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Former President Donald Trump has lost his edge in Georgia and North Carolina in the latest Fox News Power Rankings, giving Vice President Kamala Harris a lead in the overall forecast for the first time. 

However, with six toss-up states on the map worth a combined 78 electoral votes, this election is still anyone’s game. 

Debate watchers say Harris won, but wait a few weeks to assess the race

Debate watchers declared Harris the winner of Tuesday’s presidential debate. In a flash poll conducted by CNN in the hours after the showdown, 63% of watchers said they thought Harris had a better performance, and 37% said Trump did.

Trump made headlines for unfounded claims about migrants eating pets and a rebuttal about the size of his rallies, leaving Harris, who stayed on topic and made appeals to moderates, largely out of the conversation after the debate.

When Trump was able to communicate effectively, he told voters that the nation was in decline because of the cost of living and illegal immigration. Issues polling continues to show that it is a strong message.

As with any major event, it will take a few weeks to assess the debate’s impact on the horse race. 

Polling shifts after previous debates in the Trump era have been modest. For example, President Biden’s abysmal performance in June cost him his candidacy but only two points in an average of high quality polls taken in the two weeks after the debate.

In 2020, political observers called Trump the clear loser of the first debate after he aggressively interrupted his opponent and the moderator, but he only lost a point in post-debate polls.

Biden saw no change at all in his level of support after the more evenly matched second debate.

However, a point or two means a lot in races that could be decided by only a few thousand votes, so do not confuse ‘modest’ for ‘inconsequential.’

Voters are evenly divided in national surveys

The national race is still tight as a tick, and Trump’s support is steady despite this unprecedented news cycle.

Over the last 12 months of the Fox News Poll, between 48-50% of registered voters have said they supported Trump.

Criminal indictments, a conviction, the primaries, a last-minute change in opponents and an assassination attempt did nothing to move the former president out of that three-point range.

In other words, while Trump has not gained any support over the last year, he has not lost any support either. He remains very competitive in this race.

The Democrats’ numbers have improved. While Biden polled as low as 45% earlier this year, Harris is now only one point behind Trump at 49% in the latest Fox national survey. 

A series of recent polls from the New York Times/Siena, Marist, Pew and the Wall Street Journal show a similarly even race. 

Trump has lost his edge in two battleground states

Harris’ gains extend to the battleground states, where two races are moving in her direction. 

Last election, Biden’s closest win was in Georgia, which he flipped on a 0.2-point margin, and Trump’s closest win was in North Carolina, which he kept by 1.3 points.

With Harris as the nominee, both states are just as competitive today.

In Georgia, Trump is ahead by three points in a Quinnipiac poll among likely voters released last week (49%-46%) and leads by seven points in Siena’s registered voter survey from early August (51%-44%). However, Harris edges Trump by one point in CNN’s recent likely voter poll (48%-47%) and is ahead by two in Fox’s August survey (50%-48%).

Democrats always perform well in the Atlanta metropolitan area, which contains highly populated counties like Fulton and DeKalb and makes up more than 60% of the state’s residents. Republicans run up the margins in the rural areas, and Trump has consistently brought them out to vote. Harris kicked off a bus tour in the southeastern city of Savannah last month as she attempts to chip away at the margins there.

In nearby North Carolina, Harris has three points over Trump in Quinnipiac’s likely voter poll last week (50%-47%) and had the same margin in Siena’s registered voter poll from early August (49%-46%). Trump is up by one point in Fox’s August survey (50%-49%).

North Carolina has become more competitive as its population has grown. Over the last full decade, North Carolina added roughly 1.1 million people, many of them in suburban counties like Mecklenburg and Wake. The pandemic brought more wealthy, urban Americans from surrounding states, another sign that Republican victories may not be a sure thing anymore.

Georgia and North Carolina moved from Lean R to Toss Up.

Harris continues to have an edge in Michigan in this forecast. Biden won the state by just under three points in 2020, and voters have delivered the Democrats important victories since that race. The GOP also has a weaker ground game there than in other must-win states.

Harris leads the forecast, but 78 toss-up votes mean this election is still anyone’s game

Harris leads this forecast with 241 electoral votes. Since Georgia and North Carolina have moved out of Trump’s column and are now toss-ups, he has 219 electoral votes.

That leaves 78 toss-up votes up for grabs across six battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

States that poll close in an election tend to be won and lost together. Trump won seven of the eight battlegrounds in 2016 (the states listed above plus Michigan and Nebraska’s second district), and Biden flipped six of the same eight in 2020.

Ballot measures that propose abortion rights guarantees in Arizona and Nevada could make those states outliers in a very close election. Those measures had support from three-quarters of voters in recent Fox News surveys.

However, the forecast shows that either candidate needs to win the bulk of the toss-up states to get to victory at 270 electoral votes.

If Harris has a good night by winning the six toss-ups, she reaches 319 electoral votes. Without them, she loses. Conversely, a good night for Trump would see him take home 297 electoral votes, and without the same states, he loses. 

Harris is closer to the finish line than Trump, but the large number of states where neither candidate has an advantage means this race is still very competitive.

Less than 8 weeks until election night

Election night will be here before you know it. With Labor Day behind us and early voting scheduled to start in the coming days, we are in the final sprint of this once-in-a-lifetime cycle.

Vice presidential hopefuls Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance will participate in a debate hosted by CBS News on October 1 in New York City. 

Fox News Media has proposed a second Harris-Trump debate to be moderated by Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier in October.

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Most Americans do not believe artificial intelligence (AI) is trustworthy for election information.

A poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts found that just under two-thirds of Americans do not trust generative predictions produced by AI.

Approximately 64% of respondents responded to the survey saying that they are not confident that election information generated by AI chatbots is reliably factual. 

In fact, 43% of survey respondents said they believe AI programs will make finding factual information about the presidential election more difficult. Only 16% of respondents said AI programs will make it easier.

AI chatbots are large language model computer programs that allow users to request information using conversational command prompts. Users can ask questions via text input, and the bot will return an answer composed in a similarly conversational format.

Some of the most successful chatbots use thousands of terabytes of collected data to formulate their answers — but programs can only sort, remix and regurgitate information scraped from somewhere else. AI is unable to think or reason like a human.

In addition to factual errors regularly made by chatbots, AI programs can be used by malicious actors in a variety of ways to spread disinformation.

About 52% of respondents in the AP-NORC poll expressed concern about how AI will compromise their access to verifiable data, compared to just 9% who are excited about AI’s expanding role in the dissemination of information.

While far from perfect, AI programs are becoming increasingly capable of generating realistic images of real-world individuals. Manufactured images of former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris and others have become common on social media.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted between July 29 and Aug 8. Its self-reported margin of error is +/- 4%.

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Not one question Wednesday night about the execution of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages two weeks ago, or about any of the Americans murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7?

Not one question on Iran, which is within weeks of acquiring a nuclear weapon and which is paying and perhaps precisely directing repeated attacks by its proxies on American forces in the Gulf or Arabia, the Red Sea, Iraq or Jordan?

Not one question about the capacity of President Joe Biden to continue as president?

And not one, single fleeting question about the People’s Republic of China, and its genocide against the Uyghurs, its oppression of Hong Kong, its threat against Taiwan or the Philippines, or its military buildup, the largest, most expensive peacetime military buildup in history? 

Perhaps ABC’s parent Disney put the kibosh on questions that would upset the People’s Republic of China and endanger the company’s theme parks in the country or the release of its movies in China? Who knows? But ABC and Disney made time for a long exchange on abortion rights (which have been discussed again and again in this campaign) and for an idiotic exchange of ‘regrets, I’ve got a few, but then again too few to mention’ question to Trump about January 6. There were at least four moderator interventions/rebukes disguised as ‘fact checks’ of former President Donald Trump and none of Vice President Kamala Harris. The bias pulsed. It could be felt by everyone. Democrats and leftists cheered, Republicans were first shocked and then outraged. 

When, post-debate, Trump declared it was his best debate ever because it was three against one, very few agreed with the first part of his statement and very few disagreed with the second part. 

In interviews Wednesday morning with conservative thought leaders Matt Continetti, Mary Katharine Ham, Bethany Mandel, National Review’s Rich Lowry and Jim Geraghty, not one of them thought Trump won the debate and many thought he lost, some calling it an awful performance etc. But none of them defended ABC and its moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. I have not seen one center-right to conservative pundit do so (the opposite reaction to the CNN debate between Trump and Biden moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper which was widely praised as fair on the right.)

It is also widely agreed across the center to the right to have been the worst moderated, most biased presidential debate since they began in 1960. This will eventually be admitted by the left after the election is over. Harris performed well and Trump did not. Trump got angry early and by the time he had his best moment —his closing statement—the audience had no doubt shrunk. 

But while Trump lost the battle he may have won the war. The naked suppression of news, the oozing bias, the ignorance of or refusal to reference key facts—Snopes has debunked the Charlottesville chestnut for goodness sake and thousands of Jewish kids on campuses across the country are in fear of anti-Semitic mobs within the last few months and were not even mentioned!—made ABC and Disney the real loser Wednesday night. It is possible the polls might even edge towards Trump as the ‘great silent majority’ digest the tidal wave of omnipresent criticism of the debate moderators outside of the Manhattan-Beltway media elites. We will see.  

But whatever the polls show and however the elections turns out, it is a debate that will live in infamy. While the journalistic reputations of Muir and Davis are the most scarred by the fiasco, the damage will extend to both the ABC and Disney brands, especially because of the Israel and China related-omissions. 

I have co-moderated five presidential primary debates hosted by big legacy networks as Salem Media’s representative: four with CNN in 2015-2016 and one with NBC in November of last year. None of them were prefect. But in none of them were any of the moderators a story the day after the debate because that was the goal. It should be the goal of every moderator for every debate everywhere. Basic fairness was my constant refrain in the hundreds of hours and dozens of question preparation sessions and rehearsals. The moderators work from very tight scripts. They know their question sets. We rehearse responses to anticipated responses from candidates. Wednesday’s night descent into hackery was intentional. There is no excuse. 

I did not expect a Bud-Lite level disaster for ABC and Disney, but they have created one for themselves. The GOP does not have a long memory, for if it did, it would have recalled ABC’s George Stephanopoulos infamously asking Mitt Romney in a 2012 debate ‘Governor Romney, do you believe that states have the right to ban contraception?’ Perhaps Republicans haven’t forgotten that but didn’t believe in collective media guilt. It should now. This ambush of Trump was carefully planned and well executed. If Trump wins there should never be an ABC interview. No Republican should associate with the network period. No Republican should even watch Muir or Lindsey. They are partisans but dishonest ones. They pretend otherwise. 

The worst presidential debate in American history is not something I’ve ever heard any media talent aspire to participate in. David Muir, Linsey Davis and the entire ABC/Disney team own the title now. It is highly doubtful they will ever surrender it.

Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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Parents may want to avoid talking about politics with their kids (and each other!). But in an election year, that’s easier said than done. Social media bursts the information bubble that once protected children and debates over curricula and reading lists put politics front and center in the classroom, leading parents to ask what their children are learning in school. These days, children at ever-younger ages are joining political conversations, and many are wondering, and worrying, about where the country is heading.

Parents can try to avoid talking about politics through November 5, or they can use the election to bring up more engaged, thoughtful citizens. And if the current discourse on social media and TV leaves something to be desired, it may be time to look to the past. 

What does it mean to be an American? Thomas Jefferson called the Declaration of Independence an ‘expression of the American mind,’ but in 1776, there was little consensus. Around one-fifth of Americans were Loyalists, and many left for Canada. Many were skeptical of ‘unalienable rights.’ They asked where do rights come from? What does it mean to believe that all human beings are created equal? Today, debates continue about America as an idea and as a nation, and about what the Founding meant.

How do we achieve equality? Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863, acknowledging that slavery contradicted our Founding ideals. Lincoln argued that the Civil War was a test of whether ‘any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.’ While the outcome of the Civil War was uncertain, millions of Americans—Black and White—risked their lives to ensure that those ideals would survive in the United States. Lincoln’s 272 words at Gettysburg offer a lens through which to debate the meaning of equality today and the tests we still face.

Tomorrow night, perhaps, it’s time to return to history. Talk with your children about what it means to be an American. 

Lesser-known presidents also shaped America’s great debates. James Garfield, mortally wounded just four months into his presidency, recognized the significance of the Reconstruction Amendments. He said that the elevation of Black Americans ‘from slavery to the full rights of citizenship’ was the most important political change since the Constitution’s adoption. Grover Cleveland, who rose to the presidency in just three years, captured the importance of principle over politics when he asked, ‘What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?’

What’s the purpose of American foreign policy? That question looms large, as the post-Cold War order faces assaults in Ukraine and the Middle East, and as tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific. In his Farewell Address, George Washington counseled us to, ‘Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all,’ at a time when the United States was not yet the world’s leading power. Woodrow Wilson, nearly 150 years later, declared that America’s role then was to make the world ‘safe for democracy.’ The Truman Doctrine laid the foundation for U.S. policy throughout the Cold War. After 9/11, George W. Bush channeled the Jacksonian school of thought when he pledged at Ground Zero that ‘the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon.’ America’s role in the world has been shaped by historical context and tradition – and the presidents have debated it all.

A key question about the future is the possibility of scientific progress and the role of government in innovation. John F. Kennedy faced doubts that American technological leadership was still possible after Sputnik during the space race. But in 1962, he declared that America would go to the moon, not because it was easy, but ‘because it is hard.’ Seven years later, that vision was realized. Today, with astounding innovations like artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, we may be on the edge of another age of invention, and as in the Cold War, we face a great-power technology competitor, but this time in China.

Divisive or uninspiring political rhetoric is nothing new. But leaders’ words matter. Parents often tell their children to ‘use their words’ to get their point across, and though they may rightly want to shield their children from toxic discourse, especially as children grow up, they’ll learn about our politics. That’s part of being a citizen. And during the heated debates about the Constitution, John Adams wrote, ‘Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.’ 

Ignoring that task or ceding the education of the next generation to the internet or bad actors isn’t how a self-governing republic sustains itself. So where to start? 

In his farewell address, President Ronald Reagan reminded us, ‘All great change in America begins at the dinner table.’ 

Tomorrow night, perhaps, it’s time to return to history. Talk about what it means to be an American. After all, Reagan concluded, ‘That would be a very American thing to do.’

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JERUSALEM — Vice President Harris’ endorsement of a Palestinian state during and prior to her debate with former President Trump would further destabilize the Middle East and bring about additional terrorism, according to Israeli and American experts.

During Tuesday’s presidential debate on ABC, the Democrat presidential candidate reiterated her support for a two-state solution: ‘I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates … to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.’

The two-state solution means an independent Palestinian state on Israel’s borders that encompasses the West Bank territory (known in Israel by its biblical name of Judea and Samaria) and the Gaza Strip. Biden faced intense criticism in February for ignoring the outbreak of Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria while singling out Israeli residents of the region for sanctions.

Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, told Fox News Digital, ‘After Oct. 7th, the two-state became a dead letter. A Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan will destabilize both countries and bring only additional terror and misery.’

Friedman, who authored the new book, ‘One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,’ added, ‘Vice President Harris should stop parroting failed theories and trying to force a square peg into a round hole. She should empower Israel to reach a just and workable solution on its own and not interfere in matters where she is neither competent nor well-informed.’

In early September, Friedman blasted Biden on Fox News’ ‘Your World’ for creating rifts within Israeli society.

Jonathan Conricus, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for 24 years as a combat commander and spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, ‘The so-called two-state solution may have been possible to implement 31 years ago, but four straight Palestinian rejections of Israeli peace offers have made it clear that the current Palestinian leadership does not aspire to end the conflict and achieve peace. Palestinian rejectionism has also eroded the political support for the peace process in Israel, since it has become abundantly clear that the Palestinian leadership does not seek peace.’

According to Conricus, ‘Polling of the Palestinian population in Gaza and Palestinian Authority-controlled areas shows clear popular Palestinian support for Hamas, signaling that the Palestinian population supports the genocidal vision of annihilating Israel through jihad, as demonstrated by Hamas on Oct. 7. Global leaders would do well to listen to the two parties to the conflict to understand how the situation has changed and adapt diplomatic solutions to current possibilities. And whatever the outcome of the Oct. 7 war that Hamas waged against Israel, giving Hamas the ultimate prize of statehood would be devastating for regional stability and peace and for American global standing. Terror must not be awarded with statehood.’

Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state and Democrat strategist, told Fox News Digital, ‘The two-state solution is on life support right now, but just because this is a difficult moment to envision a peaceful endgame between Israel and the Palestinians that’s rooted in diplomatic compromise, that does not mean it should not be the goal. After all, Israel fought multiple existential wars with Egypt and then, only years after the Yom Kippur War, concluded a peace deal that has held and provided Israel with deep security along its southern border for more than four decades. That is what a two-state solution is all about: Ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in a manner that provides stability and security for the long haul.’

Rubin, who is a longtime Jewish community activist, added, ‘We have seen it achieved with Arab states. There is no reason that it can’t be done with the Palestinians as long as the political will is there, extremism is rooted out and security arrangements are solid. So, for Vice President Harris to make this a priority is an inherently pro-Israel position, one that seeks to provide Israel with the long-term security and stability that it still clearly does not have.’

In late August, Harris noted her endorsement of a Palestinian state in an interview with CNN. She said, ‘I remain committed since I’ve been on Oct. 8 to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution where Israel is secure and in equal measure the Palestinians have security and self-determination and dignity.’

The Harris campaign did not respond to multiple Fox News Digital press queries.

Harris and Biden have provided significant funding for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is led by Mahmoud Abbas. The PA president is considered by some to be a moderate when compared to the Iranian regime-backed Hamas leadership. Abbas, however, supports stipends for convicted Palestinian terrorists and their families regarding the infamous ‘pay for slay’ system that might mean the PA compensates Hamas terrorists.

Fox News Digital reported in November that many of the newly released convicted Palestinian terrorists who were part of a swap that secured the freedom of some Israeli and foreign hostages held by the terrorist movement Hamas could receive U.S. funds via the PA.

Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli-based organization researching Palestinian society, told Fox News Digital at the time, ‘The American and European funding boosts the Palestinian Authority budget by $600 million. The Palestinian Authority pays the salaries of imprisoned terrorists and the family members of the martyrs, and the amount comes to $300 million a year.’

Last month, Abbas, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, told the Turkish Parliament that ‘America is the plague, and the plague is America’ and ‘We implement Shari’a law: victory or martyrdom.’

The 88-year-old Abbas, who has clung to power since he took over the presidency of the PA in 2008, has been embroiled in antisemitism and Holocaust-distortion scandals over the years.

In 2022, Fox News Digital reported that Abbas delivered a tirade against Israel in Berlin, where the Holocaust – the mass extermination of European Jewry – was organized, claiming the Jewish state carried out ’50 holocausts.’

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House Republicans are privately expressing frustration about former President Trump’s performance in his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday.

Several House GOP lawmakers granted anonymity to speak freely acknowledged Trump ‘missed’ opportunities to effectively attack Harris and tout his own record. A few said it was the prevailing sentiment within the House Republican Conference that Harris successfully baited him on multiple occasions — though most argued it would ultimately have little impact on Election Day.

‘It was terrible. I think you’re seeing that comment from everybody,’ one senior House Republican told Fox News Digital.

‘The thing that’s terrible is, he had so many opportunities to come after her and he didn’t. He got bogged down on the hook she was dragging through the water.’

Another House GOP lawmaker went even further, calling the debate a ‘dumpster fire’ for the former president.

‘It was one of the worst bloodlettings I’ve ever seen,’ the lawmaker said. ‘But the thing is, too, the optics itself — Trump standing next to Kamala Harris, he looks old. He didn’t look old against Biden…and that, you can’t fix.’

While most Republicans shrugged off the debate’s ultimate effect on the election, that lawmaker worried, ‘I think it’s gonna sway the people in the middle, who matter.’

A third Republican said Harris ‘certainly got under [Trump’s] skin’ and their fellow conference members agreed ‘she did well.’

GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital argued Trump’s policies and record are far stronger than Harris’ and were dismayed that they weren’t a larger part of his performance.

‘While he made many [good] points, she was able to slide out of every one of those arguments,’ the third Republican said. ‘We need to stop treating her like she’s Joe Biden, someone who can’t get her thoughts out, and treat her more like Hillary Clinton.’

A fourth GOP lawmaker simply said when asked for their reaction to the debate, ‘I prefer not to answer questions about cats and dogs and immigrants.’

That person added as well, however, that Harris ‘had to present herself as a person with credibility and a policy agenda, she didn’t do that.’

They said it was Trump’s own ‘fault’ when asked if Harris successfully baited him, however.

Another Republican said they had not discussed the debate with GOP colleagues, explaining, ‘I think everybody’s just kind of bummed out.’

‘They set a trap, and he walked into it. He wasn’t helped, but there were so many easy things he could’ve said,’ the fifth lawmaker said. ‘You wanna talk about the border, the world on fire, inflation — that’s all he had to do. Instead, she poked and prodded until she got a reaction.’

A sixth GOP lawmaker simply smiled sheepishly, ‘I do think he missed some opportunities to highlight her record. And I’ll leave it at that.’

A seventh Republican who spoke with Fox News Digital at the end of the debate on Tuesday night said Harris was ‘doing a good job provoking [Trump].’

‘He’s right on policy but can’t keep a message,’ they complained.

The majority of House Republicans who spoke publicly praised Trump, though, with the top GOP leaders all declaring victory for the ex-president minutes after the debate.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Tuesday night, ‘Tonight, President Donald Trump exposed Vice President Kamala Harris for the dangerous radical she has always been.’

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who helped Trump prepare for the debate, told reporters on Wednesday that the ex-president ‘did a great job.’

‘Look, the debate was about immigration and the economy. Those are the issues where President Trump dominates with voters,’ he said.

Trump himself posted on his Truth Social app just after the debate, ‘People are saying BIG WIN tonight!’

When reached for comment on this story, the Trump campaign pointed Fox News Digital to its statement on the debate from Tuesday night, which said in part, ‘President Trump delivered a masterful debate performance tonight, prosecuting Kamala Harris’ abysmal record of failure that has hurt Americans for the last 4 years.’

‘We saw President Trump lay out his bold vision of America and how he would continue to build upon the successes of his first term by supercharging the economy, securing the border, and stopping crime from ravaging communities across the country,’ the statement said.

‘Conversely, Kamala’s vision of America was a dark reminder of the oppressive, big government policies of Joe Biden that she wants to continue.’

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Former President Trump touted his foreign policy credentials during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, name-checking the strong relationships he built with leaders of rival nations and allies alike during his term, most notably Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the ‘strongman’ of Europe.

‘He’s a tough person, smart prime minister of Hungary,’ Trump said, adding that Orban insisted ‘you need Trump back as president’ because ‘they were afraid of him.’ 

‘China was afraid, and I don’t like to use the word afraid, but I’m just quoting him,’ Trump said. ‘China was afraid of him. He said Russia was afraid of him.’

‘Look, Viktor Orban said it: He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president,’ Trump added.

Trump also responded to Vice President Harris’ claim that he ‘admires dictators, wants to be a dictator on day one’ and he ‘exchanged love letters with Kim Jong Un’ by noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had endorsed her last week and said he hoped she wins ‘because what he’s gotten away with is absolutely incredible.’

Trump said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would never have happened during his time in office, noting that he knew Putin ‘very well.’

Trump then blasted Biden for how he hurt the XL pipeline and handed Russia a win with ‘the biggest pipeline in the world’ running into Germany and Europe as a whole.

Trump has repeatedly compared his foreign policy record to that of the Biden administration, roping in Harris as part of that policy, and noted the more interventionist approach he took, using force as deterrence against Iran and meeting with Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to ensure stability in regions faced with uncertainty.

Trump and Orban enjoyed a rosy relationship during the Trump administration, often pictured together smiling and shaking hands in sharp contrast to the more demure meetings between Orban and Biden.

Orban made headlines over the summer when he prematurely ditched a high-level NATO summit in Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump in Florida at a time when Biden faced questions about his fitness for office and in seeking a second term. Orban was seeking a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, having met separately with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

‘We continued the peace mission in Mar-a-Lago,’ Orban wrote on his official social media account on X after the meeting. ‘President @realDonaldTrump has proved during his presidency that he is a man of peace. He will do it again!’

‘It was an honour to visit President @realDonaldTrump at Mar-a-Lago today,’ he wrote in a separate post that labeled the visit ‘Peace mission 5.0.’ ‘We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it!’

Orban, who assumed the role of president of the European Union as part of a six-month rotational leadership scheme, joked at the time that Hungary would ‘make Europe great again’ and warned that ‘the next American president will not be the same president who is today.’

He told other leaders at the formal NATO dinner that allies who still thought Biden could win the upcoming presidential election ‘were like people on the Titanic playing violins as the ship went down,’ the Financial Times reported.

During a visit to the U.S. in March, Orban visited with Trump, not Biden, when trying to court potential foreign policy in the U.S. He also spoke at a panel with the leader of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

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Democrats believe Taylor Swift’s recent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris could encourage more young voters to turn out in November, but recent polling indicates the pop star’s support might not greatly affect voter decisions at the ballot box.

Swift, an outspoken critic of former President Trump, endorsed Harris after the presidential debate Tuesday. In an Instagram post that she signed ‘childless cat lady,’ the pop icon said Harris ‘fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.’ 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told Fox News Digital from the debate spin room the endorsement ‘matters.’

‘Some advice to Donald Trump. Don’t disparage that endorsement at your own peril,’ he said. ‘She is a cultural icon. Something big has happened in the world in terms of the energy, environment she’s associated with. The optimism she’s associated with. That was a big deal.’

One Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital that Swift’s support could encourage more voters to turn out at the polls.

‘It absolutely will impact young voter turnout. And Trump knows it,’ said Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor. ‘What’s important about how she did it is that she explained her thinking and how past experience — the AI-generated images of her — have impacted her personally and her decision.

‘This isn’t the Taylor Swift of 2018, wondering whether she should wade into politics. This is 2024 Taylor Swift, who knows who she is and isn’t afraid of backlash for saying what she believes.’

A Suffolk University/USA Today poll from May reported that about 83% of respondents say that a Swift endorsement would ‘not at all’ influence their decision on who to vote for in November. 

Recent polls suggest Harris leads Trump among young voters, traditionally Swift’s main support base.

According to a recent New York Times/Siena survey, Harris leads Trump by 10 percentage points among voters aged 18-29.

‘As a first-time voter this November, my peers and I will not be voting for Kamala Harris because Taylor Swift and her cats told us to do so,’ Brilyn Hollyhand, RNC Youth Advisory Council Chairman and a Generation Z voter, told Fox about the endorsement.

‘I think when you look at it, it’s not actually making any difference. This is all vibes and no policy,’ he said. ‘I think no amount of pop stars or viral memes that she’s trying to do are going to make Gen Z vote for her when she has no plans to fix the nation she’s broken.’

Trump told ‘Fox & Friends’ on Wednesday he wasn’t surprised by the endorsement and is ‘not a Taylor Swift fan.’

‘It was just a question of time. She couldn’t […] possibly endorse Biden. You look at Biden, you couldn’t possibly endorse him,’ Trump said.

‘But she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat. And she’ll probably pay a price for it […] in the marketplace.’

While an endorsement might not make or break a decision, a Monmouth University poll released in February found that 68% of respondents are OK with Swift encouraging her fans to vote this cycle.

Following the endorsement, the Harris-Walz campaign released friendship bracelets for purchase on its website that appear similar to those worn by fans during Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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The presidential debate on Tuesday between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump saw a number of testy moments between the two candidates.

The debate, which was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the first and possibly only debate between Harris and Trump. The Harris campaign quickly said ‘Harris is ready for a second debate,’ but Trump said on Wednesday morning during a ‘Fox and Friends’ interview that he ‘won the debate’ and is ‘less inclined to’ do another debate with Harris.

Here are some of the top clashes of the night:

Abortion fight

One of the early clashes between the two was over abortion. Harris accused Trump of opening the door to ‘Trump abortion bans’ due to his nomination of justices who eventually overturned Roe v Wade.

‘If Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban,’ she said.

Trump responded by calling that a ‘lie.’ The two would eventually challenge each other on the topic, with Trump asking if Harris would support late-term abortions, and Harris challenging Trump to say if he would veto a federal abortion ban.

‘Will she allow abortion in the eighth month? Ninth month? Seventh month?’ Trump asked.

‘Come on,’ Harris said.

‘OK, would you do that?’ he responded.

‘Why don’t you ask her that question?’ Trump appealed to the moderators.

‘Why don’t you answer the question, would you veto?’ Harris asked Trump.

Are Trump’s rallies boring?

Harris upset former Trump when she accused him of holding boring rallies and accused him of talking about ‘windmills causing cancer.’

‘What you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.’

Trump soon shot back: ‘People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So she can’t talk about that. People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.’

‘I’m talking now’

Trump used a quip on Tuesday evening similar to one made famous in 2020 by Harris during the vice presidential debate, in which she repeatedly told then-Vice President Mike Pence, ‘I’m speaking.’

‘Wait a minute, I’m talking now if you don’t mind. Please,’ Trump said. ‘Does that sound familiar?’

Harris smiled as she clearly got the reference. 

‘I am not Joe Biden’

‘Remember this, she is Biden. You know, she’s trying to get away from Biden. ‘I don’t know the gentleman,’ she says. She is Biden. The worst inflation we’ve ever had. A horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can’t get away with it,’ he said.

Harris shot back: ‘Clearly, I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.’

Spar over Russia

Harris and Trump attacked one another over Russian President Vladimir Putin.

‘It is well known that he admires dictators, wants to be a dictator on day one, according to himself. It is well known that he said of Putin that he can do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine. It is well known that he said when Russia went into the Ukraine, it was brilliant,’ she said.

Trump pushed back, accusing Harris of being ‘weak on national security’ and said she had the endorsement of Putin.

‘Putin endorsed her last week, said, ‘I hope she wins,’ and I think he meant it because what he’s gotten away with is absolutely incredible. It wouldn’t have happened with me,’ he said.

Fox News’ Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

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It was not only Americans tuning into the U.S. presidential debate Tuesday night as former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced off for the first time.

The results of the November election are expected to have resounding consequences for U.S. policy abroad, and the international community has been paying close attention following President Biden’s drop from the race this July.

The reactions by the international press to the Tuesday night debate drew stark comparisons from Trump’s first debate, which largely focused on heightened concerns surrounding Biden’s cognitive abilities.

This time, though, Trump’s performance was in their crosshairs. 

United Kingdom

The U.K. press, notoriously divided along party lines, reflected critical evaluations of how Trump performed under pressure from former prosecutor Harris, who was determined to have successfully achieved what so many of Trump’s opponents have been unable to – she flustered him.

Three of the right-leaning Telegraph’s leading stories on the debate suggested Harris came out on top, with one headline reading ‘Harris puts Trump on defensive in fiery showdown,’ while another report described Trump’s performance as ‘furious’ and ‘rambled.’

In analyzing the champion of the debate, the report concluded that Harris ‘made [Trump] look ridiculous.’

‘It is difficult to crown Harris the victor of a political debate in which she said so little about her own platform. But her attack strategy won her the night. Trump fell for it: hook line and sinker,’ the report added. 

The Times of London, generally considered a conservative-leaning newspaper, reported that Trump ‘struggled’ through the debate, while another report criticized that he ‘leaned’ into his base rather than going after moderate voters after they claimed he brought up a debunked claim that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were ‘eating the pets’ of residents.

A third report on the Times’ homepage read, ‘Strong night for Harris gets better with Taylor Swift endorsement.’

The Sun had more divided takeaways of the night with one report claiming Trump ‘ripped into Harris’ while another highlighted a politics expert who called Trump’s debate talking points ‘Nonsense’ and also highlighted his ‘meltdown over ‘migrants eating pets’.’

France

The French press gave the win to Harris, with Le Monde, the nation’s top publication, leading with a headline that read ‘Harris, on offense, wins debate against Trump.’

L’Express, a Paris-based magazine described as center-right, also argued Trump was on the defensive Tuesday night in its report titled, ‘‘Kamala Harris has started to bang on Trump’ – the debate seen by the foreign press.’

Germany

The leading story on the publicly funded news outlet Deutsche Welle was headed by, ‘Harris puts Trump on defensive in fiery debate’ and claimed pollsters showed Harris ‘narrowly won’ over Trump. 

Though the report also noted the debate is unlikely to have an impact on U.S. voters – a sentiment broadly expressed in reporting across the U.S. as well.

Russia

Russian state-owned media TASS did not have any mention of the U.S. debate on its homepage.

While state-run news agency RIA Novosti lightly covered the debate, with one report headlined ‘Trump is doomed.’

A second report pointed to a response issued by the German Foreign Office following comments made by Trump during his closing remarks that criticized Berlin’s push toward clean energy.

The report included a response by the ministry posted to X, which said, ‘Like it or not: Germany’s energy system is fully operational, with more than 50% renewables. And we are shutting down – not building – coal & nuclear plants. Coal will be off the grid by 2038 at the latest. 

‘PS: We also don’t eat cats and dogs,’ the ministry added in an apparent jab at Trump’s previous debate comments. 

Ukraine

In Ukraine – where the results of the 2024 election are expected to have a significant impact given Trump’s previous comments suggesting he will not continue to militarily support Kyiv – reports focused on the combative exchange between Trump and Harris. 

The Kyiv Independent honed in on Trump’s claims that he will have the war ‘settled’ before even taking up the top job if elected this November – though he has refused to detail how he will accomplish this. 

The report did not name a winner or a loser, though it pointed out the two engaged in a bitter clash over the issue of Russia’s invasion and highlighted Trump’s refusal to say whether he wants Ukraine to come out on top.

Israel 

Israeli publications appeared to have more heavily covered the debate, though both candidates spent little time discussing the war between Israel and Hamas, and Harris was largely deemed the frontrunner.

One report by Israel Hayom, a right-leaning outlet, said Harris was ‘exuding confidence and control’ and accused Trump of appearing ‘self-absorbed rather than voter-focused.’

The report said there was no clear ‘knockout’ winner, but added the debate ‘was a genuine rhetorical slugfest in which Harris successfully exploited Trump’s weak spots and knocked him off balance.’

The Jerusalem Post, also deemed to have conservative tendencies in its reporting, described the debate as ‘predictable’ but noted Trump’s ‘apocalyptic prediction’ that Israel would cease to exist under a Harris presidency was a ‘reach’ and ‘oddly depriv[ed] the Jewish state of any agency or capacity to survive.’

Mexico

Mexico-based news outlet El Universal did not pronounce a clear winner as it did with the previous presidential debate when it named Trump debate champion over Biden.  

Though in a report detailing opinions by the publication’s top political commentators, Harris appeared to come out on top, with one opinion writer noting ‘Kamala Harris came well prepared and demolished former President Donald Trump for 90 minutes.’

Another argued the debate was the ultimate test for Harris following Biden’s ‘terrible’ debate performance in July.

‘Will it be enough to consolidate [her] lead in key states? We have to wait, but this debate was essential,’ Andrew Seele told the publication. Harris passed the test, and with flying colors.’

China

Chinese state-run media reported very little on the debate despite Trump-era tariffs being a top isused discussed during the night’s event. 

When Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning waspressed by media outlets during the morning briefing Wednesday, she said she had ‘no comment.’

Though she did add that Beijing is ‘opposed to making China an issue in U.S. elections.’ 

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