Facebook posts – Despite renewed claims, Hillary Clinton still doesn’t have Parkinson’s disease

Republicans were shocked by President Donald Trump's finger-pointing and have questioned what's next after his lackluster primetime speech.

White House insiders and GOP lawmakers were reacting to responses to Trump's speech, CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes told viewers Thursday.

"Look, they're all watching everything closely, and they've seen how it's been reviewed. I will say one thing. The White House worked together as a team, as they often do the inner circle to craft this speech. And they needed a speech in which President Trump would stay on message, that was short, that addressed the economy," Holmes said.

Trump blamed former President Joe Biden, a common move he's made in the past — something his team has begged him to stop doing — and tried to say the economy was better than before.

"Now, whether or not you think his message was true, we obviously know that there were numbers that were inflated or just plain wrong. Or if you think that he went off topic, airing his grievances, he did talk about the economy more than we've ever we've seen him in the last several months," Holmes said. "And that is what the White House was intending to do, to try and get the message across that he is aware that things are not in the place that they need to be, and that they are working on it as an administration."

That message did not land well, she said. And Republicans outside the White House had a different response to what the White House had aimed for, "which is try and alleviate people's fears."

Instead, it only ramped up people's worries, especially ahead of the midterms.

"Republicans came out of that speech more anxious that the messaging around the economy was not where it should be going into 2026, and that the party as a whole was not really solidified in that messaging about the economy, especially when it came to all of this blame on the previous administration," Holmes said.

Trump's former campaign advisers have claimed that the president has previously made gains in convincing people he has an understanding of improving the economy. But now things have changed.

"The other thing they said was that it was a lot easier to run when President Trump himself wasn't in power. When you are running against something, you were saying, you can change something," she added. "Now he is facing the same exact circumstances that President Biden was facing at the time, and handling it the exact same way, which, of course, is raising a lot of questions as to where Republicans are going to go from here."

The internet shared plenty of responses on Monday after President Donald Trump blamed Brown University over his own FBI for failing to swiftly catch the suspect in a mass shooting on campus this weekend.

A manhunt was underway Monday while investigators continued to search for the suspect in the shooting that left two students dead and nine others injured over the weekend in Providence, Rhode Island. During a press conference on Monday, Trump suggested that the university had somehow mismanaged the initial investigation.

"It's always difficult. So far, we've done a very good job of doing it, with Charlie [Kirk], with the various times this has happened. They've done it pretty much in record time. You'd really have to ask the school about that," Trump said.

Social media users responded to Trump's comments:

"He is literally the worst person," user Hayley Becker wrote on X.

"If you watch carefully you can see the specific instant when Trump decides to try to shift blame for the failure to catch the perpetrator of the Brown University shooting from Kash Patel and the FBI - who claimed credit for catching the wrong person yesterday - to the university," Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), wrote on X.

"He just really blamed the school for getting shot up I hate it here," user Mari wrote on X.

"Then: FBI chief takes credit for detaining 'person of interest' in Brown U. shooting (person later released). https://x.com/fbidirectorkash/status/2000244040667676940?s=46 Now: Go ask the school why they haven’t caught anyone," writer Paul Farhi wrote on X.

"I didn't think it was possible for his Rob Reiner post to be the second most repulsive thing he said today," MeidasTouch editor Ron Filipkowski wrote on X.

"This guys could give a s---- about anything that he can’t profit from or denigrate others. Despicable that Americans voted for this disgraceful man," user Mike Swain wrote on X.

Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend revealed a rare glimpse inside the late financier and convicted child offender's life — and how he manipulated women "for connections, for money and for social capital."

Patricia Schmidt, who was a 23-year-old working at Bear Stearns, shared pages from her diary with The New York Times Magazine and, for the first time, spoke publicly about her relationship with Epstein. Schmidt first interacted with Epstein after her boss sent her to his home in 1987.

The diary contains descriptions of her life, the couple's interactions and moments together from the 1980s.

In one remembrance, Epstein had apparently confused Schmidt's mother, whose maiden name was Arlene Dahl, with a former Hollywood starlet with the same name. But that wasn't actually the case and Schmidt never corrected him. In May 1987, he apparently found out and then called her at work to chastise her over it.

"It was terribly awkward," she said. "He sort of felt played."

By February 1988, Schmidt arrived at Epstein's apartment at 1 a.m. where he was on the phone with Eva Andersson, his longtime girlfriend that friends have said "was the love of his life." He lied to Andersson, telling her that he was receiving work materials and passed the phone to Schmidt to try and "back him up."

"Schmidt perceived it as a power play by Epstein, who was seeking not only to appease Andersson but also to show Schmidt that she was not his top priority — and that he was in control of both," according to The Times.

The dynamics between the two and diary entries show the unique ways Epstein attempted to use this "relationship for his advantage."

"On a number of occasions, Schmidt described in her diary how she and Epstein had sex. But other times, she noted his preference for cuddling or kissing on the cheek. 'He was like a little boy almost,'" she said.

In July 1989, Schmidt told Epstein that a married colleague said he liked her. She initially told him in an effort "to remind him of my value" and that another man was interested in her.

But that backfired.

"His response was that Schmidt was being naïve if she thought the man was looking for anything other than sex," according to The Times. "In the diary, Schmidt berated herself for having hurt Epstein."

"In the end, though, she was the one feeling guilty — a sign that Epstein still had the upper hand," The Times reported.