The vice president told students on Wednesday that he hopes his wife, Usha, who is Hindu, converts to Christianity someday.

Food stamps are a way to feed hungry kids, not a political bargaining chip or an engine for growth.

Former Jeb Bush communication director Tim Miller said President Donald Trump’s willingness to starve families to force Democrats to approve a controversial budget will come back to haunt Trump and Republicans in the next few weeks. Lawmakers say the SNAP benefits Trump is refusing to fund during the shutdown have already been paid for by taxpayers and that contingency language is in place to ensure payouts continue even in the event of a government shutdown. But the Trump administration deleted that language from the federal website. Now, Miller says even red state governors with a hint of foresight are wringing their hands. “Even red states like Louisiana are acting on this in large part because a lot of the people that receive SNAP assistance are Republicans, particularly in a state like Louisiana, because our economy sucks so bad. So, you know, this is just a real bind that Trump is putting Republican governors in,” Miller said. “And, more importantly, it's a bind that he's voluntarily putting Americans in, including a lot of people that vote for him, who need this assistance in order to have the groceries and the food that they and their families need, that their kids need.” “They're f—— over a lot of kids,” Miller added. “[Sen.] John Thune is in South Dakota where it's like 70 percent of SNAP … money is going to families with kids. What do they do? It is an unbelievable stupid political policy. It is an unbelievably heartless policy. And it's all on Trump and the Trump administration.” Miller said the administration has “made a decision on their own that they're OK with people not having food,” despite claiming to work for low-income voters. “[There’s] this contradiction of MAGA-Trumpism, where Trump has done better with and worked for the votes of lower-income, working-class folks of all races, but particularly working-class whites in red states in America. … but the policies are harmful to them. The expiration of SNAP … is the most acute example of this,” Miller said. “If the party had fully switched to being a multiracial, multi-ethnic working-class party like they pay lip service to, this would be an emergency right now. They'd be like, ‘our own voters are literally going to go hungry. Beginning this weekend, we need to service them.’ And meanwhile, Donald Trump's in China, or in Korea, getting a Burger King Happy Meal crown from the head of South Korea, and Congress isn't even in session.” But “this stuff is absolutely going to come to a head,” Miller said, predicting something would happen “sometime within the next week.” Read and watch Miller’ report at this link.

Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado has backed President Trump’s boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea, placing blame for deaths from U.S. air strikes squarely on the shoulders of Venezuelan …