Portland has dropped the disorderly conduct charges against independent journalist Nick Sortor, who was arrested on October 2 while covering attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities and agents, Breitbart reported. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office has now promised to go after the two men who were reportedly pummeling Sortor when police arrested all three of them.
On Monday, District Attorney Nathan Vasquez announced that he'd dropped the charges against the independent journalist and frequent Fox News guest. "After a careful review of the investigation, including reports and video, we do not believe the crime of Disorderly Conduct can be proven against Mr. Sortor beyond a reasonable doubt," Vasquez claimed.
Portland has a history of tacitly supporting civil unrest, and last week's arrest was a rarity that somehow included charging the alleged victim. Vasquez attempted to take the 'all-sides' approach in his remarks about the situation in a news release.
"Free speech does not include the freedom to commit crimes. It does not matter if an individual is expressing ideology from the left, right, or center. What matters is whether or not there is evidence to prove a crime was committed," Vasquez claimed.
For his part, Sortor was grateful that Vasquez was doing the right thing after the fact, but he promised this wouldn't be the end of it. "Trust me. This is ONLY the beginning," Sortor wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on October 6.
Indeed, it appears that Sortor will be taking legal action against the Portland Police Department. In a post to X on Monday, Sortor's attorney, Angus Lee, drafted a letter to Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day claiming that his client was singled out by "a member of the command staff and/or a supervising officer" for arrest rather than just an officer on the scene who made an error.
The Vancouver, Washington, attorney said this was instead "part of a larger pattern and practice within the Portland Police Bureau of suppressing and silencing conservative media and political activity." Lee made demands to be met within seven days of the letter, including a "formal apology to sortor" and "the initiation of an internal investigation into the circumstances of this arrest, including the involvement of supervisory or command staff personnel,” Lee stated in his letter.
“Mr. Sortor hopes the Bureau will take immediate corrective action and demonstrate a renewed commitment to constitutional policing, the protection of free expression, and accountability within your department," he added. The final line promised they would "proceed accordingly" if these demands were not met.
Hey @PortlandPolice Chief Day:
Check your inbox!
We’re FAR from done here 😏 pic.twitter.com/0vhvjXd1Ab
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 6, 2025
Like many other conservative journalists, Sortor was attempting to call attention to the situation in Portland, whereby the city is often under siege from protesters as law enforcement does little to stop it. The leftist extremists who run the city have no interest in restoring law and order, as evidenced by recent legal action seeking to keep the National Guard from restoring peace.
As Fox News reported, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from deploying troops to assist federal agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security in quelling the riots and attacks against them. Even after the injunction was issued on Sunday, agents made arrests and used tear gas to stop what the president called "violent riots" sparked off by ICE raids.
The Pentagon maintains that "while federalized Oregon National Guard members remain under T10 status, there are no Oregon National Guard members on mission in or around the Portland area." Nevertheless, the federal government is not about to cede the city to these insurrectionists.
"The facts haven’t changed: President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement. We expect to be vindicated by a higher court," said spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement.
The situation in Portland is out of control, but leftists seem intent on leaving it that way as long as it's politically expedient. Trump has every right to use the power of the federal government to restore order, and conservative journalists like Sortor have an obligation to show the American people the truth of what's happening as Trump cheers on truth tellers like him.
Matt Van Epps will find out his fate on Tuesday after President Donald Trump's eleventh-hour endorsement in the primary for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, Fox News reported. The election followed the resignation of Republican Rep. Park Green, who vacated the seat to take a job in the private sector in June.
The former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services received Trump's endorsement late last week, even as early voting had already closed. Also in the running for the spot are Tennessee state Reps. Gino Bulso, Jody Barrett, and Lee Reeves, who would later suspend his campaign and endorse Van Epps after Trump made his pick late in the race.
On the Democratic side are businessman Darden Copeland, as well as state Reps. Aftyn Behn, Bo Mitchell, and Vincent Dixie. The primary winners from the respective parties will face off in a special election on December 2, but the GOP has an advantage as Trump won the district, which covers the central and western parts of the state, by 20 points in the last presidential election.
Many believe Trump's endorsement in this district is a significant win, setting Van Epps apart from the pack after the race had become a test of MAGA loyalty. On Monday, the conservative group Club for Growth hosted a tele-rally featuring Trump and Van Epps as part of the final push.
Trump released a statement as soon as he pledged his support to Van Epps, but he reiterated the sentiments in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday in an effort to get out the vote for his chosen candidate. "VOTE TODAY!" Trump urged on his social media platform.
"It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot Matt Van Epps, who is running to represent the Great People of Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. A West Point Graduate, and Combat Decorated Army Helicopter Pilot, Matt knows the WISDOM and COURAGE required to Defend our Country, Support our Incredible Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH," the president touted of his Van Epps' service.
"In Congress, Matt will work hard to Keep our now very Secure Border, SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Grow our Economy, Cut Taxes, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Champion School Choice, Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment. He is strongly supported by my good friend, Congressman Jim Jordan, and many other highly respected MAGA Warriors!" Trump added.
"Matt Van Epps has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Congressman from Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" the president concluded. This enthusiastic support from the president was not shared by others, however.
Despite receiving Trump's backing, some Republicans are expressing their misgivings about Van Epps because of his role during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response coordinator. In a Tennessee Star opinion piece, author Karen Rupert Rayl took Van Epps to task over his role in perpetuating the COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
"Matt Van Epps may tout certain credentials, but actions speak louder than words. A true conservative doesn’t hide behind a desk, rubber-stamping policies that erode our God-given rights. A true conservative stands up for parents, business owners, and children when the government oversteps," Rayl asserted.
"Van Epps failed that test. His bureaucratic role in administering the state’s response during COVID aligns him more with Anthony Fauci’s top-down control than with the principles of limited government we hold dear in Tennessee," she added. Attacks against Van Epps seem to center around identifying him with Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who ran the national COVID-19 response.
His opponent, Barrett, has utilized the smear as a campaign strategy and incorporated it into his campaign website. Whether this strategy will overcome the momentum from president's endorsement will be up to the voters who cast their ballots to decide whether the GOP has another Trump ally in the House of Representatives.
It's a smart strategy for Republicans to unite behind a candidate in such a crowded field. Regardless of who wins in the primary, the real test of strength will be whether the GOP can get behind whichever candidate becomes the nominee.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed at President Donald Trump's urging to review Hawaii's gun law that restricts people from carrying a firearm on private property unless the owner specifically allows it.
The Trump administration encouraged the court to rule on the Hawaii law in light of its 2022 ruling that expanded Second Amendment protections broadly.
Three Hawaii residents sued the state's attorney general, Anne E. Lopez, and the lower courts split on the decision.
The district court blocked the law, but the appeals court reversed the decision. In April, the petitioners submitted the case to the Supreme Court.
"In holding the Second Amendment does not apply to private property open to the public, the Ninth Circuit’s decision renders illusory the right to carry in public," attorneys Kevin O'Grady and Alan Alexander Beck wrote in the petition.
In May, the United States filed a supporting brief urging the reversal of the appeals court ruling.
"The structure and operation of Hawaii's law reveal that the law serves no legitimate purpose and instead seeks only to inhibit the exercise of the right to bear arms," Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, Deputy Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris and Assistant to the Solicitor General Vivek Suri wrote.
The brief also called the rule a "near-complete ban" that "deprives individuals who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights of their ability to 'go about their daily lives.'”
Opposing counsel argued that the law balances gun rights and public safety.
"Neither petitioners nor the government has offered any persuasive reason to disturb the court of appeals’ conclusion that Hawai‘i’s default-property rule withstands constitutional scrutiny at the preliminary injunction stage," the opposing brief read.
No timetable was given for when the case will be heard, but the acceptance of the case means it will be heard and a ruling given in the coming months.
If the case does overturn the Hawaii law, it would still restrict guns on private property to those who have obtained permits and followed other gun laws in the state.
Gun control advocates warn that more guns in malls and offices could lead to more shootings.
Gun control opponents say that more lawful gun carrying could stop potential shooters and protect the public.
Though Democratic socialist New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani has been riding high in the polls for months, he has also been a source of controversy within his party regarding the reluctance of some to offer full-throated support.
Now, with Election Day growing nearer, New Jersey Democrat gubernatorial Mikie Sherrill is among those walking a tightrope between endorsing the far-left firebrand next door and attempting to keep her distance from such a polarizing figure, as Fox News reports.
The national attention that has been trained on the Big Apple’s mayoral contest is undeniable, and it is starting to have an impact on seemingly unrelated races, in part due to GOP efforts to link Mamdani’s extreme agenda to the national Democratic Party.
As such, Sherrill has been pressed to weigh in on whether she stands in support of Mamdani’s bid to helm New York City, a question that has put more than a few liberal politicians in an uncomfortable position in recent months.
At a recent gubernatorial candidate forum, Sherrill was again asked to declare whether she is endorsing Mamdani’s candidacy, and it soon became clear that she wanted no part of the discussion.
“I am not getting engaged in that race because I’m completely focused on New Jersey. I’m going to let the people of New York decide that race,” Sherrill stated.
Noting that New Jersey voters “are constantly talking to me about affordability,” a key tenet of Mamdani’s campaign platform, Sherrill again demurred on whether she backed his candidacy, declaring, “Again, I’m focused on the New Jersey race, and that’s a New York race. I’m not registered to vote there. So I’m focused here.”
Mamdani has nabbed some very high-profile endorsements, including from the Democratic National Committee itself.
Also voicing support for his candidacy have been liberal heavy-hitters such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jerrold Nadler, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, seemed to resist the idea of throwing her support toward Mamdani most of the summer, only recently adding her name to the candidate’s list of prominent supporters.
Notably absent on Mamdani’s current list of endorsements are the names of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Republican efforts to tie Mamani’s rise -- and the socialist policies for which he advocates -- to the future of the national Democratic Party, have been viewed as part of an effective messaging campaign that could harm liberals’ prospects in the 2026 midterm elections and beyond, potentially explaining the reluctance of folks like Sherrill to endorse.
Conventional wisdom during the current cycle has been that unless a few members of the crowded mayoral field were to exit the race, Mamdani stood a strong likelihood of victory.
The recent departure of Mayor Eric Adams from his re-election has -- at least temporarily -- boosted former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s fundraising coffers and his hopes of an upset, but whether that will be enough to close what remains a significant gap in voter support, only time will tell.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has canceled next week's vote in a bid to force Democrats' hand in approving Republicans' spending bill, The Hill reported. Democrats have repeatedly rejected passing a continuing resolution, which would keep the government operational for an additional seven weeks until a budget deal can be reached.
Republicans have drafted a "clean" bill that Democrats could vote on immediately to end the shutdown. Instead, they've let it drag on so that they can blame Republicans while hoping to hold out long enough to get their spending priorities funded, including reversing spending cuts made earlier this year.
However, Johnson is onto their tricks and has already been dropping hints that he might decide to cancel the vote altogether in the House of Representatives, just ahead of the Senate's revote. "The House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government," Johnson said.
Sure enough, Johnson designated a "district work period" for the week of Oct. 7-13, meaning business will not be conducted in the House of Representatives. Johnson canceled votes last week for the Senate, but he's excused the House lawmakers, who have been on recess since the shutdown began, from duty for another week.
At the beginning of last week, Johnson had promised to continue and planned to bring congressional representatives back to Washington, D.C., for the coming week. "Yes, the House will be returning next week, and they would be here this week, except that we did our work," Johnson said on Wednesday.
"But there is nothing truly that we can do, much on the floor, while the lights are almost literally out here. We have to open the government," Johnson later added.
Now it seems that both sides are unwilling to budge, and it has them locked in an impasse as the government grinds to a halt. Republicans believe they have crafted an acceptable spending bill, but Democrats continue to hold out for their pet causes as the closure drags on.
"We passed it, and it's been rejected by the Senate. So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That's plain and simple," Johnson told reporters Friday, according to Fox News.
Still, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has promised to bring his caucus to Washington, D.C. this week and has kept House Democrats in town despite the shutdown. House Republicans were expected to participate in a conference call Saturday morning as well.
Friday's downvote marks the fourth time the Senate has voted against the Republicans' effort to keep the government open with a continuing resolution. Instead, Democrats want to pack additional spending onto the budget, including $88 million in extra security for lawmakers and extending the Obamacare healthcare subsidies set to expire this year.
They also want to reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill" earlier this year. Democrats also wish to reinstate funding for PBS and NPR, which are supposed to be for the public good but are just leftist mouthpieces anyway.
Democrats are playing games, both with the spending bill and the way they're characterizing the decision to shut down Congress. They have accused Republicans of purposely delaying a vote, forcing the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) needed the signature of one more lawmaker to make it happen, but will fall short now that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) can't be sworn in.
Republicans see this for what it is as a political ploy, but Democrats believe they have another issue to club Republicans with after this. "Johnson and the House Republicans care more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people," Schumer claimed.
Both sides blame the other for the shutdown, but it's clear that Democrats want to make political capital that they believe comes from holding out. Unfortunately for them, they've likely gravely miscalculated as the American people saw through their tricks enough to vote against them in the first place.
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.
MADELEINE DEAN: The president is unhinged. He is unwell.
MIKE JOHNSON: A lot of folks on your side are too
DEAN: Oh my god, please. That performance in front of the generals?
MIKE JOHNSON: I didn't see it
DEAN: It's so dangerous! Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies… pic.twitter.com/WNvZRo638S
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2025
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.
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.
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.
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2025
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.
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."
I asked Chicago residents what Obama’s new presidential library looks like.
Number one response: “A prison”
Other answers:
- Garbage can
- a Rock
- Block of Marble
- Tardis
- Mountain
- ATC Tower
- Mausoleum
- a JailTotally Humiliating.
What do you think it looks like? pic.twitter.com/mT5kZseX09— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 20, 2025
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.
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.”
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.”
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?