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One month of Trump reminds Americans what we’ve been missing

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A month into President Donald Trump’s administration, the most obvious change from the Joe Biden years is that we actually have a president again. The last four years have largely been a mystery to the American people. Who was in charge? Who was making the policies? The clarity and transparency of the Trump administration leaves no room for that kind of doubt. The president is doing what he said he would during the campaign. He is leading and he is governing.  

The breakneck pace of activity of this White House has been exciting to watch but some seem to long for the days when the president didn’t attend events or talk to the media. There’s a line of thinking that people ‘have to’ focus on Trump. On Super Bowl Sunday, CNN host Brian Stelter posted on X: ‘Think about it: A year ago you could go days without seeing or thinking about Biden. Now you’re lucky if you can go hours without thinking about President Trump. He’s inescapable. And that’s just how he likes it. Today: The Super Bowl is also the Trump Bowl.’ 

Well, yes, in February of last year, the president was largely in hiding because his mental decline had yet to be exposed. It wouldn’t be until June that America would get to see what the White House, with the help of their media friends, had been covering up. The pretense that the Biden administration had been standard or normal is just that. There was nothing normal about hiding the president away and attacking anyone who asked questions about it.  

Before the Biden years, seeing the president on Super Bowl Sunday was a normal occurrence. President Barack Obama enjoyed many pre-Super Bowl interviews. He knew that the country would be watching, and he wanted to make sure that they heard from him directly. The Brian Stelters of the world seem to have forgotten what having a president is actually like. It wasn’t ‘the Obama Bowl’ then. 

There’s also the canard that people got to take the last four years off from paying attention to politics. As prices skyrocketed, illegal immigrants streamed into the country and the Biden administration caused fiascos like our withdrawal from Afghanistan, people could not just sit back and ignore politics.  

Parents certainly could not. Before Trump, we had to be on high alert for attacks on our children coming from all sides. Kids were targeted for indoctrination at schools but also at the library, the pediatrician’s office, via the media they watched and elsewhere. A storied American company, Disney, was found to be sneaking in woke content into their programming and bragging about it on internal calls.  

Schools would transition kids, giving them a new name and providing them with clothing to appear as the opposite gender, behind the backs of parents. When parents rightfully complained, the Biden administration sicced the Justice Department on them and considered investigating the parents under ‘domestic terrorism’ laws. 

The Brian Stelters of the world seem to have forgotten what having a president is actually like. It wasn’t ‘the Obama Bowl’ then. 

And even before that, the Biden administration took office promising to reopen closed schools and then let Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, rewrite CDC policies to keep schools closed. We didn’t get that break from focusing on politics that Stelter so longs for. 

We don’t get breaks from history and there isn’t a time when we can sit back and not think about politics at all. Having a leader is important, and the last month has shown Americans what they’ve been missing. 

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First on Fox: VP Vance to tout Trump’s historic first month in speech to MAGA faithful

– Vice President JD Vance is expected to spotlight President Donald Trump’s avalanche of activity since returning to the White House a month ago, as he kicks off the Conservative Political Action Conference, better known by its acronym CPAC.

Vance is no stranger to CPAC, but on Thursday morning at the opening session at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital, he’ll address the confab for the first time since his inauguration last month as Vice President of the United States.

‘The Vice President is expected to emphasize the historic rate of achievement during President Trump’s first month in office,’ a source familiar shared first with Fox News ahead of Vance’s CPAC appearance.

According to the source, the vice president is expected to focus on the Trump/Vance administration’s efforts towards ‘securing the homeland and deporting violent illegal immigrants, unleashing American energy & fueling our economy, protecting American workers & promoting domestic manufacturing,’ and ‘re-establishing American strength at home & abroad.’

The vice president will make his points as he takes part in a fireside chat with Mercedes Schlapp, the veteran Republican political and communications strategist who is a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union, the group that hosts CPAC.

Vance has been a regular at the conference in recent years, dating back to his successful 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio. And last October, as he crisscrossed the national campaign trail as Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, Vance also spoke at a CPAC-hosted townhall in battleground Arizona.

CPAC, which dates back to 1974, is the nation’s oldest and largest annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists. In the years since Trump first won the White House in 2016, it has been dominated by legions of MAGA loyalists and America First disciples who hold immense sway over the GOP.

Vance, who served two years in the Senate before being elected vice president, has been considered a key player in helping the GOP-controlled chamber confirm Trump’s Cabinet nominees at a brisk pace.

And Vance made major headlines earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, when he used his first major speech as vice president to deliver a blistering address directed at Europe’s political class.

Trump’s naming last summer of Vance – a former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ before running for elective office – as his running was seen as a sign that the now 40-year-old politician was the heir apparent to Trump and his movement.

Trump praised Vance in a recent interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on ‘Special Report’ for ‘doing a fantastic job,’

But asked by Baier if he viewed Vance as his successor and the Republican nominee in 2028, the term-limited Trump said, ‘No, but he’s very capable.’

‘It’s too early. We’re just starting,’ Trump added.

Questions about 2028 may be hanging over Vance at CPAC, which has long held a closely watched GOP presidential nomination straw poll.

Vance, in an interview earlier this month with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on ‘Sunday Morning Futures,’ was asked about the next White House race.

‘We’ll see what happens come 2028, but the way I think about this is the best thing for my future is actually the best thing for the American people, which is that we do a really good job over the next three and a half years,’ the vice president said.

Vance noted that ‘we’ll cross that political bridge when we come to it. I’m not thinking about running for president. I’m thinking about doing a good job for the American people and I think the best way to do that is to make sure that President Trump is a success.’

CPAC announced on Wednesday night what was widely expected, that Trump will close out the conference with a Saturday address, where he’ll likely take a victory lap for his convincing 2024 presidential election victory, which cemented his massive grip over the Republican Party.

The president, long a major draw at CPAC, returns in triumph thanks to his recapturing of the White House, along with the GOP’s flipping the Senate majority from blue to red, and the party’s successful defense of their fragile control of the House.

Trump has been a regular at CPAC since 2011, since the then business mogul and reality TV star gave his first speech at the confab, in what would be an appetizer for his first White House campaign four years later.

Trump used his 2011 speech to tease a potential 2012 presidential run that never materialized, telling the crowd that if he did run, ‘our country will be great again.’

‘CPAC is where he developed his antennae. He appeared for several years while he was the host of ‘The Apprentice,” former longtime CPAC communications director Ian Walters noted. ‘He learned how to arouse the crowd, how to toss red meat.’

And Trump, at an extreme political low point after leaving the White House in January 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of former President Biden’s 2020 election victory, gave his first post-presidency speech at CPAC.

Walters told Fox News that the address, where Trump teased a 2024 White House run, ‘provided him a reliable and predictable opportunity with an audience largely of his supporters.’

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MAHA caucus member pledges hearings into ‘corruption’ of a public health sector ‘captured by Big Pharma’

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the newly created Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) senatorial caucus, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that one of the first hearings he wants to hold as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations would focus on ‘the corruption of science’ within the public health system.

Johnson said he hopes the MAHA caucus will ‘restore integrity’ to the scientific community while adhering to recently confirmed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s other agenda items.

‘That’s just foundational, we have to do that first,’ Johnson said. ‘I think we need to give the … COVID injection injured a fair hearing.’

Created in December by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas – who is also a physician – the MAHA caucus ‘will focus on nutrition, access to affordable, high-quality-nutrient-dense foods, improving primary care, and addressing the root causes of chronic diseases,’ acting as a congressional arm for implementing RFK Jr.’s agenda.

So far, the only other members of the caucus are Republicans, but Johnson said the MAHA movement is largely nonpartisan. Other issues Johnson hopes the coalition will explore are the childhood vaccine schedule and potential theories behind the cause of autism.

‘We haven’t even been allowed to ask these questions,’ Johnson said. ‘I’d like to hold a hearing on what questions remain unanswered, what science needs to be conducted with integrity to start answering these questions.’

‘We can certainly reveal the fact that there are legitimate questions that are outstanding that the American people want answers to in a completely nonpartisan way,’ he said.

Johnson said the HHS and scientific community were ‘captured by Big Pharma’ and Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci is currently facing the ire of Republicans for unanswered questions about taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research.

He said MAHA’s goal is ‘to end that corporate capture of federal health agencies’ and ‘reinstall in federal agencies their real mission, which is on behalf of the American public.’

And a new bill he said he may introduce could address that by restoring ‘doctors to the top of the treatment pyramid’ instead of having their hands tied by associations and health groups.

‘We should have a bill, and I would call it ‘Right to Treat,’’ Johnson said. ‘Right now, they’re being crushed at the bottom of the pyramid, and the pyramid starts with people like Anthony Fauci, basically non-practicing physicians, telling doctors how to take care of their patients. That’s completely backwards. We need to re-establish doctors at the top of the treatment pyramid.’

RFK Jr. was confirmed by the Senate last week in a 52-48 vote, nearly entirely along party lines. Kennedy’s controversial hearings focused on his previous public statements about vaccines. Kennedy has been critical of ‘Big Pharma’ and ‘Big Food’ on the campaign trail during his own independent bid for the presidency and continues in the MAHA movement under Trump’s administration.

‘Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,’ Kennedy said of the increase in chronic illnesses. ‘And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.’

Since RFK Jr.’s swearing-in, Trump has issued sweeping firings across several federal departments, including HHS, leading to a protest led by federal employees outside HHS in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

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Trump signs late-night executive order abolishing handful of federal advisory boards

President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at eliminating a handful of federal advisory committees. 

The order targets the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace – all of which have received federal funding. 

It comes as the president has been working along with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to aggressively reduce the size of the federal government and minimize government waste and abuse to reduce inflation.

Cutting these governmental entities and federal advisory committees will save taxpayer dollars, reduce unnecessary government spending, and streamline government priorities, according to Trump’s administration.

The named organizations were given 14 days to submit reports to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Director) confirming that they are compliant and to give an explanation if any part of their government entity is required and to what extent.

In addition, the Administrator of USAID was asked to terminate the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection will have to terminate the Academic Research Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council. The FDIC Board will be required to terminate the Community Bank Advisory Council. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has been asked to terminate the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID and the Administrator of CMS has to terminate the Health Equity Advisory Committee.

The newly signed executive order coincides with one Trump signed Tuesday instructing DOGE to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal government staffing numbers.  

That order instructed DOGE and federal agencies to work together to ‘significantly’ shrink the size of the federal government and limit hiring new employees, according to a White House fact sheet. Specifically, agencies must not hire more than one employee for every four that leave their federal post. 

Agencies will also be instructed to ‘undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force’ and evaluate ways to eliminate or combine agency functions that aren’t legally required.

Trump is also requiring that within 30 days of the order, the President’s assistants for National Security Affairs, Economic Policy, and Domestic Policy identify and submit a list of additional committees and boards for termination.

The Trump administration stated that the American people elected President Trump to drain the swamp and end ineffective government programs that empower government without achieving measurable results.

Trump also voiced he wants to provide voters what they want – to tackle ‘all of this ‘horrible stuff going on’ – and told reporters that he hoped the court system would cooperate. 

‘I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do,’ Trump said, adding that he would always abide by a court’s ruling but will be prepared to appeal.

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Inter Miami vs. Sporting KC highlights: Messi scores only goal in 1-0 win

Lionel Messi may not have ever played in colder conditions, but the Inter Miami star shook it off, scoring the game’s only goal in a 1-0, first-leg win against Sporting Kansas City in Concacaf Champions Cup play Wednesday night.

The game was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday to avoid several inches of snow, but the bitter cold in Kansas City, Kansas, saw kickoff temperatures of 4 degrees, with a feels-like estimate around minus-9.

Despite the frigid conditions sparking reports that Messi might sit the match out, the Argentine played the full 90 minutes, delivering the goods in the form of a second-half finish to give the Herons a clear edge heading into next Tuesday’s second leg.

This first-leg scoreline sets Miami up to advance to the round of 16, where Jamaican league champions Cavalier FC await. A win or draw by any score next week will do the job, while Kansas City would only advance with a multi-goal win, or by scoring two or more goals in a one-goal victory at Chase Stadium.

Here’s a look back at how Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City played out, including highlights of Messi’s first official goal of the 2025 season:

Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City highlights: Messi scores game-winning goal

Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City: Post-game quotes

Speaking to reporters after the match, Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano called Lionel Messi’s game-winning goal ‘normal.’

‘For people who know him, it’s normal, he’s scored goals like this a thousand times,’ said Mascherano. ‘We’re very lucky to have him.’

There was little disagreement from his opposite number, with Sporting Kansas City boss Peter Vermes seemingly resigned to Messi’s inevitability. ‘There’s one guy who can turn the game over, and he did,’ explained the veteran coach.

On the bone-chilling temperatures, Mascherano said he’d never dealt with anything like it.

‘I’ve never experienced such a cold situation, we couldn’t feel our limbs,’ said the 40-year-old. ‘The same thing happened to the players, after five minutes you couldn’t feel your feet or hands.’

Inter Miami 1, Sporting Kansas City 0: Final score

Inter Miami has gotten off to the start they had hoped for, defeating Sporting Kansas City 1-0 in brutally cold conditions at Children’s Mercy Park. Lionel Messi scored the game’s only goal, offering his typically nimble footwork to secure the win with a second-half finish.

These sides will meet again next Tuesday in far superior weather, with Miami hosting the second leg. A 1-0 lead looks pretty promising, especially given that Concacaf still uses the away-goals tiebreaker in club competition. A win or tie will send Miami through.

Inter Miami makes final sub, Messi swaps out hand warmers

Luis Suárez is replaced by winger Robert Taylor in the 90th minute as Inter Miami looks to put this game to bed. Like Picault, Taylor brings more speed, which might benefit Miami if Sporting Kansas City takes too many risks pursuing an equalizer.

Lionel Messi has come to the bench as well, but it looks like he’s asking for hand warmers to put inside his gloves.

Sporting Kansas City makes last of five substitutions

Stephen Afrifa has entered the match for Sporting KC, replacing Dániel Sallói in the 83rd minute.

That leaves the hosts with no more substitutions available. Inter Miami, for its part, can make three more subs, but has only one remaining window to do so.

Inter Miami narrowly escapes big Sporting KC chance

The sequence ended up being offside, but Sporting Kansas City served a reminder that Inter Miami doesn’t have this game won. Dániel Sallói got free on the left flank, picking out Erik Thommy only for his shot to be kicked away by Oscar Ustari. A goal wouldn’t have counted had that shot sneaked by, but Miami should be alarmed by how easily they were carved open.

Meanwhile, two noteworthy developments for Miami: Telasco Segovia has made way for Benjamin Cremaschi in the 79th minute, while Federico Redondo picked up a yellow card seconds later, with a high foot drawing attention from referee Marco Ortíz.

Inter Miami makes first substitution

Miami is going to its bench as well, but will only bring in one new face. Veteran attacker Fafà Picault has come on in the 73rd minute, replacing Tadeo Allende.

Meanwhile, Manu García’s first real contribution is a late tackle that gets him the first yellow card we’ve seen in this game.

Sporting KC goes to the bench with triple sub

Peter Vermes wasted no time at all responding to Inter Miami taking a 1-0 lead. The Sporting Kansas City coach has made a triple sub in the 62nd minute.

Out: Memo Rodríguez, Dejan Joveljic, Tim Leibold
In: Manu García, William Agada, Logan Ndenbe

García is the man to watch, as the playmaker arrived just a week ago following three years at Aris Thessaloniki in Greece. KC has big hopes that he can boost the side after a disappointing 2024 season.

Messi goal! Inter Miami takes 1-0 lead vs. Sporting Kansas City

Can he do it on a cold night in Kansas City? He sure can. Lionel Messi has scored the opener, steering home a 16-yard shot in the 56th minute to put Inter Miami ahead 1-0.

Sergio Busquets had the assist, lobbing a ball into the box towards Messi, but the Miami captain still had plenty to do. Messi calmly brought the ball down, surrounded by KC defenders — yet he danced out of trouble before steering a pinpoint shot into the bottom corner. John Pulskamp saw it late, and just like that the Herons have the lead.

Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City: Second half begins

We’re back underway in the frozen tundra that is Children’s Mercy Park, with Inter Miami and Sporting Kansas City battling for a first-leg advantage in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

Miami has returned to the field with the same lineup they fielded at the start, while KC has made one change: center back Dany Rosero has left the match during the break, with Joaquín Fernández replacing him. That’s a like-for-like change, but Sporting has made a seemingly unrelated tactical tweak: forward Dániel Sallói has moved out to the left, dropping deeper in what is now a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City: Few highlights as halftime arrives

Inter Miami and Sporting Kansas City have reached halftime, with the score 0-0. Temperatures are approaching zero at Children’s Mercy Park, which is coincidentally the number of truly dangerous chances in the game thus far.

Luis Suárez’s 20-yard curler that flew wide was probably Miami’s best chance, while Kansas City has the game’s only shot on goal (which resulted in a very easy save for Oscar Ustari). KC has taken a damage limitation posture, while Miami has looked a little disorganized and predictable at times.

In lieu of actual highlights, the below photo sums up the first half:

Messi’s first shot goes high

Perhaps losing a bit of patience, a relatively rare touch for Messi found him in some space roughly 30 yards from goal. It’s the first time all game Inter Miami has really generated that combination, but Messi opted to fire one up from long range rather than his normal preference to combine and move closer to goal.

The result? A long-range shot that flew yards over the crossbar and into the stands.

Inter Miami dominating possession in game of few chances

We’re in the 29th minute, and it’s safe to say that Sporting Kansas City has chosen defensive solidity over tactical aggression. Inter Miami currently holds around two-thirds of the possession, but KC is resolutely dropping off into a 4-4-2 formation without the ball, only really confronting Miami once play passes midfield.

Miami appears plenty comfortable with keeping the ball this much, and Messi has faced this approach literally hundreds of times, but thus far it’s preventing any interesting action in front of either goal.

Inter Miami survives dangerous Sporting KC free kick

Erik Thommy just won Sporting a free kick in a good spot as the hosts have made their first concerted push forward.

The German midfielder was tripped up by Tomás Avilés, but ultimately Memo Rodríguez’s free kick was catching practice for Inter Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari.

Messi hits the deck after hard tackle

Inter Miami is getting a rude welcome from Sporting Kansas City, with Messi the first recipient of a robust tackle. Barely two minutes into the game, center back Robert Voloder came in late as Messi dished the ball at midfield, slamming into the Argentine and being called for a foul.

Sporting has always been willing to get physical under head coach Peter Vermes, the longest-tenured coach in MLS, and that extends to Messi.

Inter Miami vs. Sporting KC has kicked off

The teams are on the field, with Inter Miami and Sporting Kansas City underway from a frigid Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Every starter on both teams is wearing gloves, long sleeves, and many have gone with neck gaiters and compression leggings, too.

For his part, Lionel Messi has gone with every garment he’s allowed to wear, which is veteran know-how if nothing else.

Inter Miami vs. Sporting KC start time

Inter Miami will face Sporting Kansas City Wednesday night in Concacaf Champions Cup play, with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local).

With teams warming up ahead of the game’s start, there are no signs that Concacaf has any plans to further postpone this one. Temperatures are hovering around 7 degrees at the moment, with breezy conditions compounding the freezing conditions.

Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City: Messi takes field for warm-ups

In a hat, at least one pair of gloves, and what appears to be several layers, Lionel Messi is out on the pitch at Children’s Mercy Park for pregame warm-ups.

Of course, the available footage doesn’t show him limbering up aggressively. Instead, he appears focused on a discussion with a member of Miami’s coaching staff who is so bundled up that we can’t identify who they are.

Sporting Kansas City lineup: KC announces starters to face Inter Miami

Sporting Kansas City has put out a starting eleven with few surprises, with key offseason addition Dejan Joveljic leading the line up top.

Inter Miami lineup: Messi starts Concacaf Champions Cup game

Ending the Messi speculation, Inter Miami has released its starting lineup to face Sporting Kansas City in Wednesday’s first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup battle, and the Argentine icon will lead the team out.

Despite single-digit temperatures leading to speculation that Messi might sit out, the 37-year-old will captain Miami, while fellow ex-Barcelona stars Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets will join him on the field at kickoff.

Messi appears set to play some part in Concacaf Champions Cup game

There has been plenty of speculation about whether Lionel Messi will play for Inter Miami in this Concacaf Champions Cup game due to the extraordinarily cold conditions.

However, Miami’s social media posts seem to indicate that Messi will at least be in uniform. With the Herons arriving at Children’s Mercy Park, the club tweeted a photo montage that included a Messi No. 10 jersey hanging up, a pretty solid sign that Messi will be somewhere on the team sheet.

That tracks with Miami head coach Javier Mascherano’s pre-game comments, with the Argentine denying reports earlier this week claiming that Messi might sit the match — which was pushed back a day due to Tuesday’s snow — out.

Inter Miami vs. Sporting KC: Brutally cold temperatures before kickoff

As expected, the weather in Kansas City is dangerously cold. Per WeatherUnderground, the current temperature is just 9 degrees, and it’s expected to drop throughout the game. A consistent breeze is only making matters worse, with the ‘Feels Like’ reading coming in at minus-6 degrees.

It looks like Miami is absolutely delighted to be in town:

How to watch Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City match tonight?

The match will be available on FS2 in English, ViX+ in Spanish, and on Concacaf’s YouTube channel in Spanish. It is also available on Fubo.

Will Messi play in Kansas City?

Yes, Messi is expected to play despite the weather conditions. Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said Monday that Messi is healthy and available.

What happened the last time Miami team played in frigid Kansas City?

The Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs played in a cold-weather NFL playoff game on Jan. 13, 2024.

At least 10 people were hospitalized and treated for frostbite and hypothermia. The game was played at negative 4 degrees with a wind chill of negative 27, marking the third-coldest kickoff wind chill ever, the Chiefs communications team said at the time. The Chiefs won 26-7.

What happened the last time Messi played in Kansas City?

Messi will play for the second time in the Kansas City area. This time, however, will be in Kansas.

Messi scored a goal and had an assist when Inter Miami beat Sporting Kansas City 3-2 on April 13, 2024. The game was played at the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium in front of a reported crowd of 72,610 – the most-attended soccer match in state of Missouri and the third-most attended MLS game in history.

Inter Miami season opener time changed

Inter Miami will host New York City FC at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday to begin the 2025 MLS season at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The start time was pushed back five hours due to the postponement of tonight’s Champions Cup game.

Sporting Kansas City’s MLS opener on the road at Austin FC in Texas will proceed at its scheduled time Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

When does Inter Miami and Sporting Kansas City play again?

The second leg of the Champions Cup first-round series between Inter Miami and Sporting Kansas City will be played next Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Chase Stadium.

Which team does Inter Miami or Sporting Kansas City play if it advances in Champions Cup?

The winner will face Jamaica Premier League champions Cavalier FC in the round of 16. The first leg will be on March 5, and the second leg will be on March 13. Cavalier received a bye to the round of 16 in the Champions Cup.

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North Carolina money fight: Bill Belichick vs. men’s basketball program

Michael Lombardi spoke last week for the first time since being named general manager of North Carolina football, and immediately threw into question the power structure at the university famous for its men’s basketball program. 

“Everything here is predicated on building a pro team,” Lombardi said. “We consider ourselves the 33rd team.”

There are 32 teams in the NFL, and that statement was Lombardi – by way of new Tar Heels coach and NFL legend Bill Belichick – spreading out and clearing space for an inevitable fight.

Not on the field, but with North Carolina’s legendary basketball program for revenue sharing and NIL funds. There’s only so much to go around. 

The question is, who gets it?

The basketball program of Dean Smith and Michael Jordan and those six national championship banners hanging in the rafters of the Smith Center? The program that believes it’s synonymous with the best of the best, the elite of the elite? 

When you think college basketball, you think Carolina blue. 

Or the football program, the perpetual little brother in the athletic department that has been pushed to the tip of the spear by the sheer will of a sport that has overtaken everything college athletics? No national title banners flying at Kenan Stadium, just five ACC championship flags of decades gone by.

Just the hope of a coach who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots standing in the breach, and proudly declaring we’re the 33rd team. And we’re going to need cash to make it happen. A lot of cash. 

Much more cash than – here’s the key – your wildly successful and beloved men’s basketball program. 

See the fight now?

When pay for play officially begins on July 1 (the beginning of the 2025-26 school calendar), FBS schools will be allowed to spend as much as $20 million in ‘pay-for-play’ payments to athletes. In all sports — not just football. 

The payment structure of that expected $20 million pool is built by each school, and not every player in every sport will receive the same amount of money. That’s not even considering external NIL deals, which will still be widely available — and more important, another area of contention between football and basketball. 

At some point, the fight will come to this: what’s the biggest bang for the buck? 

The football team that Belichick and Lombardi believe can be built into a national power despite its inherent obstacles in recruiting against the elite of college football? Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU and Texas, among the many, aren’t going anywhere — and have more resources.

Or the basketball team, which is the DNA of college basketball, a program so prominent, recruits (and transfer portal recruits) will flock to with the right coach. 

This, of course, brings us to the next inevitable subject: The possibility of moving on from struggling coach Hubert Davis. If North Carolina decides replace Davis, who is under contract through the 2027-28 season, where does it go for his replacement? 

Does it spend top dollar and try to hire the top of the coaching field (college or NBA), or does it go cheap and hire a rising assistant? Or worse, if the program bottoms out this season, does it stick with Davis and hope for the best?

In no previous world where NIL and pay for play didn’t dictate decisions, would North Carolina “hope” about anything with the basketball program. It would take action, immediately. 

It would hire the biggest, baddest coach it could find, and celebrate the transition to a new beginning. It would declare that things were returning to the Carolina Way, and that nothing would be left to guess in the quest to return to the elite of college basketball. 

Sort of like what the football team just did with Belichick. 

See the fight now?

Make no mistake, this power struggle is a numbers game. How much money is available to spend on player procurement, and how much is spent on football and basketball.

Roster limits are another part of the House settlement that is awaiting final approval in April. Football will be limited to 105 players. The men’s basketball limit is 15. 

That’s 120 players that could be paid within the structure of one of the nation’s top athletic programs. And North Carolina isn’t going to simply ignore successful non-revenue sports that have won 46 national championships for the sake of the 33rd team.

Or will it? 

We already saw the power play by the North Carolina Board of Trustees, forcing athletic director Bubba Cunningham to hire Belichick and throwing ridiculous amounts of money at a sport that prior to this offseason was treated as a functional distraction – by those same board members – until basketball tipped.  

A guaranteed $30 million deal (over three years) for Belichick in addition to – as stated in his term sheet – $10 million annually for an assistant coach salary pool and $5.3 million annually for support staff. 

That’s a $25.3 million annual investment in football — before player procurement, revenue sharing and NIL agreements. The total investment could surpass $40 million.

Forty million.

I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn here, but there’s no chance that the investment in the shining beacon of a basketball program along bucolic Skipper Bowles Drive – even per capita – reaches those ridiculous levels.

See the fight now? The 33rd team did, and planted its flag early. 

There’s only so much cash to go around. 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football wtiter for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

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Politics

Trump and Zelenskyy war of words heats up even as US looks to wind down war in Ukraine

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy exchanged terse insults on Wednesday, following meetings between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday without representatives from Ukraine. 

Trump repeatedly has said that he is the only one who can bring an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was in contact with Zelenskyy and was working to ensure ‘that all parties are heard’ during the peace talks. 

Yet Ukraine’s absence from the negotiations on Tuesday appears to have exacerbated a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. 

While Zelenskyy accused Trump of perpetuating Russian ‘disinformation’ on Wednesday, Trump clapped back and labeled Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ who has failed his country. 

‘A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do,’ Trump wrote in a social media post Wednesday. 

‘I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died.’ 

Trump’s post included a series of inaccurate statements, including that Zelenskyy ‘talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.’ Meanwhile, Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Trump’s comments build on statements he delivered Tuesday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where he said that Russia wasn’t the only one exerting pressure to force Ukraine to hold an election. One of Russia’s conditions for signing a peace deal includes Ukraine holding an election, nearly a year after Zelenskyy’s five-year term was slated to end. 

But Zelenskyy has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution bars holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. 

Additionally, Trump chastised Ukraine on Tuesday for not ending the war sooner, and also appeared to suggest that Ukraine started the conflict, even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

 

‘I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well. But today I heard, ‘Oh, we weren’t invited,” Trump said Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. ‘Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years (ago). You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.’

In response, Zelenskyy delivered his own jabs toward Trump, and said the U.S. president lived in a ‘disinformation space’ peddling inaccurate information that originated from Russia. 

‘We have seen this disinformation,’ Zelenskyy said Wednesday at a news conference before meeting with retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellog, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. ‘We understand that it is coming from Russia.’

‘I think Putin and the Russians are very happy, because questions are discussed with them,’ he added. 

Zelenskyy has stressed in recent days that Ukraine must be involved in negotiations for a peace deal with Russia, and said Sunday that Ukraine wouldn’t accept a peace deal if his country was absent from negotiations. 

He also announced on Tuesday that he would postpone a scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia until March, after revealing during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdoğan that Ukraine wasn’t invited to the U.S.-Russia discussions in Riyadh.  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House national security advisor Mike Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Riyadh with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict. 

The first action the U.S. plans to take after the meetings with Russian officials is to ‘reestablish the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and in Moscow,’ Rubio told reporters from The Associated Press and CNN.

‘For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally,’ Rubio said, according to a State Department transcript. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Business

Trump Media sues Brazil Supreme Court judge who battled Elon Musk

Trump Media and its fellow conservative-oriented social media company Rumble on Wednesday sued a Brazil Supreme Court justice whose clash last year with Elon Musk led to the blocking of Musk’s own social media firm, X, in that country.

The Tampa, Florida, federal court lawsuit accuses Justice Alexandre de Moraes of allegedly illegal attempts to censor a “well-known politically outspoken user” of Rumble with orders to suspend that user’s U.S.-based accounts.

The new lawsuit suit notes that Trump Media’s social media site Truth Social “relies on Rumble’s cloud-based hosting and video streaming infrastructure to deliver multimedia content to its user base.”

“If Rumble were to be shut down, that shut down would necessarily interfere with Truth Social’s operations, as well,” the suit says.

The suit was filed a day after Brazil’s prosecutor-general charged the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, with an attempted coup as he tried to remain in office following his 2022 election loss. Bolsonaro — who was invited to President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month — is accused of participating in a plot with nearly three dozen other people, which allegedly planned to poison current Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and kill Moraes.

Trump had been the majority owner of Trump Media stock shares. In December, the then-president-elect transferred his entire stake of shares to a revocable trust of which he is the sole beneficiary.

The suit mentions Musk’s feud with Moraes, when the justice suspended X in Brazil for Musk’s defiance of requests to ban some user accounts and remove content that Moraes said violated the country’s laws.

Brazil’s Supreme Court also suspended bank accounts in that country of X and Starlink, the satellite internet service provider owned by Musk’s company SpaceX, as part of that battle.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, has been tasked by Trump to oversee a wide-ranging effort to cut federal government suspending and employee headcount.

Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes in a statement Wednesday on the suit said that the company “is firmly committed to upholding the right to free expression.”

“This is not just a slogan, it’s the core mission of this company,” Nunes said. “We’re proud to join our partner Rumble in standing against unjust demands for political censorship regardless of who makes them.”

Trump Media last week reported a net loss of nearly $401 million for 2024, and revenue of just $3.6 million.

The company in a statement last week said that about half of the $61 million in cash used in operating activities in 2024 “comprised legal expenses including costs related to the Company’s March 2024 merger with a special purpose acquisition company.”

“Partly as a result of obstruction by the Biden-era Securities and Exchange Commission, which turned the process into one of the longest SPAC mergers in history, [Trump Media] incurred significant legal expenses related to its merger and has brought litigation seeking to recoup its damages,” the suit said.

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Sports

George Kittle explains why 49ers ‘can’t really replace’ Deebo Samuel

Deebo Samuel’s time with the San Francisco 49ers may come to an end during the 2025 NFL offseason, as the team is allowing the veteran receiver to seek a trade.

George Kittle knows the 49ers have depth and talent at receiver, but he still cautioned the team about moving on from Samuel.

‘You can’t really replace Deebo,’ Kittle told USA TODAY’s Mackenzie Salmon in a recent interview. ‘I think he’s one of the most unique players in the NFL because of what he can do.’

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Kittle described Samuel as one of the best yards-after-catch (YAC) receivers in the NFL along with himself. He also praised his long-time teammate for his versatility.

‘He’s so good when he gets the ball in his hands,’ Kittle said of Samuel. ‘The fact that you can line him up in the slot, out wide, in the backfield and do all the fun stuff with him and he breaks tackles, he runs like a running back and he has the burst, he has the speed, he has the agility to get away from guys too, he’s just such a unique player, so I don’t think you can really replace him.’

Kittle believes that the 49ers would ‘have to build their offense a little bit differently’ if Samuel is no longer with the team. He also noted that Brandon Aiyuk may not be ready for Week 1 as he returns from a torn ACL but expressed Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall have proven they are ready for bigger roles.

Kittle also opined Christian McCaffrey’s return would add an element to San Francisco’s offense that was missing for most of the 2024 season. McCaffrey played in just four games and 167 snaps while dealing with several injuries, including a season-ending PCL sprain.

Even so, Kittle believes it will be hard for anyone to fit the exact role Samuel played in the 49ers offense.

‘Deebo’s a hell of a football player,’ Kittle said. ‘I’ve loved being his teammate, I’ve loved sharing the field with him, I’ve loved going to war with him. If that is what happens and he gets traded, I’ll be very sad.’

‘At the same time, I’m always happy for guys to get opportunities and that’s all you can ask for in the NFL,’ he added. ‘But yes, Deebo’s one of my guys, and I always love playing with him.’

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Sports

NFL cut candidates: Which big-name players are on thin ice?

Before the NFL’s free agency frenzy can begin, teams have to take stock of their financial standing and weigh some difficult moves.

All 32 teams must be compliant with the league’s salary cap by the start of the new league year on March 12. For some, the coming days and weeks might simply entail restructuring contracts and clearing end-of-roster deals to clear that bar. For others, however, the process will necessitate releasing some notable players in cost-cutting moves. The sequence is sure to reshape free agency, as players who are released will be free to sign with other organizations immediately, giving them a head start on their peers with expiring contracts.

While more could become clear after the NFL scouting combine next week, here are some of the biggest names who could be cut soon (all cap figures courtesy of Over The Cap):

Kirk Cousins, QB, Atlanta Falcons

General manager Terry Fontenot claimed at the end of the season that Atlanta is ‘very comfortable’ with the notion of retaining Cousins as a backup to second-year signal-caller Michael Penix Jr., who took the starting reins in Week 16. But is that merely a bluff? While the Falcons would be saddled with a $65 million dead cap hit if they release the 13-year veteran, they can avoid his $10 million roster bonus for 2026 becoming guaranteed so long as they move on by March 17. Cousins seemed to be pushing his way to the exit by revealing earlier this month on ‘Good Morning Football’ that he injured his right shoulder and elbow in Week 10, contradicting the narrative he and the team pushed during the season. With Cousins holding a no-trade clause, a release with a post-June 1 designation looks to be the most reasonable solution.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Derek Carr, QB, New Orleans Saints

With the league’s youngest coach in Kellen Moore now at the controls, the Saints are set up for what would appear to be a transition year. The extent of the team’s reset, however, will likely be revealed by how it handles Carr, whose 2025 cap hit of nearly $51.5 million necessitates some sort of action. The 11-year veteran has already shot down the possibility of a pay cut, and he also holds a no-trade clause in his contract. Yet unless New Orleans is prepared to embrace the full teardown it has long resisted, dropping him might not be a very appealing option given the looming dead cap hit of more than $50 million. Moore remained noncommittal when addressing Carr’s future in his introductory news conference, but the organization – which is more than $54 million overdrawn for the cap – will need to choose a path soon.

Kyle Juszczyk, FB, San Francisco 49ers

In 2024, the all-purpose standout said he was ‘hurt’ by general manager John Lynch’s request that he take a pay cut. This time around, he might not be given a choice in the matter of his future with the franchise. Juszczyk, who turns 34 in April, might be a luxury for a team that has been preparing to reconfigure its financial outlook around what should be a sizable extension for quarterback Brock Purdy. The nine-time Pro Bowler has been an essential part of Kyle Shanahan’s system, but his cap figure is set to be just short of $6.5 million.

Davante Adams, WR, New York Jets

His close friend Aaron Rodgers has already been dismissed by the new regime, though not officially yet. Adams seems bound to be next headed out of own. The six-time Pro Bowl selection has the largest cap hit of any non-quarterback at $38.34 million, and the Jets could clear nearly $30 million by parting ways. Adams could try to reunite with Rodgers in the quarterback’s next landing spot, or he could move on and capitalize on a free agent market that could be light on top-flight pass catchers.

Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks

At nearly $31 million, his 2025 cap hit is currently set to be the fourth largest of any receiver. That figure seems untenable for a 32-year-old who finished third on the team in catches (49) and receiving yards (600). Between the emergence of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and coach Mike Macdonald’s pivot to a run-led offense likely leading to fewer three-receiver sets, it makes plenty of sense for Seattle – which is currently more than $13 million over the cap – to grant itself $17 million in cap savings by releasing Lockett.

Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams

The Super Bowl 56 MVP broke some news when he revealed earlier this month that the Rams were working to deal him. But with a $12.5 million salary – and a $7.5 million roster bonus due March 16 – Kupp might not have a robust trade market, even if the Rams are willing to pay a sizable chunk to facilitate a deal. His outlook could change, however, if he hits the open market as a free agent, as he would be an enticing No. 2 target capable of making his mark over the middle and as a blocker. Releasing him outright would afford Los Angeles $7.52 million in cap space while leaving the team with a dead cap hit of more than $22.2 million.

Christian Kirk, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Kirk’s surprising four-year, $72 million contract in March 2022 helped accelerate the explosion of the receiver market. While that deal no longer seems quite as outlandish as it did initially, the slot receiver hasn’t been able to recreate the highs of his debut campaign in Jacksonville, notching just 27 catches for 379 yards in eight games before suffering a season-ending broken collarbone. With first-year coach Liam Coen installing a new offense and Brian Thomas Jr. firmly in place as the focal point of the passing attack, there’s little reason to forge ahead with a player who has a cap hit of more than $24 million and whose release could clear up more than $10 million in space.

Evan Engram, TE, Jaguars

His departure might not be quite as clear-cut as Kirk’s, but Engram is facing a similar situation. The two-time Pro Bowler is closer to his peak after recording career bests of 114 catches and 963 receiving yards in 2023, but he averaged a career-low 7.8 yards per reception last season and missed eight total games with hamstring and labrum injuries. Brenton Strange, a second-round pick in 2023, already established himself as a capable replacement last season by tallying 40 catches for 411 yards.

Jack Conklin, OT, Cleveland Browns

Still boxed in by Deshaun Watson’s contract, Cleveland has a pressing need to free up its books and few avenues to do so. A sensible starting point would be bidding farewell to Conklin, the two-time All-Pro who missed five games last season and played in just one in 2023 after tearing multiple knee ligaments. Dawand Jones could take over as the starter on a line that could be facing massive changes.

David Onyemata, DT, Falcons

Dropping Grady Jarrett is also a possibility for an organization that is currently almost $12 million overdrawn, as his departure would free up $16.25 million. But splitting with the two-time Pro Bowler could prove difficult for a defense still in desperate need of difference-makers up front, so the alternative could be dropping Onyemata. The run-stuffing nose tackle’s $16.25 million is exorbitant for a player of his skill set, and 2024 draft picks Ruke Orhorhoro (second round) and Brandon Dorlus (fourth round) might represent the future on the interior.

Jonathan Allen, DT, Washington Commanders

Ditching a proven interior pass rusher might seem antithetical to Washington’s offseason mission, especially with the team having the third-most cap space ($75.2 million) of any franchise. But Allen is set to carry a $22.35 million cap hit, and his play isn’t in line with the other elite talents at his position in that category. With 2024 second-rounder Jer’Zhan Newton waiting in the wings as a potential replacement to put alongside Daron Payne, the Commanders could move on and pocket $16.47 million in cap savings.

Joey Bosa, OLB, Los Angeles Chargers

The Bolts clung onto both of their high-priced pass rushers last offseason, as both Bosa and Khalil Mack accepted pay cuts to stay in place. The outlook is significantly murkier in Year 2 for Jim Harbaugh, with Mack set to test free agency and Bosa carrying a $36.47 million cap hit that ranks as the highest of any defender. That figure is hard to swallow for a player who, despite replacing the injured Mack as a Pro Bowl selection this year, has started just 18 games the last three seasons due to injury. While Los Angeles has more than $63 million in available cap space, the $25.36 million in savings might be too much to pass up, especially if the team brings back Mack.

Von Miller, OLB, Buffalo Bills

Miller rediscovered a spark in 2024, recording six sacks after failing to notch one in 2023. Still, a situational pass rusher who hasn’t cracked more than a third of the defensive snaps since he arrived in 2022 isn’t likely what the Bills bargained for when they handed the eight-time Pro Bowl selection a six-year, $120 million deal. Renegotiating the contract might be the preferable route for both parties, but something has to give for a team that again faces a tight cap situation this spring.

Jaire Alexander, CB, Green Bay Packers

Green Bay might have reached its breaking point with Alexander, who became the highest-paid cornerback in 2021 but has played just seven games in each of the last two seasons. ‘(T)here’s frustration, I think, on both sides, from the fact that he can’t get out there,’ general manager Brian Gutekunst said in January after the Packers’ wild-card exit. With Keisean Nixon openly pushing to be given the No. 1 cornerback job and moved off kick-returning duties, it seems clear that many in and around the organization expect the team to be moving on from the two-time Pro Bowler.

Jamel Dean, CB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Zyon McCollum enjoyed a breakout season in Tampa and now could be positioned for a big payday with an extension this offseason. But with less than $1 million in available cap space, the Buccaneers have to be mindful about their overall financial picture. That could prompt them to take a closer look at Dean, whose $15.1 cap hit could be rich for a player who has topped out as a solid starter. But the four-time defending NFC South champions might be reticent to detract from their secondary given the overall shaky state of their 29th-ranked pass defense.

Darius Slay, CB, Philadelphia Eagles

The changing of the guard on the back end of Philadelphia’s defense began last April, when Howie Roseman broke from past precedent to use his first two draft picks on cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. With both having finished as Defensive Rookie of the Year finalists, could the new Super Bowl champions turn the page on Slay? The 34-year-old has indicated that next season will be his last and acknowledged the possibility his days with the Eagles might be over. While Roseman might be reticent to part with a player who still played a critical role in the Eagles’ title run and is only one year removed from his last Pro Bowl campaign, keeping together the core of the roster as several key contributors hit free agency could prompt some difficult decisions.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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