR, TARGETING ‘ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL’ INCUMBENTS IN PRIMARIES Fast-forward to 2025. President Trump is back in the White House – this time after winning the popular vote and Electoral College, scoring a decisive knockout over former Vice President Kamala Harris. Republicans clung to power in the House and flipped the Senate. And the political real estate Democrats now occupy is a very foreign locale. They’re out of power in Washington. But President Trump returned to power resoundingly and emboldened. And this time, congressional Republicans – MAGA Republicans – stand foursquare behind Mr. Trump. So it’s natural there’s Democratic infighting about what went wrong, who deserves blame and, more importantly, what direction the party should take next. Here’s the schism: Younger, more progressive Democrats are trying to weed out senior lawmakers and power brokers who have been in office for years. Let’s start with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. She’s the best known of younger, energetic, left-leaning Democrats. She’s also the most-experienced figure in the Democrats’ youth movement. Ocasio-Cortez arrived on the scene, upsetting former Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., in a 2018 primary. “We got them on their back foot. We’ve got them scared,” said Ocasio-Cortez recently about MAGA-aligned Republicans. They’re brash. “Let’s go kick some a–! Let’s go win our young people back,” thundered 25-year-old Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chairman David Hogg. And they’re blunt about Democratic errors and missteps. “What if we didn’t suck?” asked 26-year-old Kat Abughazaleh, the Democratic Illinois congressional candidate and TikTok influencer. SEN. VAN HOLLEN POURS COLD WATER ON ‘MARGARITA-GATE’ PHOTO-OP AFTER EL SALVADOR TRIP: ‘NOBODY DRANK ANY’ Younger Democrats are trying to banish party veterans. “We’ have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. “New leaders. Not the old guard.” Hogg is now spending $20 million to coax younger Democrats to primary longtime congressional incumbents. “What we’re trying to do here is not just focus on primaries where there’s potentially an older incumbent. But more than anything, an ineffective person in that position. And replace with a generational leader,” said Hogg on MSNBC. Abughazaleh is primarying 80-year-old Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who is progressive. But she first came to Congress in 1998. She’s been a member of the House of Representatives longer than Abughazaleh has been alive. “You have to look to the exceptions for real leadership, as the majority work from an outdated playbook. We need a makeover,” said Abughazaleh. But devouring your own is risky. “Beating the other side is more important to many voters [rather] than who exactly is representing your own team,” said University of Mary Washington political scientist Stephen Farnsworth. But Farnsworth concedes that unrest brews on the Democratic side of the aisle. “What we’re talking about here is a pretty powerful, generational clash within the Democratic Party over how to aggressively challenge President Trump,” said Farnsworth. “The Democratic Party has to figure out where the sweet spot is. You have to be energized enough to motivate those voters who might stay at home.” Some top political handicappers like Nate Silver now believe that Ocasio-Cortez could be the odds-on favorite to emerge as the Democrats’ 2028 presidential nominee. Now 35 years old, the New York Democrat is old enough to become president. Ocasio-Cortez has kept busy during the congressional recess by barnstorming the country with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the 83-year-old former Democratic presidential candidate. “We’re here together because of an extreme concentration of power, greed and corruption which is taking over this country like never before,” Ocasio-Cortez declared during a whistlestop in Missoula, Montana. DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S FAVORABLE RATINGS DROP TO HISTORIC LOWS So Democrats are searching for a toe-hold against the president. Younger voters favored Democrats for years. But a Fox News voter analysis found a staggering 11-point spike in voters under age 30 favoring Trump in 2024 compared with 2020. “In the 2024 election, Democrats lost a lot of voters who had voted for Biden four years ago. Some of them went to Trump,” said Farnsworth. “It seems to me that a more aggressive messaging strategy is certainly one way of connecting with voters who didn’t feel as warmly toward the Democrats in 2024 as they did in 2020.” Republicans found themselves at a loss in late 2012. They were perhaps overconfident that they were going to blow out President Obama. Republicans retreated to backrooms in Washington to conduct an “autopsy” about reaching out to minorities and retrenching the party. The party didn’t rely on the findings of that postmortem much. Republicans held the House and finally flipped the Senate after they tried to get control dating back to 2006. FIRST ON FOX: REPUBLICAN PARTY SHOWCASES MASSIVE HAUL Republicans also won the House in 2010 after Obama’s big 2008 victory. In 2009, many Republicans felt it was best if the GOP took a couple of cycles to retrench their bench and agenda during the echoes of the presidency of George W. Bush. But Republicans found themselves in control of the House following the 2010 midterms. The party was more than happy to be back in power in
Al Gore compares Trump admin to Hitler’s Third Reich
Former Vice President Al Gore compared the Trump administration to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party while speaking at a climate change event in San Francisco on Monday. Gore was delivering the keynote speech at a science museum to kick off the city’s Climate Week event when he said the Trump administration was “trying to create their own preferred version of reality.” “I understand very well why it is wrong to compare Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich to any other movement,” Gore said. “It was uniquely evil, full stop. I get it. But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil.” Gore then went on to cite what German philosophers had called their “moral autopsy” of Hitler’s Third Reich following the end of World War II. CHRIS MATTHEWS SAYS TRUMP IS DOING THE SAME THING HITLER DID ‘IN THE HOLOCAUST’ WITH ABREGO GARCIA “It was [Jürgen] Habermas’ mentor, Theodore Adorno, who wrote that the first step in that nation’s descent into hell was, and I quote, ‘the conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power,”’ Gore said. “He described how the Nazis, and I quote again, ‘attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false.’ End quote. The Trump administration is insisting on trying to create their own preferred version of reality.” Gore then launched into an attack against what he asserted were the views of the Trump administration on climate change and efforts to undo Democratic policies. “They say the climate crisis is a hoax invented by the Chinese to destroy American manufacturing,” Gore said of the Trump administration. “They say coal is clean. They say wind turbines cause cancer. They say sea-level rise just creates more beachfront property.” PHOTOS: BIDEN’S ‘AMBITIOUS CLIMATE GOALS’ GO DOWN IN LITERAL FLAMES BY POPULAR AMERICAN BEACH “We have to deal with the democracy crisis in order to solve the climate crisis,” the former vice president said. Gore isn’t the first politician who tried to compare Trump to Hitler. During the 2024 presidential campaign, some of Trump’s political rivals and some liberal media outlets invoked comparisons between the president and Hitler and other fascist leaders.
Noem, DHS outline next step to speed up deportation process
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its plan to rework the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, an online database used by law enforcement to identify the noncitizen status of individuals in the U.S. DHS shared exclusive details with Fox News Digital Tuesday, which include eliminating fees for database searches, streamlining mass immigration status checks, integrating criminal records, and creating a “user-friendly interface” to “prevent non-citizens from exploiting taxpayer benefits of voting illegally.” The SAVE program, established in 1987, allows local law enforcement officials and various government agencies to input biographic info as well as noncitizen documentation such as I-94 number, SEVIS ID, or Alien number, to pull up immigration information on related individuals. LEAVITT GOES OFF ON DEMOCRAT FOR TAXPAYER-FUNDED TRIP TO SUPPORT DEPORTED SUSPECTED MS-13 GANG MEMBER “Illegal aliens have exploited outdated systems to defraud Americans and taint our elections,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This revamped SAVE system ensures government officials can swiftly verify statuses, halting entitlement and voter fraud.” DHS will work alongside the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to maximize the effectiveness and update the program. FLORIDA HALTS MIGRANT ARRESTS AFTER JUDGE REBUKES STATE OVER IMMIGRATION LAW ENFORCEMENT The move to overhaul the SAVE program comes after the Trump administration sparred with federal judges on mass deportations. Most recently, the Supreme Court halted the administration’s removal of Venezuelan migrants under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. The highest court, however, did not issue a full stop. Rather, the ruling stated that Venezuelan migrants held in a Texas detention center are not to be removed “until further order of this court.” MORE THAN 500K IMMIGRANTS MISSED THEIR COURT HEARINGS ON BIDEN’S WATCH: ANALYSIS Justice Samual Alito, who offered the dissenting opinion on the decision, stated that the “Court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The number of migrant encounters at the borders has fallen dramatically under President Donald Trump.
Likely Dem gubernatorial candidate in key swing state praises DEI at Sharpton event: ‘Stay woke’
FIRST ON FOX: Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat running for governor in the key swing state, recently attended the National Action Network’s convention and urged the audience to “stay woke” while defending businesses who push DEI. Ford, who stood up and cheered when New York’s Democratic Attorney General Letitia James walked into the room at Al Sharpton’s event before embracing her, touted the “affirmative action scholarship” that he received to attend Texas A&M University while speaking at the convention earlier this month. “When they talk about the opposite of equity, its inequity, you know what that means. You work hard, but you don’t get the same thing everyone else gets for the same work that they’ve done,” Ford said, before praising companies who have refused to scrap DEI policies. “Whether it’s Costco… whether it’s Delta, whether it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers, I know I’m in the wrong city for that, but the point I’m making is these places that adamantly and continue to support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, we should support because they support us,” Ford said. CONTROVERSIAL DEFENSE PROGRAM TIED TO DEI-LADEN CONTRACTOR COULD BE IN CROSSHAIRS OF DOGE: ‘POSTER CHILD’ Ford then suggested that the term “woke” was a badge of honor rather than a negative. “Here’s what’s happening right now, they don’t want you to ‘wake up everybody,’” Ford said, referencing a Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song. “That’s why they’ve got a war on woke, you understand? They don’t want you asking what’s going on? They want you ignorant, they want you complacent. That’s why they changing history books right before your eyes, and so it’s important that you stay woke and that you continue asking questions and hold folks accountable. That’s what you can do and you can do that anytime, every time whenever you feel like making it happen.” DESPITE TRUMP’S ORDER, A SURPRISING NUMBER OF DEI PROGRAMS REMAIN ‘ACTIVE’ AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES Fox News Digital reached out to Ford’s office for comment. Ford, who has said he plans to run for governor against Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo as a Democrat in a state President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2024, made his comments touting DEI shortly after Trump began his push to rid DEI from the federal government. Additionally, companies across the country have been moving away from DEI. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Sharpton, the president of National Action Network, has called on his followers to boycott companies that have moved away from DEI, including Target. Sharpton recently met with the retail giant’s CEO in a meeting that Sharpton reportedly asked for. “You can’t have an election come and all of a sudden, change your old positions,” Sharpton said. “If an election determines your commitment to fairness, then fine, you have a right to withdraw from us, but then we have a right to withdraw from you.”
GOP lawmaker touts $19M Trump tariff success story in her district: ‘New model for American manufacturing’
FIRST ON FOX: An Indiana lawmaker is celebrating an American bicycle company opening a new manufacturing plant in her district after President Donald Trump launched his aggressive tariff campaign against China. Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital that Guardian Bikes is starting with a new $19 million investment in Seymour, Indiana to expand their operations there – which she said will create new local jobs. “The number of job opportunities that are available, the investment right here in southern Indiana, that’s money that’s staying right here at home and not going outside the country. And certainly away from China,” Houchin said in her first interview on the topic. TRUMP SHREDS BIDEN, ‘RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS’ IN EASTER MESSAGE The Indiana Republican, now in her second term, said she first visited Guardian Bikes shortly after being elected to Congress. At the time, they had just 16 employees, she said. “At the time, they talked to us about their desire to become a 100% made in the USA bicycle factory,” Houchin said. “Currently, over 97% of bicycles are made outside of the United States. Many are assembled in the United States, but their component parts mostly come from China.” Guardian Bikes specifically relied on Chinese imports for 70% of its production, she said. After Trump’s election in November 2024, however, she said “they have been slowly working toward being 100% made in the USA.” “They just announced $19 million in financing with JPMorgan Chase to launch the first large-scale bicycle frame manufacturing operation in the United States,” Houchin said. “This has been made possible by President Trump’s trade policies…it’s just pretty incredible that we have a president right now that is focused so much…on creating a level playing field for American companies.” Houchin said the company is aiming to increase its “mass market” bicycles manufactured in the U.S. from 100,000 to over 1 million. “That’s just very, very exciting,” she said. Guardian Bikes also currently has locations in California and Pennsylvania, with two more expected in Texas and Georgia this year, according to the company’s website. The site also touts the company’s plans to manufacture its bike frames in Indiana, and vows to be “rapidly” moving toward being made entirely within the United States. “We brought Guardian Bikes production to the U.S., because we believe the future of manufacturing is local, fast, and data-driven. Indiana, and specifically Seymour, offers the perfect combination of workforce, infrastructure, and proximity to our customer base,” Guardian Bikes CEO Brian Riley told Fox News Digital. “It’s not just about making bikes – it’s about building a new model for American manufacturing.” WHAT THE FINANCIAL MARKETS ARE SCREAMING ABOUT TRUMP’S TARIFFS It comes as critics of Trump’s sweeping tariff plans have accused him of upending the global economy. Supporters of the plan, however, have hailed it as both a potent negotiating strategy and a long-needed solution to jobs moving overseas. A cornerstone of Trump’s policy has been a 10% tariff on all imports to the U.S. Plans for additional reciprocal tariffs, which Trump announced earlier this month, were dropped against countries that have not retaliated against the U.S. However, Trump has levied a massive 145% base tariff across all of Beijing’s exports in a bid to crack down on the U.S.’s growing reliance on Chinese manufacturing. When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital, “Trillions in historic investment commitments from industry leaders – now including Guardian Bikes – since Election Day only reinforces what President Trump has been saying all along: if you make your product in America, you don’t have to worry about tariffs.”
Florida protester screams at Rep. Byron Donalds during tense town hall
A protester was captured on video yelling at Rep. Byron Donalds and being escorted away by security during a town hall hosted by the Florida Republican. Tensions escalated inside the auditorium at Estero High School Monday night after a woman began shouting at Donalds – a staunch ally of President Donald Trump who is running to succeed term-limited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – over the war in Gaza. “The Palestinians have voted for Hamas and they have not done anything to remove Hamas. So you want to have a shouting match with me? Let’s have a shouting match on the facts,” Donalds said. “The truth is, is that Hamas held elections one time. One time. And they never held elections again. Because they would prefer to keep the Palestinian people under their boots.” “So if you’re going to ask who has blood on your hands, it is Hamas and it is the people that empower them…. That’s the truth. If you want to continue to have a shouting match with me at least come with the facts. Next question,” Donald told her, drawing applause from other members of the crowd. VIDEO: PROTESTER FORCIBLY ESCORTED OUT OF REPUBLICAN TOWN HALL HOSTED BY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE However, the woman continued yelling at Donalds. “What you’re doing is yelling now and you’re being disrespectful. You, ma’am, you are being disrespectful. And I will respect you. And I will honor the fact that you are here trying to get answers,” Donald said. “But if you’re gonna hold this thing up and be disrespectful, then it’s time for you to be removed. You can leave.” The protester was then seen being escorted away by law enforcement. As she was being led out of the auditorium, she shouted, “Free, free Palestine!” Donalds also encountered a hostile reaction from his audience while responding to a question about oversight being imposed on Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). HOW DEMOCRATS INFILTRATED ‘THUNDEROUS’ GOP TOWN HALLS “First and foremost, when it comes to what Elon Musk is doing, he’s everything that he does right now is in the auspices of being a special employee under the presidency of Donald Trump. So how this works is the president’s allowed to have special employees. Every president basically had these special employees. They’re tasked with specific duties, specific responsibilities. Some of them have been tasked with going overseas, trying to negotiate climate policy. That was John Kerry when he was the climate czar under President Biden,” Donalds told the crowd. “And this instance, Elon Musk is essentially the head of the DOGE that Donald Trump has set up in his administration.” The crowd eventually started groaning and grew restless as Donalds spoke. “Are you going to allow me to answer the question? OK. So like I said, what he, what they doing is under the directions of the president of the United States. If you’re going to talk about what oversight is doing, we actually have to let the DOGE committee, the DOGE department actually finish its work,” Donalds continued. “What they are examining right now is inefficiency in a federal system.” “You can boo if you want to, but those are the facts. Because if you go back in time, back to 2009,” he added. “Then-President Obama famously said that he wanted to examine the efficiencies or lack thereof in the federal government. Elon Musk is doing the exact same thing.”