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It does no harm to reflect on the evils of Maoism.

President Trump sent a video message to the ten-year anniversary celebration of Unleash Prosperity, a pro-growth group that focuses on economic policy. It was a warm greeting, paying tribute to the group’s founders, who Trump called “four of the all time greats”—”my friend Steve Moore,” Arthur Laffer, Steve Forbes, and Larry Kudlow. Yet it also included a friendly jibe. Trump said about Moore, the group’s chairman: “I wish he believed a little more strongly on the word tariff.”
The brief Trump video, shown on large screens at a Wednesday October 28 celebration event, encapsulated the complicated relationship between Trump and what is sometimes called the supply-side economics or economic freedom wing of the Republican coalition. Sometimes they seem totally in sync with each other. And other times they are at odds.
You can make a case for either of three stories.
By one account, this supply-side wing is a bunch of has-beens, aging relics of the Reagan past. Laffer is 86, Forbes and Kudlow are 79. The competition is younger. Oren Cass, who runs American Compass, a rival, more left-wing but still ostensibly Republican-tilted economic policy shop, is 43; Vice President Vance spoke last year at the American Compass fifth anniversary gala.
Look at it another way, and the Unleash Prosperity crowd has been actually far more influential in Trump economic policy than has been widely understood or appreciated. Kudlow was director of the National Economic Council in the first Trump administration. The group helped shape the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and helped shape and pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. “We have adopted the pro-growth economic policy that those four men believe in so strongly,” is the way President Trump put in the video, talking about unleashing energy exploration and production and reducing regulation.
A third way to look at it is that the pro-growth, free market approach has room to run in a post-Trump Republican Party. Of the key agenda items enumerated at the gala—school choice, a Steve Forbes flat tax, technology dominance, and Social Security reform with private accounts—there is plenty left to cover in the future. Trump should get some credit for creating a version of the “private accounts”—the Trump Accounts—via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and also for including in the same legislation a scholarship tax credit that may have significant effects in states that opt to participate.
Forbes, who ran for president in 1996 and in 2000, sketched the current version of his flat tax—the first $55,000 in income for a family of four would be income-tax free, with a tax of 17 cents on every dollar above that. He urged an emphasis on “the moral basis of free markets,” talking about “people cooperating” and “unleashing human creativity.” Laffer recalled Reagan reducing the complexity of the tax code, collapsing 14 brackets down to two and lowering the top marginal rate to 28 percent from 70 percent.
A possible 2028 presidential candidate, the former governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, mentioned the work remaining at the state and local levels, warning that if Virginia implements a proposed ten percent tax rate on millionaires, it risks following New York, Chicago, and California on the list of “death spiral” states where people are fleeing. Democrats in the Virginia legislature have been pushing a bill to raise the state’s income tax rate, which now tops out at 5.75 percent, to 8 percent on income above $600,000 a year and 10 percent on income above $1 million a year. Youngkin, 59, talked about the need to “reinstill hope,” especially among younger Americans who might be tempted by socialism or by politicians like the socialist mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani.
Youngkin and Laffer also noted that the Republicans aren’t the only variable. Laffer described Bill Clinton as “a great president” who worked with House Speaker Newt Gingrich to cut the capital gains tax and link welfare to work. “There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat today,” Youngkin said, though someone mentioned the senator from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, as a possible exception.
Amid the fears of rising socialism and concern about whether failing government-run public schools would be adequate to educate children against it, Laffer offered a characteristically positive view of progress. Even on the environmental front: “the bald eagle flies like never before … The Hudson River is clean.” Thirty-eight states have abolished their death taxes.
The next morning, a Commerce Department advanced estimate on the third quarter real GDP growth rate came in at an annual rate of 3.4 percent. That is not the 4 percent or 5 percent or more that the pro-growth crowd believes based on experience is possible—without inflationary pressure. But it is a step in a better direction. Whether Trump can keep it going, and growing, may depend on how closely he and his team—and Congress—heed the counsel of the four all time greats. Otherwise five percent growth may have to wait for some future administration.
The post Trump Sends Video Greetings—and a Tariff Tease—to the Pro-Growth Faction appeared first on .

Abdul El-Sayed has a long history of involvement with a notorious Michigan mosque whose leaders have defended payments to the families of terrorists and offered prayers to Allah to destroy the Jews.
The Michigan Senate Democratic nominee has been affiliated with the Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield Township—”part of this community,” as El-Sayed put it—since at least 2017, according to a Facebook post from the mosque. His father, Mohammed El-Sayed, formally became a member in 2019, according to another Facebook post from the mosque—though a 2006 local news article identified the elder El-Sayed as an “imam” for the center as early as 2006.
“Welcome Dr. Mohamad El-Sayed Family as new Members of Muslim Unity Center,” the mosque wrote on a 2019 Facebook post about its “membership drive.”
A 2020 annual report from the mosque notes that it partnered with Abdul El-Sayed “for a two-day training on civic engagement, organizing, and storytelling” for Muslim youth looking to get involved in the 2020 elections.
“Being able to be a part of this community has meant a lot to me,” El-Sayed said in a promotional video for the mosque in May 2021. El-Sayed also touted his enthusiasm for people with “different perspectives on what it means to be an American.”
The mosque has returned the praise, lauding Abdul El-Sayed as “a treasure for our community.” El-Sayed held a fundraiser there during his 2018 campaign for governor.
“The objective of MUC is to develop, support and promote an Islamic way of life and to ensure the emergence of an American Muslim identity. MUC affirms the principles of the social order established by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), including the establishment of a thriving and vibrant community free of ethnic, racial, cultural or national divisions. MUC’s vision is based on the teachings of the holy book Al-Qur’aan and by the teachings of the Prophet,” the mosque grandly states on its website.
While the mosque puts on a public show of tolerance, what comes from the pulpit and from its board leadership paints a starkly different picture.
In March 2020, MUC posted a podcast episode delivered by Mohamed Almasmari, who spent a decade as imam of the mosque and has given $500 to Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign, Federal Election Commission records show.
During the episode, Almasmari condemned President Trump’s 2020 peace plan for Israel and Palestinian terrorists, condemning proscriptions on providing funding for the families of dead terrorists.
“The idea of supporting now the families of shuhada [martyrs], those who died in the process of defending their honor. That people want you and I to say that they are terrorists. People tell you two sides. Are you with freedom or are you with Hamas? You have to pick a side. That’s a nonsense game,” Almasmari thundered.
“People paid the price for that, who died in the path of Allah, glorified and exalted is he, you can no longer support those terrorist families. Even though you’re supporting kids and widows.”
In a video from June 2026, MUC youth director Ibrahim Abdus-Sabur offered a prayer for the destruction of Jews.
“For some people, it’s success that they take the land of another people and they say to themselves, ‘we’re the chosen people,’ and they commit a genocide. That’s success for them,” Abdus-Sabur said in a video posted to the MUC YouTube page.
“We understand the truth must come full circle and Allah will destroy these people one day.”
On December 8, 2023—in the weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel—Abdus-Sabur told the faithful: “Allah loves the drop of blood that is for his sake,” adding that “it is inevitable that sometimes we must protect ourselves or defend ourselves… the blood that is spilled by doing so is extremely beloved to him.”
Abdus-Sabur runs the mosque’s middle school and teen programs.
In November 2023, MUC hosted “Gaza: A Personal Reflection by Summer Baraka, Unity Center Community Member,”—video of which remains live on their YouTube page.
Summer Baraka, a cofounder of the Wayne State University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, had a long and well-documented history of open Jew hatred before being invited to speak at MUC.
“May Allah curse the Jews, and that’s all,” she posted on X in 2013. She also posted in support of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, then serving time for attempted murder, calling him “the inspiration that Palestinians need,” Algemeiner reported in 2018.
The extremism continues within the MUC’s behind-the-scenes leadership.
Tarik Baraka, a board member during the time Abdul El-Sayed’s father joined the mosque, has openly defended Hamas on social media, posting to X on July 17, 2014, that “Hamas isn’t what the Zionist media makes it out to be.”
“U make me want to forget my principles and embrace my anger,” he added to the IDF spokesman account the same day.
“Im sick of research and patience give me a weapon and send me to Gaza,” he posted in November 2012.
In October 2014, Baraka shared a post on Facebook reading, “Faced with a reality in which Israel is strong and the United States is in its pocket, it is the duty of Palestinians to resist the occupation”
After the Oct. 7 attacks, MUC broke off its interfaith partnership with nearby Temple Beth El.
“Many interfaith partners weren’t with us although many were. Maybe this is a moment we can build on,” Beth El’s rabbi told Detroit Jewish News at the time.
During his time at MUC, Baraka was also their “Chair of Interfaith Service,” according to a deleted LinkedIn, screenshots of which now appear on his Canary Mission profile.
Since the beginning of his Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed has faced questions about his support for Islamic extremism. In 2012, he signed a letter calling on the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt to purge the media and police in the country. His mother worked for an Islamic charity later shut down for ties to al Qaeda. Her home was later raided by the FBI. El-Sayed’s father also currently serves as a board member for an Islamic nonprofit which was previously busted for funneling cash to Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Mohammed El-Sayed did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Free Beacon. Representatives for both the Muslim Unity Center and Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign also did not respond to the request for comment.
The post ‘May Allah Curse the Jews’: El-Sayed and Father Have Close Ties to Mosque Whose Board Is Packed With Extremists Slinging Bloodthirsty Lines From Quran appeared first on .

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For the propagandistic media, including sports media, it’s not enough that everyone needs to ascribe to their hivemind way of thinking. They now need people’s private lives to reflect the same groupthink.Enter ESPN college football analyst and NFL commentator, Kirk Herbstreit.In September, the former Ohio State quarterback spoke with Mississippi Today about having Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on ESPN’s College GameDay the previous weekend. They asked about Cruz being allowed to advocate for the Protect College Sports Act. Herbstreit said, “I don’t really get into politics,” as part of his longer answer.Fast forward to October 21, and Herbstreit reportedly was the keynote speaker at a Business Council of Alabama (BCA) event, which raised money for the BCA’s political PAC, Progress PAC. The PAC primarily contributes to Republican candidates, but has also been known to donate to a Democratic candidate here and there.NBC Sports writer Mike Florio seems to have a continuing bone to pick with Herbstreit.On September 18, Florio wrote a piece for Pro Football Talk calling out Herbstreit for his “flimsy defense” of having Cruz on College GameDay. A month later, Florio continued his displeasure with Herbstreit by writing a subsequent article saying Herbstreit is akin to “liars, grifters, and charlatans” since he spoke at the BCA event a month after saying that he didn’t “really get into politics.”Look, Herbstreit can speak at any political event he wants. That’s not the issue. The issue is that he responded to the blatant effort by ESPN to boost the PCSA by saying, essentially, “I don’t know nothing about no politics.”Whatever the specific context, bullshit smells the same in all of them. Even if Herbstreit thinks that taking his dog everywhere he goes will make people feel less inclined to call him out for it.Come on, Mikey. Don’t bring Peter (Kirk’s dog) into this.Fox News contributor Joe Concha took to X to point out the double standard of Florio’s criticism of Herbstreit.”I can absolutely guarantee that if Herbstreit spoke at a PAC event for Democrats, Pro Football Talk would not be writing a “gotcha” piece — or any piece — about it,” Concha posted.I can absolutely guarantee that if Herbstreit spoke at a PAC event for Democrats, Pro Football Talk would not be writing a “gotcha” piece — or any piece — about it.— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 29, 2026Indeed.Think of it this way…During his September interview with Mississippi Today, Herbstreit said the following after saying that he doesn’t get into politics:I’m kind of an independent guy, right down the middle of the fairway. I’m for America. So, whoever helps us as a country, I’m for, whether it’s somebody on the left, somebody on the right. So I don’t — I don’t really follow it.God forbid someone just wants what’s best for everyone instead of only people who Mike Florio agrees with. 

In addition to securing a spot on Alaska’s Senate ballot in an obvious attempt to dupe voters meaning to vote for incumbent Republican Senator Daniel S. Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan tried to be listed using his opponent’s middle initial, instead of his own, Governor Mike Dunleavy (R-Alaska) reported Thursday.Amid the growing scandal exposed Wednesday by The New York Times, in which the campaign of Democrat Senate candidate Mary Peltola sought out and recruited Daniel J. Sullivan to enter the race, Gov. Dunleavy detailed the fake initial scheme to Fox News:“When we did our initial investigation in late Spring, early Summer, the Dan Sullivan from Petersburg, Alaska, his initial emails to the Division of Elections wanted him put on the ballot as Daniel S. Sullivan“His middle initial is not ‘S’ – that’s the initial of our incumbent state U.S. senator.”“And so, we knew that the intent was questionable then,” Gov. Dunleavy recalled, adding “We really, really believe it is incredibly questionable, very questionable now.”At the time, the governor said, Dan J. was questioned, but refused to testify under oath.The fake-initial ploy wasn’t Dan. J. Sullivan’s only scheme to confuse voters, however – he also tried to be listed on the ballot as a Republican, The Alaska Beacon reports:“According to records kept by the Alaska Division of Elections, Sullivan switched from a Republican to an undeclared party affiliation when he requested an absentee ballot for the August primary election.“Sullivan’s status as a Republican was one of the reasons the division initially rejected his candidacy, claiming that he was not running in good faith. The division’s decision was reversed upon appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court.”Dan J. Sullivan ultimately ended up running in the general election as an undeclared voter.“This could snowball quickly as staffers seek safe harbor,” renowned George Washington University Law Professor Johnathan Turley explained Wednesday in his analysis of the scheme by Alaska Democrats to deceive voters in the midterm elections.

Screenshot via ABC/Snapstream

On Thursday, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS Mornings gave their seals of approval to Alaska Democrats and their handlers in Washington for their efforts to purposefully confuse voters by finding a second Dan Sullivan to run in the Senate race, hoping to steal the Senate for the party their newsrooms support.In addition to CBS bemoaning President Trump has “pounced” on the story, both went as far as to repeatedly assert it’s “not illegal” and falsely claim it’s “already” been “decided” as fair game (even though it hasn’t been adjudicated on the federal level).Starting with the obnoxiously anti-Trump Good Morning America, ABC chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce choosing to start with Trump in Ohio “continuing his fixation on [Republican Senator Jon] Husted’s physique,” and “defending his White House construction” after the swipes from former President Obama.
Bruce preceded this with highlights from Trump in Ohio “continuing his fixation on [Republican Senator Jon] Husted’s physique,” and “defending his White House construction” after the swipes from former President Obama. pic.twitter.com/wwuDIxdNGd— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

Bruce preceded this with highlights from Trump in Ohio “continuing his fixation on [Republican Senator Jon] Husted’s physique,” and “defending his White House construction” after the swipes from former President Obama. pic.twitter.com/wwuDIxdNGd— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

Only then did Bruce pivot to Alaska by saying the Senate race was “being rocked by a report that Democrats used underhanded tactics,” adding, “The New York Times reports the Peltola campaign worked to help recruit this second Dan Sullivan in an effort to confuse voters” after “scour[ing] Alaska, searching for a candidate with the same name as the Republican senator[.]”
On ABC’s ‘Good Morning America,’ Mary Bruce endorsed the plot by Alaska Democrats to steal a Senate seat: “Boosting spoiler candidates is not unheard of in both parties, and legal experts tell us that recruiting spoiler candidates is not in itself illegal.”She cited a Justice… pic.twitter.com/YwdzKdZl5A— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

On ABC’s ‘Good Morning America,’ Mary Bruce endorsed the plot by Alaska Democrats to steal a Senate seat: “Boosting spoiler candidates is not unheard of in both parties, and legal experts tell us that recruiting spoiler candidates is not in itself illegal.”She cited a Justice… pic.twitter.com/YwdzKdZl5A— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

Bruce twice touted Peltola’s denials, citing both an October 23 MS NOW appearance and a statement from the campaign.It was at this point that the Biden regime’s lead apple polisher went full partisan shill, endorsing the behavior: “Boosting spoiler candidates is not unheard of in both parties, and legal experts tell us that recruiting spoiler candidates is not in itself illegal.”She concluded by citing a Justice Department lawsuit (if the incumbent Sullivan loses) and sitting Governor Mike Dunleavy’s launching a state probe, but dismissed both as pointless because “the Alaska court has already looked into the dispute over his candidacy and found there is nothing illegal about his bid.” Pretending to know what she’s talking about, co-host Robin Roberts drove home this narrative: “They have already decided.”Over at what the liberal, elitist media have insisted is a MAGA network, CBS Mornings split its midterms coverage with one segment about Ohio and Trump vs. Obama (“the President’s clash”) and another about Alaska (“a new controversy”).Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang said that, “[d]espite sagging poll numbers, President Trump once again urged voters to envision him on the ballot this coming Tuesday while he and his predecessor traded jabs over former president Obama’s joke last weekend about the Cheesecake Factory.”She also hyped Trump’s ongoing fascination with the physique of incumbent Ohio Republican Senator John Husted: “Trump campaigned with Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted and, again, talked up one of his attributes…something he has gone back to in recent weeks.”As has been the case with Jiang, she provided some balance with this about the Michigan Senate race and more negative headlines for Democratic nominee Abdul el-Sayed (click “expand”):JIANG: And in the heated Michigan race for Senate, the fiancé of Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens said he’ll support Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated Stevens in the primary. Stevens’s fiancé Jason Turkish told the Detroit News, “We have never seen a candidate for U.S. Senate act so recklessly toward the safety of Jews in the community as we have seen from Abdul.” El-Sayed shook it off.ABDUL EL-SAYED: There will always be some folks who have different opinions, and they’re welcome to that.JIANG: But Stevens said she is sticking with El-Sayed.CONGRESSWOMAN HALEY STEVENS (D-MI) [on CNN’s The Source, 10/28/26]: I still very much want our Democratic nominee — his name is Abdul — to win this race.JIANG: Congresswoman Stevens also called on El-Sayed to denounce third-party ads not associated with his campaign that she said stoked anti-Semitism. President Trump will be back on the trail today, marking almost a month straight of travel before handing out candy to trick-or-treaters back here at the White House.As for the Peltola segment, co-host and former Democratic donor Gayle King framed the story as not right vs. wrong, but a partisan squabble:Alaska’s Republican governor is calling for an investigation of the Democratic Senate nominee there. Mary Peltola is in a very tight race to unseat Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. So, it’s getting a lot of attention because another Dan Sullivan is also running. Ed O’Keefe looks at a new report that has Republicans up in arms.White House and campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe joined her in downplaying it as something “President Trump pounced” on while Peltola “pushed back on” it.
Over at what the liberal, elitist media have insisted is a MAGA network, ‘CBS Mornings’ defended Alaska and national Democrats trying to steal a Senate seat, framing the story as not right vs. wrong, but a partisan squabble.White House and campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe… pic.twitter.com/lcVl4pSvG6— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

Over at what the liberal, elitist media have insisted is a MAGA network, ‘CBS Mornings’ defended Alaska and national Democrats trying to steal a Senate seat, framing the story as not right vs. wrong, but a partisan squabble.White House and campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe… pic.twitter.com/lcVl4pSvG6— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

O’Keefe framed it as allegations, saying it’s just “[t]he people reporting Peltola’s campaign helped recruit a man named Dan Sullivan to enter the race for Senate as an independent in an attempt to confuse voters and pull away votes from Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan.”After acknowledging the denials from Peltola and the Justice Department suit, O’Keefe defended the Democrats and Dan J. Sullivan by asserting the Alaska ballot makes it clear which Sullivan is which and what’s happened is “not illegal” because supposedly both parties do it.King replied she’s seen “some people are viewing this” as “lawful, but…awful,” but O’Keefe and co-host Norah O’Donnell interjected to give this dirty trick a boost by pointing out the ballot should dispel any notion there could be funny business (click “expand”):O’KEEFE: Now, as you can see, this sample of the Alaska Senate ballot has both incumbent Dan Sullivan and Daniel Sullivan Jr. next to each other there, and you’ll notice it says Dan S. Sullivan, registered Republican incumbent. That’s your senator, Alaska, okay? They use a four-candidate ranked-choice voting method, so some are concerned voters might pick the wrong Sullivan and throw off the rankings. Two things to keep in mind, though: this may be considered by some to be a dirty trick, but it’s not illegal. And this has happened before, kind of. In 2016, the former mayor of Anchorage named Dan Sullivan briefly challenged the state’s other Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, in a primary. At the time, he said he was hoping to take advantage of the name recognition of Senator Dan Sullivan.KING: You know, Bill Bratton, the former police commissioner here, used to say, “It may be lawful, but it is kind of awful.” That’s how some people are viewing this.O’KEEFE: They sure are.KING: You say dirty trick, people have used it before, but, you know, you’re rushing, you’re going very quickly, and you just check something. So in Alaska, they should read very carefully, because it is marked.O’KEEFE: Yeah.KING: It’s very clearly — very clearly marked.O’KEEFE: We shall see. O’DONNELL: We shall see. Ed —O’KEEFE: The games they play.KING: Yeah, the games they play.In contrast, NBC’s Today again provided the balance that CBS’s Bari Weiss has claimed she would bring to the network. At the peacock network, they covered the scandal, but refused to give their opinion.Co-host Craig Melvin said in a tease that the “key Senate seat [is] now at the center of a major controversy” and “plunged into last-minute chaos…over an alleged effort by Democrats to confuse voters by recruiting a candidate with the same name as the Republican on the ballot.”Melvin later added in tossing to senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez: “Also this morning, a major controversy is brewing in Alaska where the governor is now launching an investigation after a new report there that’s shaking up a competitive Senate race.”
In contrast to ABC and CBS, NBC’s ‘Today’ covered the #AKSen controversy and the covert operation by Alaska Democrats to find the Decoy Dan.@GabeGutierrez and @CraigMelvin gave it straight to viewers and avoided giving their own views (or implying it was well and good) pic.twitter.com/hytigQTNCj— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

In contrast to ABC and CBS, NBC’s ‘Today’ covered the #AKSen controversy and the covert operation by Alaska Democrats to find the Decoy Dan.@GabeGutierrez and @CraigMelvin gave it straight to viewers and avoided giving their own views (or implying it was well and good) pic.twitter.com/hytigQTNCj— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 29, 2026

“Talk about an October surprise. A bombshell report in The New York Times alleging that Democrats plotted to stack the ballot in Alaska. The President is now seizing on it as control of Congress hangs in the balance,” Gutierrez began.Since it was his only mark, we’ll forgive him for the “seized” line.Gutierrez kept the rest of it straightforward by summarizing The Times story and soundbites from both sides (click “expand”):GUTIERREZ: Overnight, while both parties’ biggest stars hit the campaign trail, a bombshell story threatening to upend one of the midterms’ closest races in usually red Alaska.TRUMP: Oh, it’s terrible what’s happened in Alaska.GUTIERREZ: The governor there now ordering an investigation after The New York Times reported on an alleged secret Democratic plot to sabotage the campaign of Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. The Times, citing interviews, text messages, and documents, reporting that top aides instructed a staffer for Democrat Mary Peltola to find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as they could. The campaign, according to The Times, worked with the national Democratic Party to find “would-be spoilers” to join the race. Eventually, a retired teacher from a small fishing village named Dan J. Sullivan ran. The current senator, Dan S. Sullivan, weighing in overnight.SULLIVAN [on FNC’s Hannity, 10/28/26]: Where they were treating Alaskans like they’re kind of stupid.GUTIERREZ: Peltola’s former campaign manager, who was fired in August, telling The Times Peltola was “definitely aware” of the plot, though the staffer later tried to retract her statements. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee denies the allegations, and so does the Peltola campaign.PELTOLA: This is just another distraction. It’s another diversion.GUTIERREZ: The president condemning Peltola.TRUMP: She should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted.(….)GUTIERREZ: As for Alaska, the Justice Department is also moving forward with its lawsuit seeking to allow the state to not certify the election results if the Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan, does not win.Gutierrez also had time for Trump in Ohio and his “days-long war of words with former President Barack Obama.”On the former, he noted the President “defend[ed] the Republican candidate for governor there, Vivek Ramaswamy, after that ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent.”In the second hour, Melvin condensed the “bombshell” Alaska story into a news brief.To see the relevant transcripts from October 29, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

“We will always protect Social Security, Medicare!” says President Donald Trump.That would be nice.But when I look at these programs’ balance sheets, I don’t see how he’s protected anything. Both Social Security and Medicare are on track to run out of money.Politicians mostly ignore the problem. Worse, progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say, “We’re going to expand Social Security benefits!”That’s just irresponsible.My new video points out what we’ve known for years: these programs are unsustainable.The problem is that people like me live longer. We like getting monthly Social Security checks and medical care that appears free.Since we vote more consistently than others, politicians don’t want to make us mad by cutting our handouts.My fellow geezers say, “Social Security is not a handout! I contributed to the ‘trust fund’ every year. I’m just getting back what I paid in!”But that’s not true. Today, most of us get back much more than we paid in.In 1935, politicians created the handout, saying, even if you don’t save for retirement, government will save for you.But that was another political lie. They didn’t create individual retirement accounts. They didn’t save our Social Security payments. They spend every penny as it comes in.It’s why Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme.Bernard Madoff went to jail because he used new investors’ money to pay old investors. That’s exactly what our government does.Few Americans realize it.“What happens to the money?” I ask people on the street.“It’s held in trust,” said one woman.It isn’t.When politicians started Social Security, there were enough young workers to tax to cover the cost of sending checks to old people.But now, since we live longer, there aren’t enough young workers to fund our payments.Social Security’s costs exceed its income by billions of dollars.“There is a plan out there to save it, but it requires some tough choices,” says the Cato Institute’s Romina Boccia. “Commonsense tweaks we can make.”Those include raising the retirement age, capping checks to the affluent and letting young people opt out of Social Security. Reforms like that require tradeoffs. But ignoring the problem doesn’t make it disappear.We need to act, says Boccia, because Social Security is like the Titanic — gradually heading for disaster.“Make reforms now,” she says, “we can avoid the iceberg. (But) if we wait until the iceberg is in front of our noses and try to turn the ship, we’re going to run right into it.”Medicare will hit its iceberg in 2033; then benefits will automatically be reduced. Social Security will hit it the year before.At that point, incoming taxes will cover only about 78 percent of promised retirement benefits.Yet irresponsible Democrats say: spend even more.“Human wants and needs are unlimited,” replies Boccia. “There’s always another program that needs more funding.”Sanders says, pay for it by taxing the rich more.“There isn’t enough money even that the rich would have, to pay for the … unfunded liabilities,” Boccia points out.If only politicians had listened years ago, when Cato and the Heritage Foundation proposed letting workers put some of their Social Security money into personal retirement accounts. Instead of relying on future taxpayers, workers could accumulate real assets that grow over time.Personal accounts give workers something Social Security doesn’t: assets we own.“Even a conservative portfolio of stocks and bonds that got you a 5% annual return, would have made you many times more [than Social Security],” says Boccia.Private accounts helped Chile rise from one of the poorest countries in Latin America to one of the richest. Yet leftists still object to capitalists getting a cut of the pie.“We lack gratitude for what the free market provides,” says Boccia.We should adjust these programs now.The longer politicians wait, the worse the choices become.But today’s politicians will probably be gone by then.Our children get the bill.Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Government Gone Wild: Exposing the Truth Behind the Headlines.”

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On Thursday, after the release of information in The New York Times that revealed a Democrat plot to confuse voters in the Alaska Senate race by placing a Decoy Dan Sullivan on the ballot to confuse voters with incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, the ladies of The View actually showed disdain for the Democrat plot, while at times questioning its legitimacy as “shady” and “dumb.” Goldberg’s introduction included a disclaimer of “If these allegations are true,” and stated that it was true it was a “shady tactic.” She then asked, “Should that be off limits?”She then returned to The View’s original dismissal of a DOJ lawsuit into the matter from the discussion on Monday’s show, where the cast claimed voters could easily decipher who the incumbent on the ballot was. After the NYT’s report, The View is now calling the fake Dan Sullivan trick a “shady tactic.” Joy Behar called it a “mistake on the part of Democrats,” but she later added, “It’s done on both sides,” and “This is politics.”Whoopi Goldberg, showing some doubt, continued, “It was… pic.twitter.com/ig21ppNdjf— Nick (@nspin310) October 29, 2026 Goldberg exclaimed, “I mean, I just think it’s insane that either side, Democrats or Republicans, think Alaskans are so stupid they can’t read “incumbent.” They don’t know the difference between the two.”Joy Behar then chimed in and claimed “both sides” did it. She first blamed Republicans and said they did it “back in the day,” without providing evidence. In response, Goldberg began to cast doubt on the NYT report and Democrat candidate Mary Peltola’s involvement:BEHAR: But, you know, it’s done on both sides. It was done back in the day by the Republicans. They did it. And, also, I don’t know, it just seems like a lousy, low-level trick. But, let’s remember that Trump was the one who asked to find 11,780 votes. Remember that? So he’s up to dirty tricks all the time. This is just politics. And it was dumb of the Democrats.GOLDBERG: It was dumb, if it’s true. We don’t know. She says its not.BEHAR: Well, its the New York Times. You have to believe somebody.The show’s sole supposedly conservative co-host, Alyssa Farah Griffin, also questioned whether Pelota, the Democrat candidate, actually knew about the plot. But, she then admitted, “I think it stinks to high heaven,” before she said she wanted to mention it on Monday’s show in the previous discussion of the topic where she minimized the double Dan Sullivans on the ballot: I suspected it was the case when we talked about the other day, but I didn’t want to say it until it was confirmed through reporting.It has long been thought the man who had the same name as the Republican incumbent was some sort of Democrat plant, as now local Alaskan reporters have revealed the “independent” Sullivan did not do campaign events. Still, even with much suspicion before the NYT report, she did not even allude to it in Monday’s previous discussion.Farah Griffin later continued her minimization and said, “I don’t think this will have a tangible impact because the ballot is clear.” She then added, “But I don’t like it as a tactic at all,” before she feared Trump challenging Alaska’s results.In more disdain for the ad, Sara Haines said confusing voters “Isn’t a good political strategy” and said you are “betraying the very person you’re asking to vote for you and represent you.”  The View’s Sunny Hostin later made the whole fake Dan Sullivan fiasco about Elon Musk’s political donations to Republicans and stated, “It just seems to me the system needs an overhaul.”Joy Behar exclaimed, “Get the money out of politics.” pic.twitter.com/SCC9tGnjwo— Nick (@nspin310) October 29, 2026 Sunny Hostin also showed disdain and connected the decoy plot to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, as Behar chimed in and exclaimed, “Get the money out of politics.”Hostin then said the plot was “not even illegal,” and said the law needed to be “reformed.”Goldberg returned to call the plot “sloppy” and dumb, before returning to fears of Trump interference in the midterm elections and minimizing the idea of Tom Dan Sullivans being on the ballot in the first place, alike to what Farah Griffin said: Goldberg continued to make fun of the fake Dan Sullivan scheme, calling it “sloppy and dumb,” before she feared Trump interference in the midterms.Haines then laughed, “They’re really only considering Republican voters stupid,” before Goldberg said if Peltola’s “group had… https://t.co/RZTGkruYon pic.twitter.com/8DoMb0xE4B— Nick (@nspin310) October 29, 2026It’s just Sloppy. It’s just sloppy and dumb, and you’re right, she’s doing fine. She doesn’t need the help. But, you know, he’s — look, he’s going to question whatever. He’s going to look for any little thing, and he’ll question it. He’s going to do that. So just be prepared for it.(…)He’s been there a long time. So the idea they don’t know who he is because they saw another Dan Sullivan.Oh my god? Who is he? Where is he? It says incumbent right next to it.Haines then added, “I don’t mean this as dismissive, but they’re really only considering Republican voters stupid,” as she and the audience laughed. Goldberg responded, “But if her group had anything to do with it, they’re also assuming that people are stupid.” The View’s Alaska segment’s closing turned to talk about the “poorly educated,” before Whoopi assured Alaska voters they know how to read a ballot:“People of Alaska, you know what you’re doing. You know how to read a ballot. You know. And you’ll vote how you vote.” pic.twitter.com/oxb5pL8TRL— Nick (@nspin310) October 29, 2026 After they mocked Trump’s “poorly educated” moment from the 2016 campaign, Goldberg motivated Alaskan voters:People of Alaska, you know what you’re doing. You know how to read a ballot. You know. And you’ll vote how you vote.The show’s tone changed from Monday, when Goldberg exclaimed, “I don’t know what the problem is.”The transcript is below. Click “expand”:ABC’s The ViewOctober 29, 202611:03:40 AM Eastern(…)WHOOPI GOLDBERG: If these allegations are true it is a shady tactic that should — should that be off limits? I mean, I just think it’s insane that either side, Democrats or Republicans, think Alaskans are so stupid they can’t read “incumbent.” They don’t know the difference between the two. When Comey did it, it’s five minutes before the election. It’s not good for anybody to do that.JOY BEHAR: It’s a mistake on the part of the Democrats.GOLDBERG: YeahBEHAR: But, you know, it’s done on both sides. It was done back in the day by the Republicans. They did it. And, also, I don’t know, it just seems like a lousy, low-level trick. But, let’s remember that Trump was the one who asked to find 11,780 votes. Remember that? So he’s up to dirty tricks all the time. This is just politics. And it was dumb of the Democrats.GOLDBERG: It was dumb, if it’s true. We don’t know. She says its not.BEHAR: Well its the New York Times. You have to believe somebody.ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: The question is over whether the candidate knew about it or operatives around it. And we don’t know if the candidate knew of it or approved of it.MULTIPLE VOICES: YeahFARAH GRIFFIN: I think it stinks to high heaven. BEHAR: It does FARAH GRIFFIN: I suspected it was the case when we talked about the other day, but I didn’t want to say it until it was confirmed through reporting. And I just believe candidates should win on their merits, not through shady tactics. Think of this, like Vivek Ramaswamy did that ad in Ohio, it backfired against him. The gerrymandering in Texas, it backfired against them. I don’t think this will have a tangible impact because the ballot is clear.GOLDBERG: Yeah. You know what it is. Yeah.FARAH GRIFFIN: It says “Dan Sullivan, Republican incumbent.”But I don’t like it as a tactic at all. And what it does too: we know that Donald Trump has already telegraphed he wants to challenge the election results. This is absolutely going to show up in one of these lawsuits if Peltola wins. He’s going to says, “Well, look, It’s probably because of this.” And while it won’t change the material outcome, it could delay certifying the results and all of that for mch longer SARA HAINES: Confusing a voter isn’t a good political strategy. You’re then kind of betraying the very person you’re asking to vote for you and represent you. So, I think it’s definitely dirty. And she didn’t need this. I’m not saying she did it, operatives might of – Whatever is being reported, we don’t know where it links to, but she was ahead by a large margin in the primary. Like, even if you added up all the people second, third, fourth, they couldn’t get enough votes to beat her. So, she didn’t actually need it. But, I think it’s – a lot of people say, ‘Yeah, look what we’re up against. These are serious times. I get that, but f that’s the thing we say every time, when are you compromising everything you’re fighting against in the name of this. Like it’s –SUNNY HOSTIN: I just – I think politics is just – has gotten so dirty, especially after Citizens United, with the Supreme Court allowing so much money into politics. I mean, Elon Musk has spent more money, I think, in history for these midterms, like a quarter of a billion dollars for the Republican Party. It just seems to me the system needs an overhaul. Literally needs an overhaul.BEHAR: Get the money out of politics.HOSTIN: Money needs to get out of politics, and it was interesting. When we were talking about this in hot topics, I was like “This must be illegal. Stacking a ballot in that way and doing that thing.”It’s not even illegal. It’s not even illegal. So, also the laws surrounding this area., those need to be reformed. It takes a long time for the laws to catch up with what’s going on currently. I think legislators need to start working on things like this.It’s just grotesque.FARAH GRIFFIN: And I do think the candidate should denounce it and create distance. HOSTIN: Yeah.FARAH GRIFFIN: If she can honestly say she had nothing to do with it, she should say we don’t need these kind of tactics. I’m running against this Dan Sullivan. Vote for me.And remember, Alaska’s ranked-choice voting. It makes it even –BEHAR: What’s that mean?FARAH GRIFFIN: So, basically you do the top ranking. So – whoever comes in the top two wins. It makes it even harder for the two Dan Sullivan thing to be confusing to voters. But I just don’t like it as a tactic.GOLDBERG: It’s just Sloppy. It’s just sloppy and dumb, and you’re right, she doing fine. She doesn’t need the help. But, you know, he’s — look, he’s going to question whatever. He’s going to look for any little thing, and he’ll question it. He’s going to do that. So just be prepared for it.HOSTIN: I believe so. Yeah. He’s going to challenge all of the election resultsGOLDBERG: And he said he’s going to do: Not like he was hiding it. He says he’s going to do it. Yeah, you know.To assume the voters are not smart enough to recognize their incumbent, the guy who has been in office. He’s been there since 2015.HOSTIN: He’s been there a long time. They know his name.GOLDBERG: He’s been there a long time. So the idea they don’t know who he is because they saw another Dan Sullivan.Oh my god? Who is he? Where is he? It says incumbent right next to it.[Laughter]HAINES: I don’t mean this as dismissive, but they’re really only considering Republican voters stupidGOLDBERG: Yeah.HAINES: If you want to be precise, because that’s what they’re doing.FARAH GRIFFIN: [Laughs]: It is kind of insulting.GOLDBERG: But if her group had anything to do with it, they’re also assuming that people are stupid.HOSTIN: And it means – she couldn’t win on her own. Which is unfortunate. HAINES: Which, I think she can.HOSTIN: YeahBEHAR: Well – When Trump said “I love the poorly educated,” the poorly educated thought that was a compliment. They didn’t even get that was an insult. It’s such an insulting thing to say.HOSTIN: It is. It is.FARAH GRIFFIN: All they heard was love.GOLDBERG: People of Alaska, you know what you’re doing. You know how to read a ballot. You know. And you’ll vote how you vote. We’ll be right back.(…)

The midterm elections are bringing high-priced bets on Polymarket and Kalshi, impacting voter sentiment across the board in different races. (RELATED: Why Prediction Markets Are a Safe Bet) 
Buck Throckmorton, writer at The American Spectator and co-blogger at Ace of Spades HQ, joins The Continuing Crisis Podcast hosts Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay to discuss the midterm election and the influence of online betting markets. Buck, Melissa, and Scott weigh the importance of election polling and place their predictions on whether the Republicans can hold the Senate and House. They also discuss the Texas U.S. Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico. (READ MORE: A Republican Guide to Losing the Midterms) 
Tune in to hear their discussion!