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Trump names Stefanik UN ambassador: report

Trump names Stefanik UN ambassador: report

President-elect Trump reportedly named Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations.  “I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement to the New York Post.  Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, confirmed the appointment in a statement of her own to the outlet.  “I am truly honored to earn President Trump’s nomination to serve in his Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,” Stefanik told the Post. “During my conversation with President Trump, I shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate. President Trump’s historic landslide election has given hope to the American people and is a reminder that brighter days are ahead — both at home and abroad.”  STEFANIK SLAMS DEMOCRATS’ ‘SCARE TACTICS’ ON TRUMP’S RECORD WITH WOMEN ON IVF, ABORTION Stefanik, the fourth-highest ranking House Republican, is a frequent figure on television where she advocates for the GOP side on a number of issues, including Israel and what she refers to as the “Biden Crime Family.”  By contrast, the Biden-Harris administration’s U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, does not seek much press coverage.  IRAN’S CYBER STRIKE ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN: STEFANIK SLAMS FBI FOR ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ TO AID DEMS Stefanik, who was elected to her sixth term in the House last week, made national headlines for grilling the presidents of Ivy League universities about the rising antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.  “The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries,” Stefanik added in her statement to the Post. “I stand ready to advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations. “

Montana’s road to red: How the state shifted to all GOP leadership for the first time in over 100 years

Montana’s road to red: How the state shifted to all GOP leadership for the first time in over 100 years

Montana has officially solidified itself as a red state, ending a long period of Democratic leadership with the ousting of the last statewide Democrat in the 2024 election. Montana’s first two senators, selected after joining the union in November 1989, were Republican. The state elected another set of Republicans to the Senate in the early 1900s, but Montana would not see another GOP pair elected to the chamber until 2024 – more than 100 years later. And for the first time since 1897, Montana is seeing a sweep of Republican leadership across the Senate, governorship and congressional seats. But Montana’s road to red started in 1997, the year the state started consistently electing Republicans to the House of Representatives. NAVY SEAL OUSTS 3-TERM SEN. JON TESTER IN MONTANA SENATE RACE When Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, took office in 2007, he locked in a predominantly blue Montana with two Democratic senators and a Democratic governor that year.  IN & OUT: TRIO OF LONGTIME DEM SENATORS ELECTED SAME YEAR WERE VOTED OUT IN 2024 But the state saw a significant shift in 2014 when Republican Sen. Steve Daines flipped one of the long-held Democratic Senate seats in Montana – the beginning of a red wave that would eventually overtake the entire state. As of 2021, Montana’s gubernatorial seat has remained consistently occupied by a Republican. Tester eventually became the only Democrat to hold a statewide seat in Montana, but his 18-year stand came to an end on Tuesday when Republican Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy ousted him in one of the most closely watched Senate races of the 2024 cycle. Daines recently spoke with Fox News Digital about Montana’s changing electorate. “I think what’s happened is Montana, in terms of their voting and their thinking, has moved a bit more right,” said Daines. “The biggest problem for the Democrats is they’ve moved so far left. This is not the same Democrat Party that I grew up with here in Montana.” Daines, who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for the 2024 election cycle, noted that the shift to the right is also the result of many Republicans having moved to Montana from blue states over the years.  “We’ve just seen an influx of New Montana residents over the course of the last five, six years. And those new residents, from states like California, Oregon, Washington, even Colorado, are fleeing heavy-handed blue states and coming to a red state,” the senator said in an interview. “And so it’s not just the quality of life that is attracting these newly minted Montanans. It’s also the quality of leadership. They want to see center-right leaders who hold their values as they flee these liberal states. So we refer to these new Montanans as political refugees, not as political missionaries. They’re coming to join us, not to change us.” As of 2025, Montana will be represented by Daines, Sheehy, Gov. Greg Gianforte, Rep. Ryan Zinke and Rep.-elect Troy Downing.

State education chief ‘on GOP radar’ launches gameplan for nixing cabinet department

State education chief ‘on GOP radar’ launches gameplan for nixing cabinet department

EXCLUSIVE: As President-elect Donald Trump privately storyboards his cabinet choices, one top state official who is rumored to be on the shortlist for Secretary of Education is releasing his game plan for shifting the department’s duties to states and parents, Fox News Digital has learned. In a memo to Oklahoma parents and school administrators, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters will state that the federal agency has “hijacked our education system using taxpayer dollars to impose harmful policies and control what’s taught in our schools.” Some issues Walters said he is bringing to the fore both in the memo and what he is calling a Trump Education Advisory Team to be announced Monday. The Department of Education is a relatively new stand-alone cabinet agency created under former President Jimmy Carter, which his successor, Ronald Reagan, called to shutter during his 1982 State of the Union. OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS CHIEF BILLS KAMALA HARRIS $474M FOR COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION Tenets include ending “social indoctrination” in the classroom and promoting patriotism through curriculum. In a Friday interview, Walters said the team will organize priorities for schools to be in line with Trump administration education policies, based on what the president-elect has signaled that he will do in that regard. With the prospect of a shuttered Department of Education, Walters said that he will plan out how to fill any holes left by federal programs and develop legislative recommendations. At an October rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Trump said he is “going to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states.” “And we’re going to do it fast. We’ll get somebody great [as secretary].” He namedropped former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. who had accompanied him, as well as Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Walters also remains “on Republicans’ radar” in that regard, according to Education Week. He said on Friday that Democrats failed to challenge Trump on education policy likely because his positions already resonated with the American public, alluding to the recent scholastic controversies in Virginia and elsewhere. “We’re going to be the tip of the spear in instituting President Trump’s agenda. This is to ensure that we are in complete alignment with the most aggressive, comprehensive and conservative education agenda the country has ever seen,” he said. Walters said he is confident that Trump will follow through and shutter the agency, and that it will result in increased aptitude among students less burdened by red tape, redundancies to state agencies, and social policy edicts. STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF DIRECTS MILLIONS TO FUND A BIBLE IN EVERY SCHOOL “I mean, President Biden came out in the middle of the summer and told us we had to put boys in girl’s bathrooms,” he said. Whether Trump ultimately chooses him, Walters said he will remain focused on bringing Oklahoma in-line with Trumpian policies, and creating a roadmap for other states. Improving education, he added, goes far beyond curriculum and will have lasting impacts on the economy, jobs and more. “Parents wanted to hear that . . . our schools are not here to tell our kids this is an evil, racist country and building this indoctrination,” he said. “We want to support families and school choice.” The transition plan he crafted also depicts how the education system can continue to run without the influence of teachers’ unions that comes with the present top-down system. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He said that American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten put his picture on a screen after Trump’s during a recent union convention, and that his response was Tuesday’s “definitive win” by pro-school-choice candidates. “It’s just it’s so exciting to see this agenda come to fruition,” he said.  In the current Congress, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., also authored a bill abolishing the Department of Education. It was referred to and remains in committee.  Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for information on the cabinet shortlist, as well as to the Department of Education for a response to Walters’ plans. A representative for the latter referred Fox News Digital to the Trump campaign.

Philly stakes: Trump appears to overperform in surprising Pennsylvania places

Philly stakes: Trump appears to overperform in surprising Pennsylvania places

No Republican presidential candidate has won Philadelphia County since Herbert Hoover’s ill-fated 1932 contest, and Donald Trump was no different. Pennsylvania’s largest city and several other blue bastions saw marked movement in the mogul’s direction last week, according to post-mortem figures. Of the top 10 counties where Trump overperformed his 2020 numbers the most, six are or were majority Democrat. Trump increased his margin the most – by 7.5 points – in the Poconos’ Monroe County, a rapidly suburbanizing area that has been trending blue with ex-pats from New York City suburbs moving in. Philadelphia fell to sixth out of 67 counties, according to New York Times data.  TRUMP TRAIN CHUGS PAST 2020 MARGINS PARTICULARLY AMONG HISPANICS, NORTHEASTERNERS Vice President Harris still won Philadelphia by 59 points, but Trump increased his margin by five points, which, accounting for the exponentially larger population, is many more voters than other counties with similar margins. The turnout for Trump in the city may also have positive implications beyond the presidency. Republicans are also on the rare verge of picking up a state Senate seat in the city, as local outlets reported Thursday. The challenger, Joe Picozzi, is primed to pick up Democrat Jimmy Dillon’s seat in the working-class neighborhood of Mayfair.  All three of Pennsylvania’s row offices – attorney general, auditor and treasurer – will be Republican, no doubt buoyed by raw-vote tranches from dense counties where Trump overperformed. After Republicans upset Democrats’ voter-registration advantage in Luzerne County – home to Wilkes-Barre – two months before the election, Trump also made his second-biggest gain there over 2020, by 5.7 points. President Biden was born in Wilkes-Barre’s twin city, Scranton, where reliably Democrat Lackawanna County saw Trump’s third-best improvement. Harris narrowly won Lehigh County, where the state’s third-largest city sits. Both candidates visited Allentown in the closing days. Statistics yet to come will show whether Trump’s reported boost from Hispanics helped the trend in Lehigh, Philadelphia and Berks, home to Latino-majority Reading. TRUMP RALLIES IN PA CITY WITH HIGHEST PROPORTIONAL HISPANIC POPULATION Trump’s fourth-best improvement came from Lehigh, where the growing Latino population in bluer areas lives alongside historically redder Pennsylvania German communities. Trump also won back Lehigh’s sister county, Northampton, from Biden after pulling off a shocking upset there in 2016.  Together, Lehigh and Northampton form the postindustrial Lehigh Valley. On Election Day, local outlets reported hourslong lines at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, where energized Democrat-supporting students at Lehigh University queued to cast their ballot. In the end, it was Trump who overperformed in the bellwether region, which colloquially includes New Jersey’s Warren County. Trump handily won there, too, along with Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J.; another closely watched contest in a blue area. Trump’s coattails also ran long in the Lehigh Valley as its Democrat congresswoman, Susan Wild, tweeted her concession to state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Macungie. Wild survived three nail-biters since taking the seat upon the retirement of anti-Trump Republican Charlie Dent in 2018. Trump also overperformed in rural Pike County, the state’s northeast corner, which is anchored by reliably Democrat Milford.  He also squeaked out a 0.1% win in Bucks County, the most “swing” of Philadelphia’s suburbs. None of Philadelphia’s other collar counties have gone for a Republican since George W. Bush won Chester County in 2004. Republicans historically saw their widest declines in those Philadelphia collar counties in the time since the Bush-Kerry contest, until Tuesday. The prospect of a Republican Senate leader being elected from the region seems impossible at present. But now-Judge Dominic Pileggi of Delaware County did just that 20 years ago, and the Democrat supermajority city of Chester even elected Republican Wendell Butler Jr. for one term at the time. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP But Trump made progress in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia this year. One place that Republican activists had worked hard to flip red this year was otherwise-rural Centre County, home to Penn State University. While Harris ultimately took Centre by two points, Republicans made gains there with Trump performing three points better than in 2020. Pennsylvania wasn’t all GOP gains, however, as Harris gave Democrats marginal hope in several mid-state counties, particularly those within the hard-fought contest between Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Democratic news anchor Janelle Stelson. Trump won suburban Cumberland County, bordering Harrisburg, by 10 points, but Democrats performed one point better there than in past years, according to Times data. The same could be said for neighboring deep-red Perry County, where Trump won by 50. Adams County, home to Gettysburg; Jefferson County, home to Punxsutawney; Snyder County, home to Susquehanna University; and Juniata County all saw Democrats gain a fraction of a point over 2020. Trump gained in Harrisburg’s otherwise-rural Dauphin County itself, but Harris won it by six.

Trump to appoint former ICE Director Tom Homan as next ‘border czar’: ‘nobody better at policing our borders’

Trump to appoint former ICE Director Tom Homan as next ‘border czar’: ‘nobody better at policing our borders’

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he plans to appoint Thomas Homan as the next ‘border czar.’ Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social. “​​I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.” HOW HARRIS WAS DOGGED BY ‘BORDER CZAR’ LABEL, PAST RADICAL IMMIGRATION VIEWS DURING FAILED CAMPAIGN Trump added that the “border czar” position isn’t just for monitoring the U.S. southern border with Mexico, but also “the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security. I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.” This comes less than a week after Trump secured his second presidency, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, who was dubbed the “border czar” in the Biden administration. Border security was a strong point of Trump’s first presidency, and it was a stalwart during both his 2020 and 2024 campaigns. ‘STATUS QUO’ AT SOUTHERN BORDER ‘ENDS’ WHEN TRUMP’S IN OFFICE, SAYS NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL PRESIDENT Illegal border crossings surged under the Biden administration, with nearly 3 million in fiscal year 2024, according to Homeland Security’s website. There have been more than 10.8 million illegal encounters since FY 2021. Trump vowed during his campaign he would once again take a hard-line approach to securing the border. “It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” Homan said during a Fox News interview on Sunday, adding that deportations would be a “humane operation.” Trump during his campaign referenced illegal migrants as people fleeing countries that didn’t want them. He often said at his rallies that illegal immigrants flooded the U.S. with drugs and gangs, and that they became a hub for smuggling and human trafficking, saying they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” “They’re rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums,” Trump said. “You know, insane asylums, that’s ‘Silence of the Lambs’ stuff.” This is only the beginning of thousands of positions that need to be filled by his presidency. Trump has already announced that Susie Wiles, his co-campaign manager, will be the White House chief of staff.