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Trump’s speech to Congress ends notion that Dems are the ‘compassionate’ party after 92 years: expert

Trump’s speech to Congress ends notion that Dems are the ‘compassionate’ party after 92 years: expert

President Donald Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress put the final nail in the coffin of the Democrats’ recognition as the political party of compassion – which was first promoted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt 92 years ago – former Reagan speechwriter Clark Judge told Fox News Digital.  “In the 1930s, thanks to the energy, determination and humanity that FDR projected in his first hundred days and thereafter, particularly in contrast to what was seen as four years of heartlessness and fecklessness in the Hoover administration, the Democratic Party claimed the mantle of the ‘compassionate’ party, the party of the common man and woman, the party of social justice. A new political era was born,” Judge, who served as speechwriter and special assistant to both President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush, told Fox News Digital in an assessment of Trump’s speech last week.  “On Tuesday night, with the Democrats sitting on their hands through story after heartrending story of overcoming the injustices of economic mismanagement and wokeness, even as a little boy, whose political ‘incorrectness’ went no farther than loving the police even as he struggles with brain cancer, and following a mere month (a third of a hundred days) of President Trump’s rapid-fire reform rivaling FDR’s, that 92-year-old political era came to an end. For good. Forever,” he added.  Trump spoke for about an hour and 40 minutes, notching the longest address a president has delivered before a joint session of Congress, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The longest speech on record was previously held by former President Bill Clinton, when he spoke for one hour and 28 minutes during his State of the Union Address in 2000.  DEMOCRATS PRIVATELY REBUKE PARTY MEMBERS WHO JEERED TRUMP DURING SPEECH TO CONGRESS: REPORT “To my fellow citizens, America is back,” Trump declared at the start of his speech.  “Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden Age of America,” he said. “From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years. And we are just getting started.”  13-YEAR-OLD CANCER SURVIVOR EARNS STANDING OVATION AS HE BECOMES SECRET SERVICE AGENT DURING TRUMP SPEECH Guests invited to the speech included “everyday Americans,” according to first lady Melania Trump’s office, including families who have lost their loved ones to murders carried out by illegal immigrants, the widow of a slain New York Police Department officer, a teenager who was the victim of AI-generated images passed around at school, and a young cancer survivor named DJ Daniel who stole the show with his dad when Trump made his dream of becoming a cop come true.  TRUMP TO MAKE ‘FULL-THROATED’ CASE DURING PRIMETIME SPEECH: FORMER PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITERS “Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police,” Trump told the crowd. “His name is DJ Daniel. He is 13 years old, and he has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago.” “Tonight, DJ, we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all,” Trump said. “I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service.” Judge, who is the founder of the communications firm the White House Writers Group Inc., continued in his assessment of Trump’s speech that the president’s guests last Tuesday brought “life” to the “callousness of the old order.” “Brilliant speech. Vivid. Great structure and flow. Unusually memorable illustrations. The stories of his well-selected guests in the gallery brought to undeniable life the senseless callousness of the old order and the hope for the nation and its future that the Trump administration’s electric beginning has now demonstrated is achievable,” he said.  TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM TRUMP’S ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS “Great use of humor, too. Particularly clever was the section that climbed the ladder of rising ages in the supposedly active recipients in the Social Security rolls, all the way to the name of a 360-year-old, whoever that turns out to be, or have been. In a moment, wringing waste, fraud, and abuse out of Social Security and much else the government does was no longer code for heartless cutting and became a duty we could all embrace and expect our government to undertake for the benefit of all,” he continued.  Other former presidential speechwriters have weighed in favorably over Trump’s speech, including former President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter, Bill McGurn, during an appearance on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” on Wednesday. “I greatly enjoyed just having to listen to it. I thought President Trump did exactly what he needed to do.  It was well received by Republicans, and he played the Democrats against themselves,” McGurn said.  Trump’s director of speechwriting under his first administration, Stephen Miller – who serves as White House deputy dhief of staff for policy under the second administration – shared his criticisms of Democrats on X throughout the speech.  ‘HE’S BACK’: TRUMP’S JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS TO BE BLANKETED WITH 6-FIGURE AD BUY TOUTING TAX PLAN Democrats overwhelmingly remained seated throughout Trump’s address, including when he spotlighted various Americans for nonpolitical issues, such as when Daniel was spotlighted by the president, or when Trump remembered the lives of 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who were killed at the hands of illegal immigrants.  Democrats protested during the speech, including holding up signs reading “false,” “lies,” “Musk steals” and “Save Medicaid.” Some female Democratic lawmakers wore pink suits in protest of policies they claim are anti-woman, and other Democrats were heard jeering Trump throughout the speech.  TOP 5 MOMENTS

Beauty in Gaza: Noor’s tent salon in the rubble

Beauty in Gaza: Noor’s tent salon in the rubble

Gaza City – Amani Dweima has come to the salon with her 16-year-old daughter, Aya. The 39-year-old wants her eyebrows shaped, and Aya wants a full face of makeup; there’s a wedding planned for that evening after iftar. “My niece’s wedding,” Amani says. “We’re celebrating the bride with a small family gathering before the groom takes her to their tent.” Noor’s Salon The salon is a small blue tent with a single table inside topped with a damaged mirror, depilation tools, moisturisers, and some makeup. Outside the tent in al-Shujaeya east of Gaza City, a white handwritten sign reading: “Noor’s Salon” hangs near the curtained entrance. This is Noor al-Ghamari’s salon, a dream project for the young woman who quit nursing college to pursue her love of hair and makeup. She set it up about three weeks ago on a destroyed pavement, the only option available when she and her family returned to the north from their displacement to the south. After greeting Amani and Aya, she starts softening a small piece of sugaring paste, gently kneading it in her hands, and begins working. Advertisement “Since I opened, so many women have come to me with heartbreaking stories … about losing their families and loved ones. They arrive exhausted, their faces drained of light,” Noor said. The idea of a beauty salon in the midst of war may seem odd, Amani and Noor agree, but the act of self-care can help women. Amani, seated, says: ‘Looking after myself changes my mood,’ as Noor works on her face [Abdelhakim Abu Riash, Al Jazeera] “Women come to me from tents, overcrowded schools, or the ruins of their destroyed homes. “I try to offer them a moment of comfort, a small escape. My main goal is for them to leave feeling even just a little lighter, a little happier.” Amani, who was displaced to Deir el-Balah and has recently returned to the north, as well, didn’t think about going to a beautician at all in the early days of the war. Eventually, she came across a similar salon in Deir el-Balah and started to go as regularly as she could. “Looking after myself changes my mood, especially when I see my reflection in the mirror. I always want to look presentable. “The tragedies around us never end. Visiting a beauty salon is … a small escape from all the hardships around us,” she adds. Back in the north, she was “thrilled” when she saw Noor’s Salon and immediately spread the good news to her neighbours and relatives. Beauty amid war Noor believes the war has been particularly cruel to women in Gaza – stripping them of their homes and security and of their capacity for self-care as they poured their energy into survival. “I saw many women whose skin was completely burned by the sun from living in tents, constantly cooking over wood fires, washing clothes by hand, and carrying heavy water containers,” she says. “On top of that, they have no privacy in the overcrowded displacement camps, not to mention the fear, bombings, and all the horrors of war.” Noor stands in front of her tent salon, on a destroyed street in Shujaeya [Abdelhakim Abu Riash, Al Jazeera] And yet, she says, she has had clients of all ages who feel that self-care is essential for them. Advertisement “I met many women who couldn’t stand a single stray hair on their face or eyebrows. Some came to me every week, others regularly or occasionally,” Noor says. She recalls a client she got once, a woman in her early 30s who had been through a huge trauma when her parents and all her siblings were killed in an Israeli air raid. Coping with her loss meant the woman lost all desire to do anything. “I felt so deeply for her,” Noor says. “I gave her a full treatment – threading, eyebrow shaping, a haircut, even a free face massage and masque. “When she looked in the mirror, her eyes filled with happy tears.” Holding on to dreams Israel’s war on Gaza began right as Noor was dreaming, laying out the plans for her own – bricks-and-mortar – salon. Like everyone in Gaza, her life and plans were turned upside down as she, her parents and her eight siblings were forced to flee south after Israeli evacuation orders. For the first two months, her only thoughts were of survival and helping her family, she says. “But after the initial months, when we settled in a displacement camp in the south, I heard women say things like: ‘If only there were a hairdresser or a salon nearby so we could take care of ourselves a little.’ “I would respond: ‘I’m a beautician!’” Noor laughs. Noor stops to check the makeup she’s applying to Aya’s face for the wedding later [Abdelhakim Abu Riash, Al Jazeera] “The women would grab me like they had just found a treasure, and I would start working immediately.” Some women came to her, while she went to others in their tents – depending on their needs. Advertisement Now, her work has become an essential source of income for her and her family during the war, even though she can’t charge her five to eight customers a day much. “I live here, I understand the reality,” she says, explaining why she keeps her prices low. ‘War aged us’ Amani seems restless as Noor finishes threading her face. She asks if Noor can dye her hair, but Noor can’t. “There’s no water in this area,” she explains. “Dyeing needs running water, and my tent is on the pavement, surrounded by destruction – there’s no water, no electricity, nothing. “I make do with the simplest equipment and only offer basic services.” Amani sighs, running her fingers through her greying hair beneath her hijab. “I only used to have a few grey hairs. But now, it’s everywhere. This war aged us,” she says with a sad smile. Noor shifted her attention to Aya, discussing

Meet Sandra Whitehouse, whose husband’s votes funneled millions into NGO that pays her

Meet Sandra Whitehouse, whose husband’s votes funneled millions into NGO that pays her

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has emerged into the spotlight amid a new ethics complaint due to his voting in favor of laws that ultimately funded millions in grants to a nonprofit climate group that pays his wife’s consulting firm.  But who is his wife, Sandra Whitehouse?  Whitehouse earned her bachelor’s degree at Yale University, similar to her now-senator husband, according to her LinkedIn page.  TRUMP FDA NOMINEE TURNS VACCINE QUESTION ON DEM, RECALLING CONTROVERSIAL BIDEN DECISION After that, she earned her master’s degree at the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, studying there from 1986 to 1994. She and Sheldon Whitehouse married in 1986 at the St. George’s School Chapel in Newport, Rhode Island, according to a newspaper announcement.  The couple live in Newport and have two children, Molly and Alexander, as well as two grandchildren, according to the senator’s website. Throughout her career, Whitehouse has advised nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, a state agency, a legislative body and private companies, according to a biography from the Atlantic Council, where she was a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. TRUMP’S BIPARTISAN-BACKED LABOR PICK CLEARS LAST HURDLE BEFORE CABINET CONFIRMATION Her husband was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. She first began working for the group at the center of the latest ethics complaint roughly two years later, in 2008.  Whitehouse started working for Ocean Conservancy in September 2008, according to her LinkedIn page. She served as a senior policy advisor, and her “consulting work includes providing strategic advice for the Executive Team and Program Directors, raising awareness of ocean policy issues at various workshops and conferences, and engaging key stakeholders in Ocean Conservancy’s mission. Areas of policy focus include climate change, ocean plastics, and ocean planning.” Whitehouse is no longer directly employed by Ocean Conservancy, but the organization does pay her firm, Ocean Wonks LLC, for similar consulting.  She became president of Ocean Wonks LLC in 2017, and in this capacity, she “consults for various non-profit organizations, leveraging decades of scientific, regulatory, and policy experience to educate on and advocate for ocean policy issues,” according to her LinkedIn. INSIDE ELON MUSK’S HUDDLE WITH GOP SENATORS: DOGE HEAD TOUTS $4M SAVINGS PER DAY Ocean Conservancy has notably received more than $14.2 million in federal grants since 2008, according to USASpending.gov. It was given two sizable grants in just 2024, one for $5.2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and another for $1.7 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), both for marine debris cleanup. The former was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and the latter was funded through the EPA’s annual appropriations bill. The senator voted for both. According to tax documents, Ocean Conservancy has paid Whitehouse a total of $2,686,800 either directly or through her firm since 2010.  This was cited in last month’s complaint to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., and Vice Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., from ethics watchdog the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT).  EXCLUSIVE: ELON MUSK PAC THANKS TRUMP FOR ‘SAVING THE AMERICAN DREAM’ IN NEW MILLION-DOLLAR AD In a statement to Fox News Digital, Whitehouse spokesperson Stephen DeLeo said, “This is a repeat dark money performance, and the previous attempt by a dark money group to plant these same smears was roundly dismissed by Senate Ethics. The billionaires and Supreme Court capture operatives behind FACT would like to try to stop Senator Whitehouse from shining a light on what they’ve done to deprive regular people of a fair shake before the Court.” “But false accusations from far-right special interests and billionaires will not impede the Senator’s pursuit of an accountable, ethical government that responds to Americans’ needs,” he added. Whitehouse’s office also provided a letter to Fox News Digital from the committee last year informing another watchdog group, Judicial Watch, that the senator’s actions did not violate “federal laws, Senate rules, or other standards of conduct.”  The group had filed a similar ethics complaint to FACT. 

Travel headaches show need for feds to focus on airline tech jobs as true major delay culprit revealed

Travel headaches show need for feds to focus on airline tech jobs as true major delay culprit revealed

With airline safety being top-of-mind after several deadly or near-death incidents on America’s tarmacs and in its skies, maintenance experts and lawmakers alike are calling for more support for specialized training in jet maintenance. President Donald Trump has also called for reforming the education system and increasing overall government efficiency, which experts Fox News Digital spoke with said falls in line with their goals as well. Delays and gate changes at airports are also often attributed to urgent maintenance of aircraft. In the last congressional session, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., unsuccessfully introduced the Aviation Workforce Development Act to expand the “529” qualified-tuition program to include expenses for aviation maintenance and pilot training. Scott’s hometown of Charleston is notably a hub for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, and the Senator said that pilot and aviation maintenance jobs are in high demand and provide well-paying careers. CHARITY LEADER, FORMER NY GIANT SLAM BIDEN RESPONSE TO PLANES SHOT IN HAITI “Unfortunately, the extensive and expensive training they require has undermined Americans’ ability to tap into this vital industry,” Scott said, adding that he plans to reintroduce his bill in Congress soon. “By giving parents flexibility with the hard-earned money they invest into 529 plans, this commonsense legislation provides a pathway to turn today’s students into tomorrow’s pilots. Affording our aviation sector the workforce necessary to sustain the tremendous growth South Carolina has enjoyed will ensure tourists continue to flock to our great state and will provide South Carolinians with reliable and efficient travel.” Meanwhile, the leader of one of the nation’s largest aircraft maintenance training centers said the challenge to properly staff jobs in the increasingly needed field is one that needs support to continue feeding its “pipeline of skilled professionals.” Jason Pfaff, president of Aviation Institute of Maintenance – a school with 15 campuses nationwide that aims to fill the 13,000 annual job openings in its field of study – said support is needed now for these crucial roles. “The aviation industry relies on highly trained experts to keep planes safe and operational, yet many people don’t realize the demand for these roles—or the impact they have on air travel,” Pfaff said. He spoke of meeting with a student who felt a social stigma about pursuing an aircraft maintenance career, compared to what her friends were seeking to do in life. However, that feeling changed when she took a tour firsthand to watch aircraft maintainers do their work. HOW JIMMY CARTER TRANSFORMED THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY With the deadly crash off Hain’s Point, DC into the Potomac River last month, a jet landing upside down in Toronto and several other incidents, Pfaff said that maintenance workers play a crucial role in ensuring safe air travel. “[The institute] is thrilled to see a renewed focus on trade careers, and we applaud leaders like Senator Tim Scott for championing aviation education. Aviation maintenance isn’t just a job—it’s a high-paying, high-skill career that keeps the world moving. As industry leaders and policymakers, we have a shared responsibility to spotlight the incredible opportunities in this field.” Pfaff noted some jobs in the field earn upwards of $150,000 per year for a person in their 20s and that thousands of applicants are needed – and Scott and others are right to draw attention to the need for such jobs. Jose-Marie Griffiths, president of Dakota State University in South Dakota, said that higher education is not “one-size-fits-all” and that universities must play a big role in meeting the changing needs of the U.S. job market – whether it be in the industrial sector or otherwise. “Higher education institutions must adapt to meet the needs of students at different points in their lives and careers,” she said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In the House, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, also introduced a bill similar to Scott’s in the last cycle, to increase awareness of tech education opportunities in the same way Pfaff described. Miller’s bill, if reintroduced, would establish a $1 million grant program for such training in airline maintenance and the similar fields, with the lawmaker saying in a statement that career and technical education “empower students to explore exciting career options, discover their passions, and develop real-world skills that are in high demand.” “A four-year degree is not right for everyone, and our young people should know that they can lead successful careers based on technical expertise. We cannot continue to diminish the role of career and technical education in this country,” he said, as nationwide pressure continues to direct students toward standard collegiate postsecondary education.