SmartNews

GOP insider slaps down Trump for blaming Biden for his screw-ups

Donald Trump's complaint that former President Joe Biden is to blame for the terrible first quarter GDP report -- then adding that the second quarter report will also be his fault –– did not get a sympathetic ear from former GOP lawmaker John Kasich on Thursday.

Appearing on MSNBC with host Ana Cabrera, Kasich –– who normally finds fault with both parties when invited on cable TV shows -- focused entirely on the embattled Trump.

After watching a clip of Trump stating, "This is Biden. And you could even say the next quarter is sort of Biden because it doesn’t just happen on a daily or an hourly basis," before adding, "The stock market in this case is, it says how bad the situation we inherited. This is a quarter that we looked at today, and I, we took, all of us, together, we came in on January 20th," Kasich begged to differ.

ALSO READ: 'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy

Kasich first indicated that he can't understand why Trump is still sticking to his tariff plan that has been panned on both sides of the aisle, explaining, "I have a hard time as I sit here thinking about this on why do they keep hanging with this stuff. I mean, this is not working."

Noting he had similar battles when he was governor of Ohio, he added, "I mean, I got beaten to a pulp over my views and at some point I said, 'You know, I guess I'm not right'."

Turning to Trump's Biden-blaming, he continued, "You can't blame Biden. I mean, what, are you kidding me? That's like the dog stole my, you know, ate my homework. I mean, it doesn't work, nobody's going to believe that."

"I mean, the core supporters of Trump might or they'll say, give them more time, is what they normally say, but I don't think that blaming it on Biden –– that's such an old song," he told the MSNBC host.

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'Does Stephen Miller love America': Onlookers skewer top Trump adviser after news briefing

Political Advisor Stephen Miller took a lot of heat Thursday morning after making remarks at the White House press briefing.

MSNBC host Stephanie Rhule wrote “love. Interpretation here is key.” As a reaction to Aaron Rupar’s post “Stephen Miller: 'Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots. Children will be taught civic values for schools that want federal taxpayer funding. So as we close the Dept of Education and provide funding to states, we're going to make sure these funds are not being used to promote communist ideology.'"

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'Are you on ketamine?': Critics mock Elon Musk as he denies reports he's out at Tesla

Tech billionaire and close White House advisor Elon Musk took to X, attacking the Wall Street Journal in the early hours of Thursday after it reported the Tesla board contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company.

"This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published)," Tesla said from its X account. "The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead."

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'9.2 Scaramuccis': Onlookers predict who's next as Trump adviser departs after short term

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and his deputy were reportedly ousted on Thursday from the Trump White House, and members of the MAGA resistance celebrated on social media.

Former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, who served just 10 days during Donald Trump's first term, first posted to X that "Waltz lasts 9.2 Scaramuccis," before revising: "I am catching flak as Waltz’s tenure is actually 9.18 Scaramuccis. But we like being generous on this platform and will round up."

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'Something going on': New mystery emerges around scandal-plagued Trump nominee

Republican senators are mulling whether to defy President Donald Trump by rejecting his dubious pick for U.S. attorney, Ed Martin, news outlets reported Thursday.

Politico's Kyle Cheney posted on X Thursday, "Something is going on with Ed Martin's nomination to be US attorney in D.C. But what, precisely, is unclear Sen. Durbin said this AM: 'It’s my understanding that we are not going to move forward on the Martin nomination.' Grassley said he'd have more to say when Martin's nomination was officially on the calendar."

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'Promo code War Room': Mike Lindell sells bed sheets from White House lawn

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell used a National Day of Prayer event to promote his bed sheets and crosses from the White House lawn.

Ahead of President Donald Trump's speech at the White House prayer event, Lindell spoke to MAGA influencer Steve Bannon from outside the West Wing.

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Mike Waltz ousted just after Fox News appearance heaping praise on Trump

Trump administration National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other staffers are out at the National Security Council, according to multiple reports.

The move came after he appeared on Fox and Friends Thursday morning. He and anchor Brian Kilmead spoke on the peace deal reached with Ukraine and Russia.

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Watch: Pro-Trump podcasters lower the boom on his 'messy' first 100 days

Criticism of Donald Trump's first 100 days was not limited to Democrats and cable TV hosts as the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" illustrated on Thursday morning.

While the president's Cabinet gave him fawning praise in a press availability on Wednesday, the president was taking a beating from three conservative podcasters on the conspiracy-minded PBD podcast.

On Thursday, co-host Mika Brzezisnki introduced a supercut from the podcast and commentators Tom Ellsworth, Adam Sosnik and host Patrick Ben-David took turns poking the president over tariffs and the faltering economy.

ALSO READ: 'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy

Brzezisnki introduced the clip by explaining, "Some supporters of the president are expressing disappointment in his first 100 days in office. Here's a listen at some remarks from one popular pro-Trump podcast."

The clip began with a grim Tom Ellsworth telling his audience, "Overall, first 100 days? I give it a C-plus and I get there this way," he explained. "An A -minus on the plan, but a C-minus on the execution. I thought he had too many things going at once picking on the the Fed [Jerome] Powell. But I gave the plan an A, but the execution got messy and so overall I give it a C-plus."

A more animated Adam Sosnick complained, "I thought that the first, I don't know, month was awesome. He was signing all these executive orders, he's doing his thing and then April 2nd Liberation Day, where he liberated America of, like $5 trillion worth of wealth and nobody saw it coming."

"So I don't understand the methodology for what he was doing with liberation?" he pointed out before joking, "I would have been better if he just dressed up as Liberace day and started doing a samba dance or something like that. But Liberation Day has backfired."

Host Bet-David added, "But results at C minus, first 100 days when you go purely with results. We were told day one there's going to be peace with Russia and Ukraine. It's day 100, there's no peace there, it's worse."

"I thought there was going to be a deal being done there," he complained. "It's a C-minus and I voted for this guy in '16, in '20 and '24 gladly, happy I did, and it's a C-minus today."

You can watch below or at the link.

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'Eccentric' Trump adviser set off Wall Street 'freakout' with TV return: report

One of president Donald Trump's most durable advisers and fellow tariff enthusiast set off alarms on Wall Street with his recent return to television.

Peter Navarro returned to the White House as a senior counselor this year after serving as an economic adviser during Trump's first term, and he's become a "convenient villain," according to CNN, which reported that Wall Street insiders are reluctant to even say his name, as if he'd achieved Voldemort-like status.

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Trump giving Pete Hegseth 'one more chance' before firing him: journalist

Mark Halperin, the first journalist to report that President Joe Biden was dropping out of the 2024 race, believes that President Donald Trump has given Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "one more chance" before firing him.

During a report on Thursday, Halperin revealed that U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other members of his team were on the chopping block, with firings expected to come before next week.

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National security advisor Mike Waltz and his team to leave jobs as early as today: report

Mark Halperin reported Thursday morning that the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, is about to leave his job along with his deputy, Alex Wong, and others on the national security team.

Posting on X, Halperin, who founded the interactive media platform 2WAY, reported that there is "unhappiness throughout the national security establishment" as well as the White House, State Department, Treasury Department and elsewhere.

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'You think it's funny': CNN anchor fires back at GOP congressman over Trump's new comments

CNN anchor Sara Sidner had a fiery exchange with Congressman Pat Harrigan (R-NC) over President Donald Trump saying, “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30.”

“Is that a message that your constituents are happy with?” Sidner asked.

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'Stop with the sit-ins!' Dems pushed to jump on Trump's 'Marie Antoinette' moment

Democratic strategists took to CNN Thursday to implore party leaders to stop talking and start taking action to show how painful President Donald Trump's tariffs are to average Americans.

Anchor Kate Bolduan played a clip of Trump quipping at Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, "Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls would cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally."

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