New poll flashes warning sign on a top issue for Trump during campaign
President Donald Trump is pushing back against talk of a recession. “I don’t see it at all. I think this country is going to boom,” the president told reporters on Tuesday as he inspected a Tesla electric vehicle that was parked on the South Lawn of the White House, courtesy of top Trump adviser Elon Musk, the car company’s billionaire CEO. However, when it comes to the economy – the issue that more than any other arguably boosted Trump back into the White House in last November’s presidential election – Americans do not seem so pleased with the job he is doing. Trump stands at 44% approval and 56% disapproval for the job he is doing steering the economy, in a CNN national poll conducted March 6-9 by SSRS and released on Wednesday. PRESIDENT TRUMP’S POLLING POSITION 50 DAYS INTO HIS SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN THE WHITE HOUSE The president was also underwater on the economy by 10 points in a Reuters/Ipsos survey in the field March 3-4. While a handful of national polls indicate Trump above water on the economy, most recent surveys put him in negative territory when it comes to the top issue on the minds of Americans. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST POLLING FROM FOX NEWS When it comes to his overall approval rating, Trump has seen his numbers edge down slightly since returning to the White House in late January, when an average of his polls indicated the president’s approval rating in the low 50s and his disapproval in the mid 40s. An average of the latest surveys indicates he is hovering slightly above water. While Americans are split on Trump’s performance, the approval ratings for his second term are an improvement from his first tour of duty, when he started 2017 in negative territory and remained underwater throughout his four-year tenure in the White House. However, when it comes specifically to his handling of the economy, CNN’s latest numbers are below where he stood at any point in their polling during his first term in office. The president’s rapidly shifting tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico – America’s neighbors and top trading partners – have rattled the financial markets and raised concerns of further inflation and a possible recession. FOX BUSINESS: WHY INFLATION SLOWED LAST MONTH When asked on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” by host Maria Bartiromo whether he expected there would be a recession this year, the president responded, “I hate to predict things like that.” “There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big,” Trump said as he referred to his agenda, which includes tariffs. “It takes a little time,” Trump said before predicting that his economic agenda “should be great for us.” While aking questions Tuesday amid another down day for the nation’s financial markets, Trump said “You’re going to have drops and markets are going to go up and they’re gonna go down.” Trump’s predecessor in the White House, former President Joe Biden, was dogged by inflation during his tenure. Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low-to-mid-50s during the first six months of his single term as president, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to the low- to-mid-40s. However, Biden’s numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan, a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico, and amid soaring inflation. Biden’s approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency, as high prices for goods remained a top concern on the minds of American voters. “He just got crippled and never recovered,” said Daron Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News Poll. Trump received some good inflation news on Wednesday, with the consumer price index coming in at a lower-than-expected level last month, according to a new government report. The White House communications shop spotlighted the news in an email release titled “Inflation Eases as Job Creation Soars and Border Security Pays Off.” However, Shaw emphasized that inflation remains critical to Trump’s political fortunes. “If prices remain high, he’s going to have trouble,” Shaw warned.
Iran, China and Russia huddle for nuclear talks while UN meets behind closed doors on possible sanctions
Iran, Russia and China are set to hold high-level talks in Beijing Friday to discuss Tehran’s near-nuclear capabilities. Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, informed reporters about the meeting on Wednesday. The trio of nations has friendly relations, and all are parties to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the talks will be on “developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions.” The Friday meeting will follow a closed-door meeting of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Iran’s uranium enrichment that has breached 60%, dangerously close to the 90% enrichment needed to make a bomb. RUSSIA WAITING FOR US-UKRAINE CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL DETAILS, KREMLIN SAYS That meeting, which was requested by the U.S. and its allies, could discuss the triggering of so-called snapback sanctions – sanctions that were lifted under the JCPOA. The U.S. left the Iran nuclear deal during President Donald Trump’s first administration. But the other parties to the agreement – Britain, Iran, China, Russia, Germany and France – could decide to call back the international sanctions before the Security Council resolution behind the deal expires in October. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu will preside over the meeting, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi in attendance. Tehran has provided Moscow with drones and missiles for its offensive in Ukraine. And China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills on Monday. The meetings follow an unsuccessful attempt by Trump to restart talks on a new nuclear deal. Iran recently rebuffed a letter Trump sent on the matter and said it would not negotiate with “bullying” countries. RUSSIAN MISSILE EXPERTS VISITED IRAN AMID GROWING MILITARY TIES “It is unacceptable for us that they give orders and make threats. I won’t even negotiate with you. Do whatever the hell you want,” said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Trump has insisted he’d prefer diplomacy, but will not rule out military tactics to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “If we have to go to the military option, it will be very, very bad for [Iran],” he said. Tehran still denies it is pursuing a nuclear weapon, but experts have said there is no civilian use for 60% enriched uranium. Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had agreed to assist the U.S. in communicating with Iran on its nuclear program. “It is clear that Iran is seeking negotiations based on mutual respect, constructive negotiations,” Peskov said of possible nuclear talks.
Russia ‘studying’ US ceasefire proposal agreed to by Ukraine
NewsFeed The Kremlin says it is examining the US ceasefire proposal agreed to by Ukraine, but Russia’s Vladimir Putin has previously said he is not interested in a temporary truce and would rather have a full stop. Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari has more from Moscow. Published On 12 Mar 202512 Mar 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinians mourn victims of Israeli attack on Gaza
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Palestinians are mourning the victims of Tuesday’s Israeli air attack near Gaza City that killed four people.
Pakistan separatist fighters release video showing attack on train
NewsFeed Video released by Pakistan separatists, the Balochistan Liberation Army, show the moment they attacked a train on Tuesday and took hundreds of passengers hostage. Officials said that more than 300 people had been rescued but a number of people were killed as they declared an end to the incident. Published On 12 Mar 202512 Mar 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
CIA director, Putin’s spy chief hold first phone call in more than 2 years: report
The directors of the Central Intelligence Agency and Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) spoke by phone for the first time in more than two years, reports say. CIA Director John Ratcliffe called his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin on Tuesday and “discussed the issues of interaction of both intelligence agencies in areas of common interest and the settlement of crisis situations,” Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported, citing a statement from the SVR’s press office. It added that both Ratcliffe and Naryshkin agreed “on maintaining regular contact between the SVR and CIA directors with the aim of facilitating international stability and security and reducing confrontation in relationships between Moscow and Washington.” The CIA, when contacted Wednesday by Fox News Digital, declined to comment on the matter. Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer who specialized in Russian military doctrine, told Fox News Digital that the “Ratcliffe-Naryshkin meeting is supposed to be part of the revival of the CIA-SVR cooperation, which also has been tried before and abandoned.” TRUMP ENVOY WITKOFF HEADING TO RUSSIA FOR SECOND TIME LATER THIS WEEK, SOURCE SAYS “Although such cooperation could be valuable, for example, in the counter-terrorism arena, it always eventually fails because there’s a dramatic difference between how the Russians and Americans see the world,” she said. RUSSIA WAITING FOR US-UKRAINE CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL DETAILS, KREMLIN SAYS “We are ostensibly in a period of another attempted reset with Russia. Every U.S. president attempted to reset U.S. relations with Moscow and every one of them has failed,” Koffler continued. “There’s such a fundamental difference between the ways that Moscow and Washington see the world and their role in it that eventually, the policies each pursues come into collision with one another. The way that Russia and the U.S. have defined their national interests have placed the two nations in direct confrontation with each other.” “The two are mutually irreconcilable. And this is clearly demonstrated in the war in Ukraine, which has been sacrificed and destroyed in the proxy battle between Moscow and Washington,” Koffler added. “It is possible that President Trump, who is a realist, will place Russia-U.S. relations on a transactional basis, without the ideological angle, as all the previous administrations, that always drove an edge between the two. It remains to be seen if he will succeed,” Koffler also said.
‘Get geared up’ because ‘ICE is coming,’ says leading House GOP member
Prominent House Republican Clay Higgins is telling local law enforcement agencies to “get geared up” to assist with ICE immigration operations because of “ongoing” enforcement actions throughout the country. While speaking during a House Federal Law Enforcement Oversight Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, Higgins, who represents Southern Louisiana and chairs the subcommittee, cautioned local law enforcement to “get your mind right” and train up to help with the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down the border and deport illegal immigrants. “ICE is coming,” he said. “You will very soon be given the opportunity to join a task force with ICE in your state and your community to remove criminal illegals.” “This is going to be an ongoing operation,” he said, adding that the subcommittee will also be involved in the effort, which he described as a “restoration of law and order in our country.” BLUE STATE SUING SHERIFF’S OFFICE FOR HELPING ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAW “In recent years we’ve seen the weaponization of our justice system, lawlessness in our cities and an open border that has allowed drugs and dangerous gangs into our country with deadly results,” he said. Higgins vowed that “throughout this Congress, we’ll tackle these issues and ensure that President Trump has all the tools and resources he needs to address rampant crime.” During the hearing, several experts testified that local “sanctuary” policies keeping law enforcement agencies from cooperating or assisting ICE and other federal authorities makes it very difficult to enforce immigration law and poses a danger to communities. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society and one of the experts testifying during the hearing, said that under the Biden administration, 14 million illegal immigrants entered the country. He said that “if only .5 percent” of these illegals are involved or tied to criminal organizations, “then we are facing a crime, terror contingent inside the United States that is the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps combined.” “If that’s not a national security emergency, I don’t know what is,” he commented. YOUNG FATHER KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HIGHLIGHTS ‘BETRAYAL’ OF SANCTUARY CITIES, SAYS REPUBLICAN Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County, Florida, testified during the hearing that, in light of the criminal illegal threat in his community, his department is voluntarily participating in ICE’s 287(g) program, which authorizes local law enforcement to assist with certain immigration actions such as detainment and processing. Though his office participates in this program, he called for Congress to pass federal legislation to authorize all local jails to hold criminal illegals for ICE based solely on immigration detainers. “In other words, give the detainers force of law as opposed to simply making them an ask with no teeth,” he explained. “This is a big deal to fix, and it should be done as soon as possible because it would mean that criminal illegals, like the one I mentioned, will be deported directly from jail and not released back into the community to commit more crime.”
GOP moves to defund hospitals that perform sex-change procedures on minors
FIRST ON FOX: A new House GOP bill would block federal funding for hospitals that perform sex-change surgeries on minors. The legislation, led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and backed by interest groups Do No Harm and Genspect, specifically targets funding that medical centers receive through a program aimed at fostering new children’s physicians. “We’re standing for basic medical ethics and recognizing those who have been silenced and betrayed by a system that put ideology ahead of genuine care,” Crenshaw told Fox News Digital. “Medicine should be grounded in truth and healing—not in false promises that cause lasting harm.” GENDER DYSPHORIA AND EATING DISORDERS HAVE SKYROCKETED SINCE PANDEMIC, REPORT REVEALS: ‘RIPPLE EFFECTS’ The bill would require re-authorization of the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Payment Program through fiscal year (FY) 2030. The legislation includes a provision that “no payment may be made…to a children’s hospital for a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2026) if, at any point during the preceding fiscal year, such hospital furnished specific procedures…and drugs to an individual under 18 years of age.” Those specifics are defined as being “for the purpose of changing the body of such individual to no longer correspond to the individual’s sex.” Do No Harm Medical Director Dr. Kurt Miceli lauded the legislation to Fox News Digital. “The American taxpayer should not fund hospitals that perform unscientific sex-change procedures on minors. Representative Crenshaw’s bill is important to help protect our children by ensuring federally funded graduate medical education programs do not engage in these harmful practices,” he said. The bill is being introduced on what conservatives have dubbed “DeTrans Awareness Day.” Permissions for transgender medical care or procedures for minors have been a lightening rod in the ongoing culture war between the right and left. NEWSOM CALLS BIOLOGICAL MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS ‘DEEPLY UNFAIR’ IN PODCAST WITH CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST The issue of transgender minors’ participation in school sports has also seen heated debate, with some Democrats even speaking out against their party for obliterating dissent on the topic. Notably, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said on his new podcast that allowing transgender men to play in women’s sports is “deeply unfair.” “I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness,” he said to conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
‘Hysteria’: White House shuts down concerns over USAID document purge
The White House dismissed concerns that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is instructing employees to destroy classified documents amid efforts by the Trump administration to shutter the agency. USAID’s acting Executive Secretary Erica Carr instructed employees to begin shredding and burning documents, according to a motion that government labor unions filed in a federal court Tuesday. But the documents remain available on computer systems – and the order comes as U.S. Customs and Border Protection is poised to move into the USAID building, according to White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “This was sent to roughly three dozen employees,” Kelly said in a Tuesday night X post regarding Carr’s order. “The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content (content from other agencies), and the originals still exist on classified computer systems. More fake news hysteria!” ‘FIRED ME ILLEGALLY’: EMOTIONAL EX-USAID EMPLOYEES LEAVE BUILDING WITH BELONGINGS AFTER MASS LAYOFFS Everyone involved in the process of eliminating the documents had a secret security clearance or higher, and were not among those placed on administrative leave, an administration official told Fox News Digital Wednesday. As a result, those involved were familiar with the content they were handling and were specifically appointed by the agency to review and conduct the purge, the official said. Thousands of employees at USAID were either fired or placed on administrative leave in February, following recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to implement cuts targeting wasteful spending. Carr issued an email to employees instructing them to “shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” ProPublica first reported Tuesday. The State Department, which oversees USAID, did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The American Foreign Service Association, a union representing those who serve in the U.S. Foreign Service and several other groups, filed a motion Tuesday in a Washington, D.C., federal court requesting a temporary restraining order blocking USAID from ordering employees to destroy documents. Specifically, the groups asserted in the filing that Carr’s order “suggests a rapid destruction of agency records on a large scale that could not plausibly involve a reasoned assessment of the records retention obligations for the relevant documents.” The American Foreign Service Association said it would monitor the situation and pressed officials at USAID to issue more guidance on the directive. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CUTTING 90% OF USAID FOREIGN AID CONTRACTS, DOCUMENTS SHOW “Federal law is clear: the preservation of government records is essential to transparency, accountability, and the integrity of the legal process,” the American Foreign Service Association said in a Tuesday statement. “The Federal Records Act of 1950 and its implementing regulations establish strict requirements for the retention of official records, particularly those that may be relevant to legal proceedings,” the statement said. “Furthermore, the unlawful destruction of federal records could carry serious legal consequences for anyone directed to act in violation of the law.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the State Department had concluded a six-week review and would cancel more than 80% of USAID programs.
New study from key swing state shatters popular narrative against Voter ID: ‘No evidence’
FIRST ON FOX: A study in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin runs contrary to the popular claim of many on the political left and concludes that voter ID laws have not suppressed the vote in the state. “The study finds no statistically significant negative impact of Wisconsin’s voter ID law on overall voter turnout,” the new study from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) concludes. “In fact, turnout has slightly increased since the law’s implementation, challenging claims that voter ID requirements lead to widespread disenfranchisement.” Critics have also railed against voter ID laws in recent years, claiming that it disenfranchises minority voters who, according to critics, have difficulty obtaining identification. The study states that it found “no evidence of a negative effect on turnout from the implementation of voter ID among non-white Wisconsinites.” ‘FULFILL THE MANDATE’: NEW ELECTION INTEGRITY REPORT CALLS FOR CRITICAL CHANGES TO GUARANTEE SECURE ELECTIONS The study compared turnout in Wisconsin over a 20-year period, starting with the 2004 presidential election and ending with the 2024 presidential election while including gubernatorial elections in the years between. WILL acknowledged that turnout can be “impacted by many factors beyond voter ID laws” but explained that it “included these key control variables to ensure we isolated the law’s true impact.” Wisconsin established voter ID laws in 2011 that have undergone several court challenges in the following years. Will Flanders, research director at WILL, told Fox News Digital that he hopes people takeaway from this study that the popular narratives about voter ID laws are not based in data. “When people make these claims that voter I.D. is this instrument of suppression, there’s really no evidence to back that up,” Flanders said. “People often say it’s especially hard for minorities and folks from low-income backgrounds. We specifically looked at the impact on areas with more minority voters, and we found that there’s no evidence, even in those areas, to support this case. There’s no impact on voter turnout in areas with high numbers of minority residents relative to other parts of the state as well. So no impact overall and no impact on those voters that are generally claimed to be most affected.” ‘HE CANNOT BUY AN ELECTION HERE IN WISCONSIN’: SANDERS SLAMS MUSK IN STATE TRUMP WON BY LESS THAN 1% Honest Elections Project Action Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital that the WILL report is consistent with “many” other studies that show voter ID laws “do not do what the Left claims.” “To the contrary, voter ID laws enhance public trust in elections, leading directly to higher voter turnout and greater trust in the democratic process. Liberal politicians are desperate to mislead the public, but the truth is that voter ID laws are overwhelmingly popular. That is why 36 states have them and voters in states as diverse as North Carolina and Nevada have voted for ballot measures to require voter ID.” On April 1, voters in Wisconsin will be asked if they want to enshrine Wisconsin’s voter ID law into the state Constitution. Polling shows that the majority of Americans support the idea of requiring identification to vote. The latest Gallup poll on the issue showed that more than 80% of voters support showing photo identification to vote as well as providing proof of citizenship. A 2024 Pew Research Poll also showed a bipartisan consensus that over 80% of Americans support voter ID measures. In Wisconsin, nearly 75% of residents polled by Marquette University Law School supported voter ID.