Writing in the New York Times on Monday, longtime Democratic political strategist James Carville outlined a compelling message for Democrats to unite around ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Carville urged Democrats to delay the ‘civil war’ that will eventually erupt between the party’s moderate and progressive wings, and to coalesce around a single ‘oppositional message’ focused entirely on repealing President Donald Trump’s agenda.

With all due respect to Mr. Carville, his myopic focus on a strategy of resisting Trump above all else is simply too narrow to be truly effective.

Put another way, a Democratic agenda built entirely around repealing the Republican agenda may be enough for 2026, but it falls far short of what Democrats must do if they hope to take back the White House in 2028.

Indeed, nowhere in the Times piece is any description of actual policies that Democrats should advance as an alternative to what Republicans are offering, either next year or in three years.

There are no calls for an entirely new economic agenda, one that replaces Democrats’ tendency for profligate spending with a more fiscally conservative plan focused on managing the debt while also protecting the social safety net.

In many ways, Democrats today should look to former President Bill Clinton, who was able to reduce the debt, leave a budget surplus and still protect vital social programs.

Moreover, the word ‘immigration’ is not even mentioned. 

This comes despite 2024 election polling showing that immigration was a top issue for voters, and exit polls showing voters trusted Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris by a 16-point margin (52% to 36%), per Fox News.

To that end, if Democrats hope to take back more than just one chamber of Congress, the party needs an agenda that prioritizes securing the border, combined with a pathway to citizenship for legal migrants and Dreamers.

And, while I do agree with Mr. Carville that the midterms will be decided based on kitchen table issues rather than foreign policy, that does not mean Democrats can afford to ignore this issue.

As a party, Democrats must advance an agenda that positively asserts democratic values at home and abroad. 

This entails rejecting the belief of the far left – and increasingly the far right – that any use of American power is inherently bad.

To be sure, formulating an entirely new Democratic agenda takes time. And it will require the emergence of moderate candidates at a time when Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City has energized the progressive wing of the party. 

Nevertheless, as the 2024 election made clear, Democrats cannot afford to run from the center toward the far left. What the party needs is a candidate who can win, not one chosen because they passed progressives’ ideological purity test.

Interestingly, Carville cites former President Clinton as a figure who emerged as Democrats’ ‘savior’ in 1992. 

But Clinton was able to do so because, at a time when the party was moving further to the left, Clinton dragged the party toward the middle on the economy and crime.

Finally, the crux of Carville’s message – ‘we demand a repeal’ of Trump’s agenda – overlooks the core factor behind who Americans cast a vote for.

Voters choose candidates who have plans and policies that will improve their lives. 

Slogans, no matter how catchy, may work for the midterms, but if Democrats then fail to deliver actual change between 2026 and 2028, its unlikely voters will trust them.

Quite simply, voters want a strong economy, safe streets, a government that is not excessively bloated and secure borders, not candidates whose only agenda is resisting the president. 

Now, this is not to say that the agenda outlined by Carville will not be successful next year – it very well may.

Rather, it is to point out that even if it helps Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives, it will not be enough to take back the White House in 2028.

For that, the party needs to advance its own agenda, one that addresses the above issues and actually provides a real, viable alternative to the Trump-GOP agenda. 

House Republicans are already discussing contours for a potential second ‘big, beautiful bill’ advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC), the 189-member-strong group that acts as a de facto ‘think tank’ for the House GOP, is launching a working group to look at what a second budget reconciliation bill would look like, Fox News Digital has learned.

It’s the largest organized effort so far by congressional Republicans to follow through on GOP leaders’ hopes for a second massive agenda bill.

‘We must capitalize on the momentum we’ve generated in the first 6 months of a Republican trifecta in Washington,’ RSC Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. ‘To fulfill the promises we made to the American people, conservatives must begin laying the groundwork for the second reconciliation bill to ensure we continue to drive down the cost of living and restore America’s promise for future generations.’

House Republicans left Washington on Wednesday to kick off a five-week recess period, where they’re readying to sell the benefits of their first massive agenda bill to their constituents. 

Meanwhile, Pfluger also directed lawmakers part of the new working group to begin reaching out to colleagues, conservative senators, and GOP organizations about potential policy proposals for a new bill, Fox News Digital was told.

The goal of the new group is to create a framework for what a second ‘big, beautiful bill’ could look like, and to recommend that framework to GOP leaders.

The first bill was a massive piece of legislation advancing Trump’s agenda on taxes, the border, immigration, defense, and energy.

It made much of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent, while imposing new work requirements on Medicaid and food stamps, among other measures.

After passing the House and Senate, Trump signed it into law during a celebratory event on the Fourth of July.

But the political fight to get just one reconciliation bill took Herculean political efforts across both the House and Senate, with debates and even heated arguments ongoing for months before the bill passed.

Notably, however, Republicans did get the legislation to Trump’s desk by July 4 – meeting a goal that many in the media and even within GOP circles thought impossible.

The budget reconciliation process allows the party controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress to pass massive partisan policy overhauls, while completely sidelining the other side – in this case, Democrats.

Reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority rather than 60 votes, lining up with the House’s own passage threshold. But the legislation must adhere to a specific set of rules and only involve measures related to fiscal policy.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ earlier this month that he was eyeing multiple reconciliation bills.

‘With President Trump coming back to the White House, and us having the responsibility for fixing every metric of public policy that Biden and Harris and the Democrats destroyed over the previous four years –  so the big beautiful bill was the first big step in that,’ he told host Maria Bartiromo.

‘But we have multiple steps ahead of us. We have long planned for at least two, possibly three, reconciliation bills, one in the fall and one next spring.’

JERUSALEM— The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is under growing pressure to extradite the self-confessed female Hamas terrorist Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi, who engineered the terrorist bombing at a Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001 that murdered three Americans among 16 people, half of whom were children.

Frimet and Arnold Roth, the parents of Malki Roth, a 15-year-old U.S. citizen murdered in the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing, held a virtual meeting on July 17, 2025 with Jeanine F. Pirro, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. 

The U.S. State Department has a $5 million reward for information leading to al-Tamimi’scapture, even as reports claim Jordan’s King Abdullah II has played hardball, refusing to extradite the accused mass murderer. 

‘You have the capacity to push for her extradition, to ensure that the 1995 treaty is honored, to show Jordan and its population along with the watching world that harboring terrorists has consequences,’ Arnold Roth told Pirro during the meeting, according to a family press release following the meeting. 

The 24th anniversary of the Aug. 9, 2001 bombing is next month.

Roth added, ‘We’re here today to implore you to act. Jordan needs to know the U.S. cannot tolerate the protection of a murderer of American citizens. U.S. justice needs to be respected by the world and, without hammering this point too hard, by America’s lawmakers and senior officials.’ 

The Roths said that the meeting focused on the need for ‘concrete steps’ to advance the long-delayed extradition of al-Tamimi.  

Al-Tamimi’sterrorist bombing also killed Judith Shoshana Greenberg and Chana Nachenberg in the 2001 attack. ‘All the victims deserve justice,’ Arnold Roth said, stressing that Tamimi’s extradition should become a ‘true priority’ for the U.S. Department of Justice. 

When asked if the extradition of al-Tamimi was raised by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his Wednesday meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, ‘The United States has continually emphasized to the Government of Jordan the importance of holding Ahlam al-Tamimi, the convicted terrorist released by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap, accountable in a U.S. court for her admitted role in a 2001 bombing in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including Americans Malka Chana Roth, Judith Shoshana Greenbaum, and Chana Nachenberg. The United States continues to impress upon the Government of Jordan that Tamimi is a brutal murderer who should be brought to justice.’

The State Department referred Fox News Digital to the Department of Justice for more information about the U.S. criminal case against al-Tamimi.

The Justice Department and Pirro’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.

Al-Tamimi is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. She is the second female to appear on the terrorism list.

Frimet Roth told U.S. Attorney Pirro that ‘We cannot carry this fight alone any longer. Judge Pirro, please, be the voice for Malki and the other American victims. Be the advocate for justice that has been denied for too long. We beg you to act—not for our sake alone, but for the integrity of American law and the sanctity of every life lost to terror.’ 

The Roths also delivered a petition to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in May 2025, with some 30,000 signatures urging the Trump administration to press Jordan for al-Tamimi’s extradition. 

Arnold Roth told Fox News Digital that ‘No senior figure from State has ever, in all the years of our fight for justice, agreed to speak with us. Their treatment of us and of the Tamimi case is deplorable. Victoria Nuland, then one of the top-ranking figures in the State Department. Nuland wrote to us in the names of President Biden and then-Sec of State Antony Blinken, and told us that the Tamimi case was quote ‘a foremost priority’ for the U.S. And that they would keep us informed. She then [they] ignored every follow-up letter that I sent her, and of course so said Biden and Blinken.’

Jordan’s government is a major recipient of U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF).

According to a January 2025 U.S. State Department fact sheet, ‘Since 2015, the Department of State has provided Jordan with $2.155 billion in FMF, which makes Jordan the third-largest global recipient of FMF funds over that time period.  In addition, the Department of Defense (DoD) has provided $327 million to the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) under its 333 authority since 2018, making Jordan one of the largest recipients of this funding.’

Al-Tamimi reportedly boasted about her terrorist operation in the Arab media and called for more terrorism against Israel. ‘Of course. I do not regret what happened. Absolutely not. This is the path. I dedicated myself to jihad for the sake of Allah, and Allah granted me success. You know how many casualties there were [in the 2001 attack on the Sbarro pizzeria]. This was made possible by Allah. Do you want me to denounce what I did? That’s out of the question. I would do it again today, and in the same manner,’ she said in 2011, according to a MEMRI translation.

In 2017, the U.S. Justice Department publicly announced that it had charged her with the Jerusalem suicide bombing. 

Fox News Digital sent multiple press queries to Jordan’s government and its embassies in Washington, D.C., and Tel Aviv.

The Trump administration revealed details of its highly anticipated artificial intelligence plan of action ahead of President Donald Trump’s major speech later on Wednesday, which is expected to also include the president signing at least one executive order related to the U.S.’ artificial intelligence race. 

Administration leaders, including White House Office of Science and Technology policy director Michael Kratsios and AI and crypto czar David Sacks, held a background call with the media Wednesday morning and outlined a three-pillar plan of action for artificial intelligence focused on American workers, free speech and protecting U.S.-built technologies. 

‘We want to center America’s workers, and make sure they benefit from AI,’ Sacks said on the call while describing the three pillars. 

‘The second is that we believe that AI systems should be free of ideological bias and not be designed to pursue socially engineered agendas,’ Sacks said. ‘And so we have a number of proposals there on how to make sure that AI remains truth-seeking and trustworthy. And then the third principle that cuts across the pillars is that we believe we have to prevent our advanced technologies from being misused or stolen by malicious actors. And we also have to monitor for emerging and unforeseen risks from AI.’

Trump is expected to deliver what White House staffers have described as a major address early Wednesday evening outlining his administration’s artificial intelligence efforts, including lifting restrictions on the technology administration officials say will usher in the next ‘industrial revolution.’

Trump ordered his administration in January to develop a plan of action for artificial intelligence in order to ‘solidify our position as the global leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans.’ 

The presidential action ordered administration leaders to craft a plan ‘to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security’ within 180 days, which was Tuesday. 

Kratsios stressed on the call that by cutting federal red tape surrounding AI, American workers will benefit while the U.S. will avoid going down the same AI path as Europe, which is mired in tech regulations, Kratsios said on the call. ‘The action plan calls for freeing American AI innovation from unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, ensuring all Americans reap the benefits of AI technologies and leveraging AI to drive new scientific breakthroughs.’

‘On deregulation, we cannot afford to go down Europe’s innovation-killing regulatory path. Federal agencies will now review their rules on the books and repeal those that hinder AI development and deployment across industries, from financial services and agriculture to health and transportation.’ 

‘At the same time, we’re asking the private sector to recommend regulatory barriers that they face for the administration to consider removing,’ he added. ‘Instead of cultivating skepticism, our policy is to encourage and enable AI adoption across government and the private sector through regulatory sandboxes and sector-specific partnerships.’ 

Trump rescinded a Biden-era executive order hours after taking office in January that put restrictions on artificial intelligence technologies, including requiring tech companies to keep the federal government appraised of the most powerful technology they were building before the programs are made available to the public. 

Trump’s signature rescinded the Biden order, with a White House fact sheet at the time arguing the Biden executive order ‘hinders AI innovation and imposes onerous and unnecessary government control over the development of AI.’

‘American development of AI systems must be free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas,’ the White House said. ‘With the right government policies, the United States can solidify its position as the leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans.’ 

‘The order directs the development of an AI Action Plan to sustain and enhance America’s AI dominance, led by the Assistant to the President for Science & Technology, the White House AI & Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor,’ the White House said. 

Trump is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday related to implementing his administration’s artificial intelligence plan, Fox News learned. The background call Wednesday morning focused specifically on the artificial intelligence plan of action crafted across the past 180 days. 

The Trump administration has notched massive wins in the artificial intelligence race, which has pitted the U.S. against China to develop the most high-tech artificial intelligence systems, including Oracle and OpenAI announcing Tuesday the companies will further develop the Stargate project, which is an effort to launch large data centers in the U.S. The two companies’ most recent announcement promises an additional 4.5 gigawatts of Stargate data center capacity, a move expected to create more than 100,000 jobs across operations, construction, and indirect roles such as manufacturing and local services.

The Stargate project includes a commitment from OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank and MGX to invest $500 billion in U.S.-based artificial intelligence infrastructure throughout the next four years.

Creating the data centers is key to the U.S. artificial intelligence race, according to admin officials who spoke on the background call Wednesday. Sacks explained that the administration wants to see U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure grow by leaps and bounds in order for the country to ‘lead in data centers and in the energy that powers those data centers.’ 

Earlier in July, Trump traveled to Pittsburgh for an artificial intelligence summit at Carnegie Mellon University while touting the $90 billion in private-sector investments intended to create the Keystone State into an energy and artificial intelligence hub for the country 

Trump also has signed other executive orders focused on artificial intelligence as it relates to increasing America’s energy grid capacity, and an April executive order aimed at preparing America’s next generation to employ artificial intelligence through educational programs. 

Kratsios said during the call that the U.S. winning the artificial intelligence race is ‘non-negotiable,’ citing not only economic and geopolitical considerations. 

‘We’re not alone in recognizing the economic, geopolitical, and national security importance of AI, which is why winning the AI race is non-negotiable,’ he said. ‘The plan presents over 90 federal policy actions across three pillars. As David (Sacks) discussed, those are accelerating innovation, building American AI infrastructure, and leading international AI diplomacy and security. The action plan was crafted with overwhelming input from industry, academia and civil society, informed by over 10,000 responses to the White Houses request for information.’ 

The plan delivered to Trump could be executed in the next six months to a year, according to the background call. 

The Trump administration repeatedly has rallied around how artificial intelligence will be crucial at catapulting America into the next ‘industrial revolution,’ which administration officials say will lead to job creation and a strong tech industry that can trounce other nations in the race. 

Vice President JD Vance has been one of the most vocal admin leaders touting the U.S. strength on artificial intelligence as it cut red tape surrounding the industry. 

‘The Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening screws on U.S. tech companies with international footprints,’ Vance said in a fiery February speech from Paris. ‘America cannot and will not accept that, and we think it’s a terrible mistake.’ 

‘At this moment, we face the extraordinary prospect of a new industrial revolution… But it will never come to pass if over-regulation deters innovators from taking the risks necessary to advance the ball,’ he said. ‘Nor will it occur if we allow AI to become dominated by massive players looking to use the tech to censor or control users’ thoughts.’

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday doubled down on Tehran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear program and said Iran is ‘fully prepared’ for a renewed fight with Israel. 

The Iranian president’s comments came just two days after Tehran’s foreign minister confirmed to Fox News that Iran will not give up its enrichment program, but continues to claim Tehran is not interested in developing a nuclear weapon. 

‘[US President Donald] Trump says that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and we accept this because we reject nuclear weapons and this is our political, religious, humanitarian and strategic position,’ Pezeshkian said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

‘We believe in diplomacy, so any future negotiations must be according to a win-win logic, and we will not accept threats and dictates,’ he added. 

Pezeshkian also said Trump’s repeated claims that the U.S. ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program is ‘just an illusion.’

‘Our nuclear capabilities are in the minds of our scientists and not in the facilities,’ he said.

The U.S. strikes – which came just days after Israel targeted top military figures and nuclear scientists – are believed to have set back Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years. 

But security experts have told Fox News Digital that Iran continues to possess significant military strike capabilities, and questions remain over whether Iran was able to successfully move any enriched uranium off site prior to Washington’s strikes.

Pezeshkian acknowledged the blow that Israel levied against its top officials, but said it ‘completely failed’ to ‘eliminate’ the hierarchy of Iran’s nuclear program.

He further warned that Iran is ready to take on Jerusalem should another conflict break out. 

‘We are fully prepared for any new Israeli military move, and our armed forces are ready to strike deep inside Israel again,’ Pezeshkian said.

Iran and Israel are still operating under a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and Qatar following last month’s 12-Day War, but the Iranian president said he is not confident this truce will hold. 

‘We are not very optimistic about it,’ Pezeshkian said.

‘That is why we have prepared ourselves for any possible scenario and any potential response. Israel has harmed us, and we have also harmed it,’ he added. ‘It has dealt us powerful blows, and we have struck it hard in its depths, but it is concealing its losses.’

Delegations from France, Germany and the U.K. (E3) are set to travel to Tehran on Friday to discuss nuclear negotiations.

The E3 visit will come just three days after officials from Russia and China, who are also signatories of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPAO), visited on Tuesday to discuss negotiations and how Iran can avoid sanctions, though details of the talks remain unknown.

Iran began initiating international talks after the E3 last week threatened to employ snapback sanctions – which would see the entire 15-member U.N. Security Council enforce strict economic ramifications – should Iran not enter into a nuclear agreement by the end of August. 

The timeframe is consistent with the time needed for the JCPOA signatories to recall snapback sanctions prior to the Oct. 18 expiration date when the economic tool can no longer be employed en masse per the 2015 terms of the agreement.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., accused Democrats of orchestrating a ‘cover-up’ of President Joe Biden’s signs of mental decline in a set of remarks to reporters on Wednesday.

The leader of the House of Representatives criticized left-wing lawmakers for their public pressure campaign regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s case, dismissing their calls for transparency as a hypocritical political ploy.

‘We will not be lectured on transparency by the same party that orchestrated one of the most shameless, dangerous political cover-ups in the history of the United States – and that was President Biden’s obvious mental decline,’ Johnson told reporters.

‘House Republicans stand for maximum transparency and truth. We always have, and we always will.’

It comes as the House Oversight Committee continues to investigate allegations that the former president’s top White House aides obscured signs of mental and physical decline in the octogenarian leader from the public and others in the administration.

Biden told The New York Times earlier this month that he was fully aware of every decision he made in a story regarding his use of autopen for clemency orders.

Johnson and other Republican lawmakers have dealt with a barrage of media scrutiny on Epstein’s case over the last two weeks. It’s a side effect of the fallout over a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) memo effectively declaring the matter closed.

Figures on the far-right have hammered Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing them of going back on earlier vows of transparency.

At Trump’s direction, the DOJ is moving to have grand jury files related to Epstein’s case unsealed. Bondi is looking into whether imprisoned former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell will speak with federal authorities as well.

Democrats seized on the discord by forcing Republicans on a key panel – the House Rules Committee – to take multiple votes on whether to make files related to Epstein’s case public.

GOP lawmakers’ frustration at being put into a tough political situation forced House Republicans’ agenda to partially grind to a halt this week, forcing leaders to send the House into August recess a day earlier than initially planned.

Some Republicans are frustrated with the Trump administration’s handling of the issue, while others are angry at fellow GOP lawmakers joining Democrats in public calls for transparency.

Many, like Johnson, have accused Democrats of operating on a double-standard. 

‘The way Democrats have tried to weaponize this issue is absolutely shameless. And I just want to say this – Democrats said nothing and did nothing, absolutely nothing, about bringing transparency for the entire four years of the Biden presidency,’ the speaker said. But now, all of a sudden, they want the American people to believe that they actually care.’

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pointed Fox News Digital to his remarks on Epstein earlier this week, questioning what Republicans were ‘hiding.’

‘Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide during the Trump administration. Trump administration officials have said, prior to arriving in Washington in positions of prominence, including at the FBI and the Department of Justice, that they were going to release the Epstein files. Trump administration officials are now in a position to release the Epstein files,’ Jeffries said. 

‘Does any of that, in your view, have anything to do with President Joe Biden? Why do we think President Joe Biden or President Barack Obama’s names are being invoked?’

Fox News Digital also reached out to the office of former President Joe Biden for comment but did not immediately hear back.