'COVID Vax During Pregnancy Safe for Infant Brain Development, Study Suggests'

 COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy appeared safe for infant neurodevelopment through 18 months of age in a prospective cohort study.

The proportion of 12-month-olds who screened positive for developmental delay was 30.6% among those exposed to the vaccine in utero compared with 28.2% who were unexposed (X²=1.32, P=0.25), reported Eleni Jaswa, MD, MSc, of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues.

The proportions were likewise similar in screening at 18 months (20.1% vs 23.2%, respectively, X²=2.35, P=0.13), the group noted in JAMA Pediatricsopens in a new tab or window.

No differences emerged after adjusting for baseline maternal age, race, ethnicity, education, income, anxiety, and depression (adjusted RR 1.14 at 12 months, 95% CI 0.97-1.33, and 0.88 at 18 months, 95% CI 0.72-1.07). Nor did further adjustments for preterm birth and infant sex affect results at 12 months (aRR 1.16, 95% CI 0.98-1.36) or 18 months (aRR 0.87, 95% CI 0.71-1.07).

The data provide "the first solid evidence basis that COVID vaccination of pregnant patients does not disrupt early childhood development up to 18 months of life for their babies," Jaswa told MedPage Today in an email. "I hope clinicians can feel more comfortable answering questions and addressing concerns that patients may have related to potential risks to their babies."

Longer-term effects of both the virus and interventions directed against it are important to understand as society emerges from the acute phase of the pandemic, Jaswa's group wrote.

And that's true especially for people who were pregnant during the pandemic and their offspring, the researchers noted. "Although pregnancy was identified as a high-risk condition early in the pandemic in light of an increased risk of severe disease and death, considerations surrounding the impact of exposures to the offspring, in the form of infectious agents or countermeasures, remain poorly understood."

They studied a total of 2,487 pregnant individuals with a mean age of 33.3 years enrolled in the nationwide study before 10 weeks' gestation who completed research activities. Ultimately, neurodevelopmental assessments were completed by the birth mothers on 2,261 of their offspring at 12 months of age and 1,940 at 18 months of age using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, third edition (ASQ-3). A score below the established cutoff in any of five subdomains (communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, or social skills) constituted an abnormal screen.

Overall, males had more abnormal screens for developmental delay than females at 12 months of age (33.2% vs 28.3%, X²=5.57, P=0.02) and at 18 months of age (24.1% vs 19.3%, X²=5.84, P=0.02).

When calculating stratified estimates by sex from a model including interactions between sex, exposure, and age, there was an increased risk of delay among exposed male infants at 12 months of age (aRR 1.29, 95% CI 1.04-1.62). However, the difference was not sustained at 18 months (aRR 1.06, 95% CI 0.80-1.41).

For females, there was no difference in risk of abnormal screens among exposed versus unexposed infants at 12 months of age (aRR 1.02, 95% CI 0.81-1.30) and a reduction in risk observed among exposed infants at age 18 months (aRR 0.69, 95% CI 0.51-0.93).

"Larger studies will be required to explore the sex-specific findings; caution is warranted in interpreting these results," Jaswa and colleagues noted.

Further limitations of the study included that volunteer bias might have affected the distribution of participant characteristics, that imperfect retention may have also contributed to bias, and that the ASQ-3 screening tool requires diagnostic follow-up.

Jaswa and colleagues also noted that, to their knowledge, their study is the "longest follow-up on the topic to date." However, they acknowledged that disturbances in development may manifest later, so prolonged follow-up is required.

"I also hope we are able to continue to follow our ASPIRE [Assessing the Safety of Pregnancy During the Coronavirus Pandemic] study participants for years to come -- it is our obligation as doctors to make sure the clinical guidance provided to our patients and communities is both safe and rooted in good data," Jaswa added.

Disclosures

The study was funded in part by research grants provided to the University of California San Francisco, the Start Small Foundation, California Breast Cancer Research Program, COVID Catalyst Award, AbbVie, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, University of California, and individual philanthropists.

Jaswa reported receiving grants from the California Breast Cancer Research Program and the Start Small Foundation during the conduct of the study. Co-authors reported receiving grants from the Reproductive Medicine Network and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Primary Source

JAMA Pediatrics

Source Reference: opens in a new tab or windowJaswa EG, et al "In utero exposure to maternal COVID-19 vaccination and offspring neurodevelopment at 12 and 18 months" JAMA Pediatr 2024; DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.5743.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/108358

Gabapentinoid Use Continues to Climb

 Gabapentinoid users increased from 4.0% in 2015 to 4.7% in 2021, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data showed.

Moreover, gabapentinoids -- which includes gabapentin and pregabalin -- continued to be used for chronic pain and in conjunction with other sedating medications, reported Michael Johansen, MD, MS, of OhioHealth in Columbus, and Donovan Maust, MD, MS, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

"Our descriptive analysis of gabapentinoid use in the United States showed a continued increase since our last publicationopens in a new tab or window using MEPS data up to 2015," Johansen and Maust wrote in Annals of Family Medicineopens in a new tab or window. "The growth was primarily driven by gabapentin, as we did not detect any increase in pregabalin users after 2008 or after generic availability in 2019."

The findings "are troublesome," noted Christopher Goodman, MD, of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, who wasn't involved with the research.

"Gabapentinoid use continues to rise, increasingly co-administered with other sedatives, despite limited evidence to support their use and potential for harm," Goodman told MedPage Today.

"Regulators and policymakers may need to consider action to curb this trend," he continued. "In my view, the growth of these medications represents the poor quality of chronic pain management in the U.S."

Gabapentin is approved for seizures and post-herpetic neuralgiaopens in a new tab or window; gabapentin enacarbil is approved for restless legs syndromeopens in a new tab or window. Despite limited indications, gabapentin and pregabalin are widely prescribed off-labelopens in a new tab or window for various other pain syndromes.

Common side effects of gabapentinoids include drowsiness, dizziness, blurry or double vision, or difficulty with coordination and concentration. In 2019, the FDA warned about serious breathing problemsopens in a new tab or window that may occur in patients using gabapentin or pregabalin who have respiratory risk factors. These factors included taking opioids or other drugs that depress the central nervous system (CNS), conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPDopens in a new tab or window) that reduce lung function, or older age.

Johansen and Maust used cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the 2002-2021 Department of Health and Human Services MEPSopens in a new tab or window. Gabapentinoid users were identified as someone who reported a prescription fill of any gabapentinoid during a year.

Cross-sectional data included 488,348 people. Among them, gabapentinoid use increased from 1.2% in 2002 to 4.0% in 2015, and to 4.7% in 2021 (P<0.01). Use of gabapentin (Neurontin and other drugs, including generics) rose throughout the study, while pregabalin use was largely unchanged after 2008.

The probability of gabapentinoid use increased with age: between 2019 and 2021, it was about 9% among people 70 and older. In 2017-2021, musculoskeletal pain (1.5%) and diabetes (1.6%) were the medical conditions with the highest proportion of the population using gabapentinoids. Those proportions were smaller for polyneuropathies (0.8%) and fibromyalgia (0.9%), though polyneuropathies and fibromyalgia had the highest odds ratio of use.

The researchers also assessed other medication classes that acted on the CNS including opioids, muscle relaxants, benzodiazepines, serotonin and norephinephine re-uptake inhibitors, and tricyclic antidepressants. As the number of CNS-active medication classes rose, so did gabapentinoid use. "Gabapentinoid use was much more likely among individuals who used other medications used in chronic pain," Johansen and Maust observed.

Longitudinal data included 196,589 people tracked over time. Between 2011-2012 and 2017-2018, new gabapentinoid users outnumbered gabapentinoid stoppers, but the difference between starters and stoppers was smaller in 2018-2019 and 2019-2021.

The study has several limitations including changes in survey design in 2020 due to the pandemic and possible under-reporting of short-term opioid and muscle relaxants, the researchers acknowledged. The analysis couldn't directly link medical conditions to a gabapentinoid and surveys couldn't determine whether medication use was synchronous or asynchronous throughout a year.

"Gabapentinoid users continued to increase following our 2015 publication despite a dearth of evidence supporting use in many cases; while these clinical scenarios can be challenging, continuation should be reconsidered at regular intervals," Johansen and Maust wrote.

Disclosures

Maust reported funding from the National Institutes of Health. No other disclosures were reported.

Primary Source

Annals of Family Medicine

Source Reference: opens in a new tab or windowJohansen ME, Maust DT "Update to gabapentinoid use in the United States, 2002-2021" Ann Fam Med 2024; DOI: 10.1370/afm.3052.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/generalneurology/108370

Oil Holds Gain as US and UK Launch Fresh Strikes Against Houthis

 

• Latest strikes occur as attacks on Red Sea shipping persist
• US benchmark WTI trades near $75 a barrel after rising Monday

Oil held gains after the US and UK made a fresh round of strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, fanning tensions in the Middle East and offsetting concerns global supplies remain ample.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded near $75 a barrel after rallying by more than 2% on Monday, while Brent was just above $80. US and UK forces launched their latest attacks against eight Houthi targets in an effort to prevent the group from attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-23/latest-oil-market-news-and-analysis-for-january-23

Israel Offers Substantial 2-Month Gaza Ceasefire For Release Of All Hostages

 In a huge and surprise development, Israel has made a substantial proposal for a new ceasefire deal that includes multiple phases at the end of which all remaining hostages held in Gaza would be released. The negotiations front has been quiet and considered to be a failure for the past couple months, leading to general pessimism that Israel had a new proposal in the works. At the same time the Red Sea crisis and damage to global shipping through the vital transit waterway has reached a boiling point.

Israeli officials have confirmed the deal on the table to Axios, which has involved Qatari and Egyptian mediators, but it's still too early to know whether Hamas will seriously contemplate it, given continued fierce ground fighting happening in the southern Strip, focused particularly on the city of Khan Younis. Yet it's a rare hopeful sign after weeks of regional escalation and worsening news.

Axios writes in the breaking Monday report that "While the proposal doesn't include an agreement to end the war, it is the longest period of ceasefire that Israel has offered Hamas since the start of the war." The proposed deal envisions a two-month long pause in fighting.

Presumably the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not retreat from their positions in northern Gaza, but would likely initiate some degree of pullback in the south. Aerial bombardment would cease, but it would also require Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to halt their rockets launched into southern Israel.

Over 130 hostages still remain in Gaza, though there are fears some could have already died or have been executed. Inside Israel, domestic pressure is growing on the Netanyahu government to strike a deal. Increasingly large and angry protests have been sustained, led by victims' families who have demanded that Netanyahu gain captives' freedom at any cost.

Of the some 250 people kidnapped on Oct.7, there were 105 freed back in November as a result of Qatari-mediated negotiations. Of the rest which remained in captivity, the Israeli miliary has since said that 31 have died or been executed. Three of these were killed in a tragic friendly fire incident which outraged Israeli society. All of this has contributed pressure on the government to offer a serious proposal.

Israeli officials have been cited as saying their outlook remains "cautiously optimistic." Biden's envoy Brett McGurk is in Egypt working with Qatar and other parties on hammering out the deal. According to more of the details via Axios: 

• Under the proposed deal, Israel and Hamas would agree in advance on how many Palestinian prisoners would be released for each Israeli hostage in each category and then separate negotiations on the names of these prisoners would take place, the officials said.
• The Israeli officials said the proposal includes Israel redeploying Israeli Defense Forces so that some would be moved out of main population centers in the enclave and allowing a gradual return of Palestinian civilians to Gaza city and the northern Gaza strip as the deal is being implemented.
• The Israeli officials said the proposal makes clear Israel will not agree to end the war and will not agree to release all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

The Israelis have yet to promise that will halt all military actions, but targeting would likely become more focused and smaller in scale. In the November deal, which included a successful ceasefire that held for a week, hundreds of Palestinians were freed from Israeli prisons.

A key reason why it wasn't extended is that Israeli leaders accused Hamas of seeking to separate family members. Israel said that in separating children from their mothers, Hamas was seeking to inject last-minute leverage. The November ceasefire collapsed and wasn't renewed over disagreements regarding which hostage groups would be freed in follow-up rounds. 

Thus even if Hamas is amenable to this new deal on the table, the two sides would have to agree on which hostages go free in specific phases. Hamas is also likely to push for multiple thousands of Palestinians to be let from from jails, if not all of them. And Tel Aviv has already said that is a non-starter.

Gaza's health ministry has meanwhile said the Gaza death toll has surpassed 25,000 - and is made up of mostly civilians. For this reason Israel finds itself under increasing scrutiny and isolation from the "international community" - but the US and UK have stuck firmly by its side, and are even stepping up intelligence assistance and surveillance drone flights over the Strip. 

If the brakes don't get applied to the Gaza war anytime soon, the ongoing regional spillover could explode into a huge regional conflagration with unforeseen consequences...

If there actually were a two-month pause, this could mean a good chance of a lasting peace. However, Netanyahu shows no signs of backing down from his ultimate war aim of completely eradicating Hamas. Regardless, a substantive and far-reaching offer of a deal in and of itself helps him politically at this tense moment.

At this point it's entirely unclear how many battlefield losses Hamas has suffered, but it's likely in the thousands, yet by all account the jihadist militant group remains intact, and is effectively using the vast Gaza tunnel network in guerilla and insurgent operations.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-offers-significant-2-month-gaza-ceasefire-release-all-hostages

Why Are Face Masks Back?!

 Health centers in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia have reinstated requirements to wear face masks. One would naturally assume that health centers implement policies that reflect the best, most up to date scientific medical knowledge available in order to provide optimal care for patients.

Wearing a face mask was a central element in Washington’s response plan to CoViD. The Biden administration publicly shamed, castigated, even canceled Americans who opposed mandates for masking or who opposed the experimental gene therapy, mRNA self-styled “vaccines.” 

Repeatedly, Washington spokespersons Anthony Fauci, Deborah Birx, and Rachel Walensky claimed they “follow the science,” without acknowledging that true science involves open, honest competition between differing ideas and data until truth is established, by weight of evidence not by proclamation based on authority by title. Suppression of writings or voices opposed to Washington’s medical mandates was (and is) the very antithesis of science, viz., then-NIH Director Francis Collins demanded a “quick and devastating published take-down” of the Great Barrington Declaration, an approach to CoViD different from the official, politically acceptable Fauci response plan. 

Without accurate information, Americans cannot evaluate the truth about facemasks and the appropriateness of reinstating mandatory usage. Following are scientifically proven facts about masking with extensive evidence provided as embedded URLs. 

Wearing a face mask is supposed to protect the wearer and to decrease the spread of CoViD (SARS-CoV-2). A wealth of data starting with a randomized controlled study in Denmark, followed by more than 150 subsequent reports conclude that “...surgical and cloth masks ... have no impact on controlling the transmission of Covid-19 virus.” This information was available more than one year ago. 

An uncontrolled study of face mask cleanliness by the parents of eleven school-age children is fascinating. First, the facemasks of the children were evaluated at parents’ expense in a University of Florida, Gainesville.  bio-lab. They found a number of bacteria living in the masks and breathed in by the children such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (causes tuberculosis), Neisseria meningitidis (meningitis), and Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), all more dangerous to children than CoViD. 

Why has there never been an NIH study to assess the possible infectious dangers of wearing a facemask? 

Masks cause psychological harm. “The major efficacy of a mask is that it causes alarm [fear of contagion] in the other person.” In children, the “alarm” can manifest as a free-floating anxiety that forces emotional withdrawal. Teenage suicide rose dramatically during CoViD lockdowns, social distancing, and universal facemasks. 

Masks impair communication particularly facial expressions, which can be more effective communication than spoken words. Masks are particularly damaging to learning as masks negatively “impact children's ability to recognize faces and emotions” of both teachers and fellow students.

With overwhelming evidence that facemasks don’t protect and can be harmful, why are they back? 

Persons with power, particularly left-leaning, deal with the facts about masking in one of two ways: willful ignorance or intentional rejection and opposition. 

Willful ignorance is a form of scotoma: we see what we want or expect to see rather than what is really there. Those who are voluntarily blind to the facts simply do not see or accept the truth. These “facts,” this so-called evidence (above), cannot be true because Washington said it was misinformation. So, they must be false facts.* In contrast to these well-intentioned idiots, there are radical ideologues, those who know the truth but speak (and do) falsely. 

*There is no such thing as a false fact. A fact reflects reality, a bit of truth. By definition, a “false” fact is that which is unreal, doesn’t exist, not true, an error or a lie.

The true leftist ideologue is an authoritarian who knows that advancing his or her beliefs is more important than being truthful. Yes, masks don’t work but they are great virtue signals, showing who is a true believer and who has no virtue. Masks are the inverse of the Nazi-era yellow star that Jews had to wear to identify them as bad guys. Today’s facemask shows one is a good guy, an unhesitating follower of federal wisdom.

The conscious rejecter of mask truth could be employing the Democrats’ double down strategy. When something fails to achieve the desired outcome, do it again, bigger, better, louder, and with new fabricated data. Albert Einstein might call this insanity, doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. 

To those with open minds who have learned the facts about masking, wearing a facemask is a sign of stupidity, unwillingness to think for oneself, possible radicalism, and a most un-American bowing down before ideological tyrants. 

Deane Waldman, M.D., MBA is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Pathology, and Decision Science; former Director of the Center for Healthcare Policy at Texas Public Policy Foundation; former Director, New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange; and author of 12 books including multi-award winning, Curing the Cancer in U.S. Healthcare: StatesCare and Market-Based Medicine.  

https://www.realclearhealth.com/blog/2024/01/19/why_are_face_masks_back_1005994.html

COVID Did Not Panic Chiropractors. Why Not?

 If you have been troubled by the rapidly declining claims for the efficacy of the COVID vaccines and boosters or by the rapidly rising reports of problems with the vaccines and the boosters, you might be interested to know how it came about that COVID did not panic chiropractors.  It's a fascinating story, and I was privileged to learn it firsthand.

I enrolled in chiropractic college just in time to get a powerful lesson in one chapter of that amazing story.  A contingent of students who had completely recovered from childhood polio under chiropractic care enrolled around the same time I did.  They were in my class and in classes before and after my class.  To hear their stories of what chiropractic adjustments had done for them became part of my chiropractic education.  They helped me in another way, too: their conviction about the power of chiropractic adjustments helped me make the transition from a student to a doctor capable of meeting the enormous challenges of chiropractic practice.  They were inspired and determined to be great chiropractors, and they inspired me, too.

The old-timers, just then passing out of the profession, had similar tales about an earlier epidemic.  Chiropractic, officially born in 1895, was still very new, and there were few chiropractors when the Spanish Flu hit in 1918.  But chiropractic adjustments worked for victims of the Spanish Flu just as they were later to do for polio victims.  Medicine had little to offer, so people tried chiropractic, and those who did spread the word.

This is when political medicine discovered chiropractic and set out to strangle it in the crib.  You have not read about chiropractic and polio, and you won't read about chiropractic and the Spanish Flu elsewhere, either, but I learned about it, as we say, from the horse's mouth.  I met senior chiropractors who had gone to jail for practicing chiropractic, men whose sacrifices paved the way for the much easier path my classmates and I were to travel.  All of those heroic pioneers I met were inspired by their personal knowledge of the complete recovery of victims of the Spanish Flu who were fortunate enough to be treated by chiropractors.

Chiropractic did not then and does not today have a treatment for the Spanish Flu or for polio.  Chiropractic does not treat conditions.  The aim of chiropractic is always the same — restoring the patient to health by means of chiropractic adjustments.  The purpose of chiropractic adjustments is to enable the patient's natural healing response.   

In my first year in practice, one of my patients showed up for his appointment in terrible anguish.  He had just been told that his girlfriend had only hours to live.  She was in a coma and in intensive care at the nearby hospital.  I was listening to his outpouring of grief when he suddenly asked me if I thought I could help.

Later that day, an ambulance pulled up in front of my office.  The young woman was brought into the office on a gurney.  She was still in a coma.  The ambulance attendants placed her on an adjusting table, her mother took a chair next to her in the treatment room, and my associate and I took turns adjusting her in between adjusting our regularly scheduled patients.  We each adjusted her several times in the course of the day.  The astonishing sight of a girl in a coma arriving in an ambulance was passed down by word of mouth in the reception room, so all the patients that afternoon knew the story.

When, toward the end of the day, she walked out of the treatment room, the waiting patients leaped to their feet, cheering and applauding.  The next day, she came for a normal appointment, driven by her mother; the following day, she came on her own.

This was a great learning experience for me — it taught me a deep lesson in what we chiropractors refer to as chiropractic courage — but my greatest leap in understanding chiropractic happened when I was only a student.  A profoundly accomplished doctor had generously invited me to "assist" him in his practice.  I took patient histories, recorded exam findings, and made treatment records.  Early on, I took the history of a terribly ill young woman who had recently been told by doctors at the Mayo Clinic that there was nothing that could be done for her, that she should get her affairs in order and prepare for the end of her life.  She had originally set out on her path to many doctors and eventually the Mayo Clinic because of two hideous lesions, one in her upper arm and one in her buttock on the opposite side. 

She was a blessing to me.  I had been taught that chiropractors treat patients, not conditions, but I did not understand what that meant, not really.  She taught me to understand what I had been taught. 

After a period of care, I again took her history in preparation for her re-exam.  The lesions were gone, replaced by a smooth, normal contour and new, pink skin — but that was not what struck me, and that was not what was important.  Instead of the shockingly ill person I had first met, I was interviewing an attractive young woman with a vivacious personality.  Chiropractic care had restored her to health.  I understood then that her health, not the terrible lesions, had been the focus of her care all along.

Ask a chiropractor if he treats diabetes, and the doctor will no doubt tell you no.  How about ulcers?  No.  Asthma?  No again.  What then do you treat, doctor?  I treat patients — patients with diabetes, patients with ulcers, patients with asthma.  But whether the patient's problem is great or small, the goal of the chiropractor is always the same: health restored, and restored by the perfectly natural method of chiropractic adjustments, without recourse to drugs or surgery.

And by the way, that method is American through and through.  It was discovered and developed right here in America.

Robert Curry is the author of Reclaiming Common Sense: Finding Truth in a Post-Truth World and Common Sense Nation: Unlocking the Forgotten Power of the American Idea.  Both are published by Encounter Books.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/03/covid_did_not_panic_chiropractors_why_not.html

Trump to be joined by Scott, Ramaswamy, Burgum in New Hampshire rally

 Former President Trump will be joined on stage in New Hampshire Monday night by former opponents, now endorsers Sen. Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy and Doug Burgum in a "show of force" that the Republican Party is "united and ready to take on Joe Biden," Fox News Digital has learned.

Trump is set to hold a rally at 9:00 p.m. in Laconia, New Hampshire, Monday night — just hours before the state’s first-in-the-nation primary. Trump is leading former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by double digits in recent polling.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaking during a campaign event in Rochester, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. AP Photo/Charles Krupa© AP Photo/Charles Krupa

A Trump campaign official told Fox News Digital that Trump on Monday night will be joined on stage by Scott, R-S.C., Ramaswamy and Burgum. The three former GOP presidential candidates will speak on stage and take part in media interviews.

"This is designed as a show of force that the party is united and ready to take on Joe Biden," the official told Fox News Digital.

US entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (R) endorses Republican presidential candidate former US President Donald Trump during a campaign event at the Atkinson Resort and Country Club in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on January 16, 2024. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images© Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

The official said that "all three VIP guests — former opponents, now endorsers — will be drawing a sharp contrast to Joe Biden in a preview of the general election that is now here." 

The GOP primary field shrunk down to just Trump and Haley on Sunday after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign. Trump, who has been leading by massive margins since he announced his candidacy, won the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, solidifying his standing as the front-runner. 

Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, right, speaks while standing next to former US President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, US, on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images© Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In announcing the end of his presidential run, DeSantis put his full support behind Trump, endorsing him as the right candidate for the party.

Trump said Sunday that he was "honored" by DeSantis' endorsement, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview: "I look forward to working together with him to beat Joe Biden, who is the worst and most corrupt president in the history of our country."

A Trump campaign official told Fox News Digital that while there are no immediate plans, the door is open for DeSantis to join Trump on the campaign trail. 

DeSantis, in endorsing Trump, said it is "clear" Republican voters "want to give Donald Trump another chance." 

"They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him," DeSantis said Sunday. "While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of [Dr.] Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear."

DeSantis said Trump has his endorsement "because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear — a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism — that Nikki Haley represents."

Trump, who has dubbed DeSantis "Ron DeSanctimonious" on the campaign trail, says he won’t be using that nickname in the future. "No, that name has been officially retired," Trump told Fox News Digital.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-to-be-joined-by-scott-ramaswamy-burgum-in-new-hampshire-rally-as-a-show-of-force-the-gop-is-united/ar-BB1h54hI