Contributing Writers

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget intended to close an estimated $46.8 billion deficit, but multiple Republican lawmakers say they were left out of negotiations. Lawmakers passed the budget Wednesday after an agreement between Newsom and legislative leaders in which both sides made concessions and gained some wins.The budget aims to close the deficit through $16 billion in spending cuts and temporarily raising taxes on some businesses.

A poll released by CBS News on Sunday found that more voters have doubts about President Biden’s cognitive abilities after Thursday’s presidential debate.The poll, which was conducted between Friday and Saturday, found that 18% of voters thought Biden’s debate performance inspired confidence, while 44% believed that former President Trump’s performance did. Only 21% of polled voters believed that Biden presented his ideas clearly.

Former Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel — who is 94 years old — wondered whether President Biden belongs in a nursing home instead of the White House following last week’s debate disaster.”I have never been more shocked and embarrassed by any presidential debate than I was last Thursday,” Rangel, who served in Congress from 1971 to 2017, said Sunday on 770 WABC radio’s “The Cats Roundtable.

Should Sen. JD Vance get the nod from former President Trump to be his 2024 running mate and the ticket wins the White House in November, the Ohio Republican’s Senate seat will be in the hands of a decidedly non-MAGA GOP governor.Trump is expected to make an announcement on his selection by mid-July, and Vance is widely believed to be on his short list. If Vance trades in his Senate seat for the vice presidency, Gov.

The Biden campaign sent out an email to supporters detailing how they can respond to their friends who are critical of President Biden’s debate performance.”If you’re like me, you’re getting lots of texts or calls from folks about the state of the race after Thursday,” reads the email. “Maybe it was your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or some self-important podcasters.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump primary challenger, warned Republicans should prepare for Democrats to replace President Biden with a candidate who is “younger” and more “vibrant,” while repeating her push for cognitive tests for all candidates for federal office. “They are going to be smart about it. They’re going to bring somebody younger. They’re going to bring somebody vibrant.

The first lady’s steadfast support of President Biden after his heavily criticized debate performance Thursday may seem admirable to some Americans, but not all of them.Bill Stevenson, who was married to Jill Biden from 1970 to 1975, candidly discussed his ex-wife in an interview with the New York Post Saturday.”The Dr. Jill Biden who I’ve seen on TV in the last five years is not the same person I married or that I recognize in any way,” Stevenson lamented.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is calling for President Biden to step out of the presidential election after his debate debacle on Thursday night.The AJC Editorial Board is publishing a front page editorial Sunday arguing that Biden should bow out of the election “for the good” of the country and to defeat former President Trump.”The shade of retirement is now necessary for President Biden,” the board wrote.

The Democrats’ social media account got roasted in the comment section after asserting President Biden won Thursday night’s presidential debate.”The winner of tonight’s debate,” The Democrats declared in a X post Thursday night following the first presidential debate. The post included an image — notably not from the debate — of a grinning President Biden wearing his signature aviator sunglasses.

A top Polish official recently appeared to draw an unflattering comparison between President Biden’s Thursday debate performance and the decline of ancient Rome.Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski made the comment in an X post Friday. The statement was posted in English, which hinted it was intended for English-speaking audiences because Sikorski usually posts in Polish.

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on gender transition treatment for children, allowing the Lone Star State to remain one of at least 25 states, and the largest, with restrictions on such treatment.The law, which has been in effect since Sept. 1, 2023, prohibits children under the age of 18 from accessing hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery.

At former President Trump’s first rally since the presidential debate, he argued the nation’s “biggest problem” is not President Biden’s age and “decline,” but his destructive policies.Speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia, Friday, Trump took a victory lap after the first 2024 presidential debate.Trump told supporters every voter should ask one question before heading to the polls Nov. 5.

Presidential debates changed television.”You want to put a lot of new Supreme Court justices – radical left!” hollered former President Trump at President Biden during the 2020 debate.”Will you shut up man?” implored Mr. Biden.FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: WHO NEEDS WHO?And television changed politics.”It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to look good on television. Therefore, if you don’t, you’re doomed.

A Cornell University law professor has called on President Biden’s Cabinet to invoke the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to have him removed from office after his weak debate performance Thursday night, claiming his “cognitive decline” is a “national security threat.

FIRST ON FOX: Longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur was captured on video Friday losing her patience with a man who asked her whether President Biden should step down following his widely panned CNN debate performance. “Excuse me congresswoman, should Joe Biden step down?” A man in the Detroit airport asks Kaptur in video obtained by Fox News Digital.

Democrats wholeheartedly reacted favorably to President Biden’s remarks on how he wants to tackle the economy, according to a focus group that offered their approval in real time during Thursday’s presidential debate, according to a Fox News Digital focus group. The group of Republicans, Democrats and Independents used dials to react live to the beginning of the debate where Biden argued that his economic record was not worse than former President Trump’s.

A Fox News Digital focus group of Republicans, Democrats and Independents used dials to react live to former President Trump’s criticism of President Biden’s economic record, saying he inherited no inflation when he took office.During the CNN Presidential Debate, moderator Jake Tapper asked Trump to account for his proposal for a 10% tariff on all goods coming into the U.S. on how he would ensure that it wouldn’t worsen inflation.

Republican voters flatlined after President Biden claimed that no troops have died under his watch – failing to acknowledge the service men and women who have died during his administration.During a Fox News Digital focus group, Republicans, Democrats and Independents used dials to react live to President Biden’s claim during the presidential debate that no troops died under his watch.

Republican and Independent voters reacted favorably when former President Donald Trump pushed back on President Biden’s narrative regarding the 2017 Charlottesville riots, according to a live second-by-second reaction among voters. “Both of you know that story has been totally wiped out, because when you see the sentence, it said 100 percent exoneration on there.

President Biden’s attempts to attack former President Donald Trump over allegations he called military members “suckers and losers” appeared to backfire on the president, with independent voters part of a Fox News Digital focus group disapproving of what was said. Biden slammed Trump over an Atlantic report that Trump had called military members who had died in battle “suckers” and “losers.” Trump has repeatedly denied the report.

House Republicans are preparing to scrutinize an executive order by President Biden on the use of “project labor agreements” that critics call a “radical departure” from typical competitive contracting procedures.Project labor agreements, or PLAs, are pre-hire collective bargaining pacts negotiated between unions and construction contractors to establish terms of employment, according to the Labor Department.Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

ATLANTA — In a presidential election rematch where every vote may count, the campaigns of President Biden and former President Trump are reaching out to key constituencies in an attempt to gain an advantage in what may end up being a photo finish.

FIRST ON FOX: A key Republican lawmaker spearheading former President Trump’s outreach to Black voters will debut a six-figure ad buy calling out what he describes as President Biden’s “real record on race” during the CNN Presidential Debate Thursday.First-term Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt’s Hellfire PAC will air the 60-second ad on Fox News and CNN in major cities in key battleground states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Thursday night.

A House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Wednesday addressing the “politicization” of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the pandemic exposed how the Biden administration allegedly pressured medical professionals to expedite the COVID-19 vaccine for children before enough testing was completed to confirm or deny its safety.

FIRST ON FOX: A letter signed by 16 top economists warning of the economic dangers of electing former President Trump, which is being amplified by the Biden campaign and other Biden surrogates, is littered with signatories who have either donated to Biden or supported him politically in the past.