Nearly two months into his second term, President Donald Trump’s approval rating matches his all-time high.

Congressional Republicans also enjoy record ratings, while views of congressional Democrats tumble near an all-time low, according to the latest Fox News Poll.

Half of voters, 49%, approve of the job Trump is doing as president, matching his high from April 2020. That’s also better than at the same point in his first term (43% approved in March 2017). He is at high marks among key groups, including women, Black voters and voters under age 30. (For reference, in January, a 52% majority of voters approved of the job Trump was doing handling the presidential transition.)

Nine in 10 Republicans approve of Trump, while the same number of Democrats disapprove. Six in 10 Independents disapprove of his job performance.

**SNIP**

News across the aisle isn’t as rosy. For Democrats in Congress, 66% disapprove of the job they are doing, with only 30% approving — nearly matching their record low of 29% approval in November 2013. The current 36-point deficit represents a marked decline from the 23-point difference in October 2023, the last time the question was asked (37% approve, 60% disapprove), and the high of +10 in April 2009 (50-40%).

The boost to the GOP approval is primarily attributable to more Republicans backing their party today (88%) than in October 2023 (54%). Again, the partisan contrast is striking, as only 49% of Democrats approve of their party’s lawmakers today vs. 74% in 2023.

Israel said Wednesday it launched a “limited ground operation” in northern Gaza to retake part of a corridor that bisects the territory, and the country’s defense minister warned that the army plans to step up the attacks that shattered a two-month ceasefire “with an intensity that you have not seen.”

The military said it had retaken part of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern Gaza from the south and from where it had withdrawn as part of the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January.

Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Palestinians in Gaza that the army would again order evacuations from combat zones soon, and that its attacks against Hamas would become more fierce if dozens of hostages held for more than 17 months were not freed.

As Israel continued its airstrikes on Gaza Wednesday, the United Nations said an international United Nations staffer was killed and five others were wounded in a strike Wednesday on a U.N. guesthouse in Gaza.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the U.N. Office for Project Services, declined to say who carried out the strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah but said the explosive ordnance was “dropped or fired” and the blast was not accidental or related to demining activity.

He did not provide the nationalities of those killed and wounded. The U.N. body, known as UNOPS, carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world.

The Israeli military, which has carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes throughout Gaza since early Tuesday, denied earlier reports that it had targeted the U.N. compound.

But Moreira da Silva said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday and struck it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the staffer was killed. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that it was aware of the facility’s location.

“Israel knew this was a U.N. premise, that people were living, staying and working there,” he said.

After the strike Wednesday, the wounded were rushed to Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central city of Deir al-Balah. One man was carried inside on a blanket held up by medical workers. Another lay on a hospital bed, his knee bandaged. A blue protective vest emblazoned with “UN” rested on a nearby bed.

There have been no reports of rocket fire or other Palestinian militant attacks since Israel unleashed the airstrikes overnight and into Tuesday, ending a ceasefire with Hamas that took hold in January. The Israeli bombardment continued into Wednesday, though at a lower intensity.

The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the strikes early Tuesday. It said another 678 people have been wounded.

The military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza’s Health Ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The military said in a statement that as part of the new offensive, it struck dozens of militants and militant sites on Wednesday, including the command center of a Hamas battalion.

The war in Gaza, which was paused in January by an internationally-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, has been among the deadliest conflicts ever for humanitarian workers, according to the U.N.

The resumption of fighting launched by Israel early Tuesday risks plunging the region back into all-out war. It came weeks after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages for prisoners and were set to negotiate an extension to the truce that was meant to bring about an eventual end to the war.

But those negotiations never got off the ground. Hamas has demanded that Israel stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire deal, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Israel, which has vowed to defeat Hamas, has put forward a new proposal that would extend the truce and free more hostages held by Hamas, without a commitment to end the war.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

“Trump attacks his political enemies,” says an MSNBC headline. Political enemies? Oh yes, the people who tried to put him in prison, not for lawbreaking but for political rivalry, and who literally made up laws in order to convict him, and still didn’t succeed. THOSE political enemies, right? The media establishment is rotten to the core — rotten to the core, and way beyond.

*******

“Unfortunately, in recent years, a corrupt group of hacks and radicals within the ranks of the American government obliterated the trust and goodwill built up over generations. They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people.

“There could be no more heinous betrayal of American values than to use the law to terrorize the innocent and reward the wicked. That’s what they were doing at a level that’s never been seen before,” President Trump said yesterday at the DOJ, going on to name Biden, Garland, “and their cronies,” specifically.

Biden, Garland and all who enabled them should not be walking free today.

*******

Schumer says a government shutdown is dangerous, will give DOGE free reign. Bring on the shutdown then!

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President Donald Trump is expected to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday after he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about the prospect of peace in Ukraine.

A White house official confirmed plans for the talk with NewsNation.

Putin agreed with Trump to implement a limited ceasefire that would shield energy infrastructure and to begin negotiations on a maritime ceasefire to reopen Black Sea shipping. The Russian Ministry of Defense has accused the Ukrainians of targeting their oil fields within hours of the agreement.

Following the Trump-Putin call, the White House released a readout highlighting Russian interest in cooperating on security in the Middle East. Both parties also agreed to begin negotiations for a lasting peace.

“This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts,” read the readout. “The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.

Just the News

Many pundits, including lawyer Robert Barnes, are harping on impeachment of these rogue judges. I think that has little, if any, hope of success.

Nor do I think defunding or changing the jurisdiction of the courts will work. We’re easily 20 votes in the House and 20 votes in the Senate short of either of those options.

But Trump is winning, and can continue to win, by other means, practical means, historically time-tested means.

First understand that TIME IS ON OUR SIDE. These agencies have been closed. People have been fired. Buildings are locked up. Some are sold already. Policies are already in place. Ownership is 9/10 of the law.

The longer it takes to get something “back” or to get people re-hired, the more we win. Federal employees can’t go without paychecks—even with unemployment—for long. Some will get other jobs. Some will move. With every single dropout, we win. Every dollar saved, we win.

So a judge orders grants to “green” turned back on? So what. The Secretary should already have new rules in place that, gee, now every grant must go through a re-review process of a 3-member panel, with its decisions reviewed by a 5- member panel. Sorry, that’s just the process. Those reviews should take as long as Charlie Manson’s parole.

New rules should require the Secretary to personally review every check on a grant and to countersign.

The “mail” needs to be really, really slow.

Think this can’t be done? Look at the South’s response to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education order to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” How’d that work out? Wasn’t til the late 1960s this was even remotely accomplished. Give Trump a 5 year window and this criminal government apparatus is finished.

Hold up staffing requests. Whenever possible rehire with MAGA people (the old “spoils system”). In reality, some of these jobs WILL be refilled with MAGA anyway.

Require physical signatures from judges on the order in accordance with the law before you comply.

Appeal, appeal, appeal.

Change the wording of the releases and closures ever so slightly to require an all new ruling.

In short, every day that goes by that agencies are closed and not spending money makes it LESS likely they will ever recover—regardless of what Justice Johnny and the Supes say.

LS

President Trump reportedly wants to invalidate the Biden pardons agains Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Adam Schiff and others.

Great news. Cheney, Schiff and Kinzinger are traitors and actual insurrectionists of the worst kind, destroying and falsifying evidence and essentially saying, “So what? It’s Trump.” Let’s get the ball rolling to convict as many of these people as possible. If we don’t, like injured snakes who are still poisonous, they will strike again. This is war, and to win you must decisively defeat your enemies, just like the Nazis.

*******

The judge who ordered illegal Venezuelan gang members returned to the U.S. faces calls for impeachment from some.

Impeachment? Deport him. Drop him from a helicopter into the middle of starving Venezuela and let him fend for himself. He loathes America and our Bill of Rights. He loves totalitarianism. Let him live in totalitarianism. Himself, and every Biden or Obama judge. They are at least as bad as terrorists, and they have wrecked our country and its freedom enough with their batty ideas. While we’re at it, let’s deport the Bidens and Obamas, too.

*******

Democrat Senate leader Schumer has postponed a book tour due to “security concerns” after backlash for passing President Trump’s continuing resolution bill.

No sympathy here. However, it further illustrates: The Democratic Communist Party of America is violent. Either you’re with them, or they destroy you. By any means they feel like. Study the ruthless savagery of the Maoists, the Soviets, Hitler’s National Socialists or Cuban, Venezuelan totalitarians.Then examine America’s Democrats. They are the same.

*******

You are called “Nazi” if you applaud Elon Musk. How is it Nazi to support reduction in the size, power and cost of government?

*******

According to a CNN poll of Democrats, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is the preferred leader of their party, the one who most closely matches their views: AOC, the explicit socialist and Communist.

You can laugh. But remember that the Party of AOC is not dead. And it has come back to life again, and again. The Democratic Communist Party of America controls the media, schools, pretty much everything cultural. Trump can weaken and annoy them for 4 more years, but not necessarily eviscerate them. Under an AOC-like Democratic Party, American patriots and lovers of individual rights will be far more threatened than anything ever seen in this country to date. Even if you could eradicate AOC, another lunatic monster will simply take her place. Trump’s victory last year is not the end of the war.

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You see, at first, when someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works – but only for a short time. What eventually occurs is: First, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.

President Ronald Reagan

Just a year ago, Democrats feared nothing. So far as they were concerned, Trump was headed to prison, and they would rule forever. America’s beautiful republic based on economic and individual liberty was headed for the ash heap of history (a good development, according to Democrats).

Now look at them.

Schumer and his cohorts are SO frightened of a government shutdown that they’re handing President Trump everything he wants. What changed? Elon Musk and DOGE, that’s what. By downsizing the federal government in such a ruthless and principled way, President Trump finally has leftists soiling their pants in public.

It’s a beautiful thing. Sure, AOC and the drunken hag Nancy Pelosi will scream like savages, but that only means the Democratic Party is divided for the first time since the Reagan years. President Trump did this. The man is amazing, and one for the ages.

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Former President Joe Biden was suffering from a cognitive decline before he was elected to the White House in 2020. During his term in office, it was evident to every American that Biden was incapable of serving as President. Often, he was forgetful of names, even people serving in his cabinet, and unable to express his thoughts in a coherent way.

Biden’s White House staff covered up his mental incompetence by scheduling very few public events and never allowing him to have unscripted press conferences. On the rare occasions that Biden did address the press, the reporters and questions were selected in advance.

During his debate with President Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, Biden’s utter incompetence was displayed to the world. His aides could no longer hide his mental decline, and Biden was eventually forced to withdraw from the race. The rest is history and, thankfully, President Trump won again in November and is serving in the White House today.

Despite Trump’s victory, the nightmare of America having an incapacitated President is still with us today. Not since President Woodrow Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919, had the country’s real leader been so unclear.

In Wilson’s case, his wife, Edith Wilson, stepped forward to assume many presidential duties during his illness. In the case of Joe Biden, Americans still do not know who was making the decisions and leading the country.

During his presidential term, Biden did incredible damage to our nation with far-left policies such as his climate agenda and the open border. One of the major questions that remains unanswered is did Biden personally authorize these policies? Or did his progressive staff members advance this agenda without his approval?

At this point, the evidence is mounting that Biden and Americans were manipulated by radical White House staffers. For example, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) recently shared a chilling story about Biden’s lack of knowledge about an executive order he “signed” pausing liquified natural gas (LNG) exports, which was damaging to Louisiana’s economy.

After much insistence, Johnson was able to secure a meeting with Biden at the White House in January of 2024. To his surprise, when he arrived, he was greeted by not only Biden, but others, including the CIA Director and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fortunately, at one point, Biden asked to meet with Johnson alone, so the House Speaker used the opportunity to complain about Biden’s LNG executive order. He said, “Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquified natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that?”

In response, Biden told him, “I didn’t do that.” Even when Johnson reminded Biden of the executive order, the President denied he signed it. Johnson left the meeting with a feeling of “fear and loathing.” He thought, “We are in serious trouble—who is running the country?”

The answer, Mr. Speaker, is that it was never Joe Biden. This has been confirmed in recent days with the brewing scandal about the autopen. In the New York Post, it was revealed by “a Biden White House source,” that an unnamed aide to the President “may have made unilateral determinations on what to auto-sign.”

If true, this aide would have “exceeded their authority” by having documents signed without Biden’s knowledge or approval. This informant told the New York Post that the powerful staffer “basically was the President” and that in the Biden White House there was “no clarity on who actually approved what.”

Attorney Mike Davis, Founder and President of the Article III Project, told the New York Post that “If an authorized autopen operator is using the autopen on a particular document against the President’s will, it’s clearly not valid.” Davis listed potential “criminal” charges including “forgery, obstruction of justice and fraud.”

The autopen scandal may have been happening throughout the Biden presidency. The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project discovered that on December 30, 2022, Biden “signed” pardons for six criminals using an autopen signature. At the time, Biden was in the U.S. Virgin Islands vacationing, even though the pardons were signed “City of Washington.”

The Oversight Project asked on social media the main question involved in the autopen investigation, “Who is behind?” the signatures and highlighted the stunning ramifications, “Whoever Controlled the Autopen Controlled the Presidency.”

The Attorney General of Missouri, Andrew Bailey, understands the significance of this scandal and is demanding the Department of Justice launch an investigation. According to Bailey, this probe should determine “whether President Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval. If true, these executive orders, pardons, and all other actions are unconstitutional and legally void.”

In a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Bailey claims there are “profound reasons to suspect that Biden’s staff and political allies exploited his mental decline.” Bailey believes that this “would explain why the Biden administration’s orders were aggressively much farther to the left than any previous President.”

Along with the extreme agenda, the vast number of pardons must be questioned. On Biden’s last day in office, an autopen was used to sign all seven of the pardons that he issued. It is a legitimate question to ask, “Was he aware of these pardons?”

On Friday, in his address to the Department of Justice, President Trump said the Biden autopen controversy was “a big deal.” He said, “you don’t use (an) autopen. Number one, it’s disrespectful to the office. Number two, maybe it’s not even valid because, you know, who’s getting him to sign? He had no idea what the hell he was doing.”

Sadly, Biden was oblivious to what was happening around him, but key staffers in his White House were certainly aware of his cognitive decline and they exploited his weakness to enact the most radical leftwing agenda in American history. In the process, crimes were possibly committed in a scandal that makes Watergate look like child’s play.

Jeff Crouere

I cherish Ayn Rand’s works (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, The Comprachicos, Philosophy: Who Needs It, and much more). I loathe the sinister Ayn Rand Institute for precisely the same reasons I cherish Ayn Rand’s ideas. The following article by Sherwin Newman (New Hampshire, on Facebook) is right on point. Bravo to the highly astute author!

Objectivists in Denial: Evasion, Envy, and the Misreading of Trump

It’s astonishing to witness President Trump’s return, seizing the reins of a nation that has crumbled over the past four years under corruption and mismanagement. The IRS and FBI, riddled with dishonest actors, have preyed on American citizens, all with the backing of Biden and the Democrats—spineless, hollow figures who disgrace the very idea of representing this country. Meanwhile, millions of federal employees, contributing next to nothing, have siphoned taxpayer dollars, their uselessness now glaringly obvious. Why didn’t we see this coming? The thought of these freeloaders enjoying public services while we foot the bill is an outrage, reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s government insiders who masqueraded as public servants while undermining the people.

Yet, there’s a deeper layer to this mess—one that exposes a troubling hypocrisy among some who claim to champion Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. Engaging in politics risks scorn and isolation because it’s a battlefield where principles bend and casualties pile up. In a mixed economy or socialist system, power often hinges on the very people propping up the status quo, and shifting their worldview is a slow grind better suited to academia or culture. But in the here and now, applying philosophy to politics means wrestling with entrenched power and societal norms—risking marginalization, ruin, or worse.

That’s why we need voices like Trump, who cuts through the noise with unapologetic honesty. Evil thrives when good people do nothing, and supporting bold truth-tellers is the only way to protect civilization. With Trump back, there’s a shot at reclaiming America’s greatness—ramping up production, drilling for oil, and prioritizing practical policies over what I see as fraudulent ideologies like environmentalism and self-sacrificing globalism. The endless debate pitting capitalism against these globalist talking points is, to me, a flimsy cover for those who want capitalism’s rewards while trashing it. That era of nonsense is done. It’s time to defend capitalism with moral clarity and dismiss the Democrats’ cowardice with the contempt it deserves.

But here’s where it gets murky: some self-proclaimed Objectivists recoil from Trump, and I’d argue it’s not about principle—it’s about evasion and envy. Take the idea that natural-born Americans should be relegated to second-class status while immigrants get priority—pure indoctrination, rooted in guilt trips about settlers taking Native land. Yet it’s the society those settlers built, with its infrastructure and respect for rights, that draws immigrants here. And while America shells out aid to other nations, those same countries slap tariffs on us to shield their economies. This self-sacrificial streak is rotten and demands a hard rethink, starting with the premises propping it up.

So why do some view Republicans and Trump as a bigger threat than the Marxist-leaning new left? I suspect a hidden motive they won’t cop to. Conservatives push back against pornography, drugs, and pedophilia—could that be a clue? Trump, I’d argue, embodies Objectivism’s core—courage, individualism, liberty—more than any living Objectivist. He’s risked his life for his country, championing free speech and prosperity, while these critics stumble over themselves chasing social clout, stunted by an education system that’s left them shallow.

Their disdain for Trump reeks of personal insecurity. They crave the “cool kid” badge, drawn to the edgy, drug-fueled, sexually liberated crowd—whatever’s trending. Trump’s clean-cut life—no booze, no smokes, suited up and sober—grates against that. They’d rather hobnob with Hollywood and the art scene, chasing fame and approval, terrified of being linked to the “boring” Republicans with their guns and faith. Traditional Americans aren’t chic enough for them; they’d rather play European and stylish. It’s a low-self-esteem trap, revealing a hollow core—they’re living a lie, not a philosophy.

The “Trump-as-strongman” scare is laughable—he won fair and square, unlike his rivals. Yet these Objectivists dodge the real threat: the left’s anti-liberty, anti-reason tribalism, peddling environmentalism and DEI nonsense. Trump’s populist wave, backed by Steve Bannon, stands for free speech, industry, and rationality—principles Rand would salute. Their refusal to see this isn’t just error; it’s evasion, a “blank out” in Rand’s terms.

Trump’s philosophy syncs with Rand’s vision: individualism, free markets, human ingenuity driving real capitalism—not the warped “financial” mess we’ve got now. Critics nitpick tariffs (which Rand opposed), but miss the bigger picture—Trump’s push for production and liberty mirrors her ideal of unleashed potential, not monetary games. True capitalism isn’t about short-term profits; it’s about creating wealth through effort. These Objectivists in denial, envious of Trump’s clarity and guts, cling to their facade of sophistication. They’re not just wrong—they’re guilty of betraying the principles they claim to uphold. Maybe it’s time they looked inward, confronted their envy, and stopped running from the truth.  [by Sherwin Newman]

[Postscript from the article’s author: In an era where political battle lines are drawn with ferocious intensity, a curious paradox emerges among those who claim to uphold Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. As Donald Trump storms back into the spotlight, steering a nation battered by years of decline, he embodies a pragmatic individualism and unyielding resolve that echo Rand’s ideals—yet many self-professed Objectivists recoil. This article, “Objectivists in Denial: Evasion, Envy, and the Misreading of Trump”, probes the unsettling dissonance between Rand’s principles and the hesitancy of her modern followers to embrace a figure who, in action if not always in rhetoric, aligns with her vision of liberty, productivity, and defiance against collectivist decay. What drives this resistance? Is it a principled stand, or something murkier—a cocktail of evasion, envy, and a craving for social approval that betrays the very philosophy they profess? As America stands at a crossroads, with Trump’s return offering a chance to reclaim its capitalist soul, the refusal of these Objectivists to see the forest for the trees demands scrutiny. Here, we unravel the psychological and intellectual knots that bind them, exposing a denial that threatens to undermine the rational legacy they claim to defend.]

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Charleston SC). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on X at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram, @DrHurd on TruthSocial. Dr. Hurd is also now a Newsmax Insider!