Trump’s U.F.C. Event Comes as Backing of Young Men, Once a Strength, Wanes

Republicans now believe Trump 'is going to croak' — and are vying to replace him: insider

Republicans have made a dramatic U-turn on the 2028 presidential election, with dozens of contenders now expected to enter the race to succeed Donald Trump as president, an insider told Raw Story.And while no candidates have officially announced their campaigns yet, Rick Wilson, former Republican operative and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, told Raw Story in an exclusive interview that he was tipped off about the development by strategists.“The number of Republicans who are planning to run in 2028 is growing by the minute,” Wilson told Raw Story.“I would say a year ago, there was the presumption that Trump was trying to run again,” Wilson said.But now it’s different. “They think Trump is going to croak,” he said.Wilson anticipated that nearly 20 people are planning on vying for the nation’s top job.“It will be people from Congress, from the Senate, governors, they’re all going to get in because they’re going to see the end of the Trump era. They’re going to claim the throne of MAGA,” Wilson said.“Ambition is a hell of a drug,” he added.Wilson shared insights about who some of the potential candidates could be, and how many have played a long waiting game and think it’s about time they line up.“Some of these guys have been sitting on the sidelines for a decade,” Wilson said. “They all think they should be president.”The number of candidates could present a problem for the GOP — and particularly Trump.“I think we’re going to see a real mess starting in the spring of next year, where you’re going to have the Ted Cruzes and Josh Hawleys and all these other people running around, and it’s going to make Trump lose his damn mind. He’s going to go crazy,” Wilson said.As for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, it’s unclear what they will decide to do. Wilson referred to the two Trump administration members as “two men with an exaggerated view.” He cited why Rubio’s timing could hurt him.“Marco has peaked way too early. He’s the golden child for Trump and MAGA world, but it’s so early,” Wilson said.By 2027, it will be clearer who might be next in line to succeed Trump and try to make gains among the MAGA movement, he said.“Watch the spring of next year, you’re going to see a lot of people suddenly visiting New Hampshire, suddenly visiting Iowa, suddenly announcing the ‘American Dream super PAC’ and writing terrible campaign books,” Wilson added. “That’s become sort of one of the things, the ritual.”

Trump caught smiling after UFC fighter drops shocking remark about Michelle Obama: report

President Donald Trump was captured on video “smiling” Sunday after an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter dropped a shockingly "offensive” and false remark about former First Lady Michelle Obama during the UFC event at the White House, CNN reported.Mixed martial artist Joshua Hokit, 28, defeated his opponent Derrick Lewis Sunday night at the White House UFC bout, and after his victory, shouted an inflammatory and false claim targeting the former first lady.“Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right, America?” Hokit said, eliciting both cheers and boos from the crowd, CNN reported.Hokit’s remarks also elicited a response from Trump, who was seated in the first row at the event.“In a brief moment captured on camera, Trump, seated first row at the ‘Octagon,’ appeared to show a half-smile seconds after the false remark, which has previously circulated online,” wrote CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo.Back in February, Trump faced rare bipartisan outrage after posting a video on his social media platform Truth Social that briefly depicted former President Barack Obama and the first lady as primates in the jungle. The blowback was so fierce that Trump – who denied being aware that the segment of the video he posted included the racist depiction – ultimately deleted the post.

Eric Trump mocked over botched excuse for UFC cheating scandal: 'Denial took three tries'

Eric Trump fiercely denied accusations Sunday night that he had contacted an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) commentator about whether any of the fights at the White House event that day were “rigged” – a denial that only intensified scrutiny from critics.In a social media post published just ahead of the White House UFC event, an X user by the name of “Sean O’Meowlly” flagged what they claimed was a “now-deleted post” by UFC commentator Daniel Cormier exposing alleged messages he received from Trump.“I’ll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged?” reads a message alleged to be from Trump to Cormier, which has not been authenticated, though several media outlets have confirmed Cormier’s social media post revealing the alleged exchange – which was quickly deleted – to be authentic.As the initial post revealing the alleged exchange went viral – viewed nearly 12 million times as of Monday morning – Trump scrambled to deny the allegation.“This is completely fake! I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary,” Trump wrote in a social media post on X Sunday night, a post he edited three times over the course of seven minutes to slightly alter its language. Less than 30 minutes later, Trump took to X again to deny the allegation, this time claiming the alleged screenshots of the exchange were generated with artificial intelligence.“We are aware of the fake, AI generated screenshots being circulated online,” Trump wrote in another social media post. “I have never spoken to Daniel. He has since deleted his post, which confirms it was clearly fabricated.”Another 14 minutes later, Trump again took to X to deny the allegations.“This did not happen. They were AI generated. Please be careful with reporting,” Trump wrote.The progressive media organization MeidasTouch flagged Trump’s multiple edits to his initial post denying the allegations.“The denial took three tries,” the organization wrote in a social media post on X to its more than 1.3 million followers.Others, like Adam Cochran, a professor and policy consultant, expressed confusion at the specifics of Trump’s denial.“Claiming it is AI generated when the guy posted it himself, and the post had a URL that then said ‘deleted by the author’ is next level stupid," Cochran wrote in a social media post on X to his more than 300,000 followers.The denial took three tries https://t.co/eEchcFMEA4 pic.twitter.com/vY6p7TAOrG— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) June 15, 2026

Trump announces deal to end war in Iran. And, how to stay safe in deadly heat

Trump says a deal has been reached to end the war between the U.S. and Iran. Plus, this is what extreme temperatures do to the human body — and how you can keep yourself safe.

'This is defeat': MS NOW says Trump just made Iran 'more radical, more enraged and richer'

MS NOW's Joe Scarborough dumped cold water on an agreement President Donald Trump has reached to end his war in Iran.Iranian officials confirmed an agreement has been finalized, and Trump has said Strait of Hormuz will reopen Friday once the deal has been signed, but the "Morning Joe" host slammed the president for starting the war in the first place and questioned what had been gained in relation to the steep cost."Everybody around these talks believe that 60 days in, they're going to start charging tolls, and then you look at the sanctions relief they're going to get, which, again, the Trump administration, as you know, constantly berated Joe Biden's administration for lifting sanctions against Iran from time to time," Scarborough said. "They're going to do it, and we have talk of reconstruction. If Iran behaves well down the road, I mean ... and again, the devil's in the details. We're really glad there's a possibility that this war, which should have never started, comes to an end.""But let's just tell it like it is, whether if people want to be lied to, go to another channel because I can tell you which channel to go to," Scarborough added. "They will be lying through your teeth to you right now telling you how wonderful this is. But if you want to know the truth of what's happening right here, the fact is, people in the neighborhood around Iran have every reason to be scared to death right now because this is a more radical, a more enraged and soon to be richer Iran thanks to this war."Co-host Jonathan Lemire agreed and echoed Scarborough's comments. "Yeah, well, tell it like it is," Lemire agreed. "This is a defeat for the United States. Iran is stronger now than they were at the beginning of the war. We heard, how often [have] we heard not just President Trump complaining about the sanctions relief that the Biden administration gave Iran, but think about how the pallets of cash that he would blast the Obama team for sending Tehran, that's going to be dwarfed by the amount of money that's likely going there now on the Strait of Hormuz. Not only is A., after 60 days, Iran has indicated they believe they'll charge for tolls, but B., despite President Trump's celebration last night about the strait being open and free for everyone to use. That obviously, that's temporary, but also it already was before the war. That was the status quo that's how things existed. He made things worse.""We now have a hardline regime, embittered and certainly no reason to ever trust the United States again because we keep bombing them during the midst of negotiations," Lemire added. "Let's think about the cost here, not just the billions upon billions in terms of dollars the United States spent, but also the lives lost civilians, including a girls school and the first hours of the war. This is a significant you know, the United States looks significantly weaker right now in that region than before, and Iran's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz and hit its neighbors seems, you know, unchecked." - YouTube youtu.be

Immigrants filed tens of thousands of lawsuits in Trump’s first year

The federal courts are dealing with a barrage of immigration-related lawsuits, with more filed over the past year than any period in history. The influx of tens of thousands of immigration cases just since last fall threatens to derail President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown and clog the courts. Between March 2021 and Trump’s first […]

Before We Forget: What Trump Did Right

Trump to face European allies at odds with him over two wars at G7 summit

Trump will touch down in France for the G7 meeting with allies who are at odds with him over a pair of wars.