Tag Archive for: CBS News

Treasury Sec Says Administration Is ‘Working Every Day’ On Affordability Crisis After ‘Years Of Disastrous Policies’

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a Sunday interview with CBS News that the Trump administration is “working every day” on the affordability crisis in the U.S.

Margaret Brennan, the host of “Face the Nation,” spoke with Bessent, discussing a poll showing that at least half of Americans report “concern about paying for food and groceries and housing.”

“And I will tell you, President Trump was elected, one of the reasons was the affordability crisis, and we are setting about doing that,” Bessent began.

“I can tell you, we’re working every day. What I will point out, interest rates, the 10-year bond, which I am focused on, have been down every week since President Trump was president. Mortgage rates have been down every week. So that’s a pretty good start,” he continued.

Bessent also said the administration is in the process of deregulating and cutting back government spending.

The Treasury secretary claimed the “four years of disastrous policies” were to blame for the “gigantic deficits” that ultimately “led to the affordability problem.”

“What we had was a demand shock from the government spending that was met by supply constraints with overregulation,” he explained.

Bessent then told Brennan that interest rates being down is a “very good start toward housing affordability, toward auto affordability.”

U.S. mortgage rates climbed to a nearly six-month high at the end of 2024, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. At that time, the average interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased from 6.37% to 6.43%; 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with loan balances of $766,550 or less climbed from 6.89% to 6.97%. According to a subsequent Feb. 26, 2025 report, the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased from 6.31% to 6.25%; 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with loan balances of $766,550 or less decreased from 6.93% to 6.88%.

Bessent also said the Treasury department plans to appoint an “affordability czar,” which he defined as, “Someone who picks the five or eight areas where this administration can make a big difference for working-class Americans.”

“Look, I think President Trump said that he’ll own the economy in six or 12 months. But I can tell you that we are working to get these prices down every day,” Bessent reiterated.

AUTHOR

Fiona McLoughlin

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

ROOKE: Hidden Deep Inside New Polling Is A Major Warning For Democrats

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New polling suggests that Democrats have a major problem with their voter stronghold, and it’s clear they have no idea how to fix it.

In 2022, legendary Democrat strategist and pollster Stanley Greenberg warned that Democrats were out of touch with middle-class blue-collar workers. He warned that if the party doesn’t change how it approaches these voters, Democrats face losing this vital demographic during election season.

Greenberg’s warnings were prophetic. Blue-collar workers overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump and Republicans in the 2024 election, which won them the trifecta of political power in Washington, D.C. However, new polling from CBS News shows that Democrats aren’t just bleeding support from blue-collar workers but another demographic they have been courting for decades: Gen Z.

Trump’s new approval ratings show he is more favorable than ever, mainly due to his rising support among Gen Z voters. In the under-30 category, 55 percent of Gen Z voters approved Trump’s first 20 days in office. For decades, Democrats have been pursuing the young vote as a long-term strategy to overwhelm the Boomer vote, which typically skews toward Republicans.

However, the Democrats’ approach to this voter bloc is clearly failing to take root. In fact, they are swinging in the opposite direction, likely due to Trump’s quick action since taking back the White House. Over 60 percent of Gen Z respondents described Trump as “effective,” “focused,” “energetic,” and “tough.”

The polling shows that most Americans overwhelmingly support Trump’s plan to stop and reverse illegal immigration, which Democrats let balloon out of control over the last four years. Over half of Gen Z voters told pollsters that Trump is either focusing on deporting illegal immigrants the right amount or not enough. The majority of these voters want the Democrats’ open border system to end.

They also support his policies on cutting taxes, government spending, and imposing tariffs on foreign countries.

Still, probably the biggest knife to the heart of Democrats is Gen Z’s overwhelming disapproval of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. While 36 percent of young voters believe Trump is focusing too much on ending DEI programs, a whopping 63 percent said he needs to keep going at this speed or go even further to root it out. (ROOKE: Trump’s Simple Questionnaire Reveals Shocking Truth Behind Major Right-Wing Conspiracy)

It’s not a secret that Democrats put a heavy emphasis on promoting DEI as the new American Dream. The party promoted this ideology as our country’s chance to pay reparations for its so-called racist history. But the younger generations are no longer falling for the insidious charade. They’ve watched as colleges and employers used DEI as a cuddle to deny them entry into their world. These programs hurt them in tangible ways, and they resent the party that continues to push them to accept it as gospel.

In order to change their trajectory, Democrats will have to end their relationship with the far-left wing of their party. So far, despite their overwhelming loss in November, it doesn’t seem that Democrats have learned this lesson.

In the party’s recent campaign event to elect a new leader, the candidates blamed the 2024 election loss on racism and misogyny. It couldn’t have been because former Vice President Kamala Harris represented the type of Democrat that wants to continue open border, DEI, and anti-American sentiment. No, her loss had to have been because Americans are racist and hate women.

The only issue that Trump currently struggles with among voters is the everyday costs Americans endure when filling their fridges and gas tanks. This is understandable, considering prices haven’t improved since the November election, and the economy was a top priority for voters in 2024.

However, Americans saw what Trump was able to accomplish under his first administration. He has been in office less than a month, and the expectation is that he will tackle the failing economy with as much gusto as his first four years. If he successfully reduces everyday costs, his approval rating will likely only get higher.

Right now, the game is Trump’s to lose. They not only want him to continue his march through the federal government, ending illegal immigration, DEI, and corrupt spending, but they want more of it. If Republicans continue winning Gen Z votes at the rate they did in 2024, Democrats have little chance when the 2026 midterms roll around.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and analysis writer. Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here! Follow Mary Rooke on X: @MaryRooke.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Nervous As Hell’: Bewildered Walz Emerges From Media Quarantine Only To Get Shelled By Vance

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After hardly speaking to the media since becoming Democrats’ Vice Presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stumbled and gaffed through his highly anticipated debate against Senator JD Vance.

Vance and Walz faced off Monday on CBS News in what appears to be the last debate of the 2024 election cycle. Vance, who has done about seven times more media appearances than the Harris-Walz ticket combined, was noticeably confident next to Walz, who tripped through his defense of past lies.

“I think the lack of interviews he has done with local media, with national media, it shows. He needed more practice,” CNN’s Dana Bash said on the network’s post-debate show.

Walz’s nerves were on display from the moment he took the debate stage and stumbled through an answer on how his administration would support Israel in retaliation against Iran.

After Walz blamed Trump for the crisis in the Middle East, Vance pivoted to point out that the former president wasn’t the one in charge when the war broke out.

“I think that something Gov. Walz just said is quite extraordinary. You, yourself just said Iran is as close to a nuclear weapon today as they have ever been. And Gov. Walz blamed President Trump. Who has been the vice president for the last three-and-a-half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine,” Vance said.

VANCE: “Governor Walz, you blamed Donald Trump. Who has been the Vice President for the last three-and-a-half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine.” pic.twitter.com/gSroaviOEq

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 2, 2024

“Walz is nervous as hell,” Saagar Enjeti, co-host of Breaking Points and former Daily Caller White House correspondent, tweeted four minutes into the debate.

“I think that something Gov. Walz just said is quite extraordinary. You, yourself just said Iran is as close to a nuclear weapon today as they have ever been. And Gov. Walz blamed President Trump. Who has been the vice president for the last three-and-a-half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine,” Vance said.

VANCE: “Governor Walz, you blamed Donald Trump. Who has been the Vice President for the last three-and-a-half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine.” pic.twitter.com/gSroaviOEq

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 2, 2024

“Walz is nervous as hell,” Saagar Enjeti, co-host of Breaking Points and former Daily Caller White House correspondent, tweeted four minutes into the debate.

Walz is nervous as hell

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) October 2, 2024

Walz’s first major stumble came about forty minutes into the debate when he was asked about a CNN report stating that he had falsely claimed to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre.

“Now look, my community knows who I am.  They saw where I was at. I will be the first to tell you, I poured my heart into my community. I’ve tried to do the best I can, but I’ve not been perfect, and I’m a knucklehead at times, but it’s always been about them. Those same people elected me to Congress for 12 years and in Congress, I was one of the most bipartisan people working on things like farm bills that we got done and working on veterans’ benefit,” Walz said, adding that sometimes he gets caught up in the rhetoric.

After he failed to explain the discrepancy, the CBS moderators asked Walz again. The governor then said he misspoke, before repeating the lie that he was in Hong Kong during the massacre.

“All I said on this was I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I, I will, just, that is what I said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the Democracy protests [inaudible] and from that I learned a lot about what needed to be in governance,” Walz said.

His most consequential gaffe of the night came when Walz claimed he was friends with school shooters while trying to answer a question on gun control.

“Governor, you previously opposed an assault weapons ban, but only later in your political career did you change your position. Why?” moderator Norah O’Donnell asked.

“Yeah, I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it,” Walz began. “Look the NRA, I was an NRA guy for a long time. They used to teach gun safety. I’m of the age where my shotgun was in my car so I could pheasant hunt after football practice. That is not where we live today.”

My daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting. It’s absolutely abhorrent that Tim Walz has befriended school shooters. Disqualifying. https://t.co/Q0tkhmHFAi

— Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) October 2, 2024

Vance’s confidence and assertiveness towards moderators O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan was also a theme. 

Twenty minutes into the debate, Brennan attempted to fact-check Vance on the migration in Springfield, Ohio, after the network agreed to not do any fact-checking beforehand. Vance expressed concern about how 20,000 Haitian migrants have flooded into Springfield, Ohio, over the past three years and overwhelmed the town.

Brennan attempted to move onto another question after, adding that the Haitian migrants had “legal status.” Vance, while trying to challenge the assertion, had his mic cut.

“Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan said.

“But Margaret … The rules were that you guys weren‘t going to fact-check, and since you‘re fact-checking me, I think it‘s important to say what‘s actually going on,” Vance responded. “So there‘s an application called the CBP One app — where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand. That is not a person coming in applying for a green card and waiting for 10 years — ” Vance started to reply before Brennan told the senator they needed to move on and his mic was cut.

Polling has shown Americans have found Walz to be a more attractive running mate than Vance. Early on after being tapped, Vance faced a barrage of Democratic attacks that branded him as “weird” for past statements. Yet Vance, to Republicans’ satisfaction, began to find his footing as Walz was forced to defend his close ties to China and false claims about his military record.

Despite Walz’s favorability advantage, Democrats began to pivot mid-debate and argue that the vice presidential debate has little to no impact on the state of the presidential race.
“Bottom line on this is that I don’t think this changes the race at all,” former Obama advisor David Axelrod said on the CNN post show.

Here’s the thing:

VPs don’t make policy. Presidents do.

Who talks about the Pence years?!?

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 2, 2024

“I actually think most Americans fundamentally understand that the VP is not the President,” former Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill tweeted.

Whether the vice president pick affects the race or not, nearly an hour into the debate, Politico admitted Vance had the upper hand.

“Vibe check: JD Vance is doing really well tonight,” their headline read.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

CBS Journalist in Gaza Tied to Terror, Investigation Finds

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News producer for CBS praised terrorists, had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City municipality council.

A CBS News journalist in Gaza praised terrorists at an official event of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City municipality council, an HonestReporting investigation revealed.

Marwan al-Ghoul has been working as a CBS News producer in Gaza for more than two decades, and his affiliation with a proscribed terror group, as well as his official public role in the Hamas-ruled Strip, raise alarming questions regarding the network’s journalistic standards.

Here are the details of what HonestReporting has discovered, based on Arabic media reports and Al-Ghoul’s Facebook page. It is the latest in a series of exposes unmasking Gaza’s biased reporters.

PFLP Links

In 2018, Al-Ghoul was among the speakers at an official PFLP event commemorating one of the prominent members of the terror group who was also Al-Ghoul’s relative.

According to the PFLP website, Al-Ghoul spoke on behalf of the family, which “expressed their gratitude to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their esteemed comrades everywhere in the Palestinian land . . . for their . . . commitment to continue the struggle.”

Al-Ghoul praised the group’s terrorists, emphasizing his relative’s dedication to “maintaining the noble national values established by the leading martyrs, such as Al-Hakim, Abu Ali Mustafa, and Wadie Haddad, and those who followed their path of struggle and martyrdom.”

The PFLP is a proscribed terror group whose members were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, stabbings and shootings.

The fact that Al-Ghoul was invited to address an official event of the group suggests his (and his family’s) affiliation with it is deep. The effect such an affiliation might have on his “journalistic” work cannot be underestimated.

Official Role

Al-Ghoul also cozied up with the terror group’s officials as a member of the Gaza City municipality council.

In 2022, a news report showed him smiling next to Gaza City mayor Yahya Sarraj as they hosted a PFLP delegation to discuss “issues of concern to citizens and ways of cooperating.”

What could possibly be discussed in such a meeting? How to better embed terrorists amid the civilian population?

That would not be far-fetched to assume, considering that back in 2022, the IDF revealed that an Islamic Jihad rocket was launched from a location owned by the Gaza City municipality. It misfired and killed two Palestinians.

Referring to the Gaza City mayor, the IDF spokesperson’s unit said at the time that “Sarraj chose to take care of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad more than the residents of the city he heads, and he abused public space that belongs to the residents of the city for terror. This is how he harmed his citizens directly.”

According to an announcement on his Facebook page, Al-Ghoul resigned from his membership in the city council in November 2022. It’s not clear how long he served, why he resigned, whether he got paid to do the job, and if so by whom.

But according to a Fatah official quoted by WAFA, Gaza municipal council members are appointed by Hamas. And according to Reuters, Hamas is the body in charge of paying public sector workers.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Local Government may be in charge on paper, but de-facto, Hamas runs the show.

In any case, AL-Ghoul’s profile photo still appears on the official website of the Gaza city municipality, with a bio that presents him as a “media professional working with several Arab and international channels,” as well as a “member of the Municipal Council.”

What’s clear is that such a public role, in an enclave ruled by terrorists and where terrorists are hosted by the mayor, cannot be done without problematic ties. Especially for a journalist who needs to cover political and civilian issues objectively.

Celebrated Journalist

None of that seemed to bother CBS News, which either turned a blind eye to Al-Ghoul’s activities, or had no idea about them.

The network relied heavily on his work at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war and praised his “journalism.”

Unsurprisingly, Al-Ghoul’s reports from Gaza are typical — they include destruction and victims, not Hamas terrorists.

Perhaps this is because he prayed for the “victory” of these terrorists in a Facebook post on October 7, as they massacred Israeli women and children:

And it might also be because, as the head of the Mayadeen media Group, Al-Ghoul had long lasting ties with the Hamas-run Government Media Office. In 2008, he delivered a panel in a workshop organized by the office on “the freedom of journalistic work under the Israeli occupation” (although Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.)

Al-Ghoul is not a journalist. Like many other Gaza “reporters” who work for respected Western media outlets, he is a propagandist, at best, or a terror collaborator, at worst.

CBS News should not celebrate his work, but be ashamed of it.

EDITORS NOTE: This Honest Reporting column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Obama’s Faceoffs with Putin and Netanyahu

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Washington was the center of contretemps over Putin’s seizure of Crimea and widening public differences with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu

We recently interviewed Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute and reviewed of his new book Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes. (See The Peril of Engaging Rogue States: An Interview with Dr. Michael Rubin  and Engagement is Folly}.

Putin, according to Rubin is the consummate zero sum geo -politician. Diplomacy for the Kremlin thugocracy pales in comparison to unleashing military adventurism to recreate the former Soviet empire. Witness Georgia in 2008 with the severance of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and even the Kremlin support for Russian speaking breakaway state of Transnistria between the Ukraine and Moldavia. Remember Putin abhors NATO presence anywhere near the Russian sphere of influence. See the prescient title of a piece I wrote back in August 2008, Georgia: “Moscow Rules” and the West Wimps Out.  We had Bush and Condoleezza Rice back then.

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) witnessed the transfer of nearly 2000 nuclear missiles to Russia followed by 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances by the UK, US and Russia that guaranteed Ukrainian sovereignty including the rights of Russian citizens who chose to live there.  Recently Russia negotiated the extension of the lease on the Black Sea naval base in Sevastopol from 2017 to 2042. The move was heavily criticized by the opposition forces now in power in Kiev.  By seizing the Crimea province from Ukraine, the Russian guarantee of Ukrainian sovereignty has been breached. Russian military exercises near Finland and the Ukraine are clear demonstrations of military force to send a message to the EU and the Obama White House West Wing not to dare send NATO forces to the Polish Ukrainian border. Thus, while there will be lots of economic sanctions and isolation rattling by Washington and Brussels, it is up to the G-8 and G-20 groups to consider ejection of Moscow, which will doubtless come up short.

Sochi may lose tourist revenues from the upcoming Paralympics, followed by the loss of the G-8 Summit in June and even the inaugural Russian Formula 1 race scheduled for August 2014.  Meanwhile the Moscow Stock Exchange and Ruble were punished in trading today. Whether that continues will be influenced by Putin’s contempt for the West and the threats by Obama that “there will be consequences”.  So, while Obama’s Russian reset strategy like his pivot to Asia and push for a Final Status agreement between Israel and the PA have been potential failures.

Just look at the interview with Obama by Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldberg about the President’s entreaties to Netanyahu to “seize the moment and make peace”. This included  a veiled no veto threat by the US should the PA, as suggested in the Oxford Union remarks of PA negotiator Saeb Erekat on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head program of last Friday,  might opt for accession to the UN Security Council for statehood.

This would let 5 million Palestinian UNWRA refugees file for compensation against Israel.  Further, the PA could file a case for crimes against humanity brought before the International Criminal Court at The Hague the day after the April 29 deadline is passed for an agreement set by Secretary of State Kerry.  Even the brief comments by Obama and Netanyahu in the Oval Office about “tough choices” versus non helpful Palestinian moves sent a chilling message.  (See this CBS news report, here).

Tomorrow, we shall see what happens when Netanyahu speaks to 14,000 delegates at the AIPAC Policy Conference following Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ)   speech. They would urge the delegates to scamper up Capitol Hill to convince their Senators and Representatives to pass the Nuclear Weapons Free Iran Act, S. 1881 co-sponsored by Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Menendez. Problem is that Iran may already have its nukes given a decade long cooperative weapons development and ICBM program with North Korea. Read my article; Has Iran Developed Nuclear Weapons in North Korea?

As to Israel’s capabilities, realize that it already has ICBMs – the nuclear equipped Jericho III.  Yes, as the ancient Chinese curse goes, “may you live in interesting times”.

RELATED COLUMN: ‘Delusional’: Krauthammer Slams Obama Admin’s Belief that Putin has ‘Blinked’ on Ukraine

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The New English Review.