Actor compares Trump to nation’s first president, whose dedication to US changed world
Actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone introduced President-elect Donald Trump at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) Gala on Thursday with a short and sweet speech in which he called Trump the “second George Washington.”
The “Rocky” actor was the final speaker of the night – only talking for about two minutes – before the president-elect took the stage at Mar-a-Lago.
When starting off his speech, Stallone began speaking about his “Rocky” character and how he was “going to go through a metamorphosis and change lives, just like President Trump.”
“We are in the presence of a really mythical character. Nobody in the world could have pulled off what he pulled off, so I’m in awe,” he said.
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He continued on by comparing Trump to George Washington and how his dedication to America changed the world.
“When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like. Guess what? We’ve got the second George Washington. Congratulations!” Stallone said before Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” began playing.
After a brief pause, Trump walked onto the stage to Stallone’s introduction and shook his hand while saying a few words to the actor.
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While Stallone has stayed pretty quiet about his personal politics over the years and admitted to not voting in the 2016 and 2020 elections, he did tell Variety magazine in 2016 that he liked Trump.
“I love Donald Trump,” he said at the time. “There are certain people like Arnold [Schwarzenegger], Babe Ruth, that are bigger than life. But I don’t know how that translates to running the world.”
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Stallone did not publicly endorse Trump during the 2024 election cycle, but he did answer a FaceTime call from Fox News’ Brett Baier in October and encouraged Pennsylvania voters to “keep punching.”
His speech at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday marks the first time he has publicly shared his thoughts surrounding a Trump presidency.
Elon Musk’s mic drop moment during star-studded gala at Mar-a-Lago
Billionaire Elon Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday for the annual America First Policy Institute Gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Musk, who was recently tapped to co-lead the incoming Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), told the crowd on Thursday that his role isn’t just about business, but a “revolution” for America.
“As President Trump said, what we need is common sense,” Musk told those in attendance at Mar-a-Lago. “This won’t be business as usual. This is going to be a revolution.”
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Musk will head the efficiency department with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Their roles are designed to eliminate trillions of dollars in “waste and fraud” within the federal government.
“Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending. They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘WE THE PEOPLE,'” Trump said when announcing his intentions to name them as DOGE leaders.
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Musk, the owner of X and CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, has been part of Trump’s campaign for the White House and made a couple of appearances at rallies before the election.
Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will help “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
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The president-elect added that Musk and Ramaswamy will provide “advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.”
Whoopi Goldberg says bakery denied her order over politics — but owner tells a different story
Whoopi Goldberg claimed on “The View” that a popular Staten Island bakery refused to serve her because of her political views, but the bakery’s owner has denied the allegations.
During Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” Goldberg and her co-hosts celebrated her 69th birthday with Charlotte Russe desserts, a nostalgic New York treat that Goldberg shared was her mother’s favorite.
Goldberg told the audience her birthday order had almost fallen through due to what she claimed was the bakery’s objection to her left-wing political stance.
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“They said that their ovens had gone down, all kinds of stuff, but folks went and got them anyway, which is why I’m not telling you who made them,” said Goldberg. She claimed that her order wasn’t rejected because of her gender, but rather because “they did not like my politics.”
Goldberg, an outspoken liberal, will not speak the name of President-elect Trump on air.
Despite the possible snub, Goldberg encouraged her audience and co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin, Joy Behar, Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin to dig in to the Charlotte Russe desserts.
“But that’s okay because, you know what? Listen, this is my mother’s celebration,” said Goldberg. “Pick these up and celebrate with me and my mom. Thank you everyone for celebrating my birthday today.”
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Entertainment Weekly later identified the bakery as Holtermann’s Bakery, a 145-year-old family-owned establishment on Staten Island, by examining the Charlotte Russe desserts themselves. The packaging — pink polka dots on a white paper cup — allegedly was a tell-tale sign the desserts came from the family bakery.
Bakery owner Jill Holtermann denied Goldberg’s version of the events, explaining that the bakery’s issues were not politically motivated but stemmed from mechanical problems with their boilers, an ongoing challenge in their building, which was built in 1930.
“I said to Whoopi, ‘I can’t do it right now’,” Holtermann told the outlet. “We have so many things going on with my boiler.”
Holtermann confirmed that she ultimately managed to make 50 treats, which were picked up early Wednesday morning for “The View’s” taping.
Holtermann reiterated that her inability to immediately confirm the order had nothing to do with Goldberg’s political beliefs, adding, “I didn’t want to make a commitment that I can’t carry through,” given the existing technical difficulties.
Staten Island Live reported that Holtermann’s has been “bombarded” with calls since the episode aired.
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Holtermann’s Bakery refused Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fetterman calls Trump’s victory a win for ‘bros,’ says Dems ‘dismiss them’
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman declared President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on election night a “serious flex for the bros.”
Fetterman spoke to Politico this week about Trump’s victory in his home state largely due to the former president’s appeal towards male voters. He called out his fellow Democrats for failing to appeal to men in the same way.
“I think this election was a serious flex for bros. And you know, it was strange that Democrats are like, ‘Oh, childless cat ladies. How dare you.’ Okay, that is weird. I don’t know why [JD] Vance would say that — you can be pro-family without insulting people that choose not to have kids or are unable to have kids,” Fetterman said.
He continued, “But it’s the same thing. I mean, is the term ‘bros’ positive? And the media use that so liberally, pejoratively. Like, well, they’re unsophisticated, they’re shallow, or they’re crass. And we dismiss them.”
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Fetterman added, “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t go on Rogan. I’ve always been a long-term fan of his. I don’t agree with him on everything. But don’t we all have the responsibility to challenge our views and to be a part of those conversations with people?”
He continued to attack Democrats for “scolding” voters and attacking Trump supporters.
“I love people that are absolutely going to vote for Trump. They’re not fascists. They’re not those things. I think if you go to the tickle switch, use those kinds of terms, then it’s kind of hard to walk back on those things. That’s kind of a word that really isn’t part of the vernacular for voters. Scolding harder or clutching the pearls harder, that’s never going to work for Democrats,” Fetterman said.
He specifically called out Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for forcing President Biden out of the race and suggesting he should have dropped out sooner.
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“People like [Nancy] Pelosi, she really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this “she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer.” And now she’s blaming Biden. Well, you can’t have it both ways. You got what you wanted, and now you’re still blaming Biden,” Fetterman said. “I think it’s really ironic that you have a woman at age 84 and she is still hanging on. Why not give a younger generation an opportunity to occupy that seat?”
Though Fetterman is no fan of Trump’s, he repeatedly warned his party that the former president had a “connection” with Pennsylvania voters, particularly after the first assassination attempt against him.
“Immediately after that, when I was out, I saw people with custom shirts with that image,” Fetterman said. “It’s like, ‘They tried everything. They impeached this man, they put him on trial. You know, the media. And now they tried to kill him, and he survived.’ And he had the presence of mind to even respond, and created that. What if that was [Barack] Obama? Can you imagine what that would have meant to Democrats?”
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Like most of the country, Trump’s victory in Pennsylvania was largely driven by male voters. He won men under age 30 as well as increased his numbers with Black men.
Trump ally Sen Tim Scott’s new mission to help incoming president
EXCLUSIVE – The incoming chair of the Senate Republican campaign committee says his game plan for the 2026 elections is simple: “increase the majority.”
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, after his fellow GOP lawmakers in the Senate chose him to chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee over the next two years, told reporters that his “passion” is to make sure that President-elect Trump “does not have two years with a Republican majority in the Senate, he has four years in control.”
In his first interview following his election as NRSC chair, Scott told Fox News Digital this week that “what we’re going to do is defend the seats that we have and expand the map so that we can increase the majority brought to us by the Trump victory.”
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Republicans won back control of the Senate in last week’s elections, ending four years of majority control by the Democrats.
And it’s expected that once a mandated state recount is completed in the Senate contest in Pennsylvania – where GOP challenger Dave McCormick leads Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by roughly 25,000 votes – the Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate come January.
While not as favorable as the 2024 Senate map, the 2026 electoral landscape does give the Republicans some opportunities to flip seats.
Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Gary Peters of Michigan are up for re-election in two years in key battleground states Trump flipped last week.
And Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire will be up for re-election in a perennial swing state that Trump lost but over-performed from his 2020 showing. In Virginia, where Trump lost by just five points last week, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner will be up for re-election.
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“How do you expand the map,” Scott said. “You look at Georgia, and Michigan, and New Hampshire, and Virginia. And if you’re stretching – take a look at New Mexico and Minnesota. President Trump was very competitive in those states.”
But Republicans will also have to play defense. GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is up for re-election in a reliably blue state. And Sen. Thom Tills of North Carolina is also up in 2026, in a battleground state Trump narrowly won.
Scott emphasized that “the good news is as long as Susan Collins is running, I think we have a shot to win. Last time she won by several points. This time she’ll win by several points. Thom Tillis staying in North Carolina is good for our party.”
In the 2022 election cycle, when the Republicans blew a chance to win back the majority, NRSC chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida was criticized for a hands-off approach in the GOP Senate primaries.
This past cycle, outgoing NRSC chair Sen. Steve Daines of Montana got involved in Senate Republican nomination battles.
Asked if the NRSC will take sides in competitive Republican Senate primaries during his tenure the next two years, Scott told Fox News “I think the best thing for us to do is have a family conversation next year about what we’re looking at. How we’re going to defend that map and then make the best decisions we can as it relates to making sure that we end up with more seats than we currently have.”
“Thank God we’re at 53. I’d like to see 55,” Scott added.
Asked if 55 seats was his goal, Scott joked “if it were up to me, we’d have 100 seats.”
Scott last year unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, before ending his bid and endorsing Trump. The senator was a high-profile surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail this year.
In last week’s election, unlike in 2016 and 2020, Trump outperformed many of the GOP’s Senate candidates.
Scott said he wants Trump to participate as much as he can in the 2026 Senate contests.
“Every day and every way, President Trump, I know you have a full-time job. I’m going to ask you to have two full-time jobs. Let’s expand this map,” Scott emphasized.
He said “that means that every single day we need President Trump on the campaign trail, doing fundraisers, talking to folks, because this is President Donald J. Trump’s party, and we need to make sure we expand it, from the man to the movement. We need him to do it.”
A big part of Scott’s duties as NRSC chair will be fundraising. The senator was a top Republican fundraiser during the 2022 cycle, when he easily cruised to re-election in red-state South Carolina.
“We have to have more resources than we’ve had in the past so we are competitive in the states where we can win. I think we can win in more states than ever. President Donald Trump has actually given us a lot of runway. It’s our responsibility to have the resources to win those seats,” Scott said.
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The rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was chaired during the 2022 and 2024 cycles by Peters, who won’t be signing up for a third tour of duty as he is up for re-election in Michigan.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who easily won re-election last week in blue-state New York, is making a pitch to chair the DSCC. Senate Democrats will hold their leadership elections later this year.
David Bergstein, the DSCC communications director for the past couple of election cycles, highlighted that “in a challenging political environment, Democrats made history. We won multiple races in states won by Trump. We dramatically over-performed the presidential results. And for the first time in over a decade, Senate Democrats have won multiple races in states won by the opposite party’s presidential nominee.”
“The outcome of this cycle puts Senate Democrats in the strongest possible position to reclaim the majority in 2026,” Bergstein touted.
Disney actress apologizes after profane social media rant against Trump supporters
Actress Rachel Zegler is apologizing for her social media rant against President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters that wished they never knew peace.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for the election post I shared on my Instagram last week,” she wrote. “I let my emotions get the best of me. Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding, and I am sorry I contributed to the negative discourse.”
She added it had been an emotional time and everyone had a right to their opinion, pledging to contribute “positively toward a better tomorrow.”
Zegler, who is playing Snow White in Disney’s reboot of the classic tale, posted a profane attack on Trump and his supporters on Instagram Stories after the election, expressing disgust with his victory over Kamala Harris and the country for voting him in.
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“I find myself speechless in the midst of this. Another four years of hatred, leaning us towards a world I do not want to live in,” Zegler wrote. “Leaning us towards a world that will be hard to raise my daughter in. Leaning us towards a world that will force her to have a baby she doesn’t want. Leaning us towards a world that is fearful.”
She also said the country had a “deep sickness” and it was “terrifying” how many people backed Trump’s vision for the country. Trump trounced Harris in the Electoral College, sweeping all battleground states, and he’s on track to win the national popular vote as well.
Zegler also wrote, “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace,” and she called on her supporters to abandon X, the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
“F—Donald Trump,” she added.
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Zegler’s sharp comments drew immediate backlash, as well as speculation it could hurt Disney’s release of “Snow White” in 2025.
Zegler, 23, has never been shy about expressing her opinion, also calling on voters to support Harris during the campaign or else potentially lose the right to vote. Earlier this year, she posted, “free Palestine” at the end of a post encouraging people to watch “Snow White,” in a move interpreted by some critics as an attack on her Israeli co-star, Gal Gadot.
Zegler rose to fame playing Maria in the “West Side Story” remake in 2021 and is currently playing Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” on Broadway.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Zegler’s reps for comment and was directed to her social media apology. Fox News Digital also reached out to Disney.