Breaking News
Breaking News
from Washington and beyond

“Deport Her” : MAGA Turns on Latina GOP Rep. Who Called Out Trump

Representative María Elvira Salazar aired a campaign ad saying Donald Trump had gone too far with immigration.

Representative Maria Elvira Salazar speaks during a press conference outside the Capitol
Representative María Elvira Salazar
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
Representative María Elvira Salazar

Midterm-bound Republicans have opted to separate themselves from the president’s sinking ship, but MAGA world isn’t letting them off so easily.

A spate of far-right influencers flamed Florida Representative María Elvira Salazar after her campaign aired an advert denouncing Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar said in the ad. “In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record.”

“Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy,” she continued. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

Florida county commissioner Anthony Sabatini, a MAGA activist in his own right, wrote online that the White House should “deport her ASAP,” apparently forgetting that Salazar was born in Miami and is therefore a U.S. citizen.

Former Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino derided Salazar as “anti-American.”

“Republicans, which side are YOU on—the side of the taxpayer or the side of those who wish to destroy our republic? Now’s your shot at making a difference,” he posted on social media.

Christian Ziegler, a GOP strategist, argued that Salazar “shouldn’t be allowed back into the White House” due to the ad.

“No meetings with the President. No meetings with WH staff. No Oval Office. No Congressional picnic. No Christmas parties or Egg Rolls,” Ziegler commented, insinuating that only loyalist MAGA drones should be allowed to interact with the president.

“Salazar has put the President in a position where he has to pick between being impeached—or—helping a pro-amnesty Republican get elected,” Ziegler added.

Self-described proud Islamophobe Laura Loomer extended her ire for Salazar’s messaging towards the president’s entourage, rhetorically asking, “Which political genius who works for our President did the vetting on Salazar?”

“To be honest, it is hard not to feel black pilled by so many of the incompetent people who work for the President,” Loomer continued in a post on X, using a nihilistic metaphor that originated in the incel community. “They go out of their way to sabotage, gatekeep and they seem to love giving access and endorsements to horrible candidates who hate the President and don’t even support his policies.

“They better hope Republicans show up this November or they will have made President Trump a lame duck President in his second term,” she wrote.

Measles Scare Hits Children’s Hospital as RFK Jr. Does Nothing

Measles at a children’s hospital? Thanks, RFK Jr.

Baby in the hospital
Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram/Getty Images

There’s been a “probable” measles exposure at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania—more devastating news for what has been the worst year for measles in the United States since the often fatal, highly contagious virus was declared eradicated in 2000.

The likely exposure occurred September 11, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and possibly impacted two Neonatal Intensive Care Units, an atrium, and the primary cafeteria.

“CHOP, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and PDPH are working closely to ensure potentially exposed infants receive a preventative antibody product to prevent or lessen severe disease and to take steps to prevent the further spread of measles,” the city health department said in a Thursday statement.

This comes amid intense scrutiny of the job Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing, as calls for his resignation have grown alongside measles cases. There have also been reports of RFK Jr. disputing the number of cases, personally requesting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to remove two measles deaths from its tally earlier this month.

“Pennsylvania is experiencing the worst measles outbreak in the country. To date, we have 693 recorded cases of measles in 38 of our 67 counties. This disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 — yet decades later, we are seeing it surge due to lower vaccination rates,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro wrote Tuesday on X. “This serious situation continues to be made worse by RFK Jr. playing games with public health and safety. It’s long past time for @SecKennedy to stop stoking vaccine skepticism and misinformation and compromising the serious mission of the nation’s public health agencies. It is also deeply concerning to learn that the Secretary personally intervened in an otherwise administrative process to direct the CDC to not report these Pennsylvania deaths, presumably because it doesn’t fit his phony narrative.”

Four Pennsylvanians have died of measles as of Wednesday: a 40-year-old unvaccinated woman, an 18-year-old unvaccinated teenager, and two infants. These were the first measles-related deaths in the state in 35 years.

The city health department does not expect vaccinated residents to be at risk.

Judge Cancels Anti-DEI Policy, Says Trump Team Won’t Even Define It

A federal court has struck down the Education Department’s “arbitrary” anti-DEI rule.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at a podium while President Donald Trump listens by her side
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House, on August 24
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House, on August 24

The Department of Education can’t cut funding to teacher training programs that the Trump administration thinks promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, a federal court ruled Thursday. 

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley said that the administration’s 2025 decision to slash $600 million in grants from the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development program were “arbitrary and capricious,” saying the Education Department can’t even define the criteria for what makes a program “DEI.” 

“Rather than confining the Directive to actions that are traditionally understood to constitute discrimination, the record instead reflects that Defendants terminated grants with topics such as ‘acknowledging … racism’ and ‘anti-racism’—activities expressly undertaken to oppose discrimination,” Kelley wrote in her ruling, adding that the move would also hurt teacher preparation.

The cuts were halted by a federal court last year after Democratic-led states sued, but the Supreme Court allowed them to go ahead while a final decision was pending.

The policy was part of the administration’s early attacks on DEI, which President Trump’s appointees, including Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, have been fully supporting. During her confirmation hearings, McMahon tried to dodge questions about the classes schools would be allowed to teach under her reign, including those about African American history. 

There’s also the fact that Trump promised to end the Education Department during his 2024 presidential campaign.  After an executive order to dismantle the department was struck down in court, he pivoted to gutting the department with a mass layoff of career employees. For now, though, the department is still around, at least in name, and teacher training has survived in the short term. 

USPS Hands Trump Another Huge Loss in His Quest to End Mail-in Voting

USPS has stopped work on a system to process state voter registration rolls.

Donald Trump speaks to reporters
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The U.S. Postal Service has stopped work on a system to process statewide lists of registered voters after the Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump’s order to limit mail-in voting.

Postmaster General David Steiner told the Associated Press Thursday that the agency was complying with the Supreme Court’s order. “There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything,” he said.

In March, Trump signed an executive order requiring the USPS to only deliver mail-in ballots if they had a unique barcode and if states handed over lists of registered voters. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week, USPS sent a memo to all employees on Wednesday clarifying that the agency would “not be enforcing any of these new rules in the 2026 federal election.”

“First and foremost, for Election Mail it is business as usual,” the memo stated. “We continue to follow established protocols, and we remain entirely focused on our core mission: delivering the mail safely and securely for voters and election officials across the country.”

After being thrust into the national spotlight by a president intent on interfering in his country’s own federal elections, Steiner reportedly told people close to him that he’d had enough and was looking for an escape hatch from the supposedly independent federal agency.

While this particular saga may be over for now, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that Trump’s rule might land more favorably with the high court if he introduced it not so close to an election.

Trump Expands His Plan to Have Data Centers Take Over Public Lands

An overwhelming majority of Americans don’t want more data centers. The Trump administration is ignoring them.

Hoses, pumps, and barriers line a creek.
Hoses and pumps line part of the Anderson Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River, after thousands of gallons of diesel fuel spilled from an AI data center in Secaucus, New Jersey, on September 15.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Hoses and pumps line part of the Anderson Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River, after thousands of gallons of diesel fuel spilled from an AI data center in Secaucus, New Jersey, on September 15.

President Trump is looking to potentially build 12 new data centers on federal public lands—something the vast majority of Americans are against, regardless of political affiliation.

The Washington Sun reported Friday that the Bureau of Land Management is considering placing centers on 17,600 acres of public land in six states: Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. Local leaders told the publication they weren’t aware of the proposal. Valar Atomics, Copia Power, Rhea Data, and Arevia Power are the companies behind the push. It’s unclear how the nearly 18,000 acres will be divvied up among the 12 proposed centers.

The BLM argues that the plans are for the greater good, brushing off environmental and aesthetic concerns while claiming that its review process will “protect natural resources while enabling responsible infrastructure development that can deliver benefits to the American people” like “expanded broadband capacity, improved electrical reliability, and support for growing technology-driven economies.”

Trump has spent months defending AI and data centers, becoming even more vocal over the last week. Others aren’t convinced.

“If there are places where communities think it is appropriate to build data centers, focus on those,” Center for Western Priorities conservation group director Aaron Weiss said. “The Trump administration needs to stop cutting the public out of public land management. The solution is more public notice and more opportunities for stakeholders to shape projects on the front end.”

This move comes as backlash against data centers hits a fever pitch.

Over 500 counties or municipalities have either restricted or entirely banned data center development this year. And according to Data Center Watch, at least 75 projects worth a collective $130 billion were interrupted in the first quarter of 2026.

“Ongoing data center build-out represents a culmination of everything that has made the U.S. economy so harshly unequal moving in right next door,” wrote The New Republic’s Kate Aronoff. “Inside its proverbial walls are local entrepreneurs, offshore middlemen, and multinational corporations that can exploit state-sanctioned tax shelters, financial engineering schemes, and regulatory arbitrage to rapidly accumulate wealth on the basis of having started off with a decent amount of it.”

Now, in the face of this obvious opposition, with midterms drawing closer by the day, Trump wants to put 12 more on public lands.

“If there were to be more [data centers], I honestly don’t know what that would even look like,” Idaho Sierra Club Director Lisa Young told the Sun. “Would that mean even more gas plants? Would that mean turning back on coal plants longer? What does that mean for our water resources? It’s honestly kind of apocalyptic to think about.”