John Fetterman has lost his top three communications staffers in the past month, a striking series of departures that follows the Pennsylvania senator’s sudden break with the left.

Deputy communications director Nick Gavio’s last day in Fetterman’s office is Friday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. His departure follows that of Fetterman’s former communications director Joe Calvello, who left earlier this month, and press and digital aide Emma Mustion.

Mustion left to join the reelection campaign for Bob Casey, the other Pennsylvania senator. But Calvello now works for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Gavio is about to join the Working Families Party—both far more progressive spaces.

Calvello and Gavio were highly complimentary about their time in Fetterman’s office, with Gavio saying he was “deeply honored” to have worked with the freshman senator. But their new employers stand in stark contrast with Fetterman, who in recent months has received blowback for his conservative stances on Gaza, immigration, and public funds.

The Working Families Party is a minor left-wing party focused on labor rights and education reform, among other issues. Johnson was elected in April after campaigning on redirecting public funds away from policing and toward investments in mental health, public housing, and youth opportunities. When Calvello’s appointment was announced in early March, he described Johnson as a “true progressive” and said he was “deeply honored to join his administration.”

Although Fetterman campaigned as an irreverent, progressive outsider, he has alienated many supporters in recent months over his staunch support for Israel during its war on Gaza and his support for heavy restrictions on immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. In December he proudly declared, “I’m not a progressive.” Fetterman has also accused Democrats criticizing Joe Biden of essentially being MAGA voters in disguise.

But despite what many see as a complete 180, Fetterman continues to insist that he hasn’t changed at all.

Donald Trump is still tiptoeing around violating the gag order in his hush-money trial, this time launching fresh vitriol at Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter while referring her to his followers by name.

“Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately,” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday afternoon. “His Daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me.”

“She works for Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and other Radical Leftists who Campaign on ‘Getting Trump,’ and fundraise off the ‘Biden Indictments’—including this Witch Hunt, which her father ‘presides’ over, a TOTAL Conflict—and attacking Biden’s Political Opponent through the Courts. Former D.A. Cy Vance refused to bring this case, as did all Federal Agencies, including ‘Elections,’” he continued.

Trump’s new line of attack against Merchan’s daughter comes after he targeted her for allegedly sharing a doctored photo of Trump behind bars on social media. That theory was quickly debunked after a representative for the New York state court system pointed out that the account wasn’t hers.

Judge Merchan is overseeing Trump’s first criminal trial and the only one currently scheduled to take place before the election. On Tuesday, Trump won himself a gag order after attacking Merchan’s daughter. The partial gag order forbids Trump from speaking publicly about courtroom staff, prosecutors, or any of their family members. Comments about jurors are also prohibited, as well as comments about witnesses—but wiggle room still exists within the order that allows Trump to attack Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

It remains to be seen what, if any, consequences there will be for the continued attacks.

Trump should be no stranger to the legality of gag orders—so far, he’s been hit with them in two of his other legal trials. In October, Judge Arthur Engoron silenced the former president after he ushered a scourge of far-right vitriol onto Engoron’s chief law clerk. Trump was later fined $15,000 for violating the order. Judge Tanya Chutkan also imposed a gag order on the former president in his election interference trial.

A record-breaking fundraiser for President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign raised a whopping $26 million, with the help of two high-profile speakers and a star-studded guest list.

On Thursday, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined Biden in New York City for a unique campaign event that included comedians Mindy Kaling and Stephen Colbert as moderators; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as additional speakers; and Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, and Lea Michele as guests. It was, as First Lady Jill Biden put it, “the fundraiser to end all fundraisers.”

The historic unity train stood in stark contrast to Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump, whose team has already admitted they won’t be able to match those numbers. His aggressive, far-right politics and derisive approach to leadership (that includes strong-arming the party on the national stage and one notorious instance in which he allowed a mob of his followers to ransack the Capitol building) have also kept his former Cabinet members and former Vice President Mike Pence from endorsing his bid for reelection.

The only semblance of support that Trump could get similar to Thursday’s turnout for Biden would be to convince the last Republican president, George W. Bush, to endorse him … though it would be a long shot. In past elections, the majority of the Bush family, including Presidents George........

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