Vice-president JD Vance says US holds all the cards in conflict with Iran – key US politics stories from Saturday 27 JuneHours before fresh military strikes were exchanged in the strait of Hormuz, vice-president JD Vance continued to reiterate the administration’s triumphant line on the war with Iran.“If we make the final deal, then great,” the US vice-president told HBO’s Bill Maher. Continue reading...
The U.S. launched retaliatory strikes on Iran on Friday. Meanwhile, Venezuelans search for earthquake survivors and Europeans are battling a deadly heat wave.
Fox News host Jesse Watters was mocked for ranting and dropping unfounded claims about New York City during a live broadcast on Friday.The conservative host of "The Five" was responding to President Donald Trump's comments about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's rent freeze, which was approved by the New York City Board, and remarks about what the president called "commies." "I just found out — New York City — half of the city is on Medicaid," Watters said. "Twenty percent of the city is on food stamps, five percent of the city lives in the projects, 70 percent of the city is not white, 40 percent of the city wasn't even born in America. We're going down a dangerous road."Social media users reacted to the Fox News personality's comments."He’s historically illiterate: 40% of NYC, a higher percentage than now, was foreign born in 1910 (!) This is not new," Zeteo’s Mehdi Hasan wrote on X."Jesse needs a history lesson. Here are the percentages of NYC foreign born residents going back to 1850 (Source: US Census). This is nothing new and it's not dangerous. What really bothers him is the "not white" part," Geoff Brown, political commentator and retired school district administrator, wrote on X."Jesse Watters 100% full of s---," Navy veteran Louella Hopkins wrote on X."That's how New York has always been you racist little t--- waffle," political commentator Rodger Williams wrote on X.He’s historically illiterate: 40% of NYC, a higher percentage than now, was foreign born in 1910 (!)This is not new. https://t.co/5IOpgr2dYp— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 26, 2026
Republican strategists believe rise of Mamdani could present opportunity to tag Democrats with most extreme views of the left – key US politics stories from Friday 26 JuneDonald Trump has previewed a Republican strategy for the midterm elections, seizing on a progressive sweep in New York to portray Democrats as “godless communists” who pose an existential threat to the nation.The US president, who was a child during the “red scare”, seized on wins by democratic socialists backed by the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, to stoke fears that the Democratic party has embraced extremism that could lead to the violent persecution of Christians. Continue reading...
The Great American State Fair kicked off on Wednesday night, June 24 with a speech by President Donald Trump on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Trump administration is touting the Fair, which continues through July 10, as a celebration of the United States' 250th anniversary. But Trump's critics are arguing that the opening felt more like a partisan MAGA rally than an actual celebration of America's achievements as a democratic republic. One of those critics is Media Matters' Matt Gertz. During a late June appearance on The New Republic's podcast "The Daily Blast," Gertz stressed that turnout at the Great American State Fair's opening was a major disappointment — citing the MAGA themes as a key factor and attacking Fox News' glowing coverage as painfully awkward.Fox News, according to Gertz, went out of its way to "carry water" for Trump with its Fair coverage.Gertz told podcast host Sargent, "It's been a tough few months for people who have to carry water for Donald Trump every night…. And basically, they're trying to use what should be a celebration of the Declaration of Independence, of America’s 250th birthday, as a partisan wedge issue, as a cudgel against the Democratic Party, while simultaneously talking up Donald Trump and his ability to pull a huge crowd and get them together for a big rally. So, the failure, I think, of the kickoff event is a pretty big problem for them in the medium term as they try to keep that message going over the next 10, 12 days."Gertz described attendance on Wednesday night as a major disappointment.The Media Matters report told Sargent, a former Washington Post columnist, "Originally, this was supposed to be a big concert with a bunch of different artists who were scheduled to play. But as it became more and more clear that these Freedom 250 events are extremely partisan, the artists decided to drop out. And eventually Trump kind of threw up his hands and said, instead of having this concert, we’re going to launch the state fair with what he called the greatest rally ever. It doesn’t seem to have worked out that way."Sargent pointed out that Trump "seems very sensitive" about the "low turnout" on June 24, lamenting that he "tried to turn a celebration of America's 250th birthday into a Trump rally." When the "Daily Blast" host described Trump's Great American State Fair speech as an "imperial, dictatorial display of self-glorification," he got no argument from Gertz.The Media Matters reporter told Sargent, "I mean, I think what we have here is a president who does not respect any sort of separation between himself and the country at large. And so, he views the idea of celebrating the nation's birthday as one and the same with celebrating himself. I think there's no clearer way to see that than how he decided to kick off the festivities with what he personally described as a rally speech — a partisan speech in which he sort of ran down what he claims are his accomplishments and talked about himself, rather than the nation, rather than what brings us together. And that becomes more and more fraught as he becomes more and more unpopular."
