SmartNews

'MAGA is very angry': Conservative strategist says new pope is in far right's 'crosshairs'

The new pope is a balanced papal leader with a biblical message, but that hasn't stopped MAGA allies from being enraged about him being elected, a conservative political consultant said on Friday.

Rick Wilson, a consistent thorn in the side of Donald Trump, wrote leading up to the weekend that "MAGA hates the woke pope."

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'Disgraceful': Ex-prosecutor blasts Trump's new Fox News pick as 'affront to the office'

CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams didn’t hold back Thursday night as he delivered a scathing assessment of President Donald Trump’s pick of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Williams, himself a former federal prosecutor, slammed past comments Pirro made while amplifying false claims about the 2020 election on her Fox News show. He also reminded viewers that Pirro was cited in Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against the network.

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Trump's failed nomination of 'unqualified bumbler' shows his 'power is waning': analyst

President Donald Trump’s failed push to install Ed Martin as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia is a telling sign that his second-term power streak on Capitol Hill is beginning to slip, Mother Jones’ Dan Friedman wrote Thursday.

Martin’s nomination collapsed after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) publicly opposed it, citing Martin’s support for January 6 rioters. The backlash forced Trump to back down and pick Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a MAGA favorite, to fill Martin's role on an interim basis.

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‘Direct attack’: Irate House lawmaker slams Trump over 'callous' new firing

President Donald Trump’s abrupt dismissal of Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden sparked outrage Thursday and a fierce rebuke from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

“Every Member of Congress I know—Democratic or Republican—loves and respects Dr. Carla Hayden,” DeLauro said in a fiery statement. “A ‘fighter of freedom’ and a guardian of our nation’s truth and intellectual legacy, Dr. Hayden was just abruptly and callously fired by President Trump.”

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'Inappropriate': High school probing racist abuse hurled at track team

A Wisconsin school district is investigating an incident in which racist abuse was allegedly directed at student athletes during a track meet.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Waterford Union High School superintendent Luke Francois said the district is looking into "inappropriate comments directed at (Milwaukee) Rufus King students."

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‘Trumped-up charges!’ Agency moves to oust judge who defied presidential order

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is moving to fire an administrative judge who publicly challenged a Trump administration directive that paused discrimination investigations involving transgender people, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Karen Ortiz, who has served as a judge with the EEOC for over six years, was placed on administrative paid leave Wednesday and told that the agency is seeking her removal for “conduct unbecoming of a federal employee,” and for violating its email policy, according to letters reviewed by the Times.

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'Grow a backbone!' MAGA attorney unloads profane rant on Senate GOP as Trump yanks nominee

Far-right legal commentator and former Neil Gorsuch law clerk Mike Davis unloaded a furious, uncensored rant against Senate Republicans on the "War Room" show as President Donald Trump withdrew the nomination of far-right activist Ed Martin to be permanent U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Martin, who was serving as the acting top prosecutor in that office, failed to secure enough Republican support to move ahead owing to a long string of controversies, including his intimidation campaign of threats against organizations that have drawn the Trump world's ire, and his full-throated praise of a Nazi-sympathizing Jan. 6 rioter who dressed up as Hitler.

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'Fine with us!' WSJ's conservative editors cheer as GOP pretends Trump retreat is 'genius'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board, a long-standing traditional economic conservative group that has sounded the alarm on President Donald Trump's trade isolationism for months, breathed a sigh of relief at the trade deal the president is on the verge of brokering with the United Kingdom.

The deal is fairly modest in scope, the board acknowledged, and it doesn't change the fact that Trump has been setting world trade on fire and endangering the U.S. economy for no reason — but, they wrote, if staging a win like this is what it takes to let Trump walk away and unwind the rest of the trade war, so be it.

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JD Vance says Russia asked for territory it 'hasn't even conquered yet'

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Russia’s initial demands in the ongoing peace talks over its invasion of Ukraine include territory it hasn’t even seized, in another sign that the White House is growing frustrated with Moscow, according to Politico.

Vance offered a peek inside the negotiations between the two countries during a Fox News interview, where he described Russian demands as overreaching.

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'No thanks': MAGA senator thumbs nose at billionaire Trump ally's reported new venture

A MAGA senator expressed deep opposition Thursday evening to a reported new venture eyed by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has proposed deploying stablecoins, a form of non-volatile cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar — this month, according to new reporting in Fortune.

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'She doesn't have a license': Trump official gets unlikely grilling on Fox News

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. found himself grilled intensely on Fox News by Bret Baier on the lack of qualifications for President Donald Trump's new surgeon general nominee, Dr. Casey Means, an alternative wellness blogger who has served as Kennedy's longtime adviser and who possesses none of the typical work experience of a surgeon general.

Means has attracted immediate criticism over the fact that she abandoned her medical residency to promote pseudoscience, including anti-vaccine paranoia, and hawk unproven supplements like "mitochondrial health" gummies.

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'Insulting': House Republicans flatly reject Mike Johnson's offer in blistering statement

A group of New York Republicans slammed a proposed deal on state and local tax deductions on Thursday, throwing a wrench into House GOP efforts to advance a sweeping tax bill tied to President Donald Trump’s agenda, according to NBC News.

“We reject this offer,” according to a joint statement issued by Reps. Elise Stefanik, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler.

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'Highly important roles!' Trump's failed DOJ nominee gets new gig

A Republican activist and attorney is getting a new gig after his nomination to the Justice Department flopped this week.

Ed Martin was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the permanent U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. He had served in the role on an acting basis since Trump’s second inauguration. But the controversial nomination quickly took on water and was ultimately withdrawn, facing bipartisan opposition in the Senate.

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