New govs expose ‘moderate’ Democrats’ true colors

 With their new leaders in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats this week showed the country an undeniable truth: There’s no such thing as a moderate in their party anymore.

Throughout the 2025 campaign cycle, national media presented a fundamentally false story about the Democratic candidates for governor in the Old Dominion and the Garden State.

Even as commentators acknowledged that Zohran Mamdani represented a move leftward in New York City, legacy media framed former roommates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill as the centrists in the party.

“Ms. Spanberger and Ms. Sherrill are moderate women,” The New York Times reported as fact.

“The two congresswomen, both moderates, have shared a Capitol Hill apartment for the past four years,” wrote Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty — and were so close, in fact, that “they sometimes finished each other’s sentences.”

Those sentiments were echoed endlessly: CNN, MSNBC, NPR and others all parroted the line that both women were moderates, pragmatists, centrists or even bipartisan.

What a difference a day makes.

Right after inauguration, both new governors announced their attacks on law and order.

As her first official act this week, Spanberger rolled back former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s order instructing state and local officials to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol.

In New Jersey, Sherrill compared current days to the Revolutionary War’s revolt against the king of England, argued that the duly elected President Donald Trump is “illegally usurping power,” and claimed ICE officers represent Trump’s “militia.”

“The protesters have been peaceful, but ICE hasn’t been,” Sherrill told ABC.

“I think the president’s trying to incite the protesters so that he can take America’s eyes off the fact that his militia that he’s building around this country is actually attacking American citizens.”

Does that sound moderate to you? 

How far is that, really, from Mayor Mamdani calling for ICE to be abolished entirely?

For her part, Spanberger announced a leftist agenda perfectly aligned with the majority-Democrat state legislature in Richmond, whose radical bills will sail through to her desk.

On crime, outgoing Attorney General Jason Miyares noted that the Democrats’ plan will erase mandatory minimum sentencing for “rape, manslaughter, assaulting a law enforcement officer, possession and distribution of child pornography, and other repeat violent felonies.”

“So much for restraint,” he sniped.

Despite inheriting a multibillion-dollar budget surplus, Spanberger’s plan for Virginia is to tax everything that moves, and some things that don’t.

Democrats introduced a new 4.3% tax on every retail delivery in Northern Virginia — hitting services from Amazon to UPS to Uber Eats.

And they want more localities to install money-grubbing speed cameras, just in case those drivers are in a rush.

The approach is modeled on taxes put in place by Minnesota’s Tim Walz, always a good sign of centrist intent.

Virginia Democrats plan to create new taxes or raise existing ones on income, services, hotels, personal property, investments, dry cleaners and gyms. 

They even want to tax “property delivered electronically to an end user.”

Yes, that “tudum” is the sound of your Netflix subscription going up.

Spanberger’s Democrats want to ban gas-powered leaf blowers — but also will tax the electric-powered equipment landscapers will have to buy as replacements.

“Was a landscaper mean to Abby Spanberger in high school or something?” wondered one observer on X.

Democrats don’t just want to cement lax COVID-era election laws; they want to expand them.

That means starting early voting even earlier, accepting ballots even longer after Election Day, and making it illegal — yes, illegal — to count ballots by hand.

In 2025, many Virginians had already cast early votes when news broke of Democrat Jay Jones’ texts gleefully fantasizing about the deaths of a Republican colleague’s children.

Spanberger, who dodged criticism on the scandal, apparently wants to lock that in.

And the partisanship doesn’t stop there.

Spanberger’s party is pushing a constitutional redistricting amendment that would likely take Virginia’s current congressional delegation from a 6-5 Democratic advantage to a lopsided 10-1 Dem gerrymander.

A Spanberger-backed constitutional amendment would turn the commonwealth into the only state in the South offering abortion on demand up until birth. 

Abortion is already legal in Virginia until the 27th week, but that’s not enough for these “moderates.” 

After all that litany of leftism, they might have forgotten one — but don’t worry, they will indeed replace Columbus Day with “Indigenous Peoples Day,” too.

This is what Democrats do when they get power.

This is who they are.

It doesn’t matter who claims there’s some pragmatic, centrist version of this madness.

There isn’t.

And next time the media calls someone a moderate, don’t believe it.

Ben Domenech is editor at large of The Spectator and a Fox News contributor.

https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/opinion/new-govs-expose-moderate-democrats-true-colors/

Hochul proposed budget includes huge Medicaid spend, but Dr. Oz could sink NYS funding options

 Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal includes a massive boost to Medicaid spending that’s already dramatically outpacing other states — but Dr. Oz could shake up her plan to tap into a nearly $10 billion trust fund already on New York’s books.

Hochul is proposing to hike Medicaid spending by 11.4% in her $260 billion budget proposal — another $3.9 billion from the current spending plan with the Empire State already dishing out 46% above the federal average.

Spending has tripled in the last 15 years and increased $15 billion under Hochul’s tenure largely due to New York’s policy that the program pay more for additional prescription benefits and coverage of home care services.

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Dr. Oz could threaten Gov. Hochul’s budget proposal that has a massive boost into Medicaid spending.Gregory P. Mango for NY Post

But former TV star turned the Trump administration’s Medicaid boss Dr. Mehmet Oz could issue a decision that could shake New York’s entire state budget because a large portion of the 1.8 million residents on the “Essential Plan” aren’t US citizens, which is now barred from federal bucks under last year’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

There are about 1.8 million New Yorkers on the plan including more than 700,000 green card holders and other “permanently residing non-citizens.”

“Given how many people depend on this program for their health care, and given the possibility that that health care could be going away in the very near future, the governor and the rest of the state owe them a lot more clarity about what’s going to happen and why,” said Bill Hammond, Senior Fellow for Health Policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy.

Hochul appears to be relying on getting federal permission to tap into a massive $9.6 billion pile of cash sitting in a state trust fund to help pay for people’s essential plan benefits for roughly two years.

Under the Trump administration policy, the state can no longer support non-residents with federal dollars, however a state court ruling mandates the state provide health insurance coverage of some sort to many of them. That will force them onto Medicaid, with the state estimating costs of doing so of around $3 billion.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie acknowledged how serious the feds’ leverage over the decision is on New York’s budget.

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The plan could be halted from receiving federal funding due to the large portion of residents on the “Essential Plan” being non-US citizens.Christopher Sadowski

“If not, we have a really big problem,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) told reporters Wednesday, asked about the state relying on federal approval to tap into the trust fund, which accumulated from federal dollars being pumped into the essential plan in recent years.

Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reached as he attended the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, declined to weigh in on the situation.

A spokesperson later told The Post that the agency is still reviewing New York’s request.

“As part of this review process, CMS will uphold statutory eligibility requirements to ensure federal taxpayer dollars are only used only for individuals who are lawfully eligible for coverage under the ACA,” the CMS spokesperson said.

“New York’s Medicaid spending is off the charts,” said Chris Pope, Senior Fellow for Health Care policy at the Manhattan Institute.

He said New York was the most aggressive state in expanding Medicaid and public health insurance going back to the Obama era, and is now paying the price with the Republicans in control of Congress and the White House looking to rein in spending.

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Gov. Hochul has been relying on getting the federal government to tap into $9.6 billion from a state trust fund to help pay for people’s essential plan benefits.Hans Pennink for NY Post

“New York was in the crosshairs for overspending,” Pope added.

“This budget does nothing to change New York’s outlier status. In fact, it’s probably going to make it worse,” Hammond said.

“After all of the alarms that were raised about how drastically H.R. one was going to slash funding for New York, Medicaid funding is due to go up, not down, in the year ahead,” he added.

Jensen said he thinks the state needs to take a real “forensic look” at Medicaid.

“We have a very expansive system where we cover probably a lot of things that other states aren’t,” Assemblyman Josh Jensen (R-Monroe), the top GOP member on the Assembly Health Committee said.

Jensen said he’s open to tapping into the trust fund if it means keeping costs reduced for those on the essential plan currently, but he’s been kept mostly in the dark on the governor’s plans, even as she’s supposedly appealing to Republicans for help convincing their colleagues in Washington to lessen the pain on the Empire State’s budget.

“That continues to be an open question,” Jensen said.

Hochul’s office and the Department of Health refused to answer questions from The Post about how it intended to proceed with the essential plan. Hochul spokesperson Nicolette Simmonds however provided a statement bashing Trump and Republicans, apparently forgetting who needs to approve the state’s plan.

“The Governor will continue to fight back against these devastating cuts, but real people will lose coverage due to the heartless decisions by Trump and New York’s seven Republicans in Congress,” the governors’ spokesperson wrote.

https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/us-news/hochuls-proposed-budget-includes-massive-medicaid-spending-but-dr-oz-could-sink-nys-funding-options/

FCC cracking down on liberal talk-shows not giving equal airtime to GOP guests

 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is cracking down on partisan talk shows in both daytime and late night in an effort to provide equal treatment for political candidates.

The FCC announced Wednesday it is providing guidance to the three broadcast networks to adhere to the “statutory equal opportunities requirement,” citing the Communications Act of 1934, “including their airing of late night and daytime talk shows.”

“Under section 315, if a broadcast station permits any legally qualified candidate for public office to use its facilities, it shall provide an equal opportunity to all other legally qualified candidates for that office,” the FCC wrote in a press release.

There has been a longstanding “bona fide” exception for news programming that wouldn’t require equal time for an opposing candidate, but the FCC now says it “has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on the air presently would qualify for the ‘bona fide’ news exemption.”

“Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent,” the FCC states.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has cracked down on daytime and late-night talk shows to make sure that political candidates on both sides receive fair and equal treatment.ABC via Getty Images

“Any program or station that wishes to obtain formal assurance that the equal opportunities requirement does not apply (in whole or in part) is encouraged to promptly file a petition for declaratory ruling that satisfies the statutory requirements for a bona fide news exemption.”

FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote on X, “For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late night & daytime talk shows qualify as ‘bona fide news’ programs – even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes. Today, the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.”

The move will likely rattle ABC’s daytime talk show “The View” as well as its late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which has been canceled but will remain on the air until May.

The FCC put out a press release that states the three broadcast networks will follow “statutory equal opportunities requirement” for late-night and daytime talk shows.Getty Images

A study conducted last month by the Media Research Center found that “The View” had 128 liberal guests on the show throughout 2025 while only inviting two conservatives. 

The two conservatives cited in the study were actress Cheryl Hines, the wife of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

For years, liberal late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers rolled out the red carpet for Team Blue, so much so that the Media Research Center found that while dozens of Democrats appeared on their programs in 2025, zero Republicans were given such a platform.

https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/media/fcc-cracking-down-on-liberal-talk-shows-not-giving-equal-airtime-to-gop-guests/

Trump’s Greenland focus could break China’s grip on AI-critical minerals

 President Donald Trump's push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland from Denmark comes amid rising demand for the critical minerals that can be found in substantial reserves on the Arctic island nation.

Rare earth minerals, a term applied to a group of 17 elements including 15 metals, are used in a wide range of applications including artificial intelligence, consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), aircraft engines, medical equipment, oil refining, semiconductors and military applications like missiles and radar systems.

China is the world's leading producer of rare earths, with its mines producing 270,000 tons in 2024 – a figure which represented a majority of the world's 390,000 tons mined and far outpaced U.S. production of 45,000 tons, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has substantial reserves of critical minerals including gold, iron, copper, graphite, germanium and gallium. However, the development of those resources has been limited due to Greenland's remote location and harsh climate, as well as environmental rules.

The USGS analysis noted that in 2023 and 2024 there were zero tons of rare earths mined on the Arctic island. That untapped potential has contributed to the U.S. interest in the country, as well as that of geopolitical rivals like China and Russia.

The USGS also noted that Greenland has 1.5 million tons of reserves of rare earth minerals, which ranked eighth in the world among the countries analyzed in the agency's report.

Countries with larger reserves of rare earth minerals include China (44 million tons), Brazil (21 million tons), India (6.9 million tons), Australia (5.7 million tons), Russia (3.8 million tons), Vietnam (3.5 million) and the U.S. (1.9 million tons).

The U.S. and Australia reached an $8.5 billion deal on the development of critical minerals in October.

Two rare earth deposits in Greenland that are believed to be among the world's largest, known as Kvanefjeld and Tanbreez, could be home to mines in the future. 

During Trump's first term in 2019, the U.S. and Greenland agreed to a memorandum of understanding to jointly survey the region's mineral reserves and exchange technical knowledge to develop them – though the MOU is nearing its expiration, according to a CSIS report.

The CSIS noted that last year the U.S. Export-Import Bank sent a letter of interest to Critical Metals Corp. for a $120 million loan to fund the company's Tanbreez rare earth mine, which would be the administration's first overseas investment in a mining project if it's approved.

Trump has recently ramped up his push to acquire Greenland, with the administration suggesting the U.S. could purchase the territory from Denmark, and the president himself saying the U.S. needs full control over Greenland or else China or Russia could take it over.

The president on Wednesday announced he will no longer move forward with tariffs on a group of European allies after he reached a deal with NATO's leader on a framework for a future deal on Greenland.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform and said that, after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, he is backing off imposing tariffs on several European countries that stood up for Greenland's sovereignty amid Trump's push to acquire the island.

"Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region," Trump wrote.

The governments of Greenland and Denmark have rejected Trump's advances and have received support from other European countries that are also members of the NATO alliance. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands released a joint statement in solidarity with the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greenland.

Trump countered by threatening to impose a 10% tariff on those countries beginning on Feb. 1, with the levy rising to 25% on June 1, until an agreement is reached for the purchase of Greenland. 

In remarks on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump noted that the U.S. administered Greenland during World War II and gave it back to Denmark after hostilities. He also ruled out the use of military force to take over Greenland after previously suggesting that all options remained on the table.

"We never asked for anything," Trump said of the U.S. working with NATO. "And we never got anything."

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/why-trumps-greenland-focus-could-break-chinas-grip-ai-critical-minerals