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MTG says GOP’s future ‘destroyed’ after Trump-backed primary challenger defeats Thomas Massie

May 20, 2026 6:13am EDT / Fox News

‘The Real America First Movement will rise led by the younger generations, who hate the old guard with an unquenchable passion,’ Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote

By Alex Nitzberg Fox News

Ed Gallrein speaks out on primary victory over Thomas Massie in Kentucky

Navy SEAL veteran and fifth-generation farmer Ed Gallrein shares insight on his primary win in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, defeating incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie, on ‘Hannity.’

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After Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., lost the Republican U.S. House primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District to President Donald Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein on Tuesday, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declared that the future of the GOP had been “destroyed.”

“I am proud and thankful to have served in the U.S. House of Representatives with my friend Thomas Massie, a giant among weak pathetic men. Releasing the Epstein files was our demise. But it was worth every single bit because now everyone knows the truth. You are ruled by the Epstein class that cares nothing about you and your elected leaders are bought and controlled by a foreign lobby,” she wrote in a post on X.

“Tonight the future of the Republican Party was destroyed. The Real America First Movement will rise led by the younger generations, who hate the old guard with an unquenchable passion. Let us pray that we have a country left by the time these creatures are gone,” Greene added.

TRUMP-BACKED NAVY SEAL VET DELIVERS MAJOR BLOW TO MASSIE IN FIERY GOP PRIMARY

Rep. Thomas Massie speaks with supporters after his concession speech on May 19, 2026 in Hebron, Ky.(Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Massie fired back at GOP Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana after the congresswoman wrote in a post on X, “Happy to deliver the news to President @realDonaldTrump the results from the KY Primary and his defeat of Thomas Massie. Well done, @TeamTrump! Congratulations @EdGallrein!”

“How do his boots taste?” Massie replied.

The congressman began his concession speech by saying, “I would’ve come out sooner but I had to call my opponent and concede and it took awhile to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”

HEGSETH UNLEASHES ON MASSIE IN GOP PRIMARY SHOWDOWN AGAINST TRUMP-BACKED NAVY SEAL VET

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks alongside U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025 in Washington, D.C.(Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted a graphic that depicted Massie with large tears and labeled the lawmaker a “LOSER.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. declared in a post on X that “The power of Donald Trump is real.”

“Congratulations to Ed Gallrein for an amazing victory against serious opposition. I believe he will bring a lot to the U.S House of Representatives. He is a warrior and businessman — someone who has truly sacrificed for our nation,” Graham wrote.

TRUMP CALLS OUT REP THOMAS MASSIE: ‘KENTUCKY, GET THIS LOSER OUT OF POLITICS’ TUESDAY

[image_5]

Ed Gallrein, Republican Congressional candidate for Kentucky, during a campaign event ahead of a primary election in Hebron, Ky. on Monday, May 18, 2026.(Jeffrey Dean/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“As to Rep. Massie, we had many differences but I always admired the fact that he stayed true to his beliefs and fought for his causes. I wish him and his family well,” the senator added.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

‘Am I out?’ Drought and rising costs from Iran war deepen pain for US farmers

2026-05-20T10:13:23.371Z / reuters.com

Summary

• U.S. farmers face high fuel and fertilizer prices because of Strait of Hormuz standoff
• Some farmers skimp on fertilizer to cut costs, risking crop yields
• Drought expands to about 60% of the U.S. mainland

TULIA, Texas, May 20 (Reuters) – Scott Irlbeck crouched in a field of stunted wheat plants in a parched stretch of West Texas and slipped his hand into a crack wide enough to swallow it.

Last autumn, Irlbeck planted a crop that barely grew because rain never came. ​He now hopes his insurance adjuster will declare it a total loss so he will not need to spend money on pricey fuel to harvest it next month.

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Soaring costs of fuel and commercial fertilizer, opens new tab in ‌the wake of the Iran war are making hard times worse for farmers across the U.S. Plains states of Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Even before the war, farmers were struggling with a resurgent drought, high input costs, and the fallout from President Donald Trump’s trade policies, which hobbled export markets and drove down prices for their crops.

Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in late February, the cost of farm diesel has climbed 72%, the Kentucky Farm Bureau wrote in prepared testimony to a U.S. Senate agriculture committee hearing this month. Prices for ​urea, one of the major fertilizers produced in the Gulf region, were up 55%, while prices for another nitrogen-based fertilizer rose 33%, the farmers’ group said.

And yet, because of the drought, farmers are looking at the prospect of ​smaller harvests to pay for it all.

Irlbeck, who did not buy fertilizer supplies in advance for a sorghum crop he will plant this month, said he will probably not use ⁠any at all because of soaring prices and the pernicious drought reducing potential yields.

“There’s fuel, there’s drought, there’s fertilizer,” Irlbeck said, ticking off his challenges. “I’ve got three strikes. Am I out?”

DROUGHT RAVAGES WHEAT

Texas is the third-largest wheat-growing state in the country, ​second for sorghum and first for cotton.

Where Irlbeck farms near Tulia, wind gusted across dry, brown fields dotted with dirty clumps of cotton and brittle sorghum stalks left over from previous harvests.

U.S. farmers are expected to produce the smallest crop of hard red ​winter wheat, which is used to make bread, since 1957, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I’m just waiting for it to die,” Irlbeck said.

More than 60% of the continental United States, an area with a population of about 153 million people, is experiencing drought, up from 43% at the start of 2026 and 33% a year ago, according to the most recent government U.S. Drought Monitor report.

In Oklahoma, it may be too late for rain to help wheat in the hardest-hit areas, Amanda De Oliveira Silva, an Oklahoma State University agronomist, said in late ​April.

“Rain can help preserve what’s left, but it won’t reverse the damage already done.”

In South Dakota, farmers were rethinking plans to apply fertilizer to wheat they planted last fall due to high prices and bad growing conditions, said Clarence Winter, South ​Dakota State University extension agronomist.

When asked for comment on fertilizer costs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement to Reuters that the entire Trump administration was focused on ensuring greater domestic production of affordable fertilizer.

WAR RAISES COSTS

For farmers like Tommy Salisbury, who grows ‌wheat, sorghum and ⁠soybeans in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, higher prices for inputs wiped out the benefits that flowed to individual operators under the Trump administration’s $12 billion aid package meant to offset the fallout from tariffs.

“We’re paying input prices of 2026 but we’re getting crop prices and grain prices of the 70s and 80s,” he said.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins acknowledged farmers were facing hardship.

“We are seeing significant price increases at a time when our farm economy is struggling,” she told a news conference on Tuesday.

In a post on X last month, she said that about 80% of U.S. farmers had locked in supplies last fall, well before the start of the war.

However, a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the leading U.S. farm lobby, found that most farmers could not afford ​all the fertilizer they need for this growing season.

Rates of ​advance purchases varied widely by region, the Farm Bureau ⁠said. While most farmers in the Midwest prebooked fertilizer for 2026, that was not the case in the Northeast or the South.

Advance buying is more common in the Midwest because many farmers rotate plantings between corn and soybeans, and make purchase decisions well ahead of planting, the Farm Bureau said. In the South, many farmers do not have storage facilities for fertilizer, the ​group said.

Asked for comment, USDA said it was continuing to evaluate the data on fertilizer usage.

Kody Carson, who farms in the West Texas city of Olton, said he did ​not buy fertilizer in advance and ⁠might not buy any at all for his 2,400 acres of cotton.

The drought decimated yields of his winter wheat to an estimated 18 to 20 bushels per acre from his expectation of 80 bushels per acre, he said.

“How can I go out and be financially prudent and book this high-dollar fertilizer when I don’t even know if I’m going to make a crop?” Carson said.

LEANING ON RELIGION

Tom Gregory, who grows cotton, corn and sorghum in Petersburg, Texas, also did not buy fertilizer in advance. By April, he said he ⁠was facing costs ​of $558 per ton, up from $402 per ton in February.

Gregory was trying to proceed with spring plantings anyway, he said, because farming is his livelihood and ​a family tradition. He said he intends to apply fertilizer as sparingly as possible.

In recent years, Gregory said he sought to counter increasing input costs by producing bigger crop yields. His hopes eventually faded for that strategy, he said, first because of the drought and now because of higher fertilizer prices.

Gregory ​said he was leaning on his faith, family and exercise to make it through.

“I hope the good Lord takes care of us,” he said.

Reporting by Tom Polansek in Tulia, Texas, and Julie Ingwersen in Chicago. Editing by Emily Schmall and Suzanne Goldenberg

Raul Castro indictment expected to be announced by U.S. officials in Miami today, sources say

2026-05-20 07:27 EDT / CBS News

By Jennifer Jacobs
Jennifer Jacobs Senior White House reporter
Jennifer Jacobs is a senior White House reporter at CBS News. Jennifer Jacobs, Cristian Benavides, Cristian Benavides Correspondent, CBS Newspath
Cristian Benavides is a CBS News correspondent based in Miami. Cristian Benavides, Sarah N. Lynch
Sarah N. Lynch Senior Justice Department Reporter
Sarah N. Lynch is the senior Justice Department reporter for CBS News, based in Washington, D.C. Sarah N. Lynch

The Justice Department on Wednesday is expected to unveil the criminal charges against Cuba’s former leader Raúl Castro, sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News.

Castro, 94, the brother of longtime dictator Fidel Castro, is being indicted on charges related to Cuba’s deadly 1996 shootdown of planes operated by humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, U.S. officials told CBS News earlier this month.

The Justice Department had earlier announced an event Wednesday at Miami’s Freedom Tower during a ceremony to honor victims of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown 30 years ago. Jose Basulto, the founder of the group, told CBS Miami that he hoped it would be Castro’s indictment, saying “it’s time for them to pay.”

Raúl Castro formally stepped down as the leader of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021, but he is still widely seen as one of the most powerful figures in the country.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/reported-us-plan-to-indict-ral-castro-could-mean-reform-for-cuba-but-questions-remain/

Who will pay for Trump’s pet projects? Taxpayers

2026-05-20T09:00:50.910Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/20/politics/trump-ballroom-judgment-fund-taxpayer-money-analysis

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

President Donald Trump frequently boasts that his projects are ahead of schedule, under budget and saving taxpayers money.

But following the money invariably leads back to the taxpayers.

Not just donors.

Trump has long promised the massive ballroom he plans to add to the White House would be paid for by him and with private donations.

“This is all my money and donors’ money,” he told reporters Tuesday in front of the construction site as hammers and machinery banged in the background.

But while Trump views the ballroom as his and his donors’ “gift” to the country, he’ll need taxpayers to chip in too. Trump is looking for a $220 million check from Senate Republicans, who would have to pass it on a party-line vote — which has already run into some challenges. That’s larger than the originally advertised total cost of the project, whose size, scope and price tag have ballooned.

Trump said requests from the military and the Secret Service made the project larger and more expensive.

The US Treasury.

In exchange for the president dropping a lawsuit against his own government, the Trump administration is expected to allot nearly $1.8 billion from an effectively unlimited US government “Judgment Fund” for people who say they were targeted by the Justice Department.

Vice President JD Vance refused Tuesday to rule out the idea that rioters convicted of attacking police officers on January 6, 2021, could be compensated.

Critics of the fund, he said, should consider that there are many different “pots of money” and that the administration could both help everyday Americans and make amends to people he said were “mistreated by the last administration.”

“The question all of us ask every single day is, ‘How do we make our fellow citizens more prosperous?’” Vance said.

Congress could theoretically step in to put guardrails on payments from a fund that it created in the 1950s to settle lawsuits, but it’s not clear it will.

Previous presidents have used the fund in ways that angered Trump. The Obama administration, for instance, tapped the Judgment Fund to settle a decades-old dispute with Iran over a failed arms deal and to kickstart the deal by which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear aspirations.

Trump later withdrew the US from that deal, and now he’s engaged in an undeclared war on Iran. His administration has not said how much that war — which is in ceasefire mode — will cost, although Trump has mused about taking Iran’s oil and making “plenty of money.”

One Pentagon official recently said $29 billion in taxpayer dollars had already been spent, but that seems likely to be far lower than the war’s ultimate cost.

While there are real questions about paying for the war, Congress has already given the president $257 million to rehab the Kennedy Center, which in Trump’s real estate developer language translates into having the project “fully financed,” even though taxpayers are on the hook.

He used that same term, “fully financed,” last October during an event he hosted for wealthy donors and corporations that chipped in for the ballroom.

The White House released a list of donors, many of them tech companies with business before the government, but has not detailed their donations. At least one donation may have been made under duress. Trump settled a lawsuit with YouTube over suspension of his account years ago in exchange for a $22 million donation to the ballroom project, according to court documents filed last year.

Back when he was hosting donors at the White House, Trump predicted there would be money left he could use to construct a triumphal arch in a traffic circle in front of Arlington National Cemetery.

But it turns out that taxpayers will be paying for some portion of the arch. Democrats have noted that millions in taxpayer funds Congress appropriated to the National Endowment for the Humanities could go to the arch.

The administration has also looked to the humanities budget to pay for Trump’s planned “Garden of Heroes.” The garden, which is meant to feature 250 life-size statues of notable Americans, is, like the arch, meant to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The government has already earmarked around $74 million for the garden, according to a recent CNN report, and is also looking for additional donations both for the garden and for Trump’s controversial vision of turning a local DC golf course into a championship links.

Trump’s plan to beautify the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument by painting it blue is also running into issues. Trump originally bragged the work could be done for less than $2 million, but a CNN review of federal contracting data shows that more than $13 million has been allocated for the project.

The Air Force is preparing to unveil a new-to-Trump Air Force One that was donated by Qatar. The US government’s acceptance of the $400 million plane raised ethical questions and also flirted with violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

But Trump defended getting a free gift, although accepting the plane ended up being quite expensive.

CNN reported funds to modify the plane — hundreds of millions of dollars — were diverted from Sentinel, a behind-schedule nuclear weapons modernization effort. The plane is meant only to be a bridge to the next iteration of Air Force One, which is also behind schedule. A new fleet of planes to transport the president is expected after Trump leaves office.

Taxpayers paid to upgrade the jet, but Trump heaped thanks on Qatar.

“I could be a stupid person (and) say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was — I thought it was a great gesture,” Trump said last May.

That wasn’t the last time Trump raised the question of intelligence when pressed about money. This month he called a reporter “dumb” when she asked about the doubling cost of the ballroom, despite Trump’s repeated claims that it is on schedule and under budget.

“I doubled the size of it, you dumb person,” he said on the White House lawn.

白宫新宴会厅细节曝光 特朗普称设“无人机港”

2026年5月20日 19:12 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普星期二（5月19日）首次公开白宫新宴会厅的更多设计细节，称建筑屋顶将设无人机基地，地下则建有六层深军事设施，包括军医院与研究中心。

特朗普在施工现场带领记者参观时说，新宴会厅面积约九万平方英尺（约8360平方米），可容纳1000人，规模远超现有白宫宴会厅空间。他提到，自己此前遭遇疑似暗杀企图，因此白宫需要更安全的大型活动场地。

他说，新建筑采用类似掩体的设计，屋顶以“无法穿透的钢材”建造，并具备“防无人机”能力，未来还将成为“无人机港”，用于保护整个华盛顿。

他也指出，宴会厅地下设施目前已有两层正在施工。工程造价已从最初估计的2亿美元（约2亿5000万新元）增至4亿美元，资金主要来自自己与私人捐助者，而且免税。

不过，民主党与部分共和党反对国会在伊朗战争期间为白宫安全升级计划拨款10亿美元。此外，联邦法官今年4月裁定，工程须获国会批准才能继续施工。（彭博社）

白宫新宴会厅细节曝光 特朗普称设“无人机港”

2026年5月20日 19:12 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普星期二（5月19日）首次公开白宫新宴会厅的更多设计细节，称建筑屋顶将设无人机基地，地下则建有六层深军事设施，包括军医院与研究中心。

特朗普在施工现场带领记者参观时说，新宴会厅面积约九万平方英尺（约8360平方米），可容纳1000人，规模远超现有白宫宴会厅空间。他提到，自己此前遭遇疑似暗杀企图，因此白宫需要更安全的大型活动场地。

他说，新建筑采用类似掩体的设计，屋顶以“无法穿透的钢材”建造，并具备“防无人机”能力，未来还将成为“无人机港”，用于保护整个华盛顿。

他也指出，宴会厅地下设施目前已有两层正在施工。工程造价已从最初估计的2亿美元（约2亿5000万新元）增至4亿美元，资金主要来自自己与私人捐助者，而且免税。

不过，民主党与部分共和党反对国会在伊朗战争期间为白宫安全升级计划拨款10亿美元。此外，联邦法官今年4月裁定，工程须获国会批准才能继续施工。（彭博社）

克宫：不排除普京特朗普APEC期间在华会晤

2026年5月20日 15:15 / 联合早报

莫斯科不排除俄罗斯总统普京与美国总统特朗普于11月在中国举行的亚太经济合作组织（APEC）峰会期间会晤的可能性。

根据路透社，国际文传电讯社报道称，克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫星期三（5月20日）在普京访华期间发表上述言论。

普京星期二（5月19日）展开为期两天的访华行程。这是普京第25次访华，上一次是去年9月赴天津和北京出席上海合作组织峰会和“九三”大阅兵。

今年APEC领导人非正式会议将于11月在深圳举行。

新加坡民航局星期三（5月20日）在航空安全论坛上公布第二次“新加坡航空业安全文化调查”结果，调查显示，各层级员工对安全文化的评价均有所提升。 （档案照片）

新加坡航空业安全文化近年有所提升，77%航空业从业员认为本地航空领域拥有积极安全文化，较2023年首次调查时上升四个百分点。

新加坡民航局星期三（5月20日）在航空安全论坛上公布第二次“新加坡航空业安全文化调查”结果，调查显示，各层级员工对安全文化的评价均有所提升。

其中，高层管理人员认同率达89%，增加五个百分点；中层管理人员为82%，增加三个百分点；营运人员则从69%增至74%，提高五个百分点。

这项调查于去年10月至12月间进行，由民航局与荷兰航空航天中心（Netherlands Aerospace Centre）共同制定，并根据本地航空业运作环境设计，围绕认知、承诺、改进、沟通及信任五大维度展开，共涵盖400家公司约5000名受访者。

在五大维度中，“沟通”与“改进”增幅最明显。76%受访者认同员工积极分享与通报安全信息，比2023年高出五个百分点；78%受访者认为业界持续推动安全改进，同样增加五个百分点。

调查也显示，航空业整体对遵守安全程序的坚持进一步加强。91%受访者认为，即使遵循条例与程序可能导致营运延误，也必须严格遵守，高于2023年的88%。

通报文化也有所改善。95%受访者认为报告安全问题十分重要；81%则表示清楚如何通过自愿安全通报系统（voluntary safety reporting system）报告安全问题，比两年前增加七个百分点。

民航局指出，过去两年的改善成果，源于政府、企业及工会三方持续合作推动安全文化，三方计划在调查结果基础上推出新的措施，提供培训课程和资源，继续加强安全文化。

2024年至2025年期间，民航局联同航空公司与工会举办超过200场宣导活动，接触超过5000名从事机场禁区及营运工作的员工。

民航局去年也推出《航空安全文化手册》，为企业管理层提供应做与不应做的事项指引，协助营造更具心理安全感的工作环境，并厘清哪些行为属于可接受或不可接受范围。

最新调查显示，90%受访者已清楚了解可接受与不可接受行为，比2023年提高三个百分点；整体“信任”评分也增加三个百分点至65%。

民航局局长韩国元强调：“随着航空交通持续增长，以及营运环境日趋复杂，整个行业必须保持更高警觉，确保所有人的飞行安全。”

国台办评赖清德520讲话：假惺惺推动两岸交流 妄图蒙蔽民众

2026年5月20日 15:39 / 联合早报

针对台湾总统赖清德称台湾愿在对等原则下与中国大陆展开健康有序的交流，中国大陆国台办指责他假惺惺宣称推动两岸对话交流，妄图蒙蔽台湾民众、欺骗国际舆论。

赖清德星期三（5月20日）发表执政两周年谈话时说，台湾愿意在对等、尊严的原则下，与中国大陆展开健康有序的交流，但坚定拒绝以和平包装统一的统战作为。

对此，国台办发言人陈斌华同日回应说，赖清德的讲话充斥谎言与欺骗、敌意与对抗，顽固坚持“台独”错误立场，宣扬所谓“主权独立”、“互不隶属”谬论，渲染“大陆威胁”，升高两岸对立对抗，蓄意“以武谋独”、“倚外谋独”，破坏台海和平稳定，再次坐实其是不折不扣的“两岸和平破坏者”、“台海危机制造者”。

陈斌华批评，赖清德一边继续鼓吹“台独”分裂、操弄“反中抗中”，一边假惺惺宣称推动两岸对话交流，妄图蒙蔽台湾民众、欺骗国际舆论。“这些惯用伎俩已被越来越多台湾民众看穿看透，其欺骗行为和挑衅行径必将遭到两岸同胞和国际社会的坚决反对，注定失败。”

陈斌华说，“台独”与台海和平水火不容，是破坏台海和平稳定的罪魁祸首。“我们将坚持一个中国原则和‘九二共识’，广泛团结台湾同胞，坚决打击‘台独’分裂，维护台海和平稳定。祖国终将统一、也必将统一的大潮滚滚向前、势不可挡。”

女子在商场厕所摔伤流血，身旁地上有一支疑似电子烟。 （读者提供）

女子疑吸电子烟后神志迷糊，在商场厕所摔伤流血，整五分钟起不来，吓坏公众。

这起事件发生于星期二（5月19日）下午约3时，地点在宏茂桥坊（AMK Hub）地下二层的女厕。

《新明日报》接获热心读者通报，指她看到一名女子躺在地上，头部流血，地板上还可见一摊血迹。“她四肢僵硬，感觉整个人迷迷糊糊的，身边还有一支电子烟。”

根据她提供的视频，一名年约20来岁，披头散发的女子躺在地上，数度尝试坐起不果，之后更直接闭上眼躺在地上。画面可见，女子身旁的地上掉落了一支疑似电子烟，不远处有一只拖鞋。

记者走访现场时，负责清理厕所的清洁工说，事发时她正在清理男厕，突然听到女厕传来一阵骚动，上前查看才发现女子倒在地上。

“她看似神智不清，先是在地上扭动，然后就像是睡着了一样，躺在那里五分钟，一动不动。我因为太害怕了，不敢靠近。”

清洁工说，女子之后自行起身离开。“她躺过的地面还有一摊血，我之后马上清理了。”

附近商家受访时说，当时有不少保安人员到场，也听到如厕的公众见状后说要找救护人员。

“但后来她自己起来，就走了。”

新加坡民防部队受询时证实接获通报，到场后发现无需援助。