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MORNING GLORY: The GOP’s choice in 2028 — more of MAGA or a reversion to the mean?
Since the triumphant return of President Trump in November 2024 — and it was a triumph, with Trump winning all seven swing states and the popular vote — the Democrats have reacted by lurching hard left, electing a radical mayor in New York City, attempting to take purple Virginia far left with a crazy gerrymandered Congressional map (which was struck down by the state’s Supreme Court as unconstitutional), and on Tuesday nominating radical (and deeply troubled) Graham Platner as their candidate in Maine to face off against the moderate and widely admired Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate’s powerful Appropriations Committee.
Radical candidates are expected to emerge as the party’s Senate nominees in Michigan and Minnesota as well. The "Democratic Socialists of America" hostile takeover over the shattered glass of the Democratic Party seems inevitable.
With the Democrats at best in an internal civil war between socialists and far-left liberals, which way will a post-President Trump GOP turn?
DOUG SCHOEN: DEMOCRATIC BATTLE PITS MODERATES VS. PROGRESSIVES FOR SOUL OF THE PARTY
The front-runner for party leader and 2028 nominee has to be considered to be Vice President J.D. Vance, but sitting Veeps don’t just accept the nomination save for extraordinary circumstances such as the Democrats faced in 2024 when Vice President Harris was handed the nomination when the physical and mental infirmities of President Joe Biden became too obvious to ignore.
Looking back to 1988, there is sitting Vice President George H.W. Bush, who had to fight off Senator Robert Dole for the GOP nomination in 1988. Four years earlier, former Vice President Walters Mondale had to withstand a challenge from Senator Gary Hart. More recently sitting VP Al Gore didn’t just get handed the nomination after loyal service as President Bill Clinton’s #2, he had to face and defeat Senator Bill Bradley to get the Democratic nomination in 2000.
The rule, then, is that Vice Presidents have to fight through primaries to win their parties’ nominations for president, and the exception to that rule is Kamala Harris. Look how that turned out. Parties emerge stronger when their primaries are contested.
So even if Vice President Vance seeks the office President Trump holds, he has to expect a challenge in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond. While it is widely expected that President Trump will endorse his hand-picked #2, 2027’s debates — and there should be many — and 2028’s caucuses and primaries should be boisterous affairs as the "era of Trump" winds down.
VANCE IN 'CATBIRD SEAT' FOR 2028 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION, BUT THESE REPUBLICANS MAY ALSO RUN
President Trump and his message of "Make America Great Again" has dominated the Republican Party since the summer of 2015, when Trump methodically took down every Republican opponent in a crowded field, one-by-one. Trump swept aside all challengers from within the GOP in 2024, choosing not even to appear on debate stages with them.
There will be no such dominating figure for the Republican race ahead in 2028. Most GOP observers expect at least four contenders not named Vance: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is poised for a second run. Georgia’s popular incumbent Governor Brian Kemp and Virginia’s former governor Glenn Youngkin are widely tipped to be setting up their campaigns. Former Secretary of State and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in President Trump’s first term Mike Pompeo is expected to join the field as well and brings along his career as a stellar West Point and Harvard Law School graduate and years in Congress as a member from Kansas.
That’s just the obvious quartet of challengers to Vance, and then there are the talented and ambitious senators like Texas’ Ted Cruz and Pennsylvania’s David McCormick. Suddenly we have seven very qualified candidates debating about the future of the country, and that doesn’t include members of the President’s cabinet who have run before and might again: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.
President Trump may endorse and throw his considerable political weight behind VP Vance — or Secretary Rubio or somebody else. Nobody knows and it’s very doubtful the president himself knows. He’s said a few times that a Vance-Rubio ticket would be formidable and it would be.
What it isn’t is "inevitable." GOP primary voters don’t have to begin actually casting votes until January 2028. Will they want a "reversion to the mean" of GOP politics and issues? Will they want a candidate who can endorse what President Trump has done in every aspect or one who picks and chooses among the Trump record?
There will certainly be an opening night slot for President Trump when the GOP convention gathers in whatever city President Trump designates. His energy will be needed by whomever the nominee is, as there are millions of voters who are three-time Trump voters who wished the Constitution didn’t prohibit a fourth chance to vote for him.
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Parties are, however, an enduring staple of American political life. They evolve and change, and the GOP of 2028 will be radically different from that of 2000, 2012 and even 2024. Its voters may want a change in style or substance or both. As the Democrats hurtle themselves off the left edge of the American political spectrum with increasingly anti-American, anti-free market radicals, Republicans may very well collectively decide to move towards the rhetoric and style of the broad middle of the American temperament and more traditional conservative political positions.
The muffled sound you hear is of GOP presidential campaigns getting organized. We see the obvious positioning among the Democrats, from Kamala Harris to Congressman Ro Khanna and Senator Chris Murphy. They can afford to be obvious and out there.
Republicans must be far more discrete in their first steps as it’s President Trump’s party now. But as the clock winds down on his second term, every Republican office holder from the Senate to city councils across the land has a stake in nominating a winner in 2028. The GOP’s games won’t begin until the World Cup’s are over and probably not until December of this year.
But they will commence before year’s end, and it will be the most interesting primary season since 2016, and that one was an upheaval, a political earthquake that changed American politics for a dozen years. Maybe the Republicans will be in a mood that seeks the middle ground. Maybe.
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
Iran is not a normal nation you can make deals with. It’s a national security threat
For nearly half a century, American policymakers have debated how to negotiate with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The real question is whether Washington is still misdiagnosing the problem. Iran is not simply a diplomatic adversary but a regime whose strategy is built on terrorism, proxy warfare and hostility toward the United States.
Why does Washington continue to treat the regime as a negotiating partner when decades of evidence suggest it is a national security threat? The answer lies in a misunderstanding of its nature. Successive administrations have often analyzed Tehran as a conventional state pursuing national interests. It is not. The regime was born as an ideological project built on hostility toward America, Israel and the Western order.
The conflict did not begin with the nuclear issue, sanctions or regional expansion. It began in 1979, when Iran was transformed from a key American ally into a revolutionary headquarters. The seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was more than a diplomatic crisis; it signaled that the new regime would derive legitimacy through permanent confrontation.
Washington's misperception of the regime dates back to the revolution itself. Many American policymakers viewed the upheaval through the lens of anti-monarchical politics rather than Khomeinist ideology. The result was the greatest strategic loss of the Cold War: America lost a key ally and gained a radical state aligned with anti-Western forces across the Middle East.
TRUMP'S WARNS IRAN IS 'PLAYING US FOR SUCKERS' AS HE MULLS RENEWED STRIKES
The rebellious coalition surrounding Iran’s then-leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini extended beyond traditional clerics and included Islamic terrorist actors aligned with broader anti-Western movements. What emerged was not merely a new government but a transnational ideological project. Washington underestimated that transformation then and has often underestimated it since.
Khomeinism became the ideological engine of the regime, combining religious absolutism, anti-Westernism and political violence. This is why Washington has repeatedly misunderstood Tehran. The Islamic Republic is not merely a regime with whom America has policy disagreements. It views survival and confrontation as inseparable, while anti-Americanism, hostility toward Israel and the export of revolution remain central to its identity.
From the aftermath of the 1979 upheaval, Tehran began building transnational networks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and later the Quds Force cultivated and directed regional Islamic terrorist movements, eventually creating the "Axis of Resistance" — a transnational evil network stretching from Lebanon and Iraq to Syria and Yemen.
IRAN ACCELERATES EXECUTION CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTI-REGIME ACTIVISTS AMID INTERNET CENSORSHIP
Hezbollah became the most successful model of Tehran’s strategy, while Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iraqi militias and the Houthis advanced Iranian influence through proxy warfare.
This notorious network has cost American lives for decades. From Beirut to Khobar Towers to attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, the pattern has been consistent. The regime does not need to confront America directly when it can rely on proxies and terrorist allies. Terrorism is not an occasional instrument of the regime; it is part of its strategic culture.
The threat is no longer confined to the Middle East. Assassination plots, threats against former American officials and operations against dissidents demonstrate that Tehran does not view geography as a barrier. The same hostility that drives its regional policy also drives its activities abroad.
FROM HOSTAGE CRISIS TO ASSASSINATION PLOTS: IRAN’S NEAR HALF-CENTURY WAR ON AMERICANS
The consequences of that misunderstanding continue to this day. The assassination of former Iranian diplomat Ali Akbar Tabatabai in Maryland in 1980 was an early warning that ideological violence could reach American soil. Over time, threats against American officials, assassination plots, influence operations and networks became part of the landscape confronting American institutions.
Critics argue that American institutions have often approached the challenge through isolated investigations rather than a broader strategic lens. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies have disrupted plots and prosecuted individual cases, yet the larger ecosystem of ideological influence, and propaganda networks, have often received less attention. Understanding this regime requires more than identifying agents. It requires understanding the architecture that produces them.
The challenge is not simply identifying operatives or organizations. It is understanding the broader ecosystem of influence behind them. The regime’s reach extends beyond IRGC officers and formal agents, appearing through media narratives, lobbying networks and ideological sympathizers. These networks may appear fragmented, yet they often advance the same objective: weakening opposition to the regime and softening American resolve.
This is where diplomacy has repeatedly failed. Washington has too often assumed that sanctions relief or negotiations could moderate the regime’s hostility. The problem is that the United States has repeatedly misunderstood the actor across the table. The Islamic Republic has often used diplomacy as a shield, a delay mechanism and a survival tool.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, did not address the regime’s missile program, proxy network or commitment to Islamic terrorism. Sanctions relief strengthened the ruling system and gave Tehran more room to maneuver. Repeated negotiations allowed the regime to buy time while continuing the same behavior elsewhere. Each time Washington treats the Islamic Republic as a conventional diplomatic problem, Tehran gains the advantage.
The United States has made this mistake under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Some believed engagement would soften the regime; others believed pressure alone would force change. But without understanding the regime’s ideological core, neither approach can fully succeed. A regime built on revolutionary survival will adapt, deceive, and endure.
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Today the regime may be weaker than it once appeared. Its terrorist network has suffered serious setbacks, damaging Tehran’s illusion as a regional power. Inside Iran, the regime faces a crisis of legitimacy fueled by poverty, repression, uncertainty over succession. The rise of a security-driven junta within the theocratic system has exposed its fragility.
But a weaker regime is not necessarily a safer one. The Islamic Republic survives through barbaric repression at home and propaganda abroad. When cornered, it seeks ways to frighten enemies, divide opponents, activate proxies and turn survival itself into political victory. For many Iranians, this means living under a regime willing to sacrifice the country to preserve an ideological project.
That is why the question before Washington is not whether another round of talks can be arranged, but whether America understands the nature of the regime it faces. The regime is not merely a diplomatic challenge; it is a national security challenge that has shaped U.S. policy and counterterrorism operations for decades.
The regime is not merely a diplomatic dispute but a long-term national security threat. Until Washington recognizes that reality, Tehran will continue to exploit opportunities, expand its terrorist networks and threaten American interests worldwide.
Either ignore climate change lunacy or high energy prices will make you wish you had
Congressional Republicans spent four years opposing the Biden administration’s energy policies, asserting that they raised prices from the gas pump to our utility bills. Now it’s the Democrats’ turn to hit President Donald Trump on energy affordability, and they can point to the boost in the price of gasoline since the start of the Iran war as well as still-rising electric rates. But Trump is doing the one thing absolutely essential to affordability over the long-term, and that is dismantling the climate change agenda.
Despite the rhetorical pivot to affordability, supporters of climate policy can’t help but take us in the opposite direction. Their entire agenda is based on the premise that fossil fuels – the coal, oil and natural gas that provide about 80% of America’s energy needs – are far too cheap for our own good because the price we pay fails to account for the environmental damage they inflict.
For those supporters, preventing the apocalypse starts with making these energy sources more expensive, if not unavailable at any price. Of course, this viewpoint is at odds with the vast majority of Americans who want access to the cheapest sources of energy.
Everything this agenda touched was becoming less affordable. The regulatory crackdown on coal-fired power plants added to retirements of existing facilities while discouraging construction of any new ones. This undoubtedly contributed to the upward pressure on electric rates.
THE REAL REASON YOUR ELECTRIC BILL IS SOARING THIS SUMMER WILL SURPRISE YOU
Natural gas was also a regulatory target, including its use in home appliances like furnaces and water heaters (a similar assault on gas stoves in 2023 met with a strong public backlash and was shelved). Ironically, the same Biden Department of Energy cranking out the rules discouraging natural gas appliances in favor of electric versions admitted that using gas costs only a third as much as electricity on a per-unit energy basis.
Even today’s gasoline prices are a better deal for drivers than a return to the climate agenda. President Joe Biden was curtailing oil leasing on federal lands and offshore areas while blocking much-needed oil pipelines.
At the same time, he was raising sticker prices for gasoline-powered cars via regulations – now being repealed by Trump – designed to push us towards electric vehicles that most people reject due to high overall costs as well as range and charging issues. The temporary jump at the pump from the Iran war is harmless compared to the permanent pain that would be imposed by these climate measures.
ANTARES REACHES REACTOR CRITICALITY UNDER TRUMP PILOT PROGRAM, MARKING MAJOR NUCLEAR MILESTONE
In addition to strangling conventional fossil energy sources with regulations, taxes, permitting roadblocks and other price-hiking measures, Washington’s climate crusaders also heaped big handouts on wind, solar and other favorites of the so-called clean energy transition. They now tout this transition as a means to reduce electric bills as well as emissions – and criticize Trump for opposing it.
But how can alternatives too expensive to compete without hefty subsidies be the solution to affordability? Good question. They can’t, unless you ignore the fact that the subsidies are also coming out of our pockets – and that the vast sums already spent on green energy just to buy them a small share of the electricity mix are a mere down payment on what it would take to complete the hoped-for transition away from fossil fuels.
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The new transmission lines needed to incorporate more wind- and solar-generated electricity come with cost estimates into the trillions of dollars. And since these electricity sources don’t work 24/7 like coal, natural gas or nuclear can, they will necessitate investments in battery storage that may tack on trillions more. And that’s on top of the cost to build all of these new green power plants, none of which have ever moved forward without generous taxpayer contributions.
The misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included up to $4.7 trillion for this stuff. But three years later, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut back on many of the giveaways.
Even if the subsidies are fully restored and wind and solar generation is greatly expanded, would it actually lead to lower electric bills for homeowners and businesses? That hasn’t happened anywhere it has been tried – not in the U.S., where California and other states with the most aggressive climate policies also have the nation’s highest electric rates, nor in climate-obsessed Western Europe, where costs are higher still.
Swapping out the energy sources that have succeeded in the marketplace with those favored by government for their supposed climate friendliness is a recipe for higher costs, not lower ones. We can have affordable energy, or we can have intrusive climate change policy, but we can never have both. Trump has chosen the former, and doing so may prove to be the most important part of his legacy.
Toledo police name suspect Ka Nye Taylor in festival shooting that injured 12, hunt second gunman
Authorities on Wednesday identified a suspect in the shooting that injured 12 people near Toledo's Old West End Festival and said they are searching for a suspected second gunman.
The Toledo Police Department said a manhunt is underway for Ka Nye Taylor, who is wanted on 11 counts of felonious assault in connection with the June 6 shooting near the popular Old West End Festival, an annual event featuring live music, food vendors and home tours.
Police described Taylor as a Black male standing approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Investigators also released a photo of a second suspected gunman who has not been publicly identified.
GUNMAN REMAINS AT LARGE AFTER SHOOTING FIVE PEOPLE AT CONNECTICUT MALL
Authorities responded around 5:37 p.m. Saturday to reports of a shooting near Delaware Avenue and Glenwood Avenue, close to the festival grounds.
When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds, police said.
Authorities later confirmed that all 12 victims were in stable condition. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 61, with most in their early 20s.
MANHUNT UNDERWAY FOR SUSPECT ACCUSED OF KILLING TWO PEOPLE OUTSIDE CHIPOTLE RESTAURANT
Investigators are asking anyone with information about Taylor's whereabouts or the identity of the second suspected shooter to contact Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.
Authorities are offering a combined reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to arrests. Crime Stoppers is offering $10,000, while the U.S. Marshals Service has offered an additional reward of up to $5,000.
Toledo Deputy Chief Joseph Heffernan said investigators believe at least two gunmen were involved.
MASS SHOOTING NEAR INDIANA UNIVERSITY INJURES 9, NO ARRESTS MADE YET
"They were probably shooting at each other," Heffernan said during a news conference.
Police said the gunfire erupted after a foot chase and assault involving two rival groups at the festival, according to WTOL 11.
Authorities said the shooting stemmed from a dispute between the groups.
Earlier this week, Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates vowed that "justice will be swift and strong."
"Those who were frightened, traumatized or harmed by this violence will remain at the forefront of our efforts," Bates said in a statement. "I’ve felt outrage before, but this is personal. This is my home. These are my friends and neighbors. It is not OK."
Fox News Digital's Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
Despite public dismissals, why Trump and his team were privately obsessed with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal
Even if you’re sick of hearing about Jeffrey Epstein – and who among us hasn’t felt that way at times – President Donald Trump and his team have been far more fixated on the relentless controversy than they have ever acknowledged.
That (and plenty of other juicy revelations) is based on three years of reporting for a forthcoming book. "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" is by New York Times correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan and slated to be published in two weeks.
Whether you’re a Trump supporter or detractor, the book is packed with facts that make clear that most or all of the major participants cooperated with them. The president also granted Haberman and Swan an hour-long interview in March.
One major takeaway: Even as Trump and White House officials repeatedly tried to dismiss the endless brawl, which stems from Trump’s long-ago friendship with the late pedophile and sex offender, as old or irrelevant news, they repeatedly met in the Situation Room to try to manage the crisis.
WHY MELANIA TRUMP IS DENYING ALLEGED SMEARS RELATED TO JEFFREY EPSTEIN–AND WANTS VICTIMS TO TESTIFY
In the initial meetings, Vice President JD Vance argued strenuously that more detailed allegations about Trump – some suspect or totally unconfirmed – were going to surface eventually, and they should get out ahead of the story.
Some argued that Vance "appeared panicked," according to the book, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who led the meetings, told others he was a conspiracy theorist. But Vance said Congress would force the release of the complete Epstein files no matter what they did.
In my view, the vice president was proven right.
At another meeting, talk turned to whether Trump should pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s enabler, who has defended Trump and is now serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking of a minor.
"Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge P.R. problem," Communications Director Steven Cheung warned.
Trump posted that he had asked his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek release of grand jury testimony – which is almost never approved – "based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein."
At a session last summer, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, who had demanded release of the files as a podcaster, started shouting at Bondi, according to the book.
"You f----- this thing up from the start," he declared. "The way you’ve been talking about this — that dumb f------ charade with the Epstein files, the ‘They’re on my desk’ nonsense, all the promises to the folks out there."
Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel told a White House official that Bondi needed to resign.
At a meeting with Wiles meant to smooth things over, Bongino accused the White House of ignoring his warnings, in which he predicted what would happen, and burst out of the Situation Room.
Bongino resigned in December and returned to his podcasting business, where he felt he’d given up millions of dollars. Trump fired Bondi in April.
Separately, Trump scolded conservative activist Charlie Kirk for allowing one of his events to turn into a "grievance fest" over the Epstein files. Kirk was tragically murdered in September.
One other allegation is drawing media attention and is almost certainly untrue, given the accuser’s lack of credibility. It comes second-hand from a woman who had already made claims about sexual abuse and then retracted them.
This woman, who was named by the Times, had claimed in an email that she knew a second woman who alleged that Trump had a special focus on nipples. One official called these discussions "surreal."
Here’s my analysis:
Donald Trump did not want to do what his advisors wanted him to do. He resisted at every turn.
By last summer, the president started calling the Epstein matter a "SCAM" and a "hoax" by Democrats, and attacked some pro-release members of his own party as "weaklings" – while later helping to oust them in primaries.
His public stance was that the whole thing was a nuisance, even as his private frustrations kept growing.
Part of the behind-the-scenes friction focused on whether average voters cared about the mess.
BILL GATES SAYS EPSTEIN TRIED TO USE HIS MARITAL AFFAIRS TO GAIN 'LEVERAGE' OVER HIM
What Trump seemed to have difficulty grasping is that his MAGA base indeed cared deeply about the issue. There was something about it that touched a raw nerve. Some podcasters, such as Megyn Kelly, were criticizing the president for not releasing all the documents.
Trump aides debated putting it all on a website, but as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche pointed out, the files included child porn that obviously could not be made public.
A memo from Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, said "Epstein files" was the sixth most important issue named, and discussed negatively, by focus groups – behind such matters as inflation and foreign policy but ahead of such issues as crime and the military.
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The fiasco was back in the news yesterday when Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates testified on the Hill that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes but showed poor judgment in associating with him – and, according to Politico, said he was pressured by Epstein, who had discovered he had been unfaithful to his wife. They are now divorced.
What’s clear is that the publication of this book will add further fuel to the fire.
Victor Wembanyama admits Spurs, on brink of tying NBA Finals, 'weren’t the most hungry' to close out game
The New York Knicks outscored the San Antonio Spurs by 28 points after the Wu-Tang Clan's halftime performance to complete the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.
Down by 29 at one point, the Knicks stormed all the way back, putting Madison Square Garden into a frenzy.
But before that, just about every ounce of momentum was in the Spurs' hands - and the Knicks had few answers.
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So, how did they just become the victims of one of the greatest collapses in the history of sports?
"We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half," Victor Wembanyama admitted.
Wembanyama was once again Public Enemy No. 1 in New York, getting booed in intros and treated to expletives from the crowd. When a defensive foul on him early was reversed to an offensive foul he drew, he again was jeered. It obviously continued throughout the night.
But after Mitchell Robinson was called for a flagrant foul for hitting Wembanyama, he appeared to relish the moment.
"I'm in your head!" cameras caught Wembanyama saying.
Wembanyama was in the Knicks' heads. Wembanyama was in the Knicks' fans' heads. And after winning two games on the road to begin the series, losing all the momentum was in the Knicks' heads.
But the Spurs scored just 30 points in the second half and turned the ball over nine times in the final 24 minutes. A 20-point lead in the fourth quarter vanished in minutes.
"To put as much good work into that first half as we did and get the lead that we had and not finish the job, it's disappointing to say the least..." Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the game. "We got away from playing the brand of basketball that got us the lead. And then you saw at times, the aggressiveness and conviction that we played with early on dissipated and they made some shots. We needed a couple of more tough-minded plays to finish the job."
"It was painful, of course. It feels like we worked too hard and give up our leads. It's as simple as that. It just hurts," Wembanyama added.
Now, the Spurs have no choice but to be the hungrier team, as they need to win three games in a row to avoid the Knicks winning their first NBA championship since 1973.
"It’s going to go one of two ways: a bad one and a good one. The bad one will be giving up. The good one will be getting stronger through this, getting more together and that’s what we’re going to do," Wembanyama said.
"Holding each other accountable, communicating, not pointing fingers. After that, we either got it or we don’t. We’ve proven that we can surpass these difficulties but even though we haven’t been there it before, I’m convinced we are built this way. We’re going to get better from this and It’s going to tighten us up."
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Knicks miraculously overcome 29-point deficit to take commanding 3-1 lead in NBA Finals over Spurs
The New York Knicks do not die.
After trailing by as many as 29, the Knicks had yet another comeback — this one perhaps the greatest of all-time, to steal a 107-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs and take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
The winning moment came at the fingertip of OG Anunoby, whose tip-in off a missed Jalen Brunson three-pointer put Madison Square Garden in an absolute frenzy.
But it sure was a grind to get to that point.
Karl-Anthony Towns was hit with two fouls in just the first 62 seconds of the game, one which the Knicks faithful were not happy with. And while there was plenty of ball left after that, the game changed from that moment.
The refs certainly did not help the case, but the Spurs opened the game on a 41-20 run, mostly while Towns was off the floor. Combine that with the team knocking down 54% of its three-pointers in the first half, and you have a 76-49 Spurs lead at halftime, and they got up to a 29-point lead.
But we've learned to never count out New York. As they cut the deficit to 15 to close out the third quarter, the crowd that was dying to pounce was finally alive. A slow start to the fourth put San Antonio up 20, but the Knicks went on a 13-2 run to cut it to just nine with a little less than seven minutes to go. And then it was seven with 5:15 to go.
And then it was four with 4:32 to go.
Then one with two minutes.
And then the lead with just 90 seconds left.
Pandemonium.
The Spurs hit two free throws to regain the lead with 30.3 seconds left. Yet again — it’s the Knicks.
Then came what head coach Mike Brown dubbed the greatest play in the history of Knicks basketball.
San Antonio was unable to get a shot off the inbound, and Madison Square Garden was the loudest it may have ever been, as the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history was complete.
After the game, head coach Mike Brown dubbed Anunoby's tip-in the biggest play in the history of Knicks basketball.
The Knicks outscored the Spurs 58-30.
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FBI headquarters welcomes UFC fighters for training sessions ahead of historic White House MMA event
The FBI got a UFC-style makeover as Washington prepared to host one of the most unique sporting events ever staged on White House grounds.
In a video released on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had partnered with the UFC, putting roughly 300 federal agents through hand-to-hand combat training ahead of UFC Freedom 250.
"Thanks to the great partnership with @ufc we've seen about 300 agents come through and learn amazing tactics so they can safeguard American lives," Patel wrote on X while sharing footage from the training sessions.
FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL SEEKS RELATIONSHIP WITH UFC: REPORT
The FBI's Rapid Response team appeared equally enthusiastic about the partnership, sharing video of the training sessions and stating: "Greatest fighters in the world meet greatest cops in the world!"
It was also the kind of collaboration that's only possible when the FBI director has UFC chief Dana White on speed dial.
UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje also made an appearance in the footage. Earlier this year, Gaethje helped train FBI agents and academy personnel at the bureau's Special Agent Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
More recently, footage released Wednesday showed Gaethje using the FBI Headquarters as part of his preparation for his lightweight title fight against Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Fighters were expected to use the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as locker rooms before making the walk toward "The Claw," the massive Octagon structure erected on the South Lawn.
Adding to the festivities, adrenaline junkie Travis Pastrana is preparing a surprise stunt to open the main card broadcast. A video shared by White on Tuesday indicated the stunt could involve back-flipping his dirt bike over the South Lawn.
Federal agents training alongside UFC fighters, a title contender working out inside FBI headquarters and a UFC event on White House grounds would have sounded like satire just a few years ago.
Now it's the hottest ticket of the weekend.
Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela
Victor Wembanyama kept telling Mitchell Robinson 'I'm in your head' after taking forearm to face
Anyone watching this NBA Finals could have told you this was coming for Victor Wembanyama.
Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson, playing with one healthy hand this series, got a little "revenge" on Wemby in Game 4 with a nasty forearm to his face that earned a Flagrant 1 foul.
The young star learned nothing comes easy at Madison Square Garden. And if we're keeping score, Wembanyama has had his own share of questionable moments this postseason.
After the forearm, Wembanyama appeared to keep taunting Robinson by telling him he was "in his head."
Mitch Robinson saw extended action early after Karl-Anthony Towns picked up two first-quarter fouls. That early whistle thrust the Knicks fan favorite into a collision course with the Frenchy.
Robinson wasn't the only Knick who seemed fed up with Wembanyama.
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Jose Alvarado also got physical in Game 4, grabbing one of Wembanyama's legs during a hard foul.
The hostile Garden crowd has embraced Wembanyama as Public Enemy No. 1, showering him with boos throughout the series.
The bad blood had already been brewing before Game 4.
In Game 3, Wembanyama shocked Knicks fans by pushing Jalen Brunson to the floor without drawing a foul. The play sparked outrage inside the arena and across social media. An NBA review determined that Wembanyama did not commit a flagrant foul on the play, but that ruling did little to change opinions in New York.
The Spurs star might've had a point as San Antonio took a 76-49 lead into halftime.
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Trump questions no-call after Victor Wembanyama sends Jalen Brunson to floor in Game 3
San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama avoided adding a third flagrant point to his postseason total. Under NBA policy, players are automatically subject to suspension once they receive four flagrant foul points.
Wembanyama made contact with Jalen Brunson’s upper body while the New York Knicks guard was attempting to set a screen in the first quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday. When the Spurs center turned around during the play, he pushed Brunson, who fell backward to the floor.
Referees did not blow the whistle for a foul on the play, despite forceful objections from the Knicks bench. ESPN reported Tuesday, citing sources, that Wembanyama would not retroactively be assessed a "flagrant upgrade on the uncalled foul."
The play sparked debate across the sports world, and President Donald Trump, who attended Monday’s game, was among those weighing in.
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"I thought it was a very bad call. Absolutely. I thought it was a very bad call, personally. But I’m not the ref, you know?" Trump told the New York Post on Wednesday.
Trump watched the Knicks’ first NBA Finals game in 27 years from a suite with his granddaughter Kai Trump and was seen sitting next to team owner James Dolan. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals game.
The Spurs outlasted New York 115-111 in Game 3, trimming the Knicks’ series lead to 2-1 entering Wednesday’s Game 4.
"Look, they’re pretty evenly matched, right? It’s two great teams. I’ll tell you, that Brunson is some player," Trump added. "I think Brunson is amazing, [Stephon] Castle [of the Spurs] is amazing, Wemby is amazing, [Karl-Anthony] Towns [of the Knicks] is amazing. They’re like great players. That’s why they’re there, right?"
A New York native, Trump regularly sat courtside alongside other celebrities over the years before entering politics. "If you grow up in New York, you’re a Knick fan," he noted.
Taylor Swift, who is engaged to NFL star Travis Kelce, headlined Wednesday's star-studded celebrity row at Madison Square Garden.
The Spurs came out hot for the second consecutive game Wednesday, racing to a 41-22 lead by the end of the first quarter. Wembanyama paced San Antonio with 13 points in the opening period, while OG Anunoby led New York with seven.
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