Matthew Foldi

President Donald Trump is seeing a handful of House Republicans deal what he hopes is a temporary setback to his "Big, Beautiful Bill." Despite Trump’s repeated requests that House Republicans pass the gigantic reconciliation bill — which includes the codification of several of Trump’s executive orders, along with larger-than-expected spending cuts targeting across the board expenditures and a $4 trillion debt limit increase — several Republicans in the House tanked a critical vote in the Budget Committee, forcing Republicans to consider what comes next. While the specifics are uncertain, Republicans lack a plan B if they fail to pass some version of the bill. “It has to pass,” Congressman Glenn Grothman, a Budget Committee member, said.

Are the Democrats on the verge of their own Tea Party? This question is dogging the Democratic Party, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer figures out how to handle an increasingly rambunctious base that declared open season on him this week. Months of frustration from the Democrats’ activists has boiled over after Schumer announced that he would vote to move forward with a bipartisan plan to avoid an imminent government shutdown. Schumer’s ultimate vote against passing the bill is of no consolation to Democrats, many of whom reportedly urged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to primary Schumer. The Democrats’ problems stemmed from their underestimation of Speaker Mike Johnson, as Schumer told the Washington Post.

TikTok is hoping that 2025 can be its year – but what comes next for the social media company is truly anyone’s guess. Will someone buy it? Will it divest from its Chinese ownership? Will it exist in America next week (the app is fully banned in China as is)? Stay tuned.The social-media app is seeking yet another revival at the 11th hour. Despite a bipartisan bill signed by President Joe Biden that restricts the ability for foreign adversaries to run social-media companies in the United States, TikTok is activating its army of supporters once more (the app is presumably hoping that its child soldiers will not threaten to kill themselves or lawmakers this time)... and it just might work.

Former congressman Matt Gaetz kicked off the 119th Congress by not showing up and taking the Capitol Hill press corps to school. After weeks of drama, Mike Johnson was reelected as speaker of the House on the very first ballot — exactly as Gaetz predicted. Some Hill reporters, such as Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman, and even Congressman Thomas Massie, had tweeted in response to Gaetz’s declarative prediction that he was wrong. Heading into the vote, everyone knew that Massie was implacably opposed to Johnson — but everyone else’s opposition proved to be quite placable. The drama kicked off almost immediately, when Democratic congressman Hank Johnson failed to show up before roll was called.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina What kind of party can you throw with more than $500,000? For months, the organizers of Flagstock 2024 plotted an answer to that question. Last night, at a field outside an American Legion hall in North Carolina, some of country’s biggest stars took to the stage as busloads of college students arrived at a location that organizers had gone to great lengths to keep secret. “In country music, we say if we’re gonna make it happen, we show up in your home town and we make it happen,” singer John Rich told the crowd from the stage. And make it happen they did. Organizers had such a massive budget because Americans donated sums large and small to a GoFundMe, titled simply: “UNC Frat Bros Defended their Flag. Throw ’em a Rager.

The Department of Veterans Affairs came close to banning the iconic photo of a sailor kissing a dental nurse following America’s triumph in World War Two last month. The decision was quickly reversed after a leaked memo sparked backlash from the public. But a whistleblower in the department tells The Spectator there’s much more to the story: the VA’s rash decision to remove the photo followed years of accusations of predation and harassment against supervisors in the department’s diversity office. “The very appearance of sexual harassment or something that even looks inappropriate, now, it's like, ‘OK, let's get rid of it,’ the whistleblower told The Spectator. “And I think we're walking on eggshells here, because of what happened to all these senior level officials.

Congress struck a major blow against TikTok's Chinese ownership Thursday morning, by passing the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which would require parent company ByteDance to sell its US entity within six months in order to retain access to American app stores and web hosting services. The bill, passed by a 352-65 margin, now heads to the Senate. It offered a rare time that former president Donald Trump found himself allied with progressive members of the Squad in opposition, while Representatives Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries joined forces in voting for the bill, which would help combat the espionage concerns that intelligence officials in the Biden administration have repeatedly raised.

Steve Nikoui’s son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, was killed alongside twelve other American service-members outside of Abbey Gate at the Kabul Airport during the Biden administration's hasty exit of Afghanistan in August 2021. That's why Nikoui's outburst, “Do you remember Abbey Gate,” interrupted the president’s State of the Union address on Thursday, roughly fifty-one minutes through the speech. Nikoui was escorted out, arrested, placed in handcuffs and charged with a misdemeanor that could see him in jail for up to ninety days. “I remember what set me off," Nikoui told The Spectator Friday night, in his first interview since his arrest. "When he was talking about kids, in one moment, they're glorifying these abortions...

“I will kill you if you fucking shut down TikTok,” a teenage boy warned to a member of Congress in a voicemail reviewed by The Spectator. “I will really really fuck you up. So don’t shut down TikTok. Bye bye!”  This week, Capitol Hill was inundated with a series of unusual callers — children, some as young as six years old. They had been enlisted by TikTok to forcibly push back against a bill that’s on track to sail through the House next week which forces the divestiture of a series of companies owned by foreign adversaries, like China in the case of the globally popular video app.

Tonight President Joe Biden is set to deliver one of what may be his final major speeches as president: the State of the Union. After a completely empty schedule today, the president will address both Houses of Congress — but rivals are speculating if he’ll even make it through the evening. “Will the president be juiced enough to appear to be coherent?” Representative Darrell Issa wonders. And, “how will he deal with immigration. Those are the two issues that I think are on everyone’s mind,” he said. Prior to the speech, the House Republican Conference hosted a media row where dozens of lawmakers spoke about their expectations heading into tonight’s speech. “Border, border, border,” is what some, such as Oklahoma’s Kevin Hern, want to hear from the president.

If you want casual sex in Australia, an online mistress, a “milf live chat,” or even just “local adult hookups now,” Congressman Henry Cuellar has got you covered.  It’s unclear what's going on with Cuellar’s campaign website, but it’s currently overrun with not safe for work topics. “Start a new adventure with local swinger couples now,” one post reads. “This really is a powerful way to explore new intimate fantasies and satisfy new people,” the Texas Democrat lets us know via his website. Separately, a post in Russian reads “Гоксбет 2 Ставь на свои цели!” telling readers that they should gamble their money. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to travel, Cuellar’s got you covered.