CRM 4

ESTB 1 25

SEE CRM 5 2 26

NO MERRI

SEE TARGET TRAITOR 2 HILLARY SOROS PWL SPICER

SEE LEGACY MEDIA ~

SEE Earth2 mis- disinfo ESCHO ESCA FEVER SWAMP

FROM TXT? 1 25

THREE 2 24 ESTB

FOUR 1 25

three headers:

see big lie trump coup 2

see tariff poll BS

SEE SNAP // CRUEL STRICT FR?

officially racist on haiti eat cats

SEE ANTI-COMMIE BS ON HARRIS ECON PLAN

SEE DEMONIZATION DEFUND LEFT RADICAL TERRORIST ON KIRK 9 25

SEE RETALIATE

SEE MARTIAL LAW// FASCISM

SEE PRESS SUPPRESS 5 ~ DON LEMON 1 26

see fox 9 newsmax fox 10 for mma daily BS

SEE WEBODEC 4

see solidarity on DEI LA wildfires 1 25

see echo esca fever swamp

SEE BIG LIE CHAVEZ GHOST VOTING MACH CONSPIR

SEE CONSPIR --> RW POLITICAL VIOLENCE}:

see podcast rogan 2024 election parasocial manosphere alienated

aha note how some fever swamp BS sets of AG jihad eg 10 yo rape victim

BAK 1 25

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Right-wing media miss the mark on explaining wildfire recovery in Los Angeles

The Trump administration has denied Los Angeles $34 billion in disaster relief

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

:{Published 02/11/26

• Right-wing media are echoing a recent executive order from President Donald Trump pinning the blame for Los Angeles’ delayed recovery from last year’s wildfires on the state and local government, specifically construction permitting holdups. But the order, which the White House says will speed up permitting processes, fails to address key factors, like unpaid insurance claims and insufficient funding. The coverage omits how Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s mismanagement is hindering disaster response and recovery.

Experts are skeptical about whether federal agencies even have the authority to implement the executive order, and survivors say a lack of access to money to fund construction is more of a barrier to rebuilding than permitting. Meanwhile, DHS has reportedly created a “$17 billion bottleneck” that is impeding federal disaster response, and the administration denied Los Angeles $34 billion in disaster relief.

• ## Trump issued an executive order that cuts through permitting requirements, but he might not have the authority, and experts say it doesn’t address Los Angeles’ root problems

• • Trump’s order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration to find ways to “preempt State or local permitting processes, and other similar pre-approval requirements, that each agency has found to have unduly impeded the timely use of Federal emergency-relief funds.”The White House wrote that it would implement a system where builders would “self-certify to a Federal designee from each agency that they have complied with all applicable substantive State and local health and safety standards with respect to the structure proposed to be rebuilt using Federal emergency-relief funds.” Notably, LA County already launched a self-certification program back in May 2025 “to fast-track reconstruction in fire-scarred neighborhoods.” WhiteHouse.gov, [_{1/27/26}_; Pasadena Now, 5/8/25]

• • Trump might not have the legal power to implement the order in the first place. “Legal experts and state officials have questioned whether federal agencies have the statutory authority to override local building codes or land-use laws,” reported FOX 11. Daniel Farber, the faculty director of the Center for Law Energy & Environment at University of California, Berkeley, told Politico “This is completely unprecedented in terms of the history of federal disaster aid,” adding, “They’re gonna have a hard time making this stand up in court.” The move may violate the 10th Amendment and legal precedents which have been used to “argue against the federal government wresting away control of regulations, such as land-use rules, that are traditionally held by state and local government.” FOX 11, [_{1/27/26}_; Politico, 1/27/26]

• • Some survivors and city officials say more money is what’s needed most.Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a Republican, responded to Trump’s executive order, saying that while she welcomes “any effort to responsibly accelerate rebuilding,” the county “already has a local self-certification process to help expedite rebuilding.” She continued, “The most urgent need in the Altadena region is financially driven. Families lack the capital to kick start or continue their rebuilding plans.” Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, said that “the number one barrier to Eaton and Palisades fire survivors right now is money.” LACounty.gov, [_{1/27/26}_; The Associated Press, 1/28/26]

• • A McKinsey report recommending how LA could accelerate recovery is largely inconsistent with Trump’s new executive order, which focuses solely on permitting.The report recommended that local governments optimize their own systems based on previous successes, identifying “gaps between insurance payouts and rebuilding costs” as “significant challenges.” The firm also pointed out that “Los Angeles has built momentum in permitting,” has already adopted multiple processes to accelerate rebuilding, and in striving to “ensure long-term community health and resilience, speed must be balanced with safety, compliance, and sustainability.” McKinsey & Company, [_{1/22/26}_]

• :{:{## Right-wing media’s coverage of the fires in L.A. was misleading from the start.}:

Right-wing media insisted that climate change had nothing to do with the wildfires, despite the clear connection, and instead blamed forest mismanagement and water policies. In reality, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies have no relationship to the LA fires or low water pressure in fire hydrants, debunking another popular narrative on the right, while the conditions driving the fires and their clear connections to climate change were dismissed. PBS News, [_{8/9/21;}_Media Matters, 1/10/25, 1/10/25, 1/15/25]

• • As The New York Times correctly observed, “a megadrought” driven by climate change “has sapped water supplies, ravaged farms and ranches, and fueled wildfires across the American Southwest for going on 25 years.” The latest U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found with “high confidence” that anthropogenic “warming over land drives an increase in … the severity of droughts.” The New York Times [_{7/16/25}_; United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 8/9/21]

• ## Right-wing media praised Trump for the new executive order and attacked California Democrats, assigning blame just like they did when the fires occurred

• • The California Post, the Murdoch-owned sister tabloid to the New York Post, featured the executive order in an “exclusive” interview with Trump on January 27, the day after the paper launched.“I want to see if we can take over the city and state and just give the people their permits they want to build,” the president said. The article lauded Trump for allowing “the federal government to maneuver around the needless obstacles imposed by Democratic leaders” and blamed “thumb-twiddling California Democrats” for delays in rebuilding. California Post, [1/27/26; New York Post, 1/5/26]

• • :{In an interview wit:{h Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Breitbart}: editor-in-chief Alex Marlow said that “only a fraction” of small business loans have been dispersed to victims in California, and blamed “city permitting backlogs,” calling them “a really supreme outrage.” During the interview, Loeffler said that the executive order is “not a performative half measure, which is what seems to be going on locally. This is full-on permitting and rebuilding right now.” :{Salem:(style="background-color:#ffff00ff"):}: News Channel, *The Alex Marlow Show*, [2/4/26]}:

• • Fox News host Sean Hannity complained that a recent profile of Gavin Newsom in Vogue “left out a number of important topics” like the LA wildfires and “why people can’t get a building permit.” He added that Newsom is a “full-time Tweety bird podcaster” but a “never-time governor” who is “MIA always.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [2/3/26]

• • Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo interviewed Loeffler, who said, “President Trump is saving Californians from failed local leadership — state leadership, Gavin Newsom — who have failed to help the residents rebuild.” Bartiromo said the executive order addresses “permitting delays which have stalled local rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles for over a year.” Loeffler credited Trump for having “sped disaster recovery, and then we sped disaster relief in the form of small business loans, 12,000 of them, $3.2 billion dollars. What we found out is they have delayed permitting, the stalling, the bureaucracy that has crowded out that ability to rebuild. So President Trump is again leading for California to rebuild.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [1/30/26]

• • Fox host Jesse Watters said “Trump is doing what Newsom couldn’t” by signing the executive order targeted at LA because “Democrats let it burn and would not rebuild.”Watters said, “Trump is doing what Newsom couldn’t — grabbing a shovel. [President] 47 signed an executive order for the feds to fast-track rebuilding LA after Democrats let it burn and would not rebuild. If Newsom really wants the Oval, he might want to fireproof his excuses.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/28/26]

• • Hannity said that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin would be in charge of implementing the order “as part of the administration's commitment to facilitating a swift recovery” and claimed that Newsom “can't get people their building permits and help them and assist them and have insurance companies pay homeowners.” Hannity called the 2025 wildfires “predictable” and blamed “empty hydrants, empty reservoirs.” [Fox News,

Hannity, 1/28/26]

• • Fox Business host Stuart Varney asked real estate broker Josh Altman if Trump could “fix the problem in Los Angeles” — Altman replied “absolutely” because last year Trump “accomplished in six weeks what the state and local level says were going to take six months to the year.”Fox Business,*Varney & Co.*, [1/28/26]

• • Newsmax anchors Bob Brooks and Katrina Szish spoke with former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who blamed Newsom for slow wildfire recovery because his administration spent money on “homelessness,” which had “zero support,” and “unemployment fraud” instead. Maldonado said Newsom’s recovery efforts are “useless” and Trump is the one “trying to move this forward and help the people of California.” Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [1/28/26]

• • In the same interview, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told Newsmax viewers that California wants to take “that $34 billion prize coming from the feds, they want to feed it into their bureaucratic mess, and only a trickle of it, if ever, will get down to the survivors.”He added that Trump is “trying to bypass that whole mess.” Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [1/28/26]

• ## Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s mismanagement is slowing recovery from natural disasters and preventing communities from becoming more resilient in the future

• • In the order, Trump requested an audit of a $3 billion grant program which, according to FEMA's website, “provides funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments to develop hazard mitigation plans and rebuild in ways that reduce or mitigate future disaster losses in their communities.” The order directs FEMA head Karen Evans, the third acting administrator during Trump’s second term, to “make administrative determinations” with the possibility of “imposing future grant conditions” and even making communities return money they were previously awarded. No new funds for this Hazard Mitigation Grant Program have been awarded to any state since March 2025, according to PBS. Federal Emergency Management Agency, accessed [_{2/4/26}_; WhiteHouse.gov, 1/27/26; PBS News, 1/28/26; CNN, 11/24/25]

• • According to The New York Times, Noem’s requirement for her office to personally review and approve all FEMA expenditures exceeding $100,000 has created “a $17 billion bottleneck.”This includes millions in delayed aid to one Iowa town where “huge floods damaged or destroyed 500 homes” in June 2024. The city administrator says its “annual budget is typically less than $10 million, so the city has had to borrow $19 million to make ends meet, at a cost of $1,800 in daily interest that is not eligible for FEMA reimbursement.” The New York Times, [_{1/27/25}_]

• • This same review process reportedly delayed response to the catastrophic Texas flooding in July 2025. According to CNN: “Texas did request aerial imagery from FEMA to aid search and rescue operations, a source told CNN, but that was delayed as it awaited Noem’s approval for the necessary contract. FEMA staff have also been answering phones at a disaster call center, where, according to one agency official, callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem’s approval for a contract to bring in additional support staff.” CNN, [_{7/10/25}_]

• • In 2025, FEMA cut approximately 20% of its staff, including “some of its most experienced and knowledgeable leaders” — this year the reductions could reportedly impact 50% of staff. On January 2, CNN reported: “The cuts target FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE) teams, which form the backbone of the agency’s operations during and after a disaster, and could be just the beginning of a larger effort by Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security to shrink FEMA. … CORE employees make up about 40% of FEMA’s workforce — over 8,000 people — working full-time hours on temporary contracts. Several thousand of these workers will see their contracts end in 2026.” Additionally CNN reported that FEMA leaders were told that the goal is to cut staff by over 50% by the next fiscal year, which begins in October. AccuWeather, [_{4/24/25}_; CNN, 1/2/26, 1/5/26]

• • Under Noem, the Trump administration has hurt national disaster preparedness by installing inexperienced leaders.Trump’s initial acting FEMA administrator was fired in May 2025 after testifying that the agency shouldn’t be abolished. He was replaced by David Richardson, who had no emergency management experience, according to CNBC. In early June, Reuters reported that Richardson had told staff he didn’t know that the United States had a hurricane season. Staff said they were unsure whether Richardson was joking, and he resigned in November. The New York Times, [_{6/12/25}_; CBS News, 6/13/25; Politico, 5/8/25, 11/17/25; CNBC, 6/2/25]

• • Program and staff reductions along with public statements from Noem suggesting that FEMA would be eliminated have reportedly left the agency ill-prepared for extreme weather. In May 2025 — just weeks before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season and peak extreme weather — CNN obtained an internal memo warning that FEMA was “not ready” for hurricane season. According to the internal assessment, preparations for hurricane season have been “derailed” and issues abounded at the agency, “including a general uncertainty around its mission, lack of coordination with states and other federal agencies, low morale and new red tape that will likely slow responses.” CNN, [_{5/15/25}_]

• • Further crippling the agency, the Department of Homeland Security has involuntarily reassigned dozens of FEMA staff to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation efforts.A letter to Congress arguing that FEMA’s leadership has hindered its ability to effectively manage emergencies signed by about 180 agency employees “points to the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which states that transfers are prohibited ‘except for details or assignments that do not reduce the capability of the Agency to perform its missions.’ The reassignments to help ICE, employees say, do just that.” The Washington Post, [_{8/6/25}_, 8/25/25]

• • Rollbacks on flood risk standards and canceled preparedness programs have put communities at greater risk.On his first day in office, Trump revoked federal flood protections which require federally funded infrastructure projects to comply with design requirements that harden them against flood risks. “The goal of the standards were not only to protect human lives and homes, but also to save taxpayer money, preventing a never-ending cycle of destroy-rebuild-repeat,” Truthout reported. In April 2025, Trump canceled a FEMA program started during his first term in 2018 that allocated billions of dollars in disaster preparedness grants to “help local, state and tribal governments protect residents from future disasters such as floods, wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes,” NPR explained. Even some Republicans have asked Trump to reconsider the cuts because, as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said, the program providing the grants “protects families and saves taxpayer dollars in the long-run. That’s efficient in my book.” Truthout, [_{7/12/25}_; NPR, 5/1/25; Cassidy.Senate.gov, 4/10/25]

MMA //

1. ### Right-wing media personalities seize on arson charge to falsely deny the role of climate change in Palisades Fire

:{10/10/25

2. ### Fox News is mostly silent on Trump's ill-advised and dangerous release of water in California after weeks of attacking the state’s water policies

:{02/07/25

3. ### Trump’s executive order on California water policy canonized right-wing media misinformation about the LA fires

01/24/2

---

mma semi random

1. ### Daily Wire host on a meme Trump posted showing the Obamas as monkeys: “In context, the original video itself is actually not even racist”

02/10/26 12:45 PM EST

2. ### Benny Johnson criticizes Trump DOJ's handling of Epstein case: “The DOJ is handling it horribly. It's not good. I don't like it.”

02/10/26 12:06 PM EST

3. ### Alex Jones: Trump's DOJ “is officially involved in the cover-up” of the Epstein case

02/10/26 11:03 AM EST

4. ### After years of right-wing media and election deniers pushing outrageous claim Venezuela stole the 2020 US election, the Trump administration is now probing for evidence

02/10/26 10:11 AM EST

5. ### Newsmax's Greg Kelly says the NFL is “trying to destroy America”

02/10/26 9:24 AM EST

6. ### Fox contributor Raymond Arroyo says US skier has committed “borderline treason” by criticizing ICE

02/10/26 9:04 AM EST

7. ### Laura Ingraham says Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny's halftime show “didn't represent America at all”

02/09/26 7:51 PM EST

8. ### Sean Hannity: “There's going to be an explosion in the economy, and I'm making that firm prediction”

02/09/26 7:33 PM EST

9. ### Jesse Watters says Super Bowl halftime show made him scared the left, corporations, and foreign people will “take our culture away from us”

02/09/26 6:27 PM EST

10. ### Greg Gutfeld launches incoherent rant about a Jewish halftime show with “dancing accountants” and “men slinging pastrami”

02/09/26 6:24 PM EST

11. ### Daily Wire's Matt Walsh attacks Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Katie Britt for condemning Trump's racist post depicting the Obamas as apes

02/09/26 4:24 PM EST

12. ### Daily Wire host: “Latin Americans have nothing to do with the NFL. Historically, they've contributed nothing to the NFL.”

---

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MMA

After years of right-wing media and election deniers pushing outrageous claim Venezuela stole the 2020 US election, the Trump administration is now probing for evidence

For over five years, right-wing figures have falsely alleged voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic were based in Venezuela or had ties to Venezuelan leaders

Written by Alex Kaplan & Reed McMaster

Research contributions from Zachary Pleat

Published 02/10/26

For over five years, right-wing media and election deniers have pushed long-winded conspiracy theories claiming that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen by the Venezuelan government via Smartmatic and Dominion voting machines. Figures on the right have falsely claimed that these companies were based in Venezuela, had ties to former Presidents Hugo Chávez or Nicolás Maduro, used software in their voting machines that could override security features and flip votes, and were even used to rig Venezuelan and U.S. elections.

Following the Trump administration's recent capture of Maduro and the FBI's raid of an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, election deniers are now openly declaring that the government will prove that their baseless election fraud claims about 2020 are correct.

The Trump administration is probing 2020 election fraud claims, elating election deniers

• • The administration began a major push to investigate President Donald Trump's repeatedly debunked claims that he won the 2020 election, with Trump's Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard making herself a public face in the probe and being on-site for an FBI raid of a Fulton County, Georgia, election center. According to The Guardian, the warrant for the FBI's January 28 raid “sought all ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls.” ABC reported Gabbard arranged a phone call between Trump and the FBI agents conducting the raid. CNN, [1/31/26; ABC News, 2/2/26; The Guardian, 1/28/26]

• • Election deniers cheered the Fulton County raid, saying it's “exactly what” they previously asked Trump to do. Former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne claimed that the raid shows “they’ve crossed the Rubicon” and it was “exactly what we were asking him [Trump] to do” in 2020. Trump's former lawyer Sidney Powell, who has promoted baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, said she was “hopeful that means this administration is taking seriously the massive fraud that I believe occurred in the 2020 election.” Byrne — who has been a prominent fundraiser of election denial efforts — attended the December 2020 Oval Office meeting, alongside Powell and Michael Flynn, where Trump was urged to seize voting machines. Media Matters, [2/5/26; The New York Times, 1/31/22; NPR, 10/19/23; The Washington Post, 12/6/21; The Guardian, 7/20/24]

• • Gabbard also led an investigation last spring that was reportedly related to “claims that Venezuela had hacked voting machines in Puerto Rico,” where a U.S. attorney has allegedly been in touch with figures who have prominently promoted unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal the 2020 election. The Guardian reported U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico Stephen Muldrow, “a staunch Republican and Trump supporter,” had been briefed on “the old voting conspiracy and the allegations that Venezuela helped rig elections worldwide” by former CIA officer Gary Berntsen and Venezuelan expatriate Martin Rodil. Byrne has hyped Muldrow’s involvement, saying it meant an investigation into these conspiracy theories is “about as clean and squeaky clean as you get.” Reuters, [2/4/26; The Guardian, 11/21/25; LindellTV, The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson, 2/5/26]

• • After the Trump administration captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a January 3 raid and brought him to the United States to face trial, MAGA influencers suggested it was linked to the conspiracy theory about Venezuela's involvement in the 2020 election. Trump appeared to endorse the suggestion that the raid was retaliation for 2020, repeatedly amplifying references to the purported role Venezuela played on Truth Social. CNN, [1/3/26; Media Matters, 1/5/26]

• ## Voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic — common targets of 2020 election conspiracy theories — were not based in Venezuela, nor did they have ties to the country's leaders

• • Right-wing media used Dominion and Smartmatic voting machines to create a boogeyman for the 2020 election. For years, right-wing media figures falsely claimed Dominion and Smartmatic voting machines switched votes from Trump to Joe Biden and created election irregularities. Media Matters, [11/2/21, 12/22/20, 9/6/24]

• • Smartmatic and Dominion have sued several right-wing outlets that promoted conspiracy theories tying the companies to the purported 2020 election theft, with some of the outlets paying out multimillion dollar settlements. Fox News, which currently faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Smartmatic, ultimately settled a similar suit from Dominion for a record $787.5 million in 2023; filings in the case show that Fox executives and stars privately acknowledged that the election had not been tainted by large-scale fraud, even as the network broadcast false claims tying Dominion to Venezuela and suggesting it had rigged the 2020 vote. Business Insider, [4/18/23; Politico, 8/19/25; Media Matters, 1/21/21, 7/5/22, 3/2/23, 8/21/25]

• • Two Smartmatic founders are from Venezuela, but the company was founded in Florida and incorporated in the United States. A fact check from Reuters additionally reported that “Smartmatic confirms on its website that the company is not Venezuelan, adding, ‘Smartmatic has no ties to governments or political parties of any country.’” Reuters, [12/14/20]

• • Smartmatic voting machines were only used in one county during the 2020 election. FactCheck.org explained: “Apart from the dubious support for this conspiracy theory, the company it’s targeting doesn’t do much work in the United States. Smartmatic says it provided voting equipment to only one U.S. county in the 2020 election. Los Angeles uses the company’s VSAP touchscreen machines, according to the California Secretary of State’s list of certified voting equipment used in each county.” The article further explained that Los Angeles’ 2020 election results were similar to its 2016 election results. FactCheck.org, [11/25/20]

• • Dominion Voting Systems was founded in Toronto, Canada, and in recent years was based in Denver, Colorado. Dominion responded to false claims of Venezuelan ties in a lawsuit, stating: “Dominion was not created in or for Venezuela, has never been located there, and is not owned by Smartmatic or Venezuelans. Dominion has never provided machines or any of its software or technology to Venezuela, nor has it ever participated in any elections in Venezuela.” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, [10/10/25; US Dominion, Inc. v. Powell, 1/8/21]

• ## Right-wing media figures and election deniers repeatedly pushed false claims that Dominion and Smartmatic were Venezuelan or tied to Chávez or Maduro

• • On Fox Business, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani acknowledged Dominion was a Canadian company before claiming it was “a Venezuelan company that has Chinese parts in it.” Media Matters, [11/16/20]

• • On Fox News, Giuliani said that Smartmatic is “a Venezuelan company.” Giuliani further claimed that Smartmatic was “founded by Chávez,” and later claimed it’s “really being run by people that are close to Maduro and Chávez.” Fox News, *Sunday Morning Futures*, [11/15/20, 11/15/20]

• • On Fox Business, Sidney Powell argued Smartmatic “all Venezuelan and Cuban and essentially communist money.” Powell claimed, “This affidavit also explains it [Smartmatic] has been used to change election results all over the world. And it's all Venezuelan and Cuban and essentially communist money that's been doing this. It's a foreign-owned company.” Fox Business, *Lou Dobbs Tonight*, [11/16/20]

• • Newsmax contributor Dick Morris claimed, “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 a then-upcoming runoff election. Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [12/15/20]

• • Election deniers Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo argued that despite Smartmatic being founded in America, it was started with “source code” owned by the Venezuelan government. They also stated Smartmatic was “winning contracts in election districts all across the United States and it's Venezuelan owned,” that Smartmatic “bought another company called Sequoia,” and “from Sequoia, they were forced because of the CFIUS investigation to sell it to Dominion.” The Guardian reported that Berntsen promoted “the old voting conspiracy and the allegations that Venezuela helped rig elections worldwide,” and “in September, Pezzullo published an e-book called Stolen Elections: the Takedown of Democracies Worldwide, which described the Venezuela conspiracy theories.” The Guardian, [11/21/25; Going Rogue with Lara Logan, 11/21/25, 11/21/25]

• • Election denier Martin Rodil: “And then slowly but very steady, they were building a Smartmatic, then they purchased Sequoia in Colorado, and then they ended [up] controlling the software used by Dominion.” Rodil continued: “So you have two problems here. You have not just an election problem, but you have a counterintelligence problem where a country like Venezuela — which is completely ignored but it becomes some sort of proxy for China, for Russia, for Iran, for every enemy of the United States — was allowed to do everything they could inside the U.S.” According to The Guardian, Rodil promoted “the old voting conspiracy and the allegations that Venezuela helped rig elections worldwide” along with Berntsen. Patriot Party News, [11/19/25; The Guardian, 11/21/25]

• • One America News host Lilia Fifield, citing The Gateway Pundit, claimed “Smartmatic is partially owned by the Maduro regime and George Soros.” The segment’s chyron claimed the “Soros-backed firm installed socialism in Venezuela.” OAN, [11/17/20]

• • Mark Levin: “What in the hell are we doing with a company that had any ties with Venezuela’s government? ... This is Smartmatic with ties to the Hugo Chávez machine.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [11/16/20]

• ## Right-wing media and election deniers alleged that Smartmatic software could override security features and flip votes

• • Rush Limbaugh claimed that Dominion and Smartmatic “both have the same purpose ... to rig elections, and they are used in conjunction with one another.”Limbaugh: “Dominion is the software company out of Venezuela. Smartmatic is a piece of software that does all of the conniving. And they’re both manufactured — the same outfit — and they both have the same purpose, is to rig elections, and they are used in conjunction with one another.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Rush Limbaugh Show*, [11/17/20]

• • Fox host Maria Bartiromo repeated claims by Sidney Powell that Smartmatic software has “built-in functionality allowing the administrators to override security features.” She said, “Smartmatic election software was developed, Sidney Powell says, in Venezuela, with porous security and built-in functionality allowing the administrators to override security features.” Fox News, *Sunday Morning Futures*, [11/22/20]

• • On Fox Business, Powell also argued Smartmatic “had been used to change election results all over the world.” Fox Business, *Lou Dobbs Tonight*, [11/16/20]

• • Then-Fox host and current U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro called Trump lawyers’ claims that Dominion was started in Venezuela and Smartmatic software could flip votes “serious allegations.” She stated, “The president's lawyers alleging a company called Dominion, which they say started in Venezuela with Cuban money and with the assistance of Smartmatic software, a backdoor is capable of flipping votes.” Pirro added: “These are serious allegations, but the media has no interest in any of this. But you and I do, as we should.” Fox News, *Justice with Judge Jeanine*, [11/21/20]

• ## Right-wing media and election deniers repeated the suggestion that Chávez or Maduro were behind Smartmatic and Dominion efforts to rig Venezuelan and U.S. elections

• • Patrick Byrne argued Chávez directed the Venezuelan immigrants who founded Smartmatic to build a “system that can rig me an election.” During a 2023 interview, he stated Chávez “went to these three young guys and he told them to build a system that can rig me an election. They moved to Florida, to Boca, and they started a Delaware company called Smartmatic. And then Smartmatic rigged the election.” In 2024, Byrne also said that he “hacked the government of Venezuela” and has “stolen everything. And everything we’ve been asserting from November 4 [of 2020] is true.” He went on to say he had Dominion “source code” and the software is “Venezuelan junk, just as we’ve been telling you from a week after the election. And we have all the proof. We have everything.” Rumble, *The Courtenay Turner Podcast*, [5/19/23; Media Matters, 7/29/24]

• • Discussing Smartmatic in a stream on Locals, Byrne read from an affidavit about the 2020 election claiming that “it took the voting system approximately two hours — the operator — two hours to make the adjustments to the vote for Radonski to Maduro” in Venezuela’s 2013 election. Byrne read, “Then when they turned the Internet back on and the online reporting was up and running, they checked each screen state by state. And then at that moment, the Smartmatic system changed the votes from Radonski to Maduro. By the time the system operator finished, they had achieved a convincing but narrow victory of 200,000 votes for Maduro.” He added, “Is any of this sounding familiar?” Locals, [12/7/24]

• • Then-Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson claimed that Smartmatic software was used to “fix elections in Venezuela” for Hugo Chávez. The Washington Post reported that as part of its lawsuit, “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]

• • On Mike Lindell's streaming channel, Robinson talked up how a “team of wonderful American patriots” — naming “Patrick Byrne and Gary Berntsen” — had proof of the Venezuelan regime rigging U.S. elections. She stated, “This team had already recruited more than a dozen people, whistleblowers, who knew exactly how the rig system was built in Venezuela because they were former engineers from Venezuela who had worked for Smartmatic, and for Nicolás Maduro, and before that Hugo Chávez, who commissioned the building of this software so he could steal his referendum in 2004 to corruptly remain in power. Now, I've spoken to some of these whistleblowers myself. I've asked them about their information, their evidence, their work experience, the data, exactly how they steal it.” LindellTV, *The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson*, [12/1/25]

• • Following Trump's capture of Maduro, Infowars host Alex Jones argued it was about stopping Smartmatic from “stealing our elections.” He claimed, “So out of survival, out of existential threat, I understand why Trump went into Venezuela. The total election fraud — Smartmatic is in the five big voting machine companies. It's been certified, confirmed, stealing our elections. They steal elections in 100-plus other countries. They're a globalist command base with the CIA, the EU, NATO, the Chicoms, and the whole U.S. deep state has really been at the top of the pyramid in Venezuela. Trump's ending all that. And so the U.S. was already, through the deep state, in control of Venezuela. That's the big secret.” Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [1/5/26]

• • Then-Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, citing “a whistleblower’s stunning affidavit,” claimed that “Smartmatic’s technology was used to rig elections in Venezuela.” Fox Business, *Lou Dobbs Tonight*, [11/19/20]

• • Powell told Fox Business that an independent investigation showed Dominion voting machines were “created for the benefit of Venezuela.” She stated, “We've known from early on in our independent investigation that the entire system was created for the benefit of Venezuela and Hugo Chávez to rig elections to make sure he continued winning. And then it was passed on to Mr. Maduro to do the same. And we know it was exported to other countries by virtue of some of the Dominion executives that proceeded to go about and essentially sell elections to the highest bidder.” Fox Business, *Lou Dobbs Tonight*, [12/10/20]

• • On Dobbs’ Fox Business show, Rudy Giuliani insisted that Smartmatic was founded by Chávez for “the specific purpose of fixing elections.” He stated that Smartmatic is “a company that was founded in 2005 in Venezuela for the specific purpose of fixing elections. That’s their expertise.” In the same show, he claimed, Smartmatic “was founded by Chávez” and was now being used “to call votes in America because their specialty in Venezuela is cheating.” Fox Business, *Lou Dobbs Tonight*, [11/18/20, 11/18/20]

//

1. ### “Exactly what we were asking him to do”: Election deniers cheer FBI's raid of Fulton County election center

:{02/05/26

2. ### MAGA media link Trump's overthrow of Maduro to 2020 election conspiracy theories

:{01/05/26

3. ### Right-wing media have spent a year trying to discredit the 2020 presidential election in promotion of the Big Lie

11/02/21

---

mma 2 26 not processed

Democrats want ICE to comply with the Fourth Amendment. Right-wing media are trying to muddy the waters.

MAGA pundits are feigning outrage over a requirement for judicial warrants for private property searches that border czar Tom Homan acknowledged just months ago

Written by John Knefel

Research contributions from Sophie Lawton

Published 02/09/26 9:08 AM EST

Right-wing media figures are feigning outrage that Democrats have called for federal deportation officers to comply with the Fourth Amendment before carrying out searches of private property, a requirement that even Trump administration border czar Tom Homan has acknowledged, and inaccurately suggesting it will “make it impossible for ICE to do their job.”

Media Matters recently resurfaced a Fox News interview from August 2025 during which Homan said, “We need a judicial warrant for a search.” That assessment is in line with longstanding federal immigration protocol and complies with the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure.

As The Associated Press reported in January, however, an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo written last year purportedly authorized agents to enter private property without obtaining a judge’s signature. Instead, agents would rely on an administrative warrant, which is signed by an ICE officer, not a judge. Six former general counsels or acting general counsels for the Department of Homeland Security recently objected to the memo’s legal rationale, arguing in a New York Times op-ed that the directive violated the Fourth Amendment.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and in congressional leadership have demanded that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE rescind the memo and obtain judicial warrants before entering private property to carry out immigration enforcement.

Right-wing media have responded by attempting to muddy the waters and claim, incorrectly, that congressional Democrats want federal agents to obtain a judicial warrant — rather than an administrative warrant — for every ICE or Border Patrol arrest. The most generous reading of these claims perhaps relies on an interpretation of imprecise language from some Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who said Democrats want “arrest warrants and an end to racial profiling.” The list of leadership’s demands also says ICE must “end indiscriminate arrests and improve warrant procedures and standards.”

Even granting the possibly muddled messaging from Democrats, the right-wing media response has been profoundly misleading. MAGA pundits are stoking fear about immigrant communities and threatening what is meant to be a basic constitutional protection against government overreach. Here are some of the most egregious examples.

• The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro acknowledged that “ICE does need a judicial warrant to enter homes,” but said elsewhere that if Democrats are saying “only judicial warrants can be used by ICE, that means the end of immigration enforcement in the United States, and they know it.” He added of that and other Democrat demands: “So, basically, hamstring federal law. Make sure that illegal immigration can never be stopped. That’s the Democrat goal.” The Daily Wire, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [1/28/26, 2/4/26]
• Fox News host Jesse Watters responded to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s criticism of the ICE memo by asking: “We have to get a warrant from a judge every time we arrest an illegal?” Watters added: “If you needed a warrant for every time you arrested a migrant, they could just stay inside their apartment all day and collect welfare.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/27/26]
• Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said that “to get a judicial warrant to … get 9 million people is the most impractical thing I have ever seen.” Co-host Ainsley Earhart added: “Impractical legal hurdle there.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/2/26]
• MAGA legal activist and Article III Project founder Mike Davis said, “We have never required judicial warrants to arrest illegal aliens and deport them. This would make it impossible for ICE to do their jobs. It's a red line, it’s unacceptable, it’s a hell no.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [2/2/26]
• Davis made a similar argument on Fox’sThe Ingraham Angle, claiming, “We have used immigration warrants for decades. You don't need a judicial warrant to go round up illegal aliens and get them out of our country.” Host Laura Ingraham had asked: “This idea that you can't use an administrative warrant. Suddenly the Democrats don't like administrative warrants? When did that start?” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [2/2/26]
• On Rumble, Donald Trump Jr. said Democrats “want a long, drawn-out process for judicial warrants before arresting criminals, illegal alien criminals.” Trump Jr. added: “Basically, they want to make it impossible for ICE to do its job.” Rumble, *Triggered*, [2/2/26]
• Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said on hisWar Roompodcast that Democrats “want a federal warrant to remove any — they want a signed judicial warrant to remove anybody from the United States.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [2/3/26]

As border czar Tom Homan said last August, federal agents need a judicial warrant to conduct a search on private property. Right-wing media figures can try to obscure that all they want, but it doesn’t change the underlying facts.

Right-wing media rally behind Trump’s efforts to trigger regime change in Cuba

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published 02/06/26

After right-wing media pushed for and then celebrated the Trump administration’s ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and seizure of the country’s oil supplies last month, they quickly pivoted to the administration’s reported efforts to overthrow Cuba’s government, which for now primarily involves starving the island of oil.

• ## The Trump administration is working to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, seeking regime change

• • President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on imports from countries that provide oil to Cuba. The Guardian reported that an executive order from Trump, “which ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple the communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil.” The Guardian, [1/29/26]

• • Mexico announced a pause on oil shipments to Cuba amid reported pressure from the Trump administration. According to The Associated Press, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the decision to pause oil shipments to Cuba “was a ‘sovereign decision’ not made under pressure from the United States,” but it came amid overt Trump administration efforts to isolate the Cuban government and amid threats from Trump to “take military action against Mexican drug cartels.” The Associated Press, [1/27/26]

• • Politico: “Trump administration weighs naval blockade to halt Cuban oil imports.” Politico reported: “The Trump administration is weighing new tactics to drive regime change in Cuba, including imposing a total blockade on oil imports to the Caribbean country, three people familiar with the plan said Thursday.” Politico, [1/23/26]

• • Trump has said Cuba is “ready to fall” and threatened Cuba to “make a deal, before it is too late.” BBC, [1/11/26]

• • Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. Is Actively Seeking Regime Change in Cuba by the End of the Year.” The Wall Street Journal reported: “Emboldened by the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration is searching for Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime by the end of the year.” The article continued: “In meetings with Cuban exiles and civic groups in Miami and Washington, administration officials have focused on identifying somebody inside the current government who will see the writing on the wall and want to cut a deal.” The Wall Street Journal, [1/22/26]

• ## Right-wing media rally behind the Trump administration’s tactic of starving Cuba of oil and its goal of overthrowing the Cuban government

• • Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald on an oil embargo against Cuba: “This is Trump getting communism out of the western hemisphere.” MacDonald asked her guest, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), “Do you see ... Cuba collapsing [as] a 2026 event?” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [1/26/26]

• • Heritage Foundation's Victoria Coates on Fox Business: Cuba is a “proximate threat to the United States. It's been a deadly enemy of the United States for more than 60 years. It would be great to see positive change in Cuba.” Coates continued: “I think we could see that through economic means through this oil embargo. … We have the extraordinary diaspora in the United States starting with the secretary of state, who are prepared to help Cuba in a very positive transition to become a friend of the United States.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [1/28/26]

• • America First Policy Institute's Fred Fleitz on Newsmax: “I love Rubio's answer to this. When he was asked, do you favor regime change in Cuba? And he said, yes.” Another guest, former deputy assistant secretary of state Joel Rubin added, “I think the Cuban regime has to go, clearly.” Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [1/28/26]

• • Fox Business anchor David Asman: “Let’s hope, let’s pray that the communist system” in Cuba “comes to an end as a result of not having oil.” Asman continued: “I say the same prayers about Nicaragua.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [1/30/26]

• • America First Policy Institute’s Carla Sands on Fox Business: “What we're doing is by strangling the energy, we're not allowing Mexico to send energy, we've stopped the Venezuelan energy. I think for the first time in my lifetime there will be regime change” in Cuba. Sands continued: “And I'm sure that the United States has someone in their sights within Cuba, or in the Cuban community in the United States, because they will have to seize power, and then they're going to need a lot of investment to — I mean, to bring Cuba into the 21st century, it's still in the mid 20th century, sadly, for these people, because of communism.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [1/30/26]

• • Coates on Fox Business: Letting the Cuban government survive the collapse of the Soviet Union was “a mistake we can’t afford to make again.” Coates added that blockading oil from the island is necessary “to get to the change that everybody, I think, who’s reasonable, wants to see in Cuba.” Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [1/30/26]

• • Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo to Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL): “Is the Cuban regime entering its final chapter?” Salazar replied: “Thank God for that.” Fox Business, *Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street*, [1/30/26]

• • Newsmax guest Antonio Mora: “Few things would make me happier than the collapse of this malignant cancer that has been the Communist Party-dominated regime in Cuba for the last 67 years.”Newsmax, *Saturday Agenda*, [1/31/26]

• • Heritage Foundation’s Andrés Martínez-Fernández: It’s a “perfect moment for an opening to be created for a restoration of stability and democracy” in Cuba. Newsmax, *Saturday Agenda*, [1/31/26]

• • Coates on Newsmax: “Getting Cuba into a better condition is a great strategic gain.” Coates added that Cuba “is a very proximate threat to us.” Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [2/2/26]

• • Fox senior strategic analyst Jack Keane on Cuba: “I think the president's team is moving in the right direction here. Pressure this regime, maximum pressure.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [2/3/26]

• • Newsmax guest Tony Shaffer on Trump’s actions against Cuba: “Just sit back and get some popcorn and watch the expatriates get their boats ready to go from Key West into Havana.” Shaffer added that Trump should “just continue to allow their own economy to fail” from an oil embargo. Newsmax, *Wake Up America Early*, [2/3/26]

• • Heritage Foundation’s Brent Sadler: “This is not the time to relent on the economic and certainly the military pressure” on Cuba. Sadler added: “So, pressure, much like Iran, the pressure needs to be sustained. The United States has both these terroristic regimes right in the place that we want them, a very weakened one, to get the most out of negotiations, preferably. But this is also a moment in time where the people in both Cuba and Iran can actually seize their own countries back.” Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [2/3/26]

• • Fox Business host Stuart Varney to Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) on Cuban regime change: “When you say push it over, how do we push it over?”Gimenez replied: “I think right now what the president's doing is the right thing. He is basically taking away all the economic benefits that it gets from free oil from Venezuela. They also get free oil from Mexico. He's making sure that they're not going to get free oil from Colombia. I want some more harsher measures against Cuba.” He continued: “And that regime is a cancer, a cancer to the Cuban people, a cancer to the western hemisphere. We need some harsh medicine to cure the patient, Cuba, so that we can get rid of this cancer which is the communist regime that has basically oppressed its own people for over 65 years, and has exported its revolution to the western hemisphere. So they've been a real thorn in our side for a long time, and I'm very glad that the president is taking decisive action.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [_{2/3/26}_]

MMA //

1. ### Trump delivered on right-wing media’s desire for regime change in Venezuela over oil

01/06/26

2. ### Greenland, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, and more: After Maduro’s capture, right-wing media encourage escalating US involvement around the globe

01/07/26

3. ### Fox Noticias host suggests military buildup in the Caribbean could lead to toppling of Cuba's government

12/11/25

---

---

MMA

Right-wing media figures are furious at activists for using whistles during ICE activity

Written by Payton Armstrong

Published 02/03/26

Right-wing media figures are lashing out at community members in Minnesota for using whistles to alert others of federal immigration enforcement in the area, asserting that whistles should be “considered a violent weapon” and that their use constitutes “interference” with immigration enforcement operations or even “assault.”

Activists and residents have explained that whistles are “a way to quickly draw witnesses and cameras when enforcement activity happens in neighborhoods.” Bystander video, which has sometimes contradicted official Department of Homeland Security statements, has become critical in multiple recent incidents like the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, whom DHS officials initially baselessly accused of being domestic terrorists.

• ### Bystanders using whistles have become ubiquitous with immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis — in part as “a way to quickly draw witnesses and cameras”

• ICE operations in Minneapolis have transformed everyday life for residents with the killing of two U.S. citizens, the detainment of thousands of migrants and community members, and reports of widespread use of force and chemical irritants like pepper balls and tear gas on crowds.NBC News reported that “since December, the surge of federal immigration personnel to Minnesota led to the apprehensions of more than 3,000 migrants in what the Department of Homeland Security has called ‘the largest immigration enforcement operation ever.’” During that time, two U.S. citizens — Alex Pretti and Renee Good — were shot and killed by masked federal agents just weeks apart; at least four children were apprehended by ICE, two while they were on their way to school; and federal agents have “regularly deploy[ed] chemical irritants to deter observers and protesters.” NBC News, [1/27/26; MPR News, 1/28/26; CNN, 1/20/26]

• • The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that “the sight and sound of whistles have become common around the Twin Cities amid the ongoing immigration operation and organized resistance.”CBS News reported that “organizers and volunteers say the whistles are meant to be an attention grabber and a way to quickly draw witnesses and cameras when enforcement activity happens in neighborhoods.” Community members and local businesses, including a toy store and a bar, have reportedly given away thousands. The Minnesota Star Tribune, [1/20/26; CBS News, 1/14/26; MinnPost, 12/15/25]

• • Stella Carlson, who recorded critical video of agents shooting and killing Pretti, told CNN that she decided to come to the scene after hearing whistles while driving to work.Carlson’s video contradicted initial DHS statements that Pretti “brandished” a gun at agents, and according to CNN, “Carlson’s video, and the ensuing outrage surrounding Pretti’s killing, placed the Trump administration under immense pressure that eventually led to the White House pulling Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who had led the surge in Minneapolis and several other American cities, out of Minnesota.” Carlson explained to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper why she personally carries a whistle, saying: “When we walk around with the whistles around our neck, it's not that we have — like we know we can't do much. But what we do know is that we can let our community at large know when we're walking around, like, I see you. And if you're stuck in your apartment, I want you to see me. I'm another person walking around who is here to protect you as best I can with my whistle and my phone.” CNN, [1/28/26, 1/25/26]

• • :{Attorney Tracy Roy told The Minnesota Star Tribune that while physically intervening with ICE activity is illegal, “bystanders certainly can make noise, blow whistles and alert presence.” The Minnesota Star Tribune, [1/20/26]
  • }:
• ### Right-wing media figures claimed whistles “should be considered a violent weapon” and that their use amounts to “interference” or possibly “assault”

• Right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly claimed that people blowing whistles constituted “interference” and “contributed to the chaotic atmosphere that ultimately led Alex Pretti to die.” Kelly said: “We don't know if Alex Pretti was sent to that area specifically by these anti-ICE agitators or whether he was officially part of the group. But some on that street were because they had the telltale signal of whistleblowing, which is their favorite thing. And by the way, that needs to stop. Now, some are saying that's fine. That actually is interference. You — if you came out on your front lawn and just blew a coach's whistle at the top of your lungs all day, you would be cited by the police under the local noise ordinances. It would be a disturbance of the peace. That's what these people are doing. And no doubt they contributed to the chaotic atmosphere that ultimately led Alex Pretti to die.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/26/26]

• • :{:{Right-wing streamer Steven Crowder said that women on the scene of Pretti’s killing had “arguably commit[ed] assault against the officers with whistles in the ears.”Crowder: “Those women absolutely went out of their way to cross the street and arguably commit assault against the officers with whistles in the ears.” Rumble,:(style="background-color:#ffbb16ff"):}: *Louder with Crowder*, [1/26/26]}:

• • Right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich said that whistles used by activists “should be considered a violent weapon.”Cernovich reportedly posted on social media: “From smoke alarms to those hearing loss causing machines that terrorists use against ICE. Tbh those things should be considered a violent weapon. They damage hearing for life.” The Independent, [1/26/26]

• • Conservative radio host Buck Sexton reportedly replied to Cernovich’s post and wrote, “All true.” The Independent, [1/26/26]

• • Director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, Lora Ries, also reportedly replied to Cernovich’s post and said that whistles “are NOT speech.”The Independent, [1/26/26]

• • White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said protesters “blowing whistles” creates a “confusing, dangerous environment when you can't hear, when you can't see.” Fuentes: “You're asking ICE officers to go and fight these animals and potentially die, potentially get shot in the face. They're being put in an impossible situation. They go out there, they're being chased, they're being harassed, they're being overwhelmed. Protesters are blowing whistles. It's a confusing, dangerous environment when you can't hear, when you can't see.” Rumble, *America First*, [1/27/26; Media Matters, 12/19/25]

• • The host of the right-wing Spanish language programMucho Que Decirsaid that “blowing whistles” constitutes “being an obstructionist.” Discussing the killing of Alex Pretti, the host said, “It is presumed that he was monitoring ICE duties and then saw some illegal immigrants, wanted to warn them by blowing whistles, being an obstructionist as usual. And had a close encounter with ICE agents, they knocked him down and broke his rib, but not content with that, he continued on the rampage. In other words, this man was not just a pedestrian filming what was going on in Minneapolis." La Nueva Poderosa, *Mucho Que Decir*, [1/27/26]

• • The Washington Times editorial board criticized “antifa-style agitators” blowing whistles “to obstruct immigration enforcement,” saying that “paid provocateurs are tracking ICE operations and deliberately interfering.” The Washington Times, [1/26/26]

• • Right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec lamented that “agitators” are “blowing the whistles.”Posobiec’s guest, Andrew Branca, suggested federal agents were justified in shooting Pretti, saying that “the law of self-defense doesn't require perfect decision-making,” and agents had to make decisions in a “very stressful, life-threatening, compressed timeframe.” Posobiec replied: “In reality, in this situation, what these activists have done — and by the way, what these agitators are doing on purpose and deliberately. They're blowing the whistles. They're getting in the street. They're getting in the way.” Real America’s Voice, *Human Events Daily*, [1/26/26]

//

1. ### The right-wing media figures who have justified Alex Pretti's killing by Trump’s DHS

:{:{01/28/26}:

2. ### Right-wing media figures are claiming, once again, that anti-ICE protesters are paid agitators

:{:{01/29/26}:

3. ### MAGA media demand Trump put down the Minnesota “revolution”

01/30/26

---

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]

//

1. ### Fox misleadingly claimed that a government shutdown would impede relief for winter storms, glossing over the real threat to disaster-stricken communities

02/03/26 1:38 PM EST

2. ### Fox won’t tell viewers that the UAE bought off Trump

02/03/26 11:00 AM EST

3. ### Border Czar Tom Homan in resurfaced Fox interview: “We need a judicial warrant for a search”

02/03/26

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MMA

Right-wing media’s cynicism about climate leaves out ongoing global success of renewables

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published 02/02/26

Right-wing media are suggesting that the energy transition has permanently fallen out of favor as a global priority, evidenced by business leaders’ and governments’ rapid shift in focus toward artificial intelligence. But other recent milestones and ambitious projects signal that long-term interest in climate action is still very much alive.

At the World Economic Forum’s annual convening of elites in Davos, for instance, which has championed corporate climate ambitions for the past several years, right-wing media claimed the message this year was that renewable energy “literally cannot be used.”

Although it’s true that U.S. financial companies such as BlackRock — whose CEO, Larry Fink, headed this year’s conference — have largely abandoned net zero goals, and the Trump administration, which has encouraged fossil fuel expansion abroad, brought thatattitude to the conference, conversations about the clean energy transition continued to take place at Davos.

And reporting from The Wall Street Journal and CNBC demonstrate that business leaders are still talking about renewables, and the European Union just hit “‘a major tipping point’ of the clean energy era” according to The Guardian, with renewables generating “30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025” compared to just 29% from coal, oil, and gas.

The Trump administration pushed its fossil fuel agenda at Davos

• In a “free wheeling special address” to the World Economic Forum, Trump said that “windmills” are “losers” and “the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses and the worse that country is doing.”Trump has spread misinformation about wind energy for years. He also falsely claimed during the Davos speech that he has not “been able to find any wind farms in China.” According to PolitiFact, “China has about 44% of the world’s wind farm capacity, ranking No. 1 globally and almost triple what the U.S. has.” CNBC, [1/23/26; PolitiFact, 1/21/26; Media Matters, 10/2/23]

• The Financial Times wrote that during a speech at a private dinner hosted by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick “told his audience that the world should focus on coal as an energy source rather than renewables.” Financial Times, [1/21/26]

• According to The New York Times, at Davos, “the focus on climate and stopping biodiversity loss has taken a backseat” where it was once “a center for the corporate climate movement.” The shift can largely be attributed to “pushback from Republicans, the fallout from the war in Ukraine and the return of President Trump to the White House,” David Gelles wrote for The New York Times. Instead, “Panels on AI, the energy transition, and industrial reinvention were packed. Private discussions focused on expansion, deployment, and long-term prospects,” wrote CNBC. The New York Times, [1/22/26; CNBC, 1/24/26]

• While the conference has historically touted a focus on corporate sustainability, it has been rife with greenwashing and false climate solutions for years.The New Republic noted of Davos in recent years: “Oil companies were formal partners for the event, which was marketed as being carbon-neutral while it involved a bunch of corporate and governmental executives flying via private jet to an Alpine town whose signature sport climate change is currently decimating. The confab hyped ‘solutions’ like carbon credits and carbon capture that would allow corporations to keep polluting as usual—even as rigorous reporting showed a lot of carbon credits weren’t backed by real reductions and carbon capture wasn’t yet feasible at scale.” The New Republic, [1/23/26]

Right-wing media suggest climate solutions are no longer relevant, often citing Davos

• On Fox Business, climate skeptic Marc Morano said that Davos was a sign that Trump has “completely obliterated the entire climate agenda.” “This just goes to show you that the entire climate agenda, within one year of Donald Trump getting to work, … has just decimated it,” Morano said. Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [1/23/26; Fox News Primetime, 8/9/21]

• On One America News, Morano told host Dan Ball, “Even the billionaire class is departing from the climate agenda, including Michael Bloomberg. Washington Post editorial [board] has been doing anti-Green New Deal-type editorials.” One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [1/27/26]

• On Newsmax, Morano and host Carl Higbie discussed how climate change is “nowhere to be found” at Davos and has “dropped down off the list” of priorities. Higbie said Morano “laid out that the global elites have dropped the doom and gloom of [the] climate agenda, largely because it doesn't fit with their billionaire agenda when they fly in on their private jets. … This was like the center of their agenda and now it's nowhere to be found.” Morano claimed, “They did a survey of World Economic Forum members before this conference started, and climate has just dropped down off the list. It's so bad.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [1/22/26]

• Fox host Greg Gutfeld said that Trump made the climate agenda “irrelevant.”On The Five, Gutfeld said, “Wherever Trump goes, wherever that place is is kind of rendered permanently different. Sometimes even irrelevant. … Look at the climate agenda, look at the trans movement. Davos falls into the same pattern. It looks like another small town leveled by the orange tornado.” Fox News, *The Five*, [1/22/26]

• RedState headline: “Davos Ditches Climate: Elites Now Eyeing Economy Instead.”The right-wing outlet wrote that “this year in Davos … interest in all things climate seemed to be nearing an all-time low,” claiming that “the general run of citizens - you know, the people who elect a lot of the ‘elites’ at Davos - are a lot more worried about the price of eggs than their carbon footprints.” RedState, [1/22/26]

• Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy said that while the network typically mocks “all the private planes that come into Davos,” 2026 “feels very different from other years” because “nothing starts until President Trump arrives — until daddy's home, as so many people say.” Campos-Duffy noted that Fox News usually mocks “all the private planes that come into Davos because, of course, this is the elite globalist crowd that will tell you you can't travel in your car, you shouldn't take a plane, and actually wants to limit your ability to take long-haul flights as they fly in privately.” She added, “Here you have this global conference where President Trump is about to blow it up in terms of his negotiations and stands, and yet nothing starts until he arrives. … President Trump is the leader that everyone is — that everything hinges on.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/21/26]

• On Infowars,War Roomhost Harrison Smith said, “It’s kind of weird how the World Economic Forum and the Davos meeting used to be so into climate change. Remember how they would talk about nothing but climate change for a long time, and now this year it’s like not even a concern?”Infowars, *War Room*, [1/20/26]

• Fox News headline: “Conservative groups declare 2025 a tipping point on ‘climate hysteria’ as Trump unleashes energy agenda.”The report highlighted several fossil-fuel advocacy groups that outlined “2025 as a pivotal year in trading climate activism for energy production and economic realism.” It also quoted American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac’s claim that “governments, investors, and even climate activists are abandoning the hysteria and choosing energy security, affordability, reliability, and common sense. President Trump led this shift by putting America’s energy strength first.” Fox News Digital, [12/19/25; E&E News, 2/28/25; Energy & Policy Institute, 8/5/24; Daily Kos, 11/2/22]

• Right-wing media celebrated a November 2025 memo from Bill Gates, claiming that he flipped on climate change and no longer thinks it is important.In the memo, Gates wrote that climate change will have “serious consequences” but that he does not think it will “lead to humanity’s demise.” Right-wing media presented Gates’ comments to argue that climate change is not a concern and never has been. Media Matters, [11/14/25]

Recent reporting shows continued global interest in renewable energy expansion

• In 2025, wind and solar generation exceeded fossil fuel generation in the European Union, according to a report from the U.K. think tank Ember Energy.“Wind and solar generated a record 30% of EU electricity, higher than fossil power for the first time on record,” which generated 29%, the report said. Ember Energy, [1/22/26]

• The U.K. and nine other European countries just announced plans to build 100 gigawatts of offshore wind power in the North Sea, enough to power 143 million homes. The governments signed a declaration that promises “to collectively build 5GW of offshore wind capacity every year between 2031 and 2040 by helping to support private sector investments.” The Guardian, [1/26/26]

• The CEO of German insurance and asset manager company Allianz, Oliver Bäte, told CNBC that “he disagreed with the suggestion that it may just be a matter of time before net zero is dismissed in Europe, saying short-term thinking on this issue is ‘bulls---.’” “Asked about political leaders backtracking on their much-vaunted European Green New Deal and Norway’s oil fund reportedly defending a push from companies to water down their climate goals, Bäte said anyone who has children ‘will have to worry’ about the planet’s future.” CNBC, [1/22/26]

• In a Davos interview with The Wall Street Journal, Fortescue Metals Group CEO Andrew Forrest, said he was surprised that green energy and sustainability have been dropped from the agenda because renewable energy has allowed him to “compete with the rest of the world” and “deliver … the lowest cost product.” He also told the Journal, “I’m saying to all of my fellow leaders in business and politics, to say, Hey, you are your values. … If you drop your values just because there’s pressure on them or people don’t agree with them or you get political pushback, then, well, who actually are you?” The Wall Street Journal, [1/21/26]

• The CEO of one of the world’s largest iron ore mining companies, Forrest has been vocal about keeping climate goals relevant and “convened three private meetings with between 20 and 50 CEOs” on the topic at Davos, according to Axios. Forrest acknowledged that other leaders “fear retribution” from Trump, but told Axios, “Everyone cares what the economics are, and the economics are going straight to green energy.” Axios, [1/27/26]

• Recapping the event, The World Economic Forum wrote, “Davos in 2026 will be remembered as a week when geopolitics owned the stage – yet the climate and nature crisis persisted in the wings.” Ester Baiget, co-chair of WEF’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders and CEO of Novonesis, a Danish biotech company, said during the convening, “Business-smart is climate-smart – they are two sides of the same coin.” Leaders spoke about the plummeting price of renewable energy and energy storage, the global electric vehicle transition, and the importance of getting ahead of climate change tipping points that will “self-amplify warming and undermine the basis for stable economies.” World Economic Forum, [1/30/26; Climate Home News, 1/21/26]

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MMA

After calling for Don Lemon’s arrest, right-wing media are now celebrating it

Written by Reed McMaster & Ben Van Bloem

Published 02/02/26

Right-wing media figures called for Don Lemon's arrest, claiming he needed to be “next to fall” and made an “example out of” after he and fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort covered a January 18 protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Minnesota church. After they were arrested on January 30, right-wing media figures celebrated, calling it “a wonderful thing to happen” and stating that it was time for Lemon to “feel some trauma.”

Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents after reporting on a protest at a Minnesota church

• • Lemon and Fort documented protesters in Minnesota who disrupted a church service on January 18 after hearing reports that a pastor at the church was an ICE official. Lemon and Fort have now been indicted by a grand jury and were arrested by FBI and Homeland Security agents on January 30. The BBC reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi accused them of participating in a “coordinated attack” with the protesters against the church. BBC, [1/30/26]

• • Lemon and Fort have both stated that they attended the protest as journalists there to document the event, not as protesters themselves. In a video recorded at the scene on January 18, Lemon stated, “I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group. … I’m a journalist.” CNN reported that Fort “made the same points in a Facebook Live stream when federal agents arrived at her home early Friday morning. ‘This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media,’ Fort said before she surrendered to agents” CNN, [1/30/26]

• • Before the arrests, right-wing figures accused Lemon of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and floated charging him under an 1871 law against the Ku Klux Klan. Conservative media personalities Benny Johnson and Will Chamberlain accused Lemon of violating the FACE Act, which criminThe Independent, [1/19/26areliges impeding a person's access to abortion clinics and places of worship. In an interview with Johnson, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon “floated the possibility of invoking the Enforcement Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act,” to charge Lemon. ; U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, accessed 1/30/26; HuffPost, 1/20/26]

• • Multiple press freedom groups and Lemon's former employer CNN condemned the arrest, accusing the administration of violating his First Amendment rights. CNN wrote, “The FBl’s arrest of our former CNN colleague Don Lemon raises profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment.” The network further stated, “The First Amendment in the United States protects journalists who bear witness to news and events as they unfold, ensuring they can report freely in the public interest, and the DOJ’s attempts to violate those rights is unacceptable.” CNN, [1/30/26]

• ## Right-wing media called for Lemon’s arrest after the January 18 church protest

• • Daily Wire podcaster Matt Walsh praised the arrests of protesters, declaring, “Don Lemon needs to be the next to fall” and “everybody who stormed that church needs to be arrested.” Walsh said, “And so, this is hopefully just the beginning. And as we know, Don Lemon needs to be the next to fall. And I mean, everybody who stormed the church needs to be arrested. And we’re moving in that direction now, which is great.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh show*, [1/22/26]

• • Streamer Zach Hoyt, known as Asmongold, said he would be “so happy” if Lemon was put “in jail under the Ku Klux Klan Act.” Hoyt celebrated “The Klan Act? Bro, Don Lemon is gonna get charged with the Klan Act. … Absolute fucking cinema. Bro, if they put him in jail under the Ku Klux Klan Act, that's going to be impressive. I'll be so happy.” Twitch, *Zachrawr*, [1/20/26]

• • Fox host Emily Compagno listed off “a whole host of things” she'd charge Lemon with, including child endangerment. Compagno said, “If I were the federal prosecutor, I would charge, yes, the FACE Act, I would charge civil rights, I would charge conspiracy, I would charge obstruction of free exercise of religion, I would charge federal trespass, harassment, a whole host of things — and on the state level, child endangerment, too.” She complained, “What if they were armed? Try that in my church. This is sickening to me. And then to have Don Lemon try to mealymouth his way out of it, you know what? If he continues that charade I would charge him with lying to a federal officer.” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [1/20/26]

• • On Sean Hannity’s radio show, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett fantasized that Lemon “could be prosecuted as a willing participant” in the protest.Jarrett claimed that the FACE Act “fits like a glove,” adding, “On top of that, I would throw in trespass, disorderly conduct, [and] disturbing a religious meeting, which are normally state crimes. Look, Don Lemon could be prosecuted as a willing participant. He committed trespass, he appears, as you and I discussed last night, to have embedded himself in the mob. He knew full well what they intended to do — commit those crimes I’ve described.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [1/20/26]

• • Speaking about Lemon and the church protesters with podcaster Tim Pool, white nationalist Nick Fuentes argued, “I think you got to crush them. You got to make an example out of them.” Fuentes said, “What's funny is what happens with the right, they just get the book thrown at them. There's no defense. Ashli Babbitt, was there a big discussion in the national press about was that justified? Was that overkill? No. Absolutely not. But the left knows they get away with literally murder and every other thing. So I think you got to crush them. You got to make an example out of them. And then the next time, people think twice and say I don't know. Should we storm the church? We might go to jail like those other people.” Rumble, *TimcastIRL*, [1/20/26]

• • OnThe Benny Show, Walsh called to prosecute Lemon with “every possible crime that you can charge him with legally” after he covered the church protest. Walsh argued, “Find every possible crime that you can charge him with legally. And there's a bunch. It's not just one. Find every crime you can charge him with. Charge him with every single one down to the letter and then give him the maximum possible sentence for every single one.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/22/26]

• • An op-ed in The Christian Post argued that Lemon and other protesters should be charged under the FACE Act. Op-ed contributor Daniel Schmid wrote, “Don Lemon and his Marxist mob stormed a Temple of the Most High God, and they ought to be prosecuted for it. Anything less would leave the Republic bewildered as to which face of the Department of Justice may be true.” The Christian Post, [1/22/26]

• • Appearing on Hannity’s radio show again, Jarrett said Lemon should have been charged with a “hate crime” against white people. Jarrett argued churchgoers “were taunted because of their race, which qualifies as a hate crime.” Premiere Radio Network, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [1/30/26]

• ## Right-wing media celebrated and defended Lemon’s arrest on January 30 as “pretty unimpeachable”

• • Podcaster Megyn Kelly celebrated the arrest and claimed it was time for Lemon “to feel some trauma.” She stated, “Now it's time for you to feel some trauma. And we don't feel sorry for you because unlike those poor parishioners you actually did bring this upon yourself.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/30/26]

• • On Instagram, The Daily Wire celebrated Lemon’s arrest by posting a video of the character Carlton fromThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Airdancing. The video’s caption said, “Actual footage of what happened in my brain when I woke up to the news that don lemon was arrested.” The Daily Wire, [1/30/26; Instagram, 1/30/26]

• • The Daily Wire's Michael Knowles called Lemon's arrest “a wonderful thing to happen” and claimed it's “good for society.” He stated, “This is, without any qualification, a wonderful thing to happen. It is good for society, it is good for law and order, it's even good for Don Lemon because the guy is clearly very messed up.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/30/26]

• • Benny Johnson celebrated his show’s advocacy for Lemon’s arrest, claiming, “We were the Grand Central Station for arrest Don Lemon.” Johnson stated that he was “proud to have been part of the telling of the truth on this story, to keep the heat up on Don Lemon.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/30/26]

• • Conspiracy theorist Sherri Tenpenny celebrated the arrest of Lemon on Telegram and called for more arrests. She wrote, “Don't you love how good news always comes on a Friday? Minutes ago, I saw this! Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has been arrested, a Justice Department official familiar with the situation said on Friday. Lemon livestreamed a demonstration that interrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, earlier this month that protested President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in the area. Yes! Let's keep going. We have a LONG list of people we'd like to see taken into custody!” Telegram, [1/30/26; Media Matters, 7/19/23]

• • Fox host Jesse Watters called the protesters “Lemon’s mob” and argued that he “wasn’t an independent journalist. He was on their team.” Watters said, “Parents were grabbing their children and fleeing for safety. Lemon's mob was menacing families and calling them Nazis. He was encouraging and supporting the reprehensible behavior, and at one point thanked the ringleader. Lemon wasn't an independent journalist. He was on their team.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/30/26]

• • Fox host Charles Hurt argued that because it was a “grand jury that did indict him,” the indictment is “pretty unimpeachable.” On Fox & Friends, Hurt said, “Of course if it was a grand jury that did indict him, that's pretty unimpeachable.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/30/26]

//

January 30, 2026, edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show

GREGG JARRETT (GUEST): The racist overtones are conspicuous for all to see and hear on those videotapes. And then, you know, Don Lemon later appeared on a podcast, and he doubled down on it. He called the members of the church entitled white supremacists as if that somehow justifies an attack on them. You know, it's not just a despicable remark, but it tells me that they were taunted because of their race, which qualifies as a hate crime. I would have charged him with that.

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MMA

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]

//

1. ### Right-wing media are launching attacks at the women protesting in Minnesota

:{01/28/26

2. ### Newsmax's Greg Kelly on assault against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN): “Let's not overdo it there. Ilhan Omar, she's a survivor. It looked to me like silly string, which we used to play with back in the day.”

:{01/28/26

3. ### “Looks like a surrender”: Right-wing media figures are disappointed by Trump’s demotion of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino

01/27/2

---

MMA SORTA RANDOM

1. ### Right-wing media attempt to justify baseless conspiracy theories that the attack on Ilhan Omar was staged

:{01/29/26

2. ### Cada Tarde host says Noem and Miller make up “an element of anti-Hispanic racism” inside the administration

:{01/29/26

3. ### Megyn Kelly on Alex Pretti's death: “It's almost turning into a suicide by cop situation”

:{01/29/26

4. ### Tim Pool on Alex Pretti shooting: “I believe this was suicide by cop, intentional martyrdom”

:{01/29/26

5. ### Libs of TikTok is doxxing teachers and nurses who support Alex Pretti or oppose ICE, trying to get them fired

:{01/29/26

6. ### Nick Fuentes on mass deportations: “Not to go like full Nazi or something, but there is no substitute for victory. We have to win, they have to lose.”

:{01/29/26

7. ### Tim Pool: “I'm a 2A absolutist. I'm more 2A than all y'all combined. I have argued for the private ownership of nuclear and biological weapons.”

:{01/29/26

8. ### Ben Shapiro: “It is my informed opinion that Kristi Noem should go and Tom Homan should take her place”

:{01/29/26

9. ### Benny Johnson says there was “dark spiritual energy” during 2020 election: “My wife swears that she saw a demon”

:{:{01/29/26 }:

10. ### Fox contributor joins Trump in slamming Fed chair over interest rates: “This is political theater. He is trying to maintain the appearance of independence.”

:{01/29/26

11. ### Flagrant host Andrew Schulz: The administration spin on the killing of Alex Pretti is “abhorrent,” “fucking disgusting,” and “should be called out”

:{01/29/26

12. ### Flagrant's Akaash Singh on the Trump administration: “I don’t really think anything they’re doing is with any good intention”

01/29/26

---

mma

1. ### Watch MSNOW's Ari Melber discuss Fox News' changing narrative on ICE shootings in Minnesota

01/27/26 7:18 PM EST

2. ### Right-wing radio host attacks self-proclaimed three-time Trump voter for criticizing ICE tactics

01/27/26 5:39 PM EST

3. ### Sean Hannity on killing of Alex Pretti: “I don't care that this guy had a license to carry”

01/27/26 4:50 PM EST

4. ### Nick Fuentes says “Trump has fully chickened out” on mass deportations, calling the administration's operations “a spectacular failure and a disaster”

01/27/26 4:13 PM EST

5. ### “Looks like a surrender”: Right-wing media figures are disappointed by Trump’s demotion of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino

01/27/26 4:03 PM EST

6. ### Fox’s absurd attempt to cast Tom Homan as Trump’s good cop on immigration

01/27/26 4:03 PM EST

7. ### Cada Tarde host on Kristi Noem's defense of ICE killing Pretti: “This woman is doing incalculable harm to President Donald Trump”

01/27/26 3:46 PM EST

8. ### Ben Shapiro: Kristi Noem has “not done a credit to the president as DHS secretary”

01/27/26 3:19 PM EST

9. ### Nick Fuentes calls Alex Pretti a “race traitor” and says there is “one less asshole in the world"

01/27/26 2:38 PM EST

10. ### Fox's Trey Gowdy calls out Noem for getting ahead of the facts: “I don't understand why it is so hard for those of us in public service to say from time to time, ‘You know what, I got it wrong'”

01/27/26 2:25 PM EST

11. ### Fox stars respond to Alex Pretti’s killing by attacking Minneapolis “insurgency” of “hardcore communists” and “jihadists”

01/27/26 2:15 PM EST

12. ### Megyn Kelly on ICE operations in Minnesota: “I'm still amongst those people” who “wanted all illegals deported, whether they'd committed a crime or not. ... I want them gone.”

01/27/26 1:59 PM EST

---

mma

Many right-wing media figures fell in line after Trump renewed threat to acquire Greenland

White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said Europe should be “grateful that we don't take a whole lot more”

Written by Payton Armstrong, Reed McMaster & Jack Wheatley

Published 01/21/26

Many right-wing media figures backed President Donald Trump’s vow to take control of Greenland, a move that threatened the NATO alliance formed after World War II, telling Denmark to “just sell us Greenland” and arguing that it’s “worth talking about” taking Greenland by force because “that's the only way that America exists in the first place.” Some in conservative print media outlets came out against Trump’s threats, suggesting that some of his tactics were “dangerous,” calling it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends,” and asserting that his “foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.”

Trump vowed to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally

• • Trump has said acquiring Greenland is critical to U.S. national security and recently threatened a trade war with Europe. The Associated Press reported that “President Donald Trump’s pledge to provoke a sweeping tariff fight with Europe to get his way in taking control of Greenland has left many of America’s closest allies warning of a rupture with Washington capable of shuttering the NATO alliance that had once seemed unshakable.” On January 21, Trump for the first time ruled out using force to acquire Greenland, saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “I don't have to use force, I don't want to use force, I won't use force.” Trump later further softened his position, posting on Truth Social that he would not enact tariffs and that he had agreed with the head of NATO on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security. CBS News, [1/21/26; The Associated Press, 1/20/26, 1/21/26]

• • Trump has repeatedly brushed off NATO allies who have offered diplomatic solutions meant to address his alleged security concerns but do not include U.S. annexation of Greenland. As The New York Times noted, Trump “has shown no interest so far in looking for diplomatic offramps, or the kind of defense partnerships that NATO has long fostered. Every time the Europeans offer solutions — everything short of outright American ownership of the Danish territory — Mr. Trump turns them aside.” The New York Times, [1/19/26]

• • Even some Republicans have criticized Trump’s actions involving Greenland. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) condemned Trump’s tariff threat, criticizing the “advisors who are actively pushing for coercive action to seize” Greenland and calling the move “beyond stupid.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called Trump’s tariffs “unnecessary, punitive, and a profound mistake,” adding, “They will push our core European allies further away while doing nothing to advance U.S. national security.” Time, [1/19/26]

• ## Right-wing media pundits cheered on Trump's push to take Greenland, with some supporting purchasing it and some showing openness to military conquest

• • White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said that Europe should be “grateful that we don't take a whole lot more” than just Greenland and that he would “like to see Denmark try and stop us” from using Greenland for a military base or more. “As a matter of fact, I would like to see all of Europe try to stop us,” he continued. “They let us use Greenland? They let us do whatever we want? Try and stop us from doing whatever we want.” Rumble, *America First*, [1/15/26; Media Matters, 12/19/25]

• • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said that it’s “worth talking about” taking over Greenland by force because “that's the only way that America exists in the first place.” Walsh said, “It's interesting to me when people today get so offended by the very notion that we would try to acquire land, that we would try to grow sort of the empire, and in particular, that we would try to do it by force. … America became what it is today, the continental United States plus Hawaii and Alaska, that happened through purchasing land, in some cases, going to war, taking it by force, displacing people, kicking them out, and taking the land for ourself. … And that's how the entire world has taken the shape that it's taken. This is the way that it goes. So that doesn't mean that I'm going to support any effort to just go and conquer land, but it does mean that I'm not going to automatically rule it out because that's the only way that America exists in the first place. So it's worth talking about.” The Daily Wire, *Friendly Fire*, [1/16/26]

• • Fox host Sean Hannity announced his support for giving $100,000 to every person in Greenland in exchange for the island. Hannity said that “the beauty of Donald Trump” is “he's in a perpetual state of negotiation” adding, “maybe $100,000 to every person in Greenland to start, and America is uniquely qualified. They have vast natural resources and rare earth. We would be in the best position to help them extract these natural resources that they can have a profit share in. I could make an argument that every person in Greenland, who only gets $10,000 a year from Denmark, could be a multimillionaire if American ingenuity were ever unleashed in Greenland.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [1/20/26]

• • Fox prime-time host Jesse Watters declared: “What is good and proper for the United States of America is adopting the world's biggest island: Greenland.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/20/26]

• • OnThe Five, Watters said: “We have to secure Greenland. It will happen.” Watters claimed: “Globalism's dead. We have to protect our own supply lines, we have to protect ourselves from missiles coming in from China. And we're going to do it whether they like it or not.” Fox News, *The Five*, [1/20/26]

• • On Fox, former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland claimed that “at the end of the day we're going to get control of Greenland.” She explained that Trump would “probably figure out how to have the companies invest in Greenland so that the United States doesn't have to pay for it. But I think money changes hands at the end of the day, and the United States takes the leadership role permanently in Greenland.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/15/25]

• • Podcaster and Trump ally Benny Johnson told Denmark to “just sell us Greenland,” adding that America “purchased its entire empire.” Johnson said: “Greenland, ladies and gentlemen, absolutely essential and something that is worth buying, which I think is the role right now that Trump has put Marco Rubio and a number of other people from the administration in — just come up with a deal. America has, of course, purchased its entire empire. Obviously, there is plenty of conquest to be done, but most of American land was simply bought, bought from Russia, bought from European powers, including the Danish, which sold us the Virgin Islands.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/19/26; Media Matters, 11/25/25]

• • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said he supports the U.S. acquiring Greenland, saying, “I personally vote yes. I'm still learning about it but it seems like yeah, I like it. I like it. It's about time.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [1/20/26]

• • On Hannity's radio show, guest John Solomon claimed Denmark opposes the U.S. acquisition of Greenland because of “Trump derangement syndrome.” He claimed, “The Danish government, the very people who said we don't want the Americans here now, They were warning as most recently, Sean, as December that Greenland was in grave danger from Russian and Chinese aggression. But the second Donald Trump offers a solution, they turn around on it. They act against their own self-interest because it seems like Trump derangement syndrome is pretty well positioned in Europe these days.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [1/15/26]

• • Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson said the U.S. taking Greenland would end NATO, calling it a “huge victory for the world and for the United States.” He claimed, “NATO will effectively be done. How can you have a defensive alliance when one member acts against another? Probably can't. NATO was going out anyway. Is it really bad that NATO's going away? No. It's a huge victory for the world and for the United States.” YouTube, *The Tucker Carlson Show*, [1/14/26]

• • Fox host Laura Ingraham insisted it was “critical” for Greenland to be under the authority of the United States. She claimed, “Having Greenland under U.S. authority, however that's structured, it's critical given both Russia and China's ambitions in the region. So except for wounding their pride, you know U.S. command of the second largest island in the world will mean both Denmark and Greenland are better off, because after all a strong and safe America means a stronger, safer Europe.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [1/14/26]

• • All-Inpodcast host Jason Calacanis celebrated Trump’s vow to control Greenland, adding, “If he wants to buy some other land, I'm here for it. I love building the empire.” Calacanis asked: “Why not get it done? Trump loves real estate. We got him for another three years. I say let President Trump cook.” YouTube, *The All In Podcast*, [1/16/26]

• • Podcaster Tim Pool said that “if you asked me should we take Greenland, even by force, I’d say no,” adding, “We should buy it.” YouTube, *TimcastIRL*, [1/15/26]

• ## Some conservative media outlets – mostly print – came out against annexing Greenland and called it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends”

• • Conservative pundit Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in National Review headlined “Don’t Annex Greenland” and argued that Trump’s “foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.” Lowry wrote: “A NATO ally seizing the territory of another NATO ally would obviously be a grave threat to the integrity of the alliance. Would Denmark invoke Article 5 against the United States? It has the makings of a good spoof musical, but it’s not something anyone should want to experience in reality. … We can almost certainly get whatever we need from Greenland without violating a friendly country’s sovereignty or straining a world-historical alliance to the breaking point. … Even the unsentimental, results-oriented Trump foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.” National Review, [1/6/26]

• • National Review editor Andrew Stuttaford argued the U.S. should not annex Greenland, saying that “for the administration to even be talking about such a move is counterproductive.” He added that the discussion “is alienating the Greenlanders, and its is alienating Denmark, an ally.” National Review, [1/6/26]

• • An editorial in The Washington Examiner argued that “Trump’s deranged text on Greenland is damaging and dangerous.” The Washington Examiner said: “President Donald Trump has taken a bad situation and made it worse. His recent text messages to the prime minister of Norway about the U.S. administration’s desire to acquire Greenland were extraordinarily uncouth, self-defeating, and, to speak plainly, almost deranged.” The Washington Examiner, [1/20/26]

• • The Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized Trump's attacks on Greenland, calling it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends.” The Journal criticized Trump for dismissing U.S. allies, writing, “Whether or not Mr. Trump believes it, the U.S. needs friends in the world. He seems to think that if he captures Greenland, history will remember him as another Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana purchase) or William Seward (Alaska). The cost of his afflatus to U.S. interests will be greater than he imagines.” The editorial also noted that the “fondest dream of Russian strategy has been to divide Western Europe from the U.S. and break the NATO alliance. That is now a possibility as President Trump presses his campaign to capture Greenland no matter what the locals or its Denmark owner thinks.” The Wall Street Journal, [1/20/26]

• • Though still generally supportive of Trump’s efforts, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt questioned the president’s “tactics” toward acquiring Greenland, saying the U.S. does not “have to be so forceful.” Schmitt: “Anything that we probably wanted out of Greenland, we could probably get that. That we could probably just get very easily with a little negotiating and not have to be so forceful.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [1/20/26]

---

---

mma

Many right-wing media figures fell in line after Trump renewed threat to acquire Greenland

White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said Europe should be “grateful that we don't take a whole lot more”

Written by Payton Armstrong, Reed McMaster & Jack Wheatley

Published 01/21/26

Many right-wing media figures backed President Donald Trump’s vow to take control of Greenland, a move that threatened the NATO alliance formed after World War II, telling Denmark to “just sell us Greenland” and arguing that it’s “worth talking about” taking Greenland by force because “that's the only way that America exists in the first place.” Some in conservative print media outlets came out against Trump’s threats, suggesting that some of his tactics were “dangerous,” calling it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends,” and asserting that his “foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.”

Trump vowed to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally

• • Trump has said acquiring Greenland is critical to U.S. national security and recently threatened a trade war with Europe. The Associated Press reported that “President Donald Trump’s pledge to provoke a sweeping tariff fight with Europe to get his way in taking control of Greenland has left many of America’s closest allies warning of a rupture with Washington capable of shuttering the NATO alliance that had once seemed unshakable.” On January 21, Trump for the first time ruled out using force to acquire Greenland, saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “I don't have to use force, I don't want to use force, I won't use force.” Trump later further softened his position, posting on Truth Social that he would not enact tariffs and that he had agreed with the head of NATO on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security. CBS News, [1/21/26; The Associated Press, 1/20/26, 1/21/26]

• • Trump has repeatedly brushed off NATO allies who have offered diplomatic solutions meant to address his alleged security concerns but do not include U.S. annexation of Greenland. As The New York Times noted, Trump “has shown no interest so far in looking for diplomatic offramps, or the kind of defense partnerships that NATO has long fostered. Every time the Europeans offer solutions — everything short of outright American ownership of the Danish territory — Mr. Trump turns them aside.” The New York Times, [1/19/26]

• • Even some Republicans have criticized Trump’s actions involving Greenland. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) condemned Trump’s tariff threat, criticizing the “advisors who are actively pushing for coercive action to seize” Greenland and calling the move “beyond stupid.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called Trump’s tariffs “unnecessary, punitive, and a profound mistake,” adding, “They will push our core European allies further away while doing nothing to advance U.S. national security.” Time, [1/19/26]

• ## Right-wing media pundits cheered on Trump's push to take Greenland, with some supporting purchasing it and some showing openness to military conquest

• • White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said that Europe should be “grateful that we don't take a whole lot more” than just Greenland and that he would “like to see Denmark try and stop us” from using Greenland for a military base or more. “As a matter of fact, I would like to see all of Europe try to stop us,” he continued. “They let us use Greenland? They let us do whatever we want? Try and stop us from doing whatever we want.” Rumble, *America First*, [1/15/26; Media Matters, 12/19/25]

• • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said that it’s “worth talking about” taking over Greenland by force because “that's the only way that America exists in the first place.” Walsh said, “It's interesting to me when people today get so offended by the very notion that we would try to acquire land, that we would try to grow sort of the empire, and in particular, that we would try to do it by force. … America became what it is today, the continental United States plus Hawaii and Alaska, that happened through purchasing land, in some cases, going to war, taking it by force, displacing people, kicking them out, and taking the land for ourself. … And that's how the entire world has taken the shape that it's taken. This is the way that it goes. So that doesn't mean that I'm going to support any effort to just go and conquer land, but it does mean that I'm not going to automatically rule it out because that's the only way that America exists in the first place. So it's worth talking about.” The Daily Wire, *Friendly Fire*, [1/16/26]

• • Fox host Sean Hannity announced his support for giving $100,000 to every person in Greenland in exchange for the island. Hannity said that “the beauty of Donald Trump” is “he's in a perpetual state of negotiation” adding, “maybe $100,000 to every person in Greenland to start, and America is uniquely qualified. They have vast natural resources and rare earth. We would be in the best position to help them extract these natural resources that they can have a profit share in. I could make an argument that every person in Greenland, who only gets $10,000 a year from Denmark, could be a multimillionaire if American ingenuity were ever unleashed in Greenland.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [1/20/26]

• • Fox prime-time host Jesse Watters declared: “What is good and proper for the United States of America is adopting the world's biggest island: Greenland.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/20/26]

• • OnThe Five, Watters said: “We have to secure Greenland. It will happen.” Watters claimed: “Globalism's dead. We have to protect our own supply lines, we have to protect ourselves from missiles coming in from China. And we're going to do it whether they like it or not.” Fox News, *The Five*, [1/20/26]

• • On Fox, former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland claimed that “at the end of the day we're going to get control of Greenland.” She explained that Trump would “probably figure out how to have the companies invest in Greenland so that the United States doesn't have to pay for it. But I think money changes hands at the end of the day, and the United States takes the leadership role permanently in Greenland.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/15/25]

• • Podcaster and Trump ally Benny Johnson told Denmark to “just sell us Greenland,” adding that America “purchased its entire empire.” Johnson said: “Greenland, ladies and gentlemen, absolutely essential and something that is worth buying, which I think is the role right now that Trump has put Marco Rubio and a number of other people from the administration in — just come up with a deal. America has, of course, purchased its entire empire. Obviously, there is plenty of conquest to be done, but most of American land was simply bought, bought from Russia, bought from European powers, including the Danish, which sold us the Virgin Islands.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/19/26; Media Matters, 11/25/25]

• • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said he supports the U.S. acquiring Greenland, saying, “I personally vote yes. I'm still learning about it but it seems like yeah, I like it. I like it. It's about time.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [1/20/26]

• • On Hannity's radio show, guest John Solomon claimed Denmark opposes the U.S. acquisition of Greenland because of “Trump derangement syndrome.” He claimed, “The Danish government, the very people who said we don't want the Americans here now, They were warning as most recently, Sean, as December that Greenland was in grave danger from Russian and Chinese aggression. But the second Donald Trump offers a solution, they turn around on it. They act against their own self-interest because it seems like Trump derangement syndrome is pretty well positioned in Europe these days.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [1/15/26]

• • Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson said the U.S. taking Greenland would end NATO, calling it a “huge victory for the world and for the United States.” He claimed, “NATO will effectively be done. How can you have a defensive alliance when one member acts against another? Probably can't. NATO was going out anyway. Is it really bad that NATO's going away? No. It's a huge victory for the world and for the United States.” YouTube, *The Tucker Carlson Show*, [1/14/26]

• • Fox host Laura Ingraham insisted it was “critical” for Greenland to be under the authority of the United States. She claimed, “Having Greenland under U.S. authority, however that's structured, it's critical given both Russia and China's ambitions in the region. So except for wounding their pride, you know U.S. command of the second largest island in the world will mean both Denmark and Greenland are better off, because after all a strong and safe America means a stronger, safer Europe.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [1/14/26]

• • All-Inpodcast host Jason Calacanis celebrated Trump’s vow to control Greenland, adding, “If he wants to buy some other land, I'm here for it. I love building the empire.” Calacanis asked: “Why not get it done? Trump loves real estate. We got him for another three years. I say let President Trump cook.” YouTube, *The All In Podcast*, [1/16/26]

• • Podcaster Tim Pool said that “if you asked me should we take Greenland, even by force, I’d say no,” adding, “We should buy it.” YouTube, *TimcastIRL*, [1/15/26]

• ## Some conservative media outlets – mostly print – came out against annexing Greenland and called it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends”

• • Conservative pundit Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in National Review headlined “Don’t Annex Greenland” and argued that Trump’s “foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.” Lowry wrote: “A NATO ally seizing the territory of another NATO ally would obviously be a grave threat to the integrity of the alliance. Would Denmark invoke Article 5 against the United States? It has the makings of a good spoof musical, but it’s not something anyone should want to experience in reality. … We can almost certainly get whatever we need from Greenland without violating a friendly country’s sovereignty or straining a world-historical alliance to the breaking point. … Even the unsentimental, results-oriented Trump foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.” National Review, [1/6/26]

• • National Review editor Andrew Stuttaford argued the U.S. should not annex Greenland, saying that “for the administration to even be talking about such a move is counterproductive.” He added that the discussion “is alienating the Greenlanders, and its is alienating Denmark, an ally.” National Review, [1/6/26]

• • An editorial in The Washington Examiner argued that “Trump’s deranged text on Greenland is damaging and dangerous.” The Washington Examiner said: “President Donald Trump has taken a bad situation and made it worse. His recent text messages to the prime minister of Norway about the U.S. administration’s desire to acquire Greenland were extraordinarily uncouth, self-defeating, and, to speak plainly, almost deranged.” The Washington Examiner, [1/20/26]

• • The Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized Trump's attacks on Greenland, calling it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends.” The Journal criticized Trump for dismissing U.S. allies, writing, “Whether or not Mr. Trump believes it, the U.S. needs friends in the world. He seems to think that if he captures Greenland, history will remember him as another Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana purchase) or William Seward (Alaska). The cost of his afflatus to U.S. interests will be greater than he imagines.” The editorial also noted that the “fondest dream of Russian strategy has been to divide Western Europe from the U.S. and break the NATO alliance. That is now a possibility as President Trump presses his campaign to capture Greenland no matter what the locals or its Denmark owner thinks.” The Wall Street Journal, [1/20/26]

• • Though still generally supportive of Trump’s efforts, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt questioned the president’s “tactics” toward acquiring Greenland, saying the U.S. does not “have to be so forceful.” Schmitt: “Anything that we probably wanted out of Greenland, we could probably get that. That we could probably just get very easily with a little negotiating and not have to be so forceful.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [1/20/26]

---

MMA

Right-wing media are describing pro-immigrant Minnesota activists using the language of war

“Civil war,” “insurgents,” “a guerilla tactical playbook” — these are just some of the ways MAGA pundits are describing civil resistance to Trump’s ICE rampages

Written by John Knefel & Sophie Lawton

Published 01/16/26

Right-wing media figures and outlets are using the language of war to characterize protests against the presence of violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota.

The fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis on January 7 touched off a new round of protests in the region and across the country. President Donald Trump responded by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows for the domestic use of the military against U.S. civilians in certain circumstances, days after Fox News host Laura Ingraham practically begged him to do so.

While some in right-wing media have referred to anti-ICE demonstrations as an “insurrection” since at least October, the overall tenor of right-wing rhetoric has escalated dramatically in recent days. Right-wing pundits have reacted to the pro-immigrant demonstrations by casting Minneapolis residents as “insurgents” who are using a “a guerilla tactical playbook” and looking to spark a “civil war” or engage in “violent terroristic extremism.” Here are some of the most egregious examples.

• ### Right-wing media call Minneapolis protesters “insurgents” and “terrorists” waging “guerilla warfare”

• Fox’s Laura Ingraham opened her January 12 show with the phrase “an insurgency, not a protest,” and claimed that “insurgents besieged a hotel in Minneapolis where they thought that ICE was staying.” She went on to say that “they want to deliver vigilante justice” and asked her guest, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX): “could the Insurrection Act come into play?” Another guest described the Minneapolis crackdown as a “war … about the idea and concepts of what a citizen is.” Media Matters, [1/13/26]

• • Fox News host Jesse Watters said: “This is a Minnesota insurgency. They’re conducting guerrilla warfare against federal agents.” He added: “If the federal government doesn’t assert authority over this rebellion, the republic is going to fracture.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/15/26]

• • Fox’s Emily Compagno said that a purported protester instruction manual was like “a guerilla tactical playbook — it’s about how to assault, how to engage in felonious behavior.” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [1/14/26]

• • Livestreamer Tim Pool referred to the protests as “violent terroristic extremism.” He also demanded that Trump “invoke the Insurrection Act. Round these people up.” YouTube, *Timcast*, [1/15/26]

• • Referring to a film depicting the battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993, MAGA influencer Benny Johnson said: “If it doesn't get under control Somali warlords, pirates, and fraudsters are going to bringBlack Hawk Downto Minneapolis. Stealing government weapons is an actual insurrection.” He also said that it is “time for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/15/26; BBC, 2/9/25]

• • MAGA podcaster and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon portrayed activists as violent, saying: “They're going to break into cars and take guns and take weapons and get ammo. Implying —and now they're all, every, you see these protests, they're throwing these firecrackers, they're almost like mini-bombs.” He later called for government escalation: “Mass deportations now. Insurrection Act first, troops second, mass deportations third.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [1/15/26]

• • :{:{The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh called on Trump to “wage war against the terrorists” and to “bring RICO and terrorism cases” like he “should have done after Charlie Kirk’s murder.”}: Walsh said: “They see her [Renee Good] as a casualty of a much, much larger war that they want to fight, and they’ll eventually get what they’re looking for unless the Trump administration immediately dismantles all of the groups that are organizing these attacks on federal law enforcement.
  • They're all over the internet operating with impunity and with substantial financial assistance in many cases. Shut it down. Bring RICO and terrorism cases. Do what you should have done after Charlie Kirk's murder. Wage war against the terrorists because as the Renee Good case demonstrates very clearly, they're already waging war against us.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [1/12/26]}:

• • Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight featured a graphic that read: “DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST ICE.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [1/14/26]

• ### Right-wing media accuse protesters, Democratic politicians of provoking a “civil war”

• Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan claimed Democratic Gov. Tim Walz committed “essentially an act of civil war” when he considered deploying the Minnesota National Guard. Klavan went on to state “I’m not sure he can’t be arrested just for calling on it, for implying it.” The Daily Wire, *The Andrew Klavan Show*, [1/9/26]

• • Streamer Asmongold agreed with a chat comment on his stream that said Walz “is causing a civil war between the state and the feds.” Asmongold also claimed “they need to charge this guy for sedition. … Same with that mayor in Minneapolis, they need to arrest both of them and put them up on the most extreme charges possible.” YouTube, *Asmongold TV*, [1/15/26]

• • Megyn Kelly said, “We heard some of the most inflammatory rhetoric about the feds from a sitting governor since, like, the Civil War.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/15/26]

• • On Newsmax’sThe Right Stuff, panel member Chris Plante asked, “At what point do we declare that Minnesota is engaged in civil war against the United States?” He continued: “They’re declaring war against the federal government, they’re crying the 10th Amendment like they did in the lead-up to the first Civil War that the Democrats created. They’re violently attacking the federal government. … Enough is enough — Insurrection Act.” Newsmax, *The Right Stuff*, [1/15/26]

• • The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh said that Walz had been “preparing the entire state for their Fort Sumter moment,” referring to the opening battle of the American Civil War. Walsh said Walz has “been priming Minnesota to go to war with the federal government.” Walsh also claimed “the residents of Minnesota are waging a campaign of terrorism against federal law enforcement, which is carrying out lawful orders.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [1/15/26, 1/15/26]

• • On Fox News, MAGA legal activist and Article III Project founder Mike Davis characterized Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as “confederates” who are committing “textbook insurrection” and “textbook seditious conspiracy.” Davis also suggested calls to arrest ICE agents “could lead to deadly force being used by ICE agents against state and local law enforcement. Are these Democrat politicians really trying to cause a civil war here?” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [1/15/26]

• • OnWar Room, Steve Bannon asked guest Naomi Wolf about the “revolt” against ICE; Wolf claimed, “It's really dangerous because these liberal frustrated white women are being weaponized and spun out by people who definitely want civil war in our streets.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [1/13/26]

• • Fox News host Laura Ingraham claimed that Frey was “urging police to fight ICE agents. Again, it’s insanity but not if this is what you want, right, not unless this is what you really want is civil war in the streets.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [1/15/26]

• • :{:{On his Infowarof Minneapolis] want the police to fight ICE,” adding, “That’s literal civil war.”:(style="background-color:#ffbb16ff"):}:** [Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [1/15/26s show, Alex Jones said Frey claimed “the citizens \]}:

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MMA

New York Times video analysis says there’s “no indication” Renee Good ran over an ICE agent. Right-wing media have been claiming she nearly “slaughtered” him.

The Times’ analysis reveals “no indication Agent Jonathan Ross got run over” by Good just prior to her killing – contrasting over a week of right-wing media claims

Written by Noah Dowe, Reed McMaster, Ben Van Bloem & Tyler Monroe

Published 01/16/26

After the January 7 killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, right-wing media figures rallied behind the agency, saying they are “100% on ICE’s side,” repeatedly accusing Good of ramming the agent with her car, and even calling her a “murderer.”

But new video analysis from The New York Times reveals “no indication Agent Jonathan Ross got run over” by Good – rather, that “Ross put himself in a dangerous position near her vehicle in the first place.”

New York Times’ analysis says there’s “no indication Agent Jonathan Ross got run over”

• • The New York Times released a new video analysis on the ICE shooting of Renee Good which found “currently available visual evidence still shows no indication Agent Jonathan Ross got run over.” The analysis “establishes, frame by frame, how agent Ross put himself in a dangerous position near her vehicle in the first place.” It also notes that Good’s car “begins turning to the right, away from the agent” shortly before she was shot. The New York Times, [1/15/26]

• • The report found that Ross seemed to slip on the ice or otherwise lose his footing as the car moved while he was leaning against it. The analysis highlights a moment that “looks and sounds like the agent’s getting knocked violently” but notes that in fact the noise came from his hand, which was holding his phone: “His phone, which is gripped in his left hand, flips over when the agent’s hand lands on the front of the vehicle. There’s an audible thud when it hits.” The New York Times, [1/15/26]

• • The New York Times said it was “very unclear” if the “agent’s upper body gets swiped by the vehicle” but noted that there was “a visible gap between the vehicle and his legs.” According to the analysis, “We see, as he fires, it’s recording the clouds and the trees overhead. It’s not because the agent is knocked to the ground. The other angle shows he’s still standing, continuing to maintain his grip on his phone and his gun, and we see a clear and growing gap between his body and the S.U.V. as he fires a second shot and a third.” The New York Times, [1/15/26]

• ## After Good was killed, right-wing media falsely claimed she “rammed” the agent and “tried to run over an ICE agent”

• • Right-wing host Benny Johnson suggested Good nearly “slaughtered” the agent with her car. YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/12/26]

• • On Fox, Johnson claimed the video showed Good “demonstrably trying to ram and run over” the ICE agent and called her a “murderer.” Johnson said, “They are right now saying that the murderer, the woman who tried to run over an ICE agent in her car, her name is Renee Good, she has — and video demonstrably trying to ram and run over this agent, you can see it in the body cam footage — they are calling her the victim and the ICE agent the murderer. It's flipping the narrative, and it's totally dishonest. It's impossible to keep up with.” Fox News,*Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/12/25]

• • Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked why Democrats are “defending this girl who rams, what is it, a 4,000-pound car into an ICE agent?” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [1/16/26]

• • Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed Good “chased down” the ICE officer “with a 3,000-pound vehicle.” Jones claimed, “She hit him, he bounces off. It's the equivalent of if he got stabbed in the shoulder.” Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [1/9/26]

• • Daily Wire host Michael Knowles accused Good of “driving into a cop” and claimed, “She doesn’t turn her wheel and then drive away. She hits the gas.” “She hit the cop,” Knowles continued, “None of this is really in dispute.” Daily Wire, *The Michael Knowles Show*, [1/12/26]

• • :{:{Fox host Sean Hannity claimed cell phone footage from the officer showed an “anti-ICE agitator, a woman by the name of Renee Good, plowing into an ICE officer with her SUV.” Hannity said, “When I grew up, my parents taught me to actually listen to police officers, that they are your friends, not to taunt them, not to aggravate them, and not to drive vehicles into them.” }:[Fox News, Hannity, 1/9/26

• • Right-wing host Megyn Kelly said that she was “100% on ICE’s side” because Good had tried “to run one down.” Kelly said, “I'm 100% on ICE's side. I don't see the nuance on this one. I feel like you don't want to get shot in the face by ICE, don't try to run one down.” YouTube, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/16/26]

• • On The Megyn Kelly Show, right-wing radio host Jesse Kelly said Good tried “to run over an ICE agent” and called her a “37-year-old street animal.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/9/26]

• • Fox host Jesse Watters played video from the agent's cell phone and said that he was “rammed” above a chyron that read “NEW VIDEO OF ICE RAMMING.” Watters said, “New video from the ICE agent that was rammed was just released, proving he was hit, the woman was there to block the op, and she wasn't a lawyer.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [1/9/26]

• • Newsmax host Chris Plante claimed that Good “raced her car at a federal law enforcement agent and hit him with her car and could very well have killed him.” Newsmax, *The Right Squad*, [1/12/26]

• • MK Media’s Link Lauren claimed that Good “rammed” the ICE officer who killed her. Lauren said, “When you're using your car as a weapon, things are going to happen. Right? You stalked this guy, you rammed him, and it went down.” YouTube, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [1/9/26]

• • Fox host Tomi Lahren: “You do not impede a law enforcement action and then turn around and call it murder when you try to ram your car into an ICE agent out there doing their job.” She added: “Why are you there? Why does the left want these people there? Why do they want their people to be martyred in the streets is my question.” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [1/9/26]

• • Right-wing podcaster Dave Rubin argued of Ross and Good: “He did not pull out the gun until she started using the car as a weapon.” Rubin added, “He didn’t step in front of the car as if, like, step in front of the car as it was moving forward.” YouTube, *The Rubin Report*, [1/8/26]

//

1. ### The Trump administration claims they are targeting criminal migrants in Minnesota. Local reporting shows U.S. citizens and legal immigrants are being detained.

:{01/16/26

:

2. ### Megyn Kelly on Renee Good's family: “I have empathy for them because they had a dumbass mother”

:{01/16/26

3. ### Right-wing media are describing pro-immigrant Minnesota activists using the language of war

01/16/26

---

MMA

1. ### LindellTV host Emerald Robinson claims Patrick Byrne “got called in to the White House”

01/16/26 1:47 PM EST

2. ### Nick Fuentes suggests ICE killing Renee Good is “probably a good thing” because the “future is at stake, whether white people exist as a race”

01/16/26 11:19 AM EST

3. ### Media Matters weekly newsletter, January 16

01/16/26 10:50 AM EST

4. ### Newsmax host dismisses reported incident of ICE teargassing a baby: “Well, like, that sucks. But why was the six-month-old, even exposed or near tear gas in the first place?”

01/16/26 10:10 AM EST

5. ### Jesse Watters: “This is a Minnesota insurgency. They’re conducting guerrilla warfare against federal agents.”

01/15/26 8:51 PM EST

6. ### “Arrest them all”: Right-wing media back Trump as he threatens to use the Insurrection Act

01/15/26 6:45 PM EST

7. ### New polling shows a majority of Americans are concerned about ICE's killing of Renee Good. Fox News figures have claimed otherwise.

01/15/26 6:18 PM EST

8. ### Sean Hannity: “It's clear the pres

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mma

1. ### Right-wing media villainize and blame Renee Good for her own death in Minneapolis ICE shooting

01/09/26 3:53 PM EST

2. ### Watch how Fox tried to spin the disappointing December jobs report

01/09/26 3:38 PM EST

3. ### Megyn Kelly on Minneapolis shooting and ICE protests: “All we can do is flood the field, in my view, with more officers”

01/09/26 3:01 PM EST

4. ### Jack Posobiec says Renee Good's wife is “complicit in the killing” and “should be brought up on federal charges”

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]

//

1. ### Jack Posobiec says Renee Good's wife is “complicit in the killing” and “should be brought up on federal charges”

01/09/26 12:16 PM EST

2. ### A look at how Fox used its coverage of the Minneapolis ICE shooting to push the administration's propaganda

01/08/26 4:14 PM EST

3. ### Megyn Kelly caller on Minneapolis shooting: “The vice president was up there lying his self off”

01/09/26

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mma

MAGA media praise November inflation report that economists caution is a mirage

Economists point out that the government shutdown heavily distorted the price data used in the report

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published 12/19/25

Even as multiple economists were explaining that the November 2025 Consumer Price Index inflation report was distorted due to the recent government shutdown, MAGA media figures were celebrating the slightly lower than expected annualized inflation reading of 2.7%. Trump sycophants, especially on Fox, praised the report, congratulated President Donald Trump, and suggested that it vindicated his economic policies that contributed to a stumbling economy this year. (Ironically, the 2.7% inflation rate being celebrated by the president’s media allies is virtually identical to the inflation rate registered in November 2024, when coverage of high and persistent inflation dominated the news nationwide and helped carry Trump to victory.)

More than a week before the new CPI report, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the upcoming numbers “may be distorted … because data was not collected in October and half of November,” concluding, “We're going to have to look at it carefully and with a somewhat skeptical eye.”

Economists point out major flaws in the November CPI report, urge “a big grain of salt” when reading it

• • University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers: “We can’t be sure of” the November inflation report “given shutdown-related distortions to data collection.” Wolfers added in another post that “this report may understate inflation a bit. Here's why: Usually the BLS collects prices all through November. But the shutdown kept it closed for the first half of November. So more prices than usual were collected in the middle of ‘Black Friday’ sales.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25, 12/18/25]
  • New Century Advisors chief economist Claudia Sahm: “It is extremely important to take this release with a big grain of salt.” Sahm continued: “The data collection — the way the Bureau of Labor Statistics constructs the CPI — it was really disrupted by having a month off in October. And so I think we’re just going to have to see more data next Wednesday before we really start running with this lower number.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Lindsay Rosner: “The sampling for November specifically was focused around the timing of Black Friday. We all know how good the sales were.” Rosner continued: “And so when you look at those numbers, yes, it’s going to look like prices were lower.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Inflation Insights founder Omair Sharif, as quoted by Wall Street Journal chief economics correspondent Nick Timiraos: “This is totally inexcusable. The BLS just assumed rent/OER were zero for October. I am sure they have a good technical explanation for this, but the only way you get a two-month average for rent of 0.06% and OER at 0.135% is assuming October was zero. There is just no world in which this was a good idea, but here we are.” Sharif added in his own post: “Major issue was zeroing out rent/OER in Oct. That will artificially lower YoY rates until Apr (assuming no BLS adjustments). Other issue is weaker prints for a lot of core goods ex-autos due to price collection only in 2H Nov so more discounts/sale px. That should bounce in Dec.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25, 12/18/25]
  • Harvard economist Jason Furman echoed Sharif’s criticism of the November CPI report: “It appear that BLS made a big judgment error in its shelter calculation (effectively assuming 0 in October), leading to inflation understated.” In another post, Furman stated that the CPI report should be partially discounted “due to shutdown-induced price distortions,” later elaborating: “I would increase the discount. It seems like the shelter numbers might have been genuinely garbage.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25, 12/18/25, 12/18/25]
  • Stripe chief economist Ernie Tedeschi: “BLS assumed the index was unchanged for October, when in reality it almost certainly grew.” In a series of posts responding to questions raised by Bloomberg Odd Lots co-host Joe Weisenthal and Timiraos, Tedeschi explained the data errors accumulated during the government shutdown “will affect the year-on-year inflation calculation until at least April when the 6-month rental sample rotates out.” He claimed “the index level should readjust” next April, but in the meantime “October Rent/OER assumption will continue lower YY CPI” in every monthly inflation report. Twitter/X, [12/18/25, 12/18/25, 12/18/25]
  • RSM chief economist Joseph Brusuelas: “This was one flawed CPI report.” He added: “Because of the flawed report, it is better to state forthrightly that we do not have sufficient sense of price movements over the past two months.” Fortune, [12/18/25]
  • Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long cautioned on the November CPI report: “It's hard to read too much into the data given how much the shutdown impacted data collection.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Schwab Center for Financial Research chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders: The November CPI report is “somewhat literally … sort of unbelievable in the sense that there was no data collection the entire month of October and 12 days into November. So a much higher share of the components were estimated.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk on the November CPI report: “We should take the data with a grain of salt.” Swonk elaborated: “Data collection didn’t begin until Nov 14, while much of data for October was ‘carried forward’ at September levels. This was also true for imputation in November. That tends to zero out a change of up or down in any given data point within the series.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
• ## Yet MAGA media celebrated the report and even congratulated Trump for prices continuing to increase
  • Mornings with Mariapanel’s reaction to the November CPI report: “Amazing,” “great for America,” “well done to Donald Trump.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [12/18/25]
  • Newsmax guest Tim Phillips: “The numbers are pretty darn solid, around 2.7% inflation. They beat expectations.” Phillips added: “This economy I do believe is poised” to take off in 2026. Newsmax, *The National Report*, [12/18/25]
  • Fox Business guest Adam Johnson: The November CPI report is “manna from heaven” and “fantastic news.” Fox Business’ Lauren Simonetti additionally called the report “a good one … much less than the estimate.” She added: “There are hopes that the Fed will continue to cut rate, because right now, looking at this number, these numbers, inflation is not quite a problem.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [12/18/25]
  • OnVarney & Co., National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said the November CPI report “was just an absolute blockbuster report.” He added: “This is just an astonishingly good CPI report.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [12/18/25]
  • Fox host Harris Faulkner: “Look at the flip side of all of their [Democrats’] antics and everything else; The president’s economy holding strong. Inflation is, in fact, coming down.” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [12/18/25]
  • Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter: “Things are good out there, particular[ly] if you’re established. … I saw those great inflation numbers today. I looked at my stocks. I’m doing fine.” Schlichter added on social media: “This morning’s great inflation numbers must be really upsetting” to Trump critics. Newsmax, *Newsline*, [12/18/25; Twitter/X, 12/18/25]
  • Fox Business host Dagen McDowell: “Come on, people, 2.7% inflation. Who doesn’t love that?” Fox Business host Charles Payne commented: “This morning’s numbers were so amazing.” Payne also dismissed criticism over how the BLS calculated the November inflation rate. The panel additionally gloated over how the number is lower than all economic forecasters predicted. Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [12/18/25]
  • Fox anchor Sandra Smith: The November CPI report “looked pretty good” and “would back up the president’s claims that prices are cooling, they’re coming down. Inflation is cooling.” Fox contributor Ari Fleischer said: “That is the proof in the pudding [of] what the president has said last night about a boom is coming true.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [12/18/25]
  • Fox anchor John Roberts: “This was a surprise, 2.7% in November was the inflation rate. That's really got to be … a finger in the eye to all of the president's critics who have said, oh, he hasn't done anything to curb inflation.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [12/18/25]
  • Media Research Center: “CNN and CNBC were shocked at November inflation coming in at 2.7%. … Even the leftist media couldn't figure out how to spin this great news!” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Podcaster Benny Johnson: “Inflation hit its lowest level in November since March 2021. … The Golden Age. 2026 is looking great.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Townhall: “BOOM: The experts got it WRONG AGAIN! President Trump is bringing inflation DOWN!” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Conservative Substack writer @amuse: “TRUMP BOOM: November CPI stunned markets with inflation far below forecasts. Headline at 2.7%, core at 2.6%, both crushing expectations. Trump’s policies are delivering results the media refuses to admit.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]
  • Washington Examiner columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher: “Core inflation fell to 2.6% annually in November, the lowest level since the start of the Biden administration — a major victory for President Trump in combatting the affordability issue that remains voters’ top concern.” Twitter/X, [12/18/25]

//

1. ### After the economy fell flat in 2025, Fox promised: “Next year looks like it’s going to be amazing”

12/18/25 10:33 AM EST

2. ### Right-wing media spun the bad November jobs report as a win for “native-born” workers

12/17/25 4:22 PM EST

3. ### Fox falsely credits Trump tariffs for creating factory jobs first announced during the Biden administration

12/04/25

---

mma

After the Brown University shooting, right-media baselessly attacked a Palestinian student as a suspect

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Jack Winstanley

Published 12/19/25

After a shooting at Brown University left two dead, right-wing media figures launched a baseless and Islamophobic campaign to falsely tie a Palestinian student to the killings.

• ## Following a shooting at Brown University, a Palestinian student was wrongly blamed on social media for the attack and doxxed, leading to a barrage of death threats and hate speech

• • On December 13, two people were killed and nine others injured in a shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.The two students killed were identified as Mukhammad Umurzokov, a freshman, and Ella Cook, vice president of Brown’s chapter of the College Republicans of America. The Guardian, [12/15/25]
  • The suspected shooter was found dead on December 18 in a storage facility in New Hampshire.A Portuguese man who briefly studied at Brown University in the early 2000s was identified as the suspected shooter. Authorities also suspect the man was responsible for the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. NBC News, [12/18/25, 12/18/25]
  • During the manhunt for the shooter, Brown University appeared to remove several web pages containing mentions of Mustapha Kharbouch, a student targeted by social media figures as a potential suspect, “as a safety measure” after he was apparently doxxed. Kharbouch was not named as a suspect by police, but social media figures claimed he was the person of interest in closed-circuit television footage, with several claiming that the deletion of pages was part of a conspiracy to shield him. The university responded that the pages were removed as a “safety measure,” however, and called the speculation “dangerous for the safety of individuals in our community.” The university noted, “In the aftermath of the shooting, we’ve seen harmful doxxing activity directed toward at least one member of the Brown University community.” The Providence Journal, [12/17/25]
  • Kharbouch released a statement in conjunction with his legal team noting that the “disturbing, racist, and hateful campaign to connect him to the tragedy carried out on Brown’s campus” had “not only smeared Mustapha,” but had “likely distracted law enforcement from pursuing legitimate leads” and had led to death threats. “The past few days have been an unimaginable nightmare,” Kharbouch said, adding, “Instead of grieving with my community in the aftermath of the horrible shooting, I received non-stop death threats and hate speech.” Bluesky, [12/19/25]
  • During a press conference, Col. Darnell Weaver of the Rhode Island State Police criticized online speculation about the shooting, saying, “The endless barrage of misinformation, disinformation, rumors, leaks, and clickbait were not helpful in this investigation.” He added, “Criminal investigations are grounded in evidence, not speculation or online commentary.” YouTube,[]
• ## Several right-wing media figures suggested Brown University student Mustapha Kharbouch was the shooter, with several claiming that the university was attempting to shield his identity

• • Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson claimed that Brown University “seems to be completely removing Free Palestine activist Mustapha Kharbouch off its website in real time.” He called it “very strange.” Twitter/X, [12/16/25]

• • On his show, Johnson said, “There are some major reports out of a known individual who has ties to Palestinian liberation movements and to radical Islamic movements who is a well-known member of the Brown University Student Assembly, an activist."Johnson added, “Their entire history is being scrubbed from the internet. Nobody knows why. Brown says they're taking down all of the public statements, images, photos, reports, publications, and articles on this individual, who seems to, of course, match the body type description of the shooter. Again we don't know. Innocent until proven guilty.” Rumble, *The Benny Show*, [12/17/25]

• • Right-wing podcaster and self-proclaimed “Islamophobe” Laura Loomer did not specifically say Kharbouch was the shooter, but she claimed to have found a YouTube channel with the same name that featured “Islamic videos and Islamic playlists and videos that teach how to build electronic devices at home with wires.”Loomer continued, writing, “@BrownUniversity is actively scrubbing their website and deleting all mentions of Mustapha Kharbouch, who was studying in the International & Public Affairs and Anthropology Department at Brown University with a focus on the Middle East. His bio says he is a third-generation ‘Palestinian refugee’ who was born and raised in Lebanon. Photos online show he was an active member of Students for Justice in Palestine at Brown University. He also has ‘they/he’ pronouns in his X bio.” Twitter/X, [12/16/25; Media Matters, 8/14/24]

• • On her show, Loomer said, “And there now appears to be a massive cover-up pertaining to the identity of a Muslim student, a Muslim foreign student named Mustapha Kharbouch.” She added, “Not saying that he is the shooter.” Rumble,*Loomer Unleashed*, [12/17/25]

• • Infowars host Alex Jones said he’s not “going to say his name at this time” but noted that photos of and references to someone who was a “dead ringer” for the shooter had been “scrubbed” from Brown University’s websites.Jones further accused the police and the school of a cover-up. Twitter/X, [12/17/25]

• • On Real America’s Voice’sAmerican Sunrise Early Edition, host Jake Novak said that “they’re not even letting you say his name, but I’ll say his name. And again, I’m not saying he’s the shooter, I’m just saying he should have a lot of investigations going on about him. His name is Mustapha Kharbouch.” Novak added that questions about Kharbouch’s alleged involvement in the shooting were “angrily turned aside” by law enforcement and that it “feels like a cover-up” to protect Kharbouch. Real America’s Voice, *American Sunrise Early Edition*, [12/17/25]

• • OnWar Room, January 6 organizer Caroline Wren claimed there was a “credible” theory online about a guy that’s a “big free Palestine activist, big LGBTQ activist on campus, who’s written insane manifestos.” She added, “What I don’t get” is “why wouldn’t you just come out and say, Hey, it’s not me.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [12/17/25; Politico, 7/9/25]

• • Right-wing pundit Jack Posobiec posted, “Has Brown University identified a suspect? Was just looking at something on their website and suddenly the page got deleted. What's going on?”Twitter/X, [12/16/25]

• • OnWar Room, Posobiec claimed, “One of the guys who people are looking at, that this guy might be some kind of Muslim, might be some kind of migrant,” adding, “He matched the profile that people were looking at.” Host Steve Bannon added, “The pepes were all over this today” because “this stuff is being taken down during the day.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [12/16/25]

• • Right-wing blog National File: “Brown University Scrubs Radical Pro-Jihad Activist’s Profile Amid Deadly Shooting Speculation.” The National File claimed, “Unconfirmed reports identify Mustapha Kharbouch, a radical pro-Jihad Palestinian activist and Brown University student, as the prime suspect in the December 13 campus shooting.” National File, [12/16/25]

• • Right-wing influencer Joshua Hall posted: “Brown University, Rhode Island shooting suspect has been identified as Mustapha Kharbouch, a radical Islamic, pro-Jihad student at Brown whose X account has suddenly mysteriously disappeared.”He continued, “This is why the Democrat authorities in Providence and mainstream media has been covering up his identity from us… It’s not a very good look/narrative for them. Kharbouch has reportedly now fled the university and is missing… BRING HIM TO SWIFT AMERICAN JUSTICE. We are at war with Islam.” Twitter/X, [12/16/25]

• • Venture capitalist and right-wing influencer Shaun Maguire named Kharbouch and wrote, “It seems very likely that the Brown shooter was an ardent pro Palestine activist of Palestinian heritage.”He continued, “Brown is actively scrubbing his online presence; a student they formerly celebrated. The West is ablaze with terror attacks and it was all predictable.” Twitter/X, [12/17/25]

//

1. ### Fox News contributor blames DEI for shooting deaths at Brown University

12/17/25 12:16 PM EST

2. ### Laura Loomer pushes baseless Islamophobic claims in the wake of NYC shooting

07/29/25 1:06 PM EDT

3. ### MAGA media interviews suggest Trump’s denaturalization push is driven by pure Islamophobia

12/18/25

---

Right-wing media’s “war on meat” paves the way for Trump administration to blame climate policies for rising beef prices

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published 12/18/25

Right-wing media's longstanding claims of a Democratic “war on meat" have given Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins cover to blame rising beef prices on Democrats and climate policy — even as cattle ranchers themselves point to climate-driven drought as one factor contributing to small herd sizes and voice their opposition to the administration’s plans to import Argentine beef.

On December 8, Rollins told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, “The cost of ground beef is actually coming down, so we’ve started now the trajectory down. But let’s be very clear: To rebuild the lowest beef herd in 75 years … will take a little bit of time. You think about the last administration. They had a war on American agriculture. They thought that cows created climate change. They didn't want big herds, and the cost of inputs were skyrocketing.”

She made similar claims prior to this appearance at least five separate times on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria, Fox News’ Fox & Friends, and CNN’s The Situation Room.

Right-wing media have long tried to pit ranchers and farmers against environmentalists and those attempting to mitigate the environmental impacts of agriculture, including falsely claiming Democratic leaders and the Inflation Reduction Act (which they often called the “Green New Deal”) would ban meat.

• ## The IRA offered only incentives to reduce methane from ranching, and ranchers and industry experts say prolonged drought, high input costs, and inflation are driving high beef prices

• • The Inflation Reduction Act included a program aimed at reducing methane emissions, but it included only “voluntary, incentive-based approaches” for farmers and ranchers.In 2023, the Biden administration announced the Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which included plans to mitigate methane emissions. The only elements of the action plan targeting agricultural methane emissions were “voluntary, incentive-based approaches,” even though the sector is responsible for an estimated 37% of human-caused emissions globally, and about 10.5% in the U.S. According to Sentient Media, these incentives might have had the potential to “increase emissions from the sector.” Vox, [8/16/22; Reuters, 1/11/22; Sentient Media,9/28/23; The White House, 11/2/21, 12/23; Environmental Protection Agency 12/2/2; U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11/5/24]

• • Severe drought and changing weather patterns have contributed to shrinking U.S. cattle herds. According to Investigate Midwest, climate change-driven weather volatility has “made relying on typical weather patterns and grazing conditions difficult for the nation’s beef producers." That means ranchers must transport feed from farther away, increasing costs. They are also forced to wean calves earlier so heifers expend less energy feeding calves and require fewer nutrients. Some farmers have even had to cull their herds. Bloomberg, [1/31/25; Investigate Midwest, 3/13/24; South Dakota State University Extension, 3/21/25; Grain Journal, 6/12/25]

• • Several ranchers and cattle industry players told Fox News that prolonged drought is tightening livestock supply and hurting their bottom lines.Various cattle ranchers told Fox News and Fox News Digital that drought helped herd sizes hit a historic low and said that it was contributing to “the ongoing decline of the industry.” In 2023, a Florida-based rancher also told Fox News that extreme drought was part of the problem because it was “increasing our production costs” and it would “have a long-term effect on our bottom line.” Fox News Digital, [11/24/25; Fox News,Fox & Friends Weekend, 10/25/25; Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/12/23]

• • Inflation, high interest rates, and Trump’s tariffs are impacting ranchers. ABC News reported in October that amid rising inflation, beef prices were soaring, noting also that “tariffs modestly contributed to the uptick in overall inflation.” A report from the American Farm Bureau Federation also found that inflation and interest rates were “driving up costs for farmers.” The report noted: “When the Fed increased rates, they dramatically increased the cost of borrowing money across the economy. This has happened at a time when farmers and ranchers rely more heavily on credit due to the growing gap between commodity prices and input costs.” ABC News, [10/24/25; American Farm Bureau Federation, 8/26/25]

• ## For years, right-wing media have labeled climate policies and other Democrat supported initiatives as a “war on meat”

• • In 2019, right-wing media falsely said the Green New Deal would ban meat and that it was “bad news or cows."Fox host Brian Kilmeade said that the Green New Deal would be “bad news for cows,” adding, “Time to slaughter all of them quickly because of their propensity for gas.” Climate skeptic Marc Morano told Kilmeade the same day, “We're told we need to do all of this, from banning meat, to airline getting rid of the combustion, internal combustion engine, all to save from us from a climate emergency.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/8/19, 2/8/19; Fox News Primetime, 8/9/21]

• • In 2021, Fox News spread a fake story that then-President Joe Biden wanted to ban hamburgers. The administration did not call for an end to meat consumption. But on Fox News @ Night, anchor Shannon Bream asked viewers, “Could new climate impact plans limit you to just one burger a month?” She later added, “About the burger thing, I'm not going to comply with that.” On Fox News’ America Reports with John Roberts, Fox’s “straight news” program, chyrons included, “Bye-bye burgers under Biden’s climate plan,” as well as “Study: 90% of red meat out with Biden climate plan,” and “Biden’s climate plan burns all-you-can-eat burgers.” Media Matters, [4/26/21]

• • In 2022, right-wing media used farmer protests in the Netherlands over plans to cut nitrogen pollution to fearmonger about a globalist conspiracy to trample freedoms, including eating meat. The Guardian, [11/16/23; Media Matters; 7/8/22, 7/15/22, 11/8/22]

• • Frequent Fox News guest and Tennessee dairy farmer Stephanie Nash has appeared on several segments across right-wing programs, telling hosts that the “Green New Deal” and Biden’s “energy climate change initiative” would lead to “empty shelves” and that the Biden administration was targeting farmers.Nash told hosts that “Americans should be prepared for food shortages” because “the Green New Deal … is an attack on family farmers and ranchers,” and that “climate change has always been a hoax for the agriculture industry, they continue to blame agriculture for global warming and change of our planet. … I think this is just an excuse to continue to blame agriculture, to continue to let our farmers struggle around this country.” She also said that the administration was “trying to push agriculture out of the United States, pushing this plant-based food.” As recently as this October, Nash said on Fox Business, “Everybody knows that we’ve been bringing in more imports than ever the last two years, and that’s thanks to the Green New Deal. … Trump is trying to fix that and bring back American agriculture.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [8/10/22, 10/3/25; Fox News,Fox & Friends, 8/5/22; Newsmax, Rob Schmit Tonight, 7/6/22; Fox Business, Cavuto: Coast to Coast, 8/10/22;]

• • Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis said that “what happened to Big Oil … same thing is going to happen to the farmers.”DeAngelis argued that “more regulations make it harder for those companies to increase supply” and that “food costs will continue to rise.” Fox Business, *Cavuto: Coast to Coast*, [8/10/22]

• • A 2024 Fox Business interview with a cattle rancher pushed the narrative that “global sustainability initiatives could cause millions of people to starve.” Host Dagen McDowell told Texas and Colorado-based cattle rancher Shad Sullivan that “the climate crusading wack jobs want to destroy us, our life, and your livelihood." Sullivan told the hosts that “they've all teamed up in this anti-meat rhetoric that you see sweeping across the globe, to get control of the people. And that's all it amounts to, is total control.” [Fox Business,The Bottom Line, 2/15/24]

• • Right-wing media falsely claimed that Kamala Harris wanted to “get rid of” red meat. Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz, for instance, made the claim on three different segments, saying, “She wants to get rid of meat.” Former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also translated Harris’ support for changing the dietary guidelines to “get rid of red meat.” Media Matters, [8/6/24]

• • In an interview with Rollins, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade blamed “craziness around climate change” for “a shortage of shrinking cattle” herd sizes. Kilmeade claimed that this was because of “the methane from the cows they thought was killing the ozone.” Rollins agreed that Democrats have “waged war” against cattle ranchers. Fox News, Fox & Friends, [11/24/25]

mma

//

1. ### Right-wing media spun the bad November jobs report as a win for “native-born” workers

:{12/17/25

2. ### Fox News contributor blames DEI for shooting deaths at Brown University

:{12/17/25

3. ### Fox found its culprit for high grocery prices following Democratic election victories — Joe Biden

12/17/25

---

// 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

1. ### Tulsi Gabbard’s Russiagate conspiracy theory can’t even survive a softball Fox News interview

08/06/25 12:43 PM EDT

2. ### NY Times reported John Durham found the “Clinton Plan” emails were likely created by Russian spies. Right-wing media are running with them as legitimate.

08/01/25 4:44 PM EDT

3. ### Why the right-wing media apparatus is suddenly yelling about Jack Smith supposedly spying on GOP senators

10/07/25

===

AN 12 25

The weekend of December 13-14 will be remembered for its horrific violence, from mass shootings at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island to the killings of iconic actor/director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Reiner in Los Angeles.

Police are still investigating the Brown University attack for possible motivations, while Australian officials are describing the massacre at Bondi Beach — a popular attraction about four miles from the Sydney Central Business District — as an antisemitic terrorist attack. At least 15 people were killed at Bondi Beach, but the attack could have been even deadlier were it not for Ahmed Al Ahmed — a Syrian immigrant and Muslim who fearlessly tackled and disarmed the shooter and is now recovering in a Sydney hospital.

The fact that el Ahmed is a Muslim hasn't received a lot of attention from right-wing media outlets. In an article published on December 16, The New Republic's Aaron Regunberg cites the Bondi Beach shooting as an example of the "MAGA conspiracy machine" distorting major news stories.

"Increasingly, it seems like every high-profile event with potential political ramifications — certainly shootings, but also, climate disasters, elections, and more — gets poisoned by the right’s toxically mendacious content amplification system," Regunberg laments. "This week, it's been occurring on multiple fronts simultaneously, with Grok spreading the lie that the hero in the antisemitic mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach was Christian, despite media confirmation that the man, Ahmed Al Ahmed, was a Muslim immigrant originally from Syria."

Although the Brown University shooting is still being investigated, Regunberg observes, right-wing media outlets are quickly jumping to conclusions.

"The gunman shouted something — students who were present have reported that they don’t know what he said — and then fired more than 40 rounds at the assembled group, injuring nine students and killing two people: Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan who grew up in Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old Alabaman who was vice president of the Brown College Republicans," Regunberg explains. "This is more or less all we know. Right-wingers have filled this void with a baseless narrative that Cook was, as the chairman of the College Republicans put it in a post on X with nearly two million views, 'targeted for her conservative beliefs, hunted, and killed in cold blood.'"

Regunberg adds, "To be clear, there is zero evidence, as of this writing, that Cook was targeted for her conservative beliefs. It's not impossible, but it's just as likely — or significantly more likely, considering that most extremist-related murders are committed by white supremacists — that the shooter targeted Umurzokov for being an immigrant."

The New Republic journalist laments that MAGA distortions are easy to spread because there are so many right-wing media outlets online.

"The right now controls most of the traditional media institutions, the social media platforms, and the algorithms that shape our attentional ecosystem," Regunberg laments. "They have also built up a far larger network of creators than anything the left has at its disposal. How do you beat opponents who have the informational and attentional firepower to impose deceptive conspiracies on the public and, in many cases, make their lies an accepted common truth?"

*Read Aaron Regunberg's full article for The New Republic at this link.

REF

I was pushing my 4-year-old on the swing at our neighborhood playground in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday, less than a mile from my alma mater, Brown University, when my wife texted me about a mass shooting. I would eventually learn that two people had been killed and many were injured. Three days later, we still don’t know the shooter’s identity, and thus don’t know anything about his motives—but that has not stopped influential right-wing figures, including Elon Musk, from amplifying disinformation that portrays the shooting as a political attack on Republicans. Meanwhile, voices of reason in the center and on the left have appeared helpless to counter this dangerous false narrative, which is further evidence of how badly we are losing the information war.

What we know is that a man dressed in black walked into a classroom in Brown’s Barus & Holley building, just as a study session for Brown’s introductory economics course—the most widely taken course at the university—was wrapping up. The gunman shouted something (students who were present that they don’t know what he said), and then fired more than 40 rounds at the assembled group, injuring nine students and killing two people: Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan who grew up in Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old Alabaman who was vice president of the Brown College Republicans. This is more or less all we know.

Right-wingers have filled this void with a baseless narrative that Cook was, as the chairman of the College Republicans put it in a post on X with nearly two million views, “targeted for her conservative beliefs, hunted, and killed in cold blood.” To be clear, there is zero evidence, as of this writing, that Cook was targeted for her conservative beliefs. It’s not impossible, but it’s just as likely—or significantly more likely, considering that most extremist-related murders are committed by white supremacists—that the shooter targeted Umurzokov for being an immigrant. By farthe most logical possibility, given that the shooter fired 40 rounds into a crowded classroom and hit 11 students in total, is that this shooting was not targeted at any one individual—that he wanted to kill as many people as possible at Brown, regardless of what they believed.

And yet, the right’s declarations of victimization, honed after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, have been immediate and relentless. One right-wing influencer wrote, “The left is going to target and kill every effective Republican they can find.” A fellow at the Heritage Foundation with almost a million followers on X wrote, “If you don’t absolutely destroy left wing extremists, they WILL be emboldened.” Republican elected officials joined in, with New York City Council Member Vickie Paladino writing that the attack “was perpetrated by the leftist activist and targeted Republicans.” Another post read, “This happened because Antifa (and all the like groups) wasn’t liquidated after Charlie Kirk was assassinated.… The time to respond harshly was months ago, but now is better than never.” Musk shared that last post, which has more than 30 million views.

At one point, my timeline on X was full—literally full—of nothing but these false claims, all from accounts I have never followed. Others have reported similar experiences. It’s hard to imagine such informational dominance not being the result, among other dynamics, of a clear algorithmic push (Musk runs X, after all). And the goal is to exploit this tragedy toward political ends, namely the repression of MAGA’s political opponents. This repression is the explicit aim of President Donald Trump’s NSPM-7 directive and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s recent memo ordering the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism,” which is targeted toward those expressing “opposition to law and immigration enforcement; extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders; adherence to radical gender ideology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, or anti-Christianity,” as well as “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality.”

Of course, this isn’t an isolated example of the MAGA conspiracy machine whirring into action. Increasingly, it seems like every high-profile event with potential political ramifications—certainly shootings but also climate disasters, elections, and more—gets poisoned by the right’s toxically mendacious content amplification system. This week it’s been occurring on multiple fronts simultaneously, with Grok spreading the lie that the hero in the antisemitic mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was Christian, despite media confirmation that the man, Ahmed Al Ahmed, was a Muslim immigrant originally from Syria.

American politics today are defined by a profound informational asymmetry. The right now controls most of the traditional media institutions, the social media platforms, and the algorithms that shape our attentional ecosystem. They have also built up a far larger network of creators than anything the left has at its disposal. How do you beat opponents who have the informational and attentional firepower to impose deceptive conspiracies on the public and, in many cases, make their lies an accepted common truth? How can we win back the narrative on climate change when they can ascribe every climate-induced hurricane or wildfire to DEI initiatives or weather control technology? How can we address far-right political violence when they can turn an evangelical Trump supporter’s assassination of a Democratic lawmaker into a plot by radical Marxists? How can we protect free and fair elections when they can just deny the results?

I don’t have the solutions to these problems. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few days—watching the buzz saw of MAGA disinformation tear through the factual reality of this mass shooting not far from my home—it’s that we need to figure them out, and quickly. It’s not about finding that oft-discussed “liberal Joe Rogan.” What’s required is the buildout of a media ecosystem that can challenge the right’s extensive informational infrastructure with the full panoply of content creators, revenue structures, cross-platform coordination, amplification systems, and attention-getting strategies necessary to win this narrative war.

Our reality is just what we see in front of us. It can be defined by truth or by lies, by information or disinformation. Ensuring that people start receiving more of the former, and less of the latter, is an incredibly difficult and expensive challenge. But there may not be a way around it. And we’ve got to start building fast, before MAGA’s attentional stranglehold becomes our permanent reality.

Aaron Regunberg

Aaron Regunberg is a contributing editor at The New Republic, a climate lawyer, and a progressive organizer.

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MMA

Here’s who is justifying Trump’s deranged response to Rob Reiner’s murder | Media Matters for America

NO LNX

Here’s who is justifying Trump’s deranged response to Rob Reiner’s murder

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 12/16/25 1:04 PM EST

President Donald Trump’s unhinged reaction to the stabbing deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, which the president gleefully attributed to “the anger” the legendary director “caused others” via his anti-Trump activism in a Monday morning Truth Social post, triggered some of the most unified criticism from the right of Trump’s second term.

On social media, conservative pundits and Fox News stars used words like “disgraceful,” “appalling,” “disgusting,” “unnecessary,” “inappropriate,” “gross,” “awful,” “cruel,” and “insane” to describe Trump gloating about brutal killings. CNN’s MAGA commentators, whose jobs depend on their willingness to defend the president at his most indefensible, were unwilling or unable to back Trump’s self-centered rantings about Reiner. On Fox, coverage of Trump’s comment was nearly nonexistent outside of Special Report; star host Jesse Watters gave a lengthy monologue about the killings and interviewed Reiner friend James Woods, but he aired Trump’s defense of his post without comment beyond noting, “Whoa.”

While Trump has long demonstrated a near-pathological lack of empathy for those who don’t support him, the president’s suggestion that Reiner may have been killed alongside his wife in their home by someone he had “driven … CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump” seemed to hit a nerve even among his supporters. Perhaps this is due to the tragic and deeply human circumstances of the Reiners’ deaths — their son, who has long struggled with drug addiction, is allegedly “responsible,” and was arrested Monday.

But not everyone feels that way. A handful of prominent commentators on the right have risen in support of Trump’s Reiner remarks.

They are justifying Trump’s “mean” comments on the grounds that Reiner is “a loser” who “spent a decade slandering” the president. They are praising Trump for being “very honest” and not “a phony.” They are arguing that complaining about it is stupid because Reiner’s leftist movement purportedly “wants us all dead.” And they are lashing out at those criticizing Trump, calling them “fake grifters” who are “whining like little bitches” about the president.

Select a sycophant

Jack Posobiec: “Not surprised Trump said what he said”

MAGA streamer Jack Posobiec — whose 2024 book describes leftists as “unhumans” and was blurbed by Vice President JD Vance — was among those on the right who initially sought to use the Reiners’ deaths to seize the moral high ground.

“You won’t see people on the right celebrating the horrific murder of Rob Reiner and his wife,” Posobiec bragged on Sunday night, as news of their deaths circulated. “Compare to the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder,” he said, referencing random people who had their lives turned upside down for their social media reactions to that tragedy.

But it’s dangerous to claim moral authority for your side when your standard-bearer is Trump. After the president weighed in, Posobiec pivoted, suggesting that it is appropriate to post mean things about someone if you had strong political differences.

“Rob Reiner called for Trump to be jailed over lies,” Posobiec wrote. “Not surprised Trump said what he said.”

X post

Posobiec subsequently mocked “people telling on themselves for crying over a mean Trump tweet,” finding Trump’s response acceptable because “the Left wants us all dead.”

Laura Loomer: “Trump is right.” Reiner is a “loser.”

Laura Loomer, a fanatically loyal Trumpist with deep ties to the administration who is trying to foment an anti-Muslim crackdown, responded to Trump’s post by claiming that “Trump is right” because “Rob Reiner had a level of TDS that likely exuded a level of craziness around those he spent time with.”

X post

She also cited a fake post from Reiner, whom she described as a “loser,” and declared, “I stand with President Trump.”

X post

And she lashed out at the “simps” and “fake grifters” who are “calling Trump out for speaking truth about Rob Reiner.”

X post

Kurt Schlicter: Critics are “little bitches”

Kurt Schlichter, the TownHall.com columnist and frequent guest host for Fox contributor Hugh Hewitt’s Salem Radio Network show, is perhaps best-known for his fantasies about a potential race war and other glorifications of political violence against the left. He repeatedly ranted on Monday about conservative pundits who criticized Trump over the Reiner remarks.

“This Trump tweet about the guy who spent a decade slandering him in the most despicable ways possible provides the perfect opportunity for that kind of weak, feminine pseudo-conservative to do what they love best - join the left in whining like little bitches about how actual conservatives are so...so...soo...oh well I never!” he commented.

X post

After conservative pundit Erick Erickson commented that “the whole point should be that we are not them,” Schlichter responded that the right shouldn’t try to act like “good people” because the movement’s ends justify being “a bad person in the eyes of those too weak to stand and fight.”

X post

“Every tyranny in history embraced this,” Erickson responded.

Greg Gutfeld: “We don’t have to like it. I just look at [Trump’s] deeds.”

When Democratic co-host Harold Ford Jr. mentioned Trump’s post on Monday’s edition of The Five and said that he hoped the president “corrects himself,” fellow co-host and notorious lacker-of-principles Greg Gutfeld rose to the challenge of explaining to viewers why what Trump says doesn’t matter.

“You don't have to like the things that he says all the time,” Gutfeld said. “It is why in my filter, Trump is always words versus deeds. I don't have to like what he says. In fact, I can hate what he says. But I can also think, in his brain, he is going, uh, this guy compared me to Hitler, he put a target on my back, I don't like him. And it’s like, well — if it were me I’d go, like, but I’m sorry he’s dead. But he can't let that go.”

“We don't have to like it,” he concluded. “I just look at the deeds.”

Greg Kelly: “President Trump levels with us. He is not a phony”

Newsmax host Greg Kelly, who has argued that Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) “should be in jail” and that Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell “just might be innocent,” justified Trump’s Reiner comments on his Monday night broadcast.

Kelly drew a straight line between a clip he aired of Reiner criticizing Trump and the 2024 attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania, commenting: “President Trump has every right, because he has a very unique perspective on all this stuff. Remember, this rhetoric led to an assassination attempt on him.”

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From the December 15, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports

Rob Finnerty: Trump is “human” and “very honest with the American people”

Newsmax host Rob Finnerty, after reading Trump’s post on Monday’s show, said: “Donald Trump has posted thousands of times on Truth Social since he got back in office. You’re going to agree with some of them, you’re not going to agree with some of them, even if you support Donald Trump, and that should be OK. Was this post ill-timed, inelegant? Look, we will let you decide at home.”

After noting that some Republicans had criticized Trump’s post, he added, “We’re not above criticizing the president on this show. But Donald Trump hated Rob Reiner, and Rob Reiner hated Donald Trump right back, and Donald Trump is human, he’s not a machine, he’s not perfect, but at least he is very honest with the American people.”

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From the December 15, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Finnerty

Mike Cernovich: “I do not give a fuck about trumps tweets”

“I do not give a fuck about trumps tweets,” commented right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich. “I do care that doors haven’t been kicked in post Charlie Kirk assassination.”

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Who’s afraid of Candace Owens?

A movement built to support Donald Trump can’t cordon off conspiracy theories

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 12/11/25

Long-simmering feuds among right-wing influencers reached a boiling point this week when Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika used an appearance on Fox News to denounce people she said were “making hundreds of thousands of dollars” by pushing conspiracy theories about her husband’s killing. Her plea for those individuals “to stop,” obviously intended for her husband's former colleague, the popular streamer Candace Owens, triggered an outpouring of criticism on the right against “extremists” promoting “hateful conspiracy theories” who had somehow been allowed into the movement.

But in a sign of the durable position such conspiracy theorists hold within the movement — and the immense demand for their work — many of the high-level pundits trying to lay down guardrails did not mention by name either Owens or her primary ally in the MAGA schism, Tucker Carlson.

“The Right’s media apparatus is how the Right teaches its followers how to think, and it’s currently getting consumed by conspiracy, psychodrama, and tabloid conflicts,” The Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo said in one such salvo. “If left unchecked, it will turn the audience into the equivalent of a Third World click farm.”

Can you imagine?

It is patently absurd to claim that right-wing media figures injecting deranged lies into their audience is somehow a new phenomenon. The right is dominated by President Donald Trump, the poster child for “conspiracy, psychodrama, and tabloid conflicts.” And Rufo’s ilk were happy to foster such insanity as long as it was pointed at the left in the service of electing Republicans.

But now the same tools are being turned inward, against other right-wingers, and while they’re furious that this is happening, the apparatus they helped build is so powerful that they are unable to name their foes.

A fight over Charlie Kirk’s legacy — and the Jews

Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel caused a split in a right-wing commentariat otherwise united around Trump. One side includes conservative Jews like Ben Shapiro and Laura Loomer, who supported Israel’s subsequent brutal campaign in Gaza and traffic in anti-Muslim invective. On the other side are “America First” figures like Owens and Carlson who both opposed the campaign and used it as an opportunity to revive noxious antisemitic conspiracism. The divide has repeatedly made headlines, particularly in November when Carlson gave a friendly interview to Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist streamer who regularly rails against “the Jews,” who he has claimed “are destroying this country.”

Owens has been claiming since Charlie Kirk’s tragic killing in September that at the time of his death, he was coming around to her view of Israel. Based on that premise (which Kirk allies deny), she has speculated that Kirk may have been assassinated by pro-Israel henchmen worried that he was turning on them, perhaps with help from elements within TPUSA and the U.S. military. These sorts of wild claims are typical of Owens’ oeuvre: She is currently being sued for claiming that the first lady of France is secretly a transgender woman, and has told her followers that she has been targeted for death by an assassination squad composed of French law enforcement and “at least one Israeli.” Her claims have been denounced by the likes of Shapiro and Loomer, but cheered on by Carlson and fellow traveler Alex Jones.

Erika Kirk appeared on Fox’s Outnumbered on Wednesday to address in part what host Harris Faulker described as “hate” and “conspiracies” in the wake of her husband’s death.

“Come after me, call me names, I don't care,” she said. “Call me what you want, go down that rabbit hole, whatever. But…when you go after the people that I love and you're making hundreds of thousands of dollars every single episode going after the people that I love because somehow they're in on this? No.”

“My message to them is to stop — to stop,” she concluded.

Neither Erika Kirk nor Faulkner mentioned Owens’ name. But Owens immediately recognized that the segment had been “about me.” And rather than stopping at the widow’s request, she doubled down.

The Fox segment encouraged other right-wing pundits who typically avoid weighing in on intramovement controversies to speak out — albeit without mentioning who they were talking about.

Fox star Sean Hannity used his radio show on Wednesday to call out online commentators for “saying the most incendiary, outrageous, bizarre, conspiratorial, in some cases, outright racist, white nationalist, virulent antisemitism, and they make money off the, quote, clicks that they can then monetize because, you know, people like the shock value of it.” After praising Erika Kirk’s Fox appearance, he lashed out at “people with no evidence spreading the most vile, hateful conspiracy theories about Charlie's assassination,” calling them “grifters” who are “not MAGA.”

The hosts of Fox & Friends likewise aired Erika Kirk’s remarks and criticized unnamed persons pushing conspiracy theories about her husband’s death on Thursday. “People are making money. They have unsubstantiated theories and are running with it,” Brian Kilmeade said.

MAGA slop king Benny Johnson also posted the video of Erika Kirk going “absolutely SCORCHED EARTH against evil people monetizing Charlie Kirk's death and attacking her family and the families of those close to Charlie and TPUSA,” adding: “Thank God we are finally here. The Demons are Screaming.” He has not mentioned Owens by name on X since posting in April 2024 about a potential Owens/Shapiro debate over antisemitism.

For Fox contributor Hugh Hewitt, meanwhile, this is a tempest in a teapot. Responding to a discussion started by Rufo’s post on Wednesday, he claimed that such (unnamed, of course) “grifters” only have the “illusion of influence,” while “center-right to conservative media is flourishing.” Citing podcasts with relatively small audiences and Fox’s Special Report, “the most watched news show by serious people in the country,” he commented, “A handful of extremists cannot pollute the sea of offerings but it’s still best just to ignore them.”

It is certainly possible in a fractured media environment for a Republican apparatchik with intellectual pretensions to find some voices who will make him feel good about the choices he’s made. But Owens and Carlson both host podcasts on Spotify’s top-10 list, and the latter spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention after shepherding the selection of JD Vance as the next vice president.

The guardrails are gone and all the conspiracy theorists are here

The MAGA movement that everyone on both sides of the divide supported during the 2024 presidential election worships a notorious fabulist who emerged in GOP politics thanks to his role as the nation’s chief birther, reshaped his party around the twin lies that he actually won the 2020 election and that the ensuing January 6 riots by his supporters were righteous, and is constantly lifting up the most noxious online slop imaginable.

Trump’s emergence speaks to both the willingness of mainstream right-wing institutions to accept a conspiracy theorist at the highest level of power, and the eagerness of the right-wing audience to buy the sort of lies he was selling. And his ascension has made it virtually impossible for the resulting movement to draw lines and fully cut loose people who promote deranged falsehoods and bigotries.

Owens and Carlson became right-wing stars by promoting the same types of feverish claims while climbing established institutional pathways. New York magazine detailed Owens’ conspiratorial habits of thinking all the way back in 2016, before her tenure at TPUSA, her nearly 200 appearances on Fox weekday shows over a five year span, or her time as Shapiro’s colleague at The Daily Wire. And Carlson had spent years mainstreaming white nationalist talking points as a Fox host before the network finally showed him the door. The pair assembled loyal audiences thanks to those right-wing institutions, which have found themselves able to take away their jobs but not able to stop viewers from following them to their new spaces.

And Carlson and Owens profited not in spite of their conspiracy theories, but because they fit neatly within a right-wing echo chamber that seemed purpose-built for their generation and propagation. People like Rufo and Hannity were happy to play along with bullshit about Haitian immigrants eating pets or the Democrats assassinating a party staffer when they could use such claims for the benefit of Trump and the GOP. But now that the same habits of mind that made a swath of the right into QAnon adherents are turned inside the tent, they are deeply concerned.

Meanwhile, neither Trump nor Vance seem at all interested in trying to reestablish guardrails. Indeed, their administration is filled with conspiracy theorists seemingly picked for that very reason, indicative of a political movement that is marbled through with crackpots and extremists. And the worst is surely yet to come.

MMA

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1. ### What are J.D. Vance and Sean Hannity so afraid of?

11/14/25 11:40 AM EST

2. ### Candace Owens leaves as cancel culture comes to The Daily Wire

03/22/24 3:27 PM EDT

3. ### A mask-off week for right-wing antisemitism

11/21/23

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MMA

1. ### Fox tries to sell Trump administration's claim that lower fuel economy will make car buying more affordable

:{:{:{12/10/25

Fox tries to sell Trump administration's claim that lower fuel economy will make car buying more affordable

Trump's auto tariffs are expected “to increase car prices by as much as $6,000”

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Allison Fisher

Published 12/10/25

• On December 3, President Donald Trump announced plans to roll back fuel economy standards established under the Biden administration, claiming the move will “save Americans $109 billion over five years and shave $1,000 off the average cost of a new car.”

Biden administration officials had estimated that the fuel efficiency rule, which required automakers’ new vehicles to achieve approximately 50 mpg on average by 2031, would “lower fuel costs by $23 billion while preventing more than 710 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 2050 — the equivalent of taking 165,000 cars off the roads.”

Fox’s coverage of Trump’s fuel economy rollback pushed White House talking points that it would make car buying more affordable and reverse costly Biden-era regulations, with Fox host Will Cain calling the move “a win for the American consumer.” But industry experts and at least one Fox Business host dispute the claim that lowering the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards will lower the price of cars for consumers.

Gas price expert Patrick De Haan did not mince words, calling the attempt to connect fuel economy to affordability “STUPID!”

“If you want to know why cars cost more, look at tariffs, commodity spikes, electronics, and supply chain changes — not long-established fuel economy rules,” he continued. “Weakening CAFE standards could backfire and lead to HIGHER gas prices if vehicles become less efficient.”

• IFrame Content

• In fact, two major drivers impacting car affordability are actions taken by the Trump administration: auto tariffs and repeal of the electrical vehicle tax subsidy.

According to Kelley Blue Book, an American vehicle valuation and automotive research company, “Shoppers can expect the tariffs to increase car prices by as much as $6,000 on vehicles priced under $40,000. Higher car prices mean higher car taxes, financing, car insurance, and other ownership costs. This price pressure will make cars less affordable for consumers.”

And Bloomberg writes: “It’s not clear that relaxing the standard will result in lower sticker prices anytime soon — if at all — since carmakers plan their lineups years in advance. And it won’t do anything to address added costs from tariffs Trump has imposed on cars and car parts with the promise of reshoring domestic manufacturing.”

Nevertheless, here’s how Fox News and Fox Business are pushing the affordability narrative while pinning the high cost of cars on Biden in the wake of Trump’s announced fuel economy standard rollback:

• • Fox Business’ David Asman: “President Trump is cranking up his affordability push, announcing new energy standards today aiming to ease the pressure on car prices.” Correspondent Edward Lawrence reported, “They believe here at the White House that rolling back these very strict standards that were put in place by the Biden administration would save about $109 billion in total when buying a car,” adding that Trump called “the auto mandates and regulations added by the last administration ‘insane.’” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [12/3/25]

• • Fox News host Will Cain: “Today was a win for auto manufacturers. It was also a win for the American consumer, who now has cheaper and more affordable options. But it was also a win for reality.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [12/3/25]

• • Fox News host Sean Hannity: “The price of gas nationwide [is] under $3 per gallon — oh, for the first time since the last Trump administration. But with less than a year into his second term, President Trump is only getting started cleaning up the mess that Biden left behind. And a big part of that effort is a new directive to undo Joe Biden's ridiculous, costly, insane, burdensome regulation.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [12/3/25]

• • National Review writer Caroline Downey on Fox News @ Night: “It doesn't take a mechanic to tell you that the point of that regulation was to force the country to adopt electric vehicles en masse. … Obviously, that consumer was going to get the cost of that in the end result. And so I think it's very important that President Trump is phasing this out because, of course, affordability is the buzzword of the day both to Democrats and Republicans.” Fox News, *Fox News @ Night*, [12/3/25]

• • Fox & Friends co-host and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany: “Here is the brilliance of all of this is the Trump administration takes a whole-of-government approach. … They are doing this with affordability and they’ve started to show their work. Look, you are looking now. You just described the meeting, Brian, bringing down those CAFE standards. So there is one way they’re making life more affordable – your car.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [12/4/25]

• • Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis: “President Trump understands because of the affordability crisis that he needs to get the messaging out there. … You talk about the green push under Joe Biden. That really hurt Americans. He is trying to roll back these regulations, change the standards so that cars become more affordable.” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [12/4/25]

• • Fox host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery: “It's important if you are an automaker and you want to make money and if you want to make affordable cars that people can make and buy in the United States. I think that's priority No. 1 for GM and Ford, but unfortunately they have been beholden to the standards — these ultra-leftist standards — that are telling car manufacturers we have to have an arbitrary fuel economy number by the year 2031.” Fox News, *The Five*, [12/4/25]

Trump called on Americans to accept less this holiday season. Fox thought that was hilarious.

3. ### Fox struggles to run cover for Trump calling affordability crisis a “hoax,” “scam,” and “con job”

12/10/25

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“We need to get these people out”: Right-wing pundits cheer Trump’s calls for “remigration”

Written by Payton Armstrong

Published 12/08/25 mma

Right-wing media figures are applauding President Donald Trump and his administration for their apparent support of “remigration,” a far-right immigration policy associated with forced migration, mass deportations, and ethnic cleansing. These figures said remigration and “reverse migration” are “critical,” “necessary,” and “what we need.”

The administration’s support for remigration was also celebrated by prominent white nationalist media figures, who declared that “Trump promises us the best immigration policy possible: NO NON-WHITES.”

The Trump administration is seemingly embracing “remigration,” a policy associated with ethnic cleansing and mass deportations that has been pushed by the far right

• Following the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national who entered the U.S. under a resettlement program, Trump said “only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation” and vowed to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”Reuters reported that “the comments mark a further escalation of migration measures Trump has ordered since the shooting on Wednesday that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 under a resettlement program.” The following day, the Department of Homeland Security echoed Trump’s post, writing “Remigration now.” Reuters, [11/28/25; NBC News, 11/28/25; Twitter/X, 11/28/25]

• • “Remigration” is a far-right policy associated with forced migration and ethnic cleansing “with the goal of creating white ethnostates in Western countries.”It has become a signature issue among far-right activists and political parties in Europe and the term was popularized by far-right Austrian anti-immigration activist Martin Sellner, who, according to a profile in The Washington Post, “argues that each race would be happier in its own geographic corner.” Anti-migrant extremists spread the term alongside their attempts to mainstream the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which holds that political elites are secretly plotting to bring millions of people from poor, nonwhite countries to the United States and Western Europe. Wired, [5/29/25; The Guardian, 10/3/24; The Washington Post, 9/28/24]

• • Mainstream media outlets have largely failed in the last year to put Trump’s planned “remigration” policies into appropriate context.When Trump called for “remigration” on the 2024 campaign trail, Media Matters found that major outlets failed to contextualize the proposal as a form of ethnic cleansing, and earlier this year, mainstream media almost entirely ignored news that the Trump administration is reportedly reorganizing the State Department to include a new “Office of Remigration.” Media Matters, [6/13/25, 10/1/24]

• • Prominent white nationalist media figures praised Trump’s support for “reverse migration,” celebrating that “Trump promises us the best immigration policy possible: NO NON-WHITES” and saying his Truth Social post “had everything that we'd been wanting to hear for a long time.” White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, who has advocated against immigrants for years, said of Trump’s post: “This is a great post. Remigration, pausing Third World migration permanently. … It had everything that we'd been wanting to hear for a long time.” Jared Taylor, publisher of the white nationalist online magazine American Renaissance, wrote: “Donald Trump promises us the best immigration policy possible: NO NON-WHITES. He says he will also boot all foreigners who are incompatible with Wesern Civilization, and that ‘REVERSE MIGRATION’ is the only cure. Bravo! I didn't think he had it in him. Now, action, please.” Media Matters, [12/4/25; Rumble, America First, 12/1/25; The New Yorker, 11/18/25; Twitter/X, 11/28/25; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 12/2/25]

• ### Right-wing media praised Trump and backed “remigration” and “reverse migration” as “necessary” and “based”

• Trump ally and podcaster Benny Johnson praised the president’s “tour-de-force post” and called for “net-zero immigration, negative immigration, and then remigration, which is critical.” Johnson, who has repeatedly been on ICE ride-alongs in recent months, said that he is “calling for a 1924 Immigration Act” because the “official United States foreign population stands at 53 million people,” adding, “We need a time of zero immigration, net-zero immigration, negative immigration, and then remigration, which is critical.” As noted by Smithsonian Magazine, the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act “marked the start of a dark chapter in the nation’s immigration history” and “drastically cut the total number of immigrants allowed in each year and effectively cut off all immigration from Asia.” YouTube, *The Benny Show,* [12/1/25; Smithsonian Magazine, 5/19/20; Media Matters, 11/20/25]

• • Podcaster and Fox News contributor Brett Cooper argued that “remigration” is “necessary.”Cooper added that “through their toxic empathy, both the left and the right … have helped overrun our country with refugees and migrants that do not assimilate and, quite frankly, hate it here.” YouTube, *The Brett Cooper Show,* [11/29/25]

• • Infowars host Alex Jones read Trump’s “reverse migration” post and said, “Bravo, absolutely, that is what we need.”Jones said that “reverse migration” is “the opposite of replacement migration,” seemingly in reference to the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Infowars, *Alex Jones Show,* [11/28/25]

• • Trump ally and Pentagon press corps member Laura Loomer shared DHS’ remigration post and wrote, “Just make it happen already. Let’s start with the Muslims too.” Twitter/X, [11/28/25; The New York Times, 12/2/25]

• • Right-wing streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, read Trump’s “reverse migration” comments and declared that “this might be the most based post he's ever made. I am so happy about this, I really am.”After reading Trump’s demand for “reverse migration,” he added, “This is the kind of shit — like, if he actually does this, I'm going to be so happy.” The Atlantic profiled Hoyt and reported that he had “an average of more than 2.2 million people tuning in to Twitch at any given moment,” and quoted journalist Nathan Grayson’s new book Stream Big, arguing Hoyt is “comparable in reach to ‘mainstream television networks like CNN and Fox during prime-time slots and major events.’” YouTube, [11/28/25; The Atlantic, 4/25/25]

• • OnThe Charlie Kirk Show, producer Andrew Kolvet said that “we do need remigration” and “an immigration moratorium.” Kolvet continued: “We need to get these people out. We need to make sure that their 15 children are not indoctrinated in the same ideologies and filling up our classrooms with this garbage.” Rumble, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [12/1/25]

• • Newsmax host Lidia Curanaj said that Trump is “concluding that reverse migration is now the only course of action” adding, “It’s about time.” Curanaj told the audience, “To all of you who say this is too extreme, how dare you, I say this to President Trump: Thank you. And it's about time.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [11/28/25]

mma

//

1. ### Trump's calls for “remigration,” a form of ethnic cleansing, echo Nick Fuentes' calls to roll back immigration

:{12/04/25

2. ### Mainstream media ignore Trump’s planned Office of Remigration, a term for ethnic cleansing

:{06/11/25

3. ### YouTuber Brett Cooper argues “remigration” is “necessary”

12/01/25

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mma

GOP efforts to reject dual citizenship come after months of pushing by right-wing media figures

Written by Sophie Lawton

Research contributions from John Knefel

Published 12/05/25

What began as legislation to make political candidates disclose foreign citizenships has spiraled into a new Senate bill eliminating dual citizenships altogether after right-wing podcast hosts — including Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, and Nick Fuentes — have spent months calling for the total end of dual citizenships in the United States.

In March, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced legislation that would require political candidates to disclose dual citizenship in order to seek federal office. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh spoke about the bill on his podcast, saying, “I don't know — why do we allow the concept of a dual citizenship at all?”

During the spring and summer of 2025, various right-wing podcasters repeated similar sentiments about prohibiting dual citizenship in the United States:

• On his Uncancelablepodcast in April, extremist host Stew Peterssaid: “Massie introduced this legislation about dual citizenship. … I don’t think it goes far enough. I don't think that just having to disclose that you have dual citizenship is enough. I think you should be illegal. You should be arrested. ... You should be tried before a military tribunal of American citizens. And if you're convicted of high crimes, crimes against humanity or treason that you should be executed.”

• Speaking about the New York City mayoral race in June, podcaster Benny Johnson said, “I don't know why this is even remotely controversial. We need to get rid of dual citizenship.”

• White nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes claimed on his show in July: “When the right wing moved to the right and they embraced all my positions, ... they embraced my emphatic rejection of dual allegiance and dual citizenship.”

• The late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk argued on his show in August about immigrating to America: “You need to have the proof that you are all in. None of this, like, multiple passport stuff. None of this dual citizenship stuff.”

• The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles said in August, “I hate dual citizenship.”

On October 10, Trump ally Laura Loomer hosted Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) on her podcast, asking, “Do you agree with me that it should be illegal for Muslims to hold political office in our country?” He replied that the “solution to a lot of this is to consider whether you should have to be a natural-born citizen in order to be elected to Congress or other certain offices.” She added: “I think that it's an abomination that you should be able to hold office in our country as a lawmaker and be a dual citizen.”

On October 24, Fine introduced legislation to prohibit Americans with foreign citizenships from running for office.

• One America News Network’s Dan Ball hosted Fine on October 28 to discuss the legislation, telling his audience: “Putting America first should be of utmost importance for all Americans. … Randy Fine has taken a bold step in making it not only a mission statement, but the law.”

• Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon took to his War Roompodcast to promote Fine’s legislation on October 27 and declared, “I'll see you and raise you, Randy. There’s no — should be no dual citizenship in the United States of America.”

The issue of dual citizenship also came up multiple times on Tucker Carlson’s podcast throughout the year:

• In early October, while discussing Israel, Carlson asked “why would you allow” dual citizenship and argued that “it shouldn’t be allowed for a single moment."

• After Fine’s appearance on Loomer Unleashed and before his introduction of the bill, Carlson also weighed in on the issue, arguing, “You can't have dual citizenship because you can't have dual loyalty."

• During Carlson’s controversial October 27 interview, Fuentes said, “In terms of tangible things, I don't think we disagree on any of it, like registering AIPAC and FARA, banning dual citizenship.” Carlson replied, “I think 80% of the public agrees with those things."

• In November, Carlson interviewed Ambassador Nikki Haley’s son, Nalin Haley, who said, “We should also not allow dual citizenship because that's the stupidest idea. You’re either American or you’re not.” Carlson responded, “That's totally right."

The newest iteration of the GOP’s efforts is Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) bill, introduced on December 1, to eliminate dual citizenship altogether. Bannon, recently embroiled in controversy surrounding his connections to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, hosted Moreno on War Room to discuss the bill, telling the senator, “It’s fantastic. Great work, sir."

Video

Citation

From the December 2, 2025, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

Knowles also praised Moreno’s new legislation on his December 2 podcast, saying: “We should not have dual citizens. Dual citizenship is absurd.”

And Moreno appeared on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, where host Laura Ingraham praised the bill, stating: “I hope we see legislation moving forward in the Senate on that issue. I think that is a fantastic idea."

Video

Citation

From the December 3, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

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QAnon influencers baselessly suggest newly released Epstein emails show Trump was an “informant” against Epstein

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published 11/14/25

Multiple online influencers affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy theory — which falsely asserts that a secret satanic pedophile cabal that included Jeffrey Epstein runs the world — are baselessly suggesting that newly released emails from Epstein that reference President Donald Trump are actually evidence that Trump was an “informant” who worked to take down the convicted sex trafficker.

• ## House members release emails from Epstein mentioning Trump, as he and his allies try to prevent the release of more Epstein files

• • Emails from Epstein released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee seem to allege Trump knew about Epstein's conduct. Epstein wrote in the emails that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s alleged victims. Epstein also wrote in the emails that Trump “knew about the girls,” that “that dog that hasn’t barked is trump,” and that Trump was “dangerous.” The New York Times, [11/12/25; NBC News, 11/12/25; CNN, 11/12/25; USA Today, 11/13/25]

• • The House is poised to vote next week on releasing files related to Epstein, despite Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) attempts to prevent it. After resistance from House Republican leaders to a vote on their bill to release the Epstein files, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a discharge petition in July to force a vote. On November 12, the petition got the final signature required to force a vote after Trump reportedly “made last-ditch moves to block action,” including summoning Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to a meeting in the White House Situation Room. PBS News, [11/13/25; CNN, 11/12/25; The New York Times, 11/12/25]

• • Johnson previously alleged without evidence that Trump was an FBI informant against Epstein, before later backtracking. In September, Johnson responded to Trump’s claim about a “Democrat Epstein Hoax” and said that the president was “referring to … the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him,” and in fact Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.” According to Rolling Stone, “Johnson’s ‘informant’ claim … sparked widespread confusion within the ranks of Trump’s government, with several senior officials blindsided or just completely perplexed by what the Trump-aligned House speaker could have possibly meant,” with “some officials still unsure about whether Johnson was citing some explosive, unheard-of insider information, or if he misspoke or was freelancing extemporaneously.” Days later, Johnson backtracked, saying that he had been referring to “what the (Epstein) victims’ attorney said” and that he didn't know if he “used the right terminology, but that’s common knowledge, and everybody knows that.” Rolling Stone, [9/6/25; CNN, 9/8/25]
• ## The QAnon community has tried to rationalize Trump opposing the Epstein files’ release

• • After Trump dismissed the Epstein filings in July, many in the QAnon community tried to find a way to give Trump a pass. Following Axios’ July 6 reporting of an administration memo that concluded that there is “no evidence” Epstein “kept a ‘client list’ or was murdered,” Trump called the focus on Epstein “foolish” and a “hoax.” In response, influencers affiliated with QAnon speculated that there is “more to the story” and that Trump’s actions are actually part of an elaborate and “brilliant” plot he is enacting against the supposed pedophile cabal. A smaller group of QAnon supporters, however, criticized Trump for his comments about Epstein. Media Matters, [7/21/25]

• • By contrast, many in right-wing media have been critical of Trump and his administration’s handling of the Epstein case. Figures have accused the administration of a “cover-up” and of “utterly mismanag[ing]” the case, and they claimed Trump was “massively misreading his base” on the issue. Media Matters, [7/9/25]

• ## In response to newly released Epstein emails, online influencers affiliated with the QAnon movement suggest the emails make “Trump definitely sound like an asset, an FBI informant”

• • Podcast host Zak Paine, who The New York Times reported “pushes the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory,” claimed the emails suggested “it’s likely” that “Donald Trump was the whistleblower that was responsible for Jeffrey Epstein getting wrapped up in the case in the first place.” Paine also claimed, without evidence, that the emails referred to how Trump supposedly “went to the police and the FBI about this entire thing,” and pointed to Johnson’s “informant” remarks in September as additional evidence. The New York Times, [4/27/21; RedPill78, 11/12/25]

• • Podcaster Brian Lupo wrote that the new email release “supports that theory” that “Trump has been an informant against Epstein.” Lupo, also known online as “CannCon,” has posted about “Q,” QAnon’s central figure, as well as the QAnon slogan. Media Matters, [6/14/23; Twitter/X, accessed 6/14/23, 2/23/23, 11/12/25]

• • Podcaster “Burning Bright,” who’s written that “I am and have been a Q follower,” said “I totally agree” with Lupo that “in the context of the emails themselves,” Trump looks like “an informant.” Bright also invoked Q posts (called “drops”) as part of his claim. Twitter/X, accessed [11/13/25, 5/16/25; Badlands Media, Devolution Power Hour, 11/12/25]

• • Podcaster Jon Herold claimed that one of the emails “makes Trump definitely sound like an asset, an FBI informant.” Herold, who is also known online as “Patel Patriot,” has written that the Q posts “are legit.” Media Matters, [7/22/25; Twitter/X, 11/26/24; Badlands Media, Devolution Power Hour, 11/12/25]

• • Jordan Sather, who The Daily Beast reported is a “prominent QAnon promoter,” claimed that the emails showed “Epstein & his friends ... catching wind that Trump was likely an informant gathering dirt on them.” The Daily Beast, [1/28/20; Telegram, 11/12/25]

• • Pepe Lives Matter, who a BBC reporter has reported is a “major QAnon influencer,” wrote that the “emails may indicate what weve been saying that trump was an informant against epstein.” Twitter/X, [1/7/21; Telegram, 11/12/25]

• • Jacob Creech, a figure known online as “Clandestine” who has “repeatedly posted in support of QAnon,” wrote that the emails show “Trump was Epstein’s #1 enemy.” Creech wrote, “Observe the timeline: Epstein in 2017: ‘Trump is dangerous.’ 2019: Trump’s DOJ indicts/arrests Epstein and seizes his island. Epstein was right to fear Trump, because Epstein knew Trump helped the victims seek justice in FL in 2006. Trump was Epstein’s #1 enemy.” Vice, [4/12/22; Twitter/X, 11/13/25]

• • “The SCIF,” a social media account which has written that “if it wasn’t for Q, most people would still have no clue how bad the child trafficking problem really is,” claimed Trump “exposed and took down Epstein.” The SCIF wrote that the released emails were “another attempt to slander Trump instead of going after the real monsters of child trafficking and abuse” by “cherry picking emails.” The account also claimed this was done “because Trump went after all of them, exposed and took down Epstein, all of their money laundering operations using YOUR taxpayer dollars, and the elites child trafficking blackmail rings.” Twitter/X, [10/25/24, 11/12/25]

//

mma

1. ### QAnon world roiled by Trump opposing releasing the Epstein files

07/21/25 2:39 PM EDT

2. ### Right-wing media are flailing in response to Trump's DOJ memo about Jeffrey Epstein

07/09/25 10:46 AM EDT

3. ### New Epstein emails mentioning Trump don't appear to interest Fox News

11/12/25

---

aha hmmn do they look for cidgel before cop eg UK server -gate?

mma

Ahead of COP30, right-wing media misrepresented Bill Gates' memo to declare climate change is over

Climate scientists question why Gates is pitting poverty reduction against climate action

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Allison Fisher

Research contributions from Ilana Berger

Published 11/14/25

• Ahead of COP30 — the United Nations climate summit which began November 6 in Brazil — Bill Gates released a memo targeted at the international climate community which argued that “although climate change will have serious consequences—particularly for people in the poorest countries—it will not lead to humanity’s demise” and called for a “strategic pivot” on climate change to prioritize “human welfare.”

Bill Weir, CNN’s chief climate correspondent, correctly predicted how right-wing media would respond: “This will be used by detractors and denialists to say that the story is shifting.”

On *CNN News Central’*s day one coverage of COP30, Erica Hill laid out some of the impact of Gates’ memo at a time when the United States is already turning its back on the “world’s largest climate summit”:

• > President Trump, of course, has called climate change a, quote, con job. That's despite the overwhelming evidence of its reality and the very real threat it poses. President Trump seemed to get an assist recently from Bill Gates, who argued that resources actually should be shifted away from the battle against climate change. It's a move that experts have said is just flat out wrong.

• In fact, in response to Gates' memo, Trump posted on Truth Social that “I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax” because Bill Gates had “finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue.” Gates said that Trump and other right-wing media reactions that echo his remarks are a “gigantic misreading of the memo,” while he has also pushed back at “climate scientists who said he was setting up a false dichotomy pitting climate efforts against foreign aid.”

• ## Right-wing media celebrate Bill Gates’ shift on climate, misrepresent his memo to downplay the climate crisis

• The Associated Press reported that Bill Gates remarked: “If you think climate is not important, you won't agree with the memo. If you think climate is the only cause and apocalyptic, you won't agree with the memo.”

But there it seems Gates was wrong. Right-wing media figures, who regularly downplay the climate crisis are likely among those who “think climate is not important,” and they are not disagreeing with the memo. They have celebrated it and used it to further downplay the climate crisis, attack climate science as “fraudulent,” and advance right-wing narratives and misinformation related to global warming, including denying sea level rise, suggesting that current climate change is unremarkable because the climate has been changing for billions of years, and pushing the “global cooling” myth.

• • The New York Post editorial board concluded, “If Gates wants any credit for belatedly seeing the light, he needs to put maximum effort into getting the left’s climate warriors to wake up, too.” NY Post, [10/28/25]

• • Former Fox News host John Stossel used Bill Gates’ memo to push his climate change denial content on social media, writing, “Welcome to the club, Bill. Here 3 climate scientists debunk several of the doomsday myths.”Stossel shared one of his videos featuring three climate skeptics, Willie Soon, David Legates, and Patrick Michaels, from an event at The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that has received funding from fossil fuel interests. Twitter/X, [10/28/25; Media Matters, 1/16/24, 8/14/25; NPR, 9/12/20; Desmog; accessed 11/10/25]

• • Hannity.com: “CLIMATE KOOK FLIPS! Bill Gates Suggests Rethinking Climate Change 'Doomsday Outlook'”Hannity.com, [10/28/25]

• • Fox host Jimmy Failla claimed that Gates’ memo proves climate change is a “grift” and pushed the misleading narrative that the climate is always changing. Failla continued:“What an about face. And it really gives up the whole entire grift we always knew it was. It drives me crazy because, you know this, the movement has not only changed again but changed in name three times before we got here. We were going to freeze to death in the ‘70s. Can you give me some money? We were going to melt in the ‘80s. Can you give me a few bucks? Then they were like, we're not freezing or melting, but the weather changes every day. How about a couple of bucks.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [10/29/25; climatefactcheck.org,

6/22/22]

• • Glenn Beck, founder of TheBlaze, wrote on his website that Gates did a “strategic pivot” because “the ruling class” finds AI “more useful than fear of the weather.”“Climate alarmism gave elites a pretext to centralize power over energy. Artificial intelligence gives them a mechanism to centralize power over people,” he later wrote. [Glennbeck.com,

10/29/25]

• • In an interview with Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt, conspiracy theorist and U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser Kari Lake said, “When we get documents declassified on the climate hoax, he’s probably trying to get ahead of what happens then.”Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight,* [10/29/25; Media Matters, 12/12/24]

• • OnAmerica’s Newsroom, co-host Bill Hemmer used the memo to falsely claim that “rising sea levels just ain’t happening.” “He says it will not lead to the humanities demise. … Maybe an asteroid will, but the rising sea levels just ain’t happening as Al Gore warned us back in 2005.” The World Economic Forum has said that “rising sea levels caused by climate change are impacting 1 billion people worldwide,” while “2024 saw an unexpectedly fast rising of sea levels, which are already unprecedented.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [10/29/25; World Economic Forum, 3/25/25]

• • OnOutnumbered, Fox News contributor Kaylee McGhee White said “climate change doomerism” was a ploy to “drive young adults … to leftist activism.” “This is the least surprising development ever. I think that the climate change doomerism, it was always a ploy, the real purpose of which was to drive young adults my age into leftist activism, that is all it was a vehicle for. And you know, what’s frustrating about this is Bill Gates is suddenly switching his position, but there is no new science behind." Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [10/29/25]

• • Fox’s Will Cain hosted Alex Epstein, author of the petroleum-promoting bookFossil Future, and suggested that fossil fuel advocacy is the “potential explanations for the change of heart of Bill Gates.” He claimed, “It is really most of the thoughtful scientists and thinkers through the last several hundred years who have understood the power of fossil fuels and economic growth in helping the vast majority of people across the world. Maybe that finally broke through to Bill Gates. Maybe just seeing the writing on the wall in modern America and under President Donald Trump.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [10/29/25; Media Matters, 11/4/25]

• • OnThe Five, Greg Gutfeld claimed that “people were told to stop having kids” and that Gates' shift is akin to admitting the “climate models … are fraudulent.”Gutfeld said, “It was a lie that impacted the mental health of generations and the physical health of a civilization. People were told to stop having kids. If you had kids you were hurting the planet. But it is hopeful that Gates and others are ceding to reality. We saw it happen already. Nobody is talking about data anymore because the data, the climate models, they are finally admitting are fraudulent, they were retrofitted so that they matched the results they were getting, and now that is out in the open.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/29/25]

• • Fox host Joey Jones claimed that Gates’ memo meant that Trump “won the climate change war.”“I think Trump has won another war. He won the climate change war now. Americans are coming around. You want to talk about petroleum products, think about how much oil is used to make all of those syringes for all of those vaccines during Covid. I mean just the impact and imprint of petroleum on our lives is endless,” Jones claimed. Fox News, *The Five*, [10/29/25]

• • Contributor Katie Pavlich told Fox Business’Kudlowthat she wants “reparations for damage this guy [Bill Gates] did on the climate change front.”She claimed, “There were years of groups that were funded by Bill Gates, foreigners doing fact checks on conservative web sites like TownHall, demonetizing us for talking about climate change and that it’s not going to destroy humanity and in fact a lot of the science has been bought and paid for and has been debunked on this issue. I would get laughed at when I would point out I am from Arizona, and you can find sea shells, fossils at the top of the Grand Canyon because yes, climate change has been happening for billions of years.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [10/29/25]

• • Frequent Fox guest and climate denier Marc Morano on Fox Business’The Evening Editsuggested that Bill Gates “knew” all along that climate change was nonsense.“Bill Gates knew in the year 2000 that the climate agenda was complete bleep. He knew in 2010 it was nonsense, he knew in 2020 it was nonsense, but only in 2025 is he willing to tell the truth. And the reason is he needs connections. He needs energy.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit,

10/30/25; Washington Post, 9/16/16; Media Matters, 12/17/12; 5/22/19]

Newsmax host Rob Finnerty falsely claimed that Gates is “saying that it’s [climate change] not real.Finnerty said, “Now think about what Democrats have done to all of us in reaction to the climate hysteria created by people like Bill Gates over the last five decades: wind farms, electric cars, carbon footprint, bike lanes, electric buses, eating less meat, renewable energy. We could go on all night and all of it was total garbage. … Bill Gates, who's been right there with always-wrong Al Gore warning us of impending doom for years now, saying that it's not real.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [10/31/25]

Right-wing streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, told his audience that Bill Gates no longer believes in climate change and quotes Trump’s Truth Social Post.“You know who else doesn't believe in climate change recently? Bill Gates. Bill Gates has dramatically changed his position on climate change, acknowledging for the first time that there is no doomsday risk for, of global warming. … We just won the war on the climate change hoax. Bill Gates has finally admitted that he was completely wrong on the issue.” [YouTube, AsmongoldTV,

]}:

• • Fox & Friends Weekendguest and Republican strategist Mehek Cooke claimed Gates shifted on climate change because he realized “we're not going to pay for this green climate change hoax.” She said, “We're not all going to die at the end of the day. So farmers can increase their herd share, I can eat more meat. I mean, all the things that Bill Gates said to the American people, he realized he was losing because we're not going to pay for this green climate change hoax. I also think he's listening to President Trump. It's about innovation and not more regulation.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [11/2/25]

• • Power The Future Founder and frequent right-wing media guest Daniel Turner wrote that Bill Gates’ “climate crusade was always a grift.” Twitter/X, [11/3/25; Media Matters, 5/8/24;

3/25/24]

• ## Climate scientists push back on Gates pitting poverty reduction against efforts to reduce carbon emissions

• During a segment on CNN News Central, Bill Weir highlighted concerns from “the chorus of top climate scientists who spent the week trying to debunk the billionaire's confusing new message that rich cities will be immune from the worst effects and that technology can save us.”

Additionally, The Guardian pointed out that a number of climate scientists have criticized Gates for using “‘straw man’ arguments about the threat to humanity and ‘false dichotomies’ between spending on climate or aid for the poor.”

• • In comments to NBC, Jeffrey Sachs, who leads Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development, “called the memo ‘pointless, vague, unhelpful and confusing,'" adding that there’s “no reason to pit poverty reduction versus climate transformation.’" NBC, [10/28/25]

• • Climate scientist Michael Mann has been outspoken about Gates’ memo, pointing out that it coincided with the landfall of the climate-driven Hurricane Melissa and that it was defended by former Fox News star Megyn Kelly. Mann also wrote a rebuttal of the memo in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, making the point that “Gates’ latest missive … plays like a game of climate change-diminishing bingo, drawing upon nearly every one of the tropes embraced by professional climate disinformers.” Twitter/X, [10/28/25, 10/29/25; The Bulletin, 10/31/25; The New York Times, 11/6/25]

• • Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles, said of the memo: “Despite agreeing with some points therein, I still think its framing is fundamentally flawed and thus also its key conclusions.” Twitter/X, [11/3/25]

• • Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather wrote: “There are a lot of things I agree with in Bill Gates’ new memo on climate change. … But in other areas I feel that it needlessly sets up a conflict between laudable goals.” Hausfather said that “we can both mitigate emissions and alleviate poverty, disease, and hunger. While there are some tradeoffs it is more a question of policy priority than a zero sum game. Similarly, I feel that Gates is a bit too cavalier in his treatment of climate risk.” The Climate Brink, [11/5/25]

• • Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, also criticized Gates’ memo. She said, “‘I have not seen a single scientific paper that ever posited that the human race would become extinct … it’s a straw man, the way he’s proposing it.” The Guardian, [11/6/25]

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an 11 25

In their thirst to speak of anything but damning emails further linking President Donald Trump to the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, right-wing influencers were desperately grasping at everything.

New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger describes pundits’ ‘thunderous silence’ at one of the most exciting media explosions in weeks.

“For hours, Fox News made nary a mention of the tranche [of incriminating documents], whose contents suggested, among other things, that the president knew more about the abuses perpetrated by Mr. Epstein, a former friend, than he had admitted,” said Bensinger. “Prominent podcasters like Ben Shapiro and Megyn Kelly focused on H-1B visas, the government shutdown and a proposal for 50-year mortgages on their shows and social media.”

The online troll account known as “Catturd,” which posts “dozens of times every day to its nearly four million followers on X,” spent the aftermath of the email release attacking Michelle Obama, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and former FBI Director James Comey.

“But as time wore on, right-wing media figures began coalescing around another approach: focusing on a single redacted name in the emails,” said Bensinger. “They argued that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee — who had released three emails early on Wednesday — had created a false narrative by hiding the name of one of Epstein’s victims in one of the messages. The redaction, the theory went, was meant to cover up that the victim, Virginia Giuffre, previously said she had never witnessed Mr. Trump involved in sexual abuse of minors.”

“This was done intentionally,” posted Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt. He then followed that up with a selfie-style video in a gym. “This is how sick and twisted these people are,” Schmitt said. “They are vile creatures. This is what we’re up against.”

Right-wing media figures are in a difficult position, said Bensinger.

“The unified response to this week’s [email] disclosures shows how closely aligned right-wing media voices are with elected Republicans and the degree to which the two share story lines — and provide each other political cover,” said Bensinger. “Indeed, the core message that ended up emanating from conservative media this week originated [from Republicans] within the Oversight Committee itself, [who] jumped on the redaction question less than an hour after the three emails dropped.”

“Why did Democrats cover up the name?” Bensinger said committee Republicans posted on X. “Democrats are trying to create a fake narrative to slander President Trump.”

The White House seized that same line of thinking, pointing out that the redacted Epstein victim in the emails never claimed Trump had personally touched her.

Other MAGA influencers are now trying to ride that train as far as it can go, said Bensinger, with podcasters Benny Johnson and Tim Pool joining countless others in unified argument, all trying to raise suspicion over why Giuffre’s name was redacted.

Bensinger points out that it is the policy of the Oversight Committee to redact the names of victims in its revelations, and that Republicans committed an “apparent violation of the committee’s policy” when they released the unredacted version.

Read the New York Times report at this link.

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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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MMA

Myths and facts about SNAP

As the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program runs out of funds, right-wing figures have suggested food insecurity is an “illusion” and called program recipients “entitled”

Written by Noah Dowe

Research contributions from Helena Hind & Jane Lee

Published 10/31/25

With SNAP benefits set to expire on November 1 due to the ongoing government shutdown and the Trump administration’s refusal to shift emergency funds, many right-wing media figures have seized the opportunity to spread false claims about the program and its users.

These figures have claimed, contrary to government data, that food insecurity is overblown, and suggested the program leaves taxpayers being “ripped off by the poor.”

They have also wrongly suggested that “a lot” or even “most” of SNAP recipients are “not even Americans,” arguing the program is “redistributing the wealth away from productive Americans to foreigners.”

As SNAP funding runs dry, the Trump administration has decided not to use emergency reserves to maintain it

• • SNAP is set to “exhaust its remaining funds” by November 1, and the administration is refusing to save the program by using “billions of dollars left over across multiple federal accounts, including money in an emergency reserve specifically for SNAP.”In a hearing for a lawsuit filed against the administration by 25 states, a federal judge commented that it was “hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency, when there’s no money, and a lot of people are needing their SNAP benefits.” The judge later gave the administration until Monday to come up with a plan for expiring benefits, and said “the Agriculture Department must use emergency funds to keep SNAP going.” The New York Times, [10/30/25; NPR, 10/31/25]

• • Axios: The U.S. Department of Agriculture “told states it would not provide November's SNAP payments” in “an apparent departure from its Sept. 30 shutdown plan (which has since been taken down) that stated, ‘Congressional intent is evident that SNAP's operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi-year contingency funds.’” The USDA’s initial shutdown plan also stated: “These multi-year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.” Axios, [10/27/25; U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Lapse of Funding Plan (as of September 30, 2025),” accessed 10/31/25]

• • The USDA website later posted a notice blaming Democrats for its refusal to pay out the benefits, declaring that “the well has run dry.” United States Department of Agriculture, accessed [10/31/25; Axios, 10/27/25]

• • The Project 2025 play book,Mandate for Leadership, which has heavily influenced the Trump administration, called for sweeping changes to SNAP and other food assistance programs that would cut many Americans off from aid. These include implementing work requirements, ending automatic eligibility for those receiving other forms of welfare, reducing the purchasing power of SNAP over time, and closing the “heat-and-eat loophole” which allows those in the Low-Income Heat and Energy Assistance Program to receive more benefits. Axios, [10/2/25; Media Matters, 10/29/24]

• ## MYTH: Food insecurity is overblown, and people will not go hungry without food stamps

• • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt: “This whole idea that there's food insecurity in this country, what an illusion that is.” Schmitt declared, “I don't think there's a food security problem at all -- or food insecurity problem.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [10/28/25]

• • MAGA influencer TheQuartering: “I refuse to believe there are 43 million Americans in need of me to pay for their Mountain Dew.” Twitter/X, [10/28/25, 3/26/25]

• • Conservative Political Action Conference Chair Matt Schlapp said it was “sad to watch Republicans saying that SNAP funding delays will lead to widespread starvation.” He explained, “There are truly needy poor people in America. But these programs are riddled with waste and people here illegally seem to be first in line.” Twitter/X, [10/28/25]

• • Right-wing host Steven Crowder claimed SNAP recipients “spend TWICE what the average worker does on groceries,” arguing the program is “rewarding people who abuse the system.”Twitter/X, [10/28/25]

• • Right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson said, “This is not the Great Depression. There are not food shortages in this nation.” He then attacked SNAP recipients, calling them “able-bodied Americans and illegals who refuse to work” and “ want to just leech off the productive class.” YouTube, The Benny Show, [10/31/25]

• • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh questioned whether anyone has “ever starved to death” in modern America, adding, “There are so many other lines of defense that should mean that you're not going to starve” and listing family, friends, soup kitchens, charities, churches, food drives, and other welfare programs. He then attacked SNAP recipients, saying when you consider their pleas they come off as “entitled, lazy,” and “barely literate,” arguing that “some of them are just frankly bad people.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [10/28/25]

• ## FACT: SNAP is an essential program protecting against food insecurity and severe hunger, and food banks “will not be able to fill the gap”

• • USDA data shows that “47.4 million people lived in food-insecure households” in 2023. The agency noted that food insecurity was worst in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Food Security in the U.S. - Key Statistics & Graphics,” [1/8/25]

• • A 2019 study published in the Health Affairs journal found “groups whose SNAP benefits were reduced or cut off had significantly increased odds of household and child food insecurity.” Health Affairs, [5/19]

• • According to CNBC, 73% of SNAP recipients “live below the poverty line, which is currently $32,150 or less for a family of four.” The article notes that “Google search interest for ‘food banks’ and ‘food stamps’” have surged “as SNAP beneficiaries look for alternatives.” CNBC, [10/29/25]

• • The New York Times interviewed “several food bank directors” who warned that “they will not be able to fill the gap if funding for SNAP does not come through.” As reported by the Times, “For every nine meals that were supplied by federal food assistance, food pantries can provide only one on their own. No matter how thin they stretch their resources, they will not be able to fill the gap if funding for SNAP does not come through.” The New York Times, [10/26/25]

• ## MYTH: SNAP is rife with “fraud”

• • Rob Schmitt: “12% of Americans are on food stamps. I think just purely about how much fraud there must be in that, because we do not have 12% of Americans that aren't able to work.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [10/22/25]

• • :{:{Matt Walsh claimed the shutdown’s impact on SNAP “has finally drawn attention to the scale of this fraud” and “exposed a vast network of criminal activity that needs to be shut down.” Walsh continued, “And beyond that point, if the food stamp program is going to continue to exist at all, which I'm not convinced it should, it needs to have standards, strict standards. It needs to have a reason to exist.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [10/29/25]}:

• • Walsh later said taxpayers are “getting ripped off by the poor and the rich at the same time.” Twitter/X, [10/30/25]

• • Right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich: “SNAP is fraud, it's for people to buy sugar soda and junk food.” Twitter/X, [10/28/25]

• • Right-wing influencer Phillip Buchanan, who posts on social media under the moniker “Catturd”: “The Government shutdown has exposed how many millions of people are scamming the SNAP program.” Daily Dot, [7/25/23; Twitter/X, 10/29/25]

• ## FACT: SNAP fraud is rare, and nearly 40% of recipients are children

• • Citing the Congressional Research Service, PBS reported in 2023 that “for every 10,000 households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), about 14 contained a recipient who was investigated and determined to have committed fraud.” The article continued, “Within SNAP, for every $10,000 paid in benefits, about $11 is determined by state agencies to have been overpaid due to recipient fraud.” PBS, [5/15/23]

• • The Urban Institute found that “the maximum SNAP benefit did not cover the cost of a modestly priced meal in 99 percent of US counties.” Urban Institute, [7/16/25]

• • MSNBC: Nearly “half of SNAP households contain elderly or disabled people. Of the others, about half are currently employed while most of the rest are relying on SNAP during relatively short periods of unemployment.” MSNBC, [10/30/25]

• • According to USDA data from 2023, about 39% of SNAP recipients were children, and about 11% of recipients were under 5 years old. USDA, [7/24/25]

• ## MYTH: SNAP is used primarily by “noncitizens or foreigners”

• • Newsmax host Rob Finnerty: “Most of the people getting food stamps from the U.S. government and the U.S. taxpayer are not even Americans.” Finnerty continued, “We can confirm tonight that millions of Joe Biden illegal aliens, people who crossed the border when Joe was president, are now collecting food stamps from a program funded by hard-working American taxpayers.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [10/27/25]

• • Turning Point USA’s Alex Clark: “While we are here-let’s look into the amount of illegals using SNAP benefits over Americans.” Twitter/X, [10/27/25]

• • Fox host Laura Ingraham claimed “a lot” of SNAP recipients “are noncitizens or foreigners.”Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [10/28/25]

• • Townhall senior columnist Kurt Schlichter said SNAP users are “bums” who should “go back to the garbage homelands.” Twitter/X, [10/28/25]

• • Newsmax guest James Fishback: “We are essentially redistributing the wealth away from productive Americans to foreigners and subsidizing their way of life.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [10/29/25]

• • :{Matt Walsh: “We import the third world and force working class Americans to feed and house them at gunpoint. Civilizational suicide.” Twitter/X, [10/26/25]

• ## FACT: The overwhelming majority of SNAP recipients are citizens

• • Wired: “USDA data shows that almost 90 percent of SNAP recipients are American-born citizens. 1.1 percent of recipients are refugees, and 3.3 percent are other noncitizens.”Wired, [10/30/25]

• • ABC News: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act “cuts off [SNAP] access completely for refugees and other immigrant groups in the country lawfully,” although “states are still awaiting federal guidance on when to stop or phase it out.” As reported by ABC, “One of the first provisions to take effect under the law removes SNAP eligibility for most refugees, asylum seekers, trafficking and domestic violence victims, and other legal immigrants.” ABC News, [10/30/25]

• ## MYTH: SNAP recipients are using the program to live unhealthy lifestyles

• • Far-right commentator Stefan Molyneux: “You should not be fat on government food.” Twitter/X, [10/27/25]

• • Right-wing social media account End Wokeness: “Every single fat person on food stamps is an indictment of the entire program.” Twitter/X, [10/28/25]

• • :{:{Matt Walsh: “75% of these people are obese.” Walsh used this to claim that “the massive number of people who receive these subsidies … clearly don’t need them, for the most part.” Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [10/29/25]}:

• • Podcaster Adam Carolla: “The average female who gets no free food from the government is 146 pounds. The average SNAP recipient is 211 pounds. … Nobody could benefit from a nice fast more than the SNAP recipients.”Twitter/X, [10/29/25]

• • Rob Schmitt: “Why are people who weigh 300 pounds on SNAP? Is there no weight limit for a free food program in this country? Are you kidding me?” Schmitt added, “A perfect diet plan would be no more EBT cards.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [10/29/25]

• ## FACT: SNAP recipients sometimes see improved health outcomes as compared to nonrecipients

• • Usage of SNAP is associated with “better self-reported health, lower risk of heart disease and obesity among adults who had access to SNAP as children, and greater medication adherence among older participants.” According to The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Early access to SNAP among pregnant mothers and in early childhood improved birth outcomes and long-term health as adults. Elderly SNAP participants are less likely than similar non-participants to forgo their full prescribed dosage of medicine due to cost. … Infants and children in families participating in SNAP are more likely to see a doctor for periodic check-ups. Low-income adults participating in SNAP incur an average of about $1,400, or nearly 25 percent, less in medical care costs in a year than low-income non-participants. The difference is even greater for those with hypertension (nearly $2,700 less) and coronary heart disease (over $4,100 less).” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, [12/14/22]

• • PBS: “Anti-hunger advocates point to research that shows SNAP recipients are no more likely than other low-income Americans to buy sugary drinks or snack foods. And they say that limiting food choices undermines the autonomy and dignity of people who receive, on average, about $187 per month — or about $6.16 per day, according to latest figures.” PBS, [2/19/25]

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1. ### The Trump administration previously indicated it would pay SNAP benefits during a shutdown. Fox is defending its new refusal to do so.

:{10/30/25

2. ### 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

:{10/29/25

3. ### Newsmax's Rick Santorum says Kevin Roberts “just sort of missed it a little bit” in his response to Tucker Carlson's “softball” interview with Nick Fuentes

11/04/25

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MMA

Pete Hegseth is replacing the Pentagon press corps with MAGA propagandists

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 10/27/25

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is stifling the Pentagon’s channels for public information and cutting off avenues for accountability as U.S. forces deploy on missions of dubious legality that are fraught with potential danger.

President Donald Trump has sent federalized National Guard troops to multiple U.S. cities since the summer and threatened to send troops to many more. The U.S. military is massing forces in a potential precursor for regime change operations in Venezuela and recently began the extrajudicial killing of individuals on offshore vessels that officials claim, without evidence, are engaged in drug trafficking.

The public has a right to know about these deployments, which raise grave legal and constitutional questions.

But on Wednesday, Defense Department press secretary Sean Parnell announced “the next generation of the Pentagon press corps,” which he described as “over 60 journalists, representing a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists.”

That a government official trumpeted the debut of the new people who will be covering his department is a signal of just how much that press corps has been corrupted. Its new members are a motley crew predominantly composed of right-wing influencers and Trumpist outlets. Representatives of organizations like The Gateway Pundit and Infowars will replace what Parnell termed the “activists who masquerade as journalists” who turned in their passes last week rather than accepting his department's new restrictions on the press.

Credible defense reporters will continue striving to provide the public with information and insight on Pentagon operations. But they will do so in the face of Defense Department leaders who clearly prefer working with politically sympathetic conspiracy theorists and propagandists. The “new” Pentagon press corps’ coverage will likely range from pliant to sycophantic as its members seek to comfort their MAGA audiences.

The press isn’t the only target of the Pentagon’s campaign against transparency: Hegseth, driven by an apparent urge to limit the effectiveness and volume of oversight, has also launched an overhaul of the inspector general complaint system to curtail its investigations, and he issued a new policy that prevents military leaders from talking to members of Congress without prior approval.

Together, it amounts to an information silo around the Pentagon as U.S. troops deploy abroad and at home.

A DOD campaign to hamstring Pentagon reporting

Hegseth lacked anything resembling traditional qualifications for his post when President Donald Trump appointed him, having instead spent years working for Fox News. And while his most extensive work experience is at a media company, he was by no means a reporter. A right-wing host of the network’s weekend morning show, Hegseth shared the contempt for journalists that permeates much of the network’s programming, urging readers of his 2020 book to “disdain, despise, detest, [and] distrust” the news media.

As defense secretary, Hegseth has effectively made that comment the mission statement for the department’s press relations. He has mocked and derided reporters and torn apart his senior staff in search of media leakers. Soon after he took office, the department punished national news outlets by kicking them out of their Pentagon work spaces and handing them off to right-wing publications. A few months later, new rules banned reporters from much of the Pentagon unless they were escorted by an approved member of the department.

Hegseth and his department are historically lax in sharing information with the press and thus the public, as NPR reporter Tom Bowman, a 28-year veteran of the Pentagon press corps, noted:

Now, we're barely getting any information at all from the Pentagon. In the 10 months that the Trump administration has been in office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given just two briefings.

And there have been virtually no background briefings, which were common in the past whenever there has been military action anywhere in the world, as there has been with the recent bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities and of boats off the coast of Venezuela alleged to be carrying illicit drugs. In previous administrations, Defense Department officials — including the acerbic [Don] Rumsfeld — would hold regular press briefings, often twice a week. They knew the American people deserved to know what was going on.

But limiting access for reporters and starving them of information was apparently not enough.

Last month the Pentagon rolled out strict new guidelines for the press corps which warned that “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” and threatened to strip access from anyone who violated that stricture. On the October 15 deadline to sign their acknowledgement of the new guidelines, journalists for dozens of outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal instead turned in their press passes and left the building en masse.

“Signing that document would make us stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable,” Bowman noted.

But for Hegseth, that was the point — he wanted stenographers rather than watchdogs, and following the establishment of the new guidelines and the ensuing walkout, that’s exactly what he’s gotten. All the reporters who might consider themselves watchdogs have left the building. Even right-wing outlets Fox, Newsmax, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, and the Washington Examiner drew a line and refused to sign the new guidelines to retain their access.

Those that did sign are, almost by definition, the type of willing administration lapdogs Hegseth wanted covering him from inside the building. They are, at times by their own admission, woefully incapable of doing investigative work that holds him to account — but they have the skills to promote his talking points and puff him up to their right-wing audiences.

• ### Meet the MAGA propagandists the Pentagon is empowering

Hegseth and the MAGA right enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship. When his nomination appeared in jeopardy following allegations of misconduct that included sexual assault, workplace drunkenness, and financial mismanagement, Hegseth benefited from the furious support of MAGA influencers. Upon taking office, he then offered access to the likes of Pizzagate enthusiast Jack Posobiec and presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump to burnish his image.

A rundown of those who will now make up the Pentagon press corps — either rare holdovers willing to sign the guidelines or new outlets that announced their involvement after Parnell’s announcement — suggests that one hand will continue to wash the other. The “next generation of the Pentagon press corps” features a host of representatives from MAGA outlets, many of which publish deranged conspiracy theories, Trumpist hagiography, or extremist commentary.

They include:

• • Infowars, the internet home of Alex Jones, a pro-Trump radio host and conspiracy theorist who has accused the U.S. government of perpetrating the 9/11 attacks and a host of other mass shootings and terror strikes. The site, which faces liquidation to pay Jones’ $1.4 billion defamation judgement for claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax staged by crisis actors, promotes similarly deranged content. Over the past few years it ran headlines about the Pentagon’s purported role in the “COVID Attack Plan” and “Nanotech Mind Control of Society” before pivoting to pro-Hegseth content in the second Trump term.

• • The Gateway Pundit, website of the right-wing blogger Jim Hoft, whose credulous promotion of hoaxes earned him the description “dumbest man on the internet.” The Gateway Pundit became a clearinghouse for election denial and voter fraud conspiracy theories amid and following the 2020 vote (and a key news source for Trump in the leadup to the January 6 insurrection, which the site initially celebrated), as well as a font of Kremlin propaganda after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

• • Lindell TV, the pro-Trump outlet of pillow entrepreneur Mike Lindell, among the most vociferous members of the election denial community, who has lost multiple lawsuits over his various false claims about fraud in the 2020 vote.

• • One America News Network, a third-tier Fox competitor with an obsessive focus on pushing false claims about election fraud and a penchant for promoting particularly wild conspiracy theories, including airing content which matches the description of a 2020 documentary the federal government warned had been produced by Russian proxies.

• • The Federalist, a virulently anti-LGBTQ MAGA website which recently published a piece arguing that Democrats “need to be treated like the domestic terrorists they are.” Its editor-in-chief, Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway, has accused various news outlets of “perpetuating” a “seditious conspiracy,” while its CEO Sean Davis regularly accusesDemocrats and Trump opponents of “treason.”

• • The Epoch Times, an online publication closely linked to the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which was founded in China and banned by its government. Epoch Times became a notorious pro-Trump publication following his 2016 election and a leading outlet for “Stop the Steal” content around his 2020 reelection defeat.

• • Timcast, the outlet of MAGA influencer Tim Pool, who unwittingly received millions of dollars that originated with the Kremlin. It was part of what federal officials described as a scheme to boost videos “consistent with the Government of Russia’s interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Government of Russia interests.”

• • Human Events, an online outlet which employs Posobiec as its senior editor.

• • Frontlines, the media outlet of Turning Points USA, a right-wing nonprofit organization with deep ties to the Republican Party and Trump administration.

Hegseth’s restocking of the Pentagon press room with shills and sycophants aligns with similar efforts underway at the White House, as well as an administration-wide war on journalism which includes defunding public media; suborning once-critical media owners; aiding sales of outlets to friendlier ownership; and filing lawsuits that punish news outlets for reporting that displeases the president.

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AN 10 25

When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanded journalists agree not to report anything without formal authorization from the Defense Department, he sent a mass evacuation of legitimate media from the press corps.

What’s left, writes Slate reporter Molly Olmstead, is … really something.

“The Pentagon has remade its press corps, and we’re starting to get an understanding of which people now are allowed access to the halls of power,” said Olmstead, who included a list of the “top hits” that Hegseth’s considers “valid journalism of interest to the public.”

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell “peddled his 2020 election conspiracy theories through a number of avenues, including his video streaming site,” wrote Olmstead. “As a result, LindellTV has been subject to the same defamation lawsuits that Lindell himself courted, but it carries on with a host of right-wing shows, including the signature Mike Lindell Show.”

LindellTV’s reporters frequently pester Democrats with MAGA lies dressed up as legitimate questions, prompting Nancy Pelosi to publicly snap at them for churning nonsense and MSNBC hosts to blast them for spreading lies to a LindellTV audience that is “too stupid to know the truth.”

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And when their reporters are not spouting lies, Olmstead says they’re fawning over President Donald Trump’s “fitness plan” and asking press secretary Karoline Leavitt when Trump plans to go public with it.

Another sycophantic organization still hanging around is The One America News network, which Olmstead describes as “about as extreme as it gets without tipping fully into Alex Jones lizard-people territory.”

“It has promoted hydroxychloroquine as a ‘miracle cure’ for COVID; spread ominous conspiracy theories about George Soros; speculated that Michael Cohen, not Donald Trump, had an affair with Stormy Daniels; and declared that Roy Moore was innocent and actually wonhis election,” said Olmstead. “It has also hired Matt Gaetz as a host.”

“Human Events” is another example of the lingering press corps flotsam, said Olmstead.

“This is the latest home for Jack Posobiec, a content creator so inflammatory that being seen as cozy with him — as Hegseth was, in inviting Posobiec on an overseas trip — can lead to major scandal,” said Olmstead. “Posobiec, who has connections to various hate groups, is known primarily as the man behind Pizzagate. … He remains extreme: “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” he said at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.

The Navy revoked Posobiec’s security clearance as a U.S. naval intelligence officer on reserve, after his involvements with the Unite the Right white supremacist rally.

The list continues with spurious far-right networks like the National Pulse, whose leader was so inflammatory that Australia’s Labor Party asked to ban him from the country, Olmstead reports. Another is The Epoch Times, which Olmstead points out has been charged with money laundering and is “a dedicated promoter of right-wing conspiracy theories, going so far as to create a network of YouTube channels amplifying hoaxes and election misinformation.

The list goes on, and Olmstead said all will “inevitably benefit from a veneer of legitimacy from the credentialing and from the ‘scoops’ they’re given.”

Read the Slate report at this link.

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MMA

Right-wing media celebrate Trump’s revenge tour

Written by Isabella Corrao & Helena Hind

Research contributions from Jane Lee

Published 10/24/25

Right-wing media are rejoicing over President Donald Trump’s execution of his promised revenge tour. In the first nine months of his second administration, the president has targeted political opponents and Democrat-led cities, states, and institutions. From indictments against Trump's former FBI director and national security advisor, to threats to revoke federal funding, to the deployment of the National Guard in cities, right-wing media figures have defended, justified, and commended Trump’s actions through it all.

Donald Trump has targeted political opponents and Democrat-led cities, states, and institutions

• • After Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue legal action against former FBI director James Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and New York Attorney General Letitia James — all of whom were involved in investigations against him — the DOJ charged Comey and James.“We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote in a September 20 Truth Social post, “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!" Days later, Comey was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia and charged with making false statements and obstruction of justice. James was subsequently indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia and criminally indicted with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. Both cases are being prosecuted by Lindsey Halligan, a “close legal adviser” of Trump with no prosecutorial experience who was recently installed in the Eastern District of Virginia. NBC News, [10/10/25; BBC, 9/26/25, 10/9/25; CNN, 9/22/25]

• • The administration has revoked federal funding from universities, states that did not vote for Trump in 2024, and “more than 200 projects primarily located in Democratic-led cities, congressional districts and states.” In May, the administration froze $2 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard University after its president rejected some of Trump’s demands. Most recently, the administration has halted over $28 billion in federal funding “reserved for more than 200 projects primarily located in Democratic-led cities, congressional districts and states,” according to a New York Times analysis, which noted that “the budgetary moves coincide with the president’s public pledges to use the [government] shutdown to slash spending favored by Democrats.” On October 1, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought posted, “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left's climate agenda is being cancelled. … The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA.” Reuters, [5/30/25; New York Times, 10/14/25; Politico, 10/1/25; Twitter/X, 10/1/25]

• • As part of a crackdown on anti-ICE demonstrations, Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles and has since attempted to deploy troops to other Democrat-led cities.Similar attempts to deploy the National Guard in Chicago and Portland have been halted by federal judges. Additionally, Trump has discussed invoking the Insurrection Act to make it easier to deploy troops domestically. BBC, [9/2/25; Talking Points Memo, 10/23/25; NPR, 10/11/25; Los Angeles Times, 10/16/25; Media Matters, 10/9/25]

• ## Right-wing media justified and commended prosecutions of Trump’s political enemies

• • Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty encouraged retaliatory prosecutions: “It's time for Republicans to start doing exactly what Democrats did to them.”He added, “People don't like the word revenge. Why not? It's time for that if it's warranted.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [4/10/25]

• • Finnerty claimed there is “no ambiguity” that Trump is taking revenge on his political enemies and that “it’s time for payback.”Finnerty later added, “I don't think that payback should be a bad word.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [8/25/25; 8/25/25]

• • Right-wing media host Steve Bannon praised Trump’s post calling on Bondi to prosecute his enemies: “It has to happen now, now, now.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [9/22/25]

• • Reacting to James Comey’s indictment, Article III Project President and Fox News guest Mike Davis: “These lawfare Democrats better lawyer up, because justice is definitely coming. I have publicly called for this for over three years since the Mar-a-Lago raid.”He continued, “We had an election and the American people are going to get accountability.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/25/25]

• • Watters complained that “the media is calling Comey’s indictment revenge … like it’s a bad thing.” He added, “You better believe there’s going to be payback.”Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/26/25]

• • The Fiveco-hosts celebrated “payback,” “revenge, retribution” on Trump’s political enemies, including Comey.Fox News, *The Five*, [9/26/25]

• • Schmitt said on the Comey indictment, “Did anybody think that Donald Trump, a shrewd New York developer, a killer, was so angelic that he wouldn't even get even after being attacked so relentlessly?” He added, “They tried to imprison and bankrupt him as he ran for president. They started this. They destroyed the system. And this is what they get.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [9/26/25]

• • Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson celebrated that “Adam Schiff, Letitia James, James Clapper, John Brennan, and James Comey … are finally under scrutiny. The hunters have become the hunted.” Johnson also implied that Comey’s indictment didn’t go far enough: “True retribution would be James Comey dragged out of his house at 3AM in his underwear the way they did to my good friend Roger Stone. This is not retribution, but it sure is justice closing in.” Twitter/X, [9/29/25]

• • Schmitt reacted to Letitia James’ indictment: “They're calling this retribution. And sure, why not? Let's call it retribution.”Newsmax,*Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [10/10/25]

• • Fox host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery said she was “happy” to see Comey indicted.She added, “I hope they go after Clapper and I hope they go after all the other people who were working in concert with one another to throw this guy out of office.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/8/25]

• • Gutfeld said Donald Trump is “painting the town red” and “you can call it revenge.”He continued, “They came after us. That was lawfare. They thought they had it. It was going to be great. But it’s wrong. It didn't and now you have to pay the price. Don't get mad at us, don’t get mad at us. This is justice.” Fox News,*The Five*, [10/10/25]

• ## Right-wing media defended Trump’s threats to revoke federal funding from universities, cities, and states that do not comply with the administration

• • Fox News host Sean Hannity: “Columbia, they are desperately trying to get back the $400 million in federal funds that Donald Trump froze at the start of the negotiations. In fact, Columbia received 1.3 billion taxpayer dollars in government grants and contracts last year. Harvard got nearly 700 million of your tax dollars. … Why are they getting one taxpayer penny at all?”He added, “Can we now end the practice of funding these Ivy League institutions that are woke and full of DEI and abusively biased and politically radically left?” Fox News,*Hannity*, [7/24/25]

• • The Fiveco-host Harold Ford Jr. said Trump should “yank federal funding” from cities and states that don't end cash bail.Fox News, *The Five*, [8/12/25]

• • OnThe Ingraham Angle, American Majority founder and guest Ned Ryun encouraged the Trump administration to say, “We’re not going to give federal funding to places like Harvard or Princeton or Yale … if you’re going to continue to try and do this to our next generation.”He added, “I think in many ways we're kind of funding our own demise.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [10/3/25]

• • Right-wing media host Ben Shapiro said it is “perfectly legitimate” for Trump to cut federal funding for New York City if Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wins. He continued, “Taxpayer money at the federal level very frequently comes with strings attached.” The Daily Wire, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [10/16/25]

• ## Right-wing media figures defended deployment of the National Guard and have discussed Trump invoking the Insurrection Act

• • Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany said, “President Trump is absolutely within his right to say, I’m protecting federal property. That's what he did in Portland in 2020; it’s what he’s doing in Chicago now.”McEnany explained, “Congress also has the power to stop an insurrection and call up the militia. They delegated part of that power to the president of the United States via the Insurrection Act. So I think the White House is going to say, we’re dealing with rebellion here in Portland.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [9/29/25]

• • Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey declared, “Donald Trump is exactly right to bring in the National Guard to Oregon.”Fahey continued, “I would suggest he should do this because it's time for this nonsense to stop, and it's time to enforce the law, and people obstructing ICE and hurting the agents should get locked up, and that should be the end of it.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [9/29/25]

• • Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino said Trump would be “on pretty solid ground” to invoke the Insurrection Act “if it’s to protect the ICE facilities” from protesters.Gasparino added, “I would love to see federal troops in downtown Manhattan — I don’t care.” Fox News, *Fox News Sunday*, [9/28/25]

• • Jesse Watters said that the “National Guard is on the way to do the job Portland police won't do” and claimed that “Portland has been under siege by antifa for four months.”Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/1/25]

• • Fox News contributor Paul Mauro claimed Trump is on “very, very safe ground” to use the Insurrection Act.Mauro claimed that the Insurrection Act is “a carve-out to Posse Comitatus. You can use it to protect facilities and you can use it when federal law is being obstructed — that's the operative phrase right there. ICE is trying to enforce federal law. If they’re being obstructed, you can do this. What it means is he’s on very, very safe ground.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/1/25]

• • The Fiveco-host Harold Ford Jr.: “I've wished that we were able to send not only the National Guard, but ATF, and FBI, and other agencies in addition to ICE to help police departments combat crime.”Fox News, *The Five*, [10/2/25]

• • Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said Trump “should invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy military assets to protect life and limb and property.”In response to a post about protests in Chicago, Fitton wrote, “This is an insurrection, and @GovPritzker is implicated.” Twitter/X, [10/4/25]

• • Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe said Trump “should look at using the Insurrection Act more liberally in cities like Chicago or in cities like Portland, Oregon.”Boothe also remarked, “Portland is a hellhole. … Homeless everywhere, it’s disgusting.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [10/5/25]

• • Right-leaning podcast host Patrick Bet-David, responding to JB Pritzker: “Your people are begging for leadership and you’re not providing it. If you were able to do the job, the President wouldn’t need to step in.”Twitter/X, [10/5/25; Media Matters, 3/14/25]

• • On Steve Bannon’sWar Roompodcast, Jack Posobiec said that “the president has Title X authority to deploy and federalize the National Guard of the states” to “suppress an insurrection or rebellion against the authority of the United States government.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [10/6/25]

• • McEnany attempted to justify the deployment of the National Guard in Portland by declaring there is “a pretty clear rebellion against" the government. McEnany cited supposed acts of violence committed against ICE agents, and she additionally argued that Trump is on “strong legal footing” because “you can federalize the Guard if there's a rebellion.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/6/25]

• • Fox & Friendsco-host Ainsley Earhardt described footage of anti-ICE protests: “This is someone's front yard. This is what a neighborhood looks like. Do you want your neighborhood to look like that? Wouldn't you love National Guard to come in and clean up your streets if you lived like this?” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [10/6/25]

• • Benny Johnson, after going on a ride-along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Portland, stated on Newsmax, “I hope they invoke the Insurrection Act. I hope that's something that happens here, because these people are clearly insurrecting.”Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [10/7/25]

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MMA

Right-wing media said Chicago ICE raid yielded numerous gang members' arrests. New reporting shows hardly any arrests related to Tren de Aragua.

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil

Published 10/16/25

Right-wing media have cheered Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s September 30 raid on a Chicago apartment, saying they arrested a dozen or dozens of “suspected Tren de Aragua gang members” in an apartment complex “seized by TdA gang members.”

However, the Department of Homeland Security told CNN that just two of the 37 arrested are believed to be gang members. And later DHS told MSNBC it has “verified” one Tren de Aragua member from the raid.

The Trump administration claims that its arrests in Chicago have targeted criminals, but there is little evidence many of the 1,000 people detained by ICE in the city have any criminal convictions. Right-wing media have previously carried water for the Trump administration’s mass deportations that allegedly focus on the “worst of the worst” even though the majority of ICE detainees have no criminal convictions.

ICE's raid on a Chicago apartment building led to dozens of arrests and four children taken into custody. New reporting shows that few if any arrested in that raid or others in Chicago have criminal or gang ties.

• • CNN reported shortly after the raid that DHS said only two people arrested were believed to be a Tren de Aragua member, and MSNBC reported later that DHS said it had “verified” just one. The September 30 raid at a South Side apartment building that ICE said was “frequented by Tren de Aragua members” saw 37 people arrested but CNN reported that just two of them “are believed to be members of the Venezuelan criminal gang, according to DHS.” According to MSNBC, DHS said one person is a “verified” member of Tren de Aragua but did not say “how it had verified that gang affiliation.” CNN, [10/3/25; MSNBC, 10/13/25]

• • Of the 1,000 migrants arrested in Chicago and its suburbs, the Department of Homeland Security has released details showing a criminal background for only “about 1%” of those detainees, according to MSNBC. DHS claims ICE is arresting “the worst of the worst pedophiles, child abusers, kidnappers, gang members, and armed robbers,” but MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff said the people they are targeting “are not the worst of the worst. And I cannot say that more unequivocally and clearly enough.” Soboroff also said ICE agents are “indiscriminately rounding people up, grabbing people off the street. And I'm saying this as a reporter who has seen this with my own eyes, not the worst of the worst on the street.” MSNBC, [10/13/25; MSNBC, The Briefing with Jen Psaki, 10/7/25; MSNBC, Katy Tur Reports, 10/8/25]

• • Detentions at the Chicago apartment raid included “four children who are US citizens with undocumented parents,” according to CNN.One tenant of the building described the raid, saying, “The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.” One resident who was initially detained told CNN, “Anyone with an outstanding warrant, even if it was unrelated to immigration, would not be released.” CNN, [10/3/25]

• • Previous attempts to arrest people associated with Tren de Aragua based on their tattoos have led to deportations of people with no criminal records.The administration sent numerous alleged gang members to El Salvador but then acknowledged that “many” of them had no criminal records, according to CBS News. Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, told CBS, “Expert after expert tells us tattoos are not a reliable indicator of whether you're part of this particular gang.” CBS, [4/8/25]

• ## Right-wing media bolstered suggestions that the Chicago apartment raided by ICE was full of Tren de Aragua members

• • Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner claimed the building was “taken over by members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang.” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [10/2/25]

• • Fox News host Jesse Watters asserted that “dozens of Tren de Aragua members are getting Kilmared,” referencing deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, before cutting to reporting on the September 30 raid.Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/30/25]

• • Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher said the operation led to “the arrest of more than a dozen suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.”Fox News,*Fox News @ Night*, [10/1/25]

• • Fox News host Laura Ingraham claimed “Trump is fixing the criminal mess” in Chicago, saying that “TdA gang members in Chicago got a surprise this week” when ICE conducted an “unexpected drop-in that involved a Black Hawk helicopter and hundreds of federal agents.”Fox News reporter Mike Tobin reported, “More than a dozen were detained. At least one has a tattoo commonly associated with the Tren de Aragua gang.” Fox News,*The Ingraham Angle*, [10/1/25]

• • In an interview with acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Newsmax host Emma Rechenberg claimed the apartment had been “seized by TdA gang members.”Lyons also pushed the claim, stating the building was “taken over by Tren de Aragua gang members.” Newsmax, *The National Report*, [10/8/25]

• • While displaying a chyron that read “Tren de Arrested,” Fox News anchor Dana Perino said ICE agents were “targeting suspected Tren de Aragua members” in the raid and “netted 37 illegal aliens, including those associated with the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang.”Fox News, *The Five*, [10/1/25]

• • The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer wrote that the building was “teeming with suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.” The Daily Wire, [10/1/25]

• • Fox & Friendsco-host Lawrence Jones complained that people are “more concerned about the children being temporarily detained, not the fact that they were around, and the same apartment complex, of Tren de Aragua, a known terrorist organization.” Jones’ comment came after Lyons claimed Tren de Aragua “took over” the building and that pictures of zip-tied children were “AI fake photos.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [10/6/25]

• ## Trump and right-wing media have claimed that ICE is targeting “the worst of the worst,” but data shows otherwise

• • Earlier this year Trump claimed ICE was targeting the “worst of the worst,” yet ICE data revealed 84% of those detained at ICE facilities “were not given a threat level.” Only 5% of detainees were given the highest threat level by ICE. According to TRAC Reports, an oversight group that provides data on government operations, as of September 21, 71.5% of ICE detainees had no criminal conviction. TRAC additionally noted, “Many of those convicted committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations.” The Associated Press, [7/12/25; TRAC Reports, accessed 10/15/25]

• • Right-wing media have heralded the Trump administration’s campaign promise to focus deportations on the “worst” criminals while denying the reality of the mass deportations.Fox personalities have claimed ICE is not targeting “abuelitas” or “housekeepers” but “the worst of the worst” and “hardened criminals and gang members.” Media Matters, [4/9/25]

//

1. ### Right-wing media falsely claim benefits go to undocumented immigrants as millions of Americans face health coverage losses

10/14/25 4:20 PM EDT

2. ### Right-wing media say Portland is a war zone under siege. On-the-ground coverage paints a different picture.

10/10/25 9:40 AM EDT

3. ### As Trump sends the National Guard into US cities, right-wing media celebrate and call protests “an insurrection”

10/08/25

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MMA

Right-wing media personalities seize on arson charge to falsely deny the role of climate change in Palisades Fire

:{SpecialPrograms Climate & Energy:(style="font-family:Merriweather"):}:

Written by Allison Fisher

Research contributions from Ilana Berger

Published10/10/25

Right-wing media personalities are using the arrest of a man charged with igniting the Palisades fire in Los Angeles — a blaze that killed a dozen people and destroyed nearly 7,000 structures in January — to deny climate change.

For example, Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that the finding that arson started the Palisades Fire “put the final nail in the climate change coffin.”

*As the Palisades fire and the nearby Eaton fire were raging in LA, many right-wing media figures attacked those who were connecting the intensity of the blaze to climate change. The arson charge is now serving as a baffling “gotcha” moment for right-wing media figures who are misrepresenting the scientific finding that climate change contributes to, not causes, wildfires.

By attacking a claim no one is making these figures advance their campaign to undermine climate science and decouple the impacts of increasingly destructive extreme weather events from our warming planet.

• ## Climate change didn’t start the LA fires; it created conditions that intensified them

• • While the fires were burning, UCLA climate scientist and Southern California climate expert Daniel Swain explained on MSNBC that “the level of vegetation and landscape scale dryness” was at “highly anomalous, even record-breaking levels.” Swain continued: “This year, there has been virtually no rainfall at all in the LA region, even as we head towards mid-January. And that is extremely unusual.” On top of that, “the extreme heat waves that we saw in the same region this past autumn” set the stage for intense winds to cause extensive damage. MSNBC, *Chris Jansing Reports*, [1/8/25]

• • :{A 2023 attribution study found that “nearly all of the observed increase in” burned area in California over the past 50 years is “attributable” to human-caused climate change. Attribution studies “calculate whether, and by how much, climate change affected the intensity, frequency or impact of extremes,” according to Carbon Brief, which covers climate science. Carbon Brief, [11/18/24; The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 6/12/23]

• • As Yale Climate Connections reported, the Palisades and Eaton fires were “intensified by severe drought and driven by winds gusting up to 100 mph (161 km/hr) from a severe Santa Ana wind event.”The report explained that “the main way that climate change worsens wildfires is by drying out vegetation. Prolonged heat turns forests and grasslands into tinder, fueling faster, more intense burns.” And in the case of the LA fires, “vegetation growth in early 2024 was enhanced by a wetter-than-average winter in Southern California. But during the summer of 2024, California experienced its hottest summer on record. This record heat, combined with near-record dryness, dried out the plentiful vegetation that grew in response to the wet winter.” Yale Climate Connections, [1/9/25]

• • An attribution study of the LA fires found that climate change made them 35% more likely. As reported by NBC, “The hot, dry and windy conditions that preceded the fires were about 35% more likely because of human-caused global warming, according to a new report from the World Weather Attribution group, which analyzes the influence of global warming on extreme events. … In the case of the recent California fires, the report's authors found that although climate change played a role, it was not the sole factor.” NBC, [1/28/25]

• ## Right-wing media claimed arrest of alleged arsonist disproved link between climate change and the LA fires

• • Newsmax host Greg Kelly played a montage of reporting connecting climate change to the LA wildfires to suggest that the alleged arson charge negates that point.Above the chyron “Many blamed L.A. fires on ‘climate change’” Kelly noted, “Yeah, well, it turned out that the guy who started that great big Palisades fire was some nut with a lighter, some liberal nut.” Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [10/8/25]

• • Newsmax host Carl Higbie undermined his argument that climate change didn’t cause the Palisades Fire by pointing out that National Geographic reported that “the fires were 35% more likely because of climate change.” Higbie went on to say, “Gavin Newsom sold us the same bill of goods about extremes. … It's not climate change. It's: One, you guys not maintaining your forest. And two, some allegedly, at this point, deranged arsonist who then called 911 to stroke his own ego to report himself.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontlines*, [10/8/25]

• • Fox News host Jesse Watters similarly showed a montage of people correctly discussing climate as a contributing factor in intensifying fires before he concluded that “it wasn't global warming; it was an arsonist. And not just any arsonist — a Biden donor.” “This year, Los Angeles burned to the ground,” he said. “A dozen killed, billions in damage. The leadership was too clueless to tame the blaze. … No one took responsibility. They just kept saying, oh, it's not our fault, it's climate change. … We just found out what really sparked the fire. … It wasn't global warming; it was an arsonist. And not just any arsonist — a Biden donor.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/8/25]

• • Fox News host Laura Ingraham mocked Democrats for making the link between climate change and the fires, saying, “Climate change caused the devastating fires that ravaged LA, said the Democrats.” She continued, “Well, today, a 29-year-old Uber driver has been arrested in connection to starting those fires.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [10/8/25]

• • Right-wing influencer Robby Starbuck took aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, writing on X, “Didn’t you blame the fire on climate change? Stop lying.”Twitter/X, [10/9/25]

FLOYD BROWN WJC

• • Right-wing news site The Western Journal wrote, “Democrats and their left-wing media lapdogs beclowned themselves after their manufactured outrage claiming ‘climate change’ had caused the Pacific Palisades fire earlier this year turned out to be a big, fat lie.”The Western Journal, [10/9/25;The New York Times,8/22/19]

• • After news of the arrest came out, former MTV star Spencer Pratt, who has attracted right-wing fans for railing against Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, attacked the New York Times for reporting earlier this month that he “dismisses climate change as a major factor in the fires and instead seems to be looking for someone to blame.”Pratt wrote, “What was the @nytimes saying about me not believing ‘climate change’ was cause of the palisades fire?” Twitter/X, [10/9/25; The New York Times, 10/1/25]

• • Bonchie, a writer for the right-wing site Red State, said on X that “we got months of ‘climate change’ crap from the left, and yet again the fire turned out to be set by a human.”“And they’ll do the same thing the next time because climate change is a religion, not an observation of evidence,” he also wrote. Twitter/X, [10/8/25; Red State, accessed 10/9/25]

• • CJ Pearson, former co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council, wrote on X: “BREAKING: The DOJ just announced the arrest of an arsonist responsible for the Palisades fire. Remember when the left assured us for months that climate change was to blame?” Twitter/X, [10/8/25]

• • Bongino Inc., the media company founded by former right-wing pundit and current FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, posted:“BREAKING: Police have arrested the ‘climate change’ responsible for the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. His name is Jonathan Rinderknecht.” Facebook, [10/8/25]

• • Blaze Media founder Glenn Beck wrote on Facebook, “Palisades Fire ‘climate change’ narrative crumbles after arson arrest.” Facebook, [10/8/25]

• • Climate change denier Steve Milloy complained on X that “WaPo still tags the story as ‘Climate.’”Twitter/X, [10/8/25, AAP Factcheck, 1/23/23]

• • Right-wing podcaster Eric Matheny wrote on X: “Weren’t we told that the Palisades fire was the result of climate change? No. It was an arsonist.” Twitter/X, [10/8/25]

//

• ### Right-wing media push Trump's false claim that California water policies are hurting efforts to suppress LA fires

01/10/25 1:47 PM EST

• ### Right-wing media insist climate change has nothing to do with LA wildfires despite a clear connection

01/15/25 8:04 PM EST

• ### Right-wing media figures baselessly claim LA wildfires are burning out of control because the fire chief is an LGBTQ woman who supports DEI

01/09/25

---

MMA

• ### Newsmax host says a minister shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE is “actually an antifa member masquerading as a pastor”

10/10/25

NOTE CRM POD BROS MANTRA “INSURRECTION” ARE THEY DRIVING IT OR JUST REPEATING MILLER ETC?

• ### Right-wing media say Portland is a war zone under siege. On-the-ground coverage paints a different picture.

10/10/25

Right-wing media say Portland is a war zone under siege. On-the-ground coverage paints a different picture.

Local coverage has highlighted the peaceful nature of protests and the violent response of federal agents

Written by Noah Dowe & Pete Tsipis

Research contributions from Casey Wexler & Media Matters Staff

Published10/10/25

Updated10/10/25

Right-wing media claim that Portland’s protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement show a city “under siege” or “conquered by antifa,” but on-the-ground coverage, by both national media outlets and local media outlets, has revealed the opposite.

Multiple local broadcast outlets report that protests are relatively small and peaceful, with many demonstrators “in pajamas, sharing pastries, throwing a frisbee, and playing board games."

The Wall Street Journal reported that “a sergeant from the Portland Police Bureau filed his daily observations of the demonstrations outside an ICE facility. 'Saw 8 people out front and couldn’t even get one of them to flip me the bird,' he wrote. 'Very low energy.'”

In direct contrast to coverage from right-wing media, Portland residents and officials have emphasized that it's actually federal agents who have been engaging in “violent tactics” against protesters, including “shoving peaceful veterans and elderly people to the ground” and employing point-blank attacks with pepper spray and mace.

Protests in Portland were described as “low energy” until Trump and right-wing media started claiming otherwise

• • Protests in Portland, ongoing for at least four months, have centered on an ICE facility in the southern part of the city. As reported by The Oregonian, protesters have “numbered in the few dozens on most nights and their activity has largely been confined to a two-block radius of the building’s front driveway.” Oregon Live, [10/4/25]

• • :{:{Trump announced on September 27 that he would send “all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland,” which he described as “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.” Truth Social, [9/27/25]}:

• • Trump’s move was seemingly encouraged by a month of dystopian coverage of Portland from right-wing media, which described the city as “under siege” and suggested it resembles “the French Revolution all over again.” Fox host Jesse Watters said that “every weekend is war” in Portland and suggested protesters “look pretty militaristic.” Media Matters, [9/29/25]

• • According to The New York Times, federal officials described protests outside the Portland ICE facility as “low energy” until Trump’s post, after which “demonstrations had grown more intense … with more arrests and larger crowds than in preceding weeks.” According to the Times, reports from the Federal Protective Service in the days before the president’s post “offered no indication of a dangerous escalation of tensions, or unusual levels of protest activity that would prompt the level of alarm expressed by Mr. Trump.” The New York Times, [10/8/25]

• • The Wall Street Journal wrote: “Daily reports from Portland police in the month leading up to Trump’s decision, on Sept. 27, to send federal troops into the city paint a different picture than public statements by Trump and others in his administration.” The Journal further reported: “On Sept. 5, President Trump described ongoing protests in Portland as 'unbelievable' and 'the destruction of the city.' Later that day, a sergeant from the Portland Police Bureau filed his daily observations of the demonstrations outside an ICE facility. 'Saw 8 people out front and couldn’t even get one of them to flip me the bird,' he wrote. 'Very low energy.'” The Journal also noted: “The White House has said the ICE facility is 'under siege.' Newly released police reports filed in federal court describe how the protests that began in June were dwindling before Trump’s order.” The Wall Street Journal, [10/9/25]

• ## On-the-ground news coverage highlighted that the vast majority of protests are relatively small and peaceful

• • KGW reporter Evan Watson reported that the area just three blocks away from the ICE facility is “full of people enjoying picnics in the park, out here walking their dogs,” and “enjoying this nice summer evening.” Watson stated, “Every person we talked to on Tuesday laughed at the idea that Portland, and more specifically, this area near their homes and workplaces, needs federal troops.” KGW, *KGW News at 6*, [10/7/25]

• • KATU reporter Jennifer Singh interviewed a protester outside the ICE facility who said Portland is not a war zone and fears that troops “will bring more violence,” not less. Singh added that the protests “have remained peaceful.” KATU, *KATU News at 6*, [10/5/25]

• • KOIN reporter Ariel Salk opened a segment by showing the area outside the ICE building where there were “only a couple dozen people” protesting, including “people barbecuing, listening to music.” In contrast, Salk described federal agents “hurling can after can of tear gas” at demonstrators over the weekend, adding that the “smoke really engulfed this whole neighborhood.” KOIN, *KOIN 6 News at 6*, [10/6/25]

• • Reporting outside the ICE facility, KPTV’s Makenna Marks said there were no “physical altercations or arrests” on Sunday and noted that many protesters were “in pajamas, sharing pastries, throwing a frisbee, and playing board games.” Marks also interviewed a number of residents who said the city “is not war-torn” and argued “the thing that’s harming us is the escalation tactics that Trump’s trying to use to create a narrative that Portland is this boogeyman that requires further militarization.” One resident told Marks, “If the narrative is Portland is a war zone, let’s actually take a look at who’s making it a war zone.” KPTV, *5 O’Clock News*, [10/5/25]

• • :{:{CNN's Shimon Prokupecz reported on the ground from Portland: “The entire protest zone is less than a block long. ... The rest of Portland is not in chaos.” CNN, [10/8/25]}:
  • }:
• ## Local coverage has also emphasized the excessive force used by federal agents on protesters

• • KOIN’s Ariel Salk reported that people on the roof of the ICE facility mocked demonstrators and federal agents arrested multiple protesters while “using several rounds of multicolored tear gas against the crowd.” The correspondent interviewed a protester who said they had elderly people with them and were not expecting the tear gas. KOIN, *KOIN 6 News at 5*, [10/4/25]

• • Salk later reported that she “personally saw a sniper rifle laser on a woman out here trying to drive into her apartment.” KOIN, *KOIN 6 News at 5*, [10/5/25]

• • Salk reported on the impacts that the federal response is having on a low-income housing building across the street from the ICE facility, including residents enduring “tear gas spilling into their homes.” A representative from the building told the journalist, “The violent tactics that federal agents are using, including tear gas and pepper balls, are really impacting residents’ quality of life.” The journalist also noted that many residents are veterans who “are experiencing PTSD because of this tear gas, flash bangs, and helicopters that we’ve been seeing and hearing in the skies night after night.” KOIN, *KOIN 6 News at 5*, [10/6/25]

• • KOIN reporter Ariel Iacobazzi said that Portland officials are accusing federal agents of “shoving peaceful veterans and elderly people to the ground, using impact munitions on peaceful crowds, and spraying pepper spray directly into protesters’ faces.” The segment then showed videos of protesters being pepper-sprayed point-blank by agents. KOIN, *KOIN 6 News at 11*, [10/6/25]

• • KGW anchor David Molko highlighted claims of excessive force by federal agents, including “the use of pepper spray and impact munitions, things like rubber bullets, on an otherwise peaceful crowd.” The report included footage of a man who had pepper spray directed into the air intake of his inflatable frog costume by federal agents. KGW, *KGW News at 11*, [10/6/25]

• • KPTV reporter Spencer Schacht spoke with a woman who was maced point-blank by a federal agent “with no warning, no warning at all.” The protester, Leilani Payne, called it a “violent attack” and is currently pursuing a use of force lawsuit against the federal agents. KPTV, *6 O’Clock News*, [10/6/25]

• ## Right-wing media coverage has painted a drastically different picture of Portland demonstrations, calling the city a “war zone” that is “under siege by antifa”

• • The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles said, “You can see the pictures of Portland in just the last month or two — it looks like a war zone.” He added that Portland officials are “not protecting one another; you’re letting criminals roam your streets and maraud and kill.” The Daily Wire, *The Michael Knowles Show*, [9/29/25]

• • Fox host Jesse Watters said that the National Guard is “on the way to do the job Portland police won't do” and claimed that “Portland has been under siege by antifa for four months.” Watters added, “A Portland police rep posted a picture of a sunrise with the caption, ‘“War-ravaged” Portland full of “domestic terrorists.”’ Well, the sun rises in Gaza, too. I don’t want to live there.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/1/25]

• • The Five co-host Kayleigh McEnany attempted to justify the deployment of the National Guard in Portland by declaring there is “a pretty clear rebellion against" the government. McEnany cited supposed acts of violence committed against ICE agents, and she additionally argued that Trump is on “strong legal footing” because “you can federalize the Guard if there's a rebellion.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/6/25]

• • Newsmax host Rob Finnerty said Portland protests had “morphed into an insurrection.” Finnerty said: “This invasion of the weird is very bizarre,” adding, “Notice the foreign flags and strange tribal chants happening — again — in Oregon.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [10/2/25]

• • OnWar Room, right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec said, “Portland as a city is now in open insurrection against the federal government.” Posobiec argued, “This is an actual insurrection scenario whereby in you have local officials that are completely defying the unmitigated right, the unlimited right of the federal government to enforce immigration laws.” He also posted on social media that the city “has fallen to Antifa.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [10/6/25; Twitter/X, 10/6/25]

• • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh called Portland a “war zone” and said it’s “in a state of open insurrection.” “It's total chaos,” he said. “It's in a state of open insurrection. ICE agents are being attacked. Portland is trying to subvert the authority of the federal government, defy the laws of the land.” Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [10/7/25]

• • Right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson claimed Portland “has been conquered by antifa.” He added, “This is a fallen city.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [10/8/25]

• *Update (10/10/25):This piece has been updated with additional information.

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// CRM, FASCISM

Right-wing media have long called for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, he's now considering it

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil

Research contributions from Reed McMaster, Jane Lee & Alex Kaplan

Published 10/09/25 MMA

President Donald Trump recently suggested he may be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act as protests continue in Chicago and Portland against Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and deployment of National Guard troops.

Right-wing media figures have called on Trump to use the law — which allows the military to be used for domestic law enforcement activities — in response to various demonstrations since at least as far back as 2020.

Conservative media figures endorsed using the act to “put down” Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and “restore order” to cities where demonstrations were occurring. Starting in June of this year, right-wing media renewed their support for the act's use over anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, and as similar protests broke out in Chicago and Portland, calls to “invoke” the act in Democratic-run cities grew.

Trump once again says he might invoke the Insurrection Act in Democratic-run cities

• • Protests in Chicago and Portland broke out as National Guard members were deployed to aid ICE officers.Authorities have used tear gas, pepper balls and more against protesters at ICE facilities in both cities. Several people were arrested in both cases, with some facing federal charges. PBS News, [10/6/25]

• • On October 6, while talking to reporters about the legal issues with sending in the National Guard to cities around the country, Trump said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act.He stated, “I’d do it if it was necessary. So far it hasn’t been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason. … If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that.” He also said, “If you take a look at what’s been going on in Portland, it’s been going on for a long time, and that’s insurrection. I mean, that’s pure insurrection." NBC News, [10/6/25]

• • The Insurrection Act allows the military to act as a police force and make arrests.Reuters explained: “The law enables troops to take part in domestic law enforcement activities like making arrests and performing searches, functions they are generally otherwise prohibited from engaging in. The Insurrection Act can be invoked when there are ‘unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages or rebellion’ against the U.S. government's authority. When the president deems those conditions have been met, the law gives the president the power to use the armed forces to take actions ‘to enforce those laws or suppress the rebellion.’” Reuters, [10/7/25]

• • Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines during anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles earlier this year and called the protesters “insurrectionists,” saying, in response to a question about whether he would invoke the Insurrection Act, “Depends on whether or not there’s an insurrection.”Axios noted, “Without the Insurrection Act, the troops' mission is legally limited to protecting federal agents and property.” Axios, [6/10/25]

• ## Right-wing media figures are calling for Trump to use the Insurrection Act “more liberally” in Democratic-run cities, claiming protesters are “insurrecting”

• • Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe claimed Trump “should look at using the Insurrection Act more liberally in cities like Chicago or in cities like Portland, Oregon.” Boothe also remarked that “Portland is a hellhole. … Homeless everywhere, it’s disgusting.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [10/5/25]

• • Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson discussed his ride-along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Portland and stated, “I hope they invoke the Insurrection Act. I hope that's something that happens here because these people are clearly insurrecting.”Johnson also claimed that Portland “has been conquered by antifa.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [10/7/25]

• • Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said Trump “should invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy military assets to protect life and limb and property.”Fitton reacted to protests in Chicago, writing, “This is an insurrection, and @GovPritzker is implicated.” Twitter/X, [10/4/25]

• • On Steve Bannon’sWar Roompodcast, right-wing pundit Jack Posobiec said that “the president has black-letter law, Title X authority to be able to deploy the National Guard” to “suppress an insurrection or a rebellion.”Bannon also claimed California Gov. Gavin Newsom is a “neo-Confederate” and claimed Los Angeles is also in “open defiance of the federal government about immigration laws, Jack. I mean, this is going to come down [to] we control the country, they control these big metropolitan areas.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [10/6/25]

• • Posobiec also posted, “If Trump were to invoke the insurrection act for reasons like the situation in Portland, Americans would support it.” Twitter/X, [10/6/25]

• • In response to a report of a hit put out on a Border Patrol commander, right-wing podcaster Tim Pool posted, “Insurrection Act.”Twitter/X, [10/6/25]

• • QAnon influencer Clandestine said of whether Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act: “I’d argue that we are already at that point, and this is soft disclosure of what is to come.” Telegram, [10/6/25; Anti-Defamation League, 4/5/22]

• • Fox News contributor Paul Mauro claimed Trump is on “very, very safe ground” to enact the Insurrection Act.Mauro claimed that the Insurrection Act is “a carve-out to posse comitatus. You can use it to protect facilities and you can use it when federal law is being obstructed — that's the operative phrase right there. ICE is trying to enforce federal law. If they’re being obstructed, you can do this. What it means is he’s on very, very safe ground.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/1/25]

• • Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino said Trump would be “on pretty solid grounds” to invoke the Insurrection Act “if it is to protect the ICE facilities” from protesters.Gasparino added, “I would love to see federal troops in downtown Manhattan — I don’t care.” Fox News, *Fox News Sunday*, [9/29/25]

• ## In June, right-wing media similarly advocated for the Insurrection Act to crack down on anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles

• • Fox News host Laura Ingraham argued it would be Trump’s “right” and “obligation” to invoke the Insurrection Act if he feels the U.S. “is being threatened from within.”She said, “Now Democrats are pretending to be outraged about the prospect of Trump invoking the Insurrection Act, which, of course, is his right. I’d say it's his obligation to do if — and it’s his call — if he feels the United States is being threatened from within by violent, seditionary forces.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [6/10/25]

• • Infowars host Harrison Smith argued for utilizing the act during anti-ICE protests in LA, saying, “The Constitution actually provides for solutions to this. It is the Insurrection Act.” He stated, “The Constitution is being destroyed by these people making it unsafe, depriving the people of LA of the ability to live their lives and express themselves, pursue happiness, and all the other freedoms that we're supposed to enjoy are being destroyed by these people. The Constitution actually provides for solutions to this. It is the Insurrection Act. It is shutting down what’s going on with rapidity and aggressiveness to uphold the rights of the American people against this invading foreign force.” [Infowars, American Journal, 6/9/25]

• • Students for Trump National Chairman Ryan Fournier posted, “TIME FOR THE INSURRECTION ACT!” in response to a post by Trump about LA.Twitter/X, [6/9/25]

• • Conservative podcaster Vince Coglianese said the way to crack down on anti–ICE protests in Los Angeles is “the president wielding the Insurrection Act.”Coglianese: “It strikes me that if we're going to crack down on this using law enforcement, it's just going to have to be the president wielding the Insurrection Act. He's going to have to go in and save American cities from the leadership that's betraying them.” Rumble, *Vince*, [6/9/25; RadioLink, 4/17/25]

• • Mackubin T. Owens wrote for Blaze Media that the Insurrection Act empowers the president “to act when mobs attack federal law” and the president “has the duty to restore order.”In a September opinion piece, Owens defended Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to LA, claiming he had the “duty -- and the power -- to act.” Blaze Media, [9/8/25]

• ## Right-wing media hosts and guests also advocated for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests in 2020

• • Ahead of the 2020 election, Fox host Mark Levin shared his hope Trump would win and then utilize the Insurrection Act to “put down” protests.On September 11, 2020, Levin speculated that if Trump wins “he will dust off the Insurrection Act” and “he will have to use it to put down the enemy. The enemy is antifa, the enemy is Black Lives Matter.” On September 15, 2020, Levin said protesters “need to be put down” and claimed, “It's not illegal, it's not unconstitutional, it's not unethical, it's not immoral for the President to use the Insurrection Act to put down insurrections.” On September 23, 2020, Levin stated, “I pray to God Donald Trump is reelected. And I pray to God that he uses the Insurrection Act and puts this down.” And on October 28, Levin said, “These lootings and riotings and arsons need to be put down. God willing the President will be re-elected, and he'll use the Insurrection Act to bring safety, and peace." Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [9/11/20, 9/15/20, 9/23/25, 10/28/20]

• • Writing for the National Review, Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy discussed the Insurrection Act — saying it “expressly” empowers the president “to suppress domestic violence” — and called on Trump to “restore order” to cities where Black Lives Matter protests were underway, “including by deployment of the military where that is necessary.”McCarthy dismissed concerns about federalism, writing: “Although the Constitution calls for a state to request federal assistance to combat domestic violence before the president acts, that condition is more apparent than real. … When it comes to violent uprisings, though, federalism concerns are beside the point. Washington has an express constitutional obligation to protect the people of the states, and the republican form of government, from attack.” National Review, [5/31/20]

• • Conservative lawyer Jeffrey Clark said onWar Roomthat former Attorney General Bill Barr “participated in using the Insurrection Act” in 1992 in LA and asked, “Why wasn’t that same aggressiveness used against the riots that were used all across the country in the summer of 2020?”Real America's Voice, *War Room*, [7/3/23]

• • Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson urged Trump to “invoke the Insurrection Act immediately” during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.Twitter/X, [5/31/20]

• • Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro suggested in 2020 that Trump should invoke the act if states failed to get protests under control.He said: “The Insurrection Act is generally invoked when local authorities are not doing their jobs and protecting the civil rights of their citizens. So the president does have the authority to do this sort of stuff. … And the president, by the way, didn’t say he was going to do it. He said if you don’t get your cities and states under control, then I will do it. And guess what? He should. He should. Because guess — because you're an American taxpaying citizen. You have civil rights. Your civil rights are being abridged and violated when you are locked in your home so rioters and looters can roam free.” The Daily Wire, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [6/2/20]

• • Blaze Media senior editor Daniel Horowitz wrote that “Trump should use the Insurrection Act” and “deadly force” against Black Lives Matter protesters.Blaze Media, [6/1/20]

• • Ryan Fournier posted, “President Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act to stop the terrorism happening in Seattle.”Twitter/X, [6/11/20]

//

1. ### As Trump sends the National Guard into US cities, right-wing media celebrate and call protests “an insurrection”

10/08/25 1:26 PM EDT

2. ### Right-wing streamer calls for arrested protesters to be used for “compelled slave labor”

10/08/25 5:11 PM EDT

3. ### On Newsmax, Benny Johnson claims Portland “has been conquered by antifa”

10/08/25

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AN 10 25

UnHerd Editor Sohrab Ahmari tells the Washington Post that the ravings of the right-wing media's pundit class have lately gotten even crazier.

“Much of right-wing media now resembles star-child radio: a vast chamber of oft-malignant fantasies, where even once-reasonable minds go to get euthanized,” said Ahmari. “Each flick of the feed pulls up a paranoia-monger more wild-eyed than the previous, warning about the evil machinations of all-powerful ... apparitions of their fever dreams.”

It doesn’t’ matter that “the establishment” has been largely dethroned, Ahmari adds. “Populists are in power and still there seems to be no stopping the online right’s slide into irrationality.

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was wearing clothing that matched security images. There are also bullet engravings, messages to a friend, family members’ recollection that he’d grown increasingly militant in defense of certain causes and even a confession on an online message board. Despite this, some of the right’s biggest voices, like Candace Owens and others had their own theory of who’d killed Kirk.

“Turning Point will not release the footage,” said Owens, referring to the right-wing campus group founded by Kirk. She insinuated that Kirk’s own organization might have been in on the killing, while weaving in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pro-Israel billionaire Bill Ackman, who, she claims, threatened Kirk over his growing skepticism of the Jewish state.

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“Years ago, your average amateur broadcaster raving about alien babies could, at best, hope for a few thousand listeners. Today’s star-child anchors command enormous audiences,” Ahmari said. “[Tucker] Carlson and Owens host the No. 1 and No. 3 news podcasts on Spotify (as of this writing). … Liberal America still generally tunes into mainstream outlets while much of the right half of the electorate seems hooked on star-child radio. As UnHerd columnist Richard Hanania concluded, ‘the right is in deep trouble.’”

Ahmari adds: “There is a difference between a progressive (or conservative) worldview coloring the framing of stories and the quest to ‘prove,’ as the some on the right have, that the president of France’s wife is a man.”

Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter heralded a new X algorithm that “positively promotes the crank right,” said Ahmari, and the effects of that spread and others are exacting a toll on U.S. democracy.

“This media system promotes mental degeneration and a sense of learned helplessness that can only yield destructive politics,” Ahmari warned. “People convinced that an amorphous they controls events are unlikely to take political responsibility for the shape of our common life — and far more likely to fall in thrall to demagogues and dictators.”

Read the Washington Post report at this link.

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MMA

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.”)

---

MMA

Right-wing media run wild with the blatantly false claim that Democrats are shutting down the government to secure “health care for illegals”

The New York Times noted a “misleading” Republican talking point on the looming shutdown. That talking point is all over right-wing media.

Written by Gideon Taaffe, Isabella Sherk & Pete Tsipis

Published 09/30/25

Right-wing media are pushing a lie that Democrats are threatening to shut down the government over “free health care for illegal immigrants” and want to “blow up the budget” for “illegal aliens” even though undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federally funded health benefits.

The Democrats are actually pushing to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act without which millions of Americans could face significantly higher health care premiums and lose access to health care. Additionally, Democrats are pushing to reverse cuts to federally funded health care that were passed under Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July.

• ## As the government faces a shutdown, conservatives lie about Democrats’ funding priorities

• • The U.S. government may face a shutdown on October 1 if Congress does not pass a short-term funding bill, and currently the two main points of contention are Democrats’ call to extend enhanced federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act coverage that are set to expire this year and reverse cuts to health care, including Medicaid, passed in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”CNN, [9/30/25]

• • Democrats have proposed to continue the ACA subsidies, which would help “22 million Americans lower their health insurance costs” and save health care for an estimated 4 million.According to the nonpartisan health policy research group KFF, the result of letting the subsidies end would be “an increase of more than 75% in premiums on average for enrollees; a 90% increase in many rural areas.” Subsequently, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 4 million people will lose health insurance. CBS News, [9/30/25; KFF, 9/3/25; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 9/22/25]

• • Several prominent Republicans have falsely claimed that Democrats are trying to use a government shutdown to demand health care for undocumented immigrants.President Donald Trump posted a deepfake video to Truth Social of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in a sombrero and a mustache and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) claiming, “If we give all these illegal aliens health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us.” Vice President JD Vance posted, “Democrats are about to shutdown the government because they demand we fund healthcare for illegal aliens.” And House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) put out a press release that claimed “Democrats are Choosing Health Care for Illegal Aliens over American Troop Pay.” Truth Social, [9/29/25; Politico, 9/30/25; Twitter/X, 9/25/25; MikeJohnson.house.gov, 9/28/25]

• • NY Times: The Democrats’ budget proposal “does not provide free health care for unauthorized immigrants.”Undocumented immigrants are “largely barred from federally funded health care,” as the Times reports, and while the Democrats’ proposal would restore eligibility for certain groups of “lawfully present” immigrants, it would not make unauthorized immigrants eligible. The Times adds: “There is no uniform definition for ‘lawful presence,’ a term typically used by federal and state health care and social welfare programs to determine eligibility. Most groups of ‘lawfully present’ noncitizens have authorized or legal immigration status like refugees and asylum recipients.” The New York Times, [9/29/25]

• ## Right-wing media falsely claim Democrats are shutting down the government over health care for undocumented immigrants

• • Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt claimed Democrats say “we want health care for all Americans, but that would include the illegals.”Co-host Lawrence Jones replied, “They’re still fighting for illegals. You just lost the election over it.” He said the Democrats don’t have political support on this: “You lost on it. Move forward.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*,[9/30/25]

• • Teasing a segment, Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher said, “A government shutdown now 25 hours away and it appears Democrats are still pushing free health care for illegal immigrants.” Fox News, *Fox News @ Night*, [9/29/25]

• • Fox host Sean Hannity said, “Schumer and his Democratic friends … want free health care for illegals as part of that deal.” He said it is “interesting because Democrats used to be totally against free health care benefits for illegals” and played clips of Schumer and then-first lady Hillary Clinton opposing the idea. Fox News, *Hannity*, [9/29/25]

• • On his radio show, Hannity said Schumer won’t get what he wants because “we're not going to pay for health care for illegal immigrants by virtue of the fact they don't deserve benefits that are supposed to be reserved for the American people.” Premier Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [9/29/25]

• • Fox host Mark Levin posted that Democrats “want to give their biggest constituency, illegal aliens, free healthcare at your expense, and blow up the budget.” He added that they will shut down the government if Republicans don’t “go along and spend another $1 trillion plus!” Twitter/X, [9/27/25]

• • Hannity claimed that “if there is a government shutdown, it will be on the Democrats,” saying, “Democrats are fighting for, you know, for services for illegal immigrants. They're fighting for more DEI programs.” Hannity stated this to a caller who criticized Hannity for saying federal employees would “go home for two weeks, sit on the couch, and then come back and get back pay.” Premier Radio Networks,*The Sean Hannity Show*, [9/26/25]

• • Hannity also claimed that Democrat demands “include things like over a trillion dollars in new spending for health care for illegals, taxpayer-funded gender swap surgeries for minors, open borders, men in women’s sports.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [9/23/25]

• • Right-wing podcast host Laura Loomer wrote, “Democrats are threatening to shut down the government unless they get taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegals.” She added, “They really do hate America.” Twitter/X, [9/26/25]

• • Right-wing talk show host and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed that “access to health care” is “code for taxpayer financed healthcare for illegals.” Twitter/X, [9/30/25]

• • Right-wing influencer Catturd posted, “Imagine shutting down the government because you want illegals to have free healthcare, and then thinking it’s gonna be popular with the American people.” Twitter/X, [9/30/25]

//

1. ### Sean Hannity: “I don't care if the government shuts down”

09/30/25 12:35 PM EDT

2. ### Benny Johnson: “I feel like most workers in the federal government are nonessential. I think most of them could be replaced by an AI chatbot, frankly.”

09/30/25 12:13 PM EDT

3. ### Newsmax host: “Let's not pretend that the idea of a government shutdown isn't somewhat alluring to most of us”

09/30/25

---

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Right-wing media and MAHA figures are celebrating Trump’s Tylenol announcement and pushing unproven claims that vaccines cause autism

Some right-wing media figures celebrated the announcement while others pivoted to claim that “Tylenol is not what’s driving this epidemic” and vaccines are “the primary driver”

Written by Jack Winstanley & Payton Armstrong

Research contributions from Helena Hind & Gideon Taaffe

Published 09/26/25

President Donald Trump’s promotion of an unproven connection between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and autism has drawn widespread rebuke from world health officials and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, even as right-wing influencers cheered the news, declaring that “what was once dismissed as ‘conspiracy’ is now official policy discussion” in the Trump White House.

Right-wing media personalities and “Make America Healthy Again” acolytes have bolstered the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-created movement to exploit post-pandemic mistrust of public health infrastructure and pharmaceutical companies. Now, they are celebrating the president’s announcement as “incredibly bold” and the “most decisive action that could be taken.” Others highlighted Trump’s comments about vaccines, with some declaring that “Tylenol is not what’s driving this epidemic” and claiming that vaccines are “the primary driver.”

Trump announced the FDA will notify doctors that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy is linked to autism, leading OB-GYNs to denounce the policy as “not backed by the full body of scientific evidence”}:

• • On September 22, Trump pushed an unproven causal connection between autism and the use of Tylenol (also known as acetaminophen or paracetamol) during pregnancy. In a press conference, Trump thanked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has a long history of promoting discredited theories about vaccines causing autism — for bringing the subject to the “forefront of American politics, along with me,” adding, “We understood a lot more than a lot of people who studied it.” CNN, [9/22/25;The Guardian, 9/24/25]

• • World health officials have rejected Trump’s claim that acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes autism. The European Medicines Agency told NBC that “a large amount of data from pregnant women who used paracetamol during pregnancy indicates no risk of malformations on the developing fetus or on newborns.” Australian health officials also rejected the claims, saying they are “a misrepresentation of the science.” NBC News, [9/23/25]

• • The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — a group that represents more than 60,000 doctors — rebuked Trump’s announcement and called it “irresponsible” and “not backed by the full body of scientific evidence.” The group’s president, Dr. Steven Fleischman, said in a statement: “Today’s announcement by HHS is not backed by the full body of scientific evidence and dangerously simplifies the many and complex causes of neurologic challenges in children,” adding, “it is highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health and well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data.” PBS, [9/22/25; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, accessed 9/24/25]

• • Discussing vaccines during the press conference, Trump also said, “Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you've ever seen in your life.” However, studies have shown no causal link between vaccines and autism, and “over the last 50 years, it is estimated that essential vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives,” according to UNICEF USA president and CEO Michael J. Nyenhuis. Reuters, [9/23/23; NPR, 9/23/25]

• ## Some right-wing and MAHA media figures praised and endorsed Trump’s press conference connecting Tylenol to autism

• • Ahead of the press conference, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles claimed Trump “has apparently cured autism.”Knowles said that Trump’s announcement was “another feather in the cap” for the administration, which he claimed has “achieved some of the greatest scientific progress in our lifetimes.” The Daily Wire, *The Michael Knowles Show*, [9/22/25]

• • On Steve Bannon’sWar Room, MAHA Action President Tony Lyons declared: “I don’t think you can look at what happened today and think that it was anything short of the boldest and most decisive action that could be taken.” He added: “They see that the science done for the last 20 or 30 years has been fake corporate science, and so we are getting gold standard science, total transparency, and we’re going to make progress. And there are dozens of possibilities for all of the different chronic diseases, and they’re going to do research into every last one of them.” In July, The Hill reported that Lyons’ group “has launched a six-figure ad campaign backing President Trump” and Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. Twitter/X, [9/22/25; The Hill, 7/22/25]

• • Podcaster and Kennedy 2024 running mate Nicole Shanahan: “Today was incredibly bold. @POTUS you have exceeded my expectations in truth telling.”She added, “Keep it up, team! This is only the beginning.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; Politico, 5/11/24; BlazeTV, accessed 9/24/25]

• • Actor Rob Schneider said, “This incredible and courageous and important news conference would have NEVER happened if President Trump was not elected.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; Entertainment Weekly, 10/1/24]

• • Infowars host Alex Jones shared footage of Trump’s press conference and wrote: “Tylenol and so-called ‘vaccines’ eat your brain and liver.” Twitter/X, [9/23/25]

• • Podcaster Sherri Tenpenny, an ally of Kennedy who has pushed false claims about vaccines, praised the announcement: “What was once dismissed as ‘conspiracy’ is now official policy discussion. The truth always surfaces.” Tenpenny became well-known after she falsely claimed during a 2021 hearing in Ohio that the COVID-19 vaccine makes people “magnetized.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; DrTenpenny.com, accessed 9/24/25; Media Matters, 7/19/23; PolitiFact, accessed 9/24/25; Agence France-Presse, 3/3/25]

• • Turning Point USA’s Alex Clark praised Trump for tying Tylenol to autism, writing “We finally have a president that says: ‘I BELIEVE MOTHERS.’” Clark continued, “The most recent studies link Tylenol to autism, and we know that the current vaccine schedule is not helping. President Trump LOVES AND SUPPORTS WOMEN enough to not gaslight them—something the medical establishment REFUSES to do.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25]

• • On Newsmax, host Chris Plante said that “since the Democrats are so angrily denouncing it and they're wrong about everything, it's probably more likely to be true.” Newsmax, *Chris Plante: Right Squad*, [9/22/25]

• • After the announcement, Newsmax host Carl Higbie claimed that “Libs are now pro-autism.” Higbie also stated, “It just seems to me like people who don't like Trump will just do anything to oppose him,” claiming that “pregnant women are posting taking acetaminophen products while pregnant.” During the segment, an on-air graphic read “Libs claim autism ‘doesn’t need to be cured.’” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [9/23/25]

• ## Others highlighted Trump’s comments about vaccines, suggesting they are "the primary driver”

• • Alex Jones: “They're going to say it's Tylenol and pesticides but not be specific. … But the main thing is the so-called vaccines.” Jones also said that “on the off chance that they cover it up, I will go to complete war with the administration.” Infowars, *The Alex Jones Show*, [9/22/25]

• • MAHA influencer Lauren Lee: “There isn’t one person in MAHA who would fall for the idea that Tylenol is the primary cause of autism. It’s childhood vaccines. We all know it.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25, 8/8/25; Vanity Fair, 8/7/25; Substack, accessed 9/24/25, accessed 9/24/25, 9/13/24]

• • During an interview onWar Room, Mary Holland, CEO of Kennedy-founded Children’s Health Defense, said: “We know Tylenol is not what’s driving this epidemic. … Vaccines are driving this epidemic.” Host Steve Bannon added: “This Tylenol thing stinks to high heaven. Not the fact that Tylenol causes it, but to do it today and then you’re never going to see a report, it’s just going to kind of fade into memory.” Holland noted that she’s worked with Kennedy for “many years” and repeated that “vaccines are the primary cause.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [9/22/25; Politico, 1/29/25]

• • MAHA Action Editor-in-Chief Tracy “Beanz” Diaz, whom NOTUS also described as “a podcaster, YouTuber and writer” and “one of the earliest promoters of the QAnon movement,” said: “It’s the vaccines. There’s my opinion. It isn’t Tylenol.” Diaz, who was hired by MAHA Action in March, reportedly “pushed vaccine skepticism and advocated for the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19” during the pandemic. Twitter/X, [9/22/25; NOTUS, 3/11/25]

• • Podcaster Thomas Renz, who reportedly “boosted his profile with lawsuits challenging coronavirus vaccines,” said that “Tylenol was made over the counter in 1959. Autism exploded as the childhood vaccine schedule grew. Tylenol isn’t good but vaccines are the root problem.” Twitter/X, [9/23/25; The Washington Post, 9/20/21, Substack, accessed 9/24/25]

• • Podcaster Peter McCullough, who pushed false claims about vaccines and promoted debunked treatments for COVID-19 during appearances on Fox in 2021, complained, “The pathway to developmental regression begins with vaccines, not acetaminophen.” He added: “A leading cause of Tylenol use during pregnancy is maternal vaccination that started about 25 years ago. Systemic inflammation and the reason why Tylenol is indicated (eg post combination vaccination) is the real driver of encephalitis, and the post-encephalitic state of autism.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25; America Out Loud Network, 9/24/25; Media Matters, 12/30/21; MSNBC, 6/8/25]

• • On Instagram, Moms Across America, which CNN described as a “grassroots network” founded by a North Carolina mom “cheering for RFK Jr. to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” posted a graphic that read, “Tylenol adds the fuel, but vaccines strike the match.” Instagram, [9/23/25; CNN, 12/12/24]

• • Sherri Tenpenny stated that “vaccines are — and always have been — the primary driver of autism.”She added, “Tylenol doesn’t replace that reality, it compounds it. … This is not about either/or. It’s about exposing the entire toxic system that has harmed our children for decades.” Twitter/X, [9/22/25]

• • OnWar Room, Toby Rogers, whom Politico has described as “a prominent anti-vaccine activist,” celebrated that Trump went after vaccines, calling his comments the “best case scenario.” Rogers said: “Yesterday was historic. We thought it was just going to be about Tylenol and instead, President Trump went all-in, and he made it very clear that he wants to make major changes to the childhood vaccine schedule to stop the autism epidemic.” These comments follow Rogers' testimony before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, claiming that “after conducting my systematic review of 1,000 studies my belief is that the autism and chronic disease epidemics are primarily caused by toxicants — mostly from vaccines and about a dozen additional toxicants.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [9/23/25; Politico, 9/23/25; Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, 9/9/25]

MMA //

1. ### How right-wing media sow distrust and confusion around vaccines and science

09/18/25 3:52 PM EDT

2. ### Right-wing media downplayed the likelihood of a measles outbreak. U.S. cases just reached a new high since the disease was eliminated.

07/09/25 12:07 PM EDT

3. ### Fox News completely ignored Senate hearing with ousted CDC director Susan Monarez

09/17/25

//

1. ### Sinclair joins the Trump administration’s much-criticized attempt to link Tylenol use during pregnancy to autism

09/25/25

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Right-wing media quickly found a wide range of people and institutions to blame for Charlie Kirk's death

Written by Gideon Taaffe, Sage Hodil & Torri Lonergan

Published 09/18/25

After Charlie Kirk’s killing on September 10, some in right-wing media called for retaliation against left-wing groups and other targets of their ire, and President Donald Trump’s administration has responded by attacking the left even more broadly.

Right-wing media have rushed to blame a variety of factors for Kirk’s death. Conservative media personalities called Democrats “the party of murder” while blaming “the left”, blamed rhetoric describing some on the right as “Nazis and fascists,” claimed the shooter was “radicalized” by college education and “left wing propaganda,” declared “CNN has blood on its hands,” and labeled the shooting “an act of LGBT terrorism” and an “attack on Christianity.”

As authorities investigate the motivation behind the killing, the Trump administration has started attacking left-leaning organizations and right-wing media are calling for retaliation}:

• • The man accused of killing Charlie Kirk has been charged with aggravated murder, but authorities “have not revealed a clear motive.” The Associated Press, [9/16/25]

• • 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]

• • The Trump administration has moved to crack down on the left in response to Kirk’s death. According to The New York Times, “President Trump and his top advisers threatened on Monday to unleash the power of the federal government to punish what they alleged was a left-wing network that funds and incites violence, seizing on Charlie Kirk’s killing to make broad and unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents.” ./ ” The New York Times, [9/15/25; The Wall Street Journal, 9/15/25]

• ## Right-wing media personalities called Democrats the “party of murder” and a “death cult” while blaming “the left” for Kirk's killing

• • Laura Loomer: “I really do believe with all of my heart that majority of the left is like this, I do. I believe that the Democrat party is the party of murder.”She continued, “I really, truly believe that we have crossed that point where one side of the aisle has human decency and the other side of the aisle is completely far gone.” Rumble, *Loomer Unleashed*, [9/11/25]

• • Fox News guest Julian Epstein: “Elements of the Democratic Party and the progressive left are moving increasingly toward a sort of a death cult.” Epstein claimed that “to compare your opponents to the world's worst actors, Hitler and Mussolini, by calling them fascists, which implies a violent response from people on the left, and the fact that Democratic leaders don’t see this connection today is beyond me.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [9/16/25]

• • Fox News contributor Kaylee McGhee White said, “It’s completely fair to pin this on the Democratic Party.” McGhee White claimed Democrats’ rhetoric “radicalized” Kirk’s alleged shooter, adding that they “never want to take responsibility when some people decide to take their rhetoric seriously.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [9/16/25]

• • Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that because “the left … can’t win an argument, they’re trying to kill,” and said that “we have to politically destroy the sick movement that’s giving birth to these killers.”Watters continued, “I don’t care what you have to do — we can love them, but we don't give them any quarter. Enough is enough. This ends now. … It can be killed. Figuratively.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/12/25]

• • The Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo suggested the “radical Left” has caused “a wave of violence and terror” and called for arrests of “all of those who are responsible for this chaos.” According to Rufo, “The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J. Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years. It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.” Twitter/X, [9/10/25]

• • Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway brought up “rising rhetoric and funding of groups that are pushing an anti-American ideology” in discussing Kirk’s death, saying he was “very powerful in speaking against it but other people need to take those threats seriously.” Hemingway added: “We have very powerful, well-funded interests really trying to destroy the country and they need to be investigated, their networks need to be rooted out, and they need to be dealt with as seriously as can be.” Fox News, *The Story with Martha MacCallum*, [9/11/25]

• • The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh said Kirk was killed by “a leftist militant who had been radicalized by left wing propaganda.” Walsh: “There is now no doubt (as if there was any doubt) that this was a targeted political assassination by a leftist militant who had been radicalized by left wing propaganda. Political violence is nearly exclusively a left wing problem. It is a tool of their trade.” Twitter/X, [9/12/25]

• ## Right-wing media suggested college “radicalized” the alleged shooter with “left-wing ideology” and made him “primed for violent acts”

• • Podcast host Megyn Kelly said, “He went to college. Guess what college does? It radicalizes young people.”Kelly continued, “I don't know what happened to this particular man, but that is what college does.” Later in the episode, Kelly added, “It doesn't look like this kid was political one way or the other, and then he went off to the indoctrination factory that is college and appears to have had a mental break. … The left-wing ideology that is pushed on students on every college campus in this country is radicalizing millions of them.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [9/12/25, 9/12/25]

• • Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy claimed the suspected shooter was “radicalized” in college. Campos-Duffy stated, “You heard the family members say that this man became more political — this young man became more political in recent years. Well, what did he do in recent years? He went to college. That’s where kids are getting radicalized. It’s not just online — our campuses are where a lot of radicalization, hate, intolerance starts from.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [9/12/25]

• • On his radio show, Sean Hannity advocated for defunding universities, calling them “liberal indoctrination centers” that teach students “nothing except how to be a crazy radical leftist.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [9/11/25]

• • Fox News host Mark Levin suggested Marxist “influence in our colleges and universities” contributed to Kirk’s killing. Levin stated, “We have influence in our faculty, influence in our colleges and universities, influence now in our public schools of alien ideologies. Now, Marxism preaches violent revolution. … Radical Islam preaches violent revolution.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [9/12/25]

• • Fox Noticias co-host Julie Banderas said, “The assassination exposes the intolerance toward free speech and new ideas that has grown on college campuses.” Fox Deportes, *Fox Noticias*, [9/12/25]

• • Conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza claimed “we need to put radical academia on trial” for radicalizing Kirk’s alleged shooter. He posted: “Tyler Robinson is every conservative parent’s worst nightmare. Send your kid to college where he is radicalized into a violent ‘antifascist’ by the sly, scheming leftist professors. We need to put radical academia on trial along with its cherished product, Tyler Robinson.” Twitter/X, [9/12/25]

• • Infowars host Alex Jones claimed Kirk’s alleged shooter was “Radicalized By The Left While At University & Primed For Violent Acts.” He posted: “Photos/Videos Emerge Of Charlie Kirk's Assassin As His Social Media Presence Is Scrubbed From Internet Evidence Suggests Tyler Robinson Was An Intelligent, Middle Class Kid Who Was Radicalized By The Left While At University & Primed For Violent Acts.” Twitter/X, [9/12/25]

• ## Right-wing media blamed trans people, calling Kirk’s shooting “an act of LGBT terrorism”

• • The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh: “The assassination of Charlie Kirk was unequivocally an act of LGBT terrorism.”Walsh insisted, “Already, the evidence is overwhelming — Charlie was murdered by a leftist who was in a relationship with a man who identifies as transgender, a man who identifies as a woman.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [9/15/25]

• • On Fox, former Secret Service agent Charles Marino suggested “the transgender community” could be responsible for Kirk’s shooting because they wanted to “silence” him. “We’re told that in the area of opinions, people should not have differing opinions in this country,” Marino stated. “Now, the dangerous thing here with the transgender community is the way they are moving to silence those opinions. It is becoming more and more violent.” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [9/15/25]

• • Newsmax host Greg Kelly claimed “a transgender situation” may have been the motive for Kirk's killing.Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [9/15/25]

• • :{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]

• • Self-described “prophet” Amanda Grace said Kirk’s killing “had to do with transgenderism” and the “false god” Ishtar.“Ishtar, the ancient entity that attempted to utilize Kamala Harris to put her in the highest seat of our land back in 2024, was involved in this attempt,” Grace argued. “Ishtar is a false god and a demon tethered to men dressing as women. Demons are violent. Transgenderism comes from that pagan, violent route. To serve their principality and powers and drive their agenda, they seek to shed blood.” Rumble, *Ark of Grace Ministries*, [9/11/25; Media Matters, 5/30/24]

• ## Some claimed the shooting was an “attack on Christianity,” arguing that Kirk was killed “because he was a devout Christian”

• • America Firsthost Nick Fuentes argued, “He would go to these college campuses and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. And ultimately, that is why he was killed.” Fuentes said, “When you look at his most vicious detractors, the people celebrating his death now, possibly, probably the gunman that killed him, they hated him because of his defense of Christian morality.” Rumble, *America First with Nick Fuentes*, [9/11/25]

• • OnThe Will Cain Show, Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy repeatedly declared Kirk’s killing was “an attack on Christians.” She added, “Make no mistake: The kind of attention that Jewish students are feeling — that kind of attacks that they feel and unsafe how they feel on campus — that’s been happening to college conservatives for a long time, which is why Charlie Kirk was on campus.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [9/12/25]

• • Fox News political analyst Lisa Boothe claimed Kirk was “assassinated because he was a devout Christian.” Boothe stated, “Charlie wasn't murdered, wasn’t assassinated just for his political beliefs. He was assassinated for his faith. He was assassinated because he was a devout Christian, which was the basis for all of his beliefs. That is why he was assassinated.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [9/15/25]

• • Rumble host Vince Coglianese argued, “This was also an attack on Christianity.”Coglianese explained, “Charlie Kirk was a spokesman for the word of God in everything that he did.” He continued, “Any attack on Charlie and the ideas that Charlie expresses is an attack on his innate Christianity. That is a hate crime insofar as anyone can establish one. There you go. It's an attack on a Christian for being Christian and for expressing that truth out loud. That man hated him for that.” Rumble, *Vince with Vince Coglianese*, [9/12/25]

• ## Others blamed Democratic rhetoric that described some conservatives as “Nazis and fascists”

• • During an appearance on Fox News, Republican strategist Matt Whitlock said, “It's not a coincidence” that people “resort to violence” after hearing Democrats’ rhetoric about Donald Trump. Whitlock argued that when prominent Democrats refer to Trump as a fascist or compare him to Hitler, “That trickles down through social media, through the massive sort of wormhole of disinformation, to radicalize young people like this shooter who then wrote that on a bullet.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [9/15/25]

• • On his radio show, Sean Hannity claimed that the shooter may have been radicalized by people calling conservatives “Nazis and fascists” and “Hitler and Stalin and Mussolini.”Hannity: “I think that all of us around this country really need moments of reflection, quiet reflection and introspection. And really need to dig deep into, you know, the words that are being used that we’ve become, as I say, numb to and that I would argue, at times, I believe for the weak minded or mentally ill people or people that, you know, can be convinced and indoctrinated into a belief system that they think they’re doing good if they harm the people that they’re being told repeatedly are Nazis and fascists and Hitler and Stalin and Mussolini.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [9/12/25]

• • The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito claimed that referring to a conservative as a “Nazi” is “a straight line to telling someone this person is bad and you can have a free-for-all with them.”Zito told Fox’s Will Cain: “If you call someone a Nazi or a fascist, you are invoking a term that means that this person is evil and bad and will do you harm and you better get to them first before they get you. It is a straight line to telling someone this person is bad and you can have a free-for-all with them. That’s just the facts. That is what they are doing.” Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [9/12/25]

• • Watters argued that Democrats are intentionally “brainwashing an online army” when they refer to conservatives as fascists.Watters stated, “They know exactly what they're doing. They’re giving the crazy wing of their party permission to take a shot. They’re brainwashing an online army. The message is, these men are dangerous fascists, be a hero, take them out.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/12/25]

• ## Right-wing personalities blamed the mainstream media for “dehumanizing” conservatives like Kirk, saying “CNN has blood on its hands”

• • Real America’s Voice host Grant Stinchfield said “CNN has blood on its hands” for vilifying Kirk.“They encourage this kind of behavior,” Stinchfield added. “Do you think it’s a coincidence that somebody shoots and kills him after the left-wing media vilified Charlie Kirk for nearly 24 hours yesterday? I don’t think it’s a coincidence.” Real America's Voice, *America's Voice Live*, [9/10/25]

• • Fox News host Greg Gutfeld: “If you subtract the media’s influence, this wouldn't have happened.” Gutfeld continued, “They were brainwashed. And the way that you brainwash somebody is through repetition. Nazi, Nazi, Nazi, fascist, fascist, fascist. That’s how you brainwash. So it’s almost like, shouldn't be surprising, that these things happen.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/11/25]

• • Right-wing talk show host Liz Wheeler claimed Kirk’s killing was due to hateful speech against Republicans from “MSM, the left, and Democrat politicians to the highest echelons.”She wrote: “Charlie Kirk was murdered because the MSM, the left, and Democrat politicians to the highest echelons—led by former President Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris— have spent the past decade dehumanizing & vilifying all Republicans, constantly, viciously, falsely accusing us of being Hitler, fascists, dictators, authoritarian, hateful, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic bigots.” Twitter/X, [9/13/25]

// MMA

• ### Right-wing media rushed to blame killing of Charlie Kirk on trans people

09/12/25 5:42 PM EDT

• ### Ben Shapiro: “If you really want a booming economy, you should hope that the Supreme Court strikes down President Trump's tariffs”

09/18/25 2:12 PM EDT

• ### Fox News completely ignored Senate hearing with ousted CDC director Susan Monarez

09/17/25

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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

• ### Right-wing media downplayed the likelihood of a measles outbreak. U.S. cases just reached a new high since the disease was eliminated.

07/09/25

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EARTH2 // CRM

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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mma 9 25

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”

Special ProgramsLGBTQ

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

2. ### Right-wing media endorse a potential Supreme Court challenge to same-sex marriage

08/28/25 2:42 PM EDT

3. ### Anti-trans pundits who championed the idea of protecting women’s sports now say that throwing sex toys at women athletes is hilarious

08/12/25

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mma

On the killing of Charlie Kirk, political violence, and the right’s response

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 09/12/25

Charlie Kirk, a powerful right-wing activist, popular podcaster, and close friend and ally to President Donald Trump, was shot and killed while speaking at a college in Utah on Wednesday. Politicians of both parties and commentators across the spectrum, including myself, have responded with condemnations of the act as both the tragic murder of a young husband and father and an act of political violence that must be anathema if we hope to preserve our country as a liberal democracy.

Rational people on all sides of the political spectrum abhor political violence and want to ratchet down the temperature, but this requires an honest assessment of what is happening: There have been far too many cases of political violence in recent years, and the targets are not limited by party, ideology, or creed.

Yet within the right-wing media bubble, long before there was even a suspect in custody, commentators cited Kirk’s killing as proof the left is at war with them. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Thursday called out right-wing pundits who took Kirk’s death “as an opportunity to say we're at war so that they could get some of our conservative followers lathered up over this.” He added: “It seems like a cheap, disgusting, awful way to pretend like you're a leader of a conservative movement.”

Tillis cited two commentators in particular, but such rhetoric has been a staple throughout the right-wing media ecosystem since news broke that Kirk had been shot. It is what right-wing audiences are hearing right now — and what they have been hearing, to one extent or another, for quite some time.

“They are at war with us!” Fox News star Jesse Watters said on The Five, his network’s most-watched show, shortly after Kirk’s passing was announced.

“Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us,” he continued. “And what are we gonna do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate? And that’s the question we’re just gonna have to ask ourselves.”

“THIS IS WAR,” posted Libs of TikTok. “Civil war,” was Andrew Tate’s take. “This is war,” commented Ian Miles Cheong. “This is a war, this is a war, this is a war,” Alex Jones said on his livestream. According to Steve Bannon, “We are at war in this country.” “We’re not supposed to say this,” posted Shaun Maguire. “But the truth is we’re at War.”

Many on the right were Kirk’s friends and are mourning his death. Some of them may fear for their own safety. But the narrative they have constructed relies on ignoring the recent spate of attacks targeting Democrats, the gruesome contemporaneous response to those attacks from some of the most influential voices on the right, and the chorus of Democratic officials who have condemned Kirk’s assassination.

There is no war, no righteous, violent struggle between a “left” and a “right.” A man was killed. His killer deserves to be brought to justice. Turning that into a “war” can only make the situation worse.

Terrorists have targeted political leaders of both parties

It is not true, as Eric Trump and both claimed in right-wing media interviews since Kirk’s slaying, that violence is “only going one way,” or, as right-wing radio host Dana Loesch put it on Watters’ prime-time show, that “it's not the right killing the left, it's the left killing the right.”

It seems both pointless and morally inappropriate to try to weigh attacks against one another to determine who has it “worse,” but it’s impossible to have a conversation if we can’t agree that political violence goes both ways.

The ideology of people who attack political figures doesn’t always map neatly onto a political party, in no small part because the assailant typically suffers from some form of mental illness. But Democrats have certainly been the targets of political violence in recent memory: In October 2022, a man broke into the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeking to kidnap her, and brutally assaulted her husband, Paul. In June, an assassin allegedly murdered a Democratic state legislator and her husband and wounded a second and his wife in Minnesota. Last month’s lethal attackon the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by someone who authorities say “wanted to send a message against COVID-19 vaccines” should also be placed in this category.

It’s worth revisiting how right-wing media covered those domestic terror attacks, as it speaks to how its audience likely interprets them in an increasingly fragmented media landscape in which people can pick and choose news sources that confirm their biases.

After a man broke into the Pelosi residence and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, MAGA influencers claimed based on effectively no evidence that the attacker, who turned out to be a deranged individual steeped in right-wing fever swamp conspiracy theories, had actually been let into the speaker’s house by her husband for the purposes of sex and subsequently attacked him as part of a lovers’ quarrel.

Donald Trump Jr. posted a photo of a pair of briefs and a hammer on a bed with the caption: “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.”

For months afterwards, Fox hosts including Watters alluded to such wild claims on their nationally broadcast programs, undeterred by body camera footage from the scene of the attack or basic human dignity.

Prominent MAGA social media influencers likewise responded to the Minnesota shootings by spinning up a false profile of the killer — in reality a Trump supporter who railed against abortion and the LGBTQ community — as a far-left supporter of Gov. Tim Walz. Laura Loomer and Mike Cernovich even suggested Walz might have orchestrated the attacks as political hits.

Fox’s right-wing propagandists, meanwhile, all but buried that story. There were no soul-searching reflections about political violence targeting the left on the programs of Watters, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, or Greg Gutfeld — instead, discussion on those shows the week after the attacks was limited to correspondent reports and headline reads. The week after the CDC shooting, those programs didn’t cover it at all.

Looking further back, the leading lights of the right-wing media aggressively sought to minimize and sanitize the Trump mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, and they alternatively blamed “incivility” from the left for a Trumpist sending mail bombs to a host of left-wing and Democratic targets and suggested those attacks were a “false flag.” And that’s to say nothing of other attacks apparently fueled by right-wing extremism that targeted Jewish, Latino, and Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; and El Paso, Texas.

If you downplay right-wing violence against left-wing targets, it’s much easier to convince your viewers that the violence is all going in the other direction.

• ### MAGA wants “the Left” to be “crushed with the power of the state”

While the repeated declarations that they are at “war” with a murderous left are obviously corrosive, there have not been widespread direct calls for retaliatory violence from prominent right-wing media figures. But many are urging President Donald Trump, his administration, and congressional Republicans to respond with widespread political repression of the left and the Democratic Party.

“We can honor him [Kirk] and honor his memory and make it a living thing that we use this to take down the apparatus that's well-funded that is at the core of this anti-Americanism,” Steve Bannon said on his streaming show Friday. “It has to be a all-of-government approach. ... Let's go kick down some doors and perp walk some folks today.”

Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and streamer who has Trump’s ear and regularly gets federal officials fired for insufficient demonstrated fealty to the president, declared Wednesday, “It’s time for the Trump administration to shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization.” She later added: “All of the Leftist groups that pay for these radical protests need to be prosecuted. … More people will be murdered if the Left isn’t crushed with the power of the state.”

MAGA influencer Mike Cernovich demanded “congressional hearings now” on Wednesday, which he said should include “every billionaire funding far left wing extremism,” naming George Soros, Bill Gates, and Reid Hoffman. He also called for “massive RICO investigations now” to scrutinize “every dollar” and tagged Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Former GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters echoed Cernovich, adding, “Either we destroy the NGO/donor patronage network that enables and foments” violence, “or it will destroy us.”

Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, posted Wednesday that “the Democrat party is a domestic terrorist organization” and “terrorist Democrats will not stop. … And until they are stopped—until every single nutjob inciting this madness and cheering it on is held accountable and removed from civil society—it will not stop.” His outlet published a piece which declared that Democrats “need to be treated like the domestic terrorists they are.”

“The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J. Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo said. “It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.”

YouTuber Benny Johnson claimed that “the modern Democrat party is a terrorist organization” and that the left-wing movement must be “ripped root and stem from our American republic and thrown into the fire where it belongs.”

Some are even suggesting that because the threat to the right is so clear, if Republican leaders don’t respond with such steps, the result will be some on the right taking matters into their own hands.

Davis posted on Thursday that if congressional Republicans don’t take “proper action” to protect “a population being hunted for sport,” then the result would be “improper reaction,” which he described as “a response that cannot be contained once it is out.”

Likewise, Cernovich wrote: “I’m choosing my words mindfully, don’t twist them. This is a prediction, not a preference. If Congressional GOP and Trump don’t act swiftly and ferociously, there will be retaliatory actions due to lawful means not being used. This is always what happens. RICO these fucks now!”

Trump appears to be responding to these demands for political retribution.

• ### The elephant in the room

It is impossible to have a rational conversation about topics like lowering the political temperature and pushing back against the spread of political violence when the president of the United States is interested in those issues only as a cudgel against his political opponents.

On Wednesday evening, the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal urged Trump, himself the victim of two assassination attempts, to take advantage of “an opportunity for leadership” by seeking to lower the tenor of political rhetoric.

Any other president would not need to hear such advice — but Trump’s previous responses to attacks on Democratic targets demonstrate his lack of interest in bringing the country together. He mocked the brutal assault against Pelosi, said following the Minnesota shooting that it would be a “waste of time” to call Gov. Tim Walz because he is “so whacked out,” and completely ignored the CDC attack.

In an Oval Office address a few hours after Kirk was killed, Trump characteristically ignored the Journal’s counsel. He offered a testament to Kirk’s life and promised that the shooter, who at that point had not been publicly identified or taken into custody, would be brought to justice.

But he also attributed blame far beyond the person who took Kirk’s life, saying that the “rhetoric” of “the radical left” was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.” He went on to promise that his administration would go after the individuals and organizations he said “contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence,” adding that “radical-left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.”

Trump did not name the targets of the action he promised to carry out. But a “straightforward reading of his rhetoric,” as The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait noted, is that “the president of the United States is treating the political opposition as accessories to murder and threatening to use the full power of the government to attack it.”

On Friday, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt pointed to “radicals” on both the right and left and asked the president, “How do we fix this country? How do we come back together?”

Trump’s response made clear that he is uninterested in doing so. He excused “radicals on the right” as people who “don’t want to see crime,” saying, “They don't want these people coming in, we don't want you burning our shopping centers, we don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.”

“The radicals on the left are the problem, and they are vicious and they are horrible and they are politically savvy,” he added, before running through a litany of grievances with his critics.

That message is echoing across MAGA media, a powerful information apparatus with a rare and unmediated grasp on its audience. It will fuel more vitriol, making it harder, not easier, to have honest conversations and reduce the threat of political violence in this country.

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RETALIATE // CONTEXT REICHSTAG BIG BALLS DC

9 25 an

After it was confirmed that far-right activist Charlie Kirk died after being shot during a Wednesday event on a college campus, and while the shooter remains at large as of Wednesday evening, MAGA activists are still blaming the political left for Kirk's death on social media — and vowing revenge.

Initial responses to the news of Kirk's death, including from President Donald Trump, were encouraging conservatives to pray for the conservative commentator and his family. However, several MAGA influencers and other public figures influential on the far right insisted that Kirk's death should be seen as a mass mobilization event.

"Left-wing violence is out of control, and it’s not random," former Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters tweeted. "Either we destroy the NGO/donor patronage network that enables and foments it, or it will destroy us."

READ MORE:'Put two and two together': Conservative argues CNN told hosts to be soft on Trump-Epstein

:{:{MAGA influencer Sam Hyde called on his hundreds of thousands of X followers to watch the video of Kirk being struck by a bullet, writing "It could have been any one of us exercising the first amendment" while adding: "You all need to know what our enemies want." Conservative social media personality FischerKing tweeted: "If this isn't a wake-up call then we're never going to wake up."}:

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reposted a separate tweet from FischerKing, who said the "left-wing mainstream media" had created a "climate of hysteria against right-wing figures that could radicalize any number of unstable people to engage in political violence." Musk commented: "Exactly."}:

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"We're in a war," conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said in a video. "The left has been saying put a bullseye on Trump, put a bullseye on his supporters, they've been calling for violence ... they're going to attack."

"The Rubicon has been crossed. Not by Trump or MAGA, but by the far left," wrote far-right activist Mike Cernovich, who spawned the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory. "Randy Paul can shove his book reports up his a--. F--- everyone who played footsie with these dark demonic forces. We will not be scolded any longer."

"The attack on Charlie Kirk and free speech is evil, pure and simple. The hate, violence and evil being peddled by radical extremists has no place in this country! Schools and social media have become breeding grounds for liberal hate," the Utah Republican Party's official X account posted. "Enough!"

READ MORE:House hearing derailed after Dem calls GOP rep 'lapdog to the president' in shouting match

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mma

As the weird Trump birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein is released, MAGA media cling to their claims that it was a hoax

Written by Jason Campbell

Published 09/09/25 10:26 AM EDT

On Monday, lawyers for sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s estate provided Congress with a birthday letter allegedly written by President Donald Trump to Epstein in 2003.

Trump's letter to Epstein

From a September 8, 2025, article in the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal first reported the letter’s existence in mid-July. At the time, Trump filed lawsuits against the paper, the reporters, and News Corp. for defamation, and his media allies rushed to his defense, calling the letter a “hoax.”

Podcaster Benny Johnson said the Wall Street Journal reporting is a “hoax.”

:{Video f

Citation

From the July 22, 2025, edition of The Benny Show, posted to YouTube

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk said he didn’t believe the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.

:{Video f

Citation

From the July 18, 2025, edition of The Charlie Kirk Show, posted to Rumble

Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said the Wall Street Journal reporters are “anti-Trump.”

:{Video

Citation

From the July 21, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro: “I think the note is probably, at the very least, not written by him [Trump].”

:{Video

Citation

From the July 18, 2025, edition of The Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show

The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles said Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal is strong evidence that “it’s a fake letter.”

:{Video

Citation

From the July 21, 2025, edition of The Daily Wire's The Michael Knowles Show

Since the letter was provided to Congress, the White House has continued to deny its authenticity.

Trump’s media allies, including Kirk and Johnson, have also maintained that the letter is not real.

The New York Times examined Trump's signature that these MAGA figures are fixated on.

It’s all predictable.

After MAGA media figures lashed out at the Trump administration in July over its lackluster Epstein revelations, Trump successfully forced them to cave to his will and largely ignore the issue. Protecting the personal interests of Donald Trump continues to be the primary goal of right-wing media.

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mma

Right-wing media's campaign for military intervention and regime change in Venezuela

Conservative pundits have spent August and September beating the drums of war

Written by Media Matters Staff

Research contributions from John Knefel, Alyssa Tirrell, Gideon Taaffe, Pete Tsipis, Jane Lee, Bushra Sultana & Helena Hind

:{Published 09/05/25

Right-wing media outlets have spent August and September agitating for the Trump administration to take military action against Venezuela, including possibly toppling the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

On August 8, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to begin targeting “foreign drug cartels” including the Venezuelan group Cartel de los Soles, which the administration recently labeled as a “specially designated global terrorist” organization supposedly headed by Maduro. Later that month, Trump directed U.S. warships carrying thousands of Marines and sailors to Venezuelan waters. On September 2, Trump ordered the military to strike a boat in the Caribbean allegedly carrying illicit narcotics, killing the 11 people aboard.

Right-wing pundits reacted by defending the legality of the strike even before the White House had offered its official legal rationale. Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner asked whether critics of the airstrike were “working against America and for the drug cartels with their support."

Right-wing media’s push for war on Venezuela

Throughout August and September, right-wing pundits pushed for the Trump administration to carry out military action — which is to say, to wage war — against Venezuela. These commentators sometimes praised Trump for revitalizing the Monroe Doctrine, a longheld dream of MAGA media that connotes U.S. imperial dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

• Fox & Friendsco-host Rachel Campos-Duffy suggested that Trump’s growing military campaign against Venezuela could allow the United States to seize natural resources in Latin America. Campos-Duffy said that Trump’s strike on a boat leaving Venezuela sent a message to “our neighborhood” that “there’s a new sheriff in town.” She added: “Make no mistake, the Southern Hemisphere, the Western Hemisphere is resource-rich — all the lithium and all the critical minerals, there’s oil, there’s so much there and we’ve ceded so much of it to China.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/4/25]
  • Campos-Duffy said that going after Venezuela is “bigger” than the war in Ukraine because “Donald Trump is cleaning up our neighborhood." Amid the summit between Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Campos-Duffy suggested that Venezuela was more important because “Russia and Ukraine are on the other side of the world.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [8/13/25]
  • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh cheered on the United States initiating military action in Venezuela: “This is American chauvinism.” Walsh explained: “As the noninterventionist guy who famously doesn't care about other countries and doesn't want to get involved in their problems, as the American chauvinist — not just America first, but America chauvinist — I fully support what Trump is doing here because this is America first. This is American chauvinism.” Walsh declared that the U.S. is “going to use our strength, our power to impose our will for the sake of our national interests,” claiming, “That’s how American might, American force should be used.” He added, “They're a small, weak, pathetic, puny, poor country, and so they just have to do what we say. A war with Venezuela would last about four minutes.” Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [8/21/25]
  • Fox News legal contributor John Yoo, who authored the controversial “torture memo” for the Justice Department under the George W. Bush administration, now justified using military force against drug cartels from Venezuela, saying, “As we did after 9/11, I think it is perfectly legal and well within the president’s constitutional authority to protect the nation’s security from foreign threats.”Yoo stated that the military should be targeting “foreign enemies” including “drug cartels that are synergistic with the government of Venezuela.” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [8/11/25; The New York Times, 3/3/08]
  • Fox Nation host Mike Sarraille said on Fox News, “I'm a strong proponent of the action that the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, and President Trump are taking.” He also claimed, “God bless our law enforcement brethren, but this is far outside their capability. And so this is where the Department of War comes into play. It should be stiffer actions, it should be stiffer penalties for anyone trying to illicitly smuggle drugs into our nation that could potentially kill our youth and Americans.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [9/5/25]
  • Former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland praised Trump’s “gunboat diplomacy.” She said: “It’s all part of a bigger plan that President Trump has, which is to go after the drug cartels that are poisoning Americans with fentanyl and with the gun trafficking and the gang bangers and ruining our security in our cities.” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade added, “And we’d love to kick China, Russia, and Iran right out of Venezuela and right out of our hemisphere. And that could happen in one swoop.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [8/21/25]
  • Fox News host Jesse Watters celebrated Trump’s decision to send U.S. destroyers to Venezuela to target cartels, declaring, “It's the return of the Monroe Doctrine.”Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [8/19/25]
• ### Right-wing media call for Maduro’s ouster

Right-wing pundits also called for the toppling of the Maduro government.

• Brian Kilmeade earlier said, “I just hope we find a way to get Maduro out. It’ll solve a lot of problems.” His comment came after Fox News senior strategic analyst and retired Gen. Jack Keane said that it “makes sense to get after these narco traffickers, and certainly they’re coming out of Venezuela, they’re coming out of other Latin American, South American countries, and we’re upping our game to do that. It is the right decision.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [8/22/25]
  • Tim Pool’sTimcastpanel floated regime change and taking oil from Venezuela. One of the hosts discussed “why regime change would make sense” and would “help mitigate the immigration crisis that we're seeing,” and a guest said, “The amount of oil that those losers have. … Let’s get in there. Let’s invade Venezuela.” *Timcast*, [9/3/25]
  • Fox News contributor Brett Velicovich praised the strike as “real, decisive action” and encouraged regime change in Venezuela: “The bottom line is that Maduro needs to go.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [9/3/25]
• ### Right-wing media celebrate Trump’s extrajudicial strike that killed 11

Even as experts challenged the supposed legal basis of the airstrike on the boat that killed 11 people, right-wing pundits continued to praise Trump and celebrate what they characterized as his decisive action.

• Rachel Campos-Duffy praised Trump’s airstrike, claiming he was implementing “a new doctrine” in foreign policy.Campos-Duffy claimed: “It's not just a message to the cartels. It's not just a message to Nicolas Maduro and even to Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico, but it is to China. … China is in bed with all of these bad actors.” Criminals “have had free rein in our hemisphere,” she continued, adding, “That is why interdicting isn’t enough — we're going to blow you up. We're going to destroy the cartels and it’s going to send a message to everybody that there is a new sheriff in town.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/4/25]
  • Jesse Watters justified the boat strike in the Caribbean, saying, “If they’re going to kill our people with narcotics, we’re going to kill their people with missiles.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [9/3/25]
  • Brian Kilmeade said of the boat strike: “This is a message — get out — this is the Monroe Doctrine back in action.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [9/3/25]
  • Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty emphasized the number of Americans killed by drug overdoses each year and said Trump is “treating these cartels the way they deserve to be treated.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [9/3/25]
  • On Fox News’The Five, co-host Harold Ford praised the strike, arguing that it “sends a message like none other can — that even if this is outside of the realm of legality, and the courts will eventually tell us this, those on those boats know that they have a problem, that this president and our country now is going to protect and seal our borders against these kinds of things.” Ford added: “I love what the president — the things he’s doing here. We’ll see if it stands up to muster.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/3/25]
  • MAGA legal influencer Mike Davis celebrated the lack of judicial oversight of the strike, writing: “And Trump didn’t get Jeb Boasberg’s permission.” Right-wing media have waged a campaign against Judge James Boasberg since he ordered the Trump administration to halt some deportation flights in March. X/Twitter, [9/2/25; Media Matters, 3/18/25]
• ### Right-wing media suggest Trump’s military campaign expand to include Mexico, say it tells other Latin American countries “the US means business”

Conservative pundits suggested that we need more military intervention like Trump’s actions regarding Venezuela, that “Mexico may be next,” and that his campaign thus far signals to other Latin American countries that “the U.S. means business.” Trump has contemplated bombing parts of Mexico for years.

• Watters said “we’ll probably have to see more” military intervention against cartels, to whichGood Day New Yorkhost Rosanna Scotto added, “Mexico may be next.” Scotto also praised Trump for the strike: “Finally somebody is taking action. … But it came probably too late for many families in America.” Fox News, *The Five*, [9/3/25]
  • On Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast, guest Erik Bethel said Trump’s actions on Venezuela will signal to other “hard-left-leaning countries” that “the U.S. means business.” Bethel who represented the U.S. at the World Bank during Trump’s first term, said, “I think what we're doing in Venezuela and putting a price on Maduro’s head for being a narco trafficker is great, and it signals to the other hard-left-leaning countries in the region — Cuba, to some degree Colombia and Bolivia and others — hey, the U.S. means business.” Rumble, *Triggered*, [8/28/25]
  • Sean Hannity: F-35s being deployed to the Caribbean show that “the president is now taking on another massive issue, and that is the influx of drugs into our country.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [9/5/25; Reuters, 9/5/25]

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mma

Murdoch media find a scapegoat for New Jersey’s high electric rates

As data centers demand enormous energy outputs and Garden State grid operators reportedly slow-walk new projects, right-wing media take shots at renewable energy

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published 08/27/25

• Murdoch media outlets are blaming high electricity bills in New Jersey on “green-energy mandates.” But experts and local politicians say price hikes are being driven by data centers, which “guzzle electricity around the clock,” and decisions made by the regional operator.

The price of electricity has been on the rise across the country. Between 2021 and 2024, the average monthly residential electricity bill in America went up by $22 per month. Now, energy prices are rising twice as fast as inflation and are expected to increase further.

Several factors, including increased demand for electricity to power new data centers and New Jersey grid operator PJM’s reported failure to quickly connect renewable projects to the grid, are contributing to the rate hikes in New Jersey.

As electricity bills become a prominent concern in New Jersey and across the country, Energy Secretary Chris Wright complained to Politico, “We’re going to get blamed.” Indeed, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is set to increase energy costs “by around $165 per household per year in 2030, and by more than $280 in 2035 — a jump of over 13% compared to current costs.” Instead of acknowledging that, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post are scrambling to find a way to blame rate hikes on now-imperiled renewable energy projects — projects that tech companies fought to keep as they search for ways to make their data centers viable.

• ## Electricity bills have spiked in New Jersey, a result of changes in the state’s energy market

• • In New Jersey, wholesale electric bills rose by 20% in 2025, and ratepayers will likely pay up to 5% more on top of that starting in June 2026. The rate hike has impacted customers of the regional transmission operator PJM, which serves 13 states including New Jersey. The spike came a year after PJM held its annual capacity auction in 2024. During auctions, power generators sell electricity to providers and commit to meet future energy demand. Utility Dive, [7/23/25; Inside Climate News, 8/18/25; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, accessed 8/19/25]

• • State policymakers and industry insiders agree the key to driving down costs is boosting energy supply.In a letter, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and eight other governors from states where PJM operates accused it of failing to “efficiently connect new resources to its grid and to engage in effective long-term transmission planning.” According to The Gothamist, although “New Jersey currently has 33 large-scale, shovel-ready solar projects awaiting approval by PJM … many could take a year or 18 months longer to get approval.” The Gothamist, [8/19/25]

• ## Trump has railed against renewables in New Jersey and across the nation

• • Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “STUPID AND UGLY WINDMILLS ARE KILLING NEW JERSEY. Energy prices are up 28% this year, and not enough electricity to take care of state. STOP THE WINDMILLS.” Twitter/X, [8/19/25]

• • Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA” Twitter/X, [8/20/25]

• ## Murdoch media claim that “green-energy mandates” and fossil fuel plant closures are to blame for rate hikes seen in states like New Jersey

• • When asked about skyrocketing electricity bills on Fox Business, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, (R-NJ) told guest host Cheryl Casone, “We needed gas plants — instead of opening new ones, we closed them. … We put billions upon billions of dollars of money from the ratepayers and the taxpayers into foreign corporations for wind energy, which are failed projects.”After Trump railed against wind farms on Truth Social, calling them “the scam of the century,” Casone asked Van Drew, “You also say that offshore wind is a scam and has driven New Jersey energy bills through the roof. What kind of price increases have your constituents seen?” Van Drew has been leading the charge against wind projects in New Jersey for years. Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [8/22/25; Media Matters, 3/23/23]

• • Fox News host Lawrence Jones: “New Jersey residents are waking up to the cost of going green.” Jones interviewed Bjorn Lomborg, who said, “If you want to go green, it has real costs. … People are in rebellion against the high green costs.” Fox News, *Fox and Friends*, [8/18/25]

• • OnFox & Friends Weekend, Charles Hurt said, “New Jersey electric bills have tripled the summer,” and claimed people are blaming Democrats because they’re “always prioritizing global warming over people’s ability to pay their electric bill.” Guest Joe Piscopo, a right-wing radio host, used the segment to promote Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who “has all the answers to stop these high prices and save energy.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [8/17/25]

• • The New York Post’s editorial board blamed soaring energy rates in New York “largely” on “green-energy mandates that Gov. Kathy Hochul embraced along with the rest of the party” and said the “‘climate agenda’ is delivering pain we’ve long warned of, in New York and New Jersey.”New York Post, [8/16/25]

• • Fox anchor Jon Scott amplified the Post’s editorial and spoke with Fox News contributor Phil Flynn, who attacked New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, saying, “The Garden State may be where the Green New Deal actually dies because you’re getting such blowback from people getting their electricity bills.”Fox News, *Fox Report with John Scott*, [8/17/25]

• • OnThe Big Money Show, host Dagen McDowell blamed “green-obsessed Gov. Phil Murphy,” saying that “his big ego and his 100% clean electricity production by 2035 plan has all of his constituents paying 15% more for retail power than the national average.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [8/15/25]

• • Fox & FriendsandAmerica’s Newsroomboth ran a correspondent report on higher electricity prices in New Jersey, blaming the “state's Democratic-led push to shut down coal and nuclear plants without reliable replacements.”The reports quoted Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill explaining that the regional grid operator is behind the hikes, but correspondent CB Cotton also suggested that sustainable energy policies are to blame. Cotton said on America’s Newsroom, “Critics are blaming the state's Democratic-led push to shut down coal and nuclear plants without reliable replacements, leaving that power grid strained as demand soars” and added, “The outrage is spilling into politics with the governor's race tightening.” She made a similar statement on Fox and Friends. Fox News, *Fox & Friends,* [8/13/25; America’s Newsroom,8/13/25]

• • In the New York Post, conservative writer Bethany Mandel pushed the narrative that the rate hikes in New Jersey are the result of “Democrats’ bungled energy policies.”She also cited an unnamed “energy expert” to claim that hikes are the result of “the state’s aggressive shutdown of coal-powered plants under Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.” In the op-ed, Mandel also argued that rising costs in the state “could blow November’s race wide open.” New York Post, [8/10/25]

• • Paul H. Tice, who has called climate change a “scam,” wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “How Phil Murphy Caused New Jersey Electricity Prices to Soar.” Like others, he blamed fossil fuel power plants closures and the state’s commitment to decarbonizing its economy by 2035. Wall Street Journal, [8/8/25; Twitter/X, 9/1/23; 11/26/24]

• ## Several factors, including data center energy usage and long interconnection queues, are contributing to rate hikes

• • In New Jersey, energy supply has not been able to keep up with demand, and experts say that data centers are driving the massive increase in demand. PJM says that in New Jersey alone, data centers “account for 70 percent of projected increase in demand.” But it’s not just a Garden State problem. The International Energy Agency estimates that “driven by AI use, the US economy is set to consume more electricity in 2030 for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined, including aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals.” International Energy Agency, [4/10/25; New Jersey Policy Press, 5/29/25]

• • PJM has been slow to get new energy projects up and running to meet this demand, with many renewable projects sitting around unplugged.New Jersey's grid hasn't been able to keep up with this increased demand, reportedly largely because of “PJM’s own delays in connecting new energy projects to the grid,” according to New Jersey Policy Perspective. As of March, “143 gigawatts worth of projects — including 79 projects in New Jersey — were awaiting approval in the interconnection queue, enough to power about 115 million homes.” This would nearly double PJM’s current grid supply. Out of these projects, 95% percent are renewable energy or storage projects. New Jersey Policy Perspective, [5/29/25]

• • Unreliable natural gas power plants are also driving up prices for PJM customers, and the operator's governance structure privileges “for-profit, utility, and fossil fuel companies.”According to the Natural Resources Defense Fund, “Since PJM did not account for fossil fuel resource weaknesses in its previous capacity market auctions, customers paid for these plants as if they were reliable. That’s like buying a house at full price only to realize the foundation is crumbling. It now turns out that the repairs are quite expensive.” The small number of projects that PJM has recently connected to the grid have been ”primarily fossil fuel projects," and PJM’s “governance structure … gives significant influence to for-profit, utility and fossil fuel companies,” while operating “largely behind closed doors with limited transparency,” according to New Jersey Policy Perspective. NRDC, [8/22/24; New Jersey Policy Perspective, 5/29/25]

• • Similar trends are playing out on a national scale, with Trump extending the lives of two older power plants that were slated to retire, which could cost U.S. ratepayers billions. The energy consulting firm Grid Strategies found in an August 2025 report that “if the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mandates that the large fossil fuel power plants scheduled to retire between now and the end of 2028 continue to operate, the cost to ratepayers could exceed $3.1 billion per year.” PJM has publicly supported Department of Energy efforts to keep some coal, oil, and gas plants open, even as “state regulators, regional grid operators, environmental groups, and consumer groups are pushing back” according to Canary Media. Canary Media,[7/10/25, 7/28/25; EarthJustice, 8/14/25]

• • Driven by climate change, extreme weather can also impact electric rates through a vicious cycle.Severe weather can damage infrastructure, requiring expensive repairs and driving utilities to invest in “grid hardening” and resilience measures. Extreme weather events, like the winter storm that bludgeoned Texas in 2021, can also result in emergency pricing because they can cause supply shortages. Federation of American Scientists, [8/18/25; Climate Central, 4/24/24; The Texas Tribune, 2/22/21]

• ## Experts say Trump’s policies will ultimately create a less reliable grid, especially given the high demands of data centers

• • Experts have warned that creating barriers for renewable energy projects at a time when more energy is needed will raise prices for consumers and make the U.S. less competitive. Two former Biden officials who worked on science and technology policy at the White House wrote in Tech Policy Press that Trump’s AI action, which seeks to accelerate the AI growth and development, is being hobbled by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They said the plan “will not deliver what is needed because it focuses on the past instead of the future. The US will likely end up with higher costs, higher pollution, and less competitiveness.” The officials also wrote that “the US should be enabling new electricity supplies to come online, and quickly. Solar, energy storage, and wind power are clean energy assets that can be quickly deployed to meet AI’s demands, and are the dominant sources of new energy capacity to get connected to the grid today.” According to climate policy think tank Energy Innovation, repealing renewable energy tax credits and other measures laid out in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will “harm America by cutting new electricity capacity additions, increasing consumer power prices, and reducing U.S. GDP and job growth.” Tech Policy Press, [8/7/25; Energy Innovation, 7/1/25]

• • Trump’s tariffs also threaten grid stability.Trump’s high tariffs on Chinese goods will impact grid-scale storage, as China manufactures “nearly all battery cells used in US utility-scale storage products.” These battery systems are essential for making sure the grid has enough energy to go around when there are spikes in demand due to AI operations. According to Wood Mackenzie, Trump’s tariffs could mean that “the cost of a utility scale solar facility in the US will be 54% more expensive than in Europe and 85% more expensive than a new solar plant built in China.” Utility Dive, [6/9/25, 7/25/25; Wood Mackenzie, 6/2/25]

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mma

Right-wing media celebrate Trump’s campaign of retribution against political opponents

Right-wing pundit following the FBI raid on John Bolton’s house: “Retribution? You bet it is. And it should be.”

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Torri Lonergan

Published 08/27/25

Following the FBI’s raid on former Trump national security adviser John Bolton’s home, right-wing media acknowledged criticisms that President Donald Trump is using the federal government to exact “retribution” and “revenge” against his political opponents. Now right-wing media are celebrating the lawfare they clamored for in the lead up to the 2024 election. They have called Bolton’s raid “payback time,” saying “it should be” retribution, and calling for Trump to “put them up for treason.”

• ## Trump’s FBI raided Bolton’s house following right-wing media calls for retribution

• • The FBI raided John Bolton’s home in Maryland as part of an investigation into whether Bolton illegally shared or possessed classified information.According to the New York Times, “Six cars were parked in Mr. Bolton’s driveway, at least one of them a dark-colored S.U.V. At one point three agents wearing F.B.I. jackets were seen carrying in empty document boxes, presumably to collect evidence.” The raid comes after Trump was previously investigated for his handling of classified documents, which was dropped after he won the 2024 election. The New York Times, [8/22/25; ABC, 11/26/24]

• • Once a national security adviser in the first Trump administration, Bolton has become a public critic of the president.Bolton wrote a memoir that detailed his experiences in the Trump White House and claimed, “I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job.” Trump revoked Bolton’s security clearance shortly after his second term began in January. In the lead up to Trump’s second term, it was reported that Donald Trump Jr.’s goal was “to keep the John Boltons of the world outside a second Trump administration.” ABC News, [8/22/25; Axios, 4/24/24]

• • Right-wing media amped up calls for revenge and retribution in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election. In October, Trump ally Mike Davis claimed, “Retribution is a key component of justice.” In 2023, Fox host Jesse Watters claimed, “You better believe it’s open season” when Republicans regain the White House. Others called for a “reign of terror,” and for “Democrats to get a healthy dose of their own medicine.” After the election, War Room host and Trump ally Steve Bannon said, “We want retribution and we're going to get retribution.” Media Matters, [10/15/24, 6/17/24, 12/12/23, 12/16/24]

• ## Right-wing media cheer on Bolton raid: “It’s time for payback”

• • Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt reacted to the Bolton raid by claiming, “It clearly is payback time.”Schmitt continued, “People need to be punished for what they have done, because they started it. They started this. He didn't start it. They started it.” Newsmax,*Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [8/22/25]

• • Schmitt later reiterated, “It seems very obvious … this is revenge. … It is retaliation,” while a chyron read, “Trump flips the script on left’s lawfare.” Trump senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro responded, “People will say retribution. Yeah, maybe. And they deserve it. But it's more about, for me, accountability.” Newsmax,*Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [8/22/25]

• • Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty claimed there is “no ambiguity” that Trump is taking revenge on his political enemies and that “it’s time for payback.” Finnerty: “The Associated Press writing that ‘Donald Trump ran on a promise to use the powers of the government for revenge against those he believe wronged him, and now he appears to be fulfilling that campaign promise.’ Exactly. Yes, exactly. That's exactly what is happening right now. There's no ambiguity about that.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [8/25/25]

• • Finnerty later added, “I don't think that payback should be a bad word.” He continued, “Payback, retribution, call it whatever you want. An eye for an eye. Sometimes two wrongs can make a right, especially if it benefits the country and benefits our political system in the future. And I sort of think that's the direction that the White House and the Department of Justice are going here. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [8/25/25]

• • Right-wing streamer Zack Hoyt, known as Asmongold, claimed, “If you start a game and you say these are my rules and you start working that way, you shouldn't be surprised if somebody goes and does that to you,” adding, “Trump should go to try to put these people in jail.”Hoyt continued, “Put them up for treason. Do whatever the worst thing is you can do, do it. Because that's what they would have done to you. And if you don't do it to them, they will do it to you given a long enough timeline. They tried to ruin his life. Exactly. Yeah. Treason, big no no. Yeah. Always do it. Always do it. Never like, this is the way I always look at things. If somebody would do something to you, do it to them first. Immediately. Don't let them even have the chance.” YouTube, Asmongold TV, [8/23/25]

• • Fox host Greg Gutfeld said, “Some people say it's retribution. I say, who cares?” Gutfeld continued, “When you think about the constant lawfare, the gerrymandering, the Dems never expect it to happen to them. They're like home invaders who didn't expect a well-armed occupant when they showed up, and Trump is well-armed.” His co-host Jesse Watters added, “And how many people did they get, Greg? They got Stone, they got Navarro, they got Bannon. They got all the Trump family, Manafort, Carter Page. The list is long, so I believe this is probably going to be the first in many raids.” Fox News,*The Five*, [8/22/25]

• • Fox News ran a chyron that read “Bolton's learning the hard way” as host Laura Ingraham said, “After cheering on lawfare against President Trump, John Bolton is learning the hard way, perhaps, that no one is indeed above the law.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [8/22/25]

• • The First’s Jesse Kelly reacted to the Bolton raid, saying, “Retribution? You bet it is. And it should be.”Kelly added, “When you are in a war for power, and we very much are in a war for power, you had better hit back and let the enemy know that it can come right back to him.” The First, *I’m Right with Jesse Kelly*, [8/25/25]

• • Right-wing conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza claimed, “Revenge or retribution is a very important principle. It’s called Tit for Tat.” He added, “In game theory, it’s the only way to achieve a stable equilibrium. It’s also the entire basis for our legal system of punishment. There is no “principle” that says, let the bad guys get away with it.” Twitter/X, [8/24/25]

• • Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter commented, “I support retribution against our political enemies.”Schlichter also wrote, “Just a reminder that retribution is a key component of a civilized society; wrongdoing must be punished.” Twitter/X, [8/23/25, 8/22/25]

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mma

As mass deportation intensifies, right-wing media expand their aim to include American citizens

MAGA volk: Right-wing media personalities are expanding their hostility toward undocumented immigrants and now are targeting naturalized and native-born citizens in an assault on American identity

Written by Jason Campbell

Research contributions from John Whitehouse

Published 08/25/25

Since its inception, the MAGA movement has focused energy on trying to purge the United States of people who do not have legal status in the country. The Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts accelerated this summer after passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, alongside the opening of new migrant detention centers. Now, MAGA media are extending that hostility toward immigrants to take aim at naturalized and native-born citizens in an assault on American identity itself.

This weekend, MAGA personality Jack Posobiec shared a meme asking Americans what kind of “stock” they are, and suggested that new citizens are somehow less “American” than others. Lest anyone doubt his intent, on Monday morning, he shared it again. (“Foundation stock” is a term used for animal breeding, for what it’s worth.)

Citation

Via @JackPosobiec

The notion of certain Americans being less “American” has escalated in right-wing media in recent months.

In July, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh launched an attack on Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) for proposing legislation, The Dignity Act, to allow certain undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status. During his tirade, Walsh said Salazar is “not American” and should “go back to Cuba” — a startling claim given that Salazar is an American citizen who was born in the United States.

In a follow-up rant, Walsh doubled down on his attacks and argued that citizenship does not give a person equal claim to American identity “as someone who's lived in the country their entire life, who speaks the language, respects the culture, has ancestral ties to the country and its history."

Salazar is not the first U.S. citizen to have their national identity come under assault in recent months. After winning the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City, Zohran Mamdani was attacked across the right-wing media ecosystem. Many of these smears focused on his Islamic faith or his political views, but some targeted his status as a naturalized citizen. Right-wing pundit Jack Posobiec said Mamdani is “not an American,” and the Article III Project’s Will Chamberlain wrote: “Denaturalize and deport Zohran Mamdani."

Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh has received similar attacks. Posobiec also claimed Fateh is “not an American,” while Walsh acknowledged that Fateh “was born in America, but he’s not actually an American."

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has long been a target of right-wing media. In April, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk said Omar has not “assimilated to America” and is instead trying “to infect the United States of America with her radical, anti-American Mohammadism, amongst her extreme leftist beliefs."

On Newsmax, Mercedes Schlapp attacked another common target for right-wing media, saying “I’m thinking that maybe they should deport Rashida Tlaib."

To put a fine point on the issue, there is a demographic thread that unites Salazar, Mamdani, Fateh, Omar, and Tlaib — they are all non-white citizens. As Kirk’s executive producer and co-host, Andrew Kolvet, declared last month: “Just by stats, by history, yeah, [being] white probably helps be an American.” He then called for an “immigration moratorium” in the United States.

While hostility to undocumented immigrants also characterized President Donald Trump’s first administration, the current racially focused rhetoric on the right has been building for years.

In 2022, an 18-year-old gunman killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. He left behind a 180-page racist manifesto filled with hateful rants about the “great replacement” conspiracy theory — once relegated to the fringe of online discourse — which argues that white people in the U.S. are being intentionally replaced with non-white foreigners. Three years after the Buffalo attack, claiming “the great replacement is real” is no longer a fringe idea; it’s a bedrock talking point in right-wing media.

This mentality is linked with growing suggestions that the United States is not “a nation of immigrants,” as Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy argued in July, but “a nation of settlers.” Some personalities are even attacking the Statue of Liberty; Walsh claimed the famous poem at its base, which offered haven to “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” “in no way represents any kind of core American value."

MAGA attacks on Americans’ identities also extend to religion. Kirk said that Islam is “not compatible with Western civilization” and “fundamentally is at odds with the fiber and the DNA of our existence, of our birthright” under the U.S. Constitution, which “cannot coexist with Islam.” Muslims are dangerous, according to Kirk, plotting to “conquer” the United States “whether by sword” or “having a lot of babies.” And this view seemingly extends into the Trump administration, where Christian nationalist figures fill Trump’s religious liberty commission.

In the MAGA consciousness, America is not a melting pot but a homogenous identity, a MAGA “Volk,” and anyone else’s protections of legal immigration status or even citizenship can be removed at any point. This is why we see growing calls from the right for curtailing dual citizenship and demands to end all immigration into the United States. Kirk recently said that “America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that."

It’s not only immigrants and Muslim Americans who right-wing media are seeking to target. For MAGA, Democrats and the left are also incompatible with American identity. Kirk claimed that Democrats “don’t love the United States of America. They are at war with the American republic. There is no appealing to their higher angels. … There’s only the lower demons of the Democrat Party.” Fox’s Jesse Watters accused Democrats of “straight-up treason” over immigration policy. Laura Ingraham suggested Democrats opposing the Trump administration are trying to start an “armed rebellion,” and Newsmax’s Chris Plante asked, “At what point are they to be declared a terrorist organization?"

Manufacturing the friend-enemy distinction through political rhetoric and then enforcing that divide throughout society is an integral aspect of fascism: Those loyal to the regime are considered friends while those opposed are cast into the outer darkness, treated as enemies of the state, traitors, or parasites on the body politic. By calling into question the citizenship of immigrants, Muslims, and anyone who opposes the MAGA ideology, the right’s assault on American identity under the Trump administration is shaping a chilling new reality for our country.

And the MAGA assault on American identity is not just rhetorical — the angry rants on podcasts and social media platforms today could become White House policy tomorrow. Trump has mused about deporting U.S. citizens found guilty of a crime. Right-wing media have likewise campaigned to denaturalize and deport citizens.

“Not everyone in this country is an American,” said Walsh, “even the ones with legal status."

We’re seeing the end result of that mentality now: MAGA media want the Trump administration to target those with legal status next. Charlie Kirk made that clear, connecting all of these threads when he said, “If you're not an American, that's fine. Go back to your place of origin. … Just go back. Hasta la vista. But we have a culture to protect. We have a country to love. No man can serve two masters. Christ our Lord said that. We have a heritage to preserve."

//

1. ### The right-wing media campaign to denaturalize and deport American citizens

:{03/26/25

2. ### Fox's Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters on the FBI raid of John Bolton: “Some people say it's retribution. I say, who cares?”

:{08/22/25

3. ### Charlie Kirk says he can’t find “Christ-like compassion” for long-term immigrants who don’t speak English

08/22/25

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MMA

Right-wing media champion migrant detention camps amid reports of horrific conditions

Pro-Trump podcaster: “You got to break a couple eggs in order to make an omelet”

Written by Chloe Simon & Gideon Taaffe

Published 08/13/25

Since taking office, President Donald Trump’s administration has held thousands of undocumented immigrants — including many without a criminal record — in a network of domestic and international detention centers. Two of these, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) and the newly opened “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, have already been criticized for appalling conditions and human rights abuses.

As firsthand accounts of these detention centers began to be widely reported, right-wing media have justified the conditions by claiming that people being sent there are “the worst of the worst”; arguing that Alligator Alcatraz is meant as “a deterrent more than punishment"; and suggesting that “you got to break a couple eggs in order to make an omelet.”

The Trump administration has ramped up arrests, targeting many who reportedly have no criminal record

• • The number of migrants detained during Trump’s second term has risen sharply from 2024.According to The Guardian, “The average number of people held in Ice detention jumped from 40,000 right before Trump’s inauguration, to about 55,000 in late June.” The Marshall Project published data showing that “from late May to late June, ICE had used 432 facilities to hold immigrants, up from 315 over the month leading up to Trump’s second inauguration.” The administration has also detained hundreds of migrants in foreign camps. The Guardian, [7/23/25; The Marshall Project, 8/1/25; Council on Foreign Relations, 7/1/25]

• • CECOT in El Salvador and Alligator Alcatraz in Florida are two of the most notorious detention centers — and reporting shows that hundreds of detainees sent there have no criminal record.CBS News’ 60 Minutes reported that “we could not find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans — 179 men — now sitting in prison” in El Salvador. The Miami Herald found “more than 250 people who are listed as having only immigration violations but no criminal convictions or pending charges in the United States” out of at least 700 people reportedly held in the Florida facility. ProPublica, [8/6/25; Human Rights Watch, 7/21/25; CBS News, 4/6/25; The Miami Herald, 7/13/25]

• • After Trump toured Alligator Alcatraz, right-wing media claimed that the detention center is for the “worst of the worst.”Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed the detainees “are drug traffickers and child rapists,” while guest host Charlie Hurt said the facility would be used to house the “baddest of the bad hombres.” Media Matters, [7/15/25]

• ## Firsthand accounts and other reporting have detailed the ghastly conditions at CECOT and Alligator Alcatraz

• • :{:{Three men deported to CECOT and then released to Venezuela spoke to ProPublica about the abuse they endured, including “physical torture.”The men were sent to CECOT with no record of criminal activity and detailed their experience to ProPublica. The former detainees reported that many inmates attempted suicide rather than live at the facility, and one claimed he was beaten by guards until he could not see out of one eye. ProPublica, [8/6/25; YouTube,}:
  • ]}:

• • CECOT deportees told NBC News they were “being beaten, sexually assaulted and told to ‘commit suicide.’”The men detailed physical punishment they received, with one saying that guards “made us get on our knees, they would step on our toes with their boots. They hit us with batons, they hit us on the head.” NBC News also reported that “guards denied them food and access to bathrooms or showers as punishment.” NBC News, [7/28/25]

• • Andry Hernandez Romero, a gay asylum-seeker from Venezuela, reported being sexually assaulted by CECOT guards. Romero told NBC News the guards “made me kneel, perform oral sex on one person, while the others groped me and touched my private parts” and “stroked me with their batons.” NBC News, [7/28/25]

• • :{:{Detainees at the Florida detention center have reported “feeling a state of torture,” suffering “physical assaults,” and being shackled in “a four-by-four-foot square” guards called “the box.” One contracted guard claimed that “the mosquitoes are filling the bathrooms, the showers” while detainee Anderson Miranda said “most of us have skin irritations from mosquitoes; they don’t give us spray. All of us worry that we’ll get a disease because of the mosquitoes.”}:

A Nicaraguan migrant alleged that guards “chained me to the ground,” called him racial slurs, and put him “in a four-by-four-foot square in the recreation yard” that “was directly in the Everglades sun and heat, for several hours, with no water.” NBC News reported one detainee got foot fungus seemingly due to “limited access to showers and poor sanitation.” Another detainee “reported that people held in Alligator Alcatraz ‘are only allowed one meal a day (and given only minutes to eat), are not permitted daily showers, and are otherwise kept around the clock in a cage inside a tent,’” citing “instances of physical assaults and excessive use of force by guards, along with a lack of medical care and attention.” The Washington Post, [7/17/25; WLRN, 7/22/25; NBC News, 7/22/25, 8/6/25]}:

• • After a visit to the Florida facility, members of Congress and state representatives expressed horror, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) saying migrants were “essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.”CNN reported they heard migrant “detainees shouting for help and crying out ‘libertad’— Spanish for ‘freedom’ — amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals.” CNN, [7/13/25]

• ## Right-wing personalities justified Trump’s detention policies because migrants “acted like animals” and “sometimes you got to break a couple eggs in order to make an omelet”

• • CECOT detainees “came into this country and acted like animals,” said Fox host Lawrence Jones, adding, “If you wanted to have a better life, you could have done it the legal way.” Jones continued, “But even, let’s say you didn’t do it the legal way, act like a model citizen. Go out there, find a job, and do all that. But they chose not to. They harassed Americans, assaulted Americans, murdered Americans, raped children, and this is the consequence.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade suggested that he would “rather [face] the death penalty” than be sent to CECOT, adding, “I love it.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/27/25]

• • PBD Podcastco-host Adam Sosnick dismissed people being detained in “Alligator Alcatraz,” claiming that “sometimes you got to get shit done and you got to break a couple eggs in order to make an omelet.”Sosnick said: “They said, you know, ‘We can't separate kids from their family.’ Well, that's exactly what you do when your father is a drug dealer and he has to go to jail. ‘We can't separate the mother from the children.’ It's exactly what happens when your mother committed a crime. She has to go to jail. It sucks. Nobody likes to see people being rounded up, gathered, and thrown in jail. Nobody likes that. It's not pretty, but none of this is meant to be pretty. Something called G.S.D. — getting shit done. Sometimes you got to get shit done and you got to break a couple eggs in order to make an omelet.” YouTube, *The PBD Podcast*, [7/17/25]

• • Fox & Friendsco-host Ainsley Earhardt dismissed concerns about detainees sent to CECOT: “These are criminals, so why do you care?”After Jones claimed that innocent people “are not being deported right now, it’s only the criminals,” Earhardt added, “Isn't it better for them to be in another country that’s paying for them? We paid them $6 million. We would have paid so much more, probably $6 million per person if they stayed in America. But they are criminals and then Donald Trump is shipping them off to another country.” Fox News,*Fox & Friends*, [3/19/25]

• • Fox News host Greg Gutfeld mocked concerns about conditions at the Florida detention center, saying, “Oh, not mosquitos! That’s just like my lakehouse.”Co-host Jesse Watters added, “So if someone was charged with rape and they are in Alligator Alcatraz, you are worried about mosquitoes?” Fox News,*The Five*, [7/17/25]

• • Trump ally Laura Loomer called migrants “animals” and said, “I think it's actually a really good thing that we're putting illegal aliens in cages and we're letting them know, ‘Hey, you're going to be eaten by alligators.’”Loomer continued, “I apologize to the innocent animals who I’m comparing to these savage, subhuman illegal aliens.” Rumble, *Loomer Unleashed*, [7/1/25]

• ## Other right-wing media figures argued that the prison conditions are a “deterrent”

• • Fox’s Jesse Watters suggested stories coming out of Alligator Alcatraz are meant to “deter bad behavior.” Watters: “Trump is not feeding migrants to alligators but sometimes you have to make up scary stories in a way to deter bad behaviour.” Watters also compared the conditions to when he tells his child that if she continues crying, “we’re going to drop her off at Dr. Duncan’s house and he’s really mean and has an angry dog that bites.” Fox News,*Jesse Watters Primetime*, [8/5/25]

• • Watters claimed the prisons are “making our communities safer” by getting migrants to self-deport, calling it the “El Salvador special.” Watters: “All it took was a new president. Donald Trump's hard-line approach to the border, let's call it the El Salvador special, is getting the illegals to do Tom Homan's job. Thousands of self-deporting illegals are going back to their home countries, thanks to the handy app Trump reverse engineered from Joe. It is already making our communities safer.” Fox News, *The Five*, [4/10/25]

• • Fox contributor and former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway claimed Alligator Alcatraz is meant to be “a deterrent more than punishment and is meant to be a holding place until we can put you where you belong.” Conway: “They are layering the disincentives, Greg. If you hear for the second or third month in a row there are zero, zero border crossings, to the point where Trump said yesterday he didn't even believe the numbers. He said how is it zero? You’re saying, ‘Am I going to be the one who actually slips through? Probably not. And if I am, look what happens. I go there temporarily.’ Or they may be hearing Democrats won't tell you: 150,000-plus square feet, 24/7 air conditioning, 24/7 health facility, 24/7 pharmacy, three hot squares, all the things the Democrats won't tell you, that this is meant to be temporary until you can move people where they belong which is not in the interior of this country.” Fox News, *The Five*, [7/17/25]

• • Fox News host Brian Kilmeade claimed that the poor conditions of the Florida detention center “hits the exact criteria necessary.”Kilmeade: “He [Ron DeSantis] is getting push back because I guess there is some mosquitoes on the inside and it is not the greatest accommodations, but I think it hits the exact criteria necessary.” Fox News,*The Will Cain Show*, [7/25/25]

//

1. ### This segment exemplifies how Fox feeds garbage anti-immigrant slop to its audience

08/08/25 10:11 AM EDT

2. ### Inside the alliance between right-wing media and Trump “Border Czar” Tom Homan

08/07/25 9:09 AM EDT

3. ### Right-wing media's campaign against due process for immigrants

08/05/25

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SEE crm3 ANNO

As experts warn of a famine unfolding in Gaza, here’s how right-wing media are reacting

Many are denying the existence of famine or blaming Hamas and the UN. But some acknowledge the reality.

Written by Chloe Simon & Gideon Taaffe

:{Published 08/06/25 mma

As world health experts warn that Gaza is experiencing the “worst-case scenario of famine,” right-wing media figures’ reactions have fallen into three broad buckets: Deny the existence of a famine, pin the blame on Hamas and the United Nations in Israel’s defense, or — in a few cases — acknowledge the reality on ground.

Figures like right-wing podcaster Laura Loomer flat-out claimed there’s “no starvation in Gaza,” and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called images of malnourished children “propaganda,” saying it’s “emotional, visual, optical warfare.”

Others, like Fox News personalities Katie Pavlich and Mark Levin and Newsweek’s Josh Hammer have blamed the United Nations and Hamas for starvation in Gaza, claiming they’re “obstructing aid from entering” and “purposely starving the population as a PR strategy against Israel.”

There has also been a small group of right-wing media personalities who have acknowledged the unfolding famine in Gaza. However, some of them have strong antisemitic beliefs, such as white nationalist Nick Fuentes and far-right commentator Candace Owens.

Palestinians in Gaza are starving largely due to Israel’s restrictions on food entering the region — even Trump has acknowledged “real starvation”}:

• • The Israeli military campaign in Gaza and its restrictions on the aid entering the enclave have created “mass starvation,” and the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” according to the World Health Organization and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health documented at least 101 hunger‑related deaths in the week leading up to July 22, including 80 children. “Nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza’s population is going days without eating,” PBS reported, attributing the information to a director at the U.N. World Food Program. The Guardian, [7/23/25, 7/29/25; The Washington Post, 7/24/25; United Nations, 7/22/25; PBS, 7/22/25]
  • President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged that there's “real starvation” in Gaza, contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that “there is no starvation in Gaza.”During a visit to Scotland, Trump urged Israel to permit “every ounce of food” into Gaza and claimed that the U.S. is “going to set up food centers.” Reuters, [7/28/25; The Guardian, 7/28/25]
• ## Israel has accused the UN of failing to deliver food to Palestinians and Hamas of stealing aid, but reports contradict those accusations
  • Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of stealing the aid provided by humanitarian agencies. According to The New York Times, “The government has used that claim as its main rationale for restricting food from entering Gaza. But the Israeli military never found proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations, the biggest supplier of emergency assistance to Gaza for most of the war, according to two senior Israeli military officials and two other Israelis involved in the matter. In fact, the Israeli military officials said, the U.N. aid delivery system, which Israel derided and undermined, was largely effective in providing food to Gaza’s desperate and hungry population.” The New York Times, [7/26/25]
  • An internal USAID analysis reviewed 156 reported cases of U.S.-funded humanitarian aid theft or loss in Gaza between October 2023 and May 2025 — and found “no reports” that Hamas benefited from U.S.-funded supplies. None of the incidents could be directly attributed to Hamas, and at least 44 incidents where aid was “reported stolen or lost” were linked, directly or indirectly, to Israeli military actions. According to Reuters, there was a “limitation” on the study because “Palestinians who receive aid cannot be vetted, [so] it was possible that U.S.-funded supplies went to administrative officials of Hamas.” Reuters also acknowledged that just because there were no reports of widespread aid diversion by Hamas, it “does not mean that diversion has not occurred.” But while the U.S. State Department continues to assert there is video evidence of Hamas looting aid, it has not released any footage supporting these claims. Reuters, [7/25/25]
  • Israel has also blamed the U.N. for being uncooperative and refusing to deliver aid to Gaza, but “the U.N. says it is hampered by Israeli military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting.” As The Associated Press reported, “Large crowds of desperate people, as well as criminal gangs, overwhelm trucks as they enter and strip off the supplies. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire on the crowds, causing deaths and injuries.” The report quoted a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who said, “Taken together, these factors have put people and humanitarian staff at grave risk and forced aid agencies on many occasions to pause the collection of cargo from crossings controlled by the Israeli authorities.” As the nonpartisan think tank the Atlantic Council noted, “Israel has systematically denied the entry of aid, created roadblocks to ensure that the little that does get in is not safely accessible, and perpetuated false narratives intended to discredit the humanitarian community and justify its blocking of aid.” The Associated Press, [7/25/25; ABC News, 7/28/25; The Atlantic Council, 7/29/25]
• ## Some reports about starvation in Gaza drew criticism because children in viral images had underlying health conditions — but they also suffered from malnutrition
  • A New York Times article titled “Gazans Are Dying of Starvation” described the ongoing devastation in Gaza and the mounting hunger crisis.From the July 24 piece: “Hollow-eyed, skeletal children languish on hospital beds or are cared for by parents, who gaze helplessly at protruding ribs and shoulder blades, and emaciated limbs resembling brittle sticks.” The New York Times, [7/24/25]
  • On July 29, the Times added an editor’s note to its July 24 article clarifying that one 18-month-old toddler featured in the piece also had underlying health conditions. A note posted on social media said that the paper had “learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records.” However, the piece maintained that “his health deteriorated rapidly in recent months as it became increasingly difficult to find food and medical care, and the medical clinic that treated him said he suffers from severe malnutrition.” The New York Times, [7/24/25; Twitter/X, 7/29/25]
  • Fox News criticized the Times, writing, “New York Times admits using misleading cover photo of emaciated Gaza child.” Fox News highlighted several examples of right-wing media figures attacking the Times for their correction. Fox News, [7/30/25]

• • Earlier this year, reporting on the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza and its impact on children featured Osama al-Raqab, whose cystic fibrosis had worsened with malnutrition.As The Associated Press reported in early May, “Osama al-Raqab’s cystic fibrosis has worsened since the start of the war. Lack of meat, fish and enzyme tablets to help him digest food meant repeated hospital visits and long bouts of chest infections and acute diarrhea, says his mother, Mona. His bones poke through his skin. Osama, 5, weighs 20 pounds (9 kilos) and can hardly move or speak. Canned food offers him no nutrition.” The Jerusalem Post later reported that al-Raqab was flown to Italy in June and “is receiving care.” The Associated Press, [5/3/25, The Jerusalem Post, 7/28/25]

• ## Right-wing figures have claimed “no one is starving in Gaza,” calling images of hungry children “propaganda” and “emotional, visual, optical warfare”
• 

Citation

Molly Butler / Media Matters

• • Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called pictures of starving children in Gaza “propaganda” and “emotional, visual, optical warfare” and claimed the “lies against Israel are relentless,” showing The New York Times’ picture of the 18-month-old suffering from malnutrition and emphasizing his “muscular disorder.”Kirk’s guest Rabbi Pesach Wolicki also claimed Palestinians in Gaza are “not emaciated. They're not starving. The people of Gaza are not starving. But Hamas needs to perpetuate this narrative.” Real America’s Voice, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [7/28/25]

• • Right-wing podcaster and self-described “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer called claims of starvation in Gaza “insane Pallywood Propaganda,” adding, “There is no starvation in Gaza. It’s a big lie.”She posted: “When the leftists try to make you feel bad over fake starvation in Gaza, ask them if they also cry for the children of cops killed by free Palestine protestors. I’m kind of tired of seeing fake stories about starvation when my tax dollars are going toward feeding terrorists via the World Food Program which is managed by CINDY MCCAIN. … There is no starvation in Gaza. It’s a big lie. … This insane Pallywood Propaganda has to end. If it doesn’t end, Trump should shut down the World Food Program. Let’s see the audit. Penny for penny.” Twitter/X, [7/28/25; Media Matters, 7/29/25]

• • Conservative personality Dinesh D’Souza commented, “Does this look like the behavior of people who are starving?” in response to a story about Palestinians speaking out about having to chase aid airdropped into Gaza. Twitter/X, [7/29/25]

• • As a guest on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins*, Jewish News Syndicate’s Ruthie Blum said, “Let me just set the record straight — there is no famine in Gaza.”She continued, “The accusation that Israel is purposely starving people is absolutely outrageous. It's a lie. It's a blood libel, and Hamas spread it.” Twitter/X, [7/28/25]

• • TheBlaze’s Glenn Beck asked, “Have you seen the pictures of mom or dad holding the babies that are supposedly starving and they seem perfectly healthy? Does that seem reasonable to you? There’s no critical thinking here at all.” Beck then went on to add, “I’m sure there’s hunger there, real hunger. … I’m not dismissing that there’s not real hunger there, and we should do everything that we can. But, you know, let’s put some of the onus on Hamas as well. And then, can we stop listening to the people of Hamas tell us by showing these babies, who now we know have problems from birth.” Twitter/X, [7/29/25]

• • Right-wing podcaster Stephen L. Miller posted, “If Gaza wants to convince anyone other than Western media that we are truly at the brink of a genocidal famine, they should stop putting healthy well fed adults in front of cameras.”Twitter/X, [7/30/25]

• ## Many right-wing figures blamed Hamas or the UN, claiming they are “purposely starving the population as a PR strategy against Israel” and Hamas is “stealing the aid”
• 

Citation

Molly Butler / Media Matters

• • Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro claimed, “Hamas is stealing the aid.”He also attacked the United Nations, saying, “The UN literally refuses to ship food in if they are escorted by the IDF, because the U.N. wants to fund Hamas.” The Daily Wire, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [7/28/25]

• • National Review’s Rich Lowry wrote an article titled “Hamas Is to Blame for Gaza’s Woes,” which claimed that Hamas “considers the agony of Gazans a useful weapon in the narrative war. From this perverted point of view, a famine would be welcome news.”The piece concluded, “Hamas would rather see the population starve than give up on the war, or its grip on power.” National Review, [7/29/25]

• • After playing a clip of Trump saying the U.S. will get food into Gaza, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner said, “Now if they could just stop the bloodthirsty savages of Hamas from shooting at their own people and taking supplies away from them, that would be a miracle.”Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [7/28/25]