
GOP senator invites Trump to 'an appreciation event like you've never seen' in deep-red state
FIRST ON FOX: Every year, the small town of Sturgis, South Dakota, explodes from just a few thousand residents to hundreds of thousands of people making the pilgrimage to the Buffalo Chip campground.
There, they participate in the nation's largest motorcycle rally, where camaraderie, motor oil and rock and roll permeate the dusty campground. And one Republican senator wants President Donald Trump to be the headlining guest.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., extended an invitation exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital to the president to attend his home state's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Rounds left the door open for Trump to either come to the rally's 85th anniversary this year, or to celebrate America's 250th anniversary next year.
"South Dakota is Trump Country," Rounds said. "We'd love to introduce you on stage during one of our premier concerts, in front of tens of thousands of fans, and we're thoroughly convinced you'll be impressed with the reception."
"This year, the event is our 85th Anniversary — which will draw rally-goers from every corner of the country and throughout the world," he continued. "Next year, the 250th anniversary of our country will also be a blow-out event. We'd be honored to host you whenever it may work in your schedule."
To Rounds' point, South Dakota is indeed "Trump Country." The president has won the state each cycle that he has run, averaging a roughly 30-point victory margin over his opponents.
This year's rally will take place from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10 and will feature a number of artists, including ZZ Top, Jason Aldean, Jefferson Starship, Nickleback and others.
"We're biased, but it's an experience every red-blooded American should witness, or better yet, participate in," Rounds said.
"Thank you for leading our great country. We'd love to honor you with an appreciation event like you've never seen," he continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Pam Bondi fires three Jan. 6 prosecutors, sending another chill through DOJ workforce
WASHINGTON — At least three federal prosecutors who worked on cases against Jan. 6 rioters were fired Friday by the Justice Department, according to more than half a dozen current and former officials familiar with the dismissals. A copy of one of the dismissal letters seen by NBC News was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, notifying the recipient that they were 'removed from federal service effective immediately.' No reason for the removal was stated in the letter. One of the fired employees had been based overseas. The Justice Department declined to comment Friday night. Follow live politics coverage here. The Trump administration in late January fired probationary federal prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases and prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Donald Trump. The administration also demoted some career prosecutors who worked on the Capitol siege investigation. Probationary workers are either recent hires or have taken new positions. The firings on Friday, though, marked the first time that career prosecutors who had worked Jan. 6 cases and who were past their probationary period of federal employment had been fired. It was also the first time Bondi fired Justice Department lawyers involved in prosecuting Jan. 6 cases. Bondi was confirmed by the Senate in February, after the dismissal of probationary prosecutors. The firings come at a time when the fallout from the Jan. 6 investigation — and Trump's subsequent mass pardon of even the most violent rioters — continues to loom over employees at both the Justice Department and the FBI. Numerous current and former officials have told NBC News that the targeting of people who worked on the largest investigation in FBI history have had a chilling effect on the Justice Department workforce, and would leave career prosecutors and FBI officials hesitant to pursue cases against any Trump allies for fear of being targeted by the administration. One federal law enforcement official called Friday's firings 'horrifying' and noted that both of the prosecutors had been serving in other capacities before the 2024 election. 'To fire them, without explanation, is a slap in the face not only to them, but to all career DOJ prosecutors,' the official said. 'No one is safe from this administration's whims and impulses. And the public certainly is not served by the continued brain drain of DOJ — we are losing the best among us every day.' This article was originally published on


Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
The biggest losers in the bombing of Iran? The Iranian people.
Under the grip of this regime for the past 46 years, mismanagement and corruption have deepened societal cleavages. Iran's Advertisement One of the paradoxes of governments that rely on coercion is that they are often frightened of their own people. In Iran, that fear has been amplified in the aftermath of the regime's evident vulnerability and incompetence in the face of its foremost adversaries' bombardment. The conflict has decimated the top echelons of the security services, killing as many as 14 generals. Israel has also attacked paramilitary and intelligence installations critical to the coercive apparatus of the state. Advertisement But today, they are too traumatized to revolt. And the Islamic Republic's multilayered elite structure has already generated replacements for the cadres eliminated in the Israeli strikes. The strikes have intensified the apprehensions of Iran's leaders toward their disillusioned citizenry. Just as in the aftermath of previous security crises, such a series of 1981 terrorist attacks against the regime or the 1988 cease-fire with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, Tehran is responding to external threats with an internal crackdown. The regime is already engaging in mass arrests and show trials are sure to follow. The masses and public figures are enjoined to support the regime. In the name of rooting out the internal collaborators who enabled Israel's devastating initial attacks, scores will be settled and revenge taken. Iran's repressive political atmosphere will become even more stifling. An insecure regime looking to reestablish its deterrent posture is unlikely to relent anytime soon. For the past two decades, the United States has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran primarily in the name of arms control. The sanctions have debilitated Iran's economy, precipitating inflation, currency crisis, and unemployment. Throughout the tortuous path of talks with Iran, Washington and its international partners sought to utilize the sanctions as a tool to persuade Iran to concede core aspects of its nuclear program. In practice, the proposition of sanctions relief has always proven less compelling in advancing diplomatic solutions, especially for a target with as much experience with this tool as Tehran. Its leaders are all too aware that the US measures that severed Iran's ties to the international financial system have a peculiar afterlife, as jittery banks and businesses tend to steer clear long after their expiration. Advertisement Now, the relative success of the strikes on Iran have upended the central logic of international diplomacy around the Iranian nuclear challenge. The world now has another path to disarming Tehran — Israeli and American military action. The strategy of restraining Iran's nuclear advances by offering economic incentives in exchange for compliance with its arms control obligations will now be eclipsed by a more potent tool — additional attacks. A regime humiliated and antagonized by bombardment is likely to double down on reestablishing deterrence through its familiar tools of terror and covert nuclear investments. Meanwhile, the cost of sanctions will continue to be borne by ordinary Iranians. Iran's economy will continue to be hollowed out, the aspirations of another generation crushed, and a once proud and prosperous nation sinking further into impoverishment and isolation. Today, the Iranian people are caught between cruel rulers and an indifferent international community. The Islamic Republic endures and will continue to wage its struggle against the West. Anti-Americanism is core to the regime's identity. As Iranian leaders seek to reconstitute the nuclear program covertly, it's likely that new coercive measures will be deployed against Iran as Western spymasters will likely catch the regime red-handed. Military force is now the instrument of arms control. Advertisement In the midst of all this stand the Iranian people, abused and alone. Peace and security in the Middle East will not be possible until they have a meaningful say in their nation's destiny.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he is terminating trade talks with Canada over tax on tech firms
US President Donald Trump said he is suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called 'a direct and blatant attack on our country'. Mr Trump, in a post on his social media network, said Canada had just informed the US that it was sticking to its plan to impose the digital services tax, which applies to Canadian and foreign businesses that engage with online users in Canada. The tax is set to go into effect on Monday. 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period,' Mr Trump said in his Truth Social post. Mr Trump's announcement was the latest move in the trade war he has launched since taking office for a second term in January. Progress with Canada has been a roller coaster, starting with the US president repeatedly suggesting it would be absorbed as a US state. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country would 'continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interests of Canadians. It's a negotiation'. Mr Trump later said he expects that Canada will remove the tax. 'Economically we have such power over Canada. We'd rather not use it,' Mr Trump said in the Oval Office. 'It's not going to work out well for Canada. They were foolish to do it.' When asked if Canada could do anything to restart talks, he suggested Canada could remove the tax, predicted it will but said: 'It doesn't matter to me.' Mr Carney visited Mr Trump in May at the White House. Mr Trump last week travelled to Canada for the G7 summit in Alberta, where Mr Carney said Canada and the US had set a 30-day deadline for trade talks. The digital services tax will hit companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It will apply retroactively, leaving US companies with a two billion US dollar (£1.4 billion) bill due at the end of the month. 'We appreciate the Administration's decisive response to Canada's discriminatory tax on US digital exports,' Matt Schruers, chief executive of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a statement. Canada and the US have been discussing easing a series of steep tariffs Mr Trump imposed on goods from America's neighbour. The Republican president earlier told reporters that the US was soon preparing to send letters to different countries, informing them of the new tariff rate his administration would impose on them. Mr Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium as well as 25% tariffs on cars. He is also charging a 10% tax on imports from most countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90-day negotiating period he set would expire. Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Mr Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling, though some products are still protected under the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed during Mr Trump's first term. Addressing reporters after a private meeting with Republican senators on Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to comment on news that Mr Trump had ended trade talks with Canada. 'I was in the meeting,' Mr Bessent said before moving on to the next question. About 60% of US crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of US electricity imports as well. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminium and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager to obtain. About 80% of Canada's exports go to the US. Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said it is a domestic tax issue, but it has been a source of tensions between Canada and the US for a while because it targets US tech giants. 'The Digital Services Tax Act was signed into law a year ago so the advent of this new tax has been known for a long time,' Mr Beland said. 'Yet, President Trump waited just before its implementation to create drama over it in the context of ongoing and highly uncertain trade negotiations between the two countries.'