Rep. Madeleine Dean cornered House Speaker Mike Johnson to charge that President Donald Trump was "unhinged" in his remarks to military leaders on Tuesday, the UK Daily Mail reported.  The Pennsylvania Democrat ensured the interaction took place in front of reporters and cameras in the halls of Congress.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth called a meeting of military leaders to Quantico, Virginia, to roll out some much-needed tweaks to military policy. Trump addressed the group, and, as usual, many of his critics didn't like what he had to say, including Dean.

The 66-year-old congresswoman attempted to score political points by complaining to Johnson, who seemed unfazed by her claims. "The president is unhinged. He is unwell," Dean told Johnson. The House Speaker fired back, "A lot of folks on your side are, too." Journalist Aaron Rupar shared a clip of the exchange on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.

Hyperbolic Claims

Although Johnson's retort was a sharp one and indeed true, Dean continued with her line of attack against Trump even as the expression on Johnson's face demonstrated that he had no desire to hear what she had to say about it. "That is so dangerous,” Dean told Johnson.

"You know I serve on Foreign Affairs and Appropriations. This is a collision of those two things," Dean said. Of course, Johonson is well aware of what committees Dean serves on, but she ticked off her resume just in case anyone watching at home wasn't sure who she was.

"Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies are laughing. You have a president who is unwell," Dean said.

What did Trump say that was so outrageous that Dean had to confront Johnson with it? Well, as the New York Times reported, it was a pretty typical Trump speech where he attacked his political enemies and complained about his opposition, at least until one throwaway line that Dean and other Trump critics glommed onto.

"I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military," Trump said to Hegseth. The Times found this so objectionable that it repeated the line in italics for maximum effect.

War Zone

While Dean and others try to pretend that Trump was speaking out of turn, the truth is that the president has been forced to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-run cities because of conditions there. The president recently ordered 200 troops to the city of Portland, Oregon, after chaos had erupted at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, Fox News reported.

"It's been a consistent battle every night with Antifa in Portland," Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, said Wednesday of the state of things in Portland. "We've called on local and state officials to help, but we just haven't seen the help." The troops will help, but in the meantime, it's a war zone.

"We’re out there every night battling people that are bringing sticks, bats, shields, throwing their own CS grenades at us. So it's not a peaceful situation," Lyons added. His fears are well-founded as a facility in Dallas, Texas, was attacked on Sept. 24 by a lone gunman.

During that attack, two detainees were shot and killed, while a third was wounded, before the shooter took his own life. This kind of violence and anger directed at ICE agents in America is certainly reminiscent of a battlefield abroad, which makes Trump's "training ground" remark seem quite accurate.

The left has tried every line of attack on Trump, including claiming that he's suffering from cognitive decline or some other age-related malady based on something he's said. And, like all of the rest of the attacks, Trump will surely survive this one and prove them wrong no matter what Dean or anyone else has to say about him.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is warning that people “are going to die” if Republicans don’t give in to Democrats’ demands, including free healthcare for illegal immigrants, Breitbart reported. A partial government shutdown went into effect on Wednesday at midnight after lawmakers from both parties failed to reach a deal.

Whenever a government shutdown is on the table, both parties claim the other is to blame, using it to rile up their respective voter bases. This time has been no different as Warren appeared on MSNBC’s The Briefing on Wednesday to slam Republicans over their positions and make the most hyperbolic predictions.

The Massachusetts Democrat dutifully pulled at heartstrings to make her point about the Republicans' refusal to give in to Democrats' demands, including increased spending on healthcare. She had a sympathetic ear with host Jen Psaki, who didn’t push back on anything Warren said as she spewed her talking points.

The Narrative

Warren used the Democrats' old standby lie that Republicans don't care about Americans and thus refused Democrats' demands. "They’re trying to find anything to talk about around the shutdown, to blame it on Democrats so they don’t have to talk about the two-thirds of seniors who are in nursing homes, a lot of them with serious health problems, half of them with Alzheimer’s, who can just be pushed out on the street under the Republican bill," Warren claimed.

"They don’t want to talk about those brand new babies and their mamas who will lose access to health care," said Warren, suddenly caring about babies she'd usually want dead as a pro-abortion politician. "They do not want to talk about your neighbor who counts on a home health aide, and who counts on having a wheelchair in order to try to live independently, and can lose all of that," Warren went on.

"They don’t want to talk about the tens of millions of families who are receiving notices this month saying, here’s where your health care premiums were already too high. Here’s where they’re going to be, thanks to the Republicans," the Massachusetts Democrat continued.

"They’re going to be people who are going to have to make decisions about whether to make rent or pay for health insurance. They’re going to be people who are just going to let their health insurance go. They’re going to be people who are going to die because of these decisions," Warren dramatically predicted.

"And that, more than anything else, is what the Republicans don’t want to talk about. They rather shut down the government than help Americans who are just trying to get their costs under control. I think that is a fight worth fighting, and the Democrats are organized to do it right now," Warren said, completely mischaracterizing the fight.

The Truth

Like all Democrats, Warren decided that an impassioned speech about all of the horrible things Republicans are doing to the American people was the way to go. Unfortunately for her, what she had to say was all a lie as the truth is that Republicans wouldn't agree to the healthcare spending because they realized it was, in large part, another entitlement for illegal immigrants, Fox News reported.

Just before the shutdown, Republicans charged that Democrats were more interested in giving "free healthcare for illegal immigrants" rather than keeping the government operating for priorities such as paying members of the military. Democrats held out and were willing to let the current budget expire because Republicans wouldn't go along with their handouts to migrants.

Last week, Vice President J.D. Vance said as much in a post to X, formerly Twitter. "Democrats are about to shut down the government because they demand we fund healthcare for illegal aliens," Vance wrote. He was backed up by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who also said Sunday that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just wanted to "reinstate free healthcare for illegal aliens paid by American taxpayers."

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated the truth as the deadline loomed large. "They want to have illegal aliens come into our country and get massive healthcare at the cost to everybody else, and we don't have it. And that’s, I would say, the number one reason that they want to strike is to get illegal immigrants’ healthcare," Trump said.

Warren can make these exaggerated predictions and heartrending emotional appeals all she wants, but the truth is out there for anyone with eyes to see. Democrats don't care about the poor or the downtrodden; they just care about giving more free stuff to illegal aliens in hopes that they will someday become Democratic voters.

The federal government partially shut down after midnight on Wednesday, following the failure of Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement on a funding bill, the UK Daily Mail reported. President Donald Trump shared a photo taken during negotiations showing him pointing and smiling as a "Trump 2028" hat was positioned just so for the camera.

The president's meeting took place late into the night, with Vice President J.D. Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in attendance. The main sticking point for closing the deal was over cuts to healthcare subsidies.

Ultimately, an agreement couldn't be reached, and the deadline passed, meaning parts of the government were shut down beginning early Wednesday, with another vote planned for later in the day. However, Trump has not lost his sense of humor during it all and poked fun at Democrats with the photo, which he shared on his Truth Social and X, formerly Twitter, without a caption.

Perfect props

Trump knew he had the upper hand on the Democrats and took the opportunity of negotiations to troll them. Since the 2016 election, Trump's "Make America Great Again" signature red hats have thrown leftists into fits of rage. Now the president is sending them into orbit again with the "Trump 2028" hats, which some reports said were handed out during the meeting.

Jeffries claimed that they were not handed out, but "randomly appeared in the middle" of negotiations, which made for a great photo op for Trump. "He did not try to hand us the Trump 2028 hat. They just randomly appeared in the middle of the meeting on the desk. It was the strangest thing ever," Jeffries said.

The New York Democrat then asked Vance for his thoughts on whether Trump would really run again in 2028, which would be unconstitutional since Trump is already serving his second term and would knock Vance out of the logical next step, even if it were allowed. "No comment," was all the vice president had to say, which made everyone in the room laugh.

Hats that make Democrats go insane seemed to be the theme of the week for Trump. The president shared a video digitally altered for comic effect to make Schumer appear to give a speech about Democrats' failure to get support from minorities. In the background, a mariachi band plays while Jeffries, wearing a photoshopped hat and mustache, looks on beside him.

"There's no way to sugarcoat it, nobody likes Democrats anymore," the fake Schumer voice said, blaming the "woke" policies of the left. "Not even Black people wanna vote for us anymore, even Latinos hate us. So we need new votes. And if we give all these illegal aliens free healthcare, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can't even speak English, so they won't realize we're just a bunch of woke pieces of sh--." it said.

Shutdown presents opportunity

Republicans tried to pass a continuing resolution earlier this year to keep the government operational through November, but Democrats have failed to sign on. The left predicted several apocalyptic consequences for the shutdown, including a million military members going unpaid, many federal government workers being furloughed, and public services such as passport issuance, food inspection, and federal loan assistance being interrupted.

However, this move actually presents a new opportunity to streamline the government, which Democrats have now handed Trump and the GOP on a silver platter. "We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible--that are bad for them and irreversible by them--by cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like," Trump said Tuesday ahead of the shutdown.

"A lot of good can come from shutdowns," he reiterated later that same day. According to Fox News, Schumer used Trump's assessment about the benefits of a shutdown to slam the president.

"Well, there it is. Trump admitted himself that he is using Americans as political pawns. He is admitting that he is doing the firing of people. If God forbid it happens, he's using Americans as pawns," Schumer claimed. "As I said, Democrats did not want a shutdown. We stand ready to work with Republicans to find a bipartisan compromise, and the ball is in their court," Schumer said before negotiations.

The perennial threat of government shutdowns is growing increasingly tiresome with each attempt. Each side blames the other for it, and each time, nobody wins except the politicians, who ultimately get what they want anyway, in the form of increased spending. At least Trump appears to be on the side of the American people this time, and at the very least, he's providing comic relief.

Former President Barack Obama, once a literal superstar among leftists, appears to be losing his momentum after major setbacks in preserving his legacy, including issues with his presidential library and museum, The Daily Caller reported. The project is over budget and has taken five years to commence due to lawsuits and concerns about its impact on the neighborhood.

Obama was the king of cool when he was in the White House, but times have certainly changed since the 2010s. This won't bode well for the notoriously haughty former president, as he watches his legacy project crash and burn on the South Side of Chicago.

The multimillion-dollar project has many problems, but the most fundamental is that it's an eyesore. Commentator Benny Johnson interviewed people on the street, who shared their thoughts about the ugly building, with some describing it as a "prison," a " block of marble," and a "mausoleum."

Mounting issues

Not only is this building aesthetically unappealing, but it has also come with a myriad of problems from planning to construction. The sad, gray tower, which gobbled up 19 acres in the city, has displaced residents as it drives up rents and property values in the community, which is now undergoing gentrification.

There are also ballooning costs and underfunding in the project, which could be passed on to taxpayers. The president's libray and museum was first announced in 2015 with an original estimate at $300 million, but that figure increased to $500 million by the time the plans were finalized in 2017.

It took another four years before they finally broke ground, due to several lawsuits and continued pushback from residents worried about the impact on their neighborhood. By the time, the price tag had more than doubled from the original figures, coming in at $700 million.

These increased costs come as a funding shortfall appears to be developing, which could potentially put a strain on local taxpayers who will be expected to foot the bill despite promises that it would be fully funded. The 2021 budget revealed that operating costs are expected to exceed $40 million in the first year alone.

The original target for the Obama Foundation endowment to cover these costs was set at $470 million. Now it appears that the organization would need between $800 million and $1 billion to fully fund the library and museum. Unfortunately, the Obama Foundation has raised only a fraction of the amount originally estimated and has collected only $1 million of the pledged money for the endowment.

Election loss

Kamala Harris's disappointing showing in the 2024 presidential election was more than a loss for the then-vice president; it was a significant setback for all those who got behind her. Obama joined the chorus of Democrats claiming that Joe Biden was fit to run for reelection. In the final push for the White House, Obama inserted himself into the race in the hopes of bolstering her chances of winning. It did not.

According to Fox News, this triggered the Democratic Party to take an honest look at Obama and his true legacy, which included the election of President Donald Trump as his successor. Heavy hitters, including the former president, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, didn't move the needle for Harris despite their combined gravitas.

"I think there are going to be big demands for a greater reckoning," Julian Epstein, Democratic strategist, told the news outlet. "The Democratic politburo – Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, and others – all participated in the obvious lie that Biden was capable of a second term, in the anti-Democratic move to install a wholly untested Vice President Harris," Epstein said.

"And in lacking the courage for the past four years to stand up to a progressive left whose policies are far out of touch with most voters. They all failed the test of leadership in this respect," the political strategist added.

Obama was thought to be the pinnacle of success and was expected to usher in a new era of Democratic dominance in America. Instead, he gave us Trump and has continued to suffer several blows to his legacy as people, even in his own party, figure out that he was a terrible president.

Pundit Dan Abrams said Sunday on "ABC News This Week" that he thinks there's a 95% chance that former FBI Director James Comey will be acquitted on both of the felony charges he was indicted on last week. 

Abrams hearkened back to when the DOJ almost indicted Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe for lying about the same conversation in 2019, but they didn't do so.

Furthermore, the DOJ inspector general interviewed both McCable and Comey at that time, and thought Comey's version of events was more credible than McCabe's.

Abrams said, “When you talk about Andrew McCabe, for example, the Department of Justice inspector general looked into that, listened to what McCabe said, listened to what Comey said, and said we find Comey’s account more credible than McCabe’s. And what makes that particularly interesting is that they almost indicted McCabe back in 2019 for lying about the same conversation. They couldn’t get a grand jury to indict, and now they’re going to indict James Comey for that? So I don’t think that’s what this is about. I think, in the end, this is about another conversation.”

"Not certain"

Abrams went on to say that he didn't think most in the Trump administration even thought Comey would be convicted.

To that, he added his own belief that a conviction was extremely unlikely.

He said, “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, I don’t even think that many in the Trump administration believe they’re going to get a conviction. I think that there’s a 95%-plus chance that there won’t be a conviction. That it’ll either get dismissed by a judge, there’ll be a hung jury, there’ll be an acquittal."

He seemed to suspect that there was another motive at work behind the indictment, but he didn't know what it was.

"I’m not certain that that’s the end goal here," he said, speaking of a conviction. "And that’s what makes this so unusual. Because typically, a prosecutor’s office will not bring a case unless they think they can win it.”

Possible reasons

It's clear that Trump would want to go after Comey in any way he can.

After all, Comey was behind a lot of the actions that targeted Trump and tried to get him discredited, investigated and eventually, pursued criminally.

Is Trump doing the same thing he has accused his opponents of doing--engaging in a political prosecution of Comey?

Maybe he figures he might as well do it if the other side is doing it.

Or is he trying to get justice for the way Comey obviously wronged him?

President Donald Trump campaigned in part on a pledge to secure accountability for those who weaponized federal agencies in recent years, and last week’s indictment of one of his longstanding foes has been greeted by many supporters as a promising start.

As Just the News reports, former FBI Director James Comey, now facing criminal charges of making false statements to Congress, placed himself in legal peril by holding firm in 2020 testimony to prior denials of questionable conduct related to leaks of classified information.

Comey doubles down

The actions of the former FBI director were previously scrutinized amid the agency’s earlier Arctic Haze and Tropic Vortex leak inquiries.

Though details of Comey’s actions were reviewed by former U.S. Attorney John Durham, the controversial ex-FBI chief never faced criminal charges -- until this week.

This week, it was announced that a federal grand jury handed up two charges against Comey -- one for making a false statement and another for obstruction -- both stemming from claims that Comey misled lawmakers in September 2020 when he reiterated a prior 2017 denial of having approved a leak of information to the media regarding the Trump-Russia collusion probe or Hillary Clinton-linked investigations.

The indictment at hand claims that Comey “did willfully and knowingly make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the Government of the United States by falsely stating to a U.S. Senator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing….”

At issue was Comey’s reiteration of his prior statement that he had not “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports’ regarding an FBI probe concerning “PERSON 1,” an individual whose identity was not included in the indictment.

Statements under the microscope

The 2017 exchange that laid the groundwork for Comey’s later testimony came during a May 2017 Judiciary Committee hearing in which Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asked whether the witness had “ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation.”

Comey flatly replied, “Never,” prompting Grassley to continue his line of questioning.

The senator then asked Comey if he had “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation,” to which the longtime bureaucrat said, “No,” and when asked if details of the same had been declassified and shared with journalists, he replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

Though his exchange with Grassley is beyond the reach of the statute of limitations, Comey was again questioned on the topic in 2020 by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

When asked about testimony from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe indicating that such leaks did occur and that Comey authorized them, he said, “I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017.”

Prosecutorial prospects uncertain

Though many of the president’s supporters certainly hope that Comey’s own statements will be his undoing as the criminal case against him progresses, at least one prominent legal commentator has cast doubt on federal prosecutors’ ability to make these charges stick.

As The Hill reports, Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy has already gone on record saying, “I don’t think there’s a case, noting, “If you look closely at what McCabe said, what McCabe said was that he directed a leak to the Wall Street Journal and told Comey about it after the fact. So it’s true that Comey never authorized it in the sense of OKing it before it happened.” Whether his take on the situation ultimately proves correct or Comey ultimately receives the legal reckoning millions believe is long overdue, only time will tell.

President Donald Trump demanded that Microsoft, which has several government contracts handling sensitive data, "immediately terminate" Lisa Monaco as president of global affairs, the New York Post reported. Monaco was a former deputy attorney general under President Joe Biden and played a key role in prosecuting Trump and other January 6 defendants.

The president said Friday that Monaco is a "menace to U.S. National Security" in part because she's privy to "Highly Sensitive Information" in her position. Although it would not normally be appropriate for a president to interfere in a private corporation, Monaco's position in the company and her history of actively working against Trump call into question her fitness to continue.

The 57-year-old served as White House homeland security and counter terrorism adviser under then-President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. She joined the Biden administration and served as the second-in-command at the Department of Justice from 2021 to 2025.

During that time, she was involved in several legal actions against Trump, including the classified documents case and Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into election interference. Trump views this as evidence that Monaco has a proven vendetta against him and should be removed from Microsoft in light of its role in U.S. government technology.

Trump's Call to Action

The president posted to his Truth Social account on Friday, making his case against Monaco. He called her "Corrupt and Totally Trump Deranged." He cited her work under Biden, who, along with then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, were all the architects of the worst ever Deep State Conspiracies against our Country (RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, the January 6th Hoax, the Illegal Raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Biden 'Autopen' Scandal, the Documents Witch Hunt, and more!)," Trump charged.

"Monaco has been shockingly hired as the President of Global Affairs for Microsoft, in a very senior role with access to Highly Sensitive Information. Monaco’s having that kind of access is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand. She is a menace to U.S. National Security, especially given the major contracts that Microsoft has with the United States Government," Trump went on.

"Because of Monaco’s many wrongful acts, the U.S. Government recently stripped her of all Security Clearances, took away all of her access to National Security Intelligence, and banned her from all Federal Properties. It is my opinion that Microsoft should immediately terminate the employment of Lisa Monaco," Trump called on the tech giant.

"Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT," he concluded his post against Monaco. Whether Microsoft will comply with his request is still unknown.

Problematic Ties

If Monaco were doing her job as a prosecutor against Trump in a straightforward way, perhaps his case against her would be less compelling. However, her role is now in question with Smith is being investigated by GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, who contends that the prosecution was indeed politically motivated, though the former special prosecutor denies it.

This comes as Trump's Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey for making false statements about the Russia collusion scandal, which was the first to be pinned on Trump after he got into the political arena in 2016. Comey has maintained his innocence, but it's yet another in a line of actions that give credence to Trump's claim that all of his prosecutions were politically motivated.

Meanwhile, many have argued that Microsoft is too close for comfort to the government, and this conflict underscores one of the reasons why that might be the case.  The massive tech company is also facing renewed concerns about its potential monopoly, as it is under a Federal Trade Commission antitrust investigation that began under the Biden administration.

The FTC, supported by Democrats and Republicans, contends that the company has an outsized market share in artificial intelligence, cloud storage, and the Office suite of software. In a business decision that may bolster the government's case, Microsoft often bundles its Office, cloud services, and cybersecurity solutions for high-priced contracts, including those with government agencies.

There is too much coziness between the government and big tech, especially when it comes to the way Trump was treated by these companies for years. It seems there are too many anti-Trump leftists with too much power, and it's time someone calls them out for this.

President Donald Trump's administration has directed agencies to use the opportunity of an upcoming government shutdown to push through massive layoffs, Breitbart's John Nolte reported. An Office of Management and Budget memo has directed such action if Congress fails to reach a budget deal by September 30.

"The White House has already instructed federal agencies to plan for mass firings if Democrats shut down the government. So, let’s all do our part to encourage Democrats to shut down the government," Nolte quipped. If this goes through, it would send shockwaves through Washington, D.C. and Democrats could bet blamed.

Democrats have refused to pass a budget without inserting their own agenda items, including healthcare for illegal immigrants and other leftist pet causes. The official memo directs that "Federal programs whose funding would lapse and which are otherwise unfunded" in a government shutdown should "use this opportunity to consider Reduction in Force (RIF) notices for all employees in programs, projects, or activities" if they lack funding sources or "is not consistent with the President’s priorities."

As Nolte points out, in times past, these employees would be "furloughed during government shutdowns and then brought back after a deal is reached—which made all Normal People wonder why we need unnecessary bureaucrats at all? "This time, Trump's administration intends to answer that question by encouraging agencies ot cut staff.

Winning Strategy

Nolte believes Trump has crafted a winning strategy to trip up his political opponents. "This is powerful leverage for Trump because Democrats love bureaucrats because bureaucrats 1) vote Democrat and 2) make up the Deep State that constantly foils the will of Normal People when a Republican is in office," the author pointed out.

"So why won’t Democrats vote to fund the government? After all, it’s a simple process. The Republicans offered an easy-peasy clean continuing resolution, which essentially says the government will carry on spending like it has for the next seven weeks," Nolte continued.

That did not satisfy Democrats' pathological need to spend more. "According to Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) counter-offered with a demand for $1.4 trillion in new spending that, among other things, reinstates free health care for illegal aliens and funding for far-left NPR and PBS, and also pays to mutilate little kids to appease the left’s demonic trans godz," Nolte said.

Trump is fed up with the demands and flat-out refused further meetings with the Democratic Party's leadership. "After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive," Trump said of his decision.

The president named some of these offensive additions, including "…free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody," Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social. Now, it's up to Democrats to walk back those demands.

Checkmate

By recommending government layoffs in the event of a shutdown, Trump has maneuvered Democrats into a checkmate situation. "Trump can’t lose here," Nolte asserts about the president's plan. It appears he has his political adversaries right where he wants them.

"Democrats will be blamed for the shutdown. Bureaucrats will be fired (tee hee)," Nolte pointed out.

"On the other hand, if Democrats cave and vote for the continuing resolution, their base will be furious. Additionally, these insane demands from Democrats have already been made public, which will haunt them going into the midterms," Nolte added.

"Hopefully, Democrats will cave on the shutdown and Trump will fire all these people anyway. That would be awesome. Hey, if you’re not necessary, you’re not necessary. In the real world, once you become unnecessary, you lose your job. It has certainly happened to me, and I see no reason why federal bureaucrats paid for with our tax dollars should be immune," Nolte concluded.

Democrats like to try to scare the public with threats of a government shutdown, and they believe they can score political points by pinning the blame on Republicans when they do. However, people have grown tired of these hysterical predictions and would likely welcome some government downsizing, which leaves Democrats in quite a tough spot.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning that President Donald Trump may try to "rig the midterm elections" and suspend the 2028 presidential election, Fox News reported. The California Democrat made this statement on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Tuesday, but did not provide any evidence to support his assertion.

Trump had a decisive win in the 2024 presidential election, and Democrats are surely looking to the future since they have no talent waiting in the wings. Newsom seems to have White House aspirations of his own, which is likely why he's pushing this baseless theory about Trump to whip up their base.

The governor boasted about his work helping Democrats rebuild for the 2026 midterms and that he's "raising awareness around how Donald Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections," Newsom told Stephen Colbert. Then Newsom went on to make the most insane claim of all about Trump's future plans.

Patently Absurd

Nevertheless, Newsom pushed the most patently absurd theory that Trump will somehow make sure that there is no election to replace him, even as the president will be an octogenarian and the U.S. Constitution forbids him from running for reelection. "I fear that we will not have an election in 2028," Newsom claimed.

"I really mean that in the core of my soul. Unless we wake up to the code red, what’s happening in this country — we wake up soberly to how serious this moment is," he added. Colbert's studio audience heartily cheered over Newsom's suggestion as the segment ended for a commercial break.

Of course, by the time the 2028 presidential election rolls around, Trump will be 82 years old and will have served a combined eight years as president which really pushes the bounds of believability. It's quite clear that the real motivation for this nonsense from Newsom likely stems from what he said earlier in the interview about his efforts to rehabilitate the Democratic Party and encourage political discussion with some on the right.

"I think it’s important to have those civil engagements. I think it’s important to dialogue. It’s important to learn from your opponents, and it’s important to reconcile your weaknesses," Newsom said of his willingness to speak with conservatives, including Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, whom he interviewed shortly before the 31-year-old political activist was assassinated.

"As a Democratic Party, we have a lot of work to do to make up for our failures in the past. We got crushed in this last election, and now we are in a position where we are struggling to communicate, we’re struggling to win back now the majority in the House of Representatives," Newsom said.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Newsom is correct about the state of the Democratic Party, but rather than solving the root problems, the governor spent time earlier in the interview attacking Trump. "A lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of folks that honestly don’t know if we’re going to get our country back, and I get it," Newsom explained.

"This guy is flooding the zone. He’s dominating the narratives. Facts don’t seem to matter, and Democrats, frankly, have had a difficult time pushing back," Newsom added.

The governor sympathized with Democrats who "feel this weakness that dominates our brand and our party." However, Newsom believes the answer to this is more resistance against Trump, which is arguably what has ruined their party, as it has failed to coalesce around any other mission besides opposing the president.

"And I think what people appreciate is that we’re willing to fight and not only fight symbolically by having a little bit of fun but fight substantively. We have 41 lawsuits against the son of a b----. We’re pushing back, and we’re winning," Newsom bragged, clearly anticipating its effect as an applause line.

Newsom stands out as one of the few politicians who are so ambitious yet so terrible in his job as governor. His tough talk and warnings about a rigged election sound eerily similar to Trump's legitimate gripes, but Newsom's strategy to become Democrats' Trump will surely backfire once the campaigning becomes serious.

Accused assassin Tyler Robinson will remain in the jail's "special housing unit" after his mental health evaluation has been completed, Fox News reported. Robinson is being held on aggravated murder and other charges after allegedly gunning down Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

Kirk died at the hands of his alleged assassin, who, by all accounts, fired a single shot at the 31-year-old. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, and Robinson has been charged with his killing as well as a felony weapons charge, two counts of witness tampering, and another charge for committing a violent offense with a child present.

Robinson was taken to the special housing for an evaluation, and he will remain there even as the Utah County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the screening was completed. "Robinson has been seen by our medical and mental health staff," Sgt. Ray Ormond told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

"Due to patient privacy regulations, I'm not able to [go] further into that. Robinson will stay in our special housing unit for the time being," Ormond said. There's no word on the particular results of the mental health screening that may be keeping Robinson there, and Ormond wouldn't disclose whether Robinson will stay there for good. "That's not set in stone, and his housing location may change down the road."

They're watching

One of the reasons an inmate may stay in such a unit is because of concerns about his mental health or ability to get along in the general population. As the sheriff's office previously noted, Robinson was being kept there so officers could "keep an eye on him," which could suggest mental illness or other concerns.

The department further explained that a person might stay on "special watch" due to suicidal comments or ideation, violence, or other behavioral issues, and even the type of crime the inmate is accused of committing. Robinson has not made any suicidal threats that the sheriff's department is aware of, but authorities have not specified any additional reason why he's being so closely monitored.

While the public isn't being told much about his current condition, there's a good chance that his mental state will come up as part of the trial. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani speculates that the authorities' decision to leave Robinson in the special housing unit "suggests that he should not be housed with the general population," which hints at mental health issues, she told Fox News Digital.

"A full mental health evaluation will be conducted by his defense team to try to negotiate a plea deal to save his life, to put on an insanity or diminished capacity defense during the guilt phase, which is challenging under Utah law, or to put on evidence of mitigation during the death penalty phase," Rahmani added. Based on what is known about Robinson thus far, making the case that he's mentally ill will not be a far leap.

According to the New York Post, Robinson had a "furry fixation" and was living with Lance Twiggs, a 22-year-old gender-confused man who was transitioning to be a woman. Robinson reportedly had an account on FurAffinity.net, which features all sorts of disturbing images, including "sexualized images of cartoon animal characters," and possibly committed the crime for political motivations.

His defense

While authorities are mum on Robinson's possible suicidal tendencies, the 22-year-old suspect was wearing a suicide prevention vest during his first court hearing on Sept. 16 via video conference, which might suggest a motive for his continued residence in the special unit, as People noted last week. A still from that hearing was shared to X, formerly Twitter, by TheBlaze Media, showing a stone-faced Robinson wearing the vest with its velcro restraitns.

Although Robinson turned himself in to the authorities, he pleaded not guilty to the charges set by the state. The accused assassin is facing the death sentence in Utah, but as Newsweek noted, questions about Robinson's frame of mind or mental health during the alleged crime could take that option off the table.

Attorneys could assert that Robinson committed the crime while under "extreme emotional distress" as a mitigating factor. Utah law explains it as a situation where "a person acts under the influence of extreme emotional distress when he is exposed to extremely unusual and overwhelming stress that would cause the average reasonable person under the same circumstances to experience a loss of self-control and be overborne by intense feelings, such as passion, anger, distress, grief, excessive agitation, or other similar emotions."

Whatever the reasons for monitoring Robinson, there are still many questions left open about the alleged killer's motives and whether he had help in planning the attack. This was an unspeakably horrific crime committed in front of spectators that day and the millions who watched on social media, and careful steps must be taken to ensure justice is done.

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