Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) remains displeased with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) over the deal he struck with President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling.

McCarthy has touted the agreement, which suspends the debt limit for two years while implementing federal spending caps. The legislation also imposes stricter work requirements for recipients of welfare under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, as well as beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Hardline conservatives such as Buck maintain the bill doesn’t do enough to cut spending. Some have even threatened to revolt.

On Wednesday, McCarthy said he isn’t concerned about his speakership.

“So you heard the speaker say to my colleague Manu Raju there that he is not at all concerned about any potential threat to his leadership following this agreement, which you oppose,” Jim Sciutto noted to Buck on CNN News Central. “Should he be concerned?

“Yeah, I think he should be concerned,” Buck replied. “I’m not suggesting that the votes are there to remove the speaker, but the speaker promised that we would operate at 2022 appropriations levels when he got the support to be speaker. He’s now changed that to 2023 levels plus 1%. That’s a major change for a lot of people.”

Buck predicted the legislation will prevail, but that could accelerate debate among some members about whether they will file a motion to vacate the chair, i.e., force a vote on whether to oust McCarthy as speaker.

“You say, though, that there are not the votes,” Sciutto said. “If you raise that motion to vacate, are you saying there’s not the votes there to take him out of the speakership?”

“Well, it only requires five votes if the Democrats all vote for [Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries,” Buck replied. “It only requires five votes for Kevin McCarthy not to get elected. What I’m saying is we don’t have a majority of Republicans to vote for somebody else at this point in time.”

Watch above via CNN.

Chris O’Meara/AP

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw admitted he pushed for the team to announce the return of Christian Faith and Family Day earlier than planned. The pitcher did so in response to the team’s decision to re-invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to its upcoming Pride Night.

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kershaw said he let the Dodgers know he was unhappy they were honoring the group. As a response to their decision to re-invite him, he said, he urged them to move up the announcement of Christian Faith Day.

“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw said. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.”

Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. More details to come— but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID. Hope to see you on July 30th! pic.twitter.com/yNu7HyEgR9

— Clayton Kershaw (@ClaytonKersh22) May 26, 2023

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a non-profit group composed of queer and trans individuals commonly dressed as nuns. For their work in the surrounding area, the Sisters were set to receive the Community Hero Award from the Dodgers during Pride Night on June 16. The team rescinded the invitation after critics of the group accused them of mocking the Catholic faith with their use of religious imagery.

Then, the Dodgers re-invited them. This decision was met with further backlash and even prompted a public statement from Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams.

Kershaw — a Christian — clarified that he had nothing against Pride Night. His issue was solely with the Sisters.

“I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions,” he said. “It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion. So that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with.”

The summer concert season is in full swing, and your local arena will soon be hosting performers of all stripes, from Shania Twain, to Taylor Swift, to Janet Jackson, TLC, and Snoop Dogg. And with school out for the next few months, it’s probably crossed your mind that the time has finally come for your kids to…

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Newsmax used footage of an Iowa building collapse while discussing a drone strike in Russia during a Tuesday broadcast.

The error occurred during the latest edition of The Record With Greta Van Susteren where she broke down the latest news of the strike that hit Moscow on Tuesday, the first to hit a civilian area in Russia since the beginning of the war with Ukraine.

A clip from the show began circulating via Media Matters.

Host Greta Van Susteren teased the coverage of the drone attack before the show went to commercial break where footage from an Iowa apartment building collapse was shown. The building collapse occurred in Davenport, Iowa on Sunday after a part of the building mysteriously imploded.

Despite showing the footage while discussing the drone hit in Moscow, a “Tow Away Zone” sign in English could clearly be seen in one of the still images.

As the show came back from commercial break, more footage was used.

“A new chapter unfolding in the Russia / Ukraine war, and it’s disturbing. This morning in Moscow, city of 21 million people, there was a predawn attack. Drones struck several buildings, according to Russia’s defense ministry. Five of eight drones were shot down,” Van Susteren said.

More images of the Iowa build collapse were shown before footage from the actual drone strike in Moscow appeared at the end of the segment.

Watch above via The Record With Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax.

Read the rest of this entry »

White chocolate is a finicky beast. Scorching happens, but so does browning. And, unlike dark chocolate and milk chocolate, there is a space between melted and scorched where white chocolate becomes crunchy, and develops a creamy caramel flavor. Don’t toss that burnt white chocolate, use it as an elegant textural…

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Keeping your files stored locally is convenient, but it comes with obvious risk and the frustration of low-storage warnings. Degoo was founded in 2012 and has since grown as a reliable option for cloud backup services, and you have until May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT to get Degoo’s Premium lifetime 10TB Backup Plan for only…

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was asked by Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday morning what the “gameplan” would be for the GOP if the party is able to retake both the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2024.

“So do you think there is a gameplan for it and when the Republicans take back the Congress and the presidency that you’ve learned maybe the first outline of from this negotiation?” Hewitt asked McCarthy after a lengthy conversation focused on the debt ceiling deal.

“Sticking together makes us so much stronger,” McCarthy replied. McCarthy has been under fire by the House Freedom Caucus since his compromise deal to raise the debt ceiling was announced over the weekend.

“And having a plan, and remember, this is just one element of the plan, one step of the plan. The next one is you go through appropriations, and you’re able to move, you’re able to eliminate the wokeism,” McCarthy added.

“You’re able to move forward with the smart investment and eliminate the waste. There’s so much waste in Washington that you can eliminate, and tie the President into that fight,” he concluded.

Listen to the clip above and read the full interview here.

Sam’s Club members often find excellent deals on groceries, household items, electronics, and more. Usually, a one-year Club-level membership costs $50, but new members can now sign up for just $29.99 with auto-renewal.

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Scott Winters/AP

University of Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz has joined the list of college coaches complaining about the amount of money some student-athletes are able to make now.

Now that student-athletes can profit from the use of their name, image, and like — or NIL — it’s not uncommon for some to earn endorsement deals rivaling the salaries of some professional athletes. In fact, LSU basketball star Angel Reese even said she’s not in a rush to join the NBA because she makes more money now than any WNBA team could offer her.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Drinkwitz took exception to the fact that these athletes make more than doctors, including his pediatrician brother-in-law.

“He saves lives,” Drinkwitz added.

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz says college players, thru NIL, are making more money than his brother-in-law, who is a pediatrician. “He saves lives.”

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 30, 2023

For the 2022 season, Drinkwitz made $4 million as Mizzou’s head coach. In November, he signed a new contract increasing his salary by 50% to $6 million in 2023. Thanks to the way his contract is structured, he’ll see another salary bump when he makes $7 million in 2027.

Of course, Drinkwitz is just one of many coaches who’ve voiced their concerns over NIL deals. Legendary Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim accused rival ACC schools of essentially buying players in the transfer portal in the form of promising lucrative NIL deals. Alabama football coach Nick Saban accused Texas A&M of doing the same.

Traditional chocolate ganache is a miracle made of dark chocolate and cream: The two ingredients are heated to make a luscious, silky, bittersweet sauce. Unfortunately, that doesn’t do you much good if you’re dairy-free. Until recently, I thought cream was absolutely necessary for ganache, but it turns out vegan,…

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CNN’s segment on disgraced biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes went south Monday afternoon when a guest made a bizarre suggestion for her last day at home before reporting to jail.

Holmes, who will report to a prison in Texas on Tuesday, is set to serve 11 years for defrauding investors with her blood-testing company Theranos.

On Monday’s edition of CNN’s News Central with anchor Boris Sanchez, the show hosted Larry Levine, who was described as a “consultant who helps future inmates transition to prison life.”

Levine, who donned a shirt covered in American flags and sunglasses, began the segment by predicting that Holmes should expect to be treated like a “scumbag,” in the facility.

Levine detailed Holmes’ potential life inside the prison which he said would be drastically different from her current day-to-day schedule. When asked what she should be doing on her last day of freedom, things took a bizarre turn.

“Three things. I’m gonna get a little crude here. She should spend some time with her kids, for sure. She should have a good meal and maybe she should have sex with her husband because she’s gonna be having–she might end up being somebody’s girlfriend in there because she’s not a bad-looking woman,” Levine said as Sanchez laughed.

“Ok, Larry,” Sanchez said. “Though we appreciate your advice I’m not sure it’s the best for an afternoon on Memorial Day. Thank you so much for the time. Again, appreciate the shirt. Thanks for sharing part of your holiday with us, Larry. We do appreciate it.”

“Certainly. Bye-bye,” Levine said with a straight face.

Watch above via CNN.

President Joe Biden appeared greatly amused by Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asking about the possibility of a pardon for Donald Trump.

Trump is currently under federal investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is probing the president’s improper retention of government documents after he left office. Smith is also investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in a desperate attempt to stay in office.

On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – who is challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – would not rule out the possibility of pardoning Trump and some Jan. 6 defendants if he were elected president.

“And if Trump, let’s say, gets charged with federal offenses and you are the president of the United States,” asked Clay Travis, “would you look at potentially pardoning Trump himself based on the evidence that might emerge of those charges?”

DeSantis replied that he’d look at defendants “on a case-by-case basis because I think you’ve got to make sure that there’s a whole bunch of cases that don’t necessarily get headlines.”

He said the Department of Justice has been “weaponized” against conservatives.

On Monday, Doocy asked Biden about the governor’s comments.

“Did you see that Ron DeSantis said that if he became president, he would pardon Trump?” Doocy said to Biden shortly before the president boarded Marine One. “Where are you on the idea of the president pardoning Trump?”

Biden laughed in response, raised his hand, and turned away.

“I’ll see you guys,” he said before walking to the helicopter.

Watch above via Fox News.

Baking soda—more formally known as sodium bicarbonate—has a lot of uses beyond just baking, from cleaning various surfaces, soothing your heartburn, to even browning your meat better. In addition to these uses, baking soda another  unexpected and underrated use: It can be used to improve athletic performance.

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The kettlebell swing is a good exercise. It works your hamstrings and butt, it improves your grip, and it’s explosive—a quality that a lot of at-home exercises lack. But too many would-be kettlebell swingers (and trainers, and New York Times fitness articles) start off with a weight that is too light to accomplish any…

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) joined Fox & Friends on Monday morning for a lengthy interview about his 2024 presidential campaign and at one point was asked point blank to make the pitch for why now is the time for him to run.

“Why is right now the time for Ron DeSantis to run for president?” asked Fox host Joey Jones.

“Because everyone knows if I’m the nominee, I will beat Biden and I will serve two terms and I will be able to destroy leftism in this country and leave woke ideology on the dustbin of history,” DeSantis replied.

“At the end of the day, I’ve shown in Florida an ability to win huge swaths of voters that Republicans typically can’t win while also delivering the boldest agenda anywhere in the country,” he continued, adding:

And I think there’s a reason why the legacy media is attacking me more than they’re attacking anybody else, because I think they realize that if I’m successful in winning the Republican nomination, we’re going to bring it home in the general election.

And I pledge to Republican voters, if you nominate me, I will be taking the oath of office on January 20th, 2025, on the west side of the Capitol. No excuses. No more excuses about why we can’t get it done. We need to get it done and I will get it done.

DeSantis, who launched his run on Twitter last week, has been criticized by some pundits for being “too online” and overly engaging in culture war issues.

Fox News host Jessica Tarlov recently argued DeSantis “missed the boat” when Trey Gowdy interviewed him in prime time following his announcement.

“Trey is a wonderful interviewer, gave him a glowing biographical opening and wanted him to talk about his military service. And instead of doing that, he pivoted right away to gender ideology problems in the military, not talking about why he served, what it means to wear the uniform, things that are going to resonate with other veterans,” Tarlov argued.

“He has a working-class background. Working-class people don’t talk about the woke mind virus, ESGs Bitcoin, and, you know, whatever George Soros is going to do to ruin the country. They want to hear about what your policies are, how you’re going to lift people up who are farmers, who are policemen, who are teachers, etc.” she concluded.

DeSantis’s campaign later shared a clip of the Florida governor’s remarks on Fox & Friends, highlighting how central combating “wokeism” is to the campaign.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

Whether you’ve got a Peloton at home or you’re hopping onto one of the nameless bikes in your gym’s cardio section, you’ll be a lot more comfortable if you can adjust it properly to fit your body. So how exactly do you do that? Here’s a checklist you can follow.

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Gardening is the type of hobby that seems more affordable than it actually is. Sure, there are ways around this—like borrowing items from a tool library, and taking advantage of some of the (legal) ways to get free plants—but you have to know where to find these money-saving programs and supplies.

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Before you get a chance to taste your dinner, you smell it. The aromatic ingredients in any recipe spotlight and complement the main components, adding interest and layers of flavor. Without aromatics, dishes can seem one-note and forgettable. To elevate your savory dishes, start with your nose. Build up flavor with s…

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In a landscape of dwindling storefronts, it’s becoming increasingly hard to find specialty items, and sometimes even average products, in person. It’s rare that I even come across a rolling pin for sale. When I need a new kitchen gadget or piece of dishware, the first place I turn to is the internet. And I hate it. I…

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If something needs to be scrubbed, then by all means, do it the thorough way. But some things are just fine being blasted with a hose, saving you time and energy. Here are some things you can simply haul outside to douse with water.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joined Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday to discuss his recent trip to Ukraine but first was asked to weigh in on the recent debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, DC. Graham, who was in London after reassuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Republicans in Congress continue to support his war effort, argued that while he wants to raise the debt ceiling, he opposed capping defense spending and went so far as to warn the deal could “cripple” the U.S. military.

“I want to talk about your reaction to the budget deal as we now understand it, because based on your tweets, you do not think that the defense spending part of this is a good deal because it essentially gives the president what he was asking for in his budget when it comes to defense spending,” Bream began.

“You know, number one. I respect Kevin McCarthy. I want to raise the debt ceiling. It’d be irresponsible not to do it. I want to control spending. I’d like to have a smaller IRS. I’d like to claw back the unused Covid money. And I know you can’t get the perfect…” Graham replied, adding:

But what I will not do is adopt the Biden defense budget and call it a success. Kevin said that the defense is fully funded. If we adopt the Biden defense budget, it increases defense spending below inflation. A 3.2% increase in defense is below inflation. The Biden defense budget takes the Navy from 298 ships to 291. At a time when China is going to increase their navy by almost a third.

So, the Biden defense budget was a joke before. And if we adopt it as Republicans, we will be doing a great disservice to the party of Ronald Reagan. The biggest winner of the Biden defense budget is China, because they’ll have a bigger navy and it will be Putin. There’s nothing in the budget for Biden to help Ukraine win a war that they’re on the verge of driving the Russians out. So I like Kevin a lot, but don’t tell me that the Biden defense budget fully funds to military.

We have attacked it for a year as Republicans because it takes the Navy in decline at a time we need a larger Navy to contain China. The overmatch with China is real. The Biden defense budget makes it even worse for us. So I look forward to the details. But if you send me the Biden defense budget to the United States Senate and declare it fully funds the military, you will have a hard time with me.

“I like that you edited yourself for Sunday television. I could see where you’re going there. But does that mean that you would be a ‘no’? Because you obviously sound very concerned about the default the default portion of this. Would you be a ‘no’ overall?” Bream followed up.

“I am not going to do a deal that marginally reduces the number of IRS agents in the future at the expense of sinking the Navy,” Graham replied passionately, adding:

The Biden defense budget takes the Navy from 298 to 291 ships. The Navy suggests that we need 373 ships to deal with the threats we face as a nation. How do you get the 373 ships if you’re spending below inflation? That’s just the Navy. The Air Force is in the same world. Listen, this is sequestration, potentially, 2.0. In 2011, my good friend Mitch McConnell negotiated the deal with Joe Biden that virtually destroyed the Defense Department in the name of raising the debt ceiling.

If this is another round of sequestration, not only will I vote no, I will not be intimidated by June 5th. This is Memorial Day weekend. We’re celebrating those who died for our country. I am a Republican from the Reagan camp. Ronald Reagan would not do this to our military. The defense team of Joe Biden. I’ve lost faith in a long time ago. I’ve been making light of the Biden budget as being inadequate a win for China. And if you ask me now to swallow it because of the debt ceiling, you can forget it. The number one job of every member of Congress should be to defend the nation. And the Biden defense budget does not do it. Kevin has a hard job. I like him a lot, but my good friend John McCain voted for sequestration in 2011, thinking we would never do the cuts that we actually did. Two years later, he says it’s worst vote he ever made.

“We’re doing the same thing all over again in the name of raising the debt ceiling. We should raise the debt ceiling, but we should not cripple the military’s ability to defend the nation as a tradeoff. Spending below inflation is not fully funding the military. Cutting the size of the Navy only helps China,” Graham concluded.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.

Former President Donald Trump tore into Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), his main 2024 GOP primary opponent, yet again on Sunday, but this time Trump took a noticeably different approach in attacking DeSantis over his ongoing battle with Disney.

In the past, Trump has slammed DeSantis for letting Disney outmaneuver him in his ongoing battle to punish the company for opposing culture war legislation in the state, which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

In mid-May, Trump’s camp blasted the Florida governor for losing jobs in his state as Disney, the state’s largest employer, pulled out of a major development project. “RON DESANCTIMONIOUS GETS CAUGHT IN THE MOUSE TRAP” blared a tweet from Trump’s campaign account. “The Culture Of Losing Continues,” added the tweet, co-opting DeSantis’s attack on Trump for his recent string of electoral defeats.

“DeSanctus’ weakness leads to job losses and loss of $1B,” Trump’s attack concluded, referring to the canceled project.

Trump changed his tune on Sunday and put Disney in his crosshairs along with the Florida governor and blamed DeSantis for Disney going “woke.”

“Disney has become a Woke and Disgusting shadow of its former self, with people actually hating it. Must go back to what it once was, or the “market” will do irreparable damage. This all happened during the Governorship of “Rob” DeSanctimonious. Instead of complaining now, for publicity reasons only, he should have stopped it long ago. Would have been easy to do – Still is!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Trump did not elaborate on how he would have liked to see the Republican governor manage a private corporation’s business or specifically what his gripe with Disney is, but the post, nevertheless, marked yet another evolution in Trump’s attacks on DeSantis.

Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN) dismissed the possibility of a national default as he promised to vote against any agreement for raising the debt ceiling.

CNN’s Jim Acosta interviewed Burchett on Saturday, hours before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden established an “agreement in principle” on the debt limit to avoid a default. McCarthy has been optimistic about the deal and getting enough GOP support to pass it through the House, but several of his fellow Republicans have vocally slammed the agreement by saying he caved on pushing for more spending cuts.

When Acosta asked Burchett if he considers default a serious concern for the country, he called for a return to “fiscal sanity” because “we cannot keep spending at these levels.”

“We need to get back to reality and stop spending money out of control,” he continued. “That’s the bottom line. And if it takes taking a vote, I voted to shut the government down under Trump, and I’d do it under Biden.”

“This is not a government shutdown, this is a default,” Acosta pointed out. “So you’re saying no matter what happens, you’ll vote for default?”

“It’s not a default, it’s a delay,” Burchett countered. “Just like in business, you put something off, you pay it off. If you can’t pay it off this week, we pay it off next week. And this is irresponsible for us to say anything other than that.”

Burchett put the responsibility for the situation on the “20 plus year old negotiators” working in the White House. When asked if he would deny his vote even if McCarthy asked him personally, Burchett said “I did the last time. I was one of four that did. I sat in his office and I told him no multiple times. We went through the scenarios, and I told him upfront. I’ve been telling him this for weeks and it’s nothing new.”

Watch above via CNN.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) and other Republican leaders began distributed a PDF outline of The Fiscal Responsibility Act on Saturday night after Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he and President Joe Biden had reached a tentative deal to raise the debt limit before the June 5 deadline projection.

The document was sent out to House Republicans just after McCarthy’s brief presser stating that a tentative agreement has been reached, Mediaite learned.

McCarthy said Saturday that the bill to be voted on this week will be written overnight, working directly with the White House before the text will be made public tomorrow.

McCarthy said he would not release details at the presser so he could brief members on the agreement first.

It was shortly thereafter that the 1-page outline was circulated among those members and then shared with media. It’s a 10-point outline that addresses GOP priorities broadly.

The headers:

The extent to which the messaging outline reflects what will be in the bill currently being written, or what was agreed to won’t be certain until the full draft text of the new bill is released on Sunday.

Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden reached an agreement in principle after a series of phone calls ahead of the looming default, McCarthy said in a brief announcement late Saturday.

After months of back-and-forth and a hurried past few weeks, McCarthy and Biden cut a deal on Saturday to raise the debt ceiling that the Speaker says includes “historic reductions in spending” and “consequential reforms.”

The details of the 2-year deal were not released but the GOP leader said that they are going to write the bill tonight that meets the terms agreed to with the White House. Republican members of congress have reportedly been called to meet tonight, and Democrats

McCarthy said that the work will continue on drafting a bill, in consultation with the White House, and that the text will be released to the public on Sunday. Some details reaching the press on Saturday include that the 2-year plan includes “deficit reduction” measures as well as cuts to new spending, along with work requirements for welfare programs.

McCarthy said he expects the House to be voting on the bill by Wednesday. The White House has scheduled a briefing with House Democrats for Sunday to discuss the outlines of the agreement, Axios reports.

I just got off the phone with the president. I talked to him twice today. And after weeks of negotiations, we have come to an agreement in principle. We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe this is an agreement in principle that’s worthy of the American people. It has historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the work force, rein in government overreach. There are no new taxes, no new government programs. There’s a lot more within the bill. We still have more work to do tonight to finish all the writing of it. I do want to take a moment, though. I do want to thank Garrett Graves and Patrick McHenry for all their work on this and for all the work that we’re going to continue to do tonight. I know you’ll have a lot of questions. I’m not going to take them tonight. Out of respect, I want to brief our members about where we currently are. I expect to finish the writing of the bill, checking with the White House, and speaking to the president again tomorrow afternoon, and then posting the text of it tomorrow. And then be voting on it on Wednesday. But thank you for your time. And I think this is very worthy of the American public. Thank you.

This is a developing story and may be updated. Watch the clip above via Forbes on YouTube.

The Republican-led Texas House of Representatives voted Saturday 121-23 in favor of the resolution to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, and to send the matter to the Senate for trial.

The overwhelming decision by the Republican-controlled body to impeach the Republican Attorney General will have major consequences for the GOP in the state. The rift between the two sides has spread to national figures, with Sen. Ted Cruz, ex-president Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and other MAGA names weighing in to defend Paxton, typically attacking House Speaker Dade Phelan as part of that defense.

Trump on Saturday said in a Truth Social post that if the impeachment is allowed to happen he will “fight” the House Republicans in the state.

As a result of the House vote, AG Paxton is now suspended from his duties temporarily. The matter now goes to the Texas Senate for trial.

The Republican who led the impeachment Rep. Andrew Murr summarized what the vote was about, and what the consequences would be, emphasizing that under the Texas constitution, impeachment by the House does not involve a trial or decide matters of fact in the case, but rather is a decision on whether or not there will be a trial in the Texas Senate.

UPDATE: Paxton responds, via Twitter.

Watch the clips above, via the Texas House of Representatives.

Maybe the 2024 GOP hopefuls want ex-president Donald Trump to go to jail?

That’s what CNN host Michael Smerconish theorized on Saturday, saying perhaps the primary field is so large because candidates like Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, and the rest are counting on Democrat prosecutors to get rid of front-runner Trump for them, clearing the way to fight for his voters.

On Saturday’s Smerconish on CNN, the host posed the rhetorical question, “Why are so many Republican candidates now challenging Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination?”

He answered his question with one possible explanation: criminal prosecutions.

Most of the candidates, including not just the still Trump-friendly such as Vivek Ramaswamy but contenders like DeSantis, have spoken out against “Soros DAs” across the country — meaning Democrat prosecutors who, like Alvin Bragg, were funded in small or large part by organizations tied to billionaire leftwing activist and big money donor George Soros.

But, Smerconish theorized, the candidates in the primary may actually be hoping for or counting on the many criminal investigations and pending prosecutions against Trump to see him locked up and unable to run for office at all, thus leaving the field and the party to those who remain.

Why are so many Republican candidates now challenging Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination? Think about it. He’s a former president, essentially a GOP incumbent who’s consistently polling around 50% of the GOP vote in the polls.

And we learned in 2016 that given the hardcore support that Trump enjoys from some, he’s the beneficiary of a large field. Remember, in that cycle, there were so many running that debates, they had a kids table.

This time Trump announced first and then Nikki Haley and then Vivek Ramaswamy, Larry Elder, Asa Hutchinson, Tim Scott, and now Ron DeSantis, who, by the way, is only 44 years old. By Biden-Trump standards, he’s got three more decades to run for president.

So why run now? Why get into the steel cage with a wrestler who always carries a foreign object? Mike Pence said he’ll soon make a decision. Chris Christie sure sounds like a candidate. Sununu might get in. Even Glenn Youngkin, according to Axios, is taking a second look.

So what’s going on? Maybe that they don’t think they’ll have to beat Trump, that that work will be done by a combination of Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Jack Smith, and Merrick Garland.

Before wrapping the segment, Smerconish also pondered whether any such incarceration for Trump would also mean the end of President Joe Biden’s 2024 prospects.

“And if they’re right and Trump isn’t the candidate, does that put more pressure on President Biden to step aside, where in the face of polling showing that even Democrats want a change in their ticket, his retort is to suggest that he alone can defeat Donald Trump?” he asked, again rhetorically.

His conclusion was that nobody knows what will happen.

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

Newsmax host Eric Bolling on Friday told his audience they should skip Bud Light this Memorial Day weekend and drink “anything else” as part of the continuing backlash against Anheuser-Busch and other corporations embracing the “woke agenda.”

On Bolling’s Newsmax show The Balance on Friday, the host discussed at length the battle between conservative activists and big corporate brands like Bud Light, Target, North Face, and others over Pride products and promotion of transgender influencers and political activists.

“These companies are among a growing group of entities that are more than happy to insult and disgrace women and to fully support an extremely aggressive and alienating transgender agenda,” said Bolling to open the show.

“I’ll tell you point blank, I would not be seen holding a Bud Light. I’d drink almost anything else,” said Bolling. “And I suspect I’m not alone.”

He talked about the boycott of Bud Light and the backlash against Target, and played a clip of an ad campaign from outdoor goods retailer North Face during the opening monologue, arguing that the corporations are betraying their customer base and their shareholders by engaging in activism.

“The rule number one is to turn a profit for your shareholders,” said. “You have a fiduciary responsibility to engage in business activities that increase shareholder investments. Nowhere should there be gender-bender products offered simply for a political statement.”

At the end of the show, Bolling revisited the topic, offering Memorial Day BBQ advice to viewers.

“By the way it’s a long weekend, so if you’re gonna do a barbecue, don’t drink a Bud Light,” he said. “And if you’re thinking about going to Target go to Walmart instead. And, I don’t know, if you were gonna go to North Face, I’d go to REI. And if you’re in LA, go see an Angels game not a Dodgers game.”

Watch the clip above, via Newsmax. Watch the entire segment here.

A Memorial Day weekend town hall with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) devolved into pandemonium Friday night as the crowd booed and shouted insults while she attempted to discuss her policies on immigration, Ukraine funding, and the debt limit.

The event took place in the Queens neighborhood of Corona and the venue appeared to be packed with constituents. Some in the stands held signs proclaiming, “America First,” and “Stop funding Ukraine.”

AOC attempted to discuss the debt limit before being shouted down: “We should eliminate the debt limit in the United States because of the constitutional…”

One man yelled “American citizens before migrants!” waved an American flag, and screamed, “You’re a piece of shit!” at AOC as security attempted to wrangle him away. The confrontation turned into a scuffle as the man threatened security with, “Don’t you touch me!” and “Get your hands off of me!”

Some in he crowd booed as the man was ushered out while others applauded. AOC was seen standing at the podium, smiling and saying, “Okaaaaaaay…”

“Stop this war! Are you gonna stop this war, that’s my question!” one woman shouted, before adding, “Why are you afraid of your constituents?” as she was led from the stands.

Another very animated man stood up and shouted, “Wait your turn! It is not your turn!”

Fox News reported that anyone who lashed out during what was supposed to be a question and answer session was led away by security. Some constituents came to AOC’s defense during the chaos and the Congresswoman wrapped up the event by taking photos with supporters.

AOC tweeted after the tumult, “Thank you to everyone who came to our Memorial Day weekend town hall! We had such a great crowd,” AOC tweeted after the event. “It was awesome answering all your questions, discussing the debt limit negotiations, and more. See you next month!”

The tweet featured photos taken during happier moments at the event. AOC made no mention of the hecklers.

Watch the clips above via Fox News and YouTube user FreedomNews.

Wearables that track activity have always done well with cardio. When you run or cycle, your heart rate is a pretty accurate reflection of how hard you worked. But strength training stresses your body in a very different way, and wearables have never really managed to get a handle on that—until, possibly, just now.

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While the legendary cashless society may eventually become reality, for now cash is still a pretty useful thing. There are still scenarios in which you need some paper money, whether it’s a local restaurant that only accepts cash to an extended power outage that renders your digital payments useless. As a result, most…

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If you or your child has had anxiety, anger, or other dysregulation, you may be familiar with “grounding techniques,” mindfulness exercises that help calm the nervous system. You can name objects, check in with your physical state, or use physical “tricks” such as the “butterfly hug” or by using ice to help hack your…

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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Friday said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was “un-American” for saying this week that pardons for January 6 rioters or even Donald Trump would be on the table at the “front-end” of his term if he were to be elected president.

On a podcast after officially declaring his candidacy in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, DeSantis was asked about whether January 6 defendants “deserve to have their cases examined” or even whether he’d consider a pardon for Trump over the January 6th riots.

DeSantis said it’s clear government has been “weaponized,” and added: “What I’m going to do is I’m going to do on day one, I will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases, who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive in issuing pardons.”

“We will use the pardon power, and I will do that at the front end,” he said to Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. “We’re going to find examples where government’s been weaponized against disfavored groups and we will apply relief as appropriate, but it will be done on a case-by-case basis.”

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the host and guests Peter Baker of the New York Times, MSNBC legal analyst Charles Coleman, political analyst Susan Del Percio, and host Jen Psaki, formerly of the Joe Biden administration, expressed their outrage over the comments from DeSantis as well as those of ex-president Trump on January 6 pardons.

Scarborough said that “talking about” such pardons is “sick.”

“If the DOJ does their job to protect Americans, they start talking about defunding the DOJ and actually issuing pardons for the rioters and the seditionists,” he said of the remarks. “That is sick! It is un-American!”

Scarborough added that this view won’t get Republicans’ votes in the 2024 election, “thank God.”

And by the way, again, as we say all the time: if somebody commits a crime, if Hunter Biden committed a crime, he should be arrested. He really should. And if there were riots that went on on the edges of the BLM marches, those people should have been arrested. As Peter Baker said, 10,000 were. And on this program, when I saw people in 2020 laying siege to a federal courthouse in Portland, throwing firecrackers and other things, smoke bombs at that courthouse, breaking windows, I said, why aren’t they being arrested? It’s very interesting.

Republicans think, I guess, they’re above the law? The law doesn’t apply to them. They can try to overthrow a government, a presidential election. And if the DOJ does their job to protect Americans they start talking about defunding the DOJ and actually issuing pardons for the rioters and the seditionists. That is sick! It is un-American! And that ain’t going to win elections in 2024. It’s just not, thank God.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

The U.S. is days away from not being able to pay its bills. Ever since the U.S. hit the debt ceiling (aka, the total amount of federal debt allowed to be outstanding) in January, the Treasury Department has been using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to avoid defaulting on the national debt.

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AP Photo/John Raoux

Following his official announcement in a Twitter Spaces live event on Wednesday, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke on a conference call with members of the media, during which he made his first direct criticisms of comparison with frontrunner Donald Trump.

After the live announcement on Thursday evening, Gov. DeSantis spoke on the call to mostly conservative members of the media, and took a few questions about his campaign. Mediaite obtained a transcript of that call, which is included below in full.

DeSantis began by touting the “internet-breaking start,” making a joke about Twitter CEO Elon Musk having given him the choice to launch his campaign on Twitter Spaces or a SpaceX rocket. “I just figured Twitter would be safer,” he quipped, referencing the tech issues that delayed the announcement and became the major talking point in the mainstream press.

The introduction was followed by another tech issue before questions were able to get going, the first coming from from Phillip Wegmann at RealClearPolitics, who asked whether the governor will make the explicit case against Trump going forward.

DeSantis brought up Trump’s attack ads against him, arguing that he comes out looking better than Trump and that he’s not sure why they’d want to “raise” issues like amnesty and omnibus spending, but that he’s happy to.

“These are contrasts and I’m happy to discuss,” he said. “He wanted omnibus. I opposed omnibus. He wanted amnesty. I opposed amnesty.”

Automatically generated transcript:

BRYAN GRIFFIN: Hi, all, this is Bryan Griffin. Thanks for joining us. We’re going to get started in just a couple of minutes if you’ve joined us with a phone number. If you’ve joined us with the phone number, please go ahead and change that phone number to your name so that we know who’s attended. Please go and do that now. Thank you. We’ll get started in just a couple of minutes.

GRIFFIN: Okay.

GRIFFIN: Good evening, everybody. It is 9:51. I respect everyone’s time, but we appreciate you joining us as promised. Wanted to make sure everyone had extra access here this evening. Of course, the big exciting evening. So thank you so much. Here’s the way we’re going to conduct this meeting. We’re going to have some introductory remarks from the governor, and then we’re going to move into a question and answer period. Please use the hand raise feature on your teams meeting to indicate that you’d like to ask a question. And we will be glad to recognize you. We will unmute you from the admin side. Very good. Okay, we’re going to get started. I will introduce now without further ado, Governor Ron DeSantis.

FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS: Well, good evening. We are at a internet-breaking start with Elon Musk. You know, he offered me the ability to do either a SpaceX rocket or Twitter. I just figured Twitter would be safer. Turns out that we had too many people that tried to join.

GOV. DESANTIS: So in some respects, you know, that’s a that’s a good sign. We were able to get it roll in and I think had some some good substantive conversations about about some stuff in a way that I think these things typically cannot. We’ll be doing a lot of we did a lot of other media today. We’re doing a lot of media tomorrow over the Memorial Day weekend. I’ll be doing things in Florida at to commemorate that in my role as governor. And then next week we will be launching, you know, major events and all these early states. And when we work, we work very hard.

GOV. DESANTIS: And so we’re not just going to, you know, show up once in a blue moon. I mean, we’re there. We’re going to paint every corner of these early states. And so that’ll start in earnest next week. And we’ve got a incredible amount of enthusiasm. I think we’re raising massive amounts of money online, which is obviously a good sign. And Twitter apparently is getting like massive new people signing up to Twitter. You know, that was one of the things when you’re thinking about doing this, it’s like obviously very few Republican primary voters, you know, in reality are on Twitter. It’s more of a sub selection. We felt that the news about it would reverberate because the villain and how famous he was. And I think that that’s what’s happened indicative of of kind of what we’re seeing on the on the donation side.

GOV. DESANTIS: But I do think that we’re probably driving more people to now use Twitter. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. I mean, I guess it just depends. But we’re excited to have been a part of that and we’re excited to be getting underway. I mean, we’ve had a lot of work to do over the last six months since the election. We were able to bring in for a landing, the most far reaching agenda that that any Republican has done in our lifetime. And I’d put it up against anybody, and we’re proud of that. But that took a lot of work. I didn’t necessarily have the ability to be fighting all these battles nationally, even though I’ve been the number one target from not just corporate media, but from our own side and pretty much everyone in between.

GOV. DESANTIS: And I think that that will likely continue. But I think we’ll be in a position where, you know, we’ll be fighting back and doing it very effectively. So we’re happy to entertain any questions that people have.

GRIFFIN: Okay, so one moment. Now’s the time, everyone. If you could go out, raise your hand. We’re going to admit a couple of these late comers and we’ll jump in the questions. Go ahead, everybody. Okay. We’ll start with Phil Wegman.

PHILLIP WEGMANN (RealClearPolitics): Thank you very much. Question for the governor. You made the contrast with the former president implicit at times going forward. Do you believe that you will make more than just an affirmative case for yourself, but an explicit case for why Donald Trump should not be reelected?

UNIDENTIFIED: Hello.

[crosstalk]: Okay. Sorry. We’re ready to go, Governor. And you can hear me now. Yeah, I can hear you. Okay. Yeah,

GOV. DESANTIS: I heard your question. So I was answering it. I guess they had it be muted.

GOV. DESANTIS: So he’s drawing, I think helpful contrast with me now. He’s running attacks, attacking me for voting against an omnibus spending bill that he signed when he was president. Absolutely, I think he should not have signed those omnibus spending bills. He added almost $8 trillion to the debt in a four year period of time. I’m happy to be on the conservative side of that debate because I think our debt’s gone up way too much.

GOV. DESANTIS: He also attacked me for voting against an amnesty bill that he had endorsed–2 million person amnesty bill, Goodlatte 2.0 in 2018. And he said that it was ‘voting against the wall.’ But if you remember that bill was like a pittance for that in exchange for a massive amnesty. Well, of course, you’re not going to do a massive amnesty. I oppose amnesty. I thought it was supposed to be America First policy to oppose amnesty, and yet he endorsed and tried to ram through an amnesty.

GOV. DESANTIS: And so you know, these are contrasts and I’m happy to discuss. I find it odd that they would want to raise those. I think that they’re counting on people not necessarily asking questions about it, but we’ll be sure to let everyone know what those differences were. He wanted omnibus. I opposed omnibus. He wanted amnesty. I opposed amnesty.

WEGMANN: Very good. And then will there be a more traditional campaign announcement, sir? Like a rally, as

GRIFFIN: we’re going to do one question and time because we have so many people on the line. Take one and take one second and then a couple more people who are in the waiting room for those late comers. And next up, we’re going to take a question from Nannette Holt. Epoch Times [—-]. And meet yourself in Nannette. you hear me now? Yes, go ahead. Awesome.

NANETTE HOLT (Epoch Times): Congratulations on a very exciting day. Governor in team question, I heard you mentioned today that on day one, the border would be a priority. I was wondering at what what period of time do you think you’ll need to complete that border wall you mentioned using the military. Just wanting to know a few more details about that. And thank you.

GOV. DESANTIS: Sure. Well, I don’t know. I mean, I think obviously we got to see what it looks like when you get in there. But I’m going to make it a day one priority. I will use all the levers available to me to push that through. And, you know, I tell the story about when we had a hurricane and down here it knocked out a couple of bridges. People said it would be six months. We got one done in three days and the other done in two weeks. And I can tell you that it was not anything anybody expected. And so it’s cutting through red tape. It’s telling people not to make excuses and just getting the job done.

GOV. DESANTIS: And you just have to be disciplined. You can’t get distracted on this stuff. You got to stay stay with with the goal. And that’s what we’ll do because, you know, I’ve been I’ve been watching this issue far before I was ever in elected office. I mean, it’s been something that’s been going on for decades. And I think our voters just want to see it put to an end. You know, there’s been a lot of promises about it, but yet here we are. It’s as bad as it’s ever been. And so we need to bring this to a conclusion. And we want obviously do it as soon as possible. But the reality is, if I’m there, it will get done, which is more than has happened in the past.

GRIFFIN: Thank you. We’ll take Rebecca Downs next with Townhall. Rebecca Downs.

REBECCA DOWNS (Townhall): Hi. Thank you so much, Governor, for holding this call. So I have heard you mentioned in previous rallies and events you’ve spoken at that you don’t really look at the polls. If I’m remembering your remarks correctly. That being said, you know, you are down by double digits in the Republican primary. That could, of course, be because you have just announced today. And I’m wondering if how you plan on bridging that gap and or if you are still going to just no longer look at the polls. That’s something you’re not worried about at this time. Thank you.

GOV. DESANTIS: Well, I think that when I say that, I think that you’re misunderstanding. Not not that I do really care about the horse race polls. But what I make the point about being governors and I’ve never to this day polled issues to tell me how to feel on a given issue or not. I just don’t think that it that it’s helpful. I don’t think that it’s something that should should move a leader. I think a leader has got to set the vision. You can bring people to your side, you know, in terms of how this stuff is, I would be shocked if if the former president wasn’t leading, he’s 100% name ID, one of the most famous people in the world, and had been president of the United States. But I would say that I don’t think there’s been a governor in the modern history of the party that has had, you know, more support nationwide.

GOV. DESANTIS: It’s been able to build an organization. And the way we’ve been able to and and the path that we’re getting now. So, you know, we’re and then, of course, we’re bringing to bear a record of accomplishment that I don’t think anyone can match either. So those are all good things. But I would just remind people, you know, I won my last election by about 20 points. None of these media polls had me winning by 20 points and fact, there were polls being shopped saying that I was losing to Crist in October. Some had us tied. You can go back and look at a lot of the stuff that was out there and and it just is what it is. And so, you know, we have a good operation here. They will be doing those.

GOV. DESANTIS: That type of poll is not going to influence kind of what I view on an issue. But they will have a good sense of kind of where our support is and where we need to do better. And we’ll make sure that that we’re able to get that done. But I mean, this thing is just starting. I don’t think the average Republican primary voters obsessing over this yet. I think that that’ll take some time. But I think we have this these next few months to really build out what we need to build out. I think we’re going into the race with more local endorsements in the early state than any any candidate has ever had going in without even being an announced candidate.

GOV. DESANTIS: I mean, when you’re getting the the leader of the Senate and the House majority leader in the in the House and Iowa without me even being a candidate, I mean, that’s a big deal that the majority leader of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, I didn’t even ask them. They all just they all just did it. So we feel really good about that. And, you know, I think we’re going to have a lot of ground to trot and we think there’s a lot of fertile ground out there.

GRIFFIN: Okay. One second. Folks willing to let a couple of people in, more of the stragglers here. Okay. Up next, let’s do Mollie Hemingway with The Federalist. Mollie,

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY (Federalist): thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, Yes. Right. Governor, you said on Fox tonight you want a settlement in Ukraine and no troops on the ground. That’s a bit vague. The U.S. has spent more than $100 billion in Ukraine with no end in sight. Can you give us a specific dollar amount of additional money you would give Ukraine before pulling the plug and telling Zelensky that there will be no more funding?

GOV. DESANTIS: Well, I would hope that by January of 2025 that this thing is resolved. You know, I think that I think that there should be a settlement that that’s sought much sooner than that. You know, Ukraine is going to do this offensive over the summer. And at that point, I think you’re going to be looking at a need to bring this in for a landing. So that’s how I would do it if I were there. Now, I don’t think that, you know, us being involved in a war of attrition is in our interest. And, you know, I’ve said that I’ve said that repeatedly.

GRIFFIN: We’re going to go Josh Miller, Florida Standard. Josh.

JOSH MILLER (Florida Standard): Hi, Governor. Thank you for spending this time with us tonight. My question is, you’ve had a busy couple of months already and it’s about to get busier for you and you just got done leading the state at the same time as the very successful legislative session. But there are some in mainstream media who are saying that you’re going to forget about Floridians and that you’re not going to pay attention to Florida as you launch your presidential campaign. What would you say to those people?

GOV. DESANTIS: Weren’t those the same people that were complaining that I wasn’t doing stuff for presidential a couple of months ago? I mean, they were saying, oh, he’s not speaking out on this. He’s not speaking out on this. I think those folks, whatever I do, they will criticize the other way. So if I’m doing something, they’ll be on the opposite of that. If I had done the opposite, they would be the opposite. And that’s just the way it is. I mean, we just did more than anybody has done, I would say probably in an entire four year term, certainly over over over this stretch.

GOV. DESANTIS: And, you know, the way Florida works is we get through these legislative sessions, we bring all this stuff in for a landing. The summer politically is a little, little light in Florida because people are doing other stuff. That’s just kind of been the nature of it.

GOV. DESANTIS: So we spend a lot of time just preparing for potential disasters. I will do that again. That will obviously take priority. We take a lot of pride and response and we will do that if if it happens and hopefully we get spared this season. But of course, we’re we’re assuming that that will get we’ll get hit one way or another. And we’ll be ready to go. So a lot of these people, they criticize what I actually do as governor. And so they want me doing more of what they’re always complaining about. So this is just bad faith criticism.

GRIFFIN: Okay. We’ve got time for two more. Will do. Julia Johnson from the Washington Examiner.

JULIA JOHNSON (Washington Examiner): Hi, Governor. Thank you so much for taking my question. So I’m curious, you did mention the debt a little bit and some of the debt that Trump actually added when he was in office. What would you do differently with this current debt ceiling impasse?

GOV. DESANTIS: Well, look, I mean, obviously, if I if I were president, I would I would side with the house. They’re they’re making very modest. I mean, I would actually ask them to do more. But, I mean, they’re doing very modest reductions in spending, which you have to do. I just don’t see how you can kind of continue to go on in this way. And, of course, you know, part of the reason we’re in the mess is because starting in March of 2020 with with the COVID, all that stuff was really a mistake. And it starts end and with the Fauci stuff.

GOV. DESANTIS: But we flush trillions of dollars down the drain, I think, in ways that were not necessary in hindsight, and we would have been much better off just handling it like Sweden did as a country. And this is paying the piper now with with all the debt that’s been racked up. But I mean, for Biden to not, you know, to be engaged I think is a farce. This is this is the bare minimum what the House did to be able to get that done. And that should be that should be kind of the the opening salvo as president, you would want to move it in a better direction than even that. I would I would want to.

GRIFFIN: And let’s do Kurt Schlichter,

KURT SCHLICHTER (Townhall): Governor Kurt Schlichter from Town Hall. Good to talk to you again. Look, you’re a military guy, Governor. You’re looking at the deep battle. You’ve got to defeat Donald Trump for the primary. Then you’ve got to defeat Joe Biden. How do you reunite the Republican Party after you defeat Donald Trump? And then what is your strategy for winning? What’s going to be a very tough general election?

GOV. DESANTIS: Well, look, these primaries happen and, you know, we typically come together I get this one. You know, you have a wild card and it could be a little bit different. But at the end of the day, I think you struggle to come come back together after primaries. If you have a factional candidate that wins, that that is not acceptable to the broad swath of people in the party.

GOV. DESANTIS: And I think with me, I want 97% of Republicans in my reelection. You know, we we are acceptable to broad swaths. It’s not like I’m taking policy positions that are alienating massive segments of Republicans. And so people are going to see somebody who’s got a proven record of success, who’s representing the values that the vast, vast majority of our party professes to hold. And I think that they’re going to say, okay, we have a chance to do Biden or we have a chance to go with the governor. And that’s really an easy decision.

GOV. DESANTIS: And so we think without question will be, well, well equipped to do that. I do think, though, that that’s part of what you need to do. But what also is part of what you need to do is we need to win those in dependent voters that we were able to win overwhelmingly in Florida, that Bryan Kemp and Kim Reynolds could win in their governors races. But that we were not able to win in 2020 or in 2022. And the majority of these House and Senate races that were really, really significant. I think that there’s millions of people that want to move on from Biden. And I think that they’re ripe for us to be able to get. But I think you got to have you got to have a vehicle that that they’re comfortable with. And I think we’ve shown in Florida that we’re able to win voters who don’t don’t always vote Republican. You know, you can’t win 6040 with only Republicans.

GOV. DESANTIS: I mean, our when I when my election was we had 2% more registered R’s than D’s in Florida. And so the only way you can get to a number like that is by winning a significant percentage of independents. And even, you know, we even want a slice of Democrats, which I think that there’s there’s some possibility there as well. So put the party back together, but also be able to try to win independents because I think they want to move on from Biden. I think that’s pretty clear. I think they just want to have a vehicle that they’re comfortable with. And I think we’ve shown in Florida that we’re a good landing spot for a lot of those voters. And I think we would be going up against Biden in 2024.

GOV. DESANTIS: I mean, look, I think he’s a weak candidate. I think he has a weak record. But the way our society is, you know, the left, they will pull out all the stops they’ve got major corporations and the media that are going to be supporting and propping up their candidate. They’ve really done a good job of of manipulating the, you know, the ballot collections in some of these states. We will be doing ballot harvesting in the states where it’s legal if I’m the candidate. Zucker bucks in like a place like Nevada where it’s legal. I think it’s terrible that this is going on. We banned all that in Florida, but I don’t think you can say like, don’t play the way they’re playing. Obviously, that system benefits them because of the composition of their electorate is more susceptible to harvesting and things like that.

GOV. DESANTIS: Our voters typically don’t like you harvesting their votes. And so I don’t know that we could like match them, vote for vote, but we can’t leave any votes on the table. And so I think there’s only a handful of states that will truly be competitive. Not all of them allow this, but the that do Nevada, Pennsylvania, these in Wisconsin may change on ballot harvesting because the Supreme Court flipped. If that happens, then you got to be ready to go on all those. And I’m confident those organizations will be there for us. We’ve already talked to the folks and that’ll be done. But I think you got to do that. I think you got to assume that it’s going to be a very close election. I do think that there is a possibility that you could just decisively win the argument with the country in a way that just kind of moves everything in our direction.

GOV. DESANTIS: I do think that that’s possible because I think Biden there’s not going to be a lot of enthusiasm for him amongst Democrats. And so I think they’re going to really struggle with turnout. I mean, I think that I think, obviously that Trump would turn out Democrats because that’s just that’s their their reflex. I think in Florida, what we showed is we demoralized the Democrats. They did not have a good turnout running against me as governor. And I think it would be more similar to that nationally if I was running against Biden. And that’s obviously a good thing, because I think I think most of our voters would would be would be pretty enthusiastic. I had a chance to to eject Biden from office.

GRIFFIN: Okay, folks. Well, thanks a lot for joining us and this innovative platform here and a way to, of course, give you access. I was able to randomize the questions tonight. We look forward. I know that everybody didn’t get to ask theirs, but we look forward to doing more of these opportunities. I look forward to being in touch with all of you on the trail. Thank you. Good night.

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