Trump: Ending Ukraine war might get me into heaven
The prospect of winning a Nobel peace prize has long been on Trump's mind when he wades into international disputes, but he raised a different motivation in a Fox & Friends interview on Tuesday morning, his first since meeting President Zelensky and seven other western leaders in the White House.
'I want to try and get to heaven if possible,' he said. 'I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I really hit the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.'
Reflecting on his cordial summits with Zelensky on Monday and President Putin on Friday, Trump ruled out Ukraine joining Nato, describing it as 'impossible', and suggested the US commitment to security guarantees would be limited to 'air' as divides began to emerge with Europe after their show of unity in Washington.
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The Guardian
a few seconds ago
- The Guardian
Trump officials cut California sex-education funds over gender identity references
The Trump administration has terminated a grant that provided millions of dollars for a California sex education program after the state refused to remove all references to gender identity, transgender people and nonbinary people from its curriculum. Advocates fear more states could lose more money in a burgeoning war between the Trump administration and supporters of comprehensive sex ed. In June, the federal Administration for Children and Families warned California that it had 60 days to remove the references from the curriculum for the state's Personal Responsibility Education Program (Prep), a federally funded sex-ed program that aims to prevent pregnancy and childhood STIs. It argued that such references were outside the program's scope. On Tuesday, California notified the Trump administration that it would not change its Prep curriculum, arguing that the materials were medically accurate, necessary to help prepare young people for the complexities of adult relationships and already been approved by the Administration for Children and Families. Moreover, the letter argued, its materials were in line with the law, while the administration's threat was not. Government records indicate that California's Prep grant was worth roughly $6m, although Reuters reported that California now stands to lose a total of about $12m in federal funding. The Administration for Children and Families did not immediately reply to a request for clarification. 'California's refusal to comply with federal law and remove egregious gender ideology from federally funded sex-ed materials is unacceptable,' Andrew Gradison, the acting assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families, said in a statement. Accountability is coming for every state that uses federal funds to teach children delusional gender ideology.' Examples listed in the June letter included a middle-school lesson plan stating that 'there are also people who don't identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer. This means that even if they were called a boy or a girl at birth and may have body parts that are typically associated with being a boy or a girl, on the inside, they feel differently.' Another example was from a high school lesson: 'Remind students that some men are born with female anatomy, some women are born with male anatomy.' In total, the Trump administration distributes about $75m each year to more than 50 states, territories, tribes and organizations to teach Prep to students. It has demanded that all recipients of Prep money turn over their curricula, from teachers' manuals to PowerPoint presentations to parental consent forms, for a 'medical accuracy review'. The future of other federally funded sex ed programs may also be in doubt. The Trump administration has also informed recipients of funding for the $101m Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) that their curricula cannot include information about gender identity or diversity, equity and inclusion. Experts and advocates worry that the federal government will increasingly weaponize sex ed funding to strangle efforts not only to teach young people about LGBTQ+ rights and issues, but also to undermine comprehensive sex ed writ large. 'It's an inappropriate use of federal authority,' said Lisa MF Andersen, a historian who co-authored the book Touchy Subject: The History and Philosophy of Sex Education. She could not think of any precedent for the Trump administration's actions. 'It's a really weirdly political method to use – to try and to use funding instead of trying to use legislation,' she said. 'A lot of these things should be left up to Congress.' During Donald Trump's first term, his administration abruptly informed dozens of TPPP recipients that their grants would end years earlier than planned. Courts later ruled that Trump's actions were unlawful. Although sex ed policy is largely set at the local and state level in the US, presidential administrations still hold enormous sway over it because of their ability to pour billions of dollars into the kinds of programs that they prefer. Project 2025, the famous playbook of conservative policies written by the think tank Heritage Foundation, urges federal agencies to specifically increase their scrutiny of PREP and TPPP 'so that they do not promote abortion or high-risk sexual behavior among adolescents'. The playbook also recommends that these programs' grant money should be given to curricula that prioritizes 'sexual risk avoidance', or abstinence-only-until-marriage sex ed. The federal government already maintains a separate grant program, known as the Title V State Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Program, that devotes about $50m annually to abstinence-only sex ed. Research has repeatedly found that abstinence-only sex ed has failed to persuade people to avoid premarital sex. The California department of public health did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the state's defunding. But Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications director for the LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Equality California, said that stripping California of funding will have long-lasting consequences for young people. 'Studies consistently show us that LGBTQ+ students, especially trans and nonbinary youth, face higher rates of bullying, harassment and suicide. Especially now, we're seeing those numbers skyrocket,' Reyes Salinas said. 'Inclusive education reduces stigma and saves lives.'
Daily Mail
a few seconds ago
- Daily Mail
Karoline Leavitt delivers BRUTAL workplace reality check and how to avoid tears in resurfaced training video
Before 27-year-old Karoline Leavitt became the youngest ever White House press secretary, she was already doling out brutal advice on how to survive an executive branch job. 'Your boss is not your friend,' Leavitt dished in a newly resurfaced training video. 'You are not your boss' top priority,' she also warned. Leavitt was tapped by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation to appear in one of its Project 2025 videos, intended to train political appointees going into a second Trump administration. The video appears to have been filmed before Leavitt joined Trump's presidential campaign in January 2024 and after she unsuccessfully ran for Congress. She was interviewed by the conservative Leadership Institute's Chris Hayes - not the MSNBC host - on the topic of 'The Art of Professionalism.' The Daily Beast resurfaced the video this week, labeling it a 'Secret MAGA Training Video.' Leavitt had served in the first Trump administration as an assistant press secretary under press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, before working on Capitol Hill for Trump ally, GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, and then launching an unsuccessful bid for a New Hampshire House seat. 'There will be many a times where you are working in an administration and there are very high pressure situations in my experience,' she recounted. Leavitt recalled how she and the White House press team would spend 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. briefing McEnany ahead of her taking the podium - only for those preparations to be derailed by breaking news or a statement from Trump. 'Those were some of the most high pressure moments of my life, knowing that the White House press corps was out there going to berate my boss on something that we had not covered throughout the day,' Leavitt said. 'And rather than get stressed out, cry or have a negative emotional response, you have to pull yourself up from your bootstraps. You have to be prepared. You have to execute in that moment,' she continued. 'And you have to be there to support the people that are counting on you to do your job.' Leavitt pressed that nothing prepares an aide for a White House job more than preparation itself. 'And if you fail to prepare for those moments, prepare to fail,' she warned. Leavitt also had frank advice on how to deal with bosses. 'First of all, your boss is not your friend,' she said. 'OK, so don't try to be friends with your boss. You work for your boss, and that's very important to remember too, especially in an administration.' 'And also don't pester your boss with things that are unnecessary to bring to your attention,' she added. Leavitt impressed upon future political appointees to look for answers themselves first, before asking their bosses a question. 'I can tell you there is nothing more annoying than having people come to you with things that are completely unnecessary,' she said. 'You are not your boss' top priority,' Leavitt warned. The future press secretary, who President Donald Trump refers to as a 'star,' was also clear that colleagues should be treated with respect. 'You remember the colleagues that helped you fondly and you remember the colleagues that weren't so helpful not so fondly,' she said. 'Your colleague today could be your boss tomorrow,' Leavitt also reminded the audience. She also told future Trump 2.0 employees that they should be grateful for the opportunity. 'It is really an honor to work for our federal government,' she said. 'Don't forget that your salary comes from the good, hard-working taxpayers across the country. Don't ever take a day for granted and continue to move up the ladder.' 'And remember everyone you meet in the workplace will help you get to another place someday. So nurture your relationships, cherish the people you meet on this journey,' she advised. 'It won't last forever. 'No administration does, of course, this is a democracy,' she said. 'So enjoy it while you have it.' The training video was originally leaked to and published in full by ProPublica last August, ahead of the 2024 election, when 'Project 2025' was a controversial campaign topic.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
California lawmakers embark on Democrats' redistricting plan
LOS ANGELES, Aug 21 (Reuters) - California state lawmakers on Thursday commenced action on redrawn political maps aimed at giving Democrats five more seats in the U.S. Congress, countering the partisan advantage President Donald Trump hopes to gain from a Republican redistricting plan in Texas. California Democrats, led by Governor Gavin Newsom, are pushing for fast-track passage of their redistricting effort in the Sacramento statehouse by Friday, just in time to place it on the ballot for a special election on November 4. Newsom, who enjoys a Democratic super-majority in both houses of the state legislature, ultimately seeks voter support for his plan. If it succeeds, it would neutralize a Trump-backed Texas bill designed to flip five Democratic seats to Republican control in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans, including Trump, have openly acknowledged that the Texas effort is about boosting their political clout by helping to preserve the party's slim House majority in the November 2026 midterm races. That election already is shaping up as closely fought. Democrats have characterized their bid to depart from the state's usual independent, bipartisan redistricting process - adopted by voters in 2008 - as a temporary "emergency" strategy to combat what they see as extreme Republican moves to unfairly rig the system. "The decks are stacked against us, so what we need to do is fight back," California Senator Lena Gonzalez, a joint author of the redistricting plan, said as the state Senate opened floor debate on the bill. Democrats say more than 70% of their newly drawn congressional districts were adopted from maps used by the independent commission in formulating the current boundaries. Republican Senator Tony Strickland objected, saying, "These maps were drawn behind closed doors." In the lower house of the legislature, known as the Assembly, Republicans sought to block consideration of another component of the package on procedural grounds but were overruled by the Democratic leadership. That proposal would amend the state constitution, temporarily bypassing the bipartisan commission. Unlike the California initiative, the newly drawn district lines in Texas would go into effect without voter approval, though Democrats have vowed to challenge the plan in court. The Texas measure cleared a major hurdle on Wednesday when the state House of Representatives in Austin adopted it on an 88-52 party-line vote. The Texas Senate is expected to pass the measure next, possibly on Thursday. The two versions of the bill may then need to be reconciled before the legislation goes to Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has said he will sign it. "Big WIN for the Great State of Texas," Trump said on his Truth Social platform. Democrats and civil rights groups say the new Texas map further dilutes the voting power of Hispanic and Black voters, violating federal law that forbids redrawing political lines on the basis of racial or ethnic discrimination. In pursuing redistricting mid-decade, both sides are breaking with long-observed political custom of generally altering political maps once every 10 years, following the U.S. Census to adjust for population changes. Most Americans believe redrawing congressional lines to maximize political gain, known as gerrymandering, is bad for democracy, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the issue this week, supporting the Democratic effort as a necessary short-term response to Republican overreach in Texas. But he said he remained uneasy about the long-term consequences of gerrymandering. Consideration of the Texas bill was delayed for two weeks after more than 50 Democratic state House members staged a walkout that denied Republicans the legislative quorum they needed to proceed. Their collective absence sparked extraordinary efforts by Abbott and other Republican leaders to pressure the Democrats to relent, including civil arrest warrants, the imposition of fines and threats to withhold their pay. The Democrats finally returned to Austin on Monday, by which time their legislative boycott had galvanized Democratic leaders in other states, especially California, where Newsom has vowed to "fight fire with fire." "We're going to punch this bully in the mouth, and we're going to win," Newsom told reporters in a video conference call on Wednesday. "This is about the rule of Don versus the rule of law." He was joined on the call by Texas Representative Nicole Collier, one of the leaders of the Austin walkout. "These are the most segregated maps that have been presented in Texas since the 1960s," said Collier, who represents a predominantly non-white Fort Worth state district. The Texas-California clash may be just the start. Other Republican-controlled states -- including Ohio, Florida, Indiana and Missouri -- are moving forward with or considering their own redistricting efforts, as are Democratic-led states such as Maryland and Illinois.
