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Int'l Business Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
GOP Lawmaker Berated After Wild Confession About 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Days After Voting in Favor
Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood was berated at a town hall meeting on Tuesday after making a shocking confession about President Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill," just days after voting in favor of passing the controversial legislation. During a heated Q&A, one audience member asked Flood, who represents around 650,000 constituents, why he voted to pass the bill, officially known as the Reconciliation Act, knowing it "effectively prohibits federal courts from enforcing contempt orders, which would then allow current and future administrations to ignore those contempt orders by removing the enforcement capabilities?" "I do not agree with that section that was added to that bill," Flood started as the audience erupted in boos. "You voted for all of it," a voice in the audience yelled, according to a TikTok video shared by Courier Newsroom. "I will tell you this: I believe in the rule of law," Flood continued, eliciting more boos from the fired-up crowd. "I've taken an oath as an attorney. I've taken an oath as a state senator. I've taken an oath as a member of congress, and I support our court system." "I do believe that the federal district courts, when issuing an injunction, it should have legal effect. In fact, I relied upon that when the Biden administration was in place. The federal courts did a tremendous amount of good work," he continued. "This provision was unknown to me when I voted for the bill." Flood then held up his hands and shrugged his shoulders while the audience continued booing the Republican congressman who has served the district since 2022. "I am not going to hide the truth," Flood added. Despite strong support from President Trump, the "Big, Beautiful Bill" has faced bipartisan backlash. The act would give significant tax cuts to the wealthy while increasing the national budget deficit by $2.6 trillion between 2025 and 2034. It also proposes deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, two critical programs that serve tens of millions of Americans. Currently, more than 42 million people rely on SNAP for food assistance, and nearly 80 million receive healthcare through Medicaid. Originally published on Latin Times
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dem senator refuses to address relationship with founder of Soros-funded 'propaganda' news network
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is refusing to address reports he is romantically involved with a former Democratic political operative running a Soros-funded media network masquerading as independent media. Murphy, who recently announced separation from his wife after nearly two decades together, was recently photographed having a cozy dinner with Tara McGowan, the founder and publisher of Courier Newsroom, a progressive media group that has received millions of dollars in funding from liberal mega-donors such as George Soros. Fox News Digital recently asked Murphy on Capitol Hill about his involvement with McGowan. "I'm not going to talk about that," Murphy responded. Several Democrats To Boycott Trump's 'Pep Rally' Speech To Congress McGowan has long held ties with the Democratic Party, working on former President Barack Obama's re-election campaign before serving in top positions at Priorities Action USA, a Democratic super PAC, and ACRONYM, a Democrat-focused digital advocacy group. Read On The Fox News App The Murphy-tied strategist founded Courier Newsroom, a left-leaning media group that has received millions from the Fund for Policy Reform, an advocacy group founded by Soros. In 2021, Gabby Deutch, who the Washington Post described as "the Washington correspondent for NewsGuard, a New York-based nonpartisan organization that reviews news sites to combat misinformation," penned an op-ed criticizing Courier Newsroom as a "political operation" and argued it is "exploiting the widespread loss of local journalism to create and disseminate something we really don't need: hyperlocal partisan propaganda." 'Stunning And Brave': Dem Senator Mocked After Hyping All-nighter Stunt In Protest Of Trump Nominee Fund for Policy Reform provided Courier Newsroom with three grants totaling $5 million in 2021 and 2022 to "support its non-partisan journalism, which aims to further the common good and general welfare of U.S. communities by providing access to information," its grant database shows, as previously reported by Fox News Digital. McGowan was also in close quarters with former President Joe Biden's administration, visiting the Biden White House nearly 20 times by April 2024. Murphy and McGowan were spotted getting close at a Washington, D.C., watering hole earlier this month, according to the New York Post, with a source telling the outlet the pair was getting "cutesy." The outlet reported that Murphy is still married to his wife, Washington, D.C., lawyer Cathy Holahan, and that neither has filed for divorce in Connecticut nor Washington, D.C. The couple did announce they were separating in November, shortly after Murphy won re-election. Murphy has positioned himself as one of the most prominent Democrat critics of President Donald Trump, which has caused many to speculate he is interested in a run for the White House in the future. "Chris Murphy Emerges as a Clear Voice for Democrats Countering Trump," a recent New York Times headline read with an article that was reposted on Murphy's website. Fox News Digital reached out to McGowan for comment. Fox News Digital's Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this article source: Dem senator refuses to address relationship with founder of Soros-funded 'propaganda' news network
Fox News
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Dem senator refuses to address relationship with founder of Soros-funded 'propaganda' news network
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is refusing to address reports he is romantically involved with a former Democratic political operative running a Soros-funded media network masquerading as independent media. Murphy, who recently announced separation from his wife after nearly two decades together, was recently photographed having a cozy dinner with Tara McGowan, the founder and publisher of Courier Newsroom, a progressive media group that has received millions of dollars in funding from liberal mega-donors such as George Soros. Fox News Digital recently asked Murphy on Capitol Hill about his involvement with McGowan. "I'm not going to talk about that," Murphy responded. McGowan has long held ties with the Democratic Party, working on former President Barack Obama's re-election campaign before serving in top positions at Priorities Action USA, a Democratic super PAC, and ACRONYM, a Democrat-focused digital advocacy group. The Murphy-tied strategist founded Courier Newsroom, a left-leaning media group that has received millions from the Fund for Policy Reform, an advocacy group founded by Soros. In 2021, Gabby Deutch, who the Washington Post described as "the Washington correspondent for NewsGuard, a New York-based nonpartisan organization that reviews news sites to combat misinformation," penned an op-ed criticizing Courier Newsroom as a "political operation" and argued it is "exploiting the widespread loss of local journalism to create and disseminate something we really don't need: hyperlocal partisan propaganda." Fund for Policy Reform provided Courier Newsroom with three grants totaling $5 million in 2021 and 2022 to "support its non-partisan journalism, which aims to further the common good and general welfare of U.S. communities by providing access to information," its grant database shows, as previously reported by Fox News Digital. McGowan was also in close quarters with former President Joe Biden's administration, visiting the Biden White House nearly 20 times by April 2024. Murphy and McGowan were spotted getting close at a Washington, D.C., watering hole earlier this month, according to the New York Post, with a source telling the outlet the pair was getting "cutesy." The outlet reported that Murphy is still married to his wife, Washington, D.C., lawyer Cathy Holahan, and that neither has filed for divorce in Connecticut nor Washington, D.C. The couple did announce they were separating in November, shortly after Murphy won re-election. Murphy has positioned himself as one of the most prominent Democrat critics of President Donald Trump, which has caused many to speculate he is interested in a run for the White House in the future. "Chris Murphy Emerges as a Clear Voice for Democrats Countering Trump," a recent New York Times headline read with an article that was reposted on Murphy's website. Fox News Digital reached out to McGowan for comment. Fox News Digital's Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this post.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic media leader dating US senator
One of the Democratic Party's most notable digital media leaders is dating one of the party's most media-friendly lawmakers, according to a Washington Democrat and a pointed Instagram post. Tara McGowan, the CEO of the network of digital media sites known as Courier Newsroom, has been linked to Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who recently separated from his wife. McGowan posted a selfie of the duo last week on her private Instagram, captioned 'not postponing joy,' which was shared with Semafor. In recent months, Murphy has become one of the most visible Democratic lawmakers, speaking out against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk in television and digital media interviews and posting his own vertical videos across social media — taking a page out of a media playbook that McGowan and other Democratic digital strategists have pushed since Trump's victory in November. McGowan did not return requests for comment, and Murphy's office declined to comment.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Democrats, influencers huddle for a new new media strategy
After months of licking their wounds and reflecting on how they lost the internet, Democratic strategists and politically-aligned digital creators are privately planning their next steps. Last week, Democratic operatives gathered at the Wharf in Washington, DC, at the offices of Laurene Powell Jobs' investment company, Emerson Collective. According to three people with knowledge of the event, the activists and left-leaning media members were in town for a private meeting to discuss how the left's well-funded digital media ecosystem failed in the 2024 election. The conference featured hourlong seminars on how to improve short and long form video, which included briefings from Courier Newsroom's Tara McGowan and executives at Crooked Media, and how to better collaborate with influencers to push progressive messages out. The summit was also an opportunity to connect several of the party's prominent financial supporters with some of the liberal media organizations that are positioning themselves as vessels to help liberals regain digital ground they've lost to the right in recent years. In the room were Ben Wessel, the director of State and Local Political Affairs for Emerson Collective and Laura Quinn, an executive with the liberal firm Catalist who often advises liberal donors on how to spend their money in progressive media. Michael Del Nin, Soros Fund Management's leading investor, was also in attendance to talk about strategies around acquiring media companies. Peter Murray also spoke to the group about strategic media opportunities; his organization, Accelerate Change, bought Now This from Vox in 2023, and pivoted it into a more explicitly partisan influencer-driven short-form video company. In the wake of their second loss to Donald Trump and the more explicit alignment between the president and the most popular podcasts in the country, Democrats have been on a monthslong party-wide effort to figure out how to regain credibility in digital, or at least develop their own network of friendly pundits and creators outside legacy media who can effectively deliver their message. The private event at the Wharf was one of several efforts in recent days to shore up Democrats' digital strategies post-inauguration. Earlier this week, dozens of lawmakers from the House and Senate Democratic caucuses participated in private briefings with Brian Tyler Cohen, a political influencer and the co-founder of Chorus, a Democratic digital group. The briefings laid out what Cohen described to Semafor as tips to help Democratic members better get their messages out on new media platforms. He presented the members with do's and don'ts for short-form video and text, encouraging them to vastly increase the frequency of their posts and not overly workshop their online content. To make his point, Cohen noted that Elon Musk had posted or retweeted hundreds of posts that week alone. Cohen pointed to positive examples of congressional Democratic content that had performed well and resonated, such as a recent post in which Sen. Tim Kaine pushed back on Trump's claims about how diversity efforts impacted air traffic safety. He also recommended a particular type of small microphone popular with online content creators that members and their staff should have for whenever they decide to post. In the months since the election, Cohen's group, Chorus, has repositioned itself and set up a digital quasi-assignment desk, where lawmakers on Capitol Hill and prominent Democrats elsewhere can connect directly on the backend with creators to facilitate one-on-one interviews or otherwise get their message out. Cohen told Semafor that after his briefing with Senate Democrats, several members, including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, created new accounts on Threads and Bluesky and began connecting directly with nontraditional digital creators for livestreams and interviews intended to be cut into short-form video. 'A lot of these members of Congress understand the moment that we're in,' Cohen told Semafor. 'They're recognizing where we are and are very quick to embrace the fact that you have a solution to fixing it. We've had a number of electeds meet with creators. That's to their credit — they're kind of learning the lessons that this election cycle taught us.' In the months since the election, Democrats have been beating themselves up over how they went from online dominance in the Obama era to playing catch-up; the online right is resurgent, especially in the podcast space, where many Americans now get their information and news. The initial shock of the presidential loss has been heightened by other frustrations among Democrats at their party's superficially slow and unsatisfying response to Trump and Musk's shock-and awe-changes to the federal government. Embarrassing visuals of older lawmakers who seem unable to effectively take the fight to the new administration online have gone viral and prompted dismay from prominent members of the party. Rising cable television ratings on MSNBC — and increasing online web traffic and subscriber numbers among explicitly anti-Trump outlets — show there is clearly a growing interest in oppositional media. But it remains to be seen whether efforts by Democratic online partisans will be able to alter the playing field in a meaningful way. As Red Seat Ventures co-founder Chris Balfe told me in an interview this week, the online conservative media ecosystem is strong because it spent years developing an anti-establishment model sustained by strong audience interest, not propped up by one party as its political messaging arm. Some of the Democratic political operatives gathered at the Wharf are the same players who operated with large budgets to spend on digital newsrooms and creators during recent election cycles — without much clear return on their donors' big dollar investments. And the concepts the meeting addressed aren't necessarily new: Democrats explicitly reached out to influencers and creators as part of their 2024 strategy, at times to the frustration of legacy media. But if these efforts moved the needle, it clearly was not at the presidential level. Still, some national Democrats clearly understand that even if helping to prop up a media ecosystem like the one on the right will take time, they need to update their own communication styles in the meantime. In recent weeks, Democratic senators and prominent members of Congress have begun appearing on random niche Twitch gaming streams to criticize Musk and have been churning out multiple TikTok-friendly front-facing vertical videos a week about the new administration. The Democratic National Committee chair race included pledges from the various candidates about supporting explicitly Democratic partisan media, and included a candidate forum moderated by influencers at Chorus. Kamala Harris' former digital chief to Semafor last year that online messaging issues were symptomatic of a deeper cultural deficit that Democrats accrued in recent years.
