In
this Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, photo, a detained college student shouts a
slogan into a police bus in front of the U.S. ambassador's residence in
Seoul, South Korea. South Korean police said Saturday, Oct. 19, they
beefed up security at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Seoul after a
group of anti-American students used ladders to break into the compound.
The sign reads "Stop" (Chun Jin-hwan/Newsis via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police
said Saturday they beefed up security at the U.S. ambassador’s residence
in Seoul after a group of anti-American students used ladders to break
into the compound.
They were protesting
demands by the Trump administration that South Korea pay more to help
cover the costs of keeping U.S. troops in the country.
Officials
from three Seoul police stations didn’t immediately say whether they
will seek to formally arrest any of the 19 university students who were
detained Friday afternoon at the residence of Ambassador Harry Harris.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police agency said Saturday the number of officers guarding the residence was more than tripled to 110.
The
demonstrators, who broadcast parts of their protest on Facebook, used
two steel ladders to climb over the compound’s wall. They shouted
anti-U.S. slogans and held up signs that read “The United States has
called for a five-fold increase in defense costs!” and “Harris, leave
this land!” before police officers dragged them out.
At
the time of the protest, Harris was at Seoul’s presidential Blue House
attending a reception for foreign ambassadors hosted by President Moon
Jae-in.
Harris tweeted about the incident on
Saturday, saying, “Big shout out to Embassy guards & Seoul Metro
Police Agency for responding to protesters who breached perimeter around
my residence. 2nd incident in 13 months in Heart of Seoul. This time
they tried to forcibly enter my home itself. 19 arrested. Cats are OK.
Thanks @polinlove!,” referring to the Twitter account of South Korea’s
National Police Agency.
South Korean police
in September last year detained a Chinese woman who had trespassed into
the residence, but said she wasn’t making a political statement.
About
a dozen leftist students rallied in front of Seoul’s Namdaemun district
police station on Saturday calling for the immediate release of the
“righteous” protesters.
“You may have the
support of foreign powers, capitalists, police and the military, but we
have the united voice of like-minded colleagues bound by loyalty!”
shouted one of the students.
Another student
said South Koreans would see the United States as “nothing but an
invader” if it continues to “disrespect” the country with excessive
demands on defense costs.
The U.S. State
Department has expressed “strong concern” over the illegal entry and
urged South Korea to strengthen its efforts to protect all diplomatic
missions.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry
criticized the protest, saying in a statement that “any attack or harm
inflicted on foreign diplomatic missions cannot be justified under any
circumstances.” It said the government will take “every appropriate
measure” to protect the facilities.
In a
country deeply divided along political, ideological and generational
lines, the United States is a source of anger for some leftist South
Koreans.
Washington backed the South during
the 1950-53 Korean War against the North and still stations about 28,500
troops here, but some anti-U.S. activists view the U.S. military
presence as a major obstacle to their goal of an eventual reunification
of the rival Koreas.
There was a major
security scare in 2015, when a leftist activist slashed the face and arm
of then-U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert on a street in downtown Seoul to
protest the annual U.S.-South Korea military drills. Lippert recovered
from the injuries.
Friday’s protest came as
Washington and Seoul prepare to begin negotiations over sharing the
costs for the U.S. military presence. The countries struck a one-year
deal in February where South Korea agreed to contribute about 1.04
trillion won ($880 million) for 2019, which represented an 8.2% increase
from last year.
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry
said Friday that the countries are scheduled to talk in Hawaii on Oct.
23-24 to negotiate a new deal and that Seoul is seeking a “reasonable
and fair share of costs.”
Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore announced Friday that he will be joining Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., at a rally in New York City on Saturday for 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“I
am joining Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tomorrow to officially &
publicly endorse a true hero of the people, Senator Bernie Sanders, as
our next President of the United States!” Moore posted on Twitter on
Friday afternoon. “I will speak tomorrow for him at his “Bernie Is
Back!” rally at 1pm in Queensbridge Park in NYC. Join us!”
Ocasio-Cortez
is also expected to formally endorse Sanders for president at the
event. Her ally in Congress, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., endorsed Sanders
earlier this week.
Sanders’
“Bernie is Back” rally in Queensbridge Park, across the East River from
Manhattan, will be the senator's first campaign rally since he was
sidelined after undergoing a medical procedure following a heart attack
Oct. 4.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate in Westerville,
Ohio, Oct. 15, 2019. (Associated Press)
Moore also endorsed Sanders for president in 2016,
saying at the time that he first backed Sanders when he was running for
Congress in 1990.
“I’ve been a supporter of his ever since, and he’s never given me reason to not continue that support,” Moore wrote at the time.
Sanders addressed his recent health problems during Tuesday night’s debate in Ohio.
“I’m
healthy. I’m feeling great," he told the audience. "We are going to be
mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country. That is how I think I
can reassure the American people.”
The rally will be held near the country’s largest public housing development and a power plant, the Huffington Post reported, and Sanders plans to speak about affordable housing and Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal.
The
rally is meant as a reset after his heart attack and his lagging poll
numbers behind surging progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
The Hawaii congresswoman and combat veteran fired back in a scathing series of tweets later Thursday, challenging Clinton not to “hide behind your proxies” and join the presidential race "directly."
Nielsen, who resigned in April, oversaw the Trump administration’s controversial “zero tolerance” immigration
policy, which resulted in the separation of thousands of migrant
children from their families at the border. The policy was later
rescinded.
More than 51,000 people signed a petition asking Fortune to pull Nielsen from the summit’s roster, Slate also reported. About 100 speakers were still scheduled to attend the summit as of Friday evening.
Gabbard
and lawyer Anita Hill are among the more high-profile scheduled
speakers, on a list that also includes business executives, journalists,
scholars and some elected officials. (Hill became a household name in
1991 when she accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who had
been her supervisor at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment.)
In her
remarks Thursday on “Campaign HQ,” a podcast hosted by former President
Obama aide David Plouffe, Clinton did not mention Gabbard by name,
though Plouffe ended the podcast by noting Clinton’s “belief that Tulsi
Gabbard is going to be a third-party candidate propped up by Trump and
the Russians.”
Clinton also singled out 2016 Democratic candidate
Jill Stein, accusing her of being a Russian asset. The former first
lady, whom Donald Trump defeated for the presidency in 2016, has
recently been promoting a book co-authored with her daughter, Chelsea
Clinton.
Gabbard
has faced criticism from several other fellow Democrats, who have
accused her of being a "puppet for the Russian government." The former
Army National Guard major, who served in Iraq, has repeatedly defended
her antiwar, anti-interventionist beliefs, which have led to some
comparisons between her and President Trump.
At Tuesday's fourth
Democratic debate in Ohio, Gabbard relentlessly slammed CNN, which was
broadcasting the event live, and The New York Times, calling them
"completely despicable" for news coverage that has raised questions
about whether she is a "Russian asset and an Assad apologist," a
reference to the leader of Syria. Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran and Alex Pappas contributed to this report.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign sent a fundraising email
this week, claiming it hasn't raised as much money as its competitors
after spending more than expected in the third quarter, according to a
report.
Third-quarter filings with the Federal Election
Commission (FEC) show Biden has just $9 million in cash on hand, less
than half of what both of his top competitors for the 2020 Democratic
nomination -- Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. -- reported, according to The Hill.
“I
hate to say it, but our opponents are way ahead of us when it comes to
money in the bank,” a campaign fundraising email for Biden said. “If we
don’t pick up the pace here, we might have to make budget cuts that
could seriously hurt our momentum in this primary.”
Less cash on
hand means the campaign will struggle to respond to “twists and turns of
this race — and with Donald Trump constantly pushing his false smear
campaign against Joe, that’s a HUGE problem,” the letter says.
The letter closes with an appeal, according to The Hill.
“We can’t afford to fall behind, so I’m asking you to step up now and make a donation to fuel our campaign."
Democratic
operative Michael Ceraso said Biden's cash flow could dry up "as the
primary enters the homestretch, which may prevent the VP from competing
and challenging his opponents in Super Tuesday states and beyond."
Biden
is spending money at a greater rate than the amount he raised, with a
burn rate of 112 percent. Warren’s burn rate - the pace at which
candidates are spending their campaign cash – was a much more modest 76
percent.
The 76-year-old former vice president started off as a
solid frontrunner in the polls, but more recent surveys have shown
Warren either catching up or surpassing him.
FEC filings show Warren has $25.7 million in cash on hand and Sanders has $33.7 million. Fox News' Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.
A Syrian American doctor is spearheading an initiative to nominate President Trump for a Noble Peace Prize
after Trump managed to convince Putin to throttle back on plans to
seize the Syrian refugee city of Idlib in 2018, an attack that could
have potentially killed upwards of 3 million civilians.
Dr. Tarek
Kteleh, a rheumatologist in Indiana and board member of a group that
promotes national security issues in Syria called Citizens for a Secure
and Safe America, told Fox News Thursday that Trump "deserves credit"
for preventing the potentially deadly attack on one of the last
remaining cities not under the control of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian military and their Russian and Iranian allies
surrounded Idlib, a sanctuary city that nearly 4 million civilians fled
to, ready to attack and push out the Syrian rebels by the end of summer
2018. The small province of land was a necessary stronghold for rebel
forces, vital to preventing the dictator from accessing control of the
Northern portion of the Middle East.
Kteleh
and president of their group, Dr. Rim Al-Bezem, a cardiologist from New
Jersey, met Trump at a fundraiser in Indiana specifically with the
intention of bringing attention to the plight in Syria.
Al-Bezem explained
to Trump the potential slaughter of innocent lives, almost a quarter of
whom were children and Trump assured them that he was "not going to let
this happen," Kteleh told Fox News.
Kteleh admits he was
skeptical that Trump would take action, instead believing he was trying
to appease himself and Al-Bezem, both of whom had families living in
Idlib at the time.
Days after their meeting, on Aug. 31, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted about the dire situation in Idlib warning, "The U.S. sees this as an escalation of an already dangerous conflict."
"The
3 million Syrians, who have already been forced out of their homes and
are now in #Idlib, will suffer from this aggression. Not good. The world
is watching," Pompeo said.
"We thought maybe that was just an
accident," Kteleh said, after seeing Pompeo's tweet. "But it could not
be an accident--- that the president said he's not going to let this
happen and then the next morning for the first time Secretary Pompeo
says this."
Two days later, Trump used his active presence on
social media to further the calls for the three foreign powers to stand
down in Syria.
"President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not
recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be
making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human
tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let
that happen!"
"This is the first time ever in the last seven or
eight years that anyone has done anything for the Syrian people and many
of the civilians," Kteleh said, singling out former President Barack
Obama's approach to interventions in Syria, and refusing to react with
force to Assad's use of chemical weapons on his people.
"Unlike
your predecessor, you bombarded Assad's military airport when he
launched chemical weapons against civilians. We are grateful for this
display of strength. The world now knows: you mean what you say," Kteleh
and Al-Bezem wrote in a letter to Trump Thursday.
"He said 'the
media did not give me credit for it. It's OK. I hear it from Syrian
Americans, they thank me for it,'" Trump told Kteleh and Al-Bezem, who
praised him for his efforts and told him he deserved to win the Nobel
Peace Prize.
"We
took it seriously and started thinking about how we could give him
credit for what he's done. Number one because he deserves the credit.
Saving millions of people is an honor people need to be awarded for,"
Kteleh said. "And number two because we feel that if he gets the
nomination or gets considered, that will shed more light on these people
who became refugees and at any point in time if Putin and Assad start
assaulting them again it will give them hope and make the world
recognize it."
Kteleh and other members of his advocacy group,
made up of doctors, businessmen and activists, launched a petition and
Facebook page in support of nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize
in 2020.
"We were surprised with the amount of support we got in a
short period of time," Kteleh said, adding that in less than 10 days of
creating the page, it garnered almost 28,000 supporters, a number that
he says continues to climb by the thousands daily, as well as 21,000
signatures on a petition.
Kteleh said that despite allegations of
collusion and Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a nearly two-year
investigation that has clouded much of Trump's presidency, he doesn't
believe the president is anything other than "sincere."
"He would not have done that," Kteleh said of Trump working with the Russians.
"We
witnessed this firsthand. We went, we talked to the president, told him
this was going to happen. He went out. Put pressure on Putin and Russia
to stop the massacre. I don't believe it," he said.
Kteleh says he also fully supports Trump's withdrawal of nearly 1,000 troops from the northeast border of Syria, which many politicians and officials on both sides of the aisle condemned as an abandonment of U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who now struggle to fend off Turkish enemies in the region.
"We're
American first. We understand where he's coming from. He promised he'd
bring the troops home. He promised during his election and campaign. He
promised he would not be intervening in wars all over the world," Kteleh
said. "He's just trying to commit to what he promised the people who
elected him."
"When
he protected the people in Idlib he did not have to commit troops or
anything. All that he really did was give warnings to the Russians and
the Iranians and Assad, that if you can attack and commit crimes, we're
going to respond to you. That's all that he did. He did not have to put
troops there. And we hope that he can do the same thing here. The
ceasefire announced today is very similar."
Vice President Pence successfully negotiated a ceasefire after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara Thursday,
with the foreign nation agreeing to halt Turkey's shellings in Syria
for five days to allow the Kurdish YPG forces to pull back from the
roughly 20-mile safe zone on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Smoke from burning cars rises due in Culiacan, Mexico, Thursday,
Oct. 17, 2019. An intense gunfight with heavy weapons and burning
vehicles blocking roads raged in the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state
Thursday after security forces located one of Joaquín “El Chapo”
Guzmán’s sons who is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. (AP
Photo/Hector Parra)
Violence seized a city in northwestern Mexico Thursday night as the son of infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was briefly arrested then released by militarized police who struggled to contend with his heavily armed supporters, according to a report.
Ovidio
Guzman Lopez was arrested by the National Guard in Culiacan, the
capital of Mexico's Sinaloa state, on drug trafficking charges after he
was discovered in a house with three other men, Reuters reported.
His arrest sparked an hours’ long gun battle with cartel members who surrounded the house and outgunned security forces.
The cartel also blocked the main roads out of the city with vehicles they torched.
“The
decision was taken to retreat from the house, without Guzman, to try to
avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel
and recover calm in the city,” Security Minister Alfonso Durazo told
Reuters.
Amid the gunfire, a group of prisoners escaped from
the city’s prison and cartel members fought police and soldiers
throughout the city as citizens cowered or ran in fear.
Cristobal
Castaneda, head of security in Sinaloa told a Mexican TV network that at
least two people have been killed and 21 injured as the violence
continued into the night. He asked residents to stay in their homes.
Falko Ernst, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Mexico, told Reuters Lopez’s release creates a “dangerous precedent" and shows the military is not in control.
Guzman
led the Sinaloa cartel for decades before he was arrested and
extradited to the United States. He had previously escaped Mexican
prisons twice.
With three polls showing her in the lead, Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
D-Mass., may soon eclipse former Vice President Joe Biden as the
front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. That's great
news for Republicans, because Warren has a problem: The central message
of her campaign is that the economy is working for the very wealthy but
it is not working for ordinary Americans. Unfortunately for her,
ordinary Americans disagree.
A Marist poll asked voters whether "the economy
is working well for you personally." Nearly two-thirds of Americans
said yes. This includes large majorities in almost every demographic
group.
Sixty-seven percent of college graduates and 64 percent of
those without a college education say the economy is working for them.
So do 68 percent of whites and 61 percent of nonwhite people.
So
do Americans of every generation: 63 percent of Generation Z and
millennials; 69 percent of Generation X; 63 percent of baby boomers; and
69 percent of Greatest Generation and Silent Generation voters.
So
do supermajorities in every region in the country: 60 percent in the
West, 65 percent in the Northeast, 67 percent in the Midwest, and 68
percent in the South.
So do most voters in every type of American
community: 63 percent of both big and small city voters; 64 percent of
small-town voters; 66 percent of rural voters and 72 percent of suburban
voters.
Most everyone, it seems, says the economy is working for them.
The
only groups who disagree, Marist found, are progressives (59 percent),
Democratic women (55 percent) and those who are liberal or very liberal
(55 percent.
So, when Warren declares that President Trump is
"part of a corrupt, rigged system that has helped the wealthy and the
well-connected and kicked dirt in the faces of everyone else," it
resonates with almost no one except those on the political left.
There
is a good reason for that. Unemployment is near a record low, and the
United States has about 1.6 million more job openings than unemployed
people to fill them.
Not only are jobs plentiful, but wages are
rising. And The New York Times reported in May that "over the past year,
low-wage workers have experienced the fastest pay increases."
Americans
don't just think they are doing better in the Trump economy, they are
doing better. Little wonder Democrats barely mentioned the economy in
Tuesday's debate.
This progress is bad news for Warren. Why would
Americans rally to her call for "big structural change" to the economy
when they say the economy is working for them? Especially when they
learn the structural changes Warren is proposing would cost tens of
trillions of dollars and – whether she admits it or not – would require
them to pay more in taxes
Manhattan
Institute budget expert Brian Riedl recently added up the price tag for
Warren's proposals, and the numbers are staggering: $30 trillion to $40
trillion over 10 years for Medicare-for-all; $2 trillion for Social
Security expansion; $3 trillion for climate change and environmental
policies; $2 trillion free college and student loan forgiveness; and
another $1 trillion for initiatives that include free child care and
housing.
"Total cost: $38 trillion to $48 trillion," Riedl says.
And that's before calculating the cost of offering free government
health care to illegal immigrants, which Warren supports.
There's no way to pay for that miasma of spending with Warren's wealth tax; it will require massive middle-class tax increases.
No
wonder the so-called moderates were going after Warren so hard at
Tuesday's debate; they know it would be a disaster if she were to
capture the Democratic nomination.
To win in 2020, Democrats need
to win over voters who like Trump's policies but don't like Trump. They
can't do that by telling these voters they are wrong about the economy
working for them, and that they need to make peace with socialism.
Instead, they need to convince voters that they can dump Trump and still
keep their prosperity.
If
Democrats nominate Warren, they will give voters suffering from Trump
exhaustion no safe harbor. Her nomination would turn the election into
an existential threat to the American economy.
And since Warren
said Tuesday that, if she is elected, and Democrats take back the
Senate, they will "repeal the filibuster," she will be able to pass her
radical agenda by simple majority vote. That means Trump's message –
"whether you love me or hate me, you have got to vote for me" – will
ring true for millions of Americans whose votes might otherwise be up
for grabs.
tiny from House Democrats conducting an impeachment inquiry -- and a week after chaos and violence broke out at a Trump rally in Democratic-leaning Minnesota.
A
massive crowd of approximately 30,000 gathered outside the American
Airlines Center to watch the speech on a large screen, as the president
launched into an extended critique of 2020 Democratic presidential
candidates. He derided former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke as "very dumb"
for pushing to confiscate guns and tax religious institutions, and
remarked that Joe Biden's family overtly profited from his political
career.
"Last week, a very dumb Democrat candidate for president
-- that's the end of him in this state -- pledged to revoke the
tax-exempt status of many churches and religious charities," Trump said,
as boos rocked the arena. "And by the way, that was after, a few weeks
ago, he said, 'Excuse me, we're gonna take your guns away.' ... The
flailer. You remember he was flailing all over the place?"
It was a marked difference from the bedlam on the streets during Trump's speech last week in Minneapolis, when left-wing activists were recorded attacking Trump supporters on video. A Trump-supporting woman leaving that rally was hit in the face on camera.
A
brief security episode as Trump spoke was quickly resolved. Dallas
officers assigned to the rally said they were "made aware of an adult
male wearing body armor" outside the arena, and that "officers located
the individual observing that he was also armed." The man, who was
licensed to carry a firearm, was transported to a local hospital for
evaluation without incident, investigators said.
Meanwhile, after
Trump tweeted a video showing long lines to enter the American Airlines
Center just before he took the stage, actor Tom Arnold responded with an
apparent threat: "Don't get too cocky traitor. They showed up for JFK
too."
Inside the arena, Trump kept the focus on his presidential
rivals, as well as the plummeting unemployment and poverty rates for
various demographic groups.
"Last month, unemployment reached its
lowest level in 51 years," Trump said to applause. "1.3 million children
have been lifted out of poverty -- think of that. And,
African-American, Hispanic American and Asian American unemployment
rates have reached the lowest levels in history. Our great Hispanic
American population has reached a poverty level which is an all-time low
in U.S. history. ... The median income for Hispanic Americans has
surpassed $50,000 a year for the first time ever."
While Democrats
wanted to raise taxes, Trump said, Republicans "ended the war on a
thing called American energy, which is very good for Texas. Since my
election, natural gas production in Texas has increased by 35 percent,
and oil production has increased by 60 percent. And the United States is
now the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the
world!"
Trump
added: "Yet every major Democratic candidate running for president
wants to abolish all production of oil and natural gas. I think they
want to go to windmills. 'Darling, I want to watch Trump tonight'; 'You
can't, darling. The wind isn't blowing.' In other words, they want to
annihilate our Texas economy."
The rally came at a critical time
for Trump, whose dealings with the president of Ukraine have been the
subject of a quickly unfolding impeachment inquiry run by House
Democrats. Perry was subpoenaed earlier Thursday by House committees conducting the probe.
President Donald Trump taking the stage for the rally at American
Airlines Arena in Dallas on Thursday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Republicans have raised concerns that they might take
a historic beating in Texas in 2020, as more suburban voters have
balked at the president. Trump carried the longtime Republican
stronghold and its 38 Electoral College votes by only 9 points in 2016
-- down from Mitt Romney's 15-point win in 2012.
Trump recounted
his win in Texas during the rally, as well as his debate preparation in
the primary against college debate champion and Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.
"I
hired a debate coach, and he lasted about 10 minutes -- I said, 'This
guy knows less than I do.' He didn't know anything, it's true. He said,
'Never, ever interrupt if they're speaking.' I said, 'OK coach, put me
in, coach.' I mean, you can't beat Ted Cruz if you don't interrupt him.
It's impossible.
"I said, to my wife, first lady, potentially, I
said, 'I got a problem,'" Trump recounted. "'Some of these guys are OK,
they were only president of the class. ... I liked playing baseball
better. But I said, Melania, and I called Ivanka, my kids -- I said, 'I
got a problem. Ted Cruz was the national debate -- the number-one guy in
college. He was the number-one guy in law school. How the hell do I
beat a guy who's that good at debating?' But we came out OK, Ted. Ted
was tough -- smart as hell, and tough."
In a shot at Democrats a
day after their most recent presidential primary debate, Trump remarked,
"In recent debates, you see these people up there, they're not Ted
Cruz, believe me. Hey Ted, you should turn Democrat, you would win.
Every single Democrat candidate for president raised their hands in
favor of giving health care to all illegal aliens."
The White
House has emphasized Democrats' historic leftward push, and Trump also
hammered that theme at Thursday's rally -- saying Democrats wanted to
"eviscerate" not only Medicare, but also babies just prior to their
birth.
"They want to impose an extreme agenda," Trump said,
referring to the field of Democrats seeking the White House. "They
cannot pass it, and they cannot win it at the ballot box -- they're not
going to win. They won't come close in 2020. They know it."
He
continued: "They want to tear down symbols of faith and drive Christians
and religious believers from the public square. They want to silence
your voices on social media, and they want the government to censor,
muzzle and shut down conservative voices -- you know that."
Democrats,
though, have pointed to demographic trends as well as the fact that
Cruz won reelection by just over 2 points last year as evidence that the
second-most-populous state could soon be in play.
The line to enter the campaign rally for President Trump forming
outside the American Airlines Center on Thursday in Dallas. (AP
Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
“I expect President Trump to win Texas by 5
percentage points, not 9 points this time,” Southern Methodist
University political science professor Cal Jillson told
Politico. “There are long-term demographic changes taking place in the
state that eat into Republican support. The major cities like Austin,
Houston and Dallas are already leaning blue. Plus, his Republican
coalition has been destabilized by his own actions and conduct."
At
the same time, Trump's campaign and the RNC have been raking in money,
raising a record $125 million in the third quarter of this year. By
comparison, former President Obama and the Democratic National Committee
(DNC) raised just over $70 million in the third quarter of 2011 for his
reelection campaign.
The RNC raised a record-setting $27.3
million just last month and had $59.2 million cash as of the end of
August, amid the impeachment push against the president -- which has
fueled GOP campaign contributions heading into the 2020 election.
This
cycle, to date, the RNC has more than doubled the DNC's fundraising
efforts, according to the GOP, which also noted that the Democrats, as
of last month, carried $7.3 million in debt.
The campaign
continued to haul in cash Thursday. Trump began his trip at a fundraiser
in Fort Worth that raised about $5.5 million for Trump Victory, a joint
fundraising committee benefiting the Trump campaign and the Republican
National Committee. Looking to promote new jobs, Trump then toured the
recently built Louis Vuitton plant in Alvarado with his daughter and
senior adviser Ivanka Trump.
"I've seen that before," Trump told his tour guides while pointing to one of the iconic bags set up on a table.
While
Republicans largely have defended Trump, they have sounded alarms over
his decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria — a move that
paved the way for Turkey to invade and assault the Kurds, who'd fought
alongside the U.S. in its campaign against Islamic State militants.
Upon
landing in Texas on Thursday, Trump credited his threat of sanctions on
Turkey and the violence that has unfolded for the announcement of a
cease-fire, though critics said Trump green-lit the incursion and put
the Kurdish forces in danger by announcing a U.S. troop withdrawal.
A sea of red hats as supporters of President Trump lined up to
enter the campaign rally on Thursday in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey
McWhorter)
Trump described the cease-fire as an "incredible
outcome" that could not have occurred "unless you went somewhat
unconventional."
A White House meeting between Trump and congressional lawmakers to discuss the situation Wednesday devolved into an insult-fest,
with the president calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a
"third-grade politician," and Pelosi and other top Democrats storming
out.
A senior aide for the Democrats told Fox News that Trump
began the meeting, which ostensibly had been called by the White House,
by remarking that "someone wanted this meeting so I agreed to it." Trump
also was said to have told Pelosi, "I hate ISIS more than you do,"
prompting Pelosi to respond, "You don't know that."
Trump and Pelosi continued to trade jabs after the meeting, with each accusing the other of having a meltdown.
As the Democrats walked out, Trump reportedly remarked, "I'll see you at the polls." Fox News' Lissa Kaplan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate in Westerville,
Ohio, Oct. 15, 2019. (Associated Press)
CNN’s Scott Jennings once again took liberals to the cleaners on the Abrego Garcia case, the ‘Maryland man...
