During four terms in Congress, South Dakota’s Dusty Johnson has emerged as a leading voice on American agricultural policy, U.S.-China relations and fiscal responsibility. 

Often known as the «problem solver,» he recently sat down with Fox News Digital at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas to discuss his congressional career, his South Dakota gubernatorial bid and his future plans as his time in the U.S. House draws to a close.

Long respected for his detailed analysis of China policy, Johnson believes the United States is routinely underestimating the geopolitical and economic threat posed by Beijing.

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON INTRODUCES GET AMERICANS BACK TO WORK ACT

«I think the biggest mistake is that we’re basically sleepwalking through this competition. I mean, every day the leaders of China get up, and they try to figure out how to beat America, how to destabilize our country, how to get an advantage. 

«And we’re, frankly, in this country spending more time fighting one another than we are trying to think about how to compete with the Chinese Communist Party.»

Johnson is the former leader of the Republican Main Street Caucus, a group of center-right Republicans focused on commonsense governance and pragmatism. He has approached his career aspiring to break the famed Washington gridlock.

However, recently Johnson lamented that «it’s a tough time to be normal,» observing that the loudest and angriest voices seem to be increasingly dominating the national conversation.

«Well … looking a little further than the New York primaries last week, where just an insane bunch of really out there democratic socialists beat some pretty liberal but still kind of mainstream American political thought Democrats, I just think you see that happening in both parties. 

Darializa Avila Chevalier, U.S. Democratic House candidate for New York, speaks at a Get Out The Vote rally at Kings Theater in Brooklyn, N.Y., June 18, 2026, ahead of the state’s primary election June 23. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

«Primary turnout is rarely great. Those who do turn out are generally the most interested in purity rather than in progress. And, so, when you’re trying to swim upstream, when you are trying to deliver a message of nuance and thoughtfulness, that sometimes doesn’t go over as well as just saying, ‘Let’s go fight.’»

Even as the GOP has controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress on several occasions over the past generation, it has been perennially unable to tackle the problem of balancing budgets and reducing the national debt.

Johnson argues that only a bipartisan approach has hope of offering a solution.

«Well, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,» he said. «I’ve certainly rolled out a number of plans that would have some pretty substantial reforms to our entitlement programs. I’m not looking to take away grandma’s Social Security or Medicare. But we simply are not going to restore solvency to those programs with a status quo approach. 

«And, unfortunately, candidate Harris, candidate Biden, candidate Trump … they damn near swore on a stack of Bibles that they were not going to touch Social Security or Medicare. That approach guarantees failure. 

«The other thing we have to acknowledge is one party’s not going to get this done. And I know that’s hard for Republicans to hear because so many Republican office holders have sold the American people a bill of goods that this can be done with one party alone. It cannot. 

«The last time we made much-needed reform to Social Security in 1983, it took Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill and Republican President Ronald Reagan to get it done. If we do not start thinking about avoiding fiscal calamity as a bipartisan problem, we will fail.»

Johnson entered the 2026 South Dakota GOP gubernatorial primary as the frontrunner but ended up placing third in a tight race behind real estate executive Toby Doeden and incumbent Gov. Larry Rhoden.

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks with the press during Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s Returning Education to the States tour April 8, 2026, at McCrossan Boys Ranch in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Samantha Laurey/Argus Leader/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

He acknowledges that a congressional pedigree, once seen as a boost in a bid for a higher office, now appears to be something of an albatross.

SOUTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR SURVIVES CROWDED PRIMARY — FOR NOW

«Well, I think an absolute onslaught of negative ads the last three or four weeks against me, they really worked. Told people I was a career politician, that I was a RINO, that I was a liberal, and we saw in the polling that that was resonating. Those ads worked so well because they tapped into kind of the spirit of the times. 

«I have 13 of my colleagues in Congress who have lost their races for governor or senator. Normally, running as a House member, that gives you a bit of an advantage if you’re running for a different office. That’s no longer the case. People are fed up with Washington, D.C. And that clearly is a drag on my many colleagues like me who’ve lost their races.»

Despite the outcome of the crowded primary, Johnson looks to his future plans with optimism, not bitterness, and pledges that his work is not yet finished, citing previous success in the business and non-profit sectors.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., in the Cannon tunnel during the last votes of the week Feb. 15, 2024. (Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

«Well, I don’t know yet. Of course, I’ve got to spend most of my time focused on my day job, which is being South Dakota’s only voice in the U.S. House of Representatives. I’ll do that until January, but listen, I know you can lead a life of consequence. 

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«You can make a better society in business. I’ve done that before. In the nonprofit sector, in lesser elected office or government office. So, I don’t really know yet, but I do know that I’m surely not ready to retire. I’m 50, but I feel like a real young 50, and I’m still filled with plenty of piss and vinegar. Let’s go get it done.»

Dormir bien se ha convertido en un reto para miles de costarricenses. Las cifras más recientes de la Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), reflejan que el insomnio dejó de ser un problema aislado para convertirse en un fenómeno que impacta diariamente los servicios de salud del país.

Solo durante 2025, la institución registró un promedio de 157 consultas diarias por insomnio en los servicios de consulta externa, mientras que en los servicios de emergencias se atendieron 5,381 casos, equivalentes a unos 15 pacientes cada día. Los datos forman parte de un análisis presentado por la Universidad Hispanoamericana con base en estadísticas de la CCSS.

El estudio evidencia que, entre 2021 y 2025, la consulta externa acumuló 197,984 atenciones relacionadas con insomnio, un promedio anual que osciló entre 147 y 163 consultas diarias. Del total de casos, el 59 % correspondió a mujeres, mientras que el 41 % restante fue registrado en hombres.

Sin embargo, los especialistas aclaran que estas cifras representan el número de atenciones brindadas y no la cantidad de pacientes, ya que una misma persona pudo acudir varias veces durante el mismo año por este trastorno. Además, los registros incluyen diagnósticos asociados tanto al insomnio orgánico como al no orgánico, este último relacionado frecuentemente con ansiedad, estrés, depresión o malos hábitos de sueño.

De acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), cerca del 40 % de la población mundial duerme mal o presenta algún trastorno del sueño, mientras que diversos estudios indican que uno de cada tres adultos experimentará síntomas de insomnio en algún momento de su vida, lo que convierte este padecimiento en un problema de salud pública.

El doctor Luis Diego Ballestero Murillo, psicólogo clínico y docente de la Escuela de Psicología de la Universidad Hispanoamericana, explicó que el insomnio va mucho más allá de pasar una mala noche.

El especialista señaló que este trastorno se diagnostica cuando una persona presenta dificultad para conciliar el sueño, mantenerse dormida o volver a dormir después de despertarse durante la noche por un periodo de al menos tres meses, situación que termina afectando su desempeño físico, emocional, social o laboral. Entre los síntomas más frecuentes figuran tardar más de media hora en quedarse dormido, despertares constantes durante la madrugada, sueño poco reparador, cansancio durante el día, problemas de concentración, irritabilidad y cambios de humor.

Las consecuencias, advierte el experto, pueden ir mucho más allá del agotamiento.

El insomnio se relaciona con un mayor riesgo de desarrollar enfermedades cardiovasculares, hipertensión arterial, diabetes, trastornos metabólicos, debilitamiento del sistema inmunológico, ansiedad, depresión, estrés crónico e incluso problemas en el manejo de la ira.

Los datos también muestran diferencias según la edad. Mientras en consulta externa la mayor cantidad de atenciones corresponde a personas mayores de 45 años, en los servicios de emergencias el grupo más afectado fue el de adultos jóvenes entre 20 y 44 años, quienes concentraron cerca del 45 % de las consultas registradas durante 2025. Entre las posibles causas aparecen el exceso de videojuegos, el consumo de alcohol y drogas, así como altos niveles de estrés.

No obstante, el problema tampoco excluye a la población infantil.

Durante el periodo analizado, la CCSS contabilizó 6,414 atenciones en consulta externa y 449 en emergencias correspondientes a menores de 15 años. Según el especialista, en estos casos influyen factores como horarios irregulares para dormir, ansiedad por separación de los padres, violencia intrafamiliar, compartir la habitación con otros familiares y, especialmente, el uso excesivo de videojuegos y dispositivos electrónicos durante la noche.

Otro dato que llamó la atención de los investigadores fue el incremento en las hospitalizaciones asociadas al insomnio. Entre 2023 y 2024, los egresos hospitalarios pasaron de 62 a 205, lo que representa un crecimiento del 231 %, siendo las mujeres quienes concentraron el 60 % de estos casos. Para el especialista, este aumento evidencia que el trastorno puede alcanzar niveles de gravedad que requieren atención hospitalaria cuando no es tratado oportunamente.

Frente a este panorama, los expertos insisten en fortalecer la llamada higiene del sueño, un conjunto de hábitos que favorecen un descanso adecuado. Entre las principales recomendaciones destacan mantener un horario fijo para acostarse y levantarse, realizar actividad física durante el día, practicar técnicas de relajación, evitar el uso de teléfonos celulares, computadoras y videojuegos al menos una hora antes de dormir, consumir cenas ligeras y utilizar la cama únicamente para descansar, evitando trabajar, estudiar o ver televisión desde ella. Si los problemas persisten pese a estos cambios, aconsejan buscar atención médica especializada.

Para los especialistas, las casi 200,000 atenciones registradas en apenas cinco años representan una señal de alerta que obliga a reforzar la educación sobre la importancia del sueño como un componente esencial de la salud física y mental. Dormir bien, concluyen, no debe verse como un lujo, sino como una necesidad para prevenir enfermedades y mejorar la calidad de vida de la población.

The Justice Department and FBI have a new communist financier in their crosshairs for alleged financial crimes: James «Fergie» Cox Chambers Jr., the estranged bad-boy heir to the Cox cable empire.

On Friday, Spanish police detained Chambers on the luxury island of Ibiza, in response to an international arrest warrant, according to sources. Chambers is allegedly wanted for money laundering and providing support to Hamas, following years of financing anti-Israel and anti-West organizations and protests. The transnational network he helped fund and support is kicking in to cast him as a victim of the Trump administration’s «fascism,» while critics are cheering the arrest as long overdue.

A spokesman for Spain’s Balearic Islands police branch, which includes Ibiza in its jurisdiction, told Fox News Digital that a U.S. citizen was arrested on charges tied to an international arrest warrant Friday under an international arrest warrant seeking his extradition to the United States. The spokesman did not confirm the identity of the citizen, but sources told Fox News Digital that the individual is Chambers.

FBI SAYS NEW MISSION CENTER HAS IDENTIFIED ‘NEFARIOUS’ PROTEST FUNDING AND SUBJECTS

The police spokesman added that the individual is being held at the central jail in Ibiza pending a judicial decision that will be conducted by videoconference. Supporters now plan a «Free Fergie Chambers» protest on Tuesday at 7 p.m. outside the prison in Ibiza, demonstrating against «DEL FASCISMO DE TRUMP,» or the «TRUMP’S FASCISM IN PERSECUTING DEFENDERS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.»

A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment. Chambers and his representatives couldn’t be reached for comment.

A convert to Islam, Chambers represents the fusion of socialist and communist activists with Islamist interests that seek the destruction of the West, free enterprise and the state of Israel and the rise of political Islam, communism and a new Palestinian state.

General view of Centro Penitenciario de Ibiza, in Ibiza, Spain, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.  (Photo for Fox News Digital)

Chambers’ ideological comrades leaked news of the detention to trusted colleagues on far-left media platforms – some of which Chambers funds – and his communist, socialist and Islamist comrades are flooding social media to frame the narrative around the arrest as the Trump administration unfairly targeting Chambers.

The arrest is a significant move by the Trump administration as it targets far-left financiers allegedly engaged in supporting political violence. In this case, as in other investigations, federal authorities are following the money and investigating potential tax and financial crimes.

FBI Co-Deputy Director Chris Raia recently told Fox News Digital that investigators at the FBI’s Joint Mission Center have identified subjects tied to financing violent protest activity and have been building prosecutable cases.

General view of Centro Penitenciario de Ibiza, in Ibiza, Spain, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.  (Photo for Fox News Digital)

Like Neville Roy Singham, the American tech tycoon accused of financing communist and far-left nonprofit organizations from his base in Shanghai, China, Chambers has made a name for himself as a financial backer of anti-Israel and anti-American causes around the world. As reported exclusively at Fox News Digital, the Justice Department has launched a grand jury investigation into Singham for alleged money laundering and other financial improprieties. It is currently prosecuting the Southern Poverty Law Center for alleged money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud.

DOJ LAUNCHES GRAND JURY PROBE INTO MARXIST MOGUL NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S FUNDING OF LEFTIST GROUPS

Fergie Chambers walks near a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Fergie Chambers walks near a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Fergie Chambers performs the Muslim prayer in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Fergie Chambers smokes a cigarette while posing for photos in Tunis, Tunisia. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Chambers was born in 1985 in Brooklyn as James Cox Chambers Jr. to his father, James Cox Chambers, and mother, actress Lauren Hamilton. He is the great-grandson of James M. Cox, a former Ohio governor, 1920 Democratic presidential nominee and founder of the media company that became Cox Enterprises. Forbes estimates the Cox family empire is worth about $27 billion.

Chambers is now the estranged heir of Cox Enterprises, walking away from the family company in 2023 with a payout estimated at about $250 million after a falling out with his family over the company’s support for Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center, known by critics as «Cop City.» In April, a grand jury indicted three alleged Antifa-linked protesters accused of throwing firebombs at the general contractor of the Atlanta police training center.

Protestors rush a police line during a demonstration against the so-called «Cop City» training facility in Atlanta, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (Mike Stewart/AP Photo)

Chambers openly redirected his fortune into communist collectives, bail and legal underwriting and groups engaged in hard-edged protest and property disruption.

Raised mostly in Brooklyn after his parents divorced, Chambers attended Saint Ann’s School and later enrolled at Bard College but didn’t graduate. He briefly worked for a Cox Enterprises subsidiary before operating gyms in Georgia and later became increasingly involved in left-wing activism following the anti-police protests in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 and the demonstrations in Standing Rock, S.D., in 2016 against an oil pipeline.

Around 2019, Chambers established the «Berkshire Communists» collective in Alford, Mass., in a wealthy corner of western Massachusetts, where he built a commune, operated the Berkshire People’s Gym and launched a publication called «Combat Liberalism.»

THREE ALLEGED ANTIFA-LINKED PROTESTERS INDICTED IN ATLANTA POLICE TRAINING CENTER CONTRACTOR FIREBOMBING

Police detain Palestine Action activists at the entrance of APCO Worldwide offices in London, where the building is covered in red paint, on Sept. 3, 2024. (Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu)

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks, Chambers became one of the most prominent financial backers of «Palestine Action,» later renamed «Unity of Fields,» while also funding legal defense efforts for activists involved in anti-Israel demonstrations and direct-action campaigns in the United Kingdom and the U.S.

He praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks as a «moment of hope and inspiration,» told Mother Jones that «the most important thing for the prosperity of humanity is the destruction of the US» and said, «I chant death to America every day.»

Local and national reporting place him behind the «Stop Cop City» opposition, bail after occupations and protests against Elbit Systems, a company that provides services to Israel, in Merrimack, N.H., and the U.K., and ongoing legal support for networks in the U.S. and U.K. led by the controversial «Palestine Action.»

Communist tattoos are visible on Fergie Chambers’ hands and fingers while he sits in a cafe in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

After Alford, Mass., shut his Berkshire People’s Gym for zoning violations and law-enforcement scrutiny intensified, Chambers relocated to Tunis, in the North African nation of Tunisia.

In early February 2024, Chambers was photographed in his newly adopted city of Tunis in the North African nation of Tunisia, framing his narrative as a pious Muslim convert, with a red-and-white Palestinian kefiyyeh scarf draped over his shoulders, a black Muslim prayer cap on his head and a small beard on his face, a tradition that follows the sunnah, or practice, of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

The photo shoot included images of Chambers in Muslim prayer, at one point with his hands on his chest and at another point in «ruku» position, bent forward with his hands on his knees, staring at a point of concentration in front of him. In other shots, he walked by a local mosque, sat behind the wheel of a car with orange and green Muslim prayer beads, called «tazbi,» hanging on the rearview mirror. A pair of decorative boxing gloves with «RUSSIA» across the wrists, positioned on a red-and-white kefiyyeh spread along the dashboard.

Fergie Chambers walks his dogs in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Unconventional for traditional Muslims, who don’t often have dogs as pets because of a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that bars dogs as pets in the home, Chambers also was photographed smoking a cigarette and walking on the beach with two small dogs who look like bulldogs. He also wore tattoos, including a sickle-and-barbells on his left hand.

By May 2026, his social media posts placed him in Ireland. This month, the self-declared communist vacationed among the wealthy in Ibiza, is now sitting in prison.

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