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Fox Host Hits Chris Christie With Brutally Honest Election Assessment

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Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This has to sting…

Fox host Stuart Varney did not shy away from telling former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that he doubts the presidential candidate will succeed while discussing the upcoming debate.

Before adding his opinion on Christie’s electability, Varney asked the candidate to give some insight into the current debate stage.

“Of the people who are going to be on the debate stage less than two weeks away. Here’s your opportunity. Who do you think spews, if I may use that word, the most BS?” Varney asked.

“Well, Stuart, I’ll just base it on the last debate and it’s no doubt it’s Vivek Ramaswamy. He has absolutely no clue what he’s talking about on Ukraine. No idea what he’s talking about with China and Taiwan. He wants to abandon Israel. This is a guy who has read a lot of books but hasn’t done much. And so I think he wins the award from debate number one. But we’ll be together in California in two weeks. We can make a decision who spews the most in debate number two,” Christie asked.
“So you will make that decision, will not be me,” quipped Varney, asking, “You think you can win?”

“Of course,” Christie shot back.

“You have to believe you can win. But realistically, sir, I don’t think you could win the governorship of New Jersey at the moment,” Varney added, pressing the issue hard.

“Oh, look, I don’t. Well, I think given what Phil Murphy’s done, I think it could win the governorship of New Jersey again if I ran,” Christie replied, adding, “But that’s not what I’m running for. I’m running for president United States. Right now, we’re in second place in New Hampshire ahead of Ron DeSantis, ahead of Nikki Haley.”

“And that’s your big hope, isn’t it? Sure. Catch up in New Hampshire and Iowa. That’s your big hope,” Varney followed up.

“Yes. New Hampshire is where we’re staking a lot of our hopes and South Carolina. But remember, when each one of those primaries or caucuses happen, it changes the race completely where people actually vote as opposed to all the polling that we see. Polling is just hot air. Voting is when you go in and you make your voice heard. That’s what we’re counting on in New Hampshire in late January. And I’ll come right on Varney & Company after I win the New Hampshire primary. We can talk about it then,” Christie responded as the interview ended on a friendly note.

Governor Kristi Noem Of South Dakota Set To Endorse Trump Friday

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Kristi Noem is set to make waves in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.

According to inside sources, the popular governor of South Dakota is expected to endorse former President Donald Trump at a rally in Rapid City on Friday.

The decision comes amid reports that Trump is considering Noem as his running mate.

As CNN reports:

Once a potential 2024 candidate herself, Noem initially inched away from Trump after last fall’s midterm elections and the launch of his latest campaign. She told The New York Times at the time that she didn’t believe the former president offered “the best chance” for the Republican Party in 2024.

However, the South Dakota governor has since changed her tune, opting out of a White House bid and offering support for Trump. But Noem is still angling to be in the 2024 discussion. She’s remained in contact and on good terms with the former president, according to sources familiar with their interactions. Ads touting her state’s low taxes and job openings aired during last month’s first Republican presidential debate and since then on Fox News. She also attended that debate, bringing donors as guests.

Noem has another connection: Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager and confidant, has advised her since 2020. Lewandowski’s on-again-off-again relationship with the former president has leveled, according to sources, and he now regularly speaks to Trump.

“The fact is, none of them can win as long as Trump’s in the race. And that’s just the facts. So why run if you can’t win,” Noem, who has been in touch with Trump and his team, said of the former president’s primary rivals in an interview on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

Noem has generally demurred when asked about her interest in the vice presidency. Still, she told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “Of course [I] would consider it” if Trump offered.

This article first appeared in American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

New Poll Exposes Democrats’ True Thoughts About Biden

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Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

There’s a wealth of new polling data on the Democratic presidential nomination contest, with polls from The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press both finding that even Democratic voters are concerned that President Joe Biden is too old to run.

The AP/NORC poll of adults (not registered voters) found that 77 percent of respondents believed Biden was too old to serve another term.

And for the hardened Team Blue partisans who shout “ageism!” at such findings…69 percent of self-identified Democrats said Biden’s age is a big issue (among Republicans, it was a whopping 89 percent – which shouldn’t come as a surprise).

But this must be a fluke, an outlier, and a one-off. Surely, the age issue can’t be that big a deal for Mr. Biden. Except The Wall Street Journal poll confirmed it is.

The Journal asked a split question – one if voters think Biden’s mental fitness is sufficient for the job, the other specifically on whether he is “too old.”

On the mental ability, 60 percent questioned Biden’s mental ability. On age, a total of 73 percent said he is “too old.”

What are the comparable numbers for former President Donald Trump?

A 49-46 split says Trump isn’t mentally up for the job. On age, another spilt, with 47 percent saying he’s too old and 45 saying he isn’t.

As always with polls, the numbers are snapshots in time and subject to change.

What these data points do, though, is reinforce narratives that have long been whispered in Democratic circles: Biden’s time has passed, and he would be wise to bow out and allow someone else to take the fight to what looks like Donald Trump in 2024.

But such whispers against an incumbent are very hard to translate into hard reality. What could bring them a tad bit closer to the fore are the other items in the Journal poll, particularly the sense that most people think the economy has hit a rough patch, and they are feeling the effects:

…58% of voters say the economy has gotten worse over the past two years, whereas only 28% say it has gotten better, and nearly three in four say inflation is headed in the wrong direction. Those views were echoed in the survey by large majorities of independents, a group that helped deliver Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential race. Voters were almost evenly split on the direction of the job market.

It’s not a wipeout for Biden, but the data are hardly comforting to an incumbent who has staked his presidency on a massive reworking of the economy, with government intervention and support leading the way. Team Blue partisans will say it’s early, these things take time, etc., etc. And they aren’t entirely wrong.

But there’s also the iron law of politics to contend with: if you’re explaining, you’re losing. And until the data show voters are feeling better about their own particular economic situation, then Mr. Biden will need more than a slogan – “Bidenomics” – and promises of widespread prosperity to save his own political future.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Great America News Desk. It first appeared in American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

White House Press Secretary Rushes To Biden’s Defense After Doocey Asks New Provocative Question

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White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing on Friday, July 30, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott)

“President Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history. Why does the White House staff treat him like a baby?”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre became visibly agitated after receiving that question from Fox News Correspondent Peter Doocy.

Doocy asked the provocative question in response to revelations in a new book, claiming White House staff treat the 80-year-old president “like a toddler.”

Fox News has more, including Jean-Pierre’s reaction:

“No one treats the president of the United States, the commander in chief, like a baby. That’s ridiculous. It’s a ridiculous claim,” Jean-Pierre responded.

Doocy cited an upcoming book by The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer, “The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future,” in which the author writes that Biden, after appearing to call for regime change in Russia in March 2022, “fumed to friends about how he was treated like a toddler.”

“Was John Kennedy ever babied like that?” Biden asked, according to the book.

Jean-Pierre dismissed the excerpt, arguing that books inevitably get written about every administration with “a variety of claims.”

When Jean-Pierre attempted to pivot to Biden’s trip to the upcoming G20 summit in India, Doocy brought up a Wall Street Journal Poll showing two-thirds of Democrats believe Biden is too old to run for president.

“Look, here’s what I know. Here’s what I can speak to. I can speak to that – a president who has wisdom. I can speak to a president who has experience. I can speak to a president who has done historic – has taken historic action and has delivered in historic pieces of legislation. And that’s important,” an increasingly impatient Jean-Pierre retorted.

This piece was first published in American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

Legal Theorists Try To Attack Trump. Their Argument May Be Dead On Arrival.

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A novel legal theory from two conservative legal scholars published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review that a section of the 14th Amendment makes Donald Trump ineligible to run for president may be getting a court hearing in Florida.

As Ballot Access news editor emeritus Richard Winger notes:

On August 24, a Florida voter, Lawrence Caplan, filed a federal lawsuit seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from being placed on 2024 ballots as a presidential candidate. Caplan v Trump, s.d., 0:23cv-61618.

Caplan, who appears to be representing himself in the case, writes:

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which provides for the disqualification of an individual who commits insurrection against our government has remained on the books for some one hundred and fifty plus years without ever facing question as to its legitimacy. While one can certainly argue that it has not been thoroughly tested, that fact is only because we have not faced an insurrection against our federal government such as the one while we faced on January 6, 2021. It should also be noted that President Trump has since made statements to the effect that should he be elected, he would advocate the total elimination of the US Constitution and the creation of a new charter more in line with his personal values.

Winger believes Caplan’s suit is “misguided:”

The Fourteenth Amendment “insurrection clause” bars individuals from being sworn in to certain offices, but it does not bar them from seeking the office. When the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, there was no mechanism to prevent any voter from voting for any candidate.

Caplan appears to be taking the law review article’s authors, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulson, at their word:

“No official should shrink from these duties. It would be wrong — indeed, arguably itself a breach of one’s constitutional oath of office — to abandon one’s responsibilities of faithful interpretation, application, and enforcement of Section Three,” Bode and Paulsen write.

Alternatively, ordinary citizens could file challenges on the same grounds with state election officials themselves.

And other such suits may emerge over the coming weeks. I’m not convinced any federal judge will be willing to read Section 3 like Baude and Paulson say it should be. It’s not because the Section’s words aren’t clear – they are.

My concerns are akin to those of Cato’s Walter Olsen, who writes:

…no one should assume that just because Baude and Paulsen have made a powerful intellectual case for their originalist reading, that the Supreme Court will declare itself convinced and disqualify Trump. Justice Antonin Scalia memorably described himself as a “faint‐​hearted originalist,” which captures something important about the thinking of almost every Justice—if overruling a wrongly decided old case threatens to disrupt settled expectations to the point of spreading chaos and grief through society, most of them will refrain. Stare decisis, and a general preference for continuity in law, still matters.

Exactly. While some judges may nurse images of themselves as bold crusaders for justice, most jurists aren’t eager to upset established practice and precedent on a whim. Though, to be fair to the times when such upsets have occurred – Brown v. Board of Education, for example, or Griswold v. Connecticut – have been warranted, necessary, and beneficial.

Does that apply in the Caplan case? A court will decide. But as I’ve long said about Trump, the only court he cares about is public opinion. If voters reject him, that will carry more weight and sanction than any court could ever deliver.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Great America News Desk. It first appeared in American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

Blake Masters Looks To Run For Arizona’s Senate Seat Once More

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Blake Masters speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Despite losing to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022, Blake Masters plans to run for the United States Senate again.

This time against Kyrsten Sinema.

Confirmation from Masters may come as soon as next week, as Politico reports:

Masters did not reply to a request for comment. Masters won the GOP nomination last year but lost to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in a critical swing state.

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s advisers say she is expected to announce a Senate campaign in early fall, though some Republicans are skeptical Lake and Masters would run for the same seat. Pinal County sheriff Mark Lamb is another GOP candidate.

Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist, said he talked to Masters a few months ago and he “was pretty decisively in.” However, he said, Masters had been waiting for Lake to decide whether to run.

“I think he is now under the impression that maybe Kari Lake isn’t going to run, because I’ll tell you if Lake and Blake are both in, he is wasting his time,” he said. “They occupy the same lane. They have nearly the same name. And she has much better positive name ID among Republicans than Blake does.”

In March 2022, Masters resigned from Peter Thiel’s firm to run for Senate. Within three months, he secured endorsements from Thiel and former President Donald Trump, leading to a comfortable victory over Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in the Republican primary.

However, Sen. Kelly defeated Masters by 4.9 percentage points. Kelly enjoyed a massive fundraising advantage, raising $75 million compared to Masters’ $12 million.

On the campaign trail, Kelly utilized the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Masters’ support for privatizing Social Security, and his flip-flopping on the 2020 presidential election to weaken his support with Republican-leaning voters and moderates.

This article first appeared in American Liberty News.

Trump Now Has One Less Primary Rival

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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaking with attendees at the 2023 Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has dropped out of the Republican presidential primary. The mayor suspended his campaign a week after he failed to qualify for the first Republican presidential debate.

“Running for President of the United States has been one of the greatest honors of my life. This country has given so much to my family and me. The prospect of giving back at the highest levels of public service is a motivator if not a calling,” Suarez said in a statement. “Throughout this process, I have met so many freedom-loving Americans who care deeply about our nation, her people, and its future. It was a privilege to come so close to appearing on stage with the other candidates at last week’s first debate.”

Suarez was the only Hispanic candidate on either side in the race for the White House.

Suarez launched his campaign a little over two months ago, attempting to mimic Ronald Reagan’s big tent policy.

Per CNBC:

Suarez, a Cuban American, touted his Hispanic heritage and billed himself as a unifier in a politically polarized country. He also ran on his record courting the tech industry to invest in Miami, and leaned into his pro-cryptocurrency views by accepting campaign donations in bitcoin.

“I will continue to amplify the voices of the Hispanic community – the fastest-growing voting group in our country,” Suarez said in Tuesday’s post.

“I look forward to keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans’ trust in our institutions and in each other, and win,” he wrote.

Suarez was the third Republican from Florida to run for the 2024 presidential nomination, sharing that trait with Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. But while Trump has loosed a relentless barrage of attacks against the governor, the former president rarely, if ever, mentioned the mayor.

This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

Amanda Head: Biden’s Lastest Disgusting, Racist Lie

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The Biden Presidency has been built on lies, but have you heard his latest one?

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Amanda Head: They Are Already Trying 2024!

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Is this the “election variant”? See what Amanda has to say below!

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Is Vivek Ramaswamy The GOP’s New Trump ‘Lite’?

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Vivek Ramaswamy speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

ANALYSIS- Who is this skinny guy with the funny-sounding name? (That was his opening line at the debate). Vivek Ramaswamy wasn’t supposed to be at the center of the first Republican presidential candidate debate in Milwaukee.

Ron DeSantis was supposed to be the viable GOP alternative to Donald Trump. A two-term governor of the third most populous state in the union, DeSantis, a Navy veteran who served in Iraq, is as conservative as they come.

And he has a proven track record of fighting the left in Florida – and winning.

But despite his solid bona fides and resume, DeSantis has a personality problem. He just doesn’t exude charm or confidence, and that’s hurting him – a lot.

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy the 38-year-old Trump-defending, Cincinnati-born, biotech billionaire (worth at least $950 million), son of Pakistani immigrants, kind of stole the show at the debate.

According to former FBI agent and body language expert, Joe Navarro: “[Ramaswamy] consistently looked the most comfortable on stage.”

He was also the most openly and unabashedly pro-Trump. He was the first candidate to raise their hand when asked who would support the former President as the party nominee even if he is convicted on felony charges that he’s facing.

He has also promised to pardon Trump if elected. But he went even farther than that.

“President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century,” Ramaswamy said in a clip from the debate Trump posted on Truth Social.

And Trump loved it.

“This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH. Thank you, Vivek!”

The ever-smiling political newbie Ramaswamy, who seemed to be having a blast on stage, was also the target of many of his GOP rivals.

As TIME reported:

Maybe it was Ramaswamy’s consistent and confounding defense of All Things Trump. Maybe it was his smooth talk and culture-war acumen. Maybe it was just the fact that Ramaswamy frankly does not care how things were done before and might just have enough self-made money to go the distance.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie snarled that he had “had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT,” an A.I. battery. He then dismissed Ramaswamy as someone on the same level as a political figure universally loathed in the GOP. “The last person in one of these debates… who stood in the middle of the stage and said, ‘What is a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?’ was Barack Obama. And I am afraid we are dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight,” Christie said.

But the quick witted Ramaswamy’s riposte to Christie was a zinger: “Give me a hug like you did to Obama, and you’ll help elect me just like you did to Obama. Give me the damn hug, brother.”

Ramaswamy was referring to the 2012 incident when Christie was accused of “hugging” Obama during his visit in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy which hit days before the 2012 presidential election.

It’s a claim that Christie has been denying since then, saying: “I didn’t hug him.”

Photos at the time seem to back up Christie, but the zinger still worked.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN under Trump, and ex-South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, who is of Indian descent, hit Ramaswamy too: “You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows.”

I would agree with that assessment and believe he has made a few deeply flawed important national security statements – including on Ukraine and Israel.

But he is super smart and can learn quickly.

Then Vice President Mike Pence took a Christie-like jab at Ramaswamy, attacking the very same quality that originally helped raise Trump in the GOP base – that he is not a politician.

“Now it’s not the time for on-the-job training,” retorted Pence. “We don’t need to bring in a rookie. We don’t need to bring in people with no experience.”

AS TIME noted: “Attacks during debates are the norm but this was different. Ramaswamy’s competitors really don’t like him. Not even a little.”

However, there is one important GOP rival who seems to like Ramaswamy – Donald Trump. And that could be all that matters.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.