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Fox News
28-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
AOC fundraises on trying to abolish ICE amid Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration
Republicans are ripping progressive New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for renewing her call to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a recent fundraising email. "I believe that ICE, an agency that was just formed in 2003 during the Patriot Act era, is a rogue agency that should not exist," Ocasio-Cortez said in a fundraising email obtained by Fox News Digital. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans' campaign arm, criticized the potential 2028 presidential candidate in an X post for fundraising on wanting to abolish ICE, a progressive rallying cry that rejects President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. "House Democrat Minority Leader AOC is doubling down on their party's most extreme, unhinged agenda, while the rest of her party is bending their knee to the radical wing. At this rate, the Democrat platform in 2026 will be a fever dream of defunding the police, wide open borders, and far-left hellscapes," NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Why are you considered to be extreme?" Ocasio-Cortez asked in the fundraising email. It's a strategy often deployed by the progressive New Yorker, according to a Fox News Digital review of Ocasio-Cortez's campaign emails. Ocasio-Cortez says she is considered "extreme" because she supports Medicare for All, champions the Green New Deal, challenges Democratic Party leadership, believes in "democratic socialism," is funded by small-dollar donations and believes ICE should "not exist." The potential 2028 candidate was at the forefront of the "abolish ICE" movement, a rejection of Trump's immigration policies in his first administration, during her 2018 congressional campaign when she unseated longtime Democrat incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley. While older, moderate Democrats haven't been as vocal about abolishing ICE, another young progressive, who has faced heat within his party for a plan to primary challenge older Democratic incumbents in safe blue districts who are "asleep at the wheel," DNC vice chair David Hogg, has also called to "abolish ICE." "We must acknowledge the terrifying moment that we are in right now, and that what we are hearing and seeing with our own eyes is, in fact, happening. We are watching as our neighbors, students and friends are being fired, targeted and disappeared. It is real. People we love are being targeted and harassed for being LGBTQ. Our co-workers, U.S. citizens and immigrants alike are being disappeared off the street by men in vans with no uniform," Ocasio-Cortez told a crowd in Montana on Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" Tour. Ocasio-Cortez has an ongoing feud with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, as the New York congresswoman instructs her constituents how to impede ICE arrests. Ocasio-Cortez is facing a potential Department of Justice probe for a webinar she hosted in February on how to handle ICE agents. The Trump administration has led a robust crackdown on illegal immigration since returning to the White House this year. During the first 100 days of Trump's second term, ICE arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682, according to ICE. The agency said three in four of those arrests of illegal immigrants involved someone accused of committing a crime. The Fox News Voter Analysis in 2024 found that 52% of voters said Trump was the better candidate to handle immigration, while just 36% said Harris. Additionally, it was a top issue for voters, with 20% saying it was the most important issue facing the country. Ocasio-Cortez, Homan, DHS and the DCCC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Morning Joe shows he's as out of touch as ever as he starts pushing hard-left Dem loathed by middle America
Morning Joe namesake Joe Scarborough touted progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a possible 2028 presidential candidate Wednesday - and called Democrats who oppose her 'insane.' The former Florida Republican-turned-talking head made the remarks on his MSNBC show after former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas brought up the in-fighting plaguing the Democratic Party. 'They're afraid to have the person who is considered in polls to be the voice and the face of the Democratic Party,' Scarborough said. It came after Giridharadas warned the Dems have, 'abdicated any role in participating in [the] cultural process... Donald Trump - for all of his profound, personal and cerebral limitations - is a culture maker and a player in the culture.' In contrast, the Democratic Party 'stands at the end of the pipeline saying... please vote, [while] ignoring 90 percent of where politics happens,' he added. This paved the way for the surprising, supposed solution from Scarborough in AOC: a self-professed Democratic socialist who has made 'taxing the rich' a cornerstone of her political profile. Those who have floated Ocasio-Cortez as the answer to the party's pressing questions have been met with pushback from even progressives - due to her far-left views at a time where the party is already divided. Scarborough said such concerns about the party are unfounded - and merely the result of Ocasio-Cortez being a fresh, young face. Scroll down for full video: 'We're going to throw those bums out, and fight for the nation we deserve,' the 35-year-old, now being floated as a possible presidential candidate, said, as she continues to criticize the leadership being seen from her party Her party, meanwhile, has been struggling in the wake of Kamala Harris's election loss - a situation more recently marred by claims that members of then President Biden's inner circle hid his cognitive decline. 'I don't think anybody that watches the show would confuse my politics with AOC's politics,' Scarborough - who ran as a Republican to win a seat in the US House of Representatives for Florida's conservative 1st district in 1994 - prefaced. 'And yet I sit here, fairly conservative, independent, absolutely flummoxed by a Democratic Party that refuses to let her in leadership,' he continued. 'The fact is, that they're afraid to have the person who is considered in polls to be the voice and the face of the Democratic Party. 'She does a better job getting out there and explaining the inequities that drive working Americans to Republicans. 'She also, to her credit, she went and she talked to people who voted for Donald Trump and voted for her and didn't go, "what's wrong with your head?" Instead, Scarborough said the former bartender looks to find the root of such divisions. 'And by the way, she's under 80,' Scarborough joked, allowing a beat for laughs. 'I don't know if you knew that or not. She's under 80.' Other possible faces like to surface in 2028's primary include Pete Buttigieg, who recently appeared on the MAGA-alligned Flagrant Podcast. Bernie Sanders, who has said he is not running but it still a high-ranking Democrat, appeared on the same show a few days later He ended by posing a question he was not really seeking the answer for to his panel, which included his wife Mika Brzezinski, Giridharadas, Willie Geist, and Jonathan Lemire. 'You're telling me that the Democratic Party does not have a place for her in leadership? Do you know how insane that is?' Scarborough went on to cite the opinion of MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon, despite being a well-known Trump dissident. 'Bannon says of AOC, that she's, first of all, she's a very Talented political athlete,' Lemire said after some urging from Scarborough. Just before, Scarborough pointed out how several Americans who voted for Bernie Sanders - another far-left figure who has said he is not running this time around - voted for Trump in this year's election. Other possible faces like to surface in 2028's primary include Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom, both of whom are more moderate in comparison. The pair are still devout progressives, and have both ramped up their podcast appearances as of late after Harris fell flat in certain states and demographics. Scarborough suggested such a field creates the perfect climate for Ocasio-Cortez to steal votes from across the aisle following last year's failure. He said her message - one that preaches addressing economic inequality - would hit home with some of the working-class Trump base. Meanwhile, another possible candidate comes in the form of veteran senator Chuck Schumer. He's recently lost a swathe of support by bowing to Republicans and passing a conservative-backed funding measure earlier this year. A poll from liberal nonprofit Data For Progress showed Ocasio-Cortez leading Schumer by almost 20 points in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in the 2028 New York Senate primary as a result. Other polls show Ocasio-Cortez performing well in hypothetical primaries, following rallies with fellow populist progressive Sanders that have pulled in tens of thousands of attendees. Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, said last week that Ocasio-Cortez's 'message of economic populism is more powerful than people are giving her credit for.' Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said more of the same - recently saying she's on the rise and could be the next party leader very soon. But Patricia Crouse, a political scientist in residence at the University of New Haven, told Newsweek that Ocasio-Cortez may very well be respected by fellow politicians, but that she lacks the broad appeal required to capture middle America. 'I think people see her as the face of the Democratic Party right now because she seems to be the only one (along with Sanders) willing to stand up for the party and stand against Trump,' Crouse said.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
These Boomer Radicals in Vermont Just Want to Be ‘Good Progressives'
Alison Bechdel, the protagonist of 'Spent,' is a sellout. She is not exactly the same person as Alison Bechdel, the author of 'Spent,' whose previous books include the graphic memoir 'Fun Home,' an adroit reflection on her relationship with her mortician father. But there are similarities. The fictional Alison also wrote a memoir about her secretive father who embalms dead bodies, but hers is called 'Death and Taxidermy' — which should give you an idea of this book's tone (silly) and its aim (introspection). Our heroines are Alison and her wife, a sunny sculptor named Holly (who resembles the author's own wife, Holly Rae Taylor, an artist who did the coloring on 'Spent'). Complicating their life on a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont is a crew of old friends who live nearby, several of them in the same house. There's Stuart, the sweetly irritating middle-aged man who wears a utility kilt and a Bernie Sanders T-shirt; his stoic wife, Sparrow; their kid, J.R., who drops out of Oberlin after getting disillusioned with their asexual polycule; everyone's pal Lois, who acts as a sort of tour guide to other people's sexual hangups and fetishes; and so on. Though it's the lightest of comedies, the book's biggest question is a laudably difficult one: Can you be a good progressive if you're a safe and privileged member of the upper middle class in a society tainted by oppression and selfishness? It's an urgent question for Alison: After devoting years to her syndicated, minimally lucrative comic strip 'Lesbian PETA Members to Watch Out For,' she's sold the rights to a prestige TV series based on 'Death and Taxidermy' that's now streaming on 'Schmamazon.' She and her friends watch with mounting horror as the showrunner, Çedilla Ümlaut (I laughed), turns Alison's most personal work into provocative, sophomoric nonsense. She's being exploited, but she's also being paid generously. Charting the group's adventures in leftist activism, polyamory and animal husbandry, Bechdel pulls off a delicate balancing act. It would be easy to make excuses for these lovable but almost transcendently annoying people preoccupied with their own comfortable lifestyle, or to nastily mock them. Bechdel does neither: Her genuine affection for her characters — with the possible exception of the one who bears her own name — gives 'Spent' a sweetness that makes even its cheapest shots feel good-natured. It's hard out there for a lesbian PETA member in rural New England, where a fan of Holly's YouTube channel might approach her outside Home Depot from a truck with a bumper sticker that says, 'MY OTHER CAR IS A GUN.' And it's endearing to see Stuart trying to celebrate the kids' nascent political awareness with a tattoo of a Kropotkin passage that takes up most of his back ('it was the shortest quote I could find'). Bechdel keeps the jokes coming at the pace of a good 'Simpsons' episode, and with the same self-referential reflexes, unnecessary erudition and jokey signage in the background. (The book's own 12 'episodes' borrow their titles from headings in Karl Marx's 'Capital.') 'Spent' is not quite a sequel to Bechdel's long-running domestic-comedy strip, 'Dykes to Watch Out For,' a witty, inclusive contribution to the serial form that flourished in newspaper comics from 'Walt and Skeezix' to 'For Better or for Worse.' But it's not not a sequel, either. Bechdel's earlier mouthpiece, Mo, has been replaced with a fictionalized version of the author herself, but most of the cast — Stuart, Sparrow, J.R., Lois — first appeared in 'D.T.W.O.F.' (Here I feel obligated to reassure you that there's absolutely no need for you to do any homework before reading 'Spent.' It stands on its own.) J.R. was only a toddler when the curtain came down on the strip in 2008; now our old friends have to share their farm-country paradise with 'Covid refugees from Brooklyn' ('Dude, I hate to bring this up, but the goats have been kinda loud,' one says to Alison), and to deal honestly with the fact that they're all, well, aging. If these characters are sad and bewildered by the state of the world, their frustration feels like a reassurance to readers who share it, and perhaps a gentle reminder that it's easy to confuse being socially conscious with being self-serious. But there's also the uncomfortable fact that a black-and-white strip about boomer radicals that ran in alternative newspapers for 25 years has been gentrified into a full-color hardcover published by Mariner, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (In 'Spent,' Alison frets over whether to sell her new book, '$UM,' to Megalopub, a publishing house 'owned by the conservative billionaire family that hit TV show is based on.') If that strikes you as a little suspicious, maybe even hypocritical, well, have both Bechdels got a book for you.
Wall Street Journal
15-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Gavin Newsom's High-Tax Revenue Woes
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to moderate his political image as he anticipates a potential run for President in 2028. But even as he moves right on cultural issues, he isn't repudiating the progressive economics that is creating another budget shortfall in the Golden State. Naturally, he's blaming Donald Trump. The Governor on Wednesday projected a $12 billion shortfall for the next fiscal year. 'California is under assault,' he said. 'We have a president that's been reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines.' It's true that Mr. Trump's tariffs will likely reduce economic growth, which would hurt California along with other states.
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Marriage equality: ten years on, has Ireland's progressive optimism disappeared?
It is ten years since the country voted to legalise same-sex marriage. This victory for progressive politics was followed by another when abortion rights were won in 2018. But what is sometimes called 'the progressive agenda' has since had setbacks, including last year's defeated referendums on family and care. So how relevant is progressivism to Irish politics now, and where does that energy go next? Labour leader Ivana Bacik, columnist Gerard Howlin and political editor Pat Leahy join Hugh Linehan on today's Inside Politics podcast to look back at the 2015 referendum campaign and assess its legacy.
