The judge losing his patience with the Trump administration
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Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
New analysis shows which political party faces 'registration crisis' in battleground states that could change elections forever
A new analysis of Americans' voter registration habits points to potential long-term trouble for the Democratic Party. Data analyzed by the New York Times has revealed that the number of registered Democrats has declined in every state that tracks voter affiliation by party—a group that includes 30 of America's 50 states. The remaining 20 states do not register voters by party. This trend was consistent between swing states, red states, and blue states. The New York Times notes that explicitly, 'fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats.' The Times attributes Trump's sweeping 2024 victory—including wins in every swing state and the national popular vote—to this very trend. For veteran political activists and observers, this shift comes as no surprise. In recent cycles, states that have shifted from Democrat to GOP have almost always seen Republican gains in voter registration precede electoral flips. Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion at the Latino Summit held at Trump National Doral Golf Club on October 22, 2024 in Doral, Florida Florida, once the quintessential swing state—from the infamous 2000 Bush-Gore recount to the razor-thin Trump-Clinton contest in 2016—has trended solidly Republican over the past decade. Republican gains with Hispanic and Latino voters have been pointed to as one reason for the shift. A major milestone came in March, when Republican registrations surpassed Democrats in Miami-Dade County—a longtime Democratic stronghold and Florida's most populous county. Republicans now hold 34 percent of registered voters there, edging out both Democrats (32 percent) and Independents (33 percent.) These trends in voter registration and party loyalty suggest that political realignments in key states may be more durable than previously thought. Evan Power, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, expressed in a statement to the Florida Phoenix that the flip was 'a total repudiation of the Democrats' failed agenda. Miami-Dade is no longer their safe haven — it's the beating heart of the Republican revolution.' Iowa is another state where Republicans have recently made major gains. After the 2018 midterm cycle, three of the state's four congressional seats were held by Democrats. Republicans subsequently made voter registration a top priority in the 2020 presidential election, and made gains not only in swing seats but statewide before Trump's second victory in the state. After the 2020 election, Republicans held three of the four congressional seats in the state and flipped the fourth into their column after the 2022 midterm election. Conservative activist Scott Presler is the Founder and Executive Director of Early Vote Action and has travelled across the country registering voters in swing states and districts for the past half-decade. Presler told the Daily Mail that he often gets asked if registering more GOP voters in a location means an automatic win. He points to his efforts in flipping Bucks County, Pennsylvania for Trump last year as one indication that the proof is in the pudding. The county is one specifically mentioned in the New York Times analysis, as Republicans flipped the voter registration there last summer in part due to Presler's activism ahead of Trump's win in November. The Daily Mail spoke to Presler via a phone call while he was back in Pennsylvania, this time as part of an effort to flip the swingiest of all swing counties, Erie County, which is '5,900 voters away from flipping blue to red.' Presler said that recent conversations with individuals he's gotten to change their party registration indicate that the data analyzed by the New York Times is 'emblematic of the fact that voters overwhelmingly approve of Trump's policies.' While both parties have had their fair share of infighting, Democrats seem to be losing the most in the eyes of voters. After Trump's decisive defeat of Kamala Harris last year, the party is searching for a new leader. The likes of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy are putting themselves forward as figureheads of the anti-Trump resistance, but looking at registration numbers, no one has yet broken through to the average voter to get them to switch back into the Democratic column. Democrat strategist and DNC member Maria Cardona told the New York Times that her party 'fell asleep at the switch' also adding that young Hispanic and Latino voters are no longer default supporters of her party.
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump has bought up $100 million in bonds from biggest companies including T-Mobile and Meta since taking office
Since taking office, Donald Trump has bought at least $103 million worth of bonds, including debt issued by corporations that could be impacted by federal policy, like T-Mobile, Meta, and Home Depot, according to government financial disclosures. According to the August 12 filing with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, the president made nearly 700 bond purchases while in the White House, investing in bonds not only from name-brand companies but obscure local governments and utilities districts. The disclosures, obtained by Bloomberg, do not list the exact size of the purchases, but they do show that the president bought between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in bonds from T-Mobile and Home Depot in February, as well as debt worth between $250,000 and $500,000 from Facebook parent Meta. Meta, alongside a variety of other big names in the tech world, donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. A White House official told Reuters that Trump and his family had no role in managing the purchases, which were carried out by a third-party financial institution. The official added that federal ethics officials certified the purchases as in compliance with applicable laws. Critics have alleged that Trump, a billionaire businessman and TV personality before becoming president, has continued highly lucrative activities while holding office. Under federal ethics laws, presidents are not required to divest assets that might pose a conflict of interest, but most have done so anyway since the late 1970s, moving their assets into blind trusts managed by independent monitors. Trump is the first president not to have done so since 1978, and his business empire is held in a trust managed by his two sons. The Republican's net worth has more than doubled since the final year of his first term, and since retaking office, the president has continued to promote his business interests, including by visiting a new Trump golf course in Scotland and hosting top investors in his cryptocurrency business for a tour of the White House in May. On average, the president has visited one of his properties roughly once every other day since taking office, and has promoted his businesses at least 60 times, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Ethics in Washington. The president's sons, meanwhile, have pursued lucrative deals in the crypto world alongside Zach Witkoff, son of U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. A fund linked to the United Arab Emirates government, a U.S. ally, used $2 billion in the Trump family's World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency to invest in a crypto exchange. The Trump sons have also inked multiple business deals in the Middle Eas t since their father took office, including a Trump branded golf course in Qatar partially backed by the country's sovereign wealth fund.
South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
UK military chief meets US counterparts for Ukraine talks
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin met senior US defence officials alongside other European military chiefs in Washington DC on Wednesday to discuss military options to secure peace in Ukraine. He later attended a virtual meeting of Nato's military committee, described by its chairman Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone as 'candid'. On Tuesday evening, Admiral Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, had dined with his US counterpart General Dan Caine. The meetings come amid renewed planning for a 'coalition of the willing', led by the UK and France, that would guarantee Kyiv's security in the event of a ceasefire. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired a meeting of the coalition, in which members of the group also discussed the possibility of further sanctions on Russia. Western security guarantees, strongly resisted by Moscow, are one of the central issues for any peace deal for Ukraine, which fears Russia could otherwise use a ceasefire to regroup and launch a renewed invasion. So far, only the UK and France have indicated they could commit troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. In an interview on Tuesday Donald Trump ruled out an American ground contribution but suggested the US could be willing to provide some form of air support. His special envoy, Steve Witkoff, had earlier suggested the US could offer Ukraine a mutual defence agreement similar to Nato's Article 5, without Kyiv formally joining the alliance. Renewed talks among the 'coalition of the willing' follow last week's summit between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska as the US president continued to push for an end to a conflict he had promised he could finish on his first day in office. Those talks appeared to result in little progress towards a deal, but sparked concern among some in Europe that Mr Trump could seek to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into accepting a deal without sufficient security guarantees. On Monday, Sir Keir and Mr Macron joined other European leaders in travelling to Washington in a show of support for Mr Zelensky during a meeting with Mr Trump. Meanwhile, the UK and Russia traded sanctions as London sought to increase the pressure on Moscow to end its invasion. Europe minister Stephen Doughty unveiled sanctions on a series of organisations linked to Kyrgyzstan's financial services sector, saying they had been involved in Kremlin attempts to 'soften the blow of our sanctions by laundering transactions through dodgy crypto networks'. Russia in turn sanctioned 21 individuals, including former Labour MP Denis MacShane, several journalists, and the Government-appointed independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall.
