VP Vance met secretly with Fox to plan their lies in support of Trump’s preparations to declare martial law

Vice President JD Vance secretly met with the owners of the right-wing Fox News channel on Tuesday, right as the network has been pushing lies and propaganda about the protests against abusive immigration raids in Los Angeles.

The Associated Press reports that Vance flew to Montana and met with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan Murdoch (who runs Fox News and the Fox Corporation media empire day-to-day), and other Fox News executives.

 

The meeting was not on a publicly released schedule for Vance, and his office did not give the press advance notice that the meeting would occur.

The White House hasn’t acknowledged the meeting, let alone revealed what was discussed, such as whether the Trump administration is coordinating messaging and talking points, but history shows that has long been the trend.

Rupert Murdoch founded and launched Fox News in 1996 alongside Republican operative and sexual predator Roger Ailes. For the entirety of its existence Fox has attacked Democrats and the left, regularly promoting racism, homophobia, misogyny, and outright lies and misinformation.

The meeting with Vance occurred while President Donald Trump has deployed military forces to Los Angeles in an attempt to silence protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The administration ratcheted up those raids after senior officials like Stephen Miller reportedly expressed outrage that mass deportation efforts are failing to find massive quantities of criminal undocumented immigrants that Trump promoted during the 2024 election.

Fox News has for years been at the forefront of right-wing propaganda popularizing false narratives of crimes caused by migrants. In recent days, the network has promoted lies meant to justify Trump’s military action while misleadingly emphasizing the level of violence at protests in LA.

For instance, Fox promoted Trump’s false narrative about the content of his phone call last Friday with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom made it clear that Trump never brought up deploying the National Guard, but then Fox and Trump both pushed the lie alleging that Newsom said there was never a phone call between the two men.

Fox is also pushing hate and conspiracies about protesters, with hosts describing them as “ungrateful children of immigrants.” When Newsom addressed the nation to call out Trump’s invasion, Fox led the right-wing media response, lambasting the governor.

Trump owes much of his political career to Fox, who transitioned him from reality TV host to political pundit by giving him a slot on “Fox & Friends” during the Obama administration. The network has been at his side all along, providing ideas and personnel for both of his administrations while defending him and attacking his political enemies.

His current leadership is packed to the gills with ex-Fox News staffers, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and most recently in the guise of interim U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro. Trump administration figures like Attorney General Pam Bondi (a former Fox News employee as well) appears more often on Fox News than in any other setting, constantly pushing pro-administration falsehoods and narratives.

From time to time, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has offered slight criticisms of Trump, particularly in relation to his destructive tariff policies. In response, he called the paper “rotten” and “China-oriented,” and even called for the editorial staff to be replaced.

But the meeting with Vance shows that there are still close bonds at the highest levels between the two camps. Fox has shown time and time again that it is willing to go to bat for Trump, and Trump rewards the network with his attention and praise—a testimony to how intertwined they both are.

Fox even paid out a settlement of $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems after they pushed pro-Trump lies after the 2020 election, and it hasn’t seriously shaken their unholy alliance. Fox and Trump are in this together for the long haul, and Vance’s conveniently timed junket is a reminder of that.

Trump desperately trying to make his 34 felony convictions go away. Will not happen.

In Donald Trump’s role as president, he’s busy trying to turn the military into his own personal police force, which seems like it should take up most of one’s attention. But since his personal role still includes “man convicted of 34 felonies in New York State court,” he’s made sure to carve out time to beg a federal appeals court to let him move that case to their more friendly confines. Truly a master of multitasking.

On Wednesday, Trump’s brand-new personal legal team—necessary because Trump gave government jobs to his previous one—argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that because Trump is a special boy, he should get special toys.

Since Trump’s criminal convictions were in state court, he can’t make them go away with a self-pardon or by having his Department of Justice work some magic on his behalf. But if he can get it into federal court, if all else fails, he always has his friends on the Supreme Court.

In fact, Trump’s argument here relies almost entirely on the greatest gift his friends on the Supreme Court ever gave him: presidential immunity. Yes, the argument is that since the Supreme Court ruled on July 1, 2024, that Trump was immune from prosecution for “official” acts, that should be applied backward to Trump’s criminal conviction.

Oh, and a brief reminder that Trump is also still appealing his conviction up through the New York state courts while also trying to get it into federal court. It’s good to take a belt-and-suspenders approach, and apparently, Trump has nothing but time these days.

There’s a big obstacle here that would normally stop this dead in its tracks. The Supreme Court cannot review a state court’s case until it is fully litigated to the highest court in the state and has a final ruling.

Trump’s legal team’s argument to the federal appellate court is basically Let us skip the line, bro. Come on. He’s friends with the owners, and he’s gonna call your boss if you don’t let him.

This legal team also unsubtly telegraphed that their goal was to get this in front of the Supreme Court. It should be there because the scope of Trump’s federal constitutional immunity should be decided “by this court and the Supreme Court, not by New York State courts.”

Even if Trump succeeds in getting this to federal court, his conviction occurred in state court. Theoretically, that would mean he can’t pardon himself, but hey, who knows what the Supreme Court would do for Trump on this one. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh seem to appear inclined to give it a whirl.

In something that flew under the radar at the time—because who can keep up?—former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann reported Thursday that the Department of Justice filed a brief on Trump’s behalf. There, they argue that the federal officer removal statute allows this to be sent to federal court. And since there was evidence introduced in the state case that relied on things that occurred while Trump was president, it is improper since his presidential immunity should work backward and make that go away.

FILE - Attorney Emil Bove sits on the day of a sentencing hearing in the criminal case in which President-elect Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, outside of New York Criminal Court in Manhattan in New York City, Jan. 10, 2025. (Brendan McDermid, Pool Photo via AP, File)
Attorney Emil Bove sits on the day of a sentencing hearing in the criminal case in which Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, outside of New York Criminal Court in Manhattan in New York City, on Jan. 10.

Weissmann also noted another fun fact: There’s no evidence that Trump’s two former defense attorneys, Emil Bove and Todd Blanche, recused themselves from the DOJ filing. So Trump’s previous personal criminal defense legal team possibly got to shape the argument made on behalf of the federal government, on Trump’s behalf. This is even scuzzier then when former Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, in his prosecutor role, dismissed a case against a Jan. 6 rioter in which he was still the defense attorney of record.

As with nearly everything right now, it seems depressingly likely that Trump’s fate will somehow end up back at the Supreme Court if that court wants it there bad enough. That’s not meant as an implication that Trump could back-channel the court to take it, though his effusive “Thank you again, I won’t forget it” moment with Roberts sure looked a lot like Trump was thanking the chief justice for doing him a solid. Trump’s story is that he was thanking him for how great a job Roberts did at swearing him into office in January.

And Roberts owns this. This is the obvious and predictable fallout from the immunity decision. Roberts made Trump a king, and kings can’t be touched.

Trump’s policies lead to 274% reduction in retail jobs since he took office

Store closures in the U.S. have led to a huge 274% spike in retail layoffs so far this year, a new report says. In the first five months of 2025, retailers announced 75,082 job cuts compared to 20,276 during the same period the year before, according to business and executive coaching firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The figures include major job losses at retail giants like Macy’s, which is set to close 150 stores across the U.S. after sales dropped by a staggering $21.3 billion.

Some 66 of the closures were confirmed in January. Macy’s is one of America’s most familiar brands but in total will be shuttering around one-third of its underperforming locations by the end of 2026. Earlier this year, fabric and crafts retailer Joann announced it was going out of business, following bankruptcy, and was forced to shut down all 800 of its stores. The Ohio-based retailer had been a destination for generations of quilters, knitters, and lovers of craft projects for 80 years.

And pharmacy giant CVS recently announced plans to close 270 stores nationwide in 2025. A spokesperson for the brand said several factors went into the decisions to close the locations, including “population shifts and consumer buying patterns.” JCPenney, Forever 21 and Walgreens are among the other high-profile chains that have announced store closures in 2025.

Retail is the second-leading industry to suffer job cuts this year, behind the federal government, which has seen over 270,000 jobs slashed, thanks to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

I’m confused — Trump said the US economy would be booming under his administration

Virginia Republicans in full melt-down and civil war . . . and that’s a good thing.

In just five short months, millions of Virginians will head to the polls for an election that will decide a whole lot more than which party controls the governor’s mansion in 2026. Democratic state lawmakers need to retain control of the legislature in order to advance a trio of ballot measures protecting abortion rights, codifying same-sex marriage, and restoring voting rights to ex-felons.

Republicans have framed those three ballot measures and this year’s election as a do-or-die moment for the commonwealth. Turnout will be critical, as Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is barred by law from seeking a second term and his chosen successor, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, lacks his name recognition.

A united Virginia Republican Party could, Youngkin hopes, give Earle-Seares a decisive turnout advantage in a hotly competitive race. There’s just one problem: Virginia’s Republican leaders absolutely hate each other, and they don’t care who knows it. The party’s MAGA civil war has left Youngkin with a political migraine—and given Democrats a golden opportunity to flip a swing seat governorship. 

The trouble began, as these things often do, with a MAGA-themed gay porn sex scandal. This one involved the Virginia GOP’s candidate for lieutenant governor, John Reid, the first openly gay man to earn the role. Internal Republican research linked the Trump-aligned Reid to multiple salacious gay porn sites. That’s the kind of thing that puts you in the doghouse with the Christian conservative Republicans who elected Youngkin and Earle-Sears.

Youngkin told Reid it was time to drop out. Reid not only refused, he released a series of videos denying the allegations and accusing Youngkin’s team of extortion. The governor’s failed effort to bully Reid out of the race enraged the state’s MAGA movement, who saw the move as a backdoor effort to push their champion off the ticket.

Eventually the measured Youngkin lost his cool. He dispatched his top strategist, Matt Moran, to threaten Reid with serious consequences if he stayed in the race. Then, when Reid went public with those threats in a sworn affidavit, Moran and Youngkin issued a forceful public denial. But to paraphrase former FBI Director James Comey, oh lordy, there were tapes. Just a few days after Reid published extensive audio recordings proving his claims, Moran announced his resignation from Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC.

The entire embarrassing incident poisoned what were already pretty nasty relations between Virginia’s MAGA and Christian conservative sects. It also put Earle-Sears in an impossible position, because her largely Christian voter base now expected her to do something about the gay man scandalizing the state party.

Instead, Earle-Sears decided to anger everybody. 

In a statement in which she quoted heavily from the Bible, Earle-Sears nevertheless failed to express any opinion on her controversial running mate. When pressed by reporters to offer her opinion on Reid’s behavior, Earle-Sears said only that “It’s his race” and “his decision alone” to stay in the race. The state’s Christian conservatives read Earle-Seats’ vagueness as weakness. To the party’s MAGA wing, it sounded like carefully worded treachery.

Virginia Republicans’ frustrations are written across every poll conducted since Reid’s scandal surfaced, with Democratic nominee Abigail Spangerger notching small but consistent gains while Earle-Sears’ popularity plateaus. In January, Spanberger led the race by only 2 points. By late May, her lead had widened to 9 points. What once looked like a nail-biter of a race increasingly looks like a rout.

Earle-Sears’ struggles are also derailing her biggest obsession: controlling other women’s reproductive rights. Earlier this year, Virginia’s Democratic legislature narrowly passed a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights in law, a process they will need to repeat next year before the measure goes to voters in November 2026.

Earle-Sears has repeatedly said she’s “morally opposed” to the amendment. Keeping her out of the governor’s office is the best way to ensure Virginian women preserve their freedom of choice.

But what does that have to do with Virginia Republicans’ bubbling civil war? A lot, actually. The party’s deep rifts led to a spate of costly primary challenges as MAGA Republicans clashed with Christian conservatives. Meanwhile, a well-organized state Democratic Party is fielding legislative candidates in all 100 of Virginia’s House districts, forcing Republicans to spend even more on races that once went uncontested.

Hating takes a lot of time and energy, and Virginia’s GOP is discovering it doesn’t really have time for much else—including stopping their own slide into total dysfunction and reality TV ghoulishness. Democrats like Spanberger don’t just look like the adults in the room, with the current state of Virginia’s Republican Party, they are the only adults in the room.

Virginia’s political turmoil is another powerful reminder that the MAGA movement is incapable of existing alongside any other competing ideology. Its authoritarian roots make any kind of political coexistence impossible, even among other sects of Republicanism. Even when it means breaking a once-competitive party in two.

Youngkin and Virginia’s Christian conservatives now find themselves losing an existential battle for their party’s future. It’s a battle we’ve seen play out dozens of times in state parties and in the consciences of individual lawmakers like Youngkin, who probably regrets his own devil’s bargain with the MAGA movement right about now.

The Virginia GOP’s total collapse positions Democrats to make historic gains across the state. More importantly, it may be the key to securing a wave of long overdue reforms that make Virginia more just and more fair for everyone. It isn’t often that political parties flame out as spectacularly as Virginia’s Republicans but that’s what happens when you tie yourself first to the old Confederacy, then to the Tea Parties, and finally to Trump.