Latest news with #progressivePolitics
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Soros-backed group behind Tesla unrest accused of 'infiltrating' key House race with chosen candidate
Progressive group "Indivisible," which was behind many of the Tesla protests in recent months as well as mobilizing for other far-left causes, appears to now be getting involved in a key congressional swing district with the goal of growing resistance against President Donald Trump in Congress. With primary races already underway for the 2026 Midterm elections, the group appears to have in their sights Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican in a critical swing state representing New York's 17th District, in the form of a candidate with extensive ties to the group, progressive Democrat and Rockland County legislator Beth Davidson. Davidson's social media presence includes several posts promoting Indivisible, including attending an event in June in Rockland, New York and Davidson was featured in a promotional video for Indivisible Northern Westchester that same month. Indivisible has been front and center in other aspects of the race and local chapters of the group helped to organize protests at Lawler town hall events in April and May. Fox News Digital reported on local Indivisible chapter leaders in Rockland planning an anti-Lawler protest in April. Footage obtained by Fox News Digital of the meeting showed organizing committee leader Pascale Jean-Gilles discussing filling the entire street in front of the event. "It is a long street, and we're trying to fill the entire street, so everyone coming into the rally will see people there and recognize it's not going to be all, like, sunshine and daisies," Jean-Gilles said. Ahead of the event, Davidson indicated that over a thousand protesters would attend the demonstration, saying on X: "Please pass him a note that 1100 or so of his 'friends' are excited to see him in my county legislative district tomorrow!" At another Indivisible protest against Lawler earlier in the month, Davidson posted on X that she was "proud to stand with more than 1,000 people at the #HandsOff rally organized by @IndivisWstchr @1199seiu @nwindivisible@cwaunion and more to stand up for our freedoms and our future!" "Mike Lawler may be silent on the daily assaults on healthcare, education, social security and national security, but We the People are NOT!" said Davidson. Davidson congratulated Indivisible Rockland for a "packed event" in April 2025 after speaking at one of their events a month earlier, accusing Lawler of hiding from his constituents. Bill Batson, a member of the Indivisible Rockland steering committee, gave $250 to Davidson's campaign via his own campaign committee, FEC records show. In response to Indivisible and Davidson's apparent collaboration, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Maureen O'Toole accused the group of "infiltrating" congressional races to undermine Trump's agenda. "Indivisible has a new plan: stop shouting outside congressional offices and start infiltrating them," said O'Toole. "Their first attempt? NY-17, where they're backing far-left extremist Beth Davidson to carry out their agenda." Indivisible was founded in response to Trump's election in 2016, according to its website. The group's website says that they were "brought together by a practical guide to resist the Trump agenda, Indivisible is a movement of thousands of group leaders and more than a million members taking regular, iterative, and increasingly complex actions to resist the GOPs agenda, elect local champions, and fight for progressive policies." Indivisible's presence at Tesla protests nationwide, according to a Washington Free Beacon report, included a "reimbursement program" for local activists that showed up at the protests. Indivisible, a group that has received more than $7 million from the George Soros network since 2017, according to the New York Post, has also been involved in protests calling to "abolish" ICE. The group has also promoted defunding the police. Earlier this year, Indivisible published a "tool kit" with recommendations for protesting at town halls and lawmakers' district offices. A section on how to "take the fight to Elon" includes steps for planning and executing a demonstration at Tesla dealerships, showrooms and factories for Elon Musk's role as then-head of the Department of Government Efficiency. While many of the protests outside Tesla dealerships were peaceful, the anti-Musk effort resulted in several instances of violence that the Department of Justice labeled "domestic terrorism", including acts of arson. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lawler campaign spokesperson Chris Russell, called Davidson's association with Indivisible "disgraceful." "They've had Nazi imagery and antisemitic tropes at their rallies and promoted a baseless election denialism conspiracy theory rooted in antisemitism on their website. I'm demanding she denounce them immediately, this dangerous rhetoric will lead to more violence and threatens our democracy." Davidson condemned the imagery at the rally she attended in a post on X in March saying, "To be clear, I absolutely condemn the imagery of that poster. I will always be a voice against anti-Semitism and for my Jewish community. It's time for Mike Lawler to stop weaponizing antisemitism for his own political gain and stop using the Jewish community — my community, not his — as political pawns." Lawler responded on X making the case that Davidson's statement did not go far enough. Fox News Digital reached out to the Davidson campaign for comment on this story. Davidson has been endorsed by Mondaire Jones, a progressive who is the last Democrat to hold Lawler's seat. The race for NY-17 will be one of the most closely watched in the country as Republicans attempt to preserve their razor-thin majority in Congress, which historically has proven difficult for the party in power following a new president taking office. The Cook Political Report ranks the race, where Davidson is one of several Democrats running in the primary, as "Lean Republican."
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Boston mayor blasted over ICE comments
Published: | Updated: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is facing backlash following 'reckless and inflammatory' comments about federal immigration authorities, who have been detaining immigrants across Massachusetts in recent weeks. The mayor, often referred to as the 'Democratic dictator' for her progressive policies, ignited controversy after an on-air interview in which she described US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as 'secret police' who are 'terrorizing' people in Boston. In her interview at the WBUR Festival on Friday, Wu, 40, said, 'People are terrified for their lives and for their neighbors. Folks are getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks, who can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained.' Her remarks prompted a swift response from US Attorney Leah Foley, who condemned the mayor for 'inciting hostility' against federal agents. 'During a recent interview, Boston's Mayor Michelle Wu made reckless and inflammatory statements regarding enforcement efforts by federal immigration authorities across the Commonwealth,' Foley (pictured) said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. 'Referring to federal agents as 'secret police' is offensive,' she continued. Foley defended ICE, clarifying that the federal agency's role in immigration enforcement is well-known. 'There are no secret police. ICE agents, along with other federal law enforcement partners, are making immigration arrests. That is no secret,' Foley explained. 'They are arresting individuals who are here illegally, which is a violation of federal law. Every enforcement action is conducted within the bounds of the Constitution and our laws, with oversight, legal justification, and accountability. To claim otherwise is a gross misrepresentation and a disservice to the public.' Even the city's top newspaper, The Boston Herald, blasted the mayor, describing her leadership in its editorial pages as 'the least transparent administration in modern Boston history,' citing her refusal to release police records. 'She won't release anything about her own police. We're still waiting for the police report on the fatal Hyde Park bus accident,' the Herald reported. Wu, however, fired back, claiming that the recent federal intervention is 'undermining trust with local police.' 'The US attorney is attacking me for saying what Bostonians see with their own eyes,' Wu said in response to Foley's vehement statement. 'We have seen it directly in our communities, and it is undermining our efforts at the local level to keep people safe because it is spreading fear that undermines trust with local police. We do things very differently in Boston, and we are proud of how we do things.' Foley also addressed Wu's comment about ICE agents wearing masks, accusing the mayor of creating a dangerous environment for federal agents. 'Federal agents in marked jackets and vests are masking their faces because people like Mayor Wu have created false narratives about their mission,' Foley said. 'As a result, federal agents and their families are being threatened, doxxed, and assaulted. That is why they must hide their faces.' An ICE spokesman further explained in a statement to WCVB that officers wear masks for safety reasons, noting that some officers and their families have been targeted online. 'We have already had officers doxxed online - some have had their wives' and children's social media accounts made public, and even the schools their children attend have been exposed,' the statement read. 'There are some sick and crazy people out there who would like to see harm come to our officers and their families. Our officers risk their safety every day to prioritize the safety of all Americans, regardless of race or religion.' Wu, however, questioned the necessity of masks, asking, 'I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks. We know there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC 131 routinely wears masks.' When asked whether she was comparing ICE to a neo-Nazi group, Wu denied the comparison, saying, 'What I said is that Boston police - and no police department that I know of at the local level - routinely wears masks.' Wu is also facing criticism for her administration's lack of transparency regarding the Boston Police Department. Further concerns about Wu's administration stem from accusations that the Boston Police Department does not comply with public records laws. The department has been criticized for selectively releasing body camera footage and arbitrarily redacting police reports.
New York Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Mamdani Has a Thin Legislative Record but Is a Forceful Voice in Albany
During his whirlwind rise in the New York City mayoral race, Assemblyman Zohran K. Mamdani has put forth a wish list of big, expensive ideas. Rents for stabilized apartments will be frozen. Buses will be free. Taxes on the wealthy will rise and the cost of child care will fall — to zero. These proposals have energized his base, but their ambition will almost certainly exceed the ability of any mayor to see them through. The gap between what Mr. Mamdani wants to achieve and what is politically doable also characterizes his tenure as a state lawmaker. Of the 20-odd bills Mr. Mamdani has introduced during more than four years in Albany, just three relatively minor items have become law. He boasts of his signature free-bus initiative, but the pilot program was not renewed. And a much-ballyhooed proposal to clamp down on nonprofits supporting Israeli settlements was effectively dismissed by Assembly leadership in a rather public fashion. But more than two dozen lawmakers and staff members, including leaders in the Democrat-controlled Senate and Assembly, said in interviews that measuring Mr. Mamdani's impact in Albany requires looking beyond the number of bills that he introduced or that became law. They said Mr. Mamdani, 33, has made a conscious decision to use his voice to move the ideological center of the Assembly to the left. 'He is an exceptional communicator,' said Senator Julia Salazar, a friend and fellow Democratic Socialists of America member, who has endorsed him as part of a ranked-choice slate. 'I think his time in the Assembly has been characterized more by that than changing the law.' Apart from a bill that would require utilities to tell customers of proposed rate hikes, few of Mr. Mamdani's initiatives have shown signs of movement. Small-bore proposals, like a pitch to make clear to voters that they need to be registered with a party to vote in a primary, have failed to gain traction. The relative scantness of his record caused some colleagues to question his commitment to the unglamorous work of crafting legislation. 'I wish he was a harder worker,' said Senator Jessica Ramos, a Democrat who is also running for mayor. 'I believe that anybody who should be the mayor of the City of New York should have a legislative record to match.' But colleagues also acknowledged that he had engaged deeply with the legislation of others, helping to push parts of the Good Cause Eviction platform, the Build Public Renewables Act and an expansion of child care across the finish line, in large part by harnessing and focusing public attention. 'He's been seen as someone who can mobilize public opinion out of a certain demographic,' said the Senate deputy majority leader, Michael Gianaris, who has worked with Mr. Mamdani on a handful of local issues in their Queens districts. 'The mayor's race has not only proven that to be true, but probably increased his capacity to do that as well.' Mr. Mamdani's roots in progressivism and deft use of social media have prompted comparisons with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow New Yorker whose endorsement could prove pivotal for Mr. Mamdani as the June 24 primary election nears. She also faced criticism early in her career over a seeming preference to criticize, rather than work within, the Democratic systems of power. Mr. Mamdani disputed the notion that he is more interested in messaging than in legislating. 'My belief in politics is a belief in making the principled possible,' he said. 'And that requires working with anyone and everyone who shows interest.' When asked about his proudest moments in Albany, he pointed to a raft of improvements to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that were included in the 2023 budget, including his free bus pilot. 'That was an achievement that I was only able to win due to building a coalition across ideology,' said Mr. Mamdani, noting the pivotal support of Mayor Eric Adams, even as he described the mayor as being directly 'in opposition to politics that I and many New Yorkers hold.' The free bus program made five lines — one in each borough — free for one year. The pilot was celebrated for boosting ridership, but the M.T.A. cautioned that it also caused confusion and may have led to increased fare evasion on other lines. Mr. Mamdani and his allies returned to the Capitol with a plan to expand the program in 2024 to a handful of buses in each borough. Five people familiar with the negotiations said that he was close to securing the expansion when an unrelated disagreement over housing reform undermined his efforts. The people familiar with the talks said that Mr. Mamdani opposed a landlord-friendly measure added late to the state budget, and that he told the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, that he would vote against the budget because of the measure. Mr. Heastie was incensed, the people said, and killed the bus pilot. Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Heastie deny that any retaliation occurred and say the program fell apart for reasons of its own. The episode was previously reported by Politico and New York magazine. It was not the first time Mr. Mamdani refused to support the budget. The year before, he also voted no to protest changes to the state's bail law. And in 2021, he voted yes, but only after asserting that he had been coerced into doing so. In an Assembly floor speech that year, he said he wished for a government 'that does not force us to take back too little to our constituents.' 'And if that change requires us to change the composition of this body, then so be it,' he added, in a threat to incumbents that echoed a similar move by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. The protest vote can be a useful tool, most lawmakers agree, but its overuse is considered unsportsmanlike. 'It's hard to say, 'I want stuff in the budget,' and then not vote for the budget. I mean, you can't have it both ways,' said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who chairs the powerful Codes Committee. 'You're telling people: rent freeze, free child care, free buses, free this, free that,' Mr. Dinowitz said, 'but, you know, nothing is really free. Somebody else is paying for it.' Mr. Heastie, the Assembly speaker, said in an interview that he had a good relationship with Mr. Mamdani, whom he described as honest and passionate. 'I get no surprises out of Zohran, and I respect that out of him,' he said. Another of Mr. Mamdani's stalled legislative proposals grew out of his support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel. He introduced a bill that would end tax-exempt status for New York charities with ties to Israeli settlements that violate international human rights law. Shortly after it was introduced in spring 2023, Assembly leadership took the unusual step of weighing in on the legislation, calling it a 'non-starter.' Mr. Mamdani persisted in pushing for the measure. That effort, combined with his lack of an immediate expression of sympathy for Israel after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, deeply angered some members. More recently, Mr. Mamdani again was placed on the defensive after he did not co-sponsor a resolution to acknowledge the Holocaust. Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo, a Democrat and friend of Mr. Mamdani's, said that she did not believe him to be antisemitic. But she nonetheless opposed his bill and said some of his rhetoric 'unintentionally opens the door for people who may be antisemitic to hide under the guise, we'll call it, of other concerns.' Mr. Mamdani stands firm in his defense of Palestinians in Gaza, where over 53,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces, saying, 'At the core of this campaign is a politics of consistency and the belief that all people deserve dignity and equality and freedom without exception.' In recent interviews, he has proclaimed Israel's right to exist, and last week he was quick to denounce the killing of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington as part of 'an appalling trend of antisemitic violence.' His fellow legislators say that Mr. Mamdani is still on a learning curve in Albany but is progressing. They say he seems more attuned than before to what it takes to accomplish policy changes, and more judicious when criticizing colleagues. Mr. Heastie also said that he believed Mr. Mamdani had 'legislatively matured,' even joking that he liked 'Zohran 2.0.' Perhaps the most telling evidence of Mr. Mamdani's evolution came earlier this month, when the budget bills came up for a vote. As in years past, they contained scores of policy changes, not all to Mr. Mamdani's liking. Mr. Mamdani voted yes.
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Carville shreds Dem state chair, tells progressives to start their own 'pronoun' party
Veteran Democratic campaign strategist James Carville advised the new chairman of Arizona's Democratic Party to "shut up" or start a new progressive party. The Democratic Party has been struggling to re-define itself since the election, as leaders debate over whether to moderate or double-down on far-left identity politics. Carville, a frequent critic of some of the party's more progressive members, noted that the Democratic Party is doing unusually well in the red state of Arizona, where they have a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators. However, he warned that far-left politics and in-fighting may endanger this rare opportunity. Carville read from a recent New York Times article, headlined, "A Vulnerable Governor and an Intraparty Feud Signal a Bumpy Road for Democrats." The Times reported that Arizaona Democratic chairman Robert Branscomb had been "clashing with staff members over personnel decisions and accused them of sabotaging him by withholding financial documents." The article also claimed Branscomb, "wrote to party members detailing the infighting and attacking Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, both Democrats, for criticizing one of his staffing choices." Carville praised Kelly and Gallego, arguing to Branscomb, "You ain't been elected to s---. So why don't you shut up?" He went on to argue in his video posted to the Politicon YouTube channel, "that's the problem with this, these people from the 'progressive' whatever the f--- that is, that come into these state parties that didn't do anything that have outstanding Democratic elected officials. He's fighting with the governor. We finally have a Democratic governor, and this guy exemplifies to me what's wrong with that wing of the party." He noted one quote attributed to Branscomb, where he reportedly declared, "I will not be coerced, and I will not be silenced," and offered a barbed response. "Well why don't you just shut up anyway? Because you haven't gotten elected to anything. And why don't you pay attention and work for the people that are out there who are not just trying to win elections but are actually winning elections?" Carville asked. Carville argued this is part of a larger problem, sharing another purported example in Nevada, in which he called "one of the most successful state parties in the history of the United States," until the majority women state legislature took command of the party and turned "it into a useless glob of nothing." "You got one goal, dude, that's to win elections, not run your jackass mouth, which is all this guy Branscomb is good for," Carville said. He suggested that Democrats need to confront these members of the progressive wing of their party and propose an important question. "They need to really consider whether they're Democrats or not," he said. "Maybe they ought to go join the pronoun justice – social, I don't know, equity party or whatever they're doing." Carville continued, "When you don't respect people who go out and win elections and work and put their names out front and dare to lose then there's no use for you in Democratic politics. That's my view." The Arizona Democratic Party didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
DAVID MARCUS: The invisible hand that governed America during Biden years
When history gazes back upon the presidency of Joseph Robinette Biden, one question will stand out: Who was really running the country? Because it certainly wasn't the so-called commander in chief. But perhaps, it wasn't really a question of who. Maybe we were governed by something much closer to an invisible hand of wokeness. Maybe we were governed by a twisted worldview, not a conspiracy or solitary figure. It is reasonable, and almost comforting, to believe that Barack Obama or some other Democrat luminary was sitting at the center of the political universe like Vishnu, myriad arms pulling levers and flicking switches. But the reality might be far more troubling. The reality might be that progressive politics have created a self-perpetuating deep state bureaucracy that, left unchecked, couldn't care less who sits behind the Resolute Desk. There are a handful of behind-the-scenes power brokers, hiding from public view of late, who clearly had a lot of sway in the Biden White House: Chief of Staff Jeff Zeints, longtime ally Mike Donilon, Senior Adviser Anita Dunn, and the ever-present Susan Rice. But in all likelihood, they were not running some textbook conspiracy theory to rule in Biden's name. In fact, the entire Biden administration looks more like a broken play in football; It really was just trying to stay on its feet. It is telling that the front-facing cabinet members of Biden's, unlike his hotshot behind-the-scenes team, were feckless, awful and never fired for anything. Watching our current Secretary of State Marco Rubio cross swords with Democrats in his Senate testimony this week couldn't help but remind us of someone like hapless Biden Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, sitting in those same rooms, like a scolded child unable to mount a defense for his open borders. Or how about Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who seemed to have a special Zippo lighter designed to let him fire up conflagrations from Ukraine to the Middle East? Or Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- when he was available, of course -- whose Afghanistan withdrawal made the Keystone Cops look like the A Team? For four years this "aw shucks" brigade of midwits was allowed to drive our nation off a cliff precisely because nobody was actually in charge. When the border was a mess and Mayorkas embarrassed himself on the Hill, what would be the process for firing him? The boss is oblivious. Who would actually care enough to go after him? None of the insiders I mentioned above. It wasn't their legacy, wasn't their problem. So no accountability. No. We were governed by a set of progressive assumptions, much like the invisible hand of the market that Adam Smith wrote about. In progressive politics the questions simply answer themselves. It is a system. Why would Mayorkas let the southern border become a turnstile for foreign gang members? Because first and foremost, we must think of the innocent migrants, even if the cruel open borders policy is getting many of them trafficked. Why couldn't the Biden administration back off of the hill of men playing in women's sports when everyone without pronouns on their business card knows it's absurd? Because progressive ideology dictates that the oppressed must be right. Why was the Biden administration unable to forcefully call out antisemitism on our college campuses? Because Jews are now white-adjacent and privileged. We were governed by a set of left-wing assumptions. Think about what almost happened. Even if Democrats had somehow gotten Methusela Biden over the finish line, with his new cancer diagnosis, we now know we would have wound up with Kamala "I'm not taking questions at this time" Harris as president. Could there be a better example of the fact that, to Democrats, it doesn't matter in the slightest who is actually in charge? We do not have two functioning political parties today. We have the GOP and a Democrat Party that is like the Borg from Star Trek, it speaks with a single voice that is somehow always dead wrong. There is a reason that we have a president. Leadership matters, and in the last 120 or so days, from securing the border to securing trade deals, President Donald Trump has exemplified just how crucial his job really is. In retrospect, we look back on four years of Biden's presidency and ask ourselves, what the hell just happened? What happened was a reign of woke policy agendas that flooded our border, inflated our prices, wrought war across the globe and infiltrated Catholic churches looking for fantastical right-wing extremism. We may never know exactly what happened, but one thing we do know. It can never be allowed to happen again.
