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NEWS AND OPINION:

The 2024 presidential election is exactly 911 days away, as of Monday. So we have a little time before the genuine political predictions begin about the big bout oh, wait. Those predictions are already arriving. Pundits, researchers and prognosticators are mulling over their lists of who might throw their proverbial hats into the ring. So lets join in.

What are the chances that former President Donald Trump will declare his intention to seek the White House once again? Two sources believe he will do it.

Former Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani says signs point to a likely run.

My instinct is hes running. I have known him for a long time. I see what hes doing and how hes preparing and he sounds to me like a man who is excited about the possibility of running, he told the New York Post.

He also clarified that Mr. Trump had not explicitly revealed any plans. The former New York City mayor who ran for president himself in 2008 appears to be familiar with the signs of a potential candidate.

Mr. Giuliani said he was much more confident than not, that Mr. Trump will reveal his plans and move forward with his bid to reclaim the White House.

Other Trump watchers have similar expectations. Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, also appears to believe that Mr. Trump is ready to run and that his supporters are still loyal.

Its hard to imagine anything that would derail that support. So if Trump wants to become the nominee in 24, I think hes very likely to achieve that, the Utah Republican told Politico in a new interview.

Veteran newsman Bill OReilly is inclined to agree.

At this point, Donald Trump wants to run in 2024, he told NewsMax host Greg Kelly.

He wants to run and cant announce it until January 2023 because of campaign finance rules. He has raised an enormous amount of money. I dont think anyone has raised the amount of money Donald Trump has raised, Mr. OReilly noted.

Should Mr. Trump seek the office again, hell join a very crowded field, however.

At this juncture, there are 32 potential Republican candidates who could jump in for the 2024 bout and 28 potential Democratic candidates who also could join the fray. So says an updated list compiled by Ballotpedia.org.

The meticulous research group assembled the list based on those who have been actively discussed as potential presidential contenders in national media outlets.

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Should President Biden and former President Donald Trump decide to run against one another, heres what could happen.

Each man thinks they could beat the other. But they also may not run unless the other chooses to do so. The 2024 election begins as a high-stakes staring contest, predicts Saul Anuzis, former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and now a political commentator and consultant.

As each camp gears up for a rematch of the bitterly contested 2020 contest, there remains a small hiccup: Neither is inclined to take the plunge first. Its a game of political chicken that as described by more than a half dozen advisers to the two men has largely frozen the field among Democrats and Republicans alike. It is also raising questions about the future health of two parties being led by a pair of candidates who, by that Election Day, would have long ago celebrated their 75th birthdays, Mr. Anuzis wrote in an analysis released Sunday.

A PSAKI MOMENT

Fox News host Howard Kurtz had a question for outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki in an interview that aired Sunday.

President Biden the other day called the MAGA movement the most extreme political organization in American history. Have you and the White House and the president decided that with Donald Trump still being by far the most influential Republican, that youve increasingly got to take him on? Mr. Kurtz asked.

Ms. Psaki advised that Mr. Biden was addressing the impact and the hold that former President Trump has on the Republican Party and the influence and the impact that he has on their policies are and he wants to use it as a reminder of how these policies can impact people every day.

But Mr. Biden could do more.

Hes also not going to hesitate, calling out what he thinks are extreme positions that are out of whack with the mainstream, said Ms. Psaki who will leave her White House post next week and become an MSNBC commentator.

So are you taking on Donald Trump more? Mr. Kurtz asked.

Were taking on what he represents and what the people who are currently in elected office making policies represent, Ms. Psaki responded.

THE SCIENCE OF BUG SPLATS

Counting bug splats on vehicle license plates shows the numbers of flying insects has dropped significantly, reports the Buglife project, a British charity now working with the Kent Wildlife Trust, a conservation charity.

Both groups are concerned that the population of flying bugs has gotten lower in recent years and have now asked the public to monitor the situation through the use of a specially developed smartphone app.

Participants are asked to clean their license plates before heading out on a journey in their vehicle and then to photograph and count the number of bugs they found splattered on the plates when they returned, noted Phys.org, a news site.

Buglife spokesman Matt Shardlow described the findings to the press as dramatic and alarming.

The bug splat project will continue through August; details can be found atBuglife.org.uk.

POLL DU JOUR

66% of U.S. drivers have or will make significant changes in their driving habits because of the high price of gasoline.

62% will cut back vehicle use except for necessary trips like grocery shopping or doctor visits.

41% will not fill up their gas tanks, but only put in what is affordable.

35% will leave their cars home and take public transit.

34% will drive to different gas stations to find the best prices.

29% have canceled summer holiday travel plans by car.

Source: A Yahoo/Maru Public Opinion survey of 1,392 U.S. drivers conducted April 29-May 1, and released Saturday; respondents were asked multiple questions.

Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.

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Inside the Beltway: Donald Trump a 'likely' 2024 hopeful - Washington Times

Dana White has praised former US President Donald Trump. White explained that during the UFC season it was difficult to book stadiums.

Dana White, speaking to The Pivot Podcast, pointed out that it was Donald Trump who helped turn the ball into a UFC victory. Trump called on him and promised to host some events at the Trump Taj Mahal in Las Vegas:

This product was very bad, the places did not want us. Arenas did not want us. We had a hard time finding places. Trump really called us. We got there, very determined. We appeared in the first battle and he was there until the last battle. And we both went there.

White then praised the UFC success for people like Donald Trump. White cited this as the reason why he approved Trumps presidential campaign:

Everything that happened to me in my career from then on, he would take a phone call to congratulate me. Or send something. He has always been a strong boy to me. So he calls me and says he is running for president. Convention. Everyone told me not to do it Everything this boy did to me, I would tell him no? Thats not me.

MMA fans around the world will soon see the latest season of Ultimate Fighter. Two captains have been confirmed as bantamweight champion Julianna Pena and former champion Amanda Nunes.

Pena shocked the world when he introduced the Nunes to UFC 269 in December 2021. Few had predicted that Venezuelan Vixen would successfully face The Lioness, but he went as a champion.

Dana White pointed out that initially they could not get the UFC on television and it was often dominated by real television. Ultimate Fighter was created as a way to combine both and get organizational exposure.

The end of Season 30 will be the much-anticipated repetition between Pena and Nunes. Pena will be looking to add to his champion history by defending the belt for the first time.

Also Read: Michael Chandler says his fight with Conor McGregor would be Totally Huge

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"Donald Trump has always been a strong boy to me" - Dana White describes how Donald Trump aided the UFC in its... - The Sportsrush

Opinion: What should we do when the offspring of politicians provide ammunition by way of their behavior that can be weaponized against their famous fathers?

During her presidential campaign in 2007, Hillary Clinton famously quoted an African proverb that says, Its takes a village to raise a child.

I believe that to be true.

Unfortunately, the GPS coordinates to that village, along with step-by-step directions, have never been provided to those of us who are parents.

Given that, and recognizing my own inadequacies, I am generally disinclined to judge a parent based on the behavior of a child.

Particularly when the offspring is an adult.

Most long-time parents would agree with me on this.

Im sure of it.

Except when it comes to politics.

With a public figure (especially one with whom we disagree), the sins of offspring become the sins of the parent.

So it is with a son of President Joe Biden and a son and a son-in-law of former President Donald Trump. Each of these men has made a (sometimes questionable) living off the name association with a famous father (or father-in-law). One of them even hoped to stage a coup.

The scrutiny of President Bidens son Hunter began during his presidential campaign and has continued unabated. Trumps first impeachment involved Trump trying to strongarm Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into ramping up an investigation into Hunter, who had made a lot of money through dealings with businesses in faraway places, including Ukraine.

The U.S. attorney in Delaware, a Trump appointee, has an ongoing investigation into Hunter. The current president has not interfered with that investigation or moved to replace the prosecutor. Something I suspect Trump would have done in an instant.

Its not easy being a dad.

Meantime, the former presidents oldest son, Donald Jr., is in trouble on several fronts. Most recently texts have been released between him and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in which Don Jr. promotes a plan to invalidate the presidential election and keep his father in office.

Its very simple, Don Jr. texts in one of them. We have multiple paths. We control them all.

The legality of those paths … well … thats another question.

Don Jr. and his sister Ivanka also are under investigation by New York's Attorney General Letitia James, who said, We have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit."

The former president is tied up in this as well, but his children are adults. They make their own choices.

In addition to all this, The New York Times reported recently that Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment in his private equity firm from Saudi Arabias state-owned sovereign wealth fund only six months after the end of the Trump administration.

Two billion.

The funds advisory members didnt believe Kushner had anything close to the knowledge or experience required for such a financial windfall, but they were overruled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Kushner was a senior adviser to his father-in-law when he was president. He defended a massive arms deal to Saudi Arabia and subsequently became pals with the prince. So, is the sweetheart deal a form of payback?

You might remember Mohammed bin Salman as the person a U.S. intelligence officials blame for the operation that led to theabduction and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

And by way of comparison, $2 billion makes anything Hunter Biden did look like chump change.

The vast majority of politicians even those we dont like manage to rear children who become respectable adults whom we never hear about, mostly because respectable cant be weaponized against a political opponent. Other children provide their fathers opponents with plenty of ammunition.

Still, I am disinclined to blame a father for the sins of a son, particularly when the offspring is a full-grown independent adult whose troubles should be his own.

In matters of child rearing even after the progeny have long since flown the nest I find I am in agreement with the comedian Andy Richter, who said, I would say that the hardest thing about being a parent is these goddamned kids.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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What Hunter Biden, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner have in common - The Arizona Republic

A recent Office of Inspector General report from the Department of Homeland Security reads like a Charles Dickens novel in that it helps us to see the ghosts of Trump's past, present and future, each one bringing bad tidings.

A recent report helps us see the ghosts of Trump past, present and future, each one bringing bad tidings.

An April 26 report finding that former President Donald Trumps DHS diluted and delayed a 2020 intelligence report that told of Russias plans to aid Trumps re-election with propaganda casting doubts on candidate Joe Bidens health is more than just official confirmation of what has already been alleged by a whistleblower. Its added value is that it provides a window into what the intelligence community was like under Trump, what it might have been like if hed been re-elected and how it would likely operate in the event of a future Trump regime.

Prompted in part by that high-level whistleblowers assertions, the OIG investigated whether then acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his leadership team properly handled the drafting, approval and dissemination of a report revealing that Russias government had a propaganda strategy to denigrate candidate Bidens health. The report found that their treatment of the intelligence and analysis report was anything but proper under the standards of the intelligence community.

We found that DHS did not adequately follow its internal processes and comply with applicable policy standards and requirements when editing and disseminating an I&A [information and analysis] intelligence product regarding Russian interference with the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.

The OIG identified three significant problems. First, it cited DHS for altering the scope of its intelligence reporting for reasons that appear to be based in part on political considerations. Second, the OIG concluded that Wolf participated in the review process multiple times despite lacking any formal role in reviewing product. Third, it determined that delays and deviations put I&A at risk of creating a perception of politicization.

No kidding.

Essentially, certain higher-ups at DHS treated as toxic the intelligence reporting that Russia was going to support Trumps re-election by using its social media propaganda machine to malign Bidens mental health. According to the OIG findings, career intelligence analysts were told the revelations of Russian help must be held because, as the whistleblower told OIG, Wolf said it made the President look bad. A DHS executives notes reflect that Wolf stated in a meeting that the report "will hurt POTUS kill it per his authorities.

Suddenly, the OIG found, the report on Russias intentions was transformed into a draft with dubious claims that it was Trumps campaign that was being targeted, specifically, that Iran and China were trying to support Biden by questioning Trumps health. The OIG found that this alteration was misleading and inconsistent with intelligence information.

The original report, first conceptualized in the spring of 2020, wasnt fully disseminated until six months later on October 15, 2020, 18 days away from the election not with a bang but with a whimper. Thats because the report ultimately watered down the solid intelligence that Russia would help Trump by targeting Biden, by inserting the notion not fully vetted -- that Iran and China might help Biden by targeting Trump.

The OIGs report confirmed what we already knew: Trump disdained and distrusted the intelligence community, even when it meant siding with our adversaries, and he appointed a string of unqualified, but loyal "acting" officials so they could protect his interests but avoid the scrutiny that comes with the Senate confirmation process. As an acting secretary at DHS for more than a year, Chad Wolf was a poster child of an unaccountable lackey. Thats how the OIG report gives us insight into the ghost of the Trump administrations past. But it offers a picture of what a Trump present might have looked like had he won the election, and foretells what a future Trump administration would look like particularly regarding Russia, the U.S. intelligence community and the battle for Ukraine.

The report confirms what we already knew: Trump disdained and distrusted the intelligence community, even when it meant siding with our adversaries.

Under President Biden, weve seen the opposite of intelligence suppression. In fact, theres been an unprecedented public disclosure of intelligence as a strategy against Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, and in support of a democratic Ukraine. Bidens reliance on U.S. intelligence has allowed Ukraine and the world to better understand the peril posed by Putin. And, in the interest of freedom and democracy, Biden has promised even more American intelligence sharing with Ukraine moving forward.

The OIG report prompts us to imagine what a present Trump administration might do to defend or not defend Ukraine against Russia. Despite the alleged war crimes perpetrated by Russia in Ukraine, Trump continues to brag of his enduring bond with Putin. If he were still president, would we see the kind of skillful and strategic intelligence collection and disclosures Biden is executing in support of Ukraine? That's unlikely. Might we instead see Trump share with Putin intelligence about Ukraines plans and vulnerabilities? We cant discount that possibility. Hes disclosed highly classified intelligence to the Russians, at the expense of an ally, before.

In the OIG report, we also see the ghost of a Trump future, that is, a second term of even more sinister sycophants primed to pervert the intelligence process for political purposes. The OIG report contains one seemingly simple recommendation: Improve the review and dissemination process for election related intelligence products. The report reflects that the Biden administration concurs with this recommendation, and it has 30 days to implement it.

Would a new Trump administration honor such improvements to the intelligence process? Would they even read the OIG findings? More than likely, wed be faced with an even greater contrast between the Biden and the Trump approaches to intelligence. A contrast that is reminiscent of yet another Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Because for our intelligence community, depending on whos running the Oval Office, it can be the best of times or the worst of times. It can be the season of Light or the season of Darkness.

Frank Figliuzzi is an MSNBC columnist anda national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. He was the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, where he served 25 years as a special agent and directed all espionage investigations across the government. He is the author of "The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence."

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Watchdog report shows just how bad another Trump term would be - MSNBC

Karine Jean-Pierre has occasionally filled in for Psaki at the podium.Andrew Harnik/AP

Karine Jean-Pierre will take over as White House press secretary, Biden announced Thursday.

Jean-Pierre will be the first Black and openly gay White House press secretary in US history.

The Haitian-American immigrant has worked for the Obama and Harris presidential campaigns.

Karine Jean-Pierre will make history in coming weeks as the first-ever Black and first openly gay person to serve as White House press secretary, but she's been making her mark in Washington, DC, for years.

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that Jean-Pierre, the current deputy White House press secretary, will take over the role after Jen Psaki steps down on May 13 to reportedly take on a job at MSNBC.

Jean-Pierre worked for former President Barack Obama and the Biden-Harris presidential campaign, and taught at Columbia University as a lecturer. Jean-Pierre was also a "top candidate" being considered for the press secretary role last year, but the job ultimately went to Psaki.

Jean-Pierre was born in 1977 on the island of Martinique to Haitian parents. She later grew up in the borough of Queens in New York City after moving there at 5 years old.

Jean-Pierre has spoken about how her parents her father a cab driver and mother a home health aide and her immigrant background have inspired her politics.

"Growing up in an immigrant household really defined me. It taught me to work hard," she said of her family during an interview for MoveOn.

Jean-Pierre also said when she told her parents she was going to work for then-President Obama her parents said she was "changing the world."

She earned her bachelor's degree from the New York Institute for Technology in 1997 and went on to graduate from Columbia University in 2003 with a Master's of Public Affairs.

The 44-year-old came out as a lesbian at the age of 16 and has written about the experience on Twitter.

Story continues

"I came out to my Mom when I was 16 years old," Jean-Pierre wrote. "The revolted look on her face sent me running back into the proverbial closet and slamming the door shut. After that, my sexuality became a family secret and it would stay that way for years."

Jean-Pierre said her mom eventually came around and is "proud" of her.

She is raising a daughter, Soleil, with her partner, Suzanne Malveaux, a CNN correspondent.

Jean-Pierre has also spoken about how her gender and sexuality affect her career in politics, which she refers to as a "boys' club," in her memoir "Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work and the Promise of America."

Jean-Pierre has been open about her criticisms of former President Donald Trump, including his implementation of a travel ban for Muslim-majority countries.

"I am everything that Donald Trump hates," Jean-Pierre said in 2018. "I'm a black woman. I'm gay. I am a mom. Both my parents were born in Haiti, and they came here for the American dream."

In 2018, after Trump referred to a handful of countries as "shithole countries," Jean-Pierre called him out during a speech at the University of Michigan, saying she was tired of his "immigrant bashing" and "homophobia."

"The President of the United States called the land of my ancestors, the land of my heritage, the land of my parents, an s-hole. And ironically 24 hours after he made those racist remarks, he signed a proclamation to honor Dr. King."

Jean-Pierre began her career at the Center for Community and Corporate Ethics. Throughout her professional life, she has worked for the ACLU, as a political analyst for MSNBC and NBC, as chief public affairs officer for MoveOn, and as a lecturer at Columbia University.

She's also had a career steeped in politics. She worked on a number of presidential campaigns, including Martin O' Malley, Obama, and Vice President Kamala Harris. She also worked at the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Obama administration.

As deputy press secretary for Biden, she became the first openly gay and second Black woman to ever hold a White House press briefing in May 2021.

"I think if you are passionate about what you want to be or where you want to go and you work very hard to that goal, it will happen," Jean-Pierre said Thursday during the press briefing announcing her promotion. "And, yes, you'll be knocked down and you'll have some tough times. And it won't be easy all the time, but the rewards are pretty amazing, especially if you stay true to yourself."

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Who is Karine Jean-Pierre, the soon-to-be White House press secretary who called herself 'everything that Donald Trump hates' - Yahoo News