It’s Official: Trump Says He Will Skip GOP Primary Debates amid Massive Polling Lead

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday said he is not going to participate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates after a new poll showed that he is far ahead of all other GOP candidates.

With the first GOP debate scheduled for Wednesday in Wisconsin, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by ‘legendary’ numbers. TRUMP 62 percent, 46 Points above DeSanctimonious (who is crashing like an ailing bird!).”

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Judge Sides with Trump on Protective Order, Handing Jack Smith an Early Defeat

A federal judge on Friday sided with Donald Trump, rejecting a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith for a protective order that would have imposed some speech restrictions on the former president as he runs in the 2024 election.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled prosecutors did not meet the burden for the protective order but also put Trump on notice he will have to be careful about what he says and releases about the case.

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Brewer’s Winners and Losers: ‘It Almost Looks Like Working for Governor DeSantis Might Be Difficult’

Political watcher and recovering journalist Clint Brewer joined host Michael Patrick Leahy in-studio on Thursday’ episode of The Tennessee Star Report to discuss this week’s ‘Winners and Losers.’ Topping the ‘Winners’ list was Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell while 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis was tapped for top spot on the ‘Losers’ list.  TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, Clint, who do we have as a winner this week? Clint Brewer: Well, it’s obvious – we’ve already talked about him. Councilman Fred O’Connell. Michael Patrick Leahy: Obvious. Clint Brewer:  Obvious. Michael Patrick Leahy: 27 percent finished – first place. Clint Brewer:  Yeah. Michael Patrick Leahy: Odds-on favorite, probably, to win and become the next man Clint Brewer:  Yeah – based on reliable polling going into the contest with a pretty commanding lead. Michael Patrick Leahy: Although I’ll have to say Alice Rolli ran a very good campaign and look: if she can turn out people that didn’t vote before, she’s got a shot. Clint Brewer: Yeah; Or, she can put this in her back pocket if she loses, and maybe she runs for something else. Michael Patrick Leahy: Maybe. Clint Brewer: Maybe. You never know. Michael Patrick Leahy: You never know.…

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Trump Leads Biden in Swing State of Michigan for 2024 Election: Poll

Former President Donald Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 presidential election in Michigan, according to a new poll.

Trump received 43% support, while Biden came in at 41% and Green Party candidate Cornel West is at 4%, while 4% support someone else and 7% are undecided, according to a survey of registered voters released last week by Emerson College Polling.

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DeSantis Donor Says He May Pull the Plug on Supporting Campaign

The largest individual donor to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign effort has said he will stop donating to DeSantis unless changes are made to the campaign, according to a report by Reuters.

Robert Bigelow, a multimillionaire and owner of the Budget Suites of America, has donated over $20 million to the Never Back Down PAC, the principal super PAC supporting DeSantis’ campaign — accounting for two-thirds of the PAC’s fundraising in the first half of 2023. On Friday, Bigelow said that he would stop funding DeSantis’ campaign until it exhibited a more moderate policy platform, according to comments made to Reuters.

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DeSantis on NBC News: ‘Of Course’ Trump Lost The 2020 Election

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis admitted that “of course” former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden in an interview with NBC News that aired Monday.

The outlet’s Dasha Burns probed the Florida governor during the interview on whether he believes Trump’s argument that the 2020 election was stolen from him. While DeSantis conceded that he “doesn’t think it was the perfect election,” citing mail-in balloting, ballot harvesting and censorship from Big Tech companies, he said that “Joe Biden’s the president.”

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Disillusioned Black Voters May Cost Democrats the 2024 Election

Recent surveys suggest that black voters, the most loyally Democratic voting bloc in the country, may see a reduced turnout in 2024 that could cost Joe Biden his re-election bid.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, a recent poll by the New York Times shows President Donald Trump and Biden in a dead heat, at 43 percent each; the close race is attributed to Trump making “gains among black, Hispanic, male and low-income voters.”

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New Forecast Says the 2024 Election Will Come Down to These Four States

A new political forecast released Thursday argues that the 2024 general election could come down to four states — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The four “toss-ups” and their 56 Electoral College votes make for a “very narrow playing field” in 2024, which The Cook Political Report views as being another matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, according to author Amy Walter. Whether a third-party ticket is present, as well as the sway of suburban, moderate and Latino voters, will be key in determining the outcome of these battleground states.

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Trump Says DOJ Told Him He is a Target in Jan. 6 Probe, Must Report to Grand Jury

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was informed by the Justice Department that he is a target of the Jan. 6 Grand Jury probe and he must report to the jury this week.

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and indictment,” Trump wrote.

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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose Jumps Into Race to Unseat Dem Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024

Frank LaRose

Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced a run for Senate on Monday to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024, according to a campaign launch video.

LaRose enters a growing GOP primary field where he will face businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan, who both unsuccessfully ran for Senate during the 2022 midterms. The secretary of state touched on issues he feels plague the country, like parental rights in education, the border crisis and inflation, when announcing his run for Senate, according to a Twitter video.

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Commentary: Michelle Obama Could Really Be the Choice of the Democrat Establishment

The Democratic establishment is laying the groundwork to dump Joe Biden. When the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Axios, and the Atlantic desert a liberal president, you know the knives are out. Which raises two questions: when will they stick the shiv into Biden? And how do they plan to deal with the “Kamala problem”?

To all but her most ardent fans, it is obvious that having Kamala on the 2024 ticket would be a disaster for the Democrats. Her 2020 campaign collapsed before a single vote was cast. Biden made her his running mate, not because she was a good candidate, but solely because he had backed himself into a corner when he promised he would choose a black woman as his running mate.

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Trump Pledges to ‘Obliterate the Deep State’ and Create ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’

Former President Donald Trump pledged to end corruption in Washington, D.C., by obliterating the deep state and creating a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” that would declassify all information about government spying, censorship and corruption. 

“When I get back into the Oval Office, I will totally obliterate the deep state,” Trump pledged Saturday at a Turning Point USA conference in Florida, taking aim at the alleged group of federal officials working against his agenda. 

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Minnesota Secretary of State: Election Officials Within Their Rights to Work with Big Tech to Fight ‘Outright Disinformation’

Fresh off a legislative session where Steve Simon was able to check off nearly every item on his election reform “wish list,” the recently re-elected Minnesota secretary of state took some time to speak to both national and local media about how he views the landscape of the upcoming 2024 election, and as he calls it the “democracy business.”

According to Simon, those who intend to suppress the vote with election-related “disinformation” or intimidation may be tripped up by new election-reform laws recently passed by the Democrat trifecta in the Minnesota Legislature. But he told the Washington Post in an interview this week that he doesn’t believe those new voter protections in Minnesota will necessarily deter disinformation efforts come 2024.

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Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego Raises $3.1 Million in Race for Sinema’s Senate Seat

Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) claims to have raised $3.1 million from mostly small-dollar donors funding his campaign for U.S. Senate, where he hopes to overcome Republican opposition and ultimately unseat Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-I).

Gallego’s campaign sent campaign finance data to 12 News on Thursday, revealing a $3.1 million fundraising haul in the second quarter of 2023. Though less than the $3.7 million Gallego raised in the first quarter, immediately after announcing his campaign, the latest reporting means his campaign has raised nearly $7 million this year.

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Analysis: Kennedy’s Polling Numbers Trump Biden’s in New Poll

A recent Economist/YouGov poll shows Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with a significantly higher favorability rating than President Joe Biden. The survey found 49 percent of respondents expressed a positive view of Kennedy, while 30 percent held an unfavorable opinion of him, giving Kennedy a net favorable rating of 19 points. Biden on the other hand holds a favorability rating of -11 points.

This comes on top of a recent Emerson Poll showing Kennedy at 15 percent among Democratic Primary voters, up from 10 percent two months ago in another poll.

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GOP Targets Three Vulnerable Democrats in Quest to Win Senate, House Control Too Early to Predict

Republicans would need to win three of the 2024 toss-up Senate races to retake control of the chamber but appear to be facing a more uphill battle to keep control of the House.

Thirty-three of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs next year. Right now, Democrats have a 51-49 majority, which includes 48 party members and three independents who caucus with them.

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Michigan Dems Have ‘Pleaded’ with Gretchen Whitmer to Run for President in 2024: Report

Democrats in Michigan have “pleaded” with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to run for president in 2024, citing concerns about President Joe Biden, according to Politico’s Jonathan Martin.

State lawmakers are encouraging Whitmer, Michigan’s two-term Democratic governor, to seek the party’s nomination in 2024 despite her previously ruling out a White House bid, sources familiar told Martin. Several Democratic colleagues from other states have pushed the Michigan lawmakers to plead with the governor to reconsider, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, citing concerns over the president’s low approval ratings.

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The 2024 Election Could Come Down to These Four States

The upcoming presidential election could potentially come down to Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin, according to the Sabato’s Crystal Ball 2024 Electoral College predictions released Thursday.

The nonpartisan report, facilitated by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, labels the four states as “toss-ups” based on the 2020 election and 2022 midterms. The 2024 landscape slightly favors the Democrats and will likely be another matchup between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, according to the report.

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Biden Sets Leftist Tone for 2024 Re-Election Effort at Philadelphia Event

President Joe Biden held his first presidential re-election campaign event on Saturday at the Philadelphia Convention Center, making strong appeals to his left-wing base. 

Biden appeared alongside organized-labor activists and mentioned in the first few seconds of his oration that when he thinks of working Americans, he especially values the ones who associate with causes he finds politically congenial.

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It’s Official: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Announces Run for President

by Mary Lou Masters   Miami’s conservative Mayor Francis Suarez announced Thursday morning he’s seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024, joining an increasingly growing GOP primary field. Suarez filed the paperwork to run for president with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Wednesday. The 43rd Miami mayor’s announcement comes ahead of his official campaign launch speech Thursday evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California. The mayor’s announcement makes him the third presidential candidate from Florida, along with his governor, Ron DeSantis, and former President Donald Trump. Suarez has the backing of a political action committee (PAC) SOS America, who has already begun fundraising for the mayor, and released a campaign-like advertisement video harping on his record in Miami for cutting taxes, decreasing crime and bolstering the business community. “America needs a leader ready to act — Francis Suarez will not back down,” the video said. “A father, a husband and a proud believer in American exceptionalism. Protecting American families, supporting law enforcement and defending the American dream — this is Miami Mayor Suarez’s Miami Model.” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is running for President https://t.co/uTeOzqHM9U — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 14, 2023 Before being elected as the city’s first Miami-born mayor in…

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Glenn Jacobs Commentary: With the Uniparty’s Indictment of Donald Trump, the Die is Cast

When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army — an act Roman law strictly prohibited — he is reported to have said, “Alea iacta est,” Latin for “the die is cast.” Caesar, one of history’s most brilliant military and political minds, understood there was no turning back, even though the outcome was uncertain and quite possibly catastrophic.

History will question whether, during his occasional moments of lucidity, Joe Biden or his hubristic Justice Department experienced any such epiphany before crossing an American Rubicon, the indictment of a former President and Biden’s chief political rival, Donald Trump.

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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt Endorses Ron DeSantis for President

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the Republican presidential nomination on Saturday.

The two-term governor threw his support behind DeSantis during a speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following the endorsement from 20 of the state’s legislators and former Oklahoma Congressman and Trump-appointee Jim Bridenstine, according to a campaign press release. Stitt said he endorsed DeSantis because he’s a “strong conservative and principled leader.”

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Vivek Ramaswamy Calls DOJ Indictment of Former President Trump ‘An Affront to Every Citizen,’ Commits to Pardon Him on January 20, 2025

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a statement on the campaign trail in Manchester, New Hampshire late Thursday, just an hour after former President Trump announced that he has been indicted by the Department of Justice.

Ramaswamy called the indictment “an affront to every citizen,” and added, “I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country.”

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Commentary: ‘Chasing’ Ballots is Not Enough

Apparently there’s some confusion about what some of us are actually proposing for winning in 2024. The best place to start in clearing up that confusion is by defining terms correctly.

We argued here and here, that if MAGA wishes to turn out its voters and win, the movement and its candidates must aggressively pursue their vote by securing their consent, and then, protecting them by implementing that agenda. Some have found these arguments less than persuasive because they fear Republicans are joining the Democrats in their less-than-honest methods of securing votes. So, we must explain further for those who appear confused.

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McCormick Prospects Advance as Mastriano Declines Pennsylvania Senate Run

Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano’s Thursday announcement he won’t seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey next year vastly boosts potential GOP hopeful Dave McCormick’s prospects. 

“I know this will be disappointing for some,” Mastriano said of his decision in a Facebook Live broadcast. “At this moment, the way things are, I am not running for the U.S. Senate seat that is going to be vacated by Casey. We need to beat him.”

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Rob Canterbury Plans Run for Maricopa County Supervisor, Focuses on Reining in Planned ‘Smart City’

Rob Canterbury, sergeant-at-arms for the Arizona Republican Party, announced he will run for Maricopa County Supervisor (MCBOS) in 2024. Canterbury is challenging Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman in District 4, and at the same time, also taking on  Bill Gates  — the Microsoft founder, not the supervisor. Gates is constructing a “smart city” in Maricopa County, and Canterbury wants to ensure his project does not get subsidies from the county and make demands “with strings attached.”

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Georgia Libertarian and Presidential Hopeful Calls for Elimination of the U.S. Department of Education

Georgian Chase Oliver, a Libertarian who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 and has launched a 2024 presidential bid, wants to end the U.S. Department of Education and return the money to the states.

Oliver said schools have turned into a political hot potato, and conversations have turned to whether school libraries should allow certain books.

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Arizona’s Lamb Talks Immigration, Fentanyl and Sinema on Campaign Trail for U.S. Senate

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb hopes his law enforcement acumen in a border state will make him stand out in a potentially crowded race for the GOP ticket in Arizona’s next U.S. Senate primary.

Lamb has been on the campaign trail as the first Republican Senate candidate in Arizona to declare candidacy for the 2024 election. He spoke with The Center Square on Friday to discuss the border and state of the race.

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Commentary: Biden Still Sagging with Democrats While Kennedy Bumps Up to 10 Percent, Poll Shows

Could Robert Kennedy, Jr. shock President Joe Biden in the New Hampshire primary? Stranger things have happened in American politics.

Don’t look now, but President Biden is still sagging in Democratic Party primary polls, only garnering an average of 35.5 percent in the average of national polls taken compiled by RealClearPolitics.com, as Biden’s official decision to run in 2024 still looms.

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Kari Lake Team Still Confident in Potential Senate Run After Sheriff Mark Lamb Joins Race

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb (R) officially announced Tuesday that he is entering the campaign trail for U.S. Senate, aiming to take the seat of Arizona’s Independent Senator, Kyrsten Sinema. To get that seat, Lamb must overcome political rivals on both sides of the aisle, including a potential bid from Republican Kari Lake.

 “The idea of Kari Lake in the US Senate is the worst nightmare of the crooked political machine — the same machine she has vowed to destroy. If the People of Arizona call on Kari to run for Senate, despite the wishes of the ruling class, she will. And if Kari runs, she will win,” said Alex Nicoll, spokesperson for Lake, in an email to The Arizona Sun Times.

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Pennsylvania Voters Spurn ‘Scranton Joe’ in Favor of Trump, DeSantis, Poll Shows

More Pennsylvania voters want former President Donald Trump or Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for President than President Joe Biden, despite the fact he has the affectionate nickname “Scranton Joe” after his birth town in the state, according to a new poll.

The Commonwealth Foundation, a group promoting free markets in Pennsylvania, found in a survey last week that 34 percent of registered voters in the state want Trump to run for President in 2024, followed by 26 percent who want DeSantis to run. Biden, however, earned 24 percent in the poll that allowed respondents to select all candidates that they want to see run. Close behind Biden is Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at 20 percent. Out of the four top potential candidates, only Trump has formally declared his presidential campaign for 2024.

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Commentary: DA Bragg, New York Judge Would Rig 2024 Election by Silencing Trump

Well of course.

In the Deep State mania to put former President Donald Trump on trial for something — anything! — New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Acting New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan may be about to launch one of the biggest backfires in American political history as they attempt to rig the 2024 election by forcing now-candidate Trump into a court-ordered silence.

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Nikki Haley Visits Border, Delivers Her ‘Catch and Deport’ Plan to Solve Border Crisis

by Jennie Taer   Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican candidate Nikki Haley visited the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, delivering her proposal to solving the illegal immigration crisis. Haley proposed a mandatory E-Verify program for employers to ensure they’re not hiring illegal immigrants, firing 87,000 IRS agents to hire “at least” 25,000 Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, ending taxpayer funding of illegal immigrants and defunding sanctuary cities during a press conference with Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales in Eagle Pass, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has documented a record surge in illegal immigration at the southern border. “And then the one thing that could make the biggest difference, stop catch and release and go to catch and deport. When you start deporting illegal immigrants, they will stop coming,” Haley said. Federal authorities recorded more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 and more than 1 million between October 2022 and February 2023. Haley also said she’d bring back “Remain in Mexico” to force illegal immigrants to await their court dates south of the border and keep Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion order used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. “Why are we doing this? Stop the insanity…

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Ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson Says He’s Running for President

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday he has decided to run for president and plans on formally announcing his campaign in April. 

“My decision is, I’m going to run for president of the United States,” he told ABC News’ “This Week” during an interview. He said he will formally announce his campaign in his hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, later this month.

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Speaking to Pennsylvania Conservatives, DeSantis Says His Record Exemplifies ‘Victory’

Camp Hill, PA — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Saturday addressed a vast roomful of Pennsylvania conservatives, reviewing his record, asserting it has meant boldness and — crucially for his possible future presidential campaign — victory.

The governor has not declared himself a candidate for the White House but many expect he will become a robust rival against former President Donald Trump in a 2024 primary campaign. He spoke at length to attendees of the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference just outside of Harrisburg about the work he has done in the Sunshine State. It’s a story, he observed, of success after success. 

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GOP, Dems Have Entered the AI Arms Race Ahead of the 2024 Election

by Mary Lou Masters   Republicans and Democrats are entering an arms race to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in upcoming 2024 campaigns to complete simple, daily tasks previously accomplished by droves of interns, according to The New York Times. Both parties are racing to develop AI technology to carry out basic functions like advertising, writing and sending out personalized campaign statements, predicting public opinion and analyzing voter behavior, the NYT reported. The use of AI in political campaigns comes with worry of disinformation as deep fakes continue to mount across the internet. “A.I. is about to make a significant change in the 2024 election because of machine learning’s predictive ability,” former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager and founder of a digital company that utilizes AI technology, Brad Parscale, told the NYT. Recent deep fake images of Trump being arrested in connection to the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into the former president’s alleged hush money payments to porn star actress Stormy Daniels have gone viral on social media. Deep fake photos of Pope Francis wearing a puffy white jacket have also made headwinds across the internet. “Unfortunately, I think people are going to figure out how to use this for evil faster than for improving civic life,” chief strategist…

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Trump Decries Weaponized Probes against Political Figures: ‘Worse than Ballot Stuffing’

Former President Donald Trump is decrying the relentless investigations launched against him and his supporters, saying they are a form of political cheating worse than ballot stuffing.

Trump assailed the chronic investigations he has faced for seven years during his first rally of the 2024 campaign season in Waco, Texas on Saturday night, and then in a subsequent post on his Truth Social platform.

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