Latest news with #VicePresident
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Sunny Hostin feels 'terrible' about Kamala Harris fumbling her viral question about differences with Biden
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin defended her viral question to former Vice President Kamala Harris last year that set back her campaign in a new podcast interview, but Hostin said she felt "terrible" that it had such an impact. As producer Brian Teta joked on the show's "Behind the Table" podcast that Hostin had "single-handedly taken down the Democratic Party" with her question to Harris about differences between her and President Joe Biden, the liberal co-host insisted it was fair and something Harris should have expected. Harris joined the co-hosts of "The View" in early October 2024 and was asked by Hostin if there was anything she would have done differently than Biden over the course of the presidency. Harris told the co-hosts, "not a thing comes to mind," which was widely criticized and seen by some as a turning point for the campaign, given Biden's unpopularity and Harris avoiding an easy opportunity to create space for herself. "I knew it instantly when she answered it," Hostin said during the podcast conversation, when asked by Teta if she knew it would be a viral moment. "Which is why I asked the follow-up question, 'is there one thing?' Because I knew, I could see the soundbite and I knew what was going to happen, but I thought it was a really fair question and I thought it was a question that she would expect." Hostin had no interest in hurting Harris' chances. The liberal co-host openly supported Harris and also predicted she would easily win the election. Hostin argued she felt Harris needed to express what her administration would look like in contrast with Biden's. "And now Jake Tapper wrote it in his book?" she asked her fellow co-host, Alyssa Farah Griffin. "I feel terrible." Teta also asked the co-hosts if they felt Harris' answer really cost her the election. "No, right?" Hostin asked the live audience present, as she smiled. Co-host Sara Haines and Teta agreed, as Griffin suggested it did play a role in her loss. "The Trump campaign put so much ad money behind that specific clip and what they were trying to do is tie her to Biden's unfavorabilities, but more than that, just simply the right-track, wrong-track of the election… They used it to say, 'Well, she's not going to do anything different,'" Griffin said. Democratic strategist James Carville said after the election that Harris' loss could be reduced to the viral moment on "The View." "The country wants something different. And she's asked, as is so often the case, in a friendly audience, on 'The View,' 'How would you be different than Biden?' That's the one question that you exist to answer, alright? That is it. That's the money question. That's the one you want. That's the one that everybody wants to know the answer to. And you freeze! You literally freeze and say, 'Well, I can't think of anything,'" Carville said last November after Trump's win. At the start of the podcast discussion, Behar quipped, "it's Sunny's fault she didn't win." Hostin said in November she was surprised by Harris' flub, and called it a layup question at the time. "I was surprised at the answer because it was a question that really could have inured to her benefit. It was a question that could have been a change maker," she said.
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
JD Vance's Bluesky Suspension Was About Verification, Not Politics
US vice president JD Vance speaks during the 61st Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2025 ... More in Munich, Germany. (Photo by) Half an hour after Vice President JD Vance signed up for Bluesky on Wednesday afternoon, his account was suspended. It was shortly before 5 p.m. ET that Vance sent out his first post, writing, "Hello Bluesky, I've been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis. So I'm thrilled to be here to engage with all of you." Soon after the account was suspended from the platform that has become a popular alternative to X, the social media formerly known as Twitter. It didn't take long for supporters of President Donald Trump and the vice president to cry foul, suggesting that a conservative voice was being silenced on Bluesky. Yet, as is all too often the case on social media, people jumped to conclusions before all the facts became clear. The only evidence that any politics were at play was that Bluesky has steadily attracted a liberal audience, including many who tuned out of X after tech billionaire Elon Musk purchased it. On Wednesday evening, Bluesky reinstated the account and issued a statement explaining the rationale behind the suspension. "Vice President Vance's account was briefly flagged by our automated systems that try to detect impersonation attempts which have targeted public figures like him in the past," Bluesky said in its statement. "The account was quickly restored and verified so people can easily confirm its authenticity." "We welcome the Vice President to join the conversation on Bluesky," the company added. Bluesky, which launched in February 2023 just months after Musk acquired the former Twitter, began to introduce a legacy-style verification system earlier this spring. By contrast, X now employs a subscription-based model for verification, replacing the legacy confirmation system that provided the famed blue checkmarks to the profiles of celebrities, journalists, civil servants, and other public figures. Critics have warned that the paid model has led to an increase in fake accounts and those impersonating celebrities and other individuals who are frequently in the spotlight. Moreover, Twitter had initially introduced its verification systems after former professional baseball player and manager Tony La Russa sued the platform for allowing unauthorized accounts run by impersonators to use his name and likeness. Yet, even after Bluesky reinstated the account for the vice president, many still believed it was a case of political bias. It serves as a reminder of the echo chamber that social media has become in recent years. The issue of fake and impostor accounts has been steadily growing, but it has gained momentum after X changed its verification process. Earlier this year, Academy Award-winning actress Sandra Bullock and actor Brad Pitt each announced that scammers and cybercriminals had set up fake social media accounts using their respective names and likenesses. Another issue has been "parody" accounts, which have been mistaken for official accounts on the platforms. That became a concern on X, to the point where Musk was forced to backpedal on his free speech absolutist ideals. In April, X announced that Parody, Commentary, and Fan accounts would be required to include "PCF-compliant keywords" to help distinguish them from official accounts, while PCF accounts were further told to avoid using identical avatars to help avoid confusion. The final twist to this story is that VP JD Vance was back on Bluesky. As of Thursday morning, he already has more than seven thousand followers. Yet, according to social media user tracker Clearsky, the account @ had also been blocked by more than 78,000 users. That also serves as a reminder that in echo chamber users are increasingly unwilling to welcome anyone from the other side of the political spectrum to the conversation.
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Bluesky briefly suspended JD Vance's account after he joined
In Brief When U.S. Vice President JD Vance joined Bluesky on Wednesday evening, he got banned immediately. However, his account was restored after a while, with Bluesky saying that the ban was issued after the social network's system that looks for impersonating attempts fired a warning. 'Vice President Vance's account was briefly flagged by our automated systems that try to detect impersonation attempts, which have targeted public figures like him in the past. The account was quickly restored and verified so people can easily confirm its authenticity,' A Bluesky spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement. 'We welcome the Vice President to join the conversation on Bluesky,' the spokesperson said. Vance's first post on Bluesky was about the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a Tennessee law that bars gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
JD Vance account suspended, then quickly restored, on liberal X competitor
Vice President JD Vance was briefly suspended Wednesday evening by liberal X competitor Bluesky within the first hour of the country's No. 2 leader joining the platform. The account has since been reinstated. "We welcome the Vice President to the conversation on Bluesky," the company told Fox News Digital in an email response, noting, "There have been many past attempts to impersonate Vice President JD Vance on Bluesky as he is a public figure, and the account was flagged as part of that pattern by our automated systems, and temporarily suspended." "The account was quickly reinstated within 20 minutes of the suspension, and we've also added a verified badge to help users confirm the authenticity of the profile," the statement added. Bluesky, a social media platform with a similar layout to X, has become a haven for many liberals fleeing X after Elon Musk bought the platform and began making changes. Despite its reputation as a liberal stronghold, Vance set up a profile on Bluesky Wednesday, making his first post at 4:50 p.m. In the vice president's first post he said: "Hello Bluesky, I've been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis. So I'm thrilled to be here to engage with all of you." Within the post, he embedded a screenshot of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion issued today in United States v. Skrmetti, which upheld a Tennessee law banning sex change surgeries on minors. Thomas' concurrence listed off several problems he found with those challenging Tennessee's law, which included "there is no medical consensus on how best to treat gender dysphoria in children" and "leading voices in this area have relied on questionable evidence, and have allowed ideology to influence their medical guidance." In his second and third posts, Vance said: "To that end, I found Justice Thomas's concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating. He argues that many of our so-called 'experts' have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth," and "I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids. What do you think?" In response, Bluesky quickly suspended Vance's account. However, it was shortly reinstated after a brief period. This prompted a firestorm of mockery from conservatives on X, who said the suspension evidenced the need for a free speech platform. "Bluesky banned VP JD Vance 20 minutes after he joined the platform … The libs at Bluesky are so triggered," commented popular conservative account Libs of TikTok. "OMG they banned him already," chimed in political commentator Eric Daugherty. The suspension even garnered condemnation from Vance critics. Liberal reporter Billy Binion commented, "I can't stand JD Vance. But suspending the sitting vice president is exactly why Bluesky is unserious & doomed to fail." "If you claim to care about real debate, you can't wall yourself off from everyone outside the progressive bubble—esp[icially] someone who might be president one day," wrote Binion.
LBCI
3 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Trump may take 'further action' against Iran nuclear program: VP Vance
President Donald Trump may decide that "further action" is needed to stop Iran's nuclear program, Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday, responding to speculation that the United States could intervene in the conflict. "The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military's focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens. He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment," Vance said in a post on X. AFP
