Trump Humiliated With Half-Empty Rally in Middle of Rust Belt

President Trump played to an embarrassingly sparse crowd in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday night.

Parts of the Covelli Center were tarped off, and other sections had rows of empty seats as Trump made his way to the stage.

The Trump supporters who did show up were treated to the president’s appreciation for Senator Jon Husted’s rear end and his mockery of a protester whom they physically assaulted, with Trump calling her a “fat guy.” Trump also played his other greatest hits, attacking critics of his pro-Russia moves amid the Ukraine war and repeating his racist attacks on Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community.

Rallies in packed venues have been a fixture of Trump’s political career, fueling his winning momentum in 2016 and 2024. Trump captured a majority of the vote in 2020 and 2024 in Youngstown, located in the Midwest’s Rust Belt, where local economies have struggled for decades after the closure of industrial plants, fueling pro-Trump sentiment.

Empty seats in a place where Trump has previously enjoyed massive support is not a good sign for Republicans ahead of the midterms, especially as he played to a similarly diminished crowd in the Buckeye State earlier this month. Incumbent Senator Jon Husted is not polling well against his Democratic challenger, former Senator Sherrod Brown, and neither is Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy versus Democrat Amy Acton. Come November, Republicans may lose big in Ohio, a state Trump once helped recapture, thanks to his economic failures and the Iran war.

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s debut was so poor it made Karoline Leavitt look like Cicero.

The newly appointed press secretary spoke slowly and awkwardly during her debut press conference Tuesday, as if she had never seen or uttered the words in front of her prior to taking the podium. Her cadence was clunky, closer to that of a fourth grader reading school announcements over an intercom than a polished political communications professional. It’s clear he was never meant to be more than another blonde conservative placeholder on Fox News. The SNL spoof feels imminent.

“I want to thank President Trump. For his trust that he has placed in me. I have wanted to work for him for a very. Long. time. I’m looking forward to working with each of you as well,” she said with lots of awkward pauses in between. “Especially as we are in the middle of the midterm blitz. With energy and excitement never seen before in the history of midterms—thanks to President Trump.”

She also referred to Trump as “the most family-friendly president we’ve ever had” and casually announced that the administration had asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle—recently exposed for an alleged pay-to-play scandal—to resign.

Zacharia ended the press conference after about 15 minutes, during which she only answered three questions.

One unnamed White House source told MS NOW after the press conference that if Zacharia doesn’t improve quickly, she’ll break Anthony Scaramucci’s record.

“Getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. She needs to get much better, fast, otherwise she’ll break Scaramucci’s record.” Scaramucci served as head of comms and de facto press secretary for the White House for just 10 days in Trump’s first term before he was fired.

Zacharia, 42, was formerly a senior adviser at Truth Social parent company Trump Media & Technology Group. She’s appeared on Fox News, Newsmax, and CNN.

The incoming White House press secretary has made a name for herself as an on-air legal expert, claiming she’s an attorney. But is she?

Katie Zacharia is not actually licensed to practice law anywhere in the country, according to a report published Tuesday by Popular Info’s Judd Legum.

The 42-year-old obtained her JD from Pepperdine Caruso Law in 2011, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her work history also includes a gig as “general counsel” for a Ric Grenell–operated nonprofit based in California, but Legum found she held no credentials to practice law there.

Zacharia is not listed as a member of the bar in Texas or Washington, D.C., either, despite evidence that she also worked there in a legal capacity.

In fact, after analyzing state bar association databases from all 50 states and Washington, Legum found that Zacharia never actually passed the qualifying legal exam anywhere.

In an emailed response about Zacharia’s dubious resume, the White House referred Legum to Donald Trump’s Friday Truth Social post, in which he declared Zacharia’s appointment under the pretext that she is a “distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, an attorney, and a frequent Commentator on outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax.”

The White House did not offer any other supporting evidence for Zacharia’s work history.

Addressing reporters alongside Trump on Tuesday, Zacharia claimed she passed the bar when she “moved to China.” Zacharia’s LinkedIn states she lived in China from 2011 to 2013 while working as a law associate and a communications manager for an international children’s rights group. There is no indication she took or passed any U.S. bar exam while in China.

She also couldn’t have practiced law in China because foreigners are forbidden to do so. Only Chinese nationals (with some exceptions in Hong Kong and Taiwan) are allowed to take the country’s bar exam and practice Chinese law.

That’s not her only fudged truth. Zacharia has previously claimed that the abortion pill, mifepristone, came straight from Nazi Germany, and used her Truth Social account to elevate the Pizzagate conspiracy, which baselessly accused Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats of participating in a child sex trafficking ring in the basement of a Washington pizzeria named Comet Ping Pong. (In 2016, the unfounded Pizzagate murmurs inspired an armed gunman to drive up from North Carolina and open fire inside the restaurant, only to discover the facility has no basement and was not holding children captive.)

This story has been updated.

Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton spent New Year’s Eve 2024 partying in Dubai with his mistress and two U.S. fugitives indicted on health care fraud charges.

In a video obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Paxton can be seen surveying the fireworks over the Dubai skyline next to his girlfriend Tracy Duhon. Indicted fugitives Sameer Suhail and Anosh Ahmed, who donated to Paxton’s campaign, were also present. Suhail and Ahmed were federally indicted in 2024 on charges of embezzling $15 million from the Illinois hospital where Ahmed was chief financial officer. Ahmed was later charged with another even grander scheme in which he allegedly sold $195 million worth of faulty Covid-19 tests to the government.

Ahmed donated $190,000 to Paxton’s campaign, including $25,000 just a few days after his indictment. Both men spent significant time outside of the U.S. after their indictments, making time to link with Paxton in Dubai before Ahmed went to Serbia, where he was arrested. Suhail was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Both are back in U.S. custody now.

“Every time you think Ken Paxton couldn’t get worse, he finds a way to prove you wrong,” the Democratic Senate Majority PAC wrote on X. “Turns out, Paxton partied in Dubai with two fugitives from U.S. justice and a woman who wasn’t his wife.”

So why did the Texas attorney general spend New Year’s Eve in Dubai with his mistress and two indicted men, one of whom donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his election efforts? His campaign didn’t have a solid answer.

“Like President Trump, Ken Paxton has been politically persecuted for years, and every time, voters have seen through it and sent him back to office because they know he has always fought for Texas,” the Paxton campaign told WSJ.

This is just the latest development in one of the most scandal-ridden Senate campaigns in recent history. And yet even through his own grand jury indictment, a public affair and divorce, and multiple controversial leaks in which he made disparaging remarks about the president, Paxton still remains neck and neck with his Democratic opponent James Talarico.

Kimberly Guilfoyle has officially resigned as U.S. ambassador to Greece.

She made the announcement Tuesday in a statement on Twitter, thanking Donald Trump for the opportunity and listing what she accomplished during her short tenure. She also took aim at the reports of corruption that led to her downfall.

“I also want to address the recent allegations against me. These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity. I have dedicated my professional life to fighting for justice, standing up for what is right, and defending the values that make America exceptional. I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service,” she wrote.

Newly-minted Press Secretary Katie Zacharia initially dropped the bomb on Guilfoyle earlier Tuesday. During her first White House press briefing, Zacharia was asked whether President Donald Trump planned to remove his ambassador to Greece following allegations that she engaged in illegal conduct.

Zacharia revealed that the ouster was already underway.

“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” Zacharia said. “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”

In a series of reports, Guilfoyle has been accused of threatening a host country official and offering access to Trump administration officials in return for the quiet payment of a $100,000 credit card bill. She was also caught bragging about her close ties to two Greek tycoons who she said were bankrolling her travels, as she begged to get into a dinner with Eric Trump.

The State Department’s inspector general is looking into the allegations, a U.S. official told the Associated Press Monday, but could not say whether a formal investigation had been launched.

While taking questions from reporters outside of the White House Monday evening, Trump was asked whether he was considering firing Guilfoyle, the ex-fiancé of his son Donald Trump Jr.

“Well, we’re looking at it. Yeah, we’re not happy,” he said bluntly.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also become increasingly frustrated as the reports about Guilfoyle’s alleged misconduct multiplied, another U.S. official told the AP. Rubio was particularly pissed off after he arrived in Greece last week entirely unaware of the shitstorm that was about to rain down on America’s ambassador there.

This story has been updated.