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As a change in presidential administrations approaches, President-elect Trump and President Biden both marked the Christmas holiday, with Biden acknowledging that it would be his last time as president to wish the nation a merry Christmas.

Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, exclaimed in a post on Truth Social, “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!” In another post he shared a photo of himself and his wife Melania — the photo bore the message “MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

In a post on the @POTUS presidential X account, Biden said: “For the last time as your president, it’s my honor to wish all of America a very Merry Christmas. My hope for our nation, today and always, is that we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. May God bless you all.”

A post on the @JoeBiden X account that features a photo of the president and first lady Jill Biden reads, “Merry Christmas, everyone!”

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President-elect Trump and President Biden (Getty Images)

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Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hands with former President Trump during their presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump – who defeated Vice President Harris in the November election – made history this year by becoming the second president ever to win election to two non-consecutive terms. The first was Grover Cleveland in the 19th century. While the new year will mark a new chapter in Trump’s political career, it also marks the end of Biden’s decades-long stint at the top levels of Washington politics. 

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President Biden speaks at the Department of Labor on Dec. 16, 2024, in Washington, D,C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, bowed out of the 2024 presidential contest earlier this year in the face of tremendous pressure from within his party after a widely panned debate performance against Trump.

President Biden’s age — and whether he should stay or go — nearly tore Democrats apart this summer.

In fact, a decision for the president to bow out earlier — and give other candidates, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, the chance to run for the Oval Office — may have salvaged the election for the party.

The divide between old and new and the direction of the party is threatening to drive a wedge through the Democratic coalition. In fact, the race between Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to serve as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee represented a microcosm of that skirmish.

The 74-year-old Connolly, recovering from esophageal cancer, bested the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez for the high-profile spot in the Democratic Caucus recently. The ranking Democrat on that panel will duel daily with Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. Connolly is also expected to serve as the party’s lead attack dog for looming tangles with the incoming Trump administration.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., came up short in her bid to become her party’s leader on the House Oversight Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Comer was rooting for Ocasio-Cortez. He knew selecting her would amplify her positions as to the direction of the party.

“I hope they put her on there because she symbolizes what the Democrats stand for. She’s a socialist. She’s the architect of the Green New Deal in the House,” said Comer.

It was a generational choice for Democrats.

Youth versus experience.

But what about the future of the party?

Ocasio-Cortez is an icon of the progressive movement. She’s one of the highest wattage stars in Congress — albeit sometimes a lightning rod.

Does the party want to tout liberal pols like Ocasio-Cortez — which would resonate in the left-leaning, multicultural precincts of Jackson Heights and College Point in New York? Or figure out how to speak to swaths of swing voters and even moderate Democrats in Omaha, Nebraska, parts of Ohio and the Dakotas?

It wasn’t that long ago that Democrats represented many of these places. The entire North and South Dakota delegations — House and Senate — were comprised of Democrats. Former Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., were political icons in the Cornhusker State. Ohio was a swing state at the presidential level.

Connolly is by no stretch a “conservative” Democrat. He lacks the political allure of Ocasio-Cortez. That is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. Connolly is a workhorse. He’s a serious legislator with a nimble mind and can go toe-to-toe with the best of them verbally on the committee dais or on the House floor.

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The question is: Did House Democrats again stiff the progressives? Did they again shut out youth and vigor?

Unclear.

An Ocasio-Cortez victory would have signaled that Democrats veered left. That was one of the problems for the party in the election. But when it comes to “youth” and “turning the page” in the party, few have more currency on this subject than outgoing Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. Certain quarters of the Democratic establishment excoriated Phillips when he made a quixotic challenge to President Biden in the party. Now Phillips is retiring from Congress.

“It is time to elevate the best and brightest. We have literally kept them from ascending to leadership positions, which means they go elsewhere,” lamented Phillips. “And when we lose that kind of talent of ambitious, competent, patriotic young Americans, we’re in trouble.”

Democrats are trying to figure out where they will land after a brutal election loss. The path to rebuild a viable coalition is a challenge. Especially after President-elect Trump figured out a way to grow the GOP base and lure disaffected voters in his direction.

“It’s quite apparent that the Democratic caucus has long valued people who have been here a long time,” said Phillips, criticizing how the party doesn’t recruit “young, talented Americans.” He said that Democrats “will continue losing” if they do not “open up” to younger voters.

For his part, Connolly argued the old versus young debate was a “false narrative, frankly, propounded by the media.”

But even as Connolly won, the party selected several younger lawmakers (and keep in mind that “younger” is a relative term when it comes to Congress) to serve as the ranking members on several committees.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who is 77, stepped aside as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee in favor of the practically spright 62-year-old Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. Raskin just recovered from lymphoma.

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Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., a 78-year-old, was absent for much of the year suffering from cancer. Grijalva has served as the leading Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. He stepped away from that role, while 60-year-old Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., defeated a newcomer to Congress — 45-year-old Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., — to serve as ranking member of that panel.

“Only in Congress do I get to be young at 60 years old,” quipped Huffman. “So it’s like the fountain of youth.”

Like Grijalva, 79-year-old Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., was absent for chunks of time over the past year due to health problems. He is the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. Scott declined to step down. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., who is 72, and 52-year-old Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., challenged Scott, as Democrats clashed over age and experience.

“I don’t know that it’s a clash,” said Costa before the vote. “We’ve got a terrific group of members in our Democratic Caucus. Members that have been elected in recent classes. But certainly we’ve got on spectrum, tremendous experience and a solid bench.”

The younger Craig defeated both Scott and Costa to claim the ranking position on Agriculture.

After prevailing, Craig did not focus on age. She addressed political practicalities instead.

“Democrats overall are not connecting with rural communities. That’s something we’ve been able to do in my district. I represent a D-plus one district and I just won it by about 14 percentage points,” said Craig.

In other words, her district in southeastern Minnesota nominally favors Democrats, but the moderate Craig whipped her opponent.

“(When) we show up, we listen to people and they know that we care about them and about their lives,” said Craig. “And I think the Democratic Party needs to do more of that. Show up. Listen. And make sure that people know they care about them.”

As Democrats sorted out their committee leaders, yours truly spotted 78-year-old Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, near a Capitol stairway.

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Kaptur is an anomaly in Congress, in so many ways.

First elected in 1982, Kaptur is the longest-serving woman in Congressional history. She’s a pro-life Democrat. And despite her seniority — and one might argue gender — Kaptur has never gotten to chair or serve as the top Democrat on any House committee.

Much of that is due to her stance on abortion. But Kaptur’s experience and Ocasio-Cortez’s experience bring this debate full circle. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., advocated for Connolly over the New York Democrat. And for years, Kaptur asserts that the powerful Pelosi blocked her ascension, too.

“In the case of the Appropriations Committee, the people that get elected in my party tend to come from the coasts,” observed Kaptur, saying it took her a decade to even get a slot on the Appropriations roster. “I had to defeat Nancy Pelosi to do that on about five ballots. I began to understand the way this organization called ‘Congress’ functions.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is among the Democratic old guard who supported Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Kaptur says that most Democratic ranking members on committees are “all from the coasts. They’re not from our region of America.”

Kaptur believes the party must focus on “bread-and-butter issues at home” if they’re going to reclaim the voters who President-elect Trump scored in November.

“The President-elect was correct when he talked about prices when he went to a McDonald’s. That’s where so many of my constituents work and eat,” said Kaptur.

She added that Trump’s ride in a garbage truck sealed the deal with working-class Americans.

“He artfully identified with their plight,” said Kaptur.

That characterization from Kaptur is the quintessential distillation of the entire presidential race. It explains many of the reasons why Trump won. It underscored how Democrats struggle to speak to “working class” Americans and those who reside in the middle of the country.

The tug-of-war will continue for Democrats as moderates and progressives — plus newcomers and the older guard — scrap over the future of the party.

But it’s hard to argue with Kaptur — both from electoral experience and politics. She won re-election in a state carried by Trump. That’s to say nothing of Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, winning statewide, as well.

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When it comes to choice spots on key committees, Democrats have ignored lawmakers like Kaptur and shut them out. Ocasio-Cortez lost to Connolly. Raskin, Huffman and Craig are now the top Democrats on several committees. It’s a mixture of younger members, but more pragmatism. Does it mean Democrats got the message? Not necessarily.

Check back in six months to see if these maneuvers represent a major course correction.

As the smell of pine fills the air and the stockings are hung with care, some liberal media outlets served up advice that’s as hard to swallow as a dry fruitcake. Their mission? Equipping you to survive holiday conversations with Trump-supporting relatives. 

From suggested scripts that sound more like hostage negotiations to icebreakers better suited for therapy sessions than a festive family gathering, here are five of the most over-the-top ideas mainstream media is dishing out to keep your Christmas “Trump-proof.”

1. Cancel Christmas altogether

For one HuffPost contributor, the election of Trump wasn’t just a political turning point – it was a holiday deal-breaker. Faced with the knowledge that her husband and his family voted for the former president, she decided to cancel both Thanksgiving and Christmas altogether. No lights, no carols, no awkward family dinners. 

“But I will not give thanks and hold hands in a circle with people who voted for a party that wants to take rights away from LGBTQ people,” guest contributor Andrea Tate wrote. “I will not pass the turkey to someone who supports people who have signaled they will cause harm to people with disabilities and the elderly. I will not sit by a Christmas tree celebrating the birth of Jesus and sipping eggnog when I know how many people may now find themselves in grave – even deadly – danger because they cannot get the reproductive care they need. I will not unwrap gifts given to me by people who voted for a party that has talked about building internment camps and mass deportation.”

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President-elect Trump meets with Prince William at the Embassy of the United Kingdoms Residence on Dec. 7, 2024, in Paris. (Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

2. ‘The View’ co-host agrees with advice to cut off pro-Trump family at holidays

After a psychologist made headlines last month arguing people should avoid Trump-supporting relatives this holiday season, “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin agreed, saying many people feel “someone voted not only against their families but against them.”

Shortly after the election, Yale University chief psychiatry resident Dr. Amanda Calhoun spoke to MSNBC host Joy Reid about how liberals who are devastated by Trump’s re-election can cope with the news, including separating from loved ones. 

“There is a push, I think just a societal norm that if somebody is your family, that they are entitled to your time, and I think the answer is absolutely not,” Calhoun told the talk show host. “So if you are going to a situation where you have family members, where you have close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you, like what you said, against your livelihood, it’s completely fine to not be around those people and to tell them why, you know, to say, ‘I have a problem with the way that you voted, because it went against my very livelihood and I’m not going to be around you this holiday.’”

3. Use therapy techniques to divert the conversation 

If your holiday feast feels more like a political debate than a festive gathering, Time magazine has your back with a list of 11 carefully crafted phrases to defuse family tension.

The top pick? A simple yet stern declaration: “I won’t be talking about politics today.” Framed as a way to create a politics-free safe zone, the advice encourages setting boundaries with relatives whose views you loathe – so you can focus on what really matters.

“Emphasize that you want to keep the focus on the festivities at hand, and ask for a commitment to avoid polarizing topics. If the conversation still ends up turning in that direction, shut it down: ‘OK, that’s enough of that,’ or, ‘We’re not talking about that here today,’” the Time article states. 

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(Patrick L. Pyszka, City of Chicago)

4. Take a break and potentially leave the gathering

The Associated Press has a simple solution: take a breather. Whether the conversation veers into a political minefield or Uncle Bob just won’t stop, the AP suggests calmly excusing yourself from the fray. No need for a dramatic exit – just a composed stroll to the kitchen, the porch, or anywhere that isn’t the battlefield of your family table. 

“Things getting intense? Defuse the situation. Walk away. And it doesn’t have to be in a huff. Sometimes a calm and collected time out is just what you – and the family – might need,” the article recommends.

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5. ‘Ban the bad actors’ 

In a searing MSNBC op-ed, writer Amira Barger challenges the notion that family gatherings should always be sacred if they have different beliefs. The author doesn’t differentiate between Trump-supporting family members and liberal voters.

“I have come to realize that being related by blood doesn’t necessarily mean that those gathered will protect you,” Barger wrote. “Finding family isn’t always about unity, or forcing yourself to remain in a place that causes you harm. Sometimes, it’s about clarity, and the difficult choices that come with it.

“This fall, after a conversation that spanned more than 1,000 texts in various family group chats, my husband and I made the difficult decision to hold a hard and fast boundary with much of my immediate family, whose stated values and votes made it clear to us that we could not feel comfortable around them.”

She adds, “These were decisions we did not make lightly or hastily, but sometimes the best course of action is, in fact, to ban the bad actors.”

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Fox News Digital’s Alexander Hall contributed to this report. 

Presidents have historically developed their own Christmas traditions as they make their unique marks on the White House during their terms. In recent years, Christmases have been spent in an array of places by commanders in chief, from Hawaii, to Texas to Mar-a-Lago. 

President Joe Biden opted in 2021 to move his family’s Christmas celebration to the White House, rather than its usual location in his home state of Delaware. The extended Biden family reportedly attended Mass on Christmas Eve and then returned to the White House where they enjoyed a pasta dinner and had a sleepover, which are traditions in the family. 

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Presidents have developed a variety of their own traditions while in office. (Reuters)

Before him, former President Donald Trump — who will soon take office again — spent Christmases in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate, per reports. During their holidays in Florida, Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended Christmas services at a local Episcopal church in Palm Beach, where the two married in 2005.

Former President Barack Obama established a tradition as president of spending the Christmas holiday with his family in Hawaii. As reported, the president’s Christmases in the state were relatively quiet, spent with friends and family. However, they established a tradition of visiting a local Marine base to thank soldiers for their service on Christmas Day.

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The Bidens previously spent Christmases with family in Delaware. (Reuters)

Prior to Obama, President George Bush chose to spend his Christmases near to the nation’s capital at the Camp David presidential retreat. This was something first established by his father, former President George H. W. Bush. In 2008, the Bush family reportedly celebrated what was their 12th Christmas at Camp David.

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The Trumps have spent most Christmases at their Mar-a-Lago estate. (Reuters)

Further back, U.S. presidents have held a variety of events to mark the Christmas season at the White House, some more elaborate than others. In 1835, President Andrew Jackson famously hosted an indoor “snowball” fight for children at his “frolic” party. The party included games, dancing and a festive dinner and ended with a snowball fight, during which the participants used specially made cotton balls. 

President Franklin Roosevelt had his own tradition of reading Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” aloud after a Christmas Eve meal. 

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The Obamas have traditionally travelled to Hawaii for the holidays. (Reuters)

According to the White House Historical Association, there is a popular myth suggesting that President Theodore Roosevelt banned trees from being cut down and placed in the White House as decoration. This was prompted in part by the fact that the Roosevelts did not mark the holiday with a tree. 

The WHHA noted that Christmas trees in every home is a relatively modern tradition. 

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Per the association, Roosevelt’s son Archie started his own tradition by sneaking a small tree into the White House and placing it in a closet. He decorated it before revealing the tree to his family and starting a new holiday tradition. 

A group of 51 bipartisan lawmakers is urging House negotiators to keep up the flow of dollars to a visa program for Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover of their country.

Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, wrote to the House of Representatives’ top appropriators as they continue to negotiate federal funding for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025.

“We write to urge you to maintain critical provisions for the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program1 in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 appropriations package. Authorizing new Afghan SIVs is critical to vetting and relocating qualified Afghan principal applicants currently in the processing pipeline,” they wrote to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and others.

It comes as President-elect Trump promised to work toward steep spending cuts in the coming federal funding fights. He wrote on Truth Social last week, “The United States will cut Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in spending next year through Reconciliation!”

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Lawmakers are calling for the preservation of an Afghan visa program as President-elect Trump vows steep spending cuts. (Getty Images)

People in Trump’s orbit, including some House Republicans, are pushing for him to have greater control over how congressionally appropriated funds are spent.

Meanwhile, Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy last month to lead an advisory panel on cost-cutting dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

The duo have already positioned themselves as influential players in Congress’ spending discussions as well, having led the revolt against a 1,547-page government funding bill that was a product of bipartisan negotiations. They have not, however, said where they want to see Congress pull back on spending.

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Reps. Jason Crow and Zach Nunn, both military veterans, led the bipartisan letter. (Getty Images)

The 51 lawmakers pushing for the Afghan SIV program to be preserved argue it is “a life-saving path to safety for Afghan nationals who face serious danger as a result of their work alongside U.S. troops, diplomats, and contractors.”

“Congress must continue this work so that the State Department is able to issue visas to eligible Afghans who face imminent threats from the Taliban, Islamic State, and other hostile groups because of their service to the U.S. and our allies,” they wrote.

The Afghan SIV program was first enacted in 2009, but saw new importance after the Taliban’s lightening-fast takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 – which precipitated the U.S.’s withdrawal after decades in the Middle Eastern country.

Congress authorized additional visas under the program every year since FY 2019, according to the letter.

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Congressional negotiators have so far failed to come to an agreement on FY 2025 spending, forcing lawmakers to pass two extensions of last year’s funding levels to prevent a partial government shutdown.

The most recent extension, called a continuing resolution (CR), gives lawmakers until March 14 to make a deal.

FIRST ON FOX: A top diplomat of the Chinese Communist Party, who recently replaced a controversial official with deep ties to top New York Democrats, recently touted his relationship with an American university president and former top education official in New Jersey. 

Chen Li, who assumed the role of consul general of the People’s Republic of China in New York last month, took to social media last week to praise the “warm hospitality” he received from Kean University President Lamont Repollet.

“Absolutely overwhelmed by the warm hospitality from President Repollet. I truly felt at home on this campus,” Li wrote on X. “The commitment to bilateral educational exchange and people to people connections is key to the success of Wenzhou-Kean University, a Chinese-American joint institution.”

Repollet, who served as New Jersey’s commissioner of education under Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy for more than two years, was seen smiling in two of the photos that Li posted. According to Repollet’s Kean University biography, he was in charge of “overseeing the shift to remote education amid the COVID-19 pandemic and playing a key role in planning for the 2020-2021 school year.”

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China’s New York Consul General Chen Li posing with Kean University’s Lamont Repollet. (Chinese Consul General New York )

Despite Biden and Trump administration officials warning about the influence of the CCP, Repollet has developed deep ties to China dating back several years, a Fox News Digital review found. He most recently visited Beijing in October of this year to give a keynote speech at the Triennial Conference of the International Association of University Presidents, which was held in Beijing.

Press releases from the conference emphasized how Repollet was passionate about equity in education and that his keynote speech highlighted how “AI is a revolutionary tool that can foster equity and transform how we engage with students and support their success.”

“AI has the power to help close achievement gaps and ensure that every student, no matter their challenges, has access to high-quality educational resources,” he continued. “By offering personalized learning experiences, AI empowers historically marginalized students with the tools they need to succeed.”

Months earlier, Chinese state media amplified China President Xi Jinping’s letter to Repollet, which was in response to a letter he sent to Xi, according to state media.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during his inspection of the Western Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army on July 26, 2023. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

“Recently, President Xi Jinping replied to a letter from Lamont Repollet, president of Kean University of the United States, encouraging Chinese and American universities to strengthen exchanges and cooperation and contribute to China-U.S. friendship,” the Chinese government said in a press release.

“Recalling witnessing the signing ceremony of the China-U.S. cooperation agreement on jointly establishing Wenzhou-Kean University in 2006 at Kean University, Xi Jinping said he is pleased to see that with the joint efforts of both sides, Wenzhou-Kean University has achieved remarkable results and become a landmark project in China-U.S. educational cooperation.”

“Xi expressed appreciation for what Repollet said in his letter about deepening cooperation with Wenzhou-Kean University and encouraging American students to come to China for exchange and study, and called on universities of the two countries to step up exchanges and cooperation through different modalities to cultivate young envoys who know both countries well, and build more bridges to promote China-U.S. friendship,” the statement continued.

President Xi Jinping meets the press following the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi’an, China, May 19, 2023. (Li Xueren/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Additionally, a press release from Wenzhou-Kean University touted Repollet’s “momentous” visit to China in April 2023.

“Kean University President Lamont O. Repollet and his delegation embarked on a momentous visit to Wenzhou, marking the first visit in three years,” the press release said. “This visit presented a unique opportunity to strengthen the interactions between the two universities, foster people-to-people exchanges between Zhejiang province and New Jersey in the United States, and enhance the long-standing friendship between the two countries.”

The press release said Repollet arrived in China on March 20, 2023, and he “wasted no time” meeting with Wenzhou Party Secretary Shuji Liu Xiaotao.

“Mr. Liu Xiaotao expressed his hope that the two sides would continue to build a model of Sino-US cooperation in education and foster a bridge of friendly exchanges, with a bright future ahead for the university,” the press release states. “President Repollet extended his heartfelt gratitude to the Wenzhou government for its unwavering support toward the construction and development of WKU.”

Xiaotao has been a member of the Chinese Communist Party since 1991 and has served in various roles over the last few decades.

Additionally, a Chinese state media company held an event in New York City in September of this year that listed Repollet as a speaker where, according to a press release, he “emphasized the importance of cultural exchange and people-to-people diplomacy in fostering mutual understanding between nations.”

The slate of speakers included several Chinese officials, including Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the U.S., and Shen Haixiong, the deputy minister of the publicity department of the CPC Central Committee. Haixiong also serves as the head of the China Media Group, which is a crucial media conglomerate that plays a major role in the country’s state media apparatus.

While Repollet’s ties to China have become stronger since he became the president of Kean University, his Facebook profile shows that he made multiple visits to China before he became the top administrator at Kean. 

For example, a 2016 Facebook post shows Repollet attending Wenzhou-Kean University’s inaugural commencement in China as a member of the university’s board of trustees. He attended the 2017 commencement in China also, according to another Facebook post.

Prior to Chen Li taking over the top position in China’s New York consulate, that position was held by Huang Ping, who has a long history of promoting CCP propaganda and calling the CCP a “great party,” denying the alleged Uyghur genocide, and meeting with officials across the United States at universities, media companies and in elected office.

Ping repeatedly met with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, all Democrats. Earlier this year, Ping was referenced dozens of times in an indictment involving one of Hochul’s former top aides. 

Huang Ping meets with Pennsylvania state Sen. Sharif Street. (Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York)

Huang Ping, the consul general of China’s New York Consulate (YouTube screenshot/Chinese Consulate General in New York)

Repollet also has ties to Ping dating back to 2021, according to a press release from the New York Chinese consulate. Ping and Repollet met virtually in December 2021, where Ping congratulated him on his appointment at Kean University and commended “the university for setting a good example for China-U.S. educational cooperation by its 10-year successful campus in Wenzhou, China.”

“[Repollet] highly agrees that education cooperation plays a unique role in people-to-people exchange and in enhancing understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American people,” the consulate’s press release said. “[Repollet] confirms that the university highly values globalization and diversity, and firmly supports cooperation with China.”

Months earlier, Repollet recorded a video on behalf of the New York Chinese consulate celebrating “the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.” In the video, he touted his university’s “strong ties” to China and said he was “immensely grateful to our Chinese partners and to the people at Kean USA who continues to work together to help this university and especially our students thrive.”

“I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our partners in China to further develop this great institution and to celebrate events like National Day In China together [and] well into the future,” Repollet continued.

A 2023 Facebook post also shows Repollet participating in an event marking the final day of the Chinese New Year, which featured Ping.

Michael Sobolik, the author of “Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance,” sounded the alarm about this close relationship between Repollet and China, telling Fox News Digital this relationship is a “cautionary tale.”

“The university hosts a Human Rights Institute, but it makes no mention of Beijing’s ongoing genocide of Uyghurs, its cultural genocide in Tibet, its political crackdown in Hong Kong, or its broader oppression of the Chinese people at home and abroad,” Sobolik continued. “This is what happens when American universities partner with the Chinese Communist Party: money and market access incentivize Americans to ignore the party’s atrocities and remain silent.”

China expert Michaele Sobolik said Kean University’s relationship with China is a “cautionary tale.” (Getty Images)

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China’s New York consulate, which has previously toed the line on the CCP’s narrative while responding to multiple Fox News Digital inquiries, dismissed Sobolik’s analysis by calling him a “so-called ‘expert’” that “lacks a basic understanding of China.”

“The statements regarding Xinjiang, Xizang, Hong Kong, and human rights are factually incorrect and represent typical disinformation. We firmly opposes such slander and smear,” the consulate continued. “Educational exchange and cooperation between China and the U.S. align with the laws and common interests of both sides, and are transparent and beyond reproach.”

“Kean University is known for promoting educational equity and inclusivity, and its cooperation with China will provide more learning and development opportunities for students of all ethnic backgrounds in the U.S.,” the consulate added. “We urge some people in the U.S. to remove their ‘colored glasses,’ view the cooperation objectively and positively.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Kean University for comment, but did not receive a response.

A hostage rescue operator in Syria offered a glimmer of holiday hope in the case of a missing U.S. journalist, telling Fox News Digital he believes Austin Tice is alive and is hopeful that he will be found soon. 

While refusing to divulge sensitive details, Grey Bull Rescue’s Bryan Stern asserted that he has intelligence that leads him to believe the 43-year-old Marine veteran and reporter who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 is alive, or at least was up until recently. 

“I would say 100%, I would bet that he is alive, or at least was as of two weeks ago,” Stern told Fox News Digital from his hotel room in Syria. “I would bet that he’s being cared for and tended to,” he went on. 

“I further submit that, he’s findable,” he went on. “We don’t recover dead bodies. Not to say that we wouldn’t, but we’re a nonprofit, we wouldn’t be putting resources toward that, freezing to death, missing my fourth Christmas with my family, if I didn’t believe he was alive and findable.” 

TRUMP COULD FACE RENEWED ISIS THREAT IN SYRIA AS TURKEY GOES AFTER US ALLY

Stern has been searching through prisons looking for U.S. journalist Austin Tice. (Bryan Stern/Grey Bull Rescue )

Stern has led high-level rescue missions in some of the most dangerous corners of the world, including Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Israel, Haiti, Lebanon and the U.S. during natural disasters. 

“We have done 12 jailbreaks from Russia,” said Stern. “That is 12 more than the CIA.”

The ousting of Bashar al-Assad and subsequent takeover of Syria by HTS has offered the Biden administration and Tice’s family a renewed sense of hope that the journalist could be found. 

“He could have died of a stomach bug three years ago. And we just don’t know. I don’t think that that’s the case,” said Stern. “I have no reason to believe that that’s the case. There’s not a single piece of information, circumstantial or otherwise, that indicate anything near that. In fact, everything I have is counter to that.”

The Syrian government for more than a decade refused to negotiate the release of Tice, who was abducted while reporting on the uprising against the Assad regime during the early stages of the Syrian civil war, which ultimately ended earlier this month after the Syrian president was ousted and fled to Moscow. 

TRUMP SAYS TURKEY ‘DID AN UNFRIENDLY TAKEOVER’ IN SYRIA AS US-BROKERED CEASE-FIRE APPEARS TO FAIL

Stern Stern has led high-level rescue missions in some of the most dangerous corners of the world. (Bryan Stern/Grey Bull Rescue )

The mood in Syria is “cautiously happy” after decades of brutal oppression, according to Stern, and while the new governing force HTS is “not standing in the way” of finding Tice, they’re more preoccupied with learning how to govern than assisting in the search efforts. 

The most likely scenario, according to Stern, is that Tice is being detained in a home in a neighborhood, looked after by Assad-friendly Alawites, the same branch of Islam as the former leader. Many of the country’s prisons have now been searched or emptied and he doesn’t believe President Vladimir Putin would hold Tice in Russia.

“The relationship between Assad and Putin is significantly overblown. [Assad] has been there over two weeks and they haven’t even seen each other,” said Stern. 

“The Russians are like we don’t need this problem, that is a great way to p— off soon-to-be-President Trump, I mean who was obsessed with the Austin Tice case years ago.” 

Investigators believe Tice escaped years ago but was found in just such a neighborhood in Damascus and thrown back in detainment. 

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice office is offering a $10 million reward for any information leading to the finding of Tice, but Stern said he believes anyone with information is more driven by tribal loyalty than monetary reward. 

The Grey Bull team has pored through prison records looking for Tice. (Bryan Stern/Grey Bull Rescue )

“Assad is living the good life in the tower in Moscow. But make no mistake, he still has reach inside of Syria,” said Stern. “Half of the new government were Assad guys last week.” 

“That tribal nexus plus the fear of Bashar Assad being able to reach out and touch people still in Syria, why would they come forward?” 

Another group working with Grey Bull asserted this week that they believe Tice is alive. 

“We have data that Austin is alive till January 2024, but the president of the U.S. said in August that he is alive, and we are sure that he is alive today,” Nizar Zakka, president of Hostage Aid Worldwide, said Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

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“We are trying to be as transparent as possible and to share as much information as possible.”

Zakka offered little evidence to back up its statements made from a press conference in Damascus, though he reportedly used an image to demonstrate the locations where Tice was held from November 2017 to February 2024.

U.S. Hostage Aid Worldwide has engaged with Tice’s family and U.S. authorities in the hunt for Tice, and the Biden administration has echoed a message of hope that Tice is alive, despite months of little word about his whereabouts. 

President-elect Trump has nominated Somers Farkas and John Arrigo for ambassadorships.

If confirmed, Arrigo, Arrigo, who is the vice president of the Arrigo Auto Group in West Palm Beach, Florida, would serve as ambassador to Portugal. 

VANCE TO LIKELY BE 2028 GOP PRESIDENTIAL FRONT-RUNNER, BUT RNC CHAIR ALSO LIKES PARTY’S ‘BENCH’

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix.  (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

“John is a highly successful entrepreneur in the automotive industry, and a champion golfer. For over thirty years, he has been an incredible leader in business in West Palm Beach, and is respected by all,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I have known John for a long time. He will do an incredible job for our Country, and always put America FIRST.”

Arrigo has been a longtime associate of Trump’s, a Business Insider report said in 2021. 

HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIR MAKES 2026 PREDICTION

Farkas, a model and philanthropist, would serve America’s interests in the island nation of Malta. 

Farkas previously served on Trump’s Commission on White House Fellowships. 

Somers Farkas attends New York City Police Foundation 2017 Gala at Sheraton New York on May 18, 2017 in New York City. (Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

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In his announcement, Trump said she “has raised Millions of Dollars for charity, including for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Alzheimer’s Associate, Lighthouse Guild, the New York Women’s Foundation and, as a Trustee of the New York City Police Foundation where she has always BACKED THE BLUE.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is reportedly considering a plan to help illegal immigrants and their families threatened by president-elect Trump’s mass deportation plan. 

A draft of the plan obtained by POLITICO, titled “Immigrant Support Network Concept,” proposes the creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional hubs to “connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with community systems — such as legal services, schools, labor unions, local governments, etc.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s representatives. Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital that the draft was prepared by the California Department of Social Services and has not yet been reviewed in Sacramento. 

CHILD RAPE AND VIOLENT INCIDENTS REPORTED AT MASSACHUSETTS MIGRANT SHELTERS, FORMER FACILITY DIRECTOR SAYS

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President-elect Trump have clashed on various issues, including immigration.  (Getty/AP)

“This document is an internal and deliberative draft document meant for internal discussions as part of a number of possible considerations given the incoming federal administration’s public remarks,” Scott Murray, the Deputy Director, Public Affairs and Outreach Programs for the Department of Social Services, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It is not a final proposal.”

The draft is part of an effort by California leaders to prepare for a second Trump administration. After Trump was elected, Newsom called a special legislative session and talked of a $25 million “Trump-proof” legal defense fund.

In addition, state lawmakers were lobbying for additional funds.

Senate Budget Chair Scott Wiener proposed legislation seeking $60 million, including funds to create an immigrant detention representation and coordination program, Politico reported.  

DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS

Migrants cross through a gap in the US-Mexico border fence in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, US, on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. The Republican Senate leader said significant issues remain in Senate negotiations on US-Mexico border restrictions demanded by his party in exchange for clearing assistance to Ukraine and other US allies. (Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Under the draft, the state Social Services Department would give state funds to eligible nonprofits and take on administrative duties for the hubs.

The draft does not indicate how much funding the plan requires. However, it said the funds would go toward “community outreach, partnership, legal services staffing positions, and approved administrative costs associated with hub operations,” the Politico report said. 

California currently faces a $68 billion budget deficit, according to the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office. 

Asylum seeking migrants wait in line to receive donated food, with a rainbow in the distance, at a makeshift camp while awaiting processing by the U.S. Border Patrol on November 30, 2023, in Jacumba Hot Springs, California.  (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

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“The administration continues to collaborate with the Legislature to finalize a thoughtful special session funding proposal, which is on track to be signed into law before January 20, 2025,” department spokesperson Theresa Mier told the publication. 

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

**Please note the newsletter is going on a Christmas break through the rest of this week. It will return on Monday, Dec. 30.**

Here’s what’s happening…

– Biden signs defense bill despite ban on transgender treatment

– Trump plans to rename Denali ruffles feathers

– Former President Clinton discharged from hospital after being treated for flu

Biden Veto Kills Bill to Increase Number of Federal Trial Court Judges

President Biden on Monday vetoed a bill that would have added 66 federal district judgeships over a span of more than a decade, a once-bipartisan effort designed so that neither political party would have an advantage in molding the federal judiciary. 

Three presidential administrations, beginning with the incoming Trump administration, and six Congresses would have had the opportunity to appoint the new trial court judgeships, according to the legislation, which had support from organizations representing judges and attorneys.

Despite arguments from the organizations that additional judgeships would help with cases that have seen serious delays in resolution and ease concerns over access to justice, the White House said that Biden would veto the bill.

In a statement, Biden said he made his decision because the “hurried action” by the House of Representatives left open questions about “life-tenured” positions ...Read More

President Joe Biden signed the defense bill into law despite objections to the legislation. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

White House

LAST MINUTE Biden signs defense bill despite ban on transgender treatment for military kids …Read more

Trump Transition

PEAK TENSION Trump plan to undo Obama’s ‘Denali’ rename ruffles feathers …Read more

Clouds partially obscure Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, as seen from inside Denali National Park, Alaska, on September 22, 2022. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Capitol Hill

‘WAR’ POSTURE NY Republican compares sanctuary states to the Confederacy …Read more

‘IMMINENT THREATS’ House lawmakers rally around funding Afghan visa program as Trump vows major spending cuts …Read more

HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE Top Dem committee chair reveals how party aims to win back majority during midterms …Read more

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington State is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on Dec. 12, 2024 in Washington D.C.  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Trail Dust

TRUMP ON TRAIL Trump will be ‘very active on the campaign trail’ in 2026 midterms, Republican Party chair predicts …Read more

President-elect Trump at AmericaFest in Arizona.  (Rick Scuteri)

Across America

BACK ON THE HORSE Governor Jim Pillen recovering from multiple injuries after being bucked from horse …Read more

BOARDING CALL CA Dems urge feds to fund high-speed rail before DOGE …Read more

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Bill Clinton discharged from hospital after being treated for flu …Read more

BRING HIM HOME Rescue mission operator believes Marine veteran Austin Tice is alive, will be found soon …Read more

‘WARM HOSPITALITY’ University president has repeatedly cozied up to top CCP officials …Read more

VOTER FRAUD ARREST PA woman allegedly registered dead father, others …Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

President-elect Trump on Monday pledged to seek the death penalty for certain federal criminal defendants, days after President Biden controversially commuted the death sentences for 37 inmates. 

Biden’s move to reclassify the death sentences to life without the possibility of parole was heavily criticized by Republicans and many Democrats. 

‘SQUAD’ DEM APPLAUDS BIDEN FOR SPARING MURDERERS FROM ‘RACIST’ DEATH PENALTY IN 11TH-HOUR CLEMENCY MOVE

President-elect Donald Trump points at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. On Monday, Trump pledged to have the Justice Department pursue the death penalty following President Biden’s move to commute death sentences for 37 inmates.  (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”

In his message announcing the move, the White House said Biden’s actions would prevent the incoming Trump administration from “carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice.”

BIDEN SETS RECORD WITH FIRST-TERM CLEMENCY GRANTS, HERE’S HOW OTHER PRESIDENTS RANK

Only three men on federal death row failed to meet Biden’s requirements for having their sentences commuted. 

They are: Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter who killed 11 people in 2018; Dylann Roof, a White supremacist who killed nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who worked with his now-dead brother to carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds. 

Trump spokesman Steven Chueng on Monday said Biden’s action was a “a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones.”

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During Trump’s first term, 13 federal prisoners were put to death, the most under any president in a century. Upon taking office in 2021, Biden declared a moratorium on federal executions.

A Pennsylvania woman was arrested on felony forgery, public records tampering and voter registration-related charges based on allegations she tried to fraudulently register dead people, including her own father, to vote in the 2024 election.

Jennifer Hill, from the Chester area, was arrested Thursday and accused of attempting to add four ineligible individuals to the voter rolls, including her late father.

Delaware County’s Democratic district attorney, Jack Stollsteimer, said in public remarks that Hill used an app to register 324 people as a staffer for a group called the New Pennsylvania Project.

Stollsteimer said the Pennsylvania Department of State makes the app available for legal voter registration drives. He said Hill successfully registered 181 people, but 129 other names – which he called a “big number” – were not successful.

LIBERTY BELLWETHERS: FIVE COUNTIES IN PENNSYLVANIA TO WATCH ON ELECTION DAY

A welcome sign greets drivers on U.S. Route 222 entering Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, from Conowingo, Maryland. (Charlie Creitz)

“Literally what this woman did was to pad the numbers for her employment. She started registering people that were dead. One of them was her father.”

Hill allegedly tried to register a second deceased individual, whom Stollsteimer said Hill knew was dead because they passed away in 2011 in the house she is currently living in.

“She knows that because she was the person who called the police to come when he died in her house.”

“She did register a fraudulent person,” Stollsteimer said, adding that particular registrant did not vote this year. The fake person’s identity was a portmanteau of her grandmother’s name and a different birthday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In addition, prosecutors charged an 84-year-old man named Philip Moss with voting both in Florida and by mail in Delaware County.

PENNSYLVANIA’S AMISH: A KEY BUT HESITANT VOTING BLOC

Voters cast their ballots on Election Day. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

In a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, an executive at the New Pennsylvania Project called the allegations “heartbreaking” and said the group does not provide financial incentives or bonuses for additional voter registrations. 

“Our employees have no quota to meet, and hourly wages paid to part-time canvassing employees remain the same no matter the number of voter registration applications collected,” Kadida Kenner said.

Kenner added that the Pennsylvania Department of State notified the group about potential issues with a canvasser and the person – believed to be Hill – was immediately suspended.

“Due to the hard work of many individuals to prevent disruptive actions by bad actors, our voting rolls and elections are secure, and no fraudulent ballots were cast,” she said.

“As a nonpartisan organization, our year-round voter registration efforts are not directed, in coordination, or aligned with any political party or candidate. Our registration efforts are not and will never be dictated by an election cycle,” Kenner went on.

Of the nearly 10,000 applicants the group successfully canvassed for, 48% registered as Democrats, 34% as unaffiliated or third-party and 18% as Republicans.

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Hill reportedly faces up to 10 counts for each of the four registrations that led to the indictment by prosecutors in Media.

The Democratic-majority Philadelphia suburb was once more a “swing” county – often voting Democratic on the presidential level while electing state legislative Republicans like then-Senate leader Dominic Pileggi in the 2000s.

But, “Delco,” as it is often called, along with neighboring Chester and Montgomery Counties, has swung heavily leftward in the age of Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris won the county with 61% of the vote.

A top ally of President Biden is “disappointed” after he vetoed a bill that would have increased the number of federal judges currently serving.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who served as a campaign co-chair for both of Biden’s recent presidential campaigns, stressed that he and his Republican colleague Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., kept bipartisanship top of mind when crafting the bill.

“I am disappointed by this outcome, for my own state and for the federal judges throughout the country struggling under the burden of ever-higher caseloads. I’ve worked on this bill for years, and thanks to tireless bipartisan effort with Senator Young, it made it to the president’s desk. It’s highly unfortunate that it will not become law,” Coons said in a statement on Tuesday.

REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

Sen. Chris Coons said he was disappointed after President Biden made good on his veto threat. (Fox News Digital)

He then put the blame on House Republicans for the bill’s ultimate failure, however, for voting on it after the 2024 election.

“Senator Young and I took pains to make this a nonpartisan process, structuring the JUDGES Act so that Congress could pass the bill before any of us – Republican or Democrat – knew who would occupy the White House in 2025 and therefore nominate the new federal judges,” Coons said.

“The Senate did its part by passing the bill unanimously in August; the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, however, waited for election results before moving the bill forward. As a result, the White House is now vetoing this bill.”

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson accused Biden of politicizing the process. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Republicans in turn have accused Biden of making threats to veto the bill – which he issued two days before the House voted on it – to avoid giving President-elect Trump new roles to fill.

“This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pointed out in a statement after the bill passed earlier this month.

 “At that time, Democrats supported the bill – they thought Kamala Harris would win the presidency. Now, however, the Biden-Harris administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics.”

The Senate passed the bill weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris took over for Biden as the Democratic Party nominee. (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The bill would have added 66 federal district judicial roles, spreading their creation out over more than 10 years to prevent a boon on new appointments for any one administration. 

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At the time of its Senate passage, Democrats’ morale was high after Biden ducked out of the 2024 race and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.

It passed the Senate with unanimous consent, however, meaning no Republicans objected to the legislation’s advancement.

New York’s last Republican governor said this week that sanctuary jurisdictions are reminiscent of the Confederate states that balked at federal law and waged war against the Union.

Former Gov. George Pataki was speaking with businessman and 2013 New York City GOP mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis on 77WABC radio when he was asked about the state of the Big Apple in that regard.

“Right now, I’m concerned and people are concerned and rightfully so. But it comes down to leadership. We’ve had worse times in the past. I remember back in the ’60s and then in the early ’80s. And things got infinitely better,” Pataki said.

“And it comes down to having the right people with the right policies running the city, running the state and running the country. I think we’re going to have the right policies in Washington. Now we just need to have the right leadership doing the right thing in Albany and in New York City.”

MAGAVENUE: LAWMAKERS PREP LEGISLATION TO NAME SEVERAL HEARTLAND HIGHWAYS AFTER TRUMP

President Trump speaks with former New York GOP Gov. George E. Pataki. (Reuters)

Catismatidis said Trump has “put his foot down” against sanctuary policies, and quipped that he now has a “very large-sized shoe” given his overwhelming electoral victory.

Pataki agreed, adding that if the U.S. is to be based on the rule of law, it should apply equally everywhere.

“Cities or states that can pretend that the federal rules don’t apply to them are just violating the Constitution and violating our freedom… We had a Civil War over this,” he said.  “And, it became plain that under the Constitution, every city, every state has to follow the law of this country.”

Prior to the war-triggering attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, President James Buchanan, a Pennsylvania Democrat, was critical of Republican abolitionists and lamented his home state’s opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law. 

Following Illinois Republican Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 victory, southern states began to secede, which Buchanan opposed, while believing a military response was the wrong option. The election of Lincoln, who opposed the expansion of slavery into federal territories, alarmed Deep South states, with South Carolina leading the way in declaring secession from the Union on Dec. 20, 1860.

Pataki went on to say the nation’s largest city is bucking the feds in that regard, along with Los Angeles and other cities.

NEW YORK’S LAST GOP GOVERNOR CONDEMNS BIDEN’S INACTION AS IRAN STATE TV PLAYS SCENES OF US ‘ANARCHY’

Republican mayoral candidate and billionaire John Catsimatidis speaks at a news conference in 2013. (Getty Images)

“Trump must make them follow the law or cut off all federal funding. And I think that would be a very positive step to bring America together and to bring us forward,” he said.

The two discussed how New York City Council enacted a sanctuary city policy, and whether the state or federal government may step in against it.

“I think [Mayor Eric] Adams may go along with [Trump intervention],” Pataki predicted, as other observers have viewed the mayor as being critical of sanctuary city policy but hamstrung by the 45-6 Democratic-majority city council.

The former governor said he is optimistic about the New Year and that Trump must “dramatically reform” Washington instead of “tinker[ing] around the edges.”

He noted Trump does have limits, in that he cannot statutorily rein in New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg or other far-left officials.

Current Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has clashed with the MAGA wing of the Republican Party at times, once vociferously opposed another predecessor’s successful bid to make illegal immigrants eligible to receive driver’s licenses.

In 2007, Hochul balked at Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s policy while she was serving as clerk of Erie County – which includes Buffalo. 

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Then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul during a cabinet meeting at the Capitol. (AP)

However, when she became governor upon the resignation of Andrew Cuomo, she reversed course.

In November, Hochul indicated she would be the “first one” to call Immigration & Customs Enforcement to help the feds capture migrants or illegal immigrants accused of another crime and “get them out of here.”

However, she maintained during her remarks in Queens that she supports helping otherwise law-abiding migrants find work in New York.

Trump’s pick for “border czar,” Tom Homan, notably hails from the Watertown area and has condemned his home state’s current policies.

President-elect Trump pledged this week to undo former President Obama’s 2015 decision to change the name of North America’s tallest peak to its Koyukon Athabascan name “Denali,” meaning “High One” or “Great One.”

Speaking to conservatives at a Phoenix conference, Trump made the pledge and noted President William McKinley was also a Republican who believed in tariffs. He first promised to undo Obama’s action in August 2015 and called it an “insult to Ohio,” where McKinley was born and raised.

During his Phoenix remarks, he also pledged to undo Democrats’ rebranding of southern military bases named for Confederates – like Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which was formerly named after Gen. Braxton Bragg.

The 20,320-foot mountain was first dubbed Mount McKinley in 1896 by gold prospector William Dickey, after learning the Ohioan had won the GOP presidential nomination – and as a swipe at silver prospectors he met who preferred Democrat William Jennings Bryan and his plan for a silver standard for the dollar.

ALASKA OUTRAGED AT BIDEN’S FEDERAL OIL LEASE SALE SETUP AS ‘FITTING FINALE’ TO FOSSIL FUEL-AVERSE PRESIDENCY

Ohio’s William McKinley (1843-1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination in September 1901. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Six months into his second term, McKinley was visiting Buffalo, New York, when anarchist laborer Leon Czolgosz assassinated him in a gladhanding line. Czolgosz believed the root of economic inequality stood with the government and was reportedly inspired by the 1900 assassination of Italian King Umberto I.

However, many Alaskans have appeared to prefer the historic name Denali:

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski told KTUU that Trump’s plan to bring back “Mt. McKinley” is an “awful idea.”

“We already went through this with President Trump back and at the very, very beginning of his first term,” she said Monday.

Murkowski said both she and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, – who originally hails from McKinley’s Ohio – support the name Denali.

“[Denali] is a name that has been around for thousands of years… North America’s tallest mountain – shouldn’t it have a name like ‘The Great One’?” Murkowski added.

MURKOWSKI SAYS SHE’S NOT ‘ATTACHED’ TO GOP LABEL

Denali, near Talkeetna, Alaska (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

In 2015, Sullivan told the Anchorage Daily News that “Denali belongs to Alaska and its citizens” and that the naming rights are held by Alaskan Natives.

In a statement to KTUU this week, Sullivan said many Alaskans prefer the “name that the very tough, very strong, very patriotic Athabascan people gave” the peak.

Meanwhile, then-Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, spent decades in Congress preventing any name change from McKinley to Denali – as the namesake president hailed from his Canton district.

Regula, who died in 2017, lambasted Obama over the name change, saying he “thinks he is a dictator.”

Appearing to cite his own work presenting procedural roadblocks and language added to Interior-related bills, Regula said Obama could not change such a law “by a flick of his pen.”

“You want to change the Ohio River?” he quipped.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski speaks during a news conference. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

However, some Ohio officials have also been deferential to the will of Alaskans.

Current Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told the Dayton Daily News in 2015 that if Denali is what Alaskans want, then he in turn understood, as he wouldn’t want Alaskans dictating Ohio name changes.

“So, I guess we shouldn’t tell people in Alaska should do in their own state. But I’m a big fan of Canton and McKinley and I’m glad that he’s getting talked about some more,” he said at the time.

Several prominent California Democrats are calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to approve a grant application for $536 million in federal funds to move forward with the state’s long-awaited high-speed rail network.

The monies would come from funds already allocated in general to “federal-state partnership[s] for intercity passenger rail grants” through the 2021 “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law” and made available via the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024.

Democrats urged Secretary Pete Buttigieg to approve the funds, saying progress on the “California Phase I Corridor” is “essential to enhancing our nation’s and California’s strategic transportation network investments.”

“The Phase 1 Corridor aims to address climate concerns, promote health, improve access and connectivity, and boost economic vitality, while addressing current highway and rail capacity constraints,” a letter to the outgoing Cabinet member read.

BUILDING STARTS ON HIGH-SPEED RAIL LINE BETWEEN LAS VEGAS AND LOS ANGELES AREA

Drafted by Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, Sen. Alex Padilla, and California Democratic Reps. Jim Costa, Zoe Lofgren and Pete Aguilar, the letter calls for the funds to go to two projects in particular: tunneling through the Tehachapi Mountains in Southern California and through the Pacheco Pass of the Diablo Mountains in Northern California.

“These investments will continue to support living wage jobs, provide small business opportunities, and equitably enhance the mobility of communities in need – including disadvantaged agricultural communities – all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Schiff and the other lawmakers wrote.

“Please consider the enormous value and meaningful impact that FSP-National grant funding will provide to advancing CAHSR beyond the Central Valley,” they told Buttigieg.

The bores are needed, the lawmakers said, to connect with other intercity passenger rail systems including the Brightline West, CalTrain, Metrolink and Altamont Commuter Express. 

FLASHBACK: COMER TOUTS HUNTER BIDEN HEARING: RASKIN, SCHIFF ‘PULL STUFF OUT OF THEIR REAR’

Ongoing construction of the California bullet train project is photographed in Corcoran, California, left, and Hanford, California, right. (Getty)

According to California Republicans, the overall high-speed rail project is nearly $100 billion over budget and decades behind schedule.

Trump’s DOGE duo of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy aren’t keen on the idea of continuing to fund what many Republicans consider a costly and unfruitful endeavor.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., said as much earlier this month in remarks on the House floor.

“I am very happy to report that the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has honed-in on perhaps the single greatest example of government waste in United States history – and that is California’s high-speed-rail boondoggle,” Kiley said.

The official DOGE X account also described both California’s high-speed rail expenditures and requested funding in a November tweet.

Earlier this month, Ramaswamy also called the plans a “wasteful vanity project” that burned “billions in taxpayer cash with little prospect of completion in the next decade.”

He said Trump “correctly” rescinded $1 billion in federal funding for the project in 2019 and lamented President Biden’s reversal of that move.

“Time to end the waste,” Ramaswamy said.

California’s top state Senate Republican echoed the DOGE leaders’ concerns.

Sen. Alex Padilla (Getty Images)

“California’s ‘train to nowhere’ has already wasted billions of taxpayer dollars – now Biden wants all Americans to fund this boondoggle,” State Sen. Brian W. Jones of San Diego told Fox News Digital.

“When President Trump returns to office in a few weeks, he must defund the high-speed rail. This wasteful government experiment must end once and for all,” he added.

If approved, the federal funds will be bolstered by $134 million in state monies from California’s “cap & trade” program, according to the Sacramento Bee.

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At a 2013 conference, Musk floated the idea of a “hyperloop” which was also presented in a white paper. Though it has not yet come to fruition, Musk said at the time he had thought whether there is a better way to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco than what California has proposed.

“The high-speed rail that’s being proposed would actually be the slowest bullet train in the world and the most expensive per-mile,” he said. “Isn’t there something better that we can come up with?”

The world’s richest man described Hyperloop at the time as a combination of a Concorde, a rail gun and an air-hockey table.

President Biden on Monday vetoed a bill that would have added 66 federal district judgeships over a span of more than a decade, a once-bipartisan effort designed so that neither political party would have an advantage in molding the federal judiciary. 

Three presidential administrations, beginning with the incoming Trump administration, and six Congresses would have had the opportunity to appoint the new trial court judgeships, according to the legislation, which had support from organizations representing judges and attorneys.

Despite arguments from the organizations that additional judgeships would help with cases that have seen serious delays in resolution and ease concerns over access to justice, the White House said that Biden would veto the bill.

In a statement, Biden said he made his decision because the “hurried action” by the House of Representatives left open questions about “life-tenured” positions.

BIDEN’S DECISION TO COMMUTE SENTENCES FOR DEATH ROW INMATES SPARKS SOCIAL MEDIA FRENZY

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 10, 2024.  (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)

“The House of Representative’s hurried action fails to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the new judgeships are allocated, and neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate explored fully how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” Biden said.

“The efficient and effective administration of justice requires that these questions about need and allocation be further studied and answered before we create permanent judgeships for life-tenured judges,” Biden added.

The White House announced Monday that Biden vetoed a bill that would have added 66 federal district judgeships over a span of more than a decade. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images, File)

He said the bill would also have created new judgeships in states where senators have not filled existing judicial vacancies and that those efforts “suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now.

GOP CONGRESSMAN CHARGES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S FOREIGN POLICY ‘LEFT THE WORLD IN A WORSE OFF PLACE’

When Biden’s plan to veto the legislation surfaced earlier this month, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told “America’s Newsroom” that the act is “the last spasm of a lame-duck.”

“President Biden and his team don’t want to allow it to become law simply because a Republican administration would get to appoint some of the judges,” Kennedy said. 

“I wish they’d put the country first,” the senator added.

The legislation was passed unanimously in August under the Democratic-controlled Senate, though the Republican-led House brought the measure to the floor only after Donald Trump was reelected president in November, creating an air of political gamesmanship.

Biden’s veto essentially shelves the legislation for the current Congress. 

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Overturning Biden’s veto would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, and the House vote fell well short of that margin.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As President-elect Trump begins his second term in the White House, his days as a candidate are numbered.

But even though he’s term limited and his name will no longer be on the ballot, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley says Trump will play a “significant” role in supporting GOP candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.

“President Trump is going to be a very significant part of this because at the end of the day, what we need to do is hold on to the House, hold on to the Senate so that we can finish his term and his agenda,” Whatley emphasized in a recent interview with Fox News Digital at the RNC headquarters in the nation’s capital.

Republicans enjoyed major victories in last month’s elections, with Trump defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to win back the White House, the GOP flipping control of the Senate from the Democrats, and Republicans holding on to their razor-thin majority in the House.

VANCE TO LIKELY BE 2028 GOP PRESIDENTIAL FRONT-RUNNER, BUT RNC CHAIR ALSO LIKES PARTY’S ‘BENCH’

President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Whatley argued that “as we go forward into this next election cycle, the fundamentals are going to remain the same.”

“We need to make sure that we are building our state parties, that we’re building our ground game, we’re building our election integrity apparatus to be in place to make sure that when we get those candidates through those primaries in ‘26, that we’re going to be in a position to take them all the way to the finish line,” he emphasized.

HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIR MAKES 2026 PREDICTION

But the party in power traditionally suffers setbacks in the ensuing midterm elections. And Trump, who was a magnet for voter turnout in this year’s elections, won’t be on the ballot in 2026.

Whatley predicted, “Donald Trump will be very active on the campaign trail for Republicans. And his agenda is the agenda that we’re going to be running on.”

Former President Trump departs a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport on Sept. 7, 2024 in Mosinee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee outraised the Trump campaign and the RNC this past cycle, but Whatley is confident that with the party soon to control the White House, Republicans will be even more competitive in the campaign cash race in the midterms.

“We’re pretty excited about where we are in terms of the fundraising that we did throughout the course of this cycle and what we’re going to do going forward,” he said.

SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIR SPELLS OUT HIS 2026 MISSION

Whatley said his message to donors will be, “We were successful in putting Donald Trump into the White House, and we need to carry forward with his agenda by keeping these House majorities and Senate majorities.”

He also pushed back on the persistent questioning of the RNC and Trump campaign’s ground game efforts during the general election.

“We focused very hard on low propensity voters. This was an entirely new system that we put in place over the course of this election cycle. It worked very, very well,” he touted. 

And looking ahead, he said, “In a midterm election cycle, low propensity voters are going to, again, be very, very important for us. So, we’re going to continue to focus on building that type of a program.”

Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley is interviewed by Fox News Digital, at the RNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Whatley spotlighted that “we also focused on outreach to communities that the Republican Party has traditionally not reached out to – Black voters, Hispanic voters, Asian American voters. That’s why we were able to see such seismic shifts toward Donald Trump versus where those blocs had been in 2016 and 2020. We also saw seismic shifts among young voters and women voters because we were talking to every single American voter. Our ground game was very significant.”

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Whatley was interviewed earlier this month, a week after Trump asked him to continue as RNC chair.

In March, as he clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Trump named Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair. Whatley, a longtime ally of the former president and a major supporter of Trump’s election integrity efforts, had served as RNC general counsel and chair of the North Carolina Republican Party. 

The House Democrat who chairs the party’s campaign committee says she wants to “build on” the “things we did right” in the 2024 elections as she works to win back the chamber’s majority in the 2026 midterms.

While the party lost control of the White House and Republicans flipped the Senate majority while holding on to their fragile control of the House, Democrats were able to take a small bite out of the GOP congressional majority. 

Republicans will hold a razor-thin 220-215 majority in the next Congress, which means the Democrats only need a three-seat gain in the 2026 midterms to win back the chamber for the first time in four years.

HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR TOUTS HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE

Republicans will hold a razor-thin 220-215 majority in the House of Representatives in the incoming Congress. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“We won in tough districts, outperformed across the country,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state emphasized in a recent Fox News Digital interview.

DelBene, who is sticking around for a second straight tour of duty steering the party’s campaign committee, said the 2024 successes are “a good example of what we need to continue to follow heading into 2026.”

VANCE TO LIKELY BE 2028 GOP PRESIDENTIAL FRONT-RUNNER, BUT RNC CHAIR ALSO LIKES PARTY’S ‘BENCH’

“Number one, have great candidates who are independent minded, focused on the needs of their communities,” DelBene said. “Those candidates and their voices were critically important in this election.”

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on Dec. 12, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

DelBene said “making sure that they [the candidates] have the resources they need to get information out to voters and to continue to address head on the issues that are most important to their communities, lowering costs, making sure there’s economic opportunity” are also top priorities.

SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIR SPELLS OUT HIS 2026 MISSION

With President-elect Trump returning to the White House next month, and the GOP in control of both chambers of Congress, DelBene said Republicans are “going to be accountable for what they do in this country and the impact that has on working families”

“We’re going to hold them accountable for their votes and the actions they take, especially if they aren’t supporting working families,” she emphasized. “I think people want to see governance work. So, if Republicans aren’t willing to work in a bipartisan way to get things done, that’s going to be a key part of the 2026 election as well.”

The party in power traditionally takes a gut punch in the ensuing congressional election, which means the Democrats will have historical winds at their backs. 

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Looking to the 2026 map, DelBene touted that Democrats will have “opportunities across the country.”

And she said it’s the DCCC’s job to “reach voters where they are and make sure they’re getting accurate information about where our candidates stand.”

Fox News’ Emma Woodhead contributed to this report

Donald Trump says it is “an absolute necessity” for our country to own Greenland.

He says the U.S. should take back the Panama Canal unless the “ridiculous” shipping fees are lowered.

He threatened that any Republican who opposed him on the bill to avoid a government shutdown can and should be primaried.

The president-elect is earning his reputation as a disruptor, with enough influence over what is now his party to blow up carefully negotiated bipartisan compromises. Let’s look at each of these.

HOW PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP COULD PULL OFF ‘THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ AS HE ENTERS OFFICE

Trump tried in his first term to buy Greenland, which is controlled by Denmark but under home rule. That went nowhere, though it created a diplomatic crisis with Danish officials.

While the U.S. built the Panama Canal in the early 20th century, it was turned over to Panama under a treaty approved by both countries. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino says “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone is Panama’s and will continue to be so. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”

That didn’t stop Trump from posting an AI image of an American flag flying over a waterway presumed to be the canal.

The incoming president has certainly demonstrated the ability to engineer primary challenges to those who cross him. But three dozen conservative Republicans voted against him on the government shutdown bill, including on final passage, which dropped his demand to eliminate the debt ceiling during his term. Would he really gin up primaries against all of them?

So the overwhelming likelihood is that the status of Greenland, the Panama Canal and rebellious Republicans won’t change in the second term.

The reason Trump does this is that it reinforces his role as a disruptor, someone taking on the decrepit Washington establishment, even though a president, by definition, is the new establishment. 

President-elect Donald Trump points at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Beyond that, whether he’s making outrageous demands or not, Trump shapes, and often dominates, the news agenda. As the 47th president has acknowledged to me, he sometimes crosses the line because he knows it will provoke a strong media reaction. As Trump sees it, even negative coverage is good coverage because the press is playing on his turf.

And sometimes these are just negotiating positions to win concessions, as with the threatened 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico. 

Remember, most people outside the media-political complex aren’t breathlessly following these developments. Since the government didn’t actually close down, they don’t see it as a setback for Trump that he didn’t get most of what he wanted. They probably don’t recall that he tried to buy Greenland before.

What Trump clearly has the power to do is to blow up carefully crafted bipartisan agreements. He did it after Speaker Mike Johnson–whose own future is in doubt because, like Kevin McCarthy before him, he didn’t have the votes–let the bill grow into a Christmas tree monstrosity. 

And he did it during the campaign when both parties agreed on a tough border enforcement deal, which was then trashed by Trump’s objections.

But there are clearly limits to Trump’s ability to shape events, especially with the country. For three dozen Republicans to defy him on as fundamental a matter as the debt ceiling shows that he can only push his party so far.

TRUMP’S FAMOUS CHRISTMAS CAMEO IS FAR FROM HIS ONLY ACTING CREDIT: SEE THE FULL LIST

Rep. Nancy Mace, a Trump supporter who voted against him on final passage–told me on Sunday’s Media Buzz that was because she wants to keep the debt ceiling.

But with the GOP clinging to a 1-vote House margin, for now, the cauldron of campaign rhetoric is running up against the cold, hard math of getting to the number 218. 

Democrats have to wonder if it’s worth negotiating with the other party if they’re just creating a target for Trump’s demolition derby.

It was Elon Musk who first tweeted about how bad the original bill was–at Trump’s suggestion–and after 70-plus tweets (including some falsehoods), the new president was drawn into the fight. 

BUTLER, PA – OCT. 5: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks with former president Donald Trump during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa.  ((Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images))

Over the weekend, Trump denied that he had surrendered his presidential powers to his billionaire buddy, and half-mockingly said Musk could never be president: 

“You know why? He wasn’t born in this country. Hahaha.”

A favorite media parlor game is whether the two strong-willed men will eventually have a falling out.

For now, though, Trump’s tough talk about Greenland and the Panama Canal shows that he’s most comfortable playing offense, even if nothing much comes of it.

In other news:

–The House Ethics report says Matt Gaetz “regularly” paid women for sex, including with an underage girl, and used illegal drugs.

In 2017, the former attorney general nominee “engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl,” who was also paid.

Gaetz used or had possession of such illegal drugs as cocaine and Ecstasy “on multiple occasions,” and also accepted lucrative gifts, such as transportation and lodging in the Bahamas.

“Many of the women interviewed by the committee were clear that there was a general expectation of sex,” with one woman telling the committee Gaetz paid her more than $5,000 and that sex was involved “99 percent of the time.”

The panel said Gaetz was “uncooperative” and that he “knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the committee’s investigation of his conduct.” The Justice Department investigated but brought no charges.

TRUMP COULD FACE RENEWED ISIS THREAT IN SYRIA AS TURKEY GOES AFTER US ALLY

Gaetz also misused House resources when he had his chief of staff “assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent…

“There was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

If Gaetz was still in the running for AG, this would have blown him out of the water.

Says Gaetz: “I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me. Then, the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys. I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued.” He says he even sent money to women he wasn’t dating.

–A dogged reporter the Dallas Express discovered what happened to Texas Rep. Kay Granger, who went “missing” months ago. He found her, and got on-the-record confirmation, at a nursing facility that specializes in dementia and other memory problems. She put out a statement about health challenges that utterly missed the point: How could she not tell her constituents about this? Why did she insist on hiding it? There would have been enormous sympathy for her. Instead, the congresswoman kept it all shrouded in secrecy.

–Actress Blake Lively was the target of an online smear campaign, as laid out in texts and emails that blatantly discuss planting stories to ruin her reputation, while cautioning that this must remain secret because they can’t very well admit that they are trying to “bury” her. “You know we can bury anyone.”

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively (David Buchan/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images/Lia Toby/Getty Images)

Lively obtained these documents through legal action against her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, and reviewed by the New York Times. She is alleging sexual harassment, saying Baldoni and others routinely came into her trailer unannounced when she was topless, such as having body makeup removed, or breast-feeding.

The Wayfarer studio said that the company and its PR people “did nothing proactive or retaliatory” against the actress, accusing her of “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”

Lively says Baldoni tried to add unneeded sex scenes, had improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life, including instances in which he may not have gotten consent. Another member of the team showed her a video of his wife naked.

The sad thing is that this sort of thing goes on all the time. We just happened to get the goods this time, with Lively being portrayed as difficult, tone-deaf and a bully.

–The Daily Mail reported that Jeff Bezos was going marry his fiancé Lauren Sanchez this weekend in a $600 million extravaganza in Aspen.

The Amazon founder, who owns the Washington Post, says that’s a crock:

“This whole thing is completely false — none of this is happening…

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“The old adage ‘don’t believe everything you read’ is even more true today than it ever has been. Now lies can get ALL the way around the world before the truth can get its pants on. So be careful out there folks and don’t be gullible.”

Good for Jeff for punching back against a crappy story.