Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is leaning into his anti-Trump credentials with a scathing message about the former president’s selection for vice president.

Continuing his role as the chief Trump agitator, Christie said he believes former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), will not be a unifying figure in the party.

In the wake of Trump’s assassination attempt, the former president told the Washington Examiner he was going to restructure his speech at the Republican National Convention to be centered on unity, and many, including President Joe Biden, have called for political temperatures to cool down. While not at the RNC this week, Christie made his voice heard in a New York Times op-ed criticizing Trump’s pick in light of recent events.

“Mr. Trump has the opportunity to rein in some of the worst rhetorical impulses of the Republican Party at its convention this week. He can point the party and its leadership in a new direction in the wake of the assassination attempt against him,” Christie wrote.“Early indications are less than promising.”

Christie said Vance is not the figure who can rein in such violent rhetoric. Following Trump’s assassination attempt, Vance posted on X that Biden’s rhetoric led to the violence, which Christie found distasteful as Trump preaches unity.

“Mr. Trump’s selection of Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate doubles down on the portion of the party already completely devoted to him rather than reaches out to the broader party and beyond,” Christie wrote. “Mr. Vance’s first reaction to the assassination attempt against Mr. Trump was to turn directly to the current, flawed playbook: demonize the other side and lay the blame at the feet of the Democrats, as if they had pulled the trigger themselves.”

Christie said that as political “language gets harsher and more divisive,” there has been “gridlock in Congress. Impeachments. Endless meaningless congressional hearings. A catastrophization of our politics where every election is now painted as the most important election in our lifetime, with both sides claiming that the stakes are nothing less than the very survival of our Republic.”

“Even now in the face of violence, the urge to blame comes first: to blame Mr. Trump for bringing the assassination attempt on himself, to blame Democrats for saying he would bring fascism to this country, to spiral into conspiracy theories about staged plots or inside jobs in order to make the attack fit our preset conceptions. Our politics as articulated by too many of our leaders have become about blame,” Christie wrote.

“The harsh truth is that the only way forward is if we have the will. We must look forward as a nation,” Christie continued.

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While Christie was one of the first to endorse Trump in 2016, the pair’s friendship soured after Christie disavowed him following Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Still, Christie said voters should not move on from calls for unity. 

“It is not enough for this to be only a momentary call for unity. This change has to go beyond this week, next month and the November elections to be a real transformational shift. Otherwise, all we are left with is just another fleeting political moment,” Christie wrote.

Republican Senate candidates in Arizona are showing lackluster fundraising numbers compared to Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).

Kari Lake, a former Arizona news anchor turned political candidate, raised $4.3 million in the second quarter of the year. Her Republican opponent, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, reported a $422,000 haul. Gallego, the only Democrat in the race to replace Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), raised $10.4 in the second quarter of 2024.

With Lake’s modest haul, she enters July with $2.8 million in cash on hand and $812,000 in debt. Gallego enters the month with $9.2 million in cash on hand and no debt.

According to the Arizona Republic, Lake spent about as much as she raised last quarter but had a lighter advertising presence in the Grand Canyon State than Gallego did.

Lake should benefit from $1.4 million from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Arizona Republican Party in a shared fundraising operation split. In a recent interview with KTAR, a local Phoenix radio station, she included the NRSC donation in her estimated haul and questioned, without evidence, the root of Gallego’s fundraising.

“We’re raising good money, but the Democrats always raise more,” she said. “God only knows where their money is coming from. … We had over $5 million raised this quarter.”

“Arizonans are rejecting power-hungry Kari Lake and her dangerous plan to ban abortion,” Gallego campaign spokeswoman Hannah Goss told the Arizona Republic. “Meanwhile, grassroots donors across Arizona are chipping in what they can to send Marine combat veteran Ruben Gallego to the U.S. Senate to continue his work of cutting costs, defending abortion rights, and taking care of our veterans.”

This quarter, Lake held a fundraiser at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and her campaign claimed it raised over $1 million within two days of the event. That may not be the case, however, as campaign finance filings reveal Lake’s campaign received $280,000 from individual donors within a week of the Florida event. In the last seven days of the quarter, Lake pulled in $597,000.

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Lamb’s haul was the highest his campaign has produced in a quarter since he entered the race. His campaign has struggled to become relevant in the state and was not helped by Lake’s refusal to debate him earlier this year. Internal polling also shows Lake with a leg up on Lamb by over 30 percentage points in the Republican primary.

Arizona’s primary is July 30.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer has died at age 96. Westheimer rose to fame as a sex therapist who urged the public to break from taboos and talk openly about sex. 

“She was restful when she passed away. Her son and daughter were with her and holding her hand at that moment. It was as peacefully as she could possibly go. She was 96,” Pierre Lehu, who co-authored books with Westheimer, said to People Magazine. 

“It’s amazing, there was stuff still going on in her life [she has a book coming out this fall with Allison Gilbert] and someone wants to make a biopic about her,” he continued.

While Westheimer never spoke in favor of risky sexual practices, her presence encouraged open dialogue on the topic. She advocated condom use.

“I still hold old-fashioned values and I’m a bit of a square,” she told students at Michigan City High School in 2002. “Sex is a private art and a private matter. But still, it is a subject we must talk about.”

Her local radio program, Sexually Speaking, rose to the national spotlight in the early 1980s where she presented a nonjudgmental, sometimes humorous approach to her guests and show. Throughout her career, she frequently made appearances on The Howard Stern Radio Show, Nightline, The Tonight Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Dr. Oz Show, and Late Night with David Letterman.

During the 1980s AIDS pandemic, she rose as an ally of the gay community, who were targeted at the time. She also defended abortion rights.

Dr. Westheimer was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Germany. She survived the Holocaust while staying at a Swiss orphanage where her parents sent her before they were sent to concentration camps and killed. 

Following the war, she went to Palestine where she joined the Haganah paramilitary group fighting for Jewish statehood that would later become Israel. 

“I was left with a feeling that because I was not killed by the Nazis — because I survived — I had an obligation to make a dent in the world,” Dr. Westheimer said.

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In June 2023, when speaking with People Magazine about what surprised her the most in life, she said her fame and family.

“That I became famous,” She said, celebrating her 95th birthday. “That I have a wonderful daughter, son-in-law, a wonderful son and daughter-in-law and four wonderful grandchildren.”

As former President Donald Trump has yet to announce his highly-anticipated pick for vice president, some in his closest circle have made their opinion known.

His son, Donald Trump Jr., has made his voice known, as have media figures Tucker Carlon and Rupert Murdoch. Still, the decision ultimately lies in the former president as he will need to announce his pick by the Republican National Convention, where Trump and his yet-to-be-known vice presidential pick will become the official ticket of the Republican Party. 

Trump’s former vice President Mike Pence, proved loyal during Trump’s presidency and brought Christian, conservative values to the administration. However, Pence’s refusal to cooperate with Trump’s ploy to overturn the results of the 2020 election have soured the pair’s relationship beyond repair.

Here’s who’s weighed in on Trump’s running mate.

Don Jr. favors J.D.

Trump Jr. said on his podcast, Triggered, that Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) would be his top choice over Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Vance, Rubio, and Gov. Doug Burgum have emerged as top contenders to be Trump’s right-hand man.

“If we’re talking the VP stakes, what are you guys thinking right now? You know, everyone knows, I’ve sort of been for JD Vance,” Trump Jr. asked the livestream of his podcast.

“I have a good relationship with Marco, but there is some truth about, like, you know, having someone that’s a little bit more establishment in there,” he said.

“And so, there is something about having someone from outside of the establishment to sort of further protect you from that establishment,” Trump Jr. continued.

The feeling is seemingly mutual, as Vance has also shown his fondness for Trump Jr.

“With the exception of his dad, I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone who has a stronger natural connection to our base,” Vance said.

On the podcast, Trump Jr. called Burgum a “smart guy” but said his talents would be better suited in Trump’s Cabinet working on Energy.

Rupert Murdoch looks to Burgum

A recent NOTUS report revealed Ruburt Murdoch, the owner of hundreds of conservative outlets around the globe including Fox News corporation, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, has lobbied the former president to pick Gov. Burgum.

One source told NOTUS that Murdoch calls Trump everyday, sometimes multiple times in a day, to voice his support of Burgum on the ticket. Murdoch has also gone as far to send employees from the New York Post to Mar-a-Lago to make the case for Burgum while also bashing Vance.

Another source from Fox Communications said Murdoch was pushing Burgum so there is a “check on Trump.”

“Rupert has always viewed Trump as subservient to him,” the Fox communications consultant told NOTUS. “And it bothers him. He’s not looking forward to another four years where he’ll have to kiss Trump’s ass. They don’t want Trump on Fox, so they get Burgum on there and groom him for the next four years and make him president. That’s his way of ending Trumpism.”

Tucker Carlson backs Vance

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is reportedly backing Vance for Trump’s pick according to the New York Times. 

Carlson has been supportive of Vance since his run for senate. 

“The Republican Party is getting better. We know that because of two new Republican Senate candidates,” Carlson said on his show of Vance and then-Senate candidate Blake Masters of Arizona. 

Pete Hoekstra endorses Burgum

Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), who served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump’s administration, is backing Burgan.

In a post on X, Hoekstra called him a “fantastic choice.”

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“President Trump has great options to choose from for Vice President, and @DougBurgum is a fantastic choice who can help win Michigan and other key Midwest states,” he said.

“Doug has an exceptional record of executive experience in the private sector and as governor. He’s a problem solver and has Midwest common sense. He creates jobs and gets things done. He understands energy policy and will help save Michigan’s auto industry. I recently saw him up close during several campaign stops in Michigan. Michiganders loved meeting him because he’s the real deal!” Hoekstra continued.

Businesses in Milwaukee are expressing discontent with the planning surrounding the Republican National Convention as the city is set to host the event next week.

Many prominent venue spaces in downtown Milwaukee will likely sit empty during the convention as they have not yet been booked, and restaurants cite a lack of reservations ahead of the event. The RNC will take place July 15-18 in Wisconsin‘s most populous city, where former President Donald Trump will officially become the Republican presidential nominee.

While 50,000 delegates will descend upon the midwestern city in the coming days, business owners are concerned by the lack of bookings.

“It’s 100% a case of ‘overpromise, underdeliver,’ on all parts, by everybody,” Gary Witt, president and CEO of the Pabst Theatre Group, told the Recombobulation Area last month. Pabst Theatre Group owns the Pabst Theater, Riverside Theater, and the Vivarium, all of which Witt says are not booked for any events during the RNC.

“We were told it was going to be one way over and over and over and over again when [the RNC] was confirmed, and it has turned out to be almost anything but the way that we were told it was going to turn out,” he said. “We were sold a storyline of how this is going to go, and basically it didn’t go anything at all like the storyline that we were sold.”

Witt said the planning surrounding the RNC has been a “failure” and “underwhelming.” He also said his company is in contact with other Milwaukee businesses who have expressed the same sentiment. A Milwaukee restaurant owner also said it’s been a “disappointment.”

“From an events standpoint—dining, private events, parties, shut-down-the-restaurant, etc.—the convention has absolutely been a disappointment,” Cindi McLeod, spokeswoman for Lupi & Iris, a restaurant in Milwaukee, told the Recombobulation Area. “There are not as many inquiries as hoped, and in general terms, there is not a lot of excitement around the convention. I’m sad for Milwaukee. We really wanted this. We really wanted to shine. We were really excited to host these events.”

One restaurant owner went as far as to say the event would be a “business killer” for the city.

“I have a feeling this is going to be a business killer,” Amilinda chef and owner Gregory Leon said. “If the [reservation] book stays the way it is, we’re not going to make enough money to cover costs.”

While Milwaukee was previously set to host the Democratic National Convention in 2020, in-person events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Witt said the lack of event bookings this year have nothing to do with VISIT Milwaukee, the city’s tourism arm, but placed the blame solely on the RNC.

“This is about the city in general, and frankly, (the RNC) did promise, because (they) talked about the economic impact for the city,” Witt said. “I think VISIT has worked very hard on this, completely. They put in a lot of effort, but they can only control so much.”

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​​”This business that we own operates only in the city of Milwaukee, and for us to succeed, the city of Milwaukee has to succeed, and at this point in time, I don’t see the RNC delivering that kind of success,” Witt said. “That kind of anticipated economic impact that everyone was high-fiving and champagne-popping and press conferencing about. At this point in time, none of that really has come true, for the most part.”

The Washington Examiner contacted the RNC for comment.

Progressive Democrats, such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have thrown their support behind President Joe Biden to remain at the top of their party’s ticket, while others have stayed silent. 

Some members of the “Squad,” a group of young progressive House Democrats, have come out in support of Biden as numerous Democrats call for him to step down. Biden has spent the last week or so fending off calls from those concerned about his mental acuity and electability following his lackluster debate performance.

“I have spoken to the president over the weekend. I have spoken with him extensively. He made clear then and he has made clear since that he is in this race,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The matter is closed.”

Omar has also affirmed her support for Biden, even going so far as to cut him into one of her own campaign ads.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) said she supports Biden and that the focus of the race should come back to Democrats beating former President Donald Trump.

Other Squad Democrats have yet to support Biden publicly or call for him to step down. None of Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), or Maxwell Frost (D-FL), who have all been critical of the president for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, have yet to comment publicly one way or the other.

The chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), put out a statement Monday to highlight the diverse viewpoints of the caucus.

“It is true that Democrats are having many conversations among our members and our constituents as we consider the best path forward to protect our Democrats,” Jayapal said.

“As CPC Chair, I am listening carefully to the thoughts of our members from all over the country—in swing and safe states and districts—as we work to ensure we defeat Donald Trump and win the House and Senate,” she continued. 

While she did not endorse Biden nor call for him to step aside, she did say that both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “were elected by the voters and have had remarkable accomplishments.”

Jayapal told the Associated Press that Biden was expected to meet with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week.

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Ahead of House members coming back to work in Washington, D.C., this week, Biden penned a letter to Democrats reiterating his commitment to staying in the presidential race. 

“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now,” Biden wrote. “It’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”

Neurosurgeon and CNN commentator Dr. Sanjay Gupta said there was a “unanimous” indication from fellow medical professionals that President Joe Biden should be given a cognitive test following his poor debate performance last month.

Gupta called for Biden to take a cognitive test in order to calm fears about his mental acuity. The president’s lackluster debate performance has led several Democrats and political pundits to call for him to step down as the Democratic nominee ahead of the November general election.

“There was concern from the go, frankly,” Gupta said on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper when asked about Biden’s debate performance.

“There was cause for concern, you know, stumbling of speech, confused rambling at times, and then also motor symptoms,” Gupta continued.

He clarified that aspects of Biden’s behavior onstage taken by themselves were not a sign of cognitive decline but that, taken together, they were worrying.

“None of those things are diagnostic of anything — I just want to be clear about that — but in aggregate, they are flags,” Gupta said. “Unanimously, from the medical professionals I’ve heard — they would advocate for testing based on what I saw at that debate.”

Last week, Gupta authored an op-ed in which he described conversations with other medical professionals and doctors about Biden’s performance and called for “detailed cognitive and movement disorder testing.”

“For me as a brain specialist, it was concerning to watch President Joe Biden, and it quickly became clear that I was not alone in my reaction. Over the past week, I received more than a dozen calls, texts, and emails from medical colleagues who, like me, specialize in the brain. It wasn’t that what we noticed was necessarily new but that it was particularly pronounced, and right from the start of the debate,” Gupta wrote. 

He wrote then, too, that while these observations about the president’s performance on the debate stage may not signify any diagnosis, they were concerning. 

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“The consensus from the doctors reaching out to me, however, was that the president should be encouraged to undergo detailed cognitive and movement disorder testing, and those results should be made available to the public,” Gupta wrote.

“With an election looming in November, we don’t have answers about Biden,” Gupta wrote, adding, “The country is watching now, and that assessment gives cause for concern — and a need for transparent testing.”

This November, Arizona voters will be given the chance to move their state away from semi-closed primaries and open them to all registered voters.

A referendum on the ballot from Make Elections Fair Arizona asks whether the current system, in which independents are forced to pick up either a Republican or Democratic ballot on primary day, is unjust. If approved, the referendum would reform the Arizona Constitution to do away with the current primary system and replace it with a single, open primary.

Chuck Coughlin, a longtime political consultant in the state who is running the campaign for Make Elections Fair Arizona, told the Washington Examiner the measure “permits every voter in every candidate to be treated identically, and any voter can participate in any election. Very much like how municipal races are run throughout Arizona today. Partisans and anybody can run and everybody can vote.”

If successful, rules would change for primary voting. On primary day, no matter what party affiliation one may have, all candidates would be placed on a single ballot. Candidates could choose whether or not to say what party they belong to or not say at all. Some local elections in Arizona, notably for mayoral elections, already run on a nonpartisan basis, in which candidates do not list affiliation but rather explain their ideas.

“It doesn’t matter if you get a majority in the primary, you’re going to have a general election,” Coughlin said. “Because we want that candidate to be in front of a majority of the voters, and want them to participate because a majority of the voters showed up in the general election.”

The ballot organizers have left it up to the state legislature to decide what happens if more than two candidates advance to the general election. It could be ranked choice voting, or the legislature could decide to cap the number of candidates at two.

“The Make Elections Fair Act will require that everybody runs in a competitive general election: That could be a Democrat running against another Democrat or Republican against another Republican,” Coughlin said. “It could be an independent running, but you know, it’s no longer ‘we’ll be able to win a race outright in a primary.’”

Arizona’s voter registration is largely split three ways: There are 1.4 million registered Republicans, 1.4 million registered independents, and 1.2 million registered Democrats. Young Arizonans are registering themselves less and less with either party.

“We have a whole generation of young people who don’t belong to one of the parties, and they have no interest in joining the parties,” said Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy and a professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University.

“The defining feature of independents is that candidates and issues, not party loyalty, drive their choices,” Reilly added.

Arizona independents face hurdles, whether that be as a candidate or as a voter. Independent voters must pick up either a Democratic or Republican ballot when voting in the primary, preventing them from voting for different parties in different races.

Independent candidates must gather up to six times the number of signatures compared to candidates with a partisan affiliation. An independent candidate would need to gather 43,492 signatures to make the ballot, compared to Republicans, who need 7,378, and Democrats, who need 7,035.

The group also believes this ballot measure would make Arizona’s elections more competitive. According to the Hill, half of all general election races for the state legislature in the 2022 midterm elections were uncontested or won easily. Less than a quarter were deemed competitive to begin with.

“The vast majority of Republicans and a vast majority of Democrats are all elected in primaries, where there’s only 30% of voters participating, so that’s their only customer,” Coughlin said.

Arizona often splits its tickets at the ballot. In 2016, the same year former President Donald Trump won Maricopa County and the state, Maricopa County voters ousted longtime conservative Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had occupied the role since 1997.

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“I’m fond of saying we are State 48 for a reason,” Coughlin said. “Still behave like that, totally young kid in the room that wants to create chaos and create differences and so, this ballot initiative reflects Arizona’s attitude because we’re not we’re not married to one side or the other.

“We just want good candidates who have good answers, and so that’s what hopefully we’ll get out of this,” Coughlin concluded.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he never considered resigning from his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases despite backlash from his politics pertaining to COVID.

In addition to the backlash Fauci faced from President Donald Trump’s administration over his COVID policies, he also endured many death threats over the years. Despite this, Fauci said he saw it as his duty to remain in the role. 

“I just felt that we have to have somebody there who is actually getting the correct information to the American public,” Fauci told ABC News “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday.

“I have felt, and still do, a very strong responsibility to the American public, not to any administration or any person, but to the American public,” Fauci said.

Fauci held his role from 1984 to 2022 and guided the country through other disease outbreaks, including Zika, Ebola, and, most notably, COVID-19. He said he felt he had the duty to continue in the role.

Facui said he was “afraid that despite the pressures and all the somewhat unusual things that were going on, if I did walk away from it, there would be little opportunity to get the correct, potentially life-saving information to the American public.”

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Earlier this month, Fauci testified before the House for a hearing on COVID, during which he was criticized by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) for her discontent with Fauci’s handling of the pandemic. She refused to call him “doctor,” instead referring to him as “that man does not deserve to have a license.” Greene added to her criticism and stated that his license “should be revoked, and he belongs in jail.” 

When asked about Greene’s comments, Fauci said, “I mean, that’s bizarre, and that bizarreness leads to other crazies threatening and saying things that are also inappropriate.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reflected upon his own lackluster debate performance in 2022 to dismiss calls for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race following his poor debate performance. 

Some Democrats are expressing concern about Biden being the nominee after he performed poorly in Thursday night’s presidential debate against former President Donald Trump. Fetterman pointed to his own poor debate performance when he ran for Senate in 2022 against Mehmet Oz, a race Fetterman ultimately won, as a sign that the Biden campaign can recover from the backlash.

“We had a difficult debate, and yet we still managed to go on to win. Now, everybody was calling that that was the end of my career, that was the end of this race, and everyone was predicting that I was going to lose actually by 2 points or more. And I smoked Oz by 5 points,” Fetterman said in an interview with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday.

 “And that’s what I’m saying. It — it’s like one debate is not a career,” He continued.

When Fetterman debated Oz in 2022, it was largely seen as a poor performance by Fetterman, who had just suffered a stroke. One Democratic lawmaker told Axios at the time, “Why the hell did Fetterman agree to this?” 

Some Democrats are asking similar questions as to why the Biden campaign agreed to a debate after Biden often stumbled through questions and appeared lost during the debate. Fetterman, still, dismissed those concerns from Democrats.

“That whole abandoned Biden thing — that’s the dumbest s*** I’ve ever heard,” Fetterman said.  “I mean, if you are more inclined to vote for a Democrat or be a Democrat, if you’re willing to walk away from Joe Biden — you’re by defecting, helping Trump.”

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He said voters should consider the contrasts between both the Trump and Biden presidencies when making their choice in November. 

“This is a very stark choice. What kind of president do you want for the next four years?” Fetterman said. “Donald Trump, who is obsessed with revenge and has been very clear he is here to be retribution. I don’t believe that the president office should ever be weaponized against the people in this America that disagree with you.”