Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that a vote by Israeli lawmakers to annex the West Bank was a ‘very stupid political stunt.’

A bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which effectively would annex the territory for Israel, passed a vote Wednesday in Israel’s parliament as Vance was visiting the country, according to Reuters. It was the first of four votes needed for the proposal to become law. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party did not back the legislation, which was pushed by lawmakers outside his ruling coalition, the news agency added.

‘That was weird. I was sort of confused by that,’ Vance told reporters on Thursday when asked about the vote. ‘Now I actually asked somebody about it, and they told me that it was a symbolic vote, some symbolic vote to recognize or a symbolic vote to annex the West Bank. I mean, what I would say to that is when I asked about it, somebody told me it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance, it was purely symbolic.’

‘I mean look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,’ Vance added. ‘The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.’

Following Vance’s comments, a top member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party announced Thursday that the Israeli prime minister told him not to advance proposals regarding the annexation of the West Bank, according to Israeli media.

‘The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel. The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset,’ Netanyahu’s office wrote on X.

‘The Likud party and the religious parties (the principal coalition members) did not vote for these bills, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee. Without Likud support, these bills are unlikely to go anywhere,’ it added.

Possible annexation of the West Bank has been floated in Israel in response to a string of countries moving to recognize a Palestinian state, according to The Associated Press.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state. They, and much of the international community, say annexation would all but end any remaining possibility of a two-state solution, the AP reported.

More than half a million Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank in some 130 settlements.

‘I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,’ President Donald Trump said in late September in the Oval Office. ‘I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A top House Republican is criticizing one of Democrats’ senior leaders for saying the government shutdown and its effects are a ‘leverage point’ to accomplish their goals on healthcare.

‘It’s appalling to see the number two House Democrat openly admit that the left is weaponizing hardworking Americans as ‘leverage’ for political gain, even acknowledging families will suffer in the process,’ Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

‘This isn’t governance — it’s calculated hostage-taking, with struggling families caught in the balance as Democrats attempt to force through their radical agenda. Families are seen only as leverage by Democrats. We always knew it, now they’re saying it out loud. Absolutely shameful.’

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Chad Pergram last week. At one point, Clark was asked about who Americans would find responsible for the ongoing shutdown.

‘I mean, shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have,’ Clark responded.

‘It is an inflection point in this budget process where we have tried to get the Republicans to meet with us and prioritize the American people, and it’s been an absolute refusal, and they were willing to let government shut down when they control the House, the Senate and the White House rather than come and talk about an issue as important to the American people is if they can afford healthcare.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Clark’s office for a response to Pfluger’s comments.

The government shutdown is now in its 23rd day after Senate Democrats rejected the GOP’s federal funding bill for a 12th time on Wednesday evening.

Republicans proposed a measure that would keep federal funding roughly flat until Nov. 21, a spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR), so that negotiators would have more time to strike a longer-term deal on fiscal year (FY) 2026.

The bill passed the House largely along partisan lines on Sept. 19.

But Democrats have been pushing for any funding deal to include an extension of Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Republican leaders have signaled a willingness to negotiate on those subsidies, but have ruled out doing so in the current package.

‘Mike Johnson said, we have an eternity to talk about this, an eternity. This impact of the ACA is in the next few weeks,’ Clark said. ‘Yes, there are repercussions to a shutdown that are terrible for people.’

She continued, ‘I feel for military families that even if they get paid, you know, there are lots of spouses that also work that are feeling these cuts because we’ve encouraged military spouses to become federal workers to accommodate all the travel and moving that military families so frequently experience. And now we’re saying to them, you’re not going to be paid for your work. I mean, let’s get it together here. The Republicans need to come to town. They need to sit down with us.’

Republicans have seized on Clark’s comments in recent days, however.

House GOP Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said in a statement on Wednesday, ‘Democrats are holding American families hostage to advance their political agenda, and they’re admitting it.’

Vice President JD Vance slammed former White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s ‘disgraceful’ remarks implying that second lady Usha Vance is afraid of her husband.

‘I think it’s disgraceful, but of course the second lady can speak for herself,’ Vance told reporters in Israel on Thursday. 

He remarked that he is ‘very lucky to have a wonderful wife’ and that he was honored to have her by his side during his recent trip to Israel.

Psaki made remarks about the second lady during an appearance on the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and suggested that the vice president is ‘scarier’ than President Donald Trump.

‘I think the little Manchurian candidate, JD Vance, wants to be president more than anything else,’ Psaki said. ‘I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you OK? Please blink four times. We’ll come over here. We’ll save you.’

‘And that he’s willing to do anything to get there. And your whole iteration you just outlined, I mean, he’s scarier in certain ways in some ways. And he’s young and ambitious and agile in the sense that he’s a chameleon who makes himself whatever he thinks the audience wants to hear from him,’ she added.

Social media exploded with criticism of Psaki’s remarks as the clip of her podcast appearance went viral.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, accused Psaki of ‘transferring her own personal issues onto others’ and said she ‘has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things.’

Fox News contributor Joe Concha also chimed in, saying that Psaki is, ‘Not a good person. At all.’

Usha Vance met her husband while attending Yale Law School. The White House notes in its biography of the second lady that she ‘is an experienced litigator whose work involved complex civil litigation and appeals in a wide variety of industries.’ Additionally, she clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In his memoir, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ which was originally published in June 2016, the now-vice president called Usha his ‘Yale spirit guide’ and said that, ‘In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,’ according to PBS.

The Vances welcomed their first son, Ewan, in June 2017, according to People magazine. Their second son, Vivek, was born in February 2020, and their daughter, Mirabel, was born in December 2021.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

The Democrats, or Socialists, or whatever they are these days, are hopping mad over President Donald Trump’s construction of a ballroom in the East Wing of the White House, and while it may be their silliest freakout of the entire Trump era, it is also quite telling.

The ladies on ABC’s ‘The View’ were apoplectic when they saw images of demolition, a fairly ordinary way to begin renovations, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They echoed one-time resident Hillary Clinton’s complaint that Trump doesn’t own the White House, even taking to song about it.

What makes this argument so absurd, is that Trump is not building this ballroom for his personal use or glory. It’s not a vanity project. It is a long-considered addition to an executive home that lacked the capacity to hold large indoor events.

Trump, as has always been his wont, is looking to create grandeur, and that seems to be something to which leftists reflexively object.

Trump is obviously not the first president to renovate the White House. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt put in a swimming pool. His successor, President Harry Truman, practically gutted the place to add a balcony. President Nixon covered the swimming pool but added a bowling alley. Finally, President Obama transformed the tennis court into a basketball court.

Note that these are all changes that were made to serve the respective president’s personal taste or enjoyment, like a Roman emperor adding a water feature to his personal dining area.

What Trump is doing is completely different. The ballroom he is constructing will likely survive as a symbol of American power long after we are all gone. It will be, in a sense, our generation’s contribution to the people’s home.

Trump wants this venue, this symbol of America, to be grand and classically inspired, a timeless marble monument to a United States that emerged from the 20th century as the world’s only super power.

And in a way, this is part of what the left objects to, not just in regard to the White House project, but to Trump’s proposed new arch in Washington, D.C., and great statuaries of American heroes, not to mention the recent massive military parade.

In the post-Cold War era, part of America’s international style and sensibility was to be understated. Like the star quarterback who is also a model and a chess prodigy, we learned not to rub it in.

In that time, very little public art or architecture was done on a grand and classic scale, and in more recent times, our society has been so hellbent on taking statues and monuments down, that we gave little thought to putting them up.

Trump instinctively understands that in 2025, America may still be the world’s only superpower, but not by so hegemonic a distance as in the recent past. China, among others have been catching up, and the ‘aw, shucks’ attitude of the past needs some adjusting.

World leaders as well those on public White House tours should have their breath taken away when they walk into the presidential ballroom. Such displays are as old as nations themselves, from the pyramids to the Coliseum, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Though this expansion of the White House would be well worth taxpayer money, Trump has found a way to build it with private donations, as well as his own funds. Still the left is throwing a fit. Why?

Recent polling showed that only 36% of Democrats are very, or even just somewhat, proud of America. This being the case, it’s easy to understand why they object to building testaments to its power and glory.

What Democrats and socialists are really objecting to here is not that Trump’s ballroom celebrates himself, it’s that his ballroom unabashedly celebrates America.

Fifty years from now, when King George VII of Great Britain dines at the White House, people will little remember that it was built by Trump, even if all the gold leaf remains. By then, it will simply be a great piece of American architecture we can all be proud of.

Americans want and deserve a big, beautiful ballroom for their nation’s executive mansion, and there has never been a president more capable of delivering it than our real estate mogul-in-chief.

Liberals can stamp their feet in anger all they want. But the ballroom is going to be built, and eventually, most of them will come to appreciate it.

In today’s political environment, it is hard to envision important issues where Republicans and Democrats can find common ground. Protecting the safety and security of citizens from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is hopefully still that issue. 

In recent years, we have seen growing agreement among lawmakers that the CCP is actively working against the security of the U.S. Whether through coercive trade practices, espionage, military aggression or technology theft, the CCP is intent on undermining American strength. 

President Donald Trump has rightly identified our nation’s increased dependence on Chinese companies as a clear threat to national security. In response, he has taken action to rebuild our domestic industrial manufacturing bases. This is especially true in critical security industries like defense, nuclear development, pharmaceutical manufacturing and data center infrastructure. 

The Trump administration should now look at medical devices. This lesser-known threat to American privacy and security lurks within our hospitals, health care facilities and even in the homes of everyday Americans. Used to treat patients, monitor patient health and inform medical decisions made by health care professionals, medical devices are critical tools used in the everyday care of our most vulnerable members of society. 

It is no wonder, then, that medical devices made by Chinese companies not only have the potential to take advantage of that intimate access, but have already been shown to exploit those vulnerabilities to gain access to the personal, private data of American patients.

Just this month, it was reported that medical hardware from Shanghai-based United Imaging has been installed in some of the country’s top research labs. In some instances, these labs were even funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Not only has United Imaging worked alongside the Chinese military and the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to the FBI, the company has also bribed employees working at an NIH-funded lab to backchannel non-public information about their research to United Imaging and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about a patient monitor made by Chinese-based company Contec, specifically calling attention to a software backdoor on the device that once connected to the internet ‘begins gathering patient data, including personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI), and exfiltrating (withdrawing) the data outside of the health care delivery environment.’ 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) followed up with its own report, saying that the backdoor enabled remote actors to engage in ‘remote code execution and device modification with the ability to alter its configuration.’

Far from being an idle threat, CISA explained that this vulnerability in a machine that monitors and displays critical information like electrocardiograms and blood pressure could result in life-or-death consequences: ‘This introduces risk to patient safety as a malfunctioning monitor could lead to improper responses to vital signs displayed by the device.’

Medical devices made by Chinese companies have quietly made their way into many hospitals and clinics in the United States, bringing with them hidden risks that are waiting to be abused by the CCP. 

First, patient privacy is compromised when unknown actors can access and siphon the most sensitive and confidential data from every patient in America, undermining the very foundation of trust in our health care system. 

Compounded with the fact that Chinese law compels Chinese companies to cooperate and share information with the CCP and that China prizes big data and is gathering information on individuals around the world, we can be assured that whatever private information is gathered on American patients is not in our national interest.

Second, we cannot trust that information siphoning will not escalate to more serious tactics that put patient lives at risk. Remote access to medical devices could result in real-world harm to patients if those devices were reconfigured to display false information that then led to unnecessary and harmful medical interventions. 

Third, the U.S. healthcare system is becoming too dependent on Chinese companies to run our hospitals. It does not take much of a leap to think about what would happen if the CCP decided to cut off the supply of medical devices. Just like critical minerals, energy or military equipment, depending on Chinese companies for medical devices is a clear threat to American security.

What these threats amount to is that the U.S. can no longer blindly outsource medical devices – some of our most vital and sensitive equipment – to companies that operate at the behest of foreign adversarial governments like the CCP. It is critical that America has a domestic supply chain of medical devices. 

Now is the time that lawmakers, both at the federal and state level, take this threat seriously and take meaningful steps to reduce the risks posed by these medical devices. 

Protecting Americans from threats to their health and security should be an easy, bipartisan win.

Front-runners for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, wasted little time attacking each other on alleged personal scandals they have been involved in during a Wednesday night debate between the pair and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa.  

Mamdani and Sliwa took the opportunity during Wednesday’s debate to drill down on past sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo, the former governor of New York, ahead of an impeachment inquiry that preceded Cuomo’s 2021 resignation. Cuomo was also hit by Mamdani over accusations he has – while in public office – failed to meet with Muslim constituents and only began doing so amid pressure from his mayoral campaign, and over his alleged poor handling of the COVID-19 virus in New York after Cuomo was party to issuing guidance forcing nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit COVID-19 positive patients.

Meanwhile, Cuomo did not hold back on targeting Mamdani over alleged controversies that have embattled his campaign. Cuomo blasted the self-proclaimed socialist over his lack of experience, ties to radical politics, and past radical comments about law enforcement, Israel and the situation in Gaza.

‘My main opponent has no new ideas. He has no new plan. … He’s never run anything, managed anything. He’s never had a real job,’ Cuomo said of Mamdani during the debate. Cuomo also branded Mamdani as someone who has proven to be ‘a divisive force in New York,’ pointing to past incidents that have garnered Mamdani heat from critics. 

One of those incidents included a picture he took with a hard-lined Ugandan lawmaker who has pushed policies of imprisoning people for being gay, which Mamdani took while taking a break from the campaign trail to visit his home country of Uganda for a wedding. Cuomo also hit the controversy over whether Mamdani supports Jewish New Yorkers, as his critics have claimed he is anti-Israel pointing to statements he has made, like ‘globalize the intifada.’ 

Cuomo also accused Mamdani of disrespecting Italian-Americans after a video of him surfaced giving the middle finger to a statue of Christopher Columbus, while also pointing to criticism the self-proclaimed socialist candidate has garnered from 9/11 first-responders after posting a photo with a Muslim cleric who served as a character witness for the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks. 

‘You have been a divisive force in New York, and I believe that’s toxic energy for New York. It’s with the Jewish community. It’s with the Italian-American community – when you give the Columbus statue the finger. It’s with the Sunni Muslims when you say decriminalize prostitution, which is Haram. It’s the Hindus,’ Cuomo continued. ‘Then, you take a picture with Rebecca Kadaga, deputy Prime Minister of Uganda. … She’s known as Rebecca ‘Gay Killer.’ … You’re a citizen of Uganda. You took the picture. You said you didn’t know who she was. It turns out you did. How do you not renounce your citizenship or demand BDS against Uganda for imprisoning people who are gay just by their sexual orientation? Isn’t that a basic violation of human rights?’

Mamdani shot back that his politics have remained ‘consistent’ and that they are built on a belief in human rights for all people, including LGBTQ+ folks. Had he known Kadga’s role in drafting legislation to imprison gay folks, Mamdani said, he never would have taken the picture. 

‘This constant attempt to smear and slander me is an attempt to also distract from the fact that, unlike myself, you do not actually have a platform or a set of policies,’ Mamdani shot back at Cuomo before introducing his own claims about the former governor regarding past accusations of sexual harassment.

‘Mr. Cuomo. In 2021, 13 different women who worked in your administration credibly accused you of sexual harassment. Since then, you have spent more than $20 million in taxpayer funds to defend yourself, all while describing these allegations as entirely political,’ Mamdani said while attacking Cuomo Wednesday night. 

‘You have even gone so far as to legally go after these women. One of those women, Charlotte Bennett, is here in the audience this evening. You sought to access her private gynecological records. She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak. What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?’ 

Cuomo, in 2021, was accused of multiple incidents of sexual harassment that preceded his resignation as governor that year. A subsequent report from New York Attorney General Letitia James confirmed Cuomo ‘sexually harassed multiple women from 2013 through 2020,’ while in January 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had reached a nearly $500,000 settlement with Cuomo’s executive office over one of the claims. However, no criminal charges were ever filed against Cuomo, with some district attorneys citing insufficient evidence.

Cuomo defended himself against Mamdani’s accusations, noting the cases were eventually dropped, before returning to questions about Mamdani’s alleged past. 

Meanwhile, Sliwa didn’t skip an opportunity to slam Cuomo over the sexual assault allegations either, saying early in the debate during a discussion about homelessness that Cuomo ‘fled’ the governor’s office amid an impeachment inquiry that was investigating him.

‘Andrew, you didn’t ‘leave.’ You fled from being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature,’ Sliwa began before getting into the homelessness issue, earning him a round-of-applause from the audience. 

”Leave?’ You fled!’ Sliwa continued to applause. ‘But let’s get back on topic.’ 

The government shutdown meandered into its 22nd day with no end in sight after a 12th GOP attempt to reopen the government was stalled and then blocked by Senate Democrats on Wednesday afternoon.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus kneecapped Republicans’ bid to reopen the government for the 12th time in a 54-46 vote where Republicans needed at least 60 votes to advance the measure. The latest failed vote comes as Schumer has demanded another meeting with President Donald Trump and on the heels of an almost 24-hour filibuster by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, that pushed the vote late into Wednesday.

During his marathon floor speech, which began at 6:23 pm on Tuesday, Merkley spoke on authoritarianism — what he called the Trump Administration’s overreach on immigration, separation of powers, and more.

‘Republicans have shut down the government to continue the strategy of slashing Americans’ healthcare,’ Merkley said, referring to the healthcare-centered debate holding up consideration of the government’s funding.

He concluded his remarks at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

Little has changed in the upper chamber since the shutdown began. Schumer and the Senate Democratic caucus demand that there be a real, ironclad deal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, while Senate Republicans remain adamant that there is no path forward available on the matter until the government is reopened.

But what is old is new in a repeating cycle, and Schumer wants to meet with Trump again.

Schumer, speaking on behalf of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., requested another meeting with Trump ahead of the vote in a bid to go around Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and congressional Republicans to secure a deal.

There have been informal talks — more casual conversation than true negotiation — between Republicans and Democrats, but nothing has materialized that puts lawmakers any closer to solving the ongoing stalemate.

‘Hakeem and I reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the healthcare crisis, address it and end the Trump shutdown,’ Schumer said. ‘He should sit — the things get worse every day for the American people. He should sit down with us, negotiate in a serious way before he goes away.’

The last time the top congressional Democrats met with Trump came just a day before the climactic vote to avert a shutdown. Neither side walked away with a compromise, or agreement, to keep the lights on.

Fast-forward to the shutdown’s fourth week, and Trump signaled he’d speak with Schumer and Jeffries — only after the government is reopened.

‘The government has to be open,’ he said. ‘You know how long it will take for them to do that? Just say, ‘OK, government is open.’ That’s it. There is nothing — They’re not negotiating.’  

‘What they’re doing is saying they lost the negotiation,’ Trump continued. ‘And when we got the great ‘big beautiful [bill]’ done, they lost the negotiation. Now they’re saying, ‘Well, we want to get some of the things we lost.’ But the problem is the things they lost are very bad for our country.’

Congressional Democrats’ initial demands, made in a counter-proposal to the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), called for a permanent extension to the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits and guardrails on Trump’s ability to claw back congressionally approved funding, among other things.

A White House official doubled down on Trump’s position and told Fox News Digital, ‘We will not have policy conversations while the Democrats are holding the American people hostage. Reopen the government.’

While Democrats desire more than just an extension to the COVID-19-era subsidy, they’ve made their primary argument all about the tax credits.

Thune offered Senate Democrats a vote on the subsidies, but so far they have declined to take the leap and instead are holding out for a guaranteed outcome in the shutdown fight. However, that is unlikely to come as Republicans and the White House, so far, are equally dug in against Schumer’s demands.

‘I think [Trump] wants the Democrats to take ‘yes’ for an answer,’ Thune said. ‘We’ve offered them a lot of the things they were asking for — a normal appropriations process, an opportunity to get a vote on some of the things that they want to see voted on, with respect to the expiring Obamacare enhanced subsidies. But that can’t happen until we open up the government.’

President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday — days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House andafter calling off a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

‘We canceled the meeting with President Putin,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with Rutte Wednesday. ‘It just it didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it. But we’ll do it in the future.’ 

Trump also shed insight into why he isn’t interested in arming Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, after indicating earlier in October he might do so. 

‘There is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk. It’s a very powerful weapon, very accurate weapon,’ Trump said. ‘And maybe that’s what makes it so complex. But it will take a year. It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it. And we’re not going to be teaching other people. It will be just too far out into the future.’ 

Rutte said he visited the White House to discuss ways to end the war, although he said ‘no peace plan is on the table.’ 

‘That’s why I’m here — to dialog again with the president … how NATO, my colleagues and other colleagues in NATO can be of maximum support to get that,’ Rutte said. 

NATO announced Tuesday that Rutte would visit Washington Wednesday, as Trump has said he wants to direct his focus on ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine following the ceasefire deal in the Middle East. 

Ahead of his arrival at the White House, Rutte said that Wednesday’s White House visit aimed to build on the momentum after securing the peace agreement in the Middle East. 

‘I was texting with the president after an enormous success in Gaza, and we said, ‘Hey, let’s have a meeting in Washington to discuss how we now can deliver his vision of peace in Ukraine,’’ Rutte told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday after meeting with lawmakers, according to The New York Times.

‘I have total confidence in President Trump. He’s the only one who can get this done,’ Rutte said. 

Rutte has visited the White House on several occasions during Trump’s second term, including in July and also in August after Trump’s Alaska summit with Putin. NATO has backed Ukraine since Russia first invaded, and has provided Kyiv with military equipment and other assistance since 2022. 

In August, Rutte and other European leaders joined Zelenskyy in an effort to advance peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. At the time, Trump said that European nations would shoulder the bulk of the burden by providing Ukraine with security guarantees in an attempt to deter future aggression from Russia. 

As part of these security guarantees, Ukraine has sought to become a member of NATO during the peace negotiations. However, Trump has routinely ruled that out as a possibility. 

Meanwhile, Russia’s list of demands has historically included prohibiting Ukraine from ever joining NATO, and concessions on some land that previously belonged to Kyiv. 

Additionally, Rutte’s meeting comes after Trump appeared to throw cold water on any hopes that the U.S. would arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, like Trump had said he was considering doing days ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit. 

‘I would much rather have them not need Tomahawks,’ Trump told reporters Friday. ‘I would much rather have the war be over to be honest, because we’re in it to get the war over.’ 

Additionally, Trump changed his tune on whether Ukraine would need to cede territory it had lost to Russia as part of a peace deal. Although Trump altered his position in September and said that Ukraine could secure back its lost territory, Trump reverted to his previously held position on the matter. 

‘They can negotiate something later on down the line,’ Trump told reporters Sunday. ‘But I said cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.’

The change in tone came after Trump spoke with Putin Thursday and the two were originally slated to meet this month in Budapest. However, plans for the meeting were scrapped after Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 

‘Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call,’ a senior official said in a statement Tuesday to Fox News. ‘Therefore an additional in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the near future.’ 

Meanwhile, Trump has recently cast doubt on whether Ukraine can defeat Russia. 

‘They could still win it. I don’t think they will, but they could still win it,’ Trump told reporters Monday. 

Fox News’ Gillian Turner and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Over a decade ago, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, predicted that healthcare premiums would skyrocket, even in the face of subsidies put into effect under Obamacare that were meant to bring them down. 

Today, the ballooning of those premiums and their accompanying subsidies are at the center of the 22-day shutdown that looks poised to get longer still.

‘Despite Obamacare subsidies, many Americans will still be paying higher premiums in 2014 as a result of Obamacare,’ Cruz said in 2013, referring to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

In his 2013 floor speech, Cruz pointed to research from Avik Roy, a healthcare researcher who, at the time, was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Roy’s research made the case that subsidies passed by the Obama administration would do little to stop government-backed healthcare plans from growing more expensive over time or competing effectively with non-government-backed plans. 

But even those forecasts have paled in comparison to the costs of the government’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The subsidies under Obamacare have vastly expanded in recent years. An emergency provision included in President Joe Biden’s 2021 American Rescue Plan widened the range of eligible applicants as a response to the global pandemic. 

Now that those COVID-era provisions are set to sunset at the end of 2025, an expiration date set by Democrats themselves, Democrats are voicing alarm that Obamacare policyholders will have to shoulder the costs of health insurance without the enhanced supplemental aid. 

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on fiscal policy, continuing the expanded credits could cost upwards of $30 billion annually. Findings by KFF, a healthcare policy group, say that over 90% of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees make use of the enhanced credits.

KFF analysis indicates that the enhanced premium tax credits saved subsidized enrollees an average of $705 last year. 

Democrats in Congress, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have demanded some sort of extension to the already expanded COVID-era subsidies as a condition for passing spending legislation to end the current government shutdown, which is now the longest full shutdown in history.

Republicans, who maintain that the subsidies are completely unrelated to government funding considerations, have said lawmakers will address the subsidies when the government is open again.

The most conservative members in Congress have said cutting back on the subsidies is key to returning the government to pre-COVID levels of funding.

Lawmakers in the Senate have voted 11 times on a short-term spending extension meant to keep the government open through Nov. 21 but have so far failed to move past the gridlock over the enhanced premium tax credits.

Cruz did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Politics is a funny thing. Five years ago, when he was riding high as the Democrat governor of New York, mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo could never have imagined that the future of his political career would be in the hands of New York City Republican voters.

It’s a bit strange for the Republican voters too, but having lost the Democratic primary to far-left Zohran Mamdani, Cuomo’s only chance to win is to convince those voters, who polls show are backing Curtis Sliwa, that he deserves to be mayor.

So far, for Cuomo, this has mainly consisted of him saying that, unlike Mamdani, he is not a communist. Yes, that’s good, but like putting ‘not in prison’ on your dating profile, it’s kind of the bare minimum.

Whether Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who currently polls under 20%, drops out or not, and it’s not looking likely, Cuomo is going to have to convince Gotham’s conservatives to choose him. Here are a few ways he might do it.

A Seat At The Table

Cuomo should pledge that, if he is elected, Republicans will play a major role in his administration. This could look a lot of ways, including promising to make a strong GOP voice like former City Councilman Joe Borelli or current City Council member Vickie Paladino a deputy mayor. Cuomo’s original pitch in this campaign was to unite the city, but so far there is no indication that his would be anything other than a boilerplate Democrat administration. That has to change.

Support ICE

On Tuesday, Cuomo sent out an ill-advised X post criticizing Immigration Customs and Enforcement for raids in New York’s Chinatown that targeted illegal street vendors. There is no doubt the liberals in Cuomo’s war room noted the chaos on the streets and saw an opportunity to put up points against President Donald Trump. But actually, they missed an opportunity.

The reason we see this aggressive approach from ICE in Gotham is that, as a sanctuary city, the legal system will not cooperate with ICE. So, instead of a simple and safe handover of an illegal migrant with a detainer, the feds are forced to conduct raids. Cuomo, in one sentence, could pledge to end this.

Promise To Work With Trump

One of the most perplexing positions that Cuomo has staked out since he launched his independent bid is that Democrat Mamdani is too weak to effectively fight Trump, but that he’ll walk forward if the president puts his finger in his chest. Cuomo plays the tough guy role pretty well, but the problem is that the voters he needs really like Trump. A lot.

Cuomo can help his cause with GOP voters enormously if he would just say that Trump’s results in Washington, D.C., have been tremendous, and he is committed to working with the president to clean up New York’s parks and streets and deal with vagrancy and addiction.

Call Out His Own Party’s Cowards

Even on the Indie line, Andrew Cuomo is still a Democrat of long standing, and in an Interview with Bret Baier on Fox News Channel Tuesday night, he finally began to call out the threat that the far left poses to his party. He also said that the reason top party leaders in New York like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries won’t endorse him over Zany Zohran is that, ‘If a politician doesn’t have to make a decision, they’re not going to make a decision.’

It’s not good enough. If Mamdani really is the existential threat to New York that Cuomo and Sliwa both claim, then any Democrat who refuses to call out communism in their own party must be put on blast. Cuomo needs to call out the cowardice.

Pledge To Primary Socialists In New York

One of the reasons that GOP voters are skeptical of Cuomo is that even if he won, and even if he had the best intentions in the world, the rest of the city government is overrun with Democrat Socialists who will thwart his efforts.

Cuomo should promise that if elected, he will work to fill all of those positions with traditional, normal Democrats, to the extent he can still find any, and will oppose the vigorous Marxism overtaking the party.

Even if Cuomo does all of these things, it’s still a long shot, but it would be a new race, a different race. Republican voters need a real choice. They don’t expect Sliwa to triumph, but right now, Cuomo looks too much like Mamdani to win them over.

Like it or not, Cuomo’s chances now rest in the hands of GOP voters. Is he capable of telling them what they want and need to hear?

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