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Trump and DeSantis stake out sharpest preview yet of possible 2024 showdown | CNN Politics

Published

2 years ago

March 6, 2023

Trump and DeSantis stake out sharpest preview yet of possible 2024 showdown | CNN Politics

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Ex-President Donald Trump and his most severe potential rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, laid out with unprecedented readability this weekend how their sharply contrasting personalities and approaches would outline the 2024 race for the Republican nomination.

Trump served up his acquainted brew of fury, falsehoods and dishonest braggadocio on the Conservative Political Motion Convention on Saturday, billing himself as the one man who may save the planet from World Struggle III, girding his adoring supporters for his or her “last battle” in opposition to communists, globalists and the “Deep State,” and declaring: “I’m your retribution.”

“We’ll beat the Democrats, we are going to rout the pretend information media, we are going to expose and appropriately cope with the RINOs (Republicans in Title Solely). We’ll evict Joe Biden from the White Home and we are going to liberate America from these villains and scoundrels as soon as and for all,” Trump informed the gang at a Maryland conference heart exterior Washington on Saturday.

DeSantis, who’s but to declare a marketing campaign, used an look on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Sunday to channel the identical conservative anger at what he claims is a left-wing “woke” elite takeover of politics, training, Covid-19 public well being coverage and large enterprise, tapping into the fashionable Republican Social gathering’s driving ideological pressure. But he supplied a much more particular blueprint than Trump for a disruption of presidency as Individuals realize it, strongly implying that after implementing hardline conservatism within the Sunshine State, he may ship the coverage targets that always eluded Trump in his chaotic White Home time period.

“I can let you know in 4 years, you didn’t see our administration leaking like a sieve, you didn’t see lots of drama or palace intrigue,” stated DeSantis, whose punch-by-punch talking type is way extra ordered and methodical than Trump’s wild flights of rhetoric. “What you noticed was surgical, precision execution. Day after day after day. And since we did that, we beat the left day after day after day.”

The back-to-back speeches, which highlighted two Republicans who could be the early favorites if DeSantis will get into the GOP nominating race, got here with a slice of irony. The cut up display captured their social gathering’s unresolved ideological cut up that Trump engineered in 2016 when he crushed institution candidates. CPAC, the place Trump spoke, for many years stored alive the flame of the two-term president Reagan, who redefined the conservative motion when he received the 1980 election and left a legacy that dominated the GOP till Trump arrived. As soon as a ceremony of passage for potential GOP presidential candidates, CPAC has since turn out to be a platform for Trump’s character cult. DeSantis didn’t communicate there, as an alternative showing final week at a dueling Membership for Development donor convention to which Trump was not invited.

Talking within the shadow of Reagan’s former Air Power One on Sunday, DeSantis seemed to be staking a declare to each the reforming zeal of the fortieth president and providing an up to date, extra focused – but nonetheless searing – model of Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more” populism, though stripped of the uproarious distractions typical of the latest Republican president. He appeared to be making an attempt to construct a conservative coalition that might enchantment to Republicans who’ve soured on Trump after his file of two impeachments, a US Capitol revolt and a disastrous intervention within the 2022 midterm elections, however which may additionally peel away some Trump supporters who nonetheless love their champion however doubt that he has the self-discipline and enchantment wanted to win a nationwide election once more.

Nonetheless, if DeSantis had been to win the Republican nomination, there would probably be questions over whether or not his personal radicalism would damage him in the identical swing state districts the place Trump misplaced the 2020 election – even however a public persona that’s extra disciplined than Trump’s. There’s not a lot subtlety in his rhetoric a couple of “woke thoughts virus”: A lot of the Florida governor’s phrasing comes with the implication that anybody who doesn’t share his views is, by definition, a left-wing extremist. And he would primarily be promising Individuals one of the crucial right-wing presidencies of recent historical past.

DeSantis was not the one potential different to Trump who laid out his case in current days. Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has already launched a marketing campaign, and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who could accomplish that, each braved the lions’ den at CPAC, and each launched veiled assaults on their former boss.

“If you happen to’re uninterested in dropping, put your belief in a brand new technology,” Haley stated, enjoying into criticisms that each Trump, 76, and Biden, 80, ought to yield to youthful leaders.

Pompeo, who, like his former Cupboard colleague obtained a reasonably tepid reception on the ex-president’s turf, stacked his speech with believable deniability to keep away from taking over Trump straight. However one comment may very well be learn as as a lot of a criticism of the ex-president because the Democrats he particularly focused when he stated: “We will’t turn out to be the left, following celeb leaders with their very own model of id politics, these with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge actuality.”

One other potential Republican candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, was on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday and attacked Trump’s fearsome tradition warfare discuss.

“If you wish to heal our land and unite our nation collectively, you don’t do it by interesting to the offended mob,” Hutchinson informed Dana Bash.

“Wherever you’re trying on the chief of our nation, you don’t need him to be engaged in a private vendetta. And when he talks about vengeance, he’s speaking about his private vendettas, and that’s not wholesome for America. It’s definitely not wholesome for our social gathering.’

One different potential anti-Trump GOP candidate, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, nonetheless, introduced on Sunday that he would go on the 2024 race to keep away from splintering the opposition to the ex-president.

“Proper now, you may have Trump and DeSantis on the high of the sector absorbing all of the oxygen, getting all the eye, after which a complete lot of the remainder of us in single digits. And the extra of them you may have, the much less likelihood you may have for any person rising up,” Hogan informed CBS Information.

If Hogan’s reluctant determination to bow out foreshadows comparable selections by different long-shot candidates, it may level to a Republican nominating race that doesn’t replicate the fracturing of the anti-Trump vote that helped his outstanding rise to energy in 2016. However that might additionally gasoline the potential for an extended and bitter nominating race between Trump and DeSantis by a swathe of winner-take-all primaries – if the Florida governor decides to get into the race.

Given his sturdy maintain on the Republican base, Trump is more likely to be seen as the favourite for the nomination, however he seems to acknowledge the potential menace he faces from DeSantis, and has already accused him of disloyalty after endorsing him in his first race for the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee.

However DeSantis, in his new ebook revealed final week, places his success in that first gubernatorial marketing campaign right down to a “huge swing” powered by a powerful Republican main debate efficiency that befell after he received Trump’s endorsement. And he’s in search of to differentiate himself as a winner in comparison with Trump by citing his thumping reelection victory final fall, which stands in implicit distinction to the ex-president’s nationwide reelection loss.

“We went from successful by 32,000 votes in 2018 to successful by over 1.5 million votes in 2022. We earned the biggest share of the vote that any Republican governor candidate acquired in Florida historical past,” DeSantis stated on Sunday.

But the occasions of the weekend additionally pointed to a number of the potential liabilities for DeSantis in any try to take down Trump. Whereas his speech on the Reagan Library demonstrated a expertise for explaining coverage and a conversational type, he lacked the showmanship abilities that Trump has lengthy used to dominate Republican politics. Trumpism has at all times been extra of a visceral and emotional backlash than an train in really implementing ideological conservatism.

Maybe GOP voters are so eager to win again the presidency that they’ll search for a change. However in his speech at CPAC, which echoed the “American Carnage” themes of his inaugural handle, Trump gave discover to DeSantis and the remainder of the nation that he’ll battle with all the things he has to win the White Home once more. He informed reporters that even when he’s indicted in federal or state investigations in opposition to him, he’ll nonetheless not drop out of the race.

“On the finish of the day, anybody else will probably be intimidated, purchased off, blackmailed or ripped to shreds. I alone won’t ever retreat,” Trump stated.

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Oil price falls back as flow of crude through Strait of Hormuz unaffected

Published

23 minutes ago

June 16, 2025

Press Room

Oil price falls back as flow of crude through Strait of Hormuz unaffected

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Oil markets have shrugged off Israel’s threat to topple the Iranian regime, with crude exports from the Middle East so far unaffected by the escalating conflict.

Financial Times analysis of ship-tracking data shows there has been no significant impact on the movement of vessels through the critical Strait of Hormuz. Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil at energy analytics firm Kpler, said their systems also showed no drop in the number of oil tankers transiting the strait.

About 21mn barrels of oil from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates pass daily through the narrow waterway separating the Islamic republic from the Gulf states, representing about one-third of the world’s seaborne oil supplies.

“The market is reassured by the fact that we have seen attacks on energy infrastructure but they were constrained to the domestic energy systems in both countries,” Falakshahi said.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose as much as 5.5 per cent early on Monday to more than $78 a barrel, before giving up all of those gains to trade down 4.1 per cent just above $71.17. It has increased less than 4 per cent since the fighting began last week.

Over the weekend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that regime change could “certainly be the result” of Israel’s attacks on the Islamic Republic after he launched strikes against at least two Iranian gas processing plants and two fuel depots in Tehran. In response, Iran hit pipelines and transmission lines serving Israel’s largest refinery.

However, Israel has not targeted Iran’s key oil export terminals on Kharg Island and Tehran has not sought to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“I think the goal from Israel is to make internal logistics more difficult for Iran, rather than to rattle international markets,” Falakshahi said.

Line chart of Brent crude ($/barrel) showing Oil prices have steadied after last week's surge

He added that fewer tankers than normal appeared to be heading to Iran’s Kharg Island to load oil but that this is likely to be a temporary, precautionary measure, as had happened after Israel and Iran traded air strikes in October last year. One tanker loaded over the weekend but others appeared to have slowed their approach to the facility, which is responsible for 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports, he said.

Iran currently produces about 3.2mn barrels of oil a day and exports just over half, almost exclusively to China.

While the Iranian regime has historically threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz in the event that the country is attacked, traders are betting that Tehran is less likely to seek to disrupt shipping given improved relations with Saudi Arabia and the need to keep its own exports flowing.

Tehran targeted vessels in the strait during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and more recently was accused of attacks on tankers near the strait in 2019. However, it has never been able to completely block traffic. Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic ties with Iran in 2023.

“Although there is concern that a broader conflict could cause the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz to close, [we] consider this risk as very low given it has never occurred in history,” JPMorgan’s commodities team wrote in a note.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Office on Monday said there had been a slight decrease in the number of large cargo ships transiting the strait over the past week but added that it identified no information pointing towards a blockade or closure.

Janiv Shah, an oil analyst at consultancy Rystad Energy, said a blockade would push markets into “uncharted territory”, but that this was an unlikely outcome.

Rather than shutting the strait, an alternative Iranian response could lead to Tehran seeking to strike oilfields in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, which are within the reach of its drones, say analysts.

In 2019 Iran was widely believed to be behind a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing facility that temporarily cut the kingdom’s crude production by more than half and briefly pushed up global oil prices by as much as 20 per cent.

However, traders are betting that any such action will come into play only as a very last resort, according to Falakshahi.

“Currently no actor in the region, especially the two currently involved in the conflict, sees a benefit in hitting critical energy infrastructure,” he said.

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The suspect in the shooting of 2 Minnesota lawmakers has been captured and charged

Published

1 hour ago

June 16, 2025

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The suspect in the shooting of 2 Minnesota lawmakers has been captured and charged

This booking photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office shows Vance Boelter in Green Isle, Minn., early Monday morning — shortly after a two-day manhunt ended in his capture and arrest.

Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office/AP

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Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office/AP

Law enforcement in Minnesota have arrested the man wanted in the attack early Saturday morning that killed one state lawmaker and left another wounded.

Vance Boelter, 57, was apprehended on Sunday night after what Brooklyn Park police Chief Mark Bruley called “the largest manhunt in state history.”

Vance Luther Boelter, age 57, is the suspect in targeting political shootings in Minnesota that left one Democratic lawmaker dead. A national manhunt is underway for Boelter who authorities say was last spotted on a camera in the city of Minneapolis. Boelter is shown here in photographs compiled by the FBI for a wanted poster.

Bruley said at a Sunday night press conference that officers had been searching the area of Boelter’s property near the town of Green Isle when one thought they saw him “running into the woods.” After about an hour and a half, with the help of multiple SWAT teams and a State Patrol helicopter, authorities closed in on him and were “able to call him out to us.”

“Where he was ultimately taken into custody was in a field,” Bruley said, adding that Boelter was armed at the time.

Boelter was the subject of a days-long man-hunt involving hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement after the shocking deaths of Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. Officials say the couple were shot and killed in their Brooklyn Park, Minn., home by a man impersonating a police officer.

This combo from photos provided by Minnesota Legislature shows from left, Senator John A. Hoffman and Rep. Melissa Hortman. (Minnesota Legislature via AP)

Earlier that same morning, Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot at their home in nearby Champlin, Minn. In a statement shared with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Sunday night, Yvette said John “is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods.”

“He took 9 bullet hits,” she wrote. “I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive.”

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension superintendent Drew Evans told reporters on Sunday that Boelter had been charged with the Hortmans’ murders as well as the shooting of the Hoffmans. He said the FBI and and U.S. Attorney’s Office are reviewing whether to bring additional federal charges.

Boelter was booked into the Hennepin County Jail just after 1 a.m. Monday, and is due to appear in court later in the afternoon, MPR News reports.

What happened on Saturday

Vance Luther Boelter, age 57, is shown here in photographs compiled by the FBI for a wanted poster.

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Police say they initially responded to the shooting at Hoffman’s house, and then went to Hortman’s home. There, they saw a car with emergency lights out front, and a man at the door dressed in all blue with black body armor. Officials say that man shot at police, but was able to get away.

Authorities have yet to announce a possible motive for the attacks, but Minn. Gov. Tim Walz called the shootings “an act of targeted political violence.”

At a news conference Saturday, state police said they found a list of individuals inside what they say is Boelter’s vehicle. Hortman and Hoffman were on that list along with other lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Tina Smith and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who are also both Democrats.

Evans said Sunday that if officers hadn’t encountered Boelter at Hortman’s house, forcing him to abandon his vehicle, “I have every confidence that this would have continued throughout the day.”

Officials also said they found “No Kings” flyers in the car, a reference to the anti-Trump protests that happened around the country Saturday. Minnesota state officials urged residents to avoid the gatherings, though many still attended and the protests remained largely peaceful.

Other protests across the U.S. also remained largely peaceful, though not without incident: Police in Virginia arrested a man for recklessly driving his car through a crowd gathered to protest, hitting one person. In Texas, another man was arrested for making threats against state lawmakers there.

And on Sunday, Salt Lake City police announced the death of an “innocent bystander” who had been shot at a downtown protest, allegedly by a member of the event’s peacekeeping team who had been aiming at a different target: a person brandishing a rifle at demonstrators.

A backdrop of political violence

The shootings in Minnesota are part of a string of high-profile political violence across the country in recent years. In April, for example, a man allegedly set fire to Penn. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home and faces charges including attempted murder, terrorism and aggravated arson.

Last year, the Brennan Center for Justice, a policy think tank, released a report saying nearly half of the state lawmakers it surveyed had experienced threats or attacks in recent years. At the federal level, the U.S. Capitol Police has documented a spike in threats against members of Congress.

And last summer, President Trump, who has often been criticized for stoking the intense emotions that can lead to political violence in the first place, survived an assassination attempt that left his ear bloodied and killed a person in the crowd.

In a post on social media, Trump condemned the shootings in Minnesota, saying that “such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”

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At Least 4 Dead and 4 Missing in West Virginia Flash Flooding

Published

15 hours ago

June 15, 2025

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At Least 4 Dead and 4 Missing in West Virginia Flash Flooding

At least four people died and four people were missing in West Virginia after flash flooding destroyed homes and washed away roads, as more rain deluged parts of the state on Sunday, officials said.

Louis Vargo, the director of the Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said at a news conference on Sunday that rainstorms Saturday night quickly became dangerous in Ohio County, which is about 50 miles west of Pittsburgh.

In a 30-minute period on Saturday night, 2.5 to four inches of rain fell, Mr. Vargo said, citing National Weather Service estimates.

He said he had worked in emergency management in the county for 35 years. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

As of Sunday afternoon, thunderstorms were producing heavy rain and an additional two to 3.7 inches of rain had fallen, according to the Weather Service, which issued a flash flood emergency for Fairmont, W.Va.

“Additional rainfall amounts of 0.5 to 1 inch are possible in the warned area,” the service said. “Flash flooding is already occurring.”

Gov. Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia said on social media on Sunday that the flooding had contributed to a partial apartment building collapse in Marion County. There was no immediate information about whether anyone was injured.

The governor said at a separate news conference on Sunday afternoon that four people had been killed in the flooding that started on Saturday night. Officials did not provide details about those who died but said that one of the victims was a 3-year-old.

Four other people remained missing after Saturday night’s heavy rains. Jim Blazier, chief of the Wheeling Fire Department, said emergency workers were using drones, dogs and swift water rescue teams to look for those missing.

Officials said that an unidentified fire station and a rescue truck were lost to the flooding.

Power outages were reported as of Sunday afternoon, according to the Appalachian Power Company. Efforts to restore power were impeded by natural gas leaks, Mr. Vargo said. If power is turned on before a gas leak is fixed, it could cause an explosion.

Mr. Morrisey declared a state of emergency in Ohio County on Sunday.

“Please do not get on the road in the affected areas,” the governor urged residents. “Stay off the road.”

Johnny Diaz contributed reporting.