Latest news with #Trump-endorsed
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Who is Holly? Vivek Ramaswamy provides update on white woman assaulted in Cincinnati
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Trump-endorsed GOP candidate for the Ohio gubernatorial race, provided an update on the woman assaulted in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday, July 27. In the update posted on his X account on Monday, Ramaswamy identified the victim as Holly. Some reports claim that her full name is Holly Morgan, but that remains unconfirmed, as of now. Holly, the woman assaulted in Cincinnati. (Vivek Ramaswamy/ X) Vivek Ramaswamy said that he has spoken to Holly and alleged that she told him local or state officials have not yet reached out to her regarding the incident, and expressed concern about the safety of residents in Cincinnati. He called out the city authorities and the local police for not attending to Holly. "I spoke to Holly earlier today (the woman tragically assaulted in Cincinnati this weekend)," Ramaswamy wrote. "She's a single working mom who went to a friend's birthday party. It's unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital. "Holly said not a single local or state official had yet reached out as of earlier this afternoon, other than one police detective. Leftists like to lecture about 'systemic injustice' while thugs turn our turn cities into war zones. I'm done with their excuses." The incident resulted from a violent brawl on late Friday night and early Saturday morning in Cincinnati's Fourth and Elm Streets. A white couple was attacked by a mob and the video of it was shared on social media, going instantly viral and garnering millions of views. Also read: Viral Cincinnati fight: Police identify victims and suspects, file charges against 5 In the viral video, the man can be seen being repeatedly beaten by the mob, while the woman, Holly, tries to intervene. In the process, she also gets beaten up by the mob, and the video shows her unconscious and bleeding from the nose. The incident has sparked outrage, especially owing to the fact that the victims are white and the perpetrators are a crowd of mostly white people. Cincinnati police are actively investigating; five suspects have already been charged, with more arrests anticipated. The charges remain sealed.
New York Post
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Dem heavyweight Roy Cooper jumps into key US Senate race
Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday officially jumped into the race for US Senate, teeing up a bruising fight for a seat that could tip the balance of power in the upper chamber. Cooper's entrance into the Tar Heel State race is a major win for Democrats, given the two statewide races he won to serve as governor. Now he seems on track to square off against Trump-endorsed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, who has yet to formally declare his candidacy. 'Right now, our country is facing a moment as fragile as any I can remember, and the decisions we make in the next election will determine if we even have a middle class in America anymore,' Cooper said during his announcement. 'I never really wanted to go to Washington. I just wanted to serve the people of North Carolina, right here where I've lived all my life. But these are not ordinary times.' 4 Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is hoping to flip a US Senate seat in the state blue for the first time since 2008. X/Roy Cooper 4 Cooper's entrance into his state's US Senate race is a boon for Democrats. X/Roy Cooper The former governor's entry into the race comes just over a month after incumbent GOP Sen. Thom Tillis announced he wouldn't be seeking reelection. Tillis passed on a reelection bid after a high-profile clash with President Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Tillis was widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans heading into the 2026 midterm election cycle, alongside Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. North Carolina is generally considered a must-win for Democrats if they are to have any chance of flipping the Senate Democratic in 2026. Cooper is widely seen as their most formidable candidate, though he will have to win a primary first. In his campaign launch video, the ex-gov conveyed a populist message, lamenting how 'for too many Americans, the middle class feels like a distant dream.' Cooper also bashed politicians in Washington, DC, for jacking up the national debt, 'disrespecting our veterans' and cutting government funding for health care. Despite North Carolina being a swing state — meaning it could go either way, given its voters are fairly evenly split between the two parties — Democrats haven't been able to win a Senate race there since 2008. Meanwhile, they've held the governor's mansion since 2017. Cooper narrowly eked out a win by about 0.22 percentage points in 2016, then notched reelection by about 4.5 points. His Democratic successor, Gov. Josh Stein, walloped scandal-scarred Republican Mark Robinson by almost 15 points in November — during the same time that Trump carried the state. 4 Outgoing US Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he wants to spend more time with his family. AP Last week, Trump tapped Whatley, who previously helmed the GOP in North Carolina, as his pick for the expected highly competitive race with Cooper. 'Mike would make an unbelievable Senator from North Carolina. He is fantastic at everything he does, and he was certainly great at the RNC where, in the Presidential Election, we won every Swing State, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a landslide,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. That preemptive endorsement came after the president's daughter-in-law, Lara, opted against vying for the Senate seat. A source previously told The Post that Whatley is expected to enter the race. 4 Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is expected to throw his hat into the ring on the GOP side. AFP via Getty Images Republicans have a 53–47 majority in the Senate and will have to defend 22 of the 35 seats up for grabs in 2026. While North Carolina and Maine are generally seen as the GOP's most vulnerable seats, Democrats have to protect a seat in Georgia held by Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DeSantis picks Blaise Ingoglia for CFO over Trump candidate
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday elevated longtime ally Sen. Blaise Ingoglia to be the state's chief financial officer, choosing him over a candidate backed by President Donald Trump. Florida's CFO position has been vacant for more than half a year after Jimmy Patronis left the seat to run for Congress. Ingoglia, whom DeSantis called 'the most conservative senator in the state of Florida,' will serve as CFO through 2026, when the seat is up for election. 'I am going to be the conservative pitbull when it comes to spending as your next CFO,' Ingoglia said Wednesday during a news conference in Tampa with the governor. Florida's chief financial officer makes about $140,000 a year, serves on the state Cabinet and leads the state Department of Financial Services, which oversees financial regulators and investigates insurance fraud. The CFO signs the state's checks and has the power to audit how people are using state dollars. Both DeSantis and Ingoglia honed in on that power, with Ingoglia saying he intends to scrutinize local government budgets and 'start calling out some of this wasteful spending.' Ingoglia also said his priorities were working to eliminate property taxes on homesteaded locations, which DeSantis has pushed for. When Ingoglia ran for office in 2013, he had unpaid property taxes of more than $10,000, which he paid off after the Times asked him about the debt. He also said Wednesday he would focus on housing affordability and insurance. 'If an insurance company does not do what they say they're going to do, and contractually obligated to do, I am going to call you out,' Ingoglia said. Ingoglia has been in the Legislature since 2014, when he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. He was elected to the Senate in 2022 to represent part of Pasco and all of Hernando County after DeSantis endorsed him, effectively shutting down what could have been a competitive Republican primary. In the Senate and on social media, Ingoglia has been an outspoken DeSantis supporter. He sponsored the DeSantis-proposed immigration bills early this year that legislative leaders bucked. As DeSantis rattled off Ingoglia's legislative accomplishments, the governor compared him favorably to Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota. Last year, Trump endorsed Gruters for CFO in 2026, saying that Gruters 'was on the 'Trump Train' before it even left the station.' On Wednesday, Gruters announced that Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio are working on his 2026 CFO bid. When asked why he would support Ingoglia over the Trump-endorsed Gruters, DeSantis said that Gruters' 'record is contrary to what we've told the voters we would do.' DeSantis said he had never spoken about the CFO job with Trump. DeSantis called out Gruters for sponsoring an immigration bill this year that the governor vetoed. He also sponsored the compromise immigration package DeSantis signed into law shortly after. DeSantis also said Ingoglia was better on Second Amendment issues. Ingoglia didn't vote for the 2018 post-Parkland bill that instated red flag laws and raised the gun buying age to 21 in Florida, while Gruters did. (Gruters and Ingoglia this past session were both co-sponsors on legislation to reverse the gun buying age provision, which failed to get a hearing.) Gruters also found himself on the other side of DeSantis this last election, when he supported Amendment 3, a proposal to allow recreational marijuana use. Trump supported that amendment, but DeSantis leaned on the power of state government to fight against it. The amendment ultimately failed. Gruters is one of three candidates who have filed to run for chief financial officer in 2026. The other candidates are Republican Frank William Collige, a public adjuster, and Republican Benjamin Horbowy, who ran unsuccessfully for Florida Senate in 2020. Ingoglia has not yet filed to run for CFO in 2026. Former House Rep. Ralph Massullo, R-Lecanto, quickly announced his plan to run for Ingoglia's vacated Senate seat. DeSantis on Wednesday announced his endorsement of Massullo in a post on social media. Solve the daily Crossword
DW
12-07-2025
- Politics
- DW
For France's far right, US ties demand careful balancing act – DW – 07/12/2025
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally is eyeing the 2027 elections. But the party is wary of the fallout for France from the Trump administration's policies. As President Donald Trump and his administrationbuild ties with far-right parties across Europe, France's National Rally is offering a wary response to Washington's overtures, as it surges in the polls and hopes to finally clinch victory in the country's 2027 presidential election. Multiple factors are shaping the National Rally's cautious approach towards Trump and his MAGA movement, analysts say: From the French party's traditional, if fading, distrust of a 'hegemonic' United States, to the negative impact on France of US tariffs, to strong antipathy towards Trump on the part of many French voters. "Overall they are relatively ideologically aligned with Trump, and they've been positive about his re-election," said Camille Lons, deputy Paris Office head of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) of the National Rally. "But they're much more careful than a number of other populist leaders in Europe. There is more distance in the relationship than in Germany, or Italy for example." In Germany, some observers believe that strong backing by Trump allies, like Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, helped to catapult the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to second place in the February elections. In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's warm relations with the US leader have lifted her standing within the European Union, which sees her as a potential bridge to smoothing ties with Washington. The Trump administration's influence is also discernable elsewhere in Europe, including in Hungary and in Poland, both of which hosted the US-founded Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year — a first for Warsaw, where the Trump-endorsed candidate Karol Nawrocki won June's presidential elections. "From the American side, these parties are seen as potential instruments to influence European politics," said German Marshall Fund program officer Zsuzsanna Vegh. "The fact they're euroskeptic and challenge the European Union plays into the hands of the [Trump] administration." But the US leader's brand carries risks for the National Rally, analysts say, even though France's leading opposition party shares his nationalistic, anti-immigration views. A June ECFR poll showed 55% of French saw Trump's policies as not only harmful for their own country, but half also believed they harmed the United States. Among National Rally voters, only 37% considered Trump's policies good for US citizens; just 18% thought they were good for French ones. "The National Rally is pursuing a strategy of vote maximalization," ahead of the 2027 elections, said Vegh. "It needs to appear as a party that is moderate enough to be able to draw voters from the mainstream — and not alienate its own electorate, which is also quite skeptical of Trump's impact on France." Trump's threat of massivetariffs on EU imports — potentially hitting French industry and agriculture — offers one example of the negative fallout, Vegh said. The National Rally "can't really risk appearing to be on overly friendly terms with a leader who might harm the interests of their core, blue-collar electorate." For National Rally leader and three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, the Trump administration poses a delicate balancing act in other ways. Since inheriting the party from her father in 2011, Le Pen has spent years broadening and diversifying its base, reaching out to gay, Jewish, younger and more center-right voters — even as the National Rally's anti-immigrant, populist core remained intact. Her party emerged in first place in last year's European Parliament and French National Assembly elections, although it failed to capture a majority. Unlike other European far-right figures, Le Pen was not invited to Trump's inauguration. Earlier this year, her 29-year-old protege and National Rally president, Jordan Bardella, tangled with MAGA heavyweight Steve Bannon — cancelling a CPAC speech after Bannon appeared to make a Nazi salute. Bardella's move earned a sharp rebuke from Bannon. "That's a good example of the risk of being associated with Trump and his entourage," said the ECFR's Lons, "at a moment when the RN has been working so hard in trying to normalize its image and appear like a party that is able to govern." But when Le Pen was convicted of graft in March over a fake jobs scandal involving European Parliament hires — potentially sinking her presidential bid — Trump slammed the judicial decision as a "witch hunt." More recently, a Trump State Department appointee offered to bankroll Le Pen's appeal with US government funds, according to Politico and Reuters — an overture that was reportedly rebuffed. (Bardella is poised to take Le Pen's place as presidential candidate if she loses her appeal.) On a recent, party-organized visit to France's opulent Senate one sweltering afternoon, National Rally supporters offered a mixed take on the US leader and his impact. Former flight attendant Jacques Le Roy said he hoped his party would replicate Trump's signature measures: From tariffs and immigration crackdowns, to massive government layoffs which Le Roy described as "degreasing the system." He had a thumbs-up, too, for diluting the powers of the European Union, which the US leader has described as born to "screw" the US. "We agree with a lot of Trump's ideas," Le Roy said. "It's normal we have our differences. But the ideas remain the same." But finance student Noe Marguinal, also at the Senate visit, was less enthusiastic. "France and Europe are extremely tied to the United States, and in my opinion too much," Marguinal said. "I think it's better we decide more for ourselves than remain under the subordination of the United States." For the National Rally's critics, Trump's Washington sets an alarming precedent. Both Le Pen and Bardella lead the polls as potential presidential candidates. Analysts and ordinary French residents wonder whether a longtime 'Republican Front' of parties, previously blocking the National Rally from winning elections, will finally crumble. At a recent anti-Trump protest in Paris, many expressed fears of a National Rally victory. "Could it happen here?" asked French musician Clothilde Desjeunes, of the Trump administration's impact since taking office. "Yes. That's why we're out here fighting." Another protester, Cathy, with US-French nationality, echoed those concerns. "I'm worried about the National Rally, I'm very worried," she said, declining to give her last name for fear of reprisal. "I see a lot of parallels with the United States." What happens across the Atlantic could help shape the National Rally's electoral fortunes, analysts say. If Washington imposes steep tariffs on France, or if Trump's policies fail spectacularly, the party could feel the aftershocks, said Lons. Optionally, she said, it could be lifted by a surging European far-right alliance that Washington is trying to cultivate. It's more likely, she believes, that the party will hedge its bets. "They'll keep a distance with Trump, so they're not affected by his controversial positions," she said, "but they'll still be reinforced by the overall rise of the far right across Europe."
Hindustan Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
What becomes of Republicans who cross King Donald?
DONALD TRUMP'S One Big Beautiful Bill act (BBB) is a Frankenstein's monster of hand-outs, carve-outs, tax cuts and ideological splurges and purges. Independent analysis suggests it will increase America's deficit , stunt the economy and hit the poorest hardest. A recent poll by YouGov and The Economist found that just over one in three Americans support the bill. Elon Musk, a big Republican donor and a former 'first buddy' of Mr Trump, is so unhappy that he is proposing to create a new political party. Even so, only five Republican members of Congress voted against it—fewer than any budget of Mr Trump's first term. Since becoming president for the first time in 2017, Mr Trump has reshaped the Republican Party in his image. Loyalty comes before all else in the Trump Party: Republicans who cross him could find themselves on the receiving end of a social-media rant or, worse, facing a Trump-endorsed primary challenger. After Thom Tillis (pictured) voted against the BBB , Mr Trump took to Truth Social, his social-media platform, to condemn the senator from North Carolina, calling for a loyalist to run against him. Mr Tillis chose to withdraw from his re-election campaign altogether. His exit is a boon for Democrats who hope to win his seat next year. After combing through 52,792 of the president's social-media posts, The Economist has identified 30 Republican members of Congress whom Mr Trump has publicly scorned or sought to displace since his first inauguration (see chart 1). Of those 30, ten went on to resign or decide not to run for re-election, including Mr Tillis. Nine faced a Trump-endorsed primary opponent. Five are standing for re-election in 2026. The data is reminiscent of the famous epigram 'divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived'. Of course, the parallel to Henry VIII is unfair. Unlike the murderous English monarch, Mr Trump shows clemency. He publicly reconciled with seven of the 30 (although the feud resumed in four cases). The president's ire has been directed at one in 20 Republicans who have served in the past eight years. That this number is not greater can be credited to the fear instilled by six occasions when a candidate endorsed by Mr Trump defeated a Republican incumbent. By this method, he dispatched four of the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach him in 2021, along with Representatives Mark Sanford, an early critic, and Bob Good, a hard-right conservative caught on tape implying that Mr Trump was not a 'true conservative'. His endorsement is so valuable that one Republican congressman from Kentucky took to airing ads in south Florida, aimed to reach Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. The president's ability to dislodge unfriendly colleagues is not absolute. Three Republicans have survived a Trump-endorsed challenge. Nancy Mace, a congresswoman from South Carolina, survived by embracing Mr Trump, recanting her previous, mild criticisms. Two of the remaining Republicans who supported Mr Trump's second impeachment—Senator Lisa Murkowski and Representative Dan Newhouse—defeated primary opponents under voting systems which allow voters to cross party lines. Ranked-choice voting in Alaska and the two-round system in Washington state meant they could draw on support from sympathetic or tactical Democrats and independents. Mr Trump appears to understand the limits of his powers. He has notably avoided feuding with Representative David Valadao of California, and despite calling her 'absolutely atrocious' in 2022 he has been relatively muted about Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Although both of them voted for his impeachment, they also represented constituencies that leaned towards the Democrats (Mr Valadao now represents a more Republican-leaning district). Maine uses ranked-choice voting and California uses a two-round system. Mr Trump's strategic restraint could be to preserve his record. 'I am 42-0 over the last two cycles and never even tried to run up the score,' he said of his endorsements in 2022. For their part, Democrats are happy to enjoy the red-on-red scraps. In 2022, Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House, made the controversial decision to use Democratic campaign funds to boost pro-Trump Republicans. Though arguably corrosive for democracy, in a narrow sense the gamble paid off. In three of the six races where Mr Trump unseated his critics, the Republican replacements went on to lose the general election. Be careful what you wish for Republicans in competitive districts have to weigh the risks of crossing Mr Trump against the risks of being too closely associated with him as voters' dissatisfaction rises. Mr Trump's loyal base, who vote in Republican primaries, are pitted against moderate general-election voters. This dynamic is a gift for the Democrats, who have a narrow path to regaining the Senate in next year's midterm elections (see chart 2). In North Carolina, Mr Tillis will probably be replaced by a less popular Republican nominee. In Texas, the state's scandal-plagued hard-right attorney-general leads primary polls by double digits, taking advantage of the president's attacks on the incumbent senator, 'hopeless' John Cornyn (to use Mr Trump's epithet). The fracas substantially improves Democrats' chances of winning the two states, which are key to their Senate prospects. Mr Trump has made himself inextricable from the Republican Party. This gives him a lot of power. But from a tactical point of view, he can still be a liability for his party. 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