Latest news with #TruthSocialSunday
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
LAPD takes down protester on stilts, drags him away at an anti-ICE riot
That's gotta hurt! A protester walking around on stilts was knocked down by cops after they struck his wooden legs while they tried to quell unrest at an anti-ICE riot in Los Angeles over the weekend. Dramatic video shows the protester waving a Guatemala flag while approaching cops. The officers quickly brought him to the ground and dragged him toward the crowd of protesters taking to the streets of downtown LA. 5 Police detain a person who was wearing stilts during the anti-ICE riots. REUTERS 5 A demonstrator walking around on stilts was seen getting knocked down to the ground. X/EndWokeness Over the weekend, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest President Trump's mass deportation effort. Rioters vandalized driverless Waymo taxis — graffitiing them, shattering their windows and setting at least five on fire. A shirtless vandal was seen standing atop one of the vandalized Waymos waving a Mexican flag surrounded by flames and smoke, according to photos from the scene. 5 The demonstrator was seen lying in the street. X/EndWokeness Trump ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops to respond to the violent protests Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets outside ICE offices. 'A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,' Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday. 'Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.' 5 Protesters clashed with law enforcement over the weekend in Los Angeles. Toby Canham for NY Post One group of protesters hurled fireworks at officers, while another looted businesses near 6th and Broadway, according to police. 'We are overwhelmed,' LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said. 'Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.' 5 Demonstrators wave Mexican flags from atop a wrecked car, standing beside burning Waymo vehicle. AFP via Getty Images Some of the demonstrators hurled glass bottles and pieces of concrete broken off bollard posts at officers trying to control the riot. At least 27 people were collared Sunday, the LAPD said. The LAPD chief admitted that his officers 'are overwhelmed' by the violence and vandalism on the third day of demonstrations in the city.
USA Today
19-05-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Joe Biden's sad, complicated exit from American politics
Joe Biden's sad, complicated exit from American politics Reckoning ahead? After a lifetime in public office, the former president faces a perilous cancer diagnosis and difficult questions. Show Caption Hide Caption Joe Biden diagnosed with 'aggressive' prostate cancer Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer. Joe Biden's exit from American politics was never going to be easy. After a lifetime in public office that ended with an unprecedented turnaround on whether to seek a second term, the former president has watched his mental acuity increasingly scrutinized and his White House legacy systematically steamrollered by his successor −all this in the four months since he moved out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now the announcement on Sunday, May 18, that the 82-year-old has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, one that has metastasized to the bone, has prompted a surge of sympathy and compassion. But it has also underscored growing questions and, among some top Democrats, anger about his initial decision to run for re-election despite signs of physical frailty and the reality of advanced age. "So far, so good," Biden told USA TODAY in January. "But who knows what I'm going to be when I'm 86 years old?" In the Oval Office interview, he said he still believed that he could have defeated Donald Trump in 2024, as he had in 2020, if he hadn't pulled out of the contest after a wandering, faltering debate performance last June. His vice president, Kamala Harris, claimed the Democratic nomination but lost the general election. Among many independent political analysts, though, Biden's defeat seemed all but guaranteed, given voters' alarm about inflation and immigration as well as concern about his vigor. Some speculate that an earlier decision not to run again, and the full-scale primary campaign that would have followed, would have allowed some other Democratic candidate to prevail in November. Now there's also this debate: Was there was a cover-up to keep the American people from understanding the state of the president's health? 'Is this yet another coverup???' Monitoring the health of presidents has long been a difficult enterprise, back to the disabling stroke that Woodrow Wilson suffered in 1919; his wife became his gatekeeper. When Ronald Reagan announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 1994, some observers wondered if he had shown early signs of the disorder before he left the White House in 1989. Even President Trump, 78, has faced questions about his mental acuity, though he has bragged about acing a cognitive test used to screen for dementia during his medical check-up in April. "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis," he said on Truth Social Sunday. "We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery." But his son, Donald Trump Jr., who initially reposted a message that said, "politics aside, we wish him a speedy recovery," followed up with a message suggesting a conspiracy and mocking former first lady Jill Biden, who has a doctorate in education. "What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverup???" he wrote. He reposted a message that asserted, without providing evidence, that it was "highly likely" that Biden had been diagnosed with the cancer while he was president. (There are four stages of cancer.) The younger Trump pinned the message to the top of his feed on the social-media site X, giving it special prominence to his 15 million followers. Allegations of a cover-up have been fueled by an explosive book out May 20 by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios. Titled "Original Sin," it details how an innermost circle of White House aides protected Biden − limiting the hours of the day that he worked, the length of speeches that he gave, even the access of members of his Cabinet. The release last week of the audio recording of Biden's interview in 2023 with special counsel Robert Hur has ignited more controversy. In it, Biden speaks haltingly and struggles to remember names and dates. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee said Friday the panel would resume an inquiry into allegations of a cover-up. "Clearly, from that interview, which was many, many months prior to the heavy use of the autopen, Joe Biden wasn't capable of making decisions," Comer said on Fox News's "Hannity." "He wasn't coherent." Biden's medical diagnosis not only isn't likely to deter the GOP investigations ahead. Questions about its timing could even fuel them. Now, at a moment he had expected to write his memoirs and plan his presidential library, he instead will face not only cancer treatment but also congressional inquiries and an avalanche of questions. A reluctant Democratic reckoning Meanwhile, Democratic congressional leaders have been dodging discussions about whether they recognized a worrisome decline in Biden's acuity and, if so, what they did or should have done about it. "We're looking forward," Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said last week when Kasie Hunt of CNN pressed him on what he observed in private meetings with Biden. When she asked if Biden's decision had cost Democrats the White House, he would only repeat. "We're looking forward." "That's it?" she asked. "That's it," he said. But some Democrats believe the party has no choice but to explore Biden's complicated exit from politics. "It was a mistake" for Biden to remain in the race as long as he did, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier and set up a process that would have gotten us in a position where we could have been more competitive that fall." By the 2028 presidential contest, economic and other issues will presumably dominate, but the residue of Biden's departure could be a factor as well. His most fervent defenders and members of his administration, such as former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, could find themselves forced to address what they knew and what they did. And those who had some distance from the former president − think Illinois Gov. JD Pritzker, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, even New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez − could be boosted as the sort of fresh faces the party needs. At the moment, Democrats could use a boost. Only 17% of Americans have any optimism about the future of the Democratic Party, according to an Associated Press poll this month, a precipitous decline from the 31% who felt that way about a year ago. (Twenty-five percent are now optimistic about the future of the GOP.) Even among Democrats, only about a third expressed any optimism for their party. Rebuilding credibility for the future, some say, may first require reckoning with the past.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Bizarrely Tries to Take Credit for the New Pope
Donald Trump is trying to take credit for the selection of the first American pope—who doesn't seem to like him all that much. In a post on Truth Social Sunday, the president claimed that ABC News's chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz had suggested that he'd had absolutely nothing to do with the selection of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost to be the next leader of the Catholic church. 'So funny to watch old timer Martha Raditz on ABC Fake News (the Slopadopolus show!) this morning, blurt out that, effectively, Pope Leo's selection had nothing to do with Donald Trump,' the president wrote. 'It came out of nowhere, but it was on her Trump Deranged Mind.' 'Remember, I did WIN the Catholic Vote, by a lot!' Trump added. Trump appeared to be reacting to a Sunday roundtable on This Week (formerly hosted by George Stephanopoulos but now hosted by Raddatz), where ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran said that according to Vatican insiders, Trump hadn't been a factor in the cardinals' decision. 'The question that we had was, 'How much did the American moment with President Trump matter?'' Moran asked. 'They're telling us not at all. It was [Prevost] that mattered.' 'That's what we've been hearing this morning. It was him,' Raddatz replied. It's also possible that Trump's presidency did have some effect on the selection of Pope Leo—but maybe not in the way he imagines. Cardinal Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester in Minnesota who travelled to Rome for the papal conclave, relayed the words of Cardinal Francis George, the former American prelate, to CBS News right after Leo's election last week. 'Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: 'Look, until America goes into political decline, there won't be an American pope,'' Barron recounted. 'And his point was, if America is kind of running the world politically, culturally, economically, they don't want America running the world religiously. So, I think there's some truth to that, that we're such a superpower and so dominant, they don't wanna give us, also, control over the church,' he added.
New York Post
12-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Trump orders sweeping drug price cuts, vows US will save ‘trillions'
President Trump signed an executive order Monday meant to slash Americans' pharmaceutical costs by up to 90% by tying the price paid by government programs like Medicare to the rates drug companies charge overseas customers. 'What's been happening is, we've been subsidizing other countries throughout the world,' Trump explained at a White House signing ceremony, calling Monday's action one of his 'most important orders.' 'Some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90%, he added. 'Big Pharma will either abide by this principle voluntarily or we'll use the power of the federal government to ensure that we are paying the same price.' The policy is a revival of Trump's signature 'most favored nation' drive from his first term, with a new push to get foreign countries to take on more of the research and development (R&D) costs that experts say America has disproportionately shouldered. 'Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,' the president previously promised on Truth Social Sunday. 'The United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.' The order directs US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to 'take all appropriate action against unreasonable and discriminatory policies in foreign countries that suppress drug prices abroad,' White House officials said. 3 President Trump's new drug policy is more aggressive than the one he implemented during his first term. AFP via Getty Images 3 Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team will negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. AFP via Getty Images After 30 days, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will 'set clear targets for price reductions across all markets' in the US and open a 'round of negotiations' with industry. Some experts have argued that foreign countries 'freeload' off the US by artificially suppressing drug prices in their countries, leading pharmaceutical companies to jack up costs for Americans to pay for R&D. 'The United States has less than 5% of the world's population, but accounts for roughly three-quarters of global pharmaceutical profits. The President has made clear that this status quo is unacceptable,' a White House official told reporters ahead of the order signing. 'Basically, what we're doing is equalizing' drug prices between the US and other countries, Trump claimed adding that 'American patients were effectively subsidizing socialist healthcare systems in Germany, in all parts of the European Union.' In contrast to Trump's first administration, which pursued 'most favored nation' status to boost the negotiating position of Medicare Part B, the order signed Monday will be much broader in scope, according to White House officials. 3 Pharmaceutical companies blamed foreign suppression of prices for high costs in the US. REUTERS 'We don't anticipate a negative impact on innovation,' a White House official told The Post, responding to the most common critical complaint. 'The United States alone should not be paying for all of the innovation in the entire world in this market.' The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission will also be tasked with enforcing anti-competitive practices against companies to push their prices down. Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration will try to import drugs from other countries in a bid to bring consumer costs down. Currently, pharmaceutical imports are only allowed from Canada. 'Special interests may not like this very much, but the American people will,' Trump said of the executive order. 'I am doing this for the American people. I'm doing this against the most powerful lobby in the world, probably — the drug lobby.' White House officials rejected characterizations of the policy as a version of price control. 'In the global market, you have a situation where Americans are paying several times the price for the same exact drug, even the same manufacturing facility and whatnot, that our peers and other countries are paying,' an official told reporters. 'This isn't price fixing per se. But what we're doing here is kind of initializing market forces to operate the way they're supposed to.' Kennedy lauded Trump's executive order, saying he 'never thought that this would happen in my lifetime' and said the policy was the 'fulcrum of Bernie Sanders' runs for presidency [in 2016 and 2020].' Former President Joe Biden had nixed Trump's 'most favored nation' policy from his first term. Trump chided that his predecessor did so 'without any knowledge of what he was doing' and ripped the new drug pricing system that Biden pursued under the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump also pledged that his administration will take aim at the 'middlemen' in drug prices, alluding to pharmacy benefit managers (PMB), which had drawn bipartisan criticism. 'We're going to totally cut out the famous middlemen,' Trump said vaguely. 'I've been hearing the term for 25 years. I don't know who they are, but they're rich, that I can tell you.'
Axios
12-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Trump says he'll sign order aimed at cutting drug prices by up to 80%
President Trump said he'll sign an executive order on Monday morning that would cut prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices "almost immediately, by 30% to 80%." Why it matters: Drug prices are considerably higher for U.S. patients than in other countries and Trump and his predecessor President Biden have pushed for lower costs. Driving the news: Trump said on Truth Social Sunday he "will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION'S POLICY [MFN] whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World." "Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before," said Trump, who pledged to sign the order at 9am Monday. "On top of everything else, the United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS." What we're watching: It was not immediately clear how the order would work and whether it would apply to Medicare or Medicaid, and representatives for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on Sunday evening. Flashback: Trump proposed the "most-favored nation" plan for Medicare in his first term, but it was halted by a federal court after drugmakers sued. How it works: The idea of MFN is to tie U.S. drug prices to the generally lower prices paid abroad, typically in government-run health systems. It runs counter to free-market orthodoxy but could be hard for Republican lawmakers to refuse with Trump applying pressure. State of play: The White House earlier this month pressed Congress to add the MFN idea to ongoing Medicaid negotiations, complicating efforts to craft a reconciliation package and raising alarm in the pharmaceutical industry. The trade group PhRMA says MFN is a form of government price-setting that could have spillover effects to multiple federal health programs. Trump in April signed a separate executive order addressing drug costs that also revived a number of ideas from his first term, including including encouraging state plans to import drugs and providing discounted insulin through federally-qualified health centers. Trump at that time endorsed a pharmaceutical industry-backed change to Medicare drug price negotiations. What they're saying: "This Foreign First Pricing scheme is a bad deal for American patients," said Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of the trade group PhRMA, in an emailed statement Sunday evening. "Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves their access to medicines," Ubl added. "It jeopardizes the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America, making us more reliant on China for innovative medicines." Between the lines: The president has a long history in his first term of talking bigger on drug pricing than what his policies would actually do," wrote Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins in a note, adding the more grandiose Trump's executive actions, the more likely they'll be successfully challenged in court.
