US News

Hakeem Jeffries says Trump meeting exposed GOP shutdown fight to be over ‘fake issue’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) revealed new details of his private meeting with President Donald Trump on Saturday, details that he alleged proved that the Republican position amid the ongoing government shutdown is based on a “fake issue.”

Jeffries met with Trump alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) this week in the hopes of averting a government shutdown. The meeting proved fruitless, however, with lawmakers failing to come to an agreement by an Oct. 1 deadline, and disagreements largely centered around health care policy.

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'Open defiance': Trump accused of 'betraying promise' as he blows off refugee meeting

Reports of the Trump administration’s plan to slash refugee admissions to an even lower number than previously stated—with the majority of spots given to white South Africans descended from French and Dutch colonists who arrived in the country in the 17th century—represents “a moral failure and a dark hour for our country,” according to one refugee policy expert.

As The New York Times reported late Friday, a presidential determination dated September 30 and signed by President Donald Trump showed that the president aims to cap refugee admissions at 7,500 in 2026—a significant decrease from the 40,000 that he previously discussed with officials, and from the 125,000 cap set by the Biden administration last year.

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Leaked messages reveal stunning plan to deploy elite military division to Dem city

Top Trump administration officials were discussing plans to deploy an elite military division to Portland, Oregon, according to leaked text messages reviewed and reported on by the Minnesota Star Tribune late Friday.

“Between you and I, I think [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] just wants the top cover from the boss if anything goes sideways with the troops there,” wrote Patrick Weaver, Hegseth’s advisor, in a text message on the encrypted messaging app Signal, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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'Anxiousness and frustration' hits red state as Trump serves 'bitter pill': rural leader

Iowa Soybean Association President Tom Adam urged the Trump administration, in a statement Thursday, to prioritize a trade deal with China and to support soybean farmers who are without their biggest market.

China typically buys 60% of global soybean exports, and the U.S. used to be China’s preferred supplier until it turned to Brazil during the trade wars of the first Trump administration.

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‘Make it make sense!’ GOP strategist shut down after downplaying Trump tariff blowback

GOP strategist Scott Jennings was promptly shut down Saturday during an appearance on CNN after attempting to downplay the blowback from President Donald Trump’s trade policy and its impact on American farmers.

Trump has imposed tariffs on hundreds of nations, perhaps most notably China, which was slapped with a 125% tariff rate in April before being reduced as part of a temporary tariff truce, a truce that is currently ongoing. However, China has responded in kind by boycotting American soybeans, which, given China is the largest importer of the crop, has left American soybean farmers enraged.

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Many Trump voters now hate the MAGA policies they voted for: analysis

Now eight and one-half months into his second presidency, Donald Trump is being inundated with polls that show him with weak approval ratings — including 38 percent (Leger), 40 percent (YouGov and Pew Researcher Center) and 41 percent (Marist College).

Trump and his allies continue to insist that he has a "mandate" for his far-right policies. But the 2024 election was close, and Trump won the popular vote by only 1.5 percent in 2024.

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‘I will not tolerate delay’: Clock ticks on Gaza peace plan as Trump issues final warning

President Donald Trump issued what appeared to be a final warning to the Palestinian government and military organization Hamas to accept his peace plan, and “quickly,” otherwise “all bets will be off.”

Trump unveiled on Tuesday a peace plan to bring about an end to Israel’s siege on Gaza and a return of the Israeli hostages, a plan that, despite last-minute changes from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was received mostly favorably by Hamas. On Friday, Trump demanded Israel halt its siege on Gaza, but was quickly rebuked as the nation continued its military campaign, killing at least 20 people through Saturday morning.

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'Smile and wave, boys': New videos show ICE agent's taunt as mayor arrested

Rep. LaMonica McIver’s patience was wearing thin.

It was May 9, and McIver and two of her House colleagues were waiting to be escorted into Delaney Hall, a new migrant jail in Newark. The three Democrats had shown up there that day for an unannounced visit, but first they were told to wait inside a vestibule off the detention center’s parking lot.

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Bill Maher panel tells how tech bros get rich making Americans 'stupid and angry'

Some political scientists, seeing how bitterly divided the United States is politically, fear that the country is entering a period of political violence comparable to The Troubles in North Ireland.

"Real Time" host Bill Maher examined those tensions with two guests — conservative-leaning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman and liberal Van Jones — during his Friday night broadcast. And Friedman argued that tech companies are making a fortune tearing the U.S. apart.

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Fired official flames Trump admin in scathing farewell letter

Federal prosecutor Michael Ben'Ary learned that he was being fired from his position at the U.S. Department of Justice's Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday. And, according to The Guardian's Robert Mackey, he left a message for his colleagues on the way out.

According to an article by Mackey published Saturday, Ben'Ary "was apparently fired" because "a January 6 conspiracy theorist denounced him on social media for having worked for the deputy attorney general in the Biden Administration."

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'A Trump denial is not a fact': Media blasted for helping push winning lie

As President Donald Trump openly embraces Project 2025, mainstream media outlets are facing criticism for their role in helping him downplay his ties to the wildly unpopular far-right governing playbook in the lead-up to his reelection last year.

After she became the Democratic nominee in July, former Vice President Kamala Harris made the Heritage Foundation’s over 900-page manifesto for “the next conservative president” central to her case against Trump during the 2024 election, often referring to it as “Trump’s Project 2025.”

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‘No idea what she’s talking about!’ Chicago mayor slams Kristi Noem for ‘delusional' claim

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson fired off at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Saturday in response to what he called her “delusional” claims that protesters in Illinois’ most-populated city were threatening to harm federal agents and their families.

On Friday, Kristi Noem was filmed in Chicago prepping federal agents for President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Chicago, telling them “we’re going to hammer these guys that are advocating for violence against the American people!” She went on to allege Chicago protesters of advocating to harm federal agents and their families, dox them online, and claimed that they “[victimize] people every day by the way that they’re talking.”

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‘Very similar to Russia’: Filmmaker issues chilling warning about authoritarian 'slide'

Documentary filmmaker and producer Alex Gibney issued a chilling warning Saturday over what he described as the United States’ “slow slide” into authoritarianism, drawing a telling comparison between Trump administration policies and those of the Russian government under President Vladimir Putin.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Gibney was promoting his new film, “Orwell: 2+2=5,” which follows the life of English novelist George Orwell, and draws comparisons to his warnings of authoritarianism with the American government under President Donald Trump.

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