Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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RFK Jr.’s Top Drug Regulator Resigns After Alleged Revenge Campaign

George Tidmarsh says he was pushed out for criticizing a newly created rapid review program for new drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator has resigned after being accused of soliciting a bribe and tanking a company’s stock as part of an alleged revenge plot against a former colleague.

Dr. George Tidmarsh, who led the FDA’s drug division, was accused in a lawsuit Sunday of retaliating against pharmaceutical investor Kevin Tang starting in 2019, when Tang asked him to resign as CEO from La Jolla Pharmaceutical, where Tang was the board chair.

Tidmarsh, however, says he was ousted because he raised concerns last week about a new program to rapidly approve new drugs, The New York Times reported.

The FDA falls within the purview of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services, which has been plagued with scandal since the one-time anti-vaccine crusader took the helm in February.

Tidmarsh was placed on administrative leave on Friday and resigned Sunday, the same day the lawsuit was filed, an HHS spokesperson told the Times. As of Sunday evening, Tidmarsh maintained he was still on administrative leave, the paper reported.

For years, Tidmarsh allegedly sent threatening messages to Tang, who also served on the boards of two other pharmaceuticals companies: American Laboratories Holdings, LLC, and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, according to Sunday’s lawsuit.

After he was hired by the FDA commissioner in July, Tidmarsh allegedly tried to solicit a bribe from Tang and tried to pull a product from the market produced by American Laboratories.

In September, Tidmarsh wrote a LinkedIn post criticizing an FDA-approved kidney drug produced by Aurinia, which brought the lawsuit.

The drug, voclosporin, had “not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients,” Tidmarsh wrote. It was a highly unusual move for a government official, according to The Wall Street Journal. The FDA approval process had found that the drug trials had shown a “clinically meaningful benefit.”

After the post was published, Aurinia’s stock dropped by 20 percent within a few hours, wiping out more than $350 million in market value, according to the suit, though it later recovered. Tidmarsh later took down the post and said he had been speaking in a personal capacity.

In a statement to the Journal, Tidmarsh’s lawyer denied that his client had solicited a bribe from Tang.

HHS was not named in Aurinia’s lawsuit. The department placed Tidmarsh on leave “after the office of the general counsel and the office of the inspector general were notified of serious concerns about his personal conduct,” the HHS spokesperson told the Times.

Tidmarsh, however, told the newspaper that he hadn’t thought about Tang since joining the FDA, despite Aurinia’s complaint showing that he sent Tang email messages as recently as December 2024.

“He was irrelevant to me,” Tidmarsh told the Times.

He said he had tried to get the American Laboratories drug pulled because it was marketed without FDA approval and that the FDA’s chief medical and scientific officer, Dr. Vinay Prasad, had created a “toxic environment.”

Prasad, a close Kennedy ally who has emerged as a prominent critic of the COVID-19 vaccine, was forced out and then rehired after the far-right activist Laura Loomer unearthed his old social media posts praising Democratic lawmakers.

In mid-October, the FDA announced it would approve a slate of drugs in record time, which Tidmarsh told the Times he objected to on legal grounds.

He said the issue came to a head last week when officials met to make the agency’s first official decision under the new program. Instead of a months-long review with formal opportunities for debate among the FDA’s scientists, officials were supposed to decide in a day.

The Daily Beast has reached out to HHS and Tidmarsh’s lawyer for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/robert-f-kennedy-jrs-top-drug-regulator-george-tidmarsh-resigns-after-alleged-revenge-campaign/?

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Damning Poll Hits Trump With Record Disapproval Rating

Trump is recording levels higher than those seen after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

President Donald Trump has recorded his highest-ever disapproval rating, according to a brutal new poll.

A CNN/SSRS survey of 1,245 U.S. adults shows that 63 percent are unhappy with Trump’s performance as president, the highest figure of either of his terms.

The 63 percent figure is one point higher than his previous record of 62 percent, which was conducted as Trump was leaving office in January 2021 in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Trump’s approval rating in the new CNN poll is 37 percent, the worst of his second term and only slightly above the 36 percent approval rating he recorded at this point in his first term.

The poll, conducted between Oct. 27 and 30, also found Trump is underwater on several key issues, including those usually considered the Republican’s strong points.

Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) say the U.S. economy is in poor shape, with 61 percent believing Trump’s policies—including his sweeping tariffs—have made economic conditions in the country worse.

A majority (56 percent) say Trump’s foreign policy decisions have damaged America’s global standing, and 57 percent say his hardline mass deportation plans have gone too far.

The poll also suggests that backlash to Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that he is recording record-high approval ratings, could severely hinder the GOP in next November’s midterm elections.

The survey found that 41 percent of adults say their vote will be a message of opposition to Trump, nearly double the 21 percent who say their vote will signal support for the president.

More potential voters also said they have ruled out supporting a Republican entirely (42 percent) than a Democrat (35 percent) in a generic ballot regarding next year’s races.

Independent voters, a crucial demographic in any election, overwhelmingly favor Democrats over Republicans in a generic ballot (44 percent to 31 percent).

Historically, the party in the White House suffers midterm losses, and the GOP already faces a major challenge to retain control of the House next year due to its razor-thin majority.

Republicans do have a slightly easier task of keeping the Senate, where they hold 53 seats in the upper chamber to the Democrats’ 47, including two independents who caucus with the Democrats.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/damning-poll-hits-donald-trump-with-record-disapproval-rating/?

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Trump orders more Venezuela briefings for Congress

President Trump is directing staff to brief more members of Congress on his administration's aggressive anti-narcotics tactics in the Caribbean and Pacific, Axios has learned.

https://www.axios.com/2025/11/03/trump-venezuela-briefings-congress?

Trump administration plan to partially fund SNAP benefits could take months

The Trump administration announced it plans to partially fund SNAP benefits on Monday, after two federal judges ruled on Friday that the funds must be released.

https://www.axios.com/2025/11/03/trump-administration-snap-benefits-partial-funding?

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The Nationalization of Politics (Christian Monterrosa / Bloomberg / Getty)

View in browser You can’t find many clichés hoarier than Tip O’Neill’s rule that “all politics is local.” A truism is supposed to be true, though. Does this one still hold? Tomorrow’s elections make the case that the opposite is more accurate these days: No politics is local. In the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races, Donald Trump is a central issue for voters. In the New York City mayoral election, things are even more complicated: Trump endorsed Andrew Cuomo this evening, the culmination of months of sparring between the president and front-runner Zohran Mamdani, and analysts are debating what Mamdani’s expected victory would mean for the national Democratic Party. Meanwhile, international affairs—especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—have come up frequently in this municipal contest. The nationalization of politics is a familiar story, especially in Congress. As the parties have become more polarized in recent years, voters have become less willing to cross the aisle or split their ballot between Democrats and Republicans—especially because animosity toward the other party is a central part of the polarization. The weakening of local media outlets, especially newspapers, has also left citizens far more informed and invested in national political dynamics than matters closer to home. At one time, a Democrat could win a House seat in North Dakota, and California might send a Republican to the Senate. Don’t expect to see either of those feats repeated soon. As the political scientist Lee Drutman writes, how a given district voted for president “now explains 98% of House outcomes. In the Senate, it’s 91%. In 2000, roughly half of Senate races were competitive enough that candidate quality could flip them. By 2024, only 12% were.” One might expect or hope that governorships and mayoralties are different. Certainly, the people who hold those jobs like to make snarky remarks about how, unlike peacocking legislators, they actually have to get things done. But national politics may be impinging on these jobs in the same way. In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger is expected to be elected governor by a safe margin over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Historically, this is no surprise: Since 1976, the party that won the presidency has lost the Old Dominion governor’s race the following year all but once. As the state urbanizes, however, the factors that account for the curse have become more pronounced. First, as Jeff E. Schapiro writes for the University of Virginia Center for Politics, the “majority of the state’s residents are non-natives, many conditioned by political practices long resisted in Virginia; for example, registration by party and straight-ticket voting. Thus, party affiliation becomes a potent cue for such voters. That includes the politician they’re voting for and the politician they’re voting against.” For example, Trump. Spanberger has avoided talking much about the president, in part because she doesn’t need to: Democrats are highly concentrated in northern Virginia, which is also home to many federal workers—some of whom may be furloughed or working without paychecks during the government shutdown. They know Trump, they dislike him, and they’re already motivated. New Jersey is a little different. For one thing, the race is expected to be closer. Though polls have been jumping around a little, Democrat Mikie Sherrill seems to have a small edge over Republican Jack Ciattarelli. But Sherrill has eagerly invoked the president throughout the campaign, such that Ciattarelli has taken to mocking it on the stump: “If you get a flat tire on the way home tonight, she’s going to blame it on President Trump.” Car troubles might not be the transportation issue that’s most pertinent: Trump’s punitive attempt to kill a major rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York looks like an electoral gift to Sherrill. Even so, the nationalization of the New York mayoral race has been particularly dramatic. That’s a little funny, given that the mayoralty is famously a dead-end job for ambitious politicians, despite the fondest hopes of John Lindsay, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and Bill de Blasio. (And does anyone really think Eric Adams won’t try a comeback on the national stage?) Some of the biggest media moments in the New York race—though not necessarily the ones that have most shaped voters’ views—concern the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This focus is in part because of Mamdani’s own background: Pro-Palestinian activism is a foundational part of his political career, and he’s said he would honor an International Criminal Court warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and order the NYPD to arrest him if he visits New York, which Mamdani likely lacks the legal authority to do. The city’s large Jewish and Muslim populations make the matter one of voter interest there. Still, this focus has led to some bizarre moments. In a June debate, for example, the candidates were asked what country they would visit first as mayor. Several of the candidates answered Israel; Mamdani said he’d stay in New York City. It has also produced some instances of Islamophobia, including from Mamdani’s chief competition today, Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani has mostly tried, as he did in the debate, to pivot to actual local issues that have lifted him in the campaign, especially affordability. His left-wing stances have fueled a split among members of his party nationally: Progressive Democrats hope that he will become the new face of the party. Centrist Democrats, meanwhile, fear that he will become the new face of the party. Indeed, some Republicans hope to use him as a boogeyman nationally. This can benefit both sides: When Trump attacked Mamdani as a “communist” last night, Mamdani was more than happy to bash Cuomo by broadcasting Trump’s remarks to Trump-detesting Big Apple voters. In the recent past, the idea that a New York mayoral candidate’s stance on Palestinian rights might affect his prospects would have appeared peculiar. And the idea that his platform on rent control could sway U.S. House votes in Texas or Nevada—as Republicans hope and centrist Democrats worry—would have seemed downright preposterous. Today, dismissing either of those isn’t so easy. Related: Mamdani has a point about rent control, Rogé Karma argues. New York is hungry for a big grocery experiment.

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?? Trump aides torpedoed China chip push

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Just before President Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last week, top Trump officials — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio — told Trump that greenlighting Nvidia to export a new generation of AI chips to China would threaten national security, The Wall Street Journal reports. Why it matters: The aides said greenlighting the chip sales "would boost China's AI data-center capabilities and backfire on the U.S.," per The Journal. Others against the approval included Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, The Journal reports: "The U.S. was already preparing to make other concessions in the meeting with Xi, in exchange for Beijing allowing exports of rare-earth magnets. Faced with nearly unified opposition from his top advisers, Trump decided not to discuss the advanced Nvidia chips during his Oct. 30 meeting with Xi." Keep reading (gift link).

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Trump’s Ultimate Nemesis Boasts He Has ‘Tons of Evidence’

Former special counsel says he can show the president is guilty.

Jack Smith, the special counsel who secured Donald Trump’s indictment for mishandling classified documents and obstructing the subsequent investigation, said he has “tons of evidence” the president is guilty.

Smith, The New York Times reported Monday, told former Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann last month at University College London that Trump’s case contained evidence of “willfulness.” That was one of the ways the Trump classified documents investigation differed from the probe into Joe Biden, which resulted in no charges being brought, Smith said.

“The rule of law allows for different outcomes when the facts are different. One of the major differences between the two cases is the obstructive conduct in the case that I investigated,” Smith, 56, explained.

“That’s important for a couple different reasons. One reason is: to prove illegal possession of classified documents, you need to show that...the defendant possessed the documents willfully, and that means he knew what he was doing wrong, and he knew he was possessing the documents,“ Smith said. ”In my particular case, we had tons of evidence of willfulness."

Smith then pointed to Trump’s social media posts and public statements asserting that the documents were his and he was allowed to keep them.

“And then after the investigation started, still refusing to give them back, and then trying to obstruct the investigation—that helps prove willfulness,“ Smith continued. ”That sort of evidence didn’t exist in the other case."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

Trump, 79, has lined up Smith as his next target, having already pressured for—and received—indictments of other perceived political enemies like New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.

“He is a CRIMINAL AND SHOULD BE IN JAIL,” Trump fumed in a social media post last week. “A MAJOR LOWLIFE AND FAILURE. An ugly person, both inside and out! I beat him badly, and love watching him squirm now.”

Republicans in Congress are helping Trump out by referring Smith to the Justice Department over how he subpoenaed the metadata of some GOP lawmakers’ phones as part of his investigation into the Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Neither of Smith’s investigations amounted to any criminal consequences for Trump. A Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed the classified documents case in July 2024, and Trump’s election win last November spurred Smith to file to dismiss the election-related charges.

Not only does a DOJ memo state that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, but the Supreme Court last year gave the commander-in-chief even more immunity from prosecution.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-ultimate-nemesis-boasts-he-has-tons-of-evidence/?

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Mike Johnson Mocked for Repeatedly Insisting He Doesn’t Know Anything About Trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson keeps claiming ignorance when quizzed about the president’s actions.

Mike Johnson would like you to believe that he doesn’t really follow the news, doesn’t keep up with events in Washington, D.C., and most definitely doesn’t listen to a word Donald Trump ever says.

The 53-year-old House speaker is fast gaining a reputation for feigning ignorance whenever he’s asked a difficult question.

This week, Johnson told reporters he hadn’t seen Trump’s 60 Minutes interview in which the president said he had pardoned crypto mogul Changpeng “CZ” Zhao but “know nothing about it.”

Nor, Johnson claims, does he.

“I don’t know anything about that… I didn’t see the interview,” Johnson said.

Being a busy man, Johnson could probably be forgiven for missing the occasional TV show. Except, this was merely the latest in a long line of similar ignorant responses Johnson has made to reporters during his news conferences discussing the government shutdown. Critics allege he is keeping the House out of session to stall a discharge petition on the Epstein files.

His regular dumb act is now attracting attention, with video compilations showing the dozen-plus times in the past few months that Johnson has claimed he “doesn’t know about that” going viral on social media.

In October, Johnson told a press conference he didn’t know details of Trump’s push for the Justice Department to hand him $230 million in “compensation” for past prosecutions. “I don’t know the details about that,” he said—saying it was “on my list of things to do.” House Democrats subsequently opened a probe into the reported demand.

The speaker also claimed not to have watched Trump’s fiery late September address to generals and admirals at Quantico, Virginia, where Trump cast opponents as an “enemy from within” and talked up using U.S. cities as military training grounds.

When a suggestive letter to disgraced late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein—reported to contain Trump’s signature—emerged in July, Johnson again ducked commentary, claiming he hadn’t seen the material.

And there are plenty of other examples that have drawn ridicule because many of the stories dominated Washington’s agenda at the time.

Trump’s pay-to-attend gala for top holders of his $TRUMP meme coin—framed by critics as pay-to-play—was widely covered in May, with top investors dining with the president at his Virginia golf club.

The same month, the White House’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747-8 from Qatar for use as Air Force One—and later the Trump library—triggered bipartisan ethics alarm.

Naturally, Johnson claimed he didn’t know about either, saying he had been busy with other matters.

The Daily Beast has contacted Johnson’s office for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-johnson-mocked-for-insisting-he-doesnt-know-about-anything-trump-does/?

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Panicked Bondi Gives Beauty Queen Prosecutor a New Title to Save Trump’s Revenge Cases

Lawyers from the Department of Justice argued in a court filing that Lindsey Halligan’s new role was retroactive

Attorney General Pam Bondi is trying to retroactively shore up the embattled U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in a bid to save the government’s cases against two of President Donald Trump’s political enemies.

In a court document dated Oct. 31 and filed on Monday, Bondi wrote that she was appointing Lindsey Halligan as a “special attorney” as of Sept. 22.

She also declared that she hereby “ratified” Halligan’s actions before the grand juries in the cases of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The move came after Comey and James filed motions arguing that their prosecutions should be thrown out because Halligan was improperly serving as Eastern Virginia’s top prosecutor.

The former beauty pageant contestant and insurance attorney—who also served as Trump’s personal lawyer—took over as interim U.S. attorney in September after her predecessor, veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert, was forced out over his refusal to charge James with mortgage fraud.

Within weeks of being sworn in, Halligan obtained grand jury indictments against James and Comey, whom she charged with lying to Congress.

Trump had long called for them to be prosecuted after James led a successful civil fraud case against Trump in New York and Comey oversaw a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Both have pleaded not guilty and have argued in court that the prosecutions were vindictive.

They’ve also argued that Halligan should be disqualified from her role because Siebert had already served the 120 days allowed by law for interim U.S. attorneys.

Halligan’s signature alone appears on the indictments, putting the cases in jeopardy if the courts find that her appointment was invalid.

Federal judges have already disqualified three other Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys who, like Halligan, were not confirmed by the Senate. Their cases, however, were also signed by other prosecutors.

Halligan had reportedly blindsided Bondi by seeking the indictment against James without first telling the attorney general.

It was just one of several missteps that Halligan—who had no prosecutorial experience before being appointed to her current role—has made as she rushed to fulfill Trump’s demands to go after Comey and James. The president had accidentally made those orders public in September.

In her filing, Bondi wrote that “for the avoidance of doubt as to the validity” of Halligan’s appointment, “I hereby appoint Ms. Halligan to the additional position of Special Attorney, as of September 22, 2025,” giving her the authority to conduct “any kind of legal proceeding.”

She also wrote that she “ratified” Halligan’s signature on the grand jury indictments returned in United States v. Comey and United States v. James, and was explicitly delegating the cases to Halligan.

Lawfare senior editor Roger Parloff quickly pointed out on social media that the move came a month after the statute of limitations had run out in the Comey case.

The legal authorities that Bondi cited allowing the attorney general to delegate her authority to a special attorney don’t say anything about allowing retroactive appointments or signatures.

Courts typically frown on retroactive authorities—especially when it comes to criminal procedure—because they undermine the bedrock principle of legal certainty, according to the Library of Congress.

The U.S. legal system is built on the premise that the law should be clear, precise, and unambiguous, and its legal implications foreseeable, according to the American Bar Association.

The Daily Beast has reached out for comment to the Department of Justice, as well as to lawyers for Comey and James.

A federal judge will hear arguments on Nov. 13 on the defendants’ motions to dismiss the cases against them.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/panicked-pam-bondi-gives-lindsey-halligan-a-new-title-to-save-cases-against-james-comey-and-letitia-james/?

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Food stamps

The Trump administration said Monday that food stamp recipients will only get half of their typical benefits in November, and for many, that assistance will likely be delayed. The US Department of Agriculture said in a court filing that it will only tap into the program's contingency fund, which doesn't have enough money to cover enrollees' full allotments during the government shutdown. The agency said it will not use an additional pot of money to make up the difference in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Nearly 42 million Americans receive food stamps, providing households just over $350 a month, on average, according to the most recent USDA data.   Editorial: Trump unleashed bulldozers on a national treasure There hasn’t been such vandalism at the White House since British troops burned it in 1814, but what President Trump’s wrecking ball did to the East Wing is only the beginning. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/04/a-national-treasure-bulldozed-by-trump-editorial/?   Quarter of Florida residents ‘seriously’ contemplate leaving state because of high cost of living, survey says A quarter of Floridians surveyed are “seriously considering” moving elsewhere because of the high cost of living in the state. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/04/quarter-of-florida-residents-seriously-contemplate-leaving-state-because-of-high-cost-of-living-survey-says/?

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Desperate Trump, 79, Melts Down in Incoherent Rant as Republicans Snub His Power Grab

The president begged his caucus to stop the “Crazed Democrat Lunatics” in the Senate.

President Donald Trump’s calls to end the filibuster are getting increasingly desperate.

The president has now demanded four times in five days that Senate Republicans embrace “the nuclear option,” even as congressional leaders have remained steadfast in their support of the centuries-old check on the party in power.

Trump’s latest caps-heavy missive warned that the midterms will be “rightfully brutal” for Republicans if they don’t eliminate the filibuster and pass a spending bill to reopen the government.

“The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes. FOR THREE YEARS, NOTHING WILL BE PASSED, AND REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAMED,” Trump wrote Tuesday in a Truth Social post.

“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER NOW, END THE RIDICULOUS SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATELY, AND THEN, MOST IMPORTANTLY, PASS EVERY WONDERFUL REPUBLICAN POLICY THAT WE HAVE DREAMT OF, FOR YEARS, BUT NEVER GOTTEN,” he added.

A few hours later, he wrote a succinct follow-up post just in case he hadn’t been clear: “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!!”

The government has been shutdown since Sept. 30 as Congress has failed to pass a budget bill. Democrats are calling for any spending plan to roll back GOP cuts to Medicaid and extend tax credits to stop health insurance premiums from skyrocketing next year.

The latest polls show a majority of voters blaming Republicans for the shutdown, and that Trump is suffering from his highest-ever disapproval ratings as voters sour on his economic policies and handling of inflation.

On Tuesday, voters headed to the polls for local and statewide races in New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania for the first major electoral test of Trump’s second term.

In between calling for an end to the filibuster, Trump took a moment to comment on the race for New York City mayor.

“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” he wrote.

Most of his posts, however, were already thinking ahead to 2026, which he warned would be “rightfully brutal” if the filibuster remains intact.

“If we do terminate the Filibuster, we will get EVERYTHING approved, like no Congress in History. We will have FAIR, FREE, and SAFE Elections, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everybody, Strong Borders, Major Tax and Energy Cuts, and will secure our Second Amendment, which the Democrats will also terminate, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote in his first post.

So far, however, Republican leaders in Congress have resisted.

The filibuster, which requires 60 senators to agree to bring legislation up for a vote, has existed in various forms since the 1780s and was adopted as an official rule in 1917, according to the U.S. Senate.

Last week, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CBS News that the South Dakota Republican, who has previously rejected calls to change the filibuster rule, still opposed the move.

“I like John Thune, I think he’s terrific, but I disagree with him on this point,” Trump told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell during an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has also cautioned against eliminating the rule, telling reporters, “Is it possible? Yes… Is it wise? A lot of people would tell you it’s not.”

“I mean, on the Republican side, I would be deeply concerned if the Democrats had a bare majority in the Senate right now,” he added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/desperate-donald-trump-79-melts-down-in-incoherent-rant-as-republicans-snub-his-filibuster-demands/?

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Trump's filibuster fury

Photo illustration: Maura Losch/Axios. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Trump is ready to rampage against Senate Republicans if they keep resisting his push to abolish the filibuster, Axios' Marc Caputo, Stef W. Kight and Stephen Neukam report. "He will make their lives a living hell," one Trump adviser told Axios. "He will call them at 3 o'clock in the morning. He will blow them up in their districts. He will call them un-American. He will call them old creatures of a dying institution. Believe you me, he's going to make their lives just hell," the source continued. Another adviser emphasized: "He's really mad about this." ? Zoom in: For weeks, Trump wasn't paying close attention to the shutdown out of a belief that Democrats would eventually drop their demands. Now, he's starting to put Republican senators on blast for not changing the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most legislation — arguing it gave Democrats too much leverage to shut down the government. "The more he thinks about it, the more he thinks the filibuster outrageous and anti-democratic," one of the advisers said. ?️ Where it stands: GOP leadership remains opposed to the rules change, but it's gaining steam among some populist and/or newly elected senators. Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) have all expressed openness to the idea, under the right circumstances. Go deeper.

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Trump Demands Sinister Republican Response to MAGA Wipeout

The elections were viewed as the first major test of Trump’s second-term presidency.

President Donald Trump fired off a list of demands to Republicans after they were hit with a clean sweep of election defeats on Tuesday night.

“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” according to Pollsters,” he first wrote on Truth Social following the news that New York, New Jersey, and Virginia had elected Democrats.

He went on to address Republicans directly, telling them in an all-caps post: “REPUBLICANS, TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER! GET BACK TO PASSING LEGISLATION AND VOTER REFORM! President DJT”

Explaining “voter reform,” the president followed up by writing: “Pass Voter Reform, Voter ID, No Mail-In Ballots. Save our Supreme Court from “Packing,” No Two State addition, etc. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!!"

The wild rant came after Trump suffered a clean sweep of defeats less than a year into his presidency.

In New York, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected as the city’s first Muslim mayor, despite the president pleading with voters in his former home state to pick his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In Virginia, former Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger became the state’s first female governor, riding to victory on an anti-Trump wave over the government shutdown and federal cutbacks.

And in New Jersey, former helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill edged out another Trump-endorsed candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, who had embraced the president’s tax and immigration policies.

The elections were the first major test of Trump’s second-term presidency, and an early gauge of how Democrats were faring ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

They also raised questions about Trump’s influence, given his personal intervention in some of the races.

In New York, for example, Trump warned voters that New York would become an “economic and social disaster” if Mamdani triumphed.

The president also accused the 34-year-old state assembly member of being a “Jew Hater” and declared that any Jewish person who votes for him was “stupid.”

He even threatened to withhold federal funds from the city if Mamdani was elected.

Trump also threw his weight behind Ciattarelli in New Jersey, and while he stopped short of doing the same for Virginia’s Republican candidate, Winsome Earle-Sears, he nonetheless led a tele-rally on her behalf on Monday night.

As the results came through on Tuesday, MAGA acolytes were livid - some angry at the party itself, and others with voters.

“I told you the GOP would get hammered today. The GOP lost every major election and now multiple Islamic jihadists are in power,” said right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, in an apparent reference to Mamdani’s religious background.

MAGA influencer Benny Johnson also lamented the New York result, writing on X: “They actually did it. They elected a communist. New York is screwed.”

And conservative commentator Erik Erikson had an ominous warning for the GOP.

“Lame duck status is going to come even faster now,” he said. “Trump cannot turn out the vote unless he is on the ballot, and that is never happening again.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-refuses-to-take-one-iota-of-blame-for-maga-shellacking/?

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Catholic Vance Panics as White House Slams Pope Leo on Migrant Mass

The vice president was said to be “enraged” at the attack on the pontiff.

JD Vance—who calls himself a “baby Catholic”—is freaking out after the White House slammed Pope Leo XIV for his criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.The vice president popped off after Letters from Leo, a Substack by Democratic Catholic activist Christopher Hale, published comments from the first American pope urging U.S. immigration authorities to allow detained migrants to receive communion.Hale’s post centered on the Chicago-born pontiff’s appeal following reports that migrants held at an Illinois facility were blocked from receiving communion. The pope called on the Trump administration to respect migrants’ dignity and religious liberty, saying authorities should “allow pastoral workers to assist with the needs of these people.”

Hale claimed that when he approached the White House for comment, an unnamed spokesperson said that “the pope doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

According to Hale, the alleged remark “enraged” Vance, who publicly demanded Hale reveal the identity of the White House official.

“Hey Chris, which WH spokesperson gave you this comment?” Vance asked on X.

Hale did not appear to have replied to Vance, but angrily attacked him and his boss in a subsequent post: “If President Trump and Vice President Vance put as much energy into lowering prices as they put into denying Catholics the Eucharist, working families might finally be able to afford groceries without divine intervention.”

Vance, who received his first communion in Ohio after converting to Catholicism in 2019, has a history of clashing with Vatican authorities over Trump’s brutal immigration policies, which many Catholic advocates argue conflict with Christian teaching. The vast majority of those rounded up in the anti-migrant drive—as many as nine out of 10, according to one analysis—have been Catholics from Latin America.

At the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast earlier this year, the vice president leaned into his newness to the church, telling attendees: “I recognize very much that I am a baby Catholic… If you ever hear me pontificating about the Catholic faith, please recognize it comes from a place of deep belief, but it also comes from a place of not always knowing everything all the time.”

He also made clear that he would not back down over the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants.

“My goal here is not to litigate with him or any other clergy member about who’s right and who’s wrong. You obviously know my views, and I will speak to them consistently, because I think that I have to do it, because it serves the best interests of the American people,” Vance said.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

Vance converted to Catholicism at the age of 35 after being raised as an evangelical. In 2019, he told Rod Dreher, a right-wing writer and Orthodox Christian, that “his views on public policy and what the optimal state should look like are pretty aligned with Catholic social teaching.”

“I saw a real overlap between what I would like to see and what the Catholic Church would like to see,” he said.

The pope said Tuesday night that “a deep reflection” needs to be made “in terms of what’s happening” in the U.S. and Donald Trump’s mission to crack down on immigration.

“Jesus says very clearly at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked, you know, how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?”

“Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now,” the pontiff added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/catholic-vance-panics-as-white-house-slams-pope/?

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Government shutdown becomes the longest on record as fallout spreads nationwide The government shutdown has entered its 36th day, breaking the record as the longest ever and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans with federal program cuts, flight delays and federal workers nationwide left without paychecks. Read more.

Why this matters: President Donald Trump has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to salvage expiring health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats question whether the Republican president will keep his word, particularly after the administration restricted SNAP food aid, despite court orders to ensure funds are available to prevent hunger.   With Trump largely on the sidelines, talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the stalemate. Expectations are high that Tuesday’s election results could help break the logjam.The contests were widely seen as a gauge of voter sentiment over Trump’s second term in the White House.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump administration announces 16th deadly strike on an alleged drug boat   FBI fires additional agents who participated in investigating Trump, AP sources say   Conservative activist Laura Loomer, a Trump ally, says she has a new Pentagon press pass   Trump once again nominates tech space traveler Jared Isaacman to serve as NASA administrator   Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warns of ‘mass chaos’ in skies if shutdown continues   The shutdown is hurting schools whose budgets are mostly federal money   Trump has been silent about Dick Cheney’s death. But on the campaign trail, he railed against him   Pope Leo calls for ‘deep reflection’ about treatment of detained migrants in the United States

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Trump Orders Republicans to Approve His Sinister Plan to Rule Forever

The president of the United States is urging Republicans to grant him untrammeled power.

Donald Trump just spelled out his dreams of making America great again, and again, and again.

The president issued the ominous warning at a breakfast meeting with Republican senators at the White House. He told the reluctant GOP lawmakers that if they nuked the filibuster and took full power in D.C., they should be able to keep the Democrats out of power forever.

“If we do what I’m saying, they’ll never—they’ll most likely never—attain power,” he said.

“Because we will have passed every single thing that you can imagine,” he added.

The filibuster is a Senate rule that allows a minority to block most legislation by extending debate indefinitely, representing a key and perhaps, for now, one of the only weapons in the Senate Democrats’ arsenal for opposing the Republican agenda.

Ending the filibuster rule would allow the biggest party to pass almost any law with a simple majority of 51 votes. With 53 senators, that would give the GOP unprecedented power.

Trump suggested Wednesday that such a move would cement Republican dominance and make it almost impossible for Democrats to regain power. It is unclear if he was threatening to legislate to reshape democratic structures in his favor permanently.

“All these things are good,” the president mused. “We have to be able to get the word out. We don’t get the word out, we’re making a very big mistake.”

The MAGA leader’s desire for change comes as he repeatedly refuses to rule out running for a third White House term in violation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

“I would love to do it,” the already two-term serving president told reporters last month, despite the text of the Constitution clearly stating, “No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.”

Trump’s White House breakfast summit with Republican senators comes the morning after a devastating slate of defeats for the GOP in gubernatorial, legislative, and local races across the country, billed ahead of time as the MAGA administration’s first major electoral test of the second Trump administration.

Zohran Mamdani, a young, Muslim Democrat, will now serve as the next mayor of New York City. Mike Sherill and Abigail Spanberger, both also Democrats, similarly secured victory in gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.

Commentators have described these results as a bellwether for things to come. “When Democrats sweep New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia governor, they won the U.S. House the next year, five out of five times in the last 90 years,” CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten said ahead the votes this week.

Democrats are currently leading by eight points, the largest margin enjoyed by either party since 2018, in polls on voter intent ahead of midterms.

A CNN/SSRS survey published this week put Trump’s disapproval rating at 63 percent—the highest of either of his terms, eclipsing his previous high of 62 percent in the aftermath of the Capitol riot in January 2021.

Other surveys have similarly shown his administration’s attempts to blame Democrats for the ongoing federal shutdown, which over the weekend saw 42 million Americans lose access to full food aid benefits, are broadly failing, with more than half of voters holding the GOP accountable for the deadlock.

Trump ended his Wednesday address to Republican senators with a promise. “We will pass more legislation than any Congress and any group of senators or a group of congressmen,” he said. “It’ll be a beautiful machine.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-orders-republicans-to-approve-his-sinister-plan-to-rule-forever/?

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Republicans Tear Into Trump’s Pentagon Pick in Fiery Hearing

The grilling of Austin Dahmer exposes potential cracks in the party.

Republicans clashed with President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon’s policy office in a heated hearing that put internal GOP tensions on full public display.

The striking intra-party revolt erupted on Capitol Hill as senators assailed one of Trump’s picks for a senior role at the Department of Defense, which the president has renamed the Department of War.

Austin Dahmer, the nominee for assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities, was ripped to shreds over several major policy decisions, including the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Romania, suspending some assistance to war-torn Ukraine, and for being difficult to reach.

The fiery exchanges, during a confirmation hearing for Trump’s Pentagon nominees on Tuesday, exposed cracks in the party, which typically displays a united front.

In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “President Trump is running the most transparent administration in history, including at the Department of War, where he fully backs Secretary Hegseth and his team.”

Several lawmakers expressed disappointment in Dahmer and Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby. Some said the duo have been uncooperative and that policy decisions appeared “uncoordinated,” The Washington Post reported.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott accused Dahmer of lying when he said Congress had been briefed multiple times on the decision to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Europe by moving to pull out a brigade of U.S. troops from Romania, including at an air base.

About 1,000 U.S. troops will remain in the country, and Romanian President Nicușor Dan has described the move as “a strategic reconfiguration, not a withdrawal.”

But some fear that the decreased U.S. military presence could undermine security in the region and embolden Moscow to expand Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Trump is desperately trying to put an end to.

“Can you tell me who did [the briefings] and the dates, because I wasn’t invited,” the senator asked.

Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee chair, also said the briefings did not take place. “Where did you get that information?” he asked, pausing the hearing.

Dahmer suggested the situation resulted from a miscommunication.

A frustrated Sen. Dan Sullivan said he and other Republican lawmakers “can’t even get a response… and we’re on your team.”

The Alaska Republican also singled out Colby as being “really bad on this. The worst in the administration.”

In a statement to the Daily Beast, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said: “All DoW components engage with Congress on a very regular basis, in line with guidance established by the Secretary to ensure that we are being as responsive and transparent as possible. The Policy organization alone, under the leadership of Under Secretary Colby, has briefed Congress dozens of times, in both classified and unclassified settings, in addition to other meetings. The Department values its relationship with the Hill, and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Congress to support President Trump’s national defense priorities.”

When approached for comment, the Pentagon told the Post that the Armed Services Committee had been “pre-notified” about the plan to withdraw troops from Romania and that “briefings were offered” to lawmakers this week.

It remains unclear whether Dahmer’s nomination will be advanced.

In July, multiple sources who spoke to Politico claimed Colby had blindsided senior administration officials and foreign allies with a series of rogue foreign policy moves that didn’t align with Trump’s priorities.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-tear-into-trumps-pentagon-pick-in-fiery-hearing/?

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Putin Demands Plans for New Nuclear Tests After Trump’s Comments

Donald Trump previously claimed Russia and China were already testing weapons.

The Russian president has ordered his generals to begin testing nuclear weapons in the wake of rhetoric from President Donald Trump. The autocrat insisted his country resume its program after more than three decades of not detonating a nuclear weapon. It comes as Trump announced he wanted his generals to “start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.” Putin’s televised Security Council meeting with his top brass in Moscow saw him discuss Russia’s own escalation to regain parity with the U.S., NBC reports. The U.S. had been warned that if it “conduct such tests, Russia would also be required to take appropriate retaliatory measures,” he said. He then told his leaders “to do everything possible to gather additional information on this matter, analyze it in the Security Council, and submit coordinated proposals on the possible commencement of preparations for nuclear weapons testing.” Several of Putin’s top officials are reportedly in favor of resumption. “We must respond appropriately to Washington’s actions… to begin preparations for full-scale nuclear testing immediately, ” said Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. On Sunday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News, “These are not nuclear explosions.” “I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes,” Trump had said previously. “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putin-demands-plans-for-new-nuclear-tests-after-trumps-comments/?

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Fact check: Trump revives his false claim that Americans have to show ID to buy groceries

President Donald Trump has revived one of the most bizarre false claims from his first presidency and his 2024 campaign: an assertion that Americans are required to show identification to buy groceries.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/05/politics/fact-check-trump-groceries-identification

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Devastated Ted Cruz Admits Disaster Is Looming for Republicans

The Texas senator rushed to Fox News to issue a warning to his party after it was dominated by the Democrats.

A rattled Ted Cruz gave a grim assessment on the future of the GOP in an emotional Fox News appearance after a series of disastrous electoral results for Republicans.

Appearing on Hannity the day after Democrats swept key races across the country—including Zohran Mamdani’s win as mayor of New York City—the Texas senator didn’t sugarcoat his words.

“Look, last night was a disaster,” Cruz said flatly. “It was an electoral blowout. The results in New Jersey were disastrous. The results in Virginia were terrible. The results in New York—Comrade Mamdani is the face of the Democrat party.”The comment came after Sean Hannity opened Wednesday’s segment by lamenting what he called “a disaster of a night” for conservatives. “My New York friends are officially depressed and scared,” Hannity said, referring to the election of Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist who will be New York City’s first Muslim mayor.

It was indeed a brutal showing for the GOP. Democrats flipped Virginia’s governorship and added 13 seats to their majority in the state’s House of Delegates. They held the New Jersey governorship, kept all three seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and in California voters approved a ballot measure that lets the Democratic-controlled legislature redraw congressional districts to favor their own party.

Cruz, shaking his head, said it was a wake-up call. “Last night should be a warning sign. It should be a warning sign to Republicans across this country,” he said. “The left, they’re energized. They’re angry. Democrats are outraising Republicans right now, three to one, four to one. It is dangerous.”

He warned that GOP complacency could turn a bad week into a catastrophe. “I think on our side, there are Republicans, and there are just people who are commonsense in the middle, who I fear are feeling happy or feeling potentially complacent,” Cruz continued. “That is really, really dangerous. The left showed up in big numbers last night, and commonsense conservatives did not. If that happens a year from now, we face disaster in the midterms.”

Cruz also took aim at Mamdani personally, calling him “a jihadist”—language that echoed right-wing talking points against the newly elected mayor, who has drawn conservative ire for his support of Palestinian rights.

“We have an actual communist jihadist,” he continued. “It’s important to note, Mamdani is not a socialist. He is a full-on communist. He has called for seizing the means of production in our economy. He is a Marxist. That is profoundly dangerous. And look, I know there’s some Republicans who are saying, ‘Well, gosh, this’ll be good politically because he’ll be the face of the Democrat party.’ I think it’s terrible for America. I think New York is the largest city in America, it is the financial capital of the world, it is the media capital of the world. And New York, we are going to see New Yorkers die.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/devastated-ted-cruz-issues-dire-warning-of-looming-disaster-for-republicans/?

ps:Wow the exaggeration is incredible! Last year it was the end of the democrats!! What's next?? What a joke politics is becoming! Or should I say has become, especially these past 10+ years!!!!!

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Why Dem Triumph Is Only Act One of Trump’s Year From Hell

For several reasons, Trump may not be able to weasel his way out of his just deserts with quite the ease he has slipped away from them in the past.

The reason Donald Trump lies all the time is that he can’t handle the truth.

He hates reality. It reveals just how flawed his character is. How bad his ideas are, and what a con artist he has always been.

In fact, from the moment he made the first bad investment with the money he received from Daddy, Trump’s modus operandi has been to find a new scam to distract from his last one. He lies to cover up past lies.

What is astonishing is not that serial failure has brought him to great heights. (For the very rich, that is a key feature and not a bug in the system.) It is that there is now an entire infrastructure designed to support and amplify his lies and turn them into the shared delusions of millions.

What is more, he has managed through the greatest of all his cons, his election to the presidency, to amass power that allows him to bury the truth and to relentlessly attack and even persecute its advocates.

It has been a heckuva run.

But sooner or later in life, bills come due. And for Donald Trump, the year ahead promises to be one that is going to test all his skills as America’s dissembler-in-chief.

After a first year of his second term in which he has accumulated and exercised more power than any U.S. president in history—implementing a sweeping, radical remake of U.S. economic, immigration, environmental, legal, national security, and foreign policy—we are now going from the bombastic claims part of Trump’s standard operating procedure to the always less pleasant consequences phase.

These consequences are ghastly, manifold, and highly visible. Tariffs are likely to turn into higher prices for American consumers and businesses. Healthcare costs are also going to rise for tens of millions of Americans. Some may not be able to afford care at all—or to access it, given that rural hospitals will be hard-hit and many will close.

Cutbacks at government agencies like the VA will bite millions of Trump supporters. More and more, Americans will come face to face with the brutality of the masked thugs in Trump’s ICE and Border Patrol army.

In the past, Trump has tried to shift the blame for economic downturns to others—like Obama or Biden—or to circumstances beyond his control (such as the COVID-19 pandemic). But the results in Tuesday’s off-year elections—a motivated electorate backing Democratic wins across the board, by big margins, in high-profile races coast to coast—suggest that won’t be so easy this time around. Even Republicans said in exit polls that they felt Trump was doing a lousy job on the economy. His approval ratings are the lowest they have ever been.

That’s bad. But worse still is that starting now the focus turns to the midterm elections. Historically, incumbent presidents endure a backlash two years into their terms. But 2026 could be a historic shellacking given all those factors cited above.

So, consider a shift in control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats and, although it is a long shot, the same in the Senate. Even the loss of one House will be a nightmare for Trump’s remaining two years in office—very little likely to get done and serious, difficult investigations into him and his Cabinet, their corruption and their failings.

Yes, the Supreme Court has given Trump immunity, so he has less to worry about in terms of consequences than he might have in the past. But even that court in its hearings on tariffs on Wednesday seemed skeptical of some of Trump’s power grabs. If they clip his wings at all, it could make a bad year even worse for him.

Trump, sensing all this, called on Wednesday for the GOP to institute more steps that he called electoral “reform.” What he means, though, are steps like even more gerrymandering, restrictive voting laws, more stringent voter ID requirements, and banning voting by mail. And, of course, if that’s where his head is at now, if headlines and polls turn increasingly against him and MAGA, he might well go further—like sending troops into urban areas to intimidate voters away from the polls.

The problem is that Tuesday’s results also showed that Trump’s opponents are ready to push back. The success of Proposition 50 in California and big wins in places like Virginia make it likely that gerrymandering and other attempts at unfairly manipulating election outcomes will be met with Democratic Party countermeasures.

Among his angry post-election night rants this week, Trump himself suggested one reason the GOP did so badly Tuesday was that he was not on the ballot. But here’s the problem with that analysis: He is never going to be on a ballot again.

Trump is a lame duck. Worse for the GOP, he is a lame duck whose popularity is plummeting and who doesn’t really care about anyone other than himself. This is likely to produce disarray within the GOP. How do we know? Because we are seeing early signs of it.

Former Trump boosters like Marjorie Taylor Greene are becoming bolder as critics. The Epstein case has produced dissent and division among some Republicans. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has bluntly rejected Trump’s calls to get rid of the filibuster.

In fact, the reason Trump keeps talking about running again—even though he also, in unguarded moments, acknowledges that is impossible—is because it is the only way he can beat the curse of becoming increasingly less relevant.

At the core of all of this, the overarching fact is that there is one adversary Trump faces that he can’t out-talk or out-maneuver or bully. That is Father Time. This, for him, means the worst consequence of all… and I don’t mean death, although he does seem to have that on his mind a lot lately. No, for Trump, the worst-case scenario is irrelevance, of not being the big story. And frankly, hard as it is to believe, with each day of the year ahead, not only will Trump face turbulence of his own making, he will be less and less important to the future of the United States—and to the media power players whose attention matters so much to him.

Trump will not disappear. He will be a factor for years to come. But all the prevailing trends suggest that those years will present a series of hard truths that none of his lies can undo, obscure or deflect from. While he will start feeling the consequences of his actions and words well after many of his victims, there is no doubt that he will, at long last and after much f--kery, find out.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tuesday-was-bad-for-trump-and-magabut-2026-is-likely-to-be-much-worse/?

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Megyn Kelly Absolutely Tears Into Republicans Over Damning Defeats

The pundit said the GOP “don’t know how to win” without Trump on the ballot.

Megyn Kelly launched into a furious, expletive-filled tirade at the GOP after the party’s humiliating election losses.

The conservative commentator opened her SiriusXM show by asking viewers if they also felt “like s--t,” before declaring that the Election Day results were a “total and complete disaster.”

“I realize these were blue states. I don’t care. The margins are so large, and Republicans lost across the board, everywhere, in every race. There’s really no good news,” Kelly said. “The Republican Party needs to get its s--t together, ASAP.”

Republicans and several Donald Trump-endorsed candidates suffered a sweeping electoral wipeout on Tuesday, most notably in New York, where 34-year-old Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat the Trump-backed Andrew Cuomo in the race for mayor.

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger flipped the state and will become Virginia’s first-ever female governor. The blue wave also saw New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeat former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli in the Garden State’s gubernatorial race.

The elections marked the first electoral test of Trump’s second term and served as a signal of how voters view the ruling GOP ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Kelly offered a dire assessment of the party’s prospects, arguing that Republicans cannot function effectively without Trump at the top of the ticket.

“The Republicans like to lose. They enjoy losing. They enjoy being embattled and in a losing position, and complaining. They love it. They do it really well,” Kelly said. “Less good at winning, especially when Donald Trump is not there to get them over the line.

“The Republican Party is not strong. Donald Trump is strong. Republicans don’t know how to win. They don’t know who to run. They don’t know what to do when daddy’s not there to fly them across the finish line.”

The president, 79, was quick to suggest that he was not to blame for the GOP’s defeats.

“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT, according to Pollsters,” Trump wrote in a self-soothing Truth Social post on Tuesday.

During her meltdown, Kelly also criticized Trump for focusing too much on foreign policy during his second term, including traveling frequently for diplomatic meetings and lavish dinners, rather than prioritizing domestic issues more relevant to American voters.

“Trump is all over the Middle East while people’s grocery bills are still high. They’re still dealing with inflation. They’re suffering,” she said. “Like, that’s it. Okay? Focus on domestic policy and on making people’s lives better.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/megyn-kelly-absolutely-tears-into-republicans-over-damning-defeats/?

ps:They've won before him and they will win after he disappears, but will life be normal again? Probably not!!

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Judge Blasts ICE’s ‘Fictional’ Attempt to Jail Man for 20 Years Over Goon’s Self-Inflicted Injury

A Republican-appointed judge was appalled by the “outrageous” conduct of ICE and the Trump administration.

A federal judge has thrown out an “outrageous” and “fictional” attempt by the Trump administration to have a man jailed for 20 years after a video showed that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent had cut his own arm while punching through a car window.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had sought to have Jaime Alberto Quintanilla-Chavez imprisoned for forcibly assaulting or impeding an officer.

It also sought an “enhanced” sentence for Quintanilla-Chavez, 35—who is married to a U.S. citizen—for having allegedly “inflict[ed] bodily injury” on Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officer William Carl.

But U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez dismissed the indictment on Oct. 20, saying that the government could not prove Quintanilla-Chavez had “forcibly” interfered with officers or that he had caused the injury to Special Agent Carl.

The enhancement hinged on a cut to the arm Carl suffered while smashing the driver-side window during an investigative stop on Quintanilla-Chavez. In filings obtained by the Daily Beast, HSI contended in court that the car’s “sudden movement [had] caused the shards of glass to catch and cut [Carl’s] arm.”

But the George W. Bush-appointed judge said it was “not clear from the video footage if the moving truck caught SA Carl’s arm or the force of his own blow caused his cut when he broke the window.” Rodriguez also warned that allowing officers’ self-inflicted injuries to manufacture felonies would “grant immigration enforcement officers carte blanche to evade the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.”

The judgment catalogs “outrageous” government conduct throughout its attempted prosecution of Quintanilla-Chavez, beginning with a tip-driven operation with “marked deficiencies” by HSI, ICE’s investigation arm, which is aiding the mass deportation drive by Kristi Noem’s DHS.

Quintanilla-Chavez’s arrest came after a tip-off from a woman that he was in the country illegally and “had physically abused her daughter and was stalking her.” Despite officers describing him as “an easy target,” they failed to corroborate the allegations, and there is no indication that Quintanilla-Chavez committed any wrongdoing.

It found that Carl had simply assumed a removal order existed against the Honduran. Having decided to detain Quintanilla-Chavez, HSI was then ruled to have “feigned” concerns for their own safety.

Judge Rodriguez said the HSI team had made an “unjustified arrest,” with “excessive force,” and that Carl had decided to smash his car window despite only “partial and passive non-compliance” from Quintanilla-Chavez, before HSI provided a sworn affidavit that the judge called “largely fictional.”

Marina-Thais Douenat, the Assistant Federal Public Defender in Texas who represented Quintanilla-Chavez in court, told the Beast that the “aggressive tactics being employed by ICE are becoming increasingly unchecked and threaten the very fabric of our society.”

Douenat added, “We cannot allow these overreaches to stand unchallenged. We must put an end to these inhumane practices and uphold the principles of justice that define our nation.”

Despite the charges having been thrown out, Quintanilla-Chavez is still locked up at the Pearsall Immigration Detention Center, with Douenat saying he had been unable to get an immigration bond.

Douenat said that Quintanilla-Chavez had attempted to petition to stay in the country through his wife, Tatiana Herrera, 29, who has three children below the age of 14, whom Quintanilla-Chavez raises as his own. Douenat says he has an upcoming immigration court hearing on Nov. 20.

The incident also had further tragic consequences in that it led to the death of Quintanilla-Chavez’s six-month-old weenie dog Rocky, who was run over by a car following the stop. Douenat said, “Jaime loved that dog and took him everywhere.”

Amid what appears to be a growing pattern of glass-smashing arrests, the judge further noted that DHS managers “are apparently encouraging that car windows be summarily broken.”

A July report by ProPublica documented nearly 50 such incidents in Trump’s first six months—versus eight in the prior decade—and found no written DHS policy authorizing the tactic or training that teaches it.

The Daily Beast contacted DHS and the White House for comment on Friday. Neither had responded by the time of publication.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-blasts-ices-fictional-attempt-to-jail-man-for-20-years-over-goons-self-inflicted-injury/?

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Trump Orders Air Chaos Across America in Shutdown Tantrum

Air travel is about to get worse as the government shutdown drags on.

The Trump administration is throttling flights as the government shutdown continues to stretch air traffic controllers thin.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that it would reduce air traffic by 10 percent across 40 “high traffic” markets starting Friday morning to ensure the safety of air travelers amid the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The restrictions will stay in place until the data shows that things are moving “in the right direction,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a press conference.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the list of affected airports will be released on Thursday after officials meet with airlines to discuss implementation.

Bedford explained that the move was aimed at taking “the pressure off of our controllers.”

Air traffic controllers have been working without pay, forcing many of them to call out sick as Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked over healthcare subsidies expiring at the end of the year.

“We do recognize that the controllers have been working fastidiously for the last five weeks with this huge burden over their head of lack of compensation, and we are starting to see some evidence that that fatigue is building,” Bedford said.

“We’re not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating,” he added.

Bedford said additional measures will include restrictions on space launches, which often demand a lot more attention from controllers.

Last week, Duffy warned that he was prepared to “slow” or “stop” air traffic if the government shutdown continued to worsen the staffing shortage of 2,000 controllers.

Halloween became the worst weekend for air traffic control staffing since the government screeched to a halt on Oct. 1.

A CNN analysis of FAA data from Halloween weekend found 98 “staffing trigger” reports, or instances when operations had to be amended to maintain air safety with reduced staff.

The air travel crisis has triggered finger-pointing between liberals and conservatives.

“Democrats are flirting with disaster,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said on X. “Millions of Americans are already dealing with flight delays and cancellations because of the Schumer Shutdown.”

Across the aisle, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly blasted Republicans and the Trump administration over air travel woes.

“Trump’s shutdown is endangering American lives,” his press office said last week after a staffing shortage in California triggered a temporary ground stop.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-orders-air-chaos-across-america-in-shutdown-tantrum/?

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Trump faces rare Republican pushback as he presses Senate to scrap the filibuster Republicans in Congress have spent most of the year acquiescing to President Donald Trump’s demands. But Trump is finding that Senate Republicans have a limit as he aggressively pushes them to scrap the filibuster, the longstanding Senate rule that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. Read more.

What to know: Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Republicans stress that the filibuster has benefited their side when Democrats have power. Trump has long disagreed, and has renewed his calls to end the government shutdown by getting rid of it and lowering the threshold to 51 votes for legislation. Following a breakfast meeting with Trump Wednesday, Thune held firm. “I know where the math is on this issue in the Senate and it’s not happening,” he said.   The GOP pushback suggests Republicans who have been unfailingly loyal to the president are determined to protect the institution of the Senate beyond his time in office, mindful that no party stays in power forever.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ President Donald Trump, in Miami, brags about the economy despite an election-night rebuke   Shutdown progress in doubt as Democrats grow emboldened from election wins   Democratic electoral wins re-energize protesters at an anti-Trump rally in nation's capital

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Foreign Food Safety Inspections Hit Historic Low After Trump Cuts

American inspections of foreign food facilities — which produce everything from crawfish to cookies for the U.S. market — have plummeted to historic lows this year, a ProPublica analysis of federal data shows, even as inspections reveal alarming conditions at some manufacturers. 

https://www.propublica.org/article/foreign-food-safety-inspections-historic-low-fda?

Trump’s VA Made It Harder for Male Veterans to Get Treatment for Breast Cancer. Lawmakers Want to Fix That.

What Happened: More than two dozen Democrats in the House are pressing the Trump administration to reverse a new policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs that makes it harder for male veterans with breast cancer to get health coverage.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-veterans-affairs-male-breast-cancer-lawmakers?

Trump unveils deal to expand coverage and lower costs on obesity drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a deal Thursday with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and reduce prices for the popular obesity treatments Zepbound and Wegovy.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-wegovy-zepbound-drug-prices-15b24e03d558aa6bbcf37e52ba2d354e?

Federal judge orders Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits in November

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, a decision that the administration promptly appealed.

https://apnews.com/article/snap-benefit-november-shutdown-086c15b0818e0cafae85090b34f44ba3?

Supreme Court lets Trump block transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a policy blocking transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-transgender-nonbinary-passport-sex-marker-5040c6412e06a072889af30cfae97462?