Breaking News
Breaking News
from Washington and beyond

Kyrsten Sinema Is Resigning in the Most Sinema Fashion Ever (Delusional)

Farewell to the “independent” Arizona senator who did nothing but screw over all her constituents, along with the rest of the country.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In an announcement Tuesday, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that she will not be running for reelection in November.

The move comes as polls show her in a distant third behind Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake, who ran a losing campaign for governor of Arizona in 2020. Sinema chose to leave the Democratic Party in 2022 and become an independent, and until Tuesday’s announcement, was running for reelection without a party affiliation.

In a delusional video posted on X (formerly Twitter), Sinema pretended like she did a ton of good during her time in office.

In reality, Sinema’s stances against popular Democratic legislation, such as raising the minimum wage, drew opposition from Democrats who saw her as betraying the party as well her constituents. Perhaps most memorably, she made a thumbs down gesture to vote against an amendment to add a minimum wage increase to President Biden’s coronavirus relief bill in 2021. At the time, she drew ire for what many thought was a misguided attempt to copy the late Senator John McCain, who made a similar gesture in 2017 to save the Affordable Care Act from Republicans.

Replace Sinema PAC, formed to defeat her in the 2024 election, released a statement after her announcement.

“We started this effort to Replace Sinema over two years ago to hold Sinema accountable for betraying the Arizonans who elected her. Sinema obstructed President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, got in the way of fundamental rights like abortion care and voting, and did the bidding of her wealthy donors who fund her luxury lifestyle. We succeeded in first pushing her out of the party – by making clear she couldn’t win a Democratic primary – and now we’ve also helped push her out of the Senate. Good. Arizonans deserve better. We now must put all of our efforts into helping elect Ruben Gallego, a pro-choice champion who will fight for Arizonans every day, over MAGA extremist Kari Lake. Game on.”

Sinema’s departure from the Senate ends a career full of betrayal of her own constituents, who believed they were electing a Democrat, as well as the rest of the country. In addition to blocking a minimum wage increase, she also famously helped reshape the Inflation Reduction Act for the worse, pressuring Democrats to remove proposed tax overhauls for the wealthy.

Even outside of the policy realm, she wasn’t much better. She was allegedly a very demanding boss, giving her staff a 37-page guide to working for her that included buying her groceries, fixing her internet, and even making sure her airline preferences were fulfilled. She reportedly kept up an active Facebook marketplace account mostly selling her exercise clothing and equipment. And then there’s that fact that she spent roughly $210,000 of her taxpayer-funded budget on private air travel, ironic considering that earlier in her career, she was once a member of the environmentally conscious Green Party.

What’s next for Sinema after her Senate term runs out this year? A lucrative career in lobbying to cap her six years as corporate America’s darling? A vanity presidential campaign from corporate-backed No Labels, whose donors also gave to her aborted Senate campaign? Regardless of where she goes, at least one person is sorry to see her go: noted senator’s daughter Meghan McCain.

This article has been updated.

Watch: Trump Says You’ve Got to “Finish the Problem” in Gaza

Donald Trump is promising to wholeheartedly back Israel’s deadly war on Gaza.

Donald Trump
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Despite the uncommitted votes against Joe Biden in Michigan, and despite polls showing a majority of Americans support an immediate cease-fire and even ending arms exports to Israel, Donald Trump doesn’t think Israel’s actions are the problem.

Trump made a phone call to Fox & Friends Tuesday morning and gave an impromptu interview to hosts Lawrence Jones and Brian Kilmeade. After being asked whether he is “on board with the way the IDF is taking the fight in Gaza,” Trump responded, “You’ve got to finish the problem.”

“You had a horrible invasion, it took place, it would have never happened if I was president, by the way,” Trump began. He then went on to claim that “Iran was broke” during his presidency and would not have been able to send money to Hamas or Hezbollah.

He went further in claiming that “they wouldn’t have done it to me,” and that the invasion took place because of a lack of respect for Biden. Continuing on his rant, he claimed Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine on his watch, either. In his mind, each of these conflicts wouldn’t have happened “if things went right” in 2020.

It’s not the first time Trump has said Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine on his watch. Despite Trump’s assertions, however, even his own former advisers have criticized his dealings with Russia and Ukraine, claiming that the former president actually emboldened Putin.

Regarding Israel, Trump has softened his tone toward the country after he was forced to make an about-face from his initial remarks in October, when he said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “let us down” by failing to prevent the October 7 attacks. In any case, a Trump victory in November doesn’t seem likely to stem the continuing violence resulting from Israel’s war in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of 31,052 Palestinians and about 1,139 people in Israel.

Meet North Carolina’s GOP Governor Candidate: A Hitler-Quoting Extremist

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the leading Republican candidate for governor, thinks quoting Hitler shouldn’t be so taboo.

Mark Robinson stands with his right hand raised on a stage
Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg/Getty Images

A Hitler-quoting, gay-bashing, conspiracy-flouting antisemite is on track to cinch the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination in the battleground state of North Carolina.

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is up for election in the state’s primary election on Tuesday. He has so far pulled ahead by double-digit percentage points over his GOP opposition, Bill Graham, according to a February High Point University Survey Research Center poll.

That’s in spite of the fact that the Trump-endorsed candidate quoted Adolf Hitler in a 2014 Facebook post that normalizes the German dictator’s stance on racial pride.

“History who said it #1; ‘Pride in one’s own race—and that does not imply contempt for other races—is also a normal and healthy sentiment. I have never regarded the Chinese or the Japanese as being inferior to ourselves... They have the right to be proud of their past, just as we have the right to be proud of the civilization to which we belong,” the post (which is still up) read.

Then, at a Moms for Liberty summit in July, Robinson fervently defended his choice to quote the genocidal leader of the Nazi Party, implying that doing so without context is not akin to endorsing his words or actions.

“Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler, whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao, whether you’re talking about Stalin, whether you’re talking about Pol Pot, whether you’re talking about Castro in Cuba, or whether you’re talking about a dozen other despots all around the globe; it is time for us to get back and start reading some of those quotes,” Robinson said, adding, “It’s time for us to start teaching our children about the dirty, despicable, awful things that those Communist and socialist despots did in our history.”

Again, the Facebook post quoting Hitler is still up with none of this additional context.

Robinson has drawn immediate comparisons to Trump for his bombastic orations and loyal GOP following, and like Trump, he has a laundry list of controversies.

In other posts, Robinson has minimized the horrors of the Holocaust, claimed a “satanic marxist” had made the movie Black Panther to pull “shekels” out of Black audiences, likened women getting abortions to murderers, and derided gay people as “filth” and “maggots.”

He has also expressed archaic views about women’s role in society, telling a Charlotte-area church in 2022 that Christians are “called to be led by men.”

“God sent women out … when they had to do their thing, but when it was time to face down Goliath, [He] sent David. Not Davita, David,” Robinson said at the time.

And yet, Robinson’s gubernatorial win would turn the state’s executive branch—its last Democratic holdout—red, effectively locking Democrats out of a state they had once predicted would be their stronghold in the South.

Robinson’s likely opponent come November will be Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic favorite.

MAGA Is Now Losing Its Mind Over a Doritos Boycott, Because of Course

The far right has set its sight on a new target in its anti-woke boycott crusade.

Doritos Nacho Cheese and Doritos Cool Ranch bags
Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg/Getty Images

For conservatives, it can be difficult keeping up with the latest outrages. Yesterday, it was Chik-fil-A and Target. Today, the cultural criminal du jour is tortilla chip brand Doritos.

Yes, right-wingers are angry about nacho chips thanks to the chip brand’s Spain division partnership with transgender activist and singer Samantha Hudson, a native of the European country. Many on the right are calling for a boycott of Doritos, similar to the one of Bud Light, which became a target of conservatives and transphobes last year after hiring transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney as a brand ambassador.

Notable right-wing accounts such as End Wokeness and Chaya Raichik (better known as Libs of TikTok) have gotten in on the action, claiming that Hudson has tweeted about abusing minors and has made pro-pedophile statements. Hudson claimed in a 2023 interview that she herself has been sexually abused.

Whether it’s Doritos, Frosted Flakes, Bud Light, or any number of businesses that decide to honor diversity and the LGBTQ+ community, the far right is running out of things to eat and places to shop these days, and even trying to start its own economy, with questionable results.

Hudson and Doritos Spain have not responded to the attacks.

Lara Trump Promises to Use RNC to Complete MAGA Takeover of Party

Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law made it clear that there’s only one option going forward.

Lara Trump stands in front of two American flags
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Donald Trump is well on his way to replacing the conservative party with a “counterestablishment” of his own that, according to his family, has no room for dissenters.

With Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel on her way out the door, Trump’s allies are doing everything within their power to leverage the conservative election machine for the GOP front-runner’s sole benefit, even if he’s not yet the formal nominee. One key element for the takeover? The success of his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who’s gunning to replace McDaniel in a power-sharing agreement that would have her split duties with North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Whatley.

In an interview on Real America’s Voice, the 41-year-old Trump insisted that she was the only person loyal enough to the former president to be considered for the job—which she plans to use to transform the RNC into a Trump-electing machine.

“Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the forty-seventh president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave because we are not playing games,” Lara Trump said.

“We have no time to waste,” she continued. “We have to ensure that every single penny of every dollar donated goes to causes that people care about. That’s part of the reason that I think I’m such a great fit for this: There’s no one more loyal to Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement than this person you’re looking at right here; than me.”

It’s not the first time that she’s cast the warning, insisting that the sole purpose and focus of the RNC should be reelecting her father-in-law.

“Every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC,” Trump told Newsmax last month. “That is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”

Meanwhile, McDaniel’s tenure ends on March 8, putting a cap on a monthslong feud with Trump over her former endorser’s demand for “total loyalty.