Category: fox-news/person/donald-trump

Liz Cheney acknowledges Trump’s victory: ‘We have a new President-elect’

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Former Rep. Liz Cheney acknowledged former President Donald Trump's 2024 presidential election victory on Wednesday, noting in a post on X that the nation has "a new President-elect."

Cheney, a vociferous Trump critic who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the election, asserted that Americans must accept the result.

"Our nation’s democratic system functioned last night and we have a new President-elect.  All Americans are bound, whether we like the outcome or not, to accept the results of our elections," Cheney declared in her post. 

LIZ CHENEY BLASTS TRUMP AS ‘DEPRAVED,’ ‘UNSTABLE,’ CLAIMS PRO-LIFE AND PRO-CHOICE WOMEN RALLYING BEHIND HARRIS

"We now have a special responsibility, as citizens of the greatest nation on earth, to do everything we can to support and defend our Constitution, preserve the rule of law, and ensure that our institutions hold over these coming four years. Citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press and those serving in our federal, state and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy," she added.

Cheney was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Later, she served on the House Select Committee that investigated the episode.

Trump and Cheney had both been excoriating each other.

TRUMP CRITICISM OF LIZ CHENEY AS ‘RADICAL WAR HAWK’ FRAMED AS CALL FOR VIOLENCE BY ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ MEDIA

Trump called her "a very dumb individual" and "a radical war hawk."

Cheney blasted Trump, declaring in a post on X, "We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant."

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger also acknowledged the election outcome.

TRUMP LAMBASTES LIZ CHENEY AS ‘CRAZED WARHAWK’ AS SHE CAMPAIGNS FOR KAMALA HARRIS

"Last night the battle was lost, but the mission continues. We move on, regroup, and prepare for the next one," Kinzinger tweeted.

Like Cheney, Kinzinger was also one of the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot. He also served on the House Select Committee formed to probe the episode and he backed Harris during the 2024 White House contest.

‘This man stood up’: Pro-Trump group launches blistering seven-figure ad buy as closing pitch to voters

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: A pro-Trump group has launched a seven-figure ad buy as a closing pitch for the former president after the clip went viral on social media.

On Friday, Building America’s Future (BAF), a conservative nonprofit, released the clip titled "Moments" that it says highlights the "attacks on Donald Trump and his supporters in recent months."

The ad, posted on X by Elon Musk and others, has garnered over 20 million views on X. 

"Think about all they've done to Donald Trump," the ad says. "First it was hoaxes, witch hunts, and impeachments. Then it was FBI raids, courtrooms, and mug shots. Finally, it was bullets in a Pennsylvania field.

JENNIFER LOPEZ CRIES WHILE ENDORSING HARRIS AFTER SHE’S AMBUSHED BY DIDDY QUESTION AS SPECULATION MOUNTS

"And after all that, this man stood up, with blood draining down his face, pumped his fist in the air and told us to ‘Fight. Fight. Fight.’"

The ad then plays a clip from Trump saying. "America's future will be bigger, better, bolder, brighter, happier, stronger, free-er, greater, and more united than ever before. And we will Make America Great Again."

HARRIS CAMPAIGN DISHES OUT SIX-FIGURE DONATIONS TO GROUPS WHO SUPPORT DEFUNDING POLICE, REPARATIONS

"We know what they think of us," a narrator says before a clip of President Biden speaking.

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters," Biden says, echoing his comment that sparked a political firestorm earlier this week. 

"So, if Donald Trump can get through all of that, We can get out to vote," the ad closes.

BAF will begin airing the ad as part of a $1.2 million spend on national television across battleground states as well as paid digital and texting. 

The ‘garbage’ campaign: Why mistakes and distractions could tilt the outcome

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If there’s one image that captures the craziness of this campaign, it’s got to be Donald Trump driving around in a garbage truck.

He put on the orange vest and talked to reporters after a Joe Biden blunder put Kamala Harris on the defensive.

And this was after a Trump rally filled with profane insults, including a comic who mocked Puerto Rico as an island of floating garbage.

And that, in turn, followed the spectacle of the former president cooking up some fries at McDonald’s, where he actually likes to eat.

THE FATAL FLAW IN KAMALA HARRIS’ SPEECH, MARRED BY BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT

But all this is unfolding against the backdrop of the ugliest and perhaps most divisive race in American history, with each side accusing the other of being a danger to democracy. 

And the tightness of the polls–assuming they’re not off again–has created an almost apocalyptic sense of drama, with many voters worried about post-election violence if Trump loses.

Trump, after all, has survived two impeachments, the Jan. 6 riot, four criminal indictments, one conviction and two assassination attempts. He has spent the last four years insisting, despite numerous failed lawsuits, that the last election was stolen from him.

Can there be more than 500 voters in the six or seven swing states who don’t have a rock-solid opinion of him, positive or negative?

As for Harris, she was a relatively unpopular vice president thrust into a 100-day sprint when Democrats pressured Biden into stepping aside. She soared through the convention but hid from the media – that’s now changed – yet kept sticking to talking points and didn’t make much news. 

What’s more, Harris would be the first female president–and, of course, woman of color–to win the presidency in a country where some men, especially Black men, are reluctant to take that step. 

BACKLASH BUILDS AGAINST BEZOS AS NON-ENDORSEMENT SPARKS HUGE SURGE IN CANCELLATIONS

I have never witnessed such a chasm in coverage as in 2024, not even when Barack Obama first ran for the White House. The Kamala coverage ranges from glowing to gushing, with minimal scrutiny even when she makes false claims. The Donald coverage is overwhelmingly negative, right down to the Hitler comparisons–which the press has pushed for years, even before John Kelly went on the record with his accusations.

It’s not hard to sense the frustration in the press that the improving economy isn’t helping Harris, especially with the news that inflation has dropped to 2.1 percent. 

The New York Times says voters feel "relatively glum" about the economy, with the "lingering pessimism…The job market has been chugging along, although more slowly, overall growth has been healthy and even inflation is more or less back to normal." 

A Wall Street Journal columnist said yesterday the next president will inherit a "remarkable economy," but that 62 percent of those in its poll rated it "not so good" or "poor."

There is generally a lag in public perception, as when George H.W. Bush found when he talked up economic improvements in 1992 but lost to Bill Clinton.

In this supercharged environment, every mistake counts.

JAKE PAUL ENDORSES TRUMP IN FIERY VIDEO TORCHING BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION: ‘CAN’T SIT BACK AND WATCH THIS’

Trump, speaking about criminals who cross the border illegally, said "I told women I will be their protector. They [his advisers] said, ‘Sir, please don’t say that.’ Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not." 

That has an unfortunate ring to it, and Harris said yesterday it is "very offensive to women," including on controlling "their own bodies."

All of which brings us back to the last few days. When every hour counts, every distraction is costly. If you’re explaining, you’re losing. If you’re playing defense, you can’t put points on the board.

Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally was marred by racist and misogynist talk, the coverage of which totally overshadowed his speech. What drew the most attention was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe and his ridicule of Puerto Rico. Podcaster Joe Rogan said he heard the joke the day before and told the comic there would be a big backlash. But the Trump camp hadn’t vetted the speakers.

When Harris naturally denounced the "garbage" language, Trump hopped on the sanitation truck emblazoned with his name.

Biden has been hurting his VP’s candidacy with a series of screwups. First he said of Trump, "Lock him up." Then the president blurted out that "the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters." He stumbled before adding that this was about the "demonization of Latinos."

Castigating the other side’s voters is about the worst thing you can do, as Hillary Clinton learned eight years ago. That choked off the favorable coverage of her speech on the Ellipse–itself designed to mirror Trump’s Jan. 6 speech–and was the focus of reporters’ questions the next morning.

Harris distanced herself, saying Biden had clarified his remarks and she would never criticize voters who don’t support her. An NBC reporter asked her about it again yesterday.

Trump’s brief stint at McDonald’s was meant to highlight his contention that Harris never worked at one during college, as she has insisted. It was a brilliant tactic and one her side should have conjured up first. 

National Review writer Noah Rothman says the candidates are just "trolling" each other, presenting voters with "a choice between two gratingly flip campaigns that are consumed with frivolities."

I would differ on the main point. The whole point of a campaign is for voters to size up how the candidates perform under pressure, since no one knows what crises may arise. How they react to attacks, stunts and interviews gives us a sense of their rapid-response abilities that go beyond policy positions–especially in such a razor-thin election.  

‘Pulling an Alvin Bragg’: Left-wing DA’s ‘flimsy’ suit against Elon Musk’s $1M giveaway slammed by expert

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Left-wing Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit against tech billionaire Elon Musk over his $1 million giveaway amid the highly anticipated Pennsylvania election – a suit that is being slammed as riddled with legal issues by an expert. 

"As a prosecutor for the city and county of Philadelphia, Krasner has no legal ability to prosecute anyone for alleged violations of federal law. So instead, he is pulling an Alvin Bragg by concocting a flimsy legal theory that Musk somehow is violating Pennsylvania’s lottery law," Cully Stimson, deputy director of the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center of Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, wrote in a Daily Signal commentary piece published Monday. 

Stimson compared the suit to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charging former President Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors linked during the spring 2024 trial to an election scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election. Trump was found guilty in the case, and has since maintained his innocence as legal experts rallied that the case was an "absolute joke" and "witch hunt" against the 45th president. 

Krasner filed a lawsuit Monday against Musk and his super PAC, the America PAC, for "running an illegal lottery in Philadelphia" and across the state. 

Musk announced earlier this month that voters in battleground states, such as Pennsylvania or Michigan, were eligible for a $1 million a day giveaway after signing the America PAC’s petition backing the Constitution. Musk endorsed Trump in July, and recently joined him on the campaign trail to rally support for his re-election bid, most notably in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. 

PHILADELPHIA DA LARRY KRASNER IMPEACHED BY PENNSYLVANIA LAWMAKERS IN GOP-LED EFFORT: 'CRISIS OF CRIME'

The initiative outlines that it only applies to registered voters in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and North Carolina, and if they sign the petition. 

"The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments," the petition reads. 

HERE'S HOW ELON MUSK'S $1M A DAY GIVEAWAY TO BATTLEGROUND VOTERS WORKS

Musk has already announced winners for the giveaway, including one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. 

"Oct 22 - Nov 5: Each day, one petition signer from either PA, GA, NV, AZ, MI, WI, or NC will earn $1,000,000," the America PAC website reads. 

Stimson wrote that Krasner is "one of George Soros’ bought-and-paid-for district attorneys" who "doesn’t care about the law" and launched the suit to quench his alleged thirst "for media attention."

"Musk isn’t paying individuals to register to vote; he is paying already-registered voters to sign a petition, which is entirely lawful," Stimson explained. 

ELON GOES ON CAMPAIGN BLITZ AGAINST GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS, VOWS TO REVEAL BIZARRE ALLEGED SCHEMES

"​​In his civil complaint against Musk, Krasner asserts that by ‘lulling’ registered voters into giving their personal identifying information such as their postal address, cellphone number, and email address, voters have paid Musk consideration – as when a person gives a dollar to purchase a Mega Millions lottery ticket," he continued. 

In his suit, Krasner cited the 1976 case "Commonwealth v. Lane," which detailed that under Pennsylvania law, a lottery is deemed unlawful under three elements: "(1) a prize to be won; (2) a winner to be determined by chance; and (3) the payment of a consideration by the player." 

Stimson said the first two elements are satisfied when considering the Musk giveaway, but "the third element is nowhere to be found."

"Consideration is the payment of money, which is completely lacking in the Musk proposal. Registered voters didn’t pay money to sign the petition. Their personally identifiable information isn’t, under either the Lane case or state law, ‘consideration,’" Stimson explained. 

PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT DEBATES FUTURE OF IMPEACHMENT TRIAL FOR PHILADELPHIA PROSECUTOR LARRY KRASNER

Stimson, whose background includes extensive investigations into "rogue" prosecutors who have politically benefited from donations made by left-wing billionaire George Soros, added in his commentary piece that it’s a "bit rich of Krasner to sue Musk, since the Philadelphia DA is a two-time violator of state campaign finance laws."

Stimson cited previous research that found Krasner received $1.7 million from Soros-funded groups during his 2017 election, and an additional $1.25 million from the same groups during his 2021 re-election campaign. 

FAR-LEFT PHILADELPHIA DA LARRY KRASNER'S COMPANY OWES $86,000 IN UNPAID TAXES

"In both races, he broke campaign finance laws and got into hot water with Philadelphia’s Board of Ethics."

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 2019 that Krasner settled with the ethics board over accepting more than $11,000 in excess in-kind contributions from the Soros-backed Real Justice PAC. Krasner paid a $4,000 fine and agreed to reimburse the city for the excess in-kind contribution from the PAC, while the Real Justice PAC agreed to pay $8,000 in penalties.

Following his 2021 re-election, Krasner’s campaign and the Real Justice PAC again admitted to breaking campaign finance law. Krasner agreed to pay $10,000 in penalties, while the Real Justice PAC agreed to pay $30,000 in penalties, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that year.

WIDOW OF SLAIN PHILADELPHIA POLICE OFFICER BLAMES PROGRESSIVE POLICIES OF DA LARRY KRASNER FOR HUSBAND'S DEATH

"Krasner has been a disaster as Philadelphia’s district attorney," Stimson wrote. "... Crime has exploded in Philly as a result of Krasner’s pro-criminal, anti-victim, cop-hating policies."

"In the five years before he was elected, an average of 271 homicides occurred per year. Since he was elected in 2017, an average of 368 homicides per year have occurred – an ‘extra’ 97 dead bodies per year."

Fox News Digital reached out to Krasner’s office for a response to Stimson’s arguments, but did not receive a reply. 

Following Musk’s announcement of the giveaway this month, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro set the stage that it would likely come under legal scrutiny. 

"I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning," Shapiro said on NBC’s "Meet the Press."

PHILADELPHIA'S FORMER DEMOCRATIC MAYOR SLAMS SOROS-FUNDED DA FOR REFUSING TO CALL MURDER SURGE A 'CRISIS'

He continued, "Look, Musk, obviously has a right to be able to express his views, and he’s made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump, and we have a difference of opinion. I don’t deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at."

"You think it might not be legal, yes or no?" host Kristen Welker asked.

Shapiro responded, "I think it’s something that law enforcement can take a look at."

Musk announced the eighth winner of the giveaway on Saturday in Lancaster, home to Pennsylvania’s rolling hills dotted with Amish farms, where he again touted the petition backing the Constitution. 

"We're trying to get attention for this very important petition to support the Constitution. And, it's like, if we, you know – we need the right to free speech; we need the right to bear arms," Musk said at the rally in Lancaster.

"So we're going to be giving out a million dollars every day through Nov. 5," he continued. "And also, all you have to do is sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendments. That's it. You don't even have to vote. It'd be nice if you voted, but you don't have to. And then just basically sign something you already believe in, and you get a test to win a million dollars every day from now through the election."

‘MAGA’ dress designer forced to remove Trump signs from business, residence when ‘Karen’ called the police

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A dress designer and shop owner in Occoquan, Virginia, is at a loss following a bizarre encounter with a local woman who called the police on his boutique for demonstrating his First Amendment rights by hanging Trump signs out front.

Andre Soriano, an atelier dress designer who is well-known for curating the "Make America Great Again" gown singer-songwriter Joy Villa wore to the 2017 Grammy Awards, received legal notice that he must remove signs in support of former President Trump from his business.

"I actually started a flag war here in Occoquan, Virginia," Soriano told Fox News Digital during a video interview.

JOY VILLA WEARS PRO-TRUMP DOWN TO GRAMMYS: ‘IMPEACHED AND RE-ELECTED’

Soriano said though the first few moments of the encounter were pleasant, almost immediately, he was met with irrationality and backlash about the patriotic decor perched at the front of the store.

"The reason I put my Trump dress outside is, so I don't have to encounter [this]," Soriano said.

Audra Johnson, a political activist and friend of Soriano, recorded the run in and posted it to social media after he texted her for help with the scene.

"I have a video of her hiding in a bush," Johnson told Fox News Digital. "I don’t know what she was doing."

JOY VILLA TURNS HEADS WITH PRO-LIFE OUTFIT AT THE GRAMMYS

The duo said the woman was hysterically crying in the street and that she did call the police. A lone officer removed the woman from the store’s entrance and Johnson said she was taken to a local restaurant to "calm her down".

"As an American citizen, as a First Amendment in our great nation, you can express yourself by putting your signs in your home and expressing who you are as an individual, whether it’s religion, whether it’s politics or anything that you feel, without harming anyone," Soriano said. "That's just the freedom of artistic expression and being free in America, and nowadays, you can't even express that."

Soriano and Johnson live in the residences above the store. After being cited by the city to remove the Trump-supporting signs from the business, they suspended them from their homes, despite having been hung for years prior to the incident.

SINGER JOY VILLA MAKES A POLITICAL FASHION STATEMENT AGAINST PLANNED PARENTHOOD

However, they were cited a second time to remove some, but not all, the signs.

"We’re just trying our hardest to not get fines we can’t pay," Johnson said.

"We follow rules," Soriano said. "We don’t disrespect anyone."

The business owner is appalled by the ordinance as he believes America is the "land of the free, not the land of what people think."

"I'm an American designer," Soriano said. "I am free to express and create whatever I want."

Soriano, originally from the Philippines, said his mother immigrated the family to America when he was a teenager to live the American Dream.

JOY VILLA: WHY I CHOOSE LIFE OVER ABORTION - THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY THAT BEGAN FOR ME AT 20

"I love America," Soriano said.

The fashion designer said he was once employed by stars, including Rihanna, Pharrell Williams, Miley Cyrus and Courtney Love, but was blacklisted when he designed the infamous "MAGA" dress from 2017.

"That's when our lives changed," he said. "We had death threats."

"There are a lot of celebrities in Hollywood that are very divisive, and they didn't really like President Trump," Soriano said.

The creative director added that he lost his friends, clients and potential business opportunities in California.

Johnson was also blacklisted as a stage and film actress when she was photographed marching at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a sign that read "Trump is your president."

"We’re in an industry where we can’t just say what we want or how we feel," Johnson said.

"We don't fit the mold."

Liz Cheney blasts Trump as ‘depraved,’ ‘unstable,’ claims pro-life and pro-choice women rallying behind Harris

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Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who is backing Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, blasted former President Donald Trump as "unstable," "depraved," and "cruel" during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Cheney also suggested that former Trump administration figures who have been speaking out against Trump, like former White House chief of staff John Kelly, "know" that Trump "has no conscience," and is "erratic," "chaotic," and "cruel."

The former congresswoman, who identifies as pro-life, also claimed that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, some states put laws in place that prevent women from obtaining "life-saving care." She asserted that there have been situations in which physicians are unsure whether the care a woman requires has been criminalized under state law.

TRUMP LAMBASTES LIZ CHENEY AS ‘CRAZED WARHAWK’ AS SHE CAMPAIGNS FOR KAMALA HARRIS

Cheney said that there are pro-life and pro-choice women rallying behind Harris so that they never find themselves in a scenario "where either their own life is at risk, where they can't have babies in the future."

She also appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday morning to share similar thoughts, including the view that Trump lacks a conscience.

Cheney said that she thinks Donald Trump has ushered "violence … into our politics in a way that we haven't seen before."

When CBS News' Margaret Brennan asked Cheney how she set aside her pro-life views and chose to vote for Harris, Cheney responded, "I don't think it's about putting convictions aside. I think it's about looking at the reality on the ground of what's happened since Roe was overturned."

LIZ CHENEY PREDICTS ‘MILLIONS OF REPUBLICANS’ WILL VOTE FOR HARRIS: ‘VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE’

Cheney was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Later that year, she was ousted from her role as House Republican Conference Chair.

She was one of the House Republicans who served on the House Select Committee that probed the Jan. 6 episode.

While Cheney is a vociferous Trump critic, Trump is also an outspoken Cheney critic.

HARRIS AND TOP ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICAN CHENEY TEAM UP IN BATTLEGROUND BLITZ

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Trump has referred to Cheney as "Muslim-hating warmonger Liz Cheney," "Crazed Warhawk Liz Cheney," and he has called her "a low IQ War Hawk."

Playing the Hitler card: Will Trump backers dismiss John Kelly’s attack?

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Earlier this year, there was some media chatter about when the Biden campaign would go "full Hitler."

What that meant was, if they started talking about Donald Trump and the Nazi leader so early, what ammunition would they have left for October?

VIDEO SHOWS DEM-ALIGNED INDIVIDUAL FIDGETING WITH MONTANA BALLOT BOX

Well, it’s late October, and the Hitler assault has begun.

It’s not like no one has heard this before. Trump’s detractors across the media landscape have periodically compared him to Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. Magazines have depicted him with a little mustache. He’s been dismissed as an aspiring dictator who would blow up American democracy, with few of the guardrails that constrained him in his first term.

But now we have John Kelly, his second chief of staff, denouncing his ex-boss in a series of three on-the-record interviews with the New York Times, which were recorded and posted on the paper’s site.

Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general who lost a son in Afghanistan, said he was going public because he was disturbed by Trump’s attacks on "the enemy within," which, as the former president told me in our weekend interview, included Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi. And Kelly was equally concerned that he might use the military against Americans.

Kelly says in the Times audio that Trump meets his definition of a fascist. And in the context of wanting his generals (such as Kelly and Pentagon chief Jim Mattis) to be personally loyal to him, "He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too.’" 

KAMALA HARRIS’ CLOSING MESSAGE IS UNCLEAR, DONALD TRUMP DOMINATES MEDIA BY GOING OFF SCRIPT

Kelly says he told the president "you should never say that" and explained some of the history of Nazi Germany. (Hitler’s generals tried to kill him more than once.)

The general also said that Trump referred to soldiers as "losers" and "suckers" and could not understand their sacrifice. If this and other passages sound familiar, it’s because it’s been previously reported in the Atlantic and elsewhere, rather obviously with Kelly as a background source.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung fired back, saying the former official was offering "debunked stories," had "beclowned" himself and was suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

My question is this: Are John Kelly’s comments going to change the mind of any Trump voters?

They may dismiss the comments as old news. Or say Trump didn’t really mean it, he was just letting off steam. Or question Kelly’s motivation in going public in the final stretch of the campaign.

CBS NEWS GAVE A 'PATHETIC RESPONSE' TO DECEITFUL EDITING ACCUSATIONS: HOWARD KURTZ

It’s not that I’m defending the comments as reported by Kelly, who’s free to say what he wants. I have absolutely nothing good to say about Hitler or the Nazis. I don’t agree with everything Trump says, just as I don’t agree with everything Kamala Harris says.

But how many Trump voters, having lived through nine years of media attacks on the 45th president, having watched the violence of Jan. 6, are going to abandon him now? The answer, in my view, is very few. 

Still, it gave the vice president an opening, since yesterday’s bombshell was detonated by a man who was the highest-ranking staffer in the Trump White House. She read a statement to reporters in Washington without taking questions:

"It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans. All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is," Harris said.

I once had a candid chat with Kelly at a White House media party, and when I looked up 10 other reporters had surrounded us, straining to hear what the man who kept a low profile with the press had to say. At the time, the former Homeland Security secretary was being touted as the guy who’d bring military discipline to a chaotic White House after Reince Priebus was let go.

Now the "full Hitler" moment has arrived. Whether it has much impact on a candidate who has survived two impeachments, the fallout after Jan. 6 and two assassination attempts is, at the very least, in doubt.

Trump foe Mitt Romney resists endorsing Harris

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Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney won't endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president despite his outspoken criticisms of former President Trump. 

"I’ve made it very clear that I don’t want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States," Romney said Tuesday at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, The New York Times reported.  

"I want to continue to have a voice in the Republican Party following this election. I think there’s a good chance that the Republican Party is going to need to be rebuilt or reoriented," he later added during the political forum. 

Romney announced last year that he would not seek re-election as a senator representing the Beehive State, and will leave office in January. The Republican has long criticized Trump, and indicated in June that he was unlikely to support the 45th president's re-election. 

'TRAITOR' LIZ CHENEY WALLOPED BY WYOMING VOTERS FOR HARRIS ENDORSEMENT, BREAK WITH GOP

"With President Trump, it’s a matter of personal character," Romney told CNN at the time. "I draw a line and say when someone has been actually found to have been sexually assaulted, that’s something I just won’t cross over in the person I wouldn't want to have as president of the United States." Romney's comments referred to a federal jury’s decision in New York City last year, which ruled Trump was not liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll, though the former president was liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

KAMALA HARRIS TEAMS UP WITH LIZ CHENEY IN BIRTHPLACE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY

Romney has also slammed Trump for Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of the then-president breached the U.S. Capitol, arguing Trump incited an insurrection due to his "injured pride" over the 2020 election. Romney subsequently was one of seven Republican members of the Senate who voted to impeach Trump over Jan. 6. 

NIKKI HALEY DEFENDS TRUMP SUPPORT AFTER BEING CALLED OUT BY LIZ CHENEY: 'THIS IS ABOUT AMERICA'

Romney was also the only Republican who voted to impeach Trump in 2020 over abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges. Trump was acquitted in both impeachment cases, and is the only president in history who was impeached twice and acquitted twice. 

Trump has also hit back at Romney, saying in 2020 that the Utah senator "can't stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency," referring to his 2012 bid for the White House, and calling him a "disgrace" that same year for voting to impeach. 

While Romney has previously broken with the GOP on other key issues, he indicated Tuesday that he will not offer his endorsement to Harris despite other Republicans recently throwing their support behind the vice president. Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney officially endorsed Harris last week and joined her on the campaign trail in Wisconsin, while former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake also endorsed Harris. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Romney's office for additional comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.    

Dems eye possible Trump investigations if they win House majority

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Some House Democrats are already looking at the possibility of investigating former President Donald Trump if they win the House majority in November.

Two top lawmakers, Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., did not rule out probing Trump if he wins the White House in November.

Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee who led the probe into Trump’s tax returns in the last Congress, told Fox News Digital it would be "hard to assess" whether he would see himself resuscitating that effort, but he added that the Supreme Court’s recent decision expanding presidential immunity could change the calculus.

"That would be speculative, but I certainly would not back away from the positions I’ve taken over the years on that issue," Neal said.

CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION

Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital, "I’d rather look to the future than the past, but we’ll do our job."

In a longer statement provided to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Raskin accused Republicans of ignoring issues like gun violence and prescription drug costs.

"Instead, for two years, House Republicans have used the gavel to pursue a laughingstock flop of an impeachment investigation to help their presidential nominee and personal cult leader, Donald Trump. Even worse, they have blocked and obstructed Democrats' efforts to investigate the corruption of Donald Trump and his autocrat allies," Raskin said.

"Investigating this endless corruption is critical for Congress to create legislative fixes to ensure government serves the people and to put an end to efforts to exploit the presidency and sell out our government to the highest bidder."

Meanwhile, rank-and-file Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said investigations could be warranted into Trump’s family and their business dealings even if the former president lost his re-election bid.

Both singled out his son-in-law and former White House adviser Jared Kushner, whose investment firm got a $2 billion investment commitment from a fund led by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. 

"His family has some ongoing deals that we learned about after we went out of the majority that I think are worth visiting," Swalwell said. "The Kushners and the Saudi deal – I think people want some closure on that."

He took a shot at the House GOP’s probes into the foreign business dealings of President Biden’s son, Hunter, adding, "If you tell me you're interested in Hunter Biden, then you probably owe it to the country to be interested in what happened there."

JOHNSON'S PLAN TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GOES DOWN IN FLAMES AS REPUBLICANS REBEL

Goldman, an Oversight Committee member, told Fox News Digital, "I think if Trump wins, obviously that'll be the principal purpose [of the committee], is to provide the checks and balances that Congress needs to check, and that Donald Trump especially requires."

"I think there are a lot of really important, substantive issues that the committee has not investigated this year that are not partisan, that we should be focused on," he said, adding, "But we also were frustrated this term that obvious, obvious concerns were not investigated."

"How did Jared Kushner get $2 billion from Mohammed bin Salman for an investment company in something that he had never done before…That's a tremendous amount of money. There's been no investigation into that."

SHUTDOWN FEARS MOVE HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO PROTECT MILITARY PAYCHECKS

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded, saying, "Swalwell and Goldman should get a life. President Trump has endured two fake impeachments, four baseless witch-hunt indictments, and endless investigations into his businesses — all of which have failed because they are not based on facts but rather, they are fueled by the vitriolic Trump Derangement Syndrome that has taken over the Democrat Party."

Raskin’s investigatory efforts into Trump during this Congress, as leader of the Oversight Committee’s Democratic minority, could also offer a possible preview of what Democrats’ probes could look like in a second Trump term.

Earlier this month, he and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., sent a letter to Trump demanding that the former president prove he did not take a "cash bribe" from Egypt’s president in 2017. The letter was spurred by a Washington Post report that also alleged former Attorney General Bill Barr had blocked a probe into the matter.

Investigating Biden and his family has been a core focus of the committee under Chairman James Comer’s tenure. Comer, R-Ky., released a report recently accusing the president of having committed impeachable offenses – something the White House denies.

He denied that the intensity of his Biden probe could give Democrats cover to investigate Trump, however – insisting their inquiries into Trump were political.

"If the Democrats want to waste taxpayer dollars and time investigating the Trump administration again for the second time, then that's their prerogative. But we focused on waste, fraud and abuse and mismanagement by the federal government," Comer told Fox News Digital.

"If Trump wins…They're going to harass and obstruct every step of the way."

Piling on: A tsunami of anti-Trump pieces offer a stark contrast with Kamala’s upbeat coverage

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

In just the last few days, there’s been a tremendous media pile-on against Donald Trump.

Whether you think that’s warranted or not – much of it is based on his own words – we are back to a Trump-centric universe. Kamala Harris is making little or no news, despite such spectacles as the Oprah show, and Trump, as usual, is back to driving each news cycle.

I have been telling people since 2015 that negative stories are good for Trump because the ensuing debate then unfolds on his terms. In fact, he deliberately uses provocative or inflammatory language as catnip for the press, knowing that even if he’s denounced that will drive coverage for at least a couple of days.

The vice president generally gets such favorable press that many people assume she’s got this race wrapped up. When an NBC poll shows her leading Trump by 5 points, she’s said to have the momentum, although national surveys are basically meaningless.

SCANDALS, FAILED ASSASSINATIONS AND POLITICAL RHETORIC: BOTH SIDES GO HIGH AND LOW

And a New York Times poll shows Trump leading in the key Sunbelt states that the Harris camp hoped to pick off. He has a 5-point lead in Arizona, a 4-point lead in Georgia and a 2-point lead in North Carolina.

That’s within striking distance and in some cases a statistical tie. But the Times piece says that many voters believe Trump "improved their lives when he was president – and worry that a Kamala Harris White House would not."

That’s the thing. Trump’s already had four years in the Oval Office. And while there was no shortage of chaos – two impeachments, January 6th – plenty of folks remember a strong economy. And they want more details about whether Harris would take the country in a more liberal direction, even as she puts her rhetorical focus on the middle class and small business (as well as abortion rights).

Plus, it’s hard to run as a change candidate when you’re part of the incumbent administration and large numbers see the country as being on the wrong track.

Virtually everyone in America has a set-in-stone view of the former president. His MAGA loyalists have been with him since he said in his first campaign that "I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue" and not lose support. 

That takes on a more ominous tone now that Trump has barely escaped assassinaton twice – and, after the Florida golf course attempt, blamed the attacks on "danger to democracy" language by Harris and the Democrats. Many in the media have made Hitler comparisons, and the truth is both sides have used incendiary language.

Sometimes Trump just resorts to trolling – "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" – to get chattering classes chattering, even though he much wanted her endorsement.

Let’s look at the coverage in recent days:

TRUMP INDICATES HE WON'T MAKE ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL RUN IN 2028 IF UNSUCCESSFUL THIS TIME

The Washington Post describes "Donald Trump’s imaginary world," where "Americans can’t venture out to buy a loaf of bread without getting shot, mugged or raped. Immigrants in a small Ohio town eat their neighbors’ cats and dogs. World War III and economic collapse are just around the corner. And kids head off to school only to return at day’s end having undergone gender reassignment surgery.

"The former president’s imaginary world is a dark, dystopian place, described by Trump in his rallies, interviews, social media posts and debate appearances to paint an alarming picture of America under the Biden-Harris administration.

It is a distorted, warped and, at times, absurdist portrait of a nation where the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to deadly effect were merely peaceful protesters, and where unlucky boaters are faced with the unappealing choice between electrocution or a shark attack. His extreme caricatures also serve as another way for Trump to traffic in lies and misinformation, using an alternate reality of his own making to create an often terrifying — and, he seems to hope — politically devastating landscape for his political opponents."

Trump also accused Tim Walz speaking positively about "execution" after a baby is born–though Washington Post’s Fact-Checker says the governor never said that, and that fewer than 1 percent of abortions are performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy.

In the New York Times, conservative writer David French uses self-described "Black Nazi" and pro-slavery GOP candidate Mark Robinson, who’s running for North Carolina governor, to slam Trump.

French says he’s endorsed Kamala "because I believe that a Harris victory gives Republicans ‘a chance to build something decent’ from the ruins of a Trump defeat.

"After enduring weeks of lies about the Haitian immigrants who live in Springfield, Ohio, and an entire news cycle devoted to covering Trump’s connection with Laura Loomer, one of the most overtly racist figures in MAGA America (she once spoke at a conference of white nationalists and declared, ‘I consider myself to be a white advocate, and I openly campaigned for the United States Congress as a white advocate’) — I’m hardening my view. Trump loses now or the Republicans are lost for a generation. Maybe more…

"This has changed the composition of the party. While many decent people remain — and represent the hope for future reform — Trump’s Republican Party has become a magnet for eccentrics and conspiracy theorists of all stripes." 

64 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS YET TO DO FORMAL PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

Back at the Washington Post, the Trump campaign is described as imploding: 

"In a single 24-hour span at the end of last month, for example, he amplified a crude joke about Harris performing a sex act; falsely accused her of staging a coup against President Joe Biden; promoted tributes to the QAnon conspiracy theory; hawked digital trading cards; and became embroiled in a public feud with staff and officials at Arlington National Cemetery.

"The Swift attack was especially concerning to Trump’s advisers, who are worried about attracting female voters."

And there are his constant tributes to "the late, great Hannibal Lecter," the movie serial killer.

"Some campaign advisers are eager to move on from Trump’s and Vance’s unverifiable claims about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs — a potentially detrimental news cycle that has stretched into its second week — but also acknowledge that Trump rarely retreats, even when it might be politically advantageous to do so."

The piece describes Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, as playing a divisive role, to which he responded: "Same old nonsense that has already been written by the Washington Compost. Your obsession with my volunteer efforts just demonstrates your continued hatred of Donald J. Trump and prove you will stop at nothing to try and prevent him from becoming the 47th President of the United States."

Post op-ed columnist Ruth Marcus says Trump is "crossing a hazardous new line" by saying it will be the fault of Jewish people, insufficiently grateful for his pro-Israel policies, if he loses the election:

"They threaten, if he does lose, and especially if he continues this line of argument, to unleash the fury of disappointed Trump supporters on Jews. It does not take much to imagine the backlash, and the violence, that could ensue. We Jews know something about being scapegoated…

Trump has long had an unnerving habit of bringing up the fact of people’s Judaism — sometimes mistakenly — on occasions when it seems irrelevant at best. ‘Who would have thought my top guys are Jews?’ Trump observed to aides Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller and Jason Miller aboard Air Force One, according to the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman. (In fact, Jason Miller, as he told Trump, is not Jewish.)" 

By contrast, a Times piece on Harris’ record as a prosecutor soberly finds "a coherent record that is for the most part consistent. Ms. Harris seemed particularly focused on protecting the most vulnerable victims by cracking down on violent offenders while seeking alternatives to incarceration for less serious criminals." 

It’s not that each individual story isn’t based on reported facts. But the tsunami of anti-Trump pieces is a reminder of how relentlessly negative his coverage is – his supporters just don’t trust the media – when compared to the general praise for the Democratic nominee.

Footnote: As I was typing this column, I got a statement from Trump saying "the Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling the second assassination attempt on my life since July." He says Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida should handle the investigations and prosecutions instead.