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      Netanyahu’s Likud party says Israel ‘not a banana republic’ after Chuck Schumer calls for new elections – live

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      Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has responded to Chuck Schumer’s calls for new elections, saying that Israel is “not a banana republic”.It went on to say, “Contrary to Schumer’s words, the Israeli public supports a total victory over Hamas, rejects any international dictates to establish a Palestinian terrorist state, and opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.”“Senator Schumer is expected to respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it. This is always true, and even more so in wartime,” it added.Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
      Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush-money case said they were not opposed to a 30-day delay in the trial, currently set to begin on 25 March, due to a recent disclosure of thousands of pages of documents by federal prosecutors.
      Kamala Harris visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota, marking what her office said was the first time a president or vice-president has toured a facility that performs abortions, as the White House escalates its defense of reproductive rights in this year’s election.
      Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer called for Israel to hold new elections, saying he believed the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had “lost his way” and risked turning the country into a pariah with its bombardment of Gaza and the worsening humanitarian crisis it caused. Schumer also called for Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to step down.
      Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell hit back at Schumer’s comments calling for new Israeli leadership, describing them as “grotesque and hypocritical”. Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said Schumer’s comments were “highly inappropriate”. House Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik said Schumer “does not stand with Israel”.
      Israel’s ruling Likud party responded to Schumer by defending Netanyahu’s public support and saying Israel is “not a banana republic”.
      Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, said Schumer’s remarks were “unhelpful” and “counterproductive to our common goals”.
      Dozens of American Muslim and Palestinian-American organizations and leaders in Chicago turned down a White House meeting over the lack of policy change on Israel’s ongoing killings in Gaza.
      Donald Trump attended a hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, as a federal judge heard arguments from the former president’s lawyers to dismiss the classified documents prosecution.
      Jim Jordan, the chair of the House judiciary committee, threatened Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis with contempt of Congress if she does not comply with his committee’s investigation into her office.
      Joe Biden came out in opposition to the planned sale of Pittsburgh’s US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel.
      The Manhattan district attorney’s office said they will not oppose Donald Trump’s request to delay his hush money trial by 30 days, citing newly disclosed evidence from the US attorney’s office.Jury selection was scheduled to begin on 25 March, marking the former president’s first criminal trial. But in a court filing on Thursday, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg wrote:
      Although the People are prepared to proceed to trial on March 25, we do not oppose an adjournment in an abundance of caution and to ensure that defendant has sufficient time to review the new materials.
      The Biden administration imposed sanctions on three extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank who are accused of harassing and attacking Palestinians.Two Israeli outposts were also targeted in the latest sanctions, which the US state department said had been bases for violence against Palestinians.Washington has repeatedly asked Israel to hold violent settlers accountable and complained that its actions allowing settlement expansion diminish hopes for a two-state solution.In response, Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the sanctions were “further proof that the US administration does not understand who is an enemy and who is its supporter”, adding:
      The settlers are the best of our sons who build, settle and bring security to the country, they deserve a salute not a knife in the back.
      Dozens of American Muslim and Palestinian-American organizations and leaders in Chicago have turned down a White House meeting over the lack of policy change on Israel’s ongoing killings in Gaza.In a letter sent to White House officials, the organizations said:
      “First, there is no point in more meetings … With a genocide that has flattened Gaza … the White House has not only refused to call for a ceasefire, but also enabled this blatant campaign of ethnic cleansing to take place by providing financial and military means, as well as diplomatic support at the United Nations. A meeting of the minds is nowhere in sight.
      Second, there is no confusion as to our consistent demand for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end the mass murder of civilians and stave off the worst humanitarian crisis in modern times. We believe another meeting would only act to whitewash months of White House inaction followed by meek handouts …
      … we demand, at minimum, an immediate and permanent ceasefire, complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, ultimately ending the siege and blockade of Gaza, allowing the natural flow of humanitarian aid, reinstating funding to UNRWA, a cessation of weapons sales or transfers to Israel, and accountability measures for all war crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of genocide, and justice and liberation for the Palestinians.
      That is what history will judge us by, not more token meetings when every day is of the essence.”
      In addition to his calls for new Israeli elections, Chuck Schumer is also calling for Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to step down.According to Schumer, Abbas must step down for a “new generation of Palestinian leaders who’ll work towards attaining peace with a Jewish state”.“The PA under new leadership must reform to viably serve as the basis for a Palestinian state with the trust of the people,” he added.Schumer has already sparked backlash among Republican leaders and the Israeli government over his calls from earlier today for new elections in Israel.In a series of tweets on Thursday, Chuck Schumer is maintaining his calls for new Israeli elections, saying Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence”.Schumer went on to accuse Netanyahu of pushing support for Israel “to new lows” and said that Israel “can’t survive if it becomes a pariah”.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has responded to Chuck Schumer’s calls for new elections, saying that Israel is “not a banana republic”.It went on to say, “Contrary to Schumer’s words, the Israeli public supports a total victory over Hamas, rejects any international dictates to establish a Palestinian terrorist state, and opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.”“Senator Schumer is expected to respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it. This is always true, and even more so in wartime,” it added.Chuck Schumer is continuing to defend his calls for new Israeli elections, writing in another post on X:
      “People on all sides are turning away from a two-state solution—including Israel’s PM Netanyahu who has been rejecting Palestinian statehood and sovereignty.
      As the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America and a staunch defender of Israel, I say:
      This is a grave mistake.”
      House Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik has joined a handful of Republican leaders who have criticized Chuck Schumer over his calls for new Israeli elections.In a statement on Thursday, Stefanik said: “Instead of meddling in elections of a sovereign nation, Chuck Schumer should follow House Republicans’ lead in supporting our ally in their darkest hour. The obstacle to peace is … Chuck Schumer … Chuck Schumer does not stand with Israel. House Republicans do.”Since 7 October, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have faced increasing opposition and condemnation over their handling of the hostage crisis and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza where its forces have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians while forcibly displacing about 2 million survivors.Despite fierce criticisms from Republican leaders, Chuck Schumer is sticking to his word over his calls for new Israeli elections. In a post on X, Schumer wrote:
      “At this critical juncture, I believe a new election in Israel is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.”
      John Cornyn, the Republican senator of Texas, said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer was “out of line” in his comments calling for Israel to hold new elections.Schumer was “undermining” America’s “closest ally and the only democracy in the Middle East,” Cornyn posted to X. He added:
      This is a blatant attempt to appease extremists in his party to the detriment of our relationship with Israel. More

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      Kamala Harris puts abortion front and center with visit to Minnesota clinic

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      Kamala Harris visited a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on Thursday, becoming what is believed to be the first vice-president ever to do so.Harris stopped by a clinic in Minnesota, a state where abortion remains legal following the overturning of Roe v Wade, as part of her nationwide tour to highlight the impact of Roe’s downfall. Harris also toured the clinic, which remained open to patients as the nation’s first female vice-president made her historic visit.“Walking through this clinic, that’s what I saw, … people who have dedicated their lives to the profession of providing healthcare in a safe place that gives people dignity,” Harris told reporters after her tour. “And I think we should all want that for each other.”Protesters had already assembled outside the clinic by the time of Harris’s arrival. They carried signs with messages such as “Planned Parenthood = abortion” and “abortion is not healthcare”.Harris and Joe Biden are banking on outrage over Roe to help propel them to a second term in the White House come November. Anger over the landmark decision’s demise was credited with helping stop a much-promised “red wave” of Republican victories in the 2022 midterms, as well as leading abortion rights to triumph in multiple ballot initiatives, including in red states such as Kentucky, Kansas and Ohio.One in eight voters now say that abortion is their top issue in the 2024 elections, according to a KFF poll released last week. Harris and Biden have said that they would like to codify Roe’s protections into law – legislation that is unlikely to move anytime soon, given the degree of inaction and polarization in the US Congress.Biden’s record on and ability to talk about abortion rights dims in comparison to his running mate’s. Biden, a devout Catholic, has said that he is personally “not big” on abortion. And while Biden highlighted the threat to “reproductive freedom” in his State of the Union address to Congress last week, he did not say the word “abortion”.In contrast, Harris has spoken far more openly about the issue. On Thursday, she mentioned “abortion care” and said that the overturning of Roe has led to a “healthcare crisis”.“Elections matter,” Harris told reporters. “When it comes to national elections and who sits in the United States Congress, there’s a fundamental point on this issue that I think most people agree with, which is that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling women what to do with her body.”Asked about her role in this issue, Harris said: “My role is to do what I just did, which is to articulate exactly these points and to continue to articulate them, and to organize folks around what I know is an issue that is impacting more people than you will ever really know.” More

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      Republicans say Democrats’ hardball Ohio Senate play could backfire

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      Democrats working to boost a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for the US Senate in Ohio, as a way to boost their own progressive senator, should be careful, an aide to the Republican said, lest such efforts backfire and they lose a precious seat.Such tactics have been used by Democrats before – when they support a more extreme Republican to be nominated out of a calculation that that candidate will then stand less chance of winning against a Democrat in a general election. Of course, such tactics could backfire and see extremists elected.“Democrats constantly underestimate the America First movement at their own peril,” Reagan McCarthy, communications director to Bernie Moreno, told news outlets.“They thought President Trump would be easy to beat in 2016 and then they got their clocks cleaned when he demolished Hillary Clinton. The same thing is going to happen to Sherrod Brown this year.”Democrats control the US Senate by 51 seats to 49. Republicans have high hopes of retaking the chamber, with Ohio on their list of targets.Brown, 71, is a major presence on the Democratic left, first elected to the Senate in 2006 when he beat Mike DeWine.DeWine is now the Republican governor of a former battleground state that has trended right. In the last Senate election, the bestselling author JD Vance, a self-described “conservative knuckle-dragger”, took the other seat.This year’s Republican Senate primary sees Moreno, a businessman also endorsed by Vance, facing Matt Dolan, a state senator backed by DeWine, and Frank LaRose, the secretary of state. Polling indicates a close race with Dolan leading. Election day is next Tuesday.On Thursday, multiple outlets reported that Duty and Country, a group linked to the Democratic Senate Majority political action committee, was spending about $2.7m on an ad to run across the state, meant to boost Moreno among Republicans by calling him “ultraconservative”, “too conservative for Ohio” and “too aligned” with Trump.“Donald Trump needs Bernie Moreno,” said the ad, titled Maga Fighter, in reference to Trump’s endorsement.“Ohio doesn’t.”The aim is to give Brown a better chance in the general election, against a candidate Democrats can portray as too extreme, linked to attacks on reproductive rights and democracy itself, key themes for Democratic campaigns from Joe Biden down.Hannah Menchhoff, a spokesperson for the Senate Majority Pac, said: “When Ohio voters head to their polling place, they deserve to know the truth about Bernie Moreno – and the truth is that Moreno is a Maga extremist who embraced Donald Trump just like he embraced his policies to ban abortion nationwide and repeal” the Affordable Care Act.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA similar Democratic effort recently succeeded in California. In an open primary for a US Senate seat, the former US House intelligence chair Adam Schiff successfully boosted the Republican Steve Garvey past other Democrats, making for what should be an easy victory in November.Democrats in Pennsylvania – much more of a battleground than deep-blue California – have also enjoyed success with such tactics. In 2022, they played up the conservative credentials of Doug Mastriano, a Trump-endorsed candidate for governor with far-right links and views. The Democrat, Josh Shapiro, won the election with ease.Reed Galen, a Republican operative turned co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, said that such tactics were “relatively common but not always sound.“The risk of course is that you lose to the Trumpier guy. But it’s hardball – something Democrats aren’t typically known for,” he said.Galen also pointed to Brown’s strength even when targeted by national Republicans, saying the senator had a “better than average” chance of re-election.According to polling released on Wednesday by Emerson College Polling and the Hill, Brown is indeed well placed to retain his seat. In hypothetical match-ups, the Democrat led LaRose 39% to 33%, Moreno 39% to 34% and Dolan 37% to 34%.“He’s an institution,” Galen said of Brown. More

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      Political operative and firms behind Biden AI robocall sued for thousands

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      A political operative and two companies that facilitated a fake robocall using AI to impersonate Joe Biden should be required to pay thousands of dollars in damages and should be barred from taking similar future actions, a group of New Hampshire voters and a civic action group said in a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday.The suit comes weeks after Steve Kramer, a political operative, admitted that he was behind the robocall that spoofed Biden’s voice on the eve of the New Hampshire primary and urged Democrats in the state not to vote. Kramer was working for Biden’s challenger Dean Phillips, but Phillips’s campaign said he had nothing to do with the call and Kramer has said he did it as an act of civil disobedience to draw attention to the dangers of AI in elections. The incident may have been the first time AI was used to interfere in a US election.Lawyers for the plaintiffs – three New Hampshire voters who received the calls and the League of Women Voters, a voting rights group – said they believed it was the first lawsuit of its kind seeking redress for using AI in robocalls in elections. The New Hampshire attorney general’s office is investigating the matter.Two Texas companies, Life Corporation and Lingo Telecom, also helped facilitate the calls.“If Defendants are not permanently enjoined from deploying AI-generated robocalls, there is a strong likelihood that it will happen again,” the lawsuit says.The plaintiffs say Kramer and the two companies violated a provision of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits voter intimidation as well a ban in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act on delivering a prerecorded call to someone without their consent. They also say the calls violated New Hampshire state laws that require disclosure of the source of politically related calls.The plaintiffs are seeking up to $7,500 in damages for each plaintiff that received a call that violated federal and state law. The recorded call was sent to anywhere between 5,000 and 25,000 people.“It’s really imperative that we address the threat that these defendants are creating for voters,” Courtney Hostetler, a lawyer with the civic action group Free Speech for People, which is helping represent the plaintiffs, said in a press call with reporters on Thursday.“The other hope of this lawsuit is that it will demonstrate to other people who might attempt similar campaigns that this is illegal, that there are parties out there like the League of Women Voters who are prepared to challenge this sort of illegal voter intimidation, and these illegal deceptive practices, hopefully make them think twice before they do the same,” she added.NBC News reported Kramer paid a street magician in New Orleans $150 to create the call using a script Kramer prepared.“This is a way for me to make a difference, and I have,” he said in the interview last month. “For $500, I got about $5m worth of action, whether that be media attention or regulatory action.”Mark Herring, a former Virginia attorney general who is helping represent the plaintiffs, told reporters on Thursday that kind of justification was “self-serving”.“Regardless of the motivation, the intent here was to suppress the vote, and to threaten and coerce voters into not voting out of fear that they might lose their right to vote,” he said. More

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      Biden pledges billions to rebuild cities ‘torn apart’ by highways decades ago

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      Joe Biden hailed the beginning of $3.3bn in infrastructure spending on US projects on Wednesday “to right historic wrongs” with efforts to reconnect city neighborhoods riven by interstate highways that plowed with particular impunity through many Black, brown, Asian American and Hispanic communities decades ago.The US president was in Milwaukee, where he traveled to announce new infrastructure investment and officially open his election campaign’s Wisconsin office in the vital swing state.Democratic party campaigns in Wisconsin are typically run from the state capital, Madison, whereas the Biden re-election campaign has picked Milwaukee, the more industrial and diverse city on Lake Michigan, where 40% of residents are Black. The Republicans will hold their convention in Milwaukee in July.Biden is striving to make an impact on the campaign trail in a number of swing states this week after his fiery State of the Union speech last week.He travels to Michigan on Thursday, part of the “blue wall”, along with Pennsylvania, where Biden was born and has made more campaign trips than any other state.Donald Trump flipped all three states to win the White House in 2016, but Biden took them back four years ago and almost certainly needs to hold them if he is to secure a second term.Biden and Trump unofficially clinched their parties’ respective nominations on Tuesday night after more primary wins, and expect to be officially anointed at their party conventions this summer.The rare presidential election rematch, the first since 1956, comes while Trump is due in court later this month for the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president, with more to come as he faces 91 criminal charges across four cases at federal and state levels.On Wednesday, the White House declared that $3.3bn in federal funding is being allocated in more than 40 states, originating from the Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure legislation, to help areas “divided by transportation infrastructure decades ago and [that] have long been overlooked”.Biden announced a $36.6m federal grant on his Milwaukee visit to upgrade sidewalks and create cycle lanes, greater access to mass transit and more greenery in the South 6th Street area of Bronzeville, a historic majority African American neighborhood.Biden said the construction of interstate highways there led to the demolition of roughly 17,000 homes and 1,000 businesses, disproportionately impacting Black and poor neighborhoods in the 1960s, with a losses of prosperity and opportunities “that still reverberate today”.He pledged “to right historic wrongs and, in the process, deliver environmental justice to disadvantaged neighborhoods”.The US transportation department estimates that at least a million people and businesses in the US were displaced by decades of harmful urban renewal projects in the buildout of the federal highway system, a statement from the White House said.Biden said: “The story of Bronzeville here in Milwaukee is one we see all across the country. Our interstate highway system laid out in the 1950s was a groundbreaking connection of our nation, coast to coast … but instead of connecting communities, it divided them.”He added: “These highways actually tore them apart … along with redlining, they disconnected entire communities from opportunities, sometimes, in an effort to reinforce segregation.”Biden also took a jab directly at Trump’s conduct in dealing with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when he was president.“My predecessor failed at the most basic duty any president owes the American people – the duty to care,” he said.The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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      Joe Biden announces $3.3bn for infrastructure projects in visit to key swing state Wisconsin – live

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      “I’m here to announce the first-of-its-kind investment: $3.3bn and 132 projects in 42 states,” Biden said in response to cheers.“And in the process, delivering environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods with new opportunities,” he added.Bernie Sanders is set to introduce legislation to enact a 32-hour week with no loss in pay. On Wednesday, Sanders, chair of the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, said that he will introduce legislation that will establish a standard of 32-hour workweek in the US.In a statement on his legislation, Sanders said, “Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea… The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street.”“It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life,” he added.Joe Biden delivered a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during which he announced $3bn in infrastructure investments in local communities across the country.Opening his speech, the president said: “The story of Bronzeville here in Milwaukee is one we see all across the country. Our interstate highway system laid out in the ’50s was a groundbreaking connection [of] our nation’s coast-to-coast … But instead of connecting communities, it divided them. These highways actually tore them apart,” referring to Black communities and other communities of color that were separated as a result of the highway constructions.“Along with redlining, they disconnected entire communities from opportunities. Sometimes, in an effort to reinforce segregation … More than 100 years ago, Bronzeville was the home of a thriving hub of Black culture and commerce … Sadly too many communities across America face the loss of wealth, prosperity and possibilities that still reverberate today,” said Biden, adding that his latest infrastructure project is set to deliver “environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods with new opportunities”.“We’re going to ensure that good-paying construction jobs created in this project go to members of the community,” Biden continued.In Milwaukee specifically, Biden’s initiative will see $36m be put towards the 6th Street Complete Streets Project, which will reconnect communities along more than 2.5 miles of the 6th street corridor. The project will also help provide wider sidewalks for children walking to school, safe bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes for faster transit and green infrastructure, the White House announced.Other projects are set to take place in Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Portland, Oregon, among other towns and cities in the US.“Today, we’re making decisions that will transform your lives decades to come and we’re doing it all across America,” said Biden.He went on to take jabs at Donald Trump, saying: “My predecessor … failed at the most basic duty any president owes the American people … the duty to care.”“We’re going to ensure that good-paying construction jobs created in this project go to members of the community,” Biden said.“We’re making sure the construction materials of this project are made in America,” he added.“I’m here to announce the first-of-its-kind investment: $3.3bn and 132 projects in 42 states,” Biden said in response to cheers.“And in the process, delivering environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods with new opportunities,” he added.Joe Biden has started speaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is set to announce billions of dollars in new infrastructure projects for local communities across the country.We will bring you the latest updates.Alabama’s Republican senator Katie Britt has responded to news outlets fact-checking her State of the Union rebuttal in which she used the story of a woman who was sex-trafficked as a child.Speaking to Texas senator Ted Cruz, Britt said: “Unbelievable!” before going on to accuse news outlets of wanting to “silence a conservative woman for speaking out on this topic”.She added: “They don’t want to bring light and help the women who are actually being trafficked.”During her State of the Union rebuttal – which was widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike, Britt appeared to imply that Karla Jacinto Romero, an anti-trafficking activist, was sex-trafficked in the US during Joe Biden’s presidency. However, Romero was actually trafficked in Mexico from 2004 to 2008 when George W Bush was president.Britt also claimed that Jacinto was trafficked by drug cartels; however, Jacinto said that she was trafficked by a pimp who was operating separately.Following the spotlight that was cast on to Jacinto Romero as a result of Britt’s speech, Jacinto told CNN: “I think she should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude.”“Someone using my story and distorting it for political purposes is not fair at all,” Jacinto Romero added.Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator John Fetterman has issued his response to the latest TikTok bill, saying that the legislation does not seek to ban the popular social media app.Writing on Twitter/X, Fetterman said:“Let me be very clear: this legislation to restrict TikTok does NOT ban the app. It separates ties to the Chinese Communist party and prevents them from accessing the data of Americans – especially our kids.”He went on to urge Senate Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer to put the bill on the Senate floor soon.Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new bill that seeks to have ByteDance divest TikTok “is not an attempt to ban” the popular social media platform.Speaking on the House floor this morning, Pelosi said:
      This is not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe – a winner.
      Some Senate Democrats have publicly opposed the TikTok bill, which faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, citing freedom of speech concerns, and suggested measures that would address concerns of foreign influence across social media without targeting TikTok specifically.Senator Elizabeth Warren said:
      We need curbs on social media, but we need those curbs to apply across the board.
      The Democratic senator Mark Warner, who proposed a separate bill last year to give the White House new powers over TikTok, said he had “some concerns about the constitutionality of an approach that names specific companies”, but will take “a close look at this bill”.Authors of the bill have argued it does not constitute a ban, as it gives ByteDance the opportunity to sell TikTok and avoid being blocked in the US.Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the House select China committee, and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the panel’s top Democrat, introduced legislation to address national security concerns posed by Chinese ownership of the app. “TikTok could live on and people could do whatever they want on it provided there is that separation,” Gallagher said, urging US ByteDance investors to support a sale.
      It is not a ban – think of this as a surgery designed to remove the tumor and thereby save the patient in the process.
      No Labels, the centrist group planning a third-party presidential bid, will announce a nominating committee on Thursday to select a presidential candidate in the coming weeks, its co-chair Joseph Lieberman said.Lieberman, who is expected to be part of the committee, told the Washington Post that it will also be charged with making sure that the selected nominee has a path to victory in the 2024 election. He said:
      We are going to do a final determination that at least at this point we have met all of our standards, and we are not going to be a spoiler and that we are not going to re-elect Trump and that we actually have a chance to win.
      He added that stopping Trump from being re-elected is “a goal even greater than restoring bipartisanship to Washington”.No Labels delegates on Friday voted in favor of moving forward to field a presidential candidate in the 2024 election after months of weighing the launch of a so-called “unity ticket”.The White House said it is “glad” to see a bill move forward that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the US.Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the White House “will look to the Senate to take swift action” on the bill, adding that it “welcomes ongoing efforts to address the threats posed by certain technology services operating in the United States”.The bill would not ban apps like TikTok, she said, but it would “ensure that ownership of these apps wouldn’t be in the hands of those who can exploit us or do us harm”.She added that the White House will support the bill “in a technical way”, in order to make sure it is on the “strongest possible footing”.Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr will announce his running mate on 26 March, his campaign announced.The New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura are at the top of Kennedy’s list of potential running mates, the New York Times reported.Kennedy told the paper he was speaking to Rodgers – a fellow conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine campaigner – “pretty continuously” and had been in touch with Ventura since being introduced by him at an event in Arizona last month.In Kennedy’s search for a running mate, those who have turned him down include Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky; Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii; and Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur who failed in runs for the Democratic presidential nomination and for the mayoralty of New York City.A group of congressional Democrats including the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and armed services veterans urged the current Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to “lead, follow or get out of the way” of more military support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.“In the military, we have a great expression,” Mikie Sherrill, a House Democrat from New Jersey and a former navy helicopter pilot, told reporters on Capitol Hill.
      ‘Lead, follow or get out of the way.’ That is exactly what our speaker has to do.
      Last month, Senate Democrats and Republicans passed a $95bn foreign aid package covering Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.The Democrats who spoke on Wednesday faced vocal competition from protesters with Code Pink: Women for Peace, opposing funding for Israel in its war on Gaza. On Ukraine policy, though, House Republicans have proved more obstructive than Medea Benjamin, the Code Pink co-founder, was able to be at the Capitol.Under the direction of Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee who openly favors Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, Johnson has shown no sign of bringing the Senate package up for a vote. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, recently emerged from meeting Trump to say that if Trump is re-elected, he will not give “a penny” to Ukraine.Joe Biden is expected to formally open his Wisconsin campaign headquarters when he visits Milwaukee this afternoon. He’s en route now.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will talk to reporters and answer questions aboard Air Force One on the way.The Republican party will hold its convention in Milwaukee this July as it prepares to officially declare Trump its nominee to face Biden at the ballot this November.Wisconsin is crucial to Biden’s re-election ambitions. He very narrowly won the state in 2020 in his domination of the upper midwest against the former president.Then there was an almighty, surreal battle as Trump set his political dogs on the trail of overturning the result, with a variety of plots. All failed and last December, a group of Republican fake electors in Wisconsin acknowledged that Biden won the presidency and agreed they would not serve in the electoral college in 2024 as part of a settlement agreement in a civil lawsuit.Joe Biden is on his way to his second swing state of the week when he visits Wisconsin this afternoon, two days after showing up in New Hampshire to tout his election agenda and just hours after unofficially becoming the Democratic party’s nominee for president in the 2024 election.The current US president and his predecessor, Donald Trump, won primary elections in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state on Tuesday night, solidifying a rematch in November that a majority of voters aren’t looking forward to.They won’t be officially anointed until their respective party conventions this summer, but both have now amassed enough delegates during the primary season to be unassailable as the nominees.Biden, his vice-president Kamala Harris and cabinet members are fanning out across the country after Biden’s handily energetic State of the Union address last week, with swing states and districts very much in mind.With today’s latest poll numbers showing that many voters are disgruntled and open to persuasion this election (though maybe the hard work will be persuading them to vote at all, not to switch allegiance), Biden and Trump have their work cut out.The Associated Press notes that the last presidential election featuring a rematch came in 1956, when Republican president Dwight Eisenhower again defeated the Democratic opponent he had beaten four years prior, Adlai Stevenson. More

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      Biden slightly behind Trump but voters’ views of economy improve, poll shows

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      Joe Biden officially begins his general election campaign with a slight polling deficit against Donald Trump, and no indications that his forceful State of the Union address has provided much of a boost with voters, according to a public opinion survey released on Wednesday.But the newly released USA Today/Suffolk University poll also shows views of the economy have hit their highest level of Biden’s presidency, a sign that voters may be starting to agree with the president that his policies helped the country recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.Biden and Trump on Tuesday clinched the final delegates they needed to win the Democratic and Republican nominations, respectively, with primary victories in Washington state, Mississippi and Georgia. They will be officially named the nominees at their party’s conventions over the summer, but by all indications, Americans are not looking forward to the first rematch between presidential candidates in almost seven decades.Polls have repeatedly shown both men are unpopular with voters, but the USA Today/Suffolk University survey finds Trump has a slight advantage over Biden nationally, with 40% of voters preferring him over the president’s 38%.And while unfavorability ratings for both men are 55%, the poll finds Republicans are more fired up about a second Trump presidency than Democrats are for another four years of Biden. Forty-three per cent of Republicans say they are “excited” about Trump’s nomination, versus 22% of Democrats about Biden.Biden’s approval ratings have been underwater for more than two and a half years, and the dip roughly coincided with the intensification of inflation that accompanied the economy’s bounceback from the mass layoffs and business closures caused by Covid-19.While the White House has tried to redirect voters’ attention to the strong labor market, ebbing rate of price growth and the potential offered by Biden’s legislative accomplishment, views of the economy specifically have remained negative.But the USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows that voters are becoming less pessimistic. A third of registered voters believe the economy is recovering, the highest share saying that since Biden took office, the survey says.“This data point is particularly important to track. If the trend continues, more voters could connect the economic recovery to President Biden, especially if the economy continues to dominate other issues as we get closer to November,” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionDemocrats were also cheered by Biden’s performance at the annual State of the Union address last week. The president laid into Trump in a passionate speech that, for some of his allies, quieted fears about the 81-year-old Biden being too old to campaign effectively.But it didn’t do much to move the needle among the poll’s respondents. While a majority watched the speech, they were nearly evenly split on whether it improved or worsened their views of Biden, and 39% said it made no difference at all. More

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      The voting bloc that could decide the US election: Swifties

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      After weeks of maddening speculation over whom Taylor Swift might support in the 2024 US presidential elections, the venerated pop star finally revealed her endorsement: the right to vote itself.“Vote the people who most represent YOU into power,” Swift urged fans in an Instagram story amid Super Tuesday’s primary elections, perhaps the last chance to stop Donald Trump from once again seizing the Republican nomination for president.Although Swift could still endorse a candidate in the months ahead, her “no comment” on who should win on Super Tuesday was a noted refusal to engage in party politics at this stage. Joe Biden’s campaign is still jockeying for her endorsement, while Trump has said Swift would be “disloyal” for backing Biden and rightwingers have suggested that her 18-year career is a “psy op” – a ludicrous theory that nearly one in five Americans have said they believe.What is true, though, is that Swift currently possesses unprecedented power: an endorsement from the most beloved singer in the United States could potentially tip the balance in what’s likely to be a close election. A reported billionaire, Swift can reroute economies, trigger congressional action and spur tens of thousands of people to register to vote. While her endorsement is unlikely to sway a voter who is undecided between Trump and Biden – if such an American exists – experts believe Swift could convince people who don’t feel energized by Biden to vote for him anyway.But whether Swift will wield that power or instead stay out of the electoral fray remains unclear. Although Swift endorsed Democrats in 2018, she has in recent years increasingly withdrawn from such overt displays of partisanship or making controversial statements. That change that has coincided with her return to the top of the celebrity food chain and, in the process, left some Swifties feeling like their idol could do better.View image in fullscreen“She’s at the height of her popularity right now, so I think she’s probably pretty hesitant to do any sort of political activism,” said Jared Quigg, a 22-year-old Indiana journalist who said he listened to Swift every day. “But because of the influence she has, if she came out and called for a ceasefire in Gaza, I think that … would put more pressure on the US government, especially if Biden wants her endorsement.“I don’t think that’s an exaggeration,” Quigg added. “She is one of the most popular people in the world.”So are Swifties a voting bloc the parties should be targeting?Usually portrayed as a blur of sequin-wearing women draped in friendship bracelets, Swifties are not quite so homogeneous as they may seem. More than half of Americans identify as Swift fans and 16% say they are “avid fans”, according to a March 2023 Morning Consult poll that was conducted before the launch of Swift’s Eras tour. While the avid fans are mostly white and suburban, 48% are men, contrary to the popular perception that Swift’s music appeals largely to women.If about one in six Americans is a Swiftie, there is simply no way they’ll all agree – on Swift, or on anything else.However, there is a clear political tilt within Swiftiedom. Swift’s own politics lean to the left, and her listeners follow suit: more than half of her avid fans are Democrats, while 23% are Republicans and another 23% are independents.Swift has long taken a pragmatic approach to politics. She timed her Instagram post endorsing Democrats in the 2018 midterms to hit the internet after the US leg of her Reputation tour concluded, breaking her career-long silence on politics but shielding herself from red-state backlash. Swift then portrayed her next album, Lover, as an embrace of liberalism and love – including queer love, in the song You Need to Calm Down.By any normal artist’s standard, both Reputation and Lover were wildly successful, but neither album sold quite as well as 2014’s 1989. Notably, neither garnered many Grammy nods; in her 2020 documentary Miss Americana, which tracked Swift’s political awakening, Swift was devastated by the snub to Reputation.Yet, at her (extremely relative) commercial lowest – and when politics could feed into the personal narrative linked to Lover – Swift was willing to use her cachet for divisive political causes. In May 2020, when that year’s presidential nomination process was all but sewn up – much like this year’s Super Tuesday – Swift took to the platform then known as Twitter to spit at Trump: “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.”Today, three original albums and one Ticketmaster-breaking world tour later, Swift has managed to soar past even the stratospheric heights of her 1989 fame, becoming as ubiquitous as gravity and just as untouchable. Yet after endorsing Democrats in 2018 and 2020, including Biden, she only urged fans to “vote” in the 2022 midterm elections, just as she did on Super Tuesday.“I feel like a lot of the things that she has spoken out about are things that are directly benefiting her if they go one way or negatively affecting if they go the other way,” said Jess Simpson, a 21-year-old who is a member of the University of Oregon Taylor Swift Society, which holds Swift-related karaoke and trivia events. “She claims to be a feminist, but that’s not what that is. It’s not just speaking out about the things that you fall into. It’s about reaching past that.”Ryan Kovatch, who also belongs to the University of Oregon Taylor Swift Society, was frustrated to see the Eras tour visit states that had passed laws attacking the rights of LGBTQ+ children.View image in fullscreenSwift did give a short, relatively vague speech about those laws and Pride month. “There have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ and queer community at risk,” Swift told a Chicago crowd in June. “It’s painful for everyone, every ally, every loved one, every person of these communities, and that’s why I’m always posting, ‘This is when the midterms are, this is when these important key primaries are.’”Meanwhile, far less successful artists, such as Swift’s friend Haley Kiyoko, took a risk by bringing drag queens on stage in Tennessee after the state passed a law banning drag shows. Ariana Grande, whose fame comes closer to Swift’s, has publicly pledged to donate more than $1m to fight bills targeting transgender people.“It feels like the stakes have gotten higher and she’s backed off pretty starkly,” Kovatch said. “It is strongly disappointing, as a member of the LGBT community, to see that and see the potential there and watch it be foregone time and time again.“Especially using the rainbow during the You Need to Calm Down set,” Kovatch added, referring to a song in which Swift struts amid rainbow lights and proclaims her support for LGBTQ+ rights.“What is there to lose? You have billions of dollars,” asked Trey Pokorny, a 21-year-old whose drag persona is Treylor Swift and another member of the University of Oregon Taylor Swift Society. “Small artists – their careers can be canceled by a tweet. It takes so much more than a tweet to end Taylor Swift.”Swifties have also repeatedly raised eyebrows at Swift’s use of private jets. In 2022, Yard named Swift as the celebrity with the worst CO2 emissions; a Reddit post about the topic on the main subreddit for Taylor Swift fans triggered more than 2,000 comments.“It’s a little rough to see how many celebrities abuse their power of flying all over the place in their private jets and clogging up the environment,” said 19-year-old Addy Al-Saigh, who said she paid $2,000 to sit in nosebleed seats at the Eras tour. But, she added: “In the end, I know that there’s not really much I can do about it.”If Swift does endorse Biden, Al-Saigh said she would probably direct her Pennsylvania college’s Swift fan club to get involved in the 2024 elections. “If she came out and actually did that, I think I would have a reason to also put it up and say, ‘Go vote for Biden,’ because we’re related to Taylor,” she said.View image in fullscreenWhen it came to the 2024 elections, the Swifties who the Guardian spoke to said they were confident any Swift endorsement would ultimately be for Biden – a move they support. (Or, at least, preferred to the alternative.) But Quigg also cautioned fans to think for themselves.“I generally believe that people should not get their politics from a pop star,” he said. “At the end of the day, she’s a songwriter. She’s not a political genius.”He’s not sure fellow fans share that view. He recently saw a post on X declaring: “I definitely believe Taylor could convince Swifties to do a January 6.”“There is something to that,” Quigg said. More