Recent polling suggests that concerns about government corruption are top of mind for voters heading into the midterm elections — and that the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, Donald Trump, has effectively become the face of repulsive self-enrichment to many Americans.

It’s in that environment that Florida Republicans are threatening criminal prosecution over a campaign advertisement spotlighting damning corruption allegations involving top state officials.

We’ve seen various Republicans using the Trumpian tactic of threatening to arrest people who are merely exercising their First Amendment rights. Trump, a chief enemy of those constitutional rights, has called for journalists to be arrested for accurately reporting on crowd sizes at his rallies. And Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., faced mockery and condemnation last week for threatening to have a journalist prosecuted after she asked a question about his support for Trump’s deadly war with Iran.

Now Florida Republicans are threatening to prosecute television stations that air a Democratic ad spotlighting the Hope Florida charity scandal, which involves public money being directed to political allies by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ GOP administration.

As the Miami Herald reported:

The Republican Party of Florida is threatening television stations with criminal prosecution if they run or report on a scathing campaign ad addressing the Hope Florida scandal and a grand jury’s finding. The GOP is seeking a temporary injunction to prohibit the airing of the ads.

The Republicans had some daylight when Judge Lance E. Neff of the Florida First District Court of Appeal wrote an opinion ordering the expungement of a grand jury report, saying the panel exceeded its authority. The lawsuit once again brings it front and center during the stretch run to the Nov. 3 election.

Basically, a Florida grand jury concluded that the DeSantis administration — including Attorney General James Uthmeier and his predecessor, Sen. Ashley Moody — “misappropriated” taxpayer money as part of a “sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” with money from a Medicaid settlement. DeSantis, Uthmeier and Moody have all denied accusations of wrongdoing.

The leaked grand jury report said indictments weren’t feasible because nobody would “take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida,” adding: “This decision was the original misappropriation, and no witness would take responsibility for making the decision or had any memory of who made it.”

A couple of weeks back, Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals ordered the report to be expunged, with one DeSantis-appointed judge arguing that it wrongfully “impugned” private individuals. But the issue remains under review by at least one state attorney and has continued to dog Moody’s Senate campaign. Moody has stumbled while answering questions about it, and the topic has become a major talking point for her Democratic opponent, Angie Nixon.

Republicans more or less have two pathways to address their PR problems: become more likable as a party, or seek to silence people who expose its warts. And it seems clear which route the party is taking.

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UPDATE (Tuesday Oct. 20, 2026 10:10 p.m. ET): On Tuesday night the Ramaswamy campaign confirmed it was behind the attack ad targeting Amy Acton.

Two weeks before Election Day, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is facing fresh criticism for yet another controversial attack ad against his opponent, Democrat Amy Acton. The Ramaswamy campaign did not initially say if it was responsible for the unaired ad that features Acton’s estranged mother, who defended her husband after he was accused of sexually abusing Acton when she was a child. It put out a statement saying the candidate’s mother “is clearly warning Ohioans not to vote for her.” (Ramaswamy previously faced backlash for an earlier ad that showed a man later identified as a sex offender; the man was later removed from some versions of the ad.) Later on Tuesday, however, the campaign confirmed it had in fact produced the spot and, despite bipartisan backlash, would be spending millions of dollars pushing it to voters throughout the state.

Incredibly, Ramaswamy’s campaign may still be facing bigger problems; a Marist poll published on Tuesday showed Acton leading him by 7 points. MS NOW’s polling data with partner FiftyPlusOne shows Acton with a 5-point edge. And a major source of his campaign woes centers not on questionable attack ads, but on Ramaswamy’s pedigree as a billionaire entrepreneur — and the corporate interests that seem to be alienating more and more everyday Ohio voters.

For the Republicans who ran for office in 2024, cozying up to America’s most powerful corporations was one of the best ways to ensure victory at the polls.

For the Republicans who ran for office in 2024, cozying up to America’s most powerful corporations was one of the best ways to ensure victory at the polls. It wasn’t just that large companies showered the GOP with more than $270 million in contributions that year. Big-business cash also proved prescient: According to data compiled by the Federal Election Commission and The Associated Press, a whopping 77% of the candidates who received hefty corporate donations went on to win their elections.

But in 2026, the mood is very different. Voters facing sky-high prices at the pump and the grocery store have focused their anger on the corporations reaping record profits and a government they perceive as serving the interests of the nation’s executives over everyday people. A survey conducted over the summer found that a quarter of Americans wanted CEOs to “stop being greedy,” while a record 89% of Americans viewed their government as hopelessly corrupt.

The numbers get even worse when voters think about the Republicans who run that government. Over half of Americans — and a 62% supermajority of independent voters — view President Donald Trump as “corrupt,” while also describing the broader Republican Party as “working for big corporations instead of the people” by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. GOP candidates in Alaska, Ohio, Iowa and elsewhere in the country are suddenly realizing that the corporate connections that once bolstered their campaigns have become their biggest political liabilities.

In Ohio, Ramaswamy has been one of the state’s loudest voices for corporate interests, especially in encouraging the building of more artificial intelligence data centers. At an April 2025 Lincoln Day dinner in Geauga County, he declared himself “strongly in favor” of the “AI data center boom in the state of Ohio.” Two weeks later, he urged Ohio lawmakers to weaken the regulatory “red tape” slowing construction of new data centers.

Ramaswamy failed to mention his own multimillion-dollar investments in data center companies, or the campaign donations he accepted from a super PAC connected to Vistra Corp., an energy company powering one of Meta’s Ohio-based data center projects. Those revelations didn’t sit well with the 78% of Ohioans who support a temporary ban on new data center construction, and Ramaswamy abruptly switched to a more skeptical posture over the summer.

Ramaswamy’s close ties to big business have worked against him in an election cycle where most voters view excessive corporate power as a major problem. Despite recent efforts to pivot his campaign to a message of quick tax cuts, Ramaswamy stumbled into a new headache last month when it was revealed that a group of out-of-state billionaires, including data center investors Ross Stevens and Ratmir Timashev, transferred $37 million to a super PAC backing his candidacy.

In a headache for Republicans who expected the state’s conservative slant to carry Ramaswamy to victory, he in fact spent most of September trailing his Democratic opponent, Acton. Ramaswamy’s consistently bad numbers were enough to trigger alarm bells in Washington, with both Vice President JD Vance and Trump racing to Ohio earlier this month in an effort to avert the GOP’s looming political wipeout.

Ramaswamy isn’t the only candidate getting hurt by corporate ties. In Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan’s close relationship to wealthy industrial fisheries has made him a public enemy among Alaska’s struggling small fishermen in a state where commercial fishing generates just over 7% of the state’s wealth. Local fishermen warn that Sullivan’s recent bill to reduce bycatch — the accidental capture of unwanted fish — is actually packed with government handouts that only apply to the corporate fisheries that contributed nearly $400,000 in contributions to his campaigns throughout his career.

Backed by a flurry of powerful TV ads featuring fishermen threatened by Sullivan’s bill, his Democratic opponent, Mary Peltola, now boasts a 7-point lead in the latest New York Times polling. Here, Trump proved unable to control his temper, blasting the Alaska GOP as “stupid” and adding a campaign visit to boost Sullivan. Democrats were quick to frame Trump’s emergency stop as validation of Peltola’s strength.

Embattled Republicans like Ramaswamy, Sullivan and Hinson may be hoping for a last-minute campaign reset, but polls suggest that their constituents aren’t buying the rebrand.

“It doesn’t matter who flies in to try and save Dan Sullivan from his abhorrent record, Alaskans will still hold him accountable for his price hiking agenda this November,” a spokesperson for Peltola’s campaign told Newsweek.

Back in the Lower 48, Iowa GOP Senate candidate Ashley Hinson is facing accusations of corruption following allegations that her husband, Matt Arenholz, quietly brokered meetings between insurance industry lobbyists and the state’s Republican congressional delegation. Rep. Hinson, who has framed herself as a warrior against special interests, never publicly disclosed her husband’s position as a government affairs employee for the lobbying group Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa, despite attending meetings he arranged.

And despite Hinson’s launch of her senate campaign with an ad in which she defiantly declares that “health insurance companies are ripping you off,” her financial disclosures reveal a politician with deep financial interests in insurance companies. Hinson reported that she and Arenholz hold an interest of up to $5 million in High Street Insurance Partners, while The Washington Sun reported that in 2021 Arenholz sold stock in a private insurance company for more than $1 million. When health insurance companies “rip off Iowans,” Hinson reaps the benefits — and voters are noticing.

Hinson’s attempt to line her pockets while selling herself as a fighter against insurance company abuses has fallen flat with the Iowans facing an increase of up to 16% in the cost of their health carecoverage. So far, Hinson hasn’t been able to change a narrative that is moving in Democrats’ direction: A Suffolk University poll published Oct. 4 found Hinson trailing her Democratic opponent, Josh Turek, by 4 points. A month ago, she led Turek by 1.

Embattled Republicans like Ramaswamy, Sullivan and Hinson may be hoping for a last-minute campaign reset, but polls suggest that their constituents aren’t buying the rebrand. With just two weeks left until voters flock to the polls, Republicans are discovering that they aren’t so quick to forget the candidates’ legacy of putting big business first. If the polls are any indication, even the most salacious attack ads are unlikely to change that.

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"Is Paris Burning?"

The title of that 1960s movie came from a message Adolf Hitler sent to his commanding general in Paris in August 1944. He wanted Paris to burn if he couldn’t keep it.

Today, the call isn’t coming from the Führerbunker; it’s from inside the house. It’s not Nazis, but the French — and quasi-French — burning Paris and other French cities.

The Louvre museum in Paris, home to the Mona Lisa, closed Monday "due to a student social movement." That’s one way to describe the utter chaos overtaking French cities.

PHOTOS SHOW AFTERMATH OF RIOTS AS MASKED GROUPS CLASH WITH POLICE ACROSS FRANCE

In Limoges, rioters set fire to the town hall, destroying its iconic tower. In Marseille, they broke into city hall and vandalized the interior. In Paris, a video circulating online appeared to show young thugs shouting, "Wallah! Kill her!" and "Dirty whore!" [my translation] at a policewoman they chased and threw to the ground — all while trashing property and assaulting people on the streets.

What’s happening in France is both familiar and new. It’s familiar in that mass protests are endemic to France. They happen every few years when a feckless government tries to balance the books by reforming France’s ruinously generous public benefits. What’s new is the addition of foreign influence and the scale of the violence.

FRENCH SCHOOL RIOTS DEEPEN AS EXPERTS POINT TO FAR-LEFT ALLIANCE FUELING ‘BROADER CONFRONTATION’

The high-schoolers who kicked off this round of protests are angry about class sizes, dilapidated schools, and access to college. Retirees who joined them say state pensions aren’t enough to live on. Everyone complains about the high cost of living. They all want more state spending to cure their ills.

French protests often turn violent. Torched cars, vandalized property, and looting are common. What has added fuel to the fire this time is the "Casseurs" (breakers), looters, and violent thugs going beyond what was tacitly tolerated in the past. Many seem to be of migrant background, and some carry Palestinian flags or those of the North African countries they or their parents came from.

FRANCE ROCKED BY STUDENT RIOTS AS HUNDREDS ARRESTED, VIOLENCE SPREADS NATIONWIDE

Videos in French media showed streets of looted stores. Rue Paradis in Marseille has many high-end jewelry and fashion stores, but also many mom-and-pop shops whose owners work long hours for little profit. Dozens of these are now looted shells. Their metal shutters — designed to prevent windows from being broken and stores from being burglarized — lie torn off or broken.

Many of France’s major cities are run by socialists. Marseille’s mayor, Benoit Payan, blames the French government for failing to protect city hall — where his own office is — and local stores. He wants Paris to pay for all the damage. Once again, the French taxpayer is on the hook.

LIMOGES TOWN HALL 'LARGELY LOST' AFTER FAR-LEFT RIOTERS SET HISTORIC BUILDING ON FIRE AMID FRENCH UNREST

How does this end? Not quickly. The political left is well organized, galvanized, and funded — including with foreign money. We are likely to see more promises of increased spending from lame-duck President Emmanuel Macron, now in the last year of his two terms and unable to run again. He gave a speech condemning the violence on Sunday, but he’s been notably absent as it has unfolded. On Tuesday he stuck with his schedule and flew to the Gulf region.

France has presidential elections next April. Two leading contenders are Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Rally (NR) and Jean-Luc Melenchon of the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI). Of the two, Le Pen promises to lower migration and limit welfare payments to migrants. Melenchon welcomes mass migration and opposes any reduction in benefits. Le Pen opposes illegal migration, but she hasn’t campaigned on reducing the bloated benefits bill.

MACRON JETS OUT OF RIOT-TORN FRANCE FOR GULF TRIP AS POLITICAL PRESSURE MOUNTS

But France’s checkbook is tapped out. It hasn’t balanced a budget in 50 years, and this year’s deficit is over 5%. Economic growth is under 1%. Diesel costs about $10 a gallon. National debt is 120% of GDP, and the bond market is getting nervous.

Like other developed countries, France’s fertility rate is below replacement, and the country has allowed in millions of immigrants from its former colonies. On balance, these new arrivals and their children have a lower employment rate than native French, but they get the same social services. Those numbers don’t work, no matter how smart the president in Paris.

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Not only is France broke, but it has too few bodies to handle multiple riots at once. France’s national police handle the cities, while the gendarmes enforce the law in the countryside. Both are funded centrally by the French state. Towns have municipal police, but they aren’t equipped or trained for law enforcement, let alone riot control. France has specialized riot-control units, but only so many. The French military is probably Europe’s best, but it is not used for internal operations.

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Like France, some of our major cities, New York and Seattle, are now run by avowed socialists. Arguably, administrations in Boston and Los Angeles are also closely aligned with DSA values. And more cities will be in the future. 

The DSA wants open borders, nationalized health care, curtailed law enforcement, and higher taxes. If we don’t take heed, France’s present could be our future.

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Years ago I was flipping through the ads of a ‘Black Friday’ sale from a large US retailer, while visiting a relative in North Carolina. Amid the pens and pencils was a child’s school bag with a large neon printed unicorn surrounded by lollipops and or hearts.

It was bullet proof.

I can’t recall what caliber of bullet it promised to stop. But the same paper had a semi-automatic Bushmaster rifle for sale at only $549.99 [€490], which normally retails at almost $1,000. I snapped a photo of it.

A few years earlier, a Bushmaster had been used to gun down 20 small children at Sandy Hook Elementary. Most of them were only six-years old.

A Benenlli 12-gauge tactical shotgun was also on sale. Last week, five-year-old Rhoam Summer and two others, aged 8 and 11 were shot dead at a school in Oregon by a 16-year old with a shotgun.

I mention this as someone who grew up in the United States and went to school there but can’t identify with a normalisation of violence splashed out as one-off specials and deals ahead of Christmas, a holiday that is cynically meant to celebrate peace and kindness.

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Iran’s new defence minister has made a sensational announcement. Iran has a heavy fighter of its own design, and it is due to take to the skies next year. Ground testing is already under way, and preparations are being made to establish a production base for serial manufacturing. The West has traditionally doubted Iran’s capabilities, but events have shown that the Iranians know how to surprise the world. It is true that Iran has made definite strides in missile technology and light aircraft production, particularly drones. But developing a fully fledged industry for manufacturing crewed aircraft is a much higher-level undertaking. If Western countries struggle to establish partnerships to develop new aircraft, despite years of effort, and often fail to achieve their goals, what can one expect from Iran? Iran’s aviation dilemma Given the circumstances Iran faces, it is difficult to believe that Tehran will be able to deliver a heavy-fighter development programme. Tehran says it is moving all critical production facilities deep underground, a point also raised by the defence minister. Even so, the aircraft it produces will need somewhere to take off from. If the confrontation with Israel and the United States continues, the viability of Iran’s aviation industry will remain in serious doubt.

U.S. Army Chief Financial Officer Marc E. Andersen argues that the nation must implement a National Security Capital Strategy to leverage private investment and super intelligence to modernize the military and rebuild the defense industrial base.

Trump has ordered an investigation into Grenell. That’s a good start. But the standard should be the same for everyone, including the president himself: Follow the money, check the evidence and get rid of anyone grifting. 

The end to the war will be on Russia’s terms, and Ukraine’s terms, and our terms — but until Russia is ready to play ball, there’s no reason to let up.  

At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while in my hometown of Kyiv, I wrote an essay in German for a German website titled "Russia Dehumanizes the World."

The Ukrainian translation of this text, published under the title "The Dehumanization of

The author argues that Congress must amend the Department of Education's 'Do No Harm' test before 2028 to prevent the closure of essential vocational and service-oriented certificate programs that promote entrepreneurship and work-life balance.

FIRST ON FOX: Facing limited options, Denver resident Mariah Wakefield was determined to find a school that suited her adoptive daughter Jasiya’s unique gifts.

"Not that the school system was a terrible idea, she just needed a little bit more for her to succeed," Wakefield told Fox News Digital, noting that Jasiya was formerly enrolled in Denver Public Schools.

The bond between Wakefield and Jasiya runs deep. Wakefield became Jasiya’s legal guardian after the girl's mother died in 2013, when Jasiya was just 4 years old.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS ‘HARD RESET’ FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS, VOWS TO PUT PARENTS ‘BACK IN CHARGE’

In the years that followed, Wakefield navigated significant adversity, including household changes and personal instability while grappling with bereavement and incarceration. Throughout the turbulence — and as other children moved in and out of the home — Mariah prioritized Jasiya’s future.

Help arrived at a pivotal moment through ACE Scholarships, a national Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) that stepped in to help Wakefield enroll Jasiya in a school where she could thrive.

Now, Wakefield wants every parent to know about the organization — especially as ACE launches a nationwide awareness campaign centered around President Donald Trump’s federal school choice initiative.

The program, centered on the Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC), allows individual taxpayers to receive up to a $1,700 dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for cash contributions to qualified nonprofit SGOs ($3,400 for married couples filing jointly). Under the legislation, state governors must formally opt in for local families and educational organizations to participate.

More than half of U.S. states have already signed up to participate. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was the first Democratic governor to announce his state’s participation, dismissing critics at the time by telling local media he "would be crazy not to" join, noting that the program provides crucial funding for tutoring, after-school programs and summer enrichment. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has also faced calls from school choice advocates as states navigate enrollment options.

A Department of Education official recently told Fox News Digital that "competitive pressure" will ultimately compel blue states to capture the influx of private donations created by the tax credit incentive.

Trump's landmark school choice program comes as major blue city school districts struggle to retain students since the coronavirus pandemic.

NEW YORK JOINS FEDERAL SCHOOL CHOICE INITIATIVE DESPITE TRADITIONAL DEMOCRAT OPPOSITION

For decades, school choice has been a contentious issue among many Democrats, who contend that choice models draw funding away from public school districts and weaken labor unions. However, the surge in demand for alternative education — including charter schools, private schooling and homeschooling following the COVID-19 pandemic — has pushed several prominent leaders to reevaluate their stance.

Many organizations, such as the ACE Scholarships, advocate allowing parents to send their kids to schools outside their neighborhood or opt out of going to public school in general. Established 26 years ago, ACE Scholarships issue privately raised scholarships for lower-income families. Since its inception, ACE says it has delivered more than 121,000 scholarships worth over $395 million to students in 13 states. 

In response, ACE embarked on a multimillion-dollar national campaign called "Make It Possible." The initiative aims to raise public awareness of the EFTC and educate taxpayers on how directed tax credits can expand access to K–12 education.

"While national advertising is designed primarily to inspire and engage Americans, ‘Make It Possible’ is part of a broader, yearlong effort to help taxpayers and families understand the new federal initiative, how it works, and how they can participate," the organization said in a statement. "ACE will also provide educational resources designed to address common questions, clarify misconceptions, and help taxpayers navigate the new opportunity."

ACE seeks to expand support for school choice in Democratic-led states, where teachers unions have frequently opposed policies that direct public funding toward private education.

Denver is among ACE's primary target markets for the ad push, alongside Washington, D.C., New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Kansas City, Orlando and Philadelphia. 

For Wakefield, school choice policies were key to unlocking her daughter's potential.

ARKANSAS STUDENTS OUTPERFORM NATIONAL AVERAGE AFTER UNIVERSAL SCHOOL CHOICE EXPANSION, GOVERNOR SAYS

"So we had this opportunity to go into this, and we just took advantage of it," Wakefield said to Fox News Digital. "I feel that everybody should be notified and have the opportunity to be able to have a different outcome of life for your child."

"Sometimes it's really hard to just get into somewhere just because you don't have enough money, enough funding, enough time, any kind of contributions," she added. "So for them to be able to choose a different place to go to is probably the highlight of being able to expand their child's potential ... and get them to where they should really be."

Today, Jasiya is thriving as a student at Kent Denver School.

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"For too many American children, financial circumstances determine which educational opportunities are within reach," said Kristy Badger, chief marketing officer at ACE Scholarships. "Every child has unique talents, interests and learning needs that shape how they thrive. Now, the EFTC will bring together what’s possible for countless students in America."

It is time to think big, think boldly and start reimagining elections that work for the people, not the politicians.

On January 5, 2025, Saudi Arabia’s then ambassador to Bangladesh, Essa Youssef Essa Al Duhailan, delivered a stark reminder of a lost opportunity. Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s state-owned oil giant, had sent high-level delegations to Bangladesh three times between 2016 and 2018 to explore investment opportunities, including an oil refinery. Yet, according to the ambassador, […]

The post Houthi hits on infrastructure helping lure Aramco to Bangladesh? appeared first on Asia Times.

Protests rarely remain confined to the grievances that first bring people into the streets. When the citizens believe their concerns are being ignored, a grievance over a particular policy or administrative decision can evolve into a broader challenge to the political authority. Consequently, what begins as a demand for correction becomes a question of accountability. […]

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Donald Trump often warns his supporters that he’ll be investigated if Democrats win in November.

“If we don’t win, they’ll end up impeaching me,” he told supporters at an Oklahoma rally this month. House Speaker Mike Johnson made the threat more explicitly in June, telling a room of conservative activists that Democrats would turn every committee into an investigative body and go after Trump’s family, Cabinet, donors and friends. “Half of you in this room will be targeted,” he warned.

There’s some irony in that warning.

Since Trump returned to office, investigations or prosecutions have involved several people who have been critical of him, including former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Ilhan Omar, among others. Some cases have been dismissed or dropped; others remain active. Now Trump and Johnson are telling his supporters to worry that Democrats might target him.

But the warning also reveals Trump’s view of politics: It’s hardball, and he assumes his opponents will play the same way.

That makes some of his other warnings revealing, too. Trump has argued that Democrats might change the political system by making Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico states, expanding the Supreme Court and eliminating the Senate filibuster. All of these ideas are much less likely than Trump makes them out to be, though they have been proposed by reform-minded members of Congress.

But the fact that Trump is saying Democrats would do them suggests that’s what he would do in their place.

Here’s a closer look:

Statehood for D.C.

Do Democrats support it? Yes. The House passed bills to admit D.C. as a state in 2020 and 2021. The 2024 Democratic Party platform also says Democrats “unequivocally support” D.C. statehood.

What do polls show? Statehood is popular with D.C. residents, but national opinion is less settled. In a 2025 Economist/YouGov poll, 39% supported making D.C. a state and 33% opposed it.

What are the arguments for it? D.C. residents pay federal taxes but have no voting representatives in Congress. Congress also has broad authority over the district, including the power to review or block some local laws. Supporters say statehood would give residents full representation in Congress and more control over local affairs, as residents of states have.

Why does Trump think Democrats would do it? Statehood would likely add two Democratic-leaning seats to the Senate.

What are the obstacles? Congress would have to pass a statehood bill. Under current rules, supporters would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and Trump could still veto it. There are also constitutional questions, including how to address the 23rd Amendment, which gives the district three Electoral College votes.

Statehood for Puerto Rico

Do Democrats support it? Only if Puerto Rico wants it. In 2022, the House passed the Puerto Rico Status Act, which would have set up a federally sponsored, binding vote with three options: statehood, independence or sovereignty in free association with the U.S. The 2024 Democratic platform also endorsed the bill.

What do polls show? In a nonbinding referendum in Puerto Rico in 2024, 58.6% of votes cast for one of the three listed options favored statehood. (The current territorial status was not on the ballot, and opponents urged voters to leave the question blank.) In a 2025 national poll, 45% of U.S. adults supported statehood for Puerto Rico and 28% opposed it.

What are the arguments for it? Supporters say statehood would give Puerto Rico’s U.S. citizens voting representation in Congress and a vote in presidential elections. They also argue that statehood would end the unequal treatment Puerto Rico faces in some federal programs.

Why does Trump think Democrats would do it? Statehood would add two senators and several House members, though it’s much less clear which party would benefit the most.

What are the obstacles? The most likely path is for Congress to pass a bill creating a binding referendum, Puerto Rico to approve statehood and then Congress admitting it. As with D.C., admission would need to overcome a Senate filibuster and get the president’s signature.

Expanding the Supreme Court

Do Democrats support it? Some do. The 2024 platform called for Supreme Court term limits and a code of ethics, but did not endorse adding seats. In 2023, Democrats introduced the Judiciary Act, which would have expanded the court from nine justices to 13. It never came up for a vote.

What do polls show? The public is divided. In a 2024 Emerson College poll, 37% supported expanding the court to 13 justices and 39% opposed it.

What are the arguments for it? Supporters say adding seats could counterbalance a court they see as having been reshaped by partisan confirmation fights, and could help restore public confidence in the institution. Critics warn that expansion could make the court look even more partisan and lead to the next Republican majority simply adding seats of its own.

Why does Trump think Democrats would do it? He has warned that Democrats might expand the court to secure a liberal majority.

What are the obstacles? Congress sets the number of justices by law, so expansion would not require a constitutional amendment. But a bill would need 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster and could still be vetoed by Trump.

Ending the filibuster

Do Democrats support it? Some do. Others have proposed changing it in some way. In 2024, then-Vice President Kamala Harris said she would support suspending the filibuster to pass a federal abortion rights law.

What do polls show? It depends on how the question is asked. In a 2024 Navigator Research poll, 60% said eliminating the rule that lets a Senate minority block legislation would have a positive effect on government. But a 2021 poll showed more support for reforming the filibuster than ending it entirely.

What are the arguments for it? Supporters say the filibuster lets a minority of senators block bills even when they have majority support, making it harder for Congress to act on important issues — including the three ideas discussed above. The Senate already ended the filibuster for confirming Supreme Court justices to lifetime positions.

Why does Trump think Democrats would do it? Trump has repeatedly urged Republicans to eliminate the filibuster while they control the Senate, arguing that Democrats would do the same if they regained power in order to pass their agenda.

What are the obstacles? The Senate previously used a simple-majority vote to end the filibuster on Supreme Court justices. Because it’s a rule change, it does not require a presidential signature.

This is a preview of MS NOW’s Project 47 Newsletter. As President Trump continues implementing his ambitious agenda, get expert analysis on the administration’s latest actions and how others are pushing back sent straight to your inbox every Tuesday. Sign up now.

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The difference between a blue ripple and a blue wave will be the turnout of young voters.

American consumers will pay dearly for this misguided decision.

Russian tourists staying at the five-star Rixos Premium Magawish Suites & Villas in Egypt’s Hurghada have encountered unexpected conditions during their holiday. Instead of peace and comfort, they have found construction machinery outside their windows, work continuing from early morning until late evening, and power interruptions at night. This raises the question of how well such conditions match the standards and cost of a stay at a premium hotel. Russian tourists Inna and Vadim chose Rixos Premium Magawish Suites & Villas, a five-star resort in Hurghada, for their holiday in Egypt. However, their experience fell far short of the expectations they had of premium hotel service. Construction work is taking place immediately next to their room. According to the guests, machinery operates from early morning until late evening. A photograph taken by the tourists shows a construction site with heavy machinery, including concrete-pumping equipment.

What is needed is a fundamental restructuring of financial crime education in the private sector.

In my neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, too many of our residents, especially the children, fear the police. They have been taught that the police are not their friends, that officers might shoot them, arrest them for being Black, and that they are their enemies. I do not believe any of this, and I have sought to correct these misperceptions, which could have fatal consequences.

I recently invited several Chicago police officers to visit my community center, Project H.O.O.D. They came in full Chicago blue uniforms, with their police visor caps with the checkered bands, and their guns. At first, there was tension in the room. You could feel it. Some of the kids hid behind the adults, some of whom stood defiantly. The gulf was profound, and that is why I invited the police in to do my part to repair the damage done by the defund the police movement, one encounter at a time.

This damage goes back years, a lifetime for most of our youth who know nothing but hostility to the police. For more than a decade, Black Lives Matter and its allies conditioned a generation to treat the police as the problem. Fear and hatred of the police had always been there to some degree in the Black community.

CONTROVERSIAL SOCIALIST CHEF FLIP-FLOPS ON ABOLISH THE POLICE, SAYS SHE’S ‘SERIOUS ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY’

But there was something different about this conditioning, which began to take off after Trayvon Martin’s death in 2012. When George Zimmerman was acquitted, the phrase "Black Lives Matter" was born, and the message that began to spread was that the police were hunting Black boys. Zimmerman was not a police officer, but for the sake of the narrative, he was made the stand-in as the neighborhood vigilante.

Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson in 2014 only reinforced the narrative. "Hands up, don’t shoot" became a slogan that was not true. Brown did not have his hands up — instead, he charged the cop, but the image of a White cop and a dead Black teen was all the narrative needed to continue. Police officers nationwide were demonized as an occupying force rather than neighbors with badges.

By the time George Floyd died in Minneapolis in 2020, the groundwork had already been laid. The New York Times published its May 30 opinion piece titled "No More Money for the Police," arguing that the path to safety was to reduce police power and contact with the public and redirect the money elsewhere. In Minneapolis, a majority of the City Council stood in a park and pledged to dismantle the police department. The loudest voices were not asking for better training or more accountability. They wanted abolition.

When I heard that, I knew one thing: it would be us who paid the price. Not the folks living in leafy suburbs with Black Lives Matter signs in their front yards. And the impact was felt immediately. No police officer wanted to risk going viral. They pulled back. And, shamefully, many in my community demanded that.

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In 2019, Chicago recorded roughly 500 homicides. In 2020, that number climbed to 781. In 2021, it reached 804 — the city’s deadliest year in a quarter-century. The spike was national — FBI data showed murders rose nearly 30% in 2020, the largest single-year increase on record, with Black Americans hit even harder. Chicago’s South and West Sides absorbed a disproportionate share. Police staffing fell as retirements and resignations surged. Morale collapsed under canceled days off, forced overtime and the constant message that the job itself was illegitimate. Arrests and proactive policing dropped. The outcome was not a policy experiment. There were more funerals in the neighborhoods that could least afford them.

So many of those who died during this time should be alive. They died because Black activists demonized the police to advance their own activist agendas, which led to the very destruction of the people they claimed to be helping. To date, none have taken responsibility for their deadly rhetoric.

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There is nothing I can do about the dead. My focus has been on the living, especially the young minds. They are the ones still paying the price. Years of being told that the police are the enemy taught some of them never to call when something bad is happening. They see the uniform and assume hostility rather than help. I have watched that fear take root in kids who have already lost too much. It is one of the lasting wounds of the defund era: not only fewer officers on the street, but a generation that learned the people sworn to protect them cannot be trusted.

At Project H.O.O.D., we are repairing that damage the only way I know how — by bringing the police into our building and letting our kids see them as people. Officers come in and sit with the children, the teenagers and the adults who walk through our doors. They answer questions. They listen to the stories that our young people carry. They show that the uniform does not hide a monster; it covers a man or woman who chose a hard job because they want to keep this community safe. Some of the kids who used to freeze up at the sight of a squad car now stay after and keep talking. A few have even started asking what it takes to become an officer themselves.

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The fear does not disappear in a single afternoon, but the wall starts to crack. That is the work. It is not a press conference. It is not a slogan. It is one conversation at a time inside a building where we refuse to let the lies of the last decade become the future of the next one.

The police are not the enemy. Treating them as if they are has already cost too many lives on these streets. We are done accepting that.

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