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Democrats who called Trump a “threat to democracy” now delay democracy

American voters overwhelmingly elected President Donald Trump to carry out his “Make America Great Again” agenda despite Democrats calling him a “threat to democracy.” Now that Trump is back in the White House, Dems are delaying key cabinet appointments and vowing to “blow this place up” in the name of democracy.

Several Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are calling for a halt to all of Trump’s cabinet nominations. Protests hosted by lawmakers have erupted in Washington, D.C., this week as Democrats rally against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“God d—it shut down the Senate!” Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., said during an anti-DOGE protest in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. “We are at war!”

While Democrats spent 2024 promising Americans they were the party who would protect democracy and uphold the rule of law in a post-Jan. 6 world, they are dancing to the beat of a new drum in 2025 by practicing civil disobedience.

‘LOSING THEIR MINDS’: DEM LAWMAKERS FACE BACKLASH FOR INVOKING ‘UNHINGED’ VIOLENT RHETORIC AGAINST MUSK

Democrats rallied against DOGE and Elon Musk Tuesday. (Getty/AP)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told the crowd Tuesday, “We are here to fight back.”

“We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, added.

Democrats have doubled down on their call to action this week after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Americans to “fight” Trump’s agenda “in the streets” last week.

“We have to stand up and protest,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, said at another rally in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. “When we come back here the next time, there should be hundreds of thousands and millions of people descending on Washington, D.C.”

SOCIAL MEDIA, TEAM TRUMP REACT TO CORY BOOKER’S ‘MELTDOWN’ OVER ELON MUSK’S USAID CRACKDOWN

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks at a rally in support of USAID on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America. We will not shut up. We will stick up. We will rise up,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., added.

Democrats held an all-night session Wednesday protesting Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Russell Vought, who served as OMB director during Trump’s first term, was a key architect of Project 2025. Democratic candidates and surrogates during the 2024 campaign cycle pointed to Project 2025 as proof of Trump’s “threat to democracy.” Trump maintained he had nothing to do with it.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Vought is a “horrible, dangerous man” at the rally Tuesday.

An employee of the U.S. Agency for International Development who wished to remain anonymous protests outside of the USAID headquarters Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

Democratic leaders and their constituents have spent all week protesting in major cities across the country. From Texas to California, protesters are speaking out against Trump’s ICE raids and federal government layoffs and the administration’s stance that there are two genders.

Despite the Democrats’ protests, the Trump administration said it is following through on the agenda the American people voted for, and those who “incite violence” should be held accountable.

“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to make this government more efficient,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “For Democratic officials to incite violence and encourage Americans to take to the streets is incredibly alarming, and they should be held accountable for that rhetoric.

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“If you heard that type of violent, enticing rhetoric from our side of the aisle, from Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, I think there would be a lot more outrage in this room today. It’s unacceptable.”

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 6, 2025
Anheuser-Busch CEO wants beer to be called ‘American’ made

‘Making Money’ host Charles Payne discusses the economic risks of the buy now, pay later trend.

Anheuser-Busch is encouraging its distributors and partners to replace the term “domestic” with “American” when marketing beer, arguing that the term better reflects the industry’s identity.

In a Wednesday letter titled “A Call for American Beers,” CEO Brendan Whitworth expressed his dissatisfaction with the longstanding use of “domestic” to describe American-made beer, saying it shows up on bar menus, at beer stands, in grocery aisles and is used by syndicated data providers “too frequently.”

Whitworth starts the letter with six words, “I don’t like the word ‘domestic.’”

“I’m asking the Anheuser-Busch team and our wholesalers to make the change. Change the bar menus, change the venue boards, change the signs, change their reports, change their jargon, and insist upon American. I hope other American brewers and wholesalers will join us,” Whitworth also wrote.

He is also calling on marketing and research firms such as Circana and Nielsen to do so as well.

FROM CIA TO BEER: BRENDAN WHITWORTH’S PATH TO CEO OF ANHEUSER-BUSCH

While the word is not “necessarily an incorrect adjective to use,” Whitworth said. “It just doesn’t fully capture the spirit and passion that’s intrinsic to the American beer industry and its brands.”

It also falls short of capturing “the pride we should all take in products made right here in this great country,” Whitworth continued.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth started his letter to wholesale partners with six words, “I don’t like the word ‘domestic.’” (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The move comes amid a patriotic push from the White House. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Whitworth did not mention Trump’s executive order in his letter.

Whitworth – who served in the Marines before joining the CIA – was named as the Anheuser-Busch chief executive in July 2021 and led the company through challenges associated with its controversial 2023 Bud Light marketing campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which sparked backlash and a significant boycott by consumers and public figures.

BUD LIGHT TO SPEND ‘HEAVILY’ ON MARKETING AFTER DYLAN MULVANEY CONTROVERSY

Whitworth tried moving beyond the controversy by launching a slew of patriotic or humorous marketing campaigns focused on the company’s broader role in American culture. Those also highlighted the workers responsible for making the company’s beer and its contributions to the economy and communities.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth expressed his dissatisfaction with the longstanding use of “domestic” to describe American-made beer. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

In the Wednesday letter, Whitworth underscored that American beers should better advertise that the product is made by “American hands.”

FOR TAP BEER, THIS ANHEUSER-BUSCH BRAND IS NOW TOPS

“They are brewed by American workers who receive American wages. They rely on American farmers and on American raw material suppliers. They support American causes like the military and first responders,” he said. “They pay American taxes. And they exist because of decades of capital investments made in hundreds of local communities, right here across this great country.”

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Whitworth said that 99% of the beers that Anheuser-Busch sells in the U.S. are made in the country. Additionally, 99% of the ingredients the company uses come from American farmers.

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“Together, let’s leave ‘domestic’ in the rear-view mirrors of those good ol’ American pick-up trucks. Let’s all take more pride in our American beers,” Whitworth said in the letter.

February 6, 2025
New DNC Vice Chair previously called for ICE to be abolished

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg has previously called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be abolished and for the defunding of police.

“Defund the police not USPS,” Hogg, who first entered the national spotlight after surviving the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, said in an X post on Aug. 15, 2020.

“Abolish ICE,” Hogg said in a different post two weeks earlier.

DAVID HOGG SAYS HE RECEIVED ‘AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF VITRIOL’ FOR ASKING ABOUT DEM OUTREACH TO YOUNG MEN

Gun violence survivor and activist David Hogg speaks at the March for our Lives rally against gun violence at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The posts, which were made more than two years after Hogg survived the Florida school shooting, came as he became increasingly involved in political activism, most notably by his staunch advocacy for stricter gun laws.

Now just 24 years old, Hogg took to social media early Sunday to celebrate his election to leadership within the DNC.

David Hogg speaks onstage during the Fast Company Innovation Festival at BMCC Tribeca PAC on Sept. 17, 2024, in New York City. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company)

DEMOCRATS CONSIDER REBRAND AFTER TRUMP WIN, WANT TO AVOID ‘FREAK SHOW’ PARTY LABEL: REPORT

“I’ve just been elected as a Vice Chair of the DNC. I’m deeply grateful to the members for their trust and belief in me and I don’t take it lightly. Now it’s time to get to work,” Hogg said in a post on X, going on to promise a “Democratic Party that is authentic, relatable, earns people’s trust, and wins again.”

“It’s time we stop surrendering, go on offense, and take the fight to Donald Trump and every single Republican who is gutting our rights, attacking workers, and rigging the system for the wealthy and well-connected,” Hogg said.

But the elevation of Hogg to vice chair of the DNC also comes at a time of deep soul-searching for the Democratic Party, with many analysts blaming the party’s poor 2024 showing on its seemingly soft stances on crime and illegal immigration.

David Hogg addresses the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Nevertheless, Hogg called on the party to “rethink the way we’ve been doing things” in his post on X, arguing that it is vital “to rid our party of its judgmental attitudes, and do the work to win back every group we lost this year, from the working class to young people.”

The DNC did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.

February 2, 2025
Mauni Amavasya 2025 Date and Meaning: Why Is This New Moon Day Called ‘Mauni Amavasya?’ Know Amavasya Tithi, Significance and Puja Rituals

Mauni Amavasya 2025 falls on January 29. This annual celebration is known as the most important day in the Hindu calendar, for people to take a holy bath in the Ganges. The celebration of Mauni Amavasya is focused on remembering the ancestors who have passed on. People often believe that taking a holy bath and observing a special fast to seek moksha for their ancestors can add to the observance of Mauni Amavasya. As we celebrate Mauni Amavasya 2025, here is everything you need to know about this day. Amavasya 2025 Dates and Tithi: Complete New Moon Calendar, Rituals and Other Important Details Dedicated to Ancestor Worship and Charity.

Mauni Amavasya 2025 Date and Meaning

Mauni Amavasya 2025 is on January 29. The Amavasya Tithi for Mauni Amavasya begins at 07:35 PM on January 28 and will go on till 06:05 PM on January 29. The celebration of Mauni Amavasya will be marked on January 29, as that is the day that the sunrise on Amavasya tithi takes place. The celebration is also known as Maghi Amavasya. Mauni Amavasya is ta significant Hindu observance. The word ‘Mauni’ in Mauni Amavasya means ‘silence.’ Devotees often take vows of silence and observe ‘Mauna Vrata’ on this day. Purnima 2025 Calendar: Know Full Moon Dates, Poornima Significance and Fasting Rituals for the Auspicious Observance.

Mauni Amavasya Puja Rituals and Significance

The most sacred river in Hinduism is the Holy Ganges. It is believed that the holy water of the Ganges turns into nectar on Mauni Amavasya. Many people pledge to take a holy dip in the Ganges not only on Mauni Amavasya day but also during the whole Magha Mahina. It is also the time when the Kumbh Mela is usually celebrated. During Kumbh Mela, Mauni Amavasya is the most important bathing day at Prayag in Allahabad and is known as the day of Amrit Yoga and the day of Kumbh Parva.

The celebration of Mauni Amavasya is also marked by observing a day of silence. The commemoration of Mauni Amavasya is an important observance, as it reminds people of the importance of silence in Hinduism and how it can help people find peace and solace.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2025 05:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).

January 29, 2025
Belarus’ election extends President Lukashenko’s rule, called a sham by opposition, EU
UN chief meets with Putin, hugs Lukashenko at BRICS summit

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres drew condemnation for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as his warm embrace with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko while attending the BRICS summit in Russia.
- Belarus held an orchestrated election over the weekend that the opposition and the EU rejected as a farce, extending authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko’s more than three decades in power.
- Belarus’ 2020 election, which was also called a sham by dissenters, triggered months of unprecedented protests in the country.
- Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has relied on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also helped him survive the 2020 protests.
Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his more than three decades in power in an orchestrated weekend election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a farce.

The Central Election Commission declared early Monday that Lukashenko won the election with nearly 87% of the vote after a campaign in which four token challengers all praised his rule.

Members of the country’s political opposition, many of whom are imprisoned or exiled abroad by Lukashenko’s unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech, called the election a sham — much like the last one in 2020 that triggered months of protests that were unprecedented in the history of the country of 9 million people.

SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO HAILS RELEASE OF US PRISONER IN BELARUS AS CONTROVERSY HANGS OVER NATION’S ELECTION

Since then, more than 65,000 people were arrested and thousands beaten, with the crackdown bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.

The EU rejected Sunday’s vote as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the election offered no choice to voters, marking “a bitter day for all those who long for freedom and democracy.”

The head of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus, Igor Karpenko, fifth from left, and his colleagues attend a news conference on presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, on Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

“Instead of free and fair elections and a life without fear and arbitrariness, they experience daily oppression, repression and human rights violations,” she said in a post on X.

Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has ruled the country with an iron fist. He has relied on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself in office for a quarter-century, a relationship that helped him survive the 2020 protests.

Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use the country’s territory to invade Ukraine in 2022 and later hosted some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.

Putin called Lukashenko on Monday to congratulate him on his “convincing victory.” Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent congratulations.

Some observers believe Lukashenko feared a repeat of those mass demonstrations amid economic troubles and the fighting in Ukraine, and so scheduled the vote in January, when few would want to fill the streets again, rather than hold it in August.

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Leading opponents have fled abroad or were thrown in prison. Activists say the country holds nearly 1,300 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center.

Since July, Lukashenko has pardoned more than 250 people. At the same time, authorities have sought to uproot dissent by arresting hundreds more in raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners.

Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after challenging Lukashenko in 2020, denounced the election as a “senseless farce” and urged voters to cross off everyone listed on the ballot.
January 27, 2025
Dem who called Trump ‘existential threat to democracy’ now blocking his nominees

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., disrupted Senate Republicans’ plans to quickly confirm President Donald Trump’s national security nominees on Tuesday night when he objected to bypassing lengthy procedural votes that are routinely skipped.

“Unfortunately, we were at the point of almost having a consent agreement to have a vote on the confirmation of John Ratcliffe to be the CIA director tomorrow. Not today, not yesterday, when it should have happened, but tomorrow,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on the chamber floor. “But the senator from Connecticut has decided to object at the last minute.”

“I don’t really understand the objection to Mr. Ratcliffe. He was confirmed by the Senate to be the director of National intelligence. He was fully vetted through the bipartisan process in the Senate Intelligence Committee. We voted him out yesterday on a 14 to 3 vote,” Cotton, also the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, continued.

HEGSETH LAWYER SLAMS ‘FLAWED AND QUESTIONABLE AFFIDAVIT’ FROM EX-SISTER-IN-LAW

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. (Reuters)

During his objection, Murphy said there were “serious concerns” from some Democrats about Trump’s CIA pick John Ratcliffe. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask to make sure that we have a full, real debate that lasts two days on the Senate floor,” he said.

The Connecticut Democrat notably previewed Trump’s eventual second presidency over the summer. “There’s a lot of anxiety in the country and in the party today, and that’s because the stakes are so high,” he said.

“That’s because Donald Trump presents an existential threat to democracy. He has advertised he is going to transition this country from a democracy to a dictatorship,” Murphy claimed in a July appearance on CNN.

REPUBLICAN LEADERS STILL AT ODDS ON RECONCILIATION DEBATE AFTER TRUMP MEETING

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chairs the intelligence committee. (Getty Images)

Murphy’s Tuesday night objection to speeding through the routine procedural votes is the first case of Democrats using the strategy Republicans employed while in the Senate minority to gain leverage to negotiate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., expressed his frustration with the objection on the floor, saying, “OK, so 14 to 3 coming out of the committee. And we’ve now wasted a whole day where we could have been acting on that nomination.”

“And so really, I think the question before the House is, do we want a vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do,” he said, threatening weekend votes in the upper chamber.

NEW SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO PAUSES REFUGEE OPERATIONS, RAMPS UP VISA VETTING

John Ratcliffe is President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the CIA. (Getty Images)

“This can be easy or this can be hard.”

Murphy foreshadowed this type of defiance while speaking to reporters last week.

“I think Republicans changed the rules here over the last two years,” he said. “They used extraordinary powers to block nominees and to lengthen every process.”

NEW OHIO AND FLORIDA SENATE-APPOINTEES SWORN IN AS VANCE AND RUBIO’S REPLACEMENTS

Murphy foreshadowed the move last week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“The rules are different now, they changed the way the Senate works,” he reiterated.

Thune took the necessary actions to tee up eventual votes on Ratcliffe; Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth; and Trump’s pick for Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem. Since there is no agreement with Democrats to limit debate and bypass certain procedural votes, the nominations will not ripen for confirmation votes for more than a day.

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

January 23, 2025