Tonight is the big presidential debate, the most important presidential debate of my lifetime.  Who is the burden on with regard to this debate? Who needs the debate more? Right now, the answer is: Joe Biden needs this debate. He needs to win this debate. It is not enough for Biden to simply remain alive because if all of the prior questions going into this debate remain after the debate — questions about his health, his fitness, his policy — and if the focus is on him after this debate, Biden is going to lose. Biden needs a radical change in the direction of this electoral cycle in order for him to win. Just a week ago, a lot of talk surfaced about Biden possibly regaining momentum, that the polls were tightening. But now, we have a bevy of new polls, and they are showing that Donald Trump is actually pulling away.  This is a disaster for Joe Biden.  Trump now has the largest lead in the Real Clear Politics national average that he has had in three months — nearly two points. Not just that, but there are also a couple of national polls that are mirroring the same in one another. The New York Times is so freaked out about this — because they’re one of the polls — that they are trying to determine whether they are an outlier poll or not. There are certain polls in every cycle that are a little bit different than all the other polls, and sometimes the outliers are right.  But it’s not really an outlier when within the same couple of days that you release your poll, there’s another poll from Quinnipiac that mirrors your poll. Quinnipiac has been a very pro-Biden poll throughout this entire electoral process and has shown him tied or leading virtually the entire cycle. But according to Quinnipiac now, Trump is at 49. If you’re looking at registered voters, including leaners, Biden is at just 45. Trump currently has a 10-point advantage with independents.  That means Biden is going to lose.  WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show It turns out that about 73% of respondents in the Quinnipiac poll say they’re going to watch the debate tonight, which means Biden particularly needs a strong showing because a Times/Siena poll shows he is also down four points, 48-44. That is the biggest lead Trump has had in the Times/Siena poll among likely voters in months. Trump’s lead with registered voters is six percentage points.  These are truly terrible numbers for Biden. Swing states are even worse for him. According to a report from the Washington Post, more than half of voters in 6 swing states that Biden narrowly won in 2020 say that “threats to democracy are extremely important to their vote for president.” But Biden’s problem is that more of those voters actually believe Trump handled threats to democracy better than Biden. So in other words, the entire Biden message that Trump is a threat to democracy, January 6, election denialism, is totally falling flat. It turns out that when people look at Biden and his executive actions, which are, in fact, tyrannical; his rants about how he’s going to end around the Supreme Court; or his use of executive agencies to do things like “relieve student loan debt”; or his attempts to cram down vaccine mandates on 80 million Americans, they don’t think Biden is standing for democracy.  Yesterday, the Washington Post published an article stating, “The results offer troubling indicators for Biden, who needs voters who may be unenthusiastic about his candidacy to decide they must reject Trump to preserve America’s system of representative government. ‘Many Americans don’t recognize Biden’s custodianship of our democracy, which is a bad sign for his campaign,’ said Justin Gest, a professor of policy and government at George Mason University.” Among all key state voters, 44% said they believe Trump would do a better job handling threats to democracy than Biden. Only 33% of voters said Biden would do a better job handling threats to democracy than Trump.  If those poll numbers are remotely accurate, Biden is toast, unless he has a magnificent performance tonight in the debate. Saying Trump is a threat to democracy is not just the tip of the spear of Biden’s entire argument; it’s the whole spear. There’s nothing else. He can’t run on the economy. People don’t like the economy. He can’t run on his foreign policy. His foreign policy is a  burning dumpster fire of trash and excrement. He can’t run on the border. He can’t run on social policy.  What exactly is he going to run on? His entire campaign was predicated on his speech at Independence Hall, with blood-red in the background, where he declared himself the man standing in the breach on behalf of democracy.  If more Americans in the swing states believe Biden is the threat to democracy, not Trump, Biden is finished.

CNN host Jim Acosta cut off pro-life activist Kristan Hawkins during a Thursday morning interview, marking at least the second time in less than a week that a CNN host has cut away from a guest who did not stick to the preferred narrative. Acosta was speaking with Hawkins, the president of Students For Life of America, about the Supreme Court’s latest ruling that upheld a lower court decision that “will prevent Idaho from enforcing its abortion ban when the termination of a pregnancy is needed to prevent serious harms to a woman’s health.” Hawkins, who opposed the decision, also mentioned the court’s latest ruling making the abortion drug mifepristone more accessible — and when she challenged Acosta’s claims regarding the drug’s safety, he quickly cut the interview short. WATCH: After a T-ball interview with the NAACP, CNN appears to get in some mic cutting practice as Jim Acosta ends an interview with Kristan Hawkins “I’m sorry, mifepristone has been proven to be safe. It’s been that way for years” Hawkins: “It actually hasn’t. We know [microphone cut]” pic.twitter.com/bcJwhGVRoc — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 27, 2024 “What’s your reaction to this decision?” Acosta asked. “The GOP needs to take note. The Biden administration continues to make the case to weaponize federal agencies to make abortion a federal issue. But we also see a silver lining in this decision today. If Idaho, while this is tragic, saying Idaho must allow for abortions to prevent infertility, future infertility, the FDA must now change its policy too to do the same,” Hawkins replied. “Given their no-test online distribution scheme of chemical abortion pills, which we know harm women’s future fertility, as 15 percent of women of our population are RH negative, and there is no testing now because of the Biden administration and their FDA on these dangerous chemical abortion pills that she’s having these pill abortions. She’s not being tested for RH negative status —” “Haven’t the experts said that mifepristone is safe for women to use?” Acosta interrupted. “Ask any woman who’s RH negative,” Hawkins shot back. “But haven’t the experts said —” Acosta tried again. “Ask any woman who’s RH negative. Ask any woman. Excuse me? Ask someone who’s been pregnant, sir! When you’re pregnant, one of the first things they do is they test for RH negative status. Because if you have a miscarriage, if you give birth —” Hawkins tried to explain. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “No, Miss Hawkins —” Acosta protested. “If you get in an accident —” Hawkins took another tack. “If you have an abortion, you have to be treated immediately.” “I’m sorry, mifepristone has been proven to be safe. It’s been that way for years. But thank you for coming on. We appreciate it,” Acosta said. “No, it actually hasn’t —” Hawkins tried one more time before Acosta cut her off and went to a commercial break. The FDA has approved mifepristone for use through ten weeks of pregnancy, and the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is safe to use through 12 weeks, but even abortion provider Planned Parenthood recommends Rh-factor testing for women who have abortions later than eight weeks to avoid complications — and Hawkins was correct in pointing out that the increased availability of the drug makes it more likely that women will use it without testing when they should.

President Biden’s economy has now claimed another victim: Walgreens. According to Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Tim Wentworth, the chain, which is 123 years old, will shut down a significant number of its 8,600 stores across the nation. Wentworth told The Wall Street Journal that the company is examining roughly one-quarter of its stores and could close a “meaningful percent” of them. “Retail pharmacy is central to our future and to our overall customer and patient experience. It enables many other things, but it has to change,” Wentworth stated. Noting the increase in theft from its stores, Wentworth said Walgreens wants cities to help by “investing in public safety so that our customers and employees feel safe.” “The retail industry is going through a tough time as it copes with inflation-weary consumers and a rash of bankruptcies, prompting chains to announce the closures of almost 3,200 brick-and-mortar stores so far in 2024, according to a new analysis,” CBS News reported in May. “Nearly 20,000 businesses have warned they’re at risk of closing if President Joe Biden is elected to a second term,” Newsweek stated in mid-May. “In a new report from RedBalloon and PublicSquare, nearly half of the 80,000 small businesses surveyed said they ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ will not survive another four years with Biden.” “It’s been a difficult three years for America’s small businesses,” Michael Seifert, PublicSquare CEO, said. “While many inside the Beltway may feel like things are good, that isn’t translating to Main Street America—the frontlines of our small business economy.” In March, Dollar Tree announced it would close roughly 1,000 stores, 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of 2024 and 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores over the next few years. In May 2023, Joshua Kobza, CEO of Restaurant Brands International Inc., which owns Burger King, said 300 to 400 U.S. Burger Kings would be closed by the end of 2023.

NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd pondered on Wednesday why President Joe Biden‘s campaign pushed for debate conditions that he believes will allow former President Donald Trump to appear “more presidential.” During an appearance on MSNBC, Todd hearkened back four years when Trump made headlines for his constant interruptions. For CNN’s debate this week, the candidates agreed to rules that include cutting off a candidate’s microphone when it is not his turn to speak. “This to me, though, is the real risk for Team Biden. … They so want to have a different experience than the last debate they had with him or the first debate from the last cycle. And ironically, that’s the single best debate Biden had, right?” Todd said. He added, “Because Trump’s behavior really sort of almost cemented Biden’s lead by that point and it may have done Trump in at that point. And now here’s the Biden campaign trying to come up with a set of rules to make sure Trump seems more presentable?” Todd concluded, “I have to say, when you sort of look at their motivation here and given the experience they had four years ago, it’s a head scratcher to me that they went so out of their way to try to create an environment that will make Trump seem more presidential.” Trump and Biden agreed to appear for CNN’s debate back in May, eschewing the Commission on Presidential Debates. Another debate between Biden and Trump — this one hosted by ABC News — is planned for September 10. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Around that time, Biden’s campaign released a memo saying the debates should be one-on-one with “firm time limits for answers” and calling for a candidate’s microphone to be active only when it is his turn to speak to promote “orderly proceedings.” Trump recently told The Washington Examiner’s Byron York he was approached with a debate he “couldn’t take” so the impasse could be pinned on him. “They thought they would present it, I would say no, and they would say we can’t debate because Trump said no. So I said yes before they even gave me the terms. So he got roped into it.” The CNN debate is slated for 9 p.m. ET on Thursday. It is expected to last 90 minutes and will not feature an audience in the Atlanta studio. “State of the Union” anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash have been selected as moderators.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) fumed after Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), a fellow far-Left member of “The Squad,” lost his primary race this week following his full on embrace of anti-Semitism following Hamas’ October 7 massacre. Ocasio-Cortez, who has an extensive history of palling around with anti-Semites like Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), campaigned for Bowman in the days prior to his blowout loss. “This was about $20 million in big money being spent in a historic sum, unlike any seen in American history, point blank period,” AOC told reporters when asked if Democrat leadership could have done more to support Bowman. “And I think we need to have a real conversation about AIPAC. I think that what we do need to have [is] a real conversation about is how a Republican, primarily Republican and largely Republican financed organization is playing and dumping money and playing an extremely divisive role in the Democratic Party.” AIPAC is not right-wing, conservative, or a Republican organization and it has long given money to candidates on both sides of the aisle. “And by the way, it makes it much harder for us to coalition build and to create the winning coalitions that not just can ensure that we have representation at the congressional level,” she continued. “But they are spending this money into our party for a reason, because we need that coalition to win back House majorities. We need that energy and coalition of a progressive base in order to make sure that we win statewide and federally, and Republicans are pouring money to finance these for a reason because people and representatives like Jamaal Bowman can move and reach communities that many other areas of the Democratic Party cannot.” “And so if Republicans can finance taking people like that off the board, they can also make it easier for themselves in November,” she concluded. “And so I think for all of us as a party, regardless of your stances, it’s very important that we have a conversation about why Republicans are playing such a large role in financing division and among Democrats.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP At no point during her response did she ever address the actual question and she never disavowed herself from blatant anti-Semitic remarks that Bowman made, including his denials of the October 7 massacre. Ocasio-Cortez also did not seem to understand that Bowman lost to a liberal Democrat, 70-year-old George Latimer, not a Republican. Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire about whether she had a problem with the Democrat Party’s decision to meddle in Republican Party primaries in the 2022 midterms. WATCH: Asked by @metzgov if Democratic leadership could have done more to help Jamaal Bowman, AOC responds — pic.twitter.com/spS091D75a — Pablo Manríquez (@PabloReports) June 26, 2024

Miss Maryland contestants said they were shocked to realize they had been changing and using the restroom “in the same space as a biological man” after discovering they had competed against a male after he was crowned Miss Maryland USA. Speaking to the Daily Signal, several women who competed in the recent Miss Maryland contest said they were “disgusted” and called the competition “rigged” after a trans-identifying male who goes by the name Bailey Anne Kennedy won the competition on the first day of Pride month. On June 1, the trans-identifying male was crowned Miss Maryland USA, a competition that promises a “fair environment in which young women have the opportunity to develop skills that will help them win in life by being their personal best in everything they do,” the outlet noted. “I first realized I competed with a biological man a few days after the competition,” contestant Elizabeth McCarthy said. “I saw it on the Miss Maryland USA Instagram post. At first, I was shocked. I felt sick to my stomach and was so upset for the other women in the top five. I was disgusted and disappointed that the pageant coordinators allowed women to undress in front of a man without any disclosure.” EXCLUSIVE: Miss Maryland USA crowned a man who identifies as a woman on the first day of Pride Month. Until now, the contestants had not spoken up. But there was widespread frustration. Now these women speak to @DailySignal: https://t.co/7Zc9xua9Pc — Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) June 26, 2024 “I feel Kennedy won this competition because it was set up,” she added. “What are the odds that a trans-identifying individual wins the Miss Maryland USA title on the first day of Pride Month? I feel that men are taking over everything that women worked so hard for.” Another contestant told the outlet, “I felt lied to. I would’ve liked to know ahead of time, as I was subject to change, utilize the bathroom, and be in the same space as a biological man … it surely seemed like the organization and Bailey was trying to hide this fact until it was convenient to them.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP A third contestant said the fact that a trans-identifying male won the crown on the 1st day of Pride Month shows the “competition was rigged.” “There isn’t a doubt in my mind that it was not,” the contestant said. “For example, I think in previous years, the pageant secured different judges … I think they were changed. In addition, the staff were not respectful nor pleasant. I completely understand that this is a pageant and it is fast paced, but there is a certain respect that individuals should provide, especially since we are all grown women who can take direction and listen.” “I believe it is disheartening to have so many women pay for coaches, hair and makeup, and find sponsors when they already knew who they were going to select,” she added. Kennedy will now compete for the title of Miss USA in Los Angeles in August, a competition that is part of the Miss Universe pageant, which is now owned by a trans-identifying male.

Former President Donald Trump has ramped up his criticism of President Joe Biden, focusing on recent signals from the White House that Biden might skip a proposed debate. Trump, campaigning for the 2024 election, suggested he might follow suit if Biden continues to avoid direct confrontation. Trump's fiery remarks were delivered during a rally in Dayton, Ohio, where he accused Biden of being a "great threat to our democracy" and labeled him as incompetent and corrupt. Trump took aim at Biden's reluctance to participate in a debate, calling it a sign of weakness and a tactic to avoid public scrutiny of his policies and record. Joe Biden didn’t agree to a drug test before the debate tonight. Trump did. Joe Biden didn’t agree to debate a third party candidate. Trump did. Joe Biden requested there not to be a live audience. Trump didn’t. Now – who is more fit to be President? — Steve (@SteveLovesAmmo) June 27, 2024 The Biden campaign has hinted that the president might not attend the debate, a move that has sparked controversy and accusations from Trump's camp. Trump seized this opportunity to question Biden's ability to defend his administration's actions and policies in a public forum. "If Joe Biden is too afraid to debate, maybe I won't waste my time either," Trump declared to a cheering crowd, emphasizing his readiness to challenge Biden directly. Trump's comments reflect his broader strategy of portraying Biden as unable to handle the demands of the presidency. The former president criticized Biden's handling of the border crisis and accused him of using the Department of Justice to target political opponents, including Trump himself. These accusations are part of Trump's ongoing narrative that the current administration is weaponizing government agencies for political gain. Flashback to the 2020 debate where Trump had to remind Biden what point he was on Biden: “Manufacturing went in the hole, number one — Number two. Number three, the… Trump: “No you were on number two” Biden: No… pic.twitter.com/2hsTkNFSQV — johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) June 26, 2024 In addition to his attacks on Biden, Trump continued to highlight issues such as crime and immigration, blaming Biden's policies for recent violent incidents. Trump pointed to the tragic murder of a Georgia nursing student, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, as a consequence of what he called Biden's "savage attack on America." He argued that such crimes are a direct result of the president's lax immigration policies. The debate over who poses the greater threat to democracy has become a central theme in the 2024 election campaign. Trump and Biden have each accused the other of undermining democratic institutions, creating a stark choice for voters. Trump's allegations against Biden, coupled with the president's counter-accusations, underscore the deep divisions within American politics. As the election season heats up, the issue of debates and direct confrontations between the candidates is likely to remain in the spotlight. Trump's suggestion that he might skip the debate if Biden does adds another layer of complexity to the already contentious race. Both candidates are using every opportunity to rally their bases and discredit their opponent, setting the stage for a highly charged and divisive campaign. Trump's strategy of framing Biden's debate avoidance as a sign of fear and weakness is designed to question the president's competence and readiness to lead. This narrative is likely to resonate with Trump's supporters, who view Biden's reluctance to debate as indicative of broader issues within his administration. As the 2024 election approaches, the political rhetoric from both sides is expected to escalate, with each candidate leveraging their platform to paint the other as a fundamental threat to the nation's future. The ongoing battle between Trump and Biden highlights the high stakes of the upcoming election and the significant impact it will have on the direction of the country. The post Trump Slams Biden Over Debate Avoidance, Suggests He Might Skip Too appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

What a party it is in South Beach

The interview only lasted for 90 seconds

'This is becoming a lot of work'