Trump announced Gaetz’ selection in a Truth Social post, describing him as a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law” who would end “Weaponized Government.” Murphy, on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” called the decision “stunning” and warned of “cataclysmic” consequences for “American democracy.”

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“I was walking off the Senate floor just moments ago when the news was announced. You could literally hear the jaws dropping to the floor of Republican senators who are now going to be in a position to stand up to Donald Trump in a way that they have been unwilling to. I mean, listen, Matt Gaetz is dangerously unqualified, but that’s not the worst of it,” Murphy said. “Gaetz has been Trump‘s chief defender when it comes to Trump’s assault on democracy, his attempt to overthrow the government on January 6. And he has openly called for the abolition of law enforcement agencies if they don’t get in line with conservative political priorities. This is going to be a red alert moment for American democracy.”

“Matt Gaetz is being nominated for one reason and one reason only. Because he will implement Donald Trump‘s transition of the Department of Justice from an agency that stands up for all of us to an agency that is simply an arm of the White House designed to persecute and prosecute Trump’s political enemies,” Murphy said. “This is a stunning announcement in some ways, but not surprising in others because Trump told us during the campaign that he was going to use the White House to go after people who politically opposed him, and it seems this pick for the head of the Department of Justice is very much in line with the promises he made during the campaign.”

Trump also announced Wednesday that he would appoint former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be director of National Intelligence. He also said he would appoint Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state. He announced on Tuesday that he would appoint Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

“Matt Gaetz is being nominated because he will be and is today a political agent of Donald Trump. The ramifications of this pick, this particular pick, are stunning and potentially cataclysmic for American democracy,” Murphy added. “I hope that some Senate Republicans will see that.”

Trump is facing multiple federal prosecutions from special counsel Jack Smith, but the Department of Justice is considering how to wind down its cases against him as he prepares to take office in January, multiple reports indicate. DOJ policy bars the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents.

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Lichtman accurately forecast nine of the 10 last elections before wrongly predicting Harris would be victorious, according to USA Today. The historian, on his YouTube channel, argued that voters were not “rational” or “pragmatic” due to what he characterized as a massive uptick in “disinformation” and Trump’s promotion of “xenophobia,” “misogyny” and “racism.”

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“I think two things this year, and maybe going forward, broke this premise of a rational, pragmatic electorate, and these are trends that are not new but have exploded this year beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. First is disinformation,” Lichtman said. “Always had disinformation, but we’ve never had anything remotely on this scale, where billionaires — I don’t know how much Elon Musk is worth, I’m sure more than a hundred billion dollars — who control critical sources of information for the electorate. I mean, Elon Musk owns X, and I’ve seen reports that his disinformation that he’s put out, has been viewed by two billion viewers, vastly more influential than New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, CBS.”

The historian also alleged that Musk is not the only billionaire disseminating “disinformation.” He asserted that “the incredible explosion of disinformation” has led to Americans believing falsehoods about the state of the American economy, “mak[ing] it very difficult for a rational, pragmatic electorate to operate.”

“Then add to that that we’ve seen Trump and his allies exploit, far more than ever before — even 2016 and 2020 — trends that run deep into American history and still resonate at this time: xenophobia, fear of foreign influences … We have never seen, in recent history, xenophobia to this level, and it digs deep into a trend in American history. It’s not something brand new, and it’s not just white people, you know?” Lichtman said. “People of all races and ethnicities can be subject to xenophobia.”

“And finally, there’s racism, one of the deepest, most pervasive trends in American history,” he added. “And we have seen, just as Trump and his allies have brought misogyny and xenophobia to a new level, he’s also brought blatant racism to a new level … So we see then the explosion of disinformation and these three dark trends from American history, and that calls into question the whole premise behind the keys of rationality and pragmatism.”

Lichtman earlier in his video also said the Democratic Party publicly attacking President Joe Biden when he was still running for reelection could have contributed to his wrong prediction.

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God and CNN’s Van Jones both recently argued against exclusively blaming the election results on “racism” and “sexism.”

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The Harris campaign had explored the possibility of appearing on Rogan’s podcast in an attempt to increase her support among male voters, Reuters reported on Oct. 15. Rogan, on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” said he accepted the “restrictions,” but made it clear that there would be no editing of the interview.

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“There was a few restrictions of things they didn’t want to talk about, but I said, ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ I go, ‘Get her in here, like whatever you want to talk about.’ And they want to know if I edit,” Rogan said. “I’m like, ‘There’s not going to be any editing, there’s no editing. We’re not going to edit.’”

“Yeah, that’s the same thing they asked us. ‘Is there an edit?’” fellow podcast host Theo Von responded.

Rogan posted on X on Oct. 29 that the Harris campaign had wanted him to “travel to her” to record an interview, but that he deeply believed it would be better for the vice president to appear in his Austin, Texas studio. He also said on an Oct. 30 episode of his podcast that he extended an “open invitation” to the Harris campaign while she was in Texas for an Oct. 25 rally, but that she did not take him up on it.

“She had an opportunity to come … You could look at this and you could say, ‘Oh, you’re being a diva,’ but she had an opportunity to come here when she was in Texas. And I literally gave them an open invitation,” he asserted at the time. “I said, ‘Anytime.’ I said, ‘If she’s done at 10:00, we’ll come back here at 10:00.’ I go, ‘I’ll do it at 9:00 in the morning, I’ll do it at 10:00 p.m., I’ll do it at midnight if she’s up, she wants to, you know, drink a Red Bull and fuckin’ party on.’”

President-elect Donald Trump appeared on Rogan’s podcast on Oct. 25, recording a three-hour episode that has amassed over 47 million views on YouTube as of Friday.

“I just wanted to talk … I feel like you give someone a couple of hours and you start talking about anything, I’m [going to] see the pattern of the way you think,” Rogan said Friday. “I’m gonna see the way you process ideas. I’m gonna see whether or not you’re calculated or whether you’re just free. Or are you comfortable with you or are you projecting things?”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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Trump’s election victory was fueled partly by increased support from Hispanic and black men. Cuomo, on “The Chris Cuomo Project,” suggested voters cast their ballots for Trump over Harris based on “a gross violation of norms” that they find “unacceptable.”

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“You are forcing new social norms on people in this country. ‘No, I’m not, we’re just doing what’s fair. Trans people have rights too.’ Yes, but if it’s communicated as if you must be forced to accept and be indoctrinated with ideas that you do not share — is that fair? ‘That’s not what we were doing.’ That’s how they felt you were treating them about it,” Cuomo said. “That’s the women in sports thing. It’s not that it happens a lot, like immigrant crime. It’s not that it happens a lot. It’s that the fact that it happens at all, to them, is a gross violation of norms and unacceptable. And you find it okay, and they believe that is wokeism run amok.”

“What is woke? They don’t even know what it is. Here’s what they believe it is, and it just won the presidential election,” he continued. “The economy won the presidential election, and concerns that all go under the umbrella of wokeism — which, to people who voted for Trump, is a set of ideas that messes with traditional values, but more importantly, new ideas that are being forced on them to make their own, even if they don’t agree.”

Cuomo asserted lenient immigration policies are an example of “wokeism” that voters rejected.

“We don’t have an open border, but it does meet that suggestion. And politics is about hyperbole. Politics is about persuasion. Politics is about using perception as a hedge against reality, and perception generally wins,” he said. “So when you undo what was working and allow people to flood through, you feed into the idea that you want it that way. And then you get the Great Replacement Theory and all this other bullshit. But it is an extension of what they see as wokeism.”

“Yes, it’s also national security. It’s also immigration on its own. But it is this exaggerated liberalism, this exaggerated laxity, this exaggerated relaxing of law and order for some other value system,” he added. “Trans is that. Censorship is that.”

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Wednesday also criticized Democrats for their “open border” policy, arguing it made numerous voters “very angry” and contributed significantly to Harris’ defeat.

Moreover, Democratic strategist James Carville on Wednesday noted “the woke era” was a factor that hurt Democrats in this election.

“We got beyond it, but … the image stuck in people’s minds that the Democrats wanted to defund the police, that they wanted to empty prisons,” he said. “You know, the immigration stuff, obviously again a big mistake, but more importantly, it created to the perception of disorder.”

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Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris by 16 points among men, while Harris holds a 16-point advantage among women across all the battleground states, according to a Sunday New York Times/Siena College poll. The voters, featured on journalist Mark Halperin’s “The Morning Meeting,” expressed surprise at backing Trump, saying they no longer trust the media’s portrayal of him.

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“I can’t believe I’m voting for Trump,” a law school student named Lauren said, telling Halperin she has only voted for Democrats in past elections. “It started with COVID things … For me, this election is like a referendum on the elites way more than it is anything about Trump or Harris. specifically. And I recognize, like I live in D.C., I’m about to be a lawyer. It doesn’t matter.”

“After years of being yelled at about misinformation and disinformation and conspiracy theories, and after, like, for this past, year actually doing my research on what Trump did, not just what he said, but what he did in his first term and realizing the media’s lies and then seeing the media’s lies this past year, I mean the amount of work that you have to do as someone who’s not surrounded by a conservative bubble to actually figure out like the nuanced truth of what’s going on is insane,” she added.

Lauren also said she is backing Trump because of Israel, criticizing Harris and President Joe Biden for their handling of antisemitism. She also said she was “really inspired” by the team Trump has assembled during his 2024 campaign.

Halperin asked Lauren later if she is “pro-choice” and she said she was, but added she favors “keeping abortion to the states,” which Trump supports.

“I feel like a lot of his positions are pretty moderate and I think that moderate positions are best for the country right now,” she added.

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“I think I’m supporting Trump, which is crazy for me. I very much resonate with what Lauren said earlier,” a California voter named Megan said, adding that the people she knows who are around her age of mid-twenties to early thirties appear to be supporting Trump.

“I think that COVID had a huge impact on how I view the media … it really led me to question a lot of what the media was saying, which sort of, you know, led me to look into a lot of other things. And I sort of had always bought into the media narrative around Trump, which I now disagree with,” she added. “I don’t agree with Trump on a lot of things and I’m very pro-choice, but there are certain issues that I really think that he is right on about.”

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Biden made the comment during a Tuesday Zoom call with the organization Voto Latino after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Sunday Madison Square Garden rally. Luntz, on “CNN News Central,” argued Biden’s remark holds greater weight than Hinchcliffe’s because he is the president, adding that it was “inappropriate” even if people interpret it differently.

“It’s gonna be huge because this is not some comedian saying something stupid and offensive at a rally where he should have been just basically disinvited. This is the president of the United States endorsing his vice president saying something, and I know that there’s different interpretations about what he said,” Luntz said. “It’s still inappropriate. He still shouldn’t be doing it and I’ve watched Trump already seize this.”

“The basket of deplorables was significant, was meaningful in 2016. In 2024, I can promise you that this is gonna drive Trump turnout,” he added. “He’s doing it already … I’m sure there’s going to be ads on as soon as tonight about this. This may be a turning point for those final 3%, and that’s all it is, who still need to be persuaded.”

Trump currently leads Vice President Kamala Harris slightly in five of the top seven battleground states, with Harris only holding narrow advantages in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to RealClearPolling averages.

“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m — in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said Tuesday. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

Biden tried to clarify his comments in an X post Tuesday night following criticism, claiming he was referencing Hinchcliffe’s “hateful rhetoric” rather than all Trump supporters.

The White House first published a transcript that recorded Biden saying “supporters’,” with a plural possessive apostrophe. It subsequently changed the transcript to read “supporter’s,” suggesting that Biden was only referring to Hinchcliffe.

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(DCNF)—Journalist Mark Halperin said Friday that mounting “data” suggests former President Donald Trump is gaining momentum against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris currently trails Trump slightly in all seven top swing states, according to the RealClear Polling averages. Halperin, on his 2WAY platform, noted a lack of confidence among Democrats as Harris’ likelihood of defeating Trump in November appears unlikely.

“Unfortunately for blue America, there’s an asymmetry in what’s going on now. We could spend all day, the three of us, trying to get a Democrat on the phone who was super confident, like, ‘We’re going to win.’ We wouldn’t succeed in terms of political professionals, members of Congress, strategists,” Halperin said.” It would take us one call, random dial any Republican in our rolodex, to find someone who said, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty confident we’re going to win.’ Or more.”

“Okay, that’s an asymmetry. It’s just a reality. Some attribute it to cultural differences between the party and there’s something to that,” he continued. “There’s qualitative and quantitative data everywhere you look that things have moved in Trump’s direction and that it will be difficult for her to win, but not impossible. And that is causing a lot of tension in blue America.”

Halperin then pointed to The New York Times/Siena College’s last national poll of the 2024 election cycle, which the outlet published on Friday and found Trump and Harris tied at 48%. The previous NYT/Siena poll published on Oct. 8 found Harris leading Trump 49% to 46% nationally.

“The conventional wisdom has been, even though it may be false, that if Donald Trump is tied or within a couple points in the national poll, he’s going to win. Now The New York Times says it’s possible that Kamala Harris could win the electoral college and lose the popular vote,” Halperin said. “And we’ve talked about Trump over-performing from last time in the big blue states that could make him a bigger popular vote winner, but still lose the electoral college. Possible.”

The poll also found Trump drawing 42% of Hispanic voters and 11% of black voters. Halperin read from an X post from CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein reacting to the poll, which states it “shows Harris basically matching [President Joe] Biden winning 2020” percentages among whites, but “slipping” among minorities, particularly Latinos.

The analyst asserted this data “explains why less diverse Rustbelt states remain the most plausible path for her, as they were for Biden.”

The journalist also read from an X post from pollster and former Bill Clinton adviser Mark Penn, which states, “[The Wall Street Journal] and Forbes polls all show 3 to 4 point movements in the direction of Trump in the last few weeks. This is real movement and momentum going into the close. It is still close but this is a substantial move.”

Halperin also asserted Tuesday that Trump will be elected president on Nov. 5 if the current early voting trajectory “continues.”

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(DCNF)—CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten on Monday said former President Donald Trump’s substantial gains with nonwhite voters could be countered by a slight decline among “non-college white voters.”

Trump currently holds slim leads over Vice President Kamala Harris in all of the top seven battleground states, according to the RealClearPolling averages. Enten, on “CNN News Central,” suggested Trump risks losing the election in November if he doesn’t maintain his support among “non-college white voters,” a demographic that represents a significant share of American voters, particularly in certain critical battleground states.

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“It’s been a key demographic for him. It’s been his base and this is what’s so interesting, because we’ve seen so many groups this year moving in Donald Trump’s direction. So you would think his core group, his base of support would be doing the same. But in fact, it’s moving a little bit away from him. So this is Trump’s margin with non-college white voters,” Enten told host John Berman. “Unlike most voting blocs, this group is not moving towards him, it’s actually moving slightly away. So you go back eight years ago, where he won ’em by 33, You go back four years ago, he won ’em by 31.”

“Now what we look is we see them, the latest average of polls, he’s only up by 27. Now that may not seem like a lot, but given that we’re seeing these double digit gains, say among black voters or among Hispanic voters in some of the polls, the fact that we’re seeing this core group of supporters actually moving away from him, not just off of the 2016 baseline, but the 2020 baseline as well,” he continued. “I think that’s a rather interesting development.”

Trump has made inroads with key Democratic voting blocs, including black and Hispanic voters, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll.

“Why can a small difference with this group matter? Because look at what percentage of the electorate that they make up. So we can look nationally, right? Look at this, non-college white voters make up 40% of the electorate. That’s more than college whites at 29%. All other groups, voters of color at 28%,” Enten added. “So this is something that we’ve seen throughout the board, right? Which is that Donald Trump is making huge gains with groups that make up a smaller percentage of the electorate while he’s losing a little bit. But these groups that he’s losing a little bit of make up a much larger portion of the electorate.”

“But more than that, you know, we’re talking about the U.S. of A where they make up 40%. Why don’t you go to those key Great Lake battleground states, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin? They have out-sized import in those Great Lake battleground states,” he said. “Non-college white voters, look at this. They make up the slim majority of voters at 51%, way more than college whites at 30%, way more than all other voters at 16%. So if you’re seeing movement in the Great Lake battleground states among non-college whites, that could be a very big development, John.”

The data reporter noted that Trump is shedding some support from this demographic in these crucial swing states. Trump is leading Harris 1.2% in Michigan, but only holds a .8% lead in Pennsylvania and a .2% advantage in Wisconsin, according to the RealClearPolling averages

“And when you have a shrinking margin for Donald Trump, among his core group that makes up the majority of voters, it can make up for big shifts amongst smaller groups of the electorate and this is why Kamala Harris has still in the ball game right now,” Enten said. “It’s because even though she’s losing big league, she’s losing big league among groups that make up a small portion electorate and she’s making it up among groups that make up a big portion electorate, even if the movements are small. But it’s clear here.”

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Harris told “The View” co-hosts on Oct. 8 that “nothing comes to mind” regarding how she would govern differently from President Joe Biden. Halperin, on “Wake Up America,” said he thinks Harris has failed to “define her differences with Joe Biden” throughout her campaign, and her limited public appearances have enabled others to shape voter perceptions of her.

“The thing she eventually said, she’d put a Republican in the cabinet, is just so vague and meaningless that I don’t think — if people think, whether her supporters think it or her critics think it, she needs to define her differences with Joe Biden,” Halperin said. “I don’t think you could say she’s done that yet, and that is what a lot of voters have doubts about, even ones who are probably more inclined to vote for her.”

“She’s got a bunch of stuff coming up, including a potential appearance on Joe Rogan that Reuters is reporting she might do. You know, it’s late in the game to be defining herself. Her staff’s right. This was a quick campaign, but you look at her schedule, more days than not, she’s got one event, zero events, a lot of staff meetings,” he continued. “And so if the goal is to define herself, then she’s letting other people do it for her more than she’s doing it herself, hour by hour.”

Democrats, including some of Harris’ own staffers, expressed worries to Politico in an article published Oct. 5 that Harris’ avoidant media strategy and limited campaign schedule could backfire in the final month of her campaign. Soon after, she launched a media blitz that consisted mainly of friendly interviews.

“I think there’s a few panickers. It’s mostly existential dread. They’re hoping to see her performance level rise up, because they’d like to see her take command of this contest as opposed to what happens, which is she’s more days than not, she’s not really making news, even in these high-profile interviews,” Halperin added. “So I think if we saw another round of bad polls, panic would set in in some quarters. For now, they’re kind of trying to convince themselves that between their turnout operation and abortion rights and [former President] Trump’s ceiling, that they’re still gonna win this.”

Trump currently has narrow advantages over Harris in six out of the main seven swing states, with the vice president only slightly leading in Wisconsin, according to the RealClearPolling averages.

Former President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, said on Thursday that Democrats are “right to be concerned” about Harris’ chances against Trump in November. He credited the Trump campaign with being “very disciplined in their media,” which he asserted is intended to portray Harris as “a continuation of Biden’s economics” and “an exotic, left-wing radical.”

“They have been burning that message in, and I think that’s had some impact,” Axelrod said.

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(DCNF)—CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten expressed surprise Monday at the degree to which “young black men” are abandoning the Democratic Party

Former President Barack Obama on Thursday urged black men to support Vice President Kamala Harris while speaking at a Pittsburgh-area campaign office, asserting he believes a reason for their reluctance to back her is that they “aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” Enten, on “CNN News Central,” said Obama was likely mistaken in his criticism as “young black men” have increasingly been leaving the Democratic Party over multiple elections against former President Donald Trump.

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“I look at the polls all the time and sometimes there’s a trend line, now, I never noticed before and make me go, ‘Woah.’ This is one of them. Alright, this is the Democratic margin among black men under the age of 45 in presidential elections. You go back to November of 2012, what do you see? You see Obama by 81, [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton only won ’em by 63,” Enten said. “Then we’re all the way down to [President Joe] Biden last time around by 53. A tremendous drop already. And then you take a look at the average of the most recent polls and Kamala Harris is up by only 41 points.”

“That is about half the margin that Obama won them by back in November of 2012. And this I think is, you know, when Barack Obama goes and last week when he was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to essentially talking to young black men, he made it seem like it was a Kamala Harris-specific problem,” he added. “Uh-uh. This is part of a longstanding trend of young black men moving away from the Democratic Party. And Kamala Harris is just the latest to face that magnitude of black, younger black men going towards Republicans.”

Black voters have shifted away from Democrats from 2016 to 2024, according to a Saturday New York Times/Siena College poll. During the 2016 election, only 7% of black voters favored Republicans, a number now at 15%.

While Trump is gaining traction with “working class voters,” including nonwhite Americans without college degrees and union members, Enten previously noted that Harris could offset his gains with her “ridiculously” strong support among college graduates, particularly “white college grads.”

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