The Code Switch team spent Election Day talking to folks about how the outcome might impact them. From green card holding Trump supporters in Queens, to first-time voters at Harris’ watch party in DC, we bring you this time capsule of the day before we knew.
This episode was produced by Xavier Lopez, Christina Cala and Jess Kung. It was edited by Courtney Stein and Leah Donnella. Our engineers were Josephine Nyounai and Gilly Moon.
The media warned for months that Donald Trump would have “no guardrails” in a second term, and would probably hand out top positions to a bunch of right-wing crazies.
Instead, he picked Marco Rubio yesterday as secretary of State, a 14-year Senate veteran and son of Cuban immigrants who has been informally advising him on foreign policy.
MEDIA LIBERALS SAVAGE KAMALA AS TRUMP PICKS EXPERIENCED HARD-LINERS
The president-elect has also tapped a number of Hill veterans who are conventional conservatives, agree with him on key issues and could just as easily have been named by Mitt Romney.
Also yesterday, Trump selected Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor, as Homeland Security secretary, after she overcame the dog-shooting incident that knocked her out of the veepstakes.
Trump has been rolling out these appointments at hyper-speed, just a week after the election. He has stayed off TV and hasn’t made any inflammatory posts. He’s trying to demonstrate a seriousness about governing, by hitting the ground running.
In the past, presidents and presidents-elect have appeared on air, praising their nominee or maybe two, and yielding to a short, grateful speech by the chosen ones. But Trump appears to be skipping all that.
All the top jobs haven’t been filled, obviously, but even some top Democrats are praising the choice of Rubio (while some in the MAGA movement are disappointed). He’s unquestionably a hawk, and will be the face of American foreign policy as he travels around the world.
President-elect Donald Trump is pictured in front of the White House. (Getty Images/AP Images)
Sure, he said some terrible things about Trump, who derided him as Little Marco, when both ran in 2016. I watched Rubio on the trail that year and he’s a very charismatic speaker.
But the two have long since mended fences. Rubio tried to push immigration reform a decade ago as part of various Senate gangs, but has since distanced himself from the effort.
I keep seeing television chyrons that, almost in accusatory fashion, say Trump is hiring “loyalists.” Excuse me–do you think that Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton didn’t hire loyalists? Presidents want aides who generally agree with them and won’t turn into troublemakers. Biden hired such longtime advisers as Ron Klain, Mike Donilon and Steve Richetti.
From a conservative point of view, when Biden hired top officials who wanted to strengthen environmental rules, boost labor unions and spend hundreds of billions of dollars to dig out of the pandemic, that was a hard-line departure from Trump 1.0. Now Trump will reverse many Biden policies with the stroke of a pen.
DEPRESSED MEDIA REACT TO TRUMP VICTORY: HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY HAVE HAPPENED?
The other picks so far: Upstate New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a member of the House leadership and impeachment defender, has been tapped for U.N. ambassador.
Trump also chose former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin to run the EPA. He’s a mainstream conservative who has crusaded against excessive environmental regulations and gotten a lifetime score of 14 percent from the League of Conservation Voters. He told Fox News that the administration will “roll back regulations” that are causing businesses to “struggle” and are “forcing” them to move overseas.
After that, Trump tapped Florida GOP congressman Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret, as White House national security adviser, which doesn’t require Senate confirmation. He’s a China hawk and Ukraine skeptic. “Stopping Russia before it draws NATO and therefore the U.S. into war is the right thing to do,” Waltz wrote. “But the burden cannot continue to be solely on the shoulders of the American people, especially while Western Europe gets a pass.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attends a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump at the Trump National Doral Golf Club on July 9, 2024 in Doral, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
These are serious people who know how Washington works.
By the way, Trump has shrunk what’s expected to be a very small GOP edge in the House by picking two members. But in Rubio’s case, Gov. Ron DeSantis can appoint a replacement who would serve until the midterm elections.
As I’m typing this, Trump just named Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate, as ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has led many delegations to the country and is staunchly pro-Israel.
And after I filed this, Trump named Bill McGinley, who worked on election integrity for the RNC and was general counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as his White House counsel.
And after I filed the insert, another announcement: John Ratcliffe being tapped for CIA director. The former Texas congressman, known for criticizing the FBI as biased against Trump, became his director of national intelligence in 2020.
Last night, Trump made his first hire from Fox News. Pete Hegseth, an Army combat veteran and co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” has been named Defense secretary. Trump noted that Hegseth did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan, was awarded two Bronze Stars, and just published the best-selling “The War on Warriors.”
Trump tried to get him confirmed the previous year, but Ratcliffe withdrew after GOP senators and ex-intel officials raised concerns about him, amid media disclosures that he’d embellished his prosecutorial efforts in immigration and terrorism cases. So he certainly qualifies as a highly partisan pick.
The two appointees who can fairly be described as aggressive hard-liners–critics would say extremists–are Stephen Miller and Tom Homan–both hired to deal with Trump’s top priority, the border.
Miller, who spearheaded immigration policy in the first Trump term, has been promoted to deputy chief of staff, and even that title doesn’t capture the clout he’ll have as a trusted member of the inner circle. He pushed the family separation policy that was extremely controversial.
WHY THE MEDIA WAITED TILL NOW TO ADMIT HARRIS RAN A LOUSY CAMPAIGN
Homan, who ran ICE in the first term, is being called the border czar. When asked if there was a way to avoid separating families, as happened last time, he said sure–deport them all together.
He said at a conference over the summer: “Washington Post can do all the stories they want on me about ‘Tom Homan’s deportin’ people, he’s really good at it!’ They ain’t seen s*** yet! Wait till 2025!”
Miller and Homan will be responsible for carrying out mass deportations of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants living in America, or at least starting the process so the president-elect can say he kept his promise. Critics call the goal utterly unrealistic.
Now there are others who will also enjoy huge influence. Elon Musk, who donated $119 million to help Trump, is now the most powerful private citizen ever–heading a waste commission, posting hundreds of messages on X, sitting in on Trump call to Volodymyr Zelenskyy – all while seeking billions in federal contracts.
Trump said last night that Musk will head a Department of Government Efficiency – he promised to “send shockwaves through the system” – with help from former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tom Homan, former acting director of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, US, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. ( Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
RFK Jr. will get some title, but Trump has to decide whether to go along with his hotly disputed ideas on vaccines and removing fluoride from water systems. He’s also threatened to fire FDA officials who have waged a “war on public health,” saying the agency has suppressed such products as raw milk, ivermectin and vitamins.
And of course J.D. Vance will be an unusually active vice president and heir apparent.
Still to come: the top jobs of Treasury secretary and the extraordinarily sensitive post of attorney general. I also want to know who’ll be press secretary!
One reason we’re in for weeks and weeks of skeptical to negative coverage is that every beat reporter on the planet must now do obligatory pieces on Donald Trump.
Whether they cover sports, religion, labor, housing, entertainment, courts, energy, television, schools or crime, they need to write about the impact of the 47th president–keeping in mind that he weighs in on everything.
From yesterday alone:
Washington Post: “Trump Pledged to Close the Education Department. What would that mean?”
New York Times: “Trump’s ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Cuts Two Ways for Oil Companies.”
And: “Colleges Wonder if They Will Be ‘the Enemy’ Under Trump”
But my personal favorite: “What a Trump Presidency Means for the Liquor Industry.”
(Trump doesn’t drink, but every industry wants less regulation.)
There’s also this Drudge headline: “Wife Divorces Husband Over Vote.”
As the Mirror reports, “A man has said he can’t believe his wife was ready to ‘throw away our entire life’ after filing for divorce over his vote for Donald Trump.
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The distraught husband wrote on social media that he has been left without words that the marriage could fall apart over politics.”
I guess a family separation policy comes in many forms.
President-elect Trump has promised mass deportations, including workplace raids like those that took place during his first term at chicken processing plants in rural Mississippi.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
President-elect Trump has promised mass deportations in the next four years. The plan includes workplace raids like those that took place during his first term at chicken processing plants in rural Mississippi. In the town of Morton back in 2019, I met a woman who asked to be identified as Elisa. She was one of nearly 700 people arrested in those operations.
ELISA: (Through interpreter) A lot of people aren’t leaving the house. The truth is nothing will be the same here. Now we’re just living with fear.
SHAPIRO: To understand the impact these raids had on Mississippi and what the next four years could look like, we called Cliff Johnson. He’s an immigration attorney and director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi. He told me the 2019 raids had repercussions that were significant and horrific.
CLIFF JOHNSON: You know, this was the first day of school for more than a thousand children impacted by these raids, and they learned at the end of the school day that there may not be anybody at home waiting for them. Families were torn apart. People were terrified because of an investigation that purportedly was focused on chicken processing companies, in this case, that employed folks. But the evidence of the bad acts, the items seized in the search warrant, were actual human beings who’d been living here among us for years and years.
SHAPIRO: When I visited Mississippi, I spoke with ICE special agent Jerry Miles, who helped organize the operations, and he told me this.
JERRY MILES: We’re building a criminal investigation against a target. And pursuant to that criminal investigation, we encountered and detained undocumented workers.
SHAPIRO: But many people have observed that company executives were not detained that day. Only the workers were.
MILES: That’s why we keep saying it’s an ongoing criminal investigation.
SHAPIRO: That was five years ago. So to this day, has anyone high up in the companies that employed these undocumented workers faced legal consequences?
JOHNSON: I think the key term there is high up. In these cases, I think there may have been a handful of mid-level managers who’ve been held accountable, maybe sentenced to probation. But the notion that the corporations themselves or anybody high up in the corporations, having been prosecuted and sent to prison or punished severely – that’s just not what this was about. And I don’t think it’s what it was about from the very beginning. This wasn’t a response to an outcry from a local community where folks were arguing that immigrants were committing crimes and making us less safe. We were co-existing happily with these people. We’ve known them from our public schools and from our Little League fields. And this was about somebody far away making a decision to do this.
SHAPIRO: What reason do these companies give for continuing to hire undocumented workers even as they’ve experienced raids in the past and know there could be more in the future?
JOHNSON: I don’t know what they would say publicly. My expectation and understanding is that they first and foremost need somebody actually willing to do the job. And jobs like these are done by people who don’t have lots of other choices. If they could get jobs that didn’t require them to stand on that line and deal with those smells and deal with the messiness of that work, they would take those jobs. These are the types of employees who don’t have significant power when it comes to negotiating wages. These are workers who are easily controlled and who will work extremely hard in order to support their families and to meet their basic needs.
SHAPIRO: How has the community organized since 2019 to be prepared for what the next four years might bring?
JOHNSON: When these raids took place in 2019, we didn’t have even the ability to know who had been hauled off. They don’t leave you a list of people that they took. What this looks like now is there are people who have literal raid packets – information that’s been provided to them about the information they should have readily available for people who seek to provide aid, where they can keep their identification documents together, where they have a plan for the care of their children, where there is a network of people prepared to provide transportation to and from detention facilities and where advocacy organizations like ours are working to even conduct a dry run of a mass raid.
None of that was in place in 2019. And what’s so important to note is, you know, these organizations that have been doing this are grassroots communities of largely immigrant women who have decided that we’re not going to get caught off guard like that again.
SHAPIRO: What do you say to somebody who doesn’t want to see families separated, doesn’t want to see people suffer but wants to see accountability for people who cross the border illegally?
JOHNSON: Look. I’ve always recognized that this is a difficult question on which, you know, people of good faith can disagree. What I’d say is there are tremendous implications for taking the people who are already here and ripping them away from their local communities and from their families. It affects, you know, the local businesses where those people shop. It affects the companies that employ them – areas of construction and agriculture, manufacturing and food processing. The landlords who rent them homes and apartments are impacted. The richness of our culture and community in places like small-town Mississippi are negatively impacted. So there are consequences of this.
SHAPIRO: That’s Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi. Thank you very much.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
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Elon Musk, who was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, shared some insight on X on Tuesday into how the department will operate.
Musk said that the department will take suggestions and concerns from everyday Americans regarding how the government spends money.
“Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!” Musk said in part in the X post.
Musk also said all the department’s actions “will be posted online for maximum transparency.”
TRUMP’S PICKS SO FAR: HERE’S WHO WILL BE ADVISING THE NEW PRESIDENT
Trump announced on Tuesday that entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will be leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Getty Images)
“We will also have a leaderboard for [the] most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining,” he wrote.
When announcing the new department on Tuesday, Trump said its purpose will be to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”
“DOGE” will advise and guide the administration by utilizing knowledge from outside of government and will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform.”
TRUMP’S FIRST CABINET PICKS DECIDEDLY NOT ISOLATIONISTS: UKRAINE, ISRAEL BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF
Musk and Ramaswamy will head the Department of Government Efficiency, which will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to slash excess regulations and cut wasteful expenditures, among other things. (Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Musk and Ramaswamy, both of whom are successful entrepreneurs, have been adamant about their desires to cut unnecessary spending in order to reduce the government’s debt of at least $35 trillion.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said.
Ramswamy also said he and Musk “will not go gently” shortly after Trump announced their new roles.
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Musk and Ramaswamy are the latest additions to Trump’s administration after a busy few days loaded with appointments.
President-elect Donald Trump has announced many additions to his administration in the days following his victory in the presidential election. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The latest include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for Homeland Security secretary, Fox News’ Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, and John Ratcliffe for CIA director.
Journalists take cover from the exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Monday.
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Odelyn Joseph/AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Federal Aviation Administration prohibited U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot three planes and the United Nations also Tuesday temporarily suspended flights to Port-au-Prince, limiting humanitarian aid coming into the country.
Bullets hit a Spirit Airlines plane when it was about to land in the capital Monday, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the airport to shut down. Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane.
On Tuesday, JetBlue and American Airlines announced that postflight inspections found their planes also had been shot Monday while departing Port-au-Prince. American suspended flights to the capital until Feb. 12.
The shootings were part of a wave of violence that erupted as the country plagued by gang violence swore in its new prime minister after a politically tumultuous process.
A police officer looks on during an exchange of gunfire between gangs and police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Monday.
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Odelyn Joseph/AP
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the agency documented 20 armed clashes and more roadblocks affecting humanitarian operation during the violence Monday. The Port-au-Prince airport will remain closed until Nov. 18, and Dujarric said the U.N. will divert flights to the country’s second airport in the northern, more peaceful, city of Cap Haïtien.
Slashed access to the epicenter of the violence, Port-au-Prince, is likely to be devastating as gangs choking the life out of the capital have pushed Haiti to the brink of famine. Dujarric warned that cutting off flights would mean “limiting the flow of humanitarian aid and humanitarian personnel into the country.”
Already, a convoy of 20 trucks filled with food and medical supplies in the south had been postponed and an operation providing cash assistance to a thousand people in the Carrefour area where violence broke out had to be canceled.
Police officers patrol near the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday.
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Odelyn Joseph/AP
“We are doing all we can to ensure the continuation of operations amidst this challenging environment,” he said. “We call for an end to the escalating violence, to allow for safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access.”
On Tuesday, life in much of Haiti’s capital was frozen after the wave of violence. Heavily armed police in armored cars outside the airport checked trucks used for public transportation passing by.
Schools were closed, as were banks and government offices. Streets, where just a day before gangs and police were locked in a fierce firefight, were eerily empty, with few driving by other than a motorcycle with a man who had been shot clinging to the back.
The sounds of heavy gunfire still echoed through the streets in the afternoon — a reminder that despite political maneuvering by Haiti’s elites and a strong push by the international community to restore peace, the country’s toxic slate of gangs kept its firm hold on much of the Caribbean nation.
A view of the Toussaint Louverture international airport, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday.
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Odelyn Joseph/AP
The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence struggles with a lack of funding and personnel, prompting calls for a U.N. peacekeeping mission.
President Luis Abinader in the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti, was the first leader on the island to condemn the violence, describing the shooting a “terrorist act”.
On Tuesday, a transitional council established in April to restore democratic order to Haiti also condemned the violence.
“This cowardly crime, which threatens Haiti’s sovereignty and security, aims to isolate our country on the international stage. The perpetrators of these heinous acts will be hunted down and brought to justice,” the council wrote in a statement.
Police officers patrol near the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Tuesday.
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Odelyn Joseph/AP
The council has taken sharp criticism from many in Haiti who contend that its political fights and corruption allegations against three members created the political instability, allowing gangs to make violent power grabs like the one seen Monday.
That came to a head over the weekend, when it fired former interim Prime Minister Garry Conille — long at odds with the council. They replaced him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who was inaugurated Monday surrounded by suit-clad officials and diplomats while gangs terrorized the capital around them.
Neither Fils-Aimé or Conille have commented on the wave of violence.
Conille originally called the council’s move illegal, but on Tuesday acknowledged Fils-Aimé’s appointment in a post on the social media platform X.
“(I) wish him success in fulfilling this mission. At this crucial moment, unity and solidarity are essential for our country. Long live Haiti!” he wrote. Fils-Aimé promised to work with international partners to restore peace and hold long awaited elections, a vow also made by his predecessor.
But many Haitians, like 43-year-old Martha Jean-Pierre, have little taste for the political fighting, which experts say only gives gangs more freedom to continue expanding their control.
Jean-Pierre was among those to brave the streets of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to sell the plantains, carrots, cabbage and potatoes she carried in a basket on her head. She had no choice, she said — selling was the only way she could feed her children.
“What good is a new prime minister if there’s no security, if I can’t move freely and sell my goods?” she said, nodding to her basket of vegetables. “This is my bank account. This is what my family depend on.”
It was a frustration that concerned international players like the U.N. and the U.S. that have pushed for a peaceful resolution in Haiti.
On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department lamented that Conille and the council “were unable to move forward in a constructive manner” and called on Fils-Aimé and the council to provide a clear action plan outlining a joint vision on how to decrease violence and pave the path for elections to be held to “prevent further gridlock.”
“The acute and immediate needs of the Haitian people mandate that the transitional government prioritize governance over the competing personal interests of political actors,” it wrote in a statement.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
So, four years ago, Joe Biden made Kamala Harris the border czar. Then, when she did nothing, the legacy media insisted she never was the border czar, as if we were the ones with dementia. After four years of chaos at the southern border and illegal alien criminals creating havoc on America’s streets, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Tom Homan, his former director of ICE, will be the new border czar. He’ll be in charge of all deportation of illegals back to their countries of origin. Of course, this won’t be popular among the usual suspects, but I wonder if Homan cares what people think about him, especially on the left.
TOM HOMAN: Frankly, I don’t care what people think about me, especially on the left. So I don’t care what anybody’s opinion is on illegal immigration. When you create a crisis this big, all these other bad things happen. I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat or Independent. Border security is national security.
So he doesn’t care what people think of him. Just look at him. Do you doubt him? I mean, look up the phrase “doesn’t give a f—” and you’re going to find that picture. I mean he’ll make migrants turn back just by glaring at them. I’m scared. He scares me and I’m a citizen! But it’s clear he’s not angling for his next job, just the one he’s been hired to do right now – and the sooner, the better.
Millions of illegal aliens flooded our southern border over the past four years because Joe welcomed them like they weren’t his fifth grandchild. They got debit cards, hotel rooms, even the option of sex changes in prison, no less. Hell, even I would take the sex change. I mean, it’s free. I don’t want it but it’s free. I like free stuff. But if they listened to the incoming president then, and he didn’t even speak English, I bet they’ll listen to this one now.
FILE – A group claiming to be from India sit in the shade of the border wall as they wait to be picked up by Border Patrol after crossing through the border fence in the Tucson Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, Aug. 29, 2023, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York, File) (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
It’s possible that millions will leave on their own just out of fear of getting arrested. You know, like a lot of us do at Kudlow’s house right before animal control arrives. So how will the opposition respond? As always, with language. And it’s all about the mass.
CNN’S ABBY PHILLIPS: The mass deportations that Donald Trump has promised.
CNN’S KAITLAN COLLINS: The mass deportation pledge that Trump has promised this time around.
TRUMP SAYS MASS DEPORTATIONS ‘NOT A QUESTION OF A PRICE TAG’
CNN’S ERIN BURNETT: Trump’s new border czar, who will be tasked with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation promises.
CNN CORRESPONDENT: The plans for mass deportation.
CNN’S JAKE TAPPER: How Trump will fund this mass deportation plan.
THE VIEW’S ANA NAVARRO: A lot of people thought that when he talked about mass deportations, he wasn’t being serious. He was absolutely serious. What it means is grandmothers, what it means is brothers and aunts, what it means is abuelos and abuelas. It means dreamers. It means your family members.
What’s Spanish for chill pill? The only dreamer I see is Ana dreaming about eating a box of Oreos. But you see the grift? It’s not deportations, it’s mass deportations – emphasis on mass. They’ve done this before. When the left created hate speech, it was to go after speech by leading with hate. When they came up with an assault rifle, it was to go after the gun while playing up the assault. And here it’s distract[ing] from deportation by playing up the mass. Which raises the question, can the media tell us the cut-off between mass and not mass?
BIDEN REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE FOR HIGH DEPORTATION NUMBERS DURING OBAMA YEARS
Have they ever given us the difference between mass and just regular old deportations? They never did the math. Then again, no one ever asks and most of them can’t count higher than the number of their remaining refills for Zoloft. Somehow, it wasn’t mass deportations when Obama did it. You didn’t hear the cattle at The View calling him a fascist. Then again, it’s hard to understand people when they have a mouth full of field grass.
A family of Central American migrants hoping to reach the United States in hopes of a better life, walk after crossing the US-Mexico border fence from Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, to the US, on December 30, 2018. – Outgoing White House chief John Kelly said he had “nothing but compassion” for undocumented migrants crossing into the US and undercut the idea of a border wall in an interview published Sunday that jarred with President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigration. (GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images)
So what’s the answer all you smarty-pants? How many people do you allow in every year? Personally, I say 500. And they must know deep tissue massage and look great in athletic gear. But the number can change every year based on what the country needs and what it can handle. It’s not a people question. It’s an economic one. Everything in life has limits and amounts. You don’t pour a 12 ounce beer into a shot glass and you don’t squeeze a circus bear into a size two pair of overalls.
Now, we know that the left understands limits. In California, with smash and grab thefts, they created a $950 threshold. If you didn’t exceed it, then it was only a misdemeanor. That’s why in California, my book cost $951. It’s odd the left are happy to decide how much of a bad thing we could endure, but they’re flummoxed by good behavior. So, just for kicks, ask someone – what’s the number you’re OK with? They can’t give you one because they hold your beliefs to absurd standards. When the left gets into power under the guise of centrism, they move easily to the left.
When the right gains power under the same promise of centrism, they cannot move to the right at all, which means any action to gain control of the border will be defined as intolerable, even if it’s pure common sense. Which is good news for us. We realize nothing we do will be popular, and that’s freeing. AOC can cry. The media can call us fascists.
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We don’t give a f—. You were the guys that threw this kegger while mommy and daddy were on vacation. And now the adults are home and it’s time to clean up the mess that you made.
Fulton County election workers process absentee ballots on Nov. 4, in Union City, Ga.
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Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images
ATLANTA — Every county in Georgia has certified the results of the 2024 general election, a notable step after some Republican local election board members earlier this year declined to certify other results.
Typically an uncontroversial procedural move, disputes over election certification cropped up in several states in 2020, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump amplified baseless claims of widespread fraud.
The 2020 examples led to worries about what would happen following the 2024 election, with Trump again on the ballot, even as election officials and experts maintained that certification is mandatory and legal guardrails would minimize disruptions.
But with Trump’s win in Georgia and in every swing state across the country this year, claims about widespread election fraud have largely dissipated — as have concerns about certification.
Each state has its own deadlines for certification of election results at the local and state levels. Georgia’s local deadline is among the earliest.
Ahead of the 2024 election, battles over certification were most pronounced in Georgia, where Republicans on the State Election Board approved rules that seemingly allowed local election board members to vote against certifying election results.
A judge later invalidated the rules, declaring them “illegal, unconstitutional and void.” Georgia law says local election boards must certify election results by 5 p.m. on Nov. 12.
But that did not stop some local election board members from pressing the courts to rule they have discretion to vote against certifying the results.
One local Republican board member, Julie Adams of Fulton County, continued to push ahead in her own lawsuit, even after a judge ruled her certification duties mandatory, not discretionary.
Adams had declined to certify election results on several occasions, saying she had not been able to independently verify the integrity of the results. Following the November election that saw Trump and others win in Georgia, she voted to certify those results, though she expressed reservations.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to have a court order saying I have to vote yes,” Adams said Tuesday.
Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, a Republican, is seen at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center on Nov. 5.
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John Bazemore/AP
In Metro Atlanta’s most populous counties — DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett — at least one local Republican board member abstained or voted against certifying results from elections earlier in the year. After the November election, all four boards certified the results unanimously.
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will next complete the state certification before presidential electors meet in December.
“Election integrity doesn’t happen just in the 11th hour, as some fringe activists claimed to try to do this past month. It is planned years in advance,” Raffensperger told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I believe every county will be in good shape and have it done.”
While concerns about irregularities and certification have fallen off, they have not disappeared entirely. Some local board members pressed election officials for clarity about minor discrepancies in the results before voting to certify.
A handful of Republicans, like Fulton County board member Michael Heekin, are now calling on the state legislature to empower local election board members with the discretion to vote against certifying results in future elections.
And some activists have signaled they will continue to raise concerns about election administration, like criticism of Georgia’s voting machines and voter list maintenance.
But for local voting officials who were preparing to be in the eye of the storm for weeks on end after voting finished, the relative calm has felt like a seismic shift compared to 2020.
“It’s completely different,” said Lisa Tollefson, county clerk for Rock County, Wis. “This time four years ago, I was getting nasty phone calls constantly in my office and we had police protection for a while.”
Her county board of canvassers met Monday to verify the general election results. At a similar meeting in 2020, there were a dozen or more observers, Tollefson said.
This year: “I had one observer,” she said. “That’s it.”
Lisa Posthumus Lyons, a clerk in Kent County, Mich., said media attention on the administration of elections also died down almost immediately after Michigan was called for Trump.
“All eyes were on us, and the second we hit midnight almost, it was like they were going to turn into a pumpkin or something and they were gone,” Lyons said. “It’s not just that it’s less tense, but it just seems less interesting to others.”
NPR’s Miles Parks contributed reporting.
Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill played in Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Rams with what he described as a torn ligament in his wrist.
The eight-time Pro Bowler was a game-time decision heading into “Monday Night Football” and missed some practice time recently. While Hill told ESPN he had been dealing with wrist issues since training camp, he claims the events that transpired as he was detained by police near the Dolphins home stadium in September exacerbated the injury.
Hill added that he previously underwent an MRI which confirmed a torn ligament in his wrist.
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Aug 6, 2024; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) talks to reporters after a joint practice with the Atlanta Falcons at Baptist Health Training Complex. (Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports)
Hill added that he decided to keep quiet about the injury prior to this week. But, “that arrest messed me up,” he told ESPN. “[not going to] let it stop me.”
Miami Police performed a traffic stop on Sept. 8, just hours before the Dolphins season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars was scheduled to kick off. Hill was on his way to the game at the time.
EX-NFL STAR CRITICAL OF TYREEK HILL FOR BEHAVIOR DURING POLICE DETENTION
Bodycam footage showed police officers pulling up next to Hill’s car and telling him he was speeding. Hill asks how fast he was going but is instructed to pull over.
The officer knocks on the window and Hill tells the officer not to knock on his window like that as he hands over his driver’s license. Hill then tells the officer to give him his ticket and rolls the window back up. The officer demands that Hill keep his window down.
“Keep your window down, or I’m going to get you out of the car. As a matter of fact, get out of the car,” the officer says.
A second officer threatens to break the window.
“We’re not playing this game,” another officer says as the bodycam shows one officer opening the door, reaching into Hill’s car and pulling him out with a third officer’s help.
“Hey Drew, I’m getting arrested Drew,” Hill is heard saying, apparently speaking with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
One officer says, “When we tell you to do something, you do it, not what you want but when we tell you. You’re a little f—ing confused.”
Tyreek Hill being taken out of his vehicle (Miami-Dade Police Department)
Hill has not put up the eye-popping statistics so far this season that fans have become accustomed to in recent years. At least some of the drop in production can be attributed to the quarterback issues the Dolphins have experienced this season. Normal starter Tua Tagovailoa missed time this year due to a concussion.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) catches the ball against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half at SoFi Stadium. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
Hill has finished each of the past four seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards, including a career-best 1,799 performance in 2023.
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The Dolphins picked up their third win of the season on Monday and remain alive in the race for a spot in the AFC playoffs. They will host the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on November 12, 2024 shows Vivek Ramaswamy (L) and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (R). President-elect Donald Trump on November said Musk will lead a so-called Department of Government Efficiency alongside American entrepreneur Ramaswamy.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds and Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds and Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new government agency focused on regulating federal spending.
In a statement released Tuesday, Trump referred to the new agency as the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE,) an acronym that is an apparent wink to the dog-themed cryptocurrency by the same name that started as a joke and skyrocketed after Musk promoted it.
While it is not yet clear whether this entity will exist within the federal government or outside, an official government agency cannot be created without an act of Congress.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump wrote. “I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans.”
The move by Trump marks another deviation from political tradition in assembling a new administration. It’s also a continuation of Trump’s relationships with Musk and Ramaswamy, businessmen who are both relatively new to politics but have become close allies of the incoming president.
On the campaign trail, Trump spoke of creating a role in the federal government for Musk, who is the richest man in the world and owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X.
Musk has become an increasingly influential voice in conservative politics. He first proposed a “government efficiency commission” that would monitor federal agencies during a conversation he had with Trump on X. Since winning the presidential election, Trump and Musk have remained in close orbit.
The appointment also brings Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, officially into Trump’s administration after he was reported to have once been under consideration for vice president.
“We will not go gently,” Ramaswamy said in a post on X in response to the news while tagging Musk, who commented separately in Trump’s original announcement.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said.
While most department heads have to be confirmed by the Senate, it’s unclear what formalities Musk and Ramaswamy will have to go through for these roles.
For Musk, having a direct role in the administration raises questions about potential conflicts of interest. He could potentially gain regulatory authority over federal agencies that oversee many of his companies that receive government funding, including Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. Musk’s companies have also been the subject of federal investigations.
Musk became a major supporter of Trump in the final leg of his presidential bid, appearing on the campaign trail and spending more than $100 million on organizing efforts through his super PAC, “America PAC.” His political contributions went on to surpass the total amount of public donations from the entire oil industry.
Musk’s relationship with Trump exists a world apart from the careful way most American CEOs navigate politics — although Musk already has a history of breaking from corporate tradition.
The tech mogul’s support for Trump was also a surprising ideological pivot. Musk, who built his vast fortune on electric vehicles with a declared commitment to fighting climate change, is now embracing a politician who consistently dismisses concerns about carbon emissions.
That said, Trump’s appreciation was public. On the campaign trail he softened some of his rhetoric against electric vehicles, saying he had “no choice” to be in favor of them after Musk’s endorsement. Trump also called Musk a “super genius” in his victory speech and included Musk in a family photo after the election.
Musk went on to weigh in on spending cuts while speaking to Trump supporters at a rally in New York City ahead of Election Day, arguing the budget for the federal government could be significantly shrunk by “at least” $2 trillion.
He has a record of cutting spending within his businesses. After buying X, he conducted mass layoffs, vastly reducing the size of the company from 8,000 to 1,500 people.
Ahead of Trump’s announcement, Musk also said he plans to keep his super PAC active as Republicans gear up for special elections and the midterms.
Like Musk, Ramaswamy has also called for drastic reductions in federal spending.
Until he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in January to endorse Trump, Ramaswamy vowed to reduce the role of the federal government. His policy proposals included slashing the Federal Reserve workforce by at least 90% and deporting American-born children of undocumented immigrants.
Canada Soccer has parted ways with Bev Priestman. The decision to relieve Priestman of her coaching duties comes after an independent review was launche into her role in a drone surveillance scandal at this past summer’s Olympics in Paris.
Assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi were also relieved of duty as Canada Soccer released the findings of the investigation.
The women’s soccer team became embroiled in the scandal after New Zealand raised concerns about a drone flying near their practice area as the team prepared for soccer competition at the Olympic tournament. FIFA fined Canada Soccer $228,000 and docked six standings points from the team.
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FILE – Canada coach Beverly Priestman gestures during a soccer training session ahead of the FIFA Womens World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, July 17, 2023. (Scott Barbour/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FIFA also suspended Priestman, Mander and Lombardi for a year. Despite the penalty, Canada was able to advance to the group. Germany eliminated Canada from the Olympic tournament in the quarterfinals.
The investigation by attorney Sonia Regenbogen of the firm Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark found no evidence that Canadian players had viewed the drone footage. But it found that assistant coaches and other support staff “did not feel they could challenge the authority of the head coach.”
CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE SAYS SPYING SCANDAL ‘COULD TARNISH’ WOMEN’S TOKYO GOLD MEDAL
Fox News Digital could not immediately reach Priestman for comment. Priestman led Canada to the gold medal at the Tokyo Games. The review found that no drones were used in Japan, but that two national team coaches engaged in improper surveillance “predating the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Head coach of Canada Beverly Priestman gestures during Quarterfinals – 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup between Canada and Costa Rica at BMO Stadium on March 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
“The findings of the independent investigator reveal that the drone incident in Paris was a symptom of a past pattern of an unacceptable culture and insufficient oversight within the national teams,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue said in a statement.
“This is no longer part of our operations. In fact, the investigation findings strengthen our resolve to continue implementing changes that are needed to improve Canada Soccer, in all respects, and to do so with urgency. Even though the independent investigation has been concluded, there is more to be done to set things on a new course.”
Beverly Priestman, Head Coach reacts during the Women’s Gold Medal Match between Canada and Sweden on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at International Stadium Yokohama on August 06, 2021 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
The review additionally found that allegations suggesting the men’s team used drones to spy on an opponent at the Copa America were unfounded. However, it found “potential violations” by former Canada men’s coach John Herdman, who was not interviewed because of scheduling issues.
“Potential violations of the Canada Soccer Code of Conduct and Ethics by the former head coach of the Men’s National Team were identified,” Canada Soccer said in a summary of the investigation. “Pursuant to the Canada Soccer Disciplinary Code, a disciplinary process is being initiated to adjudicate these potential violations.”
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Herdman left Canada Soccer last year and is currently the coach of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.
“The organization will thoroughly review and process the report’s findings over the coming days. Both MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) and Toronto FC will reserve any further comment until that review process has been completed,” Toronto FC said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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