INTERNACIONAL
White House race underway: With 2026 looming, both parties are already playing for 2028
TPUSA goes ‘all in’ for Vance in 2028
‘The Charlie Kirk Show’ executive producer Andrew Kolvet says Turning Points USA is ‘all in’ behind Vice President JD Vance for 2028, honoring Charlie’s vision of coalition-building and open debate.
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From a major endorsement of Vice President JD Vance to speculation-sparking appearances by former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom at a major Democratic Party summit, it appears to be game on in the next White House race.
Even though the main campaign focus this year will be on the 2026 midterm elections and the battle for Congress, early moves are underway in the 2028 race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump.
The starting gun for the next presidential showdown won’t be fired until after November’s midterms. But that’s not preventing the large field of potential White House contenders from making headlines.
Vance, considered by many to be Trump’s heir apparent to eventually take over the MAGA mantle, was endorsed last month by Erika Kirk at an annual summit hosted by Turning Point USA, the increasingly influential and politically powerful conservative group.
VANCE AMPLIFIES HIS 2026 MESSAGE WHILE LANDING KEY 2028 BACKING
Vice President JD Vance speaks at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference, on Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Caylo Seals/Getty Images)
Kirk, who took over the reins of Turning Point after her husband and conservative champion Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September, opened the conference by supporting Vance.
«We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,» in 2028, she said. «Forty-eight» refers to the number of the next president.
The backing of the vice president by Turning Point, which is particularly influential among younger conservatives and whose political arm has built up a powerful grassroot outreach operation, could give Vance a major boost should he decide to run for president in the 2028 election.
SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON
A longtime Trump adviser told Fox News Digital that «it wasn’t a surprise to see her endorse, given that while he was still alive, Charlie couldn’t have been more explicit about supporting Vance in 2028.»
And the adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized that Erika Kirk’s backing «reaffirmed that Turning Point’s entire political machinery will be behind him [Vance] if he decides to run. It’s another big get for the vice president and a warning shot to other potential candidates.»
While Vance is considered the clear Republican frontrunner at this extremely early point in the 2028 cycle, other GOP lawmakers appear to be laying down markers.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, on Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)
Two Republicans who tangled with Trump during the party’s contentious 2016 presidential primary — Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky — are increasingly voicing their differences with the president and his administration.
Among the other Republicans to keep an eye on in the new year are Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who was battered by Trump and his allies during the 2024 GOP presidential primaries, Govs. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Brian Kemp of Georgia, and possibly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a senator from Florida ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 nomination.
Whether the Republicans have a competitive 2028 presidential primary will depend in part on the success of Trump’s second term, whether the economy soars and how the GOP fares in next year’s midterms.
Regardless of those factors, as the part out of power, it’s a sure bet the Democrats will have a wide open race for their party’s presidential nomination.
Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 standard-bearer after then-President Joe Biden exited the race, showcased an edgier stump speech as she railed against both major parties and the political status quo in an address at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) winter meeting in December.
And Newsom landed the red carpet treatment, as he mingled with delegates during the opening day of the DNC’s confab, which was held this year in Los Angeles, home turf to both Harris and Newsom.
DEMOCRATIC HEAVYWEIGHTS TURN HEADS, SPARK 2028 SPECULATION
«Obviously, we must focus on the midterms,» Harris said in her speech. «But Democrats, we must also have a clear vision for what comes after the midterms. And then after Trump. We need to answer the question. We need to answer the question: what comes next for our party and our democracy?»
Expect to see more of Harris in the new year helping Democrats from coast to coast as the party works to win back congressional majorities in the midterms.
And Harris has added more 2026 stops to her book tour promoting «107 Days,» her reflections on her abbreviated 2024 presidential campaign. Among the stops is one in South Carolina, a crucial early-voting primary state in the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating calendar.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seen speaking at the 2025 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York City on Dec. 3, enjoyed a very warm reception as he held meetings at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting, on Thursday in Los Angeles. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
While Newsom didn’t address the delegates at the DNC’s general session, he was treated like a VIP as he held meetings and mingled with delegates during the opening day of the winter meeting. And Newsom met with the Democratic Party chairs from New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state, and Nevada, another crucial early voting state.
«We had a great discussion on a wide range of issues,» longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley told Fox News Digital.
Newsom’s stature in his own party has soared this year, thanks to his very vocal and visual pushback against the president, including his viral social media trolling of Trump and his successful California push to counter the Republican congressional redistricting effort.
«Newsom has shown an ability to stand up to Trump in a bold and highly effective manner without shying away from core democratic values,» veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.
21 DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028
While both Newsom and Harris made a splash at the DNC winter meeting, they both have plenty of detractors who worry that neither would be electable in 2028 when the Democrats try to win back the White House.
And if one or both of them launch presidential campaigns, they’ll likely be joined by a large crowd of other contenders.
One of those possible White House hopefuls is Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who was also making the rounds during the opening day of the DNC meeting.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, seen attending a Veterans Day ceremony in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on Nov. 11, 2025, held a major fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, on the sidelines of its winter meeting, in Los Angeles last month. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
There are more than a dozen other Democrats thought to be potential 2028 White House contenders. And most of them have been paying visits to the early voting states, as well as parachuting onto the 2025 campaign trail.
Among them are Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Wes Moore of Maryland and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut; progressive superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another leading progressive; and two moderate Democrats, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former White House chief of staff and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), seen speaking at a rally for worker’s and immigrants’ rights on May 1, 2025, in New York City, is seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
With crucial midterm battles from coast to coast this year, expect to see much more of potential 2028 contenders out on the campaign trail in the months ahead.
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A New Hampshire-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely shared that he and activists in the state are receiving fundraising emails on a regular basis from some of the White House hopefuls.
«Every week I receive a dozen,» the strategist said,
donald trump,jd vance,ted cruz,kamala harris,gavin newsom,democratic party,republicans elections,midterm elections,presidential primaries
INTERNACIONAL
Cómo fue el operativo secreto que montó Estados Unidos para rescatar a su piloto derribado en Irán
En Infobae al Mediodía, el analista Andrei Serbin Pont detalló cómo Estados Unidos llevó adelante una de sus operaciones más arriesgadas desde la guerra de Vietnam: la extracción de un piloto que permaneció 36 horas escondido en las montañas iraníes, luego de que su F-15 fuera derribado cerca de la central nuclear de Isfahán.
Durante el programa junto a Maru Duffard, Jimena Grandinetti, Fede Mayol y Facundo Kablan, Serbin Pont relató: “No se piloteó mucho la nave, fue derribada y vimos lo que fue un rescate absolutamente de película. No solo el derribo de la aeronave, también el despliegue de inteligencia, una instalación nuclear de por medio y una ciudad de más de dos millones de habitantes al lado. Todo eso ocurrió en 48 horas”.
La trastienda del rescate: comandos, engaño y una base improvisada
El especialista ubicó el episodio en las inmediaciones de Isfahán, uno de los focos del programa nuclear iraní. “Fue en las proximidades de Isfahán que cae el F-15, derribado por misiles de defensa. La aeronave logra avanzar unos 70 kilómetros antes de impactar, y ahí empieza la operación de rescate”, explicó.
El piloto, parte de una tripulación de dos, fue rescatado rápidamente, pero el WSO —encargado de navegación y armas— debió sobrevivir 36 horas oculto, mientras fuerzas iraníes lo buscaban intensamente. “Estados Unidos arma una base aérea transitoria a 50 kilómetros de una central nuclear. Utilizan una pista que estaba en la zona, aterrizan aviones de transporte con helicópteros adentro y despliegan comandos para ir a buscar al piloto”, narró Serbin Pont.
El despliegue incluyó fuerzas especiales estadounidenses y de Israel, pararescatistas y un impresionante apoyo aéreo: “Tuvieron que enfrentar armamento antiaéreo y hasta hubo enfrentamientos armados desde el aire. El piloto logra subir más de dos mil metros para activar el localizador y ser encontrado”.
La operación, además, incluyó un elemento clave de guerra de información. “Estados Unidos y la CIA fueron proactivos en desinformar. Hicieron creer a Irán que el oficial estaba en el sur del país. Filtraron videos, difundieron rumores y manipularon la opinión pública para que Irán concentrara sus fuerzas lejos del verdadero punto donde ocurría el rescate”, expuso el analista.
Problemas logísticos, destrucción de evidencia y un escape al límite
El operativo no estuvo exento de inconvenientes técnicos. Serbin Pont describió: “Los aviones de transporte quedaron varados en la tierra blanda de la pista improvisada. Hubo que llamar a aeronaves más pequeñas para evacuar al personal, incluido el rescatado. Cuando logran salir, aviones de combate estadounidenses destruyen los equipos y los restos de las aeronaves y helicópteros que no pudieron despegar, para evitar que caigan en manos iraníes”.
La magnitud del despliegue dejó imágenes impactantes de restos calcinados, que generaron especulaciones sobre el verdadero objetivo de la misión. El conductor subrayó: “Surge la pregunta de si esta operación fue solo para rescatar al tripulante, o si había un objetivo mayor, considerando la cercanía con la central nuclear y el uranio enriquecido iraní, uno de los puntos que Estados Unidos exige negociar”.
El contexto internacional agregó presión: el rescate coincidió con un ultimátum de la Casa Blanca para reabrir el estrecho de Ormuz y con una escalada de amenazas cruzadas. “Se está hablando tanto de diálogo como de ultimátums. Trump insiste en que Estados Unidos puede destruir Irán en una noche. Todo en un momento donde la negociación está trabada y hay movimientos militares que generan sospechas”, resumió Serbin Pont.
Estrategia, desinformación y la guerra que sigue sin resolverse
El bloque cerró con un análisis sobre la guerra informativa y las consecuencias para el conflicto. “La campaña de desinformación fue deliberada. Manipularon a los medios y a la opinión pública para asegurar el éxito de la operación de extracción. Solo necesitaban ganar tiempo”, sostuvo el conductor.
La descentralización del mando iraní, según Serbin Pont, permite que el régimen siga operando incluso tras la muerte de altos jefes militares. “Irán aprendió de los bombardeos del año pasado y descentralizó su estructura de comando. Eso les permite seguir dando batalla y resistiendo”, explicó.
Por último, el impacto económico y político no es menor: “El barril de petróleo superó los 110 dólares. La situación afecta a los mercados y a la campaña electoral estadounidense, donde las divisiones internas entre republicanos se hacen cada vez más visibles. El frente interno preocupa tanto como el externo”.
—
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INTERNACIONAL
Mauro compares Iran rescue of missing colonel to Maduro capture, credits intelligence preparation
CIA deception operation rescues missing US airman in Iran
Paul Mauro, Fox News contributor, explains the intricate Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deception operation that rescued a U.S. airman missing for over 36 hours in Iran. The CIA used fabricated information to mislead Iranian searchers while precisely locating and extracting the airman. Mauro emphasizes the crucial role of human intelligence (HUMINT) and synchronized efforts, underscoring that intelligence, despite technological advances, fundamentally relies on people.
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U.S. intelligence agencies had already done the groundwork needed to locate a missing colonel inside Iran, Paul Mauro said Monday, arguing the operation relied on intelligence gathered well before the mission began.
«You’ve got to collect, you collect, you collect and a lot of it sometimes you’re never going to use,» Mauro told «Fox & Friends.»
«The key is when you need it, it has to be there.»
Mauro pointed to the Maduro case, which unfolded at the behest of the Trump administration in January, noting U.S. forces’ ability to pinpoint where the Venezuelan dictator and his wife were going to be at the time in order to make an effective capture.
RESCUE EXPERT SAYS MOST DANGEROUS MOMENT COMES AFTER ‘JACKPOT’ CALL IN RECOVERY BEHIND ENEMY LINES
War Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes the hand of a American airman on a covert CENTCOM visit with troops in ‘theater.’ (War Secretary/X)
«They got him as they were running to a safe room without a scratch. Everybody comes out without a scratch,» he said.
«They got them as they were fleeing. That’s how detailed the messaging was, and that’s how synchronized the operation was.»
Mauro said that same level of preparation and coordination was on display in the Iran mission, where U.S. forces rescued a missing U.S. weapons systems officer from a downed F-15E following a multi-day search inside enemy territory.
TRUMP CALLS RESCUE OF DOWNED AIR FORCE PILOT AN ‘EASTER MIRACLE’
Artificial intelligence is a big factor in the Iran war and Iran realizes it. (iStock)
U.S. intelligence was able to act quickly to retrieve the missing colonel once his location was confirmed.
«[This] was one of those situations where the bell rang. ‘Guys, what [have] you got?’ President turns around, [War Secretary] Hegseth turns around, [and] they all talk to Ratcliffe and they say, ‘What [have] you got, director?’ and fortunately it was there.»
Mauro said the operation highlights a broader fact about intelligence work that is apparent to those working within its community: its success comes down to the people running the sources.
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«At the end of the day… it comes down to people,» he said.
«If you think that you can sit in a cubicle someplace and get everything you need to be done, that’s not how it’s going to go. You need people in country, in dangerous areas, Americans working on our behalf that you’ll never hear about… they’re running the sources so that, again, when you need it, they say, ‘My source is good.’«
fox news media, national security, cia, pentagon, war with iran
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A custody hearing in Ada, Oklahoma, last month took a turn for the unexpected — and the incredibly loud — after an attorney who identified himself as transgender was arrested and dragged from the courtroom where he had appeared to represent his client just minutes before.
The exchange occurred during a custody hearing in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, some 90 minutes southeast of Oklahoma City. The attorney, Rob Hopkins, was jailed for contempt after sparring repeatedly with the judge, Lori Jackson, during an otherwise unremarkable proceeding.
Surveillance footage, audio, and body camera footage reviewed by Fox News Digital has shed new light on the extraordinary confrontation, in which Hopkins can be seen actively resisting arrest by bailiffs. At one point, Hopkins can be seen splaying his body across the judge’s bench, resulting in a pile of documents being swept off its finely polished wood surface.
«You’re HURTING ME!» Hopkins bellowed, as bystanders looked on. «I can’t BREATHE!» he shrieked again, louder.
Attendees in the courtroom could be seen looking on quietly as Hopkins twisted, turned, and contorted his body to evade the handcuffs that officers used to restrain him.
«I felt very threatened by this person,» one individual could be heard telling the judge.
SHELTERS, JESUS, AND MISS PAC-MAN: US JUDGE GRILLS DOJ OVER TRANS POLICY IN DIZZYING LINE OF QUESTIONING
(Surveillance footage provided to Fox News Digital by the Oklahoma District Attorney’s Office, 22nd District.)
The meltdown in question, and the arrest, occurred during a custody hearing punctuated by repeated interruptions from Hopkins and warnings from Jackson that he would be held in contempt.
Hopkins then suggested she was discriminating against him for his transgender status, escalating tensions inside the courtroom.
«It’s because I’m a transgender attorney practicing all over the state,» Hopkins leveled sharply, to which Jackson shot back: «I don’t know what you are.»
«I don’t know you from Adam,» Jackson said later, describing his conduct as «entirely inappropriate.»
Shortly after, bailiffs entered the courtroom, prompting the hearing to descend into complete chaos.
«Do NOT HURT ME!» Hopkins yelled at the officers.
«I’m being thrown down!» he bellowed, as he threw himself on the bench before the officers eventually forced him onto the floor.
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More officers streamed in to help restrain Hopkins, whose uproarious exclamations had, at that point, drawn a crowd — not only in the courtroom, but also in the hallways surrounding it, as the body camera footage shows.
«Get a female officer, now!» Hopkins demanded. «Call 911!» he shrieked, as the officers attempted to place him in handcuffs.
«I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!» he declared.
From the floor of the court, Hopkins accused the officers of «throwing his glasses» onto the floor — a claim that surveillance footage reviewed by Fox News Digital appears to refute — and ordered the officers to place them back on his face.
«Put them on my face,» Hopkins demanded repeatedly, as the officers attempted to place Hopkins into a seated position and escort him from the court. «PUT THEM ON MY FACE!» Hopkins screamed once more, the volume and urgency unchanged from his request for emergency services just seconds before.
‘YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!’: PROTESTER DRAGGED FROM KRISTI NOEM’S SENATE HEARING
Rob Hopkins, a transgender lawyer in Oklahoma, was jailed for contempt during a procedural hearing in Ada, Oklahoma, last month after a viral meltdown. ( Oklahoma District Attorney’s Office, 22nd Prosecutorial District.)
Hopkins said he has since shuttered his law firm following the contempt charge and fallout from the hearing.
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He did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment regarding either the proceedings in question or the reason for his firm’s closure.
politics, crime world, donald trump, federal judges, us, fox news media, federal courts, judiciary
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