FIRST ON FOX: Republicans are being given a new playbook on an issue that is all but certain to be the biggest political lightning rod of the November midterms.

Conservative group Club for Growth is sending a memo to Capitol Hill lawmakers on Friday arguing that Americans’ struggle with high living costs cannot be ignored — and that the fault lies with an expanding federal government.

“Americans are not asking whether the inflation rate has slowed; they are asking why the same basket of goods is permanently more expensive,” the information packets being distributed to Republican lawmakers read. “[G]overnment made core costs higher through deficit spending, subsidies, mandates, and restrictions on supply.”

It’s an argument that could be a lifeline for the GOP as it fights an uphill battle to keep control of the House and Senate. While Democrats attack Republicans for how Americans feel about prices today, Club for Growth’s memo is urging Republicans to point to the rapid federal expansion the Biden administration presided over during the COVID-19 pandemic.

REPUBLICANS JUST GOT A POWERFUL NEW PLAYBOOK FOR THE BATTLE FOR CONGRESS. HERE’S WHAT’S INSIDE

The materials, a two-page memo for lawmakers and a more in-depth 76-page policy packet, also urge Republicans to push policies that Club for Growth says will actually lower those costs.

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The strategy would be a gamble, given the midterms are traditionally a referendum on how people feel about how they are doing under the party currently in power. But it gives Republicans a potential economic platform and a roadmap to pitch for lowering costs if they keep the majority for the next two years.

“The free-market answer is structural cost relief: spend less, build more, produce more energy, make healthcare compete, let workers earn, and let families choose,” the memo said.

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It urged Republicans to resist calling for subsidies for areas of the economy where prices are skyrocketing, arguing that handing out taxpayer money would only increase costs in the longer-term. An example the memo used is Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which Republicans have long blamed for skyrocketing healthcare costs before the COVID-era subsidy expired at the beginning of this year.

“Subsidies and regulation function as a back door for government control and involvement in private industry,” the memo argued. “The only way to address the affordability crisis properly is to undo misguided government intervention and stop pretending more of the same will suddenly work.”

But it could put GOP lawmakers at odds with President Donald Trump and his promise to give each American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. Several GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital last week were hesitant to embrace the idea.

Among the solutions offered are reforming Social Security, which fiscal hawks have long warned will soon run out of cash if changes are not made to current age requirements and other guidelines.

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On high housing costs, the memo urges lawmakers to increase supply by targeting land use and building regulations rather than offering subsidies to make existing housing more affordable.

Energy costs, which were a flashpoint in the 2025 off-year elections as well, could be brought down by furthering the Trump administration’s goals to unleash U.S. energy sources rather than Democrats’ push for net-zero carbon emissions, the memo said.

A focus on nuclear energy policies could also help drive down energy costs, which will be at the forefront of most Americans’ minds during the November election.

And while Democrats have pushed free early childcare as a solution for struggling families, the Club for Growth memo is urging Republicans to find a more lasting solution in reforming regulations surrounding the industry.

“Health and safety training in specific areas, adherence to building, fire, and health codes, and comprehensive background checks, including fingerprinting, are reasonable,” the memo said. “However, strict and complex rules about work-child ratios, rigid staffing mandates, and regulations on facility specifications, including equipment requirements and zoning classifications, increase operating costs without demonstrable improvements in child wellbeing.”

The election is less than 50 days away, and both sides are working overtime to prove they are best positioned to help ease rising costs.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that 25,000 people were killed last month and another 32,000 the month before in the war between Ukraine and Russia

“Last month, 25,000 people died in the Ukraine-Russia war, okay? 25,000,” he told reporters on the White House lawn Saturday.

“The month before that, 32,000 people died … mostly soldiers, 97% soldiers. But whether they’re soldiers or civilians, think of it: 32,000. Two months ago, 33,000 people; this month, 25,000 people died. What a shame,” he added.

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Russia alone has lost as many as 450,000 soldiers since invading Ukraine in 2022, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Trump also told reporters he wants to see an end to the war soon, revealing he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently.

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“I spoke to him a lot, and he’s going along and Putin’s going along. And someday, hopefully in the not too distant future, maybe before the heavy winter, they’ll make a deal,” he told reporters.

He claimed that he pushed Zelenskyy to try to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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“I agreed with Zelenskyy that we talked about a lot of different subjects, and many of those subjects, very strong agreement. But you know what I want him to do? Make a deal. I want him to settle with Putin, and I want Putin to settle with him.

Zelenskyy announced Friday that Trump had agreed to give approval to Ukraine to license and produce U.S. Patriot missile interceptors.

TRUMP SAYS US WILL LET UKRAINE MAKE PATRIOT MISSILES IN MAJOR POLICY SHIFT

“There are concrete agreements regarding Patriot licenses. At our meeting, President Trump stressed that he had made his final decision: Ukraine will receive licenses to produce Patriot missiles,'” Zelenskyy posted Friday.

President Trump had previously hesitated to grant Ukraine the licenses.

Fox News Digital contacted the White House for comment.

Adina Flores, an activist and a self-proclaimed “civil rights” advocate with a colorful social media presence, is endorsing Eric Jones, the Democratic candidate for Congress in California’s 4th Congressional District.

The endorsement itself, which focuses on Jones’ promises to combat women’s sexual exploitation, is nothing out of the ordinary. But Flores’ Facebook, Instagram and Substack pages are full of eccentric content that frames political issues as a conflict between race, sexual orientation and secretive sources of influence. The endorsement raises questions for Jones, who has met with Flores multiple times about whether he agrees with Flores’ views, according to social media clips.

In one video posted to Facebook, Flores stated she believed part of California, Sonoma County, was run by Jews.

“But we’re literally run by the gay Jewish mafia — the Zionists in Sonoma County. The Jews still run the world. That’s where we’re at,” Flores said. “All our money gets sent to Israel, but nobody wants to talk about that.”

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“Evil Jews run the world through Masonic Lodges,” Flores said in an August Instagram post.

“Santa Rosa City Schools is always recruiting for little gay communists. Help save public school enrollment decline by sending your child off to liberal prison indoctrination centers,” she said in another post earlier this year.

When asked about Flores’ online comments, Jones’ campaign said he condemns prejudice toward the Jewish community.

“I firmly condemn any and all hate toward our Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities. It has no place in our district. My wife is Jewish. We are raising our kids in a Jewish household. I’m a fierce advocate for our public schools and educators. And I have zero tolerance for hateful commentary toward my neighbors or my family,” a campaign spokesperson said in a comment to Fox News Digital.

Beyond her comment about Jews, Flores bashes what she sees as efforts to indoctrinate kids in LGBTQ+ ideology through control over institutions like schools and local government in much of her content.

“I wasn’t doing any of the wokeness. I stood up for conservative parents. So, right now, look at this pride indoctrination. I’m not trying to be mean, but who made this logo? They got all the rainbow mafia colors, and it looks like a penis,” Flores said, holding up a design made by a local school.

The image depicts a tree on top of a hill, illustrated in rainbow colors.

“Like, literally, that’s where we’re at. So, I’m sorry that’s f—ing cracked out. If your child is in public school, please remove them because they’re going to be gay and retarded. Thank you, Santa Rosa schools,” Flores said.

Flores’ criticisms, usually couched in similar language, cut across both parties.

“Every day my Instagram algorithm is filled with reels of Democrats and Republicans arguing back and forth deciding who is more gay and retarded even though they are two sides of the same bird [sic],” Flores said.

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“The real puppet master, as always, the Freemasons. This is not a conspiracy. And that is who is pulling the narrative of both sides — red and blue.”

Flores recounted that she was once a government employee but was forced out of the role and is banned from serving in public roles again.

“I got started in my activism because I am a former government employee. I’m a whistleblower who was forced out of the government.”

Flores said she was removed over COVID-19 mask mandates and the information that was being shared with parents.

For his part, Jones has centered his campaign around issues like affordability, government transparency and protecting government-run programs.

On his website, Jones has listed three main priorities: ending corruption, lowering the cost of living and resource sustainability in government. His stances have attracted endorsements from progressive groups like Indivisible and Our Revolution, organizations with ties to progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. 

Throughout his campaign, Jones has highlighted his family’s struggle with financial stability. He grew up in a military family and had a disabled father. According to Jones, the family also struggled to overcome medical debt, relying on Medicaid and food stamps.

In her endorsement of Jones, which she made shortly after the resignation of Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Flores praised Jones’ promise to be a voice for survivors of sexual misconduct. Swalwell, a prominent California Democrat, surrendered his office after several women accused him of unwanted sexual advances, allegations that he denied.

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“Thank you for being one of the only candidates — and this is insane because you’re not even in office yet, but you’re talking about this very critical issue, so God bless you, brother,” Flores said.

After Fox News Digital reached out to Flores, who has over 144,000 followers on Instagram, for comment, she posted a video response on Instagram dismissing the inquiry and saying she was a “private citizen” and that her social media accounts are “not monetized.”

“My views are mine & mine alone. I am an unpaid advocate & have never been paid to support a political candidate,” her post said. “I am highly against the two-party system. If I feel someone is a good fit for office, I support them. F— your gangs! It’s really that simple!”

The United States and China agreed to lower tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods traded between the two countries following a three-day summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C.

According to the White House, the $30 billion in reciprocal tariff reductions apply to “non-sensitive goods.”

U.S. exports including agricultural products, fish and seafood, logs and wood products, cosmetics and medical devices will receive favorable tariff treatment in China. Meanwhile, U.S. imports of Chinese-made small appliances, toys, holiday decorations and children’s car seats will also receive preferential treatment.

The agreement was reached through the U.S.-China Board of Trade, a body first proposed during Trump’s visit to China in May and formally established during Xi’s visit to Washington this week.

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Friday that “a lot more details” about the new trade agreement will be released on Monday.

Greer said the tariff terms were hammered out after weeks of negotiations. Neither country has released the final tariff rates or all the products that will receive favored status going forward.

This marks one of the most significant cooldowns in the trade war Trump launched against China in February 2025, when he levied a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports, citing Beijing’s alleged role in the fentanyl crisis and illegal immigration. China hit back with levies on U.S. coal, liquefied natural gas, crude oil and cars.

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At their peak, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods reached a staggering 145% in April 2025, shortly after Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs. China responded with tariffs of up to 125% on U.S. goods.

U.S. and Chinese negotiators met in Geneva in May 2025 and agreed to a 90-day truce that lowered U.S. tariffs to 30% and China’s to 10%. The agreement was extended for another 90 days in August.

Trump and Xi reached another tentative agreement during talks in South Korea in October 2025. Under the deal, China agreed to crack down on fentanyl precursors, resume purchases of U.S. soybeans and ease restrictions on rare-earth exports, while the United States agreed to further ease tariffs.

The two countries will now use the Board of Trade to negotiate additional tariff reductions and other trade disputes, leaving open the possibility of broader agreements in the months ahead.

America’s AI race against China, which has become a major point of debate as midterms approach, is a race filled with “coordinated” propaganda, warned Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In recent months, data centers and AI policy have been debated in Congress and at the kitchen tables of American families. But Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, told Fox News Digital that much of the new opposition to data centers is being manipulated by a well-funded and coordinated campaign.

“It’s the same reason we saw Middle Eastern countries paying for anti-fracking movements,” Cruz said. “Because if they can convince America, ‘Don’t develop your oil and gas, just buy it from us,’ well, that’s great for them and terrible for us. The same is true on data centers. If they can convince Americans, ‘You don’t want data centers here, you want to just rely on the Chinese for AI,’ that’s great for China, and it’s terrible for America.”

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Direct funding from the Chinese government into the U.S. on data center policies has not been revealed. However, in June, OpenAI announced it had banned ChatGPT accounts believed to have originated in China, and said that the accounts were generating social media comments and images alleging that data centers are raising electricity costs for Americans.

OpenAI said in a statement that it shut down “two clusters of ChatGPT accounts likely originating from China that [OpenAI] banned after they used our models in support of apparent covert influence operations that promoted narratives in an attempt to manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and wider tech policies.”

Cruz called the effort to craft policy to ensure the U.S. wins the AI race is “the single most important economic question facing America today.”

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“If China wins, AI will be focused on espionage and propaganda and control and surveillance, because that’s the Chinese Communist Party,” Cruz said. “It will be their values. They will use AI to try to control you. If America wins, I want American values to be reflected in AI. I want free speech and individualism and free enterprise and privacy to be reflected in AI, not control and power.”

Cruz called opposition to AI advancement and data centers the “dominant position on the Democratic side.” The third-term Republican said the Democrats’ position is aligned with that of big industry players including Anthropic that he said want exemption from antitrust laws and to “get in bed with government” to control AI development.

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Cruz associated this position with leftist ideology and the emerging tech philosophy known as “effective altruism.”

“These folks from effective altruism are all hardcore leftists, and they want to use AI to push their leftist ideology,” Cruz said. “Part of what we’re seeing is a money grab, where there’s an old concept in economics called rent seeking, which is big companies typically go to government and say, ‘Give me a benefit, entrench me.’ We’re seeing the giant AI companies going to government saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you put us in charge of government and let’s set the rules so no one could compete with us.'”

Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital last week that effective altruism is associated with what he called the “AI doomerism movement.”

Facebook co-founder and billionaire Democratic mega-donor Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna have been leading financial backers of organizations associated with the effective altruism movement. Moskovitz left Facebook in 2008.

The couple founded Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, and remains its “main funders,” according to the organization. Tuna serves as its president.

Coefficient Giving says its artificial intelligence work has expanded rapidly, with $168 million committed to AI safety, security and field-building in 2024 and $351 million in 2025. The organization says it is on track to commit more than $1 billion to AI policy advocacy in 2026.

In a 2021 grant application description, the organization said it seeks “to fund programs and events in a variety of areas of interest to Coefficient Giving — including effective altruism, global catastrophic risks, biosecurity, AI for epistemics, forecasting, and other areas.”

In 2015, Coefficient Giving launched “Project Tailwind,” an initiative where the Moskovitz-funded organization issued a “call for founders to launch ambitious AI safety initiatives.”

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