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How the Israel-Hamas War Will Impact American Citizens
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New poll: Tight race between Trump, Biden with RFK, Cornel West independent bids threatening both candidacies
Former President Trump and President Biden are tied in a hypothetical 2024 matchup but are both facing potential threats to their candidacies from independent presidential bids, a new poll has found.
According to the Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Monday, 37% of registered voters said they would support Biden and 36% said they would support Trump. However, independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Cornel West also garnered significant support — 13% and 4% respectively.
The support for Kennedy came largely from independent voters (23%), but he also drew large chunks of support from Republicans (9%) and Democrats (7%). West did the same with Democrats (6%) and independents (5%), as well as 2% of Republicans.
REPUBLICANS ANNOUNCE ‘RECORD-BREAKING’ FUNDRAISING HAUL IN EFFORT TO GROW HOUSE MAJORITY IN 2024
When asked who would be their second choice for president, a plurality of voters (36%) said they were undecided, but Kennedy garnered the most of any candidate at 26%. He was followed by West at 16%, Trump at 6% and Biden at 5%.
A large portion of voters also expressed interest in a potential No Labels bipartisan presidential ticket with 26% saying they would seriously consider voting for it and 41% saying they would not. Others (23%) said it would depend on which candidates made up the ticket, and 9% were undecided.
A strong majority said they either disapproved (15%) or strongly disapproved (41%) of Biden’s job performance. Just 27% said they approved and 13% that they strongly approved.
Vice President Kamala Harris got similar negative ratings when voters were asked about her favorability. Most said they viewed her unfavorably (53%) rather than favorably (33%), and 12% were undecided.
Voters’ views of the Senate fared slightly better than of the House of Representatives, with 36% holding a favorable view of the former, and 24% of the latter. 42% held an unfavorable view of the Senate, but 54% held an unfavorable view of the House. 22% were undecided toward both.
Concerning confidence that government officials in Congress and the White House could handle that challenges facing the nation, a meager 4% had a lot of confidence and 32% had some confidence. An overwhelming number of voters said they had either very little confidence (34%) or none at all (27%).
A whopping 71% said they felt the country was on the wrong track while just 17% said it was heading in the right direction. 12% were undecided.
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Byron Donalds responds to AOC’s ‘experience’ jab: ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about’
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., clapped back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., comments she made Sunday with MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan.
“Before I got to Congress, I spent 20 years in the financial industry, something that leadership here on Capitol Hill definitely needs,” Donalds said on Fox’s “The Story” with Martha MacCallum on Monday.
“Number two, I spent four years in the legislature in Florida. I chair two committees there, and number three, since being here on Capitol Hill, I’ve worked intimately with members of our leadership team and members all through the conference, both appropriators and authorizers to get some of our biggest pieces of legislation accomplished this Congress,” he said.
CHAOTIC, CONVOLUTED PATH HOUSE REPUBLICANS TOOK TO ELECT SPEAKER LEADS BACK TO SQUARE ONE
He added, “So, with all due respect to miss Ocasio-Cortez, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. And if the Democrats are this concerned, I would tell my colleagues see what happens if I become your speaker.”
Ocasio-Cortez jabbed the Republican rep on Sunday, arguing that “he’s only served one term” in the House and submitted “false evidence” during a Biden impeachment hearing.
“I think it helps to know where all the bathrooms are before you run for the U.S. House of Representatives, personally, and I think it helps to have some real experience in one of most complex legislative bodies in the world before you try to run it,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
JEFFRIES, DEMOCRATS ARE SITTING PRETTY AMID HOUSE GOP SPEAKER CHAOS
Her reference to falsified evidence in the impeachment hearing involved a screenshot of text messages between Hunter Biden and President Biden’s brother, James Biden, to further his argument that the president directly benefitted from his family’s foreign business dealings.
There are now nine candidates officially in the running to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., but as the GOP caucus mulls its decision, there remain questions about how long the debate will rage, and if that means the party could lose voters in 2024.
HOUSE SPEAKER ‘CHAOS’ COULD BENEFIT DEMS AS RACE STRETCHES INTO NEW WEEK
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio failed to garner enough votes during his third round of floor-wide votes on Friday, sending party members back to the drawing board in an effort to end a stalemate. Twenty-five Republicans voted against him, leaving him roughly 217 votes short of securing a win. The slim GOP majority and unified Democrat opposition gives any speaker candidate little wiggle room for naysayers within his or her own party.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., currently serving as interim speaker, announced last week that Republicans will convene for another forum on the speakership race on Monday, with a probable floor vote scheduled for Tuesday. The competition remains shrouded in uncertainty as candidates vie to establish themselves as the most formidable contender, capable of garnering the necessary support to clinch the speakership.
Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for comment.
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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GOP set to gain 3 US House seats under map advanced in NC Senate
Republicans in the North Carolina Senate advanced a map proposal Monday for the state’s congressional districts beginning in 2024 that could position the party to pick up at least three seats in the U.S. House next year.
The potential gains would be a boon to congressional Republicans seeking to preserve and expand their majority in the narrowly divided chamber.
The Senate Redistricting and Elections Committee approved a plan for North Carolina’s 14 U.S. House seats, creating 10 districts that appear to favor a Republican, three that favor a Democrat and one that could be considered competitive, according to statewide election data included with the proposal. Both parties currently hold seven seats each in the state’s congressional delegation after a panel of trial judges fashioned temporary boundaries for the 2022 election.
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on the proposed congressional map, and it could receive final approval in the similarly GOP-led House as early as Wednesday. Redistricting legislation cannot be vetoed by the Democratic governor.
Democrats whose seats are threatened by the plan include first-term Reps. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte and Wiley Nickel of Cary, and second-term Rep. Kathy Manning of Greensboro. State Republicans have placed the three Democrats in districts that Jackson said are “totally unwinnable.” Democratic Rep. Don Davis of Greenville appears to be in the state’s only toss-up district.
Manning called the Republican proposal “an extreme partisan gerrymander” that she said undermines voters in a true swing state with a record of tight elections for statewide office.
“These maps were created for one purpose only: to ensure Republicans win more House seats so that they can maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Manning said. “They are not a reflection of the best interests of North Carolinians but rather an offering to the national Republican Party.”
Republicans don’t deny that the proposed maps for Congress and the state House and Senate give them a clear partisan advantage in future elections. But they say it’s permissible after the state Supreme Court — which flipped last year from a Democratic majority to Republican — ruled in April that the state constitution does not limit partisan gerrymandering.
Sen. Ralph Hise, a Mitchell County Republican and one of the congressional map’s chief architects, said he’s confident it meets all legal criteria and will stand up in court, even if there are legal challenges.
“I feel like we’ve laid out our criteria and we met them, and we think this map best represents North Carolina,” he told reporters Monday.
The committee also approved a proposal for new state Senate boundaries that Duke University mathematician Jonathan Mattingly, who studies redistricting, says would help Republicans maintain their veto-proof majority in the chamber.
According to an analysis of the proposed Senate map by Mattingly’s nonpartisan research group on gerrymandering, Republicans can “reasonably expect” to obtain a supermajority in the chamber, even when votes for Democrats make up more than half of ballots cast statewide.
NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICANS FINALIZE WIDE-RANGING ELECTIONS BILL
Democrats would have a better chance of breaking up the GOP supermajority in the state House, he said, but that chamber’s proposed map still strongly favors Republicans. A House committee is scheduled begin debating the chamber’s proposal late Monday.
Several outspoken Senate Democrats have been placed in the same districts as other incumbents under the map proposal, which could receive its first floor vote Tuesday. Democratic Sens. Lisa Grafstein of Wake County and Natasha Marcus of Mecklenburg County say they may consider relocating to another district if the map becomes final.
Although Hise said those lawmakers were not targeted, Grafstein said she thinks her advocacy for transgender residents might have led Republicans to draw her an unfavorable district.
“I’ve tried to be outspoken and not care about the consequences,” Grafstein, the state’s only out LGBTQ+ senator, said Monday. “Whatever the intent, it sends a signal certainly that folks like Senator Marcus and myself who are outspoken are being treated differently.”
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Victor Davis Hanson: Hamas in ‘No Way’ Would Have Invaded Israel under Trump
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North Dakota lawmakers hold special session to restructure voided budget bill
North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature began a special session Monday to redo a key budget bill the state Supreme Court voided last month, leaving a giant hole in government operations.
Lawmakers quickly began hearings on 14 bills for restoring the provisions of the major budget bill voided by the high court, which invalidated the bill as unconstitutional because it violated a single-subject requirement for bills. The bill has traditionally been used as a catch-all or cleanup bill, passed at the end of the biennial session.
BURGUM CALLS SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION OVER NORTH DAKOTA BUDGET DEBACLE
Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who is running for president, urged the Legislature to take up other items using higher-than-forecasted excess state tax revenue. Those include $91 million for expanding a previous income tax cut, $50 million for infrastructure projects and $20 million to expand a tourism attraction grant program the governor said has drawn great interest.
Burgum told reporters that his proposals “are just adding appropriations to existing programs,” with “a fantastic opportunity for this Legislature to do something more than just procedural fixes.”
He also advocated for “low-hanging fruit items” such as fixing language of a military income tax exemption and allowing the University of North Dakota and Bismarck State College to receive non-state funds for improvements on campus.
“We’re here. Let’s be nimble, efficient and wise,” Burgum told the Legislature.
NORTH DAKOTA LAWMAKERS SCRAMBLE TO FIX BUDGET BILL
A top legislative panel last week turned down more than two dozen bills from lawmakers who sought to add other issues to the special session, including ones Burgum is pressing. Only one proposal advanced: a resolution in support of Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas.
Republican House Majority Leader Mike Lefor told The Associated Press that “discussions are ongoing” as to Burgum’s proposals.
Republican legislative majority leaders have eyed a three- to five-day special session.
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Whitmer slams Michigan State University, school leadership: ‘scandal after scandal’
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ripped into Michigan State University on Monday, accusing the school of “no clear unified leadership” amid rancor on the governing board and other unflattering incidents.
Whitmer’s statement came after two trustees over the weekend said they would support the ouster of board chair Rema Vassar.
Separately, MSU apologized after an image of Adolf Hitler was displayed on the scoreboard before the Michigan-MSU football game Saturday night. Officials said it was part of a quiz by an outside contractor that provides pregame content.
WHITMER UNVEILS AD CAMPAIGN ENCOURAGING CITY-DWELLERS, COLLEGE STUDENTS TO MOVE TO MICHIGAN
MSU also is dealing with fallout from the firing of football coach Mel Tucker who was accused of sexually harassing a woman over the phone. Some critics say the school should have acted months ago.
The latest turmoil involves MSU’s governing board. Trustee Brianna Scott accused Vassar of “bullying” other trustees in her role as chair and unilaterally trying to negotiate a settlement with a dean who was forced out in 2022.
Scott said Vassar has not agreed to have her phone examined to determine if a trustee leaked the name of Tucker’s accuser to former trustees.
“This university has been rocked by scandal after scandal with no clear unified leadership or direction and tragically no accountability either,” Whitmer, a Democrat and MSU graduate, said in a statement. “Right now, there are too many questions and not enough answers. The university owes it to students, alumni and our entire state to get to the bottom of this and take appropriate action.”
Later, at an event in Grand Rapids, Whitmer acknowledged that she could remove Vassar from office under certain conditions.
An email seeking comment was sent to Vassar, a Democrat, who is a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. Voters elected her to MSU’s board in 2020.
MSU’s leadership has been in a state of flux. Samuel Stanley Jr. quit as president a year ago because of what he considered to be meddling by trustees. Teresa Woodruff, who serves as interim president, said she has dropped out of consideration for the permanent job.
She is MSU’s fourth leader since Lou Anna Simon quit in 2018 in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal. Nassar was a campus doctor who sexually assaulted athletes, mostly females who were gymnasts.
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Obama Criticizes Israel over Gaza: ‘Don’t Harden Palestinian Attitudes for Generations’
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Pentagon officials say attacks on US troops have ‘Iranian fingerprints all over’
Senior Pentagon officials said Monday they expect to see a “significant escalation” of attacks against U.S. troops in the Middle East, adding the attacks have “Iranian fingerprints all over” them.
A senior U.S. Defense Official and a senior U.S. Military Official held a background briefing on Monday afternoon, and both officials suggested attacks will likely increase on U.S. troops over the coming days.
The defense official reiterated that Iran is funding, equipping, guiding and directing partners and proxies across the Middle East, including Lebanese Hezbollah militia groups in Iran, Syria and Yemen.
US NAVY INTERCEPTS MISSILES HEADING NORTH FROM YEMEN, ‘POTENTIALLY’ TOWARD ISRAEL: PENTAGON
“I think it’s fair to say when you see this uptick in activity in attacks by many of these groups, there’s Iranian fingerprints all over it,” the defense official said.
The senior defense official also reflected on the objectives set forth when the Department of Defense got involved. First, it was supporting Israel with expediting security assistance, then to help contain the conflict to Gaza while deterring groups from stepping onto the stage and expanding the conflict beyond Gaza.
The third reason was to protect U.S. forces and personnel and focus on hostage recovery.
US MILITARY SHOOTS DOWN TURKISH DRONE AFTER COMING TOO CLOSE TO TROOPS IN SYRIA
But Iran and other forces have sought ways to escalate the conflict by targeting U.S. forces with drones and rockets.
U.S. troops are in Iraq and Syria to support local partners to achieve the defeat of ISIS, the senior defense official said. So, when the efforts continue to increase, Iran is giving space for ISIS to “reconstitute” and destabilize the region, the official added.
MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT MOVES CLOSER TO ISRAEL VIA RED SEA
The Defense official also said Iran has increased the lethality and sophistication of equipment it provides to the Houthis.
The Houthis are accused of shooting three missiles from Yemen last week, which the USS Carney intercepted and shot down as they flew north along the Red Sea.
“We see a prospect for much more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel in the near term,” the defense official said. “And let’s be clear about it: the road leads back to Iran.”
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