Former Jill Biden Spokesman Voting For GOP Candidate In Michigan Senate Race
The Democratic Party is undergoing a major internal battle between the party’s traditional moderates and a rising faction of hard-left socialists.
It’s not clear who will ultimately win control over the party, but the division is already taking its toll and ultimately could cost the party congressional seats in November and beyond.
Case in point: Jill Biden’s former press secretary, Julian Epstein, a lifelong Democrat, announced on Friday he will be voting for Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over his party’s nominee, the DSA-backed Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly defeated moderate Dem Rep. Haley Stevens in a primary earlier this week.
“After decades of giving my all for Democratic House and Senate candidates, this fall I will support — and contribute to — Mike Rogers, Michigan’s GOP Senate nominee, instead,” Epstein said in an op-ed for the right-leaning New York Post.
“And I’ll do everything I can to make sure other Democrats follow,” he continued.
“With the exception of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, my party’s leaders have sought to appease the dangerous faction rising in our midst,” Epstein said of the rising tide of Democratic Socialists of America candidates.
“Weak, timid figures like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are spouting empty clichés — ‘We are a big-tent party’ — while abdicating their moral and political responsibilities,” said the former ranking Jill Biden official.
“Democrats aren’t coddling Scandinavian-style socialists; they’re getting into bed with a nihilistic, deconstructionist brand of third-worldism,” he wrote before listing many of the DSA’s core objectives.
“It’s an ideology that seeks the elimination of prisons, policing, borders, the Senate, the presidency, the Supreme Court and democratic free markets,” wrote Epstein.
” A worldview that aligns with genocidal jihadist movements like Hamas. A generation ago, the left would’ve recognized this cadre as Trojan horse doing the bidding of our adversaries,” he said, adding: “But not today.”
He added:
And as working-class voters flee an increasingly toxic Democratic brand, the party’s newfound embrace of anti-American extremists is likely to produce big losses nationally — and a civil war within.
El-Sayed parrots Sen. Bernie Sanders’ delusion that attaches no importance to generating wealth — and only cares about redistributing it.
He expresses sympathy for Mideastern terrorist movements that masquerade as liberation efforts, giving cover to terror attacks on Jewish synagogues in the US (“hurt people hurt people”) and going to absurd lengths to avoid offending supporters of Iran’s slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He doesn’t believe the planet’s only Jewish state has a right to exist.
Hasan Piker, his principal campaign surrogate, blames the US for 9/11 and professes his love for China’s madman dictator Mao Zedong, who slaughtered millions of his own people.
Piker praised Hamas after the Oct. 7 massacre and cites every oppressive tyrant from Fidel Castro to Nicolas Maduro as his guiding lights.
For his part, Rogers put out a video with his wife encouraging Stevens voters disaffected with El-Sayed and the DSA to consider voting for him.
“If you’re among the majority of Democratic voters that woke up on Wednesday feeling, well, hopeless, because the person who won does not represent your values, well, just know there is still hope,” Rogers said.
“Michigan deserves a Senator who is willing to sit with you, hear from you, and represent you.”
“The parents across Michigan who want an education system that sets up their kids for success, you have a home with us. The grandparents across Michigan who are heartbroken from watching their kids and grandkids leave the state, you have a home with us,” he continued.
“To young people who are looking for real solutions to solve our housing affordability crisis, you have a home with us. To working families who don’t want higher taxes and lower paychecks, well, you have a home with us,” he said.
“And to the vast majority of people across Michigan who do not want to throw their support behind a campaign filled with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence and the views that are out of touch with your values, well, you have a home with us.”
BREAKING: Dolly Parton’s Cause Of Death Revealed: ‘Brief Battle’
Dolly Parton’s death came after a brief battle with cancer, her representatives revealed Tuesday.
The country music legend died Aug. 25 at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. She was 80.
Parton had been admitted to the cancer center Friday, four days before her death. Her representatives confirmed the cancer diagnosis in a statement to PEOPLE but did not disclose what type she had.
“Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched. Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand,” the statement read.
“Whether it be the hundreds of millions of books donated through her invaluable Imagination Library or funding research that helped create a lifesaving vaccine used around the world, Dolly’s unconditional love for all people was the guiding force for her lasting impact. After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,” the statement concluded.
The “Jolene” singer had also been dealing with kidney and autoimmune issues before her death, PEOPLE previously reported.
Just days earlier, Dolly Parton opened up about her declining health and acknowledged that she had put off addressing some medical issues while caring for her husband, Carl.
“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over [my husband] Carl. You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early ’80s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Parton told PEOPLE.
Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her death in an Instagram video Tuesday on behalf of the Parton and Owens family.
“My name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” he says in the video.
Seaver, who served as Parton’s head of security for more than two decades, said she had asked him years earlier to deliver the announcement.
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” he continued. “As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now.”
Seaver said the moment brought immense pride and heartbreak, but he took comfort in his faith that Parton had been reunited with Carl and other loved ones.
Seaver added: “It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless othe
Shocking 'truth' behind Prince Harry's decision to quit major role
Prince Harry should have "resigned in disgrace" from the board of a controversial African wildlife charity, a commentator says. James Walker makes the bombshell remark in Wednesday's episode of this publication's podcast, Daily Expresso.
He and the show's host, JJ Anisiobi, delve into the Duke of Sussex's dramatic decision to step down from African Parks. James, commenting on the controversy, said: "When you hear about this stuff and how long it's been going on for, you should be resigning in disgrace. [Harry] should be saying: 'I'm not touching that with a barge pole. That is a failed entity. We're going nowhere near it'.
"But no. He's still saying he's going to 'support their mission'. And again this Caroline Pearce, executive director of Survival International, goes on to say: 'His departure doesn't undo that record'.
"She alleged that African Parks was aware of the abuses for years, but it was only after Survival complained to Harry that the charity finally commissioned an investigation."
James added: "Well, she's got a point."
It emerged on Monday (August 24) that Harry was no longer a board member of the wildlife charity.
The conservation organisation has admitted that human rights abuses were committed by its rangers against members of the semi-nomadic Baka group in Congo-Brazzaville.
African Parks has said since that it has improved its safeguarding processes both in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park and institutionally.
Its admission followed an independent human rights investigation into allegations guards managed and paid by the charity had beaten, raped and tortured indigenous people in Odzala-Kokoua National Park.
Harry was president of the charity for six years before he became a member of its board of directors in 2023.
A spokesman for the Duke said he remains an active and avid supporter of African Parks. He added: "The Duke is proud of his 10 years with African Parks and fully supports the ongoing strengthening of its board.
"His commitment to conservation in Africa continues and he remains a supporter of African Parks’ mission."
Human rights organisation, Survival International, said it had been calling on Harry to step down from African Parks for years.
The group's director, Caroline Pearce, said in a statement: "It’s outrageous that for 10 years Prince Harry has served African Parks while the organisation has been responsible for abuse and violence against Indigenous people.
"His departure doesn't undo that record — African Parks itself must now be held accountable, and must abandon this model of fortress conservation for good."
Survival International said indigenous peoples know how best to manage their land and the idea outsiders know better is racist and colonial.
