Trump’s 2025 election victory was resounding and, it appears, realigning. The Democrats, for their part, are engaging in a rather public autopsy of their misfortune. While almost all claims that a party will be in the wilderness for years to come are exaggerations, there are at least three major mountains in the way of any realignment back in the Democrats’ favor.

First, it must be said that Trump’s triumph and the Democrats’ loss has much to do with the economy. Yes, there were other factors such as immigration, crime and cultural issues. Even so, it was economy that was at the center of this election.

Beyond the polling that indicated it was the number one issue, the following – astonishing – economic fact played no small role:

After the inflation of 2021 through 2023, as reported by GOBankingRates in January, 2024, ‘nearly half of Americans have less than $500 in savings – and almost 60% of Americans have less than $1000 saved up.’

Now combine that with the record credit card debt of many of those same people and there is no other conclusion to be made but that a huge percentage of Americans are living on the margin. They voted their dwindling pocket book over social justice pleas.

Prior to government response to Covid, wages had risen under Trump by 7.1%. Adjusting for inflation, they fell under Biden.

Little wonder over 70% said on Election Day the country was headed in the wrong direction.

As for the mountains the Democrats face, they are as follows:

The modern Democrat party has become the party of government, taxation and regulation. The Green New Deal is a comprehensive example of that.

The Green New Deal legislation is what economists call a government directed ‘industrial policy.’ It seeks to direct enormous government expenditures toward their favored sector of the economy that they want to design.

To realize that, Democrats have imposed regulations that are unprecedented in their scope and reach. That includes openly stating that entire industries should be shutdown, such as coal.

Of course, the Democrats also seek large tax hikes to pay for that program as well. In the last two presidential cycles, the Democrats have openly campaigned on higher taxes. That used to be taboo – at least from Reagan, to Clinton, to the Bush 41and 43 and Obama’s first terms.

The Green New Deal, of course, follows up the last major Democrat legislative victory and huge expansion of government known as Obamacare. That was passed without a single Republican vote.

Just how government-centric are the Democrats?

Well, consider one of their prospects for 2028, California Governor Gavin Newsom. He is a big proponent of Green New Deal policies. Through regulations, he has purported to ban combustion engines for cars and trucks in the next decade among other things.

Recently, Newsom boasted about how California is producing high-paying jobs.

In truth, however, from January of 2022 to June of 2024, California produced only 5,400 private sector jobs. That’s 180 jobs a month for 30 months for a state of over 35 million. By contrast, in that period, government hiring accounted for over 95% of the new jobs in California.

In other words, the party also has become the party of government jobs.

Why were there so few jobs produced in California under Newsom? The simple answer is that California has the highest burden of taxes and regulations of any state in the Union. Nationally, a similar story has taken hold.

In the last decade, the spending by our state, local and federal governments has reached 35% according to Trading Economics. It peaked over 40% during the government response to Covid.

Further, the costs of regulations imposed by our governments is well over $2 trillion all combined. If regulations were its own industry – it would trail only government and healthcare in size.

The societal costs of that spending, the taxes imposed to pay for it and those regulations, has been to limit yearly, average, economic growth to 2% or below. We used to average 4% in the 1950s. It has steadily declined since then as government has grown.

Two percent growth does not and cannot produce enough private sector jobs for a country the size of the United States – plain and simple.

So, it can be no surprise that the rate in growth of government jobs nationwide exceeds private sector jobs growth at this time. Without enough job growth, those on the margin wind up on government programs.

Of course, those government jobs have come at the expense of trillion-dollar deficits and an exploding national debt, which is over $35 trillion as of this writing. All combined, those are sources of inflation which could ignite again if a crisis occurs.

In the final analysis, the size of government and its regulations have reached the point that they are strangling private sector job growth. Promoting more government, the staple of the current Democrat party, is not an option that will produce jobs for voters.

Recently, polling by Scott Rasmussen, in conjunction with The Committee to Unleash Prosperity, found that, among the elites (defined as people having at least one post-graduate degree, earning at least $150,000 annually, and living in high population density areas):

‘70% of the elites trust the government to do the right thing most of the time – more than twice the national average. Among the politically active members of the elites, the figure rises to a stunning 89%.’

That is important to know because that subgroup populates Democrat elites in and out of government.

Historically, once the appetite for such big government, if not socialism, grips a party hierarchy, it doesn’t let go. That is consistent with Labor Party history in England. It is also consistent with the fact that Obama and Hillary Clinton were to the left of Bill Clinton, Biden bragged he was the most progressive ever and Harris was to the left of them all. Meanwhile, Truman and JFK would not recognize any of them.

Those are the three mountains in the way of any Democrat comeback. There are others, but far more American Latinos want jobs than handouts. A growing number of black male voters agree with them.

Of course, if Republicans simply spend money on their favorite special interests, as they have in the past, instead of paring down government, they could hand the Democrats a free pass back into power. For now, however, Democrats have the higher hill to climb.

In what could potentially be President Biden’s last foreign diplomacy trip, he will soon head to South America to meet with global leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Biden will first travel to Lima, Peru, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he is slated to meet with Xi, possibly their final encounter as heads of state, according to a senior administration official.

Biden’s attendance at the summit is expected to be followed by a stop in Brazil early next week, where the Group of 20 summit, a gathering of the nation’s foremost economic powers, is being held. While in Brazil, Biden will also become the first sitting U.S. president to make a visit to spots in the Amazon rainforest.

Biden’s foreign diplomacy curtain call in South America comes as the U.S.’s influence in the region has been getting overshadowed by China’s, experts have argued.

The U.S.’s contemporary policy toward the region has shifted over the last century, from focusing on issues related to the political stability of the region to now on issues of illegal immigration and narcotics and how they impact the country domestically. Meanwhile, China has been taking advantage of the holes left open by the U.S. due to this shift in priorities.

For example, South American countries have turned to China when the U.S. has failed to establish trade agreements with them, the Wall Street Journal reported. Near the start of the Biden administration, Uruguay and Ecuador’s attempts to develop free-trade agreements with the U.S. were stymied, so they turned to China. While Ecuador’s priority is to establish a trade agreement with the U.S., its ambassador said the country is ‘prioritizing alternatives’ while the U.S. transitions to the Trump administration. 

The U.S. still holds more trade agreements in South America than China, but the communist nation has expanded its influence in other ways. Beijing has invested in parts of South America with projects like ports in places such as Peru that trade in Chinese currency, and satellites in Las Lajas, Argentina. China has also established mineral and foodstuff purchases in the region, seen potentially as an effort to fortify resources ahead of any conflict in the South China Sea in light of the increased global tensions surrounding Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., a federal agency that directs investments in developing countries, invested $30 million in funding for a critical mineral mine in Brazil. However, under the investment’s current mandate, all Latin American countries, except Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti, are considered to be too wealthy to benefit from the investment.

Under President-elect Donald Trump, relations with South America could continue to worsen as his threats of tariffs have create concern among global trade leaders.

Biden and Xi’s meeting while in Peru will be the pair’s third in-person meeting since Biden took office. 

According to a senior administration official, the two are expected to discuss a range of issues covering military-to-military communications, human rights, fentanyl, artifical intelligence, climate change, cybersecurity, Taiwan and the incoming Trump administration.

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

– The incoming chair of the Senate Republican campaign committee says his game plan for the 2026 elections is simple: ‘increase the majority.’

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, after his fellow GOP lawmakers in the Senate chose him to chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee over the next two years, told reporters that his ‘passion’ is to make sure that President-elect Trump ‘does not have two years with a Republican majority in the Senate, he has four years in control.’

In his first interview following his election as NRSC chair, Scott told Fox News Digital this week that ‘what we’re going to do is defend the seats that we have and expand the map so that we can increase the majority brought to us by the Trump victory.’

Republicans won back control of the Senate in last week’s elections, ending four years of majority control by the Democrats.

And it’s expected that once a mandated state recount is completed in the Senate contest in Pennsylvania – where GOP challenger Dave McCormick leads Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by roughly 25,000 votes – the Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate come January.

While not as favorable as the 2024 Senate map, the 2026 electoral landscape does give the Republicans some opportunities to flip seats.

Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Gary Peters of Michigan are up for re-election in two years in key battleground states Trump flipped last week.

And Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire will be up for re-election in a perennial swing state that Trump lost but over-performed from his 2020 showing. In Virginia, where Trump lost by just five points last week, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner will be up for re-election.

‘How do you expand the map,’ Scott said. ‘You look at Georgia, and Michigan, and New Hampshire, and Virginia. And if you’re stretching – take a look at New Mexico and Minnesota. President Trump was very competitive in those states.’

But Republicans will also have to play defense. GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is up for re-election in a reliably blue state. And Sen. Thom Tills of North Carolina is also up in 2026, in a battleground state Trump narrowly won.

Scott emphasized that ‘the good news is as long as Susan Collins is running, I think we have a shot to win. Last time she won by several points. This time she’ll win by several points. Thom Tillis staying in North Carolina is good for our party.’

In the 2022 election cycle, when the Republicans blew a chance to win back the majority, NRSC chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida was criticized for a hands-off approach in the GOP Senate primaries. 

This past cycle, outgoing NRSC chair Sen. Steve Daines of Montana got involved in Senate Republican nomination battles.

Asked if the NRSC will take sides in competitive Republican Senate primaries during his tenure the next two years, Scott told Fox News ‘I think the best thing for us to do is have a family conversation next year about what we’re looking at. How we’re going to defend that map and then make the best decisions we can as it relates to making sure that we end up with more seats than we currently have.’

‘Thank God we’re at 53. I’d like to see 55,’ Scott added. 

Asked if 55 seats was his goal, Scott joked ‘if it were up to me, we’d have 100 seats.’

Scott last year unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, before ending his bid and endorsing Trump. The senator was a high-profile surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail this year.

In last week’s election, unlike in 2016 and 2020, Trump outperformed many of the GOP’s Senate candidates.

Scott said he wants Trump to participate as much as he can in the 2026 Senate contests.

‘Every day and every way, President Trump, I know you have a full-time job. I’m going to ask you to have two full-time jobs. Let’s expand this map,’ Scott emphasized.

He said ‘that means that every single day we need President Trump on the campaign trail, doing fundraisers, talking to folks, because this is President Donald J. Trump’s party, and we need to make sure we expand it, from the man to the movement. We need him to do it.’

A big part of Scott’s duties as NRSC chair will be fundraising. The senator was a top Republican fundraiser during the 2022 cycle, when he easily cruised to re-election in red-state South Carolina.

‘We have to have more resources than we’ve had in the past so we are competitive in the states where we can win. I think we can win in more states than ever. President Donald Trump has actually given us a lot of runway. It’s our responsibility to have the resources to win those seats,’ Scott said.

The rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was chaired during the 2022 and 2024 cycles by Peters, who won’t be signing up for a third tour of duty as he is up for re-election in Michigan.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who easily won re-election last week in blue-state New York, is making a pitch to chair the DSCC. Senate Democrats will hold their leadership elections later this year.

David Bergstein, the DSCC communications director for the past couple of election cycles, highlighted that ‘in a challenging political environment, Democrats made history. We won multiple races in states won by Trump. We dramatically over-performed the presidential results. And for the first time in over a decade, Senate Democrats have won multiple races in states won by the opposite party’s presidential nominee.’

‘The outcome of this cycle puts Senate Democrats in the strongest possible position to reclaim the majority in 2026,’ Bergstein touted.

The president of Argentina is the first foreign leader to meet in person with President-elect Trump since Trump’s win last week.

Javier Milei, known as ‘the Lion,’ has gained notoriety worldwide for his pro-market policies that have slashed Argentine inflation since he took elected office last year.

He attended the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) gala Thursday evening at Mar-a-Lago and will stay through the CPAC Investor Summit that ends Saturday.

President-elect Trump and President Milei met earlier Thursday, and the encounter ‘went well,’ according to an anonymous source via The Associated Press.

He posted to social media site X, sharing his plans with President-elect Trump for the week ahead, claiming he will be the only other president in attendance at the summit.

As Milei was ushered out the door to the AFPI gala Thursday, he told the Argentine outlet Clarion, ‘We’re going to plant the ideas of freedom high.’

During his address at the gala, Milei congratulated Trump on his resounding win through an interpreter, saying ‘this has been the greatest political comeback in history, defying the entire political establishment, even at the risk of his own life.’

He also thanked Elon Musk for his role boosting his social media site X for President-elect Trump and communication worldwide.

‘There is a silent or rather silent majority that has begun to make itself heard despite the enemies of freedom clinging to power through propaganda, distortion and censorship,’ said Milei. ‘And this is why I would especially like to thank the great Elon Musk for the wonderful job he has been doing to save humanity in communication around the world.’
 

The Argentine president then claimed that what happened in the U.S. elections last week is similar to his own election last year, with the ‘party of freedom’ taking a victory lap.

Milei is considered to be a Trump-like figure in South America, marketing black hats similar to red MAGA hats for fans labeled ‘las Fuerzas del Cielo’ or ‘the Forces from Heaven.’ He also famously wielded a chainsaw at a political rally, vowing to slash wasteful government spending.

‘I am exhilarated to be able to share with a new United States administration that same love for freedom. And I’m convinced that together we will restore it to the place it deserves,’ Milei said in his remarks.

President-elect Trump took the stage after Milei’s speech, thanking the Argentine president for his congratulations and commending his leadership.

‘And, Javier, I’d like to congratulate you on the job you’ve done for Argentina,’ said Trump. ‘Your speech was beautiful, but the job you’ve done is incredible. Make Argentina great again. You know MAGA. He’s a MAGA person. And you know he’s doing that. He’s actually. He’s actually doing that.

President-elect Trump announced Dean John Sauer as his pick for U.S. solicitor general.

‘John is a deeply accomplished, masterful appellate attorney, who clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia in the United States Supreme Court, served as Solicitor General of Missouri for six years, and has extensive experience practicing before the U.S. Supreme Court and other Appellate Courts,’ Trump said in the announcement on Tuesday evening.

Sauer served as solicitor general of Missouri from 2017 to 2023, and represented Trump in his successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. United States.

‘Most recently, John was the lead counsel representing me in the Supreme Court in Trump v. United States, winning a Historic Victory on Presidential Immunity, which was key to defeating the unconstitutional campaign of Lawfare against me and the entire MAGA Movement,’ Trump said.

Sauer was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Duke University, Oxford University and is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.

‘John will be a great Champion for us as we Make America Great Again!’ Trump said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

President-elect Trump announced on Thursday his intent to nominate former Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs.

‘Doug is a Veteran himself, who currently serves our Nation as a Chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command, and fought for our Country in the Iraq War,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need. Thank you, Doug, for your willingness to serve our country in this very important role.’

Shortly after Trump made the announcement, Collins posted to X that he was ‘honored’ to accept the nomination.

‘Our heroes deserve the best care and support,’ Collins wrote. ‘We’ll fight tirelessly to streamline and cut regulations in the VA, root out corruption, and ensure every veteran receives the benefits they’ve earned. 

‘Together, we’ll make the VA work for those who fought for us,’ he added. ‘Time to deliver for our veterans and give them the world-class care they deserve.’

The Biden administration is facing backlash after it was revealed on social media that a top official would be participating in a two-day forum hosted by a group with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns will be a keynote speaker at the 5th US-China Hong Kong Forum starting Friday, which is being hosted by the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), according to the group’s website.

Burns’ decision to speak there has sparked criticism from China experts, including one expert who told Fox News Digital that Burns is ‘legitimizing Beijing’s malign influence.’

‘Both Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping have called the united front a ‘magic weapon.’ It’s highly deceptive because it allows the Chinese Communist Party to advance its interests in America with American voices,’ said Michael Sobolik, author of ‘Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.’

‘If you want to understand Beijing’s long game, look no further. They cultivate relationships with strategically placed Americans to parrot CCP propaganda under the guise of free speech,’ Sobolik, a Senior Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, added. 

‘By attending this conference, Amb. Burns is legitimizing Beijing’s malign influence. He should be calling it out and blunting it.’

‘Especially bad decision on the eve of the Hong Kong 47 pro democracy activists scheduled for sentencing,’ U.S. Director of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Jonathan Stivers posted on X. ‘State Dept. should be sanctioning HK officials not joining their conference.’

Fox News Digital has previously reported on CUSEF’s ties to the CCP and its president, James Chau, who ‘joined CUSEF in 2018’ and was ‘working with its founder The Hon. Tung Chee-hwa’ before he became the group’s president in 2023, according to his CUSEF bio.

Fox News Digital has extensively reported on Tung Chee-hwa, who served as a vice chair of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a key part of the CCP’s united front system, which operates to advance the CCP’s interests at home and abroad.

One report details how Julia Wilson, a Black public relations consultant, was paid over $1 million by Chee-hwa’s CUSEF to help the Chinese government learn about Black Americans and gain influence with historically black colleges and universities and Black leaders. 

‘In 2009, the former chief executive of Hong Kong [Tung Chee-hwa] visited me in my office with his staff from the China-United States Exchange Foundation, and they wanted to know how we got a Black president,’ Wilson, whose office is across the street from the White House, told college students during a 2017 presentation. ‘They were saying, ‘We don’t know anything about Black people. So can you write us a white paper and share it with us? How did Black people get enough power to vote a Black man into office?’ So they really needed an overview of our history. Who are we? Who are African Americans?’

CUSEF’s most recent annual report, which was published in July, reveals how the ‘independent, non-profit and non-governmental foundation’ is heavily influenced by the CCP, ranging from advisers and partners to donors. 

One of the top partners of CUSEF is the People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which was previously labeled as a ‘Beijing-based organization tasked with co-opting subnational governments’ and seeking to ‘directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC’s global agenda,’ according to a 2022 report from the Biden administration’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

Another partner on CUSEF’s annual report is the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an instrumental part of the CCP’s apparatus that regularly coordinates with top CCP branches and leaders, according to its website. Other partners include top Chinese and American universities like Princeton, Georgetown, Harvard and Columbia. Sidwell Friends School, the elite private school where former President Obama’s daughters and President Biden’s grandchildren attended, was also on the list.

In addition to Burns, several other former U.S. officials are scheduled to participate in the forum, including former President Obama’s ambassador to China, Max Baucus, and Rick Waters, who served as the top China policy official in Biden’s State Department.

Baucus, a longtime friend and former Senate colleague of Biden, has extensive ties to China through his institute, which Fox News Digital previously reported was funded by a Chinese company whose founder has deep ties to the CCP and was recognized as the party’s ‘National Outstanding Communist Party Member’ in 2021. His institute’s China study-abroad program is also almost fully funded by CUSEF, according to its website.

Baucus also met with Hunter Biden, who boasted that he had a ‘very good relationship’ with Baucus, and his Chinese business associates on multiple occasions, according to emails previously reported by Fox News Digital.  

Several of CUSEF’s donors, who include Chinese billionaires, also have CCP ties. Wang Jianlin, the billionaire chair of the Wanda Group, is a CCP member and served in the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. He is also a longtime member of the CPPCC. Bernard Chan, another donor listed in CUSEF’s annual report, appears to be the same Bernard Chan who served as the Hong Kong Deputy to the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, the highest organ of state power in the CCP, for 15 years.

Multiple members of CUSEF’s governing board also have CCP ties, including Peter Woo, who is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th CPPCC. Liu Changle, the founder of the Chinese state-owned Phoenix Satellite Television, also has several CCP ties, according to CUSEF’s website.

The White House, State Department and CUSEF did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed reporting.

A woman reportedly told the House Ethics Committee that she had sexual relations with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., when she was 17 years old.

ABC News reported on Thursday that the woman testified to the committee in its investigation into Gaetz, which has now ceased after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced that Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday.

Gaetz told Fox News Digital in response to the new report, ‘These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress. This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.’

The resignation announcement came hours after President-elect Donald Trump tapped Gaetz to be his attorney general.

The chief counsel for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment when asked by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Gaetz’s congressional office for comment.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had previously spoken to the woman, now in her twenties, according to ABC, as part of its years-long investigation into Gaetz related to accusations of sex trafficking and obstruction of justice.

The DOJ ultimately did not press charges, and Gaetz has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

The woman was subpoenaed by the House Ethics Committee over the summer, the report said.

The panel was expected to meet soon and potentially release a report on its investigation into Gaetz, but now that he resigned, the committee has lost jurisdiction over the matter.

The report could still be released, though it would break committee precedent.

But it could come out if Gaetz goes through the Senate confirmation process to lead the department that once investigated him.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested he’d want to see the report.

‘I think there should not be any limitation on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation, including, whatever the House ethics committee has generated,’ he told reporters.