Politics
How technology has changed inauguration coverage
Millions of people across the country are expected to tune in to President-elect Trump’s second inauguration ceremony. Television networks, online publications and social media outlets are preparing for the big event. The way inaugurations have been presented to the public has changed drastically over the years.
“We must think big and dream even bigger,” Trump said during his first inaugural address in 2017.
Tens of millions of people watched his first address in real time – both on television and through online streaming. But inaugural addresses and analysis of the speeches were not always available immediately. In 1789, when George Washington was sworn in for the first time, his speech was not available to the public until several days later.
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Thomas Jefferson became the first president to have his inauguration speech printed in a newspaper the same day he gave his address in 1801. The National Intelligencer printed the speech on the morning of Jefferson’s inauguration.
James Polk was the first president to have his address reported by telegraph. It was also the first time a speech was shown in a newspaper illustration, by the Illustrated London News.
James Polk takes the presidential oath in this illustration of his inauguration. Polk’s inauguration was the first to be published as an illustration in newspapers. (Library of Congress)
Drawings were the main visual for inaugurations for another 12 years, until photography became more frequently used. James Buchanan was the first president to have a photograph taken at his swearing-in. Another 40 years later, video was used to record inaugurations for the public.
William McKinley was the first president to appear on a movie camera during his inaugural address in 1901. Only silent films were available then, but that would change over the years as inaugural addresses began to incorporate audio.
James Buchanan was the first president to have a photograph taken when he was sworn into office. (Library of Congress)
In 1921, Warren Harding was the first to use loudspeakers to address the crowd attending his inauguration in person. Four years later, Calvin Coolidge was the first to have his inaugural broadcast nationally by radio. The White House Historical Association estimates his 1925 address reached more than 23 million radio listeners. Herbert Hoover gave the first multimedia inaugural. His 1929 address was the first recorded on a talking newsreel.
“It is a dedication and consecration under God to the highest office in service of our people,” Hoover said during his address.
After World War II, an increasing number of Americans bought television sets for their homes. By 1949, almost all major cities had at least one local television station, and 4.2 million American homes had TV sets. Harry Truman became the first president to have his inauguration broadcast live that year. More than a decade later, John F. Kennedy had his address broadcast in color for the estimated 500,000 Americans who had color television sets.
“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,” Kennedy famously said during his inauguration speech.
Ronald Reagan sought to bring the pageantry of inauguration events to Americans across the country. His inaugural committee hosted around 100 satellite inaugural balls that were broadcast in 32 cities.
Americans used to have to wait days to read a president’s inaugural address in the newspaper. Today, the event can be livestreamed in real time all over the world. (Associated Press)
“Almost 200 years ago, at the first inaugural, people came by stagecoach. This time, people all over America, millions of people, are attending this one by satellite,” Reagan said during a ball at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
More than a decade later, Bill Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997 was available on the internet via livestream. Clinton had signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 just a year before at the Library of Congress.
“Ten years ago, the internet was the mystical province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren,” Clinton said during his inaugural address. “As we look back at this remarkable century, we may ask, ‘Can we hope not just to follow, but even to surpass the achievements of the 20th century in America?’”
With the growth of the internet, social media use also expanded.
“We have always understood that when times change, so must we,” Barack Obama said at his second inaugural address in 2013.
Obama was the first president to join Twitter. His 2013 address generated more than 1 million tweets. According to Pew Research, around 51% of Americans owned a smartphone at the time. When Trump was sworn into office in 2017, that percentage rose to 77%. Cellphone carriers installed extracellular antennas ahead of the address for the massive crowd that would be sharing photos and videos from the day’s events on social media.
When Joe Biden gave his address in 2021, his inaugural committee relied on technology for nearly every aspect of the event. The coronavirus pandemic forced much of Biden’s festivities to move online.
“The world is watching all of us today. So, here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested, and we have come out stronger for it,” Biden said during his address.
Politics
‘Unlucky’ Honduran woman arrested after allegedly running red light and crashing into ICE vehicle
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A Honduran national had an “unlucky” encounter with Border Patrol enforcement on Friday.
The woman allegedly ran a red light in Slidell, Louisiana, and rammed into an Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) vehicle, U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino wrote on X.
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“Apparently she never learned the lesson that red means stop,” Bovino wrote. “Not ‘accelerate and collide with a government vehicle actively enforcing federal law.’”
A Honduran national was allegedly behind the wheel of a car that ran a red light and crashed into an ICE vehicle in Louisiana, according to officials. She was then arrested by federal agents. (Greg Bovino via Facebook)
No injuries were reported as a result of the crash, according to the post, but Bovino said she was “certainly taken into custody” following the accident.
“Unlucky for her. Lucky for us,” Bovino continued in the post.
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Federal agents were reportedly in the area as part of the Operation Catahoula Crunch. The operation targets illegal immigrants in the New Orleans area, according to officials.
“Catahoula Crunch targets include violent criminals who were released after arrest for home invasion, armed robbery, grand theft auto and rape,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Photos, posted on social media, appear to show the woman’s vehicle damaged near the front driver’s side of the car. (Greg Bovino via Facebook)
ICE has reportedly apprehended approximately 370 people in the area, according to a Dec. 18 update.
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“DHS is making the New Orleans community safer as it continues to arrest illegal alien drug dealers, hit-and-run criminals, and one monster who was convicted for arson and threatening a person with intent to terrorize,” McLaughlin said.
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino at a New Orleans convenience store Dec. 3. (John Rudoff/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The DHS reported that it has deported more than 622,000 individuals in 2025 as of Dec. 19.
The department also reported that 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the country, and an estimated 1.9 million self-deportations have occurred since President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
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Details about the Honduran woman were not made publicly available.
DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Politics
Commentary: Beneath the rambling, Trump laid out a chilling healthcare plan
Folks, who was supposed to be watching grandpa last night? Because he got out, got on TV and … It. Was. Not. Good.
For 18 long minutes Wednesday evening, we were subjected to a rant by President Trump that predictably careened from immigrants (bad) to jobs (good), rarely slowing down for reality. But jumbled between the vitriol and venom was a vision of American healthcare that would have horror villainess M3GAN shaking in her Mary Janes — a vision that we all should be afraid of because it would take us back to a dark era when insurance couldn’t be counted on.
Trump’s remarks offered only a sketchy outline, per usual, in which the costs of health insurance premiums may be lower — but it will be because the coverage is terrible. Yes, you’ll save money. But so what? A cheap car without wheels is not a deal.
“The money should go to the people,” Trump said of his sort-of plan.
The money he vaguely was alluding to is the government subsidies that make insurance under the Affordable Care Act affordable. After antics and a mini-rebellion by four Republicans also on Wednesday, Congress basically failed to do anything meaningful on healthcare — pretty much ensuring those subsidies will disappear with the New Year.
Starting in January, premiums for too many people are going to leap skyward without the subsidies, jumping by an average of $1,016 according to the health policy research group KFF.
That’s bad enough. But Trump would like to make it worse.
The Affordable Care Act is about much more than those subsidies. Before it took effect in 2014, insurance companies in many states could deny coverage for preexisting conditions. This didn’t have to be big-ticket stuff like cancer. A kid with asthma? A mom with colitis? Those were the kind of routine but chronic problems that prevented millions from obtaining insurance — and therefore care.
Obamacare required that policies sold on its exchange did not discriminate. In addition, the ACA required plans to limit out-of-pocket costs and end lifetime dollar caps, and provide a baseline of coverage that included essentials such as maternity care. Those standards put pressure on all plans to include more, even those offered through large employers.
Trump would like to undo much of that. He instead wants to fall back on the stunt he loves the most — send a check!
What he is suggesting by sending subsidy money directly to consumers also most likely would open the market to plans without the regulation of the ACA. So yes, small businesses or even groups of individuals might be able to band together to buy insurance, but there likely would be fewer rules about what — or whom — it has to cover.
Most people aren’t savvy or careful enough to understand the limitations of their insurance before it matters. So it has a $2-million lifetime cap? That sounds like a lot until your kid needs a treatment that eats through that in a couple of months. Then what?
Trump suggested people pay for it themselves, out of health savings accounts funded by that subsidy check sent directly to taxpayers. Because that definitely will work, and people won’t spend the money on groceries or rent, and what they do save certainly will cover any medical expenses.
“You’ll get much better healthcare at a much lower price,” Trump claimed Wednesday. “The only losers will be insurance companies that have gotten rich, and the Democrat Party, which is totally controlled by those same insurance companies. They will not be happy, but that’s OK with me because you, the people, are finally going to be getting great healthcare at a lower cost.”
He then bizarrely tried to blame the expiring subsidies on Democrats.
Democrats “are demanding those increases and it’s their fault,” he said. “It is not the Republicans’ fault. It’s the Democrats’ fault. It’s the Unaffordable Care Act, and everybody knew it.”
It seems like Trump just wants to lower costs at the expense of quality. Here’s where I take issue with the Democrats. I am not here to defend insurance companies or our healthcare system. Both clearly need reform.
But why are the Democrats failing to explain what “The money should go to the people” will mean?
I get that affordability is the message, and as someone who bought both a steak and a carton of milk this week, I understand just how powerful that issue is.
Still, everyone, Democrat or Republican, wants decent healthcare they can afford, and the peace of mind of knowing if something terrible happens, they will have access to help. There is no American who gladly would pay for insurance each month, no matter how low the premium, that is going to leave them without care when they or their loved ones need it most.
Grandpa Trump doesn’t have this worry, since he has the best healthcare our tax dollars can buy.
But when he promises to send a check instead of providing governance and regulation of one of the most critical purchases in our lives, the message is sickening: My victory in exchange for your well-being.
Politics
Most shocking examples of Chinese espionage uncovered by the US this year: ‘Just the tip of the iceberg’
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This year has had no shortage of alarming Chinese espionage efforts targeting the United States that were uncovered by government officials.
2025 saw the conviction of a former active-duty military member accused of selling Navy secrets to Chinese intelligence, the arrests of Chinese nationals accused of trying to recruit active-duty service members as intelligence assets and smuggle dangerous toxins into the United States, the disruption of a Chinese “Hacker-for-Hire” ecosystem, and more.
“President Trump is not afraid of the Chinese,” Gatestone Institute senior Fellow Gordon Chang said on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” following a new arms sale to Taiwan. However, Chang lamented that Trump was ambivalent to the “information war” with China, noting that “the Chinese are able to tar him and tell the rest of the world that Trump is afraid of the Chinese … but when you look at the reality, President Trump is going after China across the board,” Chang argued.
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One of the alarming Chinese espionage headlines to hit the news this year was an effort by several Chinese nationals to smuggle a pathogen described by the government as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” into the United States in 2024. A complaint against the suspects was unsealed by federal officials this year, leading the case to make headlines nationwide.
Flag flies in front of the embassy of China in Berlin, Germany, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Hannes P. Albert/dpa via AP, File)
One of those individuals complicit in the case, Yunqing Jian, 33, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China and a researcher employed at the University of Michigan, was allegedly receiving money from the Chinese government for her work on the pathogen the suspects were trying to smuggle. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, who worked at a Chinese university conducting research on that same pathogen, initially lied but then admitted to smuggling it through the Detroit airport so it could be taken to the University of Michigan laboratory where his girlfriend worked.
Jian eventually pleaded guilty. She was later sentenced to time served and then deported back to China. Her boyfriend was immediately deported to China when he was caught at the Detroit airport trying to bring the toxin into the United States.
Just this month, a separate Chinese researcher from Indiana University was also accused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of trying to smuggle a dangerous toxin into the country, this time Escherichia coli (E. coli). The FBI identified the smuggling suspect as post-doctoral researcher Youhuang Xiang, who also allegedly made false statements to law enforcement.
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Federal officials have disrupted Chinese intelligence efforts to recruit assets in the United States this year as well, according to Justice Department communications.
In July, federal officials disrupted a “Clandestine PRC Ministry of State Security Intelligence Network” that was operating in the United States and was attempting to bribe active-duty soldiers with thousands in cash to work for them as assets.
The following month, in a separate case, a federal jury convicted former Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, also known as Patrick Wei, who was caught trying to sell military secrets to a Chinese intelligence officer for $12,000.
The national flags of the United States and China flutter at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)
Hacking was a big part of Chinese espionage efforts in 2025 too.
A major Chinese-linked hacking threat referred to as “Salt Typhoon” was reported this year to have launched an attack compromising at least 200 American companies as part of its broader efforts that have included gaining access to law enforcement wiretapping mechanisms and information on members of Congress, according to the top cyber chief at the FBI. Critical infrastructure manufacturers like AT&T, Verizon, Charter Communications, and others have reportedly been exposed by the group, which was first uncovered publicly in 2024 but whose efforts have dated back several years.
Earlier this year, in March, the Department of Justice also announced that federal officials had disrupted a “Hacker-for-Hire Ecosystem” operating out of China at the direction of Chinese intelligence officers as well. These malicious actors worked for private companies and as contractors in China, which was intended to hack and steal information in a way that would obscure the Chinese government’s involvement, the DOJ said.
China’s increasing acquisition of farmland in the United States has been of growing concern during 2025 as well, with Chinese-linked entities buying up land near military bases, including a trailer park near Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
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“From smuggling crop-killing pathogens and E. Coli into the United States, to conspicuously purchasing a trailer park that shares a fence with America’s entire B-2 bomber fleet and selling ‘green’ tech devices that spread kill switches across our electrical grid, Communist China seeks to harm the American homeland,” Michael Lucci, a China-hawk and the founder of State Armor Action, a conservative group with a mission to develop and enact state-level solutions to global security threats such as those emanating from China.
“Furthermore, these events are just the tip of the iceberg,” Lucci continued. “Lawmakers across the country must accelerate action to shield Americans from CCP influence, espionage, and sabotage. Communist China treats the United States as an enemy, and it is past time we recognize the CCP party-state always and everywhere chooses conflict with the United States.”
Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
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