How a Trump sign could pave the way to Congress

Published

2 years ago

December 2, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

How a Trump sign could pave the way to Congress

Anthony Constantino wants to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in the House…
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Trump keeps extending the Iran war. Republicans are losing patience.

Published

5 minutes ago

June 12, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans keep lengthening President Donald Trump’s leash on Iran.

First, they hoped he would stick to his initial four- to six-week timeline for the war. Then, they gave him 60 days; then, until summer.

Now, battleground GOP party chairs, campaign officials and strategists are coalescing around Labor Day as their hard deadline, according to interviews with more than a dozen people.

It’s different this time, they say: September is the unofficial kickoff of general election season, when more voters tune in and the stakes get higher. Amid rising U.S. casualties, gas prices and fertilizer costs, these Republicans indicated the political risk of the ongoing war is heightening as the midterms draw near.

“By the first of September … it needs to be resolved,” said Dan Naylor, who runs the Lackawanna County GOP in a critical House battleground district in Pennsylvania. “You get more focused on the election at that point in time, and we need to be able to point to falling prices.”

Still, Naylor said he and many other Republicans believe Trump is doing what “needed to be done” in Iran and acknowledged the president is unlikely to “draw a line in the sand” for an end date given the complexity of the situation.

“I believe that voters need some time to see prices coming down before Election Day,” said a Nevada GOP strategist working on battleground House races, who – like others in this story — were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the midterm landscape. “If we can get this normalized with some time, we’ll be okay. But if we’re looking at Labor Day coming up on us, and we still have $5 a gallon gas, we’ll be in big trouble.”

A senior White House official said Friday that a preliminary deal with Iran to end the war is close but not final, putting the chances of success at 80 percent to 85 percent, as lingering skepticism hangs over the negotiations. A deal would bring a sigh of relief to war-weary Republicans — and they expressed faith that it would come to fruition. But this is not the first time an agreement seemed imminent, only for the war to continue.

The cracks within the GOP have started to spill into public view, with some candidates emphasizing the need for the war to wrap up soon, even if they agreed with its initial goals.

Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa, acknowledged at a campaign event at the end of last month that the war would become a “political liability” if it drags on beyond “the next couple of weeks.” Sen. Jon Husted, who is running for a full term in battleground Ohio, said earlier this month he’s not sure how the war is going to come to an end but “it needs to,” referring to the stalled and uncertain negotiations with Iran. And Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is running for reelection in Nebraska, said on local radio this week that he wants to see “a diplomatic solution” to the war “as quickly as possible.”

In May and June, eight Republican lawmakers sided with Democrats to vote against Trump’s war powers — extraordinary breaks from the president that included some of the most at-risk Republicans on the House and Senate battlemaps, like Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett. (Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who also supported the measure, lost their reelections to Trump-backed challengers earlier this year.)

Most of those Republican members, including Reps. Warren Davidson, Barrett and Fitzpatrick, defended their defections as standing up for Congress’ authority to decide the length and scope of military action taken. Massie has long been opposed to American military intervention.

“It would be nice to see some more progress on the negotiations,” said a national Republican operative working on Senate races. “The goals are worthy, but obviously, if this is continuing to go on into late summer, into the fall, it’s going to continue to present issues.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican hand-wringing about the war’s impact on the midterms comes at a moment when Trump has shown little interest in off-ramps in the Middle East. The president has been vocally frustrated with Iran’s unwillingness to sign on to his administration’s demands. On Thursday morning, he vowed to strike the country “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” before reversing course later that afternoon.

He also said his goal was to seize Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil hub, in an operation that could imperil American troops, but that he doesn’t believe “America has the stomach for it.”

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who holds significant influence over the young, anti-interventionist wing of the GOP, said on his show Thursday that the president “is a spotty commander-in-chief and certainly no diplomat and obviously not a dealmaker.”

“What we’re beginning to understand, unfortunately, for the rest of us, are not just the limits of Trump, but the limits of American power,” said Carlson, who has emerged as one of the most prominent anti-war voices.

Even if the war ends soon, it could take months for gas prices to return to pre-war levels, Republicans and economic analysts have warned, increasing the urgency on Trump to exit before the last primaries wrap up.

“Veterans support Trump and what he’s doing overall, but the longer it drags out, the economic impact is a reality that we’re seeing on the ground,” said Mark Lucas, a Trump ally and founder of Veterans Action. “And that’s why we’re very supportive of President Trump getting to a peaceful resolution.”

“What good does it do us if September 15 rolls around and prices come down, but people are about to start voting?” the Nevada-based GOP strategist said.

Polling shows that support for the Iran war is weak among Americans — and many say it is making their financial situation worse, a warning sign for Republicans staring down a November election that will likely hinge on voters’ cost-of-living concerns. A recent POLITICO Poll found a majority of Americans, including a sizable share of Trump’s own voters in 2024, say he has not done enough to protect them from the economic fallout from the war.

A majority of Republican voters still approve of the conflict, underscoring their ongoing trust in the president,but that support could slip the longer it continues.

“People have short-term memories, but if challenges lag on and it starts becoming the thing heading into the fall, there’s a liability there,” said Tyler Campbell, an Iowa-based Republican strategist unaffiliated with the major races. “Urgency is kind of important right now, so hopefully it will come to a resolution.”

Since the start of the war, Republicans have offered conflicting deadlines about how long it should last. In March, Trump said the war would be a “short-term excursion”; later, he criticized Americans’ lack of patience and boasted that the Iran war was significantly shorter than World War II or the Iraq war.

Republican lawmakers and candidates, dealing with an increasingly frustrated base, have been telling voters for months that the conflict would resolve sooner rather than later, only to be proven wrong.

In March, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, running for reelection in his battleground Arizona district, told a local reporter that “everybody wants it to end as soon as possible, and that’s my objective as well.” In April, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, up for reelection in Florida, told a podcaster that “everything should be wrapped up shortly.” And in May, Rep. Brad Finstad of Minnesota told local radio he hopes the war “is addressed and ended as soon as possible.”

“We cannot be fighting everybody else’s wars,” said Susan Ruch, the Carson City, Nevada GOP chair. “I do not want it to be a forever war, and I think the Iranians, if they do not want this form of government, at some point they have to figure out how they’re going to do it.”

Politics

Freedom 250’s fair on National Mall highlights conservative groups

Published

5 minutes ago

June 12, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The nation’s conservative advocacy groups will be well represented at the Great American State Fair, a two-week-long exposition celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary on the National Mall that is blessed by President Donald Trump and his allies.

The fair is organized by Freedom 250, a nonprofit set up by the president and his allies to promote the country’s semiquincentennial. Freedom 250 has clashed with — and overshadowed — America250, a bipartisan organization chartered by Congress a decade ago to prepare for the country’s anniversary.

Conservative organizations featured at the fair, according to a release sent on Friday by Freedom 250, include America Prays, a coalition of evangelical and other religious groups that calls for weekly prayer for the United States of America; the American Principles Project, a prominent political advocacy organization; and the Association of Mature American Citizens, which pitches itself as a rival to the AARP.

Joining them is Hillsdale College, a small Christian liberal arts school known for its conservative bent, and Focus on the Family, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ ministry that describes its mission as one dedicated to fostering “marriages that go the distance, equip parents to raise great kids and put Jesus Christ at the center of homes worldwide.”

Some Democrats have charged that Trump has taken the bipartisanship out of the monumental anniversary. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) in February said that the administration was working to “hijack the country’s 250th anniversary and sell access, hide his donors and rewrite history.” Also in February, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) launched a probe into Freedom 250’s fundraising practices.

The fair will run from June 25 to July 10, “and transform the National Mall into a living showcase of America’s past, present, and future,” organizers announced on Friday.

“PRAY.COM is honored to be participating in the Great American State Fair as an opportunity to connect with people from across the country,” Steve Gatena, founder and CEO of Pray.com — one of the lead organizers of America Prays — said in a statement. “Our mission is to grow faith and cultivate community through technology, and we look forward to sharing resources that support prayer, encouragement, and spiritual well-being.”

None of the other organizations immediately responded to requests for comment.

Painter Scott LoBaido, whose website promotes a print of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani blowing up Manhattan, will also be doing live art at the fair, according to the Friday release.

Organizers said more than 100 states and institutions will be represented with booths at the fair. The event is also drawing companies with no specific political affiliation, from C-SPAN to Meta and tractor company John Deere.

“Americans have been arguing at the dinner table for 250 years and somehow still showed up to the same Fourth of July party,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Rachel Reisner said in a statement when asked about the conservative groups’ participation. “We’re not stopping now. The Great American State Fair, July 4 fireworks, the whole spectacular once-in-a-generation 250th anniversary blowout — it’s happening, and your neighbor with the opposing bumper sticker is going to be standing right next to you, probably enjoying it just as much. Freedom 250 is a celebration for America — which, last we checked, includes all of it. Every single star on that flag. See you there.”

But some states have chosen to sit out. At least six states — Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon — will officially not be sending anyone to the fair, NOTUS reported on Thursday. Freedom 250 is bringing in other institutions from those states, the outlet wrote.

In May, several musical artists dropped out of planned performances at the fair after learning of its ties to Trump, prompting the president to announce plans to hold a political rally instead, scheduled for June 24.

“It will be special at every level — A Rally to end all Rallies!” he wrote on Truth Social last week. “We don’t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep, we’ve told them all to stay home. All we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played, the same Music you have listened to for years!”

Politics

Trump believes that we will win

Published

35 minutes ago

June 12, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump called the U.S. men’s soccer team on Friday ahead of its opening matchup at the World Cup in Los Angeles, predicting big things for them and head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

“I just called to say you’re a fantastic guy, a fantastic coach,” Trump said. “I know all about your record and your success. And I know how great the players are. I think you’ve got a really good chance of going all the way.” The USMNT is ranked 17th in the world by FIFA, and oddsmakers rate them as +5000 shots to win it all.

Led by AC Milan star Christian Pulisic, the Americans will face Paraguay on Friday evening in LA’s SoFi Stadium.

Pochettino, who was joined byWhite House World Cup Task Force head Andrew Giuliani, told Trump “we are going to do everything to make proud you and all the people here in this country.”