Latest news with #MarjorieTaylorGreene
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Has Trump ‘chickened out' on Iran? Five reasons for his two-week delay
On Tuesday evening, Donald Trump appeared poised to join Israel's war against Iran. Having left the G7 summit in Canada early, he convened an emergency meeting of his national security advisers. JD Vance, his vice-president and a staunch opponent of foreign military entanglements, signalled that the president was contemplating action. Mr Trump issued a series of increasingly bellicose warnings, demanding Iran's 'unconditional surrender'. 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' he wrote in a social media post. Yet within 48 hours, the president had pulled back. To some observers of US politics, this will seem like another instance of Mr Trump living up to his 'Taco' instincts – 'Trump Always Chickens Out', the acronym that so palpably infuriates him. There are, however, several plausible reasons for delay. Domestic disputes Mr Trump's flirtation with war has sharply divided his base. Maga loyalists, whose foreign policy instincts are overwhelmingly isolationist, are aghast at the prospect of their standard-bearer dragging them into a new conflict, especially after campaigning so forcefully against just such adventurism. 'Anyone slobbering for the US to become involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/Maga,' Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Mr Trump's most ardent Congressional allies, posted on social media.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump says supporters are 'more in love' with him than ever, as involvement in Iran roils MAGA world
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday downplayed any notion that his supporters are cooling on him amid uncertainty over whether he will order a U.S. strike on Iran, addressing a rift between some of his most vocal MAGA backers and national security conservatives. 'My supporters are more in love with me today, and I'm more in love with them, more than they even were at election time where we had a total landslide,' Trump told reporters as a new flagpole was erected at the White House, with machinery whirring in the background. 'I may have some people that are a little bit unhappy now, but I have some people that are very happy, and I have people outside of the base that can't believe that this is happening, they're so happy,' he said. Trump huddled Tuesday in the Situation Room with his national security team, and on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon was providing Trump with possible options on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes. 'I may do it, I may not do it,' Trump said Wednesday, in the exchange with reporters. 'I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.' Trump's comments came as some longtime defenders of his America First mantra are calling him out for weighing a greater U.S. role in the conflict between Israel and Iran after a week of deadly strikes and counterstrikes. Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, commentator Tucker Carlson and conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk are among those reminding their own devoted audiences of Trump's 2024 promises to resist overseas military involvement. Here's a look at the others who have chimed in: Steve Bannon Shortly before Trump spoke, Steve Bannon, one of his 2016 campaign's top advisers, told an audience in Washington that bitter feelings over Iraq were a driving force for Trump's first presidential candidacy and the MAGA movement, saying that 'one of the core tenets is no forever wars' for Trump's base. But Bannon — a longtime Trump ally who served a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021 — went on to suggest that Trump will maintain loyalty from his base no matter what. On Wednesday, Bannon acknowledged that while he and others will argue against military intervention until the end, 'the MAGA movement will back Trump.' Ultimately, Bannon said that Trump will have to make the case to the American people if he wants to get involved in Iran — and he hasn't done that yet. 'We don't like it. Maybe we hate it," Bannon said, predicting what the MAGA response would be. "But, you know, we'll get on board.' Alex Jones The far-right conspiracy theorist and Infowars host on Wednesday posted on social media a side-by-side of Trump's official presidential headshot, and an AI-generated composite of Trump and former President George W. Bush, whom Trump and many of his allies have long disparaged for involving the United States in the so-called 'forever wars' in Iraq and Afghanistan. Writing 'What you voted for' above Trump's image and 'What you got' above the composite, Jones added: 'I hope this is not the case…' Tucker Carlson The commentator's rhetoric toward Trump has been increasingly critical, with the longtime supporter — who headlined large rallies with the Republican during the 2024 campaign — this week suggesting that the president's posture was breaking his pledge to keep the United States out of new foreign entanglements. Trump clapped back at Carlson on social media, calling him 'kooky.' During an event at the White House later Wednesday, Trump said that Carlson had 'called and apologized' for calling him out, saying Carlson 'is a nice guy.' On Wednesday, his conversation with GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz laid bare the divides among many Republicans. The two sparred for two hours over a variety of issues, primarily potential U.S. involvement in Iran, and Carlson accusing Cruz of placing too much emphasis on protecting Israel in his foreign policy worldview. 'You don't know anything about Iran,' Carlson said to Cruz, after the senator said he didn't know Iran's population, or its ethnic composition. 'You're a senator who's calling for the overthrow of a government, and you don't know anything about the country.' ___ Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Marjorie Taylor Greene posted rifle photo after news of Minnesota lawmaker shootings. Here's context
Claim: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted a photo showing her aiming a rifle soon after news broke of the shootings involving Minnesota Democratic Party lawmakers in June 2025. Rating: Context: Greene, or a member of her staff, posted the picture on her official House representative social media pages, along with three other photos showing her participating in the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary event in Washington on the morning of June 14 — several hours after the shootings occurred. News had broken locally in Minnesota about the shootings at that hour, but many prominent national news outlets had not yet reported on them. A spokesman for Greene did not say whether she was aware of the shootings at the time. She later shared a post calling the shootings "horrific" and saying she was praying for victims' families and friends, adding, "Political violence must end in America." A rumor that circulated online in June 2025 claimed U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted a photo on her official social media accounts showing her aiming a rifle soon after news broke of shootings involving Minnesota Democratic Party lawmakers. Snopes received reader mail asking, for example, "It's being shared on Facebook that Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a picture of herself firing an assault rifle in response to the news of the political assassinations in MN. Can you verify or debunk? Thanks." Another reader emailed, "Did MTG really post this right after the Minnesota assassinations?" For example, on June 14 — the day of the shootings — a manager of the Feminist News Facebook page posted (archived) in part, "Minutes after news broke that two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota were targeted for assassination in separate attacks, Marjorie Taylor Greene posted this." Users shared this rumor on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived). (Feminist News/Facebook) It is true that Greene shared that photograph in the hours after the Minnesota shootings, but the timeline of her posts and the news about the shootings requires context. Greene posted the picture, as well as three others, in support of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary event, the commemoration featuring a military parade attended by President Donald Trump, held in Washington on June 14 — the same day as the shootings. She, or a member of her staff, shared the photos on social media after some news outlets, particularly those based in Minnesota, reported the early details of multiple targeted shootings. At the same time, her posts appeared before some prominent national outlets, including The Associated Press, Fox News, Reuters and others, broke the news of the victims' high-profile status as Democratic Party politicians and their spouses. Later on June 14, Greene posted a statement about the shootings on her social media accounts. The statement (archived) read in part, "The politically motivated assassinations of Minnesota lawmakers is horrific. I'm praying for their families and friends. Political violence must end in America." Snopes emailed a representative for Greene asking if they wished to comment about this claim, including inquiring about whether or not the congresswoman was aware of the shootings at the time the photos were published. Spokesman Alec Ernst said it was "DISGUSTING" to suggest that the photos were posted in connection with the Minnesota shootings and reiterated that Greene was taking part in the Army anniversary event that day, "joining members of the Army on the National Mall for demonstrations of their equipment and workout routines." He did not say whether Greene knew about the shootings when the posts were made. We also contacted a manager of the Feminist News Facebook page to ask about their post, in light of the timeline of when news broke nationally about the shootings. We will update this story if we receive more information. On June 16, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Vance Luther Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minnesota, with stalking and murdering Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, in addition to stalking and shooting Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office in Minnesota announced Boelter also faces state charges on two counts of second-degree intentional murder and two counts of second-degree attempted intentional murder. The state said it intended to seek first-degree murder charges, and that the reason authorities filed second-degree charges was "to secure a warrant as quickly as possible." The New York Times reported the shootings, occurring on June 14, began at around 2:00 a.m. CDT at the Hoffman residence in Champlin, then ended with a suspect running from law enforcement officers at the Hortmans' Brooklyn Park home about 3:30 a.m. At 2:43 a.m., a manager of the MN Crime X account (@MN_CRIME), which posts about crimes around the state's capital and other areas, began a thread (archived) sharing early news of the Hoffmans' shooting. Then, at 4:33 a.m., another post in the same thread reported victims' statuses as state politicians. The post (archived) read, "Per radio dispatches, there have been shootings at a State Senator's house in Champlin and a State Representative's home in Brooklyn Park. We don't have any information on the second shooting incident, nor confirmed updates on the victims' condition." Just before 5:30 a.m., Minnesota officials broadcast an "emergency alert" message (archived) with the status of "extreme," stating that the Brooklyn Park Police Department issued a "shelter in place order" to some residents for an "emergent event" involving "multiple targeted shootings." The message did not mention any details about the victims' status in state politics. Local news media outlets began (archived) reporting (archived) these early details about the developing story around the same time. At 8:36 a.m. — 9:36 a.m. in Washington — Greene posted (archived) four photos on her official House representative X account — including the rifle picture — showing her enjoying festivities at the Army's 250th anniversary event, including giving attendees an up-close look at military vehicles and weapons. The post featured American flag emojis and read, "Happy 250th Anniversary to the @USArmy !! The National Mall is hosting the coolest and most patriotic celebration today and I can't wait for the parade this evening!! Today, let's celebrate AMERICA!! God bless the USA!!" A short time later, at 9:02 a.m. CDT, Juliette Kayyem, CNN's senior national security analyst, reported on the cable news TV channel that someone had targeted two Democratic legislators, and their spouses, in their homes. At 9:20 a.m., Greene posted the same photos and message on her House representative Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived) accounts. Then, at 9:24, she appeared live (archived) on the Real America's Voice channel for an interview from the same grounds in Washington that offered attendees a chance to see and experience the military equipment. MSNBC then reported the news, including specifically mentioning the Democratic lawmakers, on air at 9:30 a.m., followed by Fox News' TV channel at 9:32 a.m. The Associated Press published the news on X (archived) at 9:40 a.m., followed by an article (archived) on the Fox News website at 9:44 a.m. Reuters reported (archived) the news on X at 9:45 a.m. At 9:46 a.m., Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced the names of the victims at a news conference. For further reading, a previous fact check confirmed the claim that Greene bought shares of Palantir Technologies days before the Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a $30 million contract with the company. "After Two-Day Manhunt, Suspect Charged with Shooting Two Minnesota Lawmakers and Their Spouses." United States Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 16 June 2025, @AP. X, Beno, Leah. "#Breaking: A Shelter in Place Order Has Been Put into Effect in Part of Brooklyn Park. We Are Actively Working to Confirm Various Details, Calls Coming into Our Newsroom." X, @LeahBenoFox9, 14 June 2025, "Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene." Facebook, Dominguez, Leo, and Ashley Cai. "How the Minnesota Shootings, Manhunt and Suspect's Arrest Unfolded." The New York Times, 15 June 2025, Dorgan, Michael. "Minnesota Lawmaker, Spouse, Shot Dead in 'Politically Motivated Assassination': Gov. Walz." Fox News, 14 June 2025, Haworth, Jon, et al. "Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman Killed, State Sen. John Hoffman Wounded in 'Targeted Political Violence.'" ABC News, 14 June 2025, "Hennepin County Attorney's Office Confirms Multiple Charges against Vance Luther Boelter, Will Seek First-Degree Murder Charges." Hennepin County, Minnesota, 16 June 2025, "LIVE | Minnesota Lawmaker Shootings News Conference." YouTube, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, 14 June 2025, @MN_CRIME. X, @Reuters. X, "TV News Archive." Internet Archive, Yamat, Rio, and Hallie Golden. "Many Lawmakers Named in Writings of Suspected Minnesota Shooter Vow Not to Bow Down." The Associated Press, 17 June 2025, June 19, 2025: This story was updated to correct a mention of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's party affiliation.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Rants That 'MAGA HATES' Fox News In Angry Truth Social Rant About Network's Polls
Donald Trump rambled off a post decrying Fox News' coverage of him in an angry Truth Social post shared early on Thursday morning. 'The Crooked FoxNews Polls got the Election WRONG, I won by much more than they said I would, and have been biased against me for years,' he wrote. 'They are always wrong and negative. It's why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT,' he said, adding, 'This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work.' 'Now a new FoxNews poll comes out this morning giving me a little more than 50% at the Border, and yet the Border is miraculously perfect, NOBODY WAS ABLE TO COME IN LAST MONTH,' he shared after viewing the poll. '60,000 people came in with Sleepy Joe in the same month last year,' he added. 'I hate FAKE pollsters, one of the Worst, but Fox will never change their discredited pollster!' Trump's post comes just one day after former Trump aide, Steve Bannon, called out the media network for reportedly pushing 'pure propaganda.' Bannon repeated a talking point that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) shared earlier in the week, when she accused Fox News and the New York Post of allegedly brainwashing Americans. 'We've watched propaganda news for decades. I'll call out Fox News and the New York Post. They're known to be the neocon network news,' Greene told former Florida GOP lawmaker Matt Gaetz on his One America News Network show on Monday. She added: 'We have propaganda news on our side, just like the left does, and the American people have been brainwashed into believing that America has to engage in these foreign wars in order for us to survive, and it's absolutely not true.' HuffPost reached out to Fox News for comment. Trump Rages At Reporter Who Refuses To Stick To 'Positive' Questions Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Fox News And New York Post 'Propaganda' Supporting 'Foreign Wars' Former Trump Aide Steve Bannon Says Fox News Is Pushing 'Pure Propaganda' On Iran Marjorie Taylor Greene Gets In Turf War With Fox News Host Over Who Is Most MAGA
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Moratorium On State AI Regulation Draws Some GOP Fire, But Also Praise
Both the House and Senate versions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act include provisions to preempt ... More state regulation of AI. As President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans seek to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's (TCJA) personal income tax rate cuts as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), how to deal with the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap remains a key point of contention. The House-approved version of OBBBA raises the TCJA's $10,000 per household SALT cap to $40,000 but the Senate proposal keeps it at $10,000. The SALT cap isn't the only part of OBBBA that has divided some Republicans. Opponents of the TCJA's SALT cap often accuse it of targeting blue states, which tend to have relatively higher tax burdens and are where most SALT beneficiaries live. The same criticism, however, cannot be leveled at the OBBBA provision prohibiting states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI), a proposal that has been the subject of some GOP criticism. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), for example, voted for OBBBA but has since derided the moratorium on state regulation of AI included in the bill. 'This needs to be stripped out in the Senate,' Greene wrote about OBBBA's AI preemption provision in a June 6 post on X. 'When the OBBB comes back to the House for approval after Senate changes, I will not vote for it with this in it.' 'We should be reducing federal power and preserving state power,' Greene added. 'Not the other way around.' Neil Chilson, former chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, responded to the sentiment expressed by Greene in a June 10 X post: 'A lot of 'conservatives' seem desperate to have California (a state that is having some difficulties governing itself right now) regulate how the US does AI,' Chilson wrote, adding that 'China thanks you.' The sort of progressive state regulation of AI development that Greene is vowing to defend is now on display in Albany, where the New York Assembly and Senate recently passed the RAISE Act, legislation that would impose new regulations on companies, both large and small, that deal with AI. That legislation is now on Governor Kathy Hochul's (D) desk awaiting her consideration. 'The RAISE Act would create a legal minefield for New Yorkers trying to innovate by imposing vague, unworkable standards that punish developers instead of bad actors,' noted a letter that NetChoice, a trade association of online businesses, sent to Governor Hochul on June 17. That letter, which urged Hochul to veto the RAISE Act, added that the bill 'would stifle AI tech development, harm economic competitiveness and undermine free expression.' Bipartisan opposition to the AI preemption provision in OBBBA is not surprising. Though capping the SALT deduction disproportionately affects blue state taxpayers, OBBBA's federal preemption of state AI regulation would have implications for red and blue states alike. That's because governors and lawmakers in red states have proved just as inclined as their blue state counterparts to propose state-level regulation of AI. Take Texas, commonly viewed as one of the reddest and most conservatively governed states in the nation, and for good reason. Texas, where Republicans control every statewide office and both chambers of the legislature, is one of only eight states that does not impose an income tax. It's a right-to-work state where leading politicians tout freedom, liberty, and limited government. It's also a state where Republican lawmakers have been seeking to regulate AI. In late 2024, Texas Representative Giovanni Capriglione (R) introduced the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA), legislation to establish a state-level regulatory regime affecting companies operating in the AI space. Following its introduction, TRAIGA was quickly met with opposition from free market organizations. 'Though well-intentioned, this draft bill imposes restrictive regulations and burdensome compliance costs that risk stifling Texas's thriving artificial intelligence (AI) sector,' a coalition of conservative organizations wrote in a joint letter to Texas legislators. 'Texas has a unique opportunity to be a leader in AI innovation, but TRAIGA's approach threatens to undermine that potential. It would also be detrimental as a policy framework for other states or the federal government.' In response to pushback, Representative Capriglione scaled back TRAIGA, reworked it, and refiled it as House Bill 149. HB 149, which ultimately passed both chambers, is more narrow in scope than the original version of TRAIGA, with HB 149 focusing on government utilization and development of AI. 'Under the bill, government agencies will be required to disclose to consumers when they are interacting with an AI system,' noted a Transparency Coalition blog post on HB 149. 'Systems will be prohibited from 'dark pattern' interaction, or any 'user interface designed or manipulated with the effect of substantially subverting or impairing user autonomy, decision-making, or choice.'' 'TRAIGA also bans the government from using AI to create 'social scores' for users, and from using biometric data without consent,' the Transparency Coalition added. 'Government agencies also are prohibited from discriminating against users based on their political viewpoints, as well as from blocking, banning, removing, deplatforming, demonetizing, or otherwise limiting users.' Aside from Texas, legislation seeking to regulate AI has been introduced in most state capitals, in both blue and red states. It's not only free market voices and tech industry leaders who are expressing concerns about the adverse effects that would stem from a 50-state patchwork of overlapping and conflicting AI regulations. 'I just worry about every state going out and doing their own thing, a patchwork quilt of regulations, Connecticut being probably stricter and broader than most, what that means in terms of AI development here,' Governor Ned Lamont (D-Conn.) said last month. Shortly after Colorado lawmakers enacted their AI bill in 2024, Governor Jared Polis (D-Colo.) urged congress to enact federal legislation preempting state regulation of AI. 'There are better ways for states to address AI concerns than a heavy-handed, top-down, paperwork-intensive regulatory approach,' Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) wrote in the veto statement explaining his decision to reject an AI regulation bill passed by the Democrat-led Virginia Legislature. 'The role of government in safeguarding AI practices should be one that enables and empowers innovators to create and grow, not one that stifles progress and places onerous burdens on our Commonwealth's many business owners.' Proponents of federal preemption of state AI regulation, which includes many conservatives who advocate for pushing most policy decisions down to the states, believe that a patchwork of 50 separate state regulatory regimes for AI would put the U.S. at a disadvantage when it comes to development of AI. Vance Ginn, president of Ginn Economic Consulting and former economist at the White House Office of Management and Budget, says there is a precedent for a federal moratorium on state AI regulations. That precedent is the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998, which was passed by a GOP-run congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. 'That federal pause on state taxes for internet access helped fuel the digital revolution,' writes Ginn. 'AI deserves the same breathing room. If the moratorium or something like it doesn't happen, America risks ceding the future to countries like China, where communist governing directs resources rather than profits.' Those remarks from Ginn, who served in the first Trump administration, sound a similar note to those recently delivered by a member of the second Trump administration. In an address to the AWS Public Sector Summit, David Sacks — the venture capitalist, technologist, and first ever White House AI czar — described the state-level efforts to regulate AI as 'fear-mongering', adding that a 50-state patchwork of varying and conflicting AI regulatory regimes across the U.S. could 'end up killing these things in the cradle.' 'If we had taken this approach towards the internet, if we had basically had a fear-based approach towards regulation and passed hundreds or thousands of regulations, I don't think the U.S. would become the dominant country in the internet,' Sacks added, calling the internet 'one of the crown jewels of the American economy.' There is bipartisan agreement about the need for federal preemption of state AI regulations and there is also bipartisan opposition to such a federal moratorium. The matter will be decided, however, by Republicans on Capitol Hill. 'Republicans have a pretty straightforward choice on AI,' writes Zach Lilly, deputy director of state and federal affairs for NetChoice, noting that the choices are 'follow Trump's lead and use their Congressional majority to set a light touch approach, or miss the moment and let California regulate it into oblivion.'
