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MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — The Big Ten’s preferred playoff model is a trojan horse for the SEC.

And still, the SEC keeps inching toward the horse’s belly.

If the Big Ten gets its way, the College Football Playoff would move in 2026 toward a format in which more bids are awarded via automatic selection.

The idea works like this: In a 16-team field, the Big Ten and SEC would get four automatic bids apiece, the ACC and Big 12 would get two auto bids apiece, the Group of Five would get one auto bid, and that leaves three at-large bids up for grabs. In many years, Notre Dame would snag one of the three at-large bids.

It’s easy to understand why the ACC and Big 12 dislike this model. It preassigns twice as many automatic bids to the Big Ten and SEC before the season even kicks off. It’s a model based more on conference brand prestige than in-season meritocracy.

What’s more difficult to comprehend is the SEC’s swelling support for this model.

On the surface, the auto-bid model sounds OK for the SEC.

Upon deeper consideration, though, a better model for the SEC’s quest to stockpile bids would be a 16-team model that assigns all bids via at-large selection. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey seems to understand this, but will his conference’s membership resist the auto-bid plan?

“For all the gripes about us having four (automatic bids), go back and look at the previous 11 years … we actually lose more spots under that (auto-bid) model than anybody else,” Sankey said Monday before his conference’s spring meetings.

Bingo. There’s plenty of reason for the SEC to be wary of this auto-bid model.

The SEC considers itself the toughest, most rugged conference. As such, it would be foolish to embrace a playoff model that restricts its members from accessing nine of the 16 bids.

“If you actually go back and do the research, that kind of format could cost us positions,” Sankey said.

Exactly.

The SEC would be wise to punt this trojan horse back across the Mason-Dixon Line.

Auto-bid College Football Playoff model could backfire on SEC

As recently as a few years ago, Sankey most favored playoff models that assigned all bids via at-large selection. He ought to keep up that energy, and make his membership understand that the best model for the SEC – and the best model for the sport – is a playoff model that limits automatic bids, instead of awarding more.

A 16-team playoff with all bids decided via at-large selection would be a boon for the SEC, if only the SEC could look past the Big Ten’s auto-bid bait.

Forget the auto bids. A 16-team, all at-large, playoff could be so simple:

∎ Devise a set of playoff selection criteria designed to identify the 16 best teams.

∎ Play the games.

∎ Have a committee select the 16 best teams based on the approved criteria, or bring back an analytical ranking system designed to identify the 16 best teams.

If last year’s playoff had included 16 teams based off the CFP rankings, the SEC would have qualified six teams. Six.

The SEC doesn’t need this 4+4+2+2+1 auto-bid format, and the ACC and Big 12 don’t want this format, and yet this idea keeps gaining steam within the SEC. Oh, what a delight for the Big Ten.

“I have, over time, talked about, hey, let’s just have fill-in-the-blank-number best teams,” Sankey said. “That goes back to 2019, 2020 playoff expansion (talks). I’ve reiterated that. I think our room has an interest in a different model.”

In other words, SEC athletics directors are positioning themselves to be duped by the auto-bid plan.

Here’s why SEC athletics directors might like auto-bid playoff plan

So, why might the SEC go for this auto-bid plan?

For starters, risk aversion.

Being assigned four playoff bids before the season begins would allow the SEC to go from eight to nine conference games without having to worry so much about win-loss records.

Also, auto bids based purely off conference results would encourage teams to beef up their non-conference schedule, because an auto-bid format reduces the penalty of non-conference losses.

Plus, the auto-bid plan would allow a conference to conduct play-in games.

If the Big Ten and SEC receive four automatic bids apiece, they could reserve two bids for the top two teams in their standings, then pit No. 3 versus No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5 in a play-in bonanza to determine the final auto bids.

“I think the word ‘hope’ is at the center (of this proposed format),” Sankey said. “How do you bring people into the conversation late in the season? So the idea of, could you have play-in type games continues to (surface).

“That’s about building interest and giving hope. Whether that’s the ultimate destination, we’ll see.”

That might sound OK in theory, but, what does that look like in practice?

Iowa, a team that went 8-5 last season, would have still been alive for the playoff on play-in Saturday, because the Hawkeyes finished sixth in the Big Ten standings.

South Carolina finished sixth in the SEC last season and was ranked No. 15 in the final CFP rankings. It would have qualified for a 16-team playoff, if all bids were awarded via at-large selection.

Iowa, by comparsion, was not ranked in the final CFP rankings.

So, it’s easy to understand why Iowa would love this auto-bid playoff idea. It’s easy to understand why a host of other mediocre Big Ten teams would like this playoff idea. Finish sixth in the Big Ten standings, sprinkle in some play-in magic, and, voila, a playoff bid emerges.

It’s harder to understand why the big, bad SEC would embrace a playoff format that most benefits Big Ten teams like Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Washington.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Two of college football’s young stars will grace the cover of the sport’s next video game.

Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith and Alabama receiver Ryan Williams are the cover athletes for EA Sports College Football 26. The two players will be on the cover of the standard edition, while the deluxe edition features them and several stars, mascots and coaches from the past and present, including former cover stars in Reggie Bush and Tim Tebow, as well as Kirby Smart, Ryan Day and the Oregon Duck.

The game will come out July 10 for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. The MVP bundle of College Football 26 and Madden 26 allows buyers to have three-day early access, meaning those who buy it would be able to play the college football video game on July 7. The full reveal for the game will be released Thursday, EA Sports said.

EA Sports said College Football 26 will celebrate ‘real-world coaches,’ indicating they will be in the game for the first time.

College Football 26 will be the second edition of EA Sports’ famed franchise after it was revived last year. Prior to the game’s hiatus from 2014-2023, the cover athletes were only players that completed their college careers. But with the franchise returning with player likeness in the game and compensation given for it, it has allowed for current athletes to be on the cover. The players for the College Football 25 cover were Travis Hunter, Quinn Ewers and Donovan Edwards.

Now for the 2026 version, the cover will feature two players coming off unforgettable freshman seasons.

Williams burst onto the scene in a September showdown against No. 1 Georgia, in which he had six catches for 177 yards, including the incredible 75-yard go-ahead touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. He finished the season with a team-high 865 yards and eight touchdowns.

Smith proved he was a star immediately in his time in Columbus, but he came up big in the postseason for the Buckeyes. He had six catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the College Football Playoff first-round win over Tennessee, and he followed it with a monster performance in the Rose Bowl victory against Oregon. He had seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns against the then-undefeated Ducks en route to the season ending with a national championship. He had 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season.

‘A dream come true’

With the stellar start to their college careers, finding out they were selected was another thrilling moment for the young receivers.

‘Pretty much it’s a dream come true,’ Williams told USA TODAY Sports. ‘Just growing up and playing the game is something that you always dream about, so it definitely is super exciting.’

Williams added it’s one of the best accomplishments of his career so far, and it’s a tough one to rank for Smith; he did just win a national championship five months prior to the announcement.

‘Both is something special,’ he said. ‘I put the natty then the cover of the game because natty is something you’ve got to experience.’

Not only is it special to be a video game cover athlete, but it means a little more when it’s a game both stars frequently play. Both receivers said it was surreal to see themselves in a game and all of the little traits, like hometown and gear, be accurate in their presentation. Even if they’re in a real life Road to Glory, it doesn’t stop them from doing it virtually as well.

The game was positively received and extremely popular as EA Sports College Football 25 was the top-selling video game of 2024 and became the best-selling sports game in U.S. history, according to Inside Gaming. So popular that Williams said if he and his teammates weren’t at practice, meetings or class, they were playing the game in the team facility. Now they get to have some swagger when the next installment is released since the teammates of Williams and Smith will be playing a game with them on it.

Being a video game cover athlete is a great honor, but it also comes with some pressure. Prime example is the infamous ‘Madden’ curse from the NFL video game.

But in college football, it might be a blessing. Hunter went from cover star to Heisman Trophy winner, and Smith and Williams hope there’s some good juju awaiting them for the 2025 season. It’s hard to top a freshman season like they had, but they’re ready for the expectations that come with being the face of college football’s iconic franchise.

‘Going into the season, you know there’s going to be expectations because we’re cover athletes, we had good freshman seasons,’ Williams said. ‘Whatever the expectation, or whatever they think, pretty much I believe it’s going to happen on its own just because of the way we play football.’

(This story was updated to add a video.)

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi and struggling Inter Miami remain a work in progress with two matches remaining before the FIFA Club World Cup next month.

Inter Miami, which had the best regular season in MLS history last year, is seventh in the MLS Eastern Conference after a recent stretch of just two wins, three draws and five losses in their last 10 matches across all competitions.

Messi’s side desperately needs a victory, but it isn’t a forgone conclusion one could come Wednesday when Inter Miami hosts CF Montreal – ranked last place in the East, and second-to-last among all MLS teams.

‘Regardless of their position, I think if you watch Montreal’s games, you’ll see that in many of them they deserved much more than they got,’ Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said before Tuesday’s training session.

Montreal enters the match after relinquishing leads and settling for draws at home against two standouts MLS clubs in their last three matches: They finished 1-1 against Columbus Crew on May 14, and drew 2-2 against LAFC on May 28.

Inter Miami ousted LAFC from the Concacaf Champions Cup earlier this season. They beat Columbus Crew 1-0 on April 19, and will host the Crew on Saturday before preparing for the Club World Cup.

Inter Miami enters the Montreal match after storming back with two late goals – a Messi free kick, and another assisted by Messi – in a 3-3 draw with the first-place Philadelphia Union last Saturday. Overall, Inter Miami has conceded 23 goals while scoring 16 goals in their last 10 matches.

‘Above all, I want to prioritize and focus on ourselves, try to maintain what we’ve done in Philadelphia, improve in some areas – especially defensively – and get another win to boost the team’s confidence,’ Mascherano said.

When is the Inter Miami vs. CF Montreal match?

Inter Miami hosts CF Montreal at Chase Stadium on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

How to watch Inter Miami vs. CF Montreal live stream?

The match will be available to stream on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Is Messi playing vs. CF Montreal on Wednesday?

Messi is expected to play against Montreal, but his status will be confirmed when Inter Miami announces its starting lineup an hour before the match begins.

How has Inter Miami fared in their last 10 matches?

May 24: Inter Miami settles for 3-3 draw at Philadelphia.
May 18: Inter Miami loses 3-0 at home to Orlando City.
May 14: Inter Miami plays to 3-3 draw at San Jose Earthquakes.
May 10: Inter Miami loses 4-1 on the road to Minnesota United.
May 3: Inter Miami wins 4-1 at home vs. the New York Red Bulls.
April 30: Inter Miami is eliminated after a 3-1 loss (5-1 aggregate score) against the Vancouver Whitecaps in their Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal.
April 27: Inter Miami loses 4-3 at home to FC Dallas.
April 24: Inter Miami loses 2-0 on the road to Vancouver in the first leg of their Champions Cup series.
April 19: Inter Miami wins 1-0 at Columbus Crew.

April 13: Inter Miami settles for scoreless draw on the road vs. Chicago Fire.

Messi to join Argentina before Club World Cup

Messi has been called up by the defending World Cup champions, and expected to play with Argentina for two qualifying matches for the 2026 tournament. Argentina will visit Chile on June 5 and host Colombia on June 10.

Messi, Inter Miami upcoming schedule

May 28: Inter Miami vs. CF Montreal, 7:30 p.m. ET
May 31: Inter Miami vs. Columbus Crew, 7:30 p.m. ET

Messi, Inter Miami schedule for Club World Cup

June 14: Inter Miami vs. Al Alhy, 8 p.m. ET (Hard Rock Stadium in Miami)
June 19: Inter Miami vs FC Porto, 3 p.m. ET (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta)
June 23: Inter Miami vs. Palmerias, 9 p.m. ET (Hard Rock Stadium in Miami)

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Alex Thompson, co-author of the recently released exposé on former President Joe Biden, told Fox News Sunday that top aides ‘rationalized’ doing ‘undemocratic’ things to hide the president’s cognitive decline, because failing to do so would have been too beneficial to Donald Trump. 

During an interview with ‘Fox News Sunday’s’ Shannon Bream, Thompson was asked whether any officials close to Biden, such as his cabinet secretaries, expressed remorse for their potential complicity in covering up Biden’s health.

‘There was definitely a lot of self-reflection about what — if anything — they should have done differently,’ Thompson said. 

‘I think there was a feeling — like a lot of members of the Democratic Party that were seeing this, or saw moments of [Biden] seeming out of it — that going public wasn’t going to change his mind. It was only going to help Donald Trump. And I think that’s how a lot of them rationalized it.’ 

‘Now, whether or not history will judge them as being right for doing that, we will see. But this is also part of the reason why the White House was shielding [Biden] from as many people as possible, including cabinet secretaries.’

Bream went on to question Thompson about an aide he spoke to who said Biden ‘just had to win and then could disappear’ because Biden’s ‘aides could pick up the slack.’ Bream described the quote as essentially ‘admitting’ Biden shouldn’t be running again.

‘Who would have been running the White House in a second Biden term?’ Bream asked Thompson.

‘Well, this person went on to say, ‘When you’re voting for president, you’re voting for the aides around him.’ But these aides were not even Senate confirmed aides – these were White House aides, these were unelected people.’ Thompson replied. ‘One of the things that really comes out in our reporting here is that if you believe — and I do think a lot of these people do sincerely believe that Donald Trump was and is an existential threat to democracy — you can rationalize anything, including sometimes doing undemocratic things — which I think is what this person was talking about.’

Thompson and CNN’s Jake Tapper have been doing the rounds discussing and promoting their new book titled ‘Original Sin,’ which has garnered a lot of attention for detailing what critics have said shows Biden’s cognitive decline while he was in the White House was even worse than most people suspected. 

The book has been compounded by other revelations showing Biden’s cognitive abilities were likely hidden from the public by those closest to him.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi have founded a new soccer club together that will compete in Uruguay, the Inter Miami duo announced on social media Tuesday. 

Suárez said he been working on the venture since 2018, and welcomed Messi into the fold in a video posted across the new club’s social media platforms. Suárez said the club has 80 working professionals and 3,000 members to ‘provide opportunities and tools for teenagers and children to help them grow.’

‘We hope that our club can start competing within the Uruguayan Football Association system. This is a very exciting goal for us, and it represents a huge step forward for me and my family,’ Suárez said. ‘We firmly believe in this project. We aim not only to provide sports facilities but also to serve teenagers from a humanistic perspective, giving them opportunities that we didn’t have when we were young. We will work hard with a calm mindset to turn this long, dreamed of project into a reality and participate in the competitive world.’

Messi, the Argentine World Cup champion, also shared a message in the club’s social media announcement. 

‘First of all, I’d like to thank Luis for giving me this opportunity to join this project,’ Messi said. ‘You’ve been working hard on this project for many years, and it has grown very significantly. It’s a great honor and joy for me to be a part of it with you now. Thank you for choosing me. I hope to do my best to contribute to the continued development of this project, and most importantly, to work side by side with you. Thank you very much.’

Together, Messi and Suárez won three Champions League titles among several others while shining together at FC Barcelona from 2014-2020. 

Messi, 37, joined Inter Miami in July 2023, followed by Suárez, 38, in 2024. Both are under contract with the MLS club through the 2025 season. It’s possible both could agree to contract extensions with Inter Miami later this year. 

Messi and Suárez will compete with Inter Miami during this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup hosted in the United States next month.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The Eastern Conference finals between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks has been many things. Above all else, it has been a battle of road warriors.

Headed into Tuesday night’s Game 4 showdown with the Pacers up 2-1, the home team is yet to have won a game in this series, with the Pacers taking the first two at Madison Square Garden and New York stealing Game 3 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

In fact, the Pacers and Knicks are tied for most road wins (six) in the NBA playoffs this year.

In order to avoid a 3-1 series deficit, which would give them improbable odds to extend their postseason run, the Knicks will have to — once again — tap into intensity and efficiency on the road.

Knicks’ road playoff success

What makes New York’s road success in the playoffs remarkable is how it has fought back from deficits to pull out games on the road; the Knicks have trailed in the fourth quarters in five of their six postseason road victories.

In three of those, the Knicks have trailed by 20 points, making them the only team since at least the 1997 playoffs to win three road games in which they needed to rally from that many points down.

“I think we’re just resilient,” forward OG Anunoby said Monday. “We don’t want to be down 20, but sometimes it’s just how it happens. We know it’s a game of runs, so I guess we just lock in and go on a run of our own.”

Overall, the Knicks are 6-1 on the road this postseason, tying a franchise record for most road victories in a single postseason. Aside from having to erase deficits on the road, the Knicks have also had to close out tight games with crisp execution; in those six road wins, their average margin of victory has been just 2.7 points.

So how, exactly, have the Knicks done it?

Their defensive effort and intensity has undoubtedly sharpened in those moments, but, after Sunday night’s victory in Game 3, numerous players like Anunoby, Jalen Brunson and forward Mikal Bridges cited increased communication as another element sparking these runs.

“It’s competition,” Brunson said Monday. “It’s the playoffs. In order to go through and do something special, you have to go through a lot of adversity, a lot of questioning mentally and internally if we’re going to do this. It can make or break teams when you’re going through things like that.

“I think obviously what we did (Sunday) definitely helps us. We saw we were on the brink of it looking pretty dark for us. The way we responded I think it brings us closer together.”

The only flip side of all this success on the road for New York is that it juxtaposes the team’s struggles at home; the Knicks are 3-5 at the Garden.

Pacers’ road playoff success

Not to be outdone, Indiana is also 6-1 on the road this postseason, though the Pacers haven’t had to claw back from deficits quite like New York. Still, comebacks have very much been a part of Indiana’s success on the road.

In Game 1 last Wednesday, the Pacers rode a 20-point fourth quarter from Aaron Nesmith and a Tyrese Haliburton miracle bounce on a score-tying shot to force overtime. The Pacers, though, were down by nine points with 55 seconds left.

For the most part, Indiana has relied on its speed and pace in transition to either get out to early leads in road games, or make late surges in fourth quarters. Similar to the blueprint the Knicks have used, however, it’s all about execution down the stretch.

“You get in an environment like this where there’s so much noise and so much going on and so many distractions if you allow yourself to be distracted,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said Friday after Game 2. “We always talk about let the noise and all this other stuff be something to help trigger a narrowed focus — on your teammates, on your job within the team.”

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The SEC faces a choice with its future football schedule: Opt for rivalry games like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia, or continue with cupcake games?
If SEC finally embraces a ninth conference game, it could come with a financial reward from media partner ESPN.
Rivalry games promote strength of SEC’s brand, but can conference’s membership resist the catnip of games against directional schools?

Picture the scene in “Shawshank Redemption” when Morgan Freeman’s character goes in front of the parole board, expecting to be rejected once again. He comments on the mockery of the proceeding and says bluntly, “You go on and stamp your forms, sonny, and stop wasting my time, because, to tell you the truth, I don’t give a (expletive).”

Yeah, that just about sums up my feelings on this upcoming SEC football scheduling debate.

Stay at eight conference games, or go to nine, I don’t much care anymore. Just put the schedule format to a vote in what will be a high-profile discussion item this week at the SEC spring meetings and make a decision.

As it stands, the SEC has approved no schedule format beyond the upcoming 2025 season.

The SEC carried on this scheduling charade for years since the announcement of Texas and Oklahoma joining the league. Some conference members previously pretended like they wanted an additional conference game, only to turtle up come voting time and preserve the eight-game conference schedule that’s supplemented with a feast of non-conference cupcake games.

HEATED MATCHUPS: Ranking the 10 best SEC football rivalries

BEHIND CENTER: Breaking down every SEC quarterback situation

Before this came up for vote the last time in 2023, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey implied that money wouldn’t be a driver in the scheduling decision. Only an idiot would believe that, though. Money talks, and some conference members were reluctant two years ago to add another conference game unless ESPN, the league’s media partner, put more cash on the table. ESPN didn’t sweeten the pot.

Sankey proclaimed before the schedule vote in 2023 that the conference at the vanguard of college athletics “does not stand still.” Days later, the SEC’s membership unanimously voted to stand still with an eight-game conference schedule for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Eighteen months later, the Big Ten, which plays nine conference games, led all conferences with four playoff qualifiers. The jokes write themselves.

Rivalries hang in balance of SEC football schedule debate

The SEC cared so much about secondary rivalries like Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee in its divisional era that it built a schedule format around maintaining those games. This next vote on the schedule will test how much resolve still exists for protecting centuries-long rivalry games.

A nine-game conference schedule would allow for secondary rivalries like those two and others like Texas-Texas A&M to continue annually. Forging ahead with an eight-game format would put those secondary rivalries under threat of interruption unless the league abandons its stated goal of having all schools play each other twice during a four-year period.

Rivalry scenes like the “Prayer at Jordan-Hare” and cigar-puffing Tennessee fans tearing down the goal posts and baptizing them in the river after a long-awaited win on “The Third Saturday in October” help make the SEC brand what it is.

But, maybe SEC members will decide this week that it’s more important to leave room on the schedule for Tennessee to play Furman and Kennesaw State – both will come to Neyland Stadium in 2026! – instead of Alabama, and for Auburn to tussle with Jacksonville State instead of Georgia.

And after the Mississippi beats Wofford 92-0 in 2026, coach Lane Kiffin can chant “S-E-C! S-E-C!” and declare the strength of the SEC (half of which the Rebels didn’t play) so strong that the Rebels deserve a playoff bid with their 9-3 record.

Few SEC teams opt for 10 power conference games in current format

Credit Alabama, Florida and South Carolina for cueing up two Power Four non-conference opponents in 2025 to accompany the eight conference games. If Florida smashes Miami and Florida State en route to a 9-3 record against a rigorous schedule, well, we might see a 9-3 playoff team for the first time.

By comparison, the 13 other SEC teams will play only nine Power Four opponents. That’s one fewer Power Four opponent than teams like Arizona and Central Florida will play.

If Missouri can manage to fend off Central Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Massachusetts, Vanderbilt and one more SEC team, the Tigers would wrap up bowl eligibility.

That’s the beauty of the eight-game conference schedule: Bowl bids await for average teams that can beat bad teams in their out-of-league slate.

The beauty of the SEC adding a ninth conference game would be the creation of more matchups fans want to watch and media partners want to televise.

One fewer cupcake game also would bolster the SEC’s case when it comes time to stump for at-large bids for bubble teams.

Even better, ESPN might now be ready to fork over extra revenue in exchange for that ninth SEC game.

The SEC could even time its rollout of a ninth conference game with playoff expansion that’s probably coming in 2026. A bigger playoff would reduce the risk of an additional conference game thwarting a team’s opportunity for playoff access.

Alternatively, the SEC could stay at eight, turn up its nose at rivalries, rebuff the prospect of a bigger payday from ESPN, protect the cupcake games, and maintain the daintier conference schedule that offers minimal resistance to the league’s weaker members securing a Liberty Bowl bid.

At this point, there’s not much left to debate. So, go on ahead, sonny, and call it to a vote.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com. Follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The U.S.’s chief adversaries, Russia, North Korea and China, all of which are nuclear-armed nations, have condemned President Donald Trump’s space-based defensive plan he dubbed the ‘Golden Dome’ as ‘dangerous’ and a threat to global stability. 

The president discussed his $175 billion plan, which will use satellites and other technologies to detect and intercept a missile strike ‘even if they are launched from other sides of the world,’ Trump said last week.

The defensive plan, though it is believed to be years away before being fully operational despite Trump’s three-year goal mark, sparked stiff backlash from the U.S.’s top competitors, who took direct aim at what they called Trump’s ‘arrogance.’

North Korea’s foreign ministry, whose leader shared an uncommonly cordial relationship with Trump during his first term, called it the equivalent of an ‘outer space nuclear war scenario’ that supports the administration’s strategy for ‘uni-polar domination.’

According to local media outlets, the ministry on Tuesday said it was a ‘typical product of ‘America first’, the height of self-righteousness, arrogance, high-handed and arbitrary practice.’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News’ Digital’s questions regarding the reactions to the plan, intended to resemble Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ defensive capability.

But the North Korean foreign ministry claimed the defensive strategy was actually an ‘attempt to militarize outer space’ and ‘preemptively attain military superiority in an all-round way.’

Similarly, on Tuesday, Russian foreign minister Maria Zakharova said the strategy would undermine the basis of strategic stability by creating a global missile defense system, reported Reuters. 

But her comments were not the first time Moscow aligned its condemnation of the ‘Golden Dome’ as it issued a joint statement with China earlier this month after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for formal talks in Russia.

The duo called the plan ‘deeply destabilizing’ and claimed it erodes the ‘inseparable interrelationship between strategic offensive arms and strategic defensive arms.’

They also argued that it would turn ‘outer space into an environment for placing weapons and an arena for armed confrontation.’

Russia has remained relatively muted in its response following Trump’s Oval Office discussion on the Golden Dome, which came just two days after Trump held a two-hour phone call with Putin. 

But China reiterated its objection to the plan, and following Trump’s announcement on it, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said last week, ‘The project will heighten the risk of turning space into a war zone and creating a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system.’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has rejected the claims that the plan could be viewed as an ‘offensive’ strategy and told Fox News Digital, ‘All we care about is protecting the homeland.’

Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Democrats are spending $20 million on a study examining how to speak to ‘American men’ after losing ground with the demographic during the 2024 election cycle, The New York Times revealed. 

‘Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan’ is a $20 million project crafted by Democrats to ‘study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces’ of male voters, the Times reported Sunday. 

Known as ‘SAM,’ the study will specifically examine young male voters and how the party can connect with the demographic. Additionally, the study advised rolling out pro-Democrat ads in video games. 

The study’s revelation was made in an overarching article detailing the uphill battle Democrats face after the 2024 election, which included Democrats scrambling to replace former President Joe Biden as the nominee with just more than 100 days left in the election cycle and ultimately delivering all seven battleground states to President Donald Trump. 

‘The Democratic Party’s tarnished image could not come at a more inopportune moment,’ the article detailed. ‘In this era of political polarization, the national party’s brand is more important and influential than ever, often driving the outcomes of even the most local of races.’ 

In response, Democrat operatives and donors have gathered at swank hotels to craft plans on how to draw back the working class and male voters, the Times reported. 

Trump made big in-roads with the male vote during the 2024 election cycle. A Fox News Voter Survey published in November 2024 found that men aged 18–44 supported Trump at 53%, compared to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 45%. 

While The Associated Press found that more than half of male voters under the age of 30 voted for Trump instead of Harris — including roughly six-in-10 White male voters supporting Trump — about one-third of Black male voters supported Trump, as did about 50% of young Latino male voters. 

Trump’s support among young Black and Latino male voters jumped by about 20% compared to his 2020 support, the AP reported. 

Democratic strategist Michael Ceraso told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he does not take issue with Democrats investing in voter engagement strategies but added that he found it ‘hilarious’ that ‘people in suits are hanging out at luxury hotels asking how they can talk to day-to-day Americans.’

‘We’re having an issue with the messenger more than the message,’ Ceraso said, arguing that voters support longstanding Democratic policies such as affordable housing, but that ‘Democrats just need to take a reality check’ on how they convey their messaging to voters. 

‘I just don’t understand how, after all these years and all these Democrats who’ve been in the game, how we continue to make those same choices,’ he added. ‘Like Rahm Emmanuel, or all these sort of big names, they’re just like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to figure out how to win in, you know, rural North Carolina by hanging out in a New York hotel.’ That makes no sense to me. And strategically, I don’t care how much money you spend on focus groups, if you’re doing that, you’re just negating any type of investment you’re putting into how to have a conversation with voters.’ 

Democrats spending millions studying American male ‘syntax’ sparked condemnation from conservatives and Democrats alike on social media, Fox News Digital found. 

‘Democratic donors treating men like an endangered species on a remote island they need to study probably won’t rebuild trust,’ MSNBC contributor Rotimi Adeoy posted to X in response to the Times’ report. ‘This kind of top-down, anthropological approach misses the point: people don’t want to be decoded, they want to be understood and met where they are.’ 

‘The idea that you can ‘fix’ the male voter problem that exists with Black, Latino, and white men by spending $20 million to study their syntax like they’re a foreign culture is exactly why there’s a disconnect,’ Adeoy continued. ‘These voters aren’t a research subject. They’re citizens.’ 

Chief political analyst at the Liberal Patriot, Michael Baharaeen, posted to X, ‘This really says it all,’ in response to a tweet quoting the article regarding how ‘Democratic donors and strategists have been gathering at luxury hotels to discuss how to win back working-class voters, commissioning new projects that can read like anthropological studies of people from faraway places.’

‘The fact that Democrats need to drop $20 million just to figure out how to speak to American men tells you everything you need to know. This is the same move they pull on black people. They don’t care about you they only care about your vote!’ conservative podcaster DeVory Darkins posted to X. 

‘Democratic donors are planning to spend $20 million to figure out how to talk to dudes,’ polster Frank Luntz posted to X. 

A handful of critics reposted a video from the 2024 campaign cycle that featured men declaring they were ‘man enough’ to support Harris for president. The grassroots ad went viral in October 2024 as social media commenters panned it as ‘the cringiest political ad ever created’ and pointed out it was created by a former producer for Jimmy Kimmel and featured actors vowing support for Harris. 

The video featured six self-described manly men who claimed they were so masculine that they ate ‘carburetors for breakfast’ and were not ‘afraid of bears,’ while adding they also do not fear women and would support Harris for the Oval Office.

‘Remember the month before the election and Democrats tried to relate to men?. Now they’re trying again spending $20 million,’ one social media commenter posted this week, accompanied by the October 2024 video. 

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To slow Anthony Edwards, the Oklahoma City Thunder returned to their strategy from Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference finals.

Edwards, the unquestioned top threat for the Timberwolves, finished Monday night’s Game 4 loss with 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting, as Minnesota fell into a 3-1 hole. Oklahoma City put multiple bodies in front of Edwards, mirroring its plan from early in the series. And if Minnesota’s postseason run does indeed end here, Oklahoma City’s defensive plan on Edwards can be seen as nothing but decisive.

“I thought the second half was more aggressive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said after the game. “He got downhill, we got him off the ball a bit more. When he got to the paint, I thought he found some people, made the right plays. First half, I thought he lagged behind a little bit too much; he needed to get out in front so that we could stretch the floor and screen for him a bit. But the second half was much better.”

Finch is not wrong. Edwards did start the game deferring considerably, taking his first shot attempt — a driving layup through three Thunder defenders — when there were 35 seconds left in the first quarter. He took just one shot in the second quarter and had attempted his third after nearly two minutes had passed in the third quarter.

But even when Edwards did take actions to assert himself, the Thunder made life difficult. Oklahoma City took advantage of the game being officiated loosely, allowing for physicality along the perimeter.

Therefore, when the Timberwolves launched screen actions on pick-and-rolls, Thunder defenders like Luguentz Dort and Alex Caruso could hand check and body Edwards. And when Edwards was able to slip through the first line, the Thunder clogged the paint with more bodies, tempting Edwards to kick the ball out.

This has been the desired outcome for Oklahoma City throughout the series: pester Edwards enough with one or two bodies, forcing the ball out of his hands.

“I thought Dort early in the game on Edwards was really, really on it,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the game. “He set a great tone and established a level of energy and activity with him that was important. We really made him work for the ball. We really made him work for his shots.”

But even when Edwards sought a switch to Oklahoma City’s center, Chet Holmgren did an excellent job of facing up and using his length to contest deep 3s.

Shot attempt splits have certainly been a problem for Edwards this series — he put up just 13 shot attempts in losses in Games 1 and 4 — but the primary issue has been his inefficiency from deep. In Minnesota’s lone victory, in Game 3 on Saturday, Edwards flushed 5-of-8 shots (62.5%) from beyond the arc.

After going just 1-of-7 Monday night, Edwards is 5-of-24 (20.8%) across the three Timberwolves series losses.

it’s difficult to see the Timberwolves becoming the 14th team in NBA playoff history to overcome a 3-1 deficit without Edwards drastically improving his 3-point efficiency.

Minnesota must also fix its turnovers issue, after committing 23 Monday night, five by Edwards.

“I don’t look at it like I struggled,” Edwards told reporters after the game. “They had a good game plan, making us get off the ball — especially for me, man, they was super in gaps. I made the right play all night. So I don’t look at it like I struggled. I didn’t get enough shots to say I struggled. That might be how you guys look at it, but, yeah, I didn’t struggle at all, I made the right play.”

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