2024 Presidential Election

Vivek Ramaswamy channeled his inner Donald Trump and became the breakout star of the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate in Wisconsin Wednesday night, at least according to a new poll.

The biotech businessman went toe-to-toe with his fellow conservative candidates onstage at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee -- and emerged victorious with a 28 percent approval rating from voters in the Daily Mail poll.

Ron DeSantis slid into the second spot with 27 percent approval. Former Vice President Mike Pence came in third with 13 percent. The other candidates -- Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, Asa Hutchinson -- all polled in the single digits.

Of course, Trump was nowhere to be found because he's, by far, the Republican frontrunner, electing instead to do an interview with Tucker Carlson that aired on X, formerly known as Twitter.

During the two-hour debate, Vivek was thrust into the spotlight during several heated exchanges with his rivals, especially Christie, who compared him to "ChatGPT" -- a form of Artificial Intelligence technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and more with a chatbot.

Vivek also stirred controversy when he was the only candidate to raise his hand after being asked if they would not support an increase in funding for the war in Ukraine.

At one point, the conversation turned to climate change and Vivek labeled it a hoax, prompting boos from the crowd.

He was also quick to put up his arm when asked about whether the candidates would support Trump if he were convicted in any of his four criminal cases.

Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson says she's been iced out of network TV amid her campaign ... but says moving to TikTok has done wonders.

Williamson, formerly known as the "spiritual advisor" to Oprah Winfrey, joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday, chatting about not being able to bring her campaign to TV. She says she eventually realized the social media app would bring a lot of power to her cause.

She says the platform's been a great way to reach young U.S. voters ... and according to her, there's a shocking difference in intelligence on TikTok compared to on big news orgs.

As for the old stigma that young folks aren't rocking the vote, she says that's BS -- and tells us exactly why.

For those unaware, Williamson is 1 of 2 Democrats -- RFK Jr. being the other -- running against current prez, Joe Biden ... and since the DNC doesn't normally hold debates when a current president is in the mix, her campaign has been crucial to getting the word out.

She also wasn't welcomed into the race by her fellow Democrats, and staffers from her 2020 campaign didn't think she should go for it, but her move to TikTok is seemingly helping.

Williamson has raked in over half a million followers -- the most on the app compared to other candidates -- and since making the switch, she's been polling above 20% with voters under 30.

Donald Trump is looking to kick one of his criminal cases down the road -- way down the road -- he wants his federal election interference trial to begin after he gets another shot at the White House.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Trump is seeking to delay his upcoming trial until April 2026 ... instead of the January 2024 trial date Special Counsel Jack Smith wants.

Trump's proposed trial start would fall about 17 months after the 2024 presidential election, in which he's the leading Republican candidate.

According to the docs, Trump says the delay is necessary because prosecutors have produced 11.5 million pages of documents -- which he says if stacked together would stretch nearly 5,000 feet into the sky -- and his attorneys need time to comb through all of it.

The former president is now facing 4 criminal cases, but this is related to his federal indictment for attempting to undermine the 2020 election with his actions on, before and after January 6, 2021.

Remember, prosecutors at the Department of Justice charged Trump on Aug. 1 with 4 counts -- conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights (to vote).

Trump's pleaded not guilty ... and Smith's team of prosecutors previously filed docs requesting jury selection begin in December, with the trial starting Jan. 2.

Of course, that would be square in the middle of Trump's campaign for the 2024 election -- keep in mind the Iowa Caucus is on Jan. 15.

So, it's not all that surprising Trump wants to hit pause, and push it until well after the 2024 election ... to a date when he could actually be POTUS, once again. That would make more history.

Vivek Ramaswamy — a 2024 Republican Presidential candidate — is beating Donald Trump in at least one category — rapping!!

The fresh-faced businessman turned politician hit the stage at the Iowa State Fair during a campaign stop Saturday — and he wowed the packed crowd by belting out Eminem’s 2002 hit, “Lose Yourself.”

Check out the video … Vivek just kills it, grabbing the mic and spitting out the lyrics Slim Shady-style as the song played over the sound system. The fans loved it ... and some probably thought Vivek gave Em a little run for his money as a hip hop artist.

Before launching into his performance, Vivek revealed to the audience Em’s tune is his fave on the campaign trail; he always strolls out on stage to it, but this is the first time everyone has gotten a good hard look at Vivek's musical chops and he's pretty kick-ass.

Vivek is also kicking butt in the polls ... some recent assessments put Vivek in third place in his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Former President Donald Trump just pulled up for his latest indictment ... in which prosecutors say he tried to overthrow the 2020 election, leading to the January 6 riots.

Trump sat in the back of a black SUV Thursday in D.C. as it rolled up to the courthouse. It's tough to see him because of the vehicle's tint ... but he appeared to give a wave. BTW -- you'll be able to see him better if you hold your screen at a distance.

As we reported, DT's facing 4 new counts -- conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights (to vote).

Special Counsel Jack Smith spoke about Trump's latest indictment when it was unsealed on Tuesday ... saying Trump's involvement in the January 6 riots is a big part of their case. He was sounding pretty certain the feds have built a solid case against the former Prez.

You may recall, while President Trump was impeached for inciting the riots, he was acquitted when his case reached the Senate floor.

Trump took to Truth Social Tuesday -- before his new indictment went public -- to get ahead of the noise ... calling Smith "Deranged," saying the indictment is BS, and calling himself "your favorite President" in true Trump fashion.

Trump's already facing 2 other criminal cases ... one in NY state court about his alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels before he was elected, and another in federal court in Florida about his alleged efforts to conceal classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House.

His triple indictment doesn't seem to be slowing down his campaign for the 2024 election ... and we learned Trump could lose in court -- even get locked up in prison -- and still serve if elected. Imagine that.

Donald Trump has another criminal case on his hands -- another grand jury has indicted him, this time for attempting to undermine the 2020 election with his actions on, before and after January 6, 2021.

The ex-President's been hit with 4 new counts -- conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct and official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights (to vote).

Trump took to Truth Social to beat the feds to the punch, announcing he would be indicted before the feds could drop the bombshell. Trump wrote, "I hear that Deranged (Special Counsel) Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M."

He adds, "Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!"

Remember, Trump has two other criminal cases that are currently pending -- one pertains to his alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, and another is tied to his classified documents scandal post-presidency down in Florida.

In both instances, Trump has pleaded not guilty. Ya gotta assume, he'll do the same here.

Trump was impeached over his role in the Jan. 6 riot -- but was ultimately acquitted in Congress when the proceedings reached the Senate. He very memorably encouraged protesters that day to head on over to the Capitol, and was slow to tell them to stand down.

Interestingly, Trump's been full steam ahead on the campaign regardless of his legal woes -- he continues to hold rallies, including one this past weekend, as the 2024 election nears.

Trump has been summoned to appear in federal court Thursday in D.C. to face the new charges.

Travis Scott is casting an early vote for the 2024 presidential election ... saying on his latest album he'd choose his bud Kanye West over current Prez Joe Biden.

TS took a dig at Biden on his track, "Skitzo" -- a hit from his "Utopia" album, which came out on Friday. In the song, he says, "Crazy how they love to talk s*** and got no Trident / I’m loyal, bitch, I got Ye over Biden."

As we reported, Ye's been talking quite a bit about sliding into the Oval Office next year, although he hasn't officially thrown his hat in the ring.

Worth noting Kanye's got producing or songwriting credits on a few tracks for Travis' album, and they've been close friends for a while ... so this could be just a friendly shout-out -- but it sure doesn't sound like it.

ICYMI, Kanye supporters have been selling "Ye24" merch for a while, with things like phone cases and hoodies for fans to scoop up and show their support.

The rapper's also been restructuring his presidential campaign team -- bringing his frequent collaborator Milo Yiannopoulos back on board in May as his Director of Political Operations ... giving the boot to the controversial former man in charge, Nick Fuentes.

From there, Milo started "cleaning house," according to him ... the campaign committee's treasurer resigned and Ali Alexander also got the boot around the same time.

Kanye also saw sponsors and companies drop him amid his antisemitic rants last year, so it seemed like all support for the guy was lost.