Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Paul Ryan Was Caught Texting His Approval of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) was seen pressing Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), via text message, to back former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination. The text messages were photographed by a fellow passenger while Ryan was on a flight from Canada to the U.S. early Tuesday morning.

“I think now is the time for a guy like you to endorse,” the texts are reported to have said. “Plus, Her foreign policy/world views track closest to yours. She brings the most excitement. I like RON [DeSantis], but don’t think he is the growth stock Niki [sic] is. Just following up per our talk [in] September. Go Packers!”

Ryan allies have been gravitating towards Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign for some weeks now, having ostensibly abandoned their hopes for DeSantis.

Two weeks ago, Spencer Zwick, a heavyweight GOP fundraiser who worked the 2012 Romney-Ryan presidential campaign, joined the Haley team.  In addition to Zwick, Americans for Prosperity – part of billionaire Charle Koch’s vast network of political organizations – has formally endorsed Haley, much to the chagrin of Team DeSantis. Americans for Prosperity and Charles Koch have long been major backers of former Speaker Ryan and his corporation friendly political agenda.

Paul Ryan, now a Fox News executive, has repeatedly said he will “never again” support former President Trump. “[L]ook, it’s a disaster if we nominate Trump, you know I think that, I’ve been saying this for a long time,” Ryan said during an interview in June.

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Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) was seen pressing Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), via text message, to back former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's bid for the Republican presidential nomination. The text messages were photographed by a fellow passenger while Ryan was on a flight from Canada to the U.S. early Tuesday morning. show more

Chairman & Architect of DeSantis’s Never Back Down PAC Resigns a Week After CEO Quits.

Adam Laxalt, the chairman of Never Back Down, a Super PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has stepped down. The departure of Laxalt is the second major departure at the Super PAC in the past two week. Just before Thanksgiving, Chris Jankowski resigned as Never Back Down’s CEO.

Both resignations come on the heels of a report stating senior staff with Never Back Down PAC nearly came to blows as frustration mounted over their close competition with Nikki Haley during a meeting of the group’s Board of Directors. The National Pulse reported at the time the PAC’s senior strategist Jeff Roe was involved in an altercation with Scott Wagner – a friend and confidant of Governor DeSantis.

“You have a stick up your ass, Scott,” Roe is alleged to have shouted at Wagner, according to witnesses in the room, to which Wagner fired back, taunting, “Why don’t you come over here and get it?” Wagner also reportedly rose from his chair and had to be restrained by other board members.

The departure of Laxalt is an especially concerning blow for DeSantis, however. The two have long been friends and were even roommates during Naval officer training. “After nearly 26 straight months of being in a full-scale campaign, I need to return my time and attention to my family and law practice,” a letter from Laxalt to the Never Back Down board read. While news of the the resignation is just now becoming public, Laxalt’s letter to the Super PAC’s board was dated November 26. This gives further credibility to rumors suggesting the Jankowski, and now Laxalt, resignations are directly tied to Jeff Roe’s outburst, underhanded tactics,  and mismanagement of the PAC.

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Adam Laxalt, the chairman of Never Back Down, a Super PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has stepped down. The departure of Laxalt is the second major departure at the Super PAC in the past two week. Just before Thanksgiving, Chris Jankowski resigned as Never Back Down's CEO. show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
If Jeff Roe is the shoddy contractor who keeps raising the prices mid-way through the job, then Adam Laxalt is the architect whose plans allowed for it in the first instance
If Jeff Roe is the shoddy contractor who keeps raising the prices mid-way through the job, then Adam Laxalt is the architect whose plans allowed for it in the first instance show more
for exclusive members-only insights
trump

Trump Currently Has the Largest Lead He’s Ever Had.

Former President Donald Trump currently leads incumbent President Joe Biden by his largest margin ever in the Real Clear Politics national polling average. In 2016 Trump lead Hillary Clinton for just five days, in 2020 he never led Biden. As of today Donald Trump leads Joe Biden by  2.6 points – his largest lead to-date.

According to Real Clear Politics’s Sean Trende, “[Trump] briefly closed to within four points in early January of 2020, but that is it. He led in five polls all cycle… He’s led in more polls in the past three weeks than he did against Biden in all of 2019-2020.” Trump’s resurgent popularity comes despite the persistent law-fare campaign being waged against him by the Biden Justice Department and the corporate media pushing hysteric claims Trump will end democracy as we know it.

Trump’s strong poll lead less-than-a-year-out from the 2024 presidential election has spooked Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans who comprise the ‘uniparty.’ Globalist favorite Mitt Romney, who lost the 2012 election to Barack Obama, announced “I’d be happy to vote for a number of Democrats” should trump secure the nomination. Lacking any substantive popularity it is unlikely Romney’s anti-Trump stance will impact voter choices in any real way, however.

In the Republican presidential primary, Trump continues to hold a near-insurmountable lead. Yesterday The National Pulse reported the former Republican President had secured nearly double the number of signed voter commitment cards as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in Iowa ahead of the state’s caucus on January 15th, 2024.

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Former President Donald Trump currently leads incumbent President Joe Biden by his largest margin ever in the Real Clear Politics national polling average. In 2016 Trump lead Hillary Clinton for just five days, in 2020 he never led Biden. As of today Donald Trump leads Joe Biden by  2.6 points – his largest lead to-date. show more
bidenomics

Even Democrats Are Souring On ‘Bidenomics.’

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll indicates voter concerns over the economy are dragging down Biden’s odds of re-election in six critical swing states. Over 60 percent of those who voted for Biden in 2020 rated the Biden economy negatively as either “only fair” or “poor”.

Most troubling for President Biden is the strong negative economic outlook among younger voters. Among those polled, 80 percent between the ages of 30 and 44 expressed a negative economic. Respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 panned the Biden economy by 89 percent.

President Biden’s economy does not fair any better among key Democrat racial demographics either. Black and Hispanic voters both rated the economy as either “only fair” or “poor” by 75 point margins.

The National Pulse has previously reported about growing concerns among national Democrats over Biden’s handling of the economy. HIT Strategies, a left-wing market research firm, has been sounding the alarm in Democrat circles for several months regarding increasingly dour views among minority voters regarding the state of the economy and a perception Biden is more concerned about Ukrainians than Americans.

While the Biden re-election effort has leaned in to the ‘Bidenomics’ message – blaming the media for the negative economic outlook – voters remain nonplussed. Former President Donald Trump has capitalized on the economic uncertainty with several polls showing him leading Biden in five of the six critical 2024 swing states. Propelling Trump’s surging poll lead are minority voters who backed Biden in 2020 and are now jumping ship over the Democrat’s handling of the economy.

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A recent New York Times/Siena College poll indicates voter concerns over the economy are dragging down Biden's odds of re-election in six critical swing states. Over 60 percent of those who voted for Biden in 2020 rated the Biden economy negatively as either "only fair" or "poor". show more

Pro-Ukraine Activists Aim to Destroy Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ Before 2024 Election.

The North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO) – an anonymous activist group created to combat pro-Russian information – has launched a series of internet raids on former President Donald Trump‘s social media platform “Truth Social” in an effort to bring the platform down before the 2024 presidential election.

NAFO, established shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, has attempted to take over trending topics on Truth Social and destroy the platform from within by so-called “shitposting.” Some of the group’s activities include misspelling themes such as “#stollenElection” or “#ErectionFraud.”

The pseudonymous chief of NAFO told one news outlet that combating the spread of pro-Trump and MAGA messaging on the social media platform is similar to “dealing with your racist uncle that nobody wants at the Thanksgiving dinner table because he’s just obnoxious and looking to fight with everybody.”

“The goal we have in mind, which is lofty, is to help bring the platform down ahead of the 2024 election,” he continued. “We know it’s going to be an aggregator for extremism and probably violence the way things are looking at this point.”

Truth Social recently filed a giant $1.5 billion lawsuit against multiple mainstream media outlets, including the Daily Mail, Axios, Reuters, and MSNBC, arguing they falsely reported a $73 million loss by the platform.

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The North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO) – an anonymous activist group created to combat pro-Russian information – has launched a series of internet raids on former President Donald Trump's social media platform "Truth Social" in an effort to bring the platform down before the 2024 presidential election. show more
ballot

PA Dem Admits No Way to ‘Restore Trust’ With Voting Machines.

Pennsylvanian officials are fuming about voter confidence in the electoral process being undermined after touchscreen voting machines used in the state’s local elections suffered a serious glitch earlier this month. The error caused “significant confusion” among election safety workers and members of both parties, with Northampton residents who voted in person on November 7th learning their printouts from Election Systems and Software (ES&S) voting machines did not match the votes they had digitally submitted. Instead, the machines swapped voters’ choices in the written section of the ballot.

This was not the first instance of the same machines suffering glitches. In 2019, they significantly undercounted the number of votes for the Democratic candidate in the judges’ race.

ES&S and Northampton say the errors were spotted and did not impact any results. A growing number, however, have begun questioning whether it is too risky to use the machines in the 2024 presidential election. Especially since Northampton is a contested county in the key state of Pennsylvania.

No Trust.

“Since 2019, the theory has been well, that was a big mistake, but we caught it and we’ve implemented new processes to make sure nothing like that would ever happen again,” said the chair of the Northampton County Democratic Party, Matthew Munsey. But after the latest glitch, “I don’t know how we can restore trust with these machines.”

Republican Committee Chair Glenn Geissinger argued: “In 2019, when the issues came up with the touchscreens, we were told, ‘Don’t worry about it. The cards are recording the votes… OK, you’re telling me now, in 2023, ‘Don’t worry about what’s printed on the card?”

Multiple voting rights groups have since called for a full investigation into the incident. Phillip Hensley-Robin, the executive director of one of the groups, said in a statement, “We must reassure voters that steps are being taken to prevent this kind of mistake in the future.”

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Pennsylvanian officials are fuming about voter confidence in the electoral process being undermined after touchscreen voting machines used in the state's local elections suffered a serious glitch earlier this month. The error caused "significant confusion" among election safety workers and members of both parties, with Northampton residents who voted in person on November 7th learning their printouts from Election Systems and Software (ES&S) voting machines did not match the votes they had digitally submitted. Instead, the machines swapped voters' choices in the written section of the ballot. show more
desantis

Trump Has Nearly Twice As Many Iowa Caucus Pledges as DeSantis.

Sunday marked 50 days to go until Iowa Republicans will gather to make their choice for their party’s 2024 presidential nomination. The Republican Caucus is doubtless an existential contest for both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, both hoping to keep their long-shot campaigns alive as former President Donald Trump holds a commanding national lead over the primary field. But where, precisely, do the campaigns stand on the metric that matters in Iowa? Caucus commitments.

The Trump campaign told The National Pulse on Monday that it has secured over 50,000 signed voter commitment cards. This is almost double the DeSantis campaign’s number, with the Florida Governor’s campaign boasting just 30,000 signed commitments. In 2016, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) narrowly won the Iowa Republican Caucus with 51,666 votes to Donald Trump’s 45,429.

The metric matters in part due to how different Iowa is to other states in picking their Republican nominee, and how DeSantis strategist Jeff Roe – who led Ted Cruz’s victory in the state – often boasts of his ability to outfox the Trump campaign in the Hawkeye State.

The news comes as newly published data shows DeSantis and his Iowa Governor endorser Kim Reynolds now rank as two of the least popular governors in America.

DeSantis’s own campaign has recently switched to downplaying his Iowa expectations, suggesting instead that a “strong second” is enough to keep him in the race.

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Sunday marked 50 days to go until Iowa Republicans will gather to make their choice for their party's 2024 presidential nomination. The Republican Caucus is doubtless an existential contest for both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, both hoping to keep their long-shot campaigns alive as former President Donald Trump holds a commanding national lead over the primary field. But where, precisely, do the campaigns stand on the metric that matters in Iowa? Caucus commitments. show more

Trump Explains It SLOWLY for Media/DeSantis Fans: Obama Runs WH, Not Biden.

Donald Trump has taken to his Truth Social platform to slowly and clearly explain his penchant for substituting “Obama” for “Biden” during campaign speeches – after corporate media outlets and masses of online Ron DeSantis supporters accused the 45th President of having dementia as a result.

“Whenever I sarcastically insert the name Obama for Biden as an indication that others may actually be having a very big influence in running our Country, Ron DeSanctimonious and his failing campaign apparatus, together with the Democrat’s Radical Left ‘Disinformation Machine,’ go wild saying that ‘Trump doesn’t know the name of our President, (CROOKED!) Joe Biden. He must be cognitively impaired,'” Trump posted early on Monday: “No, I know both names very well, never mix them up, and know that they are destroying our Country.”

Trump has interchanged Obama and Biden a number of times this year during campaign speeches, in a move that his most ardent supporters have understood to be an indication of who is really pulling the strings at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Former President Barack Obama has exercised an unprecedented level of influence over the Biden White House. The National Pulse previously reported Obama has overseen White House policy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent months. Many in Washington, D.C. are beginning to acknowledge Obama has in fact secured a third term in office; going so far as influencing the staffing the Biden White House and handing down recommendations from his home in the D.C’s exclusive Kalorama neighborhood.

Last week, Donald Trump’s doctor released a statement giving the former President a clean-bill of health. “His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” Dr. Bruce Aronwald, D.O. said, before adding: ” It is my opinion that President Trump is currently in excellent health, and with his continued interest in preventative health monitoring and maintenance, he will continue to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle for years to come.”

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Donald Trump has taken to his Truth Social platform to slowly and clearly explain his penchant for substituting "Obama" for "Biden" during campaign speeches – after corporate media outlets and masses of online Ron DeSantis supporters accused the 45th President of having dementia as a result. show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
It’s unbelievable that this rhetoric device needed explaining for the media and the “DeSimps”
It’s unbelievable that this rhetoric device needed explaining for the media and the “DeSimps” show more
for exclusive members-only insights

‘OPENLY AUTHORITARIAN’ – Media Panic Intensifies As Trump 2nd Term Looks Likely.

Left-wing media is panicking at the prospect of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election because the former President intends to curb the power of federal agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) as well as launch investigations into the Biden family‘s dubious financial affairs.

A report published in the Guardian has raised the possibility of Trump’s second term being “openly authoritarian” and a throwback to either 1970s Latin America or 1930s Europe – a comparison used both before Trump was elected in 2016 and throughout his first presidential term.

“I’m hard pressed to find any candidates anywhere who are so open that they would use the power of the state to go after critics and enemies,” argues Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, who, however, fails to comment on the 91 indictments filed against the former President.

“This is one of the most openly authoritarian campaigns I’ve ever seen,” he adds.

The report is similarly spooked by the prospect of “Project 2025,” which aims to replace federal employees inside agencies like the FBI and DOJ and branches of government such as the Department of Homeland Security and Education with conservative-minded individuals.

It is suggested even former DOJ officials are “appalled” by the project. Donald Ayer, a former U.S. Deputy Attorney General, says, “Project 2025 seems to be full of a whole array of ideas that are designed to let Donald Trump function as a dictator, by completely eviscerating many of the restraints built into our system.”

Others are concerned that Trump would pardon January 6 protestors like Jacob Chansley, who was released early from federal prison after it was shown by Tucker Carlson that he was escorted into the U.S. Capitol by police officers. Trump is “promising them pardons for the insurrection. This is about giving power to an autocrat and letting his id take over,” asserts Columbia University researcher and CNN historian Timothy Naftali.

The 45th President is storming ahead of incumbent President Joe Biden in the polls less than 12 months before the 2024 presidential election. Trump is currently on course to receive over 300 Electoral College votes, way above the required 270 to become President.

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Left-wing media is panicking at the prospect of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election because the former President intends to curb the power of federal agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) as well as launch investigations into the Biden family's dubious financial affairs. show more

DATA: RFK’s Presidential Bid Hurts Trump More Than Biden.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s independent presidential candidacy continues to pose a potential threat for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid to reclaim the White House. A new HarrisX overnight poll shows Trump defeating President Joe Biden 53 to 47 percent in a head-to-head 2024 election. However, when third-party candidates are added, potential pitfalls for the Trump campaign appear.

The poll indicates Kennedy may be drawing upwards of 10 points of support from former President Trump, while pulling six points from Biden. Trump is only able to maintain his lead over Biden because a potential third-party bid by radical Harvard professor Cornel West pulls an additional 4 points of support from the Democrat President. Absent West’s candidacy, Trump would likely only lead Biden by 2 points in a three-way race – within the margin of error.

Republicans have, for some time, been raising the alarm over the impact Kennedy could have on the 2024 presidential race. Donald Trump, Jr. has warned Kennedy’s candidacy is specifically designed to hurt his father’s chances of victory against Biden, stating in October: “It legitimately always felt like it was a Democrat plant to hurt the Trump thing… He wouldn’t be there if the Democrats didn’t want him.” FEC data shows Kennedy, Jr. is pulling in three-times as many Trump donors as Biden donors.

In an interview last week, The National Pulse’s own Raheem Kassam warned conservative supporters of Kennedy they are being duped: “Obviously, if you look at RFK’s track record he’s incredibly left-wing. He’s not just left-wing, but he’s supported both far-left progressive philosophy while also backing globalist left, establishment left politicians almost his entire life.”

Despite former President Trump leading Biden in five of six battleground states and only trailing by 10 points in far-left New York state, the possibility that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appearing on the ballot in critical swing states continues to be a top concern for Republicans.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s independent presidential candidacy continues to pose a potential threat for former President Donald Trump's 2024 bid to reclaim the White House. A new HarrisX overnight poll shows Trump defeating President Joe Biden 53 to 47 percent in a head-to-head 2024 election. However, when third-party candidates are added, potential pitfalls for the Trump campaign appear. show more