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WASHINGTON DC: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has dismissed reports suggesting that he is considering leaving the Trump administration following the Republican Party’s setbacks in the midterm elections, insisting that completing President Donald Trump’s second term has always been his plan. In an interview with The New York Times, Rubio rejected speculation that he might step down to prepare for a 2028 presidential campaign, clarifying his long-term professional intentions within the executive branch. “Working for President Trump for the duration of his second term has always been my plan,” Rubio said. “I don’t know where these things come from,...

It was epochal and marks a new era in our political history. And for once everyone rushed to name clearly what happened. The morning after the 2026 midterm elections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was searingly blunt. For the Republican Party it was “close to an extinction level event.” Its effects will “reverberate for the next decade or more.” “It was a Watergate-level repudiation,” said Ted Cruz, soon to be Texas’ lone Republican senator, on a podcast. Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee chairman in the first Trump term, told Fox News on Wednesday the election wasn’t only a Democratic wave, it...

Marc Thiessen spent the week denying the war was a factor and calling JD Vance disloyal for blaming it and the economy. Don Jr. fired back by name, calling those pushing that narrative disgusting. Thiessen has been arguing there was “no downside” to striking Iran, and in response to that, Don Jr. is asking whether he’ll call Trump's own son disloyal too. ...

On the same day she spent time with Trump at the White House, Ingraham used her monologue tonight to push for him to "cut losses" in Iran and "turn this war over the Gulf states," citing the devastating impact the war had on Republicans in the midterms and lack of popular support here's a long cut of her monologue (@acyn posted most of it first) ...

President Trump signed a proclamation Thursday making the Oval Office and Cabinet Room in the White House a national monument. Trump noted Congress would have to ratify the proclamation, and that “no major modifications” would be able to be made to the rooms without approval from Congress. “It’s a symbol of our country, and the greatness of our country,” Trump told reporters, referring to the Oval Office. “If anyone ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me, and I will come back here, and I will make sure it never happens,” the president said.

(The Economic Collapse Blog) — What in the world just happened? Words like “tsunami” and “wipeout” are being used by the pundits, but I don’t think that they are strong enough. It is clear that much of the population was frustrated with the Republican Party. But instead of seeking out another alternative, voters overwhelmingly chose to hand the keys to the political party that made a giant mess of things when they were in charge earlier this decade.The 4 years of the Biden administration were absolutely horrific, and the Republicans were given control of the White House, the Senate and...

President Donald Trump met with his national security team Thursday to discuss whether to resume military operations against Iran, senior officials confirmed to Fox News. There were meetings at the White House Wednesday and Thursday, the officials said. Nov. 9 marks a new moon in the Middle East, meaning little to no moonlight — a condition favorable for military operations, they added. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier Thursday that Washington would “make a decision” on resuming the war. “Do we want to go further” with strikes to ensure Iran's nuclear program is dead and that “it will...

"Time to double down." After the shellacking Capitol Hill Republicans got on Tuesday, we’re fully in President Trump’s pen and phone era. He should embrace it. He’s certainly entertaining the other possibility. When the president called in to Fox News on the night of the election, he was asked a typical Washington question: will you be able to work with the new opposition majority? Trump sounded a bipartisan note, saying that he’d be, of course, open to working with Democrats on some issues, not others – [cut] The president can obviously go down that road if he wants, but the...

About three-quarters of voters said the Iran war was a crucial factor in which candidate they supported in the 2026 midterm elections, according to an NBC exit poll. Among the 74% of voters who said the Iran war was a crucial factor, 62% voted Democrat and 35% voted Republican. ... In a CBS exit poll, most voters said the U.S. made the wrong decision to take that military action in Iran, including about a quarter of Republicans.

Republican Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and farmer, is projected to win in the race to represent Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, a seat currently held by President Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ). Gallrein, whom Trump endorsed, defeated Democrat Melissa Strange and Libertarian Jeremy Todd for the seat. The president had stumped for Gallrein in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Gallrein led by 29 percentage points — 59 percent to 30 percent — with a small share of the vote reported by DDHQ as of 6:20 p.m. EST Tuesday. Gallrein defeated...

I am not naive about what happened Tuesday; in fact, I had predicted an outcome like this for some time. But I also realize President Donald Trump has demonstrated real leadership at one of the most consequential moments in American history. His decision to confront Iran's nuclear ambitions was courageous, necessary, and, I believe, one that history will judge favorably.

(The Hill) — Former MLB first baseman Mark Teixeira (R) is projected to succeed Rep. Chip Roy (R) in representing Texas’s 21st Congressional District, according to preliminary results from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ). Teixeira defeated Democratic opponent Kristin Hook [cut] Roy opted not to seek reelection and instead run for Texas attorney general, but he lost the GOP primary to Texas state Sen. Mayes Middleton in the spring. Teixeira received endorsements from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and President Donald Trump. The former professional baseball player has shown support for Trump’s deportation agenda, writing, “I stand with ICE,” on social...

As I write these words, it is the morning after the election. I have been watching social media go full-tilt wacko from many of my Democratic friends who have been swooning about “the blue tsunami” that swept over the Republicans. Some of them have asked me, with as much a modicum of politeness as they can muster, how much it hurts to watch MAGA go down in flames. Do these queries evoke a frown? More like a smirk, and not the sort that many liberals might appreciate. I already believed that Darline Graham would not win the United States Senate...

President Donald Trump may have made the decision to launch the war that tanked voters’ support for the GOP and dealt them a midterm shellacking. But the historic losses are accelerating a push for someone else to take the fall: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And the House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon’s top leader. Many Republican lawmakers and allies alarmed by Tuesday’s wipeout are moving swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth, arguing behind the scenes that he played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit...

there was a story sometime back that before trump bombed Iran, he consulted with Tucker Carlson as to the wisdom of the decision. Tucker said it was a terrible mistake to do so. Trump ignored him so Tucker turned on Trump. Is this story true? Thought for 22s Yes, the core of the story is true for the 2026 U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran (which began with strikes around February 28), though some details rest on Tucker Carlson’s accounts and journalistic reporting.⁠Aol Carlson (a longtime informal adviser and 2024 convention speaker for Trump) met with Trump multiple times in the...

Pete Hegseth is increasingly looking like he may take the fall for Republicans’ midterm losses, despite Donald Trump’s vocal support for his defense secretary, even calling him a champion of war. The war in Iran, which voters and Trump have named as a key reason for Republicans’ midterm losses, “has been primarily a Department of War-led effort because you chose to take military action to resolve a foreign policy matter”, a former senior Pentagon official told CNN. “If the president is serious about anyone taking responsibility for it, it’s Pete Hegseth,” one Republican close to the White House added in...

Democrats won a massive victory on Tuesday, sweeping to power in both houses of Congress. Critics of President Donald Trump are blaming Republican losses on his failures — and that’s fair. But what really drove the “blue wave” was Trump’s success. That’s because Trump followed through on almost every promise he made to voters in 2024. He secured the border. You can argue that his Immigration and Border Enforcement (ICE) raids were overzealous. But enforcing laws is never a pleasant sight. He did it anyway. He confronted Iran. That meant higher gas prices. It also cost billions of dollars. But...

President Donald Trump told Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum Wednesday that he could work with Democrats on immigration following a midterm sweep that gave Democrats control of the House of Representatives and Senate.Republicans lost the House and Senate as Democrats swept multiple races in the South and Midwest, including flipping open seats in Iowa, North Carolina and Texas while ousting incumbents in Ohio, Kansas and South Carolina. Trump drew hard lines regarding an “open border,” biological men playing women’s sports and child sex changes, but expressed optimism on working with Democrats on other issues, such as immigration“We...

Donald Trump focused on his lavish White House ballroom in his first public appearance since Democrats seized control of the House and Senate. The President largely ignored the disastrous midterm results that have left his political legacy in jeopardy, instead showing off the construction of his $600million vanity project to reporters on Wednesday morning... Trump invited the press to view his ongoing construction efforts and spoke at length about the progress on his personal vanity projects. 'It's going to be not only one of the biggest, but it'll be the most beautiful ballroom, I think, anywhere in the world,' he...

US President Donald Trump has been consulting with advisers on whether to keep US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his current role following the Republicans' losses in Tuesday's election, CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources. [cut] DeSantis floated as possible replacement One name being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth is GOP Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one source told CBS. DeSantis could potentially go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck period and then take the post when his term expires on January 5.