Politics
Video: ‘Take the Vote. I’m at Peace,’ Santos Says Ahead of Expulsion Vote
new video loaded: ‘Take the Vote. I’m at Peace,’ Santos Says Ahead of Expulsion Vote
transcript
transcript
‘Take the Vote. I’m at Peace,’ Santos Says Ahead of Expulsion Vote
The House of Representatives debated for an hour on whether to expel Representative George Santos, Republican of New York, from Congress.
-
Are we really going to ignore the facts that we all have pasts and we all have the media coming out against us on a daily basis? Every last one of us has struggled with every little ounce of what happens within public service. I didn’t come here— I can go and read about all my colleagues. I’m not going to stand here to smear them. I’m not going to stand here and use the time I have to say ill things about my colleagues. I refuse to stoop to that level. The only thing I want to make clear is if tomorrow, when this vote is on the floor, it is in the conscience of all of my colleagues that they believe that this is the correct thing to do, so be it. Take the vote. I’m at peace. I have accepted that whether I get expelled or I don’t, I have accepted that I cannot control that faith, Mr. Speaker.
Recent episodes in Politics
Politics
Trump says 'biggest problem' not Biden's age, 'decline,' but his policies in first appearance since debate
At former President Trump’s first rally since the presidential debate, he argued the nation’s “biggest problem” is not President Biden’s age and “decline,” but his destructive policies.
Speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia, Friday, Trump took a victory lap after the first 2024 presidential debate.
Trump told supporters every voter should ask one question before heading to the polls Nov. 5.
“The question every voter should be asking themselves today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute debate performance, but whether America can survive four more years of crooked Joe Biden in the White House,” he said.
TRUMP, BIDEN SPAR OVER GOLF HANDICAPS AS THEY TRY TO CONVINCE VOTERS THEY ARE NOT TOO OLD FOR THE PRESIDENCY
“Remember, the biggest problem for our country is not Joe Biden’s personal decline,” Trump said. “It’s that Joe Biden’s policies are causing America’s decline at a level that we’ve never seen before.
“That’s why this November, the people of Virginia and the people of America are going to tell crooked Joe Biden, ‘You’re fired.’”
President Biden addressed his campaign performance at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, saying, “I don’t debate as well as I used to.
BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE SILENT AS PARTY REELS FOLLOWING ‘EMBARRASSING’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE
“I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done,” he told a roaring crowd that chanted “Four more years.”
“The choice in this election is simple,” Biden said. “Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.”
Biden’s age and mental acuity have been at the forefront as voters inch closer to Election Day.
Biden, 81, is the oldest president in history and has faced skepticism from voters and Republican lawmakers about his ability to do the job.
Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term, while Trump would be 82.
Politics
Kinky Friedman, musical satirist and writer who also ran for Texas governor, dies at 79
Kinky Friedman, author, singer-songwriter and former Texas gubernatorial candidate, died Thursday after a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Friedman was 79.
“He died peacefully,” close friend Kent Perkins, who knew Friedman for about 50 years, told the Associated Press in confirming the death. He said Friedman died at his family’s ranch near San Antonio.
“He smoked a cigar, went to bed and never woke up,” Perkins said.
Perkins described Friedman as the “last free person on earth” and said he had an “irreverence about him. He was a fearless writer.”
Friedman — born Richard Samet Friedman in Chicago on Nov. 1, 1944 — stirred buzz with his provocative and unapologetic nature, which became widely known when his band, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, found success in the 1970s.
The satirical country band released songs such as “Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through the Goal Posts of Life,” “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.”
But the band’s brash nature was apparently not well received by some.
“In 1973, the Texas Jewboys received death threats in Nacogdoches, got bomb threats in New York, and required a police escort to escape radical feminists at the University of Buffalo,” the musician wrote in a personal essay for the September 2001 issue of Texas Monthly.
Friedman — who was nicknamed Kinky, or the Kinkster, because of his curly hair — then traveled with Bob Dylan in 1976 as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. By the 1980s, after his band’s success had cooled, Friedman turned to a new venture: writing.
He penned several New York-based crime novels, including “Greenwich Killing Time” and “Roadkill,” that featured himself as a detective. At the time of his death, Friedman had written more than 20 books.
Joking that he needed “a job right now,” Friedman elevated his profile when he challenged incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry in the 2006 Texas governor’s race, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The race became prickly. Friedman, one of five candidates, was hit with allegations of racism over remarks he made in 1980. He denied the accusations, stating that his style of humor was intended to draw reactions.
Offending people “was the purpose,” Friedman told the Houston Chronicle in 2006. “That’s what I was doing. That’s called social commentary, that’s called satire.”
He ran on a campaign that supported gay marriage (“I think they have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us”) and prayer in school (“What’s wrong with a kid believing in something?”) but ultimately finished in last place. Perry won reelection.
Reflecting on the race four years later, Friedman told The Times that more musicians should get into politics.
“If the musicians ran the country, we wouldn’t get a hell of a lot done in the morning, but we’d work late and we’d be honest,” he said. “When I’m in a roomful of musicians, those are decent people, good people. You can’t say the same about politicians.”
And he was still proud of his gubernatorial campaign.
“We won that race, by the way,” Friedman said, “every place but Texas.”
Politics
Trump sways independent voters over Biden on immigration in Fox News Digital focus group
Former President Trump appeared to earn significant approval from Republican and independent voters who were part of a Fox News Digital focus group during his response to President Biden’s claims about immigration during the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday night.
When CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked Biden to inform voters how he can curb the record-high numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the border, the two presidential contenders sparred over their immigration policies, which ended in Biden calling Trump a “liar” and Trump appearing to not understand a portion of Biden’s responses.
After touting Congress’ bipartisan border package that lawmakers bucked earlier this year, Biden said “we find ourselves in a situation where when [Trump] was president, he was separating babies from their mothers, put them in cages, making sure that the families were separated.”
FIRST 2024 TRUMP-BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: TOP CLASHES OVER ISSUES FROM THE BORDER TO UKRAINE
“That’s not the right way to go. What I’ve done since I’ve changed the law, what’s happened? I’ve changed it in a way that now you’re in a situation where there are 40% fewer people coming across the border illegally. That’s better than when he left office. And I’m going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we can do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers,” Biden said.
During Biden’s remarks, Republican and independent voters who took part in the Fox News Digital focus group gave the president low approval. When Trump responded, however, the approval from the same voters shot up, indicating support for the former president’s positions on the subject.
Republican approval lines are color-coded red, while independents’ are color-coded yellow and Democrats’ blue.
BIDEN’S HIT ON TRUMP OVER ‘SUCKERS’ AND ‘LOSERS’ REPORT BACKFIRES WITH INDEPENDENTS: FOCUS GROUP
Trump, appearing to not understand Biden, responded: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”
“Look, we had the safest border in the history of our country,” Trump added. “All he had to do was leave it, all he had to do was to leave it. He decided to open up our border, open up our country, to people that are from prisons, people that are from mental institutions, insane asylum, terrorists — we have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now.”
Approval from Democratic voters who took part in the real-time reaction gave Biden high marks for his remarks on immigration. During Trump’s rebuttal, Democratic approval dropped significantly.
Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
-
News1 week ago
Read the Ruling by the Virginia Court of Appeals
-
News1 week ago
Tracking a Single Day at the National Domestic Violence Hotline
-
Fitness1 week ago
What's the Least Amount of Exercise I Can Get Away With?
-
News1 week ago
Supreme Court upholds law barring domestic abusers from owning guns in major Second Amendment ruling | CNN Politics
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump classified docs judge to weigh alleged 'unlawful' appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith
-
Politics1 week ago
Supreme Court upholds federal gun ban for those under domestic violence restraining orders
-
Politics1 week ago
Newsom seeks to restrict students' cellphone use in schools: 'Harming the mental health of our youth'
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump VP hopeful proves he can tap into billionaire GOP donors