Midwest

Trump running mate Vance aims to turn Blue Wall states red

Published

2 years ago

August 16, 2024

Trump running mate Vance aims to turn Blue Wall states red

BYRON CENTER, Mich. — When it comes to the crucial battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, long known as the Democrats’ ‘blue wall’ states, Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance is optimistic they’re “going to be the red wall in November.”

“We’re going to make sure that Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan go red,” former President Trump’s 2024 running mate emphasized in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital on the campaign trail in southwestern Michigan this past week.

Democrats reliably won all three working-class states in presidential elections for nearly a quarter-century before Trump narrowly carried them in capturing the White House eight years ago.

HARRIS AND TRUMP TRADE FIRE IN BATTLE FOR THE BLUE WALL STATES

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, headlines a Trump campaign event in Byron Center, Michigan, on August 14, 2024. (Fox News — Paul Steinhauser)

But in 2020, President Biden won back all three states with razor-thin margins as he defeated Trump.

The states remain extremely competitive as Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump face off in the 2024 presidential election.

Last month’s Republican National Convention was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city. And Trump and Vance held their first join-campaign rally after the convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan, just a few miles north of where Vance was interviewed by Fox News on Wednesday.

WHAT VANCE SAID IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FOX NEWS DIGITAL

Vance, a first-term populist senator and a leading Trump ally in the Senate, has made stops in all three blue wall states in the past two weeks, and told Fox News that he would be spending plenty of time in the states the rest of the summer and autumn spreading the GOP ticket’s working-class message.

“We’re going to make sure that Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan go red. People are sick of green energy scams that ship our manufacturing jobs to China instead of keeping them right here at home in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. I think we have a great pro-manufacturing, pro-American worker message,” he emphasized.

Republican presidential nominee former President Trump and GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Vance said that his pitch to working-class voters is a “core message that Donald Trump and I have in this campaign and this is a good place for people to hear it.”

Vance hails from Ohio, which neighbors both Pennsylvania and Michigan, and his Midwestern and working-class roots in a region long known as the ‘Rust Belt’ were likely key factors in Trump’s decision to name the senator as his running mate.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PLANS COUNTER-PROGRAMMING DURING DEMOCRATS’ CONVENTION

Before running for Senate, Vance grabbed national attention after his book “Hillbilly Elegy” – which tells his story of growing up in a struggling steel mill city and his roots in Appalachian Kentucky – became a New York Times bestseller and was then made into a Netflix film. The story spotlighted the values of many working-class Americans who became supporters of Trump’s policies.

Fox News observed as Vance spread his Midwestern folksiness with the owners and family of the trucking company that hosted last week’s rally in Michigan.

Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and his wife Usha meet with supporters ahead of a campaign event in Byron Center, Michigan on August 14, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Holding the baby of one of the family members, the senator — who was accompanied by his wife — said that he wanted a fourth child.

And later, in his speech at the rally, he spotlighted the instrumental role his grandmother “Mamaw” in his life. The comments have become a key ingredient in his stump speech.

“I was one of the lucky ones – I managed to achieve the American Dream. I managed to build a life because I had a Mamaw that was tough as nails,” Vance told the crowd.

Democrats have repeatedly taken aim at Vance, and have argued that he’s anything but a working-class hero, as they point to his years in San Francisco as a top hedge fund executive when he worked as a principal in a venture capital firm owned by billionaire Peter Thiel.

Harris — who replaced Biden last month atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket and who named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, another Midwesterner, as her running mate — charges that Vance is a “rubber stamp” for Trump’s “extreme agenda”

“Make no mistake, JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country,” Harris has said.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

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Michigan

First Film to Depict a Robot Discovered in Michigan

Published

48 seconds ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

First Film to Depict a Robot Discovered in Michigan

A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.

The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.

Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.

Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.

With that, the film is over.

It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.

We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.

But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.

Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.

McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.

“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”

Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.

The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.

Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.

The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.

Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.

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Minnesota

How ICE’s presence is affecting child care in Minnesota

Published

13 minutes ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

How ICE’s presence is affecting child care in Minnesota

What happens to day care providers when families decide to stay home? Coming up at 9 a.m. on Monday, MPR News host Angela Davis is joined by early childhood education reporter Kyra Miles to talk about how the the increase of federal immigration agents is affecting the child care industry and children, families and child care workers.

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Missouri

Mississippi State basketball vs Missouri score, live updates, TV channel

Published

25 minutes ago

February 28, 2026

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Mississippi State basketball vs Missouri score, live updates, TV channel

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State basketball is hosting Missouri at Humphrey Coliseum on Feb. 28 (noon, SEC Network).

It’s the second meeting of the season between the Bulldogs (13-15, 5-10 SEC) and Tigers (19-9, 9-6). Missouri won the first game, 84-79, at home on Jan. 31.

The Tigers have won five of their last seven games, including ranked wins against Vanderbilt on Feb. 18 and Tennessee on Feb. 24. MSU has lost two straight games, most recently 100-75 at Alabama.

The Clarion Ledger is bringing you live updates from the game. Follow along.

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