Leftists Admit They Can’t Win Without Rewriting The Constitution
In his new book, Osita Nwanevu, a contributing editor at The New Republic, offers the same ideas the left has been repeating for years now.In his new book, Osita Nwanevu, a contributing editor at The New Republic, offers the same ideas the left has been repeating for years now.Kamala, Hillary champion Texas Democrats who camped out at statehouse, engaged in 'bad Kabuki theater'
Texas House Democrats fled the Lone Star State earlier this month to deny their colleagues the necessary number of bodies for a quorum, thereby temporarily preventing Republicans from passing new congressional lines and gaining five more congressional pickup opportunities ahead of the midterm elections.
Following the Democratic lawmakers' departure, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) signed arrest warrants for the absentee legislators and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered their arrests by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
State Democrats — having likely recognized the futility of their flight — finally slunk back to Texas this week.
'You are among those who history will reveal to have been heroes of this moment.'
To leave the Texas Capitol building on Monday, Democrats apparently had to obtain written permission from Burrows and agree to be escorted by a DPS trooper. Rather than agree to the safeguard, some Democrats decided instead to engage in what Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison (R) referred to as "crocodile tears and bad, bad Kabuki theater" — throwing fits, tearing up their permission slips in front of reporters, and camping out in the statehouse.
State Rep. Nicole Collier really made a show of her sleepover — telling CBS News she refuses "to comply with this unreasonable, un-American, and unnecessary request" and sharing a photo online of her snug in a chair in the state House with a pillow, a sleep mask, and a blanket.
These theatrics attracted the attention of twice-failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who called to paint Collier's sleepover as heroic.
"You really are inspiring so many people, and I just want you to know that you are among those who history will reveal to have been heroes of this moment," said Harris. "So you just stay strong and do what you are doing. You have the right instinct. You are talented, and you are principled."
Harris noted further in a tweet, "Nicole, we are all in that chamber with you."
Taking the lead from Collier, Democratic Texas Rep. Mihaela Plesa and a handful of other Democrats returned to the chamber to virtue-signal and tear up their permission slips.
On Wednesday, another failed Democratic presidential candidate piped up in support of the sleepover Democrats.
Hillary Clinton stated, "I stand with state Rep. Nicole Collier and other Texas Democrats on the front lines of protecting American democracy. In a free country, state lawmakers don't get held hostage by the opposition."
Clinton's suggestion that the Democrats were protecting democracy misses the point of the confinement and police escort — namely that the Texas Democrats have been trying to thwart the democratic process and the people's will.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
'Texas has plenty of bullets to shoot': Abbott tells Glenn Beck new maps will pass, laughs off Newsom's threat
Texas House Democrats appear desperate to spin their imminent return to the Lone Star State as a victory march. It's clear, however, that their weeks-long effort to thwart the will of the people and to prevent Republicans from passing new congressional lines was in vain.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) stressed to Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on Wednesday that Republicans will ultimately prevail.
— (@)
Quick background
Texas Democrats fled to Illinois and other blue states earlier this month to block the passage of a redistricting plan that would help the GOP gain five more congressional pickup opportunities ahead of the midterm elections.
Following the Democrat lawmakers' departure, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) signed arrest warrants for the absentee legislators, Abbott ordered their arrests by the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the FBI agreed to collaborate on the hunt.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Ken Paxton opened investigations into a George Soros-funded political action committee and a group organized by failed gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke, which are both suspected of helping fund the Democrats' abrupt exit.
Paxton also readied a court request to remove the absentee legislators from office.
In the face of significant heat from Texas and the prospect of a chilly winter in exile, the absentee legislators have reportedly decided to return.
Trying to save face, Texas House Democrats said in a release that they have "killed this corrupt special session on behalf of Texas families — exactly what we said we'd do when we left the state."
Gov. Abbott announced on Tuesday, however, that he will immediately call another special session to get the matter resolved — much simpler after the Texas Senate voted 19-2 on Tuesday to pass the new congressional lines.
'They're going to pass'
Abbott suggested to Beck that Democrats realized after his Tuesday announcement of another special session that "they were going to have to take up permanent residency in Illinois or California or wherever."
'There's so many things wrong with that.'
"So the word on the street and the word in the news is that they are coming back, and they will be part of the special session that begins either on Friday of this week or Saturday of this week," said the governor. "But again, we'll see when and if they show up."
Abbott noted that regardless of whether the Democratic legislators show up to work, "these congressional district maps — they're going to pass as well as the other items on the agenda. They are going to pass."
RELATED: The cold civil war is real — and only one side is fighting to win
When asked about whether Republicans have enough votes in the state House to pass the maps, the governor noted that all that is needed is a majority, and the GOP controls nearly two-thirds of the chamber.
Newsom finger-waves at a gunfight
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) indirectly threatened Abbott in a Monday letter to President Donald Trump, noting that if Texas Republicans do not surrender on this issue, he "will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states."
— (@)
When asked to respond to Newsom, Abbott said, "Oh, my God," then broke out into laughter.
RELATED: Democrats ‘defend democracy’ by ditching it
"There's so many things wrong with that," said the governor. "In Texas, for us to redraw congressional lines and make sure that people in Texas are going to have the ability to vote for the Republican candidate of their choice in these congressional seats, all it requires is for the governor to call a special session on it and for a majority of the Texas House and Senate to vote on it."
Abbott noted that for redistricting California, Democrats must alternatively "go through this complex constitutional process."
In addition to suggesting Newsom's threat is easier said than done, Abbott noted it's virtually meaningless given how gerrymandered California — like Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts — is in the first place.
"[Newsom] is kind of like someone who shows up to a gunfight but forgot to bring the bullets because he doesn't have any bullets to shoot in this fight," said Abbott. "Whereas Texas has plenty of bullets to shoot — to make sure that we will maintain a congressional district in Texas that's going to be more Republican, more representative of the values and votes in our state."
— (@)
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Blue-State Governors Harbor Texas Fugitives To Help Democrats Get Control Of Congress
If Abbott’s threat of potentially prosecuting those who aid fugitive Democrats is ignored, then they could have the financial resources to stay away for many months.CNN host warns Democrats they are 'way behind' Republicans
CNN host Harry Enten warned Democrats this week they could trail Republicans by the largest margins in decades if they do not turn things around.
Enten, the resident stats expert at CNN, told Democrats to "hold the phone" if they think criticizing the Trump administration over the Jeffrey Epstein files is going to save them.
Instead, Trump's support has been resilient among likely voters, with the Democrats in danger of taking a monumental backstep in the 2026 midterm elections.
'Democrats have not come anywhere close to sealing the deal at this particular point.'
Enten delivered the shocking numbers to CNN's John Berman, giving him the grim "bottom line" for the Democrats.
"Democrats are behind their 2006 and 2018 paces when it comes to the generic congressional ballot."
In Democrat versus Republican congressional ballot margins, the Democrat lead has shrunk by more than two times when compared to July 2005, when it was a +7-point margin. The gap remained the same in 2017, but in July 2025, the margin is now just a +2 for Democrats.
"Donald Trump may be unpopular, but Democrats have not come anywhere close to sealing the deal at this particular point," Enten told his colleague.
The devastating numbers somehow got way worse for Democrats when breaking down the midterms race by race.
RELATED: Election officials rage as Trump administration pushes for election security
When comparing chances for seat changes ahead of previous midterms under Republican presidents, Democrats were favored by +7 in 2005 and a whopping +33 in 2017, CNN showed.
The Democrats over performed in both cases, picking up 31 seats in the 2006 midterms and 41 seats in the 2018 midterms.
Now, CNN's Enten showed Republicans are up a shocking 12 points at the same time this year ahead of the 2026 midterms.
"So it's not just on the generic ballot where Democrats are behind their 2017 and 2005 pace. It's actually when it comes seat by seat, you see that at least at this particular point, Republicans actually have more net pick-up opportunities," Enten stressed.
"This doesn't look anything like those wave elections back in 2006 or 2018," he added.
RELATED: When I brought the truth to Congress, Democrats lost their minds
Reality check: Dems are way behind their 2006 & 2018 pace on the generic ballot at this point in the cycle.
Ahead by only 2 pt vs. 7 pt in 2006/2018 cycles.
Seat-by-seat analysis actually reveals more GOP pickup opportunities than Dems! Very much unlike 2006 & 2018 at this pt. pic.twitter.com/CRgXukTjz6
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 16, 2025
The stat guru concluded by showing the congressional ballot margin numbers were the same among voters in October 2024, before the presidential election, as they are now.
"Reality check," Enten wrote on his X account. "Dems are way behind their 2006 & 2018 pace ... at this point in the cycle."
The host emphasized that the numbers he is seeing are indicative of when Republicans have held onto a House majority and appear strikingly similar to the 2024 election cycle.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
After decades of promises, GOP finally defunds PBS and NPR
President Donald Trump is among the Republicans who have long sought to terminate federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, a pair of outfits whose unmistakable ideological bias and imbalanced coverage at taxpayers' expense have rankled conservatives. The call to defund the liberal networks goes back at least as far as the Nixon administration.
On May 1, Trump ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cut off the liberal propaganda networks' direct and indirect funding, noting both that "Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage" and that "no media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies."
The president's order was, however, vulnerable to legal challenges — especially since Congress holds the power of the purse.
To ensure the success and permanence of this defunding effort, the White House proposed that Congress cancel funding to public broadcasting for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. In addition to the proposed $1.1 billion in cuts to the CPB, the White House also requested that lawmakers cancel over $8 billion to various leftist projects disguised as foreign aid programs.
'Washington has a spending problem, and we have to start making cuts.'
House Republicans ultimately obliged the president, delivering most of his desired cuts late Thursday night. None of the Democrats' amendments were adopted. A promise to voters decades in the making was finally delivered.
In the run-up to the vote in the House of Representatives, an Office of Management and Budget official seized on the historic nature of the cuts. In a statement to Blaze News, the official said, "Conservatives have been calling to defund NPR and PBS for decades. President Trump delivered in six months. Not only that, this package cuts billions in wasteful foreign aid that has been spent on projects including $4 million for 'sedentary migrants' in Colombia, $643,000 for LGBTQI+ programs in the Western Balkans, $833,000 for 'transgender people, sex workers, and their clients and sexual networks' in Nepal, and many more."
— (@)
"The Trump administration is committed to putting America first and restoring fiscal sanity," continued the OMB official. "This recissions package is a huge step in the right direction."
Russ Vought, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, told Steve Bannon's "War Room" on Thursday that the pending passage of the rescissions package and the defunding of the CPB in particular would be a "historic victory." After all, it is the first successful presidentially proposed rescissions package since fiscal year 1999.
RELATED: Vance casts tiebreaking vote to advance DOGE cuts after Republicans defy Trump
The U.S. Senate voted 51-48 on Trump's requested cuts in an early Thursday-morning vote just hours after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) emphasized that "reining in waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government is a priority shared by President Trump and by Senate Republicans."
Thune noted further when teeing up the rescissions package that it was a "small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue."
When asked ahead of the Senate vote whether lawmakers might water down the DOGE cuts, Florida Rep. Greg Steube (R) expressed hope to Blaze Media that Republicans would see it through, stressing that "Washington has a spending problem, and we have to start making cuts."
'Conservatives have been calling to defund NPR and PBS for decades. President Trump delivered in six months.'
Although the House already voted in favor of the cuts in a 214-212 vote last month — where Republican Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and Mike Turner of Ohio voted in opposition — the small changes made in the Senate still needed to be voted on by the House.
The package passed the House again by a narrow margin late Thursday night, this time of 216-213. Once again, both Fitzpatrick and Turner voted against passing the cuts.
Trump pledged to sign the package into law at the White House on Friday afternoon. "Congratulations to our GREAT REPUBLICANS for being able to accomplish so much, a record, in so short a period of time," he posted to Truth Social Friday morning.
RELATED: Sparing taxpayers from funding leftist propaganda
Trump's success — which has enraged Democratic lawmakers and NGOs — will have a major impact at NPR and PBS.
A spokesman for PBS, which has over 330 member television stations, indicated earlier this year that the organization receives 16% of its funding directly from the federal government each year.
While NPR claims that less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes in the form of grants directly from the CPB and other federal sources, the programming fees paid by CPB-funded public radio stations to NPR have been one of its primary sources of revenue.
Blaze News previously reported that consolidated financial statements show that the organization secured over $96.1 million in "core and other programming fees" in 2023, $93.2 million in 2022, $90.4 million in 2021, and $92.5 million in 2020.
That tap has now been turned off for at least two years.
Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News after the Senate vote, "Public radio is a lifeline, connecting rural communities to the rest of the nation and providing lifesaving emergency broadcasting and weather alerts. It cannot be replaced, so it is essential that its funding be sustained."
Blaze News has reached out to PBS for comment.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Vance casts tiebreaking vote to advance DOGE cuts after Republicans defy Trump
Vice President JD Vance had to cast another tiebreaking vote in the Senate to advance President Donald Trump's agenda.
The Senate narrowly advanced the DOGE cuts package in a 51-50 vote late Tuesday night. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted to block the DOGE cuts, prompting Vance to cast his tiebreaking vote.
Congress is inching closer to codifying the first DOGE cuts via the White House's rescissions package, but the $9.4 billion price tag is just a drop in the bucket.
Although some Republicans have gone against the grain, the White House is keen on codifying DOGE cuts.
The rescissions package makes $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including PBS and NPR, which have functionally worked as left-wing organizations subsidized by American taxpayers. The package also cuts $8.3 billion to various leftist projects disguised as foreign aid programs such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
RELATED: Vance casts tiebreaking vote after Republicans betray Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
Although the DOGE cuts were able to clear a procedural hurdle, senators will now proceed with their vote-a-rama of amendments before scheduling the final floor vote in time for the Friday deadline.
Several House Republicans told Blaze News they were concerned that the Senate would water down the cuts through the amendment process, with one describing the cuts package as "low-hanging fruit."
The DOGE cuts previously passed the House in a narrow 214-212 vote back in June. As in the Senate, a handful of Republicans voted alongside Democrats to block the DOGE cuts, including Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and Mike Turner of Ohio.
RELATED: Republican senator makes a stunning admission: 'I can't be somebody that I'm not'
Although some Republicans have gone against the grain, the White House is keen on codifying DOGE cuts. Director Russ Vought of the Office of Management and Budget previously told Blaze News that he would be open to drafting more rescissions packages in the future.
"We're going to go through the process with the Hill to see if this first one passes, and see where we are," Vought said. "... I think it will be successful, and it will certainly inform our strategy going forward."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Republicans just blocked a vote on the release of the Epstein files before it could happen
The results of a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday are sure to upset some of the GOP base.
Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) put forward an amendment from fellow Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) that would have continued the congressional saga of the infamous late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The House Rules Committee is dominated by Republicans, who boast a 9-4 majority over Democrats. However, while the vote was mostly along party lines, the results are likely not what was expected.
'Every Republican on this committee should be able to easily vote "yes."'
The amendment, if passed, would have sent a vote to the House on whether to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to "preserve and release any records related to Jeffrey Epstein," Newsweek reported.
However, Republicans voted down the motion, defeating it 7-5 with just one GOP member voting alongside Democrats.
Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) joined the four Democrats who voted to force the House ruling, including Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), who told Republicans before the vote that if there is nothing that needs to be hidden, they should unanimously vote to release the files.
"Every Republican on this committee should be able to easily vote 'yes,'" Fernandez said.
RELATED: ‘Epstein is a CIA op’: How far up does the scandal REALLY go?
Fernandez later shared a video of the vote to her X account, adding, "Republicans in the House Rules Committee just stopped an amendment that, if passed, would force Congress to vote on whether the Trump Administration should release the Epstein files. What are they hiding?"
Khanna also shared the vote on his X page, thanking Norman for joining his side's vote.
"People are fed up. They are fed up," Khanna wrote. "Need to put the American people before party!"
The only Republican absent from the vote was Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).
Roy did not appear to make a public comment about the vote and has recently focused on the Texas floods and illegal immigration.
Video went viral that purported to show House Republicans voting unanimously to block "the release of the Epstein files." Despite the video amassing over 1 million views, it appeared to be unrelated to the House Rules Committee vote.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that video was actually from a "procedural vote."
"We voted against Democrats having House floor control. It's a misunderstanding," Greene told podcast host Benny Johnson.
The House Rules Committee Republicans who voted against forcing the House vote on the Epstein files were:
- Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (N.C.)
- Michelle Fischbach (Minn.)
- Erin Houchin (Ind.)
- Nick Langworthy (N.Y.)
- Austin Scott (Ga.)
- Morgan Griffith (Va.)
- Brian Jack (Ga.)
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Senate Misses Big Opportunity To Boost School Choice Across The Country
The Senate measure reportedly eliminates a $5 billion cap on the program, but it also strips protections for educational freedom and allows Democrat states to bypass the program all together.Rep. John James hammers Michigan GOP over political failures: 'What are we even talking about?'
Republican candidates have not fared well lately in key races in one of the most important swing states in the country: Michigan. Rep. John James (R) of Michigan did not mince words when talking to Blaze News about their lackluster performances, insisting that they demonstrate why he should be the party's nominee for the open governor race in 2026.
James, 43, rose to national prominence in 2018, when he unsuccessfully attempted to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has since retired. Two years later, James lost another Senate race, this time to incumbent Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
In January, Peters unexpectedly announced that he would not seek another term, prompting some to speculate that James, who was elected in 2022 to represent the 10th Congressional District of Michigan and re-elected in 2024, might make another run for the Senate.
However, James made a surprise move of his own, announcing in early April that he would make a bid for Michigan governor instead.
'Michigan's a state that deserves to have a leader who's been knocked down a couple times and refuses to give up.'
Last week, James sat down with Blaze News and explained that his breadth of experience in the business world and in combat has prepared him for executive leadership.
"The time that I've had as a legislator, as a lawmaker, as a representative has actually been the longest period of my life that I haven't been in an executive role," he stated.
"I'm a combat veteran, and I led two Apache platoons," continued James, a Ranger-qualified aviation officer who served in operations in Iraq from 2007 to 2009, according to his congressional website.
"I understand what it takes to keep Americans safe because I've done it before."
James also noted that in the last several years, Republican candidates in Michigan have lost winnable races. To demonstrate, he referred to then-Attorney General Bill Schuette's failed gubernatorial bid against former state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2018, followed by Tudor Dixon's loss to Whitmer in 2022 despite Whitmer's questionable track record regarding COVID lockdowns and nursing home deaths.
James warned that if that "circular firing squad" continues among Michigan Republicans, a leftist could succeed Whitmer next year.
"We can be cute, we can talk, but if you can't win, what are we even talking about?" James asked rhetorically. "If we're not going to put the strongest candidate at the top of the ticket, what are we even talking about?"
Schuette and the Michigan Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment.
RELATED: Mike Rogers launches Senate campaign to replace retiring Democrat
Tudor Dixon, who has teased another run for governor as well as a possible Senate bid, quickly fired back against James' provocative remarks.
"It's interesting to see a declared candidate lashing out at someone who has not even announced a run for office yet," Dixon said in a statement to Blaze News. "I will not comment on his two statewide failures, but instead recommend he start to share his plans about how to make people's lives here in Michigan better."
When Blaze News pressed James about his failed senatorial bids, he explained that unseating an incumbent is particularly challenging. Since Whitmer is term-limited, he believes he has a good shot of winning the governorship, especially after eight years of her radical policies.
He also admitted to Blaze News that he learned some valuable lessons from those disappointing electoral losses. "Number one, don't run during a global pandemic," he said, referring to the 2020 race against Peters.
James added that even though he didn't win, those two U.S. Senate races did provide some unforeseen benefits: statewide name recognition as well as the opportunity to demonstrate to voters his fortitude and toughness.
"Michigan's a state that deserves to have a leader who's been knocked down a couple times and refuses to give up," he said.
For now, James has much in his favor. Though state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), who has also announced his candidacy for governor, is likewise a well-known name and may give him fits in the Republican primary, at the moment, much of the state media attention has been focused on the campaign missteps of Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
RELATED: 16 noncitizens apparently voted in Michigan in 2024 — and liberals are cheering about it
James also pointed out that he has long-standing ties to President Donald Trump, who carried Michigan handily in the 2024 presidential election and who endorsed James in his previous runs for Senate and Congress. However, at least one Michigan-based Republican communications operative disputed the strength of James' current relationship with Trump, suggesting to Blaze News that it has been "shaky" recently.
So far, Trump has not weighed in on the upcoming gubernatorial race in Michigan. When Blaze News asked James whether he has discussed the topic of endorsement with Trump lately, James deftly changed the subject to his current focus of helping the president pass the "big, beautiful bill" in the House.
"We as Republicans, we have the best ideas. We have the best policies — and they work," he said.
"But none of it makes a lick of difference if ... we don't elect the candidate who can win."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com