New detail reportedly shows how shooter reached perch to get vantage point on Trump
The Pennsylvania man who tried to assassinate former President Trump on Saturday accessed his roof firing perch by clambering up an air conditioning unit, according to a report.
Thomas Crooks, 20, repeatedly discharged an AR rifle – believed to belong to his father – during a Saturday rally in Butler, striking Trump in the ear and killing a rally attendee, ABC News reported.
Officials said the troubled loner purchased a ladder from a local Home Depot prior to the shooting but did not use it to scale the building, positioned roughly 150 yards from where Trump spoke.
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Instead, he used an air conditioning unit adjacent to the building as a foothold and climbed on top of the structure.
Critics have questioned how Crooks was able to position himself so close to Trump despite the presence of local police and Secret Service agents.
The shooter got off several rounds before being shot dead on top of the roof.
ERIC TRUMP ‘PISSED OFF’ FOR SECRET SERVICE AGENTS IN LINE OF FIRE, DEMANDS ANSWERS
Law enforcement officials also said Tuesday that a remote transmitter was discovered inside Crooks’ pocket and that it was set up to detonate devices in his car and home, according to the report.
The makeshift bombs never exploded, and officials continue to assess their purpose and capacity for damage.
Crooks also had a tactical vest in his car but did not put it on prior to climbing on top of the roof.
LAST WORDS OF ‘HERO’ FIREFIGHTER WHO DIED AT TRUMP RALLY SHOOTING REVEALED
Prior to carrying out the attempted assassination, Crooks asked for the day off from work Saturday and told his employer that he would be back Sunday, the report said.
Despite that pledge, some officials have speculated that Crooks did not expect to survive the operation that ended with his death.
Crooks’ phone and social media activity have both been vetted, but authorities said they have not been able to pinpoint a motive for the attack.
Crooks, who was reportedly bullied in high school, was a registered Republican but donated to a progressive political group as recently as 2021.
FBI HAS GAINED ACCESS TO THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS’ PHONE IN TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Trump grabbed the side of his head after one of Crooks’ bullets grazed his ear as shocked rally goers looked on.
Volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, was hit during the chaos and later died.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told ABC News that local police were responsible for securing the building Crooks scaled and were inside when he fired.
“In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and that the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter,” Cheatle said. “And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter.”
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The Pennsylvania State Police said it “was not responsible for securing the building or property,” asserting that it had up to 40 officers at the scene.
Trump shooter reportedly told boss he needed day off before assassination attempt
Former President Trump’s would-be assassin would have been at work on Saturday, but told his boss that he needed the day off because he had “something to do,” according to reports.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents after firing five rounds, grazing Trump’s ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuring two others at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
But law enforcement sources told CNN that the 20-year-old told his boss that he would be back at work on Sunday.
Crooks listed himself as unemployed in 2020, but he worked most recently as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a state-licensed transitional facility.
DONALD TRUMP’S SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION UNDER INVESTIGATION FOLLOWING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
The center’s administrator, Marcie Grimm, said in a Sunday statement that Crooks “performed his job without concern” and his background check was clean.
Crooks’ “newer model” phone and a gray 12-button remote transmitter were recovered from beside his body after he was shot, according to photos obtained by WPXI.
The transmitter is believed to have been connected to an explosive device in Crooks’ car – investigators suggested in an interview with the New York Post that he may have planned to stage a distraction during the shooting.
Although they have gained access to his phone and laptop, investigators have yet to determine a possible motive for Crooks’ assassination attempt. But they are beginning to piece together a clearer picture of his actions leading up to the shooting that day.
Roughly three hours before the shooting, Crooks aroused suspicion when he passed through magnetometers at the rally’s security screening area with a range-finder, which looks like a small pair of binoculars and is used by target shooters and hunters to measure distances when setting up a long-range shot.
NEIGHBOR SAYS TRUMP SHOOTER’S FAMILY HAD NO POLITICAL SIGNS IN YARD AS PARENTS’ AFFILIATIONS SURFACE
A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that a local officer saw a suspicious man carrying a range-finder “in or just-outside” the venue before Trump took the stage.
That sighting was shared with state police, according to the source, and there was a discussion about whether the man was carrying a pair of binoculars to try to see the rally better.
TRUMP SHOOTER THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS’ PARENTS REGISTERED PENNSYLVANIA PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS: RECORDS
Crooks was able to gain access to the building’s roof by climbing on top of an air conditioning unit, ABC News reported.
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Neighbor explains what she knew about political views of Trump shooter’s family
BETHEL PARK, Pa. – Two neighbors of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks dismissed the attention drawn to his political affiliation, saying the family appeared to never have campaign signs of any stripe in their Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, yard.
Amy, who spoke to reporters alongside Holly – a local GOP captain – attested that the media would be hard-pressed to find a neighbor who could vouch for any signs having been seen in the Crooks’ yard.
“I give out the signs, and I’ve never given to that house, I’ll tell you that,” said Holly, who alluded to the fact Crooks was a registered Republican.
The shooting suspect also donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on the day of President Biden’s inauguration.
TRUMP RALLY SPEAKER WHO TENDED TO MURDERED ATTENDEE HOPES ‘HORRIFIC’ EVENT WILL UNITE NATION
“I walk by here all the time, other neighbors do,” Amy added. “You will not find one neighbor that will confirm or ever say they saw those signs in the yard.”
I’m on a Republican committee here in Bethel Park,” Holly said. “I’m a committee woman, and I door-knock everywhere: for [2022 U.S. Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet] Oz, for [2022 gubernatorial nominee State Sen. Doug] Mastriano, for Trump, for all of them,” she said.
Holly said she had never door-knocked at the Crooks’ home; campaigns and activists often have access to voter rolls with likely voters of respective parties.
“I know who the Republicans are. I mean, he’s not on the list,” she said.
Crooks’ mother, Mary, is registered as a Democrat, while his father is registered as a libertarian.
Amy also said she rarely saw Crooks or his family out and about.
“I drive up and down this street all the time because it’s the way we get out to go to the main road,” she said, “and I never saw him out.”
However, Amy offered one recollection of encountering Crooks while working in her yard.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM REVEALS DETAILS OF SUSPECT’S ACCOUNT WHO TRIED TO KILL TRUMP
“I think it was about a month and a half ago,” she said. “He was just like this; he was just walking with his head down … and at one point he turned his head, and he just kept his head down.”
Amy said she and her husband originally planned to attend Trump’s rally in Butler, about an hour and a half north of their neighborhood.
“I set my alarm for 5 a.m., and I had my clothes out, ready to go. I was just going to throw them on, not even to do makeup, nothing, put my hat on, and I was going to drive up and meet up with friends,” she said.
However, Amy recounted that something “didn’t feel right,” and she ended up watching the rally on television with her husband.
She recalled hearing the reports from Crooks’ rifle and immediately recognized them as gunshots.
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“So, it was just complete shock at that point because then when [Trump] dropped and then when he stood up, it was like, ‘Great,’” she said.
As other experts and observers previously said, Amy added that she and her husband knew that if Trump had not turned his head, the shots could have been much more injurious or fatal.
But when he was quickly surrounded by Secret Service agents, and he gave the now-iconic fist pumps and appeared to mouth “Fight, fight,” Amy said she knew what the former president truly meant.
“As a Trump supporter, when he said, ‘Fight, fight, fight,’ this is how I took it … it was like, he’s going to keep fighting for us, and he wants us to keep fighting for our freedom,” she said, adding it was clear that Trump was not encouraging further violence.
Donald Trump Jr responds after MSNBC commentators question father’s injury
Donald Trump Jr. fired back at MSNBC after multiple commentators appeared to question the validity of the Trump assassination attempt and the seriousness of his father’s injury.
“He wasn’t shot in the face enough for them, it wasn’t enough?” he said during “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday. “That’s the point. They can’t help themselves. The Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. It’s so asinine that they could say that… You see the photograph at the time. There’s blood everywhere.”
MSNBC host Ari Melber called Trump’s ear bandage a “spectacle” after the former president made his first public appearance since a would-be assassin tried to gun him down during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
BIDEN ADMITS ‘BULL’S-EYE’ COMMENT ABOUT TRUMP WAS A ‘MISTAKE’ AFTER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
“A spectacle for this candidate who we know is, by his own admission, obsessed with assorted spectacles,” Melber said. “There is a political quest here to mine and use Donald Trump’s injury, and whether his allies and Republicans or the candidate himself do that in a way that overextends their credibility, will be decided by the voters.”
MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele also questioned the seriousness of Trump’s wound, arguing there are lingering “questions” surrounding the bandage.
“There are a lot of questions around that ear, and yet there’s been no response to that,” he said. “Instead, just showing the image of the man coming into into the hall with the wounded ear.”
Trump Jr.’s remarks come after he had a tense exchange on-air with an MSNBC reporter just moments before him and his siblings were expected to pledge Florida’s delegates in favor of his father – the moment that he officially clinched the Republican nomination.
“They can’t stop,” he recalled. “This is the same as what they did with Russia, Russia. Even when they knew it was wrong, they kept going. It was impeachment one. It was impeachment two. … They’re trying to bankrupt our family. They’re trying to take away my father’s businesses”
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“When that doesn’t work, they tried to throw him in jail,” he continued. “And… of course… when someone spends years calling you Hitler and a fascist and of this and, by the way, not just my father, half of the country, what do you expect?”
Trump Jr. told MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff to “get out of here” during the terse exchange at the RNC on Monday after he was asked about the former president’s immigration policies.
He touted his father’s accomplishments during his four years in office before rejecting Soboroffs’ question about former President Trump being “a divisive figure.” Trump Jr. blamed the media for creating “divisiveness” around him.
The exchange turned heated when Soboroff, who wrote the book “Separated: Inside an American Tragedy,” asked whether the former president was planning to impose family separations for a “second” time as part of his immigration policy if elected president and denied Trump Jr.’s assertions that it happened under the Obama administration.
“It’s MSDNC, so I expect nothing less from you clowns, even today,” Trump Jr. fired back, adopting the nickname often invoked by his father for the left-leaning network.
“Even 48 hours later, you couldn’t wait, you couldn’t wait with your lies and with your nonsense, so just get out of here,” he continued, waving away the reporter while turning his attention back to the convention stage.
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Poll after assassination attempt shows Trump leading Biden in general election
Former President Donald Trump is narrowly leading
President Joe Biden, according to a new poll.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted in the days after Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally Saturday, found that the former president leads Biden by two percentage points in a general election matchup, 43% to 41%.
The poll, released Tuesday, also found that the majority of registered voters are concerned over “chaos” in America. About 80% of registered voters said they believe that “the country is spiraling out of the control” after the assassination attempt on Trump.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The survey was released on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC), where Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, were officially nominated as the GOP’s candidates for 2024 election.
On Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), attendees will hear from a wide-range of speakers, including members of Congress, Trump family members, and the vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. They include:
Rep. Brian Mast of Florida
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina
Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas
Ric Grenell, Former Acting Director of National Intelligence
Former Congressman Lee Zeldin
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
Callista Gingrich, former Ambassador to the Holy See
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives
Peter Navarro, former Director of the U.S. Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy
Rep. Monica De La Cruz R-Texas
Thomas Homan, former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
David Lara, business owner and community activist
Jim Chilton, fifth generation rancher from Arivaca, Arizona
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
Sarah Philips, petroleum engineer
Mayor Trent Conway of East Palestine, Ohio
Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota
Kellyanne Conway, former Counselor to the President
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
Staff Sergeant David Bellavia Ret., Medal of Honor recipient
Scott Neil, Decorated War Hero & Founder, Horse Soldier Bourbon
Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., TV news personality
Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida
Alicia Lopez and Herman Lopez, Cheryl Jules and Christy Shamblin. Gold Star Families
Performance: Brian Kelley, Country Music Artist, and the Holy Redeemer Church of God in Christ Choir. UNC Frat Boys
Shabbos Kestenbaum, Jewish American & Alumnus, Harvard University
Neutra Family, the family of Hamas a hostage are expected to speak about their son Omer who was kidnapped on October 7th and has been held as a hostage for 278 days now
Sergeant William Pekrul, Decorated War Hero, World War II and D-Day Veteran
Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Kai Trump
Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, will take the stage to introduce her husband.
Vance will deliver a speech Wednesday night to close the night, his first address to voters since being selected as Trump’s running mate.
A new poll released on Wednesday found that 65% of Democrats say President Biden should drop out following his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump.
The AP-NORC survey – which was conducted July 11-15, mostly completed before the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend – found that 7 in 10 adults, including 65% of Democrats, say Biden should withdraw and allow his party to select a different nominee.
Overall, 57% of adults say Trump should withdraw from the race and allow his party to name a replacement. But Trump is maintaining support from his party, with 73% of Republicans saying he should stay in the race.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace.
Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg that he would allow Jerome Powell to finish his term as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he would allow Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to finish his term at the helm of the central bank if he wins the November election.
“I would let him serve it out, especially if I thought he was doing the right thing,” Trump said, according to a Bloomberg News interview that took place in June.
Powell’s term as chair ends in May 2026, while his position on the Fed board continues until 2028.
Trump also warned that the Fed should not cut interest rates before the November election, which could give the economy – and President Biden – a lift. Wall Street widely expects the Fed to cut interest rates twice by the end of the year, with the first reduction coming in September.
“It’s something that they know they shouldn’t be doing,” Trump said.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox Business’ Megan Henney.
President Biden’s campaign slammed former President Trump and his vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance as “Anti-choice” on Wednesday.
During a press call amid the Republican National Convention, Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee went after the newly-selected Trump running mate specifically.
“JD Vance is an anti-choice politician whose views on reproductive freedom and women’s rights would take us back decades,” claimed Biden campaign principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks. “He supports a nationwide ban on abortion and criticizes exceptions for rape, incest survivors, saying ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.'”
“In fact, he called rape and incest ‘inconvenient.’ And he wants women to stay in violent marriages,” he added.
Trump named Vance as his vice presidential choice in a post on Truth Social on Monday as the RNC was kicking off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Usha Vance, the wife of vice presidential candidate JD Vance, is expected introduce her husband on the main stage tonight at in Milwaukee before his primetime speech on day 3 of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump, Jr. told CBS News.
It will be his first address since Trump announced Vance as his choice of running mate on Monday.
Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, born in 1986, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School, where she met the future Ohio senator, according to a report from the New York Times.”We were friends, and I liked that he was very diligent,” she told NBC News about how she met her husband in a 2017 interview.
“He would show up at 9 a.m. appointments that I would set up for us to start working on the brief together.”
“The thing that I remember most about Usha is just how completely forward and comfortable with herself she was,” the Ohio senator said of his wife during the interview. “(She was) so defensive about the things that she really cared about.”
Fox News Digital Michael Lee contributed to this report.
Donald Trump Jr., discussed the process for his father making a running mate selection on Fox News, explaining the importance of chemistry.
“I think he has to find the right mix, the right chemistry. I mean, he’s a big, sort of, chemistry guy to work with,” former President Trump’s son said.
“There’s a lot of people, obviously, in politics, many on people’s payrolls that sort of give, let’s call it partial advice about things,” he explained. “Or they, you know, tell you these sort of lies by omission to get what they want.”
Trump Jr., said this prompted him to get “fairly involved” in the selection process.
Talking about Trump’s ultimate choice of Sen. JD Vance, he said, “I’ve known the guy now for years.”
He said he first thought Vance’s story was incredible when his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, came out in 2016.
Trump Jr., called Vance, “just the perfect pick.”
“There is a chemistry with my father that I think is perfect,” he added.
Fox News’ Pete Hegseth asked voters how they feel about JD Vance being the vice presidential candidate during a ‘Breakfast with Friends’ in Delafield, Wisconsin.
When asked about Vance as a candidate, everyone in the room cheered and clapped.
A man named Jeff told Fox News that Trump choosing Vance as his running mate was “possibly the best pick he could have ever made.”
“Smart, articulate, military man, self-made, from Ohio, swing state. It could not have been better. Young, energetic. What more do you want? Compare that to what else ie being offered,” he said.
“He’s amazing. He’s a millennial, he’s not bad on the eyes,” another woman told Fox. “And he’s going to make our country great with President Trump, I know it.”
“I think he’s gonna do well,” one voter said.
Another woman told Hegseth that they “think its a great choice. I just saw his movie the other night and I really enjoyed the history of where he came from.”
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will focus heavily on his “powerful upbringing” during a speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC), sources tell Fox News.
Vance will be introducing himself to the nation for the first time as Trump’s running mate Wednesday night, a crucial speech that could set the stage for the rest of his campaign.
The address will focus on his story as “a boy who grew up in poverty, with no father in his life, and a drug-addicted mother,” a source with knowledge of the speech tells Fox.
A source in Vance’s political orbit also told Fox News to “expect the speech to focus heavily on his bio and incredible life story and how that ties into the America First Agenda.”
A source close to the Republican senator also said he will highlight his passion for a variety of issues, including “trade, immigration, ending endless wars, fentanyl and drugs, and how inflation hurts the poor the most.”
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this post.
One Milwaukee man told Fox News Digital that the moment should be used to remember the U.S. is a democracy that “decide[s] what we want or don’t want as a people by voting and not by violence.”
The attempted assassination of President Trump shocked Americans on both sides of the aisle, with many seeing the close call as a time to reflect on the state of the nation and turn down the temperature of political rhetoric.
Fox News Digital spoke to Americans in New York City, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, about their reaction to what happened, the way Trump handled the moment while under fire and their predictions about what the failed assassination means for the country.
Tom in Milwaukee told Fox News Digital that it is “really, really a sad thing” that the country has gotten to the point where somebody has to take a shot at the former president” and while he said he won’t be voting for Trump in November, he was sorry to see it happen and would keep the former president in his prayers.
“I hope that the Republicans have a great convention here,” he said of the Republican National Convention taking place in Milwaukee this week. He also noted Trump had indicated he would be taking a softer tone in his political rhetoric, “which we should all follow.”
John from Milwaukee also described the weekend’s assassination attempt by 20-year-old Pennsylvania native Thomas Matthew Crooks as a sad moment where violence came to fruition based on the way Trump has been discussed since 2015.
“A lot of the rhetoric that has been pushed out there and some people are reacting to it,” he said. “It is not surprising, but it is a sad moment.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Kendall Tietz, Nikolas Lanum, Amanda Cappelli, Joshua Q. Nelson, Kira Mautone, and Gabriel Hays.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman previewed newly-selected vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s remarks at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.
“Well, President Trump is the great American fighter. That’s what I call him. … And he has selected a fellow fighter in choosing JD Vance as his vice presidential nominee,” said Caroline Sunshine, former President Trump 2024 campaign deputy communications director, on Fox News.
“JD Vance, obviously an extraordinary American with an incredible life story,” she said.
Sunshine explained that Trump has always considered himself a fighter for “the forgotten men and women of America.”
“JD Vance is from one of those communities,” she pointed out. “He’s from the Forgotten Men and Women of America. He understands some of the unique suffering that takes place in those communities viscerally.”
She also noted Vance’s past service in the Marines. “He, of course, answered the call to service after our country was attacked on 9/11, joining the Marine Corps. Once a marine, always a marine.”
The campaign spokeswoman additionally stressed that while Vance has made comments in the past against Trump, he is a “convert” not a critic.
MEDIAMichigan rep posts video response to Stephen Colbert’s joke about his RNC speech: ‘Touché’Michigan Republican Rep. John James posted a humorous response on his X account to late night comedian Stephen Colbert’s joke about him on Tuesday.
Rep. John James, R-Mich., responded Tuesday to “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert’s joke mocking a line in his speech at the Republican National Convention.
While delivering a monologue about the RNC, the late-night comedian commented on James’ primetime address Monday night, showing a brief portion.
“America’s the greatest idea there’s ever been,” James exclaimed in the clip.”Greatest idea? Someone obviously hasn’t tried the Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Crunch Wrap Supreme. That’s a good idea,” Colbert joked.
On Tuesday night, James responded by posting a video of himself trying a Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Crunch Wrap Supreme for the first time outside a local Taco Bell.
“Touché @StephenAtHome,” James wrote. “Tried it… wouldn’t go to war for it.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick.
Vice President Kamala Harris said former President Trump chose Sen. JD Vance as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election to be a “rubber stamp” for his “extreme agenda.”
Vice President Kamala Harris said in a newly released video that former President Trump selected Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate to be a “rubber stamp” for the Republican White House hopeful’s “extreme agenda.”
This comes ahead of Vance’s acceptance speech on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Trump, now formally the Republican nominee for president, announced Vance as his pick for vice president on Monday.
“Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda,” Harris said in the video.
“Make no mistake: JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country,” she continued.
Harris and Vance spoke by phone after Vance’s nomination in a brief and respectful conversation, Fox News’ Alexis McAdams reports, after Harris left a congratulatory voicemail.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion.
Kip Tom, who is with Famers and Ranchers for Trump, joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the upcoming farm fair at the Republican National Convention (RNC) and recall the “surreal” moment Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Tom was present at the campaign rally where Trump survived an assassination attempt, telling Fox News he is “still processing” the tragic events of that day.
Tom added that “we need to work hard to make sure we make agriculture great again.”
“We want to continue to promote that food security is national security, yet under the Biden-Harris administration we continue to offshore many of our critical elements that we use to produce food, fiber, and energy to places like China, Russia, Belarus. We are weakening our own food security in our nation,” Tom said. “At the same time we need to reinvest in infrastructure in our nation and make sure that our bioeconomy and our contributions to exports continue to grow.”
Asked about Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance, Tom told Fox that “it’ll be great to have a president and vice president that are focused on agriculture and our food system.”
President Biden reportedly got angry with Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado on a party group call over the weekend, objecting to calls for him to end his reelection campaign.
President Biden reportedly lashed out at fellow Democrats on a group call Saturday, insisting that questions about his viability for a second term were ridiculous.
The president allegedly exploded on Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado during the call after Crow said “without a major change, we are facing a loss in November,” according to NBC News.
“First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security,” Biden told Crow, according to a report from Puck News. “You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy.”
“Tell me!” Biden insisted during the outburst, according to the report. “Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell me who did the Pacific basin.”
Former President Donald Trump tapped Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate. Vance is known to be economically unorthodox on some issues like taxes.
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight this week after former President Donald Trump officially tapped him to be his running mate ahead of the November election.
Vance, 39, grew up in poverty in rural Ohio and went on to attend Yale Law School before he worked as a venture capitalist in San Francisco – a rags-to-riches story that he chronicled in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Just a few years later, Vance used some of his Silicon Valley connections from his venture capital days – including right-leaning billionaire Peter Thiel – to make a foray into national politics.
Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022, with the help of more than $10 million in donations from Thiel. Since then, he has cultivated an identity on Capitol Hill as a staunch ally of Trump and has embraced many of the former president’s populist economic policies.
Babydog is one of three canines owned by Justice and his family. They also have two Boston terriers named Lucy and Ellie, according to the governor’s campaign website for his U.S. Senate bid in November.
Babydog is an English Bulldog. Like most bulldogs, Babydog is white and tan and brown, with stubby legs and an abundance of folds around her face.
The friendly canine is four years old, but will be five in late October.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice made Babydog a mascot for his vaccination sweepstakes. A website was even set up to encourage vaccinations for coronavirus, titled “DoItForBabydog.wv.gov.”
According to the West Virginia governor’s official website, “Whether it be special appearances on the biggest of stages, like the Governor’s State of the State address, or simply meeting people and shaking paws in her travels, Babydog always makes everyone smile everywhere that she and the Governor go.”
Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., described the atmosphere of the Republican National Convention after the assassination attempt in an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters.
“Monday night was unbelievable. Just 48 hours after we were a millisecond away from this week being in chaos and mourning, we had the president walk in here as the pinnacle of strength,” he said.
According to Burgum, “you can feel that energy when President Trump walks in here.”
“He transferred into everybody here. And I think he’s transferred that energy to America,” he added.
The governor also previewed what he expects from Trump’s RNC remarks to Watters. “His message has always been powerful,” he claimed. “But when he came out earlier this week and said he’s tearing up a speech, he’s going to talk about unifying America, I think America is so ready for that.”
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice
spoke during the second night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his companion, a Bulldog named Babydog Justice, appeared on stage alongside him.
RNC attendees went wild for the dog and his political owner as they walked the convention floor together.Babydog, who often appears on Justice’s social media accounts supporting and promoting his agenda, patiently waited on stage for Justice. She panned the scene from left to right with a big smile as she hung back awaiting his speech’s conclusion.
Babydog’s summer bucket list includes attending a campaign event, eating chicken nuggets, meeting new voters, traveling the Great State of West Virginia
, taking car rides and earning constituents’ votes, according to Justice’s Instagram account.
In January, Babydog accompanied his owner as he filed the paperwork to guarantee former President Donald Trump will appear on the ballot in the Mountain State come November.
Let’s Win for America Action co-chair Janelle King joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the reaction to Nikki Haley’s Republican National Convention (RNC) speech and why she believes Biden could still be ousted ahead of November.
“I thought Nikki Haley did exactly what she was supposed to do. Im not surprised whatsoever at the reaction as it relates to her going out there and giving Donald Trump a full endorsement,” King told Fox.
“I think that president trump has a unique opportunity right now. Unfortunately it came a result of him almost risking his life, almost losing his life i should say,” King said. “He has a unique opportunity to message to the people to pivot a little bit and to create this uniting force. this is an opportunity for the Republican party to stand in the gap, to show America that we understand what is going on.”
King added that she believes Haley “did the best she could do” to unite her supporters for Trump during her speech at the RNC.
Former President Trump’s allies are looking at his selection of Sen. JD Vance as a key appeal to Midwestern voters – and some New York Republican lawmakers are hopeful it’ll give the GOP a boost in their own state as well.
House GOP lawmakers representing the Democratic stronghold state held a media event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Tuesday, a day after Trump named Vance as his running mate in the November election.
Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Mike Lawler
both pointed to Vance’s pro-union stances, which line up with policies that have won support in their districts as well.
Malliotakis pointed out that Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien, who spoke at the RNC on Monday night, gave shoutouts to a handful of Republican lawmakers including herself, Vance and Lawler “as people who have been working with labor.”
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray says former President Donald Trump continue defeating attacks lobbed at him from the Democratic Party.
MILWAUKEE – Former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue defeating attacks thrown at them by the Democratic Party as the election season comes down to its final months, Wyoming’s secretary of state told Fox News Digital from the Republican National Convention.
Democrats during the “last 110 days of this election [will] do everything they can to try to blunt our momentum. I think they’re going to fail at that, because the American people see the record of this Biden administration and that it is just opposed to everything that the American people value,” Republican Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
Gray is attending the RNC, where he is chairing the Cowboy State’s delegation. Months before Trump officially became the GOP’s nominee for president on Monday, Gray was battling Democrats on the legal frontlines as they worked to prevent the 45th president from even appearing on election ballots.
Gray said that despite repeated efforts by Democrats to tie Trump up in court cases, and efforts to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot, and the overall “weaponization” of government against conservatives, the GOP and former president have come out victorious.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman spoke with a source close to Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, and informed Fox News Digital of the exclusive conversation.
“Senator JD Vance just hung up the phone with Vice President Kamala Harris,” she said. “It’s their first conversation since he was picked as President Trump’s running mate. The two had a brief and respectful conversation, the source told me. The two said they’re both looking forward to debating.”
While there is no date set for a Vance versus Harris debate, the Republican duo will hold an indoor rally one week following the assassination attempt on Trump.
The rally on July 20 will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is located around six hours from Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire on the former president and shot him in the ear.
Vance earned the vice presidential nomination Monday night, the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention.
MILWAUKEE – Former New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin said he’s “tired” of seeing Republicans verbally and physically attacked, arguing that anti-Trump and anti-GOP rhetoric has reached new highs across the years.
“The rhetoric has gotten so bad between, yes, the bullseye comment, remember Dan Goldman making a comment about how President Trump needs to be eliminated. Bennie Thompson wants to take away Secret Service protection. One of [Thompson’s] aides was just complaining that the shooter Saturday evening had missed President Trump. I’m tired of seeing Republicans attacked like this,” Zeldin told Fox News Digital during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.
Zeldin was responding to President Biden backtracking on his comment earlier this month that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” saying the remark was a “mistake” after a 20-year-old man in Pennsylvania attempted to assassinate Trump during a rally on Saturday evening.
Zeldin reflected that verbal and physical attacks against Republicans have been ongoing and heightening for years before a shooter tried to kill the 45th president.
President Trump is showing “real leadership” after the attempt on his life, showing a contrast between himself and President Biden Kevin McCarthy says.
FIRST ON FOX: President Trump is showing “real leadership” to “not just America, but the world” following the attempt on his life over the weekend — drawing a stark contrast between himself and President Biden, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.
McCarthy spoke with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention, nothing that while JD Vance is a strong pick for vice president, this election is “all about Trump and he is stronger than he has ever been.”
“Seeing President Trump, talking to him the day after the shooting, I mean, it is unbelievable that he is alive,” McCarthy said. “I think just in that sheer moment he taught, not just America, but the world, that he is a real leader.”
McCarthy told Fox News Digital that in the past several days following the assassination attempt against Trump, he has spoken with numerous world leaders who have called to check in on the former president.
The widow of the volunteer firefighter who was shot and killed over the weekend at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania says the former president called her and was “very kind,” a report says.
Helen Comperatore wrote on Facebook that Trump phoned her on Tuesday, three days after her husband Corey was struck with gunfire while trying to protect his family during the campaign event in Butler, according to the New York Post.
“He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead,” the widow reportedly wrote. “I told him the same thing I told everyone else. He left this world a hero and God welcomed him in. He did not die in vain that day.”
Helen Comperatore told the New York Post on Monday that her husband’s final words were “get down!”
“He’s my hero,” Helen Comperatore said to the newspaper from her home in Sarver, Pennsylvania. “He just said, ‘get down!’ That was the last thing he said.”
“Me and the kids were all there as a family,” she added. “He was just excited. It was going to be a nice day with the family.
Corey Comperatore, 50, was the former fire chief for the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. The department now has a memorial set up outside its firehouse featuring Comperatore’s uniform to honor who they described as a “brother, son, husband, father and friend.”
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Greg Norman
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes the line of succession in regard to the president, the vice president, and the president’s cabinet. Ratified two years after President John Fitzpatrick Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th Amendment contains four sections.
Section 1 establishes that the vice president assumes command should the president be removed from office, dies, or resigns. Section 2 establishes that the president may appoint a vice president should the office become vacant. Section 3 declares that the president may temporarily grant the powers of the presidency to the vice president in anticipation of temporary incapacitation, like an upcoming medical procedure. Section 4 declares that the president may be deposed by the vice president and a majority of the cabinet should the president be unfit to complete the duties of office.
Section 4 has never been formally discussed or proposed, but there are several instances when it has reportedly been considered. During the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, there were reportedly talks of removing former President Donald Trump via the 25th Amendment. Additionally, after President Biden’s 2024 debate performance raised concerns over his mental capacity, talks of removing him via the 25th Amendment have grown in the popular discourse.
MILWAUKEE, WI – The spotlight will shine firmly on GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance on day three of the Republican National Convention.
Vance on Wednesday night
will address the roughly 2,400 delegates and thousands of other attendees packed inside Milwaukee’s Fiserv Arena, and the millions of Americans watching the GOP convention from home, in his first speech since former President Trump on Monday named the 39-year-old senator from Ohio as his running mate.
“This is clearly the most important speech of JD Vance’s career,” Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler who’s attending the convention, told Fox News.
Trump, in making his greatly anticipated and high-stakes running mate announcement as the GOP convention kicked off in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest city, will now share the ticket with one of his top supporters in the Senate and a one-time Trump critic who has transformed into a leading America First ally.
The former president and Vance teamed up on Monday and Tuesday nights in the family box above the floor of the GOP convention.
Vance, a former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” before running for elective office, on Wednesday night will appear on the podium to tell his story.
A source in Vance’s political orbit told Fox News to “expect the speech to focus heavily on his bio and incredible life story and how that ties into the America First Agenda.”
That story began with Vance growing up in a working-class family in a small city in southwestern Ohio. His parents divorced when he was young, and as his mother struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse, Vance was raised in part by his maternal grandparents.
Vance, who lives in Cincinnati, moved to San Francisco after law school and worked as a principal in a venture capital firm owned by billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who later became a major financial supporter of Vance’s successful 2022 campaign for the Senate.
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be held in Chicago from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22, just one month after next week’s Republican National Convention.
Should President Biden remain in the race despite calls for him to step aside, he will likely accept the party nomination on Aug. 22, the final day of the convention.
Biden has vowed to remain in the race, but if he changes his mind, the party could decide to hold an open convention, which hasn’t been done since 1968 following then-President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to withdraw from the race.
An open convention would likely involve the party’s delegates voting in rounds to select a new nominee, and could lead to a divide among party members or potential nominees seeking to take on former President Donald Trump in the November general election.
Experts largely believe Biden would retain enough delegates to remain the nominee if he decides not to withdraw from the race.
Throughout American history, political party conventions have become increasingly ceremonial formalities.
For the majority of primary elections, a winner is established well before the convention date, and therefore the party’s nominee for president is determined after the first round of voting. However, if a candidate does not receive a majority of primary votes during the primary elections, a candidate must be selected at an “open convention” by achieving a majority of delegate votes. While a handful of presidential candidates have been selected at open conventions, there has yet to be a true multi-round convention fight.
The last Democratic open convention was in 1984 when Walter Mondale was 40 votes short of a majority. However, there was little speculation of a contest as Gary Hart, Mondale’s chief rival, was backing Mondale in hopes of securing the vice presidential nomination.
The last Republican open convention was in 1976 between President Gerald Ford and California Gov. Ronald Reagan. Ford was backed by centrists and liberal Republicans from the northeast, whereas Reagan was backed by a coalition of western and southern conservatives, most notably, “Reagan’s Raiders” from the Texas delegation. While close, Ford ultimately won on the first ballot.
Dana Perino spoke with Fox News Digital on watching in-person as former President Donald Trump made his first public appearance since a gunman opened fire at a campaign event and attempted to assassinate him.
“There are few experiences in your life where you can feel the electricity coming from your toes all the way to the top of your head,” she said. “The feeling of the charisma and the energy and the good will towards President Trump
that the people in this room felt, and when he popped up on the jumbotron, which is just behind me, and you saw him for the first time, with a red tie and with a bandage on his ear, I think everybody in this room was like wow, look at that.”
Perino added that it was just around 52 hours from when he had been shot and the crowd was chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as Trump said immediately following the attack on his life.
“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “I think he was even emotional just taking in the moment. He had an expression of gratitude for all the people that were here. I think he also realizes he was this close to not being here. If he hadn’t moved his head like that, he might not have been here.”
Perino called it “a remarkable night” and said that she was moved by the evening.
Despite a rising chorus of calls from within the Democratic Party, President Biden has repeatedly said he’s not dropping out of his 2024 election rematch with former President Trump.
But if Biden changes his mind and ends his bid amid serious questions over his mental fitness following his disastrous debate last month with Trump, the spotlight would instantly focus on the piles of cash the president’s campaign has raised.
Since the launch of the re-election campaign over a year ago, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars for their campaign and various fundraising committees that have split funds between Team Biden-Harris, the Democratic National Committee, and nearly every state Democratic Party across the country.
All of those groups combined had around $240 million cash on hand as of the end of June. The Biden campaign alone said it had over $90 million in its coffers at the end of May.
If the president drops out, the campaign funds could only stay with the campaign if Harris becomes the nominee.
But if someone else became the party’s presidential nominee, the money would have to be refunded to donors.
Another option if Biden ends his bid and the vice president doesn’t become the Democratic Party standard-bearer – the millions of dollars currently in the campaign coffers could be transferred to a federal super PAC, which could use the cash to pay for ads on behalf of the new Democratic national ticket.
But there is a drawback, as super PACs by law are forced to pay higher rates for ad time.
Former President Trump’s pick to serve as his running mate on the Republican ticket this year, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s student loan handout as part of the White House’s repeated efforts to cancel borrowers’ debt.
President Biden campaigned on forgiving student loan debt
derived from undergraduate tuition at two- and four-year public universities for borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year. His administration developed the handout plan in the first year and a half of his time in office, and he announced in August 2022 that he would move to cancel $10,000 per borrower and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.
Biden’s plan encountered stiff resistance from Republicans, with several states filing legal challenges and Vance joining the ranks of its vocal opponents in his 2022 U.S. Senate race against Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio.
“Forgiving student debt is a massive windfall to the rich, to the college educated, and most of all to the corrupt university administrators of America,” Vance wrote in a post on X in April 2022. “No bailouts for a corrupt system. Republicans must fight this with every ounce of our energy and power.”
“Thanks to Tim Ryan and Joe Biden, Ohio workers are paying off the loans of Harvard Law students. If this seems unfair and illegal, it’s because it is,” he added in an X post that August.
After his victory in the 2022 Senate race, Vance cosponsored a bill in the Senate that would have rejected the Biden administration’s regulation for implementing the student loan handout using the Congressional Review Act. Although an identical bill passed both the House and Senate, it failed to override President Biden’s veto.
The various legal challenges to the Biden administration’s proposal eventually led to the handout plan being blocked by the Supreme Court in June 2023. However, the White House has continued its pursuit of a plan that will pass legal muster and has since issued more narrowly tailored proposals.
Vance has also looked to advance other reforms to other aspects of federal student loans, and to that end he sponsored a bill known as Domenic and Ed’s Law in May.
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox Business’ Eric Revell
Fox News’ Brooke Singman gives the lowdown on Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick in the 2024 elections.
Vance, 39, is a first-term senator from Middletown, Ohio. His wife, Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School as Vance did. The couple met while at Yale.
“His youth could represent a valuable demographic the GOP is hoping to woo,” Singman said. “That’s millennials and Gen Z.”
Singman adds that Vance is a best selling author of the book “Hillbilly Elegy” which has seen a spike in sales since day one of the 2024 RNC when Trump revealed Vance as his running mate.
The book was turned into a movie produced by Netflix and starred Glenn Close, Amy Adams and Gabriel Basso the American actor who played Vance in the film.
Vance was selected after weeks of speculation as to who the VP pick could be. Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Marco Rubio and Vivek Ramaswamy, among others, were floated as potential picks.
While a comprehensive list of the Republican National Committee speakers had not been released by press time, several reports from around the country cited lawmakers and other political figures who were confirmed to be speakers at the Milwaukee forum.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., spoke during Tuesday’s primetime spot.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle said Banks’ prominent appearance is evidence of his rising-star status within the GOP.
The report cited Banks’ working-class upbringing as a key aspect of his appearance.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once an opponent of former President Trump during the campaign, spoke Tuesday during a prominent speaking spot. Another 2024 contender — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — also spoke in favor of Trump on Tuesday.
Rep. Elise Stefanik
, R-N.Y., a top Trump ally in the House and chairwoman of the chamber’s Republican conference, spoke earlier in the day at the RNC.
Dr. Ben Carson following Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders late Tuesday night before Sen. Marco Rubio took the stage in support of Trump.
Earlier in the day, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice gave a speech with his dog, Babydog, by his side.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, whose union is otherwise reliably Democratic, spoke at the RNC on Monday night and UFC President Dana White also has been given time on stage.
Special guest surprises crowd, steals the show at second night of the RNC
One guest at the Republican National Convention’s night two festivities quickly managed to steal the show, despite not even giving a speech.
Babydog, the canine companion of Gov. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., stole the spotlight from her owner as onlookers fawned over the pooch, who was given her own chair on stage while the governor spoke.
Chants of “Babydog!” followed the governor’s entrance to the stage on Tuesday night. “I know that a lot of you want to meet my little buddy,” said Justice. “So if Babydog could come on out here.”
His dog quickly trotted out to roaring applause before being set up in her own seat beside him.
BIDEN CAMPAIGN, DNC RESTART REPUBLICAN CONVENTION COUNTERPROGRAMMING AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Who is Babydog?
Babydog is one of three canines owned by Justice and his family. They also have two Boston terriers named Lucy and Ellie, according to the governor’s campaign website for his U.S. Senate bid in November.
A spokesperson for Justice’s office told Fox News Digital she was born on October 27, 2019. The friendly canine is 4 years old and will turn 5 later this year.
Justice’s son and daughter surprised their parents with Babydog for Christmas in 2019. “Since then, she has become a favorite among West Virginians across the state. Babydog travels with the Governor to nearly every stop and is the only one who rivals his popularity. She has truly become a mainstay in West Virginia politics,” a spokesperson said.
Babydog is an English bulldog. Like most bulldogs, Babydog is white, tan and brown, with stubby legs and an abundance of folds around her face.
PELOSI ‘CONVINCED BIDEN WILL LOSE,’ WORKING THE PHONES WITH HOPES TO ‘EASE HIM OFF THE TICKET,’ REPORT SAYS
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice made Babydog a mascot for his vaccination sweepstakes. A website was even set up to encourage vaccinations for coronavirus, titled “DoItForBabydog.wv.gov.”
According to the West Virginia governor’s official website, “Whether it be special appearances on the biggest of stages, like the Governor’s State of the State address, or simply meeting people and shaking paws in her travels, Babydog always makes everyone smile everywhere that she and the Governor go.”
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She has been accompanying her owner to events for several years.
Babydog is also featured on Justice’s Senate campaign website, where she was given her own section. “At the heart of Jim Justice’s campaign team is Babydog, the beloved English bulldog,” the site reads. Babydog “symbolizes warmth, love, and connection,” his campaign says. She also “spreads cheer and fosters unity.”
His campaign team is even selling merchandise featuring Babydog, including T-shirts, mugs and koozies.
Justice has already won the Republican Senate primary in West Virginia, fending off an effort from Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va. He is expected to easily win the race for U.S. Senate in November against Wheeling’s Democratic Mayor Glenn Elliott. Non-partisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report rated the race, “Solid Republican,” with Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., not seeking re-election.
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The West Virginia governor previously told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that Babydog will be accompanying him to the Senate if he is elected. “Absolutely,” he said, noting she may not be able to follow him into “all the different halls.”
“But she’ll make the trip,” he said.
Trump could effectively end the 2024 race this week — this is how it could happen
Former President Donald Trump has a chance to effectively end the 2024 presidential race on Thursday, with a speech underscoring a theme he has already said he would prioritize: unity.
Not unity for unity’s sake, but the notion that the American experiment and Americans’ basic sense of freedom, free speech – indeed, our core values – need to be respected and appreciated by all.
This does not preclude Trump from articulating the “MAGA” agenda of reducing inflation, closing the border, cutting taxes, and reducing foreign involvement. Rather, Trump would do himself – and the country – a great service if his agenda is put in the context of uniting the nation.
LIVE UPDATES: REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
To be sure, Trump has been engaging in polarizing and divisive rhetoric to his political success for most of his career, so this will be a considerable shift for the former president. I say that in no way suggesting that he is responsible for anything other than an approval rating that has been lower than most presidential frontrunners.
At this point, given the tragedy of what happened last Saturday, and Trump’s admittedly heroic response, he has a chance to, in a lasting way, make clear where he stands in terms of American democracy and the interests of the broad mass of the American people of all races, genders and nationalities.
Indeed, in different ways and in different times, prior Republican presidents, from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan, and both Bushes, were able to unify the country in the wake of crises that required leadership above and beyond attack ads and snide reposts about their opponents.
FOCUS GROUP OF BLACK MEN SLAM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S MESSAGING, COMPARING IT TO ‘PANDERING’
Donald Trump now has a singular, and arguably unique, opportunity to accomplish an equivalent goal in the coming days.
This may sound like a set of homilies, but it is clear, given the polarization and division that has existed, as well as President Biden’s Oval Office address on Sunday, that Trump, commanding the attention of virtually the entire country during his RNC speech on Thursday night can wipe the slate clean.
TRUMP CAMP RIPS BIDEN CAMPAIGN’S IMMEDIATE ATTACKS ON VANCE AFTER VP SELECTION: ‘POOR TASTE’
Moreover, Trump can build a new narrative about himself in a way that was virtually impossible before the assassination attempt.
As a Democrat who has not been one of his supporters, I very much hope Trump embraces this approach fully and wholeheartedly. It is in his own interests and those of the country and our democracy that he does so.
A unity message provides the additional benefit of helping him electorally with swing voters, suburban women and independents.
In that same vein, emphasizing unity is more important than ever in the wake of Trump’s pick for vice president, JD Vance, who singled out President Biden after the assassination attempt on Trump.
TRUMP NOW HAS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE 2024 RACE
But most important, Trump can fundamentally alter his image and improve the stature of the U.S. throughout the world with a ringing endorsement of our values, our culture, and the urgency of unity in the face of horrific division and a horrifying incident last weekend.
For his part, President Joe Biden remained conciliatory in his interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday night, stressing how grateful he is that Trump is OK and reminding Americans of the need to lower the temperature, while condemning any political violence.
That being said, while Biden expressed regret for his comment that it was “time to put Trump in the bulls-eye” just days before the shooting, the president’s credibility in terms of toning down the temperature himself is, frankly, not all that high.
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However, the fact that Biden embraced Trump, called him last Saturday, and suspended parts of his own campaign while eschewing the kind of rhetoric he has used previously is a step in the right direction.
Yet, given that this is Trump’s week at the RNC, and Trump has proven himself to be, in many ways, heroic, the onus is on the former president to prove that he can once again rise to the occasion.
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Trump VP pick JD Vance is staunch critic of signature Biden handout
Former President Trump’s pick to serve as his running mate on the Republican ticket this year, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s student loan handout as part of the White House’s repeated efforts to cancel borrowers’ debt.
President Biden campaigned on forgiving student loan debt derived from undergraduate tuition at two- and four-year public universities for borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year. His administration developed the handout plan in the first year and a half of his time in office, and he announced in August 2022 that he would move to cancel $10,000 per borrower and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.
Biden’s plan encountered stiff resistance from Republicans, with several states filing legal challenges and Vance joining the ranks of its vocal opponents in his 2022 U.S. Senate race against Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio.
“Forgiving student debt is a massive windfall to the rich, to the college educated, and most of all to the corrupt university administrators of America,” Vance wrote in a post on X in April 2022. “No bailouts for a corrupt system. Republicans must fight this with every ounce of our energy and power.”
TRUMP VP PICK JD VANCE SAID DINNER WITH CEOs CHANGED HIS APPROACH TO POLITICS
“Thanks to Tim Ryan and Joe Biden, Ohio workers are paying off the loans of Harvard Law students. If this seems unfair and illegal, it’s because it is,” he added in an X post that August.
After his victory in the 2022 Senate race, Vance cosponsored a bill in the Senate that would have rejected the Biden administration’s regulation for implementing the student loan handout using the Congressional Review Act. Although an identical bill passed both the House and Senate, it failed to override President Biden’s veto.
TRUMP VP PICK JD VANCE: WHAT ARE HIS VIEWS ON TAXES, DEFICITS, ENTITLEMENTS?
The various legal challenges to the Biden administration’s proposal eventually led to the handout plan being blocked by the Supreme Court in June 2023. However, the White House has continued its pursuit of a plan that will pass legal muster and has since issued more narrowly tailored proposals.
Vance has also looked to advance other reforms to other aspects of federal student loans, and to that end he sponsored a bill known as Domenic and Ed’s Law in May.
SALES OF JD VANCE’S ‘HILLBILLY ELEGY’ MEMOIR SPIKE AFTER TRUMP PICKS SENATOR AS RUNNING MATE
The bill, backed by original cosponsors Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Braun, R-Ind., would address an inconsistency in federal law by letting the Department of Education discharge parents’ Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) if their child becomes totally and permanently disabled.
Under current law, parents are permitted to discharge federal student loans if their child dies, not if their child develops a total and permanent disability.
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“No parent should be forced to shoulder the burden of FFEL loans while caring for their disabled child,” Vance said in a statement announcing the bill’s introduction. “Domenic Carducci, a fellow Buckeye from Steubenville, and his family deserve the relief this bipartisan legislation would provide.”