Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies are drawing lines in the sand ahead of what’s expected to be an intense inter-GOP battle over additional aid for Ukraine. 

The House of Representatives is expected to take up the issue of Ukraine and supplemental foreign aid the week after next, three sources told Fox News Digital. 

Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., called for any funding to Ukraine to be balanced out by spending cuts elsewhere and for it to be paired with U.S. border policy changes.

‘We cannot continue to borrow and spend money we don’t have for wars overseas while failing to protect Americans from the Biden border invasion here at home,’ Good told Fox News Digital earlier this week. ‘At a bare minimum, any package for military aid to Ukraine should be fully offset and must include H.R. 2 with performance metrics to secure our own border.’

The position has since been echoed by other members of the House GOP’s right flank. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital on Friday, ‘Any lethal military assistance to Ukraine that fails to meet these critical requirements is a total nonstarter.’

‘House Republicans were tasked with getting our country back on track — starting with cutting spending and securing the southern border,’ Clyde explained. ‘Abandoning these priorities while advancing a pricey package to defend Ukraine’s borders would represent an utter betrayal of the American people.’

And former Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital, ‘We stand with Ukraine. Our priority, however, must be America… Our debt is $35 trillion next month; any foreign aid package must be heavily scrutinized.’

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., similarly said on ‘Mornings With Maria’ this week, ‘Now, if there are no offsets, if there are not concessions made to pay for this, more borrowing is not the answer. And that’s where [Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.] is going to have to step up, use the leverage he has as speaker, to get concessions.’

And while the two concessions outlined by Good are likely not going to sway the most hard-line critics into supporting Ukraine aid, it’s a signal that they might not throw up many significant roadblocks or threaten Johnson’s gavel over its passage.

Freedom Caucus members and their allies have in the past forced House leadership to bypass regular procedural hurdles to put bills on the floor under suspension of the rules, in exchange for raising the threshold for passage to two-thirds rather than a simple majority. 

The issue has driven a wedge within the House Republican Conference, with a growing number of GOP lawmakers skeptical of the U.S.’ continued support for Ukraine as it continues to fight off Russia’s invasion. 

Johnson has floated multiple proposals this week that appear to be aimed at easing concerns from the right wing of his conference. He’s suggested aiding Ukraine in the form of a loan, a plan the speaker said is supported by former President Donald Trump, as well as weakening Russia’s energy-dominated economy by forcing the Biden administration to reverse a pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits.

Johnson also floated getting some of the funding by liquefying seized Russian assets, a bipartisan plan introduced in the House and Senate last year.

But those proposals got a lukewarm reception at best from Ukraine funding skeptics.

‘I don’t think the conservatives would consider it enough without border security,’ one senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote on X earlier this week, ‘There’s talk of ‘loaning’ the money & equipment to Ukraine. OK, why not loan the aid to Israel & Taiwan as well? Because they actually have the means to pay back the loan, that’s why. It’s a farce.’

President Biden’s push Thursday in a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an immediate cease-fire in the Jewish state’s six-month war campaign to defeat the terrorist movement Hamas in Gaza unleashed fierce criticism from Israeli experts.

‘A ceasefire now would be a victory to Hamas. It would show the terrorist organization that terrorism pays. The world needs to remain aligned behind Israel in its campaign to further weaken Hamas,’ Yaakov Katz, a senior fellow at the Jerusalem based Jewish People Institute told Fox News Digital.

In a White House readout of Biden’s call with Netanyahu it was noted that the president ‘underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home.’

The statement also touched on Iran, noting, ‘The two leaders also discussed public Iranian threats against Israel and the Israeli people. President Biden made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats.’

A spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office sent Fox News Digital a statement from Netanyahu’s cabinet meeting on Thursday. ‘The Cabinet authorized the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and Minister [Benny] Gantz to take immediate steps to increase humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.’ The statement added, ‘This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war.’

Hamas invaded Israel on October 7 and massacred 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans. The terrorist organization Hamas is currently holding over 100 hostages in the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ remaining battalions are centered in Rafah, the last major holdout for the Sunni terrorist group in Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remark on Thursday sparked outrage among many Israelis. He seemed to compare Israel to the U.S.-sanctioned terrorist entity Hamas in the context of Israel allegedly failing to protect civilians in Gaza.

Hamas has used civilians in its wars, including the current conflict, as human shields to blur the distinction between terrorists and civilians. Blinken said, ‘It’s what distinguishes us from terrorists like Hamas. If we lose that reverence for human life, we risk becoming indistinguishable from those we confront.’

‘Blinken’s comparison of Israel to Hamas was cruel, abusive and slanderous. It bespeaks a profound hostility to the state of Israel of a kind we’ve never seen from the United States,’ said Caroline Glick, former adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News Digital. 

She continued, ‘The implication is obvious. The Biden administration is siding with Hamas against Israel and projecting Hamas’s crimes against the Jewish state onto Israel.’

Katz, the former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, also told Fox News Digital, ‘Israel has been fighting this war in a way that is unprecedented in modern warfare. It has achieved a civilian-combatant ratio that has never been seen before in urban warfare and takes enormous measures to avoid civilian casualties. Unfortunately, mistakes and tragedies in war happen, but Israel is not Hamas. It is the exact opposite. Its military aims not to hit civilians, while Hamas aims to hit civilians.’

For Israelis who are on the front lines of a new Hamas attack, the safety of Israelis should not be contingent on American elections, and the parallel to Hamas uttered by Blinken is disturbing.  Biden has been accused of seeking to woo Arab-American voters in Michigan at the expense of securing the release of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and the security of Israel.

Talia Golijov, an American-Israeli resident of a kibbutz on the border to Gaza, told Fox News Digital, ‘From the outset I’ve thought that ‘total victory’ is a vague and unachievable goal, and that the primary objective should be the return of the hostages, and I would want to see that as soon as possible. Without minimizing the tragedy and scope of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the pressure and double standards put on Israel for its conduct of the war has become intolerable. It is inconceivable that the IDF would ever behave like, or become indistinguishable from, a terrorist organization.’ 

She continued, ‘The change in Biden’s policy comes as much as a result of an immediate high-profile mistake as it does from the impending elections. His polling numbers shouldn’t be a determining factor in how Israel proceeds with the war and secures its future.’

Golijov added, ‘With all due respect, and thanks to the administration for its support until now, Israel has always maintained a mantra that at the end of the day, it’s up to us to defend ourselves. So, now it’s time for Netanyahu to live up to this.’

There are dissenting voices who wish to see Israel bring its prosecution of the war to a close. Yossi Melman, a veteran Israeli columnist for the left-leaning Haaretz, told Fox News Digital, ‘I think the war should be stopped. It is the moral obligation of Israel to get the hostages released.’

Melman is a leading expert on Israel’s intelligence and defense establishment. He said, ‘Once there is a ceasefire in Gaza, there will be a ceasefire in Lebanon. I believe the Houthis will stop targeting Israel, and there will be calm in the region.’ He noted that ‘Israel accelerated humanitarian aid’ in response to Biden’s demands.

He believes that Netanyahu’s ‘talk about complete victory is rubbish.’ Melman sees a long-term cease-fire ‘only when an international military force would move in to stabilize the situation.’ 

He continued that instead of bringing Hamas to power, what’s needed is ‘an international force or Arab force led by the Palestinian Authority.’

Melman said, ‘It does not matter if there is double standard. That is the reality. Whether we like it or not. I don’t like it. We are inches from a European Union arms embargo … Israel does not have an alternative to the U.S. And there is no alternative to Biden. Trump is worse. Trump said there should be cease-fire. Biden is the last fully pro-Israel president. Israel is losing America.’

After Biden and Blinken voiced their criticism of Israel, the Jewish state’s Minister for Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, posted a picture showing former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who infamously appeased and misread Hitler’s plans for European conquest, on X, stating: ‘Being weak towards your enemies and harsh towards your allies is a strategy that has never proven itself.’

Yishai Fleisher, who previously served as an adviser to Israel’s controversial Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, told Fox News Digital, ‘Elements of the U.S. administration are working to have us lose this war to Hamas through, basically, getting us to stop fighting and through the use of a new kind of human shield, which is aid workers, and flooding the place with food and making sure that nobody moves. The Biden administration is ensuring that the terrorists will not be rooted out and Hamas is going to be able to declare victory. We are seeing an effort to help Hamas win the conflict.’

Fleisher, who is director for International affairs for the Jewish community of Hebron, added that Hamas ‘will certainly come out and say, ‘Look we were able to rout the Israelis, and we were able to do horrible things to them, and we were able to ethnically cleanse them, and they were not able to defeat us, because we were able to marshal the international community.’ He continued, ‘The next step is total Hamas victory and therefore victory for global Jihad against Israel and a limited defeat for Israel, which is going to be hurtful, and give tailwind to the Jihad against Israel and global Jihad.’

Why are those controlling President Joe Biden using him to advance so much of a destructive agenda that it will likely end America as we know it?

If someone wished to destroy America, could he do anything more catastrophic than what we currently see and hear each day?

What would an existential enemy do that we have not already done to ourselves? 

Here are 11 now familiar steps to civilizational destruction:

1. Wipe out a 2,000 mile border. 

Allow 10 million foreign nationals to enter unlawfully. Have no audit of any; nullify all federal immigration laws. Let in toxic drugs that kill 100,000 Americans a year. Give free support to those millions who broke the law. Smear any objectors as racists and xenophobes.

2. Run up $35 trillion in national debt. 

Keep adding $1 trillion to it each 100 days. Defame anyone wishing to cut wild spending as cruel and inhumane.

3. Appease or subsidize enemies like Iran and China. 

Demonize allies like Israel. Allow terrorists to attack Americans without adequate response. See Islam as either similar or superior to Christianity. Make amends to leftist governments for supposedly past toxic American international behavior. Follow the lead of international agencies like the UN, ICC, and WHO to atone for past American neocolonial and imperialist behavior. Recede to second-tier international status, befitting American decline.

4. In a multiracial democracy, redefine identity only as one’s tribal affiliation. 

Ensure each identity group rivals the other for victimhood and the state spoils it confers. Reboot all political issues by race and sex oppressors and oppressed. Destroy all meritocratic standards of admission, retention, promotion, and commendation.

5. Recalibrate violent crime as understandable, cry-of-the-heart expressions of social justice. 

Ensure no bail and same-day release for arrested, repeat violent felons. Empathize with the violent killer and rapist; ignore their victims, especially if they are slain police officers.

6. Emasculate the military by using non-meritocratic standards of race, gender, and sexual orientation to determine promotion and commendation.

Deliberately impugn as racists and insurrectionists the largest demographic in the military who in recent wars died at twice their numbers in the population—so that they leave or never join the military. Encourage retired high officers to slander their commander-in-chief. Cut the defense budget. Stop producing sufficient weapons, but leave billions of dollars’ worth of arms to terrorists.

7. Reinvent the justice system to indict, bankrupt, convict, jail and eliminate political opponents. 

Use ballot removal, impeachment, civil suits, and state and federal indictments rather than elections to defeat an opponent. Mob the homes of non-compliant Supreme Court justices, and attack them personally by name.

8. Encourage the fusion of the bureaucratic state with the electronic media to form a powerful force for political audit, surveillance, censorship, and coercion. 

Marry the FBI to Silicon Valley and hire its contractors to warp the news and hound supposed enemies of the people.

9. Make war on affordable gasoline and natural gas. 

Substitute inefficient, unreliable, and expensive wind and solar power, even as energy prices nearly bankrupt the middle class.

10. Marry late, but preferably not at all. 

Consider males toxic, especially boys. Have no children, or as few as possible. Otherwise, assure children they are entitled, and must be sheltered.  Raise them to have grievances against past generations and current norms.

11. Turn world-class universities into indoctrination centers. 

Suspend the Bill of Rights on campuses. Train youth to graduate despising their own culture and civilization. Recruit foreign students from hostile nations to subsidize campus commissar bloat. Replace the curriculum with therapeutic propaganda. Ban the SAT/ACT and do not evaluate comparative high school GPAs. Ensure merit does not select the student body. Charge tuition higher than the rate of inflation. Bill the government when students default on their loans.

Why could those controlling the president be doing all of the above? 

1. They are delusional and think their socialist and globalist agendas are working and will save us.

2. They are raging nihilists who do not like the U.S. and deliberately want it destroyed as a service to the world. A ruined U.S. is preferable to a strong America.

3. They are Jacobin revolutionaries who are intentionally erasing the old United States as a prerequisite for creating an entirely new America that will arise from the ashes with no trace or even memory of its past.

4. They have no agenda. They are aimless fools and utter incompetents. These bunglers just wing it day-to-day, in response to what their radical media, academic, and political masters dictate is necessary for them to retain power. They have no idea of the damage they are doing.

5. A bit of 1-3, but probably not 4.

There is cause for hope among this nihilist remaking of America: the people are fed up and will demand an accounting in the fall.

Editor’s note: This op-ed is adapted from a tweet by the author.

Can former President Donald Trump break the Republican record for Hispanic presidential vote share? Doing so may determine whether he returns to the White House.  

Latinos now account for 15% of eligible voters and are one of the nation’s fastest-growing racial or ethnic group. In 2020, Trump defied predictions and increased his share of the Latino vote, winning 38%. That’s within striking distance of the Republican modern-day high-water mark of 40% set by George W. Bush in 2004.  

Polls suggest Trump will break that record this fall and may win the Hispanic vote outright. A recent New York Times poll shows Trump polling at 46% among Hispanics, surpassing President Joe Biden.  

If Trump can solidify this lead, he could flip states he narrowly lost in 2020, including Arizona, which he lost by 10,457 votes, Georgia (12,670 votes), Wisconsin (20,682), and Nevada (33,596). These states’ combined 43 electoral votes would have been enough to propel Trump to reelection.  

‘Given how close states like Arizona and Nevada were in 2020, a seven-point shift in vote share among Latinos to Trump in 2024 would likely be enough to flip both states into the red column,’ writes the Cook Political Report.  

No wonder Biden is desperately trying to stop his bleeding support among Hispanics. In a recent interview on Univision, he ridiculously said Trump ‘despises Latinos.’ His campaign has launched a new Hispanic initiative called Latinos con Biden-Harris. ‘I need you badly,’ Biden admitted at its launch in Phoenix. ‘I need the help.’  

But the damage is already done. Democrats’ bad policies have disproportionately hurt Latinos. High inflation, which has increased nearly 20% over Biden’s term, acts as a regressive tax on Hispanics who tend to earn less than average Americans.  

Democrats’ base of coastal elites don’t notice food, rent and gas prices, but those are hitting hardworking Hispanics hard. High crime due to Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies especially impacts working-class communities where many Latinos live.  

In other words, Hispanics are on the front lines of America’s economic and social decay. It’s no surprise that polls show they care far more about these kitchen table issues than Americans as a whole.  

Hispanics also remember how much higher their quality of life was under Trump. In contrast to the declining real wages under Biden, Hispanic household incomes rose 12% (nearly $7,000) between the beginning of 2017 to the beginning of 2020.  

‘Frankly, the Trump years prior to the pandemic were actually relatively better for working-class voters, including nonwhites, than the first three years of the Biden administration,’ notes longtime Democrat political analyst Ruy Texeira. 

For the past several years, we’ve chronicled Latinos’ movement to the political right. We’ve pointed out how Hispanics’ emphasis on faith, family, and entrepreneurship makes them far more politically aligned with Republicans.  

Polls suggest Trump will break that record this fall and may win the Hispanic vote outright. A recent New York Times poll shows Trump polling at 46% among Hispanics, surpassing President Joe Biden.  

Democrats’ obsession with abortion, faculty lounge views on cultural issues, and tax-spend-and-regulate economic policy that destroys job opportunities increasingly repels Hispanic voters. Republicans, the party of faith, family and entrepreneurship, welcome them. 

One reason for this political migration is that Hispanics are overcoming America’s racial economic gaps through entrepreneurship. Latinos are nearly twice as likely to start their own business. They are not the oppressed ‘people of color’ Democrats make them out to be. They want to succeed on their own hard work and merit. And Republican free market policies will help them get there and live the American Dream. 

‘Latinos are Republicans,’ said President Ronald Reagan. ‘They just don’t know it yet.’ This is the year Hispanics will finally find their political home.  

Alfredo Ortiz is president and CEO of Job Creators Network, author of ‘The Real Race Revolutionaries,’ and co-host of ‘The Main Street Matters’ podcast.

Tensions between Iran and Israel continue to ratchet up following the strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) canceling leave for troops and Tehran vowing ‘revenge’ for the attack. 

‘We [have been] dealing with Iran since the 7th of October, and [on] every single front possible – Houthis in Yemen, militias in Iraq, militias in Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas… so, Israel is in full readiness for any scenario,’ retired Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s not the first time that they threaten to retaliate after an alleged Israeli attack.’

‘I think that our Ministry of Defense is taking this seriously,’ Avivi stressed. ‘As the minister of defense said, OK, yes, we are more alert, more ready, but we are not doing anything dramatically different from what we were already doing anyway because of the war.’

Israel has not yet taken credit for a missile strike that hit Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, killing senior Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi. Reuters cited a Lebanese security source as the first to identify Israel as the responsible party, to which an Israeli military spokesperson responded, ‘We do not comment on reports in the foreign media.’

However, the IDF has made several operational changes, such as canceling leave for any IDF personnel and calling up additional reservists to bolster the force’s air defense systems on Israel’s northern border, The Telegraph reported. Israel has also suffered widespread GPS disruptions on applications, with some users shown to be in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, which Israeli outlet Haaretz reported as deliberate attempts to confuse Israeli drone threats. 

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari reiterated the multifaceted conflict Israel is fighting, saying, ‘We are in a multi-front war. We are looking not only at Hamas but all our enemies. We look at all fronts and all threats in order to be ready for any scenario.’ 

Iran has tried to tie both Israel and the U.S. to the attack, but the U.S. has repeatedly stressed it had no involvement while seemingly confirming Israel was behind the attack. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters to refer to the Israelis ‘to speak to their strike.’ 

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller during a briefing on Wednesday reiterated that ‘we made very clear to the Iranians that we had no involvement in this strike, we didn’t know about it at the time, and we warned them not to use this attack as a pretext to attack U.S. facilities or personnel.’

Iran vowed to take ‘revenge’ for the attack, and on Thursday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned his Israeli counterparts that they would receive a ‘slap in the face’ for the ‘heinous’ attack,’ saying ahead of Quds day that Israel will face its demise and collapse, according to The Times of India. 

The repeated threats from Iran have led to concerns among U.S. military commanders that the Damascus strike could lead to renewed attacks on American bases in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. suffered 150 such attacks in the months following Oct. 7, but those attacks decreased and then stopped altogether after three American troops were killed in January. 

Avivi noted that if Iran does decide to retaliate, it is more likely to occur through their various proxy militias, who carried out attacks against U.S. facilities and personnel in the region since Oct. 7. Additionally, the attack is more likely to hit diplomatic targets in other countries – Israeli embassies or consulates, similar to the target struck in Damascus.  

‘Whether it’s drone attacks or an attack from Hezbollah or in Yemen or the militias in Syria and Iraq – if they feel they have operational capability, they might try to do something, not necessarily in Israel,’ Avivi said. ‘This is also something that I’m sure they are taking into account: Iranians don’t rush. They consider things, seriously, for a long time.’

‘It doesn’t necessarily have to be something in Israel,’ he explained. ‘They’ve done that in the past and tried to assassinate Israelis outside of Israeli embassies. They might utilize again, the militias, and not necessarily directly. I’m not sure how much Iran would like to really confront Israel directly. I’m not sure it’ll work in their favor.’

Matt McInnis, a senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of War, told Fox News Digital that he saw ‘legitimate concern’ about Iran targeting diplomatic facilities. He raised concerns over how Iran uses diplomatic cover for its military operations, but noted that might change.

‘Iran has used its embassies and diplomatic personnel to run military, paramilitary and terrorist activities for decades, however, undermining international legal principles,’ McInnis said. 

‘Iranian ambassadors in the Middle East are often Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders, for example,’ he explained. ‘Iran is likely re-evaluating whether diplomatic protocols can continue to hide and protect IRGC operations in the region.’

Part of that diplomatic cover includes trying to rally the United Nations to condemn Israel for the attack – despite the fact Israel has yet to take credit for it.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, issued a statement condemning the attack on Iran’s ‘diplomatic premises,’ reaffirming the principle of inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel. 

‘He also reminds all parties to respect all their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, as applicable,’ Dujarric said. ‘He also repeats his calls on all concerned to avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure.’

‘The secretary-general further calls on all concerned to exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation,’ Dujarric continued. ‘He cautions that any miscalculation could lead to broader conflict in an already volatile region, with devastating consequences for civilians who are already seeing unprecedented suffering in Syria, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the broader Middle East.’

Russia put forward a motion before an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that would have condemned the attack, but the U.S., Britain and France blocked the resolution. The trio of allies told the council that too many facts remain unclear, which prevented members from reaching a consensus. 

McInnis argued that any success Iran finds in drawing support and condemnation over the attack is ‘not likely to translate into much international support for Iranian action against Israel, the United States or anyone else they hold accountable for the strike.’

‘No major power wants further regional escalation,’ McInnis said. ‘We still should be taking this opportunity to stress that Iran’s use of diplomatic facilities for coordinating military or terrorist operations is unacceptable.’

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and Reuters contributed to this report. 

An internal memo showing panic within the Democratic Party over its ‘nonpartisan’ voter registration efforts potentially helping former President Trump is drawing criticism from those who say the registration efforts were a ‘partisan scam’ from the start.

Democrats across the country have become increasingly concerned over the amount of support Trump is pulling from usually reliable demographics and donors have been bickering over an internal memo casting doubt on whether the party should continue using nonprofits to register unregistered voters over fears it could help Trump, the Washington Post reported this week. 

‘Indeed, if we were to blindly register nonvoters and get them on the rolls, we would be distinctly aiding Trump’s quest for a personal dictatorship,’ the memo explained, casting doubt on the longstanding Democrat voter registration push that typically has resulted in favorable results in previous elections.

The memo argues that Democrats should focus their registration efforts only in ‘specific, heavily pro-Biden populations’ and the Washington Post explained that ‘the rise in Trump support among nonregistered voters has run up against a long-held Democratic policy priority of growing the voter rolls.’

Some political analysts claimed the Washington Post article shows that some Democrat registration efforts that are labeled non-partisan are in fact working solely to register Democrats.

‘Left-wing strategists accidentally said the quiet part out loud: their ‘non-partisan’ left-wing voter registration efforts have always been highly partisan operations designed to help Democrats,’ Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital.

‘This admission raises grave questions about other programs the left also claims are ‘non-partisan,’ including President Biden’s executive order using taxpayers’ money to mobilize liberal voters. The press should take note of and remember this rare moment of honesty from the left the next time they cry ‘voter suppression.”

‘Democrats donors are now getting memos telling them to stop funding voter registration nonprofits because unregistered voters lean towards Trump,’ investigative researcher Parker Thayer posted on X in response to the report.

‘It’s all a partisan scam,’ he added.

The memo comes as recent polling data suggests Biden is hemorrhaging support from key demographics that historically have been registered by Democrats and then voted for Democrats.

Gallup polling this year showed that Democrats currently hold the lowest lead they have had with Black voters over Republicans they have ever had dating back to when the polling began in 1999 and their 12-point advantage over Republicans with Hispanic voters is the lowest since 2011. 

Polling also shows that young adults are supporting Democrats at their lowest level in almost two decades.

‘By 2010, young adults were the only age category giving the Democrats an edge, and their Democratic orientation remained strong until it fell to just eight points in 2023, the slimmest since 2005,’ Gallup explained.

In 2016, Gallup polling showed roughly 51% of non-registered voters identified as Democrat or lean Democrat compared to 31% who identified as Republican or lean Republican. Over the last year, that number for Democrats has sunk to 42% while the Republican number grew to 40%, WaPo reported.

Some Democrats pushed back in the WaPo story on the idea that registration efforts need to be re-tooled due to Trump’s strong polling numbers with reliable Democratic voters.

‘If you’d ask me what keeps me up at night, it’s not that young people of color are going to defect to the Republican camp. My worst case scenario is that memos like this create a disinvestment — and that makes our job very hard,’ Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, said, adding that the memo shows ‘implicit bias that the mainstream folks have internalized’ and that it ‘does a disservice because it’s trying to pit communities against each other in ways that are not helpful.’

‘From a nonpartisan perspective, we should help close the turnout gap, which means if Latinos, Blacks and Asian Americans are registered at lower rates, then we need to increase registration,’ Biden pollster Matt Barreto told the Washington Post. 

‘The unregistered people of color are still leaning Democratic. They might need more of a push. But they are not leaning in the opposite direction.’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wants to dump House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. 

She authored a resolution to force the House to take a vote of no confidence in the speaker.

‘I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw the House in chaos. But this is basically a warning,’ said Greene. 

Greene railed at Johnson for negotiating spending bills with Democrats and forgoing the GOP’s internal rule, requiring 72 hours before voting on legislation.

Greene might not succeed in her effort to topple Johnson. Especially since Republicans just tried this stunt in the fall.

‘Johnson benefits from the terrible example that was set several months ago when (former House Speaker Kevin) McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted,’ said David Cohen, a political scientist at the University of Akron. ‘It was utter chaos. The House was completely dysfunctional. I don’t know if there’s an appetite, even among those in the right flank of the Republican Party, to go through that process again.’

This is why many Republicans loathe a repeat of last fall’s pandemonium.

‘This whole episode of removing speakers and threatening speakers does nobody any good except the Democrat Party,’ Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said on Fox Business. 

This internecine fighting is partly what prompted some Republicans to quit early as Johnson tries to mend the threadbare GOP majority.

‘We’ve got to unify when you have such a small majority,’ Johnson implored on Fox. ‘I think people feel the gravity and the weight of this. The importance of it.’

But as the House Republican majority dwindles to a single vote, it wouldn’t take much for things to go haywire. Especially if Greene is intent on forcing her colleagues to vote on removing Johnson.

‘The majority is so narrow that if a couple of Republicans don’t show up or decide not to vote, you could end up with the Democrats in charge of the House,’ said Cohen. 

Former Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., left two weeks ago before his term expired in January.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., planned to retire in January, but he’s out the door by mid-month.

If more GOP members make Irish exits, Johnson concedes a flip of power for the House of Representatives before the election isn’t out of the question. That would potentially earn House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., a promotion.

‘Look, that’s a risk. But I don’t think that’s going to happen,’ Johnson told Fox. ‘Hakeem is not going to be the speaker.’

But lawmakers are exasperated at the infighting. Mayhem gripped the House for months over various spending bills and multiple flirtations with potential government shutdowns. Scrapes over who should be House speaker test the patience of members.

‘It’s absolutely possible that, before the end of the year is out, the Democrats may seize control of the House of Representatives,’ said Cohen. 

So, lawmakers are struggling to figure things out.

‘What you’re seeing is an inflection point for the institution,’ said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. ‘And are we going to make this institution work again?’

Roy criticized Republican leaders on the spending bills. But he also flagged Republican colleagues who are willing to punt to the election and bank on former President Trump returning to the White House as a salve to the nation’s ills.

Roy wants Congress to legislate. And do it now.

‘Why the hell are you in Congress? We’re actually supposed to be more important than the president of the United States. That’s why we’re Article One (of the Constitution). But we’re too chicken to use the power,’ Roy excoriated during a floor speech. 

Roy’s not the only one perturbed about the House. Buck departed early because he was also incensed with his colleagues. But for different reasons. 

‘I’m not comfortable with how this institution is structured,’ said Buck. 

Buck was one of three House Republicans who bucked their party on the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Their resistance sunk impeachment on the first try. However, the GOP-controlled House took a mulligan and impeached Mayorkas a week later after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., returned from cancer treatments. 

Buck argued that Republicans abused impeachment. He’s suspicious about the motives of his former colleagues.

‘A lot of them are here because they got here by throwing bombs. And they’re going to stay by throwing bombs,’ said Buck.

Like Buck, Gallagher also opposed impeaching Mayorkas.

‘It’s getting harder to get stuff done,’ said Gallagher. ‘I think you see a lot of members frustrated with that.’

Gallagher says there’s one thing he won’t miss.

‘Fundraising,’ said Gallagher. ‘I hate fundraisers. It’s weird, and it dominates so much of people’s time here. And I think it takes away from the actual serious business of legislating.’

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). That’s the House GOP’s official campaign arm.

‘When you see a lot of senior people with a lot of good experience leaving, you know, it’s still kind of disappointing,’ said Hudson. 

But he notes that more Democrats are retiring than Republicans.

‘We don’t have a single retirement in a competitive seat. Whereas the Democrats have more retirements than we do. And seven of their retirements are in seats that we’re going to pick up,’ said Hudson. 

That might be the case in November. But what about now? And does Johnson cling to power?

Fox is told the House won’t put a Ukraine aid bill on the floor right away. It’s likely the House first tackles a reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Lawmakers from both sides demand significant reforms to protect Americans. 

Law enforcement and the intelligence community insist the program is essential to protect the U.S. But there are concerns that the government used Section 702 to eavesdrop on Americans. It’s only supposed to intercept communications of foreign nationals. The program goes dark April 19. So expect the House to wrestle with that before Ukraine. 

But if Johnson turns to Ukraine, does Greene lower the boom? 

It’s possible that Johnson survives – with the help of Democrats. Democrats either use Ukraine as leverage. Or as a way to secure some buy-in.

‘He’s going to need to rely on Democrats for support,’ said Cohen. ‘He’s going to have to cut some deals.’

Democrats didn’t help McCarthy survive last fall. But the calculus could be different for Johnson. Especially if Ukraine is involved.

If the House votes to remove the speaker, who knows who Republicans would tap to succeed him? Republicans burned through three other speaker candidates after they sidelined McCarthy. The tumult of another speaker vacancy would bubble over in the House. That means more members could bolt. That would spark an unprecedented level of chaos.

And you thought things were bad before.

It all hinges on Ukraine. 

And despite Greene’s efforts, she might fall short on both of her goals. 

It’s about the math.

Johnson might have the votes to stay. And the House likely has more than 300 votes to approve a bill to assist Ukraine.

But the House may need to wade through another round of bedlam first. 

The missiles that killed several aid workers that were part of a World Central Kitchen convoy this week, including an American, in the Gaza Strip were likely to have been ‘absolutely perfectly accurate’ Spike missiles, according to British media reports.

Chris Lincoln-Jones, a former British army procurement officer, told The Times of London newspaper it was likely that three Spike missiles were fired in quick succession and smashed into the convoy vehicles on Monday.

‘If you aim at the driver’s side, you will hit the driver full-on,’ Lincoln-Jones, who worked with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while in the army, told the newspaper. ‘If you were across the street from the car, you’d be shaken up, and you might be hit by a few splinters, but you would survive.’

The IDF’s Black Snake squadron was carrying a Hermes 450 drone equipped for a ‘clean and highly targeted’ attack when it was believed to have pursued an aid convoy in Gaza, the report said. 

Lincoln-Jones spent five years studying IDF military hardware in Haifa and Tel Aviv, where he was involved in obtaining the watchkeeper drone for Britain, the news outlet reported. The drone was based on the Hermes 450, which is equipped with Spike ‘fire-and-forget’ missiles made by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli arms firm.

‘It’s the only missile that I know of in the Israeli army that, in my experience, would cause so little collateral damage. It would only kill the people in the car,’ said Lincoln-Jones.

The Hermes 450 would have had a clear image of the charity’s logo, he said, and that because the route taken by WCK had been approved by military authorities, Israel ‘probably even knew the names of the people on board.’

Investigation underway

Israel has said it is investigating the deadly incident. The nonprofit, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said its team was ‘traveling in a de-conflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle’ in central Gaza on Monday when it came under fire, resulting in the deaths of an American, a Palestinian worker and others from Australia, Poland and the United Kingdom. 

The deaths have fueled criticism against Israel by some who claim Israeli forces haven’t done enough to mitigate civilian casualties amid an impending invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza. Israeli forces have also been accused of targeting humanitarian workers.

Israel denies targeting civilians and said the strike that killed the WCK workers was carried out by mistake. 

‘Not bad luck’

‘This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,’ Andres said in a video, Reuters reported. ‘This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs on the top, on the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of. It’s ‘very clear who we are and what we do.’

World Central Kitchen has asked the governments of several nations, including the United States, to demand a third-party investigation into the attack and has asked the Israeli government to preserve all documents, communications, video, audio recordings, and any other materials potentially relevant to the airstrike. 

Biden reacts

The nonprofit announced Tuesday that it was pausing all its operations in Gaza.

In a statement earlier this week, President Biden said he was ‘outraged’ and ‘heartbroken’ by the deaths. 

In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden ’emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,’ the White House said in a Thursday statement. 

‘He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,’ the statement said. 

The Trump campaign issued a blistering response to Politico’s ‘false reporting’ that China would prefer former President Trump back in the White House come November and is even aiding those efforts. 

‘In Politico’s Nightly newsletter, Catherine Kim makes a harebrained assertion that China would prefer President Trump to return to the White House,’ Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement released Wednesday evening. 

‘The same President Trump who made China submit to pro-America trade and tariff regulations, called them out for exporting the Coronavirus that killed millions across the world, and stood tough against Chinese economic aggression throughout his first term.

‘For a media outlet and its reporter to peddle lies and feature commentary from a ‘China expert’ named Rorry Daniels — who by the way is a Democrat donor — is laughable at best.’

The campaign was responding to an article published in Politico Nightly titled ‘China’s 2024 election play,’ which reported ‘geopolitical rivals could end up’ helping Trump return to the White House. 

‘Throughout Trump’s time in office, he talked tough on China, escalating a trade war between the two countries and reportedly launching a CIA campaign to sow distrust of China’s government among its citizens on social media. Ironically, China is now reportedly conducting a similar operation that could help Trump return to office,’ the report states.

‘Covert Chinese social media accounts have recently masqueraded as Trump supporters, sharing pro-MAGA memes and mocking President Joe Biden. Even if the goal is simply to deepen political division in the U.S., the Chinese accounts are helping amplify Trump’s agenda and feeding energy into the MAGA-sphere,’ the article continued, citing a recent New York Times report. 

The Politico article relied on commentary from Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Jacob Stokes, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, who previously worked in the White House when Biden served as vice president. The article reported that a ‘second Trump presidency could create strategic opportunities for China’s expansion plans’ and that ‘Trump’s willingness to be seen as a dealmaker — with little regard for national security concerns — could also be a boon for China.’ 

‘China is very adept at taking up the mantle of global power and leadership in its own way when America pulls back — and Donald Trump would likely be a president that would pull America back from the international system, not invest more into it,’ Daniels was quoted as saying in the piece published Wednesday evening. 

Cheung responded that Politico is ‘being played by devious Chinese forces’ that work to manipulate media outlets and journalists ‘because they know Trump Derangement Syndrome is a very real disease that distorts all reasoning.’

‘The fact is that China has grown stronger under a weak Biden presidency, and our allies are even more in danger as China builds up its economic and military power. Deadly Chinese fentanyl continues to flow into American communities killing scores of people while illegal Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group crossing the Southern Border,’ Cheung said in his statement Wednesday. 

Cheung continued in his response to ‘not forget Politico’s official media partner in Asia is the South China Morning Post, widely considered to be the mouthpiece of the CCP.’

A Politico spokesperson called the Trump campaign’s response to the article ‘bizarre’ in comments to Fox News Digital on Thursday.

‘It was a bizarre statement that was riddled with errors. Politico has no existing partnership or affiliation with the SCMP,’ the spokesperson said. 

An ‘Editor’s Note’ from Politico published in 2018 detailed the outlet was expanding its coverage of the relationships between the U.S. and China, including ‘a content partnership we are unveiling today with the South China Morning Post.’ 

‘Politico’s reporting was riddled with errors and political bias because they clearly suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. They should consider doing their actual reporting jobs rather than moonlighting as mouthpieces for the CCP,’ Cheung told Fox Digital on Thursday. 

The New York Times ran a similar piece to Politico’s on Tuesday in its morning newsletter, with the opening line stating, ‘America’s biggest adversaries evidently want Donald Trump to win the 2024 presidential election.’ That piece cited ‘researchers and government officials’ who said ‘covert Chinese accounts’ online were posing as American supporters of Trump to promote ‘conspiracy theories, stoking domestic divisions and attacking President Biden ahead of the election in November.’

The New York Times article claims Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reasons for preferring Trump back in the White House ‘seem obvious,’ saying President Biden has led a widespread ‘coalition’ against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and aided Ukraine in its battle against Russia.  

‘Trump has suggested that he will end this support. A central part of Putin’s war strategy, intelligence experts believe, is to wait for Ukraine’s Western allies to tire of the war,’ the report states. 

China has ‘less obvious’ reasons to prefer Trump in the White House, according to the report.

‘Trump, after all, took a more combative stance toward China than any U.S. president since Richard Nixon re-established ties with Beijing. The Associated Press and Washington Post have noted that Beijing seems unhappy with both Biden and Trump,’ the report continued. 

Trump’s ‘America First,’ ‘isolationist’ stances would be a boon for Moscow and Beijing, according to the report, arguing Trump prefers to avoid ‘international conflicts, and he is skeptical of treaties and alliances.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Times for comment on the Trump campaign’s response to the Politico report but did not immediately receive a reply.

Cheung concluded his statement Wednesday that Politico should stop promoting ‘pro-Chinese talking points.’ 

‘Instead of hawking pro-Chinese talking points, Politico should turn their backs on their puppet masters and report on real news — a Biden presidency means a weaker America and a stronger China. There is only one person who can stop that from happening: Donald J. Trump,’ Cheung concluded. 

House Republicans are expected to vote on renewing a controversial federal government surveillance tool when they return from recess next week, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.

Two House GOP aides and a GOP lawmaker – all who spoke on the condition of anonymity – said the House could take up Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on April 19 if Congress does not act soon. One of the aides said plans are still fluid.

Section 702 has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens.

It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.

The debate over its renewal has been intense, and it’s made unlikely allies out of hard-liners on the left and right alike over accusations it tramples on Americans’ civil rights. The FBI has been accused of improperly using Section 702 to spy on Black Lives Matter protesters in the summer of 2020 as well as people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

‘Freedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed. Next week, Congress once again confronts an opportunity for reform and accountability of [FISA],’ Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, one of the tool’s critics, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

‘Demand a debate and recorded vote to require warrants to search American citizens’ data, to limit the scope of collection, and to stop the government from avoiding warrants by buying data that would require a warrant or subpoena.’

Section 702’s supporters, which include national security hawks and moderates on both sides, point out that Section 702 is critical to avoiding another Sept. 11, 2001-style attack and have accused its detractors of trying to gut the program to the point of inoperability. 

It’s not immediately clear what a FISA renewal would look like – multiple plans to do so have fallen apart already. 

Most recently, a compromise bill put together by negotiators for the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees was abruptly pulled from the House floor schedule after Republicans on the Intelligence panel threatened to tank the legislation.

Three sources close to the Intelligence Committee told Fox News Digital at the time that it was about an amendment that would have forced law enforcement to seek a warrant before obtaining communications that involved a U.S. citizen.

‘That would be the equivalent of a police officer needing a warrant before running a license plate,’ one of the three sources said.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who supported the warrant amendment, hit back at the Intelligence Committee’s reform efforts at the time, saying, ‘Intel didn’t want the Judiciary [amendments]. See, the Judiciary Committee is the committee of jurisdiction. That’s where it should’ve gone.’

But the third source close to the Intelligence Committee said those on the panel ‘are the ones that see the threats to our nation up close and personal every day.’

An earlier proposal to hold votes on dueling bills and send the highest vote-getter to the Senate had also been scrapped. One had been by the House Judiciary Committee, which would have vastly restricted the program, and another by the House Intelligence panel would have made improvements to transparency and accountability pipelines.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment but did not hear back at press time.