Politics
At RNC, vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance calls Trump 'America's last, best hope'
In his first public address as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance kept the focus on his boss — a trait shared by those who tend to stay in former President Trump’s favor.
Speaking Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Vance used his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio — made famous by his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy” — to highlight points from the Trump campaign. He decried inflation, promised to prevent the U.S. from becoming involved in foreign wars and pledged to stop “importing foreign labor.”
“President Trump represents America’s last, best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again: a country where a working-class boy born far from the halls of power can stand on this stage as the next vice president of the United States of America,” Vance said.
His speech was riddled with anecdotes from his Ohio upbringing. His mother, Bev Vance, who struggled with addiction and mental health issues, sat in the audience and mouthed to him, “I love you, J.D.”
“I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” Vance said.
Vance showed himself as a confident, affable speaker, frequently making off-the-cuff jokes and at one point, turning to the camera and telling his children watching on television to “get your butts in bed.”
The crowd rewarded him by breaking into chants of “J.D.”
Usha Vance, who introduced her husband, sought to humanize him, as political spouses often do. She described meeting him at Yale Law School, and the unlikely friendship and romance between a working-class man who was raised by his grandmother and a middle-class woman who was raised in San Diego by two parents.
“That J.D. and I can meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country,” Usha Vance said.
The former Marine’s “idea of a good time” when they met was playing with puppies and watching the movie “Babe,” she said. Once they became a couple, she said, he adapted to her vegetarian diet and learned to cook Indian food for her mother.
“The J.D. I knew then is the same J.D. I know today — except for that beard,” Usha Vance quipped.
Like most of the speakers before him, Vance acknowledged Saturday’s attempted assassination of Trump, which injured his ear. He lauded the now-famous picture of Trump immediately after the shooting, blood on his cheek, with his fist in the air.
“His instinct was for us, his country,” Vance said. “To call us for something greater, something higher.”
Moments after the shooting, Vance wrote on X that the Biden campaign’s rhetoric “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Despite that, he alluded in his speech to Trump’s call for “unity” since the shooting, saying: “We love this country, and we are united to win. I think our disagreements actually make us stronger.”
Speaking earlier in the evening, Donald Trump Jr. pointed to his father’s actions in the moments after the shooting to argue that he has the grit needed to right this country.
“He didn’t just show his character. He showed America’s character,” Trump Jr. said. “When he stood up, with blood on his face, and the flag at his back, the world saw a spirit that could never be broken. And that is the true spirit of America.”
Later Wednesday night, Michael Tyler, the Biden-Harris campaign’s communications director, issued a statement calling Vance “unprepared, unqualified, and willing to do anything Donald Trump demands.”
Tyler called Vance “Project 2025 in human form … a rubber stamp for Donald Trump to become a dictator on ‘day one.’”
Vance’s headliner address capped the third night of the Republican National Convention, where a jovial atmosphere pervaded the Milwaukee auditorium.
Trump, a white bandage on his ear, watched the evening’s proceedings from his seat. The former president is scheduled to give the week’s final address Thursday.
Trump smiled proudly as his 17-year-old granddaughter, Kai Trump, said he was “just a normal grandpa” who sneaked her candy and asked about her golf game.
Kai’s father, Trump Jr., painted a dystopian image of the country under Democratic rule, a lawless nation being overrun by illegal immigrants, with a cost of living that was out of reach for most Americans, a government focused on the elites and schools more focused on indoctrinating young people than educating them.
Reportedly one of the key backers of Vance — a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist — as his father’s vice presidential pick, Trump Jr. pointed to the friendship between the two men — one from Appalachia and the other from Trump Tower — as proof of the nation’s promise. “Now we’re both fighting side by side to save the country we love,” he said.
And he told undecided or unengaged voters that they faced a stark choice in November.
“It’s a choice between one team that wants to build this country up and another that wants to tear this country down. It’s a choice between people who are proud of America and people who are ashamed of America. And ultimately, it’s a choice between America last and America first,” Trump Jr. said.
Earlier in the evening, a couple of Californians took to the stage to pump up the crowd for the Trump-Vance ticket. Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence under Trump, began his speech by greeting fellow Californians in the room. Grenell, who also served as U.S. ambassador to Germany, railed against foreign policy under President Biden, referencing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
“Donald Trump doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are,” Grenell said. “He knows that we are all Americans and that it’s time to put America first.”
Peter Navarro, a former UC Irvine professor who was released from prison earlier Wednesday, was greeted with a rousing and extended audience cheer.
Navarro, who worked in the Trump administration, was imprisoned for two counts of being in contempt of Congress after he refused to testify to the House Select Committee about Jan. 6.
“If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump — careful, they will come for you,” Navarro told the gathering.
His speech followed a frequent line from the Trump campaign, that the U.S. Justice Department under Biden and Democrats targets political enemies. “I went to prison so you won’t have to,” he said.
Navarro was the first among Trump administration officials to go to prison.
Mehta reported from Milwaukee, Pinho from Los Angeles.
Politics
Trump to kick off Great American State Fair as 250th anniversary celebrations take over National Mall
Washington DC to host Great American State Fair for America250
Ambassador Monica Crowley discusses the Great American State Fair, set to transform the National Mall in Washington D.C. from June 25 to July 10. Celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the 16-day event will feature pavilions from all 50 states and six territories, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, traditional games, and rodeo competitions, aiming to unite the country.
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President Donald Trump will kick off the Great American State Fair Wednesday evening as part of celebrations surrounding the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“President Trump promised the greatest 250th birthday celebration in American history, and Freedom 250 is proud to help deliver it for the American people,” Freedom 250 CEO Keith Kranch told Fox News Digital.
“This celebration is about what makes America exceptional—our freedom, our faith, our optimism, and our people. We are honored to welcome President Trump as he helps kick off these historic festivities tomorrow and begin a nationwide celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday,” Krach added.
The fair brings together all 50 states and six U.S. territories for a national celebration stretching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument featuring military flyovers, musical performances and civic programming. Trump announced he will deliver remarks after a handful of musical artists pulled out of their musical performances, turning the bash into a “Make America Great Again Rally.”
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Organizers describe the Great American State Fair as a modern-day World’s Fair celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The event is scheduled to run from June 25 through July 10, 2026, celebrating patriotism to bring together the nation for a celebration of unity.
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U.S. President Donald J. Trump watches the UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Trump’s anticipated remarks follow his signature last week on a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, launching a 60-day negotiating period aimed at preventing Tehran from ever obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
The world’s fair-scale event will have pavilions touching on five national themes: Made in America, American Heartland, American Innovates, The American Canvas, and Faith & Family.
There will also be a 110-foot Ferris wheel and the refurbished Smithsonian carousel for families to enjoy.
Rending of 110-foot ferris wheel coming to National Mall for “Great American State Fair.” (Freedom250)
The U.S. has hosted over two dozen variations of the world’s fair since first hosted in Philadelphia in 1876, according to the State Department.
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Freedom250, the nonpartisan group helping coordinate the broader America250 effort, said the fair will feature food, games, exhibits and themed attractions designed to showcase the country’s culture, history and innovation.
Politics
Why your food scraps travel more than 100 miles — and how an L.A. council member wants to stop it
Bob Blumenfield would like to see Angelenos’ old banana peels and moldy bread stay local.
On Tuesday morning, the City Council member told a small crowd of waste advocates in front of city hall that he was introducing a motion to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by strengthening local composting infrastructure and decreasing reliance on distant facilities.
Currently, when city residents separate their food waste and yard clippings, chances are it’s being trucked to faraway processing facilities in Bakersfield or Lancaster.
The motion would help the city meet targets set by California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, or Senate Bill 1383, which phases out sending green waste to the landfill, because it is a major source of the powerful climate pollutant methane.
It also would help meet Mayor Bass’ Climate Action Plan, which aims to use at least 50% of locally produced compost and mulch within Los Angeles by 2030. Currently, only 25% to 30% of the city’s material is applied to land locally.
The city produces approximately 350,000 tons of organic material a year, Blumenfield told the crowd, which he said equates to roughly 1.2 to 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
“That’s a big number, and when you do the math,” he said, that’s roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide released by the entire country of Belize, the entirety of Humboldt County or the equivalent of burning 1.6 billion pounds of coal per year.
As the announcement was underway, in the background a fire burned for a sixth day in a Boyle Heights warehouse, where 85 million pounds of frozen food was thawing and beginning to rot.
Signed into law in 2016, the state’s composting bill mandated a gradual increase in the amount of organic waste that must be diverted away from landfills. It required 50% of all green and food waste be diverted by 2020; by 2025, that number was supposed to hit 75%.
But it hasn’t. Although Los Angeles has pushed to get a residential curbside bin program in place — recall the “Great Green Bin Apocalypse of 2025” — it has struggled to get people to comply.
According to reports for the recycLA program, a commercial and multifamily waste collection franchise program, only about half of households and business are separating their compostable waste.
Alex Helou, assistant general manager of L.A. Sanitation & Environment, provided a much brighter picture of the city’s food waste situation. L.A. is the first major city to provide green bins to 750,000 residential customers, he said. The city has “exceeded expectations” in food recovery, he said, saving 80 million meals that would have been thrown out and redirecting them to people in need.
Helou said Blumenfield’s motion completes the loop by keeping food waste close to home, creating more local composting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transporting waste outside of the city. It doesn’t directly affect the city’s compliance with SB 1383, but that isn’t necessary, he said. “We’re meeting that and exceeding that at multiple fronts.”
Blumenfield’s initiative directs the Bureau of Sanitation to develop a plan for expanding local composting across the city. It would also increase the use of locally produced compost and mulch.
For instance, the motion would encourage using the compost on urban farms and at community gardens and city parks. It also would be used to replace artificial grass and turf.
It will support a “citywide transition away from artificial turf and towards nature-based solutions, such as California native plants and natural grass plant fields, and ensure everyone has access to safer, cooler, and sustainable parks, schools, and communities,” said Terry Saucier, a Tarzana resident and member of the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance and the Tarzana Neighborhood Council.
The state’s composting law has proved challenging on several fronts.
The Antelope Valley has become a dumping site for many of the city’s haulers looking to cut transport and facility costs — causing concern among environmentalists and others who say the material is destroying fragile ecosystems.
Complying has been particularly difficult for Los Angeles and much of coastal Southern California, where there are few large composters and low demand for compost. Unlike areas to the north, there is little agricultural demand for compost and mulch.
Experts say dumping in the desert has always been a problem, but the law made it worse by making it more expensive and difficult to deal with.
In addition, composters are struggling with the amount of plastic and other debris that people and businesses put in the food waste bins.
According to a report by Closed Loop Partners, which partners with companies such as Pepsico and McDonald’s, nearly 4% of food waste is contaminated with other materials — most of it plastic. State law requires that finished compost contains no more than 0.5% by dry weight of physical contaminants.
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Democratic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, whom pundits consider a potential 2028 presidential contender, is one step closer to winning re-election this year.
Moore on Tuesday captured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the solidly blue Mid-Atlantic state, the Associated Press reports.
Moore and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, easily dispatched a primary challenge from Eric Felber and his running mate, LaTrece Hawkins Lytes. Felber, a physician, unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin in the 2024 primary in the state’s 8th Congressional District.
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks during an announcement at the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket in Maryland.
The Democratic ticket will face the winners of a nine-way Republican primary field.
Moore is running for re-election this year amid speculation that he also is eyeing a run for the White House in 2028, in the race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump. Democrats are expected to field a large and competitive field in the race for their party’s presidential nomination.
The governor has consistently ruled out running for the White House in 2028, saying that his political focus is on his home state and his 2026 re-election.
But regardless, Moore remains a top Democratic Party surrogate in national politics. And Moore, a 47-year-old Army veteran, who is also a Rhodes Scholar and was CEO of the charitable organization the Robin Hood Foundation during the coronavirus pandemic, is viewed as a rising star in the party.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and President Donald Trump are pictured together in a split image. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Moore, the nation’s only Black governor, has had a combustible relationship with Trump, which has included very public feuds and verbal sparring, and clashes over policy.
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Earlier this year, Trump initially excluded Moore from a National Governors Association dinner at the White House, charging that the governor was “not worthy” of attending.
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