Bill Maher quick to squash liberal media’s excuses for Harris’ crushing defeat
“Real Time” host Bill Maher was quick to dismiss growing excuses from journalists for Vice President Kamala Harris‘ crushing defeat against President-elect Donald Trump.
During Friday night’s online “Overtime” segment, ABC News contributor Sarah Isgur argued Harris was “set up to fail” by Democrats when she was tasked to run a “three-month campaign” as she was supposed to “introduce herself to the American people.”
“You’re saying three months wasn’t long enough?” Maher asked. “It was long enough. It’s not that they didn’t have time to introduce- they met someone and they didn’t like ’em.”
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MSNBC analyst John Heilemann also offered a defense of Harris, arguing she was in a difficult position being the vice president of someone unpopular like President Biden.
“Bill, I don’t know if you know this, but the vice president of the United States is basically shoved in a broom closet for three-and-a-half years,” Heilemann said.
“I know, she was more popular in there,” Maher quipped. “This idea that in a mass media age that 107 days is not long enough to know somebody?”
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Moments later, Maher turned to his audience and asked whether they didn’t know enough about Harris “pretty much after a week to make a decision.”
“It’s ridiculous!” Maher exclaimed. “We just get sicker of them!”
“Why do you have to make all these excuses for her?” Maher then asked. “All it was this week was people who say ‘Oh, she ran a flawless campaign.’ How ridiculous. Or ‘It’s sexism. It’s racism.’ This is an old playbook!”
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“I didn’t say any of this,” Heilemann pushed back.
“I know, but I heard a lot of these things,” Maher continued. “I think America is perfectly willing to elect a woman. They just didn’t like the last two that were put up.”
The HBO host later added, “She didn’t make a good case. She didn’t denounce the past stuff that people didn’t like. She just tried to ignore it,”
Billionaire’s political agenda facing uncertain future after suffering big defeats
Americans are turning the page on the woke left’s approach to crime, if this week’s district attorney elections are anything to go by.
A majority of the 25 George Soros-linked district attorneys on the ballot this week were defeated, signaling a backlash against progressive policies that critics say are to blame for a surge in crime across the country in recent years.
Many of the losing Soros candidates were running for office in deep blue jurisdictions and suffered heavy losses despite Vice President Harris clocking up comfortable majorities in those same areas – indicating that a large portion of Democrats are also done with the progressive Left’s soft on crime experiment, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a pro-police non-profit that tracked the 25 races.
Of the 25 Soros-linked district attorneys on the ballot, 12 were either defeated or recalled.
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Soros, the Hungarian-born left-wing billionaire, runs a dark money web of non-profits that bankroll various candidates around the world who align with his progressive agenda, including his Open Society Foundations. Soros has given over $32 billion to Open Society Foundations since 1984, according to its website.
The most high-profile loss this week came in the city of Los Angeles, where District Attorney George Gascón, backed by Soros, was thumped 24% by his tough on crime opponent, Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, with crime being a top issue of the election cycle.
In contrast, Harris swept Los Angeles County by 30 points.
In other areas of the liberal bastion state, hard-on-crime San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins comfortably beat out prosecutor Ryan Khojasteh, who was the handpicked candidate of former district attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled in 2022.
Jenkins claimed in January that the city has been experiencing a “hard turn to the right” in recent years. Those sentiments were echoed by Gascón after his loss this week.
In another loss for Soros-backed prosecutors in the Golden State, District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled in Alameda County, home to Oakland and Berkeley, less than two years after taking office following backlash for her alleged soft-on-crime approach. Vice President Harris clinched the county 75%-25%.
“Across the battleground states and in Vice President Harris’ home state of California, a sizable share of Democrats voted to oust progressive prosecutors,” Sean Kennedy, the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund’s policy director, tells Fox News Digital.
“The election results show that the soft-on-crime approach is not only a failed policy experiment, but also a political loser – even in deep blue areas.
California’s Proposition 36, which sought to restore tough penalties for drugs and theft, easily passed with 70.4% of voters. Every single county in the state voted in favor of Prop 36.
The defeats come after retail chains and mom-and-pop shops have been hit hard by theft, smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail crime gangs, while cities like San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles have been ravaged by rises in property crime and retail theft.
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Kennedy says the voter backlash against soft-on-crime policies was especially acute in the battleground states.
In Georgia, District Attorney of Athens-Clarke and Oconee Counties, Deborah Gonzalez, was tossed out by 20%. She represented the same county where nursing student Laken Riley was allegedly killed by an illegal migrant, who had been arrested and then released before the brutal crime.
Gonzalez ran 16% behind Harris, who carried those counties 56.5% to Trump’s 43.5%.
Meanwhile, traditional prosecutors in Arizona’s Maricopa County and Michigan’s Macomb County overperformed Trump’s margin of victory and beat back Soros-backed challengers, according to Kennedy.
“In the most significant district attorney races, traditionally minded prosecutors got a larger share of the votes than either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris because one out of eight Harris voters backed the tough on crime candidate. It turns out public safety isn’t a partisan issue, it’s a common sense one.”
However, there were wins for Soros-linked candidates, with Savannah’s progressive prosecutor Shalena Cook Jones holding on to her seat by 7%.
In Florida, Soros-backed Monique Worrell reclaimed her position as the Orange-Osceola state attorney, beating out Andrew Bain by just over 5%. She was ousted last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for “dereliction of duty” on crime.
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However, another DeSantis foe, Andrew Warren, lost to Republican Suzy Lopez in Hillsborough County. DeSantis suspended Warren in August 2022 for refusing to enforce the state’s abortion ban.
Kennedy says that out of the roughly 75 Soros-linked prosecutors nationwide his organization has since identified in 2022, over 30 have left office, and 20 have been replaced by traditional district attorneys.
Road to House majority sits in Democratic stronghold as GOP fights to keep power
Congressional leaders are anxiously watching several outstanding races in the West as the battle for the majority in the House of Representatives continues.
Most of those races are in California, where Republican incumbents are fighting to hold on to several seats, including districts around the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
The Democratic stronghold was pivotal to House Republicans clinching the majority in 2022, and their leaders are looking for it to deliver again.
“California’s got a lot of the outstanding races, and I’ve talked to each one of our incumbents who are in those 50/50 races — they’re all leading, by the way — but they feel like what is outstanding … are good areas for them,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told “Fox & Friends” Friday.
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It’s a different story in New York, the other deep blue coastal state critical to the House GOP’s midterm success.
Of the four sitting House Republicans projected to lose their seats, three were first-term GOP lawmakers from New York who got elected as part of a suburban backlash against big cities’ progressive crime policies.
They were also expected to be some of the more vulnerable incumbents in Congress.
SHUTDOWN STANDOFF LOOMS IN CONGRESS’ FINAL WEEKS BEFORE TRUMP’S RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE
Scalise said he anticipated a four- to six-seat majority for Republicans when all the races were over, not a dissimilar scenario to the one the House GOP has grappled with for much of the 118th Congress.
Ballots are being counted in other close races in Arizona, Oregon, Alaska, Nebraska and Iowa.
House Democrats, who privately expressed dismay over their narrowing path to victory earlier this week, are also closely watching the western states for the final results.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pointed out that the election is still undecided.
HOUSE LEADERS MOVE QUICKLY TO CONSOLIDATE POWER IN SHOW OF CONFIDENCE FOR REPUBLICAN MAJORITY
“It has yet to be decided who will control the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. We must count every vote and wait until the results in Oregon, Arizona and California are clear,” Jeffries said Thursday.
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“I am proud that the Democratic Party does not believe in election denial. Our democracy is precious, and it involves elevating public trust in our system of free and fair elections, not undermining it.”
The first party to reach 218 seats will claim the House majority.
High roller bets big on Trump win — walks away with much more than estimated
Millions of Americans placed election prediction bets in the weeks leading up to Election Day, and one of those market bettors is walking away with much more than previously estimated.
A French individual known by the name of “Theo” originally put more than $30 million on a Donald Trump White House win on the crypto-based trading platform Polymarket.
The anonymous bettor was originally projected to take home a profit of $48 million on the wager, but blockchain data firm Chainalysis provided an update on Thursday that the profit number is actually closer to $84 million.
“We identified a 10th address associated with ‘Theo’ which increases the estimated total profit by $4.8M to $83.5M,” Chainalysis’ X account posted. “An 11th address is suspected with another $2.1M profit, but unconfirmed.”
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Polymarket gamblers allegedly spent $3.7 billion in election bets, and even more money was spent on competitor platforms like Robinhood, Kalshi, Interactive Brokers and PredictIt.
Just hours before Election Day, Polymarket, which is the largest prediction market, saw Trump as having a 58.1% chance of taking back the White House, compared to Vice President Kamala Harris at 41.9%.
Kalshi traders saw Trump with a 55% chance of victory, to Harris’ 45%, and RealClearPolitics betting odds data collectively gave the former president a 57.9% chance of winning the election, compared to Harris’ 40.7%.
“Theo” exclusively spoke to the Wall Street Journal during a Zoom call last week where he said: “My intent is just making money… I have absolutely no political agenda.”
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Theo was originally believed to have four Polymarket accounts, but Chainalysis additionally claimed it could be as many as 11.
Polymarket is a relatively new trading platform, created just four years ago, but proved to be a way to keep American voters engaged throughout the 2024 election cycle.
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Blue city voters hopeful for future after firing lax mayor: ‘Clean up our streets’
Democrats in California are looking to turn over a new leaf with the election of San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie, who defeated incumbent Mayor London Breed.
Lurie, a first-time candidate, Levi Strauss heir and founder of an anti-poverty nonprofit, positioned himself as the tough-on-crime alternative to Breed’s lax policies on crime, drug use and homelessness that plague the city.
Lurie bested Breed, the city’s first Black woman mayor, by a more than 10-point margin, 56% to 43%.
During his first speech as mayor-elect, Lurie committed to “clean and safe streets for all, tackling our drug and behavioral drug crisis, shaking up the corrupt and ineffective bureaucracy, building enough housing, so our neighbors can afford to live here, supporting our small businesses and breathing life back into downtown.”
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Steve Hilton, a Fox News contributor who also worked for British Prime Minister David Cameron, told Fox News Digital that the change came after San Francisco reached new lows in recent years.
“This great, iconic city has just been collapsing into crime and chaos and squalor and decay because of far-left policies, because the Democrats have been in charge forever,” Hilton said. “You’ve seen open-aired drug markets, you’ve seen homeless encampments everywhere and crime is rampant.”
“And finally, people have had enough, we want change” he said. “So they kicked out Mayor London Breed and elected Daniel Lurie. He’s a Democrat, but a reasonable one. He wants to clean up this city.
“People want change in California – you’ve seen that across the board.”
Democrats in California’s once crown-jewel city told Fox News Digital that they hope Lurie’s election would bring about change.
Chris Cheng, a 17-year San Francisco resident and a professional sports shooter, said that he’s excited for Lurie’s policies to be implemented.
“I’m very excited about the election results here for mayor. I used to support London Breed, but the past few years have been very tough in the city,” he said. “The past few months have gotten better, but it’s just been too little, too late.”
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“I voted for Daniel Lurie, and I believe he’s our best choice for mayor to turn around the dire situation in certain parts of San Francisco,” Cheng added. “My neighborhood has its fair share of homelessness and drug addicts – and I live in a nice neighborhood that typically does not have that.
“It goes to show that the character of certain San Francisco neighborhoods that were traditionally safe for kids has changed. We really need someone like Daniel Lurie to come in and enforce the law, clean up our streets and make them safe again. Let’s turn the corner in San Francisco.”
Lee Neves, a California Democratic Political Consultant, told Fox News Digital that he hopes the party moderates in the wake of the city’s mayoral results.
“I think voters in San Francisco and across the Bay Area definitely sent a message on Tuesday. They are tired of the status quo. They are tired of the hug-a-criminal policies and making excuses for homelessness,” he said. “They want results, they want the homeless off their streets and out of their parks.”
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“They want their streets and their parks back, and to be able to go shopping without being worried about being robbed,” Neves added. “Voters are fed up with it. The Democratic Party needs to get a wake-up call to moderate our policies.
“We need to come to the center where people are so people can feel safe in their community.”
Top 10 media meltdowns after Trump’s historic political comeback
President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory on Tuesday led to widespread panic among media anchors and pundits, with many breaking down into tearful monologues and aggrieved rants against American voters.
Jimmy Kimmel fights back tears after Trump victory
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel struggled to hold back tears on Wednesday, describing the election as a “terrible night” for a variety of voting blocks, including women, children, immigrants, the elderly and the middle-class.
“It was a terrible night for everyone who voted against him and guess what? It was a terrible night for everyone who voted for him too, you just don’t realize it yet,” he said.
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CBS News reporter chokes up in sit down with Stephen Colbert
Kimmel was not the only one with tears in his eyes following Election Day. CBS News’ John Dickerson choked up during a post-election appearance on the “Late Show,” telling host Stephen Colbert he would struggle not to think about his boys when describing the results to young Americans.
He suggested that young people in the United States can get on one of two hypothetical buses that will take them to a destination they believe is meaningful. The first bus, Dickerson said, has people that just want to be seen and be given an opportunity.
“Then there are other people on the bus engaged in the same journey who are there absolutely just for themselves, to get power, to give themselves just more riches and more control over things,” he added.
Colbert claims majority of voters ‘don’t care’ about democracy
“Hey there, how are you doing? If you watch this show regularly, I’m guessing you’re not doing great. Yeah, me neither,” Colbert began his show Wednesday night.
Later in his monologue, the liberal comedian shamed the majority of Americans who backed Trump in the election.
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“I wish, you wish, so many of us wish this hadn’t happen, but that’s not for us to decide. This is a democracy.. And in this democracy, the majority has spoken, and they said they don’t care that much about democracy,” Colbert told his far-left audience.
MSNBC host says Americans decided to ‘F around and find out’
Following the election, MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle said Americans were gambling with the country’s future by choosing Trump as their next president.
During “The 11th Hour,” Ruhle said Americans have let “misinformation” become the new accepted form of “information,” name-dropping Elon Musk and claiming the X owner bought the platform “exclusively to become a propaganda machine.”
She also touted the country’s “great economic recovery,” but lamented voters for simply not feeling the “vibes.”
“What will the future hold now that America has just decided that we’re going to F around and find out?,” Ruhle asked.
‘The View’ calls Trump victory ‘pathetic’ and ‘disturbing’
The women of ABC’s “The View” were unsurprisingly shocked and agitated after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 Presidential Election.
“It’s pathetic,” Joy Behar said. “There are no checks and balances. A completely intelligent, qualified woman lost to a guy who was simulating sex with a microphone. I mean, come on, America.”
Co-Host Sunny Hostin felt “profoundly disturbed by the results,” and said she feared for the work-class, the elderly and even her own daughter—who she claimed, “now has less rights than I have.”
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She also hypothesized that the election was a “a referendum on cultural resentment” and expressed concern that Trump would set up “internment camps.”
On Thursday, Hostin would go on to insist that “sexism and misogyny” were to blame for Trump winning the Latino vote in a Texas county that Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
Claire McCaskill cries on-air while looking back at Harris’ candidacy
MSNBC analyst and former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill cried after watching Vice President Kamala Harris’ concession speech on Wednesday.
“I’m so proud of her,” she said. “I don’t think people realize how hard it is to get to where she was.”
Joy Reid casts blame for Trump win on White women
On MSNBC, Joy Reid essentially blamed White women for Harris’ North Carolina loss.
“Black voters came through for Kamala Harris, White women voters did not. That is what appears happened in that state,” Reid told viewers.
“This will be the second opportunity that White women in this country have had to change the way that they interact with the patriarchy,” she continued. “If people aren’t receptive to it, and if people vote more party line, or more on race than on gender, and on protecting their gender, there’s really not much more that you can do.”
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Van Jones gives tearful monologue on people ‘hurting’ after Harris defeat
CNN’s Van Jones got emotional Tuesday night thinking about people who were “hurting” because of the results.
“I’m thinking about the people who are not a part of anybody’s elite who are hurting tonight. There are African-American women who know a little bit about being talked down to, who know a little bit about having their economic dreams crushed, who try to dream a big dream over the past couple of months, and tonight they’re trading in a lot of hope for a lot of hurt,” Jones said.
“They were hoping that maybe, this time, this time, one of their own could be seen as worthy,” Jones continued. “Once again they’re facing rejection.”
Jones then told CNN viewers that Black women aren’t the only people “hurting.”
“If you’re a parent of a trans kid, your child’s face was used as a springboard to power for somebody. That doesn’t feel good,” Jones said.
CNN’s Acosta on Latino Trump supporters: ‘Why would they do this to themselves?’
CNN host Jim Acosta lectured Latino Trump supporters for voting “against their own self-interests” by backing President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
“A lot of folks are wondering why would Latinos vote for Donald Trump if that means he might deport abuela, he might deport members of their household,” he said.
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Acosta later repeatedly questioned Luis Figueroa, the vice chair of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly on if he wanted to see illegal immigrants “rounded up and put in camps.”
“Isn’t that what you voted for?,” he asked.
Al Sharpton labels Black voters sexist, blames loss on misogyny
During two separate segments, MSNBC host Al Sharpton claimed that misogyny and racism among voters may have cost Harris the election.
“Some of the most misogynist things I’ve heard going on during this get out the vote tour came from Black men!” he said.
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The previous morning, Sharpton insisted that there is still a lot of racism and gender bias in the United States.
“I think for us to ignore that and not try to bring that front and center so we can heal that would mean that we would end up in the same place. Kamala Harris is a woman of color in an interracial marriage, running as a woman to be the head of state. That is something that a lot of Americans are not ready to deal with,” he said.
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