BREAKING Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter and actor, dies at 88
Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died.
Donald Trump set aside months of criticism and mockery of Ron DeSantis on Sunday night, celebrating his onetime Republican rival as his newest supporter after the Florida governor ended his presidential campaign and endorsed the former president.
For Trump, it's become a familiar ritual to welcome the backing of someone who once tried to take him on. Nonetheless, it was notable at Sunday's rally in New Hampshire to see Trump praise DeSantis without calling him "DeSantimonious" or "DeSanctus," putting an end to perhaps the most bitter rivalry of Republicans' 2024 campaign.
"I just want to thank Ron and congratulate him on doing a very good job," Trump said at the outset of his remarks. "He was very gracious, and he endorsed me. I appreciate that, and I also look forward to working with Ron." Trump described DeSantis as "a really terrific person."
Earlier in the day, DeSantis said via video that he would be ending his campaign two days before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation GOP primary. But, Trump's glee Sunday night aside, it wasn't the warmest of endorsements.
"It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance," DeSantis said, offering matter-of-fact analysis through a forced smile without adding plaudits for Trump.
"I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honour that pledge," he continued, before adding a dig at the remaining contender, Nikki Haley. DeSantis described the former U.N. ambassador and onetime South Carolina governor as a stand-in for "the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism."
Trump seemed unbothered by DeSantis' approach, striking a tone of camaraderie as fellow political combatants. "I will tell you it's not easy," Trump said Sunday night in Rochester. "They think it's easy doing this stuff, right? It's not easy."
Brenda Moneypenny, a 64-year-old from Alton, waited in the cold for two hours to see Trump on Sunday night. She whipped out her driver's licence to prove her last name and explained she is a registered independent who often votes Republican. Moneypenny said she has considered Haley, especially because of the chance to elect the first woman to the presidency. But she never considered DeSantis.
"Too flim-flamsy," Moneypenny said of the governor. "He needs better campaign people. He doesn't have anybody that's doing him any favours right now."
Ultimately, she settled on Trump: "Tried and true," she said.
The former president seemed to revel in skewering DeSantis throughout the campaign, often making clear it was a personal grudge because he considered the governor's decision to run in the first place an act of disloyalty. Trump endorsed DeSantis, then a congressman, in a competitive 2018 GOP primary for Florida governor. DeSantis went on to win the nomination and the general election. By the time DeSantis won a landslide reelection four years later, though, he was positioning himself for his own White House campaign.
As recently as November, Trump came to Florida and addressed a boisterous crowd at a state GOP meeting standing in front of a sign that read: "Florida is Trump Country." That evening, Trump did not mention DeSantis until more than 30 minutes into his speech. Even then, it was to brag about polls showing his advantages over the governor.
"I endorsed him, and he became a rocket ship in 24 hours," Trump said, claiming that DeSantis had begged for his endorsement. "Now he's like a wounded falling bird from the sky."
Trump never did debate DeSantis or any other 2024 rival. He has said he wouldn't until one proves they are a legitimate threat to him winning the nomination.
DeSantis concentrated his campaign in recent months in Iowa, where he finished in second place in last week's caucuses -- 30 percentage points behind Trump and barely ahead of Haley. Haley, meanwhile, has long prioritized New Hampshire as a potential springboard ahead of her home-state South Carolina primary next month.
In Iowa, APVoteCast surveys of caucusgoers suggested DeSantis's supporters were much more likely than Haley's to consider themselves conservatives who would back Trump no matter what if he wins the nomination and faces President Joe Biden in November. If that trend holds in New Hampshire, then Trump could expect at least some boost from DeSantis dropping out, and whatever he gets could stretch out his margin and frustrate Haley's ability to claim any momentum. Indeed, Trump's aides have said they expect DeSantis' support around the country will shift heavily to Trump.
Trump noted Sunday that he won New Hampshire's 2016 primary by about 20 points. He lost the battleground state twice in general elections.
On Monday, he plans to be in New York at a civil defamation trial stemming from a columnist's claims he sexually attacked her. Then he is scheduled to return to New Hampshire for an evening rally in Laconia.
Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died.
Republicans on Sunday sought to distance themselves from Donald Trump's latest insults of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during a rambling weekend rally in Wisconsin in which he called her 'mentally disabled.'
British Columbia saw a rare unanimous vote in its legislature in October 2019, when members passed a law adopting the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, setting out standards including free, prior and informed consent for actions affecting them.
The U.S. southeast grappled with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies and widespread loss of homes and properties with the devastating toll of Hurricane Helene.
Two and a half years after losing her best friend and first love to suicide, Brooke Ford shared her story of grief and resilience at the CMHA Windsor-Essex Suicide Awareness Walk.
Migrant groups are pushing the federal government to reverse its cap on international study permits and tightening post-graduate work permit qualifications, claiming it will leave many students 'in limbo.'
A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.
John Ashton, the veteran character actor who memorably played the gruff but lovable police detective John Taggart in the 'Beverly Hills Cop' films, has died. He was 76.
The Tax-Free Savings Account can be a powerful savings tool and investment vehicle. Financial contributor Christopher Liew explains how they work and how to take full advantage of them so you can reach your financial goals faster.
When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.
Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.
A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.
An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.