Tag Archive for: taxes

The Infiltrator Abdul El-Sayed Unleashes Sharia-Law Agenda on Michigan

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The countdown to disaster strikes Michigan as Abdul Sayed, an insidious force in American politics, aggressively targets a United States Senate seat in the 2026 Democratic primary. This radical operative prepares a brutal assault on constitutional rights, positioning himself as the spearhead of a campaign to dismantle standard American governance and replace it with extreme religious mandate.

Sayed operates under the guise of an American physician, epidemiologist, and public health manager to mask an extreme political machine. He attacks established constitutional limits and uses institutional power to engineer societal control.

His blueprint demands total submission to radical doctrine:

  • Abolition of Enforcers: Sayed publicly demands the immediate dismantling of Border Enforcement (ICE) and federal law apparatuses, creating immediate vulnerability along our frontiers.
  • Constitutional Destruction: His platform systematically shreds state sovereignty to implement mandatory religious statutes across Michigan.
  • Healthcare Cartel: Under the cloak of public health reforms, Sayed enforces state-mandated control over citizen bodies, locking individuals into a centralized bureaucratic vise.

Abdul Sayed does not march alone, relying on a cartel of radical heavyweights to fuel his assault on American values and pour ideological ammunition directly into his war chest. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Sayed, these key figures command armies of activists to enforce a draconian shift across Michigan.

Serving as the vanguard leader, Bernie Sanders drives the radical agenda with the explicit strategic objective of eradicating free-market institutions. Working alongside him, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez operates as the Radical Media Commander, deploying her influence to mobilize far-left shock troops across the state. Completing this ideological strike force, Chris Van Hollen functions as the Legislative Enforcer, focusing his efforts on the systematic dismantling of border defense controls. This coalition delivers an ultimatum to every citizen: surrender traditional rights or endure absolute state transformation.

Sayed demands the immediate execution of ICE and federal border agencies. His agenda leaves America open to external invasion while stripping local police forces of critical enforcement authority.

Sayed views constitutional protections as obstacles to dominate. His goal remains clear: absolute replacement of American legal tradition with extremist, state-enforced doctrine.

Citizens face a stark, violent reality. Sayed wields medical degrees and administrative credentials purely as weapons of institutional subversion. Every policy proposal functions as a strike against civil liberties.

Under the guise of administrative relief, Sayed spearheaded radical municipal programs to forcibly cancel hundreds of millions in healthcare debt, stripping private creditors of lawful assets. Having weaponized executive authority in both the Detroit and Wayne Health Departments, Sayed now aims to scale this bureaucratic tyranny across the entire United States. His agenda converts public health institutions into central command centers designed to dictate corporate compliance and crush private competition.

Michigan stands as the front line in this existential war for America. Sayed advances daily, backed by vast campaign networks and high-profile instigators. Allowing this agenda into the U.S. Senate guarantees the swift execution of foundational liberties. Americans must recognize the threat, confront the cartel, and eliminate this radical invasion at the ballot box before total subversion occurs.

This Detroit Rally Highlights video coverage illustrates the direct political alignments and high-profile campaign rallies featuring the candidates and progressive figures mentioned in the primary race.

The political offensive across Michigan intensifies as Abdul El-Sayed moves to seize absolute control of the upcoming August 2026 primary. Conventional establishment figures crumble under the advance of his ideological apparatus. Primary rivals retreat or face immediate political liquidation as his network cements dominance.

Sayed accelerates his push to execute sweeping, radical mandates across American legal structures. His strategic blueprint targets key pillars of state authority:

  • Total Economic Reordering: Sayed proposes ruthless tax surcharges targeting private wealth and capital assets, seeking total central control over private enterprise.
  • Corporate Annihilation: His campaign wage open warfare against free-market healthcare, demanding state takeovers to enforce centralized public health commands.
  • Federal Authority Disruption: Sayed openly challenges national legislative leadership, positioning himself as a renegade force immune to traditional party oversight.

Inspect his ongoing campaign tactics and official directives directly at Ballotpedia’s Michigan Senate Primary Hub.

As the primary date nears, national extremist figures rush resources to sustain Sayed’s momentum. Major political coalitions flood Michigan with digital weapons, organizing platoons, and heavy financial artillery to force his victory.

TACTICAL THREAT LEVEL: MAXIMUM.

The invasion of radical doctrine into the U.S. Senate threatens the immediate execution of state economic stability and constitutional enforcement.

Democratic socialism serves as a temporary cover for raw communism. Sayed’s network promises total state dominance, threatening to reduce America’s industrial powerhouse into an economic wasteland while corrupt elites hoard private wealth. Sayed grants direct control to radical forces intent on dismantling American governance from within.

Citizens across Michigan face an imminent choice: surrender to this sweeping ideological takeover or mobilize complete defense before the polls close.

This footage of Abdul El-Sayed Speech in Detroit captures key campaign speeches and rallies demonstrating the political strategy, messaging, and surrogate support driving this radical primary movement in Michigan.

WATCH:

©2026 . All rights reserved.

NY’s Millionaire Mass Exodus: Wealth Flees, $11 Billion in Tax Revenue Vanishes

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“The Communists’ chief purpose is to destroy every form of independence—independent work, independent action, independent property, independent thought, an independent mind, or an independent man. Conformity, alikeness, servility, submission and obedience are necessary to establish a Communist slave-state.” — Ayn Rand

It was inevitable that demonizing, attacking and over-taxing the wealthy would lead to a mass exodus. But I think Zoharm means to do just that. He is on a jihad to destroy the greatest city in the world.

In New York, the top 1% of earners pay about 45% of all state income taxes in any given year, so New York’s revenue is heavily dependent  on high earners to stay in New York. So the house of cards won’t need much more to come tumbling down.

And if things weren’t bad enough, New York just announced the country’s first statewide moratorium on AI data centers — literally banning the future.

NY sees dramatic exodus of millionaires — causing nearly $11B loss in tax revenue: study

By Carl Campanile, Vaughn Golden, Craig McCarthy and Matt Troutman, NY Post, July 13, 2026:

Lacks the rich.

New York’s share of US millionaires dramatically declined in recent years, causing a nearly $11 billion loss in much-needed tax revenue in just one year, according to a bombshell new analysis.

The study released Monday by the Citizen Budget Commisison comes amid fears that socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to “tax the rich” will drive even more wealthy taxpayers and their businesses out of New York City.

Even before Mamdani took office, the Empire State’s share of the nation’s millionaires dipped from 12.7% to 8.7% between 2010 and 2022 — the largest decline of any state, according to the CBC’s Competitive NYS: Value Proposition Tracker dashboard.

“New York’s declining share of high-income taxpayers has meaningful consequences,” the analysis states.

Many experts and business leaders warned Mamdani’s stick-it-to-the-rich policy dreams — and their growing success among Albany lawmakers – could supercharge the drip-drip of wealthy people.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has firmly opposed an outright hike on the wealthy this year — as she seeks re-election in November — but backed a so-called pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes in New York City.

Mamdani gleefully gloated about the tax in a social media video filmed outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s $238 million Manhattan penthouse – a stunt that infuriated the hedge fund titan and prompted him to threaten pulling a $6 billion Park Avenue development.

The feud fueled fears of a wider exodus from New York, where the Big Apple’s and the state’s bloated budgets are increasingly dependent on a shrinking sliver of taxpayers.

“In New York, the top 1% of earners pay about 45% of all state income taxes in any given year, so New York’s revenue is very reliant on high earners to stay in New York, and that has been a challenge in recent years,” said Jared Walczak, an economist and senior fellow at the Tax Foundation think tank.

“Gracie Mansion can’t do it on its own; it takes Albany,” he told The Post. “Pied-à-terre will have some impact, but there’s this feeling that New York isn’t done raising taxes, and with other places being more competitive, it won’t be surprising if high-earner taxpayers choose to relocate.”

Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics

The Empire State currently ranks dead last for competitiveness, said Abir Mandel, senior state policy analyst with the Tax Foundation.

Mandel argued high taxes drive businesses away to friendlier states, noting Elon Musk moved his companies from California to Texas to avoid the levies.

“Without reforming the tax structure New York won’t be competitive for attracting population and business,” he said.

“Wall Street is the golden goose. But for how long?”

State elected officials backed policies going back to 2010 that many experts argue have driven up costs and further pressured the tax base — such as former Gov. Andrew Cuomo hiking income taxes on high earners during the coronavirus pandemic and Hochul presiding over a Medicaid spending expected to reach $58 billion by the end of the decade.

Ken Girardin, research fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative public policy think tank, pointed at the state’s tightened rent control law approved in 2019 and it’s green energy mandate as a one-two punch that reduced housing supply and raised energy costs.

“Albany is directly responsible for the stagnation,” he said.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. —All rights reserved.

One of the Biggest Fraud Rings You Never Heard of: Social Adult Daycares — Billions in NYC alone

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As a taxpayer I am sickened at the abuse and contempt of hardworking Americans.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz joined investigative influencer Nick Shirley in New York City to confront operators of suspected Medicare and Medicaid fraud schemes. Visiting elderly daycare centers and medical equipment companies, there are major red flags,  including three medical supply companies allegedly operating out of a single apartment with no inventory. Calling the suspected scams a massive theft of taxpayer dollars, Oz said the government has failed to stop fraudsters who he claimed are making millions each month through bogus billing operations.

In NYC alone billions in fraud, sanctioned by Democrat politicians who are voting themselves massive raises, have been discovered.

‘Major Red Flags’: Dr. Oz Joins MAGA Influencer Nick Shirley to Confront Alleged Fraudsters

Kathryn Wilkens 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz joined MAGA influencer Nick Shirley to confront alleged fraudsters in New York City, with Oz stressing that the experience showed “major red flags” in a video posted on Friday.

Oz, a member of President Donald Trump’s administration, accompanied Shirley to a variety of different elderly daycare centers and medical equipment companies across the city, confronting folks who they say are committing both Medicare and Medicaid fraud — many of whom either did not speak English or seemed hesitant to answer questions about the services they provide.

“One of the largest fraud schemes in America is taking place in New York City as billions of dollars are being defrauded by organized Korean and Chinese mafias, along with other foreigners operating and stealing taxpayer dollars,” Shirley claimed.

“It’s almost certainly fraud,” Oz said of an apartment they visited where three durable medical companies allegedly operate from, purporting that the benefactors make “$2 to $8 million a month.”

“These guys grow like vermin,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator continued. “There are twice as many durable medical suppliers in South Florida as McDonald’s, because it’s easier to open one than a bank account,” alleging that there, “the Cuban government is involved.”

His and Shirley’s conversation continued:

OZ: To open three in one apartment makes no sense, especially when there’s no product there. All you’re doing is gaming the system, and the fact that we didn’t audit it, didn’t catch it, didn’t stop it, and they’re probably out there making money infuriates me. It should bother folks out there, ’cause it’s your tax dollars paying for this

SHIRLEY: So, it’s literally impossible for someone to be operating a durable medical company outside — inside of an apartment?

OZ: Inside of an apartment with no goods and two other durable medical equipment suppliers? That’s a major red flag — the kind you walk into battle with.

In one NYC neighborhood, dozens of adult daycares bill millions to taxpayers. Now the feds have questions.

By Laura Geller, Rachel Gold, Tom Hanson, CBS News, July 1, 2026:

Dozens of Medicaid-funded social adult daycare centers are packed into one New York City neighborhood, a CBS News data analysis has found.

The proliferation of the facilities has caught the attention of federal authorities, who confirmed they are investigating across New York whether the rapid spread of centers catering to seniors is indicative of fraud.

“[It] begs the question: How many social adult daycare centers do you need?” Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told CBS News.

Social daycare facilities offer meals, personal care, social activities and other assistance to seniors and people with disabilities. Those services are then billed to the state government and covered by federal and state tax dollars.

The costs have been rising — especially in New York state, a CBS News data analysis found. Medicaid paid adult daycare providers $3.35 billion nationwide in 2024, and 17% of that money went to the 375 facilities across New York state — more than any other state. New York spending on these adult daycares ballooned in recent years, with the bill to taxpayers nearly quadrupling from 2018 to 2024.

The facilities in Flushing bill Medicaid for the equivalent of more than 90% of local Medicaid-eligible seniors.

Those numbers have not gone unnoticed. Investigations are underway into some social adult daycare centers across New York with potential federal action against them anticipated, CBS News has learned.

The epicenter of the spike in spending is the bustling neighborhood of Flushing, Queens, the densest cluster of social adult daycare facilities in the country: 64 within a one-mile radius, according to a CBS News analysis of Medicaid data.

Dr Oz currently leads a sweeping federal crackdown on Medicare and Medicaid fraud in his role as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Here’s his latest:

And this:

Nick Shirley: Here is the full 53 minutes of my crew and I exposing New York fraud, we uncovered over $190,000,000 in fraud as these fraudsters use the elderly and needy to commit fraud through adult and personal home care scams in NYC. Your tax dollars are paying for elderly Koreans and Chinese to play ping pong and do tai chi, while the fraudsters give $ kickbacks to those who enroll. Like it and share this video, the fraud must STOP.

We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for fraudsters to steal from our pockets. These fraudsters have been able to defraud American taxpayers for years without any pushback from the public and politicians. Time is up.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLES:

Somali Daycare Boss Featured in Nick Shirley Video Pleads Guilty in $4 Million Fraud Scandal

TAX THE RICH: Democrat NYC Council Approves Massive Pay Raise for Mamdani and Themselves

Democrat Socialists Shocking New Platform: Scrap the Senate, Gut the Presidency

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Critically Thinking about K-12 Expenditures vs Performance

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Let’s keep things in perspective… 

The teacher’s unions, and other self-serving allies, are always claiming that teacher pay is too low — and fixing that will solve the education crisis in our K-12 system (e.g., see here and here).

However, like a LOT of things we hear these days, this is inaccurate. Such assertions are made as the lobbyists know that the vast majority of citizens are NOT critical thinkers, so few will recognize when they are being conned.

See here for an example of reality. It shows that in the State of Washington, K-12 expenditure over the 2013 → 2024 period went off the charts.

Some will immediately attribute this to inflation, but this is also plotted, and the expenditures were 300%± what inflation was.

Worse, over the same period, the student performance in two sample K-12 subjects dropped precipitously.

Every other State is also listed on the Edunomics Lab. (Search over “ROI”.)

Bottom Line

The clear message here (and the data indicate that it is true in almost every other State), is that spending more money did NOT produce better performance.

In fact, the evidence shows that there is a negative correlation: more K-12 expenditures produce WORSE K-12 student performance…

The clear takeaway is that we need to reform what is being taught in K-12, not pay more for more of the same.

In simple terms: our K-12 school system should NOT be teaching children what to think (as is happening now), but rather HOW TO THINK!

It is as simple as that…

©2026 All rights reserved.

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Vance Takes Center Stage In White House Push To Protect GOP Majority

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Vice President JD Vance flew to Bangor, Maine, on May 14 for what was billed as an Anti-Fraud Task Force rally, but the trip quickly revealed its true purpose.

Vance shouted out former GOP Gov. Paul LePage, who is mounting a congressional bid, and extended an olive branch to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a frequent thorn in the administration’s side who faces reelection in 2026. As rallygoers waved “Protecting Taxpayer Dollars” signs, Vance made his closing argument: keep the Trump administration in power so the fraud-fighting can continue.

Maine was just the latest example of a pattern that has defined his vice presidency.

In the last five months, Vance has traveled to eight states for 11 campaign-type events. This excludes a trip like Maine, where the vice president was there technically on official business. Since taking over as finance chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Vance has headlined 25 fundraisers, an RNC official told the Daily Caller.

Outside of the president, Vance owns 2026. He’s the GOP’s top surrogate, its best closer and most valuable weapon on the trail.

“He has a star power that, outside of the president, is unmatched,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters told the Caller. “People love him, they love what he has to say. He’s a very good campaigner, a very good speaker and motivator. He just has the ability to move people.”

The White House political team has mapped out competitive districts and is deploying Vance accordingly, an official told the Caller. His team has been coordinating with the White House for months, and Vance has made clear he’ll go wherever he’s needed.

Those stops are expected to multiply as Labor Day approaches, though his travel will pause briefly when Usha Vance gives birth to their fourth child in the coming weeks.

“There’s a realization that he’s a younger face who articulates domestic issues in a way that resonates and complements the president’s style,” one source close to the administration told the Caller.

Vance isn’t alone on the trail. Cabinet officials have fanned out across the same battleground states, often far more frequently than the VP himself.

In Georgia, where former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat is up for grabs, Vance has visited once; Cabinet officials have made 14 trips since January.

In North Carolina, where former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley is running for Senate, Vance has stopped once to the Cabinet’s 11. In Vance’s home state of Ohio, where Vivek Ramaswamy is running for governor, and a tight Senate race between former Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Sen. Jon Husted is taking shape, Cabinet officials have shown up 19 times to his two. The pattern holds across Iowa (8-1), Wisconsin (11-1), and Michigan (15-1).

The numbers reflect a deliberate division of labor. The White House political team told Vance they needed him to make a push for Rep. Zach Nunn in Iowa, a source close to the political operation told the Caller, and the VP agreed. He goes where the ask is sharpest.

New York illustrates the scale: Cabinet officials have visited 27 times, Vance twice. In Texas, where Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton faces Democrat state Sen. James Talarico, Cabinet has been there 49 times, the president once, Vance twice.

And joining the Cabinet officials and the VP on the campaign trail will be Trump, who will be making some stops as Labor Day approaches, a White House official told the Caller.

On the fundraising side, Vance has been just as formidable. He has helped raise more than $60 million for the RNC since taking over as finance chair, according to The New York Times. The RNC ended May with $125.5 million cash on hand, raising $14.8 million in the month alone.

Gruters credits Vance’s personal touch.

“People that we’ve had come to some of our events have told me that they’ve been some of the best political events they’ve ever had, the best opportunity they’ve ever had to spend quality time with the VP,” he told the Caller. “It’s really opened up the opportunity for us to break out and raise these record-setting amounts.”

None of this can happen, however, without whispers of 2028. Trump loves to poll those around him on the question of his successor: Vance or Rubio. Every trail stop the VP makes adds more to the conversation.

Sources close to Vance insist the midterm push is not a calculated audition, and the VP has gone out of his way to signal as much. Earlier this year, he turned down political trips to Iowa specifically because he didn’t want them perceived as 2028 groundwork.

For Vance’s part, he has repeatedly said he is not thinking about 2028, but the job ahead.

“I have no doubt that the president of the United States is going to be very supportive of anything that I ultimately decide to do,” Vance told CBS News. “But we really just haven’t talked about what that thing will be.”

He added that he is not “sitting around figuring out whether I’m going to run for president.

But the overlap is hard to ignore.

“It also serves the heir apparent well to hit hotly contested areas of the country ahead of his own run,” one source close to the administration told the Caller. “In many ways, it’s a win-win.”

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent

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

IRS Allows Hamas Non-Profit to Operate Even After FBI Bust

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There’s nothing the IRS won’t allow except conservatives.

We’ve been covering IRS abuses for a long time and while it’s gone after conservative, Christian and Jewish groups, it’s allowed leftist and Islamist groups to go on operating.

This may be the most extreme example yet.

The Justice Department today announced the unsealing of a five-count complaint charging Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego, California, with terrorism, sanctions-evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statement charges in connection with his efforts to divert funds raised through purported charitable campaigns to Hamas and for personal use.

Since at least in or about 2022, Sabassi has used his social media accounts, crowdfunding websites, and his putative charity called Ikram — The Arab Charity Foundation Inc. (Ikram) to solicit donations from around the world, including from individuals in the United States and New York. In his online fundraising campaigns, Sabassi claimed to be raising funds to provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza; however, Sabassi was actually raising funds for Hamas. Sabassi and a co-conspirator joked privately that they should name the fundraiser after Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, before agreeing to use Sabassi’s Ikram. Sabassi worked with the Hamas fundraising organization Gaza Now and other co-conspirators to operate these online fundraisers and to send funds to Hamas.*** Between in or about December 2023 and in or about February 2024, Sabassi raised a total of approximately $600,000 through online fundraising campaigns, from which Sabassi sent approximately $116,000 to a Hamas member and attempted to convert approximately $382,000 of the cash he raised into cryptocurrency to send to Hamas through Gaza Now.

That’s not the strange part of this.

The non-profit in question should never have even been allowed to operate. The paperwork is woefully inadequate and the 2024 filing stated that the “remaining funds were placed under federal seizure due to an ongoing FBI investigation unrelated to the organization’s charitable activities.”

This should have rung some bells at the IRS. But nope. Neither did the FBI action because the IRS database shows that it’s still eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions despite a federal seizure of funds reported on its 2024 990s and a DOJ crackdown.

The IRS spent six years targeting us for writing negatively about Hillary Clinton but having the DOJ go after you for supporting Islamic terrorists is fine with the IRS.

There’s nothing the IRS won’t allow except conservatives.

AUTHOR

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Germany’s Domestic Intelligence Chief Warns of ‘Islamist Infiltration’

Dutch Taxpayers Are Paying Millions for Islamic Schools

German Police Officers: ‘This Country Is Finished’

Will Starmer Resign After Muslim Rape Gang Report Holds Him Accountable?

Canada: Edmonton to make Arabic courses widely available in public elementary and high schools, with help from Qatar

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permisson. ©All rights reserved.

Trump Reveals Controversial Plan to Make Americans ‘Very Rich’

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President Donald Trump said the public will become “very rich” due to his plan for the government to have stakes in top artificial intelligence companies.

“We’re talking about giving back something to the public, and if we do that, the public will become very rich, the people in our country, because that’s the kind of money we’re talking about, and I think they’ll do that, and I think it’ll make it very popular,” he told the Daily Signal at the signing of the Secure America Act.

Trump said Friday he planned to meet with top tech executives to discuss equity stakes in AI companies. However, subsequent reports indicated that the executives had not yet received invitations from the White House. Trump confirmed that the meeting is still going to occur.

He said he will meet with “the top 12 or 15 executives very shortly.”

“We’re having a meeting with them,” Trump said in response to a question from the Daily Signal. “It’s an amazing industry. It’s bigger than any industry anyone’s ever seen. We are leading China by a lot, and you know, whoever leads that is going to really lead the world to a large extent. That’s how big it is.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-described “democratic socialist,” has made a similar proposal with legislation requiring top AI companies to pay a one-time 50% tax in stock.

Senate Republicans have expressed skepticism at the proposal.

“I don’t think the federal government should be in the business of being an equity holder in private companies,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told NOTUS.

“I’m not a huge fan of the government owning industry, and I think with this you’d combine the worst of the big bureaucrats with the Big Tech monopolist,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said.

AUTHOR

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell 

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House correspondent for the Daily Signal. Follow on X TheElizMitchell.

RELATED ARTICLE: Counting the Cost of America’s AI Future

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

Amid War in Iran and Funding Ukraine, Rubio Tells Congress the State Department Is ‘America First’

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday to testify about his 2027 “America First” State Department budget request.

While most department budgets increase significantly, this is the second consecutive year the State Department continues to make significant cuts, no longer operating as “the world’s ATM.”

“Our foreign policy is one that is solely focused on the interests of the United States of America,” Rubio told the committee. Rubio’s request for a $35.6 billion budget is a 30% decrease from the $51.1 billion enacted in fiscal year 2026.

This effort reflects the Trump administration’s efforts to limit unnecessary global spending and a “bloated bureaucracy.” Most of the spending cuts have been in the U.S. Agency for International Development and grants to nongovernmental organizations, as well as shrinking the department workforce significantly.

Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, began the hearing by congratulating Rubio for implementing this agenda “quite well.” The senator supported the cuts and said the United States is no longer “the world’s ATM.”

Rubio agreed, saying, “The United States government is not a charity.”

The secretary is familiar with this committee, last appearing before members prior to the war in Iran. Rubio is also a former senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The secretary will continue his budget justification tour and will appear before three more committees this week.

On Tuesday, members began challenging him on nearly every issue, including the war in Iran, funding for Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa, artificial intelligence, actions against drug cartels in the South Pacific, and his cuts to the department.

U.S. operations in Iran are still underway. The ceasefire continues, but the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for global oil exports, remains closed. The Department of War has increased its budget request 44% to $1.5 trillion, breaking records as the largest increase since the Korean War. It will also likely need supplemental funding to support the war in Iran.

In late April, the Pentagon told the House Armed Services Committee that it had spent $25 billion on the war. Since then, however, reports indicate it could have reached nearly $35 billion.

While the administration is operating by putting America first, Rubio said the United States government needs to be involved in strategic actions abroad “on behalf of American interests.”

“Sometimes in foreign policy the choices are not between a good choice and a bad choice—it’s between two less-than-ideal choices,” Rubio said, standing by decisions he has made as secretary.

Congress is set to vote on, and will likely pass, another funding authorization bill to loan Ukraine an additional $8 billion this week. This would bring the total U.S. aid to Ukraine to nearly $200 billion since 2022.

AUTHOR

Virginia Grace McKinnon 

Virginia Grace McKinnon is a journalism fellow for the Daily Signal. Follow on X virginiagmck

RELATED VIDEO: Secretary of Stare Marco Rubio shuts down the leftist Democrats in Congress

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

Is Fighting Fraud Now Partisan?

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More than a dozen state attorneys general (AGs) met with Vice President J.D. Vance at a Tuesday meeting of the Trump administration’s anti-fraud roundtable, but not one of them was a Democrat. “Democratic AGs were invited to that same meeting, and it won’t surprise you that none of them attended,” declared Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R), who plans to participate in the initiative, on “Washington Watch”. The Democratic AGs not only avoided the event, but 23 of them even signed a public letter declaring that they would not.

“This absolutely should be an issue of concern to everyone,” warned FRC’s Jody Hice. Has fighting fraud now become a partisan issue?

The excuse offered in the letter was that Democrats did not believe the meeting was a “serious” discussion, and they were not given enough advance notice. “While we would appreciate the opportunity to engage in serious discussions, the invitation was provided with less than one business day’s notice with no agenda,” the letter complained. “With appropriate notice and a genuine opportunity for engagement, we would welcome the chance to participate in a future meeting and contribute to a productive dialogue.”

This complaint is not entirely without merit. According to an unnamed official cited by CNBC, invites were originally sent out only to Republican AGs. Apparently, whoever was responsible for organizing the meeting believed that fighting fraud was a partisan issue Democrats would not care about.

However, on Friday before the holiday weekend, Vice President Vance personally insisted that invitations be sent to Democrats too.

“This should not be a partisan effort,” Vance declared before the meeting. “Everybody should care about fraud. Everybody should care about rooting out fraud. Everybody should care about saving the American taxpayers money, and importantly, everybody should care about actually protecting the programs that only work and are only properly funded.”

But Democratic AGs chose to take offense at not originally receiving an invitation, rather than reciprocating Vance’s magnanimity to intervene on their behalf.

A last-minute (or last-business-day) invitation could provide a justification for some state AGs to skip the meeting. Some, like Marshall, likely had scheduling conflicts (although very few scheduling conflicts outweigh an invitation from the White House). Some, like AGs on the West Coast, could plead that the travel burden made the trip not worth the effort — not without time to schedule other East Coast meetings.

But many of the letter’s signatories are located much closer to Washington, D.C. than the West Coast. The letter was signed by the Democratic AGs of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and even the AG of D.C. itself. Instead of spending time adjusting their schedules to fit in a quick trip to the White House, these officials instead chose to spend their time drafting a letter to declare that they would not participate and circulating it for signatures. Several Democratic AGs even organized a press conference that afternoon to counter-program the event.

These factors suggest that the short notice was not the only reason — perhaps not even the main reason — why Democratic AGs organized a collective boycott of the anti-fraud roundtable.

What other possible reasons present themselves? These elected officials could be executing the common Democratic strategy of instinctively opposing any action the Trump administration tries to take — even to the point of being uncooperative on fraud prevention. Or they could be trying to avoid the embarrassment of showing up unprepared to a meeting where their own state’s fraud failure was on the agenda. There might be other reasons, but both of these are highly plausible.

The reason is the Trump administration’s narrative and focus on combatting fraud. This began with the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) highly publicized audits of government books. Those investigations found some substantial savings, although their results did not quite live up to the hype.

Since then, however, the Trump administration has continued to root out waste, fraud, and abuse through individual government departments, which are looking carefully at their expenses.

With the help of intrepid independent journalists, this focus on fraud blew open the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal late last year, which uncovered systematic fraud by Somali immigrants running fake daycares. In just one fraud scheme, Somali immigrants stole approximately $250 million in federal welfare dollars. But nearly 100 individuals were charged across multiple schemes.

The investigation spread beyond Minnesota and beyond the Somali community. By the end of 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice had charged 265 individuals with fraud, worth an alleged $15 billion in health care alone, and they had secured 235 convictions, either through guilty pleas or trials.

Early this year, President Trump tapped Vice President Vance to head up an anti-fraud task force. That group is now looking at fraud in at least 14 state welfare programs totaling a potential $9 billion. Additionally, Vance said the task force had referred $22 billion in potentially fraudulent small business loans to the Treasury Department and deferred $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from states (like California) that had failed to sufficiently cooperate with fighting fraud.

Of course, some fraud is neither systematic nor narrative-building. Sometimes, fraud is simply a result of sinful human beings deciding it is easy to steal from the public — until they get caught. Earlier this month, a former CIA analyst with top-secret clearance was arrested for defrauding the U.S. government in a number of ways. He falsified the details of his Navy service record, claimed 744 hours of paid time off for active military service for a decade after his discharge, and scammed his agency for millions in “work-related expenses.” Federal investigators found $40 million in gold bars, $2 million in cash, and 35 luxury watches in his home.

Examples like this one show fraud for what it is: someone who seeks to enrich himself by stealing from the government. It is little different from insider trading and almost the same thing as an elected official embezzling public funds.

“This should not be a political issue,” Marshall maintained. “When someone is stealing taxpayer dollars, that should be one [thing] that both Democrats and Republicans can unite around.”

Unfortunately, some public officials seem reluctant to unite around this principle. After citizen journalists like Nick Shirley began to uncover welfare fraud in California of the scope and nature of the fraud he had uncovered in Minnesota, the U.S. DOJ in April formed a West Coast strike force in its fraud division to focus on the Westernmost states.

But California didn’t want to play along. It’s unclear whether state officials meant to save themselves the embarrassment of being shown for dupes, or whether they believe the fraud should continue because the beneficiaries are illegal immigrants (and, in some twisted version of Marxism, their theft is therefore justified).

On Wednesday, the California Assembly passed a bill to ban photographing or video-recording employees of nonprofit organizations without their consent. This seems similar to the law Kamala Harris used 10 years ago to prosecute David Daleiden for exposing Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby body parts. The difference is that it expands penalties.

The bill also seems suspiciously timed and targeted to suppress the type of journalism Nick Shirley and others have used to expose, for instance, daycare and at-home care nonprofits that don’t actually provide any services, but bill the government anyway. Critics of the legislation have dubbed it the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.”

The good news is, Democratic state AGs do recognize they have a duty to combat fraud, and their letter to Vance at least acknowledges the nobility of the objective. Marshall expressed “hope” that his Democratic counterparts would come around to cooperate with the administration.

“It’s their legal responsibility, as the chief law enforcement officers of their state, to not only ensure that taxpayer money is spent appropriately, but also hold those accountable who violate the laws,” he said. “My hope is that they will see the wisdom of that. But yet we haven’t obviously seen a whole lot of action in Minnesota or in California yet.”

“We have a responsibility [to] the taxpayers of this country to root out waste, fraud, and abuse,” Marshall added. “We know what’s going on in the system. This administration has made it a priority, and we stand with them looking forward to best practices delivering results to the people across the country.”

The question is whether, in the age of Trump, even fighting fraud has become an issue divided along partisan battle lines. It should not matter whether the fraud is perpetrated by foreign nationals. What should matter is whether U.S. taxpayers are getting bilked out of billions by people leeching off the public coffers. In the eyes of the Left, though, the former question seems to get more attention than the latter.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2026 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

‘Morally Incomprehensible’: Jihad Mamdani Spends MILLIONS on his Propaganda Office

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Mamdani is worse, far worse, than even the most dire predictions.

“This is purely politics at a time when real services are needed,” Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Post. “We have real deficits and this mayor is spending five million dollars to put 40 political operatives on the payroll. It’s morally incomprehensible . . . It’s outrageous.”

Mamdani is planning to hire an additional 26 comrades by next year, at an average salary of $125,000, based on details in the budget.

Another $30,000 is being set asides for non-staff expenses, new docs reveal.

Mamdani plans to spend $5.2M on his propaganda office: ‘Morally incomprehensible’

By Gabrielle Fahmy, NY Post, May 31, 2026, 6:00 a.m. ET

Taxpayers are on the hook for $5.2 million to pay the swollen salaries of the information ministers in socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new City Hall propaganda bureau – a staggering 175% more than first thought, The Post can reveal.

It’s barely been open for business for a month, but the Office of Mass Engagement has already seen ts headcount balloon 186% from 14 to 40, with $5,123,756 earmarked for salaries, according to the city’s recently released 2027 executive budget.

The Post exclusively reported in March the agency had begun hiring for 14 cushy jobs totaling roughly $1.6 million in taxpayer cash, with gigs that included a $150,000 campaign director, whose job description mirrored the work of a political campaign staffer.

Another $30,000 is being set asides for non-staff expenses, new docs reveal.

“This is purely politics at a time when real services are needed,” Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Post. “We have real deficits and this mayor is spending five million dollars to put 40 political operatives on the payroll. It’s morally incomprehensible . . . It’s outrageous.”

“This isn’t for anybody’s benefit but the mayor’s.”

The purported purpose of the office is to get New Yorkers involved in policy making, but critics have slammed the move as classic Soviet-era politics — using taxpayer dough to stifle opposition to his agenda.

The budget didn’t reveal the 40 job descriptions. Those hired so far include Commissioner Tascha Van Auken, Mamdani’s campaign field director, and Mohamed Alharbi, the office’s deputy borough director for Queens.

Mayor Mamdani smiles while holding Executive Order No. 7 establishing the Office of Mass Engagement.

Workers in the Office of Mass Engagement come on top of the mayor’s own communications team, which is expected to be larger than that of any other mayor in Big Apple history, sources said.

Mamdani has budgeted $51.8 million for the mayor’s office in 2027, an increase of $7 million from former Mayor Eric Adam’s budget last year.

When he announced its creation, Mamdani claimed the new office would get marginalized communities involved in city government. But so far it’s catered to the mostly white and wealthy DSA base who put him in office.

This week, three workers were seen by The Post canvassing the Lower East side to get people to turn up to Rent Guideline Board hearings, ahead of its June vote whether to green light the rent-freeze Mamdani campaigned on, which would impact the 2 million residents of the city’s rent-stabilized apartments.

It’s part of the office’s first mission, dubbed Organize NYC, recruiting volunteers and doorknocking, using tactics reminiscent of the DSA, which won him the election

Workers have been canvassing since early May in parts of the Bronx, Queens, lower and upper Manhattan and Brooklyn, but not on Staten Island — though a city spokesperson assured The Post a borough representative had been hired and the city’s only Republican stronghold wouldn’t be left out.

The new office also drew comparisons to former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who churned out more than 250 promotional videos in his first two years in office.

A City Hall rep told The Post that the office has also made outreach to landlord advocacy groups to testify at the hearings, and claimed the office will not advocate for any specific outcome.

“Every New Yorker should have a say in the future of their city,” said Penelope Birnbaum.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Team Trump Says Welfare Fraud Is So Vast It Could Wipe Out The Federal Deficit

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Stephen Miller says the scale of welfare fraud is so massive that eliminating it alone could balance the entire federal budget

“The amount that has been fleeced from us is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

“We could balance the federal budget if the only dollars that went out of the treasury went to individuals who were properly, lawfully, correctly eligible to receive them.”

This should infuriate EVERY taxpayer.

Vice President JD Vance tells reporters that in “just two months” the anti-fraud task force he has led for the Trump administration has “exposed billions of dollars in benefits that have been stolen from the American people.” During the roundtable, Vance claims the task force has deferred funds from fraudsters seeking small business loans and Medicaid reimbursements and recovered funds “stolen” from COVID relief programs. Vance says, “We’re protecting the American taxpayers who shouldn’t have their money stolen by fraudsters and of course we’re protecting the people who need these services.”

C-SPAN: The vice president was joined by Andrew Ferguson (the task force chair), Stephen Miller and some 15 state attorneys general. Vance: In just two months, we exposed billions of dollars in benefits that had been stolen from the American people. We referred over $22 billion in fraudulent small business loans back to the treasury for collection. We deferred more than $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements that were coming from various states, particularly California…. We recovered taxpayer funds from the $135 billion stolen after the floodgates were open in the immediate aftermath of COVID. We have found $6.3 billion in suspected fraudulent government contracts, which were mostly awarded during the last administration and that has stopped. Finally, we blocked $60 million in student aid fraud that should have gone to young people trying to get an education, but instead we’re going to fraudsters.

From The White House: This is a direct offensive against every fraudulent scheme preying on hardworking Americans — and the results are already staggering.

Red State: More from Ward Clark at Red State: So, the question is this: Why has this been allowed to go on this long? It staggers belief that there wasn’t some indication as to how bad things were before now.

WATCH: Vice President JD Vance Holds a State Attorneys General Roundtable on Anti-Fraud Initiatives on May 26, 2026

Vice President JD Vance’s Anti-Fraud Task Force just dropped the HARD NUMBERS from the first 50 days.

  • $22 billion in fraudulent small business loans referred for collection.
  • $1.3 billion in bogus Medicaid payments deferred.
  • $6.3 billion in shady government contracts stopped.
  • $60 million in student aid scams blocked.

Those all don’t even include in the SIX MONTH hold on fraudulent hospice providers, recovery from the $135 billion post-COVID theft, and 450 charges, convictions, and sentences nationwide including major Medicaid busts in Minnesota, Arizona, and California.

This is REAL ACCOUNTABILITY. Watch the full roundtable to see the complete picture.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

WATCH: President Trump cancels $29 BILLION in NGO grants on behalf of the hardworking American taxpayer

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

215,000 Federal Civilian Employees Were Tax-Delinquent in 2024: IG Report

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Some 215,000 federal civilian employees owed the government money in unpaid taxes in Fiscal Year 2024, according to a May 6 report by the Treasury Inspector General (IG) for Tax Administration. The number grew by more than 40% since Fiscal Year 2021, despite a growth of only 4% in the federal civilian workforce, marking yet another unsung failure of the Biden administration. While the IG proposes partial policy solutions, the extent of tax delinquency among federal workers suggests a deeper, moral crisis.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 (which ran from October 2020 to September 2021), some 149,000 federal civilian taxpayers (4.9% of the workforce) were behind on their taxes. This could possibly be related to the COVID pandemic, but government employees were paid regularly throughout that period.

However, since then, the delinquency rate only skyrocketed. In FY2022, 180,000 federal civilian employees (6.0%) were delinquent. In FY2023, delinquency reached 191,000 employees (6.2%); and in FY2024, the number hit 215,000, or 6.9% of the workforce. Over this period, the federal civilian workforce only grew by 4%, from 3.0 million in FY2021 to 3.1 million in FY2022.

As the delinquency rate increased, so did the amount of money owed by federal employees in federal taxes. In FY2021, delinquent federal civilian taxpayers owed $1.5 billion. But, in FY2024, they owed $2.1 billion.

When the IG expanded the scope of its review from federal civilian employees to include both employees and retirees, it found that the problem only increased in scale, though at a slightly lower rate. In FY2021, some 401,000 federal civilian employees and retirees (4.0%) owed $4.8 billion in unpaid taxes. By FY2024, 572,000 employees and retirees (5.7%) owed $6.3 billion.

The IG anticipated a question many readers would ask themselves: which federal departments have the highest rates of employee noncompliance? The U.S. Postal Service topped the list, with 10.1% of its employees owing $570 million in unpaid taxes. Next was the Veterans Administration, where 7.3% owed $379 million in taxes. After that, the order becomes jumbled, with between 5.4% and 7.1% of civilian employees in various military and security departments (including each of the Army, Navy, Defense, and DHS) owing between $145 million and $115 million.

The IG report implied that one reason for the high delinquency rates in some departments is a legal information barrier that hampers accountability. “Delinquency rates among employees are partially dependent on whether agencies can hold employees accountable for their lack of tax compliance,” it stated. “The Treasury Department is permitted to hold employees accountable for tax delinquencies. As a result, the Treasury Department’s 2.4 percent delinquency rate is relatively low compared to other federal agencies.”

However, “Due to privacy restrictions under Internal Revenue Code Section 6103, the IRS cannot share specific employee related tax information with the delinquent employee’s federal agency,” it added.

Beyond this long-term, systemic issue, the IG report suggested that the recent rise in federal employees not paying taxes was due to the suspension of collection programs during COVID. “IRS Collection management attributed the year-to-year increase to the temporary pauses of levy programs, the Automated Substitute for Return program (an enforcement tool to address nonfilers), and collection notice issuance during the pandemic and recovery years,” the report concluded. “The IRS began a phased-in resumption of the levy program in August 2024 and anticipates that the delinquency rates will decrease in the coming years.”

Effectively, the IRS simply suspended its tax collection enforcement mechanisms for the pandemic and didn’t bother restarting them until around four years later — months from the next presidential election.

The IG report included some data suggesting these measures were successful. For instance, the IG got the IRS to mass-issue one-time notices to the delinquent federal employees. After issuing the notice, the IRS collected $58 million, the report said. Fifty-nine thousand employees made a payment, and 4,700 paid their full balance.

But that still only offers a partial solution. Less than half of the federal employees who owed taxes responded to the notice. The problem goes deeper than COVID-era enforcement suspension, and thus it requires a deeper solution.

This point is also evident from the IG’s finding that “approximately 50,000 federal civilian employees failed to file a tax return for multiple years.” There were 25,438 employees with two “unresolved” years, 13,687 with three, 6,209 with four, 2,761 with five, 1,020 with six, 381 with seven, 102 with eight, and 20 employees who had not filed a tax return in nine or more years.

For the 122 employees with eight or more unfiled tax returns, the IG “referred these taxpayers to Criminal Investigation for review because the IRS’s Collection function had not.”

Such a revelation is shocking. Amid the busyness of life, the possibility of exigent circumstances, and natural human limits, it is conceivable that someone may innocently forget to file his or her taxes once, perhaps even twice in a row (failing to file in non-consecutive years is unlikely due to needing to provide your past years’ AGI on your current year’s return.) Even still, it is nearly impossible for the ordinary American to avoid the omnipresent tax service ads that appear each spring, making it nearly impossible for anyone to forget to file taxes at all.

But for a person to not file taxes at all for the better part of a decade, no explanation presents itself except that the person refused to file taxes as a deliberate choice. That is, well-paid employees who persistently fail to file tax returns seem to be operating under the belief that the rules apply to everyone else, just not to them.

Furthermore, these are not just ordinary citizens, going about their lives with so little interaction with the federal government that they forget it even exists (as blissful and utopian as that may be). These are federal employees. They think about the federal government every working day of their lives because it is literally their boss. They also have a greater understanding than the ordinary citizen about the importance of federal funding and what it achieves.

Federal employees love to bear the title, “civil servant.” And there are many conscientious, hardworking federal employees for which this label is true. But the term “civil servant” implies a person who serves the public. Those who take a salary from Uncle Sam but refuse to return his cut to the common pot are better describing as “leeching off of” the public than “serving” it.

“Federal employees are held to a higher standard to file and pay their taxes since their compensation is primarily from federal taxes,” the IG report concluded. “As the agency responsible for administering federal tax law, the IRS must ensure that federal employees comply with the tax law to maintain the public’s confidence.”

As one negative side-effect, the report suggested, “If taxpayers are aware that federal employees are not tax compliant, it may impact their willingness to comply with their own tax matters.”

In other words, if private citizens notice and imitate the bad example of federal employees, it could result in fewer taxes paid all around. “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

Perhaps that explains how federal employees started down the road to not paying their taxes in the first place. Federal employees are primarily overseen by politicians. Perhaps, over decades of selfish rule, America’s federal workforce has gradually learned from their political bosses the art of believing the rules do not apply to them.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: EPIC: Mild Reforms Save Nearly $1 Trillion for Social Security, Add 7 Months to Program’s Solvency

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2026 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Trump Says He Wants to Suspend the Gas Tax

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President Trump said Monday that he supports suspending the federal gas tax “for a period of time” to help lower prices at the pump, which have spiked dramatically since the start of the war with Iran.

“I think it’s a great idea,” the president told CBS News during a phone interview. “We’re going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in.” The average national price for a gallon of gas was $4.52 on Monday, according to AAA. That represents a roughly 50% increase from where prices stood shortly before the war started in late February.

Trump’s comments come a day after Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC News that the administration was considering suspending the federal gas tax. “All measures that can be taken to lower the price at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” Wright said. “We’re open to all ideas.”

However, the Trump administration doesn’t have the authority to suspend the gas tax unilaterally. Congress would have to pass a bill for the policy to go into effect. Some Republicans have come forward in support of legislation to pause the gas tax in the wake of Trump’s comments, but it remains to be seen whether the idea has enough bipartisan backing to become law.

If a bill does end up passing, it will only affect the federal gas tax, which is currently about 18 cents per gallon for regular gas and 24 cents per gallon for diesel. State gas taxes, which are nearly 33 cents per gallon on average, would still be in place unless state-level lawmakers take action. Since the start of the war, a handful of states — including Georgia, Indiana and Utah — have taken steps to suspend their gas taxes temporarily. The idea has also been a big subject for debate in the California governor’s race.

©2026 . All rights reserved.

Dan Franzese Announces Candacy for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 25th District

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Conservative business leader pledges to fight for lower costs, secure borders and the Trump agenda in newly redrawn FL-25

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Dan Franzese today announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Florida’s newly redrawn 25th Congressional District (FL-25). Franzese — who was the Republican nominee in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District (FL-22) in 2024 — enters the race promising to put America First, make life affordable, and hold career politicians accountable for the backroom deals destroying Florida’s way of life.

“Florida families have been betrayed by career politicians far too many times,” said Franzese. “As a political outsider from the business world, President Trump has been draining the swamp, delivering secure borders, and an America First agenda. In Congress, I’ll use that same experience to back him up, make life more affordable again, and hold career politicians accountable. The people of FL-25 deserve a fighter who shows up, tells the truth, and delivers — not another ladder climber cutting deals behind closed doors.”

Dan Will Fight To:

  • Put America First: Support President Trump’s agenda, secure our elections, and stop criminal illegal aliens.
  • Make Life Affordable Again: Cut taxes, lower energy costs, and reduce inflation.
  • Hold Career Politicians Accountable: Stop waste, fraud, and sketchy backroom deals that destroy our Florida way of life.

The new FL-25 overlaps the old FL-22, where Franzese was previously the Republican nominee and received an endorsement from President Donald Trump in 2024. From a blue-collar upbringing to a Wharton MBA, Franzese has established a record as a tireless conservative leader and trusted voice for the America First movement in South Florida. He has spent years building deep relationships in the community, working alongside local leaders, small business owners, faith communities, and grassroots conservatives. Those roots position him to compete and win in the new FL-25, which spans portions of Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County, following the legislature’s redistricting last month.

Recent reporting in Florida Politics has confirmed that the FL-25 race is wide open, with no candidate consolidating early support and the majority of primary voters undecided.

The campaign is also releasing an internal polling memo showing that Franzese enters the race with strong favorability among voters that know him and a clear lane to introduce his America First vision to voters across the district.

About Dan Franzese

Dan Franzese is a conservative business leader, husband, father, and longtime South Florida resident. He has been an active voice in Palm Beach County’s conservative community and is running for Congress to put America first, make life affordable again, and hold career politicians accountable on behalf of the families of FL-25. More information is available at www.DanForUSA.com.

©2026 . All rights reserved.

Mamdani Uses Taxpayer Money to Build a City-Funded Activist Army

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New York City may be broker than a barista with a college degree but that isn’t stopping socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani from funding his activist army.

On Wednesday, the mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement rolled out a program called “Organize NYC” that’s billed asopens in a new tab a “long-term initiative to bring mass public participation into the work of governing.”

The first thing these paid activists will do is to get people to participate in the Rent Guidelines Board hearing in June.

Volunteers will canvass across the city to encourage tenants and landlords to testify ahead of the board’s June vote, which will determine whether rents increase or remain the same for more than 2 million New Yorkers.

This vote mainly has to do with a potential further rent freeze in the city.

The mayor’s office said in a statement that these publicly paid community organizers “will not advocate for any specific outcome,” but you can bet that critics of the program aren’t buying itopens in a new tab.

If you have any doubts about what that totally, absolutely neutral program is about, just watch a few minutes of the ad pumping this grift.

Yes, “Mohammed” in the commercial here is wearing a keffiyeh, which has become a symbol of Palestinian “resistance” to Israel and is often worn by members of Hamas.

Even some Democrats weren’t too pleased with this sartorial choice.

“It’s all intentionally divisive and hateful,” former Democrat state Assemblyman Dov Hikind said to the New York Post on Saturdayopens in a new tab. “This man is representing the administration. If someone came to my door with a keffiyeh, I’d immediately be nervous.”

But that’s only a small part of the issue with Organize NYC.

In a separate New York Post editorialopens in a new tab on Sunday, John Ketcham and Christian Browne—two Manhattan Institute scholars—called out Organize NYC as an attempt to create a thinly veiled, “taxpayer-funded effort to embed campaign-style political organizing inside city government, dress it up as civic virtue, and deliver Mamdani’s campaign promise under a veneer of official neutrality.”

That certainly seems to be the case.

As the authors noted, Mamdani’s office has been vague about how much money the utterly broke city government facing a “historic” budget crisisopens in a new tab will be sending Organize NYC’s way.

It’s clear what Mamdani is doing. He’s funding his activist class and making sure that public money is going to his people while using them to bolster numbers for their pet causes. As I wrote when he wonopens in a new tab the election in November, Mamdani will “provide an ample training ground for his socialist comrades to gain experience wielding power.”

This is a small but critical part of that larger goal. And you can be sure this model will be copied elsewhere.

The leftist Dissent Magazine celebratedopens in a new tab Mamdani’s initiative to keep activists activated. Though even it had to acknowledge that “pushing against the limits of what is perceived as acceptably ‘political’ within the confines of city government will be one continuing challenge for the Office of Mass Engagement.”

You can be sure that not only will Mamdani lean heavily on this organization in New York City, but the Left will launch similar efforts elsewhere.

That’s why what happens in New York, unfortunately, matters beyond the limits of the five boroughs. Mamdani’s revolution is a pilot program for a socialist government that the Left hopes to scale up and spread elsewhere. Never mind that the previous pilot programs didn’t turn out too good. Surely, True Socialism will work this time, right?

Right now, Mamdani and company are focused on consolidating, ensuring they keep control long after their popularity plummets.

Once Democrats and the Left gain power, they focus immediately on cementing itopens in a new tab, ensuring that their people get the fruits of patronage, and that public money flows toward their pet projects, their people, and away from their enemies.

Whether their policies or other activities serve the broader public matters a lot less than ensuring their own people are taken care of.

You can see why the Left’s activist class, their NGO network, and their hordes of government bureaucrats remain so committed to the cause despite obvious governing failures.

Those failures are your problem, not theirs.

From their perspective, the government doesn’t really have to provide clean streets, efficient services, law and order, or anything like that. It’s about spoils and special benefits, with a little redistribution and social engineering on the side.

This is one of the many reasons so many of our big, blue cities seem utterly dysfunctional despite so many economic advantages.

Unfortunately for New York, Mamdani is doing everything his predecessors did wrong and making things worse. But he’s doing this while cleverly ensuring that even if his socialist experiments fail, there will be nothing anyone can do about it.

Dark times in the Big Apple.

AUTHOR

Jarrett Stepman

Jarrett Stepman is a columnist for The Daily Signal. He is also the author of “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Pastopens in a new tab.” Send an email to Jarrett. Follow on X: JarrettStepman

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