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Opinion: One Trump puppet stands between Ukraine and the aid it needs

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Opinion: One Trump puppet stands between Ukraine and the aid it needs

Speaker Mike Johnson in just months has all but cemented his place among the weakest House leaders in its history. Alas, the Louisianan nonetheless holds enough power that he’s single-handedly blocking one of the most crucial matters of our time: bipartisan U.S. aid to Ukraine for its defense against Vladimir Putin’s murderous expansionism.

It’s not like Johnson is making a stand on principle by not scheduling a House vote. Oh, no. To hear him talk, he’s all for our Ukrainian allies and wants some kind of aid. But Donald Trump does not — he’s with Putin, as usual — and Johnson generally stands wherever the former president directs. Not for nothing is the novice speaker called “MAGA Mike.”

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Jackie Calmes

Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.

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And no issue illustrates better than Ukraine the dithering and subservience to Trump that have become Johnson’s hallmarks since October, when House Republicans ousted his predecessor, rejected several higher-ranking aspirants and then, exhausted by the impasse, settled on him.

Also, no issue holds more dire consequences if Johnson doesn’t change course — for Ukraine, peace in Europe and the United States’ security and international standing.

Johnson continues to straddle the question, saying all the right, supportive things — “Ukraine is the victim here. They were invaded,” he told reporters Wednesday — and yet doing nothing. President Biden’s aid request has languished for as long as Johnson has been speaker. It’s now been a month since the Senate overwhelmingly voted, 70 to 29, for the $95-billion foreign aid package — $60 billion for Ukraine and the rest for Israel, Taiwan and Palestinians in Gaza.

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Give Johnson this much: He can take a lot of pressure, at least when he’s safely in Trump’s corner. Lately he’s been getting hit from all sides about Ukraine — from the president and congressional Democrats, sure, but also from pro-Ukraine Republicans and even from foreign leaders.

Members of both parties began trying in recent days to collect signatures from a majority of the House on two separate discharge petitions that would force a vote on Ukraine aid. The discharge strategy is rarely used, and it’s even more rarely successful because, by definition, the action is a slap at the party leaders who bottled up the legislation. But this could be one of the rare times.

Most Democrats already have signed the petition that would simply require a vote on the Senate bill, sending it to Biden. (The other petition is for a scaled-back bill that would require separate Senate approval and more time.) The Ukraine backers must get enough Republicans to buck their party leaders and sign to make a majority. That’s hard, but doable: The Ukraine issue is powerful, and Johnson is not. Republicans don’t fear him. To fend off the challenge, Johnson has suggested he’s trying to draft an alternative to the Senate bill.

In the Senate, meanwhile, Republican leader Mitch McConnell is fed up with Johnson’s pussyfooting. McConnell has almost never publicly criticized House Republicans or told them how to run their chamber. So it was a measure of his exasperation that he vented to reporters Tuesday: “We don’t have time for all of this. We’ve got a bill that got 70 votes in the Senate. Give members of the House of Representatives an opportunity to vote on it.”

Visiting leaders from Poland, Ukraine’s neighbor and our NATO ally, on that same day publicly singled out Johnson for some less-than-diplomatic kvetching. “Mr. Johnson’s failure to make a positive decision will cost thousands of lives” and affect “the fate of millions of people,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

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After Johnson met privately with Polish President Andrzej Duda, he issued the kind of have-it-all-ways remarks he’s now known for. The statement was silent on the Ukraine aid bill yet proclaimed, “America must remain united with our friends against those who threaten our security.”

What do those words mean if they’re not an argument for more aid to Ukraine?

The “remain united with our friends” part is particularly rich. Contrary to what Trump and his America First Republicans would have us believe, nearly all European and NATO allies have given more assistance to Ukraine than the United States, measured as a percentage of the size of the nations’ economies. They’re panicky at the prospect of a U.S. retreat from the bloodiest combat in Europe since World War II.

As for “those who threaten our security,” certainly Russia looms large among those threats, at least for everyone but Trump and his sycophants.

Of which Johnson is one. And that’s the problem.

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Johnson, stalling, insists that the Senate and the House first must finish the long-overdue work of funding the government. But the annual spending bills won’t be completed before Friday, and then Congress skedaddles for a 17-day recess. The Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Alabama Rep. Mike D. Rogers, had a word for Johnson’s timetable: “reckless.”

As Johnson waffles, Ukrainian troops are rationing ammunition and giving ground to Russians that they could hold if they had a reliable pipeline of U.S.-made weaponry. CIA Director William Burns and other U.S. intelligence officials recently warned Congress that Ukraine’s losses would only mount without U.S. aid. For this country to abandon Ukraine after pledges to the contrary would not only embolden revanchist Russia, it would encourage the Chinese in their global ambitions.

As Biden said in his State of the Union address, the necessary lifeline for Ukraine “is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world.”

Johnson would deny that’s what he wants. Let’s see him prove it. In the words of McConnell: “Let the House speak.”

And if it does — with a bipartisan vote for Ukraine — that will echo the support of a majority of Americans. But first Johnson must get out of the way. Or be pushed.

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Trump announces to crowd he 'just took off the last bandage' at faith event after assassination attempt

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Trump announces to crowd he 'just took off the last bandage' at faith event after assassination attempt

Former President Trump announced to a crowd Friday night he “just took off the last bandage” from his ear after an attempted assassination nearly two weeks ago.

The Believer’s Summit, hosted by Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, focused on reaching voters of faith. Dr. Ben Carson, former HUD Secretary, preceded the former president.

“And we want to thank each and every one of the believers in this room for your prayers and your incredible support. I really did appreciate it,” Trump said.

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“Something was working. That we know. Something was working. So, I thank you very much. And I stand before you tonight, thanks to the power of prayer and the grace of Almighty God,” he added.

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“As I think you can see, I’ve recovered well. And, in fact, I just took off the last bandage off of my ear.”

Former President Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, speaks at Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla., July 26, 2024.  (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

The crowd roared with applause as the former president gestured to his injured ear.

I just got it off,” he clarified. “I took it off for this group. I don’t know why I did that for this group, but that’s it. I think that’s it.”

Trump’s speech included attacks against his presumptive Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, calling the vice president “a bum.”

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“Three weeks ago, she was a bum, a failed vice president and a failed administration with millions of people crossing. And she was the border czar. Now they’re trying to say she never was,” the former president said.

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“If radical liberal Kamala Harris gets in and, by the way, there are numerous ways of saying her name, they were explaining to me. … I said, don’t worry about it.

“Doesn’t matter what I say. I couldn’t care less if I mispronounce it or not. I couldn’t care less.”

Dr. Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor, released a letter earlier Friday offering an update on Trump’s health after the assassination attempt July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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Former President Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, speaks at Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla., July 26, 2024. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

“I want to reassure the American people and the rest of the world that President Trump is doing extremely well,” Jackson said.

“He is rapidly recovering from the gunshot wound to his right ear. I will continue to be available to assist President Trump and his personal physician in any way they see fit and will provide updates as necessary and with the permission of President Trump.”

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the FBI confirmed Friday to Fox News Digital.

Trump and running mate JD Vance, the Ohio senator, are scheduled to appear for a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Saturday.

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From Let's Go Brandon to Let's Go Brenda. Trump merch sellers say they'll be just fine after Biden exit

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From Let's Go Brandon to Let's Go Brenda. Trump merch sellers say they'll be just fine after Biden exit

Vincent Scuzzese runs a store in New Jersey named Let’s Go Brandon.

Yes, that Let’s Go Brandon, the pro-Trump mantra gracing Scuzzese’s merchandise — shirts, flags, mugs, makeup compacts and more. There’s a Let’s Go Brandon adult coloring book (subtitle: “The Story of the WORST President in U.S. History”). And for the athletic, a 32-inch Let’s Go Brandon skateboard.

So, what happens now that “Brandon” himself has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed his second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Harris?

A rebrand.

Scuzzese’s shelves now offer merch with a new motto: Let’s Go Brenda.

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“My sales are going nuts,” said Scuzzese, 59, who opened his store in a strip mall off Route 37 in Toms River, N.J., two years ago. “Biden dropped out, but Kamala has the same views — even worse views. She’s more socialist.”

After Biden quit the race Sunday, social media quickly filled with jokes about warehouses full of rotting, deeply discounted anti-Biden merch and Let’s Go Brandon flags flying at half-staff. One meme includes an altered photo of a marquee sign for a different Let’s Go Brandon store; the memester added a fake banner for Spirit Halloween, the seasonal retailer that pops up in empty stores.

But the folks selling anti-Biden swag say they will be just fine, thank you very much.

“Dear Liberal Snowflakes, We appreciate your fan emails and phone calls voicing your concerns in regards to our now ‘useless inventory’ since the Sleepy Joe dropout. We understand that liberals don’t have an IQ of even two digits and have no idea how printing businesses work,” the website for the Let’s Go Brandon Online Shop read on Thursday.

Even if Let’s Go Brenda — the female version of Brandon — catches on, the original slogan doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

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The crass catchphrase, which began as a sort-of-but-not-really inside joke among supporters of former President Trump, became so ubiquitous that the Republican National Committee sells its own Brandon-branded beverage koozies, bumper stickers and grilling irons.

“It was a way to signal to other MAGA people that they’re in the club and to signal to the liberals in the community that they’re not welcome,” said Tim Miller, a former RNC spokesman, who left the GOP in 2020 and is now a Trump critic.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of anti-Kamala slogans,” Miller said. But Brandon “might stick around,” he said, like Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan and MAGA acronym, as well as the red hats.

The Let’s Go Brandon jeer came from a viral video of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown being interviewed in October 2021 by an NBC reporter after winning his first Xfinity Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

In the crowd, people chanted, “F— Joe Biden!” The reporter, apparently trying to cover up the obscenity, suggested they were yelling, “Let’s go, Brandon!”

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Let’s Go Brandon is an anti-Biden slogan seen on countless flags, shirts and merchandise across the country.

(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The taunt later inspired pro-Biden memes with a laser-eyed alter ego of the president called Dark Brandon. Although Biden embraced the image and his campaign sold its own Dark Brandon swag, the meme never came close to overtaking Let’s Go Brandon.

Or, for that matter, the vulgar acronym FJB — it means what you think it means — which adorns countless flags and bumper stickers across the country.

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Outside the Thunder-Rode motorcyle accessories shop on Route 66 in Kingman, Ariz., owner Jack Alexander flies a flag with an anti-Biden expletive. He’s got some inside, too. They sell well, he said.

For now, he has no plans to get rid of them. Alexander said it does not make sense “to spend a lot of money” on new merch before the party’s nomination becomes official at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.

“We don’t think Harris is going to make it past the convention,” Alexander said. “We feel there’s going to be a war within the Democratic Party because of the non-election process that put her where she is.”

In New Jersey, Scuzzese said sales at the Let’s Go Brandon store have been through the roof since the failed assassination attempt against Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Penn. That night, Scuzzese said, he was so busy that he kept his store open long past closing time.

“Before he got shot, people were afraid to wear his hat and put his flags on their house,” Scuzzese said. Afterward, “they were coming in and buying hats and saying, ‘I’m not taking this hat off. I’m wearing it proudly. I hid it for long enough.’”

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Scuzzese quickly hawked shirts with the iconic photo of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in front of the American flag. And his Let’s Go Brenda shirts were on the shelves within two days of Biden quitting the race.

Despite Biden’s exit, Scuzzese has no plans, at least for now, to change the name of his business.

And the Let’s Go Brandon phrase itself?

“At least until the election,” Scuzzese said, “it ain’t going nowhere.”

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Park Police union says officers ‘did everything they could’ during DC anti-Israel riot

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Park Police union says officers ‘did everything they could’ during DC anti-Israel riot

Following the protests at Union Station by anti-Israel agitators defacing federal property in protest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, a Park Police union is pushing back against criticism that only a few arrests were made.

Thousands of Hamas-sympathizing agitators descended on Washington, D.C., Tuesday, at one point defacing federal monuments with phrases in support of the terrorist group responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, saying, “Hamas is coming.” 

Twenty-three people were arrested at the protests, but some have suggested that number should have been higher. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., posted on X, “How many more times are they going to allow leftist degenerates who support terrorism and hate America to vandalize property and attack police? There should have been hundreds of arrests today in D.C. not just 23.”

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The Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station during an anti-Israel protest on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington July 24, 2024.  (Reuters/Seth Herald)

But the U.S. Park Police Labor Committee is pushing back.

“Our officers on the ground did everything they could to protect life and property. In fact, despite having only 29 officers available to mitigate damage — 29! — with no additional help from the Department of the Interior, we processed several arrests for charges ranging from assault on a police officer to destruction of government property,” Kenneth Spencer, chairman of the United States Park Police Fraternal Order of Police, said in a statement. 

“That’s why it’s so disheartening to hear some members of Congress and members of the media, many of whom describe themselves as ‘champions’ of law enforcement, suggesting that officers gave protesters a ‘pass’ or that insufficient arrests were made. 

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who truly cares to understand the problem would see that our officer staffing crisis is at the root of our agency’s mission readiness. A small unit of 29 officers arrested 10 individuals while being assaulted by a mob of thousands. We simply did not have the staffing or resources to accomplish a mass arrest operation.”

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A pro-Palestinian demonstrator sprays graffiti on Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station

An anti-Israel demonstrator sprays graffiti on the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station on the day of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington July 24, 2024.  (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

At least one demonstrator, whose face was covered, was spotted by Fox News carrying what appeared to be the flag of the terrorist group Hamas while others were heard shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

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Protesters-gather-for-Israeli-PM-Netanyahu's-address-to-Congress-in-Washington

Anti-Israel demonstrators burn an effigy depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside Union Station on the day of Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington July 24, 2024.  (Reuters/Nathan Howard)

The White House condemned the protests Wednesday evening, calling the chaos “disgraceful.” 

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“Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another is disgraceful,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a comment to Fox News Digital Wednesday evening. 

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