“The money New Labour had in the 90s is simply not there now… Britain has it harder now,” Chancellor John Healey said last month.
And from Andy Burnham, days before he became prime minister: “This change… is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.”
As Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), puts it: “We have a relatively new government with seemingly big ambitions but facing a long list of constraints.
“Some of those constraints… are self imposed, others are being worsened by global events, most noticeably war in the Middle East.”
Let’s be clear, plenty in Westminster in all parties will say that the amount of money around isn’t everything – how well taxpayers’ money is spent and where it is spent matters too.
But in the bones of many in the Labour Party is an instinct that the government, the state, can and should be a vital agent in driving change and improvements in people’s lives – a world-view grounded in a sense that governments should proudly step in, rather than one that believes they should get out of the way.
And how do you deliver a proudly proactive state, delivering for people in a noticeable way, when the tax burden is generationally high, the national debt is sky high, energy bills are rising and inflation is higher than expected?
Many are expecting support on the cost of living, and in particular energy bills, to be targeted at the most vulnerable. On the eve of the Budget, Healey said he wants to “start the long-term action needed to get energy costs down for good”.
There will be an announcement about further spending on defence, but not yet how spending 3% of national income on our security will be delivered by 2030 – that will come in next year’s Spending Review.
And one of the prime minister’s key ideas – handing power away from Westminster and closer to you, devolution – will be central too.
There will be, the chancellor told BBC Newscast, a “really radical devolution of powers and resources to local leaders that are often better placed to get beyond the departmental systems.”
But some at Westminster fret extra money for mayors and others in local government are not yet accompanied by adequate checks and balances to ensure that money is well spent.
The chancellor will argue the economy is becoming more robust – and yes, there are some economic indicators that are more positive than forecast: growth is better than expected, as is productivity and unemployment is down.
But as the Resolution Foundation think tank points out: “John Healey’s problem is that conflict in the Middle East has once again pushed up energy prices and interest rates.
“So, despite the signs that the UK economy is becoming more resilient, household and public finances are in for another shock.”
In essence, we can expect a smaller Budget this time, compared to some in recent years, when it comes to the scale of tax and spending changes.
The chancellor has been talking up a desire to offer “breathing space” and “hope” – a tacit acknowledgement that there is a limit to what the government can do given the constraints it faces.
It has promised not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, a self imposed constraint, as the IFS put it. And there are the international ones beyond its control too.
The big question for many will be whether the Budget is – or can be – big enough to meet the moment? Opposition parties will argue it amounts to tinkering.
Conservative shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith argued the public finances are “on a cliff edge” and wants Healey to use the Budget to “take tough decisions, instead of continuing to kick the can down the road”.
For the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper warned a “steady as she goes” Budget is “not going to cut it”, while Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick said the chancellor “can’t keep fiddling while the economy burns”.

41 mins ago
Pinned
President Trump floats making Venezuela the 51st state during Texas rally: ‘You like that?’
President Donald Trump floated the possibility of making Venezuela the 51st U.S. state Tuesday, joking that the oil-rich South American nation could eventually elect a governor instead of a president.
“And who knows, maybe someday soon it will become a prosperous 51st state. That’s possible. Let’s make it. Let’s make it the 51st state,” Trump told supporters at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas while campaigning for Republican candidates there.
“And instead of a president, we’ll have an election for a governor. How about that?” he added.
Trump made the remarks while celebrating what he described as a historic American victory in Venezuela and hailing the country’s vast oil reserves.
The president also pointed to a tanker carrying 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil near the port, saying the shipment was being provided to the United States at no cost to taxpayers.
Trump returned to the idea moments later, asking oil executive Harold Hamm, “Now let’s make it, Harold, the 51st state. You like that?”
Posted by Jasmine Baehr
10 mins ago
‘She was special’: Jocelyn Nungaray’s mother delivers heartbreaking tribute at Texas Trump rally
The mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was brutally murdered in Houston in 2024, delivered an emotional tribute to her daughter Tuesday after President Donald Trump invited her onstage during his Corpus Christi rally.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank President Trump for keeping my daughter Jocelyn Nungaray’s name alive, keeping and sharing her story, and proving that her death was not just a number. She was important and she was special,” Alexis Nungaray told the crowd.
Alexis described a little girl whose life was stolen before she could realize her dreams.
“She was a 12 year old girl who had her entire life ahead of her with dreams beyond her wildest imaginations,” she said.
“No parent should ever have to go through the grief that I’m going through and learn how to live life differently without your child.”
Alexis thanked Americans for remembering Jocelyn and credited her faith in Jesus Christ with giving her the strength to share her daughter’s story.
Trump, who has repeatedly shared the story of Jocelyn’s murder while advocating tougher immigration enforcement, embraced her mother’s message.
“I promised Alexis that I would deliver justice for Jocelyn,” Trump said, pointing to his administration’s crackdown on Tren de Aragua and the naming of a national wildlife refuge in Jocelyn’s honor.
Posted by Jasmine Baehr
1 hour ago
Nearly 1.4 million Michigan voters cast ballots with one week until midterms
Nearly 1.4 million Michigan voters have already cast their ballots ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, representing 18.8% of the state’s active registered voters, according to the Michigan Department of State.
As of Tuesday morning, 1,392,170 ballots had been cast, including 1,176,375 absentee ballots and 215,795 votes at early in-person voting sites.
“Michigan voters are showing enthusiasm for early in-person voting, making the first weekend a great success,” Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie said.
The state also reported more than 2.15 million absentee ballot requests, up from approximately 1.9 million at the same point before the 2022 midterms.
Michigan’s early in-person voting period continues through Nov. 1, with Election Day set for Nov. 3.
Posted by Jasmine Baehr
1 hour ago
Ilhan Omar’s radical streamer ally rallies with embattled lawmaker after DC home raid
Far-left streamer Hasan Piker dodged his controversial past in an exchange with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, hours after teaming up with embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on the campaign trail to co-host an event in her home state of Minnesota.
He also dismissed his disagreements with Democratic Party leaders after he called Republicans “terrorists” and Omar said the GOP is the “pedophile protection party” during the stream on Monday.
Omar’s decision to embrace Piker on the campaign trail marks a potentially risky political alliance, coming on the back of a high-profile raid on her Washington, D.C., home amid two dueling investigations — one for alleged immigration fraud, which could threaten her political future and citizenship status, and the other for fishy financial disclosure statement discrepancies.
The lawmaker’s appearance with Piker comes after Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed drew backlash from his own party for campaigning with the controversial Twitch streamer earlier this cycle.
Fox News Digital confronted Piker at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport heading out of Minnesota after the Monday livestream. He was pressed on the criticism stemming from Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., after the two condemned Piker’s comments and pushed back on Democrats’ choice to engage with him on the campaign trail.
“Well, Angie Craig lost, and I think Klobuchar is going to make for a great governor,” Piker told Fox News Digital while walking to security.
Klobuchar condemned Piker’s past statements as “reckless and unacceptable,” while Craig called his rhetoric “polarizing and dangerous” and directly called out Minnesota Democrats, like Omar and Fateh, for hosting Monday’s event with Piker as a “mistake.”
When asked if the two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota were right to call out the rhetoric, Piker wrote off their disagreements as “the beauty of democracy,” while also throwing jabs at Fox News.
“I know this is probably going to come across as confusing, because you work for Fox News, but we sometimes disagree with our leadership in the Democratic Party,” he said. “And sometimes our leadership disagrees with us.”
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital’s Hannah Brennan.
Posted by Jasmine Baehr
2 hours ago
New poll finds El-Sayed holds 6-point lead over Rogers in Michigan Senate race
Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed leads Republican Mike Rogers by roughly six points in Michigan, according to a new WDIV/Detroit News poll released Tuesday, just one week before Election Day.
The survey found El-Sayed ahead 51.4% to 45.1%, with 3.6% of likely voters undecided.
The poll also found El-Sayed with a 42.2% favorable rating compared to Rogers’ 32.2%.
The Glengariff Group surveyed 600 likely Michigan voters from Oct. 19 to Oct. 22.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
Posted by Jasmine Baehr
3 hours ago
Vance: if Paris protests happened in US, El-Sayed, Hasan Piker would cheer the rioters on
Vice President JD Vance suggested Tuesday that Michigan Democratic senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and far-left streamer Hasan Piker would be cheering on rioters if protests similar to the ones recently seen in France made their way to American soil.
“My friends, the scene of destruction in Paris may be an ocean away, but ask yourselves, are they really so hard to imagine here in the United States of America?” Vance told a crowd during a midterm rally in Howell, Mich.
“And I guarantee you, if those rioters were burning down New York or Detroit, the Hasan Pikers and the El-Sayeds would be right there leading them and cheering them on,” Vance added.
“Because what we saw in France, the hatred, the ingratitude, the desire to destroy rather than the desire to build. That exact same cancer is what has corrupted Abdul El-Sayed writ large. It is absolutely the sort of thing that has taken over the man’s soul,” the vice president continued.
“And I believe that the state of Michigan refuses to turn over its Senate seat to a man who would tear down this state and tear down this country,” Vance later said. “Next Tuesday, Michigan is going to remind the entire country exactly who it is. It loves the United States of America, and it’s going to send Mike Rogers to fight for it in the Senate.”
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
3 hours ago
Vance says Michigan is the ‘most important election’ in the US next week
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that “Michigan is the most important election in the United States of America in a week, because, more than any other state, it highlights the clash of competing visions that the far left has decided to run with against common sense American values.”
Vance made the remark during a rally in Howell, where he declared that Michigan “is going to elect Mike Rogers to the United States Senate.”
Vance said Rogers will “make a great fighter for the people of Michigan.”
“Now, did you all see the interview that Mike did with Kristen Welker of fake NBC News? What you saw in that interview is the reason why Mike Rogers is going to make a great United States senator,” Vance continued. “He didn’t lose his cool. I would have. He didn’t get angry. He sat there and he calmly and carefully explained why Abdul El-Sayed is a crazy person that should never be in the seat of power.”
“You know, one of the important jobs of the United States senator, because you spend your life around a bunch of politicians, is that you have to be able to calmly and carefully deal with bulls— ladies and gentlemen. And that’s exactly what Mike showed he was able to do,” Vance also said.
He described “the battle for your Senate seat [as] a proxy fight over whether America can be truly sovereign, if it belongs to men who feel contempt and disdain and hatred for the United States of America.”
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
3 hours ago
Former rival dodges full-throated El-Sayed endorsement after bitter Senate primary
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., repeatedly stopped short of saying she was “fully behind” Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed when pressed on national television Sunday, months after he narrowly defeated her in a bitter primary and just days before the midterm elections.
CNN’s Dana Bash first pressed Stevens on why she has yet to campaign alongside El-Sayed despite endorsing him after the primary. Stevens responded by pointing to her work campaigning for Democratic House candidates across Michigan.
But when Bash later asked directly whether she was “still fully behind” El-Sayed, Stevens again stopped short of saying yes.
“Look, I’m on the Democratic ticket,” Stevens said. “I can’t say that I agree with everything that’s gone on.”
Stevens instead highlighted her support for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson and House candidates, but not El-Sayed.
Bash pointed out that she had not mentioned him.
“Well, look, I would just say you asked me if I’m still on the team,” Stevens responded. “I’m on the team.”
Posted by Alec Schemmel
3 hours ago
Carville advises Democrats cater to one key demographic for 2028 nominee
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville advised Democrats on Sunday that they need to pay attention to what Black southerners want when picking a nominee for 2028, warning they are not a very socially liberal demographic.
Political strategist Mark McKinnon spoke to Carville on the most recent episode of the “Politics War Room” podcast, noting the 2028 Democratic presidential primary will begin in South Carolina. When he asked Carville what impact that might have, the Democratic strategist offered one key piece of advice for the party.
“The key, single most important voting demographic in selecting a Democratic nominee is, was, and should continue to be southern Blacks,” Carville said. “There’s no more loyal constituency in the party. And by the way, just so people understand this, they’re not that liberal, OK?”
“And what they want and what we’re going to find out, and there’s an expression, is, ‘I don’t want someone that’s talk the talk. I want somebody that’s walk the walk.’ And when you go to South Carolina and make a pitch — advice from James Carville — talk about things you’ve done,” Carville continued.
He then parodied recent Democratic Party rhetoric, saying, “Don’t say, ‘I am a great friend of people of color.’ That’s the stupidest f—ing expression I ever heard.”
He advised that if a politician can actually show they have provided opportunities for Black Americans, then they will have actual credibility. Meanwhile, ideologically far-left intellectuals, he warned, would steer the party in an unwise direction, warning, “But don’t ever take power of nomination away from southern Blacks. ‘Cause if you give it to overly educated people, overly educated people f— everything up.”
“As long as that’s there,” he said of Black southerners being the core guidance of the Democrats’ 2028 nominee pick, “we’re going to have a pretty good nomination.”
Posted by Alexander Hall
4 hours ago
Obama cozies up to Dem Party’s socialist wing as former president makes surprising midterm moves
Former President Barack Obama is increasingly throwing his political weight behind socialist and socialist-aligned Democrats as the party’s left wing gains ground ahead of the midterm elections.
Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates have scored several notable primary victories this year, adding to signs of the left wing’s growing influence in Democratic politics ahead of November’s midterms. While Obama is not backing every socialist candidate, his recent endorsements and campaign appearances show he is willing to bring some of the party’s most progressive figures into the Democratic coalition.
“President Obama remains the most popular figure in Democratic politics and a kingmaker whose support candidates actively seek,” Democratic strategist Kevin Walling told Fox News Digital of the president who left office nearly a decade ago. “He understands that a Democrat who can win in New York City and a Democrat who can win in Michigan and Ohio have different politics, and the ability to bring those people into the same coalition is exactly what makes him so valuable.”
Obama’s embrace of the party’s progressive wing was on display Saturday in Michigan, where he campaigned alongside Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, while also lending his support to Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixon in a campaign video.
While El-Sayed does not identify as a democratic socialist or a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he has embraced progressive policies, including Medicare for All, that have become central to the party’s left wing.
During the Michigan rally, Obama invoked healthcare to defend Democrats against accusations that the party has moved too far to the left.
“What is so radical about wanting everybody to have health care?” Obama asked, as he promoted El-Sayed’s pledge to expand access to affordable coverage.
Posted by Ashley J. DiMella
4 hours ago
Dems hold 8-point generic-ballot lead in new poll, but some groups not enthusiastic
A new poll released Tuesday shows Democrats are holding an 8-point advantage over Republicans in a generic congressional ballot.
The NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll of 1,289 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 19 to Oct. 20, October 19th through October 20th, with a likely voter weight “applied to registered voters based on each respondent’s estimated probability of voting in the November 2026 election,” according to its methodology.
The poll found that 52% of likely voters support Democrats on a generic congressional ballot, compared to 44% for Republicans.
However, NPR reported that some “key pillar groups” for the Democrats are not very enthusiastic to vote on Election Day.
The poll found that only 42% of likely voters under 45, 53% of non-white voters and 56% of white women with college degrees, all groups who disapprove of the job President Donald Trump is doing, are “very enthusiastic” to vote.
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
5 hours ago
Trump says Ken Paxton is best attorney general ‘in the history of the state of Texas’
President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that Ken Paxton is “the best attorney general in the history of the state of Texas.”
Trump made the comment as he is heading to a midterms rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, later this afternoon.
“So we’re going to Texas campaigning for Ken Paxton, who is the best, according to just about everybody, the best attorney general in the history of the state of Texas,” Trump said. “That’s a big statement, but that’s a true statement. And he’s one of the best in the country. He deserves to win this race.”
“Ken Paxton deserves to be the next senator. The other guy, he does not stand for Texas values,” Trump added, referring to Democrat James Talarico. “Nothing. Nothing from get rid of the oil, get rid of the guns and get rid of the meat. Between the three things, it’s ridiculous.”
“A midterm is usually not that exciting,” Trump also said, previewing his event. “This has become very exciting. And the crowds are incredible.”
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
5 hours ago
Schumer, Dems are quietly betting big on one sleeper race in the Deep South
National Democrats are getting aggressive in the homestretch of this election cycle, sending money and party figureheads to a state that, for decades, has been out of reach.
Mississippi has been a Republican stronghold for the GOP in the Senate since the 1980s, but in a political environment that is proving tough for incumbents of the party in power, Democrats appear to smell blood in the water.
But Republicans aren’t buying the last-minute play in the Deep South, arguing that it’s a reach, at best, to make the race competitive.
“Largely, I think they’re just throwing s— at the wall at this point,” a GOP political operative told Fox News Digital.
The Senate Majority PAC, a political action committee with close ties to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reserved $1.2 million in advertising in the state to boost Scott Colom, a district attorney mounting a bid against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
And major figures in the Democratic Party, like former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have also made the trip or are set to appear in the state — Buttigieg is scheduled to hold a rally on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast on Tuesday.
Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, told Fox News Digital in a statement that “This is simply Washington insiders making a last-ditch effort to give life to Scott Colom’s failing campaign.”
“Scott is bankrolled by the radical left because he is in lockstep with their agenda,” Monssen said. “He supports tax increases, open borders, taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants, and sex change surgeries for minors.”
Like in other races across the Senate map, Colom has a fight with history to contend with. Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, and the Magnolia State has consistently supported President Donald Trump.
Posted by Alex Miller
5 hours ago
Oregon’s Tina Kotek talks ‘big game’ but is a ‘failed governor,’ Drazan says
Oregon Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan told “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday that incumbent Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek has “absolutely failed to deliver” for the people of her state.
“It is razor thin margins right now. And this race is going to come down to who wants this win more,” Drazan said. “We need people in my home state of Oregon to turn out and vote if we want change, which we desperately need.”
When asked about a CNBC ranking of Oregon as #42 in America’s top states for business, Drazan said her opponent is “talking kind of a big game right now since it’s election season.
“But the reality is, in the four years that she’s been governor, that business ranking you just mentioned, when she started, we were a top 20 business environment state. In the four years since she’s been there, she has dropped kicked us to the bottom eight,” Drazan continued.
“When it comes to our schools, she’s made no progress since Covid. She was speaker of the House and voted to keep our schools closed longer than any other state in the nation, and our kids have not recovered,” she also said.
“We are now at a point in our state where we’ve got homelessness numbers that have gone up. We’ve got an economy that’s on the decline, we’ve got kids that are suffering in our schools. You couldn’t pick an issue set that where she has actually succeeded in delivering results for the people of this state across any issue that Oregonians care about right now, including affordability,” Drazan told “America’s Newsroom.”
“So we have a failed governor in the state of Oregon who just has absolutely failed to deliver for the people of this state. And that’s what this election is about,” she concluded. “It’s about a bigger vision for the future. It’s about optimism. It’s about opportunity and affordability.”
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
6 hours ago
Vance says Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed has a ‘lot of weird friends’
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed “certainly has a lot of weird friends.”
Vance made the remark after being asked by a reporter if he believes El-Sayed is “a jihadist like the president said.”
“He’s said a lot of crazy stuff. And he’s identified himself with a segment of the Democratic Party, which, by the way, I don’t think represents most Democrats in the country, but unfortunately, it represents a lot of elected Democrats who seem to align with people who justify violence against the United States of America,” Vance added. “I don’t know what’s in the guy’s heart. I just know he has a lot of weird friends.”
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
6 hours ago
New York has ‘crisis of confidence’ in Letitia James as Cornell case hearing looms, opponent says
Republican New York attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy told “Fox & Friends First” on Tuesday that incumbent Democrat Letitia James’ office is grappling with a “crisis of confidence” as a hearing is set for her removal from the Cornell 7 case.
Attorney Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Cornell student Gillio Lopes, previously argued to Fox News that the case has become a “cultural battleground” and that James’ public statements supporting the accuser compromised her ability to conduct an impartial investigation as a special prosecutor.
You have to have a system and a prosecutor who inspires confidence in the process of investigating and prosecuting a case if prosecution is warranted,” Komatireddy said. “And what we have right now is no confidence, because Tish James has already prejudged the case.
“We have an attorney general here in New York who’s actually never prosecuted a criminal case in her entire career,” she continued. “And a few days ago we found out that her office is frantically looking for outside counsel, someone else to pay to handle the case for her, because she hasn’t even staffed her office in a way that there is anyone prepared to investigate and prosecute this case.
“So we have a crisis of confidence in the attorney general’s office right now and it’s an issue that’s certainly specific to this case, but it’s broader to this case,” Komatireddy also said. “And I think about how much attention is being paid to this particular case because of the publicity involved with it. There are so many crime victims across New York and they’re dealing with an incompetent attorney general’s office. It’s a problem.”
Fox News Digital’s Madison Colombo contributed to this post.
Posted by Greg Norman-Diamond
7 hours ago
Rogers fields questions while campaigning at Michigan diner, warning against electing El-Sayed
GOP Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers claimed Tuesday morning during an appearance on “FOX & Friends” that his Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed “wants to represent Palestine,” while he wants to represent the state.
“I mean, we cannot afford Abdul El-Sayed’s policies and we can’t risk his ideology,” Rogers said.
Rogers, a former House lawmaker backed by President Donald Trump in the U.S. Senate contest, fielded questions from people at a diner in Romeo, Michigan.
One person asked about the potential “of us getting some help on the gas tax in this state.”
Rogers explained that he has advocated for a “gas tax holiday until” the conclusion of the “Iran conflict.” He has previously called for suspending the state and federal gas taxes.
Another person asked Rogers if he would support a data center moratorium.
Rogers said that he has “called for a moratorium. Make sure it stays local control. I don’t think they should take that to the state. I think that would be a mistake.”
He also called for “every dollar” in tax revenue resulting from a data center in a local community that allows such a facility to be utilized to “defray their property tax in the community” where the data center is located.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment request on Tuesday.
Posted by Alex Nitzberg
9 hours ago
Marking 3 years as House speaker, Johnson credits ‘extraordinary success’ to ‘team effort’
As the GOP tries to cling to the House majority during the 2026 midterm elections, Speaker Mike Johnson, who recently surpassed three-years of wielding the speaker’s gavel, said that “extraordinary success” had been accomplished via a “team effort.”
“It has been my highest honor to serve these past three years as the 56th Speaker. Our extraordinary success has been achieved through a total TEAM effort, and I’m grateful for the hard work and faithful support of so many trusted friends,” Johnson stated in the post on X.
“We look forward to delivering even more in the days ahead,” he added.
Johnson became House speaker on Oct. 25, 2023.
Multiple GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital earlier this month said they anticipated Johnson would step aside if Republicans lost the House. If they win, however, Johnson is all but assured of keeping his job — and with Trump’s blessing.
Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report
Posted by Alex Nitzberg
9 hours ago
Trump won this reliably red state by double digits. Now a deadlocked race is bringing him back
LUBBOCK, Texas — President Donald Trump is heading back to Texas in the final stretch of the midterm campaign in an attempt to rally Republican voters in a too-close-for-comfort Senate race.
Trump will campaign in Corpus Christi on Tuesday morning before heading to Lubbock, deep in West Texas, alongside Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton.
The two-stop visit comes exactly one week before Election Day and with early voting already underway. And Republicans are confronting an unusually competitive Senate contest in a longtime red-stronghold state that Trump carried by nearly 14 percentage points just two years ago.
A new Fox News poll shows the closely-watched race against Democrat State Rep. James Talarico in a deadlock.
This is an excerpt from an article by Amanda Macias and Paul Steinhauser, click here to read more
Posted by Amanda Macias

The Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest interest rate decision on Wednesday with the midterm elections less than a week away.
Policymakers at the Fed say they avoid letting politics influence their monetary policy moves, and can be hesitant to hike or cut interest rates at meetings that occur ahead of the election.
Inflation has remained stubbornly high and the September consumer price index (CPI) data showed inflation rose faster than expected, with headline CPI rising 0.6% on a monthly basis and 3.7% from a year ago. The latter figure is well above the central bank’s 2% inflation target.
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told FOX Business in an interview that while the September inflation data was hotter than expected and raised the prospects of an October rate hike, the Fed is likely to wait to “hike again in December.”
CONSUMER INFLATION ROSE FASTER THAN EXPECTED IN SEPTEMBER, CPI REPORT SHOWS
“This hotter than expected inflation data did increase the chance of an October rate hike, but it’s a very high bar to increase in October, they would do it within a week of the election. I know they like to say that they’re not political, but it’s a high bar for October,” she explained.
“Right now, this data indicates that the Fed needs to act again, but it’s not a five-alarm fire. They don’t have to act immediately, they could wait until December.”
“The reality is, gas prices have come down a little bit since the September highs, so we would expect the October data – you know, it won’t be great, but it could be a little bit cooler than what we’re seeing today. And the Fed has a reasonable case to say, we’re probably still gonna hike, but let’s wait a few more weeks and see just how broad-based this problem really is,” Long said.
FEDERAL RESERVE HIKES INTEREST RATES FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2023 AMID STUBBORN INFLATION
The market expects the Fed to hold rates steady this week, with the CME FedWatch tool showing a 90.6% probability of rates remaining at their current target range of 3.75% to 4% – up from 84.5% a week ago and 35.8% last month.
For the Fed’s meeting in mid-December, the tool shows a 75.1% probability of a 25-basis-point interest rate hike, which could mark the resumption of the rate-hiking cycle if inflation remains elevated.
WHY THE FED ISN’T READY TO DECLARE VICTORY ON INFLATION
“The Federal Reserve will definitely hike interest rates again, probably in December,” Long said. “The big question is how many more times do they have to hike after that? And what was scary in this latest inflation data for September is to see so many areas of hot inflation: to see used car prices, airfares, recreation costs, auto repair costs, buying a used car, medical costs.”
“The story really is starting to take shape that it’s probably going to take a couple more hikes in 2027, and this higher-for-longer borrowing costs and mortgage rates well above 7% is going to stick around for at least a year, maybe longer,” Long said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The CME FedWatch tool shows the market is anticipating multiple rate hikes by March, with a 46.5% chance that rates will be 50 basis points higher than they are now at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

Building The Future, a new super PAC aligned with the data center industry, is giving Republican Sen. Darline Graham a boost in the final stretch of her competitive Senate race.
According to AdImpact data, the group – which formed in late August – has spent nearly $2 million on pro-Graham advertising, running two TV spots.
Both tout Graham’s personal values and lay out the partisan stakes in the battle for control of the Senate.
“Now she’s in the Senate, making sure Washington liberals never get their hands on South Carolina,” one ad says. “She’s cutting taxes and saving you money. Darline Graham, always delivering for South Carolina,” says the other.
Building The Future is an offshoot of Leading The Future, another super PAC, and its affiliated nonprofit, Build American AI, established by tech industry heavyweights last year to promote the development of artificial intelligence. The new group was formed to confront the growing popular backlash to data centers, critical infrastructure for powering AI.
Graham has been more circumspect about the issue than her Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, inclined to frame the subject in national security terms. Andrews, by contrast, has leaned into fierce opposition to the industry, calling for a moratorium on new data center construction as her allies attack Graham as “Data Center Darline.”
Building The Future has not yet disclosed any information about its donors, but AdImpact data shows that in addition to spending about $2 million on the Senate race in South Carolina, the group has also reserved six-figures’ worth of ad time for another unexpectedly competitive Senate race in Kansas, where the Republican incumbent, Sen. Roger Marshall, is also under pressure.
Vice President JD Vance cast Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers as a “servant for the people of Michigan,” not the Trump administration, as he made an appeal to independent voters in the state on Tuesday.
Rogers, a former congressman who has occasionally distanced himself from President Donald Trump, is in a neck-and-neck race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that could determine control of the Senate.
Speaking to a crowd in Howell, Michigan, Vance called Trump “a powerful personality” who is “willing to pick a fight.”
“What Mike has done in this campaign, sometimes he has said things that have been independent of the administration,” Vance said of Rogers.
He continued: “I don’t want in Mike Rogers a servant for the administration. I want in Mike Rogers a servant for the people of Michigan. That’s his job.”
Vance’s closing message in the battleground state framed Rogers as a fighter and his opponent as a Democratic loyalist.
“Who is the candidate in this race who is willing to fight for Michigan regardless of political party, and who is bending the knee to the national Democrats?” Vance asked.
“If you cannot stand independent of Chuck Schumer, then you cannot stand for Michigan in the United States Senate,” he said, referring to the Democratic Senate leader.
El-Sayed has previously said he wouldn’t support Schumer for majority leader if Democrats win the Senate.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting report from the University Of Virginia’s Center for Politics, shifted 21 midterm races in Democrats’ favor today.
With just a week to go until the election, the shifts reflect the battle that Republicans face in holding onto their majorities in the House and the Senate amid historical headwinds.
Three Senate ratings — in North Carolina, Florida and South Carolina — all shifted in Democrats’ favor, though it’s still an uphill climb in the latter two states.
In North Carolina, where former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is running for the state’s open Senate seat, the rating changed to “Likely Democratic” while Florida and South Carolina’s Senate races moved to “Likely Republican” and “Leans Republican,” respectively.
In the House, the election forecaster also shifted 16 contests in favor of the Democratic candidates, including races in Alabama, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania and Virginia that went from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up” status.
Two governor races, in Arizona and Vermont, were also shifted toward Democrats, according to the report.
Projected ad spending in the final week of the midterms shows money pouring into red states with competitive Senate races, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
The Senate race in Ohio, which just crossed $500 million in total ad spending, including the primaries, will see more than $40 million in just the final week. This is only the third non-presidential election to clear the half-billion dollar mark, punctuating a historically expensive election.
Another is this year’s blockbuster Senate race in Texas, which is projected to see the fifth most ad spending in the final week, but which ranks first among all midterm races in ad spending from the start of 2025 through Election Day, totaling more than $555 million.
Heated races in Iowa and Michigan are both projected to see nearly $30 million in advertising over the final week. And the unexpectedly competitive Senate race in Kansas has shot up this list, ranking fourth in ad spending in the final week at $27 million and climbing, as last minute ad money piles in.
In the battle for the House, both parties are spending big in Florida, North Carolina and Texas seats that were redrawn to favor Republicans during mid-decade redistricting.
But Republicans are also on defense in some of the costliest races, including a pair of Michigan contests each set to see more than $10 million worth of advertising in the final week, in addition to battlegrounds in New York and Pennsylvania.
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called Michigan’s Senate race “the most important election in the United States of America,” accusing Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed of seeking to undermine the nation’s values.
“More than any other state, it highlights the clash of competing visions that the far left has decided to run with against commonsense American values,” Vance said during a rally in Michigan. “The battle for your Senate seat is a proxy fight over whether America can truly be sovereign if it belongs to men who feel contempt and disdain and hatred for the United States of America.”
The vice president’s remarks represented the latest in a series of Republican attacks on El-Sayed questioning his allegiances and suggesting that he was anti-American — some of which have centered on him being Muslim.
Vance also drew a direct line between Michigan Senate race and recent riots in France that he described as “hordes of masked rioters, many from distant lands, taking over historic city centers,” speculating without evidence that El-Sayed would support similar upheaval in US cities.
“Are they really so hard to imagine here in the United States of America? And I guarantee you, if those rioters were burning down New York or Detroit, the Hasan Pikers and the El-Sayeds would be right there leading them and cheering them on,” Vance said, later adding that El-Sayed wanted to bring similar unrest “to the shores” of the US.
Someone recently bet nearly $500,000 that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will win reelection, according to data from the prediction platform Kalshi.
Analysts say this is the largest bet on a single candidate during the 2026 midterms so far.
Abbott, a Republican who has served as Texas governor since 2015, is locked in a competitive race against Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
Data analyzed by Betting Intelligence shows someone placed the trade Monday, buying $499,800 of shares predicting Abbott will win, giving him a 70% chance of victory. That means the bet will pay about $714,000 if Abbott prevails.
“This is the largest single-race bet we’ve seen for the midterms on the major platforms,” said Dan Zimmermann, chief intelligence officer at Betting Intelligence. “They’re going out on a limb. Yes, it’s likely. But it’s not a near-certain outcome.”
The Kalshi data showed this large transaction came from an institutional trader, likely a hedge fund or investment firm, Zimmerman said. Large financial institutions use prediction platforms as a way to hedge risk based on potential election outcomes.
The identity of the trader is not publicly known. The Kalshi market for the Texas gubernatorial race has seen more than $7.2 million in trading volume as of Tuesday.
CNN has asked Abbott’s campaign for comment.
There has already been more than $1.4 billion in trading on midterm-related markets on Kalshi, Polymarket and other prediction sites. The prediction frenzy has scrambled US political culture, with campaign staffers and donors obsessing over the odds. Federal regulators have pledged to crack down on insider trading related to the midterms.
CNN has a partnership with Kalshi and uses its data to cover major events, including elections. CNN editorial employees aren’t permitted to use prediction markets.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will receive 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in Texas, calling it “just the first shipment of BILLIONS of Barrels to come.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the oil was arriving in Corpus Christi “as a result of our Highly Successful Military Operation, followed by the Biggest Oil Deal in the History of the World.”
“Thanks to our renewed relationship with Venezuela, which has turned out to be a truly excellent one, the Oil is being provided to the United States at NO cost to the American Taxpayer,” the president wrote.
Just a week ahead of the midterm elections, Trump also claimed relief at the pump, writing that “Gasoline and Diesel Prices will soon come plummeting down — JUST WATCH!” He has made similar claims before, which have often not borne out or only provided limited and temporary relief.
Earlier Tuesday, just before departing for Texas, Trump confirmed he would visit the tanker carrying the crude, saying it would be the third stop after two campaign rallies in the state. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is joining him.
“I believe we are, yeah,” Trump said. “We took over Venezuela very successfully and they sent me, as a gift, a boatload of a million barrels of oil, and I’m giving that to the United States of America.”
The races for governor in Kansas and Nebraska have shifted slightly toward Democrats, according to the latest Cook Political Report.
Republicans are hoping to flip the governorship in Kansas next week, but the race moved from “Lean Republican” to a “Toss Up” as recent polling shows the race virtually tied, the Cook Report said.
Republicans have nominated Trump-backed state Senate President Ty Masterson. He’s served for more than 20 years in the Kansas Legislature and has campaigned on cutting taxes and addressing crime. The Democratic nominee is state Sen. Cindy Holscher, who has criticized the Democratic party establishment and is running with a populist style.
In Nebraska, the race moved from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.” There are four candidates on the ballot, and the crowded race plus incumbent GOP Gov. Jim Pillen’s unpopularity is making the race uncertain and more competitive, according to the Cook Report.
The state voted for Trump by more than 20 percentage points in 2024.
House Speaker Mike Johnson committed to a peaceful transfer of power in Congress if Democrats win the majority in next week’s midterms.
“Of course we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power, but it will not be transferring because we are going to keep the majority, and I’m going to be the Speaker of the House, and I will keep steady hands at the wheel,” Johnson said during an event alongside Rep. Mike Lawler in Orangeburg, New York on Tuesday.
The race in New York’s 17th Congressional District between incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley is shaping up to be one of the most competitive of this year’s cycle. Johnson emphasized it’s going to be close. “So, we want to thank everybody from New York 17, reminding you that every single vote is going to count,” he said.
Asked if he believes Republicans are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump, Johnson said, “I don’t think it’s happening,” adding that he spoke to Trump yesterday.
“His rallies have record numbers, record crowds. It feels like 2024 to us,” Johnson said. “I believe we’re going to hold the majority, and I believe President Trump is a big part of that.
Elon Musk recently gave $5 million to the reelection campaign of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, according to new campaign finance filings in the state.
Musk, who calls Texas home and has moved much of his business empire there, made the contribution to Abbott on Sept. 28, according to the filings, which covered a period that ended Saturday. Musk previously gave $500,000 to Abbott in May.
Abbott is in a competitive race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who has made an issue out of his relationship with Musk. Hinojosa has sued to get access to a trove of unredacted emails between Abbott’s office and Musk. A Travis County judge on Monday ordered Abbott’s office to let Hinojosa review the emails; Abbott’s office said it appealed the ruling.
Hinojosa cited the $5 million donation in a statement Tuesday that continued to push for access to the emails. She said Texans “are sick and tired of Abbott’s corruption.”
Musk’s donations to Abbott show that he remains a major donor at the state level even as his federal contributions have drawn the most attention. Musk has poured at least $276 million into the fight over control of Congress, most of it to defend Texas’ Senate seat for the GOP.
The last time President Donald Trump made a trip to Corpus Christi, he had just given the final nine-word order to his military brass to begin a sustained military campaign against Iran.
“Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck,” Trump directed at 3:38 p.m. ET on February 27, as recounted later by the Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
Air Force One landed in Texas twelve minutes later.
It’s not clear how heavily the political consequences of the new war were weighing on Trump at the time. He spent part of the flight chatting in his conference room with the actor Dennis Quaid about his new Ronald Reagan biopic. He would later make a pitstop at the Texas staple Whataburger, declaring to his entourage: “Hamburgers for all!”
But exactly eight months later, Trump arrives again to the Texas port city with the deeply unpopular conflict dragging down his approval rating and the fortunes of GOP candidates around the country. In turn, once-reliably red states like Texas have become freshly competitive.
He was joined on that momentous flight by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, with whom Trump consulted about the situation. He didn’t let on, however, that he’d given the directive for the bombing to begin.
Stepping off the plane moments after giving the final go-ahead, Trump was asked how close he was to making a decision on going to war.
“I’d rather not tell you,” he said. “You would have had the greatest scoop in history, right?” And later, during a speech at the port, he repeatedly said he had a “very big decision to make,” even though the decision had at that point been made.
“I’d rather do it the peaceful way,” he said of ensuring Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, “but they’re very difficult people.”
As Democrats work to expand the Senate map, they’re getting an unexpected boost from a Florida lawyer named Steve Pajcic.
Pajcic told CNN he and his children are spending $14.5 million in the final stretch of the midterms to boost Democrats or independents running for Senate in six red states: South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Mississippi, South Carolina and Florida.
They’re doing it through two super PACs, New Deal for All and Freedom from Politics, that are running attention-grabbing ads against GOP incumbents. Some of the groups’ latest ads feature Jeffrey Epstein survivors criticizing Republicans for voting against releasing the Epstein files.
Pajcic told CNN he’s not consulting national party groups for his spending and “doing it entirely on my own.”
“I’ve kind of thought that Democrats have really been too meek forever, not just in their election goals, but also in their policies when they get elected,” Pajcic sad. “I don’t want to have just another 51- or 52-(seat) majority in the Senate and compromise to look like you’re being responsible on everything. I wanted to do something that would make a big change.”
While the big spending by Pajcic is new, he’s no stranger to politics. He served in the Florida House of Representatives in the 1970s and 1980s and ran for governor of the state in 1986.
Pajcic, 80, said he decided to splurge on the midterms after Labor Day, when he realized just how much of an opportunity Democrats may have to make inroads in Republican-leaning territory.
“I was looking at it and thinking of, I’m kind of old,” he said. “Maybe there’s a chance to do something.”
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will respect the outcome of the midterm elections — if they are “honest.”
“I will, if they are honest elections, yeah,” Trump told reporters when pressed on whether he’ll accept the results “whatever happens.”
The president has repeatedly attacked the integrity of the voting process and used the federal government to try and assert more control over how states oversee their elections.
Last week, the president said he directed his Justice Department to preemptively file a lawsuit challenging the certification of Alaska’s Senate race if the GOP incumbent loses.
Trump emphasized on Tuesday that, should Democrats win control of the House next week, he still has the power to veto legislation.
“Look, I have a strong veto. I hope that won’t be the case, but if it is, that has happened before with many presidents. You have strong veto and you end up working out deals,” he said.
With a week until Election Day, a new CNN Poll of Polls average finds Democrats leading nationally by about 9 points on the generic ballot, a measure of which party voters prefer in their congressional districts.
Generic ballot polling in the past few weeks has been highly consistent, with most of the surveys tracked by CNN showing Democrats with a high single-digit or low double-digit advantage.
Two new surveys included in the average exemplify the restless mood of the electorate. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll finds likely voters say 55% to 41% that it’s more important to support “candidates with new ideas who will bring about change” than “candidates with experience who have a proven record.”
And in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, majorities of Americans say national politics as a whole, as well as issues ranging from US foreign policy to the economy and their own cost of living, are on the wrong track.
Vice President JD Vance suggested that Alaska voters are smart enough to discern between two Dan Sullivans on the US Senate ballot, but he called the non-incumbent’s appearance on the ballot “the definition of electoral fraud.”
“A lot of people won’t fall for it, but some people are going to be confused by that. It’s just human nature,” Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews Tuesday morning.
“People are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that’s the definition of electoral fraud. And I don’t think that we should endorse it,” he added.
The Justice Department has preemptively filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in a race that also features a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan.
Vice President JD Vance started his attacks on Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed before he even landed in Michigan on Tuesday, calling him “a little bit of a psychopath” who has “weird friends.”
“I think (GOP Senate candidate) Mike Rogers is a great guy. I think Abdul El-Sayed is a little bit of a psychopath,” Vance told reporters before leaving on Air Force Two. “We’re going to just try to make the argument as well as we can and help Mike out a little bit.”
The vice president stopped short of calling El-Sayed a “jihadist,” as President Donald Trump has, rather saying that he has “weird friends” and identifies himself with a portion of the Democratic Party “who seem to align with people who justify violence against the United States of America.”
“Look, he certainly has a lot of weird friends, and he’s said a lot of crazy stuff,” Vance said.
Trump has criticized El-Sayed, who is Muslim, on the campaign trail, including in states where he’s not on the ballot, and told reporters last week that “he’s a vicious, violent jihadist” who “has no place in our government.” He has not provided evidence for those accusations.
Today, Vance also accused El-Sayed of engaging in “the kind of explicitly anti-white racial hatred that has become common in the Democratic Party.”
Last week in Michigan, Trump compared Rogers to “apple pie,” and continued to tie El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the candidate explicitly disavowed when pressed at a campaign event earlier this month.

Former President Barack Obama is not a fan of the gilded decor changes President Donald Trump has made to the White House since his return to the power. “There’s gold everywhere,” Obama told Democrats at a rally in Cleveland on Saturday ahead of the midterm elections. “What’s up with the gold? Everything — more gold!”
Then came the punchline: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
The crowd laughed and the clip quickly blanketed the internet. A small culture war skirmish quickly went through its motions online — was the quip elitist? — and Trump on Monday defended both his love for renovation projects and his design style. “For you to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president,” Trump told reporters.
One of the key architects of the Cheesecake Factory aesthetic said he doesn’t find the comparison funny either.
“I think it’s a little bit sad that the pettiness of politics would create that sound bite, knowing all our challenges going on in the country today,” Rick McCormack, the restaurant chain’s former longtime vice president of design, said in an interview.
The Saddam part of Obama’s gag had precedent. Long before Trump’s current redecorating spree — which has seen the Rose Garden torn out and paved over for a patio, the East Wing demolished for construction of a new ballroom, and the West Wing barnacled over with gold accents and gilded frames — Peter York, author of “Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colorful Despots,” likened Trump’s flashy design style to that of the former Iraqi leader, noting they and other strongmen share a passion for gold, marble and portraits of themselves.
But McCormack, who is on a first-name basis with the restaurant he helped decorate, bridled at hearing the Cheesecake Factory dragged into things.
“Cheesecake wasn’t covered with gold appliqués and things like that. It really is two different environments,” McCormack said. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, this has shiny things on the wall. Cheesecake has shiny things in it. Let’s compare the two,’ but that’s to someone who really is not knowing what they’re talking about.”
McCormack credited David Overton — who opened the first Cheesecake Factory in 1978 in Beverly Hills, California, to showcase his mother’s baked goods — for devising the aesthetic the company is still known for at its more than 200 locations: affordable (if now dated) opulence and maximalism — traits similarly on display in the restaurants’ notoriously lengthy menus.
McCormack had a hand in designing some of the company’s first half-dozen restaurants as a contractor, then joined Cheesecake Factory full-time in 1995, a few years after the chain went public. As a new employee, McCormack was tasked with launching the company’s first in-house design department, working for 13 years to spread the distinctive look from a handful of restaurants to new locations across the country.
McCormack rolled out floors made of limestone or granite, walls that were hand-plastered, and lighting that highlighted the grand room’s distinctive features, such as murals on high ceilings and grand columns. Things felt at once Egyptian and European, with a touch of Las Vegas flair.
“Dave always wanted a certain sense of grandeur when he walked in,” McCormack said. “We really wanted to have you walk in and be somewhat surprised that that you could dine there and afford it.”
While representatives for the Cheesecake Factory did not respond to requests for comment, McCormack would prefer if Obama left his old employer out of his metaphors. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Enough people like the design where it’s made Cheesecake a phenomenal success over the years,” McCormack said.
McCormack admits design styles have changed considerably since the 1990s, but he believes the chain’s long-lasting success is partly due to the extravagant dining spaces he helped create. Many Americans can fondly recall hosting special dinners and family celebrations amid the restaurant’s theatrical interiors, which makes him proud.
“Even though on paper, at first you might not think all these elements should go together, but I think the way that they were packaged with this common palette, it drew them all together,” McCormack said.
Part of the reason McCormack thinks most restaurants don’t look like the Cheesecake Factory these days is because it’s simply too expensive to build anything that comes close. “The price of construction has just skyrocketed, and to build a restaurant now is just almost price prohibitive,” he said. “You got to be really smart before you’re spending the money and it’s a challenge.”
McCormack doesn’t see any similarities between the work he and Overton did in the 1990s to the choices Trump is making today. He knows whoever moves into the White House after Trump will probably rip things out to make their own changes, so he’d prefer people talked about more important things and refrain from political attacks. “Everyone has different tastes, and not every design is going to be universally liked, and nor should it be,” he said.
“I just don’t know who gave them that quote and why they thought that was a good one to use, but it’s a little bit sad,” McCormack added. “But the good news is we’re talking about design right now.”