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    Biden Remains Defiant In Letter Shared With Congressional Democrats

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    6
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    He’s in it to win it…

    Despite a bevy of public pleas, President Joe Biden informed colleagues that he would not bow out of the race according to a letter sent to Congressional Democrats.

    “I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” the president wrote in the letter.

    Biden posted the letter himself to his X account.

    Biden, 81, said he’s had “extensive” talks with Democrat leaders and he’s heard the “concerns” about his chances at beating Trump amid concerns about his age.

    Numerous lawmakers have publicly called for Biden to remove himself from the ballot this November.

    Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first sitting Member of Congress to publicly encourage Biden to step down earlier this week. In a more damning appearance, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi switched from accusing Trump of having dementia to validating questions about Biden’s mental acuity, further fueling the debate over his capacity to lead. 

    Last Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) seemed to signal support for the idea of Biden stepping away from the race and seemed to promote himself as an alternative candidate. 

    Read the full text of the letter below:

    JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.
    July 8, 2024

    Fellow Democrats,

    Now that you have returned from the July 4th recess, I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.

    I have had extensive conversations with the leadership of the party, elected officials, rank and file members, and most importantly, Democratic voters over these past io days or so. I have heard the concerns that people have — their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them. Believe me, I know better than anyone the responsibility and the burden the nominee of our party carries. I carried it in 2020 when the fate of our nation was at stake. I also know these concerns come from a place of real respect for my lifetime of public service and my record as President, and I have been moved by the expressions of affection for me from so many who have known me well and supported me over the course of my public life. I’ve been grateful for the rock-solid, steadfast support from so many elected Democrats in Congress and all across the country and taken great strength from the resolve and determination I’ve seen from so many voters and grassroots supporters even in the hardest of weeks.

    I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.
    We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,900 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin. This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me. One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for being too old and was soundly defeated. The voters of the Democratic Patty have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party.

    Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say?

    I decline to do that. I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year. It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned. The voters — and the voters alone — decide the nominee of the Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party? I cannot do that. I will not do that.

    I have no doubt that I — and we — can and will beat Donald Trump. We have an historic record of success to run on. From creating over 15 million jobs (including 200,000 just last month), reaching historic lows on unemployment, to revitalizing American manufacturing with 800,000 jobs, to protecting and expanding affordable health care, to rebuilding America’s roads, bridges, highways, ports and airports, and water systems, to beating Big Pharma and lowering the cost of prescription drugs, including $35 a month insulin for seniors, to providing student debt relief for nearly 5 million Americans to an historic investment in combatting climate change.

    More importantly, we have an economic vision to run on that soundly beats Trump and the MAGA Republicans. They are siding with the wealthy and the big corporations and we are siding with the working people of America. It wasn’t an isolated moment for Trump to stand at Mar-A-Lago and tell the oil industry they should give him $1 billion and he will do whatever they want.

    That’s whose side Trump and the MAGA Republicans are on. Trump and the MAGA Republicans want another $5 trillion in tax cuts for rich people so they can cut Social Security and Medicare. We will never let that happen. It’s trickle-down economics on steroids. We know the way to build the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down. We are finally going to make the rich and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes in this country. The MAGA party is also still determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which could throw 45 million Americans off their coverage. We will never let that happen either. Trump got rich denying rental housing to Black people. We have a plan to build 2 million new housing units in America. They want to let Big Pharma charge as much as they want again. What do you think America’s seniors will think when they know Trump and the MAGA Republicans want to take away their $35 insulin — as well as the $2,000 capon out-of-pocket prescription costs we Democrats just got them? Or what do you think American families are going to think when they find out Trump and the MAGA Republicans want to hit them with a new $2,500 national sales tax on all the imported products they buy.

    We are the ones lowering costs for families — from health care to prescription drugs to student debt to housing. We are the ones protecting Social Security and Medicare. Everything they’re proposing raises costs for most Americans — except their tax cuts which will go to the rich.

    We are protecting the freedoms of Americans. Trump and the MAGA Republicans are taking them away. They have already for the first time in history taken away a fundamental freedom from the American people by overturning Roe v. Wade. They have decided politicians should make the most personal of decisions that should be made by women and their doctors and those closest to them. They have already said they won’t stop there — and are going after everything from contraception to IVF to the right to marry who you love. And they have made it clear they will ban abortion nationwide. We will let none of that happen. I have made it clear that if Kamala and I are reelected, and the nation elects a Democratic House and Senate, we will make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again. We are the ones who will bring real Supreme Court reform; Donald Trump and his majority want more of the same from the Court, and the chance to add to the right-wing majority they built by subverting the norms and principles of the nomination and confirmation process.

    And we are standing up for American democracy. After January 6th, Trump has proven that he is unfit to ever hold the office of President. We can never allow him anywhere near that office again. And we never will.

    My fellow Democrats — we have the record, the vision, and the fundamental commitment to America’s freedoms and our Democracy to win.

    The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.

    Sincerely,

    Joseph R. Biden Jr.
    President of the United States of America

    Arizona Republican Launches Campaign For Governor

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    1
    By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America - Karrin Taylor Robson, CC BY-SA 2.0,

    On Wednesday, Arizona Republican Karrin Taylor Robson launched her comeback gubernatorial bid.

    Robson, a small business owner and lawyer, launched her campaign with a new ad centered on President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and her desire to help take back her state from incumbent Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs. 

    Robson lost her primary bid in 2022 to Trump-backed Republican nominee Kari Lake.

    Robson scored early support from Trump less than two months ago during his visit to Arizona as president-elect.

    “I thank President Trump for his strong endorsement and look forward to working with him to secure our border and make Arizona safe again,” Robson said in a statement first obtained by Fox News Digital. “Katie Hobbs has made it harder to live, work, and raise a family safely in this state. Like President Trump, I know how to create jobs. And like President Trump, I will not rest until our border is secure and Arizona families are safe,” she continued.

    “Katie Hobbs and Joe Biden’s insane agenda has made life more expensive and dangerous,” Robson stated. “I will fight every day alongside President Trump for stronger borders, a stronger economy, and a stronger Arizona.

    President Trump said Robson would have his support if she ran for governor while he was delivering remarks at Turning Point Action’s AmericaFest in December.

    “Are you running for governor? I think so, Karrin, ’cause if you do you’re gonna have my support, OK?” Trump said at the time.

    Cook Political Report ranks the general election race as a “toss-up,” likely making it one of the most competitive races in the upcoming midterms.

    The “Building A Better Arizona PAC” launched last month backing Robson, who formerly served on the Arizona Board of Regents. Former Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham and former Arizona Senate President Karen Fann created the group.

    The primary is Aug. 4, 2026. It’s unclear if Hobbs will face a major challenger in the Democratic primary.

    Robson will likely face off against another pro-Trump Republican during the primaries. Supporters of Rep. Andy Biggs hope that the president will shift gears and back his campaign instead, given his strong political agreements with him.

    The congressman has already gained the endorsements of Reps. Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, and Eli Crane.

    “Andy Biggs is the greatest thing since sliced bread,” Sen. Mike Lee( R-Utah) said on X. “Arizonans, do yourselves a big favor and elect this man as your next governor!” 

    Trump Urges Governors to Embrace AI Data Centers as Public Opposition Grows

    By
    admin
    -
    1
    President Donald J. Trump visits the El Arepazo Doral restaurant, Monday, March 9, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

    President Donald Trump is urging governors and mayors to welcome artificial intelligence data centers into their communities, arguing that the enormous facilities will generate jobs, tax revenue and technological breakthroughs even as Americans increasingly express concerns about their impact on electricity, water and the environment.

    Speaking during a White House meeting with technology and cryptocurrency industry leaders, Trump argued that communities rejecting data-center projects risk being left behind as the United States races to expand its AI infrastructure.

    “If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous, and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous,” Trump said.

    “And if you don’t take it, you’re going to be left behind because there are plenty of places that want it,” he added.

    “Many of them are designed in a very beautiful way,” he said. “It’s really very positive.”

    Americans Aren’t So Sure

    Trump acknowledged that the rapidly expanding industry may need “a little public relations help,” and polling suggests he has a point.

    A Gallup poll released in May found a majority of Americans opposed construction of data centers in their own communities. Among the major concerns are the facilities’ substantial electricity and water requirements, as well as their potential environmental effects.

    The electricity issue has become particularly contentious as the AI boom accelerates. Data centers require enormous quantities of power to operate servers and cooling systems, raising questions about whether their expansion could strain electrical grids or ultimately increase utility costs for ordinary consumers.

    The Trump administration has attempted to manage that backlash by encouraging technology companies and data-center developers to secure additional sources of electricity rather than simply adding their enormous demand to existing grids.

    Trump has also backed efforts to speed construction. An executive order issued in July 2025 called for accelerating federal permitting for qualifying data-center infrastructure.

    The president argued Wednesday that communities should weigh those concerns against the economic benefits the projects can bring.

    Trump Points to Jobs and Medical Breakthroughs

    Asked what he would tell Americans who remain skeptical about AI, Trump again emphasized employment while making a broader case for the technology’s potential.

    “I think it’s going to create a lot of jobs. It’s going to create success. It’s going to create tremendous innovation medically,” Trump said.

    He referenced an unspecified medical development he had recently reviewed involving a “pretty unstoppable disease.”

    “All of a sudden they’re coming up with answers that they never thought were possible,” Trump said.

    AI is already being explored for uses ranging from drug discovery and medical imaging to disease detection and personalized treatment, making health care one of the areas frequently cited by the industry’s proponents when arguing that the enormous investments in computing infrastructure could produce benefits beyond the technology sector.

    Trump Wants Regulation Without ‘Stifling’ AI

    The administration is simultaneously confronting another question: how aggressively Washington should regulate a technology Trump believes could become even more consequential than the internet.

    “We’re leading by a lot with AI. We want to keep it that way,” Trump said. “We want to regulate, but we want to have regulation where they can continue to lead, not regulation that’s going to stifle a very important industry.”

    Trump has made winning the global AI race a significant economic and national-security priority of his second administration.

    On his second day back in office in January 2025, Trump appeared alongside technology executives to announce Stargate, a private-sector venture with plans to invest as much as $500 billion in American AI infrastructure.

    Its flagship data-center complex in Abilene, Texas, has since become partially operational, while additional projects have been pursued around the country.

    But the scale of the buildout has also transformed data centers from an obscure piece of digital infrastructure into a local political issue. Communities that once competed enthusiastically for major corporate investments are increasingly weighing promised construction jobs and tax revenues against higher electricity demand, water consumption, land use and potential effects on utility bills.

    READ NEXT: Biden Weaponizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be ‘Woke’

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    Report: Vance Gave Clinton Camp A Warning About Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    1
    Hillary Clinton via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Vice President JD Vance reportedly opened a private channel to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, urging her team to change course in the Midwest as Donald Trump closed in on the White House.

    The previously unreported episode adds a striking new chapter to Vance’s well-known evolution from a fierce Trump critic into the president’s running mate and one of the most prominent figures in the MAGA movement.

    According to a new Vanity Fair profile by Chris Whipple, Vance repeatedly asked an intermediary connected to Clinton’s campaign to put him in touch with Jake Sullivan, who was serving as one of Clinton’s senior policy advisers.

    The intermediary recalled Vance saying, “I hate Hillary. But I hate Trump more.”

    A Midwestern Warning Clinton Did Not Heed

    Vance reportedly believed Clinton was in danger of losing the industrial Midwest and wanted her to make an urgent appeal to voters in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

    The source told Vanity Fair that Vance wanted Clinton to spend less time campaigning with celebrities and more time confronting the anger surrounding her 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq. His argument centered on working-class communities that had sent family members to war and felt forgotten by national leaders.

    Vanity Fair reported that Vance eventually spoke directly with Sullivan roughly six weeks before Election Day.

    A second source close to Sullivan confirmed that a conversation occurred but offered a narrower recollection. That person did not remember Vance laying out a broader strategy for the so-called Blue Wall states. The source did recall Vance pressing Clinton’s team to repair the damage from her “basket of deplorables” remark about Trump supporters and warning that she needed to sharpen her focus.

    Clinton ultimately lost Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania—three states Democrats had carried in every presidential election since at least 1992. Trump captured all three by narrow margins, breaking through the Democratic firewall and winning the presidency.

    Vance’s Office Pushes Back

    Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk disputed Vanity Fair’s description of the outreach.

    Van Kirk said Vance did not work for either campaign and was encouraging politicians in both parties to pay attention to working-class communities like his hometown of Middletown, Ohio. The spokesperson said the vice president’s office “100 percent reject[s]” the suggestion that his purpose was to help Clinton win.

    The report does not claim that Vance formally joined Clinton’s campaign or held any official role. Its central allegation is that he privately delivered political advice to a senior Clinton adviser because he wanted Trump defeated—a characterization his office denies.

    From Never Trump To Trump’s No. 2

    Vance’s opposition to Trump in 2016 was never a secret. While promoting his bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, he publicly called himself a “Never Trump guy,” described Trump as unfit for office and ultimately voted for independent conservative Evan McMullin rather than Trump or Clinton.

    His position changed in the years that followed. As Vance entered the 2022 Ohio Senate race, he apologized for his earlier attacks and aligned himself with Trump’s political movement. Trump endorsed him in a crowded Republican primary, Vance won the Senate seat, and Trump selected him as his running mate in 2024.

    The new account is especially notable because Vance’s reported advice identified the very weakness that helped decide the 2016 election: Clinton’s failure to hold key Midwestern states. It also reveals just how far the future vice president may have been willing to go at the time to stop the man whose administration he now helps lead.

    Still, the most explosive interpretation remains contested. Vanity Fair’s sources portray Vance as trying to help Clinton defeat Trump. Vance’s team portrays the conversation as a bipartisan plea for Washington to stop ignoring working-class America.

    Vanity Fair’s account, including confirmation from a second source that Vance and Sullivan spoke, offers the clearest description yet of the distance between Vance’s 2016 politics and his role in the Trump White House today.

    Trump Responds To Biden’s ‘Garbage’ Comments

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Donald Trump had a surprising reaction to Biden’s shocking “garbage” comments on Tuesday.

    The Republican nominee called on his supporters to forgive him during a packed rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

    “Please forgive him for not knowing what he said,” Trump said. “These people are terrible, terrible, terrible to say a thing like that. But he really doesn’t know. He really honestly, he doesn’t. And I’m convinced that he likes me more than he likes Kamala. But that’s a terrible thing.”

    Watch:

    Trump’s call for unity – and forgiveness – came after the president called Trump supporters’ garbage during a get-out-the-vote call for Voto Latino.

    In remarks from the White House, Biden had said earlier to Latino voters:

    And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Well, let me tell you something. I don’t– I– I don’t know the Puerto Rican that– that I know– or a Puerto Rico, where I’m from– in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people.

    The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters– his– his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.

    Biden’s comments came after Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

    White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that President Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”

    “The president was referencing a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he likened Puerto Rico to an island of floating “garbage” in the middle of the ocean,” Bates said.

    Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity Tuesday that Hinchcliffe was not vetted by the campaign but that he saw the outcry as no “big deal.”

    Hannity asked, “Do you wish [Hinchcliffe] wasn’t there?”

    Trump responded, “Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes, and probably he shouldn’t have been there.”

    It’s Time To DRAIN THE SWAMP! Stop Supporting Career Politicians – Elect Dave McCormick! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! Help us win back the Senate.

    Retired Conservative Judge Says American Democracy ‘In Peril’ Due to Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    10
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig says that America’s democracy is at risk due to the current state of the Republican Party.

    Luttig, a conservative-leaning former judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, joined CNN This Morning on Wednesday to discuss the “decay” of the Republican Party under Donald Trump’s leadership.

    “What do you think has happened to your party?” Harlow asked Luttig.

    His answer:

    Frankly, I don’t care about the Republican Party at all, except to the extent that the two political parties in America are the political guardians of democracy in our country. American democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties. So, today, in my view, there is no Republican Party to counter the Democratic Party in the country. And for that reason, American democracy is in grave peril.

    “There is no Republican Party?” Harlow asked him. Luttig explained by outlining his view that “a political party is a collection, an assemblage of individuals who share a set of beliefs and principles and policy views about the United States of America.”

    “Today there is no such shared set of beliefs and values and principles, or even policy views, within the Republican Party for America,” Luttig determined. “Until or unless the Republican Party can pull itself together into a credible Republican political party, we simply don’t have two competing parties in America.”

    NYC Mayor ‘Welcomes’ Possible Trump Support After Corruption Indictment

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams is looking for support anywhere he can get it.

    Adams said he would “welcome support from every American” in response to a question from the Washington Examiner about whether he would accept former President Donald Trump’s favor.

    Trump recently said he had predicted Adams would be “indicted within a year” as the mayor called for federal government funds to deal with the city’s migrant crisis.

    “Listen, I welcome support from every American,” Adams said Tuesday at a press conference. “No matter where they are and who they are, I welcome support from every American. Those who know me and know how I am, and those who are just reading up on this. So every American in this great country, I welcome support from.”

    Trump’s comments last week suggested that he sympathized with the mayor.

    “I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them,” the former president said. “And I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year,’ and I was exactly right.”

    Watch:

    An Adams spokesman believes press coverage of Adams’s remarks has been misguided.

    “This is a distortion of what the mayor said today,” Fabien Levy, Adams’s deputy mayor for communications, said in a social media post. “He never said he was looking for Trump’s support. Mayor Adams has said multiple times that he supports Kamala Harris for president. In fact, the mayor traveled to Chicago to support her historic nomination in August.”

    Adams was recently indicted on five corruption charges, including bribery and wire fraud, for his actions allegedly soliciting benefits from foreign nationals, namely Turkish government officials, in exchange for favors.

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams could be facing a bevy of new charges after being indicted last week in a federal corruption case. On Wednesday, prosecutors said that further counts are “quite likely” and that more defendants may be implicated.

    I Am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT! There are those who will do whatever it takes to stop us, but I will never stop fighting for you. I will never surrender! Your support means everything to me. Together, through our UNITY, we will Make America Great Again!

    George Santos Deserves Prison, Not A Pardon

    By
    Alex Muse
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    2
    (Miami - Flórida, 09/03/2020) Presidente da República Jair Bolsonaro durante encontro com o Senador Marco Rubio..Foto: Alan Santos/PR

    George Santos did not stretch the truth. He did not fudge numbers. He did not run afoul of technicalities in campaign finance law. He stole, lied, and exploited vulnerable people for personal and political gain. These were not victimless crimes, nor were they victimless lies. They were part of an elaborate scheme to build a fraudulent political career on a foundation of stolen funds, fictitious wealth, and unearned trust. It is time conservatives stop equivocating. If George Santos were not a thief, he might have been a talented, even promising political figure. But he is a thief, and a spectacularly cynical one at that. He stole from the old and the sick, he stole from donors, he stole from the US taxpayer. He is not a misunderstood maverick or a casualty of overzealous prosecution. He is a con man, and a criminal.

    Let us begin, as the law did, with the false image he built. Santos, through deliberate lies to the Federal Election Commission and his own party, fabricated a story of fundraising success. In early 2022, he claimed to have raised over $250,000 in a single quarter from third-party donors, including a personal loan of $500,000 to his own campaign. These were lies. He did not have the money. He did not receive these donations. But this mirage of financial viability was just enough to secure his acceptance into the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” program, granting him financial, logistical, and strategic support. The GOP, believing they were backing a legitimate, self-sustaining candidate, diverted valuable resources to a fraud.

    But Santos did not merely fake donor support. He invented donors. Using the identities and financial information of real people, Santos charged their credit cards repeatedly, funneling the proceeds into his campaign, other political committees, and even his own bank account. Nearly a dozen people were victimized, including individuals least capable of defending themselves. One woman, suffering from brain damage, had thousands of dollars withdrawn without her consent. Two elderly men in their eighties, each suffering from dementia, had their identities stolen and their cards charged. These were not passive accounting errors or clerical mistakes. These were acts of intimate, cold exploitation. Santos knew these people, spoke with them, thanked them for their support, and then used their vulnerability against them.

    In one egregious instance, a donor who had already given the legal maximum found his credit card charged an additional $15,800 without authorization. Santos disguised this theft by attributing the funds to fabricated family members in his FEC reports, a maneuver that allowed him to continue the ruse while avoiding contribution limits. In another, he charged $12,000 to a donor’s account and deposited the majority into his personal bank. From there, it funded clothing, cosmetics, credit card bills, and gambling trips. The campaign, the candidacy, the public service, all were secondary to a lifestyle of luxury paid for by other people’s money.

    Perhaps the most hypocritical of Santos’s frauds involved the pandemic. In 2020, he applied for and received over $24,000 in unemployment benefits from the state of New York. At the time, he was gainfully employed as a regional director at a Florida-based investment firm, earning over $120,000 a year. He did not miss a paycheck. He was not laid off. He did not qualify. And yet, each week, he falsely certified his jobless status, drawing taxpayer-funded aid designed for those hit hardest by COVID-19, the unemployed, the underemployed, the financially desperate. In an act of gall that would be laughable if it were not so despicable, Santos later sponsored legislation in Congress to crack down on pandemic unemployment fraud. The man who stole from the system claimed he would reform it.

    Nor did the deception stop there. Santos lied on his congressional financial disclosures, the forms meant to ensure transparency for public officials. He claimed to have earned $750,000 in salary from a private company that paid him nothing. He reported receiving $1 to $5 million in dividends that never existed. He declared hundreds of thousands in bank holdings, when in fact his accounts were often in the low thousands, if not lower. In reality, his only actual income came from the investment firm and the unemployment checks he falsely obtained. The lies were not incidental. They were comprehensive, deliberate, and aimed at creating an illusion of wealth and competence.

    Even more brazenly, Santos fabricated an independent expenditure group, a supposed political action committee called RedStone Strategies. He solicited two donors for $25,000 each, promising that the funds would be used for media buys and campaign efforts. They were not. Santos transferred the money into accounts he controlled and spent it on Ferragamo, Hermes, Botox, and credit card bills. This was not merely unethical. It was embezzlement. It was theft. It was a fraud perpetrated with full knowledge and intent.

    In total, Santos stole or misappropriated approximately $578,750. The court ordered him to pay $373,749.97 in restitution and to forfeit an additional $205,002.97. These numbers were not speculative. They were calculated against real losses to real people, individuals whose credit was damaged, whose money was siphoned away, whose trust was obliterated. Santos’s 87-month sentence, or just over seven years, was not an outlier in the federal system. It was a typical penalty for this kind of sprawling, malicious financial fraud. Defendants with no political profile, who defrauded the government or private individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, routinely receive similar sentences. That Santos was a congressman did not result in his being singled out. If anything, it spared him scrutiny longer than he deserved.

    There is no serious argument for clemency here. Clemency is for excess, for injustice, for punishment that outstrips wrongdoing. Clemency is not for grifters who fake their way into office by stealing from pensioners and pandemic relief funds. One does not defend George Santos by invoking freedom, fairness, or limited government. To the contrary, every dollar Santos stole weakened the legitimacy of our electoral system, diverted support from legitimate candidates, and degraded the moral clarity conservatives must offer in a dishonest age. The true conservative position is to say plainly: this man is a crook.

    Yes, Santos was charismatic. Yes, he had a knack for commanding attention. And yes, in another life, with honesty and principle, he might have served well. But we do not excuse embezzlement because the embezzler is clever. We do not overlook theft because the thief is funny. Our movement has spent decades insisting that character matters. If that is still true, then George Santos is not a man to be platformed or pitied. He is a cautionary tale.

    Some will argue that Santos’s sentence was harsh. Perhaps. But that is not a reason to pardon him. It is a reason to scrutinize sentencing guidelines for all non-violent financial offenders. Santos should be treated like any other fraudster, no worse, no better. And by that measure, he has been.

    Others say we should forgive him because the media was against him. But the media is against every Republican. What makes our side different, or should, is our insistence on personal responsibility. George Santos did what he did. He admitted it. He pled guilty. He is being punished in accordance with the law. He is not a martyr. He is a criminal.

    Those who now seek to rebrand Santos as a political prisoner or conservative folk hero are doing damage not only to the movement, but to the truth. And that matters. For if we cannot call theft what it is, if we cannot call fraud what it is, if we cannot reject the normalization of criminality in our own ranks, then we are not a movement of principle. We are just another racket.

    If you enjoy my work, please consider subscribing: https://x.com/amuse.

    READ NEXT: Unstable Leader Pushes Reckless Nuclear Gamble

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    Trump Snaps Over DeSantis’ Endorsement of Colorado Senate Candidate

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Has Florida Governor Ron DeSantis inadvertently sparked a feud with Donald Trump?

    DeSantis’ decision to endorse Colorado Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Dea has sparked Trump’s fury, calling the endorsement a “huge mistake.”

    “Hello this is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. America needs strong leadership and desperately,” said DeSantis in a robocall. “That’s why I’m endorsing Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senate. Colorado, please vote for Joe O’Dea.”

    Trump later shared The Washington Examiner piece on his social media site TRUTH Social and wrote, “A BIG MISTAKE!”

    Over the summer, Trump opted to support state Rep. Ron Hanks during the primary and since then has traded insults with the Republican candidate. O’Dea has publicly derided Trump as a “black eye” for the United States and has said he plans to actively campaign against him if he launches a presidential campaign in 2024.

    “There’s this RINO character in the Great State of Colorado, Joe O’Dea, that is running against the incumbent Democrat for the United States Senate, who is having a good old time saying that he wants to “distance” himself from President Trump, and other slightly nasty things. He should look at the Economy, Inflation, Energy Independence, defeating ISIS, the Strongest EVER Border, Great Trade Deals, & much more, before he speaks. MAGA doesn’t Vote for stupid people with big mouths. Good luck Joe!” Trump shared in a TRUTH Social message.

     “President Trump is entitled to his opinion, but I’m my own man and I’ll call it like I see it,” O’Dea responded. “Another Biden-Trump election will tear this country apart. DeSantis, Scott, Pompeo or Haley would be better choices. These elections should be focused on Joe Biden’s failures supercharged inflation, a broken border, rampant crime, a war on American energy, not a rehash of 2020.”

    Trump has all but confirmed his 2024 plans but has stopped of making any formal announcement that would tie him to specific campaign finance laws. DeSantis has also been named an early presidential contender but has maintained his only focus is winning his gubernatorial re-election.

    Dean Phillips Ends Presidential Bid

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips (D) has suspended his long-shot campaign for the White House.

    He said that “it is clear that alternative is not me” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

    “I ran for Congress in 2018 to resist Donald Trump, I was trapped in the Capitol in 2021 because of Donald Trump, and I ran for President in 2024 to resist Donald Trump again – because Americans were demanding an alternative, and democracy demands options,” Phillips wrote on X. “But it is clear that alternative is not me. And it is clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate and OUR opportunity to demonstrate what type of country America is and intends to be.”

    “I ask you join me in mobilizing, energizing, and doing everything you can to help keep a man of decency and integrity in the White House. That’s Joe Biden,” he said.

    “And it is clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate and OUR opportunity to demonstrate what type of country America is and intends to be,” he wrote.

    Phillips, who mounted a late White House bid in October, was running as an alternative to the embattled frontrunner

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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