Shark Tank’sKevin O’Leary predicted “a lot more sucking up” from CEOs when it comes to President-elect Donald Trump because they all want to be in the man’s “circle of friendship.”
Investor O’Leary joined Peter Doocy on Saturday’s Fox & Friends Weekend
, and Doocy asked about CEOs like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Metas’ Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple’s Tim Cook all making their to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the incoming president ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. Meta, Amazon
, and others have also donated
$1 million each to that inauguration.
“EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!” Trump declared
on Truth Social earlier this week.
Doocy asked O’Leary is someone like Bezos “actually” wants to be Trump’s friend. O’Leary argued Trump has far clearer positions on tech like crypto
and AI than President Joe Biden, making “sucking up” more important than ever.
Check out the full exchange below:
PETER DOOCY: So a few hours after Donald Trump met with Jeff Bezos, he posted on Truth Social, everybody wants to be my friend. Do you think Jeff Bezos really wants to be Donald Trump’s friend?
KEVIN O’LEARY: He certainly wants to be in sync with what Trump is thinking because Trump, by every measure, has a majority of majority of mandates, and he’s going to rule supreme for at least two years until the midterms. And that includes tech, that includes social media which you’ve been talking about this morning. And all of these leaders, whether they like him or not, are going to suck up to him, and that’s exactly what they’re doing because to be cut out of the circle of friendship is a diminished position if you’re a technology leader. And you want to be in that circle of friendship with Trump right now, love him or hate him, a lot of these CEOs bashed him pretty hard, so they’ve got a lot of sucking up to do.
DOOCY: It feels new. Were these CEOs not sucking up to Biden?
O’LEARY: Biden really didn’t take a position on tech. His administrators did. They beat it up pretty badly, and they were pretty — not in support of innovation. They preferred regulation, and that’s obvious because it’s history. You don’t have to debate it anymore. That was [Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina] Khan and the rest of them. With Trump, it seems more that the idea, and this really stems from something Doug Burgum said recently, the czar of energy, but it extends to every sector, he would rather innovate than regulate. And that gives the new tonality to the Trump administration. I think it’s a good thing. I think America’s always innovated its way out of trouble. We don’t need to regulate ourselves into it, and that’s what’s happening right now. We don’t want to diminish our competition.
Newly elected GOP Congressman Derek Schmidt told Fox News Digital that the efforts of DOGE will be critical in the next Congress and explained why he is optimistic that Republicans will be on the same page in January to push through President-elect Trump’s
agenda.
“It’s no more business as usual,” Schmidt, elected in November to represent Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District, told Fox News about the impact of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk
and Vivek Ramaswamy as the two lobbied against a 1,500 page continuing resolution that was being debated in the House and opposed by some conservatives for containing too much “pork.”
“Look, that was the top-line message from the voters last November. They want us to make progress on some of these issues, and we’re not going to make progress by continuing to do the same things and expecting a different result. So, you know, it’s going to be messy. It’s going to be tumultuous, but that’s what it takes in order to get this country back on track.”
Schmidt told Fox News Digital that DOGE reforms are part of what Trump ran on.
“That’s what President Trump promised. That’s what many of us ran on. And that’s what I at least intend to be part of accomplishing,” Schmidt said.
“So anything that helps put the genie back in the bottle, that helps move us back in the direction of this, you know, this federal system, this remarkable system of self-government that our founders gave us and that we have drifted so far from, especially since the New Deal, I think is something I want to be part of trying to help fix. I want to leave this country better for my kids than I found it, and that will not be true if we don’t start getting a handle on runaway federal spending. And on this, the sprawling, grotesque federal bureaucracy that is unaccountable to voters.”
Despite a net loss of two seats in the 435-member House in November, Republicans will hold a fragile 220-215 majority when the new Congress convenes next month giving them a razor-thin margin for error when attempting to advance Trump’s agenda.
Schmidt told Fox News Digital that he expects some “dissension” in the next Congress, which he called “the nature of Democratic self-government” but says he feels confident Republicans will unite on the big issues.
“I think we’re going to get the president’s agenda adopted, look, I think a couple of things are true. One, to the extent that I’ve met my fellow incoming class members in the House and to the extent I’ve talked with current House members, there seems to be a broad sense that everybody knows we’ve got to deliver,” Schmidt, who served as Kansas attorney general for over a decade, said.
“We have this trifecta, so-called, that the voters have given us. They’ve trusted us to do what we said we’re going to do, and everybody, even though they may have different perspective disagreements, understands we’ve got to deliver, and that means we’ve got to find ways to hang together.”
Schmidt continued, “Number two. What’s different now from, you know, a few times in the past when things have lined up is we have a strong Republican president. President Trump pulled no punches. He was very clear on the campaign trail the direction he wants to take the country, the types of policies that he wants enacted, and the voters approve that, not with just a win in the Electoral College, not with just a win for him in the popular vote, but also with the trifecta to help deliver that so we don’t have to figure out what the agenda is. We have to listen to what the voters said by electing President Trump, what he articulated on the voter’s behalf. And we have to step up, hang together and deliver results.”
After winning both the Electoral College
and the popular vote, Schmidt told Fox News Digital it is clear that Trump has a “mandate” from the American people and that House Republicans understand that a deadlock in Congress won’t be something the voters are content with.
“I think the voters knew what they were choosing, and they made that decision and I also think it’s very important, you know, to keep in line what I believe was the top line message, which is do something, make progress on these issues,” Schmidt said.
“If we don’t like as the electorate, if we don’t like what you’ve done, will judge that two years, four years, six years down the road. But do something. This sort of deadlock of accomplishing very little is an unacceptable way to lead the greatest nation on earth. And so I think that sense is pretty widely accepted among at least most of us who are entered into public office, and we’ve got a spirit of let’s get together and act.”
Fox News Digital asked Schmidt what he is most looking forward to when serving in Congress, and he outlined his excitement about taking part in what he called the “extraordinary experiment” of American governance.
“I don’t I don’t mean to sound like Mr. Smith goes to Washington, but there is a certain element of truth in the idea that each of us who is allowed to represent a group of Americans has an opportunity to be part of this extraordinary experiment in self-government that is still going despite all of its warts and imperfections,” Schmidt said.
“A lot of people who came before us paid great price at great personal expense to build this country into what it is today. We have an opportunity, those of us serving, myself included, to be part of rewriting or writing the next chapter in the American story. And I get excited about that every single morning. Whatever my service in public office ends, whether it’s in two years, ten years or somewhere down the road, I want to be able to look back and say, I made a difference. I left America better than I found it. And so few people have that opportunity and a direct way. I will never lose sight of what I’ve been entrusted with.”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
When Kirk Cousins
signed his four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in March, no one expected that he would be benched before the end of his first season.
With Cousins being benched for poor play and rookie Michael Penix Jr. taking his place, the Falcons are now expected to release the quarterback after the season, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter
.
Cousins is owed a $10 million roster bonus on March 17, and according to the report, executives across the NFL expect Cousins to be released before then.
If the Falcons
do cut Cousins before March 17 and save $10 million, they are still on the hook for most of Cousins’ contract.
Of Cousins’ $180 million contract, $100 million of iti s guaranteed. If the Falcons do cut Cousins prior to next season, they are going to eat a $65 million dead cap hit, per Spotrac
.
Cousins’ cap hit for next season would have been $40 million if he were still on the roster, but cutting him adds another $25 million to Cousins’ cap charge towards the Falcons’ salary cap for next season.
With rookie Penix Jr. set to start in place of Cousins when the Falcons take on the New York Giants
on Sunday, Cousins will have been the most expensive bridge quarterback in NFL history.
Cousins also has a no-trade clause, and according to the report, he is not expected to waive it.
The 36-year-old quarterback was reportedly frustrated that the Falcons had taken a quarterback with the eighth overall pick in the draft last season, picking Cousins’ eventual replacement instead of a player who could help them win now.
Cousins’ frustrations with how things were handled have executives believing that the quarterback is not going to do the team any favors and waive his no-trade clause, according to the report.
Cousins will be in a similar situation this offseason as Russell Wilson
was last offseason, if he is in fact released.
Wilson was released by the Denver Broncos
last offseason, yet the team is still paying him $53 million this season per Spotrac.
Wilson signed a one-year, league veteran minimum contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers
with the quarterback still being paid by the Broncos.
Cousins will be in position to sign a league veteran contract with another team, like Wilson, while still being paid by the Falcons not to play for them.
Through nine games, things were going swimmingly for Cousins and the Falcons. The team was 6-3 and atop the NFC South.
Now the team is 7-7 after a four-game losing streak and out of playoff position. The Falcons beat the lowly Las Vegas Raiders
15-9 on Monday, snapping the skid, but Cousins played poorly in the loss, prompting head coach Raheem Morris to make the change.
Cousins has completed 66.9% of his passes, throwing for 3,508 yards and 18 touchdowns this season while also throwing a league-high 16 interceptions.
In addition to throwing 16 interceptions, Cousins has 12 fumbles, which is tied for the most in the NFL
with Baker Mayfield.
Across his last five games, Cousins has thrown just one touchdown with nine interceptions.
Donald Trump will not be president of the United States for another month, at least not literally. Yet, his recent victory in the battle of the budget shows that, for all intents and purposes, he is already the nation’s leader, and not a moment too soon.
In the space of just a few days, Trump’s pressure on the Congress, including siccing his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attack dogs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on reckless spending, turned a 1,500 page monstrosity
of a bill into a slim 120-page banger of basic necessities, including disaster relief and help for farmers.
Prior to the intervention by Trump, it looked for all the world like House Speaker Mike Johnson would stuff the Democrats’ stockings with pork and goodies to ensure that a shutdown did not mar next month’s inauguration.
Johnson believed that enough Republicans would simply sigh and go along with the continuing resolution that he negotiated with the Democrats, and there was some logic to allowing sleeping dogs to lie until Trump takes over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Republicans take the senate in January.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the bill’s passage. At Trump’s behest, Musk and Ramaswamy began posting
on X all the deep flaws of the legislation, and there were some doozies.
The bill also contained a self-serving pay hike for lawmakers, as well as billions to be spent on pet projects all over the country.
Within hours of the torrent of posts from the dynamic duo of DOGE, the American people began to wake up to what was in the bill and object. A trickle of GOP lawmakers flipped from yes to no on the bill, and with that, the stage was set for our soon-to-be commander in chief.
With the target softened, Trump tore into the bill, going so far as to threaten lawmakers who voted for it with primary challenges. Trump even indicated that Johnson’s speakership could be in doubt if he did not get in line.
And that was it. Ding dong the bill was dead, and the American people dodged, or should we say, “Doged,” a bullet. By Friday night, the cleaner and leaner bill passed the House and a shutdown was averted.
Guess who played no role whatsoever in getting all of this done? That’s right, Joe Biden. You remember him, he’s the president of the United States, or at least that’s what it says on his business cards.
You would have an easier time finding Waldo in a candy cane factory than finding Grandpa Joe’s fingerprints anywhere on this historic deal.
Former GOP Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich knows a thing or two about how the congressional sausage gets made, and here is what he had to say on X:
“Shrinking the continuing resolution from 1,547 pages to 118 pages is a major victory for President Trump and shows that the election did matter and he is really the de facto President while President Biden was absent and passive. A good start to real change in Washington!”
It was fascinating how people all week tried to paint the budget mess as Republicans in disarray with House members defying Trump and looming trouble between Trump and Musk. Yet, when the dust settled, we had shed 1,400 pages of blundering B.S. with nary a peep from Biden.
Trump’s first term as president, though a success in many ways, was marred by Democrats’ incessant and absurd investigations into nothing, but also, in fairness, by a bit of naïveté from Trump himself.
Trump was new to Washington and its mendacious machinations in 2017, but not anymore. Today, like a seasoned veteran, he is not only poised to lead the nation, let’s face it, he is already doing it.
Make no mistake, this fight was a risk. A shutdown could have blunted the sweeping sense of optimism across America after the election. But with risk comes reward and today, having slayed the dragon of out-of-control spending, that optimism is only set to grow.
That is what leaders do, they take risks to make life better, and they show up and explain themselves. We haven’t had that kind of leadership in four long years.
Since Jan. 20, 2021, nobody has been very clear about who is actually running the country. Well, that is about to change. On Jan. 20 of next year, there will be no doubt, the country will be led squarely by Donald J. Trump. That is, if it isn’t already.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade pushed Trump lawyer and incoming counselor to the president Alina Habba about President-elect Donald Trump potentially reversing a ban on TikTok.
Trump spoke
to reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son on Monday and took questions
for almost an hour in a wild press conference chock full
of provocative moments
.
TikTok Comes Up At Presser
In one exchange, Trump expressed openness
to reversing the ban that’s set to take effect next year, saying “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok. Because I won youth by 34 points, there are those that say that TikTok had something to do with that. TikTok had an impact. And so we’re taking a look at it. We won youth. Republicans are always 30 points down in youth.”
On Thursday’s edition
of Fox & Friends
, Kilmeade pressed Habba, ticking through a raft of problems with the platform and asking “Do we want TikTok run by China to have this type of power?”:
BRIAN KILMEADE: So TikTok. I know the president loves it as platform, but as the Chinese propaganda device, it’s pretty strong. Their control of the news feed.
You’re going to see nothing pro-Israel. When the president starts getting into his trade deals with and fighting with China on tariffs. You’ll see nothing pro tariff or pro-American there.
Do we want TikTok run by China to have this type of power of 170 million users in the United States? We would never let them buy ABC or CBS.
ALINA HABBA: Listen, there’s nobody that appreciates fake news or the value of real American voices more than President Trump because he’s been a victim of the fake news.
But with TikTok, it’s interesting. Do we or does anybody disagree that we cannot have a platform with national security issues? Absolutely not.
Does that mean that it’s not unfixable? I don’t think so. And I think that the right person for that job is President Trump.
Unfortunately, Joe Biden is trying to get rid of it very quickly so that President Trump cannot save a platform that is widely used. However, it has to be– it has to has to comply with American security standards. It has to be. It can’t be a national security threat.
And President Trump understands all of that. And he will examine it. He will be in communications with these people, unlike Joe Biden, and try and resolve the issue in a way that works for Americans.
Dr. Anthony Fauci
joined Georgetown University’s faculty last year as a “distinguished university professor” but has yet to teach a single course, a new report says.
Georgetown announced in the summer of 2023 that Dr. Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, would be serving as “a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases,” as well as an appointment at the university’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
Georgetown calls
the role bestowed on Fauci its “most significant professional honor” that is reserved for faculty members “whose extraordinary accomplishments in scholarship, teaching and service have earned them significant recognition in the Academy.”
However, as the College Fix reported
on Friday, Fauci appears to have not taught any courses at the school since his appointment.
Fox News Digital reviewed the course catalog
available on Georgetown’s website going back to the Summer 2023 semester and didn’t find any course listed with Fauci as an instructor since that time.
The private Jesuit college said Fauci would “participate in medical and graduate education and engage with students,” in its initial announcement.
Since his appointment, Fauci has “given lectures, seminars and fireside chats for undergrads and for students and others from the School of Medicine, School of Health, School of Public Policy, Law Center and Walsh School of Foreign Service,” instead of teaching, according to an August interview with The Georgetowner
. He also “made himself available for one-on-one meetings. ”
Fauci also joined the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown as a “Distinguished Senior Scholar” in April 2024.
Georgetown said that Fauci would advance “the right to health” and provide “a critical perspective on identifying and responding to urgent national and global public health concerns” in this additional position.
As the public face of the federal government’s coronavirus pandemic response, Fauci has come under scrutiny for his handling of the pandemic. He faced renewed criticism this month after a report detailing the findings of a two-year congressional investigation into the pandemic was released.
The congressional subcommittee report found that the virus most likely emerged from a laboratory
in Wuhan, China, and that social distancing and masking were not backed with scientific data.
The report
said Fauci “played a critical role in disparaging the lab-leak theory” among top scientific circles early in 2020 and later to the public. His congressional testimony to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the report states, misled the public regarding National Institute of Health funding of gain-of-function research at coronavirus labs.
Politico reported earlier this month that President Biden is considering preemptive pardons
for Fauci and other political figures ahead of President-elect Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Georgetown did not respond to Fox News Digital’s
questions about Fauci’s professor role or salary.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
On Thursday, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump
and others for alleged 2020 “election interference.” The Court held that Willis suffered from a conflict of interest because she hired her paramour, Nathan Wade, as a special counsel to investigate Trump.
Basic legal ethics and common sense dictate that both Wade, who resigned last March, and Willis had to go. The appellate court did not dismiss the indictment, stating that the record did not support imposing such an “extreme sanction.” The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia
will now assign the case to a different prosecutor who will decide whether to continue, narrow, or drop the flawed RICO case.
There was never any question that Willis suffered from a conflict of interest; but like the other prosecutors who pursued Trump in the name of democracy, she threw all caution to the wind. For example, in July 2022 Willis attempted to investigate Trump ally State Senator Burt Jones even while headlining a huge fundraiser for Jones’s Democrat opponent. A judge had to bar the prosecution because of the clear conflict of interest.
A government official hiring her paramour is almost always questionable in and of itself. What’s worse is that Willis hired Wade after she already had hired Georgia’s premier RICO expert
. She hired Wade even though he openly admitted that he had no prior felony or RICO prosecution experience. Willis paid Wade a higher hourly rate than a regular counsel and did nothing when Wade far exceeded even those amounts.
Some estimates place Wade’s total county income at over $650,000 per year – three to four times the salary of a regular prosecutor. Their many romantic trips and late-night meetings, which the judge examined on national television, exacerbated their conflicts of interest.
The Georgia appeals court inevitably found that the Trump prosecution was “encumbered by [a significant] appearance of impropriety” and carried “an odor of mendacity” such that Willis was “not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences.”
Willis and Wade also failed to voluntarily and timely disclose their romantic and financial relationship to the defense, and therefore failed to meet their “specific obligations to see that the defendant is accorded procedural justice” under Georgia law. The rules also state that a prosecutor’s “duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict. This special duty exists because the prosecutor represents the sovereign and should exercise restraint in the discretionary exercise of governmental powers.”
Willis exercised no such restraint and Thursday’s decision saves the Georgia courts from having to later preempt her deeply flawed prosecution. Willis’s investigation threatened not just Trump, but also the office of the presidency.
Other prosecutors, such as Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg
or U.S. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, lodged narrow, if creative, charges against Trump that they hoped would be easier to prove.
Willis, in a striking example of prosecutorial overreach, charged Trump and his associates with running a vast RICO conspiracy that included almost every significant act of his campaign between Election Day 2020 and the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and beyond. She claimed 161 alleged acts, 19 charged defendants, 30 unindicted co-conspirators, and involved 7 states and the District of Columbia. This not only ran afoul of the First Amendment free speech rights of Trump, the co-defendants, and the Republican Party, it also posed a threat to all future presidents, who would have to worry about state legal liabilities when making the most difficult decisions in the nation and engaging in his duties.
For example, Trump’s post-2020 election televised speeches and tweets are protected speech and political activity, regardless of whether his statements turned out to be accurate. Trump’s plan to create alternate slates of electors and the legal advice supporting it, the cornerstones of Willis’s RICO charge, were within the bounds of reasonable legal argument. In the 1876 election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, Tilden won the popular and electoral college votes, but Republicans challenged the election results in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, on the ground that Democrats had engaged in election fraud and intimidated Black voters.
Hayes eventually won with 185 electoral votes, but Democrats had presented alternate slates of electors from multiple states. No one was criminally charged.
In the 1960 presidential election, Democrats challenged Nixon’s initial win in Hawaii, signed alternate electoral vote certificates, and sent them to Capitol Hill. No one was criminally charged.
After the 2016 election, the Hillary Clinton campaign and allied liberal groups recruited celebrities and others to importune electors to not cast their electoral votes for Trump; again, no one was investigated or charged.
Proposing alternate electors in the event that Congress or a court rejected a state’s vote as fraudulent falls within the free speech rights of a political campaign.
Furthermore, the prosecution failed to meet the standard requirements for a RICO prosecution. Neither Trump nor his co-defendants tried to gain money, property, or control of a business with their post-2020 election activities. Nor did they demonstrate any interest in initiating or joining a criminal enterprise to gain property, money, or businesses. Instead, Trump wanted to win the 2020 election, which is not illegal; fighting to stay in office would have ended one way or the other by inauguration day in 2021.
But the most serious flaw with Willis’s now-disgraced prosecution of Trump was its threat to the office of the presidency. Willis’s prosecution was part of the Democratic Party’s plan to break political and legal norms that had held for the history of the republic – all in the name of defeating Trump.
For the first time in American history, they brought criminal charges against a former president and the major, leading opposition presidential candidate during the actual campaign. If elected leaders, whom our constitutional system vests with the authority over prosecution, must break American political practice going back to 1789, they should do so for a compelling reason and with a case where the prosecution’s facts and law are airtight. Instead, Willis brought charges that were destined to fail in court and were clouded by her own conflicts of interest and potential financial corruption.
But once Willis brought charges against Trump for his actions while in office, future presidents must factor prosecution into their calculus. And investigators may not even wait until after a president has left office.
State prosecutors could charge presidents while the latter are still in office; nothing in the Constitution
requires states to wait.
This may well make presidents risk-averse, especially when partisan, elected prosecutors are the ones launching the investigations. At the very least, defending against one or more state criminal investigations will draw on the time and resources that a president could – and should – instead devote to carry out his constitutional responsibilities and protecting national security.
These concerns led the U.S. Supreme Court to grant former presidents sweeping immunity from federal prosecution for their official acts in Trump v. United States
. But the Trump Court’s decision – broad as it was – does not reach (a) investigations by state prosecutors, (b) for alleged violations of state law, (c) by presidents acting in their private capacities. While the Trump Court held that courts should not allow any evidence, even when used to prove state crimes, from official presidential activities, it did not prohibit state prosecutors from proceeding against Trump.
Not only did Willis’s prosecution harm the presidency in the ways that concerned the Trump Court, it also promised to spark a cycle of retaliation that would further destroy important legal and political norms.
Nothing will prevent elected Republican district attorneys from opening investigations into Hunter, James, or even President Joe Biden
for corruption, bribery, and money laundering – all they need is some link between the Bidens’ criminal enterprise
(to borrow the Georgia description of the Trump campaign), and their jurisdictions. Opening such probes would make for good campaign fodder in deep-red counties; some D.A.s might even pursue charges just to engage in tit-for-tat retaliation for the New York City
and Georgia charges.
While Democrats may embrace state prosecutors like Bragg and Willis, they should instead consider the whirlwind that they have now unleashed and choose to do the right thing: drop their legally flawed cases against President Trump.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) dismissed scathing criticism of him from President-elect Donald Trump – including calls for his ouster – on Friday during an interview with Fox News after he and nearly 40 other Republicans voted against a Trump-backed bill to avert a government shutdown.
Roy
reminded Fox News host John Roberts that former Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) called
Trump a “cancer” before he ultimately joined the first Trump administration to run the Department of Energy.
On America Reports, Roberts noted Trump
was furious at Roy and other Republicans for voting against the bipartisan bill to keep the government running.
“He’s now taken aim at you, saying that you, Chip Roy, you’re getting in the way of what he wants done, and he’s encouraging Republicans in Texas to primary you,” Roberts said. “I mean, you’ve really poked the bear here,” Roy replied:
Yeah. Look, at the end of the day, my job is to honor God, my family, the Constitution, and my voters – the voters who sent me here. That is what drives me. But I am working tirelessly to get what the president wants. I think the president knows that at the end of the day – look, politics are politics. Rick Perry called President Trump a cancer and then ended up in his cabinet. I’m not worried about politics.
I’m worried about the American people. I’m worried about inflation. I’m worrying about a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase with no spending cuts. The president is rightly motivated to block Chuck Schumer’s abuse, but we Republicans here in Congress, in the House have an obligation to get it done correctly. That’s what we’re working to try to do on behalf of the president and our constituents and our obligations under the Constitution.
Thursday, Trump took aim at Roy in a pair of posts on his Truth Social account. In one post, Trump wrote
:
The very unpopular “Congressman” from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with. The Democrats are using them, and we can’t let that happen. Our Country is far better off closing up for a period of time than it is agreeing to the things that the Democrats want to force upon us. Biden is President, and it’s his obligation to properly lead.
We’re there to do the right thing, and we can’t agree with what Biden and the Democrats are demanding. Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again. Put “America First,” and go for the Victory, even if it means shutting the Government down for a period of time. We had an overwhelming Victory just four weeks ago, and we’re not going to let the Democrats forget it so quickly!
Trump also called on
Texas voters to oust Roy in the 2026 GOP primary:
Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent. By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!
Have you ever had your turkey sandwich vanish mysteriously from the office fridge or found your bag of almonds missing from the breakroom cabinet? If so, you’re no stranger to the antics of the elusive office food thief
.
It happens almost every holiday season and is now becoming a routine thing at the workplace. This culprit, lurking in workplaces everywhere, has a knack for sending employees into a fury of frustration.
It’s a universal dilemma. Many of us have silently wished for karma to strike these food pilferers with a lifetime of stomach troubles. What kind of person, we wonder, would stoop so low as to steal a coworker’s meal
? While the occasional leftover dessert may tempt even the most principled among us, most would never cross that line without asking permission or leaving compensation.
But who exactly is the office refrigerator bandit? Could it be:
Regardless of their motives, combating office food theft requires creative strategies. Below are five practical – and sometimes playful – ways to protect your cherished casserole or frozen meal from falling victim to workplace larceny.
1. Label Your Food
Writing your name on your food
may not be a foolproof deterrent, but it can ward off less experienced thieves. However, beware – if someone in the office harbors a grudge against you, your name might become an invitation rather than a warning. Even so, labeling your food adds a layer of risk for the perpetrator, which could make them think twice before taking what isn’t theirs.
2. Choose Healthier Options
Office food thieves often gravitate toward indulgent, calorie-laden snacks and meals. Items like leftover desserts, Lean Cuisines and Hot Pockets are prime targets. In contrast, healthier options such as turkey sausages, hard-boiled egg whites or a plate of Brussels sprouts are far less enticing. By sticking to nutritious, less appealing fare, you might just save yourself the trouble of becoming a victim.
3. Install a Camera System
Modern technology makes it easier than ever to catch food thieves in the act. Affordable and discreet cameras can be hidden in the office kitchen, on bulletin boards or even inside the refrigerator itself. With many systems accessible via smartphone, you can monitor the situation from virtually anywhere. For less than $10, you can take the first step toward solving the mystery of your missing meals.
Take a page from crime dramas
and set a clever trap – without breaking any workplace rules. For instance, add an extra-hot dose of spicy sauce to your food or attach a humorous note claiming the contents to be something unusual (like baby formula or magical brownies). While harmless, such tactics can make would-be thieves think twice before risking embarrassment or discomfort. Just be sure to avoid anything that could land you in trouble with HR!
5. Opt for “Assembly Required” Meals
Convenience is a thief’s best friend. Pre-packaged or ready-to-eat foods, like sandwiches or snack bags, are easy pickings. In contrast, meals that require preparation – such as those stored in multiple containers or needing assembly – can be a deterrent. A thief is less likely to go through the trouble of preparing your meal when there are easier targets available.
Fridge theft in the workplace is more than just an inconvenience – it’s a growing phenomenon, particularly in offices with shared or open workspaces. But what drives someone to steal food from their colleagues? Is it pure hunger? Apathy toward getting caught? Or perhaps a bizarre sense of adventure akin to a sequel movie called – “Smoked Turkey and the Bandit”?
Whatever the motivation, it’s clear that office food thieves are here to stay. As workplaces become more collaborative
and personal refrigerators become a luxury, employees must remain vigilant. By employing these strategies, you can safeguard your meals and avoid the frustration of opening an empty lunchbox.
Remember: the next time you prepare your famous casserole, consider these tips to ensure it doesn’t mysteriously disappear before lunchtime.
