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The Left thinks they are justified in their violence against Trump and Musk

Stacy Washington digs into why The Left thinks violence is justifiable against President Trump and Elon Musk. See more on Salem News Channel.

Florida Brings Charges Against A Man Jailed On Federal Counts Of Trying To Assassinate Trump

A man already jailed on federal charges of attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as he golfed last fall will face additional state terrorism and attempted murder charges, Florida's attorney general said Thursday. Ryan Routh tried to undermine the country's political system and will face state attempted first-degree murder and terrorism charges, Attorney General James Uthmeier said. “Attempting to take the life of a former president and a leading presidential candidate isn’t just an attack on one man, this was a political attack against our Republican form of government and our shares American values,” Uthmeier said. Routh's lead attorney, Kristy Militello, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. According to prosecutors, Routh plotted to kill Trump as Trump golfed at his West Palm Beach golf course in September. Secret Service officers spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at an agent, who opened fire, which led Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing, they said. Uthmeier, a Republican, criticized the Biden administration, accusing it of trying to “frustrate our efforts” and “block" his office's investigation. He lauded FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for being willing to “work together to pursue justice.” Routh is jailed on federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He is due in court on the federal charges in September. The lag between his arrest and his next court date was granted to give his attorneys time to review hundreds of hours of footage from police body cameras and surveillance cameras, and to pore over material from Routh's 17 cellphones and other electronic devices. Shortly after Routh's arrest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state would conduct its own investigation and could bring charges that aren't available at the federal level. If convicted of the attempted assassination charge, Routh could be sentenced to life in prison.

House Passes A Requirement To Prove U.S. Citizenship To Vote

The U.S. House on Thursday approved legislation requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for anyone registering to vote, something voting rights group have warned could disenfranchise millions of Americans. The requirement has been a top election-related priority for President Donald Trump and House Republicans, who argue it's needed to eliminate instances of noncitizen voting, which is already rare and, as numerous state cases have shown, is typically a mistake rather than part of a coordinated attempt to subvert an election. It's already illegal under federal law for people who are not U.S. citizens to cast ballots and can lead to felony charges and deportation. The bill, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain because Republicans don't have a large enough majority to avoid a filibuster. Here’s a look at key issues in the debate over a proof of citizenship requirement for voting: Who would be affected if the bill becomes law? If it eventually becomes the law, the SAVE Act would take effect immediately and apply to all voter registration applications. “This has no impact on individuals that are currently registered to vote,” said Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who has been advocating for the bill. Voting rights groups say there is more to the story. The law would affect voters who already are registered if they move, change their name or otherwise need to update their registration. That was acknowledged to some extent by the bill’s author, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, during a recent hearing on the legislation. “The idea here is that for individuals to be able to continue to vote if they are registered,” Roy said. “If they have an intervening event or if the states want to clean the rolls, people would come forward to register to demonstrate their citizenship so we could convert our system over some reasonable time to a citizenship-based registration system.”

House Narrowly Passes Framework For Trump’s Big Spending Bill

House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework on Thursday, a political turnaround after Speaker Mike Johnson worked into the night to satisfy GOP holdouts who had refused to advance trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts.

Deadly Gas Explosion Levels Home In Missouri After Gas Main Hit

A gas explosion leveled a home on Wednesday evening in a Kansas City suburb after a gas main was damaged. City officials in Lexington, Missouri said the explosion happened about 7:45 p.m. after a subcontractor hit a gas main while installing a fiber optic cable. Local ABC News affiliate KMBC News 9 reports: "A young boy has died and two others are seriously injured after a gas explosion damaged multiple homes in Lexington, Missouri." The explosion caused a fire in the home and, multiple structures nearby also were damaged, Funderburk said. Liberty Utilities shut off gas to the town of 4,500 people following the incident and is still investigating the cause, the company's director of operations, Jeff McChristian, said during the press conference. Repairs are ongoing, and he could not specify when gas service would be restored to the town.

White House Clarifies U.S. Is Tariffing China At 145%

The tariff fight between the world's two largest economies spiraled into greater peril Wednesday as President Donald Trump tried to narrow his global trade war into a direct — and risky — faceoff with Beijing. As Trump reversed his larger “reciprocal” tariffs on most of the world in the face of recession fears, he nonetheless hiked his tariffs on China once again. The move locks the strategic rivals into a deepening standoff that endangers both their economies and interests around the world. The stakes are higher than ever, as the U.S. and China are already embroiled in competition on everything from artificial intelligence to monetary policy to overall global influence. Each nation dares the other to blink first. But the rounds of escalation are raising concerns that the window for diplomacy has narrowed even further, while the economic pain on both economies intensifies. Behind it all, as usual, geopolitics lurks — the concerns about regional and global security that are always in play when economic relations between two of the world's most powerful nations turn aggressive. “When you punch the United States of America,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, “President Trump is going to punch back harder.” After Beijing responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's 34% “reciprocal” tax on China with the same 34% rate on American goods, Trump raised the tariff by another 50 percentage points, only to be met by the same tariff hike by Beijing on Wednesday morning. U.S. products going to China are now to be taxed 84%. Hours later, Trump declared that Chinese imports to the United States would be “immediately” taxed at 125%, citing “lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets.” However, the universal tariffs on China actually total 145%. When Trump announced them on Wednesday, he did not account for a 20% tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production that was already in effect, the White House said. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted this had been Trump's strategy all along and that Beijing has “shown themselves to the world as the bad actors.” While the financial markets rebounded from their deepest lows at the news that China would be facing the brunt of Trump's wrath, the real-world prospects of the intensifying trade war with China were still set to be significant. On Wednesday, the U.S.-China Business Council urged the two leaders to “come to the table” and talk. “Targeted tariffs to encourage China to come to the negotiating table are one thing, but these sweeping tit-for-tat tariffs are in no one’s interests. They will significantly harm the global, U.S., and Chinese economies as well as American businesses, farmers, and consumers,” the council said. Trump has left little room to negotiate an off-ramp with China, short of that country capitulating — which would be anathema to Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Xi will not be forced into a call,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. Only once in recent history, she noted, has a Chinese leader phoned the United States without invitation — after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The trade tensions, if unchecked, could spill into other domains, she warned. Craig Singleton, the senior China fellow at another Washington-based think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed that a phone call from Beijing is “unlikely in this climate.” “Each side believes time is on its side, which raises the risk that neither moves to de-escalate until real damage is done,” he said. “This is no longer about tariffs alone. It’s a test of wills.”