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‘Off-the-Charts Arrogance’: Joe Rogan Pummeled for Harris Campaign Comment

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Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver her “Closing Argument” speech Tuesday evening at the Ellipse—the same Washington, D.C. park where Donald Trump held his “Save America” rally telling supporters to march to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, ahead of the insurrection.

Before her 7:30 PM ET event, the Vice President will be giving five interviews, according to campaign spokesperson Ian Sams: “Battleground TV interviews in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh + Spanish radio in Pennsylvania to reach Latinos, including Puerto Ricans.”

Not included in her interviews Tuesday is podcaster Joe Rogan, with whom the campaign has been in talks.

Overnight, Rogan explained on social media that those talks are ongoing, despite there being just one week until Election Day.

READ MORE: ‘Maybe’ It’s Racist: JD Vance Tries to Whitewash Trump Rally Attack on Puerto Rico

Just before that, Rogan had posted his three-hour interview with Donald Trump, which aired Friday, to Elon Musk’s social media site X. He then shared this statement:

“Also, for the record the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast. They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour. I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin. My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being. I really hope we can make it happen.”

Some political experts say an interview with Rogan, the nation’s top podcaster whose largely male audience (he reportedly has 14 million followers on Spotify, and 18 million on YouTube), could help Harris, who is hoping to get more male voters to cast their ballot for her. But a former Harris campaign senior advisor offered this:

“Hot take—Rogan needs the Harris interview more than @KamalaHQ does. The exposure with a new audience who is deeply skeptical of him after years of out of context clips would be huge. He could pull in a lot of new people who have never listened to a full episode before, and even if he retained a fraction of that audience it would move him more into the mainstream.”

Some critics are blasting Rogan.

RELATED: ‘We Know How to Take the Trash Out’: Influential Latino Stars Blast Trump’s Racist Rally

“Is this a podcast host saying he’s unwilling to travel to interview the sitting vice president for an hour?” asked Zeteo News media columnist Justin Baragona.

“I think Joe Rogan is afraid to interview Kamala Harris because that would require a great deal of research and preparation that he is not equipped to do,” responded award-winning investigative journalist Lisa Guerrero.

“Come on @joerogan. It’s the last week of the campaign! She’s a little busier than you. Get on a (private) plane and do the interview, even if just for an hour. Americans want to hear it,” exclaimed professor of political science and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul.

“If I could have interviewed the a person who is potentially the future president, I would have canceled everything in my calendar. Unless you were burying a close friend or relative, you weren’t committed to the interview,” remarked professor of law Darren Hutchinson.

“Demanding a VP come to you in final week of campaign sort of says it all,” commented The Lincoln Project’s Stuart Stevens, a top Republican political strategist, appearing to suggest Rogan has a “feeling of self-importance and omnipotence.”

“So the sitting Vice President and likely the next President of the United States should fly over to see you? Respect for the office of VP as well as the fact that she has a competitive race to run, suggests you get your ass on a plane and talk to her wherever [she] is,” commented Alexander Vindman, the former Director for European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council (NSC).

“Just off-the-charts arrogance,” remarked investigative journalist and founder of Popular Information Judd Legum.

READ MORE: ‘What’s He Confessing to?’: Trump’s Mike Johnson ‘Secret’ Draws Electoral College Concerns

 

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‘He Sued to Block Kids From Getting SNAP’: Trump Torched for Biblical Defense of Children

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President Donald Trump came under fire on Thursday after using the Bible to call for protecting children during an event with First Lady Melania Trump.

The event, an executive order signing, was “aimed at expanding opportunities for education, career development, housing, and other resources for young people transitioning from foster care to adulthood,” according to the White House.

“The Bible tells us that one of the measures of any society is how it cares for vulnerable children and orphans,” President Trump told the assembled audience in the East Room of the White House.

“So important, it is so big in the Bible, so, as we make America great again, we are going to protect American children in foster care.”

READ MORE: ‘Concepts of a Plan’: White House and GOP Under Fire for Health Care Cost Crisis

Critics were quick to chastise the president, whose administration has been fighting all the way to the Supreme Court to block funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“You literally fought in court to strip families of food assistance,” declared California Governor Gavin Newsom.

“Your ICE agents pepper sprayed a baby last week,” charged House Homeland Security Committee Democrats.

“He sued to block kids from getting SNAP benefits just days ago,” wrote The Lincoln Project.

The Friendly Atheist’s Hemant Mehta posted a headline that read: “USAID cuts may lead to more than 14 million deaths globally, including 4.5 million children under 5 by 2030, researchers say.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

 

Image via Reuters 

 

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‘Concepts of a Plan’: White House and GOP Under Fire for Health Care Cost Crisis

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It took congressional Democrats more than a year of work — plus several years of prior policy development — to create the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Now, Republicans are scrambling to fix it after passing President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which stripped away the subsidies that helped make buying insurance on the exchanges affordable.

And they have just weeks to make it happen, before the new premiums go into effect on January 1.

The House is back in session after Speaker Mike Johnson kept Republicans in their home districts for almost two months during the federal government shutdown. Now, Republicans and the Trump White House are starting to decide what, if anything, they will do to keep premiums — already published — from doubling or even tripling in certain cases.

“President Donald Trump’s Domestic Policy Council and senior health officials have been meeting privately for preliminary conversations on how to address the expiration of health insurance tax credits, according to a White House official and another person familiar with the talks,” Politico reported on Thursday. “Conversations about a White House alternative to Affordable Care Act subsidies, which will expire at year’s end, are in the ‘early ideation phase,’ said a third person familiar with the talks.”

READ MORE: Congressman Conway? Top Trump Critic Reportedly Eyeing House Bid

Capitol Hill is in a similar state.

Noting that “the clock is ticking,” NBC News reported that “Republicans, under pressure from Democrats after the government shutdown revived the health care clash, have not coalesced around legislation or even an abstract idea, and are only now starting serious discussions about putting proposals together.”

“As the party scrambles to craft an alternative, multiple Republicans are vying for Trump’s endorsement of ideas that could alleviate skyrocketing costs that are just around the corner,” NBC added.

Democrats want a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies and tax credits, Speaker Johnson has said that is a nonstarter.

Some Republicans are starting to speak out.

READ MORE: ‘Out of Touch’: Eric Trump Blasted for $500 Million Bitcoin Brag

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), a former Democrat, “warned, ‘not only is it morally bankrupt, it’s political suicide’ for Republicans to let the subsidies expire without an alternative in place.”

U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) prefers a vehicle like health care saving accounts that he claimed will lower costs by driving up competition. President Trump appeared to favor that approach, when he attacked health insurance companies in a social media post earlier this week.

Some are warning that bypassing the Obamacare exchanges could damage or destroy them.

“A tweet is not a health care plan,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, told NBC. “If people could use these Trump health care dollars to buy insurance not regulated by the ACA, it would likely cause the ACA to collapse and upend protections for pre-existing conditions.”

Meanwhile, critics are blasting Republicans on Capitol Hill as well as the Trump administration for waiting so long before starting to try to create a plan.

Responding to the NBC News report, journalist Justin Baragona observed, “we’re still on ‘concepts of a plan’ here.”

“They’ve had 10+ years to work on this and have nothing,” wrote Laura Belin, a reporter for a progressive website. “Time to stop taking their supposed health care policy work seriously.”

The White House is in ‘early ideation’ phase on ACA subsidies,” wrote The Bulwark’s Jonathan Cohn. “An issue already hitting millions of insurance buyers And that Democrats (not to mention analysts, journalists etc) have been saying needs attention for more than a year.”

Michigan Democratic State Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, wrote: “After Republicans refused to extend ACA subsidies, 4 Michigan insurers are dropping out of the ACA marketplace altogether. That’s 200,000 Michiganders who just lost their plans. Others are just going to cancel their plans. Which means more uncompensated care. Which means *everyone’s* healthcare costs will be higher.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

 

Image via Reuters 

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Congressman Conway? Top Trump Critic Reportedly Eyeing House Bid

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George Conway, the prominent attorney, Trump critic, and ex-husband of former Trump White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, may be considering a run for Congress.

According to a report at CNN and a post by New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni, Conway is eyeing a run for retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler’s New York district.

CNN reported that Conway, 62, is “actively considering running for Congress from New York City, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.”

Karni reported, “the Conway pitch being — what the House will need next year is an aggressive lawyer with an investigative background just going after Trump.”

READ MORE: Melania Trump to Appear With President as Epstein Files Take Center Stage

Conway is a former Republican who became an independent in 2018. He has a law degree from Yale, and successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, obtaining a unanimous ruling. He is a co-founder of The Lincoln Project and currently co-hosts a podcast at The Bulwark.

Should Democrats retake the majority in the House of Representatives, it’s likely there will be numerous investigations into President Donald Trump and his administration — not to mention possible efforts to impeach the unpopular and controversial Commander in Chief.

Conway would have good company in a primary.

“Jack Schlossberg, former President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, entered the race this week,” CNN noted.

The Daily Beast adds that “much of the buzz around Conway stems from his personal life. While he and his 58-year-old ex-wife, Kellyanne, tried to make their marriage work amid his dramatic political realignment, the couple frequently made headlines. As Kellyanne served as senior counselor to Trump from 2017 to 2020, her husband routinely sounded off on her boss and advisers—including Stephen Miller, whom Kellyanne referred to as one of her ‘best friends’ in the current administration earlier this month.”

READ MORE: White House Eyes Major Blitz as GOP Voters Blame Trump for Failing Economy

 

Image by Presia Debauch via Flickr and a CC license

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