News Vérité

Of all the people associated with Donald Trump and his two presidencies, the one person who always reminded me of a leader at a Nazi rally was and is Stephen Miller. With Miller’s appointment as chief of staff to replace Susie Wiles, Trump is now doubling down on what brought devastation to the GOP on Tuesday — arrogance and extremism. Not the best choice for Republicans’ chances of taking the White House in 2029. Which brings up another point: Who will Trump endorse in 2028 to succeed him? JD Vance is out after blaming Trump’s Iran war for widespread GOP losses in Congress and in state races nationwide. That leaves Miller, Pete Hegseth, and Donald Jr., none of whom could ever win more than a handful of states, if any. The overall problem with Trump II is that he and his administration seem to be fulfilling Barry Goldwater’s famous words: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” I voted for the man three times, and I still think that his basic policies, especially as elaborated under the Trump I administration, are just what the nation needs — if

Ron DeSantis, sole GOP presidential hopeful surviving Tuesday’s MAGA devastation, has smartly come out and pointed the blame where it belongs — at the White House and those in Congress who blindly went along with Trump’s arrogance and blundering. “This midterm, no question, was a rebuke of the president and the Congress by Democrats, independents and some Republicans that crossed over,” he told Fox News. Smart going, there, Mr. Soon-to-Be-Ex-Governor of Florida, you have distanced yourself from the madness that brought down your party in a historic repudiation. With his distance from the Trump administration — not being part of it and not even being seen as an advisor to it — DeSantis can take on JD Vance, who will have Trump errors dripping from him like mud, and hopefully win the nomination and then defeat AOC, Mamdani, or El-Sayed for President in 2028. Yesterday, in another post, I painted DeSantis as the most logical choice for the Republican ticket in 2028. I did this even though Marco Rubio would make the best candidate — and president. But being part of the Trump folly and being unwilling to resign, Rubio is a marked man, muddied like Vance. James Carville, Democrat

The onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI) in just about every aspect of the economy has hinged on the construction of data centers to support AI’s infrastructure. The problem, however, is that data centers — and AI — proved hugely unpopular with voters who went to the polls yesterday. This was especially evident in Texas, home to a growing hoard of data centers because of the abundant availability of electric power, where Democrats captured both the governor’s office and a U.S. Senate seat for the first time in decades. In fact, the Blue Wave was so pervasive that only Florida and Alabama remain solidly red after yesterday’s GOP calamity. Voters in localities in Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Maine, Michigan and even Florida approved ballot measures to slow or halt data center construction. In all, 39 data center restriction measures were on ballots nationwide. President Trump has steadfastly supported the data center buildout, but he did try to convince their owners to extend benefits to the communities in which they are erecting the data structures, such as cash payouts and other initiatives. Perhaps his message went unheeded, or proved to be too little, too late. The fear of AI taking over voters’