Happy Election Day! Today millions of Americas will flood the polls to cast their ballots as Republicans eagerly await to regain a majority in Congress.
Watch Amanda break it down below:
Don’t know where your polling station is? Click HERE to find out how to vote!
President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated the idea that Americans could see their federal income taxes drastically reduced—or potentially eliminated—if tariff revenue continues to rise, calling the amounts collected under his administration “so great… so enormous” that the government may be able to abandon the current system.
Speaking to reporters in a post–cabinet meeting press gaggle, Trump said, “at some point in the not too distant future you won’t even have income tax to pay,” arguing that tariff-driven revenue could eventually replace money now raised through taxes on wages and personal income.
“Whether you get rid of it or just keep it around for fun or have it really low, much lower than it is now, but you won’t be paying income tax,” Trump added.
If pursued, the proposal would amount to one of the biggest shifts in the U.S. tax structure in generations. The federal income tax is a central funding source for Washington, while tariffs—taxes on imported goods—have historically played a smaller role in modern federal budgeting. Trump, however, has repeatedly praised an older era of American finance, when the federal government relied more heavily on customs duties and other consumption-style taxes.
“It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” the president said in January. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign nations, we should be tariffing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens.”
Trump has previously previewed narrower versions of the same concept. Earlier in his second administration, he floated eliminating income tax for individuals earning under $150,000, again describing tariffs as the replacement revenue stream. That idea—like full repeal—would still require major legislative action and raise large questions about how the federal government would maintain funding levels for defense, Social Security and Medicare administration, interest payments on the national debt, and other functions now supported by income-tax receipts.
The president has also framed the idea as a common-sense bargain rather than a technical redesign of federal finance. Asked by podcaster Joe Rogan whether he was serious about eliminating personal income taxes, then-candidate Trump replied, “Yeah, sure, why not?” and suggested tariffs could fund government operations “instead of wage taxes.”
Even if the White House embraces the concept, the path to implementation is steep. Eliminating or dramatically shrinking the income tax would require rewriting large sections of the tax code—changes that must pass Congress and withstand scrutiny from budget scorekeepers and lawmakers concerned about deficits, household costs, and the economic consequences of sharply expanding tariffs. Those hurdles could be especially high amid tight margins in the House, where leadership often struggles to keep large coalitions together on complex fiscal votes.
Trump’s views on taxation have also shifted over time. During his brief exploration of a 1999 presidential run under the Reform Party banner, Trump considered a one-time “net worth” tax for people with wealth over $10 million—an approach that contrasts with his current push to shift more of the federal tax burden toward imports.
While outright abolition of the income tax has traditionally been a fringe policy idea, Trump’s increasingly explicit endorsement has pushed it closer to mainstream political debate—especially as tariffs become a larger and more central feature of his economic message.
President Donald Trump will reportedly announce during a trip to Saudi Arabia that the United States will refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf.
Two unnamed U.S. officials reportedly informed the AP on Tuesday that Trump was planning to officially rename the gulf as tensions with Iran continue to escalate.
While it has been predominantly referred to as the Persian Gulf since the 16th century, Gulf Arab states – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates – have sought to remove Persia from the name and commonly refer to it as the Arabian Gulf.
In the United States, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency uses “Persian Gulf” as the “conventional” name for the gulf, but also lists “Arabian Gulf” and “Persian-Arabian Gulf” as variants.
According to the report, “The U.S. military for years has unilaterally referred to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases.”
President Trump controversially renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America following his inauguration in January.
Last month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Iran there would be “all hell to pay” if they refused to agree to Trump’s demands over the country’s nuclear program.
In March, Trump also warned Iran they would “suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire,” if they continued to back the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
On Tuesday, President Trump hinted that he would soon make a “very big” announcement ahead of his planned trip to the Middle East.
“We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make, like as big as it gets,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where was is meeting with Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney. “And I won’t tell you on what … and it’s very positive.”
“It is really, really positive. And that announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave,” Trump added. “But it’ll be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject, very important subject. So you’ll all be here.”
After that, the president asked Carney if he’d like to say a few words.
“I’m on the edge of my seat,” Carney said, drawing laughter from the press before thanking Trump for his “hospitality” and “leadership.”
Former President Donald Trump will be able to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation in May, according to Judge Juan Merchan.
Merchan, who is presiding over the New York hush Money trial, said Tuesday that Trump would be permitted to attend the May 17 ceremony in lieu of court proceedings. The judge had previously delayed his decision earlier this month on whether Trump would be able to attend the graduation.
The Hill has more:
Trump had previously railed against Merchan for delaying the decision, slamming the judge for potentially barring him from attending the event. Under New York state law, Trump is required to attend the entirety of his trial unless he gets special permission from the judge to skip.
“I was looking forward to that graduation with his mother and father there,” Trump told reporters at the time. “It looks like the judge isn’t going to allow me to escape this scam. It’s a scam trial.”
Other Republicans and Trump allies also criticized Merchan after he delayed the decision. Another of Trump’s sons, Eric Trump, said earlier this month that the judge “is truly heartless in not letting a father attend his son’s graduation.”
Trump is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
On Tuesday, Judge Merchan also fined the former President nearly $10,000 for repeatedly violating the gag order barring him from targeting witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the judge’s family.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said on Monday she would not support a move by Senate Democrats to temporarily replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I will not go along with Chuck Schumer’s plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges,” Blackburn said on Twitter on Monday. “Joe Biden wants the Senate to rubber stamp his unqualified and controversial judges to radically transform America.”
Feinstein, 89, has been away from the Senate while recovering at home from a shingles diagnosis. Last week, two House Democrats called for her to resign from the chamber. She has missed 60 of the 82 votes taken in the Senate this year.
“It’s one thing to take medical leave and come back. It’s another thing when you’re just not doing the job,” Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said to Fox News on Sunday. “The reality here is there’s this sense, ‘Well you need to have a deference to these senators who have served so long.’ How about a deference to the American people?”
Along with Blackburn, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also signaled that he would not be supportive of the move to replace Feinstein on the panel.
“Republicans should not assist Democrats in confirming Joe Biden’s most radical nominees to the courts,” Cotton said on Twitter over the weekend.
The move to temporarily replace Feinstein would require Republican support, with 60 votes needed in the full chamber to confirm the replacement. When Feinstein called for the replacement, it was unclear whether GOP lawmakers would be supportive of a move that could help Democrats confirm more judges.
“If this goes on month after month after month, she will need to make a decision with her family and her friends about what the future holds. This isn’t just about California. It’s also about the nation. We just can’t, with a one-vote margin, expect every other person to be there every single time. It could become an issue as the months go by, but I’m taking her at her word that she’s going to return,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
Feinstein has already said she will not seek another term for her Senate seat, which she was first elected to in 1992.
If the senior lawmaker does resign, it would mean Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) would get to appoint a replacement until an election is held for the seat.
Former President Trump is reigniting his feud with Fox News. Over the weekend Trump called out the right-leaning cable news network for “pushing Democrats and the Democrat agenda” on TRUTH Social. However, while Trump is no stranger to fighting with Fox News his next message is what truly surprised his supporters.
Trump suggested that far-left news network CNN, which is in the midst of a massive re-branding under new President Chris Licht, “go conservative” and he even offered to help. In his TRUTH message, Trump said the move rightward would likely be a “goldmine” for CNN, but that doesn’t mean Licht is ready to take any business advice from Trump.
According to Mediaite:
Wow! Fox News is really pushing the Democrats and the Democrat agenda. Gets worse every single day. So many Dems interviewed with only softball questions, then Republican counterparts get creamed. RINO Karl Rove is unwatchable, very negative, and on all the time – Has a big record of losing! Not an easy place to be as a Republican, especially with all of the “pervert” purchased ads. If “low ratings” CNN ever went Conservative, they would be an absolute gold mine, and I would help them to do so!
Trump’s taking issue with “RINO Karl Rove” is nothing new. His openly calling out the programming of Fox News isn’t new either. However, it comes at a time when Fox News’s editorial hand is being somewhat forced by President Joe Biden’s Thursday night speech that called out the extremist nature of MAGA Republicans.
Fox News opinion programming will need to decide whether they are throwing in with the MAGA side of the GOP or will be more interested in a more traditional Republican platform and personality. We know what Trump and his followers want, but the decision will likely come from following what presents a bigger audience and greater revenue windfall.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is facing fierce backlash online after suggesting President Donald Trump is to blame for a small plane crash in Georgia last weekend.
Swalwell took to social media to declare that Trump has had “more planes crash” in his first month in office than any other U.S. president. He then doubled down on the comment with a blunt statement to Fox News Digital.
“Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault,” he said.
The lawmaker made his initial comment in reaction to a small private plane crash that took place this weekend in Covington, Georgia, which left two people dead.
Social media users began to pile on immediately, calling out Swalwell for what they saw as an unfair connection to Trump.
“Are you suggesting the catalysts for those crashes were all caused by policies changed in the last month?” one user wrote.
“You really do have TDS. Grab some coffee and take a walk,” wrote another user who goes by the name of SouthernRepublicanMomma.
Georgia’s crash saw a single-engine airplane take off from the Covington Municipal Airport at 11 p.m. on Saturday. Ground control lost communication with the plane roughly 20 minutes later, at which point police officers located the plane crashed near the runway.
The plane’s two occupants were immediately announced dead at the scene.
“On February 15, 2025, the Covington Police Department officers responded to the Covington Municipal Airport at approximately 11:21 p.m. after receiving a call from the FAA in reference to a single-engine aircraft that had taken off at approximately 11:00 p.m. There was no further communication from the aircraft after takeoff,” the Covington Police Department said in a statement.
White House communications director Steven Cheung tore apart Swalwell in a statement reacting to his claim.
“Swalwell must be taking his orders from Fang Fang or suffering from a severe debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome because there is no other reason anyone with a functioning brain would make that that type of false and disgusting claim. He is a complete disgrace not only as an elected official, but as a human being who has continued to beclown himself,” Cheung said.
The incident comes in the wake of multiple other plane crashes in recent weeks, the most dramatic being the collision of a helicopter and a commercial airliner in the skies over Washington, D.C. last month.
Elon Musk is officially the new CEO of Twitter. After a rocky acquisition, Musk has officially been installed as the platform’s new leader and he wasted no time making some notable personnel changes.
Watch Amanda break down the situation below.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is leading the latest Democratic push to remove President Donald Trump from office—but like past efforts, this one faces steep odds, even as it draws a larger bloc of support.
Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has rolled out a new bill backed by roughly 50 House Democrats that would create a commission to evaluate Trump’s mental fitness under the 25th Amendment.
The proposal would assemble a bipartisan panel of physicians and former top officials to determine whether Trump is “mentally or physically unable” to carry out his duties.
“The Constitution explicitly vests Congress with the authority to create a body that will guarantee the successful continuity of government by responding to presidential incapacity to discharge the powers and duties of office,” Raskin said. “We have a solemn duty to play our defined role under the 25th Amendment by setting up this body to act alongside the Vice President and the Cabinet.”
He added, “Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations.”
Raskin has also formally pushed for a medical evaluation of the president, citing what he called “incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening” public comments tied to the Iran conflict.
But here’s the reality: the effort is a long shot.
Republicans still control both chambers of Congress, meaning the bill is unlikely to pass—and even if it did, Trump could veto it. More importantly, the 25th Amendment would require Vice President JD Vance and the Cabinet to sign off on removing Trump, a scenario widely seen as improbable.
Even in the unlikely event that hurdle were cleared, Congress would still need a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to make any removal permanent.
In other words, this is far from a realistic path to ousting the president.
Still, the size of the backing is notable. About 50 Democrats have signed on, making this one of the more organized removal efforts of Trump’s second term so far.
It also comes amid a broader wave of attempts by Democrats to challenge Trump’s presidency—from new impeachment articles filed by multiple lawmakers to calls for the 25th Amendment following his escalating rhetoric on Iran.
That pattern isn’t new. Trump was impeached twice during his first term, with both efforts ultimately failing to remove him from office in the Senate. Now, similar political battles are resurfacing, though with slightly broader coordination this time.
The White House quickly dismissed Raskin’s latest push.
“Lightweight Jamie Raskin is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person,” said spokesperson Davis Ingle. “President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when Democrats like Raskin intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people.”
Trump himself has defended his rhetoric, arguing his hardline stance forced Iran to the negotiating table and helped secure a temporary ceasefire.
For now, Raskin’s plan is unlikely to go anywhere. But the growing number of Democrats backing it—and the renewed push for impeachment and removal—signals that the political fight over Trump’s presidency is only heating up.
Vanessa Trump is moving forward with optimism as she continues her battle with breast cancer.
The former wife of Donald Trump Jr. shared a heartfelt update with supporters Saturday, revealing that she has spent the past several weeks recovering from surgery and is preparing to begin the next phase of her treatment.
“I wanted to share an update on my cancer journey,” Trump wrote in an Instagram post. “Over the past four weeks, I’ve been recovering from surgery and I’m grateful to be healing and moving forward. Soon, I’ll be starting the second stage of my treatment. Sending love, strength, and hope to everyone fighting this battle.”
Vanessa first revealed her diagnosis publicly on May 20, telling followers that she was focused on her health and recovery while surrounded by loved ones. At the time, she briefly referenced an upcoming medical procedure but chose not to disclose many details about her treatment plan.
In Saturday’s update, Trump did not elaborate on the surgery or the next stage of treatment. Instead, she emphasized gratitude and the support system helping her through the difficult journey.
“I am staying focused and hopeful while surrounded by the love and support of my family, my kids, and those closest to me,” she previously wrote, adding, “I kindly ask for privacy as I focus on my health and recovery.”
The update prompted an outpouring of support from friends, family members, and followers. Ivanka Trump publicly shared her encouragement, writing, “Praying for your continued strength and a swift recovery. Love you mama.”
Vanessa and Donald Trump Jr. were married for more than a decade and share five children together: Kai, Donald III, Tristan, Spencer, and Chloe. Though the couple divorced in 2018, they have remained committed co-parents, frequently appearing together at family milestones and supporting their children’s activities.
The latest health update comes during a busy season for the extended Trump family. Just weeks ago, Donald Trump Jr. married Bettina Anderson during a ceremony in the Bahamas over Memorial Day weekend, bringing together family and friends for the celebration.
Meanwhile, Vanessa’s relationship with golf icon Tiger Woods has also drawn public attention in recent months. The pair have largely kept their romance private, though reports have suggested Woods has remained supportive as Vanessa navigates treatment and recovery.
For now, Vanessa appears focused on her health, her family, and the road ahead — while continuing to receive support from those closest to her as she begins the next chapter of treatment.
