Elections

Multiple outlets: Lara Trump, Mark Meadows eyeing NC Senate seat in 2022

Published

4 years ago

November 20, 2020

Multiple outlets have reported on Thursday and Friday that Lara Trump and Mark Meadows are both weighing runs for one of North Carolina’s U.S. Senate seats in 2022, according to people familiar with their plans. This comes after Sen. Richard Burr (R) recently announced that he would not seek re-election, closing the book on what has been a 15-year career in the Senate.

A source familiar with the plans of President Donald Trump‘s daughter-in-law, who has reportedly discussed them directly with her, told Fox News on Friday that Lara Trump is “interested and exploring” a possible run. Trump is married to the president’s third child, Eric, and hails from the state, after whom she named one of her children Carolina.

The source told Fox News that Trump should “automatically be considered formidable,” saying that she has deep roots in North Carolina and was a frequent presence for President Trump’s campaigns there in 2016 and in 2020.

“The president gave her the responsibility of winning North Carolina in 2016 and in 2020 — she did it both times,” the source said, adding that she’s a “household name” and that she’s “well-known among the Republican Party.”

“Were she to run, she should be considered an immediate front runner,” the source also said.

“She’s very charismatic, she understands retail politics well, and has a natural instinct for politics,” Mercedes Schlapp told the NYT

Mercedes Schlapp, an adviser to President Trump’s 2020 campaign who crisscrossed the country as a surrogate alongside Ms. Trump, told the New York Times, who was the first to report the news on Thursday, that Trump has a lot of potential. Schlapp also said that Ms. Trump was a “household name,” but it is not clear if she is the same source who spoke to Fox News the day after.

“She’s very charismatic, she understands retail politics well, and has a natural instinct for politics,” she said. “In North Carolina, in particular, she’s a household name and people know her. She worked really hard on the campaign and was very involved in a lot of decisions throughout.”

Kellyanne Conway, a former White House official and the Trump campaign manager in 2016, shared a similar sentiment with The Times about Ms. Trump’s potential to make headway in a potential senatorial campaign.

“She would be formidable,” she said. “She has the trifecta: She can raise money, raise awareness of key issues and raise attention to her race. Unlike many typical politicians, she connects with people and is a compelling messenger.”

Before entering politics, she was a television producer for “Inside Edition“ and also worked as a professional chef and a personal trainer.

Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff, is reportedly considering the Senate seat too, multiple outlets say. Before joining the Trump administration earlier this year, Meadows was a member of the House of Representative from North Carolina since 2013.

Speculation about a potential candidacy from him garnered significantly less attention than that surrounding Ms. Trump. In most articles from major outlets, he was often only mentioned in a single paragraph or sentence whereas Trump has had entire articles dedicated to her and a possible campaign.

A GOP insider who is involved with Senate races told Fox News in the same Friday article that Meadows is pondering a run for the soon-to-be-vacant seat. Neither Meadows nor his staff have spoken publicly about the current speculation surrounding his political future.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

Elections

Canada Beefs up Border Security After Trump Threatened Sweeping Tariffs

Published

2 days ago

December 3, 2024

Sara Carter Staff

In November, president-elect Donald Trump announced on social media that he would impose a 25% tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico if they do not take an active role in containing illegal immigration as well as the level of illicit drugs entering into the United States.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, after which the Canadian government vowed to secure the border. “We got, I think, a mutual understanding of what they’re concerned about in terms of border security,” Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc, who accompanied Trudeau at Mar-a-Largo, said of the meeting in an interview with Canadian media. “All of their concerns are shared by Canadians and by the government of Canada.”

“We talked about the security posture currently at the border that we believe to be effective, and we also discussed additional measures and visible measures that we’re going to put in place over the coming weeks,” LeBlanc continued. “And we also established, Rosemary, a personal series of rapport that I think will continue to allow us to make that case.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation reports the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is preparing to beef up its immigration enforcement capabilities by hiring more staff, adding more vehicles and creating more processing facilities, in the chance that there is an immigration surge sparked by Trump’s presidential election victory. The moves are a change in direction from Trudeau’s public declaration in January 2017 that Canada was a “welcoming” country and that “diversity is our strength” just days after Trump was sworn into office the first time.

The Daily Caller notes the differences in response from the Canadian government verses Mexico’s:

Trudeau’s recent overtures largely differ from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has indicated she is not willing to bend the knee to Trump’s tariff threats. The Mexican leader in November said “there will be a response in kind” to any tariff levied on Mexican goods going into the U.S., and she appeared to deny the president-elect’s claims that she agreed to do more to beef up border security in a recent phone call.