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HYPE FEAR BOLLING ISLAMOPHOBE ilhan omar HIGBEE
iran war 3
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SEE ISLAMOPHOBE
vs oann for the next fox?
see cardillo
see fail 3 on covid
see measles vaxx
see snap assholery
see ruddy ceo
see greg kelly pow HIGBIE AM 1ST POL POW DEMONIZATION
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Newsmax host visibly cringes as Boebert gets smacked around in debate
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November 5, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Speaking of shooting yourself in the foot and doing stuff that should be an insult. On election night — so Trump rips into Fox for its coverage, particularly using Bill de Blasio, the guy who offered free french fries for a vaccine that ultimately led to a lot of heart problems. Democrat socialist as a pundit. And he’s on there saying Fox bears responsibility for these losses by constantly putting on the Dumocrat opposite. Yeah. What the hell, man?
KAY SMYTHE (NEWSMAX CONTRIBUTOR): I mean, isn’t that just Fox News? ... They’re just trash. Like, I don’t know. It’s been, I mean, it’s been many years that I’ve been back in news media, and I’ve yet to meet anyone that likes Fox, likes working there, likes being around them. I mean, this is just, it breaks my heart that any portion of the population still watches that trash. They know that Fox News, and it’s also like, go over to Newsmax. Not only are the shows more fun, but you’re going to get like actual legitimate truth from what's going on in the world. I don't know, it's just — and maybe it's just the Daily Caller in me but every time I think about Fox News, I just want to throw up in my mouth
//
11/05/26 1:35 PM EST
11/06/26 1:43 PM EST
Podcast Wars: Election Meltdown Edition
11/06/26
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In targeting Abdul El-Sayed, right-wing media figures are objecting to the very idea of Muslims in the United States
In the last stretch before the midterms, conservative pundits are demonizing Muslims -- often without even superficial pretexts to conceal their bigotry
Written by John Knefel
Research contributions from Sophie Lawton
Published 10/28/26
With just days left until Election Day, right-wing media figures are speaking about Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in openly Islamophobic terms, equating his Muslim identity with terrorism or antisocial tendencies often without even a pretext of justification.
Islamophobia has long been endemic in conservative media and it was foundational to the creation of the post-9/11 national security state, two political forces that are inextricably linked. Even acknowledging this contemporary history, recent comments made by right-wing pundits about El-Sayed — whose race could determine control of the Senate — are remarkable for their blatant, undisguised bigotry.
If the unmistakable signal conveyed by repeating Barack Obama’s middle name was perhaps too subtle, right-wing figures are now simply making that subtext the plain text.
An October 22 comment by Fox News host Jesse Watters exemplifies this dynamic. “It's kind of silly that you have an FBI agent running against a Muslim,” Watters said on The Five. “It writes itself.”
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From the October 22, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Five.
In Watters’ telling, simply being Muslim calls into question a candidate’s fitness for elected office. His overt bigotry is an extension and intensification of a phenomenon I documented in August after El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan, in which right-wing media figures described him and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is also Muslim, as leading figures in a supposed red-green alliance between socialists and Islamists.
On his own show that evening, Watters again deployed El-Sayed’s religion as a pejorative. “Abdul’s been stuck in the Muslim muck for about a month,” he said.
Greg Gutfeld, Watters’ co-host on The Five, gave a similar analysis of the supposed defects of Muslim communities. “The problem with Muslimism in America is separatism and rebellion against assimilation,” Gutfeld said.
His co-host, Dana Perino, added: “The nonassimilation thing, I think, is really important.”
Like Fox News, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast is a hotbed of open Islamophobia. Bannon previously referred to Mamdani as “a Ugandan Marxist jihadist that should be denaturalized,” and the show’s coverage of the Michigan Senate race has been more of the same.
On the October 10 episode, guest and former Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes called El-Sayed a “crazy jihadi,” language that President Donald Trump echoed later in the month.
“The Muslims in Dearborn, the radical, America-hating Muslims from Dearborn, they put their jihadi in. He’s their nominee,” Cortes said.
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From the October 10, 2026, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room
Then on the October 17 episode, guest and Michigan right-wing activist Ron Armstrong praised two Democratic operatives who wrote an op-ed arguing against El-Sayed, adding that El-Sayed’s religion is an explicit reason to oppose him.
“They will not be voting for Abdul Sayed, period,” Armstrong said of the op-ed, before adding his own criticisms: “He is extreme. He is radical. He is Muslim. He's anti-Christian. All of the things that we know.”
On The Charlie Kirk Show — which, like War Room, airs on Real America’s Voice — host Andrew Kolvet discussed El-Sayed’s support, or lack thereof, among Black voters.
“He might have all the Abduls, and all the Mohammeds — he might have Dearborn on lockdown,” Kolvet said, but “he doesn’t have the Black preachers.”
“You can eat all the fried chicken you want, Mr. El-Sayed, but your middle name is still Mohammed,” Kolvet said, adding that El-Sayed couldn’t be “honest” about “your religion.”
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From the October 20, 2026, edition of Real America's Voice's The Charlie Kirk Show
Cortes was a guest on the show’s October 8 episode to promote an Islamophobic documentary about Dearborn, Michigan. “I'm trying to raise the warning for the good citizens of Michigan and all over America that Islam is not compatible — it is simply not compatible with Western civilization, with our way of life.”
Over on Newsmax, host Carl Higbie referred to El-Sayed and Mamdani as “two Muslim people that, I don’t think, copes well with the American ideology.”
Elsewhere at the network, host Rob Schmitt interviewed right-wing radio host Michael Savage, who asked of El-Sayed: “Why do all of these Muslim politicians have this arrogant, imperious sneer as though they're getting over on us, in front of our own eyes and we're not doing anything about it?”
“He's literally saying to us, Dummy, I'm going to do you in when I get in, and you can't do anything about it,” he continued.
Savage went on to say El-Sayed was the “proverbial scorpion that is being led across the river on your back, and when I sting you and you're dying, you'll look up and say, Why did you sting me? I'll say to you, because I'm a scorpion. That's this man to a T.”
On her Pod Force One podcast, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine referred to El-Sayed as a “socialist, Muslim-supremacist candidate.”
MAGA media figure Wayne Allyn Root called El-Sayed, “a communist, radical Muslim,” and added that “Islam is a death sentence for Western civilization,” and is “incompatible with America and the U.S. Constitution.”
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From the October 8, 2026, edition of War Zone Live with Wayne Allyn Root, streamed on Rumble
In addition to these somewhat more standard right-wing outlets and figures, there is a growing swarm of right-wing content creators who often characterize themselves as independent journalists producing street-level footage that purports to depict a Muslim “invasion” or “Islamic takeover.” As but one example, Islamophobic provocateur Jake Lang held an event during which “crusaders” protested an El-Sayed event while holding signs calling him a terrorist.
Citation
From Jake Lang's Instagram account, posted October 11, 2026
Anti-Muslim bigotry in right-wing media extends beyond El-Sayed, of course. Figures in that world repeatedly tried to link Mamdani with 9/11, based on nothing but his religion and city of residence. Conservative pundits have spent years demonizing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), including calling for her denaturalization and deportation, which the Trump administration is now pursuing. Some in right-wing media are attempting to link the protests in Paris to the rise of progressive Muslim candidates and politicians in the United States under the myth of the “red-green alliance.”
What we’re seeing now in the closing days of the Michigan race is the poisonous bigotry that is always just below the surface in right-wing media is now seeping out through its pores.
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Newsmax host says Alex Pretti and Renee Good were “basically terrorists”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 10/23/26
Video
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From the October 22, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT (HOST): Another restaurant run by a leftist is also closing. Post Modern Times in Minneapolis made headlines for giving away free meals to all customers except ICE agents earlier this year after anti-ICE agitators and basically terrorists Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot. The freeloaders then poured in, including homeless vagrants and drug addicts, all coming for the free food. They scared away anybody that was willing to pay for any food, and they ended up $70,000 in debt, and they're also closing that restaurant in Minneapolis. Who could have seen this coming?
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Right-wing media villainize and blame Renee Good for her own death in Minneapolis ICE shooting
01/09/26 3:53 PM EST
01/26/26 9:14 AM EST
What election deniers are planning for the midterms
10/23/26
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Newsmax host speculates that Jalen Hurts' blood clots are due to the COVID vaccine
10 26
October 21, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): You know it's not normal. It keeps happening. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, a Super Bowl champion, out for the season, maybe the end of his career. Who knows? After blood clots were found in both lungs, he's in his 20's, and this just keeps happening.
Seemingly healthy young athletes dying or suffering major medical emergencies since getting the mRNA COVID vaccine that is still experimental. They were mass administered to a global population, and no one in the medical community seems to have any interest in connecting the dots or even attempting to do so between this vaccine, which Jalen Hurts was very vocal about getting, and athletes dying or getting really, really sick.
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Right-wing figures use Damar Hamlin's NFL injury to spread anti-vaccine misinformation
01/03/23 4:15 PM EST
Bronny James is the latest target of the antivax conspiracy theory echo chamber
07/26/23 2:33 PM EDT
10/21/26
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Here are the right-wing media figures endorsing “despicable” ad from Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy
The ad features Democratic nominee Amy Acton’s estranged mother, who defended her husband’s reported sexual assault of Acton when she was a child
Written by Zachary Pleat
Research contributions from Gideon Taaffe
Published 10/21/26
Multiple right-wing media figures are promoting an ad released this week by Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign targeting his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, featuring her mother calling her a liar. However, Acton has been estranged from her parent since the age of 12 in 1978, when her mother defended the candidate’s stepfather against accusations he had sexually assaulted Acton for two years, then fled the state with him as he became a fugitive from charges of child sexual abuse.
In Ramaswamy’s ad, which right-wing media personalities praised as “brilliant” and “absolutely hilarious,” Acton’s estranged mother accused her of lying about her past. But court records accessed by ABC affiliate News 5 Cleveland back up Acton’s story, with the outlet reporting, “Mahoning County Court records we obtained show that Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with sexually abusing Acton, then 12 years old. The abuse went from ages 10-12, she said.” The article continued: “After pleading not guilty, he posted bond and fled, becoming a fugitive of the state until his death in 2004. Police tried to find him for numerous years, documents state. He and Acton's mother moved to Pennsylvania, according to public records.”
Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, issued a statement following the Ramaswamy ad’s release, saying, “It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point. … After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”
Yet some right-wing media personalities are celebrating the ad, which Ramaswamy campaign manager Jonathan Ewing said “is a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton.” Ramaswamy also shared commentary on the ad and Acton more generally from right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly.
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles praised Ramaswamy’s ad as “brilliant, brilliant.” Knowles added: “I think it's a very, very effective ad. It's brutal.” [The Daily Wire, The Michael Knowles Show, 10/20/26]
Newsmax host Greg Kelly: “Everybody in Ohio and the country should be listening to Amy Acton's mom.” Kelly repeatedly praised Acton’s mother, saying, “The mother speaks with love here. I believe the mother loves Amy.” He continued: “And she seems like a very nice lady, actually.” Kelly concluded: “Wow, that's some — the mother, I believe her.” [Newsmax, The Greg Kelly Show, 10/20/26]
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From the October 20, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
Podcaster and former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said of Ramaswamy’s ad: “This is the most destructive political ad I have ever seen.” Bongino added: “How do you vote for this lady? It's her mom. That's mom dukes. Ma, mommy, mom, ma. My kid goes, Ma. How do you vote?” [Rumble, The Dan Bongino Show, 10/20/26]
Trump political operative Roger Stone used the ad to smear Acton, saying, “Turns out she’s been lying for personal gain.” Stone claimed that Stearn’s statement “seems like a poor explanation.” [Red Apple Audio Network, The Stone Zone, 10/20/26]
Gateway Pundit’s Wayne Allyn Root called the ad “absolutely hilarious.” Root used the ad to say, “The more you meet these Democrat candidates, they’re all crazy. They’re all covering up for the fact that they’ve had mental illness their whole life. They’re crazy, whacked-out people.” [The Gateway Pundit, War Zone with Wayne Allyn Root, 10/20/26]
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Newsmax host on Fort Hood shooter's execution: “Livestream it. I don't care if my tax dollars go to advertising it and playing it during the next Super Bowl.”
Carl Higbie: “I hope they dip their bullets in bacon before they shoot him”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 10/13/26
Video
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From the October 12, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): I hope they dip their bullets in bacon before they shoot him. I don't care about dignity or honor or anything else in the mechanism to kill this man. I want this guy dead. I don't care if it's by an A-10 gunship, an AC-130, fast movers dropping GBU-85's or 84's on this guy. I don't care if it's a platoon. I don't care if they beat him to death. I certainly don't care that he is in a wheelchair, zero sympathy because he killed my brothers and sisters.
People worried about him being a martyr. He'd be a martyr if we don't kill him. I will send him to hell in the most disrespectful way possible, and then I will turn around and look at any other person who even thinks about doing what he did or any remnants of that and remind them that they have no path to the afterlife because we'll do the same
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September 29, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): So Jay, how do you put somebody like Jack Smith in jail? I mean, let's be honest. I think Fani Willis, I think Jack Smith, I think the moron in New York, what's his name?
JESSE BINNALL (GUEST): Alvin Bragg.
HIGBIE: Yeah. Alvin Bragg and all his cabal. They should all be buried under the jail. However, let's start with Jack Smith. He's the head of the snake. How do you put them in jail? What's the path?
JAY TOWN (GUEST): Yeah. It's very tough because of the immunity that is afforded prosecutors. Now the Southern District of Florida does have a grand jury about the grand conspiracy. And look, if you lie to Congress, it doesn't matter if you have immunity. If you've lied to any investigator that has interviewed Jack Smith, you don't have immunity. And so I think that's the maybe the only way we can get him. But the accountability here, Jesse was also right about the damage that's been done to my beloved DOJ, the FBI especially.
//
09/29/26 12:30 PM EDT
09/28/26 3:56 PM EDT
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Greg Kelly claims CNN “deserve” their ban from the White House grounds
09/23/26
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Newsmax host says he was “out of line” during Peter Navarro interview for interrupting the “totally brilliant” “MAGA royalty” “hero”
Greg Kelly: “I'm usually in a listening mode. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, had a chip on my shoulder that night. I don't know what, but I was interrupting."
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 09/14/26 1:17 PM EDT
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Citation
From the September 11, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): Counselor to the president, Peter Navarro — the man is MAGA royalty. Totally brilliant, PhD. He's also a guy who just follows the truth. He doesn't let prevailing conventional wisdom get in the way. No, the man is brave. He has been arrested, right, for his integrity. Remember that whole fiasco about January 6? Whether it was COVID or trade, he's made great, great points about election integrity. The man is a hero, OK?
...
Folks, I got to tell you, I'm usually in a listening mode. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, had a chip on my shoulder that night. I don't know what, but I was interrupting. Folks who watch this show know I don't like to interrupt. But I did. And maybe I got it in my head, oh, well, Peter, maybe, did he leak something? No, he didn't leak anything. He was spot on, and I was out of line.
...
I wanted to kind of clear this up, and I also wanted to — why am I clearing it up? Well, September 11. This is the 25th anniversary, right? And who out there can procrastinate, right? I'm the worst. I tell you, I can get things done that are super duper important, that must be done, deadlines and all that stuff.
But when it came time to apologizing to Peter Navarro, right, I got it in my head, first of all, well, wait a second, I don't have to, I, you know [unintelligible] — I don't know. I had to apologize. I saw a tweet from somebody and they said, wow, it's really nice that Peter Navarro let Greg Kelly talk. It's supposed to be the other way around. So also I noticed the thing that a lot of us have — I know I have. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I'll write him a letter. I'll send him a book. I will — and it becomes this whole thing. And it becomes another way of not doing what you have to do. Apologizing. And I apologized to Peter Navarro, and it was my fault. He didn't deserve that, and it felt good to apologize. And it felt even better when he accepted my apology.
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Newsmax attacks Fox for ousting Maria Bartiromo
Citation
Newsmax
Fox announced last week that longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo has left the network; her attorney has disputed that. As Matt Gertz notes for MS Now, “The central offense that resulted in Fox apparently parting ways with her was that she gave the White House internal Fox News communications about claims Trump was pushing about China and the 2020 election. Rather than encouraging the network’s stars to tell their viewers the truth about the president’s fantasies, Fox executives ordered them not to mention them.”
Steve Bannon, who has ties himself with Bartiromo, hosted White House adviser Peter Navarro. Navarro defiantly admitted that he shared a text from Bartiromo with the White House and told Bannon that Fox News' CEO Suzanne Scott “should prostrate herself before President Trump for disrespecting the office” and “put Maria right back in the anchor chair.”
Perhaps one has jumped on this story more than people on air at Newsmax.
Host Bob Brooks said Baritormo’s ouster suggests that Fox has moved further to the left, while host Rob Finnerty said Fox has a history of firing “very big Trump supporters.” Greg Kelly agreed that Fox is “anti-Trump."
Newsmax is always happy to attack a competitor, but there may be more here than a petty rivalry. The Dominion case revealed that Fox News paid very close attention to how Newsmax tried to attack it from the right, and it reacted accordingly when it started to lose viewers. Should something similar happen again — say, if Republicans lose seats in the midterms and Fox acknowledges them while Newsmax says otherwise, and Fox's audience prefers the Newsmax narrative — Fox would be in the same bind it was in 2020. That is a hypothetical of course and there are numerous other ways this all may play out. Either way, this situation is worth keeping an eye on.
...
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August 13, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): In San Diego, this is so bizarre. So, several Muslims students are now requesting special foods in public schools because of their religion, even though they already get either free or reduced priced lunches.
...
FINNERTY: OK, two things. One, she's very well spoken, but this is part of assimilation. Not only are you getting free lunch that the taxpayers are paying for, but I'm sorry if we don't provide falafel or whatever it is you want that's culturally appropriate. This is part of assimilation into this country. You're also getting free lunch. It's like my mom used to say when we were little. I was one of four and when dinner came, if one of us didn't like dinner and inevitably every night one of us didn't like whatever dinner was, she'd go you better eat because that's dinner. So you better eat, because that's lunch. And it's free. That's a good deal.
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Newsmax host claims Minnesota Senate candidate and Native American Peggy Flanagan “is not an Indian”
Senate candidate and Native American Peggy Flanagan “is not an Indian”
Flanagan is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. Newsmax's Greg Kelly says “she passes herself off as an Indian — I have my doubts.”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 08/13/26
Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor of Minnesota, has spoken openly and repeatedly about how she is a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She is also the daughter of the famed Native land rights and sovereignty activist Marvin Manypenny.
August 12, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): She passes herself off as an Indian — I have my doubts. Is this Pocahontas 2? Sacagawea? Alright. Who is this person? This is Peggy Flanagan. She was the, or is the lieutenant governor up there in Minnesota. She is now the Democrat nominee to be the next U.S. senator.
...
KELLY: So this is a person who identifies as a Chippewa Indian, alright? But it's the same person I saw win last night, the primary, Peggy. Peggy is not an Indian, I don't care what they say, right? This is a — I mean, you know what it reminds me of a little bit? Pocahontas, right? Pocahontas 2. I think the name for, what's her name again? Peggy? Peggy. Sacagawea, can we call her Sacagawea? I don't know, maybe she's got 10%, 2%, 5%, it really shouldn't matter. And all of the advantages you get on certain applications. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder.
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08/14/26 1:08 PM EDT
Newsmax host claims Minnesota Senate candidate and Native American Peggy Flanagan “is not an Indian”
08/13/26 12:55 PM EDT
Newsmax guest: “Where Islam grows, freedom dies”
08/12/26
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Newsmax guest: "Where Islam grows, freedom dies"
August 11, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): We've been forced to accept a lot of change. Small American cities and towns all across the country have been changed completely over the last two decades. This is a wedding in Hamtramck, Michigan. Notice the knives. Amy Mekelburg is the founder of the RAIR Foundation. She is one of the only journalists in the country who's has been covering this slow erosion of Western culture across America.
Amy, appreciate you being here. I want to focus on the small city of Hamtramck, Michigan. So, it's right outside Detroit. It's a couple miles away from the Ford international headquarters, what used to be. Now it's a Muslim majority city, which is fine, but can you tell me what life is like now in Hamtramck?
AMY MEKELBURG (GUEST): Hi, it's nice to be here with you tonight. Yeah, so Hamtramck is a captured city, like I like to call it. It is an Islamic city that is operating in the United States. The city council, the mayors, all of the elected officials are Islamic. They do things as you would see in an Islamic country.
For example, they will have now halal slaughters that are allowed in their front yards and their backyards. The call to prayer rings out. So you can actually be in America and go to a city in Michigan that does not even resemble the United States any longer.
FINNERTY: OK.
MEKELBURG: As I just — yeah.
FINNERTY: No, would you call this, so again, it's not an anti-Muslim thing, but would you call Hamtramck, which is like five miles away from downtown Detroit, would you call this city a no-go zone for people of other religions? And I ask you that, because you've been.
MEKELBURG: Yeah, so I would absolutely say it's a no-go zone for non-Muslims. And unfortunately, what happens in any place that Islam comes in, the freedom starts to die. So, I always say, where Islam grows, freedom dies. And that's what America is known for, it's freedom, and that's being stripped.
Right here, in our cities across America, there are places that are operating now as complete little mini cities under Islamic control.
06/01/18
08/10/26
Right-wing media ramp up Islamophobic campaign against Abdul El-Sayed
08/06/26
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Judd Legum and Noel Sims @ Popular Info: Meta will train its AI on far-right media outlet
This week, Newsmax — a far-right news organization with a strong allegiance to President Trump and a history of pushing wild conspiracy theories — announced it had struck a deal with Meta. Under the agreement, Meta will “draw upon Newsmax’s significant current reporting as well as archived content across its platforms to support AI queries across Meta’s apps and devices.” Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said the company was “pleased to work with Meta to help ensure users have access to timely, high-quality journalism through AI technologies.”
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Right-wing media's crusade against diverse judges: racist attacks, calls for banning, and even calls for deportation
Right-wing media have accused naturalized judges of having “obvious loyalties outside of this country,” Muslim judges of having “terrorist buddies,” and Black judges of being “dumb” “DEI judges”
Written by Torri Lonergan
Published 07/29/26
Right-wing media figures have spent years lobbing racist insults at judges who are naturalized U.S. citizens or people of color — mocking their names, questioning their loyalties, and falsely identifying American-born judges as immigrants. Some have gone so far as to demand that immigrants and Muslim Americans be barred from serving as judges, while others have pushed for naturalized and even some American-born judges to be stripped of their citizenship and deported.
Right-wing media’s yearslong campaign has now gained support from some congressional Republicans, who recently introduced both a bill and a constitutional amendment that would require all American judges “to be natural-born citizens.”
Republican elected officials are supporting efforts to prohibit naturalized US citizens from serving as judges
In May, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced a constitutional amendment that would require “members of Congress, federal judges and Senate-confirmed officers to be natural-born citizens of the United States.” In a July 4 Newsweek op-ed attacking D.C. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, Mace fearmongered about “foreign-born officials holding power in this government who have proven time and again their loyalty is not to America.” Mace asked, “How did we get here? To a place where foreign-born officials get to decide the laws Americans live under?” [U.S. House of Representatives, office of Rep. Nancy Mace, 5/20/26; Newsweek, 7/4/26]
In February, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) introduced a bill that would “require all American judges to be natural-born citizens.” He argued that the legislation would safeguard the United States “against potential foreign influence in judicial decisions.” [U.S. House of Representatives, office of Rep. Pete Stauber, 2/20/26]
In April, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) called to “put more teeth in the denaturalization process” and said he would “absolutely” support banning immigrants from serving as judges or members of Congress. Appearing on The Benny Show, he said, “I don’t think our Founding Fathers ever intended for individuals from hostile nations serving and leading the nation.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 4/13/26]
Criticizing a ruling by Sooknanan in June, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) posted, “If judges can stop Presidents, they should not also be citizens of foreign nations.” [Democracy Docket, 6/23/26]
Right-wing media figures have called to bar naturalized citizens and Muslims from serving as judges, and even pushed to deport judges who are immigrants or American-born people of color
MAGA podcaster Laura Loomer called for President Donald Trump to sign an executive order “banning judges who were not born in this country,” saying, “If you want to be a judge in this country, you should come from the blood and soil of this country.” She asked, “Isn't it crazy too how we have so many foreign judges?” and insisted, “It's an abomination. I just think it's a total disgrace on our country.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 5/27/25]
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From the May 27, 2025, edition of Loomer Unleashed, streamed on Rumble
Loomer also insisted that “Muslims need to be prohibited from holding positions of power” and demanded that an American-born Muslim judge be deported. Referring to D.C. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui — who was born in the United States — Loomer said, “We don't need to be having debates about whether this judge is right or whether he's wrong. He's a Muslim. He shouldn't be a judge in America. He's from Pakistan.” She added, “Denaturalize him, denaturalize his family members, and send him back to the sharia shithole.” [Media Matters, 5/8/26]
Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson said the Founding Fathers should have specified that “you have to be a native-born American in order to hold a judgeship or be in Congress or serve in a federal capacity.” He said “it would’ve been smart” to apply to the judiciary the same “rules that were put upon our president, meaning you had to be born rightwise in the United States of America to rule over us as Americans.” Johnson added, “Nine out of the 13 colonies said you must be a Bible-believing, Christ-professing Christian to serve in any office anywhere, including, of course, being a judge.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 6/23/26, 6/23/26]
On The Benny Show, Article III Project founder Mike Davis said of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan: “I want to throw his Third World, Marxist trash ass in prison and then revoke his citizenship and send him back” to Colombia. Laura Loomer also called on Trump to “strip Juan Merchan of his citizenship and deport him back to the Third World hellhole he came from.” Merchan has lived in the United States since he was 6 years old. [YouTube, The Benny Show, 1/10/25; Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 6/4/24; CNN, 4/15/24]
The Millstone Report host Paul Harrell insisted that “foreign-born” judges “need to recuse themselves” from cases related to immigration and the U.S. military “at the bare minimum, if not step down altogether.” [Rumble, The Millstone Report with Paul Harrell, 3/26/25]
Right-wing media figures have long hurled racist insults at judges they think are immigrants, Muslim, or people of color
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Fox host Tomi Lahren said Jackson “may be the worst DEI hire of all time.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 7/8/25]
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh claimed that Jackson is the “perfect illustration of the Black woman privilege,” because “Black women who can barely read or speak — like Ketanji Brown Jackson — are elevated to the most prestigious positions solely because they are Black women.” He argued, “There's really no group in the country more privileged now than Black women” and insisted, “Ketanji Brown Jackson is not qualified to be, like, a high school principal, let alone a Supreme Court justice.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 1/14/26]
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Citation
From the January 14, 2026, edition of The Daily Wire's The Matt Walsh Show
Benny Johnson accused Jackson of “getting totally nominated because of your skin color” and “proving again and again that you're too dumb to be on the Supreme Court, that you're too dumb to probably navigate the subway, to parallel park, to get Uber Eats.” He also claimed Jackson's “not a real Supreme Court justice — I don’t believe that she is actually lawfully on the Supreme Court.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 4/2/26]
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Citation
From the April 2, 2026, edition of The Benny Show, uploaded to YouTube
Johnson later claimed Jackson “has most likely a functionally retarded, like, 70 IQ,” calling her “the single dumbest person to ever hold any office anywhere at any time.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 5/28/26]
US District Judge Amir Ali
On War Room, Mike Davis claimed that “Judge Ali apparently wants the president to fund Ali’s Hamas buddies, his terrorist buddies, so they can kill Americans.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 3/19/25]
On Infowars, attorney Andrew Branca described Ali as “culturally Egyptian” and insisted that “he's barely an American citizen — he’s certainly not culturally an American citizen,” saying, “There's a difference between a cultural American citizen and a technical, naturalized American citizen who's still culturally a member of his own, you know, foreign nationality.” Branca complained, “He wasn’t born in America. He was born in Canada. He was born in Canada to Egyptian migrant parents.” [Infowars, War Room, 12/16/25]
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan
Laura Loomer complained that Chutkan “is an immigrant. She's an immigrant! Here we have an immigrant imposing a gag order. She's not even from this country!” She continued, “This is how backward things are in our country. You have immigrants who are now imposing gag orders on presidents of the United States of America, OK? She is the poster child for why we need an immigration moratorium.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 10/26/23]
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Citation
From the October 26, 2023, edition of Loomer Unleashed, streamed on Rumble
US District Judge Melissa DuBose
Fox host Laura Ingraham described DuBose as “a classic far-left pick who satisfied the racial bean counters.” Ingraham called DuBose an “unmitigated disaster” and dismissed her qualifications as “total hogwash.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 5/1/26]
Conservative radio host Howie Carr repeatedly described DuBose as “a lesbian, Black judge,” saying, “She’s one of the last judges that Biden slithered in. He wanted to get one more Black lesbian in.” He reiterated, “She’s a lesbian. She’s Black. She’s written about her Marxist phase — sounds like the Marxist phase never ended.” He added, “She made it on a 51-48 vote. Fifty-one — all these terrible, atrocious DEI judges and U.S. attorneys under Biden, they were all approved narrowly like that.” [Rumble, The Howie Carr Show, 5/1/26]
US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong
Criticizing Frimpong — who was born in Los Angeles — Matt Walsh claimed, “Watching all this domestic terrorism, judges with foreign names are of course taking the side of the terrorists.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 7/15/25; CA.gov, 11/17/25]
Former Infowars host David Knight mocked Frimpong’s name, saying, “Oh, yes, a good classic American name. Just the type of person who I would want sitting as a judge. I'm sure they can be trusted.” [Rumble, The David Knight Show, 7/15/25]
US District Judge Myong J. Joun
Laura Loomer mocked Joun’s name, saying, “Can't have a normal name, right? Got to be a foreigner.” Loomer said the judge’s name “sounds like some kind of an electrical technical glitch” or “maybe like a noise my dog would make if she was super hyperactive.” She complained, “Where do they come up with these names? I'm sure Media Matters is going to clip this and say that I'm being racist toward Asians. Whatever. I don't care.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 5/27/25]
US District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai
While criticizing Kasubhai’s ruling on gender-affirming care for minors, X22 Report host David Marc Fishman noted the judge’s Muslim background and claimed that “very strict Muslim countries” are “very much in line with the trans groups,” saying, “The trans groups go after children to have sex, and when you look at a lot of the Muslim nations, they allow sex with children.” Fishman read a Libs of TikTok post complaining that “Biden-appointed Muslim Judge Mustafa D. Kasubhai struck down HHS Secretary RFK Jr.'s directive to stop taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for kids.” [YouTube, X22 Report, 4/22/26; Media Matters, 6/25/24]
US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan
Speaking to The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt accused Sooknanan of having “obvious loyalties outside of this country.” He complained that judges like Sooknanan “see this as just a wealthy land that should be pillaged by the rest of the world. That's how they feel about the United States, because I don't think they have America's best interests at heart.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 9/3/25]
War Room host Harrison Smith said Sooknanan “shouldn't even be in this country.” Smith complained that “we have foreign judges named Sparkle deciding that the law is whatever she feels like it should be, not what is actually the law,” arguing, “That’s obviously a major problem we have in our country.” He added, “These are people that do not love America. They don't even like America. They constantly organize against America. They do not renounce their old countries. They do not drop their loyalty to their former countries. So why do we take them in? Why are we obligated to give them any benefit of the doubt? Because the likes of Ben Shapiro don't give a damn about the browning of our country.” [Infowars, War Room, 6/24/26]
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Citation
From the June 24, 2026, edition of Infowars' War Room
The Charlie Kirk Show co-host Andrew Kolvet complained that Sooknanan is a “foreigner” from “Trinidad, a country known to be the most wonderful representative of democracy in the world.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 6/23/26]
US District Judge Indira Talwani
Rob Schmitt said Talwani “is the daughter of two immigrants, which is a very American story, but in this case it’s very obvious this judge’s loyalties do not lie here.” He complained that one-third of district court judges in Washington, D.C., “were born outside of this country” and claimed, “They all have the same politics — disciples of the left-wing crusade to open up the United States for global looting.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 4/15/25]
Referring to Talwani, former Infowars host Owen Shroyer asked, “You think she was born here?” then told his viewers, “Place your bets now where she was born.” After looking it up, Shroyer read that Talwani was born in New Jersey but specified: “Well, her parents are from Punjab, India.” [WIN Network, Owen Report, 10/31/25]
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haaris Syed
Newsmax host Carl Higbie reacted to Syed’s appointment by saying, “Islam — I’m always warning people that it could take a hold, especially in our legal system.” He continued, “We have seen some stuff from guys like this. What happens when you start seeing, I don’t know, a sharia-style viewpoint incorporate itself into U.S. law that is not in favor of our Constitution?” Former Assistant Attorney General Theo Wold agreed with Higbie and claimed that in Great Britain, “One of the reasons why the rape gangs were able to do what they did and proliferate like that [is] because a lot of Islamic judges control the local family courts in that country.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 7/6/26]
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05/05/26 1:32 PM EDT
02/18/26 9:23 AM EST
10/09/25
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07/29/26
07/29/26
July 28, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): Newsmax and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, joining forces. A new partnership has been signed between these two great companies. Now, it will give Meta access to Newsmax's extensive content. This is a really big deal. Meta is one of the biggest online companies. And, again, yes, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Newsmax sees this partnership as just the beginning of its move into AI, and we are proud to be partnering with Meta. If you like more information, go to newsmaxinvest[dot]com, and you can find out what's happening here. The New York Stock Exchange — you know, we're sold publicly now. And this arrangement with Meta is going to be great for us, for them, and for you. And I think for me too, actually. I have a stake in this, big time.
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mma
The growing MAGA media despondency over the Iran war quagmire
07/29/26
07/29/26
chyron dems care about pwr not ppl
July 28, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Nope. I'm — oh, Carl, you seem super — I am so angry about this stuff. Conservatives get the shaft on literally everything because the people we stick our neck out for, that we send to office, that we donate to, we knock on doors for, we make phone calls, and we put the stickers on our car — they don't do a damn thing when they get there.
Republicans have the trifecta of government right now, and we can't pass something that 80% of the nation wants, which is voter ID. Yet when Democrats are charge, they ram through things that we don't want. You — 60% of America didn't want universal health care. By the way, that tripled the price of health care while they lock up grandma for praying silently outside of an abortion clinic.
How many times do we have to sit here and just take this two-tiered system? Because if you people in DC don't start hearing us, you're going to foster a monsoon to water the tree of liberty. I am done sugarcoating this.
You — do you even realize how pissed off we are? They're just like, nope. Taking a 37-day vacation. These people don't care. It's always about the narrative for them. When they're proven to have lied, they will literally just, like, lie to your face. And then when you call them out, they just change the subject or make it about some emotional thing to to try to make you feel bad for them, just like we showed you last night. They get bad polling about, no, abolish ICE is polling bad. What — you — oh, you know what? We'll just say that never happened. Even though there is video of them doing this every single day.
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MMA
Right-wing media respond to fatal ICE shooting in Maine by defending ICE vehicle stops and celebrating or downplaying the killing
Asmongold: “Good. Finally, they're shooting them.”
Written by Isabella Sherk & Torri Lonergan
Research contributions from Gideon Taaffe
Published 07/16/26
Right-wing media figures are excusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement's culpability for a recent fatal shooting in Maine -- and some are justifying, downplaying, or celebrating the death of ICE’s victim. The agency has faced widespread backlash since agents carried out two deadly shootings during vehicle stops in less than a week.
Recent fatal ICE shootings have drawn widespread scrutiny
On July 13, a man identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed during an ICE operation in Maine. This came less than a week after an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas. According to ABC News, officials said Guerrero had a work permit and was “not the intended target of the operation.” In a statement, ICE claimed that an “illegal alien” in a vehicle had “attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon." The officer involved was reportedly “a newly sworn-in ICE officer.” [ABC News, 7/14/26; PBS News, 7/10/26]
The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly issued statements that have turned out to be false about shootings involving its officers and has had to retract and change statements after the release of video or witness evidence. As The New York Times reported, “In other recent incidents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have also claimed that motorists have ‘weaponized’ their vehicles, which has sometimes been contradicted by video analysis and witness accounts.” DHS’ initial statement about the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti earlier this year, for example, was contradicted by video footage and an internal DHS review, and the agency acknowledged that federal immigration agents appeared to have lied about the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis. DHS' statements about the shootings of Renee Good and Marimar Martinez were also contradicted by video evidence. [Media Matters, 2/11/26; The New York Times, 7/14/26; ABC News, 1/31/26; PBS News, 2/12/26]
In response to the recent shootings of Guerrero and Araujo, ICE reportedly ordered all agents to cease vehicle stops. Following backlash from right-wing media, President Donald Trump intervened and reversed the decision. ICE has a history of violent and deadly traffic stops. Nearly all of the U.S. citizens killed by ICE during Trump's second term were shot while in their cars, and ICE has injured others during traffic stops as well, including disabled U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman. [The Daily Wire, 7/14/26; The Wall Street Journal, 7/15/26; The New York Times, 7/14/26; MPR News, 4/19/26]
Right-wing media figures justified, minimized, and celebrated ICE shooting and killing Guerrero
Right-wing Twitch streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, reacted to the Maine shooting: “Good. Finally, they're shooting them." Hoyt said, “Try and drive your car at a police officer, they should shoot you in the fucking head. That's what I think. That's where I'm at. Get them out of here. Vehicle's a weapon. That's right. That's right, bro. Like, you — like, deport them all. Exactly.” [Twitch, Zackrawrr, 7/13/26; Media Matters, 12/11/25]
The Alex Jones Network’s Harrison Smith said he doesn't “feel that bad" about ICE killing Guerrero because “I do want people with the fear of ICE in their hearts.” He explained, “You don’t want to get shot by ICE, you better go home, all right? I think the main takeaway here is for all immigrants, you are in danger, OK? I'm not saying you should be. I’m not saying it’s a good thing you’re in danger. I’m just — you just clearly are.” He continued, “You better go home now, where nobody will be hunting you down. Go back to your home countries, where ICE will no longer care about you or have any reason to try to get you at all, OK? Go home. You need to go home now. I don't feel that bad, to be honest with you." [The Alex Jones Network, War Room, 7/13/26]
Fox host Jesse Watters brushed off the shooting, saying, “Can we grow up? I mean, there's going to be fatalities in law enforcement situations, especially when there's foreign fugitives who are resisting and running away.” He argued, “I'd say Trump's almost batting a thousand if you calculate this,” and asked, “What are we talking about here? The guy’s trying to make an arrest, and this guy’s driving all around like crazy. What is he doing? It's pretty stupid. Why is he here anyway? Shouldn't be here." [Fox News, The Five, 7/14/26, 7/14/26]
Podcaster Tim Pool expressed outrage over CNN calling Guerrero a “victim,” saying, “You don't have to call him a perpetrator, but you also don't have to call him a victim.” He complained, “Now you're going to get a bunch of lefties being like, ICE just killed an innocent man.” He continued, “I don't want anybody to die, but if you’re a criminal fleeing the police, anything that happens afterwards is your criminal culpability. Ergo, this man who died is criminally responsible for his own death." [YouTube, Timcast IRL, 7/13/26]
Newsmax host Greg Kelly compared ICE officers killing people to plane crashes: “It just happens.” Kelly said, “It may have been a bad shooting. That doesn’t mean you don’t have ICE. Bad shootings will happen from time to time. It’s — it just happens. Planes will crash.” As a comparison, Kelly added, “Schools – we need schools. Teachers hook up with students. Sometimes. I don’t like it. We arrest them. But we still need schools. We still need ICE.” He dismissed the fatal shooting in Maine, saying that “people get shot. But when it’s an illegal, and it’s law enforcement” there are protests. Kelly complained, “You may have heard that Markwayne Mullin from Department of Homeland Security has ordered ICE officers, for the time being, not to make apprehensions of individuals while they’re in their car. That’s — they got to fix that real fast. They got to do their training or retraining or whatever it is they have to do. Because that’s where you often find illegals.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 7/14/26]
Kelly also asked, “Why didn’t he stop?” and claimed, “The ICE officers tried to save him.” Kelly reported, “They were pursuing an illegal, and a legal actually got in the way.” He added, “The latest word I have is that he was here legally. OK, legally. But what he may have been doing there didn’t look legal. When law enforcement tells you to stop, you stop. He may have. We don’t have all of the information.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 7/14/26]
Fox News correspondent Christina Coleman blamed Guerrero for being shot and killed, saying, “Why are they fleeing the scene? Why are they driving off and putting our law enforcement in danger here? Maybe if they stop doing that, they wouldn't get hurt. But that seems to be the case.” She complained, “It's disgusting and it’s shameful and it’s disrespectful that you have the anti-ICE protesters. They're determined to jump to conclusions here. You literally have DHS — this is a government organization — saying what happened.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/13/26]
Right-wing media defended ICE vehicle stops
On Fox News, former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey worried about ICE temporarily suspending vehicle stops after multiple deadly shootings, saying that “if it in any way … implies one of these agents did something wrong, I think that could be a problem.” He also suggested ICE suspending traffic stops could embolden “some of these quote-unquote ‘protesters’ that are really — their goal is really to subvert ICE in all its roles — it might embolden them to even be more active in resisting and fighting against ICE.” He continued, “We were talking before the break about places that have, you know, eliminated pursuit policies — police departments — and how that actually increases more violence and more danger. So, hopefully it's temporary, because, you know, they’re going to have to get people in vehicles. That's just the way things are.” [Fox News, America Reports, 7/14/26]
White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes complained that ICE is pausing traffic stops: “So where are they actually going to pick up the illegals then?" He said, “ICE has apparently killed two more people in their traffic stops,” and complained, “If you can't get the illegals at the job sites, at their houses, in their cars, if you can't pick them up on the street when you're doing patrols, where are you going to get them? How are you going to get them? The answer is you're not. You're not. ICE is not going to be deporting massive amounts of illegals anytime soon." [Rumble, America First, 7/14/26]
On Newsmax, Lidia Curanaj asked, “When are criminals going to learn that when you f around, you're going to find out the hard way?” She complained, “A vehicle is now a safe haven for an illegal alien. If you or I drive over the speed limit, say, just, what? 10 miles, cops can pull us over. But a person who is in this country illegally, perhaps even convicted of killing, raping, and robbing, all they have to do is jump in their car and an ICE agent can't do anything about it.” She criticized the Trump administration for “bending the knee to the left,” arguing that “eliminating … one of the tools that ICE agents use to protect us, it doesn't solve a problem. It creates an even bigger one.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 7/15/26]
Fox host Johnny “Joey” Jones defended ICE’s tactics, saying, “We're not going to change what the protect-and-defend folks can do based on what the defrauded-this-country folks might have done.” Jones said, “If you stick to the facts of it, you've got two people involved in that incident that tragically resulted in death. One defrauded this country, came here illegally. The other swore to protect and defend and uphold an oath and put his life on the line.” He continued, “We have to keep enforcing this policy. American people voted for it resoundingly. President Trump has mandated it. Not just the worst, but mass deportations.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/15/26]
Newsmax host Bob Brooks said vehicle stops are “key to mass deportations." Brooks asked, “If illegal aliens are allowed to shield themselves from deportation using cars, well, I got to ask this question — why should any Americans continue to follow traffic laws?” He complained, “The administration seems to be bending the knee. It's confusing. The radical left now has veto power over interior enforcement.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 7/14/26]
Fox host Lawrence Jones: “I've heard a lot of dumb commentary, like, Why don't they just shoot at the wheel of the tire? I’m sorry, that's not policing.” Co-host Johnny “Joey” Jones called such commentary “dangerous rhetoric,” saying, “They are shooting when their life is in imminent danger and in that moment is not when you go, Hey, the vehicle might have run over me, but let me shoot the tires so there's not a riot or a protest.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/15/26]
//
On the One Big Beautiful Bill's anniversary, Fox elided the energy story
07/16/26
07/16/26
07/16/26
MMA
Newsmax's Michael Savage: “Criminalize the Democrat Socialist Party and deport them now before you lose your freedom and your life”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 07/13/26
Video
From the July 12, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Savage Nation
MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): The smirking con man from Uganda had the audacity to sit behind George Washington's desk in New York City the other day, basically declaring a revolution on America, surrounded by no Americans.
...
None of them were citizens. These were all invaders. I'm going to tell you a story today about a little man just like this smirking bastard in New York City named Pol Pot, who was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Red Brigades, the Red Scarves in Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979. His reign of terror ended in one of the most brutal genocides of the twentieth century, during which an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians, one quarter of the population was killed or died in work camps. That's exactly what Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists will do to you. Criminalize the Democrat Democrat Socialist Party and deport them now before you lose your freedom and your life. Now I've been fighting to cure our country of this disease called liberalism for over thirty years, but I haven't fought alone.
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mma
07/09/26 10:51 AM EDT
### Newsmax's Greg Kelly on oil prices: “It's going to go up, but we can handle that”
07/09/26 9:11 AM EDT
### Brian Kilmeade on negotiations with Iran: “One thing we need is a different negotiating team”
07/09/26 8:22 AM EDT
07/09/26
Newsmax host calls for “mass destruction” in Iran, including “a legitimate discussion of the threshold of a nuclear strike”: “That is the attitude we need to have to fight these savages”
Written by Media Matters Staff
:{Published 07/09/26
Video
Citation
From the July 8, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): But here's got to be the plan. You want to win? This is the cold hard truth. It's mass destruction. And newsflash, we're going to run out of 500 pound JDAMs before Iran runs out of people who hate us. War is hell. But if you're unwilling to be as ruthless as your enemy, you have already lost.
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HIGBIE: There you go. Mass destruction. You need to hold — and this is what's really going to send the people screaming. Hold a meeting with global nuclear powers and make sure Iran sees you do it so they know what you're talking about. Have a legitimate discussion of the threshold of a nuclear strike. And again, let them — and like, oh, if you're gasping right now — I know. But when you've put friends in bags because of these people in Iran, you have a bit of different perspective on this. Look, if you're a purple-haired barista who's never even so much as had to pay rent because you live with your parents in their basement and you're writing articles for other liberals to read.
Let me see if I can find f's to give less about your opinions. But we have people in this country and even in this administration, believe it or not, who are so risk averse, I — like, it blows my I swear, if we had a zombie apocalypse, they would fund zombie rights groups while they ate their friends right in front of them. That is essentially what, like, gays for Palestine is. Those are the types of people who are opposing dealing with Iran correctly right now, by the way.
Look, if you are a mullah and, you know, floating around somewhere in a bunker and you see Trump talking to China and Russia about wind direction for potential fallout, that's going to deter about half of them. While this is happening end their infrastructure, power plants, bridges, water treatment. Look, they don't care about us. We shouldn't care about them. I don't — annihilate the power grid. And if they can't rebuild it, who cares? That's not our problem. That is the attitude we need to have to fight these savages. Look. I fought these people on an organic ground level. We spent just a ton of time studying their culture and what drives them. They are driven by an ideological takeover that there is no second place in. There's no negotiation. And after desperately trying to negotiate, finally, JD Vance, who was the lead on that, finally realized what's got to be done.
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HIGBIE: Next, take what's yours.
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HIGBIE: Yeah. That's the basis for most of their economy. Just take it. Oh, Carl, you're going to steal things from a sovereign country. You bet we are. That's exactly how war has worked for thousands of years. In fact, wars stopped acting like that, and they got softer, and then there were no winners. That's the only language these people speak. You want to know how they feel?
...
HIGBIE: Yeah. That's not going to fly. It's just not. But that's how they feel. And he wouldn't say that to my face, but that what they would do if they had our military. You start seeing, like, all these libs – they have to understand this. I don't know why they don't, but we're in it now. We're in this. Keep in mind, we bombed the ever loving daylight out of the Japanese, and they never gave up. And then we turn two of their cities into six foot thick sheets of glass. And now 80 years later, they're one of our best friends. They need to know, the Iranians need to know that President Trump has not taken that off the table. Now if you're sitting there thinking, oh, because this is a bit over the edge. Well, you go over there. I have, and I'm telling you, there's, like, 30 million people that most of whom want to kill you.
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6 26 NO TRANSCRIPT
Jun 11, 2026 #usda #screwworm #farmers
Chris Hayes: Trump and Musk took a chainsaw to the obscure government programs that kept flesh-eating screwworms away from American farms. And now that failure could hit farmers, ranchers, and your grocery bill.
DOGEBAGS CUT WHEN SEE WORD TRANS
NEWSMAX IDIOCY
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NZMX
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the war with Iran has fundamentally reshaped the Middle East in America's favor, leaving Tehran weaker, Israel stronger, and President Donald Trump with a historic opportunity to secure long-term regional stability.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Rice argued that while the conflict has yet to produce a decisive military victory, it has achieved critical strategic goals.
"The three-month military campaign degraded Iran's ability to project power," Rice wrote, pointing to damage inflicted on Iran's conventional forces, missile stockpiles, and proxy networks.
The biggest winner, she said, is Israel.
"In this regard, Israel has never been more secure," Rice wrote, noting that Jerusalem's military response following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack severely weakened Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
Rice also said the war accelerated cooperation among the United States, Israel, and key Arab nations through intelligence sharing and joint defense efforts.
Many Arab governments that once opposed Israel now view cooperation with the Jewish state as beneficial for economic growth, technology, and modernization.
The former secretary of state argued that the conflict also exposed major weaknesses inside Iran. The regime's leadership was shown to be vulnerable to American military power and allied intelligence capabilities, while Tehran's leverage over global energy markets proved more limited than many believed.
Most important, Rice contended, U.S. and Israeli military operations significantly delayed Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"It will be a long time before Iran can build a viable nuclear weapon," she wrote.
While Iran may still possess stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, Rice argued that key nuclear infrastructure, conversion facilities, centrifuge networks, and leading scientists were devastated during the campaign.
Rice urged the Trump administration to resist calls for sanctions relief or concessions in future negotiations.
"Not a single penny of frozen assets or sanctions relief should go to Tehran," she wrote, warning that Iran previously used such funds to rebuild its military capabilities and support terrorist proxies.
She also called for continued military readiness and deeper intelligence cooperation with regional allies to ensure Iran cannot rebuild its nuclear or missile programs.
While acknowledging that the conflict has not toppled the Iranian regime, Rice said Tehran is weaker and more isolated than at any point in recent years.
"Strategic patience is hard, and it isn't always satisfying. But time is on the side of the U.S. and its allies," Rice wrote. "Reaching no deal is fine. Reaching a bad deal isn't."
Related Stories:
Trump Won't Break Iran Ceasefire Unless US Troops Are Killed: WSJ
Iran Leader Claims US, Israel Suffered 'Decisive Blow'
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05/29/26
May 28, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): So, political enemies, political enemies. What — does that make you special? It really doesn't. It doesn't. The Constitution has a few things to say about all of this stuff, and it has a lot to say about the president's power. And the Department of Justice, they think they're very, very special. Right? The Department of Justice. Have you ever heard them talk about themselves, like, as if they are, I don't know, better than everybody else, as if they're their own branch of government?
...
KELLY: It sounds wholesome in a way. Right? The people's lawyer, the people's lawyer. No. The Department of Justice is a component within the executive branch. The executive branch. You guys are not independent. You're not. You shouldn't be. This is a fiction, post-Watergate fiction, and it's gone into hyperdrive with President Trump. President Trump.
The executive branch is President Trump. 77.3 million votes in the 2024 election makes him the executive branch of government. This is a building. It's the Department of Justice. It's part of the executive branch. The people who work there are employees of the executive branch. And let's pretend they all quit. They all quit. They just walked out. All those career prosecutors, if they quit, and let's say all of the good guys suddenly got sick or the CIA poisoned them and nobody could come to work. President Trump, according to the Constitution, could actually walk in to a courtroom and submit paperwork saying, I believe this guy is guilty, and this is my affidavit. It's — there's nothing wrong with that. It is — now, they have regulations, and they have their customs, and they have their norms, but you can't find norms in the Constitution. It's the Constitution, baby, and he's on solid ground.
And E. Jean Carroll, you're never going see a lick of that money, and I think you're going see prison.
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05/29/26
May 28, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Well, when Democrats do unprecedented things, you have to counter with unprecedented means. If you take a swing at the king, libs, you better not miss, and you missed in a major way.
:{Look, I don't really care. The DOJ buried the little guy with their sham January 6 investigation, and I am totally fine with going tit for tat here. Don't give me the oh, when does it stop? We didn't start this. They did. It stops when we get even. Even. Like, Old Testament even. Because then, they will know that there is a cost for doing the stupid things that they did, especially with this — you can't just lie about somebody raping you and use it as a political talking point to sway a national election.
They should be going after Christine Blasey Ford too, if you remember. Her — no specifics lady who accused Brett Kavanaugh of raping her. She had even fewer details than E. Jean Carroll. Three, four decades later, mysteriously just pops out of nowhere when he was up for a Supreme Court seat. He didn't remember who she was. Then he gets confirmed, and now where is she? No charges. Just vanished. Lady, if it was such a big deal that you went wall-to-wall media interviews, Kavanaugh was such a bad guy. She didn't file any charges, not all not only leading up to that for 40 years, but nothing after he got confirmed. She just let it go? OK.}:
I want to see every single one of those people charged, tried, and locked up for this. Because if we don't, years from now, when Trump is gone, they're going to do it all over again to somebody else, and they may not have billions of dollars of their own money to back it up. Democrats will do whatever they want because there's apparently never any consequences. Remember when they use these bogus cases as a justification to literally remove Trump from the ballot in places like Colorado and Maine. You want to talk about unprecedented, Trump's unprecedented. Dude, you guys took the guy off the ballot. Libs couldn't throw him in jail, they couldn't beat him at the ballot box, so they literally removed him from the ballot until SCOTUS stepped in.
:{I want to — I want the DOJ to crush these people. I'm fine with my tax — I'll pay more taxes for that. And if you can't find them guilty, no problem. Just do what they did. I don't know. What did they do to the January — oh, that's right. The January 6 people. They locked them all up, and some of them didn't get a trial. They were in solitary confinement for years. They tried to bury those people. You know what? And if you can't do that, just bury him in legal expenses like they did to Mike Flynn. That's right. They charged him with things and things and more things, and then he had to sell his house, and he was out of money and had to plead out of it. Like, I don't care anymore.
We the people, reelected Donald Trump despite all the mudslinging by the left because we want it, and I'm just going to call it what it is. I want revenge. I do. OK. Dems violated every norm. Now I want my tax dollars to wreck these people. You can call me petty from whatever ivory tower you sit in, but I don't care. I will tap dance on your political grave with a smile on my face because I am just like probably almost every one of the other 80 million people on the Republican side that is sick and tired of this stuff.}:
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MMA
Newsmax host on alleged hunger strikes in a ICE detention facilities: “If they want to not eat, that's on them. I don't really care. Saves us some taxpayer money, I guess.”
Carl Higbie: “Half of the people in the ICE clink are probably getting better meals and probably getting better health care than they did before they were picked up”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 05/27/26
Video file
Video
Citation
From the May 26, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): I mean, really? We're doing this again? I thought these people had moved on from protesting outside of ICE facilities to, like, the nearest coloring book factory. But after realizing that it didn't change Trump's immigration enforcement strategy at all, and if you've learned anything from Renée Good, they were worried about getting shot, but apparently not. Today and yesterday, actually, started last night in New Jersey, a bunch of jobless non-assets to society gathered outside the same ICE facility that Congresswoman Lamonica McIver, if you remember her, was arrested at for assaulting an ICE officer. She's still pending with that. Like, I don't understand why this is allowed to continue on federal property, but here we are. The new lib governor over there got denied entry, but was just happy to stand out with some of the other Democrats while they gave a super important press conference about how these are just people, not criminals.
...
Mothers, fathers, 18-year-olds, because none of them ever commit crimes. Like, they're breaking the law to be here. Hence why they're locked up in the ICE facility; that is their criminal record, by the way. Maybe besides that, they don't have a criminal record even though many of them probably do and Democrats just lie about that because they lie about everything. These Democrats, they were trying to gain access to this facility to inspect it based on these baseless claims — they had no reason to believe this — but that the conditions were inhumane and that all these people were inside were on hunger strikes.
Look, as far as the hunger strikes, if they want to not eat, that's on them. I don't really care. Saves us some taxpayer money, I guess. But the inhumane conditions is a complete farce. Half of the people in the ICE clink are probably getting better meals and probably getting better health care than they did before they were picked up. And you would think congressmen and governors would know all this since they make or sign into law most of these things.
See, if they were other types of criminals, they would just be in a regular jail. Being in an ICE detention facility means that they were in fact breaking immigrations and customs laws, the first two letters of ICE. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin pretty much went off on this. He said, quote, this is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks. There is no hunger strike at Delaney Hall — that's the ICE facility — there are no subprime conditions. PVT GEO\? I tend to believe him a little bit more. But going to these things has become some sort of, like — I don't know, they get, like, a hall monitor merit badge on their on their banner for Democrats now. They go to these things with a bunch of these, you know, non-showered degenerates at these protests.
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Right-wing media react to Trump's slush fund for allies with unquestioning loyalty — and some vague skepticism
Written by Sophie Lawton
:{:{Published 05/21/26}:
Some right-wing media figures are jumping on board with the Trump administration's newest effort to support MAGA allies despite numerous questions about its legality; a few are voicing light skepticism of the plan.
This week, the Department of Justice announced that the Trump family had agreed to drop a legally questionable $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the creation of a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the fund's intended recipients are “victims of lawfare and weaponization” by the federal government. Critics of the move are calling the idea a “slush fund,” and The New York Times called the deal “highly unusual” and wrote that the fund is “a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies.”
Some right-wing media figures have been praising the fund, calling it a great idea and complementing Trump for his “patriotic” use of the number 1776 while ignoring the more problematic details of the fund.
Newsmax host Carl Higbie staunchly defended the fund, claiming that Trump has “dropped — he dropped — his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a $1.776 — 1776 — billion-dollar fund set up for truth and justice compensation for people who were victims of Biden's weaponization of government” and that “Trump and his family will get $0 in exchange for just simply an apology from the IRS and a fund set up for every other person who Biden targeted.”
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the May 18, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
Fox's Sean Hannity said the Department of Justice “rightly agreed to set aside the patriotic amount of $1.76 billion to settle other claims like this.”
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the May 19, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
Trump's former co-deputy director of the FBI Dan Bogino praised the fund and the Trump administration on his podcast, saying that “things are happening all over the place, good, positive things.”
Another right-wing podcaster, Vince Coglianese, said on his show that the fund “sounds like justice” and said, “I think it's perfectly wonderful.”
Coglianese also suggested a few people and groups who could benefit from the fund, including anti-abortion activist Mark Houck, other “conservatives who stood outside of abortion mills” and who faced charges, “parents at school board meetings” complaining about curricula and gender-neutral bathrooms who he said were attacked by the FBI and left-wing groups, and “traditional Catholics” who he claimed were targeted by Biden's FBI.
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the May 19, 2026, edition of VINCEstreamed on Rumble
Greg Kelly took to his Newsmax show to make specific claims about the legal precedent for the fund, stating, “The US government gets sued all the time, and they make settlements. This is not an outlandish arrangement. It actually makes a lot of sense.”
Kelly also claimed that the announcement of the fund came after he sat down with Trump and proposed a “compensation fund for the January 6ers.”
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the May 19, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
The DOJ also claims there is precedent for this type of fund, saying it’s similar to the Obama-era "Keepseagle" case. In reality, the fund seems to have little legal basis.
As Mike Masnick wrote for Techdirt, the fund was created as a settlement offer because “Trump needed to drop that lawsuit in order to end it before a judge called bullshit on the fact that he was negotiating with himself to take $10 billion from American taxpayers.”
Masknick also refuted the DOJ claims of legal precedent, writing, “The Keepseagle settlement was approved by a court in response to a class action lawsuit. Here, this fund, is being created in a manner deliberately to avoid having the court review it.”
A New York Times piece reported that “legal experts struggled to make sense of this week’s developments, saying tentatively that it was unlikely anyone could sue to stop the moves.” The article noted nevertheless that the fund’s creation is a “jarring shock to the conventional understanding of the constitutional system.”
Reuters quoted Tax Law Center policy director Brandon DeBot calling the fund a “breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system" and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) calling it a “slush fund” that represented “a stunning act of corruption.”
Some Republican lawmakers have spoken out against the fund, such as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who said he doesn't “see a purpose” for it, and others seem bothered by the lack of details surrounding where the money might go. “I’ve got more questions than I’ve heard answers for,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
January 6 Capitol Police Officers have sued to block the fund on the grounds that it violates the 14th Amendment's prohibition on using federal funds for “any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
Even a few right-wing media voices have been lightly skeptical of the move.
On Fox's Special Report, guest anchor Trace Gallagher admitted that “who gets the money and where it comes from is a bit unclear.”
Special Report's reporting on the topic also included clips of Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) asking for clarity on where the money is coming from and “the legality of creating a fund that Congress hasn't had anything to say about.”
The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro touched on the matter, saying on his show, “I'm generally against slush funds, to be clear. I do not like them. I think there are other ways of pursuing redress for grievances in this fashion. However, many of the myths that you're hearing about it are overstated.”
Megyn Kelly said on her podcast about the fund, “I don't like it,” explaining that she'd rather see individual suits. But she also made false correlations between this move and Obama's Keepseagle fund, saying, “This was created by Barack Obama,” and, “The same media that's now ripping Trump to shreds for doing it said nothing, nothing when Barack Obama started it. … So I really have no tolerance for their cries and protestations about what Trump is doing.”
Already, January 6 rioters, election deniers, and Trump allies are lining up for a chance at the taxpayer money.
//
### True the Vote founder hopes “we will see some level of compensation” from Trump's weaponization fund
05/21/26 11:50 AM EDT
05/20/26 5:26 PM EDT
### Newsmax's Greg Kelly defends Trump “weaponization” fund: “This is not an outlandish arrangement”
05/20/26
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Newsmax host defends Trump's “weaponization” fund
One senator called the arrangement “a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion”
Written by Media Matters Staff
:{:{Published 05/19/26}:
The New York Times reports:
The Trump administration announced on Monday the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department and Democrats, forging a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies.
The highly unusual “anti-weaponization” fund was denounced by critics as a slush fund and as a brazen misuse of a once-independent Justice Department to carry out the president’s personal and political agendas.
The announcement provided few details of how the disbursement would work or who would be eligible. But the arrangement raised the possibility that American taxpayers might end up writing checks to those prosecuted for the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, and others the president has cast as victims of Biden administration actions.
“This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” said Donald K. Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit legal watchdog group that has been critical of the administration.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) criticized the arrangement as "a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion.”
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) issued a statement calling the arrangement the most serious misuse of taxpayer funds by a sitting president. In his statement, Wyden focused specifically on the Anti-Weaponization Fund, including its apparent purpose of compensating third-party claimants for alleged harms unrelated to the IRS data leak claims at the heart of the dismissed lawsuit.
“Regardless of whether Trump filed this lawsuit with a personal payday or a slush fund in mind, he deserves no credit for dropping it,” Wyden said, adding that the fund represented “a stunning act of corruption.” He described it as “a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion” and said that if Trump follows through, “it will be the most brazen theft and abuse of taxpayer dollars by any president in American history.”
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the May 18, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): So the latest freak out from the left is because Trump dropped — he dropped — his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a $1.776 — 1776 — billion dollar fund set up for truth and justice compensation for people who were victims of Biden's weaponization of government, which there are a lot of.
It's apparently, though, a scam according to Democrats. Keep in mind, Trump and his family will get $0 in exchange for just simply an apology from the IRS and a fund set up for every other person who Biden targeted, but not himself. Kinda like the Trump org when they couldn't get any COVID money whatsoever, but everyone else did. But the left is still freaking out. Wow. Trump's enriching himself off the taxpayers. No. Wrong. But here's a US senator saying it anyway.
...
Hey, Chris — my senator, unfortunately — Trump's not making billions of dollars off the government. In fact, he's not even taking a paycheck. So, technically, you, Chris, are taking more money from the government than he is.
But let me explain why Trump was suing the federal government in the first place. And I'll do it like you're five because clearly you aren't winning any IQ tests recently. See, when the federal government was run by idiots and Democrats like you, Senator Murphy, there was this guy named Charles Littlejohn who used to work for the IRS. He had high level access, who is, by the way, now in jail for five years. And why is that? Well, Carl, I'll tell you. Because he accessed secure lock specific need to know information that were in fact Trump's tax returns. Actually, the whole family's tax returns, about a 100 other people from the Trump organization along with 400,000 other people's tax returns. Then he leaked it to the New York Times and ProPublica. Yeah. He was convicted of that. That's not an opinion. That's a proven fact in court. And under US code 26 7431, it's a $1,000 fine per disclosure.
//
### Media Matters weekly newsletter, May 15
:{:{05/15/26}:
:{:{05/14/26}:
05/13/26
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MSN IS ACTUlly newsmAX SANDY FITZGERALD
An active CIA officer told senators Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci played a significant role in influencing intelligence officials to back away from concluding that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China.
James Erdman, a CIA special operations officer, testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the intelligence community in August 2021 was nearing a determination that the pandemic likely stemmed from a lab leak before the assessment changed days later, reports The Daily Mail.
Sponsored
CIA Whistleblower: Fauci Helped Derail Wuhan Lab Leak Finding
"Dr. Fauci's role in the cover-up was intentional," Erdman told the committee. "Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials, and scientists."
Erdman said documentation showed the CIA was prepared to declare COVID-19 a lab leak on Aug. 12, 2021, but that position shifted by Aug. 17.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., asked Erdman whether Fauci played a significant role in intelligence analysts abandoning their earlier consensus.
"It was significantly influenced," Erdman replied.
Fauci was serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the time. He has not publicly responded to the allegations raised during Wednesday's hearing.
The lab leak theory maintains that COVID-19 escaped from a research facility in Wuhan rather than spreading naturally from animals to humans.
The CIA formally endorsed the lab leak theory with "low confidence" in January 2025 after years of declining to take an official position on the origins of the virus.
Erdman also testified that the CIA "illegally monitored" phones and computers used by federal analysts investigating the origins of COVID-19.
"The CIA illegally monitored the computer and phone usage of DIG personnel, their investigations, and contact with whistleblowers," he said, referring to the Director's Initiatives Group.
Erdman further alleged that the surveillance occurred under the direction of former President Joe Biden.
"These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the authority of the director of national intelligence," he said.
Paul said Erdman came forward "at great personal risk" because "the truth was being buried," the New York Post reported.
Paul described Erdman as a decorated intelligence officer with prior service in both the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment and the U.S. State Department.
Tensions between Paul and the CIA intensified ahead of the hearing after the agency accused the senator of acting in bad faith by subpoenaing Erdman to testify.
The testimony came as the Justice Department continues investigating Fauci's conduct during the pandemic. Paul has called for Fauci to face prosecution over congressional testimony regarding COVID-19 origins.
Biden issued Fauci a preemptive pardon in the final days of his administration to presumably protect him from potential future prosecutions tied to his pandemic-era work.
The DOJ also recently indicted Dr. David Morens, Fauci's longtime senior adviser at NIAID, on multiple felony charges, including conspiracy against the United States and destruction and concealment of federal records.
Prosecutors allege Morens used a private email account to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests and discussed how to "make emails disappear."
5 26 MORE BENGHZI BS! LAB LEak
DUCK 5 26
Daily Mail
CIA spy BLAMES Dr Fauci for covering up Chinese COVID lab leak
3 days agoAn active CIA officer has accused Dr Anthony Fauci of orchestrating a cover-up that derailed American spies from blaming the COVID pandemic on China.
publichealthpolicyjournal.com
CIA Whistleblower: Fauci Led Multi-Agency Cover-Up of COVID Lab Leak ...
3 days agoErdman said the legislative and executive branches will remain misinformed if "this type of behavior is not addressed." Several Republican senators who participated in the hearing agreed with Erdman's suggestions that various government and intelligence agencies are still involved in efforts to cover up evidence of a COVID-19 lab leak.
Headline USA
https://headlineusa.com › watch-cia-whistleblower-testifies-about-faucis-covid-coverup
WATCH: CIA Whistleblower Testifies about Fauci's COVID Coverup
3 days ago(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A CIA whistleblower testified on Wednesday about how former COVID czar Anthony Fauci suppressed the intelligence community's findings that coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China. Speaking to only Republicans because Democrats boycotted the hearing, CIA operations officer James Erdman said that his agency was initially leaning towards classifying COVID-19 […]
Mediaite
CIA Employee Claims Anthony Fauci Meddled in Covid Probe
3 days agoCIA whistleblower James Erdman accused Anthony Fauci of playing an "intentional" role in the agency scrapping a plan to announce the virus was leaked from a lab
New York Post
CIA whistleblower James Erdman reveals Anthony Fauci 'influenced' COVID ...
3 days agoCIA whistleblower James Erdman reveals Anthony Fauci 'influenced' COVID origins intel probe as part of lab leak 'cover-up'
MSN
CIA whistleblower: Fauci helped derail Wuhan lab leak finding
An active CIA officer told senators Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci played a significant role in influencing intelligence officials to back away from concluding that COVID-19 originated from a ...
GB News
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[## NEWSMAX'S GREG KELLY SAYS THE “HYSTERIA” ABOUT HIGH GAS PRICES IS “ARTIFICIAL”
05/05/26
https://www.mediamatters.org/greg-kelly/newsmaxs-greg-kelly-says-hysteria-about-high-gas-prices-artificial)
MMA
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MMA
A tale of two right-wing networks on Joe diGenova
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 04/21/26
While Newsmax hosts celebrate GOP lawyer and conspiracy theorist Joe diGenova’s appointment to a post overseeing investigations of President Donald Trump’s political foes, their counterparts at Fox News — which apparently banned diGenova from appearing years ago — have mentioned the news just one time, in passing, on Sunday afternoon.
Newsmax hosts celebrate as the DOJ hires Joe diGenova}:
News broke over the weekend that Trump’s former personal lawyer and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had appointed diGenova, a figure in numerous right-wing pseudoscandals over the last three decades who represented Trump’s 2020 campaign in election fraud lawsuits, as his counselor and tasked him with overseeing the Justice Department’s “Grand Conspiracy” probe. That investigation unifies a hodgepodge of “deep state” conspiracy theories touted by right-wing media into a single framework seemingly intended to defeat statutes of limitations and target a vast swathe of Democratic politicians and former federal law enforcement officials.
On Newsmax, where diGenova has appeared regularly in recent years, hosts cheered the news.
“We have congratulations to share with Joe diGenova," Newsmax’s Greg Kelly said on the network’s flagship prime-time show. “Good luck, Joe. Did you hear? He's got a big gig at the Department of Justice. One of our favorite guests on this show will be counselor to the attorney general. That is a big-deal role.”
“He knows what they did to President Trump,” Kelly claimed. “And he wants justice. He has said it many, many times right here on this show. I think it's part of the reason why he may have the job now. It's so awesome.”
Kelly also praised diGenova as a “superstar” and someone who “thinks creatively, ethically, honestly, but creatively” and claimed the lawyer “is so fired up for this role."
On-screen text during the segment read, “A regular on the show gets a new job."
Newsmax’s Carl Higbie likewise touted the news, calling diGenova a “friend of this network” who will be overseeing what Higbie called “the DOJ probe into this Russian origin thing.” (Trump and his media allies argue that the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was corrupt and its perpetrators should be prosecuted; previous attempts to turn their conspiracy theories into federal cases failed after a three-year special counsel probe by a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney.)
While Newsmax’s stars throw a parade over diGenova’s appointment, their Fox counterparts have been largely silent. Thus far, the entirety of the network’s coverage since the news broke late Friday has been a single passing mention on Sunday afternoon.
“The Trump administration is dismantling the deep state,” host Tomi Lahren said at the top of a segment on The Big Weekend Show. “The DOJ has now tapped former Trump attorney Joe diGenova to spearhead the probe into ex-CIA Director John Brennan and others over the Russian hoax."
The news went unmentioned on Monday, including on the network’s flagship “straight-news” program, Special Report, and the scandal-happy programs hosted by Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, and Sean Hannity.
### Why Fox may have trouble swallowing diGenova’s new post
Fox is in a strained position, because while the network spent years feverishly demanding and supporting the prosecutions of Trump’s enemies over dubious premises, its leaders are seemingly also aware that diGenova is not credible.
DiGenova made more than 100 appearances on Fox News weekday programs in 2018 and 2019, and dozens more on its sister channel, Fox Business — but both networks appear to have banned the GOP lawyer in late 2019. He has not appeared on Fox News weekday programs since October 8, 2019, according to our database.
DiGenova and his wife and legal partner, Victoria Toensing, disappeared from Fox News following a sequence of events that demonstrated their lack of credibility.
DiGenova used a Fox appearance to call then-Fox senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano “a fool” for suggesting earlier that day that Trump had committed a crime by soliciting campaign aid in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A few days later, diGenova and Toensing lashed out at then-Fox anchor Chris Wallace for reporting that they had been working “off the books” with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, on his effort to smear Joe Biden over Ukraine.
The day after diGenova’s final Fox interview, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman — who had been working alongside diGenova, Toensing, Giuliani, and conservative columnist John Solomon on the Ukraine disinformation plot — were arrested by federal law enforcement en route to Vienna, Austria, to reportedly help set up an interview between Hannity and Viktor Shokin, the corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor at the heart of the disinformation campaign.
Their appearances on Fox Business, however, continued for a few more weeks — until diGenova used one to utter a widely condemned antisemitic screed, at which point the couple stopped appearing there as well.
Then in February 2020, The Daily Beast reported on a 162-page internal Fox News research briefing book detailing the “unrelenting disinformation campaign originating from Ukraine.” “Notable are the roles of Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing in spreading disinformation and their parroting of beneficial narratives while employed by [pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry] Firtash,” the document noted. It also highlighted their “non-disclosure of financial motives and representation of Firtash while spreading false and misleading stories."
DiGenova and Toensing subsequently became Newsmax contributors.
Now someone Fox’s own research division panned for “spreading disinformation” will be running the Trump administration’s latest efforts to criminalize their opponents. The network has spent years feeding the flames of the conspiracy theories that diGenova will now be investigating — but highlighting his new role might force the network to confront what it means that someone it’s apparently deemed unreliable is leading that charge.
//
04/21/26
### Newsmax's Greg Kelly on the threat of measles: “Chillax a little bit”
04/21/26
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MMA
Right-wing media’s heinous rhetoric against people experiencing homelessness
From calling for homeless people to be sent to “internment camps” to fantasizing about making them “fight like gladiators,” right-wing media’s crusade against people without housing continues
Written by Sage Hodil
Published 04/03/26
Right-wing media have a long history of attacking homeless people, and so far 2026 has seen a continuation of that trend. Pundits have called for sending homeless people to different countries, “internment camps,” and institutions. Right-wing media figures have also pushed dehumanizing rhetoric by referring to homeless people as “bums,” “blighty,” “junkies,” “mentally deranged,” and even joking about their deaths.
## Right-wing media have consistently demonized and mischaracterized homelessness, sometimes advocating for aggressive solutions
Research shows that homelessness is driven primarily by economic factors, and the belief that it’s a personal choice is largely a myth.From October 2021 to November 2022, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, conducted the “largest representative study of homelessness since the mid-1990s” and found homelessness was mainly determined by “high housing costs and low income.” Margot Kushel, who led the study, has criticized the media for “misdiagnosing the problem” when they “blame homelessness on substance abuse,” arguing, it “simply isn’t true” that homeless people “refuse housing or that their problems make them impossible to house.” University of California San Francisco, The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness, [6/2023; Truthout, 11/6/23]
Experts from the Legal Defense Fund say that punitive approaches, such as forced displacement and criminalization, “will not end homelessness or address its root causes.” As The Legal Defense Fund stated, “Study after study show that the best way to address homelessness is to provide people with safe, affordable housing and to offer additional supports and services if needed.” Legal Defense Fund, [8/1/25]
Yet right-wing figures like Fox host Jesse Watters have spent years calling homeless people “a virus,” a “contagion,” and an “invasive species” and proposing carceral solutions.Watters, for example, has fantasized about sending homeless people to a “mega prison,” advocated for “bulldoz[ing]” homeless encampments and “institutionaliz[ing] everybody,” argued “it was more civilized when we banished them to asylums and put them in strait jackets,” and proposed “federally funded opium dens where the homeless can kill each other.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [8/21/23, 9/22/22, 9/22/22; Fox News, The Five, 3/24/25, 6/3/19, 9/15/22]
## In 2026 alone, right-wing media figures have called for detaining homeless people in jails and even sending them to other countries
On Fox News, billionaire CEO John Catsimatidis suggested homeless people should “live in Uganda.”Catsimatidis claimed the homeless should “live in Uganda for $8.13 a day. We'll give them the check for $8.13 a day, let them live somewhere else.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [3/19/26]
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said we could “annex Greenland,” “send the homeless there,” and “call it homeless island.”Gutfeld continued, “You send them to a cold place, they've got to build shelter. Pretty soon they start to evolve towards normal living.” Fox News, *Gutfeld!*,[1/15/26]
Newsmax host Michael Savage proposed “internment camps” for “homeless bums.”Savage said homeless people “shouldn't have the freedom to live in the streets” and we should “take the freedom away from them, put them in internment camps 100 miles away from cities, and give them the care that they need.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie: Frontline*, [3/16/26]
Podcaster Tim Pool said if Democrats were serious about fixing homelessness they would “forcefully detain them and bring them to a facility” because “the only way to remove the homeless is by force.”Pool went on to say people are not homeless “because they fell on hard times” but “because of substance abuse issues and choice.” YouTube, *The Culture War with Tim Pool*, [2/16/26]
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh called for homeless people to be “forcefully and permanently” moved into jails or mental institutions.Walsh stated, “They should be jailed or they should be institutionalized. You remove them from the street forcefully and permanently.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [2/4/26]
On Newsmax, Citizens Alliance CEO Cliff Maloney complained about “mentally deranged” people on the streets and said, “I'm not trying to be harsh when I say this, but some people, you got to just lock them up and throw away the key.”Newsmax host Carl Higbie also endorsed bringing back mental institutions and insane asylums, saying, “Make asylums great again.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [1/21/26]
Fox host Todd Piro advocated for rounding up “every single homeless person” and putting them “in one location.”Piro stated, “I feel like you can take every single homeless person in a city, put them in one location, and pay security to keep everybody safe.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [3/26/26]
## Right-wing media have dehumanized people experiencing homelessness as “bad people” who are “repulsive” and embody “third world criminal blight”
Jesse Watters said billionaires should “make the homeless people in skid row fight like gladiators.”Watters also proposed for billionaires to “buy maybe everybody in skid row a one-way ticket to Thailand.” Fox News, *The Five*, [2/19/26]
Fox News contributor Lisa Kennedy Montgomery joked about homeless people freezing to death in New York City, referring to them as “corpsicles.”Her comment came after actor Rob Schneider joked, “As soon as they freeze to death you don't have to call them homeless. You just call them frozen dead people.” Fox News, *Gutfeld!*, [2/6/26]
Fox News host Sean Hannity cited New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free bus proposal and said if he really wants to “get rid of their homeless problem” he should “offer free booze, hookers, and drugs and nobody will ever leave the bus.”Prior to Hannity’s comment, guest Jeff Dye made a joke about “bums” urinating and defecating on buses and claimed they will “end up living” there if public transit is made free. Fox News, *Hannity*, [1/19/26]
Greg Gutfeld claimed, “Homeless people do not have the ability to make decisions for themselves. We all know that.”Gutfeld blamed Mamdani for the deaths of 16 people during New York’s freezing weather and argued, “If they had allowed to take down the encampments and required them in shelters, all of those people would be alive.” Fox News, *The Five*, [2/3/26]
Matt Walsh characterized homeless people as “junkies” and “for the most part bad people.”Walsh went on to say, “The only solution is to round them up by force and put them in jail. … Treat drug use as a crime. Treat homelessness as a crime.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [1/6/26]
In January, right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson referred to homeless people as “vagrants” who are “sickening,” “blighty,” and “repulsive and dangerous.”Johnson also said homeless encampments in California represent “third world criminal blight.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/16/26, 1/13/26]
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### Jesse Watters’ decade-long hate campaign against homeless people
07/17/23
### Fox News zeroes in on a new target: the homeless
06/04/19
### NY Post's Latest Attack On Homeless Demonstrates Real-World Consequences Of Poor-Shaming
03/10/16
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How right-wing media helped the Trump administration push a “psyop” against Iran's new supreme leader
At least 40 shows within the right-wing media ecosystem ran with unsubstantiated rumors that the new Iranian ayatollah may be gay
Written by Harrison Ray, Noah Dowe & Reed McMaster
Research contributions from Tyler Monroe
Published 03/27/26
At least 40 shows within the right-wing media ecosystem helped the Trump administration push an unsubstantiated narrative that the new Iranian ayatollah, Mojtaba Khamenei, is gay — a move that Zeteo reports was meant to be a “psyop against their Iranian enemies and the new supreme leader.”
On March 16, the New York Post published an article which claimed that President Donald Trump was told “US intelligence indicates new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei may be gay.” The Post suggested that its sources “say the implausible-sounding allegation is viewed as credible by US spy agencies, rather than false information intended to undermine Khamenei.”
Yet according to a March 27 report from Zeteo, there exists “no credible intel” on Khamenei’s sexuality; rather, “the idea was fabricated and pushed behind the scenes in the past several weeks by a cohort of Trump advisers, US government personnel, and MAGAworld associates.” One source told Zeteo that the administration “wanted to mindfuck [the Iranians] with gay shit,” while another suggested, “It’s some 20-year-old frat boy in the federal government’s idea of a good joke.”
Media Matters found that at least 40 shows within the right-wing media ecosystem — including at least 6 on Fox News, at least 8 on Newsmax, at least 2 on One America News Network, and at least 24 podcasts or radio shows — repeated the administration’s narrative, with some adding their own absurd and bigoted commentary. Following the story's surge of attention on March 16, it has continued to be mentioned daily within the right-wing media sphere as recently as yesterday.
While some within the right-wing media simply highlighted the New York Post story, others added their own takes.
Fox host Greg Gutfeld joked about the rumor on March 16, saying, “Speaking of world leaders, rumors are circulating that the new Iranian supreme leader is gay. They know this because he keeps throwing himself off a building — that’s what they do in Iran.”
Newsmax host Chris Plante made the same joke on his March 17 podcast, saying, “If he became the ayatollah, the first thing he’d have to do as ayatollah is kill himself.” Following a lengthy and graphic fantasy about Khamenei committing suicide, Plante explained, “That’s what they always do when they hang the gay people in Iran, and the Democrats are on the side of the Iranian regime because of their many mental illnesses.”
Referencing the death of the new supreme leader’s father, former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Plante added, “And here’s the headline: Ayatollah disappointed to learn 72 virgins awaiting him in paradise are all women. Oh no, not the women. That is because, you know, it might run in the family, like monkeypox.”
That same day, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles ranted, “The ayatollah might be a homosexual, might be a little light in the loafers. You know what I'm saying? A couple fries away from a Happy Meal. The kind of fella has a long handshake.” While Knowles acknowledged that the story seemed at first “like an op” and “a demoralization tactic from our intelligence services,” he claimed, “There's a little bit of evidence that the ladies are not exactly his type.”
Newsmax host Rob Carson repeated the claim on March 22 and suggested the ayatollah has not been going out in public because “he's been in the closet.” After showing a clip of host Carl Higbie mocking “the Strait of Hormuz and the gay son,” Carson broke out in song, seemingly parodying “It's Raining Men.”
VID]
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03/30/26 2:06 PM EDT
03/30/26 1:57 PM EDT
03/30/26
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### Newsmax host: “You lose support for me if you put boots on the ground in combat roles” in Iran
03/26/26
03/26/26
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President Donald Trump clashed with a far-right reporter on Monday morning as he left Palm Beach, Florida, where he spends his weekends.
Speaking to reporters at the base of his stairs at the airport, the president shouted questions at the reporters. One began asking about the ICE agents deployed to American airports and was about to ask a question about it when Trump asked, "Who are you with?"
He said he was with Newsmax.
"You're not doing a very good job," Trup said.
The reporter ignored the slight, continuing to ask about ICE agents deployed to airports, but Trump interrupted.
"You're not doing a good job. Did you hear me?" Trump said and turned to take a question from someone else.
"I'm taking CNN over Newsmax. Can you believe it?" he asked no one in particular.
Trump has a long history of attacking media outlets and individual journalists who ask tough questions or report unfavorably on his administration. Newsmax, a conservative cable news network, has generally been sympathetic to Trump, though the president has occasionally criticized the outlet when he feels it hasn't provided sufficiently favorable coverage.
Trump frequently praises Fox News while attacking CNN, MS Now, and other mainstream media organizations he labels as "fake news."The clash at Palm Beach International Airport comes as Trump faces mounting criticism over his administration's policies, including the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports across the country. The move has drawn concerns from civil liberties advocates and some lawmakers who worry about racial profiling and the militarization of civilian spaces.
Trump has defended the airport deployments as necessary to address security concerns and enforce immigration laws.Trump's public criticism of individual reporters is part of a broader pattern of attacking the media that has continued throughout his political career. He frequently uses social media and public appearances to challenge journalists' credibility and question their motives, often referring to critical coverage as "enemy of the people" rhetoric.
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### Newsmax host Michael Savage proposes “internment camps” for “homeless bums”
03/17/26
03/17/26
03/17/26
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03/18/26
March 17, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Alright, for more on the SAVE Act, I want to bring in my friend, CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp. Alright, this is huge that it passed this hurdle. But some people are saying that it's just not going to get anywhere because of the filibuster.
MATT SCHLAPP (GUEST): Yeah. So in the old days they used to have real filibusters. Filibuster means talk a bill to death. And you got to love the Senate, they decided that that would be too much work. So you just have to threaten to talk of bill to death. And that kills the bill. And Mike Lee's saying, hey, that shouldn't work anymore.
HIGBIE: Yeah, no, it's just unbelievable to me. And I — look, I think that they should just blow the filibuster and do this whole thing anyway because it's — like, I say all the time, this is why people need guns in this country, because a government is willing to go 80% against the country. It's unbelievable.
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03/18/26 8:49 AM EDT
### Newsmax host Michael Savage proposes “internment camps” for “homeless bums”
03/17/26 11:47 AM EDT
03/17/26
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// BOEBERT HILLARY PIX?
MMA
Right-wing media figures are getting briefed on the Iran war before Congress
Benny Johnson and Brian Kilmeade appear to have more information than just about any elected representative
Written by John Knefel
Research contributions from Sophie Lawton
Published 03/02/26
A defining feature of President Donald Trump’s second term is its symbiotic relationship with media allies, both at traditional right-wing outlets like Fox News and among the newer cohort of MAGA podcasters and online influencers — in some cases, these figures know more about Trump’s upcoming policy decisions than members of Congress. That dynamic was fully on display in the lead-up to the unprovoked bombing campaign the United States and Israel launched against Iran on February 28.
Prior to Trump’s initiation of the war, MAGA streamer Benny Johnson and Newsmax host Greg Kelly appeared to have insider information about when the first round of strikes would occur. Beyond them, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade and contributor Jack Keane claimed to have been involved in high-level briefings on the campaign.
Johnson, who was fired by Buzzfeed for plagiarism in 2014 and later disciplined by the Independent Journal Review for publishing false information, appears to have had unusually close access to officials in the Trump administration responsible for the decision to go to war.
On February 21, Johnson told his audience, “We are going to war with Iran. … I've been asking — I think that the cake's been baked.” It was unclear at the time whether he had inside information or was speculating, as he later added, referring to the publicly reported military build up, “the maps don't lie, OK? It’s happening.”
Johnson returned to the subject on February 27, just hours before the U.S.-Israeli campaign began. He began his show saying he’d just been “on the phone with top-level — let’s just say very high-level administration officials — moments ago to discuss what the plan is” for attacking Iran. Later in the same episode, Johnson claimed that he’d been talking with someone who is at the “top, top level of the administration, and we were yelling at each other — not yelling, but having polite conversation — about, like, what’s about to pop off in the Mid East.”
Ultimately, Johnson told his audience, “This is not a drill. It is actually happening,” adding: “I think in the next 24 hours we are going to see the world change. It may be the next 24 minutes, we're not exactly certain."
Newsmax host Kelly was even more precise. “A very well-informed person told me” the attack on Iran will happen Friday “after Wall Street closes,” Kelly said February 26.
By contrast, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who sits on both the Senate committees on intelligence and on foreign relations, told reporters on February 28 that he was “learning like you are as the news unfolds exactly what's happening." The Trump administration reportedly briefed some congressional staff the following day, with a full briefing to Congress scheduled for March 3.
Johnson and Kelly weren’t the only right-wing media figures enjoying extraordinary access to high-level information. Over at Fox, Kilmeade — a weekday Fox & Friends host who came in to cover a weekend shift — said on March 1 that he “was fortunate enough to be in a briefing with high-ranking Trump officials” a day earlier.
The same morning, Keane offered more granular detail, implying a high degree of insider information. “The [Persian] Gulf states are adequately defending themselves,” said Keane, a retired general and former Army vice chief of staff. “Three of them are preparing for combat, offensive operations. One has already started and two others are about to get going. I'm not going to talk about who they are, but that is being coordinated with Adm. Cooper and Central Command. These will be coordinated, selected targets, and they will contribute to the offensive nature of what’s taken place."
Keane’s comments on Fox the next day suggested he’d been provided with high-level briefings that everything is going smoothly. “The military has got a plan here that I have been privy to understand and it is very comprehensive,” Keane said. “And we're going to stick with that plan until the conditions of these military objectives are met. So far, the plan is exceeding all expectations."
The access to White House war plans that Johnson, Kelly, Kilmeade, and Keane appear to have is even more noteworthy given that the Pentagon tightly controlled its first press briefing of the war on March 2 — having already largely replaced the traditional Pentagon press corps with a series of lackeys, grifters, conspiracists, and cranks. According to CNN’s Brian Stelter, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — formerly of Fox News — “only answered questions from his chosen outlets” and had a “pre-selected list of questioners.” Those approved outlets didn’t include Hegseth’s former employer, whose correspondent was relegated to the back row and not called on for a question.
All administrations leak and try to manage public opinion through press operations. But the alignment of messaging and interests between the Trump White House and its media allies is unlike anything the United States has seen in recent memory. Sometimes that looks like providing right-wing influencers with embeds alongside Trump’s deportation agents; other times it looks like inviting MAGA media trolls to the White House to discuss antifa. Now, it looks like some of the most slavish voices in right-wing media are getting better information more quickly than members of Congress as the United States and Israel unleash yet more destruction in the Middle East.
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### Newsmax host calls out Fox News for not covering the Epstein story
02/18/26
02/18/26
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// TEX BS YT 2 17 26
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Firestorm over Republican's social media posts ignites calls for his ouster - Alternet.org
Critics are demanding the censure and even expulsion of a Republican US congressman after his latest bigoted remarks against Muslims.
The firestorm began on Sunday when Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) responded to a sarcastic social media post by Palestinian American activist Nerdeen Kiswani, who jokingly suggested that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election meant that “NYC is coming to Islam,” and it was time to consider banning dogs as pets because “like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.”
“If they force us to choose,” Fine wrote, “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
Kiswani insisted that her post was not meant to be taken at all seriously, and was rather her attempt to satirize some Americans’ fears about having a Muslim elected to lead the largest US city.
“If Americans cared as much about abused children as they do about posts joking about dogs,” she wrote, “we might actually be facing a national reckoning. Instead watching some of the same politicians who resisted transparency around the Epstein files discover their outrage over this is telling.”
Many Democratic lawmakers were quick to condemn Fine for suggesting that the US expel Muslims.
“We must call this what it is. Disgusting bigotry,” wrote Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). “Fine must be censured. It’s about morality and decency, not politics.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined Khanna’s call to censure Fine.
“This is genuinely one of the most disgusting statements I have ever seen issued by an American official,” she wrote. “It should not stop shocking us that the Republican Party openly embraces this. Fine should be censured and stripped of committees. To ignore this is to accept and normalize it.”
Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) argued that Fine’s statement “is what it looks like when Islamophobia and outrage are the only two items on your political agenda,” and demanded that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) issue a formal condemnation.
Jennifer Jenkins, a Democrat running against Fine in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, said that censuring the Republican lawmaker was not enough.
“Randy Fine has spent years spewing hate: attacking entire faiths, calling for violence, targeting kids and families, and dehumanizing Americans,” she wrote. “He’s only escalated. Congress must act now and expel Randy Fine immediately.”
Fine appears undeterred by the condemnation he’s received, appearing on Newsmax Tuesday morning to push false claims about Democrats wanting to ban pet dogs.
“People should know Democrats like [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] are saying ‘we are going to get rid of your dogs,’” Fine falsely claimed. “Americans need to keep that in mind when they go and vote in November.”
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February 12, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
ALEX SWOYER (GUEST): So, Chris, I'm going to go to you first. We know President Trump hates those windmills. He thinks they look terrible. And I will say driving through Iowa, my dad's home state, you see them everywhere. And they are kind of, you know -- they kind of don't look well with the landscape. They don't look like they quite fit. So is this was this a push to try to eliminate some of those windmills?
PLANTE: Well, it's windmills — have you know, they're an embarrassment invented in Persia and 700 A.D. And the Democrats think that they're the latest in energy. They're not the latest in energy. They're Cuisinarts in the sky. They turn eagles and hawks into, you know, into shredded former birds. They don't give us a lot of energy. They are a blight. And they're not economically viable either.
Look, we've got all kinds of sources of energy. And we don't have to go to Persia from the eighth century to adopt new forms of energy in the United States of America. But the Democrats oppose all known forms of energy in the 21st century. They don't like hydroelectric dams because of the fish. They don't like coal burning plants because they're afraid of smoke in the sky or something.
We need more smoke in the sky, it'll block the sun out. It'll cool the Earth and they'll feel better. They don't like nuclear energy, of course, which is clean, efficient, inexpensive, and, you know, hasn't killed anybody. You know, it's the old more people died in Ted Kennedy's car than died at Three Mile Island.
SWOYER: I guess they're not worried about the birds. Although I will say windmills do freeze, that's an issue there.
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MMA
February 9, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): The silly bowl. Did you watch? I only watched a little bit. Sorry. It stands for so much — they're trying to destroy America. I do believe the NFL, they have no interest in this country or its culture. They're interested in money.
A couple of weird things just off the top. The Black national anthem. I know they do this in smaller games, but what the hell? I mean, it's crazy. The black, white and — no. Where's the red, white, and blue. It's green, black, and red, which is the pan-African color, apparently. Let's see.
Bad Bunny, bad guy. Why is he jumping up and down on a car? That's like a riot. That's code for rioting or something.
It's bad enough when these guys speak in English. I couldn't understand anything in Spanish. It's hard to tell what singers are singing about sometimes.
I think the whole thing had an LGBT, queer-ish kind of vibe, right? With the colors.
And not for nothing. But, you know, a lot of football players are killing themselves by playing football, right? I know those aren't the right guys, the right team, but CTE, that's a real bad thing. And that Goodell, he doesn't care about any of this. He cares about money mountain.
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MMA
Right-wing media distract from GOP sabotage of the Affordable Care Act
Trump's media apologists praise his lackluster replacement health care proposal
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 02/03/26
After Republicans let enhanced premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans lapse at the end of 2025, health insurance premium costs for many Americans have risen significantly — and are projected to more than double for those who received those subsidies — and the number of signups has plummeted.
Now that Trump has announced his “Great Healthcare Plan” — a vague set of health care policies — and a rural hospital fund established by Trump’s tax cuts announced its first round of funding, right-wing media have jumped on board, ignoring Republicans’ long history of sabotaging the ACA in favor of claiming that the program is unaffordable and praising Trump’s policy ideas, which fail to address the problems he and Republicans helped to create.
Analyses predict massive spikes in insurance premiums and millions losing their insurance from the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits
AP on January 1: “Health subsidies expire, launching millions of Americans into 2026 with steep insurance hikes.” The Associated Press reported on January 1, “Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year. Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash. In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date.” The Associated Press, [1/1/26]
A September KFF analysis estimated that the expiration of the enhanced premium tax cuts would “more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay annually for premiums—a 114% increase from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026,” and approved rate changes show an average increase of 20% for all enrollees, more than double the increase for the previous year. An analysis by the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker noted: “This is the largest rate change insurers have requested since 2018, the last time that policy uncertainty contributed to sharp premium increases.” KFF, [9/30/25; Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, updated 1/15/26]
In June, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 4.2 million people will become uninsured by 2034 from the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits. The CBO also estimated that permanently extending these tax credits would increase the number of people with insurance by 3.8 million in 2035. Congressional Budget Office, [6/4/25, 9/18/25]
According to KFF, January data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that ACA Marketplace sign-ups this year so far are “down by over a million people.” KFF cautioned that “these data may not fully show how much the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits has affected enrollment in the Marketplaces. A better picture of the enrollment changes likely won’t be known until this summer, when effectuated enrollment data are typically released.” KFF, [1/29/26]
## As ACA tax credits lapsed, right-wing media criticized the ACA itself as unaffordable or blamed Democrats
Right-wing media are claiming that the Affordable Care Act has caused Marketplace plans, which cover specific essential health benefits, to become unaffordable. Yet according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Marketplace costs are growing at similar rates as employer-sponsored health insurance, which is also heavily subsidized in that employer contributions are not taxed. And in fact, it was Republicans who controlled Congress and refused to extend the enhanced premium tax cuts before they expired, even though they extended Trump’s tax cuts for the rich before their scheduled expiration.
Fox contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier: “What happened is these insurance companies are being told that you have tvo cover all of these patients. You have all of these mandatory things you have to cover, which — that was a big flaw of the Affordable Care Act, which rose costs by essentially saying everything has to be covered.” Saphier continued: “Imagine if your car insurance covered your oil changes, covered everything about your car. That's not how insurance works. But the Affordable Care Act made that, which is why it got so expensive.” Saphier also said she was “frustrated” that “these politicians have failed” to extend the subsidies, even as she criticized the ACA. Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/1/26]
Newsmax guest Jennifer Kelly: “The nightmare for Americans remains many still paying premiums higher than their own mortgage payment. And the blame for that falls squarely on Barack Obama and the Democrats’ shoulders. So the GOP should just keep pounding that message all the way to the midterms.” Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [1/1/26]
Fox contributor Lisa Boothe called it the “Affordable Care Act that’s not affordable.”Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [1/1/26]
Fox host Julie Banderas: “Democrats, by the way, who backed Obamacare, … they are the ones that actually put a halt on Obama’s subsidies, which effectively are going to increase people’s medical care costs.” Conservative economist Stephen Moore replied, “What we don’t have in America today is affordable health care.” Fox News, *Fox News Live*, [1/1/26]
Newsmax guest host David Harris Jr.: “This is the real legacy of Obamacare, friends: skyrocketing prices, more government dependance, and a broken system that Democrats propped up with temporary handouts to mask the inevitable.” Newsmax, *The Chris Salcedo Show*, [1/1/26]
Fox Business host David Asman: “The premiums have not gone down. They have tripled. They have gone up three times with Obamacare. ... And now they're blaming Republicans for the rates going up.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [1/2/26]
Newsmax host Rob Astorino: “It’s not really debatable anymore that the so-called Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has been a very expensive failure. And Democrats don't care how unaffordable or broken the system actually is. They just want to shovel more money into the pit and add more people to it.” Astorinio added: “Democrats created the mess. Republicans are going to get the blame.” Newsmax, *Saturday Agenda*, [1/3/26]
Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway: “This Obamacare has been a failure, Democrats know it but don’t want to deal with it, and Republicans, too many of them probably don’t have the courage to tackle it.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [1/8/26]
Newsmax senior political analyst Rick Santorum: The enhanced premium tax credits were “all a farce to keep the gravy train rolling.” Santorum also downplayed the loss of more than a million ACA enrollees compared to the previous year, saying that many people were fraudulently enrolled and “the quote dramatic increases actually didn’t affect very many people.” Newsmax, *The Record*, [1/16/26]
Fox Business host Dagen McDowell downplayed enrollment losses from the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits. Citing conservative economist Stephen Moore, she said: “It was the fact that the number of people who dropped out of Obamacare was, for the current enrollment year, was incredibly small. And these super-sized subsidies going away had minimal impact on the number of people enrolling in Obamacare.” Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [1/16/26]
Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald: “Since Obamacare passed, insurance premiums have nearly tripled.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [1/19/26]
Heritage Foundation’s EJ Antoni onFox & Friends First: The premium increases from the lapsed tax credits are “once again exposing yet another lie of Obamacare, the so-called Affordable Care Act. Obviously it was the unaffordable care act.”Fox News, *Fox & Friends First*, [1/28/26]
## But Republicans have long been sabotaging the ACA in multiple ways
Long before Trump’s second term tax cut for the rich further eviscerated the ACA, Republicans were sabotaging the health insurance expansion in numerous ways. This includes at least 70 separate attempts by Republicans in Congress to repeal or weaken the ACA, according to The Washington Post.
The first Trump administration undertook nearly 100 separate actions “to sabotage the ACA by destabilizing private insurance markets or reversing the law’s historic gains in health coverage.” The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ list of actions taken by the first Trump administration to sabotage the ACA spans from January 20, 2017, when Trump was first sworn into office, to January 19, 2021, his last full day in office during his first term. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, [2/2/21]
In 2015, The New York Times described a Republican campaign against risk corridor provisions of the ACA as “legislative sabotage.” The Times called a successful effort led by then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to limit funding to the “so-called risk corridor provision” of the ACA, which protected “insurance companies against financial losses,” “quiet legislative sabotage.” According to a later study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the insurers denied risk corridor payments in 2015 “had 7% higher premium increases over the next two years than did non-claiming insurers.” The New York Times, [12/9/15; Fierce Healthcare, 12/20/17]
In 2013, The Washington Post reported that Republicans promised to block any efforts to build a federal exchange and urged states to “refuse to build their own online insurance marketplaces.” The Washington Post, [11/2/13]
In 2013, Politico reported that “Republicans refused repeatedly to appropriate dedicated funds” for the ACA’s implementation. Politico noted that after “most Republican governors declined to create their own state insurance exchanges” and “congressional Republicans refused repeatedly to appropriate dedicated funds” needed for the federal government to “take at least partial responsibility for creating marketplaces serving [those] states.” Republicans’ stonewalling left “the Health and Human Services Department and other agencies to cobble together HealthCare.gov by redirecting funds from existing programs.” Politico, [11/1/13]
Many Republican-controlled states initially refused to participate in the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, leaving millions without insurance. The New York Times reported in 2013 that many states “largely controlled by Republicans … declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid.” The New York Times, [10/2/13]
## Right-wing media have also heaped praise on Trump’s health plan and rural hospital fund
Instead of calling on Congress to extend the expired tax credits, Trump announced his “Great Healthcare Plan” and a rural hospital fund created last year announced its first disbursements. Right-wing media endorsed both.
Fox contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier: The rural hospital fund is “going to help health care tremendously.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/1/26]
Fox Business host Dagen McDowell: “The year of health care is here. Or hopefully fixing it. Supersized Obamacare subsidies have officially expired, and the Trump administration's sweeping changes to the industry are now taking effect.” Co-host Brian Brenberg added: “Beginning this month, all 50 states will receive a share of $10 billion in federal funding aimed at revitalizing and protecting rural health care systems.” Fox Business, The Bottom Line, [1/2/26]
Fox Business host Larry Kudlow introduced a segment by calling Trump’s plan “the greatest health care plan in the history of civilization.” Fox Business, Kudlow, [1/15/26]
Fox Business host Brian Brenberg: Trump’s health plan is “good economics” because it’s “getting consumers more in touch with the spending rather than all of the middlemen.” Fox Business, Kudlow, [1/15/26]
Newsmax host Katrina Szish: “The president putting decision-making power back into the hands of Americans. Seems practical to me.” Newsmax, Ed Henry: The Briefing, [1/16/26]
Newsmax host Shaun Kraisman called Trump’s plan a “new framework of ideas to revolutionize health care in America.” Newsmax, The National Report, [1/16/26]
Fox guest Steve Forbes: Trump’s plan “could cut out, over time, a trillion dollars [from] the cost of health care.” Fox Business, The Big Money Show, [1/16/26]
Newsmax White House correspondent Mike Carter: The rural hospital fund is “focusing on those folks, those Americans that live in more rural parts of the country, making sure they have great access to health care by funding rural hospitals.”Newsmax, Newsline, [1/16/26]
## Experts say Trump's plan will do little to improve health care affordability and will still result in millions losing their insurance
The Washington Post described Trump’s plan as a “grab bag of initiatives” that “falls far short of President Donald Trump’s promises to deliver a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.” The Post continued:
Trump’s proposal includes a mix of initiatives that are already underway, such as Trump’s push to cut U.S. drug prices by linking them with the lower cost of drugs sold abroad, and some of his stalled ambitions, such as his desire to redirect billions of dollars in federal funding away from health insurers and toward average Americans. Trump also called to restore funding for the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction program, an insurance subsidy program that he ended in his first term, and to institute “maximum price transparency” by requiring hospitals and insurers to make more information available to consumers.
The proposal does not include new ideas to expand health coverage or simplify America’s often-byzantine health care system.
Additionally, other existing Republican policies stemming from their latest tax cut for the rich are estimated to cause up to 15 million Americans, and possibly more, to lose their health insurance. Other experts said Trump’s plans are so vague that it is unknown what effects they may have but they put people with preexisting conditions at risk and don’t reestablish the expired subsidies:
Trump’s plan to shift funds from subsidizing insurance plan premiums to health savings accounts is “a terrible approach for” the part of the population that needs assistance with expensive health care bills, according to Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health health policy professor Gerard Anderson. Bloomberg, [1/23/26]
According to a December Cornell Health Policy Center survey of health care policy scholars, 70% “believed that depositing the value of a household’s enhanced premium tax credit into an HSA (rather than applying it directly to monthly premiums) would measurably worsen Marketplace affordability.” Health Affairs, [12/17/25]
KFF senior vice president Cynthia Cox: “The president’s plan is vague and, without knowing more, it is impossible to say what the implications would be for people with pre-existing conditions who rely on the ACA markets. The framework does not explicitly say people with pre-existing conditions are protected.” In a comment to NPR, Cox also said: “This looks much more like a compilation of Republican ideas, including some that are already in the Affordable Care Act. It doesn't appear to address the rising premium payments that we're seeing.” KFF, [1/16/26; NPR, 1/15/26]
Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy research professor Edwin Park: “The plan clearly opposes extension of the expiring ACA marketplace subsidies, without which roughly 4 million people will end up uninsured and many millions more will see their marketplace premiums double or increase by even more.” Park added that Trump’s plan also “appropriates the ‘cost-sharing reductions’ under the Affordable Care Act,” which he said would “have the effect of reducing premium tax credit amounts for those eligible for subsidies (while lowering unsubsidized premiums). The result would actually be more uninsured as low-income people see smaller subsidies and higher premiums they cannot afford.” The Guardian, [1/15/26]
University of Pittsburgh assistant professor Miranda Yaver: “The result would be inequity (and likely worse health outcomes) and further sabotage of the progress of the ACA.”She added that “it isn’t clear that the plans the Trump administration wants to help people to purchase would be ACA-compliant, which would mean that while healthy patients may enjoy cost savings, there won’t be remotely sufficient protection for the millions of Americans with pre-existing medical conditions.” The Guardian, [1/15/26]
NYU Grossman School of Medicine head of medical ethics Art Caplan: “It’s a broken plan and a broken idea.”He added: “The average consumer doesn’t really have time to go shopping when they need to go to the hospital for a premature birth or a car accident.” NBC News, [1/15/26]
Multiple studies have concluded that consumers simply don’t shop for cheaper health care.A 2018 New York Times report explained that even though “scholars have estimated that as much as 30 or 40 percent of care” is “shoppable,” studies show “very few people shop for this type of care.” It also covered a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper examining how people sought out nonemergency MRIs, which found that, “in the context of other studies … if people can’t shop for elective M.R.I.s, there’s hardly a chance they are going to do so with other health care procedures that are more complicated and variable.” A 2024 KFF analysis of Medicare beneficiaries also concluded that “the vast majority of the nation’s 67 million Medicare beneficiaries will not shop around among the coverage options for 2025 or switch plans,” even though it’s “a decision that could have a significant impact on enrollees’ coverage and costs.” The KFF analysis determined that “nearly 7 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries (69%) did not compare their Medicare coverage with other Medicare options during the program’s annual open enrollment period for coverage in 2022.” The New York Times, [7/30/18; KFF, 9/26/24]
KFF Medicare policy expert Juliette Cubanski: “Generally speaking, most people with insurance coverage will continue to be better off using their insurance to obtain medications rather than purchasing through the TrumpRx direct-to-consumer portal.” NBC News, [1/8/26]
## Trump’s rural hospital fund does not replace the rural medical funding he’s cut, and he’s using it to force states to adopt his policies
The rural hospital fund was added to Trump’s tax cut bill for the rich to convince Republican holdouts to pass the law after they expressed concerns that the Medicaid cuts in the bill would devastate rural health care. The $50 billion fund doesn’t come close to replacing the rural Medicaid funding that was cut in Trump’s tax cut bill, and one state senator characterized it as a thinly disguised “sort of blackmail” given that it’s being used to coerce states into adopting Trump administration priorities and the money can be clawed back at a later date.
KFF explained that the rural hospital fund “provides $50 billion for state grants” over a five-year period, of which half is to be distributed “equally among all states with an approved application,” and the other half subject to the Trump administration’s discretion.KFF noted that “while the fund is described as a ‘rural’ program, the law appears to give states some ability to direct some of the dollars to urban and suburban areas, pending CMS approval.” KFF further noted that “while many of the major cuts related to Medicaid and the ACA Marketplaces under the law are not time limited, the rural health fund is temporary.” KFF, [8/4/25]
The reconciliation package also cuts an estimated $137 billion in rural Medicaid spending over 10 years. KFF explained that its estimate may undercount the lost funding for rural areas: “The analysis allocates each state’s estimated spending reductions from the KFF analysis of the reconciliation package to urban and rural areas using the percentage of Medicaid spending that paid for services used by rural enrollees within each state. The estimates may understate the effects on rural areas because they do not account for the full change in total Medicaid spending, which would include the federal spending reductions and the associated reduction in state Medicaid spending stemming from lower enrollment. The estimates also do not account for spending cuts related to Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace coverage from the reconciliation bill, the expiration of enhanced ACA premium tax credits that were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of proposed Marketplace integrity rules.” KFF, [7/24/25]
CBS News: An analysis from the University of North Carolina's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research determined that 338 rural hospitals are at risk of closure due to the Republicans' cuts of Medicaid spending. The research was commissioned by Democratic senators. CBS News, [6/12/25]
AP: $12 billion of the fund is tied to “whether states are implementing health policies prioritized by the Trump administration’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ initiative” and can be clawed back if “state leaders don’t pass promised policies.” This includes further restricting the types of food that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds could be used to purchase. The Associated Press, [12/29/25]
//
02/03/26 1:38 PM EST
### Fox won’t tell viewers that the UAE bought off Trump
02/03/26 11:00 AM EST
### Border Czar Tom Homan in resurfaced Fox interview: “We need a judicial warrant for a search”
02/03/26
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Right-wing media attempt to justify baseless conspiracy theories that the attack on Ilhan Omar was staged
Podcaster Tim Pool admitted it “doesn't matter” if it wasn't staged because "the right would never believe her”
Written by Gideon Taaffe & Reed McMaster
Published 01/29/26
Right-wing media reacted to an attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) by a man who sprayed a liquid at her during a January 27 town hall event by suggesting the attack was “suspicious” and “staged.”
President Donald Trump stoked conspiracy theories about the attack, telling ABC News that Omar “probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.” Right-wing media figures spread similar claims, suggesting it is “perfectly reasonable” to question whether Omar's assault was “fake” or “staged.”
## Rep. Ilhan Omar, a long-time target of right-wing media and Trump’s ire, was attacked by a man with an alleged history of violent rhetoric and “right-wing extremist” views
Omar was attacked during a town hall on January 27 by a man who sprayed a liquid at her.Preliminary reports suggest the liquid was apple cider vinegar. The man was tackled and arrested, and Omar continued with the town hall. She later posted on social media, “I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win. Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.” The Hill, [1/27/26; Forbes, 1/28/26]
The alleged attacker’s brother spoke to The Independent, calling him a “right-wing extremist” with a long-standing hatred of Somalis.He told The Independent, “He has had a hatred of the Somali community for probably 20 years,” adding, “There’s a reason I don’t talk to him. … He’s got a lot of anger, I have no idea where it comes from. He’s always been that way. In and out of treatment since he was a kid.” The Independent, [1/28/26]
According to an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, the alleged attacker reportedly told an associate years earlier, “Somebody should kill that bitch,” while referring to Omar.BlueSky, 1/29/26; U.S. District Court of Minnesota, United States of America v. Anthony James Kazmierczak, Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, [1/28/26]
Asked about the incident by an ABC News reporter, Trump said Omar “probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.” He also said he had not seen the video of the attack, adding, “I don't think about her. I think she's a fraud.” ABC News, [1/28/26]
Omar has been the target of right-wing media attacks for years, with many pundits suggesting she should return to Somalia.Late Fox News host Lou Dobbs questioned, “Who is she representing? Because it isn't America,” and Fox News contributor Ben Domenech suggested Omar buy a ticket to Somalia. Additionally, Trump ally and self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer has called for Omar to “leave my country” and accused Omar of “pushing for another 9/11.” Media Matters, [4/17/19, 6/17/25, 8/14/24]
Trump recently called for an investigation into Omar’s finances after a Fox News host suggested her net worth had increased suspiciously. The representative’s financial disclosure revealed that her net worth increased to $30 million after her marriage to an entrepreneur and political consultant whose assets were estimated to range up to that figure.Trump baselessly claimed, “There is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician.” Media Matters, [1/23/26]
## Right-wing media figures claimed the attack was “fake” or “staged” — or suggested people had a reason to believe it was
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh claimed it’s “a perfectly reasonable thing” to think Omar’s assault was staged.He said, “I think that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to worry about.” He then added, “Leftists are constantly using hoaxes. We know that. And we also know that Somalis love to scam and they love to use deception. … In Ilhan’s case, well she’s a Somali and a leftist, so the pattern points in a certain direction.” He then offered a caveat: “Typically if leftists are going to fake a hate crime or fake an attack of this type — which they do all the time — but they do it in a way that, where the culprit is never seen.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [1/28/26]
Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson said there's something “very suspicious” about the attack.Johnson claimed it was “extremely strange” that Omar decided to go back to giving her speech. YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/28/26]
Townhall managing editor Matt Vespa wrote a column justifying people who questioned if the attack was fake, writing, “There are some who are suggesting that this could be another fake attack incident, a hoax worthy of Jussie Smollett’s talents.”Vespa linked to several social media posts alleging the incident was faked, adding, “I can see how there could be questions.” Townhall, [1/28/26]
Right-wing podcaster Tim Pool claimed “it doesn’t matter” if the attack was real or not because “the right would never believe her.”He claimed, “The funny thing is no one believes her anyway. The right would never believe her. It doesn't matter. And I'm going to say what I always say, guys. It doesn't matter if it's true or not.” YouTube, Timcast, [1/28/26]
The Daily Caller published an opinion piece titled “Not Many Believe Ilhan Omar And She Only Has Herself To Blame.” The piece justified online speculation from right-wing figures that the attack was fake. The Daily Caller, [1/28/26]
The Independent reported that Laura Loomer reacted to the attack by writing, “Nobody cares about your staged victim propaganda.”Loomer continued, “Please go back to Somalia. We are getting really tired of people like you taking up space in our country.” The Independent, [1/28/26]
The Independent also noted right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong’s claim that “nothing about the ‘attack’ on Ilhan Omar is real.” Cheong wrote, “Look at how Ilhan Omar looks at the guy who sprayed her and gives him a little nod right before he springs into action,” as supposed evidence. The Independent, [1/28/26]
On his live show, right-wing podcaster Jeremy Hambly, known online as The Quartering, claimed, “She knew that it was a harmless liquid, in my opinion, because of the way she reacted.” He continued, “The reason I’m a 100% convinced she knew is because this chick is Muslim. What do they do in Muslim countries? Acid attacks. She was never even concerned for a millisecond about what was sprayed on her.” Rumble, *The Quartering*, [1/28/26; IMDb, accessed 1/29/26]
Salem News host Mike Gallagher remarked that he’s “never seen such a pushback” on social media, adding, “Nobody believes it’s legit.” He continued, “It’s like Jussie Smollett 2.0, totally staged, a hoax. That’s what people are screaming on social media. And I have to admit, I’ve got a lot of questions. But the problem is, if it’s legit, it needs to be roundly condemned.” Salem News Channel, *The Mike Gallagher Show*, [1/28/26]
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty questioned, “Do you think maybe this might all be about changing the subject for old Ilhan and not really some violent attack that she was barely able to escape through with her life?”Finnerty also suggested the attacker was a leftist, saying, “We're being told that he is definitely a Republican, Trump-supporting right-winger. And we're being told that with absolutely no evidence, even though he’s got kids with blue hair, he's got an ex-wife who was an Ilhan, AOC supporter.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [1/28/26]
Newsmax host Carl Higbie said, “I've got plenty of questions” about the attack on Omar and noted the attacker allegedly had a “liberal activist” ex-wife.He stated, “Now they're making Republicans out to be the bad guys for this minor incident right here, which I've plenty of questions about. Apparently, this guy's wife is some big liberal activist — or ex-wife I should say.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [1/28/26]
//
### Right-wing media are launching attacks at the women protesting in Minnesota
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January 26, 2026, edition of Newsmax'sNational Report
SHAUN KRAISMAN (HOST): That was DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after federal agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security said the agent acted in self-defense after attempting to disarm Pretti. The shooting comes amid an ongoing surge in immigration enforcement across the city of Minneapolis, in Minnesota, as well the state.
Judge Andrew Napolitano is our senior judicial analyst, joining us on set. There is a lot to examine, and for many on social media -- look, let's just have a frank conversation. It's an open and shut case for many people out there. And it shouldn't be, right, because they've seen the video, they've made their decisions. It's such a polarized topic at this point. So here's some of the video that we're seeing here. And it seems to show that an agent, again, going to secure the gun. If you watch this, it appears that maybe they secured the gun before shots were fired. [IN ONE VID WE SEE COP HIT HIM IN HEAD MULT X W CAN?!] But again an investigation is playing out. You heard DHS's side. You've obviously heard the rhetoric that has come out thus far. But overall, analyzing this situation, what is this investigation going to entail? Is it more than just the video?
ANDREW NAPOLITANO (SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST): Well, yes, it's more than just the video. It's the forensics of the angles of the ten bullets that entered his body. The bullets entered his body from his back because he had been temporarily blinded by pepper spray and was on his stomach on the frozen earth. The investigation will also interrogate eyewitnesses, and more importantly, it will interrogate the agents who were there. What were their mental impressions at the time? Why did they decide to shoot somebody after they had disarmed him and who was already on the ground? To me, their shooting is indefensible, but I understand that there's going to be an investigation --
KRAISMAN: Right.
NAPOLITANO: A federal investigation, not a state investigation, which will bring us to what I know you want to talk about next. Can the feds keep this information, killing on a street by police of a citizen away from the state whose principal job is to maintain safety on the streets? That will be litigated in a federal court, probably in the next half hour or so, whenever the court starts in Minnesota.
But a couple of things are clear. One is that Secretary Noem did not have all the facts before her when she made that statement. He was not brandishing the gun. The gun was on his person lawfully. And then it was removed before he went down and before he was killed. So I don't know what the threat was. She said he was shot defensively. I don't know what the threat was that these people felt, which is why their interrogation of him is important.
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As Minneapolis prosecutors resign over pressure to investigate Renee Good’s widow, right-wing media call for her arrest
Megyn Kelly on the ICE killing: “That wife got Renee Good killed — that's the truth. It was more the fault of the wife than the fault of the cop.”
Written by Gideon Taaffe & Reed McMaster
Published 01/13/26
As federal prosecutors in Minnesota are resigning over pressure to investigate Renee Good’s widow, who was present when an ICE agent killed Good last week, some in right-wing media have been calling for Good’s wife to be arrested, saying she committed a “felony” and that Good’s death “was more the fault of the wife than the fault of the cop.”
## Senior Justice Department officials are pushing for an investigation into Good’s widow, who was present at the shooting, and six prosecutors have resigned in response
Renee Good’s wife, Becca Good, was present when she was shot, and both engaged with some of the ICE agents before the shooting. The Associated Press described a “series of exchanges” shown in one video of the shooting: “‘That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,’ Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window. ‘U.S. citizen, former f---ing veteran,’ says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. ‘You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.’” Right before the shots are fired, Becca Good appears to say, “Drive, baby, drive. Drive.” The Associated Press, [1/9/26]
Becca Good wrote in a later statement that they had “stopped to support our neighbors” when they got into a confrontation with ICE agents.“Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole,” Good wrote, and Minnesota Public Radio reported that “those were the values that brought the Goods to stop during an ICE operation in south Minneapolis.” MPRNews, [1/9/26]
Six Minnesota federal prosecutors have resigned over a push by the Justice Department to investigate Becca Good. The New York Times reported that the Justice Department is looking to “examine ties between Ms. Good and her wife, Becca, and several groups that have been monitoring and protesting the conduct of immigration agents in recent weeks.” Per the Times, one Minnesota prosecutor, Joseph H. Thompson, “objected to that approach, as well as to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people familiar with his decision said.” Five other prosecutors also resigned. The New York Times, [1/13/26]
## Right-wing media figures are calling for Becca Good’s arrest, accusing her of a “felony,” and blaming her for her wife’s death
Newsmax host Greg Kelly claimed Becca Good was “instigating the whole damn thing” and “should be charged.”He added, “It's really important to understand how nasty this Becca person is, the wife who may have instigated the whole thing,” and suggested she has “LGBT queer immunity.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [1/12/26]
Greg Kelly later said Renee Good's “mouthy wife” is “a terrible, terrible individual” who “should be in a lot of trouble.” Kelly claimed, “She seems to understand that she bears some responsibility here,” later adding that “it seems like she was the one calling the shots.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [1/12/26]
Podcaster Megyn Kelly claimed Good’s wife committed a “felony” and should be arrested for “aiding and abetting the resisting of arrest and the fleeing from a crime scene.” Kelly stated, “That wife should be under arrest. She should. She was aiding and abetting the resisting of arrest and the fleeing from a crime scene. She's committing a felony. You could make a good case for felony murder here. She should be in custody right now, that woman.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/12/26]
Megyn Kelly said, “That wife got Renee Good killed — that's the truth. It was more the fault of the wife than the fault of the cop.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/12/26]
Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson: “You’ve got to charge the wife or the partner here” with attempted murder.He added, “Because she goes go, baby, go, baby, go as soon as she sees the ICE agent in front of her vehicle. Sorry, ma’am, not going to work out for you.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/12/26]
//
### Right-wing media villainize and blame Renee Good for her own death in Minneapolis ICE shooting
01/09/26 3:53 PM EST
01/08/26 4:14 PM EST
01/13/26
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01/13/26 10:04 AM EST
01/13/26
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### Right-wing media villainize and blame Renee Good for her own death in Minneapolis ICE shooting
01/09/26 3:53 PM EST
### Watch how Fox tried to spin the disappointing December jobs report
01/09/26 3:38 PM EST
01/09/26 3:01 PM EST
01/09/26
Right-wing media villainize and blame Renee Good for her own death in Minneapolis ICE shooting
Written by Gideon Taaffe, Isabella Sherk & Jack Winstanley
Published 01/09/26
After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on January 7 during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, right-wing media reacted by blaming Good for her death, saying it "was her own doing” and attacking her character by labeling her “a perpetrator” and “trained agitator.”
## Right-wing media immediately pushed DHS’ spin to defend the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good
Good was killed in Minneapolis by an ICE agent while she appeared to be trying to drive away during an ICE raid.The Washington Post reported “Good, 37, was a poet, a mother of three and a movie lover, according to online records and family members. She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk and won an Academy of American Poets Prize for undergraduate students in 2020.” Good’s mother told The Minnesota Star Tribune, “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.” The Washington Post, [1/8/26; The Minnesota Star Tribune, 1/8/26]
In the aftermath of the shooting, Fox News rushed to parrot DHS talking points that claimed Good was trying to harm ICE agents. While some Fox News personalities moderated their statements after footage of the incident was released, many still claimed Good tried to “ram” her car into an ICE officer and cited DHS talking points that it was an act of “domestic terrorism.” Media Matters, [1/8/26]
## Right-wing media attacked Good’s character, calling her the “worst mother of the year,” a “lesbian agitator,” and a “rug munching leftist”
Fox News host Jesse Watters said Good was “a woman in crisis, living a chaotic life on the fringes.” He blamed the left for “radicalizing vulnerable Americans into risking their lives to protect illegal alien criminals.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/8/26]
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty said that Good “gave her life on behalf of criminal illegal aliens, meaning she literally gave her life defending rapists and murderers and drug dealers.”Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [1/8/26]
Newsmax host Carl Higbie said Good is the “worst mother of the year” and she “should be at home with” her kids rather than “obstructing ICE agents.”Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [1/8/26]
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade attacked Good as a “trained activist” who was “harassing ICE officials every single day.”Kilmeade: “They said she was a poet who just panicked. Really? She was a trained activist who is a warrior leader of anti-ICE operations and was harassing ICE officials every single day.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/9/26]
Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson claimed Good was a “paid agitator.”Johnson asserted, “There is a lie about Renee Good, that she is somehow just like a working class mom that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is a factually, totally and completely inaccurate. That is a lie. She is a trained and paid agitator.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/9/26]
Right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong attacked Good as a “rug munching leftist” and dismissed her as a “privileged white woman.” Cheong wrote, “All the pathos designed to make you feel sympathetic to the rug munching leftist having stuffed toys in her glove compartment to make you hate ICE fall flat when you recognize who and what this woman truly was.” Twitter/X, [1/9/26, 1/9/26]
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh wrote that Good was a “lesbian agitator” who “gave her life to protect 68 IQ Somali scammers.” Walsh: “This lesbian agitator gave her life to protect 68 IQ Somali scammers who couldn’t give less of a shit about her. The most disgraceful and humiliating end a person could possibly meet.” Twitter/X, [1/8/26]
Right-wing podcaster The Quartering cast doubt on Good's parenting: “Reneé Good the super mom who tried running down an ICE agent did not have custody of her two older children, aged 15 and 12. We all know what it takes for a mom to lose custody.” Twitter/X, [1/8/26]
Daily Wire writer Megan Basham wrote that “Good was not just an ordinary mom dropping her child off. She was a trained agitator and she was there for the express purpose of obstructing ICE agents.” Twitter/X, [1/8/26]
## Right-wing media blamed Good for her own death, claiming she was “100 percent” at fault and that she should have complied with ICE agents
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh said Good is “100 percent to blame and her death is her own fault.” He posted: “It’s totally irrelevant whether she was trying to hit the ICE agent or not. Either she wanted to hit him or she wanted to evade arrest and escape and didn’t care if she hit him in the process. There is zero moral or legal difference between these two scenarios. In either case she is 100 percent to blame and her death is her own fault.” Twitter/X, [1/9/26]
Fox host Greg Gutfeld compared the killing of Renee Good to the Tide Pod challenge, saying, “If you are going to eat Tide Pods, there's not much else we can do except tell you not to do it.”He continued, “If you want to block a street, if you want to hinder and harass law enforcement, that’s your responsibility. If you had listened to me, some kid would still have his mother.” Fox News,*The Five*, [1/8/26]
Fox host Lawrence Jones said “I grieve for the young girl and I grieve for her family. But there are consequences to your actions.” He said that we should be reminding protesters to “be careful what you do” because “we don't live in Venezuela where we have anarchy in our society,” adding, “We do have law and order. We do have police officers.” Fox News, *The Five*, [1/7/26]
Speaking about Good's killing, right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly said “I’m sorry but that was her own doing.” Kelly added, “Who among us would not understand that if we did not respond to law enforcement surrounding us, we were endangering ourselves? Who among us would expect to live if we pressed the accelerator with a cop in front of our SUV? That’s what she did. Everyone would know you’re putting your own life in danger.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/8/26]
Right-wing influencer Zack Hoyt, also known as “Asmongold,” wrote, “Comply with police and don't try to run them over.”He also commented, “Rip bozo” in reaction to the shooting. Twitter/X, [1/7/26]
While discussing the shooting, podcaster Tim Pool said “I wouldn’t call the person [Good] a victim. This is a perpetrator.”He added, “And you can make the argument all day and night about whether the cop needed to, but this is a person in a vehicle evading arrest.” Rumble, *TimCast IRL*, [1/8/26]
Right-wing podcaster Dave Rubin argued that the officer “did not pull out the gun until she started using the car as a weapon.” YouTube, *The Rubin Report*, [1/8/26]
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles declared, “When you park your car in the middle of the street, that's an act of violence.”Knowles also attempted to characterize Good as being armed with a deadly weapon, adding, “Pretty sure she was armed. Do you know how I know that? She was driving an SUV.” The Daily Wire, *The Michael Knowles Show*, [1/8/26]
//
01/09/26 12:16 PM EST
01/08/26 4:14 PM EST
### Megyn Kelly caller on Minneapolis shooting: “The vice president was up there lying his self off”
01/09/26
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mma
JUDGE NAP PUSHES BACK ON NEWSMAX ATTACKS ON MARK KELLY: "THIS IS NOT SEDITION"
01/06/26
https://www.mediamatters.org/newsmax/newsmaxs-senior-judicial-analyst-says-sen-mark-kellys-speech-not-seditious-not-sedition-not)
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// JRNL Fail
The Trump administration’s chum cycle
Media allies are fed bogus information they use to promise prosecutions of the president’s enemies
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 12/18/25 11:39 AM EST
The promise of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to his MAGA media allies, was that Trump loyalists installed at the heads of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies would finally reveal the “deep state” corruption behind the myriad investigations into his misdeeds and bring his political enemies to justice. While the administration’s actual document releases have proven little, its strategy of chumming the water with red meat for the MAGA base has worked on the Trumpist propaganda corps, which has taken the bait and used it to demand a wave of arrests and prosecutions.
In the latest such salvo, Fox News Digital reported Tuesday morning that “the FBI did not believe it had probable cause to raid President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022, but moved forward amid pressure from the Biden Justice Department,” citing “newly declassified documents” to which the outlet apparently received exclusive access. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and FBI Director Kash Patel quickly promoted Fox’s story; so did Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who said he had received the “shocking new docs” that day and alleged they proved that the FBI’s search of the president’s home had been a “miscarriage of justice.”
But as legal reporters who had followed the Trump documents case swiftly noted, the GOP’s spin was nonsense.
The FBI agents’ worries about probable cause, documented in the emails Fox News Digital reviewed, predated the acquisition of Mar-a-Lago surveillance video showing “Trump aides secretly removing boxes of records,” which convinced the bureau’s leaders that probable cause had been reached.
Even Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon rejected the Trump legal team’s argument that “the dissenting views” by FBI agents would have “altered the evidentiary calculus in support of probable cause.”
And concerns aside, a magistrate judge signed off on the search warrant — and when FBI agents executed it, they found reams of unsecured classified material in various rooms of Trump’s home/private club.
The right’s propaganda apparatus nonetheless sprang into action.
MAGA slop artists like Benny Johnson rushed to social media to hype the “massive” story and demand “charges and arrests” in response.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon discussed the “blockbuster” story during his December 16 show with right-wing propaganda magnate John Solomon, who suggested the documents were “the most important document to date” and “could lead” to criminal charges or a civil suit from Trump.
That night, Solomon was on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show telling millions of viewers that the news, which Hannity termed “a bombshell revelation,” could trigger “legal consequences.” (Trump himself subsequently posted a clip of the segment on social media, then denounced “the FBI’s CRIMINAL RAID.”)
On Newsmax, host Greg Kelly even declared that “Jack Smith belongs in jail” over the Mar-a-Lago search, a bizarre conclusion given that Smith was prosecuting war crimes in Europe at the time and would not become special counsel until two months later.
Video
Citation
From the December 17, 2025, edition of Newsmax'sGreg Kelly Reports
We’ve been seeing iterations of this pattern throughout this first year of Trump’s second term: The Trump administration chums the waters by handing over documents related to one of the myriad past investigations into the president’s actions; the president, top Trump officials, and Republican officeholders say they show a massive scandal; and mainstream reporters point out their narrative is farcical while MAGA media stars call for the indictment, arrest, prosecution, jailing, and perhaps execution of their political enemies.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard triggered a firestorm in July with her bogus claim that former President Barack Obama directed a “treasonous conspiracy” against Trump in 2016. While the documents she cited as evidence, originally provided to Fox, proved nothing of the sort, her claim was nonetheless accepted as gospel by MAGA media figures who spent weeks regurgitating her claims and demanding arrests of a litany of purported culprits. The president himself even posted to Truth Social an AI video featuring Obama being arrested and imprisoned.
In August, the purported “Clinton Plan” emails in a newly declassified annex to special counsel John Durham’s 2023 report supposedly unveiled a “plot” against Trump, leading to calls for Hillary Clinton’s imprisonment (Durham had assessed that the emails in question were forgeries created by Russian intelligence).
Two months later, it was FBI documents purporting to show that special counsel Jack Smith had been “spying” on GOP senators that led to right-wing outrage and calls for his arrest (the FBI had reviewed the toll records of senators in order to establish who Trump and his alleged co-conspirators were trying to contact before and during the January 6 insurrection).
And now it’s the Mar-a-Lago search coming under scrutiny based on similarly dishonest readings of documents the administration has released.
Maybe this is all part of the Plan B that DOJ “Weaponization Working Group” head Ed Martin laid out in May — to “name” and “shame” people who the Justice Department proved unable to indict. If that’s the case, a rude awakening may be in store for the right-wing media figures who predicted “justice” was coming — and for the audiences who believed them.
But one can’t put anything past an authoritarian president who has installed loyalists who treat the Justice Department as his personal law firm, purged the law enforcement apparatus of anyone who thinks otherwise, and frequently demands probes into his political foes that his underlings scuttle to carry out.
The constant right-wing celebrations for Trump’s revenge tour can only increase the pressure on law enforcement to try to somehow bring cases against his foes. Indeed, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a grand jury probe into Gabbard’s nonsensical accusations in August; three months later, Reuters reported that prosecutors were drafting grand jury subpoenas “to investigate Obama-era intelligence officials.”
We’ll see where that goes in 2026.
// MMA
### Tulsi Gabbard’s Russiagate conspiracy theory can’t even survive a softball Fox News interview
08/06/25 12:43 PM EDT
08/01/25 4:44 PM EDT
10/07/25
===
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mma
retaliation enforcer?
12/12/25
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NOTE TOM SNYDER ON LOCAL MEDIA
an 11 25
Two powerful groups of media executives very friendly to President Donald Trump are currently embroiled in a fight that puts FCC chair Brendan Carr in an awkward position, reports Politico's John Hendel.
"The nation’s largest TV station owners want Carr’s Federal Communications Commission to loosen the rules that limit how many stations a single company can operate, a goal that many conservatives have been pressing for years," Hendel writes.
These owners, however, have a "formidable opponent in Trump confidant Chris Ruddy, the majority owner of Newsmax Media, who wants to keep the rules in place and now appears to be making headway with the president," he explains.
Trump took to Truth Social Sunday to demonstrate that headway, Hendel notes.
"NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS,” Trump wrote, "echoing Ruddy’s argument that removing the ownership cap would hurt conservatives," Hendel explains.
“If anything, make them SMALLER!” Trump added.
Carr, Hendel writes, "has shown a knack for disruptive, MAGA-pleasing culture-war moves, like his public upbraiding of comedian Jimmy Kimmel and accusing '60 Minutes' of being unfriendly to conservatives," but now he's conflicted.
"Carr has signaled he may want to change the 21-year-old limit on TV station ownership, which was intended to prevent any one broadcaster from too much power over what Americans see on television," Hendel explains. "Loosening the ownership rule would allow right-leaning companies like Sinclair Broadcast Group to expand."
Large TV station owners are hitting a growth limit, Hendel writes, so "a larger cap would give more power to station owners — seen by many conservatives as an ideological counterweight to the mainstream national networks that control TV programming."
Newsmax's Ruddy, however, is standing in the way, Hendel says.
"Ruddy is trying to block any change, arguing that the cap — which limits a broadcaster’s reach to 39 percent of U.S. households — preserves the right market balance between TV broadcasters and cable outlets, and allows a greater mix of voices," he writes.
“It’s not going to work,” Ruddy tells Politico. "The president doesn’t want this, and so I have no doubt that he will not support the FCC going to extraordinary but potentially illegal lengths.”
Joining Ruddy is Charles Herring, president of the pro-Trump One America News Network (OANN) cable channel, who, Hendel writes, "shares a marketplace wariness of TV station owners gobbling up too much power."
“Independent [and] diverse voices will disappear,” wrote Herring in an X post.
Under Trump, this has turned "into a political tug-of-war and an influence battle between big names on the right," Hendel says.
Former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer recently wrote an op-ed in right-wing outlet The Daily Caller in which he argued that Carr should lift the cap.
“Conservatives who believe in free enterprise should not be vocally encouraging Big Brother to continue barring broadcast TV companies like Sinclair and Nexstar from competing in the free market,” argued Spicer, a contributor to Nexstar’s cable network NewsNation.
Nexstar, Hendel notes, is "trying to usher through a $6.2 billion deal to buy rival station owner Tegna, a merger that would only be possible if Carr relaxes the cap. The new company would operate 265 TV stations, reaching more than half the country."
Ruddy, however, says "that the FCC is working to go against the interests of the president and his supporters — and really against most consumers.”
“We have a history of big companies going in and giving conservative think tanks money to do reports and stand on issues,” Ruddy adds “And it’s not working.”
Through all this, Trump "is being pulled in both directions on an issue he cares a great deal about: what’s on television," he writes.
“If this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy,” Trump wrote.
"That will likely give broadcasters and their conservative allies room to try to counter Ruddy’s narrative — and some are already casting the issue accordingly," Hendel explains.
On Monday, Nexstar said that "Americans want more access to local news and a variety of voices without the filter of the coastal elites."
For now, the person truly stuck in the middle is Carr.
"Carr’s path to lifting the cap is uncertain, and his own staff say they’re likely to end up in court over the issue. Detractors don’t even believe the agency has the authority to unleash this consolidation at all, saying it’s a matter for Congress," Hendel says.
"We haven’t made a final decision there yet,” Carr told Politico on Nov. 18. “I continue to be very open minded.”
---
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### Newsmax host says Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) “does have a great record, but so did Benedict Arnold”
11/26/25
### Newsmax's Greg Kelly on Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): “I think he should be in jail”
11/25/25
---
the MAGA media response to six Democratic members of Congress reminding their former compatriots in the military and intelligence community of their duty to “refuse illegal orders” reached a fever pitch on Thursday. After President Donald Trump suggested earlier that day that the lawmakers should face the death penalty for sedition, his propagandists chimed in, describing the Democrats as “devious and subversive” and their actions as “border[ing] on treason.”
On Wednesday, Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), as well as Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) released a video in which they urged current members of the military and intelligence community to disobey “illegal orders.” While they did not provide examples, the release came amid debates over the legality of U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean and domestic troop deployments. The video drew a deranged response from many on the right, who accused the lawmakers of committing “treason” and trying to “trigger a military coup.”
The president himself weighed in Thursday morning with a series of Truth Social posts in which he accused the lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR,” described them as “traitors to our Country,” and called for them to be “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL” for crimes he described as “punishable by DEATH!” The lawmakers in the video and Democratic House leadership both condemned Trump’s posts, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that Trump did not in fact seek the deaths of the members of Congress.
Trump is currently operating from a position of weakness, with his support in polls in a tailspinand his congressional allies having successfully revolted over the Jeffrey Epstein files. He’s previously responded to such circumstances by seeking to reunify his coalition by pointing them at a common enemy, and that seems to be what has happened this week. To the extent that he’s given his most loyal propagandists someone to attack, it’s working.
Fox News prime-time host Jesse Watters claimed on Thursday night that the “Democrats sent a clear message to everybody in the military and CIA: You're free to commit treason.” He described their actions as “devious and subversive,” said they were “planting coup seeds inside the Pentagon and at Langley,” and accused them of “psychological warfare launched by sitting politicians against the American military in peacetime” and “trying to blow up the chain of command.”
Video
Citation
From the November 20, 2025, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
Watters’ colleague Sean Hannity argued the next hour, “The only question tonight [is] will these six Democratic lawmakers be held accountable in a court of law?” He then commented that he’s “not sure” they committed crimes punishable by death because he’s “not a lawyer,” and asked Fox contributor and former Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz to weigh in. Chaffetz assured him that “what they did borders on treason. It really does.” He added that “President Trump was actually exactly right” because “If you do commit treason, guess what? It is punishable by death. That's just the law. He's just reciting the law.”
Their competitors at Newsmax were similarly enraged. Carl Higbie declared that Trump’s posts show he “is done playing around with garbage,” pointed out that “George Washington did hang traitors many times, including Benedict Arnold's British counterpart,” and claimed that the Democrats “should be court-martialed themselves” because “that type of rhetoric from senators and congressmen is sedition.” Greg Kelly commented that “a lot of people” think the lawmakers committed “treason, or mutiny, or something along those lines,” and accused them of “plotting the seeds, I think, of another coup.” And The Right Squad’s Chris Plante said the Democrats were “inciting civil war.”
And Laura Loomer, whose influence in the Oval Office has triggered the firings of numerous administration officials for insufficient loyalty, wrote: “President Trump just re posted a post on Truth Social calling for seditious Democrat Senators to be hung for calling on members of the military to defy President Trump’s orders as Commander in Chief.”
“Trump is right,” she added. “That’s the type of justice Americans want to see.”
//
11/20/25 4:42 PM EST
### Fox News hid its brutal Trump job approval number from viewers — while showering him with praise
11/20/25 12:56 PM EST
### Trump’s latest attempt to defuse the Epstein revolt: Point supporters at common enemies
07/21/25
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Newsmax host downplays 9/11 when defending Trump hosting Saudi Arabia's crown prince, two weeks after invoking it to attack Mamdani
Rob Finnerty: “Donald Trump is transactional, and 9/11 was almost 25 years ago”
Written by Media Intel Staff
Published 11/19/25
On the November 18 edition of his Newsmax show, Rob Finnerty defended President Donald Trump's decision to host Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite the country’s alleged role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Finnerty told his audience that “Trump is transactional, and 9/11 was almost 25 years ago,” before seeming to suggest that “Donald Trump normalizing relationships” with Saudi Arabia will help prevent “another 9/11.” However, just two weeks earlier, Finnerty attacked then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for airing an ad in Arabic “just 24 years after Islamic terrorists flew commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers,” calling the language “the native tongue of the terrorists.”
Video
From the November 18, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): Donald Trump is America first. And everything that Donald Trump does for the American public is American first. Saudi Arabia has got a whole lot of oil. And if we have a good relationship with Saudi Arabia, oil prices become more stable in this country, which then brings down inflation. Not to mention the crown prince also promised to invest over a trillion dollars in the U.S. economy, which is a good thing. Donald Trump is transactional, and if we didn't welcome Saudi Arabia in, China would have. The other part — 9/11 families were understandably upset by this, by Donald Trump inviting the crown prince to the White House. But Donald Trump is transactional, and 9/11 was almost 25 years ago. Twenty-five years after the Second World War, Japan and Germany were U.S. allies. Think about that. We are friends with Germany, we are friends with Japan today. Donald Trump was just in Japan last month. That is America first. Donald Trump [is] normalizing relationships so another 9/11 never happens again.
Video
Citation
From the November 3, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): We don't speak Arabic in this country. This is ridiculous! That was his final ad released a day ago to 10 million New Yorkers. And everyone thinks this is fine. Arabic is the same language that all 19 of the 9/11 hijackers spoke. Arabic. Meaning just 24 years after Islamic terrorists flew commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York City, the leading candidate for mayor of that city is now campaigning in the native tongue of the terrorists. And we're all supposed to think this is great.
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Newsmax host defended Alex Acosta's “sweetheart” plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein
11/19/25
---}:
November 17, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Frontline with Carl Higbie
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issuing a special message to our country on immigration.
First of all, stay in your lane, guys. This is why we separated the church and the state. After all, the church loves not paying taxes. Second, isn't the Vatican literally protected by wall — oh yes, it is. It has walls all the way around it. Big ones at that. Do you want our country to be open up to everyone? I tell you what, lead by example. You tear down your walls. I mean, why not? Matter of fact, how many immigrants are you offering to house in your churches or even your own home? A few have done it, but not in the rectory. Brianna Lyman, election correspondent at The Federalist, and David Medina, founder of Project Libertas. Brianna?
BRIANNA LYMAN (GUEST): You know, Carl, first and foremost, they're not actually upset or concerned with immigration. They're upset about the fact that President Trump's administration took away all their funding that they got under Biden.
Second of all, it's a little disingenuous for these Catholic bishops to come out and talk about humanity. They say nothing when abortion is running rampant in this country. But they're so-called devout Catholics, aren't they? They said nothing when devout Catholic Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi were over here encouraging abortions and Planned Parenthood, but they speak up as soon as their funding gets threatened.
HIGBIE: That's actually an excellent point.
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mma
Right-wing media escalate attacks on young women voters following Democratic election wins across the country
Clay Travis: “They've all gone insane, young women are actually insane in this country”
Written by Jane Lee, Isabella Corrao & Helena Hind
Published 11/07/25
In the wake of Democrats’ sweeping election victories across the country on November 4, right-wing media quickly focused their ire on young women, who voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.
Figures across right-wing media expressed fear over the demographic, with Newsmax host Carl Higbie labeling “liberal white women” as “the biggest threat to America — they will literally vote for their own destruction and take everyone down with them.” The response from right-wing media to women exercising their right to vote ramps up a trend of conservative voices attacking liberal women in the past year.
Right-wing media react to young women voters following November 4 elections
OutKick founder Clay Travis: “They’ve all gone insane, young women are actually insane in this country.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [11/7/25]
OnFox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade agreed withFox Noticiashost Rachel Campos-Duffy that the conservative movement should “encourage marriage early” to “get more conservative young women.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [11/5/25]
OnFox & Friends, Fox Business anchor David Asman: “The figure you don’t have that's the scariest is 66% of Democrats now have a favorable view of socialism. And if you skew that to the young, it's much bigger than that. Over 80% of young women in New York City voted for Mamdani.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [11/5/25]
Fox anchor Martha MacCallum on young women voting for Democrats: “I find that very frightening.” MacCallum was responding to anchor Dana Perino, who declared, “What we saw last night across the board is that young American women are very much far-left.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [11/5/25]
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt: “Young women in this country have become a very scary demographic.” He added that “84% of young women in New York voted for Mamdani last night. They voted to make the city dramatically less safe for themselves.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [11/5/25]
Fox News host Jesse Watters blamed college-educated “single women” for supporting Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City, saying, “They are the force here.”Watters ranted: “You’re in a tiny apartment, and the apartment’s getting really expensive because all of these migrants are here now. And it's also expensive because of the Green New Deal, so your utilities are high, and you've got the wrong degree. You should have gotten a degree in, like, chemistry, biology, finance, computer science, something useful in this high-tech AI economy. No, but you got a degree in, like, Southeast Asian feminist literature.” Fox News, *The Five*, [11/5/25]
Fox host Will Cain: “It’s young women showing up for Democrats. About 80% of women aged 18-29 voted for winning Democrats in New York, Virginia, and New Jersey last night. Women 30-44 overwhelmingly cast their vote for the Democrat candidates. So, I've been asking this question for quite some time: What's wrong with white women?” Fox News’ Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, who goes by Kennedy, responded: “These broads are so fickle.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [11/5/25]
Newsmax’s Carl Higbie: “This is why I say liberal white women are the biggest threat to America — they will literally vote for their own destruction and take everyone down with them.” Higbie claimed, “The left has turned women against strong male figures. … Those same liberal women will absolutely call someone like me or someone else that's alpha when they need to be defended, and when those men do defend them — once they're safe and sound, of course — they turn around and they put them on trial like they did with Daniel Penny. That is the mindset of the modern liberal woman. This is why I hate liberal women.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [11/5/25]
Fox News host Laura Ingraham: “Female voters 18-29, 84% voted for Mamdani, 79% voted Spanberger, 81% for Mikie Sherrill. … What the heck is going on with female voters, especially young female voters?” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [11/5/25]
OnThe Will Cain Show, Fox News contributor Brett Cooper said: “Looking at the election results of the last couple of days, I'm not surprised at all that young women went incredibly left. I think that young women, it is said, are the most left-wing group in history.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [11/6/25]
## Conservative media figures have spent the last year criticizing and fearmongering about liberal women
Fox News contributor Miranda Devine on American women supposedly adopting the4B movement, a South Korean feminist protest “to swear off men”: “It's just a very self-defeating protest. And I don't think it’ll last all that long, but it shows just you how unhinged a lot of liberal women became over Donald Trump.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [11/12/24]
Hannity guest Drew Pinsky suggested women who were upset by Trump’s reelection had been “propagandized to the point that they literally have become mentally ill.”Pinsky: “The whole headline here, Sean, is hysteria — hysteria and delusion — and the source of this has been mainstream media. The American public has been propagandized to the point that they literally have become mentally ill. And the thing about delusionality is it can’t be reasoned with.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [11/12/24]
In response to reports that women were embracing the 4B movement, Fox host Sean Hannity declared, “The hysteria on the left, it’s only getting worse.” Guest Adam Carolla remarked, “As far as the sterilization thing, I wish these women’s moms had thought about sterilizing themselves before they hatched out these little demon seeds.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [12/2/24]
Discussing some women’s responses to Trump’s 2024 presidential win, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery said: “It's really terrifying because, you know, I look at the women who were shaving their heads and the ones who were having their fallopian tubes removed, and I'm like, maybe for the better, you know. It’s like, you seem very unstable.” Co-host Harris Faulkner responded: “Undiagnosed mental health issues in this country are not a joke. And I am concerned, wholeheartedly, that where we have gotten now with this sort of political victimhood that these women are talking about is really dangerous.” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [12/3/24]
OnThe Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, co-host Clay Travis said: “The Democrat Party, by and large, is almost exclusively the party of college-educated white women. And college-educated white women are not behaving like almost any other white person on the planet. What's going on here? Why are they the outliers?” Premiere Networks, *The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,* [3/19/25]
:{:{Conservative commentator Jordan Peterson: “I read recently that … 60% of young women with a liberal political orientation have a diagnosed mental illness. … I'm wondering about this immense rise in neurotic mental illness that seems to be characteristic of our culture.” The Daily Wire,:(style="background-color:#ffbb16ff"):}: *The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast*, [3/24/25]}:
Discussing video of a woman attempting to steal a man’s MAGA hat,Outnumberedco-host Emily Compagno claimed, “This is just the perfect illustration of what upper class, elite, over-educated women and people think of MAGA voters and Trump supporters.” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [3/26/25]
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said, “The overwhelming majority of protesters are angry women.” He continued to explain that “radical female leftists” want to “be in places where they aren't wanted. They want to like get in your face and scream and yell at you.” Fox News, *The Five,* [5/12/25]
OnThe Faulkner Focus, OutKick founder Clay Travis said: “One of the people that you talked to on the street, a younger woman probably in her 20s or 30s, I think is emblematic of what I would say the woke mind virus is when she said, well, if they identify as women, they should be able to play as women.”He continued, “I would love to ask that person who you interviewed, Harris, what if I identified as a 12-year-old boy and wanted to play Little League Baseball?” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [5/21/25]
Peterson said, “I think it’s something in the neighborhood of 50-60% of liberal young women in particular between the ages of 18 and 34 who suffer from at least one diagnosable mental disorder.”Right-wing political commentator Megyn Kelly responded, “I’m not surprised to hear those stats about liberal women in particular. … The schools today try to exploit young girls' and young women's empathy to bend them to their Democratic norms.” The Daily Wire, *The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast*, [6/2/25]
OnThe Ingraham Angle, Pinsky complained: “If the progressive female is going to be completely rejecting of anybody who is not mirroring their likes and dislikes, it's going to be a very sad time for them. I mean, it is just — first of all, you’re eliminating more than half of the country, and you're approaching men in a way that they don't like. You’re marginalizing them.”He continued, “They talked in that article, I think it was in the New York Post, about how young single males are resentful. Well, of course they are.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [8/22/25]
Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt said there is an “army of liberal, lefty pregnant women just pounding Tylenol as a way of, you know, kind of getting even with the White House.” He continued, “It’s really sick.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [9/25/25]
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said, “Liberal female judges are probably the most dangerous people in the entire country.” He continued, “They are responsible for more death and destruction than anyone else.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [10/30/25]
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11/06/25
November 5, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): Republicans did not win last night, but Democrats really didn't win either. Democrat socialists had their biggest night ever last night after a communist was elected mayor of New York City, the Democrat Socialist Party of America. Ilhan Omar tweeting last night praise be to Allah in Arabic because that's a normal thing for a United States congresswoman to do, isn't it? Tweet something out in Arabic. Tweet in the language of the country that you immigrated from, not the country that you immigrated to, a country that's so amazing that it made you a member of Congress and you're tweeting in a foreign language.
And after eight years of Bill de Blasio and four of Eric Adams, the people of New York City just elected the most radical politician in American history, right up there with Jefferson Davis. He was the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
And if you've ever been to New York City — maybe you haven't, but if you have been to New York City, hold on to those memories, because the city will never be the same again. Which is exactly what Zohran Mamdani wants to happen. Zohran never lied to us from the very beginning. He told us who he was — a man who spends his free time with terrorists. Remember this little number right here? The guy in the white, an unindicted coconspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. That photo was taken 19 days ago. Zohran never lied to us. And Zohran told us what he wanted to do to New York City and to America.
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Patel: FBI Thwarts 'Potential Terrorist Attack'
Tags: peter navarro | walter giardina | donald trump | fbi
Navarro: Fmr FBI Agent Drove Partisan Cases Against Trump
By Jim Thomas | Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Former White House adviser Peter Navarro has called for a full investigation into retired FBI agent Walter Giardina, accusing him of orchestrating politically motivated operations against President Donald Trump and his allies, including Navarro himself, Breitbart reported.
Navarro, a senior trade adviser in Trump first administration, urged Congress and federal authorities to launch an inquiry into Giardina, whom he describes as the central figure in a long-running campaign of "weaponized justice."
Navarro's accusations are detailed in his new book "I Went to Prison So You Won't Have To," in which he argued that Giardina played a pivotal role in nearly every major investigation into Trump over the past decade, from the Steele dossier to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe and beyond.
"I still feel the cold steel of the handcuffs Giardina and his gaggle of armed agents slapped on me at Reagan National Airport," wrote Navarro, recalling his 2022 arrest. "I will never forget the sight of my fiancee being perp-walked out of that same terminal as part of the circus arrest Giardina staged for maximum humiliation."
According to Navarro, Giardina was among the first FBI officials to review the Steele dossier in 2016.
He claimed that whistleblowers told Congress that Giardina vouched for the dossier as "corroborated" despite its most explosive allegations later proving to be false. The document became central to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe and helped justify secret surveillance on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 2019 report found 17 errors or omissions in the bureau's applications for surveillance warrants, including exaggerated claims about Steele's reliability. Navarro argueed Giardina's actions directly enabled what Trump has long branded the "Russia hoax."
Navarro also ties Giardina to the Mueller investigation, alleging the agent improperly wiped his government-issued laptop, potentially erasing key records from the inquiry. Despite that, Giardina reportedly received an internal award for his work on the team.
Whistleblower disclosures to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, further implicated Giardina in a separate 2017 case known as Crimson River, which pursued claims that Egypt funneled $10 million to Trump's campaign. That investigation, Navarro said, never produced evidence but was classified in a way that restricted oversight.
Navarro accuses Giardina of using the Constitution's Emoluments Clause as a "political fishing license" to target Trump's business dealings and later spearheading Operation Arctic Frost, a Jan. 6-related probe that led to the seizure of phones from both Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The most personal chapter of Navarro's allegations centers on his own 2022 arrest. Navarro said the bureau turned his indictment into "political theater," even subjecting his fiancee to a public walkout, though she was not accused of wrongdoing.
Navarro was held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Sentenced to four months in prison, he described his conviction as the "partisan weaponization of the judicial system."
Navarro insisted that firing politicized FBI officials is insufficient.
"That's why Giardina, along with a long list of alleged lawfare perpetrators, must be investigated," he wrote. "Because if they are not, they will do it again.
"If they can come for me, they can come for you," Navarro said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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From the October 28, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
:{:{CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Yeah, I think every one of those pardons and commutations should be considered void. Just as we said, for the last four years, we were called crazy that there might be even the possibility of a shadow government operating independent of the president — I mean, who appeared to be a vegetable at the time — and all these people said that these investigations were partisan and they were useless and they were a waste of taxpayer — it turns out a so-called conspiracy theorists were right again. These investigations are 100% necessary because why would you wish pardons to people if you didn't think they needed something to be pardoned for?}:
The January 6 committee, at a bare minimum, they deleted the evidence, which is a crime. Worst case scenario, they covered up for the FBI, embedding 274 undercover agents in assets and the crowd that day. Who knows if they were the ones who broke in first, which would make it entrapment, like the FBI did to Gretchen Whitmer's kidnapping case that got thrown out. Covered it up, obviously. They lied about it and then used those investigations to impeach Donald Trump to try to prevent him from running again so that he would never find out about the coup the deep state ran, undermining his entire first presidency.}:
Either way, people should probably go to jail. Doctor Fauci should be buried under the jail for conspiracy against rights. The architect of completely fabricated medical data to remove constitutional rights, like the right to peaceably assemble for, I don't know, church. Oh, and force you to inject an experimental vaccine. Then you got General Mark Milley. Remember, he had discussions with the Chinese counterpart saying that he would warn China if the president was planning any military action. That's like treason to me. Under 18 U.S. Code 2381, reinforcing Article three, Section three of the Constitution. He can be sentenced to death for that. I bet Milley's freaking out right now. And he should be.
:{:{Now, here's a constitutional crisis that this may have actually created, though. Obviously the DOJ should investigate this to the fullest extent of the law. But when these people get hauled in for questioning under oath, how does that go? Because this is unique. Once you've accepted a pardon, you don't have a Fifth Amendment right anymore because that's the right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination. }:
But if you've accepted that pardon, apparently you can't be incriminated. So what happens if these people — I mean, they have to talk at that point. So what happens if these people disclose information that incriminates themselves in being complicit with a fraudulent pardon? How about did Hunter sell any of those pardons to anyone? Want to ask him that? This has literally never been litigated before. Ever. And the reason it's never been litigated is because no White House was ever arrogant enough to conduct such a fast and loose autopen use procedure.}:
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### Donald Trump suggested Gen. Mark Milley deserves to be executed. TV news barely covered it.
09/26/23 12:40 PM EDT
10/14/24 3:01 PM EDT
10/23/24
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The split in the right over SNAP and food stamps: Some attack the program and its recipients, while others try to use cuts as a cudgel against Democrats
Written by Jason Campbell
Research contributions from Helena Hind & Jane Lee
Published 10/29/25
The 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will not receive assistance in November, and some right-wing media are using the opportunity to attack the program and its recipients while others are using SNAP recipients as a cudgel against Democrats.
The $8 billion in congressional appropriations for the benefits, known as food stamps, lapsed with the October 1 government shutdown, and there is no indication that Congress will appropriate funds for the program. The Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, has further said it will not shift funds around to keep the program operational despite SNAP having having some contingency funds available and the department's own "shutdown-funding plan," which was struck from its own website, that indicated emergency funds could be used.
About 1 in 8 Americans rely on SNAP benefits, receiving an average of $187 a month in food aid. The vast majority of households which receive SNAP benefits include children, an elderly person, or someone with a disability.
Right-wing pundits are calling the program too generous, with some attacking recipients — who now are also being attacked online with fake racist AI-generated videos.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh: “If you look at what food stamp recipients are saying in their own words ... you come away with the impression that many of these people are simply entitled, lazy, barely literate, and, like, some of them are just frankly bad people."
While discussing SNAP benefits, Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt denied that there is food insecurity in the U.S. and asked, “Why is it that we are subsidizing food for people that weigh 300 pounds?” He also said, “The entitlement of the people on these programs is through the roof."
Podcaster Steven Crowder insulted SNAP recipients in some pretty ugly ways typical of his program.
While discussing SNAP, Newsmax host Carl Higbie said that “our welfare programs are out of hand” and “these programs should definitely sunset."
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro: “It is insane that there are 42 million Americans on food stamps. That is a wild statistic. And the amount of government dependency in this country is just way too high, period. But they are, in fact, dependent on food stamps."
While some right-wing pundits are claiming that too many people are receiving SNAP benefits, others are arguing that SNAP is an essential benefit and blaming Democrats for taking it away.
Fox & Friends host Ainsley Eardhardt said if Democrats “really care about families, and people in need, and people who can’t afford to go to the grocery store, then open up the government."
Turning Point USA’s Alex Clark posted, “So when people claim they’re starving and have no food remember it was the democrats, not Trump, who did this to you."
And Fox anchor Harris Faulkner said that “we have food insecurity in this country” and blamed Democrats for keeping the government shut down.
During the Obama administration, many right-wing media pundits attacked the SNAP program, often calling for it to be discontinued, while others attacked food assistance recipients.
The gleeful enthusiasm with which some right-wing media personalities suggest food should be taken away from their fellow countrymen is truly disturbing — and ultimately in line with the cruelty which defines so much of the MAGA movement.
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Matt Walsh: “We need drug testing and weight testing for anyone receiving SNAP”
:{:{10/29/25}:
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2 days in a row
Newsmax's Greg Kelly says the Department of Justice owes Donald Trump one billion dollars
10/23/25 10:42 AM EDT
10/23/25
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October 20, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Now here's another one. Mamdani. OK, this guy is at it again. I know, right? We got to deal with him here. You're 3000 miles away and probably a worse place -- but campaigning with this imam who turns out this guy -- and people, we've known this for a while. He's got a guy who is linked to the World Trade Center attacks in 93, but he's also got this imam that's like super anti-gay. He's calling him filthy and sick and all this stuff. This is a Democrat?
SAVAGE: I was in a lawsuit many years ago with one of those groups, and it was not very pretty what we found out. I mean, look, I have thought from the beginning, and I certainly don't have the proof, but the earmarks are there, that this Mamdani is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood --
HIGBIE: Could be.
SAVAGE: It's another footstep into America by the Muslim Brotherhood. You face them in Iraq with machine guns or automatic weapons or whatever you had. This guy is going to be much worse than the one who took over London, if this smiling fraud is allowed to win --
HIGBIE: But here's the thing, Michael --
SAVAGE: And he can be stopped.
HIGBIE: You've got Curtis Sliwa, OK, who's a Republican. I'd love him to win. But he gets endorsed by Rudy Giuliani. The problem is you got Cuomo in there. That's like, in a plurality, this guy's going to win, Mamdani.
SAVAGE: There's a good saying that I learned years ago - do you want to be right or do you want to be smart? That's what I try to say online to the supporters of the Sliwa voters. I watched the debate from the beginning to the end I thought Sliwa was great, I thought he did a great job. But he has no management experience. He could never manage a budget of the size of New York. So that leaves us with one choice only, and that is the corrupt old guard Democrat type of machine politician Cuomo. But at least when guys like Cuomo, when his father ran New York, my mother could walk to the corner grocery store, God bless her soul --
HIGBIE: Didn't have to worry.
SAVAGE: At midnight and buy a loaf of bread. We want that old Democrat machine. The Cuomo machine would be safer for women than anyone else in the city, even though he's just a corrupt old Democrat politician.
HIGBIE: Yep.
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10/21/25
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Newsmax host: “The civil rights time - we've kind of passed that now”
10/16/25
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October 9, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): This is interesting, a Chicago -- this is some woke pastor who's -- well, he's actually an antifa member masquerading as a pastor. He's now suing the Trump administration after being shot in the head by ICE with rubber pellets and tear gas paintballs or whatever. You tell me what's going on here. Roll this.
...
HIGBIE: So this guy is doing that. It appeared to be he was on federal property, but now he's got this whole shtick that, like, I'm a pastor. Let me tell you, I am an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church. It's my name right there. I do — I officiate weddings.
This is such garbage. I got one of those collars, too, but I'm not going to go out holier than thou talking about, oh, yeah — you know, ICE is — this is so crazy to me.
PATRICK DORINSON (GUEST): Well, let's look at a couple of things. First of all, he's not a pastor at all. He's some divinity student who kind of masquerading as a pastor. So the turned around collar doesn't mean a darn thing. Second of all, he's trying to recreate the days of the 60s in the South when white pastors would go arm-in-arm with, you know, Black civil rights leaders and they get fire hosed. The only difference was, and then they were trying to protect the rights of American citizens, Black citizens, here. Here they're trying to defend the rights of illegal immigrants. So that's another thing. The third, he's a member of the Presbyterian Church, which is the biggest bunch of progressives ever to set foot in a mainland Christian Protestant religion. So he's a big fraud, and he's trying to get, you know, attention out there. And by the way, if he really thought that he was going to do something, he'd obey the law as Jesus obeyed the law. Because remember when Jesus, they tried to trick him and say, you know, should we pay taxes to the Romans? He said, well, you got to pay taxes. You got to obey the Roman law, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, but to God which is God's.
The Independent reported about the lawsuit:
A Presbyterian minister in Chicago is suing Donald Trump’s administration after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were captured in viral video firing pepper balls at his head during protests against the president’s anti-immigration agenda.
The Rev. David Black joined a lawsuit with Chicago reporters and protesters accusing the administration of unconstitutional threats to their First Amendment rights and religious freedoms with “a pattern of extreme brutality” designed to “silence the press and civilians.”
Last month, Black — dressed in black and wearing a clerical collar while standing with demonstrators — was hit with chemical agents while praying in front of an ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb that has emerged as a flashpoint for protests against the administration as the president deploys National Guard troops to Illinois.
“I invited them to repentance,” Black told Religion News Service. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”
Black is not alone, according to the lawsuit. Agents “dressed in full combat gear” have “indiscriminately” tossed flash grenades and tear gas and fired guns loaded with chemical irritants and rubber bullets against demonstrators in the Chicago area, the complaint says.
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10/10/25 8:53 AM EDT
### Media Matters weekly newsletter, October 10
10/10/25 10:57 AM EDT
10/09/25
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October 8, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
MERCEDES SCHLAPP (CO-HOST): Virginia, I saw this number and I was just in complete shock.
VIRGINIA ALLEN (CO-HOST): Yeah, you know, I wish I could say I was in shock, but for so long we've been hearing that Chicago is just the worst of the worst. The stories out of Chicago and the extreme gang violence, this isn't new, but the situation right now has escalated. And the bizarre thing to me, when we're seeing these protests outside ICE detention facilities, I think you essentially have two camps of people that are protesting outside these facilities that want these illegals back on the streets. You have the no borders people, the people that think, oh, we should just let everyone in. People can go wherever they want. And then we have people, I think in some ways, like Pritzker, that have bought into this lie of these are these poor, suffering people. We should let them into our country. We should keep giving them handouts. I'm not quite sure between those two camps which is worse, but I am so thankful that we finally have a president who's instituting real law and order.
SCHLAPP: Antifa is not poor and suffering. Let me just make that very clear. But, Chris, okay, we talk about this all the time with Jason here when he's like, oh, the shootings are 36% lower. OK, this year alone, 1,200 shootings in Chicago, 360 homicides. That means people are dying. People are getting shot. Right?
CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): And it's more dangerous than Afghanistan was at the peak of the war. And they say it's pretty good. We killed 900 last year. We're only going to kill 700 this year. And they think that's good. Look at our record. We're making progress.
*Also, since JB Pritzker said, come and get me, put me in cuffs, it should be pointed out that Donald Trump himself pardoned a former Illinois governor who was in prison for more crimes that he had committed. It was Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat. And Blagojevich was from Illinois, one of five recent Illinois governors who ended up in prison. So, let's go ahead and put JB Pritzker on the list. Why not? It's a time-honored tradition in Illinois.
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On Newsmax, Benny Johnson claims Portland “has been conquered by antifa”
10/08/25 9:24 AM EDT
10/07/25 10:16 AM EDT
10/03/25
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Why the right-wing media apparatus is suddenly yelling about Jack Smith supposedly spying on GOP senators
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/07/25
Republicans and their right-wing media allies yesterday spun out frothy allegations about former special counsel Jack Smith purportedly “spying on Republican senators” in order to forestall tough questions about the state of the Justice Department. But their dark conspiracy theory immediately collapses under scrutiny.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was slated to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for what seemed fated to be a grueling hearing. Potential avenues for congressional oversight could include the unprecedented weaponization of her department as an extension of President Donald Trump’s will; the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein saga, including the location of the Epstein “client list” she once claimed to possess and a potential presidential pardon for the notorious sex offender’s chief accomplice; and the legal authority for the deployment of the U.S. military on American streets.
But FBI Director Kash Patel, his deputy Dan Bongino, and the stenographers at Fox News were happy to try to help her out of that tough spot. On the afternoon before the hearing, Fox News Digital reported that “former Special Counsel Jack Smith was allegedly tracking the private communications and phone calls of nearly a dozen Republican Senators as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.” The October 6 article was based on a document “recently discovered by FBI Director Kash Patel and exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital,” which states that an FBI special agent “‘conducted preliminary toll analysis’ on the toll records associated with” eight senators and one member of the House as part of Smith’s probe, which at the time was called Arctic Frost. The story also included quotes from Bongino, whom the report said would be meeting with the affected members of Congress that day.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, subsequently posted the document on social media, saying that it “shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues.” He added, “BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE.”
Their allegations were quickly promoted by MAGA media outlets and on Tuesday morning were highlighted by Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee as they sought to shield Bondi from criticism.
But legal reporters explained that there’s not much to the story — the FBI needed to review the toll records of senators in order to establish who Trump and his alleged co-conspirators were trying to contact before and during the January 6 insurrection.
Smith’s final report cites such toll records in a footnote for its statement that “at around the same time as he issued his 6:01 p.m. Tweet [telling his supporters occupying the U.S. Capitol to leave], Mr. Trump tried to reach two U.S. Senators, and he also directed Co-Conspirator 1 to call Members of Congress and attempt to enlist them to further delay the certification” of the electoral votes, as MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reported.
“It actually seems sort of obvious that if you’re investigating a former president of the United States for trying to subvert an election, you’d probe some of contacts he and alleged co-conspirators had with people he was trying to enlist/pressure to overturn the results,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney noted.
“In other words, if you start from the premise that the entire probe was political, then seeking lawmakers’ toll records would be inherently bad,” Cheney added. “But if you view the probe as righteous or justified, then it’s not hard to see why those records would be pertinent.”
You won’t have trouble guessing which side the MAGAsphere came down on. Trump gave clemency to all the January 6 defendants, including those convicted of assaulting police and seditious conspiracy, still falsely claims to have won the 2020 election, and clearly believes that the only thing wrong with his election subversion plot was that it was unsuccessful. On Monday, his loyal propagandists at Fox and Newsmax leaped into action to promote the purported FBI bombshell.
On Fox, Newsmax, “stunning” story shows Smith conducted an “enemies list investigation,” is “going to go to jail
Just minutes after Fox News Digital published its story, Fox host Will Cain declared it “pretty stunning.” He went on to claim that Democrats had engaged in “projection when it comes to authoritarianism. But if this doesn't fit the bill, this doesn't fit the definition, what is the definition of authoritarianism?”
His guest, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), replied, “This is the quintessential definition of it.”
Later that night, Fox host Jesse Watters claimed that the story shows that “Biden's FBI was spying on Republican senators.”
His prime-time colleague Sean Hannity hosted right-wing journalist John Solomon, who declared that “Arctic Frost is starting to look like an enemies list investigation” and “a really troubling diagram of how the deep state was working under Joe Biden. The FBI, the DOJ working hand and glove to spy, pry, into the lives, the conversations, and the data of Republicans.”
Solomon went on — somehow maintaining a straight face — to accuse the FBI of potentially “intruding on a constitutionally protected event” because, in the time period for which the bureau sought the toll records, Congress had been certifying the election (except when they were evacuated in the face of a violent mob of Trumpists).
Video
Citation
From the October 6, 2025, edition of Fox News' Hannity
The rhetoric was similarly over-the-top in the prime-time hours of Fox competitor Newsmax.
“Jack Smith, bad guy, and I think he's just been busted in something really bad,” host Greg Kelly said at the top of his segment on the report. He described the FBI’s actions as “illegal,” adding, “Jack Smith, I think you’re going to go to jail.”
Fellow host Rob Schmitt didn’t seem to understand what the story was actually about, even as he promoted it to his audience. He told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), “You had your phone tapped by Jack Smith,” and asked the senator to “illustrate to us how big a deal this is.” Johnson gently corrected Schmitt, saying that investigators had only obtained “metadata,” before claiming that the report “should shock and outrage every American.”
(Newsmax quickly updated its chyron from “FBI: JACK SMITH TAPPED PHONES OF GOP SENATORS” to “FBI: JACK SMITH SNOOPED ON GOP PHONES.”)
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10/03/25 9:07 AM EDT
### Newsmax host: “Most of America, I think, is actually better off” with a government shutdown
10/03/25
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NOT ON FOX?!
AN COMM DR 10 25
Top Trump administration adviser Stephen Miller was accused of spreading dangerous “propaganda” Saturday night regarding the federal judge who ruled that the White House could not deploy 200 National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.
The White House deputy chief of staff accused US District Judge Karin Immergut, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, of “legal insurrection” after she found that the president’s claims about violent protests at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland were “untethered to facts,” and that residents’ expressions of opposition to ICE do not meet the high legal standard for calling the National Guard.
Miller claimed authorities in Oregon and Portland are aiding “an organized terrorist attack on the federal government and its officers” by refusing to aid ICE agents, and claimed Immergut was attempting to assume the role of “commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces” by siding with state officials and issuing a temporary restraining order blocking the National Guard deployment, which was expected to begin this weekend.
Immergut said the state had provided “substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days—or even weeks—leading up to the president’s directive.”
Portland residents who oppose Trump’s mass deportation agenda began holding nightly demonstrations at the ICE facility over the summer, with some trying to block vehicles from entering and exiting the property. Crowds have dispersed quickly during the daytime, while at night federal officers have sometimes used tear gas and other weapons to move people away from the building. The Portland police have reported 27 arrests since early June at the protests, and at least two dozen people have been arrested by federal officers.
While the president has described Portland as “war-ravaged,” Immergut said that the protests fall far below the threshold for ordering federal troops to Portland, which the president has the authority to do only in times of foreign invasion, a rebellion, or when local authorities are unable to maintain order.
“The protests have been such a minor issue that the normal nightlife in downtown Portland has required more police resources than the ICE facility,” said Immergut.
The judge added that the US “has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs... This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of the nation.”
Miller’s accusation that Immergut was taking part in a “legal insurrection” by rejecting Trump’s false claims about the nature of the protests was “reckless,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“It’s authoritarian propaganda, plain and simple. Stephen Miller should be fired,” said the Democrat.
New York Timescolumnist David French added that Miller’s claims put Immergut in potential danger, as right-wing counterprotesters have arrived in Portland in recent days.
Immergut’s temporary order is set to expire in two weeks, but she is expected to rule on the state’s request for a more permanent injunction barring the deployment of the National Guard.
The Trump administration on Saturday night appealed Immergut’s ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously ruled that Trump could send the National Guard to Los Angeles to stop anti-ICE protests after a federal judge had decided that deployment should be halted.
In addition to seeking the National Guard deployment, the administration has reportedly discussed sending the Army’s 82nd Airborne division, which is typically deployed in hostile foreign territory, into Portland.
On Saturday, Miller repeated claims that “there is a large and growing movement of left-wing terrorism in this country” that is “well organized and funded” and ”shielded by far-left Democrat judges.” Immergut is a Republican.
“The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks,” said Miller.
Since the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last month, the president and his allies have insisted that left-wing groups are fomenting violence, with Trump signing an executive order falsely claiming he has the authority to designate “antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization”—despite the fact that no “antifa” organization exists.
The president also signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which mandates a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”
On Saturday, Miller said on Newsmax that the administration intends to apply NSPM-7 in Portland, initiating investigations into what he called a “domestic terrorist network” whenever federal agents make an arrest at a protest.
Miller, said investigative reporter Jim Stewartson, “collapsed Democrats, ‘far-left Democrat judges’, and ‘antifa’ into a single domestic terror threat as a pretext for mass arrests.”
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### Newsmax host cheers for a government shutdown: “Let's go, shut it down”
09/24/25
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Newsmax host: “Libs are now pro-autism”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 09/24/25
Video
Citation
From the September 23, 2025 edition of Newsmax'sCarl Higbie Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): It just seems to me like people who don't like Trump will just do anything to oppose him. And now, like you said, it came out yesterday — acetaminophen in Tylenol could lead to risks of autism during pregnancy for women. Now it doesn't affect pregnant men. But —
BENJ IRBY (GUEST): Like Buttigieg.
HIGBIE: Like Buttigieg. But he did say — you know, there are people coming out today that are like, first off, there are groups that are saying like, autism doesn't need to be fixed. Libs are now pro-autism. And then also pregnant women are posting taking acetaminophen products while pregnant.
IRBY: Poor, poor children. I mean, these are going to be our newest next trans children I'm sure, because, I mean, these are the Munchausen syndrome that we have. I mean, look, I think it's great that we're actually attacking autism. Autism is a, you know, it's a scourge. And it doesn't matter whether you have money. Celebrities' children have it, poor children have it. So I'm really glad for this. But for the libs, I just want to let you know that Donald Trump is for breathing water — is for breathing air and drinking water.
HIGBIE: No.
IRBY: You guys have to stop that. You have to stop breathing. Stop drinking water because Trump is for it. Water is racist and air is fascist. So I need you guys to hold your breath for democracy.
HIGBIE: I mean, obviously for democracy, everything's for democracy.
---
MMA
### Newsmax host cheers for a government shutdown: “Let's go, shut it down”
09/24/25 8:28 AM EDT
### Newsmax host: “Libs are now pro-autism”
09/24/25
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09/23/25
09/23/25 mma
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vaxx big pharma 9 25 watters
rfk looks bad in senate hearings 9 25 on msnbc yt anyway
mma
How right-wing media sow distrust and confusion around vaccines and science
As Florida ends school vaccine requirements and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership comes under fire, the right has repackaged anti-science talking points as well-meaning skepticism
Written by Gideon Taaffe, Isabella Sherk, Jack Wheatley & Jack Winstanley
Published 09/18/25
Amid the rise of the so-called “Make America Healthy Again” movement, right-wing media figures have employed a variety of tactics that sow doubt and confusion around vaccine efficacy and science more broadly. These efforts to capitalize on existing distrust of public health institutions and pharmaceutical companies have gained renewed momentum following Florida’s elimination of vaccine requirements for schools and comments made by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a contentious Senate hearing.
MAHA acolytes have challenged well-studied topics by “just asking questions,” described vaccination requirements as impediments to freedom and parental choice, and exploited post-pandemic mistrust of public health infrastructure and pharmaceutical companies.
The MAHA movement is fueling mistrust in medicine amid a CDC leadership shake-up and Florida's elimination of vaccine requirements
In early September, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the state is working to eliminate all vaccine requirements for children in public schools, an announcement which quickly came under fire by doctors and public health experts. In his statement to the public, Ladapo said of vaccines, “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” The American Medical Association released a statement opposing the move, stating: “This unprecedented rollback would undermine decades of public health progress and place children and communities at increased risk for diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death.” NBC News, [9/3/25; The American Medical Association, 9/3/25]
After the firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle at a contentious Senate hearing where many called for his resignation.Monarez’s firing spurred other top CDC officials to step down and caution the public over the state of the organization’s scientific independence. This, along with criticism for canceling $500 million in funding for mRNA research that produced the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine, contributed to a dramatic hearing where senators sparred with Kennedy. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who voted for Kennedy’s confirmation, said the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation that only people at high risk for complications and those over 65 need the vaccine effectively denies people access to the shot. NPR, [9/4/25; BBC News, 8/5/25; CBS News,8/28/25]
At a September 17 Senate hearing, Monarez testified that Kennedy had told her “that the ‘childhood vaccine schedule would be changing starting in September’ and that she ‘needed to be on board with it.’” According to NPR, Monarez told the senators that Kennedy “just wanted blanket approval” adding, “Even under pressure, I could not replace evidence with ideology.” NPR, [9/17/25]
The New York Times used AI to analyze 38 MAHA figures and organizations featured in around 12,000 videos and podcasts, concluding that these influencers amplify frustration with the health care system to reel viewers in “using wellness content as a trojan horse for conspiracy theories.” The Times noted that some of these figures are using these platforms to sell a product rather than to meaningfully address public health problems like poverty or lack of access to nutritious food and health care. One interviewee who got pulled down the MAHA rabbit hole said, “I thought if my daughter got vaccinated, she would die in her sleep that night.” The New York Times, [9/9/25]
## Tactic 1: “Just asking questions” about established science as a means to sow doubt
Right-wing media figures have presented uninformed, speculative questions about the safety of vaccines as legitimate criticism of the science, saying there’s nothing wrong with “wanting to ask questions” and often presenting their own queries as evidence that established bodies of research should be approached skeptically. In an essay for Big Think, Warren Berger argued that people falsely equate “questioning with critical thinking” and added that conspiracy theorists “act as if their uninformed, speculative questions demand that someone else provide answers.” Kelly Weirich, professor of philosophy at Pierce College, also stated that “while questions technically don’t make claims, they do affirm claims in a subtler way through the assumptions embedded in them.” University of Dayton lecturer Megan Donelson noted that the right’s tactic of “just asking questions” in this way “serves to undermine public trust in science and medicine.”
Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones attacked Democrats questioning Kennedy, saying, “I guess the most frustrating thing about the entire hearing is there seems to be zero curiosity on why we're such a sick nation.” Jones continued, “I do have some genuine curiosity about the science about each vaccine. And it didn't seem like they were trying to get to the bottom of that or even hear him out.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/5/25]
Fox & Friendsco-host Brian Kilmeade asked, “When do you give the vaccines? Are you giving them all at once? Does that play into autism?” He claimed that in a few weeks, Kennedy “will announce the cause of autism, or the likely cause, which I think is extremely beneficial for us.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/5/25]
Jones later said that “there is something wrong with some of the vaccines,” adding that “not all of them are bad, but there are questions that Americans have about it.” He continued, “They should be able to give us answers. But we're not conducting our own studies. We depend on foreign people to do the studies, and there’s questions there.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/8/25]
OnThe Five, co-host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery claimed, “I disagree with him [Kennedy] on a lot of stuff but at least he makes me think about vaccines.” She added, “I think that is the best thing we can do as a society. And have these honest discussions about how we look and what we are putting in our bodies, and the solutions we are giving our children when we are failing them — when all of these institutions are failing them.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/4/25]
Fox host and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she doesn’t agree with everything Kennedy says but likes his “healthy skepticism for the science, wanting to ask questions about your children, what we are putting in their bodies.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/5/25]
Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked MAHA podcaster Gary Brecka, “Are we overprescribing generally as a society and overvaccinating?” Brecka responded, “We are the most over-medicalized nation in the world,” describing the U.S. as “the sickest, fattest, most disease-ridden nation in the world.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [9/4/25]
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty asked if it's possible that former President Joe Biden is “vaccine-injured” and suggested vaccination caused his cancer. Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [9/2/25]
Fox News host Laura Ingraham noted that “Kennedy and others have raised questions about the number of new vaccines added to the recommended pediatric schedule.” Citing the supposedly “staggering” increase in recommended vaccinations, Ingraham argued that it “makes total sense” to change COVID vaccine approvals. Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [9/4/25]
## Tactic 2: Presenting vaccine requirements as impediments to freedom and parental choice
Criticisms against public health policy surged at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rhetoric equating vaccine mandates to government overreach has persisted within the right-wing media ecosystem. The Nations Health, an outlet of the American Public Health Association, has highlighted several recent examples of the “medical freedom movement” undermining public health by removing fluoride from tap water and promoting alternative medicines. Additionally, the new CDC recommendations will make it more difficult for those who wish to get vaccinated for COVID-19, as the vaccines may no longer be covered by insurance companies.
On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity celebrated the Florida mandate rescission, which he claimed was “giving people freedom and giving people choice, which I think is great.” Premiere Radio Network, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [9/4/25]
Hannity: “Masks may be coming back to California while the free state of Florida is moving to end draconian vaccine mandates for your children in school.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [9/4/25]
Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson wrote that “vaccine mandates are wrong” and “Florida is absolutely right to remove them,” adding, “Parents should have the final say over kids’ health, not the government.” Twitter/X, [9/4/25]
Dr. Simone Gold, an anti-vaccine activist and January 6 participant, celebrated the FDA’s move to end Emergency Use Authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine, stating, “Mandates are dead. Freedom wins.” Twitter/X, [8/27/25, ABC News, 6/12/22]
Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt emphasized parental choice while talking about COVID vaccines, saying, “As a mom, I’m going to decide what my child gets.”Earhardt: “There were a handful of us that didn't want our kids to have the COVID vaccine. That was my choice as a mom, because we interviewed so many kids — the kid who played soccer out on Long Island, who fell and had a heart problem, can’t play anymore, and his parents thought it was because of the vaccine. I just heard so many stories like that, I made the decision for myself.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/5/25]
## Tactic 3: Exploiting distrust of public health organizations, experts, and pharmaceutical manufacturers
The MAHA movement and Kennedy — who according to NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin “seems to assume bad intent among experts” and who has accused public health agencies of “deliberately manipulating the truth” — have seized on a wider sense of mistrust and confusion following the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report from Politico, “An increasing number of families are projecting their attitudes toward the Covid-19 vaccine onto shots for measles, chickenpox, meningitis and other diseases,” and “parents who were hesitant to vaccinate their children before the pandemic have now been joined by people who think the government mishandled the crisis.” Now, despite evidence suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccine saved millions of lives, Kennedy and his MAHA acolytes are exploiting this distrust in public health institutions to appeal to a base that “felt angered by a lot of early pandemic policies” and “felt betrayed by the government.”
Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier claimed, “The CDC lost all credibility throughout the COVID pandemic when they continued to universally recommend the COVID vaccine, even after the science changed.” She continued, “The problem here we have is that all of these vaccines are being lumped as though that they are created equally and they have the same benefit, and the reality is that's not true. So while removing all vaccine mandates for school-aged children is swinging that pendulum from one extreme to the other extreme, truly Americans — and especially our children — deserve more of a nuanced discussion about this.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/4/25]
Right-wing podcaster Liz Wheeler wrote that fewer people now believe the government should “forcibly vaxx kids” because “70+ shots added to the schedule, an insane epidemic of autism, ADHD, cancer, neurological issues, & autoimmune diseases among CHILDREN.” She continued, “A generation of children have been hurt, and we all know it. If you think Bobby Kennedy doesn’t have America’s support, you’re crazy.” Twitter/X, [9/4/25]
Wheeler reposted a video of Kennedy onFox & Friendsclaiming the CDC was hiding vaccine safety data from him. She wrote, “I wonder why?” Twitter/X, [9/7/25]
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles claimed the CDC “lost their credibility during COVID,” adding, “They lied to us about vaccines.” He continued, “They lied to us about the efficacy of the vaccine. They lied to us about the safety of the vaccine. They lied to us about everything regarding the vaccine.” The Daily Wire, *The Michael Knowles Show*, [9/2/25]
Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty claimed, “Hundreds of millions of people were forced to get the vaccine” during the COVID pandemic, adding, “People have had adverse reactions to this vaccine we were told was safe that was forced upon us.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [9/4/25]
TownHall writer Scott Morefield shared a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump in which he asked pharmaceutical companies to “justify the success of their various Covid Drugs,” adding, “This kind of spotlight on the efficacy of the mRNA jabs could cause the whole house of cards to come crashing down.” Morefield celebrated Trump’s post, stating, “I didn’t think Trump’s ego would ever allow him to do this, but he continues to pleasantly surprise me,” and ending with “Bravo!” Twitter/X, [9/1/25]
Fox News host Jesse Watters questioned the vaccine recommendations for children, saying the “people at the CDC recommending it are at the CDC because the vaccine industry put them there,” and he accused senators of “blindly defending vaccine companies like it's their job.” Watters: “Why does a baby get 18 shots before they are 18 months old? It used to be eight — now it's 18. Why does a kid have 76 shots before they are old enough to vote? We never used to get that many, but the CDC recommends this. And the people at the CDC recommending it are at the CDC because the vaccine industry put them there. Maybe 76 is the right amount. Maybe it could be a little less or a lot less. We don't know. RFK is just trying to get a fresh set of eyes on it and look at the data. And senators are blindly defending vaccine companies like it's their job.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/4/25]
Watters suggested that people advocating for vaccinations are doing so to keep getting “pharma cash.” Watters: “If Kennedy isn’t recommending healthy 18-year-olds get COVID boosters, then there's less pharma cash to spread around to the politicians. If a baby gets eight vaccines instead of 18, less cash to spread around to the politicians. If doctors tell patients to eat healthy and exercise instead of get the fat shot, less cash to the politicians. Same thing with sex changes, diabetes medication, and antidepressants. Did you know that the American Academy of Pediatrics, some of their biggest donors — vaccine makers? Take the COVID vaccine. Nothing they said about the COVID vaccine turned out to be true.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/4/25]
Newsmax's Rob Schmitt described comments from senators questioning Kennedy as “enraged insults from politicians who have either been bribed to protect Big Pharma or those who have fully drunk their Kool-Aid.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [9/4/25]
//
### Greg Gutfeld once denounced Donald Trump’s “antiscience point of view” on vaccines and autism
09/09/25 10:09 AM EDT
### Fox News championed anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. Now he’s killing research into next-generation vaccines.
08/11/25 9:56 AM EDT
07/09/25
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MMA
...Some right-wing media have urged the Trump administration to seek retribution for Kirk’s killing by using the government to attack left-leaning groups and individuals. Trump ally and right-wing podcaster Laura Loomer called for Trump to “shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization”; Infowars' Harrison Smith wrote that we “need the Insurrection Act” and should “imprison radical leftists”; and Michael Savage said on Newsmax that Trump’s Justice Department needs to “unravel” the American Civil Liberties Union, and “you’ve got to bust them on the RICO.” Twitter/X, [9/10/25, 9/10/25; Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 9/15/25]
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NOTE NXMX IS THE WORST
Right-wing media are divided after Trump pushed Russian propaganda to attack Ukraine
Written by Media Matters Staff
Research contributions from Isabella Corrao, Courtney Hagle, Helena Hind, Jane Lee, Alicia Sadowski & Chloe Simon
Published 02/20/25 mma
On February 18, President Donald Trump pushed multiple false claims about the war in Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s involvement in it, falsely suggesting that Ukraine started the war and that Zelensky is a “dictator without elections.” Both claims echo Russian propaganda about the war.
Many right-wing media figures praised Trump's comments, with some commentators even following in his footsteps to target Zelensky. Others denounced Trump's remarks as “music to the ears of Vladimir Putin.”
In the last week, Donald Trump has pushed falsehoods about Ukraine, to the delight of leading Russian political figures
During February 18 remarks at Mar-a-Lago, Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia, drawing praise from Russian officials. “You never should have started it,” he told reporters, addressing Ukraine’s leaders, before claiming Ukraine “could have made a deal.” Trump was dismissing concerns from Ukrainian authorities — including Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky — that they had been excluded from peace talks in Saudi Arabia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised Trump’s comments about Ukraine and NATO, remarking in a speech to Russian lawmakers, “This is already a signal that he understands our position.” New York Times, [2/19/25; The Guardian; 2/18/25; NBC; 2/18/25]
Russia started the war by launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 after annexing Crimea in 2014.The invasion was widely condemned by world leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin was later accused of war crimes in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for his arrest. New York Times, [2/19/25]
Trump later called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” in a Truth Social post doubling down on his false statements, echoing Kremlin propaganda. “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump threatened in a post that repeatedly attacked the Ukrainian leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin has alleged that Zelensky’s presidency is “illegitimate” due to the suspended election, and Trump appears to be repeating Moscow’s narrative. Twitter/X, [2/19/25; BBC, 2/19/25]
Zelensky was elected to a five year term in 2019, and Ukraine’s 2024 election was suspended due to martial law triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion. Zelensky has promised that an election will be held once the war ends, as holding an election in an active war zone would be difficult, if not impossible according to some experts. BBC, [2/19/25]
Trump has also demanded $500 billion of Ukrainian rare earth minerals in exchange for U.S. support in the war. During a Fox News interview, Trump claimed that Ukraine “essentially agreed to do that.” When presented with a proposal for the U.S. to own half of Ukraine’s rare minerals during a meeting in Kyiv, Zelensky declined to sign the document. Politico, [2/11/25; NBC, 2/14/25]
Russian political figure Dmitry Medvedev: “If you'd told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud. @realDonaldTrump is 200 percent right.” Twitter/X, [2/19/25]
### Some in right-wing media denounced Trump’s remarks and criticized his support of Russia
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro: “Ukraine absolutely did not start the war.” Shapiro continued, “I have some moral objections" to the things Trump said about Ukraine. *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [2/19/25]
The Wall Street Journal released an editorial titled “The Rapid Rehab of Vladimir Putin.”“We realize that the ruthless men who rule much of the world can’t be ignored. But usually those men aren’t rewarded with a visit to the U.S., as Mr. Trump hinted last week, before they’ve made any compromises.” Wall Street Journal, [2/18/25]
:{:{The New York Post’s editorial board }:wrote, “Trump is asking for FAR too much ‘payback’ from war-torn Ukraine.”“The president’s off-the-cuff remarks about Zelensky late Tuesday were wildly off-base. … He didn’t start it, and he’s had no chance to end it except by surrendering to the blood-soaked invader: Whatever negotiating tactics Trump cares to use, turning the truth completely upside down ought to be beneath him.” New York Post, [2/18/25]
National Review’s Jim Geraghty wrote that “somewhere in Moscow, Vladimir Putin must be grinning from ear to ear.”National Review, [2/19/25]
National Review’s Noah Rothman posted a piece titled “Ukraine Is Not the Bad Guy,” arguing that “Ukraine’s sins amount to its existence as an independent state with a non-Russian culture and its failure to roll over and submit to its Russian conquerors.” Rothman continued, “If the goal is peace, the talks are off to a bad start. If, however, the Trump administration’s goal is merely to make Ukraine into a scapegoat for the president’s failure to secure a cease-fire early in his second term, things are going swimmingly.” National Review, [2/18/25]
Fox News’ chief political analyst Brit Hume wrote that Trump’s comments are “music to the ears of Vladimir Putin.” Twitter/X, [2/19/25]
Conservative blog Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey wrote that “working to end the war in Ukraine is a rational policy goal. Blaming the Ukrainians for being invaded is something else.” Morrissey claimed Trump was “pretending that Ukraine started the war so as to get a deal with the real aggressor at any cost necessary.” Hot Air, [2/19/25]
Fox and Townhall’s Guy Benson said Trump’s comments were “perhaps a fitting lecture for Russia — the ones who’ve done the killing and demolishing he laments — not Ukraine.” Benson added, “I’m open to Trump pursuing an uncomfortable resolution to Russia’s horrible war, but I’m not open to him blaming the Ukrainians for it.” Twitter/X, [2/18/25]
Fox anchor Martha MacCallum pushed back on Trump's criticism of Zelensky: “He said that Zelensky has a 4% approval rating. The numbers that we have seen are closer — are more in the 50% range.” She continued, “He’s criticizing Zelensky for not holding elections. … Can an election take place in the middle of this war at all?” Fox News, *The Story with Martha MacCallum*, [2/19/25]
Brit Hume: “The president said that Zelensky was to blame for the — started the war, basically. He did not start the war. Vladimir Putin started the war.” Fox News, *Special Report with Bret Baier*, [2/19/25]
Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren said, “A lot of people are losing sight of the fact that the aggressor was Putin.” Newsmax, *The Record with Greta Van Susteren*, [2/19/25]
Newsmax foreign correspondent Zach Anders reported that even a member of the opposition party in Ukraine’s parliament admitted that Zelensky “still has considerable support.” Newsmax, *The Record with Greta Van Susteren*, [2/19/25]
New York Post columnist John Podhoretz: Trump’s remarks about Ukraine were “utterly despicable.”Commentary, [2/18/25]
Right-wing pollster Patrick Ruffini on Trump’s Truth Social post: “Don’t love it.” Twitter/X, [2/19/25]
Streamer Asmongold called Trump’s comments “unnecessarily antagonistic.” He said: “I don't understand where all this is coming from. I really don't. I feel like this is just like, why do you have to say this? It seems, like, unnecessarily antagonistic. It's negative about Ukraine. Ukraine didn't — like, Ukraine got attacked by Russia. They got invaded by Russia.” Twitch, Zackrawrr,[2/19/25]
### Others downplayed criticism of Trump or supported his remarks
Social media influencer Ian Miles Cheong posted, “On what planet is Ukraine an American ally?”He added: “The US might be Ukraine’s ‘ally’ but that relationship has been entirely one sided. … End the war now.” Twitter/X, [2/19/25]
Right-wing talk radio host Steve Deace posted, “The message from the president is clear. Zelenskyyyyyyyy has worn out his welcome. Time to cut a deal and keep at least some of your country.” Twitter/X, [2/19/25]
Breitbart News Network Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle called Trump’s comments a “complete throwdown” and “amazing stuff.” Twitter/X, [2/19/25]
Fox anchor Sandra Smith framed Trump’s comments on Zelensky as “both presidents taking jabs at each other.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [2/19/25]
The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman said Trump is “100% right about elections,” noting that “we have defended and justified sending all of this money to Ukraine because they're supposedly the lone bulwark of democracy over there” but “they have not held elections, they don’t have free press there.” Lyman continued, “In order for President Trump to fulfill the promises that Democrats should have done, which is promote democracy, he should require new elections in Ukraine as part of this peace deal, he should require minerals, and he should say Zelensky, you may have a say but you don’t be the final determining factor.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria Bartiromo*, [2/19/25]
Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo repeated Trump's claim about Zelensky’s “lack of popularity with that 4% number in terms of the potential for elections” — and was immediately corrected by her guest Bill Browder. Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria Bartiromo*, [2/19/25]
Newsmax host Carl Higbie: “How about Ukraine hold an election because Zelensky canceled their elections?” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [2/18/25]
:{:{Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked Richard Grenell,}: the special presidential envoy for special missions, “Do you believe that Western enthusiasm — I think more European enthusiasm — for Ukraine to join NATO is what led to this invasion three years ago?”Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [2/18/25]
Megyn Kelly said that Zelensky continues to “yap” about being unhappy with Putin and Trump's meeting. Kelly said there was no “hope of resolution until Trump got directly involved” and “Zelensky would do well to just be quiet for awhile to see what Trump can accomplish.” Kelly continued that “realistically, you'll probably do what we'll tell you to because your war ends without our support” and that Zelensky “keeps dropping these not helpful statements.” Sirius XM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [2/19/25]
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty asked why Zelensky is still president after his term ended, saying, “What about a democracy holding elections? Huh? How about that?” Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, the deputy U.S. military representative to NATO, said Zelensky wouldn’t win the election he has promised to hold after martial law ends: “He’s done.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [2/18/25]
Conservative columnist Byron York suggested Trump’s claim that Ukraine started the war is part of a strategic “plan.”He explained: “The fact is Russia invaded Ukraine; that’s just the fact here. Why is the president saying otherwise? My feeling is it is part of his plan. I do not know what he intends to do … but this is the kind of thing that Trump does to irritate some parties while he is appealing to others.” Fox News, *Special Report with Bret Baier*, [2/19/25]
Fox host Laura Ingraham aired a chyron that read “Trump won’t bow to dictators” while a photo of Zelensky appeared on screen. Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [2/19/25]
With a chyron saying “Trump faces outrage trying to end Russian-Ukraine war,” Newsmax host Greg Kelly asked if Zelensky is “in on the joke” about Trump’s statements. Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [2/19/25]
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After Kirk shooting, right-wing media revive false narrative about attack on Minnesota legislators
Written by Matt Gertz
Published09/17/25
In the wake of the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, many on the right have claimed that all political violence comes from the left, an argument used to justify a broad crackdown against their political enemies. The June shooting of two Democratic state legislators in Minnesota is the most prominent recent evidence against that argument (though hardly the only such case).
But several right-wing media figures have found a rhetorical solution by suggesting that the alleged Minnesota shooter — who reportedly had a “hit list” of dozens of other Democratic leaders and was, according to his friend and roommate, a supporter of President Donald Trump — is actually a leftist.
In fact, the right-wing media bubble is so impermeable to facts that contradict its narratives that prominent Republican figures, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Attorney General Pam Bondi, have pushed the same claims.
The right’s false narrative about the Minnesota shootings
Federal prosecutors allege that Vance Boelter committed “targeted political assassinations” when he shot and killed Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, then shot and wounded Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, in the early morning hours of June 14.
:{:{Boelter, like many alleged perpetrators of political violence, seemed to be suffering from mental illness that muddled the clarity of his views. But his preferences appear to be with the political right — he was reportedly an evangelical Christian who preached against abortion and the LGBTQ community, and according to his roommate and longtime friend, he “supported Trump and tuned in to programming from Alex Jones’s conspiracy-filled Infowars site.”}:
And his targets were universally on the political left: Hortman, and Hoffman’s legislative district, were reportedly named in a “hit list” that law enforcement subsequently recovered from Boelter’s vehicle; the list also included Gov. Tim Walz, dozens of other Democratic lawmakers from Minnesota and elsewhere, and “figures with ties to the abortion rights movement, including Planned Parenthood.”}:
None of these facts should suggest that the political right or the Republican Party as a whole bear responsibility for Boelter’s alleged political violence or that their repression is justified to prevent similar attacks. They are relevant, however, to the question of whether political violence is solely directed from the left toward the right.
But while those facts were trickling out in the days following the attack, MAGA influencers were spinning up a narrative in which Boelter was actually a leftist. Some even suggested that the attacks may have been ordered by Walz, perhaps as retribution for the legislators supporting legislation the governor opposed. This argument rested on two ludicrously thin pieces of evidence. First, Walz had, in 2019, reappointed Boelter to a workforce development advisory board that reportedly “has about 60 members, many of whom are not politically connected or would have meaningful access to the governor or interactions with him.” Second, police found flyers with “No Kings” written on them in Boelter’s vehicle, which they said could have indicated he planned to target anti-Trump protests scheduled to take place later that day.
The right revives the false Minnesota narrative following Kirk’s killing
Many prominent right-wing figures seem to have either never heard any information about Boelter outside of those initial conspiracy theories, or learned of it but decided to hide the facts from their audiences. And now, in the wake of Kirk’s killing by an apparent leftist whose alleged motive was to stop Kirk’s “hate,” the false narrative has been revived by MAGA commentators who are trying to push back against arguments that the Minnesota shootings were a case of political violence from the right.
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, while listing recent cases of politically motivated killings on September 13, described the Minnesota shootings as follows: “And then, June 14, these Minnesota legislators were killed, something to do with what’s going on locally — they didn’t like what Tim Walz was doing, or a former staffer of Tim Walz.” Neither Kilmeade nor Fox’s graphic identified the legislators as Democrats.
Fox host Will Cain claimed on his Tuesday broadcast that “essentially bullets are flying in one direction,” but the left is trying “to make this a both-sides problem of political violence” by falsely attributing cases like the Minnesota shootings to the right.
“What we know about that particular suspect’s motivations remains somewhat unclear, but we do know that he had with him flyers that had No Kings Day protests solicitation on them,” Cain said. “There is also some suggestion he was upset about the way Hortman voted when it came to illegal immigrants and health care. Before we assume it is both sides, let’s get the facts on each instance.”
Video
Citation
From the September 16, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Will Cain Show
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty offered a similar explanation on his show later that night. “They're trying to pretend that what happened to Charlie Kirk has nothing to do with the left, that this happens all the time on both sides, which is not true,” he said, before turning to the Minnesota shootings.
“The problem with that, Melissa Hortman was a Democrat, and while her death was tragic, she was actually killed by another Democrat,” Finnerty claimed. “Not only that, a Democrat who worked directly for Tim Walz, was appointed by Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, Kamala's running mate, meaning that in this case, a Democrat literally assassinated another Democrat.”
“Because that's the left,” he continued. “That's what they do as a party, and it's not being covered by the rest of the media. It's being covered up.”
This narrative about the Minnesota shooting is so prevalent in right-wing media — and the GOP’s leaders are so ensconced within the right-wing media bubble — that Republican politicians have promoted it.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who is pathologically online, had posted shortly after the June attack that the shooter had been a “Marxist.” He later deleted his posts after being confronted by Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), who had also been on the alleged “hit list.”
But three months later, their colleague Cruz also linked the Minnesota shooter to the left.
When Cruz called political violence “a left-wing problem” during a CNN interview on Tuesday, host Kaitlan Collins responded by pointing to the Minnesota shooting.
“You need to get your facts right,” Cruz replied. “The assassin there was not a right-wing assassin acting on a political motive. The assassin there was someone who had been an appointee of Tim Walz, and he was a deranged lunatic.”
Likewise, asked about the Minnesota shooting on Monday, Bondi said of the alleged killer, “I believe they said that they were supporters of Gov. Walz."
As I wrote last week, we can’t have a real conversation about political violence if we can’t admit that it has come from both sides. But many on the right just don’t seem capable of doing that, and they’re backfilling whatever explanations they can conjure up to avoid admitting the existence of political violence from the right.
// MMA
### On the killing of Charlie Kirk, political violence, and the right’s response
09/12/25 1:22 PM EDT
### Right-wing disinformation machine spins up a false profile of Minnesota shooting suspect
06/16/25 12:50 PM EDT
### After the killing of a leading Minnesota politician, Laura Loomer pushed baseless claims
06/20/25
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09/17/2025
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Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Andrew Duehren, Kenneth P. Vogel and Katie Rogers @ The New York Times: Trump Invokes Kirk’s Killing in Justifying Measures to Silence Opponents
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing, President Trump and his allies have laid out a broad plan to target liberal groups, monitor speech, revoke visas and designate certain groups as domestic terrorists.
Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: DOJ Deletes Its Own Study From Website Showing ‘Far More’ Domestic Terrorism Committed by ‘Far-Right Extremists’
Within the past few days, the Department of Justice deleted one of its own studies from its website showing that “far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.”
Mark Silk @ Religion News Service: Charlie Kirk is fast becoming an emblem of Trump's political religion
Past leaders have used shocking events to bring us together. Trump is making Kirk a martyr to drive Americans apart.
Ron Dicker @ HuffPost: Jesse Watters Demands Charlie Kirk Protesters Get On Their Knees And Repent
The Fox News host repeatedly called for "them" to get one chance to beg for forgiveness — or else.
Jill Filipovic: Welcome to Right-Wing Reeducation Camp
The Trump regime is squashing speech and using the full force of government to enforce its ideology.
Catherine Bouris @ The Daily Beast: Karoline Leavitt Touts Bizarre Holy Sign After Charlie Kirk’s Death
President Donald Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a bizarre post on Tuesday that appeared to claim that an earthquake in Utah on the night of Charlie Kirk’s death was a sign of God’s anger.
Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Texas Congressman Says Trans People Need To Be Taken ‘Off The Streets’ After Charlie Kirk Shooting
The killing of right wing activist and influencer Charlie Kirk has prompted disturbing and questionably legal calls for a crackdown on the left from President Trump and his allies. In an appearance on the cable network Newsmax on Tuesday evening, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) took things further — way further.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss @ Just Security: How Misogyny Fuels Violent Extremism
Even as the problem garners more attention, misogynistic and male supremacist violence is still often relegated to a category of “other” threats, or dismissed as the personality problems of challenged individuals, rather than addressed as an ideological belief system of its own.
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Right-wing media rushed to blame killing of Charlie Kirk on trans people
Authorities pushed back on unverified claims that the alleged shooter's ammunition was inscribed with “transgender ideology”
Written by Gideon Taaffe, Jack Winstanley & Noah Dowe
Published 09/12/25
After the September 10 killing of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, right-wing pundit Steven Crowder and The Wall Street Journal separately reported on an internal law enforcement bulletin claiming cartridges possibly connected to the shooting and recovered by police were engraved with “transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”
Some media figures seized on the scant reporting as key evidence of the suspect’s motivations, with right-wing commentators and outlets claiming the killer was a “leftist Trans radical,” labelling the killing an act of “trans terrorism,” and calling for the “trans movement” to be labeled “as a terrorist movement.”
Following a September 12 press conference with law enforcement that detailed the messages inscribed on the ammunition, initial reports suggesting a connection between trans people and the phrases on the bullet casings appear to be based on a misinterpretation of evidence.
## Right-wing outlets published unverified reporting that the alleged shooter engraved “transgender and anti-fascist ideology” onto the ammunition
Right-wing pundit Steven Crowder claimed on social media that he received an internal bulletin from an officer working at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that indicated, “All cartridges have engraved wording on them, expressing transgender and anti-fascist ideology.” Crowder’s post included a screenshot of the internal bulletin bearing a Louder with Crowder watermark. He followed up the post hours later, saying, “Just received word that my company is being subpoenaed by the ATF. No details yet.” Twitter/X, [9/11/25, 9/11/25]
The Wall Street Journal similarly reported, “An early bulletin circulated widely among law enforcement officials said investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of ‘transgender and anti-fascist ideology.’”The Journal did note, “Justice Department officials said the probe was in its early stages, investigators were still analyzing the evidence and the bulletin may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammunition.” The Wall Street Journal, [9/11/25]
According to The New York Times, the reporting had not been verified.The Times reported “a senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation” said the report seized on by Crowder and the Wall Street Journal “had not been verified by A.T.F. analysts, did not match other summaries of the evidence and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted.” The New York Times, [9/11/25]
During a press conference, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox clarified the engravings found on the bullet casings, which appear to be online references. He stated, “Inscriptions on a fired casing read, Notices bulges. Capital OWO, what's this? Inscriptions on the three unfired casings read: Hey, fascist! Catch!, Up-arrow symbol, right-arrow symbol, and three down-arrow symbols. A second unfired casing read, Oh, bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao. And a third unfired casing read, If you read this, you are gay. LMAO.” On September 12, The Wall Street Journal appended an editor’s note to its earlier article, explaining that Cox “gave no indication that the ammunition included any transgender references.” CNN,*The Situation Room*, [9/12/25; The Wall Street Journal, 9/11/25]
As reported by The Advocate, “The Gun Violence Archive has tracked mass shootings since 2013 and found in 2023 that just 0.1 percent involved a transgender shooter.By contrast, 96 to 98 percent have been committed by cisgender men.” The Advocate also found that several right-wing online accounts falsely suggested the shooter was a trans woman living in Washington, who quickly faced “a tidal wave of harassment.” The Advocate, [9/12/25]
## Many right-wing figures and outlets cited Crowder and WSJ’s unverified reporting about “transgender ideology” as evidence
On hisWar Roompodcast, Trump ally Steve Bannon claimed The Wall Street Journal’s reporting confirmed “what Steve Crowder and his team put out, which is that the bullets they found with the assassin's gun had radical t-----, you know, ideology on it — transgender ideology.” Real America’s Voice,*War Room*, [9/11/25]
RedState, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and The Washington Times cited reports from Crowder and The Wall Street Journal to suggest that engravings with “transgender” ideology were recovered by police.RedState, [9/11/25; The Daily Caller, 9/11/25; The Daily Wire, 9/11/25; The Federalist, 9/11/25; The Washington Times, 9/11/25]
Fox & Friendshost Ainsley Earhardt claimed that the suspected shooter “had pro-trans and anti-fascist messages, according to sources, on the gun.” Fox News,*Fox & Friends*, [9/12/25]
Newsmax host Ed Henry suggested “the ammunition was actually covered with transgender ideology.”Henry also argued CNN “tried to downplay that by saying there were just cultural phrases on the ammunition,” referring to CNN’s reporting that investigators had discovered ammunition “scrawled with cultural phrases.” Newsmax,*Ed Henry: The Briefing*, [9/11/25; YouTube,
] VID]
## Others used the story as a rallying point to blame “transgenderism” and claim the shooter was a “trans killer”
Right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong: “A transgendered mutant murdered Charlie Kirk. Transgenderism must be banned, all trans people rounded up and forcibly institutionalized.” Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
Right-wing host Megyn Kelly: “What we know right now about motive — Charlie Kirk's killer engraved the ammunition used to murder him with pro-transgender ideology, according to reporting in multiple outlets, to the surprise of literally no one.” Kelly continued, “There's one particular group that's been running around killing Americans in the name of transgender ideology lately, and it's transgender activists or individuals or those who proclaim that they are.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [9/11/25]
Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway accused CNN of “demonic support for radical murderous trans ideology … via obscuring the truth.”Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
Right-wing influencer The Quartering posted that Kirk was “confirmed killed by far leftist Trans radical.” Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
Infowars host Alex J
ones said Crowder’s claims proved “the cold blooded killer of Charlie Kirk is another psychotic trans activist.” Jones later said, “All evidence points towards the killer being another trans death cult psycho.” Twitter/X, [9/11/25, 9/11/25]
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich referred to the shooter as a “trans killer.”Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
Citing “trans paraphernalia written on the cartridges of this rifle,” Donald Trump Jr. claimed on Fox News that he “can’t frankly name a mass shooting in the last year or two in America that wasn't committed by a transgender lunatic.”Fox News, *Fox News Live*, [9/11/25]
OnThe Megyn Kelly Show, Donald Trump Jr. suggested he “can’t name, including probably like Al Qaeda and the Taliban, a group that is more violent per capita than the radical trans movement.”He continued, “I’m sure people are totally sane after jacking themselves up on hormones given to them by some rainbow hair freak doctor because they think men can somehow magically become women.” The Advocate, [9/11/25]
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt: “That is the least surprising part of all of this, that this came down to trans, … that it came down to the ever-so-violent far left in this country.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [9/11/25]
Right-wing influencer Alexander Muse, known online as Amuse: “Here on a visa and celebrating the trans terror assassin’s murder of Charlie Kirk? Time to pack your bags.”Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
Right-wing host Benny Johnson said Kirk's killing “does match, on some degree, these other shootings that we’ve seen from transgenders.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [9/11/25]
In a repost of Crowder’s claims, Trump ally Laura Loomer wrote: “If this is true, it’s time to designate the trans movement as a terrorist movement.” Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh acknowledged “more confirmation is needed,” adding, “If this is more trans terrorism we must bring ruthless vengeance down on these savages.” Twitter/X, [9/11/25]
mma //
On the killing of Charlie Kirk, political violence, and the right’s response
09/12/25 1:22 PM EDT
### Right-wing media endorse a potential Supreme Court challenge to same-sex marriage
08/28/25 2:42 PM EDT
08/12/25
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September 3, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
MERCEDES SCHLAPP (CO-HOST): Not missing the opportunity to turn tragedy into political leverage, Minnesota governor — who's a Democrat — Tim Walz is calling for an emergency legislation session on gun control. "It's time to take serious action at the State Capitol to address gun violence," this was posted on X. Walz doubling down, urging state legislatures at a special session to come together to do something on guns.
...
I don't know how anyone voted for that man. I swear he's such an idiot. But OK, no money for school security, but it's about the guns. I mean, this is the same playbook of the Democrats.
REAGAN REESE (WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY CALLER): I know. It's absolutely unreal. And I think it's going to be up to the Trump administration to really lead the country out of this tragedy. We know that they're investigating all facets of this shooting, including gender ideology. And we've heard President Trump talk about it a lot, or a little bit. He told me he thinks the shooter was very troubled, not sure if gender ideology was at play. But one thing's for sure, I believe the FBI and the DOJ are going to get to the bottom of it.
JAMES KIMMEY (REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST): Yeah, I would just say that the problem isn't too many guns. It's the fact that these criminals don't face consequences. So maybe we should, you know, incentivize, or we need prosecutors who are actually going to enforce the law and put these people behind bars.
CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): I've been arguing for some time now that if you're a registered Democrat, you should be barred from gun ownership.
KIMMEY: That could work, too.
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August 19, 2025, edition of Newsmax's The National Report
SHAUN KREIZMAN (CO-HOST): With us today on set is John Tabacco. He is the host of Wise Guys. He still is because he shows up for work. John, thoughts on this story here?
JOHN TABACCO (NEWSMAX HOST): You know, I don't know where to begin. You know, talk about theater. This is literally kabuki theater, because even the Republicans were saying, "Well, when they come back, we're going to arrest them. We're going to throw them right in the hoosegow." They give them a police escort. They should have escorted them right to the precinct and locked them all up. You were not delivering your duties to the state. You were ordered back. You had a constitutional right. The example the Democrats are setting for young kids is when you don't win your elections, and then the other team who won puts through a law constitutionally, don't go along with it, run away, and go hide out of the state.
...
So I don't know. To me, the whole thing is theater, and the Republicans would instill some confidence, I think, in all of us, if they did lock up a few of them and actually throw them in jail, and say there is a penalty, children.
//
### Newsmax host claims that Spike Lee and Al Sharpton identify with criminals
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### Newsmax host questions why Trump “allowed Putin to speak first”
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### Newsmax host says Social Security is “a program to bankrupt the United States of America”
08/15/25
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August 14, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
JASON NICHOLS (CO-HOST): But I will say I'm not so sure that Social Security will be around at that time. I'm glad that Trump is praising Social Security because some of the actions he's taken don't necessarily do that.
One of the rules that they're proposing, and it's actually affected my own family, is that they're reducing SSI, Social Security income for 400,000 Americans. That includes adults and children with severe disabilities if they live with a family member. So that's something that I think, hopefully, they will rethink and try not to put into into practice. But, you know, Social Security, will it be around in the future? Our population is getting older and living longer and we're having fewer children, so it's hard to say. And by the way, Social Security is a socialist program. There's no actual way around that. That's what it is. And it's still one of the most popular programs in American history.
MATTHEW FOLDI (CO-HOST): So, Chris, do you think that the Democrats — were every Democrat was right to oppose no tax on Social Security for seniors that just passed in this reconciliation package?
CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): They just can't get along with anyone. They don't want to get along with anyone. And Social Security will be around when you retire, Jason. And it is socialistic, but it is — it's social as well. And it's also a program to bankrupt the United States of America because we're trillions and trillions of dollars underfunding it.
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July 31, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
KELLY SADLER (GUEST): It also shows you how the media is played by the deep state. All of this sourcing was anonymous.
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): Right.
SADLER: This was Jim Comey, who after all of this came out, opened Crossfire Hurricane, which was the investigation into President Trump and his collusion with Russia, which there was absolutely no evidence of at the time. But that's what gave him credence to go to the media anonymously and say, hey, he's a Russian agent. And they just ran with this story with these anonymous sources. They never checked it —
FINNERTY: Well they were thrilled to do it —
SADLER: And they all have Trump derangement syndrome.
FINNERTY: Jake Tapper, these people — you know what I think is interesting, too? It's like if somebody told you — if your doctor said, look, if you smoke another cigarette, you know, there's a chance you might not wake up tomorrow morning and you get out of the doctor's office and you light up in the car, OK?
Half of these anchors and these hosts, I mean, we can go through the list, but many of the people that propagated this for a decade no longer work in television. OK? Every time another one bites the dust and Stephen Colbert has a podcast, you know what I mean? It just keeps happening. Yet they keep doing the same thing.
People have criticized James Comer, alright? Who's been in charge of Oversight for a while now. People have criticized Jim Jordan because for whatever reason, it seems like Republicans get weak in the knees when it comes to actually going beyond investigation and recommending something to Department of Justice.
I think Comer played a role in Kamala losing the race and Joe Biden getting out of the race, ultimately. I think they've done a great job, and I think they need to keep their foot on the gas because I think they are the first Republicans that are actually relentlessly pursuing the truth.
And it's not easy. Republicans want it like tomorrow. I want to see Barack Obama dragged out of his Martha's Vineyard mansion in handcuffs. I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow. But look, this stuff we are now — they are building a case methodically. And it could end there, Erin. It could end with arrests, indictments, people in leg irons.
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Right-wing media downplayed the likelihood of a measles outbreak. U.S. cases just reached a new high since the disease was eliminated.
Written by Jane Lee, Alicia Sadowski, Isabella Corrao & Helena Hind
Published 07/09/25 MMA
After a February measles outbreak beginning in Texas, measles cases in the U.S. have reached the highest point since the disease was eliminated in 2000. Right-wing media have downplayed the potential of a measles outbreak.
### The number of measles cases has reached its highest point since 2000
In February at least 100 cases of measles were reported in the U.S., mainly affecting children and teenagers. Many cases occurred in Gaines County, Texas, where “coverage of the MMR vaccine is particularly low. … Nearly 1 in 5 incoming kindergarteners in the 2023-2024 school year did not get the vaccine.” CNN, [2/18/25; USA Today, 2/20/25; CBS News, 2/26/25]
Experts attribute the resurgence in measles in part to low vaccination rates. Community-wide vaccinations are critical to preventing the spread of measles because the disease is highly contagious. Over “90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed end up contracting it” and outbreaks can “result in severe complications and deaths, especially among young, malnourished children.” According to the CDC, one in five unvaccinated people in the U.S. who contract measles end up hospitalized. USA Today, [2/20/25; World Health Organization, 11/14/24; Business Insider, 2/20/25]
As of July 8, the U.S. has over 1200 reported cases of measles since the Texas outbreak. Dr. David Sugerman, a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the loss of COVID-19 grant money has impacted attempts to curb the outbreak by creating “funding limitations” in Texas. NBC News, [7/8/25]
### Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, right-wing media dismissed the possibility of a measles outbreak
Newsmax host Emma Rechenberg dismissed CNN’s concerns over a measles outbreak, sarcastically asking, “Really, Jake Tapper?” Guest Curtis Houck agreed, labelling the concerns “more hysterical stuff.” Newsmax, *The National Report*, [11/15/24]
Newsmax host Bianca de la Garza said CNN bringing up a potential measles outbreak “seems like just fearmongering." “RFK Jr. is going to make your kids, I don’t know, get the measles when he’s actually talking about maybe just some things that would make a lot of the obesity go down." Newsmax, *Newsline*, [11/15/24]
Fox host Jesse Watters dismissed CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s concerns over measles: “I’m starting to think he’s being told what to say." Watters: “Jake Tapper was a debate moderator, and what does he have? ‘I hope you like measles.’ I'm starting to think he's being told what to say, because the ad sales guys over at CNN might be saying, ‘Don't go after big food and big pharma,’ because they've lost $250 million over the last four years under Joe Biden, because you can't do that and continue to have a real job." Fox News, *The Five*, [11/15/24]
Watters asked Fox News guest and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. adviser Calley Means if he could “respond to Senator [Elizabeth] Warren who says that you guys and this crew are going to bring back polio, measles, mumps, and the plague." Means dismissed the concern and defended Kennedy’s nomination for the secretary of health and human services. Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [12/13/24]
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June 30, 2025, edition of Newsmax'sRob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT (HOST): And we couldn't even get the turn -- you needed 60 to get the illegals off of Medicaid today, right? So that didn't happen. That was a big loss, right? I mean, that's going to be a very expensive, I think, mistake by the parliamentarian.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (GUEST): Well, again, we can complain about the parliamentarian, but we have a job to do here. And, you know, the good news is that $651 billion shortfall could be easily solved. All we have to do is vote for Rick Scott's amendment. He's an expert in health care. He's proposed the most damaging part of Obamacare. That's the, what they call Medicaid expansion. But what that is — traditional Medicaid pays one, for every dollar state puts in traditional Medicaid, federal government puts in, on average, about $1.33. For the Medicaid expansion, the single adults that should be working, could be working -- for every dollar the state puts in, we put in 9. That is creating all kinds of distortions. The states are scamming the system. Providers are scamming the system. That's what we're trying to correct. So Rick Scott would just say we're going to cap Medicaid expansion enrollment sometime in the future. That literally could save $500 billion if we do it on January 1, 2029. Give these providers plenty time to rearrange their budgets so it's not really dependent on that scam.
SCHMITT: Yeah. But I just -- you know what's really frustrating is that, I mean, you look at these programs, I mean, at some point every entitlement needs to be looked at. And the moment that you even talk about it, you get lambasted by the media and the other side as if they're not aware of the deficit disaster that we already currently have. I mean, you even just hint at Medicaid reform because there is so much waste. There's so many people pulling from that that shouldn't be. And they immediately say, you're going to kill somebody's grandma.
JOHNSON: Again, that was the design of Obamacare. You know, let's go to single-payer system. Let's bring up single adults who should be working, getting health care through their employer. But we incentivize them not to work. Your earlier segment was saying, we can't get people to fill these jobs. Well, we pay them not to work --
SCHMITT: Pay them not to work.
JOHNSON: So this is a huge problem. Nobody wants to take Medicaid away from children. It's Medicaid expansion. Those single adults who get, again, reimbursed $9 to 1 that's crowding out to those vulnerable populations from even providers.
SCHMITT: It's not an easy job that you guys have. And I have to say that I have respect for the ones like yourself and others that are willing to at least consider the debt and the deficit in this country, even if it gets you catching hell from even the president at some point. It's, you know, you're speaking for the people that don't have a voice in Washington, and that is appreciated.
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June 29, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Savage Nation
MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): I also want to talk today about the bombing, the most successful bombing of — the most successful bombing mission in history, which was immediately debunked by the vermin at CNN, which to me is sedition. I looked up what sedition is.
If it was up to me and I was president, I'd rip them out by the hair and I'd arrest them for what they did. Right after the most successful bombing campaign of our life with the B-2 bombers, took out the nuclear facilities in Iran, they leak a fake report. The bombs did nothing. You hear this? Do you have any idea what the force and power is of these bombs that were dropped? Each bomb? Do you know what the TNT level is? What it does? One bomb went into the Earth, burrowed a hole. The other one went into the tunnel that was dug by the first bomb and exploded. And they're saying it had no effect on Iran's nuclear capacities.
Look, I studied what sedition is. If it was up to me, I would arrest the — excuse me, the ownership of CNN for letting this go out on the air. They've undermined America in a time of war against radical Islamic terrorists who would kill all of us.
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June 25, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT (HOST): The Big Beautiful Bill, there's a word that potentially by Friday this thing could get through. It has $150 billion for the deportation agenda. I know that's money that you desperately need to get this job done. You got a lot on your shoulders here. Money to finish the wall. More ICE and border agents.
The parliamentarian, though, who's been around since Harry Reid put her in place like 13 years ago, is striking down a lot of parts of this bill that deal with immigration. Some say that she's a partisan actor. The ability to defund sanctuary cities, she's taking that out. Where are you at with that? What's your perspective on that? And are you still going to get enough to do your job as you see it now?
TOM HOMAN (GUEST): Well, she ought to pay attention to current affairs. We got — what Biden did in four years is the biggest national security vulnerability this country ever has. We got over 20 million illegal aliens in this country. We got over 2 million known gotaways that escaped, didn't want to be vetted, didn't want to be fingerprinted, didn't want to give away program, a free flight, free hotel, three meals a day and free medical care. That should scare the hell out of everybody. This should be a nonpartisan issue. We got 20 million illegal aliens. We got 2 million gotaways. We got less than 5,000 deportation officers. There are concentrating on the worst of the worst. Fund us. We need more agents. We need more beds. We need more transportation contracts. We need more targeting. This is a national security issue. Everybody should be on the same side on this.
SCHMITT: I got 10 seconds left. That bill gets through, about how long are we looking at until we have what would be considered a completed wall system for the areas that need it at the southern border? Is there an estimation?
HOMAN: I don't have an estimation. The quicker we get the money, the quicker we can get going. So the more money we get, the more we can do. But I can tell you, the border wall is a big part of this administration's efforts. That would be a priority.
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After Israel launched airstrikes at Iranian nuclear and residential infrastructure on June 12, right-wing media figures rushed to fearmonger that supposed Democratic “open border” policies allowed Iranian “sleeper cells” into the country that might now execute terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
Israel announced it had initiated a series of strikes aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities and missile factories which have reportedly killed top Iranian military commanders and civilian scientists. In response, Iran vowed retaliation against what it called the country’s “foolish act.” President Donald Trump called the attack “excellent” and warned that there would be “more to come.”
Some right-wing media figures have already started fearmongering about the possibility of Iranian sleeper cells committing terrorism on U.S. soil in response to the Israeli strikes. Several have also blamed former President Joe Biden for this threat due to his alleged “open border” policies.
Right-wing figures fearmonger about the possibility of “terror attacks” from Iranian sleeper cells supposedly let into the U.S. under Biden
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk warned his followers: “Keep your head on a swivel. Biden let millions of people into America. Iran might activate some sleeper cells against Americans. Stay armed.”
Trump ally and self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer urged people to be “very careful today and this weekend in American cities and tourist locations” because “Iran has many sleeper cells in the US. Iranian proxies from HAMAS and Hezbollah will likely retaliate on US soil to kill Americans in acts of Islamic terror as a form of retaliation to the Israeli air strikes.” She also claimed “there are millions of jihadi sleeper cells in our country thanks to the Democrats open border polices.”
On former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room, MAGA media influencer Jack Posobiec also suggested that the U.S. is “very vulnerable” to attacks planned inside the country because “under four years of the Biden administration, … the border was completely open,” adding later that the U.S. is “vulnerable to this type of attack from sleeper cells from any of our adversaries or potential sabotage teams around the world.”
Video
Citation
From the June 13, 2025, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room
On The National Report, Newsmax host Jon Glasgow said, “We’ve had millions of people pour in over the borders. Is there a possibility of some sleeper cells here in the United States that Iran might try to activate?” Newsmax host Rob Astorino replied, “There's no question. I mean, that's been their plan the whole time.”
Appearing on Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight, retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer claimed that Israel “could well have essentially limited all options that the Iranians have, except for potentially some sleeper cells, which we are definitely still worried about here in the United States.” Newsmax host Bianca de la Garza responded, “As we have to be. Joe Biden opened borders for four years.”
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June 12, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT (HOST): You know, Washington was embarrassing enough. We really didn't need this one. But a stunt so stupid today, it's becoming impossible to believe that the Democrat Party actually has any real organic support today.
Today, Alex Padilla, a dimwitted first term senator from California, decided to burst into the middle of Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference when she was live on national television, literally as she was speaking, and have himself a viral moment. Padilla knew full well he was going to be restrained. He knew exactly what he was doing. He is a mediocre, relatively unknown politician who was not wearing a suit, who burst into a room aggressively and started yelling at the secretary of Homeland Security, barking like a random, unstable guy that just jumped in off the street wearing street clothes too. He's not wearing a suit. His full intention was to be accosted by security, as you can see here, and to go viral. We're going to play it out for you so you can enjoy the entire thing uninterrupted.
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SCHMITT: This nimrod is on every cable channel tonight. He's doing an interview right now on MSNBC. Of course he is. You see him fighting with the guards, pushing back, shoving his way through. He knew he needed to find a way to get detained because that was the key to getting on MSNBC tonight. After he was tackled and then verified to actually be a U.S. senator — because he could have been lying. He could have been somebody there to kill Kristi Noem. After all of that, he actually still got a 15 minute meeting with the secretary of Homeland Security. After such a ridiculous stunt, she still met with him. A credit to her. Right? And then right after that meeting, what did he do? Well, he ran outside, jumped on TV and literally cried, portraying himself as the victim of an unconscionable assault by a fascist regime.
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SCHMITT: I was just there to ask a question. So like any normal person, I just burst into the room and ran straight towards the Homeland Security secretary screaming, because that's what normal people do when they have a question for somebody. They just burst into the room when they're on TV and start screaming. And then I was handcuffed. Losers. He's such a loser. From the L.A. Times — this is how the media is going to spin this, by the way. They're going to turn this into the greatest tragedy you've ever seen. The L.A. Times — first they came for the immigrants, then they took down our Latino senator. This is how fake it is. We are living in The Twilight Zone.
Democrats, of course, exploded getting together to march for Padilla at the Capitol. Quote, we're marching to Senator Thune's office. There must be accountability for the detainment of a U.S. Senator. This is not normal. That's from Congressman Maxwell Frost, a guy who couldn't even get an apartment in Washington because his credit was so bad. So these are the kinds of people and the quality of people that are going to stir this up. And of course, the media is going to play along perfectly. You're going to be hearing about this forever. Maxwell Frost couldn't wait to jump on the bandwagon for this publicity stunt, demanding accountability for the detainment of a senator. That's what he said. Just one problem - even Padilla says he wasn't detained.
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PROJECTION
// DESOUZA BS DOCU DIXIECRATS--> GOP, DEFLECTION BC ARE NOW RACISTS ON IMMIGRANTS
June 9, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): And honestly it was Joe Biden and the Democrats that locked down Washington, D.C under military control around the time of his inauguration because they're such victims. But, you know, President Trump and federal officials are fighting to keep our streets safe while the left — and they are definitely the international left — they want criminal gang bangers to be loose on the street and threaten American lives and kill and rape and loot and plunder, which they've been doing for as long as the Democrats have been encouraging it.
Here are just a few examples of illegal alien criminals that Immigration Customs Enforcement removed from the Los Angeles streets.
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That's just a few of the criminal illegal aliens that ICE removed very recently from the streets of Los Angeles. And the Democrats are out there rioting and burning things because criminals are being pulled off. I think they like criminals. All of this while the left still fights to keep them loose on the streets.
TIANNA LOWE DOESCHER (GUEST): Remember MeToo, Chris? As a feminist, I voted for this. I voted to get rid of the criminals, rapists, and murderers. The — to Jason's point, the last time the president overrode a governor to bring in the National Guard was JFK [LBJ?]to desegregate the University of Alabama. Because guess what? The law of the land was you can't be a federal university and discriminate against Black students —
PLANTE: And a Democrat governor named George Wallace.
DOESCHER: Yes. And guess what? The current law of the land is you can't harbor convicted rapists and murderers, even though that is California state statute, right? This is a law that Gavin Newsom has on the books that they are not allowed to assist federal law enforcement. And look, if you want to burn — as a liberal, I hope actual liberals don't want to burn through all their credibility defending the worst of the worst, because that's how you wind up never getting a DACA for a wall deal —
MATTHEW FOLDI (GUEST): I think they want to burn through not only their credibility, they want to burn through the gates of the ICE facilities to let those people out.
PLANTE: Well, yeah. And also it was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower sent 101st Airborne down to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 to move Democrat Governor Orval Faubus away from the front door of Central High School.
DOESCHER: And that was a good thing.
PLANTE: Yeah. And it was Democrat versus Republican and Republican versus Democrat, as is so often the case. The Democrats are just — I mean, at what point are they declared to be a terrorist organization — with all of the affiliations and all the violence and the shootings and the firebombings and the targeting Jews and on and on? You know, as the left squeals, whines and attacks the police over deportations of illegal alien criminals, this is exactly what we, the American people, voted for on Election Day. And overwhelming majority of Americans back President Trump on his immigration policies. Even left wing media can't deny it. CBS fake news poll showing that President Trump's deportation program nets very positive approval ratings from the American people.
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CBS joined Fox and Newsmax in ignoring Trump's pardon of donor's son 05/29/25 walczak
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Newsmax's Greg Kelly: “We need another real investigation about January 6, looking at the cops”
05/29/25
May 28, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports A VERB?
GREG KELLY (HOST): Mike Johnson, I'm expecting more out of you.
Speaker Johnson, come on — you said this year that you were going to establish a new select subcommittee for the 119th Congress to continue House Republicans' investigation into all events leading up to and after January 6.
Now, a couple of things about this, folks. He announced his intent. Right? And what does he say there at the end, into all events leading up to and after January 6, right? Up to and after January 6? What's that all about? What about on January 6? You see, he's playing a little bit of a game there. OK. What else? We are establishing this select subcommittee to continue our efforts to uncover the full truth that is owed to the American people. Well, do it already. Do it. He's not doing it. All right, we can. Yeah. Yep, yep. You see, all events leading up to and after January 6 seems a little fishy to me.
All right, one other thing about this January 6 stuff and somebody who might just turn out to be an ally. See you later, Speaker Johnson. Officer Harry Dunn. Now, I don't like him. We were just talking about this guy. I picked up his book and I found something kind of fascinating in the book. Listen to what was different for him about January 6. Check this out. It's pretty wild.
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KELLY: Brand new helmets, OK. Brand new helmets. What's so special about brand new helmets? Brand new helmets on January 6? I'm not raising these questions, Harry Dunn is. Check this out.
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KELLY: I'd just like to know why, that's all. How about that, Harry Dunn? I'd like to know why too. But here's the thing. I know you came to some conclusions there that it wasn't — maybe they didn't know ahead of time. I think a lot of people knew ahead of time that something big was going down on January 6, and some of them wanted it to go down.
We need another real investigation about January 6, looking at the cops, not just underlying issues or questions about the election — about the FBI, about the cops leaving doors open. Ashli Babbitt, Michael Byrd, the whole damn thing. OK?
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May 21, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
:{:{CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): Vice President of the United States JD Vance says it's time for the American people to get what we voted for, an administration that protects American sovereignty. I believe we voted for that. In an interview with, of all people, The New York Times—why would you do that? They've got a columnist there, Ross Douthat is his alleged name. And JD Vance, vice president, says you cannot have a country where the American people keep on electing immigration enforcement and the courts tell the American people they're not allowed to have what they voted for. }:
That's where we are right now, JD Vance said. He continues talking to Ross Douthat, The New York Times. Success to me is that we have established a set of rules and principles that the courts are comfortable with, and that we have the infrastructure that that allows us to deport large numbers of illegal aliens, because illegal aliens are illegal. When large numbers of illegal aliens come into the country. But I think whether we're able to get there is a function, of course, of our efforts, but also the courts themselves, JD Vance said. And the vice president continued, I think that you are saying, and I know this is inflammatory, but I think you are seeing and an effort by the courts to quite literally overturn the will of the American people.}:
And honestly, I think we're seeing that at every turn, aren't we? With some Biden appointee or Obama appointee and even Clinton appointees overturning the executive branch, which was just voted into office by 77 million Americans. And it's — you know, this is — it smells like 1861 around here.
TONY SHAFFER (GUEST): Are you against the administrative state, Chris? How dare you? How dare you, sir? It's insane that we have people who are not elected who somehow believe that they can use whatever loophole. And I'm not a lawyer, but I pretended to be one in front of the Iowa Supreme Court one time. And that's a story for another day. And I got away with it. It was legal. But I think that's the issue that the legality of these rulings — and I heard Judge Napolitano earlier on the network today talk about, you know, well, they're taught in law school that that that basically any ruling has to equally apply across the board. But the problem is, this: no judge actually was elected by all the people of the United States, and therefore his actions have been outweighed — basically inappropriate level of influence over this fact. So I think he's right. And I think Congress — it's time for Congress to do something to limit the power of the judges.
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### Ben Shapiro says “China is perfectly happy” with Trump's trade war
04/30/25 12:49 PM EDT
### Ben Shapiro: “Head Start is one of the great fails in federal history”
04/30/25 12:37 PM EDT
04/30/25 12:28 PM EDT
### Newsmax host: “If he talks about 2028, suddenly he's not a lame duck”
04/30/25 9:05 AM EDT
04/29/25 7:04 PM EDT
### Sean Hannity: “The tariff war started with Canada”
04/29/25 7:01 PM EDT
04/29/25 6:17 PM EDT
### Stephen Miller: “Fox News needs to fire its pollster”
04/29/25 2:30 PM EDT
04/29/25 1:28 PM EDT
### Five ways MAGA media are spinning Trump’s poll collapse
04/29/25 1:23 PM EDT
Five ways MAGA media are spinning Trump’s poll collapse
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 04/29/25
President Donald Trump’s zealous propagandists have been unable to come to terms with his increasing unpopularity, instead offering a range of pathetic excuses for his cratering poll numbers.
Surveys conducted for The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and other news organizations in preparation for the 100th day of Trump’s administration show his support in freefall. The president’s overall job approval numbers are dropping into the low 40s and even high 30s, levels several pollsters found to be historic lows for presidents at this point in their administration.
Trump is underwater with the public on nearly every issue, with particular warning signs on the economy — ABC’s poll found a majority said Trump had made the economy worse and nearly three-quarters of Americans say his policies are likely to cause a recession.
But the audience of MAGA media outlets largely consists of Trump’s most loyal supporters — the ones who would be the last to abandon him, if at all.
That gives the right-wing stars at Fox News and similar outlets every incentive to deny the reality that the American public has quickly become disenchanted with Trump’s actions and behavior and come up with alternate explanations for his slide.
The polls are fake
Trump himself responded to the collapse in support by denouncing what he termed “FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS.”
“The New York Times has only 37% Trump 2024 voters, and the ABC/Washington Post Poll has only 34% Trump Voters, unheard of numbers unless looking for a negative result, which they are,” he wrote, citing his pollster John McLaughlin in a Monday morning Truth Social post. “These people should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD, and add in the FoxNews Pollster while you’re at it.”
Partner Jim McLaughlin reiterated the point in a Monday night appearance on Newsmax.
“These are propaganda polls,” he said. “That's what they are. They're trying to lie to the American people. They're trying to sway public opinion.”
Host Rob Finnerty responded by suggesting it was a “coordinated takedown” of the president with “all five of these ridiculous polls coming out in the same day as the media continue to cheerlead against Trump.”
Pollster Matt Towery offered a similar analysis that night on Fox’s The Ingraham Angle.
“Now, last time I checked, Donald Trump got almost 50% of the vote,” Towery said. “So how in the world can that poll be correct? There’s no possible way.”
“He’s not in free fall,” Towery added. “He’s had a little bit of slippage because he’s doing a lot. He’s breaking a lot of eggs to make an omelet, but he is not dropping in any significant way. I can guarantee you, and I’m just not paying any attention to this nonsense.”
The polls are a “psyop”
Steve Bannon turned to Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell to explain Trump’s polls on Monday.
“All day, Mitchell, they’re going to be bombarding us on the hundredth day that Trump is the most unpopular president in 100 years,” Bannon prompted him.
Mitchell responded by claiming that “there is a psychological operation going on.” According to him, numerous recent polls showing Trump’s polling swoon “all look the same” and large numbers of Google searches for “Trump approval” are “how I know it's a psyop. People are getting these stories shoved down their throats.”
The polls are only bad for now because Trump’s “agenda is not built for 100 days”
On Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade rejected the premise of looking at Trump’s poll numbers at this point in his administration.
“When you look at the hundred days of Trump, the problem with the hundred days and looking at the polls, this format and his agenda is not built for 100 days,” he said on Monday’s show. “He's redoing the base. He is framing out the house. A lot of it was rotted, and now he is replacing it. There’s not a lot of glory in framing out a house.”
Kilmeade added that Trump “is rebuilding and he has got a plan,” urging viewers to look ahead to potential trade deals and passage of Trump’s tax agenda.
Actually, the polls are “not bad”
Fox contributor Ari Fleischer highlighted Trump’s continued support from his political base and downplayed his low job approval numbers from the overall public.
“The base will not crack,” he told Ingraham on Monday. “The base is solid for Donald Trump, and they understand that he's got a lot of high hurdles because he's put high hurdles in front of himself because he's taking on consequential big issues that have been neglected for so long.”
Fleischer went on to claim that “the average of all the polls … shows that Trump has a 45% job approval. That is not bad. In our modern polarized era, a 45% job approval is middling, but it is not the stuff of doom, gloom, negativity, or decline. It's just the way modern politics is.”
It’s impossible to not see this administration is a “huge success”
Asked Tuesday about Trump’s “soft numbers” on Fox’s America’s Newsroom, Fox Business host and Trumpist shill Maria Bartiromo responded, “There's no other way to look at this first 100 days other than a huge success.”
The majority of Americans who disagree in Fox’s own poll are apparently just delusional.
04/29/25 10:13 AM EDT
04/29/25 9:27 AM EDT
### Fox News’ many justifications for extending Trump’s tax cut for the wealthy
04/29/25 9:19 AM EDT
### Hannity: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker “all but threatened half the country with violence”
04/28/25 10:33 PM EDT
04/28/25 7:10 PM EDT
04/28/25 2:26 PM EDT
04/28/25 1:25 PM EDT
### The Trump administration's war on the press is heating up
04/28/25 1:22 PM EDT
### Daily Wire host: “Civil rights are just leftism in blackface”
04/28/25 8:46 AM EDT
### Sean Hannity on Kilmar Abrego Garcia: “It is so obvious to me that this guy deserves what he got”
04/25/25
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agno? fine if about AA?
04/18/25
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April 24, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): The TV sign off. The signature TV sign off was started by that last guy you heard from, Edward R Murrow, one of the first television reporters, in many ways a pioneer in our business, blah blah blah blah blah.
Frankly, I work in this industry — I think Edward R. Murrow is totally overrated.
We always seem to attach this odd reverence to firsts in American culture. Doesn't matter what it is. First case of Covid-19, the first person to weigh 1,000 pounds — we love the first.
And Edward R. Murrow is credited with a lot of firsts in television news. We even hand out the vaunted Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in journalism every year. And if you get one of those, well, my word, you must be really good at journalism.
And by the way, he went by Ed when he was alive, he was just Ed Murrow to his friends like, I'm Rob Finnerty. I don't go by Robert J. Finnerty, the Robert J. Finnerty Award for mediocrity in journalism.
But Murrow was not above the fray. He was just as biased and partisan as Jake Tapper is today. In 1956, Edward R. Murrow worked to get Democrat Adlai Stevenson elected president. Now it didn't work. Stevenson lost to Dwight Eisenhower. But Edward, sorry, Ed, was a Democrat, and he was biased and partisan.
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beast 4 25
A top Trump administration official said those demanding due process for a wrongly deported Maryland dad might themselves be accused of “aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists.”
Appearing onRob Schmitt Tonight on Newsmax, Donald Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism, Sebastian Gorka, suggested critics of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s incarceration in a Salvadoran megaprison might even be committing a federal crime.
He said: “It’s not left and right, It’s not even Republican or Democrat. There’s one line that divides us: Do you love America or do you hate America? It’s really quite that simple.”
Bondi Says Deported Dad’s Family Better Off Without HimPLEADING FOR HIS RETURN
Gorka, born in the U.K. to Hungarian parents, suggested in the Tuesday interview that Democrats who argue that Abrego Garcia should be returned to the U.S.—per the Supreme Court’s orders—don’t “love America.”
The former Newsmax host added that those who dissent against the Trump administration’s actions are “on the side of the cartel members, on the side of the illegal aliens on the side of the terrorists.”
He went even further, saying: “And you have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them? Because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime in federal statute.”
Bolton Slams Trump’s Latest Cabinet Pick as a ‘Con Man’NO CONFIDENCE
Gorka failed to mention that Abrego Garcia’s alleged links to the MS-13 gang—used to justify his deportation—have been disputed and are based upon an allegation made in a field interview report from 2019, and a confidential informant supposedly telling police he was a member of the organization.
Gorka said critics of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation and apparent incarceration in an infamous supermax prison are “aiding and abetting” terrorism.Newsmax.
The cop who penned the field report was suspended in wild circumstances soon after he interviewed Abrego Garcia, yet his allegation is among the scant evidence the government has produced to support its MS-13 claim.
The informant reportedly claimed the father was part of the “Westerns” clique of MS-13. This is despite the fact that group operated out of Long Island and Abrego Garcia had never lived anywhere other than Maryland while in the U.S.
Additionally, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers were unable to interview the cop who supposedly spoke to the informant because of his suspension.
The government has also tried to justify the deportation of Salvadorian migrants based on their tattoos, using a point-scoring system to determine whether their ink relates to gang affiliation.
When he was arrested in 2019, ICE officers also reportedly pointed towards his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie as potential gang involvement indicators.[dollar over ears?]
The El Salvador native had fled his home country in 2011 at age 16 after gang members threatened to kill him. He was arrested while undocumented, found hanging around outside a hardware store looking for day labor work.
He was handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement without being charged with any crimes.
At his deportation hearing in 2019, ICE stated that he was a danger to the community because he had been detained “in connection with a murder investigation,” and local police had “verified” he was a gang member.
The Trump administration has ignored judges’ orders to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who was deported to El Salvador on March 15, to the United States.Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via Reuters
Abrego Garcia applied for asylum and was granted a “withholding of removal” order, a legal form of protection that says the government won’t deport someone to their home country if the person is “more likely than not” to face persecution there.
Since he was picked up by ICE again in March this year, the Department of Justice has not presented any evidence in court showing gang affiliations.
Government lawyers have even “abandon[ed]” their earlier position that Abrego Garcia was “a danger to the community,” a federal appeals court found.
But despite, this, top government officials continue to brand him as a danger and a “terrorist.”
His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told NBC News that these claims “endanger his life.”
A60 Minutes investigation discovered that at least three-quarters of the 250 men shipped to the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) had no criminal records at all. The facility is notorious for human rights abuses.
The Trump administration has admitted it deported Abrego Garcia after an “administrative error,” but still refuses to bring him home.
In fact, it has doubled down. In a Wednesday X post, the Department of Homeland Security again branded him an “MS-13 gang member,” and revealed a protective order his wife took out against him in 2021.
Sharing the documents, DHS officials echoed comments from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who said on Tuesday that he was “not the father of the year.”
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as,” the post said.
“According to court filings, Garcia’s wife sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt, among other harm. This MS-13 gang member is not a sympathetic figure.”
Abrego Garcia’s wife—Jennifer Vasquez Sura—addressed the restraining order in a statement to Newsweek.
“After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order in case things escalated,” she said. “Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process.”
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see ozturk for anno
again worse than fox
Right-wing media baselessly promoted claim that Tufts student was associated with Hamas — an internal State Department memo said otherwise
In the weeks after a video of Rumeysa Ozturk’s arrest was released, figures across the right-wing media landscape parroted the administration's false claims, frequently accusing Ozturk of being “pro-Hamas”
Written by Harrison Ray & Noah Dowe
Published 04/16/25 11:20 AM EDT
Following the arrest of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, right-wing media were quick to cast her as a “pro-Hamas radical.” According to new reporting, however, the State Department had determined ahead of her arrest “that the Trump administration had not produced any evidence showing that she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization,” despite the Department of Homeland Security’s claims that Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.”
## Ozturk was arrested despite a lack of “any evidence” that she “engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization"
On March 25, federal immigration agents arrested Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk over supposed “activities in support of Hamas.” In an emailed statement to The Washington Post, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that “DHS and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas.” The Post also reported that the Trump State Department had accused Ozturk of supporting Hamas, apparently over an op-ed Ozturk co-authored last year for the Tufts student newspaper “criticizing the university’s response to the Israel-Gaza war.” To date, Ozturk has not been charged with any crime, but her student visa has been revoked and she has been relocated to a detention center in Louisiana. The Associated Press, [3/26/25; Politico, 4/3/25; The Washington Post, 4/13/25; WBUR, 4/11/25]
Secretary of State Marco Rubio “did not offer specifics” on Ozturk’s detainment, but he suggested that his criteria for revoking visas includes “vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus.”At a news conference, Rubio told reporters, “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas.” The Washington Post, [3/27/25]
According to The Washington Post, the State Department had determined prior to Ozturk’s arrest that “the Trump administration had not produced any evidence showing that she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization.”The State Department memo, according to the Post, appeared to undermine the administration’s claims and “said Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not have sufficient grounds for revoking Ozturk’s visa under an authority empowering the top U.S. diplomat to safeguard the foreign policy interests of the United States.” The Washington Post, [4/13/25]
## Right-wing media figures parroted the administration, frequently characterizing Ozturk as “pro-Hamas”
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said Ozturk was “evidently a rabid pro-Hamas protester.” Schmitt cheered on the administration, saying, “We’re seeing how they’re getting this cancer slowly out of our country.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [3/26/25]
Newsmax host Katrina Szish applauded the administration, saying it was “taking a hardline stance on foreign students attending U.S. colleges and universities with affinities for terror groups.”Szish also parroted the Trump administration's claim that Ozturk “engaged in, quote, ‘activities in support of Hamas.’” Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [3/27/25]
Schmitt later claimed Ozturk “moonlighted in pro-Hamas activities while enjoying the liberties of a Western education.”The network host added, “Ah, you a little scared, Rumeysa?” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [3/28/25]
Newsmax host Chris Plante called Ozturk a “pro-Hamas agitator.” Plante also complained, “That is not a genocide [in Gaza], but … the people that she's defending are calling for an actual genocide of the Jewish people.” Newsmax, *The Right Squad*, [3/28/25]
Fox News guest and Washington Times correspondent Susan Ferrechio noted that Ozturk “did write an op-ed in support of Hamas."When fellow panelist Olivia Beavers said “being pro-Palestinian, pro-Palestine, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re pro-Hamas,” host Howard Kurtz responded, “Well, Hamas does rule that territory.” Fox News, *MediaBuzz*, [3/30/25]
Plante criticized media coverage of the arrest, citing research from Media Research Center to argue, “The media spent 10 times more airtime on the arrest of the pro-Hamas Turkish agitator at Tufts University last week than they spent on the arrest of the MS-13 thug.” Guest Mercedes Schlapp remarked, “Sometimes you have to wonder if the legacy media just loves Hamas, which is kind of disturbing.” Newsmax, *The Right Squad*, [4/2/25]
Newsmax host Lidia Curanaj claimed Ozturk was a “pro-Hamas Turkish agitator.” Curanaj cited MRC research to call coverage of Ozturk “hypocrisy from the leftist media.” Newsmax,*The Count*, [4/5/25]
Blaze Media’s Joseph Mackinnon claimed Ozturk was a “pro-Hamas radical.”Blaze Media, [4/5/25]
## Right-wing media figures defended Ozturk’s arrest
Former Heritage Foundation research fellow Joel Griffith said it was “disturbing” that Ozturk “remained in the USA so long” and called to “deport her now.” Twitter/X, [3/27/25]
Fox & Friendsco-host Brian Kilmeade praised the administration's arrest of Ozturk: “I love the message it's sending to other students causing unrest.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/27/25]
The Federalist correspondent Brianna Lyman defended Ozturk’s arrest: “This is about whether openly anti-American and anti-West foreigners have a right to be here.” The Federalist, [3/28/25]
Post Millennial editor Angy Ngo accused “leftists” criticizing the administration's handling of Ozturk's arrest of wanting “to encourage mass migration by those who agitate against US interests.”Twitter/X, [3/28/25]
In a segment about Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, Kilmeade questioned “why any Democrat would stand up for [Mahmoud] Khalil who's sitting in Georgia, or with this Tufts woman, who is also in Georgia, who is writing anti-American phrases and acting out over at Tufts.” Fox News,*Fox & Friends*, [3/31/25]
Discussing Ozturk’s arrest, Fox anchor Harris Faulkner quoted a Washington Examiner op-ed by conservative writer Ian Haworth: "‘This isn't about free speech. It's about something deeper: the suicidal idea that America has some moral obligation to tolerate foreign-born subversion in the name of tolerance. That's not tolerance; that's surrender.’"Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [3/31/25]
Daily Wire writer Jacob Falach praised the arrest of Ozturk as “a move in the right direction.” Falach added, “She is just one of countless students across the country who share a radical ideology.” The Daily Wire, [4/13/25]
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MMA PIX BIDEN HIDDEN AGENDA
Newsmax host: “People don't like the word revenge. Why not? It's time for that if it's warranted.”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 04/11/25
Video
From the April 10, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
ROB FINNERTY (HOST): He meant every word of that. For years, we would ask, why would anyone let 15 million criminals into the country illegally? They're here illegally. That makes them criminals. Why would any leader want to do that? Why would anyone want to fundamentally change the racial and ethnic makeup of the greatest country on Earth, America? And now the answer is crystal clear — this was their plan all along. Democrats know that the only way their broken party can win elections in the future is to import voters. So that's exactly what they did. While telling the public that the border was closed — the border was closed, and they said that over and over again for four years. And the other option is simple — Joe Biden has got dementia. He was never in control or in charge. And as a result of that, bad actors were likely running the White House. The answer now is probably a combination of the two.
But America needs answers, and Republicans have to investigate and possibly prosecute whoever perpetrated the greatest single crime in American history, and that's what this is. Fifteen million illegal aliens in this country in a four-year period. These people should not be here. And it's time for Republicans to start doing exactly what Democrats did to them. People don't like the word revenge. Why not? It's time for that if it's warranted. When Donald Trump left office after his first term, Democrats prosecuted everyone. Steve Bannon went to jail, Peter Navarro went to jail, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos. Anyone who did anything related to Donald Trump got indicted because Democrats play dirty and they are much better at it than Republicans.
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Newsmax host says US elections are “a huge liability. It weakens our country in a lot of ways because we're always thinking about the next election”
Rob Schmitt: “XI Jinping doesn't have to worry about elections. That's a huge benefit. Trump talks about that a lot. He's jealous of that.”
Written by Media Matters Staff
:{:{Published 04/09/25}:
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Citation
From the April 8, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT: Two billion a day, he says. Two billion a day in tariff revenue. That's about 700 billion a year. More than 700 billion a year. Just to give you a reference, that's a third of what our government brings in from all income taxes, everything we all pay in income taxes — that would be about a third of that number. That's quick to get to those kind of numbers. And by the way, that number, 700 billion is going to increase sharply at midnight because China has a lot of that. Likely forcing China with its very weak economy to the table to cut a deal that will benefit our country, our workers, to some unknown extent. Based on our tremendous deficit, which you can see here behind me, just how much more China sends us than they accept from us, China's retaliatory tariffs just don't hit as hard as they need them to. That's the problem when there's this huge disparity. China exports far more to us than they import from us. The White House has the winning hand in many different ways here.
China's only upside is, of course, political. XI Jinping doesn't have to worry about elections. That's a huge benefit. Trump talks about that a lot. He's jealous of that because imagine what you could do if you could not have to worry about every two years, you got to get everybody reelected. I mean, that's a huge liability. It weakens our country in a lot of ways because we're always thinking about the next election. It's hard to ever do the right thing like they're doing right now. This is why most politicians never do the right thing. They just always think about the next election. But for the next year, Trump and Republicans don't really need to worry about this election either. And again, China's situation is pretty bad. And if they pull this off, if the White House pulls this off and these deals all do come together and they get China and have some kind of a win with China, and our market goes soaring again and our industrial base improves in a way that Americans can feel over the next couple years, look out.
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April 7, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Wake Up America
SHARLA MCBRIDE (HOST): It hasn't even been a week. Right? And you said fifty countries already coming around saying, hey, hey, let's make a deal here. That's a pretty good sign that things are going to turn around. But if you watched any other networks — let's talk about the legacy media this weekend. Throughout the weekend, it wasn't looking good. They were — the fearmongering was on full display. I mean, it was the end of the world. It was doom and gloom. Is that the only thing they have? Do you think they were ready to pounce at this? Like, oh, something bad has happened in the first one hundred days. Let's go.
MARK KAYE (GUEST): You know, it's amazing how all of a sudden everybody in the world is an expert on tariffs, isn't it? Even my kids know all about tariffs. I want Donald Trump to ban calculus so that they can get straight A's in math. It is — it's amazing how all of a sudden tariffs, which have been a tool for 250 years since this country has been founding, are now this evil tool that Donald Trump is doing. I don't know why they would think Donald Trump would want to bankrupt the country. It doesn't make any sense to anybody. If you think about Donald Trump and what they're declaring, the fact that he's raising prices and destroying the economy and making the stock market — Donald Trump, last time I checked, has a lot of stocks.
MCBRIDE (GUEST): Yeah.
KAYE: He has publicly traded companies. He does not want his 401K going down either. This is again the blip. And what he's doing is he's resetting, building a strong foundation so that for 20, 30, 50, a hundred years in the future, everybody will be financially — it will benefit everybody. And we are going to see the benefits of this for years to come.
MARC LOTTER (HOST): Yeah. Mark, I mean, this is really the only thing the legacy media has got. I mean, I caught a few minutes of the mouthpieces over at MSM DNC this morning before we went on the air. They were talking about how this is all Trump's fault. Of course, they gave Biden a pass on the economy, but listen to the stuff they were saying over the weekend.
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LOTTER: I mean, it seems like they're almost cheerleading for some sort of an economic recession or stock market crash.
KAYE: I mean, again, clearly these are not negotiators. The big thing I saw was they were all complaining that President Donald Trump was casually playing golf over the weekend. Well, when you're in the middle of a negotiation, you don't want people to see you stressed out. You don't want them thinking that you've made a mistake. So Donald Trump goes, here's the deal. It's Liberation Day. You're all getting reciprocal tariffs. I'm going to go hit the links. And now all of the other countries realize that Donald Trump is not losing sleep over this, and that they are going to be losing a large portion of their GDP.
So yes, whenever Donald Trump makes a move, whether it's good or bad for the economy, the other networks, the Democrats, the mainstream media or the legacy media, they are going to react negatively because they are trying their best to make Donald Trump one of the most popular presidents in the entire history of our country, look bad and make their party one of the most unpopular in the history of this country look, I don't know, not as bad as they actually are.
MCBRIDE: And you know what? Is playing golf that bad when we saw our previous president laying on the beach every single weekend? At least this president is getting some exercise, right?
LOTTER: Falling off his bicycle.
MCBRIDE: Yeah. All right, Mark, thanks.
LOTTER: My dad told me never be afraid to walk out of the car dealership. You get a better deal.
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### On Newsmax, Mercedes Schlapp: “I'm thinking that maybe they should deport Rashida Tlaib”
03/12/25
March 11, 2025, edition of Newmsax's Chris Plante: The Right Squad
CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): Speaking of the pro-Hamas Rashida Tlaib — and who doesn't talk about our pro-Hamas Rashida Tlaib? She was the lone vote, the only vote against a bill in the House of Representatives yesterday requiring an annual report to Congress on the cross-border cartel smuggling tunnels — you know, like the ones under Gaza, but under the border from Mexico to the United States. 402 people voted yes. And Rashida Tlaib was the single no vote, the single no vote when it comes to the tunnels coming from Mexico into the United States smuggling children and adults, human trafficking, fentanyl killing. And Rashida Tlaib — I'm thinking she's not on our side.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP (CO-HOST): I'm thinking that maybe they should deport Rashida Tlaib as well. Just take her out along with Mahmoud at this point. I mean, it's just outrageous. It just shows how she has been someone who has supported terrorists has been, what I say, not putting America first or Americans first. And I don't know why they keep sending her back to Congress.
### Newsmax's Greg Kelly: Sen. Joseph McCarthy “was on the right side of history”
03/12/25
### Newsmax host: “It's felt like maybe a recession was needed to a lot of people”
03/12/25
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March 10, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT (HOST): When Americans voted Donald Trump into office, they voted for massive change. And we're now starting to feel the turbulence that comes from such change. It is both political. It is also economic. The markets tanked today. Investors worried as Trump works to reimagine the American economy and our foreign policy economically. Massive government cuts, tariffs and the mass deportation of cheap, illegal American labor — all of that is instability, and Wall Street hates instability.
But it is important to remember as you look at the markets, that as most Americans were gutted by inflation these last three years, those same markets as indicators were skyrocketing. So perhaps stocks need to take a nosedive so the working man can get a little relief from all of this inflation.
Most Americans have little engagement with Wall Street. Maybe a modest 401 K, which, at this rate, will cover a few years of their retirement if they're lucky. Right now, Trump is attempting to reimagine our entire economy because it's not working too well when you really think about it. If this plan works, labor in this country will cost more as workers see better pay, less outsourcing, and fewer illegals plunging the pay scale. Deportations could also bring relief on home prices as well. Less demand for housing means the price of housing goes down. All of these that I just listed off are bad things for Wall Street. Every single one of them is bad for Wall Street, but they are great for Main Street.
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February 11, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty
BOB BROOKS (HOST): Now you know their intentions — erase the whole Trump presidency. That will be their goal at the end. For reaction, let's welcome in former U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C, Joe DiGenova and the host of The Tudor Dixon Podcast, the one, the only Tudor Dixon. Good to see you both.
JOE DIGENOVA (GUEST): Good to see you.
BROOKS: Joe, I want to start with you. You know, the courts. You know D.C, who's running things now? Judges or the President of the United States. What's going on?
DIGENOVA: Well, what you've seen over the last few days, both in New York, Washington, D.C, and Boston, are a group of federal district court judges who don't understand their role. They have overreached. They have done things which are clearly in error. They are interfering in the executive function. And I think President Trump ultimately will win. The problem is, there's going to be a time delay in his victory, but he will win. What he's doing is perfectly legal. There's no legitimate constitutional objection to what he's doing. And in particular, Judge Engelmayer in New York, who said that the Secretary of the Treasury could not look at certain accounts — he should be impeached for that.
Let me just tell you something right now. There needs to be a new project started in the House of Representatives, and that's to start getting names of federal district court judges who need to be impeached.
BROOKS: Well, hey, House members, maybe they're listening to Joe tonight because we got some problems. If the president can't control our websites — my God.
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January 29, 2025, edition of Newsmax's *Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): I'm a conspiracy theorist, and I hope you are too. Yes, it was made official today. They finally just, for everybody — when they say you're a conspiracy theorist, that means you're a critical thinker. That means you're independent. That means you don't necessarily go with the fake news preferred narrative. You see things for yourself. You are not afraid to take data and come to your own conclusion. This is a free country. It ought to remain so. So this was an interesting moment during RFK's confirmation hearing today. A lot of interesting moments, actually, but I really like what Thom Tillis, the Republican of North Carolina, did here with RFK.
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KELLY: Exactly. If you're onto something, if you are asking uncomfortable questions of powerful interests, it's one of the first tricks they'll try — conspiracy theorists. It won't work anymore. It's kind of like when they started calling everything racist, right? At first. People will do anything to not be seen of that way, and they realize the true racists were the ones calling everybody racists. So conspiracy theorist doesn't work anymore. And if they do call you that, wear it with pride.
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January 13, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): Well, I like JD Vance. I like half of that. But actually, some of the people who committed violent acts, actually, well, many of them have gotten a raw deal as well. This has never been adequately investigated because we never had an adequate investigation into the whole damn thing. But, I don't know, what do you do when the police unlawfully provoke violence? And that's what a lot of people believe happened. They did not issue a warning before throwing chemical munitions into a mostly, if not universally peacefully assembled crowd.
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KELLY: Why is this guy throwing these basic hand grenades into a crowd? And people aren't, like, they aren't lunging toward officers or anything like that? You see, this is stirring up a fight, stirring up a fight where there was no fight. So the people who started fighting, I mean, do they not deserve a pardon, too? I think that has to be looked into. I wouldn't rule anything out. The whole thing was a kind of a setup, many of us believe.
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Right-wing media blamed the wildfires on environmentalists and failure to clear brush, flattening the issue}:
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty spoke with right-wing Hoover Institute fellow Victor Davis Hanson, who falsely claimed that there has been “no forest management” and the California leaders “don’t believe in cleaning the forest or they don’t believe in calculated and measured timber industry to clean it up.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [1/9/25]|}:}:}:
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Newsmax's Greg Kelly: “Matt Gaetz flattered us with his services here at Newsmax”
11/14/24 mma
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1st to kiss jackboot?
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[## On Newsmax, Monica Crowley says about Trump's cabinet nominations: “We have not seen this kind of talent pool since the Founding Fathers”
11/15/24
https://www.mediamatters.org/newsmax/newsmax-monica-crowley-says-about-trumps-cabinet-nominations-we-have-not-seen-kind-talent)
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October 22, 2024, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT: (HOST): I want to just read to you what may indeed be one of the October surprises in this election, which is a piece from The Atlantic that has just come out -- just come out today and is really just starting to explode on X as we speak. The title of this piece is, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had." They're claiming that as a quote from Donald Trump.
And in it, at a time when Trump is up 11 points with Hispanic voters, something that I think threatens Kamala Harris in every single swing state and could decimate her chances at the White House, comes the absolutely perfect story from The Atlantic to try and — to cut that back, which is a claim from this article that after a Hispanic soldier was killed in action, Trump had promised to pay for the funeral and got a bill for something like $60,000. And this article claims that Trump said — he said it doesn't cost $60,000 to bury a f-ing Mexican. So this is from the Atlantic. And this is, I mean, we've heard how they've claimed that he talks about, you know, troops in action and our fallen heroes. I want to get your reaction to this one.
REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (GUEST): Look, it's — now they're pulling out all the stops, right? So they know they're losing, so they're going to throw everything up on the wall. Doesn't matter if it's a lie. And I'm sure that these are all just bald-faced lies. And so anything to try to gin up some kind of controversy, anything to gin up that somehow he hates Hispanics. And I can tell you, you know, I've known Donald Trump for over eight years, close to ten years, and, you know, there's not a racist bone in his body. He loves America. He loves Americans. And Americans means all Americans, including Hispanics. So again, it's a bunch of hooey and again, more made up stuff. And again, just to hurt his chances.
SCHMITT: Yeah. And just — and I just saw a tweet from one of the sources that was used in the article was, it was somebody from, from the staff who said he was asked by the Atlantic if he heard the comment, and his response to the Atlantic was Trump did not say that. And in the article they quoted him as saying, I didn't hear Trump say that. So right there, you just — you see that they lie, they know how to lie. And this — you could not have created a better stony at a time when he's crushing it with the Hispanic community. How do we make that go away? Oh, here's the perfect story. And who knew they'd figure it out on October 22nd, of all the times?
GIMENEZ: Well, look, there's going to be other stories coming out, I'm sure some more outrageous stuff, and they're just going to keep getting more and more outrageous as they get more and more desperate because they're going to lose. And, you know, what's happening with the problem with them now is that, you know, we don't believe any of the stuff that comes out because, you know, who the sources are. We know they've been lying to us for years and years about Donald Trump.
SCHMITT: Yeah.
GIMENEZ: And so we're not going to believe — it's not going to help them. Actually, it may actually help Donald Trump.
SCHMITT: Right.
GIMENEZ: In a way because he said, oh, more lies about him. Yeah. We're going to show you and we're going to elect Donald Trump.
SCHMITT: We all remember the suckers and losers and how ridiculous that one was. And it just — it didn't make any sense. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would somebody say that in front of — nobody would ever say that. Somebody that had paid for so many funerals for soldiers over the years. So yeah, I got —
GIMENEZ: What did he say say? That I need Nazi generals? They lost the war.
SCHMITT: Yeah, exactly. Congressman —
GIMENEZ: Why would I want them?
SCHMITT: Exactly. So it doesn't make any sense at all.
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Contrary to the whining from Newsmax host Greg Kelly, then-President Trump did choose to promote Ret. Gen. Mark Milley to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump also picked Ret. Gen. Mattis to be Defense Secretary and Ret. Gen. John Kelly as his Homeland Security secretary and later as his chief of staff. All of them — along with others like Trump's former Defense Secretary Mark Esper — are now sounding the alarm about Trump being unfit for the office of the presidency.
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CitationFrom the October 23, 2024, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
GREG KELLY (HOST): Alright. Welcome back. I think this is a very reasonable proposal. Take their medals away. These treacherous guys, they are hideous, all of them, and many many more. The culture of deception, these political animals. They're supposed to be fighting men. They're not. They're careerists, and they're out for a buck.
And, well, number one, these are not Donald Trump's generals. I hate that. I hate it when they say that. Donald Trump's own generals are saying such and such. No. These are not his own generals, his own generals. You've seen the headlines. Right? Trump's own generals calling him this, that, and the other thing. Trump's generals are trying to save the world starting with the White House. Trump's generals, they're not his. They never were his generals.
So if you go to a restaurant and they present you a menu, are you responsible for the quality of the food? You hope for the best. And that's what happened when President Trump got to the swamp in 2017. He trusted too many people. They came recommended by other people in the swamp, but literally they're not Trump's generals. Each of the generals, you know, we're doing this because Kelly is making, all kinds of noise again, but Milley's been at it and so has Mattis, all of these guys. This is when they became generals. 2008, 2003, 1997. That's a long time before Donald Trump showed up. He did not promote these guys.
Gotta stop saying it's Trump's generals. And when they lie about him and when it's provably false, Trump needs more backup. I'm sorry. The surrogates who are out there, they're nice guys, but maybe they're too involved in the swamp. This is what I mean. You're gonna see Lindsey Graham and another guy named Urban. Before they push back, they gotta let everybody know that they like these generals. They're friends. They're this. They're that. Stop it. They're out for a buck, and maybe so are you guys. I don't know.
//
10/23/24 9:30 AM EDT
Newsmax's Greg Kelly says Donald Trump's comments about Arnold Palmer had “elegance” and “class”}:
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How Newsmax spread conspiracy theories about Smartmatic in 2020
Written by Helena Hind & Jane Lee
Published 09/26/24
Smartmatic’s defamation case against Newsmax, which accuses the right-wing cable channel of spreading conspiracy theories about the voting technology company for profit and consequently damaging its reputation, is slated to begin soon.
After right-wing media competitor Fox News unexpectedly but accurately called Arizona for Joe Biden during the 2020 election, Newsmax seized an opportunity to attract conservative viewers by spreading conspiracy theories about the vote, including about Smartmatic. Smartmatic alleges Newsmax knew these conspiracy theories were untrue but continued to circulate them for the sake of profit. (Fox is embroiled in a lawsuit over its own conspiracy theories about Smartmatic and settled with another voting technology company, Dominion Voting Systems, last year.)
Below are details about the case and some examples of the conspiracy theories Newsmax told about Smartmatic:
### Smartmatic has sued Newsmax for defamation over airing false election fraud claims implicating the company
As reported by The Washington Post, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy “sensed a business opportunity” after Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden during its 2020 election night coverage, which prompted Newsmax to spread election conspiracy theories in an effort to juice its ratings and resulted in legal action by Smartmatic and Dominion.
Newsmax’s ratings “surged” after the network repeated Trump’s election conspiracy theories, which had also been promoted by Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, “and then Trump, in turn, lavished praise on Newsmax while publicly castigating Fox.” The strategy was short-lived; in December, Smartmatic and Dominion sent legal demand letters to Newsmax, Fox, and OAN warning the networks to retract their false coverage, prompting Newsmax to issue “a lengthy ‘clarification’ that debunked its own reporting, noting that the company ‘would like to clarify its news coverage and note it has not reported as true certain claims’ made about the two firms.” Newsmax anchors read the statements on air. The Washington Post, [5/6/21, 12/21/20]
Smartmatic filed a defamation suit against Newsmax on November 3, 2021, alleging that the network spread false but popular election fraud claims implicating the voting technology company “in a bid to challenge Fox News from the right.” From The Washington Post: “Smartmatic says the claims it challenges as false include that Smartmatic voter software was more widely used than it actually was; that its technology was compromised during the election; that Smartmatic was founded in Venezuela to serve nefarious foreign interests; and that ‘Smartmatic fixed, rigged, and stole the 2020 U.S. election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.’” The Washington Post, [11/4/21]
In May 2024, lawyers for Smartmatic accused Newsmax of destroying evidence that showed the network knew claims of voter fraud were untrue. MSNBC correspondent Sarah Fitzpatrick reported: “The filing references specific texts that were sent by the CEO and others at the company that it claims were deleted and that the company became aware of these communications because they showed up in other potential witnesses' electronic material. Smartmatic says that the deletions occurred after Newsmax employees had notice to preserve the evidence for a pending suit, which was a major no-no in, you know, legal circles. Newsmax told NBC News that they categorically deny all the allegations in the filing.” MSNBC, *Chris Jansing Reports*, [5/22/24]
CNN reported that during an August pre-trial hearing, a Smartmatic attorney “cited several instances of employees of the cable network admitting they had no proof of the election fraud claims” that they pushed on air.From CNN: “The attorney said that ‘some of the hosts were privately expressing doubt about the claims and accusations’ against Smartmatic as they were being promoted on the network’s air. Several of the network’s hosts, he said, never believed them and were ‘joking about the accusations in their text messages’ with one another.” Weeks after the hearing, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that the case would proceed to trial. CNN, [8/22/24, 9/13/24]
### Newsmax repeatedly spread Smartmatic conspiracy theories after the 2020 election
Newsmax analyst Dick Morris: Election fraud “may well have originated in the Dominion software, in the Smartmatic software that the polling people, voting people used.” Media Matters, [12/22/20]
Newsmax host Chris Salcedo, citing Powell’s conspiracy theories: “There’s only one reason why you buy a Dominion machine and you buy this Smartmatic software: so you can easily change votes.” Newsmax, *The Chris Salcedo Show*, [11/18/20]
Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson claimed that Smartmatic software was used to “fix elections in Venezuela” for Hugo Chávez, while Salcedo said the software comes with a “directive” on how to change election results.From The Washington Post: “Smartmatic has pointed to a Nov. 17, 2020, remark by Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson, who falsely asserted that ‘Smartmatic software is what was used by Hugo Chávez and his successors to fix elections in Venezuela,’ and a comment made by Newsmax host Chris Salcedo, who said that Smartmatic software comes with a ‘directive’ on ‘how you change the results’ of an election.” The Washington Post, [9/20/24]
Morris: “The Dominion software is licensed from Smartmatic, which is [a] Venezuelan-owned and -controlled company. So we’re dealing here with the most incredible kind of systemic fraud.” Morris added that “this is the exact same system they’re using in Georgia on January 5,” the date of an upcoming runoff election. Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [12/15/20]
Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne said on Newsmax that there were Chinese, Pakistani, Iranian, Venezuelan, and Cuban “fingerprints” all over Smartmatic in an effort to “destroy our election system to take us down.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [12/17/20]
Morris: “Actual intervention in the vote count … through Dominion software and Smartmatic” has “been proven in one county in Michigan.” Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [12/18/20]
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May 22, 2024, edition of Newsmax's *Eric Bolling: The Balance
ERIC BOLLING: I have to bring some of these things up. You're so right about all these things. License to kill - now, mind you, Mar-a-Lago is a secure location. It has U.S. Secret Service all over the place all the time. Those documents weren't gonna get stolen or mutilated during a raid.
License to shoot and kill — there were innocent people standing around Mar-a-Lago. People staying there, friends, guests. What happens if Donald Trump is there and sees someone — an FBI agent roughing up Barron Trump or Melania Trump in their — in her closet, which we know they went through, and decides to push back? Is there gonna be a gunfight at Mar-a-Lago because the FBI and the Secret Service are going to get into it? I'd also like to point out that picture we showed a couple of times with the classified documents that FBI gave us was fake, staged. Those aren't the documents they found. The documents they found that were classified, didn't have those markings on it.
That is a picture the FBI put together to make it look worse than it was. I can't even begin to tell you how angry I am at what's going on because they can do — Stephen, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was put in place for this and they're showing us that they are a tyrannical government that we need to be armed to protect ourselves from. Am I wrong?
Media Matters' Matt Gertz previously discussed the MAGA claims regarding FBI guidelines on use of force at Mar-a-Lago:
Over a handful of hours on Tuesday, the right’s conspiracy theory ecosystem concocted a sinister plot by President Joe Biden to assassinate his predecessor out of the banal fact that FBI agents received standard instructions on the use of force before conducting a court-ordered search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022.
Hundreds of pages of filings were unsealed on Tuesday in Trump’s classified documents case, revealing that the former president — who is charged with 40 federal criminal counts related to his alleged willful retention of documents after leaving the White House — had multiple documents marked “classified” in his bedroom that were discovered months after the 2022 search.
Credible outlets reviewed the documents and produced a wave of news stories detailing what a judge described as “strong evidence” of Trump’s allegedly criminal acts. Meanwhile, Trump’s MAGA media supporters ginned up a counternarrative based on a credulous reading of a deceptive argument from Trump’s lawyers that was included in the unsealed documents.
A Fox News reporter has since noted that the same “standard” use of force policy was in place when FBI agents visited the home of President Joe Biden.
Regarding Bolling's claim that the photo at Mar-a-Lago was staged, The New York Times reported in 2022:
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump took to his social media site to say that “the F.B.I., during the raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending that it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see.”
But the genesis of the photograph appears to be in keeping with standard protocols for how federal agents handle evidence they come across in a search.
The folders were arrayed by agents at Mar-a-Lago after being removed from what the filing indicated was Mr. Trump’s office — they were not discovered scattered on the floor, according to two federal law enforcement officials.
The Justice Department would not comment on the specifics of the photograph. But it is standard practice for the F.B.I. to take evidentiary pictures of materials recovered in a search to ensure that items are properly cataloged and accounted for.
AGREES W ALL BS
stepHen miller lawless regime that’s in power
host go after joe sixpACK...
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EMININATIONALIST
https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-bolling/newsmaxs-eric-bolling-we-need-trump-get-back-there-and-drain-swamp-and-exterminate
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Newsmax's Eric Bolling complains about Biden eating a salad
04/30/24
ERIC BOLLING (HOST): First of all, grown man looks like Joe was dressed by his mommy. Did you all see cackling Kamala? Of course she'd laugh at Joe's jokes. She thought it was funny. That woman would laugh at a funeral. He's clearly scripted digs at Trump just expose the party's weakness. Sure, Joe is a big talker when he's speaking in a room full of biased left-wing media guests. Where is the confidence when Trump wants to debate?
Come on, Joe. Put your bow tie, take the stage across from a real leader who has a few policy victories to stand on. You can even bring Kamala and your new walking aides who will help you walk to the stage. Of course not. A debate is never happening. Joe Biden doesn't think highly enough of the American people to participate. This disgraceful president is finally getting a dose of reality. With every week. we're seeing new polls that favorite Trump more and more, which immediately make it to the White House. Trust me when I tell you Joe Biden would know his days in office are numbered if he could remember what day it actually was.
I'll leave you with this. Here is the President of the United States, the man with the nuclear codes, and his fingertips are grappling with a bowl of lettuce. He can barely feed himself. Just watch this for a second. This isn't slowed down. This isn't edited. This is Joe trying to eat a bite of salad. Just watch, just watch. This man has a nuclear code. That's the pre -- that's the President of the United States. The man who's going to push back on Russia, China, North Korea. Are you kidding me? He can't even take a bite of his own salad. This man is not suited for the job for four more minutes, let alone four more years.
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ROB SCHMITT (HOST): This week, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into Congresswoman Cori Bush. Bush, a defund the policer who brags about wasting a fortune of your money on her own private security, has evidently been funneling much of that money to her husband. Earlier this month, the DOJ indicted New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, another Democrat. Menendez is the most visibly corrupt person in Congress. His scheme is more obvious than Joe Biden's. He was found with gold bars in his home, accused of using his power to do the bidding of Egypt and Qatar. And then, of course, Hunter Biden, now being charged with tax crimes by the same DOJ official who helped him conceal those crimes for many years. Charges Hunter's father, by the way, can make disappear like that.
Now, these moves by the DOJ are the perfect way to keep the wool over the eyes of millions of unawake Americans, the ones still convinced to ignore a story when they all scream conspiracy theory. And the media, which of course does the bidding of our government, is fully exploiting these Democrat indictments. From New York Mag, Biden's weaponized Justice Department goes after another Democrat, sleepy Joe is doing a terrible job targeting his enemies, they say sarcastically. And over at CNN, more of the same, take a look.
...
Another example of the media pretending to be very gullible for your benefit, they would say. A wonderful psyop by the Department of Justice is happening in this election year. The DOJ going after some high profile news-making Democrats to dupe everybody into thinking that what's happening to former President Trump is somehow normal, and credible, and not strange. But at the end of the day, the DOJ is exactly what you think it is.
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william Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Newsmax Airs Alarming Discussion of Civil War With Federal Government.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Newsmax host Carl Higbie mused Thursday about a potential “force-on-force” conflict between Texas and the Biden Administration after the Supreme Court ruled against the state’s Republican governor by declaring that federal agents can remove razor wire laid along the border with Mexico.
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Former Fox host Tucker Carlson is platforming disgraced climate denier Willie Soon, an aerospace engineer known for accepting over $1 million from fossil fuel companies for writing publications he referred to as “deliverables.”
Carlson invited Soon, a former researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, on his exclusive program on X (formerly Twitter) for an interview on January 9. The two amplified long-debunked hypotheses about what is causing climate change, and clips from the interview have already been viewed over 1 million times on TikTok, likely by a young audience that might not be familiar with Soon’s controversies, which came to light back in 2015.
The spread of these videos highlights TikTok’s ongoing climate misinformation problem, even as it has begun implementing a new policy banning content that “undermines well-established scientific consensus, such as denying the existence of climate change or the factors that contribute to it.”
Though experts dismissed Soon’s false claims, clips of his interview with Carlson have gained traction on TikTok, a social media platform popular with young users
Clips of Carlson’s interview with Soon have been viewed over 1 million times on TikTok. Media Matters identified six videos that have collectively accrued more than 1.1 million views. According to a January 2023 report from Morning Consult, over 60% of Gen Z adults use TikTok at least once daily. TikTok, [1/10/24, 1/10/24, 1/10/24;1/10/24; 1/10/24, 1/10/24;Morning Consult, 1/2023]
Climate scientists continue to highlight and debunk Soon’s disinformation.“Soon's science is based on faulty assumptions & his conclusions are invalid & that's likely why FF [fossil fuel] companies pay him," wrote Gavin Schmidt, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Twitter/X, [9/10/23, 1/10/24,1/10/24]
The interview is part of a larger trend of major right-wing media outlets relying more on long-debunked climate deniers
:{:{Discredited climate deniers like Judith Curry, Patrick Moore, Anthony Watts, and Gregory Wrightstone, who have been vocal for decades, received renewed attention in 2023 from right-wing media figures. After years of relative obscurity, these figures found a reliable home on shows like}: :{Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight}::{, and also appeared on Fox News programs such as Jesse Watters Primetime and The Ingraham Angle. On social media, they’ve increased engagement on X. Media Matters,:(style="background-color:#e0e000ff"):}: [11/28/12, 2/17/14, 12/22/23; DeSmog, 5/15/22; StateImpact Pennsylvania, 3/27/19]}:
Willie Soon has been exposed for unethically promoting flawed science
In 2015, a joint investigation by Greenpeace and the Climate Investigations Center found that Soon had accepted over $1.2 million in funding from fossil fuel companies for his research. Soon’s work was funded “almost entirely” by the fossil fuels industry, including Exxon Mobil, Southern Company, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Charles G. Koch Foundation. The Guardian, [2/21/15]
Soon described his papers as “deliverables” to his corporate funders. Emails revealed that one of the country’s largest utility holding companies, Southern Company, paid Soon to publish research examining the sun’s role in driving climate change. At the time, Southern relied heavily on coal. Scientists have long recognized that solar activity cannot be responsible for the rapid warming that the planet has experienced in recent decades. The New York Times, [2/21/15; Inside Climate News, 2/21/15; NASA, accessed 1/11/24]
The investigation also found that Soon failed to disclose his relationship with Southern Company in some of his research papers, violating ethical guidelines upheld by scientific journals. Despite accepting more than $400,000 from the company, Soon insisted he had no conflicts of interest, raising the alarm for academics and scientists. His papers, which have been published in top scientific journals, push a “range of climate-denial perspectives.” Inside Climate News, [2/21/15]
Soon has for years been a go-to source for media and lawmakers keen on protecting fossil fuel interests
Soon and his work have been used by the GOP in their efforts to block climate action.Climate denier and former Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe has cited Soon in press releases and on the Senate floor. In 2013, Soon testified in support of an effort to repeal Kansas’ renewable energy standard in front of state legislators, claiming that climate change isn’t a problem. DeSmog, accessed [1/11/24; Energy and Policy Institute, 8/28/15; U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, 5/14/08, 7/29/03]
Soon has worked with right-wing think tanks that influence climate policy. Soon has spoken at conferences hosted by the Heritage Foundation, the Texas Public Policy Institute, and the Heartland Institute. In 2014, he was awarded the “Courage in Defense of Science Award” by the climate denier organization now called CO2 Coalition. DeSmog, accessed [1/11/24, 1/12/24; Heartland Institute, accessed 1/12/24]
Since Soon’s interview with Carlson, several well-known conspiracy theorists praised his ideas.Jimmy Corsetti, a YouTuber who has pushed the idea that a polar shift is responsible for climate change impact, and The Vigilant Fox, a figure known for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, and many more, praised him on social media. Twitter/X, [1/9/24, 1/9/24; Media Matters, 5/24/23; Forbes, 11/26/22]
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In the years since the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which was spurred by then-President Donald Trump’s attempt to retain power, right-wing media figures have repeatedly whitewashed the violent attack, pushed misinformation and conspiracy theories about it, and defended its participants.
As a result, the initial consensus of the horrors of the day has disappeared, with Republicans reportedly “now less likely to believe that Jan. 6 participants were ‘mostly violent,’ less likely to believe Trump bears responsibility for the attack, and … slightly less likely to view Joe Biden’s election as legitimate.”
The following right-wing media personalities have been critical in the push to downplay January 6, and they have continued their apologia for the violent crowd that sought to overturn an election.
no lnx
no grf
Darren Beattie
Beattie was a speechwriter and policy aide for then-President Trump who was fired in 2018 for attending a white nationalist conference two years before. In 2020, he founded right-wing site Revolver News, with Trump himself praising the outlet’s commentary. Beattie has repeatedly pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that the FBI, in connection with an undercover agent named Ray Epps, helped to incite the January 6 riot.
2021: Beattie spread a conspiracy theory that Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick’s death was not a result of injuries sustained in the attack, calling his claims “the most important story Revolver has ever run.” Fox’s Tucker Carlson also highlighted the story, calling it an “exhaustive and fascinating new analysis.” [Media Matters, 2/12/21]
2022: Beattie and his news outlet, Revolver News, were crucial in pushing the false claim that Capitol rioter Ray Epps was an undercover FBI agent who duped the crowd into entering the Capitol building. Epps has sued Fox News, and his suit describes Beattie as “the principal person driving the false story that Epps was a federal agent planted as a provocateur to trigger the Capitol violence on January 6th.” [Media Matters, 1/19/22; The New York Times, 7/12/23]
2023-present: Beattie has continued to falsely allege that Epps was a federal agent, claiming he was treated leniently for that reason. In posts on X from September, Beattie claimed that “charging Ray Epps now for ‘disorderly conduct’ is not going to make the Feds' credibility problem go away.” Beattie additionally called the government’s case against Epps “a phony charge” that “will only make things worse for the Fed narrative.” He also suggested that the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was a false flag and said that the Justice Department and FBI should “at least do us the courtesy of a high effort cover up like you did with OKC” for January 6. [Media Matters, 9/21/23; Twitter/X, 9/19/23, 9/19/23, 9/19/23, 9/19/23]
DB Tweet Collage
Julie Kelly
Kelly is a prolific conspiracy theorist who has written for a number of conservative outlets, mainly American Greatness, National Review, and The Federalist. Then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave Kelly and former Trump adviser John Solomon special access to security camera footage from the Capitol attack, as she claimed that conservatives were being unjustly persecuted.
2021: Kelly called January 6 Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone a “crisis actor.” [Media Matters, 7/27/21]
2022: On One America News, Kelly pushed a conspiracy theory that the FBI fabricated pipe bombs that were discovered at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. the night before the January 6 riot. Kelly also published a book where she claimed that the Biden administration is weaponizing January 6 to persecute conservatives and criminalize political protest. [One America News, Tipping Point with Kara McKinney, 2/16/22; Google Books, accessed 1/5/23, Post Hill Press, accessed 1/5/24]
2023-present: Kelly repeatedly spread the Epps conspiracy theory, and when Epps was charged, she questioned why he wasn’t charged with more crimes, posting, “No obstruction felony? No civil disorder charge? Not even a trespassing on restricted grounds misdemeanor?” Kelly also claimed that the Biden’s Justice Department has “successfully criminalized political speech and activity.” In May, then-Speaker McCarthy reportedly gave Kelly special access to security camera footage from the Capitol attack. [Media Matters, 9/21/23, 5/31/23; The Washington Post, 6/6/23; Premiere Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 3/23/23]
Julie Kelly claims that January 6 prosecutions are a silencing free speech and destroying lives
MARCH 23, 2023
Julie Kelly claims that January 6 prosecutions are a silencing free speech and destroying lives
:{:{Audio}:
CitationFrom the March 23, 2023, edition of Premiere Networks' The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Tucker Carlson
As a Fox prime-time host, Carlson relentlessly downplayed the January 6 insurrection and promoted the conspiracy theory that Ray Epps, whom he posited was a federal agent or FBI informant, incited the riot. Carlson also repeatedly hosted Beattie and Kelly to push misinformation about the attack.
2021: Carlson put out a revisionist January 6-focused series that suggested the attack was a “false flag.” In an interview with Kelly, Carlson said the left used officer Brian Sicknick’s death “as a political weapon” and that his state funeral was “fake.” “Completely fabricated,” agreed Kelly. Carlson also hosted Beattie and cited an article in which he suggested the January 6 attack may have been orchestrated by FBI operatives. [Media Matters, 11/2/21, 11/4/21, 6/16/21, 6/17/21; Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 11/1/21]
2022: Carlson defended the rioters as “passionately patriotic Americans” “who genuinely love America” and on the one-year anniversary of January 6 he downplayed the violence as “just barely” a riot. As a guest on Carlson’s show, Beattie also called January 6 “a clear hoax” planned and carried out by “the feds.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/8/22, 1/6/22, 6/9/22]
Early 2023: Carlson continued to downplay the severity of the January 6 riot, calling the rioters “nonviolent … protesters” and “patriotic Americans.” He also said January 6 was “probably second only to the 2020 election as the biggest scam in my lifetime.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 3/21/23, 3/14/23]
April 2023-present: After Carlson was fired in April from Fox, he appeared on a Spaces live chat on X (formerly Twitter) and continued to downplay the insurrection. [Twitter/X, 12/12/23]
:{:{Video}:
CitationFrom a December 12, 2023, X Space
Steve Bannon
Since he left the Trump administration in 2017, Steve Bannon has hosted War Room — a podcast for Real America’s Voice — where he has frequently defended those involved in the insurrection. Bannon has also hosted both Beattie and Kelly to also push conspiracy theories about January 6.
2021: Leading up to the January 6 insurrection, Bannon bragged on his podcast about his role in working to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election. [Media Matters, 10/29/21]
2022: Bannon defended the Proud Boys ahead of one of Congress’ January 6 hearings, referring to the organization, whose leaders have since been convicted for their role in the January 6 attack, as a “rag tag beer drinking group.” Bannon also repeatedly made false claims that U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms Michael Stenger’s death was an intentional homicide, comparing it to older right-wing conspiracy theories around the suicide of Clinton administration official Vince Foster. [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 6/9/22; CNN, 9/1/23; Media Matters, 6/29/22]
2023-present: Bannon is still hosting his podcast, War Room, where he has continued to downplay the insurrection, including dismissing Trump's role by stating that Trump was “doing his duty” to “make sure that the 2020 election had been fairly decided” and continuing to insist that the 2020 election was stolen. [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 8/2/23]
:{:{Video}:
CitationFrom the August 2, 2023, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room
Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk, who co-founded the right-wing organization Turning Point USA, has repeatedly downplayed the insurrection and accused Ray Epps of being a federal agent.
2021: In the immediate aftermath of January 6, Kirk downplayed the attack, saying that “just because you do something that is regrettable does not mean that you are planning an armed insurrection against the United States government." [Newsweek, 1/12/21]
2022: Kirk pushed the Epps conspiracy theory, posting to X that Epps “texted his nephew ‘I orchestrated it’” and claiming that he is the “only man caught on camera actively calling for people to enter the Capitol and riot.” In another post, Kirk said, “If the FBI knows who Ray Epps is, why haven't they arrested him yet?” [Twitter/X, 1/11/22, 12/30/22]
2023-present: Kirk continues to run Turning Point USA and has repeatedly promoted far-right talking points, including false claims about January 6. On his eponymous show, Kirk has primed his audience to prepare for “another January 6” over Trump’s various indictments and called on a future administration to “get some pardons done” for the January 6 insurrectionists. [Media Matters, 9/22/23, 11/21/23; Real America’s Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 1/3/24, 12/7/23, 7/28/23, 1/6/23; Twitter/X, 9/19/23]
CHarlie Kirk Epps tweet 1
The Gateway Pundit
The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing website that frequently pushes conspiracy theories and hoaxes, and Editor-in-Chief Jim Hoft have repeatedly claimed that the January 6 insurrection was a false flag operation organized by federal law enforcement.
2021: The Gateway Pundit was reportedly a favorite source for Donald Trump in the lead-up to January 6. According to The Washington Post, “In the weeks before he left office in 2021, Trump brandished printouts of Gateway Pundit articles questioning the results of the election.” In May 2021, a few months after the insurrection, Hoft published an article claiming that someone inside the Capitol unlocked the doors for the rioters, citing an anonymous member of the Oath Keepers — a group with several members who have since been convicted for their roles on January 6. [The Washington Post, 1/3/24; The Gateway Pundit, 5/24/21; Politico, 1/23/23]
2022: Hoft doubled down on the claim that “someone inside the security booth at the US Capitol opened the doors” in a Gateway Pundit article titled “WE WERE RIGHT. ” In another article, Hoft claimed that instead of investigating the Oath Keepers’ involvement in January 6, “the FBI would have better luck if they looked at their trained operatives instead who were leading the charge on the Capitol building.” [Twitter/X, 6/13/22; The Gateway Pundit, 1/29/22, 8/24/22]
2023-present: Hoft and The Gateway Pundit remain a source of conspiracy theories about January 6. Hoft has penned several stories alleging that Ray Epps’ criminal charges and sentencing are proof that he was a federal agent and said President Joe Biden “will use the J6 anniversary to accuse Trump supporters of being white supremacists.” [The Gateway Pundit, 1/2/24, 9/19/23, 1/3/24]
Laura Ingraham
Fox News host Laura Ingraham has used her prime-time platform to repeatedly claim that January 6 was a “false flag operation” orchestrated by “antifa” or federal agents.
2021: Ingraham suggested “antifa sympathizers” were behind the January 6 attack, citing a Washington Times article that was later debunked. [The New York Times, 3/1/21]
2022: Ingraham cited Darren Beattie’s Revolver News on her show on Fox to argue that “Epps may have led the breach team that first entered the Capitol on January 6.” [Media Matters, 1/19/22]
2023-present: Ingraham has used her prime-time slot on Fox News to continuously defend Trump and attack those who are involved in the legal cases against him over his alleged role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. She has also whitewashed the Capitol insurrectionists as “old ladies walking through the halls of Congress taking selfies.” [Media Matters, 11/01/23; Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/10/23, 8/7/23, 3/29/23]
:{:{Video}:
CitationFrom the March 29, 2023, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
Infowars
Prolific conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars co-host Owen Shroyer were part of the crowd on January 6. Shroyer has since celebrated the insurrection while Jones has claimed that any violence that occurred was caused by antifa or federal agents.
2021: Jones responded to the FBI’s investigation into his involvement in the insurrection by claiming that “we know who did it: antifa with some paramilitary groups all together, which are going to turn out to be feds with idiots they provocateured to be part of it, the Q people,” calling it “the modern Reichstag 2.0.” Shroyer stated that “we should have been proud of what happened on January 6.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 1/14/21, 5/17/21]
2022: Jones claimed that when investigated by the January 6 committee, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment “almost 100 times.” [Texas Tribune, 4/28/22]
2023-present: Jones celebrated Tucker Carlson’s revisionist history of the insurrection, claiming the footage Carlson aired showed that “January 6 was an inside job.” In the days before Shroyer was sentenced to two months in prison for leading a portion of the crowd on January 6, Jones claimed that the government was “asking for prison time for a man that did nothing and was there with me trying to stop people going to the Capitol because he still says he thinks the election was stolen.” [Media Matters, 2/28/23; Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 9/6/23; PBS, PBS NewsHour, 9/12/23]
:{:{Video}:
CitationFrom the February 20, 2023, edition of Infowars' The Alex Jones Show
Newsmax’s Greg Kelly
In the wake of January 6, Newsmax prime-time host Greg Kelly has repeatedly whitewashed the violence at the Capitol on his show, claiming that Trump supporters were allowed into the building or set up by federal law enforcement and unfairly prosecuted.
2021: Kelly claimed that the insurrection was “a trap to make Trump supporters, the MAGA movement, look bad,” and alleged that police were “not doing anything” and had ushered insurrectionists into the Capitol. Kelly later claimed the insurrection was a “false flag operation” staged by federal law enforcement. [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 9/16/21, 11/3/21]
2022: Kelly continued to claim that Capitol Police and other federal agents “stood by” and that insurrectionists were “let in” to the Capitol. He also claimed that the rioters who called for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged were “speaking metaphorically” and downplayed the makeshift gallow that were erected nearby. [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 6/16/22]
2023-present: Kelly doubled down with the claim that January 6 insurrectionists were invited into the Capitol by police, claiming that it is “actually not true” that rioters violently breached the Capitol. He has also repeatedly defended Trump’s increasingly hostile campaign rhetoric, dismissing comparisons of the former president to Adolf Hitler and saying he is “a madman, and that is a good thing.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 11/17/23, 11/13/23, 10/19/23]
:{:{Video}:
CitationFrom the November 17, 2023, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports
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2023 has been a chaotic year for Fox News, from a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems to the firing of Tucker Carlson in April. And the right-wing cable news channel is still facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic.
Fox News' problems have, at times, led to ratings surges for Newsmax, the bombastic cable news outlet that prides itself on being more right-wing, more MAGA and more pro-Donald Trump than Fox News and its sister channel Fox Business. But the Daily Beast's Justin Baragona, in a report published on December 28, emphasizes that those surges were merely "sugar highs" — and that its dreams of overtaking Fox News have never materialized.
"Just a few months ago," Baragona reports, "Newsmax was riding high. The MAGA network watched its ratings soar after disgruntled Fox News viewers ditched the conservative cable giant after it shockingly fired Tucker Carlson. Exploiting the MAGA rage against Fox over kicking its top right-wing star to the curb, Newsmax leaned even harder into its already over-the-top pro-Trump ethos, bluntly signaling to viewers that this was the channel to turn to for all their conservative comfort content needs."
The reporter continues, "They even went so far as to not-so-subtly suggest that Carlson could potentially join their airwaves. The gambit worked — for a while."
Newsmax, Baragona explains, experienced a "sugar high" not only after Carlson's departure in 2023, but also, after the 2020 presidential election. The problem for Newsmax, according to the Daily Beast reporter, is that its ratings bounces don't last.
Moreover, Newsmax is still facing a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion, which alleges that it was defamed when Newsmax promoted the false, repeatedly debunked claim that its voting equipment was used to steal the 2020 election from Trump.
"Even if Newsmax can right the ship and continue to incrementally increase its market share," Baragona observes, "it may not matter. Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6-billion defamation lawsuit against the network goes to trial in September. And it is a fair assumption that the bottom-feeding MAGA channel doesn't have $787.5 million laying around to settle it."
READ MORE:Why Newsmax wants to drag a Greek Orthodox priest into Dominion defamation case
*Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).
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no oann? mma just joined fox-and-newsmax
MMA 12 23
On December 19, the Colorado Supreme Court removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot, finding that he “engaged in insurrection” and therefore is not an eligible presidential candidate per the 14th Amendment. Right-wing media figures swiftly condemned the decision as “election interference” and “voter suppression,” criticized the “anti-democratic” ruling by a “corrupt Democrat cabal,” and falsely asserted there is no legal basis to remove Trump because he has not been convicted over the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Right-wing media figures claimed the ruling constitutes “election interference,” “voter suppression,” “judicial activism,” and disenfranchisement
Fox host Laura Ingraham opened her show by declaring, “Tonight, America is seeing the ultimate election interference.” Ingraham complained that “four unelected state judges all appointed by Democrat governors have ruled that Donald Trump must be kept off next year's presidential ballot.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle,* [12/19/23]
Ingraham also called the decision “judicial activism.” She explained, “They take the Constitution and turn it into a piece of Silly Putty for political ends. That is classic judicial activism, is it not?” Fox News,*The Ingraham Angle*, [12/19/23]
Discussing the Colorado Supreme Court decision, Fox host Jesse Watters said: “It's more than voter suppression and intimidation. It’s the elimination of the voter. You can't vote for the guy you want to.”Fox contributor Charlie Hurt said, “Democrats in Colorado are so afraid of allowing American voters to vote and pick the next president that they are willing to do extrajudicial things –- complete highway robbery here — in order to thwart the people's choice from being on the ballot. To them, preserving democracy requires destroying democracy.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [12/19/23]
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett declared that the decision is “another example of election interference by Trump opponents” using “the equivalent of rigging the ballot box.”Guest host and former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the decision is “literally taking away the will of the people.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [12/19/23]
Podcaster and former Trump administration official Monica Crowley said that “the communists don't even pretend to disguise their revolution anymore.”She also posted, “ELECTION INTERFERENCE.” Twitter/X, [12/19/23, 12/19/23]
Fox News contributor Sara Carter wrote, “We can’t allow the courts and a weaponized bureaucracy make decisions for the American people - we should not as citizens accept this no matter how anyone feels about Trump.” She continued, “I watched it for years during my original reporting on him and the fake Russia collusion orchestrated by Hillary Clinton with the help of the very bureaucrats that are continuing to target him now. Who will be next ? imagine if he didn’t get elected - who would be sitting in the Supreme Court?” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
Bigoted pundit and potential Trump press secretary Laura Loomer posted about the Colorado decision on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “This is ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller posted on X: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
Right-wing pundit Tomi Lahren posted: “Who the hell do these hacks in Colorado think they are? Trying to disqualify Trump with some BS? Unacceptable. Election interference!!!” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
## Right-wing figures condemned the decision as antidemocratic, calling Democrats “pro-tyranny” and “corrupt”
Former Trump White House press secretary and conservative commentator Kayleigh McEnany claimed that “it’s all in the name of democracy, that they are undermining democracy — incredible — and they are using a so-called insurrection as an excuse.” She said, “Four unelected judges are trying to preempt the will of voters, the will of the people of Colorado.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [12/19/23]
Newsmax host Greg Kelly said the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision was “lawfare,” “not democratic,” and “the only thing I can think is maybe they were high.” Kelly added, “What does the other side say all the time, that Trump, he is a threat to democracy? Remember, they just said the people of Colorado can't vote for who they want to vote for.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [12/19/23]
Newsmax host Eric Bolling called the decision “an attack on our democracy” and an attempt “to punish the former president for a crime he most certainly did not commit.”Bolling said, “The Supreme Court of Colorado basically tried and convicted Trump, without an actual trial or a conviction. Apparently the decision was decided by a marijuana-smoking, crime-ridden state with a growing, massive homeless population that Donald Trump wasn't likely to win anyway.” Newsmax, *Eric Bolling The Balance*, [12/19/23]
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk posted on X, “The ‘defenders of Democracy’ are always trying to destroy it because they’re frauds.” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
Conservative radio host Dan Bongino called Democrats “obviously anti-democratic” and “pro-tyranny” for the decision.He posted, “Today is yet another example of the clear and present danger the liberal/progressive cancer presents to us all.” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
Radio personality and Fox host Mark Levin posted, “Another corrupt Democrat cabal undermines our country. These are dark and grave times.”Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
## Right-wing figures claimed that the ruling has no legal basis because January 6 was not an insurrection and Trump was not found guilty of insurrection
Attorney and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley claimed that January 6 was “not an insurrection, it was a riot.”Turley argued that the Colorado court “just handed partisans on both sides the ultimate tool to try to shortcut elections, and it's very, very dangerous. This country is a powder keg and this court is just throwing matches at it.” He added that “to call this an insurrection for the purposes of disqualification would create a slippery slope for every state in the union.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [12/19/23]
On Fox’s The Ingraham Angle, former Supreme Court law clerk and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Chris Landau emphasized that “it was no accident from the very beginning that they insisted on calling this an insurrection,” calling the word choice “ludicrous.”He stated, “These seeds were planted by the Democrats on January 6 itself. It was no accident from the very beginning that they insisted on calling this an insurrection, right? I mean, again, what happened on January 6 was extremely bad news, right? But to say it's an insurrection, to say it's like the equivalent of the U.S. Civil War, which is what led to this clause in the Constitution, is ludicrous, OK. But I think they were very clever that they wanted to use that word, and I don’t know if you noticed that people were insisting from the very beginning, it was very important for them that it be called an ‘insurrection.’ How convenient, that's exactly the word the Constitution uses. This was all being set up, really, for the past two and a half years.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [12/19/23]
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said the decision “effectively would nullify the will of around 40% of Colorado voters,” arguing that special counsel Jack Smith “didn’t even charge Trump with insurrection.”He stated, “The court claiming Trump participated in inciting insurrection on January 6. Yet it's funny that Jack Smith, the biggest partisan hack who hates Trump more than anybody, didn't even charge Trump with insurrection. So the Supreme Court is convicting him of insurrection, and Jack Smith didn't even charge him with that.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [12/19/23]
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted, “Fact check: Trump didn't engage in insurrection/rebellion -- plus the relevant 14th Amendment clause doesn't apply to the president.” Twitter/X, [12/19/23]
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:{:{In 2023, as climate-driven disasters plagued countries around the world and the COP28 climate change conference saw the adoption of a historic (though reportedly “loophole”-ridden) agreement referencing a transition away from fossil fuels for the first time, right-wing media remained committed to hindering progress}:
. Three concerning trends emerged in their strategies, which included facilitating comebacks for long-discredited climate deniers, cheering on violence against climate activists, and attributing deadly climate-driven events to conspiracies or religious calamity.}:
Right-wing media facilitated comebacks for long-discredited climate deniers.
Discredited climate deniers like Judith Curry, Patrick Moore, Anthony Watts, and Gregory Wrightstone, who have been vocal for decades, received renewed attention in 2023 from right-wing media figures, who seemed to be turning to views that stray further and further from established science.
Judith Curry, former chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, consulted for oil and gas companies during her time in academia. She resigned from Georgia Tech in 2017 citing climate “craziness” and has been called out by other climate scientists for taking public positions reliant on debunked climate change denialarguments.
Patrick Moore is a former nuclear energy consultant and climate change denier who falsely claims he is a co-founder of Greenpeace. Anthony Watts runs a junk science climate denier blog and is a senior fellow at the fossil fuel-funded Heartland Institute. Gregory Wrightstone is a geologist who worked for the natural gas industry for 20 years, started a consulting firm for energy companies, and is now the executive director of a climate change denial non-profit.
Climate deniers found a reliable home on Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight.Media Matters found that Curry and Moore appeared as guests on Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight combined at least 7 times in 2023 alone.
In 2023, these climate deniers appeared on cable news for the first time in years. Wrightstone appeared on One America News, seemingly making his first cable news appearance since 2019. Moore and Curry both appeared on Fox News for the first time since 2019, and Watts appeared on Fox News for the first time, according to Media Matters’ records. Moore and Curry were guests on Jesse Watters Primetime and Watts was a guest on The Ingraham Angle. As predicted, Jesse Watters continued Tucker Carlson’s legacy of climate denial on Fox News. Media Matters, [7/17/23]
On X (formerly Twitter), bad actors found support and saw their audiences grow as climate scientists fled the platform. In the past year, Curry’s account grew by approximately 31,600 followers while Moore’s account grew by more than 32,500. Media Matters previously reported that climate deniers and contrarians have benefited from Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform. “Yes the number of my followers is increasing much more rapidly than over the past year or so,” Curry said in a November 2022 tweet. Moore also expressed contentment with his account growth in April 2022. Social Blade, accessed 12/15/23; Twitter/X, [11/11/22, 4/6/22; Media Matters, 12/8/22; The Guardian, 8/15/23]
Right-wing media attempted to justify violence against climate activists engaging in non-violent direct action.
In 2023, activist groups doubled down on demands for a global transition away from fossil fuels. Their tactics included throwing paint or food on famous works of art and property, infiltrating cultural events, and obstructing busy roads, provoking outrage from right-wing media.
Right-wing media escalated a yearslong campaign to frame protesters as violent, aggressive, and mentally ill to justify state efforts to criminalize civil disobedience.Right-wing influencers described climate activists as “enemies of humanity” and compared nonviolent direct actions, such as blocking roads, to “firing a gun into the air at random targets” and committing violent crimes. This framing has also been reflected in charges filed in Georgia, where authorities repurposed a state anti-terrorism law to target environmental activists as part of a crackdown on what they claim to be violent extremism. Media Matters, [2/1/23, 11/10/23; Drilled, 12/6/23; Grist; 1/27/23]
Right-wing pundits have called for disproportionately severe punishments for those who have engaged in controversial and disruptive — but peaceful — acts of protest.The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh and former Daily Caller writer Greg Price have suggested that activists who have thrown food and paint at famous works of art should be dismembered, “beaten with a bullwhip,” or forced into “labor camps where they spend all day drilling for oil.” Media Matters [8/7/23; Media Matters, 2/1/23]
When motorists responded to protests with violence, right-wing media repeatedly excused and even condoned the behavior.In November, Matt Walsh and other right-wing influencers blamed two government protesters in Panama for their own deaths after a U.S. citizen allegedly killed them for blocking the road. In Europe and in the U.S., violent motorists were praised and celebrated for beating up protesters who obstruct traffic. Media Matters, [11/10/23, 8/7/23; Media Matters, 2/1/23]
Conspiracy theorists and right-wing Christian media figures spread misinformation about extreme weather events, often suggesting they were planned or indicative of a religious event.
Conspiracy theorists spread misinformation about the causes of extreme weather events, often suggesting they are orchestrated occurrences. In parallel, conservative Christian media figures reject the scientific consensus on human-driven climate change, attributing such events to divine will and interpreting them as “demonic attacks,” manifestations of biblical prophecy, or signs of the End Times.
Conspiracy theorists and right-wing media fabricated evidence that the fires that devastated the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, in August were planned. Claims that the fires were started by a direct energy weapon as a ploy to raise property prices or accelerate the construction of a “smart city” circulated online, and accounts used doctored images to back up these claims. YouTube and Meta allowed these posts to be monetized. Media Matters, [8/23/23]
TikTok was a hotbed for misinformation about climate-driven events. TikTok videos falsely claiming that catastrophic wildfires plaguing Canada over the summer were started deliberately via helicopter, drone, or “Directed Energy Weapons” proliferated across social media, garnering millions of views. The fires received little coverage in U.S. media until smoke reached the East Coast, blanketing major cities in smoke and resulting in unhealthy air quality. Media Matters, [6/14/23]
Right-wing Christian media figures and TikTok influencers dismissed climate change and instead cited biblical prophecy, the End Times, or “demonic attack” as explanations for extreme weather events. As concern about climate change declined among young evangelicals, Christian programs and news outlets such as FlashPoint and Charisma News attributed this summer’s heatwaves and wildfires to “God’s anger” and a “decline of morality.” TikTok accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers claimed the events were signs of the return of Jesus Christ. Even more mainstream right-wing media figures like Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Pete Hegseth suggested that only God controls the weather. Media Matters, [12/11/23]
Climate change drove extreme wildfires in 2023.An August study found that human-induced climate change made Quebec’s 2023 fire season at least twice as likely and roughly 20% more intense. In the U.S. this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracked 25 weather or climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion each. World Weather Attribution, [8/22/23; NOAA, 12/8/23]
2024 will be another crucial year for climate action, with the U.S.’s climate leadership and goals hinging on the election. While a recent CNN poll found that two-thirds of U.S. adults are concerned about the impacts of climate change in their communities, we can expect to see right-wing media assist GOP efforts to delegitimize and derail Biden’s landmark climate policy, the Inflation Reduction Act. In tandem, bad actors will also likely continue to shift the focus from these devastating impacts in order to vilify those speaking out about them, creating the potential for even more violence.
### Matt Walsh blames two protesters shot in Panama for their own deaths
11/10/23 4:28 PM EST
### TikTok is driving conspiracy theories about Canada's wildfires
06/14/23 12:45 PM EDT
### Right wing media cheers on violence against climate activists
:{:{08/07/23}:
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Why Newsmax wants to drag a Greek Orthodox priest into Dominion defamation case - Alternet.org
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After a Minnesota commission unveiled its finalist pick for a new state flag to replace a racially offensive design, right-wing media insisted that the new design resembled one from a state in Somalia. Conservatives used the redesign to promote the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, claiming that Minnesota has been “conquered” by Somali immigrants. Right-wing media claimed the design’s green and white stripes, which a state commission ultimately chose to remove from the final design, resembled Somalia’s flag.
Minnesota’s new flag design incorporates the state's shape, motto, and natural resources, replacing an old “genocidal” design
The selected flag design incorporates Minnesota’s shape, motto, and natural resources. Minnesota Public Radio reported that the winning entry from a group of finalists includes an eight-point star in the design to reflect the state’s motto “L’etoile du Nord” (“Star of the North”), as well as an “abstract shape of Minnesota at the flag’s left edge.” The Minnesota resident who submitted the winning design also explained to MPR: “Each color was chosen to symbolize a different important aspect of Minnesota and its identity. For the stripes, white represents snow/winter, the green stripe represents our beautiful nature and the importance of agriculture and the light blue stripe represents the several significant meanings of water to our state: as the land of 10,000 lakes, the birth state of the Mississippi River and the origins of our state’s name —which came from the Dakota language— which translates to ‘a place of sky-tinted water.’” A separate report from Axios noted that “various elements, such as colors, the shape of the star and the number of stripes, could still change.” Minnesota Public Radio, [11/28/23; Axios, 12/15/23]
The final flag design eliminated the white and green stripes. MPR published an updated article describing the final design selected by the State Emblems Redesign Commission: “A new flag with a shape that resembles — well, itself — along with an eight-point North Star and a single, light blue block to the other side.” According to the article, “a pair of designers” recommended eliminating the stripes on the right and limiting colors to shades of blue and white, suggestions which the commission accepted. Minnesota Public Radio, [12/19/23]
The old Minnesota state flag has white nationalist overtones. MinnPost described Minnesota’s state seal, which is displayed on the current state flag, as including “many images, but the central theme is of a farmer tilling a field with a Native American on horseback riding in the distance.” The article added, “While the pre-statehood-designed seal and flag might be subject to interpretation, a poem written by the wife of the designer says this about the image: ‘We claim his noble heritage/And Minnesota’s land/Must pass with all its untold wealth/To the white man’s grasping hand.’” MinnPost, [6/8/23]
:
The state lawmaker who was the prime sponsor of a bill to replace the Minnesota state flag and seal called them “a cluttered genocidal mess.” MinnPost additionally reported that the currently existing Minnesota state flag ranked close to last in a survey of state flags and “falls into the grouping that populates the bottom of most rankings.” MinnPost, [6/8/23]
## Right-wing media claimed that the new flag resembles a Somali flag and that Minnesota has been “conquered” by Somali immigrants
Conservative radio host Charlie Kirk and guest, former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), ranted that the new Minnesota flag shows that Somali immigrants are “conquering” the state: “It is a great replacement.” Kirk and Bachmann went on a racist rant about Somalis, claiming they have “a fraud culture” and that Muslims are “conquering” Minnesota and want to turn it into ”Minnesota-stan" and an “Islamic state.” Kirk asked, “Why are we allowing ourselves to be replaced by third world Muslim foreigners?” and later said that Democrats will use immigration to “change the body politic. ... It is a great replacement by other means.” Salem Radio Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show,* [12/18/23]
YouTube streamer Tim Pool alleged that the new flag “looks an awful lot like the flag of Jubaland in Somalia.” Pool added: “When … they make it look like a flag of Somalia, and it’s the state with the largest Somali population, a lot of people are going to feel like you are being subverted, that your cultural values are being taken away from you by minority populations and non-American populations.” *TimCast IRL*, [12/18/23, via Twitter/X]
Pool posted in response to a post about the flag: “Yall are conquered.” Twitter/X, [12/17/23]
Antisemitic streamer Stew Peters wrote on X, “Somalia is raising its flag over Minnesota” adding that the state “has officially been conquered by double digit IQ savages.” Twitter/X, [12/18/23]
Right-wing influencer account End Wokeness wrote on X: “Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the West. Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) is from Puntland. Minnesota just unveiled their new flag. I'm sure this is just a coincidence.” Twitter/X, [12/17/23]
Right-wing social media personality Amuse suggested on X that “an entire US state had been conquered,” citing the new Minnesota flag design. The account posted: “What if we woke up on day and realized an entire US state had been conquered? Take a look at the new flag Minnesota is considering. It looks a lot like the Somali flag (MN has the highest percentage of Somali refugees thanks to Obama).” Twitter/X, [12/17/23]
PJ Media published an article declaring that “the new flag’s adoption of Somali flag colors strongly implies that this community of new Minnesotans … is in the driver’s seat.” The article lamented that “instead of expecting the new Somali arrivals in Minnesota to become American … the new flag appears to be signaling that Minnesota has become Somalia,” and “the North Star state is likely to get more and more Somali as the days and years inexorably pass.” PJ Media, [12/18/23]
Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty said on Wake Up America: “So the new flag, it is very similar to the flag of Somalia. And just so you know, 43,000 Somalians live in Minnesota.” Finnerty continued, “This flag is directly to appeal to the Somalian population in the state of Minnesota. And by the way, something like 60,000 Somalians across the southern border under Joe Biden's time in office.” Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [12/19/23]
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt stated that the flag redesigning commission “was a big conglomerate of who can be the wokest. And they said, ‘You know what? Let's get really, really woke and turn Minnesota's flag into the Somalian flag.’” He also used the story to call Somali American Rep. Ilhan Omar an “America-hating refugee.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [12/18/23]
One America News host Kara McKinney claimed on her show that Minnesota — “the conquered state” — had spent thousands of dollars to “spit on their cultural heritage and to instead seemingly raise a foreign flag above American soil.” McKinney cited a racist X post that suggested that Somali immigrants had “conquered” Minnesota, which the post described as “a state with historic Scandinavian ties … and generous welfare on offer.” McKinney also said the new design reminded her of an incident in which “a gang of migrant youth” reportedly attacked a man dressed as Santa Claus in Germany, before claiming that “large, roving migrant rape gangs preying on young women and girls, no-go zones, and rampant terror attacks” had turned “historically safe parts of Europe into dangerous hellholes.” She added, “Can’t wait to see what Middle East or African-inspired flags their historical flags get morphed into.” One America News, *Tipping Point with Kara McKinney*, [12/18/23]
Far-right X account Right Angle News Network on the flag design: “We are being replaced and they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.” The account added: “We must resist guys. It’s not racist to want to exist.” Twitter/X, [12/17/23]
Conspiracy theory website World Net Daily suggested that “Somalis living in Minnesota … have brought their flag with them.” The article was titled “American state's new official flag looks like one from terror hotbed.” World Net Daily, [12/18/23]
The Western Journal wrote: “The similarities between it [the proposed flag design] and the state flag for the Somalian state of Puntland are certainly undeniable.” Western Journal, [12/17/23]
The Gateway Pundit published a story headlined “Revamped Minnesota State Flag Looks a Lot Like the Jubaland Somalian Flag for Some Strange Reason.” The Gateway Pundit, [12/18/23]
Headline from TheBlaze: “Redesign of Minnesota state flag draws controversy as some say it resembles Somalian state flag: 'Yall are conquered.'” TheBlaze, [12/18/23]
## Right-wing media have long record of pushing racist “great replacement” rhetoric
Right-wing media figures have spent years pushing the “great replacement” theory, which warns of a nefarious plot to erode the political power of white people by replacing them with nonwhite immigrants. The blood-soaked conspiracy theory has inspired a number of horrific events, including: the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017; the 2019 El Paso, Texas, shooting; the 2022 shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and others. Media Matters, [6/30/22]
Some right-wing figures have echoed the “great replacement” theory in their rhetoric attacking the Somali community in Minnesota. In 2020, the now-defunct right-wing group Project Veritas falsely accused Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and the Somali community in Minnesota of engaging in a “pay-for-votes” scheme. In 2021, former Trump official Ken Cuccinelli said “the Somali experience in Minnesota is not a good one for America.” Media Matters, [10/7/20, 9/16/23]
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...Hawking gold has been a financial mainstay of right-wing media outlets and online personalities for years. For religious-right pundits like Wallnau, promoting gold as a hedge against financial and societal collapse can dovetail with broader apocalyptic messaging.
A few months ago, The Washington Post wrote about the extensive marketing on right-wing media of gold coins as a retirement investment, often with outrageous markups. Reporter Hanna Kozlowska, one of the authors of the Post report, followed up with an August story for MSNBC, noting that their research found that older people who watch conservative media are “bombarded” with ads for gold:
We’ve spoken to customers who are disabled, homebound or living only on Social Security, their lives upended by losing their only nest eggs. And although complaints and allegations of fraud against these companies have been public for years, right-wing media outlets have continued to benefit by accepting their advertising.
The kind of fearmongering pitch Wallnau’s email included is a common sales tactic, according to Kozlowska. “To lure customers, the companies often use fear-based and politically tinged messaging in their advertising and on sales calls,” she wrote for MSNBC, citing an example of an ad sent to a Newsmax list claiming, “Nancy Pelosi has been on a secret mission to KILL the US Dollar.”
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## Police suffered injuries at the hands of the rioters and allowed some movement in an attempt to de-escalate
The police union has said 140 police officers suffered injuries from January 6.The Washington Post, [1/27/21]
Police battled to keep rioters out of the Capitol but in some cases stood by because they were outnumbered or engaged politely to try to de-escalate.CNN reported:
The claim that the rioters were invited into the Capitol is false. ... There were hours-long battles between police and rioters near some entrances. CNN obtained footage from police body-worn cameras showing how dozens of officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters in a desperate effort to keep them out of the building. There are plenty of instances where rioters waltzed into the Capitol without a fight, but only after they had stormed past barricades and, in some cases, even stepped through broken windows. In some areas, police were so outnumbered by the mob that they retreated, stood aside or tried to politely engage with rioters to de-escalate the situation rather than fighting or making arrests, but that is clearly not the same as welcoming rioters into the building. CNN, [1/4/22]
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger stated that Capitol Police “did their best to use de-escalation tactics to try to talk rioters into getting each other to leave the building.” In a memo to staff, Manger disputed “outrageous and false” claims that Capitol Police served as “tour guides” for Jacob Chansley, aka the QAnon Shaman. Manger wrote that “Capitol Police were badly outnumbered on Jan. 6” and that “those officers did their best to use de-escalation tactics to try to talk rioters into getting each other to leave the building.” The Washington Post, [3/7/23]
Capitol Police officers testified to the January 6 Committee that the day was “nothing short of brutal,” that there was “carnage” and it was a “war scene.” The committee also aired body camera footage from the officers that showed rioters shoving officers and pushing down barricades outside the Capitol. NPR, [7/27/21, 6/23/21, The Associated Press, 6/10/22]
Police onsite were massively outnumbered by rioters, with an estimated 2,000 people entering the Capitol building and under 200 officers at the Capitol building itself. Forbes, [12/16/21, ABC7, 1/6/22]
## Right-wing media claim police allowed protestors to enter the Capitol and suggest that means it wasn’t a violent insurrection
Newsmax host Greg Kelly stated that it is “actually not true” that rioters broke into the Capitol and instead “some people were invited inside, and the police officers seemed to welcome them there.” While showing footage of protestors entering, Kelly also asserted that “this blows open the preferred January 6 narrative.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [11/17/23]
Newsmax host Eric Bolling said the footage shows Capitol police “escorting the protestors.” He asked his guest Rudy Giuliani, “I mean, does that look like an overthrow of the United States government to you, sir?” Newsmax, *Eric Bolling The Balance*, [11/17/23]
Also on Newsmax, host Rob Schmitt claimed that protesters in the Capitol looked like they were taking “a tour,” adding that the “QAnon Shaman was actually escorted into the Capitol by police.” Schmitt acknowledged that there was some violence but nevertheless told his audience, “This is a much different day than it was portrayed by the media and by your members of Congress” and called the footage “an important reminder to always, always question what you are told by your government.” In fact, as The Associated Press reported in March, court documents and video footage from the attack show that the QAnon Shaman “entered the Capitol without permission, was repeatedly asked to leave the building and was not accompanied at all times.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [11/17/23; The Associated Press, 3/7/23]
Conservative podcast host Kyle Becker called the footage “bizarre” for showing rioters “casually walking the halls.”He posted, “This newly released J6 video is BIZARRE. All of these dangerous ‘insurrectionists’ casually walking the halls... right next to Capitol Police and FBI agents in full riot gear. WHAT is going on here? 👀” Twitter/X, [11/18/23]
Right-wing personality Liz Wheeler claimed that Capitol police were “directing the insurrectionists” with a “handshake & pat on the back.” She posted, “Capitol police directing the insurrectionists who to insurrection with a handshake & pat on the back. Mark my words, the key to alllll of this lies with Nancy Pelosi.” Twitter/X, [11/17/23]
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk asserted that “the J6 Committee’s violent insurrection narrative has crumbled” and called for the immediate release of rioters. He posted, “And just like that the J6 Committee’s violent insurrection narrative has crumbled. The Capitol Police facilitated the protesters passage through the building. The vast majority of J6ers should be immediately released.” Twitter/X, [11/17/23]
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson noted police “were giving handshakes to protestors” and determined that “this is not an insurrection.” He posted, “Capitol Police were giving handshakes to protesters. Now ask yourselves this; In which ‘insurrection’ or ‘Rebellion’ in history would this have happened in? None — because this is not an ‘insurrection.’” Twitter/X, [11/17/23]
Conservative commentator Rogan O'Handley, also known as DC Draino, posted, “Wow what an ‘insurrection’! Watch as J6ers slowly walk past Capitol Police who just watch. Democrats said this was worse than 9/11.” X, [11/17/23]
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer dismissed concerns of right-wing violence at the Capitol because Capitol police were “fist-bumping” rioters. She said: “Oh, if these cops are so concerned, and this was really worse than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined, and, you know, it's like a modern day Nazi rally in our nation's capital, why is it that the Capitol Police are fist-bumping these people?” Rumble, *Loomer Unleashed*, [11/17/23]
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## Right-wing media support instituting a travel ban for all Muslims
On Hannity, former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller called to “reintroduce President Trump’s travel ban on jihadist regions” and deport foreign students who he alleged were “expressing support for terrorism” on college campuses. Miller argued, “We should not have sympathizers of Hamas, sympathizers of terrorism, sympathizers of the destruction and death of innocent people attending our universities and becoming part of America.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/12/23]
Anti-Muslim extremist Laura Loomer: “RESTORE THE ISLAMIC TERROR TRAVEL BAN!” Loomer called for the United States to “DEPORT ALL JIHADIS” in order to “MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” Twitter/X, [10/28/23]
On Newsmax, guest and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi called to “reinstate President Trump’s travel ban immediately” and revoke visas for foreign students who allegedly “support Hamas.” Host Chris Salcedo agreed, decrying immigration from “people who are so antithetical to Western civilization” and seek to “undermine” America. Newsmax, *The Chris Salcedo Show*, [10/23/23]
On X (formerly Twitter), War Room CFO Grace Chong reposted Steve Bannon’s call to “STOP THE INVASION OF AMERICA” and “REINSTATE TRAVEL BAN” in response to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel. Twitter/X, [10/9/23]
Fox host Brian Kilmeade expressed support for Trump’s reinstatement of his Muslim ban in a potential second term. While Kilmeade criticized Trump’s application of the 2017 ban, he added that “hopefully he knows how to implement things better now — if he was to become president again.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [10/17/23]
## Right-wing media denied and downplayed the existence of Islamophobia
On his Fox News Radio show, Kilmeade claimed that “so-called” Islamophobia “really doesn’t exist.” Kilmeade and guest Dan Senor slammed the Biden administration for creating a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, failing to mention the national strategy to combat antisemitism released by the White House in May. Fox News Radio, *The Brian Kilmeade Show*, [10/24/23; NPR, 5/25/23]
Outkick co-host Buck Sexton called Islamophobia “a nonsensical term used by cynical people to bully the public.” Co-host and Outkick founder Clay Travis agreed, claiming,“No one is calling for anything of any violent act to be perpetrated against anyone of the Muslim faith at all.” OutKick, *The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show*, [11/2/23]
Levin denied a recent surge in Islamophobia and complained about the attention the White House has given to the bigotry. Levin ranted: “I’m sick and tired of this White House, every time they talk about antisemitism, talk about, what is it? Islamic bigotry? Islamophobia. There’s not a 4 or 500% increase in threats against Muslims in this country. What are they talking about? Are there Jews in the street and Christians in the street and other people in the street, really protesting about ‘Get rid of the Muslims, exterminate the Muslims, obliterate the Muslims?’ Tell me, who is that? Does anybody do it? Of course not.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/30/23]
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Newsmax is not known for shying away from support of “one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had,” as one host described alleged felon Donald J. Trump. That support includes the network’s coverage of Trump’s civil trial for fraud in New York, which has featured compliments for a Trump son's hair, a semi-regular soapbox for a Trump family member, and vicious attacks against Judge Arthur Engoron and his family over unverified photos and memes.
Like much of its pro-Trump coverage, Newsmax’s increasingly scummy, personal lines of attack seem geared to turn yet another thing that in theory should be a negative for Trump in the primary — this time, decades of alleged fraud — into a positive. To that end, the network has employed a familiar and false refrain, asserting that investors were not just paid but “overpaid, since the assets were inflated,” so “there were no victims,” just the perennial “witch hunt.” But, Newsmax warns, hinting at revenge, “the last laugh will be on all of them” once Trump returns to office.
On November 9, guest host Lidia Curanaj began The Chris Salcedo Show by celebrating that Trump “has truly damaged people on the left by proving all of his critics wrong, by being one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had.”
Citing a social media post featuring anti-Trump memes as an example of these “damaged” people, Curanaj scandalously reported that “the author of this tweet [is] reportedly the wife of Judge Engoron. Yes! The same Democrat activist judge that is now trying to dismantle President Trump’s substantial financial empire,” before going on to note that she has “refuted that it’s her X account.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 9, 2023, edition of Newsmax's The Chris Salcedo Show
She also attacked Engoron himself, calling him, “someone whose discernment is questionable, to say the least.”
“This guy is just so smug,” Curanaj complained, referencing a video of Engoron, “the way he smiles there, mugging for the cameras as if he’s the star of some kind of 90s sitcom.”
Then, after apologizing “if you just had some lunch or dinner,” Curanaj brought up the rumor that Judge Engoron “posted two nude torso photos of himself” online, commenting “thank god that camera was blocking the lower area.”
The unsubstantiated claim comes from a Gateway Pundit post that was soon shared by Trump on Truth Social; the photos are purportedly workout progress photos someone posted to Engoron’s high school alumni newsletter online, but it has not been confirmed that it’s him in the pictures.
With a “censored” bar covering the male figure’s nipples, Curanaj attempted to shame Engoron: “If there was a shirtless photo of me I would lose my job, right? Because Newsmax would say, ‘What kind of judgment does Lidia have to do something like that?’ And he just recently did it. This is not something he did many years ago.”
After also ripping into New York Attorney General Letitia James, Curanaj groused that “the last laugh will be on all of them when President Trump becomes the president of the United States again.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 9, 2023, edition of Newsmax's The Chris Salcedo Show
The network's over-the-top coverage of the civil fraud trial has been on display for weeks. On November 1, prime-time host Rob Schmitt read a brief report about Donald Trump Jr’s testimony, pausing to note that his “hair looks good” in the low-angle shot Newsmax used. When the picture changed to Judge Engoron, he quipped “that one, not so much,” before denouncing “one of the stupidest cases New York has ever brought, and believe me this state has brought some stupid cases,” noting that other New York real estate developers called it “outrageous.”
The entire time, the report shared half a screen with an advertisement for gold-backed IRA retirement accounts, telling viewers to text the promotional code “NEWSMAX” to a six-digit phone number.
“So that tells you a lot,” Schmitt said of the developers’ criticism.
Video
CitationFrom the November 1, 2023, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
Newsmax has also continued to platform Trump’s daughter-in-law, and co-defendant Eric Trump’s wife, Lara Trump. Though Trump’s appearances and guest hosting spots are often dedicated to attacking President Joe Biden and pushing corruption allegations against his family, she also occasionally discusses her own family’s fraud trial.
“My husband and my brother-in-law were both in a New York courtroom today,” Trump complained while guest hosting Rob Schmitt Tonight on November 2. Parroting a real estate lawyer quoted by the New York Post, Trump insisted: “There were no victims. No one lost money. No one got hurt. Everyone got paid in full — even overpaid since the assets were inflated.”
“For this detestable woman,” Trump said of James, “it’s not about the law. It’s all about getting Trump.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 2, 2023, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
“This witch hunt isn’t just unethical,” Trump warned, “this honestly could have ripple effects across other multi-billion dollar industries.” Her guest, right-wing attorney Jordan Sekulow, agreed, suggesting there was a deeper level of betrayal in the fact that the lawsuit came in New York, “after everything the Trump family has done for the city of New York.”
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https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/study-trump-leads-2024-fox-primary-dominating-oan-and-newsmax
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an 8 23 no lnx
GOPer accusing Biden of 'treason' say he’ll file impeachment resolution related to 'drugs an prostitution'
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 09: U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) speaks during testimony by Democratic and Republican counsels before the House Judiciary Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill December 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. The hearing is being held for the Judiciary Committee to formally receive evidence in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, whom Democrats say held back military aid for Ukraine while demanding they investigate his political rivals. The White House declared it would not participate in the hearing. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)
David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement August 11, 2023
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, Republican of Florida, says he will file an impeachment resolution Friday against President Joe Biden on numerous alleged charges, including “financial involvement in drugs and prostitution.”
Steube, first elected to Congress in 2018 after his Democratic opponent died of a heart attack just weeks before the election, has been targeting President Biden for years. The Florida Republican sits on Chairman Jim Jordan’s House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.He was endorsed by Donald Trump in 2022, and has endorsed the ex-president, who is currently under three criminal indictments, for re-election.
In early July, Rep. Steube accused President Biden of “ treason,” and said he hopes the next Republican President will ensure Biden stands trial for the capital offense. The Washington Post says about 30 people in the entire history of the U.S. have ever been charged with treason.
READ MORE: Ex-federal prosecutor blasts Trump lawyers’ 'willingness to turn a blind eye to their ethical obligation'
Thursday night, talking with the far-right wing channelNewsmax, Rep. Steube announced his intent to begin the process of impeaching President Biden.
“And tomorrow, I intend on filing impeachment resolution on Joe Biden for bribery, for extortion, obstruction of justice, fraud, financial involvement in drugs and prostitution, all of these things,” Steube said.
Republicans have not presented the American people with any veritable proofthat President Biden has engaged in any of those alleged offenses.
READ MORE: Dem strategist: 'The level of talent in the party is as high as any party has ever had in my lifetime'
He went on to claim, “we have all the facts and evidence now and in the beginning of this Congress, Republicans wanted to make sure that we did the investigations, that we got the information before the American people, you have witness testimony, you have financial records, you have the laptop, you have text messages, you have phone conversations, you have all of this evidence now to corroborate and support impeachment articles against the President, and I intend on filing those tomorrow on all of these corruption and bribery charges.”
In 2021 Steube was one of just 12 House Republicans voting against awarding congressional gold medals to the U.S. Capitol Police officers and others who helped protect the Capitol after the January 6 insurrection.
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Last year he was one of just 33 House Republicans who co-sponsored anti-LGBTQ “vigilante” legislation called a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
READ MORE: 'Gonna end this family grift': Christie hits Trump over Kushner-Saudi relationship
Earlier this year Steube sponsored legislation that would ban all transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports in public schools across the country.
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