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Snubbed by Trump, GOP candidates fighting for re-election act like they have his backing anyway

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President Donald Trump’s overall poll numbers are sliding, but among Republicans, the president’s approval ratings remain sky-high.

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Trump’s grip on a Republican Party he reshaped over the past decade remains extremely firm, and his endorsements in GOP primaries are highly influential.

«The Trump endorsement is king in any primary,» longtime Republican strategist and communicator Jesse Hunt told Fox News Digital. Veteran GOP consultant Matt Gorman highlighted that a «Trump endorsement is extremely powerful… it’s an undeniable force.»

So what should a Republican running for re-election who is facing primary challenge from a Trump-backed candidate do to survive?

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REPUBLICANS WIN BUT DEMOCRATS ALSO CLAIM VICTORY WITH BALLOT BOX SURGE IN TRUMP TERRITORY

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is launching a task force to investigate federal fraud with six other Senate Republicans in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In two high-profile cases this year, incumbents fighting for their political lives are trying to make it appear the president is supporting them anyway.

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Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is facing primary challenges from two Republicans in next month’s primary: Rep. Julia Letlow and former Rep. John Fleming, who is currently the state treasurer. Trump earlier this year weighed into the race by endorsing Letlow.

Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

But since the start of Trump’s second term 15 months ago, Cassidy has been supportive of the president’s agenda and his nominees.

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In his first campaign commercial after Trump endorsed Letlow, Cassidy, a doctor, highlighted a bill he authored that passed into law and increases penalties for criminals convicted of manufacturing and distributing fentanyl.

«President Trump said it was the most important legislation he would sign this year,» the senator said in the spot under pictures of Trump.

In another spot, the narrator highlights that «Cassidy worked with President Trump to pass tax cuts,» under pictures of the president and the senator and the words «Trump & Cassidy» repeatedly flashing on the screen.

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MIDTERM ALARM BELLS: TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATINGS KEEP SLIDING BUT DEMOCRATS’ BRAND IN TOILET

Rep. Thomas Massie walking in a hallway in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) arrives for a House vote on the funding bill to reopen the government on February 3, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, Rep. Thomas Massie is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Ed Gallrein in next month’s primary.

Massie has long been one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress, repeatedly taking aim at the president over the Epstein files and foreign policy.

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Trump allies have spent big bucks to boost Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, and to take aim at Massie.

Massie spotlighted an old picture of himself and Trump smiling together at the top of a campaign ad last month.

In Texas, longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn is fighting for his political life as he faces off in a late May primary runoff election against state Attorney General John Paxton, who is a MAGA firebrand and major Trump supporter.

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While Trump has stayed neutral in the showdown between the two Texas Republican titans, Cornyn has repeatedly spotlighted his support for Trump in his statements and on the campaign trail. He has also figuratively hugged the president tight in his ads.

COMBUSTIBLE REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN TEXAS HEADING INTO OVERTIME

Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton standing side by side

Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, (left) is facing off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (right) in a bitter GOP primary runoff election. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The narrator in a recent spot noted that Cornyn «had his back» as it showed a picture of Trump and the senator standing next to each other giving the thumbs up sign.

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«We’re especially grateful to your wonderful senators,» Trump says in an old clip used in the ad, as the president referred to Cornyn and fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

While Cornyn’s ads aren’t a total stretch, since neither he nor Paxton has landed Trump’s endorsement, the messaging from Cassidy and Massie does not mention that their rivals are backed by the president.

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Hunt warns that could backfire by earning Trump’s wrath.

«If you haven’t earned it but portray as though you have, it could be the end of your campaign,» Hunt said. «That’s if the President decides to take issue with it.»

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Banco Central de Honduras mantiene sin cambios la tasa de política monetaria y destaca respaldo del FMI a la economía del país

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Roberto Lagos afirmó que el análisis del mercado financiero no detectó presiones para modificar la tasa de referencia.

El Banco Central de Honduras mantuvo sin cambios la Tasa de Política Monetaria, una decisión que su presidente, Roberto Lagos, vinculó con las condiciones del mercado financiero y con la política de la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos. El organismo también destacó la aprobación de la cuarta y quinta revisión del programa con el FMI.

Lagos dijo que la decisión respondió a un análisis de las condiciones actuales del mercado financiero, en el que no se identificaron presiones para modificar la tasa de referencia que guía el costo del dinero en la economía hondureña.

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De acuerdo con el funcionario, la política monetaria del país continúa en sintonía con las decisiones de la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos, lo que ha permitido mantener coherencia en el manejo de los instrumentos financieros en un contexto global marcado por ajustes graduales en las tasas de interés internacionales.

El mantenimiento de la TPM implica que el Banco Central considera que no existen riesgos inmediatos de inflación o desequilibrios financieros que obliguen a encarecer o abaratar el costo del crédito en el corto plazo.

En este escenario, la autoridad monetaria busca preservar la estabilidad de precios y evitar movimientos bruscos que puedan generar incertidumbre en el sistema financiero, en un entorno donde los bancos centrales de la región han optado por estrategias de cautela.

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Lagos enfatizó que la política actual está “totalmente acoplada” a la tasa de la Fed, lo que reduce la necesidad de realizar ajustes independientes que puedan provocar distorsiones en el mercado cambiario o en los flujos de inversión.

El presidente del Banco Central vincula la estrategia monetaria con las decisiones de la Reserva Federal.
El presidente del Banco Central vincula la estrategia monetaria con las decisiones de la Reserva Federal.

Este tipo de alineación es común en economías altamente vinculadas al dólar estadounidense, donde las decisiones de la Reserva Federal tienen impacto directo en el comportamiento del crédito, la inflación y el tipo de cambio.

La decisión del Banco Central se enmarca en una estrategia de estabilidad macroeconómica orientada a evitar sobresaltos en los principales indicadores financieros del país.

Mantener la tasa sin cambios permite dar señales de previsibilidad a empresas, inversionistas y entidades financieras que dependen de condiciones claras para planificar sus operaciones.

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En términos prácticos, la TPM funciona como una referencia clave para determinar el costo del crédito en la economía. Su estabilidad suele traducirse en condiciones más predecibles para préstamos, inversiones y operaciones del sistema bancario.

El BCH ha insistido en que la prioridad en esta etapa es preservar la estabilidad macroeconómica, controlar la inflación y mantener el equilibrio en el mercado cambiario, factores que influyen directamente en la confianza de los actores económicos.

En paralelo a la decisión sobre la tasa de política monetaria, el Banco Central destacó la reciente aprobación de la cuarta y quinta revisión del programa económico suscrito entre Honduras y el Fondo Monetario Internacional.

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Para las autoridades, este visto bueno representa una señal sobre la conducción de la política económica del país y el cumplimiento de los compromisos establecidos en el acuerdo con el organismo multilateral.

La aprobación de estas revisiones permite el acceso a desembolsos programados y envía un mensaje a los mercados internacionales, que suelen seguir de cerca la relación de los países con el FMI como indicador de disciplina fiscal y monetaria.

Según explicó Lagos, el respaldo del FMI contribuye a mejorar la percepción de riesgo país, un factor clave para la atracción de inversión extranjera y el acceso a financiamiento en mejores condiciones.

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Cuando un país mantiene acuerdos vigentes con el Fondo y cumple con sus metas, los mercados suelen interpretar esto como una señal de mayor credibilidad institucional, lo que puede traducirse en tasas de interés más favorables en los mercados internacionales.

En ese sentido, la estabilidad macroeconómica no solo se mide en términos internos, sino también en la forma en que los inversionistas globales perciben la capacidad del país para cumplir con sus obligaciones financieras.

El Banco Central de Honduras destacó la aprobación de la cuarta y quinta revisión del programa con el FMI como respaldo a la política económica del país.
El Banco Central de Honduras destacó la aprobación de la cuarta y quinta revisión del programa con el FMI como respaldo a la política económica del país.

Lagos subrayó que mantener reglas claras en la gestión económica es fundamental para fortalecer la confianza del sector privado y de los organismos multilaterales, lo que a su vez facilita la llegada de capital y la expansión de proyectos productivos.

Otro de los puntos señalados por el funcionario es el uso previsto de los recursos derivados del programa con el FMI, que serán destinados principalmente a inversión pública e infraestructura.

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Este tipo de asignación busca cumplir con los compromisos del programa económico e impulsar el crecimiento a mediano plazo mediante obras que mejoren la competitividad del país.



Corresponsal:Desde Tegucigalpa, Honduras

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Secret Service missed ‘multiple opportunities’ to prevent Trump assassination attempt: watchdog

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The U.S. Secret Service «missed multiple opportunities» to prevent or disrupt the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump as he spoke to supporters during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said in a report released Thursday.

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The 64-page document detailed several lapses in security that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to get a line of sight of Trump as he stood on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the July 13, 2024, event.

«The Secret Service’s overall lack of policy and processes coupled with limited intelligence sharing and poor collaboration and communication with protectee staff and state and local law enforcement set the conditions that led to missing opportunities to prevent and detect the attempted assassination,» the report states.

Among the OIG’s findings was a failure to warn Trump’s protective detail that Crooks had a range finder and a long gun and had climbed onto the roof of a nearby building due to a lack of communication between the Secret Service and local law enforcement.

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TWO MEN SHOT AT TRUMP’S BUTLER RALLY SUE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER SECRET SERVICE ‘PREVENTABLE FAILURES’

Republican candidate Donald Trump with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. A Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report released Thursday detailed several mistakes made by the U.S. Secret Service that could have prevented or disrupted the shooting, officials said. (Getty Images/Rebecca Droke)

Instead, they operated out of separate locations 257 yards apart with intermittent and highly limited radio connectivity between them.

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As a result, the Secret Service missed 102 radio transmissions regarding an increasingly intense search for a suspicious individual, including alerts that the suspect was on the roof with a long gun.

Republican presidential nominee Trump returns to the site of the July assassination attempt against him, in Butler

A flag is displayed during Donald Trump’s campaign rally as he returns to the site of the July assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pa., Oct. 5, 2024.  (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

Because the Secret Service communications room only received a handful of phone calls and texts, agents failed to recognize the urgency of the threat and never warned Trump’s protective detail to delay the speech or remove him from the stage, the OIG said.

«Communications was a problem because of inoperability. There were too many command posts,» Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent, told Fox News Digital. «The biggest failure that is probably not addressed in the OIG report is that they never should have accepted the risk of doing it at this site. It never should have been done. That roof had an egregious line of site.»

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SECRET SERVICE, TSA AND NYPD TRANSFORM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN INTO FORTRESS FOR TRUMP’S NBA FINALS VISIT

Crooks was able to fire eight shots. Trump was grazed in the ear, and Corey Comperatore, 50, who was attending the rally, was killed. Two other spectators were critically injured but survived.

Moments after Trump was shot, Secret Service agents rushed the stage and moved him to safety.

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In addition to a lack of communication, the Secret Service failed to detect Crooks’ drone flight that he used to view the campaign event stage less than three hours before the rally due to an under-trained operator and an equipment malfunction, the report states.

Crooks flew the drone undetected for almost nine minutes and flew 471 yards from the event stage at an altitude of 102 feet. During the rally, the Secret Service had a counter-drone system on site, but it malfunctioned.

The counter-drone system was not operational when Crooks flew his drone hours before he tried to kill Trump.

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Secret Service agent protects President Trump

A U.S. Secret Service agent, left, protects President Donald Trump, right. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The agency also failed to share intelligence about a long-distance threat to Trump with the Pittsburgh field office and agents on site, the report said.

Agents also failed to secure the area outside the security perimeter and did not use available resources to block Crooks’ line of sight from the roof of the American Glass Research International building to Trump despite the line of sight being identified as a concern, the OIG said.

Despite identifying the AGR complex as a line-of-sight vulnerability during advanced walkthroughs, the Secret Service failed to ensure the view to the stage was obstructed.

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«There should have been a better advance, more officers, more agents, but there’s simply a limit to that,» Eckloff said.

Officials originally proposed using trucks already onsite to block the view from the AGR complex, but Trump’s campaign staff rejected the idea because it would interfere with press photographs.

WHITE HOUSE UFC TERROR PLOT ‘RINGLEADER’ IS A MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, DHS CONFIRMS

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An agent proposed a secondary location for the trucks but never verified that the campaign staff actually moved the equipment. As a result, Crooks had an unobstructed view of Trump’s podium from a distance of just 155 yards, the report said.

Republican presidential nominee Trump returns to the site of the July assassination attempt against him, in Butler

The turnout coat of Corey Comperatore, a retired volunteer fire department chief who was shot and killed in the July assassination attempt against Donald Trump, in the stands during a moment of silence during a rally in Butler, Pa., Oct. 5, 2024.  (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Secret Service and the White House.

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The report offered several recommendations to improve the Secret Service’s processes for securing events, such as mandatory threat communication, enhanced counter-drone training and a process to formally document the identification and blocking of line-of-sight vulnerabilities.

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Couple publicly caned after alleged TikTok kiss sparks outrage in Indonesia

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A young couple in Indonesia was publicly caned Thursday after allegedly kissing during a TikTok livestream.

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The couple — a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman — each received 21 lashes, according to the Associated Press (AP).

They were reportedly convicted of violating local morality laws under an Islamic sharia court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province. 

The pair, who were detained in March, had already spent four months in prison prior to the punishment, which ultimately reduced their sentence from 25 lashes to 21, the AP said. 

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SOUTH CAROLINA FITNESS TRAINER TOLD FRIENDS SHE WANTED TO LEAVE HER NOW-HUSBAND YEARS BEFORE BODY WAS FOUND

Shariah law officials assist an unmarried woman, convicted of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream, to get up after being publicly caned, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

According to local authorities, the couple filmed a TikTok video inside a car one night in March.

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As the video went viral, they were subsequently apprehended for what officials described as an «immoral act.» 

«Their actions were uncovered thanks to reports from residents who were disturbed by their immoral livestream content,» Sharia police said in April. 

«The trigger was their livestream on TikTok while engaging in immoral acts in the car,» Head of the Sharia Police Muhammad Rizal added in his statement. «This sparked criticism from netizens and local residents, who then reported them to the authorities.»

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THREE HIKERS KILLED AFTER CLIMBING RESTRICTED INDONESIAN VOLCANO TO CREATE ONLINE CONTENT, POLICE SAY

man canes another man

A man is publicly caned after he was convicted of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

The court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok video, which authorities promised to destroy, according to the AP.

A Banda Aceh resident who attended the caning, 22-year-old Aini Nadhirah, said she believed the punishment was «entirely justified.»

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«In my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other Aceh residents to be more careful when using social media,» Nadhirah said, according to the AP.

«It also raises awareness that such actions are unacceptable, thereby educating the public.»

STUNNING PHOTOS CAPTURE MOMENT ONE OF INDONESIA’S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES ERUPTS

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Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces its own Islamic Criminal Code governing moral conduct. 

The province’s right to implement Islamic law was granted by Indonesia’s secular central government around 2005 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist insurgency. The policy was later expanded to apply to non-Muslims as well. 

Under the law, moral offenses — including adultery and same-sex relations — can carry penalties of up to 100 lashes. Caning is also used for individuals accused of gambling, drinking, adultery and premarital intimacy. 

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woman escorted by other women

Shariah law officials escort a woman convicted of violating Islamic law by kissing a man, both unmarried, during a TikTok livestream after her public caning, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

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Public caning in Aceh has long drawn criticism from human rights groups, including Amnesty International Indonesia, which has called the practice cruel and degrading.

Despite Indonesia having ratified international conventions prohibiting cruel punishment, local authorities in Aceh defend the practice, arguing it does not fall under such definition. 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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