Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., greeted President Donald Trump on the tarmac in Michigan before his speech to National Guard members on Tuesday, where she also spoke at the event without hiding her face.

“Well, I hadn’t planned to speak, but on behalf of all the military men and women who serve our country and serve so honorably on behalf of the State of Michigan, I am really damn happy we’re here,” Whitmer said.

Fox News co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro said on “The Five” Tuesday that Whitmer had a chance to set the tone for the Democratic Party.

“I think that…of course, she’s there because of the troops, but there are some Democrats who wouldn’t be in the same room with Donald Trump,” Pirro said. “I think that she did the right thing, and I think that wanting to work with the president to bring back manufacturing to Michigan is a smart move.”

WHITMER DITCHES DEM PLAYBOOK ON TRUMP’S TARIFFS AMID 2028 SPECULATION

During the event on Tuesday, Trump unveiled plans to swap out the retiring A-10 Warthog aircraft based out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan with 21 brand-new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets.

Trump shared the details during a speech to National Guard members at the Michigan base before an event commemorating his 100th day in office.

“So I want to thank Governor Gretchen Whitmer for bringing it also to our attention very strongly. And, you know, I’m not supposed to do that. She’s a Democrat. They say, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t have her here.’ I said, ‘No, she’s going to be here,'” Trump said. “She’s done a very good job, frankly. And she’s she was very much involved with, with the Republicans. They worked together on saving it. And it was not easy. So I want to thank you very much, Gretchen. Good job.”

DEM GOVERNORS REVOLT AGAINST TRUMP’S ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS

Whitmer’s presence Tuesday came a few weeks after seemingly hiding her face during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.

Whitmer was criticized for shielding her face with a folder as a photo of the moment became a meme on social media.

She poked fun at the now-viral moment by once again holding folders up in front of her face when asked about her trip to Washington, D.C., during an event at the Detroit Economic Club after the meeting with the president. 

“… I don’t want my picture taken, that’s all it was. I kind of wished I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face, but whatever. You know I was there … I just wrote a book about learning to laugh at yourself, so I’m pretty good at it. We all have our moments,” Whitmer said. 

GRETCHEN WHITMER RIBBED ONLINE FOR SEEMING TO HIDE FACE IN OVAL OFFICE

The governor’s trip to Washington brought her 2028 presidential ambitions into the national conversation as she struck a diplomatic tone with Trump. She carefully criticized Trump’s tariffs while saying she understood the “motivation behind the tariffs” and even agreeing with Trump that we “need to make more stuff in America.”

Whitmer’s Oval Office moment marked her second meeting with Trump in less than a month, and Tuesday’s meeting now marks the third. As Trump signed executive orders from the Oval Office on April 9 and answered questions from the press, he said Whitmer had “done an excellent job” as governor and called her a “very good person,” a break from his typical lines of attack on her character. 

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When Trump signed the executive orders calling for the investigation of two first-term administration aides who were critical of his actions, Whitmer’s office said she was brought into the room “without any notice” and that her appearance was “not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made.”

But Trump called the issues “bipartisan” and jokingly added, “We’ll all stand there together and cut a ribbon. OK, Gretchen?”

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars in improper payment requests were identified after going live with its first automated payment system last week.

In fact, the system found $334 million in improper payment requests that were flagged because of missing budget codes, invalid budget codes and budget codes without authorization.

DOGE, which is led by billionaire Elon Musk, announced the discovery in a post on X.

In the post, DOGE said an example of an invalid budget code was if the payment was not linked to the budget. It also provided an example of a budget code without authorization, saying the budget had already been fully spent.

DOGE SAYS IT FOUND NEARLY UNTRACEABLE BUDGET LINE ITEM RESPONSIBLE FOR $4.7T IN PAYMENTS

The news comes months after DOGE learned about an identification code linking U.S. Treasury payments to a budget line item that accounted for nearly $4.7 trillion in payments, which was oftentimes left blank.

“The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process),” DOGE wrote in a post on X in February. “In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.”

DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

DOGE thanked the U.S. Treasury for its work in identifying the optional field.

According to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which is under the Treasury, TAS codes are used to describe any one of the account identification codes assigned by the Treasury and are also referred to as the “account.”

All financial transactions made by the federal government are classified by TAS when reporting to the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget.

FOX NEWS POLL: THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND TERM

DOGE’s announcement on Tuesday comes as it continues to find savings and fraud across all aspects of the government.

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On the department’s site, it says $160 billion in savings have been discovered, equating to $993.70 in savings per taxpayer.

DOGE has been aggressive in its mission to root out wasteful spending and to downsize the scope of the federal government. 

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) terminad $2.5 billion in “wasteful” grants that went toward gender-based causes, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said Tuesday. 

The USDA got rid of 420 grants for a savings of $2.3 billion, according to DOGE. 

Among the programs the money was used for, $361,000 went toward “gender non-conforming, non-binary, two-spirit” BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) farmers in New York.

HOW A DOGE REVIEW CAN ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAMS THAT FIGHT HIV/AIDS

Another $150,000 was used for “gender-lensed curricula designed to be transdisciplinary in the food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences.”

Even Ghana benefited, with $100,000 earmarked for “climate resilience and sustainable agriculture” in the African nation. 

DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

In addition, federal agencies eliminated 179 contracts with a ceiling value of $1.87 billion and savings of $280 million. 

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The federal government spent $207,000 on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services consulting contract for a “grant writing workshop” and an $89,000 Treasury Department contract for a “country program manager in Namibia.”

Another $1.8 million Trade & Development contract was spent on “energy and climate advisory services.”

President Donald Trump campaigned for a second term on pledges to lower prices, create jobs and impose tough tariffs on imports, especially from China. 

Dubbing himself the “Tariff Man” last fall, he told an audience at the Economic Club of Chicago, “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff.” However, in his first months in office, it is unclear whether Trump can, or should, implement the harsh reciprocal tariffs he announced in April against dozens of countries.

Now, 100 days into his second term, economists told Fox News Digital they see these proposed reciprocal tariffs as politically motivated, unnecessary and failing to secure the benefits from U.S. trading partners that Trump had been hoping for.

CHINA IS ‘CAVING’ TO TRUMP’S TRADE WAR STRATEGY, EXPERT SIGNALS

Instead, they warned, Trump’s tariffs could grind billions of dollars in trade to a halt between the world’s two largest economies, disrupt global supply chains and risk torpedoing the U.S. economy into a major slump or recession.

When Trump took office, chances of recession “were probably about 10%,” Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Now, they’re up to around 55%.” 

It is unclear whether Trump will continue to push through with these unpopular tariffs, which are slated to take force in early July. In the near-term, uncertainty and volatility remain.

Trump announced tariffs on April 2, dubbed “Liberation Day.” The announcement included both a 10% universal baseline tariff and plans to enact larger tariffs on dozens of other countries, including China.

These new import taxes immediately sent stock markets into free-fall, triggering one of the largest single-day S&P 500 losses since World War II, and prompting deep and unyielding uncertainty over possible next moves.

“The only thing that’s happened that has pushed the odds of a recession up so high, so fast, is chaos coming from out of the White House,” Wolfers said.

Trump subsequently paused the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to encourage the administration to make “deals” with countries on trade and encourage more investment in U.S. manufacturing. Even so, some prices have already risen in anticipation of higher costs under the new tariff regime.

Uncertainty has also played a role. Trump’s tariff announcement in April prompted a number of large container ships to abruptly halt their shipments to the U.S. earlier this month and turn back to their original ports. This means that more consumers will see a price hike for everyday products, likely at certain big-box retailer stores like Walmart or Target, as early as next month. 

These price hikes are “not showing up tomorrow, but will show up over the next few months, as scarcities develop and American retailers have to find other sources – that might take a while,” David H. Feldman, an economist and professor at William & Mary College, said in an interview.

TRUMP’S ULTIMATUM TO FEDERAL WORKERS: RETURN TO OFFICE ‘OR BE TERMINATED’

While Trump says tariffs will target foreign competitors and reduce the trade deficit, the costs will fall mostly on working- and middle-class Americans who buy the bulk of imported goods.

Wolfers said Trump’s focus on the trade “deficit” is based on a common misconception.

“What that means is we sell China a small amount of stuff, and they sell us a large amount of stuff,” he explained. However, for every dollar bill that goes to China, the U.S. gets something for it that Americans want to buy, like T-shirts. 

“We have a dollar deficit – but we have a stuff surplus.” 

There are few signs that Trump’s tariffs will deliver the gains he sought, such as onshoring U.S. production or securing better trade deals, particularly with Asian countries.

Instead, experts warn these countries are likely to circumvent U.S. markets and supply chains over time.

“If these tariffs stay in place, there will be hardly any trade between the U.S. and China,” by the second half of the year, Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in an interview.

Roughly $650 billion in annual trade between the two countries is at risk, along with knock-down effects on global commerce in the long term.

 WORLD LEADERS REACT AS TRUMP RE-ENTERS THE WHITE HOUSE

Trump’s tariffs also discard decades of international understanding that has depoliticized trade disputes, Feldman said.

The U.S. is “moving from a system that at least was based on mutually acceptable rules of behavior to a system that does not have that as its anchor,” Feldman, whose research focuses on global trade policy, told Fox News Digital. That shift allows the government to target foreign nations individually and offer selective tariff relief to firms and industries “if they do ‘our’ bidding,” he argued. 

“America is now master of the shakedown.” 

After market backlash, Trump appears to be warming to the idea of easing his proposed 145% reciprocal tariffs on China, which has vowed to impose its own retaliatory measures on U.S. goods.

Economists say he is more likely to do so if the economy sours, or he sees a major drop in poll numbers, if the past is precedent. 

Still, any path to deescalation remains uncertain. Just last week, China denied Trump’s claim that the two countries were negotiating a tariff deal, after he asserted in an interview that he had reached “200 deals” on trade.

Economists believe Trump will at least partially scale back the tariffs before July but warn he is playing a high-stakes game of brinkmanship that could hit U.S. consumers and businesses hardest.

“What I worry about is that the immediate impact of uncertainty is on business investment in trade-exposed industries, leading to a recession,” Feldman said. “But it could get worse, if it transmits into a financial panic. And  if everyone starts to say, ‘geez, I got to get into gold and cash, I can’t be in Treasury bills.’ If we move into a flight to cash, all bets are off.” 

Should that happen, he said, “We could slide into 2008 all over again.”

Trump has refused to concede that his early days have been anything but a major success.

In a recent interview with Time magazine, he touted his first 100 days as “very successful,” saying “people [are] writing that it was the best first month, and best second month, and really the best third month” for a U.S. president.

He dismissed stock market volatility and rising inflation as temporary “market fluctuation,” calling it a “transition period” that would level out.

When asked if he would consider it a win if tariffs remained as high as 50% on imports a year from now, Trump said he would.

“Total victory,” he said. 

“Everybody is going to benefit.”

President Donald Trump laughed off a protester who attempted to disrupt a speech he was giving in Michigan marking his first 100 days in office, joking that he “thought it was a guy.”

As the president was praising Republican National Committee leader Michael Watley, there appeared to be some type of disruption in the crowd, causing the president to pause his speech.

“What’s the problem over there?” Trump said. “What’s the problem? Is that a radical left lunatic? He’s just a child. All right, get him out.”

As security personnel removed the protester and the crowd booed, Trump apologized for calling the person a man, saying it was actually a woman who was thrown out.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ma’am, I thought it was a guy,” Trump said. “I’m sorry, I said he and it’s a she.”

TRUMP RALLIES PACKED CROWD IN MICHIGAN TO CELEBRATE FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for confirmation and has not yet received a reply.  

Trump continued, quipping that “she now has to go home to a mother who’s a big Trump fan. Her mother’s watching.”

During his speech, Trump slammed former President Joe Biden and touted the first 100 days of his second term as the “most successful” of any administration in history.

The president’s remarks came during Trump’s first major political rally since taking office, organized to celebrate Trump’s achievements throughout his second term thus far.

TRUMP SLAMS ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ OPPOSING BUDGET BILL

“We’re here tonight in the heartland of our nation to celebrate the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country, and that’s according to many, many people,” Trump told a roaring crowd of supporters. “This is the best, they say, 100-day start of any president in history, and everyone is saying it.”

“Week by week, we’re ending illegal immigration. We’re taking back our jobs, [we] are protecting our great American autoworkers and all of our workers. Frankly, we’re protecting all of our workers. We’re restoring the rule of law,” he said.

“We’ve just gotten started. You haven’t seen anything yet. It’s just kicking off.”

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

The nation’s top cattle industry leader sounded the alarm Tuesday that a flesh-eating fly infestation advancing through Mexico remains a dire threat to U.S. ranchers, even as the Trump administration claimed a key victory in efforts to stop it. 

Buck Wehrbein, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and a cattle feeder from eastern Nebraska, praised Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for taking aggressive action against the outbreak of the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae can burrow into the flesh of livestock and often cause fatal wounds. 

But Wehrbein warned that with just one day left before a U.S. ultimatum expires, “the crisis is far from over” and American cattle herds remain in jeopardy.

“If this screwworm crosses into the United States, it could devastate our industry,” Wehrbein told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. 

USDA THREATENS TO HALT MEXICAN BEEF IMPORTS OVER FLESH-EATING FLY CRISIS’

“These parasites literally eat livestock alive. We eradicated them from the U.S. in the 1960s, and we’re not about to let them take hold here again.” 

Wehrbein noted that the U.S. government spent millions of dollars to wipe out New World screwworm decades ago – only for the pest to reemerge in Central America and begin creeping northward toward Texas.

The screwworm was first detected in southern Mexico late last year, prompting U.S. authorities to scramble resources to contain it. The USDA temporarily halted imports of Mexican cattle from late November until February after a screwworm case surfaced in Chiapas, underscoring how seriously officials view the threat to America’s food supply.

MAINE’S FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE FROM TRUMP’S USDA REVERSED

Now, U.S. agriculture officials are racing to build a final barrier against the flesh-eating fly before it reaches the border. For decades, the United States and Mexico have relied on a sophisticated sterile insect technique (SIT) program, using aircraft to release millions of sterile male flies to keep screwworm populations in check. But that strategy was recently thrown into chaos amid bureaucratic interference by Mexican authorities, who U.S. officials say blocked and delayed critical fly-release missions just as the outbreak intensified.

According to the USDA and cattle industry representatives, Mexico “failed to uphold their end” of the bi-national eradication effort by refusing landing permissions, charging import duties on U.S.-funded equipment and limiting fly drops to six days a week, conditions that officials say allowed the pest to spread further.
 

Wehrbein did not hide his frustration. 

“We were pulling our hair out,” he said. “The science is there to stop this bug, but not if the planes are grounded over paperwork. Every day of delay gave the screwworm a bigger foothold.”

In an April 26 letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Secretary Rollins gave Mexico an April 30 deadline to resolve the issues or face a halt in the import of live cattle, bison and equine, a move that would strike a blow to Mexico’s ranching economy and tighten U.S. supply chains already under pressure.

“It certainly got their attention,” Wehrbein noted. “No one wants to shut down trade. That’s a last resort that would hurt producers on both sides. But Secretary Rollins and President Trump made it crystal clear that protecting America’s herds comes first.”

Wehrbein said the NCBA met with senior Mexican embassy officials in Washington last week to emphasize the urgency. 

“Ranchers in Mexico and the U.S. are on the same side here. We need this pest stopped,” Wehrbein said. “It shouldn’t take high-level threats to get commonsense cooperation.”

On Tuesday, Rollins posted on X that Mexico has agreed to allow U.S. sterile fly planes to land, calling it “a HUGE win for our American ranchers!” 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Secretary Rollins’ office for further details and confirmation but has not yet received a response.

Wehrbein welcomed the announcement, saying it marked a turning point, but not the end of the threat. 

“Getting those fly planes back in the air is absolutely critical. It’s a relief to see Mexico finally do the right thing,” he said. “Frankly, it should never have taken this long. But at least now we have a fighting chance to contain the outbreak before it reaches our border.”

While the flight permissions appear to have been restored, it remains unclear whether Mexico will waive the import duties or allow seven-day operations, both of which the USDA had demanded. Rollins has also called for a senior liaison from the Mexican government to ensure faster coordination moving forward.

Longer term, Wehrbein said the U.S. needs to reconsider how much it relies on outside partners for biosecurity. 

“This situation shows why we need our own domestic supply of sterile flies,” he said. “If we had a facility here at home cranking them out, we wouldn’t be at the mercy of another country’s cooperation.”

A veteran of the cattle industry, Wehrbein was raised on a farm in eastern Nebraska and spent years working in Texas commercial cattle feeding. He now operates a feedlot just outside Omaha and has served in leadership roles at both the state and national level. This year, he was elected president of the NCBA, the country’s largest and oldest organization representing cattle producers, and has become the group’s key voice in Washington.

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“We love this industry. We’re proud to feed the country and the world,” Wehrbein said. “But it takes vigilance, cooperation and leadership to protect it. The screwworm is a reminder that we’re always one outbreak away from disaster, and we’ve got to stay ahead of it.”

Fox News Digital’s Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump has been unafraid to publicly blast Democrats and the liberal media during his first 100 days in office, continuing a similar trend from his first term.

In one high-profile skirmish, Trump publicly berated Maine’s Democrat. Gov. Janet Mills for defying his executive order barring biological males who identify as transgender from competing in women’s sports.

“Your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports, so you better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding,” Trump told Mills during a meeting of the nation’s governors at the White House in February. Mills argued she would “see [him] ion court” over the matter, to which the president responded: “I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.”

TRUMP TOOK ON THE ‘ENTIRE’ INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL WORLD ORDER WITH TARIFFS: JOURNALIST

“Enjoy your life after governor,” he added, “because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

A second notable clash with Democrats came during Trump’s joint address to Congress in March. Several Democrats held up anti-Trump signs, shouted and moaned in the middle of Trump’s speech, and some ultimately walked out. Progressive Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas had to be escorted out of the House chamber because he would not stop disrupting the president’s speech and was subsequently censured by members of his own party over the stunt.

“I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or make them stand and smile or applaud,” Trump said during his address, looking toward the Democrats’ side of the House chamber. “I could find a cure to the most devastating diseases. A disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history… and these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.”

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT: HOW TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS STACK UP AGAINST INAUGURATION DAY PLEDGES

“It’s very sad,” Trump added. “And it just shouldn’t be this way.”

The press has not been spared from public lashings by Trump during his second term, either. 

In one notable back-and-forth, Trump was asked by a reporter in the Oval Office whether he thought he had the legal authority to mass deport illegal aliens. In response, the president flipped the script on the reporter, asking in return: “Did Biden have the authority to allow millions of people to come into our country?”

In another testy back-and-forth with reporters, this time aboard Air Force One, Trump did not mince words with a reporter from Bloomberg who questioned Trump about his tariffs.

HOW DONALD TRUMP DOMINATES THE NEWS, BOTH POSITIVELY AND NEGATIVELY 

“I think your questions are so stupid,” Trump told the reporter aboard Air Force One after he was asked if there was any “pain in the market at some point you’re unwilling to tolerate?” 

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump shot back. “And we have such a horrible, we have been treated so badly, by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen.”

Trump’s public lashings of Democrats and the media have also included new nicknames for the president’s political opponents. 

One of those targets, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., garnered himself a new nickname this term: “Watermelon-Head.” The nickname follows Trump’s first-term nickname he gave to Schiff: “Pencil neck.”

TRUMP WHITE HOUSE TAKES 100-DAY VICTORY LAP ON REFORMING KEY AGENCY AMID FIERCE PUSHBACK

“Adam ‘Schifty’ Schiff – can you believe this guy?” Trump said at a dinner hosted by the National Republican Congressional Committee earlier this month. “He’s got the smallest neck I’ve ever seen – and the biggest head: We call him Watermelon-Head.” Trump went on to ponder how Schiff’s “big fat face” could “stand on a neck” the size of the president’s finger. 

“It’s the weirdest thing – it’s a mystery; no one can understand it.”

Another Trump nickname to come from his first 100 days did not target a specific person, but Democrats as a whole who have been against his tariff policies. 

“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!),” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social earlier this month. “Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”

On the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s second term, China issued a brash challenge to American leadership, releasing a fiery propaganda video declaring it will “never kneel down” to U.S. pressure — a direct reaction to Trump’s aggressive new trade policies.

The video titled “Never Kneel Down!” was posted Tuesday, April 29 by the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official X account, @MFA_China. The timing is conspicuous: It coincided with President Trump’s 100th day in office.

“When the rest of the world stands together in solidarity, the U.S. is just a small, stranded boat,” an AI narration warns, over dramatic storm footage and war imagery.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the video also accuses the U.S. of “coercion” and labels American tariff strategy a “deadly trap.”

DAVID PERDUE CONFIRMED AS TRUMP’S TOP CHINA DIPLOMAT AFTER KEY SENATE VOTE

In another ominous line, the narration states: “Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst.” The video includes imagery of the Korean War and the 2021 return of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, portraying both as symbols of China’s “resistance.”

Earlier this month, President Trump imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese imports while granting a 90-day tariff pause for all other nations, effectively isolating China. Trump’s strategy aims to reward fair trade partners while pressuring Beijing for reforms.

China retaliated with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, but many analysts say the CCP is operating from a weaker position.

TRUMP MARKS 100-DAYS IN OFFICE EMBROILED IN TRADE BATTLES, DEADLY WARS AND HARD PRESSED DEALS

“It’s up to China to de-escalate, because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday on CNBC.

The CCP’s video, published in both English and Mandarin, uses heavy-handed messaging and historical imagery to portray China as a victim of Western dominance — a common trope in official Chinese media. According to the WSJ report, the video claims: “History has proven compromise won’t earn you mercy—kneeling only invites more bullying.”

Beijing’s saber-rattling comes amid rising domestic pressure: Youth unemployment in China is at record highs, and GDP growth has slowed, according to Bloomberg Economics and the International Monetary Fund.

This is not the first time Trump has put China in check. During his first term, he imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in Chinese goods, citing intellectual property theft and forced tech transfers. That campaign led to the Phase One Trade Deal signed in 2020.

Now back in office, Trump’s strategy is making Chinese economic policymakers nervous.

“All bullies are just paper tigers,” the AI narrator says while showing a tiger holding an American flag in its tail.

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Trump’s tariffs are putting real economic pressure on Beijing, at a time when the nation can ill-afford it.

During a speech in Michigan marking his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump slammed Democrats and Republican “grandstanders” opposing his “big beautiful” budget reconciliation bill, saying if they succeed, Americans will see the “highest tax increase in history.”

He said his bill has “100% just about Republican support,” adding it “would be nice if we had just a couple of Democrats just to make sure, because, you know, every once in a while, you have a grandstander Republican. We have some grandstanders.” 

As the crowd booed, Trump noted there were “not many” Republicans opposing his bill, but he urged viewers to “remember who those grandstanders were and vote them the hell out of office.”

Trump cautioned that if the bill fails, the U.S. is “going to have the highest tax increase in history instead of the greatest tax cut in history.”

EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP TAX CUTS ‘TOP PRIORITY’ FOR CONGRESS, SAYS TOP HOUSE GOP LEADER

“If the Democrats prevail on this bill, you get a 58% tax increase,” Trump told the crowd. “Would you like that?

“All my life I’ve been watching, and I’ve never heard people campaigning that they’re going to raise taxes. It’s always been, ‘We will reduce your taxes.’ Democrat, Republican. Now, they go, ‘We’re going to raise your taxes. I’ve never seen all the years that they campaign. ‘We will raise your taxes.’ I said, ‘This country has gone crazy.’”

SCOOP: REPUBLICANS ROLL OUT $69B FUNDING PLAN FOR NEW CBP AGENTS, BUILDING BORDER WALL IN TRUMP BUDGET BILL

Though most Democrats will likely oppose Trump’s spending bill, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after a meeting Monday with Republican leaders that House and Senate GOP leaders are “in lockstep” on passing the budget bill.

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Republicans are seeking to fit Trump’s priorities on energy, defense, border security and taxes into the bill, as well as raising the debt ceiling, another item the president specifically asked GOP lawmakers to deal with.

Fox News Digital also recently reported that House Republicans are carving out $68.8 billion for Trump’s border wall and to hire more agents in the field.

Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind and Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

Former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff lashed out at the Trump administration, accusing it of politicizing the Holocaust and dishonoring the memory of six million murdered Jews after he was removed from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

The Holocaust Memorial Council oversees the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Most of the members of the council are appointed by the president and serve five-year terms.

Emhoff, who is Jewish and is married to former Vice President Kamala Harris, was appointed to the council by former President Joe Biden. 

Along with Emhoff, the Trump administration also removed several other council members appointed by Biden, according to The Hill.

After receiving news of his dismissal from the council, Emhoff took to social media to slam the administration, saying it was turning “one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue.”

MEDIA PERSONALITY STEVE HILTON UNLEASHES ON ‘FAILED AND REJECTED’ KAMALA HARRIS AT CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

“Today, I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,” he said. “Let me be clear: Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous – and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.”

Emhoff said that despite his removal, he would continue to speak out against hate “in all its forms.”

“No divisive political decision will ever shake my commitment to Holocaust remembrance and education or combatting hate and antisemitism,” he said, adding: “I will continue to speak out, to educate, and to fight hate in all its forms – because silence is never an option.”

Emhoff has previously been criticized for getting basic facts wrong about the Jewish religion, such as the origin of one of its most significant feasts, Hanukkah. Meanwhile, both his wife and Biden took heavy criticism for not being more supportive of Israel and its war against Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.

EX-VP HARRIS RETURNS TO POLITICS TO HEADLINE DNC FUNDRAISER WITH TICKETS STARTING AT $25,000

Emhoff has also accused President Donald Trump of being a “threat” to Jews. At a speech in Pittsburgh during the 2024 presidential campaign, Emhoff said: “Whenever chaos and cruelty are given a green light, Jew-hatred is historically not far behind.” He added, “That matters today because Donald Trump is nothing if not an agent of chaos and cruelty.”

In his first 100 days in office, however, Trump has made combating antisemitism, especially on college campuses, a major focus.

Among other actions, the Trump Department of Homeland Security has arrested Hamas sympathizers on college campuses who they say pose a threat to national security. The administration has also moved to pull funding from universities, including Harvard, unless they reform their governing processes and change their international admissions processes to avoid admitting students who are “hostile” to American values or support terrorism or antisemitism.

In response to a request for comment by Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said: “At this time of high antisemitism and Holocaust distortion and denial, the Museum is gratified that our visitation is robust and demand for Holocaust education is increasing.” 

The representative added, “We look forward to continuing to advance our vitally important mission as we work with the Trump Administration.”

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf, Morgan Phillips and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

Two of President Donald Trump’s diplomatic nominees were confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, as a prominent NBA team owner awaited a late evening vote on his own confirmation.

Investors Tom Barrack and Warren Stephens were up for ambassadorship posts to Turkey, and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland respectively.

Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Houston Rockets and CEO of Landry’s Restaurants group will face a confirmation vote later in the evening in the upper chamber to be President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Italy and San Marino.

Barrack’s nomination passed by 60-36. Stephens was confirmed 59-39.

HOUSTON ROCKETS OWNER: ‘OUR GREAT CAPITALISM WILL COME TO AN END’ IF DEMS PASS UNREALIZED GAINS TAX

Fertitta is a GOP donor and has spoken fondly of Trump’s business sense.

During Trump’s first term, Fertitta told CNBC the president was doing “a fantastic job for the economy.”

“Businesses are booming, unemployment is low. He understands what drives this country,” Fertitta said in 2018.

Fertitta’s praise of Trump often steers more toward business-focused than overtly-political, as in the CNBC interview.

Trump’s choice of Barrack played into two different aspects of the investor’s history.

Before he was a friend of the future president’s, Barrack served as an undersecretary in the Reagan Interior Department, focusing on energy policy including Middle East oil.

DAVID PERDUE CONFIRMED AS TRUMP’S TOP CHINA DIPLOMAT AFTER KEY SENATE VOTE

Barrack, who is fluent in Arabic, would therefore fit well with a Turkish ambassadorship.

Later in that decade, Barrack helped Trump secure financing for his short-lived ownership of the Plaza Hotel – during which time the future president famously told a lost Kevin McCallister its lobby was “Down the hall, and to the left” in 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

The two real estate moguls remained friends in the years after Trump ultimately gave up the Midtown landmark.

Barrack was a strong supporter of Trump’s first presidential campaign and raised millions for his first inauguration’s events.

Stephens’ family bank has a footprint in London, and he is a noted fan of the Tottenham Hotspurs Premier League soccer team, which draw parallels to his ambassadorship nomination.

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The billionaire will be the eyes and ears for Trump in London, where the president has a cordial relationship, albeit one wherein lies a politically contrasting view of global politics, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party.

Stephens has a history of donations to Republican causes and many Arkansas candidates, per OpenSecrets.

Recipients have included former Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Bob Dole, R-Kan., ex-Arkansas Govs. Asa Hutchinson and Mike Huckabee, and media executive Steve Forbes’ presidential run in 1995.

President Donald Trump touted the first 100 days of his second term as the “most successful” of any administration in history during a Michigan rally with supporters Tuesday evening. 

The president’s remarks came during Trump’s first major political rally since taking office, organized to celebrate Trump’s achievements throughout his second term thus far.

“We’re here tonight in the heartland of our nation to celebrate the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country — and that’s according to many, many people,” Trump told a roaring crowd of supporters. “This is the best, they say, 100 day start of any president in history — and everyone is saying it.”

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT: HOW TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS STACK UP AGAINST INAUGURATION DAY PLEDGES

“We’ve just gotten started, you haven’t seen anything yet, it’s just kicking off,” he added.

Trump’s first 100 days of his second term have seen the president aggressively assert his executive authority across a variety of policy areas. He has used his presidential powers to affect change most prominently in the areas of border security, trade, education, civil rights, technology and innovation. 

Trump also has notably used his executive powers to slim down the federal government’s bureaucracy, including through both spending and staffing cuts at various federal agencies.

“I read an editorial today that this is the most consequential presidency in history, and it wasn’t even by a group that would normally be supporting us,” Trump added during his address to supporters, without clarifying where the editorial originated from. “It was a group of people that I think tend to be on the liberal side, but they said it’s the most important election.”

While Trump supporters and other Republicans have touted the president’s accomplishments during his first 100 days, Trump’s latest poll numbers suggest that Americans as a whole are less thrilled with the way Trump has steered the nation thus far.

The president stands at 44% approval and 55% disapproval in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was conducted April 18 through April 21.

TRUMP ADMIN REVOKES 4K FOREIGN STUDENTS’ VISAS IN FIRST 100 DAYS, NEARLY ALL WITH SERIOUS CRIMINAL RECORDS

His numbers are also underwater in polls released the past few days by ABC News/Washington Post (42% approval–55% disapproval), New York Times/Siena College (42%–54%), CNN (43%–57%), Reuters/Ipsos (42%–53%), Pew Research (40%–59%), and AP/NORC (39%–59%).

Most recent national public opinion surveys, but not all, indicate Trump’s approval ratings in negative territory, which marks a slide from the president’s poll numbers when he started his second term in January. 

Prior to Trump’s rally in Warren, Michigan, the president spoke to members of the National Guard during a visit to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township. 

During the stop, Trump shared details of a new plan to swap out the base’s retiring A-10 Warthog aircraft with 21 brand-new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets.

President Donald Trump has championed tariffs as the economic tool that will bring parity to the nation’s chronic trade deficit with foreign countries while boosting U.S. jobs and the economy. But many of Trump’s tariff polices have been walked back or paused after going into effect. 

“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump declared in his inaugural address Jan. 20, teeing up an onslaught of tariff policies that will take effect in the coming weeks and months. 

Tariffs are taxes levied on imported goods and services that historically have contributed to a nation’s federal tax revenue. Developed countries, however, have since moved away from relying on tariffs as a main source of federal funding and have shifted to other forms of taxes — such as income, payroll or sales taxes.

On Tuesday, which marked Trump’s 100th day back in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive action easing tariffs targeting car manufacturers as he headed to Michigan, historically the heart of the American auto industry, for a rally celebrating his return to the White House.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS: COMPANIES THAT WILL INVEST $1B OR MORE IN THE US

The upcoming auto plan will keep a 25% tariff on imported cars and a 25% tariff on imported auto parts but will offer offset credits to U.S. manufacturers for a two-year period in an effort to bolster the U.S. supply chain of car parts and encourage manufacturing in the U.S., according to the administration. 

The plan will also not stack both auto and steel and aluminum tariffs on the auto industry. Only the higher tariff will be applied to car manufacturers, not a combined tariff. 

The announcement is the latest of Trump walking back, pausing or easing tariffs as he looks to even the trade playing field for the U.S., while encouraging U.S. manufacturing and job creation. Industries that manufacture products on U.S. soil do not face any tariffs. 

A White House official who spoke to Fox News Digital explained that while the past few months of tariff changes might seem chaotic in their entirety, each change was born out of a need to be flexible and an effort to bring manufacturing and jobs into the U.S. while ending the nation’s chronic trade deficit. The official noted that, as tariffs took effect, many nations and industry leaders have made good-faith efforts to negotiate terms favorable to the U.S., adding to the tariff changes. 

AMAZON DENIES TARIFF PRICING PLAN THAT WHITE HOUSE CALLED ‘HOSTILE AND POLITICAL’

Trump’s tariff policies overwhelmingly focused on China, Mexico and Canada at the start of his second administration, as he looked to crack down on illegal immigration. It also was an attempt to stem the flow of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, which overwhelmingly originates in China, from coming across the northern and southern borders. 

Citing the threat of illegal aliens in the U.S. and the flow of fentanyl, Trump declared a national emergency in February under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% additional tariff on imports from China. 

The tariffs sparked swift outrage from the three nations, and Trump paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days after the nations agreed to concessions, such as sending additional security personnel to their respective borders with the U.S. 

China, on the other hand, imposed tariffs on some U.S. imports in response to Trump’s tariffs. China’s Finance Ministry said Feb. 4, shortly after the tariffs started, that it would impose a tariff of 15% for coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% for crude oil, agricultural equipment and large-engine cars imported from the U.S.

GROCERY GIANT WARNS ITS SUPPLIERS THAT SUPERMARKET WON’T BE ACCEPTING TARIFF-RELATED PRICE HIKES

The administration official who spoke to Fox Digital pointed to the tariff changes for Mexico and Canada as part of negotiations to secure the border after Trump declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. 

The tariffs on Mexico and Canada went into effect March 4 after the pause, while the tariffs on China were increased to 20%. A day later, after speaking with auto industry officials from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, Trump walked back the tariffs if they affected the auto industry, granting a one-month exemption to tariffs “on any autos” from the two countries that abide by the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rules of origin.

Those rules were established under the first Trump administration, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a  news conference at the time. 

On March 6, Trump again walked back the 25% tariffs on many imports from Canada and Mexico while praising Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for helping secure the U.S.-Mexico border. He postponed the tariffs for 30 days and touted that his highly anticipated reciprocal tariff plan would take effect in the coming weeks. 

DONALD TRUMP SHOULD BE PRAISED FOR SIGNALS HE MIGHT COOL TARIFF FIGHT, WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL PRAISES

“I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum,” Trump said on Truth Social of the March 6 tariff pause. “Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border.”

While announcing and imposing tariffs on nations such as Mexico and Canada, Trump previewed a reciprocal tariff plan that would take effect April 2. 

“On trade I have decided for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff — meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them no more, no less,” Trump said at the White House in February. “In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff, and we charge them the exact same tax or tariff. Very simple.” 

Trump announced his highly anticipated reciprocal tariff plan as part of his “Liberation Day” announcement April 2. Trump announced customized tariffs on dozens of nations to help bring parity to what he said were decades of foreign nations installing trade barriers on U.S. goods, while also imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all countries. 

“For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, nonmonetary barriers and other forms of cheating,” he said. “And because we are being very kind, we will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us. So, the tariffs will be not a full reciprocal. I could have done that. Yes. But it would have been tough for a lot of countries.” 

TRUMP SAYS INCOME TAX CUTS, AND PERHAPS ELIMINATION, COMING DUE TO TARIFFS

The EU for example, was hit with a 20% tariff in the reciprocal tariff plan, compared to its 39% tariffs on the U.S., while Japan saw 24% tariffs compared to the 46% the country charges the U.S. China was hit with an additional 34% tariff, compared to the 67% it charges the U.S.

The same day the reciprocal tariffs were about to take effect April 9, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the customized duty taxes he had imposed on dozens of nations, which was an abrupt change of course from his previous comments that there would be no pause to those tariffs, only negotiations. The pause did not include the 10% baseline tariff on all nations. 

“You have to have flexibility,” Trump told the media when asked about his credibility after pausing the tariffs. “I could say there’s a wall. … Sometimes, you have to go around or under the wall. Financial markets change. Look how much they changed. I think the word would be ‘flexible.’ You have to be flexible.”

White House officials told Fox News Digital at the time that dozens of countries had reached out to the White House looking to make good-faith deals, and that the administration was zeroing in on renegotiating more favorable deals for the U.S.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated in recent days that trade negotiations with at least South Korea and India are entering the final stages. 

Other tariffs, such as a 25% tax on all steel and aluminum imports or the 10% baseline tariff on foreign nations, have remained in effect without change. 

Trump has touted that with increased revenue from tariffs, U.S. citizens could see lower taxes and the possible elimination of the income tax.

“When Tariffs cut in, many people’s Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social April 13. 

“Also, massive numbers of jobs are already being created, with new plants and factories currently being built or planned. It will be a BONANZA FOR AMERICA!!! THE EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE IS HAPPENING!!!”

Fox News Digital’s Eric Revell contributed to this report. 

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-Revenge porn bill backed by Melania Trump heads to president’s desk after overwhelming House vote

-Trump nabs 30K illegal immigrants, 1,100 gang members in 100 days: ‘Crime will go down,’ ex-FBI agent says

–Promises made, promises kept: How Trump’s first 100 days stack up against Inauguration Day pledges

President Donald Trump has spent the first 100 days of his second White House term signing a flurry of executive orders aimed at delivering on his policy priorities: slashing government spending, cracking down on illegal immigration and eliminating many diversity and equity initiatives enacted under the Biden administration.

The more than 150 executive orders Trump has signed far outpace those of his predecessors. But they have also triggered a torrent of lawsuits seeking to block or pause his actions, teeing up a high-stakes showdown over how far Trump can push his Article II powers before the courts can or should intervene. 

It’s a looming constitutional clash spinning like a top through the federal courts; a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it set of hearings and appeals and emergency orders that deal with weighty issues of due process and First Amendment protections guaranteed by the Constitution…Read more

‘EXTRAORDINARY WORK’: White House takes 100-day victory lap on reforming key agency amid fierce pushback

FIRST HUNDRED: Trump steams ahead on these campaign promises as he reaches 100 days in office

CAPTURED ON CAMERA: Trump 100 Days Photo Gallery

TRUMP IN OVERDRIVE: Trump marks 100-days in office embroiled in trade battles, deadly wars and hard-pressed deals

‘FRIGHTENS ME’: Michelle Obama says fear for immigrants under Trump admin haunts her at night: ‘keeps me up’

TRUMP’S BREAKNECK EXECUTIVE PACE: Trump’s executive order blitz: What he’s signed and what’s changed

‘NUMBER ONE CHOICE’: Trump jokes he’d like to be pope, ‘Number 1 choice’ — then names a real contender

‘WOKE AND DIVISIVE’: Hegseth undoes Trump-era women’s program at DOD

‘UNSUSTAINABLE’: Tariffs could cost China 5-10 million jobs, ‘onus’ on Beijing, Bessent says

‘SCRAMBLE ISRAELI POLITICS’: Officials in Biden admin worked to undermine Netanyahu after ceasefire talks collapsed, former aide says

CHINA POST FILLED: David Perdue confirmed as Trump’s top China diplomat after key Senate vote

2026 WATCH: Vulnerable House Dem rakes in thousands of dollars from Pelosi despite past criticism

TOSS-UP TROUBLE: Minnesota House Democrat jumps into open Senate race, GOP aims to flip her seat

‘CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER’: House Democrat announces articles of impeachment against Trump:

‘VERY PESSIMISTIC’: Walz ‘very pessimistic’ on Democrats retaking the Senate

SEEING RED: Stefanik undercuts Mike Johnson in stunning public House GOP spat

PAPERS, PLEASE: Why Congress passed this requirement in 2005

SPENDING BLOCK: Dems slam Trump admins over alleged $436B spending block

ON THE BOOKS: Some fentanyl dealers would be charged with felony murder under new bicameral bill

CATCH AND RELEASE: Suspect in Noem purse snatching accused of similar crime in NY weeks before

MASK OFF: Gov. Hochul, New York lawmakers agree on criminal charge for wearing mask while committing crime

DRAMATIC ESCAPE: Man drops gun, flees charging polar bear by hopping on snowmobile, video shows

‘PART OF THE PROCESS’: Eric Adams unfazed by ruling against his plan to combat migrant crime

VANISHED: New York political candidate vanishes, clothes found on beach

SEE IT: Maryland governor says he won’t travel to El Salvador for Abrego Garcia

‘OUR OWN GREENLAND’: Red state official touts readiness to unleash energy across US

‘OUT OF TOUCH’: Potential 2028 hopeful accused of ‘inciting violence’ after call for ‘mass protests’ against Trump

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., did not rule out 2028 presidential aspirations when asked by Fox News Digital about the viral video that had pundits guessing if she was soft-launching her campaign. 

“I think what people should be most concerned about is the fact that Republicans are trying to cut Medicaid right now, and people’s healthcare is in danger. That’s really what my central focus is,” the New York Democrat said when asked if she was considering a run for president, despite President Donald Trump’s assurances that he wouldn’t cut Medicaid. 

“This moment isn’t about campaigns, or elections, or about politics. It’s about making sure people are protected, and we’ve got people that are getting locked up for exercising their First Amendment rights. We’re getting 2-year-olds that are getting deported into cells in Honduras. We’re getting people that are about to get kicked off of Medicaid. That, to me, is most important,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Capitol Hill on Trump’s 100th day in office. 

Ocasio-Cortez has crisscrossed the United States with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, and Americans have been speculating about whether the New York Democrat is launching a shadow campaign for president.

AOC CLAIMS ‘WE ARE ONE’ IN CAMPAIGN-STYLE VIDEO DESPITE YEARS OF INVOKING RACE, GENDER IN POLITICS

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign account posted a video on X last week that invigorated those rumors as the four-term Democrat from New York City and a progressive leader proclaimed, “We are one.”

‘WE ARE ONE’: AOC CAMPAIGN VIDEO SWIRLS 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RUMORS

“I’m a girl from the Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said on a campaign-style stage in Idaho. “To be welcomed here in this state, all of us together, seeing our common cause, this is what this country is all about.”

FiveThirtyEight founder and prominent pollster Nate Silver signaled earlier this month that Ocasio-Cortez is the leading Democrat to pick up the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. In a draft 2028 pick with FiveThirtyEight’s Galen Druke, Silver chose Ocasio-Cortez as his top choice to lead the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket.

POLLSTER NATE SILVER CALLS OCASIO-CORTEZ MOST LIKELY TO BE 2028 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

“I think there’s a lot of points in her favor at this very moment,” Druke said, adding, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has broad appeal across the Democratic Party.”

Americans have been reposting Ocasio-Cortez’s video across X, pointing to the video as proof of her 2028 presidential ambitions. “Get ready America. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will almost undoubtedly run for president in 2028,” political reporter Eric Daugherty said in response to the video. 

SCHUMER SINKS, AOC SOARS IN NEW POLL AS LIBERAL VOTERS DEMAND HARDER LINE ON TRUMP

As rumors swirl over Ocasio-Cortez’s ambition for higher office, back at home in New York, a Siena College poll found Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s favorability is down, at 39% among New York state voters questioned in the poll, which was conducted April 14-16. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez’s favorability soared to 47%.

The longtime senator from New York faced pushback from the Democratic Party in March for supporting the Republican budget bill backed by Trump that averted a government shutdown and stirred up outrage among congressional Democrats who planned to boycott the bill.

That growing disapproval among Democrats was reflected in the poll, and the shifting perception comes as DNC vice chair David Hogg, through his political arm, Leaders We Deserve, faced blowback from the DNC this week for investing $20 million into electing younger Democrats to safe House Democrat seats.

Ocasio-Cortez raked in a massive $9.6 million over the past three months. The record-breaking fundraising haul was one of the biggest ever for any House lawmaker. Ocasio-Cortez’s team highlighted that the fundraising came from 266,000 individual donors, with an average contribution of just $21.

“I cannot convey enough how grateful I am to the millions of people supporting us with your time, resources, & energy. Your support has allowed us to rally people together at record scale to organize their communities,” Ocasio-Cortez emphasized in a social media post.

THESE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028

Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, said that Ocasio-Cortez appears to be one of a small group of politicians in his party who “are test ballooning a potential 2028 run for the presidency” as Democrats search “for a path out of the wilderness.”

“We’re not really sure who or what it will be, but one of the pathways there is to drill down on economic populism. There are many people that occupy that lane and she is one of them. And there’s clearly energy behind what her and Bernie Sanders did criss-crossing the country.”

Colin Reed, a Republican strategist, said Ocasio-Cortez “shouldn’t be discounted” by Democrats “who are standing in her way” of running for whichever office she decides to seek — whether as a U.S. senator or president of the United States.

While Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders garnered plenty of national attention as they jetsetted across the country, Reed said their passion and energy might invigorate the progressive portion of the Democratic Party, but “her ideas are way too outside the mainstream to ever be electable at a nationwide level.”

“Ultimately, in a Democratic base there’s always going to be a percentage of voters who are drawn to that message. The issue they run to is it’s just not the majority of Americans. The majority of Americans don’t want to transform our country into some sort of ‘European-style government rules all’ vision. That’s why America was founded in the first place — to get away from oppression, from an overbearing, overreaching government,” Reed said.

As Democrats struggle to land on a consistent message and search for a clear party leader following Republicans’ November wins, there is an opportunity within the party to dominate the national Democratic narrative, Reed explained. 

“Chaos loves a vacuum, and right now, there is a vacuum in leadership in the Democratic Party, and thus chaos is ruling the roost,” Reed said. 

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“As long as those two are out there, they’re going to get attention because nobody else is doing anything. The house of cards will come crumbling down, especially when you’ve got two folks out there, Sen. Sanders and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, holding themselves out as climate warriors as they jet around the country on private jets spewing untold carbon emissions into the air. That hypocrisy is one that’s tough for a lot of folks’ stomachs,” Reed added.

Senate Democratic leaders spoke out Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, and one lawmaker compared Republicans’ cooperation with the administration to the “Silence of the Lambs.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., led off by mockingly “congratulating” Trump for being a “powerful and unifying force in only 100 days.”

“With his embarrassing, insulting, petty and outrageous attacks, Donald Trump has given Canada a new national resolve,” he said of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s victory over conservative Pierre Poilievre.

“Now, if he could just be a positive, unifying force in the United States.”

DURBIN SAYS ELDERLY LAWMAKERS SHOULD CONSIDER LEAVING POLITICS ‘BEFORE THEY’RE CARRIED OUT’

It was Schumer’s deputy, however, who compared Trump’s first chapter of his second term to a horror show.

“Through it all, my Republican colleagues have remained silent,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.

Durbin said Trump’s tariff agenda has raised commodity prices and damaged the stock market.

“[W]hile their constituents saw their retirement funds drain and grocery bills skyrocket, Republicans remained silent – rinse and repeat this cycle,” Durbin said.

DAVID PERDUE CONFIRMED AS TRUMP’S TOP CHINA DIPLOMAT AFTER KEY SENATE VOTE

“Never in our nation’s history has a co-equal branch of government so willfully rolled over and ceded their power: It is the ‘Silence of the Lambs,'” he said.

Later, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., lambasted Trump for his connection to a “meme coin” that led fellow Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California to demand an ethics probe into an invitation to a tony dinner for coin holders at Trump’s golf club.

“He has literally done something that is so unconscionable that he is selling attendance at the White House to people who buy his meme coin,” Booker said, his voice rising as he spoke.

Fox News Digital reached out to Senate Republican leadership and the White House for comment.

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Fox News Digital asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., about a Trump “truth” suggesting the use of tariff revenue to lower the federal income tax in what Trump called the “External Revenue Service.”

Klobuchar chuckled and remarked, “I haven’t heard the latest one. I just know that if he continues with these tariffs across the board, and he’s trying to get in quick money that way, we are going to have markets dry up.

“Even if the tariffs go away, or he negotiates stuff, it’s going to be hard to get those markets back,” she said, adding economic allies will see the U.S. as an “unreliable” partner.

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbent Democrats heading into next year’s midterm elections, is facing criticism for her recent opposition to President Trump’s tariff plans despite a long history of fighting for tariffs while representing union-heavy northwest Ohio. 

Kaptur, who has served in Congress since the early 1980s, has been vocally criticizing Trump over his tariff plan, including on the House floor last month when she argued that a 25% tariff on Canada would “raise your prices on everything.”

In February, Kaptur said, “Across our country, people are experiencing a worrisome economic reality. Prices are on the rise. Trade wars and short supply of goods will cause more inflation. Prices are up 3% across the board. Egg prices are up 53%. Too many families are overwhelmed and facing really hard choices.”

Kaptur’s criticisms of tariffs, which have been echoed by many other Democrats as well as some conservatives within the GOP and have also resulted in lawsuits from Democrats who say they will lead to inflation, come after years of promoting the idea of tariffs as a way to “level the playing field” on trade.

DONALD TRUMP SHOULD BE PRAISED FOR SIGNALS HE MIGHT COOL TARIFF FIGHT, WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL PRAISES

“Actually, he’s agreeing with my 25-year battle to try to get attention to America’s trade accounts, to the fact that we have not had balanced trade accounts. They’ve been over half a trillion dollars in the red for over a quarter-century. We have lost thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs. We’ve had production platforms shut down in many major industries, including those I represent,” Kaptur, speaking to BBC in 2018, said in response to concerns that Trump’s steel tariffs in his first term could start a “trade war,” adding that the “whole trade regimen globally needs to be reformed.”

Two years earlier, Kaptur called for the need to “have a real reckoning” on trade while also supporting the use of tariffs during an interview on C-SPAN.

“Every billion dollars of deficit translates to a million lost jobs in this country,” Kaptur said. “A loss of millions of American jobs every year. We have to face that directly.”

AIR FORCE VETERAN JUMPS INTO KEY HOUSE RACE TO UNSEAT 22-TERM VULNERABLE DEM: ‘TIME TO PASS THE TORCH’

“We have to do something. We have to have a response here, whether it’s tariffs on imported goods, whether it’s slowing down the admission of those goods into our country. We don’t want to create walls. We want to create open trade and that would [save] the incomes and livelihoods of millions of Americans across this country.”

The United Auto Workers (UAW) — who Kaptur has previously supported, even touting that her parents were members of the union — has come out in favor of Trump’s tariffs, and in 1994, Kaptur said on C-SPAN that a “large share of our trade deficit is in the automotive area” and largely due to “outsourcing production all over the world,” which had a “tremendous impact on the ability of ordinary people in communities across this country to earn a decent living because we pay our workers more than they do in Mexico or China.”

Kaptur, who narrowly won re-election in 2024 by less than 1 percentage point, is widely considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the House. Her district will be home to one of the most highly watched races as Republicans attempt to hold a thin majority in the chamber.

Cook Political Report ranks the race as a “Democrat toss up” in a state that Trump carried by over 10 points. Trump won the district in 2024 by about 25,000 votes.

Kaptur’s praise of tariffs in the past contrasted with her current objections has sparked criticism from the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“Democrat Marcy Kaptur is so consumed by Trump Derangement Syndrome that she can’t even do what’s right for Ohio workers,” NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon said. “Time and time again, Kaptur proves just how out of touch she is with real Ohioans—flip flopping to push partisan nonsense instead of real solutions.”

Kaptur, who has previously said she stands “shoulder to shoulder” with UAW, has taken thousands of dollars from General Motors Company PAC and Ford Motor Company Civic Action Fund, FEC records show. Both GM and Ford have faced criticism for outsourcing jobs outside the United States.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kaptur defended the use of targeted tariffs while taking issue with the across-the-board approach from the Trump administration that some have linked to recent economic uncertainty.

“The hollowing out of our manufacturing base to the benefit and enrichment of Wall Street has been a decades-long attack on working men and women in my district, and across America,” Kaptur said. “Smart and targeted tariffs are a critical tool in the arsenal to protect workers, and can operate as part of a strategy to fight unfair trade practices from authoritarian nations such as China and Russia.”

“But, the arbitrary and sudden tariffs across the board on more than 180 countries and territories, with exemptions only given out depending on who was able to pay $500,000 for a seat at ‘The Executive Branch’ or $250,000 a piece for a table Mar-a-Lago is unfair,” Kaptur continued. “This comes at the same time this Administration is cutting off critical investments in manufacturing from the CHIPS Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and American Rescue Plan Act, which is eliminating tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs, and is a recipe for pain and failure.”

Kaptur added that the tariffs on Canada “in particular” are “exacting great pain on families, workers, and companies across our region struggling to compete, and are raising the cost of gas, groceries, lumber, housing, cars, and so much more.”

“Trump’s Tariffs hurt working families, while killing the livelihood of those who work in manufacturing, farming, and construction. The Trump Tariffs are a recipe for disaster that are already hurting tens of thousands across the region I represent in Northwest Ohio — we deserve a comprehensive strategy on trade that prioritizes workers, not Wall Street speculators.”

Despite criticisms from both sides of the aisle, Trump’s tariff plan appears popular with several unions, including the UAW, whose president, Shawn Fain, said in late March, “Yes, I disagree with Donald Trump on virtually everything, but [tariffs are] one thing I don’t disagree on.”

President Donald Trump unveiled new plans Tuesday to swap out the retiring A-10 Warthog aircraft based out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan with 21 brand-new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets. 

Trump shared details of the new fighter jet mission during a speech to National Guardsmen at the Michigan base for an event commemorating his 100th day in office. 

“Fresh off the line. That means they are brand new,” Trump said. “They’ve never been anywhere. This is where they’re going to be for a long time. And I saw one of them, flew over my head, and I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ That plane has serious power. So this is the best there is anywhere in the world, the F-15EX Eagle II. This will keep Selfridge at the cutting edge of Northern American air power.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

As President Trump marks his 100th day in office on Tuesday, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) says that it has cut at least $160 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, including several high-profile cuts that have been highlighted over the past few months.

One of the most talked about DOGE targets in Trump’s first term was spending at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, who says she speaks to Musk about spending cuts every few days, published a list of projects and programs she says the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped fund across the years.

HOW A DOGE REVIEW CAN ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAMS THAT FIGHT HIV/AIDS

Ernst highlighted that the agency “authorized a whopping $20 million to create a ‘Sesame Street’ in Iraq.” 

Under the Biden administration, USAID awarded $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called “Ahlan Simsim Iraq” in an effort to “promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups.” 

Several more examples of questionable spending have been uncovered at USAID, including more than $900,000 to a “Gaza-based terror charity” called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

Fox News Digital previously reported that nearly 15,000 grants worth $60 billion are set to be eliminated, according to internal documents. The grants amount to about 90% of foreign aid contracts and come after a review on spending by the State Department. 

DOGE’s efforts at USAID did not come without opposition, including a federal judge in Maryland who ruled that the moves were unconstitutional. In March, a federal appeals court granted the Trump administration’s motion to extend a stay allowing DOGE to continue operating at USAID.

On the campaign trail and since taking office, President Trump has made it clear he aims to slash DEI spending in the federal government while making the case that a system of meritocracy should be the focus.

DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

DOGE has announced over the last few months that it has cut hundreds of millions in DEI contracts. 

Earlier this month, DOGE announced it had worked with the U.S. National Science Foundation to cancel 402 “wasteful” diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) grants, which will save $233 million, including $1 million for “Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation.”

The Department of Defense could save up to $80 million in wasteful spending by cutting loose a handful of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, the agency announced last month. 

The Defense Department has been working with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in slashing wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media.

Parnell listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, much of it consisting of millions of dollars given to support various DEI programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to “strengthen American democracy by bridging divides.”

The Trump administration announced earlier this month it is slashing millions of dollars in DEI grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of its overall DOGE push.

DAVID MARCUS: WHAT AMERICA OWES ELON MUSK AFTER DOGE

In February, the Department of Education (DOE) said it is canceling more than $100 million in grants to DEI training as part of DOGE’s efforts. 

DOGE has made efforts to cut federal spending by cutting the federal workforce, which it argues has become bloated with many employees doing jobs that are unnecessary or could be streamlined.

In February, DOGE terminated employment for 3,600 probationary Health and Human Services employees in a cut it says is estimated to save about $600 million in taxpayer dollars annually.

FOX Business reported in early April that over the previous two months, DOGE’s cutbacks have been attributed to 280,253 layoffs of federal workers and contractors at 27 agencies, according to Challenger tracking. There were an additional 4,429 job cuts attributed to the downstream effect of cutting federal aid and ending contracts, mostly at nonprofits and health organizations.

Roughly 75,000 federal employees accepted a deferred resignation program, Fox News Digital reported in February, which DOGE has argued will save the government money in the long run. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), inspired by DOGE’s crackdown on federal spending, said it had located $20 billion in tax dollars within the agency that the Biden administration reportedly “knew they were wasting.”

“An extremely disturbing video circulated two months ago, featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about how they were ‘tossing gold bars off the Titanic,’ rushing to get billions of your tax dollars out the door before Inauguration Day,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a video posted to X on Wednesday, citing another video from December. 

The EPA found that just eight agencies were controlling the distribution of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to different entities “at their discretion,” such as the Climate United Fund, which reportedly received just under $7 billion.

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“The ‘gold bars’ were tax dollars, and ‘tossing them off the Titanic’ meant the Biden administration knew they were wasting it,” Zeldin said, vowing to recover the “gold bars” that were found “parked at an outside financial institution.”

Zeldin said that the “scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposely designed to obligate all the money in a rush job with reduced oversight.” 

In a Fox News interview, the EPA administrator praised DOGE’s work at the agency and said that the cost-cutting department is “making us better.”

“They come up with great recommendations, and we can make a decision to act on it,” Zeldin said.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days of his second term, the agency arrested more than 66,000 illegal immigrants and removed more than 65,000. 

ICE arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682, including those accused of threatening public safety and national security, according to a news release from ICE.

Three in four arrests of illegal immigrants involved someone accused of committing a crime, according to the agency.

“The brave men and women of ICE protect our families, friends and neighbors by removing public safety and national security threats from our communities,” ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons wrote in a statement. 

NEARLY 800 ILLEGAL ALIENS ARRESTED IN MASSIVE FLORIDA ICE OPERATION: ‘TIDAL WAVE’

The total number of ICE illegal immigrant arrests includes 2,288 gang members from Tren de Aragua, MS-13, 18th Street and other gangs, Lyons said. 

Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are now listed as foreign terrorist organizations.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS SUE OVER TRUMP ADMIN REVOKING VISAS

Additionally, 1,329 were accused or convicted of sex offenses, and 498 were accused or convicted of murder, according to ICE.

The criminal records of those arrested include convictions or charges for 9,639 assaults, 6,398 DWIs or DUIs and 1,479 weapon offenses, according to the release.

JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESTORE OHIO STATE GRAD STUDENT’S VISA

Arrests and removals surged with help from state and local law enforcement agencies through the 287(g) Program, which allows local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws. 

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations directorate has nearly 600 pending and signed agreements with police departments and sheriff’s offices across the nation, demonstrating the effectiveness of a whole-of-government approach to immigration enforcement, according to the release.

Since Jan. 20, there have been 444 new 287(g) agreements nationwide.

Even still, with about 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., the current 65,682 deportations would account for just 0.59%.

ICE SAYS IT DEPORTED 174 CRIMINAL MIGRANTS FROM TEXAS, INCLUDING A MAN WITH 39 ILLEGAL ENTRIES

Officials said ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which also focuses on transnational crime and threats, has been zeroing in on worksite operations to protect American businesses. 

Since Jan. 20, HSI has arrested more than 1,000 workers who were illegal immigrants, and proposed over $1 million in fines against businesses that hire illegal employees.

“This agency has set the bar on arrests and removals while upholding its national security mission,” ICE deputy director Madison D. Sheahan wrote in a statement. “Last week, HSI broke up a human smuggling ring that’s allegedly responsible for bringing between 500 and 700 illegal aliens into the U.S. every year — aliens that the U.S. government never vetted. Our communities are becoming safer each day thanks to President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership.”

VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT USES TREN DE ARAGUA AS PROXIES TO UNDERMINE US PUBLIC SAFETY, FBI ASSESSMENT FINDS

Illegal immigrant encounters are down by 95%, while illegal crossings plunged to levels last seen in the 1960s, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the White House. 

The number of illegal immigrants who “got away” from immigration enforcement officers is down 99%, with a 655% spike in arrests of suspected terrorists, CBP and the White House said.

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There are now an additional 85 miles of new border barriers.