New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) said he has not thought about the current presidential field, when asked if he wanted former Vice President Kamala Harris to run again, adding that his focus is on 2026 and that he will never run for president himself.

The post Mayor Mamdani: ‘I’m Proud to Say That I Am Not, and Will Never Be, Running for President’ appeared first on Breitbart.

After Energy Secretary Chris Wright said gas prices might remain above $3 a gallon until next year, Republicans are bracing for midterm voters to have high energy costs on their minds. 

“There’s a lot of stressed Republicans,” one GOP operative told The Daily Signal. 

When asked by CNN on Sunday when gas prices will drop below $3, Secretary Wright said, “I don’t know. That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year.” 

The average price for a gallon of regular gas on Monday was $4.04 amid a ceasefire in the United States’ war with Iran. About one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran shut again after briefly reopening it Friday.

Trump later told The Hill that Wright was “totally wrong,” saying that prices will drop below $3 as soon as the operation ends. 

“It’s going to be a slog as a result,” the operative said of the economy. “Everyone’s lines have been that it’s going to bounce back quickly. It’s got to do that, though, and I don’t think folks are optimistic we’re going to get there.”

Either way, Republicans are preparing for an election season in which candidates will need to focus on local issues rather than the national economy. Republicans in battleground districts need to know their district and their state and campaign on the issues that matter most to their constituents, the strategist said.

“That is where a lot of those candidates that survive cycle after cycle, that’s where they find success,” the strategist said, “because at the end of the day, there’s some things that are always going to be out of their control–and gas prices being one of them–is just the nature of the midterms.”

Another GOP operative said he’s willing to give gas prices a little more time before allowing himself to be truly concerned. 

“We haven’t really seen panic set in in terms of gas prices, economy,” the operative said, “because I think [members of Congress], along with voters, are willing to give President Trump a little bit more time.” 

Republicans aren’t minimizing gas prices, he said, but are seeking to communicate them to voters as part of a long-term plan. 

“Trust President Trump and Republicans to take care of this really important issue in Iran,” the operative said. “We’re delivering on other fronts as well to make your lives easier.”

This echoes the messaging in the White House briefing room from press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

“The message is short-term volatility for long-term gain,” Bessent said at an April 8 press briefing. 

However, if gas prices stay high, Republicans will face down-ticket issues, the strategist said. 

“The reality of it is as gas is high, you start feeling that across every area of the economy,” the strategist said.

“As folks are gearing up for the home stretch here, whether it’s the committees or candidates and everything else, it’s just a matter of they’re just playing with the reality that the economy may not be flying at the rate it needs to be.” 

Republican candidates should instead try to focus on tax cuts in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” and job growth under Trump, both operatives said. 

“There are some silver lines right now to kind of ease some of the gas burden we talked about, particularly on the tax front, as folks are seeing large return refunds hitting their bank accounts,” the strategist said. 

“Job numbers continue to be strong, and there is real growth happening,” the strategist added. “It’s just expensive out there, and folks are feeling it.”

A Republican National Committee senior official believes there will be light at the end of the tunnel on gas prices later this year. Due to the rapid speed of the news cycles, the official thinks it’s likely people won’t be talking about the temporary increase in gas prices come November.

Democrats are trying to make the current economic moment feel more tense than it is, according to the official.

While Democrats only messaging is “standing up against the president and Republicans,” the official said Trump has given Republican candidates a lot to campaign on.

“The history of the midterms is what it is for the party in power,” he said, “but he has given us a pretty good record to run on. We just have to go tell that story, and our candidates have to tell that story, and they have to be very consistent and very good about cutting through all the noise out there and staying on the drumbeat affordability and what this administration and a Republican Congress will do on that.”

The post ‘A Lot of Stressed Republicans’: GOP Prepares for High Gas Prices During Midterms appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer has resigned as labor secretary, White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung announced on X.

“She will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” Cheung said on Monday. “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.”

DeRemer said in a statement that she is “proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business and labor and always put the American worker first.”

“We created new pathways to mortgage-paying jobs, prepared workers to excel in the age of AI, took steps to lower prescription drug costs, promoted retirement security, and so much more,” she said.

“While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers,” she continued. “I am looking forward to what the future has in store as I depart for the private sector.”

Cheung said that Keith Sonderling, the current deputy secretary, will take on the role of acting secretary.

Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation comes amid a probe into her tenure at the Department of Labor.

In January, the New York Post reported that a complaint was filed against Chavez-DeRemer saying she was pursuing an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, drank in the office during work hours, and committed “travel fraud.” A spokesperson for the agency told the Post the allegations were “categorically false.”

Chavez-DeRemer is the third member to depart President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in the past two months, following former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

DeRemer previously represented Oregon’s fifth district Washington in Congress.

This story is developing and may be updated.

The post BREAKING: Labor Secretary Out, Replacement Named appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Syrian officials say they have thwarted a plot by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists of Lebanon to attack Israel from Syrian soil.

The post Syria Claims It Thwarted Iran-Backed Hezbollah Missile Attack on Israel from Syria appeared first on Breitbart.

For too long, the crime problems festering in Washington have been a national embarrassment.

Thanks to President Donald Trump, that shame is lifting as crime rates plummet in the District of Columbia to levels unthinkable just a few years ago.

All it took was a different attitude and a little action.

Trump announced in August, shortly after the murder of two young embassy workers, that he’d had enough of the crime and would be deploying National Guard troops to the city.

“Citizens, tourists, and staff alike are unable to live peacefully in the nation’s capital, which is under siege from violent crime,” he said in a statement. “It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in the world. It is my duty to our citizens and federal workers to secure the safety and the peaceful functioning of our nation, the federal government, and our city.”

At the time, this move was dismissed by media detractors and chided by prominent Democrats who lashed out at Trump’s intolerable act of leadership.

But it turns out you can just do things. Washington didn’t have to have high crime. Trump’s “surge” is paying off.

Since Trump’s announcement, the District of Columbia has witnessed a staggering reduction in crime that far outpaces the already impressive declines across the nation. So far this year, there have been only 20 recorded homicides in the District.

If that trend holds, 2026’s final tally could end up well below the previous modern low of 88 homicides recorded in 2012.

It’s not just homicides—a good stat to track because of the difficulty in manipulating the numbers—other kinds of crime are going down too.

The White House posted some of the best numbers, which can be found on the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia’s website.

It’s not just statistics. Residents of the city say they feel the city is changing for the better.

These positive changes even seem to be happening in the city’s most dangerous areas.

It’s a remarkable turnaround from just a few years ago when, following the George Floyd riots and COVID-19 lockdowns, crime spiraled out of control. The city endured 226 homicides in 2021, 203 in 2022, and a staggering 274 in 2023.

This was the “Black Lives Matter” and “defund the police” era in which blue cities across the nation foolishly embraced the Left’s “solutions” to what they called the “systemic racism” of policing.

Ironically—though I’d say predictably—it was also this era in which a far higher number of Black lives were taken due to the lawlessness and criminality created by left-wing ideology making its way into policy.

So, after suffering nearly 300 homicides three years ago, it would take a massive summer surge to even reach 100 by the end of this year.

That plummeting motor vehicle theft statistic should stand out too.

Since 2020, Washington practically became the carjacking capital of the country.

In that horrible year of 2023, there were nearly 1,000 carjackings in the city, in addition to other vehicle thefts. Much of this was driven by juveniles who faced absurdly low penalties for what is a very serious crime.

It was during this time, when homicides and carjackings were out of control, that D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb infamously said that the city “cannot prosecute and arrest” its way out of the problem.

Yes, it could. And that’s how we get to the fuller story of Washington’s seemingly miraculous crime drop.

X user “Austin Justice” had an excellent summary of how things turned around so quickly.

The most notable change from the top was Trump’s deployment of the National Guard.

As Austin Justice explained, this filled the gap of “a 50-year low in local police staffing—a hole created by city council budget cuts that some estimate will take a decade to fully close.”

Mass makes a difference. The National Guard surge allows the police to do their jobs more effectively.

But it’s not enough to simply arrest criminals. That’s where the justice system comes in.

The city has a new U.S. attorney, Jeanine Pirro, who has aggressively pursued prosecutions, a far cry from President Joe Biden’s appointee Matthew Graves, whose record on that front could fairly be called “abysmal.”

Pirro stepped up efforts to charge some juveniles as adults for violent crimes.

As Cully Stimson, the acting director of the Institute for Constitutional Government at The Heritage Foundation, noted, the arrest-to-offense ratio for carjackings was an extremely low 25% in the Biden years.

But in Trump’s first year in office, there is now a “58% arrest-to-offense” ratio in the city due to the willingness to prosecute more 16- and 17-year-old carjackers as adults.

And that really is most of the story. More police, more arrests, more prosecutions, less crime. It’s common sense, not rocket science.

What the District of Columbia is experiencing is just a small taste of what it’s like to not live under a leftist, Democrat regime. That isn’t so bad, is it?

The post Law and Order Works: Crime Plummets in Washington After Trump Takes Action appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was once under investigation for perjury for signing conflicting statements about his residence in an attempt to remain the highest-paid judge in Texas and was later accused of "double dipping" by supplementing his Senate salary with public pensions that he failed to disclose for years.

The post Report: Sen. Cornyn’s Failure to Disclose Public Pensions, Perjury Investigation Exposed appeared first on Breitbart.

Holstra is making waves with a budget-friendly appendix carry holster that delivers solid retention, adjustability, and concealment.

The post Holstra Holster Review: Affordable Appendix Carry Done Right appeared first on The Truth About Guns.

One of the most stunning and yet tediously repetitive features of America’s Donald Trump Experience is the expectation that President Donald Trump is going to become someone else.  

People across the political spectrum seem permanently immune to the realization that the country has elected a man who says and does extraordinarily shocking things. With metronomic consistency, they exclaim, “Can you believe what he said?  He’s just completely nuts! Where’s my 25th Amendment?” 

And then, everyone recovers, reverts to their prevailing view of Trump, and buckles up for the next outrage, which lands with no less unjustifiable surprise. 

But it seems Trump may have gone just a bit too far, even for conservatives, with his most recent aggravations of the natural order. Their odiousness, along with the alleged rancid smell of the Iran war, are causing a slow slinking away from a president they perceive as gone stinky. 

Trump conjured up and posted on Truth Social an AI image of himself as Jesus healing the sick, then deleted it and claimed he thought it had portrayed him as a doctor—you know, one of those doctors who dress in first-century robes. 

He engraved a post onto Truth Social that said Pope Leo XIV, who opposes the Iran war, is “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy,” telling him to “get his act together” and suggesting that he, Trump, was responsible for Leo being chosen pope. 

He said “a whole civilization might die tonight” instead of just threatening to bomb Iran. 

None of this is great. People have a right to be offended. But they should consider a few things before withdrawing support for Trump. 

Conservatives during the presidential primaries in 2016 ceded some of the moral high ground they felt they always held by choosing Trump, a great but imperfect man.  

They had a choice closer to moral perfection in Jeb Bush, but they concluded, correctly, that these harrowing times demanded something else. America’s self-destruction seemed too near for a conventional candidate. It was time to get a little rude and go on offense.  

We got what we asked for. Over the course of two terms Trump has altered the course of U.S. history, diverting and even reversing leftist agendas that seemed hopelessly unstoppable. 

• He revamped the Supreme Court, resulting in myriad decisions favorable to conservatives, most prominently the demolition of Roe v. Wade, something long thought a lost cause. 

• He completely plugged up the massive hole in the border—which presupposes that there still was a border—ending the ceaseless waves of illegal immigration into the U.S. that threatened to swamp our culture with something else. 

• He changed the entire conversation on “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” polite terms for dropping our Judeo-Christian culture into the Memory Hole and replacing it with a Marxian, totalitarian dictatorship commanding obedience to dissolute collectivism and relativism. In high schools, colleges, and the workplace, woke equity is now on the defense. 

• He defeated the Islamic State caliphate, and he dawned a new age of Arab-Israeli cooperation with the unprecedented Abraham Accords. 

• He withdrew from the Paris climate accords and refocused the country back toward fossil fuels, ensuring Americans’ pockets wouldn’t be picked by European internationalists while China cheerfully burned through its coal. 

These are pivotal realignments that eclipse ephemeral measures such as a point added or subtracted to GDP or an increase or decrease in the crime rate, as important as those things are. 

I would personally add ending—or at least vastly delaying—Iran’s nuclear ambitions to the list, but that’s exactly what some conservatives don’t agree with. And that’s the point. It’s a disagreement. An argument. Not grounds for divorce. 

If you agreed to marry someone who spewed profanities and insulted the neighbors, don’t be surprised if that doesn’t change after the ceremony. And don’t act shocked if he turns the volume up sometimes. 

To repeat, we got what we asked for: Trump. 

Let’s also remember that much of the outrage Trump mobilizes is pure Madison Avenue, designed preponderantly for effect, manufactured in the vast PR-generating region of his frontal lobe. He’s selling—propaganda for friends, deception for enemies. 

Unlike many other presidents, he’s warm to actual human beings whom he has no political use for. He says hello to the janitor. His exaggerations and insults can be unpleasant and outrageous, but there’s a humanity and even an honesty within them.  

He does things I don’t like. But he’s prevented many worse things I don’t like. 

Trump is a towering figure who will be written about for centuries. Sometimes that indecorous tower—excessively embroidered with Trump gold—reflects sunlight. Sometimes it casts very dark shadows. It sways a bit with the wind, but in the end, it has stood for conservative values more resolutely than any of the smaller edifices easier on the eye, and ear.  

We conservatives made our bargain with Trump long ago. Let’s own it. 

The post Trump Estrangement Syndrome appeared first on The Daily Signal.