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The White House slammed the ‘radical left’ in a social media post Sunday, showing an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump wielding a lightsaber in celebration of May the Fourth, or ‘Star Wars Day.’

May 4 has long been regarded as a day to celebrate the iconic movie franchise as fans post on social media ‘May the Fourth be with you,’ an offshoot of the memorable Star Wars quote ‘May the force be with you.’

On Sunday, the White House took an opportunity to celebrate the popular day with a post on X, while also taking digs at the Trump administration’s biggest critics.

‘Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire,’ the White House wrote. ‘May the 4th be with you.’

The post included an AI-generated image of Trump, who not only donned a Jedi robe and set of ripped arms but also held a red lightsaber. Behind him in the image were two bald eagles and two American flags.

The post received mixed reactions.

‘Our efforts to FOIA info about a reported ‘Death Star’ have been stonewalled. And we pulled The Honorable Darth Vader as a judge when we sued so THAT will go nowhere,’ a user wrote.

Another user asked X’s AI feature Grok what the meaning of a red lightsaber is in Star Wars. Those who follow the science fiction franchise will remember Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and others associated with the dark side or Sith powers used a red lightsaber of some sort.

The Star Wars fandom website Wookieepedia explains that in the process of making a lightsaber, negative emotions like rage, hate, fear and pain would result in a red hue.

‘How do you not have one nerd on staff to tell you what color lightsaber is good and what color is bad???’ a user asked in reaction to the White House post.

But supporters of the president were quick to respond to reactions about the color of the lightsaber Trump is holding in the image.

‘People arguing Trump using a red lightsaber equates him to evil…R ed is literally one of the three colors in our nation’s flag,’ a user wrote. ‘He is the leader of the Republican Party which is often ascribed the color Red. Context matters.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on the matter.

Still, the White House was not the only federal government agency to have fun with May the Fourth.

The U.S. Army Pacific posted an AI-generated image to social media of two soldiers with lightsabers – one holding red and the other holding a red, white and blue weapon – walking into combat at night, with the Milky Way Galaxy behind them.

‘Across every galaxy – known and unknown – no force rivals our discipline, strength, and precision,’ the post read. ‘We don’t just defend the world. We protect the future. Victory is forged not found. May the 4th be with you.’

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The U.S. could withdraw from peace talks with Ukraine and Russia if the two sides show no progress, President Donald Trump says.

Trump made the comments during an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that aired Sunday, telling host Kristen Welker that there is ‘tremendous hatred’ between Ukraine and Russia.

The president says he remains hopeful a peace deal is possible, but confirmed that the U.S. would not remain a mediator indefinitely.

‘I do believe we’re closer with one party. And maybe not as close with the other, but we’ll have to see,’ Trump said. ‘Five thousand soldiers a week on average, are dying. They’re not American soldiers. But I want to solve the problem.’

‘How long do you give both countries before you’re going to walk away?’ Welker asked.

‘Well, there will be a time when I will say, okay, keep going, keep being stupid,’ Trump replied.

‘Maybe it’s not possible to do,’ he added. ‘There’s tremendous hatred. Just so you understand, Kristen, we’re talking tremendous hatred between these two men and between, you know, some of the soldiers, frankly, between the generals, they’ve been fighting hard for three years. I think we have a very good chance of doing it.’

The interview comes just days after Trump blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioning whether his Russian counterpart has any interest in peace.

Trump spoke up on social media last week after Russian forces launched missiles into Ukrainian cities.

‘There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,’ Trump wrote. ‘It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared to temper expectations for a major peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia last week.

Rubio argued it was ‘silly’ to put a specific date or timeline on when the U.S. might pull out from mediation, but he said this will be ‘a very critical week.’

Days later, the White House signed a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine, a months-long priority for Trump.

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President Donald Trump downplayed rumors that he intends to seek a constitutionally prohibited third term in the White House on Sunday.

Trump addressed the issue during an interview with NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ that aired Sunday, telling host Kristen Welker that he has no plans to pursue another term.

‘So many people want me to do it,’ Trump said when Welker asked about a third term.

‘It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do. I don’t know if that’s constitutional,’ he added. ‘But this is not something I’m looking to do.’

Welker then pressed Trump about who he believes could be a successor to the MAGA movement once he leaves office, and Trump referenced both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

‘There’s a lot of them that are great,’ he said of his political allies. ‘I also see tremendous unity. But certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage.’

The wide-ranging interview went on to address illegal immigration, where Trump emphasized that he has no plans to end his emergency declaration relating to immigration.

‘We have an emergency. We have a massive emergency overall,’ Trump told Welker.

Trump’s administration says illegal border crossings have dropped roughly 96% compared to President Joe Biden’s term in office, though the White House’s deportation programs have faced legal troubles.

‘The border now is not the emergency,’ Trump said. ‘The border is — it’s all part of the same thing though. The big emergency right now is that we have thousands of people that we want to take out, and we have some judges that want everybody to go to court.’

Just ahead of Trump’s 100th day in office last week, the White House claimed there had been 139,000 deportations since his inauguration.

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Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance and their young children are adjusting well to life as the Second Family, with the vice president telling Fox News Digital that they are trying to ‘deliver as much normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation.’ 

Vance sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this week. 

‘Everyone is adjusting well—they are doing very well,’ Vance said. ‘It’s different, right?’ 

‘My seven-year-old son Ewan, he’s adjusting, but he’s also aware of all of it,’ Vance said. 

‘And then we have our five-year-old son, Vivek, who I think is a little bit less aware of it,’ Vance continued. ‘To him, it’s just fun. He has a bunch of Secret Service agents to play with, and he gets to go wherever he wants to, and he really likes that.’ 

‘And Mirabel, who’s three, has no idea what’s going on,’ Vance said of his youngest. 

Vance shared a photo of Mirabel, which he and his wife display in their home in the Naval Observatory, ‘in her pajamas reviewing this Indian troop formation.’ 

‘It’s so funny—it’s maybe my favorite photo of the entire 100 days that we’ve had so far—it’s very cute,’ Vance said. ‘So, you sort of see different levels of kids’ understanding of it.’ 

Vance said the children ‘have a good school situation.’ 

‘We have good friends here, and they spend a lot of time at the White House,’ Vance said. 

‘Of course, our primary residence—we still have our home in Cincinnati—but our primary residence is the Naval Observatory,’ Vance said. ‘It’s very isolated, so it’s nice, because, for the kids, it’s not like growing up in a fishbowl.’ 

Vance said the children ‘have a lot of room to run around.’ 

‘There aren’t cameras everywhere, and it feels very, very private—very normal for the kids—which is all we could ask for,’ Vance said. 

As for his wife, Vance said ‘each second lady approaches the role differently—there’s not like, a manual that says—this is how you will be second lady.’ 

‘I think what Usha has done is she has focused on some issues she cares about and she is very involved in the Kennedy Center—she really likes the arts and that is a project that she’s taken on,’ Vance explained, adding that she plans to ‘take on additional projects.’ 

‘But she also is a mom,’ Vance said. ‘And the kids are really young, and she saw this as an opportunity to try to deliver as much normalcy to the kids in a very abnormal situation.’ 

He added: ‘But she’s doing well, and she really likes it—I think the role suits her and she’s having fun. She’s amazing.’ 

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A small English town north of bustling Manchester just saw two controversial pro-Gaza candidates flip seats held by the mainstream Labour Party. Both candidates ran as independents in the May 1 local elections.

Maheen Kamran, 18, won the Burnley Central East seat on the Lancashire County Council, while Azhar Ali won the position of county councillor for the Nelson East ward. The Telegraph noted that their victories could be part of a growing trend, following a slew of pro-Gaza candidates—including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn—winning seats in last year’s general election.

Ali is a former Labour Party member who was suspended from the party and lost its backing over allegations of antisemitism during an election last year. Labour initially supported Ali after he claimed that Israel ‘allowed’ Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre to occur as a pretext to invade Gaza, according to the BBC. He later apologized for making what he called a ‘deeply offensive, ignorant and false’ claim. Labour withdrew its support for Ali and later suspended him from the party.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews did not accept Ali’s apology, calling his comments ‘disgraceful and unforgivable.’

‘It is clear to us that Mr. Ali is not [apologizing] out of a genuine sense of remorse. Despite what he says in his apology, we do not see how we could possibly engage with him at this time, and we believe other leading Jewish communal groups will feel similarly,’ the organization wrote in a 2024 statement.

Meanwhile, Kamran has taken radical stances of her own. She voted in favor of ending the ‘free mixing’ of Muslim men and women in public spaces. 

‘Muslim women aren’t really comfortable with being involved with Muslim men. I’m sure we can have segregated areas, segregated gyms, where Muslim women don’t have to sacrifice their health,’ Kamran told PoliticsHome.

In the same interview, Kamran said she entered politics because she believes there is a ‘genocide’ taking place in Gaza. While critics of Israel’s military actions use the term ‘genocide,’ supporters of the Jewish state often argue that Israel has the capability to destroy Gaza’s population but has chosen not to, thereby disputing the genocide claim.

Ali and Kamran’s victories come as mainstream parties lose influence in local elections. The right-wing populist Reform UK Party saw major gains in the latest election, according to the Telegraph. Meanwhile, despite its control of 10 Downing Street, Labour suffered losses in the recent local elections. 

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George Orwell famously said, ‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’ On World Press Freedom Day, we must remind ourselves of the people who have lost their freedoms fighting for this very right. 

My father Jimmy Lai is one such man. He is currently in Stanley maximum security prison in Hong Kong, facing potential life in prison for simply publishing what Chinese authorities do not want to hear. 

His story is one of extraordinary transformation and unwavering conviction. Arriving in Hong Kong at age 12 after fleeing Communist China, he began his journey as a child laborer in a clothing factory, enduring hardship and poverty. 

Yet, through grit and vision, he rose from factory worker to factory manager, and by 1975, used his savings to purchase a bankrupt garment factory. This bold move laid the foundation for his first major success: Giordano, a clothing chain that grew into an international brand with thousands of employees and stores across Asia.

The 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre marked a turning point for him. Witnessing the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters, he redirected his life’s work from business to activism, determined to fight for freedom and human rights in Hong Kong. 

In 1995, he founded Apple Daily, a newspaper that quickly became a beacon for free speech and democracy, unafraid to criticize the Chinese Communist Party and expose corruption. My father poured $100 million of his own fortune into the venture, ensuring the paper’s independence and fearless reporting.

His media empire, including Next Magazine and Apple Daily, became a megaphone for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, rallying citizens and challenging the authorities. His outspoken criticism of Beijing and unwavering support for protestors made him a target. 

The CCP labeled him a ‘troublemaker,’ and his businesses faced retaliation, including the closure of his Beijing Giordano store after a controversial column. Yet, he never wavered, famously stating, ‘Information is choice and choice is freedom’ using both high-brow and popular content to spread the message of liberty.

His commitment to principle set him apart from other tycoons. While many business leaders in Hong Kong chose silence or compromise, he stood alone, enduring threats, arrests, and ultimately imprisonment for his beliefs. In 2014, he was arrested during the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests, and in 2020, as Beijing tightened its grip on Hong Kong, my father was again detained under the draconian National Security Law. 

Despite the risks, he refused to flee, choosing to remain in Hong Kong and continue the stand for his beliefs, even as Apple Daily was forced to close, even as he now faces the possibility of the rest of his life behind bars.

My father’s life is a testament to the power of conviction. He is not just a businessman or media mogul – he is a symbol of freedom and hope for many. His outsider status, as an immigrant who never quite fit in, gave him the strength to play by his own rules and challenge the status quo.

Despite his wealth and influence, he remains deeply human – a husband, father and practicing Catholic. We miss his booming voice and boisterous laughter around our dinner table. We long for the day we can again share a meal, again pray together.

Over the past few months, both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have publicly stated their commitment to securing my father’s freedom, consistent with the president’s prioritizing the release of those wrongly detained abroad. He has secured the release of 14 prisoners since taking office in January.

My father is fortunate to have deep bipartisan support in this country and abroad. The U.S. and the U.K. have called for his immediate and unconditional release, as have the parliaments of Canada and the EU. He has received numerous awards for his courage, and I will receive a Bradley Prize on his behalf on May 29 in Washington. But he remains in prison.

My father is one of 10 journalists who are still being held in Hong Kong’s prisons, some of whom worked for him at Apple Daily. While he may be the most high-profile among them, all of these journalists were fighting for their right to speak truth to power, and to defend their way of life.

Jimmy Lai on Hong Kong: It is everybody

Their bravery reminds us that freedom is never guaranteed – it must be fought for, often at great personal cost. My father’s defiance in the face of overwhelming power, his willingness to sacrifice everything for his principles, and his belief in the dignity of every individual make him a genuine hero of our time. 

At 77 years old, he has spent the last four years in a maximum-security prison for these beliefs. His legacy endures as a beacon of hope, showing that just one person’s courage can change the course of history. 

The end to my father’s story is not yet written. This World Press Freedom Day, I appeal to all who cherish free speech to join our fight to secure my father’s release so he can leave Hong Kong and spend his old age with his family.

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The Trump administration on Friday officially designated two of Haiti’s most powerful gang networks, Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and specially designated global terrorists (SDGTs).

The move is aimed at disrupting the gangs’ operations and supporting efforts to restore order in the troubled Caribbean nation.

The announcement was made in a formal statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who declared that ‘the age of impunity for those supporting violence in Haiti is over.’

‘These gangs have killed and continue attacking the people of Haiti, Haitian security forces and multinational security support (MSS) mission personnel and are committed to overthrowing the government of Haiti,’ Rubio said. ‘Their ultimate goal is creating a gang-controlled state where illicit trafficking and other criminal activities operate freely and terrorize Haitian citizens.’

The designations bring serious legal consequences. Individuals or entities that provide material support to Viv Ansanm or Gran Grif could face criminal charges, loss of immigration benefits or removal from the U.S.

Viv Ansanm formed in September 2023 through an alliance between Haiti’s two main gang factions, G-9 and G-Pép. The coalition has carried out coordinated attacks on Haitian infrastructure, including prisons, government buildings and the Port-au-Prince international airport. These attacks were part of a broader campaign that helped force the resignation of former Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Gran Grif operates mainly in the Artibonite region, a vital agricultural area. The State Department said the gang has been responsible for 80% of civilian death reports in that area since 2022. In February 2025, Gran Grif was linked to an attack that killed a Kenyan officer with the MSS mission.

According to NPR reporting from 2024, Viv Ansanm was spearheaded by Jimmy Chérizier, known as Barbecue, a former police officer turned gang leader. 

Chérizier helped unify rival gangs under a shared goal of opposing the Haitian government. In an interview with NPR, he defended the gang’s actions and blamed Haiti’s political elite for fostering the lawlessness. Though he acknowledged the violence, he claimed the government had enabled the conditions leading to it.

‘These designations play a critical role in our fight against these vicious groups and are an effective way to curtail support for their terrorist activities,’ Rubio said. He also warned that U.S. citizens and lawful residents who engage in transactions with these groups are exposing themselves to sanctions and prosecution.

Rubio praised the Haitian National Police and international partners for their efforts in pushing back against the gangs. ‘We commend the extraordinary bravery of the Haitian National Police and all international partners supporting the MSS mission for their ongoing efforts to establish stability and security in Haiti,’ he said.

He called on Haitian political leaders to focus on restoring peace. 

‘We urge all of Haiti’s political leaders to prioritize the security of the Haitian people, find solutions to stop the violence and make progress toward the restoration of democracy through free and fair elections,’ Rubio said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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A new report warns that NATO is unprepared for modern digital warfare. Without stronger leadership, especially from the U.S., the alliance could face serious security risks.

The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) released a study showing that many NATO members are failing to modernize their military data systems.

Although NATO leaders talk about the importance of secure and shared cloud infrastructure, most countries still store critical military information in local servers that are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The report calls data the ‘currency of warfare’ and urges NATO to improve how it stores and shares military information.

At the moment, most NATO countries are building separate national cloud systems. France uses Thales, Germany uses Arvato, and Italy is working with Leonardo to develop sovereign defense cloud services, according to the CEPA report Defend in the Cloud: Boost NATO Data Resilience.

The U.S. has its own approach, using Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle to build a sovereign cloud for the Department of Defense, as noted in the same CEPA report.

This fragmented setup is creating major problems. The CEPA report explains that many of these national systems are not interoperable, which makes it difficult for NATO allies to share intelligence or respond rapidly in times of crisis.

Although 22 NATO members have pledged to build shared cloud capabilities, progress has been slow. CEPA describes a gap between what leaders promise and what is actually getting done, and the process remains slow and overly bureaucratic.

Some of the hesitation stems from political tensions. 

Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has reinforced his long-standing position that NATO members must meet their defense spending commitments. 

In early 2025, Trump proposed raising the target above the current 2% benchmark and stated publicly that the U.S. would only defend NATO allies who meet what he considers their ‘fair share’ of the burden.

At the same time, Trump has taken credit for strengthening the alliance by pushing European governments to boost their defense budgets. 

In March, he pointed to what he called ‘hundreds of billions of dollars’ in new allied defense spending as proof that his pressure was effective. His administration continues to engage in high-level NATO meetings and has publicly affirmed support for the alliance’s core mission.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has worked to reassure European partners. During an April meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, he stated that the U.S. is ‘as active in NATO as it has ever been,’ pushing back on claims that the administration is disengaging.

According to statements published by the State Department and reported by Reuters, Rubio emphasized that Trump is not opposed to NATO itself, but to an alliance that is under-prepared or underfunded.

Rubio is also playing a central role in U.S. efforts to broker peace in Ukraine. In early 2025, he led direct talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia and presented Trump’s terms for a possible ceasefire, according to official State Department readouts and contemporaneous reporting by Reuters and other outlets.

Rubio has emphasized that Ukraine and European allies will remain closely involved in the process. After a pause in U.S. aid earlier this year, he announced that military support would resume once Kyiv signaled agreement with the proposed framework for peace.

Meanwhile, NATO continues to provide assistance to Ukraine through a trust fund valued at nearly $1 billion. This figure is based on NATO’s own reporting on its Comprehensive Assistance Package, as cited in CEPA’s April report.

The alliance is also coordinating training and equipment donations, but the CEPA report makes it clear that efforts are being slowed by a lack of secure data sharing.

The report points to Estonia as a model for digital resilience. Estonia backs up its government data in Luxembourg through a ‘data embassy’ system, ensuring it remains protected even if local systems are attacked. NATO, according to CEPA, should encourage similar strategies across the alliance.

According to CEPA, the U.S. is best positioned to lead the way, with Trump and Rubio already taking the necessary steps to push NATO in the right direction.

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

CEPA’s report can be reviewed here.

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President Trump announced his first judicial nominee of his second term, kicking off what will be a historic next four years as he continues to build on the most consequential accomplishment of his first term by appointing even more bold and fearless judges. The stakes could not be higher as Democrat activist judges are actively sabotaging American voters, the presidency, our Constitution, and our country.   

Trump nominated Whitney Hermandorfer to a Tennessee-based seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She is a brilliant legal mind and committed constitutionalist who has litigated critical First Amendment issues. Trump’s first nomination stands in stark contrast to the Obama- and Biden-appointed Democrat activist judges who have repeatedly attempted to sabotage the president’s core Article II executive powers during these first months of Trump’s historic second term. These anti-American judges, who side with Hamas supporters, MS-13 gang members, and no-show federal bureaucrats leeching on the taxpayer, need to be countered. Trump’s nominees promise a return to the original vision of a judiciary grounded in constitutionalism and judicial restraint.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump boldly and brilliantly ran on the issue of judicial nominations in an unprecedented way. He released a list of potential Supreme Court candidates from which he would choose to fill the vacancy arising from Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. This list of nominees set him apart from his rival at the time, Hillary Clinton. Had Clinton won, we would have been subjected to leftist judicial tyranny for at least a generation. Fortunately for the Constitution and the American people, Trump prevailed, and the country was rewarded with Justice Neil Gorsuch instead of Justice Merrick Garland. Given his horrendous and truly shameful service as attorney general, Garland would have been an unmitigated disaster had he received a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Trump did not stop after the confirmation of Gorsuch. Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation shifted the balance of the Court in 2018, as he replaced Anthony Kennedy, the pivotal justice in countless landmark cases. The coup de gras came in 2020, when Trump replaced liberal lion Ruth Bader Ginsburg with the more conservative Amy Coney Barrett. This dramatic shift paid dividends in short order and in many consequential ways.

In 2022, the Court overruled Roe v. Wade (1973) in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and restored the issue of abortion to its rightful place: the states. The justices also strengthened the Second Amendment in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, ruling that the Second Amendment requires ‘shall-issue’ concealed-carry permits. No longer can states have foggy standards where bureaucrats whimsically decide whether to allow citizens to carry concealed weapons. States must set forth standards, and citizens who satisfy those standards will be able to carry such firearms.

The next year, the Court put a stop to the practice of race-based college admissions policies in two cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Thanks to the rulings in Students for Fair Admissions, students must be evaluated based on merit. Conservatives had been trying for decades to eliminate affirmative action, just as they had abortion. Trump made these dreams come true. Last year, the Court struck a giant blow against the administrative state in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a decision that overturned the requirement that courts defer to administrative agencies when a statute is ambiguous.

He will look beyond the garden-variety Federalist Society choices and install a new generation of judicial titans who will change the landscape for generations to come in line with our Founders’ intent.

Just days after Loper Bright, the justices strengthened the presidency in Trump v. United States. There, the Court held that presidents are absolutely immune when exercising core Article II powers like pardons and at least presumptively immune for acts done within the outer perimeters of their official duties. This ruling enormously aided Trump against the lawfare perpetrated by the Biden Justice Department.

Trump’s judicial impact extended beyond the Supreme Court. He appointed 54 circuit judges in his first term, second only to President Jimmy Carter’s 56 in a single term. Carter benefited enormously from the Democrat-controlled Congress’s creation of 35 new circuit judgeships during his term. Congress created none for Trump. More importantly, Carter did not appoint any Supreme Court justices. Trump’s impact on the judiciary dwarfs Carter’s by any reasonable metric. Trump appointed only one fewer circuit judge in one term than did President Obama in two, and several of Obama’s appointees were to the Federal Circuit, a court with comparatively less impact than the other circuits on crucial issues. More importantly, Obama’s two Supreme Court appointments did not shift the balance of the Court; he replaced two leftist justices with two others. Trump also has an excellent chance to surpass President Ronald Reagan’s record for circuit confirmations of 83.

The accomplishments of Trump’s first term were excellent, but there is still work to be done. At times, the Supreme Court has been frustrating with rulings, mainly on the emergency docket with respect to Trump’s policies and the leftist inferior court judges who have enjoined them. Thanks to the Republican-controlled Senate—and a wider majority than existed in the first two years of his first term—Trump will select even more bold and fearless nominees. He will look beyond the garden-variety Federalist Society choices and install a new generation of judicial titans who will change the landscape for generations to come in line with our Founders’ intent.

Trump has assembled an excellent judicial nominations team in Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House counsel Dave Warrington, and his deputy Steve Kenny to help him identify, vet, and nominate bold and fearless judges. The Article III Project, which I founded, is proud to support and assist their efforts and these excellent nominees, who will uphold the law and Constitution without fear or political consideration. We will continue to dedicate our resources and expertise to ensure only the most bold and fearless judges are nominated and confirmed to the bench.

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Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution or BfV, on Friday classified the country’s popular Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as ‘extremist.’

‘Central to our assessment is the ethnically and ancestrally defined concept of the people that shapes the AfD, which devalues entire segments of the population in Germany and violates their human dignity,’ the BfV said, explaining its decision. ‘This concept is reflected in the party’s overall anti-migrant and anti-Muslim stance.’ 

The AfD slammed the decision, calling it a ‘blow against democracy,’ claiming it was ‘clearly politically motivated,’ which the BfV denied.

The U.S. also criticized the designation, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming it is ‘tyranny in disguise.’

‘Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition,’ Rubio posted on X. ‘That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise. What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes. Germany should reverse course.’

Elon Musk wrote on X: ‘Banning the centrist AfD, Germany’s, most popular party, would be an extreme attack on democracy.’ 

AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said, ‘The AfD will continue to take legal action against these defamatory attacks that endanger democracy.’ 

Vice President JD Vance met with Weidel before the election and said that free speech was under attack in Europe. 

The BfV also classifies the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NDP), the Islamic State and other Islamist groups, and the far-left Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany as ‘extremist.’

The classification allows the intelligence agency to closely surveil the AfD, which came in second in Germany’s February elections, winning a record number of seats in parliament.

Germany’s intelligence agency is more legally constrained than other European countries in its ability to surveil political parties, which requires the ‘extremist’ designation, because of its history under Nazi and Communist rule. 

The designation also allows the intelligence service to intercept party communications.

The ‘extremist’ designation followed a 1,100-page report by the intelligence agency, and a court case loss for AfD in challenging the BfV’s previous classification of the political party as one suspected of extremism. 

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who heads theChristian Democratic Union (CDU), will be confirmed as chancellor next week following the elections in a coalition government with the center-left Social Democrats. 

Both Merz and the Social Democrats ruled out governing with the AfD. 

CDU, along with its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), won Germany’s elections in February after garnering 28.6% of the vote, according to Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). 

The AfD secured 20.8% of the vote. Meanwhile, outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) won just 16.4% of the vote, its worst result since World War II.

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Reuters contributed to this report.

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