
Senate Confirms Susan Monarez as CDC Director
Fifty-one Republicans voted to confirm Monarez, while 47 Democrats or nominal independents who caucus with the Democrats voted in opposition. Two GOP senators missed the vote.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump praises Sydney Sweeney ad, but does he know American Eagle is super WOKE?
Sydney Sweeney may be a registered Republican, but I have discovered that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is – and it pains me to write this – incredibly, unconscionably woke. President Donald Trump took time away from making America great again to praise the recent American Eagle jeans ad starring Sydney Sweeney, hailing it for not being 'WOKE.' But I have an urgent message for President Trump: SIR, YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO A WOKENESS TRAP THAT I ASSUME WAS SET BY RADICAL LEFTISTS! If you're a patriotic MAGA supporter like me who has been applauding the company for triggering the libs with its Sweeney ad, which features the 'Euphoria' star talking about having 'good jeans,' you might want to sit down. I have discovered that American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is – and it pains me to write this – incredibly, unconscionably woke. American Eagle used the Sydney Sweeney ad to lure Trump into a woke trap! The company clearly tried to avoid wokeness detection by avoiding the usual red-flag DEI and instead calling its anti-American policy 'IDEA,' which stands for 'Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access.' AEO's corporate website is riddled with wildly liberal ideas like this: 'Difference and individuality make AEO stronger, higher-performing and more innovative.' Opinion: MAGA is realizing Trump lies. How can they trust anything he says on Epstein? There are sentences like this that absolutely reek of the kind of inclusivity President Trump and his administration have been working so hard to defeat: 'A sense of belonging is critical for associates to bring their whole, authentic selves to work.' Authentic selves? Where am I, in some blue-state coffee shop surrounded by communist libs talking about their feelings? MAGA world has rallied around Sweeney and American Eagle Given the way my fellow MAGA Republicans reacted to the Sweeney blue-jeans ad, I thought American Eagle was a company I could support. The sensible right saw a few people on the left claiming that the 'good jeans' ad was messaging that a blond, blue-eyed white woman was genetically superior. So everyone from Fox News to Vice President JD Vance got their dander up and slammed the leftist ninnies. 'So you have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad and they can't help but freak out,' Vance said on a podcast recently. 'It reveals a lot more about them than it does us.' Right on! It was clear, at that point, that all reasonable Republicans should wear American Eagle jeans to prove their Americanness. That's why I went out and bought 20 pairs of them, confident that they would protect the bottom half of my body from wokeness. Trump praises 'Republican' Sweeney and says her jeans ad is 'HOTTEST' Then, on Aug. 4, the man himself, President Donald J. Trump, took to Truth Social to hail Sweeney as 'a registered Republican' who 'has the 'HOTTEST' ad out there.' His post concluded with: 'Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be.' BOOM! To celebrate, I put a second pair of American Eagle jeans on over the pair I was already wearing. Opinion: Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate Everything seemed perfect until I learned the truth about AEO. Turns out American Eagle is as woke as the rest of the lefties I saw that the company celebrated – gulp – Pride Month. I found the company's nefarious IDEA policy. I came across a 2022 AEO post that read: 'At AEO, we celebrate the diversity of one through the inclusion of many. Throughout the month of June, we will be celebrating associates who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community – highlighting their accomplishments, learning about their unique roles and hearing about their experience at AEO!' My two pairs of jeans almost fell off. When I saw an AEO brand talking about 'systemic racism,' my jeans fell off And then I found that back in 2020, the month after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, one of AEO's brands, Aerie, posted, 'We stand with the Black community,' writing that 'THE LIVES OF ALL BLACK PEOPLE MATTER' and that 'the more we understand systemic racism the more we can take action.' I referred to the MAGA-branded WOKE-to-English dictionary that I wrote and sell on Etsy, and sure enough, that's woke. Those monsters at American Eagle clearly recruited Sweeney, an innocent Republican, and used her to lure President Trump, Fox News and the entire MAGA movement into supporting a company that is, pardon my language, WOKE AF!! It's like we can't trust corporations to be honest about anything I guess I can take a little comfort knowing this also swings back at the handful of libs who got riled up about the Sweeney ad in the first place and condemned American Eagle as right-wing eugenicists. It's almost as if corporations insincerely play both sides of the fence, benefit from controversy of any sort and don't really have any strong beliefs outside of making money. Didn't see that coming. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at


Newsweek
27 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Map Shows How Donald Trump's Approval Rating Has Changed in States He Lost
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. President Donald Trump's approval rating is negative in all of the states he lost in the November election and his popularity has declined further in each one during his second administration. According to polling by Civiqs, which has compiled survey responses in all U.S. states throughout the president's term, Trump's approval rating is declining among those who did not vote for him in the last election, suggesting he is not winning over previous dissenters. Using this data, Newsweek has created a map showing the president's approval ratings in states he lost. Why It Matters Trump's popularity has fluctuated in the first six-plus months of his term in the Oval Office. In particular, some key policy issues, including tariffs and the administration's handling of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's case, have caused some voters to turn against the president. Securing votes from all states in the nation will be important when voters head to the midterms in November 2026, particularly in swing states where every vote matters. What To Know The state in which Trump's approval rating is the most positive among those he lost is Maine, where it sits at -18, though it was better in January, which showed -7 percent. Conversely, the state where he has the least support is Hawaii. In January, his approval rating there was net -43 but has since declined to -53 percent. In some states, his decline has been stark. His approval rating has declined from -19 to -30 in Connecticut, a drop of 11 percentage points. In Vermont, his rating has fallen by 10 percentage points. In New York and New Jersey, his approval rating has barely changed. He has dropped by just 1 percent in these states, meaning his approval rating there is -27 and -24, respectively. This comes after Newsweek analysis revealed that Trump's approval rating is positive in 18 of the states he won in the 2024 election, and negative in 13. National polls show that Trump's approval rating is generally underwater. A survey conducted by Quantus Insights from July 21 to July 23 among 1,123 registered voters showed his rating stands at 47 percent, while 50 percent disapprove. According to the YouGov polling for British newspaper The Times, the proportion of people who disapprove of Trump's job performance has increased from 52 percent in April to 57 percent in July. Other polls paint a more positive picture. One suggested the proportion of college-educated voters who approve of the president's job performance has increased since June. Another showed Trump gaining more traction with Hispanic voters, a crucial demographic that traditionally supports Democratic candidates. What People Are Saying Speaking to Newsweek previously, Mark Shanahan, who teaches U.S. politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K., said: "The GOP is now so wholly wrapped up in the president's fortunes that if he continues to poll so poorly over the next 16 months, it's bound to have an effect on Republican candidates' fortunes. Not releasing the Epstein files is playing very badly with the MAGA base - not least because when he was on the campaign trail, 47 said repeatedly that he would release them. Now, seemingly because he knows the content, he's distinctly more circumspect. The longer this saga rumbles on, the more it will nip at the heels of all GOP candidates. If Trump loses the trust of his base, it will mean trouble for his political acolytes. All they currently have going for them is that Democrats remain rudderless and in disarray." What Happens Next Trump's approval rating is likely to change throughout the remainder of his presidency. His popularity will be tested in earnest when voters head to the midterms in November 2026.


Politico
29 minutes ago
- Politico
Trump-Schumer standoff heads for fall rematch
'Sooner or later, Donald Trump — Mr. 'Art of the Deal,' or so he claims — is going to have to learn that he has to work with Democrats if he wants to get deals, good deals, that help the American people,' Schumer said late Saturday night as the Senate prepared to leave town for the summer. 'Going at it alone will be a failed strategy.' Trump's decision to temporarily abandon his confirmations push rather than give in to what he called 'political extortion' from Schumer allowed the embattled Democratic leader to do a pre-recess victory lap after taking heat from the party base for months. Schumer came under fierce criticism in March for helping to advance a shutdown-avoiding spending bill written solely by Republicans. He warned at the time that a shutdown would only empower Trump and that the dynamic would be different come September as, he predicted, Trump became more unpopular. Nine other members of his caucus joined him. Trump initially urged Republicans to stay in Washington until all of the roughly 150 pending nominees were confirmed — a demand that could have essentially erased the Senate's planned four-week recess. But Schumer and Democrats demanded that Trump unfreeze congressionally approved spending in return for consenting to the swift approval of some nominees. Trump would not pay the price. In a post where he blasted 'Senator Cryin' Chuck Schumer,' Trump instructed senators to go home. Republicans flirted with adjourning the Senate to let Trump make recess appointments, but that would have required recalling the House — and reviving the Trump-centered drama over the Jeffrey Epstein files. Instead, they are vowing to pursue a rules change later this year to quickly push Trump's nominees through the Senate. Schumer relished the Truth Social post, putting a poster-sized version on display next to him as he spoke to reporters Saturday night and comparing it to a 'fit of rage.' He kept the heat on Monday, joining with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to demand a so-called 'four corners' meeting with Thune and Johnson to discuss a government funding strategy lest a government shutdown hit Oct. 1. (Republicans, who accuse Schumer of 'breaking' the funding process, haven't responded.) Though Schumer and Thune have had informal talks about September, they haven't delved beyond the broad strokes. The South Dakota Republican, asked about Trump and Schumer, predicted the two will have an 'evolving relationship.' 'At some point, obviously, there are certain things they are just going to have to figure out, because on some of these things where we need 60 [votes] there are going to have to be conversations,' Thune said in a brief interview.