Burrito debate rips open GOP civil war on affordability: ‘We will lose, and deserve it’

August 6, 2026 1:37pm EDT / Fox News

A viral complaint over the price of a burrito has exposed a widening conservative divide over affordability

By Robert Schmad Fox News

Published August 6, 2026 1:37pm EDT

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A debate over whether a burrito should cost $20 has ignited a Republican civil war over affordability and the party’s appeal to younger voters ahead of the midterm elections.

The clash began Wednesday when Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet shared a college student’s complaint that basic purchases have become prohibitively expensive.

“​​One of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability: ‘A burrito shouldn’t cost $20,’” he posted to X on Wednesday. “Yeah, a lot of this is a hangover from Covid and Biden-era inflation, but the lived experience is the same: It just feels like basic things cost too much.”

Fiscal conservatives took the position that food is generally affordable if one cooks for themselves and that purchasing a $20 burrito should be considered an occasional luxury. Those aligned with the populist wing of the GOP, meanwhile, argued that traditional conservatives are out of touch with the youth and that the Republican Party faces electoral peril unless it can meaningfully address affordability concerns.

NEW POLL COMPLICATES VANCE’S STATUS AS TRUMP’S LIKELY 2028 HEIR APPARENT

Andrew Kolvet, producer of ‘The Charlie Kirk Show,’ speaks during the public memorial service for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sep.t 21.(Patrick t. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

“Just hearing about this dumb $20 burrito debate so just thought I’d make the losers on social media angry before going to bed,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw wrote on Wednesday night. “Stop whining, get a job, eat Ramen like the rest of us did in college, on a budget with 4 roommates. The market doesn’t care what you think something ‘should’ cost.”

RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway, however, said that such an approach to affordability concerns could prove toxic to the GOP.

‘IT’S A MESS’: GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP’S AGENDA

A Chipotle logo is displayed outside their restaurant on Feb. 24, 2025, in San Diego, California.(Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

“Andrew [Kolvet] is absolutely right about this, and pundits deflecting because you can cook at home cheaper are not helping,” he said. “Eating a burrito once in a while should not be an aspirational lifestyle, for crying out loud.”

“The comments saying stick to the dining hall or buy microwaveable burritos are missing the ENTIRE point,” Defense of Freedom Institute spokeswoman Angela Morabito said. “If the Right’s ‘solution’ to the affordability crisis is telling people to eat worse food, we will lose, and we will deserve it.”

Chipotle burritos generally run between about $9 and $12 depending on location, with cheaper restaurants, such as Taco Bell, offering more affordable options. Some fiscal conservatives also pointed out that young people can save money by preparing meals at home.

“A burrito only costs $20 when you buy it on Door Dash because you’re too lazy to walk over to Chipotle or Taco Bell (where you can get one for $3.99),” Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen wrote in response to a populist arguing that the GOP could surrender ground to socialists by not addressing affordability. “When I graduated I lived on ramen noodles, had two roommates, and worked two jobs. I didn’t whine about affordability, I worked hard so I could one day afford a better life.”

DOORDASH GETS FAA APPROVAL FOR ITS OWN DELIVERY DRONES

Vice President JD Vance attends a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland on July 31, 2026.(Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images)

Vice President JD Vance then added to the debate, responding to Thiessen.

“I’m surprised to hear Mark say this. If you’ve ever met him in person, it’s quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito,” the vice president wrote.

Bradley Devlin, politics editor at the Daily Signal, claimed that some involved in the burrito discourse were ignorant of financial sacrifices he says are quite common among young people.

“The Burrito Discourse has exposed that so people with thoughts on the youths have not spoken to one in years,” he wrote. “They do not expect to live off delivered food from bespoke restaurants and live on their own. I don’t know a single 20 something who lives on their own right now. Having a college degree and two jobs is around the highest it’s ever been. ‘The college premium’ has dried up.”

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Others responded to the debate in jest.

“I don’t care for burritos,” Daily Wire host Michael Knowles posted.

The GOP’s openly Islamophobic campaign against Abdul El-Sayed

2026-08-06T19:14:22.702Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/politics/abdul-el-sayed-islamophobia-republicans

On Tuesday, Republican primary voters in Michigan gave a double-digit victory to a congressional candidate who had dropped out of the race, choosing him over Amir Hassan, a President Donald Trump-backed former Muslim with an identifiably Arabic name.

On Wednesday, some people attending a Trump speech in Las Vegas booed the mention of another Arabic-sounding name before GOP Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo urged them to stop. Austin Abdelnabi was a police officer recently killed in the line of duty, and his brother once worked at the White House.

Either of these episodes could be dismissed as coincidences — as one-offs that say little about much of anything.

But it would seem little coincidence that they happened as Republicans this week launched an overtly Islamophobic campaign against the new Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed.

Trump has toyed with and even employed Islamophobia for political purposes over the past 20 years. His “birther” campaign against Barack Obama, which implied that Obama might be a secret Muslim, helped launch Trump’s political career.

But in his second term, he’s increasingly flaunted — and encouraged his party to flaunt — prejudices and xenophobia out in the open.

And the GOP’s response to El-Sayed’s nomination shows how it has embraced these ugly politics. Some of it’s thinly veiled, but much of it doesn’t even bother with subtleties.

National Republicans on Wednesday quickly greeted the former public health official’s victory by repeatedly employing his full name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — in a press release and, soon after, in an ad.

Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana went on to refer to El-Sayed on Fox News as “Abdulrahman,” as did Fox host John Roberts. Fox host Jesse Watters started his show that night with a clip of El-Sayed helping people pronounce “Abdulrahman.”

It all harked back to Trump repeatedly invoking Obama’s middle name, Hussein.

It’s true that Republicans cited El-Sayed’s full name. But campaigns don’t tend to use people’s full names in campaign ads unless they’re trying to convey something. In this case, it’s pretty clear what that something is.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama on Wednesday posted that “Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is a RADICAL ISLAMIST” and even called him a “TERRORIST.”

The Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP’s super PAC, warned that El-Sayed will “unleash terror”.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas late Tuesday on Watters’ show called El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “Islamist[s].”

“You see the green-red convergence where the communist and the Islamists – they want Sharia law,” Cruz claimed. “They hate Jews. They hate Christians. They hate capitalism. They hate America.”

(There is no evidence that El-Sayed or Mamdani supports Sharia law. El-Sayed has described himself as a capitalist and, while he’s critical of Israel, there is no evidence he has used hateful rhetoric toward Jews or Christians.)

Trump also repeatedly said at the Las Vegas speech that El-Sayed hated Jews.

Cruz then held a hearing Wednesday focused on the alleged threat of the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating American society. He featured a poster of El-Sayed titled “From the Middle East to the Midwest” and said Democrats are “now openly embracing terrorist organizations” waging war in America.

(Republicans have pointed to a 2011 El-Sayed op-ed in which he urged the US government to support anti-government protesters in Egypt, even if a revolution could empower the Muslim Brotherhood. But the Trump administration has declined to officially label the entire Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, instead doing so only with some of its branches.)

El-Sayed’s GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas both falsely attributed a comment from left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who campaigned with El-Sayed, to the Democratic candidate.

“Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11,” Rogers said.

But it was Piker who said in 2019 that the United States “deserved 9/11.” (He later walked back that comment, saying it was “inappropriate”.)

Cotton later corrected his post.

But as the Piker situation shows, there are some legitimate related issues here.

El-Sayed made a choice to campaign with the controversial streamer during the primary — which drew criticisms even from his Democratic opponents, Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. El-Sayed defended his decision to campaign with Piker and decried the left’s “penchant for cancel culture.” But with El-Sayed now the nominee, some Democrats fear what that partnership will mean in the general election.

Still, it’s a significant leap for Republicans to go from that decision to labeling El-Sayed a terrorist and using his Muslim faith to otherize him.

But it’s also not at all surprising in context.

While Trump has used Islamophobia and xenophobia for years, it’s much more blatant these days.

He’s admitted to calling some majority-Black countries “shithole” countries, after denying it during his first term. He campaigned in 2024 on a false conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets. He’s regularly derided Somali immigrants, including by calling them “garbage” and saying he didn’t want them in the United States. He’s doubled down on rhetoric urging certain migrants to “go back” to where they came from. And he’s shared racist videos and declined to back away from them.

Some congressional Republicans have picked up that ball and run with it — particularly when it comes to Islam.

They’ve said “Muslims don’t belong in American society”; labeled Muslim congresswomen “terrorists”; expressed a preference for dogs over Muslims; told Mamdani to “go back to the Third World” because he ate rice with his hands; and said that Muslims “breed their way through our society.”

Some Republicans rebuked some of these comments, but there has been nothing in the way of a true reckoning.

El-Sayed responded to the tactics Wednesday by urging people to correctly pronounce his full name if they are going to use it.

He told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the GOP using his full name and invoking his faith is meant “to insinuate that somehow I’m less American.”

“My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries,” he said at a separate press conference. “You know what is? Their BS policies.”

It’s not clear whether this strategy will actually pay dividends for the GOP.

A Gallup poll in 2024 showed 25% of Americans said they wouldn’t vote for a Muslim presidential candidate. But that was down from 38% in 2015, and it’s been disproportionately Republicans (who likely wouldn’t vote for El-Sayed anyway) who have said that.

At the same time, even as the Democratic base has turned sharply against Israel, it’s possible having a vocally anti-Israel, Muslim nominee like El-Sayed could turn off some voters who feel strongly about that issue. Party leaders have generally resisted landing firmly on either the side of the Palestinians or the Israelis for a reason.

But regardless of the efficacy of the GOP’s strategy, it’s a pretty stunning moment to have a national political party so openly and quickly embrace it.

Just six days after 9/11, then-President George W. Bush spoke at the Islamic Center of Washington, DC, and said the “face of terror is not the true faith of Islam” and that intimidation of Muslims “will not stand in America.”

Then-Sen. John McCain at a town hall late in the 2008 presidential campaign sought to dissuade supporters who suggested Obama might have terrorist sympathies and said he couldn’t be trusted because he was “an Arab.”

“No, ma’am,” McCain said. “He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

We’re a long way from the party of Bush and McCain.

One of the other candidates who ran against Hassan in the Michigan congressional GOP primary, Al Lemmo, acknowledged to The New York Times this week that his campaign staff had run an explicitly anti-Muslim campaign against Hassan.

Lemmo said he didn’t like that strategy because he knows lots of Muslims and they’re “really nice,” but that his ads “didn’t so much appeal to bigotry against Muslims as kind of counted on it.”

There’s apparently going to be plenty more where that came from.

Mitch McConnell says he’s been discharged from rehab, nearly 2 months after hospitalization

August 6, 2026 / 3:24 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Thursday that he has been discharged from a rehabilitation center, nearly two months after he was hospitalized.

“Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home,” he said in a statement.

The statement did not say when McConnell is expected to return to Capitol Hill.

“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” he said.

McConnell was hospitalized on June 14.

McConnell and his staff said little about his health for nearly a month after he was admitted to the hospital, sparking speculation about his condition. In a statement on July 12, McConnell said a fall led to his hospitalization.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia,” he said at the time.

A statement from the Office of the Attending Physician added that McConnell sustained “minor injuries,” but the senator “had no fractures, cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumor, or hemorrhage.”

Another statement from the attending physician’s office on July 27 noted that McConnell had moved to rehabilitation care and was maintaining a “strenuous course” of physical therapy to reduce his risk of falls.

“His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility,” the statement said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sen-mitch-mcconnell-says-hes-been-discharged-from-rehab/

Fetterman answers whether he’ll cross the aisle to confirm Trump AG nominee Todd Blanche

August 6, 2026 9:37am EDT / Fox News

The Pennsylvania Democrat, who supported Pam Bondi, told Jon Stewart he tries to ‘call balls and strikes’ on nominees

By Robert McGreevy, Fox News

Committee Republicans advance Blanche nomination to full Senate

Fox News correspondent David Spunt reports from Capitol Hill on the Senate Judiciary Committee advancing Todd Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate. While Republican Sen. Susan Collins announces opposition, committee Republicans maintain general consensus to support President Donald Trump’s nominee. The hearing features criticism from progressive Democrats, including Sen. Cory Booker, who challenged Blanche’s record and past actions.

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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said Wednesday he would not vote for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to officially take over the role leading the Department of Justice.

During a Wednesday appearance on comedian Jon Stewart’s podcast, Fetterman was pressed on Democrats’ failure to use the Senate filibuster to block President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. The senator responded by claiming he would not vote for Blanche, who is Trump’s choice for attorney general.

“Many of them I didn’t vote for,” Fetterman said, referring to Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

JOHN FETTERMAN MAKES IT ‘VERY CLEAR’ THAT HE’S ‘NOT GOING TO BE A REPUBLICAN’ DESPITE DEM BACKLASH

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., recently expressed that he would not support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general.(Fox News Digital)

“And if you’re going to bring up Blanche, I’m not going to vote for him as well. There are some that I would vote for, and then there are many that I haven’t because I just don’t believe that’s the right person for the job overall. I really try to call balls and strikes,” he told Stewart.

Fetterman has been one of the Democratic senators most supportive of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, voting “yea” to confirm half of his nominees, according to a Fox News Digital review.

He was the only Democrat to support Trump’s previous choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi. He also helped push Markwayne Mullin, the newest Homeland Security secretary, over the line, casting the decisive vote to advance Mullin out of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, 8-7. Fetterman was again the only Democrat to vote for Mullin’s confirmation, joining the 53 Senate Republicans to confirm Mullin in a 54-37 vote.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., gestures to now former Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as they stand in an elevator during a vote at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Despite Fetterman supporting Trump’s previous pick to head the Department of Justice, it appears the president will not be able to count on his vote this time around.

TRUMP AG PICK TODD BLANCHE FACES SENATE TEST IN FIRST MAJOR CONFIRMATION FIGHT SINCE GRAHAM’S DEATH

Bondi won her nomination from the Senate in a 54-46 vote. Todd Blanche will likely have at least two fewer votes than that tally, as Fetterman joins Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in publicly expressing opposition to Blanche.

“Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation,” Collins said Tuesday.

Collins notably voted to confirm Blanche as the assistant attorney general in March.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she will not vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Two other potential GOP holdouts – Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, – are still undecided, according to The Hill.

A pair of Republicans who had previously opposed Blanche’s nomination – Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. – flipped to “yeas” after Blanche agreed to stop pursuing a planned anti-weaponization fund.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on July 15, 2026.(Anadolu via Getty Images)

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The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate on a strict party line vote, 12-10.

Fox News Digital contacted the White House, the DOJ and Fetterman for further comment.

Trump told donors ‘we need to elect JD,’ source confirms, as he weighs Vance or Rubio in 2028

2026-08-06T09:35:49-04:00 / Fox News

Private remark offers rare glimpse into President Donald Trump’s thinking on 2028 presidential

By Eric Mack, Paul Steinhauser Fox News

Published August 6, 2026 9:35am EDT | Updated August 6, 2026 10:14am EDT

[JD Vance: When the president makes a decision, we are unified]

Vice President JD Vance discusses the war in Iran, efforts to negotiate with the regime, criticism directed at Indiana Fever WNBA player Sophie Cunningham and the birth of his fourth child on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

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President Donald Trump has publicly been coy about whether he might back Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to succeed him in the White House, but private comments to donors suggest he might be leaning toward the man he already picked as his running mate in 2024.

“At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with donors roughly two weeks ago, a source with knowledge of the comments, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The news was first reported by The Washington Post.

While Vance remains the clear hypothetical frontrunner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has narrowed the gap in national polls and surveys conducted in key early voting presidential primary states, as well as in Republican straw polls, ahead of a race that is not expected to begin in earnest until after this autumn’s midterm elections.

VANCE, CRUZ, HEAD TO IOWA ON 2026 MISSIONS AS 2028 GOP RACE TO SUCCEED TRUMP HEATS UP

President Donald Trump has yet to officially point to either Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his successor of choice in 2028.(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

While Post sources say the remark is not evidence Trump has made a choice between his VP or Rubio, a man he has handed many hats in his administration, it is a rare and previously unreported lean of his long-term thinking.

Trump made just one reference to Vance in his donor speech in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, hailing “the war on fraud led by our great Vice President JD Vance: He’s doing a great job.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment Thursday morning.

Rubio, who as a senator from Florida was one of more than a dozen GOP contenders who ran and lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, came in a close second to Vance earlier this year in the closely watched 2028 Republican presidential nomination straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

The latest surveys and straw poll results are fuel for intrigue over what some in the Republican Party see as a budding rivalry between Rubio and Vance, who describe each other as friends.

“The president runs this administration: He is the very top of the administration; he makes orders,” Vance told “The Ingraham Angle” in an exclusive sit down Wednesday night. “We, of course, have debates and conversations about what exactly we should do, but when the president of the United States makes a decision, we’re unified in this administration in carrying out that mission.”

Despite Vance having won the 2024 running mate sweepstakes, Trump has also lavishly praised Rubio for his work in peacemaking efforts in Venezuela, Cuba and the Middle East, while simultaneously serving as national security advisor among his many leadership roles in the administration.

The president earlier this year declared that Rubio would go down as “the greatest secretary of state in history.”

Trump has also promoted a Vance-Rubio ticket as “unstoppable” — stopping short of explicitly saying who should be at the top of the ticket.

Trump did say last year that Vance is “most likely” his heir, because “in all fairness, he’s the vice president.”

NEW POLL COMPLICATES VANCE’S STATUS AS TRUMP’S LIKELY 2028 HEIR APPARENT

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s wearing of hats of leadership in many Trump administration roles has put him in the foreground of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s Cabinet.(SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump joked at the White House Correspondents Dinner last month – rescheduled after dodging another assassination attempt earlier this spring – he would be running for president for a fourth in a troll to his critics, donning a Trump 2028

While Vance has demurred when questioned about 2028, he has built a political team of advisors who, if he runs as expected, would quickly build out a presidential campaign.

Rubio, who is crisscrossing the globe, does not have a similar group of political aides, and Rubio has said he will back Vance if the vice president launches a 2028 campaign.

Notably, Vance is the RNC’s finance chair, ostensibly giving him the keys to the cash vault of more than $128 million cash on hand, according to the June Federal Elections Commission filing.

“Vice President Vance has been a fundraising powerhouse for the RNC, supercharging our war chest as we head into the midterms,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital in a statement. “He’s held record-breaking events across the country and brought new and longtime donors together with his ability to connect every corner of the America First movement.

“As we prepare to protect and expand our Republican majorities, Vice President Vance will be a driving force behind the resources, energy, and momentum needed to win.”

Republican sources confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that a group of GOP donors supporting the secretary of state is quietly exploring ways to boost Rubio’s political profile, which has not sat well with some in the president’s political orbit.

VANCE CONFRONTED ABOUT 2028 AMBITIONS AFTER TRUMP TEASES ‘DREAM TEAM’ RUBIO TICKET

Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been in lockstep on every issue in this second Trump administration.

“Vice President Vance is the future of the Republican Party, and Marco Rubio is one of his closest friends in the administration,” an operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News Digital earlier this year.

“The divisive stories from some donors trying to cause chaos are not helpful,” the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized.

Trump more recently questioned White House staff about the two possible contenders during a flight aboard Marine One, according to the Post. Although one adviser told the newspaper that Trump has privately settled on Vance as the Republican heir apparent, six other advisers and allies said they were not convinced that the president had made up his mind.

Those advisers noted that Trump sometimes gives different signals to different audiences and could change his position before the 2028 campaign begins. His aides also broadly expect him to delay any formal endorsement, in part to avoid diminishing his own influence during the remainder of his presidency.

DEMOCRATS BUILD MIDTERM MOMENTUM, BUT REPUBLICANS STILL IN DRIVER’S SEAT IN SENATE MAJORITY BATTLE

Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth have managed multiple wars and peacemaking efforts around the globe during this administration.(Getty Images)

The dynamic resembles Trump’s 2024 search for a running mate, when Vance and Rubio were among the finalists. Advisers told the Post that Trump enjoys maintaining suspense around major political decisions and is reluctant to hand the spotlight to a potential successor too early.

Vance admitted to Ingraham it is his “job” to take criticism, particularly if absorbs pressure from the president.

“It’s my job, Laura,” Vance said. “If the worst thing that happens is I take flak for the president to make his administration more successful, I’ll be happy about that.”

Vance did not talk about whether he will run.

He did say in June that he planned to discuss his political future with his wife after the midterm elections and has maintained that he remains focused on serving as vice president.

People close to Vance previously told the Post that he intended to wait until after the birth of his fourth child before seriously considering a campaign. The child was born July 19.

The 2026 midterms could shape the emerging succession contest. Republican losses could encourage additional candidates to enter the race and make it easier for them to criticize Trump’s administration or challenge his preferred successor. A strong performance, by contrast, could strengthen Trump’s ability to shape the 2028 field.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402886026112

Vance has spent much of his vice presidency building relationships with Republican donors and activists. He is closely associated with the younger, populist wing of the MAGA coalition and has taken on political and policy assignments that have helped raise his profile.

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Rubio historically has had stronger ties to traditional Republican donors, while Vance has deeper support among the party’s newer populist base.

Eric Mack is a breaking news reporter and writer Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET, with a particular interest in stories that lead the news cycle on politics, elections, foreign affairs and government.

‘I don’t think so,’ Sanders responded when asked about endorsing Hong’s gubernatorial campaign

By Andrew Mark Miller

Published August 6, 2026 10:34am EDT

Bernie Sanders says he doesn’t expect to endorse Francesca Hong

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Wednesday on the Pod Save America podcast that he doesn’t think he’ll endorse Wisconsin Democratic socialist candidate Francesca Hong. (Credit: YouTube/Pod Save America -Aug. 5)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was asked if he would endorse Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) member Francesca Hong’s Wisconsin gubernatorial bid, and his response sparked immediate mockery on social media.

“I don’t think so,” the Vermont socialist told “Pod Save America” host Jon Favreau when asked if he is going to endorse Hong’s campaign for governor. “I met Francesca a couple of years ago. I was in Wisconsin, and she seems very, very nice, but again this is a race I’m just not that familiar with.”

Sanders added that “we have not gotten involved in many governors’ races” other than recently in Maine, where he endorsed Democrat Troy Jackson, who ultimately replaced disgraced Senate candidate Graham Platner, a candidate Sanders endorsed.

Political commentators quickly chimed in on social media suggesting that Sanders not endorsing Hong shows the senator doesn’t think she can win, with many pointing to Sanders’ strident support of Platner despite all of his political baggage.

AFTER PLATNER IMPLOSION, MAINE DEMOCRATS RUSH TOWARD NEW SENATE NOMINEE DESPITE FRESH WARNING SIGNS

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Wednesday on the Pod Save America podcast that he doesn’t think he’ll endorse Democratic socialist candidate Francesca Hong.(Fox News)

“Bernie says he’s not backing Francesca Hong because he’s focused on the Senate,” Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross posted on X. “Yet he’s endorsed in mayoral races, House races, and Troy Jackson’s failed governor race in Maine. That’s how whacky Hong is”.

“Says a lot,” Politico reporter Will Steakin posted on X.

“Guy with the Nazi Tattoo ‘hey everyone makes mistakes’,” conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller posted on X. “Crazy communist lady – ‘not my cup of tea sorry.’”

SOCIALIST FRONTRUNNER IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ‘CANCEL THANKSGIVING’ POST EMERGES ONLINE

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong listens to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speak before being introduced during a campaign rally on Aug. 2, 2026, in Milwaukee. Hong, a democratic socialist in the state legislature, has seen an uptick in recent poll numbers.(Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

“This guy endorsed a guy with a natzi [sic] tat but thinks @FrancescaHongWi is not worth an endorsement……,” Jerry Ponio, legislative director for Americans for Prosperity – Wisconsin, posted on X. “Yikes.”

“Well, I guess even Bernie enjoys celebrating Thanksgiving at one of his three houses,” an account ran by Hong’s likely general election opponent, Republican Tom Tiffany, posted on X.

Tiffany’s post references a controversial quote from Hong that went viral on social media where she suggested canceling Thanksgiving.

“Francesca Hong, who is a Socialist candidate for Governor of Wisconsin is too radical…even for Bernie Sanders,” Turning Point Action Northeast Manager Brandon Maly posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Hong campaign and Sanders’ office for comment.

Critics have argued that Francesca Hong’s politics are too far to the left for a swing state like Wisconsin, contending that her identification as a socialist and support for ambitious progressive policies could make her less competitive in a general election.

Hong’s social media account is littered with far-left pledges like abolishing the U.S. Senate and defunding the police.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders reacts to questions from a Fox News Digital reporter about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s resurfaced Reddit posts while walking through the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Hong recently tried to walk back those positions in recent interviews ahead of Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary against Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, former Wisconsin Department of Administration secretary Joel Brennan, and Democratic state Sen. Kelda Roys.

Polls suggest Hong is likely to comfortably win that contest, which will advance her to a race against Tiffany, the likely Republican nominee, in November.

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

皇马签下科特迪瓦新星迪奥曼德 1.2亿英镑转会费破球队纪录

2026年8月6日 23:32 / 新明日报

皇家马德里星期四宣布，从莱比锡签下科特迪瓦新星迪奥曼德。 （法新社档案照片）

（马德里综合电）皇家马德里星期四（8月6日）以破球会转会费纪录的1.2亿英镑（约2.07亿新元），从莱比锡（Leipzig）签下科特迪瓦国脚迪奥曼德（Diomande）。

这名19岁的翼锋与皇马签署了一份为期七年的合约，其转会身价将超越皇马在2023年6月向多特蒙德（Dortmund）支付1.15亿英镑引进贝林厄姆（Bellingham）的纪录。

皇马发声明说：“皇家马德里和莱比锡就迪奥曼德的转会达成协议，他将与俱乐部签约七个赛季，直至2033年6月30日。”

此前巴黎圣日耳曼（PSG）在这名天才青少年的争夺战中处于领先位置，但在这家欧冠冠军球队提出的1.025亿英镑报价遭到拒绝后，他们在上星期日（2日）退出了转会谈判。

迪奥曼德也曾是利物浦（Liverpool）的引援目标，在萨拉赫（Salah）离队后，利物浦一直在寻找替代者，但他们今年6月提出的6900万英镑首份报价遭到拒绝。

迪奥曼德是皇马在新任主帅莫里尼奥（Mourinho）麾下的第六笔今夏引援，此前加盟的还有贝尔纳多·席尔瓦（Bernardo Silva）、科纳特（Konate）、邓弗里斯（Dumfries）、库库雷拉（Cucurella），以及埃斯皮（Espi）。

当选德甲赛季最佳年轻球员 特点契合皇马战术需求

迪奥曼德在2025-26赛季凭借12个进球和8次助攻的表现，当选为德甲赛季最佳年轻球员。

在世界杯赛场上，他代表科特迪瓦出战了全部四场比赛，随后球队在16强淘汰赛中不敌挪威。

迪奥曼德此前从家乡科特迪瓦前往美国青训营，随后于2025年加盟西班牙球队莱加内斯（Leganes），并在同年晚些时候转投莱比锡。

皇马求购迪奥曼德，体现了俱乐部致力于在顶级年轻人才达到巅峰期前将其签下的战略决心。

这位翼锋凭借爆发力极强的速度、盘带能力、创造力以及进攻影响力，已成为当今足坛最令人振奋的新星之一。

迪奥曼德最大的优势之一是其全面性。他在左右两翼均能游刃有余，既能创造机会，在一对一中突破防线，又是一名技术精湛的盘带高手，还能贡献进球。

在左路时，他可以内切至右脚威胁球门；而在右路时，他能利用速度和传中能力为队友制造良机。

这种灵活性让他非常契合皇马，因为皇马一直在寻找右翼位置上更具稳定性的人选。

1.2亿英镑的转会费表明了皇马对他潜力的高度认可，他们相信迪奥曼德有能力成为球队未来的核心球员。

世界银行为印尼贷款项目提供7.5亿美元担保

2026年8月6日 23:48 / 联合早报

为协助印度尼西亚扶持微型、小型和中型企业，世界银行将提供7.5亿美元的金融担保。 （路透社）

为协助印度尼西亚扶持微型、小型和中型企业，世界银行将提供7.5亿美元的金融担保。 （路透社）

世界银行宣布，将向印度尼西亚最大的国有商业银行提供7.5亿美元（9.61亿新元）的金融担保，这笔资金将用于印尼政府面向小企业的低息贷款项目。

这笔贷款将由金融巨头汇丰银行（HSBC）分两期发放给印尼曼迪利银行（Bank Mandiri），期限为三年，并由世界银行集团旗下的多边投资担保机构（MIGA）提供担保。

曼迪利银行财务及国际银行业务主管里扎尔迪星期四（8月6日）说：“这笔交易对曼迪利银行而言是一个重要的里程碑，也凸显了国际金融界对印尼经济基本面和我们银行实力的信心。”

法新社报道，这笔资金将用于印尼的“人民商业信贷”（Kredit Usaha Rakyat，简称KUR）计划，旨在为占印尼1.45万亿美元国内生产总值（GDP）约60%的微型、小型和中型企业（MSME）提供贷款，这些企业雇佣了该国绝大多数劳动力。

据世界银行的声明说，这笔贷款所得款项将用于帮助零售和服务业企业、街头小贩、农民和渔民获得贷款和再融资。

客工专属医疗中心和驻点诊所 明年4月起统一门诊时段

2026-08-06 23:50 / 新明日报

AI摘要

• 明年4月1日起，全岛五家客工专属医疗中心和17家驻点诊所将统一门诊时段，周一至六分三时段，周日仅上午开放。
• 远程医疗共同承担额由2元调至5元，实体门诊维持5元；服务涵盖急性与慢性病，雇主年费多数下调。
• 人力部整合原六服务区为四区，委任四家机构提供五年服务；调整依据客工求诊模式，确保需求获满足。

本摘要由AI辅助生成，仅供参考

根据计划，客工可接受定期体检，以及获得治疗流感、发烧等急性疾病和高血压、糖尿病等慢性疾病等初级医疗服务。 （档案照片）

截至今年7月，约52万名客工已加入初级医疗计划。随着计划明年4月调整，所有客工专属医疗中心和驻点诊所将统一营业时段，让客工更容易掌握看诊时间。

人力部星期四（8月6日）发文告宣布，推出增强版“客工初级医疗计划”（Primary Care Plan），将现有六个服务区整合为东、南、西、北四区，并委任四家医疗机构负责提供服务，合约期为五年。

增强版计划明年4月1日实施后，全岛将有五家客工专属医疗中心和17家驻点诊所，为客工提供服务。

星期一至星期六将统一分三个时段看诊：上午9时至下午1时、下午2时至5时，以及傍晚6时至晚上9时；星期天则开放上午9时至下午1时，公共假日休息。远程医疗服务则维持每天上午6时至晚上11时，包括公共假日。

目前，各客工专属医疗中心和诊所的营业时段并不一致，有些星期天不开诊，有些则开放一个或两个时段。人力部解释，把星期天门诊统一为半天，是因为客工在星期天傍晚的求诊需求较低。

门诊共同承担额 维持5元不变

在增强版计划下，实体门诊的共同承担额（co-payment）维持在5元；远程医疗的共同承担额则从2元调高至5元，这是因为提供远程医疗服务的成本较高。

全国职工总会属下外籍客工中心处长林泽秋指出，新的门诊时段是根据客工目前使用初级医疗计划的实际情况和求诊模式调整。虽然星期天仅开诊半天，但仍有远程医疗服务辅助，相信调整后仍能满足客工需求。

他说，外籍客工中心会继续收集客工反馈，并与相关政府部门分享，协助持续完善计划。

服务范围涵盖慢性病 雇主分担费用将下调

根据计划，客工可接受定期体检，以及获得治疗流感、发烧等急性疾病和高血压、糖尿病等慢性疾病等初级医疗服务。

31岁的印度客工古鲁纳坦·卡比兰（Gurunathan Kabilan）受访时说，远程医疗收费调高，相信不会为客工带来太大负担。“如果只是头痛或身体疼痛，我还是会选择远程医疗。”

随着当局整合服务区，绝大多数雇主每年为每名客工支付的初级医疗计划费用也将下调。

新加坡建筑商公会人力与政策委员会主席方维康受访时说，医疗计划收费降低、客工到诊所更方便，以及门诊和远程医疗收费统一，都是务实的调整，“不仅让客工受惠，也有利于建筑业雇主”。

不过，他希望人力部尽早公布更详细的安排，并预留充足准备时间，让雇主顺利完成由六个服务区整合为四个服务区后的重新登记工作，确保过渡期间不会影响客工持续获得医疗服务，也不会增加不必要的行政负担。

砂拉越成功大量种植多年生稻米

2026-08-06 23:53 / 联合早报

砂拉越邦扎拉阿邦佐哈里（右二）星期四（8月6日）在美里收割首批多年生稻米，并准备让砂拉越发展为本区域重要稻米产地。 （取自砂拉越邦总理署公关单位脸书）

马来西亚砂拉越成功收割首批大规模种植的多年生稻米，并放眼提高当地自给率，同时发展成马国甚至本区域粮食供应中心。

砂拉越总理阿邦佐哈里星期四（8月6日）在美里Borneoland Paddy公司多年生稻米试验计划首期收割仪式上说，砂政府引进的是中国云南大学研发的多年生稻米技术。

他说：“目前砂拉越稻米自给率仅约21%，其余仍依赖进口。一旦多年生稻米技术全面推广，未来不仅能满足砂拉越的需求，更有机会出口稻米而成为区域粮食供应中心。”

阿邦佐哈里说：“这是我首次见证多年生稻米技术。传统稻米每次收割后，都必须重新插秧。但多年生稻米收割后，可依靠原有根系重新萌芽生长而无需重新插秧。这样不仅节省约五成种植成本，也能提高单位面积产量。”

他透露，砂政府计划由砂土地保管发展局联合砂食品工业、原产业及区域发展部，与云南大学合作在美里设立农业研究中心，并建立多年生稻米研究实验室。

他说，当局准备将研究成果推广至全砂，包括达佬、哲莫仁、林梦、老越、龙芽及其他适合发展稻作的地区。

云南大学副校长段兴武教授指出，多年生稻米是云南大学胡凤益教授团队，经过20多年培育而成的新型稻作品种，具有种植一次、收获多年的特性，是一项世界领先的农业科技成果，曾被美国《科学》杂志评为2022年十大科学突破。

他说，团队已向20多个国家提供多年生稻米品种和技术。胡凤益教授团队与砂水稻公司去年开始深度合作，在砂拉越开展多年生稻米试验试种。