House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries launched a blistering attack on President Donald Trump and House Republicans, accusing them of failing the American people on the economy, healthcare, immigration and foreign policy. During a fiery press conference, Jeffries branded Trump’s Iran intervention as an ‘Operation Epic Failure’, claiming the President has broken his promises to lower costs, avoid foreign wars and protect American families.

Jeffries slammed Republicans over Medicaid cuts, rising healthcare costs, Trump’s Middle East policy and ICE operations, while unveiling Democrats’ ‘Fight for an Affordable America’ campaign ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. He also warned that Republicans are ‘on the run’ and predicted Democrats are well positioned to reclaim control of the House of Representatives.

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Hakeem Jeffries | House Democrats | Donald Trump | Trump Iran Policy | Operation Epic Failure | Trump Speech | House Minority Leader | US House Of Representatives | Democrats Vs Republicans | US Politics | Iran War | Firstpost

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The post LIVE: Hakeem Jeffries GOES OFF on Trump, Calls Iran War an ‘Epic Failure’ appeared first on MASSIVE News.

In a recent conversation with The Bulwark’s Andrew Egger, conservative commentator and fellow Bulwark contributor Bill Kristol gleefully listed President Donald Trump’s numerous humiliations.

“The ballroom is twice as expensive, contrary to his statements,” Kristol told Egger. “It turns out … The Washington Post reports it’s much more expensive than he said, and we’re already spending taxpayer money on it.” After repeating Trump’s claim that no taxpayer money would be spent on the ballroom, Kristol added that “they’ve already spent tens of billions, I think, on this ballroom, which isn’t built yet and may not get built, since their court case is pending.”

Kristol did not end his analysis there.

“All their other wonderful schemes — the children’s $50 bill, the triumphal arch — thank god, are not being built yet,” Kristol told Egger. “So, yeah, it’s nice to see some failures, especially — well, it’s unfortunate when it hurts the United States, obviously, since he is president, so it’s hard to avoid that to some degree. But certainly in these things that are pure megalomaniacal grandiosity on his part, to see them fail in somewhat amusing fashion is a good thing.”

From there, Kristol pivoted to Trump’s beleaguered reflecting pool — which has now changed from a crystal blue color prior to Trump’s interventions to an algae-filled green afterward — and Trump’s planned triumphal arch.

Kristol told Egger: “I really think that thing can be stopped, and I’m going to spend a lot of time over the next — I’m going to bore people in the newsletters going on about various efforts to stop it and why it has to be stopped and why it would be such a desecration to have it looming over Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.”

At the same time, Kristol agreed with Egger that the one advantage of the triumphal arch being built is that it would give Americans something to tear down, similar to the destruction of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad’s Firdos Square after he was deposed in 2003. To illustrate why this would be a relief for people, Kristol quoted a Latin phrase that means “condemnation of memory.”

“That’s one of these sort of ‘pulling down the statues of Saddam’ type — yeah, no, well, certainly if he does build it, we need to have a — what’s the Latin phrase — damnatio memoriae, I guess, which I’ve come across, other people have used,” Kristol said. “It turns out it’s one of these Latin phrases that isn’t actually from antiquity — it was invented in the 16th century. I mean, it’s correct Latin, they just didn’t — they used the concept in antiquity, where they would erase very bad emperors’ faces from monuments and so forth.

He added, “And it was extended also to: let’s just get rid of anything that reminds us of these people.”

The Daily Beast’s Windsor Mann explained last month that Trump is building memorials to himself now, even though these are usually done after a president has died and his legacy is secured, because he wants to guarantee that he is remembered regardless of his many scandals and policy failures.

“Donald Trump’s two favorite things are himself and money,” Mann wrote. “Now he has decided to combine the two. Indeed, for the first time in history, the sitting president is adding his signature to our paper currency. Trump’s name will be on your money, which is his way of saying that he owns you.”

He added that Trump also tried unsuccessfully to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts so it would include his own name, successfully altered the U.S. Institute of Peace to include his name and is trying to rename Penn Station after himself. Even before his second inauguration, House Republicans pushed legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport the “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” while in November “Florida State Rep. Meg Weinberger introduced a bill to rename the Palm Beach International Airport as another ‘Donald J. Trump International Airport.’ Sure, why not?”

Trump even reportedly convinced cryptocurrency investors to install a $300,000 two-story tall statue of himself on his Doral, Florida golf course.

“It is, like the man it commemorates, vulgar and excessive,” says Mann. “… The way to Trump’s heart is through his ego, and nothing satiates his ego as much as a graven image made in his image and at someone else’s expense.”

Mann pointed out that previous memorialized presidents like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were memorialized “once public opinion and historians have had time to reach a consensus as to whether their contributions merit commemoration.” Because Trump is not going to be remembered in the favorable light as those three presidential predecessors, Mann argued he is likely trying to guarantee some immortality by throwing as much as he can at the wall to see what sticks.

“After all, what if we built a statue of someone who turned out to be in the Epstein files or who, after losing an election, tried to overthrow our democracy?” Mann pointed out. “It would be costly and tedious to dismantle a statue of such a person after these revelations surfaced. Perhaps Trump realizes this, which is why he’s building not one monument to himself but scores of them.”

The post Republican gloats over Trump’s snowballing list of failures appeared first on MASSIVE News.

“After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” Gonzales said in a statement posted on social media. “Through the rest of my term, I will continue fighting for my constituents, for whom I am eternally grateful.”

The third-term congressman admitted the affair on Wednesday, the day after he finished second to challenger Brandon Herrera in the Republican primary for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. Gonzales initially denied rumors of the affair, and resisted calls to drop out or resign after the San Antonio Express-News published a text in which the aide acknowledged the affair. Explicit texts between Gonzales and his then-aide came to light soon after, showing the congressman asking for a “sexy pic” and persisting despite her assertion he had gone “too far.”

The House Ethics Committee is investigating whether Gonzales “engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual employed in his office” and “discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges.”

Gonzales’ departure from the runoff means Herrera, a gun rights activist and YouTuber challenging the more moderate incumbent from his right, will be the Republican nominee in the sprawling border district. Herrera ran against Gonzales in 2024, forcing a runoff that he lost by less than 400 votes.

This time, Herrera went into the runoff in first place. While Gonzales received more early and absentee votes, according to unofficial returns, Herrera outperformed Gonzales on election day, suggesting that news of the scandal was resonating with voters.

A Navy veteran from San Antonio, Gonzales was first elected to the House in 2020 in a close race against now-San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones. While a reliable conservative, Gonzales is regarded as the most moderate Republican member of the Texas delegation, having voted to certify the 2020 election, establish a January 6 Commission and codify federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriage.

Gonzales also voted for a bipartisan gun safety bill in the wake of the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, which he represents; that vote has been a flashpoint in each of the last two primaries, with Herrera criticizing the vote and vowing to take a hard line on preserving gun rights if elected.

He had been an outspoken voice in the Republican conference on border security and immigration, representing a significant swath of the border. He helped organize support for the successful push to impeach former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during the Biden administration.

But he has at times cautioned the Trump administration to keep its deportation focus on hardened criminals. In 2024, he referred to some of his fellow Republicans as “scumbags” and klansmen. And he’s sparred with some of the furthest-right members of the conference, including Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, over hardline immigration proposals.

Gonzales initially had the support of House GOP leadership in his reelection bid, as well as that of President Donald Trump, whose endorsement he did not have in 2024. But Johnson, R-Louisiana, and other high-ranking House Republicans, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson, called on Gonzales to withdraw from the runoff Thursday.

Trump has not weighed in on the 23rd District primary since news of the scandal broke. He congratulated Gonzales during a rally in Corpus Christi days before the primary — without specifying what he was congratulating him about — and omitted Gonzales when he reposted all of his endorsements in Texas’s congressional primaries that same day.

Numerous members of the Texas delegation had called on Gonzales to drop out of his race, including GOP Reps. Monica De La Cruz, Brandon Gill and Chip Roy. Neighboring Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, had called on Gonzales to resign.

But Gonzales has said he intends to stay in Congress, arguing that his vote is too important to the work of the Republican majority, and Trump’s agenda, to lose. Republicans currently maintain a 218-214 majority in the U.S. House, meaning they can only afford to lose one Republican on any given party-line vote with full attendance.

De La Cruz has also called on Gonzales to step down from his chairmanship role of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, of which they are both members.

The situation has a recent analogue in Texas political history. In 2022, then-Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, was headed to a runoff after finishing with 49% of the vote in his primary. But the next day, he withdrew from the race, admitting to an affair that had been revealed in Breitbart News the day before the primary. Second-place finisher Keith Self became the nominee and has represented the district since 2023.

Democrats have been eyeing the 23rd District, which is majority-Hispanic and voted for Trump by a 15-point margin in 2024, especially as the scandal around Gonzales has intensified. But they see an opportunity to pick up the seat regardless, as signs abound of Latino voters souring on Trump and the Republican Party after shifting dramatically to the right in 2024.

Herrera, backed by the hard-right House Freedom Caucus’ political arm, has a history of controversial behavior and edgy humor. In 2024, Jewish Insider reported that he had included Nazi imagery, songs and jokes on his YouTube channel. And the outlet also reported he was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which promotes Lost Cause ideology.

Herrera has said it is “obvious” he is not a neo-Nazi, while Gonzales has referred to him as a “known neo-Nazi.”

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

The post TX Republican drops reelection bid amid pressure over affair scandal appeared first on MASSIVE News.